Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 14

“Fran calling Doro, please respond if you hear me.”

A companion’s call echoed in his ears. Alois pressed the communication button, his eyes never leaving the screen. “My name is not Doro. Thank you.”

“Doro is such a cute name. What don’t you like about it?”

“Everything!”

“Let’s duel!”

Alois instantly felt drained. This was the third time today.

Before he joined, there were four pilots on the Lady of the Night: three of them were triplet siblings, and the last one was Joanna. The captain was always busy with many affairs and rarely participated in training. So, most of the time, it was just the three siblings and Alois practicing under Leo’s guidance. The siblings, true to being from the same womb, were identical in appearance and personality. For example, this morning—

“Why are there only five pilots on the ship but over a dozen fighters?” “The captain likes to collect fighters.” “That’s quite a hobby…” “What, you have a problem with the captain? Let’s duel!”

And at noon—

“Titia is fine, but you two brothers look exactly the same. I can’t tell you apart.” “How do we look the same? Let’s duel!”

And just now… Alois instantly understood Leo’s eagerness to recruit a pilot.

The one proposing a duel was Titia, the youngest of the siblings. She had face blindness, unable to distinguish people other than herself and her brothers, relying on body features instead. Hence, she developed a habit of giving people nicknames. The first time she saw Alois, she confidently said, “No problem, I’ll definitely recognize you. You’re the most unremarkable person on the ship.”

Alois decided that if she failed to recognize him next time, he would challenge her to a duel on the spot.

Although the siblings had odd personalities, they were top-notch pilots. The previous two duels had ended with Alois being overwhelmingly defeated, making him deeply doubt his own abilities. If he lost again to Titia, he feared he would become the ship’s laughingstock by dinner.

“Come on, Doro, show me what you’ve got!” Titia piloted her beloved “Fran”, circling around Alois, continuously provoking him.

“My name is not Doro!” Doro was the name Titia had given Alois’s fighter. She also named her brothers’ fighters Rachel and Liz. Every fighter and shuttle on the Lady of the Night had been named by her. Naturally, Alois didn’t accept her naming style, which led to this duel.

Alois brightened the lights in the simulator cockpit, switching the operation mode to free combat. The Lady of the Night didn’t have Godot Type II fighters, so he had to adapt to the Federation-made Kant fighters. The operating system, vastly different from the Empire’s, initially gave Alois a headache. Fortunately, he quickly mastered the piloting techniques.

On the radar, the icons for Liz and Rachel disappeared, leaving only the red dot representing Fran flashing half a kilometer away.

Leo’s voice sounded. “Titia is tougher than her brothers. Be careful.”

“Of course.”

“Don’t lose too badly. Joshua is watching.”

A small window popped up, showing the training room. Several crew members were pointing and discussing the simulator battle, with the silver-haired assassin Joshua among them. He stood slightly to the back, holding a black cat, not watching the screen but talking to Ibb Descartes. Ibb was animated, smiling as if he had met a long-lost relative. Oh, he even took Schrödinger from Joshua, clumsily petting the cat.

…How infuriating!

Alois quickly closed the window, pulled up his fighter, and charged at Fran.

“The newbie is pretty fast!” Titia easily dodged. Alois changed direction and dived again, firing laser beams. Amidst the deadly weave of beams, Fran danced nimbly, evading leisurely. Alois understood why she was “tough”. Her brothers, though highly skilled, had predictable patterns. One could anticipate their attacks and retreats, cornering them with beams and missiles. But this approach didn’t work with Titia. He couldn’t fathom her intentions; she defended when she should attack and attacked when she should retreat.

She was utterly unpredictable, like a novice who knew nothing about aerial combat. Of course, Titia wasn’t a novice. This made her tactics especially terrifying. On the battlefield, not understanding the enemy’s intentions was the most frightening thing.

“Women are terrifying!” Alois distanced himself, trying to engage her in a prolonged battle, but Titia circled back, closing in while firing missiles. After destroying the missiles, he expected her to press the attack, but she suddenly held back, observing from a distance, plotting something.

Alois was nearly driven mad by her antics. “So annoying!” He decided to take the initiative, chasing Titia’s tail relentlessly. Fran swiftly moved behind him, seemingly to attack from the rear, but when Alois turned, Fran had vanished.

Titia was playing hide and seek. She waited for her opponent to lose patience and expose a weakness. If he had the patience to outlast her, Alois, with more ammo, would undoubtedly win. But the earlier chase had drained too much energy. A red light flashed on the screen, indicating low ammo. In a real space battle, he would return to the mothership for resupply. However, this was a duel mode. The simulated space didn’t even include a mothership.

Titia probably noticed his predicament. She glided side to side, seemingly mocking his impatience, then launched dozens of missiles, turning the Kant fighter into space dust.

The lights in the simulator cockpit brightened, and the screen displayed a giant, bloody “OVER”. Leo, barely stifling laughter, said, “I told you not to lose too badly… haha.”

“Shut up!” Alois slammed the controls.

“Can’t handle losing, huh…” Leo cut the communication, feeling defeated.

The hatch opened, and white light flooded in. The siblings’ laughter echoed in the training room. Seeing Alois climb out, Titia’s brothers each patted his shoulders. “Good job, kid,” they said in unison. “Lasting 10 minutes against Titia is rare.”

“…Thanks.” Alois insincerely accepted the compliment.

Leo powered down the simulator. “Today’s training ends here. See you all tomorrow.”

The spectators dispersed in small groups. From afar, Joshua called out, “Hey, Alois.”

The young man ran over but avoided eye contact. “Uh… let’s go back. Let’s go back.” He pretended to look around, trying to hide his embarrassment from the defeat.

“Joshua, can I take the cat back?” Ibb, excited about playing with the cat, asked. “I have some dried fish. It might like them.” Seeing Joshua hesitate, he added, “I’ll return it to you tonight.”

“Okay.” The assassin nodded.

Ibb left happily, carrying the cat.

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