by Sakon Kaidou
So it was only natural for them to come and observe a duel between two Superiors, and honestly, it was strange that we hadn’t had anyone from Legendaria here. The country was as much of a neighbor as Dryfe and Caldina.
Figaro and Xunyu had both been fully aware that they were being put under the magnifying glass, and they most likely hadn’t used the aces up their sleeves. Figgy hadn’t shown his ultimate skill — which not even I knew about — and though Xunyu had used hers, it was clear that she was still hiding something.
That aside...
“This is just a guess,” I spoke up. “But I think the Physically Strongest, the King of Beasts, came here with a goal unrelated to Franklin’s plot, while the Magically Strongest, The Earth, came here because he knew that Franklin was about to terrorize Gideon.”
“...Isn’t thAt the other way arouND?” asked Xunyu, and it was a reasonable question.
But...
“The King of Beasts is widely considered to be the strongest being in all the three western countries. If Franklin’s terror plot involved her, then it would’ve also been designed around her,” I said.
The fact that Franklin’s Game had been so layered and focused so much on using as few of his forces as possible made it obvious that the King of Beasts hadn’t been working for him.
“The Earth, on the other hand, intervened with one of Franklin’s plans, making it safe to believe that he came here for this reason. Mind you, this is less about him and more about Caldina. They wouldn’t like it if Dryfe merged with Altar, since separated countries are easier to manipulate.”
Caldina was surrounded by four land countries and Granvaloa. Having two of them become one would be a huge problem for them, so they’d obviously do something to prevent that.
Though, in the end, they were probably planning to take advantage of the all-out war and take off with all the spoils. It wasn’t hard to imagine Caldina invading and conquering weakened countries.
Anyway, the fact that they’d sent The Earth made it clear just how serious they were about this. Honestly, it was entirely possible that he would’ve done something if I hadn’t been on the scene. If that had happened, Jeand Grasslands probably would’ve had to be renamed “Jeand Desert,” “Jeand Wastelands,” or “Jeand Swamplands.”
Well... not like it was much of a grassland now that I was done with it. My Baldr had blown it sky-high.
“But mAn... The Physically StrONgest and the Magically StronGest, eh?” Xunyu muttered. “Are they reAlly such a big deal? I’ve never foUght either.”
“I’ve heard that Shu here fought The Earth,” said Figgy.
“Oh yeAh, I’ve heard of those rumORs, too. Which of you wOn?”
That had happened some time before the war... about a year ago in Dendro time.
“We tied, I guess?”
“You ‘guEss’? What do yOU mean?”
“Exactly what I said. A tie. No clear winner. Match invalid. We pawsitively had to stop because of a third party.”
“...What kind of thiRD party could intervene in thAT battle?”
Right when we’d been about to finish it, Humpty and the environment control AI had come over and told us off.
Honestly, we’d probably deserved it, since our battle had completely destroyed a created dungeon.
Anyway, The Earth, eh...? I thought.
I said, “If he came all the way here, he could’ve at least said hi.”
◇◆◇
East of duel city Gideon, Cruella Mountain Belt
The Cruella Mountain Belt was one of the border zones between the Kingdom of Altar and the great desert country of Caldina, and it was one of the trade routes connecting Gideon and the city-states of the commercial union.
Dawn was about to break as several dragon carriages traced the mountainous paths of the belt. Each and every one of them belonged to Caldinian merchants. Since their country was a land of deserts, they had decided to make some distance by leaving early, when the sun wasn’t high up and the heat was easier to bear.
A certain man was riding one of the dragon carriages. He looked much like any of the merchants he shared the vehicle with. The only difference was the crest on the back of his left hand — the sign of a Master.
Snacking on a smoked chicken sandwich, he gazed at the mountains and forests that would soon be bathed in the light of dawn.
“This sure is tasty,” he muttered.
The smoked food he was eating had been given to him by the spectator sitting next to him during last night’s Clash. Once the act of terror had ended, the middle-aged man, who’d been as high spirited as anyone else, had taken some of the smoked goods from the shop he owned and presented them to him.
The man in the carriage had put the smoked goods between some of his leftover bread and made his way to Caldina while relishing the curious mix of midnight snack and breakfast.
“A smoked chicken sandwich,” he said to himself. “I should get our leader to make this sometime.”
Remembering the leader of the clan he belonged to, the man realized something and reached into his inventory.
“Umm, the souvenirs are... all here,” he said. “I have something for everyone except Moneygold. I don’t intend to spend a single lir on him... but he should be satisfied with the video of last night’s battle.”
He nodded to himself while mumbling things not uncommon for travelers... and mixing it with things no common traveler would understand.
“Magic Activation Acceleration — instant; Magic Multi-Activation — 28... no, 143; Magic Conceal; Magic Range Extension — 8,000 metels... Bottomless Pit.”
◆
In the Cruella Mountain Belt, a certain group was watching the Caldinian merchant carriages. All of them were crest-bearing Masters and members of the PK clan known as “Goblin Street.”
“Those look like merchants from Caldina, boss,” one of them said. “What do we do?”
No response. The one he talked to, the King of Burglary, Eldridge, closed his eyes in silent thought.
Most of the clan’s members had left Caldina and come to do their business as indiscriminate bandits here in the kingdom. The group’s crimes during the blockade incident had been limited to the Masters and tians of the kingdom, so although they were wanted by Altar, they had yet to get on Caldina’s list. However, that would surely happen if they attacked these Caldinian merchant carriages and left survivors who could tell the tale.
On the other hand...
It might be time to leave the kingdom for good, he thought.
Before switching to this area, they’d worked near the capital, where every member besides Eldridge, who hadn’t been online, had been completely annihilated by Lei-Lei the Prodigal of Feasts.
After coming here, things hadn’t gotten any better, as they all — Eldridge included — had been killed by Xunyu the Yinglong. That incident had made some members lose faith in Eldridge, and the clan’s numbers had dropped by half.
Given the members lost at the capital and the ones who’d left on their own, the clan’s situation wasn’t too good. Still, it all might just be a sign that it was time to drop this place and try finding prey somewhere different.
“We’ll attack those carriages,” he said.
“Really?” his clan member asked.
“Yeah.” Eldridge nodded. “And once we’re done with them, we’re moving to Granvaloa... to the sea. Enough banditry. It’s time to try the pirate life.”
He turned towards his clan and formed an indominable smile.
“Let’s go! Say goodbye to Caldina! We’ll make some bank with these and ditch that sandbox for good!”
His words made the members still with him all fired up.
“Yeah!”
“Hell yeah!”
“When this attack is over, I’m becoming a pirate!”
Right after they said those things, a large hole appeared right under their feet.
“Ah?!” Eldridge gasped as he jumped away, avoiding the hole.
His clan members weren’t as lucky. They all fell in, were buried alive, and left the world due to death penalty.
“What happened?!” he shouted.
No one could hear him in these empty mountains, but even so, he couldn’t hold himself back from voicing his shock.
◆
“One of them avoided it,” muttered the man in the carriage. “Let’s make it a bit bigger, then... Earth Eater.”
◆
Eldridge ran through the mountains.
Something strange was happening.
He was obviously under attack, but he couldn’t see his enemies or any signs that they were attacking.
He was even more confused than he had been during his battle — if you could call it that — with Xunyu. Still, he was able to run away using his high stats and powerful intuition.
But he soon noticed something strange.
“It’s... far?” he murmured.
The sky seemed distant, as though it had become higher.
The nearby mountains seemed taller, as well.
Eldridge found it strange, as he had yet to go down the belt.
Soon enough, he was surrounded by dirt walls from every direction.
No — that wasn’t the case...
“Th-This mountain is sinking into the ground...!” he cried.
Indeed it was. The mountain was going down much like an elevator.
Puzzled and perplexed, Eldridge tried to think of what could be responsible for this.
“I-Is this Caldina’s The Ear—?!”
Before he could finish his sentence, the sunken mountain he was on was crunched by the surrounding ground and sand, instantly giving him the death penalty.
◆
“...Oh, I leveled up,” muttered the man in the carriage. “Was there someone strong among them?”
An earthy smell rode the wind and reached the carriages, but none of the merchants noticed. Oblivious to the sudden and silent disappearance of a nearby mountain, they simply continued chatting.
“Oh, I’m so glad this trade route is safe to use now,” said one of them.
“Truly,” another agreed. “I hear some Masters took care of the bandits in the area just the day before yesterday. What a helpful bunch.”
They didn’t know. While the Gouz-Maise Gang, the most infamous bandit group in the area, had been thoroughly destroyed, there were many more bandits lurking in the mountain belt.
They didn’t know. A group of PK bandits had been aiming to attack them for their goods and wealth.
They didn’t know. The group and all the other bandits in the surrounding mountains — a number of people surpassing the triple digits — had been buried alive, in the blink of an eye, by just a single person.
They didn’t know. They were sharing a carriage with the one they called the “Magically Strongest.”
Confirmed the elimination of all threats in the surrounding area, he thought. Setting a two kilometel auto-interception zone.
Fatoum. He was the bearer of that nickname and the owner of the Superior Job “The Earth.” He ran his mind through those mechanical-sounding words and activated an automatic interception barrier.
Even so, no one in the carriage noticed.
The immense amount of MP he’d put into Magic Conceal made it impossible to detect. Even the experienced tian guards were thoroughly clueless.
I must admit, my visit to the kingdom lasted far longer than I expected, he thought.
Done with his job, he’d switched his thoughts from battle mode back to normal.
At first, it was just a trip to investigate the UBMs and Ruins in the country while also setting some slow-acting magic, but then the King of Toys suggested I arrange the blockade terror around the royal capital.
Fatoum ran his mind through the incident which involved a culprit still unknown to the people of the kingdom.
To top it off, I then received information about Dryfe’s terror plot in Gideon and had to go there to stop it. Dear me, what a long trip this ended up being... I hope she’s not too mad.
His visit to the kingdom had taken almost a month longer than expected. That fact made him picture his wife, who was waiting for him back in Caldina.
Well, I have the souvenirs, and I guess I can make it up to her by taking her out on a nice date.
The Magically Strongest, Caldina’s most powerful force, was thinking things you’d expect of a busy salaryman.
I must admit, the Clash of the Superiors was truly an excellent battle, well worth watching. And thanks to Franklin, I even got to see Shu fight again. It’s been far too long since last time. Which made Fatoum remember a certain detail.
“Oh, I completely forgot to greet him,” he said. “But that might’ve been a good thing.”
Regardless of the circumstances, he simply couldn’t greet his old acquaintance. After all...
“Meeting him would just make me want to fight him. And, well...”
...it’s far too early to destroy that city.
No city would stand after a battle between him and Shu.
With that thought on his mind, the Strongest that had sneaked into Altar returned back to Caldina, leaving the kingdom with a few of his tricks.
Epilogue B: The Sisters
Imperial capital outskirts, headquarters of the Triangle of Wisdom, High Pilot, Hugo Lesseps
The Dryfe Imperium’s capital, Vandelheim, had two faces.
One was that of a city from 19th century Europe. These days, you could only see such townscapes in the simple, black and white photos from that era. Though it was at the technological forefront here in Infinite Dendrogram, it was nothing but retro to Earthlings living in 2045.
That was one of Vandelheim’s two faces, while the other could be demonstrated by the sight before me.
“GHAAH!” one person panicked. “The new amphibious model has sunk into the pool! It ain’t going up!”
“Oh, out of MP, eh?” said another. “It uses magic engines for both oxygen generation and the anti-pressure barrier, so that’s kinda to be expected.”
“Looks like we’ll have to use conventional chemistry for the oxygen supply and fight the pressure with better design and materials,” a third one joined in. “We can’t just try to solve everything with magic. We’re dealing with robots here.”
“Be serious, people! Help me get Zerbahl Type M out of there!”
“Glubglubglub...” the one in the sunken robot mumbled unintelligibly.
“Oh, it’s not exactly airtight, either.”
“Looks like there’s water inside. A problem with the gaskets or the frame, I assume?”
“YOU GUYS!”
“GLUBGLUB, I’M DYING!”
The one panicking at the side of the ten-meter-deep experiment pool was Zerbahl, an Engineer. The two observing the results as they gathered data and worked on something were Flosch and Roboroman, both Mechanics. I wasn’t too sure about the one drowning in the water, but it was probably one of our Pilots, Kuromiki.
“Excuse me,” a girl spoke to two of our members. “The custom Marshal II requested by the military seems to be constructed, but how was it supposed to be painted, again?”
“Well, they said something about red, so I think that’s the color we should use on the whole thing,” said one of them. “Let’s give it a horn, too.”
“We don’t need no horn,” said the other. “Our communication devices don’t require any antennas. Also, we’re only painting the shoulders.”
“...Hey now, a base dark green Marshal II with red shoulders is way too basic.”
“Well, I could say the same about a purely red Marshal II with a goddamn novelty horn.”
“It doesn’t matter, you two, just—”
“IT DOES MATTER!” they both shouted simultaneously.
“Eek!”
The girl with the report in her hands was Luphia, a tian working in our general affairs section. The two people pushing their own policies — tastes, more like — in
response to the presented demands were the Painters, MS Geomad and Assault Tripper.
“Oh, yeah. Apparently, our leader went out to do something, lost, and came back,” said one person in another group of three.
“Got sauce for that?” asked another.
“MMO Journal Planter.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve been so busy with my designs and tests that I forgot to check it.”
“Same here, aheheheh,” the third person laughed in a strange manner.
“How many days behind are you?”
“Five.”
“I win. I’m at seven.”
“...Is that really a victory, though?”
The three were pulling consistent all-nighters both here and in reality, and yet — though they were doing it with mad-looking grins on their faces — they still had the capacity to construct Magingears. They were High Engineers: Boolantan, Draragun, and Black Company.
They all created what they liked, faced various problems doing so, asserted their ideas, and sometimes went overboard with their work.
“Well... this place is the same as always,” I said to myself.
After my death penalty had expired, I’d logged in and found my clan completely unchanged.
I was standing in the large, 200,000 square meter facility located in Vandelheim’s outskirts. It was the headquarters of the Triangle of Wisdom and the center of the imperium’s cutting-edge technology.
This scene here... this mix of eccentrics, weirdos, and normal people playing with robots was the other face of the imperial capital.
Such sights weren’t uncommon in this city, but nothing could match the Triangle of Wisdom in terms of scale.
This was the clan he had created — a place where people could gather, combine their intellects and create what they wished, as they pleased.
“Mh...” I silently looked at the scene and pondered.
Just like the city, people also had multiple faces. If the plot in Gideon was the dark side of his dream, then this was surely the bright side.
“All right, then...” I murmured.
I turned away from the everyday scene and walked towards a certain place in the headquarters: the structure’s central part.
It was the clan leader’s... Mr. Franklin’s... my sister’s room.