"Aha, so this is the Ether Liquid..." Flora had handed me a clear plastic bottle
containing about 500ml of emerald-green liquid. It kinda looked like melon
soda. Honestly, if it had ice in it, I definitely would've chugged it down without
any questions.
"So, how long will this much power a Frame Gear for?"
"This much should last about a month, you know?"
"Wow, that long...? I thought it'd be closer to a couple hours or something." I
guess it's more fuel-efficient than gasoline or kerosene... Actually, that probably
wasn't the case. Given what it took to produce such a small amount, it was
unreasonable.
"I did say that Ether Liquid was a fuel, you know? But it's actually more akin to
something like the human nervous system. It's a catalytic fluid that spreads the
intentions of the pilot throughout their frame gear, you know?"
"Huh... if it's really like nerves or blood vessels... is such a small amount really
enough?"
"That's not a problem, you know. It's not like the liquid spreads out across the
entire machine frame, you know? There's a thin tube skeleton that stores and
spreads the fuel." Frankly, I didn't understand. But it didn't really matter. A
Frame Gear was no different to a handy tool in the end. I could operate it
despite not knowing precisely how it worked. I decided I should only worry
about it when it breaks down.
"So, how many bottles did you make?"
"Just this for now, you know? But starting tomorrow, I should be able to make
about ten. As for the Ether Ore... I can probably make a further ten until the
spellstone wears out, you know?" So if I have ten frame gears... I'll get a good
few months out of that. Yeah, that seems about right... They're not gonna be
moving every day, after all.
I left the alchemy lab behind and took the Ether Liquid over to Monica in the
hangar.
I passed the liquid to her, and she immediately went over to the Chevalier, my
mass-produced Frame Gear. She opened up some of the armor on the rear and
pushed the bottle against it. With a sucking kind of clunk noise, I heard the
sound of rushing air, and the bottle was swiftly drained of its contents.
"Woohoo! Like, you can totally start your Frame Gear now if you want! But I
must implore you, refrain from activating it within this area, master. You'll
totally damage my precious hangar if you fall over or something!" Aren't you
the one damaging your "precious" hangar with a wrench all the time?!
Still, she had a point. Activating it in the hangar would be problematic. It'd be
easiest to take it back to the Duchy and run the test there too, but that opened
up its own set of problems.
I didn't think it'd be wise to make the Frame Gears public knowledge just yet,
but at the same time it might be prudent to announce they exist so we could
better prepare for the Phrase invasion. I didn't want to think about it too much,
but there was a good chance that I'd only be able to defend Brunhild. For that
reason, I figured I should get the other nations to cooperate.
At the very least, I didn't need to tell anyone about the Phrase just yet. It
would only cause unneeded panic. I decided that I would let the other nations
know about the Frame Gear. It would be fine if I announced it as an Artifact or
something. In that case, they probably wouldn't find it too strange.
The primary concern was that other countries might seek to interfere or
meddle with my affairs after learning about the Frame Gear.
I don't think I needed to worry about the western alliance leaders. They were
well aware of what I was capable of, and wouldn't be inclined to betray me.
They'd probably end up nagging me to let them try the Frame Gear, if anything.
In all honesty, any country that messed with me would sorely regret it, so I
didn't worry very much. It wouldn't be possible for them to steal it, either. My
Frame Gears would be safely stored within the Hangar of Babylon.
Alright, guess we'll bring this thing topside and start the testing. I won't hide it
or anything, but... I guess I can afford to show my retainers and knights.
"Milord... what is this...?"
"Whoa! Amazing! It's a real Frame Gear!! Did you make this, Your Highness?!"
"This... is real? Really? This isn't an illusion?" The Commander and her ViceCommanders gathered around, mouths agape as they stared at the Chevalier.
Various citizens and knights, equally dumbfounded, were also standing around.
That made sense, given how much of an eyesore it was.
"H-Hey, what the hell is that thing...? Can it move? Can it?"
"I'd wager he's tryin' ta test that out now. Goodness me, squirt. You've gone
an' made somethin' outrageous..." Yamagata and Baba both stared at
Chevalier. They, too, were amazed by its very presence. I wanted to take credit,
but it wasn't like I was the creator or anything.
They probably just assumed I built the Frame Gear because I'm always using
[Modeling] to craft this that and the other. I decided I wouldn't correct their
mistake. For the time being at least.
"Kougyoku... is everything prepared properly for Yae?"
"That it is, my liege. She's ready and waiting to go." Yae and Kougyoku were
both aboard the Chevalier. I hadn't installed any kind of communication relay,
so I was using my summoned beasts for the time being. It wasn't exactly a big
deal to do, so it was a fine workaround.
I wondered if external speakers and communication devices would be
possible upgrades for the Frame Gears. I decided to ask Rosetta about it later
on.
"Roger, in that case... Chevalier, launch!" With a rumbling noise, I heard
something begin to whir. Lights appeared on the outside of the Frame Gear. I
figured it was in the power-up stage. Hot air blew from the exhaust vents on
the legs and chest.
Slowly, but surely, the Chevalier's right leg moved forward, taking a heavy,
thudding step.
"It really moved..." I didn't quite hear who said that, but they summed up the
feelings of everyone in the area.
Chevalier took a second step. It began walking forward at a regular pace, took
a U-Turn, and returned to its starting position.
It repeated the motion, but this time moved even faster. Each time it took a
crashing step, new vibrations shuddered through the ground.
"Alright, looking good for leg movements so far. Try the upper body now." On
my command, Chevalier stopped in its tracks. Slowly it pulled out the blade
attached to its waist. It took several martial stances, cycling between three in
quick succession. It moved seamlessly. It didn't seem there were any issues.
I chose Yae as the initial test pilot because she was the least magicallyattuned person that I knew. I knew that if Yae would be able to move around
freely in it, then anyone could.
Just as I was thinking that, Chevalier suddenly became unbalanced and
toppled over on its side. An incredible shock rumbled the earth as it impacted
the ground.
"Yae, Kougyoku, are you okay?!"
"O-Owowow... I-I am quite fine, I am. It seems this device absorbs shock quite
well. It was quite the fall, and I surely would have hurt myself otherwise. As it
stands, my only injury is a slightly bashed elbow, it is." Yae's voice was
transmitted to me through my connection to Kougyoku. I was glad she wasn't
seriously hurt.
Rosetta had made a point to mention to me that when the Frame Gear starts
up, various magic shields are erected around the cockpit to mitigate damage
done to the pilot from jostling. I didn't realize quite how effective they were
until just then.
The Chevalier stood back upward and began to walk again. Its exterior armor
had neither crack nor dent. It was remarkably durable.
The Frame Gear stopped just before reaching us again. The chest plate folded
outward, and out popped Yae and Kougyoku. In tandem with their escape, a
cheering applause broke out from all the gathered knights. Gah, you scared me!
Yae began to slowly wave to all the cheering people. Don't let it get to your
head, now!
"So, how was it?" I turned and asked Yae about her first impressions with the
thing.
"It was far easier to move than I had expected, it was. I also thought that it
would shake around more, but I was quite stable. It was not much different to
the Frame Unit at all, it was not." Made sense enough to me. The shock
absorbers around the cockpit must even suppress the subtle motions of
walking. At least that would probably be enough to relieve Linze. She got
terrible motion sickness.
As I was pondering, I heard the start-up sounds coming from the Frame Gear
again. I turned around to find that Chevalier was active and strolling about.
"Wha-Who?!"
"I-I'm sorry... sis just went and..." Linze, whose face was terribly flustered,
began profusely apologizing to me. Damn you, Elze! It's supposed to be my turn!
She was robbing me of a man's romance. It was the dream of all young men to
ride around in a giant robot! It was true that I had given up the first time to Yae
for testing purposes, but that didn't mean I wanted to give up the second time,
too! I looked over at the now-running Chevalier, and stomped my foot a little
bit. It was... really cool, though. Its movements were super intense. The
Chevalier started doing acrobatic leaps alongside deft punches and kicks. It
didn't seem to move with any difficult at all. It was at that moment I realized
just how cool Frame Gears were.
After a short while, Elze was seemingly satisfied. She leaped out of the chest
covering with glee.
"Whoa! That thing was so much fun! It moved just like how I thought it
would! Looks like all that practice in the Frame Unit paid off, eh?"
"Yeah, you did great! But it was my turn, you know!"
"Pssh... don't sweat the small stuff. Shouldn't you be acting a little more
regal? You are the grand duke, after all."
"Sh-Shut up! You knew how much I wanted to ride it, damn it! You robbed me
of my rightful place!" I was reminded of an incident that had occurred once at
the bus stop. An elderly woman cut in from the side and got on the bus ahead
of me. She pretended to look at the timetable until the last minute. What a
horrid old hag. Nobody should ever, ever cut in line. Cutting in line is what evil
people do. Even babies know that!
As I lost myself in that unpleasant memory, I once again heard the whirring
start-up noise of the Chevalier. "Wh— Hey— No!!" I turned around and, sure
enough, the Frame Gear was fully operational again. Why is this happening?!
It's my robot! I wanna ride it! "Who the hell is riding that thing?! Answer me!"
"...It is Norn, it is. She suddenly yelled something about her being next, and
charged on ahead, she did." Yae apprehensively answered me, backing away a
little as she spoke.
Gaaah! Damn you, you wolfy bitch! You're a lowly Vice-Commander, how dare
you?! As I indulged myself in angry thoughts, I turned and noticed everyone was
lining up and waiting their turn. Hey, what?! What the heck?! What about my
turn?!
I'd just educated everyone on the importance of never cutting in line, so I'd
be damned if I used my kingly presence to disobey my own rules... even if it was
frustrating. Thus, I joined the line like everyone else, taking my place at the
back. Everyone trailed me with their eyes, it was super goddamn embarrassing.
Don't look at me like that! I'm not pathetic, I'm just waiting my turn! Guess I
don't really have any choice here, huh... Damn it... This sucks!
◇ ◇ ◇
After I first debuted the Frame Gear, the number of people lining up to use
the Frame Unit became unreasonable.
Not that I could do too much to change the situation, since the game room
was a prescribed place for the knights to spend their free time. Unanimously,
they all decided that they'd train in the simulators immediately after their
regularly scheduled daily training.
If this world had something akin to workers' rights and standards, then I
might've had to worry about having formal action taken against me. Then again,
it's not like I was forcing them to do anything. Everyone was training of their
own free will.
There were also others like Baba and Naito, who weren't especially interested
in piloting anything. They saw it as more of a game than anything else. Plus, the
Frame Gear itself was my personal property, rather than something owned by
Brunhild, so they weren't sure if they were even allowed to pilot it.
I reassured myself by rationalizing that we wouldn't need to use the Frame
Gears unless an Intermediate or Advanced Phrase broke through, and that was
surely unlikely.
It didn't shake the fears deep inside me, however.
"It is a most esteemed pleasure to make your acquaintance at last, Grand
Duke of Brunhild. My name is Relisha Millian. I'm the Guildmaster, and as such I
take charge of all formal guild operations throughout the land." I was faced with
a young woman, around 20 years old or so. She was standing in my throne
room, bowing her head. Her hair was a dazzling golden-blonde, quite long too.
Her skin was remarkably pale, and her shoulders were adorned with a green
mantle. The girl held a silver sword about her waist.
She was definitely attractive, but what had captivated me was not her
stunning face. It was her long, knifepoint ears.
"...Are you as of yet unacquainted with Elvenfolk?"
"Ah, sorry... excuse my rudeness." I smiled bashfully as my apologetic reflexes
kicked in. My suspicions had been confirmed, an elf she was indeed. I didn't
even know that this world had elves.
I didn't really have much knowledge of fantasy settings, but as I recalled the
Elves were haughty folk with bows, often proficient in magic. They tended to
inhabit the forests as well. That being said, conventional fantasy knowledge
from my world wasn't all that relevant here. The rules could be different.
It was possible this woman was quite old despite her young features, even.
Leen the fairy, for example, looked years younger than her real age.
"Our guild takes great pride in knowing that one of its members is not only a
monarch, but one of our rare silver-rank adventurers."
"A-Aha... Well, it wasn't all me, there were a lot of circumstances that ended
up superimposing, and..." Forget it. I'll just leave it... Kinda feels like she's sizing
me up like a pretty gem, though... Not that I dislike her looking or anything.
"Well then, what's your business here today?"
"Ah, yes. I've arrived in your most beautiful Brunhild with a glowing
opportunity. I would very much like to establish a branch of the Adventurer's
Guild here."
"Huh? But why? You know there aren't any magic beasts or monsters around
this area, right?" I'd pretty much hunted every local creature to extinction
during the country's founding. Then again, it had been a while... no telling what
manner of beasties might've crawled over.
"Pardon my rudeness, but if I might be frank... the slaughter of outrageous
beasts is not the primary function of the Adventurer's Guild. Nay, what marks
the true essence of our guild is the spirit of camaraderie, helping out troubled
citizens in their day-to-day lives."
"Oh, I see..." She raised a fair point. It wasn't just monster-hunting quests on
the guild board. I just happened to avoid looking at the miscellaneous requests.
It was likely that a lot of adventurers were helping fetch things for needy people
in their daily struggles. After all, helping out the common man is what spreads
your name around.
If all the Guild dealt in was slaughter, it wouldn't really be convenient to open
up a Brunhild branch.
"Alrighty then. I don't think it'll be a problem. If you could consult with old
man Naito on the finer details like placement, I'm happy to have you."
"Aha! Thank you so much! Now... if I might make one other request." Hmm?
There's something else? The Elven Guildmaster slowly raised her head, smiling
softly as she did so.
"I'm here to deliver a personal quest from the Guild to you, dear Silver-rank
adventurer, most esteemed Mochizuki Touya... There is a Behemoth that we
require you to destroy."
"A... Behemoth?!" Kousaka, who had idly been standing by my throne until
that point, suddenly lost all his composure. I had no idea what they were talking
about. I decided to ask him.
"Sorry, what's a Behemoth?"
"...A Behemoth is, as the name suggests, an enormous magical beast. I
suppose you could consider it an aberrant or a mutation. Every so often a beast
of this type will appear. Their size varies, but most become considerably larger
than buildings." Wow, holy shit. Sounds kind of like a kaiju... I'd never even
heard of these things before... Then again, if they were a rare mutation that
shouldn't be all too surprising.
"Behemoths are typically killed in infancy due to their horrendous growth
potential. But, in some rare instances, the creature may grow to full maturity
beyond the prying gaze of civilization. This usually happens if the creature is
born atop a high mountain, deep below the sea, or simply in uncharted
territory." Relisha continued the explanation. You'd expect that kind of thing to
stand out a bit, but the total population of this world wasn't that great, so it
only makes sense that there'd be places where monsters could grow
undisturbed.
"We're usually fine if the creature simply lives quietly in uncharted areas
away from mankind, but now and then they'll come across civilization and begin
ravaging towns. When this happens, it's not unusual for an entire country's
military to be mobilized in an attempt to suppress the beast. In cases like this,
casualty rates are abhorrently high, and even after defeating the monster, the
country affected is put into dire straits."
"So, where is this thing?"
"Ah, yes. The Behemoth has appeared in the Sea of Trees. But, according to
eyewitness reports, it is barreling due east and is on a direct course to meet the
Kingdom of Ryle. Its current trajectory also means that, en route, it will
rampage through and annihilate a small town, Tem." Ryle... if I remember right,
that place borders the Sea of Trees directly... If that monster bursts out of the
forest and attacks, they'll be completely done for. I had doubts that I could
actually take it down solo, but it seemed I was without a choice...
"So wait... why have you come to make this request of me, specifically?"
"With all due respect, your Grand Dukeliness... we've heard rumors that you
have something that could fight on par with a Behemoth. Rumors that the
grand duke of Brunhild has a mighty giant serving his army, an enormous
knight."
Oh. She's totally talking about the Frame Gear, huh. I should've expected
someone to notice soon, but I didn't know the Guild would be the first ones to
bring it up.
Hrmph... what to do. My country'll be fine if I say no, but I'll be kind of
uncomfortable if that town gets annihilated.
"Is this request straight from the Ryle Kingdom?"
"It is. Naturally the reward would be plentiful."
"Open Map. Region around Ryle. Search, Behemoth."
"Understood. Displaying Map." The map was projected before my eyes, and a
single pin fell down. I'd never seen a Behemoth before, but the search spell
worked because I knew what to expect.
The Kingdom of Ryle was a nation just to the southeast of Ramissh. According
to the map, the Behemoth was absolutely on the way to Tem.
Hm... this might be a good chance to test out the Frame Gear's capabilities,
but... Oho...
"Excuse me. In regards to the reward... I'd like to make an additional request."
"...Yes, and what would that be?" I ran a small search on my Map, then
turned to the now-confused Relisha.
"In the Kingdom of Ryle... uhm... yeah, here. I'd like permission to excavate
these three spots as my reward. There are spellstones buried here, and I want
them."
"Hm... They don't seem to be too large, so I could probably get permission.
Give me a moment to ask them." Huh? Give you a moment? What's that
supposed to mean? Relisha brought out a small black B6-sized slate and started
writing on it with a pen. After a short while, it shone with a dim light and the
words faded into it, vanishing.
"What's that?"
"It's an Artifact known as a Tracebook. It's actually part of a set. Any words
you write on one will be delivered to the matching Tracebook. It's a powerful
tool that allows the rapid exchange of information... My guilds use them to
coordinate. But it's only really valuable to those that hold managerial positions
such as myself and the respective branch managers." Heh, that's cool. Kind of
like a rudimentary e-mail. It's actually more convenient than my Gate Mirrors,
since the messaging is instant. I wonder how rare these are... probably aren't
many.
The Gate Mirrors were convenient in that they could be mass-produced,
though. So they had that going for them. Also only I could create them. It's
likely that the Tracebook artifact was used during the days of Partheno, the
ancient civilization.
I took Relisha to the guest room rather than the audience hall, since there
was no telling how long a reply might take. The guild contact in Ryle probably
had to run off to the royal castle and relay the request. In the meantime, I
decided to probe more about this Behemoth.
"So, this Behemoth... what kind of monster is it?"
"To put it simply... it's an enormous, twin-tailed scorpion. It has been given
the name 'Scorpinas.' We've heard that it moves slowly due to its lumbering
form... The same can be said of all Behemoths, regardless of type. But its
pincers are supposedly sharp as razors, and it can fire venom from its tail."
Venom? Goddamn... Well, from what I understand the Frame Gear deploys a
basic protective barrier around the cockpit... but maybe I should see about
bringing over a shield or something.
I called over Naito and consulted with him on the construction of a guild
branch. It'd be good to get some adventurers rolling in, but I didn't want any
altercations or incidents going on in my town, so we decided to build it in the
west side of town, rather than dead center.
Apparently a guild-endorsed bar also needed to be built alongside the
guildhall. After hearing that, I finalized plans to install a knight order guardsmen
post in the area. Didn't want any drunkards causing trouble, after all.
After we got all that sorted, the Tracebook suddenly started glowing. Relisha
had her response.
"Your request has been approved. They're absolutely fine with relinquishing
the spellstones in those spots to you. Only after the quest is fulfilled, of course.
We, the guild, will also act as witness to this." Alright! We'll be able to create
more Ether Liquid after this... that's a net positive. I had tried to use [Modeling]
to clump a bunch of smaller spellstones together... but the carving incantation
didn't work at all, so that approach was useless. Even spellstones of the same
type wouldn't resonate together and make the Ether Liquid. The differences
between them, however subtle, were enough to disturb the flow of magical
energy between them.
To put it in simple terms... mincemeat will turn into a hamburger if you mash
it all together, but it will never become a sirloin steak.
"Alright then, challenge accepted. I'll deal with it right away."
"Thank you." I parted with Relisha and went up to Babylon. I told Cesca to
move fast in the direction of the Behemoth. I didn't want it reaching Ryle. I
figured it would be better to get Babylon moving there sooner rather than later,
in case unforeseen events ended up complicating things.
After leaving the garden, I walked over to the hangar.
I passed Chevalier's garage and went to the next one over. This one held a
dark black knight with a mace and heavy shield.
This one was a tad larger than the Chevalier. It was a commander-style unit
known as the Knight Baron. The most eye-catching thing about it was its big
horn that jutted out from the forehead. It wasn't there originally, but I put it
there. I thought a commander-style unit should look a little cooler.
Rosetta told me that it was about one and a half times as strong as Chevalier.
That was a pretty precise number. Made me wonder if it'd become three times
as strong if I painted it red.
"Hm...? Master? Like, Babylon is totally moving and stuff..." Monica, up on
Knight Baron's pauldron, was making some adjustments as she called to me.
"Hey, Monica. Can Knight Baron deploy?"
"I see no matters of concern, master. I've made all relevant modifications. It's
like, totally fueled with Ether Liquid, too!" Great. Then we'll give it a try, the
Behemoth can be its first foe. Finally I get to try a real combat test with this
thing...
Oho, that actually makes me wonder... Will the Behemoth's raw materials
after its death be useful? I'm willing to bet it'll provide a pretty penny, plus the
carapace should be good for defense. I'm an adventurer on a mission! A mission
for pocket change! I'll do my best, darn it!
◇ ◇ ◇
After a while, Babylon found itself floating above the skies of the Ramissh
Theocracy. We were well on our way toward the Sea of Trees, and the
Behemoth.
"Rosetta, did you install the communication device like I asked?"
"Bet your butt I did, master! With this device, you'll be able to transmit
messages between individual Frame Gears, as well as directly to Babylon itself,
indeed. Uhm, there's like, a private channel and a loudspeaker as well!"
The Frame Gear's chest hatch closed, and I found myself tuned to three
channels. All three were connected to Monica's receiver, outside.
"Do you read me, Monica?"
"Loud and clear, my master. Pitch-perfect, even!" Monica waved her arms for
the camera, and I heard her voice too. That was good, there were no issues with
the audio channels.
Well, I guess we'd see how it fared outside properly later on. It was a solo
mission though, so it's not like we'd be able to test out communication
between individual Frame Gears either.
"Master. We're steadily approaching our target. The beast is in my sights. It
has emerged from the trees and is rampaging amidst the woodlands on Ryle's
outskirts. Once I've brought us right above it, prepare to drop."
"Gotcha." Cesca's voice rang out through the cockpit. I checked all the
meters, gauges, and monitors before channeling magic through the operational
device. The engine fired up.
With a rumbling sound, the Knight Baron finally woke up.
Monica, reflected on my monitor, guided me over to the elevator. I walked
the Knight Baron there with little difficulty. The elevator slowly descended to
the hangar's lowest level.
If this was an anime, I might've said a cliche line like "Lift-off!" or "Launch!"
and fired off with a catapult-like device, but... I wasn't firing off into the void of
space, and Knight Baron wasn't equipped to fly.
In a rather undignified manner, I simply jumped out of the hangar from an
opening on its lowest level. We were flying at a low altitude by a plane's
standards, but we were actually pretty high up in the air. In all honesty, I did
sort of get cold feet just before I jumped, but don't tell anyone that.
My rate of descent began to rapidly decrease. I noticed after a little looking
around that it was due to thrusters on the legs and the back of the Frame Gear.
It made me wonder if it worked similarly to [Levitation].
I carried on dropping to the ground, my fall slowed by the thrusters. Once I
landed, there wasn't much in the way of an impact. Apparently I was gonna get
winched back up to Babylon with a wire when this was all over. I wasn't sure if
that was the most efficient way to go... I figured I'd be fine using a [Gate] to
return.
From my position on the field, I saw the two-tailed scorpion. It was rampaging
right in my direction. It was big. Bigger than I thought.
Scale-wise... if the Frame Gear was a person, then the creature was surely the
size of a double-decker bus.
In stark contrast to its low, flat body, its two pincers were bulging and
enormous. I knew I'd be blasted away if one of those things hit me, Frame Gear
or not. ...It'd be even worse if one managed to catch me.
"...I guess this'll be decided by whoever strikes first." I gripped my mace firmly
in my right hand, and established a heavy stance with the shield in my left. The
Black Knight Frame Gear, Knight Baron, valiantly charged toward Scorpinas.
Suddenly, the Behemoth stirred, as if noticing my advance. It pointed two tails
in my direction. In a manner reminiscent of a water gun, two streams of purple
liquid came spraying out of its tails.
Luckily I'd expected that kind of move, and deftly raised my shield to block it.
"If you're prepared, there's nothing to f... Wh-What?!" A smoldering, foul
smoke was emanating from my shield. W-Wait a sec... it's melting?! This isn't
just venom... it's acid! Another few blasts of that'll take out my shield entirely!
Fortunately for me, the attack had slowed the creature a bit. I ran along its
side and aimed at one of its tails, bringing down my mace with all my might.
With a cracking noise, the carapace sort of splintered a bit, but that was all.
What, it's that tough?! Scorpions are more related to spiders than crayfish,
aren't they?! Why is its carapace that hard?! Is evolutionary biology different in
this world or something?! As I was taken by surprise by the Behemoth's firm
carapace, it attacked the Knight Baron with its pincers.
"Oh geez!" As the creature lunged, I swung a mace down onto its head. Once
again its armor absorbed most of the impact, but it was still staggered slightly.
Before I could make a follow-up attack, it blasted acid out of its tails again.
"Damn it..." I raised my shield again to block, but it was severely weakened.
Taking advantage of a blind spot, the creature followed up with a strike from its
pincers, and I reflexively moved to block it with my shield as well.
"...Damn it!" The scorpion had caught the shield in its pincers. Sensing danger,
I let go and jumped back.
The half-melted shield was easily crushed beneath the menacing pincer. That
thing was gonna be a serious issue. "Guess I'm gonna have to go all-out...
Monica, drop down the battlehammer!"
"Yessir! Like, totally dropping the battlehammer now and stuff!" A massive
black warhammer dropped from the sky. It caused a heavy impact as it smacked
into the ground, and I cast aside my mace while deftly dodging the Behemoth's
blows. I grabbed the heavy instrument with both hands.
"Magic Finetune. First Slot, Release!" I turned a switch next to the control
joystick, slowly tuning my magic out into the Knight Baron's hands. It flowed
from those hands straight into the battlehammer.
"[Gravity]." The battlehammer had its weight mostly reduced, allowing me to
dexterously shoulder it. I saw my chance and made a running jump toward the
Behemoth. As I fell toward it, I inverted my magic, amplifying the default weight
of the battlehammer several times over.
With a boom and a sickening crunch, the earth rumbled. Scorpinas was no
more. Its body convulsed as its internal organs furiously burst out from its
carapace. It was goddamn hideous to watch.
"...Outstanding. You've done it, master." Monica spoke quiet, amazed words.
It ended up being way tougher than I expected. Still, not a bad result at all
against a foe that was meant to be challenged by far more people. My shield
was also completely busted. Rosetta was definitely gonna yell at me. Whatever
the result, I had won. That was all that mattered.
...Might've overdone it a little bit, though... is anyone even gonna want to buy
this gross stuff? I heaved a defeated sigh as I looked out over the mangled,
misshapen remains of what was once Scorpinas.
"What... I... I simply can't believe you've defeated it already." I'd used [Gate]
to bring Relisha over to Scorpinas' corpse. Mostly because she had difficulty
understanding that it was dead.
It seemed that there were no firm rules on what part to bring the Guild in the
event of destroying a Behemoth, because the very idea of it being a solo job
was something unthinkable. It was originally a scorpion, though... so I figured
pincers would probably be enough.
With the guildmaster as my witness, there wasn't likely to be much in the way
of trouble. Relisha called out some guild staff from Tem using her Tracebook,
and they began to appraise and purchase the raw materials left behind by the
carcass. Thankfully, they were handling the harvesting part as well. Honestly it
was damn disgusting, I didn't wanna touch that gooey stuff.
"Well... It is done."
"Hm?" Relisha handed my guild card back to me. It was pure gold. It looked
pretty, but maybe a little unnecessarily gaudy.
"You've attained the highest rank possible. Gold-rank. The only people in the
world who hold this title are you, Grand Duke, and the former King of Lestia,
the Knight Kingdom."
"Lestia? There's a Knight Kingdom?"
"Indeed, it's a military kingdom of knights. Just to the east of Ryle." Hoho,
that sounds interesting... The other Gold must be extremely strong. He must be
a Warrior King or something. But she did just say he's the former king, so maybe
he's retired.
I was reminded that my guild card also had three titles tied to it. Dragon
Slayer, Golem Buster, and Demon Killer... But nothing got added this time
around.
Well, it's not like this is a quest people would ever reasonably be expected to
do solo, so they don't have a title for it. Plus, Relisha definitely wouldn't have
asked me if she didn't know about the Frame Gear. Well, I guess something like
Behemoth Hunter wouldn't sound that cool anyway.
"By the way... your warrior. What a frightening Artifact it is. With power like
that, invading a foreign nation would prove little concern." Relisha muttered as
she looked over at the Knight Baron. As I'd expected, the people of this world
wouldn't consider it too lightly.
"It's called a Frame Gear. It's the creation of a genius (pervert) doctor from an
ancient civilization. It was created to save the world."
"To save the world...?"
"You're the guildmaster, so you should know about them... the strange crystal
creatures that have been popping up all over the world lately, as if from
nowhere."
"Kh...!" Relisha's expression grew darker. As I'd thought, she knew about
them. The adventurer's guild was an organization that spanned the world, so if
anyone knew it'd be her. Plus, with the Tracebook keeping her updated about
all the happenings, there's no way she wouldn't know.
"...You are correct, yes. We've had reports of them from pretty much every
branch. Swords cannot slice them, magic does nothing... they regenerate, with
bodies of pure crystal. They destroy bands of mercenaries and villages with
ease, and they've been growing stronger with each appearance."
"Those creatures are the Phrase, Relisha. They're beings that appeared once
before, and destroyed the ancient world."
"What?!" Relisha's entire body stiffened, and her eyes surveyed me with cold
surprise. I wanted to avoid widespread panic by revealing the Phrase to the
world, but Relisha and her guild would be a powerful asset. If I had her
cooperation, it would become easier to coordinate, so I decided to let her in on
it.
With a calm tone, I slowly disclosed carefully-chosen bits of information to
the guildmaster.
"The world's boundaries... invaders from another world... SSurely if I didn't
know about those crystal creatures, I'd treat this as a bad joke, but..." Relisha
gulped and muttered to herself after hearing my words. Naturally I neglected to
mention Babylon and the Sovereign Core, such matters were unnecessary for
securing her aid.
Still, she seemed to believe me. Rather, it was better for her that she believed
me, since the Phrase were causing considerable trouble all over for the guild.
"I don't know if the Phrase will begin a large-scale invasion, nor do I know
when it would happen. What I do know is that if it does happen, we will be
annihilated. For that reason, I'm reviving the Frame Gears in the current age."
...Also robots are cool, and I wanted to ride one.
I didn't think it was possible to take out intermediate or advanced Phrase
without a Frame Gear. Plus, in the case of the advanced ones, I wasn't even
sure a whole squad of Frame Gears could stand against them and win. That's
why I had to start preparing things faster. We didn't know how much time we
had left to do any preparing, after all.
After a while spent staring at my black knight, Relisha turned to me and spoke
up.
"Very well. I will report this information to the central guild headquarters. I
will obtain as much information about these creatures as I can, and I will report
them to you, Your Highness."
"Thank you so much. But please, keep the information about the impending
invasion to yourself. It's not certain yet, after all."
"Yes, of course. There's no reason to begin an unnecessary large-scale panic.
All this information will stay with me." Now that I'd secured the guild's
cooperation, I'd be able to know about incidents as they happened. Not that I
wanted to hear incidents were actually happening, I'd prefer the Phrase to stay
home.
Due to the massive amount of material processed, the guild worked out a
deal with me to pay me the cash a bit later on.
Relisha decided to remain at the guild hall to handle the paper pushing side of
things, so I returned the Knight Baron to the hangar using [Gate].
After that, I used [Fly] to head to the excavation sites and dig out the
spellstones one by one. There were three spellstones. One blue, one green, and
one yellow. With those spellstones secured, I'd be able to create more Ether
Liquid, and create more Frame Gears.
I placed all three of them into [Storage], and opened up a [Gate] back to
Babylon.
◇ ◇ ◇
While the Frame Gear and Ether Liquid continued their production, my daily
life didn't change at all. That was normal, of course.
After a few days had passed, the guild paid out the reward money and the
money I gained from selling off the raw materials. Honestly, the amount was
frankly obscene. I decided to keep it as an emergency reserve, in case there was
an issue with the Frame Gears or something.
I used my [Gate] to head right for the hangar. Once I got there, I peeked my
head into the Knight Baron's hangar, only to find Rosetta and Monica grumbling
as they removed its armor plating.
"What's up?"
"We're working uhm, pretty hard, master! The Knight Baron's arms are
damaged, so we're repairing them." Huh? But it's only deployed once. I didn't
even notice the arms take damage.
"Sir, this Frame Gear is not damaged due to damage sustained from the
enemy during battle, sir! This Frame Gear was strained and warped due to the
burden of your magic, sir!"
"Huh?"
"Uhm, like... your magical output is way too overpowering and stuff. Your
magic is tremendously pure, so when the Frame Gear amplifies it... Well, the
parts affixed to the Knight Baron simply can't endure it." Huh, so that's how it
works? Does this mean I can't go all-out? "The Chevalier and the Knight Baron
are both old model Frame Gears, sir! We would be able to improve that on
newer models, sir!"
"Newer models?"
"The uhm... models that were left behind by the professor as planning
documents, and stuff. We have basic models that serve as the foundation for
other planned units, the Skeleton Frames. There were plans for a close-combat
Gear, a ranged Gear, a reflexive Gear, and various other different types using
the Skeleton Frame as the base. And, uhm... it would be totally customizable
and stuff! That way you could make it super-duper unique and specialized for
individual pilots! These things hypothetically wouldn't even need Ether Liquid to
function. But not a single one of these reached fruition. They're mere designs,
after all." Well, that sounds awesome. Having a Frame Gear specifically attuned
to my style would be cool. So would the ability to swap out parts... It'd be cool to
make at least one.
"So, where's the blueprint for this one?"
"Like, totally in the storehouse..." Yup. Sounds about right. If I recall correctly,
the storehouse gynoid is some kind of a klutz, too... Makes me wonder if such
blueprints even lasted this long...
Considering so many artifacts are scattered across the surface world already...
It'd be a wonder if the thing wasn't burned to hell.
"Well, my master... I think it prudent for the time being that you refrain from
using magic inside a Frame Gear."
"Seriously?"
"Totally seriously! I don't wanna, like, have to repair or toss out a Frame Gear
every single time! There are only the two of us here as maintenance staff, after
all." Hmph... I guess I can't say anything when she puts it like that. Even though
Frame Gears are being produced constantly at the workshop, I still need to
count on these two to maintain the stuff at the hangar... Wait, hold on.
"Couldn't we just use the workshop to make a new Frame Gear from the busted
remains of the black knight one?"
"You're like, suggesting we use production materials for, uhm... other Frame
Gears and use them to beef up the Knight Baron? That's somewhat of an
unorthodox treatment..."
"Oh, no... I mean just toss this broken one into the workshop and break it
down for parts, then..."
"Sir! With all due respect, sir! If we dismantled this Frame Gear in the
workshop all of its battle memory and tuning data would be completely lost, sir!
Do you really want to fight over and over with a low-tier level 1 Frame Gear for
the rest of your miserable days, sir?!" The two of them looked at me with scorn.
Seems I'd said something I definitely should not have. "Th-Then... what if we
just extract that battle data and transfer it over to a new frame..."
"And like, just who would be handling that job, y'know? I don't believe you're
quite aware of the painstaking process, nor how long it would take to transfer
the data from a mere level two frame."
"Excuse me, sir! And with all due respect again, sir! It must be mighty fine to
drill sergeant yell at us about something you're completely ignorant about, sir!
When we replace even one part, we have to restore all the mana circuits and
fine-tune all the settings... and now you're asking us to completely do
everything from the ground up every time your sorry ass goes out and wrecks
our creations... sir?!" Warning sirens were blaring in my head. The two of them
stared at me with cold, dead eyes. In the end, they quietly pressured me into
shutting up. Their eyes were pleading with me not to break the machine. Battle
damage was fine, but what I was doing was the same as trashing my own toys.
I quickly ran away before they beat me up or something.
I guess even they had their limits. Naturally they'd be mad, it was like telling
your PC repairman what was wrong with your computer while insisting you
needed all those freeware toolbars on your internet explorer browser. It was
true, all I had was knowledge of modern-era Japan. I was speaking out of my
ass, and really should've held my tongue.
I decided to leave the hangar alone for a little while. Didn't want those two
blowing up at me again...
After fleeing Rosetta and Monica's ire, I decided to have a little walk about.
There were many rice paddies and patches of cultivated agricultural land in the
eastern part of Brunhild at this point, so I paid them a visit.
"Oho, Your Highness?" I turned toward the voice, and found myself face-toface with a young woman.
She was a woman, but not a conventional one by any means. She stood with
ivy twined around her body, flowers adorning her green-colored hair, a petallike skirt adorned her waist, and leaves flowed down her back like wings. This
was a woman, but not a human one. She was an alraune.
She was one of the five demi-humans I had recruited to my knight order.
"Oh hey. Your name was... Lakshy, right?"
"It was! A member of the knight order, Lakshy the alraune." She flashed an
innocent little smile, and then saluted at me. ...You aren't a policewoman, you
know.
"Why are you here, my liege?"
"Oh well... I was just here for an inspection of the place. What about you?"
"Well, today's my day off so... I was helping out around the field!" Wow,
that's impressive. Alraune are demonkin... but they're also plants. I guess
farming is a good vocation for them.
"How have you adapted to living here, Lakshy?"
"Very well, thank you. Everyone is very kind toward me. I'm doing very well,
and trying my best. Now and then I get travelers who are frightened to see me,
but it's not so bad!" Demonkin and their ilk were the subject of extreme
prejudice. In some countries, they're even segregated and ostracized. Though,
they're rarely the subject of physical abuse. Demonkin are far stronger than the
average human for the most part.
People tend to avoid them, just because of how they were born. In some
especially cruel places, there are even rumors that touching someone of
demonkin ancestry will kill or curse you. It was pretty messed up.
"If I recall... you come from the demon country, right?"
"That's correct. I hail from a place far across the sea to the north-east. The
country is called Xenoahs. The environment is harsh, but my kind aren't too
bothered by things like that." The Demon Kingdom, Xenoahs... From the name
alone, it projected the image of a wicked nation that sought to dominate the
world, but apparently it just functioned like a regular nation.
The citizens there were demonkin, and they largely didn't interact with
human nations. It wasn't that they were naturally isolated or anything, they just
didn't seem all that interested in opening dialogue with the other nations. Due
to this, not a lot is known about the country itself.
The leader of the country is known as the overlord, and his closest aides are
known as the four lords... That doesn't really help their image, at least in my
mind. Lakshy told me that it was quite a pleasant place, though.
To be honest, I didn't really think humans and demonkin needed to be so
worried about each other. The biggest issue was just that a good chunk of
humanity was fearful of the demonkin for no good reason. I was pretty sure if
they interacted normally, there'd be nothing stopping members of the two
species becoming friends.
Well, you could also say the problem was on the demonkin's part, for not
trying to be more open with humanity... They were probably more cautious and
shy, rather than actively disliking mankind.
"This country is quite pleasant, as well. I'm happy I took the plunge and
applied for the order."
"I'm happy to hear that, Lakshy. I'll be counting on you."
"Yes, my lord!" I didn't want to interfere too much in the fieldwork, so I left
Lakshy to her duties and went back to the town. There I saw another demonkin.
He was standing where the guild was being constructed.
He was about three meters tall and had a red-brown body. His arms were like
tree trunks and two horns protruded from his white hair. He was an ogre.
He was lumbering around, completely bare-chested. It seems he was hauling
lumber for the construction team. His power was that of five well-trained men.
A frightful fellow indeed.
"Och, boss-man. Good ta see ya."
"Hey there, Samsa. You off-duty as well?"
"Sure am. I eat about as much as three fellers, though... so my wages from
work ain't much ta go on, aye? I spoke ta Naito aboot it, an' he fixed me up with
this job. Now me belly's fuller'n ever!" Samsa the ogre smiled as broadly as he
could, which... was quite broad. He certainly was the right man for the job. His
strength wasn't something to scoff at. I had no doubt that he'd be able to eat
plentifully at the guild bar too, since he's clearly gonna be the one building most
of it.
Apparently Samsa wasn't much of a combat-oriented person, which surprised
me a bit. It wasn't that he didn't have the body for it, he most definitely did... it
was that his character wasn't well-suited for it. To put it bluntly, there was a
part of him afraid of fighting.
Still, I didn't see that as a fatal flaw for a knight like Samsa. The knight order
wasn't solely a force for war, they were also meant to be there to help the
people, and that's something the friendly ogre was more than willing to go
above and beyond to do.
His strength right now was benefiting the entire nation, and there was not an
injured enemy in sight.
"Keep up the good work. Here, take this... Make sure to enjoy it with
everyone when today's work is over, okay?" I pulled out two enormous chunks
of cloth-wrapped boar meat from [Storage], then set them on the ground.
"Astoundin'... Thank ye kindly, boss. I'll give it me all, aye?" Samsa lugged his
timber and flashed me a sincere smile. He certainly was industrious. I pondered
a little about him, figuring his large frame must cause trouble now and then. I
doubted he'd be able to enter most buildings, given he was wider than a door...
But he seemed happy, so I didn't dwell on it too much.
I decided there and then that I wanted to make the country better for my
people. Some more civic buildings would be a wise idea. A school was definitely
necessary. I couldn't go about neglecting the youth of tomorrow.
I slowly walked home to my castle, pondering what more I could do for my
people as I watched a group of kids all run home.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Whoa, amazing! It's seriously flying?!"
"Hey, hey... Milord! Is this some kind of magic?! Is it?!"
"Nope, no magic at all. It's just basic dynamics, using the wind to fly." Well,
what I was doing was sort of like magic, I supposed. I tugged a string in my
hand, causing a kite to smoothly rise up into the air. The children gazed up,
completely awestruck as it sailed on the winds.
After a while, I handed over the kite to one of the kids, and quickly made a
ton more to prevent their envious eyes growing ever-greedier.
All of them began to manipulate their kites with a surprising level of finesse. I
didn't even have to show them much.
As they played, my eyes instinctively scanned the surrounding area for Olba
the merchant, I half-expected him to appear as if from nowhere and ask for the
rights to the product. But alas, he did not. Well, it's not like it would've been
reasonable for him to just pop up out of thin air.
I sat beneath the shade of a tree and cast out my kite, taking care not to
tangle the string in any branches. I'd moved to a secluded spot away from town,
so as to not disturb the people with my playing.
Man... it's peaceful... It'd be nice if every day was as peaceful as this.
Rosetta and Monica were hard at work fixing up my broken Knight Baron.
They quite menacingly rejected my idea to just build a new one every time.
Apparently, if you continued to use the same Frame Gear in battle, its
response time and magical affinity would become more attuned and acute. I
figured it might be a good idea to accumulate a lot of experience and
maneuvering data in one frame, then port it to another personal frame at some
point in the future... If we managed to make any of the new types, that is.
In game terms it'd be like... leveling up a character in one game, then being
able to use his stats in the sequel.
We didn't have much in the way of repair staff, so that'd probably be the best
way to go about it.
I voiced my concerns about the staff limitations to Rosetta, and she told me
there were miniature repair robots that were designed to autonomously repair
damage done to the Frame Gears. Apparently there were quite a lot of them,
and they repaired stuff in a flash.
"Robots like that would solve all our problems! Where are they, then?"
"The storehouse, sir!"
"Gah!" That Doctor Babylon was too protective of her stuff... It was annoying
that she'd put so many important things in the storehouse... she really didn't
seem the methodical type.
As I absentmindedly sulked about that irritating doctor, I heard a pair of
voices calling out to me.
"Touyaaaa!"
"T-Touya...!"
"Hm? Yumina? And Lu, too?" I rose from the ground and dusted myself off,
only to find myself immediately assaulted from both sides by their embrace.
The two were now formally announced as engaged to me. Since our
relationship had officially been made a matter of public record, the two tended
to clamp on to me without reservation whenever they could. I was a little
embarrassed about it, in all honesty, but I also didn't see the need to ruin their
fun.
"I-I was wondering where you'd ran away to... But then I saw that strange
thing, and knew you must be here!" Lu pointed up at the kite, still sailing freely
in the skies. That made sense enough to me. I was pretty much known as the
guy who made unusual stuff around here, after all.
"You know, Touya... it's no good of you to leave us behind and go play with
kids. Shouldn't you be spending a little more time with your wives?"
"I-I mean technically you aren't my wives yet, but, uh..."
"But we will be soon, y-yes? That's the dream... to be happily married with
you, Touya... In loving, monogamous matrimony. Ah... well, not monogamous.
The point still stands." That it did. Monogamy and polygamy weren't really that
different in this world, after all. Just as I flashed Lu a wry smile, the heavy jostle
of thumping hooves came by. A merchant caravan was passing us by at high
speed.
A whole line of coaches passed us as we watched them trot on their way to
Belfast.
The merchants sat atop the coaches, all gazing at the kites as they went by.
That definitely didn't sit well in my mind. I was more than sure at least one of
those greedy types would try to emulate the idea before long.
"It's a merchant caravan from Regulus. Hoh, they even have an armed escort
trailing behind."
"There sure are a lot of them... Wonder if they're carrying anything
important." Given the amount of guards, they were probably transporting
luxury goods or fine art. This much security was excessive for regular
merchandise. It certainly wasn't an issue I'd considered, since I had [Gate]. I'd
definitely be able to make a lot of money if I opened up an express [Gate]
delivery service or something. But I'd only be able to deliver to places I'd visited.
It'd be better if they had delivery trucks or something, they're useful for all
sorts of stuff. Oh, actually... a freight train might be even better...
"A... train."
"Touya?" A train... a train! Wouldn't making some kind of railway change
everything for the better? Rosetta could totally make a rudimentary steam train
if I asked... Although... hm. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Would it be wise
to introduce trains into a world like this? People ignorant about railways might
end up playing on the tracks... Highwaymen and train robbing gangs could crop
up... Stones and debris could get on the tracks and cause derailments, too...
Bah, thinking about these issues is a hassle. Not like I can solve them.
Whenever I think of a new concept, I guess I have to consider the associated
safety risks as well. But I suppose that's a little rich of me, since I recklessly
introduced the Frame Gears to the world.
Hmph... Guess the train plan is dead before it even lived. Ah well...
"Ow, ow, ow!!"
"...Just what do you think you're doing? Why are you daydreaming instead of
paying attention to us?!" While I was in health-and-safety dreamland, Yumina
took the opportunity to brutally pinch my cheek. Totally uncalled for, if you
asked me.
"My lord, are you available?"
"Hm? Kohaku?" As I rubbed my injury, a telepathic message beamed right
into my brain. Yumina saw me stop in my tracks and puffed out her cheeks. She
seemed a bit annoyed, probably because she thought I was daydreaming again.
"What's wrong? Is something up?" I audibly answered, in order to show the
two of them that I wasn't just ignoring them.
"Master sir! It's Rosetta here, sir! We're all outta Orichalcum, sir! The amount
you got for Frame Gear production is all dried up, sir!" I heard Rosetta's voice
through Kohaku's telepathic link. She needed more Orichalcum. It seemed that
the amount Olba had gotten for me was already depleted.
That was irritating: now I needed to find another source.
"Got it. I'll sort it out, then."
"Thank you very much, sir!"
"Did something happen, Touya?" Lu suddenly came up to me and questioned
what had happened.
"Rosetta asked me for some more Orichalcum. Not entirely sure where to get
some, though..."
"We could probably find some at the ore market, but... I suppose that
wouldn't be enough, would it?"
"Orichalcum is a very rare metal as it is... It'll definitely be pricey to acquire in
bulk." Not that money was too much of an issue. The Behemoth slaughter I'd
indulged in just the other day ended up paying me a hefty sum. Ideally I'd have
liked to save that kind of cash for emergency situations, though. Well, we have
some mithril left, maybe we can... oh... oho...
"Do either of you know if an Orichalcum Golem exists?" Thinking about
Mithril reminded me of the Mithril Golems, so it couldn't hurt to ask.
"An Orichalcum Golem? I can't say I've ever heard of something like that..."
"Me neither. Even if something like that exists, it probably wouldn't be a walk
in the park to fight..." Hmph... I guess having an Orichalcum Golem strutting
around when I needed it would be a tad too convenient, huh. Just to be sure, I
fired up my map and tried looking it up. I'd never seen an Orichalcum Golem
before, but it was easy to imagine a creature like that. Just a big rocky monster,
covered in gleaming Orichalcum. I could surely recognize something like that, so
it'd be easy to search.
"Search. Orichalcum Golem."
"Searching... Search complete. Displaying results." Several pins fell down on
the map, one after the other.
"...So they do exist."
"...I suppose they do." We were all caught by surprise for a brief moment. The
world was larger than any of us knew, after all. Well, there were many places
that humanity had yet to visit in this world. Deep and vast canyons, wide
stretching valleys, enormous peaks... It was entirely possible that they lived in
places human hands had never touched.
"Alright, I guess I'll go kill one."
"Ah... could we come too, then...?"
"No, I'm going on my own. It's a place I've never been before, so I'll be using
[Fly] to get there." The moment I mentioned my flight spell, they stopped
protesting. They really disliked that thing. I sent the two of them back to
Brunhild Castle with a [Gate], and then fired my map up again.
"Hm... I guess the closest place I've been to is... in Eashen." The Golems were
located in the mountains just a little bit west of Oedo. Eashen resembled Japan
in many ways, so I wondered if it had its own version of Mt. Fuji, as well.
Flying there from Oedo seemed like it would be simple enough. Alrighty, let's
do it.
As I jetted off, I fantasized about using a vast amount of Orichalcum to plate a
Frame Gear in gilded armor. Making a Golden Knight might've been a tad too
gaudy for my tastes, though...
◇ ◇ ◇
"Wow... It really is shiny and gold..." Far to the west of Oedo, I'd found the
Orichalcum Golem resting in a deep valley, snugly nestled between a few giant
mountains.
It was a bit bigger than a Mithril Golem, and its golden body reflected the
sun's rays as they came down through the valley. It shone magnificently as it
walked around. I knew what it was the moment I saw it. The creature was about
the size of a Frame Gear.
It likely had a core inside it, much like a Mithril Golem.
Its rugged, stony body had two large arms. It had tiny little legs and a broad
torso. All-in-all, it looked pretty similar to a Mithril Golem, so I assumed the
core would be in the same place.
"All I gotta do is trash its chest, this should be simple enough. [Slip]." With a
grand crash, a mighty tremor rocked the valley. The gilded Golem crashed to
the ground.
"[Gravity]." I wasted no time pinning it to the ground with a follow-up spell. I
quickly used [Storage] to pull out a small Phrase fragment. I poured magic into
it, reshaping it to the size of a baseball, and increasing its toughness until it was
denser than Orichalcum.
"[Gate]." I called a portal forth and leisurely lobbed the little ball through it,
applying [Gravity] in the process.
The connecting portal was just above the Golem's chest, and in seconds flat,
the tiny crystal ball fell through it and landed on its mark. The ball, which was
several hundreds of times heavier than it should've been, completely
obliterated the Golem's body. A monstrous crash rang out, and the Golem fell
silent at last.
It was my patented [Slip], [Gravity], and [Gate] combo... Perhaps it was a
little overpowered.
I cautiously approached the Golem's body to confirm it was dead. As I'd
suspected, its core was located in the chest.
I opened up my [Storage] again and began to harvest the Golem's corpse.
Mission complete! Man, that was simple.
Suddenly, a noise came from nowhere, and I turned to see a deer run out
from the underbrush. I was almost startled, but it certainly wasn't unusual to
see a deer cavorting around.
The deer didn't give me a second glance, instead trotting over to a nearby
river. It didn't seem to have any fear of people.
A deer, huh... Maybe I should take some venison home... No, no, control
yourself, Touya. This is a cute little deer with no fear of humanity, I shouldn't cut
it up and eat its tender flesh...
As my attention was focused on the deer, I suddenly noticed something laying
on the riverbank. Huh, what's that...? I took a step forward in an attempt to get
a better look, and slowly I realized what it was. I started to run faster. It was a
person. A wounded person.
"Hey! Hey there! Are you okay?!" I bounded over to the riverside. The
collapsed person seemed to be a young woman.
She looked around the same age as Elze and Linze. Her clothes looked
tattered and bedraggled, but her hair was long, pure and white. She was
covered in grazes, cuts, and wounds all up and down her body. I briefly
wondered if she'd been washed up by the river's current.
I held her in my arms and pulled her up from the bank. Immediately I noticed
something unusual about her right leg. Huh... is it broken? Oh... Oh no... I rolled
up her hakama to inspect her leg, only to find it... wasn't really there from the
knee down. It was shredded and pulped, like a piece of raw meat. I quickly
found that her right hand was in a similar condition, sliced at the wrist.
I looked over her properly, finding huge slash-marks down her back. She had
distinctly been sliced with a sword.
I'd assumed she was dead, but I could hear her breathing faintly. If I hadn't
stumbled upon her, she likely would've drowned. But to survive this far made
her tenacious indeed.
I decided to stop pondering and start healing!
"Come forth, Light! Calm of the Goddess: [Mega Heal]!" I cast my most
powerful recovery spell, and all the wounds on her body closed up at the same
time. Her bruises also faded. Her leg wound also sealed itself up, but the
missing flesh didn't regenerate. I decided to cast [Recovery] while I was at it.
Didn't want to find out she'd been poisoned or anything as well.
"...Gh..."
"Hey! Are you with me?" Her eyes slowly opened, purple orbs trained on me.
"...Ah..." She was trying to speak... but she quickly closed her eyes and fell
unconscious again.
"Guh... I'll take her to the alchemy lab. Flora said it'd be possible to
regenerate limbs there or something, I think... Hopefully we can restore her
leg." I cradled the girl in my arms, opening up a [Gate] toward the alchemy lab
in the process.
"Where's the girl?"
"She's asleep inside a Lazarus Capsule in the alchemy lab. Flora and Lu are
seeing to her right now." I answered Linze's question as I sat back in my chair. I
wanted to tend to her as well, but Yumina and Lu quickly kicked me out. It's not
like I wanted to ogle a naked girl who was having her body repaired as she
floated around in a regenerating liquid capsule... Honest.
Apparently she was right on the cusp of death. Flora said that if I'd found her
even a few minutes later, she wouldn't be in this world any longer. Perhaps that
deer was a guide from up above...
"And how long will the regeneration process take, Touya-dono?"
"Seems it'll take about a day."
"It is truly amazing that a missing hand and leg can be regrown in a mere day,
it is..." It really is. Babylon's technology is a force to be reckoned with. Crazy to
think that it can even make stuff like clones or homunculi... But I guess I'm
looking at something like that right now...
My eyes were steadily trained on Cesca as she poured me a cup of tea. Those
terminal gynoids had biological parts and mechanical parts, so they seemed
more like cyborgs to me. Or maybe they were closer to mechanical lifeforms,
from that old TV show and toy line where the robots could turn into cars and
stuff... Hm... It'd be weird if they could do that.
"...Master, I can feel your keen arousal as it pierces me and massages my very
skin. I understand, you're silently ordering me to present my body to you for
ravaging this evening..." I didn't think I had anything to worry about with her.
She was a useless piece of junk excuse for a robogirl.
She held her body close to mine, and I got up to leave the second she started
to writhe and grind up against me. I went off to the workshop. I had to hand
over my hard-earned Orichalcum to Rosetta, after all.
As I arrived, I found Rosetta making a few adjustments to the newest
Chevalier. Rosetta sure was handy, she applied the latest tweaks and upgrades
to any robot that finished production and assembly.
"Heyo, got you some Orichalcum."
"A speedy job indeed, sir! Apologies, sir! I ceased mass production operations
because I believed it would take longer, sir!"
I pulled the Orichalcum Golem's body out of [Storage], making sure to slice
off the part just below the right elbow to keep for myself.
With that, mass production could begin anew.
"Goodness me, sir...! That's an awful lot of Golem! Too much, even!"
"Huh? Really?"
"Yes sir! Compared to other materials, we don't quite need so much
Orichalcum! No matter, no such thing as too much I suppose, sir! We can likely
produce many a Frame Gear from this thing, sir!" As she spoke the workshop's
floor opened up around the Golem and swallowed it whole.
"Now, master sir! I'd like to talk to you about the heavy knight, the Chevalier!
Specifically, sir! Its equipment! By default it is equipped with a sword, but it has
additional equipment as well! A buckler-style shield, a mace, a battlehammer, a
lance, a halberd, and a battleaxe! Is this sufficient, sir? Or should I drop and give
you twenty more?"
"Uh, no. That sounds pretty good. I guess fighting the Phrase will be more like
a game of smacking, since they're resistant to magic and all." I figured a solid
strategy was just wailing on them with the battlehammer, but I wouldn't have
minded long-distance capabilities as well. That being said, the amount of
gunpowder necessary for a gun that large was just unfeasible... Then, I had
another thought.
"Could you make like... ranged weaponry? Like a bow?"
"I could, sir... but I sincerely doubt it'd do much against the tough carapace of
a Phrase, with all due respect sir. It might work if you get in close and fire fullforce, sir! But that would defeat the point of range." Oh, good point... guess
long-range is useless. Well, that sucks.
"Then how about a melee weapon with long-range capabilities? Like a
weapon with a big iron ball on a chain that you can wave around or something."
"You mean a morning star, sir? That's doable." I was pretty sure that morning
stars weren't that flexible and were kind of more like melee weapons, but I let it
go. It was probably just how it was in this world.
After leaving the workshop, I headed off to the alchemy lab to check on the
Eashen girl.
But, as fate would have it, Lu denied me access.
"Her injuries will likely be cured by tomorrow, but... It's uncertain when she'll
regain consciousness."
"Hrmph... it'd be bad if she was traumatized or something..." Judging from
those wounds, she'd definitely been attacked by somebody. In an ideal world,
being brought so close to death wouldn't leave any lasting mental scars, but... I
knew it likely wouldn't end that way.
"Ah, Touya. Take this." Lu passed me an object. It was a small medallion,
about ten centimeters in diameter. It was made out of a shining metal, and
looped around it was a silver string.
"The girl was wearing it around her neck. It might help us identify her,
somehow..." The medallion had a complex engraving on it, which had clearly
been done by someone with extreme skill. The other side was completely flat
and unblemished. On the front side, I couldn't really make out what the carving
was, but it kind of resembled the sun. It didn't seem like a family crest or coat of
arms, at least.
I decided to hold on to it for the meantime.
There was nothing much more to do, so I returned to the castle. As I
wandered through the halls, Lapis showed up.
Lapis and Cecile had been serving my family since way back when we were
living in the Belfast mansion. They were formal residents of Brunhild now, of
course.
While the two served us in Belfast, they stayed with us ostensibly in the name
of the Belfast Secret Service, Espion. But when my engagement to Yumina was
formally announced, they quit and became our full-time maids in Brunhild. For
now, Lapis was Brunhild's head maid.
"Your Highness, we need to talk."
"Hm? What's up?"
"I'd like to see about increasing the staff here. Myself, Cecile, Renne, and
Cesca are not enough to properly clean all the quarters and entertain all
possible guests..." That was reasonable. I could see where she was coming
from. It was unreasonable to expect the four of them to take care of every duty
from cleaning, to entertaining guests, to taking care of us. From what I'd heard,
some members of Tsubaki's intelligence corps helped out here and then, but
they also had their own jobs to do.
"Sure thing, then. I'll see about getting some more staff. How many were you
thinking of?"
"We'd need to hire about ten more maids, I think. We need servants to take
charge of laundry, the women's quarters, parlor maids, and kitchen duty. The
ones assigned to the kitchen will directly serve Head Chef Crea, and the ones
set to work in the parlor will directly serve Cecile." That was quite the increase
in staff, but I felt it was well-warranted.
"We won't be hiring through the Maid Guild, either, but going through
personal hiring and referral. We'd like for you to conduct the final interviews,
Your Highness. In addition, Renne and Cesca will be assigned as the maids
responsible for serving your needs directly." Hm... Renne I don't mind, but... I'm
a tad uneasy having Cesca with me. Then again, it'd be better to have that pervy
robo-maid serving me directly, rather than having her bother guests.
"I'll also take charge in regards to training the staff in necessary combat
measures."
"Wait, combat training?! Is that a thing you guys need?"
"We can never know where the enemy may be, Your Highness. A weak-willed
girl who can't provide support is a failure of a maid. A true maid is equipped to
deal with every possible situation." Lapis bowed her head, smiling softly. Maids
sure had it rough, apparently.
I suddenly remembered that Angie from Lihnea was also a skilled melee
fighter, so I wondered if studying battle tactics was just something maids did
around here.
Well, it was good to have maids that also knew how to take care of
themselves, so I gave it the go-ahead.
I wondered about Renne participating in such things, so I asked just to be
sure.
"Renne is being taught well by Cecile already. The ruffians around here won't
be able to hold a candle to her splendid dagger technique." Just what are you
training her in?! Have you been teaching her weird stuff while I had my head
turned? What a frightening bunch they were...
I had a sneaking suspicion that maids in this world were something else
entirely.