Chapter 17 — Whenever He Is in a Difficult Situation, a God Appears to Help Him
“Nina!” Seeing his sister limp, Gerhardt began to panic. She was motionless in the mage soldier Marino’s arms. He had never imagined something like this would happen.
As an M unit, she shouldn’t have been that easy to kill. Against an L unit, most M units would likely lose, but Nina was different. Nina had the unique skill Perfect Evasion. She could avoid any attack. Of course that wouldn’t be enough to defeat a truly strong opponent, but it should have been enough for her to escape with her life. So he hadn’t been even slightly worried about the thought of sending his adorable little sister out.
But now she lay motionless. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t accept the obvious truth of the situation.
“What the hell happened?! No, that’s not important! We need to help her!”
The mages standing by around them ran up to her. This was the teleportation chamber of Himeln’s home base, where anyone who teleported into the area through the protocol would be placed. They could have left it as an open field, but feeling that was a bit too bleak, they had constructed a room around it.
At Marino’s urgent request, they had been teleported there. Since it was an emergency, mages with healing and resurrection magic had been gathered.
A warm light coming from the healers’ hands wrapped around Nina, but she still didn’t move.
“Uhh...she’s already...” the healer said apologetically.
“Dammit! Then use resurrection!” It was a different school of magic than healing, but there was resurrection magic in this world. If used within a certain amount of time after death, a person could be resurrected, depending on the severity of their injuries.
“It’s no good! I can’t resurrect her!”
“I don’t care! Keep trying! Call for backup! We absolutely have to bring her back!”
“I-It’s no good. We can’t do anything...”
“Where is Childa?!”
“On the battlefield. Momurus dispatched an L unit, so if Lady Childa returns, the battle line will likely crumble—”
“Who cares?! That doesn’t matter! I’ll take back as much territory as you want later! Childa! You can hear me, can’t you?!”
“My my. Contacting me without going through Communications is against the rules, isn’t it?”
Members of the same faction could communicate with each other via telepathy as long as they were within their own territory. However, it would be hard to keep things under control if everyone was using it at random. That could be a fatal weakness, especially on the battlefield. For that reason, Himeln had set up rules to govern communication. There was a department specialized in telepathic communications, and any long distance communication had to be done through them.
“Who cares about that now?! Punish me later if you want! I’m warping you back!”
“You realize how big a deal it is to be pulling me out, right?”
The placement of forces was determined by the War Room. Even royalty like Gerhardt was forbidden from moving forces around at his own discretion.
“I know! I’ll take full responsibility!”
“Fine, fine. You better be ready for what happens, though.”
The telepathy cut off. Gerhardt teleported her. As an L unit, he had the ability to operate their teleportation system and could send people back and forth from their home base. The points they had stored in the home base decreased, and in the center of the teleportation chamber a woman in a tight white robe appeared.
Her name was Childa. She was an L unit like Gerhardt, and someone who might be able to save Nina.
“So, how long has Nina been like this?” Childa asked, stepping closer to Marino.
“It hasn’t even been thirty minutes yet. Your power should still work!” Gerhardt pleaded desperately.
“Hmmm. I guess I’ll give it a shot.” Childa’s class was Time Master. She could manipulate time within a given space. She could restore broken objects to perfect condition and bring dead things back to life.
“This could get complicated, so could you lay her on the ground?”
Marino did as she was told, laying Nina on the floor. Childa’s power operated on a given space. Anyone nearby would also be caught up in the effect. From a few steps away, Childa lifted a hand towards the fallen girl and activated her power. A blinding light filled the air around Nina, winking out after a few seconds.
But nothing had changed.
“What happened?”
“Well, that is odd.” Childa tilted her head in confusion.
“I asked what happened! It doesn’t look like she’s alive!”
“Because she isn’t. I rewound her time by an hour. Are you sure she just died?”
“Marino! What’s going on! You aren’t trying to trick us, are you?!” Gerhardt cried, rounding on the other woman.
“A-Absolutely not! I requested the teleport the moment Princess Nina collapsed! It hasn’t even been ten minutes since then!”
“Childa!”
“No need for the scary face. I did everything I could.”
“You bitch! How can you be so flippant in a situation like this?!”
“What’s wrong? Things are awfully noisy in here.” As Gerhardt stepped up to Childa, the door to the teleportation chamber opened. A woman in a white dress entered: the queen of Himeln, Elisabelle. Behind her was her new friend, the young girl named Luu. She was wearing an incredibly luxurious dress. Elisabelle must have forced her to.
“Nina is dead! There’s no way I could be quiet!” Gerhardt answered.
“Is that why you called Childa back? Losing an M unit hurts, so I can’t blame you.” Elisabelle stepped up to Nina, peering into her face. “She looks like she’s still dead. Why are you all just standing around?”
“The thing about that, my queen, is that I rewound her time by an hour but she didn’t come back to life.” Childa replied, clinging to Elisabelle. Her uncaring attitude stoked Gerhardt’s anger.
“Is that so? Then I guess there is nothing we can do.”
Gerhardt took a moment to understand what she was saying. “You... What did you just say?”
“Hey, that’s no way to talk to your mother,” Elisabelle said.
“Your daughter is dead! Do you not care about that?!”
From the outside, it was hard to understand the scene. Everyone here seemed to be young enough that it was hard to call them adults.
“But for some reason, Childa’s power had no effect, correct? In that case, having her continue trying is a waste of her power.”
“What the hell is your problem?!”
“Gerhardt, I do not disagree with your efforts to try and revive Nina. However, we cannot waste Childa’s power anymore. You understand, right?” Elisabelle said sharply.
It was hard for Gerhardt to argue with her when she stayed so calm and collected. Childa’s power had a limit. The further back she rewound time, the more her power diminished. A single hour wasn’t such a big deal, but he couldn’t say the same if she tried rewinding multiple hours or days. It was easy enough to tell her to try anyway, but considering the consequences, it was far too reckless.
“But anyway, who cares about Nina? We have Luu now.” Elisabelle added.
“What?”
“Nina was quite pretty but intimidating. It made it seem like she didn’t have much in the way of future prospects. But Luu here is perfect!”
Gerhardt’s anger exploded.
“Ah! Gerhardt’s angry!” Elisabelle hurried out of the room, pulling Luu along behind her.
“Umm...I think you were far too cruel there, Elisabelle. I think I better leave...” Full of excuses, Childa took her leave.
Meanwhile, Gerhardt was slamming his fist into the wall.
“Dammit! Dammit, dammit! What the hell is going on?! This is all wrong! Nina is dead?! Why did this happen?!”
“Sir Gerhardt...” Marino’s expression was grave. She may have been the only one who understood his feelings.
“Marino, who killed her?”
“A young man who didn’t belong to any faction. The princess tried to kill him, and he attacked her back...”
“Where?”
“Area 70:230. In the central west side. Very close to the Neutral Zone. You don’t plan on going there yourself, do you?!”
“I do. Before someone gets in my way.” As an L unit, Gerhardt had the ability to teleport himself between areas. However, that was a right that had been given to him by the queen, so she also had the power to strip it from him. Gerhardt had lost his composure, and he was beyond trying to hide it. He had no idea when his teleportation rights would be revoked, so he had to move while he still could.
“Marino, will you guide me?”
“Yes. I will accompany you.”
The two of them teleported away.
◇ ◇ ◇
After having absorbed so many Philosopher’s Stones, Luu had regained a large portion of her power. She wasn’t particularly suited to fighting, but she wouldn’t lose to some random humans.
Or at least that’s what she had thought, but her confidence had been shaken after seeing the L units of Himeln. They seemed unbeatable. They looked like humans, but their power felt more like a god’s.
In short, she couldn’t force her way out of here. The best she could do was wait to be deployed to the battlefield, but for some reason, the queen Elisabelle had fallen for her and had no intention of sending her away from the home base. Luu had been categorized as an L unit, but the queen had no plan to use her to fight and instead treated her more like a doll to dress up. If she disobeyed, her freedom would be further restricted, so for now she just did what she was told, but she wouldn’t be able to put up with the situation for long.
Luu wanted to find Yogiri. But there was nothing she could do to accomplish that. She was helpless.
“Gerhardt is such a handful. I think he’s a bit too obsessed with his sister. What about you, Luu?”
“Isn’t it hard to see one of your friends die?”
She was walking around with the queen, though she didn’t know why the queen had taken such an interest in her. They were taking a walk through one of the castle’s inner gardens.
“But she’s just an M unit. We can just make a new one. Gerhardt is too focused on her. He has plenty of other sisters.”
“He does?”
“Yes. I have no idea what power they’ll be born with, so I just had to keep trying. Nina was a success, so maybe that’s why Gerhardt was so taken with her.”
“Is Gerhardt also one of your kids?” It didn’t look to her like Elisabelle and Gerhardt were that far apart in age. Not that Luu had any grounds to complain, considering how her own appearance contrasted with her age.
“Yes, he is. He was a great success. He ended up as an L unit. His Class is the Greatest Warrior, Raised by the Gods.”
“I thought it was a bit strange, but did he have that class when he was born?”
The Battle Song system that was interwoven with the world gave enormous power to certain individuals. That power was known as the Gift, and it manifested as various Classes. Normally a Class was given to someone by a person with a higher rank in the same Class. If a parent had the Gift, their child would inherit it, so it wasn’t that strange for someone to possess the Gift from birth. However, Luu thought having the Class of a warrior raised by the gods from birth was pretty strange.
“Isn’t it? I thought so too at first, but the reason is quite simple. Beings calling themselves gods appeared out of nowhere to raise him. It did not take much effort on my part. Well, he was a prince from the beginning, so would have been given to a wet nurse anyway. There would not have been much for me to do in either case.”
“Huh. Is he that strong?”
“Of course. Naturally he surpassed the level cap for humans. Anything he tries his hand at, he immediately becomes a master at. Everything he does makes his level increase, and with it, his stats. He has been blessed beyond compare by the gods, and whenever he is in a difficult situation, a god appears to help him. He can see through any enemy’s weaknesses, and against an enemy with none, he can give them a weakness.”
“That sounds ridiculous. If he’s that strong, why couldn’t he save his sister?” Luu recalled how panicked he had been. The mixture of sadness, anger, and confusion was almost humorous. It was hard for her to see him as a powerful warrior.
“He would have been fine if he was the one who had died. His power is specialized for combat. Apparently the gods don’t have much interest in him as a person, so they would feel no need to intervene just because his sister died, no matter how sad it made him.”
Is that so? Luu thought. She would use her power to help Yogiri as much as she could, but if someone like Tomochika dying made him sad, she doubted she’d bring her back to life.
“If he’s that strong, couldn’t he beat anyone?”
“The enemy L units all have similar powers. It is very rare for L units to claim a decisive victory over each other.”
“Your Majesty!” As they were speaking, a man in light armor ran up to their side.
“My, what is the matter?”
“Sir Gerhardt has, uhh, left seeking revenge—”
“Oh, really? I thought he might do something like that. I’ll hardly praise him for such behavior, but it is no issue if he leaves for a short time, is it?” Elisabelle answered him, as if to chide the soldier for interrupting their walk for something so trivial.
“Umm, after he teleported out, we lost track of his signal! It is difficult to believe, but it seems he has perished...”
“What?”
Elisabelle gaped at the soldier, unable to believe the report she was being given.
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