Chapter II: The White Whale
The whale-shaped Over Gear, Val Albus, emerged from Babylon’s hangar and set sail through the clouds.
“It’s not as fast as I thought.”
“It could go as fast as Gungnir if I wanted it to, but we need to be mindful of the spirit energy and ambient magic we’re drawing in. If we go too fast, it will put too much of a strain on the system and we’ll probably lose other functionality like cruise control.”
“Wait, we’re not gonna crash if we run out of ambient fuel, are we?”
“No, don’t worry. We’d fall like a feather if that happened, just slowly losing altitude.”
...Yeah, but we’d still fall, right? What if we came feather-floating down on top of a city? That’d be bad!
I made a mental note not to go too fast unless it was an emergency.
“So, we’re out of Babylon for now...but where should we go?” Yumina, still seated in the captain’s chair and wearing her navigation visor, asked Doc Babylon for further instructions.
“South for now. Let’s move between the borders of Mismede and Ramissh. We’ll do a submarine test there.”
Oh yeah, there’s that inland body of water between those two countries, right? The Sapir Sea.
I suggested opening up a [Gate] and taking us straight there, but it was flatly rejected. Apparently, they wanted to do a flight test. After hearing that, I decided to just suck it up and wait. We weren’t going super fast, but we were certainly faster than a carriage.
I guess it’ll take a couple hours at this rate...
Yumina continued giving instructions to Albus, the two of them learning more about how to pilot Val Albus at the same time. The vehicle ascended, descended, came to a halt, reversed, then sped forward again. I was a bit surprised, since I’d expected to get motion sickness...but I was completely fine. Even though we were jerking around, I didn’t feel woozy or anything.
Doc Babylon, Elluka, and the professor were all tapping away at various consoles. Quun was helping them here and there. Kuon and I weren’t doing anything at all, however. We were just kind of staring at the big monitor, slowly getting bored at the unchanging scenery.
My son eventually grew bored enough to pull out diorama parts from his smartphone’s [Storage] app. He set them down on the floor and started putting them all together.
You brought your hobby out with you? You really do march to the beat of your own drum, kid...
I was kinda bored too, so I shrugged and started to help him.
Kuon started assembling small blocks, gluing them together to create walls. The castle Kuon was working on was the Regulus Empire’s. It was a sturdy castle with a rugged exterior that betrayed a long and storied history. I wasn’t confident enough in my diorama skills to help with the actual assembly, so my work was mostly relegated to preparing the pieces for Kuon.
I kept on stirring a slime-based material in a pot. If I didn’t keep it viscous, it’d get bubbles trapped in it. I wondered what it was used for.
“When it’s hardened properly, it’ll serve as water for the moat.”
Kuon must’ve sensed my curiosity, since he took the pot from me and started pouring it into a little moat he’d dug out.
Oh, so it’s for water...
Once he was finished pouring it out, he used a toothpick-like tool to draw little streaks across the surface. At first I didn’t really know what it was he was doing, but then I realized he was creating little waves to show the movement of the water. The intricacy of his craft was nothing short of amazing to me...
“The Sapir Sea is coming into view, Touya.”
Yumina’s voice prompted me to glance up at the monitor. Sure enough, I saw glistening waters on the horizon. The Sapir Sea was about the size of a country all by itself, and the Great Gau River flowed into it all year round. There’d be no issues for Val Albus diving into it, at least as far as I could see.
“All right, time to start the dive. Go slow at first.”
“Got it. Albus, commence diving.”
“Acknowledged.”
At Yumina’s command, Val Albus began to slowly descend until it breached the water’s surface and sank beneath it. The image on the monitor was briefly blurred, but it quickly showed a clean feed of fish scattering away through the water.
“Monitor switched to submersible mode. Visibility all clear.”
“Water pressure nominal. Underwater navigation systems also fine.”
“No aquatic Behemoths detected. Continuing scan.”
Val Albus was diving without any issues. I was a bit surprised by how bright the monitor was, since I always thought it’d be darker underwater.
“The feed is adjusted to look that way. In actuality, it’s fairly dark outside the vehicle. If you were to go to the absolute deepest points, there’d be no light there at all.”
Doc Babylon had read my mind. I had no way of checking just how dark it was outside right now, as there were no actual windows on Val Albus.
We made it to the bottom fairly fast. It was about three thousand meters below the surface.
Hmm... I’m not really an expert or anything, but I don’t think the Sapir Sea is all that deep, is it? I think the deepest part of the ocean on Earth is the Mariana Trench. If I remember right, that one’s around ten-thousand meters deep, so this one doesn’t even scratch that.
“Diving all good. Let’s initiate an exploratory test. Yumina, release the unmanned probes.”
“Okay. Ummm...let’s see... Albus, launch unmanned probes A00 through A99.”
“Understood.”
...Probes?
I glanced up at the monitor and saw a large number of small spheres streak through the water ahead of us.
Oh. Those probes.
They were about as small as ping-pong balls, but they sure seemed to move faster.
“So we use those things to explore the water?”
“The fact that your [Search] doesn’t work when trying to trace the Ark tells me that it’s probably blocked by some manner of ward. That’s why direct visual confirmation is the best way to go. My probe spheres were engineered to do just that. They can cover a wide range and detect anything enchanted with invisibility. Heck, they even have the same cloaking device that Val Albus does. We can see them, but they can’t see us!”
Damn, they’ve got stealth too? I guess that makes sense, I wouldn’t want any giant underwater monsters thinking they’re tiny morsels to chase after or something.
Medium-sized monitors jutted out from the left and right of the main monitor. The two monitors were each split into fifty different segments showing a different camera feed on each. It kind of made me feel like I was in a stereotypical security guard room from a movie or game. Those feeds were obviously artificially lit up too. The surroundings looked a little gloomy, so I could tell it was actually darker on the outside...
“How can you keep track of all the video feeds?”
Just staring at a hundred simultaneous videos of fish and rocks for a minute was enough to make me wanna zone out.
“Obviously, the human eye can’t pay attention to all of those things at once. That’s why we have Albus here. He can process all of it and notify us if anything unusual comes up.”
“Unidentified object detected on feed A42. Responding.”
At that exact moment, Albus notified us about something strange.
...It isn’t the Ark, is it? That’d be mighty convenient.
The video feed from A42 was enlarged, and we saw the image of something on the seabed.
Damn, it’s big... Wait, what is that?
“Is that a shipwreck?”
There was a sunken ship on the feed, split down the middle, but something was off about it. It had all the features of a regular ship, but there was a propeller attached to one of the masts. Something told me it wasn’t an ordinary seafaring vessel.
“Wait...is that a skyskipper?”
“A what?”
Doc Babylon opened her mouth wide in shock as she watched the live feed.
“It’s a type of flying ship that was fairly common in my era. I had no idea one had crashed in a place like this... I imagine it must’ve been downed during the Phrase War, some five thousand years ago. It doesn’t seem to be military-grade, though...”
“You mean to say this is a legacy of the ancient magic kingdom?!”
“Oooh! If it’s enchanted with preservation magic, then it should still be good for analysis.”
“Oho ho! Most interesting.”
Quun, Elluka, and the professor all responded excitedly upon hearing Babylon’s words.
...Damn nerds.
“Yumina, change course for A42’s location.”
“Got it.”
Val Albus turned and continued through the sea. After a short amount of time, the front monitor showed the wreck that A42 had found. It was pretty huge. Not as big as Val Albus, of course, but it was easily fifty meters across. Two of its three masts were broken off. There was a large propeller at the back, as well as large oars sticking out the sides of the hull.
...If it can fly, why does it have oars?
“The oars are for capturing ambient magic and using them for propulsion. It functions just about the same as an average ship’s oar.”
...Huh, so are they powered automatically, or would people actually move those things like a galley?
“So what’s our plan here?”
“We’ll recover it, of course! It’s a precious relic from an ancient kingdom! You think we’d just leave it at the bottom of the sea?!”
“R-Right...”
Quun shot me a menacing glare. Apparently, she’d already decided the course of action before I’d even raised the question. Doc Babylon also seemed fine with retrieving it, so I just shrugged. The only question was how.
“How? Don’t you have [Storage], Touya?”
“Oh yeah.”
Doc Babylon’s incredulous sigh made me realize the stupidity of my own pondering. Here I was thinking about some specialized diving robot or a retrieval-specialized Frame Gear. But yeah, just using [Storage] was the obvious solution...
I went with what Babylon said and used [Storage] to recover the skyskipper.
“Okay, I got it...but where should I put it?”
“Val Albus’s hangar should be fine. This way.”
We left Yumina, Albus, and Kuon on the bridge and followed Doc Babylon through another teleporter. The hangar was ridiculously big, so I could only speculate that it was another “bigger on the inside” situation.
I pulled the skyskipper out from [Storage]. Thankfully, none of the seawater or other residue was included in that, so the hangar remained completely dry. The ship had not a trace of wear and tear on it. In fact, it looked brand-new. There wasn’t even any rust. Just as Elluka had assumed, it had protective magic enchanting it. It was the same as Babylon in that regard.
Speaking of Babylon, the doc tapped her chin as she looked up at it.
“Hrmm... It seems to be a mercantile vessel from the Talwes Commonwealth. Must’ve been caught in the crossfire of combat.”
Talwes? Never heard of it. Guess it must’ve died out thousands of years ago.
“If it’s a merchant’s vessel...then what’s the cargo?”
“Oh, perhaps it could be interesting artifacts from the ancient era...”
“Even if there aren’t any interesting artifacts aboard, the ship itself is a treasure! What a fascinating vessel...”
The magitech geeks were getting hyped up again.
Don’t you guys have any other interests?
I walked up to the skyskipper and tapped its side. It looked like it was made of metal, but it felt different. If I had to guess, it was some kind of hard rubber.
I ignored the entrance hatch and walked through the fractured midsection.
“Gah!”
The interior was filled with what seemed to be wood shavings and sand. It was presumably the result of stuff on the inside of the boat that hadn’t been enchanted with protective magic. Since I’d pulled the boat into [Storage] with the explicit rejection of seawater, anything inside that was muddied or waterlogged must’ve instantly dried out and collapsed into a heap.
Wait, there were people on this boat, right? I hope their bones aren’t mixed in with this sand and stuff.
I gave a silent prayer before stepping deeper inside. It’d been five thousand years or so since they’d died, so I could only hope they’d found peace by now.
I searched through the front half of the broken ship, but I couldn’t find anything notable inside. The cargo must’ve been perishable, like food or something. It could’ve been that they’d loaded up a vessel with food to escape the Phrase invasion but got shot down.
I came out of the broken skyskipper and noticed Quun excitedly running out from the back half.
“Father, father! The reactor is still intact! We could restore the ship if we reactivate it!”
Hmm? It’s kinda cool that the reactor’s still in working condition, but aren’t you a little too excited for something that minor?
“Well, we’re not all that interested in the boat, so we brought up the idea that the young miss could have it...”
“She got awfully excited when she heard about that.”
“Well, Touya? Whaddya say? Gonna give your girl an airship?”
Huh? Why’s this on me?
I looked at my excited daughter, and in that moment, I knew I couldn’t say no! If Leen had been there to support me, I might’ve been able to offer up a little resistance, but I was on my own.
“...You can have it if you manage it carefully. Don’t get too drawn into it and upset Leen, okay?”
“Thank yooouuu!”
Quun smiled wide and gave me a big hug.
...She’s not planning to fix it up all on her own, is she? It might be too big a gift for just one child.
“Warning. Enormous life-form detected. Approaching starboard,” Albus’s voice reverberated through the hangar, accompanied by red lights and a warning klaxon.
“Hm. Seems something’s happening. Let’s return to the bridge at once.”
We followed Doc Babylon back through the teleporter and met up with Yumina and the others on the bridge. The monitor ahead of us showed an enormous sea snake swimming in our direction.
“Oh, a Leviathan?”
The Leviathan was a sea creature that could grow hundreds of meters long. It was one of the most feared creatures in all the seas, along with the Kraken. I used both as casual summons, though.
This one seemed a fair bit bigger than your usual Leviathan, however. The monitor display estimated its size at three hundred meters, but it looked like it was double that to me.
“That’s not just any Leviathan. It’s a variant species, the Leviathan Lord.”
...Leviathan Lord? I guess it’s bigger, and now that it’s getting closer, it looks like it has spines along its scales. It’s also a deeper blue hue. Huh, how about that?
The Leviathan Lord fired off a vibrating ring in our direction, blasting the side of the hull.
Val Albus shook slightly.
...It’s attacking us?
“It’s hostile, apparently.”
“It must be the biggest fish around here. Maybe it’s mad that we intruded on its territory?”
Kuon and Quun talked among themselves, and I was inclined to agree with their conclusion. It clearly saw us as a big intruder.
Just as I was thinking about that, I noticed the massive grin plastered across Doc Babylon’s face.
What are you planning, you witch?
“Perfect. We’ll have this be Val Albus’s first opponent.”
“We could certainly process a dead Leviathan Lord into raw production materials.”
“This is a finer treasure than the skyskipper, that’s to be sure.”
“Mother Yumina! Let’s fight that thing!”
It only took one mention of raw production materials to hype Quun up beyond the limit. I was a little concerned about how gung-ho she was. I didn’t want her getting tricked by some shady guy who enticed her away with engineering equipment or research stuff in the future...
Yumina slid her fingers across the console by the captain’s chair.
“Attack, then? Uhhh...Albus, use the fire manastorm missile #36...?”
“W-Wait! Don’t use that! It’s too powerful! You’ll turn the Leviathan Lord into unsalvageable scrap!”
“Not that one, Mother Yumina!”
...Just how absurd is this thing’s power level?
While Yumina and Doc Babylon spoke, the Leviathan Lord kept on rocking us with shockwaves. Fortunately(?) the ship didn’t really take much damage. Though, that didn’t mean it was good for us to just take a beating.
“Albus, fire manastorm missile #6.”
“Understood.”
I heard a small beeping noise, then I saw a missile come through on the monitor. It zoomed toward the Leviathan Lord at incredible speeds.
A flash sparkled across the monitor, lighting the display up for a few moments. Once it had cleared, the feed displayed live footage of what had once been the Leviathan Lord. It was almost bisected, viscera and other giblets spilling out from its inside into the sea.
“Oh, darn it. Seems even that one packed too much of a punch...” Doc Babylon grumbled quietly to herself. The missile found its mark a little too well, killing the Leviathan Lord instantly. I knew regular Leviathans weren’t exactly built for defense, but I couldn’t believe we’d just killed this thing in one hit...
I sighed and collected the remains with my [Storage] spell. I didn’t want to dump it out in the hangar and have it stink up the place, so I just kept it in stasis for later. I could have the guild help me dismantle it later. Given the size of the thing, though, I’d probably have to have them do it in a field outside town. It’d take a lot of time, and they couldn’t afford to slack off or the carcass would start to go bad. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guild workers, since they had a long day and night ahead of them...
“Well, that’s enough combat data for one day. We’ll head back to Babylon, fine-tune it a little bit, and then we should be able to begin our exploration in earnest.”
“You mean like sending it out into the oceans to find the Ark? Yumina can’t sit in the ship all the time, you know...?”
“Don’t be absurd. Just Albus is enough for probe operation. We’ll only need to contact you if we find something, or if an emergency happens.”
So Albus is gonna be in charge of the underwater search? I guess he can work all day, every day, but it’s gonna be a hell of an effort scouring every single body of water in the world...
“We’ll also establish markers around the coastlines of our allies. If any of the wicked devout decide to come out of the water, we should be able to detect it. Be sure to brief the world leaders on this at your next conference.”
“Gotcha.”
We’d delayed long enough, thereby letting the wicked devout just do whatever the hell they wanted. It was time to find them, crush them, and put an end to this annoying game of cat and mouse.
◇ ◇ ◇
The search for the Ark was ongoing. It was a slow, but sure, process. It wasn’t an easy task, of course. Val Albus had to scour all the bodies of water in the world, so I knew it would take some time. We hadn’t found our quarry, but we’d found no shortage of wrecks and undersea treasures.
According to Doc Babylon, the ancient war against the Phrase saw the use of magical weapons that transformed the very landscape. Some of those weapons even sank entire cities deep into the seabed, and we’d ended up coming across some of those ruins. There was a similar situation on the western continent, with ancient cities having been leveled and sunk during the Great Gollem War.
We’d also found various spots where there was clear evidence of mining operations having gone on. We could only assume that it was the work of the wicked devout digging up seabed resources. They were probably gathering materials to make more of those one-eyed Gollems like the one they’d used in their most recent attack. Even though the Ark was Chrom Ranchesse’s personal Gollem factory, they still wouldn’t have much in the way of mass production capability...or so I hoped, at least.
In any case, I didn’t think this would be a situation like the Phrase invasion with tens of thousands of them coming after us, but they could still attack us at any point and any time, which was a scary thought.
We’d placed hidden markers to alert us of activity in all the areas Val Albus had already surveyed, but that only covered Belfast, Refreese, and some parts of Panaches.
Setting them up on the coastlines was deemed too inefficient. Ideally, we wanted to know if they were on the approach before any settlements were attacked, not during the attack itself.
Still, there was no point in worrying about things beyond my control.
“Wooow! Ed’s so little! So cuuute!” Steph said, smiling wide as she peeked in on Edward, Duke Ortlinde’s heir, who was napping in his crib. Much like Kuon, Steph referred to her uncle rather casually.
“He he... Ed’s getting some rest now, Steph. Come here, would you?”
“Granny!”
Steph ran over and hugged Ellen, Sue’s mother.
Sue smiled over at the two, but she couldn’t help but heave a small sigh.
“Steph’s quite the spoiled child, isn’t she?”
“Well, she is the youngest. It’s just one of those things. I’m sure there are plenty of people in the family who fawn over her.”
“Are you sure you’re not the one who does that the most, Touya?”
I ignored Sue’s cutting clapback and took a sip of the black tea in front of me. Duke Ortlinde had very good taste, apparently. It was wonderful.
“Ellen! You’re not the only person here! Come, Steph! I’ve got some treats for you!”
“Thanks, Grampy!”
Duke Ortlinde normally had such a stoic and respectable air about him, so seeing him all lovestruck by his granddaughter was a rare sight indeed... In fact, I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen him act this doting before, not even with Ed or Sue. Was this one of those things where it turned out grandchildren are even more lovable than children?
Maybe I’ll get like that when I have grandkids. Wait, won’t my girls be married and in their own relationships if that happens? Unacceptable! Wait, no... I can still have grandkids if Kuon finds a wife. That would be fine, I think. But wait! Won’t any of those grandchildren be one of Allis’s children too? Then the kid would be Ende’s grandkid as well...and if that happens, things’ll get dicey, I bet... What if the kid says “I like Grandpa Touya better than Grandpa Ende!” or something?! It’d be an all-out war!
“...Are you okay, Touya? You’ve been making an awful lot of weird faces...”
“Oh... Um, I’m fine. Just fine. Just thinking about the future a little.”
Sue narrowed her eyes slightly, and I realized I’d gotten a bit too lost in my own fantasies.
Steph was sandwiched between Ellen and Duke Ortlinde, chowing down on a tasty-looking cookie. They looked more like parents with their child, rather than the grandparents they actually were. Though that wasn’t too surprising, given that Steph and Sue weren’t even ten years apart in age right now.
“...Something’s annoying me about this. Steph’s my daughter, not theirs...”
“Yeah, I get it. I sorta feel the same.”
Sue wedged herself between Duke Ortlinde and Steph before giving the latter a big hug.
“Oh my. Jealous, Sue?”
“This is not jealousy, mother. It is simply maternal love.”
“Maternal love? I shall have to express my grandmaternal love, then,” Ellen stated as she cuddled up against Steph from the opposite side as Sue. The sight made me feel a bit jealous. I wanted to hug her too.
Duke Ortlinde, who’d been kicked off the couch by Sue, walked over to me as I pouted.
“My, I really never thought I’d meet my grandchild so soon. She’s so much like her mother. So well behaved.”
“Right? Isn’t she? That’s my girl. She’s perfect in every way.”
“I never would’ve thought you’d be such a proud and doting father, Touya.”
Huh? I was just stating a fact!
“Incidentally, how long will Steph be sojourning with us?”
“...A while longer, I think? She won’t suddenly vanish or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Duke Ortlinde looked a little relieved to hear that.
We couldn’t return my kids to the future until the wicked devout had been dealt with. There was a chance their interference could cause a ripple effect on the future, and it’d prevent the kids from getting back to the one they’d come from. Granny Tokie said there was a very low chance of this actually happening, but I didn’t want to run the risk.
With newfound determination, I said goodbye to the Ortlindes and returned to Brunhild. I then walked down the castle hall where I bumped into Allis, who was dragging Kuon by the hand.
“Oh, father. Nice to see you. Mother Sue, Steph. Welcome home.”
“Good to be home. You two going somewhere?”
“Kuon’s been in his room all day, so we’re gonna go play!”
“But I need to finish my dioramas...” Kuon grumbled quietly. Even though he’d been commissioned to make dioramas for various foreign leaders, it wasn’t like he had any hard deadlines. I didn’t think he needed to focus on it that hard or anything.
To be honest, I was with Allis on this one. It wasn’t good for him to remain cooped up in his room all the time. A little sun would do him some good.
“Me too! Me too! I wanna plaaay! Mommy, can I play?”
“Of course. But don’t bother Kuon or Allis, okay? And come back by sundown!”
“Yaaay!”
Steph bolted down the hallway after Kuon and Allis. I could only hope she wouldn’t cause any collateral damage in the castle town...
“Kougyoku, could you?”
“Of course, my liege,” replied Kougyoku, who’d been perched on a nearby windowsill, before flying off into the sky.
It was better to be safe than sorry. I didn’t think Steph or the others were even capable of endangering themselves, but it was best to keep a watchful eye.
“You’re overprotective.”
“Am not. Just pragmatic.”
Sue didn’t seem to mind letting her daughter wander free. That didn’t mean she was completely lax, though. She knew when to parent as necessary. If I had to guess, Steph’s naive and curious personality, along with her rambunctious and energetic attitude, was probably from Sue’s influence on her.
I started to think more about that when the smartphone in my pocket went off. It was Doc Babylon.
“Hey, ’sup? Found the Ark?”
“Afraid not. But they’re making a move.”
...A move? With their one-eyed Gollems?
“Some of our detectors in the waters south of Panaches recorded movement. There’s a group headed toward land over there as we speak.”
“How many?”
“If you include the small fry, about two thousand detections. The vast majority of the group is made up of those fish people and those four-armed Gollems. As for the giant one-eyes? About twenty.”
Twenty? Reginleif should be more than enough to take care of those. I’ll stop them out at sea before the first Gollem makes landfall.
“You want to take Reginleif? That’s a no-go.”
“What, why?”
“Don’t you remember? We’re running refurbishments on it right now. You know, the waterproofing? It’s not in an operable state.”
Hmm... It’s good that we’re getting the waterproofing done, but the timing’s pretty bad. Fine, I guess I can just take a regular Night Baron...
“Want me to send Val Albus your way?”
“...Nah. I think the longer we keep Val Albus a secret, the better. We don’t want them catching on to the fact we’ve got a way to find the Ark.”
If they knew about Val Albus, they could start hatching some plan to counter it. It was always best to keep one’s trump card stashed away.
I ended the call and quickly contacted the King of Panaches. He said he’d send troops to assist, so I told him to gather them outside his castle’s gates. Then, it’d just be a matter of taking them with me through a portal.
“Touya! Take me too! If we’re defending someplace, then Ortlinde’s perfect!” Sue suddenly butted in, having overheard my conversation.
Ortlinde Overlord specialized in defensive warfare... We could use it as a bulwark to keep the giant Gollems from coming in close, which would allow the soldiers of Panaches to fight the Fishmen.
I was just planning on going on my own, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Sue ready and waiting in case some of them got past me. As I’d said earlier, better safe than sorry.
I nodded my head before warping Sue and I to Babylon’s hangar.
◇ ◇ ◇
A large group advanced through the dark of the ocean floor. The group was a mismatched assortment of half-fish creatures, mechanical marionettes, giants of stone, and enormous Kyklops Gollems. And yet, there was one that stood out among this patchwork band more than any other. A large Kyklops that gleamed metallic purple.
Given that it was at the very front of the charge, one could only assume it was the commander. It was slightly larger than the muddy-gold Kyklops that walked behind it. The one piloting it was one of the wicked devout, one who kept his purple spear close at hand. His name was Orchid. The muddy-gold Kyklops were piloted by Gollems that had been infused with the wicked god’s divinity. They’d all been programmed to follow Orchid’s orders to the letter. Soldat Gollems had group control systems as their default, but there were many drawbacks to commanding too many at once. This problem was remedied by Scarlet, another of the wicked devout, who had found a way to increase the total number of Gollems one individual could command.
Now Orchid was leading a group toward the town of Kwapp, a port town in the Kingdom of Panaches. He aimed to destroy the place. In doing so, he’d spread the wicked god’s curse and fester it deeper within the hearts of man.
Orchid chose to do this all on his own, but his comrades had effectively given silent consent. They all knew that Orchid was brimming with destructive urges. That if he didn’t have a way to vent them every now and then, he could wind up damaging or even destroying the Ark. All members of the wicked devout were mentally deranged in some manner, big or small. Excessive curiosity, abnormal brutality, fanatical piety... These were only a few of the symptoms exhibited by their number. To suppress such urges would be tantamount to denying themselves.
Orchid’s destructive impulses were his guiding light. He took simple, unbridled pleasure in breaking things or killing others. That was why Orchid marched toward Kwapp. For personal satisfaction.
“Let’s trash ’em in one go, eh?”
As Orchid’s Kyklops rose from the waves to descend upon the harbor, he suddenly spotted something unfamiliar. It was an enormous golden Gollem, some ten meters taller than the Kyklops he piloted. And, strangely enough, it was making a punching motion in Orchid’s general direction.
Orchid suddenly sensed danger, hitting a control that made his Gollem duck back down below the waves again.
“Cannon Knuckle Spiral!”
The massive golden Gollem, Ortlinde Overlord, sent its right arm firing off and rotating in a high-speed rocket punch. It fired at the purple Gollem, but just barely missed as its target sank below the ocean water once again. The rocket punch instead smashed into a regular Kyklops that stood behind where Orchid had been. The Kyklops fell backward and sank as the flying fist whizzed back in an arc and docked with Ortlinde’s arm again.
Orchid brought his Kyklops to a standing position again.
“What is this? A Gollem soldier from Brunhild? And some strange others too...”
Orchid used his Kyklops camera to zoom in on the image of the harbor. There, he saw multiple black mechs by the giant golden one, as well as an odd-looking, deer-shaped machine. He couldn’t understand how, but he’d walked straight into an ambush.
“I don’t get it...but this is pretty nice. Oh man, this is real interesting.”
Orchid didn’t seem to care about his disadvantage. A smile crept across his face. He was only thinking about one thing. It was fun enough trashing weak enemies, sure...but how fun would it be to trash one of Brunhild’s brilliant creations?
“Wisteria, it’s time.”
The moment Orchid spoke, a gleaming purple spear appeared in the hands of his Kyklops. Wisteria was his wicked treasure, a corrupted instrument of the divine with the wicked god’s malediction buried deep inside. Changing its size was trivial.
Orchid roared gleefully as his Kyklops twirled the spear, pointing its tip straight at the shoreline.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Mmm... I missed the purple one...” Sue’s frustrated voice leaked out of the Ortlinde Overlord’s cockpit.
I looked over at the metallic purple Gollem from within my own Night Baron’s cockpit.
How’d that thing duck the cannon knuckle? That must’ve taken some serious precision. I wonder if it’s down to the mech or the pilot... Given that it’s a different color from the rest, it’s either the commander’s or a special one. Or well, at least that’s what my gut tells me.
The metallic purple, or just purple for simplicity’s sake, Gollem suddenly held up a weird-looking spear and pointed it at us. There was something off about the spear. I could sense a strange feeling of unease immediately.
“I’ll deal with the purple one. Sue, focus on defense. Panaches’s soldiers can go on the offensive,” I ordered, opening my comms to tell everyone what to do. The other Night Barons were piloted by soldiers from Panaches. There were about fifty of them in total, though mine was the only one equipped with my remote-controlled fragarachs.
“Leave it to us! Behold the power of Panaches!” Prince Robert of Panaches, a.k.a. the pumpkin-pants prince, exclaimed as he stepped forward in his Deer Blau Over Gear. On the ground, regular Panaches foot soldiers stood ready. They had the dock secured against the advancing Fishmen and Rock Giants.
“Charge!”
We began our counterattack, not wanting to lose pace with the invaders. Two of the four fragarachs on my Frame Gear’s back detached, turning into twinblades that I grasped in both hands.
The purple Gollem ahead of me came charging in with its spear. I slashed, but he ducked and came in with a spear thrust. It was so fast that I could hardly react, but I just barely managed to step back in time. He followed up the attack with a sweep, and I ducked sideways.
“He’s fast...”
I’d heard it was more important for spear wielders to learn how to draw back their spears rather than thrust them. By pulling back fast, you could easily chain attacks into combos and match pace with your enemy. In that regard, it was kind of similar to boxing or martial arts, but I was too much of an amateur to really grasp the nuance. All I really understood was that it’d be dangerous to get too close to this guy.
I had to avoid his spear as it came out and use my swords to parry them. Given that we were fighting mech-knee-deep in ocean water, I was at a bit of a disadvantage when it came to fancy footwork.
“Heh, pretty good! You’re the first one who’s ever dodged my Wisteria this much!”
A voice rang out from the Gollem in front of me. It was the voice of a young man.
...There’s a human in there? No, I guess it must be one of the wicked devout. Can’t really call them human, can I?
I turned on my Night Baron’s external speakers.
“Are you a follower of the wicked god?”
“Guess you could say that. But that’s not really important right now. I’m about to kill ya, anyway.”
The purple Gollem kept on thrusting its spear my way. It moved so fast that it felt like several spears were coming at me at the same time. I moved backward to maintain distance between us.
“Ha ha ha! I don’t think so! Run him through, Wisteria!”
Lightning began to build up and lash from the tip of the spear.
Wait, wait. You shouldn’t put electricity near water, you moron!
“[Absorb]!”
I used my absorption magic to dissipate the lightning and draw it in. It spread out like a mist and evaporated.
That was a close call... If the lightning had hit anywhere, it would’ve spread and caused damage I couldn’t control.
I needed to take care of this guy before he had a chance to do anything dangerous.
“Fragarachs!”
The two inert sword pieces on my back came to life and floated in the air behind me. At the same time, I let go of one of the fragarach blades in my hands. It floated as well.
“Go!”
The three blades whizzed through the air like missiles, seeking out their target. The purple Gollem tried its best to bat them down with its spear, but one of them got through and sank deep into the machine’s shoulder.
My enemy’s movement stalled. I saw my chance and wasted no more time, closing the distance in an instant and sending my sword smashing into the Gollem’s side.
The purple Gollem shuddered, then fell still. Had I really beaten it so easily?
“Gimme a break... It stops working just when things start getting interesting? I’ve gotta get Scarlet to make me something sturdier next time.”
The purple Gollem’s chest hatch popped open, revealing the man inside. His hair was gray, he wore an iron mask over the lower half of his face, and a tattered, bluish-purple cape sat on his shoulders. He looked a little bit older than me... Was this guy really one of the wicked devout?
“Name’s Orchid. This here’s Wisteria.”
In the blink of an eye, the spear in the Gollem’s hand vanished. A smaller, identical spear appeared in Orchid’s hands. What was up with that?
“Gollem fights are fine, sure...but how about we go toe to toe with our real bodies? That sounds way more interesting...”
“Sorry, I’m afraid that won’t be happening.”
A puddle of what looked to be water suddenly spread out across the Gollem’s open chest hatch, and a man wearing something resembling a full diving suit emerged from it.
Hmm... Isn’t that the same phenomenon I saw when I faced the Gigantes in Gandhilis? He made off with those machine parts back then.
“Hey, Indigo. You can’t just get in my way.”
“I can and will get in your way. Look around you, fool.”
“Hm?”
The words spoken by the man in the diving suit prompted me to check my monitor. I saw that around half of the one-eyed Gollems had been trashed by the Night Barons. We had Prince Robert’s Over Gear and more than twice their numbers, though, so that much was to be expected.
“There’s no point in continuing to fight. Our Kyklops are losing. Let us away.”
Kyklops? Is that what those things are called?
“Tch. Maaan... Fine, fine. I did have a little fun, so it ain’t a total wash. I dunno who you are, asshole! But next time I see ya, I’m gonna—” Orchid brandished his spear toward me as he spoke, but his words were cut off as Indigo dragged him into a puddle. They vanished in an instant. It was definitely the same teleportation magic they’d used in Gandhilis. I needed to do something about this Indigo guy, or any of my future encounters with the wicked devout could just turn into a wild goose chase. The best I could think up on the spot was putting down wards to counteract his magic or beating him before he could use whatever ability it was...
As I pondered the matter, I checked my monitor again...and realized all the remaining Kyklops Gollems had been defeated. They’d gotten away again, but we were able to defend the town without any civilian casualties. I could be happy about that, at least.
◇ ◇ ◇
“They’re certainly trying, but it’s no match for my Frame Gears,” Doc Babylon spoke pridefully as she finished up her analysis of the Kyklops wreckage.
Given that our side had suffered basically no harm while their side had been totally trashed, even I could’ve said as much. Well, it wasn’t that we’d come to no harm. Some of the Chevaliers we’d called in for support were a bit bashed up. But even including that, it was a total victory for our side.
“One of them called these things a Kyklops.”
“Kyklops? Oh, like Cyclops. Cute. It’s what they used to call the Cyclops back during my era. Kind of an uninspired naming sense, if you ask me.”
...Pot calling the kettle black, much? Frame Gear isn’t exactly the most imaginative name.
“It’s quite an ambitious construction, I must admit. The magic engraving here is extremely competent. Without that, the movement would be dulled by a factor of one or two.”
“It’s also completely waterproofed. I never even thought of using slime membrane to achieve this kind of effect. In fact, the extra viscosity of the coating gives it superior underwater movement.”
Elluka and the professor were both a bit more enthused about the wreckage, prompting Doc Babylon to mutter something or other about it not being all that bad.
I suddenly remembered that I needed to ask her something.
“Is there a way to stop teleportation magic? Or like...prevent it from starting?”
“Hmm? Why not just put up some wards?”
“Don’t wards just stop people from warping to us? I’m talking about preventing someone from escaping a certain area...”
“Oh, you mean the wicked devout. I think it’s a bit naive to consider whatever they’re using to be magic, don’t you think? Your [Gate] can bypass wards, after all.”
Oh yeah, that’s a good point. Their abilities are probably infused with divinity, huh...? Hell, I can use my own divinity to travel literally anywhere I want.
“I guess your only solution is finishing him off before he warps?”
“Hmm... I think it only takes him a second or two to activate it, though...”
If it was anything less than instant death, he could probably get away. This was a bit tricky... Even if I put a tracker on him or something, it’d probably go dead if he teleported back to the Ark.
“Well, there’s recorded footage of the phenomenon on the Night Baron you piloted. I’ll check it later, maybe work something out.”
“Thanks. Sorry for the extra work.”
I was hoping Doc Babylon would be able to figure something out, so I decided to leave that to her in the meantime. There was another place I could go to for advice, after all...
◇ ◇ ◇
“Stopping someone from warping away, huh? You might be able to use [Prison] infused with divinity...”
I’d brought my question out to the castle terrace, questioning Karen and Moroha, who were sipping tea together there.
“I thought about that too, but wouldn’t the guy be able to use his own divinity to break out?”
“Silly! A fraudulent wicked god’s follower wouldn’t have nearly the degree of divinity as you, you know? You’re a dependent of God Almighty!”
“Indeed. It’d be like a praying mantis going up against an orichalcum shield...” Moroha smirked as she followed up on Karen’s response.
Oh...that actually makes sense.
“But you have to remember, you know? Using your divinity against denizens of the mortal realm is against the rules. Now that you’re well and truly one of us, you can’t use your power as a god.”
Crap. I guess I’m screwed, then. If I don’t use my divinity, he’ll just break out of my [Prison].
How come they could use the wicked god’s divinity down here while I couldn’t use my regular divinity, anyway? That hardly seemed fair. Police were allowed to run red lights if they were in pursuit of a suspect, right? Couldn’t we just treat this situation like a car chase and bend the rules a little?
“Wait...I’ve used my divinity to enhance my [Search] before...”
“That’s fine. The specific rule is that you can’t use your divinity to exert influence upon the mortal world. If you’re just using it for little stuff, that’s basically fine. Defeating those wicked whatevers would be pretty easy with your divinity, but it’d affect the world too much, so you’re not allowed.”
...So I’ve gotta beat them on mortal terms, huh? It’s not like I can’t, it’s just kind of a pain in the ass...
“What if I weakened them using my divinity, then had some regular people deal the final blow?”
“I guess we could overlook a couple of divine hits, but if you do ninety-nine percent of the work, it’d be basically the same as you defeating them, don’t you think?”
Guess that’s true... It’d be like a parent showing up to a dispute between two kids, beating the crap out of one of the kids, then letting their kid throw the last punch. If they tried telling anyone that their kid was some kind of badass for that, nobody would believe them.
“I suppose we could use a loophole, you know...?” Karen, who’d been quiet for a short time, spoke up again.
“Hm? What kind?”
“We could have someone from the mortal realm wield a divine weapon capable of preventing any kind of transportation magic, you know?”
“Wait, there are weapons that can seal stuff like that?”
“I think so. There’s probably something like that in the divine realm treasury...but there are conditions to keep in mind that make this something of an unideal solution.”
Moroha hummed to herself and crossed her arms. She seemed to agree that it was a possibility, though.
Conditions? Like what? They won’t lend it to me from the treasury or something?
“No, I think they’d be happy to let you take things from the treasury. The problem is that the treasury itself is a large, unorganized vault filled with all manner of sacred treasures that gods either made for fun or completed as their masterworks. There’s so much stuff in there that it would take a very long time to track down just one item. God Almighty is supposed to be in charge of maintaining order in there, but he’s not exactly the most organized...”
“So how long would it take to find what I need?”
“At least a thousand years, I think.”
“A thousand?!”
How much crap is in there?! I can’t wait a whole damn millennia for it!
“It’s officially named a treasury, but...well...it’s more of a junkyard, you know? We use it to throw out stuff we don’t need anymore. Most gods keep the stuff they need to themselves.”
In other words, it was just like my [Storage]. A convenient space for all manner of junk to get thrown out of sight and mind... Yeah... That tracked.
I definitely didn’t have the time to waste trawling through a place like that. But wait, couldn’t I use [Search] to find it?
“Since the treasury is a repository for sacred treasures we wanted sealed, any kind of tracing magic is nullified inside it.”
“Dammit!”
Guess that makes sense, though... Doesn’t matter if it’s the divine realm or a mortal world, sacred treasures are a big deal. You’d want them sealed away with the utmost security.
“So I’ve just gotta be the early bird and get the worm before it teleports away, I guess...”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. As they say, if they have no sacred treasure, let them craft one!”
...Huh? I dunno why, but Moroha’s words sound close to Marie Antoinette’s famous line there... Actually, wait... Marie Antoinette wasn’t even the original person who said “Let them eat cake,” right?
“Touya, you’re a god. You can make a sacred treasure of your own. You can’t use it to defeat the wicked god’s followers yourself, though.”
“You’ll also have to keep a close eye on whatever it is you create, lest it become a vessel for more wicked divinity after being abandoned for too long.”
“...Wait...me? Make a sacred treasure?”
I had no idea that was even an option. That’d definitely be a huge help.
“Touya, why are you acting so surprised? You made use of that very ability to defeat the wicked god.”
“Wait! That’s right, I did!”
“That wasn’t exactly normal, though. It was a hastily formed disposable divine tool. It’s not really something regular humans could use either. When crafting a sacred treasure, you have to think more general, something mortals can easily make use of.”
More general, huh? I don’t even know where I’d begin making something like this, though... Hell, during my battle with the wicked god, I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing...
“I think it’d be better if you were educated properly on the creation of a sacred treasure. Karen and I aren’t gods in the production sphere, though. We’d surely be bad teachers.”
Production? So like...Uncle Kousuke, the god of agriculture? Surely not Suika... She’d be too drunk.
“Allow me to rephrase. You’ll need to learn from a god in the manufacturing sphere.”
Manufacturing? So a god that makes stuff? Do I even know any gods like that? Should I just ask God Almighty?
“You know one. Lots of gods came down for your wedding, you know? Including one perfect for what you need.”
“Uhhh... Oh! The god of crafting?”
“Bingo.”
This world was ultimately going to become a resort for the gods, so ten gods had come down in advance to sample the place before it opened fully. The goddess of dance, the god of strength, the god of crafting, the god of glasses, the god of theater, the god of puppetry, the god of wandering, the goddess of flowers, and the goddess of gemstones. There was Granny Tokie as well, the goddess of space-time.
If I remembered right, the god of crafting took the form of a man in his forties with streaked-gray hair and a mustache. He wore Japanese-style clothing that resembled a samue, a monk’s working clothes. Basically, he fit the image of a traditional craftsman.
“You could also speak with the god of glasses or the god of puppetry, but the two of them are...eccentric,” Karen muttered slightly as she gazed off into the distance. I had to agree. The god of glasses was a little too into spectacles for my tastes, and the way the god of puppetry spoke via ventriloquism freaked me out. Compared to those, the god of crafting was probably the most normal.
“So he’d be able to teach me how to make a sacred treasure?”
“Not overnight, but he’d certainly be able to teach you in a shorter time frame than it’d take to rummage through the treasury.”
...Okay, sure, it won’t take a thousand years, but is it gonna take a hundred? Wait, can’t I just ask him to make me the exact kind of sacred treasure I need?
“If he made it for you, he’d be responsible for keeping an eye on it. It’s not right to put that responsibility on someone else’s shoulders, you know?”
“He could probably just toss it in the treasury once you’re done with it, to be fair...but this is a good chance for you to learn, so you should take it.”
My sisters had a fair point. I didn’t want to just be irresponsible and have others take care of my problems for me. This was a good opportunity. Apparently, responsibility for sacred treasures could be transferred between gods, but even with that in mind, I needed to make this one by myself.
“Okay, so we’ve determined he can help me. Where would I find him, though?”
“Huh? Can’t you just use [Search] for that?”
“Oh...right.”
Duh! I’ve met the guy before, so I can just look him up. That was a pretty stupid question.
I turned away from Karen, who was staring at me like I was a moron, and looked over my phone’s map for the god of crafting.
“Hmmm... Oh? He’s in Mismede’s capital. Guess he didn’t stray too far from Brunhild.”
The god of crafting was clearly in Berge, Capital of Beasts. He wasn’t in the central metropolitan area, but he was definitely in Berge.
“Makes sense. There’s plenty of good quality ore, lumber, soil, and so on in Mismede. It’s the logical place for a natural-born craftsman to settle.”
Makes sense. The sea of trees is nearby too, so that gives him easy access to wood... Probably high-quality wood to boot. Thank the gods for the gods. I’ve got a way to deal with this!
I could use [Gate] to get to him since I’d been to Berge multiple times in the past.
“Then Ih’m coming witsch ya!”
“Gaaah! Don’t just appear outta nowhere!”
Suika suddenly teleported in front of me, scaring me half to death.
What the hell was that for?! I’m getting real tired of you people doing that!
“...Why do you wanna go with me?”
“I wanna try sumh Mishmede booze... And get, hic! Getsch me a new sake bottle and sake cup fromh the god of crafting...”
Can he make those? I guess they’re traditionally made of ceramics, so they count as crafting work...
He was surely an incredibly skilled craftsman, but part of me pictured him creating those things for Suika only for her to smash them while cackling in a drunken stupor...
“Well, whatever. Let’s go see him.”
I opened up a portal to Berge and stepped on through. As I passed through to the back alley, the strong glare from the sunlight caught my eyes.
“Man, it’s hot...”
Mismede’s climate was far hotter than Brunhild’s. It wasn’t nearly as humid as Japan, though. It was a kind of dry, more bearable heat.
We started walking through the bustling streets. Mismede’s palace, which resembled the Taj Mahal, loomed over the cityscape in the distance. Mismede’s population was mostly made up of beastfolk, and many different kinds passed by us as we walked. These streets would become even busier after the train lines reached the city.
“Let’sch start at the booze stooore...”
“Hey, no way. Why would we?!”
Suika started to merrily skip down the path ahead of me. Wasn’t our priority the god of crafting? Suika swiveled around and smiled wide before letting out a happy sigh. She was kinda pissing me off.
“You don’t get it, Touyaaa... D’ya think he’ll jusht teach’ya if you barge in withouht a lihttle gift?”
Ugh... I hate to admit it, but she’s got a point.
It’d have been rude of me to go to the god of crafting seeking his assistance with nothing to offer. I should’ve prepared a selection of cakes or something.
“Thaaaht’s whyyy...we’ll give him a lihttle booze frum Mishmede, and shum booze from Earth that I know you keep hiding in your, hic! In your [Schtorage]. He likes a good drinky, so he’ll ’ppreshiate it.”
You’re just looking for an excuse to drink, aren’t you? My grandpa’s secret booze stash is limited, you know? I put it in my [Storage] for a reason... I guess one bottle can’t hurt, though.
She might’ve been annoying as hell, but she was still the goddess of alcohol. She had the best intuition when it came to finding good booze. It was just about her only talent, so I could afford to let her help this once.
“...You mahkin’ fun of me in your head?”
“Of course not.”
I ignored Suika’s surprisingly sharp senses before entering a nearby liquor store with her. There were all manner of drinks lining the walls. The kind of selection you’d come to expect from a store in a capital city.
Oh, interesting... There are different specialties by different species. I wonder how the honey wine from the bear beastfolk tastes... Won’t this do?
“Lemme handle this. All you gotta do is, hic, foot the bill!” Suika said as she toddled off to check more of the goods.
I don’t exactly like being her walking wallet, but I have to defer to her superior taste in alcohol. I might be married, but I’m still a minor. How am I supposed to develop a taste for booze?
In this world I was already classified as an adult, but I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t take up drinking until I at least turned twenty. That being said, I had already had a few drinks by this point... My wives had drunk their fair share with me, after all...
After a while, Suika came back and lined up various bottles on the counter. I shrugged and paid for them all. Over half of her purchases were for her personal collection, apparently. I even noticed that she’d bought the honey wine I’d been eyeing up.
“Thank youuu!”
We left the store, and a very happy shopkeeper, behind us.
“Okay, time to go find the god of crafting...”
“Time for bar snacks!”
“C’mon...”
I stopped Suika from running off to another store. I had plenty of snacks in my [Storage], so we didn’t need to go shopping.
She sulked, but tagged along behind me as I headed to a house on the outskirts of the capital. It was a single-floor home, built slightly elevated and next to a large tree. A man was sitting out on the front porch, whittling at a piece of wood with a small knife.
“Here you are, eh?”
“God of crafting! It’sch been too long!”
The god of crafting smiled as he saw Suika run over to him. Apparently, he’d been expecting me. If I had to guess, he’d probably sensed my [Search] spell.
“Nice to see you again, crafting god.”
“They call me Kraft down here. You’re welcome to do the same, new god.”
“Then you can call me Touya.”
“Sure thing, Touya.”
Even as we spoke, his hand never stopped whittling away at the wood. Before my very eyes, the rough and raw material took the form of a little bear with a salmon in its mouth.
Wait, I’ve seen something like that at my grandpa’s before.
“What is it?”
“Just a little side fun. Should be worth a tidy sum.”
The god of crafting, Kraft, tossed the little figurine my way. I was shocked by how realistic it looked... The surface was astonishingly smooth, even though it had only been whittled with a knife. Just how had he gotten it to this state? I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“Well, come on in. I take it you need something?”
Kraft’s home was filled with all kinds of objects. He had a potter’s wheel for ceramics, a carving chisel, one of those tubes people used for glasswork, and tons of other things related to crafting. He even had a weaver’s loom in the corner. Just how many different kinds of crafts was this man capable of creating?
We set out the alcohol we’d brought as a gift, then explained what I needed.
“I see... A sacred treasure, eh? I’d be glad to teach you. Hell, you’re one of God Almighty’s favored, so it’s not like it’ll take you long to pick up. Might take a month or two, though. Maybe three.”
Ho ho ho... Finally, an answer for the time frame. But...up to three months? That’s kind of a long time.
“Normally, it’d take a hundred years or so for a total newbie to figure it out. If you keep that in mind, I think you’ll find a couple of months is no time at all.”
A hundred?! Okay, you’re kinda selling it better...
I was basically a brand-new god, so in terms of status, I was still a small fry. But apparently in terms of divinity, I was actually on the same level as a tenured senior among the gods. That was all thanks to the fact that I had God Almighty’s blessing.
One’s divinity was a major factor in determining sacred treasure creation, so my extra divinity lessened the time severely. It kind of felt like I was cheating, to be honest...but I decided not to dwell on that.
“So, there are a few restrictions. You can’t make a sacred treasure that’s stronger than you. You can’t give a sacred treasure an ability you don’t have either. In short, a sacred treasure is an extension of you. It’s just a tool that lets humans use godlike power.”
Huh, really...? I thought I might be able to make a sacred treasure that tracked down the wicked devout, but I guess I can’t do that. Even if I could make something like that, it’d only be able to search about as well as I can... Mass-producing that kind of thing is definitely off the table.
“Now I’ll explain the next bit.”
“Thanks.”
Kraft popped open a bottle of booze and began to slowly pour it into a glass. I could only assume he’d crafted it himself. Suika needily waggled her empty cup, prompting him to pour some into hers as well.
...She really just came here to drink, huh?
“So, the first thing your sacred treasure needs is a vessel.”
“A vessel?”
“Something you pour your divinity into. Could be a sword, a ring, or a vase. Anything like that can be used as a base vessel.”
Okay, something to pour my divinity into... Noted.
“You’ve gotta pick the vessel while keeping the kind of ability you wanna give it in mind. If the ability you want it to have is, let’s say...super sharpness, then it makes sense to infuse that into a sword, right? Conversely, you wouldn’t wanna infuse that into a wooden bear statuette.”
“Uh-huh...”
...A super sharp wooden bear statuette? Would it shred your hands to bits if you picked it up?
“So if a wooden bear was the vessel, would an ability like, uh...warding be better?”
“That’s right. That fits much better. So in your case, you need to find a suitable vessel for whatever can prevent teleportation magic and whatnot. You could do that with a wooden bear statuette as your vessel, but it wouldn’t be ideal.”
Yeah, it doesn’t have to be that one specifically. It could be any other kind of object. If I had to use a statuette, I’d prefer a carving of a cute girl over a bear, anyway.
“You also need to consider whether the effect you want is actually based around stopping teleportation magic. If you ask me, it’s not likely that this fella’s actually using magic. If you go to all the trouble of making a sacred treasure, but it’s ineffective... Well, that’s just a useless item.”
That’s true. Like Doc Babylon said, it’s probably more a result of the wicked god’s power than magic.
Simply trapping the enemy would be enough, so perhaps infusing it with the ability to deploy a divinity-charged [Prison] was what I needed... After all, it wouldn’t be me wielding the sacred treasure, so I wouldn’t be breaking any rules. Clearly, I had a lot to think about.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login