Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 13 - Chapter 3.1

Interlude: The Imperium’s Preparations 
A Certain Location in the Imperial Capital, Vandelheim 
Three days remained until the peace talks, and it wasn’t just the kingdom of Altar that was busy with preparations for the momentous event. 
By now it was well known in the imperium that the imperator’s little sister, Claudiah, would be representing him; just like Altar, Dryfe was gathering Masters to act as her retinue — and one Master was more enthusiastic about this particular quest than the others. 
That day, Zeta was at the castle — specifically, in the room she was borrowing for the time being. Safely inside this personal space of hers, she was practicing how to prepare proper coffee. Zeta knew that Sechs, the leader of Illegal Frontier, was a coffee aficionado, so she’d begun learning how to make it herself. She’d found out about his taste for it when he wrote her an email saying that he’d become so good at preparing coffee that even Gerbera had found it delicious. Reading that had actually made Zeta somewhat jealous of the girl. 
However, since Zeta wasn’t terribly good at picking up on nuances of taste, she couldn’t quite tell whether her coffee was up to standard or not. She finally decided she could judge it by smell, at least, but when she brought her nose close to the cup... 
“Zeta! I’m going to the peace talks! The Unbreakable is gonna be there too!” 
...A red-haired, fine-looking man threw open the door without so much as a knock. 
The momentum of the opening door shook the entire room. The black coffee that Zeta held in front of her face splashed out of the cup, right on the bandages on her face. 
There were now dark polka dots on the previously immaculate white fabric. 
“Ah...” The man who’d entered the room — Logan Goddhart — realized what he’d done, but instead of apologizing, he just froze in place. 
“Hhaah...” Zeta sighed, putting away the coffee cup and removing her bandages as if it was nothing. 
Brown skin, red eyes, a young and pretty appearance... her face was fully exposed now, but Zeta didn’t seem to mind. She merely took some spare bandages out of her inventory and began to replace the ones she’d removed. 
This was the first time Logan had ever seen her face. It left him speechless, but not because he was enchanted by it or anything. He was just wondering why she would expose it so casually after hiding it all this time, and he felt as though he’d seen that face somewhere. The recollection was rather vague, though. He certainly hadn’t seen it in person before, but he was sure he’d caught a glimpse of it in some photo or video. 
However, before Logan could remember anything more about it, Zeta finished replacing her bandages and called out to him. 
“Suggestion,” she said. “Should be a must from now on. Also, you should watch your strength when opening doors” 
“O-Okay. Sure,” Logan could do nothing but nod. 
“Matter at hand. What business do you have? You mentioned the peace talks and The Unbreakable.” 
“Y-Yeah! Zeta! I’m going to the peace talks! I’m gonna beat The Unbreakable and clear my name!” 
“Refusal.” Zeta shot down his idea with a single word. She didn’t even bother with an explanation this time. 
“Wh-Why?!” Logan asked. “That build you suggested to me is super powerful! There’s no way I can lose against that newbie! Hell, I could take on all of Altar’s Superiors now!” 
“Discrepancy,” Zeta answered. “There is a discrepancy in your stated goal. It is possible that the peace talks will lead to battle — but officially, it is not part of the premise.” 
“But it’s obviously gonna happen, right?” 
“Unclear. That depends on how the talks proceed. Also... should you not focus on raising your level and gathering sacrifices? You are not even level 500 any longer.” 
“Ghh...” Zeta was right — at the moment, Logan’s level was in the 300s. 
Part of the reason for this was Zeta, but ultimately, Logan only had himself to blame. 
Zeta had presented him with a build that took full advantage of his Superior Embryo, Rumpelstiltskin. It was the best build she could devise for him, and Logan fully agreed with her assessment. 
In fact, he agreed with it too much. 
In his haste to finish Zeta’s suggested build as quickly as possible, Logan had reset all of his jobs aside from his main, Hell General, and replaced them with the low-tier jobs necessary for the build. That greatly reduced his level, and spring break was over for him by that point, so he hadn’t had the time to regain his lost levels yet after going back to school. 
“Word of warning,” said Zeta. “It is dangerous for you to go as you are. You still are not prepared to use this new strategy, and with your level, Altar’s High Prieste—” 
“Don’t worry! Your build is a seriously real masterpiece! Level doesn’t even matter! Though, just in case, I’ll only go after raising my level to 500!” 
“Insufficient. That will not be eno—” 
“I have been reborn! Watch and witness the power of Hell General, Logan Goddhart! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Laughing uproariously, Logan left the room. 
“Uninformed... He does not listen to other people and is slow to process information. Based on his statements, he probably does not even know that Ray Starling created a clan full of Superiors.” 
Zeta wondered if it would be good to teach him about the importance of gathering information, but she felt that he might become too concerned with the information he had and act on his own more than he ought to. So for now, she decided against it. 
She then closed the still-open door and folded her arms before starting to ponder. 
“...Curious.” Her current thoughts were somewhere along the lines of, Is that boy really that stupid? 
She’d known he was overconfident and particularly demented for someone his age — but after she’d started teaching him, he seemed to have become downright reckless. However, that could very well have been because his pride had been shattered by Ray Starling, Franklin, then Zeta herself, all in a short period of time. 
Or perhaps the new build and strategy she’d provided had gone to his head? Even Zeta herself would have described it as “extremely effective while still only requiring the level of thought that Logan was capable of before his losing streak.” 
For a Superior, Logan was really lacking in adaptability and player skill, and her build had accounted for that while making him as powerful as possible. 
Fortunately, Logan himself seemed to really like it. 
He liked it a bit too much, in fact — seeing how quickly he accepted Zeta’s suggestion and how he’d rushed to make the switch. 
Although warped and broken, Logan seemed to trust Zeta, at least. He might’ve come here to report his next endeavor to the person he could call a teacher. 
He really ought to work on his listening skills, though, since he seemed determined to completely ignore her warning. 
“...Unease.” That single word summed up her feelings about Logan’s attendance at the peace talks. If it was just a question of him losing another battle, it wouldn’t be that important — but it wasn’t out of the question that he’d launch a surprise attack on Altar’s forces, ruin the peace talks, get himself onto Dryfe’s wanted list, and end up in gaol. 
That wasn’t the only thing she was uneasy about, though. 
She was also worried about the fact that she definitely wouldn’t be there herself — meaning that she had no way to stop him. Though, depending on her actions, there may end up being no need to stop him in the first place. 
“Time. I should go too,” she whispered as she gazed at the vista outside. 
Her room was on the south side of the castle, so she had an excellent view in the direction of Altar. There, she saw the Border Mountain Belt, home of the skydragons. However, she seemed to be focused on something beyond it. 
 
Vandelheim Outskirts, Triangle of Wisdom Headquarters 
As an R&D group, the Triangle of Wisdom operated several testing areas. They used them to evaluate new Magingear models and add-ons, and the areas would be active day and night, as there were members of the clan online more or less all the time. 
In one of their particularly large outdoor testing areas, they were trying out something rarely seen here — a bunch of tanks. 
As the creators of humanoid Magingears, the Triangle of Wisdom rarely used the “old-fashioned” sort of tank. A few members customized them as a curiosity, but that was about it. 
However, at the moment there were several tanks of the same model, all erratically moving around the test area and occasionally firing their guns. 
This unusual sight was being observed by ToW members, as well as two men who were standing together some distance away. 
One was a spectacled man in a lab coat — someone who looked like a classic mad scientist. The other was dressed in a worn military uniform. He had an unshaven face and a cigarette in his mouth, which gave him the air of a stereotypical delinquent soldier. 
“The peace talks are in three days, huh?” said the man in the lab coat. 
“Did ya hear? Logan’s gonna join as a bodyguard,” the soldier said. 

“Bodyguard, eh? That doesn’t suit His Excellency at all. I think he’ll abandon that job and attack Ray Starling.” 
“...I can see that, yeah. Better hope the beasty lady can hold ’im back.” 
“The King of Beasts has some personal business of her own. I’m not sure if she’ll have time for His Excellency.” 
The two men were Giga Professor, Mr. Franklin and King of Chariots, Murdoch Martinez — a peculiar Master who held the rank of captain in the imperium’s army. 
“Don’t ya have some business with Ray Starling too?” Murdoch asked. 
“I do... I really do,” Franklin answered. His expression didn’t change, but Murdoch could sense that the atmosphere around was different. 
“Ya heard he made a clan?” 
“Of course. Oh, how I laughed at all of that. The fact that he made a clan, its name, and even the ranking... I just completely lost it. I’d say I haven’t laughed like that in a long time, but I’d be lying.” 
Shortly before Ray had made his clan, Franklin read some documents about an incident in Caldina — and the fact that, by some twist of fate, two people he knew very well were somehow together now had made him burst into laughter. 
“You okay with stayin’ behind when Ray Starling’s gonna be there?” 
“I am. The ace up my sleeve still needs some final adjustments. Also, I’m planning to break Ray Starling regardless of whether the outcome is war or unification,” Franklin chuckled. “As I’m sure you’re well aware, conflicts between Masters aren’t a crime.” 
“I see. So ya basically handed this chance to Logan on a silver platter, huh?” 
“I guess you could say that. Though, looking at the participants, I’m not sure how useful he’ll be.” 
“Hm?” 
“With His Excellency and the others, the retinue’ll be impressive, but honestly, I feel like anyone besides King of Beasts is overkill... or more like, useless.” 
The two knew that Behemot, Logan, and many other Masters would go to the peace talks, while King of Thieves, Zeta would operate as part of some other plot. 
Franklin and Murdoch would not be participating, however. They would stay behind to protect the imperium on the off chance that Caldina would use the peace talks as an opportunity to make their move against Dryfe. 
Caldina, though, had its own share of problems. From what they knew, the country was in the midst of a chaotic situation surrounding UBM orbs that had leaked in from Huang He. 
“Oh, right,” said Franklin, remembering something. “Take this.” 
“Is this a... newspaper?” 
“It’s the latest info on Caldina I bought from DIN.” The front page article was titled “WAR BETWEEN CALDINA AND GRANVALOA?!” and the photo attached showed a building engulfed in flames. 
It read as follows: “Treasurebeast Orbs have been stolen from Huang He’s treasury and taken to various areas in Caldina, where they caused all sorts of turmoil. They even recently led to direct armed conflict between Caldina and Granvaloa. The seafaring country has dispatched four Superiors to Caldina’s territory: Miroslava Swampman, the ‘Charm of Land and Sea’; the Edwards spouses, the ‘Avowed’; and Antimicrobic Soy Sauce, the ‘Human Bomb’; Their goal is believed to be the Treasurebeast Orb, which possesses the ability to transform water into dry land. Caldina responded to this invasion by mobilizing Sefirot to deal with the situation.” 
Reading all that made the cigarette drop from Murdoch’s mouth. 
“...Over half of The Great Seven Embryos of Granvaloa? Are they insane?” he asked. 
“Not in the slightest,” Franklin responded. “After all, that orb they mentioned is really bad news for Granvaloa.” 
“What...? Ohh, I get it,” Murdoch said after a moment of thought. “Caldina’s got The Earth. Like Legendaria, Granvaloa has a geographical advantage. They keep the other countries in check by surroundin’ them from the sea — so in their eyes, a thing that turns water into land? Caldina ain’t allowed to have that.” 
With such an artifact, Granvaloa could have the territory that they so desired. However, the risks might outweigh the rewards. Caldina’s Magical Apex might acquire the orb and invade by turning water into land, so Granvaloa had to secure the orb at all costs... or at least destroy it and make sure that a non-Caldinian Master defeated that UBM. 
“They’re basically doing the same thing we did in the ruins of Quartierlatin,” said Franklin. “Granvaloa is a lot more serious, though.” 
Like the name suggested, The Great Seven Embryos of Granvaloa included seven Superiors. Only four of them had been dispatched on this mission, but it wasn’t because they believed that four would be enough. It’s just that these were the only four who could fully use their powers even on land. In other words, they’d actually sent all the Superiors they could muster. 
“...With all that goin’ on, Caldina’s gotta focus on their own turf, huh?” said Murdoch. 
“Well, Caldina can’t just break the orb and have The Earth kill the UBM. The orbs are Huang He’s national treasures, so they’d only be making a new enemy. Their relations with Huang He are already strained because of the orb that broke during the incident at Cortana, so if they break one on purpose, everything would fall apart.” 
Caldina might have had the option of breaking it before, but now that Granvaloa was invading, it was an extremely difficult choice to make. 
Granvaloa, on the other hand, would much rather break the orb and make an enemy of Huang He than lose their greatest line of defense — the sea. 
And if that wasn’t enough to cause chaos in Caldina, there was more. Rumor had it that even Legendaria had infiltrated the country to secure new orbs. Caldina, at the moment, was a volatile powder keg that a single spark could set off. 
“If Huang He and Caldina become enemies as well, the two of us might be relieved of our guard duty and sent off to attack Caldina.” In other words, it was possible they weren’t staying behind as a safeguard against an invasion by Caldina, but to keep them on standby for an invasion of Caldina. That was certainly well within the planning abilities of the current imperator. 
In fact, their ruler was probably spinning a multitude of strategies in his head at this very moment. 
“...By the way, prof — did ya get the list of demands for the peace talks?” Murdoch asked. 
“Not yet,” Franklin shook his head. “Though, I heard of a particular demand related to us.” 
“Eh? What’s that?” 
“One of the demands is...” 
Franklin proceeded to tell Murdoch one of the demands that would be offered in the peace talks, and all the tanks in the test area suddenly stopped firing. Those words, meant only for Murdoch himself, made him break out in a cold sweat. 
“...Man,” Murdoch mouthed in shock. “You think so too, huh, Captain? I know that His Majesty loves to strategize... but this, combined with the actions of you-know-who — it almost starts to look a little too ballsy. Prof, can ya hurry up with the tank mass production? I’ll increase your pay by twenty percent,” Murdoch added as he pointed at the tanks rolling to and fro. 
“I can increase the production speed if I gather volunteer clan members, but... are you sure about this? It’s coming out of your pocket, not clan funds, right?” 
“That’s fine. This is all just revving up for a good time, anyway. Also...” he said as he took a drag on his cigarette and grinned. “Fights and parties are both best when they’re flashy. Especially if you’re up against a goddamn land battleship.” 
“Oh? You think so too, huh?” 
“Fightin’ Caldina’s Rainbow might be fun too, though,” Murdoch said, his face showing an obvious joy that didn’t mesh with his rugged soldier appearance. “Though, I don’t really care if we’re throwin’ down with them or the kingdom. I’ll be satisfied as long as there’s war with a lotta smoke, big booms, and scrap.” 
In Franklin’s mind, this man, who waited for war with excitement, was a true ludo. He was far less warped than Logan used to be, but anyone who actually looked forward to war had to be either a complete psychopath or someone who clearly saw Dendro as a game — an exciting experience that let you fight on the frontlines without the risk of death. 
To him, this was a space in which he could sacrifice everything to satisfy his adventurous spirit. 
However, that was... sane. 
Compared to Franklin, who never hesitated to trample his enemies underfoot and spared no expense to reach his goals, Murdoch was an extremely sane, healthy, and perhaps even wholesome kind of player. 
“Let’s do our best in the war,” said Franklin. “Even though I have no idea who we’ll end up fighting.” 
“Yeah,” nodded Murdoch. “Let’s do our best.” 
Franklin wanted to settle the score with his nemesis. 
Murdoch wanted a battlefield that would stir his heart. 
These two Superiors, worlder and ludo, waited for the moment when their wishes would be fulfilled. 
“By the way, His Excellency isn’t the only unusual participant in the peace talks. There’s another one.” 
“And who’s that?” 
“The strongest non-Superior in Dryfe.” 
“...Seriously?”