The multi-armed demon that had fallen to the ground had not yet completely ceased its functions.
　The cracks that ran from its chest to its entire body were beginning to peel off its armor from its body. It managed to move its upper body to get up with a creaking sound, but it dropped its back to the ground again.
　We descend to the ground and look at the motionless Hecaton Cale.

'It must have been a horrible anti-Golem weapon, though.

　That ability to stop the functioning of the Q Crystal - the gaseous form means that it will be neutralized regardless of whether it's friend or foe.
　Perhaps it's not something chemical, like how the ingredients are, but an ability by Golem, an inherent skill that this Hecatoncale has. If that's the case, it's highly likely that it won't work on you.
　The ability to neutralize golems other than yourself is too heinous. If it wasn't for us who have frame gear, we wouldn't have been able to stop this old man's outburst.
　Suddenly, there was a bang, and Hekatoncale's head came off. ''What is it?''
　What looked like six legs extended from the head, and only the head of the Hecaton Cale began to move independently.
　What looked like a spinal cord was pulled out of the body part and attached to the head part like a tail.
　The multi-legged, tail-attached head part moved away from us (I guess it's running away) with a swift movement, and began to dig into the ground with its drill-like legs.

''[Slip]
"Guess what?

　The overturned head part spins around on the spot. I'm not going to be the only one who can do that.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the next few days.

''Ha, let go!　A being as good as an eagle cannot be allowed to die in a place like this!


　Is this also called "old people's blah blah blah blah"?

I'm sure you won't be around long if your body is like that. You should think about it.
"You're kidding me!　I still have a lot of work to do!　We'll see!　Take over an affordable human body...!
Enough. [ANALYSIS]

　He activates the Analysis Magic 《Analyze》 towards Hecaton Cale's head.

''There,''

　He plunged Regingrave's hand into the back of Hecaton Cale's head and pulled 'it' out from inside.
　A human brain floating in a cylindrical capsule-like thing. It's the main body of the Magician King 《Jii》.

''What are you doing!　Stop!　The loss of this brain is the greatest loss to mankind.
Well, we'll see about that.

　I didn't expect this capsule to even have a voice function. I placed the eerie capsule with the floating brain on the ground and descended from Regingrave to the ground.
　A glass tube about two meters high and sixty centimeters in diameter was filled with an emerald green water solution. From an obscure device at the top, a number of thin tubes were connected to the brain of the Mage King, which floated like a jellyfish. Perhaps that was the life-prolonging device.

''Ka, you're trying to destroy the capsule!
It's the other way around. I'll make it tougher.

　I gave it a 【Shield】 and strengthened it so that the capsule wouldn't break just a little bit. I'm also going to use the nearly exhausted magic in the life-prolonging device to its full potential.

"What are you going to do?
As you said, I can put a curse on you. That's right, I can put a curse on you, for example, by sending your pain directly to your brain.
Well, you're not gonna...
[Bind, O darkness, punish this man for his sins, Guilty Carth]

　Pain" is, after all, an electrical signal. By connecting this puka-puka floating brain directly to the capsule itself with magical power, the shock and stimulation can be transmitted directly to the brain.
　I kicked the bottom of the capsule hard with the toe of my shoe.

''Gagyaaah!
"Looks like I've succeeded.
Bullshit!　I'm not supposed to feel any pain.

　He lightly poked the glass of the capsule with the tip of Brunhild's sword. The glass didn't break or scratch, though, due to its strengthening.

"Aah!

　It's probably a painful experience, as if he was stabbed by a needle.

What do you want to do to me?
I don't know. It's not up to me. There are people who want to talk to you more than I do.

　I think Emperor Galdio and the colonels have a lot of questions they want to ask the old man. Giving him a sore thumb will make it somewhat easier to listen to him.
　I don't know if the interrogation will be enough, though.




　The capsule that was the Mage King was handed over to the colonels after being subjected to various interrogations in the Galdio Empire.
　In addition to leading the destruction of Rave, it seems that the Mage King had accumulated a variety of evil deeds in order to revive Hecatoncale.
　The worst among them was the fact that he had repeatedly conducted many human experiments just to transfer his own brain to Hecaton Cale. The number of brains removed from men and women, young and old, was in the triple digits. This is utterly repugnant.
　After losing the Mage King, Isengard plunged into a battle for power among the powerful nobles in an easy to understand manner. It could no longer afford to turn its attention to the Galdio Empire.
　The Mage King had no children or disciples, and the fact that he had no heir apparent was his downfall.
　I thought it was the same with Euron, but if you don't decide on a successor and nurture him well, the country will fall when the time comes. Let's keep that in mind.
　After the interrogation was over, Galdio tried to offer the capsule to Isengard, but the other side was unaware of such a thing and was unhappy with his proposal.
　According to him, the Mage King failed to activate the ancient weapon and was killed when the castle collapsed. He also said that the declaration of war against Galdio and the invasion by the army were all done by the Mage King alone. Well, it's probably true.
　I don't know to what extent the chief ministers knew about the Mage King's deeds, but it would only be a nuisance if they returned now.
　I don't know what happened to the capsule that was given to the colonels. It would take about a year or so for the magic power I poured into it to run out. That capsule can't be destroyed without applying considerable force, so it should live at least a year longer.
　He might have to live the rest of his life to reap the rewards of those who died for his ambitions.
　As for the Galdio Empire, Lucretion, the prince, renounced his right to the throne, and the emperor abdicated accordingly, and a new emperor was to stand.
　The new emperor was a young man of twenty years of age, Lancelet Galdio, who was a weak young man. His original name was Lancelet Olcott.
　This young man, the son of that vizier, Mr. Lancelot Olcott, who was the former emperor's bosom sword and picked up Prince Lucretion.
　How did this happen? The sister of the former Emperor Galdio was Lanslow's wife.
　In other words, he was a cousin of the former prince Lucretia (although they were not related by blood).
　And the first thing the new emperor did was to give the Leve region, which was under the direct control of the former emperor, to the former prince Lucretion, making him the Leve frontier count.
　In this way, Lucretion Rig Gardio became Lucretion Grand Leve.
　A deputy would rule the land until he came of age, but I'm sure he would make a good lord. And I am sure that his kind parents will be by his side.
　It seems that the Colonel and the three others are also working hard to develop the land of Leve.
　So, for the time being, it's all settled.




"Well, I'll tell you what.
'Hmm. I didn't know that old man had done that. I knew he wasn't a normal guy.
"Consent.

　At the Silver Moon in Brunhild, I was chatting with Norn, the sister of the Elka engineer and master of the Black Crown, Kronos Noir, about recent events.

'I mean, you knew each other?'
'I don't know him, I just met him once. When I was looking for my sister. She asked me a lot of questions about Noir and then asked me to give it up, which made me mad and I had to fight her.

　You're just plain scary, you know that? You've got a fight with Isengard, huh? When I looked at Noir, who was sitting at the same table, he had an indescribable expression on his face. The Crown 《Crown》 series is easy to understand his emotions, even though he's a golem.
　Elfrau, the anthropomorphic maid golem sitting beside her, also had a bitter smile on her face.

''So?　You didn't come here to talk about that, did you?
Hmm, well. I just wanted to make sure she was doing okay.
I wish you wouldn't treat me like a child. At all.

　No, you look just like a child. You can't get away from the fact that you're a six-year-old inside. I can understand why Engineer Elka is so worried about you.
　I'm not going to tell you, of course. I don't want my complex to blow up again.

I'm earning money and making a living. Tell her not to worry.
Well, what do you do for a living, by the way?
They called me an adventurer. Here's your guild card.

　Seriously.
　I look at the proffered card. Wow, it's real. It's a bad joke that I'm already one step ahead of a top-tier adventurer with a blue rank.

"I mean, how did you get past the screening process........

　There is no age limit to become an adventurer, but even then, if you're too low or something, you shouldn't be issued a card.
　Even Yumina was just barely, and as I recall, she couldn't do the work alone, which only she could take. It's just as long as you're accompanied by the person in charge.

''When I mentioned the name of [you], the Lord King, you let me through easily?
Wait a minute. Hey, hey, hey.
''It's okay, I've shown my abilities properly. I beat up a couple of blue-ranked adventurers who got involved, and the elven woman gave me a card.

　Elisha-san, the guild master, has given his approval.......
　Since he's the guild master, he didn't give his approval because he's an acquaintance of mine or anything like that, right? It's only after you've determined that you have the ability to do it properly?

I've been hiding out on Dungeon Island and such. It's quite profitable to be an adventurer, isn't it?
'Well. It's a high-risk, high-reward world.

　As I said this, Norn stopped the spoon he was moving to eat his omelet.

''Oh, you're one of the highest-ranked. Do you ever get asked to be a king?
'There is. A request that the Silver Ranker failed to make, or a disaster-grade hexenbiest, or a rescue of an important person.
'You don't have to take that, do you?　You're a king, and money is no longer a problem, right?

　I guess that's the difference.
　The money to run the country comes from taxes and income from state-run facilities like Dungeon Island.
　But the money spent on Frame Gear in Babylon, the salaries, equipment, and even food for the Knights of the Order, all of that money comes from my own pocket.
　This is because the 'Brünnhilde Knights' is just my personal knightly order.
　It's strange, but the country of Brunhild asks my personal knights to guard the country. And it's free of charge. Well, I might make a proper national knight's club in the future.
　Honestly, the pocket money is earned from various places around the world, including Orba-san, the trading merchant of Mismid, and other countries.
　But beyond that, the cost of mass production of frame gear and the development of new weapons is quite a bit of money.
　So I'm willing to accept requests from the guild if it makes money. Since my work as a king will be delayed, though, I'll have to do it while stealing an eye from Takasaka-san, the Prime Minister.
　Well, that's okay.
　I stare at the little black knight sitting beside me.

''Oh, by the way, I had a question for Noir.
Personal questions, accepted.
Remember the 'white' crown?
"...unanswerable. No memory.
That's why it's useless. Noir doesn't have any memories of what happened before he met me. It's just that they seem to have been sealed away rather than erased.

　Memory manipulation, huh?　Does this mean that the Q Crystal, the brain of Golem, has been treated in some way?

''What are we going to do when we find the 'white' crown?'''
'As I may have explained before, this world has tattered wards to keep out intruders from the outside world. The White Crown may have the ability to repair it.

　It seems that the wards of the Norn's world are in a lot of trouble when the mutants are appearing, though.

'Was it that Frase... or something like that?　What's an intruder from another world?
As for Freyze, the boss well, I talked to the guy who was the leader, and then the defectors started doing what they wanted. And then they got involved in your world. These days, there is a lot going on in the other side of the world.

　When I reached for a glass of water on the table to drink, the glass suddenly started to clatter and shake.

'........Is it an earthquake?'
I guess so.

　The shaking lasted a long time, about 3 on the Richter scale. It was an uncomfortable shaking.
　Fortunately, there was no damage in the store, and none of the customers were in a hurry to make a big deal out of it.
　I wonder what the mechanism of earthquake is in this world.
　Are they born from the sudden displacement of faults, just like the earth, or are they related to the great spirits of the earth? Or is it something to do with the great spirits of the earth? You'd be in trouble if you had hay fever.

''There's been a lot of that lately. Is this also the work of intruders from the other world?
That many?
You're the king of this country. How could you not know that?

　Oh. No, I've been in the underworld lately, and I've been in Babylon, so I haven't been down on earth much.

Even in the dungeon, there are still small tremors sometimes. It's a bit scary when it happens.

　Huh?　In a dungeon?　The dungeon that can be reached from Brunhild through the gate with 【Gates】 is an island far south of the Sandra region. Does that mean it's shaking on a global scale?
　Perhaps this is also a harbinger of the two worlds trying to connect.
　In the meantime, I've asked the spirits not to make a fuss about it so that natural disasters don't happen, but....
　However, I'm afraid of shaking in the dungeon. If it's not good, there's a danger of it collapsing. If it becomes too much, we should consider banning the use of the 【Gate】.
　That's right.

"...What are you doing?
Sort of.

　I took out one of the dead pendants from the 【Storage】. It's a pendant with a blue jewel in the shape of a teardrop.
　I combined 【Teleport】 and 【Gate】 to this and granted it with 【Program】....... Alright, it's like this.

''Yes, here.''
What's this?
Whenever I feel unsafe in a dungeon, I can put magic in it and it will transfer all at once to our castle. As long as you're within three meters of the dungeon, you can transfer along with several others, and it's a way to escape in case of an emergency.
Hmmm....

　After looking at the pendant I handed him, Norn stares at me with half-eyed eyes. Huh?　Didn't you like it?

You're not the kind of girl who enjoys girls, are you?
''Bufu?!''

　I unintentionally spew out the water I had been holding in my mouth. What are you talking about, you little girl!

How could it be?
I don't blame you if you think it's a gift for someone like me. And I heard a rumor that the king of this place is a seducer of women.
There are no facts!

　There is no truth to it!　Who's talking about it, bring him in for a minute!

'But I hear he's got a lot of fiancées and he's walking around with a lot of girls.　The expressionless maid, the little girl in a white coat, the girl with the guru glasses... well, I guess that's our sister.
Nug. Sure, that might have happened, but....

　I mean, I don't mind Yumina and the others, but even Sheska and Engineer Elka are looking at me like that.... Sheska and Engineer Elka are still around, but the doctor is completely out.

You're a hell of a philanderer. Even so, aren't you too defensive?
So no, no. That's not it. They're the maids and the tech crew, not the other way around.

　Hence, it's not like he's hitting on a six-year-old girl.

"...call it in?
Don't!

　I rushed into Golem, who tilted his head and explained to the three of us about the Babylonian friends and various other relationships. I managed to get them to understand, but they didn't reaffirm their recognition that I was a womanizer when I had nine fiancées. Ugh.
　Later, Mika-san from the 'Silver Moon' seemed to have witnessed this scene, and the news that he had given a gift to a young girl had reached Engineer Erca in Babylon.
　'Fuyao-kun, I need to talk to you for a moment. About my sister,'' he said, tapping me on the shoulder with a smile that wasn't smiling at all with his eyes behind his swirling glasses.
　So it's a misunderstanding.