It had only been about two days since Rani had piloted the Vanguard, but it felt much longer. The changes that had been done to their unit were much more than a simple once-over, and if there were any new quirks to it they’d need to be figured out on the fly. Beyond that, they’d also need to be sure to keep to the rules of engagement. Vanguard pilots used lethal force by default, but that wouldn’t do while fighting fellow humans. Rani had actually never fought opponents who understood the idea of surrendering, so this would be good practice.

“Aaaaaaand,” Clive called out. He clapped his hands together. “GO!”

The three quickly approached, the extra pair fanning out to surround the Vanguard. A sensible maneuver, and one that gave Rani a bit of time to watch how their knights moved. Save for the ones standing guard at Leonhold, it didn’t seem like there was any universal standard.

The one with the horned helmet seemed like it was designed for the front of a battle, a line-breaker you could take cover behind and couldn’t ignore if you were staring it down. It held a massive axe that looked like it would do a better job crushing the Vanguard than cutting it. From the way his knight walked, the mercenary seemed like the confident sort.

The other two knights were smaller and made of more light-weight armor, each carrying specialized weapons. One held a pair of long daggers that looked perfect for finishing off enemies when they gave the opportunity. The other held a long spear that could hold off enemies or hem them in.

These three together were enough to tell Rani they hadn’t been picked by coincidence. You couldn’t claim to be a veteran of any battlefield if you lost to a setup as simple as this. Well, this would be a learning experience for both of them.

They made their move at the same time. The knight with the spear approached from the right, lunging with the spear to try to provoke them. On their left lurked the one with the daggers, not moving just yet but waiting for any opportunity. Ahead, the horned knight charged at them.

Rani took a step backward away from the spear, and then quickly lunged forward, moving to one side of the weapon as they approached its wielder. From behind they heard a thud as the dagger-wielder’s own lunge fell short thanks to the feint. Just a step or two brought the Vanguard in reach of their target; Rani gripped the sword, sizing up the spot where the knight’s shoulder fit into the torso.

The spear-wielder swung its weapon in an arc, aiming the side of its tip at the Vanguard’s head. Rani flung up one arm, feeling it thud into the metal but perfectly willing to take some damage there to deprive a foe of a limb entirely.

That was nearly a huge mistake on their part. In this world a spear wasn’t just a spear, and it took the ground rising up under their feet for Rani to remember. They shoved out with one foot, quickly kicking away from the spire of earth that nearly impaled the Vanguard’s head.

Landing from that meant a moment of inaction, and the horned knight raised its axe for a skull-splitting chop. Rani grimaced. That was an amateur mistake. They prepared to jump, but they already knew they wouldn’t be getting away without some damage.

Or so they thought. Under ordinary circumstances a Vanguard’s legs barely had enough force to get them off the ground. Nine times out of ten gaining altitude only made you a target, so there was no point anyway.

Rani watched the three knights stare up at them before they landed a short distance away. They flicked the Vanguard’s gaze downward. Air was rushing around its feet, which stayed a moment longer before it vanished.

If they’d envisioned anything, it was getting away from that axe. Was that all one of these gems needed? It made the Vanguard’s old computer seem stone-aged. Rani had never been confident relying on that and didn’t expect to change their opinion for this replacement, but it was something they could keep in mind.

The knight trio spread out again. Rani clicked their tongue in disapproval. It was a lot less sensible of a maneuver when you tried it again after it had just failed. Now that they knew what the spear-wielder was capable of, their next move was obvious.

Rani turned, sending the Vanguard rushing toward the Runic Knight with the daggers. The moment of hesitation made it clear the pilot hadn’t expected that. Good. Their knight seemed like it was the nimble sort, but they could be chased down if you knew what you were doing. It made a few leaps away, but Rani was on it a moment later, swinging down the Vanguard’s sword.

What it cleaved through wasn’t steel or mineral, however, but smoke, which burst across the Vanguard’s eyes. Rani kept calm. When your vision was obscured, you used your ears, and those told them the dagger-wielder was off to their right.

When they went to take another step, however, the machine nearly fell over as the ground suddenly shifted beneath one of its feet. The spear-wielder again. If they could make the earth go up, making it do the opposite was probably simple enough.

Three sets of footsteps approached them, and the smoke showed no signs of disappearing. Rani tried to focus on the nearest pair. Even without a proper radar they could still tell when an enemy was nearby.

The pilot raised an eyebrow as the Vanguard’s cockpit suddenly lit up, not by the glow of a screen but an orb of light that blinked into being off to one side, just above the radar’s former position. Three other, smaller orbs orbited it at various distances, one north, one west and one south. The last one was nearest, and getting closer.

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This wasn’t the time to ask questions. But did it work? Rani waited just a fraction longer to make their next move, when the southern orb was almost on top of them. The smoke was still covering their vision, but that didn’t matter. They didn’t need to see to know where their weapons were.

Snatching the crossbow from the Vanguard’s back, Rani fired it straight down. They’d experimented a bit with the gem yesterday, and it seemed like wind was all it could magic up. After the storms they’d been caught up in out in the wastes, that was fine by Rani. It was easy to underestimate wind until you’d experienced the kind that could tear bare skin.

It didn’t quite do that against the knight behind them, but Rani heard the sound of it stumbling back as the crossbow bolt exploded into an updraft. The smoke was still over their eyes, but that didn’t matter now. Whirling around, Rani took one step forward, raised the Vanguard’s sword and swung downward. The smoke finally vanished just in time for them to watch their target kiss the ground, daggers knocked out of its hands. Rani had only used the flat of the sword, but that was more than enough when it was this size.

The soldier didn’t have a moment’s rest after, which was just as well considering they hadn’t planned on taking one. They turned, backing just out of reach from a thrust by the rock-shifter. That meant they avoided the spear, but it wasn’t alone this time, either. Flying toward the Vanguard came several rocks sharpened into miniature spears themselves.

Rani could tell it wasn’t a serious attack like the spire from earlier, but one meant to provoke them into making a mistake. Since that was what their opponent wanted, they did the opposite: casting away the crossbow, they lunged at the spear-wielding knight again, letting the rocks thud into the Vanguard’s chest. There would be some scars, but anything that couldn’t pierce the cockpit wasn’t worth worrying about.

What was finally came thudding up. The knight with the axe had picked up momentum on its way here, and it swung down its weapon again. Compared to the other two it didn’t seem like it had any gimmick to its magic, just pure force. It was enough to send Rani’s Vanguard and the remaining knight off-balance just from a near miss.

That was what Rani had been counting on. As the Vanguard was startled they thought of wind, and it came. Propelled by the gust at its feet, their machine flew right into the spear-wielder. Rani flung out their free hand as they drew near, seizing the Runic Knight by the face and shoving it off its feet. As it hit the ground, they swept the spear out of its hands.

Rising, Rani turned the Vanguard to face the last knight. It was still now, and from the way it stood Rani could tell the pilot was no longer so confident. He was probably thinking about where the fight would be now if it were one-on-one. Good.

They made the first move, dashing forward at him. He was startled but had obviously expected it, quickly sweeping out his axe to keep them at bay. Rani leaned back, just outside its reach, and thrust their sword out. The Vanguard’s old blade had been strictly for close-up encounters, but things weren’t quite so rigid here, were they? Rushing across the sword and out of the tip came a gust of wind that slashed through the air like a razor. It swept over the axe-wielding knight, and a moment later something thudded to the ground nearby. It was the tip of one of the Runic Knight’s horns.

That flipped a switch. The Rider didn’t shout at them or say anything at all, but suddenly Rani was on the defensive, moving backward to avoid furious cleaves and chops. They avoided them cleanly enough, but the ground suffered for it. At this rate the watch might be called even with the weight of Clive’s purse.

As the rider lifted his axe from another vicious swing, he saw his foe’s knight suddenly stumble as it tried to retreat further. Ha, so it was as shoddy as he’d thought. Raising the axe again, he took a mighty step forward.

It was only when his knight’s left foot came down on uneven ground that the rider realized he should have kept an eye on the terrain. As he fought to keep steady, his knight’s sudden change in posture making the axe more of a weight than a weapon, the vagabond’s knight stood up straight and dove to the side.

Rani picked up the crossbow, rolled the Vanguard to its feet, and picked a target. This had been fine practice, but there was no sense drawing things out. One, two, three wind bolts slammed into the knight’s stuck knee, throwing it even further off-balance, and then charged. The rider finally realized to drop the axe, but only just before Rani’s Vanguard hit him with a body-check. A moment later their machine’s foot was on the chest of his, holding it at sword-point.

Rani turned to look at the other two knights, who had gathered up their weapons again. They didn’t look like people who’d been beaten. The pilot gripped their weapons.

“Alright, I’d say that’s about enough!” Clive suddenly yelled. It looked like he’d walked up in the last few moments of the fight. “Hate to say it, but any more and she’ll probably leave all three of you without working Runic Knights - and me without three riders I’m paying a good day’s work to.” He smiled. “No shame calling it against someone that experienced, is there?”

Money was worth a lot more than pride to people like this. The two other knights knelt as their riders dismounted. Rani did the same, letting the horned knight up. They could sense the distaste from its pilot as both of them left their cockpits, but then Clive was in front of them, all smiles.

“Amazing work. Inspiring!” the merchant cried. You could have almost sold people his words if they were solid. “But that’s experience for you, isn’t it? Let’s head back to town and continue our chat. Speaking more with you would be lovely.”

---

Not long later, Rani left the inn again, this time a bit heavier thanks to the coin purse at their side. Clive had agreed to pay half their fee in advance, and Rani had made sure to hold out for a bit more. They didn’t know anything about the currency here, but it would be suspicious if they were too agreeable, right?

All this had taken a few hours, but they still had most of the day left, and another person to meet. It was easy to imagine the difficult part was over, but if speaking with the merchant had caused a fight, who knew what the military man would bring? But whatever came, they’d deal with it.

“That was mighty impressive.”

It took a moment for Rani to realize that was directed at them. They looked around and saw a man in his later years hammering down a loose bit of wood on a building. He smiled. “You beat them all outnumbered and barely left a scratch on any of them. I haven’t seen someone your age fight like that in a Runic Knight in a long time.”

“Oh,” Rani said, blinking. They nodded low. “Thank you. I hope it wasn’t, er, a problem.”

“Not at all,” the man said with a smile. “I hope you fight like that in the Royale.”

Rani grasped for something else to say, and settled for another nod before walking away. They’d been praised before in one way or another, but hearing someone congratulate them over a simple sparring match was new. It felt a bit strange.

Strange, but not bad. Rani reached into their pack and felt the weight of the Vanguard’s gemstone. Somehow they were getting the feeling this wouldn’t be so impossible after all.