Sorcery Hacker:Volume4 Phase02

Phase 02: Fortress the Castle – The Holy Palace

Part 1

The blue sky shined overhead.

A grassy field stretched out in all directions.

Ayato Criminaltrophy stared into the middle distance and muttered to himself.

“Oh, no. This place is so liberating I don’t want to leave. But we have to head back to the bottom level.”

Tall and slender Mamilis Coster tilted her head. As a grandma’s girl through and through, the dark elf was making loops of flowers with the children as she looked elsewhere.

Far in the distance was the long stone bridge into the capital that Ayato’s group had used to sneak in before.

“Coach, we’ve escaped the lower level. We’re free now, so can’t we use the bridge again to get into the upper levels?”

“We entered the capital but there’s no record of us leaving. And they think Miss Teleria was arrested and imprisoned. Trying to get through the front gate now will only get us caught. Needless to say, their strictest security will be at the one entrance from the outside.”

That meant they had to return to the filthy bottom level surrounded by the wall.

It turned out they could climb back up onto the looping bridge using some stairs installed for maintenance and inspections.

Even with the armored train destroyed, they still stayed off the metal rails and stuck to the small space on the very edge.

“Okay, let’s review what we know.”

Their goal was to find Queen Astaroth Revolver, who had likely snuck into the capital, and capture her before she could cause some kind of major incident. To do that, they needed a way to move freely between levels, not just enter the bottom level.

The Sorcery Hacker raised a finger as he explained that premise.

“The Precipice runs between levels, but it forms an overhang and it has nonflammable oil, oxidized mana-conducting silver spikes, and other traps, so we can’t climb it. If the sorcery devices flying around on patrol spotted us, they would fill us with holes without even asking any questions.”

“But…”

Teleria looked to Geranud and the other children walking with them.

Yes, there was a way of getting past the impregnable Precipice. And it was something even those small children could do. That suggested it was a matter of perspective, not strength.

“Huh? Coach, why do we need to climb the wall when there are those flying tools. What were those lewd suits called?”

Mamilis was referring to the wing gliders they had used to sneak into the Academy Towers. The term “lewd suits” made Teleria and Henrietta briefly freeze.

But that wouldn’t work.

“We can only stay in the air for a count of five. Those Shade Swallow flying sorcery devices would swarm us and attack after that. And flying fast enough to escape them is essentially impossible. Attempting it would only get us shot down.”

Something soared by overhead.

The pitch black silhouette had a curved, bow-like silhouette.

It was about 3 esoule long.

It had a very different design from ordinary flying types that would fly around and shoot down any targets with projectile magic. The black craft made of polished oxidized mana-conducting silver acted as a thick guillotine. They coordinated as a group to attack a target.

It gave Ayato a chill even though he knew they were safe for now.

Of course, it was probably their presence that caused unmanned flying sorcery devices to be misidentified as a threat and brought down with enough frequency to act as a plentiful resource on the lower level.

As much as Ayato would love for her to wear that “lewd suit” again, he did not want to see that tall and slender brown girl being sliced through by the Shade Swallows.

“Hop!”

“Don’t fall, Isabella.”

Watching the 6-year-old girl jump to the red roof from the bridge at a few dozen esoule up was no easy task for Henrietta, but there wasn’t anything she could do to help. These children were used to this, so any unexpected stimulus could affect their timing and actually increase the odds of an accidental fall.

And so Ayato’s group made the effort to return to the bottom level.

The bare-chested bull raised a hand in greeting.

“Hey. So you made it back, huh?”

The children’s playful mood must have told him none of them had come to harm. It was these little things which may have earned that minotaur so much trust.

Micha Angelos expressionlessly clapped her hands together as if brushing off a powder.

Now, how much of the slaver group had been eliminated in this short time? Knowing that maid’s firepower, she would have supplied enough of a magic barrage to conquer a battlefield.

“From the look of things, I take it you cleared your first hurdle,” said the minotaur.

“What’re you talking about?” interrupted 3025th Prince Geranud. He sounded curious rather than suspicious.

When they explained it to him, he grinned.

He apparently had some ideas.

“Then come with me. I normally wouldn’t let outsiders know about this, but I do owe you for saving Isabella.”

That reasoning made Teleria smile a little, but was that little gang leader not aware that they had saved him too?

“I’ll make an exception for you, so c’mon and I’ll show you our secret weapon.”

Part 2

Was that an industrial warehouse made out of thin metal walls?

The roof had entirely collapsed, so it was more like an empty lot with walls on four sides. If it was truly clear land, the adults would have built something new there, but the partial remnants of the old structure meant it remained as a hangout for the children.

Something was set up in the center.

3025th Prince Geranud yanked a waterproof cloth away, revealing the massive object below.

It looked a lot like a huge seesaw or a catapult meant to chuck boulders at a castle. Except this was powered by a parallel row of mana-conducting silver springs thicker than a human arm. Small wheels were attached to the bottom like on a wheeled cart and it looked like it could be dismantled for easy transportation.

Teleria nearly jumped from the ground.

“Ehhh!? Y-you really use that to reach the higher levels!?”

“Heh heh. This is our Human Cannon Catapult. A circus troupe that once visited the lower level originally used it to launch performers into the air. But with a bit of modification, it can launch us a lot farther.”

3025th Prince Geranud must have mistaken that for a compliment because he sounded somehow proud. It was one hell of an idea. Like a brute force solution to the problem.

Mamilis tilted her head.

“But, coach, I can see this launching us, but won’t we die when we land? I think we’d end up stuck in the ground.”

“We deal with that too,” replied 3025th Prince Geranud before Ayato could. “The capital has decorative flags and banners everywhere, so no one notices if we hang up a big cloth of our own. Of course, that means we can only launch people to a prearranged spot.”

“So you have a fixed landing point, huh?”

It was still a crude idea. This and the way they jumped from the red roof to the looping railroad bridge suggested the children had a bad habit of not treating their lives with sufficient care.

But as seen in the concept of dares and tests of courage, there is an age when people see that as a virtue.

(I’m not really one to talk when you look at what I did as the strongest Forward.)

“I see. This will indeed launch us to another level in less than a count of five. We shouldn’t have to worry about the Shade Swallows.”

“Why are you accepting this, Ayato!? You’re supposed to be the brains of the operation, so if you give the go-ahead, we’ll actually start doing it! L-look, Henrietta has the right idea! She’s completely petrified at how bad an idea this is!!”

Come to think of it, didn’t she require an official seal of approval to trust any kind of transportation? Ayato vaguely recalled her making a fuss when they were taking certain elevated shortcuts at the Academy Towers.

“But I really don’t think there’s another way to the other levels,” said 3025th Prince Geranud. “So what’ll it be? Wanna take a quick flight?”

Part 3

Despite the 10-year-old boy’s provocation, they couldn’t launch themselves right away because busty Miss Henrietta cried, shouted, and stomped her feet in protest. Her absurd strength was a real problem at times like this. As silly as it was, they had no choice but to persuade her and get her to cool down.

“She’s like a kid who doesn’t want to go to the dentist,” commented 3025th Prince Geranud, somewhat exasperated.

And so…

“Oh, right. I’m sure you’’ll need to know this eventually, so I’ll go ahead and tell you.”

“Yes?”

“If you’re going to the other levels, you’ll need different kinds of money. Even if you watch how you’re dressed and blend in perfectly, you’ll give yourself away the instant you use the wrong money and then they’ll call the guards on you.”

“And how do you earn that money?”

“Vulnerabilities. You know how the upper levels have lots of services done through the sorcery network, like bike deliveries? If you find a new vulnerability in one of those and report it, they pay you.”

“Eh? Are you saying you’re a Sorcery Hacker like Ayato?” asked Teleria in surprise, but 3025th Prince Geranud waved a hand to say no.

“Course not. People upload tons of photos with their eye and face data. You can do a lot by gathering those and using them for the payment processing stage on the official media summoners. There are vulnerabilities you can take advantage of even if you’re not clever enough for actual sorcery hacking.”

Mamilis nodded with interest and Henrietta held a hand to hear head and breathed a heavy sigh.

“You get more money with a serious vulnerability than a bunch of little ones. And they can’t exactly go public with these deals, so you can get the money from the box without ever meeting anyone in person.”

“I see. …That should prove very useful indeed.”

“The dangerous individual has that wicked smile again,” said Henrietta, but he ignored that.

As usual, the key was information, not power.

“You can wear the same clothes up to about the fifth level, but higher than that and you’ll need to dress nicer. Also, perfume is pretty important for blending in. Adjusting the mix of scents based on the time, place, and situation acts as a kind of code. An invisible form of ID, if you will.”

3025th Prince Geranud then supplied Ayato’s group with a home base. Whether it actually belonged to the children wasn’t clear, though.

After Geranud handed them the key and left with the other children…

“I see. This would make a good hideout for a fugitive.”

The rundown shack was made from a collection of rusty metal panels. It seemed to take all of Henrietta’s willpower to not hold her head in her hands.

Meanwhile…

“Wow, it’s like a secret base, coach.”

Mamilis’s eyes went wide. Despite her tall and slender appearance, she was a grandma’s girl at heart, so this may have excited her more than a gaudy luxury hotel or a mansion.

Ayato took a look around, but as rundown as the place was, it still had a bath, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It would make a decent place to say as long as they didn’t mind the drafts.

“Hmm, but there are only two bedrooms for the four of us, so we’ll have to split up two and two.”

“We will be splitting between boys and girls, dangerous individual!!!”

Henrietta may have decided his idea might actually happen if she didn’t protest, so she snapped back at him. A shame.

The living room even had a round media summoner, albeit a small one. Or maybe like in rural areas, the dearth of other entertainment meant people relied on network service even more.

Teleria checked over the kitchen.

“Oh, don’t grab any of the potatoes in that basket. The ones with eyes are obvious enough, but I have to check them over carefully to make sure none of the toxins have gotten inside them.”

“Ugh,” groaned Henrietta, stiffening, but this was quite a warm welcome for the bottom level. At the very least, the potatoes were recognizable. Ordinary could be a luxury. Ayato was glad they didn’t have to worry about some “beef” that was actually fat stuffed inside a dog corpse.

Mamilis puffed out her cheeks.

“Teleria got to the kitchen first again. I want to snack too.”

“I am not in here snacking.”

In order to confirm the functioning of the kitchen equipment, Teleria cooked a white chilled potato soup. It looked simple, but she has used chicken bones and quite a few herbs to get the seasoning right. Although those herbs appeared to be the weeds that grew from the cracks in the resin on the lower level. The soup also had plenty of vegetables, so a bowl of it would be quite nutritious.

It was a bit early for dinner, so it may have been more like a late lunch.

“Chilling it took some doing, but I thought something that soaked into you would feel better than a hot soup so soon after being out fighting.”

“Hee hee. This soup is good.”

Mamilis immediately stuck her spoon in her bowl with a huge grin on her face. Teleria smiled bitterly but didn’t stop her. The dark elf’s appreciation must have reached her directly. Teleria had a talent for making people happy with her cooking, but Mamilis appeared to have a talent for making people happy with how she ate their cooking.

“I wrote down the recipe. You can find all the ingredients here, so those children should be able to make it with some practice.”

Today, Teleria had increased her wife levels by 120% and was edging in on mom territories. Ayato couldn’t bear to wait a moment longer – he wanted to marry her right this instant.

And once they had eaten, it was time to get going.

They couldn’t stay away from that thing forever. The Human Cannon Catapult was the one and only way of moving between levels in the capital without leaving any record.

After locking the door to the hideout, they called over Geranud and the other children, and made their way to the roofless warehouse.

They at least needed to learn how to operate that thing.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…”

“Coach. I don’t think Henrietta will accept it until someone shows her it works.”

“Our Striker isn’t so bad in ‘scared rabbit’ mode, if you ask me.”

“Ayato, please stop recording a video.”

Oops, Teleria noticed.

Ayato slipped the crystal tarot cards back into his pocket.

Geranud (who was fairly taken aback by the sudden gift of a recipe) and the other children helped as Ayato adjusted a sandbag until it was roughly his own weight and placed it on one end of the seesaw as a test. Yanking on the giant lever would, in theory, release the stored energy of the arm-thick springs.

Bazoom!!!

With an explosive roar not like any mana-conducting silver springs Ayato had ever heard, the sandbag vanished into the sky. He could see it’s curving arc fall into one corner of the multilevel city.

“Oh, wow. It really flew. And the Shade Swallows didn’t react.”

“Coach. It moved so fast I couldn’t track it with my binoculars. I didn’t see where it landed.”

“I told you this was a terrible idea!!” tearfully shouted straitlaced Striker Henrietta.

Apparently someone would have to demonstrate for her. Just like Mamilis had suggested. So Ayato chose to go first.

He couldn’t send the girls until he was 100% confident it was safe.

3025th Prince Geranud grinned with his hands clasped behind his head.

“Really, it’s over before the count of five, so you don’t have time to be scared. But do be careful at the moment it launches you. It’s a pretty powerful shock. If you don’t grit your teeth ahead of time, you might bite your tongue. And be careful of your neck and hips so you don’t hurt them.”

“Got it. Begin.”

“Heh heh. You sound confident. Do you like heights too?”

Ayato had never really thought about it, but he at least wasn’t afraid of them.

He sat in the seesaw that resembled a giant spoon and leaned back. He fixed his head in place. After confirming Ayato had his teeth firmly clenched, 3025th Prince Geranud used both hands to operate the lever.

Boom.

Sure enough, there wasn’t even time for Ayato’s vision to settle on anything.

Then Ayato’s body was enveloped by something soft. It was a thick, waterproof cloth you might find as a yacht’s sail.

He really didn’t have time to feel fear.

He shook his head to make sure he hadn’t hurt himself and then saw something flying in from the distance.

“Ha ha ha! Miss Teleria, over here!!”

“Stop spreading your arms with that refreshingly wicked smile and get out of the way before I hit youuuuuuuu!!!”

She might complain, but people could not change direction once airborne. The short busty blonde crashed right into Ayato’s chest. Thank you, capital, for this dream come true.

The boy heard an unpleasantly raw noise come from inside him, but he didn’t care.

“Gfh!! Eh heh heh. I may have just broken a rib or two, but I regret nothing, Miss Teleria.”

“You have blood dripping from the corner of your smile. Here, I’ll use some recovery magic!”

“I’m not sure we have the time. Miss Mamilis will be flying in next.”

“M-move out of the way!!”

The two of them rolled aside while in each other’s arms to avoid the human artillery shell and Mamilis crashed into the thick waterproof cloth a beat later.

The dark elf looked a tad disappointed with her lonely landing.

She spoke to Ayato and Teleria who were lying in a shady patch of grass.

“No fair, Teleria.”

“Mamilis, you should really get out of the way. Henrietta is next and she’s wearing armor!!”

Once Henrietta was contained in the waterproof cloth, she was sprawled out and dizzy.

Apparently she really couldn’t stand transportation without the official seal of approval. The way she twitched was weirdly lewd, but Ayato knew teasing her would only make Teleria mad and make Mamilis glare at him icily.

There was a large wooden box near the landing point disguised as a decorative banner. Ayato checked inside and found another Human Cannon Catapult. So this point wasn’t just for landing. They could also launch themselves to a different level from here. Covering the trip back showed a real attention to detail.

(I see. You use this wire so the box will close after a time delay. That way its hidden after we leave.)

“Coach, where are we?”

“The second level. Remember the entrance to the capital at the end of the long bridge? This is on the same level.”

It was a touristy level, but it was actually quite low in the hierarchy. Mostly only merchants lived here, with the aristocrats and religious officials living on higher levels. Was the idea for the outsiders to enjoy themselves down below while only their money made it higher?

They couldn’t just stay at the inconspicuous landing site forever.

Before making their way to the top level, they needed to walk through other levels to see if they could blend in and identify any issues.

So they first walked to a nearby major street.

“Okay, let’s enjoy some capital sightseeing.”

Ayato’s group took a new look around.

They saw a well-maintained stone-paved street and buildings with colorful roofs. The combination looked something like a paint palette because each section had a defined size for its shops and residences. The occasional building was bigger, but those looked like someone had bought up two or three lots of land and expanded across all of them.

Ayato wanted money, so he used the public media summoners available just about everywhere.

He had heard they paid for reporting on new vulnerabilities.

“Let’s see. It would be faster to just take the cash out of the sorcery device myself.”

“Do you want me to arrest you in the act, dangerous individual?”

A young man rode up on a bicycle. He appeared to be delivering an order of fried chicken. Ordinarily, you would use the public media summoner to sign for the delivery and then insert your payment into the cash slot at the bottom of the snow-globe-like orb, but Ayato instead pulled out his linkage plug sword. He had increased his level with streetlights and sprinklers, so he stabbed it into the base of the media summoner. Then he could rewrite the amount of inserted money without actually inserting any.

(Level 8 should be enough for this.)

The bicycle delivery worker sighed in exasperation.

Ayato had a plan if the man got scared and tried to report this, but he seemed used to it.

“What, demonstrating a new vulnerability to report on? Well, I get paid either way. I don’t care where it comes from.”

“Sorry about having you ride all the way out her. We can split this.”

After sharing the fried chicken (which was apparently from a very popular restaurant) with the part-timer, a message arrived at the snow-globe-like media summoner. If they had tried to get out of paying him by saying that vulnerability was already known about, Ayato was planning to go for a more exciting type of attack, so he was a little disappointed. He memorized the displayed map and retrieved the decently thick stack of paper currency from the wooden box hidden below a bench. In the capital, even the government workers were fast.

“That should be enough for now. If I cleared out too many of the vulnerabilities, Geranud and the other kids would be out of a source of income.”

“If you knew bike deliveries were an option, why didn’t you choose to work up a sweat and earn some honest money, dangerous individual?”

“I wouldn’t receive my first paycheck until the end of the month. Are you willing to wait that long?”

The difference in remuneration between good and evil left Teleria (cutely) flustered, but something else was happening at the same time.

“Coach, someone gave me this pamphlet.”

The dark elf hid her long ears with a Mimic Option because she was afraid of humans, so it was unusual for her to act alone in a city like this. Maybe the true grandma’s girl had been influenced by the festive mood.

Mamilis unfolded the free pamphlet and Ayato took a look from her side.

“With so many first-time tourists, I doubt anyone will question it if we look lost, but we should probably start learning the names of places and landmarks. Miss Mamilis, this says that there is Labor and Blessings Street.”

“How am I supposed to remember that, coach? They should just name everything after food. Then I’d never forget it.”

He couldn’t deny she had a point.

The capital was said to have the greatest population density on the Static Continent, but unlike the bottom level, the flow of time here seemed more relaxed.

None of the people walking by were wearing noticeable weapons.

At most, they had a card-sized sorcery gun used for everyday tasks. They were pulling out their wallets at the food stands without any concern at all.

This was a clean district with guards on patrol and streetlights and security cameras installed at regular intervals.

In that sense, the feel of the place was very different from the bottom level.

Mamilis looked all around.

“Wow, so this is the actual capital.”

“Like I said, this is the second level, so it’s basically where the ordinary class lives. The inns for travelers are mostly here too, so it’s more tourism-based than commerce-based,” explained Ayato.

Henrietta looked uncertain.

All knights longed to see the capital, but she had already seen the disastrous state of the bottom level. She probably couldn’t rejoice like she wanted to. Being so earnest made things difficult for her.

“But this place isn’t the paradise I thought it would be.”

Nonhuman Mamilis gave a harsh and biting review.

And she was right.

A once a thousand combo-year festival was underway, but none of the people appeared to be cutting loose. They were all following the rules – or more accurately, monitoring each other’s behavior.

With such an obvious class system, it was possible to make a mistake that sent you plummeting down that ladder.

And while falling was easy, climbing back up probably wasn’t.

This miniature garden was comfortable and had eliminated all danger, but it also cut off all possibility and gave no thought to the creation of new trends or an explosion of culture. This place was safe, but the people were always watched from above, leaving no chance for advancement or getting rich quick. Here, people could easily calculate their lifetime earnings from their monthly salary. Once you started seeing it that way, the bright scenery suddenly lost its luster.

Although for Sorcery Hacker Ayato, this experience was far from new.

On the other hand, Henrietta viewed the food stands lining either side of the stone-paved street.

“If we were going to come here, maybe we shouldn’t have bothered gathering ingredients down on the bottom level. The same ingredients up here are probably safer to cook with.”

“The gaudy wrappings help disguise it, but everything sold at these stands is junk. I think the ingredients down on the bottom level were healthier and more nutritious than this. Because this is meant to celebrate a festival and those bottom level ingredients need to support people’s daily lives.”

Henrietta petrified at Teleria’s rapid rebuttal.

Although her real mistake was probably looking for a balanced diet at festival stands.

And 3025th Prince Geranud had been right.

If you paid attention, there were royals here on this lower level. The young man buying flowers at a stand was 10th Prince George and the woman gathering an audience of onlookers with her violin music was 15th Princess Tegilea. These VIPs were recognizable even without searching articles and photos on a media summoner article, yet they appeared to think they were going unnoticed.

Henrietta nodded in a thoughtful way.

“Hm, it is fascinating that the royals would want to blend in among the common people. Perhaps those are false identities they have adopted to covertly investigate some kind of wrongdoing.”

“Even if this is the capital, I doubt it’s anything that heroic. I mean, everyone can tell it’s them. They might be indulging in a romance across class lines, however.”

“Ohh, that’s amazing, coach.”

“It really is. Their partners could easily be a spy from another continent or a marriage scammer, so it’s a pretty risky thing politically speaking.”

The straitlaced Striker petrified again.

Of course, the princes and princesses had their special maids and swords of succession, so at least there was no chance of them being assassinated or abducted.

(Assuming, of course, they aren’t attacked by another of the princes or princesses.)

With princes and princesses on so many different levels, it would be hard to keep track of who was where during their “undercover” time. In addition to simple risk to their well-being, they could also use that to prepare some kind of illicit plot.

“…”

A laughing group of small children holding cotton candy passed by Ayato’s group.

For some reason, Henrietta suddenly ducked down and hid behind Mamilis’s back.

“S-Soldier Shadelose is here…”

“Who’s that, Henrietta?”

“One of my subordinates from the sky city. What is he doing here? Probably here for the Precession Festival, I suppose. But if he sees me with this dangerous individual, my reputation will never recover!”

But as peaceful as this city was, Queen Astaroth Revolver was planning something here.

Something related to the royal family problem.

She of all people would be able to obliterate this miniature garden which was stable but barren.

Part 4

Their practice run on the ordinary class level was complete.

Ayato’s group used the Human Cannon Catapult to reach the tenth and highest level.

Since this was his second time, Ayato knew what to expect.

“Where are we now?”

After landing in the waterproof cloth disguised as a banner, Ayato took a few quick looks around.

A giant bowl-like piece of land made from mana-conducting silver jutted out quite close by. It was about 50 esoule across. That had to be a landing port for a VIP airship.

The crest on the belly of the airship showed a sorcery book wrapped in ivy and two wings.

That did not belong to any aristocrat from this continent. It was from the Philosommelier Personal Empire, which ruled another continent. It was just one of the invited guests, so there had to be plenty of other powerful people here as well.

“I guess a once a thousand combo-year festival is going to have a distinguished guest list.”

“I wish I could see them all.”

Grandma’s girl Mamilis’s eyes shined with an innocent light. A scene out of a fairy tale was probably playing out in her mind.

Henrietta, who couldn’t get over everything that was happening, held her forehead like she had a headache.

“I can’t believe I’m accompanying a dangerous individual to the royal palace I’ve dreamed of since I was a girl…”

“It’s better than being taken there to be executed as part of a criminal group, right? Or would you prefer to have the ‘infallible and loved by god’ king turn his thumb down toward you, Miss Henrietta? Like this.”

“How do you even come up with these ideas!?”

The palace was used for trials related to incidents of kingdom-shaking importance. And it was up to the king alone to decide what qualified, so the definition was rather loose. Which meant if the throne did not go to someone intelligent, it would lead to a hellish world of decapitations as the king’s political enemies were purged for their defiance.

Just then, something flitted past Ayato.

It was a type of bee not found in the natural world. One made of black opal and delicate goldwork.

He blinked and it became a beautiful woman in a tattered maid uniform.

He felt no tension about being discovered in this off limits area.

Was that because she too had the scent of a fugitive?

“Ugh.”

The Sorcery Hacker frowned at the maid’s groan.

“Are you like Micha Angelos?”

“Oh, no! This isn’t the time for questions – we need to treat her!”

Teleria quickly drew her handguns and prepared some recovery magic, but Ayato held out a hand to stop her.

If she was like Micha or Angela, then she was a prototype humanoid weapon whose organs had been replaced with biological gems. Ordinary recovery magic might not work on her.

(They shouldn’t be so fragile that recovery magic would kill them, but I don’t want to risk having our good will end up delivering the finishing blow to an injured person.)

The maid didn’t seem aware that he was a Sorcery Hacker.

She clung to Ayato as if anyone would suit her needs as long as they were not the dangerous person she had in mind.

“I am Julielt Resurrection. You must tell King Guardeleo Bran Zorca Totalinus… Or the Royal Guards or another maid. Just tell someone in charge of palace security, as long as they don’t work for Prince Roberat.”

Why?

Why had she specifically made an exception of 9th Prince Roberat?

(Based on that crest, she’s probably the 9th prince’s maid.)

“I don’t fully believe you.”

“You don’t have to. Doubt me as much as you want as long as word reaches the king in the end. Anything is better than letting this information stop here.”

“Dangerous individual,” curtly called Henrietta.

The Striker’s eyes told him he could choose to believe her or not later on. For now he should let her say what she had to say.

“9th Prince…Roberat is…”

Perhaps the most natural continuation of that sentence would be “is in danger”.

But that wasn’t what she said.

“…is a threat.”

The maid sounded more ashamed than critical.

“Please, I beg of you. Find some way to stop the plot he has made with that devilish queen.”

That was all she got out.

The worn-down maid stopped speaking as her strength faded.

She used the very last of her reserves to return to her black opal and goldwork bee form. Perhaps she thought that would make it harder for any pursuers to find her.

“Coach.”

“Looks like she passed out. But we can’t launch her with that catapult in this state. For now, I’ll stick her in my pocket and have her escape from the top level along with us when we head back.”

They might not be able to visit the top level again, so they wanted to use this chance to its fullest.

At the same time, they couldn’t just leave an injured woman here.

Part 5

Ayato’s group had made it to the top level, but they were still outside the palace walls.

They needed to be inside.

“The Holy Palace, Fortress the Castle,” said Ayato.

The space surrounded by the walls was large enough to hold 5-10 soccer fields.

The pamphlets depicted it as a flat castle surrounded by four layers of wall, but that flat image was broken by the towers jutting up sharply here and there. There had to be at least 20 in all. This created a characteristic silhouette. However, it would be wrong to say it looked “like” something from a children’s storybook. The children’s authors across the continent had actually used this palace as a model for the pictures in their storybooks.

That was the Combined Royal Family’s residence.

It was a massive fortress with the strictest sorcery security on the continent.

Mamilis looked up into the distance.

“The king is looking down at us from the very tippy-top, isn’t he? Not that I know which tower he’s in.”

“No. While the spires stand out a lot, they are far too inconvenient for the king or other royals too live there. You have to climb steep stairways to get there and there isn’t much floor space.”

“So they live in a strange castle, but they all stay down in the boring flat part? What a waste.”

It worked much like living on your own for the first time. Even when you had a room of your own, you would naturally store things and stay in the more convenient locations. If climbing the stairs every single day was a pain, most people would remain on the flat surface level. Even after securing the top level of the city for themselves.

Anyway…

“Needless to say, we would be instantly detected if we tried to climb the wall. But we can’t exactly knock on the enormous front door either.”

“Um, then what do we do?” asked Teleria.

“A palace this size will have another smaller entrance. One that can be opened and closed without leaving a record. It’s unofficially known as the Tryst Gate because the bored royals use that back entrance to sneak out night after night. The Royal Guards and maids all know about it, so it’s mostly an open secret.”

“Yet another secret I didn’t want to know… But, dangerous individual, even if the guards have to turn a blind eye to that door, surely it will still be locked.”

Henrietta said this with a look down at the linkage plug sword on Ayato’s hip. A dubious look.

He knew what she was trying to say.

“Well, this is the royal palace’s security we’re talking about. It’s going to take a high level to break and ordinary sorcery hacking isn’t going to cut it.”

“It isn’t often you complain and give up on something, coach.”

“Oh, I haven’t given up. We just need to get help from someone who can unlock the door for us.”

Mamilis’s eyes widened at his response. Teleria held a hand to her forehead.

Ayato pictured two of his “acquaintances” in his head.

“Then again, that self-proclaimed prince of a bull can’t get into the palace and his maid Micha Angelos is, in a way, even more straitlaced than Miss Henrietta. She wouldn’t help us even if we bowed down to her.”

The special maids like Micha Angelos were meant to guard the swords of succession, so they had some level of authority over palace security. Help from her would have made this so much easier.

“Then what do we do, coach?”

“I see only one option left.”

Part 6

“…”

Maid Micha Angelos did not speak a word.

Angela Messenger, a young maid with silver ringlets, was clinging to the side of Ayato’s hip.

“Ah ha ha. The 5th Prince’s sword owed me big after what happened at Laguntreat. There really is nothing quite as useful as connections. Even with a big event happening, I doubt that traveler of a prince would stay cooped up in the cramped confines of the palace for long and his maid would of course accompany him. Then I only had to surreptitiously ask for her help to acquire a way of opening the palace door without alerting security and without having to sorcery hack any-”

“Oh, I see. Guards!”

“Let’s not be hasty!!” Ayato didn’t even have time for his complaint.

Micha Angelos snapped her fingers right as Ayato drew the linkage plug sword from his hip and distributed the crystal tarot cards into the air.

Angela Messenger was still glued to his hip, but she was only providing him some assistance while she had nothing better to do. Or to put it another way, she would only act when she thought it would be fun. He knew better than to expect her to battle Micha or an army of Royal Guards.

“Rachel Seraphim!! You circle around that way! You’re on the vanguard, so get a move on!!”

“Dammit, what a pain. Maybe I should just help the Sorcery Hackers this time…”

Ayato heard those voices while fleeing through the halls.

A moment later, the hallway was filled with figures made from balled-up steel wool and strange masks. Each of them was equal in strength to a soldier.

With enough numbers, they would be trouble.

“Printer soldiers!? The guards can produce as many as they like, so defeating them is only a waste of time!”

“We don’t want to end up in a battle at all when Micha Angelos and all her firepower are on the same field, Miss Teleria. Come this way if you don’t want to be shot full of holes!”

While guiding the others away from that danger, Ayato sensed they had the advantage.

This was the royal palace, so expensive artwork was on display everywhere you looked. At the very least, the guards wouldn’t be blasting amplified fire magic from a heavy machine sorcery gun or riding around on a giant dragon. His group had an advantage with the guards’ equipment restricted in that way.

Or so he thought.

He heard a sound. A heavy, dull one a lot like a pestle grinding inside a mortar.

Something lumbered around a hallway corner. The giant mana-conducting silver orb barely fit in the hallway. It towered over them…and it was an explosive.

Ayato groaned.

“Well, this I didn’t expect… They’re actually using indiscriminate self-destructing weapons!?”

The only option left was to jump outside from a 1st floor window.

This was a challenge without accurate plans of the building.

While fleeing, Ayato’s group used their momentum to jump out into the courtyard garden.

This was part of the royal palace on the top level. The people lounging in the garden and enjoying the scent of the flowers included plenty of royals, such as 8th Princess Anley. And they were all high up in the line of succession.

Ayato spotted something unusual in the palace garden hosting the ultimate tea party. Five small gravestones were lined up in one corner. They looked older than the palace walls, but he doubted those graves contained royals. The gravestones were crudely made. No professional craftsmen had worked on them. Then again, it was possible a royal had carved them by hand.

A deep metallic sound interrupted Ayato’s thoughts.

Countless alarms blared from the backs of the maids guarding the princes and princesses and just as many sorcery guns were aimed his way.

If those maids were like Micha Angelos, then entering their fan-shaped zone of fire would be suicidal.

Ayato clicked his tongue and altered the direction of his flight. For some reason, he wanted to avoid the gravestones.

“Fire.”

Several dull explosions followed.

He didn’t want to know how much tax money had been pumped into the large garden, one side of which was being reduced to a pile of rubble.

Seemingly pushed on by the gunfire, Ayato’s group ran full speed and dove through another window to reenter the palace.

Mamilis held her full-auto shotgun in both hands as she ran, so it kept throwing off her balance. That was common for rookies who had both hands taken up by their sorcery gun.

“Pant, gasp. Coach, I can’t keep this up. Pant.”

“Whoops.”

Ayato’s hand shot out to the side to tell the girls to be careful.

Something was moving around the hallway corner up ahead.

“Attention Emperor Milbert Compo Philosommelier. Just to be safe, I would like to invite you to visit our secure palace chapel.”

“Fortifying ourselves in this consul guest room seems safer to me than trying to move through the halls, but we cannot turn down your kind offer. This way please, emperor.”

(That’s not the usual routine for the Royal Guards. It sounds like a security team with a separate chain of command is working here.)

Ayato pulled out one of the crystal tarot cards and sent it around the hallway corner.

Some people were clustered together far down the hallway.

“Hey, Hemylina? Do I have to stay in this room the whole time? We traveled all the way across the ocean to visit the Static Continent. And this is their capital. I want to see the city myself.”

“You mustn’t, emperor. Did you think any assassins after your noble life would wear masks and attack with deadly blades or sorcery guns? The streets you walk, the sights you see, and the foods you eat must all be checked for safety in advance. A single teaspoon of a true assassin’s poison can kill a thousand. And it is entirely flavorless and scentless.”

“You’re being paranoid. Besides, how would you detect a poison like that?”

“I will eat some first to check, so you needn’t worry.”

(An emperor, huh?)

That single point of power was a rank not found on the Static Continent.

Here power was held by the Combined Royal Family, formed by different royal families working together and marrying together until they ruled the entire continent.

(In that case…)

Emperor Milbert looked like any other boy of around 10. The red cape, white tights, and crown made him look like he was playing the part in a play.

The outfit didn’t suit him at all. It also sounded like the Static Continent wasn’t the only place that posed threats to the powerful. What kind of succession conflicts did they have to deal with on their continent?

But more than that, Mamilis’s attention was instantly drawn to the tall woman standing by the emperor’s side. Hadn’t he referred to her as Hemylina?

She had long silver hair, a large chest, and brown skin.

And she didn’t even try to hide her pointed ears.

Her intellectual glasses appeared designed for use with her inhuman ears. She wore a blue leather outfit with a tight miniskirt and appeared to be the emperor’s aide. She had the air of someone who acted as both tutor and military strategist.

“(Coach, look.)”

“(Yeah.)”

Ayato shoved Mamilis back behind the corner and nodded while focusing on the foreign group.

“(She’s a dark elf.)”

And unlike Mamilis, she didn’t seem to be using any Mimic Options.

She was aide to the emperor who ruled an entire continent. She would be greatly involved in that land’s politics, both directly and indirectly. All demons were viewed as enemies on the Static Continent, but were things different on other continents?

The guards positioned around the little emperor were pointy-eared half elves.

A still-young human emperor was served by a dark elf who could set an entire empire in motion by providing advice as his aide. And their soldiers were a new form of life created by humans and elves working together…

This felt like a look at the Collaborative Continent’s Philosommelier Personal Empire in miniature.

“But on the other hand…” Ayato muttered to himself.

Their rules were noticeably different and they had enough power to prevent any protest even in the palace at the very center of this kingdom. Did power structures and social assumptions change that much between continents?

Ayato’s group was already being pursued by the elite Royal Guards, so he wasn’t delighted about the possibility of making enemies of these Collaborative Continent bodyguards whose basic strategies and movement patterns he couldn’t predict.

(Then again, the different chains of command and different top priorities could leave room for me to trip them up by feigning some errors in communication between them.)

If he were alone, he may have done that.

But those girls had accompanied him to this strictly-guarded area because they trusted him, so he would not make any gamble he wasn’t 100% sure he would win.

However, if they stayed here at this hallway corner, the Combined Royal Family’s Royal Guards would find them.

They needed somewhere to hide until their pursuers had passed through.

And this wonderful palace boasted all sorts of important facilities and equipment.

Ayato glanced over at a thick door made of oxidized mana-conducting silver.

“Yeah, it’s time we took a quick detour.”

“Do not use this national crisis as an excuse to commit unnecessary sorcery crimes, dangerous individual. Such as pilfering a noblewoman’s underwear.”

“I hadn’t thought of that!!”

“Do not give me that ‘thanks for the idea’ look, dangerous individual! Damn, does this mean I guided that bastard to this new possibility!?”

Anyway, that wasn’t the purpose of this detour.

He was interested in the server room where the Royal Guards used long, thin mana circuits to gather information.

Cautious of the footsteps thundering down the hallway, the Sorcery Hacker grinned at the giant equipment in front of him. This killed two birds with one stone.

“Now, then.”

“Ayato?”

Ayato spread his crystal tarot cards out in midair and poked them with his fingers to rearrange their positions.

A lot like a small child pulling a prank.

But he had already fully erased the record of Teleria’s arrest at the front gate.

“I knew we would be sneaking into the palace. Did you really think I wouldn’t provide this kind of support?”

“No comment. I will note that we have been doing nothing but run away.” Henrietta rubbed exhausted Mamilis’s back. “It doesn’t sound like messing with that server has turned up the 9th Prince’s supposed wrongdoing, so shouldn’t we consider this a failure, dangerous individual? He might be suspicious, but this place is strictly guarded. I doubt you will be able to arrange a meeting with him to investigate the matter.”

“What are you talking about? As long as I know the target, there’s plenty I can do. For example, I can approach his room from above the ceiling, hack a sorcery device I can use to record his conversations, and then leave the palace.”

“You always have some plot up your sleeve,” complained Henrietta, looking exasperated.

That was high praise for a Sorcery Hacker or scammer.

This meant he was interested in the space above. The four of them had to climb up above the ceiling.

“Okay, everyone, ladies first! Ah ha ha! Don’t worry about that short skirt! Feel free to use me as a footstool and climb on up! Wah hah hah!!”

“Once more word and I’ll knock you out with a punch to the gut and throw you up there.”

In the end, Ayato went first, demonstrating how to climb up using the console used to operate the server and the server itself, which was larger than a refrigerator. What a shame.

Once above the ceiling, the division between rooms vanished. There wasn’t much room overhead, but a dark space with no rooms or hallways stretched out in all directions. And since this was the royal palace, there were no mice or spiders in evidence. Although that wasn’t great news for him since that meant the place was periodically cleaned or inspected.

He heard footsteps from below, but he figured they would be safe up here for a while.

“Don’t get careless, Ayato. Some of the Royal Guards in the hallway were carrying a pair of L-shaped rods.”

“The ones used to detect the noise in the intangible mana mist?”

“If we’re wearing mana-conducting silver, our movements could stir up the air’s mana lines a little bit. There is a chance of their dowsing detecting us.”

Ayato was going to suggest they all strip down to solve that problem, but a preemptive glare from Teleria shut him up. Wasn’t it wonderful how they were on the same wavelength?

So this space was only safe for “a while”.

Something metal creaked.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Your Majesty!”

“King Guardeleo Bran Zorca Totalinus!!”

Up above the ceiling, Henrietta’s eyes widened when she saw the Royal Guards running over in a hurry.

The muscular old man of 60 or 70 had hair somewhere between silver and white plus a bushy beard. His luxurious clothing helped him look like someone who had stepped out of a children’s storybook.

That had to be the king himself.

But…

“A wheelchair?”

Ayato understood the reason for Henrietta’s groan. This had surprised him as well. This was the powerful king who formed the foundation of an entire continent. They had heard he had been ill and bedridden, but was he so weakened he couldn’t even stand under his own power?

They hadn’t even considered that possibility.

People believed the king’s sword and military might could easily repel any political foe or external threat.

This suggested that image was in large part propaganda.

“Nothing worth your concern, King Guardeleo. Please, this way. The hallways do not stay warm, so you will catch a chill. You should return to your room and its fireplace.”

Mamilis watched this in puzzlement from the ceiling.

“But, coach, the Combined Royal Family has thousands of people in the line of succession. Like Geranud we just met. If this old king keels over, won’t the next king just step in to take his place?”

“Shush,” cautioned Henrietta.

That must not have been a topic a knight who served the king wanted to hear spoken aloud even in jest.

(So what does happen if Guardeleo dies now?)

“It wouldn’t be that simple in reality.” Ayato breathed a heavy sigh in the same darkness as them. “For example, Miss Mamilis, do you know how many other continents there are?”

“?”

“There are three. And the average person has no idea where they are, how many there are, or what their names are. They think of their own Static Continent as the entirety of the world map and they might as well not even know the word ‘diplomacy’.”

Mamilis (a supposedly long-lived dark elf) nodded repeatedly to show her understanding. Henrietta’s look of mild exasperation suggested those in the knight class were given some political education.

“Guardeleo is a powerful, wise, and popular king. Even the other continents think so. The breadth of his knowledge has allowed him to handle all diplomatic relations on his own without causing any major issues, but it’s questionable if any of the princes or princesses have inherited that mentality. And if they haven’t, the old diplomatic issues could explode back into prominence as soon as one of them takes over. Which would probably mean armed conflict. For example, what if a prince or princess with a human-centric worldview criticized the Philosommelier Personal Empire for allowing humans and demons to coexist? Or what if they offered a handicraft made from demon leather or bones as a gift? In the worst case, they wouldn’t even understand why the empire was upset even as it develops into an actual war.”

Teleria’s face clouded over.

“The king did all that on his own?”

“Yes. He is, after all, the person who single-handedly defeated Earth Lord Terracockatrio Gargoy Rocksky of the Four Lords and bound a personal contract with him.”

Mamilis, a demon, wasn’t the only one dumbfounded by this.

Teleria and Henrietta knew all too well the weight carried by the term “Four Lords”.

“Even the other continents recognize the world-encompassing power of the Four Lords. They know a king who advocates friendly relations isn’t likely to use it in that way, but they must always be conscious of the possibility of it being used for military purposes. However, the Four Lords’ contract is only with the king as an individual. Once Guardeleo retires, the Four Lords will likely leave the Static Continent. Then the military balance of the four continents will collapse.”

The aging king could not be allowed outside where people would see him in a wheelchair.

The succession conflict wouldn’t officially begin until he was gone, but behind the scenes things were clearly strained between the princes and princesses.

Things might look peaceful, but the keyword there was “look”.

The princes and princesses couldn’t be the only ones sensing the tension in the air.

The voices of the butlers and Royal Guards standing at the hallway corners would carry quite well through the solemn and silent palace.

The elderly king was only overlooking it all as a kindness. Ordinarily, talking behind the Combined Royal Family’s backs would get you decapitated for disloyalty.

“Oh, if only the 1st Prince were here…”

“He’s still missing, right? I’ve heard rumors he might not even be alive. There is supposedly some minotaur using his name, though.”

Ayato sighed.

This explained why Micha Angelos had been in such a bad mood in the palace.

Of course, the minotaur himself would probably just laugh it off.

Guardeleo’s wheelchair was enough of a shock, but bugging him wouldn’t reveal Queen Astaroth Revolver’s plot.

Ayato had his own job to complete.

He drew the linkage plug sword from his hip.

“Okay, let’s get as close as we can to 9th Prince Roberat’s room can without making a noise. There should be plenty of sorcery devices I can use to gather information: the lights, the air conditioner…something.”

Part 7

Ayato had finished setting up the sorcery bug, but was there nothing else he could do?

Even with the Human Cannon Catapult, he doubted they could continue sneaking past the strict palace security like this. It especially hurt that their presence had been discovered. The security would probably be tightened up by the next time. He needed to do everything he could during this trip.

He held a hand to his thin chin up above the ceiling.

“I’d also like to find the event schedule for the Precession Festival. We should have a hard time getting back into the palace later, so I want to complete everything I can this time.”

“Hm? But, coach, they were handing out pamphlets with the festival schedule down on the second level.”

“The public version isn’t good enough. I want to know where security will be set up, where Guardeleo will be, and all possible escape routes if things go bad. A schedule on that level will be locked up by someone with the authority to handle national secrets.”

Henrietta sighed.

Her position in the knight class meant she was well aware how valuable that information would be. That would be completely different from a pamphlet anyone could read and then throw out. Knowing where someone would be made plotting to assassinate or abduct them much easier, so it basically placed their life in your hands. And this was the king of the Combined Royal Family.

At times like this, official agencies did not try to get tricky.

They only had to use the standard methods to search out the most likely candidate.

A sectary held a bag with the handle handcuffed to his wrist. He was frequently receiving word from several different butlers, but the whispered messages appeared to be about the materials for and adjustments to the budget for the Precession Festival.

Ayato’s group snuck along through the wide-open space above the ceiling.

“Is that it?”

“How do you plan to steal that, dangerous individual? You had better not be planning to cut off his hand.”

“I appreciate your very activate imagination as an expert in legal violence, but unfortunately I am not quite that criminal.”

The Striker tried to attack, forgetting all about hiding above the ceiling, so Teleria and Mamilis had to restrain her.

Ayato chose two weapons: the preexisting truth and the manipulation of messages being passed through the sorcery network using media summoners.

By stabbing his linkage plug sword into an amplifier located above the ceiling, he could have some fun. Doing so required a level of above 100, so he was glad he had built up his level in the server room earlier.

The Royal Guards below began to run about once the message reached them.

“A Sorcery Hacker!? A Sorcery Hacker has infiltrated the palace! Did you not see the emergency message!?”

“Eh? Oh. B-but I have all the paperwork right here.”

“No, read the emergency message sent out on broadcast. They swapped it out when you weren’t paying attention! You need to remove the handcuff and swap it for the real bag! I have it here!! We can’t have them cutting off your hand and defiling this holy palace with blood. We will guard you on the way to the secure sanctuary. Do not leave our side until the threat has passed. Let’s go!”

“Too easy.”

Ayato dropped down a claw on the end of a rope, caught the bag left in the deserted room, and pulled it on up.

“By the way, why is cutting off body parts the first solution that comes to mind for all you noble knights? Is that what you get with soldiers who make a living by killing? They say they want peace, but their thought processes are so barbaric.”

“Stop that, Ayato. Henrietta is biting her lip and trembling on the verge of tears.”

Ayato used the faint light of his crystal tarot cards to inspect the contents of the bag.

He found a stack of old-fashioned paper.

He had to laugh a little.

“Now, let’s check Guardeleo’s schedule for the Precession Festival.”

The mention of Guardeleo made Striker Henrietta a little hesitant to continue.

“Wait, those are national secrets. How can we spy on His Majesty’s schedule, dangerous individual? I-it isn’t right!!”

“You say that, but you keep glancing over in obvious interest. Besides, Queen Astaroth Revolver can slip past all of the royal security, so she’ll have seen this already. You don’t want anything to happen to the king, do you? Then we need to read this so we can stop her.”

The very fact that a sorcery criminal was viewing the king’s schedule – which could compromise his security – was enough to make Henrietta feel faint.

But after reading the festival plan, the Striker’s eyes truly widened.

“The king will be giving a speech in the middle of a public square? And at the climax, all the lights will be shut off to better see the stars in the night sky? That’s like asking someone to shoot him with a sorcery gun!”

“I wonder if a certain prince was involved in coming up with this security plan.”

“Coach. Can we get the event canceled by pointing out how dangerous it is?”

Mamilis had a point. That would be the usual course of action.

But Ayato rejected the idea.

“The Combined Royal Family isn’t stupid. They must be at least somewhat aware of the trouble brewing related to the succession issue. Including problems entirely separate from our sneaking into the capital and causing trouble in the palace.”

“Then why?”

“Guardeleo needs to show off that he is in perfect health – both to the local population and to the visitors from other continents. If they cancel the event at the last second, dangerous speculation will spread like wildfire. I mentioned before that the king handles all the diplomacy on his own, remember? That is something he will want to avoid at all costs.”

Henrietta scratched at her head with a hand.

Perhaps she wanted to curse herself for understanding the dilemmas faced by those in political positions.

Part 8

After that, they finally returned to their hideout on the bottom level.

“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

Mamilis hopped into the old sofa. Her expression said she found this place more comfortable than the fancy palace. And Ayato felt the same.

Teleria asked a question while lending a shoulder to a limp woman.

When in Ayato’s pocket, she had been a bee made of black opal and goldwork, but much to his surprise she had taken humanoid form as soon as they returned to the bottom level. And just as she became a beautiful maid, she had been taken from him.

“Um, Ayato. What about this maid? Julielt, I think it was?”

“Yes. Since Miss Mamilis is currently occupying the couch, you can go take her to my room and place her in the bed.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, dangerous individual!? Were you trying to get an injured and immobilized woman in your bed!?”

Tch, busted.

The maid was taken to the girls’ room instead. It saddened Ayato how full that room had become.

But he had his own work to do.

“Now. I wonder what is going on with the 9th Prince.”

“Ayato.”

The Sorcery Hacker sounded a little too amused, so Teleria cautioned him.

But nevertheless, the four of them ended up gathering around the living room media summoner.

While they had been pursued by the Royal Guards (on Micha Angelos’s heartless command), the bug in the palace had been gathering up every word spoken in the 9th Prince’s room. The data was carried here by lines of intangible mana mist, so now they could analyze it at their leisure.

“Ksh, ksshh.”

This was not a realtime feed.

Ayato was only calling up the vast quantity of recorded speech data.

“…the Proving Ceremony.”

That was 9th Prince Roberat’s voice.

And his words were unmistakable.

Succession to the throne required several processes.

Especially if Guardeleo were to die unexpectedly.

“What I need is persuasiveness. Anyone can see it will devolve into a battle of words where each prince and princess tries to prove how they could serve the kingdom. ‘I developed such-and-such a land to such-and-such an extent’, ‘I earned however much money running my manor’, and so on. If anyone can prove their worth especially well, they might have a chance at taking the throne over those above them in the line of succession. Even if they had to cheat a little to do so.”

“So he’s guilty,” groaned Henrietta with a hand on her brow.

“Hee hee. So being the top dog on the throne isn’t all fun and games.”

Ayato felt dizzy.

Because he recognized the female voice that responded to the prince.

That was Queen Astaroth Revolver.

She was Ayato’s past. She was like the crystallized form of the personal history he would prefer to forget.

She really was here.

He had finally caught her.

“…”

After taking a deep breath, the boy regained the thoughts that were his greatest weapon.

That prince wouldn’t want the Proving Ceremony to become an endless argument with no clear winner.

Every participant would be trying to win, so they would all be trying to tear down the other candidates’ arguments.

That was why their high-class argument had been made into a formal system and ceremony.

“And?”

“It’s all about timing. If something happens that forces the Proving Ceremony to begin before the others’ letters can reach the capital, then only I will be able to make a proper appeal. The others will of course protest – and fiercely at that – but without the documents they need to prove their accomplishments, they can do nothing to threaten my victory.”

So was it like an entrance exam?

Even if every single other person trying to get in was a genius, they would all end up with a score of 0 if none of them could submit their answer sheets. Then an average person could end up with the top score as long as they managed to get a passing grade.

“Oh? But why are they using paper letters? Their proof would arrive instantly if they transmitted it over the sorcery network.”

“You know why. These documents contain critical secrets, so old-fashioned methods are used to prevent Sorcery Hackers from intercepting and altering them.”

“Heh heh,” laughed Henrietta, looking smug.

Ayato wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want her being deceived by malicious actors, so he decided to comment.

“Even when carrying physical letters by hand, the central delivery management is reliant on sorcery devices. That leaves room for a Sorcery Hacker to intervene. Like having one particular letter sent to the wrong place, or swapping the letter for another.”

Henrietta petrified.

“Of course,” continued the prince in the recording. “The real reason is that so many people can’t seem to move on from the old ways.”

“I see. So the paper letters feel more historical and traditional☆”

9th Prince Roberat and Queen Astaroth Revolver didn’t seem too bothered by it.

They cared more about whether or not they could take advantage of the system than whether or not it made sense.

“So you’re assassinating the king to manipulate the timing of the ceremony. Now I see how your plan works, Prince Roberat.”

“I will do whatever it takes to to put an end to this irresponsible age in which humans and demons live side by side.”

Dark Elf Mamilis paled.

The foolish words of the powerful man continued.

“I will bring the capital’s beautiful and orderly class system to the rest of the continent. I will create a world in which we humans need never interact with those filthy demons. It is my responsibility to the people of our kingdom.”

That man was even dumber than they had thought if he was racing down the path of evil out of an invented responsibility no one had ever asked of him. Spreading bigotry out of a nonsensical feeling of duty could only be described as a nuisance of the highest order.

But with someone like that in the top position, it could distort history.

(Hm, so the world is facing a crisis so stupid it feels silly to even take it seriously.)

“But even if that is necessary for the world, isn’t this a little much?” asked the prince.

“If the king is assassinated, there is no covering it up. That won’t be as easy as abducting some wanderer deep in the woods and burying them. So it would be safest to provide a quick resolution.”

“Get to the point.”

“We frame 3rd Prince Hemmij. He is already a likely candidate for the throne, but he lost his armored train, children were put at risk while trying to repair it, and there was an attack by a Sorcery Hacker gang. Anyone could believe he holds a grudge against the king and the Combined Royal Family.”

She’s crafty, thought Ayato in astonishment.

Needless to say, 3rd Prince Hemmij would argue his innocence. Some might find the evidence against him suspiciously flawless. But what would they gain by defending him? If he returned to his position near the top of the line of succession, it would hurt the other candidates’ chances.

No matter how suspicious it looked, far too many princes and princesses would benefit from saying he did it.

Was the truth really so cheap?

Ayato had chosen to be a Sorcery Hacker so he didn’t need to devalue the truth in that way.

“Is this…really happening in the palace?”

Henrietta wobbled unsteadily on her feet.

Hearing a plot to commit regicide may have left her feeling faint.

Mamilis tilted her head.

“But, coach, Prince Roberat plainly states his intentions on this recording. Can’t you show the king this and get him arrested?”

“Nope. They would ask how we got the recording. We’re the Sorcery Hacker gang that snuck into the palace. And we spied on Guardeleo’s time schedule, a national secret that could be used to take his life. But if we submit this anonymously, they’ll suspect it’s all faked and refuse to take it seriously.”

“Gh,” groaned Henrietta, forgetting to raise her usual protest. “Also, the palace receives hundreds of thousands of letters and messages from tourists every single day. If we sent a message to the general mailbox with the recording attached, they might not even notice it.”

“I suspect faked photos sent as pranks in poor taste are especially common before big events like this. Even with a fairly shocking explanation, they might just ignore it.”

“Don’t forget that the 9th prince might decide to track us down if he catches wind of it,” said Ayato. “And he would use all of his authority to mobilize a ton of benevolent but ignorant guards and Royal Guards so he doesn’t have to dirty his own hands.”

In the end, they would have to deal with this themselves.

They were up against Queen Astaroth Revolver, who could strip away all of the Combined Royal Family’s security. They couldn’t rely on others to settle things with her.

And eventually, 9th Prince Roberat’s interest shifted in a new direction.

“A leaked model of the sword of succession management devices, hm?”

His voice sounded skeptical.

No, it was more that he had no real reason to believe her in the first place.

Just hearing it was enough to make Ayato’s heart ache.

“That means you abandoned your humanity long ago and achieved immortality. So why are you involving yourself in such worldly matters?”

“Hee hee. I have my reasons.”

“You expect me to accept that answer?”

In this, Queen Astaroth Revolver’s methods were much like a woman performing a striptease.

She intended to reveal it all by the end.

But she boosted her own value as far as possible by throwing out hints and waiting until the last moment.

“I was originally a technical person, if you can believe it. I was even involved in the founding of the Academy Towers. But even after the research required to acquire this body, there is something I still don’t have.”

This statement carried great meaning.

It meant Queen Astaroth Revolver hadn’t started out as a villain. Long ago, she had worked for the government. It wasn’t clear when she had betrayed them, though.

In the worst case, it was possible the humanoid sorcery devices were an idea originally created by the Queen.

“And the key to that thing is found in the Combined Royal Family?”

“Ah ha ha. I am only a leaked model, after all☆”

Official knowledge and techniques.

That was the treasure the sweet devil had left behind.

And she might even know how to use them more than the Combined Royal Family did.

“What are you after?”

“Nothing that will interfere with your ambitions☆”

“Hm,” groaned Ayato with a hand on his slender chin.

They now knew that 9th Prince Roberat planned to assassinate the king.

To usurp the throne.

That was as high-risk as things got, but the return if successful was astronomical.

But why was Queen Astaroth Revolver helping him?

Saying she killed for pleasure and didn’t need any other reason was the same as refusing to think about it.

She had to gain something from this.

(If Guardeleo is assassinated, we don’t know if the 9th prince will actually end up on the throne. If the other princes and princesses are sufficiently upset, it could turn into a civil war within the Combined Royal Family.)

Ayato thought in silence.

(The history of war is the history of weaponry. Is she planning to update and evolve her identity as a revolver once the weapons development arms race heats up across the continent?)

Part 9

They knew a lot more now.

Ayato stepped out through the front door and stretched while filling his lungs with fresh air.

He was taking a quick break.

Discussion was important, but taking time to organize the thoughts racing through his head was also necessary.

Getting a fresh start and changing his viewpoint helped shake loose any preconceptions or assumptions he might have.

Henrietta was raring to go after learning about a plot to assassinate the king, but acting rashly wasn’t going to help. It was best to look at this advance warning as giving them a chance to stop it.

(I can pursue her.)

Ayato quietly focused on that.

As a Sorcery Hacker, he could feel it was true.

(She isn’t vanishing into thin air this time. No matter how far ahead she is, I really feel like I’m catching up to her this time.)

Or so he thought.

“Hee hee. Hi, Ayato. My one and only master☆”

“!?”

He only sensed her presence after the fact.

It was like an overwhelmingly thick wall of sweet corruption.

Like a poison that killed with pleasure.

In one move, she tore down everything he had been building up to. It happened so easily.

His body took immediate action.

He sharply drew the linkage plug sword from his hip and spun around. At the same time, his footwork sent a kick toward his opponent’s leg.

This was the deadly technique of the Hexajinx.

All his muscles and bones cried out in protest.

But it still wasn’t enough.

First, the kick meant to stop her movements found only air. He felt a soft hand on the wrist holding the linkage plug and another on his side and then he found himself spinning unnaturally around.

He had been twisted around backwards.

Forcefully.

Still twisting his wrist upwards, Queen Astaroth Revolver leaned over his back and breathed a hot breath into his ear.

The devil nestled her face against the nape of his neck and whispered sweetly.

“You know a Sorcery Hacker shouldn’t even consider battling a powerful foe head on. That doesn’t even deserve to be called a plan.”

“Queen…”

“You can yell if you want. And then I will kill each those girls in turn as they come running. There are three of them now, right? Oh, but you’re also sheltering the 9th Prince’s maid as a guest, aren’t you? Or do you doubt my ability to carry out that threat?”

For once, Ayato’s rage was plain to see.

But he was a Sorcery Hacker who had sworn not to act only on emotion.

Queen Astaroth Revolver had likely seen right through the conflict within him.

Because she was his former partner.

“Why are you here?”

“Can’t we have some fun before getting down to business? We haven’t been alone together in so long.”

This was why she terrified him.

Logical thinking was not enough to follow her actions.

“If you can do all this on your own, why do you even need a contract with a human?”

“Oh? You of all people have to ask? I thought we understood each other on a most intimate level.”

Did she simply want to see someone brought to ruin?

Or was there some goal she couldn’t reach on her own?

Were there places she could more easily infiltrate with royal power?

“I don’t believe you can’t see the answer.”

The words slipping into his ears were relaxed, yet they were accompanied by a stabbing pain.

“We know each other too well for that. It might take you longer to arrive at the truth, but you know everything there is to know about me. Hee hee. So I will give you a chance to answer. Question: why do I work alongside humans?”

Her tone made it clear that something unpleasant would happen if he answered carelessly.

Would she twist his arm right off?

Or would she blast the hideout with a barrage of immense firepower?

But.

Why didn’t she just do it right away? Why would that hedonistic devil hesitate?

“Wait…”

“Yes?”

“Does it wear you down each time you use it? Despite how calm and collected you look as you overpower the world?”

A dull crunch burst from within him.

From his shoulder bone.

“!!!!”

“Correct.”

Ayato clenched his teeth and scrambled away from the devil woman now that she had released him.

This was the result of getting it right.

Which was exactly like the Queen Astaroth Revolver he knew.

The devil held a hand elegantly over her mouth as she laughed.

“My, my. Don’t look all bent out of shape over a little thing like a single destroyed joint. It makes me want to lick up each and every bead of sweat☆ You have a recovery magic user on your party, don’t you?”

“Yes, and thanks for the excuse to place myself in Miss Teleria’s care later on.”

“Hm, you’re no fun. I see you know how my taunting works.” She complained but showed no sign of losing her cool. “Wearing me down isn’t the whole story, but it is one of the main reasons I get help. I am, after all, a sorcery gun designed as a weapon. It’s a lot more convenient for me to sign deadly contracts as I travel from hand to hand.”

The deadly contract was actually meaningless.

She didn’t absorb the victim’s soul to retain her youth or anything like that.

…She probably just didn’t want to spend too long stuck with someone she didn’t get along with. So she used strict terms that ensured her partner would violate the contract and be killed in a very short time period. That way she could exist as a tool while also freely traveling the world without being bound to a single person.

Nevertheless, she yearned for Ayato, likely the only person to ever survive.

She sought the boy who had once been the strongest Forward.

Just like she had approached him here when he was supposedly pursuing her.

That contradictory and impulsive nature was just like her. If she had instead been advancing a master plan based solely on logic, he could have easily stopped it all by blocking the path of just one of the many lined up dominoes.

“Also, you are correct.”

“?”

“About 9th Prince Roberat usurping the throne by assassinating the king. Well done☆ To reward my cute Ayato for working out that answer, I thought I would give you the prize of ‘certainty’. See, doesn’t that make this easier? Isn’t that great, my widdle baby Ayato?♪”

The bewitching blonde made a silent clapping gesture. Just like a mother praising her baby for standing up for the first time.”

The mastermind gained nothing from revealing her plan like this.

She was only doing it for the fun of it.

Ayato pushed past the pain and moved his linkage plug sword from his broken arm to the unharmed left one.

“Is this a game to you?”

“Of course it is. All of this has always been one big game for the two of us.”

She really meant it.

Then she chuckled and exploded with delight.

“The one and only thing capable of influencing me in this world is love. So I must academically analyze my love of you so I can finally gain full control over it. Only then can I unify all things in the world through knowledge.”

It all sounded like a joke.

But for the Queen, that probably was the world’s final mystery.

“The two of us are the only things that exist. All else is no more than an illusion. Ayato, I will allow you your infidelities. Because love burns all the hotter the more obstacles stand in its way. So let your eyes wander! Go into heat like a dog and build up a ridiculous harem with that solemn look on your face!! The more samples I have to learn about love, the better. Isn’t that right, Ayato?”

“Queen!!”

“Now for the right leg.”

The dull crunching sound burst from his ankle this time.

He flipped over, rolled along the filthy ground, and found he couldn’t get back up on his feet. It had taken all his efforts to avoid stabbing himself in the gut with his own sword.

For that blonde devil, even dealing with Ayato of all people was like child’s play.

After robbing the Sorcery Hacker of his mobility with a single strike from her heel, the Queen gave him a troubled smile.

“Look, with all that screaming, the others in that ramshackle hut are starting to notice. Hmph, that means I have to leave for tonight. It wouldn’t be any fun if they triggered a penalty and I had to wipe out your harem already. So out of respect for you, I will avoid the mass murder route just this once. But do make sure to make it up to me later. Hee hee. Don’t worry about the price. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Oh, my heart is already throbbing at the thought of you wracking your brains to find something that will delight me☆”

“…Damn you…”

“You have no choice but to accept me.”

Queen Astaroth Revolver didn’t hesitate to turn around.

She left her back entirely defenseless in front of the enemy trying to take her life.

“Whatever the result of my love analysis, you can never escape me, much less defeat me. Hee hee. But you won’t accept that until you give it your all and still fail, will you? That is why I am willing to accept your detours and your humiliating defeats. So go challenge that mountain and fail. And once you give up, come accept your fate as my toy. Hee hee hee!!”

He was helpless.

This made it all too clear that he wasn’t the one who had created the legend he had once embodied.

Part 10

Despite what Queen Astaroth Revolver had said, not even Teleria’s recovery magic could set and heal broken bones instantly.

“Isn’t claiming you slipped and fell from a ladder a bit of a cliché excuse for getting into a fight and losing badly, Ayato?”

“Never again will I doubt the power of karmic retribution. I really shouldn’t have tried to peep on the women’s bath.”

“You have lipstick on your neck, you know? Who was it who kissed you? Hmph!!”

“Gyahhh!!”

His crying and shouting did not move Mamilis or Henrietta to come to his aid. They only glared. Maid Julielt Resurrection did at least have her hands wandering the air worriedly.

“U-um. I owe Sir Sorcery Hacker my life, so please leave him be. If you must whip someone to quell your anger, then I offer up my body to do with as you please.”

“Don’t spoil him, maid!! He easily could have lost his life back there, so we can’t have him making a habit of it! …Honestly, this is completely different type of royal maid. And why does she have to say it in such an indecent way!!?”

But this meant Ayato was immobilized even when morning arrived.

The Precession Festival would begin at nightfall.

If they were to stop the assassination of the king, their top priority had to be letting him rest so he could recover by then.

The media summoner contained nothing but the Precession Festival today.

Unless he narrowed down the results himself, the randomly displayed news articles and videos were all about the big event.

“It is now noon. Today is finally the day of the long-awaited Precession Festival! If you aren’t a local, you’ll need a ticket to get in, so I hope you have yours ready. This star festival happens only once a thousand combo-years, so it’s sure to be a huge celebration. Our channel will be there for all of you who hope to watch from home, but we will also be holding high-definition live viewings in regional centers for people to gather and celebrate together.”

“Precession is the process by which the North Star takes up a new position in the sky and I can’t help but wonder how our own lives will change in the new age. To help answer that question, we have invited on a teacher from the Academy Towers who is an expert in the relationship between the global environment and sorcery technology.”

“Today will be sunny! Let’s see, but there will be some scattered cloud cover starting in the evening. I know we all hope it will be clear for the Precession Festival, so let’s see if those pesky clouds will hear our prayers. Also, the mana-conducting silver smoke in the sky above the capital could cause some interference in the intangible mist mana lines, so there is a concern of problems with transmission speeds.”

Ayato waited in bed like that.

“Ugh.”

Bored, he began some sorcery experimentation.

Self-maintenance was a unique form of maintenance used by Sorcery Hackers, but he had a bad habit of dragging nearby people into his blanket while doing it.

Today’s victim was the royal maid who had arrived with a new water pitcher.

“Oh… B-but if I can repay my debt like this and it is necessary to protect the Combined Royal Family, then I am willing to offer up my body to him.”

Maid Julielt Resurrection showed almost no resistance and sounded almost pleased as she was dragged into the vortex on the bed, but sensible Teleria quickly extracted the curvy victim from the blanket.

“You are supposed to be letting my magic rapidly knit your broken bones, Ayato, so why are you still indulging in this perversion!?”

And so he ended up receiving a few slaps during the healing process.

Eventually, night fell.

He couldn’t wait any longer. He left the bed and got dressed while testing out his shoulder and ankle. When he left the bedroom and entered the living room, he found Teleria carrying a plate of baked goods. …The lazy Sorcery Hacker had a feeling she was the one spoiling him more than anyone, but he wasn’t going to refuse the food. And if he was being paid up front with homemade cookies from his adorable wife, he felt ready to save the entire world.

“Oh, Ayato. You’re up already?”

“I’m fine now. As always, your skill is second to none.”

The two of them found Mamilis and Henrietta and then left the hideout. Maid Julielt Resurrection stayed behind. 9th Prince Roberat knew her too well, so the enemy could easily recognize her if she were hiding among the festival crowds while attempting to stop the prince’s assassination attempt.

They gathered in the roofless former warehouse and used the Human Cannon Catapult to reach the second level.

It was night this time, but the place felt drastically different from before.

They were met by a flood of light and noise.

More than that, the streets were packed full of people, people, and more people.

“Guardeleo is waiting in the central square,” said Ayato as he took a look around. “All of the streets around here gather there. The VIPs of the other continents will each parade down one of the major streets before arriving at the central square. That means the biggest risk is the central square, not the parade.”

“D-during his Precession Festival speech, the lights will all shut off, right?” asked Teleria. “So everyone can see the stars in the sky.”

“An attack then could come from any direction.”

The parade routes were blocked off, but the paths on either side were packed full of people. Even though the festival hadn’t even started yet. The festival stands set up to profit off of all the tourists were being half-crushed by the waves of people.

“Th-this is incredible, coach. There are so many people.”

“We’re short on time. First, we need follow the course of the event and check where people will be looking.”

The crowds were enormous.

Ordinarily, people were divided between the levels by class, but now the people of nearly every level were gathered on this one. More specifically, the people of the higher levels had descended here.

That would be why they didn’t hold Guardeleo’s event on the top level.

Some of the bottom level children could be glimpsed here and there, but that probably meant 3025th Prince Geranud had used their Human Cannon Catapult to sneak them in.

“What do you think, Miss Henrietta?”

“I think we can assume the attack will be during the parade. Killing the king in the secure palace would be like advertising that one of the royal family did it and he must rarely leave the palace in his current state. So this would be the only opportunity.”

“Agreed. And we know the 9th Prince has a concrete plan to assassinate the king at this event, but sending a knife-wielding assassin at him isn’t going to work. From where do you think a pro would target Guardeleo?”

“The very idea makes my head hurt… Security is at its highest today, so trying to approach the king now would be foolish. The standard plan would be a sniper shot from a distance, but a bomb set up in advance could also work?”

“You don’t sound certain.”

“That’s for sure,” spat Henrietta.

She was watching a Royal Guard standing a short distance away.

“Their basic equipment includes massive anti-dragon rifles and battle rifles capable of functioning as sniper rifles, right? That means they should be familiar with sniping tactics. They would make sure to watch any good sniping points when they set up their security perimeter.”

“And the same for bombs, right? They’ll have used dogs and sorcery devices to check over everything several times over. I doubt anything set up and then left for days on end would go unnoticed until today.”

But then what were they going to do?

The assassination attempt was confirmed. What Queen Astaroth Revolver really wanted out of it was unknown, but she was at least assisting 9th Prince Roberat. Yes, this was the prince’s idea. There was no excusing him.

There were princes and princesses mixed in with the crowds alongside the street. 18th Prince Thocimas was innocently waving to a visiting dancer performing on the street. 39th Princess Ekalitena was sipping at a cold drink. Those would be the ones lower down the line of succession who didn’t have the military or financial strength to overthrow those above them. But an inability to win through the ordinary methods did not mean they wouldn’t gamble on an assassination or attack, so Ayato made sure to keep an eye on them.

Some kind of film crew was busily reading off a script.

“Let’s see. The Precession Festival’s opening parade will be starting soon. The Royal Guard has informed us in the press that we must restrict our light usage. But not to worry – our cutting-edge night-vision crystal devices can still deliver every last second of the Precession Festival’s starry sky to your homes!”

Think, Ayato told himself.

At the very least, thoughts weren’t enough to kill someone. Queen Astaroth Revolver might have use of 9th Prince Roberat’s political power, but she would still need to take some concrete action to assassinate the king.

Part 11

A fountain was illuminated by the bright starlight while fireworks blossomed in the distance.

“…”

“…”

They were waiting for the parade to start.

To consider the issue from every angle, he needed more than surface level knowledge. Ideally, they would catch the attacker before Guardeleo began his speech, but that was unlikely at this point. Henrietta was running around the central square and Mamilis was with her.

So for now they could only wait.

Ayato and Teleria stood shoulder-to-shoulder, viewing the bright night scene.

They hadn’t had a quiet moment like this in a while.

Mamilis and Henrietta were not with them. They truly had this moment all to themselves.

“Ayato.”

Maybe they shouldn’t be doing this here.

A plot was afoot to assassinate the king.

That was about as bad as it could get. So maybe they should have been focusing exclusively on preventing the attack and catching those responsible.

But…

“…I have a secret.”

“Yeah.”

She couldn’t put it off any longer.

Ayato had burst in on her in the bath at the sky city, but he wouldn’t remember that.

She had been threatened with her secret back at Laguntreat, but she thought she had just barely managed to keep it hidden.

But it had caused real harm at the Academy Towers.

This wasn’t about her. Ayato had blatantly turned away from the optimal and most efficient choice, exposing himself to an unnecessary amount of harm, and he had fought the student council president over Teleria’s secret.

It wasn’t that staying silent would protect their relationship in the current situation.

She could no longer deny that her secret was harming him.

Taking this step scared her.

But if she didn’t do it, she knew the two of them could never move on.

“It’s a terribly big secret. But I want you to know it. I’m ready to say that now.”

The girl’s moonlit silhouette changed.

Or really, the part below her hips did.

“I want you to see this.”

She quietly revealed her secret.

This might mean the end of their journey together. It was a massive bombshell.

And faced with it, Ayato gave a plain response.

“Wait, that was supposed to be a secret?”

His head was cocked to the side. His face said, “is that all?”

Teleria forgot how to speak.

“Eh? Eh, ehhh!?”

“I mean…hm, how to put this? That’s really the secret you’ve been keeping for so long? Your middle name is Nereid. It was kind of obvious you weren’t just an ordinary person.”

The air seemed to solidify.

Time had frozen within Teleria Nereid Aquamarine.

“When you came to me with that grave expression, I was ready for you to confess you’d set fire to the royal museum full of priceless historical artifacts or something. Of course, I would’ve laughed and accepted that if you’d done it. Whew, you got me all worked up over nothing. That doesn’t even qualify as a secret. It was at best sexily hidden by a sheer veil. Hm? What’s the matter, Miss Teleria? Why are you hanging your head?”

The girl was trembling.

And…

“Gwahhhhhh!! What the hellllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!?”

She slapped him on the cheek.

Using the full strength of her mermaid tail fin.

Ayato was knocked to the ground and she prepared to make another attack, but it must have slipped her mind that her lower half was currently a fish tail. She pitched forward with both hands clenched into fists, falling right on top of him.

Ayato pulled her into a hug.

He did not reject her.

“…Honestly.”

Teleria gently pressed her forehead against his chest.

Her secret had melted away into nothing.

Just like sea foam on the beach.

Part 12

The beat of drums taller than their drummer acted as a signal.

Time began to move.

At last.

Henrietta parted the crowd and met up with the rest of the group before whispering.

“Dangerous individual! Did you manage to figure out the attacker’s method?”

“I am afraid not, Miss Henrietta!”

“Very well. Not even you are a fortune teller. I don’t expect you to have an answer 100% of the-”

“I was too busy flirting in the shadows! With Miss Teleria here who you will notice is blushing, hanging her head, and refusing to let go of my hand!!”

“This is a national crisis!! Maybe I really should kill you!!”

Several blasts of wind instruments joined together.

Closest to Ayato’s group, a line of lights formed along Labor and Blessings Street.

That was the parade. Lit up by fireworks, the different routes slowly approached the central square. Each one carried the peak of another continent, be it an emperor or a pope.

Atop a float protected by many guards, the 10-year-old emperor, who looked out of place in his crown, looked to the crowds with eyes asparkle. His red cape and white tights made him look like part of a stage play and his name was apparently Milbert.

“Wow. Look at all this, Hemylina. The Static Continent’s technology really is advanced.”

“Yes. And your generosity to let them take the central role shall be spoken of both here and across the world.”

Their float was on its way to the central square where all the streets gathered.

The Combined Royal Family’s king was waiting there.

“Coach, I recognize her. That’s Princess Carrisy.”

“Kh.”

14th Princess Carrisy.

That military princess was part of the Combined Royal Family yet defended the city and palace as a Royal Guard. She had threatened Ayato, saying she wouldn’t overlook him a second time, but would she trust him about the assassination attempt and the succession conflict?

Looking honest was no guarantee in the world of sorcery hacking.

(More than that, people of that sort are most frightening when they are unwittingly assisting an evil act out of pure good will. Because honest people are terrible at detecting lies. She’s a threat of the same sort as Miss Henrietta.)

“Are your thoughts in a wicked place, dangerous individual? Something related to my honor, perhaps?”

As the lines of light gathered on the central square, the crowds slowly shifted in that direction. The already oppressive density of people was packed ever tighter.

“Ayato.”

“It’ll be fine. Just stick with me, Miss Teleria.”

Time wasn’t going to wait.

Ayato’s broken right shoulder and ankle were causing him trouble. Queen Astaroth Revolver appeared to have only been playing around, but it had created a slight lag that just might make all the difference.

How much of it was calculated and how much of it was just for fun?

The Properod Divine Water Nation, the Mardhazath Banking State, and the Philosommelier Personal Empire.

Just as the VIPs from the other three continents had arrived in the central square, complete silence fell.

The previous light-filled city seemed to have vanished entirely. On one command from Guardeleo, all lights had been extinguished, wrapping all in thick darkness.

Ayato’s group knew about the assassination plot, so their hearts were squeezed by extreme tension.

It was finally happening.

They heard Guardeleo Bran Zorca Totalinus’s deep, solemn voice.

“Thank you all for coming.”

That was enough for the mood to shift. Something in his voice revealed who controlled this vast continent.

The Philosommelier Personal Empire, which had recently unified their continent, viewed Guardeleo in a different way from the other two VIPs.

The nations that were still involved in various skirmishes had a significant quantity of envy in their eyes.

“Today we celebrate the once a thousand combo-year event in which the North Star settles into a new position. I am especially grateful for our friends visiting from the other continents. I hope that we can share in this joyous occasion together.”

Guardeleo spread his arms and raised his eyes to the stars adorning the sky.

The simple act of standing had to be difficult for him. It was possible a cane or some other support was hidden behind the stage where the audience couldn’t see it.

It was all calculated, but he exuded a reassurance that mere calculation could not provide.

“A new era begins tonight. I must express my heartfelt appreciation to you all for allowing us to reach this day. Because now I know I can fulfill my final duty as king.”

A subdued stir ran through the crowd.

Less from this being unexpected and more from surprise that he was addressing it so directly.

But perhaps it was a sign of true strength that he could be so forthright about it.

Someone who could speak the honest truth while turning that to their favor was untouchable.

At the very least, that was a feat beyond Ayato who instead disguised his identity and slipped past security. He had abandoned the side of himself that could live an open, honest life.

“Now, everyone, if you will join me in prayer. Let us pray that the brightly shining star may reach its new position and guide us into a new age. I would like to pray for my family, my people, my friends, and for those buried in the five graves.”

And…

(There are probably powerful people who fear that sort of strength.)

A light flashed directly above the aging king.

The object that dropped down from the night sky was a Shade Swallow – one of the flying sorcery devices meant to guard the capital. This action blatantly diverged from its usual patrol routine as part of a group.

The Royal Guards were slow to react, probably because it was technically a friendly machine.

(They sorcery hacked an unmanned weapon. They chose to attack with my specialty!?)

“Miss Henrietta!”

“Leave it to me, dangerous individual!! I am unworthy of the Striker title if I cannot defend His Majesty here!!”

Orange sparks exploded.

The gale was so powerful it took a second to even notice she had jumped onto the stage.

With a twist of her bolt-action carbine, she swept away the Shade Swallow as it dropped like a lightning bolt. It was like a flying guillotine. If an ordinary person had noticed it and tried to stop it, they would have had their arm broken along with their sorcery gun, but Henrietta was not ordinary.

However, a chill crawled along Ayato’s spine.

They had easily stopped it.

Was that all?

Would the Queen Astaroth Revolver really set up such a sloppy plan?

In a move very unlike a Sorcery Hacker, Ayato relied on his instincts rather than his reason as he raised his voice.

“Don’t relax yet!! This isn’t over!!”

An explosion of light followed.

He recognized the white light. That overly brutal revolver flash symbolized the blonde devil.

The Royal Guards equipped with anti-dragon rifles were supposedly watching over every possible sniper point.

And they were.

Of all things, that devil had sliced through bell towers and metal towers by crashing Shade Sparrows into them in order to create a brand new line of fire.

The merciless flash of light surged from an angle that would have looked impossible when simply viewing the map.

And this flash produced destructive power possibly exceeding that of the official swords of succession.

It all came down to the deafening revolver gunshot and muzzle flash.

“Tch!!”

While all else froze in place, Ayato and Henrietta rushed toward Guardeleo.

They tackled him down and bodily covered him.

Something exploded.

Was the sharp sensation that grazed Ayato’s ear a metal fragment from some component of the stage? It wouldn’t be alone. A sandstorm of shards had likely scattered in all directions.

Nevertheless, he clenched his teeth and endured.

He had to count higher than ten in his head before the afterimage vanished from his retinas.

And finally…

“The king is alive.”

A female Royal Guard approached the elderly king and lent him her shoulder.

Was that 14th Princess Carrisy?

“I repeat, King Guardeleo is alive! Our king is safe!! I will be borrowing four teams! Secure us an escape route!!”

Was it her pride as a guard that kept her from referring to him as “father”?

The Queen did not fire a second shot. She may have concluded it would do no good at this point.

They had prevented the worst…it seemed.

With Guardeleo still alive, Queen Astaroth Revolver’s assassination plot had ended in failure.

(Why did she miss? Is the devil’s revolver really so weak a human or two lying on top of him is enough?)

But…

“Ugh.”

Even Ayato initially flinched.

Guardeleo, who needed to escape as soon as possible, ordered the Royal Guards to stop so he could get a better look at something.

At the color red.

But to reiterate, the king was safe. Because Ayato and Henrietta had rushed in and guarded him.

Then where had all this splattered red come from?

“Emperor!!” yelled the bespectacled dark elf aide, running over.

The 10-year-old boy had slumped over.

He may have been even younger than 3025th Prince Geranud, but his chest was stained red.

A stray shot had hit him.

Or more likely, a sharp fragment propelled by the white explosion.

(She…didn’t miss?)

Everyone was dumbfounded. Not even Sorcery Hacker Ayato had expected this.

(She hit her actual target after all!!)

And Queen Astaroth Revolver had been created with Combined Royal Family technology. That meant the deadly bullet belonged to this kingdom. The king and the rest could insist she was an illegitimately leaked model, but they would still be blamed for failing to secure their data.

So the official facts would be as follows: The leader of the Collaborative Continent’s Philosommelier Personal Empire had been shot by a Combined Royal Family sorcery gun.

(Queen…)

“Is this your kingdom’s idea of hospitality?”

The dark elf aide bared her teeth as if threatening the entire world.

Quietly but heavily.

Her blue leather outfit with the tight miniskirt was slick with blood as she propped up the little emperor and glared with hatred in her eyes.

(Uh, oh.)

That glare was directed at just one person: aging King Guardeleo.

Even Ayato gulped at this.

(The king effectively handles all intercontinental diplomatic policy. So if the rest of the world loses their trust in him, they will reject our kingdom and continent along with him. Even if the kingdom sends out diplomats and ambassadors now, the dark elves won’t be interested in listening. They will shut down all diplomacy!)

“Your king has not a scratch on him thanks to your many guards, yet you neglected our emperor and he was struck by a bullet. …Do you find this acceptable? How can we let this stand?”

If she were to view this rationally, she would likely conclude the response had been justified.

Of course this kingdom’s guards and Royal Guards would protect their own king.

Of course no one had predicted the deadly shot was intended for the emperor rather than Guardeleo.

Of course they hadn’t wanted this tragedy.

But.

Who can remain rational when a loved one is bleeding out in their arms?

“The emperor is only here on your invitation…and this is the result. That alone is enough to see your true intentions here. Our empire and our continent are no more than more lands for you to exploit.”

(This isn’t a conflict limited to a single kingdom or continent. Was this what you were after, Queen Astaroth Revolver!?)

A cacophony of clattering metal followed.

The Collaborative Continent’s half-elf bodyguards all drew their swords or sorcery guns to cover for their wounded emperor Milbert and his aide.

Probably without even thinking, the Royal Guards responded by raising their own sorcery guns. 14th Princess Carrisy grimaced.

She must have realized what this meant.

Two continents that had been on friendly terms until today were now aiming so many weapons at each other.

And this acted as a picture of the world in miniature.

Her cheek stained with blood and her clothes soaked, the bespectacled dark elf gave a roar.

With righteous tears spilling from her eyes.

“Our continent’s leader has been felled in a deadly attack!! We demand the blood of your continent’s leader in return!! Guardeleo, you may be the greatest person on your continent, but do not assume your self-serving rank earns you anything in a conflict between continents!!!”

Option 02: Queen Astaroth Revolver’s Memory Data

He couldn’t return to the palace.

But he also couldn’t stay in the capital where the Royal Guards and the ordinary guards were being sent out on emergency patrols.

He was 9th Prince Roberat.

He was hidden on the eighth level, home to the wealthy near the top of the capital. He was inside a small temple he had purchased using a false identity as a priest. Buildings with a purpose were much less likely to be searched during an emergency.

He had prepared it as a precaution. He would have preferred to never use it, but now he was meeting with his accomplice there.

He couldn’t say the attack had been a failure.

If anything, it had been too successful.

“What happened? You never said anything about taking it this far!!”

“Oh, dear.”

When she finally arrived, 9th Prince Roberat chewed her out in the darkness, but Queen Astaroth Revolver was already viewing him with disappointment.

“Prince. Wasn’t your goal to be chosen the next king of the Combined Royal Family? That was never happening using the normal methods, so you wanted to stir things up as much as possible before the succession selection was made.”

“Yes…”

“Then I gave you what you wanted. The assassination of Guardeleo failed, but they won’t even be able to hold that silly little Proving Ceremony now. They are looking at a war between continents. The commander who makes a name for himself protecting the Static Continent, or the great man who takes as much enemy territory as possible, seems like the kind of person the people will support as their next king, don’t you think?”

“Yes!! But things change if there is all-out war between continents. My desire was to spread the capital’s class system across the continent and create a world where human need never interact with demon! What good is being king if the enemy reaches the palace or if the entire kingdom or continent falls!?”

“I don’t see what good complaining does when the pieces are already in place on the board. Look, look. I forged some documents showing that the plan to assassinate the Collaborative Continent’s emperor was long in the making and the next step is to take an entire new continent for the kingdom☆ So if you could place your hand on that media summoner for me, I can throw some oil onto this fire.”

What if a forged document with a prince’s signature were “leaked” from property bought under a false name?

That went without saying.

She had never been interested in bringing victory to the prince.

“Our contract ends here,” succinctly stated 9th Prince Roberat.

He must have decided that was insufficient because he reluctantly added more.

“I will tie a rope around your neck and drag you to the king. I will send ripples through the succession conflict revealing myself to be the wise man who prevented an intercontinental war at the very last moment!! Listen, no one will join you in your games. I never should have trusted a devil like you!!!”

“Sigh.” The Queen shook her head in exasperation. “Have you forgotten your position here? You are the mastermind – I am only the accomplice. Who was it who wanted to kill Guardeleo to become the next king? That was you, not me. You will never be acquitted after what you did. I won’t even say you are walking straight to the executioner’s axe. They won’t even grant you that mercy. You will be forced to suffer at the gallows.”

“Devil, I am through listening to the sweet lies spewing from your mouth!! You are correct that I am a traitor and I have zero chance of becoming the next king. But if I bring them you as a gift, my chances rise by the tiniest fraction! And I am willing to bet on even the smallest chance!!”

“Sigh.”

Again she sighed.

But did 9th Prince Roberat even notice the difference in temperature between the two?

The next sound he made was an ugly crunch.

As the pathetic man argued with her, the alluring devil spread her wings wide, catching the prince’s head and spinning it one and a half times around on his neck. Even after all that, his cause of death was slow suffocation, not a broken neck. This was a simple task with a bit of wind magic. And the devil had kept her promise. She had said if he chose that path, he would die of strangulation.

“Now, then. The fire has been lit, so what should I do next?”

Queen Astaroth Revolver showed no real regret.

At this point, she no longer needed the prince’s protection.

She caught the air with her bat wings and stepped up into the moonlit window.

“A weapon only shines when it is used. And it can only evolve in the hands of the greatest wielder☆”

The beautiful devil silently departed the false temple.

All that remained was the ugly corpse of a man after he was literally used up and discarded.

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