"Wh-What the hell?"
"It's huge... I-Is that the giant warrior of Brunhild I'd heard so much about?!"
Ganossa, along with Prime Minister Schwein, the two marquis, and all the
Horn soldiers all looked up in stiffened shock. It was their first time seeing a
Frame Gear, after all.
They probably imagined something similar in size to the Steel Soldiers. Given
their isolation, it made sense they wouldn't know too much about Brunhild's
capabilities. Hell, it was only because of their isolation that Qulau managed to
get this plan rolling to begin with.
If they had heard of the incident with Gordian, then they definitely wouldn't
have considered buying any Steel Battalions at all. It was possible they could've
heard about it from Felsen, but given that the matter involved the death of
their former king, it was probably a sensitive subject they didn't feel the need to
raise.
Yae hopped into the open cockpit, using various footholds to scale her way up
there. She didn't even bother waiting for the wire to climb. Yae was a nimble
sort, so I wasn't worried about it. It was probably faster.
The cockpit hatch closed with a hissing sound, and a low hum started ringing
out as the engine fired up. Various crystal segments on the Frame Gear started
to light up.
"I'll go after her. Sakura, I doubt there'll be any direct attacks on the castle...
But just in case, use Rossweisse to defend the people here."
"Got it..."
Sakura nodded. She had her own unique form of magic with her songs, as well
as her own Frame Gear inside her engagement ring. I wasn't worried at all.
I used [Fly] to soar into the air, but Prime Minister Schwein called out after
me.
"G-Grand Duke, the capital!"
"It's okay. I'll have them out of the capital in a moment. You guys focus on
getting the citizens to safety."
I nodded to Prime Minister Schwein before blasting off high into the sky.
"Target lock. All Steel Soldiers within the capital city. Activate [Gate]."
"Understood. Activating [Gate]."
The capital lit up in various places as several portals opened up. I then used
my magic to link those portals to a barren field some distance away from the
city.
"Yae, it's time."
"Okey dokey."
Yae's Schwertleite leaped into a portal I summoned, and I immediately used
[Teleport] to warp myself to the same destination.
[Teleport] was my spell of choice for short-distance personal travel. [Gate]
was the best when I needed to move lots of things quickly, though.
The Steel Soldiers were getting their bearings when I arrived on the field.
We'd be able to fight without holding back in this area. ...Wait. I'm an idiot. I
could've just used Reginleif to fight here and not worry about collateral at all. Ah
well, Yae seems excited, and if I went too hard with Reginleif I'd probably end up
creating craters or mountains.
I landed on Schwertleite's shoulder and watched our enemies. They were a
bit larger than the old Steel Soldiers. Roughly seven meters tall, I'd have
wagered. They also had slightly bulkier armor. They were similar to the old
models in design, except there were a few minor differences. The cockpit hatch
on the back, for example, was now completely missing.
These were completely unmanned drones. It made sense, since they'd clearly
been modified with Gollem characteristics based on the Soldats. There were
probably a few manned commanders in amongst them, giving out orders... Or
so I'd thought.
I didn't know for sure, but it was possible that they'd transplanted the GCubes and Q-Crystals from the Soldats into these larger shells. While I had
initially thought some of them were manned, it didn't look like any of them
actually were. Still, that meant they'd all be easy to deal with. Simple machines
with simple reactions.
We had carefully attempted to fuse Frame Gear and Gollem technology to
create the Over Gear, but it felt like these guys just mashed the two concepts
together a lot more sloppily.
Still, some things were bugging me about the whole situation. Even if the
Steel Battalion was made up of Frame Gear knockoffs, how did they manage to
reconstruct them?
The man who was originally responsible for them, Bowman, was executed in
Roadmare forever ago. Everyone else involved in the Steel Battalion creation
was arrested, too. I was also certain we'd taken out all the facilities producing
them, so something didn't feel right.
I also didn't think people in this world would be able to handle Gollem
technology as adeptly as those in the Reverse World. It was possible that other
Gollem technicians had come with the guy who'd left the storage card behind,
but there was nothing suggesting that in the spy's memories. Still, if the man
had been on a delivery trip for those Soldats, it wouldn't have been strange for
him to be with an entourage of capable Gollem technicians.
I decided to focus on taking out the army in front of me before worrying
about that kind of stuff. I also had the army in the north to face off against
afterward.
"Try to immobilize them by taking out the limbs. I think Doctor Babylon and
Elluka would appreciate checking these things out."
"That is understood, it is."
I leaped from Schwertleite's shoulder as the Steel Soldiers finally started
charging toward us, lances in hand.
They moved in coordinated motions, five machines charging forward in a Vshaped formation. They were definitely using Soldat Gollem technology.
Soldats typically performed poorly compared to other Gollems, but they
made up for that in sheer numbers. Because of that, their ability to fight in a
coordinated group was vital, and they definitely had higher-than-average
maneuverability in formations. However...
"Kokonoe Secret Style: Flying Swallow Rend!"
Schwertleite's boosters kicked in, increasing the speed of the machine as it
charged head-on into the V formation.
The result was almost instant, with four of the machines blasting off
backward.
The fifth, the leading unit in the charge, was skewered through by
Schwertleite's massive katana. Just as I'd suspected, they were unmanned. They
were definitely working through something similar to my [Program] spell. Their
orders were probably to destroy Horn's capital and try to kill anything that
resisted. The one Yae pierced was probably that sub-unit's commander because
the other four immediately fell into disarray and started swinging their weapons
at random. Each was skillfully taken down by Schwertleite's blade.
They were nothing when compared to the power of a Frame Gear, after all.
The other Steel Soldiers grouped up and began charging Schwertleite, but each
group fell, one after another.
"They're definitely stronger than the older models. Their sturdiness is higher,
too... I remember the older models lost parts if you'd rattle them a bit."
Maybe I should call them the Steel Battalion Mk. II... No real point, though.
They're still just Frame Gear knockoffs.
After a few minutes, they were all reduced to scrap. Their remains lay strewn
around the field. All of them were unmanned, in the end. I noticed a G-Cube
visible in the cracked remains of one of them, the final confirmation I needed
that they'd been created with modified Gollem tech.
There was also a similar substance to Ether Liquid leaking out of them. It
barely transmitted any magic at all, though... And it was a dirty brown. If Ether
Liquid was carbonated water, then this was carbonated water that had been
left out until it had virtually no carbonation left. It was honestly so inferior that I
could hardly call it a copy of Ether Liquid, it was so much worse that it was its
own original thing. They were probably using them to channel the magical
pulses from the G-Cubes to the rest of the machine, but it was so diluted it
barely functioned.
I put a few of the busted Steel Soldiers into [Storage], and opened up a map
of the capital.
"What is it you are looking for, what is it?"
Yae had returned her Frame Gear to her ring and now looked up at the map
with curious eyes.
"They're using Gollem tech in these machines, so they have to have a master
controller nearby. Given how many there were, there were probably six or
seven of them. And if they're members of Qulau, they'll be easy to recognize,
so... Got it."
Since they had to remotely channel orders to the machines, I doubted they'd
be holding anti-magic talismans. I also had a feeling they'd all have those
stupid-looking masks. In the end, they brought their own trouble on top of
them.
Looks like they're riding a carriage out of the capital's north gate... Trying to
make a break for it. Like I'm gonna let that happen.
"Let's roll, Yae."
"Understood."
I took Yae by the hand, and used [Teleport]. It was time to catch those
bastards in the act.
◇ ◇ ◇
The tarp-covered wagon sped away from the capital as the early morning sun
rose above. Everyone within was confused as to how things could have gone so
wrong. Their plan was perfect. All they had to do was gradually guide Horn into
all-out civil war... But suddenly they were forced to make an attack, and their
amazing machines ended up vanishing out of nowhere.
It was all that man's fault. That cursed man... That damnable grand duke from
Brunhild. Why did he have to appear and ruin everything?
"I told you guys, didn't I?! I said we needed to kill that guy before we even
began the Horn plan, but nooo! Nobody ever listens!"
"That's enough, man! You know we tried! Think about how many assassins we
sent out there! Think about how many came back! Zero! None of them! That
guy's a beast!"
Every time they sent an assassin to Brunhild, they vanished before even
making it there. It was so scary, that rumors of Brunhild having an elite
intelligence unit spread quickly amongst the members of Qulau. The stories
went that a team of shinobi from Eashen were allied with the Brunhild knight
order.
Brunhild was an enemy that they could never allow to survive... But it was
also the enemy that they could never truly oppose.
Their plan was simple at first. Slowly infiltrate Horn. Replace people, some
important, some less so... Gradual control of the population. A slow invasion.
That way they'd allow a New Yulong Dynasty to rise. After all, there were many
loyalists to Yulong in the world. All they needed to do was secure the territory,
and then the people would come.
But then came the day that Qulau acquired the Gollems.
They were strange machines that appeared quite by chance, almost as if the
divine had left them to restore Yulong's glory.
The members of Qulau thought that, perhaps with the power of Gollems, they
might finally stop fearing Brunhild's wrath. In retrospect, the members of Qulau
would realize they were led too far astray by the remnants of Gordian.
They had joined with Qulau, but their focus was on improving the machines.
Going along with them was the wrong decision. They should have stuck to the
plan, create a glorious new empire of heaven from the ashes of Horn. They did
not need to fight Brunhild yet. It was too soon.
"We should never have dabbled with those machines! They're what brought
the devil duke to us!"
"There's no point crying about it now. It's happened! All we need to do is
regroup, and..."
"Gwuh?!"
Ahead of the wagon stood a lone girl in the middle of the road. Upon seeing
the girl, the driver did not stop. He whipped his horses and picked up the speed.
I know her... The samurai from the east... The devil duke's family. I mustn't run
away. I must kill her here and now. Any true son of Yulong would feel the same!
The four horses neighed loudly as they charged toward the girl.
She vanished into thin air, promptly reappearing behind the wagon with her
sword drawn. The horse reins were cut. The wagon fell on its side.
◇ ◇ ◇
Yae jumped through the air and cut the reins on the horses, freeing them. The
horses were innocent in this, after all.
I fired a bullet from Brunhild into one of the covered wagon's front wheels.
This caused the wagon to lose control and slam into the ground on its side.
Thanks to my magic, I'd already confirmed that everyone aboard was a member
of Qulau. Didn't want to hurt any innocents, after all.
A group of men wearing those goofy-ass black masks emerged from the fallen
wagon.
"Do you guys really think there's any getting out of this?"
"I-It's him!"
One of the men suddenly launched a dart my way. At first I thought it was a
kunai, like the kind Tsubaki used, but it was much simpler.
"[Shield]."
The projectile was instantly deflected. As it fell to the ground, I noticed it was
tipped with poison.
"SHYAAAAAAH! Taste the wrath of Yulong, you miserable little wooorm!"
"How. Many. Times. Do. I. Have. To. Say. It? I did not have anything to do with
Yulong getting wrecked. Are you guys idiots? You know what, don't even
answer that. I know you are."
These assholes clearly have selective hearing. All they do is spread fake
propaganda, twist the truth until it fits their narrative, and use it to justify
whatever the hell they want. Even more disgustingly, they call it patriotism. It
isn't. It's self-serving arrogance designed as a moral justification for bigotry.
I fired a few paralyzing rounds at a couple of the men. Yae handled the rest of
them, knocking them unconscious with the blunt side of her blade.
I took all the masks away from the men and used magic to dispose of them. I
was not in the mood for any more suicide bombing crap, they'd be taken back
to Horn and judged for their crimes.
"You guys'll never forgive me, huh? Well, Horn's never gonna forgive you for
this. Good job slandering the name of the precious Yulong you love so much,
idiot. Once news of your plan gets out, I wouldn't be surprised if even your
fellow Yulongese countrymen denounce you."
"Gruh..."
I grabbed one of the paralyzed men by the head, and used a combination of
[Hypnosis] and [Recall] to forcibly extract memories containing the information
I needed. Obviously I didn't give a damn about his personal memories, but he
was a valuable information source.
Goddamnit. So Gordian's leader left behind one final production facility,
huh...? I guess it was hasty of me to torture him to the point of insanity with
that foul-smelling box... Ah well, he's dead now anyway. But still, the rest of the
information is worrying too...
"Did you learn something bad, did you?"
"Yeah. There was a Gollem technician from the Reverse World, Qulau has him
set up with a submission collar. The poor bastard's been put to work this whole
time."
I quickly explained to Yae about what I'd seen in the memories. He was
probably quite the skilled technician, especially if he was the one who managed
to fuse Gollem tech with the Steel Soldiers.
Apparently he could roughly communicate with his captors, even though he
didn't really have a grasp on the language spoken in this world.
"That is terrible, it is... If he had not landed in Yulong, then he would have
been taken home, he would." It would've been bad if he landed in Sandora,
too... I heard that place had basically turned into a free-for-all area.
Still, it was largely populated by liberated slaves, so at least there wasn't a lot
of oppression going on.
I'd already asked the world leaders in contact with me to report in if they
found any people who'd drifted in... But they didn't emit wavelengths like the
Phrase, so it was hard to pick up on them as soon as they appeared. When the
two worlds merged together, it'd stop happening... But it remained to be seen
whether or not the long-lasting repercussions of the union would be worse or
better than the current situation.
I tied up the Qulau perpetrators, and used [Gate] to return us all to the castle
courtyard.
"Oh, Grand Duke!"
"Ah, hey. These guys were controlling the attack on the capital. They're
Yulongese, and members of Qulau."
Prime minister Schwein glared down furiously at the bound men. The soldiers
by his side looked equally as angry.
"To the dungeons with them! Be sure they have healers on standby. We
won't let them kill themselves before their executions."
The Horn guardsmen dragged away the unconscious and paralyzed men. Now
all I had to do was take care of the invaders from the north.
I wondered how well they'd be moving together if they didn't have
smartphones to communicate amongst themselves, but when I thought about it
more, I realized that they'd definitely have wireless communicators thanks to
the Reverse World tech. Even Nia and the other members of the Red Cats had
those. I'd know how organized they were if I used a search spell.
"Run search. How many Steel Soldiers and Wood Golems toward the northern
region of Yulong."
"Search complete. Displaying results."
Red pins started falling down on the map here and there. They'd clearly
begun their move.
It was hard to tell the Wood Golems from the rest, since all the markers were
red.
"Change the Wood Golems' pins to yellow."
"Acknowledged. Performing change."
...That didn't really help at all. Now the screen's just red and yellow mushed
together... Kinda hurts my eyes, yeesh.
"How many in total?"
"Three-thousand-and-twenty-one Steel Soldiers, three-thousand-onehundred-and-twenty-two Wood Golems. Six-thousand-one-hundred-and-fortythree in total."
That was around what I expected. Seems like there's no Qulau members mixed
in there, though.
"My turn now...?"
Sakura looked up at the map and asked if she could fight. She'd once nearly
died at the hands of Qulau assassins, which took her a while to recover from.
That was also how I came to meet her, come to think of it.
Sakura was strong enough at this point to kill a whole group of assassins, even
if they all attacked her at once. But still, it was impossible for her Rossweisse to
kill six-thousand enemies by itself. Even if we factored in Yae's Schwertleite,
that'd be three-thousand each. If we factored in my Reginleif that'd be twothousand each, too... I doubted we'd be able to take care of all of them with
enough time to spare.
Guess there's one thing for it, I'll call in the knight order for this one. Since it's
up on the Yulong border, it shouldn't cause any real issues if we engage.
Oh, right... I took out my smartphone and started to make a call. Hopefully
the person on the other side would be awake. It was early, but she usually
stayed up pretty late anyway.
"Hewwo...?"
"Doc, you awake?"
"I'm schweepy... I just finished my project, so I was about to go nap..."
"Wait, you finished it? Sorry to bug you, but can we deploy it immediately?"
"Huh? Immediately? I mean, sure... but what's the situation?"
Doctor Babylon snapped out of her sleepy stupor, so I explained the situation
to her.
"Ohoho. That's quite the conspiracy, hm? They'll definitely make good
enemies for our test, you were right to call me. Plus, they're unmanned, so we
won't have to hold back. Roger that. I'll have both black and red units ready to
go in a flash. You get their pilots ready."
And that was that.
The two people I needed now were kind of cranky, though... I imagined they
hated being woken up early, and could possibly even ignore my call.
That was why I opted for another path. I simply called a reliable individual
with connections to both of them. After all, they were all staying in the same
inn.
I went down my contact list and dialed the number.
"Oh, hey, Est? Sorry to bother you at this time, but I need you to do
something for me. And, well..."
I was certain she'd be able to wake up both pilots without too much hassle.
She wasn't the second in command of the Red Cats for no reason.
Now all I had to handle was getting the knight order together. They were
probably already in the middle of their morning training.
I did feel a little bad about calling them out to clean up so early, so I made a
mental note to put a bonus in their pay packets.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Can't say I expected to ride this thing so early..."
A grumbling voice rang out from the enormous black lion that stood along the
Yulong border.
Leo Noir. It was a mechanical beast built from the same base as Frame Gears,
only it had Gollem technology at its core. We called those types of machines the
Over Gears.
Since this Over Gear was exclusive to the black crown, Noir, it was only
natural that its pilot would be that Gollem's master, Norn.
Though she didn't sound all that thrilled to be piloting it so early in the
morning.
"Really? But I'm totally ready for this!"
Opposite to the black lion came the voice of Nia, leader of the Red Cats and
master of Rouge, the red crown.
She was seated inside a massive, deep-red tiger. It was our newest Over Gear,
Tiger Rouge.
It was about the same size as Leo Noir. A few silver metal lines ran across its
body, reflecting the sun. Its phrasium parts also glimmered in a similar fashion.
"The problems from earlier were fixed, right?" Norn switched the broadcast
channel, allowing her voice to come out of the doctor's smartphone.
"Sure were. Shock absorption and general resistance is much higher. You can
also freely adjust the power controls from within. There should be a gear lever
on your right for that."
In our earlier test, the amount of power was so intense that she could barely
control it, and got really sick afterward. Thankfully, that had been fixed.
It was Nia's first time in an actual Over Gear, but she'd been training a ton in
simulations, so I had no doubts that she'd be okay. Well, so long as she didn't
get full of herself...
I opened up comms to speak with the Black Knight Frame Gear nearby.
"Est, be sure to keep an eye on Nia."
"Roger. If she doesn't behave, then I'll force her to wear half-dried underwear
for a week."
"Hey! Quit talking about me like that!"
Est spoke over the common channel, so Nia responded with some irritation.
Ten members of the Red Cats were also participating in this fight. They were
all using Chevaliers that had been painted a deep red, aside from Est who was
piloting a Knight Baron. Naturally, her Frame Gear was also red.
Hmm... I guess I can't really refer to it as a black knight if it's painted red...
Maybe Red Baron? Nah... I like Red Lynx. Sounds cooler.
Forty members of our knight order would also be joining the fray. The
commander and her second-in-commands were also participating, but we
didn't have many troops fighting this time. Counting Yumina and the others,
that brought us all up to about sixty combatants.
Given that the enemy was six-thousand strong, it would mean a hundred
enemies to a single unit. That was certainly doable.
"Sue, you focus on the Wood Golems."
"I gotcha! It'll be fun!"
Sue merrily spoke from her Ortlinde, which had already transformed into
Overlord form.
Wood Golems were much bigger than Frame Gears. If an average Frame Gear
was ten meters, then a Wood Golem would usually be fifteen or sixteen meters.
In some rare cases, they could even get as tall as twenty meters. But Sue's
Ortlinde was over twenty-five meters tall in Overlord mode.
It wasn't known as the gold giant for no reason. It was so big that friendly fire
was hard to avoid, so it had a special alert installed in the cockpit for when
friendly units were too close by. But this wasn't a protection mission like the
kind we might have during a Phrase attack. Instead, it was just a simple
extermination. I was sure she could freely go all-out.
"Touya. They're coming in hot."
Yumina spoke through comms from her silver Frame Gear, Brunnhilde. It was
perched on a nearby rocky outcrop. Given she was our sniper, Yumina's job was
to look at range for enemy sightings.
I used [Long Sense] and projected my vision northward. Yumina was right as
ever. A whole trash heap of shitty stuff was headed our way.
They shouldn't be able to see us yet.
"Wait, actually..."
I looked up at the massive golden giant standing next to me, and let out a
little sigh. There's no way they'd be able to miss a landmark like that.
That meant they were charging toward us with the intention of fighting. That
made things simpler.
"Grand Duke, what shall we do?"
Commander Lain spoke through the comms from her Shining Count. The
answer was obvious.
"It's time for combat, everyone. We'll have the two Over Gears lead the
charge. Knights, you pair with the Red Cats and take out the Steel Soldiers.
Yumina, Sakura, offer support to whoever needs it. Elze, Linze, Yae, Hilde, Lu,
Leen, Sue... focus on the Wood Golems."
Yumina and Sakura could fight at a distance, so they were better suited to
support roles. Leen's Grimgerde had plenty of distance attacks, too... But they
were area-of-effect, and would hit our targets if she went that route. It was
better for her to target the Wood Golems.
Rossweisse began broadcasting Sakura's singing voice across the battlefield...
I recognized the song immediately.
It was a song performed by a Jamaican singer, and a cover of it had been used
in a movie's end credits before. That movie was pretty funny. It was about a
panda who did kung fu.
The song was... sort of appropriate for a battle, I supposed.
"Alright Rouge, let's roll!"
"Understood."
"Shall we, Noir?"
"Confirmed. Booting."
The black beast and the red beast dashed forward at the same time. They
were fast. But the Red Cats charged after them, doing their best to keep up.
Leo Noir and Tiger Rouge sped up toward the enemies in a flash, taking out a
whole group of Steel Soldiers with a speedy charge.
"Wow... They went flying that easily?"
I was surveying the battlefield from a distance through my smartphone, and
found myself quite surprised at how easily the Steel Soldiers went down.
"Over Gears can project magical barriers around themselves while they're
running. They can also be used offensively to knock enemies away."
Elluka, Norn's older sister, quickly explained. Her hair was messy as ever, but
she also had big bags under her eyes. She clearly hadn't slept a wink last night.
But I could see a smile of satisfaction on her face as she watched the Over
Gears effortlessly pulverize their foes. Her Gollem, Fenrir, didn't quite seem so
enthused. He simply looked up at his master with an expression that seemed to
signify exasperation.
Magic barrier, huh...? Kind of like how I put a shield up around myself when I
go flying, I guess.
Tiger Rouge's fangs sank into a Steel Soldier, crushing it to bits. Meanwhile,
Leo Noir's claws tore a nearby Wood Golem to ribbons.
Neither the Wood Golems nor the Steel Soldiers could compete with the Over
Gears in terms of speed. It was clear as day just who was predator and who was
prey over there.
"They're real idiots. They're completely wasting the utility of soldat
technology. But what do you expect? They're all unmanned drones."
"Hm?"
I was curious about what Elluka meant, but doctor Babylon stepped in to
explain.
"There isn't a human commander out there with them, so they're a mob of
useless mooks. Soldats typically work in units of five. Those fives can then group
up with other fives for maximum results, but they can't do that here because
each one is unmanned. All they can do is listen to the commands they were
given, and not evolve beyond that. Soldats are supposed to be able to coordinate to gang up on their enemies in groups of up to a hundred, so this
seems like a needless waste to me."
If there were three human commanders called A, B, and C... Then the three
would control five soldats each, creating a unified team that could work well
together.
But in this case, A, B, and C just gave out a basic order to kill the enemy, and
then sat back and waited for things to happen. Without any active commands
on the fields, they couldn't efficiently co-ordinate at all.
"There's no way in hell victory would shine upon cowards and losers like
them."
The doctor grinned a bit before taking out a small cigarette. She puffed on it a
few times and continued watching the carnage. Aren't you a little girl? Is that
okay?
"Hm? What's with that face? Oh, this isn't tobacco. It's an Ether Cigarette, I
had Flora make it. It's nice, calming, and not really addictive. Wanna try?"
Even if there's no nicotine in that thing, I can't shake the feeling that there's
probably something equally as nefarious. I won't be puffing the devil's pipe
today, thank you very much.
"Oh, right... That person over there, cutting the Steel Soldiers one after the
other. Isn't that your sister?"
"What?!"
I looked at the little display that Doc Babylon pointed to... and saw Moroha
swinging a big crystal blade around. Karina was there too, swinging a crystal ax.
...Well, that cements it. Our win is a hundred percent guaranteed.
I was convinced we had no chance of losing now.
"Hm... I expected to see one more eager fighter out there, though."
"Right here!"
"What?!"
Uncle Takeru appeared behind me with a broad grin and folded arms.
Ack, that scared me! When'd you start appearing out of nowhere like Karen
does? His honed body, worn-out uniform, and red hairband stood tall. Thus, the
god of combat descended.
Karen wasn't here, and I had a feeling she was napping elsewhere. This battle
had nothing to do with romance, after all.
I wondered how Takeru found out about this, but I was even more concerned
about the dead-eyed guy standing next to him.
"What brings you here, Ende?"
"Don't bother asking, Touya... I'm not allowed to refuse..."
Ende stared at the ground with resignation in his eyes. The situation was
pretty clear. Takeru somehow found out about this and dragged the poor guy
over to fight.
"Well, what brings you guys here?"
"Hoho. Ain't it obvious? We don't need to fight these machines, we should
mete justice out to the ones who sent them. You were thinking of going, right?"
Uncle Takeru let out a big laugh. Ah, now I see.
He was right, I was planning to leave the Steel Soldiers and Wood Golems to
everyone else while I went to crush the guys behind Qulau on my own. I'd
already figured out their base thanks to the memories I'd stolen, and I also
sensed the presence of people watching the battle from afar. They were
probably extremely worried due to how hard their side was getting bodied,
though.
There weren't many, though... so it was obvious all of the Qulau members
weren't right there. It was likely that they were either back at their base, or out
on a separate mission.
Either way, they were done for.
"Don't kill them, alright?"
"Perish the thought, my boy! Today's lesson is all about non-lethal
takedowns! Ain't that right, Ende?"
"Wh-What?! Me?! What about you?!"
"I'll watch from afar, of course! And I'll decide on what to do with you next
based on how well you perform!"
Ende stared ahead. I looked into his soulless, hollow eyes. I turned to Takeru,
partly out of concern.
"If he fails, what'll you do?"
"Hm... Something basic, I guess? Oh, how about a one-hundred-and-sixty
hour running marathon?"
Ende started to shiver violently. What?! That's a full week! Ende can't run
non-stop for a week!
Ende seemed to be having a pretty bad time, so I threw out an olive branch to
the poor bastard.
"W-Well, how about giving him a rest day as a reward if he does well? All
fighters need their rest, don't you think?"
"Hmm... You raise a fair point there. Alright! That sounds good!"
Ende quietly walked over to me, tears streaming down his face as he pulled
me in for a hug. Hey, hey, knock it off... I don't like that kinda stuff.
Now all we had to do was take care of the enemy. I left Elluka, Fenrir, and Doc
Babylon behind as I headed out.
There was a group of roughly three-hundred hiding nearby. We'd deal with
them first. Uncle Takeru said to leave them all to Ende, and I said that seemed
fair enough. Anything that meant I had to deal with less crap was fine in my
book.
We all used [Teleport] to reach the area, surprising the horse-mounted
masked men.
"Wha... Who?! Bastards!"
"[Prison]."
I shrugged slightly and cast a barrier around us. Didn't want anyone getting
out, after all.
It was cast over a broad area so it was weaker than my usual ones, but it was
still about as dense as steel armor.
"Rest's up to you. Go get 'em, tiger."
"Tch... You can't even help a little bit?"
Ende grumbled a bit. Now, now... It's your training session, not mine.
"Three minutes, Ende. You have three minutes to take them all down. If you
go even one second over that, then you'll fail the lesson!"
"What?! Master, that's wild!"
Uncle Takeru simply shook his head and folded his arms. He was no god at all.
This man was a true demon.
Man, that's an average of ten people every six seconds. Good luck.
"Ghuh!"
"Gwuh?!"
As I started running numbers mentally, Ende leaped right into action.
"Wh-What's with him?!"
"It's just one man, stop him!"
"Sorry, guys! But you gotta stop running. This is a timed mission!"
He leaped from horse to horse, effortlessly smashing the masks each man
wore. I could sense his desperation. Honestly, I understood it, given that he had
a potential day of rest on the line. If he lost, it'd be a living hell.
Ende continued to leap from horse to horse, never once touching the ground.
Who the hell are you, Minamoto no Yoshitsune?
They thrust spears up at him as he leaped, but he just balanced on top of
them to gain even more mobility.
"Damn... That's pretty cool."
Ende kept spinning around and around, blasting away each enemy he
approached. His long scarf trailed behind him, almost acting as an echo of his
motions.
I'd only set the barrier to prevent humans from escaping, so the horses
scattered and eventually left the area.
Some dumbasses tried to escape, but they promptly ran into the walls of the
barrier and fell from their horses.
Before long there were only half the men left. He was keeping a surprising
pace.
"One minute left!"
Uncle Takeru yelled out all of a sudden. Oh damn, already? Guess it's harder
to fight while holding back than you'd expect.
"He still hasn't perfected the art of holding himself back against human
enemies. But I'm not surprised. He might be untrained, but he's still a
formidable fighter. He's certainly a genius in the classical sense."
"A genius, huh...? I dunno... Maybe you should make him run for a week
straight even if he passes."
"Hey, I heard that!"
The alleged genius known as Ende yelled out to us with fear in his voice. Hey,
don't waste time listening in, you have enemies to beat!
"Here's... The last one!"
Ende delivered a fearsome roundhouse kick to the final enemy standing,
shattering his mask to bits.
There were corpses all over the place. Actually, none of them were dead. So it
was just unconscious men all over the place. I briefly wondered if we even
needed to fight if we weren't going to kill them... But some beating would
probably do them a world of good anyway.
"What's my time?"
"Two minutes, forty-seven seconds."
Uncle Takeru looked up from the timer app on his smartphone. Luckily for
Ende, he seemed to have avoided a grim fate. He brought a hand to his chest
and let out a relieved sigh.
"But..."
Ende and I glanced at Takeru, concerned. Huh? But what?
"The man you just kicked. He's dying, rapidly."
"Huh?! Wait! Hold on! Don't die, man! At least not now! Die later instead!"
Ende shook the man's shoulders. He was bleeding profusely from his face.
That dumbass was probably just making things worse, so I promptly cast [Mega
Heal] on the wounded guy. I didn't want to let Ende lose all hope whatsoever,
after all. I wasn't cruel.
"Gwuh...? I..."
"Oh thank goodness! You're not dead, thank goodness! Now I'll just bash you
a little softer in the face."
"Gwuh?!"
Ende quickly punched the man in the nose, a bit weaker than his kick form
before.
...Wow.
"What's my time, Master?!"
"Two minutes, fifty-nine seconds. You passed. Good job."
If the master was so nonchalant about beating people up so savagely, then his
student was truly not far behind... I worried about the effect they could have on
Elze.
I looked over at the battlefield. It had only been three minutes, so obviously it
was far from over. The knights and Over Gears focused on the Steel Soldiers,
while Elze and the others focused on the Wood Golems.
I saw Elze's Frame Gear, Gerhilde, waltzing across the battlefield with similar
motions to the ones I'd just seen from Ende. Its left pile bunker smashed a hole
through a Wood Golem, knocking it down. She followed that up with an
uppercut, piercing the core through with the pile bunker on the right. She was
merciless.
"Hah... Smash!"
I wondered if they'd had an influence on her already, or if she'd always been
like this.
Either way, it was time to get all these unconscious people back to Horn's
castle. I imagine they'd all be tried and either executed or sent to the mines for
life.
I wouldn't let the ones at the hideout escape, either. I also had an innocent
Gollem technician to save.
"I'll be fighting at the hideout, alright?"
"Fine by us. We're the ones tagging along, anyway."
I looked behind uncle Takeru and saw Ende breathing a huge sigh of relief. It
was a little pitiful.
"So, where is it?"
"Northward... Right there."
I pointed to it on the map I'd projected into the air. It was pretty close to the
city where I'd taken out the fake emperor of Yulong a while back. There were
about three-hundred people there, in a small fortified area.
It was definitely a hard-to-find place, surrounded by hills and boulders. If the
memories I'd stolen from that guy were right, there was also an underground
production facility there too.
We didn't have any time to waste, I didn't want a single guy escaping. We had
to go in, and we had to go in hard.
After confirming the location, we all teleported to our destination.
◇ ◇ ◇
The base was surrounded by steep, jagged rocks, much like the ones from the
famous Hollow Needle novel. It was a masterwork of engineering. The building
fitting snugly inside a fissure in the earth.
I saw a man on a guard tower in the distance. He stared at us as we appeared
out of nothing, his eyes wide. Before us was a massive, sturdy door. It was the
only thing keeping us from getting inside.
"Kablam!"
The sturdy door was rendered useless by just one of uncle Takeru's mighty
punches.
"Don't you think we could've gone about this a bit sneakier?"
"Fool! A man must always charge ahead! Anything else is a waste of time!"
...You're a pretty simple guy. But I can't really say anything, I was about to
destroy it too.
"E-Enemies! Enemies at the gate!" The lookout started to bash a hammer
against a loud bell. A large group of mask-wearing, black-clothed men poured
out of the base in response.
Hm? These guys have gold tints on their masks. Are they the elites of Qulau?
"Well, trash is trash at the end of the day."
I took out my gunsword and began peppering the men in front of me with
paralyzing bullets.
Takeru and Ende leaped into the fray, knocking down man after man.
I could've handled them all at once using my smartphone's target lock, but I
didn't want to run the risk of letting any non-mask-wearing guys escape. Plus,
Ende needed more practice.
"Bring out the Steel Soldiers!" I raised an eyebrow as large summoning circles
appeared near us. Two gold-tinged Steel Soldiers rose out of them. Yep, this is
Gordian's doing alright.
One of the unnecessarily shiny Steel Soldiers took a step forward... before
immediately being smashed into a cliff face and torn to pieces. I was taken
aback for a moment. I turned to look at the other Steel Soldier, and witnessed
the figure of uncle Takeru rising upward, his fist held high as it uppercut the
machine.
I looked upward as the Steel Soldier was catapulted far off into the sky.
Eventually, it landed on the ground, clattering to pieces.
F.
"...Seeing that really is frightening..."
Ende muttered quietly. I could understand why. It was how I felt whenever I
fought against Moroha. The very idea of comparing ourselves to full gods was a
mistake, though.
"A-A monster!"
"Run! Run away, everyone!"
Those idiots didn't know that I'd already cast a wide-scale barrier around the
area to prevent their escape. A Steel Soldier could probably muster up enough
power, though. Still, even if I felt it break, I could instantly repair it.
"Whoopsie."
I turned my body, narrowly avoiding the dagger that had just been hurled my
way. I hadn't even noticed it until it was about to hit me.
I turned and saw a man wearing the blackest mask I'd seen yet. I'd sensed the
smell of death on the other men, but this guy reeked of it the most. He was
clearly a man who survived on the suffering of others.
"Are you Qulau's leader, then?"
"You would be correct... I am the shadow lurking within Yulong's memory, I
am the... Gaugh?!"
"Oh."
As the leader began to monologue, Ende suddenly came in from the side and
punched him. He flew off a short distance with his body bent in a sideways Vshape.
"...Hey."
"Oh, sorry. Did you want to listen to his whole speech?"
"Nah, I was actually gonna shoot him halfway through."
"Oh, then it's all good then."
I mean, sure it's good, but... I kinda wanted to beat him!
I grumbled a bit, spitefully shooting the fallen, squirming leader with a
paralysis bullet. I restrained him and then pulled off his mask. He just looked
like an ordinary guy in his forties.
I figured the whole point of being an assassin was to blend in, though... so it
seemed reasonable.
"Sorry, pal. Your plans all come to an end right here. If you really wanted to
rebuild Yulong, you should've put those daggers down and picked up a farming
tool."
I left the leader behind to wallow in anguish, regret, pain, or whatever it
was... and headed deeper into the fortress.
I beat back numerous small-fry enemies before finding the teleport sigil that
would take me underground. This hideout was originally built by Gordian, who
intended to create a magical imperium and rule over the world. As such, the
fort had several magical items littered around it.
I poured my magic into the sigil and teleported underground, leaving Takeru
and Ende to mop up the stragglers outside.
The place I ended up in looked like a massive underground cave. There were
building materials scattered around here and there. It kind of reminded me of a
hangar. I looked around and clearly saw a few items that had their origins in the
Reverse World.
There were a few Steel Soldiers here as well, though none were completely
assembled. There were no doubts now. This place was where they were making
them. Given that there were only incomplete ones down there, it seemed like
they'd deployed all their usable ones.
After a few moments, ten men wearing Qulau masks surrounded me.
"Back off, idiots."
"Guh?!"
"Gyuh!"
I took them all out with my gun. I didn't care about those guys. Instead, I
cared more about the group of ragged-looking men near the Steel Soldiers.
They weren't wearing masks, but tattered clothes. They clearly weren't Qulau
members. Not only that, but they had submission collars around their necks.
An elderly man walked toward me. He was clearly well into his sixties. He had
a scraggly white beard that flowed freely down his chin, and he wore a little pair
of glasses. I could sense the determination behind his eyes, even if he seemed
unsteady on his feet.
"We. Go. With. You Not Kill. Please."
He spoke in broken sentences, almost pleading with me. I thought they only
had one guy from the Reverse World, not this whole group.
Not kill, huh? Guess they're scared I'll use my gun.
I quickly cast translation magic on all the men before me. I decided talking
would be best here.
"Are you guys Gollem technicians?"
"Y-You understand us? Yes! We're all Gollem technicians. We were on our
way to Isengard, bringing a delivery to the witch-king, when we found ourselves
in this strange place... We were forced into servitude by those masked men!"
The witch-king? Holy shit. If they don't know that he's been defeated then
they must have been here a long time.
"I'll hear the rest later. How many of you are there?"
"E-Eighteen to begin with, but fifteen now. Three of us were tortured to
death when we were captured... Could you tell me where we are, exactly? The
technology and language here... It's almost like we're in another world." He was
exactly right, but I wanted to save the explanations for later.
I took off their submission collars and freed them of their confines. Some of
them even wept with happiness when I did that. They must have suffered quite
a lot.
"We're leaving this place. Anything you need to bring?"
"Ah, excuse me a moment."
The old man dug a little hole nearby, and eventually produced a tiny card.
"What's this?"
"It's my own personal storage card. I didn't want them to take it away, so I
buried it there when I first got here."
Pretty smart, old man. I guess it's true what they say. Wisdom comes with
age.
I decided to bring them to Elluka, since she was a fellow denizen of the
Reverse World. And so, I used [Gate] to connect us all to the location she and
Doc Babylon were sitting at.
The two of them turned their attention from the battlefield to us as we came
through, but Elluka's eyes went wide as she ran over to the old man.
"Professor, is that you?!"
"Wh-What?! Restore Queen, is that actually you?!"
The two of them just started pointing at each other and making vague noises.
"You guys know each other?"
"Ah, yeah... This man's an incredibly famous Gollem technician in my world.
Does that mean that his whole team got caught?"
"Uh, yeah. It's his whole team."
"Lass, what's going on here? Where even are we? This is a bit hard to follow."
"Um... How should I put this..."
I decided to leave the explaining to Elluka, and promptly returned to the
fortress.
Takeru and Ende had almost completely taken out everyone there by the time
I got back. I teleported all those guys to Castle Horn, as the officials there would
take care of the rest.
I definitely had to be sure I didn't miss anyone. If I didn't completely pull them
out at the roots, then these weeds would just keep coming back.
I used [Search] to confirm nobody was left, and we walked out of the front
gate again.
Takeru said he was going to finish the job, whatever that meant.
"Now listen up. Wherever there's life, there's chi. Chi is found in the air, the
earth, and in the sun's light. If you want to master chi, you must master nature
itself. Properly controlling it will allow you to do things like this..."
Takeru thrust his arms forward, wiggling his hands like he was grasping for
something. After a short while, a ball of energy I could tell was distinct from
magic gathered in his hands.
Slowly, the mass grew until it was the size of an exercise balance ball, and the
very air around it began to oscillate and shimmer.
"Haaah!"
Takeru yelled, thrusting his arms forward and firing out the mass.
The orb sailed forward before it suddenly detonated, creating a catastrophic
explosion akin to a nearby bomb blast.
When the dust settled, the fort we'd just cleared out was completely gone. All
that remained was a smoldering crater... Even the nearby cliff faces were
eradicated.
The power was on the level of an Upper Construct-tier Phrase firing off its
railgun attack. I couldn't believe what I'd seen.
I was amazed that such a power was possible, even without the use of magic
or divinity.
Thus, the Qulau hideout, along with the underground facility, were
completely wiped out.
"I-I suppose I have a long way to go in my training..."
"...Honestly I don't know if I want more people doing attacks like that..."
I replied to Ende's blank-faced mutterings with a dumbfounded comment of
my own.
◇ ◇ ◇
The Qulau members were all handed over to the Horn government. The army
of Steel Soldiers and Wood Golems were taken out without a hitch, too. With
that, the plot to take over Horn had failed.
Qulau's leader and all of its elite members were publicly executed. The rest of
Qulau were given the lifelong sentence of hard labor in the mines. They would
never see the sun again.
A few days later, a new king of Horn was crowned. Kuoh Da Horn, the oneyear-old boy.
As that happened, Prime minister Schwein Adante announced his resignation,
and recommended Ganossa Da Horn, the late king's former brother, as his
successor.
Thus, the uncle became regent for his nephew, ruling as king until the boy
came of age. This was the best outcome from the start, really.
The Kingdom of Horn decided to join the rest of the world, and end its longimposed isolation. They started an exchange program for their young
academics, sending them out to learn about the world.
Thus, Horn would enter a golden age of cultural growth, learning more about
other nations and how to improve their own as a result. They would work hard
to be a shining example, the opposite of the Yulongese who had clung to the
past so desperately and shamelessly.
It was fine to be proud of one's past, but you could not hinge your entire
existence around it. Otherwise, you'd be someone trapped looking backward all
your life.
I had to hope that the new generation in the remnants of Yulong would grow
up to understand that.
As for the rescued Gollem technicians...
All of them except one worked at a factory in Isengard. The one in charge of
the factories in Isengard was the witch-king.
Unfortunately, as far as the public knew, the witch-king was missing, and
none knew if he was alive or dead. Isengard ended up devolving into chaos as a
result, and currently stood fragmented without a leader.
Even after I told them that, the majority of the men still wanted to return
home, so I took them back.
I could understand why. They had families and stuff back there. But it had
been so long since they went missing that they were considered dead in
Isengard, and their jobs had been filled up. I was also worried that they might
be treated poorly by authorities because they lost the three-thousand Gollems
they had with them. Frankly, it would be dangerous to have them live in
Isengard.
That was why I went to speak with the former prince of Gardio, Lucrecion. He
was now in charge of Lowe, after all, so I asked if he would take the men and
their families in. Thankfully, he accepted. Though I knew he would. They were
all exceptionally talented men.
Thus, the men decided to live a new life within Lowe's territory.
Only one man stayed behind...
"So, that old man... or, uh, professor? What's he gonna do?"
"He said he wanted to travel this world and see all the countries."
Elluka grumbled a bit as she chewed a straw in her mouth. The ice cubes
inside her glass of orange juice clinked around as the straw moved.
"Isn't it a little risky for him to be roaming around alone? He's pretty old."
"He made a few basic Gollems using dwarven tech before he left. Apparently
he had some G-Cubes and Q-Crystals on him. At a glance, they'd look like five
armored knights walking with him, so I imagine he'll be fine."
Damn, he really made that many Gollems in such a short time? He really must
be pretty famous.
"I wanted him to help me out a bit, but he said he wanted to see the sights
first and foremost. I guess he probably wants to forget the harrowing
experience he had building those crude machines."
That was fair. At the very least, the fact that he willingly built some on his own
meant the trauma wasn't too deep. He probably just didn't want to do any
intensive Gollem building for a while.
"Hey, dumbasses! Your break's like, totally over and stuff! You should help
out already."
"Geez... You're so mean, Monie..."
We were sitting and having a drink during our chat, which prompted Monica
to come out and yell at us.
The two Over Gears were behind her, awaiting a diagnostics report.
Elluka grumbled quietly before getting up and walking toward them with
Fenrir.
Just as I was about to leave, my smartphone began ringing.
Hm? Oh, God Almighty, huh? How rare.
"Heyo!"
"Ah, young Touya. There is something I wish to speak of. Could you come to
my realm for a spell?"
I had no plans, so I said that wouldn't be a problem before ending the call. I
wondered what he wanted from me. Ah, I think I should swing by the kitchen
and get him something before going, though... I don't wanna show up without a
treat.
Crea had made some tasty yokan desserts, so assuming Karen hadn't eaten
them all, they'd be good to bring along.
I was in luck. Karen's greedy gaze had not yet fallen upon the tasty treats, so I
managed to bring some to the divine realm with me.
I found myself in that familiar room that floated amidst a cloudy backdrop.
There were no walls nor ceiling, it was simply us.
"Hey there. I brought you a gift. Here you go."
"Ah, lovely. I shall make some tea to go with it."
God took out some plates and a knife, then placed them down on the table
with some tea. Tea along with yokan was a very nice combo indeed.
"So, what'd you wanna discuss?"
"Ah, yes. It is happening in three days."
"Huh?"
God spoke quietly as he sliced up the yokan into smaller pieces.
What's happening in three days?
"What do you mean, exactly?"
"The two worlds are going to complete their overlap. They will fuse into one
new world in exactly three days. That is when they will leave my jurisdiction,
and be guarded only by you."
"WHAAAT?!"
I blurted out my confusion. I knew you'd tell me in advance, but isn't this a
little short notice?! I didn't even hold the multidimensional summit yet! Agh... I
mean, I guess this could be a positive. Somehow. If it actually happens, then
nobody'll be able to deny it, so they'll have to listen to me. That way the leaders
of the Reverse World might be more inclined to listen to me, too.
"I do apologize. It was rather hard to predict, you see. This world was
supposed to be destroyed due to its unpredictability, after all. It grows yet more
unpredictable by the day."
"Hm... I see... Three days, huh?"
Wonder what I can do in such a short time.
"What about cataclysmic events and stuff?"
"That is likely to happen in most cases, but you recently attained dominion
over spirits, did you not? I am sure if you speak with the relevant spirits, you
can mitigate the potential damage. There may be some small earthquakes here
and there, but I am sure that the worlds will join simply enough. At the very
most, the maps of both worlds may be slightly altered."
Landmasses being altered is kinda scary, but as long as I can avoid disastermovie type scenarios, I'll be fine. The people would definitely freak out way too
hard if really bad stuff happens.
"Once the merge begins, the world will be out of my hands. Since I do
technically owe you for the short notice, I will use my power to make both
worlds speak the same language. Or rather, I will simply make them believe
they are all speaking the same language."
Holy cow, that's something else... You're basically casting translation magic
over the whole world. I don't think I could do something like that.
Well, maybe I could... but it'd definitely take my smartphone well over a week
to lock on to that many people.
"Is that okay? I thought it was against the rules to interfere with lesser
realms."
"Well, that is true... But in this case, I think the advent of a wicked god is
cause for this one little cheat. Plus, this world is about to be out of my hands
anyway, so it matters little."
I guess it's like tossing away a troublesome book that was once in a library.
Once it's tossed, it isn't owned by the library anymore so they have no obligation
to keep it checked on. After that it's just a matter of whoever gets their hands
on the book next.
"This is your job now, young Touya. You must exorcise that wicked god from
the newborn world. Once you do that, the world will earn its right among other
worlds, and the god of destruction will be satisfied as well."
"Man, this sure is a problem..."
"Now, now... You are a beneficiary of my own power. The enemy is spawned
from a failure of a god. By all rights, you have no reason to worry about losing.
However, that wicked god is a tricky one. There is no telling what they might do.
Keep your wits about you."
"Sure thing."
I guess it's like me taking over a project or something. I'm the newbie
entrusted with the workload by the veteran, or something like that...
"You have seven gods supporting you right now. I am quite sure you will
prevail."
"...I feel like they treat it more like a vacation than anything else, though..."
I had the god of love, the god of swords, the god of agriculture, the god of
hunting, the god of music, the god of alcohol, and the god of combat on my
side. They weren't exactly like the seven lucky gods of Japanese folklore,
though... They were mostly just pains in the ass.
"Well, even if they enjoy themselves, they help in their own way. Sometimes,
it is simply the way of things. Though, if I am quite honest, I would not be
surprised if that world became some kind of resort for the gods after you take
full management."
I'm not sure how to feel about that... Surely there are better vacation worlds
out there in the vast cosmos... Well, whatever. I don't need to worry about that
stuff yet. This'll all come after the wicked god's dealt with.
I need to go speak with the spirits, then meet with the other world leaders. No
idea what'll happen from here-on, so we'll need to stay as alert as we can...
I quietly ate my yokan and sipped my tea, resolving to make things go as
smoothly as possible.
But, three days later... An entire country was wiped off the map of the newlyjoined world.