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「Dowaaahhh?!」

Lahti steered the Flygear aside and evaded the ray that the Star Princess unit launched by a paper thin margin. It should be fine now… that was good and all, but Inglis felt that it was a bit of a waste to let the ray go away like that.

「Hyaah!」

Inglis leaped out of Lahti’s Flygear and kicked a nearby wall to gain momentum and got ahead of it. And then, she held out her palm to catch the sorcerous light.

Kerchiinnnkk——!!

「「「WHA……?! She took it?!」」」

Everyone present was shaken by how unexpected Inglis’ behavior was.

「Hold on?! G-, Glis, you okay?! You’re puffing smoke?!」
「Yeah. It’s just a bit hot.」
「What will you do if you get a burn? Even though it was already evaded, you know!」
「No, attacks are better to be taken than evaded, right?」

Even if she did it unintentionally, it was definitely Yua’s power. Inglis was intrigued by it.

「No no, I don’t understand your logic at all.」
「Then, we don’t want to be scolded for destroying the wall, right?」
「Well, that I can understand…」
「Sorry. It wasn’t my intention, but…」

Yua tilted her neck, just as confused.

「It’s alright. It must have been a function of the Star Princess unit that went haywire.」

The Star Princess unit was a hovercraft that was meant for and plundered from a Highlander. It was an article purely for Highlanders’ use. When Inglis and Lahti worked together and examined it, they found that it had functions that didn’t exist in the Flygears belonging to the Knight Academy. One of them was the one that happened just now; an armament that amplified sorcery and fired it from the bow muzzle.

Unlike Artifacts, the Star Princess unit didn’t have a mechanism that automatically controlled the flow of mana. Which meant that the operator had to, at least, intentionally use sorcery or similar powers by themselves to use it. Which was why it was an article meant for Highlanders only. Yua, however, was an exception.

Yua once cleaved off a single Magic Stone Beast with her bare hand blade, and perhaps it was only possible because she cladded herself in body-strengthening sorcery or something the like. For example, what Inglis did with her Ether Armor technique, Yua did it with mana. In Yua’s case, however, it wasn’t simply the matter of mana, but she was strong and fast enough to not be seen by eyes.

Which was why the ray packed more punch than what Inglis had expected at first, leaving her palm with a bit of tingle. Seeing that Yua didn’t seem to mean to activate the weaponry, Inglis would assume that she might be constantly keeping up her body-strengthening sorcery for the function to activate by itself. Her energy seemed to have unintentionally flowed into the muzzle and was fired.

「This looks dangerous. I better not get on this.」

Yua casually jumped off. It was quite the height, with the Star Princess unit being close to the ceilings, and yet she landed with light feet.

「You’re right! I knew it, we should use regular Flygears, after all.」

Then Inglis wouldn’t have to appear in front of the audience riding the overly cute Star Princess.

「We can’t! We’ll ride a decorated Flygear, one way or another!」

Seeing Rafinha throwing tantrums, Inglis thought that perhaps there was no other way, but… The hull of the Star Princess unit tilted greatly.

「EH?! No way, the engine’s down?!」

The sudden activation of its muzzle might have caused a malfunction in the engine. Losing its buoyancy, the Star Princess unit began to fall down

Right below it was Yua…

「Nn. Uh oh, it’s slipping.」

What she referred to, was the stuffing Rafinha had put on Yua’s breasts to make them appear bigger. Distracted by it, Yua didn’t seem to be alerted whatsoever.

「Ah, watch out!」

A figure jumped out to Yua, trying to push her away. It was a young man, not much older than Inglis. He seemed to be someone belonging to the Weissmall Troupe. It was an act of bravery that he did, but…

Bruk!

He only collided into her, as Yua didn’t even flinch from his tackle. Now, the young man looked like he was just embracing Yua.

「E-, Eehh?! Not even a bulge?!」
「Nn?」

The young man’s eyes widened in disbelief, while Yua only craned her neck.

「Senior Yua, watch out and get aawaaayy!!」

Rafinha’s shriek was heard.

「Oh?」

Plop!

Yua casually caught the falling Star Princess unit with just one hand. That monstrous strength that didn’t match her small, slender body. How very Yua. Inglis also had come over to catch the Flygear, but it seemed unnecessary now.

「Th-, thank you very much, senior. You saved me! This girl would be broken too if it crashed down!」
「Yup. Just returning the breast padding favor.」
「Rani, are you injured?」
「I’m fine.」
「So…What are you doing?」

Yua turned to the young man who was still hugging her waist.

「A-, ahahaha……when I passed by, I saw the Flygear falling so… I thought I’d save you, but……ahahaha…」

The young man probably never thought that the slender Yua wouldn’t even bulge. It was then when Lahti’s voice was heard.

「Hmm……?! O-, oi! Don’t tell me, Ian?! You’re Ian, ain’t ya?!」
「Ah, it’s really Ian! Long time no see!」

Were they acquaintances? Lahti and Pullum were practically shouting.

「Eh?! P—Prince…?!」
「……?! OI……!!」
「「「Prince?」」」

When everyone enquired, the man named Ian shook his head in panic.

「Ah, no, nothing! S-, sure has been a while, Lahti, Pullum!」
「But you said Prince just now, didn’t you? Right Glis?」
「Yeah. He did, Rani.」
「Waaah?! It was nothing, I’m sorry! It really was nothing!」
「……Could it be, the Prince role, you want it?」

Yua asked Ian.

「Ah, y-, yes, that! I joined the troupe as a stagehand, but I always wanted to stand on the stage too, you see!」
「You can. You’re in.」

Yua answered immediately, placing her hand on Ian’s shoulder with a plop. Her emotionless eyes shone just a little bit brightly. When Inglis looked closely, Ian had androgynous, if not lady-like, beautiful features.

Most probably, he was right in the middle of Yua’s strike zone.