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Even with Aether Overproduction Syndrome, it seemed that a head injury did not mean one’s consciousness returned the moment the wound healed.

“Altered! Altered!”
“Altered! Altered!”

I awoke to thunderous applause and voices praising Altered, blinking up at a familiar ceiling. If this was the same ceiling as the Colosseum’s backstage, then I must have been in its infirmary.

My Arkecius had lost its right arm to Farah’s Lesvahl, and its left arm to Vannabelle’s vorpal pierce—both severed clean from the machine.

They must have already been recovered by now, but even so, the machine needed to be repaired before tomorrow’s finals. With its performance already so low, letting it drop any further would only make me a burden to Hom and Alfe.

There was no time to rest. I had to repair Arkecius as quickly as possible.

“Thank you for letting me rest. I’ll return to the backstage.”
“Eh—?”

I climbed down from the bed and stepped out past the curtains of my booth. I heard the surprised voice of the infirmary staff behind me, but I did not turn back as I rushed out.

The match must have already ended. The cheers for Altered had faded into the indistinct buzz of the crowd.

When I returned to the backstage, what I saw was Altered, battle-worn but proud even with one arm destroyed, and Lemures, almost completely unscathed.

“Hom, Alfe…”

I didn’t need to ask about the outcome. Both of them had dismounted their mecha soldiers and were running toward me, smiling through tears on the verge of spilling.

“Leafa!”
“Master!”

The two of them threw themselves into my arms, clinging tightly.

“Thank you.”

Looking up at their faces, I held them both close in return. At once, tears spilled freely from their eyes.

“Well done, both of you.”

I patted their backs as if to soothe them, whispering gently while stroking them. The calm tone of my own voice surprised me.

Ah… I truly did love Alfe and Hom.

Rather than jumping and shouting like children in celebration, it suited us far more to embrace like this, praising one another’s efforts. That was surely Alfe’s influence—she had loved physical closeness ever since she was a baby, always clinging to me whenever something happened.

“Thank you for believing in me. I love you.”

Alfe bent down and pressed her cheek against mine. Hom, following her lead, pressed her cheek to me as well.

The warmth of their flushed cheeks, heated by the aftermath of battle, felt so comforting.

Thanks to Hom and Alfe’s efforts, we had defeated Vannabelle and her team. We had won—and secured our place in the finals.

“…I apologize for intruding in such a moment, I do…”

Isaac’s reserved voice reached me. He and Romeo both understood that we had no time to bask in the afterglow of victory.

“Let’s start repairs right away. Altered takes top priority, Arkecius comes after. We’ll work on Lemures in parallel.”
“Understood!”
“I shall pull all nighter if need be, I shall!”

Their responses were more reassuring than words could say. For Altered, it had been the right call to prepare spare replacement parts. By detaching the damaged sections and swapping the entire shoulder joint, it could be restored. It would take time, but it should be ready by tomorrow’s match.

As for Arkecius, we could probably piece something together by scavenging parts from subordinate units like Orum. There would be extra work to reinforce the arm armor with Aetherite, so that it could still interface with Ars Magna—but it was doable.

“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Please, command me as you will.”

Alfe and Hom both volunteered, but I shook my head.

“More importantly, you both must have used up a great deal of magic power in today’s battle. I want you to focus on recovery.”
“Indeed, that’s true! Lady Alfe unleashed a spell that flooded the entire Colosseum and then froze it solid—an outrageous feat of magic, forsooth!”
“And that Lightning Phalanx that finished off Lesvahl was amazing too! You’ve gotta be starving and dizzy by now, right!?”

Isaac and Romeo, who had been watching the match, chimed in agreement with my words. Hom, being a homunculus, could recover from fatigue faster than an ordinary human, and since no sign of exhaustion showed on her face, it was easy for others to overlook. But I knew she needed a proper rest.

“Hom, you should rest too. Go to the cafeteria, get a hot meal, and then go straight to bed without waiting for me.”
“But—”
“Unlike you two, I don’t accumulate fatigue.”

I gave a wry smile and pointed to the air as if to indicate the aether that Alfe would surely see.

“Let’s take Leafa at her word, Hom. It’s what we need to do if we’re going to win tomorrow.”
“…Understood.”

At Alfe’s urging, Hom left the backstage with a reluctant glance behind her. Once the two of them were gone, the place suddenly fell quiet.

“Well then, let’s get to work—fast.”
“…Are you sure that was wise, I dare ask?”

Isaac, standing beside me as I laid out the plan for repairs, looked up at Altered’s damaged frame and asked softly.

“What do you mean?”

Not understanding his question, I asked back. Isaac, looking troubled, lowered his tail.

“On the night before the finals, You, the team leader remaining here in the workshop…”
“Yeah, exactly. I mean, mental fatigue isn’t something you can just—uh—fix with aether, right? We can handle the maintenance, so you should—”

“Thank you. But it’s because it’s the night before the finals that I want to service the unit with my own hands.”

Winning with the mecha soldier I had created would give Hom confidence. That was why I wanted to give it as much attention as I could, right up to the end.

“Besides, this is the only time I’ll be able to do something like this.”

Building mecha soldiers together with Isaac and Romeo had been fun. My past self would have found working with others bothersome and absolutely refused. But I wasn’t the same person anymore.

“…There is always next year, is it not?”
“And the year after that, too.”

At my murmur, Isaac and Romeo exchanged glances and smiled in unison.

“…You’re right. That’s true.”

Ah, of course. I had only been thinking about winning right now, this very year. But we had only just enrolled in this academy.

“Next year, you shall enter as the reigning champions, forsooth!”
“We’ll be cheering for you, Leafa!”

Their heartfelt words warmed my chest.

“Thanks. When that time comes, I’ll be counting on you as my mechanics again.”

At my request, Isaac and Romeo’s eyes lit up, and the two of them nodded eagerly.