In central Aureatia, children could often be seen playing in the city streets. This was thanks to the safety of the neighborhood, as well as the many different parks that'd been established in the area.
In this part of the city, with the start of the Sixways Exhibition close on the horizon, there were all sorts of different performances being held day and night, delighting the eyes and ears of every child present.
Mixed in with this scene were the figures of a strikingly bizarre parent and child.
"M-M-Mama! Th-there are dolls…moving…like they're alive! Is that even possible? They aren't actually alive, though!"
"A puppet show, huh…? I loathe the damn things. There's always gotta be someone behind them controlling them and stuff, so what's even fun about it? Adding a puppet into the mix is just adding one extra step to the whole process, right?"
The old woman, small but possessing a brutal aura, was named Kiyazuna the Axle. Her child, meanwhile, was a colossal construct encased in navy-blue metal armor—one of the hero candidates, Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge.
"Geez… All right, then, wanna go see that puppet show, huh?" "I—I want one, that Mama, can enjoy watching, too!"
"Hee-hee-hee, ya don't say! You really are a good kid, aren't ya?"
The self-proclaimed demon king who'd previously rampaged across the world as one of the kingdom's greatest enemies had been freely strutting through the streets of Aureatia ever since Kaete the Round Table had invited her into the city. There were many citizens who complained about the danger of letting a serious criminal like Kiyazuna free to do as she pleased, but there wasn't anyone who was able to lodge a complaint straight to the old woman's face.
"Hey, hey, shoe store there, you already closing up shop?! Don't worry! I never had any plans on shoppin' at your damn store in the first place! Hya-hya- hya-hya-hya-hya-hya-!"
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Anyone who knew how terrifying Kiyazuna the Axle was would leave the area before they could get involved with her or watch from a safe distance and make sure not to interact with her. Being feared and avoided by her fellow minian races was, if anything, an absolute joy to Kiyazuna the Axle, who was filled from birth with spite and malice.
"Y'know, I don't care if people're cowering in fear like this, but how're you supposed to enjoy yourself, Mestelexil? You haven't been out in a while, so you must wanna have a look around, don't ya?"
"Y-yeah! Making, weapons all the time, gets boring!"
"Oh yeah, I bet it does. That bastard Kaete, how dare he work my precious child to the bone like that!"
Mestelexil's creations were weapons from the Beyond. Kaete the Round Table apparently wanted to distribute them en masse to his personal army as fast as possible, but as far as Kiyazuna was concerned, just rushing through production like this wasn't going to bring about the drastic effect he wished for; at most, it would just make Mestelexil even busier.
That was because his functions extended only to the production stage of the weapon-manufacturing process.
Mestelexil himself possessed latent structural knowledge of these weapons and, therefore, could wield them as if they were an extension of his body. However, in order for anyone else besides the golem to collectively utilize these weapons, time to explain the specifications of said weapon and to then give the proper instruction on how to use them was absolutely vital.
At the moment, only firearms that didn't need a high level of understanding could be used. The defensive heavy machine guns were admittedly serviceable from a tactical standpoint, but highly advanced weapons, like fighter aircraft and strategic arms, would still be hard to utilize on a systematic level for the time being. The Chariot Golems, which Kiyazuna produced herself, could already serve as a substitute for various types of combat vehicles.
Geez, that dumbass Kaete isn't any different from those guys who prize enchanted swords over everything, is he?
Entering the Sixways Exhibition was fine. Conspiring to bring about an industrial revolution was fine, too. He could produce weapons and use them however he wanted—she didn't care.
However, that was all under the pretext that Mestelexil wanted to do the same.
Kiyazuna had brought Mestelexil here to Aureatia to give him as much
freedom and amusement as this world, completely devastated by the era of the True Demon King, could possibly offer. She also brought him to avenge the death of her son, the Nagan Dungeon Golem, by butchering his killer, Soujirou the Willow-Sword, during the Sixways Exhibition with the citizenry in full attendance.
Kaete's ambitions, the hero talk, and all other such nonsense were, at best, just matters that happened to coincide with her own goals.
"Ha-ha-ha! Th-there's, something going on, over there!"
"Hmph, a performing magician, huh? That's Zeljirga, one of the hero candidates, too. Wanna take a look?"
"Yeah!"
The street-performer zmeu they saw from a distance was Zeljirga the Abyss Web. There were major differences between the color of each zmeu's skin and the shape of their faces, making it easy for even people of other races to individually identify them. Zeljirga was suitably described as a minian-shaped lizard.
When the two approached her, several groups of parents and children fled in fear.
"Well, lookie here! Seems like business is booming for ya now, ain't it?" "B-business, booming! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Zeljirga acknowledged Kiyazuna's presence, giving an exaggerated bow.
"Ah-hya-hyah! Well, a nice hello to you, my new customers! I can see you have your child with you here as well. Just a teeeeensy bit bigger than me, isn't he?"
"…Hee-hee, Zeljirga the Abyss Web. You sure you should be fooling around all day? Your big match is just around the corner, ain't it?"
Direct contact between hero candidates before matches was generally forbidden. However, given that they were all living together in Aureatia, it had also been decided that the arrangements wouldn't punish candidates for chance encounters. They were ensuring that they were able to lay down arbitrary punishments at will, to some extent, in response to trifling moments of unlawful activity.
"I mean, if you stand out that much, you know…" said Kiyazuna.
"Ha, ha-ha-ha! Mama! If we defeat, a hero candidate, Kaete will be happy, right?! Sh-should I kill Z-Zeljirga, too?!"
"Hey, now. She might just end up getting beaten to death in some unfortunate accident instead, right?"
And it almost went without saying, but Kiyazuna the Axle was, of course, not bound by any of these regulations.
"Oh, come now!" Zeljirga said. "I'll have you know the children love a little accident or two! To be perfectly honest, I think I've gotten more customers to laugh with my failures than I have with my performance! And what would be this child's name, then?"
"I—I am, Mestelexil!"
"And a fine name it is! Now then, Mestelexil, do you like balloons? What about puppet play?"
"I like both! Ha-ha-ha-ha! Do you like, puppets, Zeljirga?" "Oh, but of course. I have plenty of puppet friends, in fact!"
Zeljirga lightly knelt down. Though her right hand had been empty until that moment, in it appeared a large puppet big enough to fit in two hands.
It was a cloth puppet covered in a wavy fabric, with a bird's head. Most of its body was hollow and likely able to fold up to a size much smaller than its appearance suggested.
"This here's Morf!"
"Ha-ha-ha! Wow, amazing!"
"Watch carefully now. He's going to say hello. 'Mestelexil! Hi!'" Morf's head flopped down to the side.
Zeljirga questioningly tilted her head in the same direction as the doll. "Hmm, now this wasn't supposed to happen here… 'Nice to meet you,
Mestelexil!'"
The doll made adorable movements in time with Zeljirga's voice. "H, e, l…lo—"
However, on the final syllable, Morf lost all its strength and went limp. "Uhhh, now just give me a moment, if you will! It looks like Morf here's
having a bit of an off day! Let's see… Did I put my tools in my bag? I do apologize, but I can finish this up in no time, I promise…"
Despite the audience in front of her, Zeljirga turned around and began fishing through her bag…while behind her, Morf abruptly sat up and briskly began trotting along.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I-it is, moving! Wooow!" "What'd you say?"
Right as Zeljirga turned back around, Morf flopped down to the ground. "Honestly, no more joking with me, okay? Now then, where were they…?" Once she took her sights off him, Morf begin to start walking again as if
alive…and kicked Zeljirga's back. She left out an exaggerated scream before toppling over.
"Bwaaaugh?!"
The laughter of the children watching, including Mestelexil, echoed. "…Did someone kick me just now?"
She picked up Morf, which had immediately collapsed behind her, and cocked her head in confusion.
After making a believable show of turning screws and making slight adjustments, Zeljirga took another bow to her audience.
"Okay then, allow me to introduce him! This is my partner, Morf! Say hello again…or actually, why don't we hold off on that for now? I honestly have a bad feeling about that."
Zeljirga released the tool she held in her other hand.
Except it wasn't any type of tool, but a simple bottle opener.
"At any rate, he should be all patched up now! Now then, everyone, I invite you to watch my friend—and you are my friend, right?—Morf's song and dance!"
A music box began to spin, and the puppet danced in time with the music. Zeljirga manipulated the puppet to pace about the ground before spinning into the air and splitting into two the instant everyone's gaze went off it. All while, the zmeu made it pass through objects that should have obstructed the strings attached to it.
"Wooowee! I-isn't that, amazing, Mama?!" "Huh, impressive technique there."
Even Kiyazuna the Axle, despising puppet theater as she did, still let her honest admiration slip out. The same was true of the moment Zeljirga first produced the puppet, but there couldn't have been many people in the world capable of sleight-of-hand tricks that were dexterous enough to fool the sensors from the Beyond that comprised Mestelexil's sensory system.
"Ah-hya-hya! Thank you very much, all of you! Yes, well, there were some parts in there that were a bit disgraceful on my part, but I do hope you'll overlook all that as simply part of the entertainment… If you'd indulge me, I'd be even happier if you'd overlook it tomorrow, too!"
"Z-Zeljirga! How did you do it?! I—I don't, understand at all!"
"A thanks to you, too, Mestelexil! It seems you were blessed with a truly excellent upbringing by your mother here! It was a terrific honor to have the chance to perform my art for a fellow hero candidate!"
"Bah. You think some empty flattery's gonna make Mestelexil and me here go easy on ya, huh?"
Kiyazuna flashed a cocky smile. She agreed, for one of the minian races, Zeljirga's skills were impressive. Nevertheless, compared with the truly powerful like Toroa the Awful, Mele the Horizon's Roar, Lucnoca the Winter— or above all, Mestelexil—she understood from her observations here that the zmeu was little more than an illusionist playing tricks on children.
"If I were you, I'd probably turn tail and run right about now."
"I do indeed have a tail, I suppose! I am a zmeu, after all! What did you think, Mestelexil? Don't you want to see something even more entertaining on the Sixways Exhibition stage?"
"I—I do! Zeljirga, can I come, and see your tricks, again?"
"Ah-hya-hya! Absolutely, you're always welcome! Children are my absolute best friends, hero candidates or not! Be sure to come back again with your mother there!"
"Yeah! Zeljirga is a, friend! That was, fun!"
"I am absolutely delighted to hear that! Here, would you like a piece of candy for the road?"
"Sheesh… What sorta golem eats candy? Time for us to get goin', Mestelexil."
"Okay! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Kiyazuna scratched her head, her malice seemingly drained away, and turned on her heels—
"Ha-ha!"
It was then that one of Mestelexil's arms moved with lightning-fast speed. A needle was repelled off the golem's armor, falling to the ground with a light clink. Kiyazuna had no idea what sort of mechanism had sent the needle flying in the first place.
"..."
Some sort of liquid shimmered on the needle's point. If Kiyazuna's skin had been grazed even slightly, she wouldn't have escaped the fatal side effects.
"…That's a shame, ain't it, Zeljirga?"
Still with her back turned, the self-proclaimed demon king sneered savagely, the corners of her mouth smirking up to her ears.
"Ah-hya-hya… What do you mean, I wonder?"
"If we end up matched together, we'll make sure to be nice and thorough when we kill ya, okay? Don't need to get so impatient now."
"How very kind of you! Please do be gentle."
Even when dealing with a tiny needle, imperceptibly fired, with every point of origin unclear…he could snatch any dangerous object flying toward himself or Kiyazuna out of midair, following up after it to defend against it. Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge was a golem who possessed the most formidable body in history, even without weapons.
Dexterity that could completely deceive someone standing right in front of her. A golden opportunity where her target's state of mind had relaxed. Even then, with both of these conditions coming together perfectly, assassinating Kiyazuna the Axle with a surprise attack had been virtually impossible.
"Y-you can't, beat, me!" Mestelexil shouted as he whirled his circular head section, with its single eye, to and fro. "B-because I am, I am, the strongest of all! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Why were Kiyazuna and Mestelexil openly joining in on the Sixways Exhibition, exposing themselves to the world at large without being daunted by the hostility they stood to face? The reason was quite simple.
The pair understood that they were without equal.