09-37 Side Story 12: The Crooked Puppet
Mother has died.
Mother left me with a message.
“You are the best.”
Those were mother’s last words.
Then as her daughter, I will do nothing but make it a reality.
The best means someone who can’t be beaten by anyone.
And someone who can’t be beaten by anyone means ‘being above everything that exists’. That’s the conclusion I made.
＊ ＊ ＊
The first thing I thought was that ‘everything that exists’ is too much. So then what. It should be fine to reduce their number.
To begin with, I got rid of the Magi Craftsman who caused mother to be neglected.
He was a man who would’ve used up his life span in a few years even if left alone, but I thought it important to cut even the weakest bonds of fate he had with mother.
Next was destroying the Automata the man built.
Because this was the most direct way to prove that I can’t be beaten.
Everyone was too weak. Just by twisting their arms lightly they came off. So I plucked off their limbs and heads.
I continued and the owners of the Automata began being vigilant and increased their guards, but that wasn’t something that could stop me.
Because I am the queen.
Just by using a little bit of the strength my mother bestowed upon me, all of the guards became fools.
[Hypno], [Seduce], and [Subliminal].
Especially the magic [Subliminal] which made people obey my commands as if they themselves wanted to be my slaves. It isn’t strange for a queen like me to have slaves, don’t you agree?
And like this, I dealt with all the Automata that were my objectives.
However, my usage of [Subliminal] was never noticed by anyone, so they had precautions for only [Hypno and [Seduce] which made me laugh.
＊ ＊ ＊
After that I kept thinking about what is it that a queen should do, but I couldn’t reach a conclusion.
At that time the anti devil race war, which in the current era is called the Great Magic War. began.
Most unfortunately the Templates Adrianna Balbora Ceci left behind were rediscovered, and using them as the foundation Automata and golems were mass produced.
Mother who held a grudge against Adrianna came to my mind. And so I thought I would dispose of them and show the world my superiority.
A lot of golems were thrown into the battlefields. Destroying them with a single swing of my sword was fun.
The Adamantite short sword mother had given me. It cut apart the steel golems, through shields and all.
People who saw that were wide-eyed with surprise. Then they surely realized that I was stronger than the golems.
The devil race too acknowledged my superiority. They must’ve realized that I was only aiming for golems and stopped getting on my way on the battlefield.
Although until then I had been cutting the devil race members that got on my way down with a single stroke too.
‘Golden Princess of Destruction’. That was the nickname the soldiers gave me. I’m a queen and not a princess, but, well, it’s alright. Because once I make my strength known they’ll surely start calling me a queen.
＊ ＊ ＊
I opened my eyes.
Only a tiny amount of Magic Energy made contact, but it restarted my Mana Driver.
“Are you the one… who woke me up?”
A young man woke me up. With blue eyes that looked like they were dreaming. I recognized those eyes.
Once, when I was with mother a son of a noble proposed to me. I’m aware of how human men see my physical appearance.
I felt the young man in front of me have a rather large dormant Magic Energy reserve. That’s when I decided I would use this man.
“Thank you. If you’d like, would you please give me a name?”
If I said this, surely the young man would trust me. Because naming an Automata or a golem was the symbol of a master.
“Elena.”
The young man named me. I smiled and waited upon him.
“My name is Elena. Please treat me well from now on, my lord.”
The rest was easy.
I gradually used [Subliminal]. Then the boy became my slave.
＊ ＊ ＊
As a queen, although I had slaves I didn’t nonsensically abuse them.
I told the young man all I knew and taught him about the Magi Tools that were in the place I slept in.
The young man touched on the technology of the past, and with great emotion embraced the ambition of restoring the country of the past.
And very conveniently, the country the young man was from had a group called the ‘Unifiers’.
They seemed to be an eccentric group which pursued the ideals of Dinar Kingdom, the supreme post-Great Magic War country that unified the continent.
However, their eccentric aspects were very good for my circumstances.
Using [Hypno], [Seduce], and [Subliminal, I had the young man …apparently named Joule… affiliate himself with the Unifiers and little by little push his way up to the important offices of the Unifiers.
Even if it seemed unnatural I didn’t care. Because at any rate, all the leaders would become my slaves.
＊ ＊ ＊
Over ten years passed, and Joule became one of the leaders of the Unifiers.
One day he brought with him a Magi Craftsman who was famous in the present era.
“Good day, my name is Elena. Are you the man who will kindly repair my arm?”
I said so, but at a glance I could tell that the man’s ability wasn’t up to mother’s level.
But as there were no other talented people, I decided to compromise. Although to be honest, I wasn’t satisfied with his abilities.
Then another ten years passed, and after thorough training even that Magi Craftsman called Donald became useful.
He repaired me except for my broken left arm, and I was able to regain my original movements.
Only the left arm remained.
Because the materials weren’t enough, I decided to have the blue-haired Automata manufactured during the Great Magic War destroyed and used for parts.
Because the blue-haired Automata were also made based on Adrianna’s Templates, the material quality used in their construction was better than that of other golems and Automata.
Soon Donald had been trained for 20 years. 37 years after I woke up, I was finally able to regain my original body.
＊ ＊ ＊
There was no enemy who could rival me with my original body.
At last, Joule stood at the top of the Unifiers.
And simultaneously the ambition of the Unifiers changed from reviving the post-Great Magic War Dinar Kingdom to unifying the continent.
As for Donald, I taught him about the supertechnology of the past, and I had him develop numerous golems, weapons, and such using that technology.
From this the Unifiers immediately grew larger, and by now it has grown to a great influence with over 5000 members.
Then I commanded the Unifiers to unify the continent.
It was called the ‘unity group’ so the party members accepted that without feeling anything strange about it, and began moving with the goal of unifying the continent.
‘Elradrite’, ‘Subordination Rewriting Magic’, ‘hot flying balls’, etc, etc, etc…
I think that the current world has no one who could stand up to the supertechnology of the past.
Even so I’ll be on my guard.
The Shouro Empire Magi Craftsman called Reinhardt or something is said to be rather capable, so I decided to pay him a visit.
If it seems he’ll be useful I’ll welcome him as a slave, if not, I’ll simply erase him.
I will reign over this continent as a queen, and no one will get in the way of that.