Chapter 8

**Pervy Company and Its President, Enter the Scene**

"What the heck is this?"

I was led to a garage where "the unit you will receive is here," and the first words out of my mouth as I stepped in with high spirits were these.

By the way, I consistently refer to it as a "unit," but its official name is apparently a "magical armor unit." If I twisted it a bit, it would be something like "Cyber Basta."

The reason I abbreviate "magical armor" is that it makes me think of things like "Grand Zon," but others are different. It's because many people are averse to the fact that the core part of the unit is made from the corpse of a monster.

Well, I don't want to say, "I'm fighting by putting armor on a monster's corpse!" either, so I understand the desire to abbreviate it.

However, it's true that in the past, almost all of them were made from monster corpses, but now they only use the core part of the corpse, reinforcing it with artificial muscles and various machines made from special materials, and covering the whole thing with armor, so the corpse part isn't that much.

But, the general image is still strongly associated with using monster corpses, so they call it a "unit" to improve the image a bit.

As a supplement, monsters are animals that have been mutated by a certain factor given by demons or devils.

There are strange creatures like the Minotaur, which has a bull's head and a human-like lower body, and the Gyuki, which has a bull-like head and a spider-like lower body, but it's unclear how they came to be.

The correct answer can only be obtained by asking the demons or devils. Conversely, if you ask them, you might get an answer, but it's unclear whether they will be honest.

Setting aside their manufacturing methods.

When I first received this information, my first thought was, "This is confusing."

First, the Minotaur is a medium-sized monster, about 5 to 6 meters tall, while the Gyuki is a large monster, over 20 meters long.

Naturally, the difficulty of defeating the latter is overwhelmingly higher.

There was a recent incident where a fully armed platoon set out to defeat a Gyuki, but only Minotaurs were present at the destination, causing confusion.

Of course, when the observer said, "The enemy is a Gyuki," a platoon prepared to defeat a monster over 20 meters long was sent, only to find a Minotaur, which is barely over 6 meters long. Anyone would be confused. I would be confused too.

This was because the observer, who was from the Ise-Shima region, remembered the Minotaur as "Gyuki."

At the time, the observer was severely reprimanded for "wasting our time when we're busy," but now it's a well-known joke within the military.

However, if the situation were reversed, it would have resulted in serious casualties, so while the military acknowledges that it's inevitable to make mistakes in the initial report about the size and scale of the enemy, getting the name wrong is not allowed.

Whether this is related or not, in the entrance exam of the military academy I attended, there was a question where they showed famous monsters' illustrations and asked, "State the name of this monster."

I'm not boasting, but I was a top student. I had already researched the famous ones before entering the military, and I had covered the past exam questions prepared by my younger sister.

Given this knowledge, let me say it again.

"What the heck is this?"

Units are basically made from monster corpses, so if you see the base—before the armor is applied—you can tell what kind of monster it was.

However, even with my considerable knowledge, I couldn't understand what kind of monster this unit was based on, which was sitting in front of me.

No, to be precise, I do understand, but I don't want to. After all, how can I believe that my personal unit is something with a human-like upper body and a four-legged lower body, which is very monster-like?

(The only one that fits is the Scylla from Greek mythology, right? But I've never heard of such a thing appearing, let alone being defeated. But the unit is here... What's going on?)

"Of course, this is the unit you will be riding. It's called a hybrid type. Well, it's a new model adopted this year, so it's understandable that you don't know about it."

While I was struggling to find something good about it, a voice came from the side. It was definitely one of the maintenance staff for this unit.

"Ah, I'm sorry for the late greeting. I'm Keita Kawakami, 1-A, who just enrolled this year. Please take care of me from now on!"

Greetings are important. It's written in the Kojiki. Moreover, they are the mechanics who handle the maintenance of the units. If they become your enemy, the damage is immeasurable, so I made sure to bow deeply to avoid upsetting them.

No matter how grotesque the unit given to me is, no matter if it's an experimental model adopted this year, he literally holds my life in his hands.

I have no resistance to bowing to protect my life.

Of course, whether I will be polite or rude depends on the explanation of this unit!

---

"Ah, I'm sorry for the late greeting. I'm Keita Kawakami, 1-A, who just enrolled this year. Please take care of me from now on!"

"...Pleasure."

"Hmm. For a young guy these days, you sure have good manners."

According to Keita, the man who was the maintenance staff, the president of Saisho Heavy Industries, Takafumi Saisho, evaluated the bowing Keita did in front of him.

In this era, the demand for mech pilots is high, and most of those who become pilots belong to martial families with factions. Therefore, people who aspire to be pilots are generally considered to be proud.

While "proud" sounds good, in reality, it's often treated as "just being selfish," but it's best not to say such things.

Saisho, for his part, understands their situation.

These martial families have factions, and there are not only conflicts between factions but also competition within factions. In such an environment where everyone is an enemy, they can't afford to show their weaknesses to anyone but themselves.

(But I can't stand being treated arrogantly all the time.)

He understands, but whether he can tolerate the bad feeling is a different matter.

Furthermore, Saisho Heavy Industries, run by Takafumi, has been developing weapons for units but has no track record in unit manufacturing, so it is seen as a new and unproven company by the military, and its evaluation is not high.

Therefore, it took considerable effort to secure a slot for the new students to test the units.

Given these circumstances, he was thinking, "What if the student who becomes the tester is a brat who talks back?" when a boy who bowed and greeted him properly appeared. That boy was Keita.

(Well, I can't forgive him for calling the hybrid type "this," but it's a new model. It's understandable that a newly enrolled child wouldn't know about it.)

For Takafumi, who had braced for the worst, Keita's greeting was a pleasant surprise. Although he was a bit put off by the first words, he decided to make adjustments to meet Keita's requests unless something extraordinary happened.

Saisho → Saijō → Crest.

Heavy Industries → Industrial.

President's name → Takafumi

Q: In other words?

A: It's clearly a pervy company and its president. Thank you.

Thank you for reading.