After confirming that they would join the research operation and signing the agreement, Francesca led the group out of Alva's office and gave them a leisurely tour of the Knowledge Seeker.
"Let me tell you, the Knowledge Seeker may draw heavily on the Soaratorium's design, but it was built nearly thirty years later. No matter how thoroughly the Soaratorium is refurbished and upgraded, much of its hardware simply can't compete.
"Its key performance metrics, including endurance, payload, and rate of climb, all surpass the Soaratorium's.
"The Soaratorium has advantages of its own, however. First, it emphasizes modular design, allowing multiple hulls to link together into an aerial research lab of astonishing scale.
"The Knowledge Seeker, by contrast, was designed for single-ship operations and is far more agile.
"Second, and most importantly, the Soaratorium has an exceptionally experienced, cohesive, and efficient team.
"I'm telling you, those Wycademy people knew exactly what they were doing. When the Soaratorium first launched thirty years ago, they put a young Wyverian in charge.
"A lot of people thought the Field Team Leader was too young back then. But look at him now, thirty years later. That Wyverian boy has only just grown into a young man! Damn, the Soaratorium will probably be retired and replaced before he even reaches middle age.
"A project leader who has spent decades guiding the same team has a downright terrifying amount of experience."
Francesca's observation reminded Altaïr and the others of the Soaratorium's Field Team Leader. His vigorous, youthful appearance hardly suggested that he was a veteran who had led the same team for thirty years.
Come to think of it, Ms. Meow-It-All, the Felyne scholar they knew, and Miss Millsy, the Wyverian Airship operator, were also members of the Soaratorium's team.
Wyverians made up an unusually large proportion of that team, and every one of them was exceptional. Clearly, the Wycademy had chosen its crew so that the people would outlast the ship.
The Knowledge Seeker could never replicate that. Its own philosophy, however, centered on technological renewal and iteration. From that perspective, it had no need to assemble the kind of "legacy team" the Wycademy had.
Francesca showed the group around the ship, arranged their rooms, and then led them up to the deck.
Altaïr noticed that something was amiss. "Francesca, are you looking for someone?"
"No! I'm not. Don't be ridiculous!" Francesca denied it emphatically. The moment her gaze swept across a certain spot, however, her face lit up. She hurried to the railing and called down to several figures passing below. "Hey! Where have you lot been? Get up here! Let me show you the amazing new teammates I recruited!"
Altaïr followed Francesca's gaze and was pleasantly surprised to recognize every one of them.
The four figures climbing the gangway onto the deck were of very different builds. One was well-proportioned, one tall and lean, one short and stocky, and one petite. When they spotted Altaïr and Isis, their faces brightened with the same surprise and delight.
"Serl! Brandley! Buck! And Balina! You're all here!" Isis ran happily toward them.
The newcomers were none other than the members of the Vanguard Hunting Party.
Altaïr went to greet them as well, emotion surging through him. It had been almost a year and a half since they had last met. They looked much as he remembered, but all their equipment had been upgraded.
Serl stood out the most in a striking suit of blue-and-gold heavy armor. Forged from Zinogre materials, it was no standard Zinogre Set, but bespoke High Rank armor painstakingly crafted from the finest materials gathered over repeated Hunts.
Brandley, the Heavy Bowgunner, wore a Mizutsune Set crafted from its namesake's materials, while Buck, the Hammer user, wore the Tigrex Set favored by power-focused Blademasters.
Even Balina, the team's apprentice member, had changed into a full Tetsucabra Set, clear evidence that she had advanced to 3★.
If Altaïr's guess was right, all their Hunter ranks had risen. Brandley and Buck, originally 4★, had likely advanced to 5★, while Serl, as the team leader, had probably joined Altaïr and Isis as a 6★ High Rank Hunter.
It seemed that Francesca had been referring to the Vanguard Hunting Party when she mentioned "old friends."
Now that he thought about it, Altaïr remembered hearing about their connection. The veteran Hunters all went back a long way with Francesca. Serl, in particular, had apparently weathered a life-or-death crisis alongside her, forging the kind of friendship born from shared peril.
While Altaïr and Isis chatted warmly with the group, Francesca walked over as well.
She tugged Altaïr and Isis behind her, planted her hands on her hips, puffed out her chest, and raised her chin at Serl. "These two are my new teammates!
"Well? They're better than you three, right?"
Serl raised his hands in surrender with a wry smile. "Yes, yes, they're better than us–"
"What's going on here?" Isis looked completely confused.
Brandley glared at Buck, who grinned sheepishly. "Blame this idiot and his big mouth."
"Wasn't Francesca originally a member of the Vanguard Hunting Party too?" Isis tilted her head. "But then she got... 'phased out'?
"Is that what this is about?"
Altaïr reached for Isis's mouth, but he was too late. Francesca's fury immediately blazed even hotter. "You bastard! Have you been telling everyone that?!"
"No, no, no! I swear I've never said that." Serl leaned away, trying to escape the scorching heat of Francesca's wrath.
Balina stood off to one side, utterly mortified, as though she wanted to squeeze between the deck planks and disappear.
From everyone's reactions, Altaïr could more or less piece together what had happened.
Francesca had never truly wanted to make Hunting her life's work. She had parted ways with the Vanguard Hunting Party, and after the team's fourth slot remained vacant for several years, Balina had joined as its newest member.
None of that was a problem in itself, and Francesca presumably knew about Balina.
The trouble was that when they reunited a few days earlier after so long apart, Buck had probably revived the old joke about Francesca being "phased out."
Buck did not treat Francesca with the same respect Brandley did. Maybe the two of them had clashed back at training camp?
Even though they had eventually become friends, Buck probably never passed up a chance to tease her.
Then, by running his mouth, he had thrown Serl under the bus. After all, Serl had made the decision to add a new member as the team's leader.
To keep the misunderstanding from growing worse, Altaïr stepped forward to defend Serl. "When Buck made that joke back then, Serl wasn't there. Those were Buck's words."
Francesca's expression finally softened a little. She strode up to Buck and stomped hard on his instep, only for his armor to absorb the blow completely.
"You fat bastard!"
That actually put everyone else at ease. Buck even chuckled. "That's more like it. Don't take it out on Boss. He even said you'd always be our captain, you know."
"Then the first thing I'd fucking do is kick you off the team! One Hammer user is enough when we've already got little Balina. What good are two Hammers?
"I'll find the team a replacement and phase your fat ass out!" Francesca was still seething, but the anger she had directed at Serl was clearly gone.
Isis edged closer to Altaïr and whispered, "Why is Francesca so much angrier with Serl?"
"Human relationships are complicated, meow." Pawdrick had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He flicked his glossy fur and said sagely, "The same words can feel completely different depending on who says them, meow."
"Is that so?"
Seeing Isis's skeptical expression, Pawdrick licked his paw and suddenly said, "You're so weak, meow."
"Huh?"
Isis blinked, utterly baffled.
"Now imagine Altaïr saying the same thing. How would that make you feel, meow?"
"..."
Isis's fists clenched.