Chapter 106 - The Witch-King of Isengard

"Well, you see. The results show he is not that couple's biological son, you

see." I was in the Alchemy Lab, and Flora was plainly telling me her findings. Her

busty curves were threatening to free themselves from the strained confines of

her nurse outfit, but they remained in their prison nonetheless... The sight was

a deadly trap laced with sweet honey for my eyes.

Almost as if she could read my thoughts, the wicked nurse slowly reached to

her breast pocket and pulled out a glass container with a strand of hair in it. It

was the hair that Colonel had brought me, the hair from the dead king.

Technically it wasn't just a hair. It also had the hair follicle and roots, because it

was a comprehensive sample used for Gollem DNA registration.

"The child's sample did match with this one, you see. That means they're

definitely father and son, you see."

"I-I see..." I listened to her, but my mind was elsewhere. I had to look away. I

decided to focus on the ceiling. The nice, sterile... White ceiling.

Hmm... That means the Gardio Empire's prince is not the child of the emperor

and the empress... He's actually the prince of the Lowe Kingdom, which was

destroyed.

"What do I do with this info..." I couldn't even begin to imagine how this had

happened. The biggest question here would be whether the Gardio emperor

and empress were even aware.

The empress surely knew, since she'd have to have given birth... Did she even

give birth in the first place? I didn't understand at all. That meant the emperor

might've been the only one who didn't know... Which was honestly kinda sad.

By some bizarre fortune, the prince looked pretty similar to the man assumed

by everyone to be his father. The prince had the same hair color as the

emperor, and his eyes were the same color as the empress's, for the most part.

They definitely looked like a simple family at a glance, and it seemed they got

along well.

Part of me was hesitant to let this go any further, I didn't want to break up a

happy family.

Ugh... This whole thing sucks. How am I supposed to know what to do here?

It's a little bit heavy a plot point, isn't it?

"I'd like to hear out what you guys think about this..." I gathered all my

fiancées in my room that evening and explained the findings. Sue was staying

over for the night, too. She was wearing cute yellow PJs and sitting as close to

me as she could get.

We were all spread out on the unnecessarily large bed that I brought out

whenever I had the girls staying over, all the girls were wearing differentlycolored pajamas.

Whenever Sue visited, everyone stayed on this bed in my room. It had slowly

become an unspoken rule. Obviously I didn't lay a hand on anyone, or

anything... I didn't exactly have the stones to make a move like that... Either

way, that was irrelevant to the situation at hand.

"Hmm... I think that the key information here is whether or not Gardio's

emperor knows if the boy is his son, I do."

"I think he doesn't know. It seems like they're close, too..." Yae, sitting crosslegged in her purple bedclothes, spoke up. In response, Hilde, sitting around in

her orange pajamas, replied to her.

"I'm not sure of the details, but I think the main issue is how the Prince of

Lowe became the Prince of Gardio. If we figure that out, everything else should

fall into place."

Lu, sitting comfortably in her green pajamas, let out a small sigh as she spoke.

She was definitely right. All we knew was that the prince, along with his wet

nurse, escaped the ruined nation, and somehow became an imperial prince in

the very nation that orphaned him. Knowing exactly how that happened would

help answer a lot of other things.

"...Putting that aside, should we tell Colonel and the others?" Linze turned to

look at me, she looked adorable in her light blue pajamas. She had a point,

though... I wasn't sure what to do there either.

"For now, I think I'm gonna tell them the truth. They have a right to know

about the safety of their prince. Given that he's living safely, it'll probably be a

relief for them."

"Sure about that? Their prince is now the heir to the throne that killed their

king and people, right? If I was a survivor from Lowe, I wouldn't know whether

or not to be happy or sad." Elze, wearing red pajamas, spoke casually as she

chomped a couple snacks down. Don't eat on the bed...

"Doesn't that mean the best one to ask is the empress? We should just speak

with her directly."

"Maybe not. It's possible that her child was swapped out with her own at

some point, and she doesn't know. She might be raising a son she believes to

actually be hers."

"I guess that's possible..." Leen nodded along to what I said. She was wearing

black pajamas. Kohaku and the other Heavenly Beasts were next to her, asleep.

Paula was nestled in with them, sleeping as well... If a stuffed toy could even do

that.

"Grand Duke... Darkness Magic is an option... You could hypnotize her..."

"...Oh, I totally could've done that, huh." Sakura, wearing pink-ish pajamas,

raised a valid point. With my hypnosis magic, I could easily figure out who knew

what without raising any alarms.

All I'd need to do is put one of the royals under hypnosis and ask them if the

prince was their biological son. If they answered positively, they'd be ignorant

of the truth. If they said no, then they'd know the truth.

"...Touya, do we need to go to that extent? Perhaps this is a little cruel, but all

those three asked us to do was confirm the prince's location and safety, right?

What happens with them from here on isn't really our concern, is it?" Yumina,

sitting nearby in her white pajamas, spoke up with a little hesitation. She wasn't

entirely wrong. If we messed up anything here, we'd be tearing apart what

seemed to be a nice family. It might have just been best to leave it all alone.

But that still left Colonel and the others. We needed to tell them everything.

The three of them seemed trustworthy enough, but any other remnants of

Lowe might not be so reliable.

If a group of people randomly popped up and started saying that the Gardio

prince was of a ruined country's lineage, I doubted anyone would actually take

it seriously... But it'd be a problem if the rumors ended up reaching the boy

himself. I doubted he'd believe it, but he'd probably be hurt by it nonetheless. I

didn't want careless murmurs to cause him any undue stress, or damage his

relationship with his parents.

Ultimately I just wanted Colonel and the others to hear the truth, and maybe

leave it at that. I was sure they would want the prince to be happy.

Sue, who'd been listening so far, climbed into my lap and leaned her head

against my chest.

"This stuff sure is complicated..."

"I guess so... Sorry, was it boring?"

"Nah. I just realized how much you seem to like meddling in other people's

business." ... She was harsh but fair. I couldn't exactly say anything to refute

what she'd said.

"Still, you wouldn't be you if you didn't act that way. And when you're in

trouble, it's up to us to help you, isn't it? So don't worry about boring us. I'm

happy just being with you like this. I'm sure everyone is." Sue smiled and took

my hands in hers. She pulled my arms forward until we'd shifted into a position

where I was hugging her from behind. G-Geez, Sue... This is a little

embarrassing.

"Sue... You shouldn't monopolize the Grand Duke..."

"Mm?" Sakura suddenly stood up and picked up Sue by her underarms. She

then moved in to sit on my lap in Sue's place, facing me and hugging me

straight-on. Aaauugh, S-Sakura! This is even more embarrassing than before!

"H-Hey, Sakura! That's no fair! I want a turn!"

"Eep..." Lu untangled Sakura from my front and took her place. G-Girls?

Please calm yourselves...!

"...We must enter the battle, Hilde-dono, we must."

"You're right, Yae. Let us march forward to our victory."

"S-Sis, we gotta get in there too!"

"H-Huh?! O-Okay!"

"H-Hold it, please!" The girls suddenly started chasing me around the room.

The ruckus was quite unreasonable... Where were their manners?! If this was a

regular apartment we'd be inconveniencing our neighbors. In the end, Elze used

[Boost] to tackle me onto the bed, and then everyone dogpiled me. All I could

do was focus on not saying anything like "You're heavy!" That would seal my

doom.

A-Ah... What'd I just touch?! This can't keep up, augh... I have no choice here...

[Teleport]! "Bwuh! O-Ouch!"

"Gh... It's heavy..." Yae and Sakura were directly above me, so they became

the bottom layer after I warped out. They cried out in discomfort, casualties of

war...

"Alright, girls. That's enough. No getting excited just because it's a sleepover.

You're future world leaders, are you not? You'd do well not to act so childishly."

Leen clapped her hands together and brought them all back to their senses.

She'd saved me. It made sense, since she was the oldest... Which made the fact

that she looked almost as young as Sue all the more comical.

After Leen calmed everyone down, everyone started talking about recent

events. It was mostly girly chatter, so I didn't engage too much. But I did want

to hear about what everyone had been up to lately.

"Oh right, Elze. How's the training going? Has Uncle Takeru been teaching you

good stuff?"

"Yup. He's a great mentor! We recently went to the nearby mountain range,

and there was this huge boulder the size of a Frame Gear, right? He blasted it

away with one punch! He also taught us how to channel the Warrior's Dharma

through our body."

"The what now?"

"It's a way of instilling magic into your body parts and letting it loose as you

see fit... Kinda? You remember Sonia? She had an ability that was a form of the

Warrior's Dharma, apparently! If you master it, then you'll be able to shoot out

pure fighting spirit like a fireball! He showed us it in action by knocking a

wyvern out of the sky with the ability!"

... He's certainly going pretty overboard. Hopefully the mountains are still

standing by the time this is over.

Elze had been devoting herself to training morning and night. She was staying

up because she had a day off the next day. According to her mentor, a warrior

needed to know when to take it easy, or something.

"How's Ende?"

"He's fine, probably? He's better than me at manipulating the power inside

him. He kept on having sparring bouts against our mentor over and over again,

and he kept getting beaten up really badly! But he was fine after a couple trips

to see Flora."

"...That doesn't sound fine at all." Linze quietly muttered exactly what I was

thinking. I was a bit concerned about what kind of meds he'd been getting

pumped into him, but it was probably fine... Probably...

"We're both getting much stronger, though. If I keep it up, I'll definitely be

able to kill an Intermediate Construct with a single shot!"

That would be quite the feat, given it took the Red Cats three Frame Gears to

take out one of those things.

Still, Ende killed an Intermediate Construct with one kick around the second

time I met him, so it wasn't impossible. Plus, Elze had [Boost], and she'd

become even stronger as my own Divinity influenced her as well.

I wondered if Ende would be strengthened by Uncle Takeru's Divinity in much

the same way. As I thought to myself, Sue came up from behind me and gave

me a big hug again. She seemed to be really snuggly... I was fine with it while

she was that age, but it'd maybe be a little more awkward as she grew older.

"Oh right, Sue. How's your mother?"

"Mmm... I think she's giving birth soon. I want a little brother, but I'd be fine

with a sister... What matters most is she gives birth safely!"

From Duke Ortlinde's perspective, a son would be better because he could

succeed the household. Plus if it was a boy, he'd be around the same age as

Yamato. That would mean they'd become friends. Yamato was really growing,

too... It was funny to think that such an active little baby would someday

become king of all Belfast.

The new Ortlinde baby would be Yumina's cousin, and they'd also end up

being my sibling-in-law through Sue. "This talk of children is interesting, it is...

One day it will be us with pregnant bellies, it will." Yae muttered something that

caused everyone except Sue to turn red and uncomfortable. That included me...

I definitely couldn't wrap my head around what the future had in store for me.

"According to Babylon's artifact, eight of us are having girls and one's having a

boy, right?" Hilde laughed awkwardly as she spoke. That was the case... But I

still didn't feel prepared for eight daughters. Frankly, I still wasn't prepared for

nine wives.

"If we talk from a logistics standpoint, fairies have a very low chance of giving

birth to males. Even with a human partner, the child will come out a full fairy.

It's not like half-elves, that are born between humans and elves. So it's likely I

will have a girl." Leen spoke pretty frankly. I didn't know that, but I trusted her

judgment, so it wasn't likely she'd have a boy.

"It's similar with the overlord's bloodline... The child would come out a

demonkin like me... I hope I have a girl... I do not want to have a hopeless boy

who turns out like the Overlord..." Sakura muttered with an irritated expression

on her face. Geez... You're really unforgiving... But I guess it's the guy's own

fault for always acting like a clown.

It was a shame, given what a good ruler he was. He clearly just had a habit of

losing his mind in front of Sakura. Every time I saw his stupid antics, I promised

myself I wouldn't be that kind of dad.

"...You know, if he gets a granddaughter, he might end up being even worse."

"...I didn't think of that. That's bad..." Sakura started rolling around on the

bed while grumbling. Personally, I thought she was worrying too much.

"I-I would be happy if I had a son, I would. I would want to train him with the

blade, I would."

"H-Hey! I want a son so I can teach him how to be a perfect knight!"

"A-Actually I was thinking a boy would be good, cause I could spar with him..."

Yae, Hilde, and Elze started nervously chattering about their hopes and

expectations. ... You guys know you can do all those things with daughters,

right?

"It's kind of a shame, isn't it? How we know what our children will be, and

how we know there'll only be one boy." Linze mumbled something a little sadly,

and Yumina spoke up in response.

"I don't think we need to worry. Doctor Babylon saw a future where all nine

of us had children, and one was a boy, right? She didn't see beyond that. So we

could easily have boys if we get pregnant again."

"Ooh! So you're saying there's a chance I could have a boy as my second

child? That sounds fine to me, then." Lu smiled and patted her hands together

as if she was troubled no more. H-Hold on... You mean to tell me you guys want

more kids after popping one out? Forget a soccer team, we're gonna have

enough kids for a rugby field at this rate... Where the hell are we gonna get

enough babysitters? I guess the Babylon Gynoids will do...

There's a good number of them, too... I could assign one gynoid to each wife,

and then... No. Nevermind. Neeevermind. There's no way I could leave any of my

kids to that pervy maid, or that clumsy shrine maiden, or that wannabe diddler

researcher... Plus I doubt the bookworm or the narcoleptic could do much to

raise my kids, either.

Guess I need to figure out trustworthy people before my kids are born... But

maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

"Hey, Touya?"

"Yeah?"

"Where do babies come from?" Sue's innocent question caused the entire

room to freeze up. You could've heard a pin drop.

Wh-What was that?

"Sue... How old are you?"

"Umm... Twelve, remember? We celebrated my birthday a bit ago!"

Ahh... Twelve, yeah. That's right. If this was Earth, she'd be in middle school.

"Uh... Sue... H-Has Aunt Ellen not taught you about... you know, the birds and

the bees?"

"Huh? Birds and bees? What about them, Yumina?" Sue stared innocently

over at her cousin. She looked legitimately confused.

In any sane place on Earth, sex education was a basic thing taught before the

age of ten... It seemed things were a little more backward here. I guess people

naturally learn by hearing from their friends, or catching their parents, or seeing

something naughty in media... But I guess noble people in this world don't really

have as much opportunity, so they probably learn from parents or educators...

Then again, Yumina, Hilde, Lu, and Sakura are all royal but seem to have the

relevant knowledge. Sue's the odd one out.

I then remembered that Ellen was blind and bedridden until I appeared a few

years ago, so it was possible she just never learned a thing from her father.

"...What should we do?"

"Don't ask me..." Leen looked at me, her face was slightly red. I did have

some... Examples on my smartphone, but those videos weren't exactly the

educational kind.

"Just as I'd expecteeeed!" The door loudly slammed open, revealing Cesca

and Doctor Babylon. What the hell's with that timing?! Were you guys listening

in on us?! "Leave this to us. We'll teach Sue everything she needs to know

about her budding body, and what it's good for. Hell, we'll teach all the girls!"

"Trust us, master. We'll give them hands-on knowledge." I grabbed the two of

them by the scruffs of their necks and started dragging them out of the room.

There's no way in hell I'm entertaining this!

"Things only get messy when you idiots show up. Stay out of this!"

"Oh... Then you're saying you'll teach Sue yourself?"

"Ugh..."

"You'll get really in-depth with her, hm?"

"I suppose if you have it covered, then there's no need for us then..." The two

of them grinned nefariously at me. It pissed me off. My eyes suddenly glanced

down at Cesca. More specifically, the book under her arm.

"What's this?"

"Something I borrowed from the library. Educational material." How the hell

were you two so well-prepared? I skimmed over the book and was surprised to

see it looked pretty informative. It was basically like a general health education

book... Perhaps letting them handle it wouldn't be so bad.

I was worried, but it was also true that Sue needed to learn where babies

came from. After some mulling it over, I begrudgingly accepted the aid being

offered to me.

"...Just cover the fundamentals, alright? They don't need to know anything

weird. Just teach them regular things." I wanted to be sure they didn't do

anything weird, so I specifically warned them.

"Sure, sure... I get it. For anything beyond basic sex ed, you wanna guide their

kinks, huh?"

"That isn't remotely what I meant!" My head was starting to hurt. After

deciding to let them handle it, I left the girls behind and headed to a spare

bedroom for some rest.

... Is this gonna be okay? I have a bad feeling... Maybe I should've shown them

some softcore videos on my smartphone... Augh... No, that's no good either...

I muttered to myself and worried as I drifted to sleep.

The next morning, during breakfast, Sue was staring at the wall.

Whenever I tried to talk to her she'd turn beet-red and look away. I caught

her fidgeting and looking at me a few times, blushing crimson here and there.

She kept doing it over and over.

"I wouldn't worry about it. She's still processing things." Leen spoke over to

me, but for some reason, she was red and fidgety as well. Everyone at the table

was acting a little strange. They'd glance at me now and then for no reason, and

whenever I looked at them they'd look straight back down at their plates. I

heard some weird sighing here and there, and could've sworn I heard the words

"Kama Sutra" muttered beneath hushed breaths.

... Just what the hell did they learn last night?!

It took Sue a few days to return to normal, and I never did find out just what

kind of forbidden knowledge she was granted.

◇ ◇ ◇

Night had fallen.

It was quiet out. The moon wasn't too bright alone, but the pathways nearby

were lined with lamps.

We were in the Reverse World. More specifically, the imperial capital of

Gardio.

We were in the imperial palace's courtyard, right in the middle of the city. I'd

been here before, so it was easy to open up a [Gate].

"So this is the place, huh?"

"This was quite easy, it was..."

"There's not much in the way of anti-magic in this world... All we need to do is

figure out our next step." I'd brought Yae and Lu with me. Originally I'd planned

on just using [Invisible] and heading straight to the emperor's bedroom, but...

There were a lot more Gollems on guard duty compared to the daytime.

Invisibility could easily trick humans, but I wasn't so sure about Gollems. If

they had thermal vision, we'd be rumbled in seconds.

Plus, [Paralyze] didn't work on inorganic creatures... I wasn't exactly going to

trash them, either. I needed to go about it differently.

"Search. Emperor of Gardio."

"Searching... Search complete." We hid down in the bushes as the phone

projected a map of the local area.

"What should we do, Touya-dono?"

"We can probably go there via [Teleport]."

"H-Hm? B-But, I don't know..."

For some reason, Lu seemed pretty hesitant. I wondered what was up with

her. "I-I just think that we shouldn't jump into a couple's bedroom without any

warning... Th-They might be... D-Doing stuff..." Lu turned bright red and looked

at the floor. Yae also turned scarlet as she heard Lu's explanation, and averted

her gaze. Dammit! You idiotic perverts have corrupted them already! What

kinda shitty sex ed have you been feeding them? I mean... I guess they could be

doing it... I dunno if we need to think about that stuff though... I'll run a search

just to be sure... I ran a search and checked where the empress was. She was in

the same room. The prince was in another room a bit away.

"...Guess I'll use [Long Sense] to peek in first, and then..."

"Y-You would peek on an act such as that, you would?!"

"...We don't even know if they're doing it..." I was a bit annoyed about being

made out as some kind of peeping Tom.

"...I'll summon a creature and have them check it out, then."

"Th-That's better." I used some spellstone chalk to draw a little summoning

circle and called out a little rat. The rat vanished promptly into the night.

I didn't connect my senses with it, so it didn't count as peeping. So long as

nothing was going on, we'd use [Teleport] and confront them.

I preemptively cast [Invisible] on all three of us, allowing us to go at any point.

"...Seems like they're just resting." The rat telepathically informed me of the

situation, and I gave a thumbs-up to the girls. Both the empress and the

emperor seemed ready to nap, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to go in.

I brought Yae and Lu close to me and held their hands.

"[Teleport]." In a flash, we were in the middle of a fancy bedroom. There was

a Leylight stones in the middle of the room, casting a dim glow over the

furniture. The first thing I noticed was a large bed. It wasn't quite as big as the

behemoth-tier bed in my room at home, though. There was also a nice-looking

ornate desk. I turned around and saw a fine set of table and chairs, as well as a

pretty-looking fireplace. It glinted in the dim light. There were a few subtle

differences, but it was kinda similar to my place. Ultimately it was a matter of

interior design and taste. I wasn't as huge a fan of gold as these guys.

I slowly approached the bed, before remembering to cast [Silence] around

the vicinity. I didn't want any guards hearing anything.

After I cast the spell, I crept forward toward the bed with the others in tow.

One might wonder why we were still creeping around after casting [Silence],

and the reason for that was simple enough. It wasn't a spell that eliminated

sound from a space. Instead, it prevented sound from escaping. For everyone in

the room, all sounds were still fairly audible. Even if we were invisible, we'd still

be heard if we didn't take care. In an ideal world, I'd be able to use another cast

of [Silence] to cover our footsteps, but apparently, the spell couldn't be stacked

like that.

I made it to the side of the bed and approached the two slumbering people.

Alright, now for the hypnosis...

"...Who is that?"

"Nh?!" The emperor of Gardio suddenly opened his eyes. He wasn't looking

directly at us, but it was clear he'd sensed our presence.

"How...?"

"He noticed our presence, he did... He seems to be a man of keen sense, he

does." Yae whispered to me quietly. Even so, that level of precision was

unusual... But we'd only hidden our bodies, it wasn't like we were masking our

breathing or steps.

Curiously enough, Yae, Hilde, and Elze weren't easily tricked by people with

[Invisible] cast on them. They had strangely sharp senses that allowed them to

feel people nearby. Presumably, that meant the emperor was a similar kind of

person.

Crap, what do we do? Should we run, or confront him? This room is

enchanted, so if we raise a ruckus, nobody'll hear...

"An intruder from Isengard, then? The old man's still craving even more

power?" Hm... He definitely knows we're here. The empress was awake at this

point, and the emperor was fumbling under his pillow for what was presumably

a hidden weapon.

But we weren't from Isengard, that was an interesting development.

"...What should we do, Touya-dono?"

"Nothing else for it. Let's just talk to them head-on."

"That... Could cause them some trouble, couldn't it?"

"If it comes to that, I'll mess with their minds using hypnosis magic and make

it so this never happened. That should be enough." Lu sighed at my response.

She was probably baffled by how casually I took the situation. You'd have

thought she'd be used to it by now.

I quickly dispelled our invisibility, and our sudden appearance made the

emperor and empress scramble from their bed.

"Well, who are you?! Are you with Isengard, or not?"

"We aren't. If anything, I guess we'd be on business from Lowe."

"From Lowe?! It can't be..."

"Darling...!" The two of them paled in response to my words. Given their

reaction, I could only assume they did, in fact, know about the prince's origin.

"Someone, help! We've intruders!" The emperor of Gardio pulled a small

blade out from his pillow as he cried out for assistance. But nobody came to

help them. My [Silence] spell meant his cries would go unheard.

"That won't do anything. This room has been sealed off thanks to my magic."

"A-A spellcaster?!" The emperor pointed a small blade at me as he composed

himself. In response, Yae crawled her hand toward the sheathed blade at her

waist.

They presumably thought we were here to harm them, given Gardio's

involvement in the country's ruin.

"It's been so long, I never expected that we'd be attacked by remnants of the

Lowe Kingdom..."

"We're not here to attack you. We're not even from Lowe to begin with. We

were just asked by former Lowe subjects to investigate the whereabouts of

their missing prince. We didn't expect that he'd have become your heir." The

empress fell to the floor upon hearing what I said. A look of distress clouded her

face as she looked at us.

"...P-Please... H-He's our son... I know he isn't bound to us by blood, but we

love him! Please don't take him away!" The empress broke down and started

crying. The emperor merely looked down at her with a miserable expression on

his face.

It seemed that they knew about the boy's true lineage. I was glad that I hadn't

driven a wedge into their marriage, but I still felt kinda shitty. It felt like I was

torturing them, almost. Lu and Yae evidently felt the same way, given the guilty

looks on their faces.

"...Have you come to take our son from us?" The emperor tightened the grip

on his weapon as he stared us down, faint traces of contempt in his voice.

"I'm capable of rapid teleportation magic. If I wanted to take him, he would

already be gone. I came here to learn the truth from you. I want to know how

the prince of Lowe became the heir to the Gardio empire. I want to know how

all this started. We'll make our decision on how to proceed afterward. I'm sorry

to ask like this, but... Could you tell us your story?" It took a few moments for

my words to sink in, and the Gardio emperor lowered his weapon. He threw it

gently onto the sheets. He reached down and helped his wife up, before pulling

her into a gentle embrace. The two of them then sat down on their bed

together.

"...It has long been a fear for me that this day would come. I never wanted

anyone to learn our secret, much less threaten to expose it, but..." With a heavy

sigh, the emperor looked down at the floor. He then began to speak his tale.

◇ ◇ ◇

It was ten years ago.

I was the heir to the Gardio empire. My father reigned as emperor.

It was the wintertime when I, under my father's orders, led an army in a

charge against the Kingdom of Lowe.

Gollems couldn't function efficiently in Lowe's land, due to the rich mithril ore

dotted around their land. The twelve generals of Lowe wielded the beast

emperor Gollems, which weren't affected by this weakness. That was how Lowe

had managed to repel all their invaders over time.

But all that changed when one of the generals betrayed Lowe. After Isengard

acquired a beast emperor, the dynamic shifted.

Isengard developed a device that negated the mithril-induced weaknesses in

Gollems. Gardio is a land plentiful in resources, and Isengard needed one of our

raw materials to finalize their device. That's how we became involved in all of

this.

The idea was to fight together against Lowe, and split the spoils afterward.

I was strongly opposed to this, but my father was emperor, and his word was

law. He drew up a strong negotiation that allowed Gardio to claim most of

Lowe's land after everything was over.

Lowe had repelled Gardio's invasions many times in previous generations. I

can only assume that my father was after the immortalizing glory of being the

first emperor to finally defeat them.

Isengard had only one target, the Azure Ruin within Lowe's territory. It was a

hotbed of legacy Gollems, a site that was rich in ancient technology. According

to Isengard, that's all they wanted. We could have everything else.

Isengard and Gardio combined to form an army of tens of thousands of

Soldats. I commanded Gardio's military, and the witch-king commanded

Isengard's. Together we ravaged the cities and people of Lowe.

The twelve, or rather... Eleven generals of Lowe were defeated one after the

other by our combined forces. Even though the beast emperors were

monstrously powerful, it ended up being a fight of eleven versus several tens of

thousands. It was an absolute defeat.

The capital was crushed, and the entire country was wiped off the map

overnight.

The day after the battle, one of my close assistants discovered a dead body of

interest. A wet nurse from Lowe's royal castle. She held a baby in her arms, one

we quickly identified. He wore clothes bearing the royal emblem of Lowe.

He was the last prince of Lowe. The final survivor of the royal bloodline.

If a prince of a ruined nation was left alive, it was possible he'd incite rebellion

once fully grown. A common fact of war was to kill children like this, in order to

prevent future uprisings.

But... I hesitated and found I could not run my blade through the boy. How

could I?

After all... I'd been informed just a couple of days before... My own son had

been born.

My wife was never especially fertile, and we'd had trouble conceiving a child.

Her happy face flashed through my mind.

Perhaps it was guilt I felt, for being part of the force that killed his parents.

Perhaps it was naive elation at having become a father myself... Perhaps it was

just softness... But I couldn't bring myself to snuff out that crying voice. He

sounded as though he wanted to live.

... I was lucky. Only two people knew about the boy. Myself, and the assistant.

I entrusted the baby to him and had them sent back to the imperial capital

before anyone asked any questions. I burned his clothing, eliminating any

evidence he was of Lowe lineage.

I intended to leave him in an orphanage, and allow him to grow as a normal

boy. I thought perhaps I'd keep an eye on him as he grew, and if he showed

promise I'd have him join my son's cabinet as a supportive member of the

government.

But... On the day I made it home, tragedy struck.

My son had died. It was caused by unknown medical complications. Even

though it was nobody's fault, I still felt as though a knife had been thrust

through my heart. And... While dealing with that grief, I began to consider the

political implications.

Due to my wife's difficulty to conceive, my father had been pressuring me to

leave her and have a child with someone else.

My father had many mistresses, but I'm strictly monogamous. Since I was a

young boy, I always felt a deep sense of disgust toward my father. He treated

women very poorly and only saw my mother as a way to produce an heir.

My father used women like tools, and only had a few male heirs. The only one

to survive to adulthood was me.

That was the kind of man my father was. If he learned of my son's death, he'd

have my wife taken from me. He'd likely even have her killed, reasoning that a

woman who birthed a weak child was fundamentally useless. I wanted to avoid

that at all costs.

He was busy with Isengard due to the war negotiations and hadn't seen the

face of my newborn son yet. As vexing as it was, his lack of care was a quiet

blessing that one time.

My son's death had not yet been reported to the emperor. It had happened

out of the blue. In fact, my son died only moments before I reached my palace in

the capital.

I stopped it from being reported to my father and considered how I might

avoid him learning the truth.

It was then that I remember the baby.

I had the little prince brought to me and ensured the silence of everyone who

knew. And it was in that moment that the prince of Lowe became my son, the

heir to the Gardio empire.

"About a year later, my father collapsed and never woke up. I ascended to the

imperial throne, and we no longer had to fear his foul attitude. But by that

point, the little boy from Lowe had truly become our beloved son..." The

empress of Gardio finished his story as he gently held his weeping wife.

That was quite a story... I personally wanted to leave them alone, but I wasn't

sure if Colonel and the others would accept the situation.

It had become awfully complicated.

"We only have one desire. We wish for the boy... Lucrecion, to live by our

side. We'll do anything to keep our happy life."

"Please, I beg you... Please don't take our little boy away from us!" The

empress and emperor looked at me. H-How the hell did it come to this?! "...This

is rough."

"For now we should tell the people from Lowe about this, we should. They

would not want the prince to be sad, they would not."

"Well, they did mention how they didn't want to see him destitute or

anything. They probably just want to make him happy, I don't think they're

going to start a revolution or anything..." I was kind of speculating there, but I

didn't think they were fueled by vengeance or anything. Yumina's Mystic Eyes

would've figured out if they had such intentions.

The empress looked up at me, resolve flaring in her gaze.

"...Can we speak with the people from Lowe? I wish for them to understand

our perspective..."

"Are you sure about this, Asteria...?" The empress nodded toward her

uncertain husband.

Guess there's nothing for it... We've been pulled into this mess, so we might as

well finish it. I don't exactly want to see a family torn apart because of me.

... I hope the situation doesn't get bad enough that I need to use my hypnosis

to rewrite their memories, though. They don't seem like bad people. I wouldn't

want to use that spell on them...

◇ ◇ ◇

"...What? You're telling me that Prince Lufredin is Gardio's imperial prince? Is

this a sick joke?!" First Lieutenant smacked her fist down against the table. The

dark-skinned beauty stood up, shaking with fury.

I understood her feelings. From her perspective, the country that had ruined

her homeland had also stolen her prince.

"I'm afraid it's no joke. The prince is living as the heir to the Gardio empire's

throne. That's the truth of the situation." Sergeant, who usually had a thin smile

on his face, looked to the ground in frustration.

"This isn't possible! He used our prince?! He used Lufredin as a cheap decoy?!

A replacement for his own? What a bastard..." We were in the Red Cats' main

tent, and the mood was rather sour. Nia and Est were sitting off to the side,

watching the scene unfold with unease in their eyes.

"Gardio's emperor wants to speak with you all. Will you take him up on it?"

"He wants to speak?! What is there to discuss?! We demand Lufredin be

returned to us, immediately! How dare those thieves try to take the moral high

ground!" First Lieutenant spewed out her anger. Colonel, on the other hand,

had his eyes closed and hadn't said anything for a while.

"Why don't you guys just calm down! Touya isn't a messenger for you people,

understand? Meet the emperor on your own if you want to tell him that." Lu

scowled and started mouthing off toward First Lieutenant. She was probably

angry. In response to Lu's tirade, the dark-skinned woman backed off.

The situation was simple enough. The Magitechnocracy of Isengard had

waged war on the Kingdom of Lowe and dragged in the Gardio Empire.

Lowe was an isolated nation and didn't converse much with outsiders. I

couldn't help but feel things might have worked out differently if Isengard had

tried to speak with them before the invasion... But it was too late for what-ifs.

"What kind of talks do they even want to have with us? How do we know

they're not trying to gather us in one place and execute us?" First Lieutenant

continued her angry tirade, but Colonel finally stood up and silenced her.

"I do not believe he's that kind of person. When the emperor was just a

prince... I fought him, one-on-one. It was during the invasion of Lowe, and it

was also the battle in which I lost my eye." Colonel pointed toward his own face

as he spoke. First Lieutenant and Sergeant expressed surprise at this revelation.

"The instigator of that was definitely the witch-king of Isengard. As his Soldats

surrounded our royal castle, I was elsewhere... The imperial prince of Gardio

had led his army in a pincer movement. He told me to surrender peacefully,

over and over, but I paid him no heed. Because I kept on fighting so

stubbornly... My attention remained there, and the king I served ended up

dying. I also lost my eye... It's an ironic twist of fate that the man I was trying to

kill... Saved our little prince." Colonel laughed bitterly. He was right. If Colonel

had beaten the prince of Gardio, then the king of Lowe likely still would've died,

and the little prince might've died as well. There was no way to say for sure, but

it was still possible.

"Lowe's territory is mostly under control of the Gardio empire now... But it's

true that they haven't treated us unfairly. There's no unjust taxation or

oppression of our people. It's peaceful. At least in the area around our former

capital, Laevateinn. That's the part governed by the emperor of Gardio. The

land around the Azure Ruin, governed by Isengard, on the other hand... Isn't so

pretty. Either way, I do not believe the emperor would double-cross us."

"That doesn't change the fact that they took our home from us... I'll never

forgive that." First Lieutenant muttered under her breath.

I didn't think she had to forgive them, either. She was ultimately entitled to

her feelings. But I hoped that the hatred wouldn't carry on to future

generations.

If the chain of hatred was never broken, it would continue to cause misery for

many. Teaching your kids stuff like "these guys are the enemy," or "we can

never afford to forgive them" was a wicked thing to do.

I was an outsider on this situation, though... So perhaps I wasn't qualified to

comment...

"If you talk with the emperor, I'll promise your safety. I won't let them catch

you guys out, or do anything sneaky. Obviously, I won't let you do anything to

them, either..."

"This decision can't be left to us three alone. Let us confer with our associates

first... We'll need some time."

"Alright then. In that case, we'll give you a week."

"Very well." Colonel then left the tent with the others.

I heaved a sigh and slumped back in my chair. Lowe and Gardio weren't any of

my business... But I'd still become part of the mess.

"I wonder if they wanna take the prince away from the empire."

"I hope not. I don't think it's morally right to take a child and tell him that his

parents aren't his actual parents, and that they sided with the people who killed

his real ones." Est and Nia talked amongst themselves.

"...I feel sorry for the boy."

"But it might be good for him to learn the truth, it might." Lu and Yae shared

their own thoughts. It was a pretty difficult situation.

"Mmm... I could always use hypnosis on the three of them and tell them we

couldn't find the prince..."

"...That seems a little cruel and uncaring of their feelings."

"You're right... Sorry." Est was correct. They'd spent the better part of a

decade looking for him. It'd be too cruel for me to crush that dream.

"Come to think of it... The emperor of Gardio assumed we were attackers

from Isengard, right? Do the two countries have a bad relationship?"

"I wouldn't call it a good one. Isengard invaded Lowe so they could get their

hands on the Azure Ruin, which was a treasure trove of ancient technology. But

another site of historical interest, the Emerald Ruin, was later found in the Lowe

territory that had been granted to Gardio. Isengard immediately tried to lay

claim to it, and they've been in a dispute about it ever since. Some fear that

Isengard might invade Gardio's land to try and get it." Seriously...? They're going

that far just for some ruins? They sound obsessed. "From what I understand,

they've been searching for something in particular. Given their interest, I can

only imagine it's something left behind by an ancient civilization." Hmm... So

they're after stuff from the Gollem-creation era... I guess it's kinda like the stuff

you'd find in Babylon's Storehouse, so I can understand why a country would

want to get their hands on it.

"Isengard rose to power after excavating several ancient Gollem technologies

from their ruins. Soldats and Panzers are widespread in this world thanks to

them."

"Soldats are the Gollems that can be controlled en masse by people, right?

What's a Panzer?"

"They're equipment-based Gollems. They're basically Gollems that take the

form of armor or a weapon. Something that can be worn or wielded, or

attached. These Gollems often have a will of their own, making them much

more reliable than regular weapons or gear." What?! Like a mechsuit with an AI

or something? Est elaborated, explaining that they didn't have special abilities

like Legacy Gollems or anything.

Isengard began using their technology to expand their territory through

military conquest. There were other strong nations, like the Lassei Military

Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Strain to the north, but people were still worried

Isengard could do anything at any time. That was the kind of reputation it had.

"From what I hear, the witch-king of Isengard is a deranged old man. They say

he even fused a Gollem's arm to his body." ... Now we've got cyborgs entering

the story? This is ridiculous!

I'd understand if he lost his arm in a fight or an accident, and replaced it... But

apparently, that wasn't what had happened.

According to the rumors, he simply had his own arm removed and fitted a

mechanical replacement because it was capable of more precise motions. That

was a little much for me to understand... The old guy definitely sounded like the

kind of person you wouldn't want to invite around for dinner.

"He likely had Lowe invaded due to his lust for new and strange technologies.

His taste for technological understanding is unmatched." Est's words made me

a little worried.

We'd fought mutants in Isengard territory not long ago... And we were

definitely spotted by villagers.

That was really bad. I should've taken better precautions.

"It's still a difficult situation overall, however... Some of the technologies

they've uncovered have bettered the world on a whole, after all."

"That's right. Isengard invented long-distance communication, but it's not as

good as these devices you gave us, Touya." Nia casually waved around her

smartphone. I made a mental note to never let Isengard get ahold of my

technology.

"Is Isengard the best in the world when it comes to Gollem tech, then?"

"I'd say so, yes. But in terms of Gollem masters, not so much. They almost

exclusively use Panzers and Soldats, so they don't have any special abilities."

"They believe in quantity over quality. They'd rather use regular weapons that

can be wielded by many, than special weapons that can be wielded by few." In

other words, they were a mass-production culture. That definitely meant they'd

be capable of making a lot of things at once... Quite the industrious nation, even

if its leader was a weirdo.

I wondered what the central government thought of him... He certainly

sounded like a whole handful of trouble.

"And what about the Gardio empire?"

"They've been working on their own infrastructure lately. The former

emperor was a bit of a tyrant, and they'd often fight with the Strain Kingdom,

and the Steel Nation of Gandhillis. But since the new emperor took over,

relationships with both nations have improved a fair bit. On the other hand, its

relationship with Isengard has declined..." That made sense. A change in

leadership often meant a change in policy.

That reminded me, it was almost time for the League of Nations to meet. I

needed to tell everyone back in the regular world about the existence of the

Reverse World. Right now the only country that knew was Palerius.

A lot of things would change once the two worlds unified... So I needed to

explain things in order for them to prepare. I wondered if I should bring them

over to the Reverse World for a little look. I couldn't just bring them to Drakliff

Island, though... All they'd see is Shirogane and a bunch of dragons.

In the end, I decided that Primula or Triharan would be the best bet, if they'd

co-operate. If the world leaders from the regular world saw Gollems and

Reverse World city streets with their own eyes, they'd probably grasp things a

lot better.

I opened up my smartphone and started flicking through the contacts.

◇ ◇ ◇

"...Slow down, Touya my lad... This story's a little much..."

"I understand. I know it's hard to believe. But I promise you I'm not taking you

for a ride here." The world leaders were looking at me like I'd just flipped their

entire worldview on its head. Because I had.

Projected on the conference room monitor was a map of a world much like

the one we were in. The only difference was, it was flipped.

I'd also invited Relisha to this meeting as a representative of the guild, and I'd

brought in Pam as a representative of the Sea of Trees, too.

Of the roughly twenty or so countries in the world, the vast majority were

participating in the League of Nations. I wasn't really counting ruined places like

Sandora and Yulong, though... And the Sea of Trees barely qualified as a

country.

The following countries were represented at my meeting:

■ The Kingdom of Belfast

■ The Regulus Empire

■ The Refreese Empire

■ The Kingdom of Mismede

■ The Ramissh Theocracy

■ The Roadmare Union

■ The Lestia Knight Kingdom

■ The Kingdom of Lihnea

■ The Divine Nation, Eashen

■ The Demon Kingdom of Xenoahs

■ The Kingdom of Palouf

■ The Magic Kingdom of Felsen

■ The Kingdom of Elfrau

■ The Kingdom of Ryle

■ The Kingdom of Hannock

■ The Kingdom of Egret

■ The Kingdom of Palerius

■ The Duchy of Brunhild

I'd assembled representatives of all these listed nations to tell them about the

Reverse World.

Not only that, but I told them all about the future event that would merge the

two worlds together.

To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if they thought I was crazy. But

on the other hand, everyone here had a faint understanding of the concept of

other worlds. That was all thanks to the Phrase, extradimensional invaders

they'd seen with their own eyes.

"Even though the worlds are merging, I can promise that nothing cataclysmic

is going to happen in terms of the environment. I've already made the

necessary precautions."

"Then... Tell us. When this other world joins ours, how exactly will that

work?" The Queen of Elfrau raised her arm and spoke directly to me.

"I'd compare it to discovering a new landmass across the sea. Nothing in

terms of our existing environment will change. We'll just be bridged to a new

one over the water."

The worlds were joining together, they weren't overlapping with each other.

Thankfully, the landmasses weren't going to fuse or anything, they'd just be

connected via the sea that already exists in both worlds. However, it was

possible for some level of underground overlap as far as land beneath the

waves went, so it wouldn't have been too unusual to see new islands appear

here or there.

"I can't wrap my head around this... Touya, what are the people of this other

world like?"

"I haven't visited many countries over there, so I can't tell you how they are

across the board. But for the most part, they're similar to us. The only

difference is that magic isn't all that established over there. It's not like they

don't have it at all, but they don't really need it."

"How can they not need magic? What is that supposed to mean?" The king of

Felsen looked at me in sheer confusion. Given that magic was central to

Felsen's society, it was obvious a statement like that would worry him.

"They have more of a focus on magitechnology than magic. Do you guys

remember the ether vehicle I showed you guys a while back? They have things

like that over in that world, that kind of thing is more commonplace, if not a bit

expensive."

"Then their society is more advanced than ours?"

"Mm... No, I wouldn't say so. For example... if there was a job that we could

take care of in under a day with a couple Earth mages, it'd probably take them

about a week using their Gollems. Oh right, Gollems are kinda like little golems

that can do a variety of things for people. There are different areas where they

excel and fall behind in." I began sharing all that I knew about the implications

of the merging worlds. It was in motion now, and there was nothing that could

be done to stop it. And given that we'd be a fresh world, that also meant

attacks from the mutants would increase until the wicked god was dealt with.

"...I don't get it. Sea of Trees won't be affected, right?"

"Other than the mutant attacks, no."

"Fine by us, then. If Touya needs help, Touya gets help from we tribes. Just

ask us and we'll come." Pam shrugged and smiled in her chair. Seemed like the

tribes really didn't care about international matters. To them, the world might

as well have ended at the woodland's border.

"Central-dono, you went to the other world, did you not? How would you

describe it?" The Mikado of Eashen, Shirahime, turned to the Queen of Palerius

and posed her question.

"I was only really in a castle of this country called Primula, so I'm not sure... It

wasn't really all that different to the world I've seen here. Even their food was

pretty ordinary." Millie, who'd come along as an escort for Central, ended up

taste-testing the food for poison. It was all pretty standard over there, really.

There wasn't much of a difference between the worlds when it came to

cookery.

"Touya... I'm a little concerned about the other world potentially taking

military action against us. Would they use those, uh... Gollems? Against us?"

The King of Lihnea's remark was met by nods and muttering from the other

leaders. That was a natural fear.

"There'll be a large ocean separating us, so I don't think they'll be able to

mobilize. If they did, I wouldn't just sit around either. Neither would anyone

else. That's the purpose of our alliance." In truth, I hoped the Reverse World

would join our League of Nations as well. All the other member-states seemed

to agree with that sentiment. Ultimately it was down to the Reverse World's cooperation.

If they didn't want to interact with us, I'd be fine leaving them alone. If they

came trying to fight, I'd put a stop to it. I wanted the two sides to get along, I

didn't want either side being oppressed by the other.

"Well... It is Touya we're talking about here."

"I hope for their own sake that the other world has smart leaders."

"Yeah... I wonder how many countries he'll wipe from their map when this is

all over?"

"Hm... Hard to say... Over here it was just two countries, but you never

know..." The leaders of Belfast, Regulus, Mismede, and Refreese all started

talking amongst themselves. It was annoying. I wasn't the one that destroyed

Yulong! And I hardly took down Sandora all by myself, either...

They weren't wrong that I had some negative feelings about Isengard, though.

I didn't think it was good to judge them solely based on hearsay, so I wanted

to meet the witch-king myself. For all I knew, he could just be a ditzy old man...

Though the idea of a ditzy old man having full national authority was concerning

too.

It was entirely possible that just the head of state was bad, while the cabinet

was okay. It'd be bad if they were completely rotten all the way through, like

Yulong or Sandora... But then again, if they weren't corrupt, then surely they

would've stopped the old guy's crazy stuff.

"The world merge isn't coming any time super soon, so don't worry for now.

Even when it does happen, not much will change in terms of our landmass. I

think for now, we shouldn't tell the general public, either..."

"That's fair. I think it'll only confuse people. Actually, wait... Do we want to

bring Nokia and Horn in on this?" The Doge of Roadmare spoke up.

I'd definitely been thinking about that.

The Kingdom of Horn and the Kingdom of Nokia were the only two nations

left in the regular world that hadn't joined the League of Nations.

Horn had been in contact with Felsen fairly regularly, however. They had an

excuse.

The nation was currently undergoing a struggle for leadership. There was

presently no head of state available to lead them into the alliance. The old king

had died without naming an heir, and several arguments erupted about who'd

be the new ruler. Until all that died down, the country wasn't making any

treaties with the outside.

As for the Nokia Kingdom, Xenoahs had tried several times to make contact...

To no avail.

Nokia was built up by people who'd escaped from Yulong's oppression, and

they were dug deep inside a mountain range. They kept to themselves, mostly.

Xenoahs was pretty isolated until recently as well, so there wasn't much

precedent for contact between the two lands. It was kind of a pain.

"We'll leave Horn and Nokia for the time being. Even if we told them, it's not

like they'd be able to do much."

"That's true. It's not like we can even do much with this information, either."

The Doge nodded slowly. If they didn't wish to communicate with us, I wasn't

going to force them to.

"Does this other world have a guild connecting it?"

Guildmaster Relisha raised a question of her own. Knowing her, she was

probably thinking of expanding the guild already.

"Not in the countries I've been to, no. Monsters exist in that world, but

they're usually taken care of by the state and their Gollems. Villages also pool

their resources to buy Gollem guards. There are also a few Gollem masters who

make money by roaming around and killing monsters for people."

"Hm... Interesting..." Relisha was already planning something. I could

practically see her drawing up intense calculations in her mind. She was an elf,

so she had a long life ahead of her. That meant it'd be easy for her to make a

slow, crawling plan to get the Reverse World to adopt the guild structure.

I was fine with that, personally. After all, I was an adventurer.

Small villages didn't have the luxury of buying efficient Gollem security or

even any at all. So it'd be good to make that world a bit safer.

Even the villages that did have guard Gollems weren't guaranteed to be safe.

It wasn't like one or two Gollems could fight back against an entire horde of

goblins or anything.

In terms of fighting power, the regular world had the edge over the Reverse

World. The people over there relied on technology and Gollems to do the

fighting for them, so there weren't as many people with individual or special

talent.

"Hm... I'd like a chance to go to this other world. Is that possible?"

"I mean, you could... But it'd be dangerous. You wouldn't be protected by

your reputation, as you wouldn't be considered a king over there."

"...Come on now, lad. You can handle most threats no problem, right?"

"...I guess." The Beastking grinned widely in my direction. He was counting on

me a little too much. To be fair if I cast a [Prison] around us, we'd be safe from

just about anything except the wicked god. But I would need to take care to

avoid poisons or natural hazards.

I decided to ask Triharan or Primula to act as hosts for the royals at some

point. Having them all go at once would be bad, but I could definitely take them

in groups of three or four. Though once you factored in their escorts, the party

would be pretty big...

After the meeting, we all moved to the game room, and the various world

leaders unwound together. Now and then we'd get small disputes between

countries that I'd merrily mediate in person, as well.

I sincerely hoped that I'd be able to deal with issues like that in the Reverse

World in a similar way.

At this point in time, I only had connections with Primula and Triharan...

Although there was also that guy from Panaches, too... He was the weirdo

prince who had the blue crown... Frankly, he was too freaky for me to handle.

But still, he'd be able to introduce me to his parents.

Please, please let his parents be normal people... Please...

◇ ◇ ◇

The day of the meeting between the Gardio emperor and the remnants of

Lowe had come.

The air in the room was tense from the start.

We were in the Gardio empire's imperial palace. The room we'd chosen had

been secured by my [Silence] spell, so nobody outside could hear what was

going on.

I sat on a little chair in the corner of the room with Yumina and Leen. Paula

was also nearby.

There were two sofas in the middle of the room, each facing the other. On

one was Colonel, First Lieutenant, and Sergeant. They were here representing

Lowe. On the other couch was the emperor, Falchion Lig Gardio, and his wife

Asteria. To their left sat the prime minister of Gardio, Lancelo Olcott.

Lancelo was actually the man who originally found Prince Lufredin and

reported it to the emperor way back.

It'd be wrong to say that things would've gone better had the little prince

died, but it was also true that the small action made by that man on that day

spiraled outward into the future and created this messy situation.

"...To think I'd meet with that knight again after all this time. Tell me, that eye

wound..."

"It was war. I have no grudge surrounding my lost eye. I'm alive, so that's all I

care about." I couldn't imagine what Colonel and the Emperor must have been

feeling, meeting with an old foe like this after so long. I was, however, pleased

to see they were being cordial.

"Goodness... Even so, I must extend my apology to you... For so much more

than your injury." The emperor lowered his head to the trio, expressing his

profound apologies. His wife followed suit.

"I beg your forgiveness. For the loss of your homeland, for my weakness in

stopping my father... For the fact that I took the child, you'd been so faithfully

searching for... This was all brought about by my own weakness..."

"You dare ask us forgiveness?!" First Lieutenant glared at the bowing couple

before standing up. Her body was tense.

"How could we forgive you?! You took our home! You killed the people we

love! You took away our honor, our happiness, and then took away our very

hope! How could we think to forgive you?!"

"...I know you can't just forgive us as if nothing happened. But I still wish to

say I'm sorry. Even if you don't forgive me, I am sorry. I wish I had the courage

to stand up to my father... If I'd done things differently this wouldn't have come

to pass."

His fervent apology fell on deaf ears. No matter how he phrased it, the truth

was still that the three had lost their home for petty reasons. I could

understand their feelings.

Prime Minister Lancelo suddenly opened his mouth.

"The Empire intends to liberate all former Lowe territories and grant it

independence."

"What?"

"Ex...cuse me?" Sergeant and Lieutenant stared in disbelief, while Colonel's

eyebrow raised slightly.

Huh... Independence? It'd kinda be like Brunhild, then? A small country with

start-up backing from a larger one? Colonel glanced toward Lancelo and spoke

up.

"Would everyone in Gardio's government really be fine with that decision?

That place is fulla riches, you know."

"Ever since the previous emperor died, Lowe's former territory has been

placed under direct imperial authority. The resources and revenue taken from

that area has only ever been used for the betterment of that area. Therefore I

have no reason to believe anyone would oppose the decision, as it wouldn't

affect the rest of the empire. However... Isengard still owns the territory around

the Azure Ruin, and we would be unable to return that plot of land." Isengard

had taken control of all territory around the Azure Ruin, but that land barely

made up twenty percent of Lowe's total territory. I'd also heard that many of

the people living there had fled to Gardio after being unable to handle the

Magitechnocracy's oppressive practices.

"Then... Lowe can come back?" First Lieutenant muttered quietly to herself,

but Colonel ignored it and spoke directly to the emperor.

"We appreciate your offer. Reviving Lowe is a generous act. But we serve our

kingdom, we are not fit to stand at the top. We recognize only one ruler. Prince

Lufredin."

"But..." The empress started to speak, but quickly stopped herself. Colonel

was effectively asking them to return the prince to them... But I didn't think

that was something the empire would easily agree to. I decided to interject.

"...Is it fine to talk like this without him being here? I feel like since this

concerns him, he has a right to be involved in the decision."

"How is this even a decision? Why would he refuse to rebuild his homeland?

The only one fit to be King of Lowe is Prince Lufredin. Hell, why would a prince

without imperial blood inherit the empire anyway? That's ridiculous!" First

Lieutenant suddenly butted in, complaining about my request, but the emperor

simply turned to Prime Minister Lancelo.

"...Bring the boy here. We shall hear what he decides."

"Your Highness?"

"It's okay, Lancelo. It's his life, in the end. My sin was interfering in his destiny

to begin with." The prime minister seemed like he wanted to argue against that,

but he simply sighed and got up.

After a short while, the prime minister returned with the young prince. He

seemed a little confused to see outsiders, but walked over regardless.

I could sense the emotion welling up from Colonel and his friends. They were

probably remembering their old king as they saw his son in the flesh.

"Father, mother? Did you need something?"

"...Aye. We have something important to discuss." The emperor walked

toward the prince and knelt down so the two were at eye level. He then

reached out and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"What I'm about to tell you is entirely truthful, okay? It will affect the rest of

your life, so please understand..."

"...Okay." The emperor began telling the entire story. He spoke of what

happened ten years ago, of Lowe, of Isengard, and of the former emperor...

The young boy continued to calmly listen throughout. I was honestly a bit

surprised at how well he was taking it.

This kind of thing would shock me to the core if I were him, but he seemed

amazingly understanding. Even hearing that he wasn't the biological son of his

parents didn't faze him, which made me wonder...

After the emperor finished speaking, the prince looked back at him and spoke

up.

"...I already knew. I knew that I wasn't your son. But I knew you still thought

of me as one and loved me all the same."

"You... Knew?"

"Eh? Lucrecion...? How?" The emperor and his wife went pale in the face.

Even the prime minister and Colonel's group seemed shocked into confusion.

I had a feeling... That explained his calm demeanor, at least. He already knew

the story, so it was no surprise. But I wondered how he'd learned. "Father...

Please look here." The prince raised his arm, flashing the golden bracer he

wore. It was the suppressing bracer, the one that prevented his Mystic Eyes

from manifesting.

I looked closely and noticed it had a crack running through it. It was broken.

"Oh..."

"I was training about a year ago and received a blow to my wrist. That's when

it broke. I was told to treasure it, so I didn't want to upset anyone by

mentioning it... And then I started seeing strange things." Prince Lucrecion went

on to say that ever since his bracer broke, he'd see visions of the past when he

touched objects. Apparently it was unstable and random. Not every object

granted him visions, and sometimes it wouldn't trigger more than once on the

same object.

He gradually came to realize that the source of his visions were his Mystic

Eyes. His eye could see into the past. He couldn't control the power, but it was a

real power nonetheless. His eye wasn't extremely strong or anything, but it

allowed him to see things even dating back ten years.

"Psychometry... He has Mystic Eyes that allows him to sense lingering

memories associated with objects." Leen commented casually. It'd probably be

called the Mystic Eyes of Memory Perception. Even though it was a power that

triggered randomly, it allowed the prince to learn the truth of his situation

through sheer chance. He'd always admired his father's sword from a young

age, and he'd been given a vision of what happened in Lowe after picking it up

without his father's knowledge.

"...When I learned I wasn't your birth son, I was incredibly sad. I didn't want

to see it as true. But I also knew that you loved me. The love I felt from you was

real, and I know I love you too. I may not be your biological son, but you are still

my parents."

"L-Lucrecion..." Tears welled up in the emperor's eyes as he embraced the

child in front of him. The empress started to loudly weep as she walked over to

hold her son.

"Father. I do not have the blood of Gardio's imperial family. If I ascend to the

imperial throne, it would be a betrayal of our people. I know it's hard, but you

must find a more appropriate successor."

"...If you wish it..." The emperor, still teary-eyed, nodded. The emperor did

have several sisters, so there were still candidates to succeed the throne. But I

wondered what that meant for Lucrecion...

"Then... Does that mean you'll become the new king of Lowe once it's

rebuilt?" Yumina posed the boy a question, and he shook his head.

Oh?

His non-verbal response triggered visible frustration on the Lowe trio's faces.

"...I don't have memories of them, but I am thankful to my birth parents for

letting me come into this world. I feel sorry for your plight, but I am a boy who

grew up within the Gardio empire. I want to continue living as Lucrecion, and

become a man who lives within this empire. My parents are these two people,

right here. I don't expect my feelings to change, I'm sorry."

"But... What about the people of Lowe?! We've all been waiting for our

prince!"

"I can't live up to those expectations, I'm sorry. Please try to find a way to

elect a new leader, one that can lead a new Lowe."

Pity flashed in Lucrecion's eyes as he answered First Lieutenant. For a tenyear-old, he was incredibly well-spoken and emotionally mature. What the hell

were they feeding him?

The boy had chosen his path in life, and I didn't think anyone could put a stop

to that.

"Lucrecion... Are you really fine with this?"

"I am. There are ways I can help make the empire great, even without ruling

it. I wouldn't want to disgrace our family, after all. I am your son."

"You're... Ridiculous, you know that?" The emperor seemed like he couldn't

decide whether to laugh or cry. In response, the young prince smiled widely and

embraced the older man.

Colonel slowly walked over toward them and knelt down in front of the

prince. His expression formed a soft-looking smile, unbecoming of a man as

scary-looking as him.

"...Stubborn as a mule. Headstrong, and unwavering... You're exactly like your

birth father... He'd be proud to know his blood flows through you."

"...Were my parents from Lowe... Were they good people?"

"Yes. The best. They were warm, trusting people. They treated others so very

kindly. That's why... I'd like you to keep their ideals in your heart as you forge

your own path, too."

"I... Of course... I'm sorry..." The prince looked down at the floor in response

to Colonel's words. Even if he didn't remember them, they'd still loved him

when they were alive. It would be sad if he didn't carry any of that in his own

heart.

Alright, now we just need to see what's gonna happen with Lowe...

As I mused to myself, the nearby windows shattered. Several metallic-looking

feathers had shot through the glass panes and embedded in the ground near

the emperor, the prince, and Colonel.

I stared at the metallic-looking things in confusion, but Colonel seemed to

recognize them. A horrified expression dawned on his face as he tackled the

young prince and pushed him away from them.

"Get down!" The feathery things suddenly expanded and burst. The room,

enchanted with [Silence] broke out into a series of deafening explosions.

Nobody outside heard a thing.

The sudden attack took me by surprise, so I barely managed to react in time.

The best move would have been to activate a [Prison] around each individual

explosive, but in the end, I created a [Prison] that contained me and the others.

Or more specifically, I created a [Prison] that centered around me and

expanded until every other living person in the room was caught inside.

Nobody was harmed by the feather-bombs, but they ended up taking out an

entire wall. It gave us a good look at the courtyard below.

"Ghh... That was close."

"That it was..."

"Good save, darling... We could've died."

Leen wasn't kidding. If I'd screwed up there, we definitely would've lost

somebody. I was just glad we were all safe.

"Oh my, oh me... Nobody dieeed? I faiiiled? No waaay! That's super duper

sucky... Geez."

A weirdly inappropriate high-pitched voice came from above. I looked up and

saw a man floating above the courtyard. He was in his late thirties and wore

some basic armor beneath a gray cape. There was a rapier hanging about his

waist. Given his blonde hair and round glasses, I'd have assumed him to be a

bookworm if I'd seen him under any other circumstances.

He was floating in midair atop a flying disc, which I assumed to be some kind

of artifact. Either way, that was what was keeping the skinny guy airborne.

However, what caught my eye was the Gollem by his side. It was about one and

a half meters tall. It had wings on its side instead of arms, and sharp talons at

the ends of its feet. And its face was that of an owl's...

It was some kind of strange human-owl hybrid Gollem. It was dark gray, much

like its master's cape, and stood stationary in the air. It was afloat despite the

fact that its wings weren't moving.

Wait... a Gollem with an animal head? Does that mean...?

"You dare show your face here, traitor?! I'd recognize you anywhere, Gien

Greed!" Colonel, who had stumbled to his feet, glared up at the man.

"Hooh? Oh my, oh me... Landinner, is that you?! Dorf Landinner! Ahaha!

You've been alive all this time? Goodness, what a touching reuniooon! Who'd

have thought I'd meet one of my old companions here! Ehe!"

"Don't you dare call me your companion, bastard!"

"Heeeh? You're still flustered about thaaat? It's been ten years, you big silly.

Water under the bridge!"

"How dare you say that, you worm! You're the reason we lost our home to

begin with! If you hadn't sold us out to Isengard, then..." Colonel gnashed his

teeth. He was seething. That meant this guy was the traitor who turned his back

on Lowe and gave the secrets of the beast emperor Gollems to Isengard.

"It was naive to think that the beast emperors would be your guaranteed

ticket to safety, you big silly! Our king was toootally too old-school. He wasn't

thinking of expanding our territory, so things were oh-so-boring over there!

Why would I wanna continue serving a tiny little country? Hm? How selfish of

you, not to think of me and my prospects!"

"You turned on us for a petty reason like that?!"

"I just threw the baby out with the bathwater, silly! I'd considered killing the

king myself and taking over, but I didn't think I'd be able to hold my own against

the other beast emperors, you knooow? But oh my, oh me... I can't believe

there was a survivor!" Gien grinned widely, prompting all three of the Lowe

survivors in the area to stare the man down.

Colonel took out his storage card and summoned his Gollem, Leopard, to his

side.

"...Meeting you here is no coincidence, you scumbag! It must be divine

intervention or a message from the fallen... I'll avenge them, here and now, by

sending you to the grave!"

"Hmm? The last of the beast generals wishes to face meee? I appreciate the

invite, but I have something else to do right now! The witch-king has ordered

me to kill Gardio's emperor, okaaay? I gotta finish that first!"

Several feather-shaped projectiles were launched by the Gollem at the man's

side. They were all launched in the direction of the Gardio emperor. The

metallic feathers expanded and detonated, but my [Prison] prevented any of

the damage from reaching its target.

"Hmhm...? How weiiird, I don't remember Leopard having any Gollem skills

like that..."

I used [Teleport] to warp behind Gien and rested my hand on his shoulders as

I floated in mid-air.

"Let's ground this talk, okay? [Slip]."

"G-Gyaaah!"

I cast my spell on the floating disc's surface, causing the man to stumble off it.

He plummeted toward the courtyard. The owl Gollem quickly swooped down

toward its master.

"Eek!"

At the last possible second before impact, Gien was caught by his Gollem and

dropped gently to the paved ground.

My attention turned from Gien to his flying disc. I stepped onto it and found

myself pleasantly surprised. It felt pretty stable as far as surfaces went.

"H-Hey, you meanie! That's not yours!" Gien was yelling at me from below,

but I didn't care all that much. I just knew it'd be bad if he got access to the disc

again.

I shoved it into [Storage]. I had a feeling Doctor Babylon would appreciate it.

"What?! Glaux, knock him down from up there!"

The owl Gollem's wings let loose barrage after barrage of feathery projectiles.

I wondered if all of them were set to detonate once they hit me...

"Come forth, Fire! Crimson Duet: [Fire Arrow]!" I used magic to call forth a

surge of flames and burned all the feathers out of the air before they could

detonate. All the feathers ended up blowing up before they could even get

halfway to reaching me.

"How did you do that...?!"

"...Sure you're fine paying attention to me? I'm not your foe here, buddy."

"Huh?!"

The other beast emperor, Leopard, suddenly charged forward from the hole

in the wall and moved to strike Gien. It had several long claws extended from its

front paws.

"Guh...! Glaux!"

"Caw!" The owl Gollem morphed its wings into blades and leaped in front of

its master, parrying Leopard's strikes.

In the west, owls were often seen as a symbol of wisdom, but in Japan and

China, they were considered wicked animals that would consume their own

family or masters to grow stronger.

It was such an ingrained idea that the owl could also be found

in menacing compound kanji words. For example, the word for a person who

rose to power through bloodshed was created by taking the word for "hero"

r that was what my

grandpa told me, at least.

As I watched the clash between the two Gollems, I was strongly reminded of

that little fact. Gien had betrayed his own homeland in his thirst for power,

much like the owls of my homeland's legend.

Apparently, the compound kanji for a decapitated criminal's head on display

was made by adding the "owl" It was based on the idea of nailing the bird's corpse

to a tree, so all could see its crimes.

"Gieeen!"

"Wuh?!"

Colonel, who had made it down to the courtyard, slashed at Gien with his

saber. Gien dodged it just barely and drew his rapier. He then lunged towards

Colonel.

Gien's movements were startlingly deft. He managed to graze Colonel's face

in no time at all. A small stream of blood ran down the man's face. Despite his

strange looks, he was clearly a talented swordsman.

I was about to support Colonel by casting a spell, but he turned my way and

narrowed his eyes.

"Don't! He's mine!"

Damn... Now I can't exactly do anything...

Seemed like things were personal here, so there'd be no point in me

assisting... Even Yumina and Leen weren't doing a thing.

I looked back and found First Lieutenant and Sergeant watching Colonel

without moving themselves. Seemed like there was really nothing for me to do.

The room we'd been in had been enchanted with [Silence], but the courtyard

wasn't. The knights around the palace would surely be converging on us soon.

So long as we took out the owl Gollem, Gien would have no means of escape.

"Bwahahaaaaaah! Sure brings back memories, huh?! Remember how I'd train

you in combat back in Lowe?! Ahahaaah! I don't seem to remember you ever

managing to beat me, come to think of iiit!"

"Ghh!"

Strike after strike bore down on Colonel, and wound after wound was carved

into his body. Colonel had been forced into a defensive battle. He could barely

get a single counter in.

In a similar way, Glaux was running circles around Leopard as well. Glaux

seemed to have lost its ability to fly once it morphed its wings, but it was still

extremely mobile on the ground.

Leopard was hardly a slow Gollem, but he was still just outmatched enough to

be losing the exchange badly.

Gollems and their masters tended to exhibit their best abilities when they

were together... so maybe things would've been different if Colonel and

Leopard were fighting alongside each other. Then again, if Glaux and Gien were

fighting alongside each other, they'd probably be fiercer.

"Take this, and this, and this! And thiiis! Is this really all you've grown in ten

years?! You're slow! You're pathetic! I can read all your motions, brat!"

"Gah...!"

Gien sped up his strikes, causing Colonel to lose sight of the attacks entirely.

New cuts were being opened all over his body. He'd been brutalized to the

point where I was honestly shocked he was still standing.

"Now then... I think I've played around enough, right? Time to put an eeend

to you, boy! Why don't you go say hi to the king of Lowe for me?!"

Gien's rapier slid along Colonel's saber, and then flicked upward until the

man's weapon was thrown from his hands. It flew into the distance, spiraled

into the air, and then landed blade-side-down in the dirt.

"Thanks for the dance, kiddo. Goodbye."

Gien grinned broadly, stepped forward, and thrust his rapier straight through

Colonel's belly.

"Hngh...!"

"No!"

"Colonel!"

First Lieutenant and Sergeant called out in sheer horror as blood dribbled

from Colonel's mouth. Gien looked at him with a smug look on his face, but

then one of Colonel's burly arms grabbed onto Gien's hand.

Even though the rapier had been thrust into Colonel so deeply that it came

out the other side, the wounded man had still found the strength to disable the

hand Gien used to wield it.

"Got you, fucker." Colonel's bloodied, beaten face curled into a triumphant

grin. His free hand curled into a fist. It trembled, but stayed firm.

"...I want you to savor this... I want you to feel Lowe's pain, you piece of

shit!!"

"E-Eek?!"

Colonel mustered all the remaining strength in his body and focused it on his

fist. He then smashed the blunt force of his knuckles into Gien's jaw.

"Bwaugh!"

Gien was hit so hard that it looked like his head was about to spin around

backward. He slumped to the ground, unconscious and oozing blood from most

of the orifices on his face.

The rapier was still embedded in Colonel's stomach, but he happily looked

down at his fallen foe. Then, his duty done, he fell to the ground himself.