Side Story 22
Earth No. 843.
It was extremely peaceful.
The nightmare in which monsters roamed the world, threatening people's lives and property, had completely vanished.
Now the sinkholes had been sealed, and stable Black Tower mana-stone mining was underway.
Spot!
Juhyeok returned to the White Tower together with the summoned ones.
As soon as he entered, he made a call on the Earth-843–exclusive smartphone.
"President Jeon Seong-il? This is Bong Juhyeok."
—Ah! J-Juhyeok! It's been far too long. You didn't even give us a call.
"Haha, something came up and kept me busy."
On Earth No. 843, Jeon Seong-il was the president.
He had been elected by an overwhelming margin during the presidential race.
"I'm sorry, but could I ask you a favor?"
—Sorry? Please, ask for anything.
"I need nuclear warheads."
—How many do you need?
"As many as possible. Ah! I won't be using them here."
—Haha, where you use them doesn't matter. I'll have them prepared right away, but… Korea doesn't have that many in stock.
President Jeon didn't even ask why Juhyeok needed nuclear weapons.
"That's a problem. I'll need quite a lot."
—I'll personally get on the hotline with our allied nations.
In other words, they would make up the shortfall with other countries' nukes.
"Will they really hand them over so easily?"
—They absolutely will. Lately they've been more trouble than they're worth. The sinkhole waves are over—what good is it to keep nukes now? It's not like countries are going to war with each other.
"Still…"
—And besides, who's making the request? Isn't it Juhyeok, the savior of the world? If this goes public, they won't be able to refuse even if they want to.
"Come on, that's a bit much."
—I'm not exaggerating. Would you like me to explain what the current atmosphere is like?
President Jeon continued.
The people of Earth No. 843 knew it too.
That Juhyeok was someone who had crossed over from another world.
Not only had he completely conquered the Black Tower in his own world, he had also saved Earth No. 843.
His popularity was beyond words.
There had even been discussions about awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize, but it had fallen through for certain reasons.
What was the reason it fell through?
Compared to Juhyeok's achievements, the Nobel Prize was considered far too insignificant.
Instead, there was talk of establishing a "Bong Juhyeok Award."
It was said it would become the most prestigious prize anyone could dream of receiving.
Good grief.
How embarrassing.
What kind of Bong Juhyeok Award is that?
"…I'd really prefer it if they didn't make an award like that."
—They're already at the stage of selecting recipients. I'm actually a candidate for the Bong Juhyeok Peace Award myself.
…Huh?
Should I congratulate him?
"C-Congratulations."
—Thank you.
"Anyway, please tell them to gather all the nuclear weapons in one place. I'll come pick them up."
—Don't worry. We'll move as quickly as possible.
"And I'll give proper feedback too. I'll record where they're used and make it public."
—Oh! Video feedback? I'm really looking forward to it.
That aside—
"How's the North these days?"
—You mean Chairman Kim In-jung?
"Yes, that man."
Jeon Seong-il knew as well.
That the current North Korean leader was actually Chairman Kim from a parallel Earth.
—I spoke with him yesterday too. About the unification process.
"Oh!"
—He said that after completing reunification here, he'd return home… or maybe he wouldn't.
Unifying North and South in two different worlds.
Almost like a unification fairy.
"Please take care of the nukes. Text me when everything's ready."
—Yes!
After finishing the call with Juhyeok, President Jeon immediately summoned his chief of staff.
An emergency presidential address was decided upon.
Its contents were broadcast worldwide through television and the press.
The public reaction?
—Bong Juhyeok wants nukes! Hurry and present them!
—Hand over everything, even what's hidden in your underwear.
—Just in case, make more. So they can be taken immediately if needed.
—He's taking nukes that are basically a liability now? That's amazing.
—This is probably saving the world too, when you think about it.
—Just how many times has Bong Juhyeok saved the world now?
—But now I'm curious where the nukes will be used.
—I hope it turns out our nukes save another world or something.
—Yeah. Holding my breath until the feedback comes out.
The nuclear weapons were gathering faster than expected.
It wouldn't even take a few days.
The North was the domain of monsters.
The South was the world of humans.
Among them, the nation with the greatest national power was the Magitech Empire, Arcane.
Its emperor was Felix Zarkal.
He had ascended the throne at the age of twenty and was now ninety-eight years old.
Even so, he was still vigorous—
Sharp eyes and skin without a single wrinkle.
He, too, was a Master.
Upon reaching Master rank, body change greatly extended one's lifespan.
In any case, news of what had happened on the Northern Front reached the imperial palace of the Magitech Empire as well—
Along with mana-circuit video recordings.
Swish.
On a white screen set up in the grand hall, footage of the Northern Front railway station played.
A mana-rifle soldier riding a dragon.
And the mysterious people who seemed to be their companions.
"…Veronica Caliber, you say?"
"Northern Army Commander Fabio Caliber asserted it unequivocally."
"Hm. Unbelievable. Yet her face is unchanged. How could this be?"
Emperor Felix Zarkal had never met Veronica while she was alive.
Would there ever have been a chance for him to meet a mere female mana-rifle sergeant from a provincial noble family?
He had met her only after her death—
As a body transported in a cryogenic mana-circuit coffin.
Back then, the young emperor had sincerely mourned her, personally pinning a medal on the fallen hero's chest and honoring her memory.
That was already seventy years ago.
Now the entire Caliber family was a guardian house of the Empire.
The designation of a guardian house was meant to praise her heroic deeds, but there had been another reason as well.
Why?
To check the power of the central aristocracy.
Thus, the Caliber family—once nothing more than a minor provincial noble house—was brought to the capital to disperse the authority monopolized by the central nobles.
The result had been a success.
The power of the central nobles weakened, and imperial authority was firmly established.
Even now, the Caliber family stood closest to the emperor.
Commander Fabio Caliber was the man the emperor trusted most.
But it was still not enough.
Were the central nobles really such easy opponents?
They were struggling desperately to find any way to tarnish the Caliber family.
The nobles also had connections within the Northern Army.
Through their own intelligence networks, they must have grasped the situation in the North.
"This is a preposterous lie. We personally confirmed the corpse seventy years ago. How could the dead return to life?"
"Commander Fabio Caliber has overstepped. Claiming the hero has revived to stir up the populace—perhaps he's plotting something."
"Could Fabio have acted alone? Might the Caliber family be harboring ulterior motives?"
"If they harbor treasonous intent… they must be thoroughly investigated and punished."
"I share that opinion. This is clearly an attempt at rebellion, clouding the eyes of the imperial citizens."
"Indeed. No matter how imminent the wave may be, this cannot simply be overlooked."
"The reappearance of an extinct dragon is no trivial matter either. It could become a greater threat than monsters."
Nearly all officials belonging to aristocratic houses began attacking Fabio and the Caliber family.
Wasn't this an opportunity?
A chance to drag the Empire's most powerful noble house into the abyss.
And if that happened, who would fill the vacuum?
Another house, of course.
Murmur, murmur.
The grand hall grew noisy.
Emperor Felix Zarkal raised his hand, silencing the assembly, and spoke.
"If Veronica is real, then what will you do?"
The nobles immediately pounced.
"Hah! How could she possibly be real? Dismiss Commander Fabio at once!"
"Summon him to the capital and charge him with his crimes!"
Tsk, tsk.
Their eyes were blazing red.
They thought they'd finally caught something, didn't they?
"Dismiss Fabio? Then what about the wave? Who will command the Northern Army?"
"The Empire has many talented individuals."
"Perhaps, but I've never seen anyone equal to Fabio."
"T-That is…"
"Let us discuss it again after the wave defense succeeds. This meeting is adjourned. All of you, return."
Those arguments weren't even worth considering.
The Emperor was curious as well, but decided to look into that separately.
So he was about to end the meeting—
"Your Majesty, cough! Th-this humble one has something to say."
"…Hm? Duke, you were here? Your health is poor—why did you come to the meeting?"
It was Duke Ratum Geiger.
The greatest magitech engineer of the Arcane Empire.
And the head of the imperial aristocratic faction.
"With the wave drawing near, how could I sleep soundly?"
"Oh? To think you cared this much for the Empire."
"Cough—my loyal devotion to Your Majesty has always been sincere."
"I see. Then do you have a different opinion?"
Ratum bowed deeply and spoke.
"I do not wish to see Commander Fabio Caliber charged with a crime."
"Really? That's quite a relief."
"However, it is necessary to dispatch an investigation team."
"Hm."
"We must thoroughly investigate what happened in the North. That is the most rational way to prove the commander's innocence."
The Emperor pondered deeply.
Then, after a moment—
"Very well. I approve the dispatch of an investigation team. However! The imperial family will also send representatives—keep that in mind."
"An exceedingly wise decision."
The meeting ended.
The nobles withdrew.
Duke Ratum Geiger also left the grand hall.
In a quiet place, he summoned his confidant, Count Bale Smith, a magitech engineer.
"Bale, did you see that footage?"
"I did."
"Cough—what do you think? About that person."
The one Ratum and Bale were referring to was not the mana-rifle soldier presumed to be Veronica.
It was the figure shown in the mana-circuit video.
More precisely—
Not a person.
"…It appears to be a humanoid golem body."
"Yes, cough—exactly. It was a body."
They had reviewed it countless times.
Eye movements, pupil contraction, and actions that didn't quite match the facial expressions.
And it wasn't just the footage.
There were eyewitness accounts as well.
A magitech engineer dispatched to the Northern Army from the Geiger ducal house had reported urgently via communication.
There was a being that looked human—but appeared to be a golem.
A machine that conversed with people, made its own judgments, acted creatively.
As though it possessed a soul.
At first, Ratum had doubted it.
A humanoid golem containing a soul?
Wouldn't that be a golem body?
A technology that transferred a human soul into a magitech cerebral soul circuit and implanted it into an artificial body—
Granting eternal life free from lifespan limits.
The pinnacle of magitech golem engineering.
A technology established only in theory.
An unexplored frontier beyond Arcane's current magitech level.
In truth, Arcane's magitech civilization was already dazzling by any standard.
Thanks to magitech engineering, they had successfully repelled monster waves.
Mana rifles, golem engineering, piloted giants—these were things they could boast about anywhere.
But creating a human-sized golem body was extraordinarily difficult.
Making something large was easy.
The larger the volume, the more space there was to engrave mana circuits.
But the smaller it became, the less room there was for mana circuit engraving.
And the hardest part of all—
The cerebral soul mana circuit capable of housing a soul.
Even in theory, it wasn't established.
It existed only in imagination.
Duke Ratum Geiger was facing death.
Mana reflux caused by excessive mana usage—physical collapse.
Elixirs no longer worked.
In cases of mana rampage, elixirs were poison.
There was a way—
Become a Master and undergo a body change.
But at present, that was impossible.
Only one option remained.
Switch bodies.
Transfer his soul into a golem body.
He had poured vast sums of money into researching artificial bodies and cerebral soul circuits…
Only to fail again and again.
And yet—what was this?
A cerebral-soul humanoid golem body actually existed.
"Could that golem body be a magitech engineer as well?"
"Most likely… a hidden scholar outside the established circles."
In the Mechanos dimension, magitech engineering was the primary academic discipline.
Countless engineers secluded themselves to focus solely on research.
Among them, there might be a school that had succeeded in artificial body and cerebral soul research.
"Can we obtain that body technology?"
"We should attempt persuasion first. Offer anything they desire in exchange for the technology."
"Cough! And if they refuse? I don't have much time left."
"If we want the fastest method—"
Bale whispered quietly.
"We kidnap them and dissect the body. Then locate the cerebral soul circuit, erase the existing soul, and implant Your Grace's soul…"
"Exactly. That's what I was thinking. Let's do it. But failure is not an option."
"We will succeed. Without fail."
Thus, despite his failing health, Duke Ratum Geiger personally joined the investigation team.
He also planned to bring one hundred piloted giants and their riders.
That was a force capable of hunting even a dragon.
Time passed quickly.
Juhyeok and the summoned ones moved back and forth between the White Tower and the Northern Front railway station, constructing a forward base.
It was a cold region, after all.
They installed housing with strong floor heating, and fully equipped water and sewage systems.
Dr. El, the golem body, together with the AI Wiz, completed an air-defense reconnaissance network using reconnaissance satellites and combat drones.
Meanwhile, Anton and Fabio Caliber visited Major Ver every single day.
It was extremely annoying—but they were her relatives, after all.
"This is the piloted giant that our magitech engineering prides itself on."
"Oh…"
"At first we relied on mana rifles, but by developing golem engineering, we've now created giants like these. Hahaha!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The Northern Army's piloted giants were displayed before Juhyeok and the summoned ones.
"They're classified according to the output of the mana engine core."
They were all the same size.
About twenty meters tall.
Only the colors differed.
Red for Master-class, blue for Expert-class, yellow for User-class.
"There are only twenty-five Master-class piloted giants in the entire Northern Army. The headquarters has just three."
They're smaller than I expected.
Compared to our Magnus Giants, they're like babies.
"Originally, the smaller something is, the harder it is to make. Size aside, the key point of a giant is speed. If it's too large, it becomes sluggish."
That's true.
"Also, piloted giants are controlled through the rider's mana, so the larger they are, the harder combat maneuvering becomes."
Dr. El handled the piloted Magnus Giant just fine—
And with incredible agility.
Anyway, it was about time to begin.
The Northern monster subjugation operation.
The theater screenings also began.
Footage of Major Ver riding Greeny and exterminating monsters was shown.
Yet Commander Fabio Caliber looked troubled.
Hesitating, he approached as if he had something to say.
"Um… could you reconsider publicly releasing footage of my sister's exploits?"
What's this about?
Is he unhappy that Major Ver is gaining popularity?
"Many people are looking at us with suspicion, wondering if we have ulterior motives."
Suspicion, my foot.
"Tell them not to suspect anything. Once the monsters are exterminated, we're done. It's not like we're asking for anything."
"It's not that simple. The imperial nobles are planning to dispatch an investigation team."
"…An investigation team?"
At that moment—
"Huh?"
"What did you say?"
Kosak and the Mad Demon came running over, ears perked.
"Say that again. Why—and when—is an investigation team coming?"
Fabio answered hesitantly.
"The Caliber family may be a guardian house of the Empire, but that also means there are many who envy us."
Makes sense.
People are the same everywhere.
"They will certainly take issue with my sister's return."
"How will they take issue?"
"They'll probably insist she's a fake. They may send troops to detain her… or escort her away…"
"Ah!"
"Using that as a pretext to launch an offensive against the Caliber family…"
"Oh!"
For some reason, Kosak and the Mad Demon's faces flushed red.
What are they so excited about?
Juhyeok could guess.
"Inspector Bong, we can't just sit still. We need to form an investigation-response team."
"Indeed. We should strike preemptively before they start causing trouble."
"What if the investigation team threatens us with swords? That'd be sword-coercion."
"Leave it to this old man. I'll deal with it without leaving any future trouble—ah, no, with mercy."
Does Major Ver need bodyguards?
Absolutely not.
At least not among the summoned ones here.
Not even El or Rajiks.
"…Why are you all so happy about the investigation team coming?"
"Ahem! When did this old man ever say I was happy?"
"That's right. What do you take me for? I'm hurt."
"Are you worried we'll slaughter them all with Crescent Moon Force? Not at all! I overcame my lust for killing long ago."
"Exactly. Do you think I'm happy just because there's a chance to earn another ribbon? I'm Kosak the Peace Dove."
Yes.
That really does seem to be the case.
So please—both of you—wipe those grins off your faces.