For now, I left Garzeld unconscious in the sludge box with Amber and went back to Euron's castle.
　Humans can't be put into 'storage' and it stinks when you take them out of the box. I couldn't just leave him there, since he might have friends nearby.
　I flew back to the castle and found that the battle was almost over. There were remnants of the Iron Machine Soldiers scattered all over the place.
　Ugh......... If possible, I would have liked to bring back an intact one, but.......that's impossible, isn't it? Well, I'm sure he'll be able to fix it without difficulty.
　Soldiers and maids are running out of the castle one after another. After all that commotion.....
　Back in the throne room, Tsubaki-san had tied up Sol and Boman's guy. Should Sol be handed over to Felsen with Garzeld, and Boman to Lord Mare?

'Your Majesty. Where's Garzeld?
We got him. Amber's watching you.

　Well. I wonder where Jesty-san is. Search magic can't be used due to the wards, so I go to look for him in the direction that the False Celestial Emperor escaped. Then, in the middle of the long crossover corridor, I came across the False Celestial Emperor Jaofa, who was smeared with blood and looking down on Jesty-san and the others. It seemed that he had fulfilled his true intentions.
　Jesty-san had cuts all over his body and was holding a blood-stained sword in his hand. Sonia-san and Rengetsu-san didn't seem to have touched him. If those two had joined them, there's no way they would have suffered such wounds.

''It looks like it's over.
'Yes..... Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to avenge my father. Now my father will be able to sleep peacefully.

　Was she crying? His eyes are vaguely red. It's no wonder that he was finally relieved of the regret of his father, who was brutally murdered.

'For now, let's retreat from here. If you don't have anywhere to go, I'll send you to Brunhild later.
Please.

　It was Rengetsu-san who answered that, and Jesty still felt somewhat let down. When I brought the three of them back to Tsubaki-san's place, Yae and Hilda had alighted from the frame gear.

''Mm? I believe your people are at the Pruning Ceremony...
'What? It's true. Else-san and Lucia's opponent....
Yeah, that time...
You guys have that frame gear?

　All four of them were part of the teams that played against each other, but they weren't directly against each other, so they didn't know each other that well. At best, they knew each other's faces.
　Properly introduce Yae and the others to Sonia and the others. I was surprised to hear that both of them are my fiancé, though. And I was even more surprised when I told them there were seven more, including Else and Lou.
　Regardless, I wondered what to do with the iron machine soldiers lying outside. If we could just use the "Gate" to transfer them, it would be one shot....
　I wonder where they're setting up the need for a ward. These things are usually in the corner or center of the range.... There was nothing special in the corner, and the center is the court, right? If it was a throne, it would have been broken long ago... oh.
　I looked up and saw it. On top of the roof of the court, on the roof of the court, at the place where the orca hoko, as they say in Japan, shines in pairs at both ends of the great wing, a golden dragon is set up. I wondered if that was called a "kiss"?
　I pull out Brunhild and fire it in rapid succession to smash both of them. Even if that's an artifact, a magic tool that creates wards, there is no magic tool that can only be used by Garzeld.
　After destroying it, I tried activating "Fly" to test it out, but it was able to fly properly. I knew that was the Artifact of Warding. I wish I had noticed it earlier.
　I quickly opened the 'Gate' and sent the remains of the Iron Armor to the 'Hangar'.
　Hopefully this city will be a nice place to live now that the Celestial Emperor is gone. No, I wonder if a new Heavenly Emperor will appear again. It's like playing weasel.
　In fact, Jaofa has already exterminated the other Celestial Emperors, and it's clear that this country is no longer functioning as a country.
　I think that the cities should form an alliance with each other and choose their own leaders, but with the Euronians, I'm afraid that there will be some strange leaders.
　Oh no, no, I'm sure there are honorable people among the Euronians too. I haven't met them yet, but....
　I got involved this time because of the iron machine soldier thing, but normally, the people of this country should be the ones who do the things in this country.
　I heard that the city of Euron near Hannock was being asked to be incorporated into the Hannock side or something like that, and maybe the territory will be gradually incorporated into the neighboring country.
　The country started fighting among its own people after the attack by the Frays, you know. I don't think it was even close to that. Maybe they were out at that stage.
　In the basement of the castle, there was a manufacturing plant for iron machine soldiers. But it wasn't already in operation, and it seemed to have been after they had withdrawn, though there was nothing left of it. It would be troublesome if it were to be used again, so we carefully destroyed it and pulled ourselves out of the palace.





　The next day, we went to Rhodomeer and handed Bowman over. Of course, this time he was not sent to the mines or anything like that, but he was charged with death. The escape of this Rhodomean prisoner from Rhodomeer had cost many Euronians their lives. They had to make amends for that, he said. So the governor of all the provinces had a stern word for them.
　The problem was the two men who had been handed over to Felsen. Sol's side is still in good shape. Garzeld's was hated badly. He stinks. I couldn't help it.
　On top of that, when we tried to get information out of him, Sol's side didn't know much, and Garzeld's side was let loose and didn't know if he was listening to our words or not.
　His eyes were vacant, drooling, and he occasionally let out a drawn-out laugh, "Eheheheh, eheheh....... Too much?

''My lord.......what in the world are you doing(d)?''
Well I lost my temper. I'm sorry.

　In the dungeons of Felsen, while looking at the head of the unseen leader of the "Goldian Society", King Felsen glares at me with his jit-eyed, pinched nose.
　I've heard that this prison is warded to prevent the use of magic, so it's safe, but it doesn't eliminate the smell.
　We can't stand it and escape from the dungeon. We go outside to the courtyard and breathe in the delicious air to fill our lungs.

''But it still smells like...''

　It's like sniffing my own clothes and smelling somehow a slight odor of Hedroslime. I think there is a deodorant magic. I'll have to check it out at the library next time.
　King Felsen took out some perfume from somewhere and started to use it, so I'll borrow it to disguise the smell. I'm completely enveloped in a citrus-mint-like scent, so I should be fine now.
　But how could I have had this? I didn't think it suited me, but maybe I'm carrying something like this because I don't want my fiancée, Elysia-san, to hate me.

By the way, my dear Lord. You see, the guild master of our "Magician's Trade Association", do you remember?
"MACROSS"? Oh, that stinky guy in the sunglasses...

　I believe it's called Eeses or something like that. He was the master of a huge guild of wizards, merchants and craftsmen in Felsen.

"There were three submasters under him, and one of them disappeared this morning. And this was found in his house.

　From his pocket, King Felsen took out a gold circle and a seven-sided pendant. It is the proof that he is a member of the Goldieuse.

''When they found out that Garzeld was captured, they must have fled in a hurry.
Maybe. I also have a hunch he was trying to assassinate me.

　It seems that after searching the house, those sorts of physical evidence was rumbled out. There seems to be no doubt that Garzeld was targeting Felsen from the outside and his submaster from within.

''So, about that forbidden magic they were trying to do........''
It's a sanctuary. To put it simply, it's a sanctuary spell.
"Control"?
'The court magician Rudolph told me that it's a so-called psychic manipulation system of magic. The scary thing is that it can be invoked over a pretty wide area, and those in that realm don't even question being controlled.

　I guess you could call it brainwashing. It's like a subliminal effect, unconsciously imprinting convenient things on your mind.

''In that 'sanctuary,' no matter how unreasonable it is, it becomes the norm. Perhaps this is what Garzeld was trying to use to create a country of wizard supremacy.

　Unfortunately, they don't know the conditions for activating it, though. Even though I tried to ask him out, Sol is only a warrior who can use magic a little bit, so I didn't know nearly as much about this. Garzeld is like that.

'It can't be helped. Let's ask someone who seems to know.''
What?

　Forbidden magic is an ancient magic created by the ancient kingdom. Then it's quicker to ask someone who lived in that era.
　I take out my phone from my pocket and call a certain person. Three calls later, the person answered.

'Hello? Doctor?
'Yes, yes. But you know what? "Doctor" is a bit distant, don't you think? Why don't you call me "Regina" like your mistress?

　Dr. Babylon responds in a tense mood. What a mistress! I don't approve of her.

"So, Doc, I'd like to ask you a few questions.
"Mm. You're just going to push it through, aren't you? ........well, whatever, so?'
Do you know the magic of Sanctuary?
"Sanctuary"? Let's see ... oh, it's a widespread spell of mind control. 'So what?'
Do you know what the requirements and rituals are for activation?
''Hmm, we need a sacrifice with strong magic power. The same species as the one who rules. The larger the range, the more sacrifices are needed. Well, as long as there is an enormous amount of magic power to replace it, it won't be a problem.''

　Sacrifice... It's bloody. Well, it's true that such magic tends to be taboo magic.

But the effect of that thing disappears once it gets out of the designated area, and it's hard for it to work on people with strong magic powers, so it wasn't used much.
'What? Really!
'That's right. Basically, they were only used in prisons where there were ordinary criminals sentenced to life in prison, I think. It was only used in a few countries. It wasn't used in Parthenos.

　What the hell. Well, in a place like that, I might have used it to keep them from revolting, but I don't think I'd go as far as using a sacrifice. Maybe the sacrifice was also a sinner who was condemned to death? I wonder about that too.

''Then to invoke the 'Sanctuary' for the entire country...''
'There's not much point. Besides, how many sacrifices would be required for an entire country? That would have to be a war, wouldn't it? I've heard that there are sacrifices to sustain the sanctuary, and if you waste your time like that, the human race will disappear.''

　I see. You start a war with Felsen and sacrifice the dead to activate the "Sanctuary". That's about it. Felsen's magical soldiers would be the elite with high magic power, so it would be a perfect sacrifice.
　But I guess you didn't understand the important part. I don't think a nation can be established with that kind of brainwashing, if you go out of range, the effect will disappear. And they need more sacrifices to keep it going. Are you going to continue to wage an endless war?
　He probably learned how to activate that magic from an ancient document he found somewhere anyway, but other than that, he was missing some important part of it, or he couldn't decipher it or something like that.

'I see. Okay, thanks.
'Oops, I'd like to thank you for something else. I'd like to see a continuation of "Anime" from the other day.
Well, that's okay. I don't want you to stay up all night and do nothing.
"I know, I know. I know, I know. I promised.

　I showed him the original anime that was based on the Flying Sword 《Fragarach》, but I knew it was probably a mistake to show him that one. I only showed him the first one, but if you catch up with that series, it's a long one.... I've heard that it's very informative in many ways. I'm sure they won't make a frame gear with no legs or anything like that one day. That's because they're for space, not for the ground.
　Anyway, I'll tell King Felsen what the doctor told me. At first he was surprised at the content, but as he listened, he nodded his head in agreement.

''I see. I'm not sure if it's the part where the effect disappears if you go outside of that sanctuary, so it's been handed down as a terrible, forbidden magic.
'No, I don't think it was a mistake at all. It can be managed by imprinting "going outside the sanctuary is a very bad thing. It's still a horrible magic.

　You create your ideal place, even if it is limited. If you think about it that way, the use of the prison just now makes a lot of sense. You sacrifice a condemned prisoner and bind him with the magic activated by it. I'm not sure if it's humane or not. It's a good idea to have it designated as a forbidden magic after all.

"Well, then, what has been done by the 'Golden Bardier'.......
I guess that means you were totally off the mark.

　It's pathetic when it comes to this. The Daydream Believers, the Daydream Believers, who cling to something that doesn't exist?

But the problem is that there are still those who believe in it. According to what I've heard from Sol, there are quite a few members of the Goldian Society. On top of that, there are still some Ironmasters left, right? Now that the leader has been captured and his presence has been exposed, the "Sanctuary" is their only hope.
'Your Majesty! Near the border with Euron, what appears to be the Iron Guard and countless wood golems appear, marching towards the King's Landing! I've been informed that there are over 3,000 of them!

　A soldier rushes breathlessly to us and reports that.
　Well, that's what's coming.
　But is there a wood golem in the mix? d*mn it, Bowman, don't do it.

"What, 3,000...?

　I address King Felsen, who is staring at the number.

"...Do you need a hand?
Are you sure?
One of the reasons for the theft was that our plane was stolen in the first place. And it's really annoying.

　I've got my hands full with Fraise, but this is not going to be any more trouble.
　I'm going to kill them all right here.