Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 20 - Chapter 4

Chapter Four: A Party Battlefield and Terrorism

Eltram, Special Ballroom

The luxury sand liner, Eltram, was on its maiden voyage. And on its final night, in the vessel’s special ballroom, a lavish, splendid affair would be held.

All along the walls of the ballroom, there were plenty of fancy foods and quality beverages anyone could eat or drink, letting the event function as a standing buffet party.

“Sho good...it’sh sho good... I haven’t eaten thish good in shooo long...”

And glued to one of those walls, there was a girl wolfing down that food.

It was none other than Goblin Street’s Fey. Clad in a rented dress and wearing light makeup to make her facial scars less pronounced, she was, in her own way, enjoying this party.

“Fey...didn’t you say something about how romantic it would be to dance at this ball? Why are you all over the food now?” asked Niala. Dressed up nicely herself, she was rather perturbed by the way her fellow clan member was eating.

“I mean, it’s not like our leader’s here, right? I don’t feel like dancing with anyone else. That’s why I’m storing up energy for when I’ll dance with him. Getting all those SP, you know?”

“‘SP’ stands for ‘skill points,’ not ‘stamina points.’”

“Huh? But that’s confusing, isn’t it? If ‘MP’ is ‘magic points,’ then the opposite of that is gotta be stamina, right? ‘SP’ is also used for lots of physical skills, so ‘stamina points’ just feels right, doesn’t it?”

Fey’s a silly goose, but every now and then, she can be rather perceptive, thought Niala.

Thinking about it a bit more, while it did make sense to “use magic,” it was hard to understand what was meant by “using skill”—as in, not employing individual skill, but some general measure of “ability.” The help section said that SP stood for “skill points,” but what quality did that refer to and what differentiated that quality from “magic”? Beyond the fact that the words used for them were different, she didn’t quite understand the distinction.

Well, it’s probably like that for some game reason, Niala thought. If everything used MP, then even physical vanguard jobs would have to get high MP somehow.

“Well, forget about SP and whatever it is,” said Fey. “I gotta prepare for when he arrives!”

“If you say so,” said Niala. “By the way...”

“What ish it?”

“Eating too much can’t be good for your figure.”

“Huh?” Upon hearing that, Fey looked down and froze as her expression transformed into one of shock. “N-Niala...when we were renting, you said that this dress would look good on me...”

“I did. That is an attractive dress that truly emphasizes a woman’s shape...at least, as long as the wearer doesn’t overeat and end up with too much belly flab,” Niala said as she adjusted her glasses and gave a slightly malicious smile.

“You planned this, didn’t you?! Wait—aren’t you going to eat anything yourself?”

“A ball is no place for a lady to eat. Even if you ignore the risk to your curves, smelling of food when you’re dancing and your partner’s face is close is not ideal. This is common knowledge in the girls’ college I graduated from.”

“So that’s why you took so long to stop me! And what’s with the ‘I’m such a high-class lady’ act?! You show-off!”

“Our leader is a nice man, so he would dance with either of us. But you’re chubby and smell like all the food you ate, while I am slender and smell only of perfume. I wonder which one of us would leave a better impression...”

“You’re awful! That’s playing dirty, four-eyes!” Fey said, terrified of the cunning trap her rival had set before her—or rather, the trap she herself had walked right into.

Oho ho ho, Niala laughed, sounding exactly like a high-class villainess—in her own mind, anyway.

“I-I’ll go buy a deodorant item!” Fey said, dashing out of the room and rushing to the commercial area. She could reenter using the ticket she’d used the first time, but whether or not she could fix herself up before Eldridge returned was another matter.

“...Perhaps I overdid it,” Niala said as she imagined her rival’s struggle. “Anyway, I suppose I’ll be alone until the leader and Fey return...hm?”

Niala looked around the hall, but her eyes stopped on one of the ball’s attendees—a beautiful male Master. That wasn’t an uncommon sight here in Infinite Dendrogram, so Niala didn’t understand why this particular person had stood out to her.

He’s taller. His hair color and face are different. They’re not even the same gender... Niala thought, tilting her head. So why did he make me think of Yuri?

Niala...or rather, Nina was reminded of one of the students from the girls’ college she taught at.

The man that caught her attention—Hugo—didn’t seem to notice her gaze.

He had more important things to worry about.

◇◇◇

Armored Pilot, Hugo Lesseps

After exchanging info with Stal, I reported to Moneygold and gave him the documents I’d gotten. He took a look at the information and used comms to report it to the president.

As far as Emily went, though, he came to the same conclusion as me: that there wasn’t much we could do about her now.

Since it was likely that the Orb would attract some sort of conflict, he said that the only thing I could really do was stay by his side—and by extension, the Orb’s.

“You said she may come after the Orb, right?” I asked Moneygold.

“Well, it’s more like she would cause an incident focused around the Orb. What about it?”

Sitting next to him, I was starting to get a bit irritated. It wasn’t just because of his words, but the whole situation we were in.

This was Eltram’s special ballroom. It was the largest space on the ship, the site of a massive party...and a place full of people just having a good time, totally unrelated to this Orb business.

They were right here next to us—which made them Emily’s potential targets.

“Shouldn’t we...go somewhere with fewer people?” I asked.

“I get what you’re saying. If she came after me or the Orb at this moment, it’d be a real bloodbath,” Moneygold said like it was nothing. “This ball is full of wealthy people, celebrities, and the elite. It’d be pretty bad for Caldina if something were to happen to them.”

“Then why...?”

“Because this is, overall, the safest option.”

“Hm...?” Overall? The safest? I didn’t really understand what he was getting at.

“If Emily Killingston and whoever she’s with are after the Orb, then everyone here is a poor sap who’ll get caught up in all this through no fault of their own. But what if this place gets attacked for some other reason?”

“Some other...reason?”

“Consider the massacre in Cortana. You could assume that she simply lost control in the middle of a Caldinan city, and that it would have happened with or without the Orb. It’s possible that they’re not after the Orbs at all, but something else instead.”

I just sat and listened as Moneygold went on.

“In that case, this ship could also be attacked for some other reason. For all we know, they might just be planning to strike a blow against Caldina’s wealthy elite by slaughtering those gathered here. If that’s the case, they’d attack this very ballroom. And if that happened, we definitely wouldn’t want to be far away like you suggested we should be, since we’d be unable to counter that attack in a timely manner.”

I was starting to understand what he was trying to say. “So minimizing casualties as much as possible is our secondary goal?”

“Yeah. It’s not an all-or-nothing thing where we either prevent everybody from dying or nobody. It’s about making sure it’s not as bad as it could be. That’s the choice we’re making here.”

That made sense...but it wasn’t a choice I was comfortable with. It was too much like the decision I myself had made back when I was overcome by doubt—the decision to participate in Fran’s plan so I could minimize both Altar’s and Dryfe’s casualties.

My feelings back then and the feelings I was having now started to blur together, and I clenched my fist.

“Mr. Lesseps, please don’t make that face. I am certain it will not be too bad,” Isara said, gently reassuring me. “It could be that nothing happens at a—”

“Isara, don’t waste your breath on useless reassurance like that. There’s no way absolutely nothing will happen.”

Isara’s words were cut short by Moneygold, who sounded stricter than he ever had before.

“I apologize for crossing the line,” Isara said before bowing her head and falling silent.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked Moneygold.

“There are three reasons I’m attending this ball. First is security, like we just talked about. Second is that I just wanted to, as a personal thing. And then there’s the third reason, which is the most important of all.”

“Which is...?”

“The prez told me to.” I could detect a hint of fear or awe on his face as he said that. The person those feelings were directed to must’ve been the president...the head of Caldina.

“How much do you know about the president?” he asked me.

“Her name is La Place Phantasma,” I answered. “She’s long-lived and has been serving as the head of the Caldinan congress for a long time. And, umm...”

“That she’s called ‘witch,’ ‘enigma,’ and a whole host of other names, right?” I nodded in response—that was the impression she’d seemed to have left on society.

From what I could tell, though, her skill as a politician left no room for doubt.

“People call her many names, but there’s one that hits the mark,” he said.

“And that is?”

“‘Clairvoyant.’”

“Clairvoyant? You mean, she can see the future? Like Teach’s Embryo, Cassandra?” Cassandra foretold the dangers approaching Teach and enabled her to dodge them, and I thought it was the only Embryo capable of seeing the future. That was the first thing that came to mind, but Moneygold shook his head.

“That slut’s nearsightedness can’t compare. I’d call the prez’s thing farsightedness, but it sounds like something that happens to old people, and that’s a comparison I’m too scared to make. My point is that she tends to see things coming long before they happen—as far out as years away.”

“There’s no way...” I said in genuine disbelief.

“I get why you’re surprised. Infinite Dendrogram is full of Masters doing whatever they want. That should make such a power impossible, but I’m telling the truth. She uses her foresight to entrap many of her political opponents and...well, her political opponents.”

Moneygold was probably going to say “political opponents and other countries.” I’d been told that Caldina’s plotting had placed the imperium in an even worse situation than it had been previously. He must’ve refrained from saying it because he remembered where I was from.

“Anyway, a person who can see that far into the future told me to participate in this ball,” he said. “She hadn’t said anything like that for any of my previous boat trips, but she did this time. There’s no way something won’t happen.”

Those words seemed to be filled with a mix of awe and trust.

“You know, the prez had actually begun preparing to welcome Masters before the game was released.”

“Huh?”

“Seems impossible, right? Tians don’t know about the real world. There’s no way they could see us coming. Prez did, though. You know what that means?”

“...That she’s part of the dev team?” Infinite Dendrogram did have a few Masters like Altar’s Tom Cat who were believed to be associated with the devs. Was Caldina’s president also one of them?

“That’s possible,” Moneygold said. “We think she’s something else, though... It’s not like she told us, or that we asked her. Well, only Fatoum probably knows exactly what she is.”

“What do you—?”

Right as I was about to ask him to elaborate, multiple sudden explosions cut my words short.

I heard them from outside this hall—as well as from within.

The walls of the ballroom shattered as smoke from the explosion rolled in. And then, multiple towering figures came into view.

They were Marshall IIs—about a dozen of them. Painted to resemble the desert, these units had head shapes and joint covers meant to protect against the sands, which made them look quite different from the original. They were also wielding weapons that were probably made outside of The Triangle of Wisdom. The machines were accompanied by dozens of infantry—some of them equipped with armor-type Magingears.

The shattered wall, the dancing flames, and the menacing presence of these soldiers immediately told the passengers that this wasn’t some sort of act, but a real assault. Their screams resounded as they rushed to escape, filling the room with an air of panic.

Isara stood before Moneygold to protect him, while he himself looked at me with an expression that clearly said, Told you there’d be trouble.

As chaos overtook the area, words suddenly blared out of the speakers. “We are Dryfe’s Legitimate Government. We have an announcement for everyone aboard Eltram.”

“Dryfe’s Legitimate Government...?” I repeated to myself. The group bore the name of my own country, but I had never heard of it before.

“We request that you show no resistance while we do what must be done here. If you obey, we promise no one will be harmed. But if you resist, we will not hesitate to use indiscriminate force—even against civilians.”

Those last words were directed at Masters and other passengers who could fight. They clearly stated that if we stood against them, they would start killing any passengers they could—even women and children. It was the kind of ultimatum that could only come from someone truly vile.

And it reminded me that Fran had once said something similar.

“You will be released once we complete our objective. Until then, do not move.”

A moment after they said that, the door through which passengers were trying to escape was smashed open, and more units appeared through it. With that, multiple Marshall IIs were standing at every exit, keeping every passenger in the ballroom from leaving. It was probably the same situation all over the ship.

“...Tch. They’ve blocked it off,” said Moneygold, clicking his tongue in frustration as he placed a hand against his ear. I noticed that he had Telepathy Cuffs equipped and guessed that he must’ve tried to use them, but they hadn’t worked.

After a moment of thought, he looked at Isara. Then, saying nothing, he pointed at himself, Isara, and then me.

“Can you hear me?” Suddenly, I heard his voice as though it was ringing inside my head. My eyes widened in surprise. “Don’t talk through your open mouth. Just keep it closed and whisper and we’ll hear it.”

“O-Okay... What is this, though...?”

“We’re connected by Isara’s osteophony wires. Think of it like a phone made of two cans and a string. Don’t touch your temple—that’s where the wire is. Even a brush from your fingers would break it.”

There was a wire on my head? I really couldn’t see it, though...

“Isara’s the Fullmetal Princess. That’s the earth and metal manipulation magic SJ. This is within her power. Oh, you can still move, though. Isara will adjust the wire’s length.”

I looked at Isara in surprise, and she gave me a gentle smile.

“Anyway, the trouble’s finally arrived,” said Moneygold. “That damn prez. I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually knew that we’d be attacked by DLG specifically.”

“Who are the Dryfe’s Legitimate Government, anyway?” I asked.

“The remnants of the side that lost the Dryfean civil war, basically. The ones who didn’t die, surrender, or get arrested ended up escaping here to Caldina. And they brought a lot of Marshall IIs with them.”

The group’s name and the Marshall IIs made it easy to guess, but this confirmed they really were from my country.

“What do we do about this?” I asked.

“What, indeed...” Moneygold said as he rubbed his double chin and hummed. “Isara, how far can you reach?”

“Long-range manipulation is a weakness of mine, so I doubt I can reach farther than halfway through the hall.”

“Uh-huh. I see. Anyway, like I said before, Isara is a solo battle type and can’t protect large areas in a fight. Conversely...I can only fight in a way that would also harm the civilians.”

Those were the major problems with solo battle types and wide-scale extermination types. Fran brought them up pretty often. In a situation like this, where one side had to protect something, the ones that came out on top were wide-scale suppression types—and those who simply outnumbered the other side.

“Could you suppress them all by Freezing them all at once?” Moneygold asked me.

“Cyco’s La Porte de l’Enfer can’t differentiate well enough.” I could choose to target only tians, only Masters, only monsters, or several groups at once, like how I’d targeted both Masters and monsters while fighting Rook. However, there was no convenient setting for just “hostile tians.” The skill really worked closer to having me choose who not to target—back in Gideon, I’d had Fran and Veldorbell registered as exceptions before we set the plan in motion, making it so that the skill only targeted all other Masters.

Compare that to what had happened in Cortana—I hadn’t had time to register any exceptions and ended up freezing every other Master along with Emily.

“If I targeted just tians now, some passengers would Freeze too,” I said. Like Cyco had disapprovingly explained earlier, Caldinans had a relatively high population of kinslayers. If I froze even a single part of them in this situation, they would be at risk of getting shattered.

This wouldn’t be a problem with La Porte de l’Enfer Deuxième, which worked based on the damage the target dealt to me—but if I let them attack me, they would damage the passengers too.

“Well, most powerful skills have flaws,” said Moneygold. “Yours could even have some weaknesses that neither you nor Cyco are aware of.”

That was entirely possible too. I didn’t actually get that many chances to use it in battle, so I couldn’t deny that it could have quirks I hadn’t figured out yet.

“Anyway, I get the situation,” Moneygold said. “We don’t have enough people to take care of this while keeping the casualties low. Let’s add someone, then.”

“Huh?”

“Isara. Connect to one more person. Your target is...”

And with that, Moneygold pointed at one of the passengers in the ballroom.

◇◆◇

Eltram, Special Ballroom

Following the assault, everyone in the room was overwhelmed by chaos and confusion—but there was one man among them who was smiling.

...Jackpot! Niala! Fey! The gamble paid off! That man was none other than the leader of Goblin Street, Eldridge.

He was utterly thrilled by DLG’s attack on the ship, because this was exactly what he’d been waiting for.

The DLG were Goblin Street’s target. The Marshall IIs that the group piloted were luxury items that went for no less than eighty million lir per unit on Caldinan markets, and that was without considering their equipment and other tech they might be carrying. Eldridge had happened upon information suggesting that this prize prey would attack Eltram and came aboard the ship to take them. When they’d entered the final night of the trip with no sign of the Marshall II units, he was worried that this was a waste of time—but it seemed the heavens had not abandoned them quite yet.

All that’s left is the timing, Eldridge thought. The situation after I rob them will change depending on when I do it.

The robbery itself wasn’t that difficult. Eldridge had the skills for it, and he’d come prepared with an Inventory which could store many Marshall IIs. Nothing could really stop him from beating the DLG and taking their goods.

The problem was that acting against them would lead to many tian deaths.

Eldridge didn’t have much of a problem with that on its own, but it would have negative side effects for him.

If his actions here led to the deaths of any passengers—many of whom were Caldina’s upper class—things might go badly in the future. He could even end up on the wanted list, or at least the trader blacklists, which would make it impossible for him to sell the Marshall IIs here in Caldina.

The grudge he’d invoke from killing so many tians might even make him a prime target for hired mercenaries like the Superior Killer.

Taking such risks into consideration, Eldridge waited for the right time to strike with all the care he could muster.

The best time would be the moment the people on the ship begin fighting back. As long as he wasn’t the first to strike, Eldridge thought, it would all work out.

During the chaos and conflict that would unfold, he would steal as many Marshall IIs as he could.

The best outcome for him would be one where he avoided responsibility for this incident while still profiting off of it.

All I can do now is wait, Eldridge thought. I wonder where Fey is, though...

He’d already looked around the chaotic hall and seen Niala, but the other clan member was nowhere in sight.

There’s several kinds of jamming preventing us from using Telepathy Cuffs. How should I go about this...?

With timing being an important factor, coordination between them was invaluable. And while Eldridge might’ve been able to take the Marshall IIs, Fey and her Embryo were better suited for disarming the infantry.

I need to ask Niala or look for her myself...but we’ve been told not to move, so doing that could set them off, and—

“Hey, you’re Eldridge, right? King of Burglary?”

His thought was cut short by a sudden, spine-chilling voice in his head.

“Ngh...!” Eldridge stopped himself from lashing out purely by reflex and slowly looked around.

There wasn’t anybody suspicious close to him—everyone was actually cowering right now because of how stern Eldridge looked as he scanned his immediate surroundings.

But then, a fair distance away, he caught sight of someone who was looking right at him.

It was a man with a rotund, corpulent body—King of Revelry, Moneygold. He’d gotten Isara to connect with Eldridge using her wires, just as they’d connected to Hugo.

“I’m talking to you through an osteophony wire. Don’t touch your temple and speak without opening your mouth.”

That gaze and those words made Eldridge instantly understand how this communication worked. However, there were still things that didn’t make sense to him.

How does he know my name? Does Sefirot actually know our plans? Such suspicions whirled around in Eldridge’s head, but he needn’t have worried. Caldina had been the ones behind the Altean blockade in Altar, and Sefirot had simply been provided with details on all the PKs they’d hired for it—with the exception of the Superior Killer.

That was why Moneygold recognized Eldridge and noticed him in the crowd.

“I have a vague idea of what you’re after, but you shouldn’t do it just yet,” said Moneygold.

“I know,” replied Eldridge. Moneygold’s words made him even more alert, but as Eldridge himself had no intention of making a move yet, he had no objections to staying put.

“We wanna keep the casualties low, you see. If you’re gonna do it, match our timing and go after the ones we can’t.”

With that, Eldridge realized that Moneygold wanted him to join them in the counteroffensive.

That was something Eldridge would do gladly. If he mounted a counterattack on the orders of someone directly serving the Caldinan congress, there was no way Caldina would hold him responsible for whatever happened afterward.

Assuming Moneygold wasn’t planning to double-cross Eldridge and make him take the blame, this was a fantastic proposal.

However, Eldridge hid the fact that this would benefit him from Moneygold, instead replying with, “And what’s in it for me?”

If there was any advantage to be gained, Eldridge would go for it, and his experience and instincts told him there was still something more he could get out of this situation. In a way, he was letting his greed take the wheel, and in response...

“You won’t make an enemy of me.”

...he got only a few simple words that still spoke volumes.

The pronouncement left Eldridge speechless. It was borderline blackmail, but it was certainly worth the cost.

Eldridge was currently in a downward spiral after his repeated defeats at the hands of Superiors, and he certainly wanted to keep that from happening again.

Since it was Caldina who’d ordered the Altean blockade that had led to Goblin Street’s first failure, though, it could be said that Eldridge’s downward spiral had been caused by Moneygold’s faction in the first place. Eldridge, however, had no way of knowing that.

“Of course, that only applies if your group doesn’t go after the other passengers. Also...I’ll hook you up with a buyer who’ll pay full price for the stuff you farm up here.”

Eldridge liked that offer quite a bit. He still didn’t have any contacts in Caldina’s black market. If he could get one by cooperating with Moneygold, that would be well worth it.

There was no way Eldridge was going to refuse this proposal now.

“All right...I’ll play along.”

Thus, Goblin Street and Sefirot formed an alliance.

◇◆◇

Eltram, Commercial Area

DLG had taken control of Eltram.

Their primary target was the special ballroom, but many of their members had been sent to the other areas of the ship so they could suppress anyone who wasn’t participating in the ball—and take hostages to prevent anyone attempting a counteroffensive from the ballroom.

There was an elevator leading from the cargo area to the mall, and the mall was now occupied by DLG forces. Among them were several Marshall IIs and infantry that had split up and headed out to the passenger cabin area.

And there was someone watching all this unfold from behind one of the planters that decorated the commercial area.

Wow, there’s somethin’ pretty big goin’ on. The one hiding behind the planter was Fey—the girl who’d rushed here to buy a deodorant item. Currently, she was using Presence Manipulation—a skill available to jobs from both the onmitsu and thief groupings—to keep herself concealed. It wasn’t strong enough to make her truly impossible to notice, but it was good enough to keep her from being spotted as long as she remained still.

Those have gotta be what we’re after. That means we’re eatin’ good tomorrow too!

The Marshall IIs passing by were beginning to look like bags of money to her—but as things were, she was counting her chickens before they hatched.

Man, they really seajacked this ship, huh? Looks like the info I got in that back alley wasn’t wrong, Fey thought, proudly nodding to herself over a job well done.

But then she silently gasped and looked up as though she’d just realized something important.

We’re in a desert, so this isn’t a seajack, but, like...a desertjack, I guess.

As it turned out, what she’d realized wasn’t important in the slightest.

What now, though? I ain’t very smart, so I don’t really know what to do by myself. I wanna go back to the ballroom and ask, but I feel like I’ll be found if I move...huh?

As she looked around the mall, she noticed something strange.

It was a golden, dragon-headed Magingear. Accompanied by two other units and some infantry, it was in the process of leaving the mall and moving somewhere else.

That one sure is flashy. It looks like a boss. I wonder if our leader could take it... It’s goin’ somewhere, though. Hmm...

Fey felt that losing sight of that particular prize would be bad.

I’ll make one follow it, she thought before poking the back of her left hand, which was emblazoned with a crest showing countless hands reaching out for something.

A moment later, a semitransparent liquid flowed and dripped out of the crest.

Gespenst No. 1! Follow goldie over there! The liquid shook a little, then slid along the floor in the direction of the golden unit.

Wait—oh yeah. I can use this to contact our leader. I’ll make No. 2 send a message.

She poked the crest again, making more liquid drop out of it.

“In the mall. Orders, please.” There. This is like a secret message just between the two of us...eh heh heh heh...

All smiles, Fey wrote a short text and placed it on the semitransparent liquid mass she’d called No. 2, which then began to slide toward the special ballroom.

Phew. Now I just have to wait. This is the point where Niala would say something like “There’s an oriental idiom that goes ‘Fortune comes to those who rest.’”

Fey was satisfied with the work she’d done just now...

“Hey, a slime or something like that just came out of those planters.”

“Whoever you are, you better show yourself or we’ll shoot!”

...but her satisfaction was short-lived, as she was soon discovered and found herself in the crosshairs of multiple guns.

◇◆◇

Eltram, Special Ballroom

At the ballroom, Moneygold, Hugo, Isara, Eldridge, and Niala—who was added to the communication loop on Eldridge’s suggestion—were discussing their plan of attack through Isara’s wires.

DLG’s soldiers occasionally passed the places the wires were spread, but Isara carefully manipulated them so that they weren’t pulled out or spotted.

“So when do we start?” Eldridge asked.

“When conflict springs up in a different area of the ship,” Moneygold replied. “If whoever’s fighting back is successful, the casualties both here and there will be minimized. And if the DLG’s warning wasn’t a bluff, we’ll know exactly how they’ll act.”

This plan made it possible for the counteroffensive to begin on two fronts, which would likely result in fewer casualties. And since the conflict would start elsewhere, they’d be able to reasonably say that they were fighting to protect the hostages from the DLG. Both Eldridge and Moneygold had the same thought.

“But there’ll still be lots of casualties in every block, right?” asked Hugo, unable to fully accept the plan.

“Who knows?” Moneygold replied. “The DLG is made up of deserters from Dryfe’s First Armored Battalion, and Dryfe already revealed their names and numbers. There aren’t even two hundred of them in total.”

The imperium had exposed the members of the DLG to make it clear that whatever the group would do in other lands, it was unrelated to their country of origin.

“That’s not a small number, but this ballroom alone has over fifty of their infantry and a dozen of their Marshall IIs. Considering the importance of these hostages, this must’ve been where they focused most of their forces, so there’s probably not as many of them in other parts of the ship.”

Moneygold was right. Purely by numbers, about four-fifths of the DLG was present in this single location. Their strongest—Curtis—might not have been there, but that didn’t change the fact that protecting this room would be the safest thing to prioritize if they wanted to minimize casualties.

“And frankly—to Caldina, the people here in this ballroom are way more valuable than everyone outside it.”

“Moneygold...!” The Superior’s cold and calculating words filled Hugo with rage. It was a miracle that he managed to avoid actually shouting Moneygold’s name out loud.

“Calm down. Moneygold, you’re acting like an asshole. And Hugo Lesseps, you’re getting too worked up.”

The one who stepped in to break things up between the two—or rather, to calm Hugo’s growing anger with Moneygold—was Eldridge.

“Hugo Lesseps,” Eldridge continued. “The reason Moneygold is waiting for someone outside this hall to fight back before making our move is because fewer people are likely to get hurt that way. Otherwise, we would’ve already taken action. Right?”

Moneygold did nothing but smile with his flabby cheeks, but that seemed like a “Yes.”

“More importantly, we should think of what we’ll actually do when it’s time to act. We can’t predict when the conflict outside will start. We need to at least come up with a simple plan before that happens.”

“That’s true...” Eldridge’s words calmed Hugo down, and he nodded in agreement.

I don’t know who he is, but he’s really composed and has good judgment, Hugo thought. Unlike Moneygold, he hadn’t been informed about Eldridge’s identity. Is he the leader of some powerful Caldinan clan or something?

“I have a good idea of how we’ll do this,” said Moneygold as he looked at the four walls of the ballroom. “I’ll delete everyone in front of the walls ahead of me and to my right.”

Those words were spoken with absolute certainty.

“I’ll also tank their attacks,” he continued. “We’ll catch them off guard by striking first. While they’re out of it, Isara will take the ones behind me, while Eldridge and his clan member will handle the ones to my left.”

“Understood,” said Isara.

“Three Marshall IIs and sixteen infantry, huh?” said Eldridge. “Sounds good to me. Niala, you take out the infantry that’s far away from the Marshall IIs.”

“Roger that!”

We’re gonna catch less prey, but we got no choice, Eldridge thought. The six units Moneygold will go for are gonna be gone, but if I can, I’ll also try to grab the three left to the Fullmetal Princess.

“What about me?” Hugo asked, realizing that he hadn’t been mentioned.

“You’re on standby,” said Moneygold. “Since Cyco’s skill won’t be effective here, we’ll hold it back for a situation where it’s useful. They don’t seem to care much about the passengers themselves and still haven’t noticed us, so that’s the best course of action for now.”

“You gotta be really careless to not notice a Superior,” said Eldridge, who knew firsthand how fearsome Superiors were.

With the DLG, though, this attitude was only to be expected. They only knew Superiors from the civil war, when Splendida—the one they hired—ran away without defeating King of Beasts—and Behemot, too, was unable to defeat Splendida. Because of that, they had a tendency to severely underestimate Superiors in general.

Furthermore, the usefulness of Masters in war had only really become obvious to the world during the First Knight-Machine War, which had been sparked by Imperator Reinhard, whom they hated, after the group had already left Dryfe.

Because of all this, the members of the DLG were in the unusual position of just not realizing how fearsome Superiors actually were.

Once the plan had been laid out and silence settled over them once again, Eldridge thought, It’s a rough strategy, but it should work out. We can deal with the ones we were tasked to handle, and I’m sure the same goes for the Fullmetal Princess. Honestly, Moneygold alone could probably take care of them all.

Eldridge had realized Moneygold’s intentions the moment he said he’d handle the ones before the front and right side walls. Eldridge had already memorized the ship’s structure, and he knew that there was nothing beyond those walls but the outside.

That alone explained everything.

“So the only problem left is whether anyone else will actually fight back.” Eldridge was concerned about the scenario in which no one outside the ballroom launched a counteroffensive, giving them no chance to act.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” said Moneygold. “Eltram is surrounded by escort vessels. They’re all made for combat and have hired Masters to protect this ship. Even discounting them, this ship itself probably has plenty of Masters with a strong sense of justice, but not enough brains.”

“...I see,” said Eldridge. The comms jamming alone made it clear to the escort vessels that something was wrong. It was possible that the vessel’s guards would take action—and even if they didn’t, some Master or other was likely to do something. That was always how it went with incidents like this.

“And we can’t forget the time bomb that’s probably around here too,” Moneygold added.

“Ah...”

Hugo instantly realized what the Superior meant, but Eldridge didn’t, and the word alone put him on edge.

“The time bomb? What are you talking about?”

“It’s possible that the Murder Princess...Emily Killingston is somewhere on this ship,” Hugo said.

“What?!” That name belonged to the most fearsome PK in the whole continent, and just hearing it unexpectedly was enough to fill Eldridge with shock.

“What are the chances of this happening...? Is this really just karma...? Why would there be three Superiors here now, of all times...?”

Eldridge couldn’t help but mumble to himself, and he said something the others could not ignore.

“Three? What do you—” Moneygold tried to ask, but he couldn’t get an answer before something happened.

The comms carried by the soldiers keeping watch on the ballroom suddenly blared out an emergency siren.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they instantly realized that it must have been caused by exactly the thing they’d been discussing—a conflict on a different part of the ship.

It’d happened earlier than they expected, but they weren’t about to miss this chance.

They all launched into action before the soldiers could even raise their weapons.

“Do exactly as we planned,” Moneygold said before standing up and rushing to a location in the room that was free of other passengers.

“What?! Take aim, men!” The soldiers were quick to react. Moneygold was clearly showing resistance, so they all trained their sights straight at him.

However, drawing their focus was exactly what Moneygold wanted. That prevented them from attacking the other passengers, and let him do something more important.

“FIRE!”

Moneygold had no cover to speak of and was fully exposed to the DLG’s weaponry. The Marshall IIs were equipped with pre-ancient weaponry presented to them by their collaborator, Crys Fragment. They fired shells that rivaled Crimson Spheres in destructive power, and all of them were heading straight toward Moneygold.

Those shells would be enough to instantly kill even endurance-focused high-rank jobs, and Moneygold’s END wasn’t any better than his AGI.

He would certainly die if they were to hit him.

“The Untouched Land of Gold—Jipangu.”

But they wouldn’t.

Explosions and smoke surrounded the place where Moneygold was standing. However, beyond the fiery-gray wall, the soldiers saw golden and silver lights.

The sounds of the explosions were mixed with the pleasant sound of metal clinking against metal.

And when the smoke cleared, they saw Moneygold still standing there—completely unharmed.

At his feet there were piles of gold and silver.

“Thank you for the funding,” he said with a grin spreading across his round face. “But I am already wealthy. I’m not the one who receives, but the one who gives.”

He then took one of his wallet Inventories and turned it upside down.

“So...let me give you something.”

The piles of gold and silver around him grew even taller.

Next, Moneygold held up his hand in the shape of a gun. Like a little boy playing a game, he pointed the two fingers mimicking the barrel toward the wall in front of him—and the soldiers before it.

“Charge: 20,000,000.” Moneygold stomped on the floor, making the coins around him jump off the floor...

“Treasure Cannon.”

...and then fly toward the soldiers ahead.

A moment later, several lights and sounds filled the space—shining gold, sparkling silver, shock waves, tearing, crushing, and screams of death that lasted for but a moment.

In less than a second, the scenery of the hall changed completely.

The wall in front of Moneygold had vanished. Both the soldiers and the Marshall IIs that had stood there were gone, as well. It had all disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a hole through which the desert outside could be seen, covered in the veil of night.

“Wha—huh...?” The scene left the other soldiers paralyzed with shock, and Moneygold didn’t miss the opportunity.

“Treasure Cannon.”

He fired again, this time scattering the soldiers before the wall to his right.

In just a few seconds, half of the DLG forces present were completely obliterated.

“Flawless victory” did not even begin to describe it—Moneygold had crushed them like insects.

This was all possible because of Moneygold’s status as King of Revelry, and his Superior Embryo—Type Another Rule, Impregnable Golden Bastion, Jipangu.

Jipangu was an Embryo from the Territory tree focused on but a single function. The skills it had developed were direct upgrades to the ones it had possessed since its creation, and the ultimate was no exception. In a way, it was like Logan Goddhart’s Rumpelstiltskin.

And this sole power that Jipangu focused on was the transformation of damage into money.

This Embryo went beyond mere damage absorption by turning the damage it absorbed into currency. Using it drained a set amount of MP over time, but while it was active, it turned any damage received into money, no matter how great the amount. It was costly and thus couldn’t be channeled for too long, but not a single point of damage could touch Moneygold while it lasted.

This defensive power was among the greatest in Sefirot, surpassed only by that of Carl Lourlou the Multifariously Invincible and AR-I-CA the Blue Sky Songstress.

However, if it only possessed this single skill, that would make this Embryo only good for defense—and even then it would have the glaring flaw of expiring if given enough time.

That was why Moneygold also had a means of attack.

This was the skill that had made the enemies vanish—the ultimate job skill of King of Revelry, Treasure Cannon.

King of Revelry was the Superior Job of the playboy grouping, which focused on spending money, and the effect of its ult was simple—it launched an explosive attack that grew in power depending on the money spent.

1,000 lir created a 1,000 lir attack, 10,000,000 lir created a 10,000,000 lir attack, 100,000,000,000 lir created a 100,000,000,000 lir attack, and so on.

Not even Moneygold himself knew if there was a limit to how powerful it could be.

Defense that could create endless gold, and an offense that grew in potential without end—this was the heart of Moneygold’s power.

“And that’s that,” Moneygold said as he took out a cigar, and Isara—who was already next to him—cut off the tip using her metal-covered fingers.

Isara had already taken care of the soldiers she was entrusted with. She’d used her power over metal to turn the guns they wielded into shackles and the Marshall IIs they piloted into coffins.

And though they were a bit slower, Eldridge and Niala also stole the three Marshall IIs and defeated the infantry they had been tasked with. The Martial II units were sent directly to Eldridge’s Inventory, leaving the pilots poised as if still in the cockpit before they fell to the ground, thoroughly confused.

“You do your job well, huh?” said Moneygold.

“Thanks to the show you put on, I had enough time to load up another robbery,” Eldridge said. The King of Burglary skill meant for stealing items, Greater Pickpocket, could be loaded onto both hands at once, but after being used on two of the units, it had to be reloaded.

However, thanks to everyone’s attention being focused on Moneygold, Eldridge was easily able to ready another Greater Pickpocket and take the third as well. He even had enough leeway to take some of the infantry’s gear too.

The combined panic from the siren over their comms devices and the disappearance of their comrades had made the theft especially easy.

Well, that’s the ballroom cleaned up, Eldridge said. I guess we’ll go support the other areas now. It’d be great if we could get some more of those Marshall IIs...

Three was already a good haul, but Eldridge wanted to make the most of this opportunity.

It’s pretty clear that Moneygold’s gonna ask me to keep cooperating, he thought as he glanced at Moneygold. As a member of Sefirot—the clan directly serving the congress—Moneygold was explaining the situation to the passengers in the ballroom.

But even if I’m cooperating with him, I don’t know what the other two Superiors are planning, Eldridge thought. If I can avoid it, I really don’t wanna fight them...though, I wonder who started that other conflict anyway. If that leads to anybody dying, they could be held responsible...hm?

Suddenly, Eldridge felt something poking his foot and looked down to see what it was.

It was a familiar Embryo—Fey’s Gespenst No. 2—carrying a message in Fey’s handwriting that said, “In the mall. Orders, please.”

If Eldridge had been speaking out loud, this would’ve rendered him silent. What if Fey was actually the one who started the fight? A cold sweat began to form on his brow.

If that was the case, they could be held responsible instead, and his cooperative relationship with Moneygold would fall apart.

Eldrige moved at supersonic speeds as he took the message and waved Gespenst No. 2 away, wordlessly telling it to “Go back! Hurry!”

“Is anything the matter?” Hugo asked, noticing the sweat dripping down Eldridge’s face.

“No, it’s nothing. Anyway, we gotta support the other areas, right? Let’s go,” Eldridge replied before he and Niala—who immediately grasped the situation just from seeing his expression—headed straight toward the ballroom’s exit.

Hugo had also decided that it was time to check the situation elsewhere, so he followed after them.

They looked back at Moneygold, who responded with a nod and also began to move toward the exit. He was done with his explanation to the people, and he’d entrusted the defense of the ballroom to the other Masters here.

Thus, their first battle on this ship ended as quickly as it began, and they all exited the scene.

However, none of them had any idea that this would be their easiest battle within Eltram.