Extra: Inglis to the Infinite Power
After Inglis had met Harim for the first time, the knights’ academy students were traveling via the Flygear Port to liberate Leclair. Their situation was tense, and they had an unavoidable fight in their future, but being uneasy all the time was exhausting. With the perpetually unflappable Inglis and the cheerful and talkative Rafinha along, the tense atmosphere didn’t last. During their flight, the usual chatter kicked up.
“After we free Leclair, we’re headed to the capital, right?” Rafinha asked.
“Yeah, but perhaps we should check what’s happening at the border first. I expect Alcard’s forces to continue eyeing the situation, but just in case...” Inglis replied.
Rafinha narrowed her eyes. “You probably just want them to get a move on, Chris.”
“If we throw rocks at their camp, do you think they’ll decide we’re enemies and attack us?”
“C’mon, knock it off! That’s dangerous!” Lahti said nervously.
“It’ll be fi—” Inglis began.
“No, I mean dangerous for our army! Please don’t...”
“Yeah! If you do that, there’ll be no one left to protect people from magicite beasts!” Rafinha insisted.
“I see... So you weren’t worried about me?” Inglis asked.
Lahti didn’t miss a beat. “Why would we be?”
“Exactly,” Rafinha agreed.
The two of them nodded in unison and added, “There’d be no point.”
“But it’ll be fine! I’ll hold back. I just want a little taste of the action,” Inglis pleaded.
“Absolutely not!” Matching, resounding rejection from the both of them.
Their group was trying its hardest to stop Alcard’s army, but if that was in vain and they invaded Karelia anyway, Inglis would have to stand in their path. She was actually hoping for that, but perhaps she wasn’t supposed to.
“And I assume I’m not supposed to search for that thing either?” Inglis asked.
“What thing?” Rafinha asked.
“Evel’s lab. I don’t know if it’s even in the capital, though.”
“Oh...! The one that can make Chris copies?”
“Yep.”
“Copies? What the heck?” Lahti asked.
“You know, the thing that made more Ians! Chris wants to find it and make more of herself.”
“Huh?! More of Inglis?” Leone gasped.
“You’re seriously considering that?!” Liselotte asked, taken aback.
“C’mon, what are you thinking?!” Lahti asked.
“Well, if there were two of me, we’d always be able to spar. I appreciate that efficiency,” Inglis replied.
In the course of a life spent pursuing martial prowess, it was important to secure a strong foe. Actual combat was the best kind of training—all the more so if she had a partner very close to her in ability and who was always willing to join in. If she could make a copy of herself, that other her would fulfill that role. Together, they could push the limits of their strength. The other Inglis would be a powerful partner.
“Th-That doesn’t sound like a good idea... I don’t think the academy’s cafeteria can survive another Inglis...” Leone said.
“The principal would probably faint,” Liselotte added.
“Rani, we could make another you too. That way I wouldn’t be the only one hogging the food,” Inglis offered.
“I don’t want more of me! You’re the only one with that crazy idea, Chris!”
“Huh? Really? Wouldn’t it be convenient?” Inglis asked, confused.
Lahti nodded in agreement with Rafinha. “The idea of another me running around just gives me the creeps.”
“Yes, the idea unsettles me as well. And you, Leone?” Liselotte turned to her friend.
“I’m not interested at all. If there was another me, she might have the same hard time I did...” Leone sighed.
Rafinha clapped her on the back. “Don’t worry! We’ll just be twice as friendly!”
“Indeed we will,” Liselotte said.
Leone laughed. “Thanks.”
“Now that I think about it...the idea of there being another me is quite frightening. I feel as though I wouldn’t really have a sense of self anymore. Aren’t you afraid of that, Inglis?” Liselotte asked.
“Well, I’m me. Even if there’s someone a lot like me, if I get stronger, I’m not worried.”
“So you really plan to use the facilities in Evel’s lab if you find it...” Leone muttered.
“She probably does...” Rafinha answered, nodding. “Hmm... Well, what if there were two of Chris? And they were both, say, there at the fight with the larval Prismer we had.” She held up her two index fingers. They were probably meant to represent each Inglis. While trying her best to sound like Inglis, she moved them back and forth.
“Ooh! A strong foe! All right, I’m gonna fight it!” the Inglis on the right said.
“No, I want to fight it!” the Inglis on the left said.
“No, I want to fight it too!”
“Do you really, really want to fight it?”
“I really, really do!”
“Too bad, I’m gonna get to it first!”
“No, it’s not yours! It’s mine!”
“Grrrrr!” Rafinha mimed a fight between the two.
“Wait, why don’t you fight it together? You’d win easily,” Lahti interrupted, amazed.
Rafinha’s two Inglis finger puppets answered back as if they were waiting for that very question. “Fighting cowardly like that isn’t good for training!”
“Mm-hmm. Yep,” Lahti said.
“She absolutely would say that,” Leone said, stifling a laugh.
“Aha ha... You understand her so well,” Liselotte said.
“How about we fight, and the winner gets to fight it?” Rafinha said as one Inglis.
“Let’s do that!” she followed up as the other.
“Grahhhh! Smack! Smack! Smack! Slam! Slam! Slam!”
“Wait, no, I’d never do that! Even if it was a Prismer!” Inglis protested.
“Eeek! No one’s stopping the Prismer! Smash! Smash! Smash!” That seemed to be the cries of the townspeople and the sound of their houses crumbling.
“Huh? Looks like the town’s gone.”
“Looks that way, yeah. I wonder why,” the two finger puppets concluded, tilting their heads in confusion.
Rafinha beamed at them with overflowing pride. “And that’s how it would end up! I’m sure of it!”
“Well, that would be no good,” Leone said.
“Terrifyingly prescient,” Liselotte remarked.
“Yeah. I guess when it comes to Inglis, it’s not one plus one equals two; it’s one plus one equals zero,” Lahti calculated.
“How rude!” Inglis interjected. “We’d be Rani’s squires, so we’d be sure to protect her if she was there! Such chaos would never happen.”
“And if I wasn’t in the capital during that scene?” Rafinha asked.
Inglis giggled with a sly expression.
“Chriiis. You can’t argue with that, can you?”
“B-But it’s still okay. I have a solution—there can be three of me. That way one is left out of the fight to handle things responsibly.”
“In that case, two would cancel each other out, and we’re left with just the remainder of one,” Liselotte said.
“No matter how many of Inglis there are, it wouldn’t make us any stronger,” Leone said.
“They’d just bicker over who gets to fight the actual enemy. It doesn’t increase our strength, just the cost of food! That doesn’t do anyone any good at all!” Rafinha insisted.
“But we wouldn’t be trying to do anything for the greater good anyway, so...” Inglis offered. Inglis Eucus was determined to live for herself alone. If she used Evel’s lab to make more of herself, the copies might have different personalities. She wouldn’t force them to join her for fights, but she hoped they would share her approach to power.
“What kind of knights’ academy student would say such a thing?! I’m certainly going to do things for the greater good, so I’d appreciate it if you’d help me!” Rafinha protested.
“Well, I’m fine with what you decide—always have been.”
“And I’m saying it now. Again. Will you go along with me in doing things for the greater good?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Well then, even if we find Evel’s lab, no making more of yourself!” Rafinha crossed her forearms into an X.
“Whaaat?!”
“It’s for the greater good! No arguing!”
“Ugh...! But... But...”
And thus, thanks to Rafinha, the world was spared from the terror which threatened to wash over it...or was it?
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