In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 1

Chapter I: The Roadmarian Rhapsody 

“Amazing...! Moonbear liver can cure Permid’s Disease? A-And dried galara root is that potent of a salve?! Amazing!” 
“Is it to your liking, then?” 
“So much more than that! I can save so many lives with this knowledge! Thank you, Grand Duke!” Raul, Belfast’s royal physician, was looking over the medical journals I’d given him with stars in his eyes. 
I’d transcribed several important books from the Library into the common language, and decided to give them to relevant experts. And so, I’d brought several medical journals from the ancient civilization to Raul. It seemed like they had a lot of techniques and remedies that had been lost to history. I personally saw it as nothing more than gibberish, but it looked like Raul was seriously impressed. 
“Where did you find such incredible writing...?” 
“Ah, well. You know those dungeons I opened up in Brunhild? I found it in a treasure chest. Then I used magic to translate it, that’s all.” I kept my mouth shut about the truth, naturally. Couldn’t risk anyone finding out about the Library. 
I took a box of medicine out of [Storage] and passed it over to Raul. There was a lot of potent stuff inside, all made by Flora in the Alchemy Lab. 
“Oh, take this too. It’s made by Brunhild’s medical staff. The effects are on this note, too.” 
“Ah, thank you so much...” 
“Don’t worry about it, I’d be upset if Prince Yamato ended up sick.” This world had plenty of recovery magic, but infant mortality was still a real threat. That was because recovery magic cured injuries, rather than diseases. 
Doctors were needed for that. In the past I’d tried giving Raul a few items enchanted with [Recovery], but it didn’t do much for sickness. 
I tried curing Linze’s cold, but nothing happened. It didn’t help her menstrual cramps or motion sickness either. Plus, it didn’t seem to help people who were already passed out. I wondered about its effects on being hungover, but I hadn’t had a chance to test that. 
“Touya, thanks for waiting...” Yumina opened the door and came in. I’d taken her with me to Belfast Castle because she wanted to check on her little brother. We made a habit of stopping by once a week. 

I used the time to drop off some supplies with Raul. Didn’t need to waste any time, after all. 
“Don’t you want to see Yamato, Touya?” 
“Ah... I’m fine for today. Maybe next time.” I said I was fine, but in truth I just didn’t want to get caught by the King of Belfast. He’d talk to me for ages, and I’d end up having to sit around Prince Yamato for hours as well. 
In all honesty, he was a little bit of a reckless parent. After all, he allowed Yumina to be with me just like that. I wondered if that old coot would be a good father to a little baby like Yamato... That reminded me that I couldn’t remember the King’s precise age, anyway. I thought he was around forty, but I couldn’t remember so well. Still, I didn’t want to be caught by the King. Before I spent any more time pondering, I opened up a [Gate] back home to Brunhild. 
When I entered the castle, I was greeted by a flutter of wings. Kougyoku flew through the window. 
“Hm, Kougyoku? Something up?” She immediately perched on my shoulder. I wondered if something had happened. 
“Indeed. There appears to be a red Frame Gear on the western plains.” 
“Wait, what?” That could’ve only meant one thing. Ende’s Dragoon. Still, I had no idea why he’d be here. I checked on my map and immediately opened up a [Gate]. Just as I’d expected, the Dragon Knight stood there in the field. Ende was there perched on its shoulder. 
“Ende!” 
“Yo, Touya. Been a while, huh? I figured you’d eventually get here if I showed up.” Ende jumped down from the Dragoon’s shoulder, his scarf fluttering gently in the wind as he moved. That guy always was light on his feet... Kind of like a cat, actually. 
“What brings you here?” 
“Ah well, the Dragon Knight stopped working all of a sudden. I was wondering if you might have something to help with that, Touya.” 
Stopped working...? Oh, the Ether Liquid must’ve run dry. It does burn out pretty fast if you use it a lot, after all. Even if it’s not being used, it tends to wear out after about a month. It’s like a soda. Eventually it’s gonna lose carbonation regardless of whether or not you drink it. 
Still, he’s had it for way more than a month... Maybe he’s been storing it in that weird slide system of his. If it works anything like my [Storage], then time wouldn’t pass for anything inside. 
“Yeah, I can actually take this chance to remodel your Frame Gear if you’d like. That way it won’t have to run on Ether Liquid anymore. I’m sure you don’t wanna have to drop by Brunhild every time you need a top up on fuel, after all.” 
“I’d appreciate that, then.” 
“It’ll take about three days, is that fine?” 
“Works for me. I’ll take a look around your little duchy in the meantime.” 
Hmm... It’d be bad if he sticks around for too long. He’s a good ally, and he’s been invaluable in killing the Phrase, but... 
I don’t want him anywhere near the dungeon. He’ll just blast through and clear the whole thing! That’d result in a net loss for my country’s business. 
“Anyways, three days sounds good to me. I’m relieved, since fighting an Upper Construct with just my fleshy body would be a real pain...” 
“......Say what?” Excuse me? Upper Construct? There’s one incoming?! 
“Hey, what do you mean...?” 
“I just happened to come across a spatial distortion, that’s all. Given its state, I estimate it’ll open up between seven to ten days from now. It won’t be as many as that time in Yulong, though.” 
No, damn it! I’m not asking how many there’ll be! You said there’s an Upper Construct! Those things can wipe out cities in a single attack! 
“W-Wait a sec...! Just where is this distortion?” 
“Hm? Uh... east of here, I think? You got a map handy?” I fired up my map and displayed it in the air. Ende pointed out the location. 
“Right here. That might not be the exact location, but it’s the general area. If you’ve got any friends there, I’d advise that they get out while they can.” I looked at the place Ende pointed. Fortunately, I had no friends in that particular part of the world. 
“The Roadmare Union, huh...?” It was an allied state of seven city-states that existed east of Regulus. The area Ende had pointed at was just a little bit away from the capital city. 
That was bad news... Even if it wasn’t directly on the capital, the Upper Construct would be about as strong as the crocodile I’d fought in Yulong. If it decided to do a charged blast attack, we’d be completely screwed. 
This was bad. Really bad. It’d absolutely cause widespread destruction. I wanted to destroy it as quickly and efficiently as possible, but that’d involve getting myself in another nation’s business. 
I considered giving them an advanced warning, but there was also the chance they wouldn’t take me seriously. Then again, after what happened in Yulong I felt like they’d probably at least be able to hear me out about it. 
“...It’s definitely coming?” 
“Definitely.” He was pretty confident. The things Ende said had a habit of coming true eventually, so I had no reason to doubt him. 
For now I’ll go talk to the King of Roadmare... Oh, wait. Actually, I think they have a doge? Either way, I’ll go speak to him. 
I decided to ask the Emperor of Regulus to send a message... But then I remembered that Regulus and Roadmare weren’t on the best of terms. And so, I ended up finalizing on turning to the King of Lestia, or guildmaster Relisha. Both of them were quite well-connected. 
Relisha seemed like the optimal first choice out of the two. There was a guild in Roadmare, after all. With any luck, we’d be able to get an evacuation before things turned sour like in Yulong. 
If I told Relisha to spread the news, we’d at least be able to save local adventurers. 
Either way, there was no time to lose. I opened up a [Gate], sent the Dragoon to the Workshop, and then headed for the guild. 
As soon as I informed Relisha of what was going on, she set to work. She contacted the guildmaster in Roadmare, and from there attempted to arrange a meeting with their state doge. Apparently he was a guy called Volk Ragil. 
Thankfully, he agreed to meet us right away. The response was probably so fast since I was the head of a country, even if that country was small. 
I took the King of Belfast and the Emperor of Regulus with me in order to represent the east-west alliance. Everything seemed fine, but... 
“You’re not gonna evacuate?! But you saw what happened in Yulong, didn’t you?!” 
“Well, it’s not quite so simple. We’ll take refuge, of course. But it’s best to wait for the situation to arise and judge it there and then.” The man sat in front of me on a comfortable-looking chair. 
He had curled, chestnut hair. His face bore an expression that looked serious enough. His full beard helped accentuate his tone. 
He wore an expensive looking coat. It matched the gaudy nature of the rest of his outfit. 
This was Volk Ragil. He was the man that governed the central province of Roadmare, and acted as the doge of Roadmare on a whole. 
Even though I told him about the impending Phrase threat, he didn’t seem to budge an inch. He reeked of self-confidence. I understood that he’d been elected as the sole ruler from seven candidates, but he had no idea what he was dealing with here. 
“Let’s start with the basics... From where did this information come?” 
“I can’t tell you the details exactly, but uh... A guy... I know, an associate.” 
“An... associate? Is he trustworthy? I don’t wish to be rude, but a story like this is a tad difficult to simply swallow.” Ende was definitely a shady guy. But the fact remained that he was an enemy of the Phrase. I wasn’t sure if it was a situation where I could say “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” but I didn’t think he had any reason to be hostile toward us... 
“I’ll be honest. The other members of my council have mixed opinions. Some say evacuation is the smartest choice, whilst others say there’s simply no need. I’ve even had it suggested that we deal with the threat ourselves by force. We can’t simply make a unanimous decision right away.” Typical politicians. They’d deliberate and squabble until death showed up right at their door. The lives of their people were at stake and they were only concerned with agreements. Just as my irritation began to well up, the Emperor of Regulus spoke up. 
“You were saying you’d deal with the threat... but are you aware of how powerful the Phrase are?” 
“The crystal creatures you call the Phrase have appeared within our territory before, yes. We’ve managed to exterminate them here and there. We can defeat them if push comes to shove, I’m sure of it.” I had heard rumors of Phrase sightings in Roadmare, but never followed up on it. If it was really true that they’d developed some effective countermeasure to the Phrase, then that’d be okay. I just had no idea what it could be. 
“In fact... Let’s show you exactly how we’ve managed thus far. Right this way, please.” The doge smiled gently and guided us outside. Roadmare’s architecture was somewhat baroque, similar to the buildings in Russia’s St. Petersburg back in my old world. Roadmare’s culture seemed to be a combination of various smaller cultures, somewhat similar to the European culture that Peter the Great had established. 
The doge, along with his guards, escorted us to a plaza behind the palace. 
Then I saw what was standing there. I was taken by surprise, for sure. After all, I’d seen it before in another place. 
“A Wood Golem...” Twice as big as a Frame Gear, a Golem born of bark and shrubbery. It was far larger than an ordinary Golem. It looked almost identical to the ones employed by the Rivet Tribe back in the Sea of Trees. 
Though there was one notable difference. This Golem had sheets of metal fitted all over its body. It was like a giant armored warrior. 
“What is a Wood Golem doing here?! Is that not dangerous?!” 
“Fret not. This Golem is under our control. It won’t listen to anyone but us, I assure you. There’s no possible way this thing could run amok.” Knight Commander Gaspar cried out in astonishment, but the doge reassured him and slapped his hand against the Golem’s trunk. 
The King of Belfast looked up at the Golem with a troubled expression on his face. 
“Even so, this size... A standard Wood Golem shouldn’t even reach ten meters. What in the world caused this?” 
“It’s a process that makes it into a Behemoth. It’s thanks to selective breeding and special toxins. A tribe in the Sea of Trees perfected this method, I’ve seen it before.” 
“Oh my... Just as one would expect from the worldly grand duke of Brunhild... I see nothing gets past you, hm?” As I explained the situation to the King, someone called out to me. 
I turned around and found myself face to face with a small, fat man. He looked about forty. His glasses almost slipped off his face, prompting him to nervously adjust them. He had a receding hairline and honestly didn’t look very good at all. A stark contrast to the sheer confidence on his face. 
“...Doge, who is this man?” 
“Ah, this is Roadmare’s foremost expert on magical engineering, Doctor Edgar Bowman. Despite his young age, he’s quite the prodigy. He created the Golem you see here today.” 
...Young age? He doesn’t look it. 
“Sorry, I don’t mean to sound rude, but... how old are you, exactly?” 
“Me? I’ll be turning twenty four this year. Is that important?” 
Twenty four?! You’ve gotta be kidding me! I looked to the King and Emperor near me, and they looked completely caught off-guard by the doctor’s proclamation. That was the natural response! 
“If we’re talking about this fellow’s base, you’re right. He’s a similar type to the Wood Golems developed by that tribe. I acquired their methods through black market connections, then I built on them using my own techniques. We’ve outfitted them with enchanted mithril sheets. What enchantments, you might ask? Fire resistance! To top it all off, we fitted the saplings with subordination collars, ensuring that obedience is quite literally grown into them! The core is typically a weak spot, but fret not! We’ve carefully nurtured these to have extra defensive layers, as well. Even better, they can regenerate! And they’re so low-maintenance that mass production is a trivial matter. There are dozens of Golems being outfitted with armor as we speak. If those Phrase things happen to land in Roadmare, then they’ll be swiftly taken care of, I can assure you. Any questions?” 
This Bowman guy is pissing me off... What’s with that smug attitude? You should’ve shut up minutes ago! I had a major problem with people who kept going on and on about stuff, regardless of whether or not they had a reason to be proud. 
Still, my suspicions were confirmed, they were the same Golems used by the Rivet tribe. I didn’t know how they fell into this guy’s hands exactly, but it seemed like I’d left behind something troubling. 
With great power came great stupidity, it seemed. Even if this thing had been modified, I questioned whether it’d actually be able to hold up against a Phrase in combat. 
It might have made a decent match for a Lesser Construct, but anything higher than that? No way. A Wood Golem wouldn’t be able to avoid the beam attacks used by stronger constructs like the Manta Phrase. 
“You mentioned magical engineering... Does that mean you work with artifacts?” 
“I do, I do! I’ve based most of my work on the legacy of ancient Partheno. I’m actually blessed to have a book by a famous inventor named Deborah Elks. I’ve learned much from her writing. It’s what made these Golems possible as well.” 
“Deborah Elks, huh...” She was the craftswoman who had created the dragon-controlling needle used by that Dragon King guy. If I recalled properly, Doctor Babylon said her work was mediocre. But I couldn’t ignore that this Bowman guy had been creating stuff based on her writings. 
“I’ve actually been wondering if these giant warriors of yours are Professor Elks’ creation as well. After all, she was a true genius. Rarely does such a grand creation come about without prodigal intervention.” 
“Nope, not her. My Frame Gears are based on the work of Doctor Regina Babylon.” 
“Doctor... Babylon? I’ve never heard that name before. Is she recorded in any books?” 
“Ah... W-Well, I’ll just keep that to myself for now.” Bowman looked at me with a small frown. I almost let too much slip. It seemed like he was an avid fan of the shoddy professor. 
“Well, Doge... Are these Golems truly capable of defending against a Phrase invasion? I witnessed the Yulong massacre with my own eyes. I would not want hubris to lead to Roadmare’s collapse.” The Emperor raised a concern, to which the doge of Roadmare grunted in annoyance. However, the one to speak up in indignation ended up being Bowman. 
“How very dare you? Emperor, these Golems are the fruits of my labor. Who are you to suggest they cannot stand against the Phrase hordes? Forgive me if this is rude, but it seems to me you’re simply incapable of understanding just how mighty they are. They exceed even the power of Brunhild’s giant warriors, I’ll have you know...” 
“You little...!” Gaspar instinctively brought his hand to his scabbard, but the Emperor shot him a look that caused him to calm down. The doge was quick to step in and diffuse the tension. 
“Mister Bowman, please hold your tongue in esteemed company. My apologies. His tone was inexcusable, Emperor. However, I would like to raise my own matter of concern. Is there something wrong with these Golems?” His tone was kind, but his eyes seemed like they had a goading manner to them. That reminded me, Roadmare and Regulus historically held bad blood between them. It was said that Roadmare was established when multiple territories declared independence from Regulus. That happened around two-hundred years before I arrived in this world. They probably held some animosity toward one another as a result. 
“How shall I put this, dear doge... I wonder if your wooden puppets will truly be up to scratch when it comes to protecting your people. They’re not being piloted by anyone, after all. They lack the human touch.” 
“Aha... Then you mean to say Brunhild’s giant warriors are superior to my Golems?” 
Huh? W-Wait a minute... Don’t you get hostile too, Emperor! I can understand where you’re coming from, but still... 
The Bowman guy seemed to be impossibly smug when it came to his Golems. He didn’t seem to have much social sense, either. He was glaring right at the Emperor of Regulus. He had to be stupid. Nobody in their right mind would look at a monarch like that. 
Gaspar was staring at him with intensity in his eyes. Naturally he wouldn’t forgive him for speaking to his leader that way. The Roadmare guardsmen were silently staring at the Regulus guardsmen. The atmosphere had suddenly gotten a whole lot more tense. It was all that Golem freak’s fault! He couldn’t read the atmosphere at all. 
He probably had his ego massaged every day by the people of Roadmare, which meant he had an inflated sense of importance. 
In all honesty, this guy was far from a genius. He’d just taken the Golems from the Rivet Tribe and the collars from Sandora, then mixed in a few other things. You could barely call it his own work, since he just cobbled together a bunch of other ideas. 
“Touya, my lad. Here’s a thought... Why don’t we show them the power of the Frame Gears?” 
“...You think that’s a good idea?” The King of Belfast muttered toward me, keeping a keen eye on the two sets of tense guards. I replied in turn. 
“Can’t really be worse than what’s happening now. It’d be better to fix their naive understanding of the Phrase, no?” He raised a fair point. They were definitely sure of their Golem’s strength, but there’d no doubt be fatalities if they ended up taking that route. 
I decided I’d teach them once and for all just how pathetic their secret weapon truly was. 
“[Gate].” I opened up a portal, allowing my most basic of Frame Gears, a Chevalier, to fall through. 
It landed in the plaza with a noisy thud. 
The sudden appearance of the “giant warrior” caused the Roadmarians to look on in shock. 
“This is a Chevalier. It’s the type of Frame Gear that I mass produce. It’s the weakest Frame Gear in my country, and the only positive it has over other Frame Gears is how easy it is to control.” 
“What...” All the Roadmarians looked up at it. The Wood Golem was definitely larger, but that was about it. Either way, from appearances alone it did seem like the Golems could punch a Frame Gear into the stratosphere. I wondered if they felt the same. I noticed Bowman grin slightly out of the corner of my eye. What’s so funny? 
“I propose a mock battle between my Frame Gear and your Golem. We’ll accept that as proof of the Golem’s capabilities in combating the Phrase menace. Is that fair, Doge?” 
“Goodness me... I don’t mind at all! What about you, Mister Bowman?” 
“Most interesting... Yes, I’d quite like to see a Frame Gear in action. I approve.” Bowman sneered slightly as he adjusted his glasses. Then, before walking away, he whispered to the guardsmen. 
The mock battle was scheduled for ten minutes later. Bowman and the doge spoke quietly while I turned to Nikola. 
“Alright, let’s prepare... Are you good to pilot, Nikola?” 
“That I am. More than good, in fact.” Vice-Commander Nikola had come along as my escort, and I had full confidence in his ability to win. As I was thinking about the details, I heard a sudden voice. 
“Grand Duke, might I have the honor of piloting the Chevalier?” 
“Gaspar?” Knight Commander Gaspar walked over to me. His eyes had a piercing level of intimidation behind them. 
“A mere puppet could never make a mockery of me. On the pride of my Emperor, I swear it to you. I will win.” The other knights of Regulus were looking my way as well. It seemed that they couldn’t stomach how Bowman had disrespected their leader. 
I glanced to the Emperor of Regulus, and he gave me a little nod of affirmation. Gaspar was pretty damn strong, so I had no issues with letting him pilot. It wasn’t like the pilot actually had to be from Brunhild or anything. Plus, he was from an allied state, so it was more about the power of the Frame Gear itself than my country. 
“Sounds fine to me. If you think you can, go for it. You want a spear?” 
“Aye. I’d appreciate it.” I opened up another portal to the Hangar, and a Frame Gear-sized spear came out. 
I took the initiative and told Gaspar the location of the Wood Golem’s core, and also gave him a basic rundown on its strengths and weaknesses. It seemed fair, given that he’d be fighting a souped-up version of the ones you’d find in the wild. 
The time came to begin. I looked over at Bowman, and he had a shit-eating grin on his face as he watched Gaspar board the Frame Gear. 
I made sure to keep an eye on his face. The moment it shifted to a look of despair would be priceless. 
 
“What is this?! What the hell is this?!” Bowman was sweating bullets as he screamed. All he could do was watch as the Chevalier nimbly evaded all of the Golem’s attacks and slowly shaved away at the creature’s arms. 
The Frame Gear managed to slice faster than the Golem could regenerate its lost biomass, cleaving the left forearm right off. 
The Golem was terrible. It was slow. It was dumb. It had considerably less strength than I expected it to have. In some ways it actually felt like its natural strength had been reduced due to the modifications. 
The Golem glowed a faint red about the throat as its regeneration speed increased a bit. It didn’t take long for both arms to fully restore themselves, but it couldn’t regrow the armor plating, so it was considerably more vulnerable. 
It started to lash out again with its reformed arms, but it couldn’t lay a single strike on the Chevalier. 
“Guh! H-Hit it! Just land a hit...!” 
“Hm? Think that’ll make a difference? Heh, let’s see, then.” 
“Wha—?!” As I smirked over at Bowman, the Chevalier was promptly smacked by the Wood Golem. But it wasn’t as he would’ve have wanted. 
The Chevalier tanked the hit and brought its spear up, piercing the throat of the Golem. Gaspar had cleverly ascertained the location of the core thanks to the red glow earlier, and the spear was more than strong enough to break through. 
The Golem’s core was annihilated, making the lumbering beast fall to the ground with a thud. It crumbled to pieces, sending flakes of dying bark scattering around the area. 
Bowman fell to his knees in shock, unable to process what was happening. 
“I-Impossible... M-My masterpiece...” A masterpiece, he called it. I was really glad we’d held this mock battle. One of those Golems would be ripped to shreds in seconds if it went all-in against the Phrase. It’d lose to a swarm of Lesser Constructs easily, and anything higher than that would be able to take it one-on-one without a hitch. 
“Doge. A single Intermediate Phrase is strong enough to give multiple Chevaliers a hard time. There’ll also be countless numbers of them, and I haven’t even mentioned the Upper Constructs which have an even more obscene amount of strength. Those things will soon be making landfall in Roadmare. For the sake of your people, I’d suggest a mass evacuation.” 
“G-Goodness... I-I’ll discuss it with the other heads of state... We’ll let you know our decision once we’ve reached it.” 
“We look forward to hearing from you, Doge.” Bowman was glaring at the floor in shock, and the Doge seemed pretty surprised too. We turned from them and walked over to Gaspar. 
“Perhaps I overdid it a tad...” 
“No, you did well. The citizens’ lives were at stake. We can’t have them take it too lightly. They had better reconsider the evacuation now.” An evacuation was necessary, but it wouldn’t be simple. There was even the chance that the citizens wouldn’t believe the news. Plus, they’d have to leave their life-long homes. 
Obviously we’d aim to keep collateral damage to a minimum, but if a town ended up becoming a battlefield then it likely wouldn’t survive the fallout. Intermediate and Upper Constructs would cause considerable damage with their beam attacks, too. 
Phrase wouldn’t specifically target deserted towns, but they’d definitely end up trampling any buildings that ended up in their way. Their wild march would mean the end of any buildings on their warpath. 
It wasn’t just houses, either. Stores, fields, and other sources of livelihood would be devastated. It was easy enough to tell someone they should be thankful for getting away with their life, but they’d still be throwing away everything they’d built. 
I transferred the Frame Gear back to the Hangar, then started thinking that we should probably take our leave when two women approached us. 
One of them was a gray-haired woman who looked to be about forty years old. She wore a shawl and seemed fairly serene. The other was a tall, knightly woman with brown hair. She looked about twenty. 
“A pleasure to meet you. Grand Duke of Brunhild, Emperor of Regulus, and King of Belfast, allow me to introduce myself. I am the governor of the Roadmare Union’s Highland State, Audrey Leliban. And this is the commander of the highland knights, Limit Limitex.” 
“...Uh, hi...” I was so caught off-guard that my reply ended up coming off as less than sincere. 
Highland... That’s one of the seven states that make up Roadmare, I think. If she’s the governor there, then that means she’s actually pretty important! 
“I’ve come to ask something of you, if possible. May I borrow your ear for a time?” 
“Uh, sure! Yeah. What’s up?” 
“I would like for you to tell me precisely where these Phrase will appear. And then I would like to know their anticipated movements.” I projected my map in the air to show Audrey. The two of them seemed surprised at the sudden display, but I ignored that. I pointed out the location Ende had shown me earlier. 
“Right here. It might not be this precise area, but the Phrase should pop out around here in a week or so.” 
“Oh goodness...” 
“Lady Governor...!” 
Hm? Something funny about the map? What’s going on? 
“...Forgive my sudden shock. It’s true this area is located in the central state, but it’s particularly close to the highlands. Grand Duke, if the Phrase appear here, what will they do?” 
“Well, that’s simple enough. The Phrase hunt down any intelligent creature with a heartbeat. If they appear here, they’ll go straight for any nearby populated areas. So... they’ll probably head here first.” I zoomed the map out to show more of Roadmare. The Phrase would emerge in the central state, but the nearest village was actually within the highlands. In other words, her territory would come under fire first. 
“Ah... Here. Rimroad town. They’ll likely head right there.” 
“Just as we’d suspected...” Audrey let out a deep sigh. That was only natural. Her people were going to be attacked if nothing was done. 
“And if we evacuate the citizens of Rimroad? Will that change the Phrase’s course?” 
“In that case the Phrase will head straight for Emynas in the highlands, or Recept in the central state. I can’t be certain though, since the marker here isn’t completely precise.” 
“I see... And your alliance intends to fight the emerging Phrase? What is it you’re looking for, exactly? What will it cost?” 
“It’ll cost nothing. I’m not interested in asking you people for stuff. If we don’t do all we can, then the world will collapse in a similar manner to the ancient civilizations of yore. We didn’t manage to save Yulong, but this time we have the edge of foresight. I’d like to reduce damage to an absolute minimum this time.” I nodded firmly as I spoke to Governor Audrey. I didn’t want to invade Roadmare, or ask them for anything. They really had no option but to believe my intentions were benign. 
If the Phrase rampaged here, there’d be nothing left after a while. If I didn’t care about the people or the world, I’d have kept quiet. After all, it was the business of another nation. However, I couldn’t just sit by while so many perished. 
I decided that if Roadmare’s government didn’t call for an evacuation, then I’d at least give the citizens the choice by telling them the truth. They’d be able to choose whether or not they stayed or left. It could well result in mass panic, but I had to at least give them a fighting chance. 
I wasn’t about to let selfish governmental decisions result in the deaths of innocents. 
“...Very well, then. The highlands will independently evacuate. I don’t have permission from the doge yet, but we will leave even if he says not to. I will also freely allow your alliance access to our land for this battle. That is the decision I’ve come to.” 
“Lady Governor... Is that really okay? Depending on the doge’s choice, you may end up rebelling against him.” Limit seemed nervous as she spoke to Audrey. She had a right to be, since Audrey’s proposition would have her opposing Roadmare’s government. A deed like that could end up having long term consequences. 
“If we delay, we won’t be able to arrange an evacuation in time. We can’t sit around any longer and wait. The doge will make his decision, but it won’t affect our course of action. I will take full responsibility.” 
“Oh, hold on. If you give me your permission to try something, I think I could evacuate you all really fast. I can use my transportation magic...” I came up with an idea. I’d open up a [Gate] and let the citizens spend a couple of days in a safe space. And then... 
“Well... I could probably move every town.” 
“What?!” The King of Belfast, the Emperor of Regulus, and the governor of the Roadmare Highlands all yelled out in surprise. 
I’d never tried a large-scale portal before. The biggest thing I’d ever moved was the castle that Ripple lived in. 
Instead of transporting the town directly, I’d transport the town and the terrain it was on. Otherwise I’d have to move the buildings somewhere with identical ground. 
It was a matter of precarious balance. A bowl of soup on a tray is fine, but if you suddenly move that tray halfway off the edge of a stair, it’d flip over easily. I just needed to move the town to a safe place and maintain the balance properly. It’d be bad if I moved the town along with the people and something went wrong, though. I decided to just have them evacuate for the meantime. After that I’d move the town to a safe location if possible, but I didn’t want to get their hopes up. 
Plus, the Phrase’s path would change if the humans in the area were relocated, so I might not even have to move some places. 
Either way, the primary focus was to make the place uninhabited. If just one stubborn person stayed behind, the Phrase would lock on to his heartbeat and damage the town. It was important that people understood that. 
“Moving people forcibly won’t be an issue if it comes down to it. Just how big is this battle expected to be?” 
“Smaller than the battle at Yulong, at least... It shouldn’t be as devastating, either. I’m just glad we managed to talk to you guys before the invasion ended up happening.” There weren’t any excuses for failure this time. We had time to prepare. No point in squandering it. 
I decided to have Audrey talk to her citizens in the meantime. I could easily transfer them last-minute, but it would be better to have them out of the way sooner rather than later. Then it would only be a matter of me using magic to sense people in the vicinity, and we’d be golden. 
All we needed to do after that was continue producing new Frame Gears. We’d only be able to create Elze’s Frame Gear and repair Ende’s Dragoon before the battle, though. 
If a flying Phrase showed up like the manta, I’d have no choice but to bring it down. It meant that, once again, I wouldn’t be fighting in a Frame Gear. That totally sucked! I started thinking about making a flying Frame Gear or something. 
Maybe I could create one that can fly with a pack or something... One that can swap out parts to deal with various situations. 
Well, I won’t be able to make one in time for the upcoming fight anyway, but I can at least ask Rosetta about the idea. 
 
We returned from Roadmare and immediately began a meeting of the allied nations. 
Even though we’d settled on a rough outline of what was going on in Roadmare, we still needed to run it by the other leaders. 
“Has Lestia gotten used to using the Frame Unit simulations yet?” 
“We have. I can safely say that all of our knights can use the simulation with a degree of proficiency. Whether or not they’ll manage in real combat remains to be seen, however.” The newly-crowned King of Lestia gave me a little smile as he replied. Just as it was last time, I believed that once a person had a degree of control over a Frame Unit, they were capable of operating a Frame Gear properly. 
Either way, our alliance consisted of eight nations. Brunhild, Belfast, Regulus, Refreese, Mismede, Ramissh, Lihnea, and Lestia. 
The Frame Gears I’d be supplying to them wouldn’t be new models, since that honor was currently only held by Elze, but I had confidence we’d be able to make do. 
“Similar to last time, I’ll be lending out twenty Frame Gears to each nation. Each will have two Knight Barons and eighteen Chevaliers. Make sure you’ve selected your commanders and pilots properly beforehand. Brunhild will have sixty Frame Gears, making two-hundred in total.” It was about ten units less than the Yulong invasion. I was still confident we’d be able to manage with that amount. The only worry on my mind was what kind of Upper Construct would show up. It’d be extremely bad if an airborne one showed up... I had no choice but to pray for good fortune. 
“Still... first Yulong, now Roadmare. The situation’s slowly becoming more troubling, if you ask me.” The beastking brought his fingers together as he heaved a sigh. He leaned back in his seat, but I could sense the anxiety. It was an anxiety present in every leader in the vicinity. They were all wondering just when the Phrase would appear in their homes as well. 
“Hey, Touya... Is there not some kind of device that could predict when future Phrase invasions will occur?” The Emperor of Refreese spoke up. He had a point to be concerned. Even if I gave Frame Gears to every nation, it’d be too late to deal with the crisis without knowing well in advance where they’d appear. That being said, there was no way I could just give out Frame Gears recklessly. 
“Will the fellow who told you about the invasion to begin with continue aiding us?” 
“Hmph... It’s a little difficult to say. He’s a bit of a wanderer. He’s not against us, but he’s not really an ally either.” 
“I... see...” It’d be bad if we became dependent on Ende. I wondered if there was some kind of detection artifact in the storehouse. I decided to check later. 
“Have we heard anything from Roadmare recently, then?” 
“We still haven’t received their formal permission, no. The governor of the highlands has given me her tentative permission to act in her area, but that’s it. In a worst-case scenario, us intruding on the central province might be seen as an act of aggression or war.” 
“It’s entirely possible that they want that, you know? If we go in and clear it up, they could formally state that they could’ve handled it themselves and we were recklessly intruding on their affairs.” 
“I doubt they’ll do something so brash or stupid. If we left them alone, they’d suffer terrible damage. Still, if they keep stalling, then the Phrase will end up appearing regardless...” It ultimately came down to whether or not they believed us. I’d be happy if it was just senseless prattling from Ende, but that’d also cause trouble because I went in completely confident that the Phrase were coming. If other nations lost their confidence in Brunhild, that’d be a major issue. 
I wouldn’t be too bothered if people just called me a liar, but it would hardly end there. 
After the meeting was adjourned, I headed to the Silver Moon to meet Ende. I took him over toward the western plains to see his newly-renovated Dragoon. 
“Whoa! You changed the color, too? Red was pretty sweet, but I totally love this...” His new Dragoon had been changed from bright red to a calm black and white. 
In truth, I’d actually taken the chance to change the color because Elze’s new Frame Gear was red, and I didn’t want them to get mixed up. 
Plus, this one matched Ende’s image a lot more... Though the two-tone coloring kind of made me think of an emergency service vehicle. I recalled an anime with a police mecha with a similar coloration, actually... 
“You no longer need to refuel it, since it’ll take magic directly from you. If you leave it for a few days, it’ll stay stable by taking in magic from the air. Last of all, nobody but you has permission to pilot it, so it simply won’t function with another in control.” 
“I already said I’m not sharing, don’t worry. I really like this thing, anyway.” It wasn’t like I didn’t trust him. I understood loving giant robots. I’d also attached proper comms equipment to his Frame Gear, meaning as long as he was within range I’d be able to radio for him. Then again, if he kept the Dragoon inside one of his glass slide storage devices, it wouldn’t mean much. 
“Oh, by the way, do you have any more of that voice stuff you let me use during the last invasion?” 
“Well, I do have some left, but... I can’t just go handing them out all the time.” 
“Oh, I see...” I’d hoped to use the same strategy I’d used back in Yulong, but it seemed like he was being extra-generous back then. I was disappointed, but I understood. 
“Oh, another thing. How come you can predict when the Phrase are coming, Ende? Is there some kind of telltale sign?” 
“Kinda. It was mostly good luck this time, honestly. First, I can sense the subtle warps in space. Then, I can use my senses to determine how many days it’ll take until the warping becomes cracking, and then an opening. After that, there’s the ‘Noise.’ Every Phrase resonates on a unique wavelength so they can tell each other apart. The sound crosses the boundary of space, so I can hear it from this side. Using that, I can tell how many are waiting, and what types as well. To a certain extent, anyway. Even though I called it a noise, humans can’t hear it.” 
A warp in space and a wavelength, huh...? If we can get a tool to detect these things, then we might be able to make proper predictions. But still, if humans can’t hear it and he can... just what does that make Ende...? 
As I mused to myself, Ende boarded his Dragoon and got ready to speed off. 
“Well, I’ve a few things to attend to. I’ll come back in a few days to help with the Phrase. Later, Touya.” 
“Got it. Thanks a lot, Ende.” The hatch closed and the Dragoon switched to high-speed mode. Dust was kicked up behind it as it zoomed away. 
“Now... All I have to do is set up countermeasures against the Upper Construct. I wonder if I can do something about the laser beam... The last one had one, so I assume this one will too.” Even if there’s a magic that can be used against it, I really hope I don’t have to stand in front of a blast like that... 
[Shield] and [Absorb] had too narrow a range to be effective, and I didn’t even know if the beam attack was magic-based to begin with. 
I headed off to the Library in search of more Null spells. I found a few books on the subject, but they were all unbelievably thick. I couldn’t afford to waste too much time sitting around with books, so I skimmed the pages and memorized a few choice selections. 
Null Magic existed five-thousand years ago, after all. That meant there was an insane amount of spells to cover. Especially since there were stupid minor spells that could do stuff like make people feel itchy or make drinks taste slightly worse than they did before. 
That being said, it was all in how you used the magic. [Slip] could be considered a basic prank spell, but I’d used it very effectively. 
I ended up holing up in the Library for about half a day. I wasn’t sure if the spells I’d found would prove useful, so I simply had to wait and see. As I did that, Fam just read books at her own leisure. It wouldn’t have hurt her to try and help me out a little! 
I left the Library and went over to see Monica and Rosetta at the Workshop. The minibots were scuttling around and working hard as ever. 
I peeked into the garage to find a skeletal Frame Gear base being lifted around by a crane hook. Rosetta and Monica both seemed concerned about something. 
“Something wrong, you two?” 
“It’s Lady Elze’s Frame Gear, sir! Its primary weapons are fists for efficient CQC, but...” 
“It’s like, totally boring and stuff to just punch and punch... I am of the humble opinion that a special, flashier attack may be in order.” 
Hm... Monica has a point. Elze’s Frame Gear is built for fistfights, but that’s a little dull. I do agree that attacking a little flashier, maybe crushing the foe in one hit before moving on to the next, could be a little more up Elze’s alley in terms of fighting style. 
“Crushing a Phrase in one hit is fine, sir! But you need to follow that strike up with a second to obliterate the core, yes sir!” 
“Yeah, like... If a sword or spear is being used you can totally just do all that in one hit, and stuff.” I understood what they were saying. Weapons like hammers can take out enemies in a single strike. They had more diversity than fists. We needed a way to take out the core of the enemy in a single blow. 
“Well, sir! If you’ll see my proposition here, I think it could be possible to launch something alongside the fist to target the core, sir!” Rosetta threw out her fist in a punching motion as she spoke. 
“So we could maybe install something like a spear into the forearm?” 
“I am of the humble opinion that would be a good idea. But wouldn’t it like, get in the way during regular punches and stuff? We should totally make it retractable or something.” Hmm... A spear you can store in the arm and then shoot out at will...? Oh, wait... I know! 
I pulled out my Smartphone and searched online. Yeah... This is the one, I think. I projected the image into the air. 
“Here. A pile bunker.” 
“Wow, that’s huge, sir! What is it, though?” Neither Rosetta nor Monica could read my native language, so I gave a rough summary while cutting out some details. They wouldn’t understand if I spoke about anime or games from my old world, after all. 
“So it’s a weapon that shoots out a sharpened point at high speeds...?” 
“Yeah. Elze can break the main armor with her punch, then hit the vital point using the pile bunker. Do you think we could make a compact version and fit it on to the wrists?” 
“This is most curious... We like, don’t have enough gunpowder for it to be reusable, so we’d have to rely on magic to operate it and stuff... It’ll totally cover the back of the hand as well as the wrist. But if we like, make it out of Phrasium or whatever, it’ll be super duper strong. I believe it may be somewhat difficult to construct.” I didn’t really mind it covering the wrist and hand, since it’d be mostly crystal anyway. Plus, we wouldn’t be wasting any resources. It’d be way better than using Phrasium for bullets or projectiles that we couldn’t recover. 
“Still, sir! This is a pretty crazy weapon! Where’d you get the idea?” 
“Ah, well... Don’t worry about it...” 
“Tsk...” I hadn’t actually told anyone that I was from another world. Her Holiness the Pope and Phyllis knew about God Almighty, but nothing beyond that. 
I also had to weigh whether or not people would believe me. I began thinking that I probably should’ve told Yumina, Elze, and the others... Probably the Babylon Gynoids, too. 
Hmph... Even aside from my fiancees and the Babylon girls, there are a few people who should know. I should probably organize a sit-down and tell them the truth soon. 
“Alright! We’re gonna totally make this pile bunker thing and stuff! Gather round, peeps!” Monica started barking orders to the various minibots. They listened to her explanation and gave little nods every now and then. 
“This weapon’s gonna be savage as heck, sir!” 
“Sounds fine by me. After all, the pile bunker is just another part of the manly dream.” 
“Manly...? Lady Elze is a woman, sir!” 
Gah! Damn it... That’s true. Thus, Elze’s Crimson Frame Gear was finally born. I named it Gerhilde, after one of the Valkyries of Norse myth. 
 
“How’s it feel?” 
“It’s a little unbalanced, but it’s not doing much to hinder movement. It’s way easier to move than the Black Knight.” Elze was piloting Gerhilde, her new Frame Gear. 
Gerhilde’s armor was coated in Phrasium. I decided against making the entire Frame Gear out of the stuff, because she would’ve been inside a transparent mecha, and it would’ve been hard for her allies to see her. I tried to paint over it before, but it was awkward and didn’t really work well with [Modeling] either. The paint just kinda meshed with the material and looked gross. [Modeling] was a transformation spell, not a fusing one, after all. Though I felt like it might’ve worked better if the paint was made out of the same material as the base. 
Either way, Gerhilde was a multi-layered armored titan. Its deep crimson was clearly visible beneath the Phrasium sheen on top of the base armor. 
“Haaah!” Gerhilde smashed a huge rock cliff, crumbling it to pieces in an instant. At the same time, the pile bunker flew out from just above the wrist, shattering it further. 
Right after smashing one of the loose rocks, the pile bunker neatly slid back into its holster. 
“Yup, pile bunker’s good too. It shoots out wherever I aim. I could probably trash an intermediate construct in one go with this thing.” A certain phrase popped up in my mind as I looked at Gerhilde. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. This was a Frame Gear designed for instant kills. Gerhilde was a force to be reckoned with for sure. Naturally, it was far beyond even the Knight Barons when it came to speed and power. 
“[Boost]!” Magic overflowed from the seams of Gerhilde’s multi-layer armor, appearing like a red light. It almost looked like a big crimson aircraft getting ready for takeoff. 
Gerhilde was imbued with fortification magic and got even faster. It hastily obliterated what remained of the rocky wall. 
“Well? How’s it handle?” 
“It’s taking up a ton of my magic and stamina... Probably because it’s coating the whole thing, not just me. It might be hard to use a lot of magic in here.” Overall, it seemed like it was performing up to my projected standards. Elze deactivated her spell, and Gerhilde’s red light faded. 
“Master, sir! I’ve finished gathering data.” Rosetta called my line. She’d been monitoring the situation from Babylon. The whole point of this trial run was to gather data on Gerhilde. So now, all that was left was to make a few last minute adjustments. 
“Alright, all done. Thanks a million, Elze.” Gerhilde’s hatch opened up and Elze popped out. 
“There we go, Elze. Yours is the first of the new Frame Gears.” 
“Who are you making Frame Gears for next?” 
“First and foremost, I want to prioritize battle-oriented Frame Gears. Yae and Hilde are probably next. They’re both proficient with swords, and they have similar styles.” Yae excelled at offensive tactics, while Hilde really stood out with defensive play. Gerhilde ended up being pretty tricky to fine-tune, but those two wouldn’t be hard to make Frame Gears for at all. 
As I thought about what to design, a telepathic message came in from Kougyoku. 
My liege. We’ve a message from the governor of the highlands from Roadmare.? 
Oh? What’s up? Did the central province finally give us permission to deploy?? 
No, she needs our help. We’ve been informed that the central province is in turmoil. Various armored Wood Golems have been seen rampaging in the area...? 
Wait, what?!? Armored Golems? Like the ones made by that creepy Bowman guy...?! Why the hell are they rampaging?! More importantly, why today?! The Phrase are due to arrive en masse tomorrow! I frantically sent Gerhilde back up to the Hangar and headed back to my castle. 
I’d given a Gate Mirror to Audrey in case of emergencies, and I was certainly thankful for that decision at this point. Even if it only allowed letters through, it was still real-time communication. 
From what I’d been told, a number of Golems were rampaging in the central province. The reason behind the attack wasn’t known, though. 
“We need to get going, now. Elze, you feeling up to taking Gerhilde out for a real battle?” 
“Sounds good to me! The enemies are just armored versions of those chumps from the Pruning, right? Piece of cake.” She seemed confident, which was good to hear. Elze and I hurried toward the central province’s capital to get a closer look. 
“Oh lord...” The beautiful baroque-styled buildings were in pieces. People were running and screaming in all directions. 
There were fires all over the place, accompanied by black plumes of smoke. Several massive Golems were roaming around, swinging their fists at everything in their path. It was kind of like an old-fashioned monster movie in action. 
“Can’t you send them somewhere else?!” 
“Where else?! They’d wreak havoc no matter where I sent them!” I shot down Elze’s suggestion. Obviously I couldn’t send them to Brunhild. I could’ve sent them to the ocean, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t kill them. I didn’t want to lose track of any, either. A volcano wouldn’t be a bad idea, though. 
Regardless, I couldn’t let the rampage continue. I decided to send them to some nearby plains. I didn’t want the town getting any more trashed. 
I took out my smartphone to run a search. There were twelve in total. A full dozen of the bastards. I moved them all to the plains immediately. The Golems vanished in an instant, razing the city no more. 
That would buy us enough time, at least. It was a simple matter of going to the plains and smashing them to bits. 
“Your Highness! G-Grand Duke!” I turned around to address the sudden voice, and found Audrey running toward me down the palace steps. Limit, her knight, wasn’t far behind. 
“Governor, just what is happening here? Why are the Golems going nuts?” 
“We lost control of them. Doctor Bowman was frustrated that your Frame Gears were better than what he had, so he made some unauthorized and reckless modifications. But in doing so, he drove them berserk! They’re completely wild!” 
What the hell was that idiot thinking?! Holy hell, why did he do that?! 
“Where’s Bowman now?” 
“No one knows. The Doge is looking all over for him, but I fear he died during the initial outbreak.” I pulled out my smartphone map and looked for Bowman. Dead or alive didn’t matter much to me. A red pin fell down on the map, pointing out his location. I wondered where it was, exactly. 
“He’s right here. Seems he’s alive.” 
“Why this is... an old storehouse! What is he doing there...? G-Gah! For now... Limit, go and arrest him!” 
“Yes, ma’am!” Limit and her knights charged off in the direction of Bowman’s location. 
The Golems had vanished, which meant the city was calming down a little bit, but the fires were still raging. 
“Descend, O Water. Blessing of the Heavens: [Heavenly Rain]!” My magic called up to the sky and rain began to fall despite the lack of clouds up there. It was another ancient spell I’d learned in the Library. I cast [Shield] atop my head to act as a makeshift umbrella. With that, the fires would surely die out in no time. 
All of a sudden it started raining really heavily. I’d overdone it a bit! It was my first time using that spell, so I’d misjudged how much magic was required. By the time I’d stopped the rain, it was flooding in some areas. 
Oh geez... A-At least I managed to stop it in time! 
“Th-There you go... N-No more fire! Now all we need to do is recover the injured. I’ll go and take care of the Golems in the meantime.” 
“Ah... Y-Yes. Very well. Please be careful.” Governor Audrey waved us off as we headed to the plains. The group of Golems were there, already advancing toward civilization once again. They were stomping pretty loudly, too. 
I got a closer look and noticed there was something strange on their backs. I couldn’t really see it properly from the front, but it seemed plant-like... Like something had been fused to them. It was probably Bowman’s final modification. I opened up a [Gate] and summoned Gerhilde from the Hangar. The crimson Frame Gear set foot upon Roadmare’s territory with a terrifying thud. 
“You gonna be alright?” 
“No problem. This is just the right amount of enemies. I’ll turn them into splinters.” Elze grinned, ran up the Frame Gear’s side, popped open the hatch, and climbed into the cockpit. 
I’d installed an automatic eject magic in case of emergencies, so I wasn’t too worried. 
Gerhilde began spinning up. I could tell because of the whirring noise that filled the air. 
“Let’s kick some ass, Gerhilde!” Gerhilde turned toward a group off three Golems and, with a loud sputtering noise, engaged its thrusters. The backdraft kicked up a whole cloud of dust into the air. 
Hey! I’m here, y’know?! Blegh, it’s in my mouth! 
“Take this!” Gerhilde jumped into the air and pulled back its fist, sending a punch into one of the Golem’s throats. The pile bunker followed the strike up and obliterated the core. 
“One down!” Then, it spun around and violently kicked another Golem, splitting it into two pieces. The leg doubled back and annihilated the exposed core. 
The third Golem raised its arms and sprouted what looked like ivy vines, attempting to bind Gerhilde with them. In a flash, Gerhilde’s arms were both tied together. 
“Outta... my way!” Gerhilde forced its arms apart and yanked, pulling the massive Golem toward it, and then began swinging the creature around in the air. After a few swings, she let go, sending the Golem crashing into a crowd of its peers. Holy shit! 
“[Boost]!” A magical crimson flame engulfed Gerhilde, signifying its shift into high power mode. After that, it began splintering the Golems one after the other. Her pile bunkers drove one after the other into the Golem cores, causing their massive bodies to wither away in quick succession. 
...I made a good call with the pile bunker. I can understand why it’s so admired by manly mecha fans. It’s overwhelming everything head-on with sheer power! There’s no trickery, there’s no jokes! It’s just raw penetration, over and over again! 
“Die, die, die! Get crushed, trash! If you’re just gonna stand around, then you deserve it! Ahahaha!” 
Wow. She’s uh, really getting into it. 
It didn’t seem like there was anything those crystal stakes couldn’t break. Gerhilde was like a crimson goddess of death, exuding raw power on the field. The Golems rotted one after the other, becoming scraps of worthless wood. 
“Smaaash!” Gerhilde stood atop the mound of decaying wood, fist raised into the air. She’d done it. She was undefeated. 
We didn’t even get a chance to see what Bowman had added. Not that it mattered, since it was clearly a failure. 
Still, Gerhilde had exceeded all expectations. Without using its full power, too... 
This deadly Frame Gear would be a powerful boon indeed against the Upper Constructs. 
I looked up at the shining red robot with a smile on my face. Things were finally looking up. 
 
“I-It’s not my fault! It was just a series of unfortunate events! Th-That’s all!” We were all in the royal palace, watching Bowman sputter out his excuses. 
He had strengthened the Behemoths by attaching a modified species of parasitic plant to their backs. The parasites fed on the nutrients of the host and unlocked their latent potential in exchange. That was what I’d seen when I first saw the Golems on the plains. 
But as it turns out, the parasites were conscious. Conscious enough to usurp the minds of the Golems and override the control collars that had been imbued into them. It also rendered any conditioned commands useless. The Golems all went berserk as a result, resulting in the rampage. 
“Golems aside, those parasitic plants were highly experimental! You did something horrendously dangerous by forcibly modifying them and attaching them to the Golems. Not only that, but you deliberately ignored your own staff and went ahead anyway.” Knight Commander Limit flicked through various laboratory notes as she made her commentary. It seems they’d been seized from Bowman’s lab. 
“Goodness gracious... Did you not consider that this might come with risk? Do you even know how many you’ve victimized through your own thoughtlessness?!” 
“Now you listen here, Governor Audrey! The risk was calculated! It wasn’t highly likely to occur at all! I would’ve never expected them to take over the Golem’s minds! Nobody would’ve! This rampage was just an accident, a misjudgment. I certainly can’t be blamed for it! I didn’t destroy the city!” Bowman glared at Audrey as he spat his words out. It just felt like a bunch of excuses to me. He was one of the first to flee from the lab after all. Commander Limit found him cowering in the storehouse. 
“Did you even need to improve the Golems? Our official talks were converging on accepting Brunhild’s aid. We were set to announce it officially tomorrow. Why did you do something so reckless when our course of action was already settled?!” 
Oh, that’s good at least. According to Audrey, four of the seven provinces that made up the Roadmare Union agreed to cooperate with Brunhild. 
Roadmare was made up of the Central Province, the Highland Province, the Mountain Province, the Lakeside Province, the Riverside Province, the Great Plains Province, and the Forge Province. Of those, the highlands, mountains, lakeside, and forge were all in support of accepting Brunhild. Central and the great plains opposed it, while the riverside remained neutral. 
An official democratic vote of province representatives was to take place the following day... 
“Lady Audrey, I’m willing to bet it was because people started to doubt his Golems after Brunhild’s Frame Gear defeated one in combat. There were many that said our budget should be diverted elsewhere after that incident. He likely made a desperate attempt to strengthen his Golems in order to retain laboratory funding and also save himself from being publicly shamed.” As Limit spoke, Bowman keeled over and began to shudder in irritation, sorrow, or anger. 
That’s how it is, huh...? All that to prevent budget cuts? 
“Those Golems of yours were total trash, by the way. I took them all out by myself. Pathetic...” Elze sneered at Bowman, which made him look up at her. His expression was one of combined shock and grief. 
“Y-You... You defeated my enhanced Golems... a-alone...? B-But....” 
“You shouldn’t have attempted to employ something beyond your control. This is a serious crime, Doctor Bowman. You modified them for no good reason, which makes you accountable for their rampage. We’re revoking your degree and formally dismissing you from your post. We’ll also have you serve time in the Mountain Province’s mines. Is that acceptable, Doge?” 
“A-Ah... Y-Yes, of course... He must take responsibility, o-of course.” Audrey spoke sternly and confidently. In contrast, the Doge muttered and shook his head quietly. 
It was obvious why. The one who had given Bowman the power he wielded was the Doge, after all. In a way, he too was partially responsible for this mess. 
Bowman was taken away by a few knights. There had been victims during this tragedy, resulting in several deaths. They probably hadn’t executed him due to his prior services to the country. 
“Now then... Doge. Have the town of Recept evacuated. The situation is urgent, and the invasion should begin soon. Send your fastest messenger.” 
“W-Wait just a moment... What if we have them evacuate and nothing happens? What do you propose we do then, hm?” 
“Are you really still babbling on at this point...? If nothing happens, we’ll formally apologize and compensate them for time and effort wasted. Would you rather we left them there to be slaughtered? I don’t think that’d look very good either.” The Doge flinched slightly as Audrey reprimanded him. He did as she asked and sent his fastest horse toward the town. Quite rightly, I believed. 
“Grand Duke. Please oversee the evacuation of Rimroad, Emynas, and Recept. We’ll also permit the deployment of Brunhild’s Frame Gears within our territory. Isn’t that right, Doge?” 
“A-Ah... Y-Yes.” The Doge stood there nodding at everything Audrey told him. It was hard to tell who the actual leader was supposed to be. 
Either way, we were permitted to intercept the incoming Phrase invasion. 
“Thanks for your help. We’ll do our best to deal with what’s coming. We’re going to start deploying our Frame Gears around the area we expect the Phrase to emerge, then.” It was likely they’d start appearing in under a day, so I had to make haste. 
I returned to Brunhild castle and organized my troops. Knight Commander Lain and her Vice-Commanders Norn and Nikola would be leading nineteen troops each. That would make up three platoons of twenty, commanders included. They’d be stationed as sentries, taking shifts to keep watch on the area. 
Brunhild would be left mostly defenseless, but the old men and the remaining soldiers would be more than enough to take care of the place. 
I was lending eighteen Chevaliers and two Knight Barons to each of the allied nations. I had them waiting on standby in their own territories. I didn’t want a bunch of different nations sitting around in Roadmare’s territory during the waiting period, after all. 
My fiancees all said they wished to sortie in battle together, but I decided not to let Leen and Sue participate. 
I was uneasy about having Sue participate in such risky combat for no reason, and Leen had yet to master the basics of Frame Gear piloting. 
Elze would be piloting her Gerhilde, and everyone else would be in Knight Barons fitted with their respective weapons. Yae’s would have a Phrasium Katana, Hilde’s would have a Phrasium Sword, Lu’s would have two Phrasium Daggers, and Yumina and Linze both would be equipped with the long-range Fragarach weapons. 
I also asked Rosetta and Monica to sortie in the rear just in case of emergencies like minibots or Frame Gears getting trashed. 
“Sir! All the Frame Gears are equipped with crystal weaponry this time, sir! That puts us at a considerable tactical advantage!” There was a lot of crystal debris after the battle at Yulong. I expected this battle to be a lot cleaner. 
I took Brunhild’s Frame Gears with me through a portal and we came out by a forest that was a little bit away from where we expected the Phrase to emerge. 
There were plains as far as the eye could see, with a few mountains in the distance. Clouds blew by in a gentle breeze, and I could hear gentle birdsong. It was hard to believe this place would soon become a hellish battlefield. 
“Alright, this’ll be our HQ.” I smoothed the ground using magic, and teleported in a few mobile homes from Babylon’s Hangar. 
These buildings were imbued with a similar effect to my [Storage] spell, making them bigger on the inside. They were kept at an ambient temperature too, so they made a good place for the knights to relax. Plus, I’d prepared blankets and beds, so they’d have a place to rest if need be. 
I numbered the buildings, as well. Building 1 was for the meeting hall, and Building 2 was the cafeteria. I also called in a third building that women could freely use. 
So long as Roadmare was evacuated properly, then the citizens would find themselves heading right our way. Then we’d be able to keep them safe. 
We’d also be able to easily spot if the Phrase appeared thanks to the long-distance lenses on the Frame Gears. We were in a vast plain, so there were no obstacles to worry about. 
“Think they’ll come?” 
“I’d prefer it if they didn’t, honestly. But it’ll be awkward if they don’t... I’d have a lot of explaining to do.” I was playing a game of shogi with Nikola on the roof of one of the buildings. There was little else to do while we waited, after all. 
I opened up my map and saw that the evacuation was proceeding as planned. 
“Is Lady Moroha participating this time?” 
“Mm, well... Moroha can’t operate a Frame Gear at all. It’s beyond her, really. She’s only good with swords.” In truth, she just wasn’t all that interested in piloting them. I bet if she managed it, she’d be a serious asset, though... 
“Either way, she said she’d fight. I gave her a crystal sword, so we’ll see how it goes.” 
“She’ll... fight?” 
“Yep. Boots on the ground.” Nikola stared at me blankly for a few moments before shaking his head and muttering. 
“Well, I suppose anything’s possible for your family...” He spoke in a half-whisper, seemingly amused. 
She’s not my blood-related sister or anything... 
In truth, I wasn’t all that worried about the upcoming battle. We’d had time to prepare, and there wouldn’t be as many as there were in Yulong. 
I was nervous about the Upper Construct, though. If it was similar to the Crocodile Phrase we’d fought before, we’d probably be able to manage fine, but if it had a beam attack we’d be in serious trouble. I vividly recalled how it blew away Yulong’s capital despite being miles and miles away from it. I was pretty sure I had a good way to counter it, but I couldn’t be sure until it happened. 
I’d also collected the necessary materials for a Meteor Rain attack, since that helped greatly the last time. 
Still, it was an inaccurate attack that couldn’t tell friend from foe, and it ate up magic like crazy. It would also do serious damage to the ground. 
True, it made for a good pre-emptive strike against the initially emerging Phrase, but I wanted to avoid using it unless absolutely necessary. 
And so, we waited as almost an entire day passed. The evacuation had pretty much completed. I looked on my map and found no signs of human life in the nearby towns. It was just a waiting game at this point... Waiting for the invaders. 
Nothing happened on the second day, either. I really didn’t want them to show up in the middle of the night. They were hard to see in the dark due to the material their bodies were formed out of. As I pondered the best way to fight them in the cover of darkness, the third day came. 
As we were eating breakfast, we finally heard news from one of the watchmen. 
“There’s a crack in space! The Phrase are starting to emerge!” The warning rang out through the headquarters, and the sleeping soldiers got up to climb into their Frame Gears. 
There was still some time left. I used it wisely, hopping from portal to portal in order to inform each nation’s army of the emergence. Then, I brought them all back with me. 
There were a total of two-hundred Frame Gears all lined up, facing the crack. They were prepared to intercept. 
“Milord! It’s getting bigger!” I used [Long Sense] to peek at the crack, and sure enough I could see part of a crystal body poking its way out. 
A loud noise rang out, kind of like shattered glass, and Phrase began to pour out of the crack, almost like they were rolling down a slope. 
After a while they all tumbled out, and space returned to normal. 
“Most of them look like Lesser and Intermediate Constructs... Where’s the Upper?” 
“It takes a while for the Upper Constructs to pass through. It was the same last time, remember?” 
“Oh, yeah... That’s ri— Wah!” I was using [Long Sense], so I hadn’t noticed Ende standing next to me. This guy... He sure is good at popping up without warning. 
“It’ll take about thirty minutes until it gets here, I think. We should mop up these guys before then.” Ende split the slide in his hand, and his monochrome Dragoon appeared. He hastily boarded it. Man, this guy... 
“Search. Total number of Phrase.” 
“Searching... Eight-thousand-one-hundred-and-forty-one in total.” That meant there were around sixty percent of the amount in Yulong. “How many are Intermediate Constructs?” 
“Searching... Complete. Eight-hundred-and-nine.” So about ten percent of them... Just like last time. I wonder if there’s some kinda rule here... 
I summoned forth Valkyries and had them carry cameras to serve as a live feed. The rulers of each nation in the command center would know the situation of the battle thanks to that. I had the leaders of Roadmare’s provinces there as well. I didn’t want them blaming me for anything like in Yulong’s case. 
HQ was also equipped with spare Frame Gears, and Rosetta, Monica, Flora, and Leen were on standby too. The emergency escape magic also had HQ as the primary target. 
“Touya, they’re on the move.” I heard Yumina’s voice through the communicator. I’d set it so Elze’s Gerhilde and the Knight Barons all had a direct line with me. I’d found stuff in the storehouse that let me upgrade my comms, which was nice. 
I invoked [Long Sense] once more to check on the front lines. It was just as Yumina had told me, they were marching onward. 
Oh, there’s flying ones... Manta Phrase, and... Oh, that’s new. A dolphin...? No... It’s an Orca Phrase... Flying here, too. That’s definitely an Intermediate Class. 
“Alright, let’s get this started.” I opened up [Storage] and took out two greatswords. Naturally, I held one in each hand. 
“All units! The battle begins now! Follow your respective commanders! Let’s send these Phrase back to hell!” 
“HOO-AAAH!” The very earth rumbled as the Frame Gears charged toward their targets. 
I used [Fly] and went off to wipe out the flying ones. 
 
The Manta Phrase and Orca Phrase were approaching from the front. 
However, the Manta was moving a bit faster. It swerved, attempting to cleave at me with its body. 
I wasn’t going to be beaten that easily, though. I swerved to the side and cut it in half as I flew by. 
Suddenly, an orb of light appeared around the Orca Phrase’s head. Crap. 
After a couple of moments, it fired the orb at me. So it’s another ranged attacker... I slashed this one too, destroying its core as well. 
There were more Mantas and Orcas, though. They came at me one after the other. They were really easy to read, so I made short work of them. 
I wasn’t just confined to the ground, so I could attack and defend at all angles. 
I looked down at the battlefield and noticed that the fight had already begun. 
The northern area was being spearheaded by Elze, who was taking command of Brunhild and Lestia, while Mismede and Refreese were in the middle. Regulus, Lihnea, and Ramissh were in the south. I noticed Ende in the southern area, too. 
They were holding back the Phrase pretty efficiently. All their movements seemed much better than they were during the Yulong battle. Even the Lestian Knights were doing great, despite it being their first time. 
“Smash! Crash! Bash! Just try and take me, you brittle jackasses!” Elze’s Gerhilde smashed into an Intermediate Construct, firing a pile bunker to finish it off. Behind her, Brunhild’s knights were making swift work of the Lesser Constructs. 
The knights were wielding crystal weaponry. Hammers, swords, spears, and so on. It made fighting the Phrase a total breeze. I’d also enchanted them with [Gravity] to give them a bit more weight. 
They couldn’t just wildly swing, though. If they wanted to smash the cores, they needed to attack properly. The adept knights were outfitted with spears, while the knights who were less confident in their skills were given broader weapons like hammers and maces. 
“Huh, is that all the flying ones?” I couldn’t see any more Mantas or Orcas anywhere. There weren’t many flying ones at all. My work complete, I decided to head to the ground. 
Just as I decided that, I saw a Chevalier being attacked by two Lesser Constructs at once. Its right arm and left leg had been completely annihilated. 
It fell to the ground and changed color from light gray to a deeper gray... Looked kind of like going from a moon gray to a standard gray. That was the best way I could describe it. 
I’d made it so Frame Gears changed colors on successful activation of the emergency escape spell. That was all thanks to a new paint I’d created by using [Program]. It was a special paint imbued with Ether Liquid, allowing it to respond to the use of magic on the Frame Gear. 
I wanted to make a paint that got darker to highlight the effects of my [Gravity] spell, but it didn’t end up working out. 
[Gravity] was a spell that, contrary to its name, actually just controlled weight. I couldn’t use it to make things float, though. I had the [Levitation] spell for that. Still, my weight-altering magic made things lighter or heavier. 
All I ended up making was a paint that made things heavier or lighter. It didn’t have a lot of use. Or maybe it did...? I wasn’t sure, actually. 
Either way, I was getting off-track. 
“Come in, come in. Do you hear me, HQ? Did that pilot come in safely?” 
“Safe and sound, sir! Minor arm damage, but this maggot can suck it up!” The pilot was fine, then. That was a relief... Still, it seemed like he was from Lestia. It wasn’t all that surprising. They were the least prepared, after all. 
I saw three crystal blades floating around in the northern area, slicing through several Lesser Constructs. Their cores were all destroyed in the blink of an eye. 
Oh... Yumina! 
The Fragarachs roared across the battlefield, shattering core after core. They gracefully returned to Yumina’s Frame Gear after completing their tour of duty. 
Fragarachs were definitely hard to control. If they weren’t used right, they could harm your allies. Yumina had been training hard, though, so she was capable of handling three at once. 
Linze was a much more proficient mage than Yumina, so she masterfully let four of them fly around at will. She had some issues taking out distant enemies, though. 
Yae and Hilde were nearby, completely destroying an Intermediate Construct. And Lu was wildly swinging her twin blades against the Lesser Constructs. 
Seemed like I didn’t have a thing to worry about in the northern sector. 
In the south, the monochrome Dragoon was freely darting around and slashing Intermediate Constructs to pieces. Ende glided around like a figure skater, spinning and slicing at his own discretion. 
The Phrase continued to attack him over and over, but he didn’t pay them any mind at all. 
The Dragoon was built for mobility, so it didn’t have much of a focus on defense. That meant if even a single shot got through, it could be seriously bad news. Even so, Ende continued his reckless dance, not letting a single one of them land a shot on him. 
The southern area also seemed well-defended... 
Alright, what about the middle grounds... W-Wait a sec... The Phrase hordes in the middle were being mowed down one after the other as well. A single woman darted between them, a greatsword in her hands. She sliced Lesser and Intermediate Constructs like butter. Her power was insane, comparable to Ende or Elze’s efforts... And she wasn’t even in a Frame Gear. 
It was, of course, Moroha. She was wielding a crystal greatsword much like mine, and used it to its full strength. Her movements were intense, like a ferocious goddess... Or rather, she actually was a goddess. Just watching her felt overwhelming... I wondered if there was even a chance she’d lose. 

Hmph... I actually feel like I’m not really needed here... 
When I heard something breaking nearby, I turned to see a Chevalier lose its head. The Frame Gear’s color changed as it fell to the ground. He was attacked from behind because he was too focused on the enemy ahead. 
“All units, be mindful of your surroundings. Fight while covering each other. The Phrase want to kill us, remember? Try to buddy up and watch each other’s backs.” I spoke over the general channel. An attack would come regardless of direction. It was wiser to wait for the enemy to seek you out. 
“How many Phrase are left?” 
“Searching... Four-thousand-and-eighteen remaining.” My smartphone chimed as it spoke back to me. We’d beaten about half. Not bad, considering it had been around twenty minutes since the fight began. 
In order to kill all of them, each Frame Gear needed to kill about forty Phrase apiece. We’d already defeated half, so that was twenty enemies each in twenty minutes. This pace was pretty good... 
Given that it took us over three hours to take out the thirteen-thousand or so back in Yulong, we were making great time. The crystal weapons were clearly an excellent addition. Gerhilde, Ende, and Moroha were definitely major players in terms of numbers, though. 
Still, there was an Upper Construct due after thirty minutes, and twenty had gone by. I had wanted to kill all the Lesser Constructs before it emerged, but it seemed impossible. 
“Ah, Touya. You there?” 
“Ende? Something up?” 
“Upper Construct’s coming now. North-east. You should be able to see the warp in space.” I looked over to where Ende was talking about. 
Let’s see... It’s... there, right? 
I invoked [Long Sense] to check, and sure enough there was a ripple in the air. It almost looked like a mirage, like the very air itself was swaying in heat. 
That meant that cracks would appear in space not long after, and the Upper Construct would emerge. I decided it’d be a good idea to have the northern troops fall back a bit. 
“This is an order to all Brunhild and Lestian troops in the northern area. Move west from your current station. And here’s a message for everyone else. An Upper Construct will soon appear to the north-west in ten minutes. Be mindful.” In response to my command, the Frame Gears in the north began moving west. The deployment before kind of resembled an arc, but now it was more like a straight line. 
To an outsider it’d seem like they were being pushed back, but this was all part of the plan. The Upper Construct was a more valuable target, after all. 
After a while, I heard a cracking and splitting sound. 
Just as Ende had predicted, the crack began to form in space around the distortion. The Upper Construct was slowly forcing itself through, making the hole bigger. 
“The Upper Construct is beginning to emerge. Take care in your movements, troops. More than before, even. Keep in close contact with one another, and obey your commanders closely.” Ende and Elze moved closer upon hearing the time was nearing. 
The cracks in space were spreading even further. 
After a time, four thick crystal arms emerged from the hole in space. The Upper Construct began crawling out, attempting to break the “wall” before it. 
It was huge. Four times as large as a Frame Gear. It had four massive arms, two on either side of its body. It had short legs, causing it to constantly lean forwards in a hunch. It didn’t really have a neck, either. Its head was closely connected with its torso. There was also a single massive orange core in its chest. In short, it was... 
“A gorilla?” It resembled a mountain gorilla, except for a few details. Gorillas didn’t typically have four arms. Gorillas also lacked protrusions on their spines and elongated tails. 
I hadn’t seen any kind of Phrase that looked like this in the book from the Library, either. But I guess that was fair, since it’d be too easy if every Phrase type had been recorded there. 
As I stared at it, the Gorilla Phrase started beating its own chest with all four arms. It’s drumming its own body? It really is a gorilla! 
“Gh—?!” An impact rushed through my body and I was knocked over. It felt like I’d been smacked by something invisible, like a shockwave. 
I see. It’s kinda like the dorsal fin from the Crocodile Phrase in the last battle. So it beats on its chest to knock back enemies... Interesting. Wait, that means... 
“All units, spread out! Keep away from the Upper Construct’s front!” Both sets of the Gorilla Phrase’s arms spread outwards, and its chest slowly opened up almost like a door. It wasn’t long before light began to gather in its chest. Shit, I knew it! It’s gonna fire a laser beam like the Crocodile Phrase did back then! The Frame Gears had all dispersed, but the highland territory was in its direct line of fire. 
Damn it, I’m gonna have to use that... 
“[Reflection]!” I made use of a reflective spell I’d recently learned, deploying it right in front of the Gorilla Phrase. It took the form of a massive blue-white barrier angled around forty-five degrees in front of the beam. 
The blast of light hit the barrier, stopped, and shot off into the sky. The barrier shattered to pieces as well. 
Damn... It was strong enough to break a barrier that thick? The spell could’ve caused damage to the Gorilla Phrase if I’d angled it to mirror the attack right back, but that would’ve come with the risk of damaging Roadmare’s territory. Not to mention I had no proof that a Phrase could actually be harmed by its own attack. Knowing them, it’d just end up absorbing the beam and redistributing it somehow. 
Either way, it was a serious problem. It was definitely weaker than the crocodile, but that didn’t really do much to make me feel better. 
The Gorilla Phrase’s chest closed up once more, and it started beating its hands against itself. Then, it began charging toward the troops in the north-west. 
Goddammit, this guy’s a pain! The Gorilla Phrase raged forward with its mighty arms. Every time it brought its fists down, the earth was ruptured and split. Its power was immense, to say the least. 
“You’re mine! [Boost]!” Elze piloted Gerhilde and ran right up to the Gorilla Phrase, driving a magically-reinforced pile bunker into its side. 
The sound of cracking glass filled the area, and one of the beast’s right arms was shattered. That pile bunker is really something... 
“Haha! Did it!” Elze cheered, but the gorilla was quick to rise and beat its chest again. The resulting shockwave knocked her far away. 
“Gwaaah?!” Gerhilde successfully readjusted itself in mid-air and landed safely. 
The Gorilla Phrase paid no heed to its broken arm. Instead, it remained still as the core in its chest pulsed a bright orange. 
The annihilated arm was fast to recover, snapping and cracking back into place as it regenerated. In only a matter of seconds, the arm was back to its original form. That’s gonna be a problem... 
The gorilla flexed its new arm and attempted to bring it down on Gerhilde. Fortunately, Elze had invoked [Boost] just in time, and she strafed left and right to avoid its blows. 
“[Slip]!” I used my magic to make the giant gorilla lose its balance, giving Gerhilde just enough time to escape. 
Moroha suddenly appeared out of nowhere, thrusting her sword toward the chest of the fallen gorilla. That didn’t stop the enemy from being what it was, though. Even Moroha was limited in what she could do with a mere blade. It was nowhere near big enough to penetrate all the way through to the core. 
Just as I was thinking that, Moroha pulled out a second sword and stabbed the first sword with it, sending it deeper into the creature’s chest. It still wasn’t enough, however. 
“Hmph... Sheesh, even two aren’t enough? This guy’s thicker than I thought...” Moroha jumped back before the gorilla could swat her like a fly. 
I jumped down next to her. 
“Touya, this thing’s way tougher than me right now. I could smash it if I used my powers, but obviously that’s a no-no.” 
Wait, that means if you used your divine powers you could sort it out right away! Do that! Do that, damn it! 
“Mmm... I mean, I could go all-out, but everyone here would probably die alongside this guy, and the continent would probably get cut in half as well. That cool with you?” 
“Nope!” 
What the hell, can’t you adjust how much power you use?! That’s insane! Then again, it was probably like being asked to move an extra millimeter or two during a walk. It’d be way too easy for my sisters to overstep that because they weren’t used to walking along at a snail’s pace. 
“Also, if I use my divinity in this realm, then I probably won’t be able to maintain myself down here. I’d like to avoid that if possible.” 
“Bah, fine! You can go.” True strength comes from deploying the right person at the right time. Since both of my sisters don’t have flesh bodies like I do, they’ll be unable to keep themselves manifested if they blow through all their divine power... They’re made out of divine energy right now, so I shouldn’t be wasteful in making use of them. 
Plus, they’re not even allowed to use most of their powers down here anyway. Karen’s obviously fine with her love consultation and stuff like that, but if Moroha started going nuts with her overkill swordplay, then we’d have a big issue. There are a lot of rules in place, but I assume it’s for a good reason. 
A shrill screeching sound filled the air all of a sudden. The Gorilla Phrase was emitting the noise. All the protrusions along its back were vibrating intensely. 
What the hell?! In a flash, the ground around the gorilla began to distort. It was like bumps in a carpet. I picked up Moroha and flew back up into the air. 
It was almost like waves in the earth. Nearby Frame Gears were being jostled and bounced around. 
Some people had managed to minimize damage by jumping up in time, but a large amount of Frame Gears were immobilized, their colors changed. 
I didn’t know it could do this too! That’s cheating! Some of the Frame Gears that had managed to avoid the initial attack were crawling to safety, Elze’s Gerhilde was also fine. 
But the Gorilla Phrase wasn’t done. It followed up with a mighty tail whip. It had some kind of heavy weight on the end of its tail, and it used it to smash a lot of the Frame Gears in the area. 
It furiously lashed at the ground, hitting Frame Gears one after the other. The pilots seemed to have escaped since their mechs had changed color, but I couldn’t determine their safety. Even if they were dead, we still had to manage... 
The Gorilla Phrase moved to open its chest again. As it did so, the light began to gather around its core. 
Crap! Again?! Should I reflect the attack back at it...? No, I can’t! If there’s any collateral damage it’d be intense. 
I had no option but to reflect the attack skywards once more. 
“[Reflection]!” I created a reflective barrier in front of the gorilla again. Just as before, I angled it to forty-five degrees. 
But all of a sudden, the Gorilla Phrase crossed its arms over its chest. 
“What the—?!” The beam fired, blasting against the creature’s crystal arms. In a flash, the thick central beam split and refracted into several thinner blasts. 
Did it seriously scatter the light using its own body?! The smaller beams were less powerful, but the attack was still devastating. Various Frame Gears lost their colors around me, even though their cockpits were spared direct hits. It was insanity. 
Damn it... Guess we’ve got no choice. 
“All troops fall back! Clear some distance between you and the giant Phrase!” I used [Storage] to open up several pockets of space above the Gorilla Phrase, then released the contents. 
“[Meteor Rain]!” From the portals in the sky came a rain of softball-shaped Phrasium orbs. I’d used [Gravity] to amplify the weight of each, causing every one to weigh about a ton. 
The Upper Construct could only gaze upward in confusion as they crashed down upon it. 
Shoulders, back, waist. The Phrasium orbs pelted the creature and wound up lodged inside its body, cracking and penetrating it deeper with every second. I increased the weight by a further two tons for good measure. 
Eventually, the crystal rain subsided. The Gorilla Phrase had been brought to its knees, crawling weakly on all fours. Suddenly, however, it rolled over on to its back. 
What the...? Wait, no! The heavy Phrasium orbs lodged inside the creature’s body all rolled back out. The gorilla had used gravity to its advantage. I was amazed it could come up with such a tactic. 
Damn it! The cracks are regenerating, too! At that moment, a monochrome Dragoon came through at high speeds, jumping up from behind me and landing on the gorilla’s upturned chest. It stabbed the blade it was wielding directly into the crystal beast. 
But, just like when Moroha had tried, the blade couldn’t cut deep enough to reach the core. 
“[Char]!” Ende yelled something, and the gorilla’s chest shattered open in response. The Dragoon’s right arm also split apart at the same time. The Gorilla Phrase stood up and made an attempt to brush Ende away, but he deftly avoided it. 
Immediately following Ende’s retreat, a lightning-fast Frame Gear came up from behind him and charged toward the exposed core with its fist. 
“Single Smasher!!!” It was Elze in Gerhilde, launching a lethal pile bunker into the exposed core. 
The orange thing cracked and then shattered into numerous shards. In tandem, the entire gorilla body cracked, and then crumpled into an unrecognizable pile. 
“Woohoo!” 
“Ahaha... Good work....” Gerhilde raised its arm into the air, proudly standing over the gorilla’s remains. 
Geez... I didn’t even get to do that much. 
“The Upper Construct has fallen. Let’s begin mopping up the leftovers now. Take them out, one at a time.” I relayed the message to the other Frame Gears. There were only a few Lesser and Intermediate Constructs left, so work was almost over. 
“I’ll go help too, yeah? Lemme borrow some swords, Touya.” Moroha had used up all her weapons on the Gorilla Phrase, so I gave her two greatswords. 
She moved with grace and speed in equal measures as she darted off to the fight. 
As I saw her off, the Dragoon came up to me. The hatched popped open, and out jumped Ende. 
“My bad, Touya. The arm broke.” 
“No, you were a real lifesaver back there. I’ll fix the Dragoon for you, so come back and pick it up later... By the way, just what did you even do back there?” 
“I used a magical ‘sound,’ or at least a vibration. I was trying to focus it on one point, but the arm blew off as well. I misjudged how much power to use.” 
Huh, I see. Kinda like when I tried using the Knight Baron at full power. The Dragoon’s base was, after all, the same as the Knight Baron and Chevalier’s, it was probably a little weak for the full brunt of Ende’s strength. 
I should probably make him a new one from the ground up. It’d be a pain if it broke every time he did something like that, since he’ll have to come back to us and get it fixed. Might raise questions, since he doesn’t serve Brunhild. 
As I was thinking to myself, I looked over at the Dragoon and suddenly felt a strange sensation wash over me. 
What the... hell? 
“......I’m sorry, Touya. Things just got a little bit worse.” Ende moved up close to me, staring up at something in the sky all the while. 
What is that? 
“Hey... Don’t tell me another Upper Construct is gonna show up!” 
“It’s... not an Upper Construct. It’s so much worse. I’m sorry.” The sky itself seemed to shatter as a harrowing screech rang out through the land. 
In under a second, the “thing” emerged from the gaping hole, and gracefully landed on the ground. 
A crystal... person. A body covered all over in Phrasium, with the exception of its stomach. 
It had piercing red eyes. Its long “hair” crackled and made snapping noises. It looked like it was based on a female human, judging from its chest and body shape. The chest was completely covered in crystal as well, coating all the way along its shoulders and arms. It was around the same size as a regular woman. 
“What... What the hell is this?” 
“This is a Phrase beyond even the Upper Constructs... A Dominant Construct.” 
“A what?!” She looked around and, apparently picking up on my shock, looked right over at me and Ende. 
#om@e€h@......?e€nd#e!? 
“Damn it... For her of all Phrase to come through the barrier...” Ende smiled wryly as she began approaching him. All of a sudden she jumped into the air and brought her fist crashing toward him. 
Ende caught her fist with his right hand. The shockwave from the impact nearly bowled me over. 

Holy cow, she’s strong... Luckily Ende isn’t exactly normal, either. 
“Wh-What the hell?! Is this a friend of yours?!” 
“We know each other, but I wouldn’t exactly call us friends. I doubt she’ll let me escape, either.” She didn’t exactly look like she was happy to see him. The human features made it easier to read her feelings, and she looked seriously pissed off. 
#k?#is@m@$! ouwo?d?o k?o?hey+@t?t@?!? 
“I don’t know, I’m sorry.” I couldn’t understand a word she was saying, but Ende seemed to know enough to respond. 
The Phrase Woman struck Ende’s arm and jumped back, putting a good deal of distance between them. After a few seconds, she opened her mouth up wide. 
Particles of light began gathering around her open maw, combining together in a glittering orb. 
Oh crap, that’s not good! 
Moments later, she unleashed a devastating beam of energy toward Ende. I could tell even at a glance that it was far more powerful than the beams employed by the Upper Constructs. 
“Gh, [Reflection]!” I produced a reflective barrier in a frenzied panic. Due to the short notice, I didn’t have much finesse, and the beam ended up being reflected at an awkward angle. I watched as the beam vanished into the sky, after destroying a distant mountaintop. Naturally, the reflective barrier was annihilated as well. 
What... What the hell kinda strength is that?! 
Ever-adaptive, the Phrase Woman transformed her right arm into a blade and came charging forward. Ende deftly dodged her slashes and grabbed her by the wrists. 
“Sorry Touya, I’ve gotta bail. I’ll come back for my Dragoon later on, so I’d appreciate it if you patched her up. Thanks!” 
“Huh? What?!” Ende’s body began to evaporate into a fog as he kept a tight grip on the Phrase woman. After a short while, the two of them completely dispersed into mist, leaving me alone. 
I stood there on the abandoned battlefield, left completely in shock. I had no way of understanding just what it was I’d seen. 
 
In some ways, I am not a fortunate man. For it to have been her... one of the Sovereign’s most trusted aides. For it to have been her... a being that so truly despises me... 
Still, I am fortunate in this instance... Only in that I have managed to lead her out of the dimensional boundary. My dimensional warp has successfully brought the two of us to a gap between worlds. It’s not a power I can use excessively, though. It’ll take some time before I can return to the world I just abandoned. 
There’s really nothing at all within the space between dimensions. Nothing but her, as she glares. A grid-like pattern stretches out in the distance behind us, above us, below us, and in front of us. 
“I wondered why... I wondered why there were so many miserable little humans on the other side, you wretched cur! Was this your doing, Endymion?!” 
“Hey, don’t misunderstand me here. It’d be a pain if you guys ended up breaking through, so I’ve been killing the ones you sent. Still, the fact that a Dominant Construct like you made it through only means it’s already too late.” It was certainly no small feat for beings like the Phrase to cross worlds. I was worried they had found the right seam to tear in order to rip their way into the next world, and it seems that my fears were not unfounded. 
“Well, that matters not now. I have questions for you, scum. The Sovereign. Where is the Sovereign?!” 
“Like I told you last time, I don’t know. The Sovereign is surely somewhere in that world, though. But have you never stopped to consider that the one you seek might not want to see you?” 
“Hold your tongue, Endymion! If it weren’t for your interloping, our Sovereign would have never lost their sanity! You dare act self-righteous when you destabilized our world?!” Interloping... Of course. Her opinion of me was never high to begin with. But that’s simply a matter of opinion in the end. My role as observer doesn’t extend far beyond the act itself. Though I can’t deny the effects of what I did. 
“I’ll ask, just to be sure, but... I don’t suppose you plan on leaving this world alone?” 
“Don’t be a fool! We’ll never withdraw, not until we’ve rescued our Sovereign!” 
“Rescued, huh? Seems more like captured to me.” The girl, Ney... began to gnash her teeth in response to my words. 
“Don’t dare confuse my ambitions with those mongrel dogs! I don’t wish to seize the Sovereign’s power! I merely want the Sovereign back!” The Phrase all hunted the Sovereign. There were some among them that desired to become the new Sovereign, of course. Ney was different, however. She only wanted to reinstate the Sovereign to their original position. But she was still my enemy. 
“I would like to ask you to withdraw. I have a personal investment in this world. I even managed to meet an interesting person there.” Mochizuki Touya... A strange fellow indeed. I’m never able to get a proper read on him. He’s abnormal. He resembles a human, but he doesn’t smell like one at all. He lives in that world, but I can tell that he’s not from that world. I’ve never met an individual like him before. It’s possible he’s from some kind of mutated or divergent lineage. 
The people referred to as his ‘sisters’ were also abnormal, though slightly different. I was fairly sure they were the same species as him, though. Rarities across the cosmos. 
I sensed no hostility from him when we first met. He treated me kindly, and often meddled in affairs so he could save people. He was a man who often got a raw deal, but still worked for the sake of others. 
I want to introduce him to the Sovereign. If that’s possible, at least. 
“We will rescue the Sovereign even if we have to vivisect every last human in that world. Your feelings are irrelevant.” 
“I see... Are you sure? You may find yourself at odds with one more powerful than I.” That made her angry again, of course. Her anger was justified. I was the one that snatched their precious Sovereign away. 
It’s not as if we intended this to happen. We simply thought that the other Phrase would elect a new Sovereign and carry on with their lives. 
But they wanted power. They clung to the old strength, their traditions. They didn’t adapt or overcome. They desired to regain their old power, even if that meant following it across worlds and wiping out countless lives. 
As a result, they spread out across reality and became a great plague. They had no intention of stopping. The irony isn’t lost on me, of course. They’re doing what I do, just on a larger and more destructive scale. The only thing I can do in my selfishness is mitigate the damage they cause. 
The Sovereign slowly saps the energy of its host bit-by-bit. When the host dies, the Sovereign transports itself into another host. In most cases the host never realizes what’s inside them, and lives out their life without any worries. The Sovereign doesn’t harm the one they’re infesting, after all. 
After repeating that process several times, the Sovereign gains enough energy to cross dimensions and head toward the next world. The world ‘higher up’ than the previous one. 
When the host dies, the Sovereign’s ‘voice’ becomes audible for but a scant moment. Every time the sound resounds, the Sovereign climbs closer and closer up those stairs. As it changes host in this world, it slowly builds more power. 
“Do you think the miserable humans of that world have strength enough to oppose us?” 
“You saw them take out an Upper Construct, did you not?” 
“Hmph. I’m sure you had something to do with that. Once this accursed barrier falls, we’ll be sure to annihilate the entire species!” A clanging sound echoed out into the black as Ney struck the physical boundary of their world. 
We were both within the gap between worlds, but she was outside of the membrane, and I was inside. This girl and her allies... They aren’t capable of my ability, the power that allows one to shift between worlds with ease. They’re left with no choice but to look for loose seams and force their way through. 
It would buy us time, at least, but it was still an inevitability. Surely the other Dominant Constructs were searching for weak points as well. 
“I’ve offered you this chance before, Ney... But how about you just join m—” 
“Silence! I shall not be charmed by honeyed words! I’m not like Lycee!” 
“What a shame. She’d like to see you again, I’m sure.” 
“...Is Lycee safe?” 
“She is.” Lycee’s likely waiting for me to come back even as I’m having this conversation. Though I feel as though I’ll be late today. Still, she’s tough. I’m sure it’ll be fine. 
“...When next we meet, you won’t find me so merciful. Hold on to your pathetic life until then, scum.” With those words, Ney faded into the blackness. Goodness gracious me... She always was a hassle. 
It’ll take a considerable amount of time before my power returns. I won’t be able to get back to that world for a while... It’s why I wasn’t keen on using this ability. Either way, given the hostile nature of Ney’s encounter with me, it was the only thing I could do. 
Although... I have a feeling Touya may have done something to surprise me, like he usually does. It’s been so very long since I’ve smelled a person like him, after all. 
About five-thousand years, I think... He’s similar to that interesting woman who also managed to muster the impossible. 
Regina Babylon, I think her name was. 
 
That Dominant Construct or whatever vanished, but the fact that something like that existed was scary. I didn’t know we’d be facing something more powerful than an Upper Construct. Plus, it was the size of a human being, which meant fighting it in the Frame Gear wasn’t wise. 
Naturally, the incident was broadcast to the world leaders who were watching the battlefield, and they had dozens of questions for me. I didn’t have any answers, though. All I could say was that the creature was beyond the Gorilla Phrase in strength, and it appeared to have emotions. 
She spoke in an unusual tongue, but it felt like she was actively communicating with Ende. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. 
Either way, the battle was over and we’d already finished cleaning the place up. The damage to Roadmare was far less than the damage done to Yulong. Though, one of the mountaintops had been blown clear away. The battlefield itself was also a total wasteland thanks to the raw destructive power of that gorilla. 
Thankfully, we hadn’t taken any fatalities, but there were definitely a lot of injured. Most of the injuries had come from the earthquake triggered by the Upper Construct. The wounded soldiers had been sent straight to the HQ, where Sue and Leen patched them up with recovery magic. Flora also chipped in with medication. 
Even after all our preparation, it ended up like this. Still, we were very lucky to even know what was happening in the first place. 
Roadmare was saved. Though their capital city had incurred serious structural damage thanks to the Golem rampage. That didn’t really have anything to do with us, though. 
Bowman was forced to toil in the mines as punishment for his negligence. His sentence was a full ten years of hard labor. 
The Doge was also struck by several accusations of reckless endangerment and negligence for funding Bowman’s plan in the first place. 
Eventually he was stripped of his title, and a new member of the nobility stepped up to control the central province in his place. 
The one to succeed him as Doge of the Roadmare Union was none other than the diligent Governor Audrey. 
She was definitely cunning, and used us to her advantage. That didn’t make her a bad person, though. Just a shrewd one. 
Working with Audrey would be much better than that stupid old jerk. 
As her first act, she ceased all production and research on the Golems. That was only natural. They didn’t want another out-of-control Golem going wild. 
Also, after a discussion amongst their representatives, they all agreed to join the alliance. It seemed like the main reason for that decision was so they could borrow our Frame Gears in case of emergency, though. I decided to give them some Frame Units for practice. 
Cleaning up the mess in Roadmare was much easier thanks to the Frame Gears, but none of their knights were able to pilot them, so I decided to dispatch various knights to act as instructors. Nikola was among them. 
The city was gradually returning to its former glory thanks to the clean-up operation. 
Doge Audrey also started work on repairing the relations between Roadmare and Regulus, drafting up several agreeable deals in very little time. 
Naturally they wouldn’t be best friends right away, but it was a sure step in the right direction. 
Roadmare was between the nations of Ramissh, Regulus, Felsen, and Yulong. It traded with most of those locations via land routes. Well, used to. Yulong’s dissolution cut off that lifeline. 
That was why the agreement with Regulus was an unexpected godsend. Certainly good for the Union on a whole. 
“Master, sir! Requesting some of your time, sir!” 
“Huh?” Rosetta was in the middle of repairing Ende’s Dragoon in the Hangar, but she stopped me. More specifically, she was attaching a new arm to replace the one Ende had broken. We’d fit the new and improved Dragoon with a sturdier endoskeleton. The Dragoon was built for speed over of power, so it was no real surprise that it had broken so easily. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up happening again. 
Rosetta hopped down from the crane. 
“Something odd happened during the recent battle, sir!” 
“Huh? Like what?” During the day of the battle, I asked Rosetta and Monica to keep watch over the Frame Gears. 
They also had the jobs of observing and investigating the movements of the Phrase. They were basically our eyes in the sky. I definitely didn’t want to leave that to Parshe... Her clumsiness was lethal. 
“Well, sir! The numbered of injured soldiers amounted to thirty-six, yessir! However, there was a major discrepancy! You recovered thirty-five Frame Gears from the battlefield. That leaves one unit unaccounted for, sir!” 
“...For real?” That didn’t make any sense. I used [Storage] to pick up all the Frame Gear debris in the vicinity. The only way it could’ve gone missing was if it was already taken before I cleaned things up. 
“To be more specific, sir! We’re missing a head, a chest, a left forearm, and an entire right leg! All parts are from a Chevalier, sir!” 
“So it got stolen in the middle of battle or something?” 
“No, sir! I think it’s the opposite! I think after some destruction was done, someone gathered broken-off pieces!” Rosetta turned on a monitor in the garage. It was the aerial recording that showed the battle a few days ago. In terms of timeframe, it was just before the Upper Construct had appeared. I wondered what she was having me look at. 
“Look here, sir!” She paused the recording with the push of a button. There was a broken Frame Gear in the corner of the screen. 
She suddenly started the recording again, and the Frame Gear somehow moved itself off-screen. 
“...Huh? What’s with that?” 
“Let’s switch to magic-filtering vision, sir!” 
“Eh?” Rosetta pushed a button, and the overlay of the video changed. It showed the figures of various men carrying pieces of the Frame Gear away. They had a blue light around them. I couldn’t make the details out, but they looked like humans. It was possible they were demi-humans, but they didn’t have the telltale ears and tails that beastmen had. 
“Seems like they’re using some kind of disappearance spell or artifact, sir! They were caught by our magic-detecting overlays, though! See? You can see them right against the Frame Gear paint, sir!” Our Frame Gears were painted with magical paint, so the contrast made it easier to detect them through the special overlay. Still, I had no idea who these guys were supposed to be. 
They were hardly likely to be people from the alliance. I was already giving Frame Gears to them, after all. There’d be no point. 
It could’ve been a foreign country, though. The battle was known about for a few days. That meant someone could’ve snuck in to take advantage. 
“Geez... It’s like petty crooks stealing stuff from the scene of an apartment fire or something. Fine... Run search, broken Frame Gear parts.” 
“...Search Complete. Displaying.” My map was projected, but no pins fell down on to it. The broken pieces in Babylon obviously weren’t displayed due to the protective magical barrier around the floating islands, and since I’d specified broken parts there were no pins in Roadmare either, but still... I was expecting a few results. 
“Sir! It’s entirely possible they have a barrier that prevents magical detection! Possibly like the type we have installed here.” Well, that would make sense. But still, that meant tracking them wouldn’t be possible. 
“Would it be possible for them to make a Frame Gear out of the parts?” 
“No way, sir! The best they could do is crudely re-assemble a broken Chevalier, but they couldn’t mass produce it.” That seemed fine, then. They didn’t have the Ether Liquid, either. They lacked the technology to actually threaten me. 
“But it could become a problem if they apply the technology elsewhere, sir! There’s a chance they could produce an inferior version of the Frame Gear.” 
“Ugh... That sounds like a pain...” Monica, who was also fixing Ende’s Dragoon, sat atop its shoulder and spoke up. 
“Would it not be wise to inform each member of your alliance that it has been stolen? It’d like, totally be a big deal if a fake Chevalier went on a rampage and stuff! You’d totally get the blame!” She had a point. An imitation Chevalier wouldn’t be easy to operate without Ether Liquid, but I didn’t want to take any chances. 
Still... Frame Gear imitations. Some kind of inferior version of the tech... I had one of my patented strange feelings that something bad would come of this. 
“Still, sir! They’d never be able to make something better than our Frame Gears, so don’t worry about it at all!” 
“I know that, but I still feel a little funny just leaving it be...” It was too late to think about countermeasures, though. I should’ve installed a self-destruct or something. I remember this awesome mecha anime where the protagonist blew up the machine along with himself. I wondered if it was for the sake of style... Could’ve been for the sake of protecting his secrets, though. But who in their right mind would get on a mech that’d blow you up just like that... 
“Yae and Hilde’s Frame Gears are more important right now. Should I base it on the Frame Gear we made for Elze, sir?!” 
“Hm... Yeah, we don’t need to tweak much. Just make a general fighting type for Yae. It doesn’t need to be specialized too much otherwise. Hilde’s will be much the same.” 
“Sir yes sir! And who will we be making Frame Gears for after that?” 
“You’ll make one for meee!” I looked toward the Hangar’s entrance, finding Sue standing there. She was accompanied by Cesca, who had presumably brought her up. What a surprise. 
Sue then bolted toward me and did one of her famous hug-tackles. 
“Isn’t it time for me to have a Frame Gear?! Isn’t it! I’m tired of just playing in the Frame Unit, you know?!” She kept headbutting me in the stomach. Guh... A Frame Gear for Sue... 
I was a little concerned, to be honest. It wasn’t about her skills or anything. She’d actually been performing really well in the Frame Unit simulations. She had prodigal levels of skill when it came to handling it, so I had no doubts in my mind that she’d become a great pilot. 
But it was clear to me she viewed it all as a game. On the battlefield, you had to be prepared to take lives. I didn’t think she was ready for that. 
“C’mon Sue... you really wanna do dangerous stuff like that?” 
“Don’t be stupid! I am your fiancee, Touya! I’ll fight when I need to fight, I say! I’m no trophy wife to sit still and look pretty! I wanna protect the people I care about!” She glared at me with a serious gaze. Her determination was palpable. Probably because she’d grown up in a noble house... She really was incredible for her age. 
Maybe I’d been treating her too much like a child. 
“...Fine, then. We’ll work on your Frame Gear afterward. What kind did you have in mind?” 
“A strong one!” That was a little ambiguous. I decided to ask for a little more information. 
“I want a huge one! I want one that can totally trash the enemy like Gerhilde! And, oh! Like that one you showed me... The one that can combine and turn into a bigger one!” Oh... From that anime. 
“Then we can deploy rotating arms and rip out the Phrase cores, yeah! Oh, oh! Make a giant golden hammer for it as well!” 
Ah, geez... I guess that’s kinda familiar. Hmm... I’ll make it built for power, then. It’ll be good for offense and defense alike. But that’ll mean I have to sacrifice mobility. After that... It’s just a matter of using Fragarach tech for the weapons. What about combining and transforming, though... I don’t think I can do it without an AI or something. Maybe if other people pilot the other parts? Nah, that’s too much... 
“I think it’ll be fine, sir! I think there’s something that will suit her needs in the storehouse.” 
Really, now... Well, I guess if there was something that could bring a picture frame to life, an AI might not be entirely out of the question. If there’s something like that, I can use it to support Sue’s Frame Gear. 
“Hmm... Alright, I have a few ideas. I’ll get on it.” 
“Woohoo! Thanks, Touya! You’re the best husband ever!” Sue hugged me tight and puckered her lips, catching me with a kiss before I could tell what was happening. Then, she nuzzled her cheek up against mine. She’d definitely grown a little bit... 
Just as I quietly thought about her sudden maturity, Cesca turned to Sue and gave her a thumbs-up. Did you make her do that?! Don’t teach her weird things!