Those Who Would Not Serve The New World was a continent due south of Freyjagard’s southernmost point. It had been discovered a century ago when advances in Lakan shipbuilding technology increased the scope of ocean exploration. However, it had primarily remained untouched until a few years ago. Unfortunately, it was just too far away. If ten ships set out for the New World, one or two at most would survive a round trip, and even those vessels that returned would know heavy losses. To complicate matters further, the New World was inhabited, and getting into disputes with its inhabitants was trouble on its own. Everything changed when a large island was discovered between Freyjagard and the New World a few years ago, though. With a midway stop for ships, the once-arduous journey to the New World became largely trivial. As it turned out, that discovery was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to the New World’s people. The New World was a wasteland, featuring swaths of red clay as far as the eye could see, peppered only by a small number of oases. Powerful clans fought ceaseless battles over those oases. The people never managed to unite into a single, unified nation. As a result, they had little interaction with other cultures, so their civilizations were underdeveloped in every regard. When the Freyjagard Empire and the Lakan Archipelago Alliance arrived looking for resources and slaves, the native populace didn’t stand a chance. Things only worsened for the people of the New World when Lindworm himself came and launched his campaign to murder the elves who’d sealed away the evil dragon. That fostered hatred in the New World natives, bringing their clans together in a united front against their common enemy. After they’d forged their wartime alliance, the clans scraped together all the combat assets they could from across the New World and mounted a counteroffensive against Lindworm and his Freyjagard army. It was at that precise moment that something unusual happened. Neuro had teleported Lindworm’s forces away. That was the absolute last thing the Freyjagard army had expected. The entire central command unit had vanished in the blink of an eye. The imperial army fell into chaos and suffered heavy losses to the New World clan alliance’s all-out assault. Without leadership, the imperials were plunged into disarray, and the people of the New World showed no mercy. Heads of fleeing imperials went flying like rice plants lopped off by sickles. There was a ruthlessness to the act, but the imperials had certainly wronged the New World enough to deserve it. The clan alliance outnumbered the Freyjagard army by a factor of three to one, and the imperials had only made up the difference with the Four Grandmasters’ power and Lindworm’s nigh-inhuman combat prowess. Now there was nothing to stop things from descending into a grisly massacre. Come dawn, the Freyjagard army lost a full thirty percent of its hundred thousand soldiers. The tragedy dealt a harsh blow to imperial morale, and panic became hysteria. What order had survived in the ranks following Lindworm’s departure collapsed, and soldiers began running without any semblance of a formation. Tragically for them, though, they were fighting in a wasteland without so much as a thicket to hide behind, and with the sunrise, there was no darkness for cover, either. At that rate, it was only a matter of time before they were slaughtered to a man. Right as despair gripped their hearts, he returned. “That’s enough.” The voice came down from amid the sky’s morning glow. Despite the angry bellows and sounds of clashing steel, the words reached every ear on the battlefield. None could ignore this voice. It simply wasn’t an option. All the Freyjagard soldiers and New World residents looked up at the sky as one. There, they saw Lindworm von Freyjagard. “I address you now, barbarian tribes of the New World. As of today, the old era of countless impostors clashing as they cloak themselves in false strength is over. “Cast down your weapons at once and submit to me. If you do…then I can guarantee you a life of peace and prosperity under my inviolable rule, where imperials and people of the New World exist as equals and none need perish in vain.” “You can take your offer and shove it, invader!” “You bastards killed my son and my daughter! I’ll know no peace until I’ve strangled you myself! You and every bastard on the Northern Continent!” “Kill ’em! Kill ’em all! Who cares if there’s one more guy we gotta kill!!” Lindworm issued his demand that they surrender from on high, but unsurprisingly, the clans had no interest in acquiescing. They returned his offer with rage, then spat at the heavens and turned to resume their slaughter. “Fools.” Lindworm sighed at this response, then slashed with his golden greatsword as though tracing a line far above the warriors who surged across the ground below. The change was immediate. “““………What?””” The New World joint forces had surrounded the doomed imperials, but the moment they tried to strike, everyone beneath the line Lindworm had drawn with his blade—a full half of the New World forces at nearly one hundred fifty thousand men—froze in place simultaneously. The situation was so bizarre that the other half of the united clan army came to a speechless halt. Lindworm peered down. “I bid you once more, kneel.” “““……………””” This time, not a single person defied him. One after another, the men of the New World forces dropped to their knees and bowed their heads as though flattened by the sheer weight of Lindworm’s words. Each of them understood the implication of his power and majesty whether they wanted to or not. They understood that the world existed for one man alone—a genius, chosen by the heavens to rule. His eyelids felt…heavy. Heavier than they’d ever been in his life. Prince Akatsuki had never known such exhaustion, not even two years ago after he’d finished his world tour magic show. He pried his lids open while wondering what had made him so tired. When he finally got his eyes open, he was greeted by a verdant green canopy with sunlight streaming through gaps in the leaves. He realized that he was lying on his back in the forest. “But…why?” He tilted his head, puzzled. Why had he dozed off outside? What had he been doing before he fell asleep? He tried to think back, but his head was still foggy from having just woken up, and his memories were blurry and indistinct. When he sat up, someone called out to him. “Oh, you’re awake? Thank goodness.” He didn’t recognize the voice, but when he turned his head to see who it was… “Lyrule…?” …his gaze found Lyrule, who sat on the roots of a massive tree and looked down at him. Did that voice belong to Lyrule? It sounded a little different to Akatsuki. More importantly, though, that tree she sat on… There was definitely something familiar about it, but when Akatsuki started digging through his memories to identify it… “And a very good morning to you!” “Agh!” …his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden hug from behind. That was a voice he’d never mistake. It belonged to one of his friends, and he would’ve known it anywhere. He turned around and was greeted by exactly who he’d expected, Shinobu Sarutobi. “Oh, you’re finally up. That’s such a relief. I was starting to get worried, what with you sleeping for an entire month.” “Urgh… Shinobu, I can’t breathe… Wait, did you say an entire month? What? WHAT?!” What could she have possibly meant by that? Before Akatsuki could get the question out, his brain snapped back into gear. Enough time had passed since he woke up that his eyelids didn’t feel leaden anymore, and his memories fell back into place. Akatsuki remembered everything. He recalled what he’d been doing before he passed out. “We were at war with the emperor and his troops…but then I got really sleepy all of a sudden, and I passed out… Wait, I know this place! This is the forest where we met Yggdra that one time, isn’t it? There’s that dragon mummy under the roots! What’re we doing here?! Where’s everyone else?! How did all of this—?” “All right, all right, pump those brakes, Akatsuki.” “Hrrnph!” Akatsuki’s memories had all come rushing back at once, and the gaps between them and his current situation had him flustered. Shinobu quieted him down by squeezing him tight to her chest. “I’m gonna explain everything, so just calm down and listen, ’kay?” She told him about what she’d seen in the Tomino Basin while everyone else fell unconscious. “Back when we were fighting the imperials, Keine knocked us out.” “What? She did? But why?!” “I’ll explain that part in a sec. First, I want to tell you everything that’s happened while you were out.” “O-okay.” “After Keine’s surprise attack, Emperor Lindworm… Emperor Lindworm stabbed Lyrule through the heart and killed her. When she died, Yggdra’s seal that had been holding back the evil dragon broke, and it looked like the evil dragon was going to come back to life. But then, something unbelievable happened. “When the evil dragon tried to hijack Lindworm’s body, Lindworm managed to turn the tables and absorb him—along with the power the evil dragon used to destroy the entire continent during his battle against Yggdra a thousand years ago.” “…!” After hearing this, Akatsuki finally understood why Lyrule’s voice sounded so off. It hadn’t been Lyrule speaking to him at all. It was Yggdra. Lyrule was… “……” One of their own had betrayed them, and now their beloved friend, the person who’d saved their lives, was dead. The weight of that knowledge sent pain cutting through Akatsuki’s heart. However, he did everything he could to suppress it… “But if the evil dragon is dead, then doesn’t that mean that the danger we were summoned to prevent is gone now?” Akatsuki asked. …so he could try to get a better handle on the situation. First, he wanted a clear understanding of their objective. What had become of the evil dragon and his followers’ plot? “…The evil dragon’s dead, sure, but I can’t say the world’s been saved,” Shinobu said with a pained look on her face, “To be honest, the situation is kinda worse than ever. Truth is, Earth is in danger now, too.” “Wait, as in our Earth?! Wh-what do you mean?!” “To answer that, I gotta loop back to Keine’s motives. Keine’s had beef with the whole ‘inherent human greed’ thing for a while now. She feels that the way humans get jealous and envious of others and try to get their hands on more and more is what keeps us from world peace. She sees it as a congenital defect…and she wants to surgically excise it from everyone.” Akatsuki’s face went pale as a series of horrifying images flitted through his head. “S-surgically? You don’t mean…” To that, Shinobu nodded… “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably exactly what you’re picturing.” …and tapped her fingers against the side of her head to make it clear. “As far as Keine’s concerned, the dystopia that Emperor Lindworm seeks, where a single person rules everything, works out pretty conveniently for her. When she saw that Lindworm shared her ideals, she betrayed us and sacrificed Lyrule. Lindworm took her up on her offer, and for the past month, things have been getting kinda surreal over in the empire.” From there, Shinobu went on to describe what she’d seen of Freyjagard while Akatsuki was unconscious. After returning from the Tomino Basin, Lindworm began ruling exactly as he’d described. He stood at the top, and everyone else—commoners, nobles, and slaves—was treated equally. On top of that, he’d stripped everyone of all privileges and assets they possessed. He’d also banned everything, from education to entertainment, with any sort of link to greed or inequality in an attempt to prevent the conflict they could inspire. Normally, any rule that tyrannical would earn a dozen or so uprisings, and sure enough, there had been plenty of riots. Hundreds of them even. However, not a single one came to fruition. Whenever someone harbored feelings of rebellion in their hearts, Lindworm detected it instantly and spirited them away. A few days later, they would return as a good little citizen with absolute faith in Lindworm’s regime, free of greed. Prodigy doctor Keine Kanzaki’s surgery granted rebels kind hearts that loved others more than themselves. From that point on, the changed people went about their lives with smiles so broad it was like they’d been exorcised. “But the nastiest part of all is, I’m pretty much certain that Keine’s planning on doing the same thing to our world.” Lindworm had absorbed every last bit of the evil dragon’s power and knowledge, and that included the cross-world transportation technique that the evil dragon had used to reach this planet. He and Keine could head off to Earth whenever they pleased. “You and I are the only ones Yggdra managed to save. Everyone else got captured…and odds are, Keine’s gone and fiddled with their brains. So it’s up to the two of us to make the choice.” “Wh-what choice?” “We can have Yggdra send the two of us to Earth alone so we can warn everyone, or we can stay and try to save the others and stop Lindworm and Keine’s plan here. Here’s the thing…” After laying out the two options, Shinobu threw in the final detail. “…if you choose the latter, then instead of sending us back to Earth, Yggdra can use her magic to bring Lyrule back!” “What?!” One month prior, Yggdra used her magic to teleport Shinobu and Akatsuki into the forests of Yamato. After snatching them from harm, the first thing Yggdra did was give Shinobu a deep bow. “I’m so, so sorry. When I brought you to this world, I never meant for it to cause such a rift between you and your friend.” “That’s… There’s nothing for you to apologize for there. Besides, we chose to take up this fight ourselves.” When Lyrule, or rather Yggdra borrowing her corpse, tried to apologize, Shinobu waved her off and retrieved a black pill from inside a little container. It was a combination antidote and stimulant made from a secret recipe. It had some nasty side effects due to its not-wholly-legal ingredients, but Shinobu knew that she couldn’t afford to keel over. She popped it into her mouth without a moment’s hesitation, then went silent for a bit. Once the stimulant had had time to clear her head a bit, she said, “Still, there’s no denying that the situation just got really bad. I gotta say, this isn’t how I imagined things playing out. Knowing Keine, she plans to take the emperor with her and launch an attack on Earth.” Yggdra nodded. “He could certainly make that happen. By absorbing the evil dragon, he has the power and necessary knowledge.” The evil dragon’s power was said to have destroyed the entire continent. If Lindworm commanded that might at his leisure, there was no telling just how formidable of a foe he would be. At a bare minimum, his strength was enough to put Gustav to shame. Given that, and given how Ringo and Aoi were already in the enemy’s clutches, solving the problem with force wasn’t realistic. So then what could Shinobu do? The prodigy journalist sank into thought. “However…thanks to that Emperor Lindworm, Father’s ambitions have been dashed, albeit not quite in the way I expected. In a way, the world may already have been saved,” Yggdra said. “This was my problem, and I caused you all quite a lot of trouble by selfishly dragging you into it. If you’d like, I would be happy to try to make it up to you by sending the two of you who escaped back home.” Shinobu gave Yggdra a skeptical look. “…Are you actually capable of doing that? Last time we met, you told us that you’d used up most of your strength restoring the continent after it got trashed during your battle with the evil dragon. When Tsukes asked you to give us a reason to trust you, you couldn’t even provide a demonstration of your strength.” “That’s true,” Yggdra replied with a nod. “I’ve already lost my life and my body. All I am now is a lingering remnant. I’m basically a ghost, eating up what little remains of my magic. And the magic I use doesn’t come back. That’s why I couldn’t give you evidence. All I had was enough magic to send the seven of you home in exchange for the rest of my existence.” Complying with Tsukasa’s request at the time would’ve meant forfeiting the ability to send all the Prodigies home. That was Yggdra’s reason for refusing to demonstrate her power. “However…teleporting you two to safety was no simple feat. I don’t have the strength left to send all of you back anymore. So I thought I could at least get you two home…” That was enough to convince Shinobu. If she gave Yggdra the okay, she and Akatsuki would be able to go back to Earth. They might even be able to convince its nations to come together and prepare for Keine and Lindworm’s coming assault. Plus…Keine’s probably going to bring the others with her anyway. It’s not like we’d really be leaving them behind. As far as options went, it was certainly viable. However… …Shinobu had a different idea as well. “I’ve been in charge of intel gathering in this world, so I did a fair bit of research about how magic works. Now I’m mostly just guessing here, but as far as I understand, magic is kinda like our world’s idea of spirits or ghosts. You can’t see them, but they definitely exist and can interact with the material world.” “Exactly,” Yggdra answered, giving Shinobu’s theory a nod. “The concept of magic was developed well after the concept of science in my world. It all started when people began doing research on souls, the life force science couldn’t explain. Humans are fundamentally an aggregate of different types of matter, and from our research came the discovery of a microscopic energy that took matter and moved it—spirits. Later, we realized methods for manipulating it.” In short, that was the true nature of the techniques that made up magic. “I see…,” Shinobu said. “Now that Emperor Lindworm’s absorbed the evil dragon and obtained huge amounts of magical energy, he really does have the power to rule forever like he claimed he would.” “That’s right. With Father’s power, living for a thousand years would be trivial. As long as he regularly replenishes his magic, there’s no limit to how long he can survive.” Absolute power and eternal life—together, they were the recipe for the perfect ruler. After considering the logic of magic… “In that case…would you be able to use your power to bring Lyrule back to life?” …Shinobu hesitantly posed her question and waited for the answer with tense anxiety. Yggdra nodded. “Of course.” “!” “If I use the spirits that make up my lingering self, I could rebuild the soul powering Lyrule’s body and return her consciousness to the way it was. The seal would stay broken, unfortunately, but…” “But Lyrule would be alive again!” The very idea had Shinobu excited. “However,” Yggdra added, forcing Shinobu to settle down, “if I do, I won’t have enough strength left to send you two back to your original world. You’ll have to choose one or the other.” “We can bring Lyrule back to life?!” Akatsuki exclaimed. Shinobu nodded. “But if we choose to, there’s no going back to Earth. That’s why I had to wait until you woke up. It wouldn’t be right for me to make a call like that on my own.” “…What do you want to do?” Akatsuki asked. “Personally, I want to use the last of Yggdra’s strength on Lyrule,” Shinobu replied. There wasn’t so much as a shred of hesitation in her voice. “Honestly, even if the two of us went home, I’m not sure we’d be able to do much. Without Tsukes, it’ll be hard to convince the global community that this stuff about a different world is true. More than that, though, Lyrule is our friend. Leaving things the way they are just wouldn’t sit right with me.” Then, after laying out her stance on the matter… “What about you?” …she pressed Akatsuki for his. “I…” Akatsuki shot a furtive glance over at Yggdra. He was conflicted. When Yggdra saw the emotions swimming in his eyes, she immediately realized what was going through his head. No matter which option he took, it would spell the end of Yggdra’s existence. She knew that made him hesitant to choose either option. As far as Yggdra was concerned, though, that was hardly something worth worrying about. “Akatsuki, I’ve been dead for a long time. I only chose to have my soul take root here because I was worried about Father and his escape from the cycle of rebirth. Those worries have been put to rest, albeit not quite how I’d expected.” Lindworm, a human, had gone and devoured Father. The emperor was a literal once-in-a-millennium prodigy and a powerful enough vessel to hold Father. It wasn’t unlike how Father had been a once-in-a-millennium prodigy back in the magical society that Yggdra and her kin hailed from. In light of that fact, what had happened was a completely plausible outcome. However, Yggdra had completely failed to recognize it as such in time. To her great shame, she knew she owed that to something she shared with Neuro and the other Grandmasters, an arrogance and assumption that the people of this world were inferior to her kind. In any case, Lindworm had severed the chain of fate that began with Father’s exile on another planet. Lindworm had inherited Father’s power, but he was a native of this world. Yggdra didn’t feel it was right for her, an invader from another planet, to have a say in how the situation played out anymore. And so… “At this point, I have no reason to need to remain in this world any longer. I’m the one who dragged you all into this mess, so I’d like to use the last of my power to try and make it up to you in whatever small way I can. Please don’t worry about me. Follow your heart.” …she told Akatsuki as such. He had a kind heart, and she didn’t want him to have to feel guilty. “Okay.” Akatsuki nodded. “I’d like you to use your power on Lyrule, too. If it’s Keine’s fault she died, then that’s all the more reason to set it right.” No sooner did Akatsuki speak the words than Yggdra made it so. The massive tree that the elves had once worshipped and the dragon mummy in its roots released a strong, verdant light. They began crumbling into luminescent particles that gathered around Lyrule’s body. Akatsuki and Shinobu were no experts when it came to magic, but when they saw those specks that used to be Yggdra flowing toward Lyrule, they knew what was happening. They watched with sadness. “Thank you.” Yggdra offered her heartfelt gratitude to the pair. “The seven of you are truly wonderful people. I summoned you to this world to fix its problems without giving you the slightest say in the matter, yet you still gave your all on behalf of its people. Even now, you’re letting me use my power to help a girl who died because the role I foisted on her was too great a burden. I can never thank you enough for everything that you’ve done. Any world that cultivated people like you must be a fine one indeed.” “It really isn’t,” Shinobu said apologetically. A pained smile crossed her face. “If it was, Keine wouldn’t have turned out the way she did.” Yggdra borrowed Lyrule’s body to shake her head. “Not at all. People are capable of making their own decisions on how to live and what they think is just. And they have the tendency, the drive, to put that power to use. There’s…there’s something very beautiful about that, if you ask me.” Yggdra had watched over the land for a thousand years. She had seen people strive to be good, kind, and noble despite their terrible mistakes. She’d seen them proudly conquer their innate wickedness. She loved that about them. “I have no right to a say in this world’s future, but…if I could be so bold as to share one hope I have, it’s for this world to become like that as well.” Yggdra didn’t want people to be forced into change. She wanted the world to become a place where a nobility of spirit drove everyone to put down unfairness and injustice bit by bit of their own free will. After delivering her final wish… “Good-bye. May good fortune find you on your paths.” …the last of Yggdra’s body vanished into Lyrule. The moment it did, the green light illuminating the area faded. With a violent shudder, Lyrule’s body went limp and slipped from the tree root where it had been seated. Shinobu hurriedly moved to catch her. There, in her arms… “………Oh……huh……?” …Lyrule’s eyes opened once more. They were no longer green, as they had been moments earlier. They were as blue as the clearest of skies. There was no doubt about it. This was their friend, Lyrule. “Lyrule!” Shinobu cried. “Shino…bu? And…Akatsuki…?” Upon seeing Lyrule breathing once more, Akatsuki was so overcome with emotion that he began loudly bawling his eyes out. “Hnnnnngh… Bwahhhhhhhh!” Lyrule had no idea what was going on and found that quite worrying. “Akatsuki, why are you crying? Wait, wasn’t I just with Emperor Lindwo—HURP?!” “I’ll explain everything that happened in a sec. For now, just let me stay like this for a little bit…” “Shinobu…” Shinobu grabbed Lyrule and hugged her so tightly against her chest that Lyrule could hardly breathe. Shinobu normally came across as so nonchalant, so it was rare to see her so desperately glad. Lyrule could tell that something really serious must have happened, so she returned Shinobu’s trembling embrace. “So that’s what happened…” Once Shinobu finished explaining how things had played out in the Tomino Basin after Lindworm knocked Lyrule out, Lyrule reached up and laid a hand on her chest where she’d been stabbed.
Chapter 140
23 min read