“Now, I would not like to keep Lana and Éa waiting, so I’ll leave you here. But please do not forget. I am here on no one’s orders but my own.” Lanceil paused. “………You won’t easily be rid of me, sire,” she whispered, delivering that terrifying threat with a smile as bright as the sun, then disappeared over the meadow.
I started to sweat, somehow both scared and excited. There I stood, gazing at the grassy fields until it dried, then took a deep breath. All right. Last step.
“Machina, Yukikaze, I need to talk to you,” I called out to my AI partners.
“Comiiing.”
“Me toooo.”
The big pot and the small kettle rolled over to me.
“I want your opinion on something important.”
“Of course. Ask us anything.”
“We are listening.”
“I’m going to quit exploring the dungeon.”
For about three full seconds, both machines froze. “Wh-wh-what did you say?!” Machina twirled in panic, her arms flailing about.
“Calm down. Elves and heims have very different life spans. In Lana’s long life, I will only be with her for a brief moment. For her, the least I could do is make the best of the time we have together. And the dungeon has no place in that.”
“Mr. Souya, let me get this straight. For her sake, you’re choosing to forego any hopes of returning to your original world or receiving the reward promised to you?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s how it works out.”
It’s not like I’ve got any reason to go back anyway. But in this world, I have friends. I have a wife. I have a sister—
My headed throbbed a bit. No, it felt like static had interrupted my thoughts.
—Right, I’ve got a sister here. I’ve had good experiences and painful moments, but I’ve also been able to overcome those.
Shuna and Lis would definitely complain once they heard I’d quit adventuring, but I could arrange for them to be with another party—with Freyja and Lazalisa. I wouldn’t delve into the dungeon with them, but I would support them as much as I could. Adventuring into the dungeon was not the only way to live. If I was careful with how we spent our current funds, I could probably provide for the girls for the rest of their lives.
“Mr. Souya, I urge you to reconsider. Let’s talk this over again, together, from the beginning. Yukikazzie, come on. Tell him.”
“If that is what you desire, Squad Member Souya, then I will not object. Thank you for all your hard work.”
“Yukikazzie?!”
Forcing myself to ignore Machina’s anxious fit, my voice cold and merciless, I told her, “Sorry, I’ve already made up my mind. Code break, code break. Requesting emergency command code authorization.”
“Understood. Initiating voice identification. You may proceed,” a monotonous voice from within Machina replied.
As a last resort, I created the emergency command code, which was a password that could override the machines. The effects of Wild Hunt could make me unrecognizable to Machina, so I set up this code just in case. But I never could’ve imagined I’d use it like this.
“Each outcry of the hunted Hare
“A fibre from the Brain does tear
“A Skylark wounded in the wing
“A Cherubim does cease to sing”
“Code authorized. Freezing all Machina Unit personalities. Accepting all commands up to security level three.”
“Send this message to the Firm: All squad members have perished; rescue not needed.”
“Roger that, message sent. Status of receipt is unclear.”
“……I see. Freeze all functions and power off.”
“Understood. Would you like to set up a restart command?”
“I……” For a second, I wavered. Anxiety plagued me at the thought of not having the AI bots’ help from here on out. But I couldn’t risk the Firm tracking my movements.
I made up my mind—I’m going to live the rest of my life here, as a person of this dimension. I’ll be damned before I complain about being scared.
“No need for a restart command. Machina, Yukikaze, thank you for everything.”
“Understood. Good night.” The two ceased all functionality.
Guilt pierced my heart. All I had left to do was take out their self-destruction remotes, and…… Yeah, I’d never be able to do that. It wasn’t like with my guns. They were asleep, not dead.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing they wouldn’t hear it, then turned my back to them.
Just then—
“I had such high hopes for you—”
—I heard someone say. The voice came from the Machina Unit, which should have been shut off. It was a powerful, oppressing, manly voice without any trace of humanity, like an amalgamation of electronic sounds.
“Who are you?”
“Many humans, I have watched, but you are the first and last to have forgotten his mission due to a woman. And yet, you are closer than any before you. How terribly ironic.”
Was this some kind of secret messenger for the AI system? Wait, don’t tell me someone’s hacked it? What the hell is going on?
“I will show you the world. In doing so, I will make it painfully clear that you have no other choice but to continue delving into the dungeon.”
“Wha—?”
Suddenly paralyzed, I crumpled to the ground. Yukikaze’s mini unit had injected something in my leg.
“Coordinates fixed. Range set to minimum. Setting interference level at… Force-activating portal.”
An explosion of light—then a portal appeared. The Machina Unit grabbed my leg and hurled me in without even giving me the chance to protest.
“Lana!” My scream sounded far away. Darkness enveloped my sight. For a second, I was floating; gravity reversed. I heard the gushing wind echo. Soon, though, there was light everywhere. Then I landed on ice—or rather, what I thought to be ice was, in fact, a freezing marble floor. My fingers had touched it for only a second, and yet the cold seeped deep into my bones. The air, just as frigid, shocked my lungs and sent goose bumps crawling all over my skin.
I was in a large chamber. Its white ornamentations gave it the feel of a grandiose cathedral. Its ceiling bore a mural depicting the story of a maiden and a sword-wielding man, and through the windows, I could see bleak snow-covered fields stretch out into the distance.
A line of brawny men in black armor stood to my left. To my right, a line of maids and butlers. Before me rose an imperial throne, a large flag emblazoned with a skeletal dragon hung behind it. Sitting atop the throne was a queen.
Young-looking, she was probably in her later teens. She wore an opulent dress under an equally elegant fur cape and held a jewel-studded staff in her right hand. Her flaxen hair was tied up in a bun. A small crown rested on her head.
Her voice refined and regal, she addressed me. “We have no words to thank thee, Champion of Light, for answering our summons. The Black Elves have thrown the Left Continent into turmoil, and that fiend has dispatched troops to ravage our Aschetalia. O Champion, Savior of Countries, we beseech thee, lend us thy strength to save our land.”
“………Huh?” I blurted out, stupefied.
“Huh?” she replied, just as confused.
What did she just say? “Left Continent”? Wait, Remlia’s on the Right Continent, and that disgusting Ellusion is on the Central Continent, so I must’ve flown……… Wait, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Was I transported here?!
“Sorry, um, could you please send me back to where I came from?”
“………Pardon?” Puzzled, the queen tilted her head.
TO BE CONTINUED