Ch.37037. Who Dares

Demeia Academy was thrown into chaos upon receiving information that the uninhabited island serving as the comprehensive evaluation stage had been occupied by the Resistance.

While it was widely known that the Resistance harbored grievances not only against the Empire but also against Demeia Academy, this was the first time they had launched such a direct attack.

This was Demeia Academy, where the children of the Empire’s key figures attended, not to mention descendants of the imperial family who might become the future rulers of the Empire. It was certainly not a matter to be taken lightly.

Academy Director Lucas and all staff members urgently convened an emergency meeting to assess the situation.

“Do we have any information about the situation on the island?”

“The Resistance bastards seem to have planned this thoroughly. They’ve currently deployed interference fields across the entire island, blocking long-distance communication magic and spatial movement magic.”

Brianna gritted her teeth. She had heard rumors that the Resistance’s movements had been concerning lately, but she never expected them to launch such a direct attack.

Regret washed over her—they should have captured and killed those radical terrorists long ago.

Brianna vowed that once this crisis was resolved, she would tear those bastards to pieces.

However, confirming the safety of the cadets was the priority now. She had removed the formal contract restrictions for Ian just before communications were cut off, but they had identified a total of seven Resistance giant mechs.

No matter how superior Ian’s piloting skills were compared to other cadets, expecting him to defeat seven Resistance fighters was wishful thinking.

For all they knew, Ian might have already fallen to the Resistance by now.

“How long would it take to reach the island from the nearest territory?”

“At least a day, sir.”

“Even if they’ve already departed, that’s not enough time.”

Forces had been quickly dispatched from nearby territories to the island, but there was a physical time constraint. Who would have thought that establishing a training ground on an island that required a day’s journey by sea would cause such problems?

Academy Director Lucas felt the urge to clutch his throbbing head. In the end, all the faculty could do was pray that the cadets would survive until help arrived. A sense of helplessness and devastation settled over the conference room.

“D-Director!”

One of the professors who had been maintaining magical communication with the dispatched forces shouted in an excited voice. His face displayed a mixture of disbelief and relief.

Academy Director Lucas instinctively realized that some significant news had arrived.

“What is it? Speak quickly.”

“We just received a communication from the island.”

“From the Resistance?”

Academy Director Lucas asked with suspicion.

“No, from a cadet! We received a communication from Cadet Gilbert Lion Heart!”

“Gilbert? You mean…”

“The one known as the troublemaker…”

Though perceptions had improved considerably, among the faculty, Gilbert was still labeled as a troublemaker.

However, the professors who taught Gilbert’s courses had different reactions. Having observed his changed behavior throughout their lectures, they knew better than anyone that he had become different from the rumors.

Particularly, Professor Alexander, who taught giant mech operations, and Professor Brianna, who had taken him as her direct disciple, held a certain expectation.

“Connect the communication.”

“Yes, sir.”

Academy Director Lucas directed the connection of the communication magic with the same sentiment as Professors Alexander and Brianna. Soon, the magical communication was established.

[First-class division cadet Gilbert Lion Heart requesting magical communication connection to report the current situation.]

Gilbert’s disciplined voice resonated through the conference room. His characteristically sharp eyes, though tinged with fatigue, still gleamed with intensity.

Academy Director Lucas, setting aside formalities, immediately demanded a briefing on the current situation.

“Cadet Gilbert. Can you briefly brief us on the current situation?”

[Yes, sir. At approximately 3 PM, seven unidentified giant mechs, presumed to be Resistance forces, were detected. Their targets appeared to be the new cadets. Cadet Ian Tigris Linebarrel responded with an academy standard giant mech. However, due to numerical disadvantage, he struggled and was knocked unconscious by concentrated fire.]

“Unconscious? Well, that’s not the main concern right now. Continue your report.”

[I was on standby nearby and proceeded to rescue Cadet Ian before continuing the mission. I have successfully destroyed all seven unidentified giant mechs. Excluding cadets who were eliminated early from the comprehensive evaluation, there are thirty minor injuries, twenty serious injuries, and zero fatalities. For detailed information, please check the records stored in the artificial spirit.]

“All seven giant mechs destroyed?”

“By a cadet who just enrolled?”

Commotion broke out among the faculty. It was shocking enough that there were seven Resistance giant mechs, but the fact that a new cadet had destroyed all seven was hard to believe. However, as Gilbert mentioned, this could be verified by checking the information recorded by the artificial spirit, so the agitation soon subsided.

The details could be sorted out later.

“Well done. We’ll send a recovery team immediately. Please hold out until then.”

[Understood.]

Academy Director Lucas ended the magical communication and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the worst-case scenario he had feared did not materialize. Dealing with the aftermath would be a headache, but for now, he was satisfied that the cadets were safe.

“Professor Brianna and Professor Alexander. I want you two to go to the island as soon as possible, bring the cadets back, and conduct an investigation. Additional personnel will be sent once the investigation team is assembled.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll prepare immediately.”

Professors Brianna and Alexander rose from their seats and headed straight for the teleportation magic circle. After their departure, the faculty meeting proceeded swiftly to address the aftermath.

***

Following the Resistance attack incident, Gilbert had to spend some busy days. Having single-handedly shot down seven Resistance giant mechs, he needed to assist the investigation team as a witness. Since the information stored in the artificial spirit had limitations, the opinions of Gilbert, who had directly confronted them on the scene, were necessary.

Moreover, the fact that he had operated a giant mech despite Ian’s formal contract became an issue. At the time, he had acted without second thoughts due to the urgent situation, but it was generally accepted that a giant mech with a formal contract could not be operated by others.

The formal contract method involved using a knight’s unique magical pattern to form a contract with an artificial spirit, which recognized the knight as the authorized operator of the giant mech.

Therefore, to operate someone else’s giant mech, one would need to replace the artificial spirit.

However, Gilbert had operated the giant mech with the artificial spirit that was mentally contracted to Ian, without any such procedures, which was controversial. Fortunately, the matter was resolved as a malfunction detected in the mech at the time of impact.

For Gilbert, who wasn’t ready to reveal his special skill yet, this was a relief. To be honest, it was also somewhat embarrassing to explain openly to anyone.

In fact, Gilbert had never thought he could meet the activation conditions for his special skill in that situation. This was due to the conditions he had set when establishing “Your Mech is Awesome.”

When customizing his character, Gilbert had deliberately set more stringent conditions, knowing that the more restrictions a special skill had, the greater the effects it could produce in return. That condition specifically limited it to giant mechs equipped with artificial spirits under formal contracts.

At the time, he had chuckled about securing both humor and performance, but this penalty was more serious than he had anticipated.

Even though Demeia Academy was a military educational institution, it needed minimal safety measures for the cadets’ protection, which led to the concept of provisional contracts.

This was a new concept introduced as an alternative to reduce injuries and casualties during training.

This innovative approach had reduced accident rates by nearly 90%, making it the standard method used in most academies today.

In other words, it was impossible for Gilbert to activate his special skill within the academy.

Setting aside the issue of piloting someone else’s mech, he had thought his special skill was essentially unusable since he couldn’t satisfy the activation conditions. He never imagined he would use it so effectively.

He had expected to barely activate it much later and use it occasionally… This was truly a blessing in disguise.

Gilbert could only explain it as incredibly good luck.

In any case, Gilbert was informed that he would receive rewards from both the academy and the Empire for his achievement of single-handedly shooting down seven Resistance giant mechs and his significant contribution to saving numerous cadets’ lives.

The exact details of the reward were still under internal discussion, but Gilbert wasn’t particularly interested in them. What mattered more to him was that he had shown the satisfactory results that Count Lithuania had mentioned.

Since the reward would come from the Empire, not just Demeia Academy, even the Iron-Blooded Margrave would have to acknowledge it.

‘That aside… I wonder if Professor Brianna called me because of the Ice Awl.’

Currently, Gilbert was on his way to Professor Brianna’s research office. He suspected it was because of his use of the Winter Sword’s secret technique, which was recorded in the artificial spirit’s combat data.

After accepting him as her exclusive disciple, she had demonstrated the Winter Sword technique only once, including the secret technique that he had used with the giant mech. He had anticipated questions about this.

The only problem was that he hadn’t decided how to explain it… but he thought it didn’t really matter.

If he couldn’t come up with anything else, he could simply say he did it because he could.

With this casual thought, Gilbert knocked on the door of Professor Brianna’s research office.