by Yuu Kamiya
“Uh, um, okay… Thank you for everything.”
Said Steph while shrinking a bit.
“No, it is all in the service of my master. Farewell.”
Once more, she vanished. Of her master… Steph felt a certain edge in these words. It sounded vaguely like some sort of threat, but was she just imagining it? But Steph just shook her head.
“These are…for me!! Yes, now, it’s time I prepare sweets so delicious I shall surprise myself!!”
Her mind was crossed again by the sight after the match with Jibril. Her head being stroked—with only the words modified.
—You’re so good, Steph. Thanks.
“Like. I. Said—!”
Smashing her hands down onto the table.
“It’s not like thaaat!”
As Steph bashed her head against the table. Outside the door, Jibril.
“‘Fall in love with me’… Such a fascinating request is truly the work of my master.”
Yet she spoke as if she saw something even more fascinating. Though Jibril did not well understand the feelings of Immanity, she did at least know something about the theory of romantic affection.
“…Love burns in a flash and cools just as fast—why is it that Dora, who has not been ordered ‘Stay in love,’ should be affected long-term. Hee-hee, how endlessly intriguing.”
Thus giggling quietly, she faded back into the void.
“Uh—red… Eeyaughh, it’s blooood?! Eungh…”
With Steph passing out at her own blood, it looked like the sweets would take a while longer.
Having rubbed ointment on her forehead and dressed it, Steph carried with effort the four servings of teacakes she’d completed after recovering from unconsciousness.
“Hee-hee-hee, now these are perfect!”
Steph congratulated herself on being flawless now that she had sugar and butter again, then headed for the room at the back of the library so as not to let it be thought she’d come just to hear Sora’s praise.
—And found that, with her hands full, she couldn’t open the door.
“This situation gives me an odd sense of déjà vu.”
Were the déjà vu to continue, her opening the door would be punctuated by finding no one there…she thought. In the end, fortunately, the déjà vu did not continue. Rather—
“So—Jibril.”
A man interrogating Jibril with the most serious face imaginable.
“Will you tell me about the country of animal-eared girls I’m about to conquer—about the Eastern Union?”
…A man one didn’t want to believe was entrusted with the fate of Immanity was there.
“Yes, Lord, the Eastern Union is a country with a complicated background.”
The Eastern Union—the country of Rank Ten, Werebeast. Though the Werebeasts were considered a single race, it included countless tribes based on differences in physical characteristics. As a result, for many years, they cycled through civil war and truce among a number of small, disparate islands. Then suddenly a figure known as the Shrine Maiden subjugated and unified them over a period of only half a century. Now it was an enormous maritime nation, the third-largest country in the world.
“Differences in physical characteristics…like, some have cat ears and some have fox ears?”
Sora responded to this part deadpan, to which Jibril answered.
“Yes. But perhaps even more critical than differences in appearance is differences in function. Though they are called Werebeasts, please do not think that their physical abilities are merely beastlike. For some tribes and individuals possess abilities approaching physical limits, and such unthinkable abilities allow them to even read minds. In addition, some individuals called bloodbreaks even go beyond—”
“Hm, sure, I get the picture—so.
“The animal-eared girls are mine; now, how are we going to smash this Eastern Union!”
—This king was hopeless.
“I’m sorry to say, Master, that it is most likely impossible.”
The one who dumped the cold water on him turned out to be none other than she who called him Master and claimed obedience: Jibril.
“Wha—Jibril, for what did I invite you into my party as a sage?! How could you say such a thing about my kami no keikaku that fulfills both my private desires and the national interest—to pet animal-eared girls!”
Despite how fearlessly he displayed the extent to which his self-interest overrode important national concerns, still Jibril was unmoved.
“Master, I am most humbled. However—I do feel that even the two of you may be unable to defeat the Eastern Union.”
At these words, Sora, and even Shiro, who’d been reading a book at his side, squinted and glared at Jibril.
“Mmm? Are you trying to say that Blank will lose?”
“No, I worded that poorly. I simply meant that things may not proceed as planned.”
The reason being—.
“I myself have once challenged the Eastern Union—and lost.”
…What…?
“…Seriously? Wha, at shiritori?”
“No, as it was I who initiated the challenge.”
…How many games could beat a freak multipurpose humanoid decisive weapon like that…?
“It was most likely the other party who selected the game.”
—Most likely?
“If I may add, the Elves—Elven Gard has challenged the Eastern Union to a formal battle of nations four times in the last fifty years, and each of those times—they were defeated,” said Jibril, as if stating a fact that was unwelcome but unavoidable.
But more important—Sora had to understand what her words meant, and why Jibril had gone so far as to state that it was impossible.
“…Could it be…”
But if it were the truth—it would, after all…
“…the Eastern Union…demands as a wager that you lose your memory of the game?”
…Mean that, at present, it was impossible to win.
Bowing her head in reverence, Jibril said:
“My master indeed is wise. For this reason, not a single detail of their game or games is known.”
…Well, then. The race known for superior senses and some kind of sixth sense that let them read minds went so far as to erase others’ memories to conceal their games. There was no place to dig; there was no way to learn from loss. Indeed, to challenge them under the conditions, with no prior information, would be suicide.
—But that left several unanswered questions.
“Elven Gard lost…four times?”
Elven Gard. The thing was, he knew from experience, from the tournament to become monarch, what a pain those Elves could be. Even against Chlammy, who had merely called on their power indirectly, he was sure to have lost if he had had no prior information. Even attacking with two lines, three lines of defense prepared, she had forced them to struggle. And they were the largest country in the world. To be able to hold one’s own against that—
“Yes, and, as a consequence—I suspected the involvement of a higher race.”
Yes, just as Elven Gard had tried to do to Elkia. Someone else, who could even have pushed aside Elf, might have turned the Eastern Union into a puppet state.
“And I was so curious about who could be behind it were that the case—”
“You challenged them and got it handed to you.”
“…I can say nothing in my defense.”
Well, then. That explained why Jibril stated it was impossible. If they didn’t know anything about the game and had no way to bluff, there was no room for strategy. And, in this case, Sora’s lot, who had no weapons but wit and wiles, was all but doomed to be prey.
—But, even so, there was a doubt that couldn’t be wiped away.
“…Isn’t the one who’s challenged at an overwhelming advantage in this world?”
The Fifth of the Ten Covenants: The party challenged shall have the right to determine the game. Obviously, someone who could select t
he game that suited them was in a superior position.
“But then if they erase all the memories—after a while, no one would try, right?”
—Yes. It was like nuclear deterrence in Sora’s world. No one would pick a fight once they knew there was no way to win against the opponent.
“…Defensive, defense…?”
Shiro speculated on the implications for the stance of the Eastern Union. But Sora pointed something out.
“Shiro, you may be smarter than your brother, but this is why you lose to him in strategy games. There’s no fun in that, right?”
If they had an unbeatable move that even beat Elf and Flügel, why would they stop at defensive defense? The real fun was making it look like there was an opening, getting others to attack, and then kicking their asses.
“…Brother, your…play style…is lame.”
“Are you saying the strategy I spent all my brains concocting is lame? That makes your brother really sad, you know?!”
But yeah. Shiro recognized she’d gone in the wrong direction.
“…For a country…that’s surged in the last half-century…to adopt defensive defense…is weird.”
“I-isn’t it?”
Sora, grabbing onto Shiro with tears in his eyes. Jibril spoke to the siblings who looked quizzical at the unresolvable contradiction.
“But in fact, in the last ten years, no country has challenged the Eastern Union to a battle of nations—”
…Jibril smiled.
“—oh, yes…except one.”
“…Mm…”
“Huh, what, which?”
Only Jibril and Shiro reacted. Shiro must have read about it already in Jibril’s books, but it was news to Sora.
—Oh, this is not a welcome development.
Steph detected an imminent disaster and tried to quietly leave the room.
“I believe it may be easiest to see for yourself. Of course, Dora should come along.”
“Hngmh?!”
Not knowing when she had been approached, Steph raised her voice at the hand on her shoulder.
“Please hold on to me, everyone.”
“Hold on?”
Sora and Shiro obediently grabbed Jibril’s clothes.
“And please do not let go—for now we begin.”
And, the instant Jibril spoke. A sound at Sora’s ears like glass breaking made him close his eyes for a moment—and, just then. As he opened his eyes again, what he beheld…hmm, could it be a trick of the imagination?
—It appeared that he was floating a few thousand meters above the ground; quite a nice view, yes?
“What splendid weather we have today; visibility should be—”
“Wait, Jibril, hold on; first of all—what did you just do?!”
Sora interrupted Jibril, who went on as if nothing had happened. While Sora demanded an explanation of this situation in which they’d been launched into the air at very high altitude in zero frames. Still, blankly.
“Whatever do you mean…I merely shifted.”
Jibril answered nonchalantly that she’d just accomplished teleportation.
…So that was why it seemed she could pop up anywhere, Sora realized. She actually was a teleporter. It was hard to wrap one’s head around, but it made sense.
“…Just how far can you shift?”
“Anywhere I can see. Or, otherwise, anywhere I have once visited.”
—Sora and Shiro had just run upon the greatest mystery of this world.
“—Hey, Shiro, how is it that Immanity survived the old war?”
“……Dunno…?”
If they had a “war” against the Werebeasts, with physical prowess said to approach physical limits, Elves, with their disregard for freaking common sense, and insane life-forms like Jibril, did that mean Immanity was actually able to put up a fight against this shit? But each of the residents of this world would answer that question thus:
“That is considered the greatest mystery in the history of the human race…” said Steph, with a sigh.
“Perhaps it was simply that no one took notice of Immanity?” answered Jibril with an excellent smile.
“We were mainly engaged with the Dragonia, the Gigant, and the Old Deus. Oh, to think back on those days of just barely bringing down a dragon with fifty Flügel, or when we took on a god with a force of two hundred and yet were routed.”
…She was saying that a race that took a hypernova to kill, that could teleport freely, and could fly, had failed to bring down one of these things when they went in a gang of two hundred, and this was what everyone was waging war against.
“That raises another question:
“—How is it that this planet even retained its shape?”
But Jibril answered Sora’s question with a bashful smile.
“That is exactly the reason the One True God was decided by default.”
…………………………It hadn’t…retained its shape after all.
“But never mind that. Look over there.”
As Jibril smiled as if to sweep away bad memories, she pointed to a place near the Elkia border, clearly visible from the air. On the inside of the national border, that is, inside Elkia’s territory, in the distance loomed an imposing tower. Yes, a tower, imposing.
—A structure that clearly was impossible for Immanity to have built—or, to get to the point…
“…Uhh, what, is that…a skyscraper?”
Indeed, it was a building more or less like America’s Empire State Building.
“…Huge.”
Even Shiro’s eyes widened. Their sense of perspective was almost lost, except for the contrast with the buildings lined up below, which looked like an Immanity neighborhood.
“Little Dora, could you please explain?”
Slumping—I knew this would happen—Steph spoke.
“…It’s the Eastern Union’s—embassy in Elkia.”
“……Hmmm, embassy?”
Swishing her head away from Sora’s squint, Steph continued. “Th-the truth is—it’s where our country’s royal palace used to be.”
“…………Hey.”
As Sora squinted further into Steph’s face. Steph, turning her neck further back in an attempt to escape his gaze.
“G-Grandfather h-had lost and lost and, uh, f-finally bet the palace.”
“…And, lost…” said the sister, softly, mercilessly.
“……”
Sora and Shiro had no more words, while Jibril beamed as if watching a puppy.
“Wh-what are you looking at me like that for!”
“If your capital has an embassy bigger than the Royal Castle, that is pretty fail…”
“Unghh…”
Hmm… Sora started thinking.
“So how did this Royal Castle get taken by the Eastern Union?”
“More to the point—everything on that side was taken by the Eastern Union.”
“—Huh?”
Jibril, speaking sunnily, and Sora, gaping incredulously. His sister explained with information she’d memorized.
“…In, the last ten years…the former king…lost to the Eastern Union…eight times.”
“Eight… Uh, well, I can see the Eastern Union’s motivation. A maritime nation with that kind of technology—”
The difficulty for a maritime nation was the lack of iron and stone, i.e., resources other than maritime resources. Judging from the style of that building, it appeared they had quite an advanced civilization. There were many resources they’d need, such as rare metals, that couldn’t be obtained in an archipelago. So it was only natural that they’d try to get them from the continent—but.
“But it was the Eastern Union who wanted the match, right? Why did he accept?”
However, Shiro shook her head. And then Jibril answered.
“Master, have you forgotten? The only nation that has challenged the Eastern Union in these last ten years…”
“…The initiator was…Elkia…”
&n
bsp; …What…?
“First that mountain. Then that plain, and then…in the end, he bet the Royal Castle that had stood at the center of the nation—and here we are now.”
Jibril explained that she had flown them up in order to show them this.
“Hey, hey, wait a second, it had stood at the center of the nation?”
Sora said, pointing at the “Empire State Building.”
“So what are you saying? That we bet half our territory challenging an opponent against whom even Elven Gard had lost after challenging them four times, and we challenged them eight times? Immanity? Hey, hey, come on. Cut the—”
But, to Shiro, responding with a sigh, Sora still shaking his head.
“H-hey, wait, so what are you saying? That Elkia before that—had twice as much land as it does now?”
At Shiro, nodding decisively, and Jibril, Sora put his fingers to his eyebrow, and Steph had no more words.
“…Jibril, I want to go back to the library.”
“Oh, dear, are you afraid of heights?”
“No, I just can’t clutch my head here, so I want a floor.”
Back in the library. Sora sat cross-legged on a table, clutching his head. All that had come from his mouth since a while ago had been sighs, one after the other. In her usual spot on his lap, Shiro peered at him with concern.
“…Brother…are you o…kay…?”
“…Yeah, sorry, Shiro, I’m just kind of in despair.”
It pained him to cause his sister concern, but, even so, it had to be said.
“I thought the old king was a moron, but, God, he had to be an alcoholic or something…”
Sigh……
Steph, who’d been listening, heard this long sigh and snapped.
“Y-you’ve been rather rude, you know!!” She hit the table on which Sora sat with a bang. “I thought you said before that my grandfather was right!!”
But Sora, with a biiiiig sigh, replied.
“—Just how do you defend someone who threw away half of the national territory on some crazy charge?” he said, predictably pointing in the direction of the lost land that they’d seen just recently.