“Finally the cannon has been completed! Let"s start the operation right away?”

◆◇◆◇◆

The huge weapon for the decisive battle, the 『Big Magic Cannon』, which had many people join in its construction, was completed within a month.
All that"s left is to fire this cannon, destroy the magic barrier and suppress the underground fortress with the whole army in one go.
That means the Empire"s civil war will finally come to an end with this.
The cannon has a diameter of one meter and a length of 20 meters. Supporting it is a combination of a cannon mount, aiming device, cooling device, a device that connects the magic gems which store the mana, and Luise who is working as sub-power generator.

“To use the mana acc.u.mulated in my fist as sub-power, that cannon is quite the random construct, isn"t it?” (Luise)

“Isn"t it fine as long as we can win because of that?” (Peter)

“Well, I guess so.” (Luise)

Luise agreed with Peter"s point. These two might actually have similar personalities.

“Wilma, will your side be alright?”

“We tested it several times, so it should be okay. It"s only that the cannon"s aiming device has become rather big.” (Wilma)

“Didn"t you say that there"s no need for precision at the level of the magic sniper rifle?”

“Basically it will be fine if I hit around here.” (Wilma)

Wilma looked through the installed scope and showed a detailed map of the mountainside to me.

“The previously mentioned breath-emitting devices have been set up at places which are marked red.”

Peter didn"t play around in this one month either, it seems.
He investigated the places where we will be able to cause big damage to the underground fortress" facilities at the same time of breaking the　『Magic Barrier』.

“If it"s aiming at this level, I suppose there will be plenty of leeway for you, Wilma.” (Wendelin)

“As long as I don"t become careless. It will be fine as we adjusted the measurement error of the aiming device in the test firing at the beginning.” (Wilma)

“I see. Please do your best then.” (Wendelin)

When I gently caressed her head, Wilma looked very happy.

“Wend, what about me?” (Luise)

“Huh? Didn"t you tell me before 『I"m a grown up woman, so I won"t be pleased even if you caress me』?” (Wendelin)

“Did I really say something like that? Look, being unfair is no good.” (Luise)

When I caressed her head as well in response to that, she looked delighted as well.

“Emera?” (Peter)

“What is it?” (Emera)

“Look at that!” (Peter)

“What about it?” (Emera)

“Nothing…” (Peter)

Peter tried to imitate me to stroke Emera"s head, but there"s no way that she would accept that. With her unapproachable manner, Peter was tragically shot down. I don"t think that Emera will be happy to have something like that done to her anyway, but…

“Well, we are going to fire it soon then, right?”

It"s quite casual, but Peter orders Emera to signal the start of the operation. Once she instructed the magician standing next to her, he released a flare into the sky. At last it"s the beginning of battle.

“Wilma, give us a flashy shot!”

“Roger, flashy it will be.” (Wilma)

Having said that, since it"s just taking aim and pulling the trigger, it won"t be that flashy either way.

“Beginning the mana supply from the magic gem linking device. Current capacity at 57%.” (Wilma)

The magic gem linking device, which caused the most troubles in the building phase, seems to function properly. However, since it"s getting heated up as expected, we can feel the hot air over here as well. It might be difficult to use it for an extended period of time.

“Capacity at 105%.” (Wilma)

“I will start providing mana as well.” (Luise)

Following that, Luise poured the mana ama.s.sed in her fist into a cord, sending it to the magic cannon.
It"s the duty of a sub-power generator, but to guarantee the power output of the cannon, which is a trial product, her mana was necessary.

“Confirmed charging of mana. Adjusting aim, 2 ticks up, 3 ticks right. Aim all set. Fire.” (Wilma)

After Wilma confirmed all of it with an indifferent voice, she quickly pulled the trigger.
Just as she did, the surroundings of the magic cannon were attacked by a trembling as if a major earthquake was taking place.
The huge magic cannon isn"t actually so loud that it would make windows tremble.
Since it doesn"t use gunpowder, it"s not at the level of rupturing one"s eardrums.
Because it"s a primitive cannon, the energy of the firing is released completely to the front.
That"s why no shock wave reached us, but in exchange the cooling device released huge amounts of vapor while suppressing the abnormal heating.
I protect myself and the others from the steam with a 『Magic Barrier』.

“That"s an amazing amount of steam, isn"t it?”

“No change here.” (Wilma)

“How nice, that"s a convenient protection.” (Luise)

“But it has no use except on such occasion. After all you will get immediately drenched in sweat if you move while wearing this.” (Wilma)

Same as at the time with the large magic sniper rifle prototype, Wilma wore a mithril-coated coat.
Luise acted as if she was jealous, but well, since it"s difficult to use when hunting monsters…

“Did it hit?”

“It looks like it did.”

Because I was asked by Luise, I peeked through the binoculars in a hurry and confirmed that a reasonably big hole had been drilled into a part of the mountainside.
The cannon"s sh.e.l.l smashed the magic barrier, impacted on the mountainside and pierced into it. It apparently destroyed a facility, causing chaos within the underground fortress.
It was a simple c.h.i.n.kapin-shaped sh.e.l.l made out of a tungsten alloy without fuse and without any explosive material, but since that ma.s.s had been accelerated by a large amount of mana, it should have developed a considerable power.

“What terrific output. Wilma, keep shooting as long as you can.”

“Got it.”

While looking on the map, Wilma starts to aim at the next target.
The target points and their order had been noted down on the map of the mountainside.
This is what Peter had his troops investigate for the last month.

“Loading the next sh.e.l.l! Done!” (Armstrong)

“Eh? Dous.h.i.+, you"re in charge of loading the sh.e.l.ls?” (Wendelin)

The tungsten-alloy sh.e.l.ls, which had been completed by craftsmen polis.h.i.+ng the rough shape I had created, are absurdly heavy. It was planned to have several magicians, who can strengthen themselves, handle the loading process, but for some reason Dous.h.i.+ is doing it all by himself.

“To have several magicians carry one sh.e.l.l is quite inefficient!” (Armstrong)

“I"m thankful, but at the same time surprised that you can carry it by yourself.”

“This much is light for me.” (Armstrong)

Thanks to Dous.h.i.+, the loading of the sh.e.l.ls finishes speedily and Wilma fires the cannon in succession.
It is impossible for the aim to be off.
Even if it slightly deviates from its target, it will definitely cause damage to the fortress as long as it pierces into the mountainside.

“The aiming device had a measurement error. Adjusting it, one tick down, one tick left. Fire.” (Wilma)

There are in total 25 sh.e.l.ls that had been produced by me. I couldn"t do any more as I didn"t have enough materials.
It would have been fine to use other materials too, but since the mana stored in the magic gems will run out at that point anyway, it"s all the same.
Besides, if you fire 25 of those huge projectiles, it will consume a huge amount of mana to restore the 『Magic Barrier』 each time.
On the mountainside holes so big that you can see them with the naked eye had opened up at several places.
The interior of the fortress beyond the holes torn open by the sh.e.l.ls should be crumbling by now.

“All sh.e.l.ls. .h.i.t. I think I was able to destroy a considerable amount of the breath-emitting devices as well.” (Wilma)

“That"s amazing, Wilma.” (Wendelin)

As I praised Wilma who finished her task, there was movement within the imperial army.
The elites of the imperial army that seem to be the advance unit were ordered to storm the holey mountainside.
It"s probably because the rebel army couldn"t maintain the 『Magic Barrier』 any longer due to the bombardment.

“Now that it has come to this, they might give priority to the contest for great achievements.” (Ina)

“But they have to be on their guard, don"t they?” (Erwin)

Erw rebuts Ina"s remark.
As a matter of fact the advance guard came under fire from the breath-emitting devices that survived close to the mountainside.
However…

“They should be useless since Emersan is with them.” (Peter)

Peter won"t make such a mistake a second time either.
The discharged breath attacks were completely blocked by Emera who was standing at the head. The other magicians silenced the devices one after the other by launching spells at the locations from where the breath was originating.

“Earl-sama, we have to go as well.” (Burkhart)

“True, let"s go then?”

“I"m charging in!”

“Please don"t fall behind!”

At the same time as the imperial army"s vanguard started its attack on the underground fortress, we also charged in that direction.
The number of soldiers are only 1,000 led by Erw and Haruka, but since our destination is an underground fortress, it should be difficult to command a too big number of soldiers.

“Erwin, relax without stressing yourself too much.” (Philip)

“Nii-san and I will act in concert with the Mizuho army.” (Christoph)

Given that the speed will fall if we move with everyone, Philip and Christoph, who lead the remaining soldiers, were scheduled to move together with the Mizuho army.

“Start the charge!”

We leave the magic cannon that has no sh.e.l.ls left to be fired anymore to the Mizuho craftsmen and head out towards the deepest part of the fortress.

“Wend, are you possibly targeting Duke Nürnberg"s head?”

Luise asks something strange.

“I don"t need his head. I will gladly give it to anyone who wants it.” (Wendelin)

At this point in the civil war there"s no point in taking something like that and boasting of it as great military exploit. It will only trigger good-for-nothing envy. Rather than that, the destruction of the jamming device takes maximum priority right now.

“As there will be many contenders for it, it"s out of our reach anyway.” (Burkhart)

“If I remember correctly, even a normal soldier will become a n.o.ble as reward, right?”

“Yes. It"s said that they will be appointed to the rank of Viscount, albeit not a landed one. It"s something I frequently heard on the battlefield. Erw-san, let us go at it steadily.” (Haruka)

“Since I will be busy protecting Wend, don"t do anything unreasonable, Haruksan.” (Erwin)

Erw, Ina and Haruka apparently remembered Peter"s previous motivational speech to the officers and men of the imperial army. Since a big number of n.o.bles has died, it probably doesn"t hurt to give a peerage to the person who took Duke Nürnberg"s head.

“What a large-scaled underground base.”

Once I peeked through a hole in the mountainside, a pa.s.sage of the fortress was visible.
Since I don"t think that there had been any construction work done on it since the civil war broke out, the fortress utilizes the underground ruin after all.

“Wow, what a wide pa.s.sage.” (Luise)

Luise, who is searching for enemies while standing at the front since she"s a master of the Magic Combat Style, admired the vastness of the underground ruin.

“It probably was an army base to begin with.” (Burkhart)

It"s likely just as Burkhart-san deducted. If this place is the source of the various magic tools used by Duke Nürnberg so far, all of it makes sense.

“Dous.h.i.+, where are we going to find that device?”

“Considering it normally, I think it will be in the innermost part.” (Armstrong)

While moving, we observed all over battles between the imperial army that charged into the fortress and Duke Nürnberg"s feudal army which defended it. The sounds of weapons clas.h.i.+ng could be heard regularly.

“It"s the enemy army!”

“Sorry, time"s valuable.”

Once I invoke 『Area Stun』, all members of the enemy forces, who rushed in our direction, were paralyzed and stopped moving.

“Don"t bother finis.h.i.+ng them off! We are advancing further in!”

At any rate, since time was precious, we didn"t fuss over taking our revenge by killing the enemies. Erw strictly forbade attacks against the stunned enemies. We pa.s.s through the fortress while creating a large amount of paralyzed enemies.
Once we came this deep in, we couldn"t see our allies any longer nor could we hear any battle sounds.

“It"s quiet here, isn"t it?”

“That makes it all the more dangerous.”

Luise"s premonition came true. The lower we descended, the more suicide-bombing golems and breath-emitting devices were set up.

“The method to deal with them has been already established though.”

It would probably be difficult for normal soldiers to remove them, but for a magician they aren"t such difficult opponents.
The suicide-bombing golems will explode once they receive an impact above a certain, fixed level.

“Earl Baumeister, here are the necessary materials!” (Armstrong)

Dous.h.i.+ creates a great amount of rock lumps by hitting the wall of the underground ruin. I throw those at the approaching, suicide-bombing golems.
Once they hit, the golems explode and we block the fragments with our 『Magic Barriers』. And that"s all.

“Ina, Wilma.”

“Leave it to us.” (Ina)

“I will shoot!” (Wilma)

It"s the same for the breath-emitting devices. Since only the breath-spitting part has been deployed, the device itself can"t move.
Ina throws her spears from a distance. Wilma snipes. With me strengthening their attacks with 『Boost』, the devices were destroyed easily.
Given that they don"t have any function except spitting breath installed, the devices aren"t as st.u.r.dy as the dragon golems.

“However, we are reasonably far in and still haven"t arrived at our destination.”

We stormed in aiming for that jamming device, but we can"t get to it despite being fairly deep inside.
Since it"s necessary for Peter and his forces to finely comb through the fortress, they seem to be fighting a hard battle at a floor that"s far higher than the one where we are.
On the way we found residential areas, where the soldiers and their families are obviously living, under construction.
Because we don"t have the time to explore all of them, we ignore those and descend to the floor below.

“There"s only machinery! It looks like Duke Nürnberg doesn"t trust people!” (Armstrong)

After a certain floor, there were only suicide-bombing golems and breath-emitting devices set up.
As we advance while destroying those, we ran into an obviously suspicious, huge door. A big number of breath-emitting devices has been placed in front of it. Just before I can destroy them with magic from a distance, Dous.h.i.+ draws closer to them while deploying a 『Magic Barrier』 around himself, and destroys all of them with kicks and punches.
When he was drawing near, Dous.h.i.+ was. .h.i.t by breath attacks of all attributes, but all of it was repelled by his 『Magic Barrier』 .

“Complete destruction with one blow! Doing it little-by-little is troublesome!” (Armstrong)

Nothing but the wreckage of the devices remains in front of the door.

“Now then, this is the innermost room!” (Armstrong)

Once Dous.h.i.+ opened the huge door by himself, Duke Nürnberg and a weird middle-aged man wearing a white tuxedo waited for us there.

“A chief retainer of Duke Nürnberg? Doesn"t look like it…” (Wendelin)

“Earl-sama, look at the ears of that guy.” (Burkhart)

Being told so by Burkhart-san, I look at the ears of that man and discover that they were actually pointed.
He doesn"t look like an elf. Then again, even in my former world elves and dwarves were fictional  races.
They don"t exist in reality.

“Demon…”

Burkhart-san concisely taught me the correct answer. His appearance isn"t all that different from humans. As special trait, his ears are pointed. After the collapse of the Ancient Magic Civilization there haven"t been any precedents of them being sighted, but demons are said to definitely exist.
The actual proof for the demons" existence was helping Duke Nürnberg.

“Now I get it! You borrowed the help of demons to get your hands on the mysterious jamming device and many other legacies from the era of the Ancient Magic Civilization!” (Armstrong)

For a change Dous.h.i.+ had a fit of anger towards Duke Nürnberg.
That"s because the situation couldn"t be simply excused as mere rebellion of Duke Nürnberg.
After all Duke Nürnberg, who said that he was aiming for a hegemony of the continent, proved the fact that he actually had connections to the Demon Country.
In the worst case it was a plan of the demons to divide the humans and suspicions whether Duke Nürnberg has deliberately caused damage to the Empire would emerge.

“Is there anything wrong about that?” (Nürnberg)

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

“No matter what I use, it will be fine as long as I win in the end. Winning will justify all past actions. Isn"t this the truth of this world?” (Nürnberg)

“Wh-!”

Dous.h.i.+ becomes speechless due to Duke Nürnberg"s reb.u.t.tal.

“However, you did it, Earl Baumeister, didn"t you?” (Nürnberg)

“…”

At this point there"s no need to explain as to what it is I did.
It"s because I did nothing but being a hindrance to Duke Nürnberg.

“I merely moved for my own sake. If I win, the just Earl Baumeister will bring peace to the world by defeating the evil Duke Nürnberg. And it will be a happy end for everyone. Or am I wrong?” (Wendelin)

“Don"t spout such bulls.h.i.+t despite being nothing more than a greenhorn. You keep thwarting all my plans.” (Nürnberg)

Currently more than 200,000 soldiers on both sides are engaging in mortal combat inside this underground fortress.
No matter how elite the feudal army of the Duke Nürnberg household might be, they are in disorder due to the bombardment. It should be difficult for them to eliminate the imperial army that invaded in big numbers to attack the place.

“I guess in the end you are a person to be avoided by me, Earl Baumeister. It"s regrettable, but I have to kill you here.” (Nürnberg)

“What a very arrogant att.i.tude. I don"t remember having become your retainer and thus I have no obligation to be killed by you.” (Wendelin)

I have heard from Therese that he"s a sword master, but in that case it will be fine if I defeat him with magic.
I began to prepare the spell 『Blaze』 in order to reduce him to ash, but right after the spell finished forming, the fire vanished completely.

“Did you cancel it?” (Wendelin)

“You are correct. The forte of this esteemed me, who is a demon, as magic system is 『Darkness』. The strong point of 『Darkness』 lies in its special characteristics the other magic systems do not possess.”

The demon, whose vocal tone resembles that of Dous.h.i.+ 1, apparently cancelled my spell with a darkness spell in an instant.

——————————- End of Part 1 ———————————–

“I can also use this kind of magic.”

“Uuh!”

“Erw!”

Next Erw"s body is suddenly wrapped up by a black mist. At the same time as the mist clears up, Erw, who had the white parts of his eyes dyed black, tries to a.s.sault Therese with his sword as if he had lost control of himself.
Ina gets in-between them in a hurry and blocks Erw"s sword with the handle of her spear.

“Erw!”

“Erw-san! Please get your act together!” (Haruka)

“Ugaa—–!”

Haruka calls out to him as well while drawing her magic katana and going to a.s.sist Ina, but Erw doesn"t answer their calls and continues to swing his katana as if he had gone mad while shouting something cryptic.
It looks like he forgot all the sword techniques he had learned up until now. He"s completely acting like a berserker.

“Are you manipulating the mind of your opponent?”

“I wonder about that? However, that lad regards your group as enemies, Earl Baumeister.”

“What an annoying spell…”

If several of us are manipulated by this magic, we might get annihilated due to killing each other in worst case.
Everyone feels nervous, but the one who eliminated that danger was Elise.
A bluish-white light spreads around us. At the same time as that vanishes, Erw returned to his normal state.

“Huh? What am I doing?” (Erwin)

“Erw-san, you were manipulated by that demon.” (Haruka)

“Ooh! There is a magic user of the 『Holy』 attribute which counters 『Darkness』! This esteemed me is deeply impressed by your ability!”

It seems holy attribute owns the property to negate the darkness attribute.
However, it apparently requires ability beyond a certain level. The demon was astonished by Elise"s strength.

“Demon, it looks like your trump card, darkness, doesn"t work. Give up alongside Duke Nürnberg, and offer your head.”

“To get beheaded all of a sudden, humans are indeed savage.”

“You know…do you believe it to be possible for you to beg for your life after seeing the terrible state of this Empire?”

Just as Duke Nürnberg says, there"s no way that there will be any other punishment than the death penalty if one considers it legally and takes the feelings of the imperial citizens into account. Even if we let him live and only captured him here, the result will be him being tortured terribly while alive before getting brutally killed in the end. In that case it"s merciful to kill him right now right here.

“You are very kind, Earl Baumeister.”

“No. Capturing the owner of so much mana as you possess alive will only lead to many casualties. As n.o.ble of the Kingdom it would probably great to obtain various information, but it"s probably a luxury to ask for this much. As accomplice of a genocide, you will die together with Duke Nürnberg.”

“This esteemed me was only interested in the items of the historic ruin as archeologist.”

“Do you think that such excuse is going to pa.s.s?”

“I antic.i.p.ated that I would be told so. In that case I should fight here together with Duke Nürnberg to whom I am indebted. Maybe we might be able to win.”

After saying that, the demon retrieved some square box from the inside pocket of his tuxedo.
Once I look properly, it seems to be some remote control.

“This underground ruin was weapon and ammunition factory of the national army and a place to construct prototypes during the era of the Ancient Magic Civilization. Among them is a secret weapon I set aside as trump card. Come! 『Giant-version Mechanic Doll, Majin-kun』!” 2

Once the demon pressed a b.u.t.ton on the remote control, the wall behind Duke Nürnberg and the demon collapsed and a huge, human-shaped golem with a height of around 20 meters appeared.

“What. Again a golem?”

“This golem is capable of solving the inefficient application which is a golem"s weak point.”

Even as the demon is talking, I, Katharina, Dous.h.i.+ and Burkhart-san mercilessly hurl spells at the two, but all of them were repelled by the 『Magic Barrier』 of the demon who gave up on using darkness magic.

“Earl-sama! That demon!” (Burkhart)

“Yes. He has more mana than I do.” (Wendelin)

Until now I didn"t encounter any magicians that had more mana than me, but as expected of a demon. He boasted of an astounding mana pool.

“This Majin-kun is controlled by Duke Nürnberg and provided with mana by this esteemed me. It exhibits a tremendous power.”

“We will annihilate the imperial army after killing you.” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg boards the opened chest of the golem while being carried by the demon with 『Flight』.
In other words, that place is the c.o.c.kpit.

“Does that demon possess a 『Movement Canceller』 as owned by master…?”

Although we couldn"t fly as usual, the demon could use 『Flight』.
This is also a disadvantage for us.

“Now then, feel free to despair in front of Majin-kun"s power.”

The voice of Duke Nürnberg, who boarded the huge golem, is audible similar to a stereo broadcasting.
It seems to be a device allowing to broadcast a voice from within the c.o.c.kpit after amplifying it.
Although this should be a western-styled fantasy world with swords and magic, for some reason only that point had turned into a robot anime. Though it"s likely only me who"s thinking about such things.

“I guess I will try it out starting from the weapons.” (Nürnberg)

Having obtained a new toy, Duke Nürnberg appears to be in high spirits.
The huge golem pushed out its both hands to the front.
Thereupon the parts from below the elbows of both arms come flying at us like rockets.
It was just like the rocket punch in a robot anime which I had seen in my childhood.

“The arms are flying!”

“Are they magic tools using 『Flight』?”

Erw and Haruka are surprised, but it seems there"s no time to run away.
Dous.h.i.+ and I deployed st.u.r.dy 『Magic Barriers』 and each of us blocked one of the rocket punches.

“What amazing power…”

“They still haven"t stopped!” (Armstrong)

Even after being stopped by the 『Magic Barriers』, the rocket punches still didn"t cease moving, continuing to charge to mow us down. Dous.h.i.+ and I are slowly drawing back while being pushed, but after strengthening the 『Magic Barriers』 even further, it finally developed into a deadlock.
Ten odd seconds after that the rocket punches returned to the golem"s arms.

“Those are dangerous weapons.”

“Yes.”

Burkhart-san exposes his wariness towards the power of the rocket punches.
Dous.h.i.+ and I only prevented our 『Magic Barriers』 getting penetrated. The rocket fists themselves are undamaged and can still be fired many times. If we don"t somehow deal with them, we will be turned into minced meat by those rocket punches once we run out of mana.

“What do you think of the power of a super weapon from the era of the Ancient Magic Civilization, Earl Baumeister?” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg"s voice that was audible from the huge golem brims with confidence.
He was apparently convinced that he will be able to defeat us if it goes on like this.

“Have you become speechless, Earl Baumeister?”

“Let me say just one thing. Once it reaches the point where a military genius relies on magic tools, it means the end is near.” (Wendelin)

“What impudent talk. Ooh! That"s right! You were present here as well, weren"t you Therese?” (Nürnberg)

As if he had just remembered it, Duke Nürnberg called out to Therese who was accompanying us.

“I"ve heard you had been forcibly taken down from your position as d.u.c.h.ess Philip or such. Isn"t that an unusal mistake for you?”

“It"s not really a mistake. I"m very satisfied with the current state of affairs. From the start the paths thee and I took were different. Die without worrying about it.” (Therese)

“Even after retiring, you are a scary one, Therese.”

Duke Nürnberg continued to talk to Therese in a jesting tone.

“Certainly thee haven"t expected that I would be pleading for my life, have thee?” (Therese)

“By no means. In the end, it"s our fate that either of us two has to die.”

“The one dying is thee then, right? After all I"m still young.” (Therese)

While saying so, Therese placed a hand on my shoulder.

“…So that"s the reason. Very well. In that case, die as a woman. I"m a kind man, so I will send you to the afterlife together with Earl Baumeister.”

Finis.h.i.+ng the chat at this point, the golem entered a combat stance.

“Therese, fall back. The others from the royal army as well.”

Seeing that such huge golem had appeared, I have no other option but to have everyone except the essential battle members leave this room.
Common soldiers will be simply crushed underfoot. And even before that, they would only become hindrances standing in the way of our battle.

“Erw.”

“I"m sorry, but I won"t retreat. Haruksan, please help the soldiers leave this room.”

“Erw-san! I will stay behind as well!”

“No, being allowed to partic.i.p.ate in this will only result in you becoming a victim of Wend"s bad luck. This time you must leave.” (Erwin)

“But…” (Haruka)

“Have a look at this lineup. It"s unlikely that we are going to lose, right?” (Erwin)

“… Understood.” (Haruka)

Haruka, a Mizuho woman, makes the decision to pull back with the soldiers as she"s told by Erw.

“Erwin, I"m Earl Baumeister"s guard, so I will stay behind.” (Takeomi)

“No. Only in this particular battle Wend"s guard will be me. Can"t I have you help Haruksan out?” (Erwin)

“Got it. I shall leave it to you, Erwin.” (Takeomi)

Takeomi-san acknowledged.

“Therese-sama, you too.”

“No, I will stay back.” (Therese)

“But, Therese-sama, with your sword skills…”

She"s no magician nor is her swordsmans.h.i.+p that amazing either.
Takeomi-san tells Therese that remaining here despite that is reckless.

“I don"t believe that Wendelin is going to lose. Also, even if I die, it has absolutely no effect on the Empire. Besides, I"m useful, too.” (Therese)

Therese took out something from her chest.
Once I look closely, it"s a magic bag. From within she retrieves an object I feel I have seen somewhere before and throws it in the direction of the huge golem after pulling the pin attached to it.

“Close your eyes!” (Therese)

At the same time as everyone shuts their eyes, that object emits an intense flash in front of the golem. As expected, it was apparently something like a flash grenade.

“It has the effect of an explosive flash bullet.” (Therese)

“Ooh—! How dazzling—!”

“Therese! Are you trying to blind us!” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg, who was about to launch the rocket arms once again, was confused after having his eyesight temporarily stolen by the flash bullet.

“What an unbelievable, hidden weapon.”

“Wendelin, it"s not like legacies of the Ancient Magic Civilization only appear in Nürnberg Dukedom. There"s only few of them, but things like this have been handed down in the Duke Philip household as well.” (Therese)

It seems that the especially precious, dangerous items among the magic tools, which had been excavated in the Philip Dukedom in the past, have been stored in the magic bag in Therese"s hands.

“Why are you, who has retired as family head, holding onto those?”

“For generations the family heads have had the duty to hide the items in this magic bag. Originally I probably should have handed it over to Alfons, but I missed the chance to do so thanks to the drama over the family head change that has never happened in this way before. It"s a good opportunity, so I guess I have decided to use these items here.” (Therese)

Following that, Therese takes out something else from the magic bag.
It"s a pipe with a length of around one meter. Upon close inspection it was something resembling a bazooka.

“I have heard that it"s name is 『Sorcery Rocket Launcher』.” (Therese)

“Can you use it?”

“I have read the instruction that was found together with it in my free time.” (Therese)

Therese aims the rocket launcher and pulls the trigger.
The fired rocket hits the right elbow of the golem, tearing off the right rocket arm in the process.

“Its power is truly tremendous.” (Therese)

“Now!”

As Duke Nürnberg and the demon still haven"t recovered their sight, it"s now our chance.
I, Burkhart-san, Dous.h.i.+ and Katharina fire spells, Erw and Ina throw spears, and Wilma snipes, destroying the eyes of the golem.
The huge golem that had most of its limbs destroyed falls to the ground while causing a thunderous crash.

“We did it!”

“No, wait.”

Looking at the golem that had stopped moving, Erw was celebrating, but the magicians among us know better.
The demon"s huge mana pool is still going strong and it"s wriggling, trying to start some follow-up action.

“At this leveeel—! You won"t be able to defeat Majin-kun—! Come here!” (T/N: Come here in English)

At the same time of the demon"s yell, the golem detaches the damaged head and limbs, and floats up into the air. Next, additional parts came flying from inside the wall, which had been destroyed when the golem appeared, and combined with the torso.
The golem immediately returns to its original shape.

“Naive, naive, far too naive—. This esteemed me eagerly repaired the excavated items in the last few years.”

There"s a huge amount of spare parts for the golem. As long as the mana of the demon and the magic gem in the torso are not broken, the golem can apparently restore itself by drawing as many new spare parts as it needs.

“In a certain sense! This Majin-kun is invincible!”

“Did you see, Earl Baumeister!? The power of this doll!” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg, who had recovered his eyesight at some point, loudly laughs at us. His appearance is truly that of an evil last boss.

“What bulls.h.i.+t. Earl-sama, if you destroy it a few times, the spare parts will likely run out, too.” (Burkhart)

“That"s right, isn"t it?”

Approving Burkhart-san"s opinion, we all started to attack again and blew away the tattered golem.
However…

“Come heeere—!”

Once again spare limbs and head come flying and combine with the torso, returning the golem to its original state.

“Wendelin-san, we are going to continue, right?”

“Yes, third time"s the charm.” (Wendelin)

Once more we attack the golem with a concentrated fire of spells.
And once more it becomes tattered and then restores itself to it previous state.

“There"s no end to this.”

“How regrettable, Earl Baumeister! Demon! Deliver the final blow!” (Nürnberg)

“Well then, we shall resume attacking again!”

Duke Nürnberg gained even more confidence due to the golem"s toughness.
The rocket punches are launched from both arms and this time even sh.e.l.ls from a magic cannon that had been installed on the golem"s back without me noticing are fired.
Adding the bombardment besides the rocket punches forced us into an one-sided, defensive battle.
With the deployment of our 『Magic Barriers』, our mana is gradually depleting.

“Isn"t this bad?”

“I wonder how often we have to destroy that huge golem until it doesn"t restore itself?”

Dous.h.i.+ and I discussed what we should do from now on while defending against the cannon sh.e.l.ls and the two rocket punches.

“Therese, don"t you have some secret weapon or something like that?”

“If thou are speaking of offensive ability, it"s not that different from the magic cannon. But can I ask something else before that?” (Therese)

“Is there some kind of problem?”

“Yeah. Isn"t it better to attack the rear and destroy the structure that supplies the spare parts rather than attacking the golem"s main body?” (Therese)

“…That"s it!”

We had forgotten this obvious fact until it was pointed out by Therese.
If new spare parts come flying right after the golem itself is destroyed, then it would be best to simply destroy the structure providing those parts.

“The target is the room, from where the parts come flying, behind the huge golem!”

“Since Earl-sama and Dous.h.i.+ can"t attack right now, there"s no other option but us doing our best, huh…?” (Burkhart)

Being busy with defending, Dous.h.i.+ and I can"t partic.i.p.ate in the attack.
Burkhart-san and Katharina release a large amount of 『Fire b.a.l.l.s』. Luise and Ina throw spears loaded with mana. Wilma snipes, and Therese rapidly fires the still remaining rockets of the rocket launcher.
The spells, spears and rockets pa.s.s the golem and fly through the hole in the destroyed wall. After a short moment a huge explosion occurred.

“Whaaat—! The combination system haaas—!”

It looks like Therese"s idea was correct.
The still-functional spare parts for the limbs and similar were dragged into secondary explosions and got destroyed.

——————————- End of Part 2 ———————————-

“Demon! Rather than that, it"s that device!” (Nürnberg)

“It is very likely that it was damaged in those explosions. Let me just say that it is not my fault.”

“That device?”

Thinking, does he possibly mean…, I cast 『Flight』. My body floats into the air without my head being a.s.sailed by a sharp pain.
After almost a year it became possible for me to fly again.

“That device got unexpectedly quickly destroyed, didn"t it?”

“Earl-sama, let"s use the opportunity and shower them with attacks all together.” (Burkhart)

“It will be a drama if they recover because we gave them a chance. Everybody, start attacking!”

With the destruction of the spare parts supply system, it had become impossible for the huge golem to replace the broken parts.
Then we should use the opportunity and destroy it completely.

“I will do it in one go! Hhmmm—!” (Armstrong)

Dous.h.i.+ strengthens his body functions with magic, cancels the 『Magic Barrier』, grabs a rocket punch with both hands just like that and starts to constrict it like a vise.
Due to Dous.h.i.+"s attack that didn"t spare any mana, the rocket arm was gradually crushed and developed cracks on its surface.

“Ina!”

“Erw!”

Next the two of them throw throwing spears.
The spears. .h.i.t the joint parts of the golem"s rocket arms and squash them.
With this it should be impossible to for the rocket arm to ever again combine with the torso.

“Next I"m up.” (Luise)

Having recovered 『Flight』, Luise jumped on top of the rocket arm, which is being stopped by my 『Magic Barrier』, like an acrobat and swung down a mancharged fist blow from above.
The last rocket arm becomes a mess and crashes into the ground.

“Earl-sama! Let"s go!” (Burkhart)

“Yes!”

After making sure that the rocket arm has been completely destroyed, Burkhart-san and I run up to the golem.
It still continued to attack with its magic cannon, but Katharina circles behind it while preparing a 『Wind Cutter』 that had its power increased to the limit through compression, and then cut the magic cannon off the golem"s back with it.

“It"s great that I improved my magic control just as I was told by master.” (Katharina)

The magic cannon, which had its mana supply severed and became detached, falls to the ground and becomes silent.

“Demon! Do something!” (Nürnberg)

“To put this in layman terms, we are in a biii—-ig piii—-inch!”

“I"m going to kill you!” (Nürnberg)

“Be quiet! Unsightly teamwork is unacceptable. Fire.” (Wilma)

Duke Nürnberg"s panicked yelling is audible, but Wilma shoots out both eyes of the golem with her sniping, effectively stealing their sight completely.

“At this point I will, with the magic of this esteemed me…uguh!”

“Demon! What"s wrong!?” (Nürnberg)

“My body does not move as it should. I have blisters from the head to the toes and my head is dizzy, too.”

“Why is something like that happening? Is it Earl Baumeister"s magic?” (Nürnberg)

“I"m afraid to say, but it"s not me.” (Wendelin)

“It"s me.” (Elise)

Elise quietly did her task of suppressing the demon"s dark magic, which at the same time started to attack the demon in reverse.
Since demons are also living creatures, she repeatedly cast healing magic, little-by-little capitalizing on the disposition that demons will be healed with healing magic in the same way as humans. No matter what healing magic it might be, if it"s cast in too short intervals, it will instead become harmful.
Elise sniped only the demon from a distance and succeeded in the difficulty of making highly concentrated healing magic permeate into the demon"s body.

“When you enter a state of being over-healed, the skin will blister, you will get motion sick, short of breath and dizzy, as well as suffer other bad influences on your mental state. Moreover, if you ignore those symptoms..” (Elise)

“It will become fatal at the end”, Elise tells us.

“Huh? Previously my healing magic has been too strong…” (Wendelin)

“If it"s around several to several dozen times the needed amount, nothing will happen. You have to cast more than several hundred times the required amount.” (Elise)

“This is quite unexpected.”

The golem"s parts replacement system has been destroyed and his own body is in a bad shape due to an overdose of healing magic.
The demon was fairly troubled.
Other than now, there won"t be another perfect chance to deliver the final blow.

“Burkhart-san!” (Wendelin)

“Aye!” (Burkhart)

At this point I start to run together with Burkhart-san, who preserved his mana, towards the huge golem.

“Don"t allow them to get any closer!” (Nürnberg)

“Your treatment of demons is rough.”

Even while burdened with the symptoms of over-healing…as expected of a demon…
Using his huge mana pool, he deploys 『Wind Cutters』 like a storm.

“That"s why I"m here!” (Burkhart)

All of it was blocked by the 『Magic Barrier』 deployed by Burkhart-san.

“Earl-sama, the torso part of this huge golem looks quite st.u.r.dy. What are you going to do?” (Burkhart)

While making use of the deployed 『Magic Barrier』 to advance, I ponder what magic to use to disable the golem. Certainly, leaving the limbs aside, it didn"t look as if I would be able to cause any damage to the torso part with the c.o.c.kpit, no matter what kind of attack I used.

“With emission magic…” (Wendelin)

Since its power is low, I won"t be able to deliver any damage to the golem"s torso.
What should I do then?
The answer is what I discovered when I fought against master before.

“Gathering a huge amount of mana into one point without releasing it…no, I guess in this case it"s into 『one blade』…” (Wendelin)

I take out the hilt of the magic sword, which is master"s memento, and charge it with a ma.s.sive amount of mana at a level I haven"t used until now.
However, I make the materialized blade as thin as possible. I keep the length at a minimum, but since I"m going to cut apart a huge golem, I make sure to not make it too short.
Is it a problem of my image? A red blade that resembled a j.a.panese sword appeared from the hilt.
Seeing as it"s red, it definitely possesses a fire attribute, but I can"t see anything resembling a flame.
It"s because I compressed the blade to the maximum.

“I will burn it away with this.” (Wendelin)

After approaching right in front of the golem with 『Flight』, I swing down the flame sword in one breath.

“Even if it"s you Earl Baumeister, this huge golem"s torso is armored with an alloy of mithril and 『Extreme Limit Steel』. Something like cutting it is impossible…what!?” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg shouts in surprise.
That"s because the golem"s torso has been cut apart, allowing us to see Duke Nürnberg through the tear. However, I wasn"t able to bisect it completely
Even though I charged it with this much mana, I only cut the armor of the golem apart.

“Once more…” (Wendelin)

That was my plan, but I had apparently used up more mana than I expected. I feel dizzy and sit down on the spot.

“Earl-sama!” (Burkhart)

“Burkhart-san, you are next…” (Wendelin)

“With my mana pool, it would be strange to even put a scratch on that thing! Dous.h.i.+!” (Burkhart)

“It"s impossible for me as well! Invading up to here and fighting against the golem"s hand was more intense on my mana consumption than I thought.” (Armstrong)

“How about you, Katharinjou-chan?” (Burkhart)

“Even if I focus my remaining mana, I won"t be able to manifest a sword blade like Wendelin-san did.” (Katharina)

“Wha—!”

Due to the battles so far, the remaining mana of all magicians present has become undependable.

“How troublesome…”

The golem"s activity still hasn"t stopped completely.
It"s also possible that reinforcements are going to arrive if we don"t finish it off quickly. I began to ponder about a method how to destroy the golem.
However, that worry is solved by an unexpected person.

“Wend! I will do it!”

“Erw?”

“Wait! You can"t use magic though!”

Since the opponent is what it is, Burkhart-san tried to stop to the charge of Erw, who didn"t attack much until now, in a hurry.

“I have this! Luise!”

“I see!”

Without listening to our appeal to stop, Erw is tossed by Luise, flying towards the golem.
In his hand…

“Wend! That"s a magic katana!”

“Did you borrow it from Haruka!?”

Erw, who was launched by Luise who was clad in mana, delivers a precise slash at the golem"s torso in order to widen the crack I created before.
Landing after one strike, Erw immediately stores the magic katana in its scabbard, but going by its appearance, it doesn"t look as if the huge golem had been cut.

“Erw, nothing has changed though?”

“Don"t worry. That golem has been already cut in two.” (Erwin)

Right after Erw"s calm reply, the golem really split vertically apart in two and crumbled down.
As expected, once it"s broken this much, it won"t be able to float in the air.
Falling to the ground with a bang, it"s turned into mere wreckage and ceases to move.

“I told you, didn"t I? That I have cut it already.” (Erwin)

“Ooh! How amazing!”

“Well, as a matter of fact it"s because the golem had been already breaking apart from Wend"s and the other"s attacks.” (Erwin)

Nevertheless, he was able to deliver the final blow to the last boss at the very end. It"s a glorious achievement for Erw.

“Wendelin, we have to check those two.” (Therese)

“True.” (Wendelin)

With Therese pointing that out, we quickly head to the mountain of golem wreckage, searching for Duke Nürnberg and the demon who rode the golem. First we found Duke Nürnberg who was bleeding intensely with his right arm and leg cut off. Having been swallowed up in Erw"s and mine bisection, his body had apparently been cut apart.
It looks like he"s barely conscious, but going by the state of his wounds and the amount of bleeding, he"s beyond saving.

“Dear, I have 『Light of Miracles』, but…” (Elise)

True, only Elise"s 『Light of Miracles』 was an exception.
She"s asking me whether she should use it or not, but before I can answer, Duke Nürnberg raises his voice.

“Don"t show some half-a.s.sed mercy here. Even if I"m fully healed with magic, I will be judged by the third son of that stupid emperor and receive the death penalty anyway. In that case it"s much better to embrace an unsightly death here.” (Nürnberg)

“No…but…”

Once I wavered due to my idea of presenting him alive to Peter and the feelings of guilt for abandoning a human that was about to die, Therese offered her opinion,

“Indeed. Let him die here just like that. The ringleader of the rebellion would be publicly beheaded in the capital. It"s probably the same to execute him by decapitation while alive and to cut the head off the corpse.” (Therese)

“What a typical way of speaking of you, Therese. But, right now you have my thanks.” (Nürnberg)

In accordance with Therese"s argumentation, I decide to let Duke Nürnberg die here as is.

“I guess, in the end I lost. I had such premonition when I missed the chance to kill you in the capital at first, Therese…and when I heard that it was Earl Baumeister who rescued you.” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg"s tone wasn"t any different from usual, but he had a suffering expression due to the heavy blood loss and the severed limbs.

“I will give him at least a painless death.” (Elise)

Elise, who saw that, prevents any further bleeding by blocking the open wounds with first-aid.
Since it doesn"t compensate for the lost blood, he will die before long, but the pain should have vanished.

“You have my thanks. To show compa.s.sion to your enemy…your nickname of Saint is truly befitting. I"m jealous, Earl Baumeister.” (Nürnberg)

“Yes.”

Not knowing what to answer in such a situation, I replied with a normal 『Yes』.

“It applies to your wife, but I also envy you, Earl Baumeister.” (Nürnberg)

“Me?” (Wendelin)

Just what is Duke Nürnberg envious about?

“I wanted to become an adventurer in my childhood…say, Therese.” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg also called out to Therese who"s next to him.

“We played games of acting as adventurers several times in our childhood.” (Therese)

“That time was really fun…Therese, you acted as swordswoman…” (Nürnberg)

I guess the scenes when he was playing around as adventurer together with Therese in his childhood are replaying in his mind.

“But in the end I became Duke Nürnberg and you d.u.c.h.ess Philip. Our surroundings envied us, but in our eyes this is probably a blood curse.” (Nürnberg)

“True. Even when I wanted to say 『No, I don"t want to succeed』, I couldn"t do it. After all there was no one with whom I could discuss it either.” (Therese)

“The Duke Nürnberg household that has 1,200 years of history…but it"s not like I founded it myself either. Feelings of parting don"t well up in me at all.” (Nürnberg)

Duke Nürnberg, who had ability, became a good statesman after being inaugurated as Duke. It was expected that he would reach a position of leading the future imperial army as military genius and as central figure of the Empire.
High expectations were placed onto him as young talent, but that doesn"t mean that he himself wished for that.
That"s probably the reason why something like a darkness was gradually born in his heart.

“A good feudal lord and a general with an expected bright future. I was envied and praised by the people around me, but I wasn"t happy about that at all… That"s why I thought: If I do something bold using this ability and status…” (Nürnberg)

“I might as well seize the Empire, crush the Kingdom and unify the continent. Let"s challenge that reckless dream.” That was the conclusion he reached.

“Once acting after thinking like that, I forgot for a little time about the emptiness. I didn"t think of the victims that would appear due to that. If I won, I, who should be treated as atrocious person, would be praised. Even if I lost, I would only put an end to a life I didn"t desire to begin with.” (Nürnberg)

“…”

No one blamed Duke Nürnberg.
That"s because it wouldn"t have any effect on this man.

“I will die in disgrace. Therese, what will you do?” (Nürnberg)

“I think I will leave the Empire. I don"t feel like following Peter-dono, but if people appear that try to elevate me into a high position, I don"t know what will happen.” (Therese)

“I see… You are going to live freely by yourself?” (Nürnberg)

“There"s no way that I can be truly free like a commoner, but I will be far more free than during my time as d.u.c.h.ess Philip.” (Therese)

Once Therese tells him that while laughing, he revealed an envious expression for an instant.

“I guess it will be worth watching how you will freely live from now on, Therese… Let"s meet in the other world…after a few decades…” (Nürnberg)

“I guess so. Farewell, Max.” (Therese)

Even though he had talked until now, Duke Nürnberg calmly shut his eyes now.
He mustered his last willpower and continued to speak firmly, but it seems this was the limit.

“He has died.” (Elise)

Elise checks Duke Nürnberg"s breathing and pulse, and informs us of his death.

“Freedom, huh…? You idiot…….” (Therese)

Therese muttered while looking upwards.

She probably thinks that she will show to us that she"s crying otherwise.

“If Duke Nürnberg hated his status so much, he should have withdrawn by himself…no, even I was unable to do that. I guess that"s why I can"t blame Max either… However, was there no other option? Thou are really a stupid man.” (Therese)

Therese still looked upwards in order to not spill any tears.

“He was probably just too serious.”

Burkhart-san, who had listened silently to the conversation until now, reveals his own thoughts in a whisper.

“He probably gathered information and technology while placing even that demon under his control. It doesn"t look like Duke Nürnberg changed sides to the demons.”

“Even if the other party might be a demon, I can"t believe that this man was under the influence of someone else.” (Armstrong)

Everyone agreed with Dous.h.i.+"s opinion.

“Ah, that"s right… Let"s take Duke Nürnberg"s corpse with us. There are also other tasks left to do.” (Ina)

Ina urged on all of us that we must not dwell forever in sentimentality.
That particular device had been apparently broken, but its destruction shouldn"t be complete yet.
Additionally, it"s also possible that many excavated items are lying inside this place.
It was necessary to collect or destroy these as soon as possible.

“That reminds me. There"s no guarantee that Peter-dono won"t go crazy after obtaining these weapons. After all one doesn"t really comprehend others…” (Therese)

Since the battle has ended, Erw called the soldiers, who were on standby outside the room, and ordered them place Duke Nürnberg"s corpse on a stretcher and carry it.

“In the end I didn"t really understand Duke Nürnberg"s way of thinking.”

If I"m allowed to mention it, I think that it would have been fine leaving his household if he hated it so much.
Though I might reach such conclusion since I was a commoner by birth in previous life.

“There might be other people who think so as well, but even I wasn"t able to retire from my post as d.u.c.h.ess Philip until I was forced to do so by thee and Peter-dono, Wendelin. Max was still Duke Nürnberg until his death. I have no other way to express it but to say, that"s the way it is.” (Therese)

“I see…” (Wendelin)

◆◇◆◇◆

At last we succeeded in defeating Duke Nürnberg, the root of all evil, but I couldn"t rejoice about it in all honesty either.
For the family head of a high-ranking n.o.ble household…
It allowed me to consider various things.

Translator"s Notes: