The Sacred Treasure, Complete

"Are there any Phrase other than us still in this world, you ask?"

The apparent Phrase sighting in Zadonia still bothered me, so I decided

it would be worth asking Melle as the former Sovereign.

"The chances are very slim. And should one have appeared here, we

would absolutely hear its echo."

"But there are times barriers have prevented you from hearing it, right?"

It was a bit of an unrealistic assumption, but if they had appeared

somewhere with a large and powerful barrier like a castle, then maybe that

could be possible.

"Is that not a bit of a stretch?"

"Honestly, yeah, but..."

Melle was looking at me like I was talking nonsense, so I chose to

rethink things. It was true that if a Phrase appeared somewhere like that,

there was no way it wouldn't cause a commotion.

"They likely would not be emitting an echo if they were in a state of

suspended animation, however."

Like if they were sealed after using up all their magic? That was similar

to the first Cricket Phrase we encountered in the ruins of Belfast. It was a

survivor of the Phrase that had appeared in Belfast 5000—no, 1000 years

ago. The Arcana Clan had left it behind in order to make sure their

descendants would know of the horrors of the Phrase.

If it was similarly sealed, then Melle wouldn't be able to detect it, but

the one in Zadonia was said to have been moving, so that didn't match.

"Hmm..."

I crossed my arms in thought for quite some time before Melle suddenly

spoke up.

"Oh, there is one other possibility."

"And that is?"

"If it was an artificial Phrase, then it wouldn't emit an echo."

Wait, a Phrase could be artificial? Didn't a Phrase asexually reproduce a

next-generation core that would grow into its child? I'd heard from Ende

that Dominant Constructs were the one type that could make a core between

a male and female Phrase.

"Oh, do you mean like those crystal beasts you created during the

Prismatis Rite?"

They had made Kuon fight a crystal chimera back then.

Ney shook her head from beside Melle and replied, "That was indeed

artificial, but only us Dominant Constructs can make such creatures, and

since they have no cores, it wouldn't be quite right to call them Phrase.

They only listen to the orders of the Construct that made them, so they

don't make for very good soldiers."

"There was research being done to try to produce Phrase cores

artificially without the power of Dominant Constructs in order to create

crystalline soldiers different from the Phrase. As far as I'm aware, though, it

didn't succeed," Melle added.

If they were trying to make something that wasn't a Phrase, it would

make sense for it to have no echo.

"I am unsure if this is relevant, but...the one who led that project on

Phrasia was Yula."

"Yula, you say?"

Yula was a Dominant Construct who had sold knowledge of the Phrase

to the wicked god and had attempted to take control of both Melle's power

and this world. Honestly, the only image I had of him was a foolish man

who had been tricked by the wicked god, but over in Phrasia, he was seen

as a genius.

That meant the possibility existed that what was sighted was a creation

that Yula had left behind. And if that was the case, it would make sense for

there to be no echo. But then, why did my [Search] not pick anything up? If

it looked like a Phrase, then it should have registered it as such.

I didn't like how little we knew about all this.

"The artificial Phrase were generally referred to as Quarth back in

Phrasia, but I have no idea what became of that project after I left. Yula

could have succeeded and I simply was not aware."

"I believe the project was abandoned," Ney said. "When Lady Melle

left, Yula switched his research focus to how to cross worlds."

The Quarth Project came to a stop, did it?

"I do believe that Yula completely removed himself from the Quarth

research. This world would be in much more havoc had he managed to

complete it."

That wasn't half ominous. Hadn't the Phrase already been causing havoc

even without the Quarth being fully-developed? There had already been

three large-scale invasions.

Given my search magic didn't pick anything up, surely that ice monster

had to be just that, a monster. When I tried searching for Cold Snails, there

was a lot in Zadonia's coldest areas. The size could easily be explained

away by it being in the process of turning into a Behemoth.

Whatever the case, it didn't seem like I was going to get any answers

right now, so I decided to leave it at that. It just made me feel anxious

continuing to think about it.

"By the way, Touya, how are Allis's lessons going?"

"Hm? Oh, the girls said that she's a really fast learner. She sucks up

everything like a sponge no matter what kind of lesson it is, so they really

enjoy teaching her."

"I see! As it should be! Allis is our daughter, after all!" Ney proclaimed

as she proudly puffed out her chest.

This girl really had changed. Before, she permanently had a murderous

intent surrounding her that felt like it could cut you if you got anywhere

near her. Children were a powerful thing.

"When that girl decides she wants to do something, she'll keep striding

forward until she reaches her goal. Though that does come with the issue

that she gets tunnel vision very easily..."

"She's awfully similar to you, Lady Melle. You abandoned your position

as Sovereign and ran straight for Endymion, after all."

"Don't say that, Lycee!"

Melle's face turned bright red. It was true that they were alike. When

they decided they wanted to do something, they refused to back down.

"Allis has been doing nothing but studying every single day recently,

though," Lycee said. "She's lost a lot of her liveliness."

Ney nodded in agreement and added, "Indeed. She only ate two plates of

curry yesterday. Perhaps she is becoming exhausted mentally."

Curry? Hang on, was that not just because she already had curry at our

place yesterday? Even I would start getting a little sick of it if I got faced

with the same thing when I went home. It probably didn't help that we had

lunch late yesterday, either. The fact she was able to eat two more plates at

all was pretty impressive, honestly.

Melle put her hand to her cheek, looking troubled.

"I wish I could do something to cheer her up..."

"Like when we went to the beach together? That whole trip was wasted

due to the wicked devout's attack."

"She seemed to find her own sense of fun in that. Endymion was far

more exhausted than she was."

That was likely because he had been feeling the effects of the divine

venom. Allis no doubt had the time of her life getting to pilot the Dragoon

all she wanted. The girl was better suited to being lively and full of life than

trying to be a proper lady.

Given that she was going to become a grand duchess, she needed the

lessons, but we weren't trying to change who she was. We simply needed

her to be able to adjust how she acted in public.

Ney let out a small sigh and then glared at me.

"Shouldn't it be your son's responsibility to console her, given he's her

fiancé? He should give her a gift or something."

Oh, turning our anger onto the father-in-law now, are we?

Kuon was doing well at being considerate of her, in my opinion. Sue

was even kind enough to tell me that I don't have the consideration that he

does. Having such a put-together son made me feel proud as his father, but

it was a bit conflicting about what that meant for my own image...

It was true that we'd likely been giving Allis way too much to do in a

short amount of time. She did well when she danced at the after-party the

other day, so there was nothing wrong with giving her a little treat.

What would make her happy, though? A whole day to have Kuon to

herself? Wait, no, I couldn't treat my son like some rental.

"What do you think Allis would like as a treat?" I asked the girls.

"She'd be happy if she could have Kuon to herself for a whole day."

"...Besides that."

Lycee was giving me a smug look, but I had already rejected that in my

head.

"Allis's likes... She does enjoy sweets."

"Hmm..."

Ney's suggestion wasn't bad, but it almost felt too easy. And besides,

whenever she had lessons that ran into the afternoon, there were always

snacks there, so it felt a bit like overkill to give her some as a treat, too.

"What about clothes?"

"Mmm, I just bought her that dress to wear at the party."

I had paid for Allis's dress and shoes out of my own expenses, not

because she was Kuon's fiancée, but in commemoration of the occasion.

You could argue that was a treat, but it didn't sit quite right for me.

"Man, this is so difficult..."

"Why not just ask her directly, then?" Ney suggested.

"Oh."

That was an option. I had wanted it to be a surprise, but asking the

person directly was always the safest bet. I could see if there was anything

she desired, and whether or not I could fulfill any of those desires, I would

deal with at the time.

Yeah, let's just go ask Allis.

◇ ◇ ◇

"A treat?"

"Yeah. Anything you'd like to get or want to do? Or maybe someplace

you'd like to visit?"

I went up to Allis after her lessons for the day and asked her directly if

she had anything she wanted. Ende was there as well to pick her up.

"Then I'd like to have Kuon to my—"

"Apart from having Kuon to yourself all day."

Allis pouted at my refusal.

Them going on a date wasn't an issue, but ordering Kuon to do

something as a treat just felt wrong.

"I don't mind, though."

"That doesn't matter."

Even if Kuon was okay with it, it wouldn't really be a treat from me, it

would be from Kuon, since he could do that himself.

Allis stood in thought for a moment, before suddenly clapping her hands

together.

"Ahah!"

Oh? Has she thought of something?

"Actually, I was hoping I could get trained by Mr. Takeru."

"What?! Allis, don't throw away your life like that!" Ende squawked.

Just what had he been made to do, seriously? Uncle Takeru may have been

strict, but even he wouldn't do anything that could kill her, surely.

...Though he may put her at slight risk of injury.

As the god of combat, Takeru was similar to Moroha where their

definition of power was completely twisted. A little for them was gigantic

for us.

"Did he not train you in the future at all?"

"Mr. Takeru's always off traveling to hone his skills, so he's not really at

Brunhild much. And Dad would always stop me when I tried, so I never got

the opportunity."

That made sense. Uncle Takeru would just wander off a lot, and then

randomly pop back up before we knew it. He'd recently been to Lassei, in

fact.

Lassei was known for its martial arts, so a lot of muscleheads—excuse

me, many skilled martial artists lived there, and that meant you could see all

manner of fighting styles if you visited. In the hopes of doing just that,

Uncle Takeru had gone around issuing challenges to dojos across the

country. Honestly, I kind of wished he wouldn't cause such a ruckus in

other countries like that...

At the very least, Lassei's king had reassured me that if a fight was fair

and square, then he had no reason to interfere.

Uncle Takeru should have come back not too long ago, so it personally

wasn't an issue to ask, but...

I glanced at Ende and he was frantically shaking his head.

It wasn't like I didn't get where he was coming from. This was meant to

be a treat for Allis, but was putting her through Uncle Takeru's demon

training really a treat?

"You don't mean you want to become his apprentice, right?"

"Nope. I'd considered it once before, but there are other things I have to

do now."

She was probably referring to her training in preparation to become the

grand duchess. She was dedicating so much to becoming an asset to our

country, and to my son, that there was no way I could refuse her wish.

If he wasn't taking her as a disciple, then surely he wouldn't subject her

to training that was too harsh? He'd even been helping out our knights here

and there, which meant the biggest problem was figuring out how to

persuade Ende.

"Umm, I think that you're maybe still a bit too inexperienced to be

trained by Uncle Takeru right now," I said, earning another pout from Allis.

Ende nodded fervently in agreement. "So how about watching Ende spar

with him? Being able to steal techniques from others is also a form of

training."

"Wh—Uh—Huh?!"

Ende's face suddenly lost all color as his eyes widened. Couldn't blame

him. What father wanted to be beaten up in front of his daughter?

"N-Now, come on, Touya, old pal, maybe we could reconsider?! What if

she gets discouraged after seeing the level of our skill? O-Or, y'know, what

if she tries out a move way above her level and it ends up stalling her

improvement?! What happened to good old-fashioned training?"

"Hmm, okay. Maybe we should just ask Uncle Takeru to train her after

all, then."

"Yeah! Uh, wait, no! Maybe reconsider that, too...?"

Ende was struggling with his words, but it was too late. He'd already

said yes.

"All right, then. How about we pay Uncle Takeru a visit, Allis?"

"Okay!"

"Mnrghhh!"

Ende looked utterly furious, but we let him be as we headed to the

training hall.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Hm, I certainly wouldn't mind. I was actually going to use something a

little more interesting today in the knights' training, so I can spar with Allis

in the meantime."

When I explained the situation, Uncle Takeru agreed without complaint.

I felt a little uneasy about this "interesting" thing he was intending to use,

though. Even the air around the knights felt somewhat somber.

Generally, Moroha was in charge of teaching them swordplay, but any

martial arts or endurance training was Uncle Takeru's field of expertise. His

training was often quite spontaneous, though, since he just took them out

when he felt like it.

You might ask if knights really needed to learn martial arts, but you

would be surprised. There were many situations when knights patrolling the

city needed to disable someone without harming them, like in a fight

between drunkards. And anyway, it was good to be able to fight without a

weapon just in case the situation called for it. That was why I'd assigned

Uncle Takeru as their trainer for now.

Though I'd heard his training was rather...unique.

"I was thinking about using this."

Everyone in the training hall froze when they saw what Uncle Takeru

took out with his storage magic.

A monster with the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, the wings of a

bat, and the face of a monkey was tied to the ground with black chains. It

was trying to open its mouth to screech, but the muzzle over it muffled all

the noises it attempted to make.

"Uncle Takeru, is this...?"

"It's a Manticore. I captured one that was wreaking havoc in Lassei. Not

only is it strong physically, but it can breathe fire and even use its own

magic. It's quite the troublesome little creature. Oh, and it also likes human

flesh."

Small yelps rang out from the knights.

Don't just casually bring a man-eating monster into my castle!

Ignoring how rowdy the knights were getting, Uncle Takeru threw a

couple stones to break the Manticore's wings.

"I'll at least prevent it from flying. Touya, surround the training hall

with [Prison], please. Make it so that only the Manticore cannot escape."

I did as I was told. If the situation became too dangerous, it would be

easy enough for the thirty knights to escape.

Is this really going to be okay?

Myself, Allis, Ende, and Uncle Takeru exited the [Prison], leaving the

knights alone with the Manticore that was still restrained by chains.

"You're allowed to use your weapons for this battle," Uncle Takeru

informed them. "Let's see… I'll give you twenty minutes. Defeat the

Manticore in that amount of time."

"Are you serious?"

He was putting a time limit on it?! The moment the knights looked

away, the chains and muzzle keeping the Manticore down shattered.

"GRAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWR!"

"Holy shit, i-it's coming this way!"

"Get into formation! Shields up!"

"It really can blow fire! This is way too scary!"

The knights began coordinating with each other to try to fight off the

Manticore. It's not like I wasn't aware before now, but this dude's training

was freaking Spartan.

"That looks so fun," Allis muttered to herself as she watched the chaos.

"Uh, no, it doesn't, no matter what way you look at it," I interjected.

Why was that her opinion while watching the knights scream and

frantically run around?

"How about I train with you until they're done, Allis? Maybe a spar

first?"

"Oh, okay, Mr. Takeru! I'm in your hands!"

Allis's eyes may have been twinkling, but Ende looked about ready to

keel over.

It'll be fine, man, seriously.

From what I knew, Uncle Takeru was actually better at being considerate

of the girls than he looked. I'd heard Elze call him strict, but never scary.

"Hiyaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I thought they were going to do some light sparring to start, but Allis

just went in full force. Takeru calmly dodged the attack, though. He seemed

to be having fun.

Does this really count as a treat?

"She appears to be enjoying herself," Kuon commented.

"Well, I can't deny that."

Sure, Kuon was right, but I still wasn't sure if this sufficed.

"She seemed a little down recently, so this should be a nice change of

pace for her. Thank you for granting her the opportunity, Father."

If she was enjoying herself, it was fine, but every time Allis was sent

flying by Takeru, I had to hold Ende back.

Why did I have to be the one to handle this overprotective father?

◇ ◇ ◇

"Feast your eyes on the brand new series of marine Frame Gear, the

Nereid!"

Quun was proudly standing in front of the new turquoise Frame Gear

sitting on the dungeon island beach behind her as if she was the one who'd

created it. Though it was specialized for battles taking place in the water, it

had legs, so it could probably fight on land as well. Did that make it more

like an amphibious?

It had a large hydro jet-like propulsion unit on its back, and four sliding

claws on each arm. If you dropped a weapon under the sea, it would be

almost impossible to retrieve it, so the Babylon Dev Team decided that they

may as well just have the weapons built in. The overall curved shape of its

body was to make it more streamlined for moving through the water.

"It's exceedingly mobile and boasts high attack power even in the water.

Equipped with eight rocket pods in its shoulders and four torpedoes in its

legs, it can deal with both close and long-range battles. Its main weapon is a

spear, but the Abyss Claws attached to its arms are made of phrasium, so

they can easily slice through an enemy's armo—"

"All right, all right. It's amazing, we understand. Now, may we see it in

action?"

"Grr! The unveiling of an inventor's work is a once-in-a-lifetime event

of the utmost importance. We can't just skip it, Mother!"

Quun was infuriated by Leen cutting into her proud explanation so

nonchalantly.

You realize Doc Babylon and her crew are the actual inventors here,

right?

It was true that Quun had also assisted, so I could understand her desire

to boast about it, but still...

"So who's gonna pilot it first?"

"Daddy, I wanna try!"

Steph was the first to whip up her hand. Would that really be okay,

though...? She did handle the Ortlinde Overlord well, but...

"The evacuation system definitely works, yeah?"

"Don't worry," Doctor Babylon reassured me. "Even in the case it

floods, the cockpit is set to deploy a barrier before activating the

teleportation magic to provide extra security for escape. The destination is

set for Val Albus's transportation room."

That sounded safe, at least.

When I gave my permission, Steph immediately boarded the Nereid.

Gold made sure to accompany her, but I wasn't sure how necessary his

presence was. At least they were both small enough that they wouldn't feel

cramped in there.

Apparently, it controlled just like a regular Frame Gear. The only real

difference was that it could traverse water so it naturally became necessary

for the unit to travel in three axes, much like an aerial unit. Steph already

had experience controlling an aerial Frame Gear, so I had no doubt she

would become accustomed to controlling the Nereid in no time.

"Okay, time to give this a shot!"

With that, Steph began moving the Nereid toward the sea. The mech

gradually sank lower and lower under the water until even the head couldn't

be seen.

"Is she really going to be okay?" Sue muttered in worry as she watched

her daughter disappear. I pulled out my smartphone and displayed the

footage of the drone I had accompanying her from the air. The Nereid was

still on the shallow seafloor. It seemed fine so far.

Having gotten used to the controls, Steph started lightly skipping

through the ocean in slow motion. After gaining enough depth, she did a

large jump and activated the hydro jets.

"It's awfully fast, it is."

As Yae said, the Nereid was zooming around in all directions. She was

just testing out the movement, right? It wasn't going out of control, right?

The propulsors attached all over the frame helped keep it steady even

with the increased speed.

"Even our Valkyries would struggle fighting in the water," Linze

muttered. But was that really the case? Leen and Yumina could easily

handle any aquatic enemies from long range, and Yae and Hilde just needed

to be close enough to cut them in half.

"Huh? Daddy, there's a big monster over there. Can I go defeat it?"

"There's a monster here?"

I turned the drone's camera forward and caught sight of a creature

swimming this way. It had the body of a dolphin, the head of a dog, and the

fins of a fish.

The hell is that?

It almost looked like a mutated seal that was double the size of the

Nereid. It was probably 30 meters in length.

"Oh, that's a Cetus. They're said to be fierce creatures that attack ships

at sea and eat those onboard whole," Leen explained. The aforementioned

Cetus was headed straight for the Nereid.

I had summoned a Kraken to patrol the area around the dungeon islands,

but I guess the Cetus had slipped through. If it attacked ships, then it

seemed best to get rid of it now, but would Steph manage?

"The Nereid should be more than capable of handling a Cetus of that

size. What do you take our creations for?"

Doc Babylon sounded confident so it was probably fine to trust her, but I

couldn't deny that I was still a little nervous.

"Take this!"

The shoulders of the Nereid opened up and sent missiles toward the

Cetus.

Fearing the attack, the Cetus opened its mouth and let out a whirlpoollike breath attack. The missiles were caught in the rotation and missed their

target, but the attack didn't stop there, and Steph had to nimbly dodge out of

the way.

The Cetus fired that same attack two more times, but both times, the

Nereid dodged like a fish in water. Steph was getting used to it.

"Now for this!"

The four phrasium claws attached to the arms slid forward and attached

to the front of the fists. It looked like that one comic book hero. Actually,

wait, didn't he only have three claws on each hand?

Steph maneuvered the Nereid to avoid the incoming whirlpool breaths,

and in the blink of an eye, was right in front of the target.

"Hah!"

The claws on the Nereid's right arm slashed through the Cetus's neck.

That alone managed to cut it right in two (or four?). The Cetus's head and

torso sunk to the seafloor, blood floating everywhere.

"Nooo, those would've made for good materials!"

Quun glanced over at me.

You want me to retrieve them? I'm not a miracle worker, little lady.

"It's not half-bad. Can our Valkyries perform as well as that?" Lu asked.

"The Valkyries weren't initially built with water battles in mind, so if

those features were to be added, they wouldn't be as good as the Nereid, no

matter what we did," Doc Babylon told her. "Wouldn't lose to the Kyklops,

though."

The Kyklops we had managed to take back were filled with all kinds of

tech to make them able to fight in the water. The Babylon crew had stole—

referenced their structure and improved it.

The more they took them apart, the more they realized that one of the

five great gollemancers, Maestro, seemed to have been involved in their

development. That increased the possibility that Maestro was on their side.

Whether that meant he was working with them of his own volition, he was

being threatened to work with them, or because he was one of the wicked

devout, there was no way for us to know.

"Can the Nereid counter the diluted venom?"

"The Nereid has a spirit furnace installed so it isn't using ether liquid as

its sole fuel. It borrows the power of the sea spirits, amplifies that power,

and then uses it as an energy source. It'll still be affected by the venom, but

it'll only be about a 10% output loss, which is much better than the original

40%, at least."

The Doctor seemed a little bothered by that.

I guess she's not content that she can't completely counter it.

"Will the Valkyries still be affected by 40%?"

"Unfortunately. We can't just go in and suddenly change their energy

source to a spirit furnace. We did adjust the ether liquid output though, so it

should limit to 30% instead."

Honestly, even making it affect them 10% less was impressive.

"We can deal with the Frame Gears, but what about your wives? Have

they found a way to block out the divine venom?"

"Why, do we have good news for you!"

I inadvertently jumped upon hearing Linze's sudden loud call out from

behind us.

"Holy sh—! Don't do that!"

"We took fibers from the Puretree and had Flora and Rosetta help us

make a fabric that can repel the divine venom!"

Oh, they'd finished it. They seemed unsure if they could manage when

they brought it up before.

Linze pulled out a piece of clothing from her smartphone's [Storage].

Made from a soft gray fabric, it looked like a flight suit with protectors all

over it. They even had a full-face helmet with a transparent visor. Was that

made out of phrasium? The back of the helmet was protruding slightly,

making a smooth line.

"The inside of the helmets are lined with the Puretree fabric to serve as a

filter, and we've enchanted it with wind magic so it's not too stuffy. The

visor won't steam up either."

"Wow, so it's complete protection, huh?"

You'd almost think they were going out to space, but it just showed how

much protection was necessary.

Doc Babylon took the suit in hand and pulled at the fabric.

"This has elasticity and embroidery magic infused in it, right? Are there

any special effects?"

"Oh, you can tell? It's been designed so the size automatically adjusts to

fit the user. Yae, Sue, can you try them on?"

"What?! Me?!"

"Sure, sounds fun."

Their reactions were complete opposites. Without waiting for Yae to

agree, Linze pulled out two simple dressing rooms from [Storage]. Was she

telling them to get changed here? The only boys here were Kuon and I, so I

guess there wasn't much need for them to worry, but it still felt a little

awkward.

Linze shoved Yae into the dressing room before she could get the chance

to complain. She had really changed since Linne had arrived. Though still

fairly reserved, she was much more confident in herself than before. Had

her motherly power awakened that aspect within her?

"Oh, make sure to remove your underwear as well, otherwise it won't be

as effective."

"Huh?!"

This time, the surprise came from both of them, but I pretended I hadn't

heard anything. We may have been married, but that didn't mean moments

like this didn't require tact.

Steph finally returned to land on the Nereid at the same time as one of

the dressing room curtains opened, revealing Sue in her pilot suit.

"It's much easier to move around in than I was anticipating. The armor

doesn't even get in the way," she said, lightly tapping one of the protectors.

It really did look just like a flight suit. Though they were made to fit

their bodies tight, there were protectors on their shoulders, chest, arms,

lower back, and ankles, so Sue's bodyline wasn't particularly prominent.

"Why not try on the helmet too?"

"Not a problem. Like this? Whoa!"

When Sue put on the gray helmet, her long blonde hair that had been

trailing behind her was sucked up inside it. So it even automatically stored

the hair of the wearer? Was that why the back of the helmet was shaped the

way it was?

"Can you hear us?"

"Yup, I can hear you perfectly fine," Sue responded with the visor still

down. "It's not suffocating me in here either."

Good, seems like there's no issue.

Sue ran and jumped, testing the flexibility of the suit. When Steph exited

the Nereid, she curiously walked over to her mother and began patting her

hands all over it.

What happened to Yae? Was she struggling to get the suit on?

Just as I was thinking that, Yae peeked her head out the door. Her face

was bright red.

"...What are you doing?"

"Um, these clothes...are just a little bit tight, they are..."

"Oh, come on. It's fine. Hurry up and come out."

"Ahhh, L-Linze-dono?!"

Linze pulled Yae out far enough until we could see her wearing the same

gray pilot suit. Though, uh...unlike Sue, you could more clearly see certain

assets...

"Linze, you chose Sue and I precisely because of our contrasting body

types, didn't you?"

"Well, um... you see, it's important to show that it doesn't matter what

the size difference is, right?"

Sue puffed her cheeks, but immediately cleared her throat when she

remembered she was in front of Steph.

"Your body line does show quite clearly."

"But you would very rarely be in front of other people while wearing it,

so it shouldn't matter too much, no?"

"It is much less embarrassing than the clothes we had to wear in the Sea

of Trees."

The other girls all crowded around the embarrassed Yae, looking intently

at the outfit with no real hesitance. Doc Babylon nodded to herself as she

felt the material of it.

"Hm, I may actually be able to make use of this. If we can protect the

ether lines with this fabric, we might manage to further weaken the effects

of the divine venom. It would probably lessen its effect by another 10%."

"I would very much like you to stop touching my buttocks with such a

serious face, I would!"

Having had enough, Yae removed her ribbons and placed the helmet on,

her long black hair being sucked up inside it in the process.

"If you press the button on the side of the helmet, you can make the

visor opaque from the outside. You can also change the color of the suit

with the bracelet."

Yae pressed the mentioned button, and as Linze had said, it immediately

turned black, and we couldn't see her face anymore. She looked like some

mysterious warrior like this.

"You can see us from your side, right?"

"Yes. It is a little darker, but I can see you fine, I can."

Sue did the same and confirmed that it was fine on her end. I assumed it

was meant to be used in a similar way to sunglasses.

Each time Yae pressed the button on her bracelet, the suit, including the

helmet, changed into a variety of different colors. Yae settled on a light

purple, while Sue settled on yellow for her personal color. Nice. I thought

the colors seemed natural for them, not that I could say for sure if it suited

them given I couldn't even see their faces.

"Whoa! Mama Yae, Mama Sue, you both look so cool!"

"Yeah! You look just like sentai heroes!"

Linne and Steph's eyes were sparkling as they looked at them. Did

future me decide to show the kids some tokusatsu?

"Mom, I want a suit like this too!"

"And me, Mommy!"

You guys don't even need them...

I could already envision a terrifying future where they wore them like

regular clothes.

The other kids didn't seem to be all that interested. Frei seemed a little

curious, but more just about the defensive properties of it as a piece of

armor.

Kuon had realized that they wouldn't need to pilot the Valkyries

anymore if their mothers no longer felt the effects of the divine venom, so

even if they had suits made, it would be little more than something to dress

up in.

Usually, it was the boys who would be all over the sentai aesthetic, but

our son was the complete opposite. Not that I was terribly surprised by this

point, of course.

◇ ◇ ◇

A large shadow slowly lumbered through the depths of the sea.

Frightened by the intruder, the fish that lurked there scattered. It moved

steadily through the murky ocean depths before coming to a stop and

releasing a hundred small probes around it.

"V00 to V99 dispatched successfully."

In the bridge of the white whale-shaped Over Gear, Val Albus, the white

crown, Illuminati Albus, started up the many probes. Despite the sheer

number of them, he scanned through every single monitor in search of any

abnormalities.

Suspicious shadows, strange terrain, man-made deposits... Whatever

caught Albus's eye, he had the probes analyze them in detail. The Gollem

never missed even one moment that something strange was in sight.

"Enlarge frame data V21."

One of the monitors was projected much larger than before. It showed

what appeared to be an ordinary rock face on the ocean floor, except there

was a large fault on its surface with a crack running straight through as if it

had been sliced clean in half.

The probe rolled down into the crevasse, falling further and further, until

eventually, it revealed something on Val Albus's monitor: a large, box-like

hull with suspicious lines of light running through it, propellers on either

side.

Albus matched the captured data with the records, then changed from

exploration mode to observation mode.

"The Ark has been discovered."

◇◇◇

Upon receiving news of the discovery of the Ark from Albus, we

immediately used a [Gate] to teleport to the Over Gear.

As reported, we saw the Ark being displayed on the monitor.

"There's no mistake, that has to be the Ark. We've finally found it."

What was our next step, though? Just launching an all-out attack?

"No, remember what happened the first time we found the Ark," Doc

Babylon said. "All it took was the few seconds that we were blinded by that

smokescreen for the Ark to vanish. If we aren't careful, it'll just be a repeat

of that situation."

Yeah, she had a point. There was little reason to doubt anymore that that

had been the special power of the diver man's wicked vessel. All it took

was the smallest opening, and he could teleport anything away, which

meant we had to either defeat him or render his weapon useless.

"We shouldn't stay in these waters for too long, anyway. Albus, leave

some of the probes and get Val Albus out of here. Our advantage will go to

waste if we end up getting caught."

"Understood."

On Doc Babylon's orders, Val Albus slowly retreated from the Ark. Like

she said, if we were caught, the chances were high they would just teleport

away again.

"Could we not use [Teleport] to infiltrate it directly?" Sue suggested.

"They likely have a barrier up, so I can't say that's the best idea," Doc

Babylon said. "The chances of you bouncing off that barrier and ending up

teleporting into the water instead aren't zero."

I'd rather avoid that, thanks.

The last thing I wanted to do was to get crushed by the water pressure.

"Well, we can keep an eye on the Ark now, we can. There is no longer

any need to worry about any more port towns being attacked, there is."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Leen replied. "Nothing says they need the Ark

to go with them when they make their attacks, they simply need to teleport

the Kyklops directly there."

"O-Oh, I see. Teleportation magic sure is a force to be reckoned with, it

is..."

Myself, Sakura, Yakumo, and Yoshino all frowned a little. We knew Yae

hadn't been directing her words directly at us, but we also knew what

everyone was thinking. It was frustrating not being able to infiltrate the

enemy's base when it was literally right there in front of us.

While the risk existed that they could escape the moment they were

made aware of our presence, we couldn't afford to make any reckless

moves, which only left breaking that diver helmet guy's wicked vessel. But

that would mean we would need a new sacred treasure to carry that out in

the first place, so I had to complete the sacred core already.

I was already most of the way there with it. I had managed to get the

condensed divinity to the size of a golf ball, so now I had to get it from

there to the size of a marble and it would be complete. But this had really

increased the urgency.

"For now, let's keep an eye on it and see if we can sneak a probe or a

transmitter inside. There has to be somewhere that small objects can get in,

like a ballast tank or a drainage pipe."

Oh, so we can track them even if they make their escape? That sounds

good in theory, but...

"Even if we managed to get something inside, wouldn't the barrier block

any transmissions?"

"You just leave that to me. I'll work something out."

Doc Babylon's face stretched wide in a confident smirk. Who was really

the villain here with that look on her face?

"You act that way a lot too, Touya."

"Yeah. Her evil face looks just like yours."

"Ha ha ha, come on now, Elze, Linze, whatever are you two talking

about? I would never make such an evil face. Right, everyone?"

I looked around seeing if anyone would support me, but not a single

person nodded.

Dammit.

◇◇◇

"Gnnnrrrrrrggghhhhhhhhh!"

Sweat was streaming down my face from the exertion as I tried to

condense the sacred core the last little bit it needed to become smaller than

a golf ball.

If I let myself get distracted for even a second, the divine essence would

just rebound, so I had to slowly and carefully condense it as evenly as

possible.

I had been battling with it for a whole two hours by this point. Even the

kids who had been watching me out of curiosity at the start had eventually

grown bored and left. I was feeling a little lonely, honestly...

"Do your best, my liege!"

"Don't lose focus!"

Feeling sorry for me after I'd been abandoned by the children, Kohaku

and Luli were cheerleading, while Sango, Kokuyou, and Kougyoku

watched over me from the side.

And so, the battle in the courtyard continued for another two hours.

Noon had already passed, and I was two steps away from complete

exhaustion, but I finally managed to bring the core to the size of a

somewhat large marble.

"Now I just...need to...lock iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

As if I was scrambling a Rubik's Cube so much that it was near

impossible to solve with ease, I placed a lock around the sacred core that

was so sturdy it would never open again. And with that, it was complete.

"I...did it..."

I fell face-first onto the ground.

I can't move anymore... I don't think I could even lift a finger...

"My liege, are you all right?"

"No 'mnyot..."

I was so exhausted that my mouth was barely moving properly. I had

never been this exhausted in my whole time of being in this world. I didn't

even have the energy left to use restorative magic. If an assassin approached

me now, they'd get me easy.

You damn wicked devout... This is the perfect chance for you to kill me.

If you let this pass, you'll never get a chance again. You had your one

chance...! Wait, this isn't good. My thoughts are starting to go to weird

places too...

Even if an assassin did come, the Heavenly Beasts would protect me.

Though if we didn't have that mana tank up on Babylon, they'd no doubt

have all dematerialized by now.

I stared at the core lying on the ground beside me. It was a crystalline

sphere letting off a platinum haze of divinity. It was definitely a complete

sacred core.

"I finally finished you…" I murmured.

I'd better get it in [Storage] before I lose it…Though even if I did

accidentally lose it, it would be easy enough to recall it to myself.

I managed to open a marble-sized [Storage] and drop it in.

I'm seriously at my limit here...

Kohaku and the others watched over me as I finally gave in to the

comfortable exhaustion and lost consciousness.

◇◇◇

"Hmm... For your first time, it is made quite well. It will serve its job as

a sacred core perfectly fine."

Oh, nice. If I've gotten the seal of approval from Kraft, then there's no

doubt about it. Finally, no more of that horrible grueling process.

I had gone to see Kraft in Mismede after I finished creating the sacred

core to receive his appraisal.

"Have you decided on a vessel for it?"

"About that... Is it possible for me to make a sacred treasure that can

change shape however the wielder likes, kinda like Sousuke's?"

"Sousuke? Ahhh, the god of music. There are two types of sacred

treasure that can change form: the first is the type that reads its user's

thoughts and changes form accordingly—that is what Everchanging

Wonder is doing—and the other is the type that has various forms

determined from the start which it can morph between. Both have their own

merits and demerits."

The issue with the type that could change shape at will was that it

required the user to be able to imagine the desired form in detail. It meant

you had to understand the exact shape of what you wanted and be able to

mentally reconstruct it at will—in Sousuke's case, he had to completely and

thoroughly understand the structure of his instruments. For example, if he

wanted a piano, he had to comprehend the inner structure of the hammers.

Isn't that practically impossible? Maybe it's just a bit more complicated

in Sousuke's case because it's an instrument he's forming.

I thought that simple weapons like swords, spears, or axes wouldn't need

that complicated of an image, but apparently, you had to fully envision the

weight and durability as well. That would be such a pain...

The natural merit of that type was that it could change into anything you

wanted, including anything that you made up with your imagination. But of

course, even that came with the demerit that the image had to be perfectly

thought out. It also took special adjustments made in the forging process, so

it was difficult to craft.

And then, there was the type that involved swapping between

predetermined forms. The merits here were that the time taken to have it

change shape was much shorter, it put less burden on the user, and creating

it was simple. The main demerit was, as you would expect, it could only

morph into the forms already decided for it, and you couldn't make any

additional changes after completion.

"Hearing that, the switch type might be best…"

Reducing the burden on both the user and the crafter sounded ideal. I

was still a beginner at this sort of thing, after all, so I'd rather avoid trying

to get too ambitious.

"I can assure you the chances of failure are much decreased with the

switch type. The small adjustments required for the freely-morphing type

aren't something a beginner can deal with easily, both for the crafter and the

user."

"Oh, right, is it possible to expand these weapons? The wicked vessels

were able to."

"Expand them? Ohhh, I understand. That would be the Optimization

feature that allows the sacred treasure to automatically change size to fit its

wielder's stature. That has nothing to do with the sacred core, so it should

be comparatively easier to add on later."

I see. So it wasn't a feature tied to the sacred core, but to the materials

used for the vessel. The wicked vessels did have a lot of extra abilities like

being able to call down lightning too.

"As for any other special effects to be added to the weapon, you wanted

Divinity Neutralization, right?"

"Yes, if you can do that."

Divinity Neutralization was, as the name implied, an ability that could

disable the power of an enemy's divinity. That meant it would be possible

to seal off any abilities that stemmed from that, including the diver dude's

teleportation. The only issue was that we would need somehow to get him

in range to have it affect him in the first place.

"However...when you think about it, it is rather strange."

"What is?"

"These wicked devout have their own sacred treasures, and multiple of

them at that. Just where are they coming from?"

"Huh? Uhhh...from the wicked god, no? Only gods can make them, after

all."

Why was he asking this question now? Yura gave birth to the wicked

god, was then taken over by the wicked god, became the NEET god, and

what was left was the wicked vessels, right?

"Let us not forget that you are a ward of God Almighty. And yet, despite

that, it took you many months just to create your own sacred treasure. Are

you telling me that a simple former servile god could make so many in such

a short time?"

"You've got a point there..."

The weapons that the wicked devout had were sacred treasures, I think.

Or maybe they weren't? Were they just imitations? But they were definitely

coated in divinity.

"Maybe he...made a bunch of them over time when he was still a servile

god?"

"Would someone putting in that much effort fall into depravity in such a

way?"

Probably not. He was the type of guy to blame any issues on those

around him, despite not putting in the effort himself, and then he'd pretend

as if he wasn't showing his full power yet. There was no way someone like

that had slowly been chipping away at making sacred treasures.

"But then, where did the wicked vessels come from?"

"Did they revamp an already-existing sacred treasure? Or perhaps...they

aren't sacred treasures at all?"

So they were just fakes? The wicked god wasn't considered a proper god

to begin with, so could we really call these sacred treasures?

"There are cases of the wicked god creating weapons cloaked in divinity,

such as with the wicked blade, but those were one or two, not multiple."

We had seen at least five wicked vessels by this point: the brown meat

cleaver and purple spear that Yakumo and Frei had destroyed, the diver

guy's blue hand axe, the plague mask man's red rapier, and the orange mace

belonging to the masked woman that Yakumo had encountered. That was

quite a lot.

"Could it be...?" Kraft mumbled before falling into thought for a

moment. Then, he shook his head and looked back at me. "Well, nothing to

be gained by continuing this line of thought. Let us return to your sacred

treasure. How many forms would you like it to be able to morph into,

excluding the expanded form?"

"Oof, that's a tough one to think up on the spot."

"Usually, these kinds of weapons are made so that anyone can use them

or so that you can respond to any situation on the fly, but have you already

decided who you would like to wield it?"

Who did I want to have wield it? Me and the girls were out, so it fell to

our kids, loathe as I was to admit.

Yakumo was the oldest, so maybe her? Could style it like a katana. Or

no, maybe it should be the eldest son? As Brunhild's successor, Kuon

wielding it would make sense. But then, what weapon would he want?

Maybe a sword? He did use Silver right now. Though if we went by natural

combat sense, Linne was also a candidate for it, so maybe gauntlets. Ugh,

but then Frei would definitely complain about not getting to use it. And

honestly, so would the other kids.

"Mmmnnngh..."

Trying to decide this was tough... The only reason I thought about

making it a sacred treasure that could change shape in the first place was

because I saw the wicked devout have their weapons grow in size to fit their

Kyklops. If we couldn't counter with a weapon of similar size, then we'd be

in trouble. But if what Kraft said was true, we could just apply that ability

afterward.

In that sense, I technically didn't even need to make a weapon that could

morph. Technically. But if I made a sacred treasure that suited only one of

the kids, they'd definitely get into a fight about it.

Okay, no, the best course of action here was to make a sacred treasure

that could morph into weapons that suited all of them. It would give us a lot

more flexibility if everyone could use it, and it meant no one was left out.

That did mean it would need to switch into nine forms, though, which

was a lot.

"A weapon that can morph into nine different forms, eh? Sounds good to

me. But we'll need to make the preparations for it. I would recommend you

use a divinistone."

Kraft produced a pure white stone out of nowhere that was about the

size of a pickling stone. Divinistone was a special ore that had also been

used to make our wedding rings. You could make it hold special properties

depending on the divinity it was infused with.

In fact, I was pretty sure Kraft had been the one to design our rings in

the first place.

I took the divinistone that Kraft had materialized and began feeding it

my divinity. It gradually changed from a pure white to a platinum sheen.

......

...Uhhh, how long was I meant to keep infusing it?

I've been at this for a while now. Am I done yet?

"Preferably until you hit your limit. That will allow the stone to become

accustomed to your divinity and become much stronger. This isn't

something you can change after, you see."

...You've gotta be kidding.

The act of infusing it with my divinity wasn't difficult in and of itself,

but putting it in until I hit my limit? Making the sacred core had been tough

enough, and no one told me that making the vessel was going to be just as

bad.

Suddenly, I understood why the other gods hated making sacred

treasures. Just making one for yourself was plenty…

A few hours later, I had infused almost all of my divinity into the

divinistone and was one step away from keeling over. Kraft was standing

beside me, looking satisfied with the result.

"Wonderful. This will be perfect. What would you like to do about the

actual weapon base? I'm perfectly fine with designing it, or you can do it

yourself."

Usually, asking the literal god of crafting would be best, but this was

something I would be bestowing to my kids, so I wanted to see it all

through to the end. Even if the design sucked, so long as it did its job, that

would be fine, right...?

It was well and good that I wanted to do something for my children, but

I was absolutely exhausted after completing the divinistone, so I wouldn't

be able to do anything about it right now.

Yeah, we'll deal with it tomorrow.

And then, Kraft swooped in and dropped the horrific news:

"I should've mentioned this earlier, but you'll need to make a sacred

core for every form you want the weapon to take, so you'll need to make

eight more."

"...Excusez-moi?"

Is this god completely off his rocker?

Did he even realize just how much effort it took me to make one sacred

core? And now he wanted me to make eight more?! Did I look like I had a

death wish?!

Give me strength...

◇◇◇

"I...I finished the...bloody cores, mate."

Why my accent suddenly changed to a place I hadn't been, I could not

tell you, but regardless, I collapsed on the spot after saying that.

I had been fooled by Kraft's belief (which held absolutely no basis, by

the by) that having done it once meant the next time would be easier, but by

the time I was done, I really did feel as if my soul had been sucked out of

my body.

One whole week. For one whole week, I was confined in Kraft's house,

made to do nothing but create sacred cores. I think I was actually quite

amazing for making eight whole cores in only seven days!

For all my complaining, it wasn't as if what he had said hadn't been true,

since I did manage to make the rest of the cores without even failing once.

Was this what they called a breakthrough?

But even if they were easier to make, it didn't change the fact that I was

still utterly exhausted by the end.

Honestly, knowing where the end goal was had made the journey there

just seem even longer. I was exhausted before I even started.

What I'm saying makes no sense? Yeah, I agree.

Anyway, I was pooped. I was ready to sleep for three whole days

straight. Kraft said the switch type was supposed to be easier to forge than

the freely-morphing one, but you literally only had to make one core for the

freely-morphing variant! That would have been way easier…

"Usually, when people make the switch type, they limit it to two or three

forms. When you start reaching numbers as high as nine, then yes, the other

type would probably be easier. But that's only if the wielder is a god. If

you're giving it to a human to wield, then this is just the better option,"

Kraft explained while evaluating the cores I had just made.

The kids were only demigods, which meant that half of them was

human. If I considered how the increased burden put on me lowered the

burden placed on them, it made my struggle a little easier to swallow. And

besides, it wasn't as if sacred treasures were ordinarily something to be

made this fast. Keeping that in mind, the switch type was much less

difficult overall if you were taking your time with it.

"Honestly, would it not have been easier for me to make nine separate

sacred treasures instead?"

"I can't exactly approve of making so many, no. It would bring chaos to

the surface world, and the one who would have to manage them is you.

Sacred treasures are generally unbreakable, which means that responsibility

would follow you around for time immemorial. I do think you should do

what you can to lower the possible risk."

I couldn't argue with that. One wrong move and I'd have created a

breeding ground for a new wicked god. That danger only increased the

more sacred treasures there existed in the world.

Yeah, you know what, maybe just one sacred treasure is good.

"Though, if you store them in the Pantheon's treasury, then there's no

fear of them being stolen."

"Doesn't it take thousands of years to find something in there once you

throw it in? I thought it was basically the gods' junkyard."

"No need to fret the details."

Is that really something to wave off? Is there no god who can manage it?

I feel like it would benefit you guys a ton if you could pull out a sacred

treasure that does what you need when you need it.

I was afraid I would end up being the one forced to do that if I said

anything, though, so I chose to remain silent. Like hell I was going to waste

tens and thousands of years sorting that mess out.

"With the sacred cores complete, all that's left is finishing off the

vessels. Have you decided what exactly you want to make?"

"Pretty much. Though there's still one I'm a little unsure of."

A katana for Yakumo, gauntlets for Linne, a staff for Elna, a dagger for

Arcia, and a gun for Quun. That was easy enough. But that then left Kuon,

Frei, Yoshino, and Steph.

Kuon and Frei were all-rounders, so they could likely handle anything.

Steph could use [Prison] and did a lot of very aggressive tackles, so a

shield that would let her do a shield tackle sounded good.

The issue was Yoshino. What exactly was her weapon of choice?

She wasn't really a fighter, more of a supporter. I guess her signature

weapon was...an instrument? Maybe a guitar to bash into enemies? Wait,

no, that was not how you're meant to use a guitar. Yoshino would be sad if

she had to mistreat an instrument like that.

Though I did see something like a guitar axe in the past. As it sounded,

it was just a guitar and an axe joined together. Maybe that would be good.

At the end of the day, it wasn't as if the children were only allowed to

use their signature weapon. They could fight with a spear, or they could

fight with a gun, whatever they felt like at the time. I just selfishly wanted

to make sure they each had a weapon that suited them best. They were

welcome to choose whatever weapon they needed at the time.

"Alrighty, how about we start getting this divinistone changed into those

weapons, then, hm?" Kraft smiled.

"Oh, yeah, okay..."

I felt only despair as I considered how much longer this was going to

take.

◇◇◇

"So that is what you ultimately decided on for Yoshino's weapon, is it?"

Yae was looking at the completed sacred treasure being held in

Yoshino's hands when I had met them in the castle's courtyard.

Put simply, the weapon I had given Yoshino was a bow. Of course, it

was not just any old regular bow. Bows would usually have only one string,

but this one had multiple. It was both a bow and a harp, a harpbow, if you

would.

Yoshino pulled back one of the many strings, assumed a firing stance,

and in that moment, a light arrow formed between her fingers.

She aimed it up to the blue sky and fired, the arrow soaring away into

the distance.

It was a divine arrow. If that struck one of the wicked devout, there was

no way they would get out unscathed. Though Yoshino had never wielded a

bow before, so I was worried about her accuracy.

Maybe I should have Karina teach her?

This time, Yoshino plucked one of the strings and a clear sound echoed

around us.

Growing adjusted to the weapon, she began playing a tune on it.

Hang on, is this what I think it is?

It was the prelude for another RPG that rivaled the RPG of which she

had conducted the overture for at the concert the other day.

Had future me done nothing but made her listen to game music?

A beautiful melody as fantastical and final as the game's title suggested

floated through the courtyard of the castle.

"She is most certainly treating this as an instrument first, weapon

second," Kuon muttered in slight exasperation.

"It still has an effect even as an instrument, so there's no real issue

there," I replied.

To show him what I meant, I sliced my finger a little with a knife. The

wound immediately sealed itself, leaving only a streak of red. It was a

restorative effect.

This wasn't due to any special ability of the sacred treasure, so I could

only assume it was Yoshino's performance magic amplified by the weapon.

It was an unexpected side effect, but not a bad one.

Annoyed by Yoshino's continuous harp playing, Linne barged her way

forward.

"It's not fair that Yoshino gets to hog it! Let me try it too!"

"Aww, I'm having such a good time, though."

Though Yoshino complained, she did let go of the harpbow.

At that moment, the weapon immediately changed into a metal sphere

cloaked in platinum light that was about the size of a baseball. It was the

true appearance of the sacred treasure I had forged.

Yoshino took the sphere and lightly tossed it over to Linne. Rather than

landing in her hand, the sphere began circling Linne like a satellite.

This was the defensive mode of the sacred treasure. It would shoot down

projectiles like arrows or bullets and protect its wielder. In a way, it was

very similar to my Reginleif's gear.

"All right, sacred treasure equip!"

Linne made a dramatic show of crossing her arms in front of her chest,

and then the platinum sphere separated into various threads that wrapped

around them.

The sacred treasure instantly morphed into sturdy gauntlets that went

from her fingertips to her elbows.

"Dad, gimme something I can break!"

"Of course that's how you'd want to test it, you little rascal..."

Did I really have to find something specifically for her to break? Did I

even have anything like that stored?

It was a pain to think too hard, so I took out a piece of an Upper

Construct that was about the size of a kei car from [Storage] and plopped it

in the middle of the garden.

I enhanced its durability to about that of a Frame Gear's body with some

of my magic. Then, to ensure no shards would fly off somewhere it

shouldn't, I also erected a [Prison] around the area. I didn't think anything

like that would happen, but better safe than sorry.

"Let's do this! [Gravity]!"

When Linne's signature smash hit the body part, the enhanced gauntlets

shattered the piece of Phrase with tremendous force. With a clear, crisp

sound, the tiny fragments of Phrase scattered in an instant.

Holy shit, she completely shattered it... It's a good thing I put up the

[Prison].

The sacred treasure itself had no enhancements that increased the

strength of the wielder, so it must have been related to the divinistone. It

was a divine ore that many gods used in the creation of sacred treasures, so

it wouldn't be so strange for it to have a divinity-enhancing effect, but it

still caught me by surprise.

Linne was only a demigod and she still had that much strength. It

seemed like it might be a good idea to make a specialized sacred treasure

for myself one day. Not that I would be allowed to use it on the surface

world, but still.

"That was insane! Dad, one more!"

"That's not fair, Linne! I wanna give it a try too!" Steph whined just as

Linne had a moment before.

Though often marching to the beat of her own drum, Linne was clearly

weak to her younger sister's requests, so she handed the weapon over to

Steph without complaint.

"Saycrid treasure aquip!"

Steph grabbed the treasure once it returned to the sphere, held it out, and

this time, it turned into a large shield that was about the same size as her. It

was a platinum-colored shield with the crest of a war maiden engraved in it.

The divinistone would allow the weight to adjust in accordance with the

wielder, so it shouldn't have been too hard for her to hold.

Although it was a large shield, it was like a mini version of one, since it

was adjusted to fit Steph. It was quite cute, honestly.

"Daddy! Bring out the same thing you did with Linne!"

"Again?" I sighed. But regardless, I took out another piece of a Phrase

from [Storage] once more.

◇◇◇

"Seems there's no issue with its abilities at least."

After giving a rough test of all the weapons, it seemed that there were no

fatal issues. Divinity Neutralization appeared to be working as intended as

well, given none of us could use divine power when anywhere near the

sacred treasure. I tried using a divinity-enhanced [Search] to see, and I

could say for certain it didn't activate.

According to Kraft, neutralizing divinity was a fairly common ability to

put on a sacred treasure. In common magic terms, it was similar to

[Silence]. Interfering with your opponent was a normal strategy to want to

take.

The part that caught me by surprise was that the range of Divinity

Neutralization was different depending on the form the treasure was in:

close-range weapons had a much smaller range than long-range weapons.

When taking the form of a melee weapon such as the katana, sword, or

dagger, it could only neutralize divinity in a five-meter radius, whereas

weapons like the gun or harpbow could neutralize in a fifty-meter radius.

However, the more the range expanded, the more the effect would diminish

toward the edges. That meant if we wanted to completely seal the enemy's

divinity, we would need to fight them up close and personal.

The other issue was that when Divinity Neutralization was activated, our

own divinity was also neutralized.

Since the kids were demigods, they'd unconsciously been using a small

steady stream of divine power since they were born. That was what resulted

in their inhuman strength. So while Divinity Neutralization was active, their

physical capabilities would also lower somewhat. Naturally, that meant the

same for the other side too, though.

At the very least, the ability was something you had to trigger, so as long

as they didn't use it willy-nilly, it wouldn't become too much of an issue.

But considering there were times they could be caught by surprise, I'd feel

a lot safer if they generally always had it turned off.

Frei and Elna could use [Power Rise] and [Boost] respectively, so their

strength wasn't too affected, but Elna wasn't really the type to be at the

frontline anyway, so I couldn't say it meant much. Maybe it would be best

to have Yakumo, Frei, or Kuon defeat the diver guy, and then take down the

other wicked devout individually after losing their means of escape.

Still...it would be quite the blitzkrieg to infiltrate the Ark, find the diver

helmet guy, and then defeat him with the sacred treasure as soon as

physically possible. It would be fine if he was by himself, but if he wasn't,

it may actually be much more dangerous for us to just charge in.

Anyway, I should check with Doc Babylon to see what the Ark is doing

first.

With that decided, I opened a [Gate] to Babylon.

When I entered Babylon's laboratory, Doc Babylon was staring at the

wall monitor with a frown on her face as usual.

"Any progress?"

"Maybe not progress, but...just look at this."

Doc Babylon used a small remote control to swap screens.

Huh...? Is the Ark moving?

The Ark was currently located in the southwest waters of the continent

where Isengard used to be. It was hiding in the depths of a trench, but now

it appeared to slowly be moving.

"Is it heading for Isengard?"

"Sure looks like it. Do they intend to attack another port? Or..."

Isengard had been hit by a string of disasters, from the witch-king's

rampage, to the appearance of the wicked god, to the outbreak of

goldflower pox, and it had resulted in the land becoming fairly desolate.

Regardless, many people still lived there. No new governments or

countries had formed since its fall, but there were a lot of small city-states

dotted about, and for those city-states, it was much easier to develop coastal

cities than ones in the middle of the region.

As Isengard had been an industrial nation, there were many skilled

craftsmen, allowing them to continue trade even after its destruction. They

were blessed with neighboring nations such as Strain, Gardio, and Lassei,

who were more than willing to engage with them.

Fortunately (?), the cataclysm had completely cut off any land routes

into the country, preventing any direct invasions. Of course, Isengard was

not all that appealing of a country to invade regardless due to its various

unresolved issues. Goldflower pox was still rampant, bandits were roving

the land, and there remained a refugee problem, so trade was the only

reason for countries to interact with it.

However, the only part of the country benefiting from said trade was the

northeast that actually faced those major powers; the coastal cities in the

southwest were nowhere near as developed. If the Ark continued to head

straight for Isengard, there was a chance that was their goal.

There thankfully were no major coastal cities in that area, but to the ones

who were attacked, that meant nothing.

"Hm? It stopped. What are they doing?"

Doc Babylon tapped the screen, swapping cameras yet again.

The night vision probes that we had deployed were displaying the Ark,

but the dust clouds were so thick that we could barely see.

Are they digging a hole?

"I see now. They're digging up underwater resources."

"Oh, to help them produce more of their Kyklops?"

"Most likely."

The Ark was like a submarine that came attached with a Babylon

workshop. The idea of them managing to produce more fodder was far from

reassuring, but we couldn't do anything to interfere with them at the

moment. If we interfered and they teleported away again, we would be back

to square one.

"Hold on, if they're mining here, does that not mean they have a way to

gather whatever they're excavating? Hm… Let's take advantage of the dust

cloud to make our approach. See if we can infiltrate it like this."

"Huh? Are you sure that'll work?"

"Just watch, yeah?"

Doc Babylon fiddled with the console, and one of the probes the size of

a ping-pong ball approached the Ark.

It looked like the Ark would dig up the ground in front of it, sort out

which ores had the desired components in the middle, and then discharge

any sediment or unnecessary materials behind it.

Our probes were made of mithril, so it should be detected as something

to retrieve, but was this really safe? What if it got dropped down into a blast

furnace and completely melted?

"If that happens, they'll just think they happened to find some mithril,

nothing more. Oh, hey, it actually got picked up."

After the screen shook at a sickening intensity, the probe was moved to

an indeterminate location together with a bunch of crushed ore.

"Wasn't the Ark meant to be surrounded by a barrier? Can you use the

probe inside there?"

"If I relay a signal to it from an external probe, we can connect to it

through the magical energy in the air and sea. It's a fairly tenuous

connection, but it'll stay connected while the Ark's digging at least. By the

way, it's set to explode if the signal cuts off, so don't worry, we won't leave

any evidence," Doc Babylon said before chuckling maniacally to herself.

Isn't that a bit extreme?

The probe was placed on a conveyor belt alongside the excavated ore.

Doc Babylon took that opportunity to have the probe fly off and make its

escape.

The interior of the Ark was dim enough that made it difficult to see.

Though the probe did have a light attached, we didn't want to risk getting

caught.

Currently, the probe was in what appeared to be a storeroom for all the

ore. The whirring of the conveyor belt was the only sound we could hear.

Several hatches along the wall seemed to lead somewhere, but such a small

probe had no chance of opening them.

"Look, there seems to be an air vent. Let's head out through there."

The probe approached a vent near the top of the door, then used a laser

to hollow out the cover and get itself inside.

"These kinds of air vents are generally connected to every room, but if

we don't hurry, they'll finish excavating before we're done."

The probe floated soundlessly through the narrow corridor. The footage

we were receiving from it made it feel like we were going through some

dungeon. The size of the vent was little more than 20cm x 20cm, but the

little sphere continued moving through the branching tunnel.

"There's some noise coming from that direction. Let's go that way."

When the probe turned the corner, noise suddenly interfered with the

footage for a moment as it dropped to the ground. However, it immediately

picked itself back up and continued its advance.

"Mmm, seems like the signal's gonna drop soon. I'd like to get some

useful information before that happens, though... Oh?"

The area the probe was headed for was bright. On the right side of the

ventilation pipe was a vent connected to another room.

Peeking through the slits of the cover, the footage showed a whole row

of Kyklops lined up. The room somehow managed to look wider than the

ship itself from the outside. Had they expanded this one space? It looked

just like Babylon's hangar.

"They didn't hesitate to mass produce them, huh?"

"There are some frames we haven't seen here before too... Are they a

new type? That means we're not the only ones making new developments,"

Doc Babylon sighed despondently.

Could we not set up a bomb or something? It would save us a lot of

hassle if we could deal with them all here. Or maybe we could even just let

the probe self-destruct?

When I asked Doc Babylon about it, she said that the probe's selfdestruct mechanism was designed so it would disappear without leaving

evidence. It was imploded using Space-time magic, so it was impossible to

use it to actually blow up the surroundings.

Tch!

"Hm? What's that?"

Doc Babylon changed the angle of the camera and leaned forward. I

leaned forward together with her and immediately saw someone I

recognized: it was the guy with the black coat and the plague mask. He was

the wicked devout that had been present when they stole the Ark... Well, I

guess the Ark wasn't really ours to begin with, but that wasn't important.

He seemed to be fiddling with the computer terminal on a desk by the

wall. Next to it, a red crystal the size of a balance ball was affixed to a large

funnel, and beneath it was a large container filled with a murky red liquid.

I felt like I had seen that large crystal somewhere before. Was that not

the artificial spellstone I had seen when I went to that one Felsen auction

with Frei? Why was that here?

"Hm?"

Was I just imagining things, or did a bit of that liquid distort slightly?

No, it wasn't just my imagination. The liquid was doing this eerie

undulating motion. The way it was rippling like some worm made the sight

so much creepier.

"No way, is that a Gluttony Slime?" Doc Babylon murmured to herself.

"What's that?" I asked. I had never heard of a Slime like that before.

"The Gluttony Slime was an artificial Slime developed during the

ancient era. It takes in anything it finds, feeds on it, and endlessly grows.

Originally, it was created to help dispose of dangerous waste, but its

creators failed to control it, so it ended up going wild. It grew so ginormous

it managed to swallow up the country whole. Apparently, the allied forces

of the neighboring countries managed to seal it in a magic crystal and get

rid of it, but..."

Then did that mean it was the Gluttony Slime that was inside of that

artificial spellstone? What were they trying to do using something like that?

I had a bad feeling about all of this.

"Oh, someone entered the room."

I lifted my head and saw someone enter the hangar through a hatch in

the wall.

The moment we saw who it was, we both froze.

"Wha—?!"

"How could this...be...?"

The one who entered the room was not a human, but a Gollem. One that

looked exactly like someone we saw on the daily.

It looked just like Seraphic Gold, the gold crown. The Gollem that had

Steph as its master was here, right now, in the Ark, the enemy stronghold.

What was going on here?

"Run search: Gold, the gold crown."

"Searching… Search complete. One match found."

When I ran the search, all that appeared was a pin in Brunhild Castle.

The one in the Ark was blocked by the barrier, I imagined.

"Gold's in the castle, so who's that?"

"Is it just the same type of unit? I heard that Chrom Ranchesse only

made one of each crown, but maybe there were two gold crowns."

While they had the Ark in their possession, I had surmised that they

would also have a crown, but I assumed it would have been a yetundiscovered one, not one of the exact same type that we had.

Noticing the gold crown's presence, the plague mask said something to

it, but the air vent was too far away to clearly hear what he was saying.

"Is that plague mask guy the master of that gold crown?"

"I couldn't tell you, honestly. Remember that Steph met Gold after he

came falling out of the sky. If that was a rip in Space-time, then it's possible

they were both sent from the past."

The black crown Noir and the white crown Albus both arrived in Belfast

after crossing time from a thousand years in the past due to Chrom

Ranchesse's rampage. The possibility existed that both of the gold crowns

ended up arriving here in the same manner due to a timequake.

"Huh? What's going on with the Slime?"

The red Gluttony Slime began undulating much more violently inside

the container. As if to mock how intently we were staring at the screen,

noise suddenly interfered with our view as we were trying to discern what

was happening before it completely cut off.

"Oh, for—! We're out of time!"

When Doc Babylon pulled up the footage from a different probe, the

Ark had finished excavating and was already moving to another location.

The probe that had been used to infiltrate had likely self-destructed and

turned into dust.

"Well, it's not like we learned nothing. We saw the new Kyklops, the

Gluttony Slime, and the other gold crown. All of them seem like a pain in

the ass to deal with, though."

You can say that again.

Just what did they intend to use that Slime for? It was a terrifying Slime

that had once destroyed a whole country. We really needed to think of a

good counter-strategy for it. My wives didn't particularly like Slimes,

either, so I'd probably need to come up with a plan for that, too...