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Only one week remained until the Zersteller – Canalford Cup.

Following the recent Mecha Soldier Evaluation, the results had been posted on campus.

“Lady Leafa! Over here, over here!”
“I still can’t believe the Mecha Soldier we modified together got first place! It feels like a dream!”

Unable to contain their excitement, Isaac and Romeo led me toward the plaza near the auditorium. Despite it being early—well before homeroom—the area where the evaluation results were posted was already packed with students.

“What the heck is this… ‘Altered’?”
“That’s the Mecha Soldier my master modified! Crazy awesome, right?!”

The unfamiliar name stirred murmurs among the students from the noble dormitory. Amid the buzz, Melua’s proud voice carried loud and clear.

Apparently, she was so thrilled by the results that she’d been going around bragging about Hom’s Altered as if it were her own achievement.

“A perfect score of 300, just like Estea’s Selem Salkh… Leafa’s always been one of the best in the engineering department, but this is on a whole different level!”

Several other engineering students raised voices of amazement in response to Melua’s remarks.

Good grief. I’d been trying not to stand out too much in the engineering department… but it seemed I’d better give up on that.

The final results of the Mecha Soldier Evaluation had Hom’s Altered and Estea’s Selem Salkh tied at 300 points, sharing first place. According to the Professor, we wouldn’t know which one truly outperformed the other until they fought head-to-head in an actual match.

Second place went to a unit called Duos, scoring 280 points.

“Never heard of that unit before. Is it something rare?”

Seeing an opportunity, I asked Isaac and Romeo, who were standing nearby. Both of them nodded eagerly in unison.

“Rare does not even begin to cover it—it is the Imperial Army’s next-generation mainline model, still under development, forsooth!”
“It’s currently in limited trial deployment in a few select units. No way a student league like this should ever see one. So how come…”

Romeo trailed off as his eyes moved down to the pilot’s name.

“Pilot: Ignis Dulan… I see.”

So the Dulan marquisate had enough clout to pull strings and lend their son a prototype of the latest cutting-edge model. If they held that much sway in the military, then Ignis’ arrogant behavior made a bit more sense. That said, the way he spoke to us—with absolutely no grace or decency—was still far from acceptable, and I couldn’t understand it either.

“After that, it’s Melua’s Alchemia and Farah’s Lesvahl, right?”

Both units had scored 270 points. From what I’d heard, Melua’s unit was a Magic Soldier passed down from her grandmother when she enrolled at Canalford Academy. She’d led her team to victory with it just last year, so it was clearly not to be underestimated. I’d need to at least familiarize myself with its basic specs, as far as I could find them.

“Farah’s Lesvahl is impressive too, fitting for something inherited from her father, who is a soldier, forsooth.”
“It’s a customized unit based on the Löwe, but when you think about how it’s been refined again and again on real battlefields… it hits you, y’know?”

Isaac and Romeo, being Mecha Soldier enthusiasts, clearly each had their own thoughts on the matter—but they were clearly more taken with Farah’s Lesvahl than with Melua’s Magic Soldier.

“Lemures got 260 points.”

Alfe leaned close, her arm brushing my shoulder, and whispered it in a sing-song voice.

“It ended up just a little below Melua’s unit. I wish we could’ve pushed it a bit higher.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll make up for that with my magical combat power.”

She cut off my words with a smile, then turned to proudly gaze at Lemure’s name listed in the Mecha Soldier Evaluation results.

“Thank you, Alfe.”

It made me genuinely happy that Alfe accepted Lemures so wholeheartedly. I gently took her hand in mine.

“I should be the one thanking you. You gave me such an amazing magic staff and a beautiful robe—no amount of gratitude could ever be enough.”

Alfe smiled and gave my hand a gentle squeeze in return. I glanced at my own hand, now completely enveloped in her warm one, and quietly intertwined our fingers.

According to the Professor, Lemures was originally only worth about 220 points. For Alfe’s sake, I’d customized it by removing unnecessary functions, which should’ve lowered its score—but even so, the Professor had given it quite a high evaluation. From what I could see in the breakdown, the magic staff alone had added more than 40 points.

“Still, there are fewer customized units than I expected,” Isaac remarked.
“Well, Löwe is already an excellent model. Most people are satisfied with it as-is. Oh—but I heard there’s a student participating with a Duke, a Heavy Mecha Soldier.”

Since these were widely known Mecha Soldier models, they had evaluation scores ranging from about 200 to 230. Judging from that, they’d likely be manageable opponents in a fight.

“Ooh! Cataphract and Iris-Flago are there, forsooth!”

Among the names like Löwe and Duke listed around the 200-point mark, two names stood out. Iris-Flago—that was the unit I’d thought might be a good match for Vannabelle.

“Nume and Vannabelle’s units, huh!”

Sure enough, when Romeo read off the pilot names, it turned out to be Vannabelle’s unit. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

“Hm!? Did one of you just call us?”

Vannabelle, sharp-eared as always, pushed her way through the crowd along with Numelin and Farah.

“Yeah, I’m just glad it looks like we’ll all be making it through to the second round of the Mecha Soldier Evaluation together.”
“Ohh, so that’s why you were laughing.”

It seemed I’d completely forgotten how sharp Vannabelle’s hearing was, probably because we’d been leading such separate lives lately. But she didn’t seem the least bit offended. In fact, she just flashed a bright, cheerful smile as she went on.

“Nume’s family arranged a Mecha Soldier for me. It’s a speed-focused unit that fits me perfectly—I’m really liking it.”
“But it earned an amazing score, forsooth. Cataphract and Flago are both fifth-generation Mecha Soldiers, yes? Normally, those would be worth around 100 points, would they not?”
“And you’ve managed to boost them up to the sixth-generation baseline of 200 points? That’s some serious customization, huh?”

Isaac and Romeo, already familiar with their fellow Class 1-F members, fired off sharp questions.

“Pretty much. I mean, if I’m entering the tournament, I plan to win. But hey, I’m not spilling all the details to you guys either.”
“Nya-ha! We might end up facing each other in the bracket, after all!”
“Let’s all do our best~!”

Hearing Vannabelle’s determination, Farah and Numelin nodded along with smiles.

“Oh, right—Leafa, which unit are you entering with? I couldn’t find it on the list. Don’t tell me it scored under 200?”
“Ah… about that…”

In response to Vannabelle’s question, I pointed to the very bottom of the Mecha Soldier Evaluation list.

The score: 90 points.
Unit name: Arkecius.

“Hehh!? You’ve gotta be kidding!”
“That’s Master’s personal unit. I, for one, consider that a splendid evaluation.”

While Vannabelle looked like she was about to roll her eyes into the back of her head, Hom replied calmly, as if gently correcting her.

“Well, I can’t really use standard Mecha Soldiers. I didn’t have the time or resources to customize a cockpit either, so sticking with the one I’m used to made the most sense.”

I smiled and gave a small nod, then looked back at the Mecha Soldier Evaluation chart once more.

The 90 points the professor had given Arkecius were, compared to other Mecha Soldiers, undeniably low. Still, I had made what modifications I could with the time I had.

The most significant one was probably the upgrade to the arm armor, using the leftover Aetherite from Alfe’s magic staff. That alone gave me a considerable advantage.

By reinforcing the arm armor with Aetherite, an aether-conductive material, the unit gained resistance to magic. In other words, it eliminated the risk of accidental detonation caused by spell activation—like what had happened before when I used Ars Magna.

If I could safely use Ars Magna with Arkecius, my options for both offense and defense would expand significantly.

“But still… ninety points, huh…”

Given how high Hom’s Altered and Alfe’s Lemures had scored, Vannabelle seemed frustrated on my behalf—as though thinking, if only you’d had more time.

“Well, ninety points isn’t so bad. The score was bumped up thanks to its ability to cast magic through its Subordinate Unit function. Even as a Subordinate Unit, it’s said to rival the combat capabilities of older Legion-type models. That’s a real strength.”
“Nya-ha! Leafa always has a plan.”

Farah gave an approving nod and gave me a light pat on the back.

“Right. If she’s satisfied with it, there’s no need for outsiders to butt in.”
“Buuut… in the end, doesn’t advancing to the second round depend on total scores~? Like… the combined total~?”

Realizing something, Numelin started glancing around as if looking for confirmation.

“Oh yeah, that’s right. They also posted the list of teams advancing to the second round, didn’t they?”

Advancement was determined by total team scores—only the top fourteen teams would make it through.

That total score included close-quarters combat ability, magic combat ability, and the Mecha Soldier Evaluation.

“I didn’t forget that part. We should’ve all passed—”
““People of the F-Alliance! Rejoice, for Lili-Lulu shall now perform a Dance of Delight to celebrate our entry into the Zersteller – Canalford Cup!””

Before I could finish, Lili-Lulu’s exuberant voice echoed across the area, magically amplified for all to hear.