8 The Race

"Very well Princess, it would be my pleasure"

"Hah, how about a wager then"

"Do tell, what can I offer to someone like you"

"If I win you will make George stop his useless attempts, I am tired of him and don't want to create a scene with him, if you win you will have a favor from me, of course, something reasonable"

"Hmm, of course, that sounds well and for the favor, I would like to be your personal knight once we graduate," Leylijn stated, getting George to stop was easy he was about to do it anyway, but this gave him an in with the royals.

"I can't give you something like that for such a bet, however, if next year when we pass you are able to stay the first rank in Knightmare training along with being in the top 10 otherwise, I may consider it."

"That is more than acceptable, thank you for the opportunity princess"

"Now how about we go at this speed till this lap is over then, have a three-lap race, no hitting each other intentionally and first to finish the third lap wins. That way we can have the last lap as a buffer."

"That sounds fair" Leylin replied seeing the rules as fair, as that way at least they would have the last lap as a backup in case of a tie.

"AI chip start scanning Cornellia's movement and simulate the best path to win"

[Confirmed, predictions starting]

[57 seconds till race start, creating optimal path… finding possible choke point… simulation complete]

"What are my chances?"

[78% chance of victory, 22% chance of Tie, 10% chance of minor injury, trace chances of losing]

"Great now give me the movements as soon as the race starts"

Leylin wanted this to be great as this would leave an impression on Princess Cornelia. His choice to become her knight was not one he just thought of right now. Being the knight of an heir to the throne was a major deal as they dealt with a lot of their business and helped them as well as they could.

The heir in turn would back the knight's family and even himself giving him more political power along with opportunity.

[Starting 10 seconds] spoke the AI chip.

Leylin got ready in his cockpit and griped the controller.

"All the best princess, may the best pilot win"

"You lack the smugness I thought you would have, that's a topic for another time though here we go"

Suddenly both Cornelia and Leylin accelerated both trying to pass each other, as their lap went on.

Suddenly when the turn came, Leylin slowed down and widened his Knighmare's stance. Cornelia overtook him as they passed the turn but suddenly Leylin went full thrust as the tracker was straight for some time.

Cornelia tried the same however encountered much more resistance as the track already worn by her Knightmare was rockier, as compared to Leylin who with a wider stance was not following his previous path.

Soon he overtook her as the next bend came and was ahead of her by a few meters by the time their first lap was done.

Then it was smooth sailing as Leylin only had to make sure to keep pace with Cornelia as she herself tried the same widening of the legs. However, Leylin kept changing his stance according to the AI chip to best dodge the bumps.

Soon the third lap was over and Leylin slowed down as Cornelia caught up.

"Well it seems I will have to find some other way to deal with George," Cornelia said.

"Please princess, I would have handled George no matter, his behavior was getting out of hand anyway.

"That's good to hear, I feel a week more of that I would strangle him myself"

"Now you're making me doubt my decision princess, the opportunity to have the room to myself is too tempting" Leylin replied jokingly.

"Well Leylin it was nice to talk to you, you seem to be the most level-headed of the bunch here. What have you been doing the past month"

"Just getting the lay of the land princess, plus I'd rather focus on what matters, we are all going to be spread out across the world after these two years anyways"