The sky begins to turn white.
　The sun was not yet visible due to the dense forest, but it was definitely turning into morning.
　The attack of the mutants who recognized us as the enemy was still going on.
　They didn't rush in en masse, but a small number of five or six of them attacked us at short intervals. Bastet was fed up with the continuous battle that could only be endured because of the sleeplessness and golems.
　I'm not sure if it's human or not, but there's one human (although it's doubtful now) who can handle this battle without a hitch.

'Cat, it's morning! It's time to go get Toyan!

　With a thud, Luna opened her mouth as she thrust her right arm, which she had turned into a golden spear, into the mutant's core and let it dissolve.
　Perhaps because he obtained the same power, Luna seemed to know the exact location of the mutant's nucleus.

Bastet, I know it's a bit early, but I have to explain to the king about this Miss Ane-san, and it's time to...''
Well...

　Glancing up at the white golems beside him, Albus also gave a small nod with a coke-like smile.
　The 'Holy Tree' behind Bastet was already becoming a tree that was nearly four meters tall.
　The area around it was full of stumps of trees that had been cut down by Luna and the purple crown/viola, the entire mutant species. Anubis stowed the fallen trees that were in the way in his collar and dumped them deep into the forest beyond.
　Anubis was right, I feel like it's too early to call out to them, but there are a lot of things to be worried about. There's nothing wrong with moving too quickly.

''........I understand. I'll take some time, but I'm going to go call the king.''
That's what I'm talking about!　Ah, I'm looking forward to it! Toyan and stabbing and stabbing and slashing and gutting and crushing...........highest.

　Bastet and Anubis drew back slightly, or rather quite a bit, to Luna, who was spitting out disturbing words with her trongy eyes.

'Anubis.'
"Aye aye sir.

　From the collar that was granted 【Storage】, Anubis takes out a figure that is less than a meter and a half high and about forty centimeters wide.
　Albus propped it up against the base of a nearby tree.

''Then. I'll be back with the king in about an hour or so.''
All right. As soon as possible.

　Luna is smiling and waving her hand, but Bastet only feels uneasy. He turns his gaze towards Anubis, saying 'I asked you to do it,' but the person who is staring at him doesn't understand her intentions at all, saying 'Eh, I did it⁉︎'.
　Sighing with a single sigh, Bastet uneasily passes through the sight-glass with a 【Gate】.
　Beyond the gate is Brunhild's Royal Castle, a place known as the 'Mirror Room'.
　There is a mirror mounted on the wall here that connects to the Brunhild Embassy in Belfast and the Silver Dragon House on Dracliff Island. Basically, the maids and knights who work in this castle use it. (Sue and others come and go from their rooms to Belfast.)

What?　Why the cat?　Ah, the Golem's child that Master was talking about?

　Bastet looked up at the voice he heard suddenly and saw a painting hanging on the wall of the landing at the top of the front steps.
　It was a picture of a girl in a white dress with her peach-colored hair braided into a braid, but to her surprise, only the top half of the picture was sticking out of her forehead.

''Nice to meet you. My name is Ripple, I'm on a surveillance mission in this castle.
A magical pseudo-life form, an artifact creature. I am Bastet. I'm Gholem, your Erykah Patraxean engineer, in charge of our country. Please see the king as soon as possible. It's an emergency.
Eh?　Oh, yes, right now.
Wow, so this is Toyan's castle. It's a pretty good idea.
What?

　Bastet felt as if an unlikely heart had been grabbed by a voice that came from behind him. When he turned around, he passed the figurehead and saw Luna standing in the 'mirror room'.

''Why are you........!
I came here because I wanted to see Toyan.

　Heh-heh-heh!　And from the mirror behind Luna, who sticks out her tongue, a small purple golem with a large sickle appears. 'Worse,' says Bastet, gritting his teeth.

'Intruder!　Notify everyone in the castle!
Aww, ha, yyyy!

　Replied Ripple immediately sponged back into the picture.
　Ripple is a magical life form. Its main body is a frame that hangs in the Great Hall, and reproductions of it are displayed throughout the castle. All of them were Ripple's eyes and ears, and she served as a kind of surveillance camera.
　She also served as an alarm system that could project her alter ego onto each picture frame.
　Ripple flew the altered bodies to various locations, and she herself moved to the room where her master was sleeping.


　　　　　　　　　　◇ ◇ ◇


Master!　Master!　Wake up! It's an emergency!
Muu...?

　I was awakened by someone's voice calling me to action. I rubbed my sleep-deprived eyes and pulled myself up out of bed to find Ripple leaning out of the frame of a painting on the wall and screaming.
''What ... what happened?''
There's an intruder in the castle!　A little purple golem with a scythe and a girl with glasses between the mirrors!

　When I heard the news from Ripple, I awoke at once with an illusion of sweat bursting from my entire body.
　A small purple golem with a sickle. I only know one such golem.

''No way...!

　I jumped up, grabbed my phone from the sideboard and instantly moved to the mirror room in my pajamas.
　There is no intruder or Golem in sight, just Bastetto crouched down by the wall. It's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get your hands on it. Was it hit by Luna?

Hey!　Are you okay!
"The king.　I'm fine. I just got blown up and my leg broke down a bit........ More importantly, I'll get that guy right away........after Luna Trieste.......!
You got it!　d*mn it!

　When I hear that name from Bastet, I click my tongue. You're a pain in the ass when you're in trouble!
　Once I picked up Bastet and instantly moved 《teleport》 to Babylon's "laboratory".
　I'm not going to be able to find out what's going on, but I'm going to be able to find out what's going on.

''Fuyu-dono?　And ... and ... Bastet!　What's going on!

　Fenrir, who had been lying down, looks up. Fenrir is a brother plane to Bastet and Anubis. It's no wonder he's worried.

''Brother Fenrir........I'm sorry.......''
"Bastet, please!　I'm sure you'll be fine, but have Engineer Elka take a look at it.

　I place Bastet in front of Fenrir, who looks at me with a worried gaze, even though he doesn't know what's going on, and I immediately cast a search spell.

''Search!　Luna Trieste's position!
...end of search. Castle Brunhild, second floor, west corridor, under fire.
What...!　Who!
"...search is over. My opponent is Mochizuki Morobane and Mochizuki Karina.

　When I heard their names playing from my phone, the tension in my body disappeared like the air in a balloon.
　The sisters........thank God. Those two would be able to hold Luna down no matter how she flailed.
　Oops, this isn't the time to be distracted. Someone might have been injured. I used my teleportation three times to jump to the site where my sisters were fighting.
　In the corridor on the west side of the castle I arrived at, I found Luna already unconscious on the floor and Viola, the purple "crown" struggling with countless arrows crucifying her on the wall.
　And there were her dependable sister and her two cousins [cousins], plus Yae and Hilda. It seems that she bumped into Luna when she was about to do her morning training.

"Oh, winter night. Good morning.
'Good morning, Karina-san....

　I exchanged morning greetings with Karina, who turned around with a grin. I feel like I'm out of place.
　The corridor was covered in scratches all over the place, and some places were damaged. I guess these crack marks are from Viola's scythe or Luna's blade arm.
　Looking at Viola crucified on the wall, though, it seems that sister Karina's arrows have also been pierced quite deeply.

''Fuyao-kun, as an older sister, I'd advise you, but I'm not sure if you're going to cheat on your blade arm.
No!　Don't say anything scary!

　It is said that the scenario is spreading that the woman I dumped after my affair, Luna, is too cute and hateful, and came to attack the castle to commit suicide with me.

"....What do you mean by that, Fuyao-dono?
'Master Wintery?　Cheating ... what do you mean by that?
'That's why it's different!　Both of you, please retract that black aura!

　I'm desperately trying to excuse Yae and Hilda, whose eyes have been sitting on something. No, there's no excuse, there's really nothing.......nothing, is there?
　The scorching sun and Luna's nakedness that I had seen before appeared in my mind.

'Well, let's put aside the winter night flirtation,'
That's not...!
It's amazing how much power this bespectacled girl has in her mutant form. Is that why?　He's been acting a lot stranger, though.
Isn't it because Fuyao-kun left you?
You are persistent!

　I explained that Luna's madness was caused by the price paid by the purple 'crown' fanatic viola. Mainly to my two fiancées.
　Because it's never my fault, okay?

Hmm, poisoning the mind. So, Fuyao-kun, what do you want to do with this boy?

　What do you want to do? I know it's best to kill such a dangerous person or imprison them somewhere....
　I turn my gaze to Viola, who is being crucified. If I destroy this golem, will Luna be freed?
　But unfortunately, Viola has a troublesome ability called 'super regeneration'. Even if I cut it down, this thing will regenerate and revive, and in return, it will further undermine Luna's spirit. I'm going in circles.

"Anyway, we don't have time for this now. "We'll have to deal with this later.
"Gee.

　Just as I was about to say, "Do it," Viola landed in the corridor, crushing the arrows that had been struck into various parts of her body.
　Picking up the large scythe that had fallen at her feet, she pointed it at me and cleaved it wide. This.........!

[Eternal Coffin]
"Giggles.

　Countless ice cubes crawled up from under Viola's feet, and in the blink of an eye, the purple golems were trapped in a square pillar of ice.
　It's a coffin of ice reinforced with divine qi just in case. This ice can't be melted or broken with half-hearted strength. Oops, let's separate it from the floor so it can be moved.

"Your Majesty!

　The knights of the castle guard and their captain, the female knight Rebecca-san, who must have been called by Ripple, came rushing over.
　Rebecca-san was originally an adventurer I met in the desert with Logan-san, the captain of the patrol knights, but after some twists and turns, she is now the captain of Brunhild's Royal Knight Squad.

''I'm sorry!　Our security...!
No, this one's an irregularity, so it's no use.
Pile in?
Anyway, let's take this golem and the girl there to the dungeon where 【Prison】 is granted.......No, if Luna uses her mutant power, 【Prison】 will be destroyed as well...... What should I do?

　I don't think [Paralyze] is going to work on a mutated Luna... Even if it did, I don't think it's a good idea to leave her in a state where she can't even go to the bathroom.
　When I was troubled, Karina pointed at Luna with her chin.

I'm going to look at this bespectacled girl with my 'divine eye'.
What?

　As I stared at Luna with my 'God's Eye' as I was told, I saw a small nucleus on her right chest. It was about the size of a golf ball, but it was definitely the nucleus of a mutant species. Is this the reason why she became a mutant?
　So that means if we remove this........

【aports】.

　He used the Object Transfer Magic [Apports] and pulled its core into his hand. Then he destroyed it by slamming it directly onto the floor.
　With this, the mutant factor should have disappeared from Luna.

'That's it,' he said. Excuse me, please take me there then.
Ha!

　Rebecca and her friends take Viola and Luna to the dungeons after they've been put on ice. You're a total pain in the ass. It's a relief that Morobane and her sister Karina were there.
　Well, this is not good. Bastet's return means that there aren't enough people left to protect Isengard's Sacred Tree.
　Anyway, it's a bit earlier than planned, but I'll call Est-san from Akaneko. I'm sure Nia is asleep and won't answer the phone.




I didn't know it was this early. I'm going to charge you extra for this, okay?
All right, all right. It's disappointing.

　Starting with Nia, the chieftain who said that, Est-san, the deputy chieftain, Yuri and his entourage Yuni and Yuri, and several members of the 'Red Cat' were gathered in the mirror room.
　The Golem's also have a red 'crown', Rouge, Est-san's Akagane, and three others I've never seen before. They are painted red, so they must be someone's golems.

''I want you to protect the 'holy tree' that lies ahead. I'll send you reinforcements one after another, so for now, get ahead of me.
Okay. I'll take it as a job.

　Hearing the answer from Deputy Chieftain 《Est》, we passed through the mirror of transition.
　The destination is somewhere in the forest. Anubis, who noticed me, runs up to me. Golem, the black dog, stood on his hind legs and clung to my leg with a shudder.

''Whoa!　King, king!　Is the castle safe? They went into the mirror and I'm worried about them, but we can't leave this place.　My sister Bastet is...
Yeah, I know, I know. Calm down. Bastet's a little banged up, but he'll be fine. We'll take care of this, but you can go back to the castle for now.
"Really?　Then, be my guest!

　Anubis disappeared into the mirror as if to replace Nia and the rest of the 'Red Cat'.
　The actuality is that Albus remains in place to protect the tree behind him.

''You've gotten a lot bigger...''

　I look up at the 'Holy Tree' behind Albus. Is it already about five meters tall?　The Sacred Tree seems to be growing steadily and steadily.
　Something shiny is being emitted from the leaves. That's the magic element that has been purified.

So, are we supposed to protect this tree?
Yeah. Mutants and such will come for this tree. We'll put the frame gear out here too...

　As I was talking, I suddenly felt dizzy and fell to my knees. No good. I thought I was okay, but even though I've still purified it, it's only a few dozen meters around the 'Holy Tree'. It's better than the last time, but the effect of the divine magic poison is proportional to the divinity. It's quite hard on me, who am a member of the World God's family.
　I heard that if you're a senior god, it's nothing, but I'm still an apprentice.......

''Oh, hey, are you okay?''
''Oh........something. d*mn ... [Gate]

　I open the [Gate] and call out the nine Red Cat [Akaneko] spec heavy knights [Chevalier], Est-san's Red Knight [Red Links], and Nia's overgear [Tigaluge].
　While the aircraft appeared with the earth shaking on the ground, I turned my attention to the figurehead.

It's a good idea to have a good time. And this is where Albus comes in.
Yes, sir.

　As I walked back through the mirror and back to the castle, the suffocation, pressure, and nausea I had felt earlier were somewhat lighter.
　Although not to the point of fainting, a thumping fatigue hits me.

''【Refresh】''

　The restorative magic blows away the fatigue, but the feeling remains. It's like the morning of a hangover. ...No, I don't know, I'm underage. Yup.
　Lying on the floor, I felt a little better. It was only for a couple of minutes, though. I guess I haven't cleansed enough.
　The larger the Sacred Tree is, the more divine Demonic Poison it can absorb, which means the area it can purify should expand, so it shouldn't take too long to purify the entire Isengard area.
　That is, if they aren't cut down by the mutant species by then.

'Albus, how many mutants attacked us after all?
"Fifty-three. All lower class deales.

　Fifty-three of them? Quite a lot of them.... After all, let's send reinforcements to Nia and the others as soon as possible.
　In order to contact Norn and Robert, the masters of the black and blue "crown", I took out my phone from my pocket.