February 8, 1615 Central Calendar, 04:50

San Redentore District, Runepolis

Robin was filled with an intense feeling of elation and rushing adrenaline, bringing her autobike, the refurbished M1605 Trychaser, on this semi-trial run after a very long time being separated from each other like a long-lost friend. Her entire being shook with excitement, enduring the battering of the rushing wind while her gloved right hand continued to twist the throttle handle further, bringing this piece of cutting-edge technology of its time to reach the top speed of 105 kilometers per hour almost in a blink of an eye. The rumbling of the new fire-type motor engine tore through the silence of the empty forest road. With nothing but a pitch-black world around her, it was hard to believe that this countryside-like scenery is still in Runepolis.

As Robin focused on going home while savoring the feeling, though, the headlights soon came to illuminate the sight of something white standing in the middle of the road, unmoving in the autobike rider’s way.

‘Huh!? What the—’

In the split second, Robin reflexively pulled both brake levers, bringing the Trychaser drifting along the cold asphalt as she maneuvered the bike to reveal its right flank toward the mysterious figure. Within seconds of closing the distance and they were about to collide, it—they, the white-clad figure—suddenly jumped, somersaulting in the middle of the air over Robin’s head before landing gracefully as Robin barely managed to stop the speeding autobike several meters away.

“GAH—what the—HEY! THAT WAS DANGEROUS!” Robin yelled, feeling her heart about to jump out from her chest.

She swore she just heard a distorted chuckle in response, as if that person was not about to get slammed by a speeding vehicle. In return, she indignantly gripped the throttle harder and twisted it several times, letting out loud menacing bursts of its engine roar.

The white-clad figure turned around and stepped into a spot lit by the streetlamp, making their appearance clearer for Robin. They wore a bronze mask, sculpted in the likeness of a weeping lady wearing a wreath on the crown of their head. Under the lighting, the eye holes were pitch black, offering no windows to the soul that Robin could discern. Meanwhile, the white garb they wore was a hooded robe with golden details that reached their knees, along with bandaged arms visible through their clothing.

Those were enough to tell Robin who this person is: a fellow secret department member, but their fashion indicated that they occupied a higher position in the hierarchy, a supposed gatekeeper of secrets possibly even older than the Warring Kingdoms period itself, all the way to the first iteration of their organization during the Second Milishial Emperor’s era around nine thousand years ago.

“………”

Robin’s new, custom helmet and visor that completely covered her face somewhat hid her expression, making her feel secure under the emotionless gaze of that mask. Despite being already serving the secret department of the Ancient Ministry for a decade, the sheer mysterious aura emitted by these supposedly ancient figures always creeped her out. She’d rather limit the interactions with them as much as possible. However, there’s no doubt that these figures can do more than the scope of the black-clad masked men’s ability and it wouldn’t hurt to get into their good graces, if one can.

For some reason, one of them suddenly appeared before her. Whoever sent them must have wanted something to do with Robin.

“Gobusirobo pa gobu bi regijiragijida ba?”

“……Heh?”

Then, amidst the idling noise of the Trychaser that prevented the total silence of their stare-down, the masked figure spoke first in a tongue familiar to Robin but hadn’t spoken since long ago. It was Sheban, a language spoken by the people of Uqbar where Robin spent her early days in the Ancient Ministry’s secret department running around the region in pursuit of an ancient legend.

Robin raised an eyebrow, ‘Huh…? Is this bronze mask testing me…? Okay, then, but I hope I’m not rusty enough…’

She inwardly huffed before clearing her throat and answering in the same language.

“Bebegija’n zagisa baga’pa zabasi gijiseragen. Bobo gogododagi’zo gijugusi gijide, rogugijijizo bosesu jogo’bi gijide buseda bodo’bi bangija gijiba bagi.”

The figure hummed, sounding pleased. Maybe because they liked what Robin was saying, or the fact that she still spoke this difficult language fluently. It’s been a long time since she visited Uqbar, after all, and the people outside the Sheban Cultural Group often gave up on the first try learning it.

“Gosepa jobadada. Bobo dadi’pa, padabugijigijin’gu boboben’zo godudage gusu dare’bi, pazapaza gagiji’zo zabodiragijida. Bonbagi’n buzan’gi bangijiragijide, pasepase Zusubi Bebegija’pa, Jogujijin’n bose raze’n jijigegi’n zabibi’gu, paga Gijingegi Degibobu’bi dodede zidudujogo dugubabeduduzegasu’do, zenbagi gijiji’gu zanzan gusu’bi gidasiragijida. Padagiji’pa, biri’bi zozogiji’n zozogijugu’zo gadagesu da’bi, Bebegija’gu biri’bi, gijigijogo’do gijide base’zo bandobu giji, base’n gijinmo’zo zogubobu guru jogi gijigodo’zo dududagedabadadaga bozegu.”

They were straight to the topic, it seemed.

“…Ruzubagiji gugisu’do banjijidasa?”

“Padagijidajiji’pa, padagijidajiji’n robudebi’bi babagu bagisi, gidugu zero gabada, zizideza Jogujijin’bi gijigen’zo degibijo gijiragu. Gijibagiji, gobo badegi’gu, rogiji biri’gu gijoburu’bi dage sasebagi’do gorodadasa, padagijidajiji’pa dabugan’n zagidagi jogogin’zo jogogi gijide gisunza…”

“Jasiragu’re, gogijinmagibagu. Zepa, gugujijidugurage’n Jogujijin’n gijijudugu zuren’pa zoguzegijoguba?”

“Padagijidajiji’ba gogobiba bangijin’zo rodede gosi, banbegi babugijoge’n gisagi’zo dugujiji gijide gisu gagijijuba. Rogugugu jogi gijisage’gu bibesu’re.”

“Goguzeguba. Bagabede, gasigadodogozagiragijida.”

“Ronzagibagi. Gijogugebi’zo gage duguzubeseda, gogijiribabu rubupa sesuzegijogu.”

Robin felt that the conversation was about to end and shifted her posture on the autobike in preparation to leave. However, the figure’s hand shot up.

“Rogu zidodogu. Bosebasa zegiji’do gigijogijo’bi zanbagagige gibunzasogu?”

Robin raised an eyebrow, not expecting that question, but she nodded.

“Zagi.”

“Jijaga, zaseba’bi gunden’zo dabonze risu’re. Gose’gu Bebegija’bi zebisu gagidegigen’n bodoza.”

“Gasigadodogozagiragijida. Zoba’bi babiba gasiraguba?”

“Gija, bosegijijogo bibobu’n jijara’zo gusu dugurosi pabagi. Goregipabu’zo gobabe gijide, rabodobi rogogijipabegozagiragen.”

At those words, Robin wordlessly twisted the Trychaser’s throttle and turned around, getting away from the bronze mask as soon as possible. She didn’t bother looking back as she rode on, knowing that she will only find nothing but empty air there. But after confirming that masked figure’s intentions, Robin breathed a sigh of relief. As much as it was fun to exchange a Sheban language conversation with someone after a long time, this unexpected but somewhat inevitable encounter between secret agents quite irked her due to the suddenness of the situation.

‘Man, there’s so many things happening this week…’

05:00

MOASEC Apartment Complex

After waking up much later than Meteos, Walman cleaned himself and dressed in the best clothing he had in his wardrobe in preparation for going to the Temple of Saoirse in downtown Runepolis for celebrating the Water Goddess Day. While waiting for the time of departure, as they were supposed to take the first bus heading there one hour later, Meteos picked up his tools and holed up inside the drawing room until that time comes.

However, doing so at a time when the sun has yet to even rise was too much for Walman, but he was also too restless to sit on the couch and do nothing. In the end, he decided to walk to the underground parking lot to see if, by any chance, their teacher is already there. He also brought his grimoire along to call on Meteos in case Robin really came.

“Huh, is that her?”

Eventually, someone did come to the quiet parking lot riding an autobike and slowed down in search of an empty parking slot. Judging from the clothing and scarf, it was indeed Robin.

But what she was riding was not the scooter Walman knew she had. It was a thin yet sturdy-looking autobike painted in silver and red with a pair of large silver metallic-colored tubes protruding on its backside—from what Walman once read, those were exhaust pipes for fire-type engine-using vehicles. In addition, it has striking gold-colored horn-like protrusions above its headlights.

And it was loud.

Normally, Walman, who was not used to hearing such a rare type of engine, will think that it sounded unpleasant. But come to think of it, that autobike’s sound pales in comparison to a magic turbojet.

However, now that their teacher was here, as Walman was about to come over to Robin and her autobike, he reached for his pocket to grimoire his silver-haired friend.

…………

“Intriguing.”

Around twenty minutes later, after letting Robin rest for a moment, take a bath, have breakfast, change clothes, and so on, she and Walman were back at the underground parking lot, this time joined by Meteos, who uttered that word upon seeing the parked Trychaser. As Robin had anticipated, the autobike became a topic of conversation to pass the time while waiting for the time for departure.

“Why, thank you,” Robin preened. She was glad that her students appreciated the Trychaser’s awesomeness and let them circle her ride to inspect it closely. In the meantime, she took a quick glance at Meteos and Walman’s attire.

These students of hers were also dressed very neatly for the occasion, as expected, looking fresh and practically glowing in Robin’s eyes. It was only natural, given that they were going to attend an annual religious holiday ceremony that people from their home province of Enysfal celebrate. Since Robin herself was also going to accompany them as their mentor and an esteemed Mage of the Ancient Ministry, she couldn’t afford to look like the messy-looking magical engineer she was infamous for among her colleagues before the two came.

Even she has standards.

Walman opted for a combination of multiple shades of brown, paired with a white checkered winter scarf. However, Meteos Roguerider seemed to put in extra effort in the clothing department: a maroon button-down shirt under a black double-breasted suit jacket which was complimented by a white necktie in a Caelus knot, properly tailored for his size and meticulously ironed before sprayed with cedar perfume which seemed to be his favorite scent. He also wore black trousers, matching gloves, and polished black dress shoes, as well as a double-collar black long coat to withstand the cold winter of Runepolis with a loose belt dangling around it.

This little gentleman seemed to take the motto of “clothes make the man” to heart. He definitely had the intention of dressing to impress, and Robin was impressed, alright. She dared to say that Meteos could indeed pass as a member of the noble House of Pendragon with that silver hair who, for some reason, decided to dress like a Legendorga. It was a different kind of charm that is more expected from a mature high-born than a young teenager, no matter how one looked at it.

But Robin and Walman of this timeline had no way of knowing that Meteos’ choice of wardrobe, as well as his overall mannerisms, were partly cultivated from the secret centenarian’s past life where his occupation as a Grand Mage would often see him summoned to the palace and spoke directly to the Emperor himself. Thus, he felt that his choice was only natural for him.

Looking at him, Robin and Walman shared a glance and raised an eyebrow at each other, apparently having come to a certain assumption.

“Speaking of which, Teacher…” calmly asked Meteos who was maybe either oblivious or uncaring, interrupting an air of mischief-filled understanding between the two with his curious question. “Did you just casually ditch your scooter in exchange for this prototype?”

The bespectacled brunette nonchalantly answered, “Yeah. To tell you the truth, I was the Trychaser’s original test rider when it was developed back in sixteen-o-five as one of my first assignments after joining the Ministry. Sometime later, the Trychaser was damaged and the development experienced a hiatus, so I was assigned to join other projects ever since. Now, the Ground Facility’s team seems to be finishing its repairs and still want me to be its test rider. I don’t see what’s wrong with that and thus, I traded my scooter for the bike.”

“Ten years…? That’s long,” Walman deadpanned at the fact that Robin seemed to do that without second thoughts. “But you work at the Alpha Edge too, won’t that interfere with your schedule?”

Robin grinned at that. “That’s the best part. It doesn’t. Old Man Hendrickson said to me that I’m free to use it as my everyday ride as long as I stop by their workshop for servicing periodically, where they will collect the data by that time. That’s where I serviced my scooter, anyway, so it changes nothing.”

“Oh, lucky you.”

“They could’ve chosen another personnel,” Meteos pointed out.

“You’re not wrong,” Robin admitted. “But I get to ride the Trychaser again, so who am I to question their decision?”

“………You must have quite a history with this autobike to be so fond of it,” Meteos murmured and contemplated from where he stood. With this information, he had just obtained another clue about Robin’s possible past that she hadn’t told them yet.

In the previous timeline, there was an entry about a machine called the M1605 “Trychaser” in the Ancient Ministry’s Clearance Level Red (secret department and above) archives. It was described as a fire-type motor-powered prototype autobike specially designed to handle rough terrain (which was also apparently classified as street-legal by law, for some reason) and speed through a combination of lightweight chassis and its rare engine. Most importantly, though, it featured an unusual array of jury-rigged Ancient Sorcerous Empire’s Clearance Level 4 arithmetic unit attached to its dashboard for controlling various functions that the machine had at the time. The surviving photographs and documents completely matched the autobike that Robin brought home, making it a high possibility that this Trychaser was indeed the M1605 recorded in the archives.

Furthermore, according to the archive, the M1605 was involved in only one Ancient Ministry operation in the same year it was built: a joint operation with the police to investigate the so-called “Uqbar Magic Gas Mutation Case” which happened to be the only major case happened that year. The primary actor in the operation was an agent called “Flamberge,” with no further information provided. As for the autobike itself, it was destroyed at the end of the operation and there was never any intention to rebuild it. Instead, the data obtained from the M1605 was used to develop another machine that will be used by the Imperial Police Headquarters in the decades long after that.

If what Robin had just said was a half-truth version of what might really happen, then this “Flamberge” might be his teacher of this timeline. Various circumstances have changed so much that this world’s incarnation of M1605 was allowed to survive to the present day. Just like Robin herself. Yes, definitely a good thing.

‘If that’s true, then my teacher fought the monsters of Uqbar as a seventeen-year-old?’

It was questionable for the leadership of the Ancient Ministry of that time for their reason of picking a teenager and then sending her to—wait, no. Meteos remembered that Robin ran away from her mother due to family issues. The Ancient Ministry might have been interested in Robin’s skills, accepted her, and gave her a condition that led Robin to take the mission to Uqbar in exchange for using their power to grant her anonymity and a chance to follow in her deceased father’s footsteps just as she desired at that time, a very easy string for the Ancient Ministry’s higher-ups to pull. That was all just a speculation in his mind, though. The truth might have been gone very differently.

On the other hand, the thought of a young girl defeating the monsters of Uqbar, a whole group of superpowered serial killers, with martial arts skills, magic, wits, and a cool bike, sounded like something out of a superhero tale but with a modern flair to it. It’s as if she could be a hero of another story.

How crazy that was if it was actually real aside, Meteos suppressed any more thoughts about it and decided to focus on the present. He would just play along for the moment.

“Teacher,” he called out. “Can you tell us more about your bike?”

“Sure thing!” Robin chirped before gesturing them to come closer and crouched near the bike’s engine. The two followed suit.

“First of all, how familiar you are with fire-type motors for street vehicles?”

Meteos and Walman glanced at each other before the latter answered. “I’ve read about it, but some reminder would be nice.”

“Right, to start the explanation, this bike’s full name is the M1605 Trychaser, the only one of its kind. One day ten years ago, the guys at the Ground Facility thought of something. ‘What if we can provide the military or police or whatever with a versatile bike that they can use to go anywhere easily whether there is a paved road or not, but also faster than any other bikes, lightweight, strong, and reliable? And so, the Trychaser was their answer. Emphasis on ‘Try’ on the ‘Trychaser,’ since they are, you know, trying.”

The two chuckled at how Robin presented her explanation.

“You can’t be serious,” Walman said, half amused, half in disbelief.

“I’ll have you know that the Ground Facility guys are not the best in giving names.”

“Huh.”

“Anyway! They got the materials and design done, but back then, there was no small lightning-type motor small enough to bring a vehicle close to 90 kilometers per hour, even if it is two-wheeled and made as light as possible like this bike. So, the engineers chose the more ‘explosive’ option in order to gain more power. They resorted to using the liquid magic red stone fuel just like the one used on the Heavenly Vessel engines, but how do they use fire magic to move this one? Let’s look closer.”

As Robin continued to explain, she pointed to the parts of the engine with her finger.

“As its name suggests, the fire-type motor uses fire elemental magic as part of its mechanism, where the liquid magic red stone fuel will be mixed with air before entering this component, called a cylinder, through this inlet port. The mixture will then be pushed upward and compressed by a moving part called a piston before the enchanter activates the fire magic spell, converting the mana into an explosion and hot gas that expands and push the piston downward to the bottom of the cylinder. Since the piston is connected to a rotating shaft at the bottom by a metal rod, this downward movement causes the shaft to rotate, which is connected to the rear wheel via a chain. When the shaft’s rotation brings the piston upward again, the remnant gas from the spellcasting leaves the cylinder to the exhaust port at the same time as the new mixture enters before the process is repeated to form a cycle. And that’s the simplified version of how the Trychaser’s fire-type motor works.”

With the way the Trychaser’s fire-type motor works, it was basically a Milishian equivalent of a 250-cc liquid-cooled one-cylinder 2-stroke engine arranged in a vertical configuration, fueled by a tank capable of containing 9 liters of 10% purity liquid red magic stone fuel. Speaking of which, this type of fuel and its purity level was the same as the one once used by the Alpha-1 and Beta-1 Heavenly Vessels. Its usage for military aircraft was quickly abandoned not long after its introduction due to how wasteful it was when used by their engines, but it remained in limited use with fire-type motor vehicles.

Simple and lightweight, yet durable since this prototype used mithril alloy, in terms of maximum speed, it was indeed superior to even the lightning-type motor of the present day. However, the engine’s construction, which was specifically designed to use 10% purity liquid red magic stone fuel, meant that the Trychaser’s engine also shared the drawbacks of a two-stroke engine, namely high fuel consumption and low efficiency that even improving the fuel’s purity level can’t fully solve this. It also needed an exhaust port to expel the remnant gas and magic particles from the cylinder.

Unlike a mechanical two-stroke engine that used gasoline, this did not result in air pollution since the expelled magic particles, which were harmless without a spell, will quickly be dispersed into the atmosphere and enter the planet’s ‘mana cycle,’ a cycle of energy that will ensure that magic power in this planet will never run out. Therefore, from an environmental standpoint, a fire-type motor was just as clean as any other magic engine.

However, its subpar fuel efficiency and the noise it emitted were what caused this type of engine to be less popular in the Holy Empire, because although it was not banned by law, the average Milishian people who were used to the quietness of their everyday vehicles did not want an autobike that sounded like a machine gun fire every time it moved and use more, different fuel to reach a certain distance than the mainstream engine (they don’t really care about top speed, which was one of the main strengths of a fire-type motor).

Apparently, Robin further described that the Trychaser was upgraded with a new fire-type motor that’s more fuel-efficient and easier to the ears. Outwardly, it looked similar to the old engine as far as she remembered.

“Oh, that’s good,” Meteos responded to that revelation. “By the way, what specifically that this upgrade entails?”

“Well, it all can be found on the manual—ehh?”

Robin’s voice trailed off and her eye twitched as she realized something.

“Ah, merda (shit).”

“?”

“!!! ……I… uh… I forgot to ask for the manual,” she blurted.

“You forgot to ask for the manual,” Meteos repeated, raising his eyebrow in disbelief.

His teacher nodded slowly, her cheeks taking a reddener in embarrassment as she brought her gloved palms to cover her face. She was so excited to ride the Trychaser again that she had ignored everything else. Worse, she also actually only told the barebones of her bike’s upgrade, so without a manual, Robin lacked a material to answer her students’ questions. She had roped herself into an unbearably embarrassing situation that she wanted to crawl into a hole and lay there.

They would not learn this until they read the proper manual, but this refurbished Trychaser actually received a downgrade. With the removal of the machine’s dashboard-mounted arithmetic unit, it lost several of its capabilities: no afterboosting mechanism and nitrous oxide canister, no spell projector mechanism, and no control panel. At least the autobike still had the manacom that Robin can use.

“………” Meteos sighed as he stood up. “I can see it from your face when it comes to your bike. Maybe you really can’t wait to ride it and simply forgot about it. I guess that’s understandable.”

Robin responded with a muffled groan. “Kid, you’re so considerate… but this is so embarrassing.”

Meteos glanced at Walman, gesturing at him with his chin to urge him to talk. Taken aback, the brunette thought for a second, choosing his words.

“Umm… Hey, let’s look at the bright side! If you brought the manual with you, we’ll never stop talking about it, missing the bus and being late to attend the ceremony.”

Looking up to meet his gaze, Robin let out a sigh and chuckled. She looked at her students with an expression filled with relief.

“Always looking at the bright side, huh?” she said, standing up. “Very well, let’s do that.”

At that moment, Robin’s grimoire rang. Pulling it from her jacket to answer the call, she excused herself and walked over to the empty corner away from the boys. As she departed, Meteos came over and stood next to Walman.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Well, there must be something so interesting about it if Miss Robin seems so fond of it.”

“I’m more interested in the inner workings of this autobike than anything, at the moment. I’d love to disassemble and analyze it when I got the chance. But Walman, what crossed your mind when she talked about ‘upgrade’ to the engine?”

“Hmm… let’s see, if that’s how the fire-type motor works, then if we can somehow produce a 100% purity level magic fuel and a good enough magic circuit, then we can eliminate the explosion and just make the enchanter turn the fuel into gas to make the mechanism work, I think? Also, with how much mana that kind of fuel can contain, I imagine that 9 liters of fuel this bike carries can make it reach many, many times of its original range.”

A 100% purity level magic fuel is capable of being infused by ten times more mana than the Trychaser’s original fuel. In addition, with better magic technology and proper magic circuit arrangement, one drop of it can be used to reach this Trychaser’s original 104 kilometers range at least, possibly more.

“While that might be right, I don’t think that is the path of development that we should pursue.”

“Huh?”

Walman tilted his head. As for Meteos, while Walman’s suggestion made sense, there was no way he would settle with that. That was nothing more than a half-hearted Mu/Gra Valkas/Japan tier of magical improvement. If the August Star of Heaven were to shine even brighter, it needs to master the one thing it was known—magic technology—to the utmost perfection, or a ‘controlled abuse of magic,’ as some would morbidly call it.

A certain group of purists would consider this statement heretical (while being actually heretics themselves, so it is a case where they pointed a finger to someone, but forgot that they pointed three more fingers back at themselves), while another certain group of people would derisively call this development as unfair and/or straight up screaming “this shit is so fucking stupid and illogical what the fuck is retarded bullshit is this!? AAAAAAAAAA—”

Okay, and?

Though to be fair, this mentality can and will happen to the Holy Empire itself should it remain too weak when that fateful day comes. That’s why, to avoid humiliating itself to all parties concerned, it needed to be strong. If it can dissuade nations from fighting by the mere mention of its name, the better. If it can continue to be prosperous and respected regardless of the presence of those two interlopers in the future, the better. The more they can stand equal to the interlopers, the better. The more overpowered it is, the better. It always seems impossible until it’s done.

Anyway.

Meteos nodded, bringing up his fingers. “Lightning, fire, wind, water. The reason why there are various types of liquid magic stone fuels and engines that can only accept just one type of fuel in our country is because our technology is not advanced enough to completely purify the magic stones and turn them into a 100% purity level magic fuel.”

“Ah, so, the reason why we use the engines the way we are is more because we are forced to, rather than wanting to have it that way? With limitations and stuff.”

“Yeah. What we should strive to achieve is to advance the magic technology to create a powerplant that can use the 100% purity level magic fuel. Imagine a universal fuel that can be used by any vehicle, capable of being infused with mana so dense that it can transform even a guzzler into an efficient machine with a bit of tweaking. It’s something out of dreams, don’t you think?”

Hearing it, Walman was reminded of a certain device.

“Ooh, so it’s just like powering a Manadriver! But instead of mana drawn from a person, it uses an artificial container of some sorts, like a lightning motor’s fuel cell or a fire motor’s fuel tank?”

“Heh, heh, a Manadriver engine… I guess everything will become Manadriver in the end.”

The silverette couldn’t help but think that that device’s name itself was so fitting. But it also reminded him that if they wanted to realize that dreamlike engine, it all came back to how good can they improve their magic circuit technology first, and how fast.

Shortly after that, Robin returned and called out to them in a cheery tone.

“Boys, there’s a change in plans! As it turns out, you don’t have to use a bus to go to the downtown! One of the Ministry staff said that he’ll pick you up with his car and go to the Temple together. He’ll be here soon.”

“Really?” Walman blinked. “That’s convenient.”

The woman’s smile never left her face as she just shrugged. Seeing this, Meteos decided to call out on it.

“Did you do something, Teacher?”

“Well, who knows? Don’t you think that good boys who are diligent and smart should be given many rewards in life?”

“Huh, I like that,” Walman said, his back straightening.

“………”

Meteos couldn’t help but let out a mirthful snort. Being facilitated for their convenience is one thing, but the Ministry giving them a free ride to go to places whenever they wanted was not really what he expected the higher-ups to do. Why? It was so mundane.

As for Robin, however, she wasn’t actually the one who asked a staff to do her apprentices a favor. It was one of the things told to her by the bronze-masked figure who suddenly appeared in front of Robin on her way home. Maybe the upper management was amused considering what transpired in the Ministry lately, or something, and decided to do this not unlike a father giving his children a candy for being a good kid. Either way, Robin decided to just roll with it.

It was then that Robin and Meteos noticed a movement from the corner of their eyes and immediately turned to look at the entrance’s direction, spotting an entering automobile.

‘What a beautiful car,’ one might think, fitting for someone of wealth and taste.

Its smooth and streamlined design was further accentuated by its clean metallic white paint, while those twin ‘grills’ in front of the car and its angular headlights were dead giveaways of whose production line this vehicle came out of. Known as the S40, it was the last year’s model E-segment (executive car in HME’s car classification), a 4-door sedan manufactured by Tonitrus, a company easily recognizable by its insignia and the fact that they were the ones dominating the luxury car niche in the Holy Milishial Empire’s automobile industry. However, it seemed that Tonitrus’ seemingly unshakable grip in this field would be challenged by another famous manufacturer, Wellston-Martini, who just unveiled their WM HG5 concept car at an auto show held in January this year.

But the point is, this S40 car is expensive, even to the Runepolians.

And from inside, someone familiar to the three with an equally striking physical feature emerged. A tall male with neck-length green-colored hair—a bird demi-human—of Robin’s age stepped out from the driver’s seat with an impassive expression and walked over to the group. Seeing him, Robin’s smile widened and she yelled in delight.

“Ooh, hey, Artie! You’re finally here!”

“Artie?”

Robin was too oblivious to the dark clouds that seemingly gathered above the man’s face upon hearing that name, so oblivious that she could not avoid a hit to her forehead courtesy of the verdette’s middle-finger flick.

“Owww!” Robin whined, nursing the aching spot.

“Of all the times you have to be acting so friendly to me, it had to be now…” the man glowered, but upon turning to Meteos and Walman, his face immediately took a friendlier expression, but not friendly enough that he smiled at the two boys.

“Roguerider, Falkenhausen, it’s been a while,” he greeted, offering his hand for a handshake.

“Mister Arkland,” Meteos nodded and reached out with his own, followed by Walman.

This man was one of the attendees in Meteos and Walman’s GP presentation three days ago, Arthur Arkland. Apparently, he was the one who was sent by the circle that the bronze mask belonged to.

For Meteos, the whole premise of him being here was quite eyebrow-raising, since a relatively high-ranking secret department agent like Arthur, for some reason, was told to fetch a pair of young teenagers on a cold Sunday like this. At least, the man’s usually flat face did not show a hint of displeasure for being here, meaning that if he did, he hid it well. Though his offended look when Robin called him by the name “Artie” was amusing.

“Miss Robin says that a staff member has offered to give us a ride to the Temple of Saoirse in the downtown. But we didn’t expect it to be you, sir,” Meteos said with a tone as polite as he could.

“………”

Arthur glanced at the pouting Robin for a moment before letting out a faint grunt.

“I was… around here, when I remembered Robin talked about you last night during a break. Since I was also planning to see around the temple this Sunday, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to pay a visit to you.”

“I did…? I mean, of course! Man… you’re so kind to us, Artie.”

Arthur’s eye twitched.

“Oh, but I’m afraid that my car’s last seat is already reserved for someone else, so I can’t give you a ride, Professor.”

Robin looked at him with an obnoxiously smug grin. “Mah, don’t worry about me! I was about to say that I’m going to ride on my new bike, anyway.”

There was something indescribable in those blue eyes as Arthur finally turned to look at the parked Trychaser nearby when Robin casually pointed at it with her thumb. He stared at it for a good few seconds, then back at Robin, before he scoffed.

“That’s good! ……Now, if there’s nothing else, are you ready to go?”

“Sure thing.”

“Yes.”

“Then this way.”

Ushered by Arthur, Meteos without hesitation walked over to the car. However, Walman stayed for a moment and turned to ask his teacher.

“Umm… are you disliking each other or what? Mister Arkland looked like he wants to scold you earlier.”

“Oh, ehehe, don’t worry, that’s just harmless banter between friends. He probably already knew that I’m getting a new bike. Now get going, kid, before we’re late!”

Walman realized the time they’re in and nodded frantically, running toward the car in an attempt to open the door next to the driver’s seat. But as soon as his hand touched the door handle, Arthur called out to him from his seat, stopping him.

“Hey, you.”

“Y-yes?” Walman stammered, unsure of what he did wrong.

“Use the backseat like your friend.”

The brunette wanted to ask why, but this seemingly stoic man turned out to be grumpy enough that he might scold him for asking too much. So, he did just that and entered the car, finally sitting alongside Meteos. The car’s interior was comfortable and warm, thanks to the combination of onboard air conditioner and the soft car seat. Walman, who had never been inside a luxury car before, looked around in amazement. His friend, on the other hand, already made himself comfortable without much noise.

“Man, this is a great car…” he sighed, his shoulders relaxing in bliss.

Arthur glanced over his shoulder and said, “We are going to stop at my house to pick up my sister along the way.”

“We understand. By the way, thank you for your hospitality, Mister Arkland.”

Satisfied with Meteos’ words of affirmation, Arthur lightly nodded and proceeded to turn the car on. The simple quiet whine of the S40’s engine greatly contrasted the blaring noise the Trychaser makes as Robin happily revved its throttle in order to warm up its fire-type motor.

‘An obnoxious woman with an equally obnoxious ride. What a fitting match,’ Arthur thought dryly, seeing Robin several meters away about to don her helmet with a stupid grin on her face.

Shortly after that, a car and an autobike emerged from the apartment complex’s underground parking lot and headed to downtown Runepolis while the others who were heading for the same destination started to board the Ministry’s buses. Suffice to say, the Trychaser earned many looks from the bystanders as it passed by.

In front of Arkland Residence, Daybreak Town, Junis District

“Brother, where did these children came from?”

“There is something wrong with your phrasing.”

“And who is that woman riding that strange autobike over there?”

“Morgan, what is wrong with you?”

As they stopped by Arthur’s residence as promised, that exchange happened between Arthur and his sister, Morgan Arkland, who was waiting for their arrival.

And it was done in a completely flat tone of voice.

Maybe it runs in the family.

Seeing this, Walman nudged Meteos.

“She’s looking at us, what should we do?”

“Just smile and wave, Walman. Smile and wave.”

Walman nervously did just that. But because his nervousness, he looked like someone suffering from constipation.

“H-hello, miss.”

Morgan gave them a brief glance through the open side window before turning to look at her brother again.

“……Brother, you never came home bringing two young teenagers I never seen before, surely there must be an explanation for this.”

“………Just get in the car,” Arthur grunted.

Also, speaking of traits, they learned that Arthur’s sister was actually his twin sibling. The differences were that Morgan had a slightly rounder face, softer facial features, and her longer hair that reached her shoulders. As his eyes followed the woman who was about to enter the car, Walman pouted, seeing the reason why he wasn’t allowed to sit at the front.

After entering and sitting at the seat preserved for her, Morgan turned to look intently at the two, waiting for the explanation from her brother.

“………”

“This is Meteos Roguerider and Walman Falkenhausen. Believe it or not, these two are engineers belonging to the Ministry of Ancient Sorcerous Empire Countermeasures, my workplace. And you two, this is Morgan Arkland… my twin sister.”

“Good morning, Miss Arkland.”

“N-nice to meet you.”

“………”

The stare down continued for a few seconds before something unexpected happened.

“!!!”

Morgan’s face broke into a smile. In fact, it was a smile so sweet that it made Walman blush upon seeing it. She was indeed nothing like her brother, Meteos inwardly deadpanned.

“I see! So these two boys are your colleagues from work? To think that you finally bring your friends home, but I did not expect them to be… how old are you, darling?”

“Fourteen,” Meteos answered.

“Fourteen years old! Oh, my goodness! Are you like, super smart or something? Did you skip classes in school?”

“Well…”

Ignoring Walman who was a bit red in the face, Meteos shrugged and raised his hand in a so-so gesture, causing Morgan to let out a giggle.

At that moment, Robin approached from behind on her Trychaser and removed her full-face helmet.

“Hello there!” the bespectacled brunette cheerfully greeted. “I see you have met my apprentices. I am Robin Calvello, nice to meet you!”

Morgan’s eyes widened in recognition upon hearing that name, and she quickly turned to face her.

“Ah, so you are Professor Calvello! My brother talked a lot about you when he’s home!”

“Oh, gods, give me strength…” Arthur sighed, burying his face on the steering wheel. This was supposed to be the blessed Water Goddess Day. He didn’t understand why he should suffer from his sister’s antics.

Ignoring him, Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Good things, I hope?”

“Well, he said that you are a crazy woman, but someone who, I quote my brother, ‘kicked his arse so many times during sparring matches.’ I think he’s being grumpiest the most at that time when he returned home literally nursing his sore bottom,” Morgan stated, innocently spilling Arthur’s one of, it not the greatest embarrassment in his life as if it was natural.

Robin burst out laughing.

“Hah! Those are good things, alright! It’s nice to know that Arthur thinks so highly of me.”

Outwardly, the sour-faced older verdette remained silent, seemingly mourning the loss of his dignity and trying to focus on the part of fulfilling the duty as ordered by his superiors. Said children was whispering to each other.

“Meteos, what did we just have gotten ourselves into?”

“A situation where we better off watching from the sidelines.”

“Oh, very wise,” Walman nodded in agreement.

It would be better not to butt in the conversation between the adults, especially the one where one of them looked really miserable upon being teased by the other party.

“……His forms are decent, but it’s still a bit rough on the edges. That’s why out of thirty-two matches, the best your brother can do is—”

Finally, Arthur decided to interrupt, pointing out the existence of the other passengers in the car. “Can you two save it for later? Don’t want the children to be late to the ceremony, don’t we?”

Robin, for her part, had the decency to stop blabbering and looked bashful.

“Oh, right, the children,” Morgan said. “Yes, brother. Let us go.”

Looking at her brother, who as far as she knows mostly indifferent to other people, the sight of him being considerate to a pair of strangers was surprising, yet endearing. She didn’t know if this is how Arthur behaves in his workplace or not, but nevertheless, Morgan’s respect toward him just went higher.

“………”

On the other hand, however, Arthur looked uneasy at the way his sister smiling and giggling at him. But in the end, he settled for silently stepping on the throttle pedal and departed for their destination.

The pre-dawn sky heralded the rise of an azure heaven by the time the scenery had changed into the urban landscape of Runepolis. The quiet morning on that holiday gradually turned into a livelier one as they approached the Temple of Saoirse, with blue banners gradually popping into sight one after another. The closer they to the house of the gentle goddess, the faster Meteos Roguerider’s heartbeat became, knowing who was also there at the end of the road. His gaze was firm into the distance, but he savored the blessing of living a second life still.

Currently Publicly Available Information

DAYBREAK TOWN

The Daybreak Town is a town in central Runepolis, part of the Junis District south of the government district of Albion. To the west and south of Daybreak Town lies the Lafleya District, to the east the Bankside Town, and to the north across the Great Sumter River is Junis District’s skyscraper-riddled town, Kingston.