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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 22 - Chapter Ep




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Epilogue: Sea Light, Star Light

Paladin, Ray Starling

Right after Juliet fatally wounded G, we were sent straight back into the Eighth Arena.

Both the cylinder around it and the rising water were gone now. There was also no sign that the place had been submerged mere moments ago—it wasn’t even damp.

And in the middle of the stage stood Overlord Invidia. She was back in her original form, but the damage she’d sustained was still visible.

“I looost... That really did feel like a true boss monster’s defeat, though...”

She’s got no arms and a hole where her heart should be. How is she so lively? I wondered—before an answer came to me. “Do you have Death Soldier?” I asked.

“I do. I took it so I could be sure to save all my footage before I die.”

Well, that explained why she was still alive.

Wait, I just noticed that she’s using her legs to operate the magic camera console. Man, she’s dextrous.

Then, I realized that Juliet looked somewhat sad. G seemed to notice it too. “Oh? What’s wrong, Julie? What’s the matter, Julie?” she asked.

“I... I gave you the death penalty... That means you’re going to the gaol...” That clearly explained what was bothering her. While fighting G, Juliet must’ve been completely focused on the battle—the time limit and the circumstances didn’t allow her to think about anything else.

And now that we’d won, she’d realized what beating G really meant, which had made her upset. She felt guilty about sending her friend to the gaol.

There was one small issue with that, though...

“She’s not going to the gaol,” Chelsea and I said in perfect unison, denying Juliet’s concerns.

“Huh?”

“What? She pulls this kinda shit and she’s not wanted?” Juliet tilted her head, while Max became confused. I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t have known this either if I hadn’t watched her videos.

“Oh, she is,” said Chelsea. “She’s like public enemy number one in Legendaria.”

“Then why’s she not goin’?”

“She’s got an MVP reward that lets her bypass her wanted status and come back from her death penalties,” I said. If my memory served me, it was a mobile save point called “Sevenfall Eightrise,” and it let her come back from her death penalties eight times per year. I’d seen the video where she fought a music battle against Titania—she’d lost and died after it, but ultimately it had all ended with her coming back like nothing mattered.

“If you wanna know more, check out my video, ‘Super Useful Item! G Tries Something New!’”

She’s trying to get viewers even now! She’s really on that grindset! I thought, but then I realized something. “Wait. Why are you still alive? We Death Soldiers don’t get to live this long.” I was pretty sure that a minute had already passed.

“I got someone to make me an accessory that extends the duration by minutes!” First Harodihg Gnik, now this... Underground Sanctuary seemed to have some pretty good crafters.

“I’d actually love to have that too...”

“Our desires align... (Me too...)”

“You’re both way too excited about builds that involve dyin’.”

C’mon, Chelsea. Juliet’s a low HP build, while I’m, well...me. It’s pretty important that we get to stay around for a long time once our HP’s gone!

“I could give you some if you ever come hang out with my clan!” said G. “Consider it payment for today’s performance!”

Wait, really? I thought. Honestly, that might be enough for me to forgive all this.

“I must say,” Nemesis spoke up. “For someone who was just soundly defeated, you’re acting quite upbeat...”

“I mean, I had fun. We were all shining bright. It’s normal to feel good after something great happens, right?”

The Overlord—G—said those words with an expression that showed she was telling the honest truth.

That basically confirmed my suspicions about her...

“Hey, G,” said Chelsea. “You could’ve destroyed us easily, right?”

“Huh?”

“Whaddya mean?” Juliet and Max seemed confused by Chelsea’s accusation, but I knew what she was saying. While G had fought us with all she had, she wasn’t putting everything she’d got into winning, exactly.

“I mean, R’lyeh’s got way worse places than that dungeon inside it, right?” The Depths of Jealousy was a terrifying dungeon and could be easily flooded with her monsters. However, the very fact that she’d picked a place that was possible to clear at all told me that she wasn’t just trying to kill us outright. R’lyeh could easily hold a lot of places where just surviving would be borderline impossible. I mean, if she’d dumped us into the deep sea, we wouldn’t have even been able to breathe.

The only reason we were able to win in the first place was because the dungeon she’d given us had both a start and a goal.

“Also... You’re holding up pretty well even at 0 HP. There’s something you could do even now, right? Something that would take us all out?” I asked. The damage to her torso might’ve destroyed the trapezohedron, but though her ult was canceled, it’s not like she had to take us outside like this.

If she really wanted to beat me, she could’ve used the time given to her by Last Command to do something else—maybe even that classic load-bearing boss move where you destroy the dungeon to take the heroes down with you.

Her answer to that...

“I didn’t want that. I mean... It would’ve been boring.”

...was brief and straightforward.

“Nobody wants to see a video where I just beat the crap out of someone who can’t fight back. And I clearly lost, so of course I’m not going to turn the tables and just make it a draw. I’m against that kinda stuff.”

Indeed, the reason she did what she did—and didn’t do what she didn’t—was that she was a content creator.

For her, all of this was just a gaming video recording session.

G’s attempt to steal the arena had just been a way to enable the game between us, while the stuff about avenging her brother was nothing more than something to spice up the narrative.

At the heart of it all, G wanted to make a video featuring herself.

To put it simply, if the resulting video was interesting and exciting, to a content creator like her, whether she won or lost was irrelevant. It was a victory regardless.

And her good mood told me that the battle we just had must’ve greatly exceeded her hopes and expectations.

“This turned out better than the stuff I made with Legendaria’s Superiors. I honestly wanna say thanks. Seriously, I’m bursting with gratitude!” she said with a bright, blissful smile as Chelsea, Max, and I looked down at her with conflicted expressions.

Getting caught up in her shenanigans had been a pain, but she honestly didn’t seem like that bad of a person.

“But if you’d lost, she would have taken your arena. Does that not make her a proper enemy?” Nemesis asked.

Well, I guess, I replied. She’s not bad at heart, but she is a real handful... I guess that makes her kinda like Miss Eldritch?

“I don’t mind being your enemy, but I will come back to record another video sometime!” G said. “Oh! But I want you to see through my disguise, so let’s become friends!”

“What a wild thing to say...” Not seeing through her disguise seemed like it could be bad, though, so I just did as told and put her on my friend list.

“Friending someone who just tried to kill me and take my arena makes no sense,” I muttered, “but it feels like it’d be worse if I didn’t. Scary stuff.”

“Don’t worry about it. This is pretty common in Legendaria.”

Seriously? That’s actually kind of terrifying. Legendaria might be a match for Tenchi.

“Suppose it’s almost time.” G’s extended Last Command then expired, and she started to transform into motes of light. “Oh. Right. I almost forgot.” As if she’d just thought of something, G turned to me with a cruel smile. “Heh heh heh. Don’t think this is over... You may have defeated me, but I’m not the only Overlord you must face...”

Silence settled over the arena in the wake of G’s stereotypical evil Overlord line.

Well, I get what she’s going for, but there’s one small issue...

“Umm... You’re actually my second Overlord,” said Juliet.

“Mine too,” I added. That line only worked if G was the first we’d fought.

“Huh?! Can I ask who your first was?”

“Uhhh... I got caught up in a fight between Dis and Sechs...”

“I recently fought ZZZ...”

“Oh. So that’s why he made that request. That explains it.” G looked like this had made everything clear to her. “What a bummer, though,” she continued. “I’ve been wanting to say that at least once ever since I became an Overlord...”

“S-Sorry,” said Juliet.

“It’s fine. I’m over it,” G said, letting out a sigh and smiling at Juliet. “Let’s play again sometime, Julie.”

“Okay.”

And with that, the last bits of G became light and vanished.

“She really did whatever she liked until the very end,” said Nemesis.

“Well, I guess it’s good to find out that there’s Masters like her too.” As far as Superiors went, she was honestly pretty all right.

“She did not endanger the country or any tian lives either...”

I feel like the arena’s disappearance would’ve knocked Count Gideon out from the stress, though.

Anyway, that concluded the trouble at our base...

Which made me start to wonder how things had turned out at the Central Arena.

◇◆◇

Gideon, City of Duels, Central Arena

“...Heh heh.”

“What? Why are you laughing? It’s creepy.”

The intense duel at the Central Arena had just ended, and F, seated in the Death Period box seat, let out a chuckle that made Marie look all weirded out.

“Oh, I just felt that I’d witnessed some excellent fighting.” Using his own eye and Zodiac both, F was able to gather inspiration from two battles at once. Both were exhilarating fights and hardly everyday occurrences.

However...

“The fighting today was friendly, fun, and generally splendid...” F said of the battles at the two arenas. “But not more than that.”

“What are you talking about?” Marie asked.

“Are you saying you don’t agree? If it doesn’t involve something that can be lost forever—tians, for example—then no matter how intense the battle, it’s never more than a game, is it?”

Figaro vs Albert. Ray’s party vs G.

While both battles had been truly something to behold, neither of them carried the weight of something that might be truly lost.

“Tragedies happen only when there is something that cannot be undone,” F said. With mere games, an observer might find the tension somewhat lacking—but Dendro was both a game and a world, so it could offer a kind of heightened spectacle that could not be experienced anywhere else. And yet, F felt that there hadn’t been much of that special tension in the battles he’d just witnessed.

It was as if they’d received perfect scores, but nothing more.

“Perhaps if only Masters are involved, their conflicts can never be deeper than simple fun,” F concluded.

“You know you almost ruined a relationship, right?” During the Love-Duel Festival, F had nearly broken up a pair of Masters, and Marie couldn’t help but point that out.

“Oh my. How harsh. But in hindsight, I really only helped bring them closer together, didn’t I?”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, saying that... Should I split your head open?” Marie clicked her tongue as she loaded Arc-en-Ciel with La Gravelle.

“Heh...”

Despite what F said, he had gained something from the incident at the Eighth Arena. He was sure that the Ray he knew wouldn’t have been able to fight as well as he did today. F could tell that in the short amount of time that had passed since their last meeting, the young man had experienced some tremendous growth.

Learning of this change in his research subject was certainly a good thing, but...

“Then again, neither you nor I will get what we want from mere games, will we?”

Marie said nothing in response. She couldn’t deny that the two of them were cut from similar cloth.

“I want to read more of your work, so please pick it back up as quickly as you can...Nagisa Ichimiya,” F said, flashing a mischievous smile before standing up.

Marie frowned—that had hit where it hurt—but just as F was about to leave...

“Yeah, yeah. You keep up with your own writing too...Seigen Kato.”

...she addressed him. Not by his avatar name, nor by his real name, but by his pen name.

It was the name of a certain author who’d participated in a publisher get-together from some time ago.

Marie was obviously trying to tell him that she’d realized his true identity.

“...Of course.” Grinning wryly at the unexpected counterattack, F walked away.

◇◇◇

Paladin, Ray Starling

Once that thing at the Eighth Arena was taken care of, I headed to the Central Arena to see how that had panned out—only for Shu to tell me to come right to the conference room. There, I found Shu, Figaro, Hannya, Azurite, Azurite’s bodyguards...and Figaro’s opponent in the final duel: King of Termination, Albert Schwartzkaiser.

Apparently we’d all been gathered for questioning.

KoT’s intentions were still completely unclear. It just didn’t make sense for a well-known Caldinan Superior to suddenly join Altar and instantly be allowed to participate in The Tournaments.

The questioning had been postponed until after the event to preserve fairness, but it was now time to hear what Albert had to say.

The Superiors who were already in the city were present, as well. Shu had dragged me in here too, but that seemed to be at Azurite’s request.

That made sense, though—I was the leader of their clan as well as her friend.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for Azurite to be here at all, given we didn’t know what KoT’s intentions were, but she insisted on interrogating him herself. That was just how she was—in fact, that was exactly how we’d met at Quartierlatin in the first place—but if KoT was planning to assassinate her, this gave him a golden opportunity.

Though, we accounted for that possibility too.

In addition to the three Superiors that were visibly present, Fuso and Tsukikage were also hiding in the shadows, just in case. If something happened, she’d use Faint Light to cut Albert’s AGI and they both would get involved.

With such preparations in place, Azurite began the questioning.

“Now, let us begin.”

Silence.

“What is your reason for participating in The Tournaments... For joining Altar?” Azurite went straight for the big one. With Truth Discernment in place, KoT couldn’t lie...

“Can I have an answer?”

...but that meant nothing when faced with someone who wouldn’t say anything at all.

With a face that was almost robotic in how emotionless it was, KoT remained completely silent.

That made me realize that even in his duels, he hadn’t said anything besides skill declarations and a short phrase at the end of his matches.

“Are you Contract-bound to not say certain things?” Azurite asked. I’d forgotten to consider Contracts, and yeah, that would certainly explain why KoT wasn’t speaking. If he was Contract-bound to keep secrets, he’d have no choice but to remain silent.

Would breaking the Contract actually kill him, though? I wondered. Wouldn’t he just gain Contract resistance or something?

However, as that thought was running through my head, KoT shook his head in response.

It was a gesture that clearly meant “no.”

He and Azurite looked at each other in silence, but then the latter broke it.

“Did you come to Altar by the president’s order?”

A nod—almost certainly a “yes.”

“Why did she send you here?”

KoT tilted his head—probably the gesture meant “unknown.”

“Oh...” I said. Now I understood—

KoT didn’t speak, responding only with three gestures that meant “yes,” “no,” or “unknown.”

Azurite’s first question couldn’t be answered by any of those, and that was why he’d shown no reaction to it. But why was he doing this, anyway?

“Are your answers limited by some sort of skill or Contract?”

He shook his head.

“You cannot speak?”

He shook his head.

“Are you just doing this because you want to?”

He nodded... Wait, nodded?!

“I see.” Azurite placed a hand on her temple as though suddenly exhausted and slowly reached for Altar—the sword by her side.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Don’t try to cut him down for that! Calm down!” I interjected.

“Oh. Sorry. For a moment, I felt like Caldina’s president was using him to mock me...”

Well, I get she’s the one who sent him here, but still...!

This felt like it was getting nowhere. We could ask just yes-or-no questions, but there was no telling how long it would take for us to get anything useful out of him.

“Oh,” said Shu. “Looks like the help I called fur is here.”

“The help?” The moment he said that, there was a knock on the door. It was followed by the voice of a knight from the outside.

“Rook, a member of Death Period, has arrived.”

“Rook?”

Azurite gave permission, and he entered the room. His face and gear were a bit dirty, so I guessed he’d been doing a little training even though there was a big dueling competition going on.

“I’m sorry for the wait.”

“It’s cool. Anyway, we could use some interpretation.” With those words, Shu moved a bit away from KoT’s side, giving his position to Rook.

“Interpretation,” though? How do you interpret someone who doesn’t even talk?

“Fur now, continue the questionin’ as you were.”

“Very well,” Azurite said as she resumed her interrogation.

Nodding, head shaking, tilting, silence... The questioning continued, still awkward and mostly uninformative, for nearly ten minutes until...

“I think I understand now,” Rook said. “Please ask something other than yes-or-no questions.”

Azurite gave a slightly puzzled expression before posing her first question again.

“What is your reason for joining Altar?”

“‘I have concluded that if I want to gather information and test myself in various environments, staying in one place is suboptimal. The four years I spent in Caldina were more than enough, and I am now considering a stay of similar length here in Altar. The president also directed me to participate in The Tournaments, which made this transfer all the more convenient. I intend to assist the kingdom in hunting dangerous monsters and pursuing wanted Masters as I have in Caldina. I hope we have a productive relationship.’ That’s his answer.”

Rook’s sudden speech made everyone except Shu look shocked.

He seemed to be directly reciting KoT’s words.

Rook was almost like a mind reader sometimes and often knew what was going on in our heads, but it looked like the past ten minutes of questioning were enough for him to figure out Albert too.

Wait, I could kinda understand if Rook was observing someone who talked a lot, but how’s he doing it with a guy who doesn’t say anything? And how’s he getting so much out of him?

“Is that all correct?” Azurite asked. KoT nodded in response, and you could tell by his raised eyebrow that even he was surprised by Rook’s feat.


“He says ‘More or less,’” Rook translated.

“Why do you not speak for yourself?”

“‘There are personal circumstances that make it somewhat difficult for me to present information using voice. I am capable of it, but my efforts are inefficient. Even after several years here, I cannot say more than a few words at once. Additionally, the nuances of my language may cause difficulties with communication. Even if I were to write, my original language would be incomprehensible to tians. In the common language, all I can give are names and a few words. Because of all that, I generally communicate using gestures.’”

He sure says a lot for someone who doesn’t talk! I thought.

“Did the president give you any other orders?”

“‘No. I was only ordered to participate in The Tournaments. I was not even told why. She said I was free once it was over. Additionally, she said that if I went to the reception at her designated time, I would win the Tournament lottery.’”

His answer made Azurite fall silent, deep in thought. The president had sent him here almost like a blank slate, and had given him orders as if she knew the exact timing he needed to win.

That was just baffling.

“Do you know if there is anything else Caldina is doing in Altar?”

“‘Fellow Sefirot members, Carl and Yumeji, accompanied me on the way here, but in Caldina’s west, we encountered Legendaria’s King of Curses and Summon Princess. The resulting trouble separated us, and I have been operating on my own ever since. I am not involved in nor do I know anything about the orders the president gave to them.’”

“I see.” Two more Superiors had approached the kingdom. That was important information, and it felt like a strategic move by Caldina.

It was strange, though, that he was giving us all this information without even attempting to obscure it.

KoT wasn’t hiding a thing, but the president’s intentions weren’t becoming any clearer.

Also, I couldn’t understand how Rook was picking up specific names and stuff like that.

I ended up asking about it, and it turned out that the deduction skills he practiced in real life had been greatly enhanced by Dendro’s mechanics. Rook regularly leveled up before I even realized he’d gotten stronger, but it looked like it wasn’t just his stats that were improving. Honestly, this was basically another superpower at this point.

“If a war broke out between Altar and Dryfe, could we expect you to fight on our side?” Azurite asked.

“‘I belong to the kingdom now, so I have no objections about aiding them in their effort. Though, war or not, I would like to refuse actions that cause tian casualties.’”

“What if only Masters participate?”

“‘Then there would be no problems. I would gladly assist Altar.’”

After saying that—well, having Rook say that—KoT gave a nod.

That was nice to hear.

Based on Rook’s translations, KoT seemed like a good-natured and diligent individual despite his stern appearance. Honestly, if you ignored the fact that he didn’t speak, he might’ve been the most normal Superior in Altar.

“‘Speaking of which, if I am to participate, I believe I need to join a clan. Is there any you recommend?’ Oh, you can come to our Death Period. We’re second in the rankings,” Rook interjected before continuing. “‘Thank you. I will gladly join.’”

“Hold on!” Basically talking to himself, Rook had casually made a pretty big decision for us.

We’re getting another Superior?!

“Oh? Do you object? I assumed you would approve.”

“I do, but still!” Rook was reading every inch of my mind and personality! This really is a superpower!

“No it’s not. Anyone can do this with enough training. It’s similar to how you understand what Juliet is saying.”

“But Juliet talks out loud! Normally!”

“Huh?”

That aside...

I really did have nothing against him joining our clan.

The Tournaments’ goal was to keep the participants from committing crimes and attract foreign Masters to increase Altar’s forces in the coming war.

For some reason, there were fewer foreign and freelance Masters than expected, but KoT was a skilled Superior who could hold his own against Figaro, and him joining Altar would be a great asset. While we didn’t know what the Caldinan president was planning, I felt that we could trust Albert just fine. Rook and Shu would surely notice if he had some ulterior motives.

Azurite still seemed to be pondering something, though. She’d been lost in thought ever since Albert said how he ended up in Altar, and I could hear her whisper something like “When did...?”

“Azurite?”

“King of Termination... I have another question... When did you depart from Caldina?”

“‘When?’ Is that important?” I asked. “I know Caldina’s pretty far, but still.” Crossing the desert to travel all the way to Altar surely wasn’t an easy task. AGI builds could get through it at supersonic speeds, but based on his duels, Albert seemed pretty slow. Did he travel in some sort of vehicle?

“Huh?” That voice of confusion came from Rook, and I assumed it was caused by Albert’s answer to Azurite’s question. With a dubious expression on his face, he went and translated it. “...‘In terms of time on this side, I was ordered to go to Altar about a month ago.’”

Shock filled the room. I finally understood what had Azurite so lost in thought.

A month ago in Dendro time... That was before even the peace talks—before Altar had even gotten the idea to hold The Tournaments.

Despite that, the president had already sent Albert to participate in the final day, and even given him the time that would let him win the no-show slot lottery.

Maybe she really could see the future...and that prospect made us all shudder.

◆◆◆

A Month Ago, Drac-Nomad, The President’s Residence

Some time before Altar and Dryfe had their peace conference, in the president’s residence atop the Caldinan capital of Drac-Nomad, a man and a woman were having a conversation.

Or rather, a woman with a thin veil over her face was talking to a large man who responded only with subtle gestures.

“Here are the documents to change your affiliation. Give them to the person you’re supposed to meet in Altar, and you will belong to the kingdom,” said the woman. The man responded with a nod.

The woman was the president of Caldina, La Place Phantasma, while the man was Albert Schwartzkaiser.

“You may be wondering how I did this. It’s simple. There happens to be a territory-owning Altarian noble who borrowed money from me, so now they are in my debt. This gives me indirect authority to have a Master—even you—change affiliation. And make sure you go through the lottery reception at the precise time I gave you. You will make it in.”

Albert nodded.

“Yumeji and Carl will accompany you for a while. Their goal is different from yours. Oh, and you will get into trouble with Legendarian rankers on the way. Make sure they do not kill you, and refrain from killing them as well.”

Albert nodded.

“After The Tournaments...you will be free. Live in Altar as you will.”

Albert...didn’t nod.

“You don’t have to worry about Sefirot losing a member. You came here to gather information and carry out some tests, didn’t you? You don’t benefit much from staying in a single country. You learned all that you could learn in Sefirot. This is my last quest for you—consider it your final operation test here in Caldina.”

“I am grateful for your support,” Albert said in English as he nodded.

“Good work on everything thus far. And good luck in your future endeavors, Albert.”

“Thank you.” Expressing his gratitude again, Albert left the room.

“That was the first time he’s said two sentences in a single conversation. I suppose it just goes to show how grateful he was,” La Place said with a wry grin before turning around to gaze off in another direction.

At some point, she was joined by a man of a darker complexion and clothes characteristic of a desert nomad.

“Are you sure you should’ve let him go? He’s strong.”

The man was the strongest wide-scale exterminator—Fatoum, the “Magical Apex.”

“Yes. This is for the best. Keeping him around wouldn’t be very beneficial for us,” La Place said, not even slightly surprised by Fatoum’s presence.

“It wouldn’t?”

“If sent to fight Granvaloa or participate in the battles that would follow, he would likely switch sides or refuse to follow orders.”

“Oh dear.” Fatoum gave a wry grin, but he didn’t disagree. If anything, it seemed he also suspected that that was exactly what would happen.

“He seems to think such actions are completely unlike dueling or fighting monsters and criminals, even though the only difference is that tians die.”

Sefirot was a collection of oddballs, eccentrics, fiends, and superhumans, but if you ignored Albert’s origins and Embryo, he was easily one of their most normal and good-natured members. Even more than their leader, he served as the group’s conscience.

“He’s powerful, but too pure. How curious that a nonhuman would cling to humanity as he does.”

“That might be the very reason he does it. His lack of humanity could be what is driving him to behave as human as possible. If a nonhuman was instructed to act like a human, I imagine that directive would not include the uglier side of humanity.”

A nonhuman entity who looked at humanity with a positive eye, focused on its good side. Fatoum thought that if something like that learned what it truly meant to be human and tried to behave like one, it would most likely become someone virtuous—and La Place felt that he had a point.

“Regardless, sending Albert to Altar is enough to drive a wedge between Altar, Dryfe, and the rest.” It would definitely shake the kingdom and make Dryfe feel uneasy. The increase to the ranks of Altar’s Superiors would make the other countries look at them differently too. “This will also make it easier for me to crush the fools trying to attack me from the inside.”

Being the president of Caldina—a city-state union—she had many enemies who wanted to claim her wealth and authority for themselves. However, whenever such characters appeared, she quickly mowed them down, increasing her own influence in the process.

The recent Cortana incident was a good example. With its mayor having essentially destroyed himself, Caldina’s largest city was now fully within La Place’s grasp.

“By the way, why did you send Carl and Yumeji too?” Fatoum asked.

“Their role is negotiation. They will talk to the powerful Masters who are considering going to Altar and offer them a better deal if they join Caldina instead. They are already willing to switch and have no attachment to Altar yet, so this is a great opportunity to expand our forces. I will not let it pass by.”

“That makes sense.”

“I would want a Superior most of all... Someone to replace Albert. Despite what I said to him, ‘Sefirot’ does refer to the ten sefira. It feels wrong to use that name when there are only nine.”

Even if they’d already joined Altar, until The Tournaments happened, the Masters were functionally freelance, and La Place didn’t hesitate to claim them for herself. Excessive interference with Altar’s attempts to grow their forces would negatively affect the war, so she had gone and given them Albert—someone who would eventually stop working for her regardless.

In a way, it was a win-win situation. With Albert, Altar would gain the forces they wanted, while Caldina would get someone to replace the Superior they were about to lose anyway.

Caldina would likely also get some pre-Superiors and ex-rankers, though, so they were still the bigger winner in this exchange.

“I wonder if Albert will find his place there...”

“He’s an honest sort. I believe he will fit in well, even in Altar.” Albert was an agreeable person, but more importantly, he wasn’t involved in any conspiracies. Nothing could be gained from interrogating him, and he possessed no secrets he could leak.

In terms of help Caldina could send to the kingdom, he was the best option they could ask for.

“When he enters The Tournaments, he will show his powers too. Though I suppose his victory is unlikely.”

Albert was going to the same Tournament as Figaro, who was said to be Altar’s strongest. If he won against Figaro, his power and value would become undeniable.

However, there was little chance of that.

“Well, as far as duels go, Figaro isn’t a favorable matchup for him,” said Fatoum. “It could honestly go either way, though. If we ignore the old-timer who changes the very rules of combat, Figaro is probably the only duel champion who can beat Albert.”

“He does have a lot of weaknesses. That is exactly why I had him participate in that particular Tournament.”

An Embryo focused on scouting would instantly notice Albert’s main body, although those were admittedly somewhat unusual to see in duels, and outside of duels there were many ways to circumvent Albert’s powers. For example, one could simply gather eight Masters, each with their own means of fatally wounding him.

Albert was certainly useful, but these flaws meant he could easily be replaced. And that was the reason the president had sent him to The Tournaments.

He was now effectively a foreign asset they would never get back. Her last quest took him to The Tournaments specifically so he would reveal his many weaknesses.

By taking part in the competition, Albert would establish ties with the kingdom and gain their trust. That would make it easier for him to operate there, and it would certainly be a positive for him.

However, other countries would learn how to defeat him. That would obviously include Dryfe, and since Caldina wanted the Dryfe-Altar war to be as close as possible, that was a positive outcome for them.

“Not having Yumeji and Carl around might make some things a bit hard for us, though,” said Fatoum. “Though I suppose that cannot be avoided right now. If we did not do this, it’s likely that very few people would agree. If we use them as messengers, offer funding, provide a favorable environment, and have Sefirot help them hunt UBMs that I am aware of, they will be more than likely to accept our offer.”

The reason La Place had used Superiors as headhunters was to give the offer more credibility, as well as make the Masters think that Caldina truly valued them and was serious about wanting their allegiance.

That wasn’t the only reason La Place had sent Superiors to the west, though.

“This is no issue,” she said. “Even if something unexpected occurs—something beyond my calculations—we can simply counter it with excessive force. And if we play all our cards, you and I alone can deal with anything.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. If we are together, there is no tian or Master... No...” La Place paused for a moment. “There is no outsider Infinite... No Incarnation we can’t win against.”

She mentioned the Infinite Embryos—the strongest of all possible entities, hiding in the background of this world—and still claimed that she and Fatoum would win.

 

    

 

“That is why I chose you, after all,” she said.

“It’s an honor. As both a warrior, and your husband,” Fatoum said as he smiled at his wife.

“Nothing unexpected will happen for a while, though. The changes to the peace conference, as well as the Eltram and Vennsayle incidents, will be very few. The same goes for The Tournaments after that. There will be some deviations, but they will be negligible overall. I had to be especially careful while calculating the time for Albert to join the lottery, though.”

Altar and Dryfe would hold a peace conference. It would break down, leading to conflict which would end with Claudiah suggesting a Master-only war, which would in turn cause Altimia to set up The Tournaments to prepare for that.

At that point, there did not exist a single tangible sign that these Tournaments would even happen—and yet La Place was making plans as if they had already been announced.

However, Fatoum didn’t even think of arguing against her idea. La Place was often called a witch who could see the future, and he had absolute confidence in this power of hers.

“I will not be wrong about this. Things are different this time.” The smile on her face vanished before she continued. “A piece as eccentric as Ray Starling will not appear again.”

A strong enmity could be seen in her eyes as she spoke that name.

“Are you still bothered by that?”

“Of course I am. It’s rare for me to calculate so thoroughly and be so wrong.”

La Place reached into an Inventory she had on her and took out some documents with text on them, reading things like “Altea Blockade Project” and “UBM Release Project.”

Going through these documents, La Place continued talking.

“I consolidate all the information I receive and use it to paint an image of the future. I am confident that my overall world prediction ability rivals that of the Incarnation of Influence.”

She then brought up one of the custodians—the twins claiming to be control AI No. 11. The power they’d demonstrated two millennia ago was immense, yet La Place casually claimed that she was on their level.

“But there are some that render my calculations meaningless.” Her fingers stopped as she came across a photo. It showed a single Master—a young man raising his right arm high before a creature engulfed in flames. “Those without vessels for me to read, and Masters who entered this world after the calculations—those who didn’t even exist here—simply could not be included in the equation. Naturally, I failed to consider them. However, such entities usually did not have enough influence to affect my results...with some exceptions.”

She glared at Ray’s photo, clearly displeased.

“This is who we have to blame for the divergence of the Gideon incident, as well as the immediate disappearance of the Monochrome I had you awaken... Actually, he’s also the reason the Altea blockade ended a few days earlier than planned.”

La Place and her Sefirot clan had multiple schemes in place for the kingdom. Some revolved around Dryfe’s acts of terror, while others were of their own devising. However, a good few of them—some of them very important—had been ruined by Ray Starling.

First had been Dryfe’s plot to assassinate the Grandrear sisters. While their deaths wouldn’t have had much of an impact on the war between Altar and Dryfe, they were qualified to inherit the Granvaloan pirate fleet, so their deaths would’ve exacerbated the turmoil that would occur there after the war.

That would have been successful, and all Caldina had to do was watch.

However, Ray’s involvement had turned the assassination into a failure.

Next was the Altea blockade. Caldina had arranged this act of terror to make Altar’s situation worse.

But after Ray’s death, Shu had gone out to Noz Forest to avenge him. Then, thanks to Ray meeting Figaro in the Tomb Labyrinth, the blockade at the Sauda Mountain Pass had also been broken earlier than planned.

He was actually somewhat responsible for the destruction of the western blockade too. When Lei-Lei learned her friend’s little brother was having a welcome party, she chose to stay at the capital longer than originally planned. And then, when her order for the party was stolen by Goblin Street, she went to the Wez Sea Route to get back at them.

And while the east blockade hadn’t been broken because of Ray directly, it was still the PK of a newbie faithful that had caused the Lunar Society to take action, creating a result.

It went without saying that the same applied to the events surrounding the Gouz-Maise Gang, Gideon, and Monochrome.

“Because of him, my calculations have been thrown off even now. The damage to the world has been less than it should’ve been.”

She’d had a hand in many of the incidents in the kingdom—yet through Ray Starling’s involvement, some of the more important ones had ended differently than she’d calculated.

“The worst of it was Altar refusing Caldina’s cooperation offer. According to my calculations, they should have accepted it. And yet they didn’t. It’s as though Altar still stands unbroken.”

That had been Ray Starling’s influence. Through the battle in Gideon, he’d shown them hope, and through the battle in Quartierlatin, he’d formed a bond with Altimia. Without him, the board would have played out closer to how she predicted.

Her stern expression made it clear just how much this irritated her.

“It’s not like you to be vexed by the past,” said Fatoum. “You have always been someone who looks toward the future.”

“...That is true.” Her husband’s words made her relax a tiny bit.

“Speaking of, what do you believe the future will be like?” he asked. “The ramifications of that miscalculation and the overall increase of variables in the world means that our window of prediction has been narrowed, but I foresee some significant incidents in the near future. Though, I have already told you about most of them.”

La Place nodded before continuing.

“The ones that involve us the most will be the Eltram incident and the events at Vennsayle. And even with three members of our clan sent to the west, we can still direct these in our favor. If anything, we won’t even have to employ the two elders or Rainbow...our Prismatic Fortress.”

“That is good to know.”

“IF is involved in both, but I say we let them do as they please. Many of their activities are positive in terms of world damage.”

“Should we tell that to Moneygold too?”

“No. All that matters is that he does not encounter the Irregularity there. We don’t have to tell him to be considerate. He won’t end up killing The Weapon, Murder Princess, or the Great Soul Daoshi regardless. I see the shadow of death upon him, though. You might get to see him lose all that weight,” she said with a smile, presenting her prediction in a joking manner.

“Now that’s something to look forward to,” Fatoum said with a chuckle.

Her words would come true—Splendida would kill Moneygold shortly after the Eltram incident.

“So, what are the ‘things that do not involve us’ and the ‘things you haven’t told me about’?” Fatoum continued, noticing that his wife was omitting something.

La Place responded with a mischievous smile. “I saw something very interesting. It isn’t confirmed to happen yet, but it would be good news for us if it does.”

“Do tell.”

“I looked into the future of Altea...and saw a large crater,” she said with a hint of delight.

“You don’t mean the King of Blaze incident?”

“No, it’s not the act of terror during the peace conference. That one is bound to fail, anyway. Now, the disappearance of Altea would destroy both the save point and the barrier there. On top of that, it would cause many deaths and allow countless Resources to flow toward the vessel without any needless obstruction. If the vessel doesn’t die when the capital vanishes, our victory might be guaranteed then and there.”

“Perhaps I should head west too?”

“No. I’m already having you work against Granvaloa. If I changed your objective now, I’ll be unable to do much calculating for a while after that. Altea’s disappearance would be simply a nice bonus... Ngh.”

As she spoke, La Place clutched at her head as though struck by a sudden pain.

“...So there,” she managed. “The three we sent will be our final interference with Altea... With the west. Once Albert’s Tournament ends, Dryfe will surely swing into action. That High-End’s...final struggle is...”

“La Place. It might be time to switch.”

“You’re...right. I might’ve done one too many repeats... I’ll let the device...the brain get some rest.”

La Place then sat down on a chair and closed her eyes. Fatoum watched over her, and it looked as though she had fallen asleep.

About a minute later, her eyes opened.

“...Oh. She went to sleep. I see she worked quite hard today as well.”

There was something strange about La Place’s words. Her manner of speech was different, her very presence had changed, and she spoke of herself as if she were someone else.

“She did. Does your head hurt, Shashie?”

As though it were the most obvious thing in the world, Fatoum called his wife by a different name.

“Oh, my brain is only a link... She does the calculations herself from the far-flung place where she resides.”

“But none of this is within the capabilities of normal people. It burdens your brain too. You should rest... Do you think you can eat? If you can, shall we go have something together?”

“My... I would be happy to,” La Place said, smiling like a cheerful young woman.

She had the same face as the cold and calculating clairvoyant witch she’d been moments before, but her behavior was nothing like it had been.

“Let me take the lead. I reserved a table at our leader’s business.”

“Oh my... I cannot wait.”

Fatoum treated both of them the same way—it was as though to him, both these personalities were one and the same.





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