Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 20 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: One Incident, Three Futures

Tetragrammaton

Tetragrammaton—the giant battleship IF used as their headquarters—cut through the desert sands.

After being Frozen during the battle in the energy zone, Rascal had barely escaped with his life. He was currently in his room on the ship. The Freeze had worn off about an hour after their retreat.

“Man, nothin’ about that went right. We couldn’t destroy or take the core. We got some good combat data, but we couldn’t get that guy to join us, which is what actually mattered. Emily lost one Youaltepuztli, so now she’s basically useless until it comes back. All the armor on Sardonyx needs replacement. And I got this...”

Rascal was sitting in the chair, leaning his head on his left hand. However, the right sleeve of the fresh suit he was wearing was just dangling empty.

Though the Freeze had worn off, his right arm, cut off by the Purgatorial Slash, hadn’t come back. He’d taken meds that made the wound close up, but it was lost from the elbow down.

“Looks like I’ll have to wait until Sechs escapes the gaol to treat this,” Rascal said. Complete loss of a body part could only be treated by the healing magic of Superior Jobs or respawning after taking the death penalty. But as a wanted man, Rascal wanted to avoid the death penalty at all costs, and the only Superior Job holder he could ask for a heal was Sechs, who was still in the gaol.

“Oh, right. He has The Saint, doesn’t he? I never actually met this ‘Trans Sexual Slime,’” said a voice right beside Rascal.

“Don’t talk about our leader like he’s a new monster type.” Rascal frowned; the way she’d phrased it, it kind of did sound like something that might exist in Dendro. “According to La Crima’s reports, our plans for Tenchi are progressin’ smoothly. Sechs should also get out before the season’s over. It ain’t comfortable, but I’ll deal with it until then.”

“Your leader also has my sister, doesn’t he? Diamond? Then I look forward to the day he and Gerbera escape.”

Prism Person No. 2, Diamond Slayer, was Sechs’s property and was currently in the gaol with him. As No. 1, Agate Designer was looking forward to meeting her sister for the first time in two thousand years.

“Oh. But can’t La Crima heal you too? She can even give you more arms than you had before, right?”

“Just so you know, I do care about how I look,” Rascal said as he thought of King of Flame, Lazburn, who’d been turned into the four-armed Ignis Idea, or King of Raids Morter, who’d become a humanoid bat with membranous wings.

If Rascal let La Crima treat him, ending up with one nonhuman arm would be the best possible result. Getting extra arms would be a bad one. And regardless of how it came out, they would do it out of the kindness of their heart.

“Body modding...big muscles...you could withstand my piloting...and have a body so tough we could go all night long!” Ignoring Rascal, who looked obviously unenthusiastic, Machina continued her delusional rambling.

“Well then. If ya got time to say stupid shit like that, maybe you got time to go out and scrub Tetragrammaton’s armor?”

“Whaaa?! C-Come ooon, I-I was just joking. Please don’t make me clean a three-hundred-metel-long battleship... With all the sand getting on it, I’ll never be done with it...”

“Fine, fine...anyway, ya done with the thing I wanted ya to do?”

“Oh—yes. Just a little finishing touch and...there! Done!”

Machina faced the work table again before turning around and showing Rascal what was on it. Lying there was a mechanical arm—the kind that would replace a lost arm of flesh—at the exact length to match Rascal’s missing limb.

“Anyway, here’s your prosthetic!” Machina said. “It’s very easy to use! You can move the fingers without even connecting it to your nerves. You just put it on!”

“That so? Good to know I won’t have to open up the wound, at least.”

Urged by Machina, Rascal took off his suit and put the prosthetic up to the stump of his right arm. A moment later, he had control of it. Moving it felt as natural as using his own hand.

“The skill and speed of your craftsmanship is as impressive as always.” Only about an hour had passed since he’d ordered her to make this. The quality and speed of her work was almost shocking.

“Feel free to praise me more!”

“Wow. Nice. Good job.”

“YAAAYYYY! A GLOWING REVIEW!”

“That’s good enough for you...?” Rascal asked. Machina had reacted so strongly to his lukewarm praise that it actually made Rascal feel a bit guilty.

“Oh! I have a good idea!” Machina said. “If we mechanize your entire body, you could handle my piloting and—”

“Don’t.” As Machina’s train of thought took a dangerous turn, Rascal stopped her with the most serious expression he could muster. “Let’s forget about that,” said Rascal. “By the way, do you want anythin’?”

“Huh?”

“I wanna thank you for this arm...and for helpin’ me escape after I was incapacitated. You’re my property and all, but that doesn’t mean I can’t reward you.”

“Is that love?! You’re finally showing me love! WOO-HOOO!”

“...So you want the reward or not?”

“I do! Just let me think!” Machina put her finger to her forehead and began to think intensely.

“Se...no, slee...no, lay with...no...”

“Are your circuits fried or something?” Everything out of her mouth was lewd, which actually made Rascal a little concerned.

Machina continued to think until...

“I got it!”

“That so? What do you want?”

“Please go on a date with me!” Machina clasped her hands in front of her chest, the stereotypical image of a girl summoning up all her courage.

“A night date?”

“You’re such a perv! Ugh! Is that all you ever talk about?!”

Silence. It took a lot for Rascal to stop himself from saying, “I’ll throw you overboard, ya piece of scrap”...and then actually doing it.

“I meant a normal date!” Machina insisted. “One where we dress nice, eat something tasty, and see pretty sights...a normal date!”

“That’s good enough for ya?”

“Yes! I’ve never been on one!”

“That so?”

“Does that make you think that I’m some unlovable hag who couldn’t get a date for two thousand years?”

“It doesn’t. Fine, I can do that. That’ll be your reward.”

Wouldn’t you be more like an antique than a hag, anyway? a part of him thought, but he didn’t say it out loud, instead simply agreeing to fulfill her wish.

“Huh? Seriously? I didn’t actually expect you to...YAAAAAYYY! SUCCESS!” Machina began jumping up and down with her arms in the air, expressing her joy with her entire being.

“A date, though, huh...? Well, I guess it’s doable if we just get more disguise accessories.”

With Machina’s item creation ability, they could easily make things that would be rare finds otherwise. And since the ones she’d made previously were now proven to work, there was no need to worry about any new ones.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Machina stopped jumping, faced Rascal again, and pointed at the prosthetic. “That arm has an extra feature.”

“A feature?”

“Bend the index finger twice and the pinky thrice.”

“Hm?” Rascal did as told and bent the fingers.

A moment later, the hand detached itself from the wrist and sped forward like a rocket, slamming into the wall facing the hallway and leaving a dent.

Silence. Rascal looked at the now-handless prosthetic, then at the damage on the wall before thinking, What the hell?

“The hand can fly. I call it the ‘rocket hand’!”

“And the point of it is...?”

“It’s a hidden weapon!”

“You know there aren’t that many people who can be hurt by a weapon that just dents a wall, right? It’s barely a distraction.” Rascal was actually quite surprised, but he did his best to remain calm as he said that.

“Oh. No no no, you got it wrong. Now try twisting the arm right two times and left four times.”

Silence. I really don’t wanna, Rascal thought, yet did it regardless.

A moment later, a ray of light burst from the wrist, melting a hole in the wall.

“The wrist fires a beam!”

“That so? And? What are ya tryin’ to turn me into? Ya wouldn’t even see prosthetics this crazy in a kid’s comic.”

Using his remaining arm, Rascal pinched Machina’s cheek and looked at her with a steady gaze.

“B-But I made it so we match...”

“Your prosthetic does this too?” Rascal was aware that Machina had made herself a left arm to replace the one she’d lost while deactivated, but he had no idea that it could deliver rocket punches and fire laser beams.

Rascal looked at her, not saying a thing.

“U-Umm, does this mean you’ll punish me by...?” ...Canceling our date? she finished her sentence in thought, shivering and looking up right back at Rascal.

“Nah. It’s still happenin’. Fix this arm, though. The activation motion is too simple. I might trigger it by accident.”

“Ah. Okay.”

“Fix the wall too. And clean up around it.”

“R-Right!” With a salute, Machina instantly moved to clean and fix everything she’d been instructed to. He’s so nice today, she thought. Maybe it really is love? He even promised me a date.

Shortly after Machina began cleaning up, the bell at his door rang.

Rascal gave permission to enter, and Zhang stepped into the room. He’d come here to report about the girl he’d secured from Eltram—Doris.

While taking Emily and retreating, Zhang had also picked up Doris. Emily had entrusted him with her, and at that point, he’d believed that it was dangerous to leave her on the ship with the situation being what it was.

He hadn’t made the wrong choice by any means. A battlefield that involved a wide-scale extermination Superior, the remnants of the DLG, and the collapsing ship—there were multiple things that could endanger the girl’s life. Thus, he’d chosen to take Doris’s unconscious body away, thinking that he could just hand her in to some office or facility later.

“And? What’s she up to now?” Rascal asked.

“She woke up not long ago. She panicked at first, but some calming incense helped. Emily talking to her may have also played an important part in that, though.”

“Emily, huh...?”

“It turns out that the soldiers killed Doris’s father back there.”

“I see...” The two fell silent.

There was no way to sugarcoat it—IF had played a part in her father’s death. They were the ones who’d spread the Orbs, and once he had his hands on one, they were the ones who had led him to the ship that became his grave.

Without them, Doris’s father would’ve avoided getting involved in this whole incident. He might even still be alive.

“Don’t let it bother ya,” said Rascal. “The mission to protect him ended the moment he was on the ship. Ya didn’t mess up.”

“...But I still feel responsible,” said Zhang. “Making a girl that young into an orphan... I myself was like her once. And so was the lady I used to serve.”

Zhang spoke of the head of Mirage—the organization he had once been a part of. Zhang couldn’t help but be reminded of the group’s young boss, who must’ve been either imprisoned or executed by now.

“You know...for someone who was part of the criminal underworld, you’re way too much of a good guy.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, those words apply to you as well, do they not?” Zhang had gotten the feeling that Doris’s misfortune had affected Rascal as well.

“I wouldn’t say so,” Rascal replied. “I’m a miscreant who’ll put his goals over the lives of tens of thousands of faceless, nameless tians.”

After saying that, he looked through the window. Beyond it, there lay a vast desert—the land of Caldina. It was the land throughout which IF had spread the Orbs—the cause of many casualties. “I put the wishes of those dear to me over the lives of those same faceless, nameless people.”

“Rascal...”

His words might have seemed cold, but they weren’t. They meant that Rascal did feel a sense of responsibility toward those whose names and faces he knew. But his expression said that there were still things that had to be done, and he wouldn’t hesitate to do them.

“So...what will we do with Doris? Put her in an orphanage...?”

“Let’s not. She’s seen too much. And it’s possible that Caldina has an Embryo that can peek into tian memories.”

What would they do with her, then? The many years Zhang had spent in the underbelly of society made him imagine having to “silence” the little girl. He tensed up. “How’s Emily with her?”

“To put it briefly: she’s attached to her. While Doris is still somewhat perplexed, Emily is already treating her like a good friend.”

After hearing that, Rascal took a moment to think...

“Look after her, then. A friend that age may be exactly what Emily needs to develop properly.”

“Very well...” Zhang said, somewhat confused.

Rascal was mindful of Emily’s development, yet he sent her to dangerous situations where she could kill people or be killed herself. Zhang felt that this was extremely contradictory, but also that there was more to it—almost as if these two things were linked somehow.

“And when we’re ready to leave this land...we’ll hand her over to someone trustworthy,” Rascal said.

“Very well.” Having decided how to handle the girl, Zhang turned around and left Rascal’s room.

This makes me wonder, Zhang thought as he left. What is Rascal’s relationship with Emily, exactly?

It was clear that she was more than just a clan member to him. He obviously treated her differently than others. Rascal had first described the girl as if she was some kind of volatile material and regularly sent her to dangerous places. But by now, Zhang had watched them enough to know that Rascal was genuinely concerned about Emily.

Perhaps...the “wish” Rascal mentioned has something to do with her? Zhang wondered.

After Zhang left, Machina stopped the cleaning she’d been doing the entire time he was in the room. “By the way, I’ve been wondering about this for a while...” she said.

“Hm?”

“What is Emily to you? On the other side, I mean.” It was a similar question to the one Zhang was pondering, except it was focused not on their relationship here, but on their reality as Masters.

“What do you think?”

“Umm...uhh...ah! Wait! Is she your wife?!”

“Do you think I’m a goddamn sex offender...?” Rascal said with a thoroughly dumbfounded face.

“What is she to you, then?! I’m very curious!”

Machina’s question made Rascal think for a moment. He thought about whether or not to answer, and decided that he would.

“She’s a little sister...not mine, though.”

“Hm?”

“She’s my close friend’s little sister.”

“You had friends on the other side too?”

“Are you tryin’ to make me mad?” Rascal said, but it didn’t seem like he was any bit upset by the comment—even though he would be perfectly justified if he was. Instead, there was a wry grin on his face, and it seemed as though he was slightly taken by nostalgia. Perhaps the word “friend” was one that had a strong effect on him. “I was actually pretty social back when I was a student. Had no shortage of friends and acquaintances.”

“Well, I might’ve guessed.”

Rascal was by no means a bad communicator. If he had been, he wouldn’t be able to serve as the functional leader of a criminal clan or negotiate with various organizations.

“Still...there was only one person I could’ve called a close friend.” It was clear by now that this one close friend was Emily’s older brother.

“And this friend is...?”

“Already dead.” Rascal answered almost instantly—maybe he knew Machina would ask, or maybe it was the sort of memory that would’ve left him speechless if he let himself dwell on it too long. “He was murdered a few years ago.”

“So, you...”

Rascal said nothing more. As silence fell over the room, they could hear the faint voices of Emily and Doris drifting through the hole in the wall.

◇◇◇

Yuri Gautier

“Sonya...where does all the money go?”

“Didn’t I say the exact same thing recently?” It was Monday morning, and I was whining to Sonya while we ate breakfast.

“Wait, didn’t you say you were well off in Dendro?”

“That was in the past...” Ray had given me a share of the money he’d gotten for defeating the Gouz-Maise Gang, but that had finally dried up. This was because I’d given Niala ten million lir so she could use her Genocide Condor.

I still had some money on me. I personally could get by without the reward money just fine—but the sum wasn’t nearly enough to pay for Magingear repairs.

My White Rose was a luxury, one-of-a-kind Magingear, and now it was damaged so badly that I couldn’t even begin to describe the extent of it. Not a single part of it had escaped unscathed, so every ready-made part had to be replaced.

That alone was bad enough, but the real problem was White Rose’s original parts. When building it, Fran had given it a modest self-repair function, but this was so bad that it couldn’t fix itself completely.

That was why I couldn’t even imagine how much fixing it was going to cost.

“Don’t you have any way to make money?” Sonya asked.

“I’m gonna get paid soon...but I have no idea how much it’ll be...” Moneygold had said that I would be rewarded for my job as bodyguard, but I hadn’t asked the exact amount. He said that it would “satisfy” me, but I didn’t know if it would be enough to cover White Rose’s repair costs.

I sighed deeply. With my unit’s destruction and everything else, the whole incident had been a huge ordeal. However, I had at least gained something from it. By defeating the UBM, I’d gotten an MVP reward—an energy core called Mechdragon Heart, Imperial Glory.

I checked what it did and realized that it had two skills.

First was Perpetual Engine—Life and Death. The name was a bit unsettling, and I couldn’t read parts of the description because I apparently needed a special skill for that, but what I could read told me that it acted as an energy core that produced MP on its own.

Yes—it was just like the thing Imperial Glory had been equipped with before it became a UBM. I didn’t know the volume of the MP it produced, but equipping it could help solve White Rose’s energy issues.

The other skill was Mechsoul, and I couldn’t read it at all, so I’d put it aside for now.

I was really happy to get a core of my own. But there was another reason I was happy—one that had nothing to do with the MVP reward’s abilities.

It was the fact that the name survived. Imperial Glory—the result of the creativity and imagination of everyone from The Triangle of Wisdom. The name lived on, even as it became an MVP reward. I was a little happy that their hard work didn’t completely disappear.

And I felt that the MVP reward itself was proof that I didn’t give up...just like Ray back then.

“Hrm...you look pretty happy for someone who’s out of money,” said Sonya.

“Maybe I do... Oh! Breakfast time is almost over. We got sociology with Miss Nina first. Let’s hurry there.”

I tried to quickly clean up our tableware, but Sonya told me to slow down and said, “We got a message saying that we’ve got self-study in the library before that.”

“Why?”

“Because Miss Nina’s out today.”

“Huh?! Is she sick or something...?” I couldn’t imagine any other reason a teacher that strict wouldn’t come to work.

“I dunno. Heh...maybe she’s out on a date with some guy?”

“Hmm...I really doubt that.” Miss Nina, the serious and diligent ice queen, skipping work to go on a date? Yeah, I really couldn’t imagine that. But...

“But if it is that...it would be a pretty lovely date, huh?” I mused.

“Right?! There’d be so much passion in it!”

Sonya and I let our imaginations run wild.

◇◇◇

Caldina

It was the fourth day since the incident, in Dendro time. Eldridge was standing in a particular city in Caldina.

Though it was part of this desert country, it wasn’t one of the cities Eltram had stopped at. Goblin Street had agreed to save in this city and gather here at a set time if at least one of them got the death penalty. They’d settled on a place that wasn’t one of Eltram’s stops to make it harder for anyone investigating what had happened to track them down.

Surrounded by a crowd, Eldridge walked toward their meeting place as he thought back on the battle.

Fay had asked him to win, and Niala had truly believed that he would.

And yet, Eldridge had lost. He’d kept the upper hand throughout his entire fight against Emily, but when Zhang and Rascal got involved, he’d been instantly defeated.

He didn’t have any excuses for it, nor would he make them. It wasn’t a duel, but a PK battle. Third parties and unknown variables were a given.

He had been defeated. This was an unwavering truth.

Eldridge sighed. This was yet another one of his losses against a Superior—a betrayal of those who believed in him. If he was the man he was before he’d gotten on the ship—the man who’d felt cornered after all his recent defeats—this loss would’ve completely broken him.

But strange as it was, this particular defeat didn’t make him feel any self-loathing.

This must’ve been because he knew for sure that he’d fought using everything he had. His previous encounters with Superiors ended before they could even begin.

But this time, things had been different. This time, he’d managed to give his all for victory.

What dominated his heart now wasn’t the result of his defeat, but the process of the fight he’d given everything he had.

“Next time...” Eldridge muttered without even realizing he was speaking out loud.

But before he could finish that sentence, he spotted the terrace where they’d said to meet. It wasn’t yet the time they’d agreed on, but Niala and Fey were already there, having some tea.

“I wonder if he’s comin’ soon,” said Fey. “Wait, didn’t you have work today?”

“I took a break for personal reasons—for the first time ever.”

As they talked, Eldridge called out to them.

“Niala, Fey...sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Leader!”

“Good morning, leader.”

“Yeah...ngh...”

Eldridge stopped and thought about how to tell them that he lost. He considered apologizing, telling them he was sorry for not living up to their expectations, but Fey spoke before he did.

“Hey! You won, didn’t you?!”

Her words didn’t seem to have a single shred of doubt behind them.

“What makes you think that?” Eldridge hadn’t won, and he had no idea why Fey was assuming otherwise.

Fey then puffed out her chest and gave her reason.

“I can see it in your face!”

“My face?”

When Eldridge touched his face, Fey put on a smile and said, “You look just like you did back in Altar! So full of confidence!”

Those words made his eyes widen. That was something he himself had failed to realize. Eldridge had no idea that the repeated defeats against Superiors had affected his appearance that much.

And these two stuck with me even though they could clearly see how unconfident I was, huh? he thought, which almost made him tear up.

“What do you think?” he asked Niala, careful not to sound like he was about to cry.

“Well...” Niala spent a moment thinking...

“Me too. I like you as you are now.”

...and said that, mixing in a somewhat different meaning.

“Huh?! No fair! Me too! I like you too!” Feeling like Niala was running off, Fey also hurriedly revealed her feelings.

“Thanks, you two...”

The fact that they looked up to him so much almost made him tear up again, so he covered his eyes with his right hand.

That reaction made them realize that he didn’t understand that they were trying to describe the kind of affection a woman might feel toward a man.

But they didn’t care that much. After being down for so long, Eldridge was once again in high spirits. The two were simply happy that this trio had a future.

“I’d like to hear how you beat her!” said Fey.

“I didn’t, actually...I lost.”

Eldridge wiped away his tears, corrected Fey...

“But next time, not even a Superior will beat me.”

...and said those words with a smile on his face.

It was the smile of a person with nothing to be ashamed of—one more confident than ever before.

“You will!” the two girls said in unison, smiling themselves.

This day, they had no doubt made a comeback.

END