Hangar.

As Rosetta's unit was brought in, Marie, who was on standby, gave instructions to those around her.

"The young lady of the Claudia family will become Liam-sama's legal wife. Do not forget that any mishandling will be a disgrace to Liam-sama."

The hastily gathered maids nodded, and the knights lined up.

The soldiers were preparing the red carpet with great haste.

"Hey, where's the doctor?"
"Waiting in the back."
"G-get her some clothes! Get her some clothes ready!"

The hangar was noisy.

Marie let out a sharp cry.

"Don't get excited, you fools!"

Rosetta emerged from the cockpit of the unit.

She was supported by female knights on both sides.

Rosetta, who was completely exhausted, had her eyes swollen red.

The knights, soldiers, and maids lined up, and the knights drew their swords and performed a sword salute.

The soldiers saluted, and the maids curtsied to welcome her.

As Liam's legal wife, she was the same as the master of everyone present.

Marie also knelt before Rosetta.

(I never thought I'd be involved with the Claudia family like this, across time.)

"Rosetta-sama, we have come to escort you. Now, please receive treatment first."

Rosetta looked bewildered.

Marie, who had heard about the Duke's family's situation beforehand, did not panic.

She stood up and smiled.

"There is no need to be afraid. These people are all retainers of Liam-sama. --You all, escort Rosetta-sama."

The female knights supported Rosetta and headed further in.

The maids followed, and as they disappeared, the knights sheathed their swords.

"Well, next is --"

As Marie was thinking about what to do next, Kukuri emerged from the shadows.

"Marie-dono, I have urgent business."

"Later. I am busy with Liam-sama's orders."

As Marie tried to ignore her, Kukuri persisted.

"Regarding that Liam-sama, he is being attacked by the Barkley family."

Marie's forehead twitched, and her eyes became bloodshot.

The surrounding knights broke out in a cold sweat from Marie's intimidating presence.

"--What did you say?"

"It seems that the people who were spying on the Claudia family decided that Liam-sama was in the way. They were assisting them."

The wilderness of the match venue.

I was surrounded by pirate mechs.

Among them, I spotted Derrick's unit.

It seemed he had prepared a new model specifically.

"Liiiiiiaaaaaam! I've been wanting to see you!"

Derrick spoke in a deliberately intimidating voice, but this was the same guy who used to run away from me in elementary school.

I had been looking for him to play with him, but he kept running.

Honestly -- he's such a boring guy.

"You're not running away today, are you?"

"You, I'll praise your courage for being able to act tough in this situation. But don't think you'll die easily. No one will come to help you. I've already bought them off. Not only that! Those who are monitoring the Claudia family think you're a nuisance!"

Since I didn't understand what he was saying, I thought about it carefully.

I had heard that there were officials watching over the Claudia family, and if I married Rosetta, their jobs would be gone.

They must have been worried and panicked.

"I see. By the way -- is this all you have?"

"Huh?"

The number of mechs surrounding me didn't even reach a hundred.

"So, I asked if this number was enough. This is the unveiling of the new Avido, but I couldn't go all out in the last match. Prepare a few more."

"You, you're looking down on us! Attack!"

At Derrick's command, the pirate mechs surged towards me.

They seemed to have pretty good performance.

Although they looked like pirates on the outside, they might be new models.

"Nice. Now I can test the Avido's performance a little."

I gripped the control stick and moved the unit -- and the surrounding mechs were blown away.

"Oh, that's amazing."

I praised Avido because the reproduction of the "Issenshoryu" (One-strike style) was better than before.

"I should praise Nias too."

While thinking about additional rewards, the pirates kept coming.

As I checked the condition of the mechs and fought them, I was moved by how smoothly Avido moved.

"Good job, Avido! Now, this one!"

It was good that I could test Avido's performance against Derrick and the others.

They felt a little more challenging than the pirates I usually fight -- or so I thought.

But that was all.

As I was defeating them, some mechs started to try and escape.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

I chased after one and delivered the finishing blow, but the surrounding mechs didn't move.

Derrick was also silent.

"Alright, let's continue. Entertain me!"

The hundreds of pirate ships trembled at the footage being filmed.

"--What is this?"

Someone muttered.

"A, a demon."

Liam, who was happily hunting pirates, looked like a demon to them.

New models were being scrapped one after another.

The captain shouted.

"R-retreat! If we stay here, we'll attract the attention of pirate hunters!"

The captain decided to flee, abandoning Derrick, but an official who was on board stopped him.

"What about our promise! Aren't you going to eliminate Liam?"

"How are we supposed to defeat someone like that! You guys do the assassinating or whatever!"

The official, flustered, blurted out.

"We asked you because we failed!"

Then, figures wearing black masks emerged from their shadows.

They swarmed out and began killing the pirates.

"W-what is this!"

The captain's head was crushed by the large hand of Kukuri.

"Oh, they're fragile, aren't they? Old pirates had more backbone. Now then -- Mr. Official, I have something I want to ask you."

"Hii! I, I am an official of the Empire!"

Kukuri and his subordinates surrounded the official after killing the surrounding pirates.

"No, you see, there was a statement I couldn't just let slide. I'm curious about who you were trying to assassinate."

Kukuri's subordinate, laughing with a "kuhikuhi," stabbed a knife into the official's thigh.

"Iiiit huuuuurts!"

Kukuri grabbed the head of the crying official.

"Oops, my subordinate was rude. I'm troubled by my hot-blooded subordinates. Now, a question. Who were you trying to kill?"

Even as the official cried out, no help came.

Looking at the monitor, the Banfield family's fleet was attacking them.

"W-why..."

Kukuri told the trembling official.

"After I informed Liam-sama of the facts, he ordered me to deploy more mobile knights because it would be interesting. He said it would be perfect for testing Avido. You still have new models, don't you?"

From the subdued pirate ships, pirates in new models were thrown onto the planet.

If they ran, they were killed, and if they refused, they were killed -- they had no choice but to fight Liam.

Looking at the footage from the wilderness, Liam was toying with the pirates who had descended.

New models were destroyed one after another and piled up.

They looked nothing like the same mobile knights. The difference in performance was so great, they looked like something else.

The new models were no match for him.

"P-please help."

"Yes~?"

"Please help me! I'll tell you everything! Please help me!"

To the official's words, Kukuri smiled only with the corners of his mouth.

"Too baaaad~. --I won't forgive you. Also, actually, we've already investigated everything, so we don't need your information. Well then, goodbye."

Kukuri crushed the official's head.

Hangar.

The officials who were supposed to monitor Rosetta were in a panic.

"Hey, what's going on!"
"The pirates are too weak, they won't be able to kill Liam with that."
"In any case, secure Rosetta. Then they won't be able to do anything."

As they were discussing this, they heard the sound of high heels walking.

Click -- click -- the sound strangely entered their ears.

Before they knew it, a woman was standing near them.

"W-who is it!"

As one of them said that, his head flew off.

The woman held swords in both hands.

They were shaped like thick meat cleavers -- like cleaver swords.

"I'm surprised that the orders of that fool are still valid after two thousand years. I still remember the face of the man who turned me into stone and laughed."

The officials didn't understand what the woman was saying.

As they reached for their weapons, their arms were severed.

"You think you can get away with this --"

They tried to shout that they were imperial officials, but the woman said she knew that.

She stabbed a sword into one official, and with her free hand, grabbed the jaw of the leader and -- crushed it.

"Ogyaaaaaaah!"

"Don't talk. You are going to die here. --I can't help but be happy to be able to kill the subordinates of that man who tormented me for so many years."

The woman, who wouldn't listen to them, seemed insane.

One of them shouted.

"W-we received the orders of the late Emperor --"

"That's right! That's why I'm killing you!"

That official was cut in half vertically by the woman and died.

The cut was clean.

"I'll praise your loyalty in following that fool's orders. So, I'll send you to that fool in hell. Oh, and make sure to tell him -- Marie has returned."

The officials trembled.

They knew about the events of two thousand years ago due to their jobs.

"Marie? Don't tell me, Marie of the Three Knights!?"

As the surprised official's head was cut off, the woman's cheeks flushed.

"I'm glad I could serve Liam-sama. I can feel that my two thousand years of suffering were for this. This must be fate."

Immersed in her own joy, the woman brutally murdered the officials.

There were no more enemies descending from the sky.

Debris from destroyed units lay scattered around, and the only surviving unit was Derrick's, whose legs had been severed.

"P-please help me! I'll do anything! I'll do anything!"

I was starting to find it boring as he only begged for his life.

I threw away the pirate unit I was holding and stepped on Derrick's unit.

Derrick, desperately trying to escape with his hands, was truly comical.

"You'll do anything?"

"I won't go against you again. So, please spare my life! I don't want to die!"

"You don't want to die. Then, what should I have you do?"

Giving him hope, Derrick started babbling.

"Tell me anything! Money, women, whatever you want, I'll give it to you! Th-that's right. How about an Elixir? You want one too, right?"

Does he have an Elixir?

"I do want that."

"I have a special device. With that, you can get as much as you want. If you save me, I'll prepare as much as you want."

Watching Derrick beg for his life was the best feeling.

However, I wasn't interested in Derrick's story.

My guide would prepare what I wanted.

Like the Alchemy Box or the mysterious sword, if I wished for it, it would come into my hands.

There was no need to rely on him now.

Besides, Elixirs can be bought with money.

"Hmm, I have enough of all of them. So, give me your life."

"W-wait! That's not what we agreed!"

"Did we agree to anything?"

In my past life, I was deceived by debt collectors and suffered a miserable fate.

They never kept their promises.

So, there was no need for me to keep them.

"Are you seriously going to kill me! You said something like you'd save me earlier!"

"Ah, that was a lie. There was no reason to keep you alive in the first place. Well -- it would be troublesome if you came back to life with an Elixir. I'll kill you thoroughly."

"St-stop ittttttt--!"

"It's your fault for going against me."

As I plunged the blade into the cockpit of the new model, Derrick's voice fell silent.

With the blade still stuck in, I lifted the unit, and it seemed communication had been restored.

The timing was so perfect, I felt like they had cut off communication while I was enjoying myself.

If this battle had been broadcast, the match would surely have been stopped.

Thinking that, I felt very lucky.

The elementary school teacher shouted with a pale face.

"Q-quick, the rescue team!"

It seemed they were in chaos, but it was understandable.

"Teacher, it's useless. He's already dead."

As long as you participate in a match, you bear the risk of death, which is the rule.

Even if Derrick died, it wasn't my responsibility, and I wasn't afraid of a frontier baron defying me.

With a swing of the blade, I tossed Derrick's unit away.

I'll trample on it.

"Calling your allies, and this is all you amount to? Even when gathered, weaklings are still weaklings."

I laughed, and the teacher was stunned.

The number of wreckage scattered around me is -- hundreds of units, so it can't be helped.

Still, I was satisfied that Avido's performance had improved since before.

It was a good test run.

I'll thank Derrick for that much.

Spectator seats.

Someone muttered.

"Who let those guys fight?"

That was the honest thought of the nobles.

The Barkley family, who had grown stronger as pirate nobles.

And the Banfield family, who had grown stronger through pirate hunting.

It was obvious that if the two fought, it would end in tragedy.

In the silent venue, the employees of the arms factory struggled to contain their laughter.

Nias looked like she was about to burst out laughing.

"It was a shock that I couldn't see the new model from the First Arms Factory being beaten up by Avido. However, this clearly shows the difference in technological capabilities."

Other arms factory employees were the same, and the employees of the First Arms Factory hastily left the spectator seats as if fleeing.

Wallace looked at Nias and was dumbfounded.

"This is why I have trouble with engineers and scientists. Do you know what will happen from now on? Liam has declared war on the Barkley family."

Kurt told Wallace, who knew how dangerous that was.

"Liam did it knowing what he was doing. There must be a winning strategy."

"Really? If not, I'll cry."

"More importantly, what about the match?"

As Kurt worried, the cancellation of the tournament was announced.

It seemed the elementary school had also judged that it was impossible to continue in this state.

Nias drooped her shoulders.

"No~! I wanted to see Avido's heroic deeds more."

Wallace looked at Nias, who seemed truly disappointed, and was exasperated.

"You can say that in this atmosphere. Honestly, everyone involved with Liam is a weirdo."

Wallace shook his head as if to say, "What a pain."

Brian (´；ω；｀) "If only weirdos gather around Liam-sama, doesn't that mean -- Wallace, are you also a weirdo? Oh no... this is painful."