In the Melea's hangar.

Before the Atalante, which had been brought in by Moheib, Molly was scratching her head.

"I think we'll have to replace all the arms and legs, won't we? If it gets this broken in a single sortie, a written apology might not be enough."

The left arm was especially bad; she judged it should be replaced rather than repaired.

The staff from the Third Armament Factory were checking the unit.

Mors and the others, having quickly finished cleaning the cockpit, had strained expressions as they looked at Emma's piloting records.

"—Unbelievable."

Mors's words spoke for everyone involved.

They brought over equipment one after another, connecting it and gleefully collecting data.

While the Atalante had been wrecked in a single sortie, they seemed impressed that Emma had managed to pilot it without it self-destructing.

"Amazing. This is amazing. That Second Lieutenant is the real deal."

Watching the excited Mors and his team, Molly let out a sigh.

Deciding she couldn't repair it herself, she moved away from the Atalante and found Doug.

"Oh? Doug-san, what about your work?"

"—It's over. I feel awful."

Regarding the captured pirates, it was decided that only the leaders were needed.

Since Claudia's unit was handling all the cleanup, the Melea's unit had returned to the mothership.

Molly also knew what was happening outside, so her expression was slightly clouded.

Then, she looked up at the Atalante.

"I wonder if Emma-chan is okay?"

To Molly, who was worried about the absent Emma, Doug shook his head while looking down.

"It must be tough for her."

◇

Arriving at the warship docked alongside the Melea was Emma, who had showered and changed into her military uniform.

She had dark circles under her eyes and her face was pale.

There was a queasy, unsettling feeling in her chest, and her once-shining eyes were slightly clouded.

(I feel sick.)

Emma had thrown up in the cockpit, but it wasn't just a result of being violently shaken. While that was one reason, the main factor was something else entirely.

As Emma staggered down the ship's corridor, crew members of this warship passed by her.

"Was that the Second Lieutenant everyone's talking about? She's pretty cute."
"I heard someone called her 'The Flash'."
"That's a cool nickname."

Emma heard the voices of the two men as they passed by laughing, but she didn't have the energy to care.

Her destination was the room of her former instructor, Claudia.

(Why was I summoned? It's probably a reprimand for wrecking the unit, right?)

The Atalante, being an experimental unit, was a more expensive machine than the mass-produced Nevan.

If she destroyed it, a reprimand was unavoidable.

Staggering, Emma reached her destination and pressed the switch next to the door.

Her fingerprint and retina were then scanned for confirmation.

A part of the door immediately turned into a monitor, displaying Claudia inside the room.

"Colonel Claudia, this is Second Lieutenant Emma Rodman."

"—Enter."

Permission to enter was granted, and the door opened automatically.

When Emma said, "Excuse me," and stepped inside, the gravity in the room was different.

Claudia, who was in the middle of training, had increased the gravity in the room.

Seeing that she had such training equipment in her private quarters, Emma was genuinely impressed. "A Colonel is amazing."

(When you become a Colonel, you get high-end training equipment in your room. But this is a little tough.)

For Emma, who was not feeling well, the room's environment was harsh.

Noticing this, Claudia returned the gravity to normal.

Claudia, dressed in workout clothes, had her long hair tied up in a ponytail.

She must have been pushing herself hard before Emma arrived, as she was drenched in sweat and out of breath.

(She just got back, and she's already training?)

Perhaps her subordinates had taken over the post-battle cleanup, as Claudia had started training the moment she returned.

"Colonel, are you training right after returning?"

"—My subordinates were nagging me to rest."

"Wouldn't it be better to rest your body?"

"If I were to give up over something like this, I would retire as a knight."

Emma couldn't believe that Claudia was training despite being told to rest.

Claudia, sitting on the bench of a training machine, was looking at Emma.

A bewildered Emma asked Claudia the reason for her summons.

"Um, uh..."

"—Second Lieutenant Emma Rodman. I wanted to talk to you."

"Huh?"

Claudia, saying she wanted to talk, told Emma to sit down somewhere nearby.

Then, facing each other, she began to speak about today's battle—and also about her first battle.

"I was wrong in my assessment of you. I will correct it and apologize. —I am sorry."

Seeing Claudia's expression, which seemed to blame herself somehow, Emma hurriedly denied it.

"N-No, um! I destroyed the Atalante. I'm still a useless knight."

"Considering the circumstances, it couldn't be helped. There's no need to be modest. You, who piloted that machine as if it were your own limbs and—killed the enemy, are a fine knight of the Banfield family."

Hearing that she had killed the enemy, the color drained from Emma's face.

The reason Emma had thrown up in the cockpit was because she was aware that she had killed people.

Seeing Emma tremble slightly, Claudia changed the subject.

"You told me you wanted to become a knight of justice like Lord Liam, did you not?"

"—Yes."

"I will not stop you, whatever you aim for, as long as it does not harm the Banfield family. However, you, who mistakes that man for a hero of justice, must know the truth."

Being told to learn the truth, for some reason, she recalled River's words.

The words that Liam, just like them, was someone who held life cheaply.

Claudia began to tell Emma about Liam.

"Since I began serving the Banfield family, I have fought by his side many times. Not once has he ever claimed to be a hero of justice. In fact, it's the opposite."

"Eh?"

"He said—that he is a villain."

Emma couldn't believe that Liam, adored by his people as a wise lord, would declare himself a villain.

"That's a lie. Because!"

"It is a fact."

Emma couldn't accept that the person she admired was evil.

As Emma tried to argue, Claudia cut her off, saying, "Listen until I'm finished."

"He killed a man at the age of ten. The first one he cut down was a corrupt official, and it's in the official records."

"I-I've heard that, but I thought it was just a rumor."

"It's the truth. A mere child cut down a corrupt official. What do you make of that?"

When asked, Emma recognized it as just another episode typical of Liam.

"I suppose he couldn't forgive the existence of a corrupt official."

"I envy your simplicity."

Seeing Claudia's slight smile, Emma thought she was being made fun of and was shocked.

"—I was involved in the formation of the Banfield family's military during its expansion."

Suddenly changing the subject, Claudia spoke her frank opinion of the soldiers aboard the Melea.

"I advised that all the old guard soldiers on the Melea should be discharged. I believed they were unnecessary for the Banfield family."

Emma looked down.

From her perspective, having been on the Melea for a short time, Claudia's judgment seemed too cold out of sympathy.

"Those people have their reasons, too."

"I know. They, who had been the core of the military, had their leadership taken away and were pushed to the frontier. It's natural they would have feelings about it."

"You knew?"

"Of course. Lord Liam and Lady Christiana, taking that into consideration, formed a relatively safe frontier security force for those who wished to remain in the military. To you, it may seem like a demotion, but from the perspective of the higher-ups, it was a gesture of goodwill towards the old guard."

When Liam took over the Banfield family, the core military personnel were completely replaced within a few decades.

She understood that there were soldiers who were not happy about that.

However, it seemed Claudia could not forgive it.

Even now, she seemed to think they should have been discharged.

"I couldn't forgive them."

"Why? Those people are also working hard—"

"While a child was walking the path of a demon, those incompetents were sulking about being pushed aside?"

Claudia spoke of how she cried when she heard about Liam's childhood.

"To you, he may seem like a hero of justice, but he never once claimed to be one. Did you know? At the age of five, his parents forced the title and territory upon him and abandoned him on Hydra."

Emma knew the fact that Liam had inherited his title and territory at the age of five.

But it was so taken for granted that she had never thought deeply about it.

Liam had been treated as a wise lord since he was a child.

Many people assumed it was because he had the talent for it.

"Hydra was in a terrible state back then. The military was useless, and most of the officials considered bribery and embezzlement to be normal. In such a situation, the only ones he could rely on were those by his side. —Can you even comprehend how much he must have suffered?"

When told of Liam's situation again, Emma couldn't say anything.

Could she have achieved the same results from that situation? she wondered.

Claudia explained why she disliked the Melea's unit.

"As the reforms progressed, there were many fools who tried to assassinate him. Among the old guard, there were even those who planned a coup d'état."

"What?"

Emma's eyes widened in shock at this fact she had not been told.

Claudia spoke of that time.

"They were fools who prioritized their personal gain over the happiness of the people. The crew of the Melea might be relatively decent, but from our perspective, they're just sulking children. —Have you ever thought about it? The meaning of a mere ten-year-old child killing someone with his own hands?"

Claudia's gaze questioned Emma, who had just killed for the first time.

Having experienced killing, Emma was able to understand its true meaning for the first time.

"—Ah."

But no words came out.

Emma was made to realize that she hadn't truly seen the person she admired.

"The reason he proclaims himself to be evil is because he is prepared to become a villain to protect his people and make his domain prosper. He made that decision as a ten-year-old child—and yet the old guard whines about being cast aside. It's laughable, isn't it? They're able to live as soldiers thanks to his mercy, yet they're convinced they've been abandoned."

As Emma remained silent, Claudia suppressed her agitated emotions.

"—He chose a painful path for the sake of justice. If you still aim for justice, you should at least know the extent of his resolve."

Emma looked down and whispered "Yes" in a faint voice—and Claudia stood up.

And she placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If it weren't for you, we would have died. I won't tell you not to worry about it, but—remember that you also saved lives."

"—Yes."

Claudia did not blame the crying Emma.

She spoke gently to Emma.

"Orders have come down for us to return to the capital planet. Both our units will be returning to Hydra. —At that time, I will revise your evaluation. It was my mistake not to see your talent. If you have any requests for your next assignment, tell me. That is all."

As the conversation ended, Emma was about to leave when—she spotted a doll by the bed in the corner of the room.

"—Ah."

Claudia, who had forgotten to hide the doll, turned red up to her ears but approached Emma with a deadpan expression.

"—You saw nothing. Understood?"

"Eh? Um..."

"You saw nothing. Right?"

Bringing a doll to bed was something unimaginable from the usual Claudia.

However, Emma recognized that doll.

"That's a Liam-kun doll, isn't it?"

"—Y-Yes, it is."

"I have one too!"

As she said she had one too and tried to show a picture on her terminal, Claudia crossed her arms.

"Don't be ridiculous. This is a rare item sold only at the shop in the mansion; it's not available to the general public. Lord Liam is very strict about merchandise modeled after himself and doesn't easily grant permission. This doll is one of the few items permitted for sale only within the mansion—"

"Ah, this is it!"

When Emma showed her the picture, Claudia was surprised and then—stared intently at the image.

"Where did you get this!?"

Claudia was surprised because the picture showed the same Liam-kun doll she had—a stylized doll of Liam with a cheeky, mean-looking expression.

Moreover, it even had a signature on it.

Claudia was trembling, but Emma paid it no mind and explained how she got it.

"I got it from an old man I know. I don't know whose signature it is, maybe it's just graffiti? It won't come off, so it's been a bit of a problem."

The scrawled signature was unrecognizable.

As Emma scratched her head and laughed, Claudia grabbed both her shoulders.

And with considerable force.

"Ow. That hurts, Colonel!?"

"Second Lieutenant Emma Rodman. You are fortunate. Let me give you some advice. Never, ever erase that signature. You will regret it."

"Eh? Ah, yes."

"—That is all."

Emma looked curiously at the crestfallen Claudia.

And so, the conversation between Emma and Claudia came to an end.