Fairies of the Hill
The next day, the CT Club seniors who had stopped by the Aindium hangar with the principal’s permit from the morning gathered on the path to Fairy’s Hill. Since it was rare to see Aindiums activated near the dorms, quite a few students had gathered to watch.
“Whoa, that’s White Fang, isn’t it?”
“I saw it last year.”
“It really is pure white. Looks like it’ll get dirty easily.”
“Hussar looks awesome!”
“That gray paint job that won’t get dirty looks awesome!”
Why is that guy so obsessed with dirt?
Just then, a massive Aindium towing a cart loaded with various equipment slowly climbed the road in front of the dorm’s rear entrance.
“Whoa. That thing is huge.”
“Is that even an Aindium?”
That was Muri-senpai’s machine, Trooper 01. It had looked impressive in the anime, but seeing it in person, its presence was no joke. When the fifteen-meter Bivald-class Aindium in military camouflage appeared, the passing freshmen began to stir. Bivald-class was the designation given to Aindiums over thirteen meters in length, where cost-effectiveness began to drop compared to tanks. They were usually used for transport or special missions. Though inefficient and rarely mass-produced, their armor could be made arbitrarily thick, so they were sometimes used as command units.
Compared to the imposing Bivald-class, the Nimust-class to which Limpid Fairy belonged looked like a child.
「Get on.」
At Muri’s single word, Kirié, Rane, Neria, and I—who had no personal machines—climbed onto the seats prepared on the cart.
“Hehe. Feels like we’re going on a picnic.”
As the CT Club second-years’ Aindiums began climbing the hill, Rane-senpai wore an angelic smile while holding the basket beside her steady. A savory smell of bread wafted from it. She even prepared snacks herself. Typical of the domestic Rane-senpai.
Kirié, who had been discussing something with Neria beside her, stroked her own stomach and quietly opened the basket.
“I’m hungry, so I’ll have just one.”
“Geez. You skipped breakfast again?”
“You know how busy our specialty classes are. If I want to focus on this, I had to finish my assignments first, right? I worked almost all night and rushed out.”
Kirié pulled out a sandwich, devoured it in seconds, then leaned back and closed her eyes.
“Wake me when we arrive.”
“Honestly, Kirié.”
Rane sighed lightly and took a blanket from her bag to drape over Kirié. Neria looked restless watching the quickly dozing Kirié. There was no need for her to feel uncomfortable just because I was here too.
True to her nature of trying to get along with everyone, Rane-senpai spoke to Neria, with whom she had barely exchanged words before.
“You said you and Kirié were childhood friends, right?”
“Ah, y-yes.”
“I’m also childhood friends with Rendel over there. Being able to attend school with a friend you’ve known since you were little is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes…”
The more Rane-senpai spoke, the more life drained from Neria’s eyes. Neria really did have a pathological case of shyness. If left alone, she would be completely dazed before we even reached the destination, so I cut in at the right moment.
“Come to think of it, how are the operator specialty classes? My classmates said they haven’t done much yet.”
“Hmm. In first year we learned basic communication protocols, abbreviations, how to send messages with signal lights, and how to inspect and repair communication equipment.”
Rane-senpai took the bait I threw, and Neria, finally freed from the conversation, let out a small sigh and lowered her head slightly. Then she mouthed a tiny “thank you.”
Before we knew it, while chatting pleasantly with Rane-senpai, we arrived at the place where the fairies’ pranks began. Beyond the chain-blocked path, fairies had gathered in a swarm. The fairies, who had been watching us with serious expressions, looked relieved when I appeared.
[Lewina!]
Number 1, who had become my assigned fairy at some point, flew over and landed on my shoulder.
“Did you wait well?”
[Yeah. We’re the same as always. But who are these people?]
I gathered the wary fairies and tried to introduce the five seniors who had disembarked from their Aindiums, along with Neria. But everyone wore strange expressions.
“Those are fairies? I thought they were fireflies.”
“What’s there?”
“There are things glowing faintly here and there. There’s one on Luna’s shoulder too. Can’t you see it?”
“Where?”
It seemed some could see the fairies and some could not. Even those who could only perceived them as clumps of light. There was no precise description of their appearance.
“I saw them the day before yesterday.”
At Rendel’s words, one fairy approached his face.
[It’s the person who saved Lewina last time.]
“It’s Rendel-senpai.”
[So his name is Rendel. I brought him here.]
“Really? Thanks for bringing senpai.”
While the fairy danced in circles above Rendel’s head, I introduced the others to the fairies one by one.
“I’d like to ask you to allow these people access to the hill. Is that okay?”
[Sure. If it’s the qualified one’s request.]
Since the fairies had given permission, it was time to assign one to each person.
“This is Carson-senpai. Can you see him, senpai?”
“Yeah. There seems to be something inside the light, but it’s blurry.”
[This one has excellent mana detection. I like him.]
A fairy climbed onto Carson’s shoulder as he narrowed his eyes. Carson turned his face toward his shoulder, surprised yet intrigued.
“This is Muri-senpai.”
“I can see the light too. I just can’t tell what’s inside.”
[I’ll guide you.]
After assigning a fairy to each of the three pilots, the remaining people wore expressions of complete confusion about what had just happened.
“It looks like the seniors and Neria can’t see them.”
“Yeah. Even when I look where something should be, I can’t tell.”
“I feel like I can vaguely see something, but only if I concentrate do I sense faint movement.”
[It’s because of our optical camouflage. If your mana detection is high you can see us to some extent, but otherwise it’s hard to see with the naked eye alone.]
“Then does that mean the remaining people can’t enter Fairy’s Hill?”
The mechanics were the most important. Fortunately, Number 1 shook her head and explained.
[No. If we attach ourselves to them, they’ll be able to see. We share the optical camouflage code and pair with them….]
“Ah, got it. For now, assign one to each person.”
I stopped the explanation before it got complicated and had the fairies pair with them one by one. Rane, Kirié, and Neria looked around in surprise.
“There were this many fairies?”
“How fascinating. I wonder what the principle is.”
“Wow…”
Once each had a fairy attached, conversation flowed naturally. While we exchanged brief words, other fairies removed the chains.
[It’s done now. Everyone can come in.]
“Did you hear that? They said we can enter.”
“Let’s go quickly.”
While the seniors boarded their Aindiums again, I whispered quietly to Number 1.
“Number 1. From now on, call me Luna.”
[Why? Lewina is Lewina.]
“I’m using an alias for certain reasons. Think of it as a nickname.”
[Okay. I’ll share it with the others too.]
“Thanks.”
Good thing Number 1 was quick on the uptake.
*
“A little more to the right!”
「How much?」
“About thirty centimeters?”
「Fine control like that is difficult.」
Though grumbling in her usual calm tone, Muri-senpai moved the crane exactly as Carson-senpai requested without difficulty.
“Good! Stay right there.”
Carson, Rendel, and I lowered the hook attached to the large crane and connected it to the steel net surrounding Limpid Fairy.
“Luna, tie it more securely.”
“Yes.”
Kirié stood behind me with her arms crossed, giving instructions. Since I was at fault, I couldn’t talk back and obediently followed her orders.
Once the connection was complete, Rendel approached me as I caught my breath.
“You didn’t have to step in and help, Luna.”
“No. This is my machine, and I bear responsibility for this incident.”
At my words, both Kirié and Carson nodded. One was acknowledging that I was the cause of this situation, while the other was acknowledging my sense of responsibility toward my own machine.
“Done! Lift it!”
When we gave the signal, Trooper 01 began moving its engine. With a roar like something from a construction site, the crane hoisted the steel net containing Limpid Fairy.
“We’ll head over too. Come down slowly.”
Rendel and Carson descended the makeshift ladder and boarded their respective Aindiums. Even though it was a relatively small Nimust-class, lifting an entire Aindium with one machine’s output was no easy task. While Carson connected Hussar’s engine to the crane’s auxiliary device to provide extra power, Rendel stood by at a suitable distance in case of emergencies. Fortunately, without needing White Fang to intervene, Limpid Fairy safely touched down on the ground.
“Neria! Wait!”
Hearing Kirié’s shout as she had almost finished descending the ladder, I also began climbing down slowly. It was more like stairs than a ladder, and even this had been installed by Muri-senpai’s Trooper 01. It hadn’t been well depicted in the anime, but she was quite dedicated to her engineering role too. That was something hard to know since her areas of activity in the original work were completely different.
After a long descent, when I finally reached the ground, everyone was already gathered around Limpid, which had been removed from the net.
“So this is Limpid Fairy.”
Rane-senpai exclaimed in pure admiration—
“Find Carol’s mark first!”
“It’s here, unni!”
“It really is a masterpiece!”
—along with the excited maintenance crew—
“As expected, Nimust-class is small.”
“I wonder what functions this has.”
—and even the Aindium enthusiasts. Reactions to Limpid were enthusiastic. Even I, its owner, felt proud.
Muri-senpai, who had finished stowing the crane and joined us late, stared at Limpid for a moment before uttering a single word.
“Small.”
It was a statement befitting the only main pilot across all series to use a Bivald-class as their personal machine.
[But it’s cute~!]
When the fairy attached to Muri-senpai spun around while saying this, the senior gave a slight nod.
“…Yeah.”
Had I heard wrong? Muri-senpai, famous for unconditionally preferring large things due to her small stature, was saying this?
Muri-senpai, who met my eyes, startled and turned her face away. A faint blush had risen on her cheeks. It was well known that Muri was a military enthusiast, but I had never heard anything about her liking cute things. Was this a gap moe the production team had deliberately aimed for…?
Together with the small senior—who seemed suspiciously targeted at a specific demographic—I approached the cadets who were examining Limpid.
“How does it look?”
“Not bad. It’s hard to believe it hasn’t been maintained for decades. Huh? You two did this?”
The fairies assigned to Kirié and Neria had been helping with maintenance. If it was them, they would provide useful information for building the replica and maintaining Limpid. Anyway, everyone seemed to have already adapted to the fairies. Since fairies were originally support AIs, they probably adjusted well depending on the person. Though my assigned Number 1 didn’t seem to be one of them.
“Luna. Let’s move this friend.”
After inspecting the interior, Kirié tapped Limpid’s foot and made the request. Naturally, Aindiums could be boarded without ladders. There were times when operations had to be conducted for several days on the battlefield, so it wasn’t practical to search for ladders every time. There were footholds leading up to the cockpit, and handholds as well. When not considering maintenance, the machine would kneel on one knee to lower its height. However, climbing an Aindium wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Especially with Lewina’s currently weak arm muscles, climbing roughly four meters wouldn’t be easy.
When I stood flustered, unable to climb onto Limpid, a large hand appeared beside me.
「I’ll lift you up.」
After briefly hesitating while looking at the hand White Fang extended, I stepped onto it. Though I felt a bit awkward stepping onto the large white hand—big enough for a person to ride—with my dirt-covered sneakers, since the owner had offered, it should be fine. Rendel stopped his hand at a position convenient for boarding the cockpit. I turned my body, gave a slight bow toward White Fang, then entered Limpid Fairy’s cockpit.
Vwoom—
Limpid Fairy, which I was piloting again after two days, greeted me with its still-quiet engine sound. After confirming there was no one nearby, with the help of Number 1 and the other fairies—this time the actual crew fairies—I slowly walked forward. The place where Kirié and Neria stood holding guide rods was near the cliff. After safely arriving at the destination, I descended again with Rendel’s help.
“Since it might be visible from outside, we’re going to build a temporary hangar and maintenance shop here.”
It was similar to what I had been thinking.
“Couldn’t we just do maintenance inside the laboratory that was originally here?”
“It’s inconvenient to go in and out, and until we know what’s in the laboratory, it’s not right to enter recklessly.”
At Carson’s explanation, Rane nodded as if convinced.
“And as you’ll see when you go in, you can’t enter wearing a mechanic suit.”
“It was that bad?”
Mechanic suits were maintenance suits even larger than powered armor. They couldn’t fit through a door barely over two meters tall. Using a crane to lower them from above would be cumbersome, and above all, the place where Limpid had been was too narrow and dark for proper maintenance.
Under Kirié’s direction, the hangar was completed in an instant. It was nothing more than connecting the prefabricated containers Trooper 01 had brought, but it was more than adequate as a temporary hangar.
“You’ll build the replica once the materials arrive, right?”
“Of course. But we need to analyze and research first. Can we go into the laboratory?”
“If you’re with a fairy, you should be able to enter, right?”
“They said you need permission.”
Number 1 affirmed Kirié’s words.
[Yes. Access to the hill and access to the laboratory are separate.]
“I give permission to everyone here.”
[Understood. Everyone, let’s change the access permissions.]
At Number 1’s instruction, the fairies emitted light that flickered, and before long, a message announced that it was complete. Kirié and Neria ran toward the laboratory, opened the door, and went inside, while the other seniors followed slowly behind them.
“Oh, here’s the research log!”
“Don’t touch it carelessly. It might break.”
[It should be fine. We’ve been managing it, so the log is intact.]
While Kirié and Neria read the research log, the other seniors and I walked around the laboratory once and came back out.
“It’s simpler than I expected.”
“Still, incredible research was conducted here.”
“You were all created by Dr. Carol, right?”
[Yes. Master is our creator.]
It really was impressive. In her later years, without even national support, she had developed fairies and an independent Aindium. While I was glad to possess the legacy left by that unparalleled genius, the sense of responsibility felt just as heavy. Having received so much help, it had become difficult to turn a blind eye to the crises and trials that would come. Not that I had intended to in the first place. In the original work, Lewina had only briefly appeared in the daily life and school life segments, with her role planned to increase later, but because of the twisted developments caused by my arrival, that timing would be greatly accelerated. It was coming soon. The next crisis that would strike this military academy.