Chapter 125 - Preparing for the Showdown

"I'd appreciate it if you could handle that."

"Understood."

Albus, the white crown, sat atop the dog Gollem Anubis' back. Bastet, the cat

Gollem, sat atop Albus' head. The three of them were headed off to plant the

puretree within Isengard, which was supposed to purge the divine venom.

"...This might be a bit much. Anubis and Bastet don't stand out much because

they're just a black cat and a black dog, but with Albus mixed in as well, it's...

Hm..." Yumina said, letting out a small sigh as she looked over the trio.

"Yeah... But there's not really a lot we can do here. We definitely need Albus

to protect the tree while it grows."

Anubis' [Storage] collar had the puretree sapling inside it, along with a large

[Gate] mirror.

The sapling was to be placed somewhere covertly in Isengard, and Albus

would defend it until the surrounding area had been purified. After that, we'd

all be able to move in via the mirror. That was why Albus was necessary to the

mission, but it was definitely true that he stood out a lot.

"Well, I don't think anyone'll bug you guys so long as nobody recognizes Albus

as a crown."

"I will take care to move unnoticed."

Albus had a phrasium shortsword, just in case of trouble. He also had orders

to abandon the sapling and return via the [Gate] mirror in the case of

catastrophic failure. Worst case scenario, if the puretree sapling had to be left

behind, we could nurture another one with the remaining purifying materials

we had.

"Just try to avoid trouble. I'd prefer it if you stayed away from towns, too. It'd

be really bad if the enemy got wind of your presence based on rumors in the

area."

"Understood. We'll be going."

"Indeed, let us go."

"Woof, woof! Let's gooo! Hold on tight, you two!" Anubis charged ahead,

Albus clinging on to his collar for dear life, as the three Gollems hurtled through

a [Gate] I'd opened.

I'd sent them to Gardio, along the coastline. They'd then cross the sea to

Isengard from there. Assuming they went quickly, it'd take them about two

days.

"It's in their hands now."

"They'll be okay. I believe in them..."

Yumina's words didn't have any real logical root, but hearing her say them

made me believe it too. Everything was going to be okay, I just knew it.

"...You really are incredible, Yumina."

"Wh-What?"

My cute little fiancee, who seemed perplexed by the sudden compliment,

tilted her head a bit to the side.

Everything was going to be okay. It was going to be fine. I held those beliefs

firmly in my heart as I closed the [Gate] in front of me.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Oho, this is quite the lively neighborhood," said God Almighty, smiling as he

walked through the castle town.

"This is the main street, and then that's the road to Belfast. If you follow it in

the other direction, you'll reach Regulus. The southern trail takes you to the

guild area."

I was guiding him through Brunhild's main settlement. Ever since the guild

had us link the town to the dungeon islands, there had been more and more

people coming through on a regular basis. Merchants and adventurers alike

came to the town. Some of them even decided they liked it enough to settle.

We had immigration screening, but it was pretty basic. We did a family

background check and asked the individuals what kind of jobs they wanted to

work, that sort of thing. Our main goal was to keep criminals out. That being

said, we were happy to accept rehabilitated criminals. Luckily, Yumina's mystic

eye helped us screen intentions pretty accurately. Plus, we had the polygraph

test from Doc Babylon. We had to be wary of potential insurgents from Yulong

and Sandora trying to take revenge on Brunhild's people, so better safe than

sorry.

For the most part, the only criminals in Brunhild were foreigners, but there

was the odd troublemaker here and there amongst our citizens. That was to be

expected, though. A bigger population meant a bigger pool of potential

problems.

"We're not a major city by any means, but we get by well enough."

"It is pleasant to see, all the same. I am happy to see such lively children

running around," God Almighty said as he smiled over at a group of playful kids.

In this world, child labor wasn't an uncommon practice. The further out you

got from the main cities, the more likely it was to find kids doing unskilled work.

Education and manners weren't really a priority for the people who struggled

just to eat, so they put their kids to work and pretty much quashed their

potential.

But I wanted the children of Brunhild to grow up with freedom and

opportunity, so that they could pursue their hopes and dreams.

"There's a school up ahead. Kids usually start attending from the age of six."

"Oh my."

I showed God Almighty to our elementary school. We didn't actually have any

other tiers of school in the town, though. Sakura's mother, Fiana, was in charge

of educating the townspeople.

Heh, looks like there's a lot of cats napping in the sunlight today. They sure

like this schoolyard, huh? Hold on... Wait just a second... I noticed one particular

cat curled up on a bench, so I immediately charged over to him and lifted him

high.

"Are you slacking off over here?!"

"M-Meowie! I-I was just taking a catnap! We had a catnip party with Athos'

friends and a bunch of ladycats yesterday, so, oh... A-Agh! G-Grand Duke, it's

you?! Meow very n-nice to see you!" Mr. Mittens was half asleep, so he hadn't

realized who had grabbed him as he said that. However, his fur stood up on end

when he saw my face.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking after Fiana?"

"M-Meow... Er... M-My lady told me to rest for the day! I promise! Paw on

heart!"

"Does Sakura know about this?"

"...Sh-She... Doesn't..."

"Do you want me to call Kohaku so you can get a good earful?"

"Meooow! N-No! Spare me! I'll be a good kitty!" Mr. Mittens wailed and

started bowing profusely. That dumbass really was something else.

"Ohohoh. What a funny little kitten this is."

"I'm no mere kitten! Meow very dare you!" Mr. Mittens hissed as he glared

right up at God Almighty, staring him down with righteous fury.

"Oh, well... This is my grandpa. His name is Mochizuki Shinnosuke."

"A pleasure to meet you."

"Y-Your grandfather? Meow nice to meet you... My name is Mr. Mitt—

D'Artagnan..."

Pfft... You almost called yourself Mr. Mittens, idiot.

"Oh? Our very own grand duke? Are you here to inspect the school?"

A window opened up nearby, and principal Fiana popped her head out. A

series of other windows opened up in sequence, and children started peering

outside as well.

"Grand Duke?"

"Ohh, it's the duke!"

"Play with us, mister!"

"Are you here to tell us more stories?"

The kids started murmuring amongst themselves. I felt a bit bad, since I'd

clearly interrupted class. I apologized to Fiana, but took the chance to introduce

God Almighty as my grandpa.

"Oh my, what a pleasant surprise. Welcome to our school. I hope it's to your

liking."

"Oh, of course it is! Thank you so much for working alongside my grandson

here. There are no difficulties you face while living in Brunhild, I hope?"

"None at all! The grand duke treats us all very well, and I'm more than happy

with the children I teach," Fiana said as she smiled softly. I was definitely happy

to have her with us in Brunhild, and it was good for Sakura to be able to see her

mother often as well.

Fiana lived in a small house close to the school with Mr. Mittens. I'd invited

her to live alongside Sakura in the castle, but she turned the offer down. I had a

feeling that she didn't want to live there because it would increase her chances

of meeting with her ex-husband, the overlord.

God Almighty turned from Fiana to the children, and he ever-so-gently called

out to them.

"Hello there, children! Are you enjoying school?"

"Yeah!"

"We wuv school!"

"I like school, but I don't like homework."

One of the children pouted a little bit, sounding unlike the rest of the crowd.

"Oho. Not one for studying, are you?"

"I'm gonna be a knight, so I don't gotta do classwork."

"Are you sure you can become a knight without classwork?"

"Yeah! I don't gotta have brains. Don't even gotta read! Just gotta be able to

beat people up, right?"

The boy snorted slightly and picked at his nose as God Almighty looked him

over. He was certainly a little bit bratty...

"Is that so, young man? Tell me, Grand Duke. What do you make of this?"

"Sorry, but you won't make it into our knight order that way."

"Huuuh?! But I thought I just had to be tough to save people!"

The boy complained loudly, almost throwing a little tantrum.

"Well then, tell me this: How many ration packs would a team of fifteen

knights need if they were going out on a seven-day monster hunt? If they don't

take enough, they'd end up being weakened, but if they take too much, they'll

be carrying more than they should be and might be overburdened. If they fail

the mission because of that, then the monsters would go on to hurt those

people you want to save, right?"

"Wah..."

"If you found a bandit den and couldn't read the plans they'd left behind, they

could attack a village while you were trying to figure out where they'd gone. I

bet you'd wish you did your homework in a situation like that."

To be honest, he'd probably be fine if he was in a group, since someone else

there could take care of the reading or calculating, but that wasn't really the

point.

It was fine to do whatever if you were just a mercenary looking for cash. It

was also fine if you were an adventurer going it alone out there. But if you were

a member of a knight order, then you had a duty of care to the people you'd

been assigned to protect.

One person making a mistake could have dire consequences. Those who

believed physical strength was the only requirement weren't really the kind of

people who had any business being knights. It was true that strength was

important, but there were different kinds of strength. Mental acuity was

certainly one of them.

"Our knight order has people who aren't all that physically strong, too. We

have a whole group dedicated to designing blueprints and helping grow more

crops to make the land more sustainable. Those jobs help keep our citizens

alive, too. Physical strength will only get you so far."

Even I had to rely on Yumina and my other fiancees, along with Doc Babylon.

Not to mention the monarchs and gods. I wouldn't have made it here without

them... Even if they were a little annoying at times.

"...Really, miss?"

The boy turned toward Fiana, asking her for the truth. I felt a little sad that

the kid didn't trust his own monarch at face value...

"It's true. Strength alone won't let you protect everything. You need to be

strong in other areas, not just your body. That's why we have schools. It's my

job to teach you, so that when you're an adult you can choose the path that's

right for you."

The boy paused for a moment to process this new information, then gave a

timid nod.

"...Okay! I'm gonna study real hard, miss! Gonna be a knight who can save

people!"

"Good boy. I'm sure you'll do well."

The boy seemed to have a spark of determination in his eyes. I hoped that I'd

see him again someday in the application line for Brunhild's knight order. God

Almighty and I then talked with the kids a little more before turning and leaving

the schoolyard.

"This is a pleasant country. Everyone seems to be quite energetic, and they

are all working hard for their futures."

"There's still a lot about it that makes me think I need to grow as a leader, to

be honest."

"Now, now. I will have you know that I have created many worlds since I came

into existence. Some that turned out wonderfully, but others I have had

accidentally destroyed. Some turned out to be vile places as well. Even a god

such as myself cannot demand perfection from himself. You have allies to rely

on, and I am sure they will be there for you."

I understood what he was saying, but the scale of his situation was

unfathomably large. He was basically just telling me not to overexert myself,

though.

"I have to ask, my boy. Do you regret being brought to this world? Is there a

part of you that wishes to return home?"

"Well, I mean... When I first arrived here, I kind of treated the situation as

something that couldn't really be avoided. It honestly hurts that I can't see my

family anymore. I'm sad I can't see my old friends, too. Sadder still that I'm

dead to them. That's why I decided it was best to just make the most of the

new life in this world. I've always been kind of good at making the best out of a

bad situation. But now, I wouldn't call this situation bad at all. In fact, I'm happy

to be here. I was able to meet a lot of people I hold close to my heart."

I'd met Elze and Linze not long after arriving in this world. Then, I traveled

with Yae, met Sue quite by chance, and found myself close to Yumina...

I remember Leen offering to make me her student in Mismede, and then

rescuing Lu during the Regulus coup... Oh, and I saved Hilde from the Phrase

and restored Sakura's memories.

All of those events wouldn't have come to pass had I not died so suddenly, so

I couldn't really regret it anymore.

"It would be possible for you to leave this world behind now that you have

awakened to your divinity... You could simply use it to return home."

God Almighty had a point. Now that I'd become a god, I wasn't exactly

beholden to the rules I'd been bound by as a mortal.

Still... I was formally dead back home. Suddenly coming back from the grave

would have caused too much of a fuss. I wasn't all that interested in causing a

media circus.

"I was kinda thinking that I'd introduce my fiancees to my parents by entering

their dreams, or something. I don't think it'd be that weird for a parent to

dream of their dead kid, right? Plus, they're pretty open-minded in terms of

beliefs, so I think they might be comforted by it."

My parents were a manga artist and a picture book illustrator, so they kind of

had to have open minds to succeed. I had actually been keeping up with my

dad's series on my smartphone. His manga wasn't selling great, but it hadn't

been discontinued either, so that was a good sign.

"Ah, regarding your parents. Your mother is with child again. I just thought

you ought to know. A little sibling of yours will soon be born into the world."

"Ohh, that's nice... Wait, what?!" I screamed. God Almighty had said that so

casually it took a minute for my mind to process the news. A few people nearby

jumped back in shock when I yelled, but I didn't care about that.

I-I'm getting a baby brother or sister?! Uhhh... My dad was twenty-four and

my mother was eighteen when I was born... And when I died, they were forty

and thirty-four... so...

I started to internally calculate how old my parents were.

"Guess I should try and appear in their dreams soon..."

I had to congratulate them, after all. I was happy to hear that they'd get

another shot at happiness with a new child, but a part of me felt truly upset

that I couldn't be there for my little sibling.

"I wonder if I should summon a dog or a cat beast to serve as a guardian for

the little one... Or maybe I should summon a spirit that can't be seen... Yeah, a

silent guardian might be better."

"Now, now, my boy. You are moving a little quickly there. The child has yet to

be born, after all..."

"I'm gonna be a big brother! I've gotta make sure my little sibling's okay, and I

want my family to be happy... Understand?"

"I will watch over the child, so fret not about any danger befalling your family.

I see you are the type who loses his composure when family comes into the

mix, eh?" God Almighty scolded me ever so slightly. He wasn't exactly wrong. I

had a feeling that when I had kids, I'd be one of those oppressively doting dads.

I worried for whoever ended up wanting to date my daughters, since I knew

they'd have to contend with me.

Still, I had to admit... I felt a bit of relief when I learned my parents were

having a baby. I was scared that they'd live a lonely life in that house after I was

gone. My crazy grandpa passed away a while ago, so I had a feeling the little kid

would probably grow up to be a decent and well-adjusted person... Unlike me.

I quietly stared up at the blue sky of this other world, praying for the

wellbeing of the family I'd left behind in my original home.

◇ ◇ ◇

"This location is suitable," Bastet said, then jumped down from atop Albus'

head.

They were in an unnamed forest near the middle of Isengard. It was far from

civilization, and not very notable at all.

"We're planting it here, then?"

"Indeed. Produce the sapling," Albus ordered.

Anubis did as he was told, and produced the puretree sapling from the

[Storage] in his collar. It fell to the ground.

"Albus, the rest is up to you."

"Very well," Albus said as it picked up the puretree sapling and began digging

a small spot in the ground. He buried the plant's roots, making little particles

appear around its leaves. This was proof enough that the divine venom in the

area was being purified.

"Now all we need to do is watch over the sapling."

"How long will that take?"

"Kousuke claims that the purification will reach around twenty meters in

radius within two days. We can call the grand duke here after that."

"Huh?! That's barely anything for two days... Is the plant really gonna be able

to affect the whole country?"

"It will work. The speed of purification is set to increase exponentially with

the tree's size. Albus, we'll be counting on you to guard it," Bastet said.

"Understood," Albus replied, then nodded in Bastet's direction.

Anubis suddenly turned his head towards the woodland. He growled and

continued, "The forest-dwellers are coming."

Three little green-skinned monsters appeared from the underbrush. They

were goblins. Territorial little creatures that were instinctively driven to chase

out intruders. They wielded clubs and spears and weren't exactly the

negotiating type.

Bastet and company looked like a black cat, a black dog, and a little armored

person. If the goblins didn't stink so badly themselves, they'd have noticed that

the creatures in their path had no discernible scents.

"Gyehgyeeeeh!" "Gyiiih!" "Gyeeegh!"

The three goblins charged forward, probably thinking they had found their

meals for the day. But they hadn't found easy targets. Far from it, in fact.

Anubis caught one of them by the throat, seizing it in his jaws and slamming it

into the ground. The dog's phrasium fangs sliced through the goblin's flesh like

soft butter, ending its life. Meanwhile, Albus' crystal blade severed the heads of

the other two. The battle was over before it had even really begun.

"Good work, Albus. Thank you."

"Not a problem," Albus replied and sheathed its blade after nodding at Bastet.

"Sis, Sis! Praise me too!"

"Wooow. You're so great and amazing and impressive."

"Wh-Why so monotone?! I wanted you to mean it!" Anubis began rolling

around on the ground and wailing in complaint.

"Don't mess around. Pay attention to our surroundings. If it's just monsters

like those goblins that's fine... But if we fail to notice mutants closing in, we'll be

done for."

"Pssh..."

Albus could handle a small handful of mutants, but they wouldn't be able to

fend off a group with sustained reinforcements. Ideally, they'd just kill any

mutants that came near before the group got too large. That was the best way

to stall for time.

They had to hold out for two days. If they were lucky, they'd be able to

nurture the puretree without any mutants showing up. If they managed that,

then they'd be able to leave things to the grand duke and his family.

Bastet glanced toward the sapling for a moment before turning her senses to

the surrounding environment.

◇ ◇ ◇

The mace clashed against the raging halberd. The two wielders passed each

other, made a U-turn, and immediately clashed again. The two of them clashed

with perfect balance, even though their sizes suggested that to be quite a

difficult feat.

I was watching two Frame Gears facing off against each other. One was white,

one was blue. Both of them were riding atop their own surfboard-like mounts.

Lain, Commander of Brunhild's knight order, was in her Shining Count. Clashing

against her was one of her direct subordinates. It was Norn, in her Blue Moon.

No, wait, Norn didn't go by Norn anymore. She had changed her name to Nore.

The beastwoman vice-commander came up to me and said it was too

confusing having two Norns around in Brunhild, so she took the initiative and

changed her name. Apparently, it was less of changing her name, and more of

making it sound like the root word of the name, which was pronounced

something like Noruen.

Either way, there was now no more confusion. We had Norn, the master of

the black crown, and we had Nore, the beastwoman vice-commander of our

knights. Apparently, the two of them got along quite well, which might have

been because they shared the same name.

Norn looked like a little girl, but was quite the cool-headed individual. Nore,

on the other hand, looked older, but was still somewhat child-like in many

aspects. The two of them were just about polar opposites in every imaginable

way.

As I thought about that, the white and blue knights came to a halt and began

attacking each other.

"Hmm, I see... They're not able to use the ground for support, so they're

relegated to only attacking with the upper body."

"Yeah. They can't jump around or use any fancy footwork, so this definitely

wouldn't work well with Elze's Gerhilde," I casually responded to Nikola, our

other vice-commander, who was standing by my side.

Doc Babylon initially thought of fusing Gerhilde with Helmwige, but the idea

was scrapped pretty quickly. The flight units that we'd used in the fight against

the witch-king were tweaked and given extended durations, then they were

passed on to Yae and Hilde's Frame Gears. These flight gears, the floating discs,

were only set to be used alongside Knight Barons and Chevaliers. They weren't

really suited to the Frame Gears used by Yumina and the others.

"Most of the flying mutants are the type to charge and attack instead of

holding still, so it's a matter of figuring out their timing and making your own

lunging strike count."

The flying mutants moved like birds in flight or fish swimming without a

current. Most of them launched themselves forward like bullets, taking

advantage of their study forms. Though, there were also slower ones that fired

crystal fragments, like artillery systems. That was why the best way to win an

airborne battle was to determine which types were which, then attack them

based on that intel.

"It'll be a bit rough to deal with the ones on the ground using the flight gears."

"Yeah. If they swoop down too low, they'll just get in the way of their allies. It

might be a bit hard for them to switch to their shields for a ground-based fight

in the midst of all that... Oh dear."

Oh dear... Oh... deer... Nikola's comment reminded me of the other thing that

was nearby. I turned around and glanced at the massive mechanical deer that

was scampering around. It was our newest Over Gear, Deer Blau. The thing was

just a bit larger than our regular Frame Gears.

Over Gears could only be piloted by crown Gollems, which meant that

Distortion Blau was currently inside that thing. But that also meant...

"Ooh! Stupendous! Utterly superb! It's moving in accordance with my very

will! Brilliant!"

Prince Robert was here... And his voice was blaring out of the speakers. The

only person who responded to his joyful yelling was Ceres, his fiancee. She was

clapping and cheering for him, a broad smile on her face. The two of them were

certainly close...

Norn's Leo Noir and Nia's Tiger Rouge were offense-oriented Over Gears. On

the other hand, Robert's Deer Blau was designed with defense in mind. The

enormous horns jutting from its forehead were able to deploy magical barriers

that it could use to guard the nearby area. That didn't mean it had no offensive

capabilities, though. Those horns could also be used to charge the enemy.

Doc Babylon spent a long time deliberating whether to build a horse or a

deer, but ultimately she settled on the deer. I didn't exactly have high hopes for

the three crown holders working in perfect tandem, but I was appreciative of

the increase in raw power we had gained. Though, to be honest, the fact that all

three of them were equally likely to let loose and rampage a bit made me

worried.

"Not bad, huh? Deer Blau was built especially to make use of that blue

crown's ability," Doc Babylon said as she walked up from behind us with

Rosetta in tow. She had an ether cigarette in her mouth. At a glance, you'd

think it was tobacco, but apparently, it was a special herb that produced a

soothing scent. Personally, I thought there was more to it, not to mention the

fact that the image of a little girl smoking something like that looked a bit

sketchy to those not in the know...

"Is that safe, actually? I kind of think Blau's skill is a bit dangerous..."

"On the contrary! Blau's skill is the one with the least risky price to pay. Nia

could bleed out in exchange for power, and Norn could turn into a teeny little

embryo and splat on the floor. But that prince? Why, he just takes a nap."

"Sure, but what if he uses too much power and takes a permanent one?"

It wasn't exactly the same as dying, but functionally it was pretty close. I

wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life unconscious.

"Don't worry about it. I know I said we're using Blau's ability but we're really

only using a fragment of that power. Not nearly enough to be able to kill the

prince, either. Plus, I'm sure we could whip something up to wake him in a

worst-case scenario... Why, I actually haven't slept in four days, myself." Doctor

Babylon let out a strange little laugh after saying that. I felt a bit bad, since we'd

clearly been putting a lot of pressure on the R&D staff lately.

Doc Babylon had a gynoid body like the Babylon numbers, which meant she

could keep on operating without sleep for far longer than a human being... Still,

her brain was that of a human's, so she needed her rest every now and then.

"You should go and sleep, Doc. You don't want to put your health or life at

risk, do you?"

The Guinness Book of World Records actually stopped taking participants who

were going for the record of the longest time without sleep. They were worried

someone would kill themselves during an attempt.

"I can't sleep until I see my projects through, Touya. But I wouldn't mind a

reward from you... I've been working extra hard lately, after all."

"...A reward? Like what?"

I looked down at the doc, who was staring up at me with bags under her eyes.

So long as her request wasn't too difficult, I was happy to give her something

for all the hard work she'd been doing.

"Nothing too bad, really. I was thinking a steamy night, you and I... my legs

locked around your waist, and..."

"Oh, I see. You want me to knock you out and force you to go to sleep, huh?"

Her idea was definitely not happening. I should have expected no less from a

dirty little deviant like her, but I'd hoped for something better. It was honestly

frightening just how straight-faced she said it, looking up at me with those tired

eyes.

"Then I want you to hold me. I want a hug, Touya... Just a hug."

She'd certainly lowered the bar. I wondered if she was using that negotiating

tactic where you highball an offer hoping for an intentional failure, then

pretend to negotiate down toward what you actually wanted. I was pretty sure

that was known as the door-in-the-face method. Doc Babylon held her arms

out, so I complied with her request and lifted her up.

"Hehehehe... It's been a while since I've been this close to your body, Touya...

I like it. It's getting me in the mood..."

"...I can still wrestle you off me."

Doc Babylon wrapped her legs around my waist and held on to my body with

her arms, using all the strength in her body. She was basically like a koala

clinging to a eucalyptus tree! It wasn't a hug anymore, it was just her holding on

tight.

Suddenly, I felt the strength drain from her limbs and soft breaths waft from

her lips. I moved my arms to support her. Huh? Wait a sec...

"She's asleep! Yessir, she is!"

"Geez..." I heaved a sigh as Rosetta spoke. She was looking over Doc Babylon

from the side. I definitely couldn't set her down at this point... Part of me

wondered if she was just pretending, honestly.

"...She really did work hard, yessir. She really did..."

"Hm?"

"Five thousand years back... she was a genius of the time, yessir, she was. She

only ever worked on what she wanted to work on. She did all her experiments

without thinking about anyone else."

"Isn't that basically the same as now...?"

"Sir, no, sir! She never once used her genius for anyone else's sake. Never... If

you want my opinion, sir, she crossed five thousand years in that suspended

animation just so she could meet you. So she could be here for you."

...That would take some pretty intense feelings... It's true that she's been an

invaluable asset, though...

"All of us Babylon gynoids care deeply for you, sir. But that isn't just because

you're the heir of Babylon. It isn't just because you're the owner of the floating

fortress, no, sir. It's because our personalities all stem from her, sir," Rosetta

said as she pointed at the sleeping doctor, giving a small smile. I'd never

thought about it like that before. She wasn't wrong, though. Hell, the Babylon

islands had been designed so I was the only one who could take control of

them. Even though I had to fulfill certain conditions to master each individual

piece, the whole thing had been planned with me in mind. It was a pretty

impressive deception.

Doctor Babylon had peeked into the future. She knew I was the only person in

this era with every elemental aptitude. She'd set the events in motion that

resulted in me acquiring Babylon. Everything had proceeded according to her

plan... Which was fine, in the end, since it had saved us.

"She's a little heavy here... Rosetta, can you carry her on your back?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Rosetta turned around and crouched as she said that, so I

placed the sleeping doctor on her back.

"Have her sleep a while in the ramparts. And, uh... when she wakes up, could

you thank her for me?"

"Oh, sir? Did you finally warm up to her?"

"Shut up!"

Rosetta smiled and walked forward, then beamed up to Babylon. She'd done

a lot for us, so there was no way our paths could untwine at this point. But

honestly... I didn't want to lose her. She'd become important to me.

Just a few days later, we would march upon Isengard and start the final

conflict against the wicked god. I vowed to drag out the enemy and put an end

to all this strife. Though, in all honesty, I was worried more about the stuff that

would come afterward. I had my wedding to fret about, as well as my divine

training...

But still, I had to face it head-on.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Auugh! Why did this have to happen?!" Bastet let out a small sigh as she

watched the mutant dissolve in front of her.

"Mm. We were discovered too soon," Albus stated as he sheathed his crystal

blade and glanced around the area.

"Why was there a mutant here, huh?! It makes no sense!"

It was a terrible stroke of bad luck. Bastet, Anubis, and Albus had been

discovered far earlier than they should have been. It hadn't even been a day.

The death of the lone variant that had found them would surely herald the

arrival of more.

"Should we run back to Brunhild? We can use that magic mirror!"

"And abandon the puretree? No way. It's growing quite nicely," Bastet said,

nodding toward the tree, which was already over a meter tall. If they returned

to Brunhild, the three of them would be safe from harm, but... The puretree

would be completely defenseless, and they'd have to start everything from

scratch.

A large-scale attack from the mutants wasn't guaranteed. Even if they did

show up, it wouldn't be that big of a group. They'd be able to handle it... Or so

Bastet hoped, at least. Ideally, no enemies would show up, though.

"Thirty meters ahead. Five enemies. Mutants," Albus spoke as he unsheathed

his blade again. Bastet groaned, her prayers unanswered, but she positioned

herself in front of the puretree to defend it. Albus and Anubis stood before

Bastet. There were less of them than there were mutants, so the fight would be

a tough one.

Albus was a crown, the apex of Gollem technology, but Yumina wasn't around

to issue proper commands. In its current state, Albus would be operating at

around ten percent of its full power. A Gollem could only reveal its true

strength when fighting in tandem with its master. This rule applied for Bastet

and Anubis, too. However, despite all that, they had no choice but to fight the

enemy.

"Victory goes to those who act first," Albus proclaimed as he dashed ahead at

the mutants who appeared.

A crawfish-shaped mutant raised its pincers and aimed them at the Gollems.

A few spheres of light gathered within the open pincers, and they began

shooting out laser beams. Albus dodged them, slicing one of the pincers off

neatly. The Gollem then swerved to the side and plunged its blade into the

mutant's side.

Unfortunately, the mutant didn't stop moving. Instead, it merely swung its

other pincer at Albus. Albus responded by slicing off that pincer as well, then

drove its blade through the enemy's head.

The mutant finally stopped moving, and it began to melt into a puddle of goo.

Albus' final strike had located the core and sliced it in two. Unlike the regular

Phrase, mutants didn't have visible cores, so it was a case of guesswork to find

out how to finish them off for good.

"Albus! Get these guys as well!" Anubis called out for help as he frantically

dodged the two mutants by his side.

Anubis and Bastet didn't just have [Storage] available to them, but also

[Accel], [Shield], [Fly], and [Invisible]. They were all defensive or utilityoriented skills, but [Invisible] was basically useless against the mutants to begin

with. They didn't even have eyes.

They did have [Paralyze] and [Gravity] on their forelegs, but paralysis was

ineffective on the mutants. Plus, the gravity-manipulation only increased the

force of their crystal claws, so it wouldn't do too much against them, either.

Albus tried to kill the mutants harassing Anubis, but it wasn't going so well.

And Bastet was also having trouble defending the puretree more directly.

The mutants were currently attacking the three Gollems. If they all fled from

the area, there was a good chance the enemy would give chase and ignore the

puretree... But that was a gamble that Bastet didn't want to take.

"Ack, things are getting rough!"

Another crayfish mutant swept in to attack Bastet, making her panic. And

right when she decided that retreating would probably be a good idea, she

heard a strange voice call out.

"Oh me, oh my... A cute little puppy and a sweet little kitty? How quaint and

curious! We should get in on this too, hehehe!"

"Wh—?!"

A girl had appeared as if from nowhere. She looked quite out of place. She

was wearing a pretty purple dress. Her eyes were amethyst, matching the color

of her hair, and she wielded a small parasol that leaned against her shoulder.

But the thing that shocked Bastet the most wasn't the girl. It was the tiny

purple Gollem by her side. The one wielding a scythe twice its own size.

The machine looked startlingly similar to Albus...

◇ ◇ ◇

"A... wicked god?"

"Yes. Well, we're calling it that, but it's not really a god... Just think of it as the

top dog of the mutants. In other words, their leader."

We were within one of Brunhild's conference rooms. I was currently hosting a

meeting with all of the world leaders in hopes of addressing the Isengard

situation. I told them that the mutants had made a home in Isengard and that

their leader was on the verge of awakening. I also told them that the mutants

were running wild, and that the landmass had a special kind of curse on it that

we were close to dispelling.

"And what will happen when this wicked god wakes up?" the beastking

leaned forward as he spoke.

"I can't say for sure, but... I think the mutants will be spread across the whole

world. They feed on souls, and those that have their souls eaten by it will

transform into skeletal mutants and bolster the enemy ranks. It's likely that

their aim is to transform all humans, or all living creatures in the world, into

mutants."

Everyone believed me at face value. After all, we'd all fought against the

mutants, or at least seen videos of them in action.

"I don't plan to take that lying down, though. Right now, a special kind of

venom is blocking the way to the wicked god, but we've planted a special tree

that can purify it. Once the purification reaches their main base of operations,

we'll move in and take out the enemy leader."

"Are you certain you can handle that?" the queen of Strain raised her hand as

she asked that question, and I nodded in response.

"We can, yes. I promise you that. I have a wedding to deal with after this, so I

can't afford to die there. We head on over and take it out."

"Ahahaha! Sounds like a hell of a reason, champ!" the king of Felsen laughed

uproariously in response to my statement, his muscles rippling as he shook. His

over-the-top response made the other world leaders smile in turn.

"So then, what do we do?"

"Once they realize the puretree can dispel their curse, the wicked god will

likely charge toward it. That's when I'll head toward the wicked god. While I'm

doing that, I want the alliance to use the Frame Gears to defend the tree."

I didn't think they had a particularly large army of mutants left, but I couldn't

exactly be sure... There were definitely a hell of a lot of those golden Skeletons,

but they wouldn't be able to put up a fight against our Frame Gears.

"Interesting... So by protecting the puretree, we protect the world..." the

emperor of Regulus muttered and stroked his beard.

"Indeed. A rather simple solution. I would be glad to join hands with you all in

defense of our world. This wicked god cannot do as it pleases with our newlyunified alliance!"

The king of Belfast's words rippled through the air, making everyone nod in

agreement.

It was obvious we'd all have to band together if the world was at stake. It was

in our best interests to survive. No creature was going to just sit there and let

itself die. But the same could be said of our enemies. It was kill or be killed. A

simple situation. Our opponents couldn't be negotiated with, so they had to

die.

"It's hard to say what they'll do if we back them into a corner. We have a lot

of measures in place, but it's possible we can't communicate properly when

we're in enemy territory. That's why we thought up this plan..." I told everyone

about my secret emergency strategy. Ideally, we wouldn't have to employ it,

but it was best to be prepared. I didn't want to fail because we hadn't

considered every option.

Once the meeting ended, we all headed toward the afterparty. Everyone

relaxed and began to enjoy the celebration, hoping that it wouldn't be the last.

"I think things'll be fine now that we've learned about your secret strategy,

Touya. I'm quite amazed you even thought something like that up."

"Yeah... I'd prefer it if we didn't have to resort to that, though."

"Oh, aye? I'm quite eager to give it a shot! Sounds like it'll be a riot!"

The beastking grinned broadly as he spoke. I wasn't surprised. Just like the

ruler of Lassei, he loved nothing more than a good fight.

The beastking laughed a bit more before heading off to the training grounds.

He was going to have a sparring match with the Lassei potentate. I felt a little

bit sorry for his retainers, who walked after him while letting out quiet sighs.

"G-Grand Duke!" I turned to see the Ramissh pope charging toward me at full

pelt. To be honest, I was worried about her running so quickly, given her age... I

had more than enough tact to keep that thought internal, though.

"I-I was speaking with your head maid, and she informed me that your

grandfather is here?! C-Could I speak with him, perhaps?"

Hey, hey... Back up a little! You're getting a bit close to me... Even your

paladins are getting all confused, ma'am... I wasn't too surprised to see her

freaking out this way, given she was basically the world's most devoted fan of

God Almighty, but it was still a bit much.

"Uhhh... He's having tea with Karen and the others right now, I think."

"Wh-Where?!"

"Should be in the castle lounge?"

"I'll be off, then! Thank you!" Her Holiness charged away, leaving her hapless

paladins to run after her.

I was honestly a little bit freaked out by the encounter. Still, the old man

seemed to enjoy talking with the pope, so I had a feeling it'd all work out.

"Was that the pope of Ramissh? What just happened?"

The holy king of Allent walked up to me, glass of wine in hand, as he asked me

that question.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. Just one of those things." His country was

religious too, so I didn't really want him finding out about God Almighty.

The Allent Theocracy was a nation of devout spirit worshipers. They

considered spirits to be messengers from the divine, so they prayed to them.

Apparently, the current leader of Allent was extra-popular with his people

because we helped him communicate with the spirits directly. His popularity

made sense, given that he'd done something no leader had managed in the

past.

"Have you managed to confer with a spirit on your own yet?"

"No, not yet. It would seem my magical reserves don't run too deeply.

Speaking in the tongue of the spirits is also proving somewhat difficult."

"You do have some magical aptitude, though?"

"Indeed, I do. I checked with one of those small spellstones. I appear to be

suited to the wind element, though I've yet to perform even an elementary

Wind spell."

Wind, huh...? Most of the lesser Wind Spirits are pretty curious by nature, so

they should be responding... Having the aptitude for an element makes you

more likely to have an affinity with the spirits of that element. It's probably the

fact that he's not good at speaking their language.

"Could you speak a bit of that spirit tongue for me?"

"Right here?"

The man blushed in slight embarrassment as he recited the spirit-summoning

verse. I immediately understood what the issue was...

"It's your pronunciation that's the issue. You're not saying the word 'gale'

properly."

"Huh? Gale?"

"Yeah... You were saying the incantation wrong. Just now, you said, well... You

said, 'Please heed my call, O spirit of the... whale.'"

"Wh-Whale?!" the king before me exclaimed, blank-faced and shocked. His

soldiers behind him desperately tried to hold in their laughter.

Well, these things happen... You try to summon a specific spirit, but

accidentally call out the wrong one... In cases like that, the spirit will realize it

wasn't meant to be summoned and vanish without a trace. The whimsical Wind

Spirits would definitely just flitter away, too. They'd leave the moment they

learned they weren't actually invited.

There was no such thing as a whale spirit, either. There were definitely Water

Spirits, but nothing like that...

We spent about ten minutes teaching him the differences between the words

'whale' and 'gale' in spirit tongue until he finally got the pronunciation down.

Well, it still came out a little weird. He said it more like "gwale," but it was at

least close enough.

We were indoors, but being near an open window was good enough for a

Wind Spirit. I told him to stand by the window and try the incantation properly.

Once he did, a little spirit appeared before him. It was a small girl who could fit

into his palm.

"I-It worked!"

I pushed him to forge a contract with the spirit. His words sounded a bit

wonky, but the meaning was conveyed properly.

The lesser spirit rose into the air and swirled around him before perching on

his hand and vanishing in a flash. However, a tiny stone remained in his hand

where the spirit had been.

"Good job, you forged the contract properly."

"Amazing! I really did it! Oh my! A blessed spirit has come to me at last!"

"To call the spirit back, hold the stone and draw on the feelings from within.

Don't issue orders to it or anything, just treat it as if it was a friend."

"V-Very well!"

I didn't want to put a damper on his happiness, but it was better to call the

spirit back when the feelings were still fresh. That way, it would be easier to call

them in the future. Plus, it would've been bad if the spirit was contracted and

then never called out after a while, like a guy confessing his feelings to a girl,

then never actually scheduling a date until a month later. So I guess in a sense,

this situation would be like going on a date right after the confession... As my

mind wandered, the spirit appeared again and began dancing through the air.

"Ohhh! She came! She's here!"

The king jumped for joy. I was a bit relieved to see it, since it clearly meant

the environment of his nation was well-maintained.

Spirits didn't have a habit of sticking around in nations that treated them

poorly. If I remembered right, there were no spirits in Isengard anymore... That

meant the land would lose its fertility, the water would become muddied and

filthy, and the winds would only blow stagnant air.

I didn't think people would be able to survive in a wasteland like that. And

that was why it was more important than ever for us to fulfill our mission. I

hoped that the three Gollems in Isengard were looking after the puretree

properly. After all, I had no means of knowing if Bastet and the others were

okay.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Huuuh? You're not a real kitty and puppy? That's so sad! I wanted to pry out

your little eyeballs and feel them squelch into mush under my fingers... That's

such a shame, geez..."

Bastet cowered in fear at the girl before her. The purple beauty spoke

casually, but the subject matter of her speech was exceptionally vile. As she

spoke, the purple Gollem finished slicing up the last mutant to pieces.

Its body was far too close to Albus, the white crown. This purple Gollem was

clearly another of the crown series.

Bastet's memories from her time in the Death Wings bandit gang were still

there. During that time, she had learned of the crowns that existed in the world.

There was the Panaches Kingdom's Distortion Blau, the blue one. There was the

Red Cat's Blood Rouge, the red one. Then, there was also the Rhea Kingdom of

Elves' Grand Grun, the green one.

But there was one other crown that was known across the lands. It was the

purple crown, Fanatic Viola, contracted partner of Luna Trieste, the Frenzied

Mistress. It was a death herald that spread chaos and misery in its wake. And at

the moment, that Gollem was standing right in front of Bastet.

"Hey, who does that little white cutie belong to? It's a crown like my Viola! It's

our first time meeting, honey! Can I get your name?"

"I am Albus. My master is not in the vicinity."

"Oh my... You're all alone? Who's your master?"

"My Master is Yumina Ernea Belfast, queen of the Duchy of Brunhild, wife to

Mochizuki Touya."

Yumina wasn't actually the queen yet, but Albus' databanks didn't seem to

care. Luna actually seemed startled by the Gollem's words, blinking a few times

in surprise.

"Mochizuki... Touya?! Whaaat?! No way! No way! Little Tou's a world leader!

Tell me more, I need to know more!" Luna scooted closer to Albus with amazed

eyes as she shrieked those words. Albus wasn't in the least bit concerned about

the sudden motion, but the animal Gollems were suspicious.

"Hey, lady. What's your relationship with our grand duke?" Anubis raised the

question, secretly hoping that this mysterious woman was a newfound ally.

"Mm... Me and Tou? We're like lovers, I guess! I try to murder him, then he

tries to murder me... It's really lovey-dovey and erotic."

"Uh... Okay..."

The Gollem grimaced slightly, which was impressive given his lack of a human

face. After that, he started to back off.

"So... Tou isn't here, huh? That's so sad! I wanted us to mutilate each other..."

"...He will be picking us up from this location tomorrow. In the meantime,

we're defending the area."

"Defending?" Luna raised a brow in response to Bastet's statement. Then, a

golden spear flew in from out of nowhere and pierced through Luna's belly. It

wasn't actually a spear, though. It was the sharpened limb of a mutant that had

appeared in the area.

It had the form of a Japanese spider crab and had extended its limb to stab

Luna from over twenty meters away. Blood began to spurt from the open

wound, but then it suddenly stopped. Luna twisted her body, breaking off the

embedded limb at her back.

"You dummy! I'm trying to have a conversation here!" Luna roared, swinging

her right arm back. It quickly morphed into a long, golden blade that bisected

the mutant and multiple nearby trees.

Bastet and Anubis were utterly horrified. The power she had just displayed

was unmistakably that of the mutants they were facing. They couldn't get a feel

for the situation, but felt it safe to assume she wasn't working with the

mutants. That didn't necessarily mean she was their friend, though.

"Beep..." Viola charged ahead into the forest. It mowed down several crablike mutants that had come out from the treeline. The mutants tried to counter,

but the brutal attacks they unleashed on the little Gollem did nothing to deter

it. It didn't even bother trying to dodge. Why would it, when it could regenerate

from all the damage?

The power of the purple crown was unmatched regeneration ability. It was a

monstrous power that ate away at the mind of the Gollem's master as

compensation. Luna's belly, once sliced open, had completely resealed itself.

The torn clothing around the wound, however, stayed the same.

Bastet could only feel intense dread when faced with this duo. However, her

Q-Crystal mind was telling her that they could make use of these frightening

strangers. Most Gollems had emotions, but they were still machines at the

base. It was only natural for them to prioritize the pragmatic option.

"...Lady Luna, would you like to meet our grand duke, Touya?"

"I really would, yes! Tou's such a shy little boy, so he always runs away... Is he

coming here, little kitty? Or am I wasting my time?"

"I'm set to bring him here tomorrow. You can meet him if you stay here."

"No waaay! I wanna see him right now! Can't you call him over, little kitty? Or

maybe you can show me to him?"

"I'm afraid I cannot, my lady. If I go home before the ordained time, then they

will believe the mission has failed. Sir Touya will have no reason to come here.

Plus, the method of transportation can only be used by Gollems, so I can't take

you with me," Bastet steeled her mind before letting out those words.

Unfortunately, they seemed to greatly displease Luna.

"Boo..."

Half of that statement was a lie. The mirror they had would definitely let a

human pass through, but Bastet was prepared to use any means necessary to

get Luna to stay.

"Tsk... Well, okay! I'll just have to meet him when he comes here tomorrow.

Oh, my clothes are such a mess! I'll need to change before Tou comes and sees

me. I look so indecent!"

Luna produced a storage card from her skirt and tapped on it, making a fresh

change of clothes appeared on the ground in front of her. Then, she

immediately stripped off her outfit and began changing into the new one.

Bastet let out a small sigh of relief. Or, well, not exactly, since Gollems didn't

actually breathe, but she felt it appropriate to make the gesture.

"Is this okay, Sis? They might fight as soon as he arrives..." Anubis walked over

to Bastet and whispered softly.

"That isn't our problem. Our mission is to defend the puretree, right? I'm sure

our grand duke will be able to handle her. He didn't reach gold rank status for

no reason."

Luna and Viola were a fearsome duo, and their regeneration effectively made

them impervious to harm. Despite all that, Bastet firmly believed the grand

duke of Brunhild was more than a match for them.

All they had to do was hold out for one more day. So long as they could

manage that, the grand duke and his companions would take care of the rest.

Bastet held that determination close to her heart as she anxiously glanced back

at the puretree.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Hey, pal. Sorry about calling you out here."

"It's all good. What's the issue?"

Ende had called me over on the phone, so I'd headed over to his house. The

three Phrase girls were there as well. I hadn't actually been inside their home

before, so the first thing I noticed was that it was a bit drab and simplistic.

There weren't even any vases with flowers in them.

The three Dominant Constructs in the house were hungry as ever. They'd

been chowing down on a huge pile of dango and daifuku mochi. They weren't

eating them especially fast, but they were picking up more food even as they

sipped their tea... I didn't want to know their food budget. It probably rivaled

our national budget...

"I want to talk about Yula's side," Melle, who had finished sipping her tea, set

down her cup on the table as she said that.

...I can't really take that dire expression seriously when there's sauce on your

cheeks...

"We can sense the presence of the mutants who were formerly our kin. Most

of them are gathered in Isengard right now, but we sensed a special aura

amongst them."

"Huh? Do you mean the wicked god?"

Ende and the girls knew about the god situation, and they knew about the

wicked god as well. My searching skill couldn't detect the wicked god because

of the divine venom, but I wondered if they could.

"No, it's not the wicked god. We're unable to sense that creature. We sensed

a new Dominant Construct... Well, it's more accurate to say it's a Dominant

Construct we remember."

Huh? Is that the creature I saw through the crack in reality earlier? It must

have come through to Isengard during the emergence event... But what does

she mean by one she remembers?

"Yula likely summoned him from Phrasia. The aura he emits is unmistakable...

It's the presence of Xeno, the Phrase general."

"Huh...? There's a Phrase general?"

"Phrasia, our home planet, is a desolate place. There are monsters similar to

magical beasts, and several invasive species that compete for dominion. We

classify Dominant Constructs differently, and there's a special classification for

those that have survived many battles. I'll refer to them as the combat strain...

Anyway, the apex of this strain is General Xeno. Lycee and I are Lady Melle's

advisors, so putting us aside, you can consider Yula to be the apex of the civil

strain," Ney spoke, spraying little crumbs of dango out of her mouth all the

while.

"Is he powerful?"

"Immensely. He's Gila's elder brother. He definitely isn't as coarse as Gila was,

but he lives for battle."

Gila... So he was part of the combat strain too, huh? He definitely seemed like

the kind of guy who loved to fight, so I guess it makes sense his brother is

similar.

"General Xeno... Well, it seems he has brought over many of his subordinate

Dominant Constructs with him. I don't recognize any of their auras, so they

probably joined up with him after I began crossing through worlds."

"Tsk... It was bad enough when it was just Yula and the wicked god, but now

we have to deal with this?"

If it's another hothead like Gila, then I guess I'll have to put off my showdown

with the wicked god for now...

"Fret not about that. We'll take down Xeno. You should focus your efforts on

the wicked god," Melle said, suddenly dispelling my thoughts. Ney, Lycee, and

Ende nodded in agreement.

"Matters concerning the Phrase should be handled by the Phrase. We'll use

the upcoming battle to rid the multiverse of these corroded links in our chain.

This all began because of what I did with Endymion, so I am responsible for

handling the fallout, as the Phrase Sovereign."

Well... I mean, it was technically my fault that the servile god escaped and

triggered the birth of the wicked god to begin with... That's also why the

mutants exist now, too... W-Wait, are you snidely trying to tell me to take

responsibility?! Well, whatever. I'm just glad these guys want to help out. That

reminds me, I should tell them about my strategy...

"Hm? An emergency plan?"

"Yeah. We don't know how things will actually go down. Yula could pull a dirty

trick on us. That's why I thought of this plan..." I explained the secret plan to

Ende and the girls.

"Huh? Is that really possible?"

"Temporarily, yes. I've tested it already. If it comes down to it, you'll have to

just roll with it."

"If you really can do that, then I'm sure we'll be able to best anything Yula

throws our way. But this whole thing feels a little..."

"Absurd..." Ney folded her arms slightly, an uncertain expression on her face,

as Lycee finished her sentence. Personally, I thought calling my plan absurd was

a little mean. But still, I simply shrugged and lent the two sacred treasure blades

to Ney and Lycee. I didn't want to run the risk of them being contaminated by

the mutants.

"This is for you, Ende."

"Oh? You have something for me?"

I pulled a pair of gauntlets out from my [Storage]. They were made from

dense phrasium. I only realized in hindsight that it was a bit insensitive to bring

out a weapon like that in front of the Phrase girls.

"They're the same as the ones Elze uses. You'll be able to take out the

mutants easier like that."

"I don't exactly use weapons when I fight, but I'm sure they'll come in

handy..." Ende said as he took the pellucid gauntlets from me. The material was

the same as Elze's, but the design was different. That was completely

intentional on my part, since I didn't want it looking like he was paired up with

my fiancee.

"Oh, right. Will my master be joining us against the wicked god?"

"He won't. We'll be doing this all by ourselves, with no guidance from them.

They'll help us defend the puretree, but nothing more than that. That being

said, they'll be keeping an eye on the battle... so you should probably do your

best. If you screw up or don't fight all that well, Uncle Takeru'll probably put

you through hell afterward."

"D-Don't say things like that, man!" Ende cried out, small tears welling up in

his eyes. I felt sorry for him, but that wasn't really my problem. I needed to

make sure Ende was motivated to fight as hard as he could. The revelation of

Xeno's involvement was just too troubling this late in the game. I couldn't have

my plans dashed when everything was going so well.

Bastet would be reporting back in a day. After that, it would be off to

Isengard.

I wanted to send Moroha and Karina in first, but I felt that sending people

with high levels of divinity into an area with poison surrounding it was a bad

idea. We'd have to wait a bit longer for the purification to reach a wider radius.

I could've gone too, but I didn't want any negative side effects caused by the

venom. If I fell before the decisive battle, it'd basically be a sick joke.

That was why we were sending in people who wouldn't be as affected first.

That meant Norn, Nia, and Robert. The crowns would be our safest bet. Even

without their Over Gears, they'd be able to fight pretty well. If they were

pushed into a defensive battle, they'd only have to hold out a bit before the rest

of us got there.

I left Ende's house, called up Robert, and asked for his help. I could hear his

pumpkin pants rustling. He was a really weird guy, but he was also clearly a

sincere and earnest person. If he could just get rid of the freaky fashion sense

and the strange attitude, he'd have been a model prince...

In Norn's case, I decided to just ask Elluka to speak to her on my behalf. Given

that we'd granted refuge and work to Elluka, I couldn't imagine the girl rejecting

us.

The main issue was probably Nia. The Red Cats weren't exactly doing any

chivalrous thievery at the moment, since I hadn't permitted any crimes in

Brunhild. Chivalrous or not, thievery was still thievery. And because of that,

they'd basically turned to adventuring. They'd done a lot of dungeon diving and

came back with a fair share of treasure.

It was honestly more apt to call them an adventuring party at this point. They

had Nia's red crown, and Est's Akagane helping them out, so they were doing

quite nicely.

"If it was just Nia, then I could probably get her to come along... But Est's too

shrewd. There's no way she'll make the Red Cats help out for free."

I sighed quietly, hoping we could work out a good deal. Then, I headed to the

Silver Moon to negotiate with the Red Cats, although really, the negotiation

would just be with Est.

◇ ◇ ◇

The sky had brightened.

They were within a dense forest, so it wasn't like they could see the sun, but it

was still clear that morning had come.

The mutants, who had decreed them to be enemies in their territory, had not

stopped attacking all night. But they didn't attack in a large group. Instead, they

kept on coming in waves of five to six at a time. Even Bastet, a Gollem that had

no need for sleep, was beginning to feel weary.

But there was one human... if you could even call her that... who had faced

the mutants non-stop without so much as a hint of exhaustion.

"Kitty, kitty! It's morning time! Are you gonna call little Tou over? I'm ready!"

Luna giggled with glee as she shattered an enemy's core. Interestingly enough,

she was able to precisely pinpoint where a mutant's weak spots were. It was

possible she gained this ability after gaining the mutant's power herself.

"Sis... It might be a little early, but we do need to tell the grand duke about

this lady, so..."

"Indeed..." Bastet looked over to the white Gollem by her side. Albus nodded

in response.

The puretree behind Bastet was now four meters tall. Luna and her purple

crown had reduced all the other trees in the area to stumps with their wild

slashing. Anubis had dutifully picked up all the fallen trees with his [Storage]

collar, then dumped them elsewhere.

Anubis was right in that it was a little early to head back and report in, but

they were dealing with some unusual circumstances. It probably wouldn't have

been such a bad idea to report a little sooner than expected.

"Very well, then. It may take a little time, but I'll report to the grand duke."

"Ohhh, perfect! Aaah, mmh... I really can't wait! I want to be with my little

Tou... We'll thrust into each other, we'll asphyxiate each other... crush each

other... It'll be just perfect!"

Bastet and Anubis backed up a little, clearly disturbed by the woman's

muttering.

"Anubis."

"Aye aye!" Anubis used his [Storage] collar to eject the full one-and-a-halfmeter tall mirror.

Albus then picked it up and propped it by a nearby tree stump.

"Very well. I'll return with the grand duke in about an hour."

"Hurry, hurry. Don't be too long, kitty!" Luna said as she smiled and waved,

but that just made Bastet feel worse. She turned toward Anubis, giving a glance

that tried to say, "I'll leave the rest to you." However, her glance was registered

as an aggressive stare by the dog Gollem, who had no idea what he'd done

wrong.

Bastet sighed and hopped through the mirror portal.

The mirror was connected to a room in Brunhild castle known as the mirror

hall. There were various mirrors in the room, connected to places like Drakliff

island, Brunhild's Belfast embassy, and so on. The room was primarily used by

maids and knights that worked in the castle from long distances. Special

individuals like Sue had personal mirrors that connected directly to their own

bedrooms, so they didn't need to use the hall.

"Hmm? What's a cat doooing here? Oh, are you perhaps the Gooollem that

my master spoke of?"

Bastet looked up toward the source of the voice. It had come from a painting

that stood at the top of a flight of stairs. It was a painting of a young girl. She

had pink, braided hair, and wore a white dress. Though, the most surprising

thing about the girl in the painting was that she was leaning halfway out of the

frame.

"Nice to meet youuu. I'm Ripple. I wooork as the castle's surveillance

system."

"I see... So you're the artifact creature. I am Bastet. I am a Gollem in the

service of Mistress Elluka, who lives in this Duchy at present. Could you contact

the grand duke at once? It's an emergency situation."

"Hm? Of cooourse. I'll just—"

"Ohhh. So this is Tou's home? He really does have an eye for pretty things,

huh?"

"Wha—?!" Bastet felt a chill run down her spine, which wasn't actually

possible because she was a Gollem. She turned around and found, to her

horror, that Luna was standing in the hall of mirrors.

"Why are you here?!"

"I wanted to see Tou, so I followed you!" Luna said that, then smiled and

winked as a tiny purple Gollem passed through a mirror behind her. It

brandished its scythe, which made Bastet grit her mechanical teeth. She had

screwed up.

"Intruders in the castle! Notify everyone immediately!"

"Awawawaaah! O-Okaaay!" Ripple screamed as she shot back into the

painting. Since she was a magical lifeform, she had duplicates of her own body

in paintings all over the castle. They served as her eyes and ears, allowing her to

act as a live surveillance network for the entire area. She could project those

copies of herself out of the frame and notify people to sound the alarm.

Ripple sent her copies all over the castle, while her main body went straight

to her master's bedroom.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Maaaster! Maaaster! Wake up! It's an emergency situaaation!"

"Mnh... Five more minutes..."

I woke up to someone bothering me. Then, I rubbed my eyes and rose from

the bed before noticing it was Ripple.

"What's up...?"

"Intruders in the caaastle! A tiny purple Gollem with a scythe, and a girl with

glaaaaaasses! They're in the mirror haaall!"

I knew exactly what Ripple was describing, and it made me break out into a

cold sweat.

A tiny purple Gollem with a scythe... I only knew one Gollem like that.

"It can't be!"

I leaped up and grabbed my smartphone from the side counter, then

immediately warped myself to the mirror hall. I hadn't even gotten changed out

of my pajamas.

I couldn't see any invaders. Only Bastet was around. She was curled up in a

ball near a wall. I could see a small impact dent in the wall above her... which

made me immediately guess that Luna had done this to her.

"Hey, are you okay?!"

"G-Grand Duke... I'll be fine... I was blasted back... One of my feet is no longer

operating properly... Y-You must stop them, please! Go after Luna Trieste!"

"Damn, so it really is her!"

I clenched my teeth in a panic. I had no idea why such a rotten person had

shown up at a crucial moment. I picked up Bastet in my arms and teleported to

Babylon's research laboratory. There was nobody around, save for a wolf

Gollem who seemed to be resting by a repair platform.

"Touya? And... Bastet?! What happened?!" Fenrir looked up at us in a panic,

quickly rising from his sleepy stupor. Fenrir was the Gollem equivalent of a

sibling to Bastet and Anubis, so his concern was understandable.

"F-Forgive me, Brother Fenrir... I've failed..."

"Fenrir! Look after Bastet! Get Elluka to check up on her diagnostics!"

I ran off immediately and triggered my searching magic.

"Show me Luna Trieste!"

"...Search complete. Brunhild Castle. Western Corridor, Second Floor. Target

is currently engaged in combat."

"Wh-With who?!"

"...Search complete. Mochizuki Moroha and Mochizuki Karina."

When I heard those two names, relief coursed through my body.

My sisters, huh...? Thank goodness. If anyone can deal with her, it's them...

Even if she does something crazy... Wait, crap. I can't relax just yet! She could've

injured people in the castle!

I used teleport for the third time that morning and warped to where my

sisters were. And when I arrived, I found Luna unconscious on the floor, her

crown struggling against several arrows that had pinned it to the wall.

Standing over Luna were my two sisters, as well as Yae and Hilde. Apparently,

they'd encountered Luna on their way to morning practice.

"Oh, Touya. Morning."

"Morning, Karina..."

Karina turned around and greeted me, so I answered. However, it felt a little

weird doing that given the circumstances.

The hallway was completely wrecked, and there were parts beyond repair.

The cracks in the ceiling and walls were probably from Luna's blade arm or

Viola's scythe. Viola had also been pinned to the wall, so Karina's arrows were

probably stuck pretty deep in there, too.

"Listen, Touya, I know you're your own man... but please take some advice

from your older sister. Don't stick it in crazy. Ever."

"Whoa, hey! Don't say that! Nobody's been sticking anything anywhere!"

Moroha seemed to be under the impression that I'd had an affair with Luna,

and she'd come back to find me and commit some kind of crazy murder-suicide.

"...What is going on here, Touya-dono?"

"Touya? What exactly have you been... sticking...?"

"No! Stop! You've got it all wrong! Please don't glare at me like that! I haven't

done anything wrong!" I screamed that and flailed my arms in panic as Yae and

Hilde approached me.

Ugh, hey... I didn't do anything, so why do I have to...? Ah... Ahhh... I suddenly

had a flashback to the scorching desert, the brightness of the sun, and Luna's

naked body as it glistened in the heat.

"Well, let's put Touya's affair aside for a moment."

"My what...?!"

"This girl... She has mutant power inside her. Is that the reason for her

strange behavior?"

"Isn't she just crazy 'cause Touya pumped and dumped her?"

"Quit saying that!"

I explained exactly who Luna Trieste was, as well as what Viola did to people

who contracted with it, and that I had nothing to do with whatever weird stuff

Luna might have said.

I hadn't done anything wrong!

"Hm... So it eats one's sanity? What do you want to do with her, Touya?"

Hmm... For someone as dangerous as her, execution or permanent

imprisonment would be best...

I looked over at Viola. Part of me wondered if Luna would be freed from her

curse if I killed that Gollem.

But... Viola's regeneration abilities were more than a pain all on their own.

Even if I sliced it into little bits, it'd regenerate itself. Then Luna's mental state

would be sapped as the compensation for that power. It was a vicious cycle I

couldn't realistically break.

"Well, let's think about what to do. But maybe we'll leave the bigger decisions

for—"

"Beep."

I was about to finish my sentence when Viola freed itself from the arrows

holding it back. It quickly scrambled for its scythe and wasted no time swinging

at me.

Goddammit! I scowled and cast [Eternal Coffin] on the little horror.

"Be-Beep!"

Pillars of ice rose from the floor, coming together to encase the Gollem in a

block. Just to be sure, I'd charged the spell with divinity as well. I was sure that

even a crown couldn't put a scratch on the ice I'd formed. And so, I quickly

severed the ice from the floor to move the block around.

"My liege!"

The knights rushed over, Captain Rebecca at the front. They'd probably been

called over by Ripple. Rebecca was an adventurer I'd first met back in the desert

along with Logan. Logan was captain of the watch, while she was the captain of

the royal guard.

"Forgive us, sir!"

"Don't worry. This wasn't your garden-variety situation."

"...Garden variety? I'm afraid I don't know that saying."

"Oh... Sorry. It's an unusual situation. Please haul this Gollem and this girl to

our [Prison]-enchanted dungeon... No, wait, Luna can probably break through

that with her mutant powers... Give me a sec."

I had a feeling [Paralyze] wouldn't do anything to her either... And even if it

did, I didn't want her constantly soiling herself, either.

As I pondered what to do, Karina whispered in my ear, saying, "Touya, give

her a once-over with your divine sight."

"Hm?"

I did as I was told... and noticed a small orb inside Luna's chest. It was roughly

the size of a golf ball. At a glance, I could tell it was a mutant core. That was the

source of her new powers. That meant all I had to do was take it out...

"[Apport]."

I used my matter transfer spell to pluck the core out into my hand. Then, I

threw it on the ground and stomped it to pieces. With the destruction of the

core, Luna would have no more link to the wicked god's muddy divinity.

"That's fine, then. You guys can take her away now."

"At your command!"

Rebecca started dragging Luna to the dungeon, while the guards pushed the

giant Viola popsicle along after her. That was certainly quite frightening... I had

no idea what I would've done if Moroha and Karina hadn't been around.

That reminded me... if Bastet had come through, the puretree in Isengard had

one less defender.

It was a bit early, but I decided to call Est of the Red Cats, since I knew there

was no way Nia was awake.

◇ ◇ ◇

"You never said it'd be this early. We'll be charging you extra for this!"

"Yeah, yeah... You greedy little..."

Nia stuck her tongue out at me. She was here, along with Est, Euni, Euri, and

several other members of the Red Cats.

Gollem-wise, we had Rouge, Est's Akagane, and three Gollems I didn't

recognize. They were all painted red, though. That suggested they were just

general Red Cat Gollems.

"I need you to defend the puretree. We'll be sending reinforcements later on,

but you guys are basically the first wave."

"Very well. We'll handle the job with care," Est said and nodded to me before

heading through the mirror. I passed through with them.

We came out into a forested area. Anubis, who stood nearby, came running

over. The dog-like Gollem started sniffing around my legs like an abandoned

puppy.

"Waaah! Grand Duke! You're okay?! Is the castle okay?! Is Sis okay?! Those

jerks entered the mirror, but I had my orders to stay here, so... Auuugh!"

"It's alright. Everything's gonna be okay. Bastet got a little banged up, but it's

nothing serious. You can head back now if you want. Good job."

"I can?! Thank you, thank youuu!" Anubis roared and charged through the

mirror, his role now complete.

Albus was nearby as well, guarding the tree dutifully.

"Wow, it really did get kinda big."

I looked up at the puretree. It was around five meters tall. I was glad to see it

was growing well enough.

I noticed a glowing substance coming out of the branches, presumably the

magical particles.

"So all we gotta do is look after this tree?"

"Yeah. There's a good chance mutants are gonna come for it, so let me get

some Frame Gears o— Oww..."

As I spoke, I was hit by a wave of nausea and fell to one knee.

Crap... I thought I'd be fine, but it seemed like the purification range was still a

touch too small. It was definitely better than my previous exposure, but the

effects of the divine venom were stronger based on the intensity of a person's

divinity. Given that my divinity stemmed from God Almighty himself... Well... it

was pretty effective on me.

I was still just a god-in-training, so I didn't have any way of resisting it yet...

"H-Hey, you okay? Are you sick?"

"Gh... I'm okay... Just... Hh... [Gate]."

I opened up a portal, making the Red Cat Chevaliers, Est's Red Lynx, and Nia's

Tiger Rouge appear. Then, I looked over at the mechs before crawling over to

the mirror.

"You guys can... h-handle the rest from here... C'mon, Albus."

"Affirmative."

I passed through the mirror and was immediately relieved of my symptoms. I

hadn't quite fainted, but I was hit with a sense of fatigue.

"[Refresh]."

My fatigue was washed away by my spell, but I still felt a bit groggy. Almost

like having a hangover... Not that I knew what that felt like, since I wasn't old

enough to drink alcohol. Yeah, not old enough.

I felt a little better after resting for a bit, but it didn't improve my health too

much. The purification range needed to be wider. The puretree could absorb

more of the venom in proportion to its increased size. So eventually, it'd be big

enough to purify all of Isengard. We just had to hold out against the mutants

until then.

"Hey, Albus... How many mutants attacked during your watch?"

"Fifty-three. All were Lesser Constructs."

That... was certainly quite a lot... Maybe I'd need to send reinforcements to

Nia earlier than I'd expected.

I whipped out my smartphone and looked up the numbers for Norn and

Robert.

◇ ◇ ◇

Apparently, the mutants attacked the puretree several times that day. Luckily,

the Frame Gears were able to beat them back easily at each attempt.

Est reported the details to me over the phone. Even though the divine venom

interfered with my magic, it didn't do anything about our phone reception, so

that was a relief.

The puretree had been growing steadily and was already far taller than the

trees in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, that meant it was no longer

concealed, so the attacking mutants would likely increase as a result.

I'd sent Norn and Noir, along with Robert and Blau, to the forest as well.

They'd taken their Over Gears, Leo Noir and Deer Blau, with them. Since I'd

been to the area, all I had to do was open up a [Gate] to send people through.

That made things simpler.

We had three crowns on the defensive team, so I couldn't imagine standard

foes doing anything to them. Plus, Robert's Deer Blau could use its spacewarping powers to negate any attacks that were done directly to the puretree.

"When will we be attacking?"

"Mm... It's a gut feeling here, but two more days. I think that's how much

longer it'll take."

"Then we'll be on standby until then? How troublesome..." Hilde said as she

dabbed her sweaty brow with a hand towel.

I agreed with her, but I didn't want to endanger any of my fiancees. If I'd

charged us all in yesterday, we'd have definitely died. My fiancees also had the

blessings of the divine in them, though not quite to my extent. I knew that

they'd be strongly harmed by the divine venom. No matter how talented you

were with a blade, you could still be beaten by a novice if you were drunk or

incapacitated.

...Well, I did know one swordswoman who would probably win even if she

was drunk, but that wasn't an option in this case. Plus, the effect of the divine

venom on her would have been near-lethal, given her status... It was a pretty

bad example in general.

Even Nia's team in Isengard were suffering small effects from the venom

because of their relationship with me. They'd definitely be feeling like their

physical states were slightly deteriorated compared to usual. The venom was

practically the saying, "If you hate a priest, then you will come to hate his

vestments" personified.

The more the puretree grew, the more it'd be able to spread its purification

effects out across Isengard. And once it grew big enough, we could start our

offensive.

The final battle was drawing near... As I thought about that inevitability, I

received a call from Doc Babylon.

"'Sup, Doc?"

"Touya. The event we predicted has come to pass. A new type of mutant has

appeared in Isengard."

A new type...? No way...

"Crap...!"

I went to the research laboratory and looked at the monitor display. I was

shocked beyond belief. We'd seen it coming a while ago, but actually seeing it

happen made it feel more real.

The monitor displayed a live feed from the Frame Gears under Nia's

command. I saw several mutants that looked like salamanders, but the one I

was staring at was very different.

A muddy-gold glow emanated from its body. It had two arms, two legs, and a

head. It was humanoid in shape, but it wasn't a Dominant Construct... It looked

just like a Frame Gear, even down to the size. It even wielded a dirty gold sword

and shield for good measure.

"It's a Frame Gear mutant..."

"Based on the Chevalier they took during the last fight, I'm sure. Though,

there are a few design tweaks here and there..." Doc Babylon grumbled as she

took her e-cig out of her mouth.

It was somewhat similar to a Chevalier, that much was true. But it felt kind of

different, too... It was hard to describe, but it seemed more like a warped

version of our designs. The color was different, sure, but even if it was the same

color as a Chevalier, you'd be able to tell it wasn't one.

"But why? Why did they bother making a Frame Gear mutant? If they wanted

a humanoid shape, then a cyclops or troll would've been far more effective."

She was right. If they wanted something robotic, then they had tons of

Gollems to capture and observe in the past. They were already metallic enough

due to their coloration, so it couldn't have been for some aesthetic reason

either... Why had they bothered capturing a Frame Gear?

"Even if they aren't usually mechanical— Hm?"

Est's Red Lynx had sliced the Frame Gear mutant in half along the chest. It

clattered to the ground.

"Oh... Now I see."

"You do? 'Cause I sure don't."

I would've appreciated it if she'd shared her wisdom sooner.

"It's harder to destroy something the smaller it is."

"...Huh?"

"Listen, Touya. The mutants and the Phrase have a common weak point no

matter what kind of construct they are, right? They die if their core is

destroyed. You know that much, yes?"

I nodded. She was stating the obvious.

"And you know the size of the core increases proportionally to the size of the

creature, don't you?"

I nodded again. Lesser Constructs had small cores that were between the size

of a baseball and a softball, Intermediate Constructs had cores that were

between the size of a basketball and a balance ball, and Upper Constructs had

cores that were between two and three meters in diameter. Dominant

Constructs only had cores that were around the size of a cherry, though.

That showed that the size of the core didn't represent the strength of the

creature, just its physique.

"So, looking at our Frame Gear impostor here... How big a core do you think it

has?"

"If I were to guess... Uhhh... It's around the size of an Intermediate Construct,

so this big?"

I held out my hands as if I were cradling an invisible basketball. However, Doc

Babylon shook her head, much to my surprise.

"You're wrong, Touya. It's this big," she said as she held out two fingers and

measured a distance of about two centimeters between them.

"But that's tiny!"

"Look on the monitor, by the Red Lynx's feet. What do you see there?"

I squinted slightly at the screen, looking at the crumbled golden debris that

had already started reforming. Before long, the reassembled pieces took the

form of a tiny golden Skeleton.

"Huh?!"

"I must admit, I'm impressed. The Frame Gear mutant and the golden

Skeleton are effectively one being. The Skeleton serves as the pilot and the

core. See? The Skeleton reformed, so now the Frame Gear part is reforming as

well. Looks like it can regenerate just as fast no matter how small the core is,

and if we don't destroy the Skeleton, the Frame Gear will just keep coming

back."

That made sense. But the Skeleton's core was only around the size of a

marble. It'd be incredibly hard for the lumbering Frame Gears to take it out...

Though, they could probably just stomp really hard.

I called up Est and told her what I'd just learned.

A few moments later, on the monitor, I saw her Red Lynx stomp hard on the

little Skeleton as it tried to get back inside the mutant cockpit. When the

Skeleton crumbled, so too did the Frame Gear, melting into viscous sludge. It

was just as Doc Babylon had predicted.

"Hmm... This is a pain in the butt. The imposter Frame Gears... Uh, hm... I

think I'll just call them Fake Gears. But yeah, the fakes seem linked to their

Skeleton pilots and don't have minds of their own. It's just like Frame Gears and

their own pilots, though our Frame Gears won't melt into goop if their pilots

die!"

"So if we want to take out one of the fakes, we need to go for the cockpit?"

I could probably use [Apport] to pull the core out, but that spell required me

to have a line of sight with my target... I'd have to use my divine sight if I

wanted to do that.

"It's probably easiest to do what the Red Lynx just did. Knock the Skeleton out

and stomp on it. Either that or completely obliterate the cockpit in one go."

Leen's Grimgerde could probably do it with its vulcan weaponry, but Elze's

Gerhilde, Yae's Schwertleite, or Hilde's Siegrune couldn't.

Stomping the cockpit after knocking it down was probably easiest.

"Seems like we've got one more thing to worry about..."

"No, I don't think so. Look there."

The monitor showed other members of the Red Cats dealing with new Fake

Gears, but they were fighting using their swords and shields. Something felt off.

"Have you noticed? The Fake Gears don't morph their bodies to attack.

Normal mutants would've shifted their limbs into blades, stuff like that."

Huh, now that she mentions it, I do see that... They're regenerating, but

they're not using their bodies offensively like the others... Why not?

"It's possible that morphing is a skill dependent on core size in relation to the

body. The golden Skeleton's core is too small for the Fake Gear, so it can't draw

out enough power to morph."

That made sense to me. The Skeleton's core could probably only morph the

Skeleton at best, so the fakes might have actually turned out to be even weaker

opponents than regular mutants.

I saw a Chevalier on the monitor slice a Fake Gear in half. It then stomped on

the fallen mutant's upper body a few times, which made it fade away into slime

and black smoke.

"Hm... This doesn't feel all that chivalrous..."

"Chivalry on the battlefield gets you dead. Fight to win."

Fair enough... It just feels a little awkward, since it's basically hitting an enemy

while it's down... I know it's not exactly like that, but still! I watched a little

longer, until all the mutants had been taken care of. The Chevaliers then

sheathed their blades.

My smartphone started vibrating. It was Nia.

"Yep?"

"Hey, dumbass! You gonna just sit there and watch us starve?! We don't have

any food with us, and there's no game to hunt!"

"Oh, I forgot about that..."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"No, I mean like... I did prepare some provisions, but I forgot to send them.

Wait a bit and I'll get them to you."

That was definitely my fault. You couldn't battle on an empty stomach. When

fighting on the frontier, rations often meant the difference between life or

death. That being said, distance wasn't really an issue in our case.

I looked around for a clear space in the research laboratory... But there were

bits of paper, scrap parts, and tools all over the place. It was no good. And so, I

headed out into a nearby hallway and pulled Crea and Lu's homemade treats

out from my [Storage]. I also took out some refreshments and a little bit of

booze. Since they'd been stored in my own little pocket of space-time, the food

was piping hot and the drinks were freezing cold.

"Hey, don't start chowing down! This stuff isn't for you!"

"Don't be a buzzkill, Touya. I'm just vibing. I haven't eaten all day."

Before I could react, Doc Babylon was munching away on some of the fried

rice. She had a spoon sticking out of her mouth.

"[Gate]."

The portal spread out under the food, and it sank away slowly. If all had gone

well, the food should have arrived right by Nia's group in Isengard.

I got a quick call from Est, who expressed her gratitude. I didn't mind, since I'd

factored this into the expenses from the very beginning. It was almost time to

start sending out our knights, anyway.

I headed over to the knight dorm and called out the volunteers. We could

hardly leave the country without any of its knights, so only about half of the

order would be joining this expedition.

I decided to send over fifty of the knights, with Nikola in command.

"This is a basic tent and some foodstuff. I've reduced its size, but if you use

the term 'release' over there, it'll expand. Be sure to keep in regular contact

with us, and report in if any of your men start feeling unwell."

"Understood. We'll be off, then."

I'd handed over a tiny dice-sized container to Nikola. In reality, it was a

[Prison] I'd formed to store their supplies. I'd also included supplies for Nia's

group in there.

Nikola popped the little cube into his pocket and turned to address the

knights.

"Alright, men! Time for our expedition!"

The knights clambered into their Chevaliers, while Nikola hopped into his

Knight Baron. Nikola had the fully-developed flight gear equipped on his Knight

Baron in shield mode. That would help us if any flying mutants showed up.

I opened up a massive portal, and the Frame Gears marched through it to

Isengard.

"I'll be off then, Grand Duke," Nikola spoke through his Frame Gear's speakers

before departing through the portal.

"And they're off... I wanted to go as well..." Norn, or rather, Nore, grumbled

quietly as her tail and ears twitched.

"If both of my sub-commanders leave for foreign lands, then who will step up

to the plate here, hm?" Commander Lain was quick to lecture her.

"I mean, that's true, but... Y-You're going later too, aren't you, Lain?! I'm the

only one who has to stay! It's no fair!"

"Be that as it may, it was the grand duke's decision..."

Hey, hey... I want no part in this. I can't bring all three of you over there. Two's

a stretch as-is! We've got Baba and Yamagata staying here too, but they're not

technically knights...

"I'm sorry, Nore. But bear with it. It might not be enough to make up for it,

but I'll give you and all the other knights here special daily desserts until

Nikola's group gets back, okay?"

"Ohhh?! Daily?! You should've said so! Gimme pudding! Pudding a la mode!"

Nore's exclaimed as her tail began swishing around like crazy. Her body was

startlingly honest.

"E-Erm... Could I get some of that dessert... before I leave, perhaps?" Lain

quietly mumbled as she fidgeted her hands. She was surprisingly honest, too. I

didn't really want to get in her bad books, so I decided it'd be fine.

We'll be making our forward base tomorrow when I send in the knights from

the other countries... Gonna be pretty important. And once we've established

the base, the march begins.

Genroku Era... Year Fifteen... Month Twelve... Day Five...

The Yamaga-ryu war drums ring out into the night, shaking the atmosphere

within Edo. We forty-seven ronin must claim the head of Kira Yoshinaka in order

to soothe the regrets of our late lord, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori.

...Now certainly wasn't the time to indulge in the story of the forty-seven

ronin. Plus, I didn't really want to relate our situation to Asano Takumi-noKami's, since he was forced to commit seppuku and disembowel himself... If

that wasn't tempting fate, I had no idea what was.

Well, I could at least hope that we'd return without any casualties like the

forty-seven ronin... who ended up killing themselves afterward. Never mind. My

comparison was definitely not working well at all.

Anyway, I just wanted us all to get home safe. I shrugged a bit and headed to

the kitchen to pick up the desserts I'd promised.