It didn’t take long to reduce the gatekeepers to dust.
Having received word that invaders from the New World were on their way, the Mage Battalion had prepared themselves accordingly, and almost felt let down in the event. They suffered no casualties─not even a single injury. Albus pursed her lips as she surveyed the aftermath of their overwhelming victory. Below her, the Grey Plains were littered with the cores of the immolated gatekeepers.
“People, huh…”
The gatekeepers would regenerate no matter how many times they died, so after the Mage Battalion soldiers killed them, they diligently crushed the bodies and burned them to ash─but what ultimately emerged from within the great fish were human corpses. A few dozen people seemed to have been used as the core of each gatekeeper. Albus wasn’t particularly surprised, however. Sacrifices were terribly common in the sorcery of old, and human souls in particular were a requisite component for giving birth to any new creature.
“Apparently these gatekeepers have been protecting the New World since time immemorial,” remarked Amnir. She had finished issuing orders to her troops, and now stood quietly at Albus’s side.
“I heard, yeah. That’s what Har Bell said, at least.”
“Then these people hail from the age of legend…?”
“It’s not really all that surprising. I mean, a lot of the Remnants of Disaster are made from people and animals, too, right? And beast warriors were creatures of sorcery originally created from humans as well.”
“I suppose so…” Amnir glanced at the half-human, half-horse Raul standing beside her. Albus in turn glanced at Holdem. The moment he perceived that their forces had the upper hand, Holdem had taken the witch’s path back to the Kingdom of Wenias, abandoning his master in favor of a hot bath and a change of clothes. Accordingly, he was impeccably dressed and clean as a whistle.
Surveying the scene below with a look of distaste, Holdem said, “Makes me sick to think these gatekeepers’re fundamentally no different from us. We’ve got our own free will, though─what about them?”
“A fine question.” Raul cocked his head. “Someone must’ve been…controlling them, no? If they’re made of the same stuff we are, that is. I mean, when you combine a few dozen people into a single being, they can hardly retain their autonomy.”
“But that means those people inside the gatekeepers have been dancing to their masters’ tune since the age of legend…”
“Like I said, that’s not much of a surprise,” repeated Albus, her lips still twisted into a scowl. “Ancient witches don’t think of their sacrifices as human beings like themselves. They see them as inferior creatures that just happen to have a similar form, with no soul or intelligence of their own. And because they think of them that way, even when they discover that their victims have emotions, they figure those emotions are of a lower order, worthless in comparison to their own.”
“Sorena wasn’t like that.”
Hearing the name of her beloved grandmother fly from Holdem’s lips, Albus gave a bitter smile. “You’re right. Grandma was different.”
“Loux Krystas isn’t like that either.”
“Okay, okay! I shouldn’t go lumping all ancient witches together! But there’s a strong trend in that direction.” Albus turned on her heel. “At the very least, there was a witch in the New World like that who created the gatekeepers. And they’ve been used that way all this time.” Her voice was tinged with anger, and a certain phrase Zero often used floated into her head:
“Aah─I am exceedingly displeased.”
+++
It was no exaggeration to say that the entirety of the towers’ strength had been poured into the attack on the Forbidden Land─and it had ended in abrupt failure, over before it even began. What the gatekeepers saw was relayed to their corresponding control rooms, and as the massacre unfolded, the Grand Magisters of the towers─those known as keys─dropped from the communication channel one by one.
The Forbidden Land, supposedly unaccustomed to invasion, had been prepared for their arrival as if they knew the attack was coming. And their soldiers’ unrelenting onslaught against the gatekeepers made it seem almost as if each of them held some gargantuan thaumaturgical weapon in one hand.
There was nothing the Grand Magisters could do. They had believed without a shadow of a doubt that once the gatekeepers reached the Forbidden Land, with its abundant mana, they would easily be able to bring its inhabitants to heel.
“Unexpected…does not begin to do justice to this turn of events, Danna… We must rethink our strategy.”
“…Strategy?” Danna Ryl repeated, staring blankly at Zaza Ryl. “What kind of strategy could be of any use now…?”
“I simply misjudged the situation. Do not worry, we can fix this. If you will entrust the matter to me─”
“It is precisely because I entrusted it to you that this happened!” Danna Ryl was almost screaming. Her face was grim and drawn, with no hint of the simple innocence that had marked her features until so recently. Her eyes, which once sparkled with affection and compassion, now swirled with darker emotions.
“We should never have started this war…! If only we had traded with the Forbidden Land as we intended, the gatekeepers would never have fallen and Utsuwa would not have been taken from me! You saw it, did you not? The way the Grand Magisters looked at me? They will no longer revere me as the Keybinder. I have done everything wrong, and in so doing I have led this world to its destruction. I am finished. And all because I trusted you…!”
Danna Ryl fell to the ground and covered her face as she began to sob.
Zaza Ryl was at a loss. He had no idea what to do, and could but hang his head, unable to find the right words. Up until that moment, he had never considered that he might be wrong. The enemy had been stronger than expected, but no struggle for justice could ever be a mistake. If small acts of rebellion were permitted, they would lead to larger ones. Their fight to protect the peace was a necessary one, and it was those louts from the Forbidden Land who had thrown everything into disarray─them and Har Bell.
We offered her every advantage, but she refused us. It was only natural to suspect her of treason. Refusing to hand over the traitors, attacking our constable, killing a gatekeeper─and it’s an open question whether the Forbidden Landers ever truly intended to engage in peaceful trade in the first place. No, they had their sights set on invasion right from the start. Perhaps if we did everything they asked, open war could have been averted. But in return we would have had to accept them turning Danna Ryl into their puppet…
Yes, the Forbidden Land would deign to sell them mana potions, but when Zaza Ryl envisioned the countless humiliating demands to which Danna Ryl would surely have submitted for the sake of her people, he knew that even if he could go back in time, he would make the same decision to fight. He might be a hair more judicious in his strategic planning, but─
“Danna Ryl. I will win back your trust. Please believe in me.”
All the gatekeepers had been lost, and with their cores destroyed they could neither regenerate nor propagate.
We must create a new gatekeeper─one strong enough to protect our world.