Surviving as a Prince of Britannia

This chapter alternates between the points of view of Lysander, the protagonist and Fourth Prince/Grand Marshal of the Holy Britannian Empire, and Kururugi Suzaku, corporal of Area 11’s Colonial Guard.

Tokyo Settlement.

Waiting room of the grand arena.

Kururugi Suzaku’s Point of View

The calm before the storm.

Ever since that day—

ever since I crushed my instructor in a standard mass-production unit built for ordinary soldiers—

the barracks had grown strangely quiet at night.

No one said it aloud.

But I could feel their eyes on me.

Expectation.

Mockery.

Curiosity.

Perhaps all three.

Now, beyond the waiting room, the roar of the arena battered against the walls like thunder.

Let them laugh.

Let them doubt.

Let them watch.

Whether I was a fraud or something else entirely—the result would speak for itself.

Bang

“Corporal Kururugi! You are up!”

The door opened, and an attendant shouted.

Hoo

Let’s go.

Step

Step

The closer I came to the entrance, the louder the cheering became.

And far away, in the VIP seats, the man who had demoted me to private first class was holding a microphone.

Lysander de Britannia.

But he was not my opponent.

My opponent was—

A girl, at least in appearance.

And yet, even Knight of One Bismarck was forced to take her seriously.

Knight of Six, Lady Anya Alstreim.

Click

Click

The cockpit closed.

The machine began to move.

Anya’s voice rang out through the speakers.

“I’ll let you have the first move, Corporal Kururugi.”

“Then… I won’t hold back!”

Thud

Lysander’s Point of View

“Ooooh! Incredible! Corporal Kururugi has taken the initiative!”

Andresa Ritt, the commentator, shouted excitedly from the commentary box.

In this world, she was a gender-swapped but otherwise perfectly normal announcer.

“Yes, indeed! But the ‘sixty-three seconds’ I mentioned earlier assumed that he would focus on defense.”

“If he can survive while attacking first… wouldn’t we have to bring in Sir Bismarck at that point?”

The retired officer Erika, seated beside her, cleared her throat.

“…For the sake of your career, I will pretend I did not hear that.”

I smirked.

As expected of Suzaku.

Even if he was going to die, he would still charge straight ahead.

Whoosh

“You should have aimed for my neck.”

Clang

One of Suzaku’s machine’s arms was severed in an instant.

“Oooh! He lost an arm, but he’s still holding on! He’s gripping the beam rifle with his remaining arm and even firing missiles!”

Dududududu

“Stop running and fall already!”

Boom

Boom

Boom

Boom

The arena barriers flashed as they blocked the wide-area missile barrage.

And Suzaku charged again.

“I’ll stake everything on this strike!”

Bayonet mode.

A man’s romance.

But—

“If you thought I would dodge in the same direction, you were mistaken!”

Bang

Anya dodged in the opposite direction and shot straight through his engine block.

Bzzzt

“It’s over. Surrender, Corporal Kururugi.”

“I still… have one missile left!”

Click

“You lunatic!”

Whoosh

Boom

A mutual-destruction gambit.

He had tried to detonate his last missile at point-blank range.

With insane reaction speed, Anya dodged the missile—

And fired one shot straight into the cockpit block, triggering the emergency shutdown.

Thud

The arena fell silent.

And then—

“The winner is… Lady Anya Alstreim!”

The commentary box exploded.

“Isn’t this astonishing, everyone?”

“Corporal Kururugi’s survival time was… one hundred and two seconds!”

“A full one minute and forty-two seconds! Nearly two minutes!”

“And he wasn’t even fighting defensively! I can confidently say there were several moments when even the Knight of Six was in real danger!”

The audience went mad.

“Let him live!”

“Let him live!”

“Let him live!”

What was this, a gladiator arena?

I sighed and rose from my seat.

My original plan had been to promote him to staff sergeant if he failed to last even ten seconds, then put him to use somewhere suitable.

But—

“Let him live!”

“Let him live!”

“Let him live!”

Fine, fine.

I get it.

I raised my thumb.

The arena erupted in a roar so loud it felt as if the building itself might collapse.

“Suzaku!”

“Suzaku!”

“Suzaku!”

Suzaku was carried out on a stretcher, half-conscious, yet still waving his hand.

Confirmed show-off.

I took the microphone.

“Kururugi Suzaku.”

“Effective today, you are promoted for distinguished service.”

“You are now a captain.”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

The stands exploded once more.

And in the distance—

For a moment, I thought I saw a green-haired pizza witch standing beside a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl who looked strangely familiar.

But surely, that had to be my imagination.