A golden palace?"
It definitely looked like one. It was sort of in the shape of an upside-down Tpiece from Tetris.
I grumbled a bit as I watched Bastet's footage on my smartphone. I had a
feeling things were gonna get annoying, so I just wished I hadn't been so right.
"Do you think the wicked god might be in there?" Yumina muttered a
question as she snuck a few glimpses of the footage.
"If Karen and the others are right, then probably. When that meteor storm
happened, that mass probably landed in Isengard with the other projectiles and
started spreading the venom out across the land. Bet it's trying to keep us away
while it gestates or something. Doesn't look like it's awake yet, though..."
"I suppose those golden skeletons are people who had their souls
devoured...? They're a bit different though, aren't they? Are they mutants too?"
Leen murmured to herself as she stroked her chin.
The mutants hunted people with strong negative feelings and sent their
energy to the wicked god. Those who had their souls devoured turned into
crystal zombies and would go on to attack others.
Those skeletal monsters now had the same muddy-gold color as the other
mutants, so it was likely they'd taken on their properties entirely.
Most of the people left in Isenberg probably had their souls devoured and
would soon join the marauding army of bones seen by Bastet and Anubis.
"So what are they doing, anyway? Just looks like they're scuttling around to
me."
"They might be defending the palace as an army force or something like
that... Sure, we couldn't approach due to the divine venom, but it's not like
regular adventurers can't go and investigate."
As I answered Sue, I took quiet solace in the fact that I had opted to send the
scouting Gollems instead of any adventurers or soldiers. They could've gotten
hurt.
"If the capital's already in that state, then I imagine there'll be more
refugees..." Yumina was right. The number of people fleeing Isengard to
countries like Lassei, Strain, and Gardio had been increasing.
Isenberg was located to the south, so the northern regions weren't as chaotic
yet, but obviously, people fleeing from the south needed to use the northern
ports. And so, they all ran through in a panic.
This panic would then set in through the areas they ran past, causing
northerners to want to leave as well.
Most of the refugees were quite financially well-off, too.
Lassei, Strain, and Gardio couldn't just accept anyone into their borders. In
order to live, you needed money. That meant that villages and townships were
more than happy to accept rich refugees into their folds, but the poor weren't
extended the same luxury.
They'd either waste away after being rejected homes or turn to robbery. If
you thought about it that way, it was highly possible staying in Isengard would
have been a better fate.
If the situation got any worse, I had a feeling there'd be even more civil
unrest...
"How's Kousuke doing with the anti-venom plant rearing?"
"It seems like he's making some progress, but it's slow."
Bastet and Anubis had brought back some dirt and rocks that had been
soaked in divine venom. I passed them on to Uncle Kousuke. He said he was
going to run some tests, but I was a bit concerned.
When I held one of those contaminated rocks in my hands, a sickly, paralyzing
feeling ran right up my body. It wasn't bad enough to make me faint, but it kind
of felt like I was holding animal guts... Or maybe holding a human brain in my
hands. It just felt repulsive, I didn't like it at all.
Since Kousuke had a purer divinity, I was a bit worried that the effects on him
would be worse.
I decided to head east of the castle to check up on the guy. He'd set up a
research facility there. Though, referring to it as a facility was a bit of a stretch.
It was just a vinyl greenhouse made up of thin, clear membranes harvested
from magical beasts.
There were various saplings in the greenhouse, as well as various labels and
notes in front of each one.
Kousuke himself was standing in front of a plant a bit further inside.
"Howdy, lad."
"Hello, Grand Duke!"
Anubis was lounging around by Kousuke's feet. They both greeted me.
"What's Anubis doing here?"
"I'm totally helping!"
"Aye, I can't exactly touch the contaminants all that much, y'know?"
That made sense.
The sapling in front of Kousuke was around thirty centimeters tall. I wondered
if that was the best cultivation he'd gotten so far.
"Lad, y'heard've photosynthesis before?"
"Huh? Sure I have. It's, uhhh... that process where plants take in light and use
it to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen, right?"
"Well, in layman's terms, aye. The seedlin' here has somethin' goin' for it in a
similar vein... It'll filter out the bad venom stuff, an' spew out harmless magic
particles."
Oho! That's some impressive purification skills! Looks like that pollution is
gonna be toast!
"But... we got a couple problems with it. Anubis, give it another shot."
"Yepperoni!"
Kousuke backed off slightly, and Anubis triggered the [Storage] on his collar. A
rock, roughly the size of a closed fist, dropped out. The rock landed right next to
the sapling.
I could tell at a glance that it was steeped in divine venom. Even just looking
at it made me feel a bit queasy.
"Take a gander with yer divine sight."
I followed Kousuke's instructions and glanced over again with divinity
clouding my vision. I could see a dirty-looking aura clinging on to the rock, but it
was slowly and surely being sucked away.
At the same time, the sapling started accumulating that dirty aura around
itself, so it was clearly absorbing the venom. After a short time, the aura
spurted out of the plant's leaves and turned into a glittering spray of harmless
magical energy. It looked like a complete success to me.
"That's amazing! So if we plant these around Isengard, we can..."
"Hold yer horses, kid. Look closer."
"Huh? Oh..."
The sapling began to rapidly wilt. There was a tiny amount of venom still
inside it, and it killed the plant from the inside. The soil around the plant then
darkened, and the venom spread.
"If it can't convert all the venom, then there ain't no point. Hell, it could even
make the nasty stuff more potent. This plant ain't near proper yet."
Kousuke sighed, prompting Anubis to dig up the polluted dirt. The dutiful dog
stashed the soil, along with the dead plant, in his [Storage].
I picked up the rock and was a little shocked to feel nothing from it. The divine
venom inside it had been completely purified, so the only problem was getting
the plant to do the rest.
"Think you can perfect the plant?"
"Aye, I reckon so. If I brought out the full scope've my divinity, I reckon I could
do it real fast... But y'know I can't. It ain't impossible fer me to do it in this
sealed form, so I'll just keep perseverin'."
Kousuke's power as a god was pretty intense, so I didn't doubt what he was
saying. Unfortunately, in his human form, he'd have to take a long way around.
It was just a matter of trying over and over again.
I had hope for him. With the power of the alchemy lab and the spirits on our
side, I knew we'd get a purifying plant finished eventually.
"Sorry for the hassle. I'm rooting for you."
"Ain't a problem, son. I'll admit there's a little bit've fun in testin' like this.
Can't exactly do this kinda stuff back home, an' all. Don't worry about me, I'm
plenty fine with this job."
Kousuke nodded gently, flashing me a peaceful smile. I still felt a little bad,
though... This world was only one of many, and it wasn't really their
responsibility. I was glad they thought well enough of me and this world to stay
and help it.
I talked a little bit more with Kousuke about agricultural plans, but my
smartphone started vibrating so I cut the conversation short. It was a call from
the king of Belfast. I wondered what he wanted.
I hope you aren't calling just to talk about Yamato again... I know you're
happy to be playing with him or seeing him babble and stuff, but you don't need
to update me every time he rolls around in a funny position during naptime...
Well, whatever. I should stop internally monologuing and pick up.
"Heyo. What's up?"
"Ah, Touya? I'm sorry to trouble you, my boy. Could you swing around to my
castle? We've found something odd that we'd like your input on."
"Odd?"
"I've a feeling you may recognize it once you see it. Sorry, again, but you
really should come..."
I was a little puzzled. It didn't sound urgent in a dangerous way, so I
wondered what it could be... And so, I decided to head over to Belfast Castle.
I opened up a [Gate] and made my way to their royal courtyard. Duke
Ortlinde, who was both Sue's dad, and the king's brother, came to escort me
with a group of guards.
"What happened?"
"It's less of a 'what happened?' kind of situation, and more of a 'what is this
doing here?' scenario..."
The duke caught me up to speed as we walked together. Belfast Castle was
surrounded by the castle town to its east, west, and south. Lake Palette was
found to its north. It was a water source for the people of the capital, and
access was restricted to the general public. The large reservoir of water was
effectively royal property.
A short time ago, a lone-horned shark somehow made it into the lake.
Apparently, this wasn't too odd and happened once every few years.
The royal family immediately sent out the knight order to slay it. But, in the
process of killing it, its horn broke off and sank into the lake depths.
Obviously, they didn't want to waste such a valuable spoil, so one of the
knights offered to make use of his diving skills. He went in to fetch it, but he
found something else as well.
"We found it, deep within the lake! I never would've guessed it to be there."
"Found what, exactly?"
"You'll know it when you see it..." Duke Ortlinde opened up a door as he
spoke.
We passed through the door, which led toward the lake. Its surface
shimmered beautifully as we trotted to the lakeside.
Eventually, I made out a few people by the side of the lake. The king was
among them.
"Ah, Touya! Over here!"
The king waved over to me. They were gathered around something. As we got
closer, I realized what it was. I walked faster. It couldn't be... But it was.
"There's no way... You found this in the lake?"
My voice was barely a whisper. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. After all,
the object on the ground was around the size of a small child. It was
humanoid... a Gollem. But not just any Gollem. It had the distinct features of a
specific production line.
I crouched down and took a look at its neck. There, I saw the mark that
confirmed what I already knew. It was a crown.
"There's no other possibility here. This is the white crown."
It looked remarkably similar to Norn's Noir, and Nia's Rouge. It was caked in
so much algae and muck that I could hardly call it white, but that was what it
was.
"So it is, then... But why is it in our country? Why is it in the royal lake?"
"I have no idea. But around a thousand years ago, a Phrase attack on Belfast
may have been stopped by the black and white crowns. It may have shut down
then and been here the whole time."
The ruins underneath the old Belfast capital had the language of the Arcana
Clan there. It made mention of a black knight and a white knight. I felt like that
was referring to Noir and this one.
Welp. Guess I'll see if I can activate it... I placed my hand on the Gollem's
chest and channeled some of my magic into it.
"Open."
The soldiers took uneasy steps backward when the Gollem's hatch hissed
open. I didn't think it was that scary.
The gel container was there as usual inside the chest cavity, with the G-Cube
rotating itself around and gently emitting green light.
I reached out my fingers to touch the G-Cube, but the moment my skin made
contact with the gel, something happened.
"Ｅｒｒｏｒ: Ｕｎａｕｔｈｏｒｉｚｅｄ, ｉｎｃｏｍｐａｔｉｂｌｅ ｃｏｎｔａｃｔ． Ｃｕｒｒｅｎｔ Ｓｔａｔｅ: Ｓｌｅｅｐ
Ｍｏｄｅ． Ｉｎｉｔｉａｔｅ Ｒ－ＳＥＱＵＥＮＣＥ． Ｉｎｉｔｉａｔｉｎｇ Ｓｅｌｆ－Ｐｒｅｓｅｒｖａｔｉｏｎ Ｓｅｑｕｅ
ｎｃｅ．"
"What?!"
A strange, mechanical voice called out from inside the Gollem. My vision went
white.
.
..
...
....
"Hm?"
"Uh?"
"What's going on? Woof. What're you two quiet for?"
I blinked my eyes, only to find Kousuke and Anubis in front of me.
I glanced around in confusion. I was inside Kousuke's greenhouse, a stone in
my hand. It was the rock that had been purified by the plant back when I was
visiting. I was really confused. I was in exactly the same position I was in earlier.
Had it teleported me away?
"Hmph. I see, lad. Looks like things just got changed... Goodness me, boy. I
reckon y'better calm down an' get yer bearings."
"Huh? O-Okay?"
What does he mean by that? Things got changed? Does he know what
happened? Wait, why am I even here? What happened with the white crown?
My head was spinning with so many questions that I had to stop myself.
Kousuke had just told me to calm down, so I decided to heed his advice.
"So, what happened jus' now is this... Reality got overwrote, somehow. Ain't
got no idea who did it. D'ya?"
"Huh? What? I mean... I don't get it, but..."
I talked to Kousuke about everything that had happened after I left him to his
plants. I couldn't really explain everything too well due to my disorientation,
but I got through it. I just hoped he could shed some light on what happened.
"Alright, now I getcha. That white crown thinger went an' did this, fer sure."
"Sorry... What exactly did it do?"
"Well, iffin' I wanted to put it simply... I guess it made nothin' happen."
"It... what?"
I was baffled. How could it make nothing happen? What did that even mean?
"So... cause an' effect exists, right? For somethin' to happen, somethin' gotta
come before it. You can call that a divergence or turnin' point."
"...Right."
"So, fer example, if you hadn't met little Sue, you wouldn'ta met Duke
Ortlinde. Then you wouldn'ta met Yumina. Y'get it?"
"Mostly, yeah."
I only met Yumina because I knew the duke, after all.
"An' without you leavin' Reflet for the capital at that exact time, you
wouldn'ta met Sue neither. Hell, you wouldn'ta met Yae neither. If even a single
thing in the sequence went different, we prolly wouldn't be havin' this
conversation."
...Yeah, guess that makes sense. If God Almighty hadn't made that screw-up,
I'd probably be living a regular high school life in Japan right now... Wait, hold
on...
"Then are you saying the white crown changes history?"
"Somethin' like that, aye. It ain't the same as turnin' back time, though. It's
more like it took the stuff that led certain things to certain places, and made
nothin' happen instead. It punched out a piece've the journey. I guess callin' it a
reset would work for simplicity's sake. It ain't strong enough to affect the
cognitive senses've us divines, though. That's why y'still got yer memories, an'
that's why from my perspective things got rewound."
Kousuke quickly glanced at Anubis. The dog was just sitting around like
nothing strange had happened, so he was clearly unaffected by the rewind.
It wasn't like time had been reversed; it was just that a new time replaced it.
Kind of like resetting in a game. It made it so your loss didn't happen. You could
just keep on resetting until you got the desired outcome. If that kind of power
was the one that Albus, the white crown, held... I was seriously worried.
"Hm... But wait, I don't think it's resetting to a divergent world, or else it'd
just move its master and itself. Nobody else should be able to affect that. So I
guess it's like it takes an event from this world, and pulls the possibility of that
never happening from a parallel potential world. Then, it patches that onto the
current reality, altering the course of events. It's like sewing over a pair of pants
to cover a rip, or smoothing over a broken tree branch. Thus, the hole in the
pants and the broken tree branch would no longer exist, rendering them gone.
Then anything changed by the missing event would change in sequence."
That made it the perfect counterpart to Noir. If the black crown could
manifest things from parallel realities... Then the white crown could pull in null
points from parallel realities, using them to overwrite events in this world. That
reminded me of what the blue crown, Blau, had told me.
"The white crown, Albus, is a special model. It is designed as one of a pair,
complementing the black crown, Noir. It is the ultimate folly, one that will bring
all reality to naught."
That made more sense now. It was a power that could easily bring reality to
naught... Or rather, simply make it so reality didn't happen.
The black and white crowns certainly had similar powers. The black created
possibilities from nothing and the white created nothing from possibilities.
"I'm willin' to hazard a guess here. But the white crown prolly caused the
reset 'cause it didn't want ya fiddlin' with its G-Cube. It was in sleep mode, aye?
That meant it prolly didn't have enough power to do more'n reset the event
that led to it bein' found. Course, that power didn't fully work on you."
I listened to Kousuke, nodded, and then called up the king of Belfast.
"Ah, Touya? What do you need?"
I learned from the king that the lone-horned shark had been defeated. Just as
Kousuke had assumed, they hadn't found the white crown either.
I asked for more details about their shark hunt, and one detail stood out as
different.
The monster's horn hadn't broken off. The white crown must have
overwritten this event because it led to the knight diving in and discovering it
below the water.
"Touya, lad. Go an' dive into Lake Palette yerself. I reckon the white crown
should still be in there. So long as y'don't try to touch the G-Cube, it shouldn't
run any resets. That bein' said, I don't reckon it'll have enough power to do
another one so soon."
I took Kousuke's advice and opened a [Gate] to the lake. There was nobody
around. It seemed like the shark-hunting crew had finished up.
I ran search magic over the lake, but no results came up. I had no idea why
that was, but I knew the white crown had to be in there.
"[Prison]."
I formed a translucent blue cube around me, setting it to let oxygen pass
through and deny water. And then, I walked into the lake.
I was pretty impressed by the quality of the water. It was so clear I could see a
considerable distance ahead of me. It certainly explained why the royal capital
was so renowned for its beautiful lake.
"I can see far, but... this is way too much lake... I don't even know where I
should start. I should've asked the king where the horn fell before the reset, but
I got too excited about the crown. Ah well, how about this..."
I invoked Summoning magic, calling upon Sango and Kokuyou from Brunhild.
The heavenly beasts floated by my side.
"Can you guys ask the fish in this lake to look for a white Gollem... Or anything
weird like that around the bottom of the lake?"
"As you command."
"Of courssse, darling." Sango and Kokuyou swam around outside the [Prison].
I couldn't exactly hear them, but they seemingly shouted off into the water.
Before long, a massive amount of fish started gathering nearby... Man,
sometimes I forget you guys have such incredible mastery over animals. It's
pretty damn cool...
Sango and Kokuyou barked further orders, and the fish immediately
scattered. Or at least, I hoped they scattered because of the orders. They might
have been able to tell from the look on my face just how delicious-looking I
thought they were...
We waited on the spot for a while, but eventually, a few fish returned and
communicated something to the duo.
"They've found sssomething. Follow them."
It had happened faster than I'd expected. I started to walk along the bottom
of the lake, following the trail led by Kokuyou and the school of fish.
Eventually, I came across something half-buried in the depths. I couldn't tell
what it was at first. It kind of looked like a weirdly-shaped, algae-covered rock.
I reached down to touch it, and some of the muck gave way. It revealed a
white sheen beneath.
I uncovered more of it, wiping it down as I went. It was Albus, the white
crown.
No wonder my search magic couldn't find it. It was practically unrecognizable
at a glance. The knight who found it before the reset probably bumped into it
by mistake or something.
That being said, it was in perfectly good condition for something that had
probably been here for such a long time. I wondered if it was because Lake
Palette had such clean waters.
Lake Palette wasn't an endorheic basin like Lake Mashu in Hokkaido, so it had
other water sources connected to it. And because of that, I figured the lake was
probably so clean due to the presence of spirits or something.
Either way, I'd found my mark. I pulled up Albus to the surface with
[Levitation], opened up a [Gate], and headed straight back to Brunhild with the
Gollem in tow.
◇ ◇ ◇
"This is definitely the white crown... I never would've expected it to be in this
world..." I'd taken Albus to Babylon's research laboratory, and Elluka started
investigating the Gollem right away.
"Hmm... It certainly looks like Norn's Noir. Let's open this bad boy up!"
Just as Doc Babylon was about to crack open the little Gollem like he was a
cold one, I grabbed her by the nape of her neck.
"Gaugh!"
"Hold it. I'm not letting another reset happen. You need to listen to me before
you do anything."
"Reset?"
Both Elluka and Babylon looked at me in confusion, but they quickly turned to
their thinking faces once I explained what had happened.
"The ability to overwrite events, you say? That's certainly similar to what Noir
can do... But this is a beastly power that could be used to cause so much more
carnage..."
"How do you mean?"
"Don't you understand? Even if there are conditions to use it, the power to
turn events into nothing is something obscene... It could cancel out attacks used
against it, or remove elements from the past that caused the battle to begin
with. But what if that power was used on a person... or even a country?"
"The power could be used to prevent that person from ever being born... Or
to stop a country from being founded... The repercussions could be immense.
We'd never know."
Elluka's words sent shivers up my spine. It'd be like that cliche in time travel
stories where the main character's parents never ended up getting together.
If the meeting between two parents was shifted to an event that never
happened, then obviously their kids wouldn't ever be born.
"That being said, I think that's too strong. I doubt it can rewrite things that far
away in the past."
"Indeed, I concur. Not to mention the fact that Albus is a crown Gollem. That
means there's a price to pay for that power. It has no master, so I doubt it'll be
able to make use of the reset anymore... But I do have to question just what the
price for its power is. I know in Noir's case, its master has their current life
reversed to an extent..."
The white crown's price might have been a hefty one as well. It could
probably end up life-threatening if over-used. If it was the opposite of Noir's,
then maybe it cut the user's lifespan or something.
"Actually, Touya... If the first discovery of the white crown was undone, then
why do you remember it?"
Crap. Why do you have to be so observant, Doc?
I hadn't told anyone but my fiancees about my divine predicament, so I
wasn't really sure how to talk my way out.
"G-Guess it's just one of those things? Haha..."
"Hmm..." Doctor Babylon narrowed her eyes at me. She definitely suspected
something was up.
"Well, whatever. What do we want to do with the little white guy?"
The easiest solution would be destroying it before it caused any trouble, but I
didn't really want to do that. I still didn't know for sure, but I had a fairly high
suspicion that Albus was the one that repaired the world barrier way back fivethousand years ago, and a thousand years ago.
It probably made the event of the boundary line being torn into something
that never happened.
If it had that kind of power, then I'd want to make use of it to fix the boundary
again.
As it stood, the world was completely undefended due to the recent merger.
We'd be utterly defenseless if future invaders like the Phrase wanted to come
for us.
"Can we restart it without going for the G-Cube?"
"It's probably a self-defense process that prevents you from wiping its
master's info. We should be able to wake it up, so long as we don't try to
overwrite its master registry. But that'll mean dealing with an active Gollem
that has no master holding it back. If it ends up going out of control, well..."
"We'll have no choice but to fight back, huh. Even destroy it in the worst
case..."
At least the "out of control" would just be a regular rampage, instead of its
reset function going haywire.
There was a chance it could register us as enemies after awakening, and we
wouldn't have its master around to tell it anything to the contrary.
"Worst case scenario, I'll just put it in a [Prison]."
"Fair enough. That sounds safe. Who knows? It might be completely docile..."
Doc Babylon shrugged.
"Alrighty, let's get this party started."
"Hold on. We should bring Norn here first. Noir might be able to restrain
Albus or at least communicate for us."
Elluka's suggestion made sense. Reuniting the white and black crowns after a
thousand years sounded like it could be interesting, too.
I couldn't call Norn to Babylon, and I didn't want anything up there getting
trashed, so we headed to the training field north of Brunhild castle.
I explained the general gist of the situation to Norn, as we made plans to
reactivate Albus.
"Geez, you seriously just happened to find another crown like that? I don't
get you at all."
"White..." Norn sighed in believing disbelief, while Noir simply stood quietly in
front of Albus. Even if it had no memories, it probably had feelings about the
situation.
"Open."
Elluka opened up the chest compartment, just as I did before the reset.
The G-Cube rotated around within the gel, softly emitting green light.
Elluka didn't touch the G-Cube. She reached around and pulled out a small
stick-looking part from behind it. It kind of looked like a fuse.
"Can you fill this up with magic for me? If Regina and I did it, it'd take us too
long."
"Huh? Sure, I guess."
I held the tiny object between my thumb and forefinger and channeled some
magic power through it. It ended up taking in a lot of my power. After a while, a
little light on it activated.
It looked like it was full, so I handed it over to Elluka. She promptly installed it
back into Albus. She took out a screwdriver-like tool and used it to push a
button inside. The G-Cube briefly sped up its rotation, but soon returned to
normal.
"That should do it."
Elluka closed up Albus' chest hatch, then poured in a little more magic power.
A slow whirring sound began coming from the little machine, and I heard a
few clicks and clacks from the insides.
"Ｃｒｏｗｎ Ｓｅｒｉｅｓ: Ｍｏｄｅｌ ＣＳ－０１, 'Ｉｌｌｕｍｉｎａｔｉ Ａｌｂｕｓ', ｉｎｉｔｉａｌｉｚｉｎｇ．"
A similar robotic voice to the one I'd heard the last time rang out and the
Gollem's visor opened. It began slowly looking around.
Albus gradually rose to its feet. It turned to face Noir, nodding its head gently.
It stepped toward Noir, but stumbled over its own feet.
"Ah..."
The white crown fell to the ground and smacked its head right in front of us.
"Fallen... My functions are still not calibrated... Unfortunate..."
"...You have only just reactivated. This is within the parameters of acceptable
behavior."
Albus began speaking, still on the ground. Noir replied.
"Comfort unnecessary. My feelings are already damaged."
"Understood."
...Well, it sure doesn't feel like it's gonna randomly attack us out of nowhere.
"Alright, well. My name is Mochizuki Touya. I'm the leader of Brunhild, that's
the country we're in. You're Noir's twin model, right? Albus?"
"That is correct..." Albus answered promptly. Seemed like it was willing to
communicate.
"Can you tell me your master's name?"
"My master is the King of Belfast, Arthur Ernes Belfast."
"What?!"
Belfast?! Hold on, that's too big a bombshell to just drop like that! "Hm?
What's this mean? Is King Belfast its master?"
"No, he can't be. The current King of Belfast is named Tristwin Ernes Belfast.
It's not the same person."
Norn seemed confused, so I quickly explained. It was only natural I'd
remember the name of my future father-in-law.
King Tristwin only had one brother, and that was Duke Ortlinde. I also knew
for a fact that Sue's dad was called Alfred, not Arthur.
There were only four people in the world right now with the Belfast name...
And that was Yumina's direct family.
Her father, Tristwin... her mother, Yuel, Yumina herself, and her little brother
Yamato. I'd never heard of any Arthur Belfast.
"Are you sure your master is named Arthur?"
"Affirmative. Arthur Ernes Belfast is my master, and the black crown's
master."
"Negative. My master is Norn Patolakshe."
"... Information conflict registered."
Noir shot down Albus' claim. Albus didn't seem to have much to say in
response.
If what Albus was saying was true, then this Arthur guy was the master of the
black and white crowns... But in that case, how did the black crown end up in an
abandoned mineshaft in the Reverse World, and how did the white crown end
up at the bottom of Lake Palette?
In fact, why was a Gollem from the Reverse World in Belfast the entire time,
anyway? This was so damn confusing.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Ahh, the Belfast family line did have an Arthur, yes. He was the ruler around
a thousand and nineteen years before myself." That was a long time...
I'd called the King of Belfast over the phone, asking him to check his family
records. A thousand years ago in Japanese terms would've been the Heian
period. Or the time of Fujiwara no Michinaga's rule, in other words.
When I thought about it that way, the technological development of this
world was slow compared to Earth... It was something like half the speed. It was
probably because of their lack of war, since that was often an instigator for
development. Then again, they did fling magic around a lot... Which made them
more magically developed.
It wasn't really wise to compare this world to Earth, since Earth didn't have
magic or spirits. Lighters weren't necessary if you could just use Fire magic, and
you wouldn't need flashlights if you could just cast something like [Light Orb].
This world did have lanterns, though... But that kind of stuff had been around
since ancient times on Earth, as well.
"Do you know anything about Arthur?"
"Ah, yes. Do you remember the old ruin you found in Belfast a long time ago?
He was the king who changed the capital from that old place to the current
location."
"I had a feeling."
"The records on Arthur end there, unfortunately. There's no information on
these crown whatsits or anything to do with the crystal creatures. Whatever
could this mean...?"
King Belfast sighed to himself. He was probably wondering why his ancestor,
Arthur, hadn't bothered recording what had happened for future generations to
learn from.
I wondered if it was because of a reset canceling things out, but if the Phrase
invasion had been nullified, then the capital wouldn't have needed to be
moved. It had to be something else.
I thanked the king for his help then ended the call.
"Well?"
"I got confirmation, Doc. There was a king named Arthur in Belfast. He lived
over a thousand years ago."
"I see... Hear that, little guy? Your master's long-gone... Unless he was a nonhuman with a long lifespan, at least."
Doctor Babylon looked over to Albus, but he simply replied with
"Acknowledged," which was punctuated by a small beep.
"So what happened a thousand years ago? Hell, what happened fivethousand years ago? Can you tell us, Albus?"
"Negative. Master-level permissions required."
"Your master died a thousand years ago. We can't get those permissions."
"Then cease attempts."
Doctor Babylon shrugged a bit, glancing my way.
...What, she giving up already? This Gollem's surprisingly stoic, but maybe it
just doesn't understand the concept of death or something.
I started losing hope until Elluka raised her voice.
"We'll just have to register a sub-master."
"A what now?"
I had no idea what she meant.
"Gollems can't obey anyone other than their masters, but obviously there'd
be a countermeasure in place if a Gollem's master died or became
incapacitated, right?"
"Right... Because if the master died and the registration remained, then the
Gollem wouldn't obey anyone, huh?"
If a Gollem like that went wild, it'd be pretty bad.
"That's why we have a sub-master function installed. If a Gollem recognizes
that its master is dead, then anyone with a blood relation to the master can
become a sub-master, which is kind of like temporary restricted ownership.
Gollems are property too, right? There'd obviously be people who want to
make sure their kids get their stuff if they die."
"Ah! Is that kind of how it is with Robert and Blau?"
"That's right. Blau is the Panaches royal family's crown. If a person with the
right qualities emerges within the previous master's bloodline, then they can
take over full mastery of a Gollem instead of just a sub-mastery. Robert is Blau's
full master, but his father and grandfather were only sub-masters. The last full
master in the Panaches family was Robert's great-grandfather."
That made sense. If they passed down the Gollem through their family,
registering sub-masters through the generations until a person with the
qualities to be a full master appeared.
"That only applies to special Gollems like the crowns, though. Most regular
Gollems can be passed from father to son without having to worry about
specific qualities. Typically, the previous master's information is expunged after
the sub-master is registered, and then the sub-master becomes the full master
by default."
That seemed sensible. If a father died, the Gollem would go to his son. I
couldn't imagine a Gollem willfully rejecting that course of events.
"So what makes a sub-master different from a regular master?"
"Sub-masters can't use the Gollem skills, for one. The Gollem also becomes
less functional across the board."
"So... If Norn died, and Noir was passed down to her kid or something, then
the sub-master kid wouldn't be able to use Noir's special ability?"
"Hey, don't just casually talk about my death! I'll smack you over the head!"
Norn glared at me just enough to make me regret using her as an example.
Either way, we'd need to use someone who was related to King Arthur of
Belfast, a lineage going back over a thousand years.
"... It's Yumina, right?"
"Good job for finally waking up to the obvious. I can't guarantee the submaster registration will work, since I've never seen a case of a thousand-year
gap between registrations, but... They're a royal family, so I doubt their
bloodline was thinned too much."
Elluka was right. Cousins often married and reproduced within royal
bloodlines in order to preserve the sanctity of their lineage.
Yumina's mother, Queen Yuel, was from a family of nobles that had some
Belfast blood as well, so I had a feeling it'd probably be okay if Yumina's
bloodline hadn't been too diluted by outside sources. But then again, this was a
thousand or so years... That was a crazy number of generations.
"There's no risk to her, is there?"
"None at all. Even if Yumina's fully compatible, she won't be anything more
than a sub-master until we wipe Arthur's information and register her in. That
means there's no risk of her using one of those dangerous skills she'd have to
pay the price for."
If it's safe, then... I guess I'll call Yumina over and explain the current situation.
Right now, this is our best lead on some answers.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Open."
For the second time, or third, if you included the destroyed timeline, Albus'
chest was opened up to reveal a G-Cube.
"Is this fine?" Yumina turned back to Elluka, seeking affirmation.
Ordinarily, only a Gollem's master could open up the hatch of an active
Gollem. Defensive protocols would prevent any unauthorized person from even
trying. Basically, the Gollem would resist with all its might.
But there were two exceptions to this rule. First, the Gollem's creator, the
meister, could open it up. Second, a blood relative of a deceased master could
open it up.
The fact that Yumina had opened the hatch meant that she had been
recognized as compatible and that Albus had registered the truth of its master's
death.
"Um... What do I do now?"
"Take a strand of your hair and place it into the G-Cube. That should register
you as a sub-master."
Yumina did as she was told, plucking a long strand of her golden hair and
feeding it into the sphere around the G-Cube. The cube sucked the hair in, and
it began to shine.
"...Looks like it worked. Good job, Yumina. You're Albus' sub-master now."
Elluka smiled as she spoke. I breathed a sigh of relief, since I was halfprepared for another reset to happen.
Thus, the white crown had been passed down from its former master,
something a thousand years in the making.
The hatch closed, and Albus began firing back up with a low hum.
"Crown Series Model CS-01: Illuminati Albus, activating. State name of
temporary sub-master."
"Ah... Yumina Ernea Belfast..."
"Registration complete. Sub-master records successfully written. Transferring
master control authority from Arthur Ernes Belfast to Yumina Ernea Belfast.
Rebooting."
Albus opened up its eyes and started moving once more. Yumina wasn't very
tall, but Albus was much shorter. It began intently staring up at her.
After a short while, it bowed down on one knee like a kneeling knight.
"I am the white crown, Illuminati Albus. I pledge my allegiance to you and
await your command."
"Thank you. I'm not really sure about how all this works, but it's a pleasure."
"By your command, my lady."
Albus stood back up and gave a firm nod.
Doctor Babylon suddenly stepped forward, clapping her hands together. She
had a big grin on her face.
"Alrighty! Now that Yumina's the sub-master, let's get us some answers! Hey,
pipsqueak! Tell us everything about five-thousand years ago and one-thousand
years ago! I wanna know what happened with you and Noir!"
"Hey, c'mon, Doc. Don't get too impatient."
"Impatient?! Have some mercy, Touya! This is my chance to free myself from
the confusion I've had for five-thousand years. I need to know why the Phrase
vanished when they did. I need to know how the world was saved when I only
foresaw its end... How can't I be impatient and excited when I have the answers
right in front of me?!"
When you considered Doc Babylon's circumstances, it was reasonable for her
to feel that way. I wanted to know how the white and black crowns repelled the
Phrase, too.
"Right, then... Could you tell us who your master was five-thousand years
ago?"
"Chrom Ranchesse. He is the meister who created the crowns and the high
master of designations white and black."
"I thought as much."
Elluka piped up. It seemed she suspected this. It was plausible that, fivethousand years ago, the master of the white and black crowns would be Chrom
Ranchesse, their original creator.
"And what exactly happened five-thousand years ago?"
"Our master, Chrom Ranchesse, used the power of both white and black to
travel to another world. After that..."
Albus went on to explain what had happened. I could understand most of
what he was saying.
To begin with, Chrom Ranchesse had used the power of the white and black
crowns to move from his home in the Reverse World to this world.
This was primarily done with Noir's ability to warp spacetime. It was similar to
my ability to warp between worlds with divinity.
It was kind of the opposite of what happened to Lerios Palerius, Primula's
founder. If that guy had met with Chrom, he might have been able to make it
back home from the Reverse World...
Still, even though Chrom's world-leaping was successful, it came at a great
cost. He was an old man when he tried it, but the price to pay reverted his age
until he was a relatively young man. If he had screwed anything up or used the
power just a bit more, he might have been reverted to a state before he was
born.
Albus didn't know why Chrom decided to come to this world. It was possible
he was seeking new knowledge, or if it was simple curiosity. Whatever his
reasons, they were now lost to time. I doubted he did it just to become
younger.
Either way, Chrom emerged in the part of the world that would eventually
become Xenoahs.
Doc Babylon then chimed in to speak.
"Back then, that territory was owned by the United Kingdom of Pillaisula. It
was a fairly advanced magitech nation, though not as well-developed as
Partheno."
Apparently, Chrom settled down in Pillaisula and began to learn from their
culture. His Gollems were considered magitech helpers like Babylon's minibots,
and thus didn't stand out too much.
Chrom Ranchesse spent ten years living peacefully in Pillaisula. He even had
an aptitude for magic. But then suddenly, all hell broke loose.
The Phrase invaded. And when the crystal creatures emerged, the entire
world fell into chaos.
The monsters appeared everywhere, killing humans left and right. But to
make matters worse, those ancient civilizations were largely magic-based. Their
lives were dependent on magical artifacts and daily applications of magic.
You could consider the Phrase a natural predator of civilizations like that. All
magic around the Phrase was absorbed and rendered inert. Their regeneration
meant that attacks wouldn't keep them at bay for long. The civilizations tried to
fight back with magic-fueled tanks and flying airships, but they were all useless.
In the end, cities fell to the Phrase hordes. They were either swarmed by
Lesser and Intermediate Constructs or vaporized by the Upper Constructs.
It was during this frightful era that Chrom Ranchesse lived in a frontier village
on the outskirts of Pillaisula. He was living his best life. He didn't just have the
black and white crowns by his side, but he also had a loving child and beautiful
wife.
Chrom sensed the threat posed by the Phrase and desperately experimented
with the black crown's power. He wanted to send his family to the world he'd
come from, in order to spare them the cruel fate of those who met the Phrase.
But he couldn't work too easily, due to the compensation required to trigger
the black crown's ability. Even the meister, who originally created them, was
not exempt from the fundamental rule. With great power came great sacrifice.
When he first came to this world, the trade-off was enough to turn him from
an elderly man into a young guy. Several years had passed since then, but
Chrom wasn't even thirty when the Phrase began their invasion. If he carried
out the same spell to send his family back to the reverse world, to safety... he
would die.
He attempted, in vain, to design a new crown that could fix things, but it was
all for naught.
The Phrase broke through Pillaisula's military line, scattering its armies. They
began freely rampaging throughout the country. And, inevitably, the Phrase
horde appeared in Chrom's village.
A Dominant Construct appeared with an army. It was masculine in shape, with
spiky faux-hair, red eyes, and an arrogant smile.
"Gila, huh...? Guess that bastard was rampaging as he pleased back then,
too."
As I listened to Albus talk, I remembered Gila. He was the second Dominant
Construct I'd met, the first being Ney. He loved fighting, but was too cocky and
destructive for his own good.
Gila was definitely no pushover. Even though I managed to defeat him using
my divinity, he was still capable of fighting back against me. My divinity wasn't
as well-developed back then, but it was still a serious feat to clash with it.
When Gila showed up in Chrom's village, he started slaughtering people
indiscriminately. Didn't matter if they were man or woman, infirm or strong,
elder or child. He just enjoyed his hunt.
Chrom tried using the white and black crowns to fight back, but he was still no
match for Gila. Given that the crowns couldn't use their special abilities during
the fight, it was an obvious loss.
And, after repelling Chrom's attempt at resistance, Gila turned his wrath
toward the man's wife and child.
Chrom's family was turned to ashes, incinerated by Gila's particle beam. The
resulting despair unleashed by Chrom melded with the abilities of black and
white, activating them at the same time.
The powers of the black and white crowns were similar, but they functioned
differently. When used together, their power went out of control. There was
nothing that could stop it.
While the primary component of the combination that brought Chrom across
worlds was the black's power; this time the primary component was the power
of the white crown. The ability to overwrite reality ran rampant.
This rampant power merged with the black crown's time-related power and
began a wave of unusual effects that spread across the entire world.
One of these effects was the world boundary being repaired. Its individual
timeline was rewound to a point where it wasn't broken. The aftershocks
caused most of the Phrase to be sucked back through to the space between
worlds. Then, if I recalled correctly, Ende did something with the Dominant and
Upper Constructs.
Several events were grabbed at random from different potential realities and
haphazardly pasted over the world in which Chrom had lost his family.
A veritable storm of contradiction began washing over the entire planet.
Results occurred, yet the steps were never put in place to achieve them.
Successes and achievements were made, yet nobody had put in the work to get
there.
For a brief time, utter chaos warped the fabric of reality on a global scale. But
the threat, the Phrase, had been wiped from the world. The monsters that had
conquered over sixty percent of the planet vanished in an instant.
"Oh, that explains a lot..." Doctor Babylon patted her hands together as if
realizing something.
"Hm? What does it explain?"
"Well, on the day the Phrase vanished... I was frantically trying to finalize the
Frame Gears. But weird stuff started happening, like uhh... Parts I thought I'd
assembled suddenly fell to the floor and started rolling around. Projects and
checklists that I hadn't gotten around to were suddenly finished without me
doing anything. I thought I was just getting tired, so I brushed it off and went to
sleep."
"Do you think that was because of Albus and Noir, then?"
"Yeah, I would think so. Like uhh... Imagine if you had a list that went 1, 2, 3,
4. The power surge from Albus and Noir scrambled that list, then added in other
variables like C, or III. So instead of 1, 2, 3, and 4... The list was now like... D, 5,
II, and Gamma. It basically made a mess out of causality."
So the power likely dragged in items and events from parallel worlds,
replacing existing things with them... That would've definitely confused people
on a massive scale.
"I doubt even Chrom would have predicted they'd be capable of that power
when combined. He surely would've installed a safety mechanism."
Still, it was probably good he didn't... That kind of raw chaos ended up saving
the planet.
Not all the Phrase got moved back to the gap between worlds, but the
humans managed to clean up the remaining ones.
"So, wait... What happened to Chrom Ranchesse?"
Yumina looked down at her newly-servile Gollem.
"Master Chrom paid the price for my ability. The white crown, Albus, must be
paid in memories. The knowledge he had built up throughout his life. His
personal relationships, his love and hate. All was obliterated. That was the
price."
"That's awful...!"
So the price for the white crown's power was your memory. The memory of a
person was tantamount to their soul. They carried a person's knowledge and
feelings.
Albus' power required its master to lose some memories each time its power
was drawn upon.
Memories were made every day. Memories were lost every day, too. People
never really lost their memory; they just became unable to recall them... If you
put it that way, maybe the price wasn't that bad a one to pay.
But obviously, everyone had memories precious to them. Family and
cherished friends, dreams, personal achievements, and goals... If they vanished,
that'd be a tragedy.
If you thought about it that way, it was the cruelest price of all. Those
feelings, those cherished events... They'd just be snuffed out in an instant.
To have long-lasting friendships, or deep and intimate relationships wiped
from your mind? It was honestly haunting to think about.
According to Albus, Chrom's memories wouldn't vanish in an instant. They
faded away each day, like sand falling through gaps in one's fingers. Little bits of
him faded into oblivion, piece by piece.
He protected his wife and child, but his memories of them vanished over time
as well, along with all his wisdom and knowledge.
The contradictory waves generated by the white and black rampage even
affected the personal histories of the Gollems.
Their G-Cubes were rewritten to the point where their contract with Chrom
was rendered as an event that never took place. Without a master to contract
with, the two Gollems lost their reason for functioning and powered down.
Chrom never again registered as their master after the incident.
"My functions shut down and I entered sleep mode. I know not what
happened to Chrom after that."
With that, the genius Gollem engineer Chrom Ranchesse faded from the
annals of history. The price he paid to repair the world was a cruel one indeed.
If, after all that, he lost his memories and became despondent and insane,
well... It'd be tragic. But perhaps he'd have been okay with that outcome, since
it meant his family survived.
I hoped that he managed to find a new, happier life with his family, even if his
memories of their old life vanished. But either way, Chrom Ranchesse and his
brilliant mind would be gone. Only a regular, memoryless man named Chrom
lived after that.
As for the strange paradoxical events around the world, I had a feeling that
people adapted to these things and came up with their own strange
explanations over time.
After all, looking at the destroyed towns would be proof that the Phrase had
been there... But at the same time, the Phrase were gone.
The only man who could've explained it had an empty mind afterward.
"The white and black rampage, eh? It was quite the coincidental outcome, in
the end. I suppose I should thank the two of you, since I lived back then and
all... It just kinda feels like the right thing to do."
Doctor Babylon, in a surprisingly timid gesture, bowed her head in sincere
apology. I almost wanted to tell her to stop, since it definitely seemed out of
character, but I held my tongue.
"So now we know the story of five-thousand years ago. What happened to
you two after that?"
"I am unaware. When I was reactivated, I was immediately placed in the
service of Arthur Ernes Belfast."
Damn, you just skipped a whole four-thousand years...
That meant we had no idea what Chrom did with the Gollems after the
rampage. I wondered if he'd sealed them away, or perhaps sold them to
someone.
He'd lost his memories, so it wouldn't be unusual for him to do something like
that. After all, the two Gollems would be nothing but strange inanimate objects
at that point.
When Albus reawakened, it was apparently within some kind of cave system.
Arthur was standing in front of it, along with Noir, who had already been
reactivated.
There was a deceased Dragon nearby, and a whole mount of treasure deep
within the cave. Apparently, the Gollems had been carried away as part of a
Dragon's hoard, and Arthur just happened to find them after slaying the Dragon
for its treasure.
Noir had been reactivated first, purely by accident. Its chest hatch just
happened to be open within the Dragon's lair, and Arthur had his arm slashed
open during the fight. His blood splashed onto the Gollem's G-Cube.
When Noir reactivated, it immediately showed Arthur how to reactivate Albus
as well.
By some twist of fate or fortune, Arthur happened to have perfect
compatibility for mastery of the Gollems. And he seemed happy to have found
such valuable magical artifacts. I could understand why, since having two
obedient knights that needed neither food nor sleep was a great boon.
After that, the Gollems faithfully served Arthur for around ten years. Arthur
was only a prince when he found them, but he eventually ascended the throne.
He was renowned as a brave and wise leader. During that period, Belfast was a
fledgling nation with various monsters and magical beasts surrounding its
borders. Apparently, Arthur used the two crowns to kill the beasts and expand
his national claim.
"Hah. So I guess that means Belfast owes its territory to Albus and Noir..."
"We are owed no debt. We simply followed Arthur."
Well, guess every person has their own history. Although these are Gollems,
not really people.
Unfortunately, all was not well for Belfast. One day, Arthur accidentally
triggered the black crown's ability. That ability included spacetime manipulation
and summoning elements from parallel realities and possibilities. That power
created a tiny crack in the world boundary.
Arthur had his age reversed a few years as compensation, but the true
ramifications of the event would come shortly after. The tiny crack ripped and
tore until it became wide enough for the Phrase to pour back through.
It wasn't like the time where the barrier was completely broken. Only about a
thousand Lesser Constructs made their way through, but two Intermediate
Constructs got through as well.
They appeared overnight in Belfast's capital city, and the army tried to hold
fast against them. But the strange crystal creatures were more than a match for
the knights, and the city was quickly overrun.
When they fought in formation, they could take on the Lesser Constructs, but
the Intermediates were too much of a hurdle. It took the whole army, along
with Albus and Noir, just to keep them at a stalemate.
Arthur made a pivotal decision during this war. He decided to use the black
crown's power to send the two Intermediate Constructs back through the gap
between worlds. If he couldn't beat them, he'd just banish them. It was a
simple solution.
It was a success, too. But something terrible happened. Just before the two
Intermediates were sent back to the void, they combined their power and
launched a railgun strike at the capital.
Arthur acted on reflex, summoning the white crown's power to defend
against it. He thought that he could cancel out the attack ever happening... But,
because the black crown's power was activated at the same time as the white
crowns' again, the two abilities merged and ran rampant once more.
"I have no memories of what happened after this. I fell into sleep mode
immediately after."
Albus could only remember seeing Noir get sucked into the gap between
worlds, and then itself falling into a nearby lake.
"Hm... So I guess Noir drifted into my world after that? Maybe Noir's lack of
memories is because of all that time spent drifting between the two worlds?"
"That's plausible. It would take longer to float across that gap, after all. While
Touya and Chrom could cross that sea by boat or plane, little Noir could only
float at the mercy of the waves. It's only natural it would take longer."
Elluka and Babylon started pondering together. I turned my eyes toward
Yumina, speaking up.
"I wonder what happened to Arthur after that."
"He still exists in our family records, so I imagine he was fine... But the fact
that there's no record of his two Gollems probably means their out-of-control
power affected the world."
Still, there was still evidence of what had actually happened, like the Arcana
Clan's pictographs beneath the old capital.
This was pure conjecture, but I believed Arthur probably lost his memories of
the two crowns as the price for using the power. Since the incident wasn't as
intense as Chrom's, it probably only created minor contradictions localized to
Belfast... In a way, it was like falsifying established history.
"Welp, it's a nice relief to learn about all this... But it sure is a shame old
Chrom's knowledge was lost."
Doc had a point, but I thought it was probably okay like this. If Chrom had
continued living his life unimpeded, he might've created stronger or more
frightening crown Gollems over time.
A contract with a crown always came with a price, after all... It was kind of like
making a contract with a devil. There were perks, but it was usually rooted in
trouble.
"...Yumina, don't become a full master, okay?"
"I don't even know if I'm fully compatible, but I promise I won't. Were you
worried?"
"Well duh. I wouldn't want you to sacrifice your memories."
Yumina giggled softly in response to my words. I pouted, I was being serious!
There was no way I'd let Yumina forget her experiences with me and the others.
Hm... If something like that happens, I'll get her memories back. Even if I have
to tap into my divinity... Wait, hold on. Yumina's a divine beneficiary, right?
Maybe the trade-off won't affect her? Kousuke and I didn't have our memories
altered by the reset, right?
Yumina was unrelated to everything that had happened, so it wasn't like
she'd have noticed if she was affected or not.
No matter how smart Chrom was, there's no way he could've crafted
something that could outdo the gods... I wasn't going to put that to the test,
though. It was still possible Yumina could lose her memories.
I reached out to take Yumina by the hand, and she gently entwined her
fingers around mine.
"...If you two keep flirting, I'm gonna barf." Norn stared daggers into my back,
but I ignored her venomous words. Yumina and I were truly happy.