We crossed the Daola Mountains, but there was nothing
but barren wilderness for miles after that. Occasionally, we'd
see a town or road, but there wasn't much in the way of
people. Given that this was the territory nearest to Primula,
the people of Rephan probably treated it more like a far
frontier.
There were only two routes that connected the two
countries, a road to the north that went through the
mountains and a sea route to the north. However, even those
roads had little traffic. Primula wasn't interested in sending
people to a land that was effectively in the middle of a civil
war, plus Rephan's warlords along the frontier strictly
policed the border.
With all that in mind, it was no wonder the country was so
isolated... If only they were more open, things would have
been a lot easier for me.
"I must ask, master. We've, like, gotten to Rephan's
territory... So umm, where to now?" Monica, who was sitting
in the Gungnir's pilot seat, tilted her head and asked me a
question. I projected a map from my phone and pointed to a
flashing location on it.
"Here. That's where we wanna be."
"The Citadel City, Acyra? It's quite a ways east."
"How long'll it take?"
"You needn't underestimate Gungnir. It'll, like, take thirty
minutes or whatever."
Monica sounded confident, so I kept quiet about the fact
that I definitely could've made it there faster just by using
[Fly]. She was right, anyway. Underestimating Gungnir in
cases like this was pointless. It was much more convenient
to take it when you had a large group with you.
We continued flying east in stealth mode until we came
across a group that looked like an army. I asked her to stop
us in midair for a moment so I could take a closer look. It
was a large group of men riding on animals that resembled
horses. They were headed east.
It was rare to see a group like this on the western
continent, as most standing armies over here were made up
of Gollems. Some of the men were wearing pieces of
equipment that made it look like they were decked up in
power suits. I recognized them as a kind of wearable Gollem,
but I figured all the mithril ore in the land would've made
those things pointless.
"Mithril impacts a Gollem by interfering with the line of
command from contractor to contracted machine. So, like,
interference causes Gollems to do things they weren't told to
do and stuff, or to do things more lazily. With equipmenttype Gollems, the commands are transmitted directly
through ether lines via the wearer's body, so the interference
is much less pronounced."
That made sense. In that case, Gollems that functioned
like body enhancers or mech suits were probably the most
popular ones in Rephan.
Hmm, if equipment-type Gollems have autonomy like
other Gollems do, does that make them AI-controlled? If
you could get one that covered your whole body, it'd be like
a certain superhero I've seen in a couple movies...
"Hey, Touya! Enough gawking! We need to get to Steph!"
Sue, clearly impatient with my pondering, yelled out.
"Oh, oops! My bad."
I was somewhat concerned about this army, since they
were headed in the same direction as us, but I had bigger
fish to fry.
At my command, the Gungnir began speeding forward
once more. Eventually, we came to a large hill. A heavily
guarded settlement with multiple walls sat atop it. This had
to be Acyra, the Citadel City.
"Touya, where's the gold Gollem located?"
"Gimme a minute, I'll check... Yep. Figures. It's in that big
castle in the middle."
I projected a map of the local area into the air and noticed
that the flashing light on it was smack bang in the middle of
the city. Given the gold Gollem's association with the queen,
that made sense...
"Let's go, then!"
"Hey, hey. Hold on. Sue. Wait."
My smallest wife was being a little too hasty, so I
frantically tried to calm her down. This was another country,
so we couldn't just crash in there and land right in front of
the queen.
"What are you saying? You've done exactly that countless
times, Touya. Why do you show restraint now?"
Ugh... When you put it like that, I can't exactly disagree...
Whenever I say something like this to someone who's
known me long enough, it's basically like launching a
massive boomerang.
Still, barging in there wasn't wise. We hadn't even
confirmed Steph was in there, we were only chasing the
rumor of a gold Gollem. If it was someone unrelated to
Steph in there, we ran the risk of being misinterpreted as
foreign insurgents.
"Grand Duke, maybe you should try your specialty? You
know, creeping around."
"D-Don't say that! You're making me sound like a
weirdo!"
Plus, you're one to talk! You do plenty of creeping around
too, Sakura!
That wasn't really an option, though. On the western
continent, there were more than just gatekeepers around to
stop intruders. They had sensor-based security systems.
Stuff like infrared, heat vision, and so on. There were even
autonomous Gollems that had such technology imbued into
them. Thus, even if you used [Invisible] to sneak in
someplace, they could find you using that tech.
I decided that the best course of action was to send in a
more inconspicuous spy to look on our behalf. And so, I had
Gungnir remain in stealth mode and stay hovering above the
castle. Then, I used [Teleport] to warp down to a back alley
of Acyra along with Sue, Sakura, and Yoshino. After that, I
used a summoning spell to call Kohaku to my side in tiger
cub mode.
"You called for me, my liege?"
"Yeah. Need your help."
Kohaku was a Heavenly Beast, which meant she had
dominion over whole groups of animals. So, with that in
mind, I asked if she could get any small rodents in the area
to investigate the castle on our behalf.
"As you command. Please wait a moment."
All she had to do was let out a roar, and numerous rats
came scurrying our way.
"Eep..."
"Th-There's a bit too many, don't you think?"
Sakura and Sue clung to my side, frightened by the mass
gathering of rodents. Yoshino, however, didn't seem
bothered at all.
Kohaku gave a silent command to the rat horde, and they
scattered off in the blink of an eye.
"We'll know the best path of infiltration in an hour or two,
my liege."
With such a huge number of rats swarming the castle
from every angle, I expected we'd get a full report on all its
weakest security spots. Hell, we could probably make an
accurate blueprint of the place based on their reports.
Though what truly mattered was that we'd be able to make it
in safely after that.
I also made sure Kohaku communicated to the rats that
we needed to check if Steph was in there.
"We have to wait that long? That's ridiculous, Touya! Just
garb us all with [Mirage]! We can go into the castle and
abduct Steph. Nobody will be any wiser than in Brunhild,
no?"
"Sue... Please don't endorse child abduction in front of
Yoshino... It's bad for her development."
"Aww, sorry..."
Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly as she chastised Sue. I
didn't think it was that big a deal at this point, since we were
already planning on infiltrating the place. Plus, Yoshino
seemed fine with everything that had happened so far. She
could use [Teleport] on her own, so something told me she
was already used to infiltration. It was probably way too late
to try and teach her lessons on not going to places without
permission.
Sue had a point about [Mirage], though. Casting that
would have made things a bit less complicated if we got
caught. Still, I decided not to think about that until we had
hard confirmation of Steph actually being in there or not.
"Ugh, I don't just wanna wait around..."
"If you're bored, Mother Sue, let's eat! Mother Yae always
says one can't fight a battle on an empty stomach."
Yoshino grabbed Sue by the hand and walked out to the
main streets of Acyra. I shrugged and followed them with
Sakura.
Acyra was a fortified city dotted with sturdy walls and
brick houses reinforced with wood. There was little in the
way of decoration either. It gave the place a rustic, historic
feel.
There were no Gollems to be seen in the streets, so the few
vehicles I noticed were being pulled along by those horselike not-horses I'd seen earlier. The people on the streets
seemed a little gloomy too. Perhaps that was to be expected,
though. The nation was going through a civil war, and the
queen had been forced out of the capital. With that in mind,
anyone would be on edge.
Hmm, where to eat? We've got Kohaku with us, so we
can't really go to a restaurant...
"Oh, over there! I want that!" Yoshino exclaimed as she
pointed over to a sweet-smelling stall.
When I looked over, I noticed that there were a lot of
small round foodstuffs for sale. At a glance, I thought they
were takoyaki, but they were actually little bite-size sponge
cakes.
"Mister, I'd like a big bag, please!"
"Comin' right up!"
The man at the stall filled up a large paper bag with the
little cakes... I was paying, of course, even though they were
ordered before I knew the cost.
We headed off to find someplace to eat, settling on a
nearby park area. Luckily, there was an unattended picnic
bench near the entrance.
"Here you are."
"Thanks. Oooh, it's hot..."
Yoshino passed me a cake, which, based on the heat,
must've just come out of the oven. I popped it into my
mouth, breathing fast to try to cool it down. That didn't go
so well, so I burned my tongue.
As I'd assumed, it was indeed a mini sponge cake.
"Want some, Kohaku?"
"...Not right now. I'd sooner wait for it to cool."
Yoshino offered some to Kohaku, but I had a feeling she
didn't want to chance any of her nine lives after seeing me
try to eat mine.
Sue and Sakura waited a little while for the cakes to cool,
then popped some into their own mouths.
"Oh, this is good. The batter has just the right level of
sweetness to it."
"Mhm. Hey, Touya, we should buy some for everyone
back home."
The two of them seemed to enjoy the treats quite a bit.
Yoshino also seemed quite keen on them, given how she was
shoveling them out of the bag by the fistful and cramming
them into her mouth. How could one girl eat so much? She
was so small too...
You know, if you eat that fast it might get stuck in your
throat.
Just as I thought that, Yoshino started to sputter and
pound on her chest. I sighed and passed her some orange
juice. Thankfully, I had [Storage] for moments like this.
Once she'd had a few sips, my silly daughter let out a
relieved sigh.
I glanced over to Sakura and Sue...only to find they were
sputtering and thumping at their chests as well.
...Seriously?
I didn't know whether to be shocked or impressed, so I
simply handed over some orange juice to them as well.
These girls were a real handful at times.
Sue was right, though, so after we were done eating, I
headed back to the store and bought a few more bags to take
home. I also made a mental note to ensure drinks were
available at hand whenever I decided to share these cakes.
Hopefully, we'd all be able to eat them together with Steph
after this was all done...
"Mmm... My liege, the scouts have finished their work,"
Kohaku stated as she glanced up from a cold cake she'd been
licking at.
I glanced over to the park entrance and noticed a lone rat
there. It was staring at us.
"A child resembling Miss Steph was located in the castle.
She had a small gold Gollem by her side."
Kohaku's report caught my attention. The description of it
being a small gold Gollem really made me think of the crown
series... But as far as I knew, the gold crown was in the
hands of the wicked devout. That made me a little bit
concerned. Could one of the bad guys have gotten to my
daughter?
"We'll need to get to her as soon as we can. Let's infiltrate
the castle."
"Of course, my liege. The rats have already transmitted
the best routes to me, so please rest assured that I'll guide
you well."
"Mhm! Let's go get Steph!"
"That's our Grand Duke... Our lovable breaking-andentering Grand Duke..."
Please don't call me that. That's not who I am!
After we confirmed the presence of a person resembling
Steph in the building, we set off to invade the castle fortress
in the middle of the city. I used [Invisible] to conceal our
group as we moved inside.
"It's so high up!" Sue exclaimed as she glanced up at the
towering walls, blinking in surprise. It definitely looked
bigger up close. I was more concerned about it being
midday... There were more people around, but hopefully,
our invisibility would take care of that.
"Let's move."
I used [Levitation] on Sakura, Sue, and Yoshino (who
had Kohaku in her arms) to float them by my side as I used
[Fly] to scale the towering walls in front of us. I'd gotten
pretty used to this kind of thing...but I didn't want to
acknowledge it because that would have meant Sakura was
right...
There was a gatekeeper by the main entrance, but we
slipped by him with no issue.
"Sakura, tell me if any Gollems are coming."
"Okay..."
Sakura's ears were sensitive enough to catch a spider's
footsteps, so she'd be able to easily pick up on anything
headed our way.
We headed down a red-carpeted corridor, following
Kohaku toward the area where Steph was supposed to be. It
was kind of a complex series of hallways, with lots of twists
and turns, but given that this place was supposed to be a
defensive fortress, it wouldn't have made much sense for it
to just be one straight path. It was clearly meant as a last line
of defense, and part of me expected there to be traps
around... I glanced up at the ceiling, hoping it wasn't about
to fall on us...
"There's a Gollem...around the corner. It's coming this
way," Sakura said, suddenly giving me a warning.
Mmm, what to do...? Our invisibility might not save us
here because there are Gollems that can sense heat or the
slightest sound.
If it was a cheap factory-grade Gollem, then it might not
be outfitted with such features, but given that this one was
deployed in the deeper reaches of a fortress, it was a safe bet
that it'd have something.
The corridor we were proceeding down was L-shaped,
meaning there was no place to hide...so what was the best
course of action?
"How many Gollems?"
"Just one."
Just one, huh? Then I can disable it before it calls for
backup.
Assuming the Gollem couldn't see around corners, if it
heard me, it would just assume I was a staffer from the
castle or something. If it had its guard down, I'd have
enough time to grab it, trigger [Cracking], and cut off its
ether line to disable its functions.
I motioned for everyone to move up against the wall, then
waited for the Gollem to appear. I saw a small shadow
appear from around the corner and took my chance to
activate [Teleport] and appear behind it.
"[Crack]— Wah?!"
"Mh."
When I put my hand on the Gollem, I hesitated...because
the thing I'd just touched looked astonishingly familiar. It
was a tiny Gollem, standing at about three heads tall. It was
a legacy model, a model I knew all too well: a crown. There
were five back in Brunhild. Black, white, red, purple, and
silver. And the one in front of me...was a striking gold. There
was no doubt in my mind. This was the gold crown.
My mind raced, but I suddenly remembered that the gold
crown was in the hands of the wicked devout, which meant
there was no reason not to shut it down.
"[Cracking]!"
I touched the gold crown and activated my spell.
However, my cracking didn't even reach the Gollem. It
bounded off some kind of invisible barrier instead.
What?!
The gold crown jumped backward and spun around,
drawing a sword from its waist. Its sword wasn't unlike the
one wielded by Noir, the black crown, except it gleamed gold
like the rest of the chassis...and there were two of them. This
little Gollem was a dual wielder.
It was similar to Noir in general shape and form, but the
gold crown looked a bit more knightly. It had a flowing cape
of sorts running down its back and a helmet visor-like
protrusion on its face.
"Warning to: Formless Intruder. Surrender to: Arrest."
I'd been caught, so I quickly cast [Mirage] on myself to
obscure my appearance, then deactivated my invisibility.
Now that I'd been found out as an intruder, I could at least
be found out as an intruder who wasn't Touya Mochizuki.
[Mirage] was a convenient method of creating illusions.
It wasn't anything that directly interfered with someone's
mind, but it actively cloaked me in something that could be
photographed or recorded. Even Gollems could be deceived
through their camera eyes, and any images recorded to the
gold crown's Q-Crystal would show the figure of someone
who wasn't me.
Still, that wasn't really important right now. I was
concerned about something else entirely. The ward that had
blocked my [Cracking] attempt...I recognized it.
"Look out! Something's coming toward us at a high
speed!" Sakura's voice called out to me in a panic.
I turned around only to catch sight of a small, blondehaired girl charging toward me at an impossible pace.
"Hiyaaaaaaaaah!"
"GWUBGH!"
The little girl came barreling toward me headfirst,
smashing into my belly like a rocket. She'd literally flown at
me.
I felt an atrocious sense of pain spread out across my core.
The impact was like a steel hammer had pelted me at full
force, and I was sent tumbling down the hallway.
"Baddie! Don't you bully Goldie!"
The girl, who couldn't have been older than five, stood
defiantly as if to defend the Gollem. Her hair was blonde and
wavy, while her eyes were a pretty green...just like her
mother's. Those eyes stared directly at me. She wore a whitecollared bolero over a navy-blue dress, along with white
socks and black Mary Jane shoes.
There was absolutely no mistaking it. This girl was
Steph...and the spell that had warded off my [Cracking],
earlier? That was [Prison]. She must've preemptively set it
up to keep the gold crown safe from magical interference.
And that tackle she'd just landed on me... She'd cast [Accel]
on herself, clad her entire body in [Prison], and let loose at
me... I'd heard about it from the kids before...the infamous
Steph Rocket.
The impact hurt. I staggered to my feet...only to see Steph
on the other end of the hallway imbuing herself with
[Accel] all over again.
No, wait!
"[Prison]!"
I quickly cast the spell around myself, configuring it to
repel any impacts from other [Prison] casts. And like I'd
hoped, my spell nullified Steph's. There was a clunk as the
two wards clashed with each other and undid themselves.
"Huh?!"
Steph stared at me in disbelief. Magic nullification wasn't
unusual, but she had to be confused to see someone else
casting her signature spell. She quickly recovered from her
surprise, garbing herself in [Prison] again and preparing
another charge.
"Whaaat?! W-Wait! Wait! Stop, Steph!"
"Steph! Stop that right now!"
Steph was about to come barreling into me at full speed
again, but she suddenly stopped when she heard her own
name. We found who we were looking for, so there was no
point in hiding our identities. Thus, I decided to just suck it
up and apologize for the intrusion later.
I deactivated my [Mirage], then deactivated the
invisibility on the others.
"Daaad?"
"We're here to get you, Steph."
Her shocked face immediately broke out into a smile, then
she began running to me as fast as she possibly could.
"It's daaaaaad! Daaaaaaaaad! Daaaaaaaaadyyyyyy!"
"Gwufh!"
I was struck by Steph yet again, but the impact wasn't
quite as hard this time... In fact, it felt warm...and a little
comfy. I tried to return the embrace, but she suddenly
slipped out of my grasp and pivoted away from me.
What?!
"Mommyyyyyy!"
"Steph!"
Sue and Steph jumped into each other's arms, swinging
each other around as they were united at long last.
No, that's...fine. Don't mind me...
"Don't move! Who are you?!"
Our tender moment was cut a little short by the sudden
appearance of the castle's guards. They'd surrounded us and
had their spears out. I almost forgot we were illegally
intruding for a moment. Plus, I'd deactivated all the disguise
stuff too...so yeah, we'd be pretty easy to identify.
I briefly considered using [Teleport] to flee, but since
Steph was a guest here, I figured it'd be better to talk to the
queen about everything. I doubted they'd believe she was my
daughter, though... I'd have to say she was a different kind of
relative, just to be on the safe side.
"Noooooo! This is my family! They're not baddies!"
Just as I was about to explain the situation to the soldiers,
Steph stepped forward and began yelling. The soldiers
glanced at each other, unsure of how to react. Eventually,
one of them, presumably the one in charge, gave the order to
lower their weapons.
"If you're truly Guest Commander Stephania's family,
then I apologize. However, I would've preferred you to have
made use of the front gate."
"I'm sorry about that. We were worried about Steph, so
we felt it prudent to enter and make sure she was safe."
I gave a plain and straightforward explanation to the
guardsman. I could completely understand where he was
coming from, but I wasn't so sure coming in normally
would've worked. If I'd just shown up and randomly said
that I was a member of Steph's family, they could've easily
chosen not to believe me. Also, had he called her a guest
commander? It was a little crazy to give a position like that
to a child who was five...
"So then, can we take Steph home?"
"E-Er, no... Could you wait a little, please? If Commander
Stephania leaves, the castle will surely fall."
My words sent the man into a bit of a panic. I had a
feeling it'd be like that... It seemed like the queen's group
was relying on my kid, so it wouldn't be convenient for them
to lose Steph at this point. But that was them, not us. I had
no reason to let them keep her just because it made things
easier for them.
"Heeey, daaaaaad? You can find the regallier, right?"
Just as I was thinking about how to get Steph home with
the least amount of fuss, the girl herself asked me a
question.
What was a regallier? Did she mean...regalia? Like a sign
of royal authority? Something similar to the three sacred
treasures of Japan, or China's Imperial Seal, perhaps? Did
the Kingdom of Rephan have something like that?
"I-Is that true? Sir, could you find the regalia?!"
"Uhhh...I could maybe use my search magic to find it, but
there's no guarantee..."
"Magic?! Like the spells wielded by Commander
Stephania?! Please, sir! You must see the queen at once!"
Uhhh...I think I'd like to see my way out of here, thanks.
I must've looked reluctant, since Steph tugged on my
sleeve.
"Daaad, pwease? The queen was reaaal nice to me,
y'know? I gotta pay my detts."
"Huh?!"
Did you say you gotta pay your debts?! What's with that
sense of duty?! Who taught you to be like that?! It was me,
probably! You stupid idiot from the future!
I sighed. If my daughter felt she had to pay a debt, then I
couldn't ignore her. I turned to see if Sue could get me out of
this, but Steph was already in the middle of working her.
"Mommy, pweaaase?"
"Umm... Sure... I-I guess it's only right to pay someone
back if they've taken care of you. Let's hear the queen out,
Touya."
"Yippee!"
Sue immediately fell victim to Steph's puppy-dog eyes. I'd
never quite seen Sue this charmed by someone before. It was
really something else. She was probably just extremely
happy to finally meet her daughter.
Still, I knew Sue was right. If the queen had given food
and lodging to our daughter, then it would have been wrong
of us to leave without even acknowledging that. It'd be a bad
example to set for my kids too.
"This way, if you would."
The guard captain led us toward where Queen Rephan
was waiting. The gold Gollem toddled behind us.
"Steph... I've been wondering, but is that the gold crown?"
"Gold clown? What's that mean? His name's Gold!"
Steph tilted her head in confusion, apparently unsure of
what I meant. I wasn't sure how to phrase the question...
The white crown, Albus, was probably still at Brunhild
Castle in the future...but it probably wasn't called the white
crown in day-to-day conversation.
"Uhhh... Where did you meet Gold?"
"Umm...by Pyce Town! He fell from the sky!"
"What?"
Steph began to explain. Apparently, she had materialized
in the Corson region to the south of Rephan. Despite the fact
that she'd been told to be careful by Granny Tokie, she was
so excited by her new surroundings that she ran into a
nearby forest and started fighting wolves and bears...only to
lose her smartphone in the process.
I felt a little sorry for her, but Yoshino interjected to say
that losing her phone was a common occurrence for Steph.
Whenever she got preoccupied with something, she barely
paid attention to anything else.
Steph started to get hungry, so she activated [Accel] and
[Prison] to start barreling through the forest and find
civilization. On her way out, she'd toppled multiple trees and
ran directly through at least one hill.
I made a mental note to teach her about environmental
damage and deforestation later on.
It was at that point that Steph said she saw a hole in the
sky above a field outside the forest.
"A hole?"
"Mhm! It was like...brrrrrr... Then it was all, fwaaah...and
kachow! Then, I heard, worblebrrraaassshhh, then
bzztbzztpkhsaaaaaah!"
I had no idea how to process any of that.
◇ ◇ ◇
"A Gollem!"
Steph approached the gold Gollem that had fallen from
the sky, not taking any manner of caution at all. Her
[Prison], which repelled any threats around her, was
deployed. Steph tended to have it unconsciously active most
of the time.
To her, the [Prison] around her body was akin to
clothing. She'd never remove it in unfamiliar surroundings.
She only felt safe around her family. When away from home,
her defensive spell was active even as she slept. Due to this,
she was incredibly carefree in her daily life, as she had no
real reason to feel like she could come to any harm. And
while it was true that she had no reason at all to exercise
caution, this often led to her getting into risky situations.
The Gollem was leaning against a nearby tree when Steph
approached. It wasn't broken or bent out of place anywhere,
but it had cracks and splits running across its outer plating.
It looked as if it had been damaged by an extreme amount of
pressure on its body.
The Gollem didn't move at all, even when she knocked her
fist against its chassis a few times. She looked up at the
sparkling hole in the sky it had fallen from. It was shrinking
at a rapid pace, and before long, there was no trace that
there'd ever been an opening there to begin with.
"Did the fall break it?"
Steph looked down at the Gollem, thinking of her
technology-obsessed sister. Quun would've been very excited
to see this, after all. Surely she'd have known how to repair it
too.
Steph suddenly remembered Parla, Quun's little bearshaped Gollem, and she tried to think about the times she'd
seen Quun repairing her. What was the first command,
again?
"Umm...oh-pehn?"
Steph tried her best to imitate what she remembered her
sister doing, placing her hand on the gold Gollem's chest,
focusing her magic, and reciting the [Open] command.
With a hissing sound, air suddenly escaped the inside of the
Gollem and its chest hatch opened. The G-Cube, the
Gollem's core, glimmered in the sunlight.
Unfortunately, Steph had absolutely no idea what that
meant. And so, she timidly reached out to the G-Cube. Her
sister had told her that this cube was an important part of
any Gollem, so she remembered that much at least.
She reached through the gel-like substance and plucked
the cube out. Nothing happened, so she placed it back
inside.
"ERROR. MASTER DATA FAILED TO REGISTER. TRY
AGAIN," the Gollem suddenly spoke, prompting Steph to
stumble back slightly.
"What?!"
It was nothing but rudimentary voice assistance, but
Steph took it to mean that the Gollem was speaking to her.
"ERROR. MASTER DATA FAILED TO REGISTER. TRY
AGAIN."
Steph just stared curiously at the Gollem as it repeated
itself over and over again.
"What do I do?"
"PLEASE INSERT MASTER SAMPLE INTO THE GCUBE. HAIR, NAIL, SKIN, AND OTHER DISCHARGES
COUNT AS VALID SAMPLES."
Steph shrugged, then plucked out a strand of her pretty
blonde hair, which greatly resembled her mother's. She then
took the strand and placed it inside the G-Cube. She
remembered her sister doing something similar with
another Gollem in the past, so surely this was the right thing
to do as well.
"REBOOTING... PURGE DATA BEFORE RESET? DATA
PURGE MAY RESET MACHINE'S MEMORY FUNCTION,
LEARNED BEHAVIORS AND OTHER ABILITIES. IS THAT
ACCEPTABLE?"
"...Perge? Umm...mammary funkshun? I don't get it...but
okay?"
"ACKNOWLEDGED. PURGING... DATA PURGED."
The chest hatch hissed as it closed once more. Steph
hadn't really understood what the machine had just asked.
She just figured answering positively to whatever it was
asking was the smartest thing to do. She had no idea she'd
just initiated a factory reset on the gold Gollem's Q-Crystal,
effectively wiping its mind entirely.
Steph listened to the robotic voice as it guided her
through the rest of the process, prompting her to flow more
magic through its core.
"Crown Series Model CS-10: Seraphic Gold... Initializing...
Awaiting master name registration."
"Master name reggie station?"
"State your name."
"Steph. Stephania Brunhild."
"Registered. Master handover: confirmed."
The Gollem, Gold, narrowed its visor eyes as its cameras
adjusted to see Steph's face. The tiny machine then slowly
pushed itself upward as it took a few steps toward the girl.
"Designation: Seraphic Gold. I shall serve as your loyal
attendant. Your every wish is my command, master."
◇ ◇ ◇
"Wait, so you made a contract with it?!"
Gimme a second to process this... Steph's the gold
crown's master?! I know Yumina and Albus the white
crown have a temporary contract because her ancestor,
Arthur, once had a contract with Albus...but this is
different!
A temporary contract was nothing to worry about because
the crown skill that required a price from the contractor
couldn't be utilized without a full contract. But Steph had
gone and made a full one! It was signed, done and dusted!
All agreed and above board! That meant she could make use
of the gold crown's skill, and pay whatever price it took...
"You're the gold crown, right? What's your crown skill?"
"Former question: Affirmative. Latter question: Negative.
I have no such skill in my repertoire," Gold, who'd been
standing behind me, answered. I remembered that Silver
had mentioned Chrom had wanted to make Gollems that
didn't incur such heavy prices for their skills... So then, did
that mean Gold was like Silver and didn't come with some
unreasonable manner of payment?
But how did Steph even manage to make a full contract
with the gold crown, anyway?
I paused for a moment, then blinked hard.
Wait...Arthur Ernes Belfast, the ancient master of the
white crown...was an ancestor of the Belfast royal family,
right?
In that case, it was not just Yumina who had his blood.
Sue does too. Silver, the silver crown, was able to make a
contract with the son I had with Yumina...and Gold, the gold
crown, was able to make a contract with the daughter I had
with Sue... Could it be that Kuon and Steph inherited
Arthur's innate quality needed to contract with a crown?
Then I guess this was meant to be...
I made a mental note to have Doc Babylon and Elluka do
a thorough analysis of Gold once we got home. I couldn't
stand by and run the risk of it being some kind of danger to
Steph, after all.
But now I was just plain confused. If this was the gold
crown, how did the wicked devout steal the Ark? Was there
yet another crown we didn't know about?
"Hey, Steph. How'd you meet this country's queen?"
"Umm..."
"Here we are, the queen's room."
Steph's response to Sue's question was cut short by the
guard captain's announcement. He gestured to a large door
in front of us. I shrugged and decided we'd just get the
answer from the woman herself.
The door was opened and we stepped inside, finding
ourselves face-to-face with the queen. She looked to be in
her fifties and didn't really resemble what one might
imagine a queen to look like at all. Her clothing was
remarkably plain, just an unadorned dress. She had a faint
smile on her face, and gentle eyes hidden behind round
glasses. Something about her reminded me of Ellen, Sue's
mother. Ellen was much younger than this queen, of course,
but I got the feeling she might end up looking like this at an
older age. Perhaps it was this resemblance to her
grandmother that drew Steph in.
"It is a pleasure, Grand Duke Brunhild. I am this nation's
queen, Sonya Quill Rephan."
"Hm? You know who I am?"
"That I do. Young Steph has been rather boastful when it
comes to her family," Queen Rephan laughed softly as she
spoke, making me wonder exactly what it was that Steph had
been telling her.
"But I must say...you're terribly young for a father, aren't
you? And are you the...mother? Erm..." Queen Rephan
stammered slightly when her eyes settled upon Sue. I could
see her blink in confusion.
People in this world commonly got married between the
ages of fifteen and eighteen. But if Steph was five, that
meant I became a father at thirteen and Sue had given birth
at eight. Queen Rephan was obviously trying to process the
logistics of that.
"Oh, no. Sorry for the confusion. Steph is a relative of
mine, not my daughter. She sometimes calls me dad as
a...joke. It's like a nickname..."
"Huh? That's not tru—bgh!"
Sue smiled as she slipped a hand over Steph's mouth.
Nice catch.
"Oh, I see. Steph has tried her hardest to explain a great
deal about herself to me, but there's much about it that has
simply gone over my head."
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me... If Steph likes mixing in a
bunch of weird sound effects into her usual explanations
like she did with the story about the crown, she'd be hard to
follow at the best of times.
I sat on the couch opposite the queen. Sue sat by my side,
with Steph sandwiched between us. Sakura and Yoshino sat
next to Sue. Kohaku curled up by my feet, while Gold stood
by the side of the seat.
"First thing's first, thank you for keeping Steph safe," I
said as I bowed my head to the queen. The situation was
pretty complicated as it stood, but it was undeniable that the
queen had kept my daughter warm and fed. As a parent, I
had to be thankful for her doing that.
"Oh no, not at all... If anything, she's kept me safe... If it
wasn't for Steph, I'd most certainly be in the grave."
According to the queen, she was attacked by a group from
an enemy clan while riding in her carriage along the road.
Steph and Gold were in the area by chance, and they saved
her life.
I glanced over at Sue. The situation felt oddly familiar...
Sue was under attack in a carriage the first time I'd met her.
I'd call it a weird coincidence, but Steph was the one doing
the rescuing in this case...
Later on, an army from that same clan attacked the town
where the queen and her retainers had fled to, but Steph
made short work of them as well. It was all thanks to her
[Prison] spell... Apparently, she'd set it up around the
bridge that led to the castle, then configured it to prevent
any enemies from being able to pass through. What was she
trying to do? Imitate Zhang Fei from the Battle of
Changban? The fact that she faced down the enemy alone
like that was nuts...
"Well, she wasn't exactly on her own... There were soldiers
from our side as well, but, well...Steph sort of blew them
away alongside the enemy..."
The queen looked somewhat apprehensive as she said
that. The way Steph fought was by fortifying her body with
[Shield] and then enhancing her speed with [Accel],
turning her into a high-speed battering ram. Unfortunately,
she was a battering ram that made no distinction between
friend and foe. If she expanded her [Prison], she could
effectively turn herself into a mobile wall that smashed into
people at high speeds, which wasn't good for her enemies or
her allies.
In the end, the queen's army determined that it was too
much of a risk to keep Steph's allies in battle with her, so
they just started deploying Steph on her own.
"It shames me that we must rely on a child so young..."
the queen sighed as she glanced over at Steph. I couldn't tell
if her expression showed lamentation at being so weak as to
have to rely on a child or guilt for sending a child into battle.
"That's fine by me! I get money and candies and food!
And it's normal to help people in need! Charity is its own
reward!"
"That's right, Steph! You're such a good girl!"
"He he he, yay!"
Sue smiled and patted Steph's head. Steph seemed a little
embarrassed, but she was still happy to snuggle up to her
mother. I wanted to cuddle her too, but I maintained my
restraint.
...Charity is its own reward, huh? That's another weird
saying, like the one about debt she mentioned earlier too... I
must've taught her this stuff, damn it...
I quickly realized I was getting lost in my own thoughts
again, so I glanced up to look at the queen.
"Oh, right...so I heard from Steph before, but you're after
something called a regalia?"
"That's correct. The regalia is ancient proof of one's right
to rule. Whoever holds it is recognized as Rephan's
monarch. Rephan as it stands is divided into three forces.
There's my queen faction, the anti-queen factions who are
targeting me, and the neutral factions who are fighting
among themselves. If I gain possession of the regalia, then
the neutral factions will lean in my favor, so those opposing
me will have no choice but to bend the knee or bear the
brunt of—"
"Apologies, Your Majesty! Marquis Bellius has brought his
army to our doorstep! There's twenty thousand of them!" the
guard commander from earlier yelled, bursting into the
room.
An army?! Wait, is it the one I saw earlier?!