“WHOAAAAAA! WE’RE FAST! IT’S CRAZY FAST!”
The old man, Mario, looked out the window as the scenery flew by. He was hopping up and down like a little kid. And it wasn’t just Mario who was so fervently freaking out either...all the old guys of the Seekers were in the same boat.
We were currently aboard the Balmung, a high-speed aircraft built by Doctor Babylon.
We realized it’d take weeks to return to Gandhilis if we went with the Seekers in their airship. I’d also never been to Gandhilis, so opening up a [Gate] wasn’t an option. That was when Doc Babylon spoke up, saying she had a little something in the hangar. It was a high-speed airship built to transport Frame Gears nearly five thousand years ago. I never had a reason to use it before, since I could just freely teleport around, but it definitely came in handy when transporting large groups.
The Seekers were concerned about their airship, so I put it in my [Storage].
Seekers aside, I was accompanied by Yumina, Leen, Quun, Lu, Arcia, Doc Babylon, and Elluka. Albus, Fenrir, and Paula were also there.
“God... Never thought I’d see an airship kickin’ about like this... They got lotsa these here on yer continent?”
“Not really, no. Only in Brunhild. This country doesn’t exactly adhere to rules of common sense, especially not its crazy leader. It’s a rather psychotic nation, all things considered.”
I couldn’t help but overhear a rather rude conversation going on between Ripple and Elluka.
The only psycho in Brunhild is Doc Babylon! Blame her for all this!
As I grumbled internally, Yumina simply sighed and muttered something about me needing to see things in more objective terms. What did she mean by that?
“At this speed, we ought to be in Gandhilis within the hour.” Doc Babylon had glanced at the time on her phone before speaking. Balmung operated on a sophisticated autopilot, so we’d make it there even if we all fell asleep.
It’d have probably been faster if I’d used [Fly] and opened up a [Gate] over there, but the old geezers were far too enamored by Balmung, so they promptly rejected that idea. Quun quite passionately rejected my plan as well. An hour wasn’t too much to waste, though, so it wasn’t worth throwing a tantrum over.
Doc Babylon and Elluka were chatting about complex stuff with Ripple and Mario, while Quun listened in with great interest. Albus and Fenrir were also muttering about something, but it didn’t seem all that spirited a conversation. Paula was just kind of walking around in circles. Lu and Arcia had busied themselves on Balmung’s kitchen deck and had argued with each other over who would bring me food. They ended up bringing me way too much, though! I quietly apologized to the girls and shared the vast servings with the old men. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how similar Lu and Arcia were, even as they grumbled.
“Hm, is this the place?”
“Ayup. That’s the Pistes Mountains. We’re in Gandhilis territory now,” Mario said and nodded in response to Doc Babylon. We’d clearly been flying for longer than I’d thought.
We headed toward the bridge and looked out the windows. The mountainous view fit the rugged descriptions I’d been given of Gandhilis. There were mountain basins spread out with towns and settlements built into them, as well as long, winding mountain roads that connected them.
“Wait... Tunnel systems?”
“Built by the dwarves in ages past. Some by hand, but most were done by specialized Gollems,” Ripple casually answered my question.
Dwarves, huh...? Guess they’re stereotypically miners, so that tracks... I glanced over at a group of dwarves among the Seekers as I had that thought.
“Should be coming up right about now... Huh? Wait, that’s not right...” Mario mumbled those words and squinted his eyes as he looked ahead. There was smoke rising into the air from the foot of the mountain.
“Is that the entrance to the ruins?”
“Sure is. S’where the Gandhilis knights and the exploratory engineers are stationed... But what’s with the smoke?”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire...” Doctor Babylon made a comment that I very much agreed with.
“[Long Sense]!”
I projected my senses into the smoke. It was far thicker closer to the entrance. Various tents had been torn open or set ablaze...and there were various pieces of destroyed Gollems strewn about as well. Presumably, they were combat Gollems owned by the Gandhilis military.
“I can’t get a full read on the situation, but there’s clearly been an attack. There are a bunch of trashed Gandhilis Gollems around the area.”
“What’d you say?!” Ripple exclaimed. She couldn’t help but express her shock upon hearing those words.
Doc Babylon moved to Balmung’s pilot seat and increased our speed. Once we got close enough to see the situation out the window, a look of horror dawned on everyone’s faces.
The entire encampment was burning. And it wasn’t just broken Gollems littering the place either. There were fallen people all over the place.
The second Balmung landed, the Seekers dashed out to investigate. There was no immediate sign of any enemy activity. At first, I wondered if they’d fled, but it was more likely that they’d proceeded deeper into the ruins. The entrance was fairly wide, and it led to a cavernous space... You’d be able to fit a lot of people and Gollems down there.
“Pull it together, lad! Listen to me! Stay with me!”
I came to my senses when I heard Mario screaming as he shook a dying man in his arms.
Oh, crap. I can ponder later... Need to heal any survivors first.
I quickly cast [Area Heal], targeting any injured or dying individual in the immediate vicinity. In a stroke of incredible luck, not a single person had died yet. The man Mario was shaking suddenly blinked in surprise as he stood up, fully healed.
“Was that...Healing magic? Yer insane...”
I shot an awkward smile at Mario and Ripple, who seemed utterly baffled by my spell. Then, I turned to question a young soldier.
“What happened here?”
“Huh? O-Oh, um...we were suddenly attacked, sir. By a strange group. I only saw one man...and he wore a funny mask... He had peculiar four-armed Gollems that were all lanky and thin... There were dozens of them!”
“Funny masks?”
“Yes, sir. Covered their whole heads, they did. Long beaks on ’em, like crows...”
Crow-like beaked masks? Sounds kinda like plague doctor masks... That’s certainly weird.
I looked closely at the wreckage around us and saw evidence of the four-armed Gollems he described. They had round heads and capes on their backs, which kind of made them resemble scarecrows.
“So, where’d they go?”
“Into the ruins, I think...”
“Then they’re after Chrom’s ship... Damn it all! Who leaked?!”
I could feel Mario’s anger as he kicked a nearby crate. The Ark beneath these ruins was the legacy of the crown’s creator. It went without saying that any country would probably kill to have its power. There was always the chance this was some random bandit attack, but it felt much more like the doing of some organized force.
“The ship’s locked though, is it not? You need a crown to get in.”
“Use your head, mother. There’s no actual reason to walk in the conventional way. If you don’t fear a little collateral damage, you could easily break in elsewhere,” Quun said plainly in response to Leen.
That was definitely a possibility. I knew graverobbers and certain relic hunters had a habit of blowing stuff up and asking questions later. Though, there was no way of knowing if these people would be like that or not. Personally, I hoped that the creator of the crowns had a more sophisticated security system on his main production ship.
“Then they might destroy it?! Unacceptable! That Ark’s a treasure trove of ancient tech, I say! We’re gonna get those bastards and show ’em what for!”
Both the Seekers and the Gandhilis knights raised their fists in agreement upon hearing Mario’s rousing words.
...Your Gollems are still broken, you know? What’re you gonna do?
“Hrm. I’d really prefer there to be no damage done to any valuable data. I’m of the opinion that we should hurry.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
I definitely agreed with Doc Babylon on that front. I didn’t want these attackers recklessly trashing vital information.
Mario’s men charged on ahead into the ruins, and we followed after. Apparently, the ruin was made up of seven underground levels and the dock with the ship was at the lowest point. The structure was surprisingly complex, so Ripple opened up a map for us to inspect.
“Right about here... I think this’d be the fastest route. Without a map, the trespassers ain’t gonna get too far.”
The map reminded me of a subway back on Earth. The area was pretty intricately designed. I’d definitely have gotten lost without it.
“Master. Requesting permission to interject.”
“Hm? What do you mean, Albus?” Yumina asked with a raised brow.
Albus took the map from Ripple and pointed a small mechanical finger at a point on the top floor.
Huh? There’s nothing marked there...
“This area holds a private elevator that leads directly to the bottom floor.”
“Whaaat?! How’d you figure that out?!”
“This site was created by Chrom Ranchesse to act as a hideout. I have been here before.”
That made sense. It was only natural that Albus would know about it, being one of Chrom’s creations and all. But if that was the case, why hadn’t Albus told us about the Ark existing sooner?
“The High Master instilled several secretive directives within the crown series. We are not permitted to speak of them. This goes for all crown models.”
“Huh, I see... That Chrom Ranchesse fellow certainly is secretive, isn’t he?”
“Can’t blame him for that, Yumina. People with top-tier tech often get no end of hassle from people who want to steal from them. It’s understandable why he’d wanna hide, yeah? I mean, I hid Babylon for the exact same reason,” Doc Babylon said as she nodded her head slowly.
I could understand that. If I remembered right, royals of the past had often demanded she hand over Babylon, Cesca, and the other Babylon Gynoids.
“All right, let’s hurry along, then.”
We all headed over to the place Albus pointed out on the map. At first glance, it seemed to be nothing more than a plain white wall. But then, I noticed a little spellstone in an alcove. I channeled my magic through it, and part of the wall split open and pulled apart like elevator doors.
There wasn’t enough space in the elevator for all of us to cram in, so once I and the others from Brunhild got in, Mario, Ripple, some of the Seekers, and a few Gandhilis knights squeezed between us. Then, we headed straight down to the dock level.
The doors closed and the box we were in began its descent. There was nothing inside the box, but I couldn’t help but look around for some kind of electronic display showing the floor number... Seemed I was too used to Earth elevators.
Eventually, a small ding resounded and the doors opened wide...revealing a group of several lanky, four-armed Gollems that were scuttling around in the darkness.
“I-It’s them! Those are the Gollems that attacked us!” one of the knights in the elevator exclaimed.
“VWEEEP. VWOOORP!”
One of the four-armed Gollems charged at us, leaping around like a monkey. I calmly pulled Brunhild from my waist, shooting it square in the chest. The gunshot rang out and a tiny whirlwind appeared where the bullet struck the Gollem, ripping it apart. My bullets were currently infused with the Wind spell, [Spiral Lance].
“Don’t just stand there, lads! Trash them!”
“Aye aye!”
At Mario’s command, a group of Seekers charged out of the elevator. They weren’t just engineers, but famed explorers as well. It was only natural that they were used to a little rough and tumble. They stampeded toward the four-armed Gollems, wrenches and hammers in hand.
The knights we’d brought with us also stepped out of the elevator, running after them.
“VWEEEP!”
I quickly transformed Brunhild into blade mode, joining the scuffle between man and machine. The space was a little too narrow to be shooting, and I didn’t want to risk friendly fire.
Quun, on the other hand, pulled out her spellcaster gun and started aiming down the sights. A bolt of lightning spewed from the barrel, jumping from enemy to enemy.
That thing’s pretty good... I should make one for myself.
“Hrkh!”
“Gah!”
A few of our allies were blasted back by the four-armed Gollems. They had a surprising amount of power, given how slim and lanky they were.
“Man, this is taking way too long. [Slip]!”
“VWEEEP?!”
The four-armed Gollems started sliding and falling all over the place, allowing the old dudes to bash them to bits with hammers until they stopped moving.
“What are these things? They don’t look like legacy models.”
“Their base bodies are similar to Gollems I’ve seen in Isengard.”
“But the arms and legs’re more like Gardio ones...”
The Seekers started poking at the fallen Gollems, trying to ascertain their origins. I personally thought we could save that for later, however.
“Dead ahead. The dock is approximately one hundred meters in that direction.”
“Got it. Let’s roll.”
We left some of the old men behind and followed Albus. Our group turned at the end of the hall, then walked down a dimly lit corridor and headed down some more stairs. Eventually, we came out into a broad area, which was some kind of underground lake. The ship was floating atop it.
It was massive. Bigger than I’d assumed, really. No matter how you looked at it, it was more like a spaceship than any seafaring vessel I’d ever seen. It had no sails, and there was some kind of huge engine-like thing affixed to the hull.
“...This thing doesn’t fly, does it?”
“Negative. The Ark is a non-aerial vehicle. It is a submersible aquatic vehicle.”
Oh, damn... So it’s a submarine?! Guess it does kinda look like one, now I think about it... But isn’t it too big?
“Hmph... T’would seem we have uninvited guests. Gandhilese dogs are most persistent, aren’t they?”
I was snapped out of my surprise by a sudden voice. Then, I turned to see a figure blocking our path, as if preventing us from reaching the Ark. He wore black, rounded sunglasses that looked more like goggles. They were affixed to a metal plague mask with a long, curved beak that had steel rivets fitted up the side. His coat was long, black, and flowing, complete with a hood pulled over his head. He also had something that looked like a spray can about his waist, as well as a thin red rapier at his side. Plus, there was some kind of peculiar mechanical rucksack on his back, attached to some strange dial on his belt.
Frankly, he seemed more like a retro steampunk cosplayer than anything else...but something felt seriously off with him. Whatever the case, I had no idea who this guy was.
“Who are you? A bandit looking for an easy score? Some shadow operative for another country?”
“Neither, my friend, for I am a mere devout. A follower of the wicked god, one might say.”
“...What?”
The plague-masked man ignored my concerned reaction and casually tossed the spray can at his waist at me. It rolled toward us, spewing noxious-looking smoke from inside.
What the—?! Poison?!
“[Prison]!”
I quickly set up a protective ward, saving everyone around me from the poison. However, the green smoke quickly filled our vision and obscured the enemy’s form.
“I’ll be off, then.”
In the smoky haze, I saw wing-like attachments pop out of the man’s backpack that propelled him high into the air. I’d never seen anything like it! I could just barely make him out as he flew over to the Ark and landed atop its hull... And then, the smoke completely overtook my vision, blocking me from seeing anything more.
Dammit! What’s going on?!
“Spiral forth, O Wind! Raging Sweeping Gale: [Cyclone Storm]!” Leen exclaimed, conjuring up winds to blow the gas away, which knocked the can itself into the nearby waters in the process.
With our vision finally clear, we were greeted by naught but the sight of the calm, underground lake.
The Ark was gone. It had vanished without a trace.
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