Chapter 13 - Preparing for the Tournament

Two days later, 4 days before the banquet started. Today, is the first day for the Mecha tournament held by the empire to celebrate their Unification Day.

Right now, I'm having breakfast before preparing for the tournament. And this time, my breakfast was different from the usual. That's because, starting yesterday, Luna is living with us.

"Wow, your cooking is really good, Melissa."

"Obviously, I started cooking since I was a kid after all."

She stayed in our mansion until her room in the warehouse was ready, and there were still a few days before it was finished. The renovation took longer than I expected because I also had to install other facilities such as security, maintenance equipment for my Mecha, workshops, etc. I had to install all that before I could make a room for Luna in the warehouse.

Thankfully I had some money from selling the Soladinium I took from the Space Pirates' base, though it was almost gone because I had to pay for the renovation of my warehouse. My money that was originally 90 million credits was now 27 million credits left after paying for the renovation. And that's not even all.

I hope I can get some money from the tournament as well.

While eating my breakfast with the girls, I looked at the TV that was broadcasting about the tournament that would start today.

In the middle of watching the news, Luna and Melissa nagged me.

"Hey, Hiro. Stop watching TV and finish your breakfast!"

"That's right, What if you're late? The opening is about to start you know?"

I then turned towards them and replied.

"Shut up, I have the last match today. And I don't want to go to the opening, it's not necessary anyway."

"Ooh, that's good then. But don't lose because you're late!"

"Hmm.... I see."

After answering their questions, I quickly returned my gaze to the TV.

The screen on the TV had changed, and now it was showing a contestant named "Athena". She was a participant from the Lorandra Empire, I couldn't find out anything other than that because the news on the TV only showed her name and Mecha. Apparently, even pilots from other planets can participate in this tournament, huh?

By the way, when registering. There were some tests that we needed to take before being allowed to participate in this tournament, the test was a simulation where I had to defeat my enemy if I wanted to pass. And well, I was able to complete it easily.

I decided to stop watching TV, and quickly finished my breakfast. After my breakfast was finished, I quickly headed to the living room to watch the TV again and left the girls who were still chatting and eating their breakfast at the dining table.

I then sat on the sofa and turned on the TV, looks like the moment I was waiting for had come. My purpose for watching the opening speech of this tournament was to see someone who was very influential with the Parastyte invasion someday, he was the Emperor, Wilhelm Dunkeld.

He then appeared from inside the imperial family's special room to the balcony to make the opening speech. When he appeared with his family including the Queen, Princess, and Prince, the crowds began to applaud. They were all dressed in clothes that really looked befitting of someone from the royal family, except for the Emperor who was wearing military uniform.

The emperor really had the appearance of an emperor, he had short-cropped blonde hair, a well-shaped body, and a very sharp gaze. Since he had a military background, I guess this was natural.

The emperor then brought his mouth to the mic and said.

"Good morning, my people. First of all, let me thank those of you who come to this event every year, and the pilots who participated in this event. My purpose for holding this event is, as a memorial, for the pilots who died on the battlefield either before the empires of Earth and Mars were united, or the pilots who died in the line of duty fighting the Parasytes and Space Pirates in outer space. I truly appreciate their service."

He then paused, before continuing.

"My second goal is to hone the skills of the young rookie pilots to increase their experience, even though this is just a duel and not a life and death battle, but for me it is still a valuable experience. And as usual, this year, we will hold a tournament between Mecha and give the winner an amazing prize."

Why the heck is a speech always so long?

"This year, the prize will be different from previous years. As an attempt by the Lorandra Empire to strengthen diplomatic relations with our Empire, they are allowing the winner of this tournament to take a week-long vacation to the Mora planet, and he or she can take six people with them. And therefore, this year, we also have a special guest from the Lorandra Empire."

The emperor's hand pointed to a VIP room, and the camera followed. The glass of the VIP room, which was previously dark, instantly turned transparent and made the people inside visible. There were several people in the room, but the most striking was a middle-aged man with black hair and the blue-haired girl next to him.

When I saw one of the people inside the room, I was very surprised. That's because it was....

The Emperor's voice rang out again.

"They are Lord Albail Jorandylus and his daughter Miss Iraliyel Jorandylus."

There was no mistake, that Miss Iraliyel Jorandylus was the Ira I knew. I already knew that she was an important family of the Lorandra Empire, but I had no idea that she was here on diplomatic business with her father.

His father just nodded and smiled in response to the crowd's applause, while Ira waved her hand with a happy smile at the crowd.

"Hee..... I think that girl is really pretty, isn't she, Hiro? For you to stare at her like that."

"Yeah, she's pretty."

Wait what? Before I knew it, the girls had finished breakfast and they were now sitting on the sofa next to me.

I looked at Luna who was grinning.

"Wow, I can't believe you would answer that honestly. Looks like you really like her, huh?"

"You got me wrong, I'm just surprised."

I could feel Melissa's gaze on me, while Alicia was just drinking her tea while watching TV.

I shook my head and decided to return my focus to the TV.

"Well, I'm sure you're all getting impatient. So, let's start the tournament as soon as possible."

After that, the emperor walked back into his room, seems like he's a better person than I thought, at least based on that speech.

Hearing the emperor's statement, the sound of cheers and applause from the crowd immediately rose, and the screen immediately switched to the tournament host.

Since their pleasantries were quite long, I turned my gaze to the girls. And I realized that Melissa and Luna had disappeared, so I asked Alicia who was sitting next to me while doing something on her laptop.

"Where are those two going?"

"Picking up their ice cream order at the gate."

"They bought ice cream?"

"Yeah."

"In the morning?"

"Yeah."

Wow, these two sure are something else. No wonder they get along so quickly. I hope Melissa won't be affected by Luna's bad behavior.

By the way this girl is still working even on a holiday like this, huh.

I decided to peek into Alicia's laptop, and could see that she was doing some file work. I knew she was working again.

"Alicia."

"Em."

Hearing me call out to her, Alicia turned her gaze to me.

" What?"

"Do you really have to do that?"

I said that while pointing at her laptop.

" Just relax a bit, you work too much."

Alicia didn't answer me, she just stared at her laptop for a moment before looking back at me and saying.

"Okay."

She then closed her laptop and placed it on the table before going to the kitchen and returning with a jar of cookies and a magazine.

"Where did you get the cookies?"

"Melissa makes cookies sometimes when she's bored."

"She's always great when it comes to the kitchen, huh?"

Alicia placed the cookie jar in front of us before she and I ate them together. Seems that Melissa wasn't great with cooking only, but she was also great at baking.

As Alicia and I were enjoying our cookie eating session, Melissa and Luna returned.

"Ah! Lady Alicia, you can't take that cookie! I was planning to eat it while watching the drama tonight."

No wonder I never saw her cookies, she always ate them in secret.

"Sorry."

Alicia just said that and kept eating the cake. Melissa just pouted, but she didn't seem to mind too much. The two of them sat on the sofa beside us while enjoying the ice cream they bought, they didn't use my money to buy the ice cream, right?

I returned my gaze to the TV and could hear the announcement from the host.

"Alright, everyone. We'll start the first match right away."

The screen on the TV immediately changed to the dueling arena after the host said that.

"From the left corner is the rookie independent pilot of a Mecha Squad called Pegasus Knight from the Lorandra Empire. Please welcome her, Athena!"

The audience cheered and clapped as they looked towards the corner of the arena on the left, the large door that was there opened and I could see a Mecha that looked like it was wearing a knight's armor coming out of it.

The design is quite feminine, looks like the pilot is indeed a woman.

"Next, from the right corner, a rookie athlete pilot who just entered the athlete pilot industry a few months ago, please welcome him, Runner!"

Do we need to use a nickname in this tournament?

From the right corner, I could see a dark blue colored Mecha coming out from there.

After the two participants had entered the arena, the referee on the flying platform above the arena shouted for them to take out their weapons immediately.

The Athena took out two swords from the weapon hoelster on her back, and the Runner took out a large sniper, looks like Runner is using Sniper Class Mecha. They stood facing each other with a distance of about 50 meters.

Seeing that they were both ready, the referee started the match and the countdown began.

Right after the countdown was over, Athena immediately lunged at Runner, but Runner also did not remain silent, he retreated quickly while using the thrust engines on both legs and both sides of his waist.

As expected, since he was the long-range type, he would keep his distance from his opponent. While retreating, Runner also fired a few shots at Athena, probably to slow her down or give her some damage. And it did work, the shots she fired at Athena did slow her down, but because of the slow laser bullets, Athena could dodge or parry them with her sword.

With the speed of the Mecha and the accuracy of the Runner's shots, he managed to hold Athena at 30 meters. However, if he continued like this, he would never be able to win. This is why using laser weapons is a bad idea for Mecha in 1-on-1 duels like this, because the slow and visible laser bullets can be avoided or deflected by the enemy Mecha if the pilot is a good pilot.

Not long after, Runner had to reload, although he could still move while reloading his weapon, but he could no longer slow Athena down.

Seeing that, Athena turned on the jet thrusters on her back and charged straight towards Runner, Runner then took out a rocket launcher from the shoulder of his Mecha to attack Athena, seeing that, Athena turned on the Jesper Shield while she kept running towards Runner. When they were close enough, Athena released her Jesper Shield and used Runner's rockets to attack him.

Although most of the rockets were inaccurate, there were a few that were heading right for him. Seeing that, Runner stopped his reload that was almost complete, and used his weapon to block the rockets. 2 rockets managed to hit Runner, Athena wasted no time, even when the rockets hadn't hit Runner yet, she was already charging towards him.

After that, you could say that the result of the match was already confirmed. Runner managed to block Athena's sword with his sniper, but it was only a matter of time until the sniper was destroyed, especially since the sniper had been hit by a rocket earlier. When his weapon was destroyed by Athena's sword, Runner immediately gave up, seems like he couldn't handle a close combat fight.

And just like that, the announcement of Athena's victory was announced. All that happened in less than 10 minutes.

The screen switched back to the host.

"As expected from this year's top participant, Athena managed to defeat her enemy without a single scratch."

Well, I have to admit, she's pretty good, looks like I'll have to try harder if I want to defeat her.

"Hey, Hiro. You can beat that person, right?"

In the middle of watching TV, I heard Luna's worried voice from the side. Where did this girl's confidence go?

"Didn't you say a few days ago that I wouldn't lose?"

"Yes, but.... That person's Mecha earlier... she was using a modified Mecha, right?"

"Ooh, you know that as well, huh?"

"What do you think I am? I also went to the academy, you know?"

As Luna said, that Mecha has been modified. If I'm not mistaken, that Mecha was a Mecha that wasn't sold in the market, but was ordered by the owner, and because of the extremely fast movement, I'm also sure that the number of engines per muscle strand of that Mecha was also more than a normal Mecha.

Even so, I was confident that I could find a way to defeat it.

I also convinced Luna not to worry.

"Well, you don't have to worry. There must be a way to defeat it."

"Really? Make sure you win, okay? I've always wanted to visit the Mora planet."

"Yes, Luna. I'll win, I hate losing anyway."

Hearing my words, Luna didn't ask any more questions and went back to enjoying her ice cream.

Also, why did this girl say it as if she was already sure that I would take her to Mora if I won? Well, I guess it's fine to take her, after all there are still 2 empty slots even if I take my mom and Aunt Julia.

After that, I watched a few more matches with the girls, and I decided to prepare to leave after I ate lunch.

********

After lunch with the girls, I immediately headed to my warehouse to get ready, but before I could get out of the door, my mom and Aunt Julia came.

"Hiro~ My dear son, mom is here."

When my mom saw me, she immediately hugged me.

"Geez, we haven't seen each other much lately. Don't you love mom anymore?"

"It's not like that mom, I'm just busy."

I said that and returned her hug, it would be bad if she thought that I didn't love her anymore for not returning her hug. From what I can remember, my mom's treatment towards me has never changed since long ago. She always treated me like a 5-year-old, and she also acted like a teenage girl.

As I hugged my mother, my gaze met Aunt Julia's gaze. She just smiled at me, and I smiled back while nodding. Since my mom hugged me for too long and I couldn't let go either, I decided to ask Aunt Julia for help with my gaze.

"Hermia, stop it. Can't you see that Hiro looks like he wants to leave?"

Hearing Aunt Julia's words, my mom released her hug and looked at me.

"Oh, you're right. Where are you going, son?"

"A special Mecha Tournament on the day of the celebration."

Hearing my answer, my mother's expression was slightly surprised.

"I see, great, great. I'm looking forward to your victory."

However, her expression soon changed to worry.

"But don't get yourself hurt, okay? I heard that even though it's just a tournament, it's also quite dangerous."

"No need to worry mom, I'll come back without a scratch."

"Oh my, Hermia. You're overacting, Hiro isn't a kid anymore you know? By the way..."

Aunt Julia said that, and looked at Luna who was behind me with Alicia and Melissa.

"Who is she?"

My mom also realized it after Aunt Julia said it.

"Ooh, that's right. Who is she?"

"She's Luna, it's a bit of a long story if I have to explain it now. In short, she's my Navigator, or you could say my work partner."

Although my mom and Aunt Julia were still a bit confused, but I didn't have time to explain now.

"You can hear the details from Alicia and Melissa, I have to go now or I'll be late."

"Alright, Hiro. Be careful, okay?"

"Take care, Hiro."

"Yeah."

After saying goodbye to them, I quickly walked to my car in the garage and drove to the warehouse. Since my main warehouse was still under renovation, I stored my Mecha in the second warehouse which was slightly smaller and not far from the first warehouse.

I greeted the workers at the first warehouse as I passed by, and went straight into the second warehouse. I then put on my pilot suit and checked the condition of my Mecha, after making sure everything was ready, I called the Transport Drone that had been prepared by the tournament officials to come pick me up.

I entered my Mecha and walked out of the warehouse while waiting for the Transport Drone to arrive, soon I heard a hissing sound from afar, and could see the Transport Drone slowly heading towards me.

Looks like the time has come for my first Mecha battle.

I waited patiently for the Drone to land on the ground before boarding it.