Chapter Text
The starship warehouse was the only area in the entire spaceship without windows. Bright white lights illuminated the entire space. The silver metal interiors reflected the lights back, providing enough light that could be mistaken for daylight from a star. The pure whiteness and massiveness of the place gave off a sense of coldness and austerity.
Huge metal contraptions of various shapes and sizes were lined up the metal walls. Some were human-shaped, while the some had four limbs to support their heavy bodies. The few others consisted of two distinct bodies. All of them were so huge in scale that there were scaffolding at least a couple of storeys high. Numerous mechanics were on these platforms, performing various tasks on these machines.
The thumping of the mechanics' boots and loud noises of their tools were amplified in the large space. The technicians were hunched over their devices, running some programs that concluded with a flat mechanical voice declaring the result of the run throughs. The room was filled with the low sounds of their chatter which were suppressed by the sounds of their tools. Despite the clinical aura of the place, it was filled with a constant hum of various sounds.
It was this sight Yudrein woke up to. Rather, it was better to say it was a sight Yuder woke up to. He blinked slowly, unconsciously frowning at the sudden onslaught of noise. His hand moved on its own, turning off the drill in his hands.
"A new generation of Mechas are currently under development in Dewburn…"
On watching him stirring awake, the person next to him hurriedly lowered the volume. The damage was done and Yuder pried his eyes open with effort. He was still feeling strangely drowsy, so he stood up abruptly. The ramp made a heavy sound under his boots, which were a little large for his feet.
The person who played that sound loudly looked at him sheepishly and stood up to sit on the farther edge of the platform. His handsome face and red hair stood out in the crowd. He was obviously very well liked, since someone else scooted on the work bench to make space for him.
For Yudrein, this was Gakane Volunbalt, an exceptional member of the cavalry who had great potential among those who passed the test with Yuder. He had unfortunately passed away an year later during a monster subjugation
Another set of conflicting thoughts told him this was Gakane Volunbalt, a volunteer from the Mecha piloting department, who had come to learn from test flights of a recently-developed mecha on Prometheus in the Great Sarrain.
'Intern, Mecha, Prometheus, test flights…'
Yudrein had never heard these words before, but he understood them immediately. Those large things were mecha, and…Prometheus seemed to be a planet they were going to.
'These are not my memories.'
According to these memories, Yuder was an orphan from a barren star in the Rik Nebula. He had lost his parents and was brought up by his great-grandfather until he passed away. He lived for a few years on his own before he was taken in by a military orphanage in the Capital Star at thirteen. He had graduated the imperial military academy and was now a student in the mecha engineering department.
All of this was different from what he had experienced as Yuder and Yudrein. It was what Yuder of this world had lived through. It seemed that he had died in his own world and came back to life in another!
This world was fundamentally different from his. There were no powers of any kind— no mages, no priests, no awakeners. Here, the only hope against monsters were these mechas and those who drove them
It was something not even mages could make. Even with the sudden outbreak of monsters everywhere, the empire was able to prosper even without awakeners because mechas tilted the subjugation towards their favor. It was even fair to say the empire was prospering under the current Emperor's rule.
With some conflicting feelings, Yuder looked at the drill in his hand and then at the metal cover hanging open on hinges in front of him.
'I should fix it.'
He was assigned this work by a senior technician as an assignment. Based on the memories, this was a minor task to do. It was almost completed too; only the metal plate needed to be screwed back in place.
It should have been hard to do so just from memories alone, but it was surprisingly easy. The previous soul had trained his muscle memory so that he could do it even in half asleep state. He made a quick work of the couple of screws and sealed it shut without any issues.
It was at that moment a senior technician passed by. She inspected his work and gave a curt nod before walking off. Yuder looked back at the piece of metal he just fixed. It was still not perfect, but it would work for now. He packed the sealant and the drill back into a worn metal box kit.
Interns like him didn't have a lot of work on missions like these to avoid any chances of error. It was solely because of the trust in judgment of the expert technicians that they were even allowed to do practical work on the mission-assigned mechas. With this small task, his day's work was already over. He got to the ground-level and went to deposit his kit at one of the work desks.
Since everyone else had finished in a similar time span, all the desks were quite crowded. People stood in neat lines, chatting with each other to wait for their turn. As a person who did not interact much with others, Yuder stood alone in the line.
From far, he finally saw the mecha he was working on. It was larger than the others and silver in color. Its general silhouette was humanoid with more streamlined structure. By the looks of it, it should be a mecha specializing in aviation, which was a little strange considering its huge size.
A-11920. That was its designated name.
He didn't know much about this model since it was new, but there basic structures that were common all mechas of a category. This one looked like a Category I— a sword-wielding mecha.
Many considered Category I mechas to be outdated because of the heavy strain they put on a normal pilot, heavier built and lower durability even if they provided the highest close combat advantage.
This one was a different from the other Category I. It was clearly built for dual piloting, judging from its size.
While dual piloting was already gaining popularity as it allowed pilots to operate larger mechas beyond their capacity, Category I mechas still did not have any such operating mechas. In fact, this was the first operational Category I mecha that was built for dual piloting.
'Again, this information…'
Yuder looked towards the front, caught off guard. It seemed like the previous soul really liked mechas.
'If I am here, then where is he?'
It was hard to say. Clearly the reason he was able to 'possess' this body was because he had died in the previous one. The execution was monitored and planned carefully enough to ensure he died. This wasn't true for this 'Yuder'. 'Yuder' had been in a good health, maybe even better than he was. The spaceship was heavily monitored and an infirmary was close by. The chances of 'Yuder' passing away without being noticed were small.
Small, but not completely impossible. Especially if he had possessed the body the moment 'Yuder' vacated it.
At that thought, his grip tightened around the toolbox handle.
"Yuder!"
Unexpectedly, someone from the front called him. Yuder looked over. It was Gakane, with an embarrassed smile.
"Do you want me to check out for you?"
Yuder nodded. Gakane seemed relieved and took his toolbox. He passed both their toolboxes to the front desk. Since Yuder didn't need to wait any longer, he stepped out at the same time as Gakane.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Gakane scratched his neck, hesitating. "I was thinking about grabbing a lunch. You?"
Despite knowing each other's names, it didn't look like Gakane was particularly close to 'Yuder'. It would be better to describe their relationship as acquaintances. Yuder tried to recall. The memories were a still hazy, but it was certain that 'he' had known Gakane. Where had they met before…
'Ah, that's right.'
In the start of the first semester in the academy dorms, Gakane had been staying in the room across his own. He had tried to strike conversations with him in passing. After that, 'Yuder' had been locked up in the library or his room so they barely met after that.
Yuder even had an aversion to interacting with people for some reason.
However, Gakane was a decent person. Even as an exception pilot in the academy, he didn't show any arrogance towards Yuder, who was a student of the mecha engineering department.
'He volunteered the most for the mecha test drives as well.'
"Alright."