CH 207

The Heavenly Thunder Attacks 1

For a while after that, Kisei and the others spend their days doing training exercises. Unlike the engineer units which are doing the construction work, the combat personnel only have regular patrol duty. That’s why exercises were conducted in their free time.

“Phew……”

While wiping off his dripping sweat, Kisei let out a deep sigh. Even on a cold planet like this, the air-conditioned cockpit was still rather hot. While stretching his muscles, he confirms that his striker was properly fixed into the general-purpose maintenance dock. He had just got back from today’s exercise and is now returning his striker to the storage deck on the [Radiant].

“Hey, don’t you think the set temperature of the air conditioner is too high?”

“You think so?”

Replied Diaroze with a satisfied smile. She then brought her face close to his neck and licked off the bead of sweat there with her tongue.

Kisei raised a small scream and his body trembled a little.

“……I’m already used to it but I don’t think you should be doing this just anywhere you know?”

“Kufufu.”

With a cramped expression, Kisei shoo the smiling Diaroze away. She always tries to lick him whenever a chance arises. Kisei himself has already gotten used to her masochistic tendency but he can’t say the same for this habit of hers yet.

Thinking that he can’t allow this to continue, Kisei hurriedly opened the cockpit hatch and jumped out into the bucket lift which was automatically raised by a robot arm to receive him. Diaroze also followed him from behind. After a few seconds, the bucket reached the floor making a dull sound.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The two were greeted by Schleer who got back before them. Saki was also behind her.

“How was it? The teamwork between our soldiers and Valentina’s I mean.”

Kisei’s role in the exercise today was as an aggressor pilot. To be specific, he was acting as one of the Noredian high-performance zeniths against the common troops of the combined Calencian-Valentina force.

“They are doing fine. They did much better today than on their first day you know.”

Valentina’s troops are former Noredian army so naturally, it’s difficult for them to fight in tandem with the Calencian army. After all, their whole methodology and combat doctrine are vastly different. It would be very bad if they do not fix that before the actual battle. The exercises they have been conducting over the past few days were for that purpose.

“Well, this is still very last minute though…..”

Said Saki with a shrug. In the end, the allied force collapsed in the middle of the exercise today and they were defeated by the aggressor squad led by Kisei.

“Still, this is better than nothing right.”

Saki continued with a bitter smile. They were doing even worse than this on their first day so the exercises were certainly effective.

“Even so, the time we expected the Noredian army to arrive is just around the corner. We can not afford to take our time now.”

Schleer’s expression seemed clearly impatient. Their intelligence department has been reporting the current position of the Noredian fleet on a daily basis. They are so close that it wouldn’t be strange if the first contact could be established at any moment. There’s no doubt that the enemy’s advance party will arrive at this system within just a few days.

“Right……it would be a lie if I say I’m not anxious after all……..”

At that moment, the wind blew into the storage deck and the sound of the shutter opening started to echo inside. Looking at the direction of the sound, the crew was guiding a high-speed boat in with glowing marshaling wands.

“Nn? Isn’t that…….”

The ship was not the model the Calencian army usually uses. It was a newer, high-end type model. Moreover, the place where the insignia which indicates its country affiliation was painted over. The mysterious high-speed boat slowly headed inside and stopped with a faint noise in front of where Kisei and the others were standing.

Then, the hatch installed on its flank opened and a staircase extended down to the floor.

“Long time no see!”

It was Eleanor who appeared from inside the boat. She’s wearing a high-ranking Calencian military uniform with a shiny insignia on her collar indicating the rank of lieutenant colonel.

“Oh, you made it huh.”

Diaroze sighs in relief. Since she couldn’t get a reply from the head of House Fafleta, she was anxious if Eleanor wouldn’t be able to participate in the battle.

“I apologize for my late arrival. It was quite difficult persuading Okaa-sama…..no, the Head.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m just glad that we can fight alongside each other.”

When Kisei said that while extending his hand out to her with a smile, Eleanor firmly grasped it. She then wrapped her hands around his and started rubbing it. In response, Schleer tore her hands off with a sour look.

“Welcome aboard, Lt. Col. Eleanor Al Fafleta. However, please be careful of the excessive skinship onboard. We have to worry about our soldiers’ eyes after all.”

“Oh, My apology.”

Eleanor accepted Schleer’s warning with a challenging smile but right after, she immediately tilted her head.

“……your hair is a lot longer than I remembered, Your Highness Frea?”

“I’m Schleer. Frea’s younger sister!”

“Ara Ara, I see! My apology!”

This time, Eleanor’s apology seems to be sincere. However, she still strangely gives off an aura of an airhead.

“Can we really rely on her……”

“Her skills as a pilot and the influence of her house are the real deal. So yeah, surprisingly……..”

While gazing at Eleanor as if they are looking at someone unfortunate, Saki and Diaroze whispered to each other……