"It is unknown whether there was a Gollem made with the same model
as myself. Therefore, I cannot answer."
I found Gold in the castle together with Steph and asked him about the
other gold crown we saw, but he knew nothing.
"Well, Gold did have his memories erased when he was rebooted, so I
expected this," Doc Babylon said, taking in the reality of the situation
without looking even the slightest bit dejected.
Gollems, especially legacy Gollems, had the option to clear their data
when rebooted. That meant all of their built-up knowledge and records
would be deleted, so under normal circumstances, no one would choose that
option. If you got rid of all of that, you'd have to start from scratch—their
fighting capabilities, interpersonal skills, and any learned knowledge would
be completely discarded.
If a Gollem was in sleep mode for too long, it would forcibly reset its
data, but if it still had any records remaining in it, there was no reason not
to keep them.
Gold was in sleep mode when he ended up crossing to our time, and he
still retained his data at the time, but apparently, Steph ended up deleting it
all when she activated him. That meant valuable information from five
thousand years ago had disappeared just like that. He still retained
fundamental knowledge, such as his own specs, but that was why he didn't
know about any other gold crown possibly existing.
"What about you, Silver? Do you know anything?" Kuon asked the
silver crown resting in his hands where he sat on the couch next to Steph.
"Nah, never heard nothin'. Ya gotta remember that Chrom's one of those
guys who just loses interest in the stuff he makes the second he finishes. He
ain't the kinda guy to make the same thing twice. Uh, though if he made
two of 'em as one project, that'd maybe be a bit different."
So the gold crown could be a twin unit? Or one was a copy and the other
was the actual crown? I had no clue. What we did know was that the
wicked devout also had a Gollem that resembled the gold crown for some
reason. And it was most likely one that had not lost its data, which meant
the chance existed that it had knowledge of Chrom Ranchesse. I could only
hope that it didn't bite us in the butt later.
That said, Silver was also a crown Gollem that hadn't had his data
cleared. In his case, though, he was kept confined in Ranchesse's laboratory
for most of his life, so he had little information to provide. Besides, he was
an Artificer, so he wouldn't have had a conscience at the time of his
creation, which meant his memories were all hazy.
Regardless, there was something he still remembered: Ranchesse had
been researching how to use the black and white crown skills without
paying the price, and so, he had created the gold and silver crowns as
support.
"I'm just throwin' out a random guess here, but I'd assume that I came
about through research into the sproutin' of an ego upon the fusion of a
Gollem and an Artificer."
"You do come across as more human than the other crowns."
"Right? I'm actually pretty darn incredible if ya ask me."
Even if Silver's personality was nothing more than a pseudo-personality,
it was amazing. Among even anthropomorphic Gollems, very few had
advanced to his extent. It was proof of how high his capability to learn was.
"Well, I've already created artificial lifeforms that are capable of far
more than that. Cesca, more tea."
"I quite like this immature side of you, Doctor. Nice to meet you, I'm a
much more capable artificial life."
"Gngh!"
Clearly showing off her superiority, Cesca poured tea into her master's
empty cup.
You guys are so immature.
Still, she wasn't lying. The Babylon Numbers (including Doc Babylon's
body) were much more advanced artificial lifeforms. They didn't have any
special abilities like the Gollem Skills, but their ability to learn was far
more advanced than a regular human.
"I guess this leaves us with no clue as to what that Gollem on the Ark is,
though."
The natural conclusion was that it was the same type of unit. Like maybe
one was a failed attempt, and the other was a success? But if we kept
raising baseless suggestions like this, there would be no end in sight.
"Next is deciding how to deal with that Gluttony Slime. Any ideas?"
"Wouldn't it up and die if we used your [Prison] to confine it, then
teleport it into a volcano?"
"But I thought there were Slimes that could survive in volcanic areas."
Like Red Slimes and Flame Slimes and I think there were Magma
Slimes as well? Ones that lived in, well, magma. Wouldn't it be impossible
if it had similar properties to them?
"Theeen, what about just throwing it into a [Prison] and then making it
smaller 'til it's smooshed?"
It was the simplest option. [Prison] could shrink together with what was
inside, ultimately compressing and crushing the contents.
If it was a Slime, then it had to have a core, so all I had to do was crush
that and the deed would be done.
"So are we going to infiltrate the Ark directly after all?"
"If we don't do something about the diver guy, there's a good chance
they'll just make their escape, so the first thing we need to do is seal his
sacred treasure with ours."
My sacred treasure's range of effect was about fifty meters at most.
There was no way that could cover the whole of the Ark, which left us with
no choice but to infiltrate it and get as close to the diver guy as possible.
"So we are sneaking in?"
"Yeah, we pretty much have to..."
How would we infiltrate the place, though? It would practically be a
death sentence if we tried to enter it the same way the probe did. Best case
scenario would be to have the diver helmet guy just wander on out without
us needing to do anything, but that obviously wasn't going to happen.
If I used a divinity-enhanced warp to cross the barrier into the Ark,
would that be safe? It wasn't as though I was directly interfering with the
surface world, right?
"Regardless, we still need time to work on the Valkyries and your
Reginleif. Let's just continue observing the Ark for now."
True. May as well put this aside until they're done. Just need to make
sure we don't end up too relaxed. If they make any moves, we need to be
available to intervene right away.
Suddenly my phone started ringing.
Hm? From King Frost? This is rare.
"Hello?"
"Greetings, Your Grace. There has been another sighting of the Phraselike creature we previously discussed."
"Huh?"
Was he referring to that big ice snail? But I thought we had concluded
that it was just a Cold Snail.
"I have heard that it was in the form of a horse this time. But rather than
having a clear body like ice, it was slightly purple."
"A...purple Phrase?"
What could that be about? If it was gold, I could understand that, since
the Mutated Constructs were the same. But with the wicked god gone, all
the mutants should've turned gray with a few special exceptions. And yet,
this wasn't gold or transparent or gray, but purple? Was this really a Phrase?
According to King Frost, the witness was a local from the village near
where the apparent Cold Snail had been sighted. They had seen a purple
horse fighting with a Four-Armed Bear. It defeated the bear by running it
through with a sharp blade that jutted out from its head, before then leaving
the area without even sparing the body a second glance.
A blade coming from its head does sound like a Phrase...
"Run search: purple Phrase."
"Searching... No matches detected."
Okay, so that was what I expected, which meant it wasn't a Phrase. But
it should've reacted if it at least looked like a Phrase.
The only other thing I could think of was that it had an ability or natural
trait that prevented it from being picked up by search magic, similar to an
amulet. Or it could be that the area was surrounded by some sort of barrier.
Honestly, this sounded less and less like a Phrase the more we discovered,
but something still felt off.
"Has a Phrase appeared?" Kuon asked after I put down the phone.
"Can't say for sure. I'm gonna head off to Zadonia to check myself."
"In that case, may I accompany you? I would like to witness these
Phrase myself."
Well, that was a surprise, coming from Kuon.
...Right, the Phrase were already annihilated by the time the kids were
born, so they wouldn't have seen them before. Was he not content with the
Dominant Construct girls he saw all the time, though?
I didn't have any particular reason to say no, regardless.
"It's unfair if it's just you! I wanna go too!"
Perhaps thinking Kuon was simply going off to play, Steph started
throwing a tantrum.
"No, you cannot," Kuon refused.
"But whyyyyyy?!"
"You promised to study with Mother Sue after this, did you not?
Breaking a promise is a very, very...?"
"Bad thing... I know," Steph mumbled, scrunching up her face.
Wow, look at Kuon being the perfect big brother here.
I was quite touched at the sight, honestly.
"I will at least take pictures while I am there. Be a good girl while I'm
gone, okay?"
"Okay..."
Kuon smiled softly as he gently patted his pouting sister's head.
I couldn't help but feel just the tiniest bit jealous of Kuon in that
moment.
I had a little sister back home too. It was a different world, so I couldn't
just go and meet her whenever I wanted, but I hoped she was doing well.
Sorry your older brother is so useless, Fuyuka.
Would there come a day that I could let my family meet my kids? I
could go to Earth at will if I just managed to perfect the usage of the
dimension warp, but right now, all I could manage was any neighboring
worlds at best. Apparently, it would get easier to control if I made a sacred
treasure to help with it...but for now, all I could do was keep trying my best.
"Shall we be off, Father?"
"...Yeah."
Kuon tied Silver around his waist, then walked toward me.
Thoughts of family back home still clouding my mind, I opened a
[Gate] to Zadonia.
◇◇◇
"Whoa, it's cold...!"
That was Kuon's first words after stepping through the [Gate].
Yeah, no wonder when you're wearing clothes as thin as that.
I was wearing a cold-resistant coat, so I was perfectly fine.
...No, that was a lie, it was freezing.
"Come forth, Heat! Thermal Barrier: [Warming]!"
I used warming magic on both myself and Kuon, since at least that way
we could protect our bodies from the cold.
I had the [Gate] connect to the forest where the purple horse had been
sighted. The sky was filled with dull clouds, but no snow was falling.
Now then, how do I search for a creature that can't be picked up by
[Search]?
"If it is impossible to find any results for a purple horse, what about any
hoofprints left behind?" Kuon suggested, looking at his own footprints from
where he'd come.
Not a bad idea, but the issue then came from whether or not I was able
to distinguish a horse's hoofprints from a deer's. There was no guarantee
the Phrase even left hoofprints like a horse's.
"Maybe if I looked for any unnatural animal carcasses?"
"A word, if I may. Would a fresh carcass in a forest such as this not
immediately be swiped up by a wolf or some other predator?"
Mngh, he's not wrong.
Snowy mountains didn't have much in the way of prey, and Zadonia was
in a perpetual winter. It must be challenging to live in an environment like
this. Any available prey would be immediately snatched up.
"And besides, there's a bit more of a pressin' question here: why was
that purple horse fightin' with the little bear fella in the first place? He
didn't eat it after or nothin'."
According to His Majesty, the horse simply left the bear alone after it
had killed it, which meant it hadn't hunted it as prey. If a wild lion wasn't
hungry, it would simply let its prey stroll on by.
That meant the purple horse fought with the bear even though it wasn't
hungry. If it was a Phrase, then it couldn't even feel hunger, so it made
sense it didn't eat it, but that thought didn't make the situation any less
puzzling.
The objective of the Phrase was to find the Sovereign Core that was
hidden inside a mortal of this land, so they wouldn't eat people, but they
would attack them.
"Basically, what I'm tryna say here is that there had to be some reason
for that horsie to attack our little bear friend. Some sorta reason that it found
the bear a nuisance and would rather it be gone."
A reason to want to remove the bear, as in, it was viewing the bear as a
threat? But why? I couldn't imagine it was something like the bear had
killed its parents. Or well, maybe the possibility was there. But did it even
have feelings like that?
"That would mean it was protecting something from bears and other
wild animals. Maybe a child...?"
Oh, of course!
I had a light bulb above my head the moment I heard Kuon's suggestion,
but the light bulb soon turned into a question mark.
Oh, of course...?
I tilted my head.
A Phrase child? But Phrase didn't have an adolescent phase, they
evolved as crystals from the core and then were instantly born as an adult.
Even Dominant Constructs were born the same way. The only exception to
that had been Allis.
"Well, whatever it is, what if our big ol' horsie's actually huntin' a
number of these beasts? Maybe there's an area where there are reduced
numbers of 'em."
"Oh, yeah! Hey, you're actually pretty smart!"
"Ha ha ha! Ya flatter me!" Silver guffawed from Kuon's belt, morphing
Kuon's face into one of irritation.
"Run search: monsters and wild animals in the area."
"Searching... Search complete."
Red pins dotted themselves all over the map.
Damn, there's quite a lot, huh?
The pins were pretty scattered, but there was one area in particular that
was left blank. Could that be the place?
"That's pretty close to here. Let's go. [Teleport]."
I wrapped my arms around Kuon's shoulders and teleported to the area.
The scenery around us immediately changed, planting us in a dense
coniferous forest.
"Well, I certainly don't see any monsters or wild animals around here."
Though it did feel like a bear could jump out at any moment.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of something whizzing through the air, so I
instinctively pulled out my Brunhild to counter it. With a high-pitched
clang, it deflected off my weapon and hovered in the air in front of me. It
was something purple and translucent, shaped like a belt with a sharp tip.
There was another whoosh as the band returned to where it had come
from: an amethyst horse with six legs. As much as I referred to it as a horse,
it had no eyes, mouth, or ears. It did at least have something resembling a
tail, however.
"There it is."
"Indeed."
It was purple as the sighting suggested, but it still definitely looked like
a Phrase. I could see a dark purple core around the base of its neck, but
something about the core seemed...strange. It looked like some spiky
polyhedron.
The amethyst Phrase kicked the ground with its legs that thinned as they
neared the feet, then charged right at us. Protruding from its forehead was
the same blade that had extended and then contracted like a measuring tape.
"[Apport]."
I cast [Apport] to attempt to quickly extract the Amethyst Phrase's core.
However, nothing came back to me other than thin air.
Magic didn't work against the Phrase. Or more specifically, if magic
struck the surface of its body, it would absorb it and turn it into its own
energy. It essentially worked the same as [Absorb]. What that did mean
was that anything that could interfere with its insides, such as [Apport],
should theoretically work...
And then it occurred to me. [Apport] couldn't forcibly remove that
which it was directly connected to. Or, well, it wasn't that it couldn't, but it
had to be something that I could feasibly pull off with my hands. Bit of a
gruesome example, but it meant that I couldn't pull out something like
someone's liver or heart by itself. I could maybe manage an eyeball, but...I
couldn't say it was something I particularly wanted to try. I could also pull
out bullets or arrows that had entered the body.
A Phrase's core wasn't fused with its crystalline body. If you destroyed
the body, the core would just come tumbling out. However, perhaps this
Amethyst Phrase was different, and its core was integrated with its body
crystals.
Continuing to deflect its sword horn that it kept firing out, I changed
Brunhild to Gun Mode and aimed it at the core to see what would happen.
But before I had the chance to shoot, cracks suddenly appeared in its core
and the horse's body shattered into pieces.
The sudden development left me dazed, mouth wide open.
H-Huh? Why?
When I turned around, I noticed that one of Kuon's eyes was a red-gold.
Ohhh, he broke the core with the Mystic Eye of Compression!
The fact that actually worked almost felt unfair... There was a limit to its
strength, so it may not be possible against anything greater than a Lesser
Construct, but being able to break it just by glaring was an incredible
power...
"Whew, look at you go, kiddo. Showin' up yer dad there. He was
strugglin' and you just beat the thing in one go."
"Hey, I wasn't struggling..."
I was just...observing the situation a little.
I walked over to where the Amethyst Phrase was in pieces while
muttering my excuses and picked up one of the shards.
Hm, it just looks like a regular piece of amethyst.
It was shimmering just like a gemstone. Could this become phrasium,
too? Doc Babylon and Quun would have a field day with it.
I put all the pieces including the shattered core into [Storage], realizing
we'd probably understand it better with research.
"Um, Father?"
"Hm? What's up?"
I turned around and couldn't help the gasp that slipped through my lips.
There were crystal beasts of all colors, red, blue, yellow, purple, green,
and black, all marching toward us.
"Guess the group's here to crash the party."
"It appears so."
Time for me to show my son what I'm really capable of, I thought rather
immaturely to myself as I prepared for battle.
◇◇◇
"Father, there are some on the ground over there, too."
"Got it."
I collected the scattered pieces of colored crystal on the snow and
shoved them all into [Storage].
As ready as I had been to show off, Kuon practically turned it into a oneman massacre. I barely got the chance to do anything. Like, seriously, the
kid could take them down by just glaring at them, how was I meant to beat
that? I did manage to get at least two or three down by myself, though...
Because of that, there were crystals scattered all over the place.
Collecting them all was a pain in the ass. Usually, I could just open up
[Storage] on the ground and have them all drop in, but if I did that here, I'd
get a massive chunk of snow in the process.
Thinking about it, are these crystals actually phrasium?
They honestly seemed closer to gemstones given their color.
I tried flowing magic through one of the shards and, right enough, it had
the same effect as phrasium. It appeared worse in quality than a regular
Phrase's phrasium, though. It hit max mana capacity pretty much right
away, and it wasn't very durable either. It was like fake phrasium.
"Could these be the artificial Phrase that Melle mentioned Yula had been
researching...?"
After collecting the shards of the Gemstone Phrase (as I decided to
tentatively call them), we made our way through the snowy forest to the
center of the monsterless area. Flying wasn't necessarily out of the
question, but with the trees being as dense as they were, it would be hard to
see between them, so searching on foot was the better option.
"Kuon, you doing all right? Make sure to let me know if you start
getting too tired."
I turned back to look at Kuon, who had to march to make his way
through the snow. I could use [Levitation] to carry him if it seemed he was
struggling too much.
"Yes, I am fine. This isn't too bad. Oh, Father, wait a moment."
"Hm? Something happen?"
I heard a crack and turned to the side just in time to see something
looking like a blue Gemstone Phrase crumbling to pieces. Kuon's eye was
shining red-gold.
No, seriously, Kuon must be their worst nightmare by this point.
I made sure to collect the shards of that Phrase as well. It seemed to be
sapphire. Was it ruby and sapphire that were meant to be counterparts?
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound coming from deep within the forest.
Sounded like another horde of them.
Holy shit, just how many of them are there?!
The Gemstone Phrase made their attack without an answer to my
concern. Before I could pull out my Brunhild to fight back, the Gemstone
Phrase were shattered one after another by Kuon's Mystic Eye.
Make way for another one-man massacre...
We made our way through the forest, defeating the Gemstone Phrase
along the way (most of the victories were won by Kuon, admittedly).
Though the number of Phrase attacking us seemed to increase the further
we went, all of a sudden, there stopped being more of them.
Did they just give up...? Yeah, no way.
"I've been having this weird ringing in my ears for a while now. I
wonder what it is..."
"You too, Father?"
It appeared I wasn't alone in hearing that high-pitched ringing. Silver
spoke up as we covered our ears.
"That ain't just any old ringin' in yer ears, I'm afraid. Somethin's lettin'
off all kindsa funny sound waves ahead of us. Most of it's sounds that
regular humans can't pick up, mind you."
Guess that confirmed we were on the right track, at least.
We proceeded with even more caution than before. The moment we
made it out of the forest, we were greeted with a sight that left us
speechless.
There was a massive crater in front of us that was about a hundred
meters in diameter. It wasn't just a regular crater either: several large
crystalline pillars were standing tall inside it like crystal clusters. The sight
of all those colorful pillars was frighteningly beautiful.
Looking closer, I noticed that each of them had cores of the same color
that were about the size of baseballs enclosed in them.
Is this what I think it is?!
"Father, over there."
Kuon was pointing at a yellow pillar that was shattered at its base. The
fallen pillar began crunching as the crystals multiplied, turning into a
yellow crystal bear that stood itself up tall. And then, it was immediately
crushed by Kuon's Mystic Eye.
"Is each and every one of these pillars a Phrase?"
"It appears so. I imagine the ones that attacked us previously came from
here."
Was this how regular Phrase were born, too? When I stole a glance at the
central part of the crater, I saw something standing there. Was it another
crystal pillar? Something about it looked different from the others, though.
It was tall and transparent. Didn't change the fact that it was a square prism
with a pointed tip, though.
Naturally, I didn't feel comfortable just walking right into the middle of
a crater, so I gave Kuon a piggyback and used [Fly] to approach it from the
air.
It looks just like an obelisk. Did this fall here?
The crater and clusters had formed with that pillar as its center, so I felt
like that was a natural conclusion. It would have to have fallen from pretty
far...but when I looked up at the sky, there didn't appear to be anything
unusual.
"Don't tell me... Is that...?!"
"Hm?"
I heard Kuon gasp from behind me. Kuon, acting surprised? Now that
was rare. What happened? It didn't look like there was anything strange to
the obelisk.
...Actually, no, there was something inside it. I couldn't see clearly, but it
looked round. Was it another Gemstone Phrase core?
When I landed in front of the obelisk, Kuon dashed off of my back
toward it.
"As I thought, this has to be the one from back then..."
"What's up? Do you recognize it?" I asked Kuon as he placed his hand
on the obelisk.
There was indeed a Gemstone Phrase-looking core inside of the clear
obelisk, but it was slightly different from the ones we had seen. The
previous cores had been about the size of a baseball, but this was about the
size of a ping-pong ball, and it was a very strange color. It looked red, but
also blue, and also yellow. It looked like a rainbow, I guess.
"This may be what resulted in us arriving in this time."
"Hm...? Weren't you guys sent here 'cause of a timequake, though?"
"Back in the future, we took commissions from the guild on the
weekends. The latest one was to defeat a horde of Kaiser Apes in Belfast
Forest. We approached it almost as if we were off on a picnic."
Hang on, a Kaiser Ape is like an evolved form of a King Ape. That isn't
something you go hunting so casually.
Resisting the urge to retort, I listened to Kuon's story.
◇◇◇
"Prisma Guillotine!"
"[Gravity]!"
"Gwaaaaaah!"
Allis and Linne's coordinated attack sent the Kaiser Ape flying, its body
exploding into pieces.
"Yeaaah! That makes number thirty-four!"
"I defeated it first! That's my thirty-fourth!"
Yakumo, Frei, and Quun all let out deep sighs as the two girls began
arguing over who had actually defeated it.
"How many times do we have to tell you to take them down without
damaging their body parts? Those are precious materials..."
"Yakumo, I have a feeling this is a lost cause."
"Well, Kaiser Apes don't sell for much, so perhaps this isn't such a big
deal."
Or so Quun said, but the amount of money that could be made from
selling the body of a Kaiser Ape could feed a regular family for two whole
years. Her idea of monetary value had clearly been skewed by the costs
involved with magitech.
Despite their somewhat ruined state, Frei put the scattered body parts
into [Storage]. Even if their value had decreased, money was money. It
would be wrong to waste it.
"Arcia, where's the next Kaiser Ape?"
"Umm..." Arcia trailed off, then used [Search] at Yakumo's question.
"There appears to be five to the north."
"Five? I thought we'd hunted quite a lot already. I didn't expect there to
still be so many left," Yakumo muttered.
"Kaiser Apes have explosive reproduction rates once every few decades.
It could be that this was the year for them," Quun explained.
All species of magic beast had a breeding season in which their numbers
increased rapidly if conditions were ideal. This would sometimes result in
all the prey in an area being depleted, so the group would mass migrate to a
different area in search of more food. Predators would then follow their
change in territory, resulting in a stampede. It was for that reason that an
overpopulation of magic beasts was seen as problematic.
"It's not fair for you guys to keep all the fun to yourselves! I wanna hunt
them too!"
"But Steph, you'll just end up destroying all the trees around here."
Steph's main fighting style involved encasing herself in [Prison] and
then using [Accel] to do a tackle at high speeds. It was very simple, but if
she used that in the middle of a dense forest, she would end up destroying
all the trees unfortunate enough to be in her path. It was a troublesome
destruction of the environment.
"I intend to make sure I gather any of the trees that Steph knocks down
to sell wholesale to the lumber yard, so it is no issue," Kuon somewhat
clumsily followed up.
"No, I...think there's still an issue," Elna replied with an awkward smile.
Kuon likely thought that so long as the wood didn't go to waste, it was
fine, but deforestation to that level wasn't a good thing.
"Are you listening? This is an official commission, so be careful. Steph,
make sure you pay attention to your surroundings as well, you hear me?"
Yakumo scolded.
"Yeees," Linne, Allis, and Steph all responded somewhat dejectedly.
"Okay, in that case—"
"Hold on. Can you hear that?" Yoshino asked, interrupting me.
"What?"
Yoshino looked upward, then put a hand to her ear. Though not quite as
sensitive as her mother's, Yoshino's hearing was better than the average
person's, and right now, something had caught her ear. Everyone held their
breath, remaining silent. The sound of the twittering birds, the leaves
rustling in the breeze... Sounds of nature came at them from all sides, but
nothing seemed particularly strange.
"It's coming from that direction. It sounds like something being broken
into two... Listen, there it is again."
Everyone tried their best to hear what Yoshino was pointing out, but
they simply couldn't.
"I can't hear anything myself, but if you say there's something there,
Yoshino, then I have no reason to doubt," Quun replied. "Shall we go see
what it is?"
Kuon nodded and said, "Yes, that would be a good idea. We are aware of
where the Kaiser Apes are, so we should have no issue returning to them."
As there were no objections, Yoshino walked in the direction of the
sound and everyone followed. When they finally reached a clearing in the
forest, that was floating in front of them.
A crack in space.
The crack looked as if it was in a mirror or a piece of glass, and the
sounds of it shattering never ceased as it grew bigger and bigger.
"What is this?"
Having never seen such a sight before, the children's eyes were glued to
it. If their parents had seen this, there was no doubt they would've instantly
backed away.
Eventually, the sound of glass cracking reverberated through the area,
the space in front of them shattered apart, and a massive gash was left
floating there. Something was dripping out of it. It was some sort of clear
liquid, but thick and gloopy almost like a Slime. It kept leaking out of the
tear and dripping onto the ground. The puddle that had formed started
rippling.
"Is it a Slime?" Arcia wondered.
"Do you not think it's a little big for a Slime?" Yoshino replied.
She was right. A regular Slime was about the perfect size for a bucket,
but this slime was about the size of three or four of them.
"I have heard of Big Slimes before, but..."
The Big Slimes that Quun mentioned were Slimes that were larger than
usual without being Behemoths. When a large gathering of Slimes remained
in the same area for a long time, they eventually combined into one huge
Slime. However, these Big Slimes were slow to move and easy to discover,
so they were dealt with pretty swiftly.
"Are we sure this is a Slime...? If it is, I feel like it would be a Water
Slime."
"The ones that camouflage themselves as bodies of water? It's
transparent, so you could be right."
Allis nodded her head at Elna's deduction. Water Slimes often
camouflaged themselves as puddles or other bodies of water in order to
capture their prey. They were cowardly little things, never attacking
anything bigger than themselves. They weren't normally a danger to
humans, but if they grew as big as this, then that changed things.
"Hey, it's moving!" Frei exclaimed.
When everyone turned to look, a part of the Slime suddenly stretched
toward the children in the shape of a spear, arcing through the air straight at
them.
However, before that transparent spear could find its mark, Kuon's eyes
shone a yellow-gold, halting its advance.
That was Kuon's Mystic Eye of Immobilization at work.
"Hiyah!"
Yakumo unsheathed her katana and slashed the Slime's tentacle right in
two. When Kuon blinked, the petrified body part fell to the ground,
dropping with a weightier sound than expected. Frei tapped it with her
spear, and it gave off a metallic twang.
"The part we cut off immediately hardened. Is that what happens when
it's removed from its body? Are Slimes always like this?" Frei asked, tilting
her head.
"Slimes do come in various types, so it could just be a unique one..."
Quun replied. "Though given it literally came from a tear in space, I doubt
we can view this as a regular Slime."
That unique Slime was still squirming, but it didn't appear to be
planning to attack like before.
Is it cautious of us? Yakumo thought to herself.
"Wait, look there! There's something round inside it!" Linne exclaimed
as she pointed at around the middle of the Slime where there appeared to be
a small, round metallic object about the size of a ping-pong ball. It was
changing into all different colors, from red to blue to yellow to purple.
"Is this like a Gollem's core?" Quun pondered to herself. "In that case,
we may be able to defeat it if we destroy the core."
Yakumo and Frei nodded in agreement and brandished their weapons as
they advanced.
The Slime, meanwhile, only backed away slightly. Its undulations had
become much less violent, almost looking weakened.
"...Something's strange about this little guy."
Kuon frowned at his little sister's sudden observation.
"Well...yes? I can't say I've ever seen a Slime like this before."
"I don't mean like that. I can kinda understand what it's feeling. It's like
it's...protecting something?"
"What? Steph, what do you mean you can understand what it's feeling?"
Before Steph could answer her brother though, there was a sudden loud
bang and the kids were hit with a force as if something had exploded. And
yet, even though it was strong enough to knock them off their feet, they felt
no pain.
Having lost their sense of balance, they had no idea where they were
standing anymore. By the time they'd regained their senses, they were all in
different positions than before—though not completely different locations,
just positioned either a few more meters forward or backward.
"Look at the sky!" Linne shouted. When they all looked up, they saw the
sun setting at an incredibly swift pace. As if in a rush, it disappeared over
the horizon before the moon chased after it as it rose from the east. This
time though, the moon suddenly stopped, and then it began reversing, the
evening sun doing the same.
"What is going on here?!"
Part of the forest disappeared, revealing a town instead. After that, the
ground beneath their feet turned into cobbled stone, then into a wasteland,
and then into ice. Just as the trees around them seemed to wither, young
trees were sprouting up with fresh foliage.
"Time and space are spinning out of control...?" Quun muttered to
herself as she looked at her surroundings.
Just then, space began to distort even further. The tear in space noisily
widened, and the Slime's rainbow core began sparking before letting off a
blinding light.
"Yakumo! A [Gate]!"
"I'm trying, but it won't open!" Yakumo shouted back.
"[Teleport] won't work either!" Yoshino also informed them.
Quun felt herself become flustered at that knowledge. Teleportation
magic wasn't working? Was it because of the space distortion making it
impossible to pinpoint the coordinates?
As she was running through possible explanations in her head, a
shockwave even larger than before slammed into them, knocking them all
unconscious.
◇◇◇
When everyone awoke, they were surrounded by a pitch-black void of
darkness. And yet, for some reason, they could all see each other clear as
day. Everyone had regained consciousness and was without injury.
They were floating all over the place as if they were in some zerogravity simulator. Well, since they could see no ground or any ceiling, it
was impossible to tell if they could really be said to be floating in the air.
Kuon took a look at their surroundings, regardless of how little he could
see, but he saw no one else other than his siblings and the endless darkness.
For a moment, the worst-case scenario of them having died flitted
through his mind. He lightly gripped his fists and noticed there was
sensation there. He could breathe and feel his own pulse. He was alive,
which meant the dilemma of where they were right now remained.
"Just where is this?"
"This is a dimensional gap. You are in the realm outside the boundary of
your world, completely cut off from other worlds."
When they turned to find the source of the voice, they saw a familiar old
lady looking back at them.
"Granny Tokie!"
"Why yes, it's Granny Tokie here."
The goddess of Space-time gave a gentle smile.
Just as the children had found themselves lost in this pitch-dark space
where they could barely tell their left from their right, Granny Tokie, who
had known them since their birth, appeared in front of them. That alone
granted the children an indescribable sense of relief.
No one in Brunhild could defy her. Both the goddess of swords and the
god of combat were basically children to her, and even Touya, as the grand
duke of Brunhild, was reverent of her. Everyone, including Allis, loved
Tokie, regardless.
"Granny Tokie, what is a dimensional gap?" Quun inquired. "And how
did we end up here?"
"Well, you see, dearies, you were all wrapped up in a timequake."
"A what now?" Quun asked as she tilted her head. She had never heard
that term before.
"It is not a phenomenon that occurs all that frequently on the surface
realm, but, hm, how to explain... Oh, you all are aware of what a trampoline
is, yes?"
"The jumpy thing in the game room? I love that!"
Linne excitedly raised her hand at Tokie's comparison. The game room
in Brunhild Castle was one of the places where kids played most. Linne
greatly enjoyed physical exercise, so she especially loved the trampoline.
"Now imagine you're sitting on that trampoline. What would happen if
someone came along and dove onto the trampoline with you all still on it?"
"Hm? Everyone would get bounced up, wouldn't they?"
"Precisely. That is what has happened to all of you here. You were
sprung out of the time and space of your original world."
Tokie's metaphor helped the children understand their current situation a
little better. Except for maybe Linne, Allis, and Steph.
"When you get wrapped up in a timequake, you are made to float
endlessly through the gap between dimensions. If you're lucky, you'll
manage to make it out into another time period, but there is no guarantee of
that. Oh, don't worry your little heads, though. I will take responsibility
here and send you back to your original timeline."
Kuon had felt chills run up his back at hearing what their potential fate
could have been, but there was unmistakable relief at the thought they
would be able to return home.
"Only there's a slight problem... As you have all fallen into a reverse
flow heading toward the past, you will not be in your own time were you to
leave here now. Under normal circumstances, I would simply transport you
back to your own time from there, but there is an issue with that too at the
moment..."
Tokie placed a hand on her cheek, seeming troubled.
"There is a group of horrible people known as the wicked devout who
may do terrible things in the near future. It would be troublesome if they
were to get up to something nefarious and I wasn't around to assist, so once
we leave this place, I'll need you all to stay in the past for a while. It will be
a time when you all are yet to have been born, when your mothers and
fathers are much younger than they are now."
"The past, you say? If we are to do anything that would change history,
would that not influence our timeline?" Kuon voiced his concern. Quun,
worrying about the same thing, was looking intently at Tokie, awaiting her
answer.
"You needn't worry. Even if the timeline happens to branch, I can return
it to normal with my power. However, the wicked devout may cause a
parallel world to occur should they get involved, and that is what I wish to
avoid, so I'd like for you all to relax for a while in the past until it is time to
return."
"You want us to simply...relax?"
Kuon tilted his head with a conflicted look on his face. Regardless, it
seemed they would have no choice but to travel to the past.
"You will end up appearing in the past timeline weeks apart from each
other, so don't fret if you are unable to contact each other right away. You
will end up scattered around as well, so make sure to head straight for
Brunhild. Do you understand?"
Kuon nodded and replied, "We all have our phones on us, so we should
be able to confirm our locations once we arrive."
Little did he know that many of them would end up losing their phones
on arrival, himself included. That said, Kuon still had his concerns over
whether they would all really head straight to Brunhild in the first place,
especially Steph, Linne, Quun, Yoshino, and Allis. They were heading to a
past era where the world wouldn't be the same as they knew, after all.
Tokie made the kids promise various other things, such as not telling
their parents too much about the future. But honestly, even if someone did
say too much, she could just fix it with her powers as the goddess of Spacetime.
Kuon preferably wanted to avoid giving Tokie too much trouble, though.
Trying to fix various time paradoxes sounded like a huge headache.
"How about we get ourselves out of this oppressive darkness then, hm?
Good luck, everyone!"
When Tokie clapped her hands together, the kids all got dragged away
into the darkness as if hit by a large tsunami.
When the scenery finally shifted away from the darkness, Kuon was met
with a blue sky and a pure white snowfield. And then, the cold air hit his
fair skin.
"Huh? Whoa!"
The place where Kuon had exited was a steep slope covered in snow.
His fall did not lead to a clean landing, his foot catching on the snow as
he began tumbling down. He tried to stop himself, but the slope was at such
an angle that he couldn't even slow down.
"Ow!"
His body ended up bouncing over a bump, causing his tumbling to
accelerate.
After rolling for so long that he was practically encased in snow, he
finally came to a stop as he collided into a tree. Pushing his way out of the
snow that had fallen atop him, he somehow managed to make it out into
fresh air.
"Th-This wasn't quite in the plan... Oh gods, it's cold!"
Kuon unsteadily stood himself up, holding his head. It appeared he had
landed on a very uneven snowy mountain. The weather was fine, but the
cold was too much for him.
"I-In any case, I should head for a town. Let's see... What?"
Huh? Wait. No way.
Kuon patted every part of his clothing that even resembled a pocket, but
his phone was nowhere to be found.
"Don't tell me I dropped it...?"
Kuon looked back up the slope he had tumbled down. He appeared to
have rolled down from fairly high up, trails of his descent weaving left and
right down it. He must have dropped his phone somewhere along the way.
"It would be foolish to carry out a search for it at this moment..."
Kuon hugged his shivering body. He would absolutely freeze to death if
he tried to search for his phone in such thin clothing. And so, he
immediately went for a different option. Rather than search for his phone,
he would be best off heading for a town first, and then trying to find a route
to Brunhild from there. He had no idea where he was at the moment, but he
did have the world map somewhat memorized. If he could at least learn
what country he was in, he would be able to find a solution.
For now, Kuon began making his way to the foot of the mountain.
◇◇◇
"...And that about sums up how we got wrapped up in the timequake."
"Hmm, I see. So you think that the mysterious Slime core that got you
all wrapped up in this is this one here?"
I looked back up at the core inside the obelisk.
Looking at the situation, it didn't seem off the mark to think that it fell
from above. Could the glass-like obelisk actually be what that Slime had
transformed into? From what Kuon had said, any detached parts of the
Slime had turned metallic, so could its body not be similar? In which case,
maybe it was dead.
Whether it caused the timequake and accidentally involved the kids, or it
was unrelated to its occurrence and was also a victim of the timequake, it
had come to the past through that phenomenon just as they had. Regardless,
the way that it appeared similar to the Phrase had me feeling confused.
Those Gemstone Phrase as well. I couldn't think they were completely
unrelated to the Phrase we were used to.
"I'll put it away in [Storage] and we can show it to Melle later."
She was the former Sovereign Phrase, after all. She had to know
something.
"[Prison]."
Just in case, I made sure to encase the obelisk in a [Prison] before then
slotting it away into [Storage].
After that, we just needed to go around breaking all the gemstone
clusters left in the crater. After all, it would be a pain if more Gemstone
Phrase appeared because we left this alone. In fact, a few of them did
actually come to attack us while we were going around breaking them, but
Kuon single-handedly took them all down with his Mystic Eye. He was
taking photos before he did, apparently to show to Steph later.
Oh yeah, he did promise her something like that, didn't he? What a good
big brother.
I made sure to collect the shattered clusters, just in case we would be
able to use them for something later. Plus, Doc Babylon would be able to
analyze them.
After spending a few minutes of our time ensuring we had collected
every last thing we could from the crater, we went on a hunt in the
surrounding area to ensure there were no stragglers left behind. We had no
choice but to do it on foot, since [Search] couldn't pick them up. It was a
real pain in the behind.
We found a couple nearby that we destroyed and gathered, but that
appeared to be the last of them.
Just what were those Gemstone Phrase? They almost seemed like
bodyguards for the rainbow core.
Whatever the case, I would bring all of this back and let Melle and the
others give them a look. Hopefully, we could glean something from them.
◇◇◇
"This is...!"
Unfortunately, when we returned, Allis was still in the middle of lessons
and Ende was carrying out work for the adventurer's guild, but we still
managed to meet with the Dominant Construct girls and show them our
spoils.
We had laid out the obelisk and some of the shattered Gemstone Phrase
pieces in Ende's garden. Melle, Ney, and Lycee were all looking at them
curiously.
"Have you seen them before?"
Melle looked at a deer-like Gemstone Phrase that had managed to retain
much of its original form compared to the others. "I believe...it resembles
the Quos that Yula had been developing."
So these really were those artificial Phrase they had mentioned?
"However, the Phrase that Yula created did not have cores like these."
The cores of the Gemstone Phrase were made up of pentagons joined
together to make a dodecahedron. Melle came to her conclusion upon
examining one cut in two. However, the possibility remained that they
became this shape after further development.
"Do you recognize the rainbow core?"
"No, I've never seen it before. However, as slight as it may be, it appears
to be emitting an echo. It's so weak that I almost can't hear it, though."
The echo was like the heartbeat released by the Phrase, which meant...
that obelisk was a Phrase...
When I asked Melle to confirm my theory, she shook her head.
"I cannot be certain. It is somewhat similar to the echo of a Phrase in a
state of suspended animation."
"Judging from Kuon and Allis's story, could that Slime not have been a
crystal beast? This crystalline pillar looks similar to their corpses," Ney
suggested, looking up at the obelisk.
A crystal beast was what the girls had summoned in Kuon's trial to
become Allis's betrothed. If the Slime they had seen was a crystal beast,
that would mean there was a Dominant Construct who created it.
"They were likely planning something, similar to how Yula summoned
Zeno, but before that plan came to fruition, they perished."
Zeno had been a general that Yula summoned from Phrasia in the final
battle with the wicked god. I hadn't personally met him, but he was
apparently quite the fighter and even Ende had ended up cornered. Melle
had been the one to take him down.
Yula had been the very cautious type. It was likely he had come up with
all kinds of backup plans. Though at the end of the day, the moment he
mistook the wicked god for an actual god, most of the plans he had come up
with were rendered useless. In other words, these were Yula's legacy. And
not particularly a legacy to be thankful for, of course.
"If this is a crystal beast, does that mean the rainbow core inside it is
something else entirely?" Kuon asked.
"Most likely. The crystal beast seems more like an armor designed to
protect itself. Though the armor's dead now, so it's not really doing much to
help it anymore," Ney replied, lightly knocking on the crystal obelisk.
I guess it died because of the timequake or the shock of its fall. I was
starting to feel more and more like this had nothing to do with the
timequake occurring. It was all simply a coincidence—one that Kuon and
the other kids all got wrapped up in as well.
"Oh."
My phone started ringing: it was from Doc Babylon. Had she finished
analyzing the Gemstone Phrase? She worked as fast as ever.
"Hello?"
"Results of the analysis are in. As it turns out, it does, in fact, have the
same characteristics of a Phrase that allow it to amplify, accumulate, and
release mana, but not as powerfully as the real thing. Calling it an imitation
is not incorrect. But interestingly enough, their properties and makeup are
not so far from actual gemstones. The red and green ones are almost
identical to rubies and emeralds, respectively. I imagine they grew by
absorbing minerals from underground. When they stop living, they
essentially become a gemstone of degraded phrasium."
What? Hold on a sec, did that mean they weren't so different from real
gemstones? I assumed it was similar to the difference between a natural
diamond and an artificial one, but that still meant they could possibly sell
for a hell of a lot!
But then again, they were fake...
No, no, I once heard on TV that cubic zirconia, an artificial diamond,
was worth only ten percent of a real diamond, but the rate of light
dispersion was higher, making it shine more beautifully than a real
diamond. The difference in value came about from their rarity, not from
which was more appealing to the eye.
I imagine barely anyone in this world could determine whether or not
these were fakes. Maybe if they were able to use [Analyze], but that would
be about it.
...Should I sell them?
We'd already blown a good chunk of our funds on developing the Val
Albus and the Nereids. They practically looked alike to the real thing, so it
would be fine, surely. Cut it properly and it would make for quite a big
gemstone. There was no way the nobles would be able to keep their mitts
off them.
The devil in my mind was shouting, "Just sell it! This is your chance to
make the big bucks!", while the angel was shouting back, "No, you
mustn't! Those are fakes!"
The angel and devil began throwing punches at each other.
C'mon, Devil, right there! Yeah, go for the straight!
"Father? Is something the matter?"
Kuon spoke up and ripped me out of my thoughts.
"Huh?! U-Uh, no, what makes you say that?!"
A-Anyway, I don't need to think too much about this for now.
"What should we do about the rainbow core?"
"Couldn't tell you, honestly. This is a Dominant Construct in
hibernation, right? Doesn't that make it dangerous?"
"Yes, they may be threat, but it is also untrue to say that all Dominant
Constructs are—"
Just as Melle went to respond to me, the obelisk suddenly cracked. The
rainbow core dropped out from the obelisk and tumbled along the ground,
instantly absorbed the mana from the surroundings, and began growing.
We had seen this once before! It was exactly what happened when I used
[Apport] to remove Melle's core from inside Prince Yamato's body as she
had been hibernating.
"[Prison]!"
Without hesitation, I encased the core.
[Prison] may be able to create sturdy barriers, but it was unable to stop
time like [Storage]. Now that the Construct's core had begun to awaken, it
was considered a living organism, so I couldn't use any storage magic on it.
The body, which was as rainbow-colored as the core it was growing from,
only continued to grow bigger and bigger until it started to take the form of
a human. So it was a Dominant Construct!
When it reached a certain size, it stopped and began to thin instead.
It seemed...smaller than I had been expecting. Was it even smaller than
Kuon? Their body was partially covered in armor, and their hair was a
slightly long bluish-white bob cut. I wasn't sure if they were a boy or a girl.
"What is going on here? Is this...not a Dominant Construct?" Ney said,
frowning at the crystalline structure as it morphed into a human.
"The Phrase do not go through an adolescent period. They are
immediately born as adults," Melle muttered. "The only exception is Allis
as she is a child between Ende and I. We cannot think of this as a regular
Phrase."
The pale-haired child Phrase's eyes finally slowly opened. They were
the same icy blue as Melle and Allis's.
Suddenly, the child dashed straight at us, slamming right into the wall of
the [Prison] and being sent tumbling backward.
Oof, that had to have hurt.
The child stood back up holding their head, then encased their fist in a
crystalline armor that they proceeded to punch ferociously into the barrier.
Of course, a [Prison] couldn't break that easily, but the child inside never
stopped, continuing their assault as if they had gone insane.
Holy shit, this kid's small, but they sure are violent.
It looked like they were shouting something, most likely yelling to be let
out. We couldn't hear because of the effect of the [Prison], though.
"Father, could you disable the sound prevention of the [Prison]? I would
like to hear what they're trying to say."
"Hm? Well, sure, I don't mind."
I did as Kuon asked.
" /ee※ ♯ ♭ne ◇ ⊇ ≒ desh?≒∂ ▽ ♭?u
▽♭?w♭∂ ∂ ☆◇h?∇ ◇ de▽▲ ◇ru ∞
e?∇∂ ☆◇?u◇ "
I was expecting to hear a barrage of profanities, but instead, all I heard
was a string of incomprehensible words.
Oh, right, I can't speak their language.
Before I could decide whether or not to apply translation magic, Melle
grabbed my shoulders and began shaking me.
"Touya! Please dispel this barrier!"
"What? But..."
"It'll be fine! Please hurry!"
You sure...? They're kinda going on a bit of a rampage in there.
Well, I could just encase them in another [Prison] if they didn't cool
down, so there was nothing to really worry about. Plus, it seemed the
Phrase girls could understand what they were saying.
I did as Melle asked, dispelling the whole [Prison] this time, and the
bob-cut kid swung into the air, falling over. But they then immediately
stood back up and ran straight to Melle, tears streaming down their face as
they dove into her arms.
" /ee※ ♯ "
"Halle? Is that really you?"
Melle had a look of surprise on her face, as if she couldn't believe what
she was seeing, as she gently ran her hands down the child gripping onto
her. Ney and Lycee looked similarly shocked.
"What, Lord Halle? But..."
"The echo is truly the same... Is that really you, Lord Halle?"
"Lord Halle?" I asked.
"Lord Halle is...Lady Melle's younger brother...and the current
Sovereign Phrase."
"You're kidding?!"
I could only look on in shock at the boy clinging to Melle.