Hammer to Fall
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"You mean this thing?" I snapped my fingers, and then a sliver of lightning former between my thumb and index finger. And with a buzz, the theme of Super Mario Bros began to play. (1)
The King and the Duke stared intently my hands. "Astounding. I understand," the King mumbled "Absolute Mastery of Wind Magic is a marvel indeed. I wonder what Absolute Master of Fire Magic looks like?"
"Yes, exactly. It can't be something obvious like attack magic. Whoever thought you could play music with lightning? And yet… it's something we can understand, because lightning makes thunder. So flame should be doing something completely outside of its purpose, and yet still a logical extension of its inherent nature!" the Duke replied.
Well that certainly rules out lightsaber, because really – in the end, beam sword is impressive but not altogether unthinkable concept. It's so cool everyone has dreamed of something like it.
Charlotte's eyes glittered with a laser-intense longing. Instinctively my hand reached out to touch her warm blushing cheeks like I would calm a mewling kitten, then I forced my hand back down. I explained "Despite what it sounds like, it's not really a continuous burst of lightning. It's many small pulses per second. You need something to translate notes into signals, and a regulator to accurately time the pulses to produce intellegible sound.
"You know what I want for this. There's these things called… spell stones, right? Magic stones precharged with a magic spell. Using the stone releases the spell but also destroys the stone. But enchanted objects are different – they don't run out of magic power, at least not immediately."
"All enchantments eventually fade with repeated use," Charlotte spoke with a happy nod. "Magic is imbued into the arcane formations from the caster – the more complicated the spell, the more magic is consumed, and the greater the backlash of enchantment failure.
"Sir Zah, it took quite some time, but we have found someone with an [Enchant] skill! And I can teach you how to create spell stones!"
"Excellent," I chuckled darkly. This was the first step for my plan.
Again with the sound of cracking glass, Monika appeared. /"All right. Let's leave these two study owls to talk in private. Your Majesty, my Lords, you spoke of an appropriate reward earlier, didn't you? Why don't we… talk about that?"/
"Ah. Why yes, of course!"
Yumina frowned a little bit. She looked at me. To Charlotte. Then to Monika. "Um. Lady Monika… is this… really all right?"
"No this is not all right," I put in hurriedly. "Hey, where's Alan anyway? I thought we agreed we should always have a chaperone (in case I needed to escape)?"
"Alan is… sick. Yes, sick…" Charlotte said slowly.
"Seriously?"
"It is almost like someone force-fed him laxatives so his sarcasm doesn't disturb her studies."
I smiled tightly and turned around. "Yumina! You're my student now, right? Why don't you stick around, I'm sure you'll learn something useful from our discussion!"
Yumina smiled back. Her smile was incredibly sweet and utterly without mercy. "Sir Zah. You have one hour."
"So. Even you betray me."
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"B-but... mmm nice... can you imbue a spell stone or an artifact with a [Null] Spell?"
"Ah! There's still the philosophy that Null spells are really just elemental spells that don't fall into any p-particular area. All other element spells need to – ngh – be said with a chant. Null spells just activate… because they're… already partly triggered all the time.
"Like… [Harden] is an Earth spell. That…" Charlote paused. "That is… really [Hard]. Oh!"
"I try. How about… this!"
"Ahhn!"
Elze, Linze, Yae and Yumina stared at the closed door. Their faces were burning red.
"W-what do you think they're doing in there?" Elze said with a grimace. "I never took Playa for the type."
"This… is! I mean, in the king's own castle?! In the middle of the day?!" Linze screamed out in despair.
"How bold," said Yae.
Yumina made a sound like a pot of water boiling over.
"I've had enough. I'm going in." Elze kicked the door open and shouted into the room. "PLAYA! YOU PHILANDERING SCUM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"How could you do this to Miss Monika, Mister Zah?" Linze wailed, following close behind.
"Oh. Hey." I waved at them with my left hand.
"… eh?"
Whatever they were expecting to find, it was not to see Charlotte hammering down on my right hand with a chisel and a crystal hammer. Also she was tied to a chair with ropes around her waist and thighs, which was somewhat salacious admittedly.
With a crack-smash and the air itself literally breaking into shards that assembled into a glowing figure, Monika appeared once more. She posed with her fingers out in a 'V' over her eyes. /"Tee-hee,"/ she giggled and stuck her tongue out. /"Don't forget, I'm always watching."/
"Yeah, that's *the problem*," Elze groused.
"Monika, babecakes, I think we figured out how to modify [Ground Sense] into [Remote Sense]. Now you don't need to interpret signal interruption as sensory input, but feel things directly through a medium."
Monika nodded. She extended her hand and touched the surface of a table. Her eyes widened in surprise. /"Yes. Yesss. That works. But this is more like ground sonar, isn't it?"/
"Something similar to Toph Beifong's seismic sense, yes."(2) Even Monika had to admit, Avatar the Last Airbender was a pretty good show. It was part of the wave that showed cartoons were becoming mature – not from dealing with adult topics or overloading on sex and violence – but by treating its audience as intelligent people and giving them a story that everyone could enjoy no matter their age.
And since Shakespeare's plays were classic literature, scripts were literature too as much as they were part of the audiovisual arts. "Toph could reputedly hear from all the way across the world."
"Is that what Absolute Mastery of Earth Magic is like?" Charlotte asked.
"No." I chuckled a bit. "There are realms beyond Absolute Mastery still. There are people younger than me, but stronger than me. And little old blind ladies who could crush me faster than I can blink. People think that Fire or Wind is powerful because they're everywhere, but Earth too is everywhere and isn't going to put up with your shite."(3)
Yumina nodded. "Understood, sir Zah. It would not be good to be too overconfident about anything. Is she a person you used to know?"
"No. I never learned from Toph Beifong… you know, aside from the whole earth and air being opposing concepts… anything except the power of confidence."(4)
Monika quirked her lips. /"I suppose there are worse places to get valuable life lessons for impressionable youth. Or total hipsters, as the case may be."/
"Hey!" Okay, so the show dates back to 2005-2008. That's still less than twenty years. It's still younger than me. I was eight years old when I first saw them. This was my childhood, Monika!
Actually I was about sixteen when I first met Monika (DDLC was released in 2017). So many memes.
Hm. Wouldn't this technically mean that Monika was two years older than me?
Monika closed her eyes and began to Stack and Decompile spells. /"This… is useful. But the problem is solidity for this projected body,"/ she said. /"I can feel this as if I were really touching it with my fingers, but… what about material pressing back in return?"/
I raised my hands and magic stones set into metal rings floated in the air. "My little magnet, my little magnet (5), Ah ah ah ahh~ I used to wonder what electromagnetism could be."
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And that was how we ended up with a five-inch tall Monika sitting on my shoulder like she was Tinkerbell or something. Or maybe Navi. (6)
Magnetic putty with several Wind magic stones acted like little relays allowing Monika to utilize and adjust a [Magnetic Field] stored in a [Store Magic] app. She could now store any elemental magic I cast and release it later.
Something like spell cards maybe. Magic stones were still necessary for the moment, and getting Monika towards a full-sized body could get hideously expensive very quickly. Creative use of magnets, motors, and wires were the start towards a synthetic equivalent to muscles.
/"Are you listening to me?"/ asked Monika.
"Of course." Always. I'd be a Lost Boy otherwise.
And I didn't mean like Peter Pan's crew. More like Hibiki Ryouga.
/"You are such a super hipster, Player. I'm kinda impressed."/
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And after untying Charlotte - and Monika briefly clinging to her face sweetly threatening to punch her in the eye, so behave! – we were all summoned back to the throne room. Olga, the fox-lady ambassador to Mismede was already there.
"Now then," said the King, "both Belfast and Mismede are in peril! We have received word that the Regulus Empire is in a much less rational state than we had believed!"
Oops.
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A heavy feeling descended upon the room, like a hammer waiting to fall. A hammer such as the likes of the Soviet Union's entire military machine staring down at a nervous Poland, grinning with a mouth with far too many teeth and going "Oh hiii there~".
I took a deep breath and held it.
Then I exhaled. All right. If I was in any way responsible for this, then I'll own the consequences of my decisions.
A man who loves freedom was one thing, it was another to be a coward trying to escape the pain caused by his selfishness. I had a perfect example in the pathetic, self-serving excuses of my parents who were still absolutely convinced they were good people even as they greedily sucked the lives out of many.
I spent so much of my early life running away from anything that could cause me pain, I was such the spoiled brat. And I ruined lives, never once understanding why.
That was what actually convinced me that this was a reality, because if this world ran on narrativium I should have been killed while I was in the middle of my shitheel phase to learn valuable life lessons in this other world instead of when I'd largely already gotten my life together.
I looked around me, and how emotion passed through the faces of the people I knew. The King and the Duke looked grim, but they had been expecting things to go bad long ago.
Yumina looked lost and anxious. She understood that war was bad, but still only in an abstract way.
Olga Strand winced. Her fluffy orange ears flattened. This was a total political shitstorm.
Elze and Linze looked confused. They weren't around back then to see the King going "ROUSE!"
Yae looked concerned, and for a moment our eyes met. I had no idea what was that electric thrill that suddenly made my heart go doki doki, but on later thought it was probably how we both understood clearly the suffering of war and yet at the same time we ached for a chance to obtain glory in the battlefield. Mutual recognition of a guilty conscience, maybe?
Briefly I though of Zorah and her ilk. Goddamn we had been raising so many death flags. Really, I hoped this place didn't run on tropes. Real life generally made much less sense than fiction.
And Monika…
She looked as calm and all-accepting as always. And really, that was when she was the most dangerous. When she's bickering and disapproving, that's when she's just trying to correct my inappropriate clowning around. That's just being a dutiful girlfriend who wants her man to look good and be respectable.
But there - that was a smile that said /'I truly don't mind if you go out and murder feckloads of people.'/
"The Emperor of Regulus has not been seen in the past few months. There are rumors that he is ill and forced to lay invalid in bed. The Army has been conducting extensive but low-level recruitment these past months. The mood in Gallaria, capital of the Empire, is fraught with tension. Rabble-rousers speak not of loyalty to the Emperor, but the forgotten might of the Empire. It was subtle, but it is now made clear they have been building their forces in preparation for something big!"
I raised my hand. He motioned me to speak. "Your Majesty- just to confirm, this was happening long before we… uh… "uncovered" the "Regulus Plot" to weaken Belfast, right?"
"That is so."
"Just how certain are you of this intelligence? How trustworthy is the source?"
"Extremely. It would be impossible to suborn the many traders and travelers who travel from here to Regulus."
I frowned. "Then why… pardon my saying is, is your internal intelligence gathering service…"
"So much rubbish?" the King finished with a chuckle. "Servants usually come from inside a lord's fief. And more often than not are themselves the progeny of other servants of the family." And so it was actually surprisingly difficult to insert spies into their households and businesses. Few people were willing to betray their lords unless they had a very strong grudge, one that was strong enough to overcome their fear for their own loved ones under the grip of said noble.
In feudalistic society, a peasant revolt could simply not be allowed to succeed because it eroded the conventions of society no matter what the inciting reason. Unless it was nobles picking a fight with their own king, and then we get things like the Magna Carta.(7)
"That… makes loads of sense. Thank you."
Then I suddenly raised my hand again.
"Yes?"
"Why is military buildup irrational?" I asked.
"Because the situation between Regulus and the Rodmere Union has not changed at all. Emperor of Regulus has spent the last ten years building up goodwill and making promises of peace. The alliance between Rodmere, Felzen, and Restia is strong as ever. Regulus alone is the strongest land power- but the addition of Rodmere's allies overcomes them."
If one ranked Regulus as a ([10]) on the military power scale, Rodmere would be an ([8]), while Felzen Magic Kingdom and Restia Knight Kingdom were a ([6]) and a ([7]) respectively. Even when they can only assist with 25% of their forces at most, that's still pushes the Rodmere Alliance to about ([14]) versus ([10]).
Incidentally, Belfast was a ([5]). She was a very mediocre sort of kingdom, but one could at least say she's not Refreese.
"So either they're total idiots hopped up on delusions and fanaticism" – not such an unrealistic scenario either, consider Imperial Japan in WW2 who decided that 'let's fight the most populous nation on Earth /and/ pick a fight with the most industrially potent nation on the planet *at the same time*' and thought that was a dashed good idea that could possibly end without them being utterly facestomped – "or they do have some sort of unique new force multiplier to compensate."
"We must act according to the worst possible scenario," the King replied with an approving nod. "So do you all understand the importance of this diplomatic mission? Once more, I ask forgiveness for the perfidy of my subjects, Miss Strand. I hope your King can forgive us."
Olga's ears perked up in attention again. "Do not worry, Your Majesty!" she exclaimed as she dropped to one knee in a respectful bow. "It is clear this has all been a plot by Regulus to incite war between our kingdoms! This perfidy cannot be allowed to stand! Please don't worry, I will do my utmost to convey your concerns!"
The King glanced at me. Our eyes met. Our hearts did not go doki doki, but we minutely cringed in shared awkwardness. Was it actually a Regulus plot?
It sounded terribly suspicious that if Belfast was weakened in a war of succession... and there's also how if regicide was already attempted once, then it would be an excellent casus belli for Regulus to invade if we were implicated in harming their monarch. Maybe someone was pulling the same plot somewhere else.
Shite, could it possibly be some global conspiracy? I really really really hoped this world didn't run on such tropes. I didn't fancy the thought of needing to play the role of Solid Snake or Ezio Auditore.
The King grinned after I explained as such. "Yes, that is why both speed and confidentiality is of the essence. Sir Zah, I thank you also for your help in this endeavor."
Olga got up and turned towards me. She put her hands together and bowed again. "Sir Chara, I've learned that it was you who really uncovered the plot and saved my life! I owe you so much. I apologize for thinking… um… no that doesn't matter now, I will not forget this either! My life is in your hands."
Ahahaha it's fine. It's fine. Please just raise no more flags.
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The mission, officially, was to escort and protect Olga Strand and the rest of the Mismede delegation back home. Unofficially, it was to set up a clandestine face-to-face meeting between the King of Belfast and the King of Mismede.
"Why couldn't you guys just use Alan?"
"Alan can only bring along one person," the Duke replied. "Also, to open a [Portal] between Belfast and Mismede means he'd have to travel TO Mismede, open a [Portal] there to bring in Tristwin who could cross through. And then they'd both be stuck there having to travel back to Belfast the long way."
Right. Assuming that Belfast was the [Point A] portal. Traveling to Mismede means setting up the [Point B] portal. Traveling back to Belfast is the free use of the [Point B] portal… going through it again and bringing along the King would turn the [Point B] portal into a [Point A portal], freeing up the slot to lay down another teleport circle.
Unlike Diablo's Town Portals, Alan's [Portal] ability operated in pairs and can't be anchored.
"Hm. Isn't the existence of someone who can transport whole armies with no limit whatsoever also an excellent reason for war?" I hummed. At some point someone's going to figure out the [Boom Tube] was much more flexible than that.
"That is why the secrecy is paramount!" the King replied. "By the way, I have to say that I am immensely pleased that earlier, you said "we" in regards to the fight against Regulus."
I tilted my head to the side. "What? We you expecting me not to fight for you or something? The people I like LIVE HERE." I broadly gestured aside "Well, I wouldn't want to drag the others into a fight that isn't any of their business…"
"We'll follow where you go, Mister Zah!" Linze piped up.
"I… didn't become an adventurer to /kill people/, Playa…" said Elze.
Yae only nodded in return. She was fine with killing people.
As Crown Princess, Yumina was embroiled in this no matter what anyway.
Monika was not in the room, because she was bored with military otaku talk. It was one thing to be a fan of Gundam, she could understand the thrill and pathos of a war story, but just talking strategy before battle was not very exciting.
Which was almost blasphemy; I resolved to get her to watch The Legend of the Galactic Heroes with me at some point. The gold standard of all space opera was pure literature in motion, a true classic that was equal to War and Peace or Lord of the Rings. That it started as a voluminous novel series might help.
"That's fine too." I smiled and nodded towards her. "Most of the reason I'm fine with lending my strength to this kingdom, despite how much I was running from the shadow of war before, is how we are all going to be defending innocents. We're not going to be the aggressors here, right?"
"Of course not!" said the King.
"Right. So. Greater than tactics is strategy. Greater than strategy is logistics. How ready is Belfast to fight this possible war? If they attack while we're in Mismede-"
"At least my daughter will be safe," the King breathed.
"Father!"
I looked at Yumina's cute frown then back to the situation map projected onto the table. The distance between the capital Alephais and the border was roughly twice the distance between Reflet and Alephis, but that's by wagon. Maybe ten, twelve days. Which really just struck me more, how does Zorah have the time to play around so far away from the Zenovivi border? What the hell. But Zanac *is* pretty safe while pretty far from the danger zone though.
Unless they arrive by boat, but really using landing ships to bypass a fortified border was blindingly obvious. Regulus was the strongest land power on this continent, but because it was largely landlocked except for its northern coast and south opening into the Great Lake that's shared by Mismede to the east, Regulus to the north and the Rammish Theocracy to the east like a triangle, its naval power was quite limited.
No, there really was no other way but to ram as many people down the Zeno gap as possible and don't give up until your enemy runs out of men faster than you.
The King answered my question, "Even if we mobilize everything and everyone, it will be hard just to survive. That's all we can hope for in this war."
Belfast really had only just recovered from the War twenty years ago. Fortunately Regulus also bled a lot from that war, and could not think of anything against a weakened Belfast when they needed to guard against a perfectly strong Rodmere on the other side.
"This is insane," I muttered. "Zorah and her family might be bugnuts, but I can't believe that Regulus would do this unless they have some way to counter the defender's advantage."
"On the other hand, attacking us is different from picking a fight with the Rodmere Union, *because it is the Rodmere Union*. It is unfortunate but Rodmere can't help us at all, that was proven twenty years ago," said the Duke. "We are too far to support militarily and can't be reached with ships if Regulus decides to close the River Gao. At least if fighting us, and only us, they will win. It will be hard, but it can be done."
"Maybe they have better ships? New weapons?" Maybe some other isekai person been cajoled into their service? I mean, what rule is there that there can be only one reincarnated person in a fantasy world at any one time? If guns had already been introduced to disturb the balance of power in this swords and magic world, we would need to work very hard to catch up.
It could be anything! Right. We needed to prepare for the worst.
"To be honest, if it wasn't for how important it is to get this alliance going, I'd feel like I'd be most useful actually going there to Regulus to gather information. Basic Sun Tzu; know your enemy as you would yourself, and you shall not have to fear a thousand battles, and all that…"
"Is… is that the reason you don't allow anyone to see your face, Sir Zah?!" Yumina squeaked.
"No." I didn't elaborate any further.
Yumina looked at me curiously, and then gasped. She looked frightened for a moment, and looked towards her father. The King nodded slowly, but smiled gently as if to say 'there is nothing to fear'. Yeah whatever silent conversation you're having, leave me out of it. (9)
I stared intently at the King. "Right. That boon. I'm calling it in."
"Whatever you want, Sir Zah!" the King boomed out.
"Land. I'm going to need land."
"Not a problem! Lady Monika has already spoken to us you might ask for this earlier. Are you really sure you do not want to become a formal noble? It would make things so much easier."
"Wait, what?"
"A mansion near the capital would make it easier for you, would it not? You do not have to keep exiting your [Boom Tube] in the woods just to hide how you travel. That is not an issue – but if you need more open land, just let us know where. It is customary to have a mansion in the city and a larger estate out of it."
Unfortunately people in Reflet were already too familiar and annoyed by it… which is really a good point. Good work, Monika. We should do this indoors in a soundproofed and sound-absorbing chamber.
I licked my lips. "I'm going to need enough land that no one is using. No one is using the Old Capital, right?"
"That's… you do know that it would be difficult to turn that place into farmland, right? There's good reasons why it was abandoned, it's not just the fact that the Night Baron rules it all."
"It's not for any income that I want land." Sorry for the adventurers that will be losing a steady source of income, but monster-filled land suited my purposes just fine.
Enough land to build an airfield.
Enough land for me to throw up walls.
Walls that become the foundation of something new.
I sighed and whispered. "All of life is spent moving just towards two things… to achieve happiness, or to avoid pain. But since I have already found happiness here, I can't just half-ass it and run away to avoid the pain of losing it. Which would be the same damn thing. Dammit..!" I growled. "I've grown attached."
Caring for people was a weakness, yes! Because it makes you feel afraid for them. But it was also a strength, because courage is to act *despite* fear, not the absence of it!
Fleeing from the pain of living is never liberty, just mollycoddled cowardice!
So I slammed my palm down on the table and over the Old Capital a pink diamond flickered into being, hovering and spinning slowly in the air.
"I am going to need… my Diamond Dogs (9)."
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AN:
AN:
(1) youtube /watch?v=B1O2jcfOylU
(2) youtube /watch?v=Fo-bcmAr2Vg
(3) youtube /watch?v=NJoMa4-rBVw
(4) youtube /watch?v=HVzoUHbTFh4
(5) youtube /watch?v=S2aZxiE52KQ
(6) youtube /watch?v=HWLiomi8s0U
(7) wikipedia /wiki/Magna_Carta
(8) The ones who most need to hide their faces are not spies, but burglars, executioners, and… *assassins*. Remember how ridiculously quickly Playa apparently figured out the assassination plot from their perspective?
(9) youtube /watch?v=TL5Em-vvVks