Chapter 9 - Those Who Would Not Serve
The New World was a continent due south of Freyjagard’s southernmost point. It had been discovered a century ago when advances in Lakan shipbuilding technology increased the scope of ocean exploration. However, it had primarily remained untouched until a few years ago.
Unfortunately, it was just too far away. If ten ships set out for the New World, one or two at most would survive a round trip, and even those vessels that returned would know heavy losses.
To complicate matters further, the New World was inhabited, and getting into disputes with its inhabitants was trouble on its own.
Everything changed when a large island was discovered between Freyjagard and the New World a few years ago, though. With a midway stop for ships, the once-arduous journey to the New World became largely trivial.
As it turned out, that discovery was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to the New World’s people.
The New World was a wasteland, featuring swaths of red clay as far as the eye could see, peppered only by a small number of oases. Powerful clans fought ceaseless battles over those oases. The people never managed to unite into a single, unified nation. As a result, they had little interaction with other cultures, so their civilizations were underdeveloped in every regard. When the Freyjagard Empire and the Lakan Archipelago Alliance arrived looking for resources and slaves, the native populace didn’t stand a chance.
Things only worsened for the people of the New World when Lindworm himself came and launched his campaign to murder the elves who’d sealed away the evil dragon. That fostered hatred in the New World natives, bringing their clans together in a united front against their common enemy.
After they’d forged their wartime alliance, the clans scraped together all the combat assets they could from across the New World and mounted a counteroffensive against Lindworm and his Freyjagard army.
It was at that precise moment that something unusual happened.
Neuro had teleported Lindworm’s forces away.
That was the absolute last thing the Freyjagard army had expected. The entire central command unit had vanished in the blink of an eye. The imperial army fell into chaos and suffered heavy losses to the New World clan alliance’s all-out assault. Without leadership, the imperials were plunged into disarray, and the people of the New World showed no mercy.
Heads of fleeing imperials went flying like rice plants lopped off by sickles. There was a ruthlessness to the act, but the imperials had certainly wronged the New World enough to deserve it.
The clan alliance outnumbered the Freyjagard army by a factor of three to one, and the imperials had only made up the difference with the Four Grandmasters’ power and Lindworm’s nigh-inhuman combat prowess. Now there was nothing to stop things from descending into a grisly massacre.
Come dawn, the Freyjagard army lost a full thirty percent of its hundred thousand soldiers. The tragedy dealt a harsh blow to imperial morale, and panic became hysteria. What order had survived in the ranks following Lindworm’s departure collapsed, and soldiers began running without any semblance of a formation.
Tragically for them, though, they were fighting in a wasteland without so much as a thicket to hide behind, and with the sunrise, there was no darkness for cover, either. At that rate, it was only a matter of time before they were slaughtered to a man.
Right as despair gripped their hearts, he returned.
“That’s enough.”
The voice came down from amid the sky’s morning glow.
Despite the angry bellows and sounds of clashing steel, the words reached every ear on the battlefield. None could ignore this voice. It simply wasn’t an option.
All the Freyjagard soldiers and New World residents looked up at the sky as one. There, they saw Lindworm von Freyjagard.
“I address you now, barbarian tribes of the New World. As of today, the old era of countless impostors clashing as they cloak themselves in false strength is over.
“Cast down your weapons at once and submit to me. If you do…then I can guarantee you a life of peace and prosperity under my inviolable rule, where imperials and people of the New World exist as equals and none need perish in vain.”
“You can take your offer and shove it, invader!”
“You bastards killed my son and my daughter! I’ll know no peace until I’ve strangled you myself! You and every bastard on the Northern Continent!”
“Kill ’em! Kill ’em all! Who cares if there’s one more guy we gotta kill!!”
Lindworm issued his demand that they surrender from on high, but unsurprisingly, the clans had no interest in acquiescing. They returned his offer with rage, then spat at the heavens and turned to resume their slaughter.
“Fools.”
Lindworm sighed at this response, then slashed with his golden greatsword as though tracing a line far above the warriors who surged across the ground below.
The change was immediate.
“““………What?”””
The New World joint forces had surrounded the doomed imperials, but the moment they tried to strike, everyone beneath the line Lindworm had drawn with his blade—a full half of the New World forces at nearly one hundred fifty thousand men—froze in place simultaneously.
The situation was so bizarre that the other half of the united clan army came to a speechless halt. Lindworm peered down.
“I bid you once more, kneel.”
“““……………”””
This time, not a single person defied him. One after another, the men of the New World forces dropped to their knees and bowed their heads as though flattened by the sheer weight of Lindworm’s words.
Each of them understood the implication of his power and majesty whether they wanted to or not.
They understood that the world existed for one man alone—a genius, chosen by the heavens to rule.
His eyelids felt…heavy.
Heavier than they’d ever been in his life.
Prince Akatsuki had never known such exhaustion, not even two years ago after he’d finished his world tour magic show. He pried his lids open while wondering what had made him so tired.
When he finally got his eyes open, he was greeted by a verdant green canopy with sunlight streaming through gaps in the leaves. He realized that he was lying on his back in the forest.
“But…why?”
He tilted his head, puzzled. Why had he dozed off outside? What had he been doing before he fell asleep? He tried to think back, but his head was still foggy from having just woken up, and his memories were blurry and indistinct.
When he sat up, someone called out to him.
“Oh, you’re awake? Thank goodness.”
He didn’t recognize the voice, but when he turned his head to see who it was…
“Lyrule…?”
…his gaze found Lyrule, who sat on the roots of a massive tree and looked down at him.
Did that voice belong to Lyrule? It sounded a little different to Akatsuki. More importantly, though, that tree she sat on…
There was definitely something familiar about it, but when Akatsuki started digging through his memories to identify it…
“And a very good morning to you!”
“Agh!”
…his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden hug from behind.
That was a voice he’d never mistake. It belonged to one of his friends, and he would’ve known it anywhere. He turned around and was greeted by exactly who he’d expected, Shinobu Sarutobi.
“Oh, you’re finally up. That’s such a relief. I was starting to get worried, what with you sleeping for an entire month.”
“Urgh… Shinobu, I can’t breathe… Wait, did you say an entire month? What? WHAT?!”
What could she have possibly meant by that?
Before Akatsuki could get the question out, his brain snapped back into gear. Enough time had passed since he woke up that his eyelids didn’t feel leaden anymore, and his memories fell back into place. Akatsuki remembered everything.
He recalled what he’d been doing before he passed out.
“We were at war with the emperor and his troops…but then I got really sleepy all of a sudden, and I passed out… Wait, I know this place! This is the forest where we met Yggdra that one time, isn’t it? There’s that dragon mummy under the roots! What’re we doing here?! Where’s everyone else?! How did all of this—?”
“All right, all right, pump those brakes, Akatsuki.”
“Hrrnph!”
Akatsuki’s memories had all come rushing back at once, and the gaps between them and his current situation had him flustered. Shinobu quieted him down by squeezing him tight to her chest.
“I’m gonna explain everything, so just calm down and listen, ’kay?”
She told him about what she’d seen in the Tomino Basin while everyone else fell unconscious.
“Back when we were fighting the imperials, Keine knocked us out.”
“What? She did? But why?!”
“I’ll explain that part in a sec. First, I want to tell you everything that’s happened while you were out.”
“O-okay.”
“After Keine’s surprise attack, Emperor Lindworm… Emperor Lindworm stabbed Lyrule through the heart and killed her. When she died, Yggdra’s seal that had been holding back the evil dragon broke, and it looked like the evil dragon was going to come back to life. But then, something unbelievable happened.
“When the evil dragon tried to hijack Lindworm’s body, Lindworm managed to turn the tables and absorb him—along with the power the evil dragon used to destroy the entire continent during his battle against Yggdra a thousand years ago.”
“…!”
After hearing this, Akatsuki finally understood why Lyrule’s voice sounded so off. It hadn’t been Lyrule speaking to him at all. It was Yggdra.
Lyrule was…
“……”
One of their own had betrayed them, and now their beloved friend, the person who’d saved their lives, was dead.
The weight of that knowledge sent pain cutting through Akatsuki’s heart. However, he did everything he could to suppress it…
“But if the evil dragon is dead, then doesn’t that mean that the danger we were summoned to prevent is gone now?” Akatsuki asked.
…so he could try to get a better handle on the situation.
First, he wanted a clear understanding of their objective. What had become of the evil dragon and his followers’ plot?
“…The evil dragon’s dead, sure, but I can’t say the world’s been saved,” Shinobu said with a pained look on her face, “To be honest, the situation is kinda worse than ever. Truth is, Earth is in danger now, too.”
“Wait, as in our Earth?! Wh-what do you mean?!”
“To answer that, I gotta loop back to Keine’s motives. Keine’s had beef with the whole ‘inherent human greed’ thing for a while now. She feels that the way humans get jealous and envious of others and try to get their hands on more and more is what keeps us from world peace. She sees it as a congenital defect…and she wants to surgically excise it from everyone.”
Akatsuki’s face went pale as a series of horrifying images flitted through his head. “S-surgically? You don’t mean…”
To that, Shinobu nodded…
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably exactly what you’re picturing.”
…and tapped her fingers against the side of her head to make it clear.
“As far as Keine’s concerned, the dystopia that Emperor Lindworm seeks, where a single person rules everything, works out pretty conveniently for her. When she saw that Lindworm shared her ideals, she betrayed us and sacrificed Lyrule. Lindworm took her up on her offer, and for the past month, things have been getting kinda surreal over in the empire.”
From there, Shinobu went on to describe what she’d seen of Freyjagard while Akatsuki was unconscious.
After returning from the Tomino Basin, Lindworm began ruling exactly as he’d described. He stood at the top, and everyone else—commoners, nobles, and slaves—was treated equally. On top of that, he’d stripped everyone of all privileges and assets they possessed. He’d also banned everything, from education to entertainment, with any sort of link to greed or inequality in an attempt to prevent the conflict they could inspire.
Normally, any rule that tyrannical would earn a dozen or so uprisings, and sure enough, there had been plenty of riots. Hundreds of them even. However, not a single one came to fruition.
Whenever someone harbored feelings of rebellion in their hearts, Lindworm detected it instantly and spirited them away. A few days later, they would return as a good little citizen with absolute faith in Lindworm’s regime, free of greed. Prodigy doctor Keine Kanzaki’s surgery granted rebels kind hearts that loved others more than themselves. From that point on, the changed people went about their lives with smiles so broad it was like they’d been exorcised.
“But the nastiest part of all is, I’m pretty much certain that Keine’s planning on doing the same thing to our world.”
Lindworm had absorbed every last bit of the evil dragon’s power and knowledge, and that included the cross-world transportation technique that the evil dragon had used to reach this planet. He and Keine could head off to Earth whenever they pleased.
“You and I are the only ones Yggdra managed to save. Everyone else got captured…and odds are, Keine’s gone and fiddled with their brains. So it’s up to the two of us to make the choice.”
“Wh-what choice?”
“We can have Yggdra send the two of us to Earth alone so we can warn everyone, or we can stay and try to save the others and stop Lindworm and Keine’s plan here. Here’s the thing…”
After laying out the two options, Shinobu threw in the final detail.
“…if you choose the latter, then instead of sending us back to Earth, Yggdra can use her magic to bring Lyrule back!”
“What?!”
One month prior, Yggdra used her magic to teleport Shinobu and Akatsuki into the forests of Yamato.
After snatching them from harm, the first thing Yggdra did was give Shinobu a deep bow. “I’m so, so sorry. When I brought you to this world, I never meant for it to cause such a rift between you and your friend.”
“That’s… There’s nothing for you to apologize for there. Besides, we chose to take up this fight ourselves.”
When Lyrule, or rather Yggdra borrowing her corpse, tried to apologize, Shinobu waved her off and retrieved a black pill from inside a little container. It was a combination antidote and stimulant made from a secret recipe. It had some nasty side effects due to its not-wholly-legal ingredients, but Shinobu knew that she couldn’t afford to keel over. She popped it into her mouth without a moment’s hesitation, then went silent for a bit.
Once the stimulant had had time to clear her head a bit, she said, “Still, there’s no denying that the situation just got really bad. I gotta say, this isn’t how I imagined things playing out. Knowing Keine, she plans to take the emperor with her and launch an attack on Earth.”
Yggdra nodded. “He could certainly make that happen. By absorbing the evil dragon, he has the power and necessary knowledge.”
The evil dragon’s power was said to have destroyed the entire continent. If Lindworm commanded that might at his leisure, there was no telling just how formidable of a foe he would be. At a bare minimum, his strength was enough to put Gustav to shame.
Given that, and given how Ringo and Aoi were already in the enemy’s clutches, solving the problem with force wasn’t realistic. So then what could Shinobu do?
The prodigy journalist sank into thought.
“However…thanks to that Emperor Lindworm, Father’s ambitions have been dashed, albeit not quite in the way I expected. In a way, the world may already have been saved,” Yggdra said.
“This was my problem, and I caused you all quite a lot of trouble by selfishly dragging you into it. If you’d like, I would be happy to try to make it up to you by sending the two of you who escaped back home.”
Shinobu gave Yggdra a skeptical look. “…Are you actually capable of doing that? Last time we met, you told us that you’d used up most of your strength restoring the continent after it got trashed during your battle with the evil dragon. When Tsukes asked you to give us a reason to trust you, you couldn’t even provide a demonstration of your strength.”
“That’s true,” Yggdra replied with a nod. “I’ve already lost my life and my body. All I am now is a lingering remnant. I’m basically a ghost, eating up what little remains of my magic. And the magic I use doesn’t come back. That’s why I couldn’t give you evidence. All I had was enough magic to send the seven of you home in exchange for the rest of my existence.”
Complying with Tsukasa’s request at the time would’ve meant forfeiting the ability to send all the Prodigies home. That was Yggdra’s reason for refusing to demonstrate her power.
“However…teleporting you two to safety was no simple feat. I don’t have the strength left to send all of you back anymore. So I thought I could at least get you two home…”
That was enough to convince Shinobu.
If she gave Yggdra the okay, she and Akatsuki would be able to go back to Earth. They might even be able to convince its nations to come together and prepare for Keine and Lindworm’s coming assault.
Plus…Keine’s probably going to bring the others with her anyway. It’s not like we’d really be leaving them behind.
As far as options went, it was certainly viable.
However…
…Shinobu had a different idea as well.
“I’ve been in charge of intel gathering in this world, so I did a fair bit of research about how magic works. Now I’m mostly just guessing here, but as far as I understand, magic is kinda like our world’s idea of spirits or ghosts. You can’t see them, but they definitely exist and can interact with the material world.”
“Exactly,” Yggdra answered, giving Shinobu’s theory a nod. “The concept of magic was developed well after the concept of science in my world. It all started when people began doing research on souls, the life force science couldn’t explain. Humans are fundamentally an aggregate of different types of matter, and from our research came the discovery of a microscopic energy that took matter and moved it—spirits. Later, we realized methods for manipulating it.”
In short, that was the true nature of the techniques that made up magic.
“I see…,” Shinobu said. “Now that Emperor Lindworm’s absorbed the evil dragon and obtained huge amounts of magical energy, he really does have the power to rule forever like he claimed he would.”
“That’s right. With Father’s power, living for a thousand years would be trivial. As long as he regularly replenishes his magic, there’s no limit to how long he can survive.”
Absolute power and eternal life—together, they were the recipe for the perfect ruler.
After considering the logic of magic…
“In that case…would you be able to use your power to bring Lyrule back to life?”
…Shinobu hesitantly posed her question and waited for the answer with tense anxiety.
Yggdra nodded. “Of course.”
“ !”
“If I use the spirits that make up my lingering self, I could rebuild the soul powering Lyrule’s body and return her consciousness to the way it was. The seal would stay broken, unfortunately, but…”
“But Lyrule would be alive again!” The very idea had Shinobu excited.
“However,” Yggdra added, forcing Shinobu to settle down, “if I do, I won’t have enough strength left to send you two back to your original world. You’ll have to choose one or the other.”
“We can bring Lyrule back to life?!” Akatsuki exclaimed.
Shinobu nodded. “But if we choose to, there’s no going back to Earth. That’s why I had to wait until you woke up. It wouldn’t be right for me to make a call like that on my own.”
“…What do you want to do?” Akatsuki asked.
“Personally, I want to use the last of Yggdra’s strength on Lyrule,” Shinobu replied. There wasn’t so much as a shred of hesitation in her voice. “Honestly, even if the two of us went home, I’m not sure we’d be able to do much. Without Tsukes, it’ll be hard to convince the global community that this stuff about a different world is true. More than that, though, Lyrule is our friend. Leaving things the way they are just wouldn’t sit right with me.”
Then, after laying out her stance on the matter…
“What about you?”
…she pressed Akatsuki for his.
“I…”
Akatsuki shot a furtive glance over at Yggdra. He was conflicted.
When Yggdra saw the emotions swimming in his eyes, she immediately realized what was going through his head.
No matter which option he took, it would spell the end of Yggdra’s existence. She knew that made him hesitant to choose either option.
As far as Yggdra was concerned, though, that was hardly something worth worrying about.
“Akatsuki, I’ve been dead for a long time. I only chose to have my soul take root here because I was worried about Father and his escape from the cycle of rebirth. Those worries have been put to rest, albeit not quite how I’d expected.”
Lindworm, a human, had gone and devoured Father.
The emperor was a literal once-in-a-millennium prodigy and a powerful enough vessel to hold Father. It wasn’t unlike how Father had been a once-in-a-millennium prodigy back in the magical society that Yggdra and her kin hailed from. In light of that fact, what had happened was a completely plausible outcome. However, Yggdra had completely failed to recognize it as such in time. To her great shame, she knew she owed that to something she shared with Neuro and the other Grandmasters, an arrogance and assumption that the people of this world were inferior to her kind.
In any case, Lindworm had severed the chain of fate that began with Father’s exile on another planet. Lindworm had inherited Father’s power, but he was a native of this world. Yggdra didn’t feel it was right for her, an invader from another planet, to have a say in how the situation played out anymore. And so…
“At this point, I have no reason to need to remain in this world any longer. I’m the one who dragged you all into this mess, so I’d like to use the last of my power to try and make it up to you in whatever small way I can. Please don’t worry about me. Follow your heart.”
…she told Akatsuki as such. He had a kind heart, and she didn’t want him to have to feel guilty.
“Okay.” Akatsuki nodded. “I’d like you to use your power on Lyrule, too. If it’s Keine’s fault she died, then that’s all the more reason to set it right.”
No sooner did Akatsuki speak the words than Yggdra made it so. The massive tree that the elves had once worshipped and the dragon mummy in its roots released a strong, verdant light. They began crumbling into luminescent particles that gathered around Lyrule’s body.
Akatsuki and Shinobu were no experts when it came to magic, but when they saw those specks that used to be Yggdra flowing toward Lyrule, they knew what was happening. They watched with sadness.
“Thank you.” Yggdra offered her heartfelt gratitude to the pair. “The seven of you are truly wonderful people. I summoned you to this world to fix its problems without giving you the slightest say in the matter, yet you still gave your all on behalf of its people. Even now, you’re letting me use my power to help a girl who died because the role I foisted on her was too great a burden. I can never thank you enough for everything that you’ve done. Any world that cultivated people like you must be a fine one indeed.”
“It really isn’t,” Shinobu said apologetically. A pained smile crossed her face. “If it was, Keine wouldn’t have turned out the way she did.”
Yggdra borrowed Lyrule’s body to shake her head. “Not at all. People are capable of making their own decisions on how to live and what they think is just. And they have the tendency, the drive, to put that power to use. There’s…there’s something very beautiful about that, if you ask me.”
Yggdra had watched over the land for a thousand years. She had seen people strive to be good, kind, and noble despite their terrible mistakes. She’d seen them proudly conquer their innate wickedness. She loved that about them.
“I have no right to a say in this world’s future, but…if I could be so bold as to share one hope I have, it’s for this world to become like that as well.”
Yggdra didn’t want people to be forced into change. She wanted the world to become a place where a nobility of spirit drove everyone to put down unfairness and injustice bit by bit of their own free will.
After delivering her final wish…
“Good-bye. May good fortune find you on your paths.”
…the last of Yggdra’s body vanished into Lyrule.
The moment it did, the green light illuminating the area faded. With a violent shudder, Lyrule’s body went limp and slipped from the tree root where it had been seated.
Shinobu hurriedly moved to catch her. There, in her arms…
“………Oh……huh……?”
…Lyrule’s eyes opened once more. They were no longer green, as they had been moments earlier. They were as blue as the clearest of skies.
There was no doubt about it. This was their friend, Lyrule.
“Lyrule!” Shinobu cried.
“Shino…bu? And…Akatsuki…?”
Upon seeing Lyrule breathing once more, Akatsuki was so overcome with emotion that he began loudly bawling his eyes out. “Hnnnnngh… Bwahhhhhhhh!”
Lyrule had no idea what was going on and found that quite worrying. “Akatsuki, why are you crying? Wait, wasn’t I just with Emperor Lindwo—HURP?!”
“I’ll explain everything that happened in a sec. For now, just let me stay like this for a little bit…”
“Shinobu…”
Shinobu grabbed Lyrule and hugged her so tightly against her chest that Lyrule could hardly breathe. Shinobu normally came across as so nonchalant, so it was rare to see her so desperately glad. Lyrule could tell that something really serious must have happened, so she returned Shinobu’s trembling embrace.
“So that’s what happened…”
Once Shinobu finished explaining how things had played out in the Tomino Basin after Lindworm knocked Lyrule out, Lyrule reached up and laid a hand on her chest where she’d been stabbed.
There was no wound.
Her heart beat just fine.
However, according to Shinobu, that was only because Yggdra had healed her. Before that, she’d been well and truly dead…because Keine had betrayed them.
“Keine…let this happen to me?”
“Oh, that’s right. Out of all of us, Keine’s the one you’ve spent the most time with. That must be a hell of a shock, huh?” Shinobu said.
“It is…,” Lyrule agreed. “But at the same time, it makes a lot of sense.”
“Say what?”
“While helping her treat people, I always got this feeling that it made her really sad. Actually, ‘angry’ might be more accurate.”
Lyrule had aided Keine in treating the wounded back in the Findolph and Gustav domains and, more recently, in Yamato. Throughout it all, Keine had worn a single expression, a soothing smile to put her patients at ease. It was always there, glued to her face.
As someone who heard the voices of the spirits, Lyrule felt different emotions radiating from the prodigy doctor, ones that belied that smile.
Rage and sorrow, burning in equal measure.
At the time, Lyrule had felt like it was reasonable for a physician like Keine to feel that way when faced with the grim price of war, and she hadn’t given the matter much consideration. If anything, she’d admired Keine for suppressing those feelings and maintaining a grin.
By the sound of things, Keine’s anger was far greater than Lyrule had imagined.
“I guess… I guess she found the answer she was looking for when she heard Emperor Lindworm’s ideals.”
Unity through Lindworm’s power and treatment via her own techniques. With those two qualities, they could build a perfect world where nobody hurt or lost anything.
To do what she felt was right, Keine had turned against Lyrule and the friends she’d been through so much with.
“What happened to the others…?” Lyrule asked worriedly.
“They’re alive,” Shinobu replied. “Keine doesn’t want any more casualties than absolutely necessary. That said, I’d imagine they’ve seen better days.”
“I see…”
Given that Keine’s objective was to medically cure mankind of its inherent wickedness, there was an exceedingly high chance that she’d already altered their absent friends Ringo, Aoi, Masato…and even Tsukasa, the boy Lyrule had feelings for.
“Anyway, it’s on us to do something about Keine and return everyone to normal.”
“Right, about that.” The corners of Akatsuki’s eyes were still red and puffy when he interjected. “I know you said that there wouldn’t be much the two of us could do if we returned to Earth, and I totally agree, but things don’t seem to be much better here. Do you have a plan?”
“I’ve got the makings of one, sure,” Shinobu replied. “In case you’ve forgotten, we High School Prodigies have one other team member we can always count on to help us out.”
“You mean Lyrule?”
“She’s great, but I meant someone within the group from Earth. There’s someone, something, we came to this world with,” Shinobu replied.
“Oh, you mean Bearabbit!” Akatsuki exclaimed.
“Ding, ding, ding! Bearabbit’s AI is based on Ringo’s brain, so his abilities are on par with hers. The way I see it, finding him should be our first goal.”
“But if I remember right, we left Bearabbit back at the Byakkokan Checkpoint. Is it still standing?”
“No worries there,” Shinobu said with a nod. She’d already checked up on the situation there while Akatsuki was asleep. “After Lindworm consumed the evil dragon, he ended the battle by making everyone submit to him. Then he showed up at the Byakkokan Checkpoint, told Yamato it had one month to unconditionally surrender, and vanished somewhere.”
Akatsuki looked confused. “What do you mean, vanished?”
“I wasn’t actually there to see it, so this is all just secondhand, but I hear that after he ordered a cease-fire at the checkpoint and demanded that Yamato surrender, he went poof and literally disappeared into thin air. He probably used magic to teleport somewhere, and I’ve got a pretty good idea of where to. Smart money says he went over to the New World.”
That was where Lindworm had left the bulk of his army. After he dealt with the fighting immediately at hand, it made sense that he would go get that situation under control, too.
“When I went over to do my investigation at the checkpoint, the place was operating on a skeleton crew. The soldiers over there told me that after Lindworm gave his ultimatum, the Yamato leadership joined up with the Elm reinforcements and headed to Elm so they could use the time Lindworm gave them to figure out how they were going to deal with him. Bearabbit went along with them.”
Ringo was sensible, and Bearabbit’s AI had been built to match her. He wouldn’t do something as foolish as trying to fix this situation alone.
“Then it sounds like our destination is Elm,” Akatsuki said.
“Yup. Unlike down here in Yamato where there’s no equipment or facilities, Elm’s got infrastructure and personnel in spades. We might even find some sorta fix to this whole problem up there. Now, with that settled, let’s hit the road!”
With that, Shinobu rose to her feet. The moment she did, though…
“ Ah…”
“Shinobu?!”
“Shinobu, what’s wrong?!”
…her body pitched forward.
Lyrule and Akatsuki promptly caught her, but…
“Nya-ha-ha… I-I’m just peachy. I just got a little lightheaded, that’s all.”
“Shinobu, what the heck?!”
“You’re burning up!”
…as soon as they touched her, they realized she was running an unbelievably high fever.
However, that much was to be expected.
The wounds Shinobu had suffered during her fight with Sasuke over in the empire had never gotten a chance to heal properly. On top of that, she’d used a cardiotonic agent that was practically a narcotic to fight off Keine’s anesthesia so she could spend the month Akatsuki was sleeping to rush around collecting the intel that formed the groundwork of her plan. Prodigy journalist or not, she’d taken her mind and body well past their natural limits. Shinobu had kept the strain from showing on her face through sheer force of will, but she wasn’t able to hide what was happening to her body.
“Seriously, I’m great. All I have to do is take this secret Sarutobi family pill, and I’ll perk right back up.”
“There’s no way any drug that would perk you up in your condition can possibly be good for you!” Akatsuki cried. “You can’t!”
“He’s right!” Lyrule agreed. “Please don’t push yourself!”
“The way things are, I gotta. It’s already been a month. The ultimatum deadline is just around the corner. If Freyjagard swallows up Elm and Yamato, then we’ll be out of options.”
Pushing herself was the only choice Shinobu had. She reached for her supply of cardiotonic pills.
However, Akatsuki stopped her by grabbing her wrist…
“H-hey, Lyrule! Would you be able to do that teleporting stuff that Yggdra did?”
…then he posed a question to Lyrule.
If they could instantly teleport where they needed to go, then Shinobu wouldn’t need to overdo it.
However, Lyrule gave him an apologetic shake of the head. “I’m sorry… I don’t really understand what spirits I’d need to ask to use fancy magic that lets me look at or jump to distant places…”
Thanks to her elf ancestry, Lyrule was able to communicate with spirits. This allowed her to use most magic without any formal training simply by issuing requests. However, this came with a downside. Lyrule was incapable of casting spells she couldn’t envision adequately. She’d experienced enough natural phenomena throughout her life that it was relatively easy for her to visualize a gust of wind protecting people or a burst of flame evaporating a bunch of moisture, but she had no idea how to picture a spell warping space-time or what spirits she’d need to speak with to achieve it.
However…
“Oh, actually! Hold on just a moment!”
…there was plenty she could imagine. And so…
“Please, wind spirits, take us away!”
…Lyrule pictured the same thing she had back at Tomino Basin when she’d made Aoi fly and issued her request to the wind spirits.
Not a moment later, a whirlwind swirled up under their feet and softly lifted Lyrule, Akatsuki, and Shinobu into the air. They soared upward, all the way through the forest canopy and up into the clear blue sky.
“Whoa! Lyrule, this is incredible! And there are no tricks behind it or anything!” Akatsuki exclaimed.
“It’s all thanks to the spirits,” Lyrule replied. “We can move about more easily now, so please, Shinobu, get some rest.”
“Lyrule’s right. We’ll wake you up once we get to Elm.”
Upon seeing her friends’ concern, Shinobu gave them an exhausted smile…
“Heh-heh. In that case, I’ll take you up on that. If I’m being totally honest here…your girl’s pretty dang tuckered out.”
…and she leaned against Akatsuki and passed out. She must have been keeping herself conscious through willpower alone.
When Akatsuki saw her sleeping there like a corpse, he realized how grim their situation was. Of the seven Prodigies, he was the only one left operating at full capacity. Everyone else aside from Shinobu had been captured, and in Keine’s case, she’d turned against the others.
Ever since they’d arrived in this world, Akatsuki’s hope had always been for all of them to return to Earth together, and now that felt like it was farther than ever.
“Still…”
Akatsuki hadn’t given up on that dream. He still thought of all the Prodigies as dear friends, even Keine. Things were a bit tense between them at the moment, but he was sure they’d find a way to patch things up.
He was ready to give it his all to make that possible.
A very pure resolve filled the boy’s heart as he, Lyrule, and Shinobu made their way to Elm.
That same day, over in the Freyjagard Empire, Drachen was practically bursting with excitement. After a long expedition, the New World subjugation force had returned triumphant.
The capital’s citizens gave the returned army a round of applause so enthusiastic their hands seemed liable to fall right off.
“Whoo-hoo! The war’s finally over!”
“They did it! They really did it!”
“Long live His Grace the Emperor! Long may he reign!”
The war had put a lot of pressure on the national treasury and a substantial burden on the empire’s people, so everyone was overjoyed that the fighting had concluded.
Among the ranks of those celebrating were also a number of slaves who’d been forcibly brought over to the Freyjagard Empire to perform heavy labor. “Hurray!” one of the battered people cheered as he jumped up and down with joy. “Now we’ll finally be able to see our families again!”
A well-dressed middle-aged man who looked to be a noble smiled broadly and gave him a big hug. “Oh, you absolutely will! We’ve moved past the need for little labels like ‘aristocrat’ and ‘slave.’ But, oh, how horribly we’ve treated you now! I can never apologize enough!”
“I know that you killed my son, ripped me from my family, and cut off my big toes so I couldn’t run away, but that’s all in the past. Water under the bridge. Now we get to live under the rule of His Grace Emperor Lindworm together!”
“Indeed! From now on, all will be equal and treated impartially as citizens of His Grace! Long live the emperor!”
“Glory eternal to the Lindworm dynasty!”
The slave whose wounds still dripped with fresh blood and the noble who’d inflicted the injuries embraced in a show of forgiveness, celebrating the war’s end with expressions so cheerful it was like their hearts brimmed with so much happiness they couldn’t help themselves.
Upon witnessing similar things occurring all over Drachen like it was completely normal, a chill ran down the returning soldiers’ and nobles’ spines.
“…Hey, have you seen what’s going on in the city?”
“Yeah. Why’re slaves and aristocrats acting like they’re the best of friends?”
“I wonder if Emperor Lindworm is gonna explain what’s going on.”
The knights and nobles of the expedition force were still shaken by the sights they’d seen when they arrived at the audience chamber, and they exchanged bewildered comments as they stood lined up before the throne and waited for the emperor to arrive. Individually, their voices were quiet, but there were nearly a hundred of them, and so many whispers produced quite the din. It hardly befit a space as majestic as the throne room.
However…
“His Grace the Emperor is among us!”
…when the imperial guards stationed at the back of the room blew their bugles to announce their master’s arrival, the chattering all stopped instantly. The moment Emperor Lindworm entered from stage left with his cloak billowing behind him, everyone shut their mouths, dropped to their knees, and bowed their heads.
The only sound in the room was Lindworm’s footsteps as he approached and took the throne.
“Raise your heads,” he called to the subjects assembled at his feet.
“You have endured much over the course of this last expedition, my loyal retainers. We had no shortage of sacrifices, but what we obtained was truly monumental. Your dedication has brought an era of eternal peace of stability to this world. You can be proud of the mark you have left on history.”
“““Sir!”””
“Now that I have awakened as the prodigy king, you need not ever set foot on a battlefield again. Strip off your armor, go home to your families, and heal the fatigue from our expedition at your leisure.”
Lindworm went silent after making his appreciative speech as though to indicate that was all.
The gathered assembly was perplexed, and it was hard to blame them. Their long battle had finally concluded, and they’d fought desperately for the promise of a reward. Thankful words alone from their emperor wouldn’t sate them. They’d spent vast amounts of their own fortunes on the New World expedition, and if they didn’t make that back and more, then what was the point of having gone at all?
One of the major nobles spoke up, his voice probing. “I-if I may, Your Grace. About, well… What of our reward?”
The noble had his peers’ full support, and they all turned their questioning gazes on the emperor.
“You nobles have caused me a great deal of grief,” Lindworm replied. “You possess no talent or abilities surpassing those of your fellow man. The sole reason I allowed you to take roles beyond your station was because my strength was lacking. I even let you commit grievous cruelties against the New World slaves, all so I could break the seal on my power and bring the world to perfection as quickly as possible. Now, though…that is over.”
“I—I beg your pardon?”
“Henceforth, the empire’s archaic class system will be abolished in its entirety. Aside from myself, all the world’s people—be they nobles, commoners, or slaves—shall be equal.”
“““?!?!”””
“Equal? What in the world are you talking about, Your Grace?!”
“A-are you telling us that we’re going to be the same as commoners and slaves?!”
Lindworm’s declaration was so staggering that it sent a shock through the assembled knights and nobles. It was a reasonable enough reaction. They’d gathered here under the assumption that they’d be given a reward, only to find more would be taken from them.
Despite being in the presence of their liege, the audience members stood and angrily raised their voices in objection. Lindworm didn’t falter in the slightest, giving their questions a matter-of-fact reply. “This is a blessing for you all as well. None but I can hold a superior position. Ruling is too great a burden for you all to bear.
“That detestable class system was once necessary to maintain our nation’s strength while I searched for the seal’s key, but now that I have true power in hand, I can remove that load from your shoulders.
“No longer are any of you nobles, for this world has none. Now you can enjoy peaceful lives wanting for nothing alongside those who used to be commoners and those who used to be slaves.”
“Th-this is ridiculous!”
“There are some things you just don’t joke about, Your Grace!”
“Not only do you intend to deny us our reward, but you’re going to strip us of our titles?! This is an outrage!”
“Have you forgotten how much of our blood was wasted on the New World expedition you forced us into?!”
Their confusion and agitation deepened by the moment, and their complaints quickly grew to furious shouts. Each person’s bellows served to make others angrier, and it wasn’t long before the audience chamber echoed with rage. Everyone looked ready to charge Lindworm at a moment’s notice.
Then…
“Sit.”
“““~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~?!?!?!”””
…Lindworm spoke, and all the incensed knights and nobles collapsed.
They fell to the ground as though crushed by an invisible ceiling that had squashed them flat.
Why? Where had the terrible force come from? The pressure was so great that the knights and nobles couldn’t so much as lift their heads. They had no idea what to make of it.
Lindworm peered down at his subjects, a sliver of pity in his gaze. “I forgive you for your outburst. You have committed no sin here. You are all racked with disease, and that is why you are unable to accept my decision.”
“We… What?”
“You people seek merit and glory in excess, but in truth, those things are unnecessary for a person to live a happy life.
“What need is there for people to adorn themselves with gold and jewels? What need is there for people to consume so much that it shortens their lives? There is none. People only need days spent in peace, food on their tables, and good neighbors.
“However, they fail to realize this due to the congenital defect called greed that eats away at their souls and blinds them from true happiness. I will grant you the cure.”
Lindworm snapped his fingers.
With that as her signal, prodigy physician Keine Kanzaki entered the throne room from stage left alongside prodigy swordmaster Aoi Ichijou.
“Angel Keine, I leave them in your hands.”
“Thank you. Come along now, everyone. You’re all about to become very good boys and girls.”
Aoi drew her blade in one smooth motion, her expression completely impassive as she did. “………”
That earned a panicked stir from the knights and nobles.
“Wh-what do you think you’re doing, woman?!”
“You think a lowly commoner has the right to order imperial nobles?! I’ll have you killed for that!”
However…
“Wh—?! What’s going on?! I can’t move!”
…when the angry aristocrats tried to stand, they found their limbs refused to cooperate. Lindworm had commanded them to sit, and their bodies obeyed faithfully. No matter how hard the nobles wished to resist, they couldn’t.
Between what had already befallen them and what soon would, they fell into a panic.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Keine reassured them. “A joyous world awaits. It’s a wonderful place free of greed, where you and your beloved family and friends will live in unchanging peace.”
Keine’s smile wasn’t the fake one she pasted on to put patients at ease but a sinister grin of a young woman unable to contain overflowing joy.
And so the procedure began.
Prodigy physician Keine Kanzaki had developed a surgery that could excise the innate evil people were born with and make them selfless. It was a technique only she could’ve developed, one that came close to encroaching on the domain of the gods.
“Ah… No…”
The young byuma Nio Harvey watched it all happen from behind a pillar, so struck with terror that he found himself speechless.
“She can’t! That’s…”
He fled the scene quickly but took care to keep from being noticed. He needed to go see the one person he trusted more than anyone.
“This…is wrong!”
Nio’s heart burned with a quiet determination to put an end to the emperor’s misdeeds.
There was a rumor circulating in Drachen’s castle. Supposedly, the Seven Luminaries angels were being held in the dungeon. And that was precisely where Nio headed. A guard was stationed at the prison entrance, of course…
“Hey, Mr. Soldier.”
“Hmm? What’s up, kiddo?”
“There’s a soldier over by the fountain in the courtyard who doesn’t look too good. I think he might need help.”
“What?! That’s terrible! I’ll head right over!”
…but because of Keine’s operation, he was all but useless.
The fountain in the courtyard was ten minutes away. That meant a twenty-minute round trip, and the soldier had become so obedient that he would believe Nio’s lie and search for the person in need that he’d likely take longer to return. Nio would have to make the most of that time. He hurried down the steps leading to the cells.
It didn’t take long to find exactly what he was looking for.
Keine had long since stripped all the prisoners of their greed and released them, so the dungeon was mostly empty. However, Nio found a white-haired young man still chained to the wall.
“Mr. Tsukasa!”
Tsukasa’s eyes went wide when he recognized Nio’s face through the iron bars. “Nio! I didn’t realize you were back in the empire.”
“I am. His Grace returned from the New World. I hear that Cranberry is staying in Elm, though. I never could have imagined that this was what would become of the…empire?”
When Nio peered into the dark cell, he noticed that Tsukasa’s eyes were red and puffy.
Could it be?
Had Tsukasa been crying?
“What did they do to you?!” Nio cried, astonished.
However, Tsukasa just replied, “I’m fine,” and wiped his face. “Could I ask you to tell me in detail what’s been going on outside? I’ve been locked up here since waking, so I don’t have a good grasp on the situation.”
Tsukasa’s gaze still had that sharp gleam of intellect. Unlike the people in the capital who’d received Keine’s surgery, he still had his reason. When Nio recognized that…
“Of course.”
…he recounted everything that had transpired of late. He told Tsukasa what he’d seen in the three days since his return to Drachen: how the emperor had obtained power beyond mortal limits and used it to abolish all hierarchy. He’d seized assets, removed all social ranks, expunged forms of recreation, and banned sources of education that might give rise to competition and inequality. As a result, the empire knew a twisted sort of peace where slaves and nobles forgave each other and smiled as one.
“Moments ago, during an assembly for the nobles and knights who recently returned from the New World expedition, Ms. Keine used her power to transform them, too…”
“It’s really gotten that bad, huh?” Tsukasa groaned after hearing Nio’s story. “I never imagined that Keine would go to such lengths.”
Tsukasa had known that she hated conflict more than anyone and how she grieved over the way people hurt one another. Yet despite priding himself on being prepared for all possibilities, he’d never expected Keine to go to such lengths. He hadn’t suspected she’d seek to mend humanity’s original sin…or that she would try to replace God.
“I guess this proves she truly is a prodigy.”
Aoi had once said that, as someone hailed the world over as a prodigy, her limits were known to none but her herself. The same clearly applied to Keine, too.
“I’m sorry, Nio. One of our allies has gone and done something really quite unthinkable. As people who are planning on leaving this world before long, we have a duty to avoid going against the wants of those who live here.”
Nio shook his head. “No… It’s not your fault, Mr. Tsukasa. Besides, this might very well have set the empire on track to become a better nation than it’s ever been.”
He recalled the time before Elm’s national election when Tsukasa had spoken of building an era where nobody starved or died cruelly at the hands of others, and everyone cooperated and lived peacefully. Back then, Nio and Tsukasa had wondered if humanity was capable of achieving such a lofty goal. At the time, they hadn’t been able to settle on an answer. However…
“Now that the empire is under the emperor’s sole rule, that lofty ideal is becoming a reality. It’s already happened in the capital. Slaves who’ve had their limbs and families taken and the nobles who wronged them laugh and forgive each other like a family. The empire’s getting closer to being a perfect place with no differences in status, hatred, or fighting. I’m sure of that. And yet…” Nio hesitated for a moment, then looked at Tsukasa with confliction on his face. “I thought that was supposed to be a good thing, but now that I’m seeing it happen before my very eyes, I…I can’t help but feel that what the emperor and Ms. Keine are doing is horrible.”
“Nio…”
That was doubtless because Nio had gotten an up-close view of the way Tsukasa accepted humankind’s fundamental avarice, yet still agonized over how to choose the best option for the most people. Nio respected the sense of responsibility Tsukasa felt because of his position of authority over others, and he admired the young man’s refusal to let anything slip through his fingers. After seeing all that, Nio couldn’t help but feel that Keine and the emperor’s way of doing things was crude and artless.
“That’s why I came here. It’s all too much for me alone. Please, Mr. Tsukasa, I need your help.” Nio pulled out the key he’d stolen from the warden’s chambers and slipped it into the cell’s lock.
“Oh, I’m afraid we can’t have that.”
A voice echoed from the top of the stairs.
“—!!!!”
Nio leaped half a foot in the air. The fur on his ears and tail bristled. He spun around to face the voice and went pale as a sheet. There was a beautiful young woman wearing a blood-stained white coat coming down the stone stairs. Her heels clicked with every step.
It was prodigy physician Keine Kanzaki.
Behind her, prodigy swordmaster Aoi Ichijou followed wordlessly.
“It’s been quite some time, Nio. I see you’ve decided to return home to the empire.”
“I—I…”
There she was. The absolute last person Nio wished to encounter. He froze like a deer in the headlights.
Keine didn’t seem particularly interested in Nio, however. Her gaze was fixed on Tsukasa. “It’s been a while since we last spoke, too, Tsukasa. Are your injuries causing you any pain?” she asked in a soothing tone.
Tsukasa shot her a pointed glare. “Nio told me about what’s been happening up on the surface. Prodigy physicians really are something. You can alter people’s entire personalities now?”
“Oh, hardly. You seem to have misunderstood,” Keine replied, refuting Tsukasa’s claim as ridiculous. “My scalpel never went anywhere near their personalities. The only thing I cut out was the disease ravaging their hearts—the sickness that goes by the name greed. If healing people makes it seem like their personalities have been altered, then it’s simply a testament to how profoundly that illness warps their behavior. If anything, this is who they truly are.”
“And you intend on healing everyone on this world and Earth? That’s quite the grandiose plan. I have to wonder if one lifetime is really going to be enough to see it through.”
“It will be. I have the necessary power now. With it, I don’t need to sleep, and I can perform the procedure with greater speed.”
As Keine spoke, she shook off her white gown, revealing the fair skin beneath.
Tsukasa and Nio gasped. A black crystal was embedded in her abdomen—a Philosopher’s Stone, a clump of the evil dragon’s cells with the power to force evolution.
“Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” Tsukasa muttered.
“That hardly seems relevant. I stood back and allowed Lyrule to die. What business do I have being precious with my own life? I’m going to treat all of humanity, no matter what methods I have to employ. People need my surgery so they can return to being the beautiful, noble, kind creatures they’re supposed to be.” Keine narrowed her eyes at Tsukasa like she was staring at something radiant despite the only light in the dungeon coming from weak torch flames. “It’s absolutely essential, you see. You know, I’ve gained a newfound respect for you, prodigy politician Tsukasa Mikogami.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I gave you my good boy operation three times, and you’re still the exact same as you were before.”
“WHAT?!” Nio’s eyes went wide. He’d assumed that Tsukasa hadn’t been subjected to the surgery at all.
“It sounds as though my case is pretty serious, then, doesn’t it?” Tsukasa remarked.
“I suspect a fourth attempt won’t produce any new results. You really are remarkable. I had thought it was impossible for a person to have no greed, that it was a congenital defect that God himself imparted on us. I was so sure of it. But you’re different, Tsukasa. You’re selfless through and through. You do your title of democracy’s prodigy politician justice.”
“…”
“And because of that, because you are the way you are, I want you to help me…as the others already have.”
“I take it that means you’ve performed the procedure on them as you did on me?” Tsukasa said.
Keine gave his question a delighted smile and a deep nod. “That’s right. The others have all become very good little boys and girls and are assisting me.”
Across the sea to the east of the Freyjagard Empire sat the Lakan Archipelago Alliance, a group of islands united under a parliament comprised of several powerful clans. It was there at the harbor that served as their gateway to the empire that Shenmei Li, the byuma who’d been elected the archipelago government’s new chancellor during their most recent joint session, hurriedly disembarked from her carriage.
A large group of soldiers was already gathered there, each saluting her. “Madam Chancellor, it’s an honor,” one greeted.
“Spare me the pleasantries and tell me what’s going on!” Shenmei barked. Her usual placid confidence was nowhere to be seen, but it was hard to fault her for that. At the moment, the Lakan Archipelago Alliance faced an unprecedented situation.
The bearded general in charge of defending the port acquiesced to Shenmei’s demand and laid out the situation. “According to our patrol boats, there are some fifty warships flying the imperial flag approaching the harbor. They’ll be close enough to see with the naked eye before much longer.”
Shenmei ground her teeth at the news. The peace between Freyjagard and Lakan hadn’t been steady in recent years, but they’d managed to avoid any open hostility.
As of today, though, that had changed. Fifty warships made for one hell of a raiding party, and a grim expression formed on Shenmei’s face. “Are we prepared to intercept?”
“Ready and willing, Chancellor. As soon as you give the word, we go.”
“Tch…”
A fight could start at any moment now. Shenmei cast her gaze out across the harbor. The Lakan military had already pulled a series of cannons from storage to line the edge of the bay. Lakan warships were similarly being assembled.
Fifty enemy vessels was a formidable armada, but they were no match for an archipelago nation that had grown through maritime commerce. Lakan forces would cut off the enemy’s retreat, bombard hostile ships from the bay with concentrated fire, and exterminate them. If Shenmei gave the order, they could start immediately.
However, she kept quiet and ruminated. Even if the battle went well, what would come of it? Lakan sinking fifty warships would mark a decisive breakdown in its relationship with Freyjagard. It would mean all-out war against the empire—a military powerhouse that had just conquered the New World and bested the Seven Luminaries. Did Lakan have the strength to survive making an enemy of a raging dragon?
When Shenmei considered the question, she realized she couldn’t give the attack order lightly.
“Also, Madam Chancellor, I have another new report that’s come in.”
“What?”
“According to our scouts, the person commanding the imperial navy is our Chancellor Advisor, the one who went missing last month.”
“What…?!”
No sooner did Shenmei’s eyes go wide than a voice boomed from somewhere distant.
“Testing, testing. This is Masato Sanada, Lakan Chancellor Advisor speaking. Again, this is Masato Sanada, Lakan Chancellor Advisor. Hold your fire. We’re not your enemies. I repeat, we come in peace. Call off your warships and let us into the port!”
The voice came from beyond the horizon line, and it belonged to Masato. It was a little crackly due to the megaphone he was using but not enough that he’d be mistaken for someone else.
Masato’s request shook the harbor guard. Even the bearded general standing beside Shenmei paled and goggled at the development. For them, Masato’s inhumanly loud voice was terrifying.
“How’s he doing that?”
“He must be a giant! He would have to be to make his voice carry so far!”
Shenmei was the only one who kept her composure. “Calm yourselves,” she urged them. She’d seen Elm’s “obelisk” public broadcasting network terminals firsthand when attending the trade summit. “This is just one of Akatsuki’s miracles—it lets a person cast their voice over a wide area. When I visited Elm, they had these bugle-looking things strewn about their cities to facilitate it.” She spent a moment in thought. “That said, I was under the impression that Masato had broken off ties with Elm…”
Why had Masato returned to Lakan aboard a Freyjagard warship with Elm technology in tow? What in the world had he been up to in the month since the Qinglong Gang, whom she’d assigned to him, had stopped sending their regular reports? The answers to those questions were critical to determining whether it was best to give the order to attack.
The problem was…
“I’ve brought an awesome gift for Lakan back from the empire with me! I’m pretty sure you’re gonna like it! Now c’mon, let us in!”
…Shenmei didn’t have time to mull things over carefully. As Masato’s latest statement came booming over the megaphone, his armada crested the horizon. Main sails emblazoned with the Freyjagard emblem stood tall and proud.
Soldiers stationed in and around the harbor gulped nervously. A moment later…
“H-hey, check it out!”
“What is that?!”
…a stir ran through their ranks as all that tension was replaced with amazement. And it wasn’t just the soldiers. Even Shenmei stared in disbelief.
Such a reaction was entirely warranted.
“Whoa, no way. Are all those ships made of gold?!”
Each and every one of the imperial warships had been painted a shade of gold so immodestly lustrous that they gleamed in the sunlight. And the extravagance didn’t stop there.
“And they’re loaded to the gills with treasure! I-I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“Could that be the gift the chancellor advisor was talking about?!”
“I sure hope so!”
Shenmei snatched a telescope from a nearby soldier and examined things for herself. Everything appeared to be true. Every Freyjagard golden vessel was loaded with a veritable mountain of gold, silver, and other valuables.
That only served to befuddle Shenmei further. From what she’d heard, Masato had taken a bunch of Lakan mercenaries to the empire to win Neuro’s favor and crush the nonsensical notion of universal basic income. Shenmei had plotted to take advantage of that by introducing Masato to the Qinglong Gang and using them to make sure the empire didn’t win too handily in the war against Yamato. How was this the outcome? What was the deal with all that treasure? Few things were more frightening for a merchant like Shenmei than large sums of money sourced from unclear provenance.
“What’s the call, Chancellor?”
“…Do they appear to be armed?”
“N-no, ma’am. From what I can see, there’s nothing on those ships but valuables.”
As far as Shenmei could tell, her general was right. Masato had only brought treasure on his fifty war boats. There wasn’t a weapon to be seen. And if that was the case…
“Very well. Let them through. Perhaps we’d best ask the man himself what transpired.”
…then the simplest solution was clear.
Shenmei made her decision and gave the order to allow Masato’s fleet into the port.
With that, Masato and his glittering, golden armada infiltrated the Lakan port without trading a single shot.
Up on a nearby hill, a brown-skinned byuma girl watched it all happen. Her name was Roo, and she’d learned the ways of commerce studying under Masato.
“T-teacher!” Roo whispered to herself as she took off at a run.
The port was crammed tight with onlookers who’d come to check out the glittering ships and soldiers ready to defend. Fortunately, Roo’s diminutive frame enabled her to slip past them all. Then, at long last…
“Teacher!”
…she spotted Masato as he disembarked.
“Wh-what’s with the girl?!”
“This area’s off-limits, kid!”
A pack of soldiers hurried to stop her…
“Let her go. The girl is with Masato.”
…but a few words from Shenmei, who happened to be nearby, stayed their hands.
Roo leaped at Masato with all her might. Her wagging tail made her the spitting image of a dog greeting its master who’d been away for months. “Teacher, you’re okay! Thank goodness you’re okay! Roo asked the nice Lakan people, but they said they didn’t know where you were!”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Hope I didn’t frighten you.”
“You diiiiid!” Roo cried, clutching at Masato’s suit as her tears ran freely.
Masato gave her a gentle, soothing pat on the head. “Things got pretty messy for a bit. It’s all good now, though. As you can see, I’ve never been better. What about you, Li’l Roo? You manage to get your errand done?”
Upon hearing that word, Roo’s face lit up. However, her expression quickly soured as though she were vexed by something caught in the back of her teeth. Masato had used his connections in Lakan to track down Roo’s parents, and the errand he’d referred to was buying them back from the powerful Lakan clan that owned them.
The trouble was that Masato had only given Roo enough money for a single adult female slave. She could only save her mother.
What was she to do, then?
Masato had shown Roo the answer while she’d shadowed him. If you didn’t have enough money to buy something, you needed to use your available funds as seed capital to increase your assets. And that was precisely what Roo had done, yet her answer to Masato’s question…
“Y-yeah. Roo was able to get them both back.”
…was evasive.
Roo had indeed purchased her parents’ freedom, but earning the money had forced her to sink to disreputable means.
“Roo worked really hard, you know. You only gave Roo enough money to buy back Mom, so to get enough to buy Dad, Roo did her best and used that money to—”
However…
“Look, all that matters is that your mom and dad are okay. It doesn’t matter how you got there.”
…Masato paid Roo’s report no heed. In fact, he completely rejected it. He said it didn’t matter.
“…Huh?”
“You know, that was a pretty messed-up thing for me to do. What kind of person would only give you enough to rescue your mom? Sorry ’bout that, Li’l Roo. I must’ve been off my rocker or something.”
“Huh? What? T-teacher?”
Masato’s apology sent Roo for a loop. She’d thought he only gave her enough to buy her mother as a way to test everything she’d learned from him. Yet apparently, that hadn’t been the case. Had he screwed up and failed to give her sufficient funds on accident?
There’s…there’s no way. Roo dismissed the notion immediately. Masato wasn’t the kind of person to make errors like that. Undoubtedly, it had been a trial for her to use everything she’d learned. Roo was certain of it. And if that was the case…
“Teacher, what’s…what’s wrong?”
…then why had Masato apologized?
Right as Roo cast him a worried look…
“Masato, would you be so kind as to skip the small talk and explain what in the world is going on?”
…Shenmei cut in.
She strode over to Masato with a group of soldiers and gestured with her chin at the golden fleet filling the harbor. “What’s with these gaudy boats? And those mountains of gold? You went to the empire to negotiate with the angel called Tsukasa, right? How did that lead to this? I would very much appreciate it if you would explain.”
Masato gave her a nod. “Don’t you worry—I’ll explain everything. First, though, I wanna hand out my gifts from the empire.”
“My people are more than capable of unloading a few ships of their valuables. You’re coming with me to talk to the Archipelago Alliance government,” Shenmei replied.
“Nah, I’m not talkin’ about the treasure.”
“What?”
“I brought you all something way better.” He turned to face the harbor. “You guys all set?”
“We’re ready to go on your signal, Chancellor Advisor,” a sailor answered. At some point, a group of them had disembarked from the warships moored in the bay and moved to a collection of rowboats.
Shenmei frowned, confused. “What? Why have all your men leave their ships?”
Beside her…
“Take a goooood long look. This is a gift from me to you.”
…Masato snapped his fingers. And the moment he did…
“AHHHHH?!?!”
“What the…?!?!”
…a terrible boom shook the Lakan port.
The entire golden fleet exploded. None of the fifty ships were spared. Flames billowed up from them as they sank into the bay.
Shenmei was struck dumb for a moment at the sheer incomprehensibility of the sight, but she quickly pulled herself together. “Wh-what do you think you’re doing?! Do you have any idea how much money you’ve sunk?!”
Masato seemed unconcerned and ignored her questions. “You’re behind the times, lady!”
“?!”
“Gold, silver, treasure—all that stuff is yesterday’s news! They’re relics of a bygone age that’ve outlived their usefulness!
“Only an absolute idiot would risk life and limb to earn that stuff!
“This new era we’re heading into isn’t about money!
“It’s about love and peace, baby!
“Lakan’s a nation of merchants still clingin’ to the screwed-up old way of doing things, so I came all the way back from Freyjagard to hand-deliver the new era in person!! Haaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”
These were the last words anyone expected to hear from Masato, and he spoke them with an equally unbelievable smile. One so vibrant that it suggested a love for the world and everything in it.
At about the same time as Masato’s arrival in Lakan, a disturbance occurred in the Republic of Elm as well.
Elm and the Yamato leadership were in discussions about how to deal with Lindworm’s demand to surrender within the month.
In truth, the two parties had long since reached a consensus about how they were going to reply. They had no intention of surrendering. Yamato and Elm had both worked so hard to win independence, and they’d be damned if they were going to throw it away and bow to the empire. As such, the topic at hand was how to oppose Freyjagard. Were they going to use force or diplomacy, and if they took the diplomatic route, what kind of concessions were they prepared to make?
Elm and Yamato had been in talks day in and day out while simultaneously leveraging their full industrial might to expand their militaries and modernize their armies in case things came to blows.
Then, all of a sudden, the power plants dotted around Elm that powered its industrial equipment all went down.
The Elm National Assembly reacted quickly and ordered the engineers Bearabbit had trained to repair them. However…
“You’re telling me that they aren’t broken?”
“That seems to be the case, ma’am.”
…when the lead engineer came and explained the situation to Tetra, Elm’s Minister of Defense who oversaw the military expansion from Elm’s capital of Dulleskoff, all he had to offer her was confusion. “We tried everything, including manually checking all key parts of the power grid, but we couldn’t find any damage.”
“So it’s not broken, yet it’s not working, either?” Tetra asked.
“Exactly,” the engineer answered. “The plants themselves are operating just fine, so I can’t make heads or tails of it. Bearabbit, you’re the expert here. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
With that, the engineer passed the question over to Bearabbit, who’d returned to Dulleskoff with Kaguya and Elch.
“If it’s not a hardware problem…it’s pawsible the issue is with the software,” Bearabbit replied. He pondered for a moment, then dismissed that possibility. Bearabbit’s AI was the only software in this world. As a program based on his prodigy inventor, he’d never make a mistake with code. That could only conceivably happen if he were hacked, and that wasn’t…
“No way…” A single possibility flitted through his artificial mind. It seemed all but impossible, but he accessed the network of obelisk communications terminals scattered throughout Elm all the same. A short while later, an expression of shock appeared on his display. “Are you fur real…! Somebody’s going through the network and hacking the pawer plants’ emergency safety measures!”
“Hag…king? What’s that?” Tetra asked.
“Isn’t that when someone remotely steals away control of a machine?” the engineer said.
Bearabbit nodded emphatically. “Purrcisely! The Bearabbit AI controlling the power has been taken over!”
Bearabbit and Ringo had worked hard to get the Elm engineers up to speed on the modern industrial facilities the Prodigies installed, but they’d still had less than a year to do so. This left gaps in the engineers’ knowledge. To patch them, Ringo had installed a Bearabbit AI in every major facility and workshop. That gave the people someone to teach them after the Prodigies left who could also serve as a safety valve to prevent serious accidents in times of emergency.
Now, though, someone had compromised that Bearabbit AI. In other words, the current blackout was a planned disaster—an attack.
When imperial exchange student Cranberry heard the news, a grim look crossed her face. “Could the empire be launching a preemptive strike?!”
Tetra and the engineer’s expressions tensed at the suggestion, but Bearabbit quickly refuted the idea. “That’s not what I pawstulate.”
After all…
“I’m an AI built with pawdigy inventor Ringo Oohoshi’s brain as my base. There’s only one person in this entire world who’s tailented enough to hack me!”
“ !” Bearabbit didn’t need to say who for Cranberry to understand. She leaped atop the backpack that served as his body. “Can you figure out where the interference is coming from, Bearabbit?!”
“The refurse trace will be done soon! The source…is the local obelisk in sector B43!”
“Then we need to get moving!” Cranberry exclaimed.
“Pawger that!”
With that, Bearabbit jumped out of one of the Ministry of Defense building’s windows into the city with Cranberry still on his back. While in midair, he used his manipulator arms to swap out his wheels for the ones meant for high-speed movement. Upon landing, he raced off for his destination, speeding over roads and roofs to take the most direct route possible.
Before long, the two arrived in Dulleskoff sector B43 and found their rogue hacker at the base of the obelisk in the middle of the intersection. It was precisely who Bearabbit and Cranberry had expected to find.
“We caught you red-panda-handed, Ringo!”
“ !”
Upon hearing her name, Ringo Oohoshi slowly lifted her eyes from the laptop she’d connected to the obelisk. And when she did…
“Oh! Bearabbit! It’s been so long! I wasn’t expecting you to get here so fast!”
…she was so delighted to be reunited with Bearabbit that she gave him a glowing smile.
“And, Cranberry, it’s good to see you, too! I thought you’d gone back to the empire!”
“Ah, well, I didn’t.”
“Ringo, why didn’t you get in touch? You didn’t suffer a grizzly injury, did you?”
“Stay back, Bearabbit!” The moment the robot tried to approach Ringo, Cranberry bid him to stop. “There’s something off about her! Why would an angel need to plunge Elm into a blackout? She’s acting very, very incredibly strange!”
“Y-you make some beary salient points.” Heeding Cranberry’s warning, Bearabbit stopped in his tracks and shot Ringo another question. “Ringo, you’re the one interfuring with the power plants, right? Why?”
“Huh? Isn’t it obvious? It’s so I can do this.” Ringo pressed a key on the laptop she’d hooked up to the obelisk.
The effect was immediate.
A rumble as loud as a landslide echoed like distant thunder, sending a quake through the ground.
“Wh-wh-what’s that noise?!” Cranberry cried, alarmed by the unfamiliar sound. She spotted dark smoke rising into the air in the distance. “Did a volcano erupt?!”
“That’s not it!” Bearabbit replied. The emergency alarm coming through the shared Bearabbit AI network informed him exactly what the sound was. “The nuclear missile silos pawsitioned across Elm…all just self-destructed!”
That was precisely what had happened. The explosion was the result of every nuclear missile detonating simultaneously.
Naturally, there was only one person in the whole world who could have given that order.
“Tail me, Ringo, did you do this, too?” Bearabbit asked nervously.
“Yup. I did,” Ringo replied in an unbelievably cheerful voice. “I hacked the power control system as a distraction while I took over all the AIs controlling the silos. Those things are too dangerous to be allowed.”
“H-how could you go and do something that prepawsterous?!”
“Don’t worry. The missile sites are unmanned. Nobody actually got hurt.”
“Th-that’s not the pawblem!”
Just as Ringo said, the silos were all operated by Bearabbit AIs. People from this world weren’t even permitted on the premises. Nobody would have gotten hurt in the explosions, and the damage from the self-destructions couldn’t have spread any radioactive matter, either. That said, Bearabbit already knew all that. He didn’t need Ringo to explain it to him. He was more concerned with why she’d discarded Elm’s greatest deterrents when the nation was about to face Emperor Lindworm.
“What will stop Freyjagard now?! Without our deterrent, the other side will have free rein to do whatever barbearic things they want! We’re ruined!”
“It’s fine. After all, he’s not our enemy.” Ringo’s reply had Bearabbit and Cranberry speechless for a moment.
“What?”
“Lindworm isn’t our enemy; science is. People’s greed has caused it to develop much further than necessary.”
“R-Ringo…?”
“Defeat…science? What are you… What are you talking about?”
“Science has killed so many people. It’s been the truth in every era. You know it’s true, Bearabbit. We developed science to advance human society, but how many lives has it taken?
“All science is a tool for murder. How many people could have lived if civilization had just stayed the way it was in primitive times? What if we hadn’t invented poison? Or guns? Or electricity?”
“We can’t permit those things to exist. We need to stamp all of them out, wherever they pop up. And, Bearabbit…that means you can’t be allowed to remain, either. So…”
Ringo pulled out her invention that could become any tool she needed—her All-Purpose Gloves. Her fingertips glowed faintly as they moved. Ringo addressed Bearabbit in a deeply cheerful voice.
“Come on over here, Bearabbit. I’m going to turn you into scrap.”
“Between Masato’s lust for more wealth than a person could spend and her desire for sufficient knowledge to change the world single-handedly, those two had especially severe cases. However, thanks to my surgery, they’ve been freed of their sickness and now work alongside me to save all the people of the world.
“It was their idea to help out. They wanted to atone for how their greed had sowed the seeds of conflict. They’re over in Lakan and Elm trying to convince the nations to join us as we speak.”
Keine reached out and turned the key that Nio had left inserted into the lock, entered the cell, and stooped down to meet Tsukasa’s eyes.
“During your conversation with Masato at the Tomino Basin, you said that greed was what drives humankind. But that’s incorrect. Love pushes us forward. Greed is just a defective product of God’s incompetence. It’s a sickness and nothing more.
“My treatment cures that disease and allows the love hidden beneath to rise back to the surface. Lindworm will rule over everyone impartially by eliminating all wealth, education, and everything else in the world that can give rise to inequality. Once everyone is equal and has a kind heart that allows them to love others, conflict will never rear its ugly head again. People will exist in blissful harmony and know eternal peace. Then the world will be perfect. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Keine cupped Tsukasa’s cheek in her hand as she continued.
“We want the exact same thing—happiness for as many people as possible. Our objectives should be aligned. So I ask you again: Will you lend us your aid? With your help, I could administer my cure on Earth with great efficiency.”
Keine believed they could help each other. She believed they should help each other.
After all, the young man she was dealing with was so selfless that he’d worked tirelessly for the sake of others long before she gave him her surgery.
However…
“No.”
…Tsukasa refused without a moment’s hesitation.
Keine glared at him. “…May I ask why?”
“Because it’s pointless.”
“What do you mean?”
“What you’re trying to do isn’t going to work, Keine.”
“And what makes you so certain?”
A menacing gleam like that of a wetted blade gathered in Keine’s narrowed eyes. However, Tsukasa remained undaunted. He gave his reply with the utmost confidence. “You’ll understand soon enough. If you performed your surgery on Masato and Ringo as you claim, then it shouldn’t be long.”
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