Uprising
Satou here. When I hear the phrase citizen uprising, the French Revolution immediately comes to mind, but I can’t think of any concrete examples of “taking back a country.” Maybe it just makes for a better story when they solve the problem before the country gets taken away entirely?
“Shakyyyy?”
“The ground is going rumble-rumble, sir.”
Tama and Pochi broke the pensive silence that had settled over the dungeonmaster’s chamber.
Before I could open my map to see if my unpleasant hunch was right, the ground shook so violently that it nearly knocked us off our feet.
Small pebbles and clumps started falling from the ceiling, soon mingled with increasingly large rocks, as the foundation of the dungeonmaster’s room began to crumble.
“Well, that’s not good.”
I used Flexible Shield and Magic Hand to protect everyone as we clustered together.
“Satou.”
“Master, the dungeonmaster’s minions are still unconscious, I report.”
Oh, right. I almost forgot.
For some reason, they all passed out the moment Orchidee died.
I grabbed the black-robed minions with Magic Hand and took them along as I teleported everyone out of the collapsing labyrinth with Return.
The chimera knights we freed earlier on the twentieth floor had apparently escaped already, since they were nowhere to be found in the labyrinth. A few of them must have had the route to the exit memorized.
“Whah, it’s shaking out here, too.”
“Yes, Lulu. It reminds me of being on a ship in the ocean, I report.”
We’d escaped to the shade of some trees at one corner of the royal castle.
“The castle is sinking, sir!”
“Unbelieeevable?”
The castle, which was directly above the labyrinth, was evidently collapsing along with the labyrinth.
Fortunately, since it was already half-ruined from the demon attack Arisa mentioned, there was no one inside to get caught up in the destruction.
The Yowork Kingdom soldiers stationed near the entrance of the labyrinth were fleeing in a panic.
“Master, will the town be all right?”
“Yes, it looks like it’s just the immediate area of the castle that’s sinking. There aren’t any serious injuries to anyone in Kuvork City.”
Liza and the others looked relieved at the information I relayed from my Space Magic spell Clairvoyance.
“Saaafe?”
“That’s one liver shining, sir.”
I think Pochi meant to say “silver lining.”
“…You brought them along, too, I see.”
“Yeah. They know who I am now, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep well at night if I left them there to die.”
Arisa looked listlessly at Orchidee’s mage servants.
Before they lost consciousness, they found out that Nanashi the Hero is really Satou.
For the time being, I had the beastfolk girls and Nana tie them up and gag them so they wouldn’t be able to flee or use magic.
“Master, the servants are wearing iron masks, I report.”
“Iron masks…?”
Nana showed me the oval-shaped iron masks on the faces of the servants under their hoods. The masks covered everything but their mouths, and I couldn’t see where the masks were attached.
Since I couldn’t figure out how else to remove them, I put the iron masks in my Storage.
“Mew!”
“That looks painful, sir!”
Under the masks, the servants were mostly young men and women, and all were terribly transfigured. While most of them were only affected in small places, there were a few who had more than half of their faces grotesquely altered. Those with more natural beauty were more severely transformed, although that might be a coincidence.
“Oh, how awful…!”
“Chimera.”
“I see, so he experimented on them, too…”
Lulu, Mia, and Arisa all looked aghast.
Come to think of it, there was some mention of this in Orchidee’s research journal on the twenty-fourth floor.
They had Doom Needles in their brains like the chimera knights, so I removed those into Storage, too.
“There are surgical scars on their bodies, too, I report.”
“It looks like he implanted monster cores over their hearts.”
The structure reminded me a bit of those Demonic Heart devices.
Orchidee must have been modifying them to help get around the conditions for using Geist.
“Nngh…”
One of the chimera mages groaned. They must be starting to wake up.
I told the rest of the group to hide and disguised myself as Kuro.
“Where are we?”
“Outside the labyrinth.”
The young man who’d woken up looked around.
“Outside? …And you are?”
“I’m Kuro, retainer of Nanashi the Hero.”
“Wow, a hero! So the person who was fighting Orchidee was a hero, then?”
…That’s odd.
The boy didn’t seem to know who they’d been fighting.
“You all saw him, didn’t you?”
“…No. The masks we were wearing didn’t let us see or hear anything. All we could hear was Orchidee’s orders… Wait, my mask is gone?” He started patting his face. “But Orchidee said they could never be removed…”
“Such is the hero’s power.”
I used my “Fabrication” skill to give an arbitrary excuse.
At any rate, this was a lucky break for me, since it meant they didn’t find out my secret identity.
“What did Orchidee order you to do?”
My AR display confirmed that they had all been turned into slaves, just like Arisa and Lulu.
“Just ‘obey me.’”
I should be able to free them from slavery without a problem, then.
Since the person they were supposed to obey was dead, there was probably no need to find a way to get rid of their Geists.
The other chimeras started waking up as we talked. There were no cries of despair about their transfigured faces and bodies; they must have known already.
“What are you going to do now? Rather, what do you want to do?”
“Nothing, really. Our families were all killed by those Yowork bastards. And the one who enslaved us, Orchidee…”
“He’s dead.”
“Did he…die a painful death?”
“Yes, it was gruesome.”
Enough to haunt my nightmares for a while.
“I see…”
The boy smiled darkly.
“In that case, once we repay you for saving us from Orchidee…I think I’ll invade the castle of Yowork Kingdom and fight until I’m killed. I must avenge His Majesty and the royal family…”
Uh-oh. Terrorism is never a good idea. I’d better talk him out of this.
“You shouldn’t throw your life away.”
“But there’s nothing else left for me to do.”
“If you’re that loyal to your king, then you serve the surviving prince in his efforts to rebuild your homeland.”
And don’t do any terrorism.
“The surviving prince…? One of His Highnesses survived?!”
The boy’s face brightened, as did the others’.
“He fled to a neighboring land and is hard at work to rebuild the kingdom. Do you want me to take you there?”
“Yes, please!”
Phew, I managed to talk them out of becoming terrorists.
The chimera knights who escaped ahead of us were locked in the tail end of a bloody battle against the Yowork soldiers stationed outside the castle and had just been cornered in an alley in the old nobles’ quarters. I hurried to their rescue.
Then I set the chimera mages and knights free from their slavery contracts, using the same method as used on the slave soldiers we freed before, and brought them to the safe house I made on the edge of Kageus County.
Unlike the slave soldiers, I suspected these chimera experiment victims would be stopped at the gates, due to their appearance.
“I’ll bring two people with me. The rest, wait here.”
The chimera knights and mages each chose a representative, and I gave them cloaks to hide their appearances and brought them along. Rather than deal with getting through the gates, we went in from above, under cover of night instead.
“Lord Kuro!”
When we reached Eruus’s headquarters, one of the former slave soldiers spotted me and exclaimed.
“So you’re the ‘Kuro’ I’ve heard about? Thank you for saving our soldiers from such terrible circumstances.”
Eruus came to the front of the group until the elderly consul held him back.
“Your Highness, you mustn’t expose yourself to danger.”
“Exactly! We still don’t know who this man really is.”
“Of course we do! The people he rescued said he was the retainer of a hero!”
Eruus protested against his advisers.
“But we have no way of knowing if that is true. He has been misrepresenting himself as a part of your service, too.”
Misrepresenting?
Right, I guess I’d been using the prince’s name without permission.
“That was just to reassure the soldiers, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Eruus seemed to understand what I was doing, at least.
“But Your Highness! The fact remains that he gave your name without permission!”
“Anyone who would do such a thing cannot be the true retainer of a hero!”
“Exactly! He needs to prove his identity!”
“Enough already. I don’t need to prove anything to you…”
Maybe I shouldn’t have used Eruus’s name without asking, but all this ranting and raving was more annoying than anything.
“Excuse me?!”
“Now he shows his true colors!”
Several of the prince’s vassals got even angrier.
“…But since you insist on hindering our conversation, I will show you the light of the Holy Short Sword that my lord Nanashi the Hero gave me.”
I reached into my cloak and produced one of my cast-made Holy Short Swords from Storage, charging it with magic.
All eyes fell on the holy blue light that flowed from the blade.
“A Holy Weapon…”
“So he truly does serve a hero!”
“Does that mean Prince Eruus has a hero for an ally?!”
“Amazing, Your Highness!”
“You are the true successor to Kuvork Kingdom!”
“All hail Prince Eruus!”
“Hip, hip, hooray!”
Dammit. That was supposed to shut them up, not make them even noisier.
“Master, bad news!”
Just then, Arisa contacted me with the advanced Space Magic spell World Phone.
“What’s the matter?”
“I heard something in the city, and when I checked with Clairvoyance, I saw…”
Evidently, there were fights and fires breaking out all over Kuvork City.
Judging by the map information, I gathered that Eruus’s agents had decided to take advantage of the Yowork Kingdom soldiers’ distraction with the castle sinking and started an uprising with the resistance members.
“All right. I’ll get back as soon as I can. Keep an eye on things for me, please.”
I used “Warp” to teleport next to the elderly adviser and whispered this information to him.
“Our secret agents did that?!”
“It’s going well right now while everything’s plunged into chaos, but if the Yowork Kingdom soldiers calm down and regain control, the tide will turn quickly.”
I relayed the information I saw on my map.
“What?! Then there’s no time to waste! Listen closely, all of you!”
The elderly gentleman clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention and declared that they were going to take back Kuvork City.
“All right. I’ll contact all the soldiers we’ve positioned on the ground.”
“I shall prepare to send out provisions.”
“I’ll gather the horses and carts.”
At the elderly consul’s orders, the vassals all ran off to take care of their duties.
“Prince Eruus, come with me to speak with Countess Kageus!”
“A-all right.”
“Kuro, I apologize that we cannot thank you properly at present. We shall reward your deeds once the kingdom is ours again.”
“Wait.”
I grabbed the elderly consul’s shoulder before he could run out with Eruus.
I still hadn’t accomplished my main goal here.
“Prince Eruus, these fine folks want to pledge their loyalty to you.”
I presented the chimera knight and chimera mage representatives to Prince Eruus.
“Who…?”
“I am Baron Bosso’s third son, Rohho the knight. Please forgive my rudeness in wearing a hood in your presence; my face is disfigured, you see.”
“I am Baronet Hommer’s fifth son, Iurin the mage. I swear my loyalty to you, Your Highness.”
“This sword of mine, given to me by the king, is now sworn to your service.”
“Sir Rohho, Sir Iurin, I gladly accept your loyalty.”
“Heh, I couldn’t be happier to serve you. My twelve knights and twenty-seven soldiers will all lend you their strength, Your Highness.”
“And my fourteen mages will surely be of use as well.”
“Great. Thanks!”
Prince Eruus responded with thanks befitting his young age.
While they were speaking, I gave Countess Kageus’s medallion to the old gentleman. She’d given it to us as thanks for returning the belongings of a deceased relative. Hopefully, it would make her a little more willing to assist them.
“Prince, I’ll gather as many forces as I can before dawn and send them to Kuvork City with my lord’s secret power. You can ask the people I rescued about it if you don’t believe me.”
With that, I used Return to get back to Arisa and the others.
“Satou.”
“Welcome baaack?”
When I arrived, Mia and Tama greeted me right away.
They’d all changed into a combination of black clothes and cloaks, probably because the golden armor stood out too much. These had recognition-inhibiting functions built in, too.
I changed from my Kuro disguise into matching black clothes.
“Thanks. Where’s Arisa?”
“At the top of the tower.”
Liza pointed at one of the sideways-leaning towers.
I headed over with “Skyrunning,” taking Mia and Tama in tow, since they grabbed onto me.
Arisa and Pochi were at the top, along with Lulu, who had a sniper rifle.
“Welcome back, Master. How did it go?”
“Perfect. Eruus and his people were very happy to have the help, so I’ll bring them in later.”
“Wait! Are you going to do something stupid again? Wouldn’t it be safer to use my unique skill to open a gate instead?”
“It’ll be fine. I’ll shuttle back and forth, only taking a few people at a time.”
“Make sure you keep an eye on the soul shell garland, all right?”
“I know.”
Arisa was such a worrywart.
“So, when do you think my brother and his people can get here?”
“Dawn, they said.”
Arisa furrowed her brow.
“Really, it’s impressive that they can even set out before dawn on such short notice.”
“I know that. It’s just, things don’t look great.”
She handed me a longscope and pointed at the resistance encampment.
From the high ground of the castle tower, we could see the entire castle town at a glance.
“So the Yowork Kingdom army went on the offensive…”
“Yeah, and they’ve got the resistance pinned down in that building. At this rate, they’re going to have to risk it all on one charge, and lots of people will get hurt or killed.”
That wouldn’t be good.
“I wonder if we can tell the resistance leader somehow that Eruus is coming with reinforcements?”
“Hmm…I don’t know the leader, but there is someone I know down there. I can try telling him, at least.”
I should’ve written down the name. At least since Eruus didn’t have a lot of agents, I should be able to find the familiar face with my Space Magic spell Clairvoyance.
“…They’re on the move. The building with the red roof.”
Lulu, who was keeping an eye on things with her sniping scope, gave an update.
Part of the resistance was about to gamble on one last attack.
“It’s total chaos. They aren’t communicating with the rest of the resistance at all.”
Arisa looked frustrated.
It was going well when they first launched the surprise attack, but the Yowork Kingdom had recovered too quickly, and the organization was helping to drive back the resistance, too.
The resistance was taking serious losses and beginning to run away.
“Master, please.”
“All right. I’ll help the resistance escape.”
Since we were a little too far away, Arisa teleported me closer with Space Magic.
I brought Liza and Nana along to my side by using Unit Deployment.
“Lulu, you aim for the weapons of the Yowork Kingdom soldiers. Mia, use the Water Magic spell Balloon in the middle of the enemy camp. Arisa, you and I will attack the enemy knights and frontline commanders from afar.”
I gave her a warning not to kill them, and we began our attack.
Lulu used a gun with physical bullets to shoot at the swords and shields of the Yowork soldiers. A Fire Rod or Fireburst Gun would stand out too much in the middle of the night.
“We’re under fire! It’s not an archer! An assassin or sniper is hiding somewhere!”
“Where? Where’s it coming from?!”
The Yowork Kingdom soldiers slowed their attack in their panic, taking cover wherever they could find it.
“What are you fools doing?! They can’t snipe us if we get through to enemy lines! Just run at them like your lives depend on it!”
A Yowork Kingdom officer gave a haughty command from behind them.
Just then, Mia’s Balloon burst in their midst.
“Yeek, a magic attack!”
“It’s either ‘Water Shot’ or ‘Swirl Blade’! Take cover, quick!”
Despite the orders she gave her subordinates, the officer was quick to cower behind something and look around wildly when she got a taste of Mia’s magic.
That didn’t stop Arisa’s knockout blast from hitting her in the head. Judging by the way she lay out flat on the ground, it must have knocked her out immediately.
“Mia, hit a few more places, please.”
“Mm, got it.”
Mia puffed up her chest and began her next chant.
“I am a knight of the Yowork Kingdom, Kuvork field army, third—”
I used Magic Hand to bonk the soldier on the head, mid-speech, with a nearby rock, knocking him unconscious. A resistance fighter ran over to finish him off, but other knights managed to drag him to safety.
“Master, I wish to fight, I declare.”
“Pochi wants to pew-pew with ‘Spellshot,’ sir!”
“Tama wants to ninjaaa?”
Nana, Pochi, and Tama were eager to join the fray.
Though Liza didn’t say anything, it looked like she felt the same way.
“‘Spellblade’ will stand out too much at night—”
As I spoke, I saw some knights on horseback with golems in tow approaching the scene.
“Liza, Pochi, and Nana, destroy those golems with ‘Spellblade.’ Stay on the move while you attack, so they won’t find you.”
On my orders, the three headed out to attack.
“And Tamaaa?”
Tama looked disappointed that she hadn’t gotten orders.
“I have a special mission for you, Ninja Tama. Toss pebbles at the horses to get them to lose control. Use pepper shots to punish any knights who come your way.”
“Aye! Nin-niiin?”
Tama promptly vanished into the darkness.
“Whoa, horsey!”
“Gaah, what the…? Koff, koff! Aaaargh!”
Before long, the knights had fallen from their rearing horses.
The talented ninja Tama had thrown the pepper shots into their eyes just as their horses lost control.
“Where’s the shooter?!”
“We’re under magic attack, too—oof!”
“What is the captain doing?!”
Thanks to the gang’s efforts, the Yowork army was in total disarray.
Now’s my chance…
While the resistance was still trying to figure out what was happening, I spotted a familiar face. It was the man I met at the bar, who worked for Prince Eruus.
I shot an arrow letter at his feet to tell him that Eruus’s reinforcements would arrive in the early dawn.
I watched as the agent found the letter and read it.
“It’s Prince Eruus’s advance team that’s helping us!” he called to the rest of the resistance. “We’ll have reinforcements at dawn!”
Luckily, he believed the letter. Maybe my “Secret Maneuvers” skill helped with that.
“Oh, good. Looks like they’re going to stay put until reinforcements arrive.”
The resistance started piling up furniture and rocks around the doors and windows of the building, creating a barricade.
“That won’t hold up to fire by itself…”
I used the Earth Magic spell Wall to shore up their base’s defenses, adding a lookout tower at each corner while I was at it.
“Nice work, Master. Liza and the others defeated the golem team already, so it looks like Yowork Kingdom is going to fall back for now to regroup, too.”
“That should buy us enough time until dawn.”
Thus far, it didn’t look like the Yowork Kingdom army was going to use the City Core’s power.
Maybe they just didn’t see the resistance as enough of a threat, but I suspected that there wasn’t enough magic power in the core, judging by the state of the crops and climate within Kuvork City.
We took turns taking naps while others kept watch. The night passed uneventfully, and soon the sun began to emerge from behind the mountains.
It looked like the Yowork Kingdom army was planning to go back on the offensive at dawn. Their garrisons near the capital building were getting ready to depart.
It was almost time for the big finish.
“I’m going to get the reinforcements. Can you handle things here?”
“Yep, no problem. I’ll contact you if the Yowork Kingdom army attacks.”
I changed into my Kuro disguise.
When I used Return to get back to Kageus County, I found some three-hundred armed soldiers gathered a fair distance away from the city.
I used “Flashrunning” to hurry over to them.
“Looks like you’re all prepared.”
“Lord Kuro!”
“Whoa, floating down from the sky? You hero folks know how to make an entrance.”
While most of the people seemed stunned by my sudden appearance, the elderly consul and the general looked up and addressed me calmly.
“Did you see that, old man?! A person flew across the sky!”
Eruus ran over to the old gentleman, tugging on his sleeve excitedly.
Maybe I could take him for a spin in the air once everything settled down.
“Just three hundred, eh…?”
I should be able to transport that amount in just a few rounds.
“This is the best we could do in one night’s notice. We know it ain’t enough to take down a whole city. But if our attack can help the uprising on the inside, that’s good enough for us.”
The general seemed to have misunderstood my words.
“That isn’t what I meant. I was saying that I can transport this number to Kuvork City.”
“Transport? What, with an airship?”
“I do have one of those, but we won’t be using it this time.”
I used Magic Hand to grab the general and a group of soldiers.
“Don’t try to resist. I’m going to teleport us to Kuvork City.”
“Wh-what?”
I took sixty people there in one trip using Unit Deployment.
“Wh-where are we?”
“Kuvork City, in the former nobles’ quarters.”
There was no one around in the charred remains of this place, and plenty of wide-open spaces, so I’d used the Create Stone Object spell to create some temple-style structures without ceilings to serve as a teleportation base.
“Wait here. I’ll bring the rest.”
With a few short words to the general, I continued shuttling back and forth a few times. I checked the soul shell garland to ensure it was still normal each time before I used Unit Deployment, just as I promised Arisa.
Partway through the shuttling process, Arisa sent word that the Yowork Kingdom was advancing again.
The rebels’ defenses should hold for a little while, especially with the earth walls I made.
“This place is still all burnt up… Wait, where’s the castle?!”
In the last round of transport, I brought Eruus, who yelped in surprise when he saw the destruction left by the sinking beneath the castle.
I would’ve preferred not to bring him to the battlefield, but he was very insistent, and his elderly consul agreed that it was necessary for the revival of their kingdom.
While the old gentleman wasn’t a combatant by any means, Eruus had bodyguards that followed him like shadows and would no doubt keep him safe.
“Master, they’ve broken through the earth walls! They brought in a giant Magic Cannon that was used for defending the city walls!”
Using a powerful wartime weapon within the city walls? That was awfully dangerous.
“Arisa, keep an eye on things a little longer. You can hinder them a little bit if need be, just no direct interference until Eruus and his reinforcements arrive.”
“I know. I’ll just use ‘Deracinator’ to keep them from advancing too much.”
After the conversation with Arisa, I told Eruus the situation.
He immediately ordered the general to go to the aid of the resistance, and the three hundred soldiers marched through the familiar wreckage of their homeland.
“Here, take this. Protect that precious life of yours.”
I handed an Echigoya Company-made shield bracelet to Eruus and turned away.
“You aren’t going to help us take back the royal capital, Lord Kuro?!”
“I believe I’ve helped more than enough already. Technically, we aren’t supposed to get involved in interpersonal wars at all.”
Eruus looked down, disappointed.
“Lord Kuro, thank you for all your help.”
“I just did my part because a little girl asked me to help you. If you must thank someone, thank the cheeky girl with purple hair.”
“Purple hair? Do you mean Arisa?!”
I used Return to teleport back to my group without answering Eruus’s question.
Hopefully, that would lessen Eruus’s subordinates’ resentment toward Arisa a little.
“What are the dregs of Kuvork Kingdom doing in the city?!”
The battlefield was in chaos.
This was thanks to Eruus and his army suddenly showing up and attacking the Yowork Kingdom from the side just when they had gained the upper hand, owing to the Magic Cannon.
“Who the hell are those knights?!”
“Is it ‘Body Strengthening’?”
“No, I saw one block a sword with his bare arm. Maybe they have that ‘Indestructible Body’ skill I’ve heard rumors about…”
The chimera knights were laying waste to the battlefield as if to vent all their pent-up rage.
Evidently, having mutations like hydra hides and naga scales on their arms allowed them to block even a steel blade, unharmed.
“The Magic Cannon! Mow them all down!”
“But Your Excellency! We’re in the middle of the city!”
“Shut up! No one lives here but those Kuvork filth anyw—”
Before he could finish his sentence, wind and flames suddenly engulfed the Magic Cannon and its surroundings, including the frontline commander.
“Mages?!”
“Someone’s attacking us!”
Before the Yowork Kingdom army could grasp the situation, magic attacks pelted their encampment like rain.
“Where in the world did they get so many mages?!”
“Call in the soldiers guarding the castle walls!”
“Pull our men back for now, and ask the viceroy for aid.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up murmurs of the Kuvork Kingdom army’s strategy.
Eruus and his army seemed to have joined up with the resistance encampment; I could hear voices praising him and cheering for imminent victory.
“Rejoice while you can. Once the viceroy’s aid arrives, you’ll rue the day you were born.”
The surviving commander muttered darkly as he began to lead the retreat.
It turned out to be more than just sour grapes: Soon, light shone in the armor and weapons of the Yowork Kingdom soldiers, and they began their counterattack.
Based on what I heard, the viceroy must have used the City Core to give the soldiers a boost.
However, it looked like the core didn’t have much magic to spare—almost a third of the soldiers in back were missing the glow of the boost.
“Yowork bastards! We won’t lose to the likes of you!”
“You’ll taste the strength of someone who’s lost all hope for human happiness!”
Even with the boost, they evidently weren’t strong enough to compete individually with the chimera knights.
Only the highest-level Yowork Kingdom knights were able to fight the chimera knights in an even match.
“Grrr, stop fighting one-on-one! Use our strength in numbers to surround them!”
“You damn cowards!”
“Now we’ve got ’em! Wear them down!”
The Yowork Kingdom commander appeared to have realized they outnumbered the resistance almost four-to-one and could use that to their advantage.
“What should we do, Master? Meddling alone isn’t going to give them enough support.”
Arisa was right. At this rate, the difference in numbers would overwhelm the resistance.
“All right. You have my permission to join the fight… Just be careful not to get hurt.”
“Should we change into our golden armor?”
“No, you can wear your normal public equipment this time. Just don’t use anything with a crest on it.”
Since I was also trying to improve Arisa’s negative reputation, I decided to have the group participate as themselves instead of in their “hero’s attendant” golden armor.
Meanwhile, I used Clairvoyance to keep an eye out and support them as needed.
“Pochi will take the lead, sir.”
“Chaaarge?”
“Don’t run ahead while I’m doing my battle pose, sir!”
I could heard Pochi and Tama through Arisa’s activated Tactical Talk spell.
“Some little thing is coming at us!”
“Th-they’re so strong! Are they dwarfs?!”
“S-stop them! Someone stop them!”
Tama and Pochi dashed through the ranks, slashing at the soldiers’ legs.
When they vanished from the road, they left a trail of men lying on the ground, clutching their legs.
Some of the civilians ran out from their homes to attack the downed soldiers with frying pans and chairs. While the protection of the City Core kept them from being killed, it was probably poetic justice for the civilians to take out their anger on the soldiers.
“Sir Knight! Look out!”
“I am the greatest knight of the Yowork Kingdom, Sir—”
“Liza of the Black Spear. Here I come!”
Liza charged at the knight without waiting for his introduction, leaving a trail of red light in her spear’s wake.
The knight only managed to block a few of her hits before going down, even with the support of the City Core boost.
If she wasn’t holding back to avoid killing anyone, she probably would’ve knocked him out with the first blow.
“Who is that spear user? She’s taking out Yowork knights left and right.”
“I don’t remember anyone like that from Kuvork Kingdom.”
“She must be an ally of Prince Eruus. Let’s take out the rest of ’em while we have the chance!”
Liza’s prowess seemed to raise the morale of the Kuvork Kingdom soldiers.
Fwoom.
“Huh? Did you say something?”
“I didn’t hear a thing. Just keep moving, man.”
A Yowork Kingdom soldier who was helping to carry a Magic Cannon down from the castle tower looked around nervously.
Fwoom, fwoom.
“I definitely heard something.”
“I told you, just—”
As the other soldier started to snap at him, they were both attacked by a shock wave.
Several translucent little girls—sylph spirits—floated around them.
“Sylphs, destroy the cannon.”
Fwoom.
On Mia’s order, the sylphs pulled the Magic Cannon up into the air and destroyed it.
“Sylphs, next.”
Fwoom.
The sylphs sped onward toward the next canon.
Thus, the plan to bring more Magic Cannons to the front lines fell to pieces without ever seeing the light of day.
“…Hmm?”
I spotted a Yowork Kingdom spy making his way around the front lines.
It looked like he intended to attack the noncombatants being sheltered at the rear. Maybe he was going to take them hostage to try to force Eruus to surrender.
Nana, who was hidden near Eruus’s headquarters, was the closest.
“Nana, an enemy soldier is approaching from nine o’clock. Stop him, please.”
“Yes, Master. I won’t let anyone harm the larvae, I declare.”
As gallant as that was, I’d prefer that she protect everyone, regardless of age.
I checked the map again and saw something strange happening outside the city, too.
“Arisa, take Lulu and head to the south tower.”
“Okey-dokey!”
“…Eek!”
Arisa’s and Lulu’s dots on my radar appeared at the unoccupied tower on the outer wall.
“Arisa, Lulu, look at the border fortress.”
“Something’s moving.”
“Are those…golems?”
“Yeah. They’re even breaking out their border defenses to send them here.”
“Should we stop them?”
“Please.”
“Lulu, do you think you can hit them from here? It’s pretty far.”
“Yes, no problem… See?”
The laser gun flashed a few times, and the dots indicating the golems on my map disappeared.
Lulu was really a pro sniper with those Magic Guns now.
Arisa and I praised Lulu’s impressive feat.
Kwee, kwee!
I heard a bat’s cry in the back of my mind.
It was the Shadowdive Bat I had hidden near the viceroy. I tuned into its mind and saw that the viceroy was making preparations for some kind of Ritual Magic.
“Arisa, the viceroy’s up to something. Want me to stop him?”
“No, I can do it. Do you mind fixing the tap, Master?”
“Sure thing.”
I headed to the City Core room to fix the tap.
Since the entrance had been blocked during the collapse of the castle, there were no guards.
I used Pitfall to open it back up, then forced the twisted door open with brute strength. There was a lethal barrier around it generated by the City Core itself, so I used a full-blast Break Magic to stop it. Sure, I probably could’ve walked through just fine, but I’m not a fan of taking unnecessary risks.
“O Lord, who controls a higher-ranking region. This land is registered as a satellite of Yowork City. If you steal it, it will be considered a declaration of war on that city. Do you accept?”
“That’s fine. I’ll register this as my satellite city.”
“Understood. O Lord, this land is now yours.”
Well, that was easier than I expected.
I wanted to change the designated lord later, like I did in Muno. However, if I did that, Eruus would automatically be freed from his slave status.
I had to free him from his Geist first, or there was a real risk that he might die like Orchidee for breaking the rules of the Geist.
I gave the City Core an order to overwrite and remove the boost being given to the Yowork Kingdom army.
“Question. What would happen if I unregistered this city as a satellite city of mine?”
“Whoever visits this place next would become its new lord.”
That should be fine, then.
Just to be safe, I put a barrier over the entrance that only Eruus could enter.
This way, no one would randomly wander in and wind up as the new lord.
“Take this, tyrant! ‘Blast Storm’!”
I turned my attention back to the Shadowdive Bat and found Arisa shouting nonsense while wiping the floor with the Yowork Kingdom’s viceroy and generals at their military headquarters, knocking them all out with her shock wave spell.
“Don’t go too far overboard.”
“Master? How are things going on your end?”
“It’s done. Once Eruus goes to the City Core room, he’ll inherit ownership.”
“Wow, that was fast. But that’s why we love and admire yooou!”
Arisa dropped another reference to a famous manga, joking around. Or maybe she really was just complimenting me.
“Master, the Yowork Kingdom soldiers stopped glowing and are starting to flee.”
Liza reported in via Tactical Talk.
I guess I successfully stopped the buff from the City Core.
“Arisa here. Looks like the people at the HQ are running away, too. The viceroy and general told them to fight to the bitter end, but their subordinates turned against them and cut them down.”
People take lives much too easily in this world.
“Pochi here, sir! Mr. Soldiers are running away from the north gates, sir.”
“Tama heeere? All quiet in the plazaaa?”
Pochi and Tama seemed to be enjoying imitating Arisa.
“Master, it looks like Arisa’s brother is declaring victory in the plaza, I report.”
I used a visual Unit Deployment to move to where I could see the plaza and used it again to summon the rest of my group.
Maybe I was using Unit Deployment a little too much, but this was an important moment. I wanted everyone to see it together.
“Victory is ours! I hereby declare the reestablishment of the Kuvork Kingdom!”
Eruus stood on a hastily built platform.
“Huzzaaaaah!”
“Three cheers for Prince Eruus!”
“All hail our new king!”
At Eruus’s declaration, his vassals, soldiers, and even the former Kuvork Kingdom citizens who had gathered there all erupted into cheers.
“Congratulations, big brother.”
“Well done, Lord Eruus.”
Arisa and Lulu also congratulated Eruus more quietly as he stood at the center of the crowd. The other kids did, too, of course.
“Glory to the Kuvork Kingdom!”
“Glory to King Eruus!”
“Huzzaaaaah!”
After being so cruelly oppressed by Yowork Kingdom, the people were enthusiastic about supporting Eruus. Some of them were just yelling incoherently, not that I could blame them.
That being said, Eruus and his staff were still in for a lot of hard work. Taking back their land was only the beginning of a long, arduous process. He would have to rebuild his military might to fend off any attacks from Yowork Kingdom or threats of monsters, rebuild the city that had been laid to waste in the battle, and a whole mountain of other tasks.
“Let’s go, Master.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, we’ll let Eruus handle things from here. Besides, there’s something else I’d rather be doing right now…”
Arisa looked up at me with a mischievous grin.
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