Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume4 Phase03 (section)

===Part 6===

Irregular tremors ran through the ground.

Some enormous creatures were strolling down a different street. Probably the dragons who had been controlled by the guards with Tamer III qualifications. The long-eared half elves had apparently hijacked control of them.

“Burn their flag and set their city aflame! Do not be fooled! Focus on the guard armories disguised as houses. The more chaos we sow, the longer the emperor’s group will be free to act!!”

The guards’ and Royal Guards’ eyes were bloodshot as they tried to stop them.

“Tear down the eastern half of district 2 and build a barricade! Do not let them near the elevator leading to the higher levels!! The residents are reluctant to cooperate? Tear down a few empty homes to scare them away!! This is a national crisis!! We don’t have time for proper documented negotiations with each and every one of them!!”

…The attackers and defenders were both destroying the capital city.

At this point, no one knew which side to rely on.

That may have been why plenty of residents were fleeing outside with various possessions despite the danger out there.

“Geranud,” cried a voice on the verge of tears.

It came from 6-year-old Isabella. The little girl was suppressing the urge to loudly cry because she didn’t want to be a burden. But without the small hand clutching his jacket, 3025th Prince Geranud’s spirit might have already broken. But it wasn’t just Isabella. He had brought many more small children up from the bottom level with their special method.

“I isn’t just the castle…”

3025th Prince Geranud clenched his teeth at the scene before him and soothed the younger children to keep them from panicking, all while he tried to suppress the powerful tremor within himself.

“Are they doing this all through the city? But why!?”

He had heard that something bad may have been going down at the palace. The shouts and screams of the grownups made it impossible to hide.

But there was nothing a kid like him could do.

And more than that…

“Geranud.”

“It’s alright, Isabella. Let’s all get back to the bottom level. Make sure you stick with me, okay?”

Anything more he might have said was cut off by a nearby boom of destruction that might as well have been a powerful shockwave.

Dust filled with needle-sharp splinters rushed his way.

A giant dragon had smashed a group of homes like a paper box and emerged onto the main street.

Isabella may have been too panicked to think because she simply repeated the same thing over and over.

“Geranud!!”

“Dammit. Get behind me, Isabella!!”

3025th Prince Geranud stood protectively before the younger group as he drew a large monkey wrench from his hip. What could he accomplish with that? That fear was shouting deep in his mind, but this was better than doing nothing.

His eyes met those massive ones.

Still holding the large monkey wrench, he approached a nearby broken festival stand, grabbed a thumb-thick pipe with the wrench, and forcibly removed it. The white coolant gas used to make sherbet from fruit sprayed out ahead.

He knew that would only act as a smokescreen.

“Run, Isabella! Stay with the others! Run toward where the grownups are!!”

it only took a single attack.

The wall formed by the coolant gas rapidly expanding at ordinary temperature was easily sliced through and the dragon’s great jaws thrust forward.

Even so, 3025th Prince Geranud did not shut his eyes to the very end.

A deafening crash of destruction followed.

A few empty houses were destroyed as ''the giant dragon'' rolled to the side.

“Heh. Looking pretty cool there, prince.”

A minotaur was responsible.

He held a pair of beautiful butterfly-like swords designed to be used together.

But he wasn’t alone.

Sparks flew as a prince defeated a dark elf vanguard.

He held a bastard sword with the power to manipulate atmospheric pressure and he stood with a commoner woman behind him.

“B-but I’m a con artist. I was only deceiving you.”

“Why should that matter? Nothing can change my love for you!!”

10th Prince George was the only one singing a quick love song, but he wasn’t the only one wielding a powerful sword of succession.

73rd Prince Carving held some cotton candy in one hand as he wielded a flame rapier to guard a rundown stand operated by an old man. And was that 105th Princess Charlotte swinging around a kusarigama to block the path of a giant chimera attempting to attack her favorite little park?

The Combined Royal Family didn’t just lord it over everyone from the top.

They had formed connections with people from many different classes and valued those connections enough to risk their lives to protect them.

“Wow…” gasped the flabbergasted boy from the lowest level.

“Geranud!!” roared the minotaur.

Telling him to stop acting like a spectator.

“None of us is better than another! You’re standing before who you want to protect, aren’t you!? Then no holding back. You’ve gotta use everything you can!!”

Something fluttered across Geranud’s vision. It was an unnatural orchid mantis made from clear diamonds and pink silk thread.

The young boy blinked in surprise and it became a maid glowing with a light pink light.

She wordlessly knelt before him and raised a sheathed sword in her hands.

“Take it,” said the 1st Prince. “It doesn’t matter if you’re 3025th in line. If you’re in the official line of succession, then it’s no surprise you’ve got a sword worthy of that position!!”

He drew it to find it had a thin, rapier-like blade. But the tip oddly swelled out more than the base.

It was a boar-spear sword.

The odd sword’s tip swelled out so that it would widen the wound. The two-handed stabbing sword prioritized destructive force and it could slay not just a human but a wild animal with a single blow.

The light pink maid respectfully bowed her head and spoke coldly.

“This is the lightning blade Artificial Lightningear. My prince, your power is the lightning capable of blasting and frying all in your path. Use it as you wish.”

“…”

He couldn’t be the next king.

Not that he wanted to.

But even this small prince had people he wanted to protect. By focusing on that, he found the courage needed to grasp his sword of succession.

With a groaning sound, the dragon attempted to stand back up after being knocked down by the minotaur.

3025th Prince Geranud faced the threat once more and spoke under his breath.

His small hands gripped the sword’s hilt.

More strongly than anyone.

“I don’t care what I’m up against. I won’t let anything touch them.”

The minotaur stepped up alongside him.

The cries of people seeking help came from behind the wall of flame.

It wasn’t just the kids from the bottom level. Everyone fleeing through the capital had their own loved ones.

They weren’t about to let a single one be lost.

“This is our kingdoooooooooooooooooooooooom!!”