Chapter 373: As If It Would Last Forever
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 373: As If It Would Last Forever
The forces from Claudia were unlike those of the Fallen Dominion. Meaning, they were organized and well-commanded. A force large enough to be called an army charged across the plains before Claudia, marching in neat ranks and files.
Among them, only the automaton carriage leading the charge was different. Its chassis, several times larger than the others, was propelled by crackling Thundergears spinning furiously. They spun so fast their treads were a blur.
A figure standing tall atop that automaton carriage stared directly at us.
The most striking feature was her bright yellow hair. It flowed down to her waist, tied in a single tail. Hair has weight and should hang down with gravity, but hers was somehow frizzy and floated on the wind.
If it were just long, it wouldn't have been so memorable. The strange part, however, was at the ends of her hair.
At the tips of the strands fluttering in the wind... tiny sparks flickered in and out of existence.
Once she was close enough, she leaped from the carriage without hesitation.
Due to this land's immense gravity, any object that leaves the ground moves in a parabola. Unless it's riding the wind, the shape of that curve never changes.
But the Thunderarch's movement was different.
As she rose into the air, she yanked her arm back. Her body shot forward as if she had thrown a line to the Golden Ark and reeled herself in. Soaring in an almost straight line, she landed on the deck of the Golden Ark in a single bound.
The deck boomed with a thud. Static electricity crackled where the soles of her feet met the deck. The Thunderarch patted down her dry, statically charged hair and addressed the only other person on deck.
“This ship belongs to the Witherarch. Are you her guest?”
That was me.
Facing the ruler of Claudia and the strongest of the Fallen Dominion, I swallowed hard and answered.
“Yes. She's collapsed in her cabin.”
“I received a message from a courier sent by the Dominarch that the Golden Lord was heading for Claudia. Where is he?”
“He's here.”
“What do you mean?”
In response to the Thunderarch's question, I pointed a finger down at the deck and replied.
“It's a long story, but the Witherarch stopped the Golden Lord. In the process, however, the Dominarch died, and some complications arose with the peace treaty, so we're heading to Claudia to resolve them.”
“Is that true?”
“If I were lying, you'd be greeting the Golden Lord right now instead of us.”
'His estimated time of arrival has passed, yet there's no sign of the Golden Lord nearby. The landscape is unchanged... Then. It must be true.'
As befitting the ruler of a city, the Thunderarch demonstrated her competence. After a quick scan of her surroundings, she made her judgment in an instant and spoke.
“Good riddance to that specter.”
“…Pardon?”
“The 'Divine of Alchemy'? Please. He was just a ghost who couldn't even die properly, wandering the country. Hmph. With him gone, maybe this nation can finally start acting like one.”
Deciding there was no threat from the Golden Lord, the Thunderarch relaxed and let out the true feelings she had kept bottled up inside. While I stood there, unsure how to respond, the Thunderarch raised her right hand. She held it up, thumb and index finger touching, and muttered.
“Thunder Catch.”
The moment she snapped her fingers with a click.
A bolt of lightning flashed in her hand. It was like two house-sized flints striking each other. As if she were holding thunder itself, branches of lightning shot up above the Thunderarch.
“Woof! Woof woof!”
“Waaah!”
While the two beasts panicked and thrashed about, the Thunderarch shook the lightning from her grasp and spoke.
“No need to be alarmed. It's just a hand signal for my subordinates.”
“I don't care if it's a signal, it's scary because it's lightning!”
“Well, nothing to be done about that. You'll just have to bear it. It's not like I can just not use my powers, can I?”
Below the deck, I could see the Thunderarch's soldiers spreading out in all directions. Having received the signal, they had dropped their combat stances and shifted to a search formation. Such discipline was uncharacteristic of the Fallen Dominion.
Finished giving orders to her subordinates, the Thunderarch extended a hand. Though she didn't physically push it, the iron door to the cabin flew open as if repelled by her hand. She turned and strode down into the cabin without hesitation.
“Azzy. Let's go down, too.”
But Azzy didn't follow. When I turned to see why, her fur was standing on end from the static electricity. Her fur was always dog fur, of course, but now it was sticking out every which way, a real mess.
“Woof woof. My fur! My fur!”
“It's because of the static. It'll get better if you wash it.”
“Woof! No time! Let's go, woof!”
“You're not a cat, so why do you hate bathing so much?”
Patting down Azzy's fur to flatten it, I followed the Thunderarch down into the cabin.
Once in the cabin, the Thunderarch checked the Witherarch's face and then woke her. Peru hadn't fully recovered yet, but the Thunderarch judged it more important to hear the truth from the source.
Peru felt the same. Despite her pain, she explained what she knew to the best of her ability.
“…With their help, I was able to stop the Golden Lord's rampage.”
After hearing the gist of the story, the Thunderarch nodded.
“You've done well, Witherarch. Or should I say, the next Goldenarch? All the citizens of Claudia will praise your courage. We had no chance of winning even with the full power of the Thundermill, but thanks to you, we haven't lost our home.”
“…And.”
“The truce? Well, that doesn't matter. The Abyssal Wastelands on the opposite side of Claudia are none of my concern... I'll follow the Goldenarch's judgment. However.”
The Thunderarch glared at the Regressor and Hilde with sharp eyes and said.
“If the Military State makes excessive demands in the process, I will stop them immediately. The Fallen Dominion has not been defeated, and even if it were, Claudia will never be attacked. Whatever you people are after, I won't give it up easily as long as I'm here.”
As if in response to her words, a powerful energy swirled around her arms and legs. The remnants of lightning arcing out in all directions were an indirect display of the power she possessed.
The greatest of the Primarchs, ruler of Claudia, Thunderarch Elkid.
Successor to the first Thunderarch, who returned to the sky the lightning stolen by the Lightning Thief.
Steel has the quality to become a conduit for lightning. The more alchemically refined the steel, the better its properties, and it is said that an alchemist at the pinnacle of their craft can walk around constantly wreathed in lightning.
However, since a power as great as lightning can also harm its wielder, they usually don't... but a chosen few, those who possess a special constitution and a corresponding Unique Magic, can contain the lightning and be reborn as the strongest of humans.
Thunderarch Elkid was one chosen by lightning. The strongest Primarch in the Fallen Dominion, and within the borders of Claudia, where lightning constantly rages, a being who could borrow power close to that of a god.
Faced with such a person, the Regressor…
“It's a misunderstanding! I'm not really on the Military State's side, and I have no intention of being hostile to you! In fact, I'll even give you a gift!”
She acted affectionately, as if she wanted to become friends.
This left the Thunderarch, who had just been posturing for no reason, feeling awkward. With no one to oppose her, the crackling static in her hair futilely subsided.
'What is this? I was posturing so I wouldn't be underestimated. An envoy from the Military State should be trying not to lose a battle of wills, shouldn't they?'
Her posturing subsiding along with her hair, the Thunderarch asked suspiciously.
“…A gift? Nothing is impossible in Claudia. I don't know what you're planning to offer, but I doubt it's anything I particularly need.”
The Thunderarch remained on guard. But the Regressor, the most guarded person among us, was surprisingly open with the Thunderarch.
This feels unfair. Your charm is that you don't back down from anyone. Why aren't you trying to cut off the Thunderarch's right arm?
'Elkid. This is the first time we've met this early. Until now, I always came looking for her after obtaining Jizan, to try and harness the Thunder God. So this is what a younger Elkid is like.'
Tsk. As if connections from school, hometown, and family weren't enough, now I have to deal with connections from a past life? How's a guy with no connections supposed to live? It's making me bitter just thinking about the time I almost lost my right arm.
The Regressor said with conviction.
“No. You'll need it.”
“Setting aside what it is, what do you want in return?”
“Nothing, really. It's a sign of goodwill. If I had to name one thing, it's that I hope the truce negotiations go well.”
“A gift with no strings attached is even more suspicious. What on earth is it that makes you so confident?”
The Thunderarch was still suspicious, but the Regressor, who had formed a close bond with her in a future that had vanished, had already established a connection with her. The Thunderarch, who had always been an ally in previous timelines, was no longer the Regressor's enemy.
'She's still tense. But that's fine. As the Thunderarch, this is an offer she can't possibly refuse. And now that the Golden Lord has been dealt with, if I just get rid of the Thunder God, she'll be my steadfast ally in this timeline, too. And I can be of help to Elkid as well.'
Even though the memories of that time were in a future that had yet to happen, the Regressor spoke to win her favor once more.
“Claudia is the city where the Lightning Thief hid the lightning he stole, right?”
“I'm not so uneducated that I need an outsider to lecture me on Claudia's history.”
“Hear me out. The first Thunderarch caught the Lightning Thief and returned the lightning to the sky, but the Thunder God, whose very existence was nearly erased, periodically descends from the clouds to attack Claudia out of spite. Correct?”
“That is certainly a troublesome problem, but…”
The Thunderarch was about to ask if she intended to get rid of the Thunder God, but she swallowed her words. Asking about something impossible would only come across as sarcasm.
However… there was no need for her to swallow her words.
“I'll kill the Thunder God.”
The Regressor's words were friendlier, and more terrifying, than ever before.