CHAPTER 27

The New Kingdom

Right when I’m about to create a gate to Ixphoria, Seiya adds to his order. He says he wants a gate to Galvano instead of Termine. Accordingly, I create a gate to Galvano and timidly peek inside, but there isn’t a beastkin in sight.

“Seiya, you’re going to tell the people of Little Light about Bunogeos and Grandleon, right?”

“There’s that, but I also wanted to check on the present state of Galvano. This place will soon become the most important base following Termine.”

“‘Base’…?”

Seiya squats, then places a hand on the soil, causing the ground to swell. A massive golem comes crawling out of the ground. In mere seconds, the Hero creates ten golems.

“Take care of the remaining beastkin.”

After a silent nod, the golems begin lumbering away.

The residents flock to us when we arrive at the underground settlement of Little Light for the first time in a while. Even the leader, Braht, is with them. He looks at us with a solemn stare, but I smile back at him and give the thumbs-up.

“W-wait… Does that mean you defeated Bunogeos?”

“Yep! We even defeated the ruler of this continent, Grandleon, as well!”

“Are you serious?! Even Grandleon…?!”

A few moments of silence go by before the crowd erupts with loud cheers. I even see Eich, the little girl who created this settlement with her earth magic, with tears in her eyes.

“Hero…thank you so much!”

But Seiya still speaks to them with his usual indifferent tone.

“That doesn’t mean you should return to the surface. There’s still a continent to the south of Rhadral where another powerful enemy resides, right?”

“Yes, the Vengeful Empress Celemonic rules over the southern continent of Kress on the other side of the ocean. They say she can use powerful sorcery.”

I’m taken by surprise as I listen to their conversation.

What?! I—I had no idea such an enemy even existed!

Normally, I should be responsible for assessing the state of things in Ixphoria so I can guide Seiya… I should be ashamed of myself…

“Until now, Grandleon has reigned over Rhadral, but once word that he’s dead spreads overseas, it’s highly possible that she’ll invade. That’s where you all have to make a choice: move the settlement to Termine or continue living underground like this.”

Eich quietly looks at the people of Little Light until Braht suddenly notices her gaze.

“I’m staying here. Galvano is my home.”

And people of all ages begin agreeing with him.

“Moving is hard when you’re old like me.”

“We’ve been living underground so long that continuing for just a bit longer would be a breeze.”

Braht approaches Seiya.

“Besides…I know you’ll be able to defeat the Vengeful Empress Celemonic in no time, too.”

He says this while softly tapping Seiya on the chest with a fist. This is probably Braht’s way of showing appreciation.

After saying good-bye to everyone in Little Light, I create a gate that leads us to the queen’s old house in Termine. General Jonde comes rushing over the instant we arrive.

“You’re already back? That was quicker than I imagined.”

But out of nowhere, Seiya throws his fist into Jonde’s skull.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“I was checking to see if you were still sane.”

“Of course I am! Was I not just speaking like someone sane would?!”

Hearing the commotion, Queen Carmilla comes walking out of her home with a few guards. After surveying the area, Seiya declares:

“It’s time to prepare for the machine corps’s invasion.”

“None of your half-assed strategies are going to work against them!”

Jonde glares at Seiya.

“Listen, Ernok Castle used to rule over the continent of Baraque. Their castle was heavily guarded by elite foot soldiers and archers, but do you know what happened? They were attacked by the machine corps and destroyed in just one night!”

“‘I-in just one night’?!”

I scream out in surprise, so Jonde turns his gaze on me.

“The castle was destroyed in just one night. I hear it took only three days before the entire continent was conquered.”

“They took over the entire continent in just three days?! Wh-what kind of power do you have to have to be able to do that?”

“While the Machine Emperor Oxerio has extraordinary leadership skills and the power to control thousands of Killing Machines as if they were part of his own body, it appears there may be more to him than what we know.”

It doesn’t matter how much Seiya’s earth magic has improved. Hearing that worries me. I’m sure Seiya was listening to what Jonde just told me, too, but, seemingly unfazed, he’s recalling all the earth serpents he sent forth earlier in Termine. Hundreds of earth serpents gather, squirming around his feet. Obviously, they can’t talk, and yet, Seiya is nodding and saying “uh-huh” like he understands what they’re telling him. It’s a surreal sight, but before long, the earth serpents return to the dirt from which they came.

“All right, it looks like there aren’t any more beastkin in Termine.”

“Oh, so that’s what the earth serpents were for?”

“We can’t have any of them inside here with us.”

“What do you mean by ‘inside’?”

“I’m going to close off Termine.”

Seiya holds his hand straight out as he gazes far into the distance, outside the city.

“Great Iron Wall.”

The ground starts to rumble, and the queen, Jonde, and I are all thrown off our feet.

“Wh-what the…?”

Jonde is the first to notice.

“Look at that!”

When I look in the direction he’s pointing, I see a colossal stone wall standing a few dozen meters tall on the town’s boundary. When the rumbling eventually comes to an end, I survey the area…and that’s when I notice the entire town is enclosed with stone walls!

“Wh-wh-wh-what the…?!”

Jonde and I gasp.

“The Great Iron Wall is fifty meters tall, one meter thick, and as strong as steel. Even an enemy with an attack stat over three hundred thousand would still have a hard time penetrating it.”

Wh-while the hardness is impressive…I still can’t believe he surrounded the entire Kingdom of Termine!

Eich, who built the underground settlement with her earth magic, possesses a rare, exceptional talent, but it looks like Seiya exceeds even that after his training under the God of Earth.

“I curled the walls away from Termine so that the enemy couldn’t easily climb them. The problem is aerial attacks…”

After changing his class to Fire Spellblade, he creates a few dozen Automatic Phoenixes and sends them to the sky.

“Sending the entire Kingdom of Termine underground like Little Light would completely prevent an aerial attack, but there are numerous problems that would arise from cutting off the sunlight. This should do for now.”

Jonde, who was stunned into silence, finally speaks up.

“Well…I heard there weren’t any flying-type enemies in the machine corps.”

“I guess if they did exist, Termine would already be under attack. Nevertheless, the tides of war are always changing. Even if they don’t have any flying types now, you never know when they might succeed in creating them.”

“I—I think you’re worrying too much, but…”

Seiya changes back into an Earth Spellblade. He then sticks out his arms, and the ground begins to rumble once again.

“S-Seiya? What did you do this time?”

“I created another wall around the first wall.”

“So there are two walls surrounding the kingdom now?!”

“Yes.”

Everyone shares an awkward laugh, slightly unnerved by how cautious Seiya is, but our smiles are short-lived…for Seiya begins creating more walls around the two walls we already have.

“Hey, hey! Wasn’t Great Iron Wall supposed to be as hard as steel?”

“I’m going to make as many as I can. The kingdom will be safer this way.”

“B-but I feel like it will make things hard to see from the watchtower if you make too many…”

“That’s what the earth serpents are for. I already have serpents stationed outside the walls and hidden between them. Their eyes are linked to mine, so I’ll have no problem checking on the state of things.”

…Seiya finally takes a break after creating a five-layered wall.

“Next, I’m going to create the golems.”

Just then, some townspeople who were watching Seiya come rushing over, and two of them slide in right in front of us. One is a woman in a robe while the other is a warrior in armor.

“Greetings! I am Shallow! Hero, please use my magic however you see fit!”

“I’m Presco! If you need any extra muscle, I’m your guy!”

There are numerous other Termine residents standing behind them. Many have injuries that seem to have been dealt by the beastkin, but every one of them still has fire in their eyes.

“Wh-whoa! We’re getting new allies one after another!”

There are probably people here who blame Seiya for Termine being conquered by the beastkin, but there are still those who elect to leave the past in the past, are thankful for Seiya defeating Grandleon, and want to help him. It brings tears to my eyes. After surveying the crowd gathered around us, Seiya says:

“No thanks.”

“Heeeeeey!!!” I scream. “They want to help! Be nice!”

“The enemies are machines powered by magic. They can continuously attack without stopping to eat or sleep. Simply being human already puts these people at a disadvantage.”

“Y-yeah, maybe. But I’m sure they could still help with something!”

Seiya then firmly nods.

“Farmwork. Nobody will be able to leave Termine for a while, so we will need a system to be able to provide for ourselves like Little Light. Therefore, I want all of you to start farming.”

But the warrior Presco objects.

“No! I want to use this strength I have to fight the machine corps!”

“Can you fight for a week straight without eating or drinking anything? Can you keep up the pace without sleeping?”

“Er…! I—I wouldn’t be as energetic without any food or sleep, but…!”

“Right? Now, start farming.”

“B-but my fire magic—”

“Don’t care. Use it to farm.”

“I-I’m a good archer, so I could—”

“Don’t care. Focus on farming.”

Like a crotchety old farmer, Seiya continues to stubbornly recommend farming no matter what anyone says. Before long, everyone who wanted to help begins turning on their heels and leaving, clearly fed up.

“S-Seiya! They all left!”

“Don’t care. I’m gonna make the golems now.”

I sigh while watching the Hero indifferently create golems out of soil. But…

“W-well, I’m sure this was the Hero’s way of watching out for them and avoiding any unnecessary deaths!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

The queen is struggling to be optimistic, but Seiya is staring at his golems adoringly.

“Golems are nice. They can operate semipermanently as long as their cores remain intact. Even if all living creatures on Ixphoria die out, they’ll continue to roam the land.”

“D-don’t say stuff like that!”

“Plus, golems don’t selfishly do anything they aren’t ordered to do, unlike humans. Furthermore, they’ll never betray me, since I created them. Golems are nice.”

“Ugh! I’m sure those people who wanted to help wouldn’t have betrayed you, either!”

“Perhaps. But even then, golems have absolutely zero chance of betraying me. Golems are nice.”

There’s nothing more I can say to his unwavering trust in golems.

Seiya continues churning out even more golems after that. Before long, the area around us is drowning in them. To my side stand over thirty rows comprised of twenty golems each. Staring in awe at the army of six hundred golems, Jonde asks Seiya:

“H-hey… How many of those do you plan on making?”

“If the enemy plans on coming at us with tens of thousands of Killing Machines, then I’m going to make tens of thousands of golems to fight back.”

“You’re going to make thousands of these things?! Termine is going to become a kingdom of golems!”

“What’s wrong with that? In the world I’m from, there’s even a country where there are more sheep than people. Having more golems than people isn’t a problem.”

“B-but…!”

Jonde’s expression is fraught with doubt, but the queen sends him a smile.

“Jonde, the golems won’t be in Termine forever. The Hero plans to take his army of golems to invade the northern continent.”

“O-oh…I see.”

But Seiya admits to the queen:

“No, I don’t plan on leaving Termine for a while.”

“What?! You’re not going to attack?! Then what are all these golems for?!”

“These are only for fighting off the enemy when they attack. Not only do we have to deal with the machine corps in the north, but we also have the Vengeful Empress Celemonic in the south. We have to make sure we’re ready for both of them. Worst-case scenario, they simultaneously attack us from both sides.”

“I—I don’t know if we have to worry about the enemies contacting each other.”

“Bunogeos was able to communicate with Grandleon through a crystal ball, despite being in different towns. As long as there’s even a slight chance of being attacked from both sides, then staying here is our only option. And after finishing initial preparations here, I plan on heading to Galvano to create a stronghold nearby with my earth magic in order to deal with the Vengeful Empress of the south before she can even reach Termine.”

Struck dumb with astonishment, the queen mutters:

“I—I can’t believe what I’m hearing!”

Jonde swallows his breath as well.

“Y-you plan on fighting all by yourself, so you created golems…but despite having enough manpower, you plan on staying within the kingdom walls you created… W-would a Hero really do something like this?”

Both Jonde and the queen fail to mask their surprise when they learn that the Hero is simply going to hole up in the kingdom and wait for the enemy to attack.