"You're all meanies! All of you! Why did you go play without us?!
Kuon, Leylle, you think they're big meanie pants too, right?!"
"I don't think they particularly did anything wrong..."
"I-I don't really like fighting, so..."
Both Kuon and Leylle were calm in the face of Allis's anger. She was
mad about yesterday's stampede—something so fun had happened without
her knowing, after all, so she was upset over having not been invited. Kuon
and Allis had been in the middle of dance lessons at the time, and the kids
knew that if they told Kuon, he would've absolutely either stopped them or
informed the adults, so inviting him would've spelled the end of their little
romp. Allis didn't seem to quite understand that, however.
"I wanted to fight the monsters tooooo!" she screamed. Kuon
instinctively realized that this wasn't good. Stress from the etiquette lessons
had seemingly built up more than he'd initially thought.
Allis was a fast learner. The more she was taught, the quicker she would
make it her own. Realizing how good of a student she was, Yumina and the
other girls kept teaching her things one after the other, and as a result, her
lessons had begun progressing at a much faster pace than before.
Allis could do anything if she tried, but she didn't really like studying,
and that meant she needed to let off some steam sometimes. In this case,
exercise or food would be best. Let her go absolutely wild somewhere, or
fill her full of the food she liked. That was something Kuon had learned,
having been friends with her for so long.
In her current state, letting her run wild was most likely the best option,
but it would be impossible to find somewhere she could do that right now,
so Kuon decided to get her something to eat instead.
"Allis, how about we have them treat us to something at Parent as
punishment? I hear they have a cake fair going on right now."
"Cake! That sounds good! Let's do that!"
"What is 'kayk'?" In contrast to Allis falling hook, line, and sinker for
Kuon's trap, Leylle was only confused.
"Cake is a dessert that's sweet and fluffy and delicious! I'm sure you'll
love it too!"
"Sweet and fluffy..."
Kuon could no longer sense the earlier anger from Allis as she excitedly
informed Leylle of how wonderful cake was.
"Y'know, ain't yer lady a bit...easy to please? You sure you good havin'
her as your wife, kiddo?" Silver let slip, exasperated.
"She's the perfect wife, if you ask me," Kuon replied, patting the sword
as he smiled at the sight of Allis still enthusiastically explaining the
wonders of cake.
◇◇◇
The Duchy of Brunhild had recently commenced testing the Swordsman
and Guardian series of Knight Gollems. Currently, there were only five
units of each, but if the tests went well, there were plans to rapidly expand
their numbers. Both were primarily intended to patrol the city, but they
would always have a knight together with them as a buddy. There were
situations Gollems would struggle to solve, after all.
The civilians were afraid of the large Gollems at first, but the moment
they learned they were part of the knights, no one particularly cared
anymore.
Are my people not a bit quick to adapt...?
It probably helped that those with crown Gollems like Norn, Nia, and
Luna tended to bring their Gollems around with them, so the citizens were
at least somewhat used to the sight. They saw the Frame Gears all the time
too.
"Are they performing well?"
"Yes, sir. Both the Swordsmen and the Guardians are performing
without issue. A Swordsman managed to restrain some troublemakers at the
pub with ease, while the Guardians assisted in a rescue operation when
there was an accident at a construction site."
I felt much calmer upon hearing my knight commander's report. I would
give it a few more months, and if things were still going fine, I would see
about raising the numbers. According to my children, I had established a
Knight Gollem squad separate from the human knights in the future. Albus
was their commander, but he was occupied with the observation of the Ark
from Val Albus right now, so I'd have to think about it again once the
wicked devout were dealt with.
"Actually, Your Grace, we found this..."
Lain held out what looked like a bunch of small medicine pouches
wrapped in white paper. I took one, carefully opened it, and saw that inside
was a small scattering of gold powder.
"Where did you find this?" I immediately asked.
"One of the drunks that the Swordsman restrained had it on his person.
Is this...?"
"There's no doubt about it. It's that golden drug."
The gold powder was a terrifying drug made out of a mutant's body that
could completely mutate a human.
Dammit, so it's started spreading around Brunhild too?
"Where'd they say they got this?"
"They said that they bought it while in Badrianna, a port town of
Belfast. Some black-robed stranger suddenly spoke to them in a bar and
sold it to them."
From right next door, huh? Is that robed dude a member of the wicked
devout?
"We can't rule out that they might eventually come straight into our
territory. Tighten security. Stay alert for anyone suspicious."
"Understood, sir."
When Lain left the room, I teleported up to Babylon's laboratory and
asked Flora to analyze the contents of the golden drug. It could have been
more advanced than before, or perhaps even a fake, so I thought it
important to check, just in case. I then reported the situation to the king of
Belfast.
Upon returning to my office, I did a [Search] with my phone and found
that the drug really had managed to reach all the way to the eastern
continent. There was an especially concentrated amount in Panaches and
Refreese, probably because they were the main trading hubs that connected
east and west.
Though it was a lot, it was still fairly scattered. Not that that meant I
could just leave it alone, of course. I'd given some of the antidote out to
each country a while ago, but...
"Is this really something that can spread so fast...?"
"Concerning that—"
"WHOA!"
I accidentally shouted when Tsubaki suddenly appeared.
How long has she been there?! Wait, the corner of the ceiling is open! I
don't care if you're a ninja, at least come in through the door!
"Papillon appears to have a hand in this."
"Papillon?"
It felt like I had heard that name somewhere before.
"It was a criminal organization that you took down on the western
continent. They were Black Cat's parent organization."
"Right, right, that was a thing."
We had infiltrated the black market in the western continent once in
order to try to get our hands on some Gollems. The operators of that black
market had been a criminal organization known as Papillon. That was
where we first met the purple crown, Fanatic Viola, and its master, the
perverted girl named Luna Trieste. I remember we nearly got killed back
then...
Papillon ended up fractured after that, and a number of the stray
members banded together to form Black Cat under the lead of Silhouette,
also known as Kageyuri. Black Cat operated as information brokers,
making use of what they learned from the brothels and inns that they
owned. Tsubaki appeared to frequently make use of their information
network, so that was likely where she received the info.
"But didn't I destroy Papillon?"
"Not entirely. You only cursed the leader, then left them to their own
devices."
Wait, did I really do something so terrible...? I totally did. I cursed,
uhhh, what was his name? Zabbit? I cursed him to never go near Silhouette
or the other Black Cats ever again.
He left the town after that, but we met him again trying to extort money
from an orphanage in a different town. I had only cursed him concerning
Black Cat, so he was free to do all kinds of heinous acts elsewhere. Was I
maybe a bit too naive not doing anything more direct?
"So, this Zabbit is transporting the golden drug to the eastern
continent?"
"That is not quite right. It is confirmed that Papillon is behind it, but
Zabbit has already passed away. Someone else is now the leader."
What? That old dude kicked the bucket? Was it because of my curse?
But Silhouette hadn't said anything about getting into an altercation.
"No, Your Grace, your curse was unrelated to his death. He died due to
infighting. His men overthrew him."
What, he was betrayed by his men, then?
To be fair, he didn't really come across as someone who would be all
that well-liked by his people. Maybe that was common in the underworld.
"And this new leader is the one spreading the drug?"
"Yes, Your Grace."
But that left the question of where Papillon was getting their supply of
the drug in the first place. Were they in cahoots with the wicked devout?
"Where's their base of operations now?"
"They previously had their base of operations in Strain, but are now
located in a town in western Gardio."
That was close to Isengard, where we had fought the wicked god.
Isengard was now nothing more than a wasteland, basically a lawless
country, so it was the perfect place for the underworld to gather.
"The drug does seem to be spreading around Gardio as well..."
Looking at the map, the pins were in higher density in highly populated
areas, as you would expect. That had to be because of Papillon.
Naturally, we'd made sure to supply Gardio with antidotes as well, but
there was a limit to the number, and the antidote was only effective up until
the worst symptoms began showing. By that point, there was a good chance
it was too late to save the patient. Even though we'd spread the information
that the gold powder was dangerous, there would still be those who would
take it.
According to Flora, the drug temporarily reduced stress—in other
words, pressures on the mind—and made any pain, both mental and
physical, vanish. Of course, if that was all it did, you couldn't really call it a
bad drug, but unsurprisingly, the rate of addiction was high. When one quit
cold turkey, their stress would increase, and so naturally they'd relapse in a
desperate attempt to get rid of the renewed stress. It led to an endless cycle.
Flora had suggested that this repeated cycle caused a human's negative
emotions to build up inside their body. Once that reached a certain level, the
mind became unable to handle it, and just like an overfilled balloon, the
worst symptoms would start to show. When one ended up in that state, an
antidote was incapable of doing anything. You would become an inhuman
follower of the wicked god.
Wanting to escape mental strain or pain was natural as a human. Not
everyone had the mental fortitude to cope. They were the ones being preyed
on with the drug. The dealers weren't selling them at an especially high
price; it was a price that even an average citizen could afford. That, in and
of itself, was also preying upon the weak.
The drug would steal your money, eat away at your mind, and break
your body. It quite literally consumed you down to your bones, turning you
into its slave. It was something completely unforgivable.
"For now, I'll inform each country where the gold drug is spreading."
I attached an image of the map with the pins still on it and sent it around.
If I made them all aware of it now, it would help in the prevention of
victims.
"What shall we do about Papillon, Your Grace?"
"Good question. If we don't nip it in the bud, it'll just turn into a game
of cat and mouse."
Where were they acquiring the drug from? Who was doing the deals
with the wicked devout? Usually, I would just assume it was the new leader
of Papillon, but...
"Shall we infiltrate Papillon's new base?" Tsubaki suggested.
"Infiltrate? Who, you?"
"No, Homura's team."
The three kunoichi serving under Tsubaki were Sarutobi Homura,
Kirigakure Shizuku, and Fuma Nagi. Would it really be safe, though?
Maybe it was because I'd known them since they started their training, but I
felt a little nervous at the idea.
"Those three girls really are improving," Tsubaki reassured me. "In
terms of their fighting prowess, they have been training under Lady Moroha
and Lord Takeru every day, so they are already much stronger than your
average knight. In addition, Homura has her Mystic Eye, Shizuku has her
superior abilities of disguise, and Nagi has various tools for assassination."
Wow, the girls have been growing up, huh?
Not that their ages were much different from mine. Still, if Tsubaki was
vouching for them this much, then it had to be fine.
"All right, then, I'll have those three infiltrate the place. Though, I'll
send Bastet and Anubis to accompany them as support."
"They are the black cat and dog Gollems, yes? I see. That way, they will
be able to collect information without appearing suspicious."
Bastet and Anubis were Gollems designed by Doctor Elluka, but
recently, they'd been left with nothing to do, so they'd just been wandering
around the town. They'd been assisting with gathering information and
patrolling, at least, but if we wanted to investigate something, those two
could do it without drawing suspicion. Bastet was a smart kitty, and Anubis
was...well, he could be a bit slow sometimes, but he was friendly, and could
easily pass for a regular dog.
Having revealed their locations to the other countries, all we had left to
do was destroy Papillon. Take down the drug dealers and the number of
victims would decrease. We couldn't let the wicked god's curse spread any
further.
I took out my phone to contact the ruler of Gardio for assistance.
◇◇◇
In western Gardio, not far from where Isengard used to be located, sat
the coastal town of Brenn. Before Isengard's destruction, the town was a
prosperous stop-off point for trade, with freight carriers and horse carriages
frequently going back and forth between the countries, but the fall of
Isengard brought another division of the land, casting a dark shadow over
Brenn's prosperity. For a city on the frontier, it was doing well for itself, but
there was no denying that the quality of life for its citizens had taken a
direct hit.
Traffic decreased all at once—all visitors to Isengard would stop off at
Brenn first, but no curious travelers would make that journey anymore.
With unemployment rates rising, and resources only decreasing, many took
to crime, and as a matter of course, those who would control that crime only
increased.
Even the lord of the land had been bought off by those criminal
organizations, thereby ignoring any wrongs they committed. As the
trustworthy previous lord died of disease, his younger brother had taken
over, but...had the previous lord really died due to natural causes?
"The rumors surrounding the previous lord are as one would expect—
rumors of if the underworld plotted the assassination of the previous lord in
order to put a puppet ruler they could control in place."
The time was early evening. In an inn overlooking the streets of Brenn,
Bastet had urgently gathered everyone to pass on her information.
"Apparently, Papillon formed an assassination squad after its fracturing.
It is hard to brush it off as simple hearsay."
Upon hearing Bastet's report, Kirigakure Shizuku, one of the three
kunoichi sent from Brunhild, placed a hand on her chin in thought, long hair
gently swaying.
"Perhaps the previous lord's death was planned by Papillon, after all."
"In all likelihood, that is the case. As remote a location this may be, how
else could they gain complete control over it?"
As Shizuku nodded to herself, the droning sounds of a different group of
people uninvolved in the conversation reached her ears.
"Oh, Nagi! I was gonna eat that!"
"Should've been faster, then!"
"Hang on, girl, gimme a piece too!"
"But you're a Gollem, aren't you? You shouldn't need to eat."
"It's 'cause I'm such a high-spec Gollem, y'see! Something like that's
no big deal!"
"Then I'll give you this, okay?"
"Yahoo...! Hey, this is just the bone! That's animal abuse, y'know?!"
"But don't doggos adore bones?"
"Pfft, then you can have mine too!"
"Shut up already!" Shizuku and Bastet both shouted for the noisy table
in the corner to quieten down. They were far more serious about their work
than the carefree three accompanying them.
"Aww, c'mon, lighten up. Gonna end up missing the forest for the trees
if you tire yourself out so quick," Anubis was quick to throw back.
"Oooh, look at you giving a good piece of advice for once, doggo.
Listen to him, Shizuku, you should relax a bit," Homura added on.
"Hey..."
"You are all too relaxed! Are you even aware of how serious this
mission is?!"
"I said hey..."
"You too, you stupid mutt! Quit indulging them! I will tell on you to
Fenrir if you keep this up!"
"Wha—?! Hey, that's unfair!"
"Is that not Papillon over there?"
All arguments came to an abrupt halt. When they looked to the side,
Nagi was standing by the window, staring outside. The rest of the group
swiftly sidled up to the window and caught sight of men dressed in black
illuminated by the streetlights.
"There's no doubt about it. That's Papillon," Homura confirmed, using
her Mystic Eye to catch sight of the black butterfly embroidered in their
cuffs.
"Finding our target on day one? We're so lucky!" Nagi celebrated.
"I don't know if that's the word I'd use... Well, it's true that it keeps us
from wasting time. Bastet, Anubis, can we count on you?"
"Leave it to us. Let's go, you idiot mutt!"
"Don't you start calling me that too, sis! Dogs are man's best friend,
y'know?!"
The two Gollems swiftly leaped out the window and gave chase along
the roofs.
"We will keep gathering info. We must investigate what Papillon's
leaders are like."
"Good idea. I'll do a sweep of the pubs," Homura said.
"Then I'll go to the entertainment district!" Nagi volunteered.
With a nod, the ninjas all left out the window as Bastet and Anubis had,
disappearing into the night.
◇◇◇
"This the one?"
"Yeah. If you look here on his arm..."
One of the men dressed in black rolled up the sleeve of a homeless man
collapsed on the ground. The man let out a groan, but otherwise didn't resist
the manhandling of his body.
"I see. So it's begun."
Dark gray scales were beginning to grow along the man's arm.
"Bring him with us. It'll be troublesome if he mutates in public."
"What a pain... Can't we just deal with him here, bro?"
"Orders from above. We're not supposed to kill them."
The leader of their group lit a cigarette as he watched his men lift the
homeless man by the legs and drag him away. The smoke he puffed out
dispersed in the cold night air.
"What good is there in keeping someone like that alive?" his subordinate
asked.
"Who knows? Probably as a guinea pig for some experiment? Might as
well make use of him how we can."
His interest in the matter was entirely nonexistent. The moment he'd
finished his smoke, the leader crushed it under his shoe.
"Let's go."
"Aye aye, sir."
The men exited the back alley and walked off into the night, unaware
that a black cat and dog had witnessed everything that just transpired.
◇◇◇
In a pub known as the Silver Shark that was located in the south of
Brenn, rough crowds of men were once again getting plastered on the
cheapest of alcohol. Such a place attracted all manner of people, from
fishers who went out to sea, to cranky shipwrights, to shady merchants.
They weren't joyously celebrating, however, but rather venting their anger
and grievances.
"HUH?! Say that one more time, you bastard!"
"Sure, I'll say it as many times as I need to!"
And that right there was the signal that another brawl was about to
begin. The rest of the patrons screwed up their faces at the familiar sight,
but they weren't going to bring it upon themselves to put a stop to it. The
only one nervously hovering was the master of the bar, knowing that a fight
inside the establishment couldn't end well for them. If they got too
aggressive, it would start causing issues for the other customers too.
Having reached the end of his patience, a small young man stood up and
walked toward the fistfight.
"Shut the hell up, you old farts."
When the young man thrust out the palms of both of his hands toward
the pair, a smile still on his face, they both went flying through the air
despite their muscular builds and out through the door. The ones who hadn't
been watching looked up in confusion, while those who had seen exactly
what went down had their eyes wide in a very different kind of confusion.
The young boy returned to his seat as if nothing had happened, then
spoke to the suspicious merchant sitting opposite.
"Sorry, where did you leave off?"
"Oh, yeah, uh, I was just talking about Papillon's hierarchy..."
The merchant had become more aware than ever that the boy in front of
him was not ordinary whatsoever. In fact, calling them a boy wasn't even
correct—they were a girl.
Homura, one of Brunhild's intelligence officers, had managed to cut
down her targets to this comparatively loose-lipped merchant in the bar in
her search for more info. Her frustration at the noise of the arguing pair had
led to her unintentionally standing out, but it seemed to have made the
merchant all the more willing to spill the beans, so it all worked out in the
end.
"There are several elites underneath the boss with four of them
designated as division heads. They're all split into one of four groups: field
ops, underground trade, reconnaissance, and counterfeiting and smuggling."
"What's this field ops team?"
"They cover anything that requires muscle, like being bodyguards,
intimidation tactics, or debt collecting. Apparently, they'll carry out
assassinations too if the price is right."
According to the rumors, the previous ruler was assassinated by
Papillon. With this, Homura had no reason to doubt that was the truth.
Assassination actually came under the work description for ninjas on
occasion as well. Thankfully, Homura had never had any such mission
given to her, but she had heard the stories from some of the elder ninjas
from Eashen.
What she had also heard was that taking on such commissions came
with its own risks, less from the assassination mission itself, and more
because of the chance of being targeted by the one who had put in the
request.
If the assassination was successful, the only ones with the knowledge of
the perpetrator were the client and the one who carried it out. In other
words, the assassin now had info they could hold over their client's head.
There were many stories of ninjas who had been killed by their clients in
order to keep them quiet.
Homura couldn't be sure how it worked in Papillon, but if it was an
assassination that would be especially bad if made public, the one who
carried out the assassination might have already been dead.
I would never accept a request like that, Homura thought to herself, but
when she considered how nonchalant her current master was, she realized
that he'd never make her do something like that to begin with. A smile crept
onto her face as it became apparent to her how unfounded her worries were.
"Which division's spreading the gold drug?"
"...Why are you asking that? I'm not here to judge, but don't stick your
nose into shady business like this. I get it—you're strong, but if you make
yourself a target to them, you're a goner."
This merchant was a kinder man than Homura had initially thought.
Seeing this man who looked so unbelievably suspicious actually worried
about her made her feel like he'd probably get so much more business if he
just made an attempt to look less shady.
Homura placed a silver coin on the table in front of the merchant.
"...Couldn't tell you the specifics, but I personally think it's either
Delloria, the one in charge of underground dealings, or Bilis, the one in
charge of counterfeiting and smuggling," he said, as he dragged the coin
toward himself. He then downed the rest of his now-lukewarm ale. It
seemed pretty clear he had some kind of connection to Papillon.
No one in this town could be involved in trade and not be mixed up with
Papillon. In fact, even the establishment Homura was in right now probably
had to pay protection money to them. If they didn't, they'd have been run
right over by now.
"Delloria of underground trade or Bilis of smuggling and counterfeiting,
hm..."
Given this was tied to dealings with the wicked devout, her mind
immediately went to underground trade, but the dealing of the golden drug
would also be tied to smuggling.
"Thanks, gramps. You were a massive help."
Homura laid down another silver coin, then got up from her seat. Her
meal cost was included.
Having managed to bag some good info, the kunoichi was in a good
mood as she left the building. But shortly after she began walking away, a
bunch of tough-looking guys appeared and circled her.
They weren't Papillon. Among them were the two drunks that she'd
kicked out earlier.
"She's the one! Shitty kid going around like he owns the place!"
"Oy, you lot! Pin him down!"
Apparently, they had come for revenge—after making sure to bring their
friends with them first, naturally. The men all jumped at Homura at once,
but in the next moment, a rapid-fire cacophony of punches rang out, and
every last one of them fell to the ground, eyes rolling into the back of their
heads.
"Huh?!"
The two who had been the cause of all of this hadn't gotten involved in
the dogpile and were simply standing to the side in shock. They hadn't even
been able to see what had happened.
"If you wanna beat me, you're gonna have to bring ten times more
people than this!"
Homura dashed right up to the two men, then used the same move as
back at the bar, but this time, without holding back. The two men went
flying, knocking over the fence and water buckets by the nearby stable, and
landed right in a pile of horse manure.
Curious onlookers had peeked out the bar to see what all the noise was
about, but by the time they caught sight of the two unconscious men
covered in poop, Homura had already disappeared into the night.
◇◇◇
"Are you an idiot?"
"Ow! How you wound me!"
Shizuku's response to Homura's report was immediate. Homura
exaggeratedly clutched at her chest at the sudden insult.
"Why are you drawing attention to yourself? Maybe if I have you write
'ninja' one thousand times, you will finally remember what you are."
"It was just kind of inevitable, I think..."
"If there are people causing a scene, you ignore them. Simple, don't you
agree? They were not picking a fight with you specifically, correct?"
"Well, no, but..."
The two men were arguing so loud that Homura couldn't hear what the
merchant was saying, so she went to put a stop to them without thinking.
Though, the scolding from Shizuku was enough to have her reflect. Perhaps
she had maybe been a bit too short-tempered in that instance.
"You did get us some good information, though, so I will give you some
credit."
Homura, Shizuku, and Nagi were all gathered in their room in the inn,
Bastet and Anubis still to return.
"What about you, Nagi?"
"Oh, I went to the entertainment district. Walked past quite a few
suspicious people!"
"Like, Papillon kind of suspicious?"
"No, not in that way. Suspicious as in the 'they'd been taking drugs'
kind of way! They were all unsteady on their feet, their eyes were empty,
and they kept muttering about wanting drugs."
They looked as if they had taken the gold drug. It had clearly spread
more than they had initially anticipated. The moment the victims ran out of
money for more, they would likely run straight to crime. The drugs had the
ability to dull one's sense of reason, after all.
"I thought about giving them the antidote, but..."
The three kunoichi had been supplied with several antidotes for their
mission, but given how few had been supplied to each country, they were
more than aware of how precious they were.
"You were right not to. Ignoring the fact that they were already at latestage symptoms, we cannot use such a precious medicine on whoever we
find. And even if we cured them, if we do not solve the root of the problem
first, they would likely end up going back for more, regardless of what we
do."
"Yeah, I know..."
Though Shizuku was being as logical as she could, she couldn't deny the
frustration she also felt. They had the means to save the people, yet they
couldn't afford to use it. Logically, she knew there was a good reason for
that, but that didn't stop the part of her that wondered if it was truly okay to
simply leave the victims be.
Shizuku shook such pointless thoughts out of her head. She was on duty
right now, so she had to fulfill the mission she had been assigned.
At a sudden knocking on the window, the three looked up and saw
Bastet and Anubis, who were blending into the dark so well that it was as if
they were one with it. They must have come back along the roofs.
Nagi opened the window for them, and the two quietly hopped into the
room.
"Whew! I. Am. Pooped. Could that lot stay still for two seconds?"
Anubis gave his front legs a big stretch.
Do Gollems even get tired? Homura thought to herself with a tilt of her
head, but she chose not to say anything.
"We have discovered that Papillon is not just dealing the drugs, but also
gathering the bodies of those with late-stage symptoms," Bastet reported.
"What? It...is unlikely that is for treatment, yes?" Shizuku asked.
The black cat nodded.
"When the curse inflicted by the drug progresses far enough, the body
begins to metamorphose. The victim completely loses any of their
rationality, and can no longer recognize who they are. The antidote could
potentially save them, but..."
"What would Papillon need with them?"
"When a body completely mutates, they form an octahedral crystal that
Papillon calls a 'cursestone' inside their body. That is what they are
extracting from them."
The three girls tensed up at Bastet's report. They were extracting the
stones from their bodies—in other words, those people were no longer
alive.
"Those cursestones can be used as a replacement for a Gollem's GCube. They can acquire a core that is stronger and more impressive without
any of the usual hassle. It is of little surprise they are taking advantage of
it."
They were continuing to exploit the victims right up until their deaths...
No, even after their deaths. Anger filled the hearts of everyone present.
"Not everyone mutates, though, right?" Nagi asked.
"According to Doctor Babylon, those with high magic resistance or
those who still hold much hope in their heart are much harder to curse.
Curses prey on the negative energy in one's heart, so the more negativity
they feel, the easier it is to cast it on them," Bastet explained.
Nagi couldn't help but wonder how anyone could keep hope in such an
environment. Hope was as good as dead in this town that Papillon
controlled.
"In any case, first we need to find the drug's source. If we tail both
Delloria and Bilis, we should be able to find something. Bastet, Anubis, the
two of you would be most suited to this mission, but I will need you to split
up this time," Shizuku said.
Homura frowned as she turned to look at the dog beside her.
"Is this stupid mutt really gonna be okay without Bastet...?"
"What was that for?! There's no one better at acting like a dog than
yours truly! Woofity woof!"
Acting like a dog? You basically are a dog, the kunoichi all thought to
themselves.
"I feel a little uneasy about leaving Anubis by himself, so it might be
best that one of us accompanies him," Shizuku suggested.
The three girls all turned to look at each other. There was no denying
that whoever had to go with him would have pulled the short stick. This
was going to be a pain.
"Rock, paper...!"
"Gosh, you're all treating me like some criminal here," Anubis
dejectedly muttered as the girls passionately fought to avoid the job.
◇◇◇
There was a street in the northern part of Brenn lined with high-class
establishments, quite opposite to the general image of the town. Manastones
lit up their neon signs at night, serving as a light trap for the wealthy
customers in the area. It was a stark difference from the cheap bars in the
south.
But that was a given. Each of the establishments on that street was
invested in by Papillon themselves. They were used as locations for
Papillon to meet their trade partners, and to carry out transactions not fit for
public view. One such transaction was currently being carried out in a
brothel known as Nightmare.
No matter how much freedom Papillon had gained upon wrapping the
ruler around their finger, if the knights of the capital were to catch wind of
what they were doing, they would be in deep trouble. While the possibility
remained that disguised officers could infiltrate Brenn at any moment, they
needed locations to carry out their dealings safely and privately.
"These are the goods we promised. Now the payment, if you please."
"But of course. Here you are."
A box containing a dull blue octahedral crystal and a leather pouch with
a considerable number of gold coins inside were exchanged over the table.
The moment the exchange was complete, the one receiving the box
clutched his purchase to his chest and swiftly left the room.
Immediately thereafter, a large mustachioed man with a cigar in his
mouth came out from another door. The slender man with slit eyes who had
carried out the transaction got up from the sofa and bowed his head.
After sitting down where the customer had been, the mustached man
crushed the finished cigar in the nearby ashtray and picked up the leather
pouch left on the table, feeling its weight.
"Surprised they're so willing to dish out this much cash for a tiny rock
like that," he remarked.
"For a Gollem engineer, there is nothing more desirable. And for a
researcher, this is a material with many unknowns. What could be more
enticing?"
"Hah! Greedy little shits. Well, keeps us running, so whatever floats
their boats."
The coins inside jangled as the man haphazardly tossed the pouch back
onto the table and pulled out another cigar from his case. When he cut off
the end with a cigar cutter, the employee beside him politely came over and
lit it for him.
"And? Where's the goods?"
"Right here, sir."
The slender man placed a small case on the table. When he opened it,
there were about a dozen glass test tubes lined up inside. Each of those test
tubes had a dark gold liquid inside of it. The mustached man grabbed one of
the test tubes and held it up to the manastone chandelier.
"This is a more concentrated version of the golden drug made by adding
the cells of a special monster," the slender man explained. "When we
conducted experiments, however, injecting it into a subject's body managed
to forcefully mutate them, but they lost all reason in the process, so a core
was not formed."
"So they're all duds, then."
"The ones who were injected gained strength that surpassed even
Gollems, and they appeared to lose all sense of pain as well. In that regard,
it was not entirely a failure."
"What good's a soldier that can't use his brain? If they'd produced
cores, we could've at least taken those and found some way to make use of
them."
The man returned the test tube to the case. The slender one closed it
again and continued speaking.
"No, I believe we may actually have a way to use them. Consider
attending a party for the upper class and stealthily injecting a guest with
this."
"They'd suddenly turn into a monster and the place would be in
complete panic in two seconds. You know what, true. If things went well,
we'd be able to remove annoying pests from the picture. That what you're
saying?"
"Indeed. There is no guarantee it would work, of course, but it was more
an example that its usefulness depends on how you use it."
The mustachioed man, leader of the counterfeit and smuggling division
of Papillon, Bilis, fell into deep thought. Certainly, the chances of it
working were slim, but being able to create a creature they could sacrifice
at will could prove to be pretty useful somewhere. They could wreak havoc
without drawing suspicion to themselves. The only issue would be that
whoever ended up being injected would attack indiscriminately, so it could
end up with the messenger very much getting shot.
"Still got room to improve it, yeah?"
"Yes. We are currently investigating if reducing the concentration allows
the subjects to keep their rationality."
"Then keep it up."
"Sir."
The slender man politely bowed as the employee informed him of the
arrival of a guest.
"He's here, huh?"
Bilis's main purpose in being here was not to receive a report on the new
drug sitting in front of him, but to do trade with the person who had just
arrived. After the slender man removed both the coin purse and the
medicine case, the employee guided the visitor in.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Some of the employees, upon seeing their guest for the first time, clearly
looked horrified. No one could blame them—he was simply that creepy.
The newly arrived man was wrapped in a black robe and had the skull of
a goat covering his face. His voice was that of someone elderly, and in his
hands he held a metallic black scepter.
Graphite, one of the wicked devout, sneered underneath the goat skull.
◇◇◇
"So that's Bilis?"
"Apparently. Or at least, that's what his men were saying."
Though the mustached man was too far away for a regular person to see,
Homura was able to make use of her Mystic Eye, watching as he boarded a
carriage. Though not entirely clear due to how dark it was, she could tell
that he was a massive, well-built man around his early forties. Embroidered
on his collar was a small black butterfly with a gold outline.
Despite her superior sight, though, Homura couldn't hear what they
were saying from this distance, which was where Anubis came in.
Having lost the round of rock-paper-scissors, Homura had no choice but
to be the one to dogsit the Gollem, and so, the two were assigned the task of
monitoring Bilis, the leader of Papillon's division of counterfeit and
smuggling.
Bilis had been going all around Brenn on a Gollem carriage. Each time
he moved location, Homura and Anubis would cautiously follow over the
rooftops, being careful to not get spotted by the people of the town below.
The Invisibility Cloak, currently on loan to the girls from Brunhild's
intelligence division, was a cognition-disrupting cloak that could also be
used as camouflage to blend into their surroundings. It was the kind of
technology used in the mirror armor of Yumina's Frame Gear.
It would be hard for them to be detected with that in their possession,
but Homura still kept a distance just to be on the safe side. Though it was
able to inhibit detection from regular people, those with a strong instinct
were perfectly able to see through it. It would be for the best that they
remained cautious.
"A brothel this time, huh? Why's the guy keep zoomin' all over the
place? This is such a pain..."
"I don't really know, but given what he's involved in, he probably has a
lot that he wants to keep secret, don't you think?" Homura replied to the
grumbling Anubis, making sure her eyes remained on the target.
Honestly, Homura had just said whatever came to mind, but she was
more correct than she realized. Despite his rough appearance, Bilis was the
cautious sort, and he would change the location for every single transaction.
There were even times he would change the location as late as the day
before.
Smuggling had become a natural part of Brenn, but that didn't mean it
was something to be witnessed by the general public. Bilis would choose
his trade partners seriously, and if he deemed them even the slightest bit
suspicious, he would immediately cut them off.
The thing Papillon feared most was having the scene of the crime be
discovered.
Ever since the new emperor ascended the throne in Gardio, he had
carried on the wishes of the previous emperor and focused on continuing to
build friendships with other nations. As those relations improved, the trade
between countries only increased, and as a natural consequence of that,
inspections of anything crossing the borders were growing stricter.
Under those circumstances, it was only natural that there was an
increase in those who engaged in smuggling and trafficking, and therefore
an increase in those who would regulate and oversee such illegal trade.
There was no way for them to tell where any of the empire's dogs might
be lurking, so Bilis's caution was not unfounded. Given his nature, this was
technically business as usual for him, though.
◇◇◇
"Here's this month's."
The man with the goat skull sat down on a chair opposite and planted a
leather pouch that was about the size of a puppy's head on the table. Bilis
pulled the bag toward himself and confirmed the contents. It was filled with
a powder that glowed a dark gold.
It was the gold drug that had become a large source of Papillon's
income.
Bilis had attempted to analyze the structure of the drug to try to make
some of their own, but none of their research brought them any closer to
figuring out its makeup, so eventually, they gave up. Given who was
supplying them with the drug in the first place, Bilis was certain that it
wasn't anything particularly legal, but if he had permission to sell and make
use of the stuff, he had no issues with that. Of course, he made sure to never
drop his guard, but this kind of relationship was fine...for now.
When Bilis closed the pouch, one of his men stepped forward from
beside him and laid an attaché case on the table. Inside were numerous large
transparent lumps about the size of softballs. Thin grooves ran along their
surfaces, creating strange geometric patterns.
"Each of these is from unique legacies, yes?" the goat skull man
confirmed.
"Yeah. Made sure they were all from different models, just as you
asked."
The old man picked up one of the crystalline spheres and examined it
closely. It was a Q-Crystal, the part of a Gollem's body that acted as their
brain. But if all of these were truly from legacy Gollems, its value would be
immeasurable.
Gollems were made up of their G-Cube—their energy source—and their
Q-Crystal—their brain. So long as both of those were kept safe, a Gollem
could make a full recovery regardless of the amount of damage to their
body.
Many Gollem engineers would agree that the Q-Crystal was far more
important than the G-Cube. A Q-Crystal retained a Gollem's acquired
knowledge, experiences, and fighting abilities, after all. To put it bluntly, if
the Q-Crystal was intact, you could use any old G-Cube to bring them back.
They would just lose their memories and their performance might end up a
bit more lacking than before.
On the other hand, if only the G-Cube was kept safe, even though its
power and performance would be retained, the ability to control those parts
of its body would have to be trained from scratch.
Q-Crystals were already valuable, and that value skyrocketed when it
came to legacy Gollems. Legacy Gollems were survivors of an ancient
Gollem war, and that experience and knowledge was not something that
could be easily acquired. So then, how did Papillon manage to acquire such
precious items?
Given that they ran the black market, it wouldn't be difficult for them to
locate any, even if it might cost them a pretty penny, but there was a way to
acquire them without needing to fork over the cash: just steal it. Kill the
master, disable the Gollem, and take out the Q-Crystal. Sure, it was a crime,
but Papillon was a criminal organization to begin with.
"We can get you the G-Cubes as well, if you'd like."
"No need. We only need their Q-Crystals."
Bilis frowned at that response. A legacy Gollem's G-Cube and QCrystal were generally linked. If you installed a Q-Crystal without its G-
Cube, its performance would drop so much that you wouldn't even be able
to use its Gollem Skill anymore. It made no sense to not also want the GCubes if they were going to make new Gollems with those Q-Crystals.
What were they going to do with the Q-Crystals alone? Bilis had no
idea.
Deciding he would rather not wake a sleeping lion, Bilis chose to forgo
that line of questioning and instead paid attention to whatever commotion
was going on in the back of the store.
Just as one of his guards put his hand on the hilt of his sword, the door
slammed open with massive force and an imposing man of nearly two
meters barged on in.
"Yo, sorry for the rough entrance."
"Brass...!"
Bilis frowned at the man who suddenly entered. He had dark skin and a
shaved head, with the right half of his face covered in tattoos and his left
decorated with a large scar running from the bridge of his nose to his cheek.
It was Brass, another division leader of Papillon who led field ops.
Bilis clicked his tongue, glared at Brass, and said, "I'm in the middle of
a meeting right now. If you need me for something, ask later."
The two could barely be said to be on good terms. Bilis looked down on
Brass's aggressive methods of getting everything he wanted through
physical force, killing anyone who was in his way with no thought of what
came after, while Brass viewed Bilis as a cowardly bastard for his
meticulous and cautious planning.
Brass ignored Bilis's admonition and instead sat himself down
diagonally opposite Graphite.
"And who would this fine gentleman be?" the wicked devout inquired.
"Name's Brass. I'm a division leader of Papillon, same as this dude here.
Pleasure."
Brass introduced himself to Graphite with a wild smile on his face. Bilis
couldn't help but disapprovingly click his tongue again.
"Been tryin' to catch you for ages now. You're the one supplying the
drug, yeah?"
Brass dragged the leather pouch on the table toward himself, confirmed
the contents, and his smile widened.
"You say 'for ages,' but we haven't exactly been hiding from you."
"You might not've been hiding intentionally, but this asshole over here
loves keeping his trade partners secret, y'see. Took a hell of a long time to
finally track you down."
Brass sneered at Bilis. Since Bilis was the one in charge of dealing the
drugs, the other executives weren't directly involved with its trade.
The gold powder originally made its way around Isengard with the
rumors that it was effective against goldflower pox. Its effects and
distinctive properties caught Bilis's eye, and so he hunted down who was
distributing it, leading to the negotiations that had brought them to this
point. It had become such a source of money for Papillon that no one could
feign ignorance about it.
Bilis knew that the other executives had started digging upon realizing
how lucrative it was, but the last thing he expected was for Brass to be the
first to track him down. He couldn't hide his annoyance at the fact.
"Lemme cut straight to the point. Hand over the method for making it."
"Brass! Are you that shameless to steal the business opportunity that I
found right in front of me?!"
Bilis's men immediately put their hands to their swords. Brass's men did
the exact same in retaliation, so the room immediately took on a dangerous
air.
Graphite lifted his scepter and banged it against the floor, cutting
through the tension that now hung around them.
"I would appreciate it if you did not move things ahead without the
dealer in question. You cannot make this drug whether I tell you or not."
"Really now? If you ask me, I think we could give it a good bash if we
get our hands on some goldbugs," Brass responded.
Graphite flinched.
"Goldbugs" were the mutants that had appeared on the continent. Many
of them looked like insects, so they naturally ended up acquiring such a
name. The gold drug was made by taking the wicked god's curse inside
mutants, amplifying it, compressing it, and then crushing it into powder.
Not all mutants disappeared at the time of the wicked god's death. A
handful had entered hibernation, while others had been sealed by barriers or
replicated by the wicked devout themselves. In rare cases, there were
monsters such as Ropers or Slimes that consumed the mutant, transforming
it into a different species altogether. Brass was not entirely wrong when he
said that even Papillon could make the drug if they took advantage of that.
"Well then... I must commend you on making it this far. It appears we
might have underestimated you."
"We've heard there were some folks over in Isengard doing something
suspicious. Some rumors were starting to spread that there were demon-like
Gollems carrying around gold monsters. Those are the base for the drug,
right?" Brass interrogated, a sneer still on his face. That little tidbit of
information was something Brass had managed to get out of the leader in
charge of recon.
The wicked devout had the Ark as their headquarters, but that didn't
mean they had no other bases scattered about the continent. Barely anyone
approached Isengard nowadays, so it was a suitable location for them to
carry out various experiments they didn't want others seeing.
It seems we were a little too lax, however, Graphite sighed to himself.
Tangerine was in charge of that area, so his expectations for an appropriate
level of caution had never been high to begin with, but that was still bad.
"There are two of those goldbugs still left at the research labs in Strain
and Allent, right? All I need now is the method."
"Brass, you're not...?"
Bilis couldn't help frowning at Brass's words. This was the man whose
creed was to take literally everything he wanted by force. There was no way
he wasn't intending to capture Graphite.
He couldn't help but feel like Brass had swooped in and stolen his prey,
but he wasn't entirely against the idea given he'd been thinking to himself
that he'd end up forcing Graphite to reveal the method one day. Bilis had
just intended to let him stay free for a little longer while he determined how
much danger would be involved.
The men surrounding Brass drew their swords. Now that they were at
this point, Bilis could do nothing to stop him. Despite his complaining, he
wouldn't interfere with something that would bring benefit to Papillon.
"Consider this piece of advice my thanks for how much of the drug
you've supplied for us: it's in your best interests to tell him what he wants
to know. This guy is more than happy to use torture or even drugs to get the
truth out of you," Bilis said, almost as if pitying Graphite. He didn't even
think of mentioning how he'd probably be erased the second they got the
info they needed out of him. He could at least be given a peaceful death if
he told the truth without hassle.
"Hoh hoh hoh. This old codger is grateful for your warning. I really
thought we could have a fruitful relationship. What a pity. I had hoped we
wouldn't have to cut you off."
"Huh?"
Brass thought he had misheard for a moment. What was he on about?
They were the ones about to cut him off, not the other way around.
Graphite slowly and deliberately removed a bracelet that was made of
animal tusks strung together like a rosary and threw it onto the table. That
alone caused the bracelet to burst into pieces, tusks scattering all across the
room.
"What are you...?"
Bilis narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but Graphite ignored this and
simply banged his metallic black scepter into the ground.
"Come forth, O Darkness. Bring Out My Desired Skeleton Soldiers
of Days Past: [Dragontooth Warrior]."
After Graphite chanted the incantation, the scattered fangs instantly
turned into Skeleton warriors one after the other. They weren't just any old
Skeletons, though—they had reptilian skulls like a Lizardman and held
round, dark gold shields and warped, single-edged swords.
"Magic?! You were a magician all along?!"
"It took you far too long to figure that one out."
Magicians were rare on this side of the continent. Regardless, magic was
understood as a concept, and magic-based technology from the east was
slowly becoming more prevalent.
Ordinarily, those on the eastern continent would put up a simple barrier
during potentially dangerous negotiations; it was seen as common sense.
But given there was no barrier here, it became possible for Graphite to use
his summoning magic without interruption.
The Papillon guards immediately went to attack the Dragontooth
Warriors. They were one of Brass's elite field operations squads, far
stronger than your average knight, and more than willing to use cowardly
tactics that knights did not utilize if it meant winning the fight. They had the
skill to kill the opponent in an actual fight. These Dragontooth Warriors
were a little different from the human enemies they were accustomed to, but
the bodyguards' swords were able to aim around their shields without issue.
"Wha—?!"
However, the moment they hit the collarbone, their swords would go no
further. The Dragontooth Warriors ruthlessly swatted away their weapons.
One of the bodyguards was cut clean in two, guts splattering all over the
place.
"Now then, since your negotiations with little old me have broken down,
I have no reason to hold back any further. I suppose I might as well have a
little fun."
When Graphite banged his scepter against the ground again, miasma
seeped up from the slaughtered body before suddenly gurgling as it
dissolved into nothing but bones.
"What is going on here?!"
The bones that had been separated began to rattle. Suddenly, they were
attracted to each other like magnets, returning to their original shape and
slowly standing back up. The newly born Skeleton picked up its sword and
attacked its former teammates, slashing down one of the guards. Graphite
banged his scepter against the ground, and the meat on the body melted just
as the previous one did, creating a new Skeleton soldier.
That was the moment Bilis realized they had made a massive mistake.
They weren't the ones using Graphite, Graphite was the one using them.
The wicked devout could have cut them down whenever they so pleased.
The only reason they hadn't was because they hadn't felt like it was
necessary.
If he had known it would come to this, he should've just killed Brass
himself when he started to do his own thing. Do that and apologize and
maybe they would've stood a chance. Bilis only felt heavy regret at his
inaction, but he couldn't turn back time and redo it all.
"Grugh!"
A Dragontooth Warrior stabbed its sword into Brass's throat right in
front of Bilis. For a man who had absolute confidence in his power, it was a
pitiful end indeed.
When Brass's body fell to the ground, Graphite once more banged his
scepter. The man who had once been an executive of Papillon transformed
into a monster of only bone, then turned his blade on Bilis...
◇◇◇
"Seems preeeeeetty noisy in there. They got a bit of a problem customer
or something...? Wait, Homura, look!"
Homura had been dozing off while waiting on a roof from where the
brothel Bilis had entered was visible, but she was ripped out of the
dreamworld when Anubis frantically shouted at her.
"Whoa?! What, what's going on? Huh?"
The kunoichi rubbed at her sleepy eyes and looked toward the brothel in
question. It seemed there was some commotion going on inside—people
were fleeing from the establishment. She activated her Mystic Eye to try to
get a better view of what was happening.
"That's...!"
A Skeleton with a draconic skull appeared from the entrance as people
frantically ran away. It was slashing down those it could with its curved
blade one after another. Black miasma then appeared out of nowhere,
covering the slain customers before immediately dissolving their flesh and
turning them into nothing but bones that became the base for another new
Skeleton soldier. Those newborn soldiers would then attack even more of
the fear-filled crowd, leading to a chain of tragedy.
"They're turning into Skeletons?! But how?!"
"Couldn't tell you, miss, but, uh...this might be a little too much for our
paws to handle!"
While watching the panicked crowd only grow more hysterical,
Homura's phone went off. She frantically pulled it out of her pocket. If it
was from the grand duke or Tsubaki, she needed to report the situation right
away.
"Huh?"
Seeing who was phoning, Homura frowned a little. It wasn't her master
or her boss, but it wasn't someone she could ignore either.
"Hello? Hm? No, I'm on a mission right now... Oh, um, you see...I'm in
Gardio..."
Homura turned her back to Anubis and quietly summarized what was
going on to the one on the other end of the line. She decided she might as
well ask them to pass on the circumstances to her master or boss.
"What? You'll help? It...sounds fun? B-But you haven't gotten
permission from the grand duke! It isn't a problem? Oh, I see... Yes, yes...
I'll, um, I'll be waiting..."
After hanging up, Homura's head creaked robotically as it turned around
to face Anubis, eyes empty.
"Wh-What's up, Homura? Who was that from?"
"It was from Elze-sama..."
"Huh?!"
Since she was skilled at melee combat, Homura would sometimes serve
as Elze's sparring partner, which led to them exchanging phone numbers. In
fact, the reason Elze had phoned her originally was to ask if she was free to
have a little match, but...
"She said they're gonna come over here right now..."
"You wanna say that one more time?"
"Since she knows where you and Bastet are, she can come here with
[Teleport], apparently..."
"Sorry to keep you waiting!"
"WHOA!" the two exclaimed in fright. The people in question suddenly
appeared on the same roof as them instantaneously.
"Wow, they are being quite violent down there, they are."
"We can't just ignore this. Let's go save them."
"We're gonna get worked to an early grave like this..."
"Were you trying to make a joke, Sakura?"
Behind Elze stood Yae, Hilde, Sakura, and Sue. They were all the wives
of Homura's master, and that meant they were Grand Duchesses of
Brunhild. This wasn't somewhere for such esteemed ladies of their country
to come out on a picnic.
"Since we didn't get to help with that stampede the other day, I'll use
today to work out all this energy!" Elze enthusiastically yelled, tapping her
gauntlets together.
Homura was fairly sure that their objective and the means to carry it out
had already drastically changed from the original mission, but she chose not
to say anything. Not like it would've done anything, anyway. Besides, there
was no denying that these reinforcements were strong.
Nevertheless, Homura chose to phone her boss; she would get in trouble
later if she didn't inform anyone. It was a wise decision, if she dared say so
herself.
◇◇◇
The city of Brenn was in absolute pandemonium. The Skeletons
appearing left, right, and center were attacking every crowd they came
across.
Undead were actually very uncommon on the western continent.
Cremation was a much more common way to handle the deceased on this
side of the world, so zombies and ghouls would rarely appear. Compared to
the magically developed east, the concept of the resurrection of the dead
was not something the average citizen on the western continent gave much
thought to. Fire was believed to be a sacred light that deterred monsters and
helped guide the souls of the dead to heaven.
Those in the upper echelons of society would have a regular burial
largely due to the legends that remained of revival medicines or resurrection
arts, but generally, people on that side of the world were cremated, and only
their bones were buried in graves. That was why, when hearing the word
"undead," most in the west would think only of Skeletons with their skin
already peeled off.
Undead were monsters created from humans whose souls were unable to
return to heaven, and so they latched on to their old bodies instead. They
were left aimlessly wandering the land because of their inability to return to
where they should be.
However, this change was not something that happened immediately; it
would happen over an extended period of time. Turning into Skeletons
immediately after being killed like what was happening in Brenn was
impossible. Nothing that was occurring in the port town was normal. It
wasn't strange that people were in such a panic.
Skeletons killed the people, and those people turned into Skeletons of
their own. The number of Skeletons only continued to increase, and it was
becoming more and more difficult for the town guard to hold them back.
"EEK!"
When a Skeleton tried to attack a woman who had fallen during her
escape, a right fist flew in from nowhere and pulverized the core in the
Skeleton's breastbone.
"Crusher!"
It wasn't just the core she shattered, however, but every bone making up
its body.
After defeating that Skeleton, Elze immediately rotated her body and
slammed a backward roundhouse kick into another. The heel of her greaves
hit right on the core. Delivering attacks with such pinpoint accuracy
allowed her to take down Skeletons one after another without exerting too
much energy. The girl was more than happy to show off her moves to the
swarming hordes of monsters.
"C'mon, come at me with all you got!"
"She is very lively about all of this, she is," Yae remarked.
"Probably because she hasn't really had the chance to fight in person
like this recently."
Yae and Hilde slashed down Skeletons while they spoke. Their weapons
being made of phrasium meant their blades slashed through the
Dragontooth Warriors like they were tofu. Rather than aiming precisely for
the core like Elze, they found it far easier to slice the Skeletons into small
pieces, then crush the cores under their feet.
The three ninjas were once more made painfully aware of their
difference in strength compared to the grand duchesses as they watched the
girls hum cheerfully while they took down the Skeletons appearing one
after the other.
"Why do the towns we visit always seem to end up having Skeletons
appear in them...?" Homura despaired.
"I know, right?"
"This is only the second time, you two. Do not act as if they appear
because of us."
The last time they had gone to Sandora on a mission, to the city of Astal,
it was Crystal Skeletons that had attacked them instead.
Do we attract Skeletons or something? Homura wondered to herself,
hoping they didn't as she cut down another of them.
Right at that moment, a bright voice suddenly spread through the town.
It was like someone's song was pouring down from the heavens, bathing
everyone in its light.
When Homura turned around, she saw Sakura singing on the roof they'd
all been previously gathered on. She was using the [Speaker] magic that
her phone had built into it in order to add a musical accompaniment to her
voice.
Wait, Sousuke Mochizuki was also up on the back of the roof playing
the piano. What was going on? How did he get a whole grand piano up
there? Homura's confusion remained unanswered, however, as the tempo of
the song suddenly picked up and a soulful voice began being emitted in
return.
The Skeletons falling victim to the song suddenly began moving much
more sluggishly, and their response times were becoming much slower. Had
the grand duke been here, no doubt he would've said, "Well, yeah, no
wonder they're being affected—they're undead, after all."
The song that Sakura was singing was originally a famous hymn, but it
had been arranged as a gospel song in later years. It was used during the
climax in the sequel to a Hollywood film about the commotion caused by
an unconventional fake nun.
Drive the dark of doubt away, fill us with the light of day.
As the song stated, the Skeletons' power weakened, while Homura and
the girls were only strengthened. The support effects from the singing
spread through the area.
"Come forth, O Light! Radiant Resurrection: [Regeneration]!"
Sue's light magic overlapped with Sakura's vocals and enveloped the
surroundings. A man whose arm had been lopped off by a Skeleton while
protecting his wife was bathed in that light, immediately regenerating his
missing limb. A different man who similarly lost his leg in order to protect
his child had his body also restored to normal.
Healing magic able to regenerate body parts was an extremely advanced
ancient magic. Given Sue's age, it seemed impossible that she would be
able to use such high-level magic, but she appeared to have a talent for light
magic, and after reading a magic codex in Babylon's library, she ended up
being able to use it right away. Even Leen, who had her own strong
opinions on the topic, was rendered speechless.
In a land where mages were rarely seen, missing limbs being restored
was a miracle that left the locals crying tears of joy as they watched it
unfold in front of them.
"Our own team is just as extraordinary, huh?"
Our grand duke's wives all have a bit of a screw loose, Homura thought
to herself, swallowing those disrespectful words before they could escape
her lips. She had no idea if they'd ended up so insane after becoming his
wives, or if they became his wives because they were so insane.
"Still, just what happened here? It does not seem to be because of a
stampede..." Shizuku questioned as she shook off the Skeletons that were
continuing their assault.
The undead generally wouldn't get mixed up in stampedes, since they
wouldn't ever have emotional outbursts or feel extreme fear when faced
with danger, so nothing would compel them to be swooped away by the
panic. That said, it wasn't completely unheard of for the undead to attack in
groups. Sometimes, the dead who shared a strong resentment would rise
from their graves together and attack the living as an army known as an
Undead Legion.
According to Homura, the Skeletons had begun flowing from the brothel
that the executives of Papillon had entered. That would lead to the
assumption that the cause of this mess was tied to them in some way...
As if to answer Shizuku's question, the brothel in question blew up in a
spectacular manner.
"Huh?!"
Something slowly rose up from the rubble. It was a large four-legged
winged Dragon made entirely of bone.
"A Bone Dragon...!" Shizuku's voice croaked out upon being faced with
what could very well be called the symbol of death.
Dragons were renowned for being the strongest living creatures, but they
only became even more troublesome when they returned from the dead.
Undead like Dragon Zombies were not so agile due to the carrion still
hanging on their bodies, but Bone Dragons were nimbler than they
appeared, since they weren't impeded by flesh.
What was more, even though they were just bone, they were able to fly
in the air and breathe fire. Those abilities of a Dragon were not generated
by their bodies, but were produced with mana. And since they were undead,
they would never tire and never sleep. They would remain in the world until
they completed their goal.
The Bone Dragon chased the fleeing crowd as it destroyed the town of
Brenn. But among those fleeing bodies was one who stood solidly in its
path.
"Glad you're an undead that can take a beating for a change."
Elze covered her body with energy. That, mixed with divine spirit, made
it appear as if she were cloaked in a platinum light. Elze's divine trait was
the ability to infuse her body with residual divinity as a battle garb of sorts.
Put in simple terms, it was a simplified version of Touya's Apotheosis. It
was an ability that boosted one's physical abilities to the limit and created a
sturdy armor of energy around the user—in the case of a melee fighter like
Elze, it was like she had been granted both a divine sword and shield in one.
Elze kicked off the ground after enhancing her legs with [Boost],
allowing her to jump all the way into the air toward the Bone Dragon so fast
that it was as if she had been fired from a bow. The Bone Dragon reacted
swiftly to Elze's assault, opening its mouth wide and breathing fire in her
direction.
It was reported more than once that being completely encased in a
Dragon's breath would leave not even one's bones behind. The citizens of
Brenn watched on in despair, but as if to laugh that off, Elze appeared out of
the flames with her fists raised and fired a full-power right straight punch
between the Bone Dragon's eyes.
"Get wrecked, you stupid pile of bones!"
With a tremendous crash, the Bone Dragon crumbled into dust. For the
undead, divine power was a dangerous poison. It literally sunk into the
Dragon's bones, causing the Bone Dragon to disappear from the world.
Seeing the symbol of despair be defeated so easily, the three kunoichi
renewed their impression that their duchesses were crazy.
"Oh my. I did think my minions were having more trouble than
anticipated, but it was the little upstarts from Brunhild, hm?"
All of a sudden, an old man cloaked in a black robe who was wearing a
goat's skull appeared on top of the rubble of the brothel. He held a metallic
black scepter and was looking over in their direction with glowing red eyes.
"How strange of us to meet in such a desolate port town. Or perhaps this
is the guidance of the wicked god? Is he telling me to let off some steam?"
"Pretty bad guidance if he is. The guidance of a wicked god will only
lead to your destruction," Elze retorted. Graphite showed no anger to that,
however, instead only flashing an odd smile.
"I cannot deny that. However, could that not also be called the truth of
the world? Whether man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, diligent or
lazy, all of us will perish one day. In that case, do you not think that
granting destruction to those who lament over such inequality would be
their true salvation?"
"You just sound insane."
"I would much rather view it as a difference in opinion. Death is a
wonderful thing that is always right next to you. I'm sure you would all
view it much differently if you died once yourselves."
"We refuse."
Elze pushed off the ground and ran with great force toward Graphite.
But before her fists could make contact, a Dragontooth Warrior leaped into
her path and was punched into smithereens instead. Its head, which had
been spared in the attack, opened its mouth wide and went to bite down just
like a crocodile.
Elze managed to backstep right in the nick of time, but that was
followed by arrows of Skeleton Archers closing in on her from all sides.
"Hmph!"
Elze thrust her left fist into the air, causing a tornado to appear around
her that disabled all the arrows heading straight for her.
"My, they don't call you the War Queen of Brunhild for nothing. You
really are something else."
Graphite ripped off his jeweled necklace, threw it to the ground, and
then raised his scepter. Black miasma leaked from the weapon and
enveloped the jewels he had discarded moments before. What followed was
the pale figures of female ghosts crawling out from the jewels in pain.
"You're kidding me...!"
Elze, who had been taking everything very easy a moment before, froze
up the moment she saw the pale ghosts. When it came to the undead, she
was especially weak to wraiths, so she found it mentally difficult to deal
with ones that materialized in spiritual bodies. Her gauntlets were enhanced
with light magic, so it wasn't as if she couldn't hit them, but such a deeprooted fear couldn't disappear so easily.
When she unconsciously took a step back, the female spirits let out a
tremendous screech. Their voices gave any humans who happened to be
nearby a sense of intense grief and unsalvageable despair, enough to lead
them to suicidal ideation.
"Banshees!"
Banshees were evil fairies whose frightening cries drove those around
them into the depths of despair. They were originally harmless fairies who
would only appear to announce one's death, but there were rare cases of
some who fell to darkness.
Elze was able to fight against the voices, but the same couldn't be said
for the citizens in the area. Those who could hear the cries of the Banshees
were screaming, shedding tears as their faces distorted in pain. If this
continued, they would ultimately take their own lives due to the pure
despair, no doubt leading to their own transformations into Skeletons.
When Elze stepped forward to put a stop to the Banshees, Sakura's voice
echoed out from behind her in an attempt to cancel them out. She was now
singing a German version of the song she had been singing before.
Sakura's song of joy clashed with the Banshees' song of lament, pushing
through to light up the people's hearts with hope instead.
"OoooOOaaaaAAhHHhhH!"
The Banshees were pushed back by Sakura's song. Yae and Hilde took
that opportunity to jump out from behind Elze and slash them in two. It
would usually be impossible to physically slash a spirit, but the pair's
blades were so enhanced with magic that they could cut through them
easily.
The slashed Banshees wailed in despair at their death as their bodies
disappeared. The jewels scattered over the ground cracked at their defeat.
"It has been a long time since I have had to exorcise a ghost, it has."
"Yae, those aren't ghosts. They're technically fairies."
Fairies were spiritual beings too, so was it so wrong to call them ghosts?
Well, regardless, Yae swung her katana down, slaying these ghosts or fairies
or whatever they were.
"Hm?"
Yae halted the swinging of her blade and tilted her head.
"What's wrong?" Hilde asked.
"No, it's just...I feel like I slashed not just this Banshee, but the one in
back too, I do..."
She was sure that her slash had become a shock wave that hit the
Banshee in the back, but perhaps she was just imagining that.
Feeling a strange power start to leak out from her body, Yae suddenly
realized something.
Ahhh, I see. So that's what this feels like.
When Yae lightly swung her katana toward a Banshee that was a fair
distance away, it cut clean in half. In fact, not only the Banshee, but also the
stone wall of the building behind it.
"Hmm. Is this my divine trait?"
Yae could make her slashes go where she willed them. It wasn't a case
of turning them into shock waves—she was literally having her attack cross
space, slashing anything on the way there in the process. Deeming
dimensional cleave a good way to refer to it, Yae released a further flurry of
slashes at all the Banshees in the area.
The moment Yae sheathed her blade, the Banshees all vanished at once.
Hilde stood there stunned at the sight for a moment before she suddenly
returned to her senses.
"Yae! You woke up to your divine trait?! That's unfair!"
"But it was not as if I controlled this, I did not..."
Hilde hounded Yae out of frustration upon having realized what she had
just done. Even though there was no way for them to do anything about
individual differences in manifestation, it was still frustrating all the same.
Given that Yae seemed to be able to cut through space itself, it was
reasonable to assume that it could cut through basically anything. The
problem was the difficulty in specifying the range. Precise control would be
necessary to not slice through that which she wished to leave untouched.
"This is quite the exhausting ability, this is..."
"Oh, yeah, when I first acquired mine, I felt the same. Don't worry,
you'll start to get used to it," Elze said with all the pride of someone who
had been first. Hilde began uselessly swinging her sword around, hoping
she, too, would wake up to her ability.
"I see what Indigo means now when he calls you lot our natural enemy. I
should remove you from the picture sooner rather than later," Graphite said.
"Do it if you can," Yae declared, slashing her sword at Graphite. Her
dimensional cleave almost definitely should have cut where Graphite was
standing, yet he remained there unfazed, not a shred of panic to be seen.
"Hm?"
Yae tilted her head quizzically before then trying to slash two, three
more times.
"I cannot cut him...?"
"No, you are. I don't quite understand how it works, but it is a splendid
show of skill. You are simply cutting me so cleanly that my regeneration is
too quick to be seen by the naked eye."
Yae frowned at the explanation. It was said that if you cut your finger
with a sharp blade, the tissue would remain closer together and therefore
heal faster. Was that what he meant?
The man with the iron mask they had defeated not long ago also had
similarly impressive regenerative abilities—his arm grew back after being
cut right off. This old goat skull man must have been the same.
"It still ruins my clothes, though, so I must ask that you cease."
Graphite shook his arms and legs, causing pieces of his robe to flutter
down. It was also sliced along his chest, revealing his skinny ribs. They
might have ended up seeing his lower half if the clothes hadn't been tied up
with a rope around his waist.
I'm so glad I didn't cut vertically, Yae thought to herself in relief.
If that was the case, though, it just meant that she had to mincemeat him
so fast that he couldn't regenerate in time. Yae held her sword at her waist
as she entered into position. A power different from mana welled up from
deep inside her, a platinum light coating her body.
I can definitely slash him into pieces.
With overflowing self-confidence, Yae began to pull her sword out from
its sheath...when suddenly, a hand was placed on said sheath, putting a stop
to her attack.
"That's enough, y'know."
"Karen?!"
Without warning, the goddess of love had appeared. Her smile was as
carefree as ever as she wagged a finger in her face.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Yae, don't forget that you're Touya's ward. You can't use
divinity to defeat that guy or you'll be violating a divine rule, y'know? If
you do that, the god of destruction will come and the world will go boom!
Y'know?"
"Boom..."
"I-It'll go boom?"
Elze and Hilde both seemed a little shocked at Karen's vague
explanation. Touya had explained it to them before, but Karen spoke about
it as if it were the most casual affair possible. Admittedly, from the gods'
perspective, just one world being gone probably was as simple as a small
boom! But still...
"Anyway, you can't use your divinity here, y'know? Okay?"
"Mmm... I understand, I do..."
"Are you done blathering?" Graphite asked, hands leaning on the top of
his scepter as if he were taking a leisurely break.
"Indeed," Yae responded. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Why, there is no bother. I simply wanted to buy some time, that was all.
Thanks to you, I made it."
Graphite sneered as there was a sudden explosion from elsewhere. Being
so sensitive to sound, Sakura immediately pinpointed where it came from.
What she witnessed from her position on the roof was one of the
lighthouses at the docks toppling over into the sea from its base. That
lighthouse was then crushed by a massive golden arm that stretched straight
out from the water.
The massive one-eyed Gollems, the Kyklops, began appearing one after
another from underneath the ocean and began stepping foot on the harbor.
Fishmen, Four-Armed Gollems, and Rock Titans followed at their feet.
Elze climbed up to the same roof as Sakura and spotted a familiar
shadow floating not far behind. It had a goat's head, a bat's wings, a
muscular human torso, and an owl's lower body. It was one of those Demon
Lords that Touya had fought on the night of the coup d'état in Regulus.
However, something about it was greatly different: its whole body was
mechanical. Not in the sense that it was completely turned into a machine,
but that the mechanical parts had been fused with the creature's natural
flesh. Many demons fused in the same way were floating behind it.
The mechanized Demon Lord and its minions were beginning an assault
on Brenn.
"Let's try this one again, shall we?"
Graphite tapped his metallic black scepter on the ground.
"SAVE UUUUUUUUUSSSSSS!"
There were no longer only Skeletons romping along the ground, but also
mechanical demons flying in from the air. To the citizens of Brenn, it must
have looked like hell incarnate. Homura began to panic, more than aware
that their numbers would never be enough.
"Don't worry. We've called our own reinforcements," Sue reassured her
from nearby.
"What?"
When Homura turned around to look at the duchess, she instead saw a
[Gate] and knights clad in silver armor flowing out from it, accompanied
by Knight Gollems. They weren't Brunhild's knights, though: theirs was the
armor of Gardio.
"Knights of Gardio, protect the citizens! We will not let these cruel
invaders have their way!"
Standing at the front of the knights, issuing a rousing call, was Lancelet
Rigg Gardio, the Empire of Gardio's young emperor. Homura and the other
ninja girls let out a sigh of relief when they saw the familiar black hair and
white coat of their master.