Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Chapter 15 - Arma Valentine
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Arma Valentine.
One of the world's top ten superhumans.
Known as the Weapon Master for mastering every weapon in existence.
In the original story, she never even made an appearance, let alone had a portrait, so her age, appearance—everything was shrouded in mystery.
At her first appearance, Integra spoke in a bored tone.
[I knew it would be like this.]
A beauty.
A beauty in her early twenties, no less.
One of the world's ten strongest, a warrior, but still with a model-like figure.
Arma Valentine was truly a beauty.
Her actual age, based on the backstory, had to be over fifty at the very least, but her outward appearance was that of a vibrant twenty-something.
Pink but subdued long straight hair, a white blouse, and a black skirt reminiscent of office attire.
She stood with her arms lightly crossed inside scarlet armor, narrowing her somewhat sharp eyes as she spoke.
"You're Luther, right?"
It was blunt and informal from the first meeting, but it felt completely natural.
The unique aura you could sense from absolute powerhouses.
Her appearance as a woman in her mysterious prime didn't matter.
Arma Valentine was an absolute powerhouse, proven by the Arulong and monster corpses filling the surroundings.
"Yes, I'm Luther."
When Luther replied in a slightly hoarse voice, Arma Valentine took a cigarette from a compartment inside her scarlet armor, put it in her mouth, and lit it.
It was an extremely thin and slender cigarette.
"Hoo—"
After exhaling a long drag, she continued with a somewhat languid expression.
"I'm Arma Valentine. That kid Lilia was crying and begging me, saying you and Karen were in danger, so I came to rescue you."
Her flat tone somehow seemed annoyingly lazy.
No, she clearly looked genuinely annoyed.
As Integra quietly observed Arma Valentine, she spoke up.
[It seems her bracelet broke during the fight with Tanus earlier, sending a signal to Lilia.]
[By the way, she's not mentioning Max.]
[Poor Max.]
Come to think of it, that was true.
Luther inadvertently glanced at Max, who didn't seem to notice his name hadn't been called, staring at Arma Valentine with a mix of awe and bewilderment.
"Anyway, looks like I wasn't too late."
Arma Valentine murmured softly and took another deep drag from her cigarette.
But right then—
[Master, there's something a bit off.]
[Wasn't Arma Valentine not human even in the original story?]
"Huh?"
He unwittingly blurted it out loud.
Not human even in the original?
That meant—
"Oh, you noticed?"
Arma Valentine spoke first.
She seemed to have guessed the situation from Luther's suddenly changing expression.
[The Arma Valentine in front of you isn't human.]
[Most of her body is made of metal.]
[It's no exaggeration to call her a cyborg—or rather, a full-body mechanical prosthesis rather than human.]
What was going on?
Was the Arma Valentine before him a fake?
Or had she been a mechanical doll or something non-human from the start in the original?
"Well, it's not a big deal."
Arma Valentine took another drag from her cigarette and pointed at herself with her free hand.
"This is just a terminal. Not the real me. It's a modified murder doll, one of the legacies of the ancient magitech kingdom. The real me is much farther away."
Weapon Master Arma Valentine.
She was a warrior, a collector, and a renowned archaeologist.
Most of the artifacts she used had been excavated by her personally, after all.
[Is this also the power of magic?]
[Not only creating such a precise android but also controlling it remotely.]
[I need information on the ancient magitech kingdom.]
An ancient kingdom established by elves who once prospered long ago.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
Arma Valentine had brought up a new topic.
"I've heard the gist of the story. And now that I see it, I can be sure. What's the connection between the mysterious artifact that destroyed my house and you?"
Arma Valentine's gaze fell on the pure white fragment still connected to Luther.
Thanks to that, her eyes, which had seemed merely languid, now appeared a bit sharper—perhaps just his imagination.
[Here it comes at last.]
[Rest in peace, Master.]
['If I die, you die too,' right?]
But Luther knew it was just a joke from the start.
Integra making jokes like this meant she had already figured out how to respond to Arma Valentine.
Luther first detached his hand from the fragment, straightened his posture, and said,
"My name is Luther Lightseeker. One who came from the heavens."
In other words, an angel.
Curiosity flickered in Arma Valentine's orange eyes.
* * *
Dragon Hunter Origin had no angels.
There were a few items introduced as angelic armaments, like the Heavenly Armor, but that was about it.
'You know, like those common RPG things. Armaments with otherworldly descriptors. But the other world never actually appears in the story. Just that kind of flavor items.'
Settings existing solely to enrich the worldbuilding.
That's why Luther felt no burden in claiming to be an "angel."
There was no chance of ever meeting a real one anyway.
"It's definite. This isn't from the magitech kingdom."
Karen and Max's faces lit up with smiles at Arma Valentine's serious examination of the nanosuit.
A perfect "As expected!" reaction of delight.
[Heh, right on cue.]
Luther also smirked faintly inside his re-equipped visor.
But Arma Valentine's next words were a bit strange.
"It's like the Heavenly Armor. No, this seems like a more advanced form."
Karen and Max nodded again.
But Luther couldn't.
['Like'?]
The nanosuit and the Heavenly Armor?
It wasn't like Karen or Max jumping to assumptions.
Arma's words carried strong conviction.
"Lady Arma, have you seen the Heavenly Armor in person?"
Max asked in an excited tone, and Arma nodded while still fiddling with Luther's nanosuit—precisely the arm section.
"I've seen it a few times. It was intriguing because it's made with a completely different type of technology from the magitech kingdom's legacies."
Arma Valentine wasn't lying.
She was one of the world's top ten superhumans and an expert on ancient magitech kingdom artifacts like no other.
If anyone had the chance to observe the Heavenly Armor, which the Holy Empire cherished so dearly, it would be her.
[Master, what's going on?]
[Heavenly Armor and nanosuit being the same? No way Dragon Hunter Origin's 'angels'—or 'heavenly realm'—is the 'Galactic Federation'?]
The largest political entity in Star Savior's lore.
Based on the current conversation flow, the 'heavenly realm' was the 'Galactic Federation,' and 'angels' were clearly 'aliens' affiliated with it.
['Merging the worldviews like this? No, but it's possible.']
Luther himself, a playable character from Star Savior, had already appeared in the Dragon Hunter Origin world.
Moreover, since this was reality, not a game, such connections felt more natural.
'Yeah, it's possible. It even naturally explains why angels don't appear in Dragon Hunter Origin.'
The founding emperor Clausewitz lived over a hundred years ago.
Perhaps he was someone from the Galactic Federation who crash-landed on this planet, just like Luther?
Or maybe a native human who encountered such a person.
[An intriguing hypothesis.]
[And a common cliché, too.]
[Add in some time slip or timeline travel cliché, and 'Clausewitz' could even be a past version of Master!]
'No, even for a cliché, that's a bit much...'
Clichés have their limits.
[Yeah, probably not.]
[I thought it was over the top even as I said it.]
[If it were true, there'd be no need to change the name. To give hints to future Master and me, he'd have kept the name 'Luther.']
[Anyway, fascinating.]
[It could really be century-old tech, but if we don't abandon the warp-induced timeline shift hypothesis, it might surprisingly be tech from within the last 10 years—or even contemporary.]
[Master, were the 'angels'' armaments in the original only the Heavenly Armor?]
No, they weren't.
The founding emperor Clausewitz had left behind more than just the Heavenly Armor.
'There are weapons. And... whoa, no way that too?'
[Master?]
[What's wrong?]
[Express it so I know too.]
The reason Luther trailed off and suddenly exclaimed in admiration.
In the original, only armaments like the sword or shield Clausewitz used appeared.
But in the lore, far greater items existed.
'The Sword Emperor's Eight Divine Armaments. The Sky Giant and the Mobile Fortress.'
[What?]
'There's a giant and a mobile fortress.'
The massive artifacts said to have been piloted by Holy Empire founding emperor and Sword Emperor Clausewitz.
But if all those were made with Galactic Federation tech...
[My god, you're talking combat mechs and battleships?]
'Probably?'
No, that was the only way to think about it.
It made far more sense that way.
[Master, looks like we have a new objective.]
[We need to collect Sword Emperor Clausewitz's legacies.]
[Even if it's century-old tech, a battleship changes everything.]
It really did.
Moreover, Luther now had Integra.
If he could find them, and repairs were possible, upgrades would be too.
[I was planning to report once things settled, but absorbing this fragment yielded new data.]
[If these fragments and the spherical one could form a Galactic Federation battleship...]
[Master, my heart's pounding right now.]
Luther felt the same.
His heart pounded, and wild fantasies exploded in his mind.
But right then—
"Hey, you okay? You've been quiet for a while."
Snapping to attention at Arma's question, Luther saw Karen and Max looking at him with worried faces.
Lost in conversation with Integra, he'd gone minutes without speaking, so their concern was natural.
"I'm just a bit tired. How about we discuss the details after finding a place to rest?"
At Luther's words, Karen and Max nodded immediately.
They'd fought a brutal battle before Arma arrived and absorbed the fragment, so exhaustion was expected.
"That sounds good. The fairies seem to be waiting too."
At Arma's words, everyone blinked in realization and turned toward the fairies.
Mystical fairy-tale beings, but Arma Valentine's overwhelming presence had made them slip their minds.
The fairies, perhaps out of worry for their queen or because they'd heard Luther called an "angel," spoke in a slightly more deferential tone instead of complaining.
"We'll take our queen back first for now."
"We'll repay the favor, so meet us tomorrow night where we first met."
"Burst this to signal."
Led by Videl, the fairies each added a word and placed a small, brightly glowing fruit in Karen's palm.
"Then we're off."
"See you tomorrow."
Waving, the fairies surrounded their still-sleeping Fairy Queen with eyes closed and vanished as light.
A signature fairy ability: spatial leap.
[This world's tech balance is mysteriously inconsistent.]
[No cars, but spatial jumps are fine.]
'That's fantasy for you.'
Luther replied offhandedly and looked at Arma, who had already reboarded her scarlet giant armor.
She closed the hatch with an indifferent expression and spoke in a languid tone.
"Guide me to the campsite."
The place where they met the fairies.
Luther nodded lightly and picked up the fragment.