"You're a child of Fuyu-dono from the future?　All these kids?
Oh, except for Alice. She's Ende's daughter.

　After worrying about many things, he decided to be honest with Duke Ortlinde and his wife, Ellen. In any case, I was going to talk to Sue's children when they came. It wasn't expected that they found out before they came, though.

'It sure looks like......... You look just like your wives, the princesses. Are you really from the future........

　The children have removed the badge granted by [Mirage] and are showing their original appearance. The resemblance between them alongside their respective mothers is so obvious, there's no evidence of such obviousness.

''I thought it was weird. And no matter how much it's a relative's child, it's still weird to call him father.''

　Apparently, the Duke was also aware that there was a secret, somehow, although it was thinly veiled. Well, normally, I think it's weird. As expected, calling him father was a bit of a stretch.....

'Well, so, what's this thing called Sue's daughter?
Hmm. Yes, but, Father, the thing is. Yae's daughter, Sister Yumina's son and Warawa's daughter have not yet come to Brunhild. They do seem to be coming to this world, though.
'What?　Dude, are you sure you're okay?

　When they heard Su's explanation, Duke Ortlinde and Ellen-san began to panic. Even Ed-kun, who had been sleeping in Ellen-san's arms, was startled by the situation and began to get chagrined.

''Oh, it's all right there. It seems that all of our children are gold- or silver-ranked adventurers.''
'What?　...How old is Sue's daughter?

　At the duke's question, Sue turned to Alice.

'Alice, how old is the daughter of Warawa?'
'What?　Stef is one year younger than me, so that's five.
Ho. Is the daughter of Walla's daughter called Stef?
Ah!

　Alice holds her mouth in a hurry. The children give Alice a very disappointed look, and Ende is also patting his daughter's head with a sad face. How careless of you. Thank God.

'Is Stef a nickname?　What's your name, Stephanie?
'Yah!　I won't talk anymore!

　Phew, Alice turned away. 'Oh, well.

'It's Stefania, Father.

　Arthia told me, smiling at a huffy Alice. Stefania, huh? That's Stef for short.

''No matter how much you say you have a gold and silver rank ability, you're only a five-year-old girl, right?　Hey, are you okay?
That's all right. Stef is the most defensive of all the siblings. None of them can even touch him.

　The Duke of Ortlinde, who sounded uneasy, was quoted as saying by Frey with a sneer.
　Specializing in defense?　[Shield] was used by Lynne, right? By any chance.........

[Prison]?
Yes,

　If you specify it, 【Prison】 will deploy a defensive wall regardless of your intentions. It's possible to protect yourself even while you're asleep. That's certainly specialized in defense. And the conditions for preventing it can be set in detail.

''And since that girl [Axel] also has it, she's also very quick to run away.
You can even use [Axel]........

　Full defense and god speed mobility? That's a hell of a five-year-old.

''It's just that in that child's case, you wouldn't use [Axel] as an escape route.
It's definitely 'Stefrocket,'

　Kuhn and Lynne are talking about things. What's a 'stepfrocket'!

''Stef's special move. Wear [Prison] and ram it through your head with [Axel].
It's all about physical contact.

　Erna and Yoshino explained my doubts to me. What kind of skill......... Come to think of it, Sue used to tackle me a lot, too. Is this a 'like for like parent, like for like child' kind of thing?
　The Ortlinde's have a difficult look on their faces as they listen to their children's explanations. They don't know whether they should be happy or sad to hear such stories about their grandchildren, whom they haven't met yet, and they don't know whether they should be happy or sad.

'Have you told this story to your brother?'
'We haven't spoken. I was originally going to let you meet the children after they arrived. Regulus, Restia, oh, and Xenoas, too. I've spoken to that one, though.
'I certainly wouldn't believe it if I didn't meet him in person....... I'd have to meet him in person to believe it.... I'm somewhat skeptical myself. And yet, when I think of my grandchildren, I can't stand still.
Yes, me too. What kind of boy is Stef like? Is he an active child like Sue?

　Following the duke, Ellen-san also said such things with excited eyes. It's very active, isn't it? After all, it's "Stefrocket"....... It seems that our youngest daughter is quite a tomboy.

The only thing you can do is not tell His Majesty the King of Belfast for the time being.
I see, so you and Yumina's child was the heir apparent. Then no wonder she was so happy. Congratulations, Yumina.
'Thank you, uncle!

　Yumina looks really happy when Duke Ortlinde congratulates her. I haven't even met him yet. This will probably make him go even more out of control if Kuon comes over.

''So what kind of boy is my son!　Is it cool?　Or is it clever?　Are they friendly to girls?　He must be such a good, filial, good boy!
Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stoppage!　I know you're in trouble Erna. I know you're happy, but you need to calm down a bit.

　Her mother, Else, stopped her daughter 《Erna》, who had been bombarded with questions by Yumina and whose eyes were black and white, when her mother, Else, came in to stop her.

''Well, well........ Let's leave that for when we meet. I'll get defensive if I find out about it first.
'Uh..... I can't wait to see you.

　While quieting the sulking Yumina, I lament my own body, which can only wait as usual. It's been a long time since Yoshino came, so it's not surprising that he's about to come.
　No, maybe Yakumo doesn't want to come yet. If you don't show your face soon, your mother might be at her limit. Directly, there's a butt slap waiting to happen.
　As expected, I don't want to see my daughter being chastised, so it was me who wished for Yakumo's return rather than Kuon and Stef.


　　　　　　　　　　◇ ◇ ◇


　With a single swing of the sword, the blood on the blade flew away. Yakumo put his beloved sword, which is automatically [clean] applied, into the sheath.

''No, miss, you're strong. It's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get your hands on a new one. I can't believe it.

　The Professor 《Professor》 let out a sigh of admiration when he saw the men lying there.
　They entered Isengard by boat from the Galdio Empire, but there was no transportation to Eisenburg, the former capital of Isengard, which was in ruins.
　They ended up heading there on foot, but on their way they were suddenly attacked by bandits.
　The country had collapsed and the devastated Isengard had become an area overrun with these rogues.
　Since there was no one to crack down on them, it seems that the guys with wounds on their shins naturally gathered and are sleeping in the ruins.
　The bandits who attacked Yakumo and the others were about fifty people. Almost all of them were cut down by Yakumo alone.

''Strange, isn't it........ I have a feeling that these people were somehow insane. They were talking about incomprehensible things. Could it be.........

　Yakumo went through the fallen man's bosom and found a raggedy wallet and snatched it from him. Seeing this, the Professor 《Professor》 made an indescribable face.

''Miss, as expected of a bandit's wallet..... You were in that much trouble........ It would help if you told me....
No, it's not, that it isn't!　I didn't take your wallet because I wanted money, you know!

　Yakumo hurriedly excuses himself. Eventually, he found the desired item in his wallet and muttered a small, "I knew it.

''Hm?　What the hell is that?　Are they on drugs?

　Yakumo took out a small medicine packet from his wallet. When he opened it, there was a small amount of golden powder inside.

''Gold sand?''　No, the color is a little muddy for that...
''This is a magic potion that has been circulating in the world under the guise of a sacred tree branch that has been ground up and is a magic potion. If you take it in, you will gradually lose control of your emotions and your instincts will lead you to lash out and develop an aggressive personality. And eventually, it will lead to death.
Oh my...!　That's what's going around...!

　These bandits who had attacked earlier were somehow unfocused, and they also attacked Yakumo while spouting unintelligible things.
　By all appearances, he was not in a proper mental state. He must have already been in a terminal state, with his head and body being consumed by the drugs.

''Eisengard had the Golden Flower Disease, you know. It's likely that many of them would turn to these fraudulent drugs.
Hmm..... I'd say what is the country doing, but it doesn't have one...

　The Professor 《Professor》 twisted his face.
　That man in the diving suit that Yakumo met called himself the 'Apostle of the Evil God'. This medicine is undoubtedly related to those people.
　The potion is scattered around Isengard. It seems that they have reached out to the surrounding countries, the Razemu Kingdom, the Galdio Empire, the Strain Kingdom, and the Orphans Dragon and Phoenix Kingdom.
　It might be quite a large organization. In truth, I knew it was no longer at a level that Yakumo could handle on his own after it had grown to this extent.
　I knew that, but I had come to this point where I couldn't go home without bringing back a piece of information as a souvenir.

It's not far to Eisenburg. Let's just go. Let's just go to Eisenburg, we can go back whenever we want.

　As if to tell himself, Yakumo began to walk again. I've told the Professor 《Professor》 about the [Gate]. We can go to our destination, the abandoned city of Eisenburg, and if there's nothing else, we can return at [Gate]. I hadn't yet decided if that was Brunhild or not.
　After walking for half a day, we could see the remains of a large crater. It must have been created by the battle between my parents and the evil gods. The professor sighed with admiration as he looked at the crater.

''What a surprise.... What kind of battle would cause this to happen?

　Yakumo did not see the fight. It's natural. It was before he was born.
　It's just that it was a grueling battle. But it seems that this big hole was made by the evil gods.
　After passing the crater, the remnants of the ruined town began to increase.
　The central part of the city, which has been vacated, and the outer part of the city, which is full of crumbling buildings. The difference between the two is stark.

"It's hard to walk around with all these shattered walls.
You shouldn't go too close to a tall building because it might collapse.

　There are no signs of the iron city that was once known as the Industrial City of Eisenburg. All we saw were rusty chunks of iron and crushed stones.
　Occasionally, golems and other objects were seen underneath buildings. The reason why there are not many human and other corpses in sight is probably because most of the inhabitants had already escaped due to the outburst of the Mage King by Hecatoncaire prior to the Evil God War.

''Mmm.''
What's up, sweetheart?
Shhh..... Quiet.........

　Yakumo, who was walking at the front, hid behind the building. Following him, the Professor Professor Professor and his knights of the military machine soldier "Soldat" followed suit and hid.

''What in the world is the matter with........Mu, that was.......!

　Ahead of Yakumo's gaze, on top of a pile of ruined wreckage, there was a lone demon peering at the area.
　I don't know if the term "demon" is correct. It had bat-like wings and a long tail, and its entire body was covered in a kind of black armor. Two miserable twisted horns extended from its head, and its face was smooth and empty, like a peeled boiled egg.

''Demon........is it?''

　Demons are the inhabitants of the demon world that can be summoned by summoning magic. The strength of the class varies depending on the rank, and naturally, the higher up you are, the more restrictions and conditions are required to summon them.
　Yakumo carefully searched the area to see if there might be a summoner nearby, but so far there was no sign of one.
　This is Yakumo's intuition, but there is not a very strong sign from that demon. He guessed that it was probably a low grade demon.

''With a demon?　I've never met a demon in my life, but do you have very strange wings?

　The professor, Professor Professor "Professor", who lived in the western continent where magic engineering was developed, naturally did not know anything about summoning magic. Even the Professor Professor dismisses those demon wings as strange. It was a mechanical wing.
　If you look closely, the hands from the elbow to the end of the hand are also mechanical, and the legs from the knee down have the same mechanical form.
　Can we call it a "hybrid", a fusion of a demon and a golem?
　If Yakumo's father had been here, he would have tsk-tsked, 'No, a cyborg?
　The cyborg demon, perhaps satisfied with something, spun on his heel and left the place.

''Professor [Professor] is here. I'm going to "follow" him for a moment.
Mmm. Have a good day.

　Lowering himself, Yakumo jumps out from behind a building. Yakumo has been trained since he was a child to disguise his presence. It's a direct instruction from Tsubaki, the head of his country's intelligence agency.
　Hiding in the shadows of the ruins of the building, he follows the demon, which is mixed up with machines, ahead of him.
　Eventually, the demon enters a crumbling, factory-like facility. The glass was shattered and the steel frame was rusted and cracked, but the building was relatively intact.
　Yakumo went around to the back of the abandoned factory. As expected, if he followed the demon inside like that, he would be found immediately.
　Gently peering inside through the broken glass window. Inside the dimly lit factory, light was leaking through the hole in the ceiling.

''That's...!

　Yakumo's eyes were drawn to the object placed in the center of the factory. The countless amulet-like objects posted inside the factory were also eye-catching, but the 'it' sitting in the center was far more eye-catching than that.
　It looked like an insect ant. The surface is stone-colored, and at first glance it looks like a stone statue of something. It was ragged to look at, with cracks that looked like cracks in places.
　The stone ants were floating on top of a large metal base. It was hard to see clearly from here, but there seemed to be some kind of magic circle carved into the large metal base. Could it be the effect of that?



　Yakumo had never seen an evil god, nor had he ever heard of his servant, a mutant species, except through stories. If this was the case, Yakumo regretted that he should have forced his father to show him the images, but that was for later.
　The characteristics matched the mutant species that his mother had told him about. I heard that when he lost the evil god, his color changed and he changed into a stone shape like that.
　But if that was a mutant, what were those demons doing? The mutant species may be dead or hasn't moved an inch. They look like simple stone statues.

Hm.

　Inside the abandoned factory, apart from the demons that Yakumo had followed, there were a number of similar demons. Among them, only one of them was found with a different form.
　Its form was female. Her overall clothing was very similar to Lean, one of Yakumo's mothers, but there was a hint of bewitchment and decadence in her clothing. Her corseted waist was thin, which in turn accentuated her overflowing breasts. The upper half of his face is covered in what looks like a domino mask made of steel, so it's hard to get a good read on his expression.
　Her long, wavy red hair is pulled up in a haphazard fashion. Her legs, peeking out of her short skirt, were covered with black lace stockings and held in place by a garter belt.
　Although it was the same woman, she looked like Yakumo had no place to look. She looked like a prostitute.
　And yet, she had a disproportionate war cudgel 《Mace》 hanging at her waist. It's just a matter of time before you get a chance to see it.
　The atmosphere somewhat resembles that of the man in a diving suit I met before. Yakumo felt that that woman must be the 'Messenger of the Evil One' as well.

''Hmmm.... Well, it's a bother, but let's get to work.

　The iron-masked woman picked up the mace at her waist and swung it down at the mutant. It was a relentless blow.
　Yakumo expected the stone mutant to shatter, but contrary to what he expected, the mutant did not shatter. It was crushed.

Now, look, look, look.

　The woman beat the mutant rhythmically. The mutant lost its shape, as if the claywork it had built up was crumbling.
　As it was beaten wildly from left, right and up and down, the mutant turned into a mere lump. Moreover, with each strike it became smaller and smaller, and now it was no bigger than the size of a baseball. It's as if some kind of force is holding it down from the outside and compressing it.
　The speed of the mace increases as it slams into the ball of stone stationary in the air. A trail of orange light illuminates the inside of the abandoned factory.
　And in response, the stone ball, which had been gray, gradually began to glow with light and shine golden.

'Yo, and!'

　A large swinging iron-masked woman slams the mace down with great vigor, and gaon!　And then the ball disappeared, leaving a loud noise.
　No, it did not disappear. It became some kind of sparkling powder and fell to the base where the magic circle was drawn. You will find something that looks like gold scattered on the magic circle.

''Oh my God, this little thing?　The Indigo one is going to complain about me again.

　Ignoring the blubbering iron-masked woman, the demons dexterously used a small featherblade to collect the powder.

''That powder........if that was the source of the Golden Pill?　I didn't know it was made from the remains of a mutant...

　It's more like squeezed than made, though.
　The moment Yakumo put his hand on the window frame to take a closer look inside, the rusted and tattered window frame suddenly came off the wall with it and began to fall inward.

''────?

　Yakumo let out an unvoiced scream and reached out reflexively, but there was nothing he could do about it. With a loud noise, the window frame collapsed into the abandoned factory, attracting the attention of everyone inside all at once. Now that the window frame and window were gone, Yakumo was in full view from the other side.
　Yakumo was absolutely convinced that he was looking pretty dumb right now.

　Who is it?
"Hey, I'm not worthy of the name!

　It was all Yakumo could do to shout that as he blushed in shame.