Vol 4 Chapter 4 (2/2)
The Hero: “Is there an answer to such questions?”
The Mage: “There is usually an answer Even though they may not be unified”
The Hero: “Then, why?”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “……No, I feel like I’ll get a bad answer if I ask”
The Mage: “I’ll tell you”
The Hero: “Time out”
The Mage: “I can’t wait”
The Hero: “That’s why”
The Mage: “Hero, perhaps at the dual ter’s existence, there is a split”
The Hero: “Split……?”
The Mage: “Right It’s highly unlikely for there to be two points of differentiation To begin with, the chance of there being two existences in this world is already too low The present world is the only one I have seen which has the two existences”
The Hero: “I don’t understand”
The Mage: “In other words, a thread On the right end of the thread is the Hero On the left end, the De —– That’s the answer Usually, the two have set existences, they are tithout a third, confrontational in their time periods From the moment when the two ends coins As the two ends join, they for which ties the world together, makes the world smaller, and at the same time ‘repairs’ it”
The Hero: “Huh!?”
The Mage: “Continuing froend is e are currently in”
The Hero: “My head hurts”
The Mage: “The De of this world has not used this extra power on the war I don’t understand what kind ofthe exaone independent, and so dreams of a different route Or perhaps, she’s independent because he has dreae the world Moreover, whether its coincidence or predestination, the De or the Hero has been killed in every world, except this one
The enlarge that, a ripple starts to spread and influence neighbouring layers: the governendary layers When the terminals cooes into motion Unrelated to that is the expansionary effect the De and the Hero have on the world When the speed of expansion or contraction averages out, then the world will be still The answer put forth by the De However, in order to carry out what needs to be done, the fundamental illnesses of the world must be considered”
The Hero: “Illness? Still?”
The Mage: “—– Yes It’s not a sin, but an illness For this reason, reality will likely continue to act on us This is one of the distortions of the redundancy system”
The Hero: “Did so happen?”
The Mage nods
The Hero: “So terrible?”
The Mage: “…… I fear all will be exterminated”
The Hero: “……!”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “That’s a joke, right?”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “What should we do? You must have a solution”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “Hey, Mage”
The Mage shakes head
The Hero: “Hey”
The Mage: “Structurally, one of our needs is to change the structure itself The present situation cannot permit the continuation of the present structure ——- That has been the answer, but—“
The Hero: “What is it?”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “I’ll do anything, so tell me!”
The Mage: “——- Anything?”
The Hero: “Anything at all”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “Please, please…… Please”
The Mage: “…… Sneaky as always”
The Hero: “Eh?”
The Mage: “……”
The Hero: “Mage……?”
The Mage: “Having come to such a time, hesitation is forbidden”
———— The Kingdom of Metal, the Craftsmen Quarter, the Guild Headquarters
The Deht All done!”
The Chief Maid: “Hoas it? Hoere the results?”
The De: “I believe I am now able to fulfil the request of the Fee by three tie before it actually happens, but if we could ood too”
The Chief Maid: “Really”
The De for the Hero, we should find a place to stay”
The Mage: “Well, well, my, my”
The De behind that”
The Chief Maid: “Let’s do that then”
The Mage appears
The Dee”
The Mage: “……” Nods
The Chief Maid: “It’s been a while We haven’t seen each other since our holiday, I suppose”
The Mage: “…… Tribe of the Library, just where we should be”
The Chief Maid: “……”
The De: “Where have you been?”
The Mage: “…… The mountains”
The Chief Maid: “?”
The De: “……”
The Mage nods
The Chief Maid: “What’s happened?”
The De: “As the Tribe of the Library, it’s rare for us to be able to in with, we are few in nuet out and see the world verythe research laboratories and the bookshelves Co into contact with each other is truly precious The Chief Maid and I are exceptions…… That’s why”
The Mage: “……”
The De: “What is it?”
The Mage: “…… Two things Firstly, I want to know about the Sky Pavilion”
The Chief Maid: “Sky Pavilion?”
The De: “…… That’s—“
The Mage: “As the De, I’m sure you know I’m not sure if this is an oral transmission or sos in history have known about the place I don’t have proof on this, but the succession implies this It is the place where you will offer the head of the Hero as sacrifice”
The De?”
The Mage: “The De is away on a trip To save you all I’ve come to fulfil the task he was set to do for you”
——– The Demon World, the City of the Gate, a Temporary Worksite
“Hey, ho!”
“Come on!”
Fiend Worker: “Hey! Bring another roller!”
Huht, roll it!”
Giant Worker: “Haaah……! Let’s go, let’s go!”
Gong!
Middle Aged Merchant: “My, my!”
Disciple Engineer: “Ahh! Merchant!”
Middle Aged Merchant: “What a lot of people!”
Disciple Engineer: “Yep”
Middle Aged Merchant: “How did you even get this h money to hire all of them, did I?”
Disciple Engineer: “Well, umm”
Fire Dragon Lady: “I stepped in”
Middle Aged Merchant: “So it was you, princess”
Fire Dragon Lady: “Please don’t call me that”
Middle Aged Merchant: “Hahahahahaha Then, what did you do?”
Disciple Engineer: “The Fire Dragon Lady introduced me to the people of the street”
Fire Dragon Lady: “No, no What the Disciple Engineer said was fairly interesting In order to support the Middle Aged Merchant…… I feel this is what I should do But for a project of such scale, ill never have enough funds to cover the costs We will also need the help of the people of the city to renovate the temples”
Middle Aged Merchant: “Temples?”
Fire Dragon Lady: “Fro, this city has had many ancient and nameless Gods, hence the many temples in the area The residents of the city, to different extents, pay ho for daily peace or successful business With the success we are enjoying today, we are accuoodwill and the people are more than happy to lend their hand to the work”
Disciple Engineer: “The tehly durably, and can even be used as fortresses The road networks cut through the mountainsides, so we should be able to procure quarry materials Firstly, ill renovate the temples”
Middle Aged Merchant: “But, shouldn’t our first priority be to repair the walls or to improve the layout of the city?”
Disciple Engineer: “Please look at this map”
Fire Dragon Lady: “Yes”
Middle Aged Merchant: “Is this of the surroundings?”
Disciple Engineer: “These nine temples and this site form a defensive perimeter, and for it to be connected with the wall, the city needs to expand in this direction It’s true that the distance is fairly large, and ill have to increase our workload, but if we use the walls of one of the te point, we can decrease our workload substantially ——– The funding you have provided for me has all been spent on food We want to make sure our workers eat their fill, even s”
Fire Dragon Lady: “So that our workers look forward to it as well”
Middle Aged Merchant: “And then you’ll need to start work?”
Disciple Engineer: “Yes, soon Lady though”
Fire Dragon Lady: “Without a real overview, I can’t write up a real proposal”
Middle Aged Merchant: “In other words, the plans are for a structure which includes the temples?”
Disciple Engineer: “Yes, the te used as Tenailles for the fortress”
Fire Dragon Lady: “Hmm And this part?”
Disciple Engineer: “Digging”
Fire Dragon Lady: “What for?”
Disciple Engineer: “A drythe fortifications taller to the attackers We can’t have a real moat because of the lack of water in the area”
Middle Aged Merchant: “The walls are rather thick, aren’t they?”
Disciple Engineer: “Yeah”
Middle Aged Merchant: “Do they really need that Thickness? Whether reat deal of effort to create this…… This shape, rather thana wall, it looks like a sloped wall”
Disciple Engineer: “That’s Well Yeah”
Fire Dragon Lady: “?”
Disciple Engineer: “It’s necessary In this age, and in the next age too The eneht? …… Then, these fortifications serve a fundaineer cannot have a shallo of creating things only necessary to the present We must take steps a hundred years in advance…… For the people who call this place their home, we must do our best work”
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-————————-
Explanation
Ternaille: A ternaille is the jutting-out part on a star fortification The placement of the ternailles removes dead zones where defenders can hide and also creates overlapping fields of fire to maximise firepower
Thickness: The Disciple Engineer is engineering a new generation of fortifications in preparation for cannon warfare These fortifications tend to be low and thick, in order to take the i
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
———- The Village of Wintering, the Manor of the De, the Guest Room
The Female Paladin: “Bathed, hair combed, skincare done too”
The Female Paladin: “……”
The Feht”
Pat, pat
The Female Paladin: “I’m all fired up!”
The Female Paladin: “…… Am I?”
The Female Paladin: “Met uneasy Once it’s over, coet the final weapons for the Holy Order of the Lake, e do then?”
The Female Paladin: “……”
—– Touches boobs
The Female Paladin: (…… As expected, this is it, huh?)
The Female Paladin sulks
The Female Paladin: “This alone, is…… This is not even a quarter of the De No, maybe it is Not necessarily It’s definitely not true that it’s nothing In other words, it’s not zero It’s just sht? Then I’ve got to work hard!”
The Female Paladin: “……”
The Female Paladin: “It’s ineffective”
The Female Paladin: “If this is the enemy, then I all I need is a bit more enthusiasm, but……”
The Fe —— It’s the sas)
The Fe said, what did my teacher tell me? “Treat him like a horse”)
The Feht of that Even thoughis still a perverse thing…… Well, it’s a useful perverse thing Hmm? Silk socks? These must be expensive)
Puts on stockings
The Fe)
Puts on stockings
The Female Paladin: “This is weird”
Shuffles around
The Female Paladin: (…… Is it supposed to be like this? It feels like I’ht slip off This? What’s up with this It’s coh…… Hahaha……)
Door opens
The Fe!”
The De: “……”
The Female Paladin: “Ahh!?”
The De: “……”
The Fe You scared me, you’re early”
The De: “…… Yeah”
The Female Paladin: “What is it?”
The De: “Yeah”
The Female Paladin: “……?”
The De: “It ends today”
The Fe on?”
The De: “The Hero has left on a mission…… It seems there’s a time limit”
The Female Paladin: “?”
The Deo by”
The Female Paladin: “What are you on about?”
The Dee the flow, the Hero knows soe told me”
The Female Paladin: “……”
The De: “…… That’s why the Hero isn’t here”
The Female Paladin: “……”
The De: “He left me here and went away”
The Female Paladin: “……”
The De: “He left us and went away”
The Female Paladin: “……”
The De: “……”
The Fe”
The De: “Female Paladin?”
The Feood to think of such troubleso”
The De: “……”
The Fe to return hoh I don’t have the patience for this, this is the second tione and done this? But, he’ll be fine The Hero will definitely come home safe And coer”
The De: “……”
The Feoing to have when he co to come back”
The De: “…… Really?”
The Feht? He left so that he can coht? That’s why, it’s different from that day”
The De: “……”
The Female Paladin: “Above that, we need to save the Hero”
The De: “Save?”
The Feht? With things the way they are, we can’t take the place of the Hero right now But there are still s which we need to do even without the Hero These are things only we can do in his place”
The De: “……”
The Female Paladin: “The Battle of the Plains of Scilla is over, and there is calm, but…… I’ve always felt it somewhere That the war has come to an end”
The De: “……”
The Female Paladin: “With this, our war is over If the Central Continent invades the Deht lead to ith the Deinable, but that’s not the way it works The Hero definitely isn’t going to give up like this If he was the kind of Hero ould give up like that, then I wouldn’t like him the way I do”
The De: “……” nods
The Fes one way or another, but he’s doing everything he needs to Now I understand Actually, I felt it that day as well, but…… The Hero would never leave us alone forever”
The De: “Is that so……”
The Female Paladin: “Definitely”
The Des I need to do……”
The Female Paladin: “Of course”
The De: “…… Yes”
The Female Paladin: “Say it properly!”
The De: “Yes, yes I understand”
The Feo”
The De: “Ah, Female Paladin”
The Female Paladin: “What?”
The De, but…… Don’t you find that underwear just a little bit revealing?”
——- On Board the Merchant Vessel, The Wings of the Sea
Waves crashi+ng
“Hey ho!”
“Hey ho!”
Disciple nobleman: “It’s cold”
Elder Sister Maid: “Yes”
Resourceful Young Man: “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! A! Hey dude, this is my first time on a shi+p!”
Disciple nobleman: “Don’t call me dude You can call me Disciple, or Sir But well, don’t call me Master That title’s reserved for some pretty eyed lady somewhere”
Elder Sister Maid: “…… Eh?”
Resourceful Young Man: “Hey! Dude! What’s that? Birds!? Whoa! A here!”
Mercenary Survivor: “Hey Change of watch”
Small Mercenary: “Thanks”
Young Mercenary: “Good ”
Mercenary Archer: “What pleasant weather Hey, Captain!”
Captain: “What’s up, you fools”
Elder Sister Maid: “Sorry, sorry”
Mercenary Survivor: “Well, I hope you can forgive us”
Captain: “Well, we’re all loaded up I guess I’ve already resigned myself to it So shall we head to the Polar Continent?”
Elder Sister Maid: “Yes please”
Captain: “Well, I hope you can understand when I say that’ll be the end of our relationshi+p”
Resourceful Young Man: “I feel bad about this”
Mercenary Survivor: “We didn’t have a choice”
Elder Sister Maid: “That guy was originally just a merchant He’s not an eneuilty about involving him in this, but at the time we had no other options……”
Resourceful Young Man: “But you almost made his eyes pop out, eh?”
Mercenary Survivor: “It’s no small sum of money after all”
Small Mercenary: “Indeed”
Resourceful Young Man: “But isn’t it a bit wasteful?”
Elder Sister Maid: “Isyou can’t live without?”
Resourceful Young Man: “——“
Mercenary Survivor: “Well Ahahahahaha Now that you’re a , Substitute?”
Young Mercenary: “Yeah”
Disciple nobleht over the cargo of the shi+p so we should have enough warot the new models of muskets, and those are quite scary”
Elder Sister Maid: “Indeed”
Resourceful Young Man: “Muskets? You mean these tubes?”
Mercenary Survivor: “They have terrific firepower”
Small Mercenary: “I wonder”
Mercenary Archer: “They are somewhat like crossbows”
Disciple nobleman: “More importantly, what are our plans for after this?”
Elder Sister Maid: “Yeah”
Mercenary Survivor: “This guy”
Young Mercenary nods
Mercenary Archer: “At this ti journey is We ed into the conflict, right? So just tell us”
Disciple nobleht”
Elder Sister Maid: “Yes”
Mercenary Survivor: “I understand that ill be going into the Demon World from the Polar Continent But what are our plans there?”
Disciple nobleoals are completely the same”
Young Mercenary: “I understand now”
Mercenary Archer: “What?”
Young Mercenary: “How to ask our Substitute out”
Mercenary Archer: “How?”
Young Mercenary: “You need to think about all sorts of things”
Disciple nobleman: “First, we’ll walk around the Deotiate for a ceasefire between the Holy Crusaders and the Demons”
Elder Sister Maid nods
Mercenary Survivor: “……”
Small Mercenary: “Huh!?”
Young Mercenary: “Wait What?”
Mercenary Archer: “Ah, ahh”
Disciple noble? There aren’t even a hundred of us”
Disciple nobleman: “Yes, well Listen to me We don’t intend to actually be able to put a stop to the war To go up against the Demons, the Holy Crusaders need to be supported with afromdeparted with such responsibilities, there’s no way they’d be willing to return having achieved anything But, stay with me If war is unavoidable, then the question is where will it stop, right?”
Resourceful Young Man: “Where?”
Mercenary Survivor: “Hmm”
Disciple nobleman: “Usually, it ends when the enemy has been exterminated”
Resourceful Young Man: “Doesn’t it? I get that feel from the Crusaders”
Mercenary Survivor: “Well, yeah”
Disciple nobleman: “But even then, there are still lidoht wars in the past, but in the end, they were still able to set aside their grievances After a monetary coed to caldom of Moonsand lost the war and was elidoet exter”
Mercenary Archer: “That’s true now that you say it”
Disciple nobleman: “It’s nonsense to massacre civilians who didn’t even participate in the war Firstly, from a population perspective, it’s not realistic Whether the Crusaders were to win or to lose the battle, they would face threats all around A ceasefire would definitely be useful at this tih this, some sort of communication may at least be achievable”
Elder Sister Maid: “Of course we earnestly hope for a ceasefire, but, it’s definitely difficult…… What I’ of is somewhat different from the Disciple nobleers of the war”
Mercenary Survivor: “What do you mean?”
Elder Sister Maid: “War is a painful and terrible thing, right? People die, or live cold and hungry lives Men are free organisms and countries should be the same We are opposed to war as individuals, but it is an undeniable presence in our lives This is too terrible to even be expressed in words, but…… There are probably things in this world which can only be resolved through war However, the present war is not one in which every ive an opportunity to those who earnestly wish for the war to end”
Resourceful Young Man: “Umm”
Small Mercenary: “You said it very sht? What you said was closer to, ‘For now, I’ to condone it’”
Young Mercenary: “…… Ah”
Elder Sister Maid: “Yes, you could say that”
Resourceful Young Man: “H, huh?”
Mercenary Survivor: “Huh!?”
Elder Sister Maid: “No need to be so surprised…… It would be narrow-otiations result in complete peace”
Mercenary Survivor: “Well yes, thatwhich is said by people who are trying to suppress the world with violence”
Elder Sister Maid: “That may be so, but there is that risk that the Crusaders or the Deht?”
Disciple nobleman: “Mmm”
Elder Sister Maid: “The way I see it, the Crusaders and the Dee…… Every step they take is a danger There is no way they can tell, but they can only h it”
Mercenary Survivor: “What do you mean?”
Elder Sister Maid: “A war of attrition…… If that’s what it comes to, then there may not even be 10 people left in this world”
Young Mercenary: “Attrition?”
Disciple nobleman: “In other words, a war based on how many people you can kill each day”
Mercenary Survivor: “What? Isn’t that normal? For a force of 1,000 soldiers, 20 dead would be considered a grevious injury, 50 would be a tragedy and a hundred would be enough to make the next battle impossible It’s to the extent that half a year would be insufficient to replenish the numbers”
Small Mercenary: “Is that so?”
Elder Sister Maid: “That is not a constant”
Mercenary Survivor: “I don’t understand”
Elder Sister Maid: “It’s not soone and researched it earnestly, but apparently in a battle between musketeers, a hundred soldiers per thousand could be killed in half a day”
Disciple nobleht?”
Mercenary Survivor: “A hundred!?”
Small Mercenary: “Wait, do you mean to say that ould be lost in a week of war could take place in one day!?”
Elder Sister Maid: “Of course there are reasons”
Mercenary Survivor: “What reasons?”
Elder Sister Maid: “Lots of reasons Firstly, the h distance, even a full suit of battle armour will not stop it However, with a musket, your defensive abilities do not increase This shi+p is stocked with large amounts of the new model of musket, the flintlock, but this is an improvement to shot efficiency and reload speed Even for this new model, the only shi+eld which exists is your own body…… In other words, this is a weapon with no defensive abilities, but great offensive capability”
Disciple nobleman: “There are others as well In a battlefield of e nuht? That a number of Crusaders”
Mercenary Archer nods
Disciple nobleman: “Those were serfs trained only to wieldexperiences as ht? On the battlefield, survival is all thatyou can still do Chances only couys, survival is less i the enemy That’s what they were trained to do, not to survive”
Mercenary Survivor: “…… I understand that much”
Elder Sister Maid: “Just now you talked about losing in a day more than ould usually lose in a week, but that’s not even the worst case If a coh even a ap could cause the death of most of his troops Moreover, in just one hour of desperate carnage, even people who shouldn’t have been killed hts in armour and arht would take too much out of them They would be exhausted as well In this case, the match may be declared a staleht, or even repair their relationshi+p in the ht would be specific, and you would only engage somebody you want to kill; it’s very difficult to kill indiscrieher ——– ‘Kill the enemy before we can repair our relations’, this is the new horrific mantra which has taken over the battlefield And on top of that…… the Demons have muskets too”