Torn Asunder by War, A Sword Saint for Tomorrow X The Knight Wizards!! – Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Trinity, A Shared Fate
  Anyway, once things are decided, they start moving, and everyone gets to work on what they need to do, so it becomes difficult to say, “Let’s take Izana out into the city incognito.”
  
  “Should we do it another time?”
  “The fifth Clawsolas unit that was heavily damaged needs some serious repairs…”
  
  “Mine and Onii-sama’s second unit too.”
  “”Huh!?”
  
  While they were peeking, Revia and the others turned around at the sudden voice from behind. Standing there, bathed in the sunlight streaming into the hallway, was Eleia with her silver hair cascading down, tilting her head slightly.
  
  “Onee-sama, what are you all doing?”
  
  “Uh, well…”
  “I heard Father’s laughter coming from the audience chamber, so I was a little curious.”
  
  Facing Fine, who had smoothly brushed off the question, the silver-haired, blue-eyed girl stated her business while giving her a suspicious look.
  
  “Squad Leader Jax said he’s going to readjust the repaired K-type for King Claude.”
  
  “That means Revia is needed, right?”
  “Hmm, I wonder if it’s okay for me to be paired with Claude as I am now.”
  
  The red-haired mage’s expression clouded over, feeling somewhat apologetic to Izana, when the familiar voice of the person in question reached them from behind.
  
  
  
  “…I have no intention of teaming up with anyone other than you, but would it be better if I teamed up with other mages?”
  
  While speaking to Revia, who was talking in the hallway near the audience chamber, I casually stroked her soft red hair with my outstretched hand.
  
  “Ah, but since the K-type has “Arrow of Light” installed, it might be easier to adjust if you ride with Lise-san, who has magical aptitude?”
  
  “Whoa, whoa, give me a break…”
  
  Sighing, thinking that this would mean taking Dino’s partner away from him again, I reacted to the somewhat mispronounced but familiar word “install” and turned my gaze to Squad Leader Xenos next to me.
  
  “It’s a technical term used by the Rare Human engineers who came from the Horizon of Causality. Rather, wouldn’t Your Majesty know it?”
  
  “I want to confirm if it has the same meaning as I know. Please explain.”
  “Well, in that case…”
  
  The Squad Leader’s explanation, after scratching his head lightly, was not far off the mark. Apparently, Lady Valer called the act of incorporating magic into a Clawsolas “install,” and it spread and became established among the Rare Human engineers gathered in Zephyrus Domain.
  
  （Well, it’s not a story I don’t understand.）
  
  More importantly, although I hadn’t been very conscious of it, it seems that only one magic can be incorporated into the first-generation Clawsolas unit. Even though the output can be adjusted, it seems that a second magic cannot be installed.
  
  “By the way, Revia, what was installed in our Clawsolas?”
  “Um, it’s “Air Bullet Burst”, which prioritizes area attacks!”
  
  “You saw mine and Onii-sama’s Clawsolas, but it’s “Lightning”, specialized for single target suppression.”
  “The L-type has Fine’s specialty magic, “Stonehenge”.”
  
  As far as I could tell from everyone who readily answered, there is a close relationship between the Clawsolas and the mage. Although the exclusive knights don’t seem to be that restricted, in reality, their fighting style is determined by a combination of magic and swordsmanship.
  
  （Trinity, a shared fate… huh?）
  
  While I was somewhat lost in thought, as usual, my knight uniform sleeve was pulled discreetly, and my eyes met Revia’s, who was looking up at me.
  
  “So, what are you going to do about the K-type?”
  “Hmm, I don’t intend to use it this time.”
  
  Out of necessity for national defense, I intend to limit the number of Clawsolas units, including all six, and accompanying soldiers that we take to Zephyrus Domain to less than half of our total forces.
  
  Considering this, I don’t want to bring the royal Clawsolas unit, which is decorated with unnecessarily flashy ornaments, in order to avoid danger on the way. It would be best to leave as discreetly as possible and return quickly.
  
  “I generally understand what Your Majesty is thinking… but is the K-type no longer needed?”
  “Yeah, because we’re going to have them adjust the second-generation Clawsolas units for us over there.”
  
  “Then, King Claude, should we modify it to L-type specifications so that other knights can ride it?”
  “Unfortunately, our country doesn’t have the luxury of letting valuable war potential sit idle.”
  
  While we were talking for a bit, Raizes and the others, who had apparently finished their preliminary discussions about the visit to Zephyrus Domain, came over and naturally joined the conversation.
  
  “I’d like you to do that… but do we need formal approval for the paperwork, Blaze?”
  
  “For a normal Clawsolas unit, the authority of the Knight Captain is sufficient, but… for the royal Clawsolas unit, it’s necessary. I’ll have the civil officials prepare it right away.”
  
  Sometime after the Head Magician readily agreed and left, we also finished our chat with Fine and the others, and I proceeded to the Clawsolas maintenance workshop with Revia and the Squad Leader.
  
  The brick workshop built at the back of the Clawsolas hangar has a high ceiling and can accommodate up to two Clawsolas units at the same time, but…
  
  “We might need to expand it if we’re going to increase the number of units in the future.”
  
  “Ugh, but there’s no space, Claude.”
  “When we secured this place, we had to have the castle staff move out.”
  
  Naturally, the royal capital wasn’t built with the giant knights, which came later, in mind, so it’s probably difficult to expand the workshop any further.
  
  “A reasonable option would be to build a facility in the suburbs…”
  “Ah, Otou-san was saying that too.”
  
  If there’s already an alternative, I decided to leave it to Blaze and looked up at the stored giant knight, Clawsolas K-type.
  
  At the end of my gaze, the repaired chest armor was wide open, the cockpit had been removed, and the heart unit directly connected to the rear heat dissipation engine, as well as the embedded magic core, were exposed.