The One Entrusted. The One Who Gives Up. (2)
“I-I refuse!”
The clone’s heart—if it could be called that—did not break. If she gave in here, Takuto would head for the battlefield. No matter what, she had to stop that.
The clone pulled a phone from her pocket and made a call before Sylvia could stop her.
“This is the surveillance unit. Takuto has escaped. We need to destroy the teleportation device—gaaah!”
Sylvia snatched the phone away and pinched her cheek. But it was too late.
By the time Sylvia and the others rushed into the room housing the teleportation device, the teleportation coordinates to the border fortress had already been deleted. Now it was only possible to teleport from the fortress to the capital—going the other way was no longer an option.
“Fix it.”
“It’ll take about a week.”
The clone responded smugly. They had no intention of letting Takuto be sent to the battlefield.
“You could fix it right away, couldn’t you?”
“Nope. It'll really take about a week.”
Sylvia pinched the clone’s cheek again as she gave a thumbs-up. Alicia also pleaded with her, but the response didn’t change. In fact, once a teleportation destination was deleted, a safety lock would activate. Deleting a destination was equivalent to scrapping the device—meant only for emergencies. It took four days to deactivate the safety lock, and about three more days to re-register a destination. The only way to avoid that was to dismantle the device and rewrite the core, which would take about five days.
“Please, let me go!”
“No means no.”
“At this rate, Ai is going to die!”
“A direct order from the original is absolute. We can’t help you.”
The clones remaining in the castle had orders from Alicetia to stop Takuto even if he tried to escape. Clones could not defy orders from their original. Persuasion was impossible.
“Well, victory is already certain, so it’s not a problem. The only issue is that the original has a low chance of coming back.”
“What… what is she planning?”
Sylvia asked, and the clones answered. Once the plan had been set in motion, there was no turning back.
“... So that’s how it is.”
“It’s fine. Even if she fails, there’s a backup plan to wipe the Empire off the map.”
The remaining clone gave a wicked grin. She and her companions had been stationed here to manufacture a certain “item.”
If Alicetia lost to the Imperial army, and they failed to inflict enough damage to force the enemy into retreat, then the bombers waiting in the capital would deliver their “cargo” as “gifts” to every Imperial city.
The details were top secret. No one must ever know. It was entirely Alicetia’s own decision, and if blame was to be laid, it would be on her alone.
“Your Majesty, an aircraft is arriving in the capital. Let’s use that to airlift them.”
“Pointless. The Air Force is under our control. They won’t listen to orders from Alicia or even Mother. Especially the bombers stationed in the capital—they already have a mission. They will never carry Takuto and the others.”
The bombers in the capital were Arland’s last resort, and only those sworn to Alicetia had been assigned to them. Even the Queen’s orders would be overridden by Alicetia’s standby command. That was because those pilots knew exactly what they were transporting.
If they were forced to fly now and suffered a malfunction, it could jeopardize future operations—so they would not move.
“Princess!”
“Give it up.”
Alicia raised her voice, but the answer did not change.
“Then go to the Air Force base. A dwarf named Grantz is there.”
Suddenly, Eibon appeared via teleportation.
“You again, you perverted Great Mage. Just stay in the basement and keep researching.”
The clone scowled. After all the effort to lure this pervert with research and seal him underground, he had somehow escaped! If he went outside, it would only lead to harassment. It was far more logical to keep him locked away for research.
Eibon was essentially a mad magician. As long as he was given a theme that stimulated his curiosity, he’d hole up underground for years.
“My title is not ‘Pervert,’ it’s ‘Chaos.’”
“No, you’re a pervert.”
Renowned magicians often had epithets. Alicetia’s included “Saintess” and “Princess,” none of which were magician-related, but her magician title was “Creator.” It wasn’t well known, but it suited her, given her love for invention.
Eibon’s title was “Chaos”—a nickname born from his brutal tactics and tendency to cast nothing but highly unpleasant magic. He once cast a spell that disintegrated all non-living matter in the enemy camp, leaving his enemies completely naked. That sort of harassment earned him the title as an insult.
“Don’t think about anything unnecessary.”
“Alicia, hold the teleportation device.”
“Yes!”
Since the teleportation destination couldn’t be deleted quickly, a clone attempted to smash the device with a wrench, but Alicia stopped her.
“Don’t get in the way!”
“I will save the princess!”
“Impossible.”
In terms of combat ability, Alicia was overwhelmingly disadvantaged. If a clone latched onto her, she’d be cuddled and knocked out in seconds. So Alicia avoided letting them grab her tail or ears, while the clones leapt to snatch them.
“Y-You! You three, hurry into the teleportation device!”
“Takuto… could you break my handcuffs?”
“Oh, I forgot.”
Still shackled, Kazuhito couldn’t run properly. Takuto, having completely forgotten about him, accepted the weapon Sylvia brought and easily sliced the cuffs in half.
“Alice, stop.”
Takuto strapped on the Spirit Blade and took his iaido sword. The clones now began to panic.
“No, we won’t let you!”
“Princess, look a tail.”
As the clone rushed forward to stop them, Alicia flicked her tail. The clone’s head snapped toward it at lightning speed, causing her to lose balance and fall flat.
“Unfair…”
“You’re easy to bait. Shadow Bind.”
Chains emerged from the clone’s shadow and bound all of them. If it were the original, her immense mana would have shattered the chains in seconds, but the clones had far less mana.
“Ngh, fffnuuuuuhhh…”
“Haaah, seems like they’re secured for a while.”
Alicia tilted her head briefly at how easily she caught them, but then remembered how little mana the clones had compared to the original and nodded. She judged it safe for now and immediately started configuring the teleportation device for the Air Force base.
“Okay, this goes here, and… huh? Silver Moon’s already registered?”
“... It’s not what it looks like.”
The captured clone made a bitter face. This teleportation device was technically state property, so using it for personal reasons was a grey area. Still, no one would be mad. She’d just claim creator’s privilege.
“Anyway, we’re ready.”
“All right, let’s go!”
Takuto, Mai, Kazuhito, Alicia, and Eibon teleported to the Air Force base.
Arland Kingdom Army Experimental Base
“So this is the airbase, huh?”
“Who goes there!?”
They had teleported into a room within the base, and of course, guards were stationed there.
“It’s me. I need to speak with Lord Grantz immediately.”
“Lady Alicia! Y-Yes, understood. Lord Grantz is currently performing maintenance in the hangar.”
Unaware of the situation, the soldier led the five of them to the hangar.
“Whoa, this looks exactly like the bases you see on TV. It's like this part alone is Earth.”
The interior of the base looked identical to military bases on Earth—like those used by the Self-Defense Forces or the U.S. military. The original supply depot structure was no longer recognizable.
However, there wasn’t a single aircraft on the runway. Naturally—they had all been deployed.
Before long, they found Grantz at the entrance of a hangar, eating breakfast.
“Hmm? Alicia? What’s going on?”
“What’s going on? Don’t you know the Princess went out on a sortie!?”
“Ah—!”
Grantz hadn’t been told the core of Alicia’s plan. Alicia now explained what Alicetia was trying to do and pleaded for a car or aircraft.
But Grantz could only respond with a troubled look.
“There are a few left, sure, but they’re all out of commission due to maintenance errors. As for vehicles, the damn commander of Unit 201 took them all.”
Both vehicles and aircraft were produced in small numbers and not enough had been built. The ones left were all grounded due to maintenance issues.
“Even that one called Mark X is fine!”
“... Sorry. That one had its engine removed to be used in another aircraft. It can’t fly.”
“Then what do we have!?”
“I wish I knew... The strike team only left about ten minutes ago, so they won’t be back for a while.”
While Grantz clutched his head, Eibon spotted a lone aircraft in a distant hangar. Even from afar, it didn’t appear to have any issues.
“Can we not use that?”
Eibon pointed.
“... No way I can fly that. That’s the Princess’s personal aircraft.”
“Even you can’t, Lord Grantz?”
Alicia eyed him suspiciously, but Grantz scratched his head and replied.
“That one uses a ‘paw control system’ or whatever—it can’t be flown without paw pads. I told her to try building an aircraft for monsters, remember?
Also, the seat is made for beasts—you have to sit like a dog.”
It was the world’s first aircraft designed to be piloted by a monster. Alicetia had been pressured by Grantz to try making one, so she gave it her all.
Naturally, it wasn’t a propeller aircraft—it had a jet engine. Since it was only for her, she even maintained it herself. A rare moment of full commitment.
But the paw control system was a product of madness. Everything needed to pilot the plane was done through the sensation of kneading with paw pads.
Of course, that made it impossible for humans to operate.
“The only monster who can pilot it… would be the Princess’s own, right?”
Naturally, only Alicetia’s monster had been trained as a pilot. But Grantz grinned.
“Shouldn’t be a problem.”
He guessed that the beast stationed here hadn’t been ordered regarding Takuto and the others. If they just framed it as training, the beast would likely agree easily. It loved flying, so it would probably be delighted.
However, there was one problem.
“That thing can’t land vertically. You’re going to have to be dropped from the air.”
“You serious? This’ll be my second time using a parachute…”
Takuto and Kazuhito had once been thrown out of a Cessna by Gensai as part of survival training in the Amazon.
Kazuhito laughed, remembering the fun of spending most of their summer break living in the jungle with only a knife. Takuto, on the other hand, never wanted to experience that again. They’d been mistaken for poachers by locals, chased, and then made peace around a campfire.
“Para-what? If it’s just a drop, we’ve got descent bracelets. Works fine.”
This world didn’t originally have aircraft, nor airports like on Earth. That’s why this plane had a hatch in the rear for airborne drops—it had been built with air deployments in mind. In fact, it had originally been intended for commuting to Ostland when Alicetia returned to school this year. The real reason it was built was to avoid startling Anon and the others with sudden teleportation. Alicetia’s shallow reasoning was that as long as she handed the aircraft over to Ostland, it would be fine.
Ostland was likely at a loss over it.
By the way, the descent bracelets were tools designed for safe aerial drops, far safer than parachutes. Even the infamous Unit 201 hadn’t stolen them, seeing no use for them.
“So… we can actually go?”
“... I can’t stand the thought of losing my disciple, either. Especially that one—she’s the best I’ve ever had.
I can’t leave here. Without me, the aircraft maintenance will stall. Please, save her.”
Grantz also didn’t want Alicetia to die. He had no objections to helping. Ideally, he would have punched Alicetia to knock some sense into her, but since he couldn’t leave, he was entrusting that task to Takuto.
That was because Grantz knew about the Spirit Blade Takuto carried. The Five Marquis Houses knew the true history of the kingdom. That sword had chosen a new hero. It was worth believing in. More than Takuto, Grantz was placing his faith in the Spirit Blade.
“Alright then—let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
Takuto’s words fired up the other two. Alicia quietly prayed to save Alicetia, clenching her fists with resolve.
Convincing the monster was easy. The moment Grantz asked if it wanted to do a test flight, its tail wagged wildly.
“I’ll handle the control tower. Use that time to take off.”
Grantz separated from them to suppress the control tower, which likely wouldn’t grant takeoff clearance.
As Takuto and the others climbed the stairs into the aircraft, Eibon stopped before stepping on.
“Bones? What’s wrong?”
Kazuhito tilted his head.
“I will stay behind. I have no power to fight in my current state. Please, take this.”
Eibon pulled a short dagger from his coat and offered it to them.
What do you think about this chapter?
