Frondier floated the craft high into the sky. High enough to be out of sight. He raised it to nearly the edge of Menosorpo’s range.
Unless someone deliberately tried to look for it, an ordinary human wouldn’t be able to find the craft.
“Alright, then.”
Frondier dusted off his hands lightly and moved from the spot.
By now Bune was surely fighting hard against his golems, but it wasn’t something Frondier needed to devote all his attention to.
They would fight just fine on their own.
“Shall I head back.”
Frondier retraced his steps and slipped back in through the window he had broken.
Carla, who had been waiting in the hallway, saw him.
“......Ah, what about Antero?”
“I left him somewhere safe.”
It was safe enough that even he himself couldn’t get out, but he didn’t bother to say that much.
“......You really brought him down. A Paladin.”
“He didn’t deserve to be called that.”
“His arrogance was famous.”
“......Mm, I see.”
He hadn’t said it because of personality, but he didn’t bother to correct it.
“So what exactly are you?”
Carla looked at Frondier with a questioning gaze.
It was closer to curiosity than vigilance or suspicion.
“You saw straight through my identity, you’re well-versed in the knowledge tied to it, you dispelled my curse, you defeated a Paladin...... How much more do I not know?”
“......If that’s your measure, you know perhaps a quarter of a quarter of me.”
At Frondier’s words, Carla chuckled. It was the first time Frondier had seen such a natural smile. She didn’t try to prettify herself; she simply smiled. The kind of smile that makes the onlooker smile as well.
“Thank you, Frondier.”
“I should be the one thanking you. If not for you, it would’ve been dangerous.”
While inside Pandemonium, Frondier had been defenseless.
If not for Carla, who knew what he would have suffered at Antero’s hands.
'Carla said my body hardened, but I don’t know how much. If the hardness doesn’t block aura, it’s extremely dangerous. When I take the first hit, can I exit Pandemonium, or do I remain inside Pandemonium even as my body is being destroyed?'
The latter was too horrific a thought, but usually the horrific side turned out to be the correct one.
Because it’s a trash game.
Carla said,
“It’s what I ought to do. You removed my curse.”
Carla was truly deeply grateful for that point.
Frondier smiled awkwardly.
“It also means you lost an ability.”
“This is still better.”
Carla declared.
Indeed, an ability that couldn’t be properly controlled was better not to have. Frondier agreed. Whenever he first obtained a weapon or an ability, he would always trial it beforehand.
And if there was any element of uncertainty, he wouldn’t take it out at all. A prime example was the Spear and Shield of Ares he had acquired when fighting Renzo. That set still had every option processed as question marks.
“Principal. You might be disappointed, but I don’t help people for free.”
“Of course.”
Carla nodded. In her eyes there was resolve and determination.
“If there’s ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ anything I can do, I’ll do anything.”
“I have a lot I’m curious about, Principal. The information I want could prove quite sensitive.”
“That’s exactly what I hoped for.”
Carla spoke as if unshaken. Frondier nodded at that.
“Then first—”
Ding— Dong—
At that moment the school bell rang.
[Attention, parents and students within Atlas. Today’s class representative selection matches have all concluded. Students of each class, please follow your homeroom teacher’s instructions—]
An announcement marking the end of Makia’s first day. Frondier and Carla looked at each other.
“Let’s return to our day jobs for now.”
“Hehe, alright.”
Frondier and Carla turned to go together.
Then Frondier paused, looking at the window he had broken.
'......Should I use Restoration.'
The thought crossed his mind, but it was too flashy a spell to show Carla.
And well, he’d only done it to blow away the one who had threatened Carla.
Carla would take care of it.
***
The first day of Makia ended, and that night.
Frondier sat alone in his room and reviewed his haul.
'Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I failed to obtain a god’s weapon.'
At a certain point, Frondier realized that obtaining a god’s weapon wasn’t as easy as he had thought. That point was Ares, of course. Ares knew his weapon would be replicated. So he must have turned every option into question marks.
In short, he couldn’t stop it being stolen, but he took measures to prevent its use.
Next came Odin. That side didn’t show a weapon at all; he only possessed Salle and never incarnated. He had definitely known Frondier’s ability beforehand. In fact, from Hestia onward most of the gods had shared information about Frondier’s ability.
'Poseidon was the real shame.'
Poseidon had no knowledge of Frondier at all, and he had incarnated personally with a spear in hand.
But on Poseidon’s side, Frondier avoided it instead.
'Gods can realize when their weapons are stolen from their past. Starting with Hephaestus.'
Hephaestus, the first from whom Frondier stole a weapon. He immediately recognized that Frondier had peered into his memories and was furious.
So Poseidon would surely notice as well. At the time Frondier had no intention of fighting Poseidon, so he could not look into his eyes.
Therefore—
It had been a very long time.
For the first time in a long time, Frondier acquired a god’s weapon.
[Aegis]
• Rank: Divine (Undecided Myth)
• Description: The shield owned by Atena. Crafted by Hephaestus. This shield, imbued with Atena’s disposition to protect humans, boasts the greatest capability among her armaments. However, at present not all tales are consolidated within it.
Ability Details >
“Slapping ‘Divine’ on it doesn’t make everything fine.”
Simply put, it was a shield boasting perfect defense against both physical and magical sides. A shield that would only appear in the tale of a “Contradiction.”
Utterly ridiculous performance. But the shield had one problem.
“It’s small.”
Even without replicating it, Frondier could roughly gauge its size from within the craft. It was smaller than Renzo’s Shield of Ares, “Lynotoros.” Renzo’s shield had been big enough to plant in the ground, but with this one even that was impossible.
'It boasts overwhelming performance that blocks anything so long as it touches the shield, but if you don’t block, it’s worthless. That’s the feel of it.'
In other words, it was a shield conceptually the exact opposite of Lynotoros. While Lynotoros would block most attacks if you merely held it forward, leaving defense to the bearer, Aegis needed no such defense from the bearer but absolutely required that one block with the shield.
'If an enemy had this, in my case “Falling Rain” would solve it to some extent.'
But if he threw “Jeong,” the mana blade, Frondier’s own life would be hard to preserve. He thought it truly fortunate Renzo’s shield wasn’t this one.
But there was one more point about this shield that bothered Frondier.
“Undecided myth......”
In the description was the phrase “not all tales are consolidated.” That was likely the reason it bore the tag of an undecided myth.
'The fact that Carla is Medusa at all is a peculiar situation.'
The myth Frondier knew was, of course, a story from the very distant past. From his previous world’s knowledge.
But here it was ongoing. And the option’s description told him so.
'Medusa was originally a monster slain by Perseus. In the previous world she was treated as nothing but an evil creature.'
If so, as a single hypothesis,
Those associated with Medusa might also be ongoing.
In other words, there was a possibility that Perseus still existed.
'Originally Perseus was to slay Medusa. Thanks to the shield that reflected like a mirror, he could defeat Medusa without looking directly at her. If that shield was Aegis—'
Slaying Medusa would be the way to conclude this shield’s myth.
In short, it was telling him to kill Carla.
“What a ridiculous notion.”
But right now the myth was “undecided,” not “unfinished.” That meant nothing had yet been determined. Taken literally, there might be a way other than killing Carla. Merely a hope, but still.
'Either way, the shield is more than I deserve even now. I’ll put it to good use... hm?'
As Frondier thought while looking at the Aegis placed in the craft,
From a different space than the one Frondier was watching, a loud clamor rang out again.
“......Right.”
Amazingly, he had completely, pitch-black forgotten.
Frondier turned his gaze to see another area of the craft.
There lay numerous toppled metal fragments, linkages, bodies, and so on, strewn about,
And in the middle stood a man.
[Huff, huff, huff......]
Bune looked around, breathing hard. Demon aura was nearly spent, the body was in tatters. Even so, he had avoided mortal wounds.
'Amazing. He toppled them all.'
Frondier was impressed.
He was working with Antero’s body that Frondier had already turned into rags. On top of that, Antero had squandered aura recklessly to land a blow on Frondier.
'He must have taken a very long time to recover aura while fighting. That’s why the battle lasted this long. Remarkable judgment and patience.'
To gauge Bune’s prowess, Frondier had disabled all the traps around them.
Even so, to fell all the prototypes with that body—of course more could be made, but the number of golems he had initially sent was more than sufficient. He had sent them in the first place with the thought of canceling if Bune was in danger.
He had completely forgotten.
“Congratulations. You defeated them all.”
Frondier didn’t show at all that he had forgotten.
Shameless to the extreme.
[You—bastard. You really just watched and did nothing until I took down every last one.]
“I believed you’d take them all down.”
The lie slid out smooth as silk.
But because he hadn’t canceled midway, he knew for certain now.
This is a Paladin.
If Frondier meant the twelve who would become representatives of the kingdom, they’d have to be at least this much.
[So are you satisfied? That I was hiding inside Antero? That I am a demon?]
“Yeah. I’m reassured.”
[Reassured?]
“Because I learned that a Paladin is strong. When I fought Antero I couldn’t believe it, and it made me anxious.”
At Frondier’s words, Bune lifted his head as if incredulous and looked around.
He seemed to want to direct his gaze toward Frondier somewhere watching, but of course he had no way to know which direction to look.
[You’re mistaken. I am a demon. Not a god. And you’re reassured because I’m the Paladin?]
“Sure. A useless ally is scarier than a valiant enemy. People say that all the time.”
[Even if that enemy belongs to the strongest group among your allies?]
“Sure. I don’t know what you’re after.”
Creak—
At that moment Bune heard a door open.
Before he knew it, Frondier had flown over, fashioned a door into the craft, and opened it.
Facing Bune through the door, Frondier continued,
“Until you achieve your objective, you’ll continue in the role of Paladin.”
[......]
“It’s better when systems are maintained. No matter who’s doing it.”
With a face covered in wounds, Bune started to say something to Frondier and then shut his mouth again.
He felt, somehow, a little better.
“Now then, shall we begin the main topic.”
[Feels like my main topic just ended.]
“That won’t do.”
Frondier erased the door he had come through.
The craft was sealed once more.
The difference now was that Frondier was inside it as well.
Looking very satisfied with Bune’s condition, Frondier smiled and said,
“We made a promise, didn’t we? Demon.”
