Chapter 176 I Just Hope It Doesn’t Act as a Catalyst for Something Worse
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Setting up the monitors across the facility had taken far longer than I originally expected, but with the laboratory finally finished, our work was officially done. The last few steps had felt endless, yet a completed job was a completed job.
”Well… we managed to finish a little after noon,” I muttered.
”And if we hadn’t spent so much time in that last lab, we would’ve been out of here even sooner,” my companion replied.
The real time sinks had been the hospital and the Vigilante Corps headquarters. We had spent an hour at each location because the job required setting up mana reactors and laying mana conduits from scratch. The immigration gates, on the other hand, sat directly over spiritual veins, so we could draw mana straight from the source. All we had needed to do there was mount the monitors and configure them to pull a steady stream of energy.
The Imperial Couple, now back in their full gear, remained completely silent. While it was unlikely anyone would recognize them by voice alone, there was no reason to take chances.
”Hey, Tatara. Do you remember that crafting request I still have out with you?”
(If caution is the name of the game, why the hell are you talking?) I thought.
”…To be honest, after everything that happened in the lab, it completely slipped my mind.”
”Yeah, that’s fair. It had mostly slipped my mind too.”
To be fair, the main culprit behind my memory loss was the bombshell revelation that Mia carried royal blood. The shock of that discovery had wiped my memory clean.
”So, what exactly do you want me to make?” I asked, shaking off the lingering surprise.
”Ah, the request is for an Aarem.”
(Right.) So he had managed to scrape together the money for it between yesterday and today… Isn’t that a little too fast?!
”Uh… what about the materials?”
”Oh, I had them gathered on an emergency basis. We could only get three hundred grams of adamantite, but we secured 1.7 kilograms of orichalcum and a full kilogram of mithril.”
Why did people always have to go so overboard?
”…Understood. What kind of design are you aiming for?”
”That’s the thing. The image I have in mind is a fortress.”
A fortress, huh? The first thing that came to mind was an absurdly hype-inducing robot from an eroge1 that fought ancient eldritch gods. If I remembered right, its design concept was literally a fortress. I loved that mecha, but it felt completely different from the impression Old Man Entier usually gave off.
”Um, I hate to break it to you… but doesn’t that feel a little disconnected from your actual image?”
”Ah… well, I suppose you have a point.”
I looked away from Old Man Entier as he scratched the back of his head and turned to Grandma Entier instead. Beneath her helmet was a wry, knowing smile, as though she were telling me, (Just hear him out.)
”I mean, given my position, it makes sense,” he continued.
”…I wouldn’t call it a burden, but you’ve already passed the torch to the next generation.”
”Even so, that next generation is still leaning on me.”
I see. The reason he was still handling all the rough work was not just because his children had not fully become independent. It was because he still could not bring himself to let go of the reins. He always seemed like a carefree free spirit, but there was clearly more to him than that.
”Because of who I am, people don’t look to me for the strength to crush enemies or the speed to cross the world in an instant. They look to me for someone who simply refuses to fall.”
”…Hence, a fortress.”
For someone with such a terrifying reputation, he was surprisingly gentle at heart.
”All right. I’ll make it for you.”
”Are you serious?!”
”Yeah. And I’ll make sure it’s a masterpiece.”
Beside me, the female City Mayor’s face went pale, but I chose to ignore it. Even retired, he was still the nation’s founding emperor. When someone like that made a direct request, you did not turn him down. More than that, it was an honor for a crafter.
”Oh, but it might take a little time…”
”Is that so?”
”Yeah. I need to make something for Papa Entier and the others first. It should only take about an hour, though, so I’ll probably finish that before I start yours.”
Even with my daily routine involving Sky Rift, forging Yashakiri would not leave me especially tired. I planned to head straight to the forge as soon as I got home.
”Ah, by any chance, do you want to watch the fabrication process?”
”Are you sure you don’t need complete concentration for your work?”
”As long as nobody tries to start a conversation while I’m swinging the hammer, it’s fine. Honestly, when it comes to an Aarem, there are usually a lot of design details I want to confirm, so having the client there helps.”
In truth, I had never once had a client provide live feedback while I was forging an Aarem.
”In that case, I think I’ll tag along. What about you?”
”We’re a duo, so obviously I’m coming with you,” Grandma Entier chimed in.
It was impressive how naturally they avoided using each other’s real names in public. I wondered whether Grandma Entier would be willing to teach Ethelena some swordsmanship or succubus combat techniques later. I would have to remember to ask.
”My, how terribly uncouth. I must inquire, do I understand correctly that you will not be visiting my estate today?” the City Mayor asked, her noble composure covered by a thin layer of condescension kashira.
The two of them, despite being the ones who had derailed the schedule, looked slightly sheepish and nodded.
”Sorry about that. I know it’s customary to stay at the local representative’s residence.”
”Indeed, it is entirely acceptable desuwa. In truth, the preparations for your reception have not yet been fully completed.”
Ah. She was being completely literal. While she was saying it was fine, her inner thoughts were probably screaming, (Oh thank god, I’m saved.)
Come to think of it, there was something I had forgotten to tell the City Mayor. I had originally wanted to discuss it properly, but since that was clearly not happening, I might as well report it directly.
”Um, City Mayor. I actually wanted your advice on something, but since things are hectic, I’ll just tell you.”
”How exceedingly rare for you to seek my counsel… or perhaps not entirely unprecedented. Pray, what is the nature of this matter?”
”Ethelena is pregnant.”
The air froze.
Now that I thought about it, the City Mayor was still a maiden. Even so, as the person running the academy, she absolutely needed to know.
”Y-You… Good heavens, do you possess no sense of propriety whatsoever to deliver such scandalous news in this precise setting?!” she sputtered, her aristocratic composure shattering into full-blown panic ara.
”Well, I wanted to tell you much earlier, but so many things happened today that this was the first chance I got.”
”Even so… when did this become apparent? Furthermore, how far along is she?”
”We conceived and found out yesterday. Ethelena sensed it herself with her succubus abilities.”
”My… what?”
As I answered her rapid-fire questions, the City Mayor looked like she was trying to calculate the mass of the universe.
”Oh my, so Tatara-chan’s girlfriend possesses that much power?” Grandma Entier asked, clearly fascinated yo.
”Yeah. When she was born, she didn’t even have the Sex Sorcery skill. Ever since she gained it, though, she’s been doing things that make no sense.”
”Such as?”
”Creating clones of herself. Changing her physical age.”
”That is far more impressive than I imagined.”
Grandma Entier looked genuinely surprised. Even from the perspective of a fellow succubus, Ethelena’s talent seemed extraordinary.
”Goodness, for what earthly reason has conception been avoided until this present moment?” the City Mayor pressed.
”Before she got Sex Sorcery, her body kept converting my essence into nutrients just to sustain itself. After she got the skill, she was apparently using Contraceptive Magic.”
”…And did you not employ any preventative measures yourself?”
”I don’t have the talent for that kind of magic. Unless somebody teaches me, I can’t use it. And Ethelena refused to teach me, so that was that.”
The City Mayor let out a monumental sigh.
If she learned that the only reason the Contraceptive Magic had been turned off was because of my lifespan issue, she would probably end up hospitalized from stress. Better to keep that part to myself.
”While casual relationships between enrolled students are one matter, a pregnancy would ordinarily require the immediate expulsion of both parties from our institution…” she murmured.
”Hold on. Are you seriously telling me you’d expel someone as talented as Tatara?” Old Man Entier interrupted.
”According to the academy’s regulations, that would indeed be the required course of action. However, the greatest complication lies in the social divide between the races desuwa.”
Although Old Man Entier objected, it was obvious the City Mayor was the one suffering the biggest headache.
”Tell me, Tatara, do you and your partner possess some unusual complication regarding your abilities kashira?”
”Complication?… Well, I guess there’s the fact that Ethelena has formally recognized me as her partner from a succubus perspective.”
”Wait, hold on! You and this Ethelena-chan are actual partners?!”
The moment I answered, Grandma Entier immediately reacted.
”…Is becoming a succubus’s partner really that big of a deal?”
”According to Ethelena, it’s impossible unless your bodies, souls, and mana wavelengths all match perfectly.”
”Exactly! It’s so rare that you might as well call it a match ordained by destiny itself!”
The City Mayor looked increasingly aware of just how enormous this problem was becoming. As Grandma Entier continued explaining, the poor woman actually clutched her stomach.
”…I suppose that means Julon finding and taking in Ethelena truly was fate,” Old Man Entier mused.
”…It wasn’t exactly a happy fate.”
Her parents had been murdered, and she had been left completely alone. The thought of calling something that cruel destiny made me want to scream.
Seeing the look on my face, the City Mayor released another long sigh.
”Tatara, do you and your partner share the same level of dungeon progression?”
”No. I’m on the seventieth floor, but Ethelena is still around the sixtieth.”
”Then she has already fulfilled the minimum graduation requirements…”
”It’s worse than that. We have a student who possesses the strength of a veteran adventurer while still enrolled, and who is recognized as the finest crafter in the city. We’re really going to expel her over a pregnancy? Regulations or not, throwing away talent like that is absurd,” Calmys-san muttered, nursing a severe headache ne.
”Very well. Let her remain at home and rest until the written examinations begin. If she overexerts herself and suffers a miscarriage, the consequences would be dreadful for everyone involved.”
I could not help nodding.
I had fully intended to participate in the upcoming student movement, but once that was over, I planned to put deeper dungeon exploration on hold until after the birth and the early childcare period. Even if I limited my dives until our child was old enough to attend the academy’s primary division, I would still clear the dungeon long before my lifespan ran out.
Assuming she did not immediately demand a second child and extend my time on the bench, anyway.
”Furthermore, Tatara, you must graduate from this academy without further delay.”
”People have been making that joke since before I enrolled, but that’s not actually happening, right?”
”It is most assuredly not a jest! Allowing a ridiculous anomaly such as yourself to remain indefinitely among the student body is a stain upon our institution’s prestige!”
”Hey, the only person who calls me an anomaly like it’s a disease is you, City Mayor…”
Why was I always treated like this?
”And how would the graduation exam even work? Sure, I cleared the Exploration Department requirement by reaching the twentieth floor, but I haven’t written a single report for the Crafting Department. Besides, I could forge Magic Metal equipment before I even entered this school.”
”…Come to think of it, the academy explicitly banned Magic Metals from your submissions, didn’t it?”
”Exactly. Plus, I still haven’t taught Shamir and Est enough. I want to stay until the actual graduation ceremony for their sake.”
Right now, those two were my top priority at the academy. I had taught them my crafting theories from the ground up, and they were finally starting to understand them. I wanted to guide them a little further.
”Tatara, who are those two?” Old Man Entier asked.
”They’re my juniors at the academy. I’ve officially taken them on as apprentices through the observation system, and they’ve been learning some of my techniques.”
”I see. So they’re the discount versions of Tatara.”
”Um, Jiji, Grandma Entier… could you stop looking at me like you’re planning to drag me to the Royal Research Institute?”
”So, Tatara-chan,” Grandma Entier said, leaning forward with obvious interest, “when you talk about teaching your juniors your techniques, what exactly did they learn?”
”Well, I didn’t realize it at the time, but it started with how to use my special Appraisal skill. From there, we branched into refining Demonsteel, shape-memory alloys, and reinforced copper.”
”How to use a special Appraisal skill…?” Grandma Entier repeated.
After I gave her a quick explanation, she seemed especially skeptical about the concept of Concept Appraisal.
”My Appraisal skill is a bit of a freak mutation,” I explained. “It’s limited to inorganic matter. But it lets me examine the concept behind an object’s existence and identify structural flaws and weaknesses.”
At that, both Jiji and Grandma Entier sharpened their focus. I figured I should explain further before they drew the wrong conclusion.
”As long as it’s inorganic, it doesn’t matter if it’s made entirely of adamantite. Unless it has a conceptual trait like indestructibility, I can break it. I created Demonsteel by using mana to fill those conceptual weaknesses and distortions.”
”…I see,” Jiji Entier grunted.
He nodded as though he understood, but with him, you could never really tell.
If I had to guess—
”I’ve successfully realized that I don’t understand a single word of that.”
”Figures.”
The look on his face had given up any legal claim to understanding.
Yeah.
I saw that one coming.
”Tatara-chan, if you can do that, does it mean you can smash an opponent’s weapons in the middle of a fight?” Grandma Entier asked.
”Sure can. Weapon destruction is on the table, and honestly, if it’s an inorganic enemy like a golem, I can bypass their defenses entirely when I strike.”
Their gazes sharpened even more. For two veterans who had spent their lives on the battlefield, that kind of news would make every instinct scream. Of course, there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
”But the way this Appraisal skill manifests depends heavily on the individual,” I cautioned.
”Meaning some people can use it and others can’t?” Jiji asked.
”That, and the fact that what you actually see through the Appraisal changes from person to person.”
The two of them fell silent, their faces tightening as they waited for me to continue, so I gave a firm nod and went on.
”My two juniors and I can perceive inorganic matter. On the other hand, the Torakuma2 clan’s princess—whom I also taught—couldn’t see inorganic materials at all. Instead, her skill manifested strictly toward organic matter. Living beings.”
”You… you’ve been handing this knowledge out to high-ranking nobles of foreign nations?!” Jiji’s face twisted into a grimace.
”We delve into the dungeons together,” I argued defensively. “Originally, she just wanted to learn it as a countermeasure against golems. But when she finally mastered it, she ended up with an Appraisal specialized entirely for anti-biological combat.”
Jiji Entier looked sour, as if he was trying to measure just how absurd a weapon I had handed over to Yohira.
”Besides, if you keep the skill active for too long, the backlash on your brain is brutal. You’ll literally start bleeding out of every single hole in your face.”
”Lad… please, for the love of the gods, take care of your own body,” Jiji groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.
”Oh, I don’t know,” Grandma Entier giggled, a playful smirk returning to her face. “If Clarietta were here, I bet she’d be absolutely doting on you, Tatara-chan. Shuffling around, taking care of your every need.”
”Heh, no doubt about that,” Jiji muttered.
This Clarietta they were talking about was the Holy Maiden of the Goddess of Darkness. She was a comrade-in-arms who fought alongside Jiji Entier during the founding war, then later became one of his concubines.
Throughout the franchise, she made frequent appearances. Aside from the first and second installments, she always popped up in storylines involving the Godslayer. Up until the second game, she had been the High Priestess, but by the time the Godslayer arc rolled around, she had taken on the mantle of Holy Maiden, which let her stay by Jiji Entier’s side throughout his unnaturally long life.
Of course, back at the gaming company, the devs treated her less like a “Holy Maiden” and more like a “Nympho Maiden.” Whenever the red moon rose and Jiji Entier’s Demon Lord blood started acting up, she was always the one sent out to handle his… urges. It got especially intense after he lost his primary queen. According to the official visual fan book, Clarietta would even cosplay as the late queen to comfort him, which was hilarious because their designs did not look a thing alike.
”I’m pretty sure Holy Maiden Clarietta’s devotion is strictly reserved for Kalan-sama,” I interjected. “But wasn’t she originally just his caretaker during the founding war?”
”So you really do have an unsettling amount of knowledge about those days…” Jiji replied, looking deeply uncomfortable. “Well, you’re not wrong. She was my caretaker, among other things.”
He coughed lightly, clearly trying to gloss over the exact nature of the “care” she provided. It definitely was not limited to folding laundry.
”Come to think of it, I never did learn the exact details of how Clarietta and Kalan got together,” Grandma Entier mused, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Tatara-chan, do you happen to know how their first intimate encounter went down?”
”Oh, Clarietta-sama pulled a total klutz move and accidentally exposed her face to him. He couldn’t restrain himself after that, and nature took its course.”
”…Even that part of my life is common knowledge?!” Jiji looked like he had just swallowed a lemon.
I had answered Grandma’s question entirely on instinct, but the sheer bitterness on Jiji’s face made me realize that maybe—just maybe—it was not the kind of topic I should blurt out so casually.
”Kalan, were you pushing that poor girl to her limits, too?” Grandma turned on him, her tone dropping into a dangerous sweet-and-sour register.
”What do you mean ‘too’?! Why is there a ‘too’ in that sentence?!”
”Because you laid your hands on basically every single girl in your faction, didn’t you?”
Well, that was the inescapable destiny of an eroge protagonist. The only woman he had not slept with in his army was probably Clarietta’s grandmother, who served as his wet nurse. Heck, this man had even bedded the mercenaries he hired.
”What is this… why has my past romantic history been systematically disemboweled over the last forty-eight hours?” Jiji muttered, looking worn down to the bone.
Watching Jiji Entier squirm under the weight of his past sins, I felt a sudden chill crawl up my back. For some reason, I could not help wondering whether a future version of myself would end up exactly like this.
After a long, winding, and thoroughly exhausting conversation, the gathering finally broke up. Jiji, Grandma Entier, and I made our way back to my house. The city mayor had informed us that she would follow up on the official ruling regarding Ethelena and me later. With that, she pulled out her magi-tech floating chair, hopped on, and drifted away. She had not used that chair once during our grueling marathon of installing monitors across the city today, but it seemed she had finally hit her limit at the very end.
I guess my grandparents and I were the final straw that broke her spirit.
”…This place is practically a fortress,” Jiji muttered, stopping dead in his tracks as he looked up at my residence.
”Honestly, doesn’t it look sturdier than the Vigilante Corps headquarters?” Grandma Entier added.
I could only offer a weak, strained smile. Ethelena and the others had reacted the exact same way. But when your house has an active teleportation gate, you take every security step you can. The result just happened to look like a military compound.
I unlocked the massive mithril gates, ushered them inside, and led them straight to the living room.
”I’m sorry for forcing you both to travel in such cramped, restrictive armor,” I said, unlatching the primary security seals. “You’re safe to relax here.”
”Bah, don’t sweat it, kid,” Jiji said with a rough laugh, waving off my apology.
”He’s right,” Grandma Entier added reassuringly. “It’s been a long time since we had to sneak around like that. We actually quite enjoyed ourselves.”
With relieved sighs, the two of them unclasped their heavy helmets and revealed their faces.
”If you want to shed the rest of your armor, there’s a changing room right down the hall,” I offered.
”No need,” Jiji replied casually. “We’ll just have to strap it right back on when we leave anyway. This is fine.”
Grandma nodded in agreement, settling the matter.
”Excuse me,” a polite voice murmured.
Mitsuha entered the room and gracefully set a tray of freshly brewed tea before the three of us. She probably did not recognize the exact faces of our nation’s hidden royalty, but she clearly sensed the strange weight around them. Her posture and movements were the very picture of aristocratic poise.
Watching her, I could not help admiring her elegance. My mother-in-law’s etiquette training must be terrifyingly thorough; Mitsuha did not show a single opening.
”…You’re a daughter of the Torakuma clan, aren’t you?” Jiji observed, his sharp eyes locking onto the distinct horn protruding from her forehead.
”Yes. I am Mitsuha, the second daughter of the house,” she replied, offering a flawless, serene smile.
Her demeanor was a complete turnaround from how she had acted when we first met, and even from how she behaved around the house normally. The sheer speed of her transformation was almost terrifying.
Signaling that she would not interrupt our business any further, she bowed flawlessly and withdrew from the room. Once she was gone, Jiji turned his intense gaze back to me.
”Boy… are you planning to turn this estate into a foreign embassy or something?”
”No, it’s just my house,” I replied, my voice dropping into a flat, deadpan delivery. “The Torakuma clan has just sort of… moved in and colonized the place.”
Jiji let out a massive, weary sigh that clearly said, “Yeah, that figures.” I did not even know how to defend myself at that point.
”To be completely frank, the defenses here eclipse those of the noble estates in the Imperial Capital,” Jiji remarked. “This place qualifies as a full-scale military installation.”
”I just applied everything within my power to secure it,” I explained. “Though I did have the Torakuma matriarch assist me with the specific spell formulas for the barrier arrays.”
”Cross-cultural exchange, is it…?” Jiji groaned.
It was an apt description. Since everything had started with my chance encounter with Yohira, this house had more or less become the main diplomatic bridge between our nation and Hizuru.
”Tatara, what about the young girls sparring in the courtyard?” Grandma Entier asked, peering out the window. “And the ones performing those kata over there?”
”The two exchanging blows are my childhood friend and the chief swordsmanship instructor of the Torakuma clan,” I explained, gesturing toward the glass. “Alongside them are the eldest Torakuma sister and her personal bodyguard. As for the two practicing forms… that’s the Torakuma matriarch and… well, you recognize him, right, Kalan?”
”Yeah…” Jiji grunted. “I can guess why he’s here, even if I can’t begin to fathom the specific details of what he’s doing.”
I figured Jiji would understand. After all, the guy was a mercenary who took requests directly from the Poster Girls. In the earlier games, players literally had to go on quests with him just to find a missing plate.
”By the way, where is Ethelena?” Grandma Entier asked, looking around the room.
”She’s currently out on a dungeon exploration wave,” I replied. “I don’t expect her back until a bit later.”
”Oh, I see…” Grandma’s face fell slightly, with a trace of loneliness flickering across it. “That’s a shame. I was hoping we could chat.”
I watched her expression from the corner of my eye before turning back to Jiji. However, his attention had already drifted to the window again, his eyes fixed on one specific figure in the courtyard.
”Um… Kalan?”
”Tatara,” Jiji asked, his gaze locked squarely on that absolute idiot of a childhood friend. “That boy out there… the one roughly your age. Who is he?”
”…That’s my childhood friend,” I replied. “Ever since we were kids, I haven’t won a single fight against him. He’s my absolute pride and joy.”
”His swordsmanship is immaculate,” Jiji remarked seriously. “Even at his age, he could pull duty as a royal guard without a single complaint. What about the swordsman he’s facing?”
”That’s the Torakuma clan’s master instructor,” I said. “I had our part-time leader pull some serious strings to drag him over here.”
To be accurate, my mother-in-law had witnessed just how hopeless Hinagiku was at teaching others and demanded professional reinforcement. But for the sake of Hinagiku’s pride as a bodyguard, I kept that little detail to myself.
”…That katana is a strange blade,” Jiji mused, his eyes narrowing as he tracked the weapon’s path. “It’s clearly making clean cuts, yet the strikes never bite deep enough to endanger the target’s life.”
”It’s a specialized compliance blade,” I explained. “It combines the concepts of anti-personnel combat and non-lethality. It is physically incapable of killing a human being.”
”Hizuru possesses such advanced craftsmanship?” Jiji asked, visibly surprised.
”No, I forged that one myself on commission.”
At my words, Jiji and Grandma Entier slowly turned their heads back toward me, staring as if I had just spoken to them in ancient demonic script. I guess if you realize someone is casually making conceptual weapons in a home workshop, that is a pretty reasonable reaction.
”…Come to think of it, this knife was your handiwork as well, wasn’t it?”
Reaching into his spatial inventory, Jiji pulled out a sleek, lethal blade. It was the Yakupuri—the Calamity Severer.
”Ah, so you were the one holding onto it, Kalan,” I noted.
”Truthfully, I wanted to pass it down to my son, but…” Jiji trailed off.
”Kalan, what is that knife?” Grandma Entier asked, leaning in close.
Instead of answering, Jiji shifted his gaze back to me, silently signaling that the creator should do the honors.
”It’s a specific type of conceptual weapon known as the Calamity Severer,” I explained.
”The Calamity Severer… wait, when you say ‘conceptual weapon,’ aren’t those supposed to be divine artifacts forged by the gods themselves?” Grandma blinked.
”No, I made it.”
”Huh?!”
She let out a stunned squeak. Jiji had literally just said it was my handiwork a second ago, but it seemed her brain had filtered that part out. The deep-rooted belief that conceptual weapons could only be divine artifacts was just too strong. To be fair, outside of my Master, I did not even know if another mortal on the face of the earth could forge one.
”The core concept woven into the blade is exactly what the name implies: Calamity Severing,” I continued. “It completely slices away any and all status ailments or negative debuffs threatening the wielder.”
”Threatening the wielder, you say?” Jiji pressed, picking up on the specific nuance.
”Yes. According to an expert I consulted, if an immortal or an undead entity were to wield it, the blade would view regeneration or healing magic as an external manipulation and completely deflect it.”
”Wait, isn’t that a little too absurdly powerful?!” Grandma Entier cried out, her voice pitching up into a near shriek as she processed the implications.
”Actually, my plan for today was to forge five more of these Calamity Severers,” I mentioned casually. “I was going to leave two with the two of you and lend the remaining three to House Scientia… but I suppose giving you an extra one might be redundant?”
”Absolutely not,” Jiji countered instantly, his eyes flashing. “I want to get this blade into my son’s hands as fast as humanly possible, so that’s a massive help. As for the ones meant for myself and Seras… consider them officially accepted as a royal offering.”
”Both of those were meant for you and your wife from the very beginning, sir. However…” I hesitated for a moment, shifting my weight. “I do have a small favor to ask in return.”
”Unless it’s something completely impossible, child, I’m listening,” Jiji Entier3 replied, his weathered voice low and heavy as his eyes locked onto me.
If I had simply explained the circumstances, he probably would have agreed anyway. But I needed absolute certainty this time, which was why I framed it as a formal request tied to the delivery of the Yakukiri4 blades.
”During this upcoming inspection, I believe another anonymous royal5 will be arriving as the representative of the inspection team,” I explained, my tone sharpening. “I need you to assign a guard detail to them. Ten people… actually, even five would do. Could you spare some of your absolute best elites?”
”…Is that all you’re askin’ for, son?” Jiji murmured, his brow furrowing with old-fashioned suspicion.
To him, it sounded trivial. In reality, it was anything but.
”Within the Whirlwind, the Vigilante Corps is the only fighting force capable of carrying out structured, coordinated maneuvers with the Imperial Army,” I pressed on. “Explorers can only cooperate on a party-by-party level.”
”Hold on now, boy. Don’t large-scale raids happen every now and then?”
”They do,” I clarified, shaking my head. “But those don’t take place across vast, open urban areas like a city defense. They happen strictly within the confines of a dungeon.”
Besides, the Defense Chief who was supposed to command such operations was currently tied up monitoring a major threat and could not be relied upon. Our opponents this time would also be humans who understood our language, so if we shouted orders at the top of our lungs the way we did against monsters, they would instantly figure out our strategy. That made coordinating the individualistic Explorers alongside the disciplined knight trainees next to impossible. It hit me again just how vastly inferior Explorers were to formal knights when it came to interpersonal combat.
”Therefore, to ensure the anonymous royal’s safety, please provide a high-caliber guard detail—royal guards or someone of that caliber—and have them constantly flank the inspector,” I requested firmly.
”…Hah. Lord have mercy, you really are far too soft-hearted for your own good, aren’t you, child?”
”I am not,” I countered immediately, frustration clipping my words. “I am simply making the optimal tactical choice to guarantee our victory.”
A prickle of irritation rose at Jiji’s heavy, slow sigh, but I pushed through it and kept explaining. A defeat here would not just mean losing Tatia; it could mean losing everyone else as well. The squad leaders, Narikin-san—everyone’s lives were on the line. If that was the case, I was going to play every single card in my hand to seize a winning future.
”Very well, son. I will assign a vanguard of my finest elites to serve as the guard.”
”Thank you very much.”
”No thanks are necessary, child. Consider it a proper return for your tribute. Back in my day, we always knew the value of rewarding good work.”
A strange, suppressed amusement bled into Jiji’s aura, like a quiet chuckle warming his old bones. I did not quite understand it, but now that he had granted the request, my shoulders finally loosened.
”In that case, I’ll finish forging the Yakukiri blades first, and then I’ll get to work on Kalan-sama’s Aarem,” I said, pulling myself back to business. “Can we finalize the design specifics when the time comes?”
”Yeah, that’ll do fine. Clear away your anxieties first, boy. You always do your best work when your mind is unburdened, don’t you?”
I could not tell if it was just my imagination, but it felt like his understanding of my psychological quirks was growing deeper by the minute. Or maybe I was just an incredibly easy book to read.
I turned toward the forge to get started, but a sudden thought struck me, and I paused to check with him.
”Oh, by the way… would you like to watch me forge the Yakukiri?”
”Are you serious, boy?!” Jiji snapped back, his eyes lighting up with sudden, youthful vigor.
His reaction was intense. It was just standard blacksmithing, so I had not expected him to care that much.
”Sure, on one condition: you absolutely cannot speak to me while I’m swinging the hammer,” I warned.
”A completely reasonable demand, child. Breaking a craftsman’s concentration during critical work shouldn’t be tolerated in any profession, no sir.”
”Oh, count me out then,” Grandmother Entier6 chimed in with a slow, wry wave of her hand, her voice carrying the gentle warmth of an old country matriarch. “Knowing my own nature, I’d get far too curious and blurt somethin’ out before I could stop myself. I’ll just pass on this one, bless your heart.”
While Jiji nodded in solemn agreement, his wife clearly preferred to keep her curiosity from causing a disaster. Whether that self-awareness came from her natural temperament or a lifetime of wisdom, I could not help but admire it.
I escorted Jiji into the workshop, and the moment he crossed the threshold, a look of deep surprise washed over his weathered face.
”Even in the Imperial Capital, they sell replicas of the equipment you use,” Jiji murmured, his slow voice full of awe. “But seein’ the originals here… I can feel it, boy. The sheer caliber of these tools is on an entirely different level than what we’re used to.”
”Is it really that noticeable?”
In the past, when the female City Mayor saw my equipment, she claimed she was going to analyze it thoroughly and sell it as a special-edition line. It was true that I had fully customized everything to suit my personal workflow, but all I had really done was optimize the deployment mechanisms for the layered magic circles and raise the precision of the measurement tools. The Mayor had given me a look of pure exasperation back then because, structurally speaking, there were not actually many special features.
Jiji gently ran his hand along the edge of the workbench as he spoke.
”To be honest with you, son, I don’t know the first thing about what makes a tool good or bad. But I can feel the residue of the sheer passion you’ve poured into ’em just by standin’ here.”
Ah, I see. Put that way, it made sense. Because I had used these tools for so many years, the faint scratches and wear patterns allowed him to trace the path of my craftsmanship. There was an undeniable dignity in objects weathered by honest labor.
”I never neglect their maintenance,” I replied quietly. “If the accumulation of my years of hard work reflects that way to you, then I’m incredibly glad.”
”Heh. You may be young in years, child, but you are a magnificent artisan, true enough.”
With a visibly pleased Jiji at my side, I stepped directly into the forge itself. The moment we crossed the threshold, I heard him catch his breath, overwhelmed by the thick aura of elemental spirits radiating from the Ogyoku7 crystals lining the room.
”I’ve reinforced the facilities using the King’s Jewels I gathered, so the presence of the spirits is exceptionally dense,” I explained. “Don’t worry, though—they shouldn’t cause any harm.”
”Harm is the furthest thing from my mind, boy… This is truly a breathtaking sight, it surely is.”
Having him react that way to a forge I took immense pride in sent a swell of satisfaction through my chest. I bypassed my usual workstation, approached the massive, heavy-duty furnace, and immediately stoked the flames.
”Hm? You’re not usin’ the other one, son?”
”When I’m forging multiple Yakukiri blades simultaneously, this furnace is much more efficient,” I answered. “I’m going to forge a single long edge and split it into five segments.”
”Right… Wait, you’re gonna do what, child?”
Jiji gave me a thoroughly bewildered look, his slow rhythm thrown off, and as I walked him through the explanation, his gaze shifted into the kind of look you give an incomprehensible alien anomaly. Was it really that bizarre? Then again, my female Master had given me the exact same look, so I guess my methods really were completely unhinged by this world’s standards.
Leaving that aside, it was time to forge. Conceptual Weapons like the Yakukiri possess the exact same conceptual potency regardless of the base material used; the chosen metal only dictates the weapon’s physical, structural performance. From what I could gather, the Scientia family belonged to a lineage of mages, so making the blades entirely out of Mithril would allow them to double as highly effective magical catalysts.
I pulled out a one-kilogram ingot of Mithril to begin, but before I set it on the anvil, I applied the same structural reinforcements to the large furnace that my main one used. Since “Chef” had left behind a massive stockpile of Magic Metal, I had plenty of raw materials, and optimizing the spell formulas had become second nature to me by now. The setup was easy.
Using the traditional four-sided core forging technique, I began shaping the katana blades. Thanks to the grueling daily routine of forging Sky Rift, my blade-crafting techniques had improved significantly. The structural core of the blades was perfectly balanced, and the edges were flawlessly sharp.
To be completely honest, the magical conductivity of these blades was so high that the sword cane I had previously made for Mia could not even begin to compare. This part was an entirely unexpected breakthrough.
”…I don’t know much about the swords of Hizuru, son,” Jiji murmured, holding one of the fully finished, mounted short katanas in his hands. He stared at the gleaming edge, his old face twisted with awe and deep thought. “But I can tell that forgin’ even a single one of these short blades must be an excruciatin’ly difficult feat for any man.”
He fell silent for a moment, tracing the lines of the weapon.
”Frankly, it makes me want to commission a sword of my own from you, boy.”
”Are you placing an order?” I asked, surprised.
”As much as I’d like to, child, if I accept too many tributes from you, the other nobles will start breathin’ down my neck. Consequently, you aren’t even supposed to be sellin’ items made of Magic Metal under the current regulations, as things stand.”
I tilted my head slightly, watching Jiji strictly follow the rules set by the City Mayor and her cabinet. He was an anonymous royal; would anyone actually dare to reprimand him?
”Let me make one thing clear to you, Tatara,” the old man said, as if reading my mind, his voice firm with old wisdom. “Just because someone is an anonymous royal or sits at the absolute top of the heap, that don’t mean they can do whatever they please, no sir. If a leader starts breakin’ the rules for their own convenience, it paves a direct path to dictatorship.”
Hearing him lay it out like that made perfect sense. I guess because my mind was warped from seeing nothing but corrupt executives in my previous corporate life, my biases had deeply clouded my judgment.
”Understood,” I nodded. “Then let’s move on to your actual commission… but before we design it, why don’t we forge the base materials first? If you don’t mind, could you hand over the raw components you brought?”
”…You want to do what now, boy?”
”Forge the raw materials.”
”…Whatever for, child?”
”I discovered this during a previous experiment, but if you heavily forge and compress Magic Metal before shaping it into an Aarem, its base performance skyrockets,” I explained with a grin.
”Hey now… can you learn the concept of moderation for once in your life, son?”
Jiji groaned, but considering “Chef” had already forced me to abandon all concepts of holding back during my training, it felt a little too late to start exercising restraint now. Besides, this was a weapon to be wielded by my own country’s anonymous royal; my unspoken, honest desire was to turn it into something genuinely extraordinary.
I kept my hand extended, waiting patiently until Jiji finally sighed in defeat and handed over the components. I took the materials with a wide, joyful grin and immediately began hammering them into form. To anyone looking in from the outside, the sight of a young blacksmith gleefully treating legendary metals like playdough must have looked completely unhinged.
Once the pre-forging refinement was complete, I moved back into the main workshop, pulled out my magitech8 word processor, and hooked it up to the projector.
”Alright, let’s hammer out the design aesthetics,” I said, booting up the system. “To start, could you give me a general concept or direction you’d like to take?”
”A direction, huh…” Jiji mused, slowly scratching his chin. “It lacks specificity, child, but I want somethin’ that radiates an absolute sense of security. Somethin’ that feels safe and sound.”
”An absolute sense of security, got it.”
If that was the core image he wanted, it lined up perfectly with the aesthetic direction Narikin-san usually favored. I brought up the blueprint for the Fortress armor suite on the projector display.
”Ah, that’s the gear one of the boys was usin’ during the Arena trainin’ matches,” Jiji observed, nodding slowly. “The standard-issue Heavy Armor utilized by our military, ain’t it?”
”Yes,” I agreed. “When people think of ‘security,’ a heavy, impenetrable mass is usually the first thing that comes to mind.”
Though, to be fair, the kind of “heavy armor” that popped into my mind belonged to a completely different league. For instance, the armored titan piloted by a certain international agent’s partner, or the ultimate humanoid weapon used to launch a frontal assault on the center of the galaxy.
”It certainly looks secure, son,” Jiji admitted, studying the display. “But it lacks artistic flair… it’s a bit generic for my taste.”
”In that case, do you have a specific motif in mind?”
”A motif, you say?”
”Yes,” I nodded. “Incorporating the imagery of a magical beast like a dragon, or a majestic animal like a lion, and blending those elements into the armor’s silhouette is a very common design philosophy.”
Jiji fell into a deep, slow silence at my suggestion. Since the national emblem of this country did not feature any magical beasts or divine creatures, he was likely struggling to find an iconic entity to draw inspiration from.
”…Hey, Tatara.”
”Yes, what is it?”
”Can a motif be somethin’ other than an animal, child?”
”Of course. Anything works.”
In my old world, people designed mecha based on alien sentient semi-trucks, military tanks, and even literal firearms. Even if he told me he wanted a fruit-themed suit of armor, I was fully confident I could make it look badass.
”In that case… could we use a ‘Fortress City’ as the motif, boy?”
”Yes, that’s entirely doable.”
A fortress city combined with an absolute sense of security… a massive robot… The first thing that flashed through my mind was a certain legendary, demon-cleaving robotic sword from an iconic visual novel. Because my brain was directly linked to the magitech word processor, the machine instantly reacted to my vivid mental image.
The projector flared to life, casting a chalk-white giant with castlelike weight onto the wall. It featured massive, oversized shoulder binders, heavy leg guards that doubled as deployable shields, an elegant blade-horn extending from its forehead, and a long, flowing plume of decorative hair billowing behind the helm.
Because it was pulled raw from my memories, it had not been adapted to fit this world’s fantasy aesthetic at all. It was the exact, literal design from the source material. Staring at it, I could not help marveling all over again at how insane it was that a design this undeniably cool had originated from an old-school eroge9.
”This is magnificent, child!” Jiji gasped, his eyes wide as he stared at the projection, his old voice trembling with excitement. “The imagery of an impenetrable castle fits it perfectly, it surely does!”
Well, yeah, considering the original inspiration was literally a living fortress, the imagery was going to land perfectly. But crafting it exactly like this was going to be an issue. “Chef’s” absolute monstrosity of a custom weapon had already caused enough waves in this world; introducing another literal mecha design felt like playing with fire.
”I’m terribly sorry, but replicating this exact design piece-for-piece is going to be a bit problematic,” I explained gently.
”…Is there a reason why, son?”
”Yes. For the exact same reason we had to alter the script for that theater play.”
”Ah… I see,” Jiji sighed, his old shoulders slumping in deep disappointment. But a moment later, a sudden realization struck him, and he whirled back to face me. “What if we use this as a baseline and modify the details, boy?”
”If it’s just a baseline for modifications, that’s perfectly fine.”
Jiji’s face instantly lit up with pure, childlike excitement, and he completely shed his usual slow rhythm. Watching his mood make a complete U-turn, I smiled and began tweaking the blueprint on the word processor. When I asked him which specific elements he absolutely refused to compromise on, he pointed straight at the display. It was the elegant blade-horn on the helmet and the long, flowing decorative hair plume.
Yeah, I figured as much. You just cannot compromise on the classics.
The silhouette was the first thing to go. I stripped away the harsh, jagged, blocky lines that spoke of crude, layered mass, then smoothed the entire frame into a sleeker, rounded shape that looked built to move. For the shoulders, I drew inspiration from defensive flank towers, raising them just high enough to form a sweeping, protective collar around the head and stop incoming strikes from the side.
The leg guards were styled after a fortress gatehouse. The joint mechanics made them a massive headache to map out, but I engineered them as a symmetrical, interlocking pair; when the unit snapped its legs together, the shields closed flush with a satisfying, airtight seal.
For the torso, I pictured the central keep of the imperial capital’s royal castle and engraved the national emblem across the center of the chest plate.
The face kept its original humanoid base, but I layered a sleek visor over it—crafted from a polished sheet of Mana Stone—and locked a heavy jaw guard into place beneath it.
I shortened and thickened the crest blade on the head, tilting it slightly forward compared to the original design. To be completely honest, if I had left it as it was, even forged Orichalcum10 would risk snapping clean off under a high-speed impact. The mane—the unit’s most defining feature—was woven from sublimated Mithril, and because I had infused and stabilized it using a Kin of the Night’s Soul Core, it bled a faint, dark aura. It drifted away from the source material, sure, but I had to admit, it looked incredibly badass.
Once the chassis was fully assembled, it was time to forge the armament. By the book, I should have prepared a multi-configuration weapon: a sorcerer’s staff that could unfold into a folding fan, split into dual pistols capable of sealing divine beasts, and eventually combine into a massive two-handed sword. But those were not the kinds of weapons Lord Jiji Entier excelled at handling.
If that was the case, I thought, and forged a piercing rapier instead… but the moment I held it up against the massive, heavily armored frame, the blade looked laughably thin. The visual balance was completely shot.
”Um, Lord Kalan?” I said, looking up from the workbench.
”Oh? Is it finished?” he asked.
”Not quite,” I replied. “It’s the weapon… The rapier you favor is simply too thin for a frame this size. The visual balance is entirely off. Would you mind if I swapped it out for a mounted lance?”
”Stepping right past an estoc straight to a lance, are we?” he chuckled, his eyes widening. “Ha! Now that sounds entertaining. Do it.”
Taking that as a green light, I set to work on the mounted lance. I kept the hilt relatively short and shaped the main body so it could pass for an oversized estoc from the right angle. Honestly, it bore a striking resemblance to the signature weapon of a certain holy mechanized knight from my past life… but hey, that aesthetic fit Lord Jiji Entier’s request perfectly anyway.
Next came the spell arrays. I etched a Levitation formula—effectively anti-gravity—into the leg blades, then carved Compression and Release formulas directly into the soles of the feet. When mana from the core flowed through all three systems at once, the unit gained explosive instant acceleration while cutting the frame’s weight so it could leap to absurd heights. On top of that, by cutting the anti-gravity formula entirely and firing the sole-based Compression and Release at point-blank range, the pilot could execute devastating, high-impact martial arts techniques.
What stood before us now was a version reborn in this world, a blade-shaped machine meant to cut down evil. Just like the original inspiration, the outer armor was forged from Hihi’irokane11. Crafting the internal skeleton out of Mithril was this world’s unique spin, but considering the source material used a circulating mercury system, it was a close enough substitute in function.
Naturally, the original’s signature, cataclysmic finishing moves were far too dangerous to copy, so I left them out. However, the technique Dahlia used—unleashing a raw, direct blast of concentrated mana—could be mirrored safely. I had to give myself some credit; I was working entirely too hard on these lore-accurate reproductions.
Act II: The Sovereign’s Pride
”And with that, she’s complete,” I announced, stepping back.
”Well, well… You’ve built something far more monstrous than I anticipated, haven’t you?” he murmured.
As I handed over the finished machine, his eyes sparkled with pure, unguarded awe despite his casual tone. It did not matter how old a man got; a giant robot toy would always strike a chord deep within his soul.
”Next up are the Controllers that double as the hangar unit,” I said. “Do you have any specific design requests for it?”
”Nothing particular,” he replied, waving a hand dismissively. “As long as it can house this beauty, I’m sure whatever you make will look magnificent.”
The weight of his rising expectations pressed down on me, but that pressure was exactly what got my crafter’s blood pumping. I designed a structure similar to a Hizuru armor display rack, then reshaped the cockpit seat to resemble a grand throne. Around it, I built a miniature fortress wall flanked by defensive towers, complete with a gatehouse and a massive portcullis sealing the front.
Thanks to the flawless, smooth engineering of the joints, there would not be any dramatic showers of friction sparks, but the gates were tuned to part with a heavy, ominous grandeur that fit the scale. Of course, a localized imaginary-space deployment catapult12 was well beyond my current abilities, and while that specific style of hangar carried an undeniable romantic appeal, this unit was meant for an anonymous royal. I had to keep the theme grounded.
That said, I ran a bit short on raw materials, so I supplemented the build from my personal stash. As a result, almost the entire hangar ended up being made of pure Mithril.
”Isn’t this a touch too ostentatious?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
”What are you talking about?” I argued. “A highly ornate, majestic machine getting down and dirty in a brutal, muddy firefight is the absolute pinnacle of romance, isn’t it?”
”I see your point,” he conceded instantly.
He changed his mind incredibly fast.
”We haven’t constructed the underground battlefield yet, so you’ll have to hold off on the test drive for now,” I warned.
”You’re actually building one?” he asked, blinking in surprise.
”Well, I wanted to provide a dedicated space where Dahlia and the Chef can cut loose and fight with absolutely everything they’ve got, without having to hold back for anyone’s sake.”
”…Well, after witnessing that clash in the Arena, I suppose it was only a matter of time,” he said, nodding slowly.
To be perfectly precise, I had expected the need and planned the construction long before watching them fight, but my schedule had simply fallen behind.
”Come to think of it, what name are you giving this throne-bound machine?” I asked.
”You certainly have an amusing way of phrasing things,” he said. “Let me think…”
Lord Jiji Entier let his gaze drift across the empty air for a moment before turning his eyes back to me.
”Vanquish.”
”…’Hero’ in the ancient tongue, then?” I asked.
The word originally carried meanings like “overcome,” “surpass,” and “conquer,” which had gradually shifted over time until it became tied to the idea of a legendary savior.
As I recalled the linguistic changes in this world’s vocabulary, Jiji murmured an impressed, “You’re remarkably well-informed,” before storing the unit away into his Inventory.
When he turned back to face me, his easygoing manner was entirely gone. His expression was dead serious.
”You have executed your duties flawlessly,” he declared.
The air around him changed. He did not raise his voice, yet the pressure of a former emperor settled squarely over me, heavy enough to pin my breath in my chest. It was completely different from the presence of the Undead King or the Sword Demon Lord. If he were an enemy, my mind would have fought back on instinct, but standing before a true sovereign, the urge to kneel and offer fealty was almost overwhelming.
”I am thoroughly satisfied with your performance,” he continued, his tone resonant with absolute authority. “You have my commendations.”
”Your praise brings me the utmost happiness,” I whispered.
Before I could stop myself, I dropped to one knee and bowed my head. I knew well enough that Lord Jiji Entier genuinely disliked having people grovel before him, but faced with that raw imperial gravity, my body had simply moved on its own.
”…Right, we can drop the stiff formalities now, yes?” he said, his posture suddenly relaxing.
”…Honestly,” I groaned, standing up and shaking my head. “You held the throne for over a century, yet you’re still so incredibly terrible at dealing with formal reverence, aren’t you?”
”They say the soul of a three-year-old remains unchanged even at a hundred,” he laughed heartily. “Well, I’ve long passed the century mark, but my core hasn’t shifted a bit.”
Watching Lord Jiji Entier laugh so freely, I could see glimpses of the boy who had once fought desperately to overturn a childhood of oppression and neglect.
As someone who had witnessed the chronicle of his life in my previous world, knowing that I could lend a hand to his journey now left a quiet warmth behind my ribs.
===
Bonus:
Kalan Nahazhuto, King of the Nahazhuto Kingdom, sprinted down the castle corridor with everything he had. His heart hammered against his ribs, driven as much by panic as by exhaustion. His destination was his own bedchamber. When the heavy doors came into view, he did not slow down. Gasping for breath, he threw his weight forward and slammed them open with enough force to shake the frame.
The sight waiting inside was a nightmare.
To Kalan’s stunned eyes, it looked as though his childhood friend Seras had been stolen from him by another man. Seras lay sprawled across the bed in tears, while Tatara stood beside her with the casual confidence of someone who belonged there.
Watching the person he cared about in what appeared to be a complete betrayal, Kalan let out a roar.
”Tatara!” he screamed.
”Oh? You’re late, Kalan,” Tatara replied.
”I decided to borrow your little childhood friend for a bit. I have got to say, she really does make quite an impression.”
”You bastard!”
”Whoa, easy there. Do not let your blood pressure boil over.”
Seras collapsed onto the mattress, looking utterly exhausted, while Kalan finally snapped and drew his sword.
”You betrayed me!”
”Betrayal?” Tatara tilted his head and laughed. “Ah, I see. So that is how it looks from inside your little bubble, Kalan.”
”You put your hands on Seras! What else am I supposed to call it?”
”Oh, please. Are you seriously playing the victim? This coming from the man who pushed his childhood friend aside the second Flora became your official queen?” Tatara stepped forward, his smile never wavering. “You ignored the feelings she carried for years, yet you honestly believed her heart would never change? Wow. That is quite the fantasy world13.”
”What did you say…?”
”I asked whether you ever stopped to think about what Seras was going through!”
For a moment, real anger flashed across Tatara’s face, making Kalan instinctively flinch. Just as quickly, it vanished.
”Did you think she felt nothing while watching the man she loved marry someone else?”
When Kalan crossed the continent seeking revenge and fighting to reclaim his kingdom, who had stood beside him the entire way, only to have her feelings overlooked?
”Do you have any idea what it is like to be trapped between two people you care about, unable to hate either one, while desperately searching for a way out?” Tatara continued.
Who did Kalan think had spent years listening to both sides while carrying the burden alone?
”This is nothing more than her final attempt to escape that pain. And you still have the nerve to blame her for it?!”
The words hit Kalan like a blow.
The furious king from moments ago seemed to disappear, leaving only a shaken man behind. His sword lowered toward the floor, and he looked less like a ruler and more like a scolded child standing before an angry parent14.
”…But even that ends today,” Tatara said.
He stepped away from the bed and walked straight toward Kalan. Reaching out, he caught the king by the chin and forced him to look up.
”You are finally looking at me, Kalan.”
”What… are you…?”
Their eyes met. Something in Tatara’s gaze sent a chill racing down Kalan’s spine.
”I have watched over you for so long. I have spent my entire life supporting you from the shadows, and you still have not figured out why?”
”Wh—”
Before Kalan could finish, Tatara leaned forward.
”You always wondered why I never took a wife, did you not? Well, here is your answer.”
His hands reached for Kalan’s clothes—
”Hey Tatara, you can use fire-element magic, right?” Kalan asked.
”Yeah. If it is just a single book15, I can reduce it to ash without leaving a trace. Want a demonstration?”
”Please stop!” Sansasa screamed.
Holding an absurdly specific fan-comic16 between them, King Kalan Nahazhuto and his best friend, Tatara Julon, exchanged bright smiles. Their eyes, however, were completely dead.
The veins bulging on their foreheads suggested they were only seconds away from violence.
The scream came from a woman with vibrant green hair woven together with living leaves. She was Sansasa Leena, a member of the dryad17 race and one of Kalan’s concubines.
”Look, I am pretty sure we could execute you for lèse-majesté right now and nobody in the kingdom would complain,” Kalan muttered.
”Seriously. Me secretly carrying passionate feelings for Kalan? What kind of nonsense is that?” Tatara added with a sigh as he flipped through the pages.
The beautifully illustrated scroll, which Sansasa had published herself, detailed a dramatic romance in which Kalan was repeatedly swept off his feet by Tatara.
”I must respectfully disagree, Lord Tatara. I believe you care very deeply for Lord Kalan18,” Flora said.
The speaker was Flora Meitis Nahazhuto, Kalan’s queen. She tilted her head, her long golden hair swaying with the motion.
”Wait… is that really the impression people get from me?” Tatara asked.
”Oh, certainly. But it is the love of brotherhood and devotion,” Flora replied cheerfully.
”Well, yes. If I did not care about him like a brother, I would not have spent years helping him overthrow a kingdom from the trenches all the way to the throne19.”
Unfortunately, seeing Tatara and Kalan together only fueled Sansasa’s imagination. In an instant, an entire fictional web of romance bloomed inside her head. Her face turned bright red, and her eyes drifted into the distance as though she had unlocked the secrets of the universe.
Kalan and Tatara released a synchronized sigh.
”How did our lives end up like this…?” Kalan asked.
”I know plants need compost to grow, but I am pretty sure this girl skipped being a fujoshi20 and went straight to rotten roots21,” Tatara said.
Flora could only offer a sympathetic smile.
If anyone actually measured who cared more about the other, the answer would point firmly toward Kalan. Tatara saw Kalan as his closest friend and brother-in-arms. The real reason he remained unmarried was not some tragic secret love. It was because Kalan had somehow sabotaged nearly every marriage meeting and romantic opportunity that came his way.
Tatara was simply too kind.
He had a warmth that drew people toward him regardless of age or gender. Flora still remembered her time as a prisoner of war. A kind old woman had helped her survive those days, and Tatara had patiently taught her the administrative skills she needed to function in the rebel camp.
Whenever she wanted to talk about her worries regarding Kalan, Tatara listened. He checked on her well-being, built useful tools to make her life easier, and celebrated wholeheartedly when her marriage was finalized. At the same time, he warned Kalan that he would never forgive him if he made Flora unhappy.
That was simply the sort of person he was.
Flora had long since admitted to herself that if Kalan had been even slightly less likable, she might have fallen for Tatara instead. After more women joined the inner palace, she discovered that many of them quietly felt the same way.
Yet despite knowing the truth, Sansasa continued pairing the same two men together in every story. Some readers apparently requested stories where Tatara and Kalan switched roles, but Sansasa always refused on the grounds of “creative interpretation.”
(If you care so much about character consistency, then why did you write a story where Tatara runs off with Seras, who is supposed to be part of the ‘Let’s Make Kalan Happy’ alliance?)
Even so, Flora could not deny Sansasa’s talent. The artist’s work was so good that Flora secretly collected every volume she released.
”Listen to me, Sansasa,” Tatara said in a terrifyingly calm voice. “If you do not burn every copy of this manuscript right now, I swear I will use my skills to create a highly detailed comic starring Galvan and Leonics, and I will personally make you read every page.”
Sansasa’s eyes widened.
She opened her mouth, ready to declare that her artistic integrity would never bend before such threats.
Then Tatara activated his Crafting skill.
In less than a second, he produced an image so aggressively unpleasant that it bypassed shock and entered the realm of psychological warfare. Two grizzled commanders were locked in an alarmingly intimate embrace, rendered with such dedication to uncomfortable detail that simply looking at it felt like an attack.
Sansasa broke instantly.
She dropped to her knees in complete surrender, defeated by the horror23.
Unfortunately, the mere existence of that masterpiece soon led to a flood of completely baseless rumors involving Kalan’s two most trusted generals.
Deep down, Kalan could only offer silent apologies to the innocent commanders caught in the blast radius.
—
Summary:
Deploying municipal monitoring apparatus concludes the immediate structural task before an unexpected commission from the founding Emperor redirects Tatara’s schedule. Dropping a sudden revelation about Ethelena’s pregnancy paralyzes the administrative assembly and subverts established institutional codes. The structural fallout remains unresolved as academy officials struggle to reconcile rigid operational policy with irreplaceable high-tier talent.
Arriving at Tatara’s heavily fortified home, Jiji and Grandma Entier assess the structural defenses that mimic a military compound. Inside, a brief tea service from Mitsuha transitions into an probing dialogue about Tatara’s illicit capability to manufacture conceptual weapons on a home workshop. The conversation shifts toward a specific legendary blade in Jiji’s inventory, leaving the elderly royals stunned by the scale of Tatara’s crafting skill and an unresolved choice concerning weapon allocation.
Tatara successfully negotiates with the anonymous royal Jiji Entier to secure elite military guards for an incoming inspector by using the customized Yakukiri short blades as leverage. They transition into the forge where Tatara displays unorthodox, highly efficient split-forging techniques with Mithril that surprise the veteran royal. When planning a custom Aarem armor design, Tatara’s magitech word processor accidentally projects an unedited mecha design from an old-world eroge, sparking immense enthusiasm from Jiji but forcing a delicate negotiation regarding aesthetic modifications.
Kalan re-engineers a massive humanoid machine for Lord Jiji Entier, heavily localizing its visual aesthetic, internal frame systems, and combat formula mechanics based on structural motifs and previous life lore. Upon seeing the grand throne-style hangar assembly crafted out of pure Mithril, the former emperor experiences a brief, intense reversion to his authoritative sovereign demeanor. Kalan naturally kneels under the sheer weight of the imperial aura before both men return to an easy, informal rapport as the unfinished underground arena remains a lingering logistical challenge.
Sprinting frantically down his castle’s corridors, King Kalan bursts into his bedroom only to witness a gut-wrenching and explicit display of betrayal between his childhood friend Seras and his close partner Tatara. As Tatara fires back with devastating truths about Kalan’s own emotional carelessness, the entire melodramatic scenario is abruptly shattered when the scene cuts away to reveal the main cast reading an incredibly extreme fan-fiction comic written by one of Kalan’s concubines. While Tatara violently subdues the artist’s scandalous imagination by crafting a horrifyingly graphic counter-artwork of two grizzled generals, Kalan is left internally mourning the inevitable, baseless military rumors that this sudden psychological warfare will unleash.
—
Trivia:
The immigration gates sit directly above spiritual veins, simplifying their mana extraction requirements.
Ethelena lacked the Sex Sorcery skill at birth, making her subsequent high-tier developments abnormal among succubi.
Academy codes dictate immediate expulsion for both involved parties if an active student becomes pregnant.
Tatara reached the 70th floor of the dungeon but lacks formal technical report documentation within the crafting department.
Tatara’s home features an active teleportation gate, requiring extreme defensive measures.
The Torakuma clan has partially colonized Tatara’s residence.
Mitsuha is the second daughter of the Torakuma clan and bears a horn on her forehead.
The non-lethal compliance katana wielded in the courtyard was forged by Tatara.
The Calamity Severer completely deflects healing magic if held by an immortal entity.
Clarietta was the High Priestess who transitioned into a Holy Maiden across the games.
Explorers only coordinate on a party unit scale and are vastly inferior to structured Imperial knights in city defense scenarios.
The short katanas double as highly potent magic catalysts due to being entirely structured out of specialized Mithril.
Aarem performance can be heightened explicitly by intensely pre-forging and compressing the Magic Metal components.
The national emblem of Jiji Entier’s country lacks any magical or divine beast motifs, causing a lack of reference material for traditional armor designs.
Kalan shortened and thickened the crest blade on the machine’s head to prevent it from snapping under high-speed impacts.
The original inspiration for the unit utilized a circulating mercury system rather than a Mithril skeleton.
The name Vanquish explicitly means ‘Hero’ within the ancient tongue of this specific world framework.
Lord Jiji Entier naturally detests receiving formal, obsequious reverence despite his imperial background.
Almost the entire custom hangar assembly was composed of pure Mithril due to a sudden lack of lesser raw materials.
The opening scene is not real real-world continuity; it is a direct enactment of Sansasa’s custom-written thin book.
Kalan is the true bottleneck to Tatara’s bachelorhood, actively blocking all of his friend’s potential romantic matches.
Flora was a prisoner of war during the rebellion before eventually becoming the official Queen of Nahazhuto.
Flora, despite acting innocent and mature, owns an extensive, complete hidden collection of Sansasa’s explicit parody works.
The ‘Let’s Make Kalan Happy’ alliance is an internal baseline agreement shared between Tatara, Seras, and multiple inner palace women.
Tatara’s threat involves Galvan and Leonics, who are actually Kalan’s two most dependable real-world military commanders.
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Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Tatara – Tarashi, a reincarnated Earth salaryman and the absolute best friend of King Kalan Nahazhuto, is an unassuming, good-natured, and single young craftsman in Whirlwind. Fiercely protective of his household, he hides a dry, internal cynicism toward authority. As a 70th-floor Explorer and legendary Divine Smith, he leverages an unusual appraisal skill to perceive conceptual flaws in inorganic objects, full-customizing his own equipment. Combining precise layered magic circles, fire magic, and advanced katana-forging techniques, he builds everything from massive logistics installations to complex magitech.
• Mia – A curious young girl and researcher of noble blood, she is the daughter of the Entiers and granddaughter of the Entier couple. Earnest and observant, she appreciates her new Magic Device and interacts warmly with Golems. As an explorer interested in racial history, she shows clear affection for the protagonist and remains protective of Tatara while navigating her role as a Godslayer’s daughter.
• Entier – Known as Mama Entier, this former emperor and director of the Magic Research Institute has held the throne for over a century. A founding pillar of the city, he has a regal presence despite disliking rigid formalities. To the royal family and his son Tatara, whose inventions he observes, he is a gentle, grandfatherly mother figure, though he reacts with shock upon seeing the protagonist’s companions.
• City Mayor – The female City Mayor and academy representative is an authoritative, fiercely autonomous leader managing municipal administration, the City Festival, and project approvals. Though she maintains a highly refined aristocratic posture, it fractures into flustered, ulcer-inducing anxiety when confronting institutional scandals or Tatara’s inventions. She directly shields Julon, protects her citizens’ privacy from Imperial military pressure, and deeply cares for her people.
• Mayor – Serious‑looking female mayor governs the city, fiercely autonomous and protective of its citizens’ privacy against Imperial pressure. She oversees the Festival, shields ally Julon, and is constantly stressed by Tatara’s boundary‑breaking inventions, suffering stomach ulcers. Her authority and concern define her role.
• Papa Entier – Tarchis. An Entier father who works in a laboratory.
• Ethelena – Tatara’s primary wife and fellow academy student is a voluptuous, long-haired Succubus obsessively devoted to him. Now pregnant with his child, she boasts high intimacy and uses extreme measures or manual techniques to bind him. Since gaining her massive Sex Sorcery skill, she creates mana clones, manipulates her age, trains ‘Steal’ near level 50, and earns noble praise for her cuisine.
• Julon – Lean, cloaked alchemist-reincarnate Tatara Julon has sharp eyes beneath alchemical robes and a limit-breaking Crafting skill. Plagued by stress-induced stomach pain, the former mayoral servant is now the best friend and close advisor to King Kalan Nahazhuto. Carrying his lineage’s legacy, he also hosts at the Tatara Aarem Arena, bringing infectious enthusiasm to high-stakes combat commentary.
• Calmys – Lithe, sharp-tongued, and clad in Magic Metal armor, this high-ranking Mayor’s guard official acts as an administrative advisor during strategic discussions, tracking the fallout of academy policy violations. Secretly a whip-wielding knight of the God of War, she serves as a vigilant enforcer allied with Julon, while maintaining a protective, big-sister role toward Tatara and Ethelena.
• Jiji – An elderly man with a weathered face who is an anonymous royal and part of the Scientia family lineage. He possesses keen observation skills regarding the residual passion left on craftsmanship tools. The Jiji family name, carried by Jiji Entier.
• Jiji Entier – Kalan Entier. A high-ranking figure who possesses deep dignity and an ability to command authority instantly. He has a history of unconventional behavior.
• Torakuma – The Torakuma family name, a noble house originating from Hizuru. The lineage is known for its mastery of traditional martial arts.
• Yohira – An Oni warrior and Torakuma’s sister, she is an Explorer human capable of rapid leveling. Tensions peak when she defects from Ethelena’s faction, mask-like smile failing as a vein throbs in response to Ethelena’s boastful comments regarding intimacy with Mitsuha. Despite her warrior nature, she maintains a strained, complex dynamic with her allies while navigating her own internal conflict.
• Kalan – Kalan Nahazhuto (Jiji Entier), the founding king of Nahazhuto Kingdom, is a weary, refined Kin of the Night with deep navy hair and a slender chin. This elderly royal veteran and father to Protea overthrew the old regime. Now operating from the shadows, he is a grandfatherly crafter who customizes machinery based on media lore. He is Flora’s husband, Seras’s childhood friend, and Tatara’s close brother-in-arms whose romance he sabotages.
• Mitsuha – Second daughter of the Torakuma family and Yohira’s older sister, she is a quiet, awkward, yet nurturing non-native living in the city. Bearing long hair and a distinct forehead horn, she wears violet robes. Highly trained in noble etiquette, she shifts into a formal register for guests. As primary caretaker under Tatara’s guidance, she cooks, tends to Cornremu, and explores with Tatara.
• Hinagiku – A tengu woman as Ranka’s potential companion. She stays with Tatara’s group after travels. Joins household scenes only. Linked to Ranka by shared gluttony jokes. No direct tie to Tatara beyond cohabitation. Cheerful eater.
• Scientia – Referred to as Papa Entier, a former member of the anonymous royal family.
• Seras – A graceful, fit former Empress and childhood friend of King Kalan, this elderly Succubus warrior maintains a youthful, energetic appearance. Known to Tatara as Grandma, she balances lethal sword skills with a polite, playful, and perceptive disposition. Now a mother of five, she was relegated to a concubine after Kalan’s marriage to Flora, suffering deeply from unrequited love in the inner palace.
• Tatia – A student at the Knight school and an illegitimate child of the Chutelair family, she possesses exceptional combat ability with a level of 50 and statistics exceeding 100. As an member of the adventurer group preparing for the City Festival through dungeon exploration, she joins the dinner table dispute and expresses immediate irritation at Ethelena’s continuous listing of marital facts, prompting her to officially align with the opposition faction.
• Grandmother Entier – Seras. Wife of Kalan. An elderly individual who is a member of the Kin of the Night and refers to others with affectionate nicknames.
• Grandmother – An elderly woman and the wife of Jiji Entier who possesses strong self-awareness regarding her own high curiosity.
• Chef – Petite, large-chested older sister of the Shift Lead, this glasses-wearing otaku pilot wears a white chef’s coat or her massive black Adamantite Arcane Armor, ‘Gagaga,’ featuring red-lined cylindrical arms and delta wings. Always smiling and telepathic, she serves tea via a Magic-Metal Aarem, but fights fiercely using the Broken Magnum or steps in to protect the protagonist from harmful World Laws.
• Dahlia – Chrome-finished automaton maid and Machina Saint, this fiercely loyal partner to Tatara and companion to Julon is a highly capable fighter. Despite low domestic skills, she expertly pilots Valkyria, overclocking in combat using martial arts and magic tools. Her intense methods and high mana output inspire dedicated, isolated battlefields. She loves mecha footage, but hates Aarem toys.
• Kalan Nahazhuto – Kalan Nahazhuto, also known as Kalan, is the founding king of the Nahazhuto Kingdom. He has deep navy hair and a handsome, refined appearance. A Kin of the Night, born of a human mother and a Demon Lord father, he is Protea’s father and once served as the founding emperor who overthrew the previous kingdom, remaining hidden during a crucial meeting.
• Nahazhuto – The royal family name and lineage of the Former Emperor, tied to the historic Nahazhuto Empire. It is currently carried by King Kalan Nahazhuto and Queen Flora Meitis Nahazhuto, who govern the Nahazhuto Kingdom.
• Flora – The official Queen of the Nahazhuto Kingdom who possesses rich, cascading golden hair and an innocent, pure charm. She is a former prisoner of war who was looked after by Tatara, and she secretly collects all of Sansasa’s fan-comics.
• Sansasa – A woman of the dryad race with vibrant green hair intertwined with living leaves. She is one of Kalan’s concubines and a self-published fan-comic author who writes explicit stories about Kalan and Tatara.
• Leena – The secondary given name or clan indicator carried by the dryad concubine Sansasa Leena.
• Meitis – A secondary royal lineage name carried by Queen Flora Meitis Nahazhuto.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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