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Chapter 354: Various Circumstances, and a Precursor.

The multi-armed devil that fell onto the ground had not completely suspended all its activities yet.

The cracks running from its torso to the rest of its body were threatening to break its armor apart. While raising creaking sounds, it tried to raise its upper body up from the ground, but failed and fell back down again.

We landed besides it, and stared at Hekatonkheire which had stopped moving.

“As an anti-golem weapon, it’s quite terrifying, really.”

The ability to halt the operations of Q-crystals—since it’s in the form of a gas, it’s likely something indiscriminate.

The components of that gas probably aren’t anything scientific, but purely things born from Hekatonkheire’s golem skill. If so, it most probably won’t affect itself.

The ability to indiscriminately render all golems besides itself powerless is way too terrifying. I don’t think there’s anyone who can stop the rampage of that old man besides us who have Frame Gears.

Suddenly, with a *gakon* sound, Hekatonkheire’s head detached itself from its body. What?

Six leg-like things sprouted from the detached head, and it began moving separate from its own body.

Something like a spine was dragged out of the torso together with the head, and trailed behind it like a sort of tail.

The multi-legged head part moved as if to escape from us (well, it probably is trying to escape) with swift movements, and began digging the ground with drill-like attachments on its legs.

“[Slip].”

“Gueh!?”

The head part, who fell sideways, kept on spinning on the spot over there. It’s like a spinning helmet.

I used Reginleiv to grab the tail-like spine that’s dangling from the head part, and glared at the head of Hekatonkheire… Or rather, the Magicraft King who tried to escape.

“Le, let go! For someone superior like me to die in a place like this is not something that could be forgiven!”

“… Being delusional to this degree probably qualifies as a sickness.”

I wonder, is this what you’d call dementia?

“In any case, since the main body is already like that, your time should come soon enough. How about you do some reflecting while you still can?”

“Don’t kid around with me! I still have things that I must do! Just you watch! By hijacking the body of someone capable…!”

“Enough out of you. [Analyze].”

I activated analysis magic on Hekatonkheire’s head.

“There.”

I stuck Reginleiv’s hand into the back of the hear part, and took “that” out from within.

A human brain floating in a cylinder-shaped capsule. The real “body” of the Magicraft King.

“What are you doing!? Stop it! To lose my intellect would be the greatest loss of mankind, you know!?”

“No, I don’t know about that.”

I didn’t expect even the capsule to have a voice projection function. Putting the creepy capsule with a brain floating inside down on the ground, I too got out of Reginleiv and descended.

The cylinder, 2 meters tall with a radius of around 60 centimeters, was filled with an emerald- green solution. From a mysterious device installed on top of the cylinder, several thin tubes extended down to connect to the brain of the Magicraft King which was floating inside like some kind of jellyfish. I’m guessing that’s his life support.

“D, do you intend to destroy this capsule!?”

“Just the opposite. I’ll make it tougher.”

I enchanted [Shield] onto the capsule, and strengthened it so that it won’t break easily. I also filled up the almost-empty magic power tank of the life support device while I’m at it.

“Wha-what are you trying to do!?”

“You’ve mentioned it yourself earlier, that I can ‘curse’ others. For example, something like directly sending the sensation of pain to your brain…”

“D-don’t tell me…”

“[O Darkness bind, give punishment to the sins of man, Guilty Curse].”

“Pain” is just electric signals sent to the brain if you simplify matters enough. If I just connect the brain floating inside the capsule with that capsule itself using magic, such that any physical shock received by the capsule is directly transmitted to the brain…

I then gave a strong kick to the bottom of the capsule with the tip of my boot.

“Gugyaa!?”

“Seems like it worked well.”

“Im-impossible! For me to feel pain in a state like this…!”

I lightly poked the glass part of the capsule with the sword tip of Brunhild. While the glass itself won’t even be scratched since I had strengthened it,

“Agya!?”

He’s probably feeling an acute pain as if a needle was pierced into his skin.

“Wh, what do you intend to do with me!?”

“Well. That’s not up to me to decide. There’s tons of people who would like answers from you besides me, after all.”

The Garudio emperor and Colonel’s group probably have many things they would like to ask this old man about. Since he can feel pain now, the talk should go a bit more smoothly.

Well, I don’t know if they’ll end it at interrogations, though.

The capsule that was the Magicraft King was passed over to Colonel’s group after receiving a series of interrogations in Garudio Empire.

Not only did he cause the fall of Lowe, the Magicraft King had apparently also committed numerous atrocities for the sake of reviving Hekatonkheire.

The worst among them would be the fact that he had conducted repeated human experiments to prepare for the operation to transfer his brain into Hekatonkheire. Regardless of age or gender, the number of people who had their brains taken out for that sake alone was in the triple digits. Truly revolting.

Eisengard, which had lost the Magicraft King, went into a power struggle between influential nobles—the natural outcome. They no longer had the spare time to pay attention towards Garudio Empire.

The Magicraft King had neither children nor disciples, and the chaos only intensified without a clear successor.

I’ve thought about this during Yulong’s case as well but, a successor must be chosen and nurtured well, or else the country risks falling into disarray when something happens. Gotta keep that in my heart.

For the record, after their interrogations were finished Garudio did ask Eisengard if they wanted the Magicraft King capsule, but they rejected the offer cleanly, saying they don’t know about a capsule like that.

The talks on their end turned into something like “The Magicraft King failed in activating an ancient weapon, brought the castle down and killed himself”. They also pinned the declaration of war as well as the invasion of Garudio Empire squarely on the Magicraft King, saying it was all his arbitrary decision. Well, regarding that part, I feel like it might have been the truth.

I don’t know to what degree did the core retainers of Eisengard know about the Magicraft King’s misdeeds, but with their current situation, no matter what him going back would just cause more troubles for them.

I have no idea what happened to the capsule after it was passed over to Colonel and the others. The amount of magic power I poured into it would last about a year. Since it should take quite some effort to break that capsule, he would be able to live for at least another year.

It’s possible that he would be forced to live on while carrying the grudges of the people who died because of his ambitions.

On another topic, Garudio’s Prince Lucrecion renounces his rights to succession, and the current emperor also retired at the same time, with a new emperor having been decided already.

The new emperor was a young man, 20 years of age, named Lancelet Garudio. Before this, his name was Lancelet Olcot.

As you might’ve noticed, he’s the son of the former Garudio emperor’s right-hand man as well as the one who found Prince Lucrecion in the past, the prime minister, Lancelow Olcot-san.

As for how he became the emperor, well, a younger sister of the former Garudio emperor happened to be Lancelow-san’s wife.

Basically (although not connected by blood), he’s a cousin of the former prince, Lucrecion.

And, the first thing the new emperor did was giving the former Lowe territories that was under the emperor’s direct authority to the former prince Lucrecion, and giving him the title of Margrave Lowe.

With this, Lucrecion Rig Garudio became Lucrecion Gran Lowe.

While a substitute officer would govern the territory until he becomes an adult, I’m sure he would grow up to be a splendid ruler. There’s the kind parents who are staying besides him as well.

Colonel’s group also seemed to be working hard to make the lands of Lowe prosper.

For the moment, that’s a wrap to things, I guess.

“And something like that.”

“Hmm. To think that old man did something like that. Well, I knew he wasn’t anyone decent to begin with, though.”

“Agreed.”

Brunhild, the inn [Silver Moon]. I was talking with Norn, Dr. Elka’s younger sister as well as the master of the black [Crown], [Chronos Noir] about recent happenings.

“You knew him before?”

“We met once before. While I was searching for my sister. Since he was asking questions left and right about Noir and even came with stupid demands like giving it to him, I got pissed and fought with him, though.”

She just said something scary pretty casually, didn’t she. That’s picking a fight with the entire Eisengard, you know? When I looked at Noir, who was sitting at the same table, a rather indescribable expression was on its face. Even though they’re golems, the Crown series have some easy-to-tell emotions.

Elfrau, the humanoid-type maid golem sitting next to it also had a bitter smile on her face.

“And? You didn’t come here just to talk about that, did you?”

“Nn, well. Your sister was worried about how you’re doing.”

“… I’d like for her to stop treating me like a kid. Sheesh.”

I mean, your outward appearance is completely that of a kid, you know. You look like you’re 6 even though you’re actually 15. I can understand why Dr. Elka would be worried about you.

Of course, I’m not gonna say that out loud. I don’t want to trigger her complex and having her explode on me again.

“I’ve got a proper income source too, so I’m fine. Tell her don’t worry.”

“Eh, what are you doing to earn a living?”

“I became one of those adventurers. Here, my guild card.”

For real?

I took a look at the card she passed to me. Uwa, it’s the real thing. And she’s already at blue rank, one step before being qualified to call herself a first-rate adventurer.

“More like, how’d you get in in the first place…”

While there’s no age limit for adventurers, if your age is too low, the guild won’t issue you a card.

Even Yumina was barely ok by the standards, and couldn’t receive solo requests as well back during that period. The requirement for a guardian, so to speak.

“They passed my registration easily when I gave them your name though?”

“Wait a second, oi.”

“I showed them my power too so it’s fine. After I sent a couple of blue-ranked guys who came messing with me flying, an Elf person gave me my card.”

So it was Guild Master Rerishia…

Since it’s the guild master, I think she probably didn’t let Norn’s registration through just because she’s my acquaintance. She did it after understanding that Norn has the required strength.

“I’m doing things like going to the dungeon islands right now. Adventurers make quite the amount, don’t they?”

“Well yeah. It’s a world of high risks and high returns.”

As I said that, Norn stopped her spoon which was moving between her mouth and her omelet rice.

“Ah, right, you’re one of the highest-ranked adventurers, come to think of it. Do you still receive requests even after becoming a king?”

“Yep. Quests that silver-ranked adventurers failed, disaster-level monsters’ subjugations, rescuing of important personages, things like that.”

“Isn’t it fine for you to decline those as well? It’s not like you’re troubled with money or anything; you’re a king after all.”

That would be where you’re wrong.

The money we’re using to run the country comes from things like tax and income from national organizations like the dungeon islands’ management.

However, for Frame Gear developments in Babylon, as well as everything in our knight order from their wages, equipment to meal costs, all of those come from my own pockets.

Although they’re called “Brunhild Knight Order”, to the end, they’re a private order owned by me as an individual.

It’s a pretty weird story, but Brunhild’s national defense is basically contracted to my personal knight order. What’s more, we’re paid nothing. Well, I might make a proper knight order that belongs to the nation one day.

Also, I’m earning my own income from various channels around the world starting from the Mismede merchant, Olba-san.

However, with things like the mass production of Frame Gears and the development costs for new weapons, it’s still tough to have enough for everything.

Because of that, I’ll gladly accept requests from the guild if they pay well. Although, since they put a strain on my work as the sovereign, I have to do them while trying to not get caught by the prime minister, Kousaka-san.

Let’s leave that topic aside for the moment.

I then turned to look at the small black knight sitting next to me.

“That aside, there’s something I wanted to ask Noir.”

“Personal question, acknowledged.”

“Do you remember anything about the white [Crown]?”

“… Unable to answer. No memory at all.”

“I told you it’s useless. Noir doesn’t have any memories of the period before he met me. Although, instead of deleted, they’re apparently sealed away or something.”

Memory manipulation, eh? It’s probably due to something done to it’s Q-crystal, the equivalent of a brain in golems.

“And what are you trying to do by looking for the white [Crown] anyway?”

“I’ve explained to you before that the barrier this world has, which defends it from outside invaders, is in tatters, right? The white [Crown] might have an ability that could mend that barrier.”

Since variants have already begun appearing over there, the Reverse World’s barrier is probably also in a rather dangerous situation, really.

“You said it was the Phrase… Or something? Invaders from another world?”

“Regarding the Phrase, their boss… Well, someone who’s in a leadership position on their side had talked with us and sorted out our differences, but there’s a group who left that side and started doing whatever they wanted. Even dragging your world into it as well. Seems like they’ve been moving around quite a bit over in the other world these days.”

As I stopped talking and reached my hand out to the cup on the table, the cup suddenly began shaking.

“… An earthquake?”

“Seems like it.”

The shaking, around magnitude 3, continued for quite a while. It sure makes you feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, nothing in the shop was damaged, and none of the guests were raising a big fuss about it either.

Come to think of it, how do earthquakes work in this world?

Is the cause the same one as back on Earth—rapid shifts in the tectonic plates, or does it have something to do with the arch-spirit of earth? I hope it’s not something like sneezes of the arch-spirit… If the spirit happens to have pollen allergy or something, that would be horrible.

(Note: you know, considering the spirit of earth is a girl in this generation, that’s a pretty rude remark… Eh, whatever. It’s Touya.)

“There’s been a lot lately. Is this also because of those invaders from another world?”

“Was there really that many?”

“… Aren’t you the king of this country? How do you not know about that?”

Uu. No, well, recently I’ve been busy in the Reverse World as well as up in Babylon, so I didn’t really spend a lot of time on the ground.

“There’s times when I can feel small shakes even when in the dungeons. As expected, those times were a little scary.”

Eh? Even at the dungeons? The dungeon islands, which can be accessed from Brunhild using the gates I installed, are far to the south of the Sandora region, you know. Does that mean the earthquakes are happening on a global scale?

Is this also one of the precursors to the two worlds merging together…

I had already told the spirits to not make too much of a fuss in order to prevent natural disasters though.

It is kinda scary for even the dungeons to be affected, though. There might be the risk of collapses, too. If it becomes too severe, I’ll probably need to consider restricting the [Gate] usage to those islands.

Oh, right.

“… What are you doing?”

“Just some stuff.”

I took out a pendant I kept in [Storage]. It’s a pendant with a teardrop-shaped blue gem on it.

Alright, enchant it with [Teleport] and [Gate], and with some [Program]… There. Something like this, I guess.

“Here, have this.”

“… What’s this?”

“If something dangerous happens in the dungeon, by filling that with magic power you can transfer yourself to the castle instantly. You can also bring along people as long as they’re within a three-meter range; it’s a so-called emergency escape option.”

“Hmm…”

After looking at the pendant she received, Norn turned to look at me with half-lidded eyes. Eh? Don’t tell me she doesn’t like it?

“… You’re sure you’re not into little girls?”

“Bufuu!?”

I spurted out the water I had in my mouth. What the hell is this girl saying!?

“How did you come to that!?”

“It can’t be helped to think that way when you’re giving someone like me accessories, you know. Also, there’s the rumor that the king of this country is a licentious playboy.”

“Baseless slander!?”

What is that!? Who the hell is saying something like that, bring him here for a bit!

“But I’ve heard you have tons of fiancées, and also brought different girls out on walks all the time, though? An expressionless maid, a little girl in a white coat, and someone with a pair of round glasses… Well, the last one is probably my sister, though.”

“Nu, gu. True, that kind of thing, might have happened…”

More like, putting aside Yumina and the others, even Cesca and Dr. Elka were looked at like that…? And while those two are still relatively recoverable, the professor is completely out…

“What a skirt-chaser. And isn’t your strike zone a bit too large?”

“Like I said, that’s wrong. That’s wrong ok? Those people are in positions like my helpers or technical staffs, and we’re not in that kind of relationship.”

That’s what it is, so there’s no way I’d be hitting on someone who’s outer appearance is 6, ok?

“… Police report?”

“Stop it!”

After throwing a retort at the golem who was tilting its neck, I spent a while explaining my relationship with the Babylon group as well as some other people to the three of them. While I did get them to understand those parts, it was pointed out that by the time I had nine fiancées, there’s no shaking off the label of a playboy for me already. Unuu.

Some time later, apparently Mika-san of [Silver Moon] had witnessed that scene, and the talk of me giving a present to a little girl had circulated all the way into Dr. Elka’s ears inside Babylon.

I got my shoulders patted from behind by her with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes at all, while saying “Touya-kun, I need to talk with you a little. About my little sister.”

No, it’s a misunderstanding I say.

- Pixel