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Chapter III: Trouble in the Empire’s Heart 

“The Regulus Empire has been acting strange as of late...” I had finished a guild quest with Yae, so we went to a coffee shop. Logan was there, and he made a passing comment. 
“Strange? How so.” 
“Hm... how should I put it. Much like Belfast, they’ve split their military force into a standing army and an order of knights. The army is for offense and defense against other countries, while their order is for domestic security and patrolling their capital. But lately their standing army has been actively recruiting a lot more people, even though they’re not at war with anyone.” 
“Do you think they’re gearing up for invasion, do you?” Though Yae had asked the question to Logan, it was Rebecca who turned and answered him. 
“I doubt it. They say the emperor is bedridden with sickness. His son, the crown prince, isn’t even twenty years old and is in no state to be running national affairs, either. There’d be no reason for them to start a conflict.” I didn’t know that their emperor was ill. Regardless of their internal situation, it was good to know it wasn’t in their interests to start a war. 
They wouldn’t start anything on this side, at the very least. Belfast, the Kingdom of Mismede, and the Refreese Imperium were all on good terms. That meant the west and the south territories immediately adjacent to Belfast were covered. Regulus definitely had no way of going up against three other nations at once. 
“Then, once the emperor passes away, will the empire have to worry about being invaded by others, will they? It could be why they’re bolstering their army, it could.” Yae had a point. Belfast had no such intentions, but they were old enemies dating back over twenty years. It was only logical for them to be cautious. 
There was the Roadmare Union to the east of the empire, as well as the Ramissh Theocracy to the south. 
“I think every country’s aware that there’d be no real point in fighting the empire these days. Even if they aren’t as strong as they used to be, they’re still pretty sturdy. Well... if Refreese, Belfast, Mismede, Roadmare, and Ramissh attacked all at the same time... it’d probably be an easy win.” 
“Then again, dividing the territory after an effort like that would be a whole other battle in itself!” Logan chuckled in response. Well, if sparks ended up flying, I was sure we’d be able to take care of it. Not that I expected any trouble from them. 
Yae and I left Rebecca and Logan, then headed back to Moon Reader. Once again, I had received a fresh request for a new title to purchase. I was a little wary, but I did some research and found it was a serious adventure tale, not some dodgy smut. 
As it turned out, the book was only available in a certain place... The Regulus Empire. 
“Well... I suppose I should go and look into picking up that title. What about you, Yae?” 
“Linze-dono is on the second floor, she is. I will invite her to come home with me, I will. It is time to eat soon, anyway.” Linze had been spending most of her free time here recently. Luckily, she had moved on to more interesting genres like history and general fiction. 
But, if left to her own devices, she often spent whole days reading, so I asked Yae to check on her from time to time. 
I decided I’d visit their capital, just to take a look. 
I opened up a [Gate] to Gallaria, Heart of the Empire. 
“Wh-What the hell is going on here?” The scene that had appeared before me was not a peaceful city, but a roaring sea of flames and mayhem. 
For a moment, I thought a fire had simply broken out nearby, but this was clearly something else entirely. Everywhere I looked, civilians were fleeing, people were screaming, buildings were erupting into ruin. I was completely taken aback. Just what had happened here? I invoked [Gravity] to lighten my weight, then further amplified my body with [Boost]. I jumped up right away to the roof of a building, realizing I needed a better vantage point. 
“Hey, hey...” I saw civilians scrambling and trying to flee, while soldiers clad in black uniforms ignored them and marched toward the castle. There was a line of men clad in black armor, royal guards and knights, trying to prevent the uniformed men from carrying on. There were blades clashing here and there in the streets. I had no idea what was happening. 
I heard a shriek from nearby. I ran along the roof to see where it came from, then caught sight of two soldiers in dark military uniforms who had a knight cornered. The knight was bleeding profusely from the shoulder, having clearly lost the use of one of his arms. 
While it was true I didn’t know the circumstances, I had to stop them from continuing. I couldn’t just stand by and watch a man die, no matter who he might be. I hopped down behind them and fired off some paralyzing rounds. 
“Guh!” 
“Gah!” The two soldiers fell down instantly. The injured knight suddenly fell to his knees as well. 
“You okay, man?!” I cured the man’s injuries with Healing magic. He was only barely conscious, however. The man needed rest. His eyes were unfocused, too. It was likely the result of blood loss. 
“Just what the hell happened here?!” 
“The army... betrayed our glorious emperor..” The knight uttered a few words and fell unconscious. 
The army rebelled...? W-Wait, does that mean there’s a military coup going on?! For the time being, I slung the man over my shoulder and carried him into a nearby house. It was deserted, so I assumed the residents had fled. I plopped him down on a bed and applied more healing magic. I stopped when I was sure he wouldn’t die. 
After that, I left the house and jumped up to the roof. I needed to get a feel for the situation. 
“Search. Display the two factions in two different colors!” 
“...Search complete. Displaying. Royal knights are displayed in blue, one thousand, one hundred and sixty-five units. Army soldiers are displayed in red, twelve thousand, six hundred and fifty-four units.” 
Almost ten times as many. The situation before me was absolutely insane. The map was dyed a deep red. 
I looked around for more fires, but it seemed that this district had it the worst. 
What should I do, though? Should I just leave? It’s not like I have any obligations in this country. I can just return to Belfast, leave the situation as is, and report to the royal family back home. That would be the easiest thing to do, but...” 
“I guess I can’t leave like this...” I didn’t even know why a coup was happening in the first place. I figured they were after the emperor’s head. 
“I’ll head to the castle... Maybe I can offer the emperor refuge in Belfast if I get to him in time.” The emperor was sick, but I could move the bed too if push came to shove. 
I dashed across the rooftops. As I got closer to the castle, more conflict came into sight. Both the royal guard and the army were clashing against each other and getting in my way. I shook them off and continued my course. 
I didn’t know a single thing about the Regulus Empire. It could be that the army was fighting for a righteous cause, that they were opposing a wicked emperor. Honestly, I had a few moral questions about my involvement in this whole situation, so I once again briefly considered just leaving and letting it all work itself out. 
If the emperor was out of the picture, then the conflict would be settled, and I might be able to peacefully talk to whoever started the coup. Not like I had a choice in how to deal with the situation at that point. If the emperor was indeed wicked, then it might even be for the best. 
“H-Hm... Is this the castle gate?” The castle gate was already broken, which meant the army had invaded. I figured I should hurry. As I was thinking, part of the castle detonated. I was shocked by that, but then I noticed the various fireballs flying around of the impact site. Magical artillery. I hadn’t even considered how dangerous that could be. 
I made my way over through the castle gate. Security was... definitely lax. But that wasn’t exactly surprising. It’d be impossible to patrol at a time like this. 
I ran through the royal garden, then made my way to the second floor balcony. From there, I made it into the castle itself through an open window. 
“Well, I don’t know where the emperor’s room is...” I couldn’t use the search function to find it, either. I wouldn’t be able to determine which room belonged to the emperor. If he wasn’t bedridden, I’d have just searched something like “throne” to find him. 
I decided there’d be no point fretting about it any further. I decided to leave the room. 
As one would expect of the emperor’s castle, it was extremely gaudy and well-decorated. I opened up a particularly large, ornate door, and someone fell from the inside. 
“Whoa!” The person that fell out was a female knight. She had been leaning against the door before I moved it. Although she wasn’t moving, there was still a fight in her eyes. She surveyed me as if to ask, “Who are you?” which wasn’t a surprise. 
She looked to be around her mid-twenties. I didn’t notice any clear injuries on her, until I looked at the back of her neck. Hidden behind her blonde hair was a needle lodged in her skin. I carefully removed it and pulled it up in front of my face. It seemed to have a strange substance in it. 
I wondered if it was poison, so I looked around for enemies. I only saw one fallen soldier in the inner hall, so I wasn’t entirely sure of the source. Either way, I had to heal her. 
“I’m gonna heal you now, alright? I’m not an enemy, so please don’t attack me after I’m done!” I briefly introduced myself to make sure she wouldn’t panic, then invoked my healing magic. 
“[Recovery].” Soft light enveloped the woman. She got up and slowly opened and closed her hand, seemingly confirming her own strength had returned. After that, she pulled out two blades and slashed at me. What the hell?! That wasn’t part of the deal! 
“[Gravity]!” 
“Gah!” I grabbed her arm and invoked my weight alteration magic. I was in a panic, though, so I used a little more than I expected. She began to collapse under her own weight until it almost looked like she was groveling on the ground. I reduced the weight until she was at more of a crouch, then spoke to her normally. 
“I told you I’m not the enemy, so why’d you try to attack me?!” 
“Name yourself immediately! If you aren’t in the royal guard, then you’re with the army, right?! If you’re with the army, then you’re the enemy, right?! That means I need to slay you!” 
Does this woman have brain problems? Seems like she doesn’t understand a thing. 
“First of all, I’m not with the military. I’m not even wearing a military uniform! On top of that, if I was with them, why would I have saved you?!” 
“W-Well, that makes sense...” 
“I’m not even from this country! My name is Mochizuki Touya. I live in Belfast, I’m an adventurer. I traveled to the Heart of the Empire and accidentally got caught up in this mess! As for why I’m here in the castle grounds, I came in to try and help any of the royal family. I have transportation magic, so I was hoping to evacuate with any important people.” As she listened to me, the female knight’s expression changed. It slowly shifted from concern to hope. 
“You have transportation magic... really?! If that’s so, could you help me?!” 
“Sure, but could you maybe promise not to attack me again?” 
“Very well. I swear, upon both of my blades.” I canceled my spell and she stood up. She shook off the sluggishness and moved her body a bit, then looked toward me as she sheathed her weaponry. 
“Touya, was it? My name is Caroline Rillettes. Please call me Carol, though. I belong to the Empire’s Third Order. I’m a Second-Class Knight.” I didn’t really know what that meant, but I nodded regardless. 
Carol seemed to have been fighting with soldiers from the army, but was struck down with poison as soon as she turned her back. As I expected, grasped in the dead soldier’s hand was undoubtedly a blowgun just short of ten centimeters in length. 
“We must meet with His Majesty the Emperor at once! Come, I shall lead you to him!” It was then that I noticed the crest on the hilt of her blade. A Griffin, a shield, two swords, and laurels... I felt like I’d seen that somewhere before. Carol hurried on before I could dwell too deeply on it, so I dashed to the castle alongside her. 
Knights, soldiers, and other were strewn around the courtyard. All dead, bleeding into a collective pool of gore. The area reeked of fresh blood. This is bad... If the place is in this state, it’s not likely that the emperor is safe. 
I went ahead with Carol, but my mind was already full of the worst possible scenarios. 
After running up stairs for a while, we eventually reached a grand hallway. 
Carol moved straight forward, but I suddenly stopped. I could hear a faint screaming. 
I stopped for a moment and concentrated. Explosions... the cries of warriors... clashing weapons and... there it is... A woman... no, a young girl... I can hear a girl’s voice! 
“Search! A young girl within a 100 meter radius! Anyone who might be trying to hurt her, too!” 
“...Search complete. Displaying.” 
The map displayed a room at the far end of the hall. Got it... Straight ahead! 
I kicked open the door and burst into the room. I surveyed the room, finding a man in a military uniform. He was straddling a young girl with silver hair. His left hand was wrapped around her neck, while his right was just about to pierce her breast with a knife.” 
“Huh?! Who are— Gyuuuh!!!” My surprise entry made the man hesitate, so I took the chance to launch a paralysis bullet at him. That was seriously close! She would’ve died if I got here even a second later! The man collapsed on the spot, falling on top of the girl. 
“E-Eek?!” The girl shoved the man off her and scrambled away to the corner. She clutched her own body, trembling. That wasn’t exactly surprising. She had just survived a murder attempt, after all. 
“You okay?” I wanted her to be calm, so I tried speaking in a gentle manner. The girl realized my intentions and looked me in the eyes. 
Her eyes were a full, deep jade, and her skin was white as porcelain. She wore a beautiful white dress, but her silver hair was a little messy. She looked close to Yumina’s age. The fact that this man had tried to murder a child of all things was despicable. 
Upon closer inspection, I noticed her clothing was slightly torn. She had cuts on her exposed skin. If I didn’t do something quick, she’d end up scarred. 
“Come forth, Light! Soothing Comfort: [Cure Heal]!” I suddenly invoked a Healing spell, but her reaction was a fearful one. Luckily, when the soothing light wrapped around her arms, her expression changed to one of wonder. 
“Wh-Who are you...” 
“I’m Mochizuki Touya. Just a traveling adventurer, really. Not affiliated with your country or military.” I chose my words a little more carefully. I didn’t want her to freak out or attack me like what had happened with Carol. 
“M-Mochizuki... Touya.” 
“Can you walk?” 
“I-I can.” I took her by the hand and helped her up. Hm? I didn’t think about it until now, but... who is this girl, exactly? Her clothes are quite high-quality... Could it be that... No, she couldn’t be. 


Her eyes were fixed on mine. She wasn’t even blinking, she was simply staring... the sensation was a little familiar. 
“...What is it?” 
“Wh-What?! N-Nothing! I-It’s nothing at all!” The girl’s cheeks flushed faintly pink. 
“I... I don’t usually get a chance to interact with gentlemen such as yourself... So, please, forgive me if I seem rather tense...” 
“...Don’t sweat it.” Seemed the girl was sheltered, which only made my suspicions more concrete... Just as I was about to ask her name, I heard someone charge through the door frame I had left in my wake. 
“Princess!” 
“Carol!” Carol barged into the room and ran over to the girl. It was as I had expected. The girl was the princess of the empire. 
“Are you safe?! Are you hurt?! Who is that?” Carol motioned toward the uniformed man on the ground. 
“He was here to kill me! But Touya here saved my life...” 
“He what?! Unforgivable... to even lay a hand against the princess is high treason! I’ll kill him!” 
“Hey, wait a sec!” Carol unsheathed her blade and brought it close to the unconscious man’s neck. I grabbed her by the collar and dragged her back. She was a frustrating person who didn’t think before she acted. 
“So you’re the princess? That explains your general behavior.” I called out to the princess as I dragged Carol. I had a feeling it would end up like this. 
“I am the Third Princess of the Regulus Empire. Lucia Leah Regulus. ...My apologies, but you don’t seem terribly surprised, Touya. Many people change their attitudes upon learning I’m royalty.” 
“I’ve met two other princesses besides you, I guess I’m just getting used to it at this point.” Yeah, one’s my fiancee, and the other’s a freaky author. 
“To know so many members of royalty... just who are you?” This time Carol was the surprised one. In all honesty, I had no idea how to define myself at this point. I felt as though my position on the political stage hadn’t exactly been well established. Tentatively, I was affiliated with Belfast due to my engagement to Yumina, but... I definitely didn’t want to become the king. 
“Well, I can explain the details later. For the time being, shall we carry on? I can use transportation magic to send Princess Lucia to safety, if you want.” 
“That would be wise, I think.” Carol started to ponder, I assumed she was thinking of safe places to send her, but the princess herself actually refused. 
“I’ll go later on. I’m more worried about father and my elder brother right now. Let’s all go together.” Lucia spoke with bravery and determination in her voice. I thought it was a tad dangerous, but I probably needed her with me to get the crown prince and the emperor to trust me, as well. I decided that once we found her family, we’d all teleport back to my house and take refuge there. 
I left Lucia’s safety to Carol and focused on the surrounding area. We returned to the main hall where I had parted from Carol, then continued down it. 
“We only need to rescue the emperor and the crown prince, right?” 
“That’s right. But I’d also like to keep an eye out for the state minister and the aides, too.” Carol answered me as we ran along. That reminded me, Lucia called herself the third princess, but where were the other two? I asked, and apparently her oldest sister had married off overseas, while her other sister was studying abroad. They were in countries on good terms with Regulus for the time being, but... But depending on what happened to the empire after the coup, anything could happen. The princesses abroad might even be forced home and subjected to who knows what. 
We ran through the corridor and turned the corner. Five soldiers were waiting for us with drawn blades. 
“It’s Lucia! Catch— no, slaughter the little bitch!” The soldiers turned their blades on us and charged in unison. 
“That’s dangerous, you know.” I pulled out Brunhild and unloaded a barrage of paralyzing bullets. With a ra-ta-tat-tat, the men fell one after the other. It was pretty simple. 
“Y-You killed all five so quickly...” 
“It’s not like that. I only paralyzed them. Is the emperor nearby?” Carol was annoying me a little bit, so I asked Lucia a question. 
“Yes, the room ahead is my father’s bedroom. He’s ill, so I haven’t been able to see him very much...” 
“Is he diseased? Is it infectious?” 
“No... he’s just very old and unwell. I think he doesn’t want me to see him like that. I’ve heard that he’s become very frail and weak as of late.” That was worrying... I had no idea how to proceed. The fact that there were five enemies waiting for us this far in didn’t exactly bode well for us. It was entirely possible that the army had made it in there and already slain the old man. I didn’t want to be responsible for exposing someone so young to her father’s potentially brutalized corpse. Lucia noticed my hesitation, and quickly grabbed me by the sleeve. 
“I’m prepared to see it through, regardless of the consequences. If I don’t see my father with my own two eyes, even now... I’ll truly regret it. Therefore, I shall come with you.” The girl’s determination was nothing short of admirable, so I couldn’t say no to her after that. Steeling myself, I flung open the door. 
The room was very spacious, clearly build for royalty. Several men were standing around a king-sized bed on the far wall, but they turned toward us as we entered. 
They were all clad in military-style uniforms. Three regular soldiers, two men who looked like officers, and a single general. There were several corpses dotted around as well. They had been clad in armor, so presumably they were the royal guard. 
There was an elderly man amongst them all, lying in the bed. He appeared to be neither a member of the army or the royal guard. It was likely the emperor of the Regulus Empire himself. If that was the case, then we were too late. 
“And just who are you? You aren’t with the royal guard.” The man who appeared to be a general spoke up. He had sharp eyes and a hooked nose, kind of reminded me of a hawk, overall. He looked to be about forty years old. 
“General Bazoar! Have you laid hands upon His Eminence the Emperor?!” 
“Father...!” Carol furiously roared at the man, and I heard Lucia gasp in horror. So he was a general. I wondered if he was the mastermind behind the coup. 
“Hmph, if it isn’t Princess Lucia and the stupid daughter of the Rillettes house. How vexing. I’m sure I had ordered both of you be killed.” The general frowned. It seemed he was annoyed by their survival. I wondered if Carol had a reputation... I gave her a cursory glance before looking back at the general. 
“You’re the one behind all this, then? Tell me this, at least. Why? What are you doing this for?” I spoke my question right to General Bazoar’s face. In the end, I was an outsider to this situation. I had to hear him out in order to know which side was the right one. 
“The emperor has a sickness. A sickness within his heart. He signed a peace treaty with Belfast and Roadmare, and he even hesitates when we say to trample on such agreements and conquer those territories! The emperor as he was in his prime would never have behaved this way. Truly, age is a frightening sickness with no cure.” 
“...And just for that, you’d kill him?” 
“For the sake of his people, an emperor must be strong. If he loses that strength, then he must move aside and make space at the table. A new emperor must take his place, one with true strength and drive.” 
That’s not how it is, is it? This is just treason, it’s clearly a hostile takeover. The general must command more respect from the military than the emperor does, otherwise he would have never been able to kick off a revolt like this. An unwell old emperor with no plans for his people, and an unreliable crown prince... When you put them alongside a determined general who’ll stop at nothing to win... Well, it’s pretty clear which of those three has the biggest presence. Still, do these guys seriously intend to break the treaty and wage war? 
“Belfast, Refreese, and Mismede all stand together in an alliance. Can you even hope to go against all three nations at once?” 
“Of course I can! Do you think that I’ve been sitting by, idly twiddling my thumbs for the last twenty years of peace?” General Bazoar raised his right arm toward a nearby window and began to focus. 
Oh, is he a magic user?! Wait, more importantly... what kind of magic is this?! I felt an immense pressure. This was clearly a greater force than I had encountered from any magic user before. What is this feeling...? My body feels... heavier, somehow? 
“Come forth, Darkness! I seek a fiend of the highest order: [Demon Lord]!” The general spoke his incantation. As he finished his sentence, the window shattered to pieces and the room was engulfed in a white light. 
When it finally subsided, the wall that the window had once been attached to was no more. More importantly, there was an enormous creature floating outside, clearly visible despite the fact that we were on the third floor. It had the head of a goat, the wings of a bat, the upper body of a well-built man, and the lower body of an owl. 
What the hell is that thing?! He called it a Demon Lord? That’s an understatement, the damn thing looks like the Devil himself! 
“I-Impossible...! How could he forge a contract with such a creature? Wh-Where is he even getting the magic power to keep it on this plane?” Lucia mumbled to herself, awestruck and horrified. She had a point. Lizardmen, Silver Wolves, and Skeletons were standard summons, but this thing was on another level entirely. I had no idea where the general was getting this kind of magical energy. 
“Contracting with the beast was a trifling matter. I simply offered it living sacrifices. Criminals of our great city were offered up as fodder for the creature. The emperor stubbornly opposed the idea, of course. But think of the potential. If one could contract a Greater Demon, then one could also control Lesser Demons vicariously. After fulfilling the contract conditions and feeding the beast with as many lives as it desired, I was able to successfully collar it. And now, an entire army of monsters is at my disposal! As for the magic...” General Bazoar held up his right arm and pulled back the sleeve. He lifted it up to show us a beautiful bracelet wrapped around his wrist. A stunning red gem was fixed on to it, which shimmered with a terrifying glint. Is that... an Artifact?! 
“This Drainbracer absorbs the magic energy from places and people around me. Little by little, it has drained the magic from everyone in the vicinity. You people are the ones maintaining the Demon Lord.” It drains magic? That explains the weird feeling from before, I guess... That’s bad news, though. I should get out of here or he’ll just gain more magic. 
I noticed that Lucia and Carol had fallen to their knees. It looked like they were becoming weaker with every bid of energy they lost. 
My magic had already regenerated enough, but there’d be little point in using [Transfer] on the girls. Any magic I gave back to them would just be sapped away again. 
Then there’s only one thing to do... I’m gonna have to wipe it out at the source! 
“[Apport]!” I tried to pull the Drainbracer away with magic. Instead of what was supposed to happen, a strange sound reverberated near the general, and the spell failed completely. 
“Hm? My my, you little whelp. You still have magic to spare? It’s unfortunate for you that such things will not work on me at all. Why do you think I chose a demon of all things to contract with?” The general gestured toward the monstrous creature that was still hovering in the air nearby. 
“This Demon Lord has a special trait. It’s called Magical Nullification. Magic attacks, and the effects of enchanted weaponry, have no effect at all on it. And, as its master and contractor, the ability now extends to me!” Magical Nullification?! How am I supposed to do anything against that?! Guess I have to use physical attacks, then... 
I pulled out Brunhild and reloaded it with paralyzing bullets. If magic didn’t do anything, that was likely my best bet. 
“Hm?” I pulled the trigger on the general. The gun echoed out, and... the bullet struck an invisible wall in front of the general’s face. The hell was that?! 
“Hm? Was that some kind of projectile weapon just now? You thought you’d switch to physical after failing to strike me with magic? How unfortunate.” The general rolled up his left sleeve to reveal another bracelet with a different red gemstone set into it. 
“This is my Blockbracer. It forms an invisible barrier equal to the level of the magic poured in, nullifying all physical damage entirely. My Drainbracer absorbs magic, my Demon Lord grants me a resistance to all magical attacks, and my Blockbracer resists all physical strikes! This is my holy trinity! My ultimate defense! I cannot be damaged, regardless of the means employed!” 
H-He’s gotta be lying, right?! That can’t be possible! I mean, I’m not exactly in a position to be saying anything at all about this, but doesn’t that sound kind of cheap? He’s way too overpowered! That’s not fair at all! And he’s using me as a magic battery, too! No fair! So even if I used [Gravity] to do an extremely heavy or powerful attack, he could just use my own magic to generate a shield to block it. Wait, does that make sense? How can he draw that much magic out of me at once? Well, I guess others are supplying magic to him, as well... 
Tsk... this is bad. If only I could get rid of his damn bracelets. 
“I don’t know where you hail from, but you can’t be allowed to leave alive. You’ll become fodder for the Demon Lord, another sacrifice for the pile.” 
“Then what? You plan to summon a monster army and wage war? How many of the innocent citizens of this nation do you plan to sacrifice?!” 
“I’m not sacrificing the citizens, the only ones that died so far were criminals. In life they were trash, of no use to our glorious empire. Is it not better for them to die for the sake of my ambition? But if that’s your concern, worry not. We’ll be using Belfast’s soldiers as sacrificial fodder soon enough!” The general laughed heartily. It was at this point that I realized he was nothing more than a madman with a lust for carnage. 
I didn’t know whether the coup was righteous or not, but his tirade sealed the deal. It was wrong. 
Using and abusing the lives of others for one’s own ends was simply an unforgivable sin. 
“Uuh...” The emperor, who was out cold on the floor behind the general, moved his foot very slightly. Is he alive?! Neither the general nor his companions seemed to notice. I decided then that my priority should shift to saving the emperor. The two behind me seemed to be on the edge of consciousness themselves, so it seemed like their magic reserves were at their limit. 
“Invoke [Gate]. Target three individuals. Emperor, Lucia, and Carol. Send them to my home, just outside.” 
“Copy that. Invoking [Gate].” 
“What?!” A light appeared around the three individuals, and they vanished in a flash. 
“You wretch, you can even use transportation magic?!” 
“That’s right. I’ll be retreating just for today, but don’t think for a minute that I’m done with you.” I reloaded Brunhild with a different set of bullets. I leveled my gun and aimed it at the general. 
“Foolish child, it’s futile! For as long as I wear the Blockbracer on my wrist, you cannot lay a scratch upon me!” 
“Fine. It may not be possible to damage your body, but... I’m sure I can still do a number on your pride.” 
“...What the devil are you talking about, boy?” A cruel grin spread across my face. I lowered the aim of my weapon, then fired near his feet. 
“[Slip].” 
“Augh!” The general fell with a magnificent thump. He put his hand to the ground and tried to get up again, but the bullet I had fired was programmed to create a frictionless zone in a wide area. It didn’t matter where the general put his hands, his feet, his anything. He was entirely at my mercy now. 
“G-General! Don’t worry!” His allies ran to help him... like idiotic lambs to the slaughter. The magic effect wasn’t just focused on the general, after all. It was an area of effect spell. 
“Whuh!” 
“Gah!” As expected, they were pulled into the slippery hell and began to fall over repeatedly. They didn’t have a Blockbracer like the general did, so they’d definitely take some damage after bashing into the ground repeatedly for a while. 
“Ohoho... Ahahaha!!! Yes, writhe! Fall forever! Keep dancing this pathetic dance until you die!” I said a few dramatic things to try and provoke him, but he didn’t bite. He could have used his Drainbracer to absorb the magic I’d imbued into the ground, but he didn’t seem to realize. I didn’t have any obligation to tell him, though. 
“Demon Lord!” The goat-headed monster reached for me in response to his master’s call. That wasn’t good. I didn’t think [Slip] would work on things in the air. 
This thing could definitely be damaged by physical attacks, though. Still, the general would probably be able to call it back if I defeated it... And so, I decided to do the only thing I could do. 
“Farewell, dear gentlemen! But don’t think you’ve seen the last of me! Soon enough the Hammer of Babylon shall descend upon you! The thunder of my vengeance shall bear upon you with the gust of a thousand winds! Live in fear until then, vermin! Fuhahaha!!!” 
I got a little too into it. 
Just before I left, I conjured up a mirage to shock their senses. The image I created was that of cockroaches, maggots, centipedes, and other disgusting squirming animals, all over the floor. That was my parting gift. 
“Eek!!! Augugh!!!” 
“B-Bugs! They’re everywhere!!!” 
“Y-You son of a...! I’ll g-get you for this!” They let out their anguished cries in response to my abuse. Either way, their suffering made me feel a lot better. 
I opened a [Gate] beneath me and escaped. 
I landed in my garden, looking over to see that Lucia was by her father’s side. He looked pale and cold. 
“F-Father! Father...!” The situation was looking grim. It seemed I needed to treat him immediately. Lucia was clutching one of his hands, so I bent down and grabbed the other. 
“Come forth, Light! Calm of the Goddess: [Mega Heal]!” My advanced recovery spell created a beautiful light that wrapped around the emperor’s body. The stab wound on his side sealed itself up. Even so, that spell wasn’t enough on its own. 
“[Recovery].” I cast another spell just in case there were any unusual effects on him. Now there was nothing else I could do. It was all down to the man himself at that point. 
I had the emperor moved to a guest room, then quickly put him in bed. After that, I told Laim to contact the Royal Palace and bring Doctor Raul, then brought Lucia and Carol to the emperor’s room. 
While I waited for Raul to arrive, I gathered everyone together in the living room. Then, I gave them all a brief overview of the situation. 
“Geez, Touya... why do you keep sticking your nose into these crazy circumstances?” Elze sighed. 
It’s not like I’m sticking my nose into things! It’s more like things keep sticking to my nose! 
“Even so, disregarding the trouble in the empire... what about the prince?” Linze muttered her concerns, but all I could do was pray. I’d have preferred to teleport everyone out to safety, but I hadn’t seen the prince before, so I was unable to include him in the mass recall. 
“But this is terrible... What if the empire makes a move against Belfast soon?” 
“The demon army is the most important thing, here. We need to take care of that before anything else.” The easiest way to do that would be to defeat General Bazoar, but... Magic attacks did nothing, and I couldn’t think of a way to defeat him with physical attacks, either. 
If I were to use [Gate] and drop him from a great height, his Blockbracer would nullify the damage. Plus, it’s way more likely that he’d summon that Demon Lord before that. Then he could just fly off and make a retreat. [Gravity] would likely have the same lack of effect. Man, what a pain in the ass. 
Spells like [Slip] and [Mirage] worked fine, probably because they were indirect. It was pretty clear that I had to think of something, but more importantly than that... I obviously had to report this to the king of Belfast. 
A military coup in the Empire was an enormous deal, and the king had to be informed about the rise of a demon army, as well. 
But should I tell him about Lucia and the emperor...? They do have a tentative peace treaty, but they’re former enemies as well... 
I briefly entertained the idea of what might happen if the king wanted them out of the country. I decided I’d just let them take refuge in Babylon. I didn’t want to ally myself with any particular nation, but I definitely couldn’t give up on an injured person just like that. 


As I was thinking, Laim brought over Doctor Raul. I figured it was best to leave the rest to the professional. In the meantime, I had some planning to do. I had to devise a way to defeat the Demon Lord, as well as the general controlling him. 
Can I get those Artifacts off that general and manage to beat him, too...? Actually... hold on, it might be easier than I expected... Definitely might need some prep time, but I think I can do it... I carefully mulled over my idea and came to a solid conclusion. Yup, that should do. 
I had formulated my plan. Harassing people wasn’t exactly the classy thing to do, but I suddenly imagined the face of the general, weeping and begging. It was hilarious. Before I knew it, a sadistic grin was spread across my face. Everyone that looked at me kind of backed off a little. 
What, do I look that weird? 
 
“His condition is stable for now. He just needs some bedrest and time to recuperate. He’ll be awake soon enough, I’m quite sure.” Raul put his stethoscope down and gave us the prognosis. By all rights, the emperor should have been riddled with an illness, but apparently there was nothing symptomatic of that at all. 
I wondered if it was the effect of the [Recovery] spell I had used on him. But it shouldn’t have been able to purge sickness or disease from the body. I once tried to use it on Linze to get rid of a cold, but it did nothing. 
[Recovery] was one of those spells where the details were a bit obscure. I wasn’t exactly a medical specialist, though, so I didn’t have a handle on the intricacies of disease classification. Viruses and tumors might have been a whole other ballgame. I decided not to worry about it too much, since the end result was clearly positive either way. 
“Goodness me... I never did think I’d be treating the emperor of Regulus... Life certainly comes at you fast.” Doc Raul gave a small wry smile as he spoke. I asked him to keep this matter a secret from the rest of the palace, just for the time being. The plan was to inform the king of the situation once the emperor woke up. 
From a medical perspective, he probably understood that we wouldn’t want to put any unnecessary strain on the patient. Yumina’s presence probably helped boost his confidence, at least. 
Lucia sat by her father the entire time, nursing him gently by the bedside. Naturally, Carol stood by the girl throughout all of this as well. 
“Princess Lucia... You should take some time to rest, If you end up passing out from exhaustion, your dad’ll get worried, won’t he?” 
“A-Alright, then... Erm, could you please call me Lu? I-If that’s okay, I mean.” The princess looked up at me with innocent eyes and a hesitant tone of voice. Well, if that’s what she wants, I don’t mind. 
“Alrighty then! Lu, was it? That’s nice.” 
“Y-Yes, thank you. That’s much better.” Lu looked up with a smile. I noticed someone staring right at me through a crack in the door. That someone was looking right through me. It was unsettling, honestly. Whoa, that’s scary! I-Is that Yumina? Why’s she glaring like that...? 
With that, the door opened and Yumina strolled in. She stood before Lu and bowed with decorum and grace. 
“A pleasure to meet you. I am Yumina Urnea Belfast, princess of the Kingdom of Belfast. Daughter of Tristwyn Urnes Belfast, king of the Kingdom of Belfast.” Carol and Lu both went stiff at the sudden introduction, but quickly snapped out of it. After a few short moments, Lu stood up and bowed in return. 
“Good tidings and a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Lucia Leah Regulus, third princess of the Regulus Empire. Daughter of Zephyrus Loah Regulus, emperor of the Regulus Empire.” 
Heh, so this is a formal greeting between royals, is it? It’s more adorable than beautiful or awe-inspiring, though. Probably because of their age, actually. 
“I’ve heard the news, how horrible. I’m quite glad you’re safe.” 
“Thank you. Thanks to the assistance of Sir Touya here, I managed to escape to safety.” Lu smiled like a flower in full bloom. 
“Indeed, that’s wonderful to know. It makes me happy that my fiance is so selfless. Touya is a wonderful fiance indeed.” 
“A-Ah... I-I see...” The flower wilted immediately. 
Is she okay? 
“My dear Lucia, would you please join me in my private quarters for a while? I think we have a matter to discuss.” 
“H-Huh? Right then, of course!” Lu hastily followed behind Yumina. After the door closed, Doc Raul muttered something under his breath. 
“...Catfight...” 
“P-Please don’t make jokes like that.” I personally didn’t find this to be a laughing matter. 
“Well, no matter how you look at it, you’ve swayed that little princess from Regulus. Two princesses enamored by the same man... It’s a recipe for trouble indeed.” Wait, seriously?! I thought she was just uneasy because I saved her life! 
“...You think Yumina noticed?” 
“Sorry kid, but she definitely has. She’s a little lady, but her ability to sense rivals is pretty well-honed, I think.” That’s... troubling. I hope those two’ll be okay. A sense of unease suddenly washed over me. 
It’s not like I can imagine Yumina yelling something like “Hands off, you hussy!” or something... I was still a bit worried, though. 
“...I don’t feel so good.” 
“Need a medical checkup?” That wasn’t what I meant. 
“Doc, if you wanna head back to the castle we can go through a [Gate]. I should probably report to the king, anyway.” 
“I’ll take you up on that offer, then.” I left the emperor in Carol’s care and headed through the [Gate] to the royal palace. Then, I immediately reported in to the king. 
“And that’s what’s going on in the Regulus Empire right now...” I explained most of the situation and proposed that a defensive line be drawn on the border closest to the empire. I also recommended that they focus on magical troops to prevent frontline casualties. After that, I made several Gate Mirrors for ease of communication. 
Gate Mirrors were small mirror pairs that I had enchanted with [Gate]. If a letter was sent through one, it would come out the other. 
If one was sent out to a fort or the front lines, it would allow near-instant contact with the capital. 
“Hmph... to have such good news and bad news all in a short timespan... What a day this has been,” His Majesty the King muttered with a small sigh. 
Hm? I only brought bad news, though... What’s the good? 
“Well, I’ll be blunt. Yumina is going to have a little brother or sister.” 
“Whuh?” I exclaimed. 
The king gave me a small grin. He seemed a bit embarrassed. 
“Heheh... congratulations! I hope your wife gives birth to a strong successor.” If it’s a boy, the likelihood of me having to take the throne’ll go way down. That’s just fine by me. 
“Hm... my feelings are somewhat mixed. If you succeeded me, Touya, I’d be quite happy.” 
“But if you have a boy, he’ll take the throne, right?” 
“Hoho, so you’re saying if we have a girl, you’ll be taking the throne?” 
“...No, that’s not what I meant!” The king’s argument was a little irritating. He shouldn’t have been assigning roles to people who hadn’t even been born yet. 
“So, what does the emperor intend to do...?” 
“Uhh... I’m not sure what’s going on there. He either fled with his daughter or was executed, the details are hazy.” I gave as vague an answer as I could. I wanted to wait until the emperor was at least stable and conscious before explaining everything. 
“For now, the general has an army and something needs to be done about that. If I defeat him, then the invasion should be prevented.” 
“Hoho... you seem quite confident, lad! I trust you have a plan, then?” 
“Well, I won’t know until I give it a shot...” I left the royal palace after giving yet another vague answer as to my intentions. 
The Demon Lord nullified all magic, but I still felt I could take it out with physical force instead. I couldn’t use [Gravity] on it, but maybe dropping something really heavy from above would do the trick... 
But even if I defeated the creature itself, the general would probably still have that passive magic resistance. On top of that, his Drainbracer would just absorb all the magic in the area and call the Demon Lord back immediately. 
Everything in this world had magic in it, no matter how miniscule. Animals, plants, tiny insects... all of these things had magical energy. Alone they were nothing worth noting, but combined they were great. If his bracelet could passively absorb magic from everything in the vicinity, then it gave him a fearsome power indeed. It was the very nature of magic that made the Drainbracer something truly formidable. 
The Blockbracer was another matter entirely. At first I thought it was preventing my bullets, but it was a bit different. The barrier generated itself depending on what hit the general. If his whole body was hit, then it’d deploy across his whole body. 
It didn’t seem to fully block damage when I made him slip over, though... He continued to fall regardless of whether or not he was hurt. In general, it was a troublesome automatic shield, though. I had to do something about it. 
There was nothing else for it, I’d have to use that. 
Well... it definitely won’t be fun for him. He certainly won’t like it one bit. Hey, at least it won’t kill him! There’s one positive for him. Heheh... I’m looking forward to it already. 
I decided to get ready for the battle ahead. I went home and asked Linze about a certain item that I hoped existed in this world. As it turned out, the item did not exist here, but there was something similar and considerably more powerful. It would be my ultimate weapon against him if magic proved impossible. I decided to head off and arrange it. 
I scoured the marketplace in Sandora, and was finally able to obtain it. The old merchant begged me not to open it anywhere nearby, so I put it in [Storage]. I wanted to test it out before the big day, but I didn’t want it to go wrong or anything. I decided there was no need to get ahead of myself. 
I headed off to the workshop and had Rosetta create several thick iron plates. I then enchanted them with [Invisible] and made them completely transparent. I had basically created reinforced metal with the visible properties of glass. 
I didn’t really understand the technical aspects of the spell that Leen often tried to explain to me, but it was good enough as glass for me. 
I was amazed to find that no matter how thick I made the sheet, it was completely see-through. I could probably set up some kind of aquarium through this method. 
Instead of getting sidetracked, however, I focused on my goal. I put the item I had bought in Sandora right in the middle, then finished the whole thing off with [Modeling]. 
After it was complete, I quickly stashed my secret weapon in [Storage]. 
“Hmm, you said something about the Drainbracer and the Blockbracer...” Rosetta suddenly tilted her head and folded her arms. 
“Hm? Do you know something about them?” 
“I’m pretty sure those things were meant to be inside the Storehouse of Babylon, yessir!” 
“Wait, what?” Seriously? Did those bracelets just fall out of the sky into his hands or something?! 
“Well, sir! It’s been thousands of years, sir! There’s no guarantee the storehouse is even still intact, sir! It may be that various artifacts and other such things fell out and are now all over the place, sir yessir!” 
“Wait a second... have you ever heard of an artifact that grants its owner immortality and control over the dead?” 
“Yessir! That’s definitely in the storehouse! Doctor Babylon sealed that one in there good and tight, sir!” I knew it! So the crisis in Eashen was caused by that, too? Wait, doesn’t that mean the storehouse might’ve crashed, or burst open, or something? That also means there might still be a ton of dangerous artifacts out there being spewed out even now, doesn’t it...? 
“If it crashed, what about the gynoid managing the place?” 
“We have short-range emergency teleportation capabilities, so it’s possible she escaped, sir! However... The one in charge of the storehouse is quite a careless and unruly girl, sir! So it’s also possible that the artifacts fell to the ground through other means...” 
Sounds like a troublesome robo-girl... Though, Cesca and Rosetta are just as bad, really. 
Oh well, no point worrying about it right now. Not like I can do anything. 
All that aside, my weapon against the general was ready. Evening fell, so I returned to my home with Rosetta, and it was here that Carol told me the emperor had finally woken up. 
I was glad he’d woken up, but I was still a little concerned. Carol set those fears to rest, however. She said he looked better than ever and was even ready to talk. 
She followed behind me as I entered the spare room with the emperor in it. He was there having a casual conversation with his daughter. He actually looked very well. 
“T-Touya, my father has awakened!” 
“Oh? This is the fabled Mochizuki Touya?” Lu turned around with a huge smile plastered on her face, while the emperor regarded me quietly. He had a gaunt face and a long, white beard. He almost looked like a mountain hermit. 
“Please accept my most sincere words of thanks. You saved my daughter, you saved me... Words alone are not enough, but even so...!” He bowed his head to me. Honestly, it was all a tad embarrassing. 
“Don’t mind it, Your Highness. I happened to be in your capital on a shopping errand.” No matter how you looked at it, it was just a coincidence. If I was there a day earlier, it would’ve been a very different story. 
“Regardless, I am thankful. To have had such a horrible thing happen, it indeed fills my heart with regret.” 
“So, what do you want to do now? I haven’t informed the Belfastian government of your whereabouts just yet. If you have somewhere you’d prefer to escape to, I can open up a [Gate] and take you there instead.” The emperor suddenly stopped and stared at me. 
Is there something on my face? 
“Touya... are you not an agent of Belfast?” 
“I live here, so I guess I could be called a citizen. But aside from that, I don’t serve the country formally or anything. I’m friendly with the king, but I don’t like to get involved in political affairs.” I figured he should go seek asylum in a safe place away from any political issues. Maybe he could go and see his second daughter, who was studying abroad or something. 
The emperor took a small while to think, then finally gave me his conclusion. “I would like to meet with the king of Belfast. Ideally, I’d like to meet him confidentially... Could you arrange this, perhaps?” 
“I mean, I could probably arrange that, but... Is that really fine with you?” 
“I think so, yes. It’s about time I spoke with him anyway, about the past, and our future together.” 
Hm... it’s not too late, so the king is probably still available... I decided that I’d take Yumina with me and speak to her father. I left the emperor and went off to find her. 
“Excuse me, can you repeat what you just said?” 
“Er, well... I’ve been granting political asylum to the Regulus emperor and his youngest daughter. I, er... I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” The king was completely surprised by what I had told him. He wasn’t entirely sure how to take it. 
“The Regulus emperor? In my capital? Today is just one surprise after the other, isn’t it...?” I couldn’t really say anything about that. Everything other than the queen getting pregnant was kind of my fault anyway... Well, not kind of. It was totally all my fault. 
“So, the emperor wishes to meet with you, Your Highness. What do you wish to do?” 
“The emperor wishes to meet, does he?” The king slouched slightly, lacing his fingers together with a sigh. He pondered for a while, then stood up as if he’d made a final decision. 
“There’s no point in running from this. I’ll open up negotiations with him.” 
“Alright, let’s go to my house.” I used [Gate] to bring us directly to the emperor’s temporary room. 
The emperor, who was laying in bed, was initially startled by the sudden appearance of my portal. He was even more surprised when we passed through it. The two monarchs locked eyes and, after a short while, the emperor averted his gaze and bowed his head. 
“Please excuse my sorry state, O king of Belfast. I have brought trouble for your nation, it would seem.” 
“Fret not, O emperor of Regulus. I’ve heard the circumstances from Touya, and I know you are not to blame.” The king sat on a chair at the bedside. A high-level political discussion was clearly about to take place. I left the room. It was best to leave the two royal families to sort this out. 
Carol stood guard outside the door. She was initially surprised when she saw me come out of the room, since I’d entered through a [Gate] and all. I figured she’d get used to it, so I didn’t mind too much. 
“Don’t go inside, the emperor is having a political discussion with the king of Belfast.” 
“You what?! When did that happen?!” Carol suddenly spoke up in surprise. She had a habit of overreacting to the tiniest things. 
Suddenly, my eyes drifted toward her sword, and I was reminded of something. It was that crest on her blade’s guard. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d seen it before. Now where did I... Oh, right! 
“Excuse me, Carol? What does the emblem on your sword there mean?” 
“Hm? You mean the Rillettes family crest? What of it?” She let me look at it up close. It was definitely the same one that I’d seen before. The one that Renne had on her. 
“I’ve seen this crest somewhere else before, Carol. On a pendant.” 
“What?! Was it a wind spellstone?! Tell me, now! Where’s the owner, where is she?!” Her eyes suddenly grew sharp and focused, and Carol began marching toward me with passion in her tone. She clearly had her reasons, but I didn’t know them yet, so I decide not to mention Renne to her. 
“The owner died of an illness. I’m sorry, she was sick.” 
“Oh... I-I see...” In response to my words, Carol faltered and the strength seemed to drain from her body. The person must have meant a lot to her. 
“The owner of that pendant was my elder sister. When we were younger, our stubborn and strict father expelled her from our household.” 
Her older sister, huh...? No wonder she seemed so desperate. Hmm... does that mean Renne is Carol’s niece? They don’t exactly look alike. Carol is blonde, but Renne has auburn hair. I wonder if she took that from her dad’s side. 
“Is the Rillettes family a noble house in the Regulus Empire?” 
“The house isn’t especially affluent or anything, but we’re descended from one of the Twelve Blades of the Empire.” 
“Hm? What’s that?” 
“I doubt the people of Belfast would know much about it, but the Twelve Blades were the people who supported the first emperor and helped found the nation to begin with. Kir Rillettes the Twinblade was one of those men, and he’s my ancestor. But the descendants of the Twelve Blades are really just nobles in name only these days...” Carol let out a small laugh as she spoke. 
So they’re noble, but they’re still impoverished and largely obscure... Even Laim didn’t know what their crest was. 
“So my elder sister passed away... Our father fought with her until the day he died, and they never reconciled their feelings... On his deathbed, he named it as his biggest regret... I can only hope they made up on the other side.” 
“Ah, er... well, about your sister... She has a daughter, which means you have a niece. The girl’s actually here, right now...” 
“......Say what?” Carol was at a loss for words. She just stared. I wasn’t too surprised. After all, it must’ve been a lot to take in. 
Just then, in a case of terrible or excellent timing, Renne came charging through the hall. 
“Oi, Bruv— Touy— Er, Sir! Dinner’s ready!” 
“Ah, thanks, Renne. I’ll get it soon.” Renne gave a short bow to Carol and myself. Carol followed the girl with her gaze, until she turned the corner. Then, she returned to looking at me. 
“That’s your niece. Her name’s Renne. Before I hired her, she was living in the slums and picking pockets.” 
“What...?!” 
“She had to do what she could to survive. Her dad was an adventurer who never came back from a particularly difficult mission. But even though she was on the edge of poverty, she still treasured her mother’s pendant above all else.” Carol looked over at the spot where Renne just was. 
“...Would it be fine with you if I spoke to the girl?” 
“Right now? I can call her, if you like.” 
“No, not while the empire is in such a state. I want everything settled first. I’m glad she’s here, actually. It seems to be a safe and happy place for her. But I would like her to meet my mother. The girl... her hair is reddish, and her eyes are different, but she looks almost the spitting image of my sister.” 
Carol’s mother... So that’s Renne’s grandma, right? I hope they get to meet each other soon. 
As I thought about that, Yumina appeared in the hallway. 
“Touya, my father and the emperor are asking for you.” 
“For me?” What do they want? I deliberately left the room to avoid being roped into this! 
The emperor was seated on his bed, seemingly relaxed. The king looked equally relaxed on the bedside chair, as well. The two of them seemed quite calm, given the situation. I wondered if negotiations had finished already. 
“Touya, about earlier today...” 
“Hm? What about earlier?” I didn’t understand what the king was getting at, since a lot had happened today already. 
“Is it true? The king here says that you had some kind of plan. A plan to defeat General Bazoar.” The emperor chimed in to clarify what the king had meant. Oh, that. 
“Well, yes. I’m pretty sure I can defeat the general. I can probably take all power away from the army, too. I feel like I could take back the capital in less than a day. Probably tomorrow, honestly.” 
“Excuse me?!” Everyone, aside from Yumina, stiffened with shock. Yumina proudly puffed out her chest as if to say “That’s my man!” to the room. Heh... they’re growing a little. 
“I’m curious. The members of the army that joined the coup... Do you intend to punish them all?” 
“Not to the same extent. The general’s execution is inevitable, as he’s the mastermind, but I think I’ll simply banish the soldiers that joined the coup.” 
Dismissing them, not a bad call... Pretty fair, really. It’s close to half of their standing army force, so it’s not like they can’t recover those numbers over time. 
“Display map. Regulus Empire. Heart of the Empire.” 
“Understood. Displaying map.” A map of the empire’s capital was projected in the middle of the room. 
“Wh-What is this...?” 
“A map of our capital...? This detail is incredible...!” 
“This is one of my Null spells. Do you like this?” Lu and the emperor seemed extremely surprised and impressed. The king was quite shocked, as well. That was weird, as I could’ve sworn I’d shown him before. 
“Run search. Royal Knights in blue. Standing Army in red.” 
“Understood... Search complete. Displaying.” A red wave painted itself across the map of the capital. It felt like there were more people than there were last time I checked. They were likely called in from other towns across the country. In one corner of the castle, there was a concentrated cluster of blue points. 
“What’s this?” 
“It’s the underground dungeon. The remaining knights are likely there, but this can’t be right. There are so few of them... Did they flee? Or, were they killed...?” The emperor clenched his fists. He was understandably frustrated. Lu suddenly spoke up and asked me a question. 
“Uhm, Touya...? Could you please look for my brother?” 
“Well... yeah, I think I can do that, but... Does he have any distinguishing features? Something that would let me notice him right away as the crown prince.” The search function was based on my subjective perception, after all. It could find members of the army because I viewed people in military uniform as “members of the army.” 
But because of that, I can’t exactly search for people I’ve never met or seen before. It’d be good if he had something that made him stand out. Like how Yae’s brother had a scar on his cheek. 
“Something distinguishing...? Um... well, he has silvery hair, but...” Lu was thinking pretty hard. The emperor smiled a little as he saw her trying hard. I guess he didn’t stand out too much, after all. So there was nothing else for it. I just had to enter her memories. 
“Lu. Can I have your hand for a moment?” 
“Hm? Yes... ah...” I grasped her small hand in mine. Lu’s face suddenly turned a beet red, so I spoke up and tried to get her to calm down. 
“Close your eyes and picture your brother for me. The most recent memory of him you can muster.” 
“Y-Yes...” I pressed my forehead against Lu’s as she concentrated. Taking a memory from the emperor probably would’ve been easier, but I didn’t want to push my head against another guy. It just made me think of the Refreese princess. She’d surely have a field day with a concept like that. 
“A-Ahh?!” 
“Concentrate, now.” 
“Y-Yes!!!” Honestly, Lu was pretty cute when she was flustered, but it wasn’t the time for that. I focused my energy and cast the spell. 
“[Recall].” A vague face began to appear in my mind, and the image gradually grew more clear. His hair was a faint silver, but it wasn’t especially distinct... His face, on the other hand, was extremely gentle. “Wait... if this is the crown prince... then I’ve met him already.” 
“What?!” Everyone in the room yelled out in surprise. 
There’s no doubt about it. When the capital was under assault... I saved a young knight from a group of soldiers. And... that was the crown prince, apparently. Was he trying to escape in disguise?! Ah crap... I just left him there in a bed! 
“Search. The empire’s crown prince.” 
“Understood...... Search complete. Displaying.” A green pin fell down on the map of the capital. It was moving around, which meant he must have been alive. That was a relief. 
“He’s alive, then... Where about is this?” 
“That’s the home of our empire’s western general, Romero. Wonderful, it seems my son is safe.” 
He’s safe? But he’s with the army... Just as I thought that, the emperor gave a chuckle. He then spoke up like a true mind-reader. 
“Not every division of the army operated under General Bazoar. General Romero was a strong opposing force to Bazoar’s proposed plan to use demons to bolster our troops. He likely got a handle on the situation and offered refuge to my son.” 
I see... So not every soldier blindly follows Bazoar. Guess that makes sense... He’ll be safe there for now, but I don’t think we have a lot of time left. 
“Then we’ll head to the capital tomorrow morning.” 
“W-W-Wait a moment! Are you sure that’s alright? The opposing army is massive, and they have the ability to call down demonic reinforcements!” The emperor flew into a panic and tried to stop me. I understood where he was coming from. If it was a normal person, I’d definitely have my doubts, too. But I had no intentions of losing. It was a similar situation in Eashen, as well. 
“I’ll work it out, don’t worry. I have companions I trust, after all.” I glanced over at Yumina, and she gave me a firm nod. The emperor also seemed to be relieved by our confidence in one another. 
“Tomorrow morning, then... Will you take me with you?” 
“Are you sure about that? It’ll be dangerous. It’d probably be safer to wait here.” 
“No, I have to see this through with my own eyes. It’s the very least I can do as the nation’s emperor.” 
Hmph, if he’s gonna be like that... Well, I can’t just leave him here after that, but I can hardly put him out on the front lines either. 
“Let’s have Belfast’s knight order serve as the emperor’s guardsmen. I wish to see Touya in battle, myself.” The king put forward an offer, and the emperor gratefully accepted. I guess things might be fine after all, then. 
I decided that the following morning we’d head to the capital, along with the emperor and a group of Knights. 
I used a [Gate] to see the king back off to the palace, then left the emperor’s room. 
I went out on to the terrace and called over Kokuyou, Sango, and Kohaku. I had to ask them some questions about summoning magic. I wasn’t going to just go in with these guys, after all. I needed to call in reinforcements. 
“So what you’re saying is... while the summoned beast is completely random, if you contract a high enough being from a certain family of creatures, then you can freely call upon any lower-level creature in that same family?” 
“That’s correct. As my contracted lord, you can summon almost any kind of brutish beast, typically ones with fangs or claws.” 
“And in our cassse, you can sssummon any beastsss with ssshells or ssscalesss.” Kokuyou and Kohaku explained their specializations to me. In effect, as an extension of my ability to call on them, I could call on any four-legged mammal or reptilian creature. To command such power... they really were worthy of their Heavenly Beast status. 
“It would be bessst if you could contract with the massster of each family. That way, once you’ve granted their leader a name, the entire tribe would be at your disssposssal. The practice isssn’t just limited to demonsss, after all.” Kokuyou chuckled slightly as it spoke. 
“Well, I’ll give it a try... Er... what should I go and summon?” 
“If I might suggest one... Cerberus has excellent combat potential.” 
Oh, I recognize that name. Cerberus is the guardian hound of Hades, right? Large, black, and three heads, if I recall correctly. I don’t see any harm in summoning him... 
That afternoon, I summoned countless beasts. I summoned one, I named it, I summoned another, I named it... Frankly, I ended up naming them pretty randomly by the end. I hoped they’d forgive me, but wasn’t like I had a stockpile of names ready or anything... 
After that, I went to bed early. I needed to be prepared for the next day. 
Just like that, the next morning came. I stood atop a roof in a corner of the empire’s capital. 
I took out my smartphone to confirm the time. It was eight in the morning. I tried to open up a portal straight to the castle, but it didn’t work. I wasn’t surprised. They knew I could teleport, so it was only natural they’d erect a barrier to counter it. 
I was accompanied by Elze, Linze, Yae, Yumina, Kohaku, Kokuyou, and Sango. His Majesty the King of Belfast, as well as His Highness the Emperor of Regulus were there as well, accompanied by General Leon, Deputy Commander Neil, Lyon, and some other members of the Belfastian knight order. And, even though I didn’t want to bring her, Lu was here with Carol as her personal guard. 
I told everyone other than my core party to wait here for the time being. I also left a [Gate] open by them, just in case we needed to perform a tactical retreat. It was programmed to close one minute after someone went through it, in order to prevent the enemy army from invading through it. I didn’t think it’d come to that, though. 
“Now, for the declaration of war... Uhh... Video playback. In the sky above this city.” 
“Understood. Playback initiating.” A great big screen was projected across the sky over the empire’s capital. It was about two hundred meters across. It was definitely big enough to see at a distance, I didn’t think it’d be appropriate to have such a large screen at close range, anyway. 
I also included a loud audio track alongside the video, since I had to be sure that everyone below paid attention. The music I chose was Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” I reduced the volume of the backing music and faded in the audio from the video that we had recorded earlier that morning. The emperor appeared on the video feed. 
“People of the Empire’s Heart. I am the Regulus Empire’s ruler, Zephyrus Loah Regulus. The situation is this. The standing army has staged a violent military coup. Please accept my most sincere apologies for the carnage caused in their name. I intend to quell this rebellion once and for all, so please stay safe until then. Be at ease, and rest easy. As I speak, my warriors make steps to retake the city from the insurgents. Remain within your homes.” 
“Goodness, is that what I sound like?” The emperor turned to his daughter, seeming quite surprised. I shouldn’t have been too surprised he reacted this way. Few people in this world had heard their own voices, after all. 
“Now, this is a message for the army staging the coup. I have my faults, I will readily admit that. And so, I will let your voices be heard, but this is not the way to get my attention. I will offer you one chance to surrender. If you remove your uniforms now, you will be pardoned. But for those of you who are still clad in your military uniforms by the time I count to ten... Well, I assure you my judgment shall be swift. The count begins now. One... two...” A smaller screen was projected in front of me, showing the uniformed soldiers marked in red on the map. The city was packed full of them, but one by one their numbers dropped. It seemed that many of them were listening to the emperor, and discarding their uniforms. 
“The men who remain in their uniforms... are we to attack them?” 
“We’ve no choice. But I’d prefer you to attack to detain or maim, rather than kill.” 
“Very well.” The emperor image, high above our heads, continued counting up to ten. As he did, the red dots on my map began to reduce in number. Two thirds of the capital was still red, however. 
“Nine... and ten. Your opportunity to surrender has now ended. We will proceed to retake the capital by force.” The giant screen disappeared alongside the giant emperor. A trumpet began to blare. This time it was Suppe’s “Light Cavalry Overture.” 
Alrighty, time to begin. 
“Lock on to the uniformed soldiers. Invoke [Paralysis].” 
“Understood...... Target lock confirmed. Invoking [Paralysis].” There were various shrieks that echoed out across the capital city, but I noticed something strange. The red dots didn’t decrease in number at all. 
What the hell is going on here? Oh, wait... obviously. Paralyzing them doesn’t change who they are. Soldiers are soldiers, regardless of whether or not they can walk. 
“Display incapacitated soldiers as yellow pins.” 
“Understood.” About half of the pins transformed into yellow ones. Less than I expected, actually. I figured that a surprising amount of soldiers had either magical talismans on them, or abnormally high magic resistance. That wasn’t promising. 
“Touya-dono, over there!” Yae pointed over at the castle. The enormous Demon Lord was rampaging over it. Surrounding it was a massive swarm of demons, both in the sky and on the ground. There were a lot of them, a lot of different types too. I counted dozens upon dozens of them on my screen. 
“Heh, I think it’s time we called out our own cavalry.” I focused my magic, and a magic circle appeared on the ground. 
“Rend forth, Darkness. I seek a Guardian of Hell: [Cerberus]!” A dark mist began to ooze and pool from the magic circle, and a three-headed dog crawled out from it. Right now it was the size of a regular dog, but once it switched to battle mode it’d be the size of a lion. 
I continued to call out the various creatures I had spent most of yesterday afternoon contracting with. 
I called out groups of Lizardmen, a gang of Griffins, a troupe of Armored Turtles, a band of Blood Ligers, a platoon of Power Bear, and a regiment of Lizard Knights. By their powers combined, they were my very own monster army. 
Come to think of it, is it really fair to call Kohaku and the others Heavenly Beasts? All we summoned were terrifying monsters! I guess I shouldn’t think too hard about it. I decided not to dwell on the issue, instead choosing to issue my next command. 
“Target lock. The demons. Invoke [Shining Javelin].” 
“Understood. Invoking [Shining Javelin].” Several magic circles appeared in the sky, and light rained down upon my foes... But the demons were unscathed. 
“The attacks were repelled by an invisible barrier. No effect recorded.” 
Well, that’s not surprising. The Demon Lord offers magical resistance to everything on its side. Just means we’ll have to lay a physical smackdown on them. 
“Summoned beasts, you follow the orders of Kohaku, Kokuyou, and Sango. Yae and Elze, you join them. Yumina, Linze, you stand in the back lines with Cerberus and use long-ranged attacks through magic and guns. I’ll make a beeline for the Demon Lord and the general.” 
Kokuyou, Sango, and Kohaku suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke. A popping sound rang out, and they reappeared in their full forms. It’d been a long time since they were last in their true forms, so I told them they could go all-out. 
“Alright, I’ll be off.” 
“...I’ll be counting on you.” I looked back at the emperor and informed him of my plans. Then, I hopped along the rooftops and headed for the front lines. 
Elze, Yae, Sango, Kokuyou, and the ground troops charged along the city streets. Meanwhile, Kohaku, myself, and the Griffins made our way up along the rooftops toward a group of incoming flying demons. 
“Don’t overdo it now, and remember... aim for their wings. The guys on the ground should be able to take them out once they fall.” I issued orders to the Griffins. The ground-based demons were engaging the others in the streets already, and a second group of flying ones was already inbound. I needed to take out the airborne ones as soon as possible. 
“Erm... John, wait, are you John or Paul? Oh, George? Alright, uh... You three take the left flank. Ringo? You take the right!” The Griffins let out a war cry as they charged from two different sides. Griffins all looked the same to me, so it wasn’t exactly my fault! I made a mental note to buy them some differently colored collars. 
As I jumped from roof to roof, I reached into [Storage] and pulled out a mithril greatsword. It was forty centimeters wide, and about two meters long. Mithril was light by default, and it became even lighter when I reduced its weight through [Gravity]. It turned this massive blade into a one-hander. 
I used [Boost] to leap up high above an enemy demon. Then, as I plunged down toward it, I invoked [Gravity] to massively increase the weight of my weapon. 
It was so powerful that the demon was cleaved in half instantly. I quickly changed the weight again and reduced it to a manageable amount. 
Being able to change the weight of my weapon on the fly was exceptionally useful. A demon charged me from the right, so I quickly cleaved it in half, but it was a horizontal slice this time, rather than a vertical. 
I needed to make sure the timing was right or I could really hurt my arms. I felt like I was getting the hang of it, though. Honestly I might’ve even been fine without using [Gravity], since the sword was doing a good job of slicing things. 
Kohaku leaped up near me and sliced off a demon’s wings with a set of fearsome claws. 
“Kohaku! I’ll leave the rest to you!” 
“Very well! Good luck to you, my liege!” 
I combined [Boost] and [Accel] to quickly make a beeline for the castle. I reasoned that if I could defeat the general, all the demons would disappear and the fight would be won. 
I jumped from roof to roof, using the momentum to propel myself into the castle courtyard. After I touched down, a group of soldiers immediately surrounded me. 
I quickly jumped up in the air and pulled out Brunhild, firing a salvo of paralysis bullets toward the men in the vicinity. 
Well, if [Paralysis] doesn’t work, then I guess these bullets are useless too. I’ll have to hold back against them for the time being. 
I had aroused the Demon Lord’s attention. It turned toward me and fired some kind of red beam out of its eyes. 
Holy shit! The beam hit an area on the ground near me. It was smoldering. It has laser eyes?! 
It kept firing waves of heat at me from a distance, while the smaller demons swarmed me from all angles. 
I managed to cleave them apart fairly easily using my mithril greatsword. The normal demons were definitely not very strong. They were more of a pain in that ass than anything else, actually. 
The Demon Lord finally stopped its barrage of heat. Guh... about damn time. 
Electricity suddenly began to build up around its body. Seemed the Demon Lord’s horns were acting as some kind of lightning rod. Eventually, it built up a huge charge, and light flashed around its body in various enormous swirling masses. 
I have no idea what it’s doing, but it doesn’t look safe at all... It’s gotta be charging something up, right?! 
“Gruuugaaaaaaaah!!!” It attacked and let out what appeared to be several snaking blasts of lightning. I avoided the attacks, but they hit a building behind me and wreaked absolute havoc on a small neighborhood. Now it has a laser barrage...? 
This was some next-level stuff. It must’ve been the Demon Lord’s ultimate attack. If it kept up like this, it could level the entire city. 
“Nngh.” I felt a sudden sensation. My magical energy was being drawn out of my body. Is it absorbing my energy to make up for the charge it just let off? Is the general nearby and doing this? 
Even if my magical power was absorbed, I’d be able to recover it near-instantly. In other words, the Demon Lord could launch as many bolts as it wanted. 
It was a never-ending attack. It could make use of my own magic and use it against me. 
I used [Accel Boost] to dash up the side of the castle wall like a ninja, then bounced off it. 
 

I jumped up high above the monster’s head and turned my blade toward it. Then, I swung down the mithril greatsword right on its head. 
“Time to sleep!” I brought the blade crashing down, and the Demon Lord fell to the ground. Even if it nullified magic, that meant nothing. This was still a sword, magic effect or not. 
Though it clearly took harm, it didn’t seem to be seriously hurt. Well, one of its horns was sliced open, at least. To survive a blow like that, it must’ve been hardy indeed. It clearly had a thick skull. 
The Demon Lord tried to steady itself with its arm and get back up, which was when I unloaded my final assault. 
“[Slip].” Its arm slipped, bringing it crashing to the ground and exposing its shoulders and back. I leaped into action, cleaving off its wings with my blade. 
“GyAaAAaauuUuuuUuggGGghhh!!!” As the Demon Lord screamed, I finished off the job by firing numerous [Slip] bullets at its feet. 
The Demon Lord began to fall forever. It couldn’t fly away, as it no longer had wings. Nobody could possibly come to its aid. 
Every time the beast fell, the ground rumbled and quaked. I’d have to apologize to anyone living in the vicinity later on. 
Leaving the Demon Lord behind, I jumped up to the grand balcony. General Bazoar was up there, pale-faced and horrified. 
“Ready for your divine punishment, General?” 
“Wh-Who are you?! That was a Greater Demon! One man alone cannot possibly hope to...!” 
“It doesn’t matter what you say, bozo. I still did it.” As I spoke, I gestured to the Demon Lord, which was still falling into infinity. 
It did take a lot more than I expected, though... My mithril sword is all bent out of shape after that last attack! It’s seriously damaged... 
“Hmph... you won’t be doing the same to me, however! My Blockbracer makes physical strikes meaningless, and I still have the ability to nullify spells! Even if that were to fail, my Drainbracer still absorbs any incoming magic anyway!” 
Tch... guess he’s aware of how my [Slip] works now... Suppose that means he won’t be dancing to the same tune if I use it again. 
“The emperor didn’t die, but it matters not. This is no longer his domain! I will become the new emperor. And then, I shall use the power of the demons to strike down Refreese, Belfast, Mismede, and all the other western nations! Under one banner, the Regulus Empire will be reborn! Reborn as the Bazoar Empire!” The general began to laugh like a madman. 
How does he expect to maintain his army, exactly? He can’t just keep sacrificing people, it’s not sustainable! This man is completely delusional, there’s no saving him. 
I saw no other options, so I elected to remove that from my storage. My secret weapon, a three-by-three meter cube, was now sitting on the balcony. Aside from the base, it was entirely made of a transparent, glass-like material. You could clearly see inside. 
In the middle of this transparent box was a disgusting-looking Slime creature. It was discolored and almost looked toxic. Still, despite the coloration, it wasn’t actually poisonous at all. In fact, it was mostly harmless. Mostly harmless. 
“Wh-What is that thing?” 
“This, my friend, is a Sludge Slime. They’re a wonderful little part of a standard ecosystem. They live in water and clean it up. But, they do have one quite horrible thing about them. About one hour after death, they begin to exude one of the most foul odors known to man. Well, it’s supposed to go away after two hours, or so they say... But this one? Well, it died just about an hour ago.” As I explained, I smiled at the general and gave him a sidelong glare. 
“Y-You wouldn’t dare...” 
“[Gate].” A magical circle appeared beneath the general and he sank into it like quicksand. It didn’t target him directly, so the nullification didn’t activate. It was a spell that connected two places, after all... And my glorious scheme all hinged on where I’d just sent him. 
The general instantly reappeared inside the glass box. And then, the show began. 
“GHAGUAAAAAUUUGH!” From within the thick iron plating I had enchanted to look like glass, the general began to scream. He pinched his nose tight, but it was too late. His face turned paler than before and he began to sweat bullets. 
“Ghaugh!! Wh-What’s this smell?! It— N-No! Please! It hurts! I-It hurts!” It must’ve stunk just as bad as I thought it would in there. The general began to turn purple. 
My original world had something known as surstromming. It was a kind of fermented herring. The smell was said to be among the most atrocious in reality. But it seemed that the smell of the Sludge Slime was even worse than that. The general looked about ready to pass out already. I raised my brow slightly as I watched the man struggle. He attempted to focus his magic on one of the windows, but he fumbled it. It was impossible for him to channel vast magical energy with one hand, and he had his right hand firmly planted around his nose. Eventually, he gave up and began to sit in the corner of the box, rocking back and forth. He was crying. 
I wondered if he was trying to wait it out, but I knew it’d be futile. 
His surroundings were entirely composed of the foul stench. His face contorted in disgust and agony every time he took a breath. All he could inhale was the fetid, noxious odor of defeat. 
“Auugh!!! Make it stop!!!” His stoic facade began to crumble. His face was slick with tears, sweat, and snot. There was a small [Gate] at the top of the box to allow fresh air inside, since I didn’t want him suffocating. I connected it to an unsettled place high in the mountains, so at most it would’ve upset some animals. 
He began to convulse. He could no longer even concentrate on his own breathing. He fell to his knees and slumped forward. The whites of his eyes were showing, as they had rolled back into his head. He was completely passed out. 
I had originally considered just sending him into the middle of the sea somewhere, but... He’d surely just summon the Demon Lord again and have it fly him off. 
Then, I considered burying him in this box at the bottom of the sea, but I’d never been there, so wasn’t like opening the [Gate] would be especially easy, either. 
Alright, guess he’s done, I’ll transport him out now... I opened up a [Gate] and warped him out, but I immediately regretted it. 
“Ghaughaguh!?” What the hell is that smell?! It smells like a bunch of trash took a dump on a pile of used sanitary products! HOLY HELL MAKE IT STOP. I immediately closed the [Gate], but the smell didn’t stop. It’s coming from the general? Gross! 
I quickly yanked the bracers off of him and put him back inside the container. The Sludge Slime was said to stop exuding a stink after being dead for two hours, but I seriously wondered otherwise about things the smell had infested. The stench was so strong that I was worried it’d never go away. 
In seconds flat, the demon army vanished. The Demon Lord stopped slipping and faded into nothingness, too. With the bracers gone, the magical supply line had been cut. 
With that, the demons were vanquished. Only the regular army remained. 
I decided to open up a [Gate] and call the emperor and others through. 
“You’ve actually done it... Incredible...” The emperor spoke in an astonished tone, staring at the general all the while. 
“I-It certainly smells rather foul.” Lyon held his nose as he spoke. 
“Sorry, it’s the Sludge Slime’s death stench... A little bit of the stink ended up getting out. Geez, it’s pretty potent.” The stink wafted out from the two Artifacts that the general once wore. 
The Drainbracer and Blockbracer, huh...? They’re useful tools, no doubt about that, but... They stink. They stink really badly. Even my fingers stink slightly, and I barely touched them. 
Given that this was the state of the bracelets, I dreaded to think about the general himself. 
The Belfastian Knights headed underground to the dungeon to free the Regulus Knights. As they did that, the emperor and I set up on the balcony for another broadcast. We needed to update the people about the situation, after all. 
This time, the broadcast was live. I held up my smartphone and started filming the emperor. 
“Citizens of the Empire’s Heart, I apologize for what has transpired this day. The leader of the coup has been detained, and our capital city is once more in the hands of the just. Thank you for your understanding.” The projection panned over to show the general. He was unconscious, eyes rolled over white, snot running down his face, and drool leaking from his mouth. I hoped that the other members of the army would surrender after seeing something so horrid. 
This might be seen as a little cruel, but... it’s necessary. 
“I promise to you now that I will work harder. This shall never again happen to us as a people. From the bottom of my heart, please accept my sincere apologies. I am truly sorry.” The emperor bowed his head slightly. 
Huh, he’s apologetic... I had honestly heard he was quite arrogant, but perhaps the illness had instilled some humility in him. 
After the broadcast, the emperor looked over the general with sad eyes. 
“Is something wrong?” 
“It is nothing... I just feel this man is a pitiful sort. His feelings for the empire were sincere, I know that much. He joined the army at a young age and wanted to make a real difference. In some ways he reminds me of myself when I was younger. Had I not fallen ill, I may have ended up treading a similar path. It makes me sad to think about it...” 
“Even so, this man’s crimes are unforgivable.” He summoned a legion of demons and monsters. Each one was summoned at the cost of several human lives, meaning he had to have slaughtered many people in his mad campaign. Not all of those people were condemned to jail or execution, either. And honestly, it wouldn’t really have been okay even if they were. 
“I understand it well. A crime is a crime. He must atone for his sins. He has caused great sorrow to our people, and I will show no leniency.” The emperor let out a small, sad laugh. He was a victim in all of this too, after all. 
“Milord!” A group of knights charged out onto the balcony and prostrated themselves immediately. 
Oh, were these the ones who were confined in the dungeon? An older, black-haired man with one eye came forward and bowed down on one knee. 
“Milord, how can this be?! You seem to be in full spirits once more!” 
“I am rather well, Knight Commander Gaspar! It’s all thanks to the amazing young Touya, here. By his might, I am restored to full strength. It is also by his might that General Bazoar was vanquished!” 
“What?!” The knight commander stared at me, wide-eyed and shocked. The emperor simply nodded and smiled. I wasn’t so sure that it was down to me, but... I figured it was probably that [Recovery] spell I cast. 
Elze and Yae showed up, riding on Kohaku’s back. He was in his full form, after all. Sango and Kokuyou were floating nearby, but they were in their mini-forms. 
“It’s all done, for now at least. Most of the soldiers collapsed!” Elze hopped off Kohaku and reported in. 
Good. I’m glad the remaining soldiers have been taken care of. Even better to see these two are safe and sound. 
“Now then, detain the unconscious soldiers. However, spare those that surrendered their arms during the initial call.” 
“Yes, Milord!” The emperor issued an order to Knight Commander Gaspar, who departed at once. 
I guess the riots’ll die down now... I’m glad that nothing major ended up happening in the end. Now I’ve got nothing to do but leave it to the people of the empire. 
Oh, whoops... I gotta recall all those creatures I summoned first, don’t I... 
All of the Regulus Empire’s soldiers who had collapsed were rounded up and placed in custody. They were immediately dishonorably discharged from the standing army, then interrogated about their other potential crimes. 
Aside from a specific band of instigators, it was found that most soldiers simply went along with orders and didn’t partake in any serious criminal activity. Naturally, those who deliberately instigated the rebellion would be subject to the most grave of sentencings, but those who participated would have to be punished as well. Still, I was sure they’d be thankful to learn they weren’t going to be killed, at the very least. 
The emperor ordered the remaining troops out to the various towns and cities within the country. Peacekeeping was the number one priority for the coming days, it seemed. 
The captive heads of state were also freed from their confines. General Romero brought the crown prince back to the palace as well. When the boy saw me, he was taken aback. He really was the kid that I saved back during the crisis. 
He had disguised himself as a knight in order to escape the castle, but because of that outfit he found himself under attack by the rebel soldiers. 
I wasn’t thoroughly impressed by what I saw in him, to be honest. He didn’t have much of a commanding presence... But he did seem to have a gentle heart, so I was sure he’d turn out alright. 
“We are truly, so truly, in your debt this day. Touya, you most dignified man... you have not only saved my life, but the life of my only son and daughter. Please, name your price. How might I reward you for this feat?” 
“Please don’t worry about it, it just happened to turn out this way, honestly... It was more coincidence than heroism or anything.” I politely declined the emperor’s ludicrous offer. I didn’t really want anything at all from him. After hearing that, however, the king of Belfast let out a chuckle. 
“Such things matter not to my boy Touya. Indeed, we tried to give him a noble position in Belfast, but he declined that as well. In the end, we managed to settle on a sizable home and a lump sum... But I’d prefer for him to settle on my daughter! Hohoho!” 
“Ohoho... Then how about this, I would be honored if you would accept my Lucia. If both the princesses of Belfast and Regulus were joined to the same man, it would create a more powerful unification between the two nations than there has ever been before!” 
“Now hold on a moment there.” The discussion started to go to weird places, so I was about to tell them to knock it off. Instead, however, Yumina was the one to speak up. I wondered what she was going to say. 
“This is no mere political arrangement, I have spoken with Princess Lucia. She feels the same as I and the others do about Touya, and would therefore be more than happy to become his fiancee. You are indeed right, it would improve relations between our nations, but what’s important here is that it’s what she wants as well.” I was dumbstruck. What the hell was Yumina saying? 
“I... think it’s fine, too...” uttered Elze. 
“Y-Yes, as do I,” chimed Linze. 
“I have no objections to such an arrangement, I do not,” spoke Yae. All the other girls who were engaged to marry me had spoken up in support of this new addition. 
All I could think of in that moment was the simple line, “Et tu, Brute?” I’d been betrayed on the deepest possible level! I mean, why weren’t they considering my feelings in the matter?! 
“W-Wait just a darned minute, don’t I get a say in this?!” The conversation seemed to be heading on a one-way track to “Touya’s opinions are invalid,” so I had to say something! In response, Lyon simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled wryly at me. 
“Hmph... really, Sir Touya... this is your own fault, in a way.” 
“What? How could this possibly be my fault?!” 
“From the first moment I met you, Sir Touya, I realized that your power is abnormal. For a single country to be tied to such a... superhuman, it would only be perceived as a threat on an international scale. Try to see this from our perspective. If you’re viewed as dangerous, then Belfast would be viewed as dangerous. But if you were engaged to the princess of Regulus as well? Well, then we’d be able to say your power isn’t simply consolidated in one place, and that you aren’t going to instigate some kind of horrific war.” 
“The Empire is the Empire, and the Kingdom is the Kingdom. No shady political dealings. It is a simple political alliance using Sir Touya’s body!” Knight Commander Gaspar continued on from where Lyon had left off. I could understand what they meant, but my opinion still had to count for something, surely! I glanced over at Lu, who was blushing madly and playing with her hair. Every so often she’d shoot a glance my way, as well. Ah, crap. 
“Ahaha! Touya, my boy! There’s no real difference between the number four and the number five, is there? What’s there to worry about, lad?!” 
“W-Well, even so, I don’t...” General Leon strutted over and smacked me hard on the back in his usual fashion. He seemed very upbeat about this whole thing. I couldn’t really think of a way out of the situation. But we’ve only known each other for two days, isn’t this a little sudden?! It’s a huge commitment...! Wait, I also got engaged to Yumina the same day I met her, didn’t I...? I-I guess that means... It’s okay...? 
“What of you, Lucia my love? Are you against marrying brave young Touya?” 
“Not even slightly, Father! I’m so happy that I might burst with pride and faint! I’ve never felt this excited in my life! I-I wish to be his and his alone!” Her hands were clasped in front of her chest, her eyes were practically glittering... there was steam shooting out of her nose...! 
Oh, damn it... I don’t think I can get out of this at all, huh? 
I couldn’t really begin to grasp how people in this world viewed marriage. In my world it was more of a sacred institution between two people, but here... it seemed much more light-hearted. Part of me was a little afraid of just how different this world was from my old one on a social level. 
“Well then, what say you? Will you accept my Lucia into your arms and take her as your bride?” 
“Hrmph... w-well, can we at least wait until I’m eighteen until any ceremonies happen, please?” 
“That’s no problem to me! It’s settled, then.” It’s not like we actually had to wait until I was eighteen or anything, but I needed to put up some kind of resistance or I’d look like a complete pushover. 
Gah, Lu’s running off to join the other girls already?! Th-They became friends pretty fast, huh... What is this, a “let’s marry Touya” club?! 
“Very well, then. I would like to offer you another reward alongside this, naturally. Now that my Empire and the Kingdom of Belfast are on equal footing, I’m sure we’ll have a lasting alliance.” What the emperor said was something truly astounding. With this, almost all of the major western powers would be unified. Belfast, Mismede, Refreese, and now Regulus, all connected peacefully... 
“In addition, we will formally announce your engagement to both Lucia and my Yumina in both nations. Due to this, it is prudent that we grant you a true, proper title. I spoke with the emperor of Regulus, and we’ve both agreed to split off some of our own territories and grant the combined land portion to you.” 
“I’m sorry, what?” I’m having trouble processing what was said just now. Giving me a portion of each country’s territory? It’s gonna be a pain in the ass if they want me to rule over some place like a lord or something... 
“It’s less of a bestowment of land, and more of a transferal of territory. In other words, we intend to form a small country between the border of Regulus and Belfast. The sovereign of this freshly-birthed nation will be you, Touya. Please be just and kind in your rule.” 
“Excuse me?!” Founding a country? Wait?! Sovereign?! Me, what?! Stop! 
“Well, we say it’s a country but there are no people to rule over quite yet. It’s a fairly uninhabited stretch of land, and under your rule it will be bound by the laws of neither Regulus nor Belfast. Our two countries, in support of your fledgling nation, will naturally sign a peace treaty with you as well. Whatever happens within that country, we vow not to interfere. The country will be solely yours, Touya. With this, the issue of your social standing is completely invalid, and you may marry both princesses without any concerns!” 
So what, kind of like the Vatican? Or I guess it’d be more like a sovereign duchy or a principality... Augh, I really don’t know about this... 
“Touya, my boy. Can you pull up that map?” 
“Huh? Er, sure. Display map.” 
“Understood. Displaying map.” I was unsure what the king wanted exactly, but I did as he asked and let the map project itself in the air. 
Belfast was on the left, and Regulus was on the right. The king pointed his finger at the border line between them. 
“Now, between our great nations is the Melicia Mountain Range. It extends down a good way, but at the bottom here is a forest and a great plain. Although the land is fertile, there are many demonic beasts that infest the area. For that reason, neither country has involved itself in that territory very much. To the south of that area is a road that will become the nexus of trade between the two nations. That’s where we’ll found your country!” 
What?! Didn’t you just say that place is infested with man-eating monsters? 
“You plan on having us settle in a dangerous place like that?” 
“Now now, nobody said you have to actually live there. That being said, that area’s completely independent and out of our hands now. Even if something happened there, neither Regulus nor Belfast could do a thing. Even if a group of brigands holed up there and used it as their base of operations, it’s completely out of our jurisdiction. Touya, my boy. You’d be the grand duke, so the responsibility of clearing out the mess falls to you.” Both the emperor and the king were grinning ear-to-ear. 
You no-good crooks... you’ve saddled me with cleaning out your new trade route, haven’t you?! After the alliance is announced, a lot more people will start to take the only road between the two nations. So this is your plan to make the path safe, is it? You... bastards! 
Wait, was this their plan the whole time? Did they just offer Lu up so I’d fall into the palms of their hands?! These guys are seriously scary... I walked right into it! 
“I feel like I’m being cheated here, but...” 
“No, no! Perish the thought. It’s a rich and plentiful area with wide borders. The people passing through it will receive safety and peace of mind, and in turn you’ll receive status, praise, and accolades. Isn’t that good in itself?” 
So that’s how it is, huh...? I feel like these two are using me, but whatever. They’re a little too conniving for my tastes, but I guess I can understand. They’ve both had troubles with their neighbors in the past, so having me there would be good for peace of mind. 
Hmph... It’s not that bad of a deal, I guess... In order to marry both of the girls, I do need a suitable position. Plus, it’s not like there are any citizens there to worry about, either... Not to mention the fact that having a large expanse of land I can do whatever I want with is definitely a plus. Well, why not? Having a country of my own might come in handy. 
“Yeah, fair enough, then. You just want me there to make it safe, right? I’ll do it.” 
“Our apologies, lad. In that case, we shall formally declare the formation of a new nation! Both countries shall formally recognize your right to rule!” 
Right to rule, huh... I can’t even begin to imagine how I’ll be as a head of state. Well, I don’t really have that many responsibilities to deal with, I guess. Am I gonna have to build a castle? 
“You have finally taken a royal position, you have. Our husband-to-be is truly magnificent, he is...” 
“I know, right? I never thought he’d take it this far, but it’s seriously amazing!” Yae and Elze began chattering with each other. In all honesty, I never expected anything like this to happen, either. I think I was more shocked than they were. 
“Uhm, what do you want to do in regards to the name of the new nation?” Linze looked over at me, asking an important question that I hadn’t really considered. 
Uhh... a name? Maybe... Mochizukiland? N-No, that’s way too embarrassing! No way... 
Nihon? Eh, that’s a little uninspired... Japan? Japang...? Ugh... None of these really feel good as names at all! Oh... wait, maybe... 
“Brunhild... I think. The Duchy of Brunhild.” 
“Isn’t Brunhild the name you gave to that weapon of yours, Touya?” 
“Yeah. Though where I come from, it’s a derivative name taken from a legendary shieldmaiden.” Yeah, the Duchy of Brunhild... Sounds pretty nice, if I do say so myself. Plus, it’s more like a micro-nation than a real kingdom, so it’s more like I’m just giving my land a fancy name. 
“The Brunhild Duchy, was it? A rather splendid name. Very well, the Kingdom of Belfast will formally support this fledgling nation in an alliance!” 
“Indeed. As will the Regulus Empire.” 
“Now then, shall we get to work on making the land safe?” 
Just how big is the territory, anyway? I better use my phone to check, just to be sure. Just as I’d asked, the phone read back the exact size. 
“Total Size: Approximately four hundred and ten square kilometers.” I honestly have no idea what that means... Lemme compare it to the size of the 23 Special Wards in Tokyo... I ran a search for the size of that, and the phone told me it was around six hundred and nineteen square kilometers. 
Wait what?! That means my country’s about two thirds the size of the special wards?! That’s a little much, isn’t it?! 
 
“There’s really nothing around, huh?” We looked over the forest and the plain. There were some hilly areas, as well as the mountains off in the distance. There was also a river nearby, so that was nice. 
We’d decided to go and visit the land that Regulus and Belfast had oh-so-graciously bestowed upon me. I found it to be rather barren. Though, to be honest, that was better than it being too noisy. 
“Alrighty then... Run search. Monstrous creatures that could cause potential harm to human beings.” 
“Understood. Displaying.” With several “pings,” red markers dotted themselves all over the surrounding area on the map. There were a lot. I mean it is a huge area, so it’s not too surprising... I guess? But I didn’t even include lesser monsters in the search query! Now it was simply a matter of figuring out what to do. 
“Should I just wipe them all out at once with magic, maybe?” 
“If you dealt with them all like that, I-I’m not so sure it’d turn out well...” Yumina furrowed her brow. 
Hmph, I guess... if I did that, then there’d be a huge pile of dead bodies. Carnivorous animals might eat some of them, but I highly doubt they’d be able to clear all that meat before it became an issue. The smell would definitely end up being a major problem for everyone. Plus, it’s more likely that the carnivorous ones would be the ones being killed in the first place. 
I considered just sending them somewhere through a [Gate] or something, but that would cause trouble for the people on the other side. I thought about just sending them all into the sea to drown, but then Elze spoke up. 
“Some of those monsters might have valuable raw materials, you can’t just send them off like that!” She had a point, too. Sending off monsters like that would mean less potential finances for us. Teleporting them to the sea was a needlessly wasteful act. 
Even so, since we were looking over the territory from Babylon, it was possible to make a [Gate] anywhere down there, so I didn’t want to waste that opportunity... 
“What if we used [Gate] to teleport dead ones to us? We could defeat them, and then transport them here... Then we can harvest them manually for materials... But uh... what about the dead bodies?” 
“It would be good for the natural order of things if we spread their corpses across the mountains and countryside, it would. So long as there are not too many, we could provide food for the animals, and nutrition for the ground and plants, we could.” 
Hm, let’s just do that then. Yae’s sense seemed fair enough to me, so I rolled with it. 
“Let’s do it, then. Target Lock. Invoke [Shining Javelin].” 
“Understood. Invoking [Shining Javelin].”


“I-Is it finally over...?” I’m done, damn it... Harvesting materials from monsters is too difficult...! Every monster has different parts and different features with different values. It’s way too much to keep track of! Fangs, claws, hides? How am I meant to know what all of this is worth?! 
Partway through we quickly realized that we weren’t the best-equipped to be determining exactly what was worth what, so we called over Will, Logan, and Rebecca from the capital. We decided to give them half of the harvest, so they graciously accepted the job. 
I also called over my maid, Cecile, and my gardener, Julio. Then, I grabbed Lyon for good measure, because he was off-duty today. Honestly, it was a pretty decent part-time job for them. 
Lyon ripped, tore, and furiously shredded the monsters apart. Something made me think he seriously needed the cash. Something to do with Olga, perhaps... Was he getting engaged, I wondered. The polar opposite of Lyon’s enthusiasm was Lu, who was clearly struggling to take apart the dead animals. I decided to give her a helping hand. 
I was surprised by how well she took to it once she got a handle on it, though. She seemed to be pretty skilled in preparation. 
“You’re a princess, so it’s only natural. This is your first time doing something like this, right?” 
“Yes, it is. But I still want to do it to the best of my ability. I wish not to be a burden to you, dear Touya. I wish to be as much of a help as the others.” After she said that, I gave her a little pat on the head. She blushed a bit red. Heh, she’s a cutie... 
The third princess of the Regulus Empire, Lucia Leah Regulus, became my fiancee. At the same time, on Yumina’s recommendation, she came to live with me in Belfast. 
I thought the same around the time I met Yumina, but the princesses of this world sure had a lot of autonomy... 
She wasn’t wearing a big regal outfit like she was the first time I met her, either. She was wearing some more easily-manageable clothing. 
She wore a long-sleeved shirt with a big bow about the neck, and black tights under a white pleated skirt. At her waist, behind her back, were two holstered short-swords. 
From what I understood, Lu was a dual-wielder. It seemed she had learned a little about the style from Carol and developed a taste for it. Her magical aptitude was completely in the red, so no spells for her. 
Apparently Yae tried training her a little, but Lu just wasn’t compatible. Since twin blades were based on speedy and deceptive movement, it was only natural it wouldn’t mesh with Yae’s samurai style. 
I certainly wondered if she’d be fine with just two swords on her side... But I decided that it’d be better to wait and see her in action. 
“Well, now the really dangerous stuff is taken care of...” I fired up my map app again, just to be sure. Not a single hit registered in the area. Mission accomplished. 
However, I had a sudden thought and decided to run a search for humans in the vicinity. Sure enough, there was a whole bunch of them in the forest... 
Do people really live out here? It’s kinda dangerous, so I didn’t think this was a place someone could call home... 
“It’s likely a band of brigands.” Lyon let out a mutter as he looked the map over. 
“Really?” 
“From what I’ve heard there have been a lot of bandit attacks in the surrounding territories lately... Such a gathering of them is surely their main base of operations. They likely have a great price upon their heads.” The forest was huge, and dangerous, so logically it made sense as a place for cutthroats to hide. If there were enough of them, and they were tough, they’d be fine to repel the monsters. 


 

“...So what should we do?” Linze spoke up, as if she didn’t know already that we’d be clearing them out. This place was to be part of my territory, after all, so clearing out bad people was for the best. 
“Well, I’ll go take care of it.” 
“Mind if I accompany you?” Surprisingly, Lyon offered to tag along. I had no reason to say no, so I let him. We left the handling of the monster bodies to everyone else, and the two of us walked off to the hideout. It was only a thirty minute trip on foot, so there was no need to overcomplicate the travel method. 
“Heh, you’re after the bounty, aren’t you?” 
“H-Huh? Aah... ahaha, well... Guess you figured me out, Sir Touya.” Lyon chuckled a little, scratching the back of his head all the while. I could feel the desire to earn money emanating from him when he was stripping the monsters bare, so this was only natural. 
“Are you saving up for an engagement ring to get Olga?” 
“Ah, no... I-I’ve actually already given her one of those.” 
“You serious?!” I was completely taken aback. Talk about left field. He might’ve had it in mind since the beginning, but isn’t he moving things a little bit too quickly? It didn’t take me long to realize I was in no position to speak about that of all things. 
“Wow, man... congratulations. So then, why are you trying so hard to get money?” 
“Well, weddings are quite expensive... as will be cost of living after the fact. Ideally, I’d like to purchase a home for the two of us.” Lyon let out a slightly worried laugh, but he seemed happy all the same. I understood his feelings well enough, money was definitely necessary to maintain a happy married life. 
“Can’t your parents help you out?” 
“Ah, well... my folks believe in cutting your own path in life, and her folks believe that money is something you need to earn yourself...” 
Oh dear... The resolute natures of iron-clad military tradition and merciless mercantile tradition are both bearing down on him. 
“We both live with our respective parents right now, but... As I am the second son, I must move out after I marry.” 
“So will Olga be coming to Belfast?” 
“Her father needs a successor for his mercantile empire, but... I’m really hoping I can afford to call her over soon enough.” Lyon let out a small, irritated sigh. Hmph... I can loan him the cash, but that would probably make General Leon angry at both me and him, so I better not... 
“Oh, what about any of the stolen goods that the brigands’ll have?” 
“Ideally, we’d like to get those returned to their original owners. Anything other than that rightfully belongs to the ones that bested the bandits, I’ll say. There’s no real profit in rooting bandits out, so they usually manage to hole out for a good bit of time.” 
“So you’re saying their leader probably has a ton of money, right...?” 
“That’s what I’m hoping for, actually. Obviously I’ll return anything that has a known owner, though.” So if there’s nobody to claim the goods, he gets to pocket it. Makes sense. 
The map indicated a roughly-constructed hut at the forest’s edge. I assumed that to be their hideout. 
“So what bandits in this area have bounties?” 
“Three of them. A trio of thieves, all siblings.” I confirmed their presence on the map, three markers dropped down. Seemed that was all of the big-named bandits, though. Lyon drew the weapon that I’d made for him and morphed it into blade mode. 
I’m gonna leave this one to Lyon, I think... If I got involved, then he’d probably want to split the reward with me, and I’m fine with him having it all. 
In the end, Lyon wiped the entire camp of brigands out. Well, I say wiped out, but he used Stun Mode to paralyze them all. I thought they’d be tougher, given that they had a reputation, but it seemed I didn’t have anything to worry about after all. 
The bandits had accumulated a pretty big pile of loot, which I was quite pleased to see. With a smile on his face, Lyon bound up all the brigands and I opened up a [Gate] to the Royal Capital. 
I stashed all of their ill-gotten gains in [Storage], making a mental note to hand it over to Lyon later. After that, I crushed their miserable shack using [Gravity]. It would have been a pain in my ass if any other guys got the bright idea of squatting there, after all. 
After we returned to the others, it looked like they were pretty much done with the material harvest. We bagged them up and I put all the good stuff in [Storage], making a point to label two bags “Rebecca,” and “Cecile.” It would’ve been bad for them to lug around so much stuff, after all. 
We returned to the guild in the capital and headed straight to the trading desk. Immediately, I pulled a ton of stuff out of [Storage] and hefted it on to the counter. The amount of stuff was so obscene that the man at the desk had to take a few minutes to collect himself. 
While he figured out the value, I took Lu over to Prim’s desk. 
“I’d like to register this girl with the guild. There should be a notification from the Regulus Empire?” 
“Ah, yes! We did get that, but... D-Did you really suppress a military coup all by yourself?!” 
“Well, I didn’t quite do it alone, but... yeah.” 
“H-Holy... I-I almost can’t believe it’s true. I should have known that Moon Reader’s owner was such a magnificent man...” As Prim stood around admiring my accomplishments, another employee gave Lu the basic explanation, and Lu explained her reasons for becoming an adventurer. Naturally, I listened in. From what I understood, Lu definitely didn’t need to become a pro adventurer, but she couldn’t bear the thought of staying at home and being excluded from the rest, so she took it upon herself to become stronger. 
“Ah, please hand over your guild card.” I handed over the card, just as Prim asked. She stamped down on it with a different seal than usual. 
“This is proof that you took down a Greater Demon in the Regulus Empire. On behalf of the guild, please accept this new title. You’re formally a Demon Killer!” 
Dragon Slayer, Golem Buster, and now Demon Killer, huh? I’m just racking up titles like crazy. 
“With this, you have acquired three titles in total. This, combined with the formal recommendation from the Kingdom of Belfast and the Regulus Empire, means your guild rank has increased by one. Congratulations!” 
“Huh? Is that how it works?” The guild card she returned to me was a shimmering silver. It was really pretty. I guess the guild had no issue promoting me to this level after realizing the extent of my power, not to mention my political backing. 
“Well, this is certainly something special! It’s almost been two decades since our country had a Silver-ranked adventurer.” I was surprised it had been that long, but it was true that I’d never seen any Silver or Gold-tier requests on the job boards. 
“When you stand at Silver, and Gold above that, you typically receive quests right from the guild.” That made sense enough to me. It made sense to limit who could see such jobs, since they’d probably be sensitive or only be able to be handled by the most proficient of people. 
Lu finished registering and happily showed me her black guild card. 
I took Lu over to the trading area, and it seemed that the man had finally figured out how much everything was worth. 
Rebecca and the others from Sandora seemed extremely pleased by the unexpected boon. Cecile and Julio also looked very happy. That was to be expected. They’d all come out of this quite well off, after all. 
The portion for myself, and the portion for Lyon, had been set aside and handed to us as I left the guild. The bandits were apparently apprehended without any trouble. Lyon had to report it in solo due to the bounty on their heads, but he was able to receive it without any hassle. 
The money from the materials, coupled with the money from the brigands... It was a pretty penny for Lyon, all-in-all. With that, he’d definitely have enough to secure his wedding at the very least. 
I suddenly realized that I should get Lyon and Olga a wedding gift. I made a mental note to ask the girls for suggestions later on. 
 



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