Chapter 86 – Not That! I Want to Take a Shower!

The Villainess Takes the Cockpit

Chapter 86 - Not That! I Want to Take a Shower!

"Milea."

Letaria tugged at Milea's sleeve, fidgeting with the air of someone about to say something difficult.

"What is it?"

"I... my skin -- that is to say -- I have perspired, somewhat."

Some instinct of noble dignity was clearly at work, prompting her to compress the sentence and present the matter with maximum delicacy.

"Right, it was an intense bout. Shall I make another round of tea, cold this time?"

Milea had not caught the implication. Letaria's expression reddened, and she gave up on the roundabout approach entirely.

"Not that! I want to take a shower!"

Milea blinked, momentarily blank -- then: "Oh. That kind of request." The penny dropped.

"Hahaha! My apologies, Letaria-san. We've put you through a great deal of trouble entirely for our own purposes today."

Sean laughed openly and warmly, and turned a genuine smile on Letaria.

"Your piloting was magnificent -- truly, you gave us something extraordinary to see. Please, rest properly first. We'll find another occasion to express our thanks properly."

"I fear I showed you rather less than my best. Your kindness is greatly appreciated, Sean-san. -- Well then, if you will excuse me."

Letaria rose, offered a graceful inclination that was almost a curtsy -- the hem of her clothing lifted just enough -- and left the research room with a step that carried a quiet note of satisfaction.

The door closed. Letaria was gone.

The warm steam from the tea still drifted lazily in the air -- and the easy atmosphere that had held the room a moment before tightened, with a short silence, into something else entirely.

"-- Her origins. Are they clearly established?"

It was Sean who broke the silence, and directly. His sharp eyes fixed on Milea without deviation.

"For instance... is there any possibility that she is an augmented human?"

"D-Doctor--! That is -- surely nothing like that could possibly--"

Milea felt her heart lurch and caught herself before it showed too plainly. A cold sweat traced down her back. It was, she had to admit, a perfectly logical conclusion for a technical mind to reach: a pilot performing that degree of maneuver through Trace Mode would naturally prompt a researcher to suspect biological enhancement first.

She is not an augmented human. But she cannot tell them what Letaria actually is -- a wanderer from another world.

"Sean-san."

Steve's steady voice cut across Milea's moment of visible alarm before it could develop further.

"We have conducted a thorough physical examination on Letaria here at this station. The results were completely unremarkable -- she is an entirely ordinary, healthy young woman. She simply has the ability to pilot at that level. On her own."

He took a quiet sip of his tea and set the cup down.

"And besides -- an augmented human. Such an inhumane existence should not be permissible under any organization, given the international law and ethical standards in place today. ...Isn't that right?"

The words were delivered with a mild expression, but they admitted no argument. Sean held a brief silence, then let out a laugh and shook his shoulders.

"You're quite right, Steve-san. My apologies -- the technician's habit of following every possible avenue, however far-fetched. Please forget I said it."

Behind Sean's easy smile, Milea carefully suppressed the alarm still running through her and worked to steady her breath. She could not afford to invite suspicion now. She pressed the point further, using her position to close off any remaining opening.

"Yes -- especially in this day and age... From a humanitarian standpoint as well, dragging someone in for compulsory investigation on nothing but unsubstantiated suspicion is simply not something that can be done."

Sean nodded at that -- Milea had invoked Syn-Fibra's compliance posture, and the broader standards of the industry, as a closing argument. The move landed. All three of them exhaled very slightly, and the tension in the room eased once more.

"...There is something in the real Arden that the simulator cannot fully reproduce."

Ritte, who had been quietly studying the logs until now, opened her mouth at last.

"...Yes, I think so. The details we've been able to establish have already been shared with head office through the appropriate channels, I believe."

Milea answered as she ordered her thoughts.

"The large-scale mobile weapons platform Restful, and the related machines connected to it, all carried what appeared to be a specialized brainwave-resonance system. Arden at the time included."

The device in question -- the Arden System -- was still installed in Arden now. Milea chose the word "at the time" deliberately.

"To add a further detail: the Arden of that period also carried an extremely unusual and irregular generator, apparently the result of repeated modifications by the old Escado company."

Steve took up the thread and drew the technical conclusion.

"That said -- it, too, was highly unstable. Which is precisely why the anomalous sustained operation of the Grave Arc that occurred in that extreme engagement against Restful... may not have been a technical inevitability at all. It may be closer to a 'miracle,' in a sense."

"A miracle... is it."

Sean turned the word over quietly.

For a scientist -- or an engineer -- nothing provokes the impulse to investigate more than a phenomenon that cannot be reproduced. But Arden had since been refitted with the latest components, and the data conditions from that battle no longer existed in the same form. The honest reality was that there was no further way to trace a set of circumstances that had already changed.

"In any case -- the message comes through clearly: the pilot you have here is an anomaly far beyond anything our standard expectations could account for. Thank you for allowing us to see this. Valuable data indeed."

Sean offered the thanks with a satisfied smile.

"The Grave Arc is a formidable weapon, without question. But in its current form, without... certain conditions, it could not perform beyond the level of a high-output Photon Saber. In that state, we were finding it difficult to see a path toward further development. Today's engagement showed us a genuine glimpse of the potential this weapon holds -- and for that, we are grateful."

Ritte rose to her feet, and bowed carefully to Milea and Steve -- a bow that carried genuine professional respect.

"For our part, it has been an extraordinary source of help. It is a demanding weapon to deploy, I agree -- volatile, with a narrow operational envelope. But I have no doubt whatsoever that its potential, even from a purely military standpoint, is exceptional."

Steve nodded in deep agreement with Milea's words.

"Well, then -- shall we call it a day? We've come all the way to Seldia, after all. I intend to take a little time and see something of the city."

Sean stretched with the easy air of a traveler who has genuinely decided to enjoy a new place.

"In that case, I've already arranged accommodations. I'll have one of our staff show you to the entrance."

Ritte bowed again -- "That is very kind" -- and Sean smiled with warmth: "Much appreciated." And so, the tense and careful day -- one long engagement with the sharp inquiry from the Perda branch -- drew to its close, intact, without incident.