The situation with Tatsuma had been resolved. The one
who attacked him, as well as the one responsible for his
original death fifteen years ago, had been stripped of their
statuses and exiled from the nation.
Since neither Tatsuno nor Tatsuya were bad people, I
offered them refuge in Brunhild. They refused my offer,
however. Apparently, they had some friends in Triharan that
would help them build their lives back up closer to home.
And so, I figured the very least I could do was open up a
[Gate] and send them off to Triharan safely.
The day of the exile came, and Tatsuma saw his brother
off with a smile. He handed off a pouch of money into his
brother's hand.
"I know the two of you will make it, no matter where life
takes you. But if you need anything from me, please write.
Exile or not, you're still my brother, and I love you."
"Tatsuma... Thank you..."
The two bowed their heads to the former ryutei, then
bowed to the current houtei, before joining hands and
departing for Triharan.
Despite the fact that they'd been stripped of everything,
they smiled gently as they walked through the portal
together. It was plain as day that they felt more free than
they'd ever been.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Sorry, say that again?"
"Of course. We received a report of an enormous monster,
one resembling a winged cow. It was spotted in the northern
region of Xenoahs."
As soon as I'd returned from my business, Tsubaki had a
report waiting for me. According to Fam's investigation from
up in the library, the creature was known as a Zagan and was
believed to have died out completely around two thousand
years ago.
"So, uh, what happened?"
"The first prince of Xenoahs reportedly went out and
killed it himself."
"Seriously?! He didn't just leave it to the adventurers?"
Prince Faron definitely had that kind of gung-ho
personality, so the report made sense to me... He was
Sakura's older brother, and her family wasn't exactly weak...
He certainly wasn't out of place as my brother-in-law, at
least.
Still, what was he thinking? The second prince, Farese,
had no succession rights to the throne. Faron was the only
heir! It was far too reckless to put himself in harm's way.
That said, the overlord had a long life ahead of him... It
wasn't like he couldn't just have another kid or something.
Though, he didn't have a partner at the moment.
In the worst-case scenario, maybe Yoshino would have to
take over. I wasn't exactly a fan of that idea, however.
Xenoahs didn't really have much in the way of
adventurers, unfortunately. Foreign adventurers didn't
usually plant their roots in that country, and the people who
lived there were stronger than ordinary humans. Nobody
put in requests for dealing with monsters they could easily
crush by themselves, so there weren't many quest listings in
Xenoahs as a result. From what I'd been told, even
youngsters from backwater villages in Xenoahs were about
as strong as your average blue-rank adventurer.
One of the big reasons why adventurers from other
nations didn't really stay in Xenoahs was their cuisine.
Unless you were already used to it, it was generally
considered hard to stomach. That said, there'd been some
recent improvements to the culinary scene over there. Lu's
cooking blog had a part to play in that. Though it would be
more apt to call it a development rather than improvement,
as it wasn't exactly my place to say their food culture was
bad. Food was said to be a reflection of the culture
surrounding it, so it would make sense that the people of
Xenoahs would eat things as inhospitable and hardy as the
lands they lived in.
But back to the main point, the appearance of another
extinct species meant a time distortion had happened. It was
an echo of the broader timequake that my kids had gotten
caught up in, and Granny Tokie's time spirits were hard at
work repairing it already.
Still, I had to count my blessings. We were only getting
the occasional monster rather than a full-on displacement of
beasts through time. Then again, the average extinct
monster was way stronger than any of the monsters that
existed in the current day, so was that really a blessing to be
counted?
"What happened to the prince?"
"Some minor injuries, but he'll live."
Injuries, huh...? Well, they'll be fine. We already sent
some of those alchemy lab potions over to Xenoahs for
emergencies.
"The issue this time around has less to do with the
appearance of the beast, and more to do with the stampede
it ended up causing. From what I hear, an entire village was
reduced to rubble..."
Damn it, again?!
It was only natural, since these monsters from the past
were suddenly appearing in different areas. The modern
monsters didn't know how to respond to the sudden
territorial dispute, so they ended up fleeing. This act sent
other animals fleeing, creating a chain that resulted in a
stampede. In fact, there'd been a lot of stampedes all over
the world lately, all presumably caused by yet-unreported
ancient monsters.
I decided that the various nations needed to be made
more aware of the threat they faced. There were some
warning signs that a stampede was about to begin, after all.
You could tell by the absence of certain animals, or flocks of
birds flying off together in the distance. If the various
countries could see those signs in advance, then they'd be
able to take better precautions to prevent damage.
Just as I was thinking about ways to implement that, the
phone in my pocket began to vibrate.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Hoh. They're larger than those Gollem warriors of
Brunhild, it seems," Indigo muttered quietly as he looked
over the contents of the Ark's hangar.
The dull gold bodies of the massive Gollems contained
within gleamed in the dim light of the lightstones above
them. The golden machines were engraved with black lines
running through them, which was some manner of magical
circuitry. The angular mechs were lined up in a row,
completely unarmed, with a somewhat heavy, rugged air
about them, like they'd been crafted coarsely. Indigo had a
feeling that design was to the preference of the plaguemasked man that stood before him.
"It's a shame, but I couldn't really make them any smaller.
Well, I could've, but that would've reduced the output quite
a bit. And at that point, why even bother?" the plaguemasked man, Scarlet, casually shrugged as he offered a halfbaked apology.
The dull gold Gollems in front of them were far bigger and
sturdier than the massive Chevaliers of Brunhild. The design
wasn't all that different from Brunhild's standard-issue
Frame Gears, it was just bigger and their heads bore a single
large eye.
"The performance on these isn't bad at all, though. I'd say
they could give Brunhild's machines a run for their money."
"Hoh!"
Indigo was somewhat impressed by Scarlet's confident
musing. Scarlet wasn't one for empty boasting, after all, so
that had to mean he was sure about what he was saying.
"And we can begin mass-producing these?"
"We've already begun. Though we've only managed to
make a few dozen with the materials we recovered from the
underground dock in Gandhilis. I imagine we can harvest
plenty of raw materials from the seabed, however."
The Ark was currently deep beneath the world's oceans,
trawling and mining the very bottom of the depths for ore.
The wicked god's divinity shrouded the entire vehicle,
preventing it from being traced by conventional search
magic. They were well-hidden indeed.
"Scarlet... I was wondering something."
"What's that?"
Indigo walked over to a gap between two of the giant
Gollems, his diving suit clunking as he walked.
"What happened to the machine that presumably stood
here?"
"That idiotic Orchid took it for a joyride. I'm not entirely
sure what became of it."
Scarlet clicked his tongue as his explanation elicited a sigh
from Indigo's mouth. Despite what Scarlet had said, Orchid
wasn't necessarily an idiot. It was more that he had a onetrack mind when it came to doing certain things. He worked
intuitively rather than using his head, and his happy-golucky approach was rooted in embracing his wild side and
disregarding groundwork. In short, he was a hedonist who
preferred feeling over thinking.
There was no way a person with that kind of personality
could resist taking a giant robot for a spin. The first moment
he saw one of them, he decided he needed to take it on a
rampage.
Indigo didn't necessarily think a rampage was a bad idea,
but he saw the tactical disadvantage of revealing their hand
too early. That was why he quietly resolved to go and bring
Orchid back before he drew too much attention to himself.
"Where did he go, then?"
"If it's Orchid you're after, then the Kingdom of Rhea is
where you will find him."
Indigo turned toward the source of the voice, spotting a
woman in a domino mask lined with fancy feathers. She was
remarkably tall and slender, and wore a flamboyant outfit
coated top to bottom in blue and green plumes. That
appearance had led to Orchid nicknaming her 'bird lady.'
She also held two metallic-green chakrams in her hands.
They were remarkably oversized when compared to her slim
build.
"Peacock... You know where he went?"
"Isn't it obvious? My Viridian excels at both seeking and
destroying. It's a truly magnificent gift from above. Tracing
my fellow devout is as simple as breathing."
Peacock let out a strange, haughty laugh. Threads of light
weaved through the holes in her chakrams. Peacock could
pull on these lights and measure their intensity to find
whatever it was she was looking for. Thus, there was no
doubt in Indigo's mind that Orchid was over in Rhea.
"He's there, eh? I'll go recover him, then... We can't have
these Gollems of ours being public knowledge just yet. And
on that note, do we have a name for them yet?"
"We certainly do. Kyklops."
"Kyklops? Sounds kinda like Cyclops, doesn't it?"
"It's what they called the Cyclops five thousand years ago.
Isn't that right, Gold?" Scarlet asked, grinning over at the
small shadow that lurked by the hangar's entrance. The
shadow then stepped forward, revealing a small golden
Gollem with glowing red eyes.
◇ ◇ ◇
"That's it! That's the thing that attacked the port!" the
elven soldier yelled out as he saw the illustration I managed
to recreate using [Recall]. The soldier, a local captain, still
had a bandaged head and a cast on his right arm despite my
healing. After getting his confirmation, I showed the image
to other soldiers who quickly said the same thing.
I was in Khadan, a port town in the Kingdom of Rhea. I'd
been summoned here after hearing news of the place coming
under attack by something that greatly resembled a Frame
Gear.
King Rhea and Grun the green crown had accompanied
me, along with an entourage of guards. I'd brought the king
with me to assure him I wasn't the one responsible for this
attack, and also to help escort any refugees to Rhea's capital
through one of my [Gate] portals.
Rescue teams from the capital charged into the billowing
smoke in search of wounded survivors.
King Rhea took a look at the illustration I'd generated and
asked, "Then you say this Gollem isn't the same as your
nation's Frame Gears?"
"That's right. It's not the same thing. I get what it looks
like, but it really isn't..."
At this moment in time, Brunhild was the only country in
the whole world with access to Frame Gears. That was why I
wanted to clear this situation up as fast as possible. Before I
could say any more, four people by my side interjected.
"It's obvious at a glance, isn't it? It looks nothing like my
Frame Gears. The fundamental design philosophy is
completely different. To have such shabby construction
compared to my product is absurd."
"Indeed. From the parts alone, you can see that whoever
made these must be from the western continent. It's not
nearly as refined as Regina's workmanship."
"Hmm... I do suppose I'd call it halfhearted, at a glance?
Whoever engineered it was so focused on optimizing output
that they didn't spare a minute to consider rider comfort..."
"As interesting as it is, it's a design created in poor taste.
I'd be pretty angry if I made the Frame Gears and someone
compared this to them."
Babylon, Elluka, the professor, and Quun all took turns
dunking on the machine that had destroyed the port. They
were so offended by the drawing that I almost hoped we'd
never find the real thing.
According to the townsfolk, it came shambling out of the
ocean and started laying waste to the town. It trashed stuff
at random, as if it was testing what it could do, then started
to break more things until it seemingly got bored and went
back into the water. The fact that it came from the ocean
made me think that this fake Frame Gear was the work of
the wicked devout.
I remembered that the wicked god had created mutated
Phrase variants that resembled Frame Gears, but that was
more like a life-form imitating a machine. This thing was
something completely different. It was a machine, created
from Gollem tech and artifacts, which meant there was
someone out there capable of producing war machines, and
he wasn't on my side.
"Do you think this could be something that was left in the
Ark that the wicked devout found?"
"Doubtful. The craftsmanship is far too crude for the
genius behind the crown Gollems. There's also new
technology here mixed in with the legacy parts."
"Might it be a refurbished version of an older design?"
"That's not impossible, but..."
"I think it would make more sense to just design a new
robot from scratch if you had to modify an old one. Though
supposing it actually is a legacy remnant, then..."
My offhand question prompted a flurry of technobabble
that I wasn't nearly equipped enough to understand. Clearly,
I was just adding fuel to the proverbial fire in their hearts.
"Negative. Chrom Ranchesse never manufactured
Gollems of this scale. This is someone else's doing."
The small green crown Gollem dumped a proverbial
bucket of water on that fire, quelling it in seconds. Grun was
created by the Ark's creator, so its word was as good as
anyone's. In other words, this fake Frame Gear was not
Chrom's handiwork.
That was probably worse, though, because it meant there
definitely was an incredibly skilled Gollem engineer working
with the wicked devout. Hell, he might have been one of the
wicked devout with their blessings and everything.
Man, this is really starting to be a real pain in the ass.
"After all you've done for Rhea, I can't begin to suspect
you as the culprit behind all this. I was only asking to be
sure, you needn't worry. Though if a country without our
relationship were to be attacked, they might not be so
understanding."
The elf king was absolutely right. If a country without any
friendly relations with Brunhild came under attack by this
thing, they'd have no reason to believe me if I tried to clear
things up.
Was that the goal here? To besmirch my reputation? No,
that couldn't be it. If that was their intention, then they'd
have made it look more like our Frame Gears instead of
these hulking one-eyed monster robots. But in that case,
why even make them? What was the endgame? It was too
confusing.
"Now that we're aware our enemies have access to
something similar to my Frame Gears, we should probably
let our allies know about it before we lose control of the
narrative. I'd advise that we let countries that aren't allied
with us know that as well, since I'm sure we can
communicate with them through the other world leaders."
"Yeah, you're right."
Doc Babylon was right on the money. If our allies vouched
for us, it would be easier to smooth things over. The only
way to prove this one-eyed Gollem wasn't one of ours was
probably to capture it. I tried using my search spell to trace
it, but I didn't get any results. Presumably, it shared the
same protections the Ark had.
"Hm..."
"What's wrong?"
The professor grumbled quietly as he mulled over the
image of the fake Frame Gear.
"It's nothing precise, but I do recognize the peculiarities of
this Frame Gear's design... Where have I seen this before?"
"Oh? You as well? I thought I was just imagining things,
but there are subtle quirks to the construction that seem
familiar to me..."
Elluka leaned in and slowly nodded, her brow knitted in
thought.
"Peculiarities to the design? I don't get it."
"All mechanical constructs betray their creators with
subtle details. It's just like with paintings. There's an
individual mark in all art."
Doc Babylon grinned as she explained that to me. I could
sort of get what she was saying. Babylon's aesthetic sense
was pretty clearly present in the Frame Gears and Over
Gears, after all. You could tell they were hers. Similarly, the
crown Gollems all looked pretty in line with Chrom
Ranchesse's aesthetic sense.
It was kind of like how you could tell when two manga
had the same artist even if they changed their pen name.
"If you both recognize it, does that mean the creator
might be someone famous? It's not the witch-king, is it?"
"Oh! I know!"
"I've got it!"
Huh?! Don't tell me the witch-king's actually behind this!
"This reminds me of the maestro's work! The Gollem
looks very much like his designs!"
"Exactly! It looks exactly like the type of Gollems the
maestro creates!"
...The maestro? Isn't that one of the five great
gollemancers of the western continent?
That would mean he was on the same level as Elluka and
the professor... And he was on the wicked devout's side?
Why?
"He's a skilled crafter, but he's a bit of a fussy sort. He
often got into heated conflicts with his aides."
"Indeed. He's always been difficult to work with and often
kicks up trouble in the countries he roams to."
According to the professor and Elluka, the maestro was
something of a conceited man who took extreme pride in his
vision...which meant he was kind of similar to the witch-king
in that regard, so I wasn't totally wrong!
"Unlike the witch-king, who took advantage of other
people, the maestro doesn't really care about others. He
looks down on just about everyone other than himself.
Young Elluka and I were treated as equals, but that's about
the closest I got to seeing him express any human warmth."
"Yeah, he treated Fenrir horribly right in front of me and
said he was of inferior make. In short, he's a bastard."
Elluka frowned, clearly still bitter over that particular
memory. Fenrir wasn't a particularly strong or complicated
construct, he was just a talking Gollem that looked like a
wolf. I thought that was cool, personally...but apparently,
not everyone was so easily satisfied.
But back to the matter at hand, the situation was
obviously worse than I thought. The wicked devout had a
Gollem engineer on the same level as Elluka and the
professor. Was he just working with them, or had he been
converted into one of them? The Ark was Chrom
Ranchesse's personal factory, which meant, in theory, there
was a facility within it for him to mass-produce the one-eyed
Gollem design.
I'd probably have to consider giving out Frame Units to
our most recent diplomatic allies so they could train pilots to
prepare for an emergency.
"Now that we've seen this, we can't afford to drag our
heels. Let's accelerate our production schedule."
"Your production schedule? You mean the Albus Over
Gear?"
"Indeed. We've already come up with a name, even. Val
Albus. We'll have to create an Over Gear that the maestro
won't be able to look down on."
Doc Babylon grinned wide, a scornful sneer appearing on
her face.
◇ ◇ ◇
After we returned from Rhea, Doc Babylon seemed more
motivated than ever to finish Albus's Over Gear. She didn't
let me see what parts she was working on, though. Given
that I was sponsoring the project, I thought I'd at least be
able to get a peek at what she was doing, but I didn't care
enough to push the issue. I'd get to see it when it was done,
which was good enough for me.
Quun was helping out too, though in a pretty limited
capacity. She wasn't cooped up in Babylon the same way
Elluka and Doc Babylon were. She at least came out to have
tea with her siblings every once in a while, which was nice.
We needed her help to tweak the Frame Units in time for
the current world conference, anyway. Rosetta from the
workshop and Monica from the hangar were both fully
focused on helping out with the Over Gear construction, so
we were a bit short on manpower.
I was watching the houtei face off against the iron king of
Gandhilis in a Frame Unit mock battle. They were getting
used to the controls via the simulator.
Oh, looks like it's over. Seems like the houtei won. Though
they're both beginners, so I feel like either one of them
could've pulled it off with the right button press...
"I won! Tatsuma-sama, I won!"
"Mh... Seems I lost."
The houtei and the iron king stepped out of their
simulation pods and back into the hall. The room was filled
with representatives and delegates from various nations
around the world. Our new friends from the western
continent were somewhat apprehensive about the Frame
Units, but they were curious enough to try out the training
modules. It was more of a way to nurture friendly
competition, really.
When I brought up the incident that had happened in
Rhea, the other nations agreed that we should train people
from every nation to pilot Frame Gears. It was a similar
situation to when the Phrase threat was looming, after all.
The beastking of Mismede raised his hand and spoke up
with a question.
"Grand Duke, do you think there could be the chance of a
large-scale invasion much like the Phrase incursion?"
"It's not impossible. It depends on how much Chrom
Ranchesse's Ark can create, but I think it'll be more than a
handful. Given enough time, they should be able to create
enough Gollems, since their output's probably going to be at
least similar to an average national factory."
My words prompted gasps from the delegates who'd come
from the western continent. Given they were more used to
Gollems in their daily lives, they'd grasped the scale of the
threat much more quickly.
Doc Babylon told me the enemy was probably going to be
mining undersea resources to mass-produce their one-eyed
Gollems. If they were trawling the sea bed for such things,
then they'd be able to create a lot of them if given enough
time to do so.
After a brief moment, King Belfast raised his hand as well
and asked, "So, these wicked devout... What is their aim,
exactly?"
"We believe their aim is the resurrection of the wicked
god, or the birth of a new one entirely. That's only our
speculation at the minute, though. Whatever it is they have
planned, it's not a good thing."
If I had to guess, they probably needed a massive quantity
of negative emotions from people all over the world to kickstart their true aim. And obviously, the fastest way to do that
was to send the world into a state of anxiety and unease, just
as Yula had done.
If that was why they were planning to mass-produce those
Gollems, then we needed to take action before we found
ourselves playing right into their hands. If the wicked god
was properly reborn, then neither I nor my family would be
able to directly interfere with it. I was a god, after all...and
my wives were beneficiaries of my divinity. We needed to
stop that situation from coming about at all costs.
Brunhild was also one of the only countries in the world
that didn't border the sea, other than our territory on the
dungeon islands. The only other landlocked nations were
Roadmare and Ramissh. Every other country could become
a possible target, so the only way to prevent that was to set
those countries up with Frame Gears.
The only difference from the Phrase invasion was that we
had no advance warning of attack. If I heard about it, I'd be
able to warp there in no time at all, but if they ended up
attacking a remote location, I wouldn't be able to hear about
it until it was too late.
Elluka said if we could capture one of the one-eyed
Gollems, we might be able to dismantle it and put together
some kind of sensor or radar... But we had to actually
capture one first, so there was nothing we could do before
the next attack. That was why we had to divert all our
resources to prepping for the next attack.
"I see... So you propose allowing the western nations to
access the Frame Units and become Frame Gear pilots as
well?" Knight King Reinhardt of Lestia said, then nodded
slowly at my explanation.
"That's right. We'll be loaning out Frame Gears to
countries as and when they need them, much like when the
Phrase invaded. Please keep a stronger watch along your
coasts."
All the world leaders I was on good terms with had
smartphones and could call me at any time, but I also took
the time to create and hand out a bunch of extra gate
mirrors. If they had gate mirrors in more remote or rural
locations, we'd have a much better chance of responding to
attacks on those places in a timely manner.
The western continent had short-range communication
devices, but they wouldn't be able to reach me all the way in
Brunhild through one of those.
"Given the nature of this threat, I can only hope that the
other nations join our alliance before long..." Elf King of
Rhea let out a small sigh as he spoke. The vampiric
Archfiend of Helgaia, another newcomer to our alliance,
nodded in agreement.
Though I'd arrived too late to stop the one-eyed Gollem
attack on Rhea, the other nations had all provided donations
in the form of gold or resources to help them rebuild. The
affected port town would be able to recover in time thanks to
that.
Though it was only a small town in this instance, some
nations had full cities along the coastline. If the wicked
devout attacked one of those, we would have a serious
disaster on our hands...and I had a feeling they'd do it
sometime soon. What better way to make people afraid than
attacking a large population center?
"The Kingdom of Curelia has been considering our offer
more seriously, especially after what happened on their
coast. I think they may well join us soon!" Prince Robert of
Panaches, the pumpkin-pants prince, spoke up merrily. King
Panaches nodded alongside him.
Curelia had one of its settlements recently come under
attack by Fishmen, giant stone constructs, and four-armed
Gollems. That was the work of the wicked devout as well.
The random guerrilla warfare was really pissing me off, as I
had no way of determining the next target. I was pleased
that Curelia was coming around on joining us, but they
weren't the only ones who needed convincing... There was
also the Kingdom of Langaeis, the Kingdom of Rephan, and
the Gem Kingdom.
Assuming Curelia would be joining us, what of those
three? From what I'd heard from Triharan, the Gem
Kingdom had been talking with them and there was the
possibility they'd join soon enough. Langaeis could also be
open to joining us if they saw their neighbors in Curelia do
so. They'd be surrounded by allies at that point, after all.
That really only left Rephan, which I didn't know all that
much about. I'd have to ask the king of Primula about them,
given his nation bordered theirs.
"Rephan, eh...? They're our neighbors, aye, but the Daola
Mountains form a natural border between our two nations,
so there's not an awful lot of foot traffic. I suppose the most
notable thing about them is that their territory is extremely
rich in mithril..."
Oh. Mithril's just about the worst thing you can use to
make a Gollem, right? It drops their potential output by as
much as half and is used in tools for sealing more
dangerous Gollems away. It's a valuable magical metal on
the eastern continent, but over on the western side, it's little
more than useless junk. Given the western continent is so
reliant on Gollems, it'd only be natural that a country
sitting on a bed of mithril would be a place people would
want to avoid.
Even Gollem airships were likely to crash if they got
within range of the ore there, though not all Gollem
functions were affected so badly.
"I've only heard rumors, but apparently, Rephan is in the
midst of a civil war. I doubt they're in a position to join us
right now."
A civil war? I wonder if it's a struggle for supremacy like
what happened in Eashen a while back.
The Kingdom of Rephan was made up of various clans,
but apparently, their king's power recently waned and his
clan was driven out of their capital. Now the situation was
more chaotic: opposing clans were said to have taken up
positions around or in the capital city, other clans were
taking advantage of the situation to expand their territories,
and smaller clans were banding together under new
agreements to try to take some real power for once.
It was kind of an inevitability, really... Power vacuums
always ended this way. It wasn't a matter of people, it was
just how things went. Even a small country like Brunhild
wasn't immune to that kind of thing, which was why I
needed to remain vigilant in terms of succession.
"Actually, my people have heard that their warring period
is finally coming to an end. Apparently, a prodigious Gollem
meister has allied herself with the royalty, who are
reclaiming their power."
"Oho?"
Crown Prince Lupheus of Triharan suddenly interjected,
accompanied by Princess Berlietta of Strain. It made sense
he'd have some knowledge of the situation, as his country
bordered Rephan as well.
As an aside, apparently, the two of them were making
strides with their ether vehicle development. I had a feeling
that Triharan could become quite the successful car
manufacturer in the future.
"But isn't Rephan on a whole bed of mithril? Gollems
can't operate well there, can they?"
"That doesn't seem to matter for this particular Gollem
meister. I've heard her machine works just fine. It could be
that the witch-king of Isengard's invention fell into their
hands..."
The old guy who ruled Isengard? Oh yeah, he did make
something like that, if I remember right... A device that
neutralizes the effects of mithril, right? Think he made it
based on one of the beast emperor Gollems from the former
Kingdom of Lowe. This Gollem meister couldn't have one of
the beast emperors, right? There are twelve of them, I'm
pretty sure... I thought all the others were destroyed in the
war with Gardio, but one might've survived...
"I hear the king's mysterious benefactor wields a Gollem
with a golden sheen. She's said to be a terribly young girl, as
well. A mere child, despite her prodigious skill."
"...What."
Lupheus's words started to turn a few cogs in my brain.
A Gollem with a golden sheen? Why is that making me
think of the gold crown?
There were a few golden Gollems across the world, mostly
in the hands of the ridiculously wealthy. I'd run into a few in
the past when I'd tried searching for the gold crown.
Having a shiny golden Gollem in your repertoire was
considered the ultimate status symbol in some social circles,
though mostly among the nouveau riche. I couldn't really
say anything about that, though...since I had a shiny golden
Frame Gear sitting in my hangar. Plus, I was technically part
of the nouveau riche too...
I wondered if the girl in Rephan was some noble girl from
a new money family... If she was just a little kid, then that
probably meant she was some rich guy's daughter. Was she
helping out the king of Rephan with her dad's wallet or
something? That sounded pretty funny.
"They say she's only five years old or so, yet she repels
every single enemy that crosses her path. Her Gollem is
equipped with the ultimate defense wall, if the stories are to
be believed."
...Huh?
"Even putting the Gollem aside, the girl herself is said to
be a formidable force on the battlefield. She charged through
an advanced line of soldiers like a wrecking ball, scattering
them instantly. And yet, even though she went charging
right in, nobody could put so much as a finger on her!"
Huuuh?! W-Wait, hold on... Could she be...? No, no...
That's ridiculous...
"Father. I'm fairly sure I know who they're describing."
Even though I didn't want to believe it, Quun's whispering
voice danced over and brought reality crashing down around
me.
Don't tell me...it's really her...
"I'm trying to remember what her name was... That
strange, powerful girl is named...Staph? Or is it...Step?
Something like that..."
Hey! Prince Lupheus, her name's Steph! She's called
Stephania, dammit! That's my daughter whose name
you're messing up, pal! Wait. That's my daughter. Oh no.
Why's she involved in a civil war?!
"Quun, what's she thinking?"
"She's not thinking of anything at all. Steph never does.
She's probably just helping because they're giving her food."
Are you serious right now? Is she gonna be okay over
there? Aren't they basically just using her, then?
"She'll be fine, I think. Steph has something of a good
instinct when it comes to people, so I'm sure those she's
helping are nice. Honestly, she reads people just as well as
Kuon or mother Yumina's mystic eye does. It's some mighty
animal intuition."
What?! Is she a feral kid or something?!
If Quun was right here, then Steph was helping out King
Rephan because he deserved the aid. Did that mean the king
was genuinely a good person? When I asked King Primula
and Prince Lupheus about that, I was surprised to learn that
Rephan was actually ruled by a queen. She was apparently
close to sixty, but there were no tales or rumors about her
being a bad person. Though her qualities as a leader did
leave something to be desired.
One could be a good person while being a bad monarch,
that was for sure. Given that Rephan was made up of
multiple smaller clans, whoever was in charge needed to be
the perfect mediator for their disputes. And above all else,
the ruling party needed to command respect and authority
enough to make those smaller vassals bend the knee. That, it
seemed, was what Queen Rephan was lacking.
I guess Steph's making up for her lack of backbone, then?
Wait, crap... What if she accidentally becomes the new
queen or something?! Now I'm just more worried... I can't
say I know much about this gold Gollem she has either, but
we need to bring her home!
Even though I was concerned, I was still in the middle of
an international conference...so I couldn't just bail out.
Steph's mother, Sue, was also here, but I couldn't just tell
her what I'd learned because she'd probably panic. And so, I
resolved to stay quiet until the evening's events concluded.
A few hours passed. It was a little frustrating trying to
make it through the evening without letting anything slip,
but we managed and I saw all the delegates to their homes.
Now came the important part.
I gathered my family in the living room and told them
about the situation with Steph. The reaction was,
interestingly enough, mixed. Yumina and my other wives
were shocked, some even gasped and looked terribly
concerned. My children, on the other hand, simply nodded
and told me that it sounded about right.
"You're not all that surprised, are you?"
"That's just kind of how Steph is... She's a free spirit, for
better or for worse."
Weird... She's kind of an eccentric girl, isn't she? Is this
really not that unusual for her? It's unusual for me, that's
for sure! I'm still worried!
As I was struggling to respond to Kuon, Sue suddenly and
impatiently ran to my side.
"Touya! We must go to Rephan at once! I must see my
Steph! I'm sure she's lonely, afraid, and missing me... I'm
her mother, so I have to see her now!"
I understood her feelings, but I'd never even been to
Rephan before, which meant I couldn't open up a [Gate]
portal. I asked Yakumo if she'd be able to open up a portal
for us, but apparently, she'd never been either. What a
bother...
I had no other choice but to try getting myself there
directly. I wasn't sure where I'd land if I used [Teleport],
so all I could really do was pray I wouldn't pop up in the
middle of a battlefield or some important noble's
bedchambers. I wasn't very keen on starting an international
incident over this, after all...
I quickly reconsidered when I remembered that I could
just use [Gate] to go to Primula, then cross the Daola
Mountains.
"I'll be joining you, of course!" Sue exclaimed as she
stepped forward and grabbed my hand. I was surprised
when Yoshino came over as well.
"I'm an expert at catching Steph. I have [Absorb] and
[Teleport], after all."
That made sense. Yoshino also had [Prison], which she
presumably used to catch her sister. Her [Absorb] could
nullify any spells Steph might start slinging, and if the girl
fled, then Yoshino could pursue her with [Accel]. If all else
failed, she had [Teleport] for instant transmission. In a
sense, Yoshino could be considered Steph's natural predator.
Apparently, Kuon used to use one of his mystic eyes to
stop his sister too. And upon hearing that, I realized we were
starting to feel more like animal control than a rescue
party...
"If Yoshino goes, I go..." Sakura said as she stood up,
understandably concerned. She didn't want her child
rushing to a war zone unattended, which was fair.
I headed to Babylon's hangar and asked Monica to bring
out our rapid transit vehicle, Gungnir. The Gungnir was also
a support unit for Sue's Ortlinde, so bringing it along made
perfect sense. Plus, it had a stealth function that would make
it easier for us to approach any area of conflict.
I considered just using [Fly], but I felt like Sue was
running out of patience.
"Now then, let us be off. We're gonna, like, punch it!
Gooo!"
Monica piloted the Gungnir through the [Gate] I'd
opened, blasting us through into Primula's airspace in an
instant. She then immediately activated the stealth mode,
rendering us invisible to the naked eye.
"So? Are we heading straight to the Rephan royal capital?"
"No, the capital's supposedly occupied by other clans right
now. She won't be there. She'll be with the king, uh...I mean,
the queen..."
I ran a search to try to identify her within the region of
Rephan, but multiple results popped up. There were
probably so many results because there were other clan
leaders who were women, and I didn't know which one the
current queen was...
"Why not search for the gold Gollem?"
"I've searched for that before, but it always gets me junk
results..."
"If you limit the results to Rephan, shouldn't it be easier?"
That was true. Most of the results from my gold Gollem
searches showed up in wealthier nations on the western
continent like Allent or Strain.
Comparatively, Rephan didn't really have all that many.
When I took Sue's advice and set the search terms to only
show results within Rephan's borders, I got three results.
Two of them were in the capital city, meaning the one
outside had to be Steph's. It was far east of the capital, quite
a distance from our location, so we needed to hurry.
"Monica, send us eastward."
"Roger that. We're, like, going east!"
Gungnir crossed over the mountain range and continued
due east. I hoped my daughter wasn't in any trouble...but
there was a good chance she was already neck-deep in it.
"How come my kids always get involved in stuff like this?"
"You're really asking that, Touya? You, of all people?"
"We learned from the best, father. You're just as bad as
us."
...Dammit. My bad, I guess.