Chapter 1: Expulsion From the Count’s Family

“Are you awake?”

　A voice woke Sett up.

“Hn…?”

　A pleasant drowsiness was still enveloping Sett’s body.

“Master, Sett-sama is awake!”

　The maid, who was beside the bed, is calling someone. Sett’s head was still mostly in sleep.

“You’re awake!”

　I heard the bitter, parched voice of a middle-aged man and felt someone running up to the bed.

“Sett, are you able to speak? It’s me, your father.”

“Ah… yes.”

　Little by little my mind began to clear and I began to recognize my surroundings.

　The man who rushed up to me was my father, Haglar-Drag-Vayel. He is the head of the Count Vayel family.

(T.L. Note: In the original MTL, Sett referred to himself in the third-person here, but I changed into first-person for consistency.)

“I…”

　When had I fallen asleep? My mind is still kind of hazy.

“Thank God. We thought you’d never wake up.”

　My father’s face was kind. He looked concerned about me.

“What happened?”

“You’ve been asleep for three days since you received the connection crystal implant. Are you okay?”

(Ah, I remember now.)

　Connecting crystals. At the age of fourteen, I had undergone surgery to implant the connection crystal, in order to prep me to succeed the family’s title as heir.

　I looked at the back of my left hand.

　There was a round, deep blue crystal embedded in it. Connective crystals are very expensive, and the one implanted in Sett was one of the purest and most expensive crystals money could buy. It was worthy of a nobleman’s children, priming them to defend territory and empire.

“It’s okay, I’m a little sleepy, but I’m not in bad shape.”

“Good… that is truly heartening news. Can you get up?”

“Of course.”

　I finally woke up; strangely, I didn’t feel sore, at least not as sore as I would have expected for someone who had stayed in bed for several days straight. The maids must have been taking care of him.

“I’m so glad. When you are cleaned up and fed, come to the hangar. I’ll give you a lift to the dragoon.”

“Yes, Father.”

　I was looking forward to my fourteenth birthday, when I would receive a connection crystal that would allow me to ride in a dragoon.

　A Dragoon is a space combat ship that can achieve high performance by connecting with its pilot through a connection crystal. Every nobleman is obligated to fight for the Empire aboard a dragoon. I, the eldest son and legitimate son of Count Vayel, am the heir apparent of the Vayel family.

　I was helped by a maid who changed my clothes and did my hair.

　After going to the dining room and eating a simple meal of bread and egg rolls alone, I went to the hangar.

　The Vayer’s dragoon <Dear-Vide> is a beautiful, streamlined craft that is 100 meters long. Sett was very fond of this ancestral dragoon, which has been passed down from generation to generation.

　I entered through the boarding gate and made my way through the corridor to the cockpit.

　In the cockpit, my father and the butler were waiting for me. The butler was operating the control panel and was ready to make the connection at any time. On the screen at the front, ‘Ready to connect’ was displayed.

“Come, Sett. Take a seat.”

　My father pointed to the cockpit. I was never able to sit here before, but now I can finally enter this forbidden area.

　I sat there with great excitement. It felt like a long held dream had come true. The machine in front of the cockpit has a connection crystal on an inner portion of the fuselage.

　I touched the connecting crystal in my left hand to it.

“Connect.”

　I then uttered a voice command. The fuselage’s connection crystal flashed for a moment and then went dark again. The screen still displayed the words ‘Ready to connect’.

“…”

　Strange. I’m sure the crystal on the fuselage side was supposed to stay glowing, and that should have said ‘connection complete’.

“Connect.”

　I tried again.

　The result was the same.

“Why?”

“A malfunction?”

　My father muttered to himself and touched his own crystal to the fuselage.

“Connect.”

　The crystal on the fuselage side glowed, reading ‘Connection complete’.

…….

　I was unable to speak. I’m not sure I understand what was going on.

“Sett, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s because you just woke up and aren’t feeling well. Let’s go back to our room.”

　I returned to my room at his father’s urging.

　After some time had passed, a crystal engineer was called in to inspect my crystal. They were to test it to see whether there were any abnormalities with it.

　However, no matter how many times the technician inspected the crystals, they appeared to be normal and did not exhibit any strange properties.

　They ran every test they could think of and tried various methods.

　A week later, a conclusion was reached.

　I was the problem, not the crystals.

　I was unable to leave the room.

　It’s not that someone told me not to come out, or that I was prevented from leaving. I just didn’t want to leave my room.

　I didn’t want to meet anyone, not even my maid, so I had my food brought to my room and wiped myself with a tub of water to cleanse myself.

　What should I do?

　Can someone who can’t ride the dragoon inherit the Count’s house like this? I have a smart father, maybe he’ll be able to find a loophole and allow me to handle a dragoon.

　I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

　And so, after two weeks of being cooped up in my room, a maid came knocking on my room. It wasn’t meal time yet, sometime was up.

“Sett-sama, your father is waiting for you in the study.”

　It was the first time in the past two weeks that my father had called me.

“I understand.”

　I can’t say no to my father when he calls me. I left my room and went to the study.

　On the way, I met my cousin Bergfud. Bergfud is the second son of the Baron of Thurrawood. We weren’t very close.

“Hi.”

　When I greeted him, Bergfud raised his hand to return the greeting. He was smiling at me, but for some reason his smile unsettled me.

　I suppose there is nothing more to say. I passed Bergfud and entered my father’s study.

　My father was waiting for me on the reception sofa in his study.

“Father, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, I did. Please sit down.”

　When I sat down, the butler held out a cup of tea for me.

“I was worried when you didn’t come out of your room, are you okay?”

“Yes…”

　I replied in a nervous tone. In order to calm myself down, I took a sip of tea. It worked, I could feel my nerves calming.

“This incident had father worried. I know you’re probably feeling down about it, but don’t let it bother you.”

　My father’s voice was gentle.

　I was happy to hear him say that.

“I’ve been thinking about the future, and I’ve decided that this is the only way to go about it.”

　My father’s face grew serious.

“What is it?”

“Setsu, you became sick and died of illness after the connection crystal implantation surgery.”

“…What?”

“The Count therefore decided to adopt Bergfud, the second son of the Baron of Thurrawood.”

“Father, what are you-”

“I won’t ask for forgiveness. Anyone who cannot connect to a Dragoon cannot be considered a nobleman.”

　I felt as if I had been pushed off a cliff.

“You must leave the orbital castle by tomorrow morning.”

“That, father… I’m afraid I ca-”

　My vision wobbled. My body grew weak. I even lost consciousness for a moment.

“…I’m sorry.”

　Haglar muttered this softly. The bastard, he spiked my tea.