Research Facility (2)
Inside the facility, only red emergency lamps were lit. The main lighting was completely off. Whether it was due to a lack of mana or simply the magical devices reaching the end of their lifespan, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed the facility wasn’t entirely dead.
However, the doors wouldn’t open. They looked like automatic doors, but they weren’t functioning due to insufficient mana. On top of that, security golems lay collapsed throughout the corridors, also shut down.
“Hmmm. In terms of performance, they’re smarter than the Soldier Golems, I think? They’re using pretty decent artificial crystals.”
Artificial crystals serve as a golem’s brain. Their performance determines a golem’s strength. The golems currently in use on this continent are mostly low-performance ones that can’t act autonomously. Meaning, unless a caster nearby gives orders, they’re useless.
But this was boring. Since entering the facility, my cheeks had remained puffed out.
“Come on, cheer up.”
“If it were me, I’d install a trap here that fires a boxing glove and hits intruders right in the crotch.”
Tap, tap. I slapped the floor with. But there were no traps. Everyone who heard me instinctively covered their crotch and stepped back two or three paces.
“And also, I’d drop an afro wig that you can’t remove and force intruders to wear it.”
I looked up at the ceiling, but again, no traps.
“This facility is hopeless. Absolutely unacceptable. Why aren’t there any traps!?”
“Alice, calm down. Normal facilities don’t have harassment-based traps. Only the ones you build.”
“Why wouldn’t you set traps? This place is basically open for anyone to walk into.”
“That’s why there are security golems. We’ve already seen over a hundred. Clearly this is an important facility.”
“No. Golems are just speed bumps. A Kingdom Knight could defeat them easily.”
“Of course.”
“It might take a little effort, but in the end, we’d be the ones still standing.”
“Break… I want to break something…”
“Fuhihi. Battle is calling to me. Someone, pour mana into that golem.”
“A death match! I want a death match!”
Some of them were already losing control to their battle instincts. Seriously, what am I supposed to do with these people?
“Fine, you can fight the Hero later, so hold it in for now.”
“Wait, WHAT!?”
Takuto turned around with an expression of utter disgust at my brother’s words.
““““UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!””””
The knights looked absolutely thrilled.
“What? You’re the Hero, aren’t you? Just play with our elite for a bit… and maybe get killed in the process.”
I couldn’t hear the last part, but Takuto was the Hero chosen by the Goddess. Many people would be curious about his strength.
Takuto looked at me with pleading eyes. I silently gave him a thumbs-up. It’s fine. I’ll support you. He relaxed in relief.
“After it’s over, I’ll buy everyone a drink.”
““““UOOOOOOOOOOOH!!””””
“… Yeah. That’s exactly the kind of girl you are. Hahaha…”
Give up, Takuto. At this point, there’s no escape. Look into their eyes. All they’re thinking about is fighting. People who become knights in this kingdom are all like this—so sharpened by combat instinct that they’ve abandoned everything else. Fighting is all they care about.
“I believe Takuto will win.”
For now, I decided to cheer him on. He’s the Hero; he should be able to win.
“Stop! They’re all staring at me with terrifying expressions!”
One knight was licking his sword. Since when did our knight order turn into post-apocalyptic punks? I couldn’t quite see their faces, but every single one of them was staring at Takuto.
“Fuhihi, accidents happen… deaths during training are accidents…”
“This guy is dangerous… we have to eliminate him here…”
“You got too close to the Princess.”
Mutters echoed everywhere, making it impossible to tell who was saying what. The atmosphere had shifted somehow, but whatever. For now, I headed toward an unnamed area marked on the wall map. Usually, those are important sections. Also, the presence of the Earth Spirit King’s representative was strangely coming from this facility. I thought it would appear after we defeated Yamata-no-Orochi, but apparently it was hiding here. The power was faint, though, and because the facility was made of dark matter alloy, all I could tell was that it was somewhere inside.
With that dull exploration continuing, we found a heavily reinforced door after about thirty minutes.
Just like before, the knights tried to kick it open.
“NUOOOOOHHH MY LEG AAAAHHHH!!”
“Idiot. Use your sword! My sword, NOOOOOOO!!”
“Useless, all of you. My warhammer will—IT BROKE!?”
Why are they all muscleheads…? The knight who hurt his leg was healed with healing magic, and the knight who broke his weapon was teary-eyed.
Still, the door didn’t break. It was incredibly durable. Even dark matter alloy should at least scratch, but… hmm.
“Orichalcum, huh.”
“You know what it is, Alice?”
“Of course.”
It was called the supreme metal created by the gods. Honestly, you can’t obtain it in this world.
“That really exists? Alice, how do you know about it?”
“The magic battleship had technical manuals. One of them mentioned Orichalcum.”
“But divine metal? How do you even get it?”
“Easy. Just kill a lower-ranked angel. They’re made of Orichalcum.”
“What, lower-ranked angels are golems!? That’s a huge discovery!”
Lower-ranked angels look identical to other angels, so people assume they’re living beings.
But while mid-ranked and high-ranked angels speak normally, lower-ranked angels never open their mouths. They’re said to be loyal divine soldiers.
In reality, they’re golems that simply lack speech functions. Apparently they’re stronger than mid-ranked angels and comparable to high-ranked angels. Mid-ranked ones are like squad leaders, high-ranked ones like commanders, I guess?
Wonderful. If I get the chance, I should seize about 100,000 from the Goddess.
“Well, that’s how you get Orichalcum. But lower-ranked angels travel in groups, and if the fight drags on, they call reinforcements, so it’s hard.”
“… No. Absolutely not.”
My brother suddenly grabbed my shoulders with a serious expression.
“What?”
“Do NOT declare war on Heaven.”
“I’m not planning to. Lower-ranked angels are just resources.”
“No, they have a purpose in existence. You’d definitely overhunt them. I don’t want the world destroyed because the balance collapses.”
Sorry, Brother. I haven’t said it, but the world is already facing a crisis. I won’t say anything yet; there’s a proper timing for lines like “I’ve heard everything. The world is doomed.” I’m waiting for the perfect moment. Also, I don’t know when the Evil God will revive. When the seal on the Interworld Gate breaks, its avatars will invade, so I need to meet the Demon King eventually.
Also, golems don’t work on the Evil God. That was proven in the Evil God War. At best, they can destroy avatars. Same for my golems. The Evil God absorbs mana, so magical weapons are ineffective (not entirely, but close).
And the fact they’re called lower-ranked angels rather than low-ranked angels, despite mid-ranked and high-ranked being used, shows even angels treat them as objects rather than equals.
“Well, that doesn’t matter right now.”
“Right. So what’s in this room? Worth using Orichalcum for?”
“Yeah. It’s the control room.”
“… How do you know that?”
“Because it says ‘Control Room’ here. Also says ‘Authorized Personnel Only.’”
“……….”
Everyone stared at me in shock.
“Wait, can you read ancient language?”
“If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to read the magic books stored on the magic battleship.”
“Oh, right… you said that so casually we forgot. Since when could you read it?”
“By around age three. The castle library had ancient texts.”
“No one told us that. Father found those in ruins when he was young. No one could read them, so they were preserved as valuable research materials.”
“It was a divorce court summons over adultery.”
Everyone slumped at my words. Yeah. Why would someone preserve something like that for future generations?
There are more ancient texts in the library’s hidden room, but those contain forbidden spells, so I keep quiet. Probably Lycoris’s legacy. They were heavily sealed. Well, I broke the seals easily. The curse would’ve killed me if the spirits hadn’t helped, though. So the Kingdom doesn’t know.
I found it as a baby. I was young then. I used Flight to escape the room in a moment of carelessness and flew around the castle driven by curiosity. Since I could only fly for about five minutes back then, incidents of the Princess collapsing in the halls happened frequently, so Madam was assigned as my tutor.
The forbidden spell was just a meteor-summoning spell. Too wide in range, and if you dropped it in front of you, you’d get caught in the blast. Useless. Disappointing. Though now, if I cast it, hundreds of meteors would fall and possibly destroy the planet.
“And apparently you have to store dangerous items on that shelf before entering.”
Amazing, right? There’s even a display monitor. That’s near-future tech in this world. The magic battleship has something similar, and Arland is developing prototypes.
The security system was active. Before entering the control room, there was something like an airport metal detector.
I tried walking through it. A warning sound blared, and the screen displayed: “Dangerous items are not permitted.”
“Are you carrying something dangerous?”
“Probably the guns.”
I usually keep them in holsters at my sides. I placed the entire holster on the platform and tried again. Another warning.
“Is it reacting to the Treasury?”
My brother tilted his head. I wasn’t wearing armor, so I shouldn’t have anything dangerous. The dragon staff and Caliburn were stored in the Treasury.
I tilted my head, confused too.
“Princess, could it be that magic comb?”
Alicia suggested, looking like she’d had a sudden realization.
“That’s not dangerous. It’s for peace.”
It’s a magic meant to achieve everlasting peace once humanity becomes fully furry-enthusiast. Calling it dangerous is outrageous!
“I–I mean, it IS a magic…”
I snorted angrily, and my brother scolded me.
“Hmph, there’s no way this is dangerous. I’ll prove it.”
I placed the holster containing the magic comb on the platform. The moment the magical lock engaged, the loudest alarm yet went off.
On the screen: “High likelihood of Class-1 Dangerous Item. Applying seal.”
“Hey! Stop! If you do that—!”
I tried to retrieve it, but a barrier enveloped the platform, repelling my hand. At the same time, the inspection device began smoking.
“Oh no. It broke.”
The knights immediately formed a defensive formation and rushed in front of me, but the magical device only emitted smoke.
“What happened…?”
“Brother, what do you think would happen if someone put a mass-produced slave collar on me?”
“With your mana, any commercial magical device would break or explode… so that’s what happened.”
Exactly. The energy contained within shattered the sealing magic. The device broke from overload.
“It IS dangerous!”
“Mufuu. The magic comb can run on mana, but if I use it once, I’ll be unconscious from mana depletion for two or three days. Extremely inefficient.”
Without the null reactor that draws infinite energy from another dimension, I wouldn’t be able to use it on Alicia every day.
“Well, if the spell structure collapses, it’ll be catastrophic. But I can control it, so it’s fine. Probably.”
No one knows where or how the null reactor extracts energy from another dimension, so I can’t guarantee anything.
Also, depending on usage, the magic comb is a weapon. If it goes critical, it could cause an explosion comparable to an 80-kiloton nuclear bomb.
But, BUT, it’s a magic for peace, so it’s fine!
I clenched my fist and declared confidently… but no one agreed.
“You’ve been carrying around something unbelievably dangerous.”
“It’s fine. Unauthorized use activates a curse.”
If stolen or used without permission, the biometrics prevent it from functioning, and anyone who tries to analyze it dies. No problem.
Then, the smoking inspection platform issued another warning.
I looked at the screen.
“It says: ‘Judged as terrorism. Facility entering temporary lockdown. Summoning security golems.’”
“Haah… I’ve got a headache.”
“These are probably special golems, different from the previous ones.”
They didn’t seem like suppression golems. I instinctively looked up, but no afro dropped. Whoever built this facility clearly didn’t share my sense of humor.
Magic circles appeared along both sides of the corridor.
“Protect the Prince and Princess!”
“Time to smash!”
The knights drew their weapons, wrapped in fighting spirit.
They hadn’t had any chance to shine so far. No opportunity to satisfy their battle instincts.
So naturally, their eyes burned with excitement.
Golems began emerging from the magic circles. The knights roared and charged, aiming to destroy them before they fully materialized. Since they were summoned, not teleported, they were defenseless during activation. Same as combining robots—destroying them mid-combination is easiest.
One golem was sliced in half the moment it appeared. The others also failed to activate and didn’t move.
They were unpowered. Seriously, you too!?
Judging from this, all golem systems were probably down.
The knights, who moments ago were certain they would finally get to fight and satisfy their instincts, froze like statues.
My brother looked at them with pity.
They all slowly turned toward me like rusty dolls.
““““ (´・ω・｀) ””””
Don’t look at me with that face.
What do you think about this chapter?
