A Month Ago, Drac-Nomad, The President’s Residence
Some time before Altar and Dryfe had their peace conference, in the president’s residence atop the Caldinan capital of Drac-Nomad, a man and a woman were having a conversation.
Or rather, a woman with a thin veil over her face was talking to a large man who responded only with subtle gestures.
“Here are the documents to change your affiliation. Give them to the person you’re supposed to meet in Altar, and you will belong to the kingdom,” said the woman. The man responded with a nod.
The woman was the president of Caldina, La Place Phantasma, while the man was Albert Schwartzkaiser.
“You may be wondering how I did this. It’s simple. There happens to be a territory-owning Altarian noble who borrowed money from me, so now they are in my debt. This gives me indirect authority to have a Master—even you—change affiliation. And make sure you go through the lottery reception at the precise time I gave you. You will make it in.”
Albert nodded.
“Yumeji and Carl will accompany you for a while. Their goal is different from yours. Oh, and you will get into trouble with Legendarian rankers on the way. Make sure they do not kill you, and refrain from killing them as well.”
Albert nodded.
“After The Tournaments...you will be free. Live in Altar as you will.”
Albert...didn’t nod.
“You don’t have to worry about Sefirot losing a member. You came here to gather information and carry out some tests, didn’t you? You don’t benefit much from staying in a single country. You learned all that you could learn in Sefirot. This is my last quest for you—consider it your final operation test here in Caldina.”
“I am grateful for your support,” Albert said in English as he nodded.
“Good work on everything thus far. And good luck in your future endeavors, Albert.”
“Thank you.” Expressing his gratitude again, Albert left the room.
“That was the first time he’s said two sentences in a single conversation. I suppose it just goes to show how grateful he was,” La Place said with a wry grin before turning around to gaze off in another direction.
At some point, she was joined by a man of a darker complexion and clothes characteristic of a desert nomad.
“Are you sure you should’ve let him go? He’s strong.”
The man was the strongest wide-scale exterminator—Fatoum, the “Magical Apex.”
“Yes. This is for the best. Keeping him around wouldn’t be very beneficial for us,” La Place said, not even slightly surprised by Fatoum’s presence.
“It wouldn’t?”
“If sent to fight Granvaloa or participate in the battles that would follow, he would likely switch sides or refuse to follow orders.”
“Oh dear.” Fatoum gave a wry grin, but he didn’t disagree. If anything, it seemed he also suspected that that was exactly what would happen.
“He seems to think such actions are completely unlike dueling or fighting monsters and criminals, even though the only difference is that tians die.”
Sefirot was a collection of oddballs, eccentrics, fiends, and superhumans, but if you ignored Albert’s origins and Embryo, he was easily one of their most normal and good-natured members. Even more than their leader, he served as the group’s conscience.
“He’s powerful, but too pure. How curious that a nonhuman would cling to humanity as he does.”
“That might be the very reason he does it. His lack of humanity could be what is driving him to behave as human as possible. If a nonhuman was instructed to act like a human, I imagine that directive would not include the uglier side of humanity.”
A nonhuman entity who looked at humanity with a positive eye, focused on its good side. Fatoum thought that if something like that learned what it truly meant to be human and tried to behave like one, it would most likely become someone virtuous—and La Place felt that he had a point.
“Regardless, sending Albert to Altar is enough to drive a wedge between Altar, Dryfe, and the rest.” It would definitely shake the kingdom and make Dryfe feel uneasy. The increase to the ranks of Altar’s Superiors would make the other countries look at them differently too. “This will also make it easier for me to crush the fools trying to attack me from the inside.”
Being the president of Caldina—a city-state union—she had many enemies who wanted to claim her wealth and authority for themselves. However, whenever such characters appeared, she quickly mowed them down, increasing her own influence in the process.
The recent Cortana incident was a good example. With its mayor having essentially destroyed himself, Caldina’s largest city was now fully within La Place’s grasp.
“By the way, why did you send Carl and Yumeji too?” Fatoum asked.
“Their role is negotiation. They will talk to the powerful Masters who are considering going to Altar and offer them a better deal if they join Caldina instead. They are already willing to switch and have no attachment to Altar yet, so this is a great opportunity to expand our forces. I will not let it pass by.”
“That makes sense.”
“I would want a Superior most of all... Someone to replace Albert. Despite what I said to him, ‘Sefirot’ does refer to the ten sefira. It feels wrong to use that name when there are only nine.”
Even if they’d already joined Altar, until The Tournaments happened, the Masters were functionally freelance, and La Place didn’t hesitate to claim them for herself. Excessive interference with Altar’s attempts to grow their forces would negatively affect the war, so she had gone and given them Albert—someone who would eventually stop working for her regardless.
In a way, it was a win-win situation. With Albert, Altar would gain the forces they wanted, while Caldina would get someone to replace the Superior they were about to lose anyway.
Caldina would likely also get some pre-Superiors and ex-rankers, though, so they were still the bigger winner in this exchange.
“I wonder if Albert will find his place there...”
“He’s an honest sort. I believe he will fit in well, even in Altar.” Albert was an agreeable person, but more importantly, he wasn’t involved in any conspiracies. Nothing could be gained from interrogating him, and he possessed no secrets he could leak.
In terms of help Caldina could send to the kingdom, he was the best option they could ask for.
“When he enters The Tournaments, he will show his powers too. Though I suppose his victory is unlikely.”
Albert was going to the same Tournament as Figaro, who was said to be Altar’s strongest. If he won against Figaro, his power and value would become undeniable.
However, there was little chance of that.
“Well, as far as duels go, Figaro isn’t a favorable matchup for him,” said Fatoum. “It could honestly go either way, though. If we ignore the old-timer who changes the very rules of combat, Figaro is probably the only duel champion who can beat Albert.”
“He does have a lot of weaknesses. That is exactly why I had him participate in that particular Tournament.”
An Embryo focused on scouting would instantly notice Albert’s main body, although those were admittedly somewhat unusual to see in duels, and outside of duels there were many ways to circumvent Albert’s powers. For example, one could simply gather eight Masters, each with their own means of fatally wounding him.
Albert was certainly useful, but these flaws meant he could easily be replaced. And that was the reason the president had sent him to The Tournaments.
He was now effectively a foreign asset they would never get back. Her last quest took him to The Tournaments specifically so he would reveal his many weaknesses.
By taking part in the competition, Albert would establish ties with the kingdom and gain their trust. That would make it easier for him to operate there, and it would certainly be a positive for him.
However, other countries would learn how to defeat him. That would obviously include Dryfe, and since Caldina wanted the Dryfe-Altar war to be as close as possible, that was a positive outcome for them.
“Not having Yumeji and Carl around might make some things a bit hard for us, though,” said Fatoum. “Though I suppose that cannot be avoided right now. If we did not do this, it’s likely that very few people would agree. If we use them as messengers, offer funding, provide a favorable environment, and have Sefirot help them hunt UBMs that I am aware of, they will be more than likely to accept our offer.”
The reason La Place had used Superiors as headhunters was to give the offer more credibility, as well as make the Masters think that Caldina truly valued them and was serious about wanting their allegiance.
That wasn’t the only reason La Place had sent Superiors to the west, though.
“This is no issue,” she said. “Even if something unexpected occurs—something beyond my calculations—we can simply counter it with excessive force. And if we play all our cards, you and I alone can deal with anything.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. If we are together, there is no tian or Master... No...” La Place paused for a moment. “There is no outsider Infinite... No Incarnation we can’t win against.”
She mentioned the Infinite Embryos—the strongest of all possible entities, hiding in the background of this world—and still claimed that she and Fatoum would win.
✦ ✦ ✦
