''Oh no...Prince Lufreddin is the prince of the Galdio Empire...?　What in the world is this a joke!

　The lieutenant in front of him pounded the table with his fist and stood up. The dark-haired brown beauty was trembling with rage and her face was uptight with excitement.
　Well, I know the feeling. Even the prince was taken away from us by the country that destroyed our own homeland.

''It's not a joke or anything, this is the truth. The prince of the Rave Kingdom lives today as the prince of the Galdio Empire. That's all that matters.''

　The sergeant, who normally would have been smiling thinly at my words, turned his head away and twisted his face in frustration.

''Don't be silly...!　Then what is it?　Prince Rufreddin is supposed to take the place of that dead Imperial prince........　You're always talking to me without permission...!

　The inside of the tent in the headquarters of the Red Cat 《Akaneko》 was filled with a whirlwind of indescribable emotions. Nia and Est-san, who were sitting in chairs far apart, were also watching the events with a divine face.

''........Emperor Galdio wants to talk to you guys. What should we do?
Talk?　There's nothing to talk about!　Tell them to give Prince Lefredin back to me.　The thief is fierce!

　The lieutenant raised his voice in anger. Contrary to this, the colonel sitting beside him closed his eyes and did not move slightly.

''Don't get me wrong, sir. Fuyao-sama is not your liaison. Why don't you meet with the emperor yourself and tell him so?''

　While the lieutenant is furious, Lou, who is sitting next to me, says with a slightly grim tone of voice. Hmm?　A little angry?
　Eventually, the lieutenant gave a small cluck of his tongue and sat down in his chair again.
　In the Rave Kingdom, which had been in a state of isolation with almost no diplomacy with the outside world, the magician nation of Eisengard started a war that involved the Galdio Empire.
　I wonder if we couldn't manage to talk it out before this happened, but there's nothing we can do about it now. I hope that we won't abandon this discussion, but........

What's the point of talking about it? Don't they want to lure us in and kill us all?

　The sergeant turned away and spat this out, and the colonel slowly opened his eyes.

'He's not that kind of a man, I'm afraid. ........Emperor Galdio, then Crown Prince, he and I fought one on one during the fall of the Rave Kingdom. That's when I lost this eye.

　With that, the colonel pointed to his one crushed eye. The lieutenant and the sergeant were surprised to hear it for the first time.

The one who was in control of that battle was the Mage King of Isengard. I was cutting off the Crown Prince of Gardio, who was stuck in a corner, at a distance from the castle while his Soldat soldiers were surrounding the castle. I didn't listen to him as he urged me to surrender, but I continued to fight. As a result, the Mage King of Isengard killed the king I was supposed to protect and I lost this eye as well. What an ironic coincidence that that man picked up the prince and raised him...

　The colonel laughs a small smile to himself. Indeed, if the colonel had defeated the crown prince there, the prince might have died. Well, it's only hypothetical, after all.

'The land of Leve has almost become the territory of the Empire, but there is no plunder, no heavy taxation, and the people are not starving and good government is in place. It's under the Emperor's direct control, with the former royal capital of Levertine at the center. It's a far cry from the Isengard territory that controls the vicinity of the Blue Ruins. I'd like to think that such an emperor would never deceive and strike back.
"...but that doesn't change the fact that they stole our country... I can't forgive them for that.

　The sergeant murmurs over his head at the colonel's words.
　There's no need to forgive me, I suppose. And that's a personal feeling. But personally, I don't want you to just drag your resentment and anger down to the next generation.
　If we don't break the cycle of resentment somewhere, it will continue until the next generation. I don't think it's a good idea to instill hatred and anger in your children, to imprint on them that "people of that country are the enemy" and "never forgive them, even after a hundred years," and to give them a sword.
　I guess this is what I think because I'm not a party to this....

''If you're going to meet with the emperor, I can guarantee your safety on the spot. You will not be harmed in any way. Of course, I won't allow any harm to come to you or your people, either, but...
We can't just decide on our own. We need to talk to our friends. Give me some time.
'All right. Then come back in the morning in a week.
Please.

　After saying this, the Colonel and the three of us left the tent.
　I let out a deep breath and leaned back in my chair. I'm not sure if Leve and Gardio have anything to do with me or not.

''Do you think they're trying to get the prince back from the empire?
'I don't know. I don't know if it's in the child's best interest to tell a child who doesn't know anything about anything that 'Your parents aren't your real parents. I don't know if it's in the child's best interest to teach him or her that 'your parents aren't your real parents, they're the people who helped the country that killed your real parents.'

　Est replies to Nia's murmur.

'It must be a shock to you as a child...'
But there's nothing wrong with knowing the truth, is there?

　Lou and Yae also open their mouths, respectively. It's a difficult problem, isn't it?

''Ummm........I can falsify the memories of the three of them by saying that the prince was not found with the hypnosis magic 《Hupnosis》, but.......''
You've neglected the feelings of those three people too much.
I'm sorry.........

　Est-san is right. They've spent ten years looking for the prince. It's too unconscionable to lose it.

''Well, Emperor Galdio was concerned about the assassins in Isengard, but what's going on with these two countries now?
''It's not a very good relationship. Eisengard originally invaded the Rêve Kingdom for the purpose of the ruins of the ancient kingdom called the 'Ruins of the Blue'. However, afterwards, another new ruin was found in the land of Leve that was handed over to Galdio. This one was named "The Ruins of Green", but it seems that Isengard is asking us to hand over this one too, and it seems that they're currently in trouble. If things are not going well, there is a possibility that Isengard will invade the former Rêve land again.

　What's that? How much do you love ruins?

''It seems that they are looking for something, but we don't know what it is. As long as Isengard is after it, I think it's the heritage of the ancient kingdom.

　A legacy of the era in which the golems were created. It's like the "storehouse" of Babylon. Of course they'll be eager to get their hands on it.

The country of Isengard has grown by reviving various technologies from the Golems and the Ancient Kingdom. The "Soldat" and "Panzer" are among the most famous.
The term 'soldat' refers to a golem that can be controlled by one person, right?　What's a cavalryman, Panzer?
It is a golem that is equipped with equipment. This is a golem that is worn as the contractor's armor or weapon and fights with the contractor himself. This golem has a proper will, and it assists the contractor in his own fight.

　Hey, hey, a thinking power suit, huh? According to Est-san, this Golem, like the Soldat, is not an ancient aircraft, the Legacy, so it's not a machine with special abilities.
　Probably, the Golem enhancement system that Dr. Babylon and the Elka engineers are trying to create is based on this.
　Isengard is a country that has invaded the surrounding countries with its technology and grown in size. It is said that Isengard is a country that has grown in size, using its technological prowess to invade the surrounding countries, with the Lase Kingdom and the Strain Kingdom to the north, and the Galdio Empire to the east keeping a close eye on it, but it seems to have an image of being a country where one can never know what to do.

I've heard rumors that the Mage King of Isengard is an old man with a very strange mind. It is said that he installed Golem's arm on himself.

　After power suits, cyborgs are next........
　It's not hard to understand that he lost his arm in an accident or something and attached Golem's arm to it as a prosthetic, but apparently that's not the reason.
　In order to do precision work, he cut it off himself and attached it. That's a bit of a stretch.... Isn't that dangerous, old man?

I've heard that he's a man who will stop at nothing to obtain an unknown technology unknown to him. The Rave invasion must have been an act of that ambition.

　As I listened to Est-san's story, there was something that bothered me a bit.
　The place where I fought against the mutants the other day. That was Isengard........ And the townspeople saw me clearly.
　d*mn it. Should we have taken some kind of countermeasure?　I hope I don't get tangled up in this........

''There are aspects of the ancient technology that that that country has revived that are useful to the world. It's difficult to deny everything they're doing in general.
I can't compare to this thing Fuyu gave me, but even the long-distance communicators are based on Isengard's technology.

　Nia lightly shakes the phone I gave her. That's another item that would be a hassle if Eisengard caught my eye.

''Is Isengard the best in terms of Golem technology?''
'That's true. However, the quality of golems is not very high, probably because they are mainly factory-made golems, such as the Soldat, a military machine soldier that controls a large number of troops, and the Panzer, an armored soldier that supports the battle,
It's a country of quantity over quality. You'd rather have a general purpose weapon that can be used by all than a powerful weapon that only a few people can use.

　So it's more of a mass production machine than a specialized machine. It seems that this is a nation that has quite a bit of production capacity. I feel that the top is a bit of a problem.
　What do the chief ministers around him think? If you listen to the story alone, it sounds like the king of the country who seems to be running amok.

How is the Galdio Empire doing, that it is?
It seems that in the last few years you've been focusing on your own development. I'm sure you'll find that the former emperor was a fierce man with a fierce temperament, and he had troubles with his neighbors in the Steel Kingdom, Gandiris and the Strain Kingdom, but now that he's become the current emperor, that relationship is easing somewhat. On the contrary, the relationship with Isengard is getting worse.

　And when the top people are replaced, the country's policies change.
　Well, it's time for the monthly world conference. It's time to talk to the leaders of the surface world about the underworld. Only the Parelius Kingdom still knows about the underworld.
　The two worlds will be connected sooner or later, and that will have a lot of repercussions. But before that, we need to explain and prepare ourselves. Shall we invite everyone to this world once?
　But even if I brought him to Dracliff Island where Shirogane is, it would only be Dragon Island.......
　The Triharan God's Empire or the Kingdom of Primula in the Underworld will have to help us. It's easy to understand if you look at the city Golems are walking through.
　I took out my phone from my pocket and opened the Contacts app.