Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 21 - Chapter Ep

Conjunction: From the Depths

Imperial Capital, Vandelheim

In the heart of the imperium’s capital, there was an immense mechanical structure—Throne of the Imperium, Dryfe Imperstand.

It was a fortress that doubled as Dryfe’s palace, and tripled as their oldest and strongest weapon. All of the imperium’s political activity was centered in it and around it.

It could even be said that if the Imperstand fell, so would Dryfe itself.

In a silent office within the Imperstand, there was a single woman sitting with her eyes closed.

Her name was Claudiah Reinhard Dryfe. Publicly, she was the sister of the imperator as well as Dryfe’s strongest martial artist—The Ram.

In reality, she was the imperator, as well as the imperium’s greatest engineer—King of Machines—and even held the title of Imperator Machina.

She was the bearer of multiple lives as well as her many titles.

There were two special things about her that made her capable of this.

First, it was her own talents as a “High-End.”

Most of those who were called by this term were the rare individuals who stood out among their kind for the natural talents that had manifested in them. High-End Dragons were a major example, although there were cases when the title was given to created monsters like undead.

However, job holders—tians—that were considered High-Ends only came about once every several centuries, and perhaps it was this rarity that made them stand out among their kind far more than the High-Ends of monster species.

Master avatars had an affinity for all jobs, but tian High-Ends often possessed talents so far outside the norm that it dwarfed even that advantage. In addition to that, these High-Ends were gifted with vast amounts of information about the world.

Claudiah was the High-End tian of this era, and that was why she could be both The Ram and King of Machines, bearing Superior Jobs both martial and technological.

Right now, this paragon of unspeakable talent was sitting on a chair in a lightless office, eyes closed as if sleeping, immobile and silent as the dead.

This was a kind of contemplation or meditation—but despite appearances, she wasn’t doing it alone.

Within her, a discussion raged between two people.

“The limit has almost been reached,” one said. “I wonder if Altimia will agree to our suggestion.”

“It will be optimal if she does—for us, and for her.”

The people talking were both Claudiah, but the personality—the program—was different.

This was the second special thing that made her what she was—the ability to shape her personality.

Ever since Claudiah was young, she had possessed the talent to create new personalities that were better suited for specific goals. It wasn’t clear if this ability came from her nature as a High-End or if it was merely a talent she happened to have, but she’d used it to create several personalities.

The first of them was Reinhard. It was the oldest personality, as well as her base. With just a few modifications, this personality had become fit to be both a politician and an engineer. He was a brother for Claudiah, the holder of the job King of Machines, and the imperator who wished to save Dryfe and make it thrive.

The second one was Claudiah herself. Born through modification of her inner self following her meeting with the First Princess of Altar, Altimia, this served as her current main personality.

Claudiah was Dryfe’s strongest martial artist—a combatant of unbelievable skill. She was a sister, the holder of the job The Ram, and Altimia’s friend.

There was a third one, but it could barely even qualify as a full personality. It was a shapeless thing that was more like an aggregate of the information the first two had acquired as a High-End.

This proto-personality provided directives that had to be fulfilled for the sake of the world—one of which was the defeat of The Evil. It was more of a duty than a person, but it was certainly not something Claudiah could ignore.

Claudiah Reinhard Dryfe’s mental activities were a discussion between these three. This was true even when deciding what actions to take against Altar.

Reinhard the imperator. Claudiah the friend. All the information available to both of them as a High-End. They would each gauge their goals, and Reinhard, specialized in strategy, would craft a plan to achieve them.

This was why their operations were primarily focused on ensuring that Dryfe thrived, but the will of the other two was never completely ignored. That meant their actions oftentimes ended up being less optimal than they could be.

If they truly wanted to do what was best as an imperator, they would have either shown Altar less mercy or been more considerate of Altimia. However, as her friend, Claudiah would make some actions slightly more gentle than they had to be, while the information provided by the High-End sometimes pushed for being truly merciless toward the kingdom that most likely harbored The Evil.

This was a conflict that existed because Claudiah was who she was, and cutting off any part of her would make her stop being her.

Without Reinhard, the dying Imperium would be unable to survive—and without Claudiah, she would have no reason to live on as a person. And if she was to ignore the directive provided to her by her instincts, the world would fall apart and end.

That was why they had no choice but to proceed while somehow appeasing all three, no matter what failures it led to.

“If she refuses the War Game I suggested—Tri-Flags—that would mean our only option is a standard War—a nonconsensual, indiscriminate conflict that would last until one side was eradicated,” Reinhard said. “I’m certain she already knows well that that is the worst-case scenario.”

“That’s true.”

The postwar acts of Dryfe-sponsored terrorism in Gideon, Quartierlatin, and Altea, the warlike conflict that had broken out between Caldina and Granvaloa... Altimia must have reached one particular conclusion based on these things. That conclusion could only be that Masters who still had available save points posed an immense danger.

Masters who came back from death in just three days were, in a way, suicide bombers that never truly died. If they were Superiors, sending them to battle every time they came back was akin to dropping a nuclear bomb on the enemy country every three days.

Becoming aware of this reality would make it clear that traditional War was an awful idea. It would be a painful conflict of attrition where both sides would gradually lose everything except their Masters.

The most logical solution to this problem was the War Game that Reinhard had proposed—a winner-takes-all War that involved only their inexhaustible Masters. At the very least, this option would prevent both countries from losing their people or resources. If Altar won, Dryfe could do nothing to resist as the kingdom took whatever they wanted. If Dryfe won, they’d acquire vast food resources and bolster their Master count enough to stand against Caldina and other nations—not to mention that they would gain the opportunity to take action against the most pressing issue of all. They would even be able to make the kingdom accept conditions more taxing than the ones they’d tried to push for during the peace talks.

“If we win under these rules, all of our desires will be fulfilled,” Reinhard said. “The imperium would be out of its predicament, Altimia would still be alive, and we will be able to search Altar for The Evil and do away with it.”

“This would be far easier if it were just the first two.”

Indeed—it was because of The Evil—the reset device left behind by the Infinite Jobs—that Claudiah’s and Reinhard’s goals had become so immensely difficult to accomplish.

Because it automatically grew as it absorbed the Resources of the dead, The Evil would no doubt awaken if ignored. It was like a time bomb whose explosive power constantly grew as its timer ticked down.

That was why Reinhard had decided that it had to be eliminated as soon as possible, even if it meant acting in haste. After all, the info they had as a High-End had already told them that The Evil had been born.

“That is also the main source of the conflict with the previous king. The country born through the destruction of The Evil turned out to be the least aware of the threat that it poses. It’s as if someone purposely tampered with their information,” said Reinhard.

Before the previous War, Reinhard had used a hotline to have a discussion with King Eldor. He’d requested that Altar provide Dryfe with food, while also speaking of The Evil and the GAME OVER that it would awaken.

However, the kingdom was oblivious to most of what Reinhard had said about The Evil. While they knew a great deal about Sacred King and the others who had defeated it, they were so thoroughly unaware of the true power and nature of The Evil that it seemed strange. Their knowledge didn’t go far beyond the vague outline of “a powerful entity with many dependents that claimed the ruins of King of Kings’ capital once he was gone.”

This created a major difference in awareness between Eldor—who knew little—and Reinhard—who had immense knowledge as a High-End.

And when Reinhard had said that he would find The Evil and deal with it, the king had asked, “How far are you willing to go to kill The Evil—this creature of legend?”

Imagining the worst-case scenario, Reinhard had this to say in response: “Worst comes to worst, I would have to kill every inhabitant of at least one city—most likely Altea.”

Needless to say, the king didn’t agree to that, and he likely would not have even if he understood the threat as well as Reinhard did. The proposal was simply that outrageous.

However, Reinhard could not lie about this matter. The two countries had exchanged a covenant that prevented them both from using the hotline to speak falsehoods.

That was why Reinhard had been honest about how far he would go to solve this problem—and it was precisely because it wasn’t a lie that Eldor decided to end the alliance between Dryfe and Altar. Perhaps he thought that Reinhard was a delusional madman driven by the imagined threat of The Evil, but there could have been any number of reasons behind that decision.

“If we can’t find The Evil by searching for it, we have no choice but to eliminate the entire area where we believe it to be,” Claudiah said. “The tians of modern times cannot win against The Evil of this generation.”

Even the previous The Evil had required the combined power of the strongest tians from the western side of the continent. The overall power of tians had only dropped since, and many Superior Jobs had since been claimed by Masters. Claudiah was a High-End, yes, but this enemy was too great even for her.

The Evil grew stronger with every generation, and this one would no doubt be the strongest ever seen.

“Perhaps King of Kings might have put up a direct fight against it.” While this wasn’t a Special Superior Job, it was a Superior Job with extremely strict conditions—but the fact that Reinhard would bring up this one-of-a-kind tian powerhouse made it clear just how desperate the situation was.

“With her final contact, Zeta confirmed to have seen something that looked like The Evil within the capital. In a way, this may be a worst-case scenario, but it should lead to a better result than the one promised by the GAME OVER.”

What Reinhard wanted to learn by attacking Altea was The Evil’s location. The Evil automatically retaliated against attacks, so he expected to find it by committing an act of terror in the capital—its most likely location.

Of course, initiating combat around The Evil came with the risk of increasing its level and maybe causing it to unlock some skills. But if it was still in its early stages, knowing its location would be enough for Reinhard to find a way to counter it.

“But we haven’t heard from Zeta since then,” Reinhard pointed out.

“Indeed. We haven’t received information from her, and it’s unclear how the preparations for plan C went. But if we have confirmation for that, we will be able to be a bit more forceful about initiating Tri-Flags.”

None of Claudiah’s facets had heard from Zeta—the one who’d led the assault on Altea—ever since they talked after the battle during the peace talks, and she thought that perhaps Zeta might have gotten the death penalty and been sent to the gaol. When she’d had Behemot check the internet on the other side, however, she hadn’t found anything that suggested that. The Masters posting guides and other information about the gaol mentioned that a sudden virus had spread and given everyone there the death penalty, and that the café owned by a Superior had gone on break, but there was nothing about Zeta.

Where she was and what she was doing were completely unknown. Until that was clear, Claudiah had to think about how to proceed with the Tri-Flags negotiations. And while that was in limbo, Dryfe had invited two more Superiors to join them, while Altar was trying to grow stronger through their Tournaments.

It was worth noting, though, that Behemot was bound by a contract with Tsukuyo Fuso where she’d received healing in exchange for promising not to fight for a month after the peace talks had ended.

“As long as we don’t know what the others are planning, we can’t remain inactive for long.” As mentioned before, the biggest reason Claudiah wasn’t able to take the most optimal course of action was because her three goals conflicted in one way or another. However, the problem extended far beyond Claudiah Reinhard Dryfe’s inner world.

She made her moves according to what she saw on the board. However, the board was now covered in Masters—people who were more or less unbound, yet had immense power that made them practically walking bombs.

Among them, there was the piece known as “Ray Starling,” who might break her—and Dryfe’s—plans without even being aware that he was playing on a game board at all.

These pieces that Claudiah could not account for were nothing but nuisances in her eyes.

And of course, there were others who looked down at this same board and played just as she did, oftentimes getting in her way.

They all watched the board from a different position than Claudiah, making their own moves.

The “player” in the kingdom of Altar had always been the Arch Sage—or to be more precise, the ones who had roots in the long-gone pre-ancient civilization. Driven by vengeance, their goal was to eliminate the current custodians, and they showed little care about the damage they would bring upon this era.

The previous Arch Sage had died in a battle against Claudiah’s friend, Behemot, but he had already been replaced by his successor. Arch Sage Flagman had always passed down his will and knowledge to the most promising of his disciples, and the Arch Sages had long been accompanied by entities that supported them—Crystal Tuners. They were no doubt scattered here and there, doing various covert operations that would further their goals.

The second player was the custodians that the Arch Sage was trying to defeat.

It wasn’t clear how much they knew or what their goals were. Not even a High-End like Claudiah had any information about these mysterious outsiders.

The information she’d been granted contained nothing about Masters either.

Because of this, she knew that these custodians were entities from a different game that had joined after the current one began.

Because of this, she knew that they were alien beings who could do nothing against The Evil.

Because of this, she didn’t know what their limits were—or what would set them off.

She didn’t know their rules, and it wasn’t clear to her what would drive them to kill someone.

It was because of this that after the battle at the peace talks was over, Claudiah couldn’t tell Altimia the details of what she knew. At the very least, their actions during The Era of the Peerless Three, as well as the many dangerous UBMs they’d dealt with in history, made it reasonable to assume their goal was to preserve the world.

But that had changed after Masters grew in number. The SUBMs that had appeared since, as well as their lack of action concerning Irregularities such as Corpse Stronghold, threw doubt on that position.

And then there was one more player with a hand upon the board—the final and perhaps the closest thing that Claudiah had to a true enemy.

“I’m especially curious about the actions of the witch. The many incidents in Caldina, the clash with Granvaloa... I do not believe for a moment that she didn’t foresee that these things would put her country in jeopardy,” Reinhard said.

The president of Caldina, the woman often called a “witch”—La Place Phantasma. Said to have the power to see the future, she was, in a way, a player in this game who was more mysterious than even the custodians. Looking at how things had played out so far, she was one of the reasons for Dryfe’s current dire state, and she was now pushing it toward war. Additionally, she had many Masters under her command.

When all was considered, it seemed like she was planning to eventually take control of the entire world.

However, there was something that didn’t add up.

If she wanted Caldina to thrive, there must’ve been better ways to go about it. The clash with Granvaloa was the thing that stood out the most in that regard—how did a country that prospered through trade benefit from taking part in such a conflict?

And for someone who seemed to possess supernatural foresight...she really seemed to be very hands off when it came to the incidents caused by the Treasurebeast Orbs that had spread throughout Caldina. Instead of stopping the incidents themselves, she’d let Sefirot take care of the mess after they’d already happened.

It almost seemed as though her goal was to increase casualties.

Claudiah’s powerful brain had tried to find a reason for the president’s strange behavior, but she didn’t have enough information to arrive at a good answer.

“Perhaps she died and was replaced by someone else?” she suggested.

“Like how I replaced our late brother?” Officially, Reinhard was the imperator as Claudiah’s twin brother, Reinhard Claudiah Dryfe. After the real Reinhard died in an act of terrorism when they were young, Claudiah’s Reinhard personality had acted as a suitable replacement.

“Perhaps an unforeseen accident claimed her life, but she prepared a replacement to act as though she’s alive and prevent the country from falling apart. That is not impossible, but...”

If that were true, then the witch’s replacement was incompetent. One could say that it was the reverse of Dryfe’s situation, where the real Reinhard had been an ordinary imperial child, while Claudiah was a High-End.

However, it was hard to imagine that someone who saw the future could die in a random accident. This made less sense the more Claudiah thought about it.

Letting out a breath, Reinhard—now the dominant personality—put an end to his considerations and returned to his duties.

He didn’t have to process information or discuss anything to be busy—he had mountains of imperator work to attend to.

With a wave of his hand, a magic light lit up the dark room. He then looked over the documents on his table, giving his approval and signing them.

But then, his eyes stopped on one piece of paper.

“Right, the kingdom’s Tournaments are about to enter the final day.” The paper contained information from DIN, showing the results of day nine—everyone who’d made it past the preliminaries and how each battle had ended. “There’s something strange about this Tournament, though...”

“Oh yeah, one of the UBMs escaped,” Claudiah remarked. Claudiah and Behemot both had heard of what had happened on day six.

However, Reinhard shook his head.

“That’s not what I mean, Claudiah.” While they possessed the same knowledge, Claudiah and Reinhard had different perspectives and thought patterns. That was why one could notice things the other didn’t. “You’ll notice that something isn’t right if you look at each day’s winners, as well as those who made it past the preliminaries.”

“Hm...?” Reinhard laid the nine Tournament charts on the desk. The ones at the top were either top ranking Altarian Masters, or ones who had solved various problems on Altar’s behalf, so nothing stood out as unusual.

“Besides the fact that it’s mostly familiar names from Altar, I don’t see anythi... Ohh.”

Claudiah finally realized what wasn’t right with these results.

Having reached a common understanding, Reinhard whispered within his mind.

“Well...I wonder who made this move.”

◆

Thus continued the secret conflict between the players who treated the world as their game board.

Conspiracies, strategies, demonic plots, and divine plans... Something that no mere pawn could measure was taking place in Altar—specifically, Gideon.

But it had to be noted that although there might have been a few “players” who directed the world as they wished, they certainly weren’t the only ones with influence over it.

There were countless people moving across the world, and there were many who acted with so little thought that these “players” couldn’t begin to compare. Naturally, some of them were irregularities—uncertain variables—that stood outside their plotting...

...and yet still had the power to flip the board.

◇◆◇

City of Duels, Gideon

Following the end of The Tournaments day nine, the city was overcome by a festive mood.

Actually, it had been like this for the entire period of the event. Countless duel fans could be seen talking about their favorite matches, betting winners were squandering their newfound fortunes, and the losers were drowning their sadness in booze.

The winner of today’s Tournament was a non-ranker—a man called Grimms, belonging to a group known as the Fairytale Squad. The other contestants were no joke, yet by some miracle this dark horse had won the day. Because of this, the betting sphere was far more lively than usual.

Even so, it was unlikely that the current mood would surpass how things would be tomorrow.

The next day was The Tournaments’ final one, a big event with a big prize—the right to challenge a Mythical UBM

Those who’d already been revealed as participants were Bishmal the Raging Blaze and Catherine Kongou of the Four Underworlds.

And most importantly, there was the Superior, Gideon’s king of duels—Over Gladiator Figaro.

There was no doubt that the spectators were in for a hell of a show on the next day. Because of this, there were many tourists and traders who were hurrying through the gates despite the late hour, rushing to make it to the final day.

“I’m here. I’m finally here!”

Among these new arrivals, there was a girl dressed somewhat strangely. She walked along the road linking Gideon to Legendaria, passing the south gate as she entered the city.

“It’s so lively. And it’s more developed than my hometown! That kind of annoys me!”

Her appearance was certainly eye-catching. She had light purple hair that reached down to her knees and spread voluminously across her shoulders. On her head, rising from between all this hair, were a pair of goat horns. A thin tail extended from her lower back, and her eyes were as golden as the moon hanging in the night sky.

Her appearance was more or less in line with a typical fictional devil girl.

“It’s festival season here too!” she said. “It looks so fun! I’m right on time!” Smiling broadly, the girl walked along the pavement. Despite it being night, she held a parasol that she poked into the stone, using it like a walking stick.

Strangely enough, she didn’t stand out from the crowd as much as she could have. Though her appearance wasn’t normal, it wasn’t out of the question for someone from Legendaria. Especially for a Legendarian with a crest on her left hand—a Master.

Since Gideon was a colorful city full of many races and Masters, she blended in it as though she had always been part of it.

“Eh heh heh. Where to start? What to do? I’ve never been to Gideon before. It’s so exciting! I’d love to see all the kinds of duels you can’t get in Legendaria, and I’d love to surprise brother dearest with a sudden visit. Oh, I also wanna try that popcorn I heard about.”

Like a teenager excited to have arrived at a popular tourist spot, she was the very picture of joy.

Such sentiments were also commonplace in this city. It didn’t make her seem unusual and blended into the excited crowd without issue.

“Oh, but first of all, before all that...”

But if there was someone who did look closer...if there was someone who could see her stats, currently hidden by her equipment, she wouldn’t be counted as one of the masses for long.

What was she, then?

The answer to that lay in the small crown, sitting proudly on top of her head.

One of her colleagues, so to speak—Overlord Acedia ZZZ—had once described her like so: she was...

“Where’s the guy who beat my brother? The one my dear King of Light is so infatuated with? Where’s Ray Starling?”

...the most “Overlord-ish” among them.

Thus, from the depths of Legendaria, came the second Overlord.

To Be Continued