Special Story: In the World of Midgar (Part 7)
Several men made their way along a dark, stone-paved road. They had torches in their hands and swords at their waists.
Those behind them had staves and bows. It was obvious from their unwavering movements that these were brave men who had lived through many hard battles.
However, even such strong men could not hide the exhaustion on their faces. There were countless nicks and scratches on their armor, and the magic-user—like man in the middle—could be found to be lacking an arm upon closer inspection.
It certainly had been hell for them to get this far.
They'd been assailed by many traps as well as the many golems wandering about that Haruka Heartfilia had once mass-produced for her final battle. In today's world they were now an invincible brigade, each one at the level of a sword saint.
There were only a scant ten people left alive now, but when they'd entered, they had been a huge group of over hundred people.
This location was the place that housed the Black Empress' treasures as well as the place said to house her soul—the "Grave of the Black Empress."
Sometimes it was hunters who entered, seeking treasures that lay resting here. Sometimes it was graverobbers. And sometimes it was soldiers, like these people, who wished for a reversal of humanity's fortunes.
In today's world, the people threatened by the grimmfolk needed weapons and armor to overturn their superiority.
Like a divine sword that could unleash a holy beam and obliterate hundreds of monsters with its single swing.
Or a magical spear that would always hit the enemies when thrown and automatically return to its user.
Or even elixirs, said to be the ultimate medicine, able to heal any wounds or sickness and even extend one's lifespan.
Any one of those items was a treasure that humanity would do anything for, something that could make their inferiority disappear. Humanity wanted those items no matter what they had to give in return. They couldn't help it.
But this place was an emotionless hell. Invaders were mercilessly killed, their lives reaped and harvested. Every single golem was a threat. If a person were to fight them head-on, they'd have been killed in an instant.
So these people avoided fights, ran around traps, and finally, reached the top floor even while their party was whittled away.
"Just a little more… We're almost there…"
"Yeah, we're gonna make everyone's sacrifices mean something… We're going to bring back these weapons."
These people did not have the capability to challenge this grave judging by ability alone. No. In the first place, the only ones left in today's world who would have had the ability would have been the Seven Princesses of Midgar.
Even so, they came because they wished for humanity's victory. They wished from the bottom of their hearts to end this dark world, no matter how many sacrifices they had to make. It was all for their children, the next generation, and for the families that they loved.
These ten warriors, who overcame even their fear of death, threw away all thoughts of self-defense completely as they proceeded ever onwards.
But reality was heartless.
Their biggest obstacle—one that could not be avoided—was waiting for them on the top floor.
"Intruder confirmed… Warning… It is recommended you leave within the next ten seconds. If you do not comply, or if you take hostile action, I am authorized-a-ah-authorized to remove you with deadly force."
One of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians guarded the top floor and the Black Empress' treasures. She was history's strongest golem and a proud, ruthless guardian—Libra the Goddess's Scale.
Her appearance was that of a lovely girl. On top of curly orange hair that came down to her chin, Libra wore a maid's headband. She was clothed in a green maid uniform that was worn down by the passage of time, even torn in places.
Even so, the girl herself still looked as young as ever, as if she were frozen in time. However, her green eyes looked like glass beads, utterly without emotion. Her upper arms, which were left exposed by her torn sleeves, revealed molded joints, as if to prove that she was artificial. These joints audibly creaked as she moved and had small cracks running through them.
As soon as the men recognized her, they readied their weapons. "That is… Libra of the Scale constellation!"
"Please wait, member of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians! We did not come to fight! Please, listen to us!"
"Counting down… 10… 9… 8…"
"Please, listen to us! Right now, humanity is being pushed into a corner by the grimmfolk! We had no choice but to come here to solve this!"
"7… 6… 5…"
"Please, for the victory of humanity! We need the Black Empress' inheritance!"
"4… Countdown suspended. Objective of the intruders confirmed… Confirmed as enemies who are-aiming for master's treasure. Confirmed fulfillment of conditions for extermination…"
"!"
The warning countdown stopped, but the men realized that definitely did not mean she was not going to attack. The fact that the countdown stopped meant that there was no longer a need for a countdown! They had just fulfilled her so-called "conditions for extermination"!
"Wai—…"
"Exterminating—Program Selection. Activating Brachium!" Everything was dyed white.
That was the last thing those men ever saw in this world. After that—there was not even a speck of those men left.
It'd been about two days since we started traveling by the camping car, Honda. We'd reached our next destination: my grave.
To be paying a visit to my own grave… This was a very surreal situation. Well, honestly, it's not like I'm buried in there or anything, so it's nothing like an actual grave, I guess. If anybody were to be crying in front of the grave, I'd totally want to say in a singsong voice, "I'm not theere!"
"Here should be fine for now. Honda clearly stands out, so We'll be hiding him in the nearby woods."
"Okaayyy."
"Got it."
"Y E S, B O S S."
I had Honda, who for some reason replied in a really robotic voice, stop in a random spot in the woods before telling it to wait. If I didn't go that far, this car would follow me on its own.
After that, I took Naruko and Aries with me and got out of the car, heading for the grave.
Well, I say that, but we were already pretty much there. It was a huge-ass pyramid. I'd heard about it already from Juvia, but it really was uselessly big.
No matter how amazing alchemy was, it was still surprising that they built something this big and it was still standing in perfect shape today. In terms of ridiculousness, the Sky Tower of Hearts Desires could still have been higher on the list, but Revy's probably the only one who could've built something like that.
… Ah, now that I thought about it, both of these buildings were mine. I'd never seen the grave, though.
"Still… Why is there a village around our grave?"
"Ahh, well, it's kind of like a tourist attraction… The adventurers, hunters, and other people who wanted to conquer this grave all gathered here, so the merchants who saw a profit to be made gathered, too. It seems like more and more people came here until at some point there was a village."
"… So this grave is just a complete tourist trap, isn't it?"
"It actually is a tourist trap, yes. That's what happens when a famous big-shot has a grave. Later generations will turn it into a tourist attraction."
I sighed after hearing Naruko's explanation, a pretty spiritless response compared to what I usually gave.
Now that she mentioned it, the pyramids were a tourist spot on Earth, too, so I guess it's not that weird.
There's a grave for me even though I'm still alive, and it's a tourist attraction.
That is… I'm not sure how I feel about it.
While I was busy thinking, Aries pounded her chest for some reason, saying something and looking fully fired up.
"Leave it to me, Lady Haruka!"
Unfortunately, she looked more like a little girl trying her best, thanks to her appearance. It almost brought tears to my eyes.
"Hm?"
"I'll go scatter those fools for you! It's unthinkable for people to gather to rob your grave!" Aries said, enveloping herself in flames.
Hey stop, stupid! Are you seriously trying to turn into a giant sheep here?! You're the one doing something unthinkable, you stupid sheep!
"Stop that, Aries. There's no need to kick up a fuss here."
"B-But…"
"No buts. In the first place, the fact that We are here now means that is not our grave at all. We feel sorry for everyone who went through the trouble to make it… but that is simply a building that We do not even remember being given. We feel no attachment to such things, so it being robbed is of no concern to us."
For now, I managed to calm Aries down, preventing a violent future. That was dangerous… Unlike how meek this girl looked, she was really short-fused when it came to me, huh?
Could it be… Were all the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians like this? I was glad they all liked me, but this was starting to make my head hurt.
"So… What do we do, Naruko? Will we attempt to get in by disguising ourselves as free merchants again?"
"Of course. Luckily, this place is for tourists, so it's common for merchants to come and go. Now, just leave everything to me!"
Hm, she's as reliable as always, this advisor and self proclaimed little sister of mine. It's never been wrong to leave things up to Naruko before now, so let's follow her advice. Rather, if Naruko weren't around, I'd be pretty seriously screwed, wouldn't I?
When we entered the village, the first thing I noticed were all the tents set up here and there for temporary housing. Most likely, those were either for merchants or adventurers.
I also saw residences made out of wood, but those were probably for people who'd decided to settle down here and give their all to either conquering the grave themselves or supporting those who did. There were also inns and eateries, making this place livelier than I would have ever expected from a village so near a "grave".
If I really were dead, I certainly wouldn't be able to rest with things like this.
"Well then, I'll go find the person responsible for this place and get permission to do business. Big Sis, you should—let's see, that inn over there seems nice. Can you go get us rooms there, please? I'll meet up with you there once I'm finished." After saying what she wanted to say, Naruko didn't even wait for my reply before she dashed off.
She was actually a really aggressive person. Well, if she was that full of confidence, then there shouldn't be a problem.
"Hahh, Naruko's really amazing, isn't she?"
"Indeed. She is surprisingly useful every time. I wonder why she was so unnoticeable one thousand years ago."
Actually, what race even was Naruko? It was a little late to be asking, though.
She didn't have elf ears, so she didn't seem like an elf. But she didn't have any wings, so she wasn't a flugel, either. She had no fangs, so she wasn't a vampire, and she was still young after one thousand years, so she couldn't be a human, dwarf, halfling, or beastman. From the color of her skin, she wasn't a grimmfolk, either.
To be fair, there were lots of ways to hide wings, such as the method I was using now, so I couldn't just judge from physical appearance.
My best guess was that she was an elf who was hiding her ears really well. If she were a flugels, she would have been disgusted by my wings. If she were a vampire, she wouldn't have been able to move around during the day. But if that were the case, that would raise the question of why she was hiding her ears.
… Well, whatever, I guess.
No matter what Naruko was, it didn't change the fact that she had been really helpful. This was what they call uncalled-for suspicion.
"Let us do as Naruko says for now. It would be nice if they had open rooms…"
With those thoughts running through my mind, I opened the door to the inn and went inside.
Inside, I saw three men who seemed like adventurers talking to a man who appeared to be the owner of this inn.
Seeing Aries and I, the innkeeper jumped forward, leaping over the counter before running over to us.
"Ohh! Welcome, Miss! Welcome! I'm so lucky to have a beauty like you as a guest! If you need rooms, I've got some for cheap!"
"Huh? Uh, boss… Weren't we just talking about renting…"
"Later!"
Apparently, this innkeeper was really true to his desires. In a way, it was really manly how he came right at us, leaving the customers that came first.
Hmm, would this be what they call 'the perks of being beautiful"? It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling, having come face-to-face with it.
"Indeed, it would be great if it's cheap. Owner, do you have three rooms free?"
"Three rooms… But there are only two of you?"
"There will be one more coming later."
"I see… Of course, I have three rooms free!"
Oh, so he does have them free. That's great.
After the brief moment in which I had that thought, the three adventurers raised an angry yell.
"Hey, old man! You just said you only have three rooms free, didn't you?! So what are you telling us to do if you give that girlie there all of the rooms?!"
"It's ladies first here. Give it up."
"What?!"
"Anyone would choose a pretty lady over some musty dudes who won't even pay on time. I'd make that choice in a heartbeat. If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourselves and the tab that you've run up."
"But we just paid off that tab!"
I managed to piece together what was going on from all their arguing. Basically, those adventurers were habitually late in paying their dues.
They had just been in the middle of paying what they owed and trying to get a room again. That was when Aries and I came in, and this old man prioritized us.
It's not like I didn't understand how he felt. But preserving order was important. If they came first, then they should have had priority.
Now then, a good compromise…
… Well, it does exist.
"A word, innkeeper?"
"Oh, missy. Wait just a little, I'm gonna drive these bums off first."
"About that. We cannot approve of you driving off a customer who came first. So. Since there is no choice, We can settle for two rooms. Is that fine?"
Given the situation, there was no other choice. I just rented two rooms and gave one to Naruko while Aries and I roomed in the other.
It was not the best situation to be in, but this should be the better choice.
Inside a room which was by no means large.
There, beings that were not people sat around a seven-sided table.
Each corner represented one of the main elements that were said to make up the world: fire, water, wood, metal, earth, sun, and moon. And each seat was reserved for the grimmfolk general that was crowned with the corresponding title.
However, there were only six present when there should have been seven, with the empty seat belonging to the seat of Fire.
"… What's wrong with Mizuki?" the man sitting in the Water seat growled unhappily.
Their statuses were the same, yet opposing. Even while being comrades with the same status, there was no trust between them, and they were all constantly planning on how they would knock the others down. However, they all deterred each other, so no one could have actually followed through.
It was under that perfect yet unstable balance that the Seven Grimms of Destruction were established.
And right now, one of the members who should have been equal to them was making all the others wait, irritating them.
"Who knows? Maybe she's dead. All the monsters that followed her are gone now. So is the Ram, after all. I find it harder to believe she's alive."
The man who sat at the Wood seat sounded happy. There was no hint of any grief or anger at the fact that one of his comrades had been killed. In fact, his tone oozed with joy, as if congratulating the fact that she died.
"So she was done in by Juvia, huh?… Or did Aries rebel? Anyway, it's her own fault for overestimating her own skill and trying to use one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians."
"Heh, even among the Seven Grimms of Destruction, she was the weakest. Done in by a mere member of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians? She's a disgrace to us grimmfolk."
"Stop that, idiot. Saying that's bad luck."
The woman who sat at the seat of the Earth surmised Mizuki's cause of death. The woman with an ominous aura who sat at the seat of Metal wasted no time in making a joke about it, as if she'd been waiting to do so this entire time.
The one who hurried to stop them was a woman who occupied the Moon seat.
Lastly, the woman at the head seat of the Sun, who was most likely the leader, spoke softly while looking at the other members.
"At any rate… Mizuki was most likely killed by something or someone. And on top of that, Aries of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians has similarly disappeared… This is serious."
There would be no anger over Mizuki's death. However, there was possibly someone or something out there with the ability to defeat a member of the Seven Grimms of Destruction. That fact could not be ignored.
It would be fine if it was one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians or the Seven Princesses of Midgar. However, what if it was someone from neither of those two groups?
… That would be a threat that, once again, could not be ignored.
"Menma. You should have been near Svel, right? Did you see who killed her?"
"Of course I saw."
"Oh? Who was it?"
The woman named Menma laughed in response to the woman on the Sun seat's question, sounding as if she were having fun. However, that was not the case for anyone else.
"I don't know who, since I couldn't get too close, or I would've been killed, too. But, I do remember that it was an absolutely stunning woman with beautiful, black wings."
A beautiful woman with black wings who could kill one of the Seven Grimms of Destruction.
Hearing those words, no one would have failed to think of "her."
But… But it was impossible. That person should have died one thousand years ago. That was how it should have been.
"It couldn't be Haruka Heartfilia…?! Sh-She's alive?!"
"No way! She should have been killed by the Seven Princesses of Midgar one thousand years ago!"
Haruka Heartfilia.
To the grimmfolk, that was a name scarier than even the hero.
Once, she'd united the entire world under her Zodiac empire, a conqueror that managed to unite all of humanity. Her might was enough to stand at the top of the world, even during an age where hero-level individuals were normal.
More than anything, her way of being was fear personified. No matter if they opposed her or not, she had massacred any grimmfolk she came across. She would put grimmfolk heads on spears, exposing their defeat to the heavens as if she were trying to crush their very will to fight.
Begging for one's life had no meaning. Warriors who had begged for their lives, saying they had a family, had their skulls crushed under her boot. If one ran, she'd grab their heads from behind before ripping off their head with the spinal cord still attached.
She was an absurdity that surpassed and crushed all other absurdities under it. She was unreasonable to the point where no others could have matched her. She would tear apart any who would invade her territory; she was an invader to invaders.
The Blackbird of Death was a fearful demon to the grimmfolk.
Everyone feared ever meeting her. They wouldn't be able to run, and they couldn't be saved. If any grimmfolk were to ever come across her, it would mean the end of their lives. There were no exceptions. No grimmfolk that had ever happened across her sight had lived to tell the tale.
Luckily, Haruka's severe methods invited fear and rebellion from her fellow friends, and she was unable to avoid being overthrown by her own comrades, but still, the number of grimmfolk she'd managed to bury up until then was uncountable.
If she really was alive, then she could flip the power balance between the grimmfolk and the humans right on its head. Just the possibility that the personification of fear could be alive caused the place to go into a confused uproar.
"The Blackbird of Death, the only one the Grimm King has ever avoided battle with, huh…? If she really is alive, then she is a far bigger threat to the grimmfolk than the Seven Princesses of Midgar. Menma, do you know where she went after that?"
"Yes. Right now she seems to be at the Grave of the Black Empress."
"All right. Then you continue to keep tabs on her. Report to me immediately if something comes up."
"Understood." The woman who presided over the element of metal obediently acknowledged the order from the head of the Seven Grimms of Destruction.
The scene of her bowing reverentially, lit by rays coming from the window, looked almost like a play.
Her smile seemed like it was ridiculing absolutely everything.
I received the keys for two rooms and went and entered one of them. Aries's and my room was number 202. Naruko's future room was 204. The room in the middle, 203, belonged to the adventurers that came before us. I sort of felt separated from Naruko.
Inside the room it was… Hm, not bad.
It was just a simple room in a completely wooden building, but it was pretty large. There was even a bed, although it seemed like it would be pretty hard. It looked like there was also a bath. Personally, I had no complaints.
Well, to be honest, not having a bath was actually pretty normal for this world. In fact, it was more normal to not have a bath in the game. I was actually pretty impressed with how things had progressed in one thousand years.
The inn's fees were also pretty cheap at only 30 el a night, surprisingly. So for three people it was a very charitable 90 el. I guess Naruko's sense couldn't be underestimated, given how fast she'd picked this one out.
"Now then, We suppose We should just wait for Naruko to come back for now."
"Yes, Lady Haruka."
Although I said that we'd wait for Naruko, she most likely wouldn't have much of a part to play this time.
Rather, anyone other than myself would simply die when faced with Libra.
It was true that Aries was a member of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, just like Libra, but their matchup was just horrible. While Aries was the type to use her abundance of skills to bring things into a war of attrition, Libra was a specialized exterminator who wanted to deal huge amounts of piercing damage right from the start. As long as one had less than 100k health when facing Libra, they'd just be unilaterally turned to ash.
As long as one managed to get past that, Libra, who had no way to heal herself, would suddenly turn into the easiest of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians to defeat. But at any rate, her first attack was far too strong to allow that.
Even though I'd finally managed to get Aries under my control again, there was probably no choice but to have her wait in the back, unfortunately, now that we were fighting Libra.
"Aries. We must ask. Do you know of the whereabouts of the other Twelve Zodiac's Guardians?"
"Uhhh, let's see… Well, I was concentrating on bringing down Svel, so I don't know that much. But… I do remember Capricorn of the Goat constellation inviting me to join the grimmfolk once. She said, 'Come with me to the grimmfolk,' so she's probably allied with them."
You'd think that since they're "Sheep" and "Goat", they'd get along, but that wasn't the case at all.
Capricorn…her original name was Mira the Demon Queen. She was an archdemon that looked like a demon among demons.
When she transformed, Capricorn's head grew two pairs of demonic goat-like horns, and her body also grew a pair of wings of a bat and reptilian-tail. She was the very picture of a legendary demon, from what I remembered.
Well, if I were to speak honestly… She was a person who wouldn't be at all out of place with the grimmfolk. In fact, I felt she was way more of a "grimm" than any of the grimmfolk.
"Hm… What about the others?"
"The others are… Sorry, I don't know."
"Understood. So you don't all know what one another is doing, even though you're all of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, it seems."
I thought that, as long as I had one Zodiac's Guardian, I could learn where all the others were, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
I guess there's no other choice than to work off of what info Naruko has for a while yet, huh?
For now, let's just take it easy until he comes back.
—As soon as I thought that, I heard a knock at the door with perfect timing.
"Ah, I'll get it."
"Mmm."
Aries stood, taking the initiative to open the door.
It wasn't Naruko at the door, but the three adventurers who'd just been arguing with the inn's owner at the counter. Today should have been the first time we ever met… What did they want? From first glance, it didn't seem like they harbored any ill will…
At any rate, I didn't know what Aries would end up saying if she were left alone, so I also walked up to the door.
"You three should be the ones who were arguing with the owner at the entrance, no? Do you have some business with us?"
"No, not business, per se. We just thought we should thank you for what happened. It's thanks to you that we don't have to camp out." A man with spike-black-hair who seemed to be the leader replied to my question.
He has a well-trained body. His sharp eyes reminded me of a carnivore, and I knew that he was overflowing with confidence.
"Oh, that is all? It was no trouble. You are all rather conscientious for adventurers."
"Even if you didn't think much of it, we did. We repay our debts. That's our way."
Unlike their hoodlum looks, it seemed they were actually rather honest and honorable men. Given how many people didn't even know how to say thanks properly these days, I'd really like these youngsters to stay as they were. And I should take a page from their book, too.
"We'll be in this village for a while. If something happens, you can count on us. That's all, see ya."
After saying what they had to say, the adventurers left. Apparently, they really were here just to say thanks.
And as if they were switching places, Naruko showed her face right afterwards, entering our room.
"I'm back!"
"So you are. How was it?"
"Perfect. I got permission to both stay and explore the Black Empress's grave. By the way, I passed by some people I didn't recognize. Who were they?"
"Just some rather conscientious adventurers."
With Naruko back, we could now boldly walk into the grave under the pretense that we were exploring it.
Being able to explore one's own grave is a pretty rare experience, isn't it? Let's take it easy the rest of today and go in tomorrow.
"We cannot enter."
"Doesn't look like it."
The next day, we were forced to a standstill outside of the grave.
To be more specific, there were a huge number of people gathered at the entrance already, so we couldn't get any farther. All of them were making lots of noise while blocking the entrance.
Honestly, they were a real nuisance.
"Umm, excuse me… Did something happen?" Naruko asked a random guy who was nearby.
Huh, he's got brown hair with a bandana, and he's real built… Wait, that's the leader of the adventurers from yesterday!
When he noticed it was us, he went, "Ohh."
"So you're all here to explore the grave, too? Oh, so this pretty redhead girl here must be the other one you were talking about yesterday."
"Yes, my name is Naruko, a free merchant. So, what happened?"
The adventurers scrunched up their faces in thought when Naruko asked her question again. Apparently, it wasn't a happy subject.
"Yeah, there was a special investigation corps dispatched here from Laevateinn two months ago, but they failed to check in today. They should have reached near the top floor yesterday, so everyone was really excited that they were close to beating the thing, but…"
"Isn't it just that something happened that's causing a delay to their regular check-in?"
"That's what everyone thought at first, but it's already been five hours. Isn't it weird that it's been this long, and they still haven't sent any sort of message through magic?"
Hearing the adventurer's reply, Naruko looked over at Aries and I. We nodded silently and separated ourselves from the group, moving to hide behind a nearby shelter.
"What do you think, Big Sis?"
"They were most likely done-in by Libra. There's no doubt she's at the top floor."
"I agree. She probably hit them with Brachium when they reached the top floor."
The investigation corps that failed to check in was probably filled with pretty skilled people. I didn't know exactly how hard this grave was, but judging by today's standards it was clearly not something to be trifled with.
But it was their bad luck that they were just skilled enough to thoughtlessly make their way to the top floor.
To the people of today, encountering Libra meant unavoidable death. It was painful to think that all their hard work was for nothing. However, as long as Libra guarded the top floor-putting it bluntly, there was basically no chance of winning.
But she did have a weakness.
Brachium couldn't be fired in succession. If they had just sent someone in alone to take the shot of Brachium, it would've been possible to then fight her with the remaining members, essentially sealing Brachium's power.
But there was no way they could have known that. They had no method of figuring out the weakness—that Brachium couldn't be fired continuously—because once she fired it, everyone died. Not to mention how hard and life-threatening it would've been to get up to the top floor in the first place, only to be met with Libra's full force.
Dead men tell no tales—Since everyone had died, there was no one left to pass along information.
The only ones who knew of this weakness were Revy and I. Neither of us had ever told anyone else about it. However, I'd only arrived in this world the other day, and Revy was deceased. The other Twelve Zodiac's Guardians might have known as well, but there was no way any of them would hand that information over to any humans. So, there was no chance that anyone would know of Libra's weakness, causing a mountain of corpses to pile up until today.
Still, if asked if they would have had a chance at victory just by knowing of that weakness, I'd have had to definitively say no.
It was true that Libra didn't have a way to repair herself and still has her initial stats. She hadn't been boosted at all. However, even without Brachium she was just generally strong, with the highest level among all the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians at 910.
Unfortunately, outside of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, the Seven Princesses of Midgar, and the Grimm King, there was probably no one who would stand a chance against her.
… No, only about half of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians had HP above 100k. The Seven Princesses of Midgar had been weakened, so they were probably out, too. If that were the case, then there really were only a small number of people who could have broken through Libra.
"The number of victims will only continue to increase like this if we don't retrieve her soon."
She was still a little better than Aries because she wasn't actively attacking a country, but it was bad that we kept losing brave, skilled adventurers to her. Humanity's fighting power just kept getting shaved away, even though it was already so low.
We need to get Libra back before anyone else makes it to the top floor.
"All right, let's go, you two."
"Yes!"
"Libra will be impossible for me, but I can at least take care of the small-fry!"
With Naruko and Aries in tow, I pushed through the throng of people and approached the Black Empress' grave. I heard people trying to stop me, but I boldly ignored them.
But just as I was about to enter, someone grabbed my shoulder.
"W-Wait just a second, missy! Were you seriously just going to go in?! Didn't you just hear what I said?! That's madness! The investigation corps was made up of hundred skilled veterans that were chosen by the country. And it was impossible even for them, you know!"
He was definitely a good guy. From his perspective, we definitely looked like stupid kids who didn't even understand the dangers involved. The fact that he didn't just leave us alone but took the effort to stop us meant that he was really nice.
Although I was fully aware of all the risks when I tried to enter in the first place. In fact, I don't think there's anyone in this world who knows how dangerous Libra is more than I do.
"We will give our thanks for your concern. But it is unneeded. Now then, let us go."
I gently removed his hand from my shoulder and stepped into the Black Empress' grave.
Just like I'd expected, the inside was just passages made of brick-like stones. The surroundings were dim, and the farther away we got from the entrance, the darker it was.
We were not troubled for light, though. Aries lifted her hand and a small flame appeared in her palm, lighting the way for us.
We continued on deeper and deeper into the grave.
As one might have expected out of the first floor of this well-traveled place, pretty much all the traps had already been sprung. Basically, nothing got in our way as we moved on, and we easily made it to the next floor after finding the stairs.
After we continued on for a while on the second floor, a single shadow appeared before us.
It was a badly made stone golem.
However, with my Observing Eye I could see that it was still level 150. To me, it was weak, but that probably wasn't the case for other people.
"Oh? A golem, huh?"
"Yes. By the way, this is one of the golems you mass-produced for the final fight against the Seven Princesses of Midgar, Big Sis."
"Ahh, We see. So this is our golem? No wonder why it is such a high level even though it is built so shoddily."
For the final fight with the Seven Princesses of Midgar, I tried to cover the difference in war potential with mass-produced golems.
However, a player couldn't bring more than one golem with them at once. Even if one had multiple golems on them, the game would prioritize the golem nearest to the top of the player's inventory to manifest, and any other golems would stay in storage. So even if a golem I made were to be destroyed, I could only bring out the next one after the battle ended. Mass use of golems was banned.
Also, golem AI could only be set in levels from 1-5. The higher the AI's level, the longer it took to move on to the next golem, causing mass-production of high-performance golems to be impossible.
But it was still possible to find any number of loopholes if one played the game enough.
On the flip side, since making high-level-AI golems was impossible in a short time, that meant making masses of dumb golems was completely possible. Even if I couldn't employ one myself, I could still deploy all my golems if I distributed them to my soldiers.
I took advantage of that loophole to equip all my forces with low-level-AI golems to forcefully drag up my war potential. Even though I went that far, they were still all basically just fodder for high-level players.
Apparently, this grave was littered with tons of leftover golems that I made, just wandering around.
"Hm, these should be golems that We have made, but We can feel their intent to attack us."
"Didn't you program these golems's thought routines to indiscriminately attack, and I quote, 'Any living thing that is not one of the 'Zodiac' or a golem?' Your country doesn't exist anymore, Big Sis. Of course you'd get attacked."
"… Ahh, oh yes, We remember now. These ones are idiots that can only keep attacking whatever enemy is closest."
Low-level-AI golems were dumber than monkeys.
To put it bluntly, all these golems ended up as crude ones that could only charge at their closest enemy and repeat normal attacks. If a golem's AI was low, they wouldn't be able to use skills even if they had any, and they don't think about their comrades, either.
Golems will use skills if their AI level is 2 or higher, but at 2 they basically just choose skills at random and don't think about the situation at all.
That was why it was common sense between alchemists that at least AI level 3 was necessary for real fights. In a sense, my battle plan of mass-producing golems flew right in the face of established doctrine.
… The result was disastrous, though.
Common sense was important. It was there for a reason.
"Well, if that's the case, then there is no need to hold back. We can destroy these as We please." I cracked my knuckles and looked squarely at a golem.
If the rejects I made one thousand years ago were still around and causing trouble for people, then it was my responsibility to dispose of them.
But just a moment before I was about to charge into the golems… Something got in between us, recklessly stopping the golem's fist with a sword.
"Whoops! I can't let you do that! For I am Genma the adventurer, a man who never forgets a debt! And these two are the rest of my adventuring party, 'Team Thunder God! We owe you one, so we'll help you out, missy!"
The ones who suddenly got between me and the golem were the
brown haired—bandana wearing adventurer and the other two men in his party…
Honestly, I'd rather they not have bothered.
"TAAAAKE THIS!" he said.
He was the adventurer Genma, right?
He swung his sword and smashed into a golem. But the golem's stone body didn't even suffer a chip, let alone get cut in two.
The golems, which couldn't feel any pain or fear, had nothing running through their heads but to keep punching whomever was in front of them. That was why their movements were so simple. They never flinched, cowered, or faltered. They simply and robotically attacked repeatedly, but depending on the situation, that could still be a threat.
Genma quickly backstepped to avoid said simple attack. But still, his expression betrayed a sense of tension that couldn't be hidden.
"W-What a ridiculous punch! Taking one of those would be no joke!" Correction: it looked simple to me, but apparently, that wasn't the case for Genma.
Two of the other adventurers jumped close to the golem as if they were switching places. They wielded twin swords and a lance. I guess they emphasized power and speed?
One of the adventurers cut at the golem several times, trying to wear it down with nicks. The other tried to strike a strong blow to the golem's arm with his lance.
Next, the man who stayed in the back took his bow and supported the two men in front as if to continue the combo.
It wasn't a bad setup in my opinion. But…
[ Genma ]
[Level]: 38
[Race]: Human
[Class Level]
・Heavy Warrior: 38
[HP]: 2747
[STR (Strength)]: 152
[DEX (Dexterity)]: 90
[VIT (Vitality)]: 150
[INT (Intelligence)]: 70
[AGI (Agility)]: 85
[MND (Mind)]: 72
[LUK (Luck)]: 31
[ Raidou ]
[Level]: 35
[Race]: Human
[Class Level]
・Light Warrior: 35
[SP]: 145
[STR (Strength)]: 110
[DEX (Dexterity)]: 101
[VIT (Vitality)]: 90
[INT (Intelligence)]: 72
[AGI (Agility)]: 102
[MND (Mind)]: 50
[LUK (Luck)]: 62
[ Iwashi ]
[Level]: 36
[Race]: Human
[Class Level]
・Archer: 36
[SP]: 156
[STR (Strength)]: 120
[DEX (Dexterity)]: 115
[VIT (Vitality)]: 80
[INT (Intelligence)]: 82
[AGI (Agility)]: 70
[MND (Mind)]: 45
[LUK (Luck)]: 108
[ Mass Produced Golem ]
[Level]: 150
[Race]: Artificial Life Form
[Element]: Earth
[HP]: 9087/9100
[STR (Strength)]: 305
[DEX (Dexterity)]: 100
[VIT (Vitality)]: 355
[INT (Intelligence)]: 9
[AGI (Agility)]: 108
[MND (Mind)]: 15
[LUK (Luck)]: 70
… They're doomed.
If they had magic or something there'd still have been a possibility, but all of these guys were physical attackers. They wouldn't have been able to get past the golem's defense stat and shave away its HP like this.
It looked like they were attacking desperately, but they were most likely only doing 2 or 3 damage per attack to the golem at most. In fact, the golem had only taken 13 damage after all that fighting.
As it was, they'd get hit by one of the golem's punches and sent to the beyond before the golem even got close to falling.
Oh well… I felt kinda bad for rescuing them when they came to rescue me. It was like I was blowing up their spot, and it might've ruined their confidence. But it was better than watching them die. Right?
I let out a small sigh before giving Aries a look. "Aries, go save those people."
"Understood! Leave it to me!" Aries responded happily to my order. She kicked off the ground right afterwards, closing the distance to the golem. She dexterously wove through the adventurers who were in the way and landed a blow. Aries's fist, wrapped in flames, pulverized the golem's head and still had enough momentum to also send the body flying.
The golem's body slammed into a wall, causing it to crumble to pieces, never to move again.
Even though the enemy was weak, Aries really did well. Being able to eat through 9100 HP in a single strike… How reliable.
"…"
The three adventurers—who, until just then, had been stuck in a hard fight to the death against the golem—had their mouths hanging wide-open in shock after seeing the golem that was their opponent so easily disposed of.
Ahh. As I thought. Did that wound their pride? I had a brief moment before Genma shouted out, his voice filled with child-like excitement.
"SO… COOOOOOOOOLLLL! Awesome! Amazing! Wow! Hey, did you guys see that?! Wasn't that awesome?! Huh?! Hey, missy, what the hell was that just now?!"
"Huh? Huh?"
Whoops, didn't expect this reaction.
Aries' eyes darted back and forth with surprise and confusion as she was surrounded by the adventurers, and she was unable to answer their questions.
I never expected them to react like this. I first separated Aries from the men.
"Calm down, adventurers. We understand your excitement, but you're all troubling Aries here."
"O-Oh, sorry…!"
This Genma guy… He's really overenthusiastic. No, he's straight up noisy.
Right after that, one of his comrades—the light warrior—slapped him from behind.
"Shut up, Genma. You're troubling them." Apparently, he was the quiet one who could see reason.
To be honest, I'm not really that fond of really energetic people. It's like, whenever they're around, my ears won't stop ringing and I just keep building up stress.
Well, that's probably just because all I did all day was play games, though.
"Y-Yeah. Sorry about that. Uhh, yeah… Looks like we got saved instead, even though we came to save you, huh? Thanks."
"Don't mind it. We thank you for your concern." I didn't put too much effort into those comforting words, though.
Genma looked slightly sad.
Even though they lacked the ability, they still tried to save us. So I think it's fine to just value their sense of chivalry.
Genma was probably a pretty simple guy, though. As soon as I comforted him, his expression was dyed in happiness.
"I-I see! Thanks for saying that. You're a good person, aren't you?"
Good, huh? I almost laughed reflexively, having that said about me.
It was true, though. Given who I am on the inside right now, I'm not a villain. At least, I don't think so. I'm a normal person who won't do crimes or anything… At least I should be.
But Haruka Heartfilia was a straight-up villain who conquered the world one thousand years ago. In fact, it wasn't too much to say she was the villain among all villains. So the fact that I was now being thought of as a good person made me feel really itchy somehow.
The three of them introduced themselves.
"Oh, right. We haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? I'm Genma. I'm an adventurer, and my class is Heavy Warrior."
"I'm Raudou. Class: Light-Warrior. Nice to meet you."
"Iwashi the Archer."
Once again: What a terribly balanced party.
Like, what is up with two out of three people being warrior-type frontliners? No one uses magic at all. There's no healer, either. And without a ranger, aren't they just screwed?
Personally, I'd only leave Genma as a warrior. I'd change Raidou to a mage and an acolyte or something. And Iwashi should be a ranger rather than an archer. Archers weren't bad, but in tight spaces like this they couldn't really show off their full power. Putting it bluntly, magic was much better for rear fire support.
In fact, magic—even low level magic—was necessary for opponents exactly like the tough golem they had just been fighting.
"I am Haruka, a free merchant. My class is… Ranger."
I actually had a lot of different classes, but from today's standards that was probably too strange to admit. So I just told them the class that would be most useful in this situation.
Even without the Grappler class, I could still attack with my bare fists as a Ranger and only be considered a "weird Ranger." But if I were to use Ranger skills after I had said I was a Grappler, then that'd be clearly unnatural. Since that was the case, I decided to say I was a Ranger.
"I'm Naruko, also a free merchant. My class is Ranger."
Am I hearing right? I think someone who's never once used a ranger skill is spouting some shit.
Oh well. I never knew just how serious Naruko ever was. I'll let that pass. But I'd have liked it if you at least picked a different class from mine.
"I-I'm Aries, also a free merchant. My class is… R-Ranger?" And last was Aries.
You totally didn't understand what was going on and just kind of followed along, didn't you?
What are we supposed to do now? Now we're just some kind of weirdo team full of Rangers.
As I expected, Genma had an exasperated look on his face. He spoke, completely ignoring the makeup of his own party.
"What a terribly balanced party… Are you all okay?"
The leader of a badly balanced party full of warriors just worried about the balance of our group.
What is this? This indescribable feeling of humiliation. You're wrong. I can clear a low level dungeon like this by myself. I swear.
Well, I'd need about another five friends if I wanted to go for a level 1000 dungeon like the Goddess's divine territory, though. Ah, but didn't Juvia, one of my five friends, get blasted to smithereens at the gate?
"No need for worry. Our levels are high."
"Powering through with levels, huh? … You look all dainty, but you're all real muscle-brains, aren't you?"
We were called muscle-brains by the leader of a muscle-brained party filled with warriors…
Oh no, now I really want to transmute a huge boomerang to stick into this guy's head. Like, you don't get to talk. Is this guy just here to get in my way and cause me stress?
"You probably don't have enough power as you are, right? All right, we owe you for yesterday, so we'll come with you as bodyguards!"
Wow, it's crazy how much we don't need that…
I mean, you guys were literally just dragging us down, you know? You couldn't even shave 100 HP off a golem, remember? How are you all confident enough to follow us like that?
"That isn't ne–+"
Just as I was about to say no, Naruko covered my mouth and approved their presence on her own.
"Really? Nice! Then, please take care of us!"
I quickly removed Naruko's hand and gave her a condemning look. But Naruko didn't seem like she cared, and she continued talking with a smile.
"Isn't it okay, Big Sis? Let's just take it as easy as we can until we get to Libra. They're offering, and we need to use whomever we can."
"… You can be quite dark sometimes. You know that?"
I shivered after hearing Naruko casually say, "Let's use them as shields." Apparently the insides of my little sister were blacker than I thought. I suppose I'm just lucky that that blackness hasn't been aimed at me yet. Or maybe it already has, and I just haven't noticed?
"Fine. We suppose there is no choice but to support them as much as we can without it becoming obvious."
If we were to leave them alone they'd probably get killed by golems. On the other hand, if I were to sweep through the golems too easily, then I'd probably break the adventurers's spirits. So there was no other choice but for Aries and I to defeat all of them while pretending like it was a joint effort.
In other words… Well, it'll end up with us following Naruko's advice and using them as shields while we defeat the golems in a way that won't stand out.
"Well, shit…" I heaved a sigh.
I shot Naruko a light glare to communicate that I blamed her selfish actions for this before moving forward. Seeing me do that, the three adventurers hurried to follow after me, and Aries and Naruko did the same.
Now then, let's hurry up to the top floor where Libra is.
We continued through the uselessly huge grave. The only redeeming factor of this grave was the fact that it got smaller the higher up we went. Thanks to the pyramid shape, it got easier the higher up we climbed, which was great. I supposed the only problem was that the higher up we went, the higher the golems's levels became.
A golem stood in our way, generating sounds that echoed up and down the passageways. From what I could tell, its level was 300. Some pretty high-quality golems had started showing up.
More importantly, they'd kill the adventurers in one hit at this level, so this was pretty bad. We'd need to take care of them before they locked their sights on one of the adventurers.
"Jeaarrr!"
The golem let out a strange cry and charged toward the adventurers. But for some reason, the golem stopped the moment I inserted myself in between them.
Then, the golem tried to go for a different adventurer. But this time Aries stepped in, and it stopped again.
What's going on here? The golem stopped moving, as if it didn't want to attack us. In fact, it was almost like it wanted us to step back.
With no other targets, it even weirdly went after Naruko in the end.
Wait, could it be… it sees Aries and me as friends? It wasn't impossible. For golems of this level, even I'd upgrade their AI levels. In other words, this one was way smarter than the golems down below. Then it wasn't strange that it still saw Aries and I as friends even though my country was no more.
Actually, if that wasn't the case, then we'd get attacked by Libra, too.
"…"
… huh? Then why was it attacking Naruko?
"Wai—! W-W-W-WAIT A SECOOOND! Why meeee?! Save me, Big Siiiissssss!"
Seeing the golem chase Naruko around, somehow I felt an incredibly sad feeling well up in me. I looked over at Aries, and judging from the faraway look in her eyes, she also empathized with Naruko.
Naruko, you…
… You were so forgettable even golems don't recognize you, huh…?
I easily parried the golem's punch and quietly ordered the golem to standby. Then, I flashily threw the golem back, making it seem like it was destroyed, though that was just for show.
It wasn't a problem to destroy the low-AI-level golems down below. After all, they couldn't even tell it was me anymore and wouldn't follow my orders. They were just automated attack machines that hit at anything in front of them… It was the right move to destroy anything like that.
However, the golems from the middle floors and up were high level and understood simple orders. More than anything, they saw Aries and I as friends, so I didn't want to destroy anything that wouldn't attack us.
That was why we only pretended to destroy any golems from the middle floors and up, instead leaving them all unharmed.
"*Whistles*. That's amazing, Ruka. You blew away another one."
"Are you really a Ranger…?"
It seemed like Genma and Raidou were finally becoming suspicious, but there shouldn't be a problem as long as they didn't see my wings.
A long while after we first entered this grave, we'd finally come to the 998th floor. I was told this place had 1000 floors, so we were two away from the top.
The last investigation corps was able to reach here, it seemed, even though it took them an entire month. Hearing that, I felt both respect for how far they'd come as well as a sense of sadness, since they came so close.
Based on their levels, each and every golem should have been a real threat to them. Even so, the fact that they still made it this far despite their disadvantage showed how skilled they were. That was why it was such a waste. It was probably really painful for humanity to lose people like that now.
Seeing what was stationed in front of the stairs leading to the 999th floor, I spoke.
"… Everyone, step back."
Oh wow, so that was still around.
There stood a steel guardian over 10 meters tall, a size larger than the other golems. It was the strongest golem I was able to make by myself without paying real money for it—a golem at level 600 thanks to using the rare material "mithril silver."
Before the final battle, I used the best materials I had on hand and made several golems to guard my base. They weren't as strong as Libra, whom I got Revy to make. But even so, their level was 600, which was the highest I was able to achieve.
It would probably lose against Levia, who was made up of a lake's worth of water. But it was still the strongest class of golem back then, enough that it wasn't strange for them to be used to defend one's borders.
The investigation corps did really well to have been able to pass this one.
… They probably had to use some people as bait to get through, didn't they?
[ Zodiac's Gatekeeper ]
[Level]: 600
[Race]: Artificial Life Form
[Attribute]: Metal
[HP]: 105/45000
[STR (Strength)]: ?
[DEX (Dexterity)]: ?
[VIT (Vitality)]: ?
[INT (Intelligence)]: ?
[AGI (Agility)]: ?
[MIND (Mind)]: ?
[LUK (Luck)]: ?
… Tch! I can't see its stats.
That meant it wasn't under my control.
When the target's level was over half of mine, anyone not a friendly only had their name, level, HP/SP, and attribute displayed.
I should have made the gatekeeper with AI level 3 or 4… Is it unable to tell it's me?… Let's test it out. It made no sense that the other golems could tell, but this one couldn't.
"… Do you recognize us, gatekeeper?" First, I approached the gatekeeper openly.
Genma shouted, "Watch out!" But I ignored him. Now, how about it? Can you recognize me?
"… approaching… intrude-detecte-… de-de-detec-… Eli-Eli… e-e-e… Eliminat… ing… ing-ing-ing-ing… ing…"
I avoided the gatekeeper's punch, and at the same time, I was convinced. I'd had a bad feeling when I saw how low its HP was, and apparently, that feeling had been proven true.
This one was already broken. It couldn't even recognize me. But it just hadn't stopped moving yet. It was unfortunate, but there was probably no choice but to break this one now.
Judging from the fact that the other golems were still okay, this wasn't just because of wear and tear over the years.
As for something that could reduce this one's HP this far… Well, only grimmfolk fit the bill. Of course, given how weak the Seven Grimms of Destruction were, just one or two attacks probably wouldn't affect it much. But ten or twenty definitely would.
In fact, I was actually impressed that it was still moving.
"Ruka!"
"Do not worry. We are not weak enough to be killed by something like this," I replied to Genma, who sounded worried, and moved forward.
I slipped past the gatekeeper's tirelessly repeating attacks and into its bosom.
… One strike! My hand pierced through the gatekeeper, taking away its little remaining HP.
The golem emitted a flash of electricity, and pieces of metal flew through the air. The mono-eye that served as its source of sight flickered, and the rest of it fell to the floor.
"A-Aah… gh… Intruders… extermi—… ex…"
The way it kept repeating its words like a broken record was at once both hilarious and pitiful.
I shook off the bits of metal that were stuck to my hand and stepped past the fallen gatekeeper.
Now there were no more obstacles. All that was left was stopping Libra.
I was just about to go up the stairs to the next floor, but I heard something talking, although the voice was mixed with static.
"… Wel—… o… back… Haruka—… Wel—… c…"
The voice was feeble, and I almost couldn't catch it. But I did. I did catch it.
I stopped on the spot and glanced over at the fallen gatekeeper.
Even fallen, its arm was stretched out, as if celebrating my return. To me, who'd just broken it.
"… Your loyalty through this long journey of yours must have been arduous. Well done, working for us for this long.… Just rest now…"
"… aahh…" In its very last moments, the gatekeeper let out a small, relieved-sounding noise that was barely even speech.
… This is a little too much. I know that there was no other way but to break it, but this is too much.
Weird. My heart won't calm down. I can't shake this feeling that I just made a huge mistake.
I had never seen this golem before. Or that was how it should've been. This is my first time seeing it, right? And it's just a golem. They just moved as they were ordered, like tools.
Why am I feeling like this?
"… Now all that's left is the 999th and then the top floor. You all wait here."
There was no doubt Libra was next. So now it was time for the party to temporarily disband. I needed to go alone.
But Genma shouted out to oppose me.
"W-Wait a second! Are you planning to go alone?! That's crazy!"
"No, that is the best choice. There is no one else here who can withstand Libra's first blow. Her Brachium can turn all of you into ashes thirty times over and still have more damage to deal."
"… !" Genma gulped and gave me a doubtful look.
He didn't doubt my words. His look told me that he doubted my identity.
"You… Just who are you?"
"…"
"I'm an idiot, but I'm not stupid enough to miss how ridiculously strong you all are after coming with you this far. Ever since the middle floors, you've been taking care of the golems so we don't fight them… You didn't even bat an eye at that tough-looking golem's punch… And you're talking like you know Libra… You… Just what…?"
"… We have no obligation to respond to that." I declined to reply and turned my back on him.
What I said extended to both Naruko and Aries as well, but Naruko would probably be way better than me at tricking them.
How should I put it? I'm no good at this.
I'm getting far too shaken over a single golem. I'm so lacking in composure, even I don't understand it. I really don't… Leaving how the real Haruka would feel aside, I shouldn't feel this way, right? I don't have any reason to feel sad, right…? Agghh, what the hell. I'm going crazy.
I climbed the stairs to the 999th floor.
I immediately noticed that I was in a cold, sterile space that was just huge. The walls were crumbling and cracked in places.
In the middle stood a girl—no, a golem that looked like a girl—in maid clothes.
I could see traces of repair work on the clothes I gave her long ago. Even then, it wasn't enough; they were torn in places. Her exposed arms revealed joints that outed her as clearly nonhuman, and if I looked closely, there were small cracks running through her body.
She was the artificial life-form that I gathered the materials for one thousand years ago and had Revy make.
She turned to face me, making an audible creaking sound as she did so. "—Intruder confirmed… Warning… It is recommended that you leave within ten seconds. If you do not comply, or if you take hostile action, I am authorized to remove you with deadly force."
It was a standard warning that she'd probably repeated many, many times. Without replying or approaching her, I undid my hair.
"10… 9… 8…"
I took off my glasses and reached behind me. I removed the bandages that Juvia had gifted me, slowly putting my wings out in the open.
"7… 6… 5…" Her countdown stopped.
Not minding that, I continued to undo my bandages, fully releasing my wings.
Although Libra was still expressionless, it seemed to me that she was frozen in deep shock, her countdown left unfinished. Somehow, that struck me as funny, and I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I spoke.
"It's been a while, Libra. What's wrong? You look like a bird that got shot. Did you forget what We look like?"
"… Lady… Ha… ru…?"
I quietly watched Libra, who was still frozen. I was waiting for her to reach a conclusion first.
If she decided it was me and stopped attacking, that'd be great. If she still decided to shoot her Brachium, then I'd have to endure that first before restraining her.
It didn't seem like she was nearly as damaged as the gatekeeper just now was, so I should've been able to repair her.
"Comparing… Biological data, matched.… Probability of being the real Haruka Heartfilia: 99.99989965%… From conjecture of situation… probability of surviving that fight: less than 1%… Total probability… Impossible to calculate… impossible… D-Decision… dec-de-dec—… sion… impossible… impossible…"
"It's fine. There is no need to think so hard."
This was bad. She was getting confused because she thought she was seeing a dead person, which was unprecedented.
It probably wouldn't get this bad normally, but she must've been almost as broken as the gatekeeper was. Even if that wasn't the case, she'd been left here for nine hundred years, guarding this place without rest. Of course she wouldn't be able to make proper decisions on her own.
"Now, We will come and repair you. You need rest."
"—! Warning! If you take one step closer, you will fulfill the conditions required for extermination!"
"We don't care."
I ignored Libra's warning and boldly stepped closer.
One step, two steps! It seemed like Libra was having trouble deciding whether it was okay to attack or not. In the time she was deciding, I continued to close the distance between us.
"Now, then. We have moved. Are you not going to stop us?"
"… Program Selection!"
Libra's eyes shone, and her entire body started to emit light.
The first thing she did was create a film of light that covered the entire area. It was an isolated space made to ensure the enemy couldn't escape at the same time as making sure there were no unnecessary casualties.
In the middle of that space, a white radiance converged upon Libra, glittering like stars. That vivid radiance expanded and pulsated.
Now, then. This'll be the first significant amount of damage I'll take in this world. Honestly, I have no confidence I'll be able to avoid crying in pain, but… I wonder why? Right now, I really just want to get hit by her. I really don't understand it myself.
"Brachium, activate!" And the star exploded.
The space was filled with a white aurora, and an impact stronger than anything I'd ever felt before assaulted my entire body.
The light raged like a storm, and colorful particles danced around the inside of the closed space.
Everything within the space was twisted, trampled, and destroyed. The attack didn't care about defenses, resistances, skills, or even arts as it pierced through everything to deliver damage up to the extreme limit of the system.
Crap. It hurts. And it burns.
Pain stabbed through me as if my body was being assaulted with heat that would char me all over… Well, it actually was, though. I knew that my HP was getting reduced at an alarming rate.
"Mnrr… !" I clenched my teeth, but I still grunted in pain. But even so, I kept moving forward through the light.
Frankly, I wanted to immediately fall back down the stairs to where it was safe. But I couldn't afford to do that. More importantly, that'd be way too lame. Well, actually, it probably wasn't possible anyway.
It was probably correct to assume that it was impossible to escape from Brachium once it started.
One step. Two steps. Three steps.
I advanced through the radiance, closing the distance on Libra. Meanwhile, the light mercilessly buffeted me, shaving away at my HP.
This is pretty harsh… But, it's not impossible for me to withstand.
"ー!"
"Oh my. Looks like We are finally here."
As soon as I reached Libra, she started moving.
Her left hand sunk into her wrist, and instead, a blade made of blue-white light appeared.
I dodged her thrust by a hair's breadth, grabbing hold of her left arm and stopping her in her tracks. Then, I activated my Alchemist skill—"All Repair."
It was a single-target healing skill limited to use on golems that would fully heal the targeted golem. This skill was incredibly inefficient and wouldn't actually repair every golem. It would only work on golems the user owned.
And unlike the gatekeeper, Libra was the one golem that I'd kept on me even after I was beaten. I figured that my ownership might still hold. When I tested it, I was proven right.
All the cracks on Libra's body disappeared, and I could tell that her HP was fully restored.
"Sorry for making you wait for so long. We have come for you, Libra."
"… Assessing situation… Probability of this being the real Haruka Heartfilia: 100%… Confirmed as Haruka Heartfilia herself.… Canceling mission: guard the Black Empress's grave," Libra said, closing her eyes as if she was finally at ease.
Seeing her finally able to rest after completing her mission, I gently picked her up.
After successfully retrieving Libra, I was lost as to what to do next.
If I went back down as I was there was no doubt I would invite Genma's distrust. They especially wouldn't like the fact that I was carrying Libra. By my estimation, they might demand that I break her in the worst scenario.
Of course, I had no desire to do that myself, so if it came to that, they'd become my enemies. Genma and the others would pose no threat even as enemies. They'd still be annoying to deal with, though. So if possible, I wanted to avoid that outcome.
But I couldn't come up with a decent excuse.
Hmm… At worst, I can just knock them out and run. Would that be okay…? Actually, I can't think of any other way to do this.
While I was pondering and becoming a little depressed, I continued down the stairs.
"Ah, Lady Haruka!"
"Welcome back. Looks like you managed to get Libra back safely." When I got to the previous floor, Aries and Naruko welcomed me with smiling faces. On the flip side, Genma and the others didn't move at all. The faraway look in their eyes indicated that they weren't really mentally here.
They were totally out of it.
"Naruko, what did you do to them?"
"Ahh. Trying to explain things to them was too troublesome so I may have… hypnotized them."
"Hypnotized?"
"I manipulated their memories and implanted false ones, just a little bit… I made it so that they never met us in the first place. While I was at it, I also had them think that they were the ones who conquered this grave. That should hide our tracks for a while."
My smile stiffened after hearing Naruko casually say something so outrageous.
Ahh. Oh, right. She can manipulate memories. She was really useful, but also really scary. I'm truly grateful that she's a friendly.
But now my biggest worry had just been cleanly swept away.
"As for Libra, she was already destroyed by the time they got here. The story will go that the investigation corps that came earlier gave their lives to destroy her. That should get some attention away from her."
"Could it be you planned to do this to Genma from the very start, and that's why you let them come with us?"
"Would there be any other reason to carry around dead weight?"
"… You're a scary girl. You know that?"
"For you, Big Sis, this little sister of yours can become a monster or a demon. Such is the woman named Naruko."
With a smug expression, Naruko puffed out her chest. I gave a tiny shudder as I wiped away some cold sweat.
Well, whatever. Now, all that was left was to retrieve some of my things from storage. There was my promise to Juvia, too. Let's leave behind anything I won't use anymore.
To be fair, equipment that only gives, like, +100 attack or something had no use other than selling for money at this point. I might as well leave stuff like that here.
"All right. We're going to the top floor."
"Okaayy!"
"Y-Yes!"
Leaving Genma and the others on the 999th floor, we moved to the top. When we finally got to the top floor, what awaited us was an incredibly gaudy room. The ceiling, walls, and floor all shined gold, and it pricked my eyes. Even as pure flattery, it would be hard to say this room was one someone could relax in. Heaps of gems and gold were piled up everywhere, and swords and other equipment were neatly lined up.
No. No matter how you looked at it, this wasn't a grave. In fact, if this were my grave, I'd hate it. There was no way I could properly rest here.
At least, that was how it should have been… Why is it? Why can I barely contain myself when I'm looking at all this? I didn't know why, but the urge to just take all this shiny stuff home with me welled up from within.
"Calm down, Big Sis."
"We are calm.… We're calm, but for some reason We can't calm down. What is this?"
"Ahh. Come to think of it, Big Sis, you have always liked shiny things and would collect a lot of them, huh?"
I froze.
Huh? Really? I didn't remember that bit of backstory. Collecting shiny things? Am I a freakin' crow?! No, well, I do have black wings…
"Let's just take all the weapons we'll need for now before our master goes crazy."
"Naruko, saying We will go crazy is too far. We understand what is necessary at the very least."
"Okay, then. Why don't you let go of all those lumps of money you're holding that've got no use to us first?"
After having it pointed out by Naruko, I realized for the first time that I was already holding a bunch of gems, gold, and shiny stuff.
… Oh no. That was completely by reflex.
No, uhh, yeah… I should have no interest in lumps of cash like this… I don't like gaudy, nouveau-riche styles. In fact, I'm more of a dark, chic colors girl myself.
But then, why is this urge so strong?
"Aries, Big Sis Haruka has just turned into a regular old crow, so let's pick out what's necessary by ourselves."
"Yes. Got it!"
Huh? Am I really not even just useless but an active hindrance now?
Even with those thoughts running through my head, I couldn't stop myself from reaching for weird, shiny objects. This is bad. I can't stop myself. I just naturally move for anything that's shiny.
"Big Sis! That's just decoration! It's for show! It's not useful at all! Just throw that away somewhere!"
"Lady Haruka, that's just a shiny piece of art!"
"Ah, yeah."
After getting yelled at by Naruko and Aries, I dejectedly retreated to a corner of the room.
Naw… I swear, I'm not like this. I really want to look for weapons, I do. But my body won't listen!
After that, Naruko and Aries continued to gather weapons I used to use while shooting me sidelong glances as I kept laying my hands on shiny but utterly useless items.
Spears, giant swords, knives, halberds, katars, tonfas, pile bunkers… Looking at them like this, I realized that I never did settle on a single weapon.
By the way, my favorite weapon was a whip sword.
"This should be good for now. Big Sis did use the rest a long time ago, but she'd never use them again anyway as it is now. Let's leave them here. Even those should be precious these days."
"What about the golems?"
"Ahh. I'll take those back to the Heart tower, too. Big Sis, could I get you to gather all the golems you didn't destroy here?"
While I was waiting in a corner of the room, it seemed like my time had come. But said time seemed to entail some rather hard work.
Retrieve all the golems I only pretended to destroy, huh? Ahh, well. If I didn't, they'd just keep racking up casualties. There was no choice…
"Understood. It will take some time, though."
At any rate, I'd be useless if I stayed here anyway. So, I might as well do what I can.
… I lost a lot of dignity just now, haven't I?
In the end, retrieving all the golems ate up a lot of time and all, because this grave was way too huge. Who was it that made this?
For now, I gathered up all the higher AI level golems and left them with Naruko along with all the weapons and armor. Apparently she could teleport with things if they weren't living, so she took everything back to Heart Tower.
I digress, but I also destroyed all the dumbass golems that turned into automatic attack machines.
"Okay, let's get out of here."
"What about Genma and the others?"
"They'll wake up after a while and think they made it up here on their own. It won't be a problem."
I see. So when Genma and the others woke up, they'd become heroes thanks to having conquered the Grave of the Black Empress. They might take some of the treasures for themselves, but that's none of my business.
All this wealth I couldn't even carry was just a nuisance to me right now, so if they wanted it, they could have it. I was happy having gotten some useful weapons, the golems, and Libra.
I've got some complicated feelings about this place being robbed. I might not have been in it, but the grave was mine…
It was the same back on Earth, though. Showy graves with lots of treasure in them were basically there for the stealing.
Even if the grave robbers returned empty-handed, academic types would just show up and clear it out anyway, claiming they'd found historic artifacts and displaying the body in a museum or something.
This place really wasn't fit to be a grave. If I really were to die, I'd want to be buried in the ground in a place where no one would bother me.
After leaving the grave, we returned to the woods where Honda was waiting for us. Then, I used alchemy to transmute new maid clothes for Libra, and while I was at it, I wiped her body clean as well.
After that, we spent a few hours waiting.
Libra just wouldn't wake up on her own, so I tried ordering her to do so. She woke immediately and opened her eyes.
"… Sight, all green. Checking all sections… All green. Starting."
Libra slowly sat up, eyes glowing. Seeing me, she stood, and with a complex series of inner workings, she performed a neat bow.
Hm, I have the opportunity. Why not take a look at Libra's stats?
[Twelve Zodiac's Guardians — Libra of the Scale Constellation]
[Level]: 910
[Race]: Artificial Life Form
[Attribute]: Metal
[STR (Strength)]: 6500
[DEX (Dexterity)]: 6900
[VIT (Vitality)]: 7020
[INT (Intelligence)]: 1300
[AGI (Agility)]: 5100
[MND (Mind)]: 1350
[LUK (Luck)]: 1600
Hm, no change at all from what I remember of her stats.
Her SP was 0 now, but that was the same for all golems.
Golems didn't expend SP in order to use skills. Instead, they had a limit to the number of times they could use their skills. And that limit only recovered every twenty-four hours. That was why Libra could only shoot Brachium once, and there was no point at all in having her learn skills that used SP.
In exchange, their HP could get incredibly high compared to regular people, depending on the materials that had been used. This was especially true for Libra. She was a broken golem with boss-class HP, probably because her starting materials had been so good. Only Alchemist class skills could heal her though, so just having HP didn't necessarily mean she was tough.
For example: Aries had much lower max HP than Libra, but thanks to her HP auto-regenerating skill, she was unexpectedly tough. If the two of them were to actually fight, though, it'd be over before said toughness could ever come into play. Aries would die in one shot to Brachium.
"Good morning, my master: Haruka."
"Good. Do you feel alright?"
"There are no problems. Thank you for your concern."
She was no longer speaking with a voice mixed with white noise, like a broken radio, but with a beautiful, flowing voice. I felt relieved as soon as I heard it. Looks like she's really okay.
Libra noticed Aries next and bowed to her as well.
"It has been a long time, Aries. Nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you too, Libra."
After greeting Aries, Libra looked off and faced Naruko next. She performed another elegant bow.
"Pleased to meet you, unknown person. I apologize deeply for causing so much trouble."
"This again?!"
Yep. Exactly as I expected.
I'd thought this would happen when the other golems in the grave couldn't recognize Naruko. It looked like Libra didn't remember Naruko, either.
She was the same as Aries and I, and as fellow people who didn't remember Naruko, I felt a strange kinship with Libra.
"Libra, this girl is our advisor. Her name is Naruko. Her presence was weak, but she was here one thousand years ago."
"…?! What… did you say…? Does that mean her stealth is so strong he doesn't even remain in my memories…?!"
"No way am I that forgettable! You're gonna make me cry!"
Naruko was already half in tears. She grabbed Libra's shoulders and pulled her face close.
"See, it's me! Me! Look closely! Aren't I in your memories somewhere?!"
"… No, you are not in any corresponding memories. However, I have found some damaged data due to one thousand years of wear. I expect memories pertaining to Naruko to be within this data."
Hmmm, I'd kinda thought that a golem like Libra might have been able to remember Naruko, but looks like that isn't the case. Naruko's got bad luck.
To think that her memory had been damaged, of all things, and that the data pertaining to Naruko was part of that. Isn't that basically harassment at this point?
"Restoration will take a couple months, but it is possible. Until then, I will register Naruko as a tentative advisor."
"Tentative?!"
Naruko's expression grew more and more stricken the more Libra, who always stuck to her own tempo, talked. Even so, Libra never seemed like she paid that any mind.
Well, she's actually completely expressionless, so it's hard to tell what she's thinking anyway. But, given how she had guarded my grave even while being worn to tatters like that, I wouldn't doubt her loyalty, at least. Her face was frozen like a mask, but she must have had a burning soul somewhere inside… Probably. I bet.
"Libra, We must ask. Do you know what any of the other Twelve Zodiac's Guardians are doing?"
"My apologies. I have been concentrating my efforts on guarding your grave this entire time, so I do not have much information on the outside world."
Libra's reply was just as disappointing as I had expected.
Since she was inside the grave this entire time, there was no way for her to get information from the outside. Luckily, there were still four Guardians left of the six Naruko knew about, so there was no real need to rush on the information front.
"So, Naruko. Where is the next of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians?"
"Next is… Let's see… It's a little far, but the Holy Maiden from the long life Uzumaru's clan, Kushinada or Virgo of the Maiden constellation has built a small settlement at the base of a mountain 2000 km west of here, where she is currently living in hiding."
"A settlement?"
"Yes. She constructed a barrier to protect powerless monsters and trees from outside threats and has been living disconnected from the outer world."
Ohh, how decent of her. I was proud that she wasn't actively causing trouble for others.
I was a little worried, since she'd shut herself in, but I thought that could be solved later. At the very least, there wouldn't be an increase in victims if we left her alone, unlike how it was with Aries and Libra.
"Also, umm… That mountain was where you were born, Big Sis. She chased away all the flugels who were living there and turned it into a holy site after she began occupying it…"
I take it all back. She really did do something bad.