Chapter Three: The Start of the Festival
Prism Rider, Ray Starling
Following Tom and Kashimiya’s duel, we all went to dine at a place recommended by Chelsea, known for the huge amounts of good food it offered. The dinner doubled as B3’s welcoming party, and I’d obviously picked the place because it had enough food to sate Nemesis.
Needless to say, as the lucky better, I was the one to pay.
I happened to be the party’s leader, so I didn’t mind doing that much.
...Yeah, despite consistently being the lowest level among us, I somehow ended up being the leader. B3 also said that this seemed best to her, so her joining didn’t change that at all.
If you ignored the fact that Marie had yet to recover from the news regarding Elizabeth, the dinner-party was going quite well.
“Did you figure it out, Rook?” I asked.
“Well, I have a few theories, but I don’t have enough evidence to say anything conclusive.”
“Same as me, then. I think it has something to do with the change in the sheath’s color.”
“Yeah, that stood out for me, as well.”
We were currently discussing how Kashimiya was able to behead all eight Toms.
With Gideon being the Mecca of duels, most of the other customers were talking about the exact same thing. Some said it was a new skill he’d woven, others said it was a new MVP special reward, and some even entertained the idea that he might have finally evolved into a Superior.
Aside from that, they were discussing when Kashimiya would challenge Figaro, with the general consensus being that the day was swiftly approaching.
Kashimiya — Altar’s strongest PK — versus Figaro — Altar’s strongest solo player.
It was a matchup that would make any duel enthusiast salivate, and many thought that it would be an event that would match — or even surpass — The Clash of the Superiors.
I noticed B3 staring at the still surface of her cold fruit drink, deep in thought.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“No, it just... made me think a bit,” she said. “I have losses against both of them, after all.”
Oh, right. B3 had lost against Figaro at the Sauda Mountain Pass... in quite a gruesome way, too.
And she’d already told me that she’d fought against Kashimiya and lost against him, as well.
“As someone who fought them both, which one do you think would win?” Marie asked her, after seemingly recovering a bit.
B3 thought for a moment before answering. “Do you mean in a duel, or a battle where anything goes?”
“The latter.”
“Then it would be Figaro, I think. If it’s not a duel, he can avoid instadeath using the Brooch and extend the battle’s duration. Also, he has a clear advantage as a Superior who also has a Superior MVP special reward. Though, that might change if Kashimiya gets his hands on something that can close that divide.”
“Ohh... then there’s no way. He might evolve, but Superior special rewards are a different matter. Altar already had its SUBM with Gloria, and the only countries that haven’t had theirs are Dryfe, Legendaria, and Caldina. The kingdom shares a border with all three of them, but the SUBMs will probably be handled by the countries themselves. I mean, Dryfe has the Physical Apex, while Caldina has the Magical Apex and the other Superiors in Sefirot... Though, maybe he would have a chance of stealing the Legendarian SUBM. The superiors there are absolute freaks whose combat potential is actually pretty low.”
Granvaloa and Tenchi already had their SUBMs? I only knew about Altar’s Gloria and Huang He’s Suling.
“What kind of SUBMs appeared in Granvaloa and Tenchi?” I asked.
“The one in Granvaloa was ‘Biframe White Whale, Moby Dick Twin.’ It was a large, pale whale that functioned like a catamaran. Apparently, it was a real monster that could destroy large patches of area by transforming seawater into its ‘rigging’ and ‘outfit,’ and also use the same water to regenerate its body if damaged.”
...How the hell did Granvaloa, a maritime country, handle something like that? Talk about a bad matchup.
“Apparently, it was defeated by a combination of The Human Bomb blowing it up along with the entire ocean around it, all the firepower of the Granvaloan navy, and The Fatal Seal of the Four Seas.”
“‘Fatal Seal of the Four Seas’? I’ve heard of The Human Bomb, but that nickname is new to me.”
“‘Fatal Seal of the Four Seas,’ also known as King of Thieves, Zeta. She’s a long-time Superior from Granvaloa, but her Embryo’s powers aren’t clear yet. No one’s ever seen it, sort of like Figaro’s Embryo was at one point.”
A well-known Superior who was able to keep her hand hidden... that alone told me that she was no joke.
“Though, there are hints,” Marie continued.
“Like?”
“‘She walked on air,’ ‘she was completely unharmed by a rain of arrows in the desert,’ ‘she was suddenly standing right next to me. I could’ve sworn there was no one there,’ ‘she made blood burst out of her enemy,’ ‘she turned the wall into Swiss cheese,’ ‘she made a tank instantly evaporate.’ Information about her powers is plentiful and varied. Some of these were probably done with job skills and MVP special rewards, but because she does so many different things, it’s impossible to tell which are her Embryo abilities.”
Well, all those things certainly don’t seem like they can be covered by a single Embryo trai— Wait... I don’t know why, but I get the feeling I know something that actually can do just that...
“Speaking of The Fatal Seal of the Four Seas, she escaped Granvaloa after stealing a national treasure. That got her on their wanted list, and she’s more infamous than famous now.”
“On a wanted list for stealing a national treasure...” Rook muttered, looking as if he remembered something he didn’t want to. “She shares a crime with Gerbera.”
“Anyway, enough about her, let’s talk about SUBMs again,” said Marie. “You heard about Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria and Tetra-Beast of Creation, Suling from the people who faced them, yes?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. I heard about Gloria from Shu, and about Suling from Xunyu, and both of them seemed like extremely powerful creatures with multiple abilities — or bodies, in Suling’s case.
“After Suling, there was Penta-Phased Destroyer, Horobimaru in Tenchi.”
“Tenchi? Aren’t you from there? Did you encounter it?” I asked Marie.
“No. I left the country shortly before it appeared and was already wandering around Huang He when it did. Bad timing, eh? Though... from what I heard, I had no chance against it.”
Marie? A pre-Superior who actually defeated a Superior? Had no chance against it?
“Apparently, it was quite a... bizarre SUBM.”
“‘Bizarre’? From what I’ve heard, all of them are.”
“That’s just how bizarre it was. Horobimaru appeared in...”
Thus, Marie began talking about the strange... “nature” of the SUBM known as Horobimaru.
It happened right after the war between Altar and Dryfe:
A giant suit of samurai armor had washed ashore in a certain fishing village on the western side of the island country of Tenchi. It was nearly three metels tall, but there was no head — or even a body, for that matter — inside it.
At first, the villagers thought that a ship had wrecked nearby and the armor it had been carrying had just washed ashore. They didn’t know what to do with it, so they started by simply going to pick it up.
However, right before they did, the armor stood up.
And, despite lacking of a head, said the following:
“Who here craves my arms and armor?
Challenge me in combat.
I carry still a longbow, naginata, and this armor.
I am a Superior Unique Boss Monster.
Penta-Phased Destroyer, Horobimaru.”
“...The thing introduced itself?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It did. It also just stood in place, waiting for a challenger, and didn’t lay a finger on anyone who didn’t challenge it.”
Okay, yeah... that was definitely bizarre, even by SUBM standards.
“It didn’t even hurt the villagers that awakened it,” Marie added. “In fact, the village prospered, on account of all the demand for lodging and food from the challengers that gathered there.”
It even helped bring life to the place...? For something with “Destroyer” in its name, it seemed unusually noble.
“And, well, Tenchi is full of hotblooded tians and Masters, so it was challenged many times. Most of them were defeated, obviously, but King of Brigands, Bigman actually did win against it once.”
“First ‘thieves,’ now ‘brigands’... and just ‘once’?”
“Yes. He definitely destroyed it, but then the armor instantly reformed and gave Bigman the naginata it carried, saying ‘Well done. Victory is yours, and so is this weapon.’”
“It gave him its weapon?”
“Yes. While you have MVPs with normal UBM fights, Horobimaru apparently handed away its equipment every time it was defeated.” ...Again, it really was a bizarre UBM. How strange that it would just give away its equipment instead of having them become something adjusted for the individual.
“Also, anyone who received a weapon was unable to fight Horobimaru again. Apparently, they couldn’t damage it at all.”
Oh, so people weren’t allowed to get several items, then? That made sense, actually. If they were, then the same person who beat it the first time could go at it again and again, becoming stronger each time thanks to their ever-increasing rewards.
“But didn’t Horobimaru just become weaker as it handed its weapons away?” I asked.
“No,” Marie answered. “In fact, it became stronger with each piece of equipment it lost. When there was just the armor left, even Superiors lost against it over and over.”
“Now that’s something...”
Also, growing stronger as it loses equipment? What is it supposed to be, a UBM version of Figaro?
“The armor ended up staying on the shore where it washed up for about five months.”
“...That’s a long time for something like that to be alive.” It had countless Masters, Superiors included, challenging it day and night, yet it stayed there for months on end. That made it clear just how powerful it was.
And apparently, it was only defeated recently... about the time I first arrived here, actually.
“So, who ended up defeating it?” I asked Marie.
“Besides Bigman, I know that the one who got the longbow was The Gun, Sauer Urgaur ‘the Firestop.’ It’s still unknown who defeated the armor.”
Unknown? Was it defeated in secret? When nobody was watching?
“Because Horobimaru was so strange and gave its special rewards while it was still alive, neither Bigman nor Sauer received the message saying that it was defeated. It was clear that it was gone, though, so the Conquest General commemorated it with a hanami festival.”
“Ah. I think I read about that on the internet.”
So that was the occasion, huh? Well, there were no casualties, so the SUBM’s defeat was probably a good reason to hold a festival.
All in all, it was the polar opposite of what Gloria had done here in Altar.
Then again, from what I’d heard of Tenchi...
“A monster like Horobimaru, hanami events... Tenchi must be sooo peaceful,” said Babi, cutting my thought short. A heavy silence followed, and Marie and B3 had looks on them which clearly said “Hahaha — no.”
My Tenchi-dwelling college friends had told me enough about the country for me to share their sentiment.
“Anyway, those are the SUBMs that have been defeated so far,” Marie concluded.
“I see... Hm?” I muttered as a certain idea crossed my mind. She mentioned four SUBMs: Biframe White Whale, Tri-Zenith Dragon, Tetra-Beast of Creation, and Penta-Phased Destroyer.
All of the names had numeral prefixes.
“Hey, was there no ‘one’ monster?” I asked.
“Oh, you’re wondering about that, too, huh? People talk about it every now and then.”
So I wasn’t the only one who found it strange.
“But the thing is, we just don’t know. At the very least, there’s no info on anyone defeating such a monster. For all we know, an SUBM could’ve appeared in one of the countries that we think hasn’t had theirs yet, only to have been done away with in secret.”
Like Horobimaru’s final form, huh?
“It’s just as likely that number one is special and is being reserved for a later SUBM,” Rook commented. “Regardless, a Superior special reward bearing the power of ‘one’ will eventually see the light of day.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked him.
“For the number one being special? I just think that’s obvious. As for us eventually seeing the special reward... I just thought that someone might be keeping it as an ace up their sleeves to catch an opponent off-guard. They’re bound to use it eventually, though.”
“...I see.” If the “one” has already appeared and it had been in Dryfe, then the special reward could be deployed in the next war. It was a yet-unseen menace that I wasn’t sure was actually dangerous, but I still had a bad feeling about it, however slight.
“By the way, Marie... what were you doing while I was away?” With the SUBM talk ending, I asked Marie something that I’d been wondering about. I hadn’t gotten the chance to ask before today’s big duel, and she was an incoherent mess for most of the day after it. Rook clearly had his share of troubles while I was gone. Was Marie the same in that regard? She’d looked pretty tired when we met up.
“Oh, I was preparing for a certain project related to the festival tomorrow and the day after,” Marie answered.
“Festival?”
“Yes. The Love-Duel Festival. We’re planning a newspaper project for it, called ‘Ba-Thump! A Lovey-Dovey Couple Spawned! Kyahah!’”
...I have so much to say, but most importantly, you really don’t need that “Ba-Thump” and “Kyahah!.” Especially the latter.
“...First of all, what is the Love-Duel Festival?”
“It’s a festival commemorating the founding king’s duel with his wife here in Gideon. It happens here every year at about this time.”
Ohh...? I happen to personally know one of the founding king’s descendants... I’ll have to ask her for the details, I thought, thinking of Azurite.
“And... Why a project?” I asked.
“DIN is often seen as an info-broker, but it’s actually a newspaper press, you know?” Oh yeah — she’d mentioned that they also covered actual news and wrote lifehack articles.
“That’s why we sometimes do things like this, too. Alison from the planning department is very enthusiastic about this one. Even the twins at the top are into it.”
“Twins at the top?” I raised an eyebrow.
“The tians in charge of DIN. They’re twins of different genders and they look very young, but they’re from Legendaria, so it’s rumored that they’re actually very old.”
The leaders of the DIN and owners of all the info they have, eh? I wonder what they’re like...
“So, what kind of project is this ‘Ba-Thump Kyahah,’” asked Nemesis. Damn it, why would she shorten it to that?
“It’s basically a report in the style of a romantic comedy,” Marie answered. “During the Love-Duel Festival, we would have correspondents all over Gideon who would record lovey-dovey happenings in town. The editing department would choose their favorites, and our subscribers would then vote which one of those is the most lovey-dovey-est event of all.”
“...Isn’t that basically setting people up for public shaming?”
“Putting up the magic cameras and stuff was hard work.”
“Isn’t that a clear invasion of privacy?!”
Or is it okay here because we’re in a fantasy land? I wondered.
“...It is. That’s why the administration didn’t approve it. The cameras had to go, too...”
“Yeah, I figured it was no good...”
“Instead, we decided to just take reader-submitted photos... Though, The Kingdom People Times ended up copying our original project and they’re actually going through with it.”
“Why do so many people think that’s a good idea?!”
“Well, Gideon is all about the duels. You don’t get a wide variety of things to get excited about, so this is a breath of fresh air. And since it’s related to love, lots of people are actually planning to go on dates with their crushes and confess their feelings.”
“Oh, speaking of dates... I’m going on one with Kasumi tomorrow,” Rook said.
“Ohh...? Wait, you and Kasumi?! Since when were you two like that?!” I exclaimed.
“I had her help me with Gerbera and wanted to thank her somehow. She seemed interested in this festival, so I invited her.”
He invited a girl on a date... as a thank you? Goddamn, that’s impressive.
“Anyway, the town is bound to be full of couples starting tomorrow,” Marie concluded.
“I feel like I’ll have to avert my gaze constantly,” I muttered.
“It’s a beary big problem,” said Shu, who appeared out of nowhere and joined us. He spoke with bad puns, as usual, but I could tell that he was actually quite tense.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“I knew that you were coming back today, so I was looking fur ya right after I got done with something. I’d love to catch up with ya, but we gotta talk about a huge problem on our paws.”
“What problem, exactly?” asked Marie. “If it makes you worried, it must be something really big.”
“Hannya, the Hannya is coming... That’s more than enough to get the point across, right?”
Hannya the Hannya? What is that, some funky robot? I thought nonchalantly, but it was clearly no joke to Marie, who looked really tense.
B3 was also making a stern face.
If it was enough to shake both of these experienced players, then it had to be something really bad.
“...Wasn’t she in the gaol?” Marie asked.
“She was released recently. Her sentence was pretty short.”
“The timing couldn’t be worse,” Marie sighed as she placed her hands on her head in despair.
“Hey, what kind of person is this Hannya?” I asked.
“She’s a Superior. One who got on wanted lists and was sent to the gaol, at that,” Marie explained. “To be precise, she became a Superior after entering that place.”
The gaol was a place I’d heard of many times now, but I didn’t know much about what went on in there. All I really knew was that it was where King of Plagues and Gerbera went after the former was defeated by Marie and the latter by Shu and Rook.
Needless to say, this was my first time hearing that someone had actually gotten out of it.
“What got her on the wanted list?” I continued asking Marie.
“Destruction of personal property and inflicting bodily injury. That only got her a few years in the gaol... the real problem is her motivation.”
“Which would be?”
“...She indiscriminately attacked any Master couples she saw.”
“...Huh?”
Why would anyone ever do that? I wondered.
“The reasons behind that are profound... or shallow, depending on how you look at it,” Shu said. “It all began on Christmas of the year 2043, and escalated on Valentine’s day of 2044...”
And so, Shu told me about Miss Hannya’s motivation, as well as his and Figaro’s encounter with her.
Once he was done, I took a deep breath and said, “So, basically, Miss Hannya got NTR’d by someone from Dendro, so she started playing to get revenge by crushing her ex and his new girlfriend. She wandered around smashing every single Master couple that had the slightest chance of being them, and encountered you and Figaro while doing so. Thanks to the info you gave her, she did eventually get her revenge, but the crimes she committed landed her in the gaol. In addition to that, she fell in love with Figaro, who only cares about dueling her.”
“Yeah. Beary good job summing it up,” said Shu.
He was right — it really was hard to tell whether her reasons and history were shallow or profound. I could understand that it meant the world for Miss Hannya herself, but to a third party, this all wasn’t much more than something to joke about.
“Is she really all that dangerous, though?” I asked. “I mean, she did get her revenge. Shouldn’t she have stopped randomly attacking couples?”
“...No. She’s still dangerous,” B3 said with a serious expression. “I know bandit clan memb... Ahem, individuals in the gaol.”
Why am I not surprised that you have connections there?
“They said that there are several unwritten laws inside, and two of them are ‘don’t walk out in public as a couple’ and ‘don’t badmouth Figaro.’”
“...Hm?”
“Those who break those rules get crushed by giant legs.”
“...”
Hoo, boy. Miss Hannya not only hadn’t improved — she actually had more targets now. It wouldn’t be that bad if badmouthing Figaro was the only thing that could set her off, but if merely seeing a couple did that, too, then... ah.
“...Hold on a second,” I said. “Marie... what did you say tomorrow was?”
“The Love-Duel Festival...” Right. The day that would see loads of couples getting together, during which there would be a person walking around who indiscriminately crushed all pairs who merely looked the part...
“...What kind of dangerous combo is that?!”
“I would’ve done something ahead of time if it occurred to me earlier,” said Shu. “But I had my paws full with Gerbera and the other one, so the Love-Duel Fest completely slipped my mind.”
“A Superior that attacks all couples and a festival that creates tons of couples... That alone is extremely dangerous, but we also have the potential of that meathead Figaro setting her off like a bomb. This could be a repeat of Franklin’s Game... Gideon could be attacked by a Superior yet again...”
“Wouldn’t she be open to negotiation? I mean, unlike Franklin, she has nothing against Altar or Gideon, does she?” asked Rook. He had a point, but...
“Rook... When it comes to relationships, love, and marriage, people completely lose all self-control.”
“Umm... Ray, why do you look like you’ve been through hell? Your eyes are so empty that even I can’t tell what you’re thinking.”
“...Let’s just say that I’ve been to South America once.”
“South America?”
The Amazons, thirsty for a man... my sister, recklessly destroying the jungle... it all terrified me even now.
“...I think she’ll be fine with couples if she’s with Figaro,” said Shu. “At first, she was out for revenge, but once in the gaol, her motivation turned into jealousy. ‘How dare you flirt when I can’t even be with him’ and all that. She... paw-robably won’t care if she’s on a date or something with Figaro.”
“And what if Figaro himself sets her off?” I asked.
I could totally imagine him ruining everything by looking into the eyes of this lady who expects a “Let’s get married,” and instead saying “Let’s duel.”
“...”
Brother, please say something. Or would it be that bad that you have no words?
“Well, I did give Figgy a roundabout, but beary detailed, explanation,” Shu said.
“Why not be direct?” Marie asked.
“The shock from that might kill the kid in real life.”
That was... not actually an exaggeration. I’d learned about Figaro’s condition while chatting between our mock battles. He had a chronic heart disease that endangered his life if his BPM climbed too high. That was enough reason for Shu not to talk to him about Hannya too much.
“Well, Figgy won’t be on tomorrow, and Hannya’s offline, so if something happens, it’s gonna be the day after tomorrow. I’ll use tomorrow to pre-bear and take measures against it.”
“...Sounds like hard work.”
“Beary hard work, especially with the bomb we’re already working on...”
“Bomb?”
“It’s nothin’... By the way, is Xunyu here?”
“Yeah. Canglong is in Gideon, so she’s with him.”
“I see. It just hit me that if Hannya paw-sitively loses it, Xunyu could stop her by tearing out her heart with Tenaga-Ashinaga. If Figgy and I had to fight her fair and square, it’d probably take too long.”
That was a hell of a violent solution. And did he just say that he and Figaro would take too long to beat her? Was Hannya that powerful?
“Xunyu, though... Xunyu would be able to do something,” Shu concluded.
And the reply to that came... “I don’t really gEt it... But I’d likE it if ya didn’t expEct too much of me.”
“Xunyu?!” I exclaimed.
...from Xunyu herself. I hadn’t even noticed her enter, but... speak of the devil and all that.
“Xunyu, why would you come here at this hour...? Huh...?”
Behind her large frame, there was another, far smaller girl.
“Ellie?” Marie asked.
“Nnh... waahh! Marie!” the girl — Second Princess Elizabeth — cried as she rushed into Marie’s arms.
Something had clearly happened, and the girl explained it herself.
“Altimia said that I have to marry Canglong and go to Huang He! That’s why I ran away from home!”
...When it rains, it pours, huh?
The next morning arrived. After resting at an inn in Gideon for the first time in a while, I was woken up by fireworks going off outside. Not fully awake, I wondered what the occasion was, but I quickly remembered that it was the first day of the Love-Duel Festival.
I then recalled what I had to do today, so I hastily got out of bed, dressed, and left the inn.
After several dozen minutes of walking, I arrived at Count Gideon’s mansion — specifically, the guest house connected to it. This wasn’t my first time at the mansion. It was where I’d received the reward for my contributions during Franklin’s Game, and I’d gone through certain procedures at the nearby knight’s offices several times now.
However, this would be my first time entering the guest house. I wondered if it was okay for me to enter, and sure enough, I was greeted by a guard who stuck out his spear to me the moment I came close. “S-Such a terrifying appearance... A villain?!”
“No, wait!” the ninja next to him said. “Villainous as he may look, this is Master Ray the Unbreakable! My Reveal is max level, so that can’t be a mistake!”
“Ohh, that’s certainly his face. My apologies, Master Ray. Her Highness has given you permission to enter. Feel free to do so.”
And so, I was let into the guest house, where I was greeted by a royal knight who said he would show me the way to Her Highness’ room.
But man, what’s with that attitude? I don’t even have my mask or my hood on, I thought.
“I assume I’m allowed in because Azu—... I mean, Her Highness knew that I was coming?”
“Yes,” the knight said. “She said she was certain you would come the moment Lady Grandria and Gideon’s ninjas reported that Her Highness Elizabeth had run away to your group.”
So they already knew that much, huh? I thought.
After about three minutes of walking, we arrived at a door deep inside the guest house.
“Your Highness! Master Ray has arrived.”
“Show him in,” Azurite said from behind the door. The knight opened it and urged me inside.
Upon walking in, I saw Azurite sitting at a writing desk, just like she had been doing at the capital.
“Morning, Azurite.”
“You too, Ray... So it’s already morning, huh?”
That was when I noticed the slight bags under her eyes.
“You pulled an all-nighter?” I asked.
“I do have lots to do, after all. I might be away from Altea, but I still have to take care of the more urgent matters.”
Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she just couldn’t sleep last night, so she decided to just lose herself in work.
“You came to discuss my sister, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“She started crying and ran away because I delivered the order very harshly.” When Elizabeth ran to us, she’d been crying her eyes out because Azurite had ordered her to marry into Huang He’s ruling bloodline, while keeping up her usual frosty attitude.
That was the reason she’d run away from home and was now staying at DIN along with Marie. Xunyu was watching over her, too, and we called Liliana over as well. She’d tried to bring Elizabeth back, but the girl was adamant about staying where she was, so Liliana had decided to just stay by her side.
We had then discussed what to do next, and it was decided that, come morning, I would talk about it with Azurite herself, like I was doing right now. I thought that Liliana, whom Azurite had known for a long time, would’ve been the better person for this, but she herself claimed that she was bound by her role as a knight serving the royal family. Eventually they concluded that I, as Azurite’s friend and equal, was the better pick.
Oh yeah, Marie tried to “talk” to Azurite right away, but it seemed like she was seeing red, so we all had to hold her back. It even got to the point that she used The Art of Vanishing. Man, was that dangerous.
“So, did you come to denounce me as an awful woman who sells out her sister to foreigners?” Azurite said.
“...That depends on how you answer my questions.”
“About what?”
“The marriage between Altar and Huang He’s ruling bloodlines, the alliance that comes with it... Why do it, and all that.”
Elizabeth’s situation upset Marie, Nemesis, and even Babi, for some reason. They were all really mad. The rest of us, however, merely wondered why Azurite... I mean, the two countries involved would come to such an arrangement.
Oh, and Nemesis had stayed up really late last night, so she was still inside the crest.
“While talking with Shu and the others, we were only able to figure out what Huang He wants out of this,” I said.
“I see,” Azurite nodded. “And what would that be? I need to ask to see if you have it right.”
“Yeah... We’re guessing that Huang He wants the Altarian royal bloodline itself... as in, the right to use The Primeval Blade, Altar.”
That was Shu and Rook’s assumption, and Xunyu had given the conclusion her approval, saying, “YeAh, that’s prObably it.” She didn’t actually know the terms agreed on between the two countries, but according to her, “Since its foUnding, Huang He’s always seEn Special SupErior Jobs as divinE. Getting anOther one is probAbly more than enoUgh for them.”
“Two thousand years have passed since the downfall of the pre-ancient civilization,” I continued. “During this entire time, the only ones who could become Sacred Kings or Sacred Princesses and wield Altar were the descendants of the first Azurite, and only a few of those, too. However, that also means that anyone from this bloodline may have children with the aptitude. If Elizabeth marries into the Huang He bloodline and such a child is born, Huang He would end up having both the Draconic Emperor and the Sacred King — two powerful Special Superior Jobs.”
With Masters and especially Superiors, there were now a great many individuals who broke the balance. However, before the influx of Masters... i.e. before Infinite Dendrogram released... the balance-breakers were the tians with Special Superior Jobs. It was no exaggeration to say that people like the King of Kings, the previous Draconic Emperor, and the Sacred King — who unified the entire center-west area — had changed the course of history.
Shu, Rook, and Xunyu said that it was only natural for Huang He to want those.
“...Yes, that is more or less what Huang He wants to gain from this,” Azurite nodded. “They also added that they want the right to test if Huang He’s bloodline has the aptitude for the Sacred King whenever there’s no living Sacred King in Altar. They certainly like to plan far ahead.”
That also meant that, at the very least, Huang He didn’t seem to want Altar’s demise at this point. Though, for all I knew, they were planning to come in and take The Primeval Blade in the event that the country did collapse.
“I deeply apologize for disturbing you so. Brazen as it may seem, I came here hoping to make up for it somehow.”
The boy had actually come here to say he was sorry.
However, Elizabeth didn’t know how to react. Though she saw him as the reason behind it, she didn’t think it was his fault. The marriage and the move to Huang He had been arranged by Altimia and the emperor; Canglong wouldn’t even be here if they hadn’t. In a way, they were both in the exact same position.
So, Elizabeth didn’t know what to do in response to his apology.
The most she could do was look away from him and say “...It’s okay. It isn’t your fault.”
“But if I didn’t come to Gideon, you—”
“I’m saying that it’s not your fault, so accept that!” Canglong felt uneasy because he thought he’d made the sisters quarrel, while Elizabeth just didn’t know how to feel about the whole situation.
Watching the two made Liliana extremely anxious.
That was when Xunyu beckoned both her and Marie over to her and, in a low tone that Canglong and Elizabeth couldn’t hear, said “Let’s make them go on a date.”
“...Ehh?” Liliana raised her eyebrow.
“...Hold on there, Xunyu — how did you come to that idea?” Marie asked, shocked by this out-of-the-blue suggestion.
“I’ve beEn thinking it since yestErday, but the problEm here’s that Elizabeth needs to mArry someone and mOve out in a way she doesn’t rEally like, right? Why not just make it agreeable to hEr? It’s nOrmal to move oUtta the country for love and mArriage. It’s whY my mom moved to SingapOre.”
“Umm... i-is that how it works...?”
“I meAn, it was supposed to bE a formal marriage intErview at first, right? But thEy went strAight to marriage befOre anyOne even realizEd it. That ain’t hOw it’s supposEd to go, right? For now, lEt’s just see if they’re goOd for one another by making thEm go on a dAte. If they likE each other, they cAn get married no prOb and Elizabeth’s sis won’t hAve to feel like she’s forcing hEr to do something she doEsn’t want.”
That seemed reasonable.
The initial plan was definitely that the two would have a formal marriage meeting to see if it would even work out. Changing up the order made a mess of Elizabeth’s relationship with her sister, but thinking on it, they would have had far fewer problems if they’d just kept with the original plan.
The most questionable thing about this was the fact that this voice of reason belonged to a girl in elementary school.
“...And what if they don’t like each other?” asked Marie.
“We’ll crOss that bridge whEn we come tO it. They probably dOn’t have a say in whEther they’ll get married or not, bUt whether they gEt along is completely up to thEm. I’m jUst sayin’ that it’d be greAt if they actUally like each othEr and it ends up workin’ oUt.”
“That’s true,” Liliana agreed. “Even if they don’t, the situation won’t be any worse than it is now.”
As a royal knight and a close friend of Altimia, she also hoped that Elizabeth’s marriage would be a happy one.
And, albeit reluctantly and with the most bitter look on her face, Marie also said “Well... it’s what’s best... for Ellie’s happiness... Grnnh...”
Thus, the three stopped the back-and-forth between Elizabeth and Canglong to suggest that they should go on a date to get to know each other.
Prism Rider, Ray Starling
“Hey, this is about Elizabeth’s marriage again... why Huang He?” I asked. “Geographically speaking, Legendaria, Caldina, and Granvaloa are the better options, aren’t they?” They were all closer to Altar than Huang He. With no countries in between, you could even expect some reinforcements out of the deal. And from what I knew, Altar was already allied with Legendaria and had a trade treaty with Caldina.
“Legendaria and Caldina actually gave similar propositions, but I just went with the least worst option,” said Azurite.
“Least worst? And... what about Granvaloa?”
“Forming an alliance with them through marriage is impossible. It just wouldn’t be enough to give you backing from all the four great fleets.”
According to Azurite, the grand captain (as the king of Granvaloa was called) was selected out of the candidates presented by the great houses of each of its four fleets — the merchant fleet, the military fleet, the pirate fleet, and adventurer fleet.
Because of this system, the addition of Altarian royal blood into any of the four houses would destroy the balance and maybe even spark a civil war. No marriage-based alliance offer came from Granvaloa because none of the houses wanted that to happen.
There was also another detail that made it difficult to forge an alliance, even without marriage involved.
The current grand captain was elderly and it was thought that he would be replaced soon, so it was hard for the country to make any major policy decisions. Apparently, the houses weren’t unified on whether they should side with Altar or Dryfe.
This was only slightly related, but the house in charge of the pirate fleet was “Grandria,” and it was where Sir Langley — Liliana’s and Milianne’s father — was from. So, if things went differently, Liliana herself might’ve been a candidate for grand captain.
Though, it wasn’t like such “what ifs” meant anything now.
“And what about Legendaria?” I asked.
“That country is going through political unrest.”
“It is?”
“Yes. It is a limited monarchy with two people at the top — Fairy Queen Titania, who is basically a figurehead, and the prime minister who’s the real political leader.”
Oh, I’d heard of Titania before. And... a limited monarchy? So Legendaria was basically like Japan or the UK, huh?
“For many years, their prime minister was the patriarch of the high elves, but he died some time before the war here in Altar.” A high elf. So this world also had the classic fantasy races...
“And apparently... it was an assassination.” ...Now that definitely seemed like something that’d cause a disturbance.
“I hear his death was really odd, too. He transformed into a monkey... from the neck down.”
“Now that’s just freaky... Hm...” I felt like I’d heard of something like that before...
Oh, right... Marie had told me once that Legendaria had a Superior with an Embryo that did something similar.
“So, uhh...”
“Yes,” Azurite said, understanding what I was getting at. “Legendaria has a Master that can do exactly that. However, he is not being investigated for the crime, and the culprit still hasn’t been found.”
That was weird. It would all work out fine if he was innocent, and with Truth Discernment you’d know if he was guilty right away, so why not investigate him?
“I looked into this a bit myself,” Azurite continued. “Apparently, the prime minister’s close relatives tried to look into it, but some other influential people interfered.”
“So, basically...”
“Yes. They have an internal conflict. The country’s tians are split into factions, and as a whole it’s now a crucible of assassination and betrayal. There is no all-out bloody conflict, but many people aren’t even sure who their enemies are. Everything is muddied and unclear. We are always told that that is the reason why they cannot send us reinforcements.”
Now that’s a hell of a mess, I thought. Even Tenchi seems like a better option, and war over there is like a daily routine.
Anyway, now I knew why Azurite didn’t feel like sending her sister there.
“The only places in Legendaria that are as peaceful as they seem are the place where Titania lives and their arenas. Many of the Masters there seem to be completely nonchalant about what is happening,” Azurite said.
“For a place called ‘Fairyland,’ it really doesn’t seem all that pleasant. So, last one... why not Caldina?” I asked, expecting her to quickly say something negative about it.
However, her response was... silence.
“Azurite?”
“...There are no obvious problems with that country,” she said while making a face that seemed to imply the opposite. “Ray, what do you think about Caldina?”
Her question was spoken in a voice dense with unease. She basically sounded as though she saw Caldina as an enemy.
“...I know next to nothing about it. ‘I don’t know’ is about all I can say.”
If I had to name something, it would be their indirect involvement in the actions of the Gouz-Maise Gang, which definitely didn’t give me a good impression.
“Is there something about Caldina?” I asked.
“...Nothing I can say with certainty. And unlike Granvaloa, there aren’t any problems that immediately come to mind.”
That alone made it seem like a good potential ally, but there had to be something more to this.
“After we lost the war, they offered to send Masters to us, including four Superiors.”
“Four?!” Caldina had a total of nine, and that was nearly half of them. That would literally double the amount of Superiors Altar had available, and the non-Superiors would do a good job filling whatever gaps they still had.
“And it was an alliance offer that did not even involve marriage. We would simply unite to get back at Dryfe. The only condition was that Caldina would have Dryfe’s land and technology, while Altar would get back the territory Dryfe had taken from the kingdom.”
Altar could use all the manpower from Caldina to win back what it had lost. It sounded like a really good deal, but... “...What about the pay for the Superiors and other Masters?”
“Not only would they cover all of that — they would also give us money to hire our kingdom’s Masters.”
So Altar would get everything back with little effort on their part. It was actually such a good deal that it made a light chill go down my spine...
“...You didn’t agree to it, though? Why?”
“Because if everything went according to their plan, Caldina would simply gain far too much...” First of all, they would receive Dryfe’s advanced technology and Dryfe’s land. The former was obviously the more important thing, but to a desert country like Caldina, even Dryfe’s land would be quite useful. The imperium was also full of ruins like the ones at Quartierlatin, with a great deal of treasure potentially waiting to be unearthed.
Second, they would have Dryfe’s Masters. Even if the imperium vanished, its Masters would still be around. Many of them would switch allegiances, and many of those would pick Caldina simply because it would now be controlling Dryfe’s territory. Caldina was also rich enough to match the insane monetary rewards Dryfe paid to its Masters, as evidenced by the four Superiors and many normal Masters they offered to dispatch to Altar’s aid.
If there was one thing in this deal that might be a hardship for Caldina, it was the money they would have to pay to their Masters, but even that was a drop in the bucket compared to the country’s immense wealth. Hugo had once told me that Dryfe’s rewards to Masters had made a huge dent in the imperium’s coffers, but to Caldina, that kind of money was pocket change.
Third, Caldina would break free of their geopolitical encirclement. Currently, Caldina was surrounded by the three western countries, Huang He to the east, and Granvaloa to the south. If they defeated Dryfe and forged an alliance with Altar, they would lose two out of their five enemies. Once that happened, they could use their nine Superiors, and all the other Superiors and Masters they would gain thanks to merging with Dryfe, to invade Huang He or Legendaria.
Basically, if the alliance happened, Caldina would have it all without risking anything.
They might even be able to use the momentum from their victories to bring the entire continent under their banner. Honestly, it was only natural for Azurite to be wary of their offer.
“Though, we did almost accept their offer,” Azurite said. A drowning man will clutch at a straw, as they said. Desperation could’ve easily led Altar to accept the deal.
“But... the kingdom still has other options. We are not broken yet,” she continued before looking into my eyes, for some reason. It felt like she was using me to remember something she’d seen in the past.
“Azurite?” I broke the silence.
“...I should get back to work.”
Then I guess I should leave, I thought.
“...Thanks for coming today,” Azurite said. “I will talk to Elizabeth again and really open up to her, just as you told me.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Thanks to you, I will avoid making at least one mistake.”
“Don’t mention it. I just did what I thought wouldn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.”
With that, I left Azurite’s room.
The Guest House
Altimia watched as Ray left and closed the door, then heaved a sigh and said, “You are the reason why the kingdom didn’t break, Ray.”
It’s only because you gave hope to Altar’s tians that the country wasn’t shattered, she thought.
His battle had been broadcast to both Gideon and Altea, and it had been witnessed by many Altarians, noble and peasant alike.
It had prevented the nobles from finally losing all trust in Masters along with their hope for the kingdom’s future.
It was why the kingdom hadn’t gone with the easiest but most suspicious option.
If Altimia’s guess was correct, accepting Caldina’s offer would lead to a future where Caldina ruled the entire continent, and Altar would either end up as their vassal state or be destroyed entirely. It would be the same as losing to Dryfe, if not worse. The only difference would be that it would happen later.
Even so, despite the fact that that case held no hope for the future, she might’ve picked that option in order to save the present. There were many in the Altarian nobility who viewed Caldina favorably. Many of them thought that accepting Caldina’s offer was the most certain path to victory against Dryfe, but Altimia believed that a decent number among them were actually colluding with Caldina. There were even some documents in the recently-sentenced Marquis Borozel’s mansion referring to shady dealings with Caldinan merchants.
The country was trying to spread their tentacles throughout the Altarian nobility, using merchants as points of contact.
“Dryfe is the enemy that will fight us directly, while Caldina is the one that will backstab us... that might be the best way to look at it,” Altimia spoke to herself.
This was supported by the fact that Caldina had begun acting strange once Altimia rejected their alliance offer. For one, they requested a change in the commerce treaty and slightly changed their exports and imports. That didn’t seem like much to worry about, but Altimia thought that it wasn’t out of the question that they would assassinate her to instill a sense of danger and then support the Caldina-friendly nobles in order to put Elizabeth or Theresia on the throne and forge their alliance then.
“That witch... President La Place Phantasma is definitely capable of going that far.” Also, Altimia hadn’t told this to Ray because she wasn’t certain of it, but it was possible that Caldina was also behind the imperium’s invasion of Altar.
Before the change in Dryfe’s leadership, Caldina had begun holding back its exports of food. Officially, it was “part of a restructuring related to the recent increase in Masters,” but that didn’t ring true to Altimia.
She’d also recently learned that Dryfe was going through a severe famine.
Strange as it was, the tian agents she’d dispatched there earlier hadn’t reported anything like that happening, and the situation had only become clear once Altimia began giving similar requests to Masters.
Regardless of the reasons for it, Caldina’s food export policy and the famine had added up, putting Dryfe in a dire situation. Altimia believed that it was possible that Caldina had stopped their exports because there was a famine in Dryfe, all so they could drive them into invading the fertile lands of Altar.
The imperium’s food production simply couldn’t keep up with demand.
Out of their neighbors, Granvaloa was in a similar position. They could only produce marine products and had to rely on foreign exports to fill the gaps. The other neighbor, Altar, had ended the alliance between the countries shortly after the new imperator took the throne. Legendaria was beyond Altar, while Huang He and Tenchi were beyond the vast deserts of Caldina.
With all that in mind, Altimia could see that Dryfe had no choice but to invade Altar to fix their food shortage.
However, the whole thing just didn’t sit right with her. She questioned the actions of the invaders as well as the invaded — her own country.
Altimia found it strange that Altar had ended the alliance in the first place.
She couldn’t understand why her father — the late king — and the Arch Sage — a major political advisor — would have done something like that.
Of course, Altimia was aware of the rumors that the current imperator had risen to the throne after killing the whole imperial family besides his younger sister, and it was understandable to be wary of him.
However, she couldn’t help but feel as though there were some deeper reasons behind ending the alliance.
“...How troublesome.” Caldina’s actions, Altimia’s dubious agents, and Altar ending the alliance... It seemed as though multiple motives had intertwined to bring about the war between Dryfe and Altar.
Currently, she suspected that one of the people involved was the president of Caldina, who was known to be a witch and a truly anomalous person.
“...Even the parasite is better than that witch.” Even though the “parasite,” Tsukuyo Fuso, often pushed Altar into making difficult choices in order to further her cult’s agenda, she could no doubt be useful on occasion. In a way, she was like a parasite that sometimes became mutualistic.
The same couldn’t be said for Caldina’s witch.
Altimia had actually met her once during a certain diplomatic event. In her eyes, the witch was a monster that would bait you with a sweet deal and tempt you into doing what she wanted before wringing everything you had out of you.
“If I don’t pay enough attention to Caldina’s actions, the situation could become worse than I’d ever expect... How deeply troubling.”
I already have my hands full with Dryfe, Altimia thought with a sigh.
The imperium hadn’t acted once since Quartierlatin. They’d even dispatched a Superior for that, but had been completely inactive in the kingdom since.
Was there a problem in Dryfe, or was this a sign that they were planning something major?
Altimia lost herself in thought. Even if they had something up their sleeve, the kingdom and the imperium had already fought head-on, causing much bloodshed and damaging their relationship beyond repair. Painful as it was for her, Altimia had no choice but to admit that this would not end peacefully.
“Claudiah... What is your brother planning this time?” Altimia sighed, as she remembered her good friend from her days as a transfer student in Dryfe.
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