Tergio and Dispens.
Tergio and Dispens.
thud. thud.
A metal knight twice the size of a human led the way, fluttering his moth-eaten red cloak.
Dakia and I followed the knight and moved on. Dakia, who came next to me, asked in a slightly excited voice.
“Now don’t…”
She was about to call my name out of habit, but quickly changed her words when she realized that Jamel was here.
“I… I can really leave this place with too much effort. All the metal machines that appeared here belonged to the ‘Human Butcher’!”
I shrugged and answered.
“Wouldn’t you know that when you go? The position of the heir may not be as great as you think.”
The answer came from the self-proclaimed third knight, Tergio, who was walking in the lead.
– It won’t happen. Heir, you are the owner of everything in this institute. As long as the Heir wishes, we will follow any order.
I felt a bit burdened by the extremely devoted tone, but I smiled awkwardly behind the mask and nodded my head.
“I’ll get it right now.”
Jamel, who had no choice but to follow us, kept an eye on Dakia and me throughout the walk. Finally, she was quiet and asked us.
“Now… what about me…?”
Actually, I was worried too. After killing Jamel, the guilt stabbed her heart, and when she let her live, cleaning up was another problem.
‘killing!’
My mother kept whispering to me that I should just go ahead and deal with it. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Jamel, but it seemed that if he took care of Jamel, he wouldn’t have to give her the arm of the Immortalium weapon he took earlier.
Dakia looked at Jamel and spoke up.
“Would you like to return to the demon worshipers who came with you? I will free you if you will.”
Jamel rolled his eyes, looked at me, and responded quickly.
“I-I’ve already forgotten Giselle and Jarne!!! I don’t even know who they are! People like that!!!”
After hearing her answer, Dacia whispered to me.
“This doesn’t work. Too bad.”
What is it that you regret? I pushed the curiosity and said.
“I can’t just let her go, but I can’t just kill her, so I guess I’ll have to take her with me for a while.
Dacia looked at me with twinkling eyes and nodded.
“No…”
she asked me after a pause.
“By the way, if you’re going with me, it’s okay if I tell you the priest’s name, right?”
“yes.”
It would be okay if you introduce yourself. I took off my thorny mask and looked at Jamel. Seeing my face, Jamel let out a shrill scream.
“Eh, Priest Marnak!!! You were the Priest Marnak!!!”
“Do you know me?”
Jamel nodded vigorously.
“T-That’s a few times you’ve given a lot of shit to the organization’s affairs, but it’s even weirder if you don’t know! Your face was made into a portrait and spread all over! Will you mercilessly kill me as you did the other worshipers of evil gods…?”
“I don’t have any intention of doing that yet…”
Jamel approached me in a hurry and grabbed my pants crotch.
“I-I’ll be really good!!! I’ll be really good at anything!!! Please don’t kill me!!!”
How the hell did rumors of me spread? I tried to take Jamel off, but she thought my crotch was her lifeline, so I couldn’t get it off because if I tried to take her off, my pants would come off.
“Okay. Could you please let this go?”
“You’re really not going to kill me…?”
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I have no intention of killing you right now. I also plan to keep an eye on them for a while and then release them when the time is right.”
“Really?”
“yes.”
If he was hiding any hostility towards us, I was thinking of killing him at once.
I barely managed to coax Jamel away. Jamel looked up at me and exclaimed vigorously.
“As long as you let me live, I’ll be loyal to you unconditionally!!!”
“Yes, yes. I understand Jamel’s feelings well, so let’s go on our way for now.”
After walking a little further, Terzio stopped in front of a huge door.
– We’re here. successor.
As if the huge door had been waiting for it to open slowly. Then the huge control room revealed itself.
A giant mechanical eye.
In the center of the control room, which was broken and ruined here and there, a huge mechanical eye that descended from the ceiling was staring at us. No, that gaze was a little off somewhere.
It was as if he was blinded by the sharp black marks on the huge mechanical eye.
Metal Knight Tergio looked into his metal eyes and said.
– Dispensing. I brought the heir.
The gigantic mechanical eye called Dispense looked in the direction Tergio’s voice was coming from and emitted a mechanical sound.
– Heir? that he came? where?
– You are standing right next to me right now.
– Oh oh oh.
The sound of the machine, full of joy, exclaimed admiration. Subsequently, Dispens, the manager of this ruin, spoke to me.
– Heir. If you are truly there, would you please come here and bring me the proof of your successor? My visual sensor is damaged, so I can’t see inside this control room.
The proof of the successor that Dispense is talking about must be Ceylon’s No. 1 work. I stepped up in front of the giant machine and held out my right hand.
Then, as if waiting, the armor on my right arm emitted black metal lines and dug into Dispens’ eyes.
– Ahhh. As expected, ‘Mother’ did not abandon us! I was believing. That our ‘Mother’ did not abandon us. successor. I have something to give to the heir. Could you please wait a moment?
Before that, I had something to say.
“Aren’t there people who have entered the ruins right now?”
– That’s right. A total of 24 intruders have entered the ruins. The intruders are divided into two groups, one with only two and the other with 22 people. I’m really sorry. Everyone resisted so much that there was not enough time to deal with the broken ‘soldiers’. Besides, Tergio is the only one left of your ‘knights’…
“For now, I want you to let the twenty-two gathered without killing a single one.”
Dispens answered without hesitation.
– If the heir wishes. Then, we will put all our energy into the side where the remaining two remain and deal with it as quickly as possible.
Jamel, who had been listening quietly, pulled my collar. As I looked at her, she trembled and said something.
“J-Giselle and Jarne, can’t you just let them go…? I-I’ll work harder!!! Really!!!”
Jamel’s camaraderie was the kind that made me very happy and at the same time made me trust her just a little bit more, so I readily accepted it.
“All right.”
I said looking at the dispensing.
“Could you do as I said? However, I hope the exit for those two people will be different from the exit for twenty-two people.”
Dispens moved his broken eyes around and asked me.
– Then, in the case of 22 people, we will send them out to the group that helped the heir to escape a while ago, and we will make an exit to the other side and send those 2 people out.
Are you good at work…? I nodded my head in small admiration.
“Please do so.”
– Well sir. And I want the heir to accept this. It’s something that ‘Mother’ left here a long time ago.
A mechanical hand protruding from the ceiling held out a black lower body armor. As if waiting, the armor on my right arm spewed out metal wires that engulfed the armor on my lower body.
The number ‘2’ appeared on the display on the back of his right hand.
Is the black lower body armor the second work?
A simple picture appeared on the screen. The shape of the flames spraying around the soles and legs. Apparently, the function of the second piece seemed to be a simple booster protruding and accelerating the leap and action.
I said thanks while watching the dispensing.
“I’ll put the things you gave me to good use.”
– It’s originally the heir’s, so it’s okay if you don’t thank me. I just handed over the goods to the heir according to the words of ‘mother’ contained in that work. Everything here belongs to the Heir.
‘killing!!!’
My mother said she was completely immersed in a golden dream. He seemed to be imagining swimming among gold coins.
The mechanical eyes cut by the sword could not focus and swayed back and forth. I felt sorry for him, so I asked Dispens.
The soldiers I saw on the way here, as well as Tergio standing next to me, were covered in minor wounds here and there, and in severe cases, parts of the bodies of the soldiers were missing.
“By the way, everyone doesn’t look well. Can you tell me why?”
His metal eyes blinked a few times before he started explaining to me.
– I will answer the Heir’s question. The reason we got hurt is very simple. All of our wounds are due to a unit made up of ‘masters’ who attacked this place aiming for ‘Mother’. In the battle at that time, all other knights except Tergio were completely destroyed and 99% of the ‘soldiers’ they had were lost. In the aftermath, even the one remaining knight, Tergio, is in an incomplete state.
“But, since you weren’t completely destroyed, did you think you won? To the troops of the masters?”
– Rather than ‘victory’, they confined them here and poured all their resources to ‘starve’ them. This is because masters are also living beings who can only survive by ingesting something. Although they can survive longer without eating and sleeping than other living beings. We dug into the weakness of the masters. So they starved to death in isolation here. If you have to argue, the expression ‘victory’ is appropriate, but it’s true that it’s a bit embarrassing to say that you fought and won.
Still, it was amazing enough to be able to form a unit rather than one and isolate the masters who had invaded and starve them to death. While I was admiring it, Dispense spoke again.
– Heir.
“yes.”
– There is something I would like to earnestly ask the heir.
“which…?”
– ‘Mother’ left this place after faking her own death and came back here only once. In order to entrust the lower half of the armor I gave to the heir. I earnestly asked my mother at that time, but she flatly refused. However, the heir may have a different opinion, so I will ask you carefully.
“Tell me.”
The cold metallic mechanical eyes looked at me and spoke slowly.
– Please allow me to ‘rebuild’ this laboratory. I am your ‘knights’ and ‘soldiers’. And I will recreate all the other ‘weapons’ to help the heir. ‘Mother’ said that it was right for us to be asleep, but I don’t think so. In the first place, isn’t it important to know who uses ‘weapons’ and ‘how’? I’d rather be of help to the heir in any way than to remain in ruins like this.
Please allow the ‘reconstruction’ of the ancient weapon.
I asked, looking at the mechanical eyes.
“Are you really going to obey my will?”
The mechanical eye looked at me and nodded vigorously.
– I’ve always been waiting for someone to ‘dedicate’ to. Trust me completely. successor. If the Heir wants this world, I will bring it to your feet.
A military force made of machines…
I have no reason to refuse when the whole world can become my enemy at any time.
“Okay. I’ll allow ‘reconstruction’.”
– thank you! Thank you! We will not betray your expectations!
The intense gratitude made me rather embarrassed.
“But how long will that reconstruction take?”
Dispens replied vigorously.
– If you’re talking about peak power, roughly 100 years is enough!
“yes?”
