Battle to Ship Off the Yamata no Orochi (2)
Yoshioki Tokoyo’s Point of View
What on earth had I been thinking?
At first, my plan had simply been to gauge Princess Alicetia’s power.
I began by formally demanding the return of Lady Alicia and her family through diplomatic channels. However, Lady Alicia was not only Princess Alicetia’s close aide but also her favorite. The Princess declared she would rather go to war with our Land of Tranquility than hand them over.
To start a war for just three of her subjects—madness.
But the Princess was serious.
The envoys who brought back her reply all reported the same thing: she said it with an entirely earnest face.
Thus, our Land of Tranquility found itself split cleanly in two over the issue of war with the Kingdom of Arland.
One side insisted that, since Lady Alicia’s family were originally people of our land, the cause was just and war was acceptable.
The other—led by His Majesty the Emperor and myself—were the faction seeking reconciliation.
There was no need to fight.
True, Lady Alicia and her family could trace their roots back to our land, but that was no longer the case now. And Arland would never hand over its people under unreasonable demands.
Moreover, there was the matter of Princess Alicetia’s military strength.
Our Land of Tranquility, seen from the mainland, was a remote, barbaric archipelago often looked down upon—but we had long taken pride in repelling the Empire’s invasions time and again.
That pride led the hardliners to believe that Arland was nothing to fear.
But they were wrong.
We had fended off the Empire not through might, but through geography.
Our land is an island nation. The sea itself is our shield; any invader must cross it first.
To invade our land, the Empire would need a navy or a fleet of precious airships—both of which limit the number of troops they could mobilize.
In truth, we were never truly clashing with the full might of the Granzur Empire.
Arland, on the other hand, shares a border with that Empire.
When war broke out, the Empire hurled its entire army straight across that border.
The Arland forces were overwhelmed by sheer numbers and collapsed.
Everyone believed the kingdom would soon fall; our reinforcements would never arrive in time.
But then, Princess Alicetia—defending the royal capital—turned her fangs upon the Empire.
She annihilated the invading army by dropping an out-of-control mana furnace right on top of them—a completely insane tactic—and then, riding that momentum, invaded Imperial territory.
By the time the Imperial army returned to its capital, she had already rampaged deep within their borders.
They said she even overtook the retreating Imperials and struck them from the rear.
Her advance was unbelievably fast.
The Imperial troops who returned to their capital could do nothing to stop her forces.
She appeared without warning, stormed cities and fortresses with overwhelming power, and—no matter how well-defended they were—she’d take them in less than a day by brute force.
Could our nation ever hope to do the same?
No. Absolutely not.
And the troops she led were all Golems.
No matter how much damage they took, they never broke morale. An undying army led by a peerless mage.
There’s no way we could fight against something like that.
I glanced around.
The normally fierce warriors of our land sat on the ground, staring blankly at the battlefield.
These were the very men who had clamored for war.
Before my eyes, the Yamata no Orochi—our nation’s ancient bane—was being utterly crushed under overwhelming firepower.
Huge magical constructs called tanks were firing massive cannons at impossible speed.
We owned a handful of captured cannons from the Empire, but this was on an entirely different scale.
“This can’t be real… it has to be an illusion…”
The general leading the samurai clutched his head in horror.
He finally understood that if we fought Arland, we would be on the receiving end of this.
What a foolish mistake it had been.
Years of resisting the Empire had dulled our fear of it—we had come to believe we could never lose.
But our opponent wasn’t merely the Empire… it was the very nation that crushed the Empire.
And there she sat—Princess Alicetia herself—lounging on a sofa near the battlefield.
That’s no posture for a war zone.
“We’re shipping out the Yamata no Orochi,” she had said.
Only now did I understand what those words truly meant.
(So this is why they call her a Sage… why she’s considered a force equal to an entire great power…)
That little girl felt not a trace of fear.
Of course she didn’t.
To her, this was no different than a beast stepping on an ant. She wouldn’t even consider it worth noticing.
A chill ran down my spine.
Terror.
I was terrified of that little princess.
And I finally understood the madness of the Kingdom of Arland—a nation that could accept such a being as normal.
The royal knights surrounding her remained utterly calm.
Not one of them flinched at the carnage unfolding before them.
To them, this was just another day.
(We must never make enemies of them. Our Land of Tranquility must form a strong bond with Arland—no matter what.)
After this debacle, Arland’s impression of our nation would surely worsen.
I had to find a way to mend that.
My stomach hurts already…
I want to resign… but the Emperor would never allow it.
I had to do something—anything…
---
Third-Person Perspective
That day, for the first time since its creation, the Yamata no Orochi felt the threat of death.
Long ago, it had been created as the pinnacle of humanity’s wisdom—designed to destroy the Spirit King.
To humans, it was an overwhelming weapon, but to the Spirit King, it was nothing more than an inferior imitation—hardly even a threat.
Born purely as a weapon, the Yamata no Orochi’s mind knew only destruction.
It made no distinction between friend or foe—its only purpose was to eradicate all life.
A control device had been made alongside it, but that device had a fatal flaw: it could not control the Orochi.
Thus, the ancient magical dynasty sealed the creature away as useless… and perished with it still bound.
Forgotten by time, the Yamata no Orochi lay dormant beneath this artificial island.
It had no true sense of self.
Endless ages passed without thought or emotion, as it simply waited for the time when it would fulfill its purpose.
Once, long ago, it nearly revived, but many humans and powerful spirits sealed it away again.
This time, however, the seal was completely broken.
Its purpose reignited, it prepared to unleash destruction upon the world—
when unbearable pain suddenly shot through its body.
“SKYAAAAAAHHHH!!”
Its barrier had been pierced by swords—then impaled entirely.
All of them were Holy Swords, each one interfering with the reformation of its barrier.
Then came the sealing spell that pinned it in place.
Though it wasn’t sealed in another dimension, this new binding was far stronger than the ancient one—powerful enough to anchor even its soul to that spot.
And then, the slaughter began.
Countless attacks rained down upon it—each too powerful to ignore.
Its body being torn apart proved their might. But there was no way to defend.
It used all eight heads as shields to protect its slower-regenerating body.
It could barely move its necks.
But even those makeshift shields were destroyed one by one.
Each time it regenerated, it consumed vast amounts of mana.
The numbers didn’t add up.
The Yamata no Orochi possessed no self-awareness, but it had the brain capacity for advanced calculation.
Its mana consumption far outpaced its regeneration.
Worse, the surrounding mana was being interfered with—its absorption rate had dropped to barely one percent of normal.
At this rate, it would soon run out of mana and enter hibernation.
If that happened, its defenses would drop even further.
Its durability came from constant reinforcement magic—without mana, even mass-produced Spider tanks’ shells and RPG-7-like explosives would easily tear it apart.
It focused all its remaining mana into its eight heads, only to see them shattered again.
Roaring madly, it sought an answer.
How could it escape this predicament?
Then it found it—the source of overwhelming mana and a strong link to spirits: a small girl among the humans attacking it.
That girl was the one who had sealed it here.
So, the Yamata no Orochi kept regenerating, waiting for the slightest opening.
“Alicia, I’m bored.”
“Your Highness, that’s far too soon.”
“But it’s so dull. And dusty.”
“Shall we pull back to the rear?”
“That’s impossible.”
Princess Alicetia was already bored.
Against an immortal monster, “respawn-killing” was the basic strategy—keep it pinned down and hit it relentlessly so it never got a chance to strike back.
Once its mana ran out, it wouldn’t even be able to regenerate.
Without mana, Alicetia herself was just a clever little girl—she’d probably lose to a stag beetle.
Having already secured victory, Alicetia was blatantly overconfident—so much so that one could say, “What’s a princess without a little arrogance?”
It was her usual state, really.
Unless she got serious, she was always the Overconfident Princess—that’s why Madame always ended up scolding her so harshly.
Then, just as the bombardment paused for a moment, the Yamata no Orochi lashed one of its necks toward her—and fired its tongue.
It could alter its own body structure, and the tongue was far longer than expected—lightning fast, it wrapped around Alicetia’s leg.
“Mm?”
Alicetia looked down to find something coiled around her leg.
The knights and Lady Alicia immediately swung their swords to sever it, but before they could, the tongue snapped back faster than they could react—dragging Alicetia into the air.
“Unyaaaa—!?”
““Princess~~~~!!””
CHOMP!
The Yamata no Orochi closed its jaws, swallowing her whole.
“Quickly! Rescue the Princess! She was only swallowed whole—if we cut open the stomach fast enough, we can still save her!”
“That’s why I said we should have moved our formation farther back! All units, cease fire! Are you trying to kill the Princess!?”
“ALICEEEE!!”
Led by Lady Alicia, the knights charged forward.
But Takuto didn’t move.
He simply stood with his back to the open vault door, unmoving.
Seeing this, Alicia and Gilbert both glared at him with murderous intent.
But dealing with him could wait—rescuing the Princess came first.
Just as Alicia was about to sprint forward, a small hand tugged at the hem of her maid uniform.
“Huh?”
“Alicia, dry my hair.”
There stood Princess Alicetia, steam still rising from her freshly bathed body.
That’s right—the one who got eaten was just a clone.
This mountain had no trees, the battlefield was dusty, and morning baths were a princess’s privilege.
So she’d left a clone in her place while she enjoyed her bath.
Handing a hair dryer to Alicia, Alicetia looked at the toppled, dirtied sofa, sighed, and pulled a new one out of her storage.
“Dry it.”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness.”
A collective sigh spread across the battlefield.
“If you were going to swap places, couldn’t you have said something first?”
“And where did that clone even go? Deserted mid-battle?”
“It got eaten by the Yamata no Orochi.”
“Ah. That thing’s poisonous, though.”
At that exact moment, the Yamata no Orochi’s eyes shot open, and it convulsed violently—
thrashing so hard it slammed its heads into the ground over and over in agony.
The neck that had swallowed Alicetia’s clone spat it back out with a PAH! and collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
The expelled clone wore all black—a suspicious cape and mask—and landed in a dramatic pose, sliding to a stop with one hand on the ground.
It looked exactly like Lord Vader.
“Khh-hohh… honestly, such trouble.”
The clone carried a tank on its back and held a syringe.
It pried open the Yamata no Orochi’s jaws and slipped back inside.
Moments later, the monster began thrashing again, writhing in even greater pain.
What do you think about this chapter?
