A Temporary Return, and Putting Things in Order (2)
I laid out everything that had happened in the Phase World, then undid the enormous bundle and showed them Baekcheong's horn, bones, hide, and meat—all of it colossal. Every jaw in the room dropped. No one could find a word.
"An Imugi... was an Extreme-Rank Variant......"
Yeongeun's expression, in particular, was something to behold. She had a way of tying everything back to me, or else to the state, and from the look of her she was already running simulations—what would happen if an Imugi appeared in reality, built entirely on the story she had just heard from me.
"More than that, a Dragon God who treated an Imugi as nothing of consequence...? The Lord of the Great Sea troubles me far more. First Langue Dran, and now the Lord of the Great Sea as well. That colossal whale, Album Cetus, is starting to seem almost laughable."
"Judging by the fact that they repaired Franc, they don't seem like such a bad existence, do they? It wasn't free, mind you. It was an equivalent exchange."
Hwayeon answered my sister's assessment with a look of clear displeasure.
"Consider what Nuhodi told us. The Lord of the Great Sea was no friend to humankind. Why approach Seoha at all? Why restrict the use of the magic bullets and the Magic Cannon? The intent is hardly clear."
"That came up at the International Council too, didn't it? The Magic Cannon he uses can do serious harm to the Earth—it has the power to trigger large-scale tectonic shifts—so they said its use had to be restrained. And if even the Lord of the Great Sea is laying restrictions on it, there must be some other grave effect besides that."
That came up too? Then why didn't I hear about it? Yeongeun lifted one eyebrow at my sister's words, looked at me where I stood blankly, and spoke.
"Wouldn't it be something like annihilating Phase Power? If it is the Lord of the Great Sea, they would be an intellect higher than any human, and we cannot even begin to guess the reach of that power. There must have been something only the Lord of the Great Sea could know."
Listening to them, I suddenly remembered something I had not mentioned, and opened my mouth.
"Oh. And Franc is Transcendent-grade now, too."
"......?!"
"Hk—!"
I had tossed it out as if it were nothing, but to my sister and Yeongeun it was clearly something. They looked up at Franc with startled faces. Embarrassed by their stares, perhaps, Franc—whose seated height alone reached that of a five-story apartment building—quietly raised a hand to cover her face.
Hwayeon wore a troubled look for a moment, but she smoothed it away at once and turned to me.
"More importantly, from what you have told us, Baekcheong does not seem to be dead."
"Yeah. Franc and I figure the odds that thing is still alive are better than nine in ten."
"Earning the grudge of an Extreme-Rank Variant is a rather troubling matter."
At the mention of a grudge they seemed to sink into thought, and their words dwindled until the air around us went quiet. Franc, who had only been listening, wore a slightly downcast expression threaded with regret, and she seemed unable to shake her unease at the way things stood.
Unease was inevitable. Easing it was my job.
Once Hwayeon, my sister, Yeongeun, and Aunt Hyeryeong had finished thinking and turned to face one another, launching into something close to a debate, I raised a Wall of Space right in front of Franc's nose and leapt up.
I said it while gently stroking the pretty tip of her upturned nose, and Franc's azure eyes turned toward me. A lovely smile rose on her face.
"Since it has come to this, we should form a party with Franc and send the two of them together to search for Baekcheong and the Meo Azitos. If we forge armor from the byproducts of a Transcendent-grade aberrant and equip Franc with it, she will possess a defense so powerful that nothing in this world could match it. Place Franc in the vanguard—outstanding in both close-combat offense and defense—with Seoha supporting from the rear, and the synergy ought to be considerable."
"That may hold for this world, but there's no telling what other terrifying beings exist over there, so we can't afford to be sure. Still, if Franc goes with him instead of Seoha wandering alone, the danger drops, and the rest of us can breathe easier. We ought to think about how to support the two of them."
My sister nodded, as if she agreed with Hwayeon and Yeongeun both.
"Right. A flood the size of a decent country is a special case we almost certainly won't see again, and Franc is a pure Physical Reinforcement type, so she's perfect as a tank. You said that in speed alone she matches him, so if we do as Hwayeon says, that's a sturdy tank paired with a supporter who can heal, deal, and tank all at once. Not bad. If anything, isn't it better?"
"Then our priorities are settled. Crafting armor and weapons fitted to the Chairman, and to Miss Franc, from the Imugi's byproducts must be our first task."
"But you're going straight back in five days, aren't you? In that time, something better than the Turtle Rock Suit made from the Grand Turtle's byproducts... how are we supposed to make that? I heard the National Research Institute still hasn't fully analyzed the tissue of the Grand Turtle's shell."
"Not long ago, Raid Team 3 succeeded in the Thunder Eel raid. It is only the byproduct of a High-Tier Variant, but its insulation is exceptional, so we can manufacture Seoha's armor from it. For Franc, we will have to look into different protection."
"Then in the meantime, with Baekcheong's byproducts......"
"Acquire a research firm. Merge it with a weapons and armor manufacturer......"
For a while after that they laid the bones of a plan for supporting Franc and me and put flesh on them, until Yeongeun and Hwayeon turned to look over Baekcheong's byproducts and spoke, eyes bright with anticipation.
"Whew. Byproducts of an Extreme-Rank Variant, out of nowhere. I'm still a little dazed~"
"Baekcheong's horn ought to be researched before we try to turn it into an item."
The talk seemed to be winding down, so I dismissed the Wall of Space and jumped down beside them. Yeongeun came over and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Aigoo. Our Seoha really gave it his all, didn't he? Well done~."
She patted my backside, and in her arms I could only smile bitterly to myself. It was true I had told them most of what happened on the fifth run. I had only hidden the fact that I had nearly been wiped out by that thing's secret art while fighting Baekcheong. There was no point bringing it up and only making them worry more, so I had said nothing—and Franc, beside us, seemed to understand. A faint smile rested on her lips.
"Anyway, Franc's position is really ambiguous. She's pretty, but at that size, nobody is going to look at her and see a person."
With that, Yeongeun winked playfully at Franc. I felt the same, and when Franc turned her head aside with an embarrassed, troubled face, I smiled faintly and spoke.
"The most important thing right now is that Franc has a body, and she's going to live in reality for real. So, Aunt Hyeryeong, please look into whatever laws might apply to Franc as she is now. Sis, see to it that she can stay here."
"Understood."
"Got it. Building a two- or three-story mansion to fit Franc's frame, or anything that could bear her weight, is physically impossible, so I'll build it single-story, studio-style. That all right?"
"You don't have to thank me. We're hardly strangers. Then first, clothes Franc can actually wear, and......"
She glanced up at Franc's head and muttered, "She'll need a beanie, too. We won't get a house up in the short term, so I should find a large tent and make a temporary place to stay," then switched on her Certifier and started taking notes.
"No need for that. I'll make a simple house out of the Wall of Space for Franc to stay in. While she's living there, you can build one that fits her size."
With that, I used the Blue Space Wall to copy our house and shape a two-room place to Franc's frame. In a matter of seconds an enormous house stood before their eyes, and every one of them looked utterly dumbfounded.
I had raised a thin Blue Space Wall, formed like a studio to match Franc's size, but the Wall of Space was translucent by nature, and the inside was plain to see from outside. My sister swept her bangs back as if she could not believe it, then tapped the Blue Space Wall with the back of her hand.
"So this is the Blue Space Wall. Hmm. You can see everything inside, but if we get a tent and drape it over, that solves it... Is it all right to make it this thin?"
"A meter of thickness has the strength to hold even if Franc goes all out. Even at a centimeter, it won't break unless she's dead set on destroying it."
Unable to believe something so thin could be that strong, they all came over and touched the Blue Space Wall. Yeongeun did not stop at touching. She put her strength into it and struck.
Thwack!
"Oh my. It's really—?"
The Blue Space Wall was perfectly intact. The skin of Yeongeun's fist, by contrast, had split and swollen red, and I was dumbfounded. How hard did she hit, for a Physical Reinforcement user's hand to get hurt?!
I took her hand and was mending it with Healing Touch when my sister spoke, her expression asking whether there was any point in building a separate studio at all.
"Can't she just keep living here? We'd only need to put in the wiring and the furniture."
"No. Raising something this size already burned thirty million TP. And when I cross over to the Phase World, the Wall of Space disappears."
"Ah, right. That's how it was. But that takes an awful lot of TP, doesn't it?"
My sister tapped her own head as if she had forgotten, added a few more items to the Certifier's memo, and began sorting out what had to be done. Aunt Hyeryeong opened a legal site, looked around here and there, then stepped a little away from us and placed a call.
Franc looked glum, as if she had realized she would have to stay here alone. I had no intention of leaving her.
"I'll bring a container house and stay right beside you, so don't be too disappointed."
At the talk of setting up a place here, Franc startled and waved both hands. This time, I was not yielding.
"Forget it. I'm not resting easy at home alone while Franc stays out here by herself."
"If we are family, then of course we live together. I will stay here as well."
Yeongeun heard Hwayeon say that family ought to live in one place, and nodded along—then flinched, as if something had just occurred to her. Unlike Hwayeon, who as my fiancée had a pretext for living with me on this side, Yeongeun must have realized she had no plausible reason of her own. Behind my sister and Aunt Hyeryeong she wilted with disappointment and frustration, and turned a tearful face on me.
My sister seemed to sense something odd—Yeongeun, at her back, was radiating every kind of frustration with her whole body—and turned around. Yeongeun switched expressions in an instant, as if nothing had happened, and feigned perfect normalcy. Still finding it strange, my sister tilted her head, then turned to me.
"If you're going to stay here for a while, it'd be better to bring something like a camper."
"Oh, a camper!"
"Aigoo. Look how happy you get the moment I say camping. I'll order one right away, so stay in the Wall of Space house at least until it arrives."
"Yeah. Before that, get the tent, and clothes and underwear for Franc."
"Got it."
My sister called around, and in less than an hour she had procured an opaque, colossal tent made of a material called tarpaulin. I altered the shape of the Wall of Space house a little, and with Franc's help we draped the tent over it. The result looked less like a house and more like an enormous tent-house, but there was nothing to be done about that.
"Next, clothes for Franc to wear~."
She was at a loss, unable to take Franc's measurements. I checked Franc's dimensions with Spatial Perception and handed them over, and she looked at me like I was a pervert.
Why is that perverted?! Isn't it obvious I'd know my girlfriend's measurements?!
"What. Why. What."
"......Nothing."
Looking somewhat sullen, my sister got in the car with Aunt Hyeryeong—who said she had business—and left. Honestly, that sister of mine... I was still grumbling that I might be a pervert, but calling me one was rude all the same, when their car vanished from sight and Yeongeun came dashing over, threw herself into my arms, and whined.
"Eeeing, you're all going to live here all lovey-dovey without me?! What about me~!"
"Ah. I forgot."
"......Are you two seriously doing this?!"
Yeongeun, mid-whine, shot her eyebrows up at Hwayeon and Franc's reactions and started venting at Hwayeon, furious.
"You're leaving me and Franc out so the two of you can play newlyweds in the camper, aren't you?! I object! I object!"
I caught the huffing Yeongeun by the waist, soothing and patting her as we stepped inside the Wall of Space house beneath its gray tent. Hwayeon followed, and with a look of pure exasperation, opened her mouth.
"She isn't even a child......"
"Madam is rather good at finding excuses, isn't she. Would this not be the moment to settle on a solid pretext for living together?"
"......Easy for you to say."
Yeongeun pouted and grumbled, and Hwayeon pressed her with a stern face.
"Once the mansion is finished and the grounds are ready, you will have to move in. What will you do then? It would be best to have a suitable pretext ready in advance."
"Ugh."
Hearing what followed, Yeongeun wore the look of someone desperately holding it in—and yet her eyes shone sharp. She was clearly racking her brain for a pretext.
Inside the Wall of Space house, a dim but enormously wide interior opened before me. Built to Franc's size, it made me feel like a little person who had wandered into a land of giants. I had referenced the penthouse on the top floor of the Grand Blue Building and made only a living room, a bedroom, and a dressing room and bathroom opening off the bedroom. I wondered if that would be enough.
"Well? Not too cramped?"
She said it felt comfortable, but there was no way it was as comfortable as she claimed. It was not soft and warm like the furniture at home—it was all hard Wall of Space. Franc was putting on that face so I would not worry.
"I only made a living room, a bedroom, a dressing room, and a bathroom, so look around, and if you need anything else, say so. I'll fix it. If you want to shower, call Miho and ask her."
I left Franc as she moved toward the bedroom, and turned to Yeongeun, who had taken my hand from behind.
"Have you decided what to do with Baekcheong's byproducts?"
An extension of the talk the four of them had had without me, earlier? I had not thought it through, but I was not about to do something as stupid as selling an Extreme-Rank Variant's byproducts to another country.
"We'll use them to make weapons and armor for ourselves. It's not a small amount, but if we're using it as research material for weapons and armor, it isn't that much, is it? What's certain is I'm not selling those byproducts."
The byproducts of the Grand Turtle, a Highest-Rank Variant, had been the first Highest Tier materials ever released into the world—and even those could not be compared in value to Baekcheong's.
"Right~. Mmm."
Yeongeun kept glancing toward the bundle with a look of regret, her lips twitching, so I asked what was wrong. The answer was thoroughly Yeongeun.
"I was thinking of using those byproducts to gain a bit of an edge inside the Three-Nation Alliance~ A material that won't break or bend even under the full strength of a B-Class Physical Reinforcement user has endless uses!"
The Three-Nation Alliance—Korea, Britain, and Russia? At once, Hwayeon's voice of opposition shot out.
"That will not do. Armor made from the byproducts of a Highest-Rank Variant evaporated in an instant under Baekcheong's attack, did it not? Those materials must be used entirely to forge armor for Seoha and Franc."
"Who's arguing? I was only thinking it'd be nice to make physical restraints for ability-user criminals."
Hoh. Restraints... Certainly, if we made restraints from Baekcheong's bones—bones that held even against my Wall of Space—they would be effective for locking down criminals who were ability users. Speaking of which.
"Yeongeun. Raise both hands for me?"
"Hm? Like this?"
She lifted both hands a little at my request, without much suspicion. The moment she did, I set a thin Blue Space Wall like cuffs around both wrists and both ankles. Her eyes went round as she looked down at her hands and feet.
"Oh my, you can restrain someone with the Blue Space Wall, too... ugh. Th-this is solid!"
Bound by the Wall of Space, Yeongeun twisted her waist and twitched her arms and legs as if putting strength into them, but she could not break free.
"Give it some strength. Let's see how well it holds even a B-Class ability user."
"Nnngh. Nnnnngh...!"
She strained until her face went red, then soon went limp, panting. I had guessed that a Wall of Space which had withstood even some of Franc's strength would easily hold a B-Class Physical Reinforcement user, but I had not expected she would fail to break something as thin as five centimeters.
"Aww, you can't even break this much? Yeongeun doesn't have much strength, huh?"
"Kyaah?!"
I stepped behind her, caressed her breasts, and slipped a hand under her shirt to stroke her abs. Yeongeun startled.
"Come on. Put some strength into it."
"Ah—ahing!"
Teasing a stunning beauty who was bound and unable to use her strength somehow excited me. I stroked the narrow line of Yeongeun's waist, undid her belt, and slipped a hand into her black panties to gently caress the mound of Venus. She startled and thrust her hips back.
"Eu, euyaang. W-wait! Seoha, wait a second! I said wait!"
"There, there. And a one, and a two."
"Ah, ut. Euut. Euuung!"
And so, under the wry smiles of Hwayeon and Franc, I toyed with the Wall-of-Space-bound Yeongeun as I pleased, until she cried surrender.
Very nice.