“Ah...” Yae mumbled as she suddenly turned her head to face us. The look on her face said it all. I could do nothing but bury my face in the palms of my hands.

“I am truly sorry, I am...” Yae muttered quietly. She’d cut the treasure chest so cleanly in two that the crystal ball inside had been bisected.

“I had planned to stop once I broke the keyhole, I had...”

I knew that much. She clearly only wanted to cut the lock open... I knew it, and yet...

“Why didn’t you slash at the edges of the chest? It would’ve been fine then.”

“Ah... That would have been a great idea, it would!” Yae exclaimed as she clapped her hands together at Linze’s comment. I wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t mess that up either, though.

Well, whatever. Not like anyone else in our party could’ve opened it up the proper way.

Whenever we found treasure chests in dungeons, I just crammed it into [Storage] and brought it back to town for a pro to open.

With nothing else to do, we watched the other parties unlock their chests and gain their points. Our team, Brunhild, scored zero points this time around, so we fell from our top position pretty rapidly. Though thankfully, we’d scored so well in the first round that we were still hanging around in the middle of the leaderboard.

“See? It’ll be fine. We’ve still got plenty of chances to turn things around.”

I tried cheering up Yae when suddenly, Odette appeared on the stage to make her next announcement.

“It’s time for the third trial, everyone! Sense or senseless? It’s the Adventurer Quiz! Gain points for correct answers! Easy peasy!”

Sense? So I guess this one’s a test of an adventurer’s common knowledge?

“However! To answer the questions, you have to find them! We’ve scattered the question sheets in sealed letters all over the city. Find them and bring them back so we can open them! We won’t accept any with broken wax seals, though!”

Odette wiggled a blue envelope that had been clearly sealed with wax. Color aside, it was easily recognizable as the seal had the guild’s crest on it. I wondered if there was a question inside that one as well.

Apparently, the questions varied in terms of difficulty. Points were awarded for correct answers, but deducted for wrong answers. You could try answering different questions until you had five wrong answers or five correct answers. In other words, you had a maximum of nine questions you could answer. Assuming you found nine envelopes, of course.

“Magic is prohibited during this trial. If you see an envelope up high, you’ll have to climb! We’ve got a two-hour time limit too! Let’s go!”

Odette signaled the start of the third round, sending the adventurers scattering off in various directions.

Wow, it’s like watching baby spiders spill out of an egg clutch.

“Let’s get going. Shall we split up?”

“Sounds wise, yeah. It would be a lot faster.”

“Okay. You all go in pairs. I’ll take Kohaku.”

Yumina went with Yae, while Elze went with Linze. Then, we fanned out across the city in search of our spoils. I headed west, away from the square in the southern ward. The east side had a ton of venues for entertainment, which meant a lot of people. I didn’t want to have to sift through crowds in my search.

“Tch... Where to find them...? If only I could use my spells...”

《My liege, look.》

Kohaku signaled upward, pointing out a blue envelope stuck to a chimney jutting out of a house’s roof.

Yup. That’s a guild envelope all right. They really put one up there? It’s easy to see, but it’ll be a pain in the ass actually getting there.

I instinctively moved to cast [Gate], but stopped myself a second into the incantation.

Whoops! Can’t use magic. Forgot it was against the rules.

“What a pain...” I mumbled as I clambered up a nearby fence, hopped onto the roof, and grabbed the envelope.

Once I returned to the square with it, there were already a bunch of adventurers with envelopes of their own lined up.

Damn, I’m late.

I took my place in line, and soon enough, it was time for the woman in front of me to try her luck. She brought her envelope to the guild staffer, who was an older-looking gentleman.

“Please answer in the designated time frame. This question is only for her, so none of you in line may try to answer.”

The man nodded sternly as he spoke. He had a small ring with an hourglass set into it, presumably to time the answers. He quickly unsealed the envelope and cleared his throat before reading out the question.

“Now...answer the following question. What material is most precious on a Lone-horned Wolf?”

“Uhm...th-the horn?”

“Correct. Congratulations.”

The man smiled as the girl’s shoulders relaxed. He then drew a little circle on her question card, made a note of her party name, and set it in a nearby box.

That was a pretty easy one. Hell, even I know that!

The girl happily skipped back to her party, which meant it was my turn next. I cautiously handed my envelope over to the man.

“Now...answer the following question. What was the weapon of choice wielded by Buckram the Legendary Dragonslayer?”

“What?!”

Who the hell is Buckram?! What?! Huh?! Weapon of choice? Like a sword or a spear or something?! I dunno! Uh...

My anxiety spiked as I watched the sand in that hourglass trickle away.

Dammit! I’m gonna run out of time! I need to shoot my shot!

“S-Sword!”

“Bzzt. Wrong answer.”

The man drew a cross on my card and dropped it into a nearby box.

“The correct answer was battle-axe. Next.”

I dejectedly slinked away from the counter, not wanting to get in the way of the people behind me.

Dammit... How was I supposed to know that one? I barely know anything about this world’s history... Fine! Another one! I don’t have time to waste anymore!

Kohaku and I rushed back out into town to grab another envelope.

“Answer the following question. What’s the price for the full course treatment at the Blooming Nectar Brothel near the adventurer’s guild in town?”

“I don’t know!”

I knew I was venting my frustration, but I couldn’t help but yell at the young guild worker in front of me. I was angry because all of my questions so far had been ridiculously difficult. Well, it wasn’t that they were hard. They were just questions that I had no chance of knowing the answers to.

“How many guild branches exist in the Kingdom of Belfast?”

“Between flamewheel grass, moonbeam grass, and royalspark grass...which is the most valuable?”

How was I supposed to know either of those? Well...the second one seemed more reasonable, but still!

Everyone else in my party had long since answered all five of their questions correctly, so now I was stuck canceling out their hard efforts by getting everything wrong. If I had more multiple-choice questions, it would’ve been a lot better, but I had no such luck. The time limit was almost over, and I was just about done.

I guess that makes me the least knowledgeable person here? But that’s understandable! I’m from another world! Augh, whatever! Let’s do the next one!

I ran out of the square on the hunt for another envelope.

Envelope... Envelope... Enveloooooope?

Just as I was about to break out into a full-on sprint to find any remaining envelopes, I caught sight of a white animal running toward me.

“Kohaku?!”

The little tiger cub was making a direct beeline for me, carrying a blue envelope between two sets of sharp teeth.

《My liege, I found one!》

“Oooh! Nice job, Kohaku!”

Technically, Kohaku was a summoned beast, so I didn’t know if that violated the magic rule or not...but I hadn’t actually used the summoning spell during the quest itself, so it was probably fine. Maybe.

I took the envelope from Kohaku and ran straight back to the square. Once I got there, I handed the envelope to the guild official, the young man who I’d yelled at on the last question. This was my last shot. I wanted to avoid answering five questions wrong in a row... If I could just get one right, I’d reclaim a little personal pride.

The man pulled the card out from the envelope.

“Oh! It’s a bonus card! If you answer correctly, it’s worth three points! And it’s such an easy question too!”

Wait, really?! Awesome! Wait, though...if I get it right, won’t I still be at -1 for points? Dammit! Then again, given the current state of things, maybe I should just count my blessings and cut my losses... Yeah, this is fine. I can get this right and bring myself back from negative four. I’ll reclaim a little dignity!

“Now then, answer the following question. What is the King of Belfast’s full name?”

“Ah...”

My blood ran cold.

The king’s name? Uh...? Uhhh... W-Wait, it was uh... Uhhh! I can picture his face. I know his face! I see him every couple of days! But I always say Your Majesty or King Belfast! Yumina’s full name is Yumina Urnea Belfast, right? So then, isn’t the latter part of his name Urnea Belfast? Wait, no. Urnea is only for women in their family! For men it’s... Urnes! Right! Duke Ortlinde had that in his surname! Urnes Belfast! So wait, then, what’s his given name?!

“I’m sure it’s... Tr... Tris...? Triscuit? Trist...blyn? No... Wyn?”

“Speak up, please.”

“Trist...wyn Urnes... Belfast?”

“...”

H-Hey. Don’t keep me in the dark here! Tell me!

“That’s right! Three points!”

Just as the man congratulated me, I heard Odette’s shrill whistle ring out over the [Speaker]. The trial had seemingly come to an end. The man circled my card, made a note of the party name, and put it in the box. I’d actually gotten one right...

But man, uh...he’s gonna be my father-in-law, so I should’ve known his name! I’ll have to reflect on that a bit...

In the end, I had negative one point, Yumina and Linze got five each, while Elze and Yae got three each. That meant we got fifteen in total, which was an average of three per person. Not bad at all. If only I hadn’t reduced the average so terribly.

Our rank wasn’t all that high after the third trial, unfortunately. It was still a little above the middle of the board, however.

“It was harder than I thought... I guess we’ve only been adventurers for about a year, so there’s no helping it.”

“It’s just a reminder of how far we still have to go! We’ll keep giving it our best! There’s still time to win the contest back!”

Yumina smiled as if to encourage Elze, who seemed slightly downcast. She was right. This was a critical point for us to earn our top spot back.

“It’s a little past noon, everyone, so we’ll take a lunch break! Worry not, we’ve prepared food for the lot of you. Send a representative over to pick it up!”

Oh, they’re providing lunch? That’s a relief. What a generous guild they are... Wait, no...they charged us to participate, so this is the least they could do.

We took our meal from the guild and started to eat. The meal itself was a large bowl of soup that I hadn’t bothered to ask anything about. There were a lot of veggies in there, along with pork-like meat.

“This is quite nice!”

It was a pretty rustic meal, not exactly the kind of thing you’d have in a restaurant, but I couldn’t complain about the taste.

I wonder what kinda meat it is... Probably monster, right?

As I chowed down on a hunk of dubiously sourced yet delicious meat, Odette began to speak from the stage once more.

“Now, everyone. We all know any good adventurer needs to have a handle on cookery. That’s why we’re going to have you cook a meal with randomly provided tools and ingredients. That’s right! The fourth trial is a Creative Cuisine Cookoff!”

Huh, so that’s what’s next?

We drew lots and ended up getting assigned ingredients and utensils randomly based on them. Our team ended up getting a well-balanced assortment of meat and veggies. As for cooking utensils, we had a saucepan and a kitchen knife. Certainly a versatile and easy set to work with, that was for sure. And yet...

“This is bad...”

“Yup.”

We used [Gate] to go wherever we wanted, so we went out and did a lot of day trips. However, due to the convenience of that spell, we ate at home instead of out on the field while adventuring. And because of my [Storage] keeping foodstuff fresh and hot, I never cooked. I could just cast a spell to produce a hot meal any time, any place.

Plus, it wasn’t just me who struggled in that department either. Yumina was a princess, so she had little in the way of practical cooking experience. Yae was good at eating, but that didn’t translate to being good at cooking. Her only hobby was swordplay. That only left Elze and Linze...

“If it’s come to this, I’ll have to do it...”

“No! Sister, don’t do it!”

Elze rolled up her sleeves and moved to pick up the knife, but Linze suddenly tackled her out of the way.

Hm? It’s rare to see Linze yell.

“It’s fine, just let me do it...”

“No, I can handle it! You wash the veggies, okay?”

“Hrm...” Elze grumbled, but followed Linze’s lead and began cleaning the vegetables.

Linze really didn’t want Elze to cook for some reason. I couldn’t help but lean in and ask why.

“...Is she that bad a cook?”

“She can cook things, but it’s very specific and not for everyone. I don’t think you’d appreciate it very much.”

Specific, huh? She has a unique style or something? Guess it’s for the best that she doesn’t participate this time, then. For this trial, we’re gonna want to have as broad an appeal as possible.

I didn’t want to risk us losing points, since our judge could end up hating whatever it was Elze was thinking of. It wasn’t a worthwhile hill to die on.

Linze began to hurriedly prepare the various ingredients. She used our limited selection of meat and veggies to create a simple, yet elegant, stir-fry. Then, she made a veggie soup with the leftovers. I tried a spoonful, and it was pretty darn nice. It wasn’t exactly fine dining, but I couldn’t imagine camping adventurers complaining about it at all.

One by one, the guild staffers came around to try every party’s food. They enjoyed certain meals, while others made them turn various shades of green.

...Sheesh, that bad?

Our food didn’t stand out, negatively or positively. We didn’t rank very high compared to most of our competitors. Nobody on our team said anything about it, though. Linze had tried her best, and it was better than anything any of us could come up with.

“Now comes the final trial! The most important skill for any budding adventurer! Crisis prevention! Your ability to assess risk and avoid danger! Can’t adventure if you’re dead, right? Survival ranks above all else!”

Oh... That’s definitely true. Adventuring is risky work, and if you don’t have good crisis prevention skills, you could definitely die.

“Take a look over here!” Odette exclaimed as she pointed at a large board that had been brought up onto the stage. There was a map on it. A map of the capital city we were in, in fact. Though, there was some kind of line drawn out that weaved through the streets in a loop.

Is it a race? The line goes through a lot of back alleys...

“The final challenge is an obstacle course! The faster you get through it and loop back, the more points you get! But be warned, traps and other dangers await you along the way... Should you fall victim to any of them, you’ll have points deducted. And if you go off course, you’ll be disqualified!”

So it’s an obstacle course... Don’t like the sound of there being traps, though. I wonder what kinds they’ll have?

The roads had all been sealed off from the general public, and given how much of the city we were using, that was no small feat... The guild clearly wielded more influence than I’d thought.

“Should we take it slow and steady?”

“But if we do that, won’t we fall behind everyone else?”

“If you rush, you are more likely to fall into a trap, you are.”

“Hmm, this is difficult...”

It’d be bad if we were too slow, but it’d probably be bad if we were too fast as well. The best course of action was probably to stay in the middle, and move to overtake when possible.

“By the way, no magic can be used to get past the traps! Specifically, we’re banning teleportation magic and magic that obstructs your competition directly or causes damage to the town! Other magic is fine, but usage of any of those types is grounds for immediate disqualification!”

Tch! I bet she added that rule just for me. And here I thought I could’ve been a little sneaky too...

“Let’s just stick together and move as a group. If anything happens, we’ll be able to help each other.”

“You’re right. Let’s move at a steady pace, while keeping aware of our surroundings.”

Yumina nodded. The course itself wasn’t all that long. If we jogged along it, we’d be at the goal in twenty minutes or less. The only issue was the traps.

The adventurers gathered at the start line. A large number of them had removed their armor, obviously trying to lighten their loads. We moved back from the front of the group and nestled ourselves in around the middle. I didn’t want to charge out in front and get taken out immediately.

“Now begins the final trial, the Obstacle Trap Race! Go!”

Odette signaled the start of the race, so we all sped forward. It started on a straight road, then went down a main street. It was hard to see past the adventurers in front of us, but I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary...

“Whoa!”

“Bwaaah!”

“W-Wait! Hwaaah?!”

The sudden cries caused a lot of people to stop dead in their tracks. I had no idea what was going on, so I peeked over and saw about ten adventurers ahead of us in a muddy pit.

“Dammit! A slick trap! We’re covered!”

The pit must have been dug out with Earth magic, while the sides of it had been reinforced to prevent it from collapsing earlier. The mud was probably at the bottom to cushion the fall. I was glad my intuition about not charging ahead recklessly was on the mark.

Everyone who was still clean ran around the pitfall and continued onward. It was a little cruel to leave them there, but this was a competition. We couldn’t afford mercy.

“We should definitely proceed carefully...”

“I know, but we can’t afford to be too slow...”

Just as I was about to reply to Yumina and tell her we needed to speed things up, a nearby adventurer got his foot caught in a snare trap and screamed as he got pulled up, hanging by his leg from a tree branch.

“...Let’s be careful, yeah.”

The adventurer in front of us turned a corner. We turned it as well, only to find him flat on his back, rolling around in pain.

“Gwabgh?!”

There was some kind of liquid underneath him. Apparently, he’d stepped right into it and fallen down. I squinted, wondering if it was oil, but quickly realized it wasn’t. It looked more slippery than that.

We avoided the shimmering, slippery liquid and proceeded onward. I wasn’t exactly fond of the idea of traps being right around the corner. If that adventurer hadn’t been there, that could’ve easily been one of us.

“What?!”

Another adventurer behind us charged around the corner and slipped on the slime, landing right next to the other guy. Truly a fearsome trap...

We passed the slippery pathway and came to a long stone bridge, only to witness a massive explosion that sent a group in front of us tumbling into the river below.

Whaaat?!

“I-It’s a minefield?!”

“Don’t worry, contestants! It may be loud and powerful, but your safety is guaranteed! Run on in and relax!”

“How am I supposed to relax when there are explosives under my feet?!”

Odette’s disembodied voice did little to settle my nerves. Another adventurer charged across the bridge, giving me a clear look at the magic circle that formed beneath his feet before it detonated and sent him flying into the water.

“Ah... It’s an explosive sound, and there’s smoke...but it’s not actually an [Explosion] spell. It’s actually Wind magic that’s similar to [Cyclone]. That’s definitely safer. It seems like it’s designed to carry the people who trigger it into the water.”

“...Even if it’s safer, it doesn’t sound fun.”

Linze’s explanation didn’t reassure me very much. Even if it wasn’t going to kill me, I didn’t want to step on a magic mine. Plus, falling into the river meant you went off the course, which equaled instant disqualification!

“Is there a way to tell where the mines are?” I mumbled to myself as I crouched down and scanned my eyes over the bridge.

...I got nothing. I thought there’d be marks or something, but I don’t see a thing.

“Touya-dono! Look!”

“Hm?”

Yae pointed at another party who’d started moving across the bridge, but this group was walking along the parapet edges instead of the main bridge itself.

Damn, that’s smart!

The parapet was too narrow for more than one person to traverse at a time, and before I’d even noticed it, a line had started to form at the sides.

“Ugh. We need to line up too!”

No, wait...if we join the line now, won’t it be too late? How do we do this? Wait... No, I get it. All we have to do is not step on the main part of the bridge, right?

“Rumble forth, Earth! Pulverizing Boulder: [Rock Crash]!”

I cast a bunch of Earth magic atop the bridge, causing a series of basketball-sized rocks to fall onto it, detonating a ton of the mines in the process. It was okay to use because it didn’t cause any damage to the town.

A few of the rocks had blown away, but the ones that remained could now be used as safe stepping-stones to the other side.

Hell yeah! Let’s go!

“Amazing. We can cross now!”

“Great work, Touya!”

Elze charged ahead and leapfrogged her way across the bridge, the rest of us following suit shortly after. The people who were crossing via the parapet were struggling to keep their balance, but there was no way for them to turn back or escape.

We kept going as fast as we could, running ahead after coming down from our stepping-stones. We made it past net traps, gust traps, and even a trap that was just a bunch of food laid out enticingly for us to eat. Then, before we knew it, we were in the lead. It was dangerous being this far ahead, but we had to forge on.

“We will win if we keep this up, we will!”

I nodded over to Yae. We couldn’t afford to drop our guard, however. There could always have been an unexpected twist up ahead, which was usually how things worked with races like this.

Another bridge stood before us. It was different from the one we’d passed earlier, but it ran over the same river.

“Is it another minefield?”

“I don’t know, but let’s not waste any time. We’ll cross the same way as before.”

I cast [Rock Crash] again and dropped a bunch of rocks down on the bridge. Apparently, this was another minefield, as some of the rocks blew up on impact. The girls went on ahead, hopping from stone to stone. I went last, using my Brunhild’s [Explosion] bullets to blow up the rocks behind me.

Fortunately, I couldn’t see anyone behind us, but I didn’t want to give them any chances. Thus, breaking the stones was the rational choice.

“Hm?”

I glanced to the side and saw a little cat walking along the bridge’s parapet.

...Uhhh, why’s there a cat here? Wait! Hey, kitty! Don’t jump down there, that’s a minefield!

“Stop!”

My body instinctively moved to rescue the kitty cat. I jumped from my rock and caught the cat before it made contact with the bridge. Then, I tossed the kitten to Yae, who was just a little bit in front of us...but it was too late for me. The magic circle was already beginning to form at my feet.

“Bwahaaah?!”

“Touya-dono?!”

“Touya?!”

The explosion went off, the wind took me upward, and I tumbled over the parapet and into the waters below...

◇　◇　◇

“And the winner is... Team Silverwind!”

A cheer resounded across the plaza. I sat there, soaking wet, slowly clapping my hands. My expression was blank.

“Dammit...”

“There is no helping it, there is not.”

“I’m sorry, guys. I messed it all up.”

“No, it’s not your fault Touya.”

“It was just bad luck.”

A single point. We lost by a single point. I was disqualified, but everyone else finished, bringing us rocketing up the scoreboard...to second place. If I’d finished as well, we would’ve come out on top. If I just hadn’t fallen in the river, even with my point reduction, I could’ve won it for us. It was so frustrating to think about.

“At least we got a runner-up prize. No fancy armor, but five platinum coins is nothing to sniff at!”

Elze grinned and proudly puffed her chest out. I wondered if she was just trying to console me. The runner-up prize was pretty nice, though. Five platinum coins was equivalent to five million yen. That was a million for each of us, no small sum at all.

I nodded quietly as I clutched the money purse close. Spending this would make me feel better, at least.

“Let’s use this money to buy some gifts and souvenirs to help us remember today!”

“That sounds wise! I shall use my money to buy some wonderful ingredients for Crea-dono to cook with, I shall!”

...That’s not really a souvenir, Yae. Kinda sounds like an excuse to fill your stomach, if anything... I won’t say that out loud, though.

“I think I’ll buy some cute clothes for Renne...”

...Elze, do you wanna buy some cute clothes for yourself too? You don’t have to use her as an excuse, you know?

“I’d like to buy some accessories for Lapis and Cecile.”

“I’ll buy a timepiece for Laim.”

Linze and Yumina brought up their own suggestions.

Maybe I should buy our workers some sun hats, or some trinkets...? Wait, no. I’ve got a million yen here! I should treat them!

I decided to buy a set of new gardening tools for Julio, and a new set of armor for our gatekeepers, Tom and Huck.

“Let’s get to shopping, then.”

I started to walk down the street, only for Yumina and Kohaku to flank my sides.

“I had a lot of fun today! We should participate in more events like this sometime!”

“Yeah, we should.”

Yumina smiled at me, and I smiled right back. Seeing everyone happy made me glad we’d decided to do it. It was fun to do this kind of thing once in a while, so I made a mental note to do it again.

With happy feelings in our hearts, we walked through the streets of the capital.

◇　◇　◇

“Is something on your mind, Touya? You’ve been smiling like an idiot all morning...” Elze asked as she suddenly raised a brow from across the breakfast table.

...Like an idiot? Rude!

“Oh, I just had a dream about when we still lived in Belfast’s capital. It was kind of nostalgic.”

“You had a nostalgic dream, you did?”

“Mhm. It was about when we took part in the adventurer’s guild contest in Belfast.”

“Ohhh! I remember that! Living in Belfast, gosh... That was so long ago now.”

Yumina smiled and clapped her hands together as the memories came back to her. It was back before I’d even met Lu, Hilde, or Sakura. We’d certainly been through a lot, before and after that time.

“You took part in one of the guild’s adventuring contests? Wow... Did you win, dad?” Linne asked in a curious tone, confirming that the guild was still operating contests in the future.

“We didn’t win, unfortunately...”

“At the very last stretch, Touya... Well...”

Linze’s remark was enough for me, but then Elze had to go and elaborate.

Wait! Don’t talk about my failures in front of my kids!

“I want to hear about how it went.”

“Indeed. I’d also like to know more.”

Lu and Hilde wanted to hear about it. Sakura, Sue, and Leen were all leaning in curiously...as were my children.

...I shouldn’t have mentioned it.

Elze and the others started to tell the story, and I simply carried on eating my breakfast. Watching them excitedly reminisce and chatter, I couldn’t help but smile.

I turned to Kuon with a grin and said, “You sure put a lot of detail in, huh?”

“I’m very particular about the small stuff, yes. I want to get all the tiniest details down, but I still like to add my own flourish as well.”

You definitely have an eye for detail, that’s for sure. I can understand your feelings as a creator, but you might’ve overdone it with all the minute things!

Still, everyone was happy, so there wasn’t anything to worry about.

“Could you teach me how to make one next time?”

“Hm? But you can do something like this with [Modeling], can’t you?”

“Yeah, but I want to make it without magic...like you.”

“...I-If you really want to learn, then sure,” Kuon replied, then gave me a shy little nod.

I think our bond just deepened a little right now.

I wondered what I’d make with Kuon’s help. I’d probably want to start with wood... I felt it’d be cool to make a miniature magic train track or something. Or maybe we could add to the castle diorama and do the whole town? It was exciting to think about all the possibilities.

As I pondered the matter, I ruffled my son’s hair. I was a very proud dad.

◇　◇　◇

Kuon’s diorama proved incredibly popular...and not just by the people in the castle either. The other world leaders were very impressed when they saw it during the next meeting.

To the surprise of nobody, King Belfast was especially proud of his grandson’s work. He declared his own desire for a diorama, so Kuon made a display of Belfast Castle. And since Brunhild Castle’s design was based on Belfast Castle, it didn’t take him quite as long for that one. Only a few days or so of work went into it.

After that, the other world leaders asked for their own dioramas as well. I told Kuon he could refuse, since I didn’t want to strain him...but he said yes anyway. He was too diligent for his own good, frankly.

I didn’t want him to get so into it that he’d forget to eat, drink, or sleep, so we made him stick to a schedule that wouldn’t completely overtake his life. It wasn’t quite the same kind of limit as the old “you can only play video games for one hour a day” rule, but he was allowed a certain period of time per day for him to work on his dioramas.

Allis was very angry at me, as Kuon ended up spending less time with her as a result.

“There are dioramas in most every entry foyer around the world in the future, indeed, but I did not expect them to be made by Kuon’s hand from the past...” Yakumo muttered to herself as she looked over one of his most recent works.

Kuon himself had commented on the fact that the first diorama he’d ever seen was the one of Brunhild Castle. He’d never expected the one that had fascinated him in the first place to be his own creation. Had he never made this diorama in the first place, the future Kuon may never have been interested in making dioramas... I wasn’t sure what to make of this kind of influence on the future. Surely this had to count as a time paradox of some sort... But then again, the time spirits were supposedly working in the background to stop that kind of thing.

“Time spirits are hard workers. They’re probably tweaking cause and effect in all sorts of places to make sure the future stays the same,” Moroha said as we watched Yakumo and Kuon sparring on the training field.

“So you’re saying the future’s basically fixed? Like, whatever we do will lead to the same thing?”

“Not necessarily. The power of a god, or divine miracles granted to people, can alter the flow of time. Besides, time spirits can make mistakes too. That’s usually how coincidences or accidents come about.”

“Huh, they can make mistakes like that? I was kind of imagining time spirits as living clocks or something. Didn’t realize they could mess up.”

“Ha ha ha ha... Time spirits are still people, even if some of them might look like clocks.”

Makes sense. I guess if gods can make mistakes, then it’s only natural spirits can as well.

“Still, I’d say it’s fair to assume nothing that happens here is gonna impact the future very much, other than the wicked god thing, I guess. Oh, looks like it’s game over.”

I looked over and saw Yakumo’s banged-up wooden sword disarm Kuon, sending his weapon sailing into the air. They’d been clashing for quite a while.

“If Kuon doesn’t use his mystic eye, Yakumo’s got the upper hand in swordplay. He’s very tenacious, though. Good for him.”

Though he’d lost to Yakumo, Kuon was still a very strong fighter. If he used all his mystic eyes properly, he could probably be a match for Yae.

Yakumo and Frei were the only gold-ranked adventurers among my children; the rest were silver. If I had to guess...in terms of pure combat ability, excluding magic, Elna was probably the weakest among my children. But even then, Elna outclassed the average Brunhild knight in terms of raw physical output.

My children were gamebreaking presences, that was for sure. But given that they were literal demigods and had been trained by literal actual gods since they were young, it was to be expected...

“Hmm... Yakumo’s the big sister, so she should go easier on him...”

“If she went easy on him, it would not be training, it would not...”

Yumina grumbled a little, leaving Yae to comfort her as best as she could. Albus sat by her side, silent as ever. The white crown really wasn’t much of a talker.

“Raaargh! He shoulda used me! Hey, kiddo, ya shoulda used me! I’d have brought out way more of yer potential than that lame-o wooden sword!”

The silver crown, on the other hand, never shut up. It clearly wouldn’t have been fair to use a Gollem weapon during a training match, but that didn’t deter the thing.

Kuon came back from the training field, swapping out with Linne. She seemed to be bristling with energy.

“Good work out there, Kuon.”

“Phew... My eldest sister is exhausting at times... She could’ve gone a little easier on me...”

“Pfft!”

“Pfft!”

“What?”

Kuon had said the exact same thing as Yumina, prompting Yae and I to spit out our water. I noticed Yumina’s narrowed eyes, so I kept myself from laughing any further.

“You do not seem to enjoy fighting much, you do not,” Yae said, speaking up as she watched Linne happily square off against Yakumo.

“That’s right. I’m more interested in reading than fighting. Still, I know it’s necessary to have strength in this world, so I train. If something were to happen, I wouldn’t want to sit on the sidelines.”

“Ohhh! See, Yae? Isn’t my boy amazing?! What an admirable little man he is! Oh yes, I’m so proud!” Yumina exclaimed as she wrapped both her arms around Kuon and started doting on him. Kuon simply stared forward into the abyss, letting his mother do as she pleased.

“Yumina-dono’s growing a little more extreme lately, is she not?”

“Extreme... Yeah, that’s one way to put it...”

Out of all the mother-child combos, Yumina was definitely the one who’d shown no signs of calming down with Kuon. I wondered if the fact that he was a boy had anything to do with it. I definitely had a habit of doting on my daughters more, at least...

Still, Yumina wasn’t even close to being on the level of the Xenoahs overlord, so it was fine in my book.

I heard footsteps approaching, and turned to see Doc Babylon. Elluka, Fenrir, Quun, and the professor were with her. It was certainly rare to see them down on the surface world, and rarer still for them to be at the training grounds.

“Yo. I asked Cesca where you were, which is how we found you.”

“Is something wrong? You finished with the Over Gear yet?”

The Babylon Dev Team was currently working on an Over Gear for Albus, one that could dive deep into the ocean. They hadn’t been giving me many progress reports, so I wondered if it was already complete.

“The Over Gear isn’t finished yet, but we’ve finished the knight Gollems.”

“The knight Gollems?”

I’d heard that there were Gollems in Brunhild in the future, apparently involved with my knight order...but I hadn’t realized Babylon was the one who’d made them.

“Anyway, take a look. Quun?”

“On it.”

Doc Babylon snapped her fingers, prompting Quun to whip out a storage card. She shook it a few times, and two knightly looking Gollems fell out of it.

The knight-type soldat Gollems the professor went around with were in full plate armor, and they looked like any other fully armored person might. These Gollems, on the other hand, seemed to have been designed to be immediately recognized as inhuman.

One was about the same size as an adult male, with a sword at its waist and a shield on its back. The other was bigger, presumably modeled off Ogres or similar creatures. It was probably just shy of three meters tall. They both looked incredibly sturdy, so there was no doubt in my mind that they’d been built for power. Both of them were white matte on the base, with black accents along their frames. They kind of reminded me of police patrol cars.

“Let me introduce them. These knight Gollems models are Swordsman and Guardian, respectively,” Doc Babylon explained as she pointed at the two of them triumphantly.

So the smaller one is a Swordsman and the bigger one is a Guardian, huh?

“Why did you make two types, why did you?”

“Swordsman models are for antipersonnel incidents, while Guardian models are for accidents or emergency disaster relief. In short, the Swordsman series is built for fighting human opponents, while the Guardian series is more for clearing debris or fixing upturned carriages. It made more sense to me to have specialized departments.”

The Guardian model was also fitted with a fire extinguisher, apparently. The idea of a Gollem with that kind of focus was interesting to me.

The professor suddenly stepped forward, following up on Doc Babylon by saying, “By the way, the strength of the Swordsman model has yet to be properly configured. We thought we’d have the knight order help with determining that.”

“Yet to be properly configured? Why not just make it as strong as possible?” Yumina asked. She seemed confused as she challenged what the Professor said, only for him to respond with a faint smile.

“If we were to base it on the strength of Moroha here, for example, it would be too much strain on the machinery. Not that the Swordsman models could even begin to replicate her strength...but the point still stands. We need to determine optimal strength for the good of the machine.”

...Yeah. I don’t think you could ever build a machine that matches up to a goddess like her.

“The strength needs to be measured enough to not burden the machinery, yet flexible enough to adapt to almost any enemy on the fly. That would be the optimal solution, which is why I would like some of the knights here to fight it.”

“So it’s like a final systems check, then?”

It’d be no good if the Gollems we had were too weak to help the knights, and it’d be worse if they were so overpowered they broke down after a few deployments. If they weren’t capable of changing their strength on the fly, that could be trouble when apprehending criminals too.

The knight Gollems were going to be mass-produced, so we needed to balance all of that with a relatively cheap cost. If we didn’t have to consider expenses, we could just do whatever, but reality wasn’t so accommodating.

“That sounds pretty interesting. I’ll be happy to test this thing out,” Logan, patrol captain of the knight order, said as he stepped in from the sidelines to volunteer himself. We had no issue with that, but only on the condition that both parties used wooden swords. I didn’t want the Gollem getting broken so soon after completion.

“Ready... Go!”

Logan charged in with his sword. They exchanged blows twice, then three times...and the Swordsman Gollem fell to a blow on the side of its head.

“Huh? Isn’t that too weak?”

“It’s currently set to minimum strength. It needs to do some mock matches to learn moves, techniques, and pattern prediction.”

Huh, so it’s machine learning? Wait, then it’ll get stronger over time?

The Swordsman Gollem fought a few more knights, losing most of the encounters. But slowly, it began to improve its performance until it was winning most of its battles. Eventually, it had become capable enough to defeat Logan.

“I shall be its next foe.”

The next person to stand before the Swordsman Gollem was none other than Kokonoe Jutaro, Yae’s elder brother. He was an Eashenese samurai, but he was staying in Brunhild along with his fiancée, Ayane, and Moroha had been giving him special training for a while. I hadn’t realized he was on the training field today, but apparently he was.

Jutaro and the Swordsman began their clash. At the start, the Swordsman seemed to have the edge over the samurai, but Jutaro continued to press the advantage until he had the tip of his wooden sword pressed up against the machine’s neck.

“That’s enough. Any more and it’ll overheat,” Elluka said, putting an end to the Swordsman Gollem’s training. The Gollem bowed and then retreated from the training field.

“It’s almost as strong as Jutaro. That’s no small feat.”

Jutaro was among the finest fighters from Eashen...though it rarely seemed that way here in Brunhild, given how overpowered so many of the people here were.

“I’ll be making five of these things and deploying them to the castle’s knight garrison. Touya will have master authority, while subauthority can go to the knight commander and vice-commanders.”

That made sense to me. Gradually introducing them would get everyone used to their presence. Brunhild probably had the most Gollems out of all the countries on the eastern continent. Noir, Albus, Rouge, and Viola were all seen around town now and then. And Olba Strand’s trading company had recently begun opening up a dedicated Gollem trade sector.

Thinking on it, the people of Brunhild were probably used to Gollems well enough at this point, especially considering the fact that Frame Gears were a national staple.

After all that, we headed back to the castle. Kuon, Yakumo, and the other kids went to the bath straight away. I was about to head to my office to look over some documents, but then Tsubaki suddenly stepped out from behind a nearby pillar.

Agh! That shocked me. You don’t have to do that every time, you know?!

“I’ve two reports to make. The first is that a port town in the Kingdom of Curelia has been destroyed. The wicked devout are believed to be responsible.”

“Curelia?”

Uhhh...is that on the western continent? On the eastern edge? I remember the pumpkin pants prince mentioning something about them wanting to join our alliance... So the wicked devout did something there? Shit...

According to Tsubaki’s report, the town was attacked by Fishmen, four-armed Gollems, and giant stone men. Some of the survivors had lost their minds entirely, while others were taken over by the Fishman curse and headed into the sea. That certainly sounded like the wicked devout to me.

“Didn’t we tell Panaches to keep an eye out for any settlements by the sea, though? Surely they would’ve told their neighbors.”

“If they did, I don’t believe the warning was well heeded. There’s never been an attack this catastrophic before.”

It sounded awful. The occasional village got hit, but it was never as big as this before. Destroying an entire port town was like a declaration of war. We needed to be more vigilant. Everyone needed to be.

It was really annoying that we couldn’t predict where they’d emerge like we could with the Phrase, but I knew that was asking for too much... It wasn’t like the enemy would freely tell us “Hey! Here’s where we’re gonna hit next!” or anything.

I started typing up a smartphone message to every world leader I had direct contact with. I told them to be extra vigilant and to inform me of any suspicious sightings immediately. Any country with an adventurer’s guild would be much easier for rumors to travel through. If they got me information fast enough, I’d be able to use my magic to send their national knights to the attack sites instantly.

“And the second report?”

“An unidentified magical beast appeared on the fringes of the Regulus Empire’s territory. Their local guild chapter killed it, but at no small cost. The problem is that this beast is a complete mystery. It’s an entirely new species.”

“A new species?”

“Here is a photograph,” Tsubaki said as she sent a picture to my phone.

Whoa... It’s all bloodied, gross.

It was a full photo of a monster with the body of a lion and the head of a bird. It also had bird limbs, so it was clearly some kind of Chimera.

I briefly wondered if this creature could be a new monster made by the wicked devout.

“It’s unlikely, as they did not find any crystal structure in its body.”

The Gollems and Fishmen controlled by the wicked devout had red and blue crystalline octahedrons embedded in their bodies, but apparently, that wasn’t the case here.

So why has this thing appeared now? Who would know about this kind of...? Oh, wait. There might be someone.

I bade Tsubaki farewell after hearing her report, then headed up to Babylon.

“How... How rare.”

Fam, the keeper of Babylon’s library, crooked a brow as she looked up from her book and saw me.

...Bookwormy as ever, I see. Nah. You’ve ascended beyond a bookworm. You’re a full-blown book addict.

“How can I help you?”

“I’m wondering if you know anything about this thing,” I asked as I approached Fam’s counter and showed her the picture on my phone.

“Quite the unusual kink you have there, master. Is showing bloodied animals to young girls at random how you get your rocks off?”

“No. It isn’t. I’m asking about this monster. Is it a new species?”

Fam adjusted her glasses as she looked over the image. Eventually, she hopped down from her seat and walked over to a bookshelf, then pulled a book out and brought it back.

“It’s most likely... Oh, here.”

Fam opened the thick book and thudded it down on the desk in front of me. There was an illustration of a magical beast there that looked nearly identical to the one on my phone. However, the writing was in Ancient Spirit Script, and I wasn’t actively casting [Reading], so I couldn’t tell what it said.

“Ipos. A magical beast that was also known as Ipes or Ayporos depending on the region. It was a particularly aggressive species that inhabited the Ilpanema Woodlands, but its meat was considered so delicious that it was hunted to extinction by the local tribes some five thousand five hundred and seventy-four years ago.”

“Hunted to extinction? So the species is gone?”

“Correct.”

It’s not a new species, but one everyone thought was extinct? Wait, hold on! Isn’t that the same story with the thing Kuon and Allis killed? That Marchosias wolf thing? Wasn’t that supposed to be extinct too?

“What the hell does this mean?”

Magical beasts thought to be extinct were apparently making a comeback. Had they come from Palerius Island or something? That place had been left behind by time, but that didn’t really make sense...

“Did they...come through time?”

Had some unknown force pulled these monsters from their own eras and into my own? It wasn’t an impossible scenario. My children had traveled to the past from the future, so why couldn’t it work the other way around?

Was this the work of another timequake, perhaps?

“I’m gonna need to consult an expert.”

I hurriedly pulled out my phone and dialed Granny Tokie’s number.

◇　◇　◇

“This is most certainly the result of a timequake. Monsters from the past have come forth into our present,” Granny Tokie said, confirming that the monsters had slipped through time. It was just as I’d suspected from the start.

“You’re the goddess of Space-Time, right? Can’t you send them back to their own eras or something?”

“I certainly could in theory, but... I am sure you know, young Touya, that the divine such as I are forbidden from interfering in mortal affairs. Free use of my abilities in a direct capacity could have unknowable consequences. Well...there are some loopholes, I suppose, but I’d rather not go through them if I can feasibly avoid it.”

You can, but you won’t? Dang it... I guess you’re higher on the totem pole than I am. It’s fine for me to do some stuff, but she’s probably way stronger than me.

“I would also rather conserve my power so I can send your children back when the time is right. If I use it now, and then become unable to use it for your family, I imagine your present and future selves would be rather upset.”

Ugh... She’s got a point. That’d really suck.

“Timequakes are natural phenomena as well, so there is little need for me to interfere with them. I’m sure they’ve even happened on the Earth that you hail from, even.”

“Hmm, now that you mention it...”

I’ve definitely heard stories of people slipping through time back on Earth.

There was the Moberly-Jourdain incident, where two teachers visiting the Palace of Versailles claimed to have slipped through time and briefly experienced events from over a hundred years before their births. Then, there was also the story of a man who was walking around New York in a daze before being hit by a car and killed...and they found items on him that suggested he had actually traveled forward in time from the 1800s somehow. Plus, there were also plenty of people on the internet who claimed that they were time travelers from the future. I didn’t know how much of that was actually true, however. Earth didn’t have magic, after all. Though, if timequakes were natural phenomena that could happen anyway, perhaps some of those stories were actually rooted in reality...

At this point, I’m just confused as to why we’ve had two timequake incidents so close to each other.

“The timequake tremors should die down over time, so you needn’t worry. I doubt we’ll have any fixed points from this either.”

“Fixed points? What are those?”

“It’s a permanent connection between two points in time. You might call it a time tunnel, I suppose. It would allow free travel from either direction. Of course, that would jumble up past, present, and future... It would create something of a mess. The only way to fix that would be through my own power, but to use my power would mean breaking the rules and interfering with the mortal realm... Something of a conundrum, to be sure. Typically, the solution would be to deploy the god of destruction.”

Wait, so the world would just get wrecked? I’ve heard the trope about worlds getting destroyed or rewritten in time travel fiction, but who’d have thought it was true...

“You needn’t worry, though. It won’t come to that. I am the goddess of Space-Time for a reason, after all. That said, I’m not entirely comfortable with the circumstances as they are...”

“Are you talking about the wicked devout?”

“Indeed. Even dregs such as them have divine power, so I do hope they don’t do anything ridiculous... After all, Touya...you’ve been recognized as a god properly now... If they were to fully revive a wicked god upon the soil of this world, well...”

Wait... Right! I wouldn’t be able to interfere, would I?! That’d be against the rules! I guess I could fight it without my divinity, but I don’t know if I’d be able to kill it that way... Oh damn, that totally sucks. But wait, wicked gods sprout up all over the place, don’t they? If gods can’t ordinarily interfere to defeat them, then...

“The typical method of dealing with such foes is to grant divine artifacts or tools to an appointed human hero. If that fails, the god of destruction does his job.”

Okay, that’s not so bad, then. Yeah, it’ll be fine. I can just make a powerful enough weapon and give it to some hero in this world or something to fight in my stead. Easy.

“Can I choose Yumina or any beneficiaries of my divinity to be the heroes?”

“You cannot. Those who benefit from your divinity are as kin to the divine themselves. Like angels.”

Seriously? Well, I guess my wives are definitely angels... I knew that from the start.

But still, that meant I needed to choose some mortal or mortals to act as heroes in my stead... Moroha probably couldn’t be a hero, even if she was in a mortal body... Her status as a god probably excluded her from it.

But then, who exactly could defeat a wicked god? Oh, wait, I know! Ende! He’s got those divine twinblades, right? If I help him out, it’ll be fine.

“At any rate, there may be some minor aftereffects from the timequakes. I’ll ensure the time spirits work extra hard to prevent any potential damage.”

“Got it. Best of luck.”

There was nothing I could really do, so I just left it in Granny Tokie’s hands. I thanked her, then promptly ended the call.

Fam looked up from the book she was engrossed in and asked, “Done with your call?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Looks like it fell through time after all. Actually, are monsters all that different now compared to back when you were born?”

“Oh, yes. There are definitely more nowadays. When the ancient civilization thrived, warding technology was deployed fairly regularly within its territory. Thus, monsters and magical beasts were relegated to the frontier lands. And as a result, only the mightiest of beasts tended to survive. So while there are more monsters nowadays, they’re largely weaker.”

Huh... The Marchosias and the Ipos were definitely red-rank monsters, but I guess it wasn’t just random luck? Were all the monsters back then roughly that strong?

I’d already told the guild to tell me if any strong monsters showed up, but not every country had a guild branch. The Kingdom of Curelia wasn’t part of the alliance, for example, and their port town was lost as a result. We probably needed to expand our global information network to be safe.

“Indeed. You should work harder to interact more closely with all the nations of the world. That’s your main mission, master. Focus on it.”

“...Any reason you’re so keen to get me moving?”

“Hm? Why wouldn’t I be? More countries mean more books for my library! It’s the noblest pursuit of all!”

Oh... I guess it’s true that I haven’t brought a lot of books here lately. Fam’s pretty voracious when it comes to reading materials, so she’s probably been getting agitated.

Fam always talked about her role in the library as some official business, but I knew in her heart of hearts that she was just an obsessive bookworm. Her reasons might’ve been dressed up in noble talks of media preservation, but she was definitely driven by selfish motivation.

“All right, relax. I’ll get you some new books later.”

“Bring me literature from some of those newfound nations. I want to see how writing changes from country to country.”

Newfound ones, huh...? Hmm, I guess I’ve never seen any books from Lassei or Gandhilis. Alternatively, I could go buy some books from countries I’ve never really set foot in. Curelia aside, I still haven’t made contact with the Rephan Kingdom or the Kingdom of Langeais.

That was largely because I tended to wait until I was officially referred to them by other world leaders, though. My official relationship with the nations on the western continent was still somewhat shaky, since I didn’t have a lot of contacts there. Plus, there was that weird rumor going around that I was the one who’d destroyed Isengard.

I shrugged and sighed, certain that I’d eventually make more royal contacts.

◇　◇　◇

“Father! Father! Father! Faaaaaaaaaaaather!”

“Bwaugh!”

Once I returned to the castle from Babylon, I was immediately met with a side tackle from Frei. Seriously, I’d barely made it one step into the hallway before she’d catapulted herself into my side like I was a quarterback.

“Ghaaagh...”

“Father! Listen! Father! King Felsen is hosting an auction for armor that once belonged to the legendary champion Dahmuel! But money! We don’t have enough money!”

“Calm down... I don’t know what you’re saying...”

Frei started babbling about something or other, but I was far too dazed and confused from the tackle to even begin to process what she was going on about. And so, I applied some restoration magic to my aching back, slowly rose to my feet, and tried my best to calm Frei down.

After she’d settled, she explained to me that there was an auction to be held in Felsen. And among the items for sale, there was a set of armor once worn by some legendary hero named Dahmuel.

King Felsen, knowing of Frei’s interest in such things, sent her an email about it. Frankly, I’d have been a lot happier if he hadn’t said anything...

“So what, you want that armor?”

“I do, yes! In the future, Dahmuel’s armor is missing! I’ve never even seen it before! I’ve only heard stories!”

...It’s missing in the future? Does the person who wins the auction lose it, or something? I know if King Felsen won it, he’d probably just put it in his royal collection...and you couldn’t pull a heist on that vault easily, so does that mean King Felsen isn’t gonna bid on it?

“King Felsen said he won’t be bidding on it, no. Apparently, he doesn’t have very much pocket money this month.”

...Damn, he’s got a personal allowance? His wife must be reining him in.

I could understand his apprehension, though. It wouldn’t have been good if public money was used for the king’s personal collection. Hobby purchases like that were best made with money the king saved up personally.

“Dahmuel’s armor needs to be preserved! Preserved for the future, I say!” Frei exclaimed, her eyes ablaze with desire. Though she spoke nobly about armor preservation, I could tell her desires were driven by selfish needs.

“Sure, I don’t have a problem with you bidding on it...but with what money, exactly?”

“That’s precisely why I’m here, father! Take me out Dragon slaying! We can kill another Fiendrake and make money!”

“Huh, you wanna go out again?”

It certainly made sense, at least. If Frei wanted money, that was the best option. But honestly, I wasn’t sure about letting her use all that reward cash just for an auction... And unfortunately, I couldn’t just loan her the money, since Hilde would definitely have a problem with that.

“Come on, father! Just tell me where the nearest Fiendrake is! Or furthest! I can have Yoshino or Yakumo send me!”

“Hrm...”

I guess you could just go there with either of those two thanks to [Gate] or [Teleport], huh?

“If you get Hilde’s permission, then...”

“I’m on it!” Frei roared as she dashed off, a huge grin on her face. She certainly needed to learn a thing or two about calming down...

A few minutes later, she triumphantly returned. Apparently, Hilde had given her consent. Yakumo and Linne came with her.

“I would like to test my blade against the Fiendrakes of this era.”

“Yeah, and this time I wanna kill one without breaking it into pieces!”

“Hey, hold on! You two are just coming for support! I need most of the money, okay?!”

Apparently, Frei had already decided she was getting the lion’s share of the reward. She sure was greedy. Though honestly, I couldn’t blame her if she was on a tight deadline. The auction was approaching, after all.

I was a little exasperated, but she’d gotten permission...so I simply shrugged and started looking up the location of the nearest Fiendrake.

◇　◇　◇

Frei and the others ended up killing the Fiendrake and selling its body to the guild for quite the tidy sum. We quickly ran into another issue, however. The auction in Felsen was not open for minors to participate in. That wasn’t too surprising, but it was still a pain.

“Oh, my bad... I forgot about that,” King Felsen apologized over the phone. He was so single-minded when it came to his hobbies that he’d probably forgotten he was texting a literal child.

Still, it wasn’t the end of the world. We could just get an adult to bid at Frei’s proxy. And, as you might have guessed, that duty fell to me. As for the reason...

“Because I know you’ll win the bid, father! I believe in you!” Frei exclaimed excitedly, beaming over at me all the while, causing a rosy flush to rise to my cheeks.

Gosh... With expectations like those, I can’t afford to lose...

“Do not be deceived by her wiles, Touya. She’s likely thinking that if the bidding goes beyond her budget, you’ll step in and cover the difference. Isn’t that right, Frei?”

“N-N-N-Not at all!”

Hilde’s comment caused Frei to stiffen up and shift her eyes from side to side.

...Yeah. Guess that makes sense.

“Listen, Frei. This is money that you earned. I won’t tell you how to spend it, but I must ask that you don’t use it to cause trouble for people around you. Understood?”

“Okay...”

“It’s a promise, then. Break that promise and I’ll have Touya take away all your weapons.”

“O-Okay! It’s a promise!”

Frei, trying to hide the panic in her eyes, brought her hand up to salute her mother. Hilde sure had controlling Frei down to an art. I was impressed.

With that out of the way, I activated [Gate] and took Frei to Felsen’s capital city. The auction was to be held at the museum in the city, and it wouldn’t be long until things kicked off.

I checked the location on my smartphone, and the museum was only a short walk away. I walked over toward it with Frei, who seemed in high spirits. It wasn’t long before she was skipping and humming to herself.

“Hey, don’t get too excited, okay? It’s still an auction, so you might not win that armor.”

I didn’t want her building her hopes up too high, since it’d be sadder if they got dashed. I didn’t want to bring her mood down or anything either, but she needed to keep the possibility of losing at the back of her mind. Apparently, King Felsen had secured enough funding to bid personally too...so he’d be one to watch out for.

“It’s all right! I don’t think many people will care about Dahmuel’s armor. The only other person I know who really wants it is King Felsen, so if we have more money than him, we’ll win!”

“Huh? Not many people care about it? Why?”

“Dahmuel’s armor is cursed. If you wear it, you’ll be in for a world of pain, so it’s not a super popular treasure!”

“Why would you want that?!”

Cursed armor?! You didn’t think to mention that sooner?!

Frei noticed my panic and quickly moved to elaborate.

“It’s fine, really. It’s not a bad curse or anything! I think it’s Pain Heal or Life Conversion, so it’s just minor! Don’t worry!”

...Pain Heal? Isn’t that the curse that doubles the power of recovery magic, but causes massive pain when it’s cast on you? And Life Conversion’s a curse that amplifies your magic power in exchange for years of your life span, right? That’s kind of a crazy power... Wait, how can you call those things minor?! That’s pretty intense! What was this Dahmuel trying to do, exactly? Become a Dark Knight or something?

“What kinda guy was this Dahmuel, anyway?”

“They called him the self-sacrificing hero...”

...Self-sacrificing? Something tells me the guy was probably just a weird masochist. Less of a champion and more of a pervert.

“...Frei, you’re not gonna equip the armor, are you? I don’t wanna bid on it if you’re planning on that.”

“I don’t want to wear it. I just want to add it to my collection. Besides, Dahmuel was over two meters tall. King Felsen could wear his armor, but it wouldn’t fit me.”

That was reassuring... If that was the case, then it’d be fine to let her have it. Or would it? Would it really be fine? It was still a cursed item...

I quietly struggled with my personal hang-ups about the armor until we arrived at Felsen’s Capital Museum. It was an ornate white building with sublime architectural design. The museum was home to many powerful magical artifacts from Felsen’s distant past.

Though it was called a museum, it was somewhat different from the ones back on Earth. For starters, it wasn’t commonly open to the public. It was more of an exhibition hall for the nobility, so really it was closer to a state-funded artifact storage facility rather than an open place anyone could come to look through.

While the venue was owned by the state, the auction itself was sponsored by Felsen’s primary financial guild, the Magicraft Commissary. That was why King Felsen couldn’t just butt in and secure any of the goods for himself. It was an independent operation.

I handed over my invitation to the nearest security guard before proceeding inside the building. A great number of people had already gathered. I could tell from their extravagant, gaudy outfits that most of the people here were either wealthy nobles or rich merchants.

“You should’ve brought a crown or something fancy to wear, father.”

“...Yeah, like I’d be caught dead in something like that.”

I had no interest in wearing a crown in private, let alone in public. Hell, Brunhild didn’t even have an official crown to begin with. We were smaller than Belfast and Regulus, so it would have felt way out of place to wear something that formal.

I headed over to the desk and completed my auction registration. Then, I was given directions to the seat that had been reserved for us. It was a pretty good spot... King Felsen had been generous with us, clearly.

I was given an auction calling card, as well as a catalog that listed everything we’d be able to bid on. There were no photographs, of course, but every listing had an illustration accompanying it.

I flipped through the catalog until I found the armor Frei wanted.

...Of course. Of course it’s the armor covered in spikes with skulls on the shoulders and spooky eyeballs carved into the chest. Why wouldn’t it be that one?

“Wow! It looks even cooler than I thought!”

“Not the word I’d have used...”

Frei let out an excited giggle as she gazed at the illustration. I simply shook my head, completely unaware of where my daughter’s poor aesthetic sense had come from.

◇　◇　◇

The Felsen Museum had a large hall set aside for the auction. I was somewhat surprised to see that a great number of guests had already arrived and taken their seats.

...Is everyone here to bid on stuff? They all look pretty rich.

“Uhhh... Our seat’s over...where, exactly?”

Frei tugged at my sleeve after I said that.

Oh, is it over there?

“Father, King Felsen’s here.”

“Huh?”

I glanced over to where Frei was pointing, only to see King Felsen himself waving at us. Or at least, it was probably King Felsen. He was wearing a domino mask on his face, presumably to keep his identity concealed. I wanted to go and say hello, but he was a good distance away and I didn’t want to risk outing his identity. As such, I just gave him a small nod and decided I’d go and see him after the auction was over. I still needed to find my seat, after all. Didn’t want to still be standing when the auction began.

I looked around and saw that King Felsen wasn’t the only one wearing a mask; there were a bunch of nobles with various facial coverings. It was possible that they didn’t want to be recognized in the event they won...or perhaps they wanted to spend money without their spouses finding out...

After a small while spent fumbling around, we eventually found my seat. It was a pretty good spot, not too far from the front of the stage. Both Frei and I had a great view of the items from that spot. Before I sat down, I picked up my paddle. It had a number on it corresponding to my seat. I checked, and apparently, all you had to do was raise your paddle to indicate your bid. It was basically the same way auctions worked back on Earth.

I sat down, Frei sat next to me, and I started thumbing through the auction catalog. Apparently, this auction wasn’t just for weapons and armor, but also rare art and antiques.

I glanced over the items, but I didn’t really see anything I was interested in. The catalog had images and descriptions of the goods, but nothing indicated what the bids started at, or what they could go up to. From what I understood, the sellers usually set a minimum amount that had to be reached or the item wouldn’t sell.

“Do you really want this thing?”

I looked over the listing for Dahmuel’s armor again, a small frown on my face. It looked totally distasteful, to the point that simply staring at it immediately gave you the impression that it was cursed. Plus, it was actually cursed!

“I guess I can remove the curse, at least...”

“Absolutely not, father! If you break the curse, it won’t be nearly as valuable! I wouldn’t want you to change a thing about it!”

“Ugh...”

I didn’t understand my daughter at all. Why was she happier about it being cursed? I didn’t get it. However, at the same time, she was my daughter... I wanted to make her happy, so I just decided to suck it up.

I passed the catalog to Frei, and she lit up after looking through a couple of the pages.

“Whoa! Matlack’s dagger?! Hnnnh! I want that too... But money... My money... I... Nooo!”

Why’re you giving me that look? I mean, I know why...but gimme a break here.

“...If it’s not too expensive, we can get it, maybe.”

“I love you!”

Hilde’s gonna kick me into the sun. Dammit... Why am I such a pushover when it comes to my daughters? They’re playing me like a damn fiddle...

I groaned, but my attention was suddenly captured by the presence of the auctioneer as he walked onto the stage.

The first thing that came out was some kind of vase. Apparently, it was some three-thousand-year-old work of art. The auctioneer explained that it once belonged to the king of some dead nation and that a war was fought over it that led to said nation’s death. I thought it was kind of cool that the item had a story to go with it, but wondered who would want something so grim. My question was quickly answered by a flurry of excited hands that shot into the air. I was clearly out of my depth. I didn’t understand these people at all.

The bidding only intensified after that, with various interesting items coming up for sale. You could only use gold coins to raise your bid for this auction, so in Earth terms that was something akin to raising your bid by at least a hundred thousand yen each time. It made sense, though. If we were going with silver coins, the bids would probably drag on forever, and with everyone getting caught in the heat of the moment, it guaranteed a nice payout for the sellers.

Some of the items ended up selling for insane amounts, though...which led me to wonder if any of these people understood that they were spending real money... I could understand being invested in a hobby, but not if it drained your wallet to this degree. There was enthusiasm, and then there was obsession. These frenzied bidders barely seemed human to me.

“Father! Matlack’s dagger is next! You’ve gotta bid on it! Do it!”

...My daughter barely seems human right now too.

Anxiety began to set in as the next item was brought into the hall. It was basically just a dagger. There was a slit running through the middle that split the blade into a left and right side. It kind of looked more like a two-pronged fork than a dagger. The kind of thing you’d use to jab at a bowl of fruit, essentially.

Matlack’s dagger, huh...? Well, okay.

The auctioneer cleared his throat before speaking into his loudspeaker-like artifact to say, “Many of us know of the mercenary nation, Catan. It once flourished under the guidance of its mighty king...and the great General Matlack who served as that king’s intrepid right arm. The dagger we have today is believed to have been a gift from Matlack to his son. The pronged blade is composed of mithril, while the decorative parts are orichalcum. Even after a thousand years, you can see it still retains its beautiful luster. Shall we start the bidding?”

“A hundred coins!”

Bwah?! A hundred gold coins?! Ten million yen for a fruit fork?! Are you crazy?!

I was stunned into silence right out of the gate, and that was just the opening bid.

Seriously? For that thing? I could make one myself...

“A hundred and ten!”

“A hundred twenty!”

“A hundred twenty-five!”

Eep! It’s going up?! Is it that popular?!

“Father! The paddle! Hurry!”

“But it’s already higher than what I was gonna bid...”

“It’s Matlack’s dagger, father! A hundred coins is more than reasonable! If you don’t bid, we’ll lose it at a bargain price!”

...Really? I can’t say I know much about this kind of thing, but if Frei’s saying it, then maybe it’s true... I guess the money Frei got for killing the Fiendrake was more than this, so maybe this isn’t actually that much money at all.

“Uhm, okay... A hundred and thirt—”

“A hundred and thirty-five!”

Before I could even finish speaking, another bidder beat me from across the room. He was a chubby aristocrat with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Gah... Do I back down or...

“A hundred and forty!”

“A hundred and fifty!”

“A hundred and sixty!”

“A-A hundred and sixty-five!”

“A hundred and seventy!”

“A hundred and seventy...two!”

The tubby aristocrat was clearly running out of steam. He was probably close to his budget. The contest was just between me and him now, as everyone else had dropped out. That was why I decided to make a decisive call.

“Two hundred coins!”

“Ah...!”

The fat man didn’t raise his paddle again. He just sat in his chair, pouting.

I did it... I bought it. No, I didn’t just buy it... I won it!

“Sold! The item goes to the fine gentleman in seat sixty-five for the price of two hundred coins!”

The sound of the auctioneer’s hammer thwapping down reverberated through the hall.

“I did it! I won the item!”

...Oh crap. I got carried away, didn’t I? Dammit! I bought it for twice the opening bid!

Frei was ecstatic, but I knew Hilde would have words to say to me about this... Just picturing her scary, forced smile was enough to give me the shivers.

I sat back down, then started wondering why King Felsen hadn’t placed a bid on the dagger. Wasn’t he supposed to be a weapon maniac like Frei?

“King Felsen doesn’t care for weapons that haven’t seen actual combat. Matlack’s dagger wasn’t ever actually used by Matlack, so he doesn’t value it.”

Oh yeah, the auctioneer said something like that. Matlack gave it as a gift to his son or whatever. Well, I guess that’s lucky for us. I might’ve ended up spending more if the king was in the running.

Whatever the case, I had spent twenty million yen on a single dagger. That was no small sum. My daughter had me wrapped around her little finger, and there wasn’t anything I could say to deny that.

Still, she can earn more than that on her own if she puts in a little effort... It’s not like she’s wasting her allowance, so it’s not that bad... Hmm, maybe I just became a little less human. I can feel the fiscal responsibility flowing out of my body... I get it... I get it now.

The auctions continued, and I found myself thinking about how potentially lucrative these things could be... I almost felt dirty as I considered setting up one of my own.

Between my [Storage] and the Babylon storehouse, I had a ton of junk materials and magical tools I never used. I realized if I put them on the auction circuit, I could make some crazy cash. There had to be people out there who wanted those things, right? Wasn’t it a waste to just have them sitting around unused by me?

Hmm, maybe I can sell them to the other world leaders at our next summit meeting...

“Next item, folks. An artificial spellstone crafted in the ancient days of the magic kingdom. No stone of this size has ever been seen anywhere else in the world! I’m sad to say that its magical power has been almost completely drained, but it still holds considerable value as a collector’s piece and a rare gem!”

When the auctioneer finished speaking, the attendants brought in a massive red crystal the size of a balance ball.

That’s an artificial spellstone from some ancient kingdom or whatever? Spellstones can store and amplify magic, right? I guess they saw a lot of use as power sources in the past. But natural ones were hard to find back then, and they’re even harder still to come across nowadays. That’s why artificial ones ended up getting created. They’re not as good as natural ones, though. They can only contain the magic power they were created with, so there’s no refueling them. In other words, they’re disposable batteries.

That made this item pretty useless to me. Even if it was an ancient remnant, it didn’t mean much if it was drained. Plus, Doc Babylon had already made a breakthrough with spellstone production. She’d created several that could be recharged, and they were used in the Babylon tower, and as a general power source in the other Babylon facilities.

The doc’s improved artificial spellstones were something similar to a Gollem’s G-Cube. They took in magic from the surrounding atmosphere, amplified it internally, and used it to empower themselves. Phrasium was somewhat similar too. If I had to guess, the spellstone I was looking at now was probably used in some huge factory or facility. It was drained, so it had no application as a power source, but it sure was pretty.

“Let’s start the bidding!”

“One thousand seven hundred!”

Bwugh?! You’re going in at a hundred and seventy million yen to start?! It’s just a big stone! You can’t do anything with it! I’m sure it has historical value, but...

To my horror and surprise, a furious bidding war began over the spellstone. It was definitely valuable as a rare gem, and it was massive...but was it really worth this much? From my perspective, it was just a big, glass orb. But, well, I had to defer to the experts here. Clearly, they saw something more in this thing than I did. Perhaps its rarity made it worth such an absurd starting bid?

“One thousand eight hundred and fifty!”

“One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five!”

“Two thousand.”

Shock and awe rippled through the crowd. I turned to see a noble in a blue mask. He was quite a way back in the hallway, but his paddle was raised high into the air and his manner was surprisingly calm.

...Two thousand gold coins? That’s extreme. Way too extreme. That’s over two hundred million yen.

“Two thousand...one hundred!”

A gaudy merchant with a prominent overbite raised his own paddle, outbidding the blue-masked man. The crowd was kicked up into a frenzy by this sudden turn. The merchant, apparently enjoying the attention, soaked in the cheers. Or at least he did, until...

“Three thousand,” the masked noble said, putting in another absurd bid, his voice calm as ever. The bucktoothed merchant scowled and groaned before tossing his paddle to the floor in a rage.

“Sold! The item goes to the magnanimous gentleman in seat ninety-eight for the price of three thousand coins!” The wooden hammer came down once more, sealing the deal.

...Three thousand gold coins. Three hundred million yen... That’s the highest bid I’ve seen today.

I shuddered to think how high the bidding might’ve gone if the stone still had any juice left in it.

I guess I’ve heard about equally absurd prices for jewels back on Earth, so maybe that’s just how it is? People are always gonna spend money...

“I can’t believe he’d spend so much on something so ridiculous...”

“We should see if they’re selling any mirrors so you can look into it.”

Frei’s words could’ve been just as easily applied to herself.

I looked over and saw the blue-masked noble leaving the hall with his attendants. Apparently, he was only here for the stone. Then again, he’d probably wiped out his savings on that big purchase. Or at least, part of me hoped he had. The bucktoothed merchant left as well. He’d presumably come here only for that stone as well.

The auction continued after that, but there was nothing that prompted me to bid. There was a set of five necklaces that might’ve been nice for my wives, but the set was short about four of them. I couldn’t just buy five.

“And now, the final item! The legendary armor worn by the ancient champion, Dahmuel! It is a cursed cuirass that eats at your body while granting you great power!”

A terrifying bluish-black armor was carted into the hall. It was, presumably, Dahmuel’s armor. Honestly, it looked even creepier up close.

Why’s this the centerpiece, exactly? It’s pretty eye-catching, I guess... It also has literal eyes on it... I really don’t know if I wanna bid on this thing. Ugh!

“Father! We can’t lose to King Felsen!”

“If we lose, we lose. I’m using your funds, okay? I’m not going over.”

The money Frei got from her hunt wasn’t infinite. If the bidding went over that amount, there wasn’t anything I could do. There was a chance I would win it in one fell swoop if I just bid high right off the bat, but it was probably smarter to try going up in smaller increments.

“Let the bidding commence!”

“Five hundred!”

What?! Fifty million yen already? That’s a lot...

“Five hundred and ten!”

Oh, someone went up by ten already.

I glanced over to see who the second bidder was...and sure enough...King Felsen was there with a raised paddle.

So he’s going with the small increment plan too, huh? Not that this amount of money is small, exactly.

“Five hundred and twenty!”

“Five hundred and thirty!”

Oh? I thought it’d just be a bidding war between a few enthusiasts, but it looks like the crowd’s getting pretty excited about it. This might be a problem...

“Father! You have to join the running!”

“All right, I’ll go...five hundred and forty!”

I’ll raise my bid in increments of ten. Frei has eight royal coins, which is equivalent to around eight hundred gold coins. Hopefully, we won’t have to go that high, though...

“Six hundred!”

Another man in the hall suddenly raised the bid by a ton.

Dammit, don’t do that! You’ll start a chain reaction!

“Six hundred and thirty!”

“Six hundred and seventy!”

Dammit! Noooo!

The bidding was quickly turning insane, with all the bidders doing their best to flex how much they could bid.

“Seven hundred and fifty!”

Just as I began to hesitate, King Felsen stepped in with another outrageous bid.

Wait, won’t the prime minister tell you off for bidding that much?!

The sudden jump caused some stragglers to peter off, thinning the competition.

Wait...I need to bid too or I’ll be out.

“Seven hundred and sixty!”

Okay! Another ten added! If we stay under eight hundred, I can still win this! It might be okay!

“Seven hundred and seventy!”

Hngh! King Felsen added another ten? He’s probably getting close to his limit too... Let’s see if I can defeat him, then...

“Eight hundred!”

“Hngh... Gah...”

King Felsen looked at me with a shocked look that seemed to say, “Seriously?” And then, with a resolute swoosh of his arm, he raised his paddle once more.

“Eight hundred and fifty!”

Shit. He’s bested me...

King Felsen adopted a smug grin and shot it my way.

That bastard...

I glanced over at Frei and slowly shook my head. We were at our limit. I could’ve added more, but we’d bought the dagger...and I knew Hilde would definitely kill me if I pushed it any further than that.

With that, I set my paddle down in defeat.

“Sold! The item goes to the fine gentleman in seat twenty-five for the price of eight hundred and fifty coins!”

The wooden hammer came slamming down. King Felsen’s expression suddenly shifted to a stiff smile as his victory was confirmed.

Don’t tell me...

He suddenly started to nervously chat to his entourage, and part of me wondered if he didn’t have enough money. He was still a world leader, so he’d definitely be able to pay...but I had a feeling he’d gone over budget. That might’ve been my fault, but he was the one who decided to outbid me.

“Waaah... I shouldn’t have asked for Matlack’s dagger...” Frei exclaimed, letting out a pitiful groan.

She was right. If it wasn’t for that dagger, we probably could’ve beaten King Felsen for the armor. Judging by the guy’s pale expression, he’d hit his absolute limit with that final bid. Still, that was his problem now. And hey, at least we’d won one nice thing.

With the auction over, the guests filed out of the hall. It was time for the winners to exchange their money for the goods they’d won.

We stood up and went off to pick up the dagger.

◇　◇　◇

Three men walked out of the auction, carrying the item they’d won. Their prize was contained within a large box that was half the size of an average man. It was being hoisted and carried by the largest of the trio, a lumbering giant who stood roughly two meters tall.

“Did you really pay thirty royal coins for this thing? Why not just attack the hall and steal it? Are you nuts?” the youngest of the three, a gray-haired boy, asked, complaining to the slit-eyed man he was standing next to. His face had been concealed by a domino mask up until that exact moment, but suddenly, his appalled expression was on full display.

“What if we attacked this place and the item was damaged, hm? And this is Felsen, the magic kingdom! It would be poor form for us to attack without scouting out what possible magical security systems or artifacts they have in place. It made more sense to obtain this the legitimate way,” the brown-haired, narrow-eyed man replied, letting out a sigh in response to his companion’s short fuse. He didn’t have the patience for the youth’s hot-blooded nature.

“Besides, there was quite the threat here tonight.”

The grand duke of Brunhild, Mochizuki Touya himself, had been present. He was the inheritor of an ancient legacy, a mediator between nations, a great hero to the world...and a natural enemy of the wicked devout.

The narrow-eyed man, Indigo, was quietly relieved that things had gone off without a hitch. If his identity had been unveiled and he’d been forced to fight, he wouldn’t have been able to obtain the artificial spellstone he required. Why, he’d have probably had to retreat. And if that had happened, then Scarlet would’ve never let him hear the end of it and his plan would’ve been ruined.

“He didn’t look that strong to me. Right, Hazel? He looked like a weakling.”

“You... You want me...chop meat?”

“No. No chopping right now, Hazel. Just hold the box. Don’t drop it, okay?”

“Ohkaaay,” Hazel mumbled as he clutched the heavy crate tight.

The three of them were just heading into an alley so they could warp away when a group of men suddenly appeared to confront them. Indigo raised a brow, recognizing one of them. It was the bucktoothed merchant, flanked by some bulky men armed with weapons.

The merchant pursed his lips before sneering and pointing at Hazel.

“Hand over the box, ya big lug. We can do this the easy way...or the hard way.”

Before they could even respond, the trio realized that there were more men behind them. They were surrounded on either side of the alley.

“What’s the deal here?”

“I imagine they want to murder us and take the spellstone. It’s a fairly simplistic idea, but the kind you only expect from a lowlife. It won’t do any good to explain that this isn’t actually an artificial spellstone,” the narrow-eyed man said, casually explaining the situation to the gray-haired boy.

In response, the boy cheerily took the spear hanging at his waist and brandished it. Before the merchant or his men could even blink, the little spear had extended into a long metallic-purple weapon.

“That means we can kill them, right? Self-defense applies here, I’d say!”

“...Want me cut...meat?”

“You just keep a firm hold on the box. We need to keep that thing safe. Let Orchid take out this trash.”

The bucktoothed merchant scowled, apparently not amused by the indifference the three men were showing.

“Get them! Get the stone!”

The burly men closed in on the trio...but in only a few seconds, all their weapons went soaring through the air. The spear-wielding boy had disarmed them with a single slash of his weapon...and then that spear drove itself deep into one of the men’s chests. As he died, his mind was still processing the pain.

“What?!”

“Hwah?!”

“One down,” the boy cheerily mumbled to himself before leaping off the dead man toward his companions. The alley was soon illuminated by numerous flashes of purple light.

Several men were brutally butchered that night in the back alleys of Felsen’s capital.

I’d waved off the whole thing with Elna calling Elze mother as just a cute nickname. They bought the story easily enough, since nobody would expect Elze to have a daughter who looked so old. Easier to paint it as an affectionate nickname for an older sister figure than tell them the actual truth.

Kuon had no such issues, since he referred to his mother as Yumina and me as Grand Duke in public. Yumina wasn’t exactly thrilled about that particular fact, but it was mighty convenient.

“I’m glad this place is still here, though the interior has certainly changed over the last fifteen years.”

Once we were done at the treatment facility, Tatsuma offered to take us around the capital. Apparently, he was keen to stretch his legs for the first time in fifteen years. Then, when Elna mentioned she was hungry, he recommended we come here for something sweet.

It was definitely a retro-style place. It kind of reminded me of something straight out of the Taisho era. It was only retro-chic from my perspective, though. The people of Orphen would most likely view it as a fairly modern establishment.

“You were able to come here when you were the active ryutei?”

“I would disguise myself from time to time and leave the palace. I was quite good at it, I’ll have you know.”

“That caused me no manner of trouble in the past, you know? I always had to deal with the political fallout of your little jaunts on my own.”

“...Oops. Let’s forget I just said that.”

Tatsuma chuckled lightly in response to Kuon’s question, prompting Prime Minister Ryuzan to interject from the side. It was clear the two men had a close relationship.

“I used to bring Houka here a lot as well. Taking her out for treats was a small pleasure.”

“The houtei is still fond of desserts, I’ll have you know.”

It was kind of a relief to know that a dignified leader like the ryutei also sneaked out of the castle from time to time. It made me feel less bad about doing it so much myself. I could almost hear the voice of Kousaka in my ears, chastising me for using my magic to run away from my paperwork, but I quickly shushed it.

“Still, I can’t help but feel that dessert is an insufficient reward for all you’ve done...”

“You needn’t worry about that. Your country is allied with ours, so it’s only natural for us to assist. What else are alliances for?”

A fine statement indeed. It was just a shame that Kuon had said it rather than me.

...Son, can you let your dad handle the diplomacy? You’re gonna make me look bad if a little kid’s speaking on my behalf...

After we finished eating, we walked around, thinking of where to go next all the while. It had been fifteen years since Tatsuma had last walked around the capital, so he was understandably antsy.

“Has it changed that much?”

“It has. Old landmarks are gone, and new ones stand in their place. It’s almost as if I’m in another place entirely, though that’s to be expected after such a long time has passed. It’s a bit hard to get used to, I must admit.”

He must’ve felt like he’d been left behind by the world. Everyone he knew had gained fifteen years of life experience, while he’d stayed still. His anxiety was more than fair.

“Yet despite the uncertainty, I’m excited for what the future holds. I’ve been given a second chance at life, and that isn’t something I’ll take for granted. I want to see how things will progress.”

...Damn. He’s kind of like me. Died and came back, and now he wants to make the most of his second chance. I can’t help but hope everything works out for the guy, just like it worked out for me.

“Hm...”

“Hm?”

...What was that voice? It interrupted my thinking.

Kuon caught my attention and tapped at the dagger sitting at his waist.

...Huh, Silver?

“Hey, kiddo’s old man...don’tcha know we’re bein’ followed?”

“Huh?”

We are? I didn’t sense anything like that at all... Don’t tell me I’m losing my touch.

“It ain’t a person followin’ us, which is why you prolly couldn’t tell. It’s a Gollem. Been followin’ us since we left that bakery. Keepin’ a fine distance.”

...Why would a Gollem be following us, though?

I didn’t glance back to look, but I quietly had Kougyoku confirm what Silver was saying. There were some Gollems behind us, attending to their business in the streets.

Hmm... That’s more than one, though. Which one’s following us?

“S’bluish with armor and claws on its hands.”

“Oh, that one.”

There was definitely a Gollem behind us that fit that description...but why was it following us? On whose orders was it acting?

“...Should we grab it and make it talk?”

“Most Gollems don’t have voice modulators.”

Gah... C’mon, Kuon, don’t clap back at me like that... It was just a figure of speech...

If it was just following us, then that was fine. I didn’t see the harm if it wasn’t doing anything else.

“...Who do you think it wants, father? You or Tatsuma? It could even be after the prime minister.”

...Hmm, that’s a good point. I can’t leave it be if it’s tailing us for nefarious purposes.

I decided to quietly tell Tatsuma and Ryuzan what was going on, while Kuon quietly informed Yumina, Elna, and Elze.

“So yeah, we’re being followed... Any ideas who could be behind this?”

“Well, I’ve some ideas, but I can’t say for sure... Neither the Ryu nor Hou families are entirely unified, so it could be from either group.”

Both Tatsuma and Ryuzan had troubled looks on their faces. Regardless, we hadn’t been harmed yet, so I just had to hope that would continue to be the case.

“There are some among us who were opposed to us joining the alliance and might have an ax to grind with Brunhild, and others aren’t too happy that Tatsuma-sama was revived. There’s also a faction that would gladly see me deposed from my own position as prime minister... There’s little I can really do to rein them in, unfortunately.”

If we didn’t know who had dispatched our stalker, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do.

Just as I was pondering our next course of action, Tatsuma raised an idea, saying, “What if we were to split up? There’s a fork in the road coming. Ryuzan and I will take one path, while you and the others take the other. We can determine the target by finding out which of us the Gollem follows, no?”

That definitely sounded like a good way of determining whether this Gollem was after me or one of the other two. If the Gollem was after Tatsuma or Ryuzan, then we’d double back and catch it. If it was after me, I’d just turn around and blast it.

“Sounds like a plan.”

I went to the back of the group and told Yumina, Elze, Elna, and Kuon about the plan.

“Hah, now that’s more my speed. Can’t I just smash the Gollem to bits, though?”

“Not until we figure out what it’s up to. If it’s just following us, we don’t have cause to trash it.”

Elze’s maniacal expression made me a little nervous, so I made sure to tell her she was only allowed to break it if it attacked us first. Self-defense was the way to go here.

“We need evidence that the Gollem attacked first, so I’ll be sure to provide video proof. Don’t worry.”

My son’s calm manner unnerved me even further... Why was he so cool and collected all the time? He really was an odd duck.

I sighed softly before looking ahead and noticing Tatsuma and Ryuzan veering off toward an alley to the right.

As per the plan, the rest of us carried on moving straight.

With Kougyoku perched on my shoulder, I watched the stalker Gollem as it followed us.

...Now, where are you gonna go?

To my surprise, a second Gollem joined the first and headed down the alley.

Welp. Looks like that’s their target.

“Let’s double back, quick.”

We headed back toward the alley that Ryuzan and Tatsuma had gone down. Then, we rounded the corner only to see the two Gollems getting ready to tackle the men from behind. Just as I was thinking “Oh crap!” the two Gollems suddenly stopped moving. It was as if time had stood still.

“Get away from them, quickly!” Kuon yelled out, prompting Tatsuma and Ryuzan to escape.

Oh! Kuon’s using one of his mystic eyes to stop them dead in their tracks!

The Gollems hadn’t been frozen in time, they’d just been fixed in place. They clattered to the ground, still unable to move.

“Get down! It’s dangerous!”

The second Kuon yelled that out, the two fallen Gollems suddenly detonated. Dust and debris kicked up into the surrounding area. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but broken bits of machinery... Luckily, none of us were harmed, but I certainly was spooked.

“Suicide Gollems... That was close. Good job on the warning, Kuon.”

“My mystic eye granted me enough foresight to see what was about to happen. I caught a glimpse of the blast before it began...”

Damn, you’re using a different power in each eye at the same time? Talk about skill...

“Amazing work, Kuon! Oh, you’re even more quick-thinking than Touya! What a feat for my son!” Yumina exclaimed as she started doting on Kuon, patting and stroking his hair in an exaggerated manner.

I get being proud, but did you have to hit me with a diss in the process? It’s not like I wasn’t thinking quick either! I was gonna use [Teleport] to get rid of the Gollems, but Kuon just happened to be faster, that’s all...

“Are you two all right?”

“Y-Yes, somehow... I’m a bit scraped up, but not really worse for wear.”

Tatsuma had fallen and grazed his elbows, but that was more than easy enough for Elna to fix with her healing spells. She was such a kindhearted girl...

Kuon cleared his throat before addressing Ryuzan and saying, “Those Gollems were clearly sent to kill you and the former ryutei. Do you know of anyone who would want to see you dead?”

“My position as prime minister makes me a reasonable target, but as for Tatsuma-sama...”

Ryuzan was right. Tatsuma had been dead up until only a few hours ago, so there wasn’t much reason for him to be targeted. Though, there could also have been a situation where Tatsuma’s resurrection had caused problems and they were moving to nip it in the bud...

“Is there anyone who might not want Tatsuma around? Or anyone who might not want him to take the throne as ryutei?”

“Tatsuma-sama declared no intention to succeed the throne as ryutei, so there’s no reason for the Hou family to target him. I see no reason for the Ryu family to either... Unless... Tatsuya-sama?”

Tatsuma’s expression sank when he heard Ryuzan speak.

Tatsuya? Tatsuma’s younger brother? He’s not jealous that his big brother suddenly rose from the dead, is he?

“No, surely not. Tatsuya was a good boy, through and through. He was twelve years my junior, and I never had too much time to spend with him due to my duties as the ryutei, however...due to that, he gradually grew more distant from me over time. Before I knew it, he’d fallen in with a crowd I didn’t really like, and that only furthered the animosity between us... It reached the point where we had a poor relationship.”

“It’s true that Tatsuya-sama has something of a rough temperament, but surely he wouldn’t go to murderous lengths.”

It’s hard to say, honestly. I can easily imagine a dejected younger brother growing bitter in the shadow of his elder brother.

Then that bitterness would come undone when his brother died, only to find himself still compared to his elder brother even after that... He might have even wondered why his perfect brother had to die when a roughhousing brat like him stayed alive... And as a result, his hatred would fester, but he’d have no outlet to vent it because the brother he hated was already gone. Then, one day...his brother returned. How would that make him feel? His perfect older brother was back on the scene, reminding him of his own flaws...so he could’ve seen it as the perfect chance to get his revenge and bury his brother for good.

That was only a possibility, of course. It was just a theory of mine. Tatsuma could have just been targeted by a political enemy or something more standard.

“In any case, we need to move. The explosion is drawing attention, and it would be most troublesome if the guards were to come and question us. By your leave, Grand Duke.”

Kuon cleared his throat as he addressed me, suggesting he wanted me to warp us all away. The kid really was in control here, or at least, that was how it felt. I wasn’t sure how to process him being so much better at diplomacy than me.

“[Teleport].”

He was still right, though, so I warped us back to the palace.

Okay, let’s go speak to the houtei and figure this all out...

“...Tatsuya?”

Tatsuma’s words caused me to glance over toward where he was looking, allowing me to catch sight of a man in his early thirties who was entering a carriage alongside a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. Both were dressed in ceremonial blue garbs, indicating their affiliation with the Ryu family.

The woman had deep blue eyes and long black hair. Despite her relaxed expression and beautiful face, her narrow eyes gave her gaze an intimidating sense of pressure. The man was tall and had a sturdy build. His black hair was cut short and he had a beard, but otherwise, his features resembled Tatsuma’s.

His eyes went wide at the sight of Tatsuma, prompting a gasp to leak from his lips.

“Hnh?!”

A sense of bitterness clouded his face as he turned away and clambered into the carriage. The woman with him cast an unfriendly glare in our direction before following suit...and then, the carriage began to rumble away at full speed.

“Wait!”

Despite Tatsuma’s cries, the carriage sped away in the blink of an eye.

“Was...? Was that...?”

“It was indeed...Tatsuya-sama.”

Yep, figures.

I nodded at Ryuzan’s words. It was the ill-behaved little brother I’d recently been told about. He looked just like Tatsuma.

“Shouldn’t we go after him? If he sent those Gollems, I mean...”

“No. The Gollems are broken to bits, and we have no evidence. We can’t just go casting random accusations out of nowhere like that. Besides, we’re outsiders to the Ryuhou Lands, so it’s best to let them take care of their own affairs.”

“Huh? B-But, well...”

Elze recoiled slightly at Kuon’s matter-of-fact explanation. He was right, though. It wasn’t our business, so we had to let them take care of it. We could definitely give our testimony and help, however. If they wanted us to cooperate, we’d even do that. But acting of our own accord within another country? That was a no-go. We had to go through the proper channels, and that meant reporting to the houtei.

We entered the palace...and the woman in question came running up to us immediately.

“Welcome back, Tatsuma-sama! Wait, is something wrong?”

The houtei’s cheery expression fell once she sensed something was off. When Tatsuma explained what had happened, her entire demeanor shifted rapidly.

“What?! Who would dare target you, Tatsuma-sama?! What monster would try to take you from me a second time?! I won’t forgive them!”

Her livid shouts were enough for me to stare at her wide-eyed, and her entire body was twitching with rage. Certainly a far cry from the excitable and happy girl she’d been only moments before... She banged her fists on the table, grumbling and yapping like an angered dog. Ryuzan was holding his head wearily, while Tatsuma looked somewhat unnerved. Perhaps noticing the improper nature of her outburst, the houtei quickly calmed herself down.

“Oh, uh... J-Just kidding, oho ho...”

...It’s too late to play it off as a joke, Houtei. Even my kids were shocked by your freak-out.

“Heh. You haven’t changed a bit, Houka. You used to throw little temper tantrums like that all the time when you were young.”

“N-No, it’s not like that! I just got a little agitated, is all!”

The houtei’s face turned bright red as she scrambled to make excuses. Something about her reaction made me realize something, or at least, it made me think I’d realized something.

I turned to Yumina and whispered, “...Yumina. Does the houtei have feelings for Tatsuma?”

Yumina blinked in surprise and replied, “...You only just noticed? It was blatantly obvious from the start... Honestly, Touya...you’re so inattentive at times.”

Huh?! Why are you looking at me like I’m slow on the uptake?! Was it that obvious?!

“Father... Come now...”

“Father...”

“You’re a real numbskull, Touya.”

My children, along with Elze, stared at me with a look that sat somewhere between dismay and wonder.

Leave me alone...

Yumina let out a quiet sigh that I really would’ve preferred she’d have kept to herself.

“...It was her love for him that drove her to go to such lengths to bring him back. Her anger is completely reasonable in the context of her being scared of losing him again, don’t you think?”

Oh, yeah. I can see that. The fear of losing someone you love can drive you to be pretty emotional, and in this case, she’s already lost him once.

“If someone was gonna take away someone I’d been pining after for over fifteen years, then I’d wanna hunt them down and smash their skulls in. That’s normal.”

Kuon and I shuddered slightly at the harsh imagery Elze had conjured up, but Elna nodded along in agreement.

“...You agree with her, Elna?”

“Love is all-or-nothing. I heard that girls in love are invincible, so there’s nothing to worry about. Just charge in and fight.”

“W-W-Wait, Elna. Who told you that?!”

“Auntie Karen.”

Gaaah! Karen, you idiot! What the hell kind of ideas are you feeding my daughter?! Don’t discuss love with her! It’s too early for that!

“So the houtei loves Tatsuma, and she wants to keep him safe...”

“Um...! Excuse me! C-Could you maybe stop talking about it?!”

“Ah...”

It was at that moment that I realized we’d been having this conversation in front of everyone. I noticed the houtei was now red as a lobster. She was staring at me with tears welling up in her eyes. Ryuzan was grinning widely as he looked over at Tatsuma, who was standing to the side and staring at the ceiling intently. His cheeks were also flushed red.

“W-Well, you know...I’m, um...grateful for what you did, Houka. Thank you, really.”

“N-No, it’s not a problem at all...”

It was as if the two of them were staring at each other in a new light for the very first time. Or maybe it was just the first time I’d noticed... Either way, they were definitely acting a little awkward around each other. It was cute, in a way.

Luckily, I was married. If I was single and saw a scene like that unfolding before me, I’d probably wish for them both to go to hell.

In any case, I was rather invested in their story now. I wanted to make sure they had the chance to be happy together.

◇　◇　◇

Clouds drifted through the night sky, parting every now and then to allow moonbeams their quiet and brief cascades. There were two palaces in Orphen. The Dragon Hall of the Ryu family and the Phoenix Hall of the Hou family. The palaces alternated as the seat of government depending on whether the ryutei or houtei was in power.

A shadow perched itself atop the opulent red roof of the Phoenix Hall, blending in with the night. The shadow slowly made its way across the wall to the courtyard, hopped down, and strafed up against the wall of the building. It then used a special tool to open up a nearby window and slip inside, moving with all the grace of a nimble cat.

This palace was the residence of the houtei. It was the seat of power for the Ryuhou lands at present. As such, it was well defended and had a regular rotation of guards. Yet despite this, the shadow slipped deeper into the building and skillfully avoided detection.

The intruder made their way to the room they’d been looking for, almost as if they knew exactly how to avoid the guard patrols. Once again, they deployed their specialized tool...opening the door with minimal effort.

The shadowy figure slipped into the room, taking care not to make a sound. It was a decently sized room that contained a desk, a chair, a closet, some bookshelves, and a three-quarter bed. The shadowy intruder slowly skulked toward the bed, peering at the face of the man who slumbered in it.

Moonlight shone through the window, illuminating the unconscious visage of Tatsuma, the former ryutei. A dagger gleamed in the moonlight as the figure raised it high into the air...

“All right, that’s enough outta you.”

...only to stop in their tracks as they felt cold metal placed against the back of their own neck.

The startled intruder slowly turned around to see a silver blade floating in the air, pointed directly at their throat.

“Scream or resist and you’re done, got it? Drop the knife. I don’t wanna make a mess in here, so ya better keep yer trap shut too.”

The floating sword, Infinite Silver, forced the intruder to drop their weapon to the ground. The clattering and commotion woke Tatsuma, who narrowed his eyes at the sight of the intruder.

“...That boy was right, I see.”

“Don’t underestimate my kiddo. He’s always a couple steps ahead. Good thing he left me here, eh?” the blade said, then laughed coarsely as the former ryutei heaved a small sigh. Tatsuma couldn’t exactly say anything back to the sword, since Silver was right.

“I’ll go fetch someone...”

As Tatsuma rose from his bed, the shadowy figure reached down for his blade and moved to swing it again. Before he could attack, however, Silver flashed his own blade in an arc, striking the intruder, who fell to the ground in a heap.

“...Are they dead?”

“Naw. I’m on stun mode, so they’re just conked out. If ya wanna get someone, you oughta do it now ’fore they wake back up.”

“Got it.”

Tatsuma pulled on a robe and left the room to fetch a guard.

Silver glanced down at the shadowy figure, the intruder clad in black ninja-like armor. He then used the sharp tip of his blade to slice away the mask that concealed the person’s features, exposing their face to the light of the moon.

“Hm? No way... The kiddo even predicted that much?”

The sight caused Silver’s body to rattle, giving off a vibration that felt like a very human sigh.

◇　◇　◇

Just as I was finishing up work for the night, I received a text from the houtei. Things had played out exactly as Kuon had anticipated. I thought it was a possibility, but Kuon was right on the mark in his prediction... Honestly, his efficiency made me feel a little disheartened.

“What’s with that look?”

Leen, who’d been helping me with my paperwork, snapped me out of my stupor.

...Was my disappointment really that noticeable? Or is it just because we’re married that she can tell?

“It’s nothing, really... I was just thinking about how it’s rough having such a capable son...”

“What nonsense are you spouting now? Sons are meant to surpass their fathers, so shouldn’t you be proud of raising him well?”

“Well, I guess you’re right.”

Kuon would be the next duke of Brunhild, and it seemed like he was taking his duties seriously even at such a young age. I had a hunch I’d be retiring to Babylon sooner than I’d originally anticipated.

In any case, I had a text to digest. Tatsuma had been targeted, confirming that the Gollems had been after him rather than Ryuzan. I didn’t think they’d launch two attacks on the same day, but that was probably the entire reason they’d done it.

Kuon had suggested leaving Silver behind as a guard, and that was definitely the right call. I’d also left Kougyoku with Ryuzan, just to be on the safe side.

According to the houtei’s message, the situation was rather complicated, so she wanted me to stop by at my earliest convenience. That was fine by me, since I needed to collect Silver and Kougyoku anyway, and if they’d contacted me so late at night, then it must’ve been for an urgent reason.

Right when I was about to open up a [Gate] to the Ryuhou Lands, a knock came at the door to my office. Leen walked over to open it, revealing Kuon and Yumina. Yumina was wearing her pajamas, but Kuon was dressed for an adventure.

“Father, I’d like to accompany you to Orphen.”

“Huh? How’d you know I was going?”

I doubted the houtei would’ve sent a text to Kuon about this, and I certainly hadn’t seen him looped in on the recipients.

“I sensed that Silver had unsheathed himself. I can only assume something happened.”

Oh, right. Silver’s a crown, so it makes sense that he’d have a connection like that with Kuon, his contractor.

“I can’t say I approve of my son going out so late at night like this, but... Well, if he’s going with his father, I suppose it’s fine,” Yumina grumbled sleepily. It was normal to tell children not to go out late at night, but Kuon had spent many nights on the road before he’d even got here, so it felt a little late to start enforcing a rule like that.

I had no real objections to taking him with me, though. This was all thanks to him, anyway. Plus, there was an unspoken element of why I wanted to bring him with me. I didn’t want him to think I was an uncool dad. Not that I needed to put on airs for my family, but still.

I left Yumina and the others in charge of affairs, then stepped through a portal to the Phoenix Hall. We were soon greeted by a group of officials and led toward a room within the deeper part of the palace. In the room stood Prime Minister Ryuzan, Tatsuma, and the houtei. They were standing by a pale woman who was in a nearby bed. She was unconscious, but breathing heavily, and there was a lot of sweat beading on her forehead.

Hm? Do I know her?

“Who is this?”

“Tatsuno. A servant and close personal aide to Tatsuya-sama.”

My question was quickly answered by Ryuzan. That helped me place her. She was the narrow-eyed woman who I’d seen getting into the carriage with Tatsuya earlier.

So this is the assailant? Does that mean Tatsuya was behind all this?

Tatsuno herself was not a member of the Ryu family, but instead someone that Tatsuya had come across and taken a liking to. Ryuzan had no idea she was skilled as an infiltrator or assassin.

“She appears to be in poor health. Was there an issue when apprehending her?”

“That’s my bad, kiddo. I made a little oopsie, y’know?”

Silver, still in his sheath, perked up in response to Kuon’s question. Apparently, she’d woken up before Tatsuma had managed to come back with a guard, and she’d moved to stab herself with a poison needle that she’d kept concealed. Silver had noticed this and swung to disarm her, but the needle still managed to graze the woman’s finger. And unfortunately, that tiny dose of the poison was enough to render the woman comatose, so it was unlikely she’d live through the night. That was why they’d called me so urgently.

“[Recovery].”

I’ll just clear the poison from her body. Can’t have such an important player in all this dying on my watch.

The color immediately began returning to her face, and her breathing soon stabilized. I’d neutralized all the poison inside her, so she was beginning to recover.

“You think she was trying to kill Tatsuma?”

“That’s the most likely conclusion, yes. And it was likely done on another person’s orders...which means...”

“I’ve ordered some of our soldiers to find Tatsuya-sama. They’re only to question him, but they have orders to move to detain if he resists,” Ryuzan said, continuing the houtei’s train of thought.

Makes sense to me. If he’s got nothing to hide, then he’s got nothing to fear. But if he resists, well...

“...Was this really Tatsuya’s doing?” Tatsuma asked, sighing quietly as he looked over at the woman on the bed.

The houtei, seemingly unable to endure his sad face any longer, raised her voice and said, “Much can change over the last fifteen years. Tatsuya-sama is still younger than you, even now. And ever since you passed away, he’s taken great pains to raise his social status. He’s one of the candidates to be the next ryutei, but even that isn’t guaranteed, so he likely feels even less secure now that you’ve returned.”

“You can’t win candidacy for the throne based solely on good impressions, Houka. You have to be steady. You should know that as well as I, no?”

“That’s true, but...”

In Orphen, where the Ryu and Hou families took turns ruling, there was still infighting among those families for who’d be their representative. That was simply unavoidable with the kind of ruling structure they’d adopted. If the question of succession was between a mediocre firstborn and a brilliant secondborn, then it was obvious that disputes would break out. If it was a matter of tradition, then the firstborn son would ascend. But if it was for the good of the country, then the secondborn should ascend.

As far as my opinions went, I would sooner have had the brilliant second son on the throne than the inefficient first. If it made the country worse, then what was the point in adhering to tradition? However, if the firstborn were merely an ordinary person rather than a mediocre fool, then I would want him on the throne with his brother supporting him. Being a genius wasn’t a requirement for rulership, after all. You just had to not be a dumbass.

I’d talked about this kind of thing with my wives too. If my eldest son was not fit for the throne, then he wasn’t entitled to it by default. Plus, I honestly didn’t think Brunhild’s leadership had to be beholden to my bloodline. After all, Brunhild itself just kind of fell into my lap. I didn’t really earn my place on the world stage. If I happened to have an imbecile of a son who didn’t deserve to carry on Brunhild’s legacy, then it would have been better for the people to have a brilliant man from outside my family take his place.

Don’t think I have to worry about that, though.

I glanced at my son with a small grin on my face. I was more worried about him being too good, frankly.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps from the outside hall, as well as faint cries of “Halt!” or “Stop right there!” that grew closer until someone barged into the room.

“Tatsuno! Are you okay?! Is she safe?!”

That someone was none other than Tatsuya, Tatsuma’s younger brother. The moment he charged into the room, he was seized by two guards who’d been stationed by the door.

“Calm yourself, Tatsuya-dono.”

“Lady Houtei! They say Tatsuno was poisoned, is it true?!”

“It’s true. She tried to kill herself with a poisoned needle, but the grand duke of Brunhild has already neutralized the poison in her body.” Tatsuya heaved a great sigh of relief upon hearing the houtei’s words. The houtei’s eyes, however, were cold and glassy.

That was entirely reasonable. Someone she loved had almost died, and the prime suspect was sitting in front of her.

“Tatsuya.”

Tatsuya flinched slightly upon hearing Tatsuma’s voice. The guards held him in place, forcing him down to his knees as Tatsuma walked toward him.

“She tried to murder me... Suicide Gollems were sent after me... I’ll ask kindly. Was that your doing?”

The man on the ground gulped quietly, staring at the floor all the while. After a few moments of silence, Tatsuya looked up at his brother and slowly opened his mouth to speak.

“...It was all me, yes. I ordered Tatsuno to do this.”

The room went deadly silent, and I could feel the rage festering in the houtei’s soul.

Tatsuma took a step forward as if to break her line of sight and asked, “Why?”

“...I was scared. I was scared of losing everything I’d built up, so I wanted to...put you back in the ground. I gave the order. Tatsuno simply obeyed it, so—”

“You’re lying,” Kuon spoke clearly, his words cutting off Tatsuya’s. Kuon’s right eye was gleaming with a silver luster, shimmering with the power he’d inherited from his mother.

“It’s no lie! I ordered her to do it! I ordered her to kill my brother!”

“That’s not true. You didn’t order her to do it at all. If I had to guess, this was all her doing—”

“No! You’re wrong! It’s all me! It’s all on me! I wanted her to kill him! I told her to kill him! His death was my fault in the first place! It wasn’t Tatsuno!”

“...What do you mean by all this, boy?” Tatsuma turned to Kuon with a curious gaze.

“I don’t know the specifics, but I believe he’s saying this to protect her. I think the attempt on your life was orchestrated by her alone. Perhaps even the suicide Gollems were her doing.”

“No, brother! Please! I orchestrated the entire thing! Pin it all on me, even if it means the death penalty! Leave her out of this!”

Tatsuya bowed his body forward, reaching out his arms to cling to his brother’s legs. The entire room fell silent, bewildered by the sight of the blubbering man. Even the houtei, who’d previously been bubbling with rage, now seemed more confused than anything else.

Since neither she nor Tatsuma seemed ready to speak, I spoke up in their stead and asked “...You said his death was your fault in the first place? What does that mean? Wasn’t his death an accident?”

“...It wasn’t. The collapsed altar was my doing... I wanted to scare Houka, so...”

“...Me?”

At the mention of her name, the houtei blinked in further confusion.

“...It wasn’t supposed to be dangerous. It was just a prank. The thing was meant to fall just before Houka came to the altar, but it didn’t. I thought it was a dud, and then it happened to collapse during the ceremony itself. My elder brother died protecting her from it... If I hadn’t done that, he’d have never died!”

Tatsuya wailed out his confession as tears streamed down his face. The revelation only served to further stun everyone. I could understand why. The truth behind the death of the ryutei being a childish prank? That was a lot to digest.

Slowly, Tatsuma opened his mouth and asked, “...Why would you try to scare her?”

“I was... I was jealous... You always had time for her... You always took her places and taught her things...”

“She was set to be the next houtei... I had to teach her those things. It was part of my leadership duties...”

“I know that, I do. But your attention was always on her, so I felt like you didn’t want me around... I thought that if I could get some petty revenge by frightening her, I’d at least feel like I could do something about it...”

Childish envy? I guess he would’ve been eleven or twelve at the time. That’s kind of a normal reaction for a kid his age. Maybe he saw the young houtei-to-be as someone who was stealing his big brother?

“Did Tatsuno know that?”

“No, there’s no way she’d have known... But she asked about my strange behavior when I learned you’d returned from the dead. She must have assumed your presence stood in my way...”

According to Tatsuya, Tatsuno was once a member of the black market’s shadow guild. She’d found herself on the verge of death once that organization had been destroyed, only for Tatsuya to save her life. She must have felt she was repaying her debt to him in some way by taking matters into her own hands...

“...I see now that my selfish thoughts brought you further suffering, Tatsuya-sama...”

“Tatsuno!”

Tatsuno, who’d apparently been awake enough to hear the whole exchange, slowly rose from her bed. The nearby guards charged forward, forming a wall between her and us. Them being on high alert was understandable, given she’d tried to kill Tatsuma only an hour prior.

“...You heard all of that?”

“I was conscious, but unable to move... I had no choice but to listen...” Tatsuno, whose hands were tied together in cuffs, said as she slumped out of the bed and prostrated herself before the houtei and Tatsuma.

“This was my doing...and mine alone. There has been no wrongdoing on Tatsuya-sama’s part. Please, lay any and all punishment upon me...”

“No! If I’d simply talked to my brother immediately and told him how I felt, then Tatsuno would never have done this! I wanted to speak to you, but I was afraid of facing what I’d done! Please, Lady Houtei! I beseech you! Do anything you want to me, but leave Tatsuno out of this!” Tatsuya exclaimed as he fell to the floor and prostrated himself alongside Tatsuno.

Man...this could’ve all been solved if they’d just talked things out, huh?

“Houka... No, Lady Houtei.”

Tatsuma stood silent for a while before finally turning to the houtei and bowing before her. He eventually fell just as prostrate as the other two. The houtei’s expression faltered as she saw him bowing so deeply before her.

“It was my own shortcomings as an elder brother that wrought this tragedy. I beg you to pardon him for his role in my death...and I beg you to pardon her for her role in the attempt... From the bottom of my heart, please.”

“B-Brother, you don’t have to go that far!”

“...I can at least do one thing as your elder brother, can I not? Tatsuno must mean a great deal to you. I can swallow my pride and beg for something like that.”

“Hngh... B-Brother, I... I’m so sorry... I...”

Tatsuya openly wept as he pressed his head to the ground. Tatsuma, on the other hand, smiled softly in the face of the apology.

The houtei let out a deep sigh before turning to the prime minister and asking, “Ryuzan. You were involved in all this as well. What say you?”

“Hm, well...accident or not, Tatsuya-dono was responsible for the death of our most recent ryutei. Tatsuno-dono then tried to murder him upon his revival. Ordinarily, such crimes would be punished with death, but the victim in both cases has made a personal appeal, even going so far as to beg you for their forgiveness. We cannot pretend the incidents never happened, but we can lessen the punishment. I would strip the two of any property and titles they own and have them exiled from our nation.”

“Very well, then. The two of you shall henceforth be exiled from the Ryuhou Lands. You have three days to leave Orphen, and you will not be allowed to return. Is that understood?”

“Y-Yes, thank you!”

Tatsuno and Tatsuya kept their heads lowered as they spoke in unison, their voices muffled by tears. It didn’t feel like a particularly lenient sentence, but perhaps it was the best they could’ve hoped for. After all, so long as they had their lives, they were free to begin again...together.

“...Did I perhaps overstep my bounds tonight?” Kuon hesitantly asked, whispering directly into my ear.

Had he not interfered with his mystic eye, Tatsuya would have been fingered as the mastermind and Tatsuno would have been convicted of her attempt to kill Tatsuma. They would’ve both surely received the death penalty. With that in mind, this was a far better outcome. I didn’t think exposing the truth was necessarily the right call in every single instance, but Kuon had done a good job today.

I quietly, and proudly, stroked a hand through my son’s hair. He’d done well.

Babylon’s treasures and legacy were all managed by the storehouse, which was on the lowest level of the floating facility. The items were stored in boxes beneath the structure and summoned using a black monolith controller.

The boxes were all numbered, and I’d taken great care to compile a full list of the contents some time ago...

“It would-a seem that some of the boxes were-a numbered wrong. Some of the contents were improperly stored-a too.”

“You can’t even keep things straight here?”

Some might have found her ditziness charming. I certainly didn’t. She made up for her own clumsiness with more stupidity, and I certainly didn’t have the patience for it. To make matters worse, she was the type who seemed competent at a glance...so it was kind of a double whammy when she messed up.

“That’s enough. Just summon all the boxes into the main atrium.”

“All-a three hundred at once?”

“Gah... Yeah... Slow and steady wins the race... We’ll sort through them all. Just summon them slowly, one at a time.”

“Capisco!”

One after another, square boxes sprouted out of the storehouse floor...and before long, three hundred boxes, ranging from small to large, were lined up in a big row.

I began opening them one at a time, confirming whether or not they contained the thing I needed. If I came across anything mislabeled or mispackaged, then I fixed it up.

In total, I spent about five hours opening all the boxes and putting the contents back correctly. Yes, I even put them back... I couldn’t trust the gynoid with it.

“Where was it?!”

“Hm? What’s-a wrong?”

“Don’t gimme that! What do you think?!”

I’d opened up every box that matched under the search conditions, but I hadn’t found any radiore at all. Was Doc Babylon just wrong or something? Or was the radiore in another box somewhere deep in the storehouse? The three hundred brought up by my search conditions were hard enough to find...

“Oh... Wait. Radiore? It should-a be reverbium, no?” Parshe said as she curiously looked over the letters floating on the monolith.

Wait, don’t tell me...

“...I forgot-a to file radiore as an alternate name...”

“YOU FORGOT WHAAAT?!”

Isn’t there a limit to how stupid you can be?! Didn’t you just waste five hours of my life?! Wait, no, I guess I got to organize some of the stuff...but still!

“Wah!”

Just as I was about to stomp my foot in fury, a box came up right underneath me and bowled me off my feet. I fell flat on my ass.

“A-Ah! That was an accident-a!”

I clenched my teeth together as I staggered back to my feet. I felt like a vein was about to burst in my skull.

I slowly regained my composure before opening up the box. There were three hunks of blue rock with golden stripes running across them. It was the radiore.

...So it was here the whole time. If she’d just had radiore as a listed term alongside reverbium, then this could’ve been avoided...

“I-I’ll help-a you take this to the research laboratory!”

“Nope! I’m good, thanks! I’ll take it on my own! You must be tired, so stay here and rest!”

“If-a you’re sure...”

I desperately resisted Parshe’s attempt to help me.

No way! If you try to assist me, I’ll lose this stone!

I tossed the radiore into [Storage] and dashed away from the storehouse as fast as possible.

◇　◇　◇

“Welcome back. You’re a bit late, aren’t you?”

“Don’t say a damn thing...”

Doc Babylon’s words pierced me to the core. The storehouse was hell itself, and I didn’t want to visit it again any time soon.

I handed over the radiore and asked the doc to make a theremin with it. I would’ve preferred to have made it myself, but it was way too complex for me. I made a cute frame for it, at least. Something a young girl would appreciate. It was even cherry blossom pink, to match Sakura and Yoshino’s hair.

I left that to Babylon and decided on the next present to tackle.

Quun wanted a magical tool, right? Hmm... Maybe I can find something like that in the storehouse, but I don’t want to go back there. Not today, at least.

Plus, Quun probably knew about all the stuff in the storehouse already.

She wanted an interesting one, right? Does that mean it has to be one of a kind? Hmm... Maybe I could just give her a theremin too? Nah, that’d be a bit tacky.

If our magic tools weren’t enough, then one from another country would have to do the trick.

Luckily, I knew exactly where to go, so I opened up a [Gate] and hopped on in.

Haaah... I’m shooting all over the place to grant these wishes... Is this how stars feel when people wish on them?

◇　◇　◇

“An interesting magical tool, eh?”

The oil-stained woman standing before me was Berlietta, the former princess of Strain. Though that was a title she’d discarded once she’d married Lupheus, first prince of Triharan.

I’d come to Triharan to visit this odd couple, and I found them in a small mechanic’s garage outside the imperial palace. I wondered if it was really okay for the crown princess to be standing here in oil-slicked coveralls, but it wasn’t my place to comment.

“I have a few magical tools laying around, but they’re mostly things I’ve tinkered with. I don’t think they’d compare to anything Elluka could’ve come up with.”

Hrm... Maybe I was wrong thinking Berlietta would have something unique to offer, then.

“Triharan royalty doesn’t have much in the way of historical tools of interest either... Not anymore, at least. Our heritage items were all sold when the Senate took control...” Lupheus said, speaking up as he continued tinkering with the EV in the middle of the room.

...Should the crown prince really be laying down under a car with a wrench in his hand? These two really were made for each other, huh?

Nothing about this couple had changed since the last time I’d seen them, which was precisely what I’d been hoping for.

I had told them the gist of the situation, that I needed an interesting piece of magical technology for a young girl who was related to me, but they didn’t really have anything particular in mind.

“Grand Duke, surely you can make a one-of-a-kind magical tool, no?” Berlietta said, stating the obvious as if it were a bold new idea.

That was the first thing I’d thought of too, but... Well, I’d already made most of the most interesting electronic devices I could think of. My castle had a washing machine, a fridge-freezer, and more smartphones than you could count. I wasn’t sure what I could make that I hadn’t already created.

Hell, even she had already made interesting stuff like powered suits.

“If I were to receive an interesting magical tool, I’d opt for something I could improve myself. Like this EV here.”

“Oh, yes, I agree. It’s rather fun to tinker with, isn’t it?”

Hmm... Something you can modify and improve freely, huh? Like the Frame Gear or powered suits she likes to play around with... I guess that makes sense. So if we’re going for something in that vein, then how about a vehicle?

“Maybe she’d like a bike.”

“A what?”

“Uhhh...it’s like an Ether Vehicle, but it has two wheels and is for fewer passengers.”

“Two wheels? Like a vehicle that only has wheels at the front or the rear?”

“Uh, not quite...”

Lupheus was apparently imagining something like a cart with two wheels. It was a pain in the ass to explain what was going on, so I just pulled up some pictures on my phone. Then, I pulled up a video of a motorcycle doing a few laps.

“Amazing! It’s really running on just two wheels!”

“How can it lean in like that without losing balance?! Oh! The driver’s knees are almost touching the ground!”

The video of the motorbike race had them glued to the screen. We watched the race until one of the contestants suddenly swerved on a corner and fell from his bike. The two were shocked at first, but breathed a sigh of relief when the racer got back up. His bike wasn’t quite so unharmed, however.

“As you can see, motorbikes are a bit more unstable than Ether Vehicles. It’s really easy to get injured if you get in an accident while on it, which is why riders wear special suits and helmets.”

Hmm, maybe it’s not such a good idea to make one of these for Quun... She’d definitely take safety precautions, though.

“Interesting... So it’s a potentially dangerous vehicle, then.”

“It’s likely unstable due to the two wheels. Standard Ether Vehicles have four wheels because it’s the most sensible design...but, hm... Could you not make a safer bike with three wheels?”

“I mean... Tricycles do exist, but...”

I wasn’t sure if Quun would appreciate receiving a tricycle as a gift.

Although...maybe a three-wheeler motorcycle? She might like that.

I pulled up a search for three-wheeled motorcycles, and there were a lot of results.

“Yes, if we used a compact design based on these outlines then it’d be much safer. We can improve the size of the tires for stability too.”

“How wonderful! Some designs have two wheels at the front, while others have two at the back.”

“Why not both?! I’ll make the former, while you make the latter.”

“Got it!”

Huh? You’re making two of them now? And two different ones at that? I only came here to ask for ideas, guys...

“The chassis will need to be small if it’s for a child!”

“Let’s consider speed limiters as well! Oh, and a heavy frame sounds good! For durability!”

I’d started them down this path, so it wasn’t my place to stop them at this point. Thus, I simply sighed and let them get on with it.

I could’ve just taken the idea to Rosetta at the workshop, but I’d gone and pushed these two off the deep end by mistake, so now I had to see them see it through.

Hrm... It’s never simple around here, is it?

◇　◇　◇

I helped them out by forming various parts using [Modeling], and in just under two days the two of them were finished with their inventions.

Two motorized trikes stood before me in the Triharan garage.

The one with two wheels at the front was pretty compact and looked more like a scooter. The design allowed you to sit on it with your legs close together. You could even wear a skirt on it without worrying about anything showing.

The one with the two rear wheels looked more like a traditional motorbike. The wheels at the rear had much thicker tires for extra stability too. The chassis itself was child-sized, but I could still see an adult being able to get on it. It was also adjustable. The seat could move back allowing for more or less leg room.

We completed test drives for both of them, and they moved smoothly and safely. That meant my present for Quun was now complete. There was only one problem...

If I gave both to Quun, the other kids might complain that she got two presents. It’d certainly be unfair for her to get two gifts while the others got one, which meant I needed to pick and choose one to give her.

The only question was which one... The scooter model certainly seemed easier to ride, so I ended up picking that one.

“I went to great pains to make mine, you know...?”

Berlietta, whose trike I hadn’t chosen, glanced nervously in my direction as I laid hands on the other one. She was probably afraid of me taking it, the damn tech junkie.

“I’m not taking both, so you guys can keep this one. I just want the blueprints.”

“Oh, thank you!”

The trike I’d chosen technically belonged to me, as I had supplied all the materials and commissioned the two to make it.

At the end of the day, I wasn’t going to let them keep the one I wanted, since that would’ve defeated the whole purpose of my visit. Thankfully, they seemed to be completely fine with receiving the other trike in lieu of the commission payment.

Taking Berlietta’s blueprints instead of her actual trike was better, anyway. That way, Quun could make her own if she wanted.

I took the blueprints and the front-two-wheeler trike, tossed them into my [Storage], and I thanked the two before returning to Brunhild. They didn’t really see me off, though. They were too engrossed in their latest invention to care.

Now then, just two to go... Arcia and Linne...

I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of exotic ingredients Arcia wanted, nor was I entirely sure about Linne’s desired finishing move... Thus, I decided to just get Arcia’s out of the way, since it seemed more straightforward.

What’s exotic for her, though? Like something rare, or fabled? What kind of ingredients would I associate with being rare or exotic back on Earth? Matsutake mushrooms, maybe? Nah, they’re a bit too common. You can get them in any supermarket.

The most fantastical ingredient in this world was Dragon meat. Most people couldn’t kill a Dragon, after all. And even when someone did, the meat was traded at such a high price that it was out of the reach of the masses.

Dragon meat would be the obvious answer... If we didn’t regularly cook with it. To Arcia, Dragon meat was as mundane as chicken. And so, I had no choice but to turn to my castle’s foremost culinary expert.

◇　◇　◇

“An exotic ingredient, eh?”

“Mhm. What’s something that’s almost impossible to find? Putting aside dragon meat, that is.”

The obvious person to ask here was Lu. She was an imperial princess, so she’d eaten fine dining since the moment she was born. I reasoned that if there was something Lu had never eaten, then Arcia had surely never eaten it either.

“I see... If we’re talking rare, then abyssal shark roe, blackstone shrooms, and roughbird liver would be the usual things I’d list off...but those can be rather easily acquired for the right coin.”

Yeah, those are all A-rank ingredients for sure, but I’m after S-rank stuff.

“I suppose... Behemoth meat.”

“Really?”

Those giant things? They’re actually tasty? I’ve killed a few, but have never thought about eating them. Hell, I sold most of the carcasses from my encounters with them.

“Well, Touya, as you know, magical beasts contain an infusion of magical elements in their bodies. This magical element enriches the flesh and deepens the flavor.”

“Yeah. That’s why Dragon meat tastes so good, right?”

Stronger monsters typically had a higher concentration of magic in their systems, so the logic usually went that the stronger the monster, the tastier its flesh.

“Behemoths are magical beasts who have been exposed to entire wells of mana, taking in so much that their bodies become oversized and mutated. Therefore, their bodies are so rich with magical elements that it’s said their flesh is a grade above any other creature’s.”

That made a lot of sense. In fact, I was surprised I hadn’t put that together before. If magical elements determined good taste, and it was an abundance of that magic that made Behemoths so big...then it stood to reason that they’d be the tastiest beasts of all.

“Not just any Behemoth meat will do, however. Take that scorpion beast, for example, Scorpinus. Its base species didn’t taste especially good, so even enriched by its Behemoth transformation, it wouldn’t taste much better than low-grade beef.”

Oh, right. So if it’s a species that doesn’t taste great from the outset, it won’t make a difference? Actually, it might be the exact opposite. Maybe the magical element would make a bad-tasting thing taste even worse, amplifying the bitter taste? Yuck!

“If you’re going to target a Behemoth for meat, then you should go for one that mutated from a species that was already delicious. Cattle, pigs, or birds... Oh, fish would work well too.”

Hmm... We already encountered one like that back on Palerius Island, right? Hilde killed that gigantic power bison, I remember... So that’s the kind of meat I need, eh?

Sadly, while I kept the crafting materials, we sold the meat to the people of Palerius. They were living in a sealed city, so their food supplies were dwindling. It certainly wasn’t a decision I regretted either.

Well, whatever. Just gotta find a tasty-looking Behemoth and kill it for meat, right? That’s hardly difficult.

The only issue would be sourcing such a tasty foe.

“Run search... Behemoths that count as cows, pigs, birds, or fish.”

“Searching... Search complete.”

A bunch of pins dropped down on my map. More than I’d expected, even. I wondered if you could really call it exotic if there were so many sources just roaming around...but then quickly realized there were only around ten in the whole world, so it was definitely pretty exotic. Plus, once you killed one, there was no guarantee another would ever show up again. That was the sheer definition of exotic.

Hmm, which one to go for? The ones in the ocean are definitely fish, while the flying ones have gotta be birds.

I wasn’t sure if I felt like going to the trouble of a nautical or aerial battle, though...

Do I want beef or pork? A pig would probably be easier to handle than a cow... I could also go for some pork cutlets right about now. Hmm... Yeah, let’s go with pork. Pigs it is.

I searched more specifically and found two pig Behemoths. One was in the snowy mountains of Elfrau, while the other was in a mountain range amid Yulong’s ruins.

I couldn’t hunt in Elfrau’s territory without permission, so Yulong was the safe bet.

“Touya.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Lu looked up at me with pleading eyes.

“...You’ll, um... You’ll let me have some of that meat, won’t you?”

“...Oh, uh... Yeah... Of course...”

I folded... I guess she’s worried I’ll only let Arcia try it. I don’t think she’ll mind if I give Lu some, so it’s whatever. Actually, if I give Lu some, it might inspire the two of them to have a contest to make the yummiest dish! Hell, since it’ll be their first time working with the stuff, Arcia’ll probably consider it even and fair.

I decided to head off hunting right away. Pork was going to be back on the menu.

◇　◇　◇

“Oh... It was that kind of pig...”

I pinched my brow and sighed as I stared at the porcine Behemoth in front of me.

It was an enormous boar with shaggy black fur and ridiculously oversized tusks.

Boars are pigs too, I guess...

I’d killed a boar Behemoth back on Palerius Island. It was called a Grand Boar or something like that. Apparently, I’d slaughtered an entire rare beast on that island without even realizing it.

The black boar in front of me was different from the Grand Boar, however. It resembled a Black Fang Boar. I’d heard that it was quite the tasty species.

I’d hunted regular Fang Boars before, but this was my first time seeing a black one...even if it was considerably oversized. I wondered if it would taste like Berkshire pork, but quickly realized it probably wouldn’t. If I remembered right, Berkshire pork was a species that had been specifically bred to taste good, and it was known internationally as kurobuta pork. A wild beast like this wouldn’t taste as good as a selectively bred pig, at least not on its own... Though, it was a Behemoth, so there was still a chance it could taste even better.

“HOOOIIIIIINKH!”

The black boar Behemoth lunged toward me. My Reginleif was in the middle of a tune-up, so I would have to fight this one on the ground.

I didn’t think just slashing or shooting it with Brunhild would do the trick either. Thus, I quickly started chanting, casting [Iron Wall] and manifesting a twenty-meter-high and four-meter-thick wall of metal out of the ground at my feet.

The Black Fang Boar was unable to stop its own momentum, sending it smashing full speed into the sudden obstacle in its path. A dull thud rang out into the surrounding area as it smashed its head into the iron wall, leaving a big dent in the back of it.

Holy cow, how strong is this thing?! It seriously made a dent?!

Just as I was marveling at the Behemoth’s power, I heard the dull thud again... It wasn’t dead, and it wasn’t done smashing into the wall, apparently.

“No way... Seriously?”

I used [Fly] to rush up into the sky and look down at the situation...only to catch the Black Fang Boar running back and charging the wall another three times.

...It’s bleeding from the head. Why’s it still hitting the wall?

After the third violent crash, the metal structure warped and crumbled before fading away entirely. The wall had been formed from magic in the earth, so it was destined to either disappear after a certain period of time or fade away after sustaining a certain amount of damage. It wasn’t as durable as real forged iron either. It was still iron, however, so the fact that it had been so thoroughly smashed was no small feat.

The Black Fang Boar let out a triumphant roar upon felling its inanimate foe.

I narrowed my eyes and realized it wasn’t just bellowing at random, but up at me. It was as if it was taunting me, trying to tell me it had overcome my trick.

...You’re pretty good...but not good enough.

I snapped my fingers and cast [Waterball], launching a sphere of water about ten meters in diameter over at the black fang boar. The orb struck the Behemoth square in the head, enveloping its nose and mouth in the water. It began to gargle and thrash around, desperate for air, but it couldn’t stop itself from drowning where it stood.

Behemoths were strong, but they were still regular living creatures. A boar couldn’t breathe underwater, so a giant boar couldn’t either. The Black Fang Boar thrashed its head around, desperate to shake the orb off its face, but it was to no avail. It couldn’t even move away, as I’d used my magic to fix its limbs to the floor.

Eventually, it fell limp and motionless to the floor. It was still alive, but it wouldn’t be alive for much longer. I dissipated the orb of water, used Earth magic to dig a huge pit beneath it, and then used [Levitation] to dangle it upside down in the air. When it was floating in front of me, I used Wind magic to slice open its throat, draining the blood into the pit I’d just dug.

Black Fang Boars weren’t just renowned for their meat, after all. Their tusks and fur made good raw materials. This was the most efficient way to kill it without damaging its valuable pelt, even if it was somewhat harsh.

“I’ll have the adventurer’s guild take you apart and ask them to set aside the meat for me.”

I pulled out my phone and called up Relisha, checking if she’d be able to disassemble a Behemoth for me as soon as possible.

◇　◇　◇

I used [Gate] to summon the monster dismantling team to the Yulong mountain range.

First off, I asked them to harvest the best meat. They prioritized the loin, shoulder, rib, fatty meat, and tenderloin (the cut that made the best cutlets). I was going to get all of the meat later, but for now, I needed enough for Arcia.

It was at this point that I was a little amused by the prospect of getting raw meat as a gift for a child, but it was what she wanted, so who was I to judge?

Either way, that was it for Arcia, so only Linne’s wish remained. She had wished for a finishing move...or something to that effect. I could assume she didn’t mean a move that literally finished people off. She probably meant some cool or flashy attack.

I personally felt her [Gravity] and [Shield] combo already fell into that category.

Yae’s Kokonoe techniques and Hilde’s Lestian attacks were probably the kind of moves Linne must have had in mind. Though, Elze and Ende had their special ki attacks too. Linne probably felt a bit left out without having something truly crazy to call her own.

I guess asking Uncle Takeru would be best, right? He’s literally the god of combat. Maybe there’s some easy answer I’m missing that’ll help me figure it out.

I went to Takeru to ask, but he flat-out told me that there was no easy answer. Apparently, I’d hit a dead end.

“There’s no simple guide to it, but you could always learn the martial arts and record them for her to learn from.”

“Huh? Me?”

...Do I look like I have time to learn martial arts and start recording my journey in an esoteric tome or something?

“Wait, it doesn’t have to be me... Can’t I just ask Ende or Elze to do that?”

“Ende’s a natural genius who learns new abilities intuitively. I doubt he could properly record or explain his techniques to others. Conversely, Elze is a destructive force all by herself, which isn’t something you can communicate in text.”

Ugh... I guess that’s true. Whenever I ask Elze about how she fights, she always says stuff like, “Well, first you go bam! Then, you twist around and go thwack!”

Her explanations were always hard to decipher... I was amazed she could understand herself.

In Ende’s case, he was the kind of person who’d go over something complicated and then act like it wasn’t a big deal at all. I was not exactly a fan of natural geniuses like him.

Takeru was somewhat similar, but he was definitely better at explaining the processes. It was probably that similarity between them that led to Ende and him becoming such fast friends.

...Do I really have to learn martial arts myself? And do I really have to write it all down? Wait, no. Can’t I just use a crystal ball to record a video that explains finishing moves, then enchant it to play back the recording with [Mirage]? That way Linne can just watch it and learn.

“Could I record you doing a special finishing move?”

“I suppose so, but wouldn’t it be better to have me do it on a target rather than thin air?”

Takeru had a point. It’d be easier to understand how to use the move against a foe if there was a foe having it used on them in the video. Thus, I decided to go and get a lucky volunteer to receive Takeru’s beatdown. It couldn’t be me, of course. I had to record. Luckily, I had the perfect guy in mind...

“Why me?!”

“You’re his best student, so you’re best suited to dealing with him. That’s just how it is, man.”

I grinned slightly as Ende stood there grumbling.

I’d dragged him here by opening up a [Gate] under his feet. He’d initially refused, but then I told him Allis would appreciate having the recording to learn from and he reluctantly agreed to participate.

Technically, Ende would be getting beaten up in this video, so he might’ve had some reservations about letting his daughter see that. But sometimes a father had to make sacrifices for the good of his child.

“Now, what kinda attack do you wanna see? I could do one that drains my life span in exchange for an ultimate strike that guarantees a killing blow...”

“Absolutely not!” Ende and I yelled in unison.

I didn’t want my daughter to learn something terrible, no way! But that said, I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of attack I wanted to show her. She wouldn’t be too happy if it was something difficult. An attack that would take her years to even begin grasping didn’t exactly make for a good gift.

On the other hand, showing her a really simple attack wouldn’t be very interesting either. Thus, we needed to hit a happy medium.

“How about I beat up on Ende here with a couple of intermediate-grade attacks, and we pick the one that looks simplest?”

“Sure. Let’s do that.”

“Hwah?! Don’t I get any input here?!”

Ende tried to protest, but it was too late. Takeru and I had already decided that this was the best path forward.

“Okay, go!”

I stood a good distance away from the two of them and began recording with my phone. Yet for some reason, by the time my recording had started, the screen showed only Takeru. Where had Ende gone?

“Bwauuugh?!”

I glanced upward just in time to see Ende crashing to the ground.

Huh? Did Takeru hit him that fast?

“As you can see, I instantly charged beneath my enemy’s bosom and drove my entire body’s force through my palms to strike him upward in the blink of an eye...”

“Wait, wait, hold on! Uncle Takeru! You went too fast! I couldn’t catch that on video at all!”

I had to stop Takeru mid-explanation. He’d done it so fast that I hadn’t even hit the record button before Ende was halfway to the stratosphere. I wouldn’t be able to record a thing at this rate.

“Sorry, Ende. Let’s go again.”

“Wurgh...”

I cast a recovery spell on Ende while giving him a supportive thumbs-up.

Don’t glare at me, man! That one wasn’t my fault!

Ende staggered to his feet and faced Uncle Takeru once more. He stood in a defensive stance this time around. His arms were crossed and his hands were protecting his jaw.

This time I pressed the record button before calling out for them to begin.

“Okay, now you can...”

“Bwroguh?!”

Ende was once again catapulted up into the sky, landing in a heap a few seconds later.

Seriously?! That was way too fast! I couldn’t see you move!

“As you can see, I instantly charged beneath my enemy’s bosom and drove my body’s force through my palms to strike him upward in the blink of an eye...”

“Hold it! Stop! Hold on!”

I had to stop Uncle Takeru mid-explanation again.

I went over the video I’d recorded at the slowest possible speed, frame by frame, but even then, I couldn’t see Takeru move. Ende was just blasted into the sky.

How fast is he?! He’s going beyond the recording speed!

“You’re too fast! You need to go slower so we can use it as a proper instructional video!”

“If I go slower, I won’t be using my actual technique.”

“Ugh... I get it, but... Well, okay. How about you do the technique, then slowly explain it while showing all the parts of it in sequence?”

“Oh, I see. That works, yes. Come, Ende. Once more!”

“Up you go, Ende.”

“Gimme a break...”

We had to do a few retakes, but eventually, I got footage of a few special attacks. I edited the video together and enchanted it into a crystal ball. I could’ve just sent the video to Linne’s phone, but I felt like that took away from the magic of it being a present.

I also made one for Ende to pass on to Allis. For some reason, he didn’t say anything to me when I saw him off. He just stared and groaned. Still, I had a feeling he’d feel a lot better once he saw his daughter’s smiling face. It was all for the greater good.

That was the end of Linne’s wish, which meant I’d granted them all. I felt a bit weird about granting wishes for all my kids except Kuon, though. I wanted to give him something that’d make him happy, but what would that something be? I knew he enjoyed putting dioramas together, so something related to that seemed like a safe bet. He’d gotten pretty excited that one time I’d shown him all those different dioramas, after all.

Oh, maybe I could get some videos on diorama-making?

I was a little curious, so I looked it up on a popular video hosting site. There was a massive number of videos to choose from. I was amazed, as I hadn’t expected it to be such a popular hobby.

All right, great. I’ll stitch some of these videos together and enchant them into a crystal ball like Linne’s here.

It felt a little low-effort, but I had a feeling he’d still be happy.

The theremin for Yoshino was also complete, so now I had everything. The only question that remained was how I was going to deliver the presents...but I had a certain idea in mind. It had to do with an old custom from Earth...a rather classic way of preparing gifts.

◇　◇　◇

The next morning, all of my children woke up with a present by their bedside. They were initially unsure what to think, but after a little urging from their mothers, they opened up their boxes.

At first, though, Linne and Kuon didn’t quite seem to understand what they were looking at, which was a bit understandable, since they’d just been presented with crystal balls without any explanation.

Thankfully, I’d written out accompanying cards detailing what each of their presents contained. Once they read those, they smiled wide.

Yoshino didn’t seem to realize what a theremin was at a glance, but once she read her card and realized it was a musical instrument, she immediately started playing with it.

I’m glad she’s happy, but maybe I should’ve reconsidered giving her this? The sound of a theremin so early in the morning is a little jarring...

Yakumo gleefully swung her hoshi-kiri tachi around, while Frei lashed her whipsword through the air. Quun merrily rode around on her trike. The sound of the theremin was flowing out nonstop from Yoshino’s room, and Arcia had already taken the Behemoth meat to the kitchen and begun working on her next master dish. Elna was practically buried in the bosom of the giant stuffed panda she’d received, while Linne was studying her video, moving her body here and there as if memorizing the motions. Kuon was pondering his orb, attentively picking over every detail of the diorama instructional video I’d put together for him.

It’d been a lot of work putting all of it together, but seeing my kids happy made all the effort worth it.

“Wishing upon a star... I wish I had made a wish as well, I do.”

“Right? I’d wish for our busy husband to calm down and do something with us.”

Yae and Sue started jabbering about something that annoyed them, but I pretended not to hear.

“I’d wish for a grimoire, something new that you couldn’t even find in Babylon’s library.”

“I-I’d want some romantic novels and manga from Earth...”

“Oh, if we could get things from Earth, then I’d want a new idol song to learn...”

Leen, Linze, and Sakura joined in.

Crap... Don’t tell me I’ve gotta grant all your wishes too!

It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to get them gifts, but it’d be better if they gave me six months or a year of notice or something.

“I already received a present from Touya, so...”

“That was just leftovers from the meat he got for Arcia, no? Although I suppose that was a present, wasn’t it...?”

I could sense my other wives narrow their eyes at Lu, who spoke with a sense of pride and just a little bit of gloating.

I-It was just leftovers! Please don’t turn this into a thing...

“Touya?”

“Eep!”

My voice was completely gone. Yumina was smiling at me, but there was a great invisible pressure welled up behind her. I could feel the pressure emanating from all of my wives...except Lu.

“The Mochizuki family motto is what, Touya? All wives are equal, yes? You understand, yes?”

“O-Of course I understand! Of course!”

This was my first time hearing about this apparent family motto, but I could only assume it had been created without my knowledge.

L-Look, I agree! I agree! Just gimme a minute to rest! I’ve had a rough time! I’m tired! Obviously, I’m not gonna say that out loud, but... Bwuh, fine...

I decided to just suck it up and do as my wives asked. It took me the whole day to grant their wishes, and it wiped me out pretty hard. Thankfully, they weren’t children, so their wishes weren’t quite as unreasonable. Linze and Sakura’s wishes were easily downloaded via my phone too. The only one that gave me real trouble was Leen’s wish, which was a grimoire you couldn’t find in Babylon’s library.

Luckily, I’d promised King Felsen a whipblade of his own, so I had him permit me to copy the contents of his family grimoire in lieu of a cash payment. It wasn’t a particularly powerful tome, but it had some interesting stuff in it.

By the time I finished, night had fallen. I sat out on the balcony, gazing up at the dark sky. From the corner of my vision, I spied a shooting star. It felt like a bit of a mean-spirited joke. I’d certainly had more than my fair share of wishes as of late.

I decided to set a rule that you could only make a wish on a star once a year. That seemed fair to me. I also figured we should probably make it a children-only event, like Christmas. That would probably be fine. Might be a bit unfair to parents, though.

I saw another star streak across the black sea above me. It was as if it was trying to urge me to make a wish of my own.

“I wish...to take a break tomorrow... To take a break tomorrow... To take a break tomorrow...”

The shooting star glimmered in the sky above as if to answer my prayers. Perhaps tomorrow would be a peaceful day...