“Gh... K-Kill them, Weiss!”
“...As you command.” The chairman yelled out, and the last remaining knight stepped forward. I couldn’t make out his face for his helmet, but he wasn’t wasting any of his motions at all. This guy, whoever he was, wasn’t some chump. He was probably the knight I’d heard about. I blinked, and he was no longer there. It took me a second to register his speed. I sensed a presence behind me and immediately crouched down low. His sword passed through the space that my head had been occupying not a minute ago. I didn’t even notice him get behind me. I stood up and converted Brunhild to Blade Mode and started clashing against his sword. He was good, but he wasn’t quite as skilled as Yae.
I was amazed and shocked that I was actually having a hard time against him... So I decided to act without restraint.
“[Slip]!”
“Hgh...!” The knight immediately lost his footing, so I converted Brunhild to Stun Mode and moved in to paralyze him. I felt bad for resorting to something so cheap, but I couldn’t have him getting in my way.
That was my plan, at least. But he managed to contort his body as he fell. Brunhild only managed to strike the side of his helmet, knocking it off.
He spun around in the air and attempted to kick me in the side of the head. I managed to dodge the attack and jumped back. I’d underestimated him again. Alright, if he’s gonna be like this then I’ll just seal him... With... What...
“Hey... Hold on... What are you doing here...?” The knight stood up and assumed a combative stance. With his helmet removed, I immediately recognized the face staring at me.
He didn’t have the ephemeral vibe that usually accompanied him, but there was no mistaking his identity.
“Ende...?” He showed no reaction at all to my words. I had no idea what he was doing in a place like this. I had no idea why he was acting as my enemy...
I turned to see Elze restraining herself after she saw how I’d almost been hit.
“Hey, Ende! What are you doing here?!”
“...Who are you?”
He coldly answered my words with a glare. I had no idea what was going on...
“It’s me, Touya! Mochizuki Touya!”
“Never heard of him.” Ende stepped in and slashed at me without hesitating. I stepped back and stared at him in shock. There was no way this guy wasn’t Ende, he was powerful enough to actually be a threat. I decided to try casting a little bait. “...Hey, don’t you want me to tell you what happened to Melle?”
“...Melle...” Ende’s eye twitched, and his body stopped moving. His eyes began swirling around in his head as if trying to find a focus. That meant that somewhere inside him, he remembered the Sovereign, even though he seemed to have completely forgotten me. I wondered if he’d lost his memories... Or if he’d been messed with somehow. “What are you doing, Weiss?! Kill the enemy!” Ende’s spasming ended the second the chairman yelled out, and he snapped back into hostility. He came charging toward me with his blade. Goddammit, this isn’t funny! Fine... I’ll put you in timeout!
“[Prison]!”
“Wh?!” Ende was immediately sealed within a pale blue cube. He crashed into the wall of his new container, stumbled backward, and fell to the ground.
He got up and started slashing at the walls, then kicked at the walls, but it didn’t give way.
There was nothing he could do. Once you were enclosed in my perfect cell, only something with the power of a god could shatter it.
Hell, it could even hold an Upper Construct if I needed it to.
I decided to leave Ende in there for the time being, since I had pressing questions for the chairman.
“Bastard!”
“Die!” The two other knights, despite their lack of armor, came slashing at me. They were strong, but nothing compared to Ende. But before they did anything, they were unceremoniously stopped in their tracks by Yae and Hilde. Rest in peace, fellas.
“You wretches! Do you not know who I am?! I control this senate! I am Morlock Lapitos, chairman of this entire hall! Begone!”
“Yeah, I know who you are. You’re an old fart trying to bargain using power that means nothing to me.” I spoke frankly toward him, prompting him to snarl and yell. Veins bulged along his red forehead. If he was really pushing seventy, he was doing a good job of hiding it.
He had grey, scraggly hair, and a long beard. He was clad in a fancy gold-embroidered robe. He was also holding an equally fancy scepter in his hands. His body was tall, thin, and gaunt. But his face had distinct traces of arrogance painted all over it. His hooked nose, narrowed eyes, and crooked brow gave off the image of him judging everyone around him.
“Well, I don’t really care about you all that much. Tell me what you did to him.”
“Him? Ah... You knew Weiss? Heheh...” The old man grinned slightly as he tilted his scepter around in his hands.
“One of my subordinates found that man near the castle, he was quite close to death. He had all kinds of interesting objects on his person... I tried to ask him where he’d obtained them, but it seemed like his memories weren’t all there. That’s why I had him... Re-educated in one of our special facilities. I renamed him Weiss, and gave him the luxury of serving me directly.” Memory loss... And on the verge of death? That sounds like Sakura’s situation... Wait, no. Given that he seems to have been brainwashed, this is way worse. I can probably fix it up with [Recall]. Or at least, I hope so.
But still... Ende, being left on the verge of death like that? How? Who could’ve been strong enough to do that to him?
“...Heh... And among Weiss’ possessions was this! The world’s mightiest Gollem!” The chairman pulled a small microscope slide out of his sleeve. Wait... That’s...
A cracking sound rang out as he broke it between his fingers.
A blinding light enveloped the room, and a massive armored knight appeared, partially demolishing the roof of the room we were in.
It stood tall, sleek, its monotone colors gleaming in the sunlight. I looked it up and down, my eyes settling on its wheels.
It was the Dragoon, the Frame Gear I had given to Ende.
... You seriously let that get stolen, Ende?
“Heheh... You can’t even comprehend it, can you?! You’re finished!” The chairman scurried up into the Dragoon’s cockpit. He moved with such speed and grace that I found it hard to believe he was nearing seventy. The hatch closed around him.
The Frame Gears had been tweaked so even amateurs could control them, even if less proficiently. It was something akin to playing a simulator in an arcade, or a controller on a game console. The Frame Gear itself assisted in some of the processes, too.
But...
“Now, you pesky little worms! Prepare to be crushed beneath my heel!” I ignored the voice of the old man that was blaring through the Dragoon’s speakers, and I pulled out my smartphone. Then I pushed a button.
“Ahahahaaaaa, huh?! Wh... Huh? Why isn’t it moving? It moved fine before...?!” The voice coming from the speakers descended into panic. The Dragoon slowly lowered itself, and showed no signs of getting back up.
Yae let out a sigh as she looked up at it, while Elze just grinned and shrugged her shoulders.
“He is truly a fool, he is.”
“Well, it’s not like he could’ve known, right?”
“Move! Gah! Move, damn you!” As he continued to freak out, I hopped up to the cockpit and unlocked the hatch that was protecting the manual open/close lever. I pulled it.
With the hissing sound of whooshing air, the cockpit sprang open.
“Eek!”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, pal... But I invented this thing. That makes me the master of this Gollem. Understand?” ...Technically, this was invented by Doc Babylon, Rosetta, and the others... But I’m not gonna sweat the small stuff.
There was an emergency override built into all the Frame Gears. Given how powerful they were, that was a perfectly normal safeguard.
“W-Woaaah!” I used [Levitat
ion] to forcibly remove chairman Morlock from the cockpit. He flailed his arms and legs in an attempt to resist, but it was futile. When I brought him back down to the ground, Zerorick came back out of hiding.
“Oh! Z-Zerorick! Strike this fool down! He’s trying to destroy our holy empire!”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Wh-What?!”
“This man has Lord Listin as a hostage, you know? I’m afraid my hands are tied, Chairman. I can’t do a thing.” He attempted to hold back a grin as he said that. I was amazed by how smooth this guy was, he actually used the hostage situation as justification.
“Y-You idiot! What do you think is more important?! Me, the vital and important chairman, or Listin, an incompetent second-born?! I’ll have you executed for this!”
“Enough.”
“Grugh?!” Elze, clearly fed up with his rambling, chopped him hard in the back of the neck. I was getting tired of him too.
I wondered how he had the gall to say something like that. This country had a lot of problems if it was letting a man like this sit at the tippy-top.
I gave Sir Zerorick a reassuring pat on the back, but the moment of sympathy was held up by a cracking sound. I turned around to see Ende physically breaking out of the [Prison].
“What the hell?!”
No way... I know I didn’t pour divinity into it this time but normal attacks can’t possibly break through it! Ende had two blades in his hands that I hadn’t noticed. They weren’t quite long enough to be considered longswords. Wait... What’s that coming off them...? What... How?
I dodged the strikes from his blades by jumping back, then quickly chanted a spell.
“Spark forth, Ice! Frozen, Jolting Maelstrom: [Vortex Mist]!”
“Hrgh!” Ende got his hand caught in the sudden mist cloud, shocking him enough that he let go of one of his weapons. I reached in and grabbed it, then jumped back. I took a closer look... And it was exactly as I’d suspected.
The shortsword in my hand had divinity leaking from it. There was no mistaking it... He was wielding a Sacred Treasure... A weapon bestowed by the gods.
“How did you get something like this, Ende...” Sacred Treasures were gifted to worlds as a last-hope kind of deal when they were threatened by wicked threats of divine origin. Heroes usually wielded them to repel the enemy, and the items were commemorated in legend and myth.
Since Sacred Treasures could become potential birthing spots for wicked gods if they weren’t handled properly, they were usually destroyed or replaced with a replica after their purpose was served. That’s what I was told, at least.
“Haaah!” He charged forward with the remaining blade in his left hand.
Guh... This is getting annoying, Ende! Get your shit together!
“[Accel Boost]!” I charged headlong toward Ende.
“Wh-?!”
“Don’t take this personally... But Yumina asked me to hit you for her.” I smacked Ende right across the face and sank my free fist into his stomach.
“Bwugh!”
“Go to sleep.” After he keeled over, I brought the hand I’d used to slap him down over his neck in a chop. The remaining Sacred Treasure fell from his hand, and he collapsed on the spot.
“He was certainly going all-out, he was...”
“Indeed. He almost gave you a run for your money, Touya.”
I was mostly just annoyed at Ende. Sure he’d lost his memories, but I wasn’t so keen on him acting like this.
I picked up both Sacred Treasures and threw them into [Storage], then sealed Ende in another [Prison]. I decided to wait a bit before recovering his memories, I had other fish to fry.
I shrunk down his holding cell until it was the size of a die, and slipped it into my pocket.
Unlike [Storage], time wasn’t halted within the enclosed space... I decided to hurry up and finish things before the guy woke up and needed to use the bathroom.
I cast another [Prison] around the chairman, and Zerorick took me toward the holy emperor. I took that opportunity to recover the Dragoon as well.
The whole stuff with the Frame Gear raised a commotion, so several soldiers were in the area. I ended up using [Invisible] to mask us, so we got by without any hassle. According to Zerorick, entering the palace was usually forbidden unless the Senate expressly permitted it.
Given that this was the home of the holy emperor, I expected the palace to be a little gaudier... It honestly looked plain compared to the grand senate house we were in earlier.
There weren’t many Gollems or knights on guard duty, either. It really put into perspective that the holy emperor didn’t mean much in this country.
“Your Highness!” Sir Zerorick opened a door at the end of one of the hallways and yelled out. There was a man in the room sitting at his desk with a book. He seemed to be in his fifties. When he heard the voice, he looked around in confusion.
The man had white hair and a small white beard, as well as a pair of round glasses on his face. He looked much like an academic. Not the image I expected of the Triharan holy emperor. There was nothing intimidating about him, really... But that wasn’t too bad, he seemed fairly casual.
I quickly realized why he was looking around in confusion. I’d forgotten to cancel our invisibility spell.
When I finally undid it, the shock of our sudden appearance made the man fall out of his chair.
“Uwah! S-Sir Zerorick?! A-Are you not supposed to be on the Primulan front...?”
“Please forgive me, Your Highness, but I am here to ask something urgent of you. It’s a matter that could decide the fate of our holy empire.” The holy emperor looked confused, so Zerorick pulled out a letter from Listis explaining the situation, and handed it to him.
At first, he seemed skeptical and confused, but then I pulled open the [Prison] I’d used to contain Chairman Morlock and sent the older man tumbling to the ground.
“...I see... This is serious indeed. Guards! Bring Lupheus to me at once!” A guard peeked his head in from the outside, then nodded and ran down the hall.
I asked Zerorick something that I wanted to be sure of.
“Who’s Lupheus?”
“The firstborn son, crown heir to the holy throne.” That made him Listis’ older brother. Given how poorly the holy emperor was treated, I wondered how badly he had it in daily life.
After a while, the knight from before brought a young man into the room.
He had golden blond hair just like Listis. He was definitely in his early twenties. He was fairly handsome, and the glasses he wore gave him an intelligent aura like his father’s. He didn’t seem the type to take up a blade and fight on the front.
When he entered the room, he was initially shocked and confused, but after his father and Sir Zerorick filled him in on the details, a fire seemed to light up in his eyes.
“Father! This is a golden opportunity! This is a chance for us to abolish that dreaded senate and restore peace to our entire empire! If we listen to this man and end the war with Primula, we can work toward peace!”
“Hm... Mm... Yes... You’re quite right.” His speech was so loud and passionate that he even seemed to unnerve his father.
I remembered that he’d been forced to get engaged to the chairman’s wretched daughter... I’d heard she was a lot older and had a crappy personality, so he was probably desperate to get out.
I asked about it later and discovered she was in her forties, had a sadistic streak, and was so hideous a lot of people mistook her for a guy. I could understand Lupheus’ desperation.
The senate held absolute power, but it wasn’t integral to the country’s government. If it was abolished, there’d be some initial confusion, but things would eventually settle.
The senate had treated the holy emperor and his family as disposable, only to be disposed of by them in the end... A cautionary tale indeed.
“Very well. Lupheus, take some guards and some Gollems, search the estate of the chairman’s family. I am certain that eviden
ce of his embezzling will be in there somewhere. Zerorick, head out and order a retreat of our army. We shall make peace with Primula this day.”
“And what do I do with this guy?”
I pointed toward the chairman, who was still flat-out unconscious.
“...This might not be fitting with due process, but... We’ll have him imprisoned in the dungeon until we find evidence of his guilt.” Normally you wouldn’t go locking someone up without proof, and hearing that statement without context would make it seem suspicious... But there was no doubt that he was guilty of what he had done.
I was sure that the other members of the senate wouldn’t be let off too lightly, either... But in the end, what goes around comes around.
Lupheus made off for the chairman’s estate immediately. He definitely seemed happy, not that I could blame him.
I asked the holy emperor for a handwritten letter that I could pass on to the king of Primula, then took Zerorick and my fiancées to the camp we’d initially kidnapped him from.
He immediately gave the order to retreat, but was met with slight resistance by some nobles who were visiting. Apparently, they had ordered some men to pillage spoils of war from the conquered city.
The moment we showed them the emperor’s letter and told them the senate was to be dissolved, they quieted down really quickly.
Seemed like they’d been plotting bad stuff in the background, too. Seeing that their senate-based backing would soon be over likely sent them into a panic. It was too late for them, either way. Sir Zerorick wouldn’t miss their guilt.
After the order to retreat had been given, I warped us back to Primula castle.
I passed on the letter from the holy emperor to the king of Primula and told him the war was officially over. Everyone simply stopped what they were doing and stared at me blankly.
I couldn’t blame them, to be honest. It had only been six hours since Elluka brought me to the country. The fact that I’d saved not one, but two nations from disaster, was not something any reasonable person should have to understand.
“How can we even begin to express our gratitude?”
“Nah, seriously... It’s fine. I could only come to this world to begin with thanks to the device your ancestor made, so really I should be thanking you.”
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 14 Page 18