Chapter 322: Why Use an Inferior Version?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 322: Why Use an Inferior Version?
“And so, the vanguard led by Sunderspear crushed the wicked invaders and raised the flag of the Military State high.”
Having finished her solo performance, Hilde bowed deeply and quietly awaited our reaction. Tyr and I clapped lightly. Azzy, after staring at me for a moment, seemed to mimic my actions by thumping her front paws on the ground. The only one who remained still was the Regressor.
In the village of the two-eyed, the one-eyed man is the strange one. For a moment, all eyes fell on the Regressor. Having captured everyone’s attention with her silence, she clicked her tongue instead of clapping.
“To think they’ve already invaded.”
“Invaded! Have you not been listening to the story? They were the ones who started it! They were gnawing away at Tantalus! The Military State was merely assuming a defensive posture!”
“You were planning to march on their homeland regardless. Am I wrong?”
Hilde fell silent at the Regressor’s sharp retort. A moment later, she replied with a smile, as if to say, ‘You caught me.’
“Hmmmm. You truly are a curio~ous one. Usually, you seem as simple as a grade-schooler, but at times, your insight is as cunning as a hundred-year-old man.”
“Shut up. If you were truly planning on defending, you would have sent the Engineer Corps, not an entire army. Who do you take me for?”
It was the same in the previous timeline. Back then, the Fallen Dominion was much more cautious. Thanks to the Undying’s corpse golem, neither the Military State nor the Fallen Dominion could approach recklessly…
The Regressor is surprisingly similar to me. I take answers gleaned from reading minds and pass them off as my own deductions, while she presents experiences from her past life as her own predictions. We’re both frauds, deceiving others about our methods.
Without her regression, her empty core would be plain to see. Well, can’t be helped. Just as mind-reading is my ability, regression is hers. If I have a problem with it, I should have been the one to regress.
Were her occasional displays of simplicity a bold gambit? I thought she was just Father’s pawn… I’ll have to reconsider.
Unaware of any of this, Hilde adjusted her assessment of the Regressor.
“Huhu. So, you understand, don’t you? How difficult a decision the Military State has made. We gave up quite a lot to accept the ceasefire you forced upon us.”
“Difficult? You’re just sitting there.”
“To gather an army capable of marching to the enemy’s heart and then do nothing with it… that’s the hardest thing of all. But I’m sure you already knew that.”
“…”
We’re just sitting here. What’s so hard about that?
She says that without knowing a thing. Though she doesn’t let it show on her face at all.
I should probably give her a hint, just to save her some embarrassment.
“It’s because of the supply lines, isn’t it?”
“Ye~es. A gap in the Military State’s forces is a gap in its administration. Being a soldier isn’t just about standing around, is it? They have to haul cargo and handle construction all over the State. To hastily gather them and leave them in an empty plain is causing immense losses. We’re fine for now because of our stockpiles, but later…”
Hilde, who had been miming the act of counting on her fingers, let out a soft sigh and trailed off.
“Realistically, we have one week. After that, we’ll have to advance, if only to prevent the army from collapsing. So, please, try a little harder, won’t you? You must reach the Golden Palace and present the ceasefire agreement before that week is up.”
“One week?”
“Why, is that not enough?”
“No, it’s plenty.”
A ceasefire should be easy if we just convince the Military State. The Fallen Dominion is relatively weak.
The Regressor answered nonchalantly. Hilde stared at her for a moment before adding another word.
“Let me tell you one more thing. A week is more than enough time for not only us, but also the Fallen Dominion, to finish their preparations. If things had gone according to the original plan, we would have blunted the enemy’s spearhead, cut off their intelligence, and advanced while taking out the Juggernauts one by one. But in a week, we won’t be able to do that.”
“What, are you asking for our help because the war got harder on our account?”
“I’m saying if you’re going to stop the war, do it properly. A war that breaks out a month from now will be dozens of times more horrific than the one that should have happened yesterday.”
Hilde had a tendency to say serious things with an incredibly lighthearted expression. I’m sure it was a skill she’d cultivated, but it was creepy, and I wished she’d tone it down.
Left with nothing to say, the Regressor whipped her head away and replied.
“…Tch. Anyone would think you’re a pacifist. So, do you know the location of the Golden Palace?”
Hilde answered with a bright smile.
“Nope! Who could possibly know where a moving palace is right now?”
“Right, that’s true. Let’s look for it on the way. Even if we can’t find it, we should be able to get information if we stop by Claudia. Wait a second. I had a map…”
The Regressor turned and began rummaging through her Pocket. In that time, Hilde, who had been watching me, sidled over. She pressed herself right against me and even used Qi Art to whisper so that Tyr and the Regressor wouldn’t hear.
“Father, please don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I’m trying to hide it, but ‘I’ truly don’t know, and neither does she. Because…”
“Because it can’t be seen?”
“…Yes. You even know that.”
Hilde nodded, a faint smile on her lips.
Clairvoyance could see all things in the world, but it could only see. In other words, if light couldn’t reach something, it ran into major difficulties. It wasn’t for nothing that Tyr, said to be the Sanctum’s greatest enemy, went around cloaked in darkness.
That was one of the reasons Yuel had tried to drive us away. Tyr’s darkness blinded Yuel’s Clairvoyance. Even with her power, Yuel hadn’t been able to see through our feint and had been deceived.
…Besides, even Yuel doesn’t know the layout of the Golden Palace. I wonder if even Father knows.
Well, there must be at least one person in the world who knows, right? I can just read that person’s mind, so it’s fine. For now, we just need to get close.
“Alright. I’ve decided.”
The Regressor, who had been huddled over something by herself, clapped her hands and gathered us. She took out a small map and spread it before us.
It was a blank map, with nothing written or drawn on it. One might wonder what kind of map this was, but this was the Fallen Dominion. For this cursed land that had driven countless surveyors to despair, it was better to draw nothing at all. The cities, the terrain—everything changed from moment to moment.
On the right edge of the map, a mountain range stood like a folding screen. The surveyors who had tried to chart the lands of the Fallen Dominion must have been overjoyed to find those mountains. In a country where today was never like yesterday, it was the only identifiable landmark.
And… surveyors weren’t the only ones who loved things that didn’t change.
The Regressor pointed to a spot on the mountain range.
Claudia.
The name of a city, standing lonely and isolated on a map of the Fallen Dominion. The most populous place in the entire nation.
“First, we’ll head to Claudia, the only permanent city in the Fallen Dominion. If we find the location of the Golden Palace while taking down Dholes or Juggernauts on the way, we’ll head there immediately. If not, we’ll stop in Claudia and find out where it is.”
“Claudia? The city at the foot of the Cloud Mountain Range to the east?”
“Right. The Golden Palace may move as it pleases, but its base of operations, Claudia, doesn’t. All we have to do is get there. It’s also a good place to run into people from the Golden Palace.”
It was a surprisingly sound, straightforward approach, not at all like the Regressor, and I meant that in a good way. But there was one problem.
“We have to keep climbing along the mountain range to get to Claudia. Can we reach it in a week with the Cataphract?”
“Not with this thing. It’s got good defense, but it’s not very fast.”
“Then what? Don’t tell me you’re going to fly?”
“No, I can’t fly that far with Chun-aeng. It doesn’t have enough space stored inside. So we need an alternative.”
She’s making strategies, planning, and even proposing alternatives. Regressor, you have a plan after all. For the first time, I’m starting to find you a little reliable.
The Regressor raised Chun-aeng and Jizan, her gaze falling upon the Cataphract with an endlessly cold expression.
“Let’s remodel it.”
Why are you holding swords while saying that…? Something feels off. Do you even know what remodeling is? Surely you’re not thinking in such a one-dimensional way…?
It might have been my imagination, but I felt the Cataphract tremble.
The remodeling the Regressor spoke of was, as I had expected, a rather crude and violent method.
First, she detached the engine section with the Thundergear to avoid damaging it. Then, with Jizan and Chun-aeng, she sliced off the upper section in a single stroke. The Cataphract was a masterpiece, covered in Grade-3 Alchemic Steel with its weak points reinforced with level 4, but it couldn’t withstand the Regressor’s brutal hands.
[Ah, ahhh. The Cataphract…]
The golem covered its mouth as it watched the Cataphract being brutally dismantled.
Most of the Cataphract’s weight came from its thick armor. By cutting it all off, the Cataphract became incredibly light.
The Regressor looked at the Cataphract, now reduced to a cargo cart, with a proud expression.
“There! Now we can go much faster!”
Of course. I should have stopped her.
I put a hand to my head and said.
“Shei-ssi. Making it lighter doesn’t make it faster.”
“Huh? Why not?”
But carts get faster when you lighten their load.
Just when I was starting to find her a little reliable, she goes and does something clumsy. Does a horse get faster if you shave off its rump? The speed barely changes. It’s a matter of structure and design.
Shaking my head, I spoke to the golem, who was sitting in a state of shock.
“…Hah. Hold on. D.G., what do we do about this?”
[Sob… Please, just destroy this unit instead…]
“I can’t allow you to take the easy way out. Open your eyes wide and navigate this hell with us. That is your duty, Signaller.”
[…Signaller Captain D.G… Understood. I will overcome this sorrow and stand tall.]
The Regressor, who had managed to make even a golem weep, just blinked, not even knowing what she’d done wrong.
“How can we fix this to make it somewhat usable?”
[To increase its speed to match the reduced weight… we need to adjust the size of the gears and reforge the Thundergear…]
“Is that possible?”
[Unless you can process the Thundergear with alchemy… it’s realistically impossible…]
Tch. This is cutting it close.
I can process the Thundergear. The problem is, I can’t read the golem’s mind. My ability relies more on reading the thoughts of others than on my own innate skill.
Me, reforge it to the right specifications just by listening to the golem’s explanation? With my limited mana? Even if I somehow managed to process the Thundergear, what about the lightning to put in it? I’d be far short on mana.
“Huh? It’s no good?”
As the Regressor asked nonchalantly, Hilde shook her head and stepped forward.
“Sigh. I suppose it can’t be helped~. What would someone who wields the Divine know about machinery, anyway?”
“Wh-what! It’s not like making it lighter is a bad thing!”
“That’s enough~. Step aside.”
Hilde grabbed the Thundergear and, with a single pull, yanked it out. The Thundergear, which had been firmly embedded in the Cataphract’s core, came out effortlessly.
Such was the strength of a Qi Practitioner who had reached the Axiom. Hilde, who had crumpled steel with her bare hands, infused Qi into her fingernails and scraped the surface of the Thundergear. A deep scratch appeared on the hard metal.
I am an alchemist. An understander of steel who transforms matter with mana.
The lines, which had seemed chaotic, soon formed a single shape. A transmutation circle. Mana flowed into the grooves carved by her Qi. A flash of light, and parts of the Thundergear’s grooves melted away… reforming into a larger size.
In an instant, the Thundergear had more than doubled in size. It wasn’t crudely stretched by force, nor was it haphazardly patched together. It was purely processed with alchemy.
The Regressor was inwardly impressed.
“You know alchemy, too?”
“I couldn’t disguise myself as an alchemist if I didn’t know alchemy, could I? I’ve learned as much as I need.”
How dedicated was she to her acting? The Regressor muttered in disbelief.
“Learning a skill just for a disguise… by that logic, you could probably use magic, too…”
“Oh? How did you know? ‘I’ have mastered most of the standard magic!”
“What?”
Instead of explaining further, Hilde cupped the Thundergear in her palm. Then she closed her eyes and repeated inwardly.
I am a mage. A sage who recreates the principles of the world in the palm of my hand.
Her mantra changed. Hilde, who had been an alchemist just a moment ago, now became something akin to a mage.
Like everything in the world, everyone has an aptitude for certain things. No matter how well you understand the principles, if you don’t have the aptitude, you’re unlikely to achieve much.
In that sense, I have zero aptitude for any skill. Thanks to my mind-reading, I can understand and accept any technique, but I can never achieve more than a certain level of proficiency. My Qi and mana are both average.
Hilde, however, is a little different. She has ample mana and Qi, and she utilizes her abilities perfectly. Excelling in every talent is practically impossible even for a tremendous genius, but Hilde uses self-suggestion to elevate herself to the level of a first-rate master.
“Set, Re. Bolt.”
The mana scattered in her body took the form of lightning and seeped into the Thundergear. Hilde possessed a considerable amount of mana, and her method of manifesting it was first-class.
Lightning now dwelled within the Thundergear. Hilde proudly displayed the crackling device and approached the engine.
“D.G., your instructions.”
[Yes, ma’am! Please connect Part A to the drive shaft! Optional, but it is recommended to completely remove Part B to prevent interference! In that state, if you just align the center, it will mesh with Parts C and D at the current specifications!]
Hilde followed the instructions precisely.
She didn’t know everything. She had only learned the minimum foundational knowledge required for the instructions. But that minimal understanding, combined with the Signaller’s directions, produced a perfect result.
It was a delicate operation combining strength and skill. She boldly tore off unnecessary parts and fitted the larger Thundergear to the connection point. Any slight discrepancies were adjusted with Instant Alchemy.
So this is the true form of the Camarilla of the Military State’s Six Generals.
A moment later, the Thundergear began to turn, and the Cataphract slowly started to move. The golem shouted in excitement.
[Operating sounds… nominal! Output nominal! We have succeeded!]
She had reached a first-rate level in magic, alchemy, and even mechanical engineering. On top of that, her Qi Art had reached the Axiom. A jack-of-all-trades who could use any weapon at a master level and perfectly disguise herself as another person.
She could make a place for herself anywhere she went. Phew. This means a lot of my work will be gone, which will be nice and convenient…
Wait.
Her familiarity with a wide range of skills is just like Hu. If Hu were to regain just a little more of his power, he’d be just like her… Good grief. I can’t tell who’s the child and who’s the father.
Wait? Hold on a minute.
Doesn’t this make her a superior version of me?