As the eldest legitimate son of Duke Maximilian’s family, Reynard von Maximilian had always grown up in privileged surroundings. He studied etiquette, trained in martial arts, and piloted a “Mechanical Kai.” At last, he became deputy commander of the Black Dragon Knights. You could say Reynard’s life had been smooth sailing from beginning to end. He was the very model of a noble young man. But today, he’d run into a small problem. Acting on the king’s orders, he’d gone to a little town called “Nagu” to receive the kingdom’s seventh princess, Melchiss. Before this, though, Reynard had only ever heard of the kingdom having six princesses. Where had this seventh one come from? And why had she ended up in the eastern frontier of the United Kingdom?
The Black Dragon Knights’ battle carrier, the Fernando, quickly set sail and flew toward the distant eastern border. Reynard kept his questions to himself and swiftly pinpointed the princess’s location. Someone had tampered with her staff, turning it into a tracking beacon, so finding her had been a simple matter. The knights’ technical officer quickly found her.
Since they were dealing with a princess of the royal family, Reynard decided to lead a squad of knights and receive her in person. They piloted their Mechanical Kais down onto the frozen river and soon found a very shabby-looking wooden cabin. After confirming the princess’s location with the technical officer once more, Reynard knocked on the door with perfect courtesy, ready to escort the princess back in his capacity as a knight.
But he was turned away.
During their conversation, he discovered a shocking truth: the seventh princess was actually the king’s illegitimate daughter. After she awakened a talent for magic and became a mage, the royal family had decided to grant her the title of princess, then marry her off to Duke Rubinal, the southern commercial magnate, in exchange for a reduction in the duke’s debts to the royal family.
In Reynard’s eyes, marrying a seventeen-year-old girl to a sixty-year-old man wasn’t the worst political match imaginable. After all, the illegitimate princess would gain the title of duchess and never have to worry about food or shelter again. For the illegitimate daughter of a maid, that was already an exceptionally generous deal. Reynard understood all too well what the royal princesses were for. Though they looked radiant in public, they were nothing more than goods displayed on the shelves of a store called the royal family, waiting to be sold off at a high price through political marriages. Reynard believed a princess should accept that fate. After all, in noble society, a woman’s purpose was to marry for political gain.
“Even the dumbest kid should know what she’s for. What’s with this tantrum?”
Reynard let out a small sigh, a trace of displeasure rising in his heart. But just then, the knights behind him suddenly grew restless.
“Deputy Commander, look out!”
“What?”
Reynard spun around, alert. A gigantic silver Mechanical Kai had appeared in the blizzard without him noticing. Its armor, carved with beautiful patterns, cut through the swirling snow. “Magnificent” hardly did it justice. Reynard had never seen a Mechanical Kai so exquisitely crafted. Even more astonishing, it stood an incredible ten meters tall—twice the height of an ordinary Mechanical Kai!
“What is that thing?!”
“Oh my God, fall back!”
The knights retreated in panic. One of them slipped, and he and his Mechanical Kai both went sprawling face-first into the snow. Watching his panicked subordinates, Reynard felt a wave of disappointment. These knights might look impressive most of the time, but their Swordsmanship and piloting skills were worse than those of the other knight orders. They were all just pretty ornaments. With that thought, Reynard leaped into his own Mechanical Kai and quickly sealed the cockpit. He started the steam engine on its back, waited for the pressure to rise, then activated the servo system. Red light flared behind the mech’s helmet visor. Reynard drew the chainsword from the rack on its back and sprang in front of the gigantic Mechanical Kai.
“Unknown Mechanical Kai, listen up! Stand down at once!”
“The kingdom’s princess is in the house behind you. How could I let such fine prey get away?” the gigantic Mechanical Kai boomed. “Move, you stupid knight!”
With that, it kicked Reynard away. His Mechanical Kai flew toward the river, tumbled across the ice, and slid a long way.
“You bastard…”
Reynard got his Mechanical Kai back on its feet, but the power in its left arm had dropped drastically. A broken steam pipe hissed, spewing white vapor that drifted through the blizzard.
“Damn it, the unit’s damaged!” He clicked his tongue hard. “Black Dragon Knights, protect Her Highness… ah…”
His subordinates had already scattered in every direction. One Mechanical Kai that hadn’t run fast enough was kicked flying by the enemy. Against something nearly twice their size, they had no chance in a head-on fight. The gigantic Mechanical Kai knelt on one knee before the cabin and bowed its head like a knight.
“Beautiful princess, from this moment on, you belong to me!” it boomed. “If you don’t want me to level this town, you’ll come out quietly.”
“Don’t come out, Your Highness!”
Realizing what the enemy was trying to do, Reynard shouted in desperation, but it was no use. Just then, the door opened. A girl in a thick fur coat stepped out and willingly climbed onto the Mechanical Kai’s hand, which was waiting in front of the door. The gigantic mech lifted her up. With a roar from its jet engines, the silver Mechanical Kai spread the flight wings on its back and rose into the blizzard, quickly disappearing into the snow.
“It can fly?!” Reynard was stunned. “That Mechanical Kai might be an ancient relic! I have to… I have to report this to the capital at once!”
A crushing sense of humiliation surged through him. As the eldest son of the Maximilian family, Reynard’s life had always gone smoothly. Through his own efforts and his family’s influence, he had risen to the position of deputy commander of the knight order. He was expected to replace the aging commander next year and take over as head of the Black Dragon Knights. He had never suffered a setback like this. He’d thought this would be a simple mission to receive a princess, but instead he’d run into a relic-class Mechanical Kai—and let it steal the princess right out from under him.
His personal humiliation could wait. The most urgent thing now was to rescue the princess.
Reynard glanced at his scattered subordinates and sighed. Those ornamental knights were no use at all, while the Fernando’s heavy cannons were so powerful they might hit the princess too. That left him very few options. Across the entire eastern region, only Count Galaton and his men had the strength to fight.
It seemed he had no choice but to ask Count Galaton for help. But after the last war, the commander of the Azure Flame Army, who had single-handedly turned defeat into victory, had been “honored” by the royal family with a posting to this bitterly cold frontier. Would Count Galaton still obey the royal family’s orders?
Wouldn’t he hold a grudge?
