Two full days and nights passed in a flash.
Before anyone realized, it was already dawn on the third day.
A gentle rain had just fallen, leaving the forest air crisp and clean. Nao pulled the final chip from the back of an AE-class combat robot's head and casually dropped it into his snakeskin bag.
"All done. That's the safety net secured."
He looked up at the sky—the sun breaking through the clouds after the rain was almost blinding. Narrowing his eyes, he let a warm, innocent smile stretch across his face.
"Looks like it's about time… to start harvesting the crop."
———
Inside the tall white control tower's monitoring room:
"AE-04 Giant robot has been defeated by Natsuya Nao. Chip has been retrieved. Combat time: six seconds. Overall performance: extremely poor!"
Dr. Ent gave a helpless sigh. "Which one is this now?"
"The eighth one Doctor," the staff member reported cautiously, watching his expression. "All AE robots we deployed… have been wiped out by him."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zephyr burst out laughing with a toothpick between his teeth. "Took down all eight already? That kid's seriously something else!"
"..." Dr. Ent just looked at him in numb silence, completely at a loss for words.
At this point, all he could do was be thankful that the kid at least had a sense of restraint.
—Even though he'd trashed a bunch of the regular models along the way, he'd shown a degree of mercy toward the AE units, only extracting the chips and leaving the rest mostly intact.
"Looks like the first-place spot in this assessment is already locked in," Dr. Ent murmured as he took off his glasses and wiped them. "The points weight from AE-class bots is just too high. No matter how hard the others try, there's no catching up now…"
"There was never any suspense to begin with," Zephyr said with a small grin. "What I'm wondering is what that kid plans to do next. If it were me, I'd be napping in a tree somewhere by now. Who'd dare try stealing his chips anyway?"
That was no exaggeration. Dr. Ent nodded subconsciously.
Over the past two days, he'd observed through the surveillance feeds that the twelve Commodores and Rear Admirals had repeatedly attacked candidates, snatching large numbers of chips.
But not one of them had made a move on Nao. Even if they bumped into him by accident, they wisely gave him a wide berth.
It seemed this black-haired boy's strength had already become common knowledge among the Marine officers—far more terrifying than Dr. Ent had initially expected.
"Who says no one dares to rob him?!"
Suddenly, an indignant voice cut in. Sentomaru stormed over with his giant axe slung over his shoulder, shouting, "Doctor, let me in there too! I'll take that punk's chips myself!"
He still hadn't settled the score from being thrown under the door the other day!
"Don't be ridiculous." Dr. Ent shot him a glare. "Aside from breaking the rules, even if we did send you in—do you really think you could survive one punch from him?"
The AE-class bots were all destroyed with a single punch, remember?
"Of course I could!" Sentomaru declared, puffing up his chest.
But before he could say more, one of the staff gasped, eyes locked on the screen. "Wait a second… What's he doing now?"
Everyone immediately ignored Sentomaru and turned to the monitor. The feed showed Nao moving unlike before—no longer casually wandering, but dashing like lightning through the woods, seemingly tailing someone.
"Switch to the corresponding camera," Zephyr ordered with a slight frown.
"Yes, sir!"
The screen changed, picking up the view from a nearby Den Den Mushi. The person being followed? None other than Rear Admiral Doberman.
He was crouched atop an ancient tree, eyes locked on a nearby new recruit locked in combat with a robot—clearly waiting for the right moment to swoop in and steal the chip.
The classic mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
No one present had heard that old idiom, but the moment they saw the scene, their faces changed—they instantly realized what was about to happen.
"Wait—is he actually planning to rob Rear Admiral Doberman's chips?!"
Dr. Ent turned to Zephyr in disbelief. "Zephyr-sensei, wouldn't that be against the rules?"
"Uh…" Zephyr scratched his head, clearly caught off guard. "I… don't think so? I never mentioned anything like that in the rules…"
Then again, who would've thought a new recruit would ever try something like this?
When the rules were made, nobody could've possibly imagined a scenario where a recruit would turn the tables and rob the supervising Commodores and Rear Admirals of their chips!
"That kid…" Zephyr blinked, then burst out laughing again. "He really is my student! Hahaha, always full of surprises!"
The staff members all facepalmed. So this freak slipped through a rules loophole—and you're proud of that?!
"Well, it's too late now. Nothing we can do about it."
Dr. Ent sighed and looked at the monitor again. Doberman still hadn't noticed a thing.
"I just hope these Commodores and Rear Admirals Zephyr brought in don't end up traumatized after this assessment's over…"
———
Whoosh!
Wind sliced through the thick forest canopy.
"See ya, brat!"
Doberman had just snagged his prize and returned to his perch atop the ancient tree. He waved cheerfully at the stunned recruit below.
"Chase me if you want, but there's only a few hours left in the assessment. If I were you, I wouldn't waste time on a wild goose chase."
"Damn it!"
The recruit stomped in frustration. But upon recognizing Doberman's rank, he hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly turned and left. He didn't pursue.
Out of the twelve officers assigned to harass and plunder the candidates, only two were Rear Admirals—and he had the misfortune of running into one of them. No choice but to give up.
"You're really not chasing?"
Doberman tossed the chip into the pouch at his waist and clicked his tongue.
"Lame. These new recruits have no fire in them at all."
"Oh? Now that's something I can't just ignore."
A voice rang out below the tree. "You shouldn't generalize, Rear Admiral. I happen to be very motivated."
That voice was… familiar. Doberman squinted down from his perch—and saw a handsome, black-haired young man crouched on a boulder, grinning up at him.
Or rather—at the pouch on his waist.
Something in Doberman's chest tensed. He instinctively stepped back and clutched the pouch tight, voice sharp and nervous.
"Y-You… what are you doing?!"
What's with the overreaction? You'd think I was here to mug you or something…
Nao scratched his head in confusion. Was I really that memorable during the strength and stamina assessments?