2/2. The last chapter of this arc. Next one is big, with 20+ chapters in it 🙂
TL: airsblue
TLC: greujnik
ED: Blackswordsman
Arc 23: Incoming New Threat
Chapter 209: The Postwar Cleanup and the Robbery
The ruler type has appeared. That brought big repercussions for us. An existence even more formidable the advanced type. Furthermore, it's difficult to deal with by using the Frame Gear since it's a human-sized Fraze.
Naturally, a storm of questions poured from the rulers of each country that were watching the broadcast, but even I don't know what to tell them. I can only say that it's a higher rank than the advanced type and that they possess emotions. I wonder, is that the extent?
She was talking in an ambiguous language, but I believe she had a proper talk with End. She seemed like an opponent who can communicate but…
In any case, the battle is over and the postwar cleanup has also finished. The damage to Rodomea that I have been worrying about is far less when compared to Yuuron. But even so, one of the mountain summits was blown away, and the battlefield became a complete wasteland due to the scattering shot done by the charged particle artillery of the advanced type.
As for the damage we received, there were no fatalities, but quite a lot of seriously injured turned out. A considerable number of injuries came due to the land tsunami caused by the advanced type. The injured people, having been transferred to the headquarters, eventually got better due to Suu and Rin using recovery magic and Flora treating them with medicine.
We've ended up in this state even after preparing that much, huh? However, I can surely say that it has ended this way because I was able to determine by chance that they would appear.
There are the results of our efforts as well. Rodomea didn't receive much damage from the Fraze, however, the capital of the Central State had apparently received more damage due to the senseless rampage of the upgraded armed golems, even if we disregard the previous battle.
Dr. Bowman has been sent to a mine as a form of taking responsibility. It seems his sentence will be more than 10 years of forced labor.
Also, Statewide Governor Volk Rajeel was accused of management negligence and condemned by the other state governors for shirking the safety measures of his research institution.
Eventually, Volk Rajeel lost his position, and a new noble youth took the position of the governor of the central state with the consensus of the other states.
After that, a new statewide governor of Rodomea has been chosen, and it was the one who responded quickly to solve this problem, the Hill State Governor Audrey Reliban-san.
She is shrewd, or should I say, she didn't oversee this moment. I feel she has made good use of us, but I guess it's not like she has done something bad. Oh well, whatever.
Even for us, working with Audrey-san is easier than working with that grinning Rajeel-ossan.
First of all, Statewide Governor Audrey has discontinued the development of the armed golems of the magic research institute. Well, guess that would be the natural thing to do. They will be troubled if another one of them rampages again due to some stimulus.
Next, they have unanimously decided to participate in the East-West alliance after having a discussion among all state governors. It seems that a large part of that reason if for them to be able to loan the frame gears in case of emergencies along with the Frame Units as well.
The clean-up process is going to ultimately be faster if we remove the aftermath using the frame gears. Yet there's no one among the knights of Rodomea who can pilot the heavy knights even though I've immediately lent out ten of them. As such, it has been decided to dispatch several knights to Rodomea to act as instructors starting from a vice-commander of our household, Nicola-san.
The removal of the wreckage is also progressing thanks to that. It looks like the city is starting to regain its composure.
Statewide Governor Audrey has softened the antagonism between Rodomea and Regulus after she has stood at the top and various trade treaties have been signed.
Countries that had bad relations up until now won't be able to become friends at once, but that action is definitely a big step forward.
Rodomea is located between the Regulus Empire, the Ramisshu Holy Kingdom, the Ferzen Kingdom and the Heavenly Empire Yuuron, and it mainly trades with them via land routes. But Yuuron has collapsed recently, and it became impossible for them to trade at all.
The improvement of this relationship between Rodomea and Regulus is a godsend because of the current state of Yuuron. Well, that's good for them, isn't it?
「Master, can I have a little of your time?」(Rosetta)
「Hmm?」(Touya)
I was stopped by Rosetta who was repairing End's dragon knight in [Hangar]. She was in the middle of repairing the right arm that has been destroyed… or rather, which End had destroyed. We are incorporating a new frame model this time in order to strengthen the Dragoon even further so that it won't break so easily the next time.
Rosetta gets down from the crane.
「As a matter of fact, there is something strange with battle the other day」(Rosetta)
「Something strange?」(Touya)
That day, I've asked Rosetta and Monica to be in charge of the maintenance and adjustments of the spare units.
I've also assigned them with the responsibility of observing, investigating and recording the actions of the Frazes in addition that. Accurately speaking, they were assistants when it came to observation. I felt uneasy leaving all of it to Palshie alone… because she’s a hard-core clutzy girl.
「The number of people who had received serious and half-serious injuries and thus were transferred to headquarters was 36 during this battle. However, the number of frame gears which master had recovered on the battlefield was 35. One unit is unaccounted for」(Rosetta)
「……What?」(Touya)
That's absurd. I've made sure to specify everything up to the parts of the frame gears and collected them into [Storage] after the battle, you know? Are you saying it wasn't on the site?
「Accurately speaking, a head, a main chest unit, an upper part of left arm, an entire right leg are missing. All of them are parts of a heavy knight」
「Are you saying that some knight riding it stole them in the middle of that battle?」
「No. It's the other way around. I think that someone else has collected the broken parts of the frame gear seeing that the parts have been scattered. Please look at this」
Rosetta turns on a monitor installed in the corner of the garage. The aerial recording that reflects the battle from the other day starts to play. It's the time before the advanced type has arrived. What's wrong with this?
「This place here」(Rosetta)
Rosetta stops the recording with a click. The body of a broken frame gear is being shown at the edge of the screen.
She then unpauses the video and the recording starts to play again. Then, the body of the broken frame gear has disappeared from there.
「…… What's going on, with this?」
「Now we switch this to a magic induction image and…」
「Ah」
The video displays the figures of several people carrying off the body of a frame gear. They are being covered with a faint bluish light. I'm not grasping that details, but they certainly resemble humans. They might be demi-humans though, but I can't see something like tails or ears, so they don't seem to be beastmen.
「Apparently, they are using disappearance magic or artifacts. They were perfectly caught in the magic power perceptors though. They are properly projected up till the frame gear」(Rosetta)
The armor of the frame gear has been colored with magic power paint after all. At any rate, who are those guys?
I can't imagine they are the subordinates of a member from the East-West alliance. I'm already loaning the frame gears to them, and I can't imagine they have a reason to do that.
In that case, is it a different country? The battle this time was known for several days. Does that mean there were those who went there in order to try taking advantage of it?
「Good grief, it's like they are imitating a thief who steals at a fire scene… Search. The broken parts of the Frame Gear」
『……Search completed. Displaying』
The map projects in the sky, but the pins are only pointing to Brunhild. What does that mean? I know it won't react to the frame gears I've sent to Rodomea after I've designated the search to the broken parts.
「They are probably inside a magic jamming barrier. The same type as Babylon's」(Rosetta)
Ah, I see. So does that mean that tracking them is impossible?
「Can they make a frame gear from those stolen parts?」
「Impossible. Well, they may be capable of assembling the broken guy back to the original heavy knight if they spend time, but it will be impossible to mass produce it」(Rosetta)
I guess that's right. They don't have the Ether Liquid either. I won't be troubled if this kind of technology exists.
「However, I wonder if it might be dangerous should the technology being used in the frame gear is applied somewhere else. It may be possible to make an inferior imitation」(Rosetta)
「Hmmm. That would be troublesome…」(Touya)
Monica, who is also repairing the dragon knight, straddles herself from its shoulder and says something from up there while I was being worried about the situation.
「Just in case, wouldn't it be better to convey to each country that it has been stolen? Just imagine how troublesome it would become if a fake heavy knight rampages or something. Wouldn't groundless charges comes flying in?」(Rosetta)
That's also true. I don't think a copied knight will be easy to move since there's also the matter with the Ether Liquid, but I have to make sure.
Inferior Frame Gear 《Fake》 …… An imitation? I feel a ba-a-ad premonition.
「Well, it will be impossible for them to make a better unit than a heavy knight no matter how hard they try, so feel relieved」(Rosetta)
「No, I wonder if I can be relieved leaving it like that though」(Touya)
Well, I can't think of any countermeasures against it though. Should I have also installed a self-destruction mechanism beforehand? There's also this anime where the hero has detonated his unit and himself spectacularly. I wonder, was it for the form of beauty? Although that might have been done in order to preserve his secrets.
「Yae-dono and Hilda-dono units are more important. Should we proceed the same as before?」(Rosetta)
「Hmm. There won't be any changes. It's fine to make a specialized type for Yae. It doesn't need to be ingenious. I think Hilda's will also be fine same as before」(Touya)
「Is, that so? Then, whose unit is next in line after that?」(Rosetta)
「Ours ~ja!」(???)
Suu is standing at the [Hangar] entrance with a daunting pose together with Shesca's maid figure behind her. Did Shesca bring her here? I was surprised.
She then comes dashing and suddenly hugs me.
「Isn't it about time for me to pilot a frame gear!? I'm already tired of practicing in the frame unit ~ja!」(Suu)
Suu comes pushing and grinding her head against my abdomen. Unn, Suu's frame, is it?
I'm worried, to be honest. No, it's not about Suu's skill. She's considerably skillful judging by her combat results in the frame unit. I can say it demonstrates the superior ability of children who do not hold any strange prejudices, but Suu has enough ability to wherein I might have to consider her as a genius pilot.
However, I think that she feels as if it's some kind of a game. In the end, she'll be taking lives on the battlefield. I wonder if she is prepared for that.
「Wouldn't it be fine even if Suu doesn't do those dangerous things?」(Touya)
「What are you saying!? We are also Touya's fiancee and we will fight when it's necessary to fight! We don't feel like becoming an ornamental wife by withdrawing to a safe place! We also want to protect everyone!」(Suu)
Suu looks up at me with serious eyes. This kid is serious. She might have come with such resolution by growing up as a member of the royal family.
Was I the only one treating her too much as a kid?
「……I got it. Then, shall we make Suu's personal frame? What kind of frame do you want?」(Touya)
「A strong one ~ja!」(Suu)
It's a little vague. I intend to ask what type would be good though.
「A huge one is good. The one which can destroy the opponent with 'Gangang' like Elzie's. Ah, Touya has shown me that normal unit which does different combinations and turns into a big one!」(Suu)
Eh, did I show such a thing…?
「Then, we will also be destroying the enemies by launching the rotating arms and gouging out the cores of the Frazes. Like that ~ja. Ah, make us a golden hammer too!」(Suu)
Ah, I somehow get it. It's that one…
Hmm, the frame will be a power type with strong defense and destructive power in that case. Will I be ignoring the mobility in this case then? As for the flying arms…I guess, there is nothing we can't do if we use Fragarach technology?
But what will I do about the combination? Remote control….No, it will be impossible without something like an autonomous AI. It may possible if it's manned, but then pilots will be needed if that's case.
「I think it's manageable. Wasn't there something that's just right in [Warehouse]?」(Shesca)
… Really? Well, there might be some way since they did manage to breath life into the picture frame. It may be possible to use a technology like an artificial intelligence as a support mechanism for Suu if they have something like that.
「Unn…… I guess, there are things to try. Shall we do it?」(Touya)
「Hooray! As I've thought, Touya is the best husband ~ja!」(Suu)
I was rather surprised when Suu hugged my neck and gave me a light kiss on the lips. She then rubbed her cheeks against mine. It appears that she is gradually starting to act mature.
Just when I'm thinking about that, Shesca turns to Suu from behind and makes a sudden thumbs up. Did you instigate this scenario!? This fellow truly is bad for education!