The mobile fortress lay half-destroyed, scarred by the aftermath of battle.
I walked toward it and spoke.
“Machine God Tribe, Melkina.”
「You called, human.」
“Yes. Your master sold you off.”
「Denial. I observed the entire negotiation process between the two of you with my lenses wide open. Melkina’s trust in Hagel Vinter has not been damaged as severely as you seem to believe.」
So there was a small crack after all.
This guy was surprisingly honest.
If you looked closely, even the Machine God Tribe members showed distinct personalities. Whether those differences came from the core itself, the influence of absorbed sacred relics, or the metals grafted onto their bodies—I still didn’t know.
“Anyway, Hagel has temporarily transferred your ownership to me. Any complaints about that?”
「Affirmative. There are several matters I would like to confirm.」
“Go ahead.”
「Since awakening from hibernation, the Machine God Tribe Melkina has received substantial support from the Schnifelt family. Therefore, I have no intention of assisting with anything that would bring harm to the Schnifelt family.」
“I accept that condition.”
「Your swift judgment is satisfactory.」
Conditions were attached, but the Schnifelt family was currently retired due to the ‘Heavenly Punishment.’ If the situation this guy was worried about ever actually occurred, we would have already drained every drop of value from the arrangement by then.
Character Sheet
<Machine God Tribe Core – Melkina>
[Level: 51/65]
[Description: A portion of power has been lost due to a grueling battle.]
Moments ago, Melkina had been level 62. The sudden drop made it clear—exactly as the description stated—that multiple core components had been damaged in the recent fight.
It was hardly surprising. Elite forces averaging the low 30s, mages providing rear support, and front-line warriors in their 40s like Kache, Pepe, and Erendrel had all been thrown at it.
I asked Melkina,
“Can you move properly right now?”
「Negative. The mages we engaged earlier severed all circuits and burned them. No signals are reaching the lower sections of the fortress.」
“Tsk… Your condition is worse than I thought. Might be easier to just carve out the core and leave.”
「A sound proposal. However, a high-output magic weapon called ‘Vice Wolf’ remains inside the fortress. If we abandon it, the enormous energy stored within is projected to eventually detonate and trigger a large-scale disaster across this region…」
“I know. I was joking.”
Judging by its tone, the damage was severe enough that it could no longer repair itself by absorbing and layering additional metals as usual.
There were cheat metals in this world—like the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’—capable of restoring something to 100% purity. But only diamond-spoon Machine God Tribe members such as the ‘Machine Emperor’ Rutlemis or the ‘Colorless Giant’ Emaex could even attempt to use them. They were as difficult to obtain as plucking stars from the sky, and even then, strict limitations applied to their proper use.
I looked at Melkina and said,
“Don’t worry. When we get home, one of your Machine God Tribe friends will be there. A guy named Restinel.”
「Joy. A silver lining, at least.」
The elite soldiers from each faction were resting, exhausted. Linia and I slipped away from the group and entered the warehouse inside the mobile fortress.
A~B-grade elixirs—items rarely seen anywhere—were scattered everywhere. Their overall quality, however, was lower than the haul we had stolen last time using Kurt’s 『Dismixer (U)』.
In other words, none of them were worth my personal attention.
“…So you’re not going to take them?”
“It’s free. Why wouldn’t I? Hurry up and pack them.”
Linia and I began stuffing the elixirs the Dragon Horse Cult had painstakingly collected into our backpacks. We crammed handfuls of elixirs worth several to dozens of platinum coins each into the narrow space like common junk.
The mass-producible 『Processed Yin-Yang Tea (A)』 was an excellent elixir in its own right, and expanding the range of usable consumables was never a bad thing.
In Reca Chronicles, certain characters often needed to meet special conditions before their talents could fully bloom. As someone preparing for the future, I intended to select only the elixirs those individuals required and deliver them as customized support.
While I was busy packing, a voice called out from behind.
“Hmm… I was wondering where you’d disappeared to. Were the two of you enjoying yourselves without me?”
“Sir Connelly.”
Linia greeted the approaching man—hood removed—with polite respect.
<Julian Connelly>
[Level: 54/64]
[Stamina: 14] [Strength: 13] [Agility: 17]
[Mana: 17] [Mind: 02] [Senses: 19]
[Divinity: 06]
[Traits: Sword Demon (S+), Fortune Bone (S), Innate Combat Sense (A), Dislocation Body (B) + 2 others]
[Skills: Brandish Harmony Heart Method · Extreme (S+), Likium Heart Method (A), Spirit Heart Method (A), Celens Heart Method (A-), Rieshti Swordsmanship (A), Robus Variant Swordsmanship (A), Likium Swordsmanship (A), Ain Kingdom Multicolor Swordsmanship (A) + 8 others]
[Description: 29 years old, human. A genius swordsman of the Prima Continent who fluidly employs a wide variety of heart methods and energy breathing techniques, occasionally displaying remarkable resourcefulness.]
In the original history, Julian Connelly would rise as a new member of the Continent’s Twelve Heroes in Dragon God Year 987. At the start of the original story, he would have been only 31—quite young for one of the Twelve Heroes, which had surprised many readers.
I examined the semi-transparent window in detail.
And frowned slightly, in a way that wouldn’t show.
It was still a disappointing character sheet, no matter how many times I looked at it.
“You got quite the show today, Employer.”
“A good show?”
“Yeah. That Dragon Horse Cult Leader or whatever—he was genuinely strong. The world really is vast. If I’d fought him one-on-one, I’d be minced meat right now…”
Julian shrugged exaggeratedly. On the surface it looked like casual banter, but a thick layer of annoyance and lethargy bled through.
In a word, Julian was a man with a free soul. He was powerful enough to be treated with respect anywhere on the continent, yet he never chased martial honor. Instead, he earned pocket change doing odd jobs for organizations like the Free Mercenary Alliance.
He made money with the sword talent he happened to possess. He had been born with qualities great enough to aim for the title of the continent’s greatest swordsman of the next generation, but he had never been born with the drive to properly develop it—that was how the martial artists of the original story evaluated him.
To put it bluntly… his current level was 54, and even deep into the latter half of the original story, after considerable time had passed, he had only crawled up to 55. They said skill growth slowed as one approached their potential limit, but stagnating this badly at his age meant he probably hadn’t put in any real effort at all.
I shook my head.
“Here. Take it.”
I tossed a pouch toward him without ceremony. Julian caught it reflexively, checked the contents, and asked,
“What’s this?”
“The highest-grade elixir from the warehouse. If you sell it at the proper price, you’ll get roughly the same amount as the reward you’re receiving for this job.”
“Come to think of it… the contract did say loot would be distributed according to contribution. The base pay was so high I barely paid attention to that clause.”
Muttering, he quickly tucked the elixir pouch into his robe. I watched him for a moment before speaking.
“It would be better if you ate it instead of selling it.”
“Really?”
Julian brushed the suggestion aside as if it were nothing important.
Inside that pouch was an elixir called 『Luck Herb (A)』. When combined with Julian’s 『Fortune Bone (S)』 trait, it would produce extraordinary synergy.
Still, he had lived his entire life according to his own rhythm. Even his idleness was a form of talent. Forcing a personality change would be pointless. It was more practical to dangle the right bait and gently steer his interest.
Well… if it didn’t work, there was nothing I could do about it.
Focusing on building infrastructure so other promising talents in difficult environments could rise quickly would be far more efficient than fussing over a single Julian.
Losing interest in him, I resumed rummaging through the warehouse.
Soon I discovered a strangely shaped box. It was a large, dark, opaque cube that required both hands to lift. And I already knew what it was.
“…It’s the Model Garden of the Phase (S-).”
Model Garden of the Phase (S-)
- Spell: 〈God Simulator〉
- Indiscriminately reads records engraved in space. The volume of information collected is so vast that humans require a means of identification to observe it.
It was one of the items scheduled to appear at the black market auction around March of year 988—the very item I had planned to purchase when the time came. Yet the Dragon Horse Cult had possessed it?
[MacGuffin No.530 / Moving Model Garden has been recovered.]
[Achievement Points + 500]
Come to think of it, unlike other auction items in the main story, its transport route had been opaque, making authentication difficult. It all fit perfectly if it had been delivered to the black market aboard Melkina, who could move while concealed.
I nodded.
“Anyway, free money.”
The large-scale magic weapon ‘Vice Wolf’ inside the mobile fortress—I instructed the fairy knights to take it with them.
It was a weapon that couldn’t even be charged without the Schnifelt family’s symbolic 『Snowfield Star (A)』 trait, but I couldn’t guarantee we would never need it in the future. So instead of dismantling it, I ordered it sealed tightly in the basement of the clan house.
The real prize was the capture of Vice-leader Aliki Wi Gates. Handing her over to the beastkin kingdom of Safaria would lay the groundwork for building favorable relations with the beastkin forces.
That would also open a path to the ‘Dragon God’s Tear (S+)’, one of the highest-tier Dragon God-related elixirs.
“This matter concerning the cat woman is something of an international issue, so we should handle it with appropriate formality. I’ll send an envoy through the Glicia Kingdom.”
I loaded the carefully written letter onto a carrier pigeon and sent it to Camillo. That workaholic would handle everything on his own. After briefly taking care of clan master duties, I switched back into newlywed vacation mode.
Duke Alabur’s beach villa overlooking the sea.
I reclined on a plush chair.
“Hwaaam….”
A yawn escaped on its own.
After annihilating the Dragon Horse Cult and publicly announcing it, our standing in the Lilliac Magic Kingdom had soared without limit. Naturally, some in power viewed us with caution, but with the very top—the Triple Star—showing favor toward our couple, who could possibly object?
Chesa lifted a glass and said,
“It’s been so long since I’ve lived this leisurely…!”
“I agree, Madam.”
Linia politely poured juice made from ground fruit slime essence. Watching the scene, which felt oddly reminiscent of a modern vacation, I chuckled.
Zzit!
I snapped my fingers, and refined lightning qi sprang forth.
[Correction to lightning-attribute technique understanding and mastery through the Thunder God Physique (S) trait!!]
[White Magic Tower Lightning Magic (B) has reached the ‘Mastery’ stage. Effect greatly increased.]
The hellish training from Tristan had finally ended. There was still a long way to go before true mastery, but it seemed we’d extracted every bit of progress possible from the short-term intensive lessons. Thanks to that, I could now leisurely wander around with the two of them… I supposed I should thank Tristan’s foresight.
After desperately grinding for so long, suddenly feeling this comfortable felt strangely unsettling.
I should enjoy this moment while it lasted.
After enjoying our vacation in the Lilliac Magic Kingdom, I returned to the clan house for the first time in a while. Once I finished the rare administrative work, I headed down to the basement.
「Unique magic wavelength recognized.」
「Welcome, Clan Master.」
When I placed my hand on the giant magic safe, a mechanical voice greeted me politely and opened the door.
Anything kept under such thorough protection in a place like this was obvious. It was the modified magic lamp (S-) containing Irumokwi (79% clone).
“Was the safe comfortable, Miss Irumokwi?”
Silence. But I could feel the indignant presence radiating from inside the lamp. I lifted the antique golden magic lamp.
It was about time to forcibly pry open this doppelganger’s mouth.
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