Chapter 67

The Great Barrier. A massive iron wall sealing off the north of Kelt Holy See.

Countless people, traveling beyond the iron borderline that separates the real world of soil, trees, and stone buildings from the Creator's world covered in glass, stood transfixed by the alien sight before their eyes.

"Hey there! Look straight ahead and walk!"

"Ice has formed on the glass floor! One wrong step and you'll slip!"

The wandering dwarf tribes, who visited this glass land two or three times a year, urged on their hogs laden with all kinds of baggage while also steadying the dazed excavation team members and pressing forward.

- Th-this is the Creator's...

- How on earth did they manage this? It's neither water nor ice, yet an entire city locked inside glass...!

The Belkuth knights, gazing at the Ancient city spread beneath their feet, also muttered as if their souls had left them.

So clear and transparent that one could hardly believe thousands of years had passed, the glass revealed the city hidden beneath in stark detail.

"Halt! We make camp here and split into teams for exploration! Paladins, keep strict watch!"

At the shout from an elderly dwarf addressed as "old-timer," a displeased voice came from the Belkuth knights' colossus.

- Hmph, we intend to do just that without your little order.

- Addressing an Imperial knight so informally, you'll regret it when we return!

Though the knights threatened, the dwarf merely snorted and, as if they were invisible, began directing the camp construction.

"That rootless wretch...!"

Anywhere else they would have drawn blades and taken his head immediately, yet the Belkuth knights suppressed the urge and moved to their posts.

This was the Creator's land. Turning the experienced dwarves into enemies here would put themselves in the greatest danger.

[Terrain data input complete. Display on screen.]

Far enough away that the entire dig-team temporary base fit in the palm of a hand, Glaepnir opened the head armor to expose spatial sensors and began to display the detailed topography of Crystal City.

"It matches the map the Pope gave us for the most part."

"Good. Then highlight the part that shows up here."

Speaking thus, Yan held up the map the Pope had handed him to the blinking camera lens in a corner of Glaepnir.

Soon a click sounded; the map and Glaepnir's terrain map overlapped, and a single point began to flash.

[Target confirmed. Human Federation North-Pole Branch, Archive 42. Calculating entry route to designated point-initiated.]

"Route? It's flat glass floor all around; can't we just go straight?"

"No. The instant we deviate from a set route, the city's defense system activates."

Seated in the cockpit, Yan sat back-to-back with Ren; after linking the connector on her waist to Glaepnir she synchronized the terrain data.

- Sir Verkut!

While this went on, the Old Knight's voice sounded from afar; Yan turned to look.

There, Bidel Belkuth came walking in his colossus toward Yan.

- Shift change. My knights will take over, you may return.

As he spoke and drew closer, Yan's lips twisted faintly at the sight of Bidel's colossus.

- I suspect you have more to say than just that.

At those words Bidel's colossus stopped. Presently the cockpit opened and the white-haired Old Knight appeared.

"May we speak a moment?"

His tone held no smile. At that, Yan disconnected from Glaepnir and stepped out of the Frame.

Soon Yan and Bidel faced one another beneath their crouching colossi.

Though past sixty, the knight still carried his natural solemnity as he approached Yan.

"I heard you dueled with my house knight, Ilak Belkuth."

"It was a matter with the commander; I stepped in as champion due to my own inexperience. Is there a problem?"

"None. By law it was fair, yet I question whether it truly had to happen here."

At that Yan's expression hardened and he asked:

"What do you mean?"

"Do not think we failed to notice, Yan Verkut. Every knight in the main house knows your duel was meticulously planned."

At that Yan quietly closed his eyes; Bidel continued.

"Bad blood between the Thirteenth Prince and the Second Prince brought this clash. Yet pitting knights like us against one another for their lords' quarrel is wrong."

"They started it."

"Still holding a grudge over Randel? You killed the main house's son-in-law and now one of its knights!"

"A lawful duel guaranteed by His Imperial Majesty."

"Spoken like one who profits from the system!"

After Bidel's shout a brief silence fell.

"Get to the point."

Breaking the silence, Yan's question drew a grim reply.

"The main house has decided to eliminate you."

"Oh?"

Bidel had laid his cards on the table; a gleam entered Yan's eyes.

"We lost one knight, yet we still possess five colossi. We have the power to remove you whenever we choose."

'Ha, only five colossi?'

They had taken the bait; they did not truly understand Glaepnir's capabilities.

Yan laughed inwardly but kept it from his face.

"I won't go down quietly."

"Indeed. Watching your men shadow my students makes that clear."

Even if they managed to eliminate Yan, they would have to deal with his masterless hounds on the journey home.

"So I propose a truce."

"A truce?"

"Yes. A truce."

At the unexpected offer Yan tilted his head; Bidel went on.

"The main house's policy matters, but my students' lives matter more. Personally, I wish to avoid further bloodshed."

"Your house won't like that."

Yan said, yet Bidel shook his head.

"Losing five more knights over this would be the greatest loss for the main house. The head will understand."

It was as good as admitting failure. Once Prince Klaus himself had intervened in Kelt, the Belkuth knights had lost their means to eliminate Yan.

"Very well. My men will cease watching you."

"...Understood. My knights will also avoid further conflict."

At Bidel's answer Yan turned his back and walked toward Glaepnir. As he moved away Bidel called his name.

"Sir Yan Verkut!"

Yan turned; Bidel shouted one last time.

"My final offer! Will you not join the Belkuth household!?"

Yan grinned at him.

With a manufactured smile Yan calmly replied.

"Absolutely not."

With that he boarded Glaepnir and watched Bidel recede on the screen.

"So, do you really intend to let them go?"

From the rear of the cockpit Ren's voice made Yan smile crookedly.

A bright screen lit up; on the dark display Yan's face grinned, teeth gleaming.

"As if."

***

Kkagagagak-!

Two days after the dig base was completed. Having recovered artifacts from various sites, the dig team now had an excavator loaded on a hog's back scraping at Crystal City's glass for the next phase.

"How's the material condition?"

"Look at the scraped area. It's already regenerating."

From the gouge made by the excavator, particles slowly rose like foam.

When one glass fragment was placed in a small test tube, bubbling froth filled it and then turned into a transparent substance identical to the glass.

"Ha! I never thought it was ordinary glass, but this is astounding. Self-restoring glass?"

"If they could make such material, no wonder they wrapped the entire city in it."

"But why? Why preserve an entire city like this?"

Not the pious praise of the religious, but pure scholarly curiosity.

Watching the dig-team members heat glass fragments and mix them with chemicals, the dwarves muttered with satisfaction.

"Remember the monks? How they'd fly into a rage at the slightest scratch on the glass floor?"

"Who doesn't. They'd scold us for sullying the Creator's sacred land-such a headache."

"In this regard, the Empire is actually better."

Beep!

At the very moment Yaan was watching the dig base where work was in full swing, an unfamiliar symbol appeared in one corner of the screen. The instant he felt puzzled by that quietly blinking symbol, Nill's voice came through.

[Signal received on the international rescue channel. Confirmed as a distress call.]

"A distress call? Is it like a flare the Ancients used?"

[Partially affirmative. Transmitting signal on dedicated output.]

After saying that, the spear icon displayed in a corner enlarged and covered the entire screen Yaan was watching.

And the instant he saw the words written there, Yaan quietly covered his face with his hand.

'Reproduce the glory of humanity.'

[Heat source detected. Rising at the residential district center, protection zone.]

"Prepare for battle."

Having said that, Yaan immediately raised Glaepnir's arm and launched a flare skyward.

Piuuuuu-!

"It's a flare! Bring the weapons! All of them!"

"Battle stations! Every last one, battle stations!"

The instant the excavation team members recognized the flare, the crates loaded on the hog's back crashed to the ground.

Countless guns spilled out from there.

Unlike the other rifles wrapped in wood, they were black-iron guns of a shape Yaan had never seen before.

"Check the controls again! Hurry to your positions!"

"Stack cover at least two layers thick! Ordinary armor plates get pierced like paper!"

- Belkuth Knights! Battle ready!

Five Belkuth colossi stepped forward in front of the excavation team members who were barricading with the hog's back and all sorts of odds and ends.

Ooooom-!

A machine-sound. The same grotesque mechanical hum from Yaan's memories of Glaepnir's activation filled the vast glass-covered ground.

And when he saw part of the glass ground rise up before his eyes, Yaan ground his teeth, lowered his stance, and quietly licked his lips.

Grrrrr...!

A low growl like that of a wild beast. A metallic body glinting in the sunlight. And a giant form standing on four legs.

[Designation confirmed. Base-defense autonomous combat terminal, Pit Bull Terrier. Operating at combat output.]

"Damn, the Ancients sure had a knack for naming."

The war-machine shaped like a massive fighting dog was glaring at him, growling.