The Dungeon’s Conspiracy Part 2

"H-Huh...? A-Aha... Y-Yes, I suppose I am."

"Now... Just where were the two of you this evening?"

"Eek!" A funny noise came from Leen's mouth. The other five surrounded her,

emanating a silent pressure from their smiles.

"W-W-Wait just a moment! L-Ladies, you're misunderstanding, I promise!"

"Out until the early hours of the morning... Just the two of you... What else

could it have possibly been, what else?" Paula flailed her arms in response to

Yae's interrogation, as if to say "Hey! I was there too y'know!" But she was

completely ignored. The twins came around the fairy's sides, staring daggers

into her.

"I-Is it possible that..."

"Y-You two did... it?!"

"What?!" Both I and Leen yelled out in unison. Do you mean THAT?! WhWhat the hell?! Leen went red as a beet. So did Elze and Linze.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you even saying?! O-O-Of course nothing like that

went on!" Leen went into a panic while her face got even redder.

Hah... That's a pretty cute reaction... It's a response more fitting the size of

your body than the number of your age, though.

The encroaching girls, upon seeing Leen's freak-out, eased up a bit.

Leen was in a state of panic and couldn't speak, so I explained the events of

the evening in her stead.

"Well, that's understandable... But you should have sent a message to the

castle if you were going to be this late."

"Ah... I-I'm sorry."

"Plus little Kohaku and the others let you relay mental messages, don't they?"

"Oh. Right." It had completely slipped my mind. I'd been running all over the

place without making use of that at all. I didn't send a single message home to

the castle, so the girls were probably worried sick or wondering where I was.

I had blindly believed there was no reason to worry, but that had been a little

bit of selfishness on my part.

I didn't want to upset the people precious to me. Quite the opposite, in fact. I

decided to be more mindful going forwards.

"We wouldn't know what to do if you went and left us behind, idiot."

"That is correct, it is. Let us know if you are doing something dangerous, yes?"

"You already wrecked that empty house, remember?" Elze, Yae, and Linze let

out quiet sighs. You're seriously still going on about that?! I-I just thought I

could control a fireball like a missile... It's not my fault!

I wondered if this was how a drunk man felt after returning home to be yelled

at by his wife. I felt pretty whipped, regardless. I definitely didn't want to be a

domineering husband, I respected the independence of the girls. But still, I was

clearly causing upset to Yumina and the others. They were all on good terms

with each other, too. I hadn't heard of a single squabble between them. That

made me the problem.

"At any rate, just contact us if you're staying out late, alright? We're not going

to keep you on a leash, just keep us informed! Alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I got it..." Each one of them berated me more after that, until I finally

got to go to my bed as the sun rose. They made me promise a lot of things, but

the whole thing just felt like an unjust punishment.

Individually they were all sweet and soft, and I felt calm when I stood by their

side... But when they ganged up on me I was utterly defenseless. I wasn't given

any room to speak at all. It seemed like it was one of those things I just had to

shut up and accept.

Man, I'm beat... Zzz...

After I woke up, I headed over to Kousaka and told him what had happened

the day before. He immediately set to work on a rough draft of laws based on

the ones in Belfast. The more specific ones would require my approval,

though... I decided to save that for later...

This world was socially on the same level as the Edo period, they had death

penalties and exiles in place. Other countries used forced labor like mining, but

there were no mines in Brunhild.

Apparently most countries used capital punishment because of troubles

caused in the nations that abolished it. If you simply banished a violent criminal,

there was a chance they could cause trouble in another country. That being

said, I didn't think just killing people was an ideal way to go about it.

Those slave collars were powerful artifacts used to punish criminals, and I

approved, but only if they were put on people who had committed serious

crimes. I wondered if I could modify one.

If we synced our laws up with Belfast's, Javert would definitely be killed. That

honestly seemed fair, given his litany of foul deeds. I couldn't just give him a

slap on the wrist, he'd been trafficking humans.

The main issue was what to do with the slaves and sailors on his ship. I figured

I'd have Yumina use her Mystic Eye to check over the slaves at least. I'd free the

good-hearted ones.

I headed towards the Silver Moon while thinking that over. I was a little

worried about the adventurers that I had helped free the day before. Didn't

want them suffering from trauma or anything due to their ill treatment.

I went in and spoke to them, and fortunately they had all resolved to continue

adventuring. I told them to be more wary in the future. There was no need to

rush, after all. It was better to slowly become stronger.

I told them to head over to the guild to get their cards back. Part of me felt a

little guilty, but I was just glad they were safe.

I slept in till noon so I decided to have my breakfast/lunch at the Silver Moon.

Lop's group ended up joining me for the meal.

They seemed apprehensive at first, but quickly settled in once I ordered five

full lunches from Micah.

"Hm... There's a dungeon near your home village, then?"

"It's nothing like the island dungeons, but yeah. It's more like a cavern.

There's a ruin inside it, though... We used to play in there when we were little

kids." That sounded a little dangerous to me, there could've been dangerous

wildlife in that cave!

"We'd found Giant Bats and wolves now and then, but the four of us

managed to take care of them. I think those victories helped make us a little

overconfident... But we've learned a little more humility after exploring a real

dungeon." Fran spoke up, more of a mutter than anything. Wolves were

certainly a far cry from Goblins and Kobolds. Intelligent monsters that used

weapons were different from mindless beasts, after all. Still, that meant Lop's

party had joined the blue-rank idiots despite their fear. I was sure they'd

become promising adventurers.

"Well, just don't overdo it. Learn from your mistakes. Also, don't let people

sucker you in with sweet words. There'll more often than not be an ulterior

motive there. Every rose has thorns, and nothing in this world comes for free."

The four of them nodded slowly. It seemed like they'd taken the lesson to

heart. Really the fact that other adventurers had come and told them about a

good hunting spot should've been a red flag. There'd have been no benefit to

potentially decreasing their own gains by inviting newbies over. A certain

amount of doubt was surely healthy, but at the same time it was important to

trust others a little.

"Uh-Uhm, Your Highness... Can I ask something about this little guy...?"

"Hm?" Eon, the party's mage, showed the little white mouse that I'd

summoned. I had completely forgotten about him.

To be honest, I was still worried about them. It's why I decided to leave the

mouse with them. He was a summoned magical beast known as a Snowmouse. I

had heard they were quite powerful in groups, but I wouldn't have believed

that by looking at one alone.

I didn't actually know if this world had basic household mice, actually.

The Snowmouse had a magical passive effect known as Enhanced Senses. It

allowed the person nearest to him to sense danger, preventing ambushes and

other incoming disasters.

"I'll let you guys take care of him. He's pretty smart, and he can tell when

there's trouble around. Also he has a mental link with me, so you can talk to

him and send messages to me in an emergency." Eon smiled and nodded as I

spoke. It seemed like she'd taken a liking to the little guy. I was pleased to see

they were getting along. That being said, I didn't want a bunch of dumb

messages being beamed into my head daily.

We finished up the meal and parted ways. The Snowmouse, now perched on

Eon's head, waved at me. Huh... I guess he really is smart.

Something in the lunchtime conversation had piqued my attention. The cave

that the four of them had mentioned... The ruins they mentioned made me

think that it could be related to Babylon.

They were from Pyton Village in Regulus, if I recalled correctly. I searched on

the map and it wasn't all that far from Brunhild. I was surprised that it was so

close. The scout birds I'd sent out had probably missed it.

Or perhaps they just weren't able to see into the cave because they were high

in the sky... No, that couldn't have been it. I had heard that birds were about

the same as humans at night, vision-wise. They just didn't act at night because

food was more scarce. There were still nocturnal birds like owls, though.

It was more likely that they'd just overlooked it. I'd find out for sure once I

actually got there.

I invoked [Fly] and sent a message to Kohaku to inform the girls I was off

investigating. They'd all gotten upset just the night before, after all. I didn't

want to be lectured for two days in a row...

Well then, guess I better check it out!

◇ ◇ ◇

Pyton village was in the southwest of Regulus. It was a pretty plain and quiet

village nestled in some mountains near the Belfast border. It gave off the image

of a peaceful quiet little mountain town.

I didn't want to cause a fuss or alert the villagers, so I landed in a nearby

forest and pulled up my phone to look for the cave. I found it fairly close by.

"Huh, it really was near. I guess that makes sense, though... Those kids did

play here." The cave was just a little ways up a rocky area near the town.

Wasn't very big, either. The entrance was narrow, only one person could go

through at a time. It seemed more like a thin tunnel than a cave, but once I got

inside it opened up a bit.

It would probably be more apt to call the cave an entrance to the inner ruins.

There were probably other entrances once, they must've just been covered by

various means over the years.

A Giant Bat attacked me after I walked a little further in. Naturally it died in

seconds. Hm... The kids beat these things up? Guess they really are weak...

Doesn't look like it'd be able to do much damage.

After a while, I found an obsidian cube.

One side was around seven meters tall and wide. It was cold to the touch, as

well. There was no doubt in my mind. This was a Babylon ruin.

"Alright, then... There's gotta be a way to get inside this thing." I inspected

the cube thoroughly. I couldn't find anything like a switch that might open it up,

though. There wasn't any groove on it like that other time, either. I wondered

what the secret was. I mused that perhaps there was a wall that would let me

pass through if I touched it... But alas, no luck.

"Hmph... What's with this thing...?" I considered using [Modeling] to force a

hole open... But I couldn't shake the feeling that it would end poorly. This was

something I needed to do on my own. But, no matter what... I couldn't find

anything resembling a way inside.

I prodded here and there, but I was rapidly running out of ideas.

"Oh, come on... I've tried everything. Every side, even the top! What else is...

Oh." No way... Beneath, maybe? I dug a trench using earth magic, careful not to

let the cube fall or move. Then I jumped down and inspected it from below.

Gotcha. The bottom of the cube had a small dot indent in it, kind of like a

'one' side on a die.

"This should be it, then..." I touched the dot with my hand, and I found myself

being pulled into the cube.

I looked around and found the regular spellstone pillars. It was dark, but the

familiar shine of each stone was there in the black.

There was something unusual, though. The teleportation circle was on one of

the walls, rather than the floor. The six pillars were also jutting out sideways

from one of the walls.

"Waiiit a second... Shouldn't that be the floor, then? That means I entered

from the side..." I figured they'd made some kind of mistake when the cube was

placed in the cave. It was stupid to have the entrance be below to begin with, it

honestly seemed like an error. When I thought about a six-sided die, I

remembered that if the 'one' side was below, then the 'two' side would be on

the side. They must've mistakenly placed the wrong side down, which meant I

had to crawl under and through the single dot.

"Ugh, come on... Don't make dumb mistakes!" I used [Fly] to keep myself on

the circle and then poured my magical power into the pillars. After that I stood

sideways, feet planted firmly on the side of the wall. It felt weird as hell. I'm not

a ninja! This doesn't suit me... N-Ninja Arts... Wall-Stand Jutsu! Pffft...

I added the final touch by pouring Null magic into the circle. It lit up in a flash,

and just like that I was teleported away.

"Welcome to the Babylon's s— raughuhgh!"

"Huh?!" The light began to fade when I suddenly felt a dull pain in my

stomach. I'd been headbutted. Gah?! An ambush?! From what I could discern,

the terminal gynoid had recklessly ran over towards me, tripped, and smacked

her head into my belly.

"Awawa! Forgive-a me! I was so excited to-a finally meet you that I went and

slammed-a right into your side!"

"Fine, fine! Just get off me already!" The girl had knocked us both to the

ground and she wouldn't stop muttering. It was pretty embarrassing because

she was still on top of me. The girl had... assets. Not quite as impressive as

Flora's, but impressive all the same. It was awkward.

"I'll get-a right up. Whoa, whoa!"

"The hell are you doing...?" The girl stood up and immediately began

wobbling all over the place. And then she did it. She stumbled and, with all the

weight of her body, brought her foot down on my crotch. "HNNNGH!" Nhhh....

Mhhh.... Khhh....?! Hhh...! I fainted. There was nothing else I could even do. It

was the single most powerful attack I'd ever received in this world and the last.

It hurt more than a direct hit from a Phrase. Oh-Oh God... W-Will recovery

magic work...?! Nngh... Gh... [R-Rhh... Refresh]...! Gah! I c-can't focus! My

jewels... My jewels!

"Mamma mia. Are-a you okay?"

"Ngh... Nnnhho..." I grit my teeth together and bashed my fists against the

floor. It hurt. I was breathing heavily, I was sweating profusely. I'm... Done...

It's... t-too much...

Eventually the pain subsided and I staggered to my feet. Then the girl looked

at me and saluted. She was shorter than Cesca, or at least I thought so at a

glance. She smiled and opened her mouth.

"Let-a me introduce myself! Welcome to the Storehouse of Babylon! My-a

name is Lileleparshe! Just call-a me Parshe for short."

"IT'S YOUUUUUU?!"

"Eeeeeek?!" I've finally found the madwoman! She's the one who let that

immortal jewel thing fall down and ruin the Takeda house in Eashen! She's the

one responsible for the Blockbracer and Drainbracer helping that guy who

started the coup in Regulus!

I'd heard about her clumsiness from the other Babylon sisters, but now it was

my precious jewels that learned the truth first-hand. "Sit your ass down little

lady! You need a stern talking to!"

"Wh-What! Why is-a this happening-a to me?!" I wondered if she was even

aware of the trouble she'd caused. I decided to explain exactly what she'd

done.

I told her about the suffering of the people on the surface as a result of the

artifacts she'd carelessly let drop. Then I told her about all the troubles she'd

gotten me into as a result.

"Are you sorry?!"

"Aah... I-I'm-a sorry... I wasn't aware of-a the troubles I'd caused!" Parshe let

her shoulders sag. She knelt on the ground with sad eyes, and her ponytail

trembled slowly. Maybe I had gone too far.

"Just... Take more care going forwards, alright? All the other gynoids were

concerned about the Storehouse."

"Hmm? You've-a met other Babylon terminals?"

"With the exception of the research laboratory, I've met them all. Let me

introduce myself, I'm Mochizuki Touya. The other Babylons have accepted me

as their master."

"Wowee... Then I guess I'll do-a the same. Roger that... Airframe-a Number

Twenty-Six, Lileleparshe, presents herself to you! Treat-a me well, Master."

Parshe stood up and smiled once more, flashing a salute. That sure was a quick

one-eighty. I wondered if she'd really reflected on her mistakes. Parshe quickly

moved up towards me, almost making a lunge for my face. Uh oh. I know that

move...

It was the eighth time at this point, I no longer had the will to resist. It was

inevitable, so I took it. I gave up on resisting, so I stood there and waited for it.

Then Parshe stomped on my toe.

"Ow-mmmf!" Her tongue slipped past my lips and began swirling around in

my mouth. But that's not what I was moaning about. It was my foot! She was

crushing my foot! This girl was standing on her tip-toes to kiss me and she was

crushing my goddamn foot! My big toe felt like it was gonna crumble! Why the

hell are you this clumsy! Is this even clumsiness?! You're a walking disaster!

"That's-a complete registration! Your genetic information has-a been stored in

my banks, Master. The Storehouse now-a officially belongs to you... So why-a

do you look so uncomfortable?" Parshe tilted her head to the side in confusion.

What the hell do you mean why! You just stomped the hell out of my toe! I sat

on the ground clutching my poor foot. I considered invoking [Shield] around her

as a precaution.

"Well, regardless of-a that... Let-a me show you around. Onwards!" Parshe

skipped off without a care in the world. Then she fell flat on her face. I figured

this was just normal for her.

I saw a large dome-shaped building as I came out from the undergrowth.

Well, it wasn't extremely large. It was about the size of an above-average

house. It also looked just like an igloo, one of those Inuit homes made from

snow. At least that was the closest approximation I could make.

I passed through the gates and came to a pure white room full of equally

white cubes. They were about fifty centimeters tall, and they were that long as

well. There was one black monolith in the middle of the room, too.

"You know... I kind of imagined there being... Stuff here. It's a storehouse,

isn't it?"

"The artifacts, personal funds, raw materials, public and private records, and

other such matters are-a stored in the basement. At one-a point we had a

minor breach in an outer wall, but it was-a quickly repaired." That's probably

when the jewel and the other stuff fell out... At least it's patched up now.

"You can use-a this machine to call up items. Look here..." Parshe put her

hand on the monolith and it began to whir. One of the cubes on the ground in

the distance fell through the floor, and a similar cube rose from the floor in

front of me.

I looked closer and found small lettering on the surface of the cube. It seemed

to be written in ancient Parthenese. It looked like every cube had a unique

identifier.

Parshe touched the cube and it opened up like a treasure chest. To my

amazement, it was filled with golden coins.

"The boxes can't-a be opened by anyone but you or myself. Even Doctor

Babylon wouldn't-a be able to do it." Huh, I see... So I effectively have the keys

to the treasury. So then... All of this is mine? That's great. I'll use it well.

I took out one of the golden coins from the box. It had a shape I didn't

recognize. But then I remembered seeing something similar when I'd first met

Ende. That must've meant these were coins from Partheno.

That made sense, in all honesty. The Storehouse was five-thousand years old,

after all.

But that made the money worthless to me. I thought about smelting it all and

selling the raw product. Taking it to an antique dealer was out of the question.

They wouldn't believe something from so long ago would be in such incredible

condition. It'd just get written off as fake.

"Ohh, right! Are there any Frame Gear blueprints in here?"

"Oh, the Frame-a Gears... Yep. We have-a those..." Parshe touched the

monolith again and the box of coins sank into the floor. Another box quickly

rose in its place. They looked identical. Without the serial codes I wouldn't be

able to distinguish them at all.

I did what Parshe did earlier and touched the box. It creaked open. I stared at

the contents, horrified. I closed the box.

"...Parshe... Send it back... You made a mistake. Now. Send it back. Now.

Please."

"Huh? Ah, that's-a my bad... I got the number wrong." Parshe touched the

monolith once more and the box sank into the floor. I turned away from her.

My face was beet red and I was sweating bullets.

If you want to know what was in the box... It was just toys... Just... Adult...

toys... I quietly reaffirmed my hatred for Doctor Babylon. I... didn't even know

they made ones like that...

I opened up the new box and found a bunch of weird cylindrical containers. I

tried popping one open to see what was inside.

What I found definitely resembled a blueprint. There were lots of different

pictures and fine details and annotations.

I couldn't read it. The solution was to use translation magic, of course. But I

still couldn't read it... It was way too complex to understand. Either way, this

was a victory. We could finally create stronger Frame Gears. We couldn't

modify the Frame Gears we already had, but now we'd be able to make them

from scratch. In short, we could make custom Frame Gears.

Heheh... Should I make one with a tank as its lower half? I wonder if I can... I

should search online for different robot designs... I can't think of much other

than heavy armor units, mobile suits, and backline support ones right now...

Hehehe... I'm getting excited?! I can't help it! I'm a guy, it's too cool!

◇ ◇ ◇

"So, can you do it?"

"Yessir I can. I might be able to make Ether Liquid unnecessary, sir! Or, uh...

Rather... I can probably make it so we don't need to change the Ether Liquid

ever again, sir!" We were in the workshop. Rosetta was explaining certain

blueprints we'd found in the Storehouse.

Ether Liquid amplified the magical power of a Frame Gear's pilot and spread it

throughout the mech. Up until now we'd been using it as a raw fuel, but the

cores of the new models took magic from sunlight and the surrounding

atmosphere. It was kind of like transitioning from batteries to solar panels.

But we needed crystalline material from dead Phrase to make the new power

devices. It seemed like Doctor Babylon had noticed the unique qualities of the

Phrase and figured out how to harness them for our benefit.

Either way, it allowed Ether Liquid to circulate through the machine without

losing any of its magic. We wouldn't have to change out the fuel anymore.

"Well, sir! This new system is a conceptual one! We can assemble various

parts and put them on Bone Frames. It should allow us to assemble unique

varieties of Frame Gear, sir! In other words, sir! The new way of making Frame

Gears has no predetermined form!"

"So we can build them as we want...? Or uh... It's more like if we can't figure

out what we want, we won't be able to make it?"

"That is correct, sir. We could hypothetically slap anything we want together,

sir! But it'd just create an ill-functioning hunk of scrap!" I didn't want us to

waste our resources like that. But at the same time, I was eager to start

experimenting with what we could put together.

"We must consider strength, armor, magical output, precision, mobility, and

equipped weaponry, sir! This may be obvious, but if we make it heavily

armored, it will have impaired speed! If we increase the output, it'll drain magic

faster! If we consider your positively ridicu— Er, incredible mana reserves, sir,

then we may be able to make whatever the hell we want! But that won't work

for everyone, sir!" Well sorry for having a ridiculous magic pool... But geez,

what do I do? I have a lot of magic, yeah... But it'd be best to make Frame Gears

that others can use. I should probably think about making specialized Frame

Gears that fit specific people. Elze's should have a focus on power and speed, for

example!

Still, the specialized Frame Gears wouldn't be usable by anyone but the

person they were designed for. Plus there was the fact that gradually using a

Frame Gear made it accustomed to you and vice-versa, so they'd really just be

personal units in the end.

"First thing's first, sir! We'll call the Mini-bots to the Storehouse! Monica and

myself are insufficient for this task, sir." That was fair. I noticed two of the

helper robots wandering around the workshop. They were incredibly skilled,

despite their weird looks. They lacked the ability to think for themselves and

could only obey rigid commands, but their versatility was nothing to scoff at.

I temporarily halted production of the Chevaliers so the workshop would be

able to start building these new Frames. We'd made a lot of Chevaliers over the

last few months, so I didn't mind putting it on pause for a little while.

"Alright, then... Let's try making a Frame Gear for Elze. I want you to prioritize

speed and power. Make the limbs heavily armored, too. Don't worry too much

about conserving magical power. We can always tweak that later."

"Sir yes sir!" I decided to start with Elze's Frame Gear because her fighting

style was the simplest. Punching and kicking the enemy until they were down. It

was a tried and tested method. It wouldn't need to be balanced or tweaked too

much thanks to that. It was basically a model specialized for a single purpose.

I left Rosetta to it and headed to the Storehouse.

"Oh, Master. It's-a you." I entered the building and found Parshe there. She

was wearing traditional shrine maiden's clothing, a red hakama over a white

robe. I had never seen a shrine maiden who had her hair in a ponytail before,

though... Well, it wasn't fair to apply the logic of my old world to this one

anyway.

I had forgotten about all the stuff I'd passed over to Zanac, so I was surprised

to see her in such a culturally familiar garb. It was an odd choice... Having

someone this clumsy as a shrine maiden was a little much... I wasn't entirely

sure that God would be okay with it.

"I've-a cataloged everything in the Storehouse for you. There are-a one-

thousand-and-ninety-three items in total, Master."

"Wow, that's a lot." I flipped through the list she'd given me. There were

things in there that I recognized, and some things that I didn't. There was also

stuff on the list I knew I'd never want to look at. I decided that we didn't need

the "Ultimate War Panties," the "Deadly Swimsuit," or the "Bikini Armor," for

example. It would be better to separate them off entirely. Some things were

better left sealed away.

What's this...? "Breast Enlarging Medicine"...? Better not let anyone ever find

out about this... This could destroy nations.

"Parshe. Don't show anyone else this list, got it? And don't tell anyone about

things available in the Storehouse unless you have my express permission. Got

it?"

"Got it!"

Breasts... Big.... Little... Everyone has them. Bigger, smaller, we needn't worry

about such things. Bread is delicious. Rice is delicious, too. Neither invalidates

the other! That being said, some people did prefer rice over bread... The other

way too. I personally enjoyed both. I was a little saddened, though. Because I

knew too many men in this world had eyes only for those big, round things.

Either way, I was getting off-topic.

"That reminds me. There should be Ether Liquid in storage here. Have it

delivered to Rosetta at the workshop, and Monica at the hangar."

"Roger!" Parshe touched the monolith and nine cubes came out of the floor. I

checked over them and, sure enough, they were all five-hundred milliliter

bottles of the familiar fluid. It really did look like soda...

The mini-bots lifted them up over their heads and left the Storehouse.

"Parshe, what're these items with slashes through their names?"

"Ah! These are items that-a we've lost..." She muttered in quiet

disappointment. I saw the Blockbracer and Drainbracer on the list, but I didn't

see the immortality jewel on there at all...

Oh, is it maybe this one...? The Eye of the Grave... I guess the guy who found it

didn't know its actual name.

"Then that means Lestia's Holy Sword is this Recovery Blade... And Ripple is

the Living Frame. Neat." Even excluding the items I'd seen, there were a few

unaccounted for artifacts. Searching for them would be a pain in the ass. Plus it

wasn't likely that the people who had them would just give them up if I asked...

As far as I knew, there was no way for me to find them. Even if I knew what

they were called, it wasn't like my search magic could find stuff I wouldn't

recognize at a glance. It was unfortunate, but the list sorely lacked images to go

along with the names.

"There really is a lot of stuff, huh..."

"Doctor Babylon was a genius, but-a her organizational skills were subpar...

She invented many-a things, and ultimately put them all in the Storehouse. She

could've made a lotta dough if she'd spread her creations into the world."

"Doesn't exactly seem like she'd been hurting for cash." I thought back to the

golden coins.

"She-a wasn't especially interested in money. The Doctor just-a did what it

was she wanted to do." I didn't fully understand the Doctor or why she did the

strange things she had done, but I couldn't help but wonder sometimes...

Doctor Babylon had used an artifact to look into the future and see me... And

she decided to leave me the floating fortress of Babylon as her legacy. I

wondered if there was more to it than that.

"You don't happen to have the item the Doctor used to see into the future in

the Storehouse, do you...?"

"To-a see into the future... Mm... You mean the Foresight Jewel? We-a have

it, yes." Parshe touched the monolith, and another cube-box sprung up from

the floor. It opened up to reveal a beautiful glimmering orb about the size of a

volleyball. It was on a masterfully crafted pedestal.

"This is a uh... Foresight Jewel, was it?"

"That's-a right. If you focus your-a magical power, then a person in the future

with a similar magical biorhythm to you will be shown in the orb. The person is-

a completely random, though. And the future isn't always-a on a stable track. It

doesn't-a usually reflect the same person twice, but when the Doctor used it, it

always showed you. She must've been-a focusing hard on you." It was probably

because I was the only person it could reflect for her... Though knowing I have a

similar biorhythm to that ancient perv isn't really reassuring.

I tried pouring some of my magic in, but nothing came up. Huh? "Is it broke?"

"No. It's-a not broken. It's more likely that a person with your biorhythm

won't be born for over five-thousand more years. But of course the future isn'ta fixed. You could always try again later."

"Wait seriously? A person with every magical affinity won't come around for

another five-thousand years at least?"

"No. That's-a only one of the factors. Even if-a they have all of the affinities,

you won't see them unless you match their magical rhythm closely." I see... But

still, having every magical affinity massively reduces the number of people I can

look at. If I had no magical aptitude, I'd probably be able to see multiple people.

That sucks.

I was disappointed since I wanted to look into the future. Parshe mentioned

something about being able to roughly estimate how far into the future you

looked, so I was hoping to see what became of Brunhild down the line.

"So you just use your magic on it?"

"Yup. It didn't do anything for me." Linze was reading in the living room when

I showed up with the Foresight Jewel. What happened next wouldn't be hard to

guess.

"It sounds interesting, though. Could I try next?" Elze was on the couch

cleaning her gauntlets, but she seemed interested. Yae and Hilde, who were sat

next to her, also seemed curious.

Yumina and Lu entered the room with some tea. Sue was busy at home, and

Leen was immersing herself in books at the Library of Babylon.

"R-Right then, let's see..." Linze let her magical power flow into the Jewel, and

it suddenly turned a jet black. Little lights flickered inside the orb, sparkling now

and then. It was like gazing into space.

The next moment, the image of an old man in a straw hat appeared in the

ball. He had a white beard, and was tilling a field. Huh... What's this? "Oh... Leta me tune it..." Parshe lifted up the orb and turned a knob on the back of the

pedestal. The image began to fade a bit.

"What's that about?"

"Uhm... It was showing about-a fifty to a hundred years into the future. It

seemed-a to be somewhere between Refreese and Regulus. I think." That's

quite far in the future. I wonder if that old man's a little kid right now... Or

maybe he hasn't even been born!

"So... That old man and I have the same biorhythm...?" Linze seemed

somewhat disappointed. I could understand, so I was at least a little

sympathetic. But at least she had someone tuned to her wavelength.

"I've-a reset the parameters. Now it'll only show up-a to ten years in the

future, and the region is limited to-a the local area." Parshe put the Foresight

Jewel back down on the table. The discouraged Linze let her shoulders sink a

bit, and Elze was the next to touch it.

Once again the beautiful space-like image appeared, and it came into focus on

an elderly woman walking through town.

"Huh, is this the castle town?"

"I can see a big clock tower, but... Brunhild doesn't have one of those, does

it?"

"Ah... I only saw it for a second, but that was definitely the Silver Moon! It's

our town!" Indeed it was. As Yumina said, I had briefly saw the sign for the

Silver Moon Inn. Just as I'd thought, it was Brunhild's castle town.

Huh. Wonder if I'll build a clock tower soon, then... The image is only covering

the immediate area around the person, so it's a little hard to get a full view of

the place.

"Uh... D-Did anyone else hear that voice just now? I thought I heard a woman

say 'That's a good price.'..." Lu moved slightly closer towards the crystal orb.

The woman in the image was buying some apples.

"It's-a making a connection to the targeted person, sometimes it picks up

voice. For the most part there's-a too much interference for good audio, but

sometimes it comes through well." As everyone listened to Parshe's

explanation, the image grew darker until it faded completely.

"Aaaah... The link has-a gone and expired. That-a usually happens a while

after you take your hand off."

"We can't see what comes next?"

"That's almost impossible. The target is-a completely random within a scope

of ten years, after all." It seemed like the artifact could only be set within a

range of decades, it didn't get more precise than that. Even if you were lucky

enough to connect to the same person, you'd have to have insane fortune to

see a continuation of where you left off last time.

Even Doctor Babylon only saw dotted fragments of my life. Though the fact

that she could view me from five-thousand years in the past was incredible

enough.

"Who's next?" Yae had no aptitude for magic, so she'd have a broad range of

people to potentially synchronize with. Though that came with the

disadvantage of it being harder to narrow in on specific individuals. You'd likely

look at a different person's future every time you used the orb.

Yae let her magic flow into the crystal ball. Even without any particular

aptitude, she still had magic power within her. Enchanted items were originally

created for people who couldn't use magic, but they could still channel magic

into them.

"Oh... I can see it, I can. Is this... The castle, is it?" There was a maid reflected

in the ball. I didn't recognize her face. She was probably someone we'd end up

hiring within the next ten years. The young maid walked down the castle hall.

She looked to be in her twenties.

"The castle doesn't look much different..."

"Well, it hasn't changed since we built it... So it makes sense it won't change

much even after ten years." I grinned slightly at Elze's mutterings, but in turning

my head away, I missed what happened next in the vision.

"Hm?!"

"Who is that...?"

"Huh! Wh-What?!" Yae and Yumina stared in surprise. Lu, Linze, and Hilde

were also staring down with wonder.

"What was it...? I missed it."

"Ah... U-Uhm, there was a little child. The maid greeted a child and moved

on."

"A child?" I turned my head to Linze as she spoke. A child in the castle, huh...

Wait... No way.

"H-H-Hey! Can't you make the orb pick up on the kid!"

"I-I-It's-a impossible! The target is the maid, I-I'm-a sorry!" Parshe trembled

slightly as I grumbled. I was annoyed that I'd missed it.

There was a kid in the castle. It meant that it could've been my kid! Then

again, it could've easily been the child of a foreign dignitary. "Was it a boy or a

girl?!"

"Uhm... It was a girl... I think?"

"Hm... I believe it was a handsome young man, I do."

"But that long hair... Surely it was a girl."

"Yeah, she was wearing long culotte pants."

"It seemed like she had black hair, too..."

"Th-Th-Then who's the mother!" Everyone went quiet after Hilde's question.

Leen and Sue weren't around, but it was possible that we had just seen the

daughter (or son?) that they'd eventually bear. Still, knowing who the mother

actually was didn't seem like it was possible.

The situation quickly became hectic.

"Hey, Yae! Make the orb show the girl again!"

"I cannot do that, I cannot! I do not control what it shows me, I do not!"

"Aaagh! Y-Yae! Don't let your hand slip! We'll lose connection!"

"I wonder if that was my daughter..."

"Y-Yeah... It's a little scary to think about..."

"I wonder if my child will use a sword like me..."

"Hey, quiet down! I can hear something!" I calmed everyone down and put

my finger to my lips. The maid in the crystal ball was talking to a man. He

seemed like a co-worker.

"... --lready ran around over there."

"Good grief. I told the little one not to pester His Majesty... Father or not, he's

a very busy man." Everyone's eyes narrowed on me. Welp. That just about

confirmed it. I wondered what the future me was doing, though... Shouldn't you

be spending time with your family?! "Well, that's it then. We couldn't hear the

name... But that child was definitely yours, Touya." I was just upset that I hadn't

actually seen the kid with my own two eyes.

The maid bowed her head and left for the kitchen. There were several maids

hard at work in the kitchen. The sight wasn't too different to the current state

of the place, actually. I was glad I had so many hard workers. ... Though this was

a vision of the future, so it would be more apt to say I was glad I was going to

have so many hard workers.

"Hey, it's Crea!" Elze pointed to a person reflected in the ball. It was definitely

Crea, our current head cook. She looked older, but didn't seem a full ten years

older.

"A-Am I not there...?" Lu pouted a little bit. She had a point. Lu spent a lot of

time in the kitchen, after all. Sadly it didn't seem like she was in there on this

particular day.

Lu's shoulders slumped a little.

"Don't worry, Lu. Why did you want to see yourself so bad, anyway?"

"I wanted you to see the adult me of the future, Touya..."

"Don't be silly. I'll see her gradually, right by my side."

"Ah!" Hilde's sudden exclamation had Lu and I glance towards the crystal ball.

Don't tell me... Not again...

"J-Just now a little girl left the kitchen with a lunchbox..."

"A-Ah... Sh-She had long, silvery hair..."

"Whaaat?!" Lu let out a shriek. As far as fiancees go, only three had hair you

could describe as silvery. Lu, Linze, and Elze. Leen's was more white than

anything else.

"Wh-Wh-Where did she go?"

"Ah, she is gone now, she is. She just left the kitchen."

"Go after her!"

"I-I cannot do such a thing..." Lu desperately gazed from the crystal ball to

Yae, and then back again. I understood how she felt. I'd missed something

again, after all.

"Calm down a little bit... Whose child do you think it was?"

"I-It could have been mine! I-I always thought I'd teach my son or daughter to

cook! Th-That's why I'm always working so hard in the kitchen!" It seemed like

Lu had been considering more in the long-term than I had been. Still, she had a

point. I couldn't imagine Linze or Elze having a kid who spent a lot of time

making stuff in the kitchen... I didn't want to imagine what kind of super-spicy

horrors Elze would teach her kids to whip up. That being said, they could've

been tutored by anyone, so it was hard to say for sure whose child it was.

"We didn't actually see them do any cooking, you know... They might've just

been delivering lunch to someone else, or picking up their own."

"Guh... I-I am Lucia Leah Regulus! By my heart, I am sure that my child will be

an incredible cook!" Lu spoke firmly, but it came out as more of a mutter. It was

ultimately hard to say whether or not Lu's kid would actually be any good in the

kitchen. The possibility of Lu teaching Linze's child to cook was always on the

table, too.

Still, if she had cooked the lunch she'd left the kitchen with... Who was she

delivering it to?

I hoped it was the future me. A handmade lunch from my own daughter. I'd

season it with tears of joy as I chowed down.

Or maybe the lunch was for her mother. Lu or otherwise. A gentle, kind child

who made lunch for her mom... That's the kind of thing that inspires tears as

well.

Or... Maybe she was making lunch for a boy she liked... If she was making

lunch for a guy, that'd incite tears in me as well. For another reason entirely.

I had to snap out of that line of thinking. That couldn't be it! Yeah. I wouldn't

be letting no stinkin' boys get close to my girls! Hahaha...

As I mused silly things in my head, the maid in the vision spoke with Crea a

little and left the kitchen once more.

Suddenly, there was a noise. Huh? I looked over to find Yae's head swaying

from side to side. Her hand was slipping from the crystal ball. Crap! Did you run

out of magic that fast?! I caught Yae before she collapsed, but the Foresight

Jewel fell from its pedestal and rolled along the floor. Then Parshe fell over.

Then Parshe knocked a teapot over.

"Oh, whoa! Excuse-a me!" Parshe reached down to pick up the teapot. It was

hot. She dropped it. It fell on the Foresight Jewel. Smash. Crash. Bash. The Pot,

along with the Crystal... Crumbled into various pieces.

"AUUUUUUGH?!" Everyone screamed at the same time. It was completely

broke. The real tragedy, of course... Was that falling from the pedestal hadn't

broken it. It was that damned gynoid!

Everyone gathered around, looking at Parshe in pure disbelief.

So this is the power of a clumsy shrine maiden, huh...

"I-I-I-I'm-a sorry!" Parshe immediately brought herself down into a pleading

bow. She seemed awfully familiar with that motion. I had a feeling this wasn't

the first time she'd ruined absolutely everything.

Still, no use crying over spilled milk. What's done was done. Even though it

was broken now, we'd only managed to use the Foresight Jewel thanks to

Parshe to begin with.

"Don't worry about it. This was just a peeping Tom's peeking device, anyway."

"B-But..."

"I said it's fine. I don't need to see the future, anyway. The future has infinite

possibilities, so it's hard to say if the future we see is the one that'll come to

pass anyway." Our future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is

whatever you make it. So make it a good one. A white-haired scientist from a

movie about a time-traveling car said that once.

"I agree! The future we saw seemed lovely, but let's try and make our own

wonderful future together as well."

"I-I agree, I do." Yae, who was still a little woozy despite my use of [Transfer]

to restore her magic, nodded towards Yumina.

Still, unstable future or not, I was sad I couldn't see my daughter. I wonder if

she's cute and sweet... Yeah, she's definitely cute. Yep. I've decided that just

now. She's adorable.

As I resolutely confirmed the cuteness of my own daughter in my mind, there

was a knock at the door. Lapis appeared.

"Sir... The new maids I mentioned the other day are here. I've brought them

to greet you. Would you mind meeting them now?"

"Ah, sure thing. I don't mind, bring them in." Living in the castle meant we

needed to bring in more staff now and then. Fortunately Lapis had good ties

with the maid's guild, and she got us the best staff possible.

At my command, ten new maids filed into the room. But one of the maids in

particular stood out. Everyone had the same reaction.

"Aaaaaagh?!"

"Wha-... Eh? Ah...? I-Is there s-something on my face?!" Everyone in the room

was pointing and staring at the poor girl.

Her face was decidedly younger, but she was the very image of the maid we'd

seen in the crystal ball.

"Amazing..."

"Well... That's a surprise." After everyone settled down and I reassured them,

the maids left the room with Lapis.

We were all pretty shocked to see her, despite knowing she was part of an

inevitable future that would come.

"Then I wonder if the future we saw is set in stone after all, I do..."

"Hm... Well, it isn't like it was bad or anything." Yae muttered, and Elze

returned her own.

It wasn't a bad future at all. It was a future where my children were happy. In

fact, I'd call it a very good one indeed.

"Let's do our best, then. To meet our kids in the future." Suddenly, the

implications of what I'd said sank in. Oh crap. "A-Ah, well... N-Not until we're

married... It's a little soon..."

"Y-Yeah, the kids were cute but... I'm not sure if I'm ready for that..."

"E-Even if you want us to do our best, l-let me prepare my heart first...!"

"Wh-Huh?! D-Do our b-best... I-I... I'm not ready for it!" No, you're getting the

wrong idea! I want us to do our best and build a country together! I don't mean

we need to start making babies already! I tried to explain myself, but everyone

was far too flustered to listen. I'd sealed my own doom with my flippant

comment...

Either way, my future children... It seemed there'd be a long time before I'd

get to meet you.

By the way...

I later realized that I could use my Null spell [Recall] to find out what my kids

looked like. All I needed to do was view the memories of my fiancees.

It was just as I'd thought.

My daughter... Was incredibly cute.