6
“It appears Toris and the Demon Lord’s Army have joined forces and are preparing to invade.”
Alice and I are summoned to the castle immediately after our return and given the news without so much as a cursory “welcome back.”
While we were busy getting lost in the desert, it appears they’d finished their invasion preparations.
“I see. So you’d like to borrow my power, right? Well, fighting is my job after all. However, Mr. Six’s help doesn’t come cheap.”
“Have you forgotten you were the primary cause of this war?” Tillis stares flatly at me.
“I’m not the type to dwell on the past. I don’t even remember much about the past.”
“That impressive, Six, given that this all started only a week ago.”
I ignore Alice’s comment while Tillis sighs.
“Under the circumstances, we don’t have many options. However, we need you to take responsibility for your actions, Sir Six.”
“I really hate the words take responsibility .”
“It truly is refreshing to see you constantly outdo yourself on the ‘I’m a piece of shit’ scale,” Alice interjects again, “but you’re making the conversation take longer, so shut up for a bit.”
Tillis twitches her brow, but patiently continues speaking. “Thanks to the presence of the Combat Agents dispatched by the Kisaragi Corporation, we’re roughly on par with the Demon Lord’s Army. Unfortunately, with Toris on the enemy side, we can’t win a prolonged conflict. We still have to solve the issue of water…”
“You know, Tillis, if you’d just get in front of the populace and—”
“Based on your report, it appears you failed to secure enough water for our farming needs! Our kingdom is at risk if this continues! We will continue searching for my father, but I would like to ask you to undertake a specific mission!” Tillis interrupts me, taking out a single map.
“This is the map to the ruins that would have been your payment had the mission to Toris succeeded. I’m told two of the Demon Lord’s Army lords are currently exploring these ruins…?”
Oh yeah, kind of got lost in all that hubbub, but that’s why Heine and Russell were in Toris, wasn’t it?
“Yep, apparently there’s some sort of powerful ancient weapon inside. They were planning to use it to beat the Sand King,” I reply.
Tillis nods. “I’d like to have the two of you head to those ruins.”
“…So you want us to stop them from acquiring the ancient weapon?”
We have no idea what that weapon might be, but Heine seemed awfully sure of its power.
I have to admit, I’m not keen on just letting the enemy have it, but…
Just then…
“<Hey, Six. We need to take this mission. Otherwise we’re screwed.>”
“<Pretty unusual for you to insist like this. You worried about the ancient weapon?>”
Tillis appears surprised by Alice’s sudden remarks in Japanese, but she remains silent, watching us converse.
“<Remember that weird glass case in Toris? It was empty. There just happened to be a member of the Demon Lord’s Army leadership who was familiar with both the ancient ruins and the case. Does any of this sound fishy to you?>” Alice’s tone is more serious than usual, and my mouth suddenly goes dry.
I gulp. “<…You mean there’s tons of those glass cases in the ancient ruins, and they’re mass producing beautiful female homunculi?>”
“<No, you idiot… That brat, Russell. He seemed awfully familiar with the ancient ruins. I think he was probably the one originally in that case. Think about it; he was awfully angry when you tried to hit the thing. Almost like he was trying to protect something that was important to him.>”
Now that she mentions it, I do remember that.
“<There’s a chance that he’s an artificial Chimera made long ago, just like Rose. And unlike Rose, he still remembers the past. If he’s saying that he can beat the Sand King with the ancient weapon… Rose the combat Chimera was able to hold her own with you. Now think of someone like that with a really powerful weapon…>”
“<Well, there goes our local business!>”
I finally grasp the situation after Alice’s explanation. The reason the Kisaragi Corporation’s Combat Agents can handle the Demon Lord’s Army is because we have the advantage of modern weapons. That means we’ll be in a world of trouble if they get their hands on some high-tech weaponry of their own.
From my exclamation and shocked expression, Tillis judges that I’ve realized something and resumes speaking. “I don’t know exactly what you were talking about, but it appears you’ve come to a decision.”
“Yup, this is a problem for us, too. We’ll go ahead and completely annihilate that weapon for you.”
I nod to Tillis, whose expression softens in return.
“Thank you. Hopefully we can solve all this before the water crisis becomes unsolvable…”
“Well, the water issue could be solved with your help, if you’d just cooperate.”
Yes, if only she’d say a certain phrase in front of the masses…
“I’m afraid I simply don’t have the power… With my magical ability and skill level, I can only summon a water spirit for a short period. So unfortunately…”
“No, that’s not it. We’re not expecting you to do anything with your magic. You just need to chant that phrase in front of everyone.”
Tillis completely ignores me. “Very well, Sir Six, Miss Alice! Please do everything in your power to destroy the ancient weapon!”
“Hey, wait a minute. You told me earlier to take responsibility. Then, Tillis, you need to take responsibility as a member of the royal family. All you have to do is chant one simple phrase.”
Tillis avoids my gaze as I stare at her. Just then…
“Wait, let’s not destroy the weapon. We can just take it for ourselves.”
…the evil organization’s android proposes an extremely rational alternative.
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