Chapter 412: Cooperation, and the Phrases’ General.
Chapter 412: Cooperation, and the Phrases’ General.
“Aree? What, you guys aren’t a real kitty and puppy? And I wanted to gouge your cute little eyes out and play with them too, a shame.”
Bastet stood there terrified by the girl in front of her, speaking about inhumane topics while looking bored. The purple golem accompanying that girl had just bisected the last variant on the scene with its large scythe.
That form which is much too similar to the white [Crown], Albus. Without a doubt, that is part of the same model, one of the [Crown] series.
Inside Bastet’s memories, the information she gained back when she acted as part of the band of thieves, “Wings of the Dead” are still clearly present.
In terms of the famous [Crown]s in the world, there are: Panashes Kingdom’s royal family’s treasure, the blue Crown [Distortion Blau]; the chief of the chivalrous thieves [Red Cats]’s red Crown [Blood Rouge]; and the Rea Kingdom’s Elf King’s green Crown [Grand Gruen].
And one more Crown with its infamy spread far and wide: the “Lady of Madness”, Luna Trieste’s purple Crown, [Fanatic Viola].
The golem of death which spreads madness and despair. That grim reaper is, right now, standing in front of them. Bastet could not help but curse their bad luck.
“Whose kid is that white one there? It’s a [Crown] like my Viola, right? Since it’s our first time meeting, I’d like to have a greeting.”
“My name is, Albus. My master is not present in this place.”
“Fuun. And what’s the name of your master?”
“Brunhild Sovereign Mochizuki Touya’s queen, Yumina Ernea Belfast.”
Yumina’s not Touya’s queen yet, but Albus’ recognition didn’t include that. When she heard those words, the master of the purple [Crown], Luna blinked her eyes a few times.
“Mochizuki, Touya?… Eeeh!? Wait what, To-yan’s a king!? Um, please tell me more about that!”
Luna pressed closer towards Albus with glittering eyes. Instead of Albus, the ones who were surprised were Bastet and Anubis.
“Ano, what’s nee-san’s relationship with Brunhild’s king-sama…?”
Anubis asked in the hopes of having her lend them her strength if she really is an acquaintance of Touya’s.
“Myself and To-yan? We’re in the kind of relationship that tries to kill each other, you know? To-yan would kill me, and I would kill To-yan too; we’re smitten with each other!”
“Th, that so…”
While showing a rather skillful cramped smile for a golem, Anubis took one step backwards.
“And? Is To-yan not here? I wanted to fight him to the death…”
“… King-sama is going to pick us up tomorrow at this place. As long as we safely defend this place.”
“Defend this place?”
Luna tilted her head at Bastet’s words. In the next instant, a gold spear flew from somewhere out of sight and pierced Luna’s abdomen. Or rather, it looked like a spear at a glance, but it’s actually a blade arm of a newly appeared variant.
A Japanese spider crab-like variant had stretched its arm out and pierced Luna from more than 20 meters away.
A large amount of blood began spewing out of the wound on Luna’s abdomen, but it stopped bleeding almost immediately. The blade arm of the variant which pierced through her was broken off at her back.
“Nmou, we’re in the middle of talking here, stop interfering!”
Luna swung her right arm backwards; that arm transformed into a long golden katana-like shape, and split the variant horizontally in half together with all the trees around it.
Bastet and Anubis received another large shock from that attack. The power she used was the same as that of the variants.
They have no idea what’s going on, but at least, judging by how she’s cutting the other variants down without mercy, she’s probably not on the variants’ side. Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean they can be friendly to her, though.
“Gii.”
Viola rushed towards the depth of the forest. Like Luna, it also mowed down the crab-type variants there with huge swings that took down the trees around it altogether.
The crab-type variants tried to counterattack as well, but neither getting its hands cut off nor getting its chest pierced through will stop Viola. It did not attempt to dodge any of the attacks. All injuries it suffers will be restored within seconds, anyway.
[Super Regeneration]. The power of the purple [Crown]. A cursed power that eats away at its master’s sanity as compensation. Luna’s abdomen, which was pierced through moments earlier, had already been restored to normal as well. The clothes around the wound stay broken, though.
Bastet felt horror at the pair who had neutralized the attacking variants in no time at all. However, at the same time, her brain, the Q-crystal inside her was telling her that they have to make use of them.
While golems have emotion, they’re fundamentally machines. It’s natural for them to take a realistic approach to things.
“Does Luna-sama want to meet Brunhild’s sovereign… Touya-sama?”
“That’s right~. To-yan’s shy so if I don’t chase after him, he’ll run away, you know. So, is To-yan coming here? Or is he not?”
“I’ll call him tomorrow. You can meet him once he comes over to this place.”
“Eeh-. I wanna meet him now-. Can’t you call him now, kitty? Or bring me to him?”
Bastet mentally prepared herself before speaking to the dissatisfied-looking Luna.
“That I cannot do. If I head over before tomorrow, they’ll think the mission has failed, and King-sama won’t be coming here then. Also, I’ll be moving there via a method that only a golem can use, so I cannot bring you together with me.”
“Buu-.”
Half of it is a lie. The transfer magic-enchanted mirror they have can obviously let a person pass through as well. Bastet had made that up as it is absolutely necessary for them to keep the girl and the purple [Crown] here in this place.
“Chih, well, it’s fine I guess. I guess I’ll meet him tomorrow. Ah, my clothes are ruined, come to think of it. I need to change before To-yan gets here~.”
Luna took out a [Storage Card] from her skirt pocket and swung it once, after which a brand new set of clothes appeared in front of her. She then took off the clothes she’s wearing now and began changing on the spot.
Bastet breathed out lightly; the persuasion was a success. It’s not an action that’s necessary for golems since they don’t need to breathe, but she still did it reflexively anyway.
Anubis approached the relieved Bastet and whispered into her ear.
“Is this fine? They might fight each other to the death once they meet, you know.”
“We can’t help it then. Our top priority is protecting the ‘Sacred Tree’. And besides, that Sovereign of ours would do something about it. He’s not a gold-ranked adventurer for nothing.”
It’s true that the combination of Luna and Viola is strong. The overpowered regeneration they have can be considered invincible from a defensive standpoint.
However, Bastet doesn’t believe that Brunhild’s sovereign would lose to those two at all.
One more day. As long as they can hold on until tomorrow, King-sama and the others can do something about the rest. Giving a glance to the still-growing “Sacred Tree” behind her, Bastet reaffirmed her determination.
“Yaa. Sorry about this, having you come all the way.”
“It’s ok, I’m fine with it. What’s this about, anyway?”
I was called out by Ende via phone and am now at their house. Besides Ende, the three Phrase girls, Mel, Nei and Rize are also here. The interior is pretty simple; I wonder if they never gave a lot of thought about decorations. There’s not even a single vase.
The three ruler-class girls are showing off their healthy appetite again; they’ve been munching away in front of a mountain of dangos and daifukus. It’s not like they’re eating quickly or anything, but their hands aren’t stopping at all except for when they’re drinking tea. I wonder what’s their food bill looking like this month…
“The topic is about Yura’s group.”
Mel, who drank some tea and took a breather, placed a teacup on the table in front of me. Your expression is serious, but there’s sauce from the mitarashi dango earlier on your face, you know…
“We can sense the presences of the variants who are our former compatriots. Right now, most of them are gathered at the place you call Eisengard in this world; among them, we felt a special presence.”
“A special presence…? The evil god?”
I’ve told Ende as well as the three ruler-class girls about the gods in general as well as the evil god. Although my search magic can’t reach Eisengard due to the [Godslaying Poison], I wonder if Mel and the others can sense the evil god from here?
“No, we cannot sense the existence of the one you call the evil god too. What we sensed was a new ruler-class… Or rather, a ruler-class we remember.”
A new ruler-class…? Is it the one I saw through the crack in space the last time? So their existence was perceived by Mel’s group when it passed through the gap between dimensions and landed in Eisengard, huh. Still, what does she mean by “a ruler-class we remember”…
“Yura probably called him over from Phrasia. There’s no mistake about that presence. It belongs to the one called the strongest in our world, the Phrase’s General, Zeno.”
“The Phrase’s general… Zeno?”
“The world, Phrasia, that we live in is a harsh place. There are monsters like the magic beasts you have here, and also invasions from other species. There’s a special branch of ruler-class who have come this far while defeating all those obstacles… Let’s see, I believe we can call them battle-class. And the top of those battle-classes is General Zeno. Excluding Mel-sama’s close aides like myself or Rize, you can consider Yura to be the top of the civil officials, and Zeno to be the top of the military officers.”
Nei answered. With daifuku powder all around her mouth…
“Is he strong?”
“Very. He’s also the older brother of Gira. While he’s not as crude as Gira, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call him the same kind of battle maniac Gira is.”
Gira… So he was one of those battle-classes too, eh. He did seem like the kind of person who likes fighting from the bottom of his soul. So they’re similar to each other, huh.
“General Zeno… Zeno has apparently brought over several of his subordinate ruler-classes as well. I don’t recall their presences, so they must be people who joined him after I began crossing worlds.”
“Tch. The evil god and Yura are troublesome enough already, and now there’s more…”
Someone like that Gira… That’ll be tough. I can forget having a showdown with the evil god directly anytime soon.
“It’s alright. We’ll be the one to stop Zeno. Touya-san should focus on defeating the evil god instead.”
Mel spoke towards me who had sunk into thought. When I looked up, Nei and Rize, as well as Ende nodded slightly at me.
“Leave dealing with a Phrase to us fellow Phrases. We’ll get rid of this soured connection between us with this battle. To begin with, all of this can be said to be the result of myself and Endymion’s actions. As the former [Sovereign] of the Phrases, I cannot allow their wanton acts to continue any longer.”
If you say something like that, myself and the gods, who let the subordinate god escape, created the trigger for the evil god’s creation, and directly caused the birth of the variants, would be in a very tough position, wouldn’t we. You aren’t indirectly accusing us, are you?
Well, in any case, I’m thankful if they would lend us their strengths for that. Ah, right. I have to talk to them about “that” thing too.
“A secret strategy?”
“Aah. We don’t know what will happen at the actual battle, will we? That Yura guy seems pretty smart too. So, just in case as insurance…”
I explained to Ende’s group about the little secret I spoke about earlier in the world conference.
“Eh? Can you do something like that?”
“Only temporarily, but yes. There’s no problems so far. So, if something like that ever comes to pass, you know.”
“If that really is possible, then I feel like you can stop whatever Yura tries to throw at us. Still, how should I say this…”
“Illogical.”
Following Nei’s comment as she folded her arms and had an expression that found it hard to accept, Rize muttered a word. Really?
Also, I once again lent out the two sacred treasure swords to Nei and Rize. Against variants, there is the risk of being mutated by them, after all.
“And here, this one’s yours, Ende.”
“Eh, what, you even have equipment for me?”
I took out a pair of gauntlets from [Storage]. It’s a pair made from crystal materials; it might be insensitive to show something like this in front of the former [Sovereign] and two more Phrases, in hindsight.
“It’s the same type as the ones Elze is using. It should be easier for you to deal with the variants this way.”
“I’m not really the type who uses weapons to fight, but oh well. I’ll gladly receive these.”
Ende took the translucent gauntlets into his hands. The design is completely different from Elze’s gauntlets, on a side note. If they’re the same, that would give them a pair look kind of vibe and that’d piss me off, so.
“That reminds me, will shishou and the others join the battle against that evil god or whatever?”
“Nope. For this battle, we have to do it by ourselves. Although they will help us defend the ‘Sacred Tree’ at least. Also, they’ll definitely be spectating the battle. Be careful, ok? If you didn’t fight well, afterwards there’s definitely going to be Takeru ojii’s training course from hell waiting…”
“Your personality is terrible, Touya!”
Ende yelled with slight tears in his eyes. I mean, I feel sorry for you but I’ve got my own circumstances to deal with too. If Ende doesn’t work hard, it’ll be troublesome for me. Including the matter about that Zeno guy from earlier too, I can’t allow our plans to be stopped this close to the final stage.
Bastet should be reporting back tomorrow. Once that happens, several of us would be heading over to Eisengard.
I had wanted to send Moroha nee-san or Karina nee-san over at first, but as expected, even if the poison around the “Sacred Tree” had been purified, it still feels bad to send them to a place that’s surrounded by poison in a dozen meter radius around.
I can go as well, but I’m uneasy about possible side effects that may occur if I head over before the area’s purified more thoroughly. It’ll be harsh joke if I fall ill again right before the decisive battle.
In the beginning, we’ll send in people who won’t be heavily affected; Norn, Nia, Robert… The [Crown] holders should be a good bet. They can fight decently well even without the Over Gears. Well, they’ll only be the temporary guard until it’s safe to send Moroha nee-san and the others there.
After leaving Ende’s house, I first contacted the pumpkin pants prince, Robert, and asked for his cooperation. He’s a weird person, but his personality is simple and honest. If only something’s done about that fashion sense and irritatingly high tension of his, he would be the perfect prince, too; it’s a shame.
For Norn, I’ll ask her sister, Dr. Elka to talk to her. Since we’re taking care of her elder sister, although she might not be passionate about it, she should still be able to accept.
The problem would be Nia’s group, huh. Their chivalrous thieves’ group, the [Red Cats], are obviously not doing their main job in this country at the moment. I won’t permit them to commit crimes in this country, even if it’s a chivalrous act.
As such, currently they’re doing adventurer works. They’ve apparently found quite some treasures through diving into the dungeons.
They’re something like a mercenary band now. They have several golems like Nia’s red [Crown] Rouge and Est-san’s Akagane, so it should be fine.
“If it’s Nia alone then this would’ve been easy, but as long as Est-san’s there, there’s no way I can make them work for free, is there…”
I just hope the price at the end is as cheap as possible. In order to conduct the negotiation with the group (or rather, with Est-san), I headed towards the inn “Silver Moon”, which has turned into their regular residence.
- Pixel