knights and magic Lightnovel

ch6

== CE 1277.
The 12 years old Ernesti Echevalier and his childhood friends, the twins Archid Olter and Adeltrud Olter has moved on to middle school of the Knighthood faculty. Their other childhood playmate, the dwarf Batson Termonen, remained in the Crafting faculty. Due to Eru’s influence, Batson has shown interest in the career of Knightsmith. The two of them can sometimes be seen together, talking about Silhouette Knights design and operation knowledge.
As for Ernesti, he has been taking classes about Silhouette Knights but unrelated to Knighthood ever since he enrolled in Laihiala Pilot Academy. Eru has completed all the courses in the Crafting faculty after attending their classes for three years. After satisfying his thirst for knowledge, he is now unofficially attending Pilot faculty classes.
Since Laihiala is a 'pilot' Academy, the Piloting faculty is the star of the institute. Only the best graduates from Knighthood middle school may gain entry into the Piloting faculty. Although it is generally known as the Piloting faculty, not everyone enrolled here has Knighthood background. The Knight runner won't be able to move the Silhouette Knight alone, it is still a machine that requires crew to maintain and service.
The pilots will learn about control and manoeuvre. The craftsmen learns to construct and maintain the outer skin, as well as the inner skeleton. The alchemists train in the art of crystal tissue creation and repair. The sigilmancers focus on the preparation of the Silhouette arms. The various faculties in middle school are collectively known as the Pilot faculty in high school.
With this background, the education policy of the Pilot Academy trends towards practical application. They familiarise themselves with the skills and techniques by piloting the Silhouette Knights owned by the academy. Laihiala Pilot Academy possesses 20 Silhouette Knights, a number that is more than adequate to man a fortified outpost on the frontlines. But they are the retired models Salodrea machines that are second rate in abilities.
These Silhouette Knights has been repaired countless times over the long years, and each of them are used by several piloting candidates for training. The repeated usage has worn down the machine and it requires frequent maintenance checks, a heavy burden on the students, but also great experience for real world application. Organisation hiring Piloting faculty alumni comments that the fresh graduates has the ability to work on the frontlines immediately.
On the training ground of Laihiala Pilot Academy, a mock battle between Silhouette Knights is ongoing.
In the middle of the stone building, a red machine is engaged in battle with a white machine. They have blunt sword used for training spars in their hands, battling fiercely. The machine provided by the school has reinforced armour around the pilot seats, a design which focuses on the safety of the pilots. But a Silhouette Knight going all out is still very dangerous, so the equipment is nerfed to restrict its damage. Standard equipment is only used in practical training battles against Demon beast.
There are no empty seats on the wall surrounding the arena. All sorts of people are watching the duelling Silhouette Knights from the spectators’ seats. Training with only brawls is not real training; the analysis of the fight is indispensable. There are people recording the battle logs, studying the skills of the pilots... some are allocating maintenance spare parts as the damage piles on; some of them are observing the effects of the magic arsenal.
Most of the people present are high school students, but there is a small figure that is out of place here. Not only is the person short, he also has a cute face that is easily mistaken for a girl. That person is Ernesti. Because his stature is small, he is occupying the front seat so his vision won't be obscured by others, staring at the Silhouette Knights intensely.
He skipped the Knighthood faculty classes he is supposed to attend, overcoming all obstacles to earn the right to be exempted them. He is unorthodox in his actions, but is strangely law abiding in some areas.
In the beginning, Eru uses his cute appearance and mascot like character to gain entry. He was planning to watch quietly from the side, but he is now observing the battles and repairs up close, finding more places he can chip in. From the way he can easily keep up with the conversations of his seniors, his preparation in the last three years did not go to waste.
Getting practical first-hand experience and knowledge outside the classroom made Eru extremely happy. Apart from greedily taking part in all sorts of work processes, he is very interested in the training battles. The Silhouette Knights ― giant robots fighting before his eyes draws out indescribable emotions within him. The giant machines that emulate a knight in armour bash at each other with iron limbs wielding mammoth swords, even shooting powerful projectile spells. Eru observes the training battles with passionate eyes, not missing a single movement.
As a side note, there was a rumour that a guy was almost pulled into a twisted world after seeing the pretty boy, who can be mistaken for a girl, blushing while watching the Silhouette Knights with longing eyes.
"Eh, seems like Di will lose again."
Piloting faculty student... Helvi Öberg mumbles as she records the battle logs, a breeze blowing across the arena messes her short and curly hair.
The situation of the battle before them is clear, the red knight is struggling. Its dual wielding blades and on the offense, but it didn't break through the white knight's defense.
"Hmm, what do you think about this battle, Eru?"
Helvi, who has been glancing at the data in her hands asked Eru, who was sitting obediently beside her. Their eyes remained fixed on the arena at all times.
"The speed of Guyale's sword is slower than before. I think that is the reason why he missed the opportunity to score points off attacks."
"... I see. Now that you mentioned it, his attacks seem too casual. I thought the condition of the Knight runner is not too good. What went wrong?"
"The movement of the right arm seems sluggish. I think it is because the joints or crystal tissues have been replaced."
Helvi browses through the documents in her hand and confirms the maintenance report of the red machine named Guyale. The record states, due to signs of stress and fatigue in the crystal tissues of the right arm, it has been replaced this morning. The movement probably seems rigid because the parts are not aligned. She found the reason behind the sluggish actions of Guyale, but she couldn’t tell that that the condition of the right arm is bad. Helvi moans Eru's passion and attention to detail when watching training battles is better than those actively engaged in it. She found it amazing and wonders where his passion stems from. The white machine fighting Guyale in the arena, Earlecumber, fended off the attack and stabbed at the Guyale's chest. The horn sounded, signalling the end of the battle. The instructor judged that the spar has been won by Earlecumber. Guyale couldn’t overcome its bad condition in this battle.
The machine that was battling just now enters the workshop situated near the arena, and the pilots exited the Silhouette Knights.
The pilot of the white Earlecumber was Edgar C. Blanche, a tall and dignified man. Similar to his appearance, he is mature and steadfast, an elite among the pilots.
The red Guyale is manned by Dietrich Cunitz. Unlike Edgar, he has long blonde hair, a meek and skinny man. His abilities are top notch, but he tends to get nervous and loses his head easily over small matters, his performance is inconsistent. He seemed frustrated because he lost the match.
He started squabbling with the maintenance crew the moment he got off the machine. Instead of discussing the issue, they are pushing the blame onto someone else, even the bystanders know they won't make any headway. Helvi couldn’t stand it and butts in. She explained her findings about the arm to settle the meaningless quarrel. But Dietrich's expression lit up mid-way and smiles sarcastically. In contrast, the maintenance crew looked annoyed.
"Oh, no wonder the movement is so rigid. Maintenance is skimping on the repairs."
Dietrich is suggesting 'losing is not my fault'. Edgar standing nearby advises him sternly:
"Di, that's going too far. If the arm is not functioning well, you should adopt a different style in your fight. It’s fine if you lose after trying, but your movement seems unfocused today. It is not right to blame it all on the maintenance crew."
Dietrich's sarcastic smile disappears after being lectured in front of everyone.
"You only won because my machine's performance is sub-par, don't get cocky."
"The content of the spar is more important than winning. I am just saying that you should reflect on that."