The moment max stepped out of the room a small voice called out to him from down the hall.
“Excuse me, Mister Stalwart, I mean Sir Max, are you going to the beach?” The young Cygnus Noble asked hopefully.
“Indeed I am. Would you like to come along?” Max asked and the boy cheered.
“It is a pleasure to meet you again, Sir. We would love to accompany you, but mother said that the first guards they sent today were unsuitable, so we had to wait.” The young Lady Chen informed him, joining Max and Prince Wushu in the hallway.
“Lady Tarith will be with us shortly. She was unhappy with her sandals.” Nico told the two children who looked at their own bare feet.
“We will be right back. Please wait just a moment.” The Prince yelled as he ran back into his room for shoes.
As a Royal, he has a servant dedicated to dressing him, but they hadn’t expected him to go outside quite yet, so he was still barefoot.
They were also joined by four Cygnus bodyguards and two Nannies in traditional Maid outfits that nearly reached the floor. The beach area was kept very warm for comfort while minimally dressed, so they would be sweltering in those uniforms, but their serious demeanor said that he shouldn’t ask them to change.
Nico joined the group, taking one small hand in each of hers and then placing them together. “There we go. If you’re holding hands you won’t get separated.”.
The Lady Chen blushed a little and Prince Wushu tried to hide his embarrassment, but neither of them let go of the other’s hand all the way to the elevator.
“You’re a Cyborg aren’t you? My uncle tells me all about new technology. Is that Synthetic flesh?” The little girl asked as they gathered in the glass box, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“This version is the Highly Malleable metal shell. The synthetic flesh isn’t suitable for combat.” Nico corrected her and the girl took Nico’s hand in her free one.
“It’s so real though, that’s amazing. They won’t let me in the lab, so I’ve never touched one before.”
“Young Miss, the lab is a military facility, it is no place for children.” The Nanny reprimanded her in an exasperated voice.
“Don’t look at me with those Puppy eyes, I can’t get you in either.” Nico laughed as the young Lady pouted.
“But you’ve got the next best thing. Major Nico will stay near you until the replacement bodyguards show up.” Max suggested, making the Nanny sigh.
[0)ᴠʟ Even though she was getting married off early, Lady Chen had high hopes that she could still grow up to be a Scientist like her favorite uncle. It probably wouldn’t be an issue, since she seemed quite intelligent, but it would be in Cygnus, not here in Kepler, so she was kept strictly away from confidential information.
“General Kirkland, I do hope you don’t mind a bit more company for breakfast. We found a few stragglers and brought them with us.” Max called out when he found the Lord General sitting at a table, sipping on something white and slushy.
“I thought they were grounded until new bodyguards arrived?” The general asked, smiling at the kids.
“Who better than a pair of active duty Pilots with Alpha Ranked Systems? Even the bodyguards aren’t allowed firearms inside the building, so there isn’t much to fear.” Nico shrugged off his concerns.
“And if someone does start shooting, she’s bulletproof.” Young Lady Chen pointed out.
“That’s not how Systems work.” The General began before looking more closely at Nico.
“Yesterday, I thought that was Court makeup, but you are a full conversation cyborg, aren’t you? I don’t know how I missed that during the treaty meetings.” General Kirkland thought out loud.
“It’s a recent development. A rather unfortunate incident with a Narsian invasion wave.”
The bodyguards all winced in sympathy and the General patted her shoulder, leading them to the table.
“I hope your tastebuds survived, the food here smells amazing.” He smiled, watching the Nannies get the two Nobles settled while they were still holding each other’s hand.
That was a far better progression in the young couple’s relationship than General Kirkland had hoped for the first day. Young Nobles often fought everything from the wedding plans to their staff and each other. If these two were calm and actually got along it would be a blessing for him.
The plate that was brought out for Max included a dozen matching pieces of sushi, a lobster tail, bite-sized crab salad sandwiches, and a salmon and eggs Benedict. Just looking at it Max is certain that there is no way he can eat all of this, no matter how good it looks.
Each of the others around the restaurant has received a similarly diverse meal and Max notices that the Comor nobles swap bits off their plates to get an even wider variety.
“It is the custom here. You rarely end up with more than a single bite of anything but your main dish.” Lady Chen explained, noticing his confusion.
In Max’s case, that’s the Benedict and lobster, which he starts with while Nico swaps one of his sushi rolls with a stuffed mushroom from her plate.
The meal is a bright and lively scene. Even if the swapping of food between plates makes Max’s eye twitch in annoyance, the end result is worth it. Now he knows which ones to order up to the room later.
The Comor nobles started a game of beach volleyball just after the meal “to burn off calories” and invited everyone to play. The only problem is that Comor is a First Generation Kepler ally, only those who are very young were born with Nanobots and a chance to activate the System.
Max considered playing at a human level, just for the promise of bikini-clad bodies, but declined with the excuse of watching the kids until replacement guards arrive.
“You can go if you like. With the others here we will be fine.” Prince Wushu tells him before General Kirkland whispers something in his ear and the boy’s eyes open wide in shock.
“No way that’s true. No human can do that.” The boy informs the General with full certainty.
“Major Max, might I ask how tough you can jump? The General asks politely, making his point.
“We don’t really have a vertical jump in our testing, but with a couple of steps to get momentum it is no problem to jump on top of my Crusader Class Mecha, Stalwart,” Max replied, keeping the answer vague since his strength is incredibly high even by Kepler standards.
Young Lady Chen looks intrigued while her fiance looks horrified at the news.
“A standard volleyball can’t take a hit from a Crusader Class Pilot.” Nico informed the boy gently and he just shook his head in denial, unwilling to accept the news.
“Is that why mom said we needed Kepler guards?” The little girl asked Nico.
“Most likely. With the system active we are very strong and fast. But I can sense that you will have it too, so you might be like Sir Max here if your compatibility is good enough.”
“You mean I might be able to run as fast as a bicycle and jump over hovercraft?”
Her standards are much too low. Even the D Ranked infantry can mostly do that. But to a little girl who didn’t grow up around it, such things would sound fantastic.
“Come here for a second and I’ll show you something cool,” Max told her, holding out his arms to pick her up.
Once she was in his arms, Max jumped up and over the volleyball net to land in the spectator area on the far side of the court. Lady Chen giggled and clapped her hands while Prince Wushu gave her an envious glare.
“Do you want to fly too?” Nico asked, but he only gave her a strange look.
“Could you even pick me up? No offense, but you’re pretty small.”
“Max, he wants to fly with you,” Nico called, darting over to his side in a split second.
“And you could fight against that kind of speed when you’re in a Mecha? Mecha really are amazing.” Price Wushu congratulated General Kirkland in a very serious voice. The old man didn’t have the heart to remind the boy that he lost, or that their Mecha control systems are very different and the Cygnus models only need a strong mind to move the powerful metallic suits.
He can find that out for himself later. Today all General Kirkland wants is for the young couple to get along with each other.