Compound Crossbow
“I’m off.”
Father climbed into the Black Terrahole R1 and set out for the principality.
VROOOOOOM!!
The knights trailing him let out weary sighs and hastily mounted their horses to give chase.
Those guys have it rough.
Serving a willful superior was said to be the hardest job of all. Still, Robon could hardly resent a father who kept funding him so generously.
At first he had thought the man cold and impossible to get close to. Living with him, though, he had come to see that Ted Bladewyn possessed a surprisingly human side.
“Robon.”
For the first time, Burgess had come all the way out here to speak to him.
“Yes?”
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“What was?”
A vein bulged at Burgess’s temple. His already intimidating face twisted into something far more frightening.
“Why is Father sending me on this mission?”
“If you’re asking me that… I’m not Father, you know?”
Under that scorching glare, Robon felt as though his eyeballs might melt. Stop getting closer. It feels like I’m staring down a bear.
“…Do that again and you’ll regret it.”
“Excuse me?”
Burgess was already ignoring every word. Lazy and stubborn—what a terrifying combination.
“Give me that thing from yesterday. The com… whatever-it-was.”
“Ah, the compound crossbow?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you weren’t going to use it?”
“I need it if I’m going to take down a mana beast on this mission. Chasing the thing is a pain.”
“Ah…”
Robon rolled his eyes as if deep in thought and scratched his head.
“…What?”
The faint tremor in Burgess’s voice laid his feelings bare.
“Well… I still have all sorts of experiments to run. If you take it, that becomes impossible.”
“Do them later.”
“No. I also made a promise with Aunt Sophia.”
“……”
Burgess’s right hand clenched into a fist. Enormous. One clean hit from that and Robon’s head would go flying like a steamed bun.
“I’ll help you.”
“…What? Come again?”
I didn’t catch that. Say it again. Clearly. Loud enough for everyone to hear.
“…I’ll teach you.”
“Really?”
Wide-eyed innocence and a voice flushed with excitement, as if the idea had never even crossed his mind. At this rate Burgess would never suspect a thing.
“So once you’re back, you’ll answer every question and help with every experiment I throw at you?”
“One day. That’s all.”
“Deal! Perfect.”
Burgess’s face crumpled. He clearly found the whole business tedious. Not that he had much choice—he was the freest of the siblings right now.
Wendy, gifted as a magic knight, spent every waking hour juggling magic studies and knight training under the family’s heavy expectations. Her occasional whining visits were annoying, but when Robon considered how much time he himself spent slacking around the estate, he could hardly complain.
Gain needed no explanation. Learning the family business, drilling the Iron Knights, keeping up his own training, and riding out on missions—he was simply too busy. Watching them made Robon genuinely grateful he possessed neither aura nor magical talent.
“I’ll show you how to use it.”
After giving a quick rundown of the specially crafted compound crossbow designed for aura knights, Robon headed for his laboratory, still under construction.
“Young Master, you’ve arrived?”
“Yeah. How’s the work coming?”
“Well, sir. We’re not building anything enormous, so it should be finished soon.”
“The sooner the better.”
“Will you be making things like the Robon-001 and the Black Terrahole here?”
“Why? Interested?”
Alvar nodded cautiously.
“To be honest… yes. I am.”
“If you want into my lab, you’ll have to study.”
“I will. I’ve already been reading the book you gave me last time.”
The estate employed about five mechanics. All of them had come late to magitech engineering and were limited to maintaining simple devices, but they still knew more than complete novices. Among them, Alvar was the most promising.
He was getting on in years, yet he had drive and a solid grasp of the fundamentals. Robon had handed him a book he himself had already finished, half-expecting nothing. He hadn’t imagined Alvar would already be studying it.
“It’s pretty difficult, isn’t it?”
“I’m doing my best, recalling everything you’ve explained along the way, Young Master.”
“Good attitude. Don’t worry. I was planning to bring you on as my assistant no matter what.”
“Truly?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you. I swear I’ll become an assistant you can rely on.”
Color flooded Alvar’s face.
“That happy about it?”
“Yes. Truth is, I always dreamed of becoming a magitech engineer. Circumstance forced me into simple maintenance work, but watching you lately made me want to study magitech again.”
“Alvar, you’re already a magitech engineer.”
“…Me, sir?”
“That’s right. So have some confidence.”
Alvar’s eyes reddened in an instant. The hands that tightly clasped Robon’s trembled faintly.
“I truly will give everything I have, Young Master.”
“What are you crying over something like this for?”
They say people get more tearful with age. He looks just like that old man John Hopkins.
“My apologies.”
Alvar wiped his eyes and sniffled. The thick calluses on his palms seemed to tell the story of the life he had lived.
“Have you decided on a name for the laboratory, by the way?”
“Hmm… Something simple. Robon Mana Engineering Laboratory. We’ll just call it RMEL.”
“RMEL… Understood.”
“RMEL? That’s so lame!”
Robon turned toward the source of the voice. Sure enough, Wendy was peeking around the side of the construction site.
“Quiet. Names should be intuitive.”
“Lame pervert brother.”
“You little—!”
“Kyaaaaah!!”
He lunged to swat her on the head, but she was far too fast. Damn it. Even that scream somehow sounded cheerful. Was it just his imagination?
Still… I wonder how Father is doing.
The official public debut of the Black Terrahole R1.
With something like that, even Father should be able to hold his head a little higher.
West Gate of Eidras, capital of the Mardin Principality.
VROOOOOOOM—!
At the now-familiar roar of the exhaust, the gate guards snapped to rigid attention.
“Captain!”
“I know, dammit.”
Racal, West Gate Guard Captain, straightened his uniform in a half-hearted fashion and stepped outside.
The sound’s even louder than before.
At this volume, every beast and monster in the area would probably turn tail and run out of sheer fright.
Screeeech!
Ted stepped down as the brakes locked, smiling as he offered the men a word of encouragement.
“Hard at work, I see.”
“N-not at all, sir!”
The soldiers answered in high-strung voices. Racal regarded him with a look that clearly said, What’s gotten into this man?
“You seem to be in excellent spirits today.”
“Hm. Do I?”
The tone and expression remained flat as ever. Yet Racal knew better. Ted Bladewyn was thoroughly enjoying himself right now.
Only then did Racal shift his gaze to the Black Terrahole.
“Is this another of Robon Bladewyn’s creations?”
“It is.”
“It suits the Family Head perfectly.”
“My thanks.”
Looking satisfied with the praise, Ted climbed back in. The gates opened and he rolled slowly inside.
“Whoa… I’d die happy if I got to ride something like that just once.”
“Every housewife in the city would throw herself at you.”
“Heh heh heh… Offer them a ride and they’d all start wiggling their hips for you.”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Racal smacked the backs of their heads and clicked his tongue.
“What good is a flashy car when you lot look like that? You idiots.”
“Tch. As if you wouldn’t want one, Captain.”
“Exactly! Admit it—you want a ride too!”
“Ahem. Shut it!”
Even as he spoke, Racal watched the Black Terrahole disappear into the city with something close to longing.
Maybe I should ask for a ride later. Just once.
Unfamiliar stares poured in from every direction. Before, people had simply admired the prestige of the Bladewyn name. Now their eyes held wonder and envy, overwhelmed by the majestic, intimidating presence of the Black Terrahole R1.
Not bad.
Until now Ted had never understood why the Robels and the social-climbing nobles poured money into expensive, beautiful things. He was beginning to grasp the feeling.
“Of the Four Great Families, the Bladewyns really are the coolest.”
“Look at that steel exterior. Doesn’t it suit the Bladewyns perfectly?”
“Will I ever get to ride something like that?”
“If our mercenary band had even one of those, I’d die without regrets.”
Praise drifted to his ears. Ted kept his face expressionless, projecting the ironclad dignity of a man who paid such things no mind.
I, Ted Bladewyn, am the Iron-blooded Knight, after all.
VROOOOOOM—!
“Make way! The Robel family procession approaches!”
Ahead, a Black Terrahole rattled toward him, escorted by carriages and knights.
Screeeech!
Having reached the central road first, Ted lowered his window with his usual blank expression and regarded the other vehicle.
“Making quite the racket, Alfred.”
Alfred Robel, head of the Robel family, stared hard at the Black Terrahole R1, his face hardening.
“I should be the one saying that. What kind of ridiculous modifications have you slapped onto that thing, Ted?”
“Hmph.”
Ted let out a light chuckle and turned his head.
“Your men don’t seem to agree.”
Alfred’s eyes flew wide. He spun and glared at his retainers, who stood gaping in open admiration at the beauty of the Black Terrahole R1.
“You fools!”
“Take your time. I’ll go on ahead.”
With a thunderous exhaust note that flaunted his presence, Ted vanished down the road. Alfred ground his teeth and tried to give chase, only to abandon the effort in irritation at his own rattling chassis.
“Send a messenger to Vulkan at once! I want ours modified immediately! Now!”
“Yes, sir!”
Unusual commotion rippled through Eidras. One by one, the heads of the Four Great Families arrived at the Grand Duke’s castle and gathered in the great conference hall. The atmosphere between Bladewyn and Robel was colder than usual; the heads of Rahen and Helec watched the two carefully.
“So the rumors that Robon Bladewyn changed overnight are true.”
“Do you know something, Sabina?”
The white-haired woman closed her eyes, raised a finger, and murmured softly.
“A wind of change blew from the west not long ago. It may well have been Robon Bladewyn.”
“…Is that so?”
Agatha Helec nodded and glanced at Ted Bladewyn. He sat as still as ever, radiating cold air, yet somehow he looked different from usual.
Moments later Alvin Victoria Mardin entered.
“Ted. Your vehicle has grown even more splendid.”
“My son put some work into it.”
“Oh? Improved performance as well?”
“Yes.”
“I hear Vulkan is building the next Black Terrahole. Wasn’t the Helec family going to purchase it?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Forgive me, but might I receive it first?”
Agatha nodded without a moment’s hesitation.
“Of course. Whenever you—”
“My thanks. I shall see that Helec is properly compensated.”
“You are most generous.”
“Ted, would it be all right if I also asked Robon Bladewyn to modify my Black Terrahole?”
“Naturally, Your Grace. I can send him first thing tomorrow.”
“Hahaha! Excellent. So I’ll get a magnificent car of my own, will I?”
Not only Agatha and Sabina but even Eldin failed to hide their surprise. That the ever-suspicious Grand Duke Alvin would demand a Black Terrahole first was astonishing. No matter how impressive Vulkan’s prototypes, he never used anything whose stability and performance had not been thoroughly proven. For him to covet one so openly meant he had already witnessed its effectiveness.
Even the two family heads who had shown little interest in the Black Terrahole suddenly found themselves intrigued.
“Well then, enough idle talk. Let us get to the point.”
The light atmosphere turned heavy in an instant.
“I’ve been hearing more and more reports of mana beasts being sighted. Let us begin with that.”
Ted spoke first.
“On a recent joint mission with the Robel family we encountered a creature resembling a mana beast. We failed to kill it, but from the reports it seems highly likely it was one.”
“In the Green Swamp, was it?”
“Yes. It fled into Lostwood before we could finish it.”
Alfred added further details.
“It’s fast and agile. The knights can’t even close the distance. It attacks from range with thrown stones, making it extremely difficult to bring down.”
“A thoroughly annoying pest.”
“Strange movements have been detected in the Valces Mountain Range of late. That may be connected.”
Sabina spoke with her eyes closed, as if sensing the wind in the empty air.
“Darkness is seeping in. If it is not purged quickly, the surrounding lands will be tainted.”
The mood in the chamber grew grave.
“Does it warrant deploying a knight order?”
“I cannot say.”
Ted interjected.
“Which is why Robon developed a weapon specifically to hunt the creature.”
“Robon Bladewyn?”
Three of them looked startled. Alfred’s brow furrowed. Why did that name have to come up yet again?
“A mere weapon is supposed to bring down a beast even knights struggle against?”
Ted himself could not be certain. Yet the results Robon had already shown, and the absolute conviction in his voice, left him no choice but to believe.
“Yes.”
“Hahahaha! A little praise from the peanut gallery and the little wastrel starts talking nonsense. That good-for-nothing is going to kill a mana beast?”
“Magitech may be advancing quickly, but claiming a weapon alone can slay a mana beast seems premature, Ted.”
“Our family will send mages instead, Your Grace.”
The other two heads were equally skeptical. Alvin, however, stroked his chin in thought and reached an unexpected conclusion.
“If Bladewyn assists Robel and brings back that mana beast, I shall personally bestow a grand reward upon Robon Bladewyn.”
“You have my gratitude, Your Grace.”
Ted let out a quiet sigh of relief.
—Father, I have a favor to ask. Please make sure to mention in the Grand Council that Burgess will be hunting the mana beast—with my invention.
Troublesome boy.
If they failed, trust would be lost and the entire Bladewyn family would become a laughingstock. Even so, Ted was curious.
Just how far could this suddenly transformed son of his go?