The long day before a long night.

The test drive ended at light speed, not because B.B. was convinced of my skills but because the Titan's weapon broke down in the middle of the testing.

"Are you kidding me!? When was the last time you guys did a full check up on this tr-thing!?"

Honestly speaking, I was quite pissed off.

It's not like the Titans gave no warnings before this happened! No! Actually I bet they gave plenty of warnings on each and every boot up but those guys simply ignored it all!

How can someone ignore a dozen red lines accompanied by error messages is a mystery to me but by the results I just saw it seems like it's routine to them!

Fuck! As a mechanic and pilot I really can't agree with such a huge irresponsibility! Makes me want to beat some sense into them with my own fists! Though, of course, I know such thing would never happen as B.B.'s arm is thicker than my leg!

God damn it! If we had not done the tests and went directly to the Dungeon, I shiver just imagining what could have happened to me!

Seeing my angry face, B.B. felt bad and answered in a low voice.

"Well, maintenance costs money... We have been unlucky lately and because of Gary's hospital bills we had postponed it a little bit..."

Bullshit! Both me and him knew this was far from the truth. Maybe they did have some money problems now but these maintenance problems should have persisted for several months to reach the point of breaking down like this! Actually Gary falling off his motorcycle could be considered a blessing as it stopped him from entering the dungeon with this trash!

At that moment I got so pissed off that I didn't even answer anymore. I gave B.B. an accusatory stare without saying a single word.

"...It can't be helped. Then we will have to postpone your first dive by a few weeks until this guy is repaired..."

Hearing his words made me remember my own situation. I needed money, and I needed it now. Maybe it would be possible to get some loan and pay the first month of extra classes but the last thing I wanted was to be drown in debts!

A few weeks? No! I can't wait that long! Heck! I will take care of this now!

"Pass me the welder and some solder!"

"...What?"

"Hurry!"

"A-all right!"

It felt a bit comic to have a guy twice my size following my orders but unfortunately I was not in the mood for jokes. While he went to get the equipment, I got my notepad and started listing out the pieces that needed to be exchanged, and as soon as he come back, I traded my notes for the things he was carrying.

"Go to some Titan parts shop and buy me what is listed here. Meanwhile I will close the breaches in the armor."

"...hmm..."

"Quickly!"

"Yes, Sir!"

(Maybe I should acquire a whip... Whatever! Let's do this!)

Cleaning my mind from distracting thoughts, I focused all my attention on turning this trash back into a Titan in the little time we had left...

Screw a screw here, connect a wire there, change the electric board, little by little, one problem at a time, I patiently worked until night had fallen.

"Grrrr!!!!!!!!"

Hearing my belly protest due to having skipped lunch, I felt it was time to take a break.

"Thank you for your hard work!"

"Hmm..."

Hearing B.B.'s words I just nodded to him while making some sound.

"So, you think you will be able to fix it in time for the dungeon?"

"It's already fixed."

"What!?"

I put my hand in my eyes and pressed them for a second while my mind organized my answer.

"The problem that caused the breakdown has been fixed, now I'm dealing with the minor problems that appeared on the booting log. The most worrisome ones were already dealt and now only a few extras remain, but I doubt I will be able to fix them in time."

"Eh!? So..."

"So I will be joining you as agreed."

"Oh! Great! Man! You are quite the machine expert! I never saw a mechanic working so fast!"

"I got plenty of experience from working at my gramps store."

"Yeah, you had said so before, right? But I never imagined your skill was at this level! It felt like watching someone work at 4x the normal speed! If you open a repair shop, I bet you will make a fortune!"

"Hmm... I don't know... I saw plenty of repair shops around the town. It's not like there is a lack of them, and convincing people to entrust their Titan to someone like me who has not even started university yet will be quite hard."

"That's... Yeah, there are plenty of people like that. Unless you became famous, it may be truly hard to steal clients from other shops. And even if you got skill, it takes time to spread the word, but as long as it happens you would have swimming on a pool of money... Though I think it will be hard for anyone to trust you with this baby face you have."

"Right? Ugh! I can't wait to grow old! Just having some beard on my face would already help out!"

"Shhhhh! Hahahahahaha!"

"What?"

"Nothing! Damn right, you are!! Time to grow some beard to look like an old man!"

"Anyway, let's grab some food. I doubt there is anything else I can do today but I will be sure to make a full check up once we are back from the Dungeon."

"Hmm. Can you also take a look at my machine?"

"Sure..."

"What about -"

"Okay! Okay! I will take a quick look at the whole team, but I will charge separately for this. Don't think that because I joined the team you now got a free mechanic!"

"O-of course! I-I would never think that! H-hahahahahaha...."

His fake laugh didn't fool anyone, but I was not going to be the out to point that out.

Arriving at the kitchen, I was forced to fill my belly with some old bread and cheese as most of what was left had already spoiled or looked particularly dangerous to eat. I added to my mental notes the task of resupplying the refrigerator and finished my fancy dinner in a few bites.

Later that night, as the time to enter de Dungeon approached, the team started arriving at B.B.'s garage to prepare for the trip.

As they saw me covered in oil and grease, all of them made surprised faces but as B.B. explained I was a professional Titan mechanic, they quickly relaxed once again.

When only half an hour was left from the appointed time we loaded our Titans and left the place. This night promised to be long and exiting but honestly all I wanted now was to take a nap.