09-35 Deus Ex Machina
The walled city of Asunto was surrounded with walls ten meters high.
Its shape was a square with edges almost five kilometers in length, and inside it bordering the north side walls was the royal castle.
The so-called outer palace was this defensive enclosure of ten-meter high walls which stretched around from the north side and shaped the outer palace to a rough square.
The north side of this outer palace, that is, Asunto’s castle walls, had a gate through which the king’s army could sally out of.
Protected by the outer palace was the inner palace which was the heart of government and where the king lived. The wall separating the inner palace from the outer was three meters high, less than a third of the castle walls’ height.
Therefore from around the center of the inner shrine seeing the exterior castle walls was possible.
And seen from the inner palace, a giant golem rising higher than even the castle walls was looking down on them.
“U, uh oh…”
“T–that’s a…”
The people watching were trembling with fear, then saw someone step on top of the castle walls from the golem’s palm.
Black clothes, and a silver helmet they had never seen before. They seemed to be a tall person. Judging from the body shape they were male.
“Who could that be. A friend, or a foe?”
Everyone watching held the same thoughts.
“Ladies and gentlemen!”
The mysterious person’s voice reverberated. He must’ve been using some kind of magic as his voice reached to all corners of the inner and outer palaces.
“My name is Deus Ex Machina. It seems that a certain subset of people have named me the Mysterious Golem Master or some such.”
“Deus Ex Machina, you say?”
“I’ve never heard of him before. Who in the world is he? What are his aims?”
Everyone present began talking. However, the person who called themselves Deus Ex Machina waved his hand and it again became quiet.
“War is useless. It doesn’t create anything.”
Deus Ex Machina spoke.
“The land is vast, and people are few. Do not commit such foolishness as fighting against your own race.”
Some of the people agreed inside their hearts.
“People haven’t yet caught up with the state of civilization of the Great Magic War days. That is the truth. But setting your eyes on the past is foolish. Because the past will never come back.”
There were also people who frowned when they heard those words.
“Do not head for the past. Focus on the present. Endeavour to clear the way to the future.”
Deus Ex Machina raised his voice even more, and spoke almost shoutingly.
“Whether or not you listen to my advice is your own choice. But if you do not, I have a plan ready.”
Deus Ex Machina said and pointed at a destroyed golem.
“Look.”
Everyone’s gazes gathered there. Then, everyone’s eyes became wide-open with surprise.
Before their eyes the broken golem turned red hot, then white hot, and then it completely melted.
“You understand, right? I only wish for one thing, peace. To put it in another way, coexistence would do too. It should not be a difficult thing.”
Deus Ex Machina then stopped speaking, and looked out over at the people.
“I will not show myself as long as you do not cause conflict. Think well upon it.”
Finishing with that, Deus Ex Machina jumped on the giant golem’s shoulder. At the same time, the giant golem turned its back around to Asunto’s castle.
At that moment, one of the magi knights chanted magic and was about to fire an attack spell.
“[Wind Slash]…! Why? I can’t use magic!”
Deus Ex Machina turned to look back from the golem’s shoulder and,
“I forgot to mention. Far from neutralizing magic, it is possible for me to make magic unusable. Please stop doing pointless things.”
He then pointed at the magi knight who tried to use magic.
“Ugh!”
Then the magi knight let out a short grunt and immediately after suddenly went rigid. Then he fainted.
“Unfortunately, that man appeared to have been a puppet of the [Unifilers]. But now he should be returning to normal. I shall send you a list of people who have been confirmed as being manipulated later.”
Deus Ex Machina said and once more turned his back on the people.
“Well then, I hope we do not meet again.”
And this time Deus Ex Machina left together with the giant golem.
＊ ＊ ＊
Jin was fainting with agony at Hourai Island’s headquarters.
“Uooaaaaaaah, suuuuper embarasssiiiing!!”
This was because after finishing reading the script bearing with the the tone that was excessively like that became too much.
“Master, please calm down. You were cool.”
Ann consoled him.
“Before the Great Magic War, that sort of style of speech and display was a regular performance.”
When nobles had small fights between fellow countrymen and such, that kind of exaggerated talk was commonplace, Ann said.
“…It really was exaggerated, wasn’t it.”
Ann’s consolation didn’t seem to be of much use.
“My Lord, please give your instructions on how to continue.”
Then as a request came from Laojin, Jin switched gears.
“As plans over here too went more or less as planned, it should be fine to carry on with the plans for the aftermath too.”
“Understood.”
“Then I’ll be going to Kaina Village, so if there’s anything please give me a call.”
＊ ＊ ＊
After doing something as out-of-character for him as stopping a war, Jin couldn’t relax in any way and in a great hurry warped to Hourai Island to seek comfort.
“Ah, onii-chan! What did you do? It’s almost lunchtime, you know?”
Hannah shouted as soon as she saw Jin. She was a little upset as he had been late in coming back.
“Sorry, sorry, there was just a little something back at my home that I had to take care of.”
“Geez. You scared me, I thought you might have disappeared again!”
“Sorry. I’ll be in contact properly from now on.”
Jin apologized while patting Hannah’s head. While doing that he felt his hear that was on the edge calming down.
“You know, today I went to the forest to gather firewood. This morning uncle Rock and the others brought in a lot of mountain deer, so we’re going to make smoked meat.”
Jin remembered that Rock had said something about that when he had seen the icehouse.
“Oh, I see. Shall we go help?”
“Yeah!”
Hannah who was back in a good mood pulled Jin by the hand to the plaza where they were smoking meat.
＊ ＊ ＊
Meanwhile, Reiko had returned to Hourai Island with Titan Mk.2. Because she had gone through the Warp Gate she was the first one back.
“Welcome back, Reiko-san.”
“Laojin, where’s Father?”
Reiko asked as she couldn’t see Jin who was usually here.
“My Lord has… gone to Kaina Village a step ahead of you.”
Laojin told Reiko the truth with some concern, thinking it would make Reiko’s mood worsen.
“Is that so. He went to see Hannah-chan, didn’t he?”
Reiko smiled and said so, contrary to his expectations.
“Father appears to treasure Hannah-chan the most, doesn’t he?”
Feeling just a little marveled, Laojin decided to daringly ask Reiko.
“Reiko-san, you seem to hold Hannah-chan in special regard too, am I correct? Of course, when leaving My Lord out of the argument.”
Then Reiko surprisingly laughed.
“He he, so you noticed. Yes, after Father Hannah-chan is the most important to me.”
“May I ask why?”
“Of course. It’s because Hannah-chan resembles Mother well.”
“By mother you mean the predecessor, isn’t that right?”
“Yes. My Mother, Adrianna Balbora Ceci. Of course, I don’t mean that their Magic Energy patterns are alike or anything like that. On the contrary, Hannah can’t use magic.”
“In that case, it’s the appearance?”
“That’s correct. When Mother was young, no, when she was a child, I’m certain she looked just like Hannah.”