What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

Chapter 710: Time For Some Practical Lessons

Even though we didn’t need to, I still chose to attend the lesson the next day, just to see what else he was going to teach.

And for today, we were brought to the station’s hangar bay where a whole bunch of Exo-Knights were stored and waiting for their pilots.

Seems like he was going to let us pilot a real Exo-Knight this time and had prepared quite a number of them for us to try them out.

All of them had the same design and this one was a bipedal type that was completely white in colour and it sported a gigantic shield in its left hand that could cover its entire body if raised in front of it.

Not gonna lie, I was expecting them to be some kind of cheap variant or something, but by the look on Ries’s face when she saw them, I have a feeling that they weren’t cheap at all.

”Ninth generation Paladin models... And they are the modified heavy types too...” She gasped.

”Are they good?” I asked.

She nodded, ”They have one of the highest defensive power in the open market... And these were modified to have even higher defensive power than that. When their shields are fully deployed, they can even shrug off a direct hit from a battleship!”

Ok, that’s pretty impressive.

Yumiko nodded her head, ”He most likely picked this model because even if any of us were to lose control and crash them, it would not result in serious damage.”

I turned to Ries, ”And how much would one unit cost?”

”Ummm... A safe estimate would be around twenty to forty million... Give or take a few million.”

Right...

Considering the fact that there’s twenty of them here... I have a feeling that’s also the reason why he’s only accepting twenty students.

He must already be paying a lot just to maintain these Exo-Knights or something... Or maybe it’s for the androids, I dunno.

Because I didn’t think about it before but now that it’s right in front of me... There’s an android standing beside each of the Exo-Knights and there’s even more of them standing at the side doing checks on the Exo-Knights.

Seems like every single staff member here is an android aside from the instructor himself... Does he have an android fetish or something?

Anyway!! The important thing is that we’re piloting real Exo-Knights today! Real ones! Not just a simulation!

But then again... Is this alright? Because now we would have to use the default controls of the machine instead of what we were used to...

Wait... Is that why the first test is to get us to figure out how to use controls we’re not familiar with to begin with?

Still... I think that letting us go through the simulator to create the most optimal controls for ourselves feels a little pointless now...

Like now we have to relearn everything once we get into those Exo-Knights...

The instructor stood in front of us looking quite serious despite the fact that his face is still hidden underneath that helmet of his.

”As all of you might have guessed... Today I will have you pilot an actual Exo-Knight. The controls are all the same so this is another situation where you have to learn the controls on the fly so just for today, I will be going easy on you.”

Just for today he says...

He continued, ”I will have all of you enter one of these Exo-Knights and you will fly around this area. You will also be accompanied by one of my androids who will be attached to your Exo-Knight and will act as your secondary pilot who will take over your controls if you somehow lose control over it.”

Almost immediately, one of the Mercs raised his voice in protest, ”What?! No way! I won’t accept that! I’m already tolerating the fact that these clankers are walking around like normal but to tell me that one of them could have control over me? That’s unacceptable!”

Oh yeah... I also didn’t think about this since nothing came up so far but I forgot that some people have strong opinions against AI don’t they?

I’m more surprised that no one actually brought this up until now...

Then again, I guess that you’ve paid half a million Credits just to join this school and you’d probably keep your mouth shut to prevent wasting that money.

Though I guess for this guy... It wasn’t enough to completely shut him up.

The instructor turned to that guy, ”The androids are only there to make sure that you don’t do something stupid like trying to fly into the station.”

”Hmph! And what if that clanker suddenly decides to take over my controls and flies it into the station itself, huh?! Are you going to guarantee that it wouldn’t happen?!”

”Yes,” The instructor answered immediately.

Hmm... I’m not sure... But I think this guy really likes androids.

The Merc didn’t seem like he expected that response at all and was at a loss of words.

The instructor crossed his arms at the Merc, ”This is how things are done here, if you don’t like it, then you can just drop out.”

”You can’t do that! I already qualified for this, didn’t I?”

”I can and I will. I will not risk anyone’s safety just to appease the feelings of one person like you.”

”Can’t you just let me fly one without an android attached? Since everyone else has one, they will avoid me, right?”

”Why should the majority here that have no problem with this acclimate to you? This isn’t a class that is meant to guarantee your success. If you aren’t willing to put up with the rules and insist on implementing your own, you are free to go elsewhere to seek your success. I do not owe you any success. You seek something from me and I set the rules to achieve it, it is your responsibility to live up to it, not my responsibility to lower my standards just to spare your feelings.”

Damn... This guy really doesn’t pull any punches huh...

The Merc gritted his teeth and I could tell he was definitely still against the idea of having an android controlling his Exo-Knight but I guess he didn’t want to drop out either so he relented and stepped back.

The instructor turned back to look at the others in the crowd, ”Is there anyone else who finds this arrangement disagreeable?”

No one else spoke up.

”Then we shouldn’t waste anymore time. Go ahead and find the Exo-Knight assigned to you and mount up. You will receive instructions once you have started up your Exo-Knight.”

I separated from my girls and headed to the Exo-Knight assigned to me and a female android was there waiting for me.

Her eyes shone for a moment before she bowed, ”Miss Tera, it is an honour for you to join us today. Are you familiar with the boarding process of an Exo-Knight?”

Huh... She’s more polite than normal so either our instructor has a setting specifically for people that manage to beat him or it’s just a special trait for this android in particular.

”I am not, unfortunately,” I admitted.

”Not to worry, Miss Tera. We will experience both types later. First, I will lead you up the docked boarding process where you enter an Exo-Knight when the machine itself is docked with an Exo-Knight bay.”

The android led me to a platform at the side of the struts that surrounded the Exo-Knight, bidding me to step on it with her.

The lift then ascended up to the chest level of the machine where a platform led towards the chest area of the Exo-Knight.

As we walked towards it, the chest popped open and a platform extended out from the cockpit and onto the platform, allowing me to step inside it.

The android also followed me in, as this Exo-Knight seemed to have been modified to enlarge the cockpit’s size to allow the android to settle behind me with space to spare.

She pulled down a large wire from above her and plugged it into the back of her head, the Exo-Knight coming alive as she did so.

The cockpit closed up and screens started popping up all around me.

”Greetings pilot Tera. I am android Alicia and I shall be your co-pilot for today. Pleased to be your acquaintance,” The android’s voice came from the speakers inside the cockpit.

Guess she’s already connected to the machine itself.

She continued, ”As you already know, we will be conducting a live test to... To... To... Today. Please be ready.”

Huh? Wait... What was that sudden stutter?

Before I could ask, the android spoke up again, ”And by ready, I mean that you should spread your legs and let me suck out the honey from between them. That will help you control this Exo-Knight better.”

What the... Wait...

I scowled down at my chest, ”Renata?! What did you do to it?!”

”Ehe~”

What do you mean, ehe?!!