Sorcery Hacker:Volume1 Phase4

Status: Incomplete

2/12 parts completed

   

Phase 04: Light Castle Brightio

Part 1

In homes across Sky City Celedileka, a small bell-like ding sounded as a remotely-printed newspaper popped out of boxy device like toast from a toaster.

There was no mention of the giant dragon still hanging around in Fire Castle Town Flared, or that Teleria and Mamilis’s defense in Earth Castle Down Grouviv had failed, allowing Knight Dagregor to destroy the earth core.

It was like they were stubbornly rejecting any petty complaints before their big event.

The day’s morning paper did have this on the front page:

“The Temple Moving Ceremony will be held today. The Forturiana Church’s High Priest plans to denounce the name of Thomas Robergin as a great evil and present his head to the king as proof of their righteousness.”

Some people would see that article and grimace, others would be delighted that they could visit Light Castle Brightio which was normally off limits, and yet others would leave the newspaper folded up and unread on their dining room table and then place a pot of stew on top of it. There was also a Bounty Hunter who checked through the list of wanted criminals to see how much the bounty had risen on targets they had intentionally let go for the time being, there was a Bunny Girl who circled the art museum exhibit information while licking her lips and planning out a honey trap, and there were many others as well.

Despite all the excitement, most people’s interest would not last until the very end.

In fact, the advertisement saying “Any lambs suffering from magical recoil should visit their closest Forturiana Church!” would stick around longer in a corner of their mind.

Meanwhile…

“Ugh, shiver, shiver. The shower here is really cold.”

“Is that because the earth core was destroyed?”

The wet-haired Dark Elf shivered, but the girl who was fine with lukewarm water or even ocean water did not bat an eye.

Ayato was lying on his side with his eyes shut within that cheap inn located in Earth Castle Town Grouviv, but he was not asleep. He was performing his Self-Maintenance work and he spoke up with a truly rotten voice.

“Wh-whoa! I can’t, Miss Teleria! I can’t possibly choose just one…”

“I have my doubts about how serious that work really is.”

Mermaid Teleria Nereid Aquamarine already knew to stay safe at times like this and Dark Elf Mamilis Coster, who had her long ears poking out through her silver hair, had learned by now, so they were both sitting up on a table or windowsill with their legs pulled up. There was no temptation to go back to sleep with the bright morning sun shining down from the starry sky.

…So today’s victim was the promising rookie: Striker Henrietta Split Destrius. She was snatched away by the blanket rolling at her feet. It looked a lot like being swallowed by a bizarre carnivorous plant.

“Wah, wah, wah, wah!? Wait, what are you doing!? Stop that, you dangerous individual, get off of me! Ah, don’t pull me into the blanket! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

Teleria and Mamilis sighed from their elevated safe spots as they glanced over at the poor miniskirt Striker being chewed on by the blanket monster.

“Rest in peace. May you feel no more pain.”

“You can’t even see her anymore.”

That was all they said before turning their interest to the television weather forecast displayed on the snowdome-like Media Summoner on the wall. In other words, they barely cared when it could not affect them. …And since Sky City Celedileka floated up above the clouds, it was a never-ending mystery whether the weather forecast had any meaning there.

Meanwhile, the straitlaced Striker had been rendered fairly useless, but her presence with them had definitely relaxed the knights’ pursuit even though she was not here on an official investigation. The knights seemed to think she had some kind of plan that required leaving them free while under her supervision.

Finally, the blanket spoke.

“Hm? When did my crystal tarot cards get so soft???”

“Those are not even close to the same size and shape!!!!!!”

Even if she wore the old-style for the appearance, armor was still armor. The blushing straitlaced woman threw a punch with her thick gauntlet and it produced a loud and dull sound.

Ayato Criminaltrophy spoke with eyes too swollen to fully open.

“Good morning, everyone. …I hate to make a request so quickly, but could you provide some recovery magic for my face, Miss Teleria? What in the world happened during my self-discovery work?”

“I hope this has been a lesson for you, idiot,” bluntly replied Teleria.

Dark Elf Mamilis tilted her head at that.

“(Huh? That doesn’t seem to come from jealousy.)”

“I am not completely indiscriminate.”

The blonde girl sounded calm enough, but she was actually revealing far too much.

“(I see. So she isn’t fine with just anything. She wants him to go for a direct attack instead of an absentminded one.)”

“Bfff!? You were looking for a way to twist my words, weren’t you!?”

While the two girls started grappling a little, Ayato got his mind up and running and pulled the morning paper from the boxy device on the table.

He skimmed through the frontpage article and muttered quietly.

“So everything is going as scheduled.”

“You mean Thomas Robergin’s public execution?”

That meant Nirvelphany had failed to rescue him and would target the Temple Moving Ceremony as her last chance.

“Honestly, I will admit this is terrible if he really is only being accused because they are mad about not being able to directly attack the Demon Lord, but all of you are taking things too far. You are known as a dangerous individual because you think people will accept any form of violence as long as you have a just goal.”

Henrietta was a single-minded berserker when it came to combat, but she could be more sensible at times like this.

While the two girls were pressing their hands together in a competition of strength that seemed like it could take a lily-ish turn at any moment, Teleria looked back toward him.

“So what exactly are we going to do?”

“Whether Nirvelphany is good or bad, she has to pay for what she’s done. If she hadn’t framed us for her crimes, then I’d be wishing her the best of luck. Or at least this wouldn’t have gotten so complicated.”

“Do not act like you are innocent yourself, dangerous individual.”

“I can accept crimes people carry for themselves, but that’s not what happened here.”

Since he had no intention of being arrested no matter what she said, that statement sounded absurd to Striker Henrietta, but that was a separate issue.

“Okay, let’s put together a schedule assuming the event goes as planned. The public execution is supposed to be held during the morning, right?”

“Curse you… Letting a Sorcery Hacker go free is bad enough, but now you are planning to sneak into the royal palace with weapons? I suppose I need to play this one by ear.”

They wanted to intercept Nirvelphany at the Temple Moving Ceremony, so their biggest fear had been the cancellation of the event due to some kind of trouble. Then Nirvelphany would lose her chance to make an appearance. On the other hand, once the state event began, they could continue their plan according to schedule.

Ayato glanced over at the newspaper’s weather forecast.

He knew it was highly unlikely, but he could not ignore the possible of a blizzard powerful enough to break through the Guardian Umbrella atmospheric shield.

“That said, we need to focus more on the big picture than the minute risks.”

He spread a few large papers out on the table. These were not newspapers. They were a schedule for the state event, a map of the castle layout, security information, and a blueprint for the execution device. In some situations, simply carrying these documents would be enough to warrant suspicion of plotting a rebellion or assassination.

The first to speak was Henrietta who knew the most about the city. She was the one who had gathered most of the data and documents concerning the public execution.

“To be clear, dangerous individuals, Sky City Celedileka uses a mechanical guillotine for its executions. These are the designs here. The criminal kneels down, has their hands and head held in place by this thick frame, and a lever is pulled to drop the thick blade that was lifted by a chain-winding device. The execution itself is designed to be quick and painless.”

“But that wouldn’t make for much of an event in which they want to emotionally slay a great evil. They called the crowds into the public square here, so they need to take their time to satisfy all those people.”

“I suppose you would call that the Forturianan way of doing things.”

“They are the sect with all but official protection from the royal family, Coach.”

Dark Elf Mamilis made it sound like this was none of her concern.

Since she was not human, she may have taken a cold view of that human-made religion that would only protect other humans and excluded her.

Henrietta nodded.

“Even if the Temple Moving Ceremony is necessary, they cannot be seen as forcing death upon an innocent man. That means the Forturiana Church needs to label Thomas Robergin as a great villain and ensure no one protests that labeling.”

“Hm. And how will they do that?”

“I should have known a social outcast would be ignorant of how state events work. That religion forbids unnecessary killing, but there are a few exceptions. After placing the criminal in the guillotine where everyone can see him, the High Priest will likely spend a long time on a performance in which he reads off a long list of crimes to denounce his name. It all comes down to the Light-Dark Duality, so it is important that they make him seem evil and eliminate all pity or sympathy from people’s minds. That will take much, much more time than actually decapitating him.”

“It is true meat tastes better if you remove the blood before cooking it.”

Henrietta’s expression twisted a bit at Ayato’s comparison, but that really was his only thought on the matter.

The Striker in the asphalt-colored armor cleared her throat before continuing.

“Ahem. Anyway, that means the time limit until his execution is a fluid thing. It is scheduled for some time during the morning, but a schedule is no more than a schedule. If the High Priest gets carried away with his speech, it could be delayed until midday.”

The bloody public execution would be the climax of the Temple Moving Ceremony.

False justice like this was meaningless.

The catharsis of punishing the evil was one of the people’s favorite forms of entertainment, whether it came in the form of direct execution or socially destroying them through criticism in the newspapers and such. As long as they could find an excuse to call the other person evil and themselves justified, humans could grow as cruel as could be. That High Priest may have been working hard to provide the most exciting show to grasp the people’s hearts.

The Dark Elf’s long ears twitched as she gave a blunt comment.

“Humans are crazy.”

“I agree with you there, but we’re going to use that to our advantage here.” Ayato sounded as fed up with it as her. “Forturiana has another special rule: if an execution fails due to happenstance, the criminal is freed as sign of respect for that benevolent coincidence. For example, if a storm blows in just before they are burned at the stake, or if the noose’s rope breaks and they fall to safety.”

“I imagine dangerous individuals like you are already aware, but this guillotine is mechanical.” Henrietta crossed her arms and nodded. “If the gears slip out of place or the chain gets tangled and the blade cannot be wound up or dropped, the execution could be called off.”

Teleria tilted her head.

“So will Nirvelphany try to make that happen to save the old man?”

“That would be pretty exciting.”

Mamilis, the grandma’s girl, gave a dangerous comment that made one question whose side she was on.

Ayato tapped his finger on the guillotine blueprint.

“There are a few ways to cause a failed execution. For example, you could replace one of the gears with a smaller one so they do not fit together, or you could pour acidic fruit juice into the bearings to rust the metal. Normally, Nirvelphany would definitely try to get at the guillotine.”

“But she won’t have a chance to do that once the Temple Moving Ceremony begins, right? It will be set up on top of an elevated platform and surrounded by a crowd in all directions.”

If that reddish-brown Minotaur was to be believed, they were talking about the real Demon Lord here, but not much time had passed since she was released from her seal and had her Hero’s wound was forgiven. She would not have been able to spend many long years bathing in the moonlight to recharge the power that had leaked from her body. She would not have regained her “breadth of possibilities” to that extent. Since she was relying on a human-made sorcery gun, they had to assume she was attempting this with human-level specs.

…Of course, that also meant she could shake things up this much even in her weakened state.

“As someone who has dedicated her life to chivalry, I do not like discussing trickery, but that just means she will try to approach the execution device before it is brought to the public square, right?”

Henrietta did not sound all that convinced of what she was saying.

Ayato knew why.

“This isn’t just about the Temple Moving Ceremony. A public execution where people are allowed to attack a fellow human being is the ultimate show for those cruel people craving entertainment. If it fails due to some mistake, those entertainment-starved people could explode with anger and start a riot. In the past, there was an executioner who failed to light the fire below the giant pot meant to cook the victim alive. The angry crowd swarmed him and lynched him.”

“That is correct, dangerous individual. This is a crucial event for the executioner and they are risking their life here. If they succeed, they earn thunderous applause, but if they fail, they could be the one killed.” Henrietta shook her head. “Think of it like a magic show where they will be sawing themselves in half or escaping a deadly trap. Because their life is on the line, the executioner will carefully check over the equipment time and again. Even if Nirvelphany sabotaged it in some way, there is no guarantee it would go unnoticed until the execution. And if it is noticed, she has no way of saving that old man.”

Ayato tapped his finger on one of the papers lined up on the table.

He thought for a moment before speaking.

“The guillotine itself is made from standard mana-conducting silver, correct?”

“Yes.”

“But, Miss Henrietta, the armor protectors you are wearing are made from dark gray oxidized mana-conducting silver, correct?”

“Eh?”

The Striker looked confused, so Ayato wagged his raised finger.

“Metal processing is the product of heating and cooling. Military armor is oxidized to preserve its strength at the cost of flexibility because they don’t want the materials changing due to intense temperature changes. The joints with the monster leather and tendons are actually fairly fragile.”

“Huh? But, Ayato, those scorpion and hornet sorcery devices were made from normal mana-conducting silver, weren’t they?”

“Only because they were designed for use in Fire Castle Town Flared. The entire place is constantly blazing hot, so they don’t have to worry about temperature differences.”

“Um, is she going to freeze the device with the coolant that salesmen use when selling fruit juice or ice cream?” asked Mamilis. “After all, she can’t approach the device when it’s still backstage and the executioner might notice the change even if she did.”

“The executioner will check it over multiple times, but there is one flaw there. Once the show begins, they can’t check the device in front of the people no matter how suspicions something seems.” Ayato licked his lips. “And if you only need to get a specific liquid on it, you might not actually have to directly approach it. This is a sky city protected by the thick Guardian Umbrella, but there is still a chance of an unexpected blizzard breaking through that shield.”

“Hm? Coach, why are you changing the subject? What does the weather or a blizzard have to do with this?”

Mamilis’s eyes widened, but Ayato shook his head.

“I’m not changing the subject at all.”

In other words…

“She just has to freeze the device while disguising it as a rare blizzard. And since she can’t afford for it to fail, I doubt this will be set on a timer or remote controlled. Whatever her main plan is, she will be hiding nearby in order to begin Plan B if things don’t work out. Things will be set up for her to personally sneak in and apply the coolant to cause a guillotine malfunction.”

Yes.

After the criminal was placed in the guillotine, the High Priest would give a long speech as part of the performance.

That could be just what the Demon Lord needed to freeze the gears of the machine.

Part 2

The morning sun in the starry sky shined down on Earth Castle Town Grouviv, which was best known for having nothing special. It came as a surprise to the people who questioned that premise, but people who had grown exhausted from sightseeing would gather here and provide plenty of sightseeing income.

The blonde girl and the others were staying in a three-story inn where the first floor contained a simple restaurant. Ayato had already gone down, but Teleria and the others had further business to take care of.

Yes, they were girls!!

“Sigh…this mirror is too small.”

In fact, the entire bathroom was too small, but Teleria, Mamilis, and Henrietta were all crammed into a space that contained a sink and bathtub yet was too small to fit even a single horse. The water from the tap was cold thanks to the earth core’s destruction, but that was not the real problem. The three of them were pressing their soft cheeks against each other to fight for space in front of the small mirror while they did their hair and washed their faces. The silver-haired Dark Elf had a slight upper hand here, but that may have been because her distinctive long ears stuck out around her in a threatening manner.

“Hey, Teleria?”

“What is it, Mamilis?”

“Who are you prettying yourself up for? Coach sees you as soon as you wake up.”

“Bff!?”

She did not actually want him to see her then, but due to various circumstances, they generally could only afford the one room. Since they had started traveling together, he had seen her not just immediately after waking up but also after staying up all night while wandering through a cave or a forest. But she wanted to avoid the nightmarish jinx of becoming the sort of older woman who gave up on keeping up her looks. Even if it was meaningless and wasted effort, she wanted to continue her pursuit of constant cuteness!!

Teleria’s soul was shaken so bad she was left motionless, so Henrietta took that opportunity to lean out in front of the mirror. She toyed with her bangs while giving a complicated look toward Mamilis who was relaxing her shoulders to create some space…and who had been saved by a Sorcery Hacker instead of a Striker.

“By the way.”

“Ugh, why do we keep adding more girls to our party like that’s just the way these things work?”

“??? You seem to be familiar with that dangerous individual, so you might know. Last night, this bull man told me some things that may or may not have been true.”

“Oh, that was probably all true. The two Butterfly Effector swords and Micha Angelos seem real enough and even Ayato says he can’t find a way to fool her authorization. She seems to be one of the finest humanoid sorcery devices not just on the continent but in the entire world, but she says her energy efficiency is so bad mass production would suck the world dry.”

“Bff!? S-so he really was a prince!?”

The Striker leaned back in shock, so the Dark Elf moved in front of the mirror instead.

“So what did that bull say?”

“R-right. He claimed that dangerous individual did not start out as a Sorcery Hacker and used to use a sorcery gun. Um, he used a revolver and he was known as the Hexa…something or other.”

The other two had pushed her out of the way, so Teleria viewed the backs of their heads as she sighed.

Then she slowly moved her lips.

“I really shouldn’t mention this if he didn’t, but given the situation, maybe I should. It would be cruel to send you up against someone like Nirvelphany without answering your questions. Think of this as no more than a way of strengthening our teamwork, okay?”

“So what was that Hexa-whatever thing about?”

“Hexajinx. Ayato was originally a skilled Forward who specialized in using a magnum-style revolver. He had nothing to do with Sorcery Hacking back then. He earned that name from a legend saying no one had ever seen him reload because he would complete any job in no more than six shots. He had to have been the best sorcery gunner in the Academy Towers we attended. He would not simply go in guns blazing, but he was not a powerless phantom thief type either. He would avoid as much unnecessary fighting as he could, attack the target with as much power as he could manage from point-blank range, and vanish from the scene once it was abuzz with energy. People were impressed he could do what he did without passing through walls or turning invisible.”

An outsider like Henrietta knew of the Academy Towers as a hive of extreme geniuses and of eccentrics who could not be allowed out in public. They were always working up strange theories like that colorless mana was split into the four elements by aligning with the higher beings scattered in the four directions. Whatever their personality, standing at the peak of any specialty there had to be quite an accomplishment.

That was why an honest question occurred to her.

“…? If he was that skilled, why did he choose the path of a dangerous individual?”

“He failed his very last job,” whispered the blonde mermaid. Since she could explain this, she must have broken it down in her mind and finished verbalizing it. “He was to eliminate the criminal who had taken a hostage and holed up in the Gem Science Gemboard Processing Tower. As always, he settled everything in no more than six shots, but it turned out the hostage had convinced the criminal to surrender just beforehand. In other words, he shot the criminal when there was no need for it.”

“…”

“That counted as taking out his target and solving everything just fine, so he remains a top ranker without a single blemish on his record. But what he did hit him a lot harder. It did not matter that no one criticized him for it. That is why he swore to never again use a sorcery gun and started down the path of a Sorcery Hacker using the hidden aspects of what he had been taught.”

It was unfortunate, but accidents and miscommunications were a problem everyone had to face in combat. But that boy had been unable to write it off as a probabilistic eventuality.

And what was it he had said?

I’m not about to deny what I’ve done. Not that I’m going to sit around and let you arrest me for it either.

“On the outside, it might look like he got a fresh start, but I’m sure he is still pursuing the truth of what happened then and what went wrong in the chain of command. In fact, that is the entire reason he chose to become a Sorcery Hacker. What went wrong to let that happen? Or was it done intentionally and maliciously? He wants to reach a place much deeper than he could as a top ranker who works within the rules.”

He made sure he was aware of his body’s baseline weight so he could move exactly as he pictured it in his head. Even that was fueled by the need he felt to redo everything from the beginning before heading back into battle. Just as Teleria could not become a Sorcery Hacker, the muscles and thought processes needed for using a Linkage Plug were entirely different from those needed for using a sorcery gun. Instead of exchanging magic blasts from head on, he had to hide his true intent, focus on indirect attacks, and challenge an armed opponent while unarmed. Although all of this was only Teleria’s guesses from the position of someone who was not a Sorcery Hacker. Only he would know how much effort had gone into throwing out his specialty and relearning everything from the ground up.

“Then you are assisting that dangerous individual?”

“He never came to me asking for help. I decided to follow him myself.”

“Hm? You said Coach’s official record remains perfect, but you also seem to know an awful lot about what actually happened.”

The Dark Elf tilted her head in front of the mirror, so Teleria laughed.

She had a faint smile, but it was a complicated one that would be difficult to describe using only positive emotions.

“That is easily explained. I was the hostage in that school tower and my stepbrother was the criminal holing up there. So I saw it all happen.”

The other two fell silent at that.

Only Teleria continued with a faint, faint smile.

“No one is perfect. Not even a former top ranker.”

“…”

“But that is why I am more worried about Ayato ruining his life than I am about the truth of the incident that took my stepbrother’s life. Ayato and Nirvelphany are very similar in the sense that they have grown obsessed with a single mistake. They are willing to throw out their own life and use up every last bit of strength if it means making up for that mistake. And no matter how it happened, that incident already ended. It’s wrong to create a new incident or tragedy over it. So…so my purpose in this journey is to watch over him and make sure he does not do that.”

The girls finished their preparations.

Once Dark Elf Mamilis used her Mimic Option earrings to hide her long ears, the three of them left their room in the inn and walked down to the first floor restaurant.

The boy raised a hand in greeting from the table he had gotten for them.

“Hi, Miss Teleria. It looks like our last meal is going to be a fried egg on toast. The options are limited due to the earth core’s destruction. That said, it seems the legends were true: anything looks fancy if you put an egg on top.”

The girl responded with a smile.

“Don’t joke about things like that. Do you want me to hit you?”

Option 05: Report on Ayato Criminaltrophy

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