Everyone started to act quickly. It's quite a big responsibility since if the blackout job finds out, it will ruin the mission and the opponent will be able to escape or make a counterattack. But everyone cooperated. That includes Nostra-san, who came to Freetia on the way yesterday.

Other than that, Sababan-san and the rest of the verification group and Hikage and the others have also agreed to help us. I'd like to thank them...I'm not used to information warfare, you know.

Then Luke sent me a text and the duel was set for Sunday night due to the convenience of the dark summoners. My opponents were two of the dark summoners in the tournament. Instead of taking on both of them at the same time, they designated a series of fights.

I think it's a countermeasure against Lily's dragonization, but the fact that they bothered to give me the time of day is proof that they don't doubt their victory. I heard from Saber Can that such a post was confirmed on the Darkness Job board.

According to Sabayon, the verification team is hiding to get information about the job. So he's a spy. The information came from the spy. There's no doubt about it.

Let's show those so sure of victory that there is no such thing as a victory. But first, the bio-ethanol was completed, so let's evaluate it.

Bioethanol: Rare Level 5 Material Item Quality D+
A fuel that can be made by fermenting certain vegetables. It can be used as fuel for small boats and other engines.

I actually forgot about it and Kiki told me about it...thank goodness it doesn't seem to degrade or anything.

I've never seen a car before, so I guess it's used for ship engines. And so on... I feel like the Reich Empire or Weinleaf is going to make a tank one day.

We have to negotiate with the Reich Empire, so we head to Fretia Castle.

''I hear you want to negotiate with the Reich Empire, are you serious?''

Princess Sara asks me what's going on, and I tell her. Then Princess Sara understands.

''I see... using a person who has fallen into the darkness is something the Reich Empire might consider. But what kind of negotiations do you plan to do?

'I think the Reichs are really interested in Ix, so I'm going to negotiate with them on Ix.

'You don't mean you're going to hand Mr. Ix over to the Reichswehr?

'You wouldn't do that...Ix is my summoner, you know?

I'm shocked that they thought I was someone who would do that.

'Yeah, well... then what?'

I talk to Princess Sarah.

''I see... then the Reich Empire will have no choice but to fold.

But I still felt I had to talk to Fretia about this negotiation.

'It's the right decision...I'm not making this decision on my own, so I'll let my father make it for me.

I understand.

I told King Gran all about it and received permission to negotiate on conditions. The condition is, of course, that I must give Freetia the same information as the Reich Empire. This condition would be obvious. Ix's information is that dangerous.

I originally didn't want to hand over the information to any country either, because that's the truth. We have to be careful about what happens next. The only thing I want to do is to avoid war.

I asked for the negotiations with the Reich Empire, and they were to take place at noon the next day. This is because I want to convince the dark summoners to the last minute. If I act early, they might notice me. It would be best to aim for the last minute.

After that, I'll head to the dwarven village. The reason for this is to procure materials for Ix's weapons and magic stones to summon. I have a lot of money, so I'm going to strengthen Ix all at once.

After the shopping is done, I summon the first one, but I fail. d*mn... it's hard to summon a Lesser Ogre. I guess that's how strong they are... but it's a shame.

I head to the battleship and immediately make a weapon for Ix. I make a mid-range search radar, headgear, wing unit, stunnet gun, energy ring, and tail energy laser.

Mid-Range Searching Radar: Ex Machina's Exclusive Weapon
Armed with ears that allow you to search for enemies at mid-range.
Armed with additional searching skills.

Head Gear: Ex Machina Exclusive Weapon, Weight 5
Armed with additional night vision, falconry and shooting skills.

Wing Unit: Ex Machina Exclusive Weapon, Weight 10
Armed with additional flight skills.
When flying, it consumes magic power.

Stannet Gun: Ex Machina exclusive weapon, weight 10.
A weapon that shoots out a net of flowing electric shocks.
If caught in the net with electric shocks flowing, it causes paralysis and restraint.

Energy Ring: Ex Machina Weapon, Weight 5
A ring-shaped weapon that moves freely in the sky.
Adds throwing control skills.

Tail Energy Laser: Ex Machina exclusive weapon.
A weapon with an energy laser on the tail of the wire.
An armament that adds continuous shooting skills.

Horrible money flew...I guess this is what it means to grow an Ex Machina. Well, it's money I'll spend at some point. It's hard to gather that much material just by dismantling and mining.

And Ix has a lot of skills on her! I still need a medium-range search radar, headgear and a wing unit.

I chose the stunnet gun because it looks like it could be used for wagyu hunting. Energy rings and tail energy lasers are a total hobby!

There's something romantic about a weapon that flies through the air. The tail energy laser was chosen as a means of attack other than hand-held weapons.

I quickly put in the materials, made the weapon, and Ix updated the equipment.

''Oh!　That's cool!

'Master. That is not a compliment in response to a woman. I demand a redo.

That's for sure. But Ix with his mechanical wings, headgear, rings on his shoulders, and a sword and gun in each hand is definitely cool.

I don't regret spending a lot of money on it!

But they asked for a do-over, so let's start over.

'You're getting pretty. Ix.

The tail in particular looked great.

'After all, Master likes tails...I'll report to Lily and the others.

Hey, wait a minute. I knew it! I knew it! Huh! Sheesh. I'm still using the link skill.

But now that I think about it, I feel like he's carefully brushing the tails of the love fire and Japanese foxes... no, that was at the request of the love fire and others. So maybe... it shouldn't be...

When you can't say never, I may be out of luck.

I've updated my equipment and I'm going to take it out for a test drive. Then the mid-range search radar takes effect immediately.

Mid-range spotting radar is responding. There's a progenitor bird in the right sky. Master.

Do you now know who the enemy is?

It's on the radar.

You're right. I thought it would only increase the distance, but this is a pleasant miscalculation.

"The proto-bird is a good enemy. Can it fly?　Ix.

No problem. Master.

Then let's go with Ix's first aerial battle.

I'll ride Hicks and summon Lily, Aeon and Bran, just in case. Then we'll all watch the battle. Ix will put on his headgear, aim at the enemy, and fly.

It's frustrating, but he's faster than we are.

Yeah. But it's going to take a lot of magic to fly, so it's going to be tough to fly for a long time.

Checking Ix's status, his magic power is gradually decreasing. I wonder if it's okay... then Ix shifts to the combat system.

''Enemy, range. ''Energy ring, deploying.''

The energy ring was removed from Ix's shoulder and flew to the primordial bird at Ix's direction.

''It really does look like my celestial ring, doesn't it?''

Yeah.

But the difference is proven by the clear results. The First Ancestor Bird easily dodges the approaching energy ring upwards. However, when Ix signals with his hand, the dodged energy ring stops and flies at the first bird that escaped on top of it.

Completely unexpectedly, the progenitor bird was unable to escape and was cut off by the energy ring and crashed down.

In the end, he only used the energy ring, but that's how strong the energy ring is.

Then Ix comes over here and gets on the back of me.

'Mission accomplished, sir. Master.

Why ride behind Mr. Tact when you can fly!

'Yes!　Ix!　It's not fair!

No fair. Unlike you, I use a lot of energy to fly, so this is a conservation measure.

I see...well, that's just the way it is.

You don't have to hug the energy savings!

'I was just expressing my gratitude to the master for making good equipment by my actions.

'What is it?　It is!　Then it's me!

Lily!

Wait, wait, wait! Not now! We're going down! You're going to fall!

'It's tough. My Lord.

Help me if you think so. Bran.

Anyway, this allowed me to update Ix's equipment. Afterwards, I had the first full-force battle in a long time with a silver sword instead of a scarlet ring with everyone in the training room.

''It's still light, so it's a different kind of power.

'Yes. It's hard to get used to.

Lily and the others protested when she was having such a conversation with Love Fire.

'Tact!　It wasn't like the Scarlet Ring at all!

The Scarlet Ring is stronger than the stone, but it was powerful and relentless.

He took the sword and seemed to get serious about it. However.

''Lily... you're back to your opening heavy slash habit?

Uh...

Lily did an opening heavy slash, and I hit her with a flash without question.

'Aeon can't be freaked out by me and not be able to see around me, either.

Uh...

Aeon ends up being driven into the wall, wary of me approaching in an iaido stance. Koibito and Iksu are in a close battle, and Bran is getting better at using his shield and spear. It's also the first time Rian is training with a three-pronged spear, but his movements have improved completely. I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

''Ix still looks hard to do,''

No. I don't think so.

You can't hide it. You're worried about your strength and mobility. There was a pause where you couldn't hold two weapons and you had to get out of range.

'The Master has only seen so much combat, hasn't he?

Only? I thought I was watching everyone pretty closely during Despena, but... what? Lily and the others nodded.

'Let's go to the dwarven village and gather some materials. We were going to get some shields for them anyway.

Please.

So I go to buy armored D, thrusters and reflectors. Ix makes one and equips it.

Armored D: Ex Machina Weapon!
Armed with increased muscle strength and defense.

Thrusters: an Ex Machina exclusive weapon, weight 5
It increases agility and dexterity.

Reflector: Ex Machina Weapon
Armed with additional reflex skills.
A transparent shield protects against attacks and can repel long-range attacks.
Shields have limitations.

The armor seems to have been modified by the entire Ix, riding on a conveyor belt. I was wary of what they would make me do, but to no avail.

And then a change in status occurred.

Name Ix, Ex Machina Lv 39.

Life force 71
Magic power 71
Strength 56 to 71.
Defensive value 56 to 71.
Agility 56 to 71
Dexterous value 56 to 71

skill

Flight Lv 1 -> Lv 3 Machine armament Lv 15 Night vision Lv 1 Eagle's eye Lv 1 -> Lv 2 Shooting Lv 1
Analysis Lv 5 Detection Lv 14 -> Searching Lv 15 Throwing operation Lv 1 -> Lv 2 Continuous fire Lv 1 Reflex Lv 1
Conversion Lv4 -> Lv5 Link Lv7 Magic charge Lv5　

Hmm. This way, I won't have to update my equipment for a while.

And when I battled with Ix, I lost normally. I reaffirmed the strength of a fully armed Ix. The energy rings would fly in and out, but there was nothing I could do about it if he fired a series of energy guns and tail energy guns at me. In the battle before that, he had ended up closing the distance, but there was no way he was going to be an opponent with his speed if he was equipped with thrusters.

''This is my first victory over the Master.

Let's have another fight!

I'll take a stand.

Once I fight, I can take countermeasures. Next time I'll escape Ix's attack and decide when I'm out of energy and that's it.

The Master is a monster.

Rude. I was still desperate for this. If Ix hadn't been aiming at me accurately, I usually didn't have a shot.

'I see. I've learned. Master, let's play again.

"...next time you'll be in a scarlet ring.

Silver sword, please.

The result was a ragged loss. But he hasn't ricocheted or anything like that yet, so there's still a chance...oh no!

'I see. There's a technique for reflecting things off the wall, isn't there? I'm learning a lot.

No link skills.

'This is training, and I refuse to learn what the Master is thinking, because it is also training,'

That may be true, but this is not good... it can't be helped. I have no choice but to acknowledge Ix's strength and get serious about it.

''I've fought the master well enough, ladies and gentlemen.

What do you mean, it's a getaway? Ix's learning ability, not half bad. Until noon, I trained and regained my battle instincts. Then Ix's magic power will be restored. Now he'll be able to fight in a duel at any time.

Name Ix Ex Machina Lv 39.

Life force 71
Magic power 71
Strength 71
Defensive Strength 71
Agility 71
Dexterity value 71

skill

Flight Lv 3 Manned Armament Lv 15 Night Vision Lv 1 Eagle's Eye Lv 2 Shooting Lv 1 -> Lv 2
Analysis Lv5 Searching Lv15 Throwing operation Lv2 Continuous fire Lv1 -> Lv2 Reflex Lv1 -> Lv2 Conversion Lv5　
Link lv7 -> lv8 Magic charge lv5 -> lv6