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Arkecius’ right arm wasn’t doing so well. Now that I was piloting in a calm situation, I could really feel it—something was off with the unit’s balance. I was pretty sure it was because I punched that Gutenberg boy’s mecha. I knew it was reckless to go slugging a Mecha Soldier with a Subordinate Unit, so the fact I didn’t get hit with a damage ruling mid-match was honestly a miracle.

Still, I couldn’t risk putting any more strain on it. With Alfe’s Lemures supporting me, I made my way back to the backyard, where Isaac and Romeo were already waiting to start repairs.

“Congrats on making it to Round Two, forsooth~!”
“We’ve secured a spot in the top four. Semifinals are up next.”

They greeted us with smiles as we climbed down from our units, then immediately got to work checking over the damage.

“Start with Leafa’s Arkecius we shall!”
“Can’t blame you, but man, watching you punch a Mecha Soldier with a Subordinate Unit was nerve-wracking. We’ll definitely want to give that right arm a close inspection.”

I nodded at their sharp analysis—they’d been watching the whole fight—and used the crane to remove the armor plating on Arkecius’ right arm.

“The elbow joint’s warped. We should probably replace the whole thing.”

The damage clearly showed how much stress it had taken. Fortunately, we had plenty of spare parts for Subordinate Units. As long as I gave the orders, replacing it wouldn’t be an issue. The third round wasn’t until tomorrow anyway, so we weren’t pressed for time.

“I am also a little worried about Altered’s right leg, I am,” Isaac said.
“It did collide with Rizel’s tower shield. Let’s take off the armor on that side too.”

I agreed, and had Romeo start removing Altered’s plating.

“Whoa—black blood oil’s leaking! Step back, quick!”

Just as Romeo began peeling back the armor with the crane, black, blood-like oil started pouring out from inside.

“Looks like the magic contraction muscle in the thigh is torn.”

Mecha Soldiers were laced with magic contraction muscles—tubing that channels black blood oil, a magically reactive lubricant. It responded to aether and contracted like muscle fibers, producing the unit’s output.

If you thought of it in terms of human anatomy, Altered’s right leg was basically suffering internal bleeding. With the blood oil leaking out, its output was going to drop by however much we lost. There was no getting around that.

“What should we do about this…? Is patching the ruptured tube enough, or do we need to go further, I wonder truly…”
“Hmmm…”

Isaac and Romeo both tilted their heads, peering into the mess of black blood oil coating the inside of the unit.

“Repairing the torn tube is a must, obviously. But judging by how much oil has leaked out already, there’s probably more minor damage we haven’t seen yet.”
“Losing too much blood oil is how Mecha Soldiers bleed out—we definitely want to avoid that, forsooth.”
“If we don’t know where the next big rupture might happen, it’s like sitting on a ticking time bomb.”

I nodded at Isaac’s assessment and leaned in to inspect Altered’s damaged leg. I couldn’t see all the way in from my height, but even so, there was no denying the fine web of cracks and scratches running all through the area. If those ruptures worsened and the oil kept leaking, we’d eventually run out of black blood oil, and the unit would shut down—what we called a “bleed-out” failure.

“Thinking about it like that… the older models were brutal, weren’t they? Back then you had to manually shut off pressure valves and patch things up yourself every time damage came in.”
“Nowadays, thanks to automatic sealing systems, the ruptured tubes can self-isolate on the fly—so even a leak like this doesn’t spell instant disaster, forsooth.”

Looking ahead to the next match—and especially to a possible rematch with Estea—there was a real chance her blade might cut through another magic contraction muscle. That settled it. Leaving the damage as-is wasn’t an option. We’d need to replace the entire damaged section of the thigh’s contraction muscle.

Still, if this was the price we had to pay to get through Round Two, we got off pretty lightly.

“All right. It’ll be a bit of a pain, but let’s go ahead and replace the whole damaged section of the magic contraction muscle.”
“That’s what I was thinking too.”
“Agreed, I am!”

It was going to take time and effort, no question—but Isaac and Romeo agreed without hesitation. The two of them had been with us since the very start, since Altered’s construction. I could trust them completely to handle the unit, which was more reassuring than I could say.

“Now then, let’s take a look at Alfe’s Lemures—”

I wasn’t expecting to find any serious damage, but figured it was worth a quick check just in case. Just as I turned my head to call it over, I saw three figures running toward us.

“Congrats on making it past Round Two~~!”
“That was one hell of a fight!”

Vannabelle, Numelin, and Farah were waving excitedly as they came over.

“Honestly, I had no idea how you were gonna handle things with a Subordinate Unit, but that trick you pulled? Totally blew me away!”
“If I’d seen that when I was a kid, I think it would’ve scared the life out of me~”

Vannabelle and Numelin, who clearly didn’t know the full story, were voicing their sympathy for the poor Gutenberg boy. Farah nodded along, then looked at Alfe with a warm smile.

“Nya-ha! And that last attack of yours, Alfe—it was amazing. I’ve decided I’m never gonna make you mad. Ever.”
“…Th-thanks.”

Alfe fidgeted, curling her toes in embarrassment. She must’ve been feeling a little self-conscious now that the heat of the moment had passed and everyone was realizing just how serious she’d gotten—for my sake.

“But I don’t think I’d ever get mad at you, Farah.”
“Yeah, yeah. This one’s all on Rizel. A Mecha Soldier chasing a Subordinate Unit around? Total bully move.”

Vannabelle nodded vigorously in agreement with Alfe’s soft reply, and Numelin chimed in too.

“I get it~~! If someone I loved was getting chased around like that, I’d be mad too!”
“You are all correct.”

Hom’s voice came from behind us, completely flat. No inflection, no warmth—which probably meant she was pretty upset with Rizel herself, especially since she hadn’t been able to intervene during the match.

“…Well, thanks to Rizel letting his anger get the better of him, it wasn’t too hard to predict his moves and block them.”

Trying to reassure Hom, I added that bit, but Isaac and Romeo both immediately shook their heads, emphatically rejecting my optimism.

“For something that ‘wasn’t too hard,’ your unit took quite a beating, it did.”
“But we’ll have it ready by tomorrow, right?”
“Forget tomorrow—”

I looked over at them with a grin, and the two of them exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing.

“We will have it fixed before today’s matches are even over, forsooth!”
“Leave it to us!”
“Thanks. Having two skilled mechanics like you is a huge help.”

I really meant it, so I said it out loud—and Isaac and Romeo both scratched the backs of their heads, looking a little bashful.

“Well, to be honest, we’re not super familiar with Arkecius’ internal systems, so we’ll need your input, Leafa.”
“Of course. It’s my partner, after all—I’m planning to stay right by its side.”
“But, Leafa… that means—”

Isaac started to say something, then caught himself. His eyes shifted toward Vannabelle with a hint of hesitation.

“Huh? What’s up? Something about me?”
“Nya-ha! I get it—you were gonna say she can’t come cheer us on in our second match, weren’t you?”

Farah flashed a sharp-toothed grin, clearly having read everything from that single glance. Numelin struck a pose, pumping her fist with confident energy.

“No worries—we’re totally gonna win, so don’t you worry about us~!”
“That’s good to hear. I’ll be rooting for you all the same.”

Next to me, Alfe and Hom both nodded.

“With the Black Dragon God on your side, you’re all set!”
“Well… it did get wiped out by Jost.”
“Still… doing that takes guts, huh? Feels like the kind of thing that might get you cursed.”

Farah shrugged, looking like she could still feel the chill of it. Vannabelle and Numelin blinked, surprised by the memory suddenly being brought up.

“Oh, so that’s why Lyle was so scared.”
“That’s part of it, but…”

Alfe lowered her voice and spoke softly.

“Hm? There’s more?”
“Well… when I first started elementary school, Lyle used to bully me because of my Pure Eye.”
“Ugh, kids really do that kind of stuff…”

As she spoke, Alfe brushed her hair aside and pointed to her Pure Eye. Vannabelle let out an exaggerated sigh as she listened.

“Nya-ha-ha… There are plenty of adults who still act like that, you know.”
“Oh? Sounds like you’re talking about a certain vice-principal~~?”

Farah teased with a grin, and Numelin shot back a sharp quip. Everyone seemed to get the same mental image, and laughter broke out around us.

“Well, knowing Leafa, I’m guessing you scared the pants off him with your Create Fairy, huh? That spell would make any kid piss themselves!”
“Belle~, language~!”

Numelin scolded Vannabelle with a chuckle, though she was laughing too.

“Yeah… I guess it must’ve been a pretty serious trauma for him. After that, his whole attitude toward us changed.”

Thinking back, it did seem like the Gutenberg boy had grown up a lot lately. I could tell he genuinely regretted how he’d treated Alfe back then.

“These days, even if we’re in different classes, it feels more like we’re just friends from the same hometown, doesn’t it? I mean, you didn’t want to hurt him unnecessarily, right?”
“Something like that.”

Gutenberg lost in a kind of pitiful way, but honestly, Rizel freezing up in the face of Alfe’s attack was even more of a disgrace. Still, considering how well Jost performed, Gutenberg’s standing in Class A probably wouldn’t take too much of a hit. And if we kept winning—maybe even took the whole tournament—his loss would sting a lot less.

“Well then, we’re off to get ready for our match!”
“Good luck with the repairs, you guys~~!”

After seeing Vannabelle and the others off as they headed to prepare for their second-round match, we turned our attention fully back to repairs and fine-tuning.