The feeling of being glared at by slightly over four hundred pairs of eyeballs — roughly the entire male population of Thunderbolt Battalion — was a rather novel sensation to Colonel Aziz. Even when he’d conducted overnight training, the colonel had never faced outrage of such a scale, but it seemed that this free-and-easy session for Thunderbolt had been reinterpreted into a private date between Marie and Aziz.

Even the company commanders were staring daggers at him, while mouthing what looked uncomfortably like ‘Lucky Dog’ to him. Aziz smiled cheerfully back at those glares, while cursing on the inside. He just wanted to eat some ice-cream, but the marshal was intending to take him to virtually every historical site in Mi-Zu…and he couldn’t say no.

The others would probably curse him to death if they found out what Aziz had in his head, but since the premise was impossible in the first place, the colonel had no qualms in feeling sorry for himself. Cursing back at the fools glaring at him, the colonel whispered a few words to Marie, getting her to hurry up.

He could feel the prickling gazes grow even sharper, but that wasn’t his issue. The others were free to take his place; Marie was a history fanatic through and through.

“Thunderbolt!” Marie’s words drew a crisp, snappy response from the assembled troops, and she nodded in approval. “Remember to conduct yourselves well! You are the elite of the Republic, so live up to it!”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Your officers have the right to punish anyone who misbehaves — but that’ll be nothing compared to what I’ll do afterwards! Am I clear?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Excellent!” Marie clapped her hands twice. “Ladies and gentlemen, hear my last order of the day — enjoy yourselves!”

The others cheered as the marshal retreated into the background, which was the cue for the company commanders to take over the conduct of today’s activity. Within a minute, the four companies that made up Thunderbolt were formed up in orderly ranks of five, and then as one, they took to the skies.

Marie had pulled some strings in Mi-Zu, leveraging on Thunderbolt’s reputation to allow them to fly in Seireiden, despite the fact that legislation on flying in large groups above the capital had been passed last month. It wasn’t as hard as it sounded — for one, Thunderbolt had a reputation as highly disciplined and skilled fliers, and more importantly, these men and women had done a lot to help the East.

Other legislation passed recently, like one’s optical Abilities and Arts needing to be declared upon entering the capital, had made Marie somewhat peeved, but if she didn’t use them, no one would know.

At any rate, the East was beginning to get used to the presence of people with Dynamos. Flying Squires had to be legislated; unlike Knights, they were not bound by any code of conduct, and in public opinion, they were more…unruly.

But none of that was Aziz’s business.

“We’ll get some ice-cream at noon,” Marie said, once they were alone. “Let’s go view some interesting things in Mi-Zu first, shall we?”

“Alright, boss,” Aziz replied. “Anything you say. Should we get some of Mi-Zu’s specialties too while we’re at it?”

“There are activist groups roaming the streets, though,” said Marie. “If they see just two people, they might go over and we’ll end up making some trouble.”

“Mi-Zu isn’t taking a stand with either half of the Plenum, but these civilians…” Aziz shook his head. “I wonder if any of them were brainwashed by the Human God?”

“We’re on a vacation!” Marie snapped. “Don’t bring up the realities of life here, we should be having fun!”

She reached out and kneaded the colonel’s temples, pressing her knuckles onto his head violently. Aziz trembled, but he was still far weaker than Marie, who was already a Knight. It was a matter of talent, but even as a Squire, Aziz was confident in his abilities enough to defeat a Knight — he was the trainer of Thunderbolt, after all.

“That hurts!” Aziz tried to twist out of her grasp, but Marie moved in tandem with him, and with every movement the colonel made, the marshal would double down on his head. After a few minutes, he was slapping the floor and yelling

“Still going to talk about current affairs?”

“N-no, ma’am.” Aziz trembled on the ground. A guy nearly 1.8 metres tall bulled into submission by someone a head shorter…if Thunderbolt was to see this, Aziz would have resigned his commission the next day. To hell with the fact that the bullying person was his boss — even if the others felt it was natural, Aziz would sooner eat some dirt than to continue his job.

Wait till I become a Knight too! Don’t think I haven’t made that step yet; I’m already on the threshold! Aziz grumbled in his head, even as he accepted Marie’s extended hand.

“Alright, stop sulking,” said Marie. “We can have a proper duel when we return, if you really want your pride back. You should hurry up too, yea? Be a proper Knight. It might be a problem if the others start protesting about your strength.”

“Fine, I’ll think about my vows more seriously,” said Aziz. “It’s not like you can tell me what’s yours, right? They sometimes keep me up at night. What’s it like?”

“It’s indescribable,” Marie replied. “Well, we can leave that for later. We’re going to be late if we don’t hit the road now. The museum is opening in fifteen minutes.”

“The Solaris Museum, right?” Aziz got up. “I wonder what the Cardinal Champions left behind for us.”

“We’re about to find out.” She checked her items once more, and then nodded. “Ready? Didn’t forget anything, no? Good, let’s go.”

Marie pushed off the ground, and Aziz followed suit. From afar, Aziz could see the departing men and women in Thunderbolt. Somehow, the four companies were all headed away from each other, and to make matters worse, Aziz hadn’t had a clue where the four groups were going.

The last thing he needed were a bunch of resentful soldiers following them around on an educational trip.