Ves never expected that just as the expeditionary fleet arrived at its first resting point, the Swordmaidens already wanted to leave.

He immediately grew worried.

Splitting up his clan was the last thing he wanted to see! What if the Swordmaidens encountered trouble? It was impossible for the main fleet to come to the aid of his protégé and the women he appreciated the most.

With at least hundreds of light-years separating him from the former pirates, he wouldn't be able to do anything but fret in his seat if they fell into some sort of ambush!

Ketis already anticipated what Ves was worried about.

"It's fine, Ves." She stepped closer to his desk and smiled in reassurance. "Venerable Dise and Commander Sendra have already spoken to Colonel Pendulum's staff. The Infinity Guards still have some squadrons at their disposal that can be assigned to escort us for the duration of our trip. The travel time between the Life Research Association and the Heavensword Association isn't too long as long as we use the established trade routes. It's not a dangerous journey."

He knew that, but that didn't ease his worries.

"Let's take a step back and start from the beginning. Why do you want to separate from the main fleet and visit a different state?"

His former student transmitted a virtual brochure to him. Ves quickly manipulated his comm in order to project what he received.

[WELCOME TO THE GREATER OMANDERIE FESTIVAL, THE MOST EXHUBERANT CELEBRATION IN THE HEAVENSWORD ASSOCIATION!]

"You Swordmaidens want to go through all of this trouble just to join a party?"

Ketis impatiently shook her head. "The Great Omanderie Festival is more than just a party. We're not heading out here just to go on a holiday and have fun. We have greater goals in mind. As long as our trip succeeds, we'll be revived!"

That was an ambitious claim! Ves couldn't help but grow skeptical.

"How?"

"By taking part in the open competitions that are held as part of the Great Omanderie Festival. The Heavensword Association holds many competitions, but none are as large as this one while at the same time allowing entry to foreigners. The timing is just right for us. As long as we depart next week, we'll make it in time to take part in the preliminaries. There are a lot of people arriving from all across Majestic Teal, so the competition organizers have to cut down a lot of participants before the main event begins."

"I see. So it's that kind of contest." Ves murmured.

He understood Ketis and her fellow sisters better now. He himself initially shot to prominence when he participated in the Leemar Open Competition back when he was just a Novice who looked up to the Friday Coalition as a blessed land.

That was a long time ago. Ves briefly indulged in his memories. He remembered the kindness shown by Master Carmin Olson and also appreciated the time he spent with Oleg Vorn.

It was too bad that greater events forced them to become enemies. Ves still respected Master Olson, but that did not stop him from wanting to tear down her state!

His life-changing experience with the Leemar Open Competition allowed him to understand the context of the Great Omanderie Festival a little better.

Perhaps other participants merely wanted to join the fun, but the Swordmaidens were never the vain type. If they wanted to join a public spectacle, then they likely had greater considerations in mind.

She quickly confirmed his suspicions.

"A core attraction of the festival is the contests it holds. In truth, it holds dozens of different contests, each of them challenging the participants in different ways. For now, we've decided to apply to four different contests. There is the duelist swordsmanship competition, the group swordsmanship competition, the duelist swordsman mech competition and the group swordsman mech competition."

They were basically contests that pitted individuals or small groups in either personal combat or mech combat.

Ves grew a bit worried.

"How dangerous are these contests? If their format entails using real swords and real mechs, then accidents can easily occur."

"It's true that the competition mandates the use of real equipment rather than practice tools, but it's not as dangerous as you think. A true swordsman or swordswoman won't acknowledge any contest that is held with using fake weapons. That said, the contests are primarily meant to showcase skill, so good equipment alone won't be able to carry anyone to victory."

She briefly explained the individual formats of the aforementioned competitions.

For the personal combat contests, participants were allowed to use their own swords as long as they were 'pure'. They couldn't incorporate any active tech that allowed them to heat up, transform or perform other weird tricks. The organizers were more than willing to provide standard-issue swords if necessary, though it was better to commission one of the many swordsmiths in the Heavensword Association for a custom piece.

"So you and your fellow Swordmaidens are allowed to use your own greatswords?" Ves eyed the weapon floating behind her back.

A while ago, Ves issued Breyer alloy greatswords to every Swordmaiden. While it wasn't the best second-class material to forge swords from, they were leagues better than anything that Ves had access to at the time.

Of course, Ketis received something better. She already possessed a sophisticated CFA greatsword. Ves had modified it for her multiple times in order to obfuscate its origin and strengthen some of its attributes.

Most notably, Ves incorporated a portion of Unending alloy to her personal weapon so that it became even more potent!

"We can indeed employ our own swords." Ketis happily smiled. "Still, we shouldn't underestimate the weapons that other participants can bring. The seeded participants who come from Heavensword all have heirlooms or custom-forged masterpieces."

"I see. If the personal combat contests all mandate the use of real swords, how will you be able to stave off death and injury?"

"A true warrior should never quake from the threat of death. We Swordmaidens have conquered our fears." She stated seriously before lightening up a bit. "Don't worry, though. The festival is supposed to be a pleasant occasion, so not a lot of blood will be spilled. There are multiple special shield generators active in every arena and venue. With the help of special protective suits that are highly resistant to cuts, these shield generators are constantly on the lookout for any threatening incidents. As soon as a blade begins to cut any suit, the shield generators will erect a protective energy barrier around the victim in question to stop any wounds from going further."

"I see. Nothing bad will happen as long as the relevant systems are working properly. Have there been any accidents in the history of these competitions?"

"There have been a couple of nasty accidents in the early history of the festival, but the Heavensworders learned from them and increased the number of redundancies. The personal combat contests are perfectly safe these days."

The reputation of the Heavensword Association was at stake, so he didn't doubt her assertion.

"Who will participate in these single and group contests?"

"Everyone Swordmaiden who can pick up a weapon." She grinned. "Aside from Venerable Dise, Commander Sendra and the other veteran Swordmaidens will all take part as individuals or in groups. We'll even be bringing our trainees. They probably won't get past the preliminaries, but this is a great learning experience for them. I think Sendra will score the highest."

"Are expert pilots allowed to take part?"

"Of course not. Both expert candidates and expert pilots are on a whole other level. There are too many problems related to their participation so they are just left out entirely."

There were both practical and philosophical reasons to leave high-ranking mech pilots out of the equation. As humans who attained a higher life phase, they became comprehensively stronger through mysterious transformations. This was not something that involved pure skill anymore.

Ves asked a few more questions about the personal combat competitions. He learned that the quality of swords actually mattered quite a lot.

A stronger and sharper sword could cut through or overpower a weaker and more fragile blade!

If this was the case, then Ves didn't possess full confidence in the weapons of the Swordmaidens. Aside from Ketis, the rest would be wielding weapons that could still be chipped or cracked during each serious bout against a seeded contestant.

"This is part of combat as well." She shrugged. "There are many ways to prevent your blade from getting damaged. You just have to work harder than those who wield better weapons."

Ves wasn't sure why the contest organizers simply restricted the format so that every participant could only make use of standardized swords. It seemed that the competitions didn't revolve around pure skill after all. The native participants probably enjoyed a greater advantage in this aspect.

"Let's move on to the mech competitions. Will you be utilizing your own mechs as well?"

"No." The female mech designer replied. "The variety and capabilities of mechs diverge so much from each other that it's too chaotic to let them all in. The single and group mech combat competitions will all mandate the use of a single landbound swordsman mech model. Let me show you so you can see for yourself."

She projected a white-coated machine that looked a bit boring in his eyes. While it possessed a good range of motion and decent mechanical strength, the model was bland and neutral in other aspects.

The good part about this was that the overall design was very stable. It offered good protection to the mech pilot, both because the cockpit was well-protected and because the mech did not possess the strength to pierce through the frontal armor and sink in deep with a sudden blow.

Of course, it was an entirely different matter if one of the mechs jumped in the air and drove the tip of its sword down the chest of another mech that had been toppled onto its back.

There were plenty of ways that a duel could end in tragedy!

"How will the mech pilots escape death or injury?"

"There are stronger safety precautions in place." She told him. "Not only are their stronger shield generators in place, the cockpit ejection system is extremely fast. It only takes a tenth of the time for the cockpit to launch from the rear compared to other ejection systems."

"That's not a guarantee for safety."

She looked a bit downcast. "You're not wrong. Mechs are big, dangerous and incredibly powerful in the right circumstances. While the safety precautions work well enough in one-on-one duels, they sometimes have trouble with coping with situations that can arise from the five-on-five group matches. That's where most of the accidents take place these days."

Despite acknowledging these risks, Ketis left no doubt in her tone that the Swordmaiden mech pilots would not miss out on this risky event!

"What are your goals for all of this?" Ves probed. "I can understand it if you feel the need to test or prove your martial prowess, but this sounds like it's about more. Are you hoping to win the contests?"

"Not particularly. We'll be doing our best, but the competition is too good. We just need to put up a good showing in order to help us achieve our real aim. We want to attract a lot of recruits."

"You can recruit qualified personnel while remaining in the main fleet. There are plenty of people to pick up at our next destination. Port systems are never short of job seekers looking to join a good crew."

"It's not the same, Ves. The kind of women we need for our Swordmaidens are very rare in civilized space. While we are in the process of raising a batch of trainees, it takes far too long for them to mature. We don't want our combat strength to be limited to a single mech company. We'll only become less relevant as the other mech forces expand their mech piloting ranks by the thousands in the coming years."

"I would never neglect the Swordmaidens."

Ketis lowered her head. "I know Ves, but not everyone shares your high regard for us. If we want to hold our own in the clan, we need to raise our strength in the most direct way possible. We need to acquire strong swordman mech specialists whose fighting styles and outlooks are compatible with ours. In our opinion, there should be plenty of them among the Heavensworders and sword enthusiasts flocking to the Great Omanderie Festival. This is our only chance to revitalize the Swordmaidens!"

Ves faced a difficult choice. He had a lot of misgivings about this trip, yet as his eyes fell on his student's nervous and downcast expression, he didn't have the heart to reject her proposal. She was looking forward to this trip so much that it would crush her and her fellow Swordmaidens if he played spoilsport.

"Very well." He reluctantly decided. "The Swordmaidens can go if they want."

"Yes! Thank you, Ves!"