Chapter III: The Bloodstained Market
“I call it the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II! It’s completely identical to the first, though.” Doctor Babylon and I were in the Garden. She was pointing right at an uninstalled portal device right next to the one that was already installed.
It was a silver archway that vaguely resembled France’s Arc de Triomphe. Just like the first edition that was installed, it had several small meters installed around it.
“These two objects are linked by chronomancy, space-time magic. They’re fixed to each other no matter where the other one goes. Basically, they’re connected. If you install the Mk. II on the other side, then we’ll have an anchor to the Reverse World.”
“Makes sense... So I just need to find a safe place over there, right?” The Dimensional Disruptor wouldn’t activate unless it had vast quantities of magic poured into it, so I wasn’t really worried about visitors from the other side coming in... But on the other hand, I didn’t want it being in a dangerous place where it could get trashed.
I thought putting it in the middle of nowhere and erecting a protective barrier would probably be the safest approach.
It’d be even better if I could get my hands on a Gollem over there. I could task it with protecting the portal.
“Then that means... We’ll be able to visit as well?” Linze spoke up quietly, causing Doctor Babylon to shift her eyes a little.
“Well... Mostly, I guess? It still needs some adjustments, honestly... If someone wants to go with Touya, there are limitations in place right now.”
“Do you mean the number of people that can go, do you?” Yae tilted her head. Crap, I can only take a certain amount of people? But I wanna take everyone!
“There’s no limit to the number of people... The limit is actually weight-based. People other than Touya need to weigh no more than 48kg each. Probably 45kg just to be safe...” Doctor Babylon’s words caused the girls to freeze in place. Yikes... That’s uh... Weight’s a sensitive topic...
I’d made a changing room in the castle with an accurate scale, so everyone should have had a vague idea of how much they weighed.
I didn’t really want to pry, but I had no doubts that Sue and Doctor Babylon would be lower than 45kg. Leen, Yumina, and Lu were probably petite enough to meet the standards as well.
Sakura was expressionless as ever, but Linze, Yae, Elze, and Hilde were all looking around in a small panic.
The girls were around fifteen to sixteen years old... It would be weird for them to weigh over 50kg, wouldn’t it? I realized I didn’t actually know. I had no standard to compare.
It seemed that even in this world, girls were conscious of their bodies. Men didn’t really seem to care so much in general, I noticed.
“Come to think of it, I need to locate the safe space on the other side first, right? You guys shouldn’t all come with me right away... Something bad might happen, and you don’t want to be stranded over there!” I smiled over at the girls to try and give them a little way out, and suddenly the girls all started speaking at once.
“Y-Yes, Touya-dono! You are right, you are! We cannot say that the world over there is safe, we cannot!”
“Yae’s right! We can’t make assumptions!”
“Yeah! It’s not like we’re in any rush! That world ain’t going anywhere!”
“Y-Yes, I don’t mind waiting a little longer for our group trip...” I could tell what they were really thinking, but I decided to let it go. There were some matters that a man had no business intruding on.
Yumina and the smaller girls raised no real objections. They probably couldn’t argue with the fact that it was a bit soon to bring them anyway. Sue got a little grumbly, but she soon settled down.
“That makes safe sense to me, really. I’ll make some fine adjustments while we wait for a better setup on the other side.” Doctor Babylon nodded in agreement. You should’ve just said that from the start!
I shrugged my shoulders and shoved the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II into my [Storage]. Then I started channeling magic into the active portal. Even though I’d completely filled it last time, just one trip drained the reserves entirely.
We needed to improve the energy conservation features on the portals as well... It was true that it meant I was the only one who could really use it, but I wondered if that was actually safe enough. The meters filled up on the arch as the inside of the structure began to shimmer. The image of a wide-open plain fell into clear view.
The Mk. II was in my [Storage], so it had just connected to some random location in the Reverse World again.
That was fine, though. I could easily use [Gate] to warp to Allent, that capital city I’d visited.
Last time Kokuyou, Kougyoku, and Sango came with me, so I decided to take Kohaku and Luli with me this time.
“Are you fine taking those two with you, Master?”
“I do hope they don’t squabble...”
“I certainly worry...”
“We won’t fight!!”
“Enough, let’s go.” Kohaku and Luli were grumbling at the other Heavenly Beasts, but they reassured them it’d be fine. I didn’t have time to deal with the fuss, so we just headed off.
“Alright, I’m off. I’ll be back either tomorrow or the day after.” Time dilation often happened during the teleportation process, so it’d probably take at least a day to find a safe spot. I was sure it’d be fine.
“Don’t do anything insane like you usually do, Touya...” I felt like Yumina had stabbed me right through the heart with her words. It wasn’t as if I meant to do all those crazy things... They just happened to end up that way.
“It is not just the fault of Touya-dono’s surroundings, it is not.”
“He always takes spur-of-the-moment actions.”
“Don’t go poking your head into any unnecessary trouble, alright?”
“A-Alright. I’m off!” Yae, Hilde, and Elze all performed follow-up attacks to Yumina’s words, so I escaped by jumping through the portal.
The weird sensation of passing through a rubbery membrane overcame me again, but the plains I’d seen through the arch finally came into proper view.
I saw a rocky cliff face not far ahead, and the area behind me seemed dusty and dry. The place kind of resembled the American wild west. I wondered if horse-mounted gunslingers would appear...
“So this is the Reverse World...”
“Interesting seeing it with my own two eyes.” The two of them looked around with curious gazes. It wasn’t like the whole world looked like this... I’d been to cooler places.
“Alright let’s see... Wow, I’m a ways off from Allent.” I looked up my location on the map and I was far to the south-east of the Reverse World... The adjacent location to where I was in the regular world would be around Sandora. Allent was approximately located in Roadmare’s territory if we were mapping equivalents.
Not like it mattered, I could easily open up a [Gate] and warp over to civilization.
“Hmm... Now then... I could always just install the portal here... There’s not a soul around.” I could only see vast, dry plains. There was no trace of human life in this place. It kind of seemed like a place that no human would ever visit. It was basically a perfect spot.
“My liege, this place isn’t necessarily safe. There may be wandering beasts around...”
“Good point...” Kohaku was right. I remembered that two-headed monster I’d encountered when I first came to the Reverse World, there could easily be similar creatures.
I could always set up an invisible barrier by casting [Shield], or disguise the portal as a rock or something by using [Mirage], but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Having a piece of land or a house would be the best bet. That way I could safely install the portal in the basement or something.
Having someone mind the house would be useful, but probably not practical.
I could always call a summoned beast to act as a guard... But it’d vanish the moment I went home. That was unideal, too... I should’ve asked Doc Babylon to make another magic storage tank...
“It might just be in my best interests to get a Gollem after all...” Thus I decided my next course of action. Sancho told me that anyone in this world could get a Gollem, so long as they had the absurd amount of money required to buy one.
I’d seen Gollems acting as bouncers or bodyguards in town. I could maybe pick up a cheap one and upgrade it or enchant it so it’d be stronger...
“Guess I need to earn some money, then.” I didn’t have any money to my name in this world. I’d sold some gold ingots to Sancho, but I ended up betting all of those earnings away at a casino...
Wait... I helped the Red Cats with that orichalcum and adamantite... They still owe me!
The last time I’d seen them, I’d helped them escape from the knights attacking their hideout. I had no money right now, so I knew what to do. I just had to collect what I was owed!
“Uhm... Let’s see here... Search... Red Cat...” I searched for Nia, their leader. She was currently in a place the map referred to as the Kingdom of Streign. Specifically, a town named Carne.
She wasn’t directly in the town, though. They called themselves chivalrous, but they were still a band of thieves. It was only natural they’d want to keep things on the down-low.
I checked the location further and found they were in a forest. The marker on the map showed that there was a stone-built structure there... It was called the Douze Fort Remnants... So they were probably using that place as their current forward base. My map app wasn’t sophisticated enough to show me more than basic info.
I searched for other members of their group, but there weren’t even thirty there. That seemed like too few, so I wondered if they were on a mission.
Well... Nia’s gonna be able to help me, I’m sure. I guess I know where to go.
I couldn’t use [Gate] since I’d never been before, and [Teleport] was an unstable choice since the place was too far away to get an accurate destination in mind. If I used it without proper care, I could end up in the middle of someone’s house, or a lake. Luckily the spell didn’t let you phase into existing solid matter... That was a small relief.
[Teleport] really wasn’t suitable for long-distance travel.
But I rationalized that it was a forest location, so I probably had room for some margin of error. I checked the map once more, and none of the Red Cats were in the forest other than the ones at the fort. It wouldn’t have been a problem even if they saw me, though. They should’ve been informed of my abilities. Thus I decided teleporting was the best idea.
Let’s see...
It’s in that direction... So... Let’s do this...
“[Teleport].” Immediately the desolate plains around me became a lush forest. My feet were about ten centimeters above ground, so I briefly stumbled... But I managed to catch myself.
“Wow... So I really could cover that amount of distance in one go...” I looked at the map and found the fort was still a few kilometers away.
It went well, but not as well as I’d hoped. It was kind of like throwing balled up trash into a garbage bin. If you were used to it and practiced, you could probably hit the target just right. But you needed to practice.
Still, that wasn’t a big deal. The fort was close enough that another teleportation burst would bring me into it.
I didn’t want to alarm them, so I decided teleporting right in front of Nia was probably the smartest move to make. I opened up the map and checked on Nia’s location. She was alone, in a place that looked like a courtyard on the map, that was ideal.
I shrugged my shoulders and cast my spell once again.
I didn’t realize the horrible mistake I had made. I should have thought about it more deeply. I should have reconsidered. But I didn’t. And now I can tell you what happened.
“Huh?” She wasn’t in a courtyard. She was in a small room. It wasn’t really a room, it was more like a green, circular tent.
Before my eyes was Nia, leader of the Red Cats.
“......Ah.” Her eyes were wide in shock as she glared down at me. Her red hair, usually up in pigtails, flowed freely down.
Her hands were in the middle of lifting up her shirt, but were now frozen in place. Her pants were at her feet. Her lower body was only covered by some tiny red underwear...
I’d teleported in on her changing her clothing.
“...Why you...!”
“Ah, no, wait... Please understand. This was an accident!” I felt an impending sense of dread ripple through the air as her cheeks became just as red as her underwear.
This tent had clearly been erected in the middle of the courtyard. She’d clearly stepped into it to get changed. My map was too limited to show temporary structures like that.
I looked up at Nia, who was now clenching her fist and glaring at me with an awkward half-smirk on her face.
“Any last words, punk...?!”
“Well...”
“Well?”
“Red’s a little mature...” The moment I dared to speak, Nia’s right hook got me clean in the jaw. I could’ve dodged it, but I had to man up and take it. I deserved it. Her punch was hard enough to rattle my brain around in my head. I collapsed right on the spot.
“...I see. So that’s how it is. You really should’ve just walked here normally...!”
“I’m sorry, really...” I was bowing down in the tent, apologizing to Nia.
“My liege, don’t worry about it.” Kohaku tried to reassure me about it, but her way of doing so was a little... Simplistic.
Still... They did look nice... But I couldn’t find myself sinking into the pitfall that was that line of logic.
“It’s probably a good thing you accidentally stumbled on Lady Nia, rather than Est. She would not have let you off with a mere punch.”
“Est certainly shows no mercy... She works people hard and doesn’t so much as care a bit about it.” Euri, a member of the Red Cats with soft and wavy hair, spoke in a calm and casual manner. Nia nodded along with her.
It seemed like their second-in-command, Est, was absent. The ponytailed girl, Euni, wasn’t present either. They were currently in Allen, the capital of the Allent Theocracy. I wondered what they were investigating... Still, it was clear that I had been saved from a grim fate.
“That doesn’t mean I’ll just forgive you, though!” Nia grinned sadistically in my general direction.
I had a bad feeling about that expression of hers.
“...What do you want from me?”
“What I demanded when we last met. Teach me magic. Something simple is just fine!”
“Ooh! Teach me, too!”
Oh come on... Is this seriously happening? Magic is known about in this world, right? It can’t be that hard to find a teacher. Hell, I was reading a book about magic earlier! How come I’ve gotta be the one to do it?
Bah... Fine, I guess I can teach her something basic.
“...Fine, then. But you gotta promise not to abuse the power.”
“Abuse?! When would I ever?”
“Just remember that a good person won’t use magic in a way that’ll bring regret down the line.” I thought it was probably futile talking about ethical magic use to the leader of a band of merry thieves, so I just opened up [Storage] and took out a couple of spellstones.
I placed them on a table in the middle of the tent, next to a dimly lit lantern.
“Ohh... What are these pretty little rocks?”
Mm... I had a feeling spellstones didn’t exist here. Come to think of it, that could be why magic didn’t develop as much in this world. They’re kind of necessary to determine aptitude and stuff.
This world did have something they called Leylight stones, which could’ve possibly been some kind of equivalent to light-type spellstones. It was entirely possible that there were other elemental stone equivalents I just hadn’t come across.
“These are spellstone fragments. We can use them to determine the types of magic you have an affinity for. But don’t be surprised if it comes up with no results. There are a lot of people who can’t use magic, after all.”
This world especially had a low amount of magic users, and I had a theory that even the mages in this world didn’t have much magical power in them, either. If you think about it in the analogy of a faucet, water won’t flow out unless you turn the handle. Perhaps the tap was never turned due to the handle being too stiff.
Then, after several generations of being unturned, the handle would begin to rust. However, that meant the potential for water flow would still be there. It would just be even harder for later generations to turn the rusted handle and activate the faucet.
From what I’d heard, there were magic schools in the Reverse World, but they weren’t exactly common institutions. Unlike the world I’d traveled from, the world with Yumina and the others, magic wasn’t considered anything particularly important here. That was probably thanks to the fundamental reliance on Gollems that this society had.
Honestly, Nia becoming so fascinated by magic was a rare instance, too.
That was probably because she’d gotten interested in all the weird stuff I could do with my own powers.
“So, what should I do?”
“You just need to chant an incantation while holding the spellstone. If the stone reacts, then it means you have an affinity for the magic type related to the stone you’re holding.”
I wanted to show her an example, but I remembered what happened back with Linze at the Silver Moon when I was testing my own aptitude and thought better of it...
My magic power was a teensy tiny bit too immense for practical examples in a casual setting.
I told them the incantations they needed to know, and the results were in. Nia had an aptitude for Fire, and Euri had an aptitude for Light.
Wow, I’m surprised... Didn’t expect them both to have an affinity. To be honest, though, I wish they’d both just turned up without any aptitude at all so I could forget about this... I better not tell them that, though.
“Do you know about how to direct magic flow?”
“I do, yes. You need to use the flow of magic power to manipulate a Gollem. Actually, that reminds me, Rouge is late today... Where did he go, I wonder.”
Rouge was the name of Nia’s Gollem, if I recalled correctly. I’d never actually seen it myself. I hadn’t considered that it’d be an autonomous unit, I wondered what it was off doing by itself.
Seemed like that orichalcum I gave them for repairs was more important than I’d thought.
Still, I had to focus on magic lessons. I was glad they already knew how magical flow worked, since explaining that was the hardest part... According to Linze and Leen, at least.
Even when Sakura studied magic, it had taken her a while to grasp the basics of magical flow.
“Alright, so... You need to gather the magic power in your body, visualize what you want to happen in your mind, and then chant the incantation.” Imagining the result made it easier for the spell to be cast.
“Come forth, Light! Tiny Illumination: [Light Sphere].” A small orb of light appeared out of my fingertips.
“Oooh! Amazing! It’s all shiny!”
“Wooow... It’s so pretty...” I made it float around the tent and then snapped my fingers, ending the spell.
“Can I do that spell, too?!”
“You can’t, no.”
“Whaaat, how come?!”
“Remember what I said. There’s a reason we checked your aptitude. That spell just now was a light-element spell. You only have an affinity for the fire element, Nia. So you can only use Fire spells.” Nia sulked a little, then Euri raised her hand.
“Does that mean I can...?”
“It does, yes. Gather your magic power and imagine a little ball of light, just like the one I made. Say the same incantation I did, and you should be able to cast it.”
“Uhm... Come forth, Light! Tiny Illumination: [Light Sphere]! Aaah!” A teeny tiny ball of light, around the size of a small coin, appeared at her fingertip.
She was so surprised by its appearance that her concentration lapsed, and it vanished. But she’d still succeeded. It was a basic type of magic and wasn’t really hard at all, but a win was a win.
I was glad to see that this world had people in it who were capable of picking up magic at a decent pace.
“It vanished...”
“That’s because you lost your concentration. When you get used to it, you’ll be able to cast the spell even without concentrating. That being said, you could use it to generate a blinding blast if you create an intense light and then immediately turn it off.” I was talking like a wise and knowledgeable teacher, but really I was just regurgitating what Linze had told me. If employed creatively, even basic spells could become invaluable tools.
“Wow... I was able to use some magic, that’s so amazing!”
“No faiiir! Let me do it! Hey, teach me some fire stuff!” Nia started to grumble, so we stepped outside the tent. We couldn’t exactly have her setting off fires while we were surrounded by cloth.
We couldn’t have her setting off fires in the nearby forest, either...
And a lot of the stone walls in this old fort were overgrown with dry ivy and other plants. In the end, we settled for a relatively safe-looking corner of the courtyard.
“Come forth, Fire! Hail of Red Stones: [Ignis Fire].” A small bundle of fire dispersed from my fingertips. The flames hit a collapsed beam near a stone wall and wrapped it in flames. I’d held back a bit, so the heat wasn’t enough to melt stone. Some of the moss ended up burning up, but the flame burned itself out after a small while.
“Whoa! That was a fire alright!”
“It’s not enough to kill, but it’s a valuable tool in itself. It’s the most basic Fire spell there is.”
Nia seemed excited to hear my explanation. She faced the same stone wall I’d faced and chanted the incantation herself.
“Come forth, Fire! Hail of Red Stones: [Ignis Fire]!” Nia’s chant caused a small ball of fire to come out from her fingertips, blasting at the wall much like mine did. Hers seemed to pack quite the punch, destroying a tiny bit of the wall’s face on impact. I was surprised to see that kind of power from a novice.
“I did it! Yahoo!” Nia began to cheer as multiple bundles of fire-like shots volleyed from her fingers. Seemed like she had quite the reserve of magic power. And then I realized what I should’ve been paying attention to the whole time. Wait a goddamn second. How’s she casting the spell again so quickly without chanting?! I-I mean, it’s possible to do that, but that’s an advanced technique! You can’t just keep doing it right off the bat, what the hell?!
Nia only had an aptitude for one element, and it was true she knew how to flow magic already thanks to her Gollem... But to cast like this required an extremely experienced degree of magical control. Her skill was honestly unreal.
“Touya! Do you know any other spells?”
“Hm?” There were plenty, but Fire magic was mostly made up of offensive spells. Something small like [Ignis Fire] was fine to show her, but I didn’t want the entire forest going up in smoke. Still, maybe I could teach her something else...
“Rise thus, Fire! Flaming Defenses: [Fire Wall].”
“Wow! It’s a wall of fire!!” I showed her a more defensively-oriented Fire spell, but that spell was definitely more advanced, so I knew she wouldn’t be able to use it herself. “Rise thus, Fire! Flaming Defenses: [Fire Wall]!”
SHE CAN USE IT?! Nia effortlessly repeated the spell I had just cast. Okay, no way... This is seriously a little much.
I was beginning to feel how Linze must have felt when I was first starting to learn magic from her. In my case, it was because of god’s blessing... Well, more because I’m incredibly overpowered, but what about Nia’s? I wondered if maybe every human in the Reverse World actually had incredible magic potential. To test that theory I had Euri try a more advanced Light spell, but she couldn’t muster it at all. She had a good aptitude for magic, and she’d be able to do it after a bit of practice... But she couldn’t hold a candle to Nia.
I decided against showing her stronger magic spells for that session at least. If she could cast something like [Mega Explosion] there’s no telling what kind of horrors she could unleash.
I decided it might be wise to talk to Est about how to proceed here.
“Say, Touya... Why’d you come here, anyway?” Euri turned to me and asked a fairly simple question. Oh, now you ask me? “I wanted to get myself a Gollem, but I don’t have any money. I came by to get the payment for the orichalcum and other stuff I sold you guys last time.”
“Aaaagh! I completely forgot about that!”
What.
I didn’t expect her to try and skirt on paying me, but saying she forgot already was a little much...
“It’s true we haven’t paid you yet, but we can pay! Euri, fetch Touya’s money from the safe.”
“Yes’m!” Euri saluted and marched into the fort. ...You forgot about paying me, but you still had the money prepared and locked in a safe? Well, whatever... I guess that whole deal was a while ago.
Euri returned with a small sack in her hands, which she promptly dropped into my palm. It certainly felt heavy, and I could hear the coins rattling around inside.
“Uhhm... That should be about... A hundred and fifty royals? That’s totally gotta be enough... It took a lot to get that much!” I wasn’t sure about the exchange rate, but I learned the money I held in my hands was roughly one and a half billion yen.
I couldn’t believe a band of thieves would have this level of money on them... Or maybe they had this much precisely because they were thieves.
“Can I get a Gollem with this, then?”
“You can buy a factory model, sure. I don’t know if you’d be able to get a legacy, though... They’re pretty special.”
“It’s pretty rare to even see a legacy model on the open market.” That was interesting. I’d have personally preferred a legacy model, but a factory model would also end up sufficing for my purposes. After all, I planned on having Doctor Babylon inspect and upgrade whatever Gollem I ended up getting.
“Then again... We could find you a legacy model... If we go there, I mean.”
“Ah... That’s right. We could definitely find one there...”
“Where?” I looked at the nodding duo in front of me in confusion, and Euri opened her mouth to explain.
“Legacy Gollems are discovered by adventurers that delve into ruins, for the most part. There are places where they’re sold without going through the proper legal channels... There’s also a place where you can buy Legacy Gollems you wouldn’t ordinarily find for sale... Maybe because these Gollems were stolen from somewhere else, or maybe because they’re unusual and just not wanted anymore...”
“There’s a place like that? Would I seriously be able to get a Legacy Gollem there?”
“I think so, yes. We’ll be able to take you there, okay? It’s... A dangerous place, to be sure. But I’m sure that’s no problem for you, Touya.” Dangerous? That certainly sounds foreboding... Before I could ask for more details, Nia grinned and opened her mouth.
“We’re off to the black market.”
“The black what now?” That’s certainly an ominous name... It certainly conjures up a clear enough image of what kind of place it is... But I wonder if we’ll be able to go there without any trouble. “It’s a great place for underhanded dealings. You can buy anything and everything there. There’s far more than just Gollems for sale there.”
“That sounds dangerous... Is it connected to some kind of underground organization?”
“That’s correct, yes. The black market is operated by an underground organization called the Black Papillon. They’re different to us, there’s nothing they won’t do for money. Someday my goal is to use the Red Cats to bring them down... Wait, you could help me defeat them, Touya!” Nia started to concoct a plan without any of my consent at all.
“Hold it, don’t get any funny ideas. Don’t drag a kind and upstanding man like me into your plans.”
“The type of kind and upstanding man who peeks on a girl when she’s changing?”
Ugh... That’s completely irrelevant here...
“Well, let’s put that aside for now... If you want a legacy model, then we’re going to have to go down to the black market. Ruins don’t always yield them, after all.” Exploring ruins was certainly an option... But I decided to just go along with this idea for now.
Plus, I was somewhat intrigued by what I’d been told about this place. It was possible I could get my hands on something weird.
“The market isn’t dangerous if you’re there to buy, but there’s one golden rule you must follow... Never ask about where something came from. If you follow that rule you’ll most likely be safe.” Euri explained a little more. That made sense, if the place dealt in stolen goods. It’d be suspicious to start asking questions about the wares. In the worst case scenario, the Black Papillon might end up targeting whoever was asking around.
“What are we doing, my liege?”
Hrm... Well, as the saying goes... Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“Alright. Take me there. But let me just be clear, I’m not going to help you fight this organization, alright?”
“Tsk... Ah well... That’s fine. I’ll use the chance to snoop on the enemy for a little bit. Now we just need to wait for Rouge... Oh wait, there it is.” Nia’s gaze turned toward one of the fort’s side entrances. I saw something small walking in from the forest.
Its body was red, a dark and burning crimson. It almost looked like a knight in full armor, but it was also incredibly tiny. It had spikes jutting up from its head. Despite its size, it was lugging along a massive wild boar, one about the same size as a car.
It clearly had an incredible amount of strength... It dropped the boar down in front of us with a heavy thud.
“Welcome back. How far did you go?”
“Northward. Deep in the forest. Met unexpected danger.”
“It talks...?” The voice was somewhat mechanical, but the red Gollem had clearly spoken. I remember that the wolf Gollem alongside Elluka had also spoken, but a bit more eloquently. It was about as conversational as any of the Babylon sisters were.
“Rouge, this is Touya. He’s the one that gave us the items we used to repair you. And Touya, this is Rouge. It’s my partner. Technically, its full name is Blood Rouge, but Rouge is easier to say casually.”
“I have heard of you. Gratitude is extended.”
“Ahh... Don’t worry about it, really.” The Gollem bowed its head. It felt like its appearance and its manner of speaking clashed a little... But honestly, it felt pretty human in its motions. Est’s Gollem, Akagane... That one definitely felt a lot more robotic than this one.
If I recalled correctly, Rouge was part of a special Gollem sub-type called the crown series. Apparently, the crowns were legendary legacy models with exceptional skill. They were supposed to outclass all the other Gollems in the world... But frankly, I hadn’t seen too much to be impressed by from this little guy.
“Rouge, we’re headed to the black market. Wanna come?”
“I shall accompany you. Master.” Rouge nodded softly toward Nia. They kind of resembled an older sister and little brother more than a master and robotic servant. Then again, Rouge was clearly far older than Nia was.
“So, where is it?” I whipped out my smartphone and used it to project a world map.
“Here’s the fort we’re in right now... Currently, the black market is in the city of Goldose, which is to the south... Right here. Goldose is a casino city, come to think of it.”
“W-Wait a second... Is it a big, gaudy city that shines out into the night?”
“Yes, are you familiar with it?” That city of all places... The place where I went and gambled like crazy that one time... Weird that I didn’t catch its name until now.
Then again, I did lose all my money there... I was probably more focused on that.
“So wait, is that city controlled by the Black Papillon?”
“No, the black market venue changes every month. This time it just happens to be in Goldose, but that doesn’t mean Black Papillon has anything to do with that city. Though it does mean someone in the city’s higher-ups has accommodated them.” They probably circulated their location to prevent being caught out by the government. Nia certainly knew a lot about them.
“Only a thief can catch out a thief. We have our own methods of catching information, you know.” Euri grinned as she brought a finger up to her lips. The Red Cats were certainly a group of chivalrous thieves, but they still employed underhanded means. They could then use any information gained via such dark channels to their advantage.
I kind of felt like they shouldn’t have been telling an outsider like me such sensitive info, but it’s not like I was going to do anything with what they’d told me.
“We can travel to Goldose without a problem... But are you guys fine to come with?” Nia was the leader of the Red Cats, so I had some reservations about taking her out into the open. She responded by waving a dismissive hand and grinning.
“Very few people know I’m the leader of the Red Cats, you know. Plus, Rouge will be with me... It’ll keep me safe from harm.” It seemed like even though the Red Cats were infamous, their leader’s identity wasn’t widely known. I’d planned on using [Mirage] to disguise us if it came to it, but that didn’t appear to be necessary anymore.
We informed the other Red Cats in the fort where we’d be headed and left behind a small mouse that I’d summoned for them.
They’d be able to communicate to the mouse if anything suddenly came up, and the mouse would convey the message to Kohaku and I.
Nia excitedly watched the summoning and immediately begged me to teach her how to do it. She looked crestfallen when I informed her that it was Dark magic, and she didn’t have any kind of talent for that school.
We walked together to the outer district of Goldose, which wasn’t too far from the forest. Even a city as gaudy as this had a dark side to it. This city’s underbelly was, of course, the slums... A place where the destitute wandered around, the last stop for those with no more dreams.
Once we made it there, we headed into a back alley and used [Gate], then used it to enter the main street of the city itself.
The neon lights weren’t blaring since it was daytime, but the city still looked just as flashy.
We headed up toward the central district and paid a toll at a gaudy gate to enter.
It kind of felt like paying an admission fee to enter an amusement park...
“So, whereabouts is it?” There were several dome-shaped casinos in the central district, owned by different people. I imagined that at night, this place was like a battlefield, with each competing to attract more customers and revenue.
There were also regular buildings surrounded by emptier land here and there... The casinos weren’t open during the day time, and I was mostly curious about where the market was. “We’re heading to Goldman’s Casino... Or rather, where the casino used to be.”
“Used to be?”
“A few months back, the owner of the casino was arrested for a lot of illegal deeds, including running a gambling ring based on combat. He was having slaves fight Gollems to the death, and profiting from it. We’d intended to defeat them ourselves, but we were beaten to it...” Nia started to pout a little and kick at the ground. I wondered what was up with her when Euri chimed in.
“The owner of the casino ended up being defeated by the owner of a black crown, much like the boss. She’s in a bad mood because one of her rivals took all the glory before she could.”
“Don’t say that!” Nia grumbled and flicked Euri on the forehead. The assaulted girl flinched and brought her hand up to the point of impact, tears welling up in her eyes. It certainly made a nice painful noise there.
A red crown and a black crown? Could the crown series be color-coordinated or something? “Regardless, the new owner of the casino dome is working with Black Papillon and letting them host the market there.” That made sense. I opened my map and looked at the city’s layout. Thankfully the name of the casino hadn’t been formally changed yet, so I was able to locate it with little difficulty.
We walked over to the dome and found ourselves being stared at by two gatekeeping Gollems. They were about three meters tall and were made of steel. They were huge... Not exactly as huge as my Frame Gears, though. They seemed very old-fashioned and sturdy, that much was for sure.
A group of thuggish looking men was hanging around the entrance, and they wandered over to us.
“We got customers?” The roughest looking guy stared me down with a sneer on his face. If this place was actually a casino, his behavior certainly wouldn’t have been acceptable.
“If ya came here to buy, it’s one gold a person. If ya came here to sell, show us yer wares.”
“...We’re here to buy. Three gold, right?” The man just nodded along to my words. He clearly wasn’t here for conversation.
It was around a hundred thousand yen per person... Gollems didn’t seem to count as people in the eyes of the black market, but we had to pay for Rouge’s admission when we entered the main district of the casino city. Though I didn’t have to pay for Kohaku or Luli, so I didn’t really understand their standards.
I handed over three gold coins to the man. He wordlessly gestured toward the Gollems with his head.
We passed through the entrance and came out into a completely barren hall. It seemed like all the casino decorations had been completely cleared out.
Compared to the casino I’d entered the last time, this one looked tremendously shabby.
There were no poker or roulette tables, there was no fancy chandelier... There was just a bunch of grubby-looking tents and stalls lined up around the wide open space.
It was mostly set up like a flea market, but both the customers and the shopkeepers looked incredibly gruff or suspicious. The place certainly gave off a great big criminal underworld vibe.
“It’s rather lively, my liege.”
“Kind of feels like an antique market, yeah...” There were all kinds of things on sale in this place. There was jewelry, weird-shaped vases, even peculiar animals I’d never seen before. I found myself starry-eyed, looking around at everything I could find. There were a lot of devices that incorporated magical power into their design... I found a few magic artifacts, too.
Oh, crap. I’m getting off-track here...
I looked around the entire place, but I couldn’t see anything even vaguely resembling a Gollem. I felt duped.
“Touya, in a market like this, the more expensive stuff like Gollems are located in a different area. Euri’s already gone off to ask about it, so just wait a bit.” I’d personally thought the stuff I was looking at was pricey... But apparently, this was the cheap stuff. That made me more nervous about what Gollems cost.
After a little bit, Euri returned. It seemed like the more expensive transactions were being made down in the basement.
We came to a heavy, black door. It was guarded by some beefy-looking men. Once again, we had to pay a toll. Geez...
I was annoyed, but I had to bear with it. I paid enough for three people, and we began our descent toward the basement.
We headed down into the basement and found a smaller room with various Gollems on display. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some humanoid, some animalistic, some big, and some small.
It was pretty amazing to see them all lined up, the atmosphere was almost like being at an expo. Still, I was there to buy.
“Let’s go.”
“Hm...?”
Nia nagged me to keep moving. I was standing and gawping like a moron. We navigated past various customers as we looked over the different models available.
“I can’t tell the difference between legacy and factory models...”
“When you get used to seeing them, it’s pretty easy to tell based on the parts they have. The design is often telltale, too. For now, just use the price as a guide. Legacy Gollems are way more expensive than their factory counterparts. From time to time you might even find custom-made Gollems, too.”
Gollems excavated from ruins were known as Legacy Gollems.
Gollems that were mass-produced using modern technology were the Factory Gollems.
Then there were one-of-a-kind units that were made to order, and they were Custom Gollems.
Rouge was a Legacy Gollem, while Mr. Sancho’s Crab Bus was likely a Factory Gollem.
I looked at the prices and saw a few Gollems with an extra digit in their prices. Interestingly enough, though, nearly all of them were labeled as having no abilities.
It seemed like Gollems with skills were hard to come across.
“Over there, my lord.”
“Ohoho.” Kohaku pointed out a Gollem that didn’t have the tag denoting lack of skill.
The Gollem was green, around two meters tall. It was gorilla-shaped and had extremely thick arms. There was also what resembled some kind of tank on its back.
“Excuse me... Does this Gollem have a skill?”
“That it does, my boy. It has a limited range, but it can manipulate the earth.” That was interesting... It’d probably be a useful tool for engineering or labor. That price-tag was a little steep, though... It was close to five-hundred million yen. If it was left lying around, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it get stolen... Though considering it was in the black market, I had my suspicions that it was probably stolen already.
I wondered if the Black Papillon group was handling security here...
I was fairly confident that I’d be able to steal everything in here and make it out, if I wanted... But I’d refrain from drastic acts like that.
“Oh, Touya. What about this one?”
“Hm? What about it?” Nia pointed at a set of machinery that looked more like a wearable power suit than any Gollem I’d seen so far. It looked as though it was meant to be worn over the limbs and back, like a powered exoskeleton. I didn’t realize Gollems could be so varied. “This one’s a Gear Gollem. It might not look it, but it’s super useful. It works alongside its master and responds to your mental processes when you wear it.” It looked interesting, but I wanted an autonomous model.
“What about this one, Touya?” Euri led me to a series of lined-up display boxes. Specifically, she was pointing at the Gollem in one of them.
It was about the size of a child. Around Rouge’s height and weight. This one was white at its base and had a more feminine form. There were two other identical models next to it, the only difference between the three were the fluorescent colors adorning their bodies. One was green, one blue, and one red. They even had glowing parts on their head that were meant to represent hair... They were incredibly crafted, even I could tell that much.
“Humanoid models are really rare...” Nia muttered to herself as she surveyed the three legacy units. When compared to the heavily-armored Rouge, or the exoskeleton and gorilla models I’d seen earlier, these ones looked a little more like humans.
To be honest I wasn’t as impressed as the onlookers. Back at home, I had a whole bunch of perfectly human-like gynoids living on Babylon. As realistically human as they were, these Gollems were still clearly inhuman and doll-like compared to the likes of Cesca.
“Do these ones have skills, then?”
“Sure do, son. Got my guarantee! But these little pretties ain’t been activated, so I can’t tell you what abilities they actually have.”
Gollems had devices in their central area that typically registered an individual as the Gollem’s master and then brought them online, but apparently, the device wasn’t working in these three models. For that reason, they’d never been activated. The shopkeeper had taken them to an engineer, but he wasn’t able to fix it, so he just decided to sell them as they were.
“That’s why I’m sellin’ them for so cheap. Wanna buy one?” The chubby man rubbed his hands together as he grinned.
Hmph... Is this seriously cheap? That’s seventy royals, that’s several hundred million yen... That’s a hella high price...
The gorilla one from earlier was only 500 million, and it had an ability, too... Are you telling me these are better?
“Geez, kid... Look, right here. See?” The shopkeeper pointed toward the chest of one of the Gollems. There was a tiny ? mark, a series of small numbers, and some words I couldn’t make out engraved there.
“Ohh... A star mark! That explains it... Are these Gollems part of the Etoile Series?”
“Ahh... I see.”
Euri and Nia seemed satisfied by the meaning of the symbols. Euri turned to explain the situation. Apparently, Gollems marked with that star were part of the Etoile Series, which are considered extremely advanced and high-performance models even amongst other Legacy Gollems.
The mark probably represented the person who originally crafted them.
I was also quietly informed of the small crown emblem engraved into Rouge’s neck. Apparently, that was the way to identify if a Gollem was part of the crown series, too.
“Is it fake, then?”
“No way. You can’t bring fake goods into the black market. He’d be barred from coming back, or even killed...” That made sense enough. Even without knowledge of what their skills were, just knowledge of the fact that they were Etoiles was enough to drive up market price. That was the nature of the market, for you...
“So, laddie? You buying or not, hm? These models don’t usually go for this cheap...”
“Hm...” In all honesty, I was looking for a much tougher robot to act as a guard. A menacing one like Akagane would’ve been ideal. These three looked more like they’d be suited to being caretakers or housekeepers more than anything.
Doctor Babylon would be able to analyze them and safely activate them once I brought them back home, I knew that much. Even if she failed, I knew she’d keep trying until she figured them out completely. Thus, I made my decision.
“Alright. I’ll take them... But before we ring it up, hear me out.”
I activated [Storage] and pulled out an adamantite ingot, and showed it to the suspicious trader. He looked at it for a while as the pieces began to click in his mind. Then his eyes shot wide open.
“Th-That’s... adamantite?! Where in the world did you...”
“Ah-ah-ah. Don’t forget the rules. No asking about origins, right? I will take all three of these Gollems off your hands for a hundred and thirty royals, and this ingot.”
“A-All three...?! H-Hmph... L-Let me be sure it’s genuine first...”
He brought out a small device similar to the one Mr. Sancho had used and determined whether or not the item I had was counterfeit or not.
“It’s the real deal... Hrmph... Let me think... Mm... Hm...”
He began pondering to himself, eyes fixed on the ingot. I was hoping that this transaction would be good enough, I’d already lost money by paying for fees and stuff. I would have liked to have paid the full price with ingots exclusively, but that would’ve looked too suspicious.
I could tell the man was weighing the worth on proverbial scales in his head. He was measuring the worth of three unactivated Etoiles against a whole ingot of incredibly rare material.
Eventually, he stopped focusing and smiled softly.
“Very well, laddie. I’ll accept your offer. You can have all three for that much.”
“It’s a deal, then.” I handed over the goods, and he happily relinquished the Gollems. I bought all three so I’d have spares just in case anything happened... Is what I’d say pragmatically, but a softer side of me felt bad separating them. They looked kind of like sisters all lined up as they were.
I suddenly invoked [Storage], sucking up all three of them along with their display cases. The shopkeeper seemed almost disturbed by the sight, but he pretended not to be too bothered.
“Even if they are Etoiles, are you sure about having three of them?”
“Mmm... I dunno, but the way I look at it is these are really high-tier ones, right? I might never get the chance to buy one again.” I shrugged toward Nia’s comment. Either way, that was one objective down. Now all I had to do was secure a place to set down the disruptor. I wondered if flying out to an uninhabited island might be the best idea. Just as I was thinking about my next step, I heard a sudden scream.
“...What’s that?”
“...Huh?” I suddenly stopped in my tracks, prompting Nia to ask me what was up. She hadn’t heard it.
I heard it again. There was screaming mingled in with the hustle and bustle of the crowd. I could hear it clearly. It wasn’t just one scream. There were a lot of people screaming now.
I looked to the side and found that Rouge had also stopped dead in its tracks. It looked upward. Of course, upward... The screams were coming from the floor above.
“La, la... Lalala...”
What the...? Just as the screams died down, I heard a happy singing voice take their place.
In a flash, the heavy door that led to the underground was sliced in half and knocked down.
The door was now on the floor in pieces, and I could clearly hear more of that joyful voice coming from the darkness. The singer was coming toward us, down the stairs.
“...Such beautiful, sparkling eyes...? Let’s take a spoon to them...? From blue, to green, to black, to red... Let’s make a mess of them...?”
“Wait, that voice...?!” Nia reflexively stiffened up and turned her gaze toward the darkness behind the doorway.
After a short time, a lone girl appeared and clambered over the debris.
She wore frilly purple clothing with a bit of a gothic aesthetic. She also wore a short skirt. She also carried a purple umbrella. Her aesthetic was similar to Leen’s, but a lot less prim and proper.
She also wore slim-framed glasses, but the deep purple eyes behind them looked almost lifeless... She was smiling broadly, but there was just something entirely wrong about her.
Her long, amethyst hair spilled down far past her shoulders. She resembled a doll in some ways. And then, as she stepped fully into the light, it became clear that both her skin and clothing were adorned with patches of fresh blood.
Perhaps what concerned me the most, though, was the Gollem standing next to her. It was tiny, almost like a knight, and it was deep purple. The scythe in its hand and the ragged black cape over its shoulders made me subconsciously liken it to the Grim Reaper himself. The aura it exuded, and its physical features... They were almost identical to the red Gollem by my side.
“H-Hey, who are they...?”
“That purple Gollem is a crown. Fanatic Viola. And the woman with it...”
“Luna... Trieste... It’s her... The Frenzied Mistress...”
Frenzied...? She seemed calm to me... As I wondered how they knew her, or what that nickname meant, the woman started to spin around in front of the doorway while twirling her umbrella.
“Please, please...? Oh pretty, pretty please...? I’ll gouge you oh-so-neatly, so please give me your eyes...? Please let me take your heart...?” She kept singing to herself, as if oblivious to the blood smeared on her... As if oblivious to the horrified crowd around her. But then, her smile widened. She stopped twirling, and she acknowledged her onlookers.
“Please let me take your blood, your guts, your spine...?”
“There are a lot of pretty little Gollems here, hehe... It’s a horrible waste, isn’t it? Should I trash them all? Should I smash them all? Should I turn everyone here into sticky, squishy messes...? Who doesn’t want to get hurt by mommy Luna?” The smiling, bloodstained woman finally identified herself as she folded up her umbrella.
“Viola, sweetie. Please go right ahead.”
“Beep.”
The small Gollem leaped down into the marketplace. It swung down the oversized scythe as it landed, cleaving one of the massive display Gollems in half. Whoa, that’s some edge!
“What the...?!” The man who was selling the now-bisected Gollem looked on in shock. The purple Gollem then transformed the scythe into a naginata spear and thrust it deep into the salesman’s chest.
“Whuh...?” The weapon slid back out of him and he fell to the ground, blood gurgling from the gaping wound in his torso. People in the area began to scream at the sudden, unexpected kill.
The screams quickly chained from person to person, and everyone began to run in all directions.
“Rouge!”
“Acknowledged.” At Nia’s command, the red crown turned to face the purple crown down. Rouge launched a punch, which Viola blocked with the handle of its weapon.
“Ohoho? Little red’s here...? I wonder why...” Luna tilted her head softly before staring over at us.
“You bitch! What are you and that purple thing doing here?!”
“My, my... It’s little Nia... What a funny little coincidence, hehe... Or maybe this was fate.” Rouge and Viola continued to clash in the marketplace, as the woman named Luna drew out an exaggerated look of surprise.
“Wh-What the hell are you doing to him?!”
“Ehehe, are you jealous, Nia?!” Nia charged forward to hit Luna, but she parted from my side and dodged it with little difficulty.
“Viola! Time to go!” Viola turned away from its ongoing conflict with Rouge and jumped toward its master. Luna then hopped on to its shoulders as they began to escape. It looked ridiculous, like a little kid giving a piggyback.
“I had fun today! See you later!” Luna blew a kiss as Viola emitted a purple mist from its wrist. I immediately realized that it was bad news.
“Gather forth, Water! Swirling Shield: [Aqua Shell]!” I summoned a glob of water that sucked up all the mist. The smoke began to mix with the water until it turned a very foul color. I then carefully moved the water and placed it in a pot of flowers.
Just as I did that, the flowers in the pot shriveled up and died. I knew it, it was some kind of toxin.
Luna and her Gollem had escaped. What the hell just happened... That was seriously nuts...
“Tsk... That damn woman escaped again...!” Nia yelled and kicked at the ground out of frustration. I could understand her feelings.
Oh, that’s right... I gotta use my magic to heal any wounded survivors...
Huh...? As I started to walk, I felt a strange sensation on one of my legs. I looked down.
“...Eugh...” There was a sticky, damp stain on my right thigh. Don’t tell me...
I grimaced when I realized what it was. I slowly turned to Nia, who was also grimacing.
I moved toward her, but she held up her palms as if to ward me off.
“Sorry, I don’t wanna catch cooties.”
Wow, they even have the concept of cooties in this world... Damn, this day has been horrible.
“Come forth, Light! Neutral Therapy: [Area Heal].” I quietly cast a wide-range recovery spell on everyone in the black market... I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, after all. But it might have been a bit late for that.
There weren’t as many dead people as I’d initially assumed, thankfully... It seemed like Rouge had successfully held Viola back from doing the worst it could’ve done. But that was only the case for the basement.
Euri went up to confirm it and reported back that the upper level was like a vision of hell itself. Everyone was dead. Bits of guts, bone, and brains were strewn all over.
I didn’t want Nia, Rouge, and Euri getting any undue attention. They were members of the Red Cats, after all. I used [Gate] to covertly return us to the hideout.
Once we got back there, Euri made some tea. I sipped at it and finally reflected on what was going on.
“That Gollem was... Terrifyingly strong.” Euri had warned me about the crown’s regeneration, but it was far more intense than I’d thought. Viola seemed to be about as good as regenerating as the Phrasium armor on the custom Frame Gears.
Or maybe it was even stronger than that... I sliced it in half, and it came back like it was nothing. That wasn’t just a regular regeneration, it was way faster and way more intense. I had no idea how to even take down something with an ability like that.
“So that’s the kind of thing the crowns are capable of...” I shuddered. Nia glanced to Rouge, then to me. She spoke up.
“Crown Gollems possess incredible power, but they demand a price from their masters. There are risks. Her immortality doesn’t come without a cost.”
“What kind of cost?”
“Rouge, for example, is capable of generating flames and gaining strength directly proportional to the amount of blood that I feed it. The more blood I spill, the stronger it grows. My father, the former leader of the Red Cats... That’s how he died. He gave as much blood as his life would allow, to turn Rouge into an unstoppable force.” A blood pact?! What the hell... He died to that? Preserved blood didn’t cut it, either. It had to be freshly spilled blood. I remembered hearing that a human would die if they lost a third of their blood, so her father must have gone over that limit...
“Then what’s the price paid for the purple crown...?”
“I’m not entirely certain if this is true... But I heard that the price is sanity. They slowly reach new depths of depravity and madness, until eventually... Once they don’t remember who they are anymore, or what they’re doing, Viola will end them and seek a new master. They say that only the purple crown can kill the purple master. From what I understand, Viola has killed each and every one of its previous masters. That’s the penalty for a body that can’t be killed any other way.” Does that mean her crazy attitude was because she’s been losing her mind to the crown...? Maybe... But it kind of felt like she still had her personality...
“Despite their bodies, the purple masters tend to have the shortest lives. The other crown masters like me don’t really need to worry about dying, so long as they live carefully, but the purple masters have their deaths all but guaranteed.” I wondered how the immortal bodies were even granted... Was it magic, perhaps? I thought maybe she was undead, and that seemed like the closest approximation. She had dull, lifeless eyes, after all.
Purple masters would lose their sanity until all semblance of reason was stripped from their minds... They’d descend into madness, and then be put down by the source of it.
I opened up my map and ran a search for Luna’s location. Nothing came up. She was probably carrying an artifact or something around that prevented her from being traced. It wouldn’t have surprised me if there were Gollems in this world with abilities similar to my [Search] spell. When you thought about it, the Gollem’s singular abilities were similar to people’s unique Null spells.
According to Nia, she was also in possession of an item that could alter the memories of those she encountered, resulting in survivors of her attacks only recalling a purple crown and a “frenzied mistress.” The people she caused to blackout in fear were usually the ones that were left alive, and the ones with hazy memories. The fear remained inscribed into them, and even asking them about what happened is enough to send them into shock. It seemed like Luna and her crown were like wandering reapers. But eventually Luna herself would end up the target of a culling...
Gollems from the crown series seemed like double-edged swords. I was kind of concerned that the Etoiles might have had similar drawbacks...
“The Etoile Gollems don’t have any trade-off, don’t worry. Crowns are just complete exceptions. The stories go that the crowns were created by a Gollem engineer named Chrom Ranchesse, but the stories also go that the man was completely insane. He lived in the ancient civilization that was destroyed.” I felt a strange sense of déjà vu upon hearing that. I wondered if the template for geniuses somehow overlapped with the template for complete weirdoes... Doctor Babylon was useless for anything besides research and inventing...
Recently that old coot had installed a camera in the girl’s bathroom... I caught her peeping on my fiancées and cackling like an old man... Naturally, I smacked her over the head and told her to remove it.
I pulled out the three Gollems I’d purchased from my [Storage]. I wasn’t able to store living, or at least sentient, beings with my magic. I’d tried storing the Babylon mini-bots in there once, and it just didn’t work. It was probable that after I activated these three, I wouldn’t be able to put them back inside... But I needed Nia to tell me how to turn them on to begin with.
I opened the display case and took out the red-themed Gollem. It was definitely child-sized... It was actually shorter than Rouge, now that I got a closer look.
It had a feminine form, specifically a young girl’s body. Its base color was white all over. It didn’t have any human facial features other than a face. No ears, no nose, no mouth. It was kind of like it was wearing a mask... she didn’t look uncanny or anything. Its features were still human.
“Wow... It really does look human-like...” Euri muttered quietly while inspecting the Gollem.
These Gollems were probably not designed for combat. This type was often more intelligent than standard Gollems and was probably created with a humanoid appearance so they could look after children or mind houses.
Even though Rouge and Viola were humanoid too, these Etoiles were not clad in armor, so they looked a lot more like people than the crowns did.
But to be honest, I was too used to the Babylon sisters. Whenever Nia or Euri commented on how human the Etoiles looked, I just didn’t buy it.
“So, how do you activate them?”
“You’re supposed to place your hand on the chest area, release a little of your magic, and say ‘Open.’” I didn’t understand, but I did as I was told.
“Open.” A small whoosh of shifting air came from the Etoile as her chest opened up. The interior was full of peculiar machinery. There was a dice-like cube in there that glowed bright green, it was contained inside a strange glass container that resembled a softball.
“The cube is called a G-Cube. It’s a Gollem’s core. Put your hand in and pull it out.” I reached out to the glassy surface of the circular container and found my fingers passing through it. It was gross... Kind of like dipping my hand into a jar of Vaseline. The sticky liquid engulfed all my digits.
I pulled my hand out with the tiny emerald cube, and strangely enough none of the weird liquid came out with it. It felt really weird.
“So long as the G-Cube remains, you can reconstruct a Gollem around it. It loses its memories and skills, though. Those things are stored in the Q-Crystal, located within the head.” It seemed like the Q-Crystal operated as the brain, while the G-Crystal operated as the heart. Those combined with bodies crafted in the ancient civilization made up the Legacy Gollems.
You could create a new Gollem by incorporating just the Q-Crystal from a Legacy Gollem, but the end result would be vastly inferior to the original.
Plus, it seemed that Gollems, when inactive for a period of a few hundred years or so, periodically reset their memories. That was why there weren’t really any Legacy Gollems with memories of how the ancient civilization used to be.
“So, what do I do with this?”
“You need to register as the Gollem’s master using the G-Cube. It needs to take in some of your genetic info. Anything should be fine, a bit of hair or a fingernail clipping should be enough.” I pulled a strand of hair out of my head and pressed it against the G-Cube. The strand slowly melted into it and vanished.
I put the G-Cube back into its container and locked its chest back up.
In order to steal someone else’s Gollem, you needed to overwrite the registration with your own genetics. You had to shut down the Gollem and open it up, too... Which was definitely difficult. Most Gollems would definitely resist having their master changed, after all.
Even taking someone’s Gollem by force wouldn’t do, you’d still need to open up its chest and override ownership.
Gollems were personal property, so doing that was highly illegal. There were security measures in place to prevent Gollem theft, but I didn’t need to worry about that right now.
I heard a quiet hum from the Etoile after installing the G-Cube, slowly a faint red light appeared on her translucent parts. But that was only for a moment, the lights gradually grew dim.
“Hmm... This isn’t right. Usually, it would’ve started by now.”
“I wonder if it’s broken, then... The shopkeeper did say something like that.” Hrmm... It did activate for a moment, though... Let’s see here... It kind of feels like an old, broken appliance. Maybe there’s a loose connection in there somewhere? It might take a bit more than a few smacks on the back to fix, though...
I decided to check it out.
“[Analyze].” I used my magic to get a feel for the Gollem’s structure. I didn’t have much knowledge about it, so I didn’t really know what most of what I learned meant.
But I could understand how the magic flow inside it worked. The magic flow from the G-Cube wasn’t reaching the Q-Crystal, which was probably the issue. There was a blockage around the neck area. It was kind of like a blood vessel blockage in humans... But that kind of thing would be lethal if it happened to a person.
I walked around the Gollem and checked its neck. I noticed a small, clear cube-shaped protrusion about one centimeter in diameter.
I pushed it. Nothing happened. It didn’t really look like a switch. I used [Analysis] on it, which showed me that there was a small magical barrier around it, disrupting the flow of magic around the Gollem’s neck.
Is this a safety mechanism or something? Maybe if I’d bought it legally, I would’ve gotten a key to disable this part or something.
Let’s see if I can’t do something about this...
“[Cracking].” I began to work myself into the Gollem’s startup procedures. My Null spell completely overrode the activation requirements for the Etoile unit in front of me. It was impossible to modify the entire thing, but I was able to modify the small portion that kept the little barrier active.
Once the barrier was removed, the magic flow managed to move upward to the head. Then, the clear reddish parts all over the Etoile’s body began to light up softly. The magic must have reached the Q-Crystal.
“Oh, it moved.”
“Wow, you did it!” The two of them cheered, but were promptly cut off by a voice that came from the Etoile.
“Activating... Activating... Model Number ETA-01 has been formally activated. All systems nominal. Register master name, and machine name.” Ooh, it’s talking. Or... Well, I guess it feels more like a recorded message.
“Uhh... Master name is Mochizuki Touya. Machine name is... Uhh... Hold on...” Etoile meant star, so I wanted to give her a name related to astronomy.
A few famous red stars from my old world were Antares from the Scorpius Constellation and Betelgeuse from the Orion constellation. None of those names sounded particularly girly, though.
I guess it doesn’t have to be a star name.
“Uhm... Your name is Ruby, then.”
“Understood. Change in master registration is ongoing. Reboot initiated.” I’d given Kohaku and the others names based on rare minerals and stones, too. So I figured naming the Gollems that way would be fine. Kougyoku’s name kind of meant ruby too... But that wasn’t a big deal.
It went without saying that I’d call the other two Sapphire and Emerald... But they were a little long. Saph and Emerl were probably enough.
Ruby stopped moving for a brief moment, then made a low noise. It turned its head toward me.
“Can you understand me?”
“Ping.” Ruby nodded toward me. Huh, she can’t talk? But she spoke earlier.
“This Gollem probably has intuitive learning. It’ll only have limited noises and motions to begin with, but it should be able to learn over time without an issue.” As Nia spoke, Rouge nodded along. In a sense, she was kind of like an infant right now, so I’d need to dedicate some time to her development and education.
...Is it gonna be safe to entrust something so infantile to Doctor Babylon...? I don’t really trust her with child-rearing.
“Oh well, that sounds fine. Nice to meet you, Ruby.”
“Ping.” Ruby nodded again. Is she gonna be able to talk down the line...? I wonder if I can get the doctor to modify her so she learns faster... But maybe that’s a little unethical?
I was about to activate the blue Etoile, Saph when Nia suddenly interjected and told me something interesting.
I was told that when registering a Gollem, it was best to have only one per person. It was possible for signal interference to kick in if you had more than one Gollem under your command, which had a severe impact on performance.
For example, if you ordered Gollem A to move to the left, and Gollem B to move to the right, the interference might cause the Gollems to obey the wrong orders, or just not even move at all.
That could cause a fatal mistake in a combat situation.
But apparently, if the Gollems were of the same type and manufacturer, signal interference was much less likely. Since all three of these were Etoiles, it was statistically less likely that their orders would get messed up... But the chance wasn’t zero, so I was told to keep it in mind.
I overrode Emerl and Saph in much the same way using [Cracking], then registered myself as master.
“Nice to meet you both.”
“Pong.”
“Pang.” Ruby said ping, Saph said pong, and Emerl said pang, apparently.
I decided to test out the signal interference to make sure things were alright.
“Ruby, raise your right hand. Saph, raise your left hand. Emerl, raise both your hands.” I gave them all conflicting orders, but they followed them without any issues. It seemed like there wasn’t an issue.
These three reminded me of the ninja trio. Sarutobi Homura, Kirigakure Shizuku, and Fuma Nagi. Mostly because the names were associated with fire, water, and wind... And it kind of went with the whole red, blue, green theming.
I wondered about entrusting the Gollems to those three girls... That probably wasn’t possible, though. The idea of Ninja Gollems sounded cool, though...
Plus I’d purchased these three to get them to guard the Dimensional Disruptor, anyway.
... It feels a bit late to ask this, but... Are they even gonna be able to protect the place? These Etoiles seemed more suited to caring for people and nursing... I had no idea if they were good for combat. It was a tad too late to worry about it, I decided to make it work. They’d probably be fine if I equipped them with some decent weapons...
It would probably be fine. I decided not to worry about it. My focus now was finding a place to install the Dimensional Disruptor, anyways. An uninhabited place would probably be best.
If there was a place similar to Dragoness Island like in the regular world, that’d be pretty good. I didn’t think anyone would approach something like that.
I asked if there was any place like that. The answer I got was unexpected.
“...There’s a place like that?”
“If you’re talking about an island of Dragons... Then yeah. Drakliff Island. Nobody ever goes there because it’s full of raging Dragons. Their nest is there.”
The name was kinda similar. I looked it up on my map. If I looked at it compared to the regular world, it was found in the middle of the landlocked sea that bordered Hannock, Roadmare, Yulong, and Regulus. It was a little smaller than Brunhild.
Hmm... Nobody checking it out because of Dragons is pretty convenient... Luli might be able to help me with negotiations, too.
“Will the Dragons of this world listen to you?”
“If there are Ancient or Elder Dragons, then it should be quite fine... I think, at least. But if the island only has young Dragons that aren’t aware of my existence, we may see resistance. If that’s the case, then leave it to me... I’ll be able to overwhelm them and dominate them by force.”
That seemed to make sense. Young Dragons certainly seemed trigger-happy. They were a species with long lifespans, so their youths were much longer. A one-hundred-year-old Dragon was about as reasonable as a ten-year-old human. If there were only young Dragons, then Luli would just have to assert her dominance. Hopefully, the elders would be around, though. I didn’t want it to come to that.
Still, if we could get the support of the Dragons of this world, they’d make excellent guards.
“Alright, guess I’ll head there. Thanks for your help, seriously.”
“We’d also like to thank you for teaching us magic. Are you sure we can keep these, though?” Nia gestured toward the spellstone fragments and the beginner’s book of spells I’d left behind for them.
“I don’t mind it, I got that book when I was starting out as well. You won’t be able to read the words unless you wear these glasses, though.” I handed the translator glasses over to Nia. The basic spells of all six schools of magic were covered by the book, so I thought she’d find it useful.
“Just a reminder, though... Be careful with who you teach, alright? My own teachers taught me that magic is something you use to bring joy to others, not misery.” I’d called them my teachers, but they were Linze and Leen, my fiancées.
“I understand. I swear on the name of the Red Cats, the name of we chivalrous thieves. We’ll only make villains cry with our spells.” Nia grinned widely. I trusted her not to abuse the power, so it would be fine. Or rather, I trusted Est to keep her in line.
I left the tent. I wanted to fly straight to the island with Luli, but it’d be too conspicuous if I rode her here. Anyone in the vicinity would probably discover this place if they saw strange things flying out of the fort.
I decided to use [Teleport] to leave instead.
“Alright, I’m off. Hope we can meet again.”
“Okay!” I shook hands with the two girls, then used [Teleport] to reach some nearby mountains. I thought about teleporting directly to the island, but I didn’t want to get the location wrong and teleport into the sea. Better to be safe than sorry, after all.
I had Luli transform into her Heavenly Beast form, and I hopped on to her back along with Kohaku, Ruby, and the other Gollems. I cast [Invisible] to keep us concealed.
“Let’s depart, my lord.” Luli flew up into the air, and we began flying northward.
Our destination was Drakliff island.
I hoped the Dragons in this world were more reasonable than the ones in the world I’d come from.
“Grauuuuuurgh!” A massive Copper Dragon stood before us on the sandy beach. It raised a deafening roar.
I had a vague idea of what it was saying, but I checked just to be sure.
“What did he say...?”
“He said... Keep out of my way or I’ll kill you.” Luli let out a small sigh as she sat perched on my shoulder.
We were currently in a small fishing village near Drakliff island.
I was going to get a little bit of information on the island before heading directly there, but just as I started asking around, this Copper Dragon had come down and started to attack the town.
Luli and I stepped in to interfere, and then it began roaring.
“Does it have a reason for attacking the town? Did the people here do something bad?”
“No, it seems to be yelling at us for interfering with its playtime.” It’s just playing around? Just like that goddamn Black Dragon... Do the Dragons in this world look down on other species, too? Sure they’re strong, but this is still a little much...
“He’s young, then?”
“Yes. In human terms, he’s equivalent to sixteen or so. He has all that power, but doesn’t have much in the way of empathy.” I couldn’t stand for this Dragon coming in and messing with people just for fun. Several houses had already been burned to a crisp, but thankfully nobody had died.
“Can you tell him to go back to the island, or not?”
“I don’t think he’s going to listen...” Luli tried speaking to the Dragon in their mother tongue, but it responded by roaring even angrier. Then, without much warning, it spewed out a massive fireball in our direction.
“[Absorb].” The blazing fire breath dispersed into the air, vanishing like a fine mist. The spell I’d invoked rendered magic attacks inert, and turned them into my own power.
For the most part, Dragon breath was internal magical combustion that used the magic supply of the Dragon spewing it out. That’s why absorbing it was pretty easy.
“No point in talking, huh? I guess we don’t need to hold back, then.”
“My lord... Can I slice this one to pieces already? I can’t stand how it’s treating you... For it to be talking to you like that.” I wasn’t too surprised by Kohaku’s behavior here. She was on the verge of exploding. She didn’t understand the Dragon’s language or anything, but she could tell that the enemy was probably badmouthing me pretty badly.
I could see her crouching down, as if preparing to pounce.
“Please wait a moment, Kohaku. Let me deal with it, alright? I will discipline this improper child.”
“...Hmph. Don’t hold back just because it’s one of yours.”
“I never hold back, Kohaku. I’m not like you.” Luli flew from my shoulder and returned to her true form. She was a beautiful Blue Dragon, now on full display along the beach.
The Copper Dragon saw her transform, which caused it to back away in slight fear.
“Gaauuuuuuuugh!” The Copper Dragon let out another roar in a futile attempt to intimidate her. She ignored it, but I noticed one of her eyes twitched... Did it make you mad...? What did it say? Luli suddenly inhaled, then let loose a flame far more intense than the one the Copper Dragon had breathed earlier.
The Copper Dragon was engulfed in the azure flame until it was reduced to charcoal. After a small time, its entire form crumbled away. G-Geez...
“...You might’ve overdone it a bit.”
“I had no mercy for one as insolent as him. There’s a limit to ignorance, and he insulted you rather dearly.” Ahh... So that last roar must have been some serious badmouthing... Luli definitely had a calm and collected façade, but she was definitely fiery when she wanted to be. I kind of saw that regularly in her arguments with Kohaku, anyway.
I was glad she was angry for me, but... She completely wrecked that animal. I felt kind of bad for it.
There was no point worrying about it, though. He was burning up the village, so I guess he had it coming to him.
“Let’s just head to the island for now. If we can talk to an Ancient or Elder Dragon, maybe we can find someone who will listen to reason.”
“Indeed, I hope so. Let us hope this child was just an outlier.” I hopped on to Luli’s back with Kohaku and the Etoiles, and we made off for the island.
After a while, a small landmass came into view. It must have been Drakliff island.
There are a lot of Dragons flying over there... Oh, they’re coming this way... I heard a lot of roaring, and we quickly found ourselves surrounded.
“This doesn’t exactly feel all that friendly...”
“They’ve come out to intimidate us. They’re all young ones, seemingly friends of the copper.”
“Tell them I’d like to talk to whoever rules their island.”
“Very well.” Luli turned to the surrounding Dragons and let out a shriek, which elicited a series of roars from them. Oh geez... They’re so loud.
“They’re saying there’s no reason for us to meet with the elder, they’re suspicious of strangers.”
“...They really can’t hold a simple conversation, huh?” Luli was a creature that reigned as the apex of the Dragon race, but apparently, her lack of manifestation in this world for such a long time had caused their knowledge of her to wane. It made sense that she wouldn’t have come here much, though. There wasn’t much magic, so who would have been able to summon her?
The Elder would probably know about her, but these ignorant young ones were holding us back for the time being. It was kind of annoying.
“What should we do?”
“For now, fly straight toward the island. We’ll break through and meet the elder by force.”
“Understood.” Luli started flying, prompting the surrounding Dragons to pelt blasts of fire, ice, and lightning at us. I used [Absorb] to nullify each and every volley they sent.
We landed on the island, but found ourselves met with several tyrannosaur-like Dragons. They were Earth Dragons, a species that didn’t have wings.
“Stay your hands, wastrels!” Kohaku leaped down from Luli’s back and transformed into her Heavenly Beast form. Her impact with the ground generated a massive shockwave, immobilizing the incoming enemies.
“Target Lock! [Gravity]!” I used my smartphone to cast my spell on all the surrounding Earth Dragons at once.
“Gyraauuugh?!” The collapsed Dragons started screaming out in confusion. I hadn’t added enough weight to kill them. I’d just put them in time-out for a while.
As I took care of the Earth Dragons, a large one swooped down in front of Luli. Its green body, all the way from the neck below, was covered in sharp spines. I remember reading about this one in the guild’s bestiary... It’s a Spike Dragon.
It was massive. Far more massive than Luli.
“Groaaaaaaar!”
“Gwauuuuuugh!” The Spike Dragon roared, prompting Luli to roar back. My ears were killing me.
It began to inhale, it was preparing to breathe out an attack. Luli met its challenge and began to inhale as well.
The two of them shot off their searing breath attacks at the same time. Both torrents of flame met in the middle, mingling and pushing against the other until Luli’s breath won out. The massive Spike Dragon was roasted alive, falling down on the spot.
Puffs of smoke floated into the air above its chargrilled corpse.
“Was that the Elder?”
“No, this one’s even younger than the one I torched earlier. It was badmouthing us quite horribly.” That one was young? But it was huge! I guess size isn’t an indicator of age when it comes to this species.
Hm? Another Dragon came down toward us from the mountain in the middle of the island. The other Dragons, which were screaming in the sky, suddenly fell silent as it came near.
“Ohh...?” I set my eyes on the Dragon that had come out to see us, and involuntarily let out an amazed sound. This was clearly an Elder Dragon... But it might’ve even been an Ancient one.
The silver creature soared through the air with elegance and poise, before gently settling to the ground near us.
“I cannot contain my joy... For the grand Azure Monarch to appear before us... To what do we owe such an honor?” The Silver Dragon spoke in eloquent human tones as it bowed its head. The other Dragons suddenly followed its examples, landing in the area and bowing their bodies down.
“I am not the Azure Monarch here, my child. You may call me Luli. For that name was granted to me by my master, Mochizuki Touya.” The Silver Dragon opened its eyes in shock for a moment before turning to me and bowing its head.
“I beg your pardon for the foolish children of this island...”
“So you should, cur! Do you not know how to discipline...?!” I put my hands over Kohaku’s mouth before she ruined everything. I didn’t want her ruining a delicate situation.
“It’s okay, don’t mind it. Are you the Dragon that rules this place?”
“I am. I rule this place, and this incident was my mistake. Please forgive me for being unable to stop the pitiful children...”
... You know, this guy doesn’t look so good. He seems kind of low on energy... Was it because of Kohaku’s anger, maybe? No, actually... He was flying slow just before as well... Is there something wrong with him? Maybe that’s why he hasn’t been able to unify the Dragons here.
I squinted and noticed something peculiar about the Silver Dragon’s tail. There was purple discoloration toward the tip. I looked a little closer and noticed purple splotches all over its tail.
“What’s wrong with your tail, exactly?”
“...I am rather ashamed to say it, but around two-hundred years ago, a human and a mechanical doll inflicted this wound upon me. It remains as a curse that eats at me even now. I had considered biting off my tail, but I would rather live in lethargy and pain than forgo my ability to fly.” The Silver Dragon looked down in shame. Forgo your ability to fly? Huh?
“Do Dragons need their tails to fly?”
“Not quite... We rely on the tail to balance ourselves during flight. There are indeed Dragons that cannot fly, such as Earth Dragons... But Earth Dragon physiology grants them incredible leg strength. Airborne species lack that kind of power... Thus if he removed his tail, he would be unable to fly, and unable to truly thrive on the ground. He wouldn’t be a creature you could call a Dragon at all.” Luli explained the situation to me.
Geez... Who would do something like that to the Dragon...? I guess by mechanical doll he’s referring to a Gollem, but I wonder what kind of Gollem could maim a Dragon like this.
“That Gollem... Er... That mechanical doll... What color was it?”
“As I recall... It was purple... Why?”
Purple... It must have been Fanatic Viola... Given that it was two-hundred years ago, it was probably serving a different master than Luna, though.
Wait, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. There’s no way Viola is the only purple Gollem in the world. It doesn’t mean that a crown did this.
“I’ll heal you. Hold still, please.”
“Oh?” I walked around to the tail and examined the injury. It was probably a deep poison. I judged that this kind of thing would kill a human in a matter of minutes, but the Dragon’s body had allowed him to withstand it for over two-hundred years. Removing the poison was the first step.
“[Recovery].” I let the magic from my hand into the silver tail, and the tender purple splotches began to clear up. His beautiful scales began to regain their silver sheen.
“Come forth, Light! Calm of the Goddess: [Mega Heal]!” I then finished it off by healing any damage the poison had done to his tail.
“Ooh... My body...! How very refreshing... I feel young again!” The Silver Dragon roared into the sky, prompting all the other Dragons on the island to roar along with him.
I’d heard a dog howl before, but Dragons were on a completely different level. A bunch of Dragons roaring at the same time made the very air quiver.
“Ghhh...!”
They are singing your praises, my liege. Please forgive them for that.? Luli’s telepathy prevented me from grumbling too hard. If they were being polite, then I’d be polite in turn.
I listened to the Dragons and their noisy howling for a while longer, until they finally stopped. The Silver Dragon turned to me and bowed his head deeply.
“Lord Mochizuki Touya... I can truly never repay the debt you have given me this day. Even so, is there anything we can do for you?”
“Actually, yes. You don’t need to worry about grand gestures, but I would like to ask a small favor. Could you grant me some territory on this island? I would like to build a home here.”
“Something so paltry is no request at all. You may have some space on the mountainside, it has a magnificent overlook that surveys the entire island.” That sounded great to me. I nodded and asked him to guide me there.
Unlike the slow elegance it had displayed before, the Silver Dragon now flapped its wings at full force and rocketed into the air. We followed after him on Luli’s back, until we reached the area on the side of the mountain.
When we got there, the Silver Dragon wrapped himself in a dazzling light, seemingly changing shape. Once the light settled, he had transformed into a humanoid form. He resembled a young man with long, flowing silver hair that reached his waist.
He had horns sprouting from his head, and rough scale patches on his limbs, he resembled Sonia’s people. He wore a plain pair of pants and a simplistic jacket. Frankly, he was handsome. I wasn’t jealous or anything, but he looked really good.
“Huh... You can turn into a human?”
“Indeed. We Silver Dragons have an affinity for the human form and species, and that affinity has manifested in this trait.”
“Can you do that, Luli?”
“I see no reason to. Silver Dragons are strange creatures, if you ask me.” Luli shook her head as she transformed into her mini-form again. Given that she could change into that form, she could probably turn into a human if she wanted. It was probably more a case of wouldn’t rather than couldn’t.
Luli and the other Heavenly Beasts seemed proud of their regular forms, so there’d be no need for them to turn humanoid.
I walked toward the cliff edge. The view of the island was great.
“This is pretty good. I really like the view...”
“Ping.” Ruby started imitating me, looking around the area. Saph and Emerl started to imitate her in turn. I wondered if they liked it. “Guess I should prepare the area, then...” I flattened out the sloping parts and created a solid foundation of land with Earth magic. This was an outcropping on a mountainside, after all. I didn’t want to risk a landslide.
After I made a sturdy enough foundation, I opened up [Storage] and pulled a house out of it.
“Wow...”
“Ping...” “Pong...” “Pang...” The Silver Dragon looked on in surprise, along with Ruby and her sisters. I guess the sudden action took them by surprise.
I’d purchased this home a while ago. It belonged to a noble from Regulus, but I managed to get him to part with it for a pretty good price.
I placed the home down and dug it deep into the firm foundation by using [Modeling]. The garden looked a little mediocre for the time being, but I figured I could save the flower-planting for later.
“Would it be alright if other humans come to this house from time to time through teleportation magic? We won’t bother the other Dragons on the island, I promise.”
“Not a problem. I will ensure that the other Dragons keep away from this place.” Even though I had the elder’s promise, I still erected a defensive barrier just in case. I felt there may still be some foolhardy Dragons around.
I pulled the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II out of [Storage] and plopped it down into the middle of the garden. Originally I was going to put it in a basement area, but this place wasn’t inhabited by humans so having it next to the house would be fine.
Wait... There aren’t any people on this island. Why’d I bother setting up a house?! I could’ve just plonked the portal down and called it a day. Well, whatever. I guess it’s nice to have another vacation home.
All that was left was to entrust the house to Ruby and her sisters... But I had my doubts they were ready. Plus I needed to take them to Doctor Babylon for a tune-up.
“It’d be convenient if I could just bring Laim to live here...” Our super-charged butler would be able to manage this place, but I was sure him suddenly vanishing from the world he was born into would raise some questions.
“To be honest, the Silver Dragon can probably tend to this place for you. Silver Dragons are rare and unusual in that they have an active interest in humans and human culture.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Indeed. Now and then I transform into a human so that I might enter their towns and learn more about their ways.” The Silver Dragon nodded his head slowly. It seemed he was as curious as he was mighty. I wondered if his species had gained the ability to transform into humans due to this burning curiosity ingrained into them. I wondered if he was attacked by the Gollem while he was wandering around as a human...
“Then... Will you do this for me? You can use the home as if it were your own, and I’ll give you money to arrange food and furniture, however you like it.”
“That sounds wonderful. I adore human culture, and always wanted to try living in a human home, so this works well for me.” I pulled out a bag containing my remaining coins. I asked that he use the money to keep the house in order and buy whatever kind of furniture he wanted. I also gave him a magic carpet, since I didn’t want him drawing too much attention during his shopping runs.
“Oh, that’s right... You’re a Silver Dragon, but I didn’t catch your name. What is it?”
“Ah, forgive me. I don’t actually have a name. If it is alright with you, I would happily take a name from the one who granted a name to Lady Luli...”
Silver Dragon, huh... Hmm... Well, Yumina already named her wolf Silver, so I guess I can’t use that...
I didn’t think a Dragon would appreciate being named the same thing as a wolf.
“I’ll call you Shirogane, then... That’s a name that means silver in my mother tongue. I also used the name for a brief while when I was disguised.”
“Thank you for your blessing...! Thank you so much... From here on I am Shirogane.” The Silver Dragon, Shirogane, bowed to me. I was more than fine giving him the name I once wore when I was the masked Oni.
Alright, guess that means my business in this world is concluded for now.
“Alright, we’ll be heading back for now. Next time I come, I’ll bring my friends with me... So please look forward to it.”
“Of course. Until next time, my friend.” Shirogane smiled wide and bowed his head. He was definitely moving a lot more smoothly. Part of me wondered if this was really the same Dragon we’d seen earlier.
I activated the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II by pouring my magic into it. I made a mental note to install a magical reserve tank on this side later on.
The meter filled up a lot faster than the one on Palerius island.
Luli, Kohaku, and the Etoiles didn’t exceed the weight limit, so they were good to come through with me.
We headed through the portal and safely came out into Babylon’s Garden.
“Oooh! So these must be the Gollems I’ve heard so much about! I see, interesting! How amazing!” I brought all three of the Etoiles to the research laboratory, where Doctor Babylon immediately began to fawn over them with a wild grin.
“Ohoho... Oh yes... They’re all the same model? Female? Mmhm... I can’t wait to check them out. Hey, sisters... Don’t worry about a thing, okay? I’m gonna spread you open and dig around your insides, aaha! Ow...!”
“Knock it off. No sexual harassment cases, please.” I karate-chopped Doc Babylon on the head. The three Gollems honestly looked a little nervous.
“That hurt...! Come now, it was just my innocent curiosity running wild. It’s my job here to be interested in unusual technology, isn’t it?!”
“I understand that, but these Gollems have a learning system. I can’t afford to have you teaching them weird stuff during their development.” I warned the annoying little pervert. I didn’t want Ruby and the others turning out like her. I definitely needed a more proper individual for their education.
“Mm... Goodness... Ahh... Given their sizes, they’d really suit cute clothing... P-Panties, too! Aahaha! D-Doctor, can you m-make their bodies more squishy, too?!” Tica, the one in control of the research laboratory, started to breathe heavily as she surveyed the Gollem trio. What the hell are you doing here, you wannabe diddler? Keep your dirty eyes off them! To be honest, the Babylon sisters were pretty similar to Gollems if we lumped artificial lifeforms all together.
Well... No point keeping them active while this is happening. I sent the three Gollems into a dormant state, halting their functions for a while.
I told them the basics that I’d learned from Nia, and informed them that they must never touch the G-Cube or the Q-Crystal.
“[Analyze].” She’d definitely be able to understand more than I’d picked up.
“Hm... Interesting... There are components here that I’ve never heard of. Some of these raw materials may not exist in this world, but I can substitute them. As for the abilities these three house... I have no idea, I can’t figure that part out.”
“The other world has a line of Gollems called the crowns that are capable of performing incredible feats. There’s a small chance that it was a crown that came to this world so long ago and made contact with old man Palerius.”
“An interesting hypothesis, but I don’t fully buy into it yet. If we are to assume that the Gollem repaired the boundary, then what happened to it afterward? Is it still in this world?” That wasn’t impossible... But I’d done a search for Gollems via my map and nothing came up. It probably went back to the Reverse World, if there even was one to begin with.
Its ability might have been similar to how Ende could travel between worlds.
“Well, no matter. I’ll thoroughly analyze these three. I’ll probably learn something valuable in due time.”
“Gotcha. Seriously, though... Don’t go overboard, alright? And don’t modify them with any weird extra parts.” I made sure the two knew I didn’t want any funny business and moved to leave the research laboratory.
Oh damn, I didn’t get to pick up any souvenirs over there... Everything ended up happening so fast that I just wanted to come home...
I shrugged my shoulders and opened up a [Gate] to my room in Brunhild castle.
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