When the Swordmaidens woke up the next day, they prepared themselves for another round of competition.

Today, the Greater Omanderie Festival centered around mech battles. Since Ketis and several other Swordmaidens who competed in the personal combat tournaments weren't mech pilots, this was a day of rest for them. All they could do to help out their organization was to cheer the Swordmaiden mech pilots who entered the field today.

Before the Swordmaidens departed for the mech arenas, the most prominent among them gathered for a private meeting. They entered one of the rooms and activated some jammers and other countermeasures in order to prevent their host from listening in. It would have been better if Lucky was there to sweep the room, but their standard equipment was already enough to address most situations.

While the Swordmaidens weren't planning to do anything drastic during their stay on this planet, they were still accustomed to maintaining their privacy. Some of their talks dealt with the strategies they chose to employ during their matches. It would not be good if these details were leaked to other competitors.

"How are you dealing with Miss Harcourt?" Venerable Dise asked.

"She's still friendly enough." Ketis dutifully responded. "I can't say we're friends, but I don't think she's a threat. I've successfully led her to think about what kind of mech she can design in collaboration with Ves. As long as she is fixated on this idea, she won't have much reason to stab her in the back. Still…"

"What is it, Ketis?"

"I don't think Angelique warrants this much caution. She clearly respects you and our battle prowess. The Heavensworders are the most upright and honest people I've met. It's simply not in their nature to turn their back on a deal."

Commander Sendra snorted. "We've gone through so many ordeals with the Larkinson Clan that we can't afford to lower our guard. Our patriarch is a trouble magnet. His current predicament makes us even more vulnerable. I just don't feel at ease here. The Heavensworders may have dispatched a lot of security to this planet, but what happened back in the LRA already proves that only the mechs we control ourselves can be counted upon."

The reminder that Ves and many Larkinsons were stuck in one of the most contested planets of the LRA did not sit well with the Swordmaidens.

Though they still retained a strong attachment to their old identity, they also saw themselves as Larkinsons. They didn't care too much about the average clansmen, but they still developed a number of strong personal bonds with individual Larkinsons.

If nothing else, the fall of the patriarch and the collapse of the clan would cause the Swordmaidens to lose all of their material support!

The Swordmaidens had changed too much to be able to survive on their own. They needed a patron to take care of their ships, their finances, their logistical support and so on. If they were asked to go back to relying on themselves, then they would likely find it difficult to maintain a second-class standard!

Therefore, it was in their best interest if Ves and the rest of the Larkinsons made it out of the LRA alive and intact.

"You are worrying too much if you ask me." Ketis calmly said. "Ves can take care of himself. Even if he falls short, he still has Lucky. There is no way that he will get cornered as long as he has his cat by his side."

Venerable Dise remained firm. "The fact of the matter is that we cannot provide any assistance to the Larkinsons stuck in Prosperous Hill over here. We are light-years away from the planet where Ves is stranded. Rather than waste our time and worrying ourselves seriously, we should focus our efforts on making it as far into the tournaments as possible. We must not let adverse news affect our chances of fulfilling our main goal. Whether the Larkinson Clan is able to survive at the end, we still will still be in a better situation than before if we have a couple of thousand extra Swordmaiden trainees in our ranks."

This was the correct choice to make in their situation.

Sure, there had been talks of pulling out of the tournament and heading back to the LRA, but what could they do? The allied fleet of the Golden Skull Alliance were still prohibited from venturing into the inner system. Until the Lifers lifted this blockade, the Swordmaidens would just get stuck outside like the rest!

If the blockade ever crumbled, then the expeditionary fleet already possessed sufficient strength to evacuate Ves and the other stranded people from the surface.

General Verle had already transmitted enough messages to make it clear that the situation had yet to deteriorate to the point where the Swordmaidens could make a difference.

After the gathered Swordmaidens finished commiserating over their inability to affect the situation in Prosperous Hill, they turned back to their more immediate concerns.

Commander Sendra activated a projection that displayed a fairly basic-looking swordsman mech. "Our competing mech pilots will pilot the same landbound swordsman mech model they piloted in the virtual preliminaries."

The competing mech pilots had to compete on skill, not mechs. This was why the duelist and group swordsman mech tournaments all adopted the same mech model.

Almost no competitor had anything good to say about the Diligent Mark XXIV. The budget swordsman mech model was very basic and barebones compared to the premium mechs that the Swordmaidens had become accustomed to. The Diligent mechs were designed to accommodate many different sword styles, so its specs were very balanced.

The only noteworthy aspect about the Diligent was its flexibility and range of motion. The amount of movements it could make were so large that it could even fight with its back facing the enemy!

"I'm sure you have all formed your own feel for this mech during the virtual preliminaries." Ketis spoke. "Since the Diligent line of mechs has always been used for competitions in the Heavensword Association, I've found a lot of articles, comments, analyses and opinions about the model, including its latest iteration. Two different aspects stand out when I compare the Diligents to other swordsman mechs."

"Tell us, Ketis."

She pointed at the cockpit area of the projected mech. "Look at how thick these layers are. Look at how much chest armor is surrounding the cockpit. The Diligent scores high on mech pilot protection due to these features and more. These safeguards are meant to minimize the chance of fatalities, but they also cause the Diligent design to be a lot better at resisting attacks to the upper torso."

"So that is why my attempts to drive the tip of my blade through the chest of my opponents failed so many times. I thought I wasn't exerting enough control over my mech."

Ketis smiled. "While the chest armor of the Diligent is not unreasonably strong, it is still at least twenty to forty percent harder to breach it, which is enough to prevent many attacks directed at the cockpit. Even if a powerful blow gets through, the thick layers of armor can bleed enough force to spare the cockpit."

In short, attacks to the chest of the Diligent model was like fighting an uphill battle. While targeting its chest could still lead to victory, it was inefficient.

"Then how should we handle this mech?"

Ketis shifted her finger to the lower portion of the mech. "The lower torso is not as protected. In order to retain the mobility of the mech, all of that extra armor that the designers added has to be subtracted from somewhere else. This means that the lower body is significantly more vulnerable. I think the Heavensworders are fine with this because attacks below the chest usually don't threaten the cockpit."

Everyone nodded. Some of them had already figured this out by looking at the armor scheme. While it was still possible to damage a cockpit by launching an attack from below, the angles required to do so were very awkward.

"There is another aspect you need to be careful about." Ketis switched the projection so that it depicted a diagram that showed the localized mass of the Diligent model. Certain sections were heavier than others. "Due to the uneven armor distribution, the Diligent is a top-heavy mech. Its center of mass is considerably higher than that of other mechs. This means that you need to pay more attention to your movements and make sure not to tip your mechs over."

"It's clear that the designers of this mech deliberately retained this vulnerability." Venerable Dise supplied her own analysis. "Many mechs these days possess a fairly low center of gravity in order to maximize their stability and minimize the chance of accidents. That has made it easy for mech pilots to keep their mechs upright even if they perform extreme maneuvers. What the Diligent does is expose the mech pilots who barely pay attention to the balance and footing of their mechs."

Commander Sendra nodded in agreement. "It also cuts down on the number of idiots who developed extreme mech sword styles that are dependent on eccentric swordsman mech models. Anyone who tries something flamboyant will either trip their mechs or leave them open to doing so. If you see any mech that has overreached and is struggling to maintain its balance, just give them a solid physical whack and they'll fall."

Once any mech fell, the battle was pretty much over! A mech that still remained on its feet had a hundred different ways to finish off a machine that was lying on the ground!

Ketis began to point out some other notable points before wrapping up her small presentation. "All in all, the Diligent model succeeds in ensuring that every participating mech pilot must rely on their piloting skills to win. The mech is deceptively simple but the difficulty of maximizing its potential is quite large. The only other remark I can make is that our sword style is not a great fit for this model."

This was inevitable. Mech pilots who trained in sword styles that emphasized balance would always enjoy an advantage.

It would have been better if the Heavensworders offered many different variants of the same base model. The Swordmaidens would be able to pilot mechs that were optimized to wield large weapons.

Unfortunately, the tournament format didn't allow for that for the Great Omanderie Festival. Everyone had to make use of the exact same mech model, thereby making it easy for laypeople to make comparisons.

"How are our recruitment efforts so far?" Venerable Dise switched to a different topic.

"We haven't attracted too many skilled swordswomen yet." Commander Sendra replied. "Due to your presence, we managed to attract the interest of a decent amount of mech pilots, but that is far from enough. We need to show off our battle prowess on the bigger stages in order to achieve the effect we want."

The Swordmaidens could definitely attract a lot of skilled and suitable personnel if Venerable Dise fought a duel.

However, this would never happen.

Expert pilots were soldiers, not gladiators. As heroes, it was beneath them to fight for sport.

There were also practical reasons why expert pilots stayed away from competitions.

Piloting expert mechs was too expensive. Any damage they incurred could easily cost a fortune to repair! Unless it was absolutely necessary, it was best to keep the precious expert mechs in the hangar.

While it was cheaper for expert pilots to make use of regular mechs instead, their fighting capabilities were too constrained in them. There was hardly any point in putting the two together.

An even more important reason why expert pilots were left out of the dueling ring was that there was always a chance of fatalities!

Expert pilots fought harder than anyone else. No matter how much restraint they exercised, there was always a risk of death, and this was completely unacceptable!

Due to these reasons and more, Venerable Dise had been unable to do very much. Aside from acting as a mascot for the Swordmaidens, she also socialized with other powerful expert pilots, but that was all. Without a chance to prove her worth in battle, she failed to accrue any fame.

"My sword grows blunt with disuse."