The limits of weapons.
So long as something belonged to the mundane materials of the Lower World, its ceiling would always be locked in place.
Even a [First-Class Equipment] piece he'd forged himself from the finest materials still carried a physical risk of wear and breakage when facing monsters on the deep floors that could reshape terrain on a whim — or the even higher-tier enemies they might meet in the future.
Their bodies and souls were evolving at breakneck speed, but the blades in their hands simply couldn't keep pace with that same transformation.
"So what they needed," he thought, "was a weapons system that could truly resonate with the soul."
A faint gleam of thought stirred in Haimer's eyes.
—An Innate Spirit Device.
It happened to offer the perfect answer.
In the world of Chivalry of a Failed Knight, the gifted individuals known as Blazers could materialize their own souls, condensing them into a weapon that belonged to them and them alone.
Such a Device wasn't just far harder than any ordinary metal — more importantly, it was bound tightly to its wielder's will and soul.
As long as the soul endured and conviction held firm, the Device could unleash destructive power that defied common sense.
"If I could bring this kind of power system into Orario... into my own Familia..."
Haimer could already picture it.
For fighters like Onigawara Rin and Inaba Tsukuyo, the benefit would be extraordinary.
It would be like skipping the long, grinding search for divine-grade materials entirely — handing every single one of them a personal weapon second only to a true divine artifact.
After all, what truly made an Innate Spirit Device terrifying wasn't just its indestructibility.
It was the Noble Arts unleashed through that Device — the powers wielded by the original story's top-tier fighters.
Setting aside the elemental masters who controlled water, fire, lightning, and wind under the [Natural Interference] type,
what truly caught Haimer's interest were the [Causality Interference] types, the ones who brushed right up against the bottom line of the rules themselves.
Take Kurono Shinguuji, known as the "World Clock," and her World Crisis.
It let her directly manipulate the causality of time — not only warping the space around her target by brute force, but shattering the entire surrounding space along with it.
It was an attack that erased everything on a conceptual level. The space it destroyed could never be restored, and any physical defense was as laughably flimsy as wet paper against that kind of causal annihilation.
Or take another example.
There was also Nene Saikyou, the "Yaksha Princess," who had pushed her [Natural Interference] type all the way into gravity manipulation.
She could not only alter the gravitational field around herself, but use terrifying gravitational pull to yank space debris down from beyond the atmosphere at tremendous speed, dropping it with pinpoint precision straight onto an enemy's head — a scale of destruction that could easily blanket an entire country.
"Devices this unreasonable would make custom-tailored weapons for the battle-hungry girls in my Familia."
With that thought, Haimer rose to his feet and stretched his arms.
"While they're all off bathing, might as well enjoy the quiet."
"I'll go take a look at that world first, and get things ready for their expedition while I'm at it."
After a moment's thought, Haimer made up his mind. A single stirring of intent summoned the hidden interface.
The System panel, unseen for so long, unfurled in an instant, radiating a pale, cold blue light.
"System."
Haimer issued the command in his mind at once.
"Lock world coordinates: World Designation W-521."
"Since the second world it filtered out turned out to be this one..."
"...then I might as well go take a look first."
[Command confirmed.]
A flat, mechanical synthesized voice rang out deep in Haimer's mind, and streams of data began pouring wildly across the System panel.
[Retrieving world coordinates…]
[World coordinates located… World Designation W-521 — Chivalry of a Failed Knight]
[Anchor point confirmed: the Vermillion Kingdom region (ten years prior).]
[Host's Divine Power detected as sealed…]
[Cross-world transport will consume System reserve energy…]
[Charging energy…]
[Transport channel construction ready.]
[Countdown…]
He let the massive spatial pull of the System's descent envelop him completely.
In Haimer's field of view, the furnishings of the meeting hall twisted in an instant into bizarre, shimmering lines of light.
The next moment—
the temperature and scent of the air around him changed abruptly.
Haimer opened his eyes and swept his gaze quickly around him.
What met his eyes was an unfamiliar European-style room.
The surrounding walls were papered in dark crimson patterned with gold, and heavy dark crimson velvet curtains sealed the massive floor-to-ceiling windows shut, letting through only a few dim threads of light.
At the center of the room stood a large carved bed, its posts wound with elaborate golden vine ornamentation.
Every piece of furnishing in the room spoke of extravagance — even the little stand in the corner meant to hold a candlestick had been forged from costly metal.
"This architectural style, this taste in décor — classic old-school European royalty, through and through."
Haimer walked to the door and peered outside through the crack.
A long red carpet ran down the corridor beyond, and House Vermillion's flame-emblem crest hung on the walls.
According to the System's notice,
this was clearly the heart of the Vermillion Kingdom's territory — the homeland of the woman who would one day be hailed as the "Crimson Princess," Stella.
He hadn't yet released his Divine Power to scan the area at large, but his ears twitched.
and sharply caught the commotion drifting in from the corridor outside the door.
Several sets of hurried, chaotic footsteps, mixed with the sharp clatter of porcelain basins knocking together.
Right after, the voices of several women arguing drifted in through the crack in the door.
"Hurry! Bring ten more basins of ice water from the water room!"
a middle-aged woman's voice urged from outside.
"Captain, the ice water isn't doing anything!"
another, younger girl's voice replied, on the verge of tears.
"Her Highness the Second Princess is burning up — the towels soaked in ice water turn to scalding steam the second we lay them on her, and even the towels themselves are scorched black!"
"Shut your mouth! No complaining! Useless or not, you keep swapping in fresh ones for me!"
"But Captain, the temperature in Her Highness's room just spiked again — even the edges of that special fireproof metal bed are starting to melt and warp! This isn't a temperature a human body should even be able to reach!"
"How dare you keep running your mouth! If His Majesty the King hears you gossiping about Her Highness, do you still want to keep your head!"
"I'm not making it up, Matron. Princess Stella — she's like a keg of Gunpowder that could go off any second! Didn't you see her writhing on the floor in pain just now? Her skin is red and cracking all over — the mana overflowing from her own body is burning her alive!"
The girl's crying grew louder and louder.
The Captain of the Guard snapped back sternly.
"That's because Her Highness was born with immense mana! It's a blessing our Vermillion Empire hasn't seen in a hundred years!"
"But Princess Stella's mana could burn the entire palace to ash — us along with it — at any moment. His Majesty King Seleucus hasn't slept a wink in three days and three nights, he's so worried."
"Even the most famous mana physicians in the whole kingdom have no idea what to do. Anyone who dares get close to Her Highness ends up covered in blisters from that uncontrolled mana! If this keeps up, the Princess is going to burn herself to death!"