‘They’re good people.’
After hearing that the squad leaders would support my “desertion,”
I decided to leave the remaining preparations to them
and move to do the best preparations I could do myself.
‘Cooking... there’s nothing for it but to prep as best as I can on the day.’
Before that,
the first place I went was—
=I °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° pay respects to the Lord.
“Right.”
The Fortress Spirit.
Vimanar.
“First, I cleared the quest just like you said.”
At the top floor of the tower set in the fortress’s center,
in the command-and-control room, I sat in the chair
and spoke while looking at the spirit’s core.
“Strictly speaking, it isn’t cleared yet, but if we just give it time it’ll complete.”
=This fortress too witnessed everything that happened beneath the fortress. You achieved an astounding feat. As expected, you’re worthy of holding the lordship of this fortress.
Maybe spirits don’t need to breathe.
It praised me literally without pausing for breath.
‘...Is that just its personality?’
It had said it was made to be loyal to the Lord.
So maybe this kind of burdensome level of praise was likewise something it was made to do.
Well, anyway.
The reason I’d rushed to clear that underground mine was...
because of something this thing said.
‘If you satisfy the quest conditions, there won’t be a problem even if I go to other regions.’
On hearing that,
I challenged the mana supply—the only quest we still had to solve.
“So... now that we’re here, let me ask.”
And now that
we’d satisfied those conditions—
“Why?”
—I figured I might finally hear the follow-up.
=May I ask what you mean by “why”?
“I mean why you specifically told me to complete this Vimana’s special quest first.”
At the time I’d glossed over it.
But once I finished the quest, I found myself curious all over again.
‘What does making my “desertion” possible have to do with leveling up the fortress?’
A mission whose relationship I couldn’t grasp at all.
The answer to that was simpler than I thought.
=The reason the Lord hesitates to take free action is because the fortress personnel’s dependence on the Lord is high.
“Mm... for now, yes.”
As far as I’m concerned, I’m not that great a guy.
But every manner of wild rumor and tall tale has gotten hopelessly jumbled together,
then magnified and reproduced,
so that right now I’m being treated like some three-headed, six-armed monster out of myth.
Because there are more soldiers depending on me,
I ended up in a position where I can’t just act however I please.
‘Sigh.’
All I can do is sigh, but what can I do.
This side is better for survival, so I have to bear it.
Anyway.
For this thing to bring that up means—
“When the fortress hits Level 3, I won’t need to worry about that?”
=Stage 3 of this fortress is the stage at which technology beyond this world’s baseline begins in earnest.
“Our world’s baseline...? Even what I’ve seen so far is insanely advanced.”
Even the Level 1 facilities had tremendous performance.
We hadn’t even properly experienced the effects of the Level 2 facilities yet.
But—
=The reason the Lord feels that way is that the direction of technological development was different.
“Hm?”
=By objective comparison, this fortress’s technology up through Stage 2 does not reach the technology your world originally possessed.
“...”
=That means your world, the level of technology that civilization achieved, was extremely high.
Right.
Earth doesn’t have technology that yields effects like the facilities built into this fortress.
But while the direction is a bit different,
the level itself is equivalent...
No,
we’d stacked technology that might even be beyond it.
‘Technology humanity built up over thousands, tens of thousands of years.’
That
was by no means trivial.
“...From Stage 3, it surpasses Earth’s technology?”
=It’s difficult to say it does so in every area. In some domains we may still not reach what your world achieved... but likewise, in “some” domains, technology that surpasses your world’s will begin to manifest.
The little sphere had no expression,
but I had the illusion it was smiling with confidence.
=The appearance of those partial technologies... will feel quite shocking to the Lord’s native species of this world.
“...Hmm.”
=If they witness those technologies, the fortress members’ dependence—until now directed solely at the Lord—will also be dispersed toward this fortress. By this fortress’s calculations, there will even be some who find peace of mind simply from its existence.
For now,
there are soldiers who calm themselves with the thought:
—As long as Sergeant Shin is here, we’ll manage somehow!
But the moment the fortress reaches Level 3,
there will be those who think:
—As long as this fortress is here, we’ll manage somehow!
“I see...”
I haven’t seen that Stage 3 myself, so I don’t know,
but if that’s true, it’s not a bad story.
It means the burden concentrated on me will ease a bit.
=However...
But
that wasn’t the end of what it said.
=I’m sorry, Lord, but I must inform you that the situation has shifted somewhat at present.
“Huh?”
=It seems I must admit an error in this fortress’s judgment.
What the hell is it saying now.
An error in judgment?
=Originally, once the Lord’s given mission was completed, even if the Lord entered free action based on the reason I mentioned, there would be little impact on the troops’ morale. The Lord would simply return after achieving his objective.
“Right, and that’s why I went through hell to satisfy those conditions.”
=It was this fortress that gave that advice, but... I must offer an apology.
The Fortress Spirit even sounded almost embarrassed.
=You accomplished the mission too splendidly, Lord.
“...What?”
It said that,
in a small voice.
=The conversation the Lord had with the fallen divinity is being magnified and reproduced among the soldiers... as a result, not only has dependence on the Lord increased from before, but the influence of the faction that wishes to raise that dependence has expanded rapidly...
Originally,
it would have been enough just to satisfy those conditions.
But in the process of satisfying them,
because I made too grand a spectacle of it—
‘Dependence on me has increased even more than before.’
And because of that—
=...even if the fortress enters Stage 3, the dispersion of that dependence will fall short of expectations—such is the new calculation result...
“You’ve got to be—!”
I sprang up from the chair, clutching my head, and shouted.
“You told me I just needed to hit that mark, so I busted my ass, and now—!”
=Lord! Striking this spirit’s core will likely not be of much help in resolving your worries; I recommend refraining from violent acts!
I couldn’t help it and raised my fist,
and the thing’s speech sped up as if terrified.
=What’s fortunate, at least, is that you secured the cooperation of the executive-level members.
“What?”
=If you have those members’ cooperation, the unit’s confusion from the Lord’s free action can be mitigated to some extent.
...At least
thanks to the squad leaders agreeing to cooperate with me, the situation seems a little better.
=However... to achieve the ‘minimization of intra-unit confusion’ the Lord desires, it appears a bit more work will be necessary.
“A bit of work? What’s that supposed to be.”
I narrowed my eyes at it.
“Don’t tell me... you’re going to say that once we achieve that, we’ll have achieved it too splendidly again or something, right?”
=No. In fact, this is something I wanted to request of the Lord anyway. I had originally planned to put it off a little longer, but...
“Hm?”
In the very center of the command-and-control room,
the little bead-shaped spirit,
Vimanar, spoke.
=I request that you give me a body.
“...?”
A body?
I looked at that bead-shaped spirit core—
the very same type of spirit core I’d given to Borjin and Jung Sua.
“Isn’t that your body?”
=The Lord must have seen other spirits’ forms, yes?
I had.
The Spirit of Darkness wrapped itself in a pitch-black shadow without even light and shade,
and Droplet looked like a transparent water drop with its core floating inside.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen an Earth Spirit.’
Borjin handles an Earth Spirit.
Because that spirit maintains a transparent form, I hadn’t seen its true appearance.
=That darkness and that water drop—those are the two spirits’ bodies.
“Huh? Then what’s the core?”
=The spirit’s soul that moves the body... a vessel that binds that soul to this world.
...Is the difference that big?
A being with only a soul,
versus a being with both soul and body—
there might indeed be that much of a difference.
=If you give me a body, I can do far more. If I can just do that... somehow...
“Hm. I don’t know how it’s done, but if that’ll do it.”
I don’t know the details,
but if that will solve the problem, there’s no reason to hesitate.
=Then I will take it as permission granted.
“Right. But how do we make this body?”
=First... could you summon the spirit users?
“The spirit users?”
I didn’t know why it specifically wanted the spirit users,
but without thinking much of it I used the guild message,
sending the squad leaders a message to send the two spirit users up to the command-and-control room.
‘They probably need spirit users for the work of making the body...?’
While the spirit users were coming up to the room,
I asked the thing:
“I called them, but—how are you planning to use the spirit users?”
=As I said, to be used to obtain a body.
“I mean, I get that, but... mm. Never mind.”
They’d be here shortly anyway,
so I’d know soon enough.
What I was more curious about was...
“You said you were going to postpone making your body until later, right?”
=Correct.
“Why’s that, exactly? If it’s something we can do before I leave Gangwon, isn’t it better to get it done?”
=That is...
The spirit dragged its words out, as if hesitating,
then finally spoke.
=Because sufficient trust in this fortress—more precisely, in the spirit—had not yet been built.
“Huh?”
=It’s something we had to push through unavoidably, but originally we should have built more trust first, then proceeded.
Trust?
Why, exactly... I started to wonder, but—
“Benefactor! I hear you called for me again...!”
Before I had a chance to ask further,
the two spirit users arrived.
****
“Benefactor... I’m simply grateful you call on me this often...”
Bright-eyed and pleased, Jung Sua came over.
Unlike them,
=Kh, khrk. Why is it that whenever you call for me, it’s always up here in this lofty place... A shaman’s constitution is frail...!
The shaman, who already had a frail constitution and was old to boot,
Borjin, grumbled—
but.
“I’d like you to make this guy a body.”
Well.
Not my problem!
I went straight to the point.
“Huh?”
—A body? What do you mean?
“This spirit... you two made it, right? But it says it has no body, so it’s got some functional limits.”
Since they were the ones who made this spirit in the first place,
I figured that explanation would be enough.
But—
“...?”
—Native one, I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean...?
The two spirit users tilted their heads,
showing only puzzlement at my words.
‘Huh?’
I’d assumed that as spirit users they’d naturally know how to make a spirit’s body.
Apparently not.
—I told you before.
Borjin shot back as if to say, what are you on about.
—Spirits exist from the first; they aren’t something we make.
“Ah... you did say that.”
—The process of making the soul-and-flesh of a spirit that existed from the first—how would I know that? You’re telling me to make something that’s supposed to be there by nature; of course I’m at a loss.
...?
Now that I hear it, it makes sense?
=Lord.
I looked to the spirit, wondering why we’d even called the spirit users,
and it spoke first.
=To confirm—have you granted me permission to acquire a body?
“Uh-huh, for now?”
=Understood. Then, spirit users, please summon the spirits with whom you are contracted.
“...? Yes. Understood.”
—I don’t know the reason, but if it’s the command of the one who bears responsibility for the tribe, I shall heed it.
And then—
two spirits appeared in the command-and-control room.
[Intermediate Water Spirit — Droplet]
[Upper Earth Spirit — Ozrok]
‘Oh...’
Droplet I’d seen often enough to be used to.
But this was the first time I’d seen the spirit Borjin summons.
I’d heard spirits normally exist in a transparent state,
so—
‘Looks pretty strong.’
Despite having become an intermediate spirit along with their growth as a spirit user, Droplet still only looked cute.
By contrast, Borjin’s spirit looked like a large clay golem with tufts of grass here and there.
Earth Spirits apparently usually hide their appearance and only lend their power, so I hadn’t known,
but with a height nearly equal to Borjin’s and an oddly solid-looking build,
it was a spirit with considerable charisma.
=Lord, as I said—
And then...
=Because of the Lord’s actions, the dependence on the Lord and the domain of the dependent faction have grown.
“Hm?”
=Please understand that this fortress is acting for the Lord. Then, now—
That charismatic spirit.
Ozrok.
=We will begin.
Toward that spirit—
=Do not grieve, Ozrok. Your soul and flesh will be put to worthy use.
“...!?”
Vimanar’s spirit core
shot toward Ozrok at tremendous speed.
