“Phew…”
A girl with her hair tied in twintails using her own hair breathed a quiet sigh inside a large garden located in a clearing surrounded by verdant trees. Particles of light danced around her shoulders, but they scattered as she walked.
She walked to one corner of a marble gazebo.
However, it did not contain the chairs or table needed to hold a tea party. It contained a large round jacuzzi. The girl with long black twintails let her exhausted body sink into the open air bath kept at a comfortable temperature 24 hours a day. She practically collapsed into it without removing the red dress which had a large slit up it.
After a short delay, a small maid approached with light footsteps. The short black hair and the hat rather than a headdress meant this was the youngest of the three sisters. They could be classified as “large”, “medium”, and “small”, so it was easy to tell which one it was from a distance.
“You’re back, milady? …Waaah!? You jumped into the bath in your dress again? But that’s a top class Robe Decollete! It’s 100% silk, made by a craftsman with a royal warrant, and known as a ‘wearable mansion’!!”
“Didn’t I tell you I don’t need anyone greeting me since I didn’t know when I would be back? …And exploring another world is exhausting. I keep telling you I want to pass through the door in only a bathrobe so I can take a bath the second I get back. This thing is surprisingly hard to take off, you know?”
“We can’t let you do something so embarrassing!”
“My equipment changes when I’m in Grandnir anyway. In fact, the clothing and armor is really just Magic. If only I could bring this jacuzzi with me.”
“Anyway, um, well, anyway, I can only insist that you be more careful next time!!”
The small maid was promptly preparing some iced tea, but (as always) the girl was not listening.
As she floated face up on the warm water’s surface, her red dress spread wide around her.
The outfit looked like it belonged on the star of a ball or at a mistaken sort of wedding. Her hair was a lustrous black and she always made sure to tell the adults around her that she preferred wearing a kimono, but they must have been feigning indifference because they refused to listen and continued using her as a dress-up doll.
“How was Grandnir, milady?”
The maid asked a cheerful question while shaking the red ribbon decorating her modest chest. The girl pulled out her smartphone and sent over some data while floating in the bath.
“Here’s a souvenir. We’ve opened the path to oil-producing corn that will prevent desertification while also solving the energy crisis. You can use that Piece however you like.”
“Waaah!? Th-th-that-that data could easily change the history of mankind, so why do you always toss it around like it’s a game of catch!?”
The dress girl floating in the warm water smiled at the maid who was flailing her arms around.
“My stance hasn’t changed. Then again, some things might head in a different direction now that the way through Cave 25 has opened. Still…hm, I guess there’s no point in telling you about that. Anyway, Haruka, are you using the Hourglass like you’re supposed to?”
“Ah, oops. I almost forgot!”
The girl gestured over and the maid quickly began operating the device.
It was called an Hourglass, but it was not actually one. She opened the stopwatch app on the smartphone sitting on the table and a two minute countdown started.
The girl operated her own smartphone while her floating dress and twintails swayed in water. It was of course waterproof. When she activated the AR mode, she could look through the screen to see dots of light covering the scenery and lines of light connecting them.
“B-12, G-29, and Y-03. The world still hasn’t seen any of them.”
“Do most of them not know about the future technology you can see, milady?”
“I have to guide them elsewhere before they see that path. Using V-71 and P-01 would probably be best.”
The maid remained carefree because she was not even thinking about catching up to what the sharp-eyed dress girl was thinking.
“Grandnir’s Magic certainly has its plusses and its minuses. It can easily pull off precision processing that not even laser processing can match.”
Magic could only be used in Grandnir and nothing in this world could be brought to Grandnir.
The only things they could bring back were the Pieces created from data stored in their Shining Weapons.
“Thanks to that, we can easily bend this world. ..It really is like pouring orange juice, citrus soda, milk, and chocolate into apple juice and calling it a mixed drink.”
A single breakthrough could create an abnormally powerful supercomputer.
That supercomputer could create compatible workstations, those workstations could control compatible PCs, and those would then lead to compatible mobile devices.
And this was not limited to a single field.
It could be processors, cars, homes, airplanes, ships, health, communications, sports, optical devices, food processing, satellites, robotics, agriculture, printed circuit boards…and even military technology.
And those could easily change the world.
It went beyond the inevitable decay of the prosperous. Even a small technological revolution could entirely change the balance of power, so letting your guard down even for a moment could send yesterday’s winner tumbling down to be tomorrow’s loser. The world’s most powerful army could be left in the dust while some strange mercenary group or ideological organization could suddenly rise to the top.
Technological breakthroughs were made by a single puzzle “Piece”.
That was why every country’s government and corporations desperately sought those Pieces. They thoroughly searched through the jumbled assortment of them registered online, hoping to find one they could use in their research. If they found one that fit and that resolved their personal problem, they could complete the new technology or new manufacturing method that would change the world. For a brief time, the throne would be theirs.
As the people exploring Grandnir brought back and uploaded their Pieces, they had no idea who would end up with it and what kind of research it would become. And they did not care. They were only greedily seeking Experience Points to learn Magic.
They brought back the various Pieces and uploaded them because they might as well. If that did lead to some great research breakthrough, they would receive an extremely lucrative contract payment from the nation or corporation in question. It was something like a risky lottery in which one guessed what would be useful rather than leaving it all up to luck.
And that could lead to moral hazards like with the Fairies and the Thousand Dragon.
Immoral people were beginning to appear in this world as well. They declared themselves the winners as they created a somewhat twisted world.
“I need to be careful.”
Thanks to the water, the red dress’s fabric clung to the girl’s skin and her long twintails floated around her.
The corn data she had tossed to the maid was a Piece with a complete simulation, telling them which direction it would take them. If that corn was planted in the desert, there was no chance of it leading to an outbreak of bugs or a sandstorm assaulting a city.
But what else would happen?
When the existence of Grandnir had first been revealed, mankind had had difficulty with the Labyrinth. That had lasted until a free paper was published on a message board, suggesting the Shining Weapons at the core of a Magic system modeled after video games, the best system for modern human use.
That had been the world’s very first Piece.
The unknown author of that paper (who might have been an individual or a group) was known as the Sage, but were they correct in saying that simply gathering the Pieces was the right thing to do? Was it right to go along with the Sage’s idea when they almost seemed to be enjoying the show as the world grew so twisted and no one gave any thought to correcting it?
“We don’t know what the Pieces we collect will lead to, but that’s just abandoning any responsibility. If we’re going to collect these Pieces, we need to know how they’ll change the world.”
“Milady…”
The dress girl operated her smartphone while listening to the maid. She canceled AR mode and played a normal full-seg broadcast on a normal screen.
B-12, G-29, and Y-03 had to be stopped.
V-71 and P-01 would be useful in avoiding them.
Among the endless number of new technologies to be created from the countless Pieces, the dress girl was focused on a certain industry in particular.
“As the West complains more and more about obesity, obesity, obesity, they’ve started focusing on Japan’s fish culture. You don’t have to suffer through an oppressively healthy diet and you can eat as much delicious food as you want, all while losing weight! Our Fishing Cafeteria Group is finally heading overseas!”
“The next global standard in fast food is Chinese food! Ramen, fried rice, and gyoza are already part of the world’s vocabulary, so all that remains is for us to set the standard. The FE Caiguan Zhushi Gongsi is beginning a simultaneous campaign in fifty countries around the world.”
“Burgers are old news? Well, we’re going to tear down that ‘old news’ and bring you a brand new experience based on the lessons we’ve learned in the past. This is a giant step forward and a challenge to our rivals. No one can ransack our field.”
(The fast food industry is fighting for global dominance. They want to cover the entire planet, national borders be damned, and they want to serve as many grams as possible for as little money as possible.)
The girl sighed as if to force out the unpleasant feeling growing deep in her chest.
Boo Boo really seemed to believe humans were messengers from heaven, but the reality was very different. She silently swore to never let him see this ugly side of humanity.
Then she raised her head and spoke.
“Haruka.”
“Y-yes!? What is it, milady!?”
“I know you set up the Hourglass, but you didn’t mute the smartphone, did you?”
“Waaah!!”
The maid panicked and caused the tea set on the table to clank together, but the red dress girl ignored her and shut off the image on her smartphone’s screen.
She removed the hard key inserted into the bottom connector and connected it to something hanging from her neck by a thin necklace chain.
The device dancing in front of her chest was smaller and skinnier than a USB flash drive.
The Nonhumans of Grandnir would probably think it looked like a tiny version of the sword or spear Shining Weapons that humans used.
She used her thumb to close up the connector on the blade.
(Honestly, I understand changing our appearance, but it also partially overwrites your speech patterns, personality, and thought patterns to make room for the magic you’ve learned. It really makes you think.)
Even so, the girl was not going to stop what she was doing.
She did not simply want to be some corporation’s tool.
She had another reason to continue her exploration of Grandnir.
“I’ve got to do something.”
She operated something with the movement of her eyes.
The roof of the gazebo became transparent and she could see a long contrail in the clear blue afternoon sky.
When she looked further into the distance, she saw high-rise buildings beyond the green trees.
Yes.
This was a one kilometer wide circle cleared out in the center of Tokyo’s Roppongi.
It was known as the Detached Magic Palace. That green garden “prison” had been constructed for the girl known as a Holy Swordswoman.
“I made a garden.”
“Kyah! That’s amazing, Boo Boo. You’re so civilized!”
“Do you hate me, Beatrice?”
“Don’t be silly. Anyway, what are you growing?”
Boo Boo had indeed forcibly tilled the hard earth near the Fairy-protected leaf house. It must have been some extremely fast-growing vegetable because green ivy was already climbing up the supports and bearing green vegetables. They looked like tomatoes, but Beatrice could not tell if they were supposed to be green or if they would grow red later.
“Boo Boo, what kind of vegetable is this?”
“They’re called Flat Chest Eggplants.”
“Flat Chest…?”
That name included an unacceptable term for a teenage girl, but Beatrice decided to assume that was a Nonhuman term that just so happened to sound like that in human language.
However…
“If you eat it, it’s supposed to make your chest flat. But it doesn’t make me any slimmer when I eat it, so no one knows if it’s true or not.”
“It does mean that!!!???”
Beatrice backed away from that enemy of girls everywhere and used her gauntleted hands to guard her chest.
Oblivious to the girl’s terror, Boo Boo tilted his head and said more.
“Huh? Or was it touching the Flat Chest Eggplant that mattered? No, it was touching it and then touching your chest, getting the juice on you. …Or was it something else? Hmm, I’m not an old witch, so I don’t remember that tricky stuff.”
“Waaah!! Tell me that before I protect myself with the finger I used to poke the vegetable, Boo Boo!!”
Beatrice tearfully shouted with pretty much all of her strength and quickly used fire illusion Magic to call up a rectangular frame. She rapidly scrolled through the specs listed there and stopped on a certain point.
It had gone down.
It had gone down a little.
It was only a few millimeters, but she had lost the critical amount she needed to be above rather than below average.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”
“Wh-what is it, Beatrice!?”
“Wh-wh-what do I do, what do I do, what do I do!? If I head back and come back to Grandnir, will my appearance reset? And if that doesn’t work, do I need to ask White Witch Filinion for help? Ask her!? Ask that cow in glasses for help with my breasts!?”
The Holy Swordswoman shouted and tore at her beautiful hair with both hands.
She was afraid to think what would happen if her amateur methods did not work. Crying to that cow about this would be a suicidal declaration of defeat. But just in case (Yes, just in case!), she created a frame using the two L-shapes of her thumb and forefinger and took a Magic photo of the vegetable.
But…
“P-pant, pant, pant. B-but, Boo Boo.”
“What is all this about, Beatrice?”
“Your garden’s vegetables aren’t doing too good. There are bugs on them and is this from birds pecking at them?”
“That’s part of nature, so there’s no helping it.”
“But this doesn’t leave any for you.”
“The bugs eat the vegetables I make, the birds eat the bugs, the beasts eat the birds, and I catch the beasts, so it’s still a good deal for me.”
She tried using her illusion Magic to create a chart out of red lines and frames, but…
“Hmm… Will it really work out that way? I think you’re losing too much to luck.”
“My logic is perfect, so it’s fine.”
“Also, vegetables aren’t there to bring in meat. You need to eat the vegetables too. Everything needs to be balanced.”
“Vegetables… Why would you want me to do something I hate? Maybe you do hate me…”
Beatrice nearly asked why he had made the garden in the first place, but she wanted to avoid a pointless argument like that.
“By the way, Boo Boo. I wanted to ask you something.”
“G-gulp!? I-I’m eating my Nyandetta Fruit! I’m not secretly hiding them!!”
“…Boo Boo?”
What even was a Nyandetta Fruit?
“Vegetables are important, but let’s talk about something else. Boo Boo, have you heard of a Guild known as Elkiad?”
“I’ve never heard of a vegetable called that.”
“I see. So you really don’t know anything.”
Boo Boo had no connection with human society, so he might not even know what a Guild is, much less a specific one like Elkiad.
Beatrice prepared a few red lines and frames and showed them to Boo Boo.
“A Guild is a human organization created to explore the Labyrinth. You can think of them as a gathering of several Parties, groups that actually head out the Labyrinth. But a Guild will include noncombat logistical support members who prepare food and other things needed for everyday life.”
“I don’t like thinking about all that tricky stuff.”
“Oh, but it’s simple, Boo Boo. If you hear the name Elkiad, then avoid them if at all possible. They’re a dangerous Guild that’s been gaining power recently and they’re creating a real moral hazard among their ranks. They’re people whose words I can understand but whose thoughts I can’t. So be careful.”
She created a frame labeled Elkiad and drew an X over it without any connecting red lines.
Simply put, the humans behind the Fairy and Thousand Dragon incident had belonged to Elkiad.
If the lowest members were like that, then the central members had to be even more rotten.
She left that unsaid because she did not want to remind kind Boo Boo of that unpleasant business, but she did make one thing quite clear.
“Elkiad seems to be growing impatient with their Labyrinth exploration. The wiring in their head was messed up to begin with, but that impatience is pushing them even further. Avoiding them is in your best interest.”
“Is this about Magic and Experience Points?”
“That’s right, Boo Boo. Good job remembering that.”
“I don’t really get it. Is shooting fire or ice from your hand really that great? I mean, it is pretty cool, but is it worth risking your life in that scary Labyrinth?”
“Heh heh heh. Yes, you might be right about that. It probably isn’t a testament to human intelligence that we see excess value in that. We’re just a bunch of fools that are really good at finding more than is absolutely necessary.”
“But I would like to be able to fly.”
“Yes. And I’d like to make a candy house.”
After parting ways with Boo Boo, Beatrice opened her Magic map and walked toward the inn town. The inn town was the human base of operations, but it had no homes. None of the shop owners slept in Grandnir. They would look after the shop in rotations of two or three shifts, so no single person stayed in Grandnir for long. For better or for worse, Grandnir’s Nonhumans were not affected much by human culture.
Even so, Beatrice ran across two familiar faces in the inn town. One was the White Witch Filinion with her fluffy blonde hair, glasses, white cloak, dress, and low-rise shorts. As always, she was showing off her breasts that Beatrice could only call “gluttonous”, but Beatrice was smugly certain that her type was much less impressive back in their original world.
The other was Fighter Priest Armelina who had short green hair, a tall stature, and a very, very flat (ha ha) chest. She wore a long green skirt with a long slit on both sides. The boldly exposed chest seemed odd for a supposed priest, but that was actually fairly tame for Grandnir.
The two of them were speaking in front of an open-air shop with fruit juice in hand. But instead of an elegant chat over tea, they seemed to be plotting some way to get Mixing ingredients and the gears used as currency.
Then again, those two were only ever talking about the Labyrinth or Magic, which really came down to money in the end.
“Oh, Beatrice.”
“We were just talking about you.”
“?”
She joined the conversation and they both started talking to her.
“With the route through Cave 25 opened, things have gotten pretty busy around here.”
“But can we really let that Piece be uploaded to our world? I don’t know much about big data or the conspiracies of global corporations, but this one’s a little too blatant. And of course, that brings us to you.”
“I suppose it would,” casually agreed Beatrice. “So are you trying to get me to play the villain again?”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one that started this.”
The White Witch sounded exasperated and Armelina spoke up next to her.
“Do you really think Filinion can play your role when all she can do is heal people and let those giant boobs bounce around?”
“M-my breasts have nothing to do with this! I didn’t ask to have them this big!”
“What!? Don’t tell me you think they’re a negative, you cow!”
“What!? Don’t tell me you think they’re a negative, you cow!”
Filinion blushed and covered her chest with both hands, but Beatrice and Armelina snapped back at her in perfect unison. The Holy Swordswoman’s ahoge ignited as an illuminating fire.
It was the Fighting Priest who first realized this was not the time for that.
“Anyway, it’s the usual situation, so wouldn’t you be best, Beatrice? And it doesn’t look to me like you’re complaining.”
“That’s fine with me. So does that mean we’re off to the Labyrinth? When do we start?”
“Now, if that’s okay.”
The Holy Swordswoman, White Witch, and Fighting Priest were all monsters at the level cap who claimed things only began after reaching Level 99. Those three girls with tricky Jobs formed a temporary Party.
“I feel like we’re going to get stabbed in the back someday.”
“I’m counting on you to heal me when that day comes. Now let’s go.”
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After ending their Labyrinth exploration for the day and returning aboveground, Beatrice walked along a path while somewhat rearranging the map created from illusion Magic. The automap function was based on where she had walked, so it was a little crude.
(That was an awful trip. We were running for our lives the entire time… All we did was run away from that super-tough punishment Gimmick known as the Fingertip of Destruction.)
She could sync her map with map-obsessed Fighting Priest Armelina later on, but that was not a happy thought since the girl was bound to take a ton of gears as payment.
(I can’t forget the basic fact that we were lucky to get back safely at all. There is Magic to return immediately, but then you have to leave behind all of the Treasure you’d gathered. Ahh, I’m so tired.)
For a change of pace, she called up her Magic map of the area and headed to Boo Boo’s house, but then she heard a scream beyond the trees.
“Squeal! …O-ow! Y-you’re just too strong for me.”
“Hm? What is it, Boo Boo!?”
Beatrice could tell this was serious and she rushed over, but she was tilting her head even as she rushed. Boo Boo had unilaterally beaten the thousand meter Break News known as the Thousand Dragon, so was there anything he could not defeat?
Her question was quickly answered.
Right in front of his tent-like leaf house, Boo Boo was collapsed face down as he trembled with his hands over his head.
His butt rose up like a small hill and a girl of about ten with long silver hair and a skimpy black outfit was sitting cross-legged on top of that hill.
“Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!! You may have gotten carried away after beating up the Thousand Dragon, but now do you see how pitiful you truly are, Nonhuman? That thing was only the lowest of the Break News. Now tremble in the face of real power!!”
“I-I never cared about strength.”
“But you do have talent. Why not take me as your master and have me retrain you from the ground up?”
“This old hag isn’t listening to anything I-…ow!!”
Beatrice was unsure how to react.
What was this? Had four meter Boo Boo really gotten into a fight with a ten year old girl and had he really been the one to get beaten up?
(Yeah… I have no idea what’s going on here, but I am glad this didn’t go: ‘You’re my enemy’ → Boo Boo beats the ever-living snot out of a little girl.)
That said, she could not figure this out, so she tried solving it a piece at a time.
So what should she ask first?
“I kind of doubt it, but…Boo Boo, is having a girl sit on you your idea of fun?”
“The only things I do for fun are puzzle rings and the ring toss. Heh heh. I can solve even the trickiest puzzle ring before you can count to three.”
“That’s because you break them, Boo Boo. Now, would you mind explaining who this girl is?”
Beatrice had started with that because of how the girl was dressed. If she was being generous, she would call it a black dress, but it felt more like the girl had a ribbon wrapped around her body and had added a miniskirt on top of that. She also had tropical flower decorations on either side of her head and on her back, but that was not the main point. Beatrice’s armor and skirt were technically Magic and every piece of equipment increased her strength or thought speed by a certain percentage…but this girl had none of that. Her clothing was most likely special-made from Ground Spider silk, but that meant it was not Magic. These were simply clothes.
And that led to a simple conclusion.
This girl looked just like a human, but she was clearly doing something humans did not.
And as the black ribbon dress girl gave off an aura of cruel delight like an evil demon king sitting in his throne, she stood up on top of Boo Boo’s butt, placed her hands on her hips, and looked down at Beatrice.
“Hee hee. I am Sutriona, one of the Break News. I am of course the Queen of the Harlots who appears in the crimson night.”
“Bfhh!?”
Beatrice spat out the contents of her mouth at that sudden announcement.
(How can she say that with such a cherubic face!?)
“I had heard he had defeated one of us Break News, even if it was the lowliest one. I was curious, so I challenged to him to a bit of a fight. However, it was not even worth spreading my Wings of the Maddeningly Hot Night.”
“No, not that! I don’t care about that! What was that about harlots? Is this some elaborate joke!?”
“You care about that? But it’s the truth, so I’m not sure what to tell you. I am the queen of the thousands of sweltering nights and the sandstorm of maddening red heat that consumes eons of peace. What other title could I use?”
“I really, really hope this isn’t it, but…are you seriously calling yourself that? No one’s making you do it after you lost a game or something?”
“I was sick of everyone calling me cute when I was Queen of the Fairies, so I changed the title myself. For some reason, my shrine maidens at the waterfall altar have been sobbing ever since.”
“I had a feeling that was it!!”
“What is your problem? No one deserves to be called Queen of the Harlots more than me. For example, I am of course not wearing any panties.”
“G-get down from there!! Stop standing so triumphantly on top of Boo Boo, you old hag!!”
After some struggles and difficulties, Beatrice somehow managed to drag Sutriona, Queen of the Har-…of the Fairies, down from the small hill of Boo Boo’s butt.
But was this slender girl really a Break News just as strong as, or even stronger than, the Thousand Dragon?
How exactly had she knocked Boo Boo down to the dirt?
When Beatrice asked, Sutriona put her hands on her hips, gave a proud snort, and answered.
“How, you ask? With your world’s wrestling techniques.”
“Where did you learn about those!? No, that’s not the point. How could you possibly wrestle with him!? Your arms and legs are too short to deal with Boo Boo’s giant body. You’d never be able to reach for a throw or a joint lock!!”
“Oh? Did you just say ‘short’, human girl?”
The long, silver-haired girl gave a dark smile and an ominous aura surrounded her.
“Skinny, I’ll allow. Small, I’ll put up with. …But you just said ‘short’, didn’t you?”
“Eh? What?”
“If you want to know that badly, I’ll show you just how I brought down that Iberian Orc. I used this fifteen joint lock combo from hellllllllllllllllll!!”
“Eh? Iberian Orc is a real species name!? And wait, you idiot!! Are you saying you pinned Boo Boo down like this without any underwear on!? And this pincer hold- vrrvbrvrchhhhhhhhhh!?”
With an almost silly sound of violence, the Holy Swordswoman who had free use of fourteen thousand types of fire Magic was balled up like something from a joke.
Three hundred seconds later, Beatrice was face-down on the ground and trembling with her hands over her head. Meanwhile, Sutriona was sitting with her legs crossed on top of Beatrice’s butt.
“There. You should have a good idea of just how unbeatable I am now.”
“E-even after you used it on me…I still have no idea how you did it…?”
“That weak Thousand Dragon was invading my territory and devouring my Fairies when I was away. I planned to punish that thing eventually, but now I need to thank you for doing it for me. Rejoice in this rare opportunity to spar with someone so far out of your league and try to turn this defeat into valuable experience.”
Sutriona was mocking her, but Beatrice’s rapier-like Shining Weapon was emitting a flashing sign into the empty air. She drew it from its sheath with her butt still sticking into the air and was shocked to find she had earned quite a few Experience Points. It was actually far more than she would get from a trip to the Labyrinth, but she was afraid what bizarre path she would head down if she got used to earning them like this.
“B-but… We’ve come a long way if we’ve survived two encounters with a Break News…”
On top of that, this one spoke the human language and saw the Fairies as her own. That was rare for the Break News who generally followed a random route through the island as they (in a way, selfishly) spread different sorts of chaos. Of course, that did not mean this one had the same morals or standards as humans.
“Oh, it’s all connected if you pay attention. Besides, isn’t it customary to bring a small gift when moving in?”
“…? I think I just heard something I can’t just ignore.”
“Weren’t you listening?”
Boo Boo sounded fearful, but Sutriona put a hand on her slender waist and ground the finger of the other against her temple while winking.
“Defeating that weak Thousand Dragon created a change in our territories. I need to rule this area as well now, so I stopped by to say hello.”
Boo Boo decided right then and there that he was moving, but the Break News dissuaded him with a wrestling move.
Palm-sized Fairy Meridiana repaired the leaf house’s roof to keep out the rain as she viewed the hellish scene below.
“Oh, dear. Oh, my. Would you look at that, Boo Boo.”
A visit from the Fairy Queen was a rare thing. The Break News generally liked to show off and the humans and Nonhumans would live peaceful lives by steering clear of their path as if they had detected a coming storm. But Sutriona was an exception. She was well-known as a Break News that no one could track. She would appear so unexpectedly that not even the Fairy village could predict it, to say nothing of the humans. Probably only the other Break News could see through her actions.
Thus, the Fairy village had Elder Morgan as a leader in Sutriona’s place and Meridiana saw Sutriona as more of a goddess than a queen. Meridiana had been taught Sutriona was always watching over them, but she was not to be mocked even if she did not come to save them. That was the unrealistic sort of higher being Sutriona seemed to be.
But now that godlike Fairy Queen had appeared so easily.
Boo Boo had caught the attention of someone on that level.
“Perhaps I should prepare some Red Rice for tonight. Eh heh heh.”
Meridiana flew down from the roof.
But even if Sutriona was playing around, she was still the Fairy Queen and one of the Break News. Boo Boo and Beatrice’s bodies would be crying out in agony. With kind thoughts in mind, Meridiana started for the forest to gather the standard Grandnir herbs used in compresses.
She planned to bring them first aid medicine and a small celebratory meal.
The Fairy saw paying back Boo Boo with housework as her meaning in life and she was the type to delight in having lots to do.
“I need to work even harder to make sure Boo Boo can live comfortably.”
That evening, Boo Boo grimaced at the sharp smell coming from his house.
“My house smells weird!”
“Your house always smells, Boo Boo. But what is this? It smells like someone soaked a compress in a bucket of water and just left it for three days.”
“I feel like you’re picking a fight with me, Beatrice.”
“You’re imagining it. But…what is this here? It’s red and sticky… Is it a grain?”
“I promised myself I wouldn’t waste food. …Ew!? This rice has the room’s smell all over it!”
“Hmm… If I put this in my mouth, I’m pretty sure something unpleasant would reach my nose.”
For a while afterwards, Boo Boo lived in fear of the poltergeist threatening his peaceful home.
A kilometer wide green circle sat in the center of Roppongi, Tokyo.
It was the Detached Magic Palace.
After passing through a rectangular frame of light, the silver- and red-haired swordswoman in red armor and a miniskirt became a girl with black twintails and a ball dress.
In the garden surrounded by green trees, a round jacuzzi was protected by a gazebo-like roof. When she arrived there, she gave into her exhaustion and threw herself into the hot water without removing her clothing. The long skirt with a large slit up the side spread out along the water’s surface. The girl flipped over onto her back and pulled a hard key resembling her Shining Weapon rapier from the bottom connector of her smartphone.
She could feel the exhaustion rising within her, but she could not let the sleepiness get the better of her.
(The battles in the Labyrinth seem to wear out your head more than your body. So let your guard down for a moment and you fall asleep.)
“Phew.”
She checked the approximate time on the screen. She had spent about four days and seven hours there this time. The girl had been born in this world and on this planet, so spending too much time in Grandnir could mess with her internal clock and cause serious irregularities in her body and mind. This was the main reason that the humans used the inn town as a base but did not have any permanent residences there.
The three maid sisters were not here today.
She floated face-up in the open-air bath and grabbed a pitcher of water from a tray floating with her. She poured the cold water in a cup and gulped it down.
Allotting her earned Experience Points and learning new Magic could wait.
Her smartphone contained a Log of her time spent searching the Labyrinth since it had been saved to her Shining Weapon. When she looked back through it, she could tell the battles with the lifeless Gimmicks were very different from the battles on the surface. They were more like games of red light, green light than games of tag. The Gimmicks only moved when she did, so she had an unlimited amount of time to think up her next move right in front of the enemy. In a Party battle or Guild battle, teamwork became important. Would they all move together as a single group or would individuals stay still to give the attackers and healers more chances to move?
However, even the slightest fidget could be seen as a movement and, when there were multiple people in a single area, the Gimmick could react to someone else’s movement even if you remained entirely still. So if your accidental movement put someone else in danger, it could earn unnecessary resentment.
(Oh, this is just useless… I want to review my mistakes, but my brain doesn’t want to do anything…)
She closed the screen but then started fiddling with the smartphone to have something to do. She found a few new articles at the top of a news site.
These were the headlines:
“UN Resolution Fails, Standing Member-Nations Unable to Agree”
“Special Report: Has the Countdown in the Atlantic Really Begun?”
“The Euro Crash. Are Major US Investors Really to Blame?”
“Asia Ignored. Where will the World Police Turn Next?”
“The European Shift to the Far Right Accelerates. Is it a Reaction to Reduced Strength in Exports?”
None of them made her want to tap on the link. Checking the video sites and full-seg mobile TV would likely only show the same sort of news.
“I need to stay focused…”
The twintailed girl spoke quietly to herself as her red dress spread out in the water.
Once she had gotten a light meal and some sleep to readjust her internal clock, she would return to Grandnir. There was a Piece the nations and corporations desperately wanted and she could not let them beat her to it after so much work.
A Piece was a factor that could provide a breakthrough to stalled human technology and cause a sudden change to the global civilization. They were created with a processing technique that used Magic.
A Piece was registered by an individual and its rights were bought by an interested corporation or nation. It was not revealed who bought it and the individual simply received the payment. Only then did the Piece lead to actual production.
The Pieces were useless to the girl and the others in Grandnir if they simply held onto them. To a normal person, a physics textbook was only useful for studying, but the knowledge contained inside was used to create rockets that flew into space. This was the same.
Who would acquire them?
Where would they end up?
The girl and the others truly did hold history in their hands. Most people carelessly use their Pieces and carelessly uploaded them. They were blinded by the lucrative contract fees that rivalled a lottery win if a Piece was deemed useful by a nation or corporation (or someone pretending to be one of those), so they did not think it through that far. However, if someone was paying that much, then it was worth that much.
“Honestly…”
The red dress girl looked back down and used the hard key to allot her Experience Points and manage her Magic.
In addition to the ever-changing headlines, the news site had one special article that never moved from the very top as if it had a hall of fame position.
It had the following headline:
“Is an Atlantic Sovereignty War Really Possible? What Would be Gained in a Conflict between an Old Giant and a New Giant?”
“The humans are the ones you really need to watch out for, Boo Boo.”
Fairy Queen Sutriona had not prepared anything to eat in the confusion of moving in, so she helped herself to Boo Boo’s dinner as if it were only natural.
The leaf house had no kitchen, so it was a super wild meal of venison cooked over a fire out back with only some rock salt for flavor. Boo Boo had originally planned to eat it raw, so Sutriona’s intrusion may not have been all bad.
“You need to watch out for the humans even more than the Nonhumans or even the Break News. Even though they’re weak…no, because they’re weak, they change the world in ways you would never expect.”
“Can you make this easier to understand?”
“Sure. Since I look like this, I occasionally visit the inn town pretending to be a human.”
There was a small pile of large red flower petals next to Sutriona. If Beatrice had been there, she might have said they looked like hibiscus petals. They came from the Crimson Heaven Flower and Sutriona had been munching on them like snacks while the meat cooked. They were slightly toxic, so Boo Boo did not touch them.
“Thanks to that, I’ve seen and heard for myself what they do. I know what those humans tend to be thinking.”
“Beatrice is a good person, so I bet all humans are good people. There are sometimes some weird ones, though.”
“It would be nice if it was that simple, but she’s actually an exception when it comes to humans. Humans are a selfish species.”
“But they’ve promised they’re just here to visit the Labyrinth so they won’t hurt us.”
“That’s not because they’re afraid of Grandnir’s residents or because they’re considerate. They just want to prove they’re not here to conquer our world and to show off how gentlemanly they are by following the rules.”
“Hm? Can you tell a good person from a bad person, Sutriona?”
“Keh heh heh. When you’ve lived as long as I have, it comes naturally. I don’t even need to take a direct look at the color of their soul. The look on their face and the tone of their voice is all I need to see to the very depths of their heart. It’s the same for human and Nonhuman alike. Incidentally, you fall under ‘not bad’, so rejoice.”
Sutriona roasted the venison stuck on the end of a wooden stick and let the heat remove the excess fat.
“Do you know what they’re so desperate to accomplish? How to produce a new preservative known as Imortalise. …It’s apparently a chemical that prevents food from rotting. With that, they could store it indefinitely and transport it indefinitely. If it can be carried longer distances, they claim they can obtain equality between the places with so much food it rots and the places with so little food the people starve.”
“I’m no good with complicated things.”
Sutriona responded to Boo Boo’s words by moving the meat in the fire a little.
“It means they could leave this on the ground around here and it wouldn’t rot. If the rumors about Imortalise are accurate, it would last a month or two. If the food doesn’t rot, the extra food can be shared with people who live far away, right?”
“Hm? That sounds like a good thing to me.”
“At face value, yes. …But if you can quickly transport as much food as you want, you can also make use of far more soldiers, right? Eternal Foods will provide absolute certainty to the safety of food. Canning, freezing, drying, and vacuum packing still leave a modicum of risk, but this will eliminate even that. That means the beginning of a world in whichanyone can easily start a war.”
“What’s a war?”
“The loss of many lives. It’s an unpleasant topic, but you need people to kill people, right? A lot of killing requires a large force of people. And the food is actually more important than the weapons, Boo Boo. Plus, if they can sell a whole bunch of food, they can use that money to buy weapons.”
Sutriona put on a cynical and crafty smile that did not suit her appearance.
“A dictator’s conscripted soldiers might obey their orders to eat rotten bread and meat that reeks of chemicals, but it seems wars these days are fought between ‘kings’. That is, between the wealthy nations. If word gets around that you will be sickened from within by your own allies if you go to war, no one will volunteer. And they can’t go to war if they can’t gather an army, so I can see why they’re eager to ensure the safety of the food if those ‘kings’ wish to wage war.”
She somewhat changed the subject from there.
“Anyway, few are powerful enough to start a war and fewer still have the true power needed to maintain a war indefinitely. That’s why wars are not so easily started. A poor command will only wear down your own country. If you want a peaceful world, it’s important to maintain a system that makes going to war difficult.”
Sutriona bit off a small piece of the meat she had cooked, but it must have been too hot because she stuck her tongue out.
“Everyone’s gone to so much trouble creating that unreliable suspension bridge and now someone wants to swap it out for a stone bridge with absolute reliability. Wars of no-risk and high-return will begin. And no matter how many foolish commands are given, the wars will continue. People will begin investing in that great and unreachable industry as casually as in the development of a housewife’s nifty little invention.”
“…”
“And since supporting the food supply looks charitable and humane, no one can stop them from developing it on a large scale. In other words, the exploration of the Labyrinth and the conversion of Experience Points into Magic is nothing more than the humans competing to see who can first obtain a method of economizing war and who can monopolize that method. …Of course, I have my doubts that very many of them are even looking beyond the vast sums of money to see that their decisions here could lead to the destruction of their own civilization.”
Boo Boo fell silent for a while.
He glanced over at the wood-carved human statue sitting near the fire. It showed a human as a messenger of heaven, just as the Nonhuman oral tradition stated.
Only the crackling of the fire could be heard.
“Humans are good people. They wouldn’t want to do that war thing.”
“Don’t be so sure. Based on what I’ve heard, they can only use Magic here. So no matter how much they fight here, they can only bring back so much. First on that list are the Pieces. We need to be aware that they are almost certainly preparing for war.”
“What good is war? They’d all be happier if they ate food, lay down, and took a nap together.”
“For better or for worse, humans are a clever bunch. They have such a great desire for ever greater happiness that they end up trampling the happiness they already have. Although very few of them seem to even notice it.”
“But Beatrice wouldn’t do that. She doesn’t kill more than she needs to eat.”
“Boo Boo, it’s about who gets it first.” Sutriona gave a faint smile. “She can say she won’t do it all day long, but there’s nothing she can do if someone else gets their hands on it. And if that happens, it will lead to an age that works against her. So whether she wants it or not, she has to secure those Pieces. It’s either take them or have them taken. Those are the only options available to the human countries.”
“I refuse to believe that.” The giant Orc grew stubborn. “Beatrice wouldn’t do something so horrible. She’s way smarter than me, so she would use all her brains to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“That would be nice…”
The girl in a black ribbon dress sighed before saying more.
“Whatever the case, the humans can’t relax right now. You need to be especially careful about a Guild named Elkiad. Not only is there a severe moral hazard at work inside their ranks, but they’re different from the other Guilds on a fundamental level.”
“Yeah. Beatrice said that too. I remember her talking about Ensoed.”
“Only the first and last letters of that are right, Boo Boo.”
Beatrice returned to Grandnir.
It was a small island, but she enjoyed the freedom there. A Break News would occasionally go on a rampage and significantly alter the landscape, but it was generally a peaceful and simple world.
It may have been because she could use Magic, but the world seemed to spread out endlessly before her despite the limited surface area. The underground Labyrinth was suspected to reach other islands or continents from the ocean floor or even pass through a Transfer wall to reach other dimensions, but she found the normal forests and beaches felt larger than the complex Labyrinth.
She walked to the inn town and found White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina enjoying some tea at a café. If they were indulging themselves, it meant they had sold some field guides or maps for plenty of gears rather than paper money.
Beatrice asked a question without ordering anything for herself.
“How’s the Setup going?”
“All done.”
“We have a place ready, so we’re ready when you are.”
The three of them left the café and walked down a stone-paved road.
They passed by a great variety of people. There were Knights with bulky armor and large shields, there were lightly-equipped Thieves, there were Hunters and Scouts who specialized in projectiles, and there were even provocative Dancers. The only point in common was the Shining Weapons of various shapes and sizes they all carried. There were obvious ones like swords and spears, but there were also tents, frying pans, brooms, magnifying glasses, and more.
“Where exactly is it?”
“There’s a district to the south that’s been deserted ever since there was a fire. We’ll be borrowing a place there.”
“…Oh, the waterway district.”
“Huh? Why do you sound so blue, Beatrice?”
“No reason,” she said as a non-answer.
Humans could travel between their own world and Grandnir, but the Nonhumans could not. Other than the Shining Weapons, no objects could either. That was why people worked so hard to bring back the data known as Experience Points.
That meant anyone who died in Grandnir…that is, anyone who lost their life and became a mere “object” could not be brought back. No matter how it happened, anyone who died here could not be buried in their homeland’s soil.
But Fighter Priest Armelina didn’t seem to care about those sentimental issues.
“I bet it’s because she always has so much trouble with water. Even in the Labyrinth, she’s always getting dragged away by the octopus-type Gimmicks and getting the bucket-type Traps dumped right on her head in the underground waterways. It never takes her long to end up soaking wet and all see-through. It’s always the same sad story with the strongest fire user.”
“Th-that isn’t true.”
“Ohh? Can you say that again after checking through these results? One look at your Event List and Conversation Log goes a long way toward inspiring the imagination. You should be thankful I was kind enough not to save Replay videos. And looking at this, you really do have trouble with water.”
“Curse you!! Either erase those records right this instant or I’ll turn them and your Shining Weapon to ashes! The choice is yours!!”
Perhaps due to a management issue, her ahoge began burning with a torch flame as she shouted.
At the same time, a small girl with a hood pulled deep over her head passed by.
In that instant, a voice seemed to slip into Beatrice’s ear.
“Be careful. They’re already on the move.”
Beatrice looked back, but there was no sign of the girl in the crowd.
“Is something the matter, Beatrice?”
“No…it’s nothing.”
She shook her head and started walking again, but Armelina still seemed bothered by her behavior.
“What, did someone try to hit on you? Did you feel a bolt of lightning when you saw your soulmate!? You’d never run across a knight in shining armor in a concrete jungle ruled by big data, but this is a fantasy world of swords and magic! Anything goes here!! Heh heh!!”
“Armelina, you’re surprisingly girly. You believe in soulmates?”
“No, no, I don’t! D-don’t be ridiculous. I’m a Fighter Priest, so I’m all about who can punch the hardest!!”
Armelina blushed and began fiercely swinging her hands around.
“Yes, she does seem like the type that believes in the red thread of fate or four leaf clovers.”
“Eh? You mean collecting four leaf clovers doesn’t bring good luck?”
This revelation brought a shadow over Armelina’s face and her shoulders drooped.
“A-anyway, Beatrice. Is it true you’re going out with a huge pig-faced Iberian Orc? I keep hearing rumors about that around the inn town.”
“Kh!! Th-the flow of time is cruel, but I have no regrets!! A-and he doesn’t have a pig face! It’s, um, uh, a slack boar face!!”
“Oh, dear. Does this mean you aren’t building up conversational Experience Points by interacting with other races like some of the others do? It sounds more like you’ve fallen for someone with a kind heart.”
“No, I wouldn’t put it like that. Saying someone is ‘kind’ is the same as saying they’re convenient, don’t cause any problems, and are easy to make use of, right? But Boo Boo is completely different. Setting aside whether he’s kind, he’s most certainly not convenient, he causes all sorts of problems, and I can’t make use of him at all.”
“But you are with him, aren’t you?”
“Well, he’s comfortable. I don’t have to think about all the intrigue around him. …And in Grandnir that’s rare. It’s worth a lot to have someone who you can speak honestly with while letting the weight off your shoulders and not trying to get anything out of it. That’s how I feel about Boo Boo.”
The White Witch and Fighter Priest exchanged a glance at her words…or rather, at her expression.
“Oh, I see.”
“Hm, so that’s it.”
“Wh-what are those know-it-all looks for?”
“Well, we’d assumed everything we’d been hearing was nothing more than rumors, but let’s just say this is better than what we were expecting.”
“I think it’s great. You’re not a monk in training, so it’s nice that you have more to focus on than entering the Labyrinth, earning Experience Points, and learning Magic.”
After turning a corner, the lively energy of the crowd suddenly vanished. The stone-paved road and the brick buildings were not destroyed and had not crumbled. In a town made of stone, a fire was not going to change the scene that dramatically. But all life had been stripped from the surfaces. It was a lot like sterilizing a plate with boiling water.
The Holy Swordswoman, White Witch, and Fighter Priest entered a random building and faced each other around a round table in the center.
They pulled out their differently-shaped Shining Weapons.
Holy Swordswoman Beatrice’s was a rapier.
White Witch Filinion’s was a white first-aid kit.
Fighter Priest Armelina’s was a metal staff. However, it was made so she could add on chains and metal balls with Magic.
They placed their Shining Weapons on the round table. They placed the rapier and metal staff parallel to each other with the first-aid kit in the center.
“Having the strongest fire user sure is convenient. As long as we have you with us, we have one of the necessary Elements ready to go. It’s like getting dealt a joker in a game of poker.”
“I’m thankful to have you two. I can’t use any Element besides fire, right? And your expertise in Mixing is a huge help, Filinion.”
“Being able to share Magic and create Pieces within the same Party is really useful for the people as abnormal as us.”
As they spoke, they called up the data on the Piece they were after and found the Magic they needed for it.
This process was known as Mixing.
Beatrice thought it was more like a dinner or cocktail recipe than it was an industrial processing technique. What mattered was the type and distribution of Magic needed. The rest occurred at a scale one would need an electron microscope to see, so Beatrice and the others’ senses could not keep up. It was the same as shaking the cocktail shaker and knowing a delicious drink would be waiting afterwards.
Filinion pulled out a key hanging from her neck by a thin chain and stuck it into the keyhole on her first-aid kit Shining Weapon.
“The points we must stop are B-12, G-29, and Y-03. The effective detour points needed to avoid those are V-71 and P-01. …That will be the hottest point. Where should we start?”
“Why not from the most certain point? We start at P-01 and, if that works, we can reach for V-71 as insurance.”
“Nice. I like your resolve. It’s like felling the trunk without worrying about the branches and leaves.”
Three Shining Weapons sat on the abandoned round table. White Witch Filinion placed a transparent palm-sized crystal ball alongside the first-aid kit in the center. Various types of Magic would process that into the unknown material known as a Piece.
“Now, let’s create the opposing tech. To review, what tech is it we want to keep out of the hands of the nations and corporations?”
“Imortalise. …B-12, G-29, and Y-03. These will create a composite technology that extracts a natural preservative with almost no health risks.”
“Then what is the Piece we’re creating? That is, the opposing tech brought about by V-71 and P-01?”
“Managed crops for unmaintained land. They’re wheat or potatoes that can grow in any wasteland or desert. I think it’s technically a chromosome-damaging ultraviolet emitter that messes with the seeds. Basically, the competition is between the idea of preservative-soaked ingredients being shipped around the world or the idea of crops actually being grown all over the world. And when the people are growing the crops, they can both eat them and use them for their livestock. That means as much meat and vegetables as they can eat.”
“If this works, the concept of a grain-producing region will vanish and the entire world will be covered in burgers and fries.”
“But…”
“Yes. No matter how much work is put into this tech, no one will ever complete it. Even with V-71 or P-01.”
But the people being manipulated would not notice. They would not be allowed to notice.
The preparations were complete. Corn grown for oil would solve desertification and the energy crisis. But couldn’t that be used to feed people and animals as well as for energy? Because they were always just one step away from achieving their goal, they would continue to reach for it.
That mistaken hope and expectation would completely crush Imortalise which was expected to pave the way to war.
They activated the three Shining Weapons.
The flashy explosions or slashes seen when exploring the Labyrinth were absent here. Instead, lines of pale light ran both inside and outside the transparent crystal ball, showing that something was happening.
Bars appeared next to the Shining Weapons to show the status of the activated Magic and the progress of the overall work. When the slowly-moving bars filled all the way up, Beatrice breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did it…work?”
“I’ll check the structure just to be sure. …Yes, I don’t see any problems. Our P-01 matches the diagram exactly.”
Filinion touched the side of her glasses and Armelina gave a casual comment.
“So which one of us is going to break this down and register it?”
“As always, I’d like to ask Beatrice. She has the most straightforward strength and a third party would see her as the hardest one to attack.”
“Tch. See? I always end up being the villain.”
Beatrice sounded annoyed, but she still grabbed the transparent crystal ball from the table.
If she scanned it with her Shining Weapon and registered it as data, she could bring the world-changing Piece back to their world. If she released it online, the corporations and research institutions would make a technical breakthrough and give actual form to new technology that would change history.
The world was an easy thing to change.
And this was not their first time doing so.
All fields and all industries always contained the possibility of a paradigm shift. It sounded nice when it was called the blossoming of previously closed-off possibilities, but it was little different from having everyone carelessly riding around in time machines.
(We really need to be careful.)
Just as Beatrice was staring at the crystal ball Piece and about to look to her Shining Weapon, she heard the room’s window shattering.
Something had been thrown in from outside.
She looked over without thinking but stopped moving as soon as she saw the fist-sized sphere rolling along the uncarpeted floor.
Something was packed in a leather bag and a fuse about as long as the first joint of a little finger stuck out from the bag.
It happened a moment later.
An earsplitting boom hit her eardrums and refused to go away as a blinding flash filled the room.
It was a flashbang, aka a stun grenade. The nonlethal weapon used light and sound beyond the acceptable limits of human senses to rob the target of their senses while also dazing them for at least a few seconds and possibly a few dozen seconds. Even the toughest man would flinch if lightning struck right next to him and this was a continuous version of the same sensation.
And even if it lacked the ability to kill, it was obvious what would happen to someone targeted by another weapon when they were blind, deaf, and curled up in a defenseless daze.
Attackers with hoods hiding their faces rushed inside from the front door, the window, and the back entrance.
But before they could activate their Shining Weapons which resembled short swords and short bows, a downpour of orange flame arrows assaulted them. As soon as they hit, the arrows created miniature explosions that pushed the attackers back toward the entrances and tossed them outside.
Protected behind rapier-wielding Beatrice’s back, the White Witch removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes over and over.
“I feel the need to reiterate my point about how useful it is to have the strongest fire user with us.”
“I’m just used to the light and sound of my own fire attacks. They’re no match for sunglasses and earplugs, but I do keep reduction Magic in stock.” The crimson Holy Swordswoman smiled a little. “And we’re even since you made this so much easier for me. Visualizing the kinetic reactions detected through the wall to display silhouettes? It isn’t flashy, but it’s a pretty useful support technique.”
“Well, support is all my Job can do.”
“If only you didn’t insist on jiggling those giant boobs every time you did something.”
“Th-that has nothing to do with this!!”
Filinion blushed and snapped back at Armelina.
Illusion Magic displayed a digital countdown over the heads of the collapsed attackers. The White Witch was very effective at life-related techniques, so she had used a Mixed potion to determine the enemy’s level of consciousness and give an estimated time until they came to.
The men were all hiding below their hooded cloaks. When Beatrice’s Party inspected them, they found they were lightly equipped and wore no armor. However, they did not seem to have built up their defenses with Magic either. Instead, they had crude, poorly-made paper. With layer after layer of that under their clothes, they had created light defenses that protected against any penetrative force.
(Almost like…bulletproof armor?)
“Anyway, what was that just now!? It wasn’t Magic, was it!?”
“Wasn’t it obvious? A flashbang. They’re in all sorts of movies and video games these days.”
“A flashbang… But we can only bring Pieces back from Grandnir and we can’t bring any weapons into Grandnir. So how!?”
Fighter Priest Armelina was confused and she activated her metal staff Shining Weapon. A spiked metal ball appeared on the end. When she swung it around a little and hit the wall, the entire wall crumbled and the fragments flew outward.
“They may not have brought it with them,” said Beatrice as she looked toward this new exit since the door was likely being watched. “The primary ingredient in a flashbang is magnesium powder. If you know how to make one, it would probably be possible with materials found in Grandnir. The rest is just like Mixing. It wouldn’t be hard.”
“Are you serious? Then are these guys who I think they are?”
The Fighter Priest looked down at her feet as she stepped over the rubble.
They had left the back way, but attackers with Shining Weapons had been waiting there too. However, these men had been caught in the sudden destruction of the wall and either sent flying or knocked unconscious by the flying rubble.
Fighter Priest Armelina was also receiving visual support from Filinion, so she had likely known the silhouettes were there when she broke through the wall.
“B-12, G-29, and Y-03… These are the people who want to send those Pieces to the corporations and complete the Imortalise preservative that will help provide military supplies. These are the people who want to use it for military purposes. These are the people who want to go to war. Now, do we know a Guild that’s gone into full moral hazard mode and completely ignores etiquette and traditional methods?”
“Oh, so that’s what this is…”
“Their ideology is the opposite of ours.”
“Elkiad.”
Based on the countdown above the collapsed attackers’ heads, they would not wake up for another twenty minutes. Their gloves left just the index finger exposed and that finger was covered with a characteristic tattoo. Everyone who joined them had to dedicate their killing finger to the Guild as a sort of ritual.
Beatrice held the transparent crystal ball in her hand.
“They were trying to keep me from registering this. That way they can keep the world from moving in a direction they don’t want.”
“So what do we do? Do you think you can register it real quick? I doubt this was all they’re going to do, so you should probably hurry it up.”
“Given my Shining Weapon’s processing power, it would take about five minutes. Can you two hold them off on your own for that long? One of you is a White Witch that can only heal and the other is a Fighter Priest that can’t heal despite being a priest.”
“Then we’ll have to put off registering the Piece and escape to a safe place first.”
“And we can’t Sign Out like this. We’re too far away from the individual Gates and, even if we were near a Gate, that process takes two or three minutes to finish. With that much time, they’d turn us into pincushions with those short bows!”
“That’s why we just have to force our way through. We need to at least shake them from our tail. Filinion, kinetic reactions alone aren’t enough. Add on a visualization of encounter rates.”
They had a plan.
They were not about to rush out onto the main road out front. They would continue through the narrow back alleys and eventually reach another road.
Thanks to one of White Witch Filinion’s Mixed potions, numbers danced in the corner of their eyes. The numbers that moved up and down in the 20-30% range were a visualization of the threat directed at them. In other words, the probability of running across an enemy soldier or having an arrow fly their way.
But Beatrice had made a single mistake.
It was true Elkiad had made a flashbang from materials found in Grandnir and she had thought they had used it alongside their Shining Weapons to attack Beatrice’s Party.
But a moment later, the encounter rate shot up from the 20-30% range to 99.9%.
It happened suddenly.
A fingertip-sized dark red hole appeared in the center of Beatrice’s chest.
The belated blast sounded like someone had pierced a hole in the world itself.
Now. When she realized she had been shot by a sniper rifle, did she realize her mistaken assumption?
On a rooftop, a man with a characteristic tattoo covering his right hand’s index finger held a long narrow gun made from nearly a meter of steel and wood. He peered through the handmade scope made by placing a glass lens inside a skinny wooden tube and he let out a very, very small breath.
The spotter next to him was observing the scene while crouched on one knee and he gave a report to the ground groups using the club-like Shining Weapon that took the place of a communicator.
“Waffle here. Target 1 was hit but survived. 2 and 3 retrieved her and are hiding behind cover. They are fleeing to the west. I am visualizing their silhouettes, but what I have on hand can’t see through buildings.”
The sniper rifles they were using were not precise industrial products.
The history of firearms was a long one. It dated all the way back to around the 15th century.
This was a flintlock musket much like the ones displayed in the pirate section of a museum. It was muzzle-loaded, meaning the gunpowder and bullet had to stuffed into the muzzle and pushed down with a long, skinny ramrod. It could launch a bullet the size of a pachinko ball as far as three hundred meters even without rifling and could hit a target at half that range using the handmade scope, so this version had undergone a bizarre form of evolution.
And in a location filled with buildings, the ability to accurately shoot someone between the eyes at a hundred meters was more valuable than the ability to shoot through a car’s fuel tank at a thousand meters.
On the ground, a few groups of four were receiving support from the roof as they moved to seal off the narrow but winding alleyways.
While following the trail of blood on the ground, they released the leash of the Hellhounds that each group had been supplied with. They barked an order while releasing them and the well-trained four-legged beasts ran on ahead.
“Donut here. Target location detected. We have the Hellhounds in pursuit to confirm it with multiple sources. If they’re cornered in the west or north, they will almost certainly move to the street. Once they do, the snipers just have to finish them off. Everyone, synchronize your maps.”
The primary flaw of muzzle-loading guns was the time it took to load each shot, so firing in quick succession was difficult. One temporary solution was to carry around several shorter guns in addition to the main one they held. It was faster to switch guns than to load another bullet. This too was a method favored by the pirates of an older age.
Another ground group was allowing their targets through according to plan.
Elkiad’s goal was not individual glory. It was to eliminate the target as efficiently as possible.
“Éclair here. We’ve opened the north route. If you block the western route, they’ll naturally come this- gagyah!?” The report was cut off by a sudden explosion.
While supported by the White Witch’s shoulder, Beatrice breathed heavily and held out her Shining Weapon rapier. Orange sparks danced around the tip.
There was no sign of the dark red hole that had appeared in the center of her chest before.
However, she did not look unharmed. Her face was pale and yet her entire body was covered in an unpleasant sweat. Her body was sending out a mess of contradictory signals.
“Are you really okay?”
Armelina sounded worried and Filinion placed her first-aid kit on a barrel while lending Beatrice her shoulder. Filinion then pulled test tubes of dried herbs and small bottles of liquid from inside her cloak and the belt around her thigh. She dumped the contents into the first-aid kit, forced the lid closed, stuck the key in the keyhole, and turned it.
A bar appeared on the first-aid kit and it slowly filled up. Numbers appeared saying it would take thirty seconds for the Mixing to complete and the success rate was 98.8%.
“I immediately removed the bullet from your chest, so of course you’re worn out. I mean, Healing Magic can’t do everything.”
Filinion was more worried about her own Willpower gauge. If it ran out, the Mixing would stall and the healing would stop. That gauge could be seen as the entire Party’s lifeline. It would recover on its own, but it would of course run out if she used so much Magic that it depleted faster than it recovered.
“You work up a resistance, so the amount it heals goes down with each use. So please don’t think about relying on it to charge into the gunfire in zombie mode or something.”
“I know that.”
Beatrice’s Percentage-type Magic amplified her Parameters and gave her superhuman strength and speed, but that had actually worked against her. The bullet would have done less damage if it had cleanly pierced straight through her. At the very least, they would not have had to dig it out of her.
“But we have to push on. The problem is the snipers that can catch us off guard, but now that we know they’re there…”
Reinforcements must have been sent in, either due to the explosion or the lack of response from their comrade.
New men with muskets leaned out from a corner in the narrow alleyway.
There was more than just the one gunshot. They were equipped with multiple single-shot guns and they were working in a group.
But the encounter rate did not rise beyond the 10-15% range. Beatrice’s Party was being fired on at close range, but none of the bullets hit them.
Phototaxis created flashing lights around the user which shifted the enemy’s focus.
Mirage bent light such that an image of oneself was created in a slightly shifted position.
Fair Wind created wind with heat and used that to give an extra push to the enemy’s blade or bullet, shifting their aim.
Each “shift” was small and they were not enough to deflect a sword or axe swung with enough force to slice right through someone, but when added together, they increased the margin of error needed to save a human life. Even in a hail of deadly bullets.
In other words…
“Magic is superior. Armelina, get to work!!”
“Sure thing!! I’ll blow them away, wall and all!!”
When Armelina activated her Shining Weapon that resembled a metal staff, a chain wrapped in light and a metal ball appeared on the end. They tore through the alleyway corner that Elkiad was using for cover. The many building materials and the attackers were knocked to the opposite wall.
If not for the Percentage-type Magic protecting their bodies, the attackers would have been killed instantly.
Armelina was a Priest, so she made sure to raise the middle finger of her empty hand as elegantly as possible.
“Hah! So all you had were some fossils from a museum? If you want to keep up with us, you should’ve at least brought a rocket launcher!!”
An Elkiad man was listening in from the main street with Magic that worked much like a directional microphone. Once its effects wore off, he lightly raised a hand.
The subordinate standing next to him rested a firing tube on his shoulder and removed the safety pin from the front end of the warhead. The weapons that followed the original designs had been called fossils, but this was a bizarre Galapagos weapon of their own design.
The man covered his ears with his hands and spoke with a smile.
“Well, if you insist.”
With an ear-splitting roar, the explosive flew toward the alleyway entrance with a trail of white smoke behind it.
The threat probability spiked to 100% once more.
Boo Boo wanted a meal of fish today.
Thus, he was walking along a hill to search for a palm-sized bamboo leaf-shaped piece of wood he could make into a lure.
That was when he heard an explosion.
He looked over and saw grayish smoke rising from one part of the inn town at the base of the hill.
Next to him, Fairy Queen Sutriona stripped off a hooded cloak in annoyance to reveal her flower-like appearance and black ribbon dress.
“So it’s started.”
“I’ve heard of this. The humans use something called fireworks. Is there a festival today?”
“This is something far more frightening, Boo Boo.”
The girl Break News’s voice contained a hint of exasperation, but it was not directed at Boo Boo. It was directed at the humans who continued to act so foolishly down below.
“What a pain. I didn’t want to intervene in a conflict between humans, but if that inn town is destroyed, I won’t be able to eat the tasty treats they make there. I might be able to manage a popsicle, but that ice cream is beyond my abilities. Now, what to do about this?”
“?”
“This is about your friend, Boo Boo. It is about Beatrice.”
His giant body shook when he heard Sutriona’s words.
“Elkiad is on the move. Their target is Beatrice because they don’t want her group getting in ahead of them. This is a fight over that new preservative called Imortalise, which would fill the world with food and erase the limiting factor that empty stomachs place on war.”
“I’m no good with complicated things. But I want to know about Beatrice, so can you make it simpler?”
“Basically, the war has already begun, Boo Boo. Will Beatrice’s group bring back the Piece or will Elkiad? Even if these things are made public, whichever economic bloc they prioritize will begin a global trend in that direction. This is the final fork in the road, so they will do whatever it takes, no matter how dirty their methods. …To make it simpler for you, Boo Boo, millions are going to die and they are making a tightrope walk to determine where those deaths will occur.”
“I don’t believe that.” The hideous pig-face shook his head. “Like I said, Beatrice isn’t that kind of person. She’s smarter than me, so she has to be thinking about so much more than me to find a way that won’t hurt anyone.”
“Boo Boo, the advance of technology cannot be stopped. Even if you kill the designer of a secret weapon, someone else will eventually come up with the same idea. The only difference is who comes up with it and where their affiliations lie. No one can prevent the new technology itself from being created, no one can hold it back, and no one can erase it from existence. Once it has been discovered, someone will use it. That is simply the human way.”
Humans visited the Labyrinth.
They did so to efficiently earn Experience Points and learn Magic.
With Magic, they could process a variety of things and create fragments known as Pieces.
By turning those to data and bringing them back with them, human society could achieve technological breakthroughs.
Apparently, even the most basic of assumptions could be overturned.
…Or millions could be killed.
“Then they just have to stop bringing them back. If they hide the Pieces forever, they won’t cause any problems.”
“Boo Boo… The benefit of a Piece is only enjoyed by the person who first registers it. So even if the original discoverer hides it, if a second discoverer registers it, they will be seen as the first in the official records. And if they bring it back to the human world and the nations and corporations go for it…”
Sutriona ended her explanation partway through.
She fell silent.
She stopped to think.
“…Wait.”
“?”
“Could that be what’s going on here? Is Beatrice’s group making opposing patent requests…? In other words, is she competing for the standard while leading them into a dead end?”
“Explain it so I can understand.”
“Very well. This is something I have overhead the humans talking about. They do not know where their Pieces are used or for what. They simply make them, take them back, and submit them. And the nations and corporations are constantly searching through the thousands or tens of thousands of released Pieces in case one of them might provide a breakthrough on some stalled secret research.”
“Hmm…”
“Was that too complicated? Basically, it isn’t a simple case of Person A having a problem and Person B preparing a solution. If Person A has a problem, they can work with Person C or D if need be. …Even if the provided answer is a false answer dressed up to look nice.”
“???”
“What I’m saying is this.” Sutriona raised her skinny index finger. “Beatrice’s group may be trying to intentionally submit a mistaken Piece. That way the entire world will reach a technological dead end and no one will be able to wage war.”
Boo Boo tilted his head again.
He may have had trouble picturing it.
“Would that really stop everyone? Does giving the wrong answer really change anything if someone finds the right answer afterwards?”
“Boo Boo, there are two types of technology: those with a clear right answer and a clear wrong answer, and those with two competing right answers. For example, what do you think of the Magic the humans use?”
“I can’t use Magic, so I don’t really know. They all do weird beepy things.”
“That’s right. But there isn’t actually a reason it had to be that way. Grandnir’s Magic holds endless possibility, but that level of freedom is so great they seem to have trouble grasping it. They need to place limitations on it so they can comprehend it themselves, so rather than the secret techniques of legend, they use a more familiar and easy-to-picture system. That is, what they call a video game.”
“You mean there might have been other forms of Magic?”
“Yes. It could just as easily have been reciting strange incantations or drawing out magic circles. It isn’t an issue of which one is right; it’s an issue of which is more convenient. The one more people tended to use became the standard.”
“Then…”
“Let’s say you have System A and System B. What if System A is actually superior, but System B is announced on a grand scale first. And what if they were hiding that System B is actually entirely useless and will never make a completed product even after a century of work? Wouldn’t everyone be so blinded by System B that they would ignore System A?”
“But what if someone secretly worked on System A?”
“Society won’t let them. Once the cannonball starts rolling, it is apparently very hard to stop. There are people doing the research, people making the parts, people assembling the parts, people selling it, and people who want to use it… Even if someone tries to stop it, someone else will prevent them because they need it to continue. The video standards are apparently a well-known example. Not that this has anything to do with those like us who live freely.” Sutriona laughed. “And war is all about timing. If you miss the right time to start it, the system built for that purpose will no longer have a use. Not to mention the great financial cost of maintaining it. The deception might eventually be discovered, but if they set it up so it’s too late by the time that happens, the countdown to war might fall apart.”
In that case, Elkiad’s goal was also obvious. They wanted war, so they would secretly provide the corporation with the materials needed to produce the technology for war. But if the target corporation looked elsewhere, Elkiad could no longer guide them to the desired technology. And a Piece was meaningless on its own. It was only useful to someone who had come to a technological dead end and was stuck despite the extremely advanced technology they had accumulated.
“In other words…”
“Beatrice may not be a bad person. Of course, this is only a possibility.”
Boo Boo fell silent.
He looked to the inn town at the bottom of the hill.
He could hear consecutive bursting noises from there. He had initially thought those were the sounds of a festival, but now they transformed into something horribly uneasy and unsettling.
“What is Beatrice doing?”
“It sounds like she ran into some trouble with Elkiad.”
“She said to run away if I heard the name Elkiad.”
“That’s because she didn’t want you to see this.”
Boo Boo made up his mind when he heard that.
He adjusted his grip on his giant Shining Weapon that resembled a steel beam or log.
“I’m going.”
“Going where?”
“To the inn town. To Beatrice.”
“Looking like that? I can get by with my appearance, but you will cause a commotion the second you set foot in the town. You normally stay away from the town and roads because you don’t want to scare people, right?”
“That has nothing to do with the fact that Beatrice is in trouble.”
“Everything I said about her was mere speculation. There might not be an opposing patent and she might simply be the kind of person who is willing to allow millions of deaths if it supports her own country or corporation. The only way to know for sure is to peek into their world.”
“I can just ask her,” he said.
He had no proof and no guarantee. After enough work and pain to lose everything he had gained, it could all be for nothing.
But he said it regardless.
“I just have to find her and ask her directly.”
It was his trust in her that led him to run toward the human inn town where everyone would be an enemy.
Simply following the alleyways along the roads was not going to work.
The Holy Swordswoman, White Witch, and Fighter Priest ran inside an abandoned building, climbed the stairs, broke through the wall, and took a shortcut to the neighboring building on that middle floor. They used Magic to divert the sniper bullets that flew in through the windows, they flinched back from the explosives that tried to envelop the entire floor in flames, and they continued making progress without being cornered.
“This is insane… They actually fired a rocket when I asked for one. What the hell was that?”
“They had handheld rockets in the Edo period. They were called Bo-hiya.”
“Y-yeah, but it doesn’t look like they’re simply using a three hundred year old weapon.”
They used Magic to call up a map of the inn town, but it was entirely useless because both enemy and ally were breaking down walls in the complex labyrinth of buildings.
And of course, the three of them were far from unharmed.
“I can’t believe this… I thought I had built up a decent Puncture Resistance and Arrow Resistance, but they’re breaking right through…”
“Bullets must need their own form of Resistance…”
They only looked unharmed because White Witch Filinion would Mix them a recovery potion every time they were badly injured. But as mentioned before, that was not all powerful. They built up a resistance, so it healed less each time it was used. Their bodies had grown pale and they could tell the potions would no longer stop the bleeding after a few more uses.
That resistance would reset when they returned from Grandnir, but they would not be in so much trouble in the first place if they had time to do that. The Gate for Signing Out was still a long way off.
“I-I’m sorry…”
The White Witch apologized while leaning on Beatrice’s shoulder.
The situation had been reversed after the first sniper attack, but now she was terribly weak. Her Job was not meant to stand on the front line. As soon as it had become clear that she was the healer, the attacks had concentrated on her. On top of the actual damage, using her Magic wore down her Willpower, so this was hardly surprising.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“No, not that. I think I’m at my limit. I’m feeling really dizzy and I don’t think I can stay conscious much longer…”
The first-aid kit she used for Mixing was weakly opening and closing.
“Hey, wait.”
“The Recovery Magic is using up my Willpower faster than it recovers… I won’t be any more use. If I can’t use Recovery Magic, I’ll just weigh you down. Please leave me behind…”
Filinion tightened her grip on the first-aid kit’s handle and key. She could likely see what was left in her gauge because her eyes were wandering through empty air. Beatrice considered having it set so she could see too, but she did not use the Magic for that. That was not what was needed right now.
“Don’t be silly. Getting discouraged like that will only use up your Willpower faster. And be quiet for a moment!”
Next to them, Fighter Priest Armelina leaned against the hallway wall.
She had not lost her will to fight, but it must have been a shock for their healer to wear out first.
If they continued like this, they would be slowly tormented to death. And the result would be little different if they surrendered to Elkiad thanks to the Guild’s moral hazards.
“Really now, what do we do?” The Fighter Priest felt an unpleasant sweat on her pale face. “Magic is stronger than bullets, but isn’t there something different about these guys? I’m not sure how to put it… You could say we have the upper hand 1000-to-10 in pure power, but they use that 10 to hit our vitals from a blind spot with the accuracy of threading a needle. They have no waste or inefficiency…”
Yes. Looking at nothing but strength, Beatrice or Armelina could overwhelm Elkiad with their Magic. If they wanted to, they could blow away this entire section of the town.
But doing that would change nothing.
Even if they were 99% successful, a bullet would slip through the 1% gap and accurately pierce their flesh. The more destruction they caused, the less cover there was and the more gunfire would reach them. And if they went too far, the damage would extend behind this ghost town area. They could not solve this by indiscriminately spreading destruction like a Break News.
To sum it up…
“This isn’t like anything we’ve come across before. It’s like playing go and finding your opponent is using chess pieces.”
It was like a chess problem.
No matter where they fled, they would be in someone’s line of fire. The enemy was not thinking about individual accomplishments. They were simply doing everything they could to remove the enemy pieces from the board. Even if that meant using themselves as bait.
The 100% encounter rate that visualized the threat seemed to pierce through their souls.
There was only one thing this reminded them of.
“That isn’t surprising… Elkiad doesn’t come from a normal background like us. They must be the army of the nation that wants to go to war.”
“A real…army? Honestly, a lovely college girl has to take on an army? What has the world come to?”
“And it’s kind of disturbing that they’re a disciplined army. With the kind of moral hazards we’re seeing here, I can’t believe they’re eating on the taxpayer’s dime and having action movies made about them back in our world.”
They did not have time to grow angry over every little thing.
“What do we do? If they’re going to get their hands on it otherwise, we could always destroy the Piece as a last resort.”
“That would be meaningless. If they silence us afterwards, it’s all over. P-01 is only bait meant to guide development in the wrong direction. The war they want will start if we don’t register the bait Piece first to distract everyone from the B-12, G-29, and Y-03 that Elkiad wants to make.”
The assumed filename was “Atlantic Sovereignty War”.
Basically, traditional high-class brands such as bags, jewelry, and wine were suffering as the middle class was stolen by the increased quality of low-cost manufacturers. There was also a conflict between the European nations that were becoming marred by excessively nationalistic far-right ideologies and America which simply wanted to go to war with someone due to their extended IT recession.
In both cases, it was less a desire to stand at the center of the world and more a matter of pride. That is, they did not want to be seen as inferior to the other.
During the confusion, South America and Western Africa were dragged into the flames of war and greedy hands reached out for them on the pretext of protecting them.
Everyone was so focused on those areas that the Middle East, the Far East, and Southeast Asia went ignored and new potential wars were beginning to pop up here and there.
The talk of ridiculous wars held so much sway because everyone had been taken in by the delusion that the food supply system supported by Imortalise would be complete soon and the true “kings” could easily wage war without taking any external or internal damage.
So saying one simple thing would solve all these problems at once:
I won’t let that happen. I’ll guide us onto a mistaken set of rails and get the heavy cannonball rolling so it will continue to spin fruitlessly forevermore.
They would not allow those cruel and hopefully imaginary wars from occurring.
They would build up a technology to rival the new technology that would truly distort the world and they would intentionally trigger a competition over what would be adopted as the standard. They would move the people in a direction that would never be completed no matter how much research was done. And even if someone noticed the mistake, the heavy cannonball of society would crush them if they tried to stop it. That would prevent anyone from moving to a different set of rails in the future.
As always and as many times as it took, Beatrice would not allow the rise of any technology that would not bring people happiness.
“Please leave me behind,” repeated White Witch Filinion. “This isn’t just our problem anymore… If we all die here, that war born of hopeless delusions will actually happen. So if just one of us survives and registers the bait Piece, that war won’t happen. So I’ll create a diversion for you…”
Beatrice almost shouted back on reflex.
But something else happened before she could.
Almost like a school’s broadcast system, a man’s amplified voice came from all over the building. There was of course no broadcast equipment here, so it had to be some kind of Magic.
“Can you hear me, Beatrice?”
(He won’t just want to chat. There must be some other reason.)
“You’re always causing us a lot of trouble. Yes, always. This isn’t the first time. Come to think of it, have you figured out who we are yet? To be honest, I’d like to demand payment for the war profit we should have earned, but I’ll let it slide just this once. There are no war treaties or ROE here. There are no military police either. In this world, no one goes to trial even if someone ends up dead. So prepare yourself.”
“Be careful…”
She spoke quietly to the White Witch and Fighter Priest.
The threat probability slowly hovered between 20-30% before rising to the 50-60% range.
Death was approaching.
Once it reached 100%, unavoidable gunfire would reach them.
“This has to be about their footsteps. They’re making all this noise to drown out their footsteps as they surround us. Their formation must be almost complete by now. We need to assume they’re going to all attack at once.”
“Did you enjoy playing the philanthropist?” asked the man. “Did you think you had some connection to the wider world? Ha ha. Don’t make me laugh, Beatrice. What you’re doing is nothing more than a farce. You haven’t produced a damn thing. Please stop stealing our profit for that.”
Was he intentionally rubbing her the wrong way to improve the deception?
The Holy Swordswoman held her Shining Weapon tight and focused on her surroundings as the man spoke.
“You’re nothing more than a caged bird forbidden from leaving the Detached Magic Palace for fear of your inborn talent. How long is it going to take for you to realize food is food no matter who gives it to you, you birdbrain?”
Elkiad’s combat zone reached as far as three hundred meters outside the ghost town region on the east of the inn town.
They of course had soldiers (with their guns hidden below hooded cloaks) posted near those outer edges, but they doubted anyone would be stupid enough to try to reach the center of the fighting.
The people looked surprised by the sounds of gunfire and explosions that should not have existed in Grandnir, but they all understood how frightening those things were. Each of them probably had their own opinion on whether Magic or guns was stronger, but none of them were going to test their theory with their life.
Humans feared guns.
It was not a case of being caught off guard by something unknown. They were intimidated away because they knew all too well what this was.
They knew even if they had never used one.
So one of the guards, a soldier with his right index finger covered in the characteristic tattoo, was tense at first, but gradually began to relax. For one thing, there were no military police, no records, and no supervision here. He was one of the delinquent soldiers in full moral hazard mode here in Grandnir. He had already lost the will to take his orders seriously, so his behavior was hardly surprising.
But hadn’t he been taught something at the very beginning?
Carrying out his orders was at the foundation of everything. Failing to do so put his own life and the lives of his entire unit at risk.
———First, a large – very large – shadow appeared over the soldier’s head.
“Eh?”
———Next, he looked up and back, wondering if it was a cloud, only to find a giant form standing there.
“Eh?”
———Finally, that giant form raised a large Shining Weapon shaped like a steel beam or log.
“Eh?”
He did not have time to do anything.
Some strange creature had entered the human town. The Elkiad soldier’s thoughts worked to comprehend the impossible sight, but his mind was not given a chance to reach a conclusion.
The horrific blunt weapon gave a roar and the soldier’s entire body was buried below the stone pavement.
“…”
The oddity was quickly reported, but Boo Boo used his height of four meters to ignore it all.
As soon as he took another step forward, he was surrounded by Elkiad soldiers armed with large muskets and a variety of Shining Weapons such as two-handed swords, large swords as tall as their wielder, and halberds, war spears that looked like a combination of an axe, a spear, and a hook. Their numbers rapidly grew and soon rose above twenty, but Boo Boo did not care.
“I am going to Beatrice.”
He announced his intentions as simply as possible.
“I will push through anyone who gets in my way. If you don’t like it, get out of the way, Elkiad.”
They did not respond. Or perhaps their silence was their response.
He took a step forward.
They held their many Shining Weapons at the ready and those weapons glittered in the light.
He took a second step forward.
They aimed their many guns and placed their fingers on the trigger.
He took a third step forward.
Then everything began to move.
Repeated dry bursting sounds rang out.
The Elkiad members were professional soldiers who had received a certain country’s official military training, but they had developed unique habits in Grandnir that abandoned the manual. Simply put, they did not need to hide behind cover thanks to Magic. They could open a shield in front of themselves and fire from directly in front of their target. In fact, they could take up positions 360 degrees around the target and continue firing without worrying about the enemy’s attacks or friendly fire. This was especially effective given the poor rapid-fire capabilities of their muzzle-loaded muskets.
The target could always repel the bullets, but Elkiad did not worry about that.
While the target was focused on defending against the bullets, another unit armed primarily with two-handed swords and halberds would quickly approach. They would break through the enemy’s Magic shield, rendering them defenseless, and make fatal attacks from close and long range.
That was the optimal answer.
Or it should have been.
Just as Boo Boo’s giant body seemed to sway, he had already vanished. He had escaped the lines of fire reaching him from a total of five directions. He was a Nonhuman, so he did not use Magic and did not use his powerful body to forcibly stop the bullets. He simply dodged.
In other words, no amount of gunfire would hold him still.
“Eh?”
Funnily enough, some of them reacted just like the first guard soldier who had been taken out.
They were the Shining Weapon group that had assumed the target would be held still.
A moment later, a heavy tremor silenced everything.
“…”
After swiftly silencing the close-range group, Boo Boo’s fierce eyes turned toward the long-range musket group.
(H-how did he dodge that? Are you telling me he predicted where we were going to aim?)
Since loading a bullet would have taken too long, they grabbed and fired the spare guns hanging from their belts while falling back, but it was too late.
And the Elkiad soldiers had made a fundamental misunderstanding.
(No, that isn’t the issue. This should be the first time this Nonhuman has seen a gun. He shouldn’t know what will happen if we aim at him. That should slow down his response to the first attack…)
He had dodged it regardless.
Not a single shot had hit him.
(Does that mean… Does that mean…!! He didn’t predict where we were aiming. Did he see the bullets leaving the guns and then dodge them!? How is that even possible!?)
The one Elkiad member finally realized his understanding of the situation was a few steps behind, but he was still wrong.
What mattered here was not proving the small details.
It was the presence of such a monster right in front of him. And the fact that his gun was aimed at that monster as an enemy. He should have been using every last mental resource to figure out how he could possibly escape this alive.
But it was already too late.
Before his understanding could catch up to the current situation, Boo Boo approached.
His thick Shining Weapon gave a roar purely as a blunt weapon.
The road was lined with brick buildings. The soldiers on the roofs gasped as they set down their large guns and grabbed their sniper muskets.
“What…is that thing!? How is he still alive!?”
Snipers had to do more than just hit a stationary target. The target would be moving to some extent and they had to predict where it was moving when they aimed.
And yet they could not predict the pig-faced giant’s movements.
They had scopes, even if they were handmade from wooden tubes and glass lenses. They could see Boo Boo through the scopes. His four meter frame should have been an easy target. But each time they had him in their sights he would vanish. They would find him again and he would vanish again. The process repeated over and over, so they never had a chance to keep their sights on him and pull the trigger. And he was more than just fast; he was predicting what they would do.
One sniper and the reloader/spotter next to him were dumbfounded, but…
“Well, if you must know, your mistake is in judging all living creatures based on human standards.”
“!?”
They heard a voice behind them.
They quickly looked back, but there was no on there.
“Wh-what? …Hey, did you hear that just now?”
The sniper exchanged a glance with his spotter, but Sutriona, one of the Break News, sighed quietly nearby.
She had entirely vanished from their senses and she added more in her heart.
(From what I’ve heard, he used his four meter body to move freely across the ocean like a skipping stone and he beat up and defeated a thousand-meter Dragon. Controlling that much strength would require quite a bit of processing power. One wrong move and he could tear himself apart with his own strength.)
So Boo Boo just had to direct some of those resources toward the outside world.
A multitude of blades pierced the heavens and a hail of lead tore through the air to punch through flesh and blood.
But none of it could stop him.
That great form beat down the rows of enemies.
Even if those enemies looked like slender humans, their strength was thoroughly amplified by Percentage-type Magic: STR +300%, VIT +800%, AGI +500%, etc. They were supposedly strong enough to slay a tiger or defeat a bear with their bare hands, but that was irrelevant to Boo Boo.
He was different on a more fundamental level.
He beat down those with axe or spear Shining Weapons, he hit homeruns with the soldiers wielding large muskets, and those human baseballs collided with the snipers targeting him from the rooftops. He quickly beat up the vanguard meant to hold him in place and he mercilessly used his own Shining Weapon on the rear guard before the healers there could wake up their unconscious allies.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
A short distance away, the Elkiad soldiers stuffed a rocket in a launching tube, pulled the pin, and shouted to steady their own trembling fingertips.
This was a Bo-hiya.
Unlike the muzzle-loading muskets, the propellant was loaded in the actual projectile. After increasing the efficiency with military-style thoroughness, the weapon had very nearly transformed into a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon.
“Bullets aren’t enough, but he can’t dodge this if he’s caught in the explosion… Do it, dammit! Blow him to smithereens!!”
“We’ll take out some of our own at this range!”
“Have them use a shield or something! That monster hasn’t used anything like that. We need to stop him here, so just do it!!”
The soldier protested, but once he had permission from his commanding officer, he seemed to shift the burden of responsibility away from himself. He rested the launching tube on his shoulder and did not hesitate to pull the trigger.
White smoke scattered and an explosive shaped like a thick stake flew in a straight line toward the far-too-large target.
It happened a moment later.
Boo Boo grabbed the flying rocket from the side.
“Wha-…!?”
All the soldiers gasped.
When choosing a fuse, they had gone with the bestseller of the weapons they were familiar with and used a pressure-sensitive one, but that had backfired.
In other words, the rocket would not detonate unless it received an impact to the tip.
So what if someone could accurately perceive the rocket as it flew toward them with incredible speed, what if they were blessed with the physical strength needed to instantaneously move their body, and what if they had tough enough skin to remain intact when it grabbed the rocket as it sliced through the air?
Assuming the pressure-sensitive fuse did not malfunction as the rocket came to a sudden stop, wouldn’t they be able to grab the flying rocket right out of the air!?
“…?”
Boo Boo did not seem to know what it was.
However, he did seem aware it was likely something dangerous. After tilting his head, he threw it back the way it had come.
“Ah.”
The rocket was out of propellant, so it flew in a gentle parabolic arc, and dropped toward the soldiers’ feet while obeying its center of gravity. The tip containing the pressure-sensitive fuse landed right on the rooftop.
The explosion occurred a moment later.
First, their faces grew red at the reports coming in.
Then, their faces grew blue at the avalanche of backup requests pouring in.
Finally, their faces grew white when all the reports came to a stop.
“L-let’s retreat… There’s nothing we can do! We can’t continue fighting any longer! Let’s retreat!!”
“Do you have any idea what you’re saying? We must stop that Piece from being registered at all costs!!”
“No. I’m not sticking with you here. I’m not going to die in this distant world! I’ve had enough!!”
The subordinate who had always been by the man’s side turned his back and ran off at full speed.
“Tch. You imbecile!!”
The blonde commander with stubble on his chin reflexively pulled one of the short guns from his belt, raised the hammer with his thumb, aimed it at the fleeing back, and then aimed upwards instead of pulling the trigger.
Deserting under enemy fire was punishable by execution, but those basics no longer mattered.
They were ruined whether they continued on or fell back.
Elkiad was a regular army. Their very presence in Grandnir was an extra-legal act not found in the manuals. In other words, the well-regulated army had detested them from the beginning. If they did not achieve results, some kind of nitpicky fault would be found with their actions and they would be purged.
(So we need to secure that Piece. We have to continue forward if we want to escape! Why don’t they understand something so simple!?)
Fortunately, they had received a certain report early on.
That monster had said he was “going to Beatrice”.
And that woman most likely also held the bait Piece that was the key to their survival.
Which meant…
(If I get my hands on Beatrice, I have a way out of this. I can destroy the Piece and I can use her as a shield against that monster. That’s the only way. The most dangerous route always takes you to the greatest safety!! Only those who realize that can make it on the battlefield!!)
Once he had a plan, he could act on it.
He ran across the chaotic battlefield and pressed against the brick wall of a building. As soon as he stepped inside, the entire building shook. One of the walls had apparently been broken through. He also heard a creaking sound overhead, so he rushed up the stairs.
There she was.
Three girls were gathered in the center of a long hallway.
They had no real plan. They looked like they would collapse no matter where they went next. Elkiad should have been able to silence them for a perfect game, but something had gone horribly wrong at some point.
The Elkiad commander held his short gun as an outlet for his anger.
As long as Beatrice was there, nothing else mattered. He could shoot the other two dead to intimidate the package from the beginning. And a psychological shock like that would let him take the initiative to use her as a shield.
The short gun held just the one shot, but he had several of them prepared to allow rapid fire with the troublesome muzzle-loading weapons. He immediately pulled a new gun out with his left hand. It made him look like a character from a ridiculous Western rather than a soldier, but now he could kill both of the others at once.
Finally, he placed his fingers on the two triggers.
A moment later, the girls disappeared.
However, they had been too worn down by the battle to use any more Magic. They had not done anything. That meant the irregularity came from the man himself.
Yes.
For example, perhaps the Elkiad commander had broken through the hallway floor and fallen to the floor below.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?
By the time he realized what had happened, it was too late.
He tried to grab onto something, but the building materials crumbled in his hands and he was dragged down with them like he was caught in an antlion pit.
And as he lay on the floor below, he saw it.
A hideous pig face was looking down at him while resting a thick Shining Weapon on its shoulder.
“How tough are you?”
“Ha…ha ha.”
“With your Magic, you must be really tough. …So can I go all out when I hit you?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”
It only took a single strike.
The resultant tremor shook not just the entire building, but the entire inn town.
“Boo…Boo?”
Beatrice spoke to the figure she saw approaching.
“You came for me, Boo Boo?”
“I still don’t know what’s going on, so I wanted to talk with you about what all this is about.”
“Oh…”
Beatrice exchanged a glance with White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina before hesitantly opening her mouth.
She had nothing to hide or feel guilty about.
She had simply not wanted Boo Boo to worry about her, but that did not matter now that he had started a fight with Elkiad and mopped the floor with them.
She explained everything: their world had hit a technological dead-end and a single breakthrough could easily change everything, this time that had brought the world to the brink of a great war, and Elkiad had worked to trigger that war while Beatrice’s group had done everything they could to stop it.
At some points, she wondered if this was too complicated for Boo Boo, but that was no reason to hide anything. She could have him ask about the parts he did not understand and she could work to help him comprehend it all.
But a gentle look appeared on Boo Boo’s face as she explained.
Almost as if he was receiving the answer he was hoping for.
“Then that’s fine. I’m glad I saved you.”
“I know this is working against me, but do you really believe me? You can’t visit our world, so you have no way of seeing if it’s true. It’s possible the Piece we’ve created isn’t bait and will actually lead to the technology needed to start a war.”
“I trust you.”
“I see…”
Beatrice sounded relieved.
Boo Boo looked to the exhausted White Witch and Fighter Priest and said more.
“You all look tired. But you might not be able to relax in the inn town, so how about you come back to my house?”
“Good point… I want to get back home to settle all this, but if I register the Piece in my Shining Weapon for now, there shouldn’t be a problem. And it is true I want to get away from the inn town to ensure our safety. Filinion, Armelina, is that okay with you?”
As they discussed their plans, they left the half-destroyed abandoned building.
There had been no one out there before, but a large crowd was gathered now.
And they had not gathered out of curiosity or idle interest.
Their faces were covered with fear. That was the seed of hatred. They had not come to see something they liked. That crucible of emotion prevented them from relaxing until they confirmed the situation and the scope of the threat. And of course, their concerns were not directed at Beatrice, Filinion, or Armelina.
It was Boo Boo.
He was a Nonhuman, an Iberian Orc, and a hideous outsider to the humans of the inn town.
His appearance alone could easily inspire prejudice, but he had also proven his great combat ability. It was clear what emotion people would turn his way.
“Boo Boo…”
“It’s okay, Beatrice.”
Boo Boo stood in front of the three girls and responded to the Holy Swordswoman behind him as those hostile gazes focused on him.
“I knew this would happen, so it doesn’t hurt.”
He had known they would fear him.
He had known they would hate him.
He had only ever watched the festival from the hilltop despite how much fun it looked, but he had set foot inside the inn town to save his friend’s life, knowing full well what it would lead to.
And it had ended exactly how he had known it would.
“This is wrong.” Beatrice’s voice was trembling. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was Elkiad and us who started this. If they’re going to blame anyone for this battle in the inn town, it should be us! There’s no excuse for treating you like this. You selflessly saved our lives and our world!!”
But even after hearing that, Boo Boo did not look back and simply shook his head.
He had said this did not hurt.
But there was something he most likely did not know. Just like with the Thousand Dragon, he had trusted what Beatrice had to say about this Elkiad business. He thought humans had clever minds and pure hearts. It was a nice thought, but it was not always accurate.
The people had stopped at fear for now.
But what would happen to Boo Boo if it grew into hatred and disgust?
Grandnir was an island small enough for a human to walk the perimeter in only three days. If the humans truly felt threatened and decided to hunt him down, there was no hiding.
With Boo Boo’s strength, it was possible he could defeat the entire hunting party.
But afterwards, he would surely break.
If he could endure that and if he was the type to have no trouble throwing others into pandemonium for his own sake, he never would have resisted the urge to join in at the festival!!
“That should just about do it,” said Sutriona up on a rooftop.
The palm-sized Fairy named Meridiana flew alongside her.
“Wh-what’s going to happen to Boo Boo? I don’t want him to become a pariah!”
“Neither do I, and that’s why I came here. It was for Boo Boo. To be honest, I’m not too interested in interfering with a human conflict.”
The Break News were paradoxes with souls.
And this girl-shaped one had enough power to mock the Thousand Dragon as “weak”.
“But what exactly are you going to do? Oh! Are you going to speak with the humans to give them a change of heart?”
“You moron, I’m also what they call a monster. If I reveal I’m a Break News, it will cause an even greater panic. After all, they treat my very existence as a paradox.”
The Fairy Queen added an “and”.
The floral decorations of her ribbon dress were based on the red flower known as a Crimson Heaven Flower. She placed a petal of one in her mouth and tore through it with her canine tooth.
“I am thinking of giving Boo Boo some help to show my respect for how he risked his life to protect a friend. But I have no interest whatsoever in kindly protecting the entire human race.”
An odd sound surrounded them.
The next thing the Fairy knew, Sutriona had butterfly-like blood wings. They were human-sized at first, but they quickly expanded and spread so the sinister red wings encroached on the entire sky.
During the Thousand Dragon issue, hadn’t it been mentioned that it was a toxin in Fairy blood that intoxicated the wicked dragon?
In that case, what could their queen do?
“There are two ways of erasing a threat from someone’s mind.”
Sutriona spoke to Meridiana as the Fairy looked up at the gigantic wings.
“For the first, you carefully explain what lies at the center of that threat to reduce and eliminate the fear. Simply put, you patiently argue your point until they are satisfied. But to be blunt, that’s a huge pain and the thought of me unconditionally lowering my head to a mere human is simply laughable. And I have no words at all for people who can’t even protect their own town, have an outsider handle it, and then treat that savior as a threat a moment later.”
“Th-then what’s the second way?”
“That should be obvious.”
That paradox put her hands on her hips and put on the most vicious grin imaginable.
“You send in an even greater disaster to reduce the impact of the previous one. And I’m used to playing the villain like this. After all, I am one of the Break News.”
That threat was feared as a scorching red sandstorm.
The instant one was caught in the intense sandstorm, they could not see anything beyond their own nose. The sandstorm was actually the powerful toxin contained within the Fairy Queen’s blood wings. In other words, it was a red sandstorm made up of the pigment in her blood and it was said that breathing in the slightest bit of it would burn away the civilized part of the human mind, transforming them into a pack of wild animals that were slaves to their desires.
The lethal dosage of a poison was determined by how much it could accumulate in that creature’s body, how quickly their body could break it down, and one other very simple factor: their body weight. The Crimson Heaven Flower pigment was broken down in a Fairy’s blood. Since the amount of pigment in a single palm-sized Fairy’s blood was enough to intoxicate a thousand-meter Dragon, what would happen to the humans of the inn town as that red fury filled the entire scene like a sandstorm?
The first to notice it was Beatrice.
White Witch Filinion’s support Magic was still active on the edge of her vision.
That Magic visualized the probability of a threat or of running across an enemy.
That value suddenly jumped straight to 100%.
(Wha-…?)
“Hey, what is that?”
The next to notice was an ignorant young man who calmly commented on it. His question was less about wanting to know what this was and more about wanting to gather attention to himself as the first to speak up about it.
Then an older Swordsman’s eyes opened wide when his experience told him what this was.
“I-it’s a Break News!! It’s the unpredictable Sutriona who has no known route! Get indoors now or your brain will be fried!! Hurry!!”
From there, it devolved into a panic.
It may not be the best comparison, but people would not bother to stop a robber or dine-and-dasher when they knew a giant meteor was about to hit. The people who had shown such hostility and malice now scattered and fled. They dove inside every door they could find and sealed up the doors and windows. The people who did not get in in time pounded on the doors, rattled the knobs, and ran to another building when they realized it was not going to open.
This was only an inn town.
People took turns visiting this world, so no one had an actual residence. The basic assumptions of a normal city did not apply here, so there was no guarantee that there was room for everyone in the buildings.
The people were even more panicked than they might have been because they knew that.
Yet if they looked at it rationally, there would be more than enough room if they crammed as many people indoors as they could.
Beatrice asked a question while agonizing over the number that was wavering between 90 and 100%.
“Boo Boo, what will we do? I doubt anyone will let us in right now.”
“We just have to look at the direction of the wind. Run to the hill and we’ll be safe.”
“Hm? Then why are you headed in that direction? The usual hill is the other way.”
“There are a few other people who are stuck outside like us. You go on ahead. I’ll carry those people to the hill.”
“Do you really think you can do that right now?”
She started to follow him, but not because of the hatred she had seen just a moment before.
She thought they could not save those people if she did not help.
But Boo Boo answered without a moment’s hesitation.
The value of 90% or even 100% did not matter.
“I can do it.”
And Boo Boo kept his promise.
The inn town people he saved had complicated looks on their faces, but they at least did not seem ready to do anything about Boo Boo at the moment.
The red pigment clung to the inn town for a while and no one could go outside for the three days it took for the effects to naturally fade. The Fairy Queen had said they would forget about their hatred of Boo Boo in that time and they would be filled with complaints concerning the monster named Sutriona instead.
“Boo Boo.”
Beatrice spoke to him near the leaf house.
He was looking after a campfire and had fish skewered on sticks set up next to the fire.
“I’ve been learning about fire recently. It’s tricky and hard work, but Sutriona gets upset if I don’t do it.”
“What? If you had told me, I could have taught you. Fire is my specialty.”
She sat next to him and looked to the crackling campfire.
After a while, she finally spoke.
“Sorry about all this.”
“Why are you apologizing, Beatrice?”
“I just about left no place for you in this world. In fact, it really would have happened if Sutriona hadn’t cheating her way out of this. I couldn’t do anything for you, Boo Boo. I couldn’t take responsibility for what I started.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong. You fought to protect everyone’s lives, so I don’t regret it.”
That may have been true.
That commotion may have been small when one considered it was to stop a conflict on the ridiculous scale of the Atlantic Sovereignty War.
But that was wrong on a fundament level.
The initial conditions were wrong.
“But, Boo Boo, that was about our world. It was nothing more than human selfishness. We were using Grandnir to solve a problem we should have solved on our own.”
“…”
“We brought disaster to your world. We gave you a burden you never should have had to bear. That’s why I’m apologizing, Boo Boo.”
It was on a small scale, it was not happening on earth, and it happened outside human society.
But did that make it okay?
Accepting that was no different from Elkiad who had no problem as long as it was not their country that fell into ruin.
“That isn’t true.”
But Boo Boo disagreed.
Beatrice looked up and he continued.
“If you’re ever having trouble, tell me about it. If there’s something you can’t solve on your own, ask me for help. It doesn’t matter if it’s something from another world. If there’s anything you’re worrying about, I want to help you solve it. So I don’t care if you bring disaster and I’m fine taking on an unnecessary burden.”
“Boo Boo…”
“I mean, we’re friends, aren’t we?”
White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina observed the two from a short distance away.
“I see. So that’s the Boo Boo that Beatrice is always talking about.”
“To be honest…it would be difficult to have romantic feelings for that, but an intelligent Nonhuman might not be bad for having an acquaintance who isn’t playing the Magic and Pieces game.”
“Oh? So you’re going to sum it up like that? Then why do you look about ready to start meddling just to have some fun with someone else’s romance?”
“Oh, dear. But aren’t you the one that’s started unlocking some delightful aphrodisiac Magic despite not known any Recovery Magic at all?”
A small form appeared behind them.
It was the unpredictable Fairy Queen. She blew gently into their ears and spoke.
“Hey. Mess with my toy too much and I’ll send you to a world of crazed red passion.”
The small circle was slowly expanding.
And it was all because someone had been willing to throw it all away in order to protect someone else.
“Phew…”
A girl with her hair tied in twintails using her own hair breathed a quiet sigh inside a large garden located in a clearing surrounded by verdant trees. Particles of light danced around her shoulders, but they scattered as she walked.
She walked to one corner of a marble gazebo.
However, it did not contain the chairs or table needed to hold a tea party. It contained a large round jacuzzi. The girl with long black twintails let her exhausted body sink into the open air bath kept at a comfortable temperature 24 hours a day. She practically collapsed into it without removing the red dress which had a large slit up it.
After a short delay, a small maid approached with light footsteps. The short black hair and the hat rather than a headdress meant this was the youngest of the three sisters. They could be classified as “large”, “medium”, and “small”, so it was easy to tell which one it was from a distance.
“You’re back, milady? …Waaah!? You jumped into the bath in your dress again? But that’s a top class Robe Decollete! It’s 100% silk, made by a craftsman with a royal warrant, and known as a ‘wearable mansion’!!”
“Didn’t I tell you I don’t need anyone greeting me since I didn’t know when I would be back? …And exploring another world is exhausting. I keep telling you I want to pass through the door in only a bathrobe so I can take a bath the second I get back. This thing is surprisingly hard to take off, you know?”
“We can’t let you do something so embarrassing!”
“My equipment changes when I’m in Grandnir anyway. In fact, the clothing and armor is really just Magic. If only I could bring this jacuzzi with me.”
“Anyway, um, well, anyway, I can only insist that you be more careful next time!!”
The small maid was promptly preparing some iced tea, but (as always) the girl was not listening.
As she floated face up on the warm water’s surface, her red dress spread wide around her.
The outfit looked like it belonged on the star of a ball or at a mistaken sort of wedding. Her hair was a lustrous black and she always made sure to tell the adults around her that she preferred wearing a kimono, but they must have been feigning indifference because they refused to listen and continued using her as a dress-up doll.
“How was Grandnir, milady?”
The maid asked a cheerful question while shaking the red ribbon decorating her modest chest. The girl pulled out her smartphone and sent over some data while floating in the bath.
“Here’s a souvenir. We’ve opened the path to oil-producing corn that will prevent desertification while also solving the energy crisis. You can use that Piece however you like.”
“Waaah!? Th-th-that-that data could easily change the history of mankind, so why do you always toss it around like it’s a game of catch!?”
The dress girl floating in the warm water smiled at the maid who was flailing her arms around.
“My stance hasn’t changed. Then again, some things might head in a different direction now that the way through Cave 25 has opened. Still…hm, I guess there’s no point in telling you about that. Anyway, Haruka, are you using the Hourglass like you’re supposed to?”
“Ah, oops. I almost forgot!”
The girl gestured over and the maid quickly began operating the device.
It was called an Hourglass, but it was not actually one. She opened the stopwatch app on the smartphone sitting on the table and a two minute countdown started.
The girl operated her own smartphone while her floating dress and twintails swayed in water. It was of course waterproof. When she activated the AR mode, she could look through the screen to see dots of light covering the scenery and lines of light connecting them.
“B-12, G-29, and Y-03. The world still hasn’t seen any of them.”
“Do most of them not know about the future technology you can see, milady?”
“I have to guide them elsewhere before they see that path. Using V-71 and P-01 would probably be best.”
The maid remained carefree because she was not even thinking about catching up to what the sharp-eyed dress girl was thinking.
“Grandnir’s Magic certainly has its plusses and its minuses. It can easily pull off precision processing that not even laser processing can match.”
Magic could only be used in Grandnir and nothing in this world could be brought to Grandnir.
The only things they could bring back were the Pieces created from data stored in their Shining Weapons.
“Thanks to that, we can easily bend this world. ..It really is like pouring orange juice, citrus soda, milk, and chocolate into apple juice and calling it a mixed drink.”
A single breakthrough could create an abnormally powerful supercomputer.
That supercomputer could create compatible workstations, those workstations could control compatible PCs, and those would then lead to compatible mobile devices.
And this was not limited to a single field.
It could be processors, cars, homes, airplanes, ships, health, communications, sports, optical devices, food processing, satellites, robotics, agriculture, printed circuit boards…and even military technology.
And those could easily change the world.
It went beyond the inevitable decay of the prosperous. Even a small technological revolution could entirely change the balance of power, so letting your guard down even for a moment could send yesterday’s winner tumbling down to be tomorrow’s loser. The world’s most powerful army could be left in the dust while some strange mercenary group or ideological organization could suddenly rise to the top.
Technological breakthroughs were made by a single puzzle “Piece”.
That was why every country’s government and corporations desperately sought those Pieces. They thoroughly searched through the jumbled assortment of them registered online, hoping to find one they could use in their research. If they found one that fit and that resolved their personal problem, they could complete the new technology or new manufacturing method that would change the world. For a brief time, the throne would be theirs.
As the people exploring Grandnir brought back and uploaded their Pieces, they had no idea who would end up with it and what kind of research it would become. And they did not care. They were only greedily seeking Experience Points to learn Magic.
They brought back the various Pieces and uploaded them because they might as well. If that did lead to some great research breakthrough, they would receive an extremely lucrative contract payment from the nation or corporation in question. It was something like a risky lottery in which one guessed what would be useful rather than leaving it all up to luck.
And that could lead to moral hazards like with the Fairies and the Thousand Dragon.
Immoral people were beginning to appear in this world as well. They declared themselves the winners as they created a somewhat twisted world.
“I need to be careful.”
Thanks to the water, the red dress’s fabric clung to the girl’s skin and her long twintails floated around her.
The corn data she had tossed to the maid was a Piece with a complete simulation, telling them which direction it would take them. If that corn was planted in the desert, there was no chance of it leading to an outbreak of bugs or a sandstorm assaulting a city.
But what else would happen?
When the existence of Grandnir had first been revealed, mankind had had difficulty with the Labyrinth. That had lasted until a free paper was published on a message board, suggesting the Shining Weapons at the core of a Magic system modeled after video games, the best system for modern human use.
That had been the world’s very first Piece.
The unknown author of that paper (who might have been an individual or a group) was known as the Sage, but were they correct in saying that simply gathering the Pieces was the right thing to do? Was it right to go along with the Sage’s idea when they almost seemed to be enjoying the show as the world grew so twisted and no one gave any thought to correcting it?
“We don’t know what the Pieces we collect will lead to, but that’s just abandoning any responsibility. If we’re going to collect these Pieces, we need to know how they’ll change the world.”
“Milady…”
The dress girl operated her smartphone while listening to the maid. She canceled AR mode and played a normal full-seg broadcast on a normal screen.
B-12, G-29, and Y-03 had to be stopped.
V-71 and P-01 would be useful in avoiding them.
Among the endless number of new technologies to be created from the countless Pieces, the dress girl was focused on a certain industry in particular.
“As the West complains more and more about obesity, obesity, obesity, they’ve started focusing on Japan’s fish culture. You don’t have to suffer through an oppressively healthy diet and you can eat as much delicious food as you want, all while losing weight! Our Fishing Cafeteria Group is finally heading overseas!”
“The next global standard in fast food is Chinese food! Ramen, fried rice, and gyoza are already part of the world’s vocabulary, so all that remains is for us to set the standard. The FE Caiguan Zhushi Gongsi is beginning a simultaneous campaign in fifty countries around the world.”
“Burgers are old news? Well, we’re going to tear down that ‘old news’ and bring you a brand new experience based on the lessons we’ve learned in the past. This is a giant step forward and a challenge to our rivals. No one can ransack our field.”
(The fast food industry is fighting for global dominance. They want to cover the entire planet, national borders be damned, and they want to serve as many grams as possible for as little money as possible.)
The girl sighed as if to force out the unpleasant feeling growing deep in her chest.
Boo Boo really seemed to believe humans were messengers from heaven, but the reality was very different. She silently swore to never let him see this ugly side of humanity.
Then she raised her head and spoke.
“Haruka.”
“Y-yes!? What is it, milady!?”
“I know you set up the Hourglass, but you didn’t mute the smartphone, did you?”
“Waaah!!”
The maid panicked and caused the tea set on the table to clank together, but the red dress girl ignored her and shut off the image on her smartphone’s screen.
She removed the hard key inserted into the bottom connector and connected it to something hanging from her neck by a thin necklace chain.
The device dancing in front of her chest was smaller and skinnier than a USB flash drive.
The Nonhumans of Grandnir would probably think it looked like a tiny version of the sword or spear Shining Weapons that humans used.
She used her thumb to close up the connector on the blade.
(Honestly, I understand changing our appearance, but it also partially overwrites your speech patterns, personality, and thought patterns to make room for the magic you’ve learned. It really makes you think.)
Even so, the girl was not going to stop what she was doing.
She did not simply want to be some corporation’s tool.
She had another reason to continue her exploration of Grandnir.
“I’ve got to do something.”
She operated something with the movement of her eyes.
The roof of the gazebo became transparent and she could see a long contrail in the clear blue afternoon sky.
When she looked further into the distance, she saw high-rise buildings beyond the green trees.
Yes.
This was a one kilometer wide circle cleared out in the center of Tokyo’s Roppongi.
It was known as the Detached Magic Palace. That green garden “prison” had been constructed for the girl known as a Holy Swordswoman.
“I made a garden.”
“Kyah! That’s amazing, Boo Boo. You’re so civilized!”
“Do you hate me, Beatrice?”
“Don’t be silly. Anyway, what are you growing?”
Boo Boo had indeed forcibly tilled the hard earth near the Fairy-protected leaf house. It must have been some extremely fast-growing vegetable because green ivy was already climbing up the supports and bearing green vegetables. They looked like tomatoes, but Beatrice could not tell if they were supposed to be green or if they would grow red later.
“Boo Boo, what kind of vegetable is this?”
“They’re called Flat Chest Eggplants.”
“Flat Chest…?”
That name included an unacceptable term for a teenage girl, but Beatrice decided to assume that was a Nonhuman term that just so happened to sound like that in human language.
However…
“If you eat it, it’s supposed to make your chest flat. But it doesn’t make me any slimmer when I eat it, so no one knows if it’s true or not.”
“It does mean that!!!???”
Beatrice backed away from that enemy of girls everywhere and used her gauntleted hands to guard her chest.
Oblivious to the girl’s terror, Boo Boo tilted his head and said more.
“Huh? Or was it touching the Flat Chest Eggplant that mattered? No, it was touching it and then touching your chest, getting the juice on you. …Or was it something else? Hmm, I’m not an old witch, so I don’t remember that tricky stuff.”
“Waaah!! Tell me that before I protect myself with the finger I used to poke the vegetable, Boo Boo!!”
Beatrice tearfully shouted with pretty much all of her strength and quickly used fire illusion Magic to call up a rectangular frame. She rapidly scrolled through the specs listed there and stopped on a certain point.
It had gone down.
It had gone down a little.
It was only a few millimeters, but she had lost the critical amount she needed to be above rather than below average.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”
“Wh-what is it, Beatrice!?”
“Wh-wh-what do I do, what do I do, what do I do!? If I head back and come back to Grandnir, will my appearance reset? And if that doesn’t work, do I need to ask White Witch Filinion for help? Ask her!? Ask that cow in glasses for help with my breasts!?”
The Holy Swordswoman shouted and tore at her beautiful hair with both hands.
She was afraid to think what would happen if her amateur methods did not work. Crying to that cow about this would be a suicidal declaration of defeat. But just in case (Yes, just in case!), she created a frame using the two L-shapes of her thumb and forefinger and took a Magic photo of the vegetable.
But…
“P-pant, pant, pant. B-but, Boo Boo.”
“What is all this about, Beatrice?”
“Your garden’s vegetables aren’t doing too good. There are bugs on them and is this from birds pecking at them?”
“That’s part of nature, so there’s no helping it.”
“But this doesn’t leave any for you.”
“The bugs eat the vegetables I make, the birds eat the bugs, the beasts eat the birds, and I catch the beasts, so it’s still a good deal for me.”
She tried using her illusion Magic to create a chart out of red lines and frames, but…
“Hmm… Will it really work out that way? I think you’re losing too much to luck.”
“My logic is perfect, so it’s fine.”
“Also, vegetables aren’t there to bring in meat. You need to eat the vegetables too. Everything needs to be balanced.”
“Vegetables… Why would you want me to do something I hate? Maybe you do hate me…”
Beatrice nearly asked why he had made the garden in the first place, but she wanted to avoid a pointless argument like that.
“By the way, Boo Boo. I wanted to ask you something.”
“G-gulp!? I-I’m eating my Nyandetta Fruit! I’m not secretly hiding them!!”
“…Boo Boo?”
What even was a Nyandetta Fruit?
“Vegetables are important, but let’s talk about something else. Boo Boo, have you heard of a Guild known as Elkiad?”
“I’ve never heard of a vegetable called that.”
“I see. So you really don’t know anything.”
Boo Boo had no connection with human society, so he might not even know what a Guild is, much less a specific one like Elkiad.
Beatrice prepared a few red lines and frames and showed them to Boo Boo.
“A Guild is a human organization created to explore the Labyrinth. You can think of them as a gathering of several Parties, groups that actually head out the Labyrinth. But a Guild will include noncombat logistical support members who prepare food and other things needed for everyday life.”
“I don’t like thinking about all that tricky stuff.”
“Oh, but it’s simple, Boo Boo. If you hear the name Elkiad, then avoid them if at all possible. They’re a dangerous Guild that’s been gaining power recently and they’re creating a real moral hazard among their ranks. They’re people whose words I can understand but whose thoughts I can’t. So be careful.”
She created a frame labeled Elkiad and drew an X over it without any connecting red lines.
Simply put, the humans behind the Fairy and Thousand Dragon incident had belonged to Elkiad.
If the lowest members were like that, then the central members had to be even more rotten.
She left that unsaid because she did not want to remind kind Boo Boo of that unpleasant business, but she did make one thing quite clear.
“Elkiad seems to be growing impatient with their Labyrinth exploration. The wiring in their head was messed up to begin with, but that impatience is pushing them even further. Avoiding them is in your best interest.”
“Is this about Magic and Experience Points?”
“That’s right, Boo Boo. Good job remembering that.”
“I don’t really get it. Is shooting fire or ice from your hand really that great? I mean, it is pretty cool, but is it worth risking your life in that scary Labyrinth?”
“Heh heh heh. Yes, you might be right about that. It probably isn’t a testament to human intelligence that we see excess value in that. We’re just a bunch of fools that are really good at finding more than is absolutely necessary.”
“But I would like to be able to fly.”
“Yes. And I’d like to make a candy house.”
After parting ways with Boo Boo, Beatrice opened her Magic map and walked toward the inn town. The inn town was the human base of operations, but it had no homes. None of the shop owners slept in Grandnir. They would look after the shop in rotations of two or three shifts, so no single person stayed in Grandnir for long. For better or for worse, Grandnir’s Nonhumans were not affected much by human culture.
Even so, Beatrice ran across two familiar faces in the inn town. One was the White Witch Filinion with her fluffy blonde hair, glasses, white cloak, dress, and low-rise shorts. As always, she was showing off her breasts that Beatrice could only call “gluttonous”, but Beatrice was smugly certain that her type was much less impressive back in their original world.
The other was Fighter Priest Armelina who had short green hair, a tall stature, and a very, very flat (ha ha) chest. She wore a long green skirt with a long slit on both sides. The boldly exposed chest seemed odd for a supposed priest, but that was actually fairly tame for Grandnir.
The two of them were speaking in front of an open-air shop with fruit juice in hand. But instead of an elegant chat over tea, they seemed to be plotting some way to get Mixing ingredients and the gears used as currency.
Then again, those two were only ever talking about the Labyrinth or Magic, which really came down to money in the end.
“Oh, Beatrice.”
“We were just talking about you.”
“?”
She joined the conversation and they both started talking to her.
“With the route through Cave 25 opened, things have gotten pretty busy around here.”
“But can we really let that Piece be uploaded to our world? I don’t know much about big data or the conspiracies of global corporations, but this one’s a little too blatant. And of course, that brings us to you.”
“I suppose it would,” casually agreed Beatrice. “So are you trying to get me to play the villain again?”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one that started this.”
The White Witch sounded exasperated and Armelina spoke up next to her.
“Do you really think Filinion can play your role when all she can do is heal people and let those giant boobs bounce around?”
“M-my breasts have nothing to do with this! I didn’t ask to have them this big!”
“What!? Don’t tell me you think they’re a negative, you cow!”
“What!? Don’t tell me you think they’re a negative, you cow!”
Filinion blushed and covered her chest with both hands, but Beatrice and Armelina snapped back at her in perfect unison. The Holy Swordswoman’s ahoge ignited as an illuminating fire.
It was the Fighting Priest who first realized this was not the time for that.
“Anyway, it’s the usual situation, so wouldn’t you be best, Beatrice? And it doesn’t look to me like you’re complaining.”
“That’s fine with me. So does that mean we’re off to the Labyrinth? When do we start?”
“Now, if that’s okay.”
The Holy Swordswoman, White Witch, and Fighting Priest were all monsters at the level cap who claimed things only began after reaching Level 99. Those three girls with tricky Jobs formed a temporary Party.
“I feel like we’re going to get stabbed in the back someday.”
“I’m counting on you to heal me when that day comes. Now let’s go.”
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And from a societal standpoint, food can be more easily stockpiled and wasted food more efficiently reused.
After ending their Labyrinth exploration for the day and returning aboveground, Beatrice walked along a path while somewhat rearranging the map created from illusion Magic. The automap function was based on where she had walked, so it was a little crude.
(That was an awful trip. We were running for our lives the entire time… All we did was run away from that super-tough punishment Gimmick known as the Fingertip of Destruction.)
She could sync her map with map-obsessed Fighting Priest Armelina later on, but that was not a happy thought since the girl was bound to take a ton of gears as payment.
(I can’t forget the basic fact that we were lucky to get back safely at all. There is Magic to return immediately, but then you have to leave behind all of the Treasure you’d gathered. Ahh, I’m so tired.)
For a change of pace, she called up her Magic map of the area and headed to Boo Boo’s house, but then she heard a scream beyond the trees.
“Squeal! …O-ow! Y-you’re just too strong for me.”
“Hm? What is it, Boo Boo!?”
Beatrice could tell this was serious and she rushed over, but she was tilting her head even as she rushed. Boo Boo had unilaterally beaten the thousand meter Break News known as the Thousand Dragon, so was there anything he could not defeat?
Her question was quickly answered.
Right in front of his tent-like leaf house, Boo Boo was collapsed face down as he trembled with his hands over his head.
His butt rose up like a small hill and a girl of about ten with long silver hair and a skimpy black outfit was sitting cross-legged on top of that hill.
“Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!! You may have gotten carried away after beating up the Thousand Dragon, but now do you see how pitiful you truly are, Nonhuman? That thing was only the lowest of the Break News. Now tremble in the face of real power!!”
“I-I never cared about strength.”
“But you do have talent. Why not take me as your master and have me retrain you from the ground up?”
“This old hag isn’t listening to anything I-…ow!!”
Beatrice was unsure how to react.
What was this? Had four meter Boo Boo really gotten into a fight with a ten year old girl and had he really been the one to get beaten up?
(Yeah… I have no idea what’s going on here, but I am glad this didn’t go: ‘You’re my enemy’ → Boo Boo beats the ever-living snot out of a little girl.)
That said, she could not figure this out, so she tried solving it a piece at a time.
So what should she ask first?
“I kind of doubt it, but…Boo Boo, is having a girl sit on you your idea of fun?”
“The only things I do for fun are puzzle rings and the ring toss. Heh heh. I can solve even the trickiest puzzle ring before you can count to three.”
“That’s because you break them, Boo Boo. Now, would you mind explaining who this girl is?”
Beatrice had started with that because of how the girl was dressed. If she was being generous, she would call it a black dress, but it felt more like the girl had a ribbon wrapped around her body and had added a miniskirt on top of that. She also had tropical flower decorations on either side of her head and on her back, but that was not the main point. Beatrice’s armor and skirt were technically Magic and every piece of equipment increased her strength or thought speed by a certain percentage…but this girl had none of that. Her clothing was most likely special-made from Ground Spider silk, but that meant it was not Magic. These were simply clothes.
And that led to a simple conclusion.
This girl looked just like a human, but she was clearly doing something humans did not.
And as the black ribbon dress girl gave off an aura of cruel delight like an evil demon king sitting in his throne, she stood up on top of Boo Boo’s butt, placed her hands on her hips, and looked down at Beatrice.
“Hee hee. I am Sutriona, one of the Break News. I am of course the Queen of the Harlots who appears in the crimson night.”
“Bfhh!?”
Beatrice spat out the contents of her mouth at that sudden announcement.
(How can she say that with such a cherubic face!?)
“I had heard he had defeated one of us Break News, even if it was the lowliest one. I was curious, so I challenged to him to a bit of a fight. However, it was not even worth spreading my Wings of the Maddeningly Hot Night.”
“No, not that! I don’t care about that! What was that about harlots? Is this some elaborate joke!?”
“You care about that? But it’s the truth, so I’m not sure what to tell you. I am the queen of the thousands of sweltering nights and the sandstorm of maddening red heat that consumes eons of peace. What other title could I use?”
“I really, really hope this isn’t it, but…are you seriously calling yourself that? No one’s making you do it after you lost a game or something?”
“I was sick of everyone calling me cute when I was Queen of the Fairies, so I changed the title myself. For some reason, my shrine maidens at the waterfall altar have been sobbing ever since.”
“I had a feeling that was it!!”
“What is your problem? No one deserves to be called Queen of the Harlots more than me. For example, I am of course not wearing any panties.”
“G-get down from there!! Stop standing so triumphantly on top of Boo Boo, you old hag!!”
After some struggles and difficulties, Beatrice somehow managed to drag Sutriona, Queen of the Har-…of the Fairies, down from the small hill of Boo Boo’s butt.
But was this slender girl really a Break News just as strong as, or even stronger than, the Thousand Dragon?
How exactly had she knocked Boo Boo down to the dirt?
When Beatrice asked, Sutriona put her hands on her hips, gave a proud snort, and answered.
“How, you ask? With your world’s wrestling techniques.”
“Where did you learn about those!? No, that’s not the point. How could you possibly wrestle with him!? Your arms and legs are too short to deal with Boo Boo’s giant body. You’d never be able to reach for a throw or a joint lock!!”
“Oh? Did you just say ‘short’, human girl?”
The long, silver-haired girl gave a dark smile and an ominous aura surrounded her.
“Skinny, I’ll allow. Small, I’ll put up with. …But you just said ‘short’, didn’t you?”
“Eh? What?”
“If you want to know that badly, I’ll show you just how I brought down that Iberian Orc. I used this fifteen joint lock combo from hellllllllllllllllll!!”
“Eh? Iberian Orc is a real species name!? And wait, you idiot!! Are you saying you pinned Boo Boo down like this without any underwear on!? And this pincer hold- vrrvbrvrchhhhhhhhhh!?”
With an almost silly sound of violence, the Holy Swordswoman who had free use of fourteen thousand types of fire Magic was balled up like something from a joke.
Three hundred seconds later, Beatrice was face-down on the ground and trembling with her hands over her head. Meanwhile, Sutriona was sitting with her legs crossed on top of Beatrice’s butt.
“There. You should have a good idea of just how unbeatable I am now.”
“E-even after you used it on me…I still have no idea how you did it…?”
“That weak Thousand Dragon was invading my territory and devouring my Fairies when I was away. I planned to punish that thing eventually, but now I need to thank you for doing it for me. Rejoice in this rare opportunity to spar with someone so far out of your league and try to turn this defeat into valuable experience.”
Sutriona was mocking her, but Beatrice’s rapier-like Shining Weapon was emitting a flashing sign into the empty air. She drew it from its sheath with her butt still sticking into the air and was shocked to find she had earned quite a few Experience Points. It was actually far more than she would get from a trip to the Labyrinth, but she was afraid what bizarre path she would head down if she got used to earning them like this.
“B-but… We’ve come a long way if we’ve survived two encounters with a Break News…”
On top of that, this one spoke the human language and saw the Fairies as her own. That was rare for the Break News who generally followed a random route through the island as they (in a way, selfishly) spread different sorts of chaos. Of course, that did not mean this one had the same morals or standards as humans.
“Oh, it’s all connected if you pay attention. Besides, isn’t it customary to bring a small gift when moving in?”
“…? I think I just heard something I can’t just ignore.”
“Weren’t you listening?”
Boo Boo sounded fearful, but Sutriona put a hand on her slender waist and ground the finger of the other against her temple while winking.
“Defeating that weak Thousand Dragon created a change in our territories. I need to rule this area as well now, so I stopped by to say hello.”
Boo Boo decided right then and there that he was moving, but the Break News dissuaded him with a wrestling move.
Palm-sized Fairy Meridiana repaired the leaf house’s roof to keep out the rain as she viewed the hellish scene below.
“Oh, dear. Oh, my. Would you look at that, Boo Boo.”
A visit from the Fairy Queen was a rare thing. The Break News generally liked to show off and the humans and Nonhumans would live peaceful lives by steering clear of their path as if they had detected a coming storm. But Sutriona was an exception. She was well-known as a Break News that no one could track. She would appear so unexpectedly that not even the Fairy village could predict it, to say nothing of the humans. Probably only the other Break News could see through her actions.
Thus, the Fairy village had Elder Morgan as a leader in Sutriona’s place and Meridiana saw Sutriona as more of a goddess than a queen. Meridiana had been taught Sutriona was always watching over them, but she was not to be mocked even if she did not come to save them. That was the unrealistic sort of higher being Sutriona seemed to be.
But now that godlike Fairy Queen had appeared so easily.
Boo Boo had caught the attention of someone on that level.
“Perhaps I should prepare some Red Rice for tonight. Eh heh heh.”
Meridiana flew down from the roof.
But even if Sutriona was playing around, she was still the Fairy Queen and one of the Break News. Boo Boo and Beatrice’s bodies would be crying out in agony. With kind thoughts in mind, Meridiana started for the forest to gather the standard Grandnir herbs used in compresses.
She planned to bring them first aid medicine and a small celebratory meal.
The Fairy saw paying back Boo Boo with housework as her meaning in life and she was the type to delight in having lots to do.
“I need to work even harder to make sure Boo Boo can live comfortably.”
That evening, Boo Boo grimaced at the sharp smell coming from his house.
“My house smells weird!”
“Your house always smells, Boo Boo. But what is this? It smells like someone soaked a compress in a bucket of water and just left it for three days.”
“I feel like you’re picking a fight with me, Beatrice.”
“You’re imagining it. But…what is this here? It’s red and sticky… Is it a grain?”
“I promised myself I wouldn’t waste food. …Ew!? This rice has the room’s smell all over it!”
“Hmm… If I put this in my mouth, I’m pretty sure something unpleasant would reach my nose.”
For a while afterwards, Boo Boo lived in fear of the poltergeist threatening his peaceful home.
A kilometer wide green circle sat in the center of Roppongi, Tokyo.
It was the Detached Magic Palace.
After passing through a rectangular frame of light, the silver- and red-haired swordswoman in red armor and a miniskirt became a girl with black twintails and a ball dress.
In the garden surrounded by green trees, a round jacuzzi was protected by a gazebo-like roof. When she arrived there, she gave into her exhaustion and threw herself into the hot water without removing her clothing. The long skirt with a large slit up the side spread out along the water’s surface. The girl flipped over onto her back and pulled a hard key resembling her Shining Weapon rapier from the bottom connector of her smartphone.
She could feel the exhaustion rising within her, but she could not let the sleepiness get the better of her.
(The battles in the Labyrinth seem to wear out your head more than your body. So let your guard down for a moment and you fall asleep.)
“Phew.”
She checked the approximate time on the screen. She had spent about four days and seven hours there this time. The girl had been born in this world and on this planet, so spending too much time in Grandnir could mess with her internal clock and cause serious irregularities in her body and mind. This was the main reason that the humans used the inn town as a base but did not have any permanent residences there.
The three maid sisters were not here today.
She floated face-up in the open-air bath and grabbed a pitcher of water from a tray floating with her. She poured the cold water in a cup and gulped it down.
Allotting her earned Experience Points and learning new Magic could wait.
Her smartphone contained a Log of her time spent searching the Labyrinth since it had been saved to her Shining Weapon. When she looked back through it, she could tell the battles with the lifeless Gimmicks were very different from the battles on the surface. They were more like games of red light, green light than games of tag. The Gimmicks only moved when she did, so she had an unlimited amount of time to think up her next move right in front of the enemy. In a Party battle or Guild battle, teamwork became important. Would they all move together as a single group or would individuals stay still to give the attackers and healers more chances to move?
However, even the slightest fidget could be seen as a movement and, when there were multiple people in a single area, the Gimmick could react to someone else’s movement even if you remained entirely still. So if your accidental movement put someone else in danger, it could earn unnecessary resentment.
(Oh, this is just useless… I want to review my mistakes, but my brain doesn’t want to do anything…)
She closed the screen but then started fiddling with the smartphone to have something to do. She found a few new articles at the top of a news site.
These were the headlines:
“UN Resolution Fails, Standing Member-Nations Unable to Agree”
“Special Report: Has the Countdown in the Atlantic Really Begun?”
“The Euro Crash. Are Major US Investors Really to Blame?”
“Asia Ignored. Where will the World Police Turn Next?”
“The European Shift to the Far Right Accelerates. Is it a Reaction to Reduced Strength in Exports?”
None of them made her want to tap on the link. Checking the video sites and full-seg mobile TV would likely only show the same sort of news.
“I need to stay focused…”
The twintailed girl spoke quietly to herself as her red dress spread out in the water.
Once she had gotten a light meal and some sleep to readjust her internal clock, she would return to Grandnir. There was a Piece the nations and corporations desperately wanted and she could not let them beat her to it after so much work.
A Piece was a factor that could provide a breakthrough to stalled human technology and cause a sudden change to the global civilization. They were created with a processing technique that used Magic.
A Piece was registered by an individual and its rights were bought by an interested corporation or nation. It was not revealed who bought it and the individual simply received the payment. Only then did the Piece lead to actual production.
The Pieces were useless to the girl and the others in Grandnir if they simply held onto them. To a normal person, a physics textbook was only useful for studying, but the knowledge contained inside was used to create rockets that flew into space. This was the same.
Who would acquire them?
Where would they end up?
The girl and the others truly did hold history in their hands. Most people carelessly use their Pieces and carelessly uploaded them. They were blinded by the lucrative contract fees that rivalled a lottery win if a Piece was deemed useful by a nation or corporation (or someone pretending to be one of those), so they did not think it through that far. However, if someone was paying that much, then it was worth that much.
“Honestly…”
The red dress girl looked back down and used the hard key to allot her Experience Points and manage her Magic.
In addition to the ever-changing headlines, the news site had one special article that never moved from the very top as if it had a hall of fame position.
It had the following headline:
“Is an Atlantic Sovereignty War Really Possible? What Would be Gained in a Conflict between an Old Giant and a New Giant?”
“The humans are the ones you really need to watch out for, Boo Boo.”
Fairy Queen Sutriona had not prepared anything to eat in the confusion of moving in, so she helped herself to Boo Boo’s dinner as if it were only natural.
The leaf house had no kitchen, so it was a super wild meal of venison cooked over a fire out back with only some rock salt for flavor. Boo Boo had originally planned to eat it raw, so Sutriona’s intrusion may not have been all bad.
“You need to watch out for the humans even more than the Nonhumans or even the Break News. Even though they’re weak…no, because they’re weak, they change the world in ways you would never expect.”
“Can you make this easier to understand?”
“Sure. Since I look like this, I occasionally visit the inn town pretending to be a human.”
There was a small pile of large red flower petals next to Sutriona. If Beatrice had been there, she might have said they looked like hibiscus petals. They came from the Crimson Heaven Flower and Sutriona had been munching on them like snacks while the meat cooked. They were slightly toxic, so Boo Boo did not touch them.
“Thanks to that, I’ve seen and heard for myself what they do. I know what those humans tend to be thinking.”
“Beatrice is a good person, so I bet all humans are good people. There are sometimes some weird ones, though.”
“It would be nice if it was that simple, but she’s actually an exception when it comes to humans. Humans are a selfish species.”
“But they’ve promised they’re just here to visit the Labyrinth so they won’t hurt us.”
“That’s not because they’re afraid of Grandnir’s residents or because they’re considerate. They just want to prove they’re not here to conquer our world and to show off how gentlemanly they are by following the rules.”
“Hm? Can you tell a good person from a bad person, Sutriona?”
“Keh heh heh. When you’ve lived as long as I have, it comes naturally. I don’t even need to take a direct look at the color of their soul. The look on their face and the tone of their voice is all I need to see to the very depths of their heart. It’s the same for human and Nonhuman alike. Incidentally, you fall under ‘not bad’, so rejoice.”
Sutriona roasted the venison stuck on the end of a wooden stick and let the heat remove the excess fat.
“Do you know what they’re so desperate to accomplish? How to produce a new preservative known as Imortalise. …It’s apparently a chemical that prevents food from rotting. With that, they could store it indefinitely and transport it indefinitely. If it can be carried longer distances, they claim they can obtain equality between the places with so much food it rots and the places with so little food the people starve.”
“I’m no good with complicated things.”
Sutriona responded to Boo Boo’s words by moving the meat in the fire a little.
“It means they could leave this on the ground around here and it wouldn’t rot. If the rumors about Imortalise are accurate, it would last a month or two. If the food doesn’t rot, the extra food can be shared with people who live far away, right?”
“Hm? That sounds like a good thing to me.”
“At face value, yes. …But if you can quickly transport as much food as you want, you can also make use of far more soldiers, right? Eternal Foods will provide absolute certainty to the safety of food. Canning, freezing, drying, and vacuum packing still leave a modicum of risk, but this will eliminate even that. That means the beginning of a world in whichanyone can easily start a war.”
“What’s a war?”
“The loss of many lives. It’s an unpleasant topic, but you need people to kill people, right? A lot of killing requires a large force of people. And the food is actually more important than the weapons, Boo Boo. Plus, if they can sell a whole bunch of food, they can use that money to buy weapons.”
Sutriona put on a cynical and crafty smile that did not suit her appearance.
“A dictator’s conscripted soldiers might obey their orders to eat rotten bread and meat that reeks of chemicals, but it seems wars these days are fought between ‘kings’. That is, between the wealthy nations. If word gets around that you will be sickened from within by your own allies if you go to war, no one will volunteer. And they can’t go to war if they can’t gather an army, so I can see why they’re eager to ensure the safety of the food if those ‘kings’ wish to wage war.”
She somewhat changed the subject from there.
“Anyway, few are powerful enough to start a war and fewer still have the true power needed to maintain a war indefinitely. That’s why wars are not so easily started. A poor command will only wear down your own country. If you want a peaceful world, it’s important to maintain a system that makes going to war difficult.”
Sutriona bit off a small piece of the meat she had cooked, but it must have been too hot because she stuck her tongue out.
“Everyone’s gone to so much trouble creating that unreliable suspension bridge and now someone wants to swap it out for a stone bridge with absolute reliability. Wars of no-risk and high-return will begin. And no matter how many foolish commands are given, the wars will continue. People will begin investing in that great and unreachable industry as casually as in the development of a housewife’s nifty little invention.”
“…”
“And since supporting the food supply looks charitable and humane, no one can stop them from developing it on a large scale. In other words, the exploration of the Labyrinth and the conversion of Experience Points into Magic is nothing more than the humans competing to see who can first obtain a method of economizing war and who can monopolize that method. …Of course, I have my doubts that very many of them are even looking beyond the vast sums of money to see that their decisions here could lead to the destruction of their own civilization.”
Boo Boo fell silent for a while.
He glanced over at the wood-carved human statue sitting near the fire. It showed a human as a messenger of heaven, just as the Nonhuman oral tradition stated.
Only the crackling of the fire could be heard.
“Humans are good people. They wouldn’t want to do that war thing.”
“Don’t be so sure. Based on what I’ve heard, they can only use Magic here. So no matter how much they fight here, they can only bring back so much. First on that list are the Pieces. We need to be aware that they are almost certainly preparing for war.”
“What good is war? They’d all be happier if they ate food, lay down, and took a nap together.”
“For better or for worse, humans are a clever bunch. They have such a great desire for ever greater happiness that they end up trampling the happiness they already have. Although very few of them seem to even notice it.”
“But Beatrice wouldn’t do that. She doesn’t kill more than she needs to eat.”
“Boo Boo, it’s about who gets it first.” Sutriona gave a faint smile. “She can say she won’t do it all day long, but there’s nothing she can do if someone else gets their hands on it. And if that happens, it will lead to an age that works against her. So whether she wants it or not, she has to secure those Pieces. It’s either take them or have them taken. Those are the only options available to the human countries.”
“I refuse to believe that.” The giant Orc grew stubborn. “Beatrice wouldn’t do something so horrible. She’s way smarter than me, so she would use all her brains to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“That would be nice…”
The girl in a black ribbon dress sighed before saying more.
“Whatever the case, the humans can’t relax right now. You need to be especially careful about a Guild named Elkiad. Not only is there a severe moral hazard at work inside their ranks, but they’re different from the other Guilds on a fundamental level.”
“Yeah. Beatrice said that too. I remember her talking about Ensoed.”
“Only the first and last letters of that are right, Boo Boo.”
Beatrice returned to Grandnir.
It was a small island, but she enjoyed the freedom there. A Break News would occasionally go on a rampage and significantly alter the landscape, but it was generally a peaceful and simple world.
It may have been because she could use Magic, but the world seemed to spread out endlessly before her despite the limited surface area. The underground Labyrinth was suspected to reach other islands or continents from the ocean floor or even pass through a Transfer wall to reach other dimensions, but she found the normal forests and beaches felt larger than the complex Labyrinth.
She walked to the inn town and found White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina enjoying some tea at a café. If they were indulging themselves, it meant they had sold some field guides or maps for plenty of gears rather than paper money.
Beatrice asked a question without ordering anything for herself.
“How’s the Setup going?”
“All done.”
“We have a place ready, so we’re ready when you are.”
The three of them left the café and walked down a stone-paved road.
They passed by a great variety of people. There were Knights with bulky armor and large shields, there were lightly-equipped Thieves, there were Hunters and Scouts who specialized in projectiles, and there were even provocative Dancers. The only point in common was the Shining Weapons of various shapes and sizes they all carried. There were obvious ones like swords and spears, but there were also tents, frying pans, brooms, magnifying glasses, and more.
“Where exactly is it?”
“There’s a district to the south that’s been deserted ever since there was a fire. We’ll be borrowing a place there.”
“…Oh, the waterway district.”
“Huh? Why do you sound so blue, Beatrice?”
“No reason,” she said as a non-answer.
Humans could travel between their own world and Grandnir, but the Nonhumans could not. Other than the Shining Weapons, no objects could either. That was why people worked so hard to bring back the data known as Experience Points.
That meant anyone who died in Grandnir…that is, anyone who lost their life and became a mere “object” could not be brought back. No matter how it happened, anyone who died here could not be buried in their homeland’s soil.
But Fighter Priest Armelina didn’t seem to care about those sentimental issues.
“I bet it’s because she always has so much trouble with water. Even in the Labyrinth, she’s always getting dragged away by the octopus-type Gimmicks and getting the bucket-type Traps dumped right on her head in the underground waterways. It never takes her long to end up soaking wet and all see-through. It’s always the same sad story with the strongest fire user.”
“Th-that isn’t true.”
“Ohh? Can you say that again after checking through these results? One look at your Event List and Conversation Log goes a long way toward inspiring the imagination. You should be thankful I was kind enough not to save Replay videos. And looking at this, you really do have trouble with water.”
“Curse you!! Either erase those records right this instant or I’ll turn them and your Shining Weapon to ashes! The choice is yours!!”
Perhaps due to a management issue, her ahoge began burning with a torch flame as she shouted.
At the same time, a small girl with a hood pulled deep over her head passed by.
In that instant, a voice seemed to slip into Beatrice’s ear.
“Be careful. They’re already on the move.”
Beatrice looked back, but there was no sign of the girl in the crowd.
“Is something the matter, Beatrice?”
“No…it’s nothing.”
She shook her head and started walking again, but Armelina still seemed bothered by her behavior.
“What, did someone try to hit on you? Did you feel a bolt of lightning when you saw your soulmate!? You’d never run across a knight in shining armor in a concrete jungle ruled by big data, but this is a fantasy world of swords and magic! Anything goes here!! Heh heh!!”
“Armelina, you’re surprisingly girly. You believe in soulmates?”
“No, no, I don’t! D-don’t be ridiculous. I’m a Fighter Priest, so I’m all about who can punch the hardest!!”
Armelina blushed and began fiercely swinging her hands around.
“Yes, she does seem like the type that believes in the red thread of fate or four leaf clovers.”
“Eh? You mean collecting four leaf clovers doesn’t bring good luck?”
This revelation brought a shadow over Armelina’s face and her shoulders drooped.
“A-anyway, Beatrice. Is it true you’re going out with a huge pig-faced Iberian Orc? I keep hearing rumors about that around the inn town.”
“Kh!! Th-the flow of time is cruel, but I have no regrets!! A-and he doesn’t have a pig face! It’s, um, uh, a slack boar face!!”
“Oh, dear. Does this mean you aren’t building up conversational Experience Points by interacting with other races like some of the others do? It sounds more like you’ve fallen for someone with a kind heart.”
“No, I wouldn’t put it like that. Saying someone is ‘kind’ is the same as saying they’re convenient, don’t cause any problems, and are easy to make use of, right? But Boo Boo is completely different. Setting aside whether he’s kind, he’s most certainly not convenient, he causes all sorts of problems, and I can’t make use of him at all.”
“But you are with him, aren’t you?”
“Well, he’s comfortable. I don’t have to think about all the intrigue around him. …And in Grandnir that’s rare. It’s worth a lot to have someone who you can speak honestly with while letting the weight off your shoulders and not trying to get anything out of it. That’s how I feel about Boo Boo.”
The White Witch and Fighter Priest exchanged a glance at her words…or rather, at her expression.
“Oh, I see.”
“Hm, so that’s it.”
“Wh-what are those know-it-all looks for?”
“Well, we’d assumed everything we’d been hearing was nothing more than rumors, but let’s just say this is better than what we were expecting.”
“I think it’s great. You’re not a monk in training, so it’s nice that you have more to focus on than entering the Labyrinth, earning Experience Points, and learning Magic.”
After turning a corner, the lively energy of the crowd suddenly vanished. The stone-paved road and the brick buildings were not destroyed and had not crumbled. In a town made of stone, a fire was not going to change the scene that dramatically. But all life had been stripped from the surfaces. It was a lot like sterilizing a plate with boiling water.
The Holy Swordswoman, White Witch, and Fighter Priest entered a random building and faced each other around a round table in the center.
They pulled out their differently-shaped Shining Weapons.
Holy Swordswoman Beatrice’s was a rapier.
White Witch Filinion’s was a white first-aid kit.
Fighter Priest Armelina’s was a metal staff. However, it was made so she could add on chains and metal balls with Magic.
They placed their Shining Weapons on the round table. They placed the rapier and metal staff parallel to each other with the first-aid kit in the center.
“Having the strongest fire user sure is convenient. As long as we have you with us, we have one of the necessary Elements ready to go. It’s like getting dealt a joker in a game of poker.”
“I’m thankful to have you two. I can’t use any Element besides fire, right? And your expertise in Mixing is a huge help, Filinion.”
“Being able to share Magic and create Pieces within the same Party is really useful for the people as abnormal as us.”
As they spoke, they called up the data on the Piece they were after and found the Magic they needed for it.
This process was known as Mixing.
Beatrice thought it was more like a dinner or cocktail recipe than it was an industrial processing technique. What mattered was the type and distribution of Magic needed. The rest occurred at a scale one would need an electron microscope to see, so Beatrice and the others’ senses could not keep up. It was the same as shaking the cocktail shaker and knowing a delicious drink would be waiting afterwards.
Filinion pulled out a key hanging from her neck by a thin chain and stuck it into the keyhole on her first-aid kit Shining Weapon.
“The points we must stop are B-12, G-29, and Y-03. The effective detour points needed to avoid those are V-71 and P-01. …That will be the hottest point. Where should we start?”
“Why not from the most certain point? We start at P-01 and, if that works, we can reach for V-71 as insurance.”
“Nice. I like your resolve. It’s like felling the trunk without worrying about the branches and leaves.”
Three Shining Weapons sat on the abandoned round table. White Witch Filinion placed a transparent palm-sized crystal ball alongside the first-aid kit in the center. Various types of Magic would process that into the unknown material known as a Piece.
“Now, let’s create the opposing tech. To review, what tech is it we want to keep out of the hands of the nations and corporations?”
“Imortalise. …B-12, G-29, and Y-03. These will create a composite technology that extracts a natural preservative with almost no health risks.”
“Then what is the Piece we’re creating? That is, the opposing tech brought about by V-71 and P-01?”
“Managed crops for unmaintained land. They’re wheat or potatoes that can grow in any wasteland or desert. I think it’s technically a chromosome-damaging ultraviolet emitter that messes with the seeds. Basically, the competition is between the idea of preservative-soaked ingredients being shipped around the world or the idea of crops actually being grown all over the world. And when the people are growing the crops, they can both eat them and use them for their livestock. That means as much meat and vegetables as they can eat.”
“If this works, the concept of a grain-producing region will vanish and the entire world will be covered in burgers and fries.”
“But…”
“Yes. No matter how much work is put into this tech, no one will ever complete it. Even with V-71 or P-01.”
But the people being manipulated would not notice. They would not be allowed to notice.
The preparations were complete. Corn grown for oil would solve desertification and the energy crisis. But couldn’t that be used to feed people and animals as well as for energy? Because they were always just one step away from achieving their goal, they would continue to reach for it.
That mistaken hope and expectation would completely crush Imortalise which was expected to pave the way to war.
They activated the three Shining Weapons.
The flashy explosions or slashes seen when exploring the Labyrinth were absent here. Instead, lines of pale light ran both inside and outside the transparent crystal ball, showing that something was happening.
Bars appeared next to the Shining Weapons to show the status of the activated Magic and the progress of the overall work. When the slowly-moving bars filled all the way up, Beatrice breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did it…work?”
“I’ll check the structure just to be sure. …Yes, I don’t see any problems. Our P-01 matches the diagram exactly.”
Filinion touched the side of her glasses and Armelina gave a casual comment.
“So which one of us is going to break this down and register it?”
“As always, I’d like to ask Beatrice. She has the most straightforward strength and a third party would see her as the hardest one to attack.”
“Tch. See? I always end up being the villain.”
Beatrice sounded annoyed, but she still grabbed the transparent crystal ball from the table.
If she scanned it with her Shining Weapon and registered it as data, she could bring the world-changing Piece back to their world. If she released it online, the corporations and research institutions would make a technical breakthrough and give actual form to new technology that would change history.
The world was an easy thing to change.
And this was not their first time doing so.
All fields and all industries always contained the possibility of a paradigm shift. It sounded nice when it was called the blossoming of previously closed-off possibilities, but it was little different from having everyone carelessly riding around in time machines.
(We really need to be careful.)
Just as Beatrice was staring at the crystal ball Piece and about to look to her Shining Weapon, she heard the room’s window shattering.
Something had been thrown in from outside.
She looked over without thinking but stopped moving as soon as she saw the fist-sized sphere rolling along the uncarpeted floor.
Something was packed in a leather bag and a fuse about as long as the first joint of a little finger stuck out from the bag.
It happened a moment later.
An earsplitting boom hit her eardrums and refused to go away as a blinding flash filled the room.
It was a flashbang, aka a stun grenade. The nonlethal weapon used light and sound beyond the acceptable limits of human senses to rob the target of their senses while also dazing them for at least a few seconds and possibly a few dozen seconds. Even the toughest man would flinch if lightning struck right next to him and this was a continuous version of the same sensation.
And even if it lacked the ability to kill, it was obvious what would happen to someone targeted by another weapon when they were blind, deaf, and curled up in a defenseless daze.
Attackers with hoods hiding their faces rushed inside from the front door, the window, and the back entrance.
But before they could activate their Shining Weapons which resembled short swords and short bows, a downpour of orange flame arrows assaulted them. As soon as they hit, the arrows created miniature explosions that pushed the attackers back toward the entrances and tossed them outside.
Protected behind rapier-wielding Beatrice’s back, the White Witch removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes over and over.
“I feel the need to reiterate my point about how useful it is to have the strongest fire user with us.”
“I’m just used to the light and sound of my own fire attacks. They’re no match for sunglasses and earplugs, but I do keep reduction Magic in stock.” The crimson Holy Swordswoman smiled a little. “And we’re even since you made this so much easier for me. Visualizing the kinetic reactions detected through the wall to display silhouettes? It isn’t flashy, but it’s a pretty useful support technique.”
“Well, support is all my Job can do.”
“If only you didn’t insist on jiggling those giant boobs every time you did something.”
“Th-that has nothing to do with this!!”
Filinion blushed and snapped back at Armelina.
Illusion Magic displayed a digital countdown over the heads of the collapsed attackers. The White Witch was very effective at life-related techniques, so she had used a Mixed potion to determine the enemy’s level of consciousness and give an estimated time until they came to.
The men were all hiding below their hooded cloaks. When Beatrice’s Party inspected them, they found they were lightly equipped and wore no armor. However, they did not seem to have built up their defenses with Magic either. Instead, they had crude, poorly-made paper. With layer after layer of that under their clothes, they had created light defenses that protected against any penetrative force.
(Almost like…bulletproof armor?)
“Anyway, what was that just now!? It wasn’t Magic, was it!?”
“Wasn’t it obvious? A flashbang. They’re in all sorts of movies and video games these days.”
“A flashbang… But we can only bring Pieces back from Grandnir and we can’t bring any weapons into Grandnir. So how!?”
Fighter Priest Armelina was confused and she activated her metal staff Shining Weapon. A spiked metal ball appeared on the end. When she swung it around a little and hit the wall, the entire wall crumbled and the fragments flew outward.
“They may not have brought it with them,” said Beatrice as she looked toward this new exit since the door was likely being watched. “The primary ingredient in a flashbang is magnesium powder. If you know how to make one, it would probably be possible with materials found in Grandnir. The rest is just like Mixing. It wouldn’t be hard.”
“Are you serious? Then are these guys who I think they are?”
The Fighter Priest looked down at her feet as she stepped over the rubble.
They had left the back way, but attackers with Shining Weapons had been waiting there too. However, these men had been caught in the sudden destruction of the wall and either sent flying or knocked unconscious by the flying rubble.
Fighter Priest Armelina was also receiving visual support from Filinion, so she had likely known the silhouettes were there when she broke through the wall.
“B-12, G-29, and Y-03… These are the people who want to send those Pieces to the corporations and complete the Imortalise preservative that will help provide military supplies. These are the people who want to use it for military purposes. These are the people who want to go to war. Now, do we know a Guild that’s gone into full moral hazard mode and completely ignores etiquette and traditional methods?”
“Oh, so that’s what this is…”
“Their ideology is the opposite of ours.”
“Elkiad.”
Based on the countdown above the collapsed attackers’ heads, they would not wake up for another twenty minutes. Their gloves left just the index finger exposed and that finger was covered with a characteristic tattoo. Everyone who joined them had to dedicate their killing finger to the Guild as a sort of ritual.
Beatrice held the transparent crystal ball in her hand.
“They were trying to keep me from registering this. That way they can keep the world from moving in a direction they don’t want.”
“So what do we do? Do you think you can register it real quick? I doubt this was all they’re going to do, so you should probably hurry it up.”
“Given my Shining Weapon’s processing power, it would take about five minutes. Can you two hold them off on your own for that long? One of you is a White Witch that can only heal and the other is a Fighter Priest that can’t heal despite being a priest.”
“Then we’ll have to put off registering the Piece and escape to a safe place first.”
“And we can’t Sign Out like this. We’re too far away from the individual Gates and, even if we were near a Gate, that process takes two or three minutes to finish. With that much time, they’d turn us into pincushions with those short bows!”
“That’s why we just have to force our way through. We need to at least shake them from our tail. Filinion, kinetic reactions alone aren’t enough. Add on a visualization of encounter rates.”
They had a plan.
They were not about to rush out onto the main road out front. They would continue through the narrow back alleys and eventually reach another road.
Thanks to one of White Witch Filinion’s Mixed potions, numbers danced in the corner of their eyes. The numbers that moved up and down in the 20-30% range were a visualization of the threat directed at them. In other words, the probability of running across an enemy soldier or having an arrow fly their way.
But Beatrice had made a single mistake.
It was true Elkiad had made a flashbang from materials found in Grandnir and she had thought they had used it alongside their Shining Weapons to attack Beatrice’s Party.
But a moment later, the encounter rate shot up from the 20-30% range to 99.9%.
It happened suddenly.
A fingertip-sized dark red hole appeared in the center of Beatrice’s chest.
The belated blast sounded like someone had pierced a hole in the world itself.
Now. When she realized she had been shot by a sniper rifle, did she realize her mistaken assumption?
On a rooftop, a man with a characteristic tattoo covering his right hand’s index finger held a long narrow gun made from nearly a meter of steel and wood. He peered through the handmade scope made by placing a glass lens inside a skinny wooden tube and he let out a very, very small breath.
The spotter next to him was observing the scene while crouched on one knee and he gave a report to the ground groups using the club-like Shining Weapon that took the place of a communicator.
“Waffle here. Target 1 was hit but survived. 2 and 3 retrieved her and are hiding behind cover. They are fleeing to the west. I am visualizing their silhouettes, but what I have on hand can’t see through buildings.”
The sniper rifles they were using were not precise industrial products.
The history of firearms was a long one. It dated all the way back to around the 15th century.
This was a flintlock musket much like the ones displayed in the pirate section of a museum. It was muzzle-loaded, meaning the gunpowder and bullet had to stuffed into the muzzle and pushed down with a long, skinny ramrod. It could launch a bullet the size of a pachinko ball as far as three hundred meters even without rifling and could hit a target at half that range using the handmade scope, so this version had undergone a bizarre form of evolution.
And in a location filled with buildings, the ability to accurately shoot someone between the eyes at a hundred meters was more valuable than the ability to shoot through a car’s fuel tank at a thousand meters.
On the ground, a few groups of four were receiving support from the roof as they moved to seal off the narrow but winding alleyways.
While following the trail of blood on the ground, they released the leash of the Hellhounds that each group had been supplied with. They barked an order while releasing them and the well-trained four-legged beasts ran on ahead.
“Donut here. Target location detected. We have the Hellhounds in pursuit to confirm it with multiple sources. If they’re cornered in the west or north, they will almost certainly move to the street. Once they do, the snipers just have to finish them off. Everyone, synchronize your maps.”
The primary flaw of muzzle-loading guns was the time it took to load each shot, so firing in quick succession was difficult. One temporary solution was to carry around several shorter guns in addition to the main one they held. It was faster to switch guns than to load another bullet. This too was a method favored by the pirates of an older age.
Another ground group was allowing their targets through according to plan.
Elkiad’s goal was not individual glory. It was to eliminate the target as efficiently as possible.
“Éclair here. We’ve opened the north route. If you block the western route, they’ll naturally come this- gagyah!?” The report was cut off by a sudden explosion.
While supported by the White Witch’s shoulder, Beatrice breathed heavily and held out her Shining Weapon rapier. Orange sparks danced around the tip.
There was no sign of the dark red hole that had appeared in the center of her chest before.
However, she did not look unharmed. Her face was pale and yet her entire body was covered in an unpleasant sweat. Her body was sending out a mess of contradictory signals.
“Are you really okay?”
Armelina sounded worried and Filinion placed her first-aid kit on a barrel while lending Beatrice her shoulder. Filinion then pulled test tubes of dried herbs and small bottles of liquid from inside her cloak and the belt around her thigh. She dumped the contents into the first-aid kit, forced the lid closed, stuck the key in the keyhole, and turned it.
A bar appeared on the first-aid kit and it slowly filled up. Numbers appeared saying it would take thirty seconds for the Mixing to complete and the success rate was 98.8%.
“I immediately removed the bullet from your chest, so of course you’re worn out. I mean, Healing Magic can’t do everything.”
Filinion was more worried about her own Willpower gauge. If it ran out, the Mixing would stall and the healing would stop. That gauge could be seen as the entire Party’s lifeline. It would recover on its own, but it would of course run out if she used so much Magic that it depleted faster than it recovered.
“You work up a resistance, so the amount it heals goes down with each use. So please don’t think about relying on it to charge into the gunfire in zombie mode or something.”
“I know that.”
Beatrice’s Percentage-type Magic amplified her Parameters and gave her superhuman strength and speed, but that had actually worked against her. The bullet would have done less damage if it had cleanly pierced straight through her. At the very least, they would not have had to dig it out of her.
“But we have to push on. The problem is the snipers that can catch us off guard, but now that we know they’re there…”
Reinforcements must have been sent in, either due to the explosion or the lack of response from their comrade.
New men with muskets leaned out from a corner in the narrow alleyway.
There was more than just the one gunshot. They were equipped with multiple single-shot guns and they were working in a group.
But the encounter rate did not rise beyond the 10-15% range. Beatrice’s Party was being fired on at close range, but none of the bullets hit them.
Phototaxis created flashing lights around the user which shifted the enemy’s focus.
Mirage bent light such that an image of oneself was created in a slightly shifted position.
Fair Wind created wind with heat and used that to give an extra push to the enemy’s blade or bullet, shifting their aim.
Each “shift” was small and they were not enough to deflect a sword or axe swung with enough force to slice right through someone, but when added together, they increased the margin of error needed to save a human life. Even in a hail of deadly bullets.
In other words…
“Magic is superior. Armelina, get to work!!”
“Sure thing!! I’ll blow them away, wall and all!!”
When Armelina activated her Shining Weapon that resembled a metal staff, a chain wrapped in light and a metal ball appeared on the end. They tore through the alleyway corner that Elkiad was using for cover. The many building materials and the attackers were knocked to the opposite wall.
If not for the Percentage-type Magic protecting their bodies, the attackers would have been killed instantly.
Armelina was a Priest, so she made sure to raise the middle finger of her empty hand as elegantly as possible.
“Hah! So all you had were some fossils from a museum? If you want to keep up with us, you should’ve at least brought a rocket launcher!!”
An Elkiad man was listening in from the main street with Magic that worked much like a directional microphone. Once its effects wore off, he lightly raised a hand.
The subordinate standing next to him rested a firing tube on his shoulder and removed the safety pin from the front end of the warhead. The weapons that followed the original designs had been called fossils, but this was a bizarre Galapagos weapon of their own design.
The man covered his ears with his hands and spoke with a smile.
“Well, if you insist.”
With an ear-splitting roar, the explosive flew toward the alleyway entrance with a trail of white smoke behind it.
The threat probability spiked to 100% once more.
Boo Boo wanted a meal of fish today.
Thus, he was walking along a hill to search for a palm-sized bamboo leaf-shaped piece of wood he could make into a lure.
That was when he heard an explosion.
He looked over and saw grayish smoke rising from one part of the inn town at the base of the hill.
Next to him, Fairy Queen Sutriona stripped off a hooded cloak in annoyance to reveal her flower-like appearance and black ribbon dress.
“So it’s started.”
“I’ve heard of this. The humans use something called fireworks. Is there a festival today?”
“This is something far more frightening, Boo Boo.”
The girl Break News’s voice contained a hint of exasperation, but it was not directed at Boo Boo. It was directed at the humans who continued to act so foolishly down below.
“What a pain. I didn’t want to intervene in a conflict between humans, but if that inn town is destroyed, I won’t be able to eat the tasty treats they make there. I might be able to manage a popsicle, but that ice cream is beyond my abilities. Now, what to do about this?”
“?”
“This is about your friend, Boo Boo. It is about Beatrice.”
His giant body shook when he heard Sutriona’s words.
“Elkiad is on the move. Their target is Beatrice because they don’t want her group getting in ahead of them. This is a fight over that new preservative called Imortalise, which would fill the world with food and erase the limiting factor that empty stomachs place on war.”
“I’m no good with complicated things. But I want to know about Beatrice, so can you make it simpler?”
“Basically, the war has already begun, Boo Boo. Will Beatrice’s group bring back the Piece or will Elkiad? Even if these things are made public, whichever economic bloc they prioritize will begin a global trend in that direction. This is the final fork in the road, so they will do whatever it takes, no matter how dirty their methods. …To make it simpler for you, Boo Boo, millions are going to die and they are making a tightrope walk to determine where those deaths will occur.”
“I don’t believe that.” The hideous pig-face shook his head. “Like I said, Beatrice isn’t that kind of person. She’s smarter than me, so she has to be thinking about so much more than me to find a way that won’t hurt anyone.”
“Boo Boo, the advance of technology cannot be stopped. Even if you kill the designer of a secret weapon, someone else will eventually come up with the same idea. The only difference is who comes up with it and where their affiliations lie. No one can prevent the new technology itself from being created, no one can hold it back, and no one can erase it from existence. Once it has been discovered, someone will use it. That is simply the human way.”
Humans visited the Labyrinth.
They did so to efficiently earn Experience Points and learn Magic.
With Magic, they could process a variety of things and create fragments known as Pieces.
By turning those to data and bringing them back with them, human society could achieve technological breakthroughs.
Apparently, even the most basic of assumptions could be overturned.
…Or millions could be killed.
“Then they just have to stop bringing them back. If they hide the Pieces forever, they won’t cause any problems.”
“Boo Boo… The benefit of a Piece is only enjoyed by the person who first registers it. So even if the original discoverer hides it, if a second discoverer registers it, they will be seen as the first in the official records. And if they bring it back to the human world and the nations and corporations go for it…”
Sutriona ended her explanation partway through.
She fell silent.
She stopped to think.
“…Wait.”
“?”
“Could that be what’s going on here? Is Beatrice’s group making opposing patent requests…? In other words, is she competing for the standard while leading them into a dead end?”
“Explain it so I can understand.”
“Very well. This is something I have overhead the humans talking about. They do not know where their Pieces are used or for what. They simply make them, take them back, and submit them. And the nations and corporations are constantly searching through the thousands or tens of thousands of released Pieces in case one of them might provide a breakthrough on some stalled secret research.”
“Hmm…”
“Was that too complicated? Basically, it isn’t a simple case of Person A having a problem and Person B preparing a solution. If Person A has a problem, they can work with Person C or D if need be. …Even if the provided answer is a false answer dressed up to look nice.”
“???”
“What I’m saying is this.” Sutriona raised her skinny index finger. “Beatrice’s group may be trying to intentionally submit a mistaken Piece. That way the entire world will reach a technological dead end and no one will be able to wage war.”
Boo Boo tilted his head again.
He may have had trouble picturing it.
“Would that really stop everyone? Does giving the wrong answer really change anything if someone finds the right answer afterwards?”
“Boo Boo, there are two types of technology: those with a clear right answer and a clear wrong answer, and those with two competing right answers. For example, what do you think of the Magic the humans use?”
“I can’t use Magic, so I don’t really know. They all do weird beepy things.”
“That’s right. But there isn’t actually a reason it had to be that way. Grandnir’s Magic holds endless possibility, but that level of freedom is so great they seem to have trouble grasping it. They need to place limitations on it so they can comprehend it themselves, so rather than the secret techniques of legend, they use a more familiar and easy-to-picture system. That is, what they call a video game.”
“You mean there might have been other forms of Magic?”
“Yes. It could just as easily have been reciting strange incantations or drawing out magic circles. It isn’t an issue of which one is right; it’s an issue of which is more convenient. The one more people tended to use became the standard.”
“Then…”
“Let’s say you have System A and System B. What if System A is actually superior, but System B is announced on a grand scale first. And what if they were hiding that System B is actually entirely useless and will never make a completed product even after a century of work? Wouldn’t everyone be so blinded by System B that they would ignore System A?”
“But what if someone secretly worked on System A?”
“Society won’t let them. Once the cannonball starts rolling, it is apparently very hard to stop. There are people doing the research, people making the parts, people assembling the parts, people selling it, and people who want to use it… Even if someone tries to stop it, someone else will prevent them because they need it to continue. The video standards are apparently a well-known example. Not that this has anything to do with those like us who live freely.” Sutriona laughed. “And war is all about timing. If you miss the right time to start it, the system built for that purpose will no longer have a use. Not to mention the great financial cost of maintaining it. The deception might eventually be discovered, but if they set it up so it’s too late by the time that happens, the countdown to war might fall apart.”
In that case, Elkiad’s goal was also obvious. They wanted war, so they would secretly provide the corporation with the materials needed to produce the technology for war. But if the target corporation looked elsewhere, Elkiad could no longer guide them to the desired technology. And a Piece was meaningless on its own. It was only useful to someone who had come to a technological dead end and was stuck despite the extremely advanced technology they had accumulated.
“In other words…”
“Beatrice may not be a bad person. Of course, this is only a possibility.”
Boo Boo fell silent.
He looked to the inn town at the bottom of the hill.
He could hear consecutive bursting noises from there. He had initially thought those were the sounds of a festival, but now they transformed into something horribly uneasy and unsettling.
“What is Beatrice doing?”
“It sounds like she ran into some trouble with Elkiad.”
“She said to run away if I heard the name Elkiad.”
“That’s because she didn’t want you to see this.”
Boo Boo made up his mind when he heard that.
He adjusted his grip on his giant Shining Weapon that resembled a steel beam or log.
“I’m going.”
“Going where?”
“To the inn town. To Beatrice.”
“Looking like that? I can get by with my appearance, but you will cause a commotion the second you set foot in the town. You normally stay away from the town and roads because you don’t want to scare people, right?”
“That has nothing to do with the fact that Beatrice is in trouble.”
“Everything I said about her was mere speculation. There might not be an opposing patent and she might simply be the kind of person who is willing to allow millions of deaths if it supports her own country or corporation. The only way to know for sure is to peek into their world.”
“I can just ask her,” he said.
He had no proof and no guarantee. After enough work and pain to lose everything he had gained, it could all be for nothing.
But he said it regardless.
“I just have to find her and ask her directly.”
It was his trust in her that led him to run toward the human inn town where everyone would be an enemy.
Simply following the alleyways along the roads was not going to work.
The Holy Swordswoman, White Witch, and Fighter Priest ran inside an abandoned building, climbed the stairs, broke through the wall, and took a shortcut to the neighboring building on that middle floor. They used Magic to divert the sniper bullets that flew in through the windows, they flinched back from the explosives that tried to envelop the entire floor in flames, and they continued making progress without being cornered.
“This is insane… They actually fired a rocket when I asked for one. What the hell was that?”
“They had handheld rockets in the Edo period. They were called Bo-hiya.”
“Y-yeah, but it doesn’t look like they’re simply using a three hundred year old weapon.”
They used Magic to call up a map of the inn town, but it was entirely useless because both enemy and ally were breaking down walls in the complex labyrinth of buildings.
And of course, the three of them were far from unharmed.
“I can’t believe this… I thought I had built up a decent Puncture Resistance and Arrow Resistance, but they’re breaking right through…”
“Bullets must need their own form of Resistance…”
They only looked unharmed because White Witch Filinion would Mix them a recovery potion every time they were badly injured. But as mentioned before, that was not all powerful. They built up a resistance, so it healed less each time it was used. Their bodies had grown pale and they could tell the potions would no longer stop the bleeding after a few more uses.
That resistance would reset when they returned from Grandnir, but they would not be in so much trouble in the first place if they had time to do that. The Gate for Signing Out was still a long way off.
“I-I’m sorry…”
The White Witch apologized while leaning on Beatrice’s shoulder.
The situation had been reversed after the first sniper attack, but now she was terribly weak. Her Job was not meant to stand on the front line. As soon as it had become clear that she was the healer, the attacks had concentrated on her. On top of the actual damage, using her Magic wore down her Willpower, so this was hardly surprising.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“No, not that. I think I’m at my limit. I’m feeling really dizzy and I don’t think I can stay conscious much longer…”
The first-aid kit she used for Mixing was weakly opening and closing.
“Hey, wait.”
“The Recovery Magic is using up my Willpower faster than it recovers… I won’t be any more use. If I can’t use Recovery Magic, I’ll just weigh you down. Please leave me behind…”
Filinion tightened her grip on the first-aid kit’s handle and key. She could likely see what was left in her gauge because her eyes were wandering through empty air. Beatrice considered having it set so she could see too, but she did not use the Magic for that. That was not what was needed right now.
“Don’t be silly. Getting discouraged like that will only use up your Willpower faster. And be quiet for a moment!”
Next to them, Fighter Priest Armelina leaned against the hallway wall.
She had not lost her will to fight, but it must have been a shock for their healer to wear out first.
If they continued like this, they would be slowly tormented to death. And the result would be little different if they surrendered to Elkiad thanks to the Guild’s moral hazards.
“Really now, what do we do?” The Fighter Priest felt an unpleasant sweat on her pale face. “Magic is stronger than bullets, but isn’t there something different about these guys? I’m not sure how to put it… You could say we have the upper hand 1000-to-10 in pure power, but they use that 10 to hit our vitals from a blind spot with the accuracy of threading a needle. They have no waste or inefficiency…”
Yes. Looking at nothing but strength, Beatrice or Armelina could overwhelm Elkiad with their Magic. If they wanted to, they could blow away this entire section of the town.
But doing that would change nothing.
Even if they were 99% successful, a bullet would slip through the 1% gap and accurately pierce their flesh. The more destruction they caused, the less cover there was and the more gunfire would reach them. And if they went too far, the damage would extend behind this ghost town area. They could not solve this by indiscriminately spreading destruction like a Break News.
To sum it up…
“This isn’t like anything we’ve come across before. It’s like playing go and finding your opponent is using chess pieces.”
It was like a chess problem.
No matter where they fled, they would be in someone’s line of fire. The enemy was not thinking about individual accomplishments. They were simply doing everything they could to remove the enemy pieces from the board. Even if that meant using themselves as bait.
The 100% encounter rate that visualized the threat seemed to pierce through their souls.
There was only one thing this reminded them of.
“That isn’t surprising… Elkiad doesn’t come from a normal background like us. They must be the army of the nation that wants to go to war.”
“A real…army? Honestly, a lovely college girl has to take on an army? What has the world come to?”
“And it’s kind of disturbing that they’re a disciplined army. With the kind of moral hazards we’re seeing here, I can’t believe they’re eating on the taxpayer’s dime and having action movies made about them back in our world.”
They did not have time to grow angry over every little thing.
“What do we do? If they’re going to get their hands on it otherwise, we could always destroy the Piece as a last resort.”
“That would be meaningless. If they silence us afterwards, it’s all over. P-01 is only bait meant to guide development in the wrong direction. The war they want will start if we don’t register the bait Piece first to distract everyone from the B-12, G-29, and Y-03 that Elkiad wants to make.”
The assumed filename was “Atlantic Sovereignty War”.
Basically, traditional high-class brands such as bags, jewelry, and wine were suffering as the middle class was stolen by the increased quality of low-cost manufacturers. There was also a conflict between the European nations that were becoming marred by excessively nationalistic far-right ideologies and America which simply wanted to go to war with someone due to their extended IT recession.
In both cases, it was less a desire to stand at the center of the world and more a matter of pride. That is, they did not want to be seen as inferior to the other.
During the confusion, South America and Western Africa were dragged into the flames of war and greedy hands reached out for them on the pretext of protecting them.
Everyone was so focused on those areas that the Middle East, the Far East, and Southeast Asia went ignored and new potential wars were beginning to pop up here and there.
The talk of ridiculous wars held so much sway because everyone had been taken in by the delusion that the food supply system supported by Imortalise would be complete soon and the true “kings” could easily wage war without taking any external or internal damage.
So saying one simple thing would solve all these problems at once:
I won’t let that happen. I’ll guide us onto a mistaken set of rails and get the heavy cannonball rolling so it will continue to spin fruitlessly forevermore.
They would not allow those cruel and hopefully imaginary wars from occurring.
They would build up a technology to rival the new technology that would truly distort the world and they would intentionally trigger a competition over what would be adopted as the standard. They would move the people in a direction that would never be completed no matter how much research was done. And even if someone noticed the mistake, the heavy cannonball of society would crush them if they tried to stop it. That would prevent anyone from moving to a different set of rails in the future.
As always and as many times as it took, Beatrice would not allow the rise of any technology that would not bring people happiness.
“Please leave me behind,” repeated White Witch Filinion. “This isn’t just our problem anymore… If we all die here, that war born of hopeless delusions will actually happen. So if just one of us survives and registers the bait Piece, that war won’t happen. So I’ll create a diversion for you…”
Beatrice almost shouted back on reflex.
But something else happened before she could.
Almost like a school’s broadcast system, a man’s amplified voice came from all over the building. There was of course no broadcast equipment here, so it had to be some kind of Magic.
“Can you hear me, Beatrice?”
(He won’t just want to chat. There must be some other reason.)
“You’re always causing us a lot of trouble. Yes, always. This isn’t the first time. Come to think of it, have you figured out who we are yet? To be honest, I’d like to demand payment for the war profit we should have earned, but I’ll let it slide just this once. There are no war treaties or ROE here. There are no military police either. In this world, no one goes to trial even if someone ends up dead. So prepare yourself.”
“Be careful…”
She spoke quietly to the White Witch and Fighter Priest.
The threat probability slowly hovered between 20-30% before rising to the 50-60% range.
Death was approaching.
Once it reached 100%, unavoidable gunfire would reach them.
“This has to be about their footsteps. They’re making all this noise to drown out their footsteps as they surround us. Their formation must be almost complete by now. We need to assume they’re going to all attack at once.”
“Did you enjoy playing the philanthropist?” asked the man. “Did you think you had some connection to the wider world? Ha ha. Don’t make me laugh, Beatrice. What you’re doing is nothing more than a farce. You haven’t produced a damn thing. Please stop stealing our profit for that.”
Was he intentionally rubbing her the wrong way to improve the deception?
The Holy Swordswoman held her Shining Weapon tight and focused on her surroundings as the man spoke.
“You’re nothing more than a caged bird forbidden from leaving the Detached Magic Palace for fear of your inborn talent. How long is it going to take for you to realize food is food no matter who gives it to you, you birdbrain?”
Elkiad’s combat zone reached as far as three hundred meters outside the ghost town region on the east of the inn town.
They of course had soldiers (with their guns hidden below hooded cloaks) posted near those outer edges, but they doubted anyone would be stupid enough to try to reach the center of the fighting.
The people looked surprised by the sounds of gunfire and explosions that should not have existed in Grandnir, but they all understood how frightening those things were. Each of them probably had their own opinion on whether Magic or guns was stronger, but none of them were going to test their theory with their life.
Humans feared guns.
It was not a case of being caught off guard by something unknown. They were intimidated away because they knew all too well what this was.
They knew even if they had never used one.
So one of the guards, a soldier with his right index finger covered in the characteristic tattoo, was tense at first, but gradually began to relax. For one thing, there were no military police, no records, and no supervision here. He was one of the delinquent soldiers in full moral hazard mode here in Grandnir. He had already lost the will to take his orders seriously, so his behavior was hardly surprising.
But hadn’t he been taught something at the very beginning?
Carrying out his orders was at the foundation of everything. Failing to do so put his own life and the lives of his entire unit at risk.
———First, a large – very large – shadow appeared over the soldier’s head.
“Eh?”
———Next, he looked up and back, wondering if it was a cloud, only to find a giant form standing there.
“Eh?”
———Finally, that giant form raised a large Shining Weapon shaped like a steel beam or log.
“Eh?”
He did not have time to do anything.
Some strange creature had entered the human town. The Elkiad soldier’s thoughts worked to comprehend the impossible sight, but his mind was not given a chance to reach a conclusion.
The horrific blunt weapon gave a roar and the soldier’s entire body was buried below the stone pavement.
“…”
The oddity was quickly reported, but Boo Boo used his height of four meters to ignore it all.
As soon as he took another step forward, he was surrounded by Elkiad soldiers armed with large muskets and a variety of Shining Weapons such as two-handed swords, large swords as tall as their wielder, and halberds, war spears that looked like a combination of an axe, a spear, and a hook. Their numbers rapidly grew and soon rose above twenty, but Boo Boo did not care.
“I am going to Beatrice.”
He announced his intentions as simply as possible.
“I will push through anyone who gets in my way. If you don’t like it, get out of the way, Elkiad.”
They did not respond. Or perhaps their silence was their response.
He took a step forward.
They held their many Shining Weapons at the ready and those weapons glittered in the light.
He took a second step forward.
They aimed their many guns and placed their fingers on the trigger.
He took a third step forward.
Then everything began to move.
Repeated dry bursting sounds rang out.
The Elkiad members were professional soldiers who had received a certain country’s official military training, but they had developed unique habits in Grandnir that abandoned the manual. Simply put, they did not need to hide behind cover thanks to Magic. They could open a shield in front of themselves and fire from directly in front of their target. In fact, they could take up positions 360 degrees around the target and continue firing without worrying about the enemy’s attacks or friendly fire. This was especially effective given the poor rapid-fire capabilities of their muzzle-loaded muskets.
The target could always repel the bullets, but Elkiad did not worry about that.
While the target was focused on defending against the bullets, another unit armed primarily with two-handed swords and halberds would quickly approach. They would break through the enemy’s Magic shield, rendering them defenseless, and make fatal attacks from close and long range.
That was the optimal answer.
Or it should have been.
Just as Boo Boo’s giant body seemed to sway, he had already vanished. He had escaped the lines of fire reaching him from a total of five directions. He was a Nonhuman, so he did not use Magic and did not use his powerful body to forcibly stop the bullets. He simply dodged.
In other words, no amount of gunfire would hold him still.
“Eh?”
Funnily enough, some of them reacted just like the first guard soldier who had been taken out.
They were the Shining Weapon group that had assumed the target would be held still.
A moment later, a heavy tremor silenced everything.
“…”
After swiftly silencing the close-range group, Boo Boo’s fierce eyes turned toward the long-range musket group.
(H-how did he dodge that? Are you telling me he predicted where we were going to aim?)
Since loading a bullet would have taken too long, they grabbed and fired the spare guns hanging from their belts while falling back, but it was too late.
And the Elkiad soldiers had made a fundamental misunderstanding.
(No, that isn’t the issue. This should be the first time this Nonhuman has seen a gun. He shouldn’t know what will happen if we aim at him. That should slow down his response to the first attack…)
He had dodged it regardless.
Not a single shot had hit him.
(Does that mean… Does that mean…!! He didn’t predict where we were aiming. Did he see the bullets leaving the guns and then dodge them!? How is that even possible!?)
The one Elkiad member finally realized his understanding of the situation was a few steps behind, but he was still wrong.
What mattered here was not proving the small details.
It was the presence of such a monster right in front of him. And the fact that his gun was aimed at that monster as an enemy. He should have been using every last mental resource to figure out how he could possibly escape this alive.
But it was already too late.
Before his understanding could catch up to the current situation, Boo Boo approached.
His thick Shining Weapon gave a roar purely as a blunt weapon.
The road was lined with brick buildings. The soldiers on the roofs gasped as they set down their large guns and grabbed their sniper muskets.
“What…is that thing!? How is he still alive!?”
Snipers had to do more than just hit a stationary target. The target would be moving to some extent and they had to predict where it was moving when they aimed.
And yet they could not predict the pig-faced giant’s movements.
They had scopes, even if they were handmade from wooden tubes and glass lenses. They could see Boo Boo through the scopes. His four meter frame should have been an easy target. But each time they had him in their sights he would vanish. They would find him again and he would vanish again. The process repeated over and over, so they never had a chance to keep their sights on him and pull the trigger. And he was more than just fast; he was predicting what they would do.
One sniper and the reloader/spotter next to him were dumbfounded, but…
“Well, if you must know, your mistake is in judging all living creatures based on human standards.”
“!?”
They heard a voice behind them.
They quickly looked back, but there was no on there.
“Wh-what? …Hey, did you hear that just now?”
The sniper exchanged a glance with his spotter, but Sutriona, one of the Break News, sighed quietly nearby.
She had entirely vanished from their senses and she added more in her heart.
(From what I’ve heard, he used his four meter body to move freely across the ocean like a skipping stone and he beat up and defeated a thousand-meter Dragon. Controlling that much strength would require quite a bit of processing power. One wrong move and he could tear himself apart with his own strength.)
So Boo Boo just had to direct some of those resources toward the outside world.
A multitude of blades pierced the heavens and a hail of lead tore through the air to punch through flesh and blood.
But none of it could stop him.
That great form beat down the rows of enemies.
Even if those enemies looked like slender humans, their strength was thoroughly amplified by Percentage-type Magic: STR +300%, VIT +800%, AGI +500%, etc. They were supposedly strong enough to slay a tiger or defeat a bear with their bare hands, but that was irrelevant to Boo Boo.
He was different on a more fundamental level.
He beat down those with axe or spear Shining Weapons, he hit homeruns with the soldiers wielding large muskets, and those human baseballs collided with the snipers targeting him from the rooftops. He quickly beat up the vanguard meant to hold him in place and he mercilessly used his own Shining Weapon on the rear guard before the healers there could wake up their unconscious allies.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
A short distance away, the Elkiad soldiers stuffed a rocket in a launching tube, pulled the pin, and shouted to steady their own trembling fingertips.
This was a Bo-hiya.
Unlike the muzzle-loading muskets, the propellant was loaded in the actual projectile. After increasing the efficiency with military-style thoroughness, the weapon had very nearly transformed into a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon.
“Bullets aren’t enough, but he can’t dodge this if he’s caught in the explosion… Do it, dammit! Blow him to smithereens!!”
“We’ll take out some of our own at this range!”
“Have them use a shield or something! That monster hasn’t used anything like that. We need to stop him here, so just do it!!”
The soldier protested, but once he had permission from his commanding officer, he seemed to shift the burden of responsibility away from himself. He rested the launching tube on his shoulder and did not hesitate to pull the trigger.
White smoke scattered and an explosive shaped like a thick stake flew in a straight line toward the far-too-large target.
It happened a moment later.
Boo Boo grabbed the flying rocket from the side.
“Wha-…!?”
All the soldiers gasped.
When choosing a fuse, they had gone with the bestseller of the weapons they were familiar with and used a pressure-sensitive one, but that had backfired.
In other words, the rocket would not detonate unless it received an impact to the tip.
So what if someone could accurately perceive the rocket as it flew toward them with incredible speed, what if they were blessed with the physical strength needed to instantaneously move their body, and what if they had tough enough skin to remain intact when it grabbed the rocket as it sliced through the air?
Assuming the pressure-sensitive fuse did not malfunction as the rocket came to a sudden stop, wouldn’t they be able to grab the flying rocket right out of the air!?
“…?”
Boo Boo did not seem to know what it was.
However, he did seem aware it was likely something dangerous. After tilting his head, he threw it back the way it had come.
“Ah.”
The rocket was out of propellant, so it flew in a gentle parabolic arc, and dropped toward the soldiers’ feet while obeying its center of gravity. The tip containing the pressure-sensitive fuse landed right on the rooftop.
The explosion occurred a moment later.
First, their faces grew red at the reports coming in.
Then, their faces grew blue at the avalanche of backup requests pouring in.
Finally, their faces grew white when all the reports came to a stop.
“L-let’s retreat… There’s nothing we can do! We can’t continue fighting any longer! Let’s retreat!!”
“Do you have any idea what you’re saying? We must stop that Piece from being registered at all costs!!”
“No. I’m not sticking with you here. I’m not going to die in this distant world! I’ve had enough!!”
The subordinate who had always been by the man’s side turned his back and ran off at full speed.
“Tch. You imbecile!!”
The blonde commander with stubble on his chin reflexively pulled one of the short guns from his belt, raised the hammer with his thumb, aimed it at the fleeing back, and then aimed upwards instead of pulling the trigger.
Deserting under enemy fire was punishable by execution, but those basics no longer mattered.
They were ruined whether they continued on or fell back.
Elkiad was a regular army. Their very presence in Grandnir was an extra-legal act not found in the manuals. In other words, the well-regulated army had detested them from the beginning. If they did not achieve results, some kind of nitpicky fault would be found with their actions and they would be purged.
(So we need to secure that Piece. We have to continue forward if we want to escape! Why don’t they understand something so simple!?)
Fortunately, they had received a certain report early on.
That monster had said he was “going to Beatrice”.
And that woman most likely also held the bait Piece that was the key to their survival.
Which meant…
(If I get my hands on Beatrice, I have a way out of this. I can destroy the Piece and I can use her as a shield against that monster. That’s the only way. The most dangerous route always takes you to the greatest safety!! Only those who realize that can make it on the battlefield!!)
Once he had a plan, he could act on it.
He ran across the chaotic battlefield and pressed against the brick wall of a building. As soon as he stepped inside, the entire building shook. One of the walls had apparently been broken through. He also heard a creaking sound overhead, so he rushed up the stairs.
There she was.
Three girls were gathered in the center of a long hallway.
They had no real plan. They looked like they would collapse no matter where they went next. Elkiad should have been able to silence them for a perfect game, but something had gone horribly wrong at some point.
The Elkiad commander held his short gun as an outlet for his anger.
As long as Beatrice was there, nothing else mattered. He could shoot the other two dead to intimidate the package from the beginning. And a psychological shock like that would let him take the initiative to use her as a shield.
The short gun held just the one shot, but he had several of them prepared to allow rapid fire with the troublesome muzzle-loading weapons. He immediately pulled a new gun out with his left hand. It made him look like a character from a ridiculous Western rather than a soldier, but now he could kill both of the others at once.
Finally, he placed his fingers on the two triggers.
A moment later, the girls disappeared.
However, they had been too worn down by the battle to use any more Magic. They had not done anything. That meant the irregularity came from the man himself.
Yes.
For example, perhaps the Elkiad commander had broken through the hallway floor and fallen to the floor below.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?
By the time he realized what had happened, it was too late.
He tried to grab onto something, but the building materials crumbled in his hands and he was dragged down with them like he was caught in an antlion pit.
And as he lay on the floor below, he saw it.
A hideous pig face was looking down at him while resting a thick Shining Weapon on its shoulder.
“How tough are you?”
“Ha…ha ha.”
“With your Magic, you must be really tough. …So can I go all out when I hit you?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”
It only took a single strike.
The resultant tremor shook not just the entire building, but the entire inn town.
“Boo…Boo?”
Beatrice spoke to the figure she saw approaching.
“You came for me, Boo Boo?”
“I still don’t know what’s going on, so I wanted to talk with you about what all this is about.”
“Oh…”
Beatrice exchanged a glance with White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina before hesitantly opening her mouth.
She had nothing to hide or feel guilty about.
She had simply not wanted Boo Boo to worry about her, but that did not matter now that he had started a fight with Elkiad and mopped the floor with them.
She explained everything: their world had hit a technological dead-end and a single breakthrough could easily change everything, this time that had brought the world to the brink of a great war, and Elkiad had worked to trigger that war while Beatrice’s group had done everything they could to stop it.
At some points, she wondered if this was too complicated for Boo Boo, but that was no reason to hide anything. She could have him ask about the parts he did not understand and she could work to help him comprehend it all.
But a gentle look appeared on Boo Boo’s face as she explained.
Almost as if he was receiving the answer he was hoping for.
“Then that’s fine. I’m glad I saved you.”
“I know this is working against me, but do you really believe me? You can’t visit our world, so you have no way of seeing if it’s true. It’s possible the Piece we’ve created isn’t bait and will actually lead to the technology needed to start a war.”
“I trust you.”
“I see…”
Beatrice sounded relieved.
Boo Boo looked to the exhausted White Witch and Fighter Priest and said more.
“You all look tired. But you might not be able to relax in the inn town, so how about you come back to my house?”
“Good point… I want to get back home to settle all this, but if I register the Piece in my Shining Weapon for now, there shouldn’t be a problem. And it is true I want to get away from the inn town to ensure our safety. Filinion, Armelina, is that okay with you?”
As they discussed their plans, they left the half-destroyed abandoned building.
There had been no one out there before, but a large crowd was gathered now.
And they had not gathered out of curiosity or idle interest.
Their faces were covered with fear. That was the seed of hatred. They had not come to see something they liked. That crucible of emotion prevented them from relaxing until they confirmed the situation and the scope of the threat. And of course, their concerns were not directed at Beatrice, Filinion, or Armelina.
It was Boo Boo.
He was a Nonhuman, an Iberian Orc, and a hideous outsider to the humans of the inn town.
His appearance alone could easily inspire prejudice, but he had also proven his great combat ability. It was clear what emotion people would turn his way.
“Boo Boo…”
“It’s okay, Beatrice.”
Boo Boo stood in front of the three girls and responded to the Holy Swordswoman behind him as those hostile gazes focused on him.
“I knew this would happen, so it doesn’t hurt.”
He had known they would fear him.
He had known they would hate him.
He had only ever watched the festival from the hilltop despite how much fun it looked, but he had set foot inside the inn town to save his friend’s life, knowing full well what it would lead to.
And it had ended exactly how he had known it would.
“This is wrong.” Beatrice’s voice was trembling. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was Elkiad and us who started this. If they’re going to blame anyone for this battle in the inn town, it should be us! There’s no excuse for treating you like this. You selflessly saved our lives and our world!!”
But even after hearing that, Boo Boo did not look back and simply shook his head.
He had said this did not hurt.
But there was something he most likely did not know. Just like with the Thousand Dragon, he had trusted what Beatrice had to say about this Elkiad business. He thought humans had clever minds and pure hearts. It was a nice thought, but it was not always accurate.
The people had stopped at fear for now.
But what would happen to Boo Boo if it grew into hatred and disgust?
Grandnir was an island small enough for a human to walk the perimeter in only three days. If the humans truly felt threatened and decided to hunt him down, there was no hiding.
With Boo Boo’s strength, it was possible he could defeat the entire hunting party.
But afterwards, he would surely break.
If he could endure that and if he was the type to have no trouble throwing others into pandemonium for his own sake, he never would have resisted the urge to join in at the festival!!
“That should just about do it,” said Sutriona up on a rooftop.
The palm-sized Fairy named Meridiana flew alongside her.
“Wh-what’s going to happen to Boo Boo? I don’t want him to become a pariah!”
“Neither do I, and that’s why I came here. It was for Boo Boo. To be honest, I’m not too interested in interfering with a human conflict.”
The Break News were paradoxes with souls.
And this girl-shaped one had enough power to mock the Thousand Dragon as “weak”.
“But what exactly are you going to do? Oh! Are you going to speak with the humans to give them a change of heart?”
“You moron, I’m also what they call a monster. If I reveal I’m a Break News, it will cause an even greater panic. After all, they treat my very existence as a paradox.”
The Fairy Queen added an “and”.
The floral decorations of her ribbon dress were based on the red flower known as a Crimson Heaven Flower. She placed a petal of one in her mouth and tore through it with her canine tooth.
“I am thinking of giving Boo Boo some help to show my respect for how he risked his life to protect a friend. But I have no interest whatsoever in kindly protecting the entire human race.”
An odd sound surrounded them.
The next thing the Fairy knew, Sutriona had butterfly-like blood wings. They were human-sized at first, but they quickly expanded and spread so the sinister red wings encroached on the entire sky.
During the Thousand Dragon issue, hadn’t it been mentioned that it was a toxin in Fairy blood that intoxicated the wicked dragon?
In that case, what could their queen do?
“There are two ways of erasing a threat from someone’s mind.”
Sutriona spoke to Meridiana as the Fairy looked up at the gigantic wings.
“For the first, you carefully explain what lies at the center of that threat to reduce and eliminate the fear. Simply put, you patiently argue your point until they are satisfied. But to be blunt, that’s a huge pain and the thought of me unconditionally lowering my head to a mere human is simply laughable. And I have no words at all for people who can’t even protect their own town, have an outsider handle it, and then treat that savior as a threat a moment later.”
“Th-then what’s the second way?”
“That should be obvious.”
That paradox put her hands on her hips and put on the most vicious grin imaginable.
“You send in an even greater disaster to reduce the impact of the previous one. And I’m used to playing the villain like this. After all, I am one of the Break News.”
That threat was feared as a scorching red sandstorm.
The instant one was caught in the intense sandstorm, they could not see anything beyond their own nose. The sandstorm was actually the powerful toxin contained within the Fairy Queen’s blood wings. In other words, it was a red sandstorm made up of the pigment in her blood and it was said that breathing in the slightest bit of it would burn away the civilized part of the human mind, transforming them into a pack of wild animals that were slaves to their desires.
The lethal dosage of a poison was determined by how much it could accumulate in that creature’s body, how quickly their body could break it down, and one other very simple factor: their body weight. The Crimson Heaven Flower pigment was broken down in a Fairy’s blood. Since the amount of pigment in a single palm-sized Fairy’s blood was enough to intoxicate a thousand-meter Dragon, what would happen to the humans of the inn town as that red fury filled the entire scene like a sandstorm?
The first to notice it was Beatrice.
White Witch Filinion’s support Magic was still active on the edge of her vision.
That Magic visualized the probability of a threat or of running across an enemy.
That value suddenly jumped straight to 100%.
(Wha-…?)
“Hey, what is that?”
The next to notice was an ignorant young man who calmly commented on it. His question was less about wanting to know what this was and more about wanting to gather attention to himself as the first to speak up about it.
Then an older Swordsman’s eyes opened wide when his experience told him what this was.
“I-it’s a Break News!! It’s the unpredictable Sutriona who has no known route! Get indoors now or your brain will be fried!! Hurry!!”
From there, it devolved into a panic.
It may not be the best comparison, but people would not bother to stop a robber or dine-and-dasher when they knew a giant meteor was about to hit. The people who had shown such hostility and malice now scattered and fled. They dove inside every door they could find and sealed up the doors and windows. The people who did not get in in time pounded on the doors, rattled the knobs, and ran to another building when they realized it was not going to open.
This was only an inn town.
People took turns visiting this world, so no one had an actual residence. The basic assumptions of a normal city did not apply here, so there was no guarantee that there was room for everyone in the buildings.
The people were even more panicked than they might have been because they knew that.
Yet if they looked at it rationally, there would be more than enough room if they crammed as many people indoors as they could.
Beatrice asked a question while agonizing over the number that was wavering between 90 and 100%.
“Boo Boo, what will we do? I doubt anyone will let us in right now.”
“We just have to look at the direction of the wind. Run to the hill and we’ll be safe.”
“Hm? Then why are you headed in that direction? The usual hill is the other way.”
“There are a few other people who are stuck outside like us. You go on ahead. I’ll carry those people to the hill.”
“Do you really think you can do that right now?”
She started to follow him, but not because of the hatred she had seen just a moment before.
She thought they could not save those people if she did not help.
But Boo Boo answered without a moment’s hesitation.
The value of 90% or even 100% did not matter.
“I can do it.”
And Boo Boo kept his promise.
The inn town people he saved had complicated looks on their faces, but they at least did not seem ready to do anything about Boo Boo at the moment.
The red pigment clung to the inn town for a while and no one could go outside for the three days it took for the effects to naturally fade. The Fairy Queen had said they would forget about their hatred of Boo Boo in that time and they would be filled with complaints concerning the monster named Sutriona instead.
“Boo Boo.”
Beatrice spoke to him near the leaf house.
He was looking after a campfire and had fish skewered on sticks set up next to the fire.
“I’ve been learning about fire recently. It’s tricky and hard work, but Sutriona gets upset if I don’t do it.”
“What? If you had told me, I could have taught you. Fire is my specialty.”
She sat next to him and looked to the crackling campfire.
After a while, she finally spoke.
“Sorry about all this.”
“Why are you apologizing, Beatrice?”
“I just about left no place for you in this world. In fact, it really would have happened if Sutriona hadn’t cheating her way out of this. I couldn’t do anything for you, Boo Boo. I couldn’t take responsibility for what I started.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong. You fought to protect everyone’s lives, so I don’t regret it.”
That may have been true.
That commotion may have been small when one considered it was to stop a conflict on the ridiculous scale of the Atlantic Sovereignty War.
But that was wrong on a fundament level.
The initial conditions were wrong.
“But, Boo Boo, that was about our world. It was nothing more than human selfishness. We were using Grandnir to solve a problem we should have solved on our own.”
“…”
“We brought disaster to your world. We gave you a burden you never should have had to bear. That’s why I’m apologizing, Boo Boo.”
It was on a small scale, it was not happening on earth, and it happened outside human society.
But did that make it okay?
Accepting that was no different from Elkiad who had no problem as long as it was not their country that fell into ruin.
“That isn’t true.”
But Boo Boo disagreed.
Beatrice looked up and he continued.
“If you’re ever having trouble, tell me about it. If there’s something you can’t solve on your own, ask me for help. It doesn’t matter if it’s something from another world. If there’s anything you’re worrying about, I want to help you solve it. So I don’t care if you bring disaster and I’m fine taking on an unnecessary burden.”
“Boo Boo…”
“I mean, we’re friends, aren’t we?”
White Witch Filinion and Fighter Priest Armelina observed the two from a short distance away.
“I see. So that’s the Boo Boo that Beatrice is always talking about.”
“To be honest…it would be difficult to have romantic feelings for that, but an intelligent Nonhuman might not be bad for having an acquaintance who isn’t playing the Magic and Pieces game.”
“Oh? So you’re going to sum it up like that? Then why do you look about ready to start meddling just to have some fun with someone else’s romance?”
“Oh, dear. But aren’t you the one that’s started unlocking some delightful aphrodisiac Magic despite not known any Recovery Magic at all?”
A small form appeared behind them.
It was the unpredictable Fairy Queen. She blew gently into their ears and spoke.
“Hey. Mess with my toy too much and I’ll send you to a world of crazed red passion.”
The small circle was slowly expanding.
And it was all because someone had been willing to throw it all away in order to protect someone else.
