“That’s how I think it would’ve gone, at least. Well, there are parts I can’t say for sure... But something to that effect.”
It may have been rude to say out loud, but Horn was relatively less advanced when it came to other nations. They were stagnant in their understanding of magic and tech. They only used things that they knew worked for older generations, and Qulau took full advantage of that gap in their knowledge.
To be honest, before they got their hands on Gollem tech, they were probably planning on invading Horn anyway. They just would’ve done it more subtly, by weakening the country through subterfuge and replacing people with their own. Gradually, they would’ve had people from Qulau invade high positions of power in Horn, in order to turn it into a Yulongese-controlled government over time.
That was probably the initial plan before Gordian got involved. A gradual plan based on slow encroachment. Before they knew it, the people of Horn would be replaced... That was mostly conjecture on my part, but I could totally imagine them doing that.
“Grand Duke... My elder brother, he... Was he really killed by their hand?”
Ganossa glared down at his feet. I could see his clenched fists shaking, the whites of his knuckles plain as day.
The king of Felsen and the pope gave a curious glance my way. I figured it was probably best to make things clear.
“...I have no doubt that’s the case, yes. Producing real evidence would be hard given how long ago it happened, but...”
I began projecting a video into the air in front of Ganossa and the prime minister. I’d forcibly extracted memories from the spy using a combination of [Hypnosis] and [Recall], and then projected them into the air with [Mirage].
The scene showed a servant in the castle of Horn mixing a tiny amount of poison into the tea leaves that the king would have brewed daily. Obviously, the servant was the spy himself.
The other servants, the ones that brewed the tea and then brought the tea to the king, were innocent. The spy had simply disguised himself and contaminated the leaves pre-brewing. The tea leaves were long gone, given that it was over a year ago... so there was no way we had conclusive evidence.
“There’s nothing else than this memory taken from the man’s mind. I’ll understand if you think this is some parlor trick, but I assure you it isn’t.”
[Recall] wasn’t exactly a well-known spell, so I could understand why they might be suspicious of me showing them something like that.
Suddenly, Ganossa stood up and began marching toward a nearby room, the room holding the captured spy. He had a glint of fury in his eyes.
Oh crap! I chased after Ganossa and saw the spy laying bound on the carpet. I’d also cast [Paralyze] on him to prevent him from biting off his tongue.
There were multiple guards posted inside the room, along with Yae and Sakura. Ganossa ignored the shocked guards as he stomped into the room. He reached to his waist, unsheathed his blade, and brought it swooshing down toward the bound man.
“Grgh!”
Just before it could make contact with the man, the sword deflected off the [Prison] I had cast around him.
“Why stop me from exacting vengeance?!”
“I don’t really think he deserves to live, but I think you should consider how he needs to die.”
Ganossa might have been the king’s brother, but he wasn’t the king himself. That meant he didn’t really have the right to kill, even in retaliation for regicide. At the very least something like that would require the consent of the prime minister. He was also guilty of other crimes, not just the killing of the king. I deactivated the [Prison] around the man.
“...You raise a valid point. We must have him executed in public, his crimes exposed for all to see.”
“Grh...”
Ganossa furrowed his brow as the prime minister spoke.
Even from a foreign standpoint, it was obvious that the people of Horn would be wary of the government due to all the recent tension.
Revealing that it was all due to the machinations of an evil group would allow the country to direct their hostility on a united front. Man, I just hope the people don’t take it as a half-assed excuse or something... Huh?
Even though the man was under the effects of my [Paralyze] spell, he was still glaring harshly in my direction. Even though I could see hatred burning in his gaze, I sensed a glimpse of self-satisfaction behind his face.
“[Recovery].”
I undid his paralysis. If he bit his tongue off while I was in the room, I’d just use my magic to make him grow another back.
“Something on your mind, assassin?”
“Hehheheheh... Horn is done for, you fool. There’s a contingency in place. If I didn’t report back in time, Qulau would begin its next move. A Steel Battalion of three-thousand Steel Soldiers, along with three-thousand armor-fitted Wooden Golems will be marching on this country from the north as we speak. The New Yulong Dynasty will rise, with this ravaged nation as its first claim!”
“No way, I can’t believe this!”
“Seriously?!”
Ganossa and Schwein cried out in a panic. That was definitely an intimidating number... If the Steel Soldiers had been modified with Gollem-based tech, then they wouldn’t need as many pilots anymore. The Wooden Golems didn’t even need pilots to begin with, either.
If the total was six-thousand, then the number of controllers would be around a fifth of half that amount... so roughly six-hundred. Just about a tenth.
I had no idea that the Wooden Golems would be making a comeback... They probably created them based on information from Gordian... I had no doubt that Yulong’s territory had no shortage of submission collars.
“We can’t just stand here! I’ll head to the north immediately!”
Ganossa began storming out of the room, but he bumped into a soldier who was himself running into the room.
“You whelp, what is your name?!”
“F-Forgive me sir, but I have an urgent warning! Several enormous metal giants are destroying the capital city! We need an immediate response!”
“What?!”
Prime Minister Schwein stared in horror at the bowing soldier’s words.
“Hehehehh... Ahahahaa! Too late, now! You should probably make a run for it, fools. After all, you don’t want to risk the life of your dearly departed prince’s son, do you?”
“Bastard!”
Ganossa charged toward the spy, gripping him by the collar and hoisting him into the air. Even in the throes of the large man’s grip, the Yulongese man’s grin remained steadfast.
“Horn was always meant to belong to Yulong. Felsen just happened to interfere and prolong the inevitable. You imbecilic little dolts, too ignorant and genetically inferior. You should have taken our heavenly emperor’s generous offer and agreed to submit. It’s disgusting that lesser creatures like you get to live in peace while we’ve lost our home...”
“So you did this because you were jealous? That’s pathetic.”
I grinned slightly, prompting the man to glare at me.
“Silence, impure filth! You’re the one who destroyed our glorious homeland to begin with! Have you never stopped to consider what you put those innocents through?!”
“I already told you. The Phrase are what destroyed Yulong, not me. Cry me a river.”
“Silence! Did I not say to be silent! If you had obediently handed over your mechanical weapons to our glorious Heavenly Emperor, then Yulong would have survived! You scum, you insipid, arrogant filth! You alone condemned the people of Yulong to the eternal flames!”
This guy... He’s completely deranged. That’s the issue when it comes to dealing with drunk people or ignorant people, they’re just incomprehensible at times. Obviously not everyone in Yulong is like this, but it sure seems like a lot of them are.
“You’re only saying stuff that supports your narrative. What exactly is so glorious about what you’re doing now, huh? I wonder if there’s a person from Yulong out there righ
t now, trying in earnest to bring his country back. What would he think of your despicable methods, huh? All you do is take, take, take. You can’t talk about glorious dynasties or the good things you deserve, because it’s all nonsense. You act like petty thieves. You’re nothing but a goddamn parasite.”
“You scum!”
“Guess Qulau was nothing more than a group of petty, jealous little losers. You’re disgusting. Let me tell you now, I’m not the one sullying the image of Yulong. You are.”
Yulong still existed as a region because neighboring countries didn’t want to become involved in Yulongese politics, and the people of Yulong were still clinging on to ways to rebuild their country. If nobody was trying to reform the country, the territory would’ve probably been split between Hannock, Xenoahs, Roadmare, Felsen, and so on.
“I don’t care about the pride of petty thieves, at the end of the day. Qulau is going to be destroyed, and I’m the man for the job. Don’t think I’ve just forgotten that you guys tried to kill me and people that I care about. Run search. Steel Soldiers in the Horn capital.”
The map projected into the air and displayed several pins.
“Search complete. Thirty-one matches.”
“That’s not so bad. Yae. You good to go?”
“I can handle that, I can.”
I turned to Yae, and she responded with an earnest smile. I was glad. If I ended up calling in Reginleif, it might’ve caused collateral damage to the city.
Yae flung open the window and jumped out toward the courtyard. She raised her left hand to the sky, almost capturing the rising sun in her grasp.
“Come to me, you will! Schwertleite!”
Yae’s engagement ring began to shine, calling forth an enormous purple samurai machine from the pocket dimension within. With a rumbling landing, Yae’s Frame Gear descended upon Horn’s capital city.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Wh-What the hell?”
“It’s huge... I-Is that the giant warrior of Brunhild I’d heard so much about?!”
Ganossa, along with Prime Minister Schwein, the two marquis, and all the Horn soldiers all looked up in stiffened shock. It was their first time seeing a Frame Gear, after all.
They probably imagined something similar in size to the Steel Soldiers. Given their isolation, it made sense they wouldn’t know too much about Brunhild’s capabilities. Hell, it was only because of their isolation that Qulau managed to get this plan rolling to begin with.
If they had heard of the incident with Gordian, then they definitely wouldn’t have considered buying any Steel Battalions at all. It was possible they could’ve heard about it from Felsen, but given that the matter involved the death of their former king, it was probably a sensitive subject they didn’t feel the need to raise.
Yae hopped into the open cockpit, using various footholds to scale her way up there. She didn’t even bother waiting for the wire to climb. Yae was a nimble sort, so I wasn’t worried about it. It was probably faster.
The cockpit hatch closed with a hissing sound, and a low hum started ringing out as the engine fired up. Various crystal segments on the Frame Gear started to light up.
“I’ll go after her. Sakura, I doubt there’ll be any direct attacks on the castle... But just in case, use Rossweisse to defend the people here.”
“Got it...”
Sakura nodded. She had her own unique form of magic with her songs, as well as her own Frame Gear inside her engagement ring. I wasn’t worried at all.
I used [Fly] to soar into the air, but Prime Minister Schwein called out after me.
“G-Grand Duke, the capital!”
“It’s okay. I’ll have them out of the capital in a moment. You guys focus on getting the citizens to safety.”
I nodded to Prime Minister Schwein before blasting off high into the sky.
“Target lock. All Steel Soldiers within the capital city. Activate [Gate].”
“Understood. Activating [Gate].”
The capital lit up in various places as several portals opened up. I then used my magic to link those portals to a barren field some distance away from the city.
“Yae, it’s time.”
“Okey dokey.”
Yae’s Schwertleite leaped into a portal I summoned, and I immediately used [Teleport] to warp myself to the same destination.
[Teleport] was my spell of choice for short-distance personal travel. [Gate] was the best when I needed to move lots of things quickly, though.
The Steel Soldiers were getting their bearings when I arrived on the field. We’d be able to fight without holding back in this area. ...Wait. I’m an idiot. I could’ve just used Reginleif to fight here and not worry about collateral at all. Ah well, Yae seems excited, and if I went too hard with Reginleif I’d probably end up creating craters or mountains.
I landed on Schwertleite’s shoulder and watched our enemies. They were a bit larger than the old Steel Soldiers. Roughly seven meters tall, I’d have wagered. They also had slightly bulkier armor. They were similar to the old models in design, except there were a few minor differences. The cockpit hatch on the back, for example, was now completely missing.
These were completely unmanned drones. It made sense, since they’d clearly been modified with Gollem characteristics based on the Soldats. There were probably a few manned commanders in amongst them, giving out orders... Or so I’d thought.
I didn’t know for sure, but it was possible that they’d transplanted the G-Cubes and Q-Crystals from the Soldats into these larger shells. While I had initially thought some of them were manned, it didn’t look like any of them actually were. Still, that meant they’d all be easy to deal with. Simple machines with simple reactions.
We had carefully attempted to fuse Frame Gear and Gollem technology to create the Over Gear, but it felt like these guys just mashed the two concepts together a lot more sloppily.
Still, some things were bugging me about the whole situation. Even if the Steel Battalion was made up of Frame Gear knock-offs, how did they manage to reconstruct them?
The man who was originally responsible for them, Bowman, was executed in Roadmare forever ago. Everyone else involved in the Steel Battalion creation was arrested, too. I was also certain we’d taken out all the facilities producing them, so something didn’t feel right.
I also didn’t think people in this world would be able to handle Gollem technology as adeptly as those in the Reverse World. It was possible that other Gollem technicians had come with the guy who’d left the storage card behind, but there was nothing suggesting that in the spy’s memories. Still, if the man had been on a delivery trip for those Soldats, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to be with an entourage of capable Gollem technicians.
I decided to focus on taking out the army in front of me before worrying about that kind of stuff. I also had the army in the north to face off against afterward.
“Try to immobilize them by taking out the limbs. I think Doctor Babylon and Elluka would appreciate checking these things out.”
“That is understood, it is.”
I leaped from Schwertleite’s shoulder as the Steel Soldiers finally started charging toward us, lances in hand.
They moved in coordinated motions, five machines charging forward in a V-shaped formation. They were definitely using Soldat Gollem technology.
Soldats typically performed poorly compared to other Gollems, but they made up for that in sheer numbers. Because of that, their ability to fight in a coordinated group was vital, and they definitely had higher-than-average maneuverability in formations. However...
“Kokonoe Secret Style: Flying Swallow Rend!”
Schwertleite’s boosters kicked in, increasing the speed of the machine as it charged head-on into the V formation.
The result was almost instant, with four of the machines blasting off backward.
The fifth, the leading unit in the charge, was skewered through by Schwertleite’s massive katana. Just as I’d suspected, they
were unmanned. They were definitely working through something similar to my [Program] spell. Their orders were probably to destroy Horn’s capital and try to kill anything that resisted. The one Yae pierced was probably that sub-unit’s commander because the other four immediately fell into disarray and started swinging their weapons at random. Each was skillfully taken down by Schwertleite’s blade.
They were nothing when compared to the power of a Frame Gear, after all. The other Steel Soldiers grouped up and began charging Schwertleite, but each group fell, one after another.
“They’re definitely stronger than the older models. Their sturdiness is higher, too... I remember the older models lost parts if you’d rattle them a bit.”
Maybe I should call them the Steel Battalion Mk. II... No real point, though. They’re still just Frame Gear knockoffs.
After a few minutes, they were all reduced to scrap. Their remains lay strewn around the field. All of them were unmanned, in the end. I noticed a G-Cube visible in the cracked remains of one of them, the final confirmation I needed that they’d been created with modified Gollem tech.
There was also a similar substance to Ether Liquid leaking out of them. It barely transmitted any magic at all, though... And it was a dirty brown. If Ether Liquid was carbonated water, then this was carbonated water that had been left out until it had virtually no carbonation left. It was honestly so inferior that I could hardly call it a copy of Ether Liquid, it was so much worse that it was its own original thing. They were probably using them to channel the magical pulses from the G-Cubes to the rest of the machine, but it was so diluted it barely functioned.
I put a few of the busted Steel Soldiers into [Storage], and opened up a map of the capital.
“What is it you are looking for, what is it?”
Yae had returned her Frame Gear to her ring and now looked up at the map with curious eyes.
“They’re using Gollem tech in these machines, so they have to have a master controller nearby. Given how many there were, there were probably six or seven of them. And if they’re members of Qulau, they’ll be easy to recognize, so... Got it.”
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 17 Page 19