Chapter 161: The Workshop (1)
In a peaceful landscape like a farm in the dead of winter, an explosion suddenly erupted from a warehouse that had been quiet as could be. Livestock that had been leisurely eating feed fled in fright, and the warehouse—already ramshackle—began collapsing on the spot.
From that cloud of dust, two figures emerged.
"Hmm...."
"'Hmm' my ass, what are you hmm-ing about, you bastard. Next is the neck. Hold still."
FUG Elder Chaplin didn't spare a glance at his severed arm, merely letting out a light hum as he observed his opponent. His opponent was a ruler—and not just any ruler, but the ruler of the 91st Floor, where the Arie Family's largest munitions production complex was stationed: Arie Nasca.
"I expected the ruler of the 91st Floor to be strong, given how important the floor is to the Arie Family... but this is beyond what I anticipated."
For a swordsmanship family, he wielded a weapon whose boundary between sword and spear was ambiguous, and with that small frame of his, he rampaged like a berserker. With such a long-reach weapon to boot, closing the distance was extremely difficult. And he wasn't flailing wildly—every action was carried out under thorough calculation.
"I'm glad it wasn't you who went to Paradise."
Lord Vertia was still insufficient to face this one. Come to think of it, by now Lord Vertia would have finished cleaning things up, gathered the documents, and headed to the agreed-upon rendezvous point.
—Or so Chaplin thought, but Nasca, reading his thoughts from his words and expression, let out a snicker.
"Stupid bastard. How do you think I found out you were here? The 'White Whale' went to that nursery facility you call Paradise or whatever."
"...!"
"So you can just die right here."
With those words, Nasca swung his crescent blade and split Chaplin's body in half. Far from being pleased at how easily it was done, Nasca's expression contorted.
"Sneaky piece of shit..!"
"I didn't expect to have to use 'one' here. I hope we don't cross paths again, Ruler of the 91st Floor."
"Get off my floor, you old fiend."
Chaplin's body, split in half and floating upward, began recklessly drawing in the surrounding shinsu, then crammed in more than he could handle and detonated it.
The resulting explosion carried enough force to completely obliterate the entire agricultural district. Since food was precious on this floor and such a thing couldn't be allowed, Nasca immediately swung his crescent blade in a wide arc.
With a rough whoosh of displaced air, the abnormal sight of an explosion being sliced apart occurred, and the mercilessly cleaved explosion quietly died down as if there had never been one to begin with.
Pocketing his crescent blade into his Pocket-inventory and dusting off his hands, Nasca suddenly turned his gaze toward the direction of the snowfield zone.
"Hmm... I wonder if things went well on the Paradise side."
.....
Haah, that ring I'd carefully kept for an engagement proposal... why did I take it out of my Pocket-inventory and keep it on me... where did Mascheny go?
Come to think of it, she took the box with the ring too. Was she so flustered she just carried it off? Pfft, thinking about it makes me laugh. She's got a lot of cute sides to her in many ways.
I need to go find her first. But before that—
"....."
The Elder's Deacon, charred black and sprawled on the ground. Was he even... alive? The subordinate Rankers coming in soon would handle him—all I cared about were the papers in his hands.
Somehow, she'd zapped him with electricity while leaving only these papers perfectly intact. Impressive.
I gathered all the documents and stuffed them into my inventory, then went outside.
I was wondering where to go to find Mascheny, but she was closer than I'd thought. Just a few minutes' walk up the straight corridor and there she was.
...Earlier she'd been covering her face with both hands; now she was clutching her head.
"Um... Mascheny?"
"...Hoaqin, so the... r-ring..."
"Haha... want me to put it on you?"
"Huh, wh-what?"
I took the chest back from her and opened it. With a click, the ring revealed itself once more.
Hahaha... I wished the mood had been a bit better, but—
"Mascheny, your hand."
"...Okay.."
She cautiously extended her left hand, and I carefully slid the ring onto her fourth finger—her ring finger.
The ring fitted onto her ring finger immediately melted and seeped into her finger. Seeing that, Mascheny looked at me in alarm.
"The ring..?"
"It's fine. I had it made that way on purpose."
No matter what, a Princess of Zahard couldn't be seen wearing a ring on her ring finger, so this ring—custom-made with special specifications—was designed to melt and absorb into the finger once worn. Completely harmless to the body, of course.
To Mascheny, whose face was still red, I smiled warmly and said.
"Someday, I'll put a ring on you that doesn't melt."
"...Yeah. Um... Hoaqin."
"Hm?"
Mascheny fidgeted, unable to meet my eyes. What's with her today? She went off the rails sometimes, but her character never changed this drastically.
I took her cheeks in both hands and turned her face so she'd look at me, and only then did she calm down and slowly open her mouth.
"Hoaqin, about the concubine... issue. It's okay if you take them. It'd be weird for you to suffer because of me, and if things keep going like this, others might start finding it... a bit suspicious. Besides, it's only natural for a 10 Great Family branch leader to take concubi... nes."
Huh? Was that what she'd been agonizing over this whole time? While I was taken aback, she fanned her face vigorously to cool it down, then added quietly.
"I mean... the legal wife would be m—"
As Mascheny paused mid-sentence, I gently pulled her into an embrace. She seemed momentarily startled, then quietly surrendered herself to the warmth.
"Mascheny, thank you for thinking about me. But... I won't be taking any concubines."
"...Don't push yourself for no reason. It's fine, so just take them."
"Hahaha, no no. It's not like that—I mean I've found a solution."
"....?"
Mascheny stared at me blankly. I smiled and pointed at this facility.
"Why do you think I came here? I came to solve the problem. It's nearly resolved. By the way Mascheny, was that worry the reason you haven't contacted me all this time? Haha, how adorable."
"....!"
Her face flushed red again as she finally realized her agonizing had been needless worry, and her expression even twisted slightly. Haha, should I tease her a bit more?
...No, she genuinely thought about me after all. I broke into a hearty laugh and, instead of my usual jokes or teasing words, spoke words meant to reassure her and express my sincere gratitude.
"Thank you for thinking about me, Mascheny. But how could I take concubines when I have you?"
I wasn't particularly interested in anyone else to begin with. She, who had been diligently cooling her face, eventually let out a scoff too.
"Heh, you always know what to say..."
"Hahaha, let's head out now. It's too dark and dreary in here. Let's talk again soon, somewhere it's just the two of us. But what brought you here anyway?"
"They told me to hunt down a FUG High Ranker."
"Want help?"
"No, don't need it. Already done. That guy holding the papers earlier."
"Ahh..."
Chatting as we walked up the straight ascending corridor, we reached the surface in no time. Having come up, it seemed the situation had long since concluded—Zahard Army soldiers with red three-eyed insignias were performing kill confirmations on FUG Rankers strewn across the ground, and my subordinate Rankers were sitting somewhere in the building, resting.
Oh, Ascensio was here too? While I waved at Ascensio, who had been sitting and exchanging words with Belsian, one of the Zahard Army soldiers bearing the red three-eyed insignia approached Mascheny and knelt.
"Princess, with the cooperation of the Arie Family, all FUG forces on the surface have been eliminated."
"Cooperation my ass. You didn't do anything—you just rode the bus."
"....Ahem!"
At Belsian's jab, the Zahard Army Ranker coughed repeatedly. Mascheny looked down at him as if he were pathetic and issued orders to him and all the other Zahard soldiers.
"The mission was successful, so we're returning. The original target, the Elder's Deacon, is alive down below, so send one person down to retrieve him."
""Yes ma'am!""
The Zahard Army moved swiftly and in perfect order. Mascheny roughly wrapped up the situation, then looked at me.
"Hoaqin."
"Yeah."
"It's a shame to part so soon, but... stop by the Khun Family main house. Let's meet there."
"Sure, I'll come as soon as I can."
Mascheny raised the corners of her mouth faintly, then boarded the floating ship with the Zahard Army and Ascensio. Ascensio seemed to be following them obediently, but suddenly changed direction and approached me.
"Hoaqin."
"Hm, Ascensio. Long time. What?"
"Noona seems to have accepted things, but I won't stand for it."
"....?"
"If you dare take another woman while you have noona..."
His eyes flashed as he made a gesture of drawing a spear. Oh dear, Ascensio still didn't know? This sort of thing was much faster heard from the person herself than explained by me.
I waved my hands dismissively with a sly grin.
"Haha, Ascensio. I'd recommend having a chat with Mascheny about that."
"...I'll consider it."
After wrapping up my brief meeting with Ascensio, our Arie side also began preparing to leave. This place was like an empty shell. The facility remained, but it was of little use to me, and the most important thing—the children—had fallen into FUG's hands.
If there was any gain to speak of... it would be the papers the Deacon had been carrying. I hadn't looked at what was written on them yet, but that Slayer had definitely said it was a map with the locations of other 'Paradises.'
"Branch Leader, the floating ship fleet under Nasca's command has received orders to return and has departed. It seems it's time for us to head back as well."
"Haha, everyone's already gone? Then let's get ready too. By the way, Heron—your shirt button's come undone."
"Oh my, how careless. I shall correct it as soon as we return to the estate."
"No need to go that far. Just leave it unbuttoned. Those muscles of yours always looked like they were suffocating in that shirt anyway."
"...Hehe. For now, let us return. I shall escort you."
I nodded and turned to my other companions.
"Orca noona, Belsian. I'll leave the cleanup to you. Please salvage anything from the facility that our estate could use."
"Sure, just leave it to this noona."
"I'd rather not."
Cleanly ignoring Belsian's protest—since he'd comply in the end anyway—I boarded the floating ship with Heron and began sailing back toward the 78th Floor.
Sitting comfortably there, I examined the documents the Elder's Deacon had been carrying, and discovered something unexpected.
"....!"
<Estimated Paradise Location: Black Thorn Mountain>
Black Thorn Mountain was the territory the Lo Po Bia had previously invaded—in other words, the name of a mountain on our 78th Floor.
Well then—so much for looking far when it was right under my nose. This would be easier than expected. And on top of that...
— Cain hyung: The 'teacher' from the Workshop has arrived. They find the blood fusion technology quite interesting. They want to speak with you directly, so come back as soon as your business is finished.
....
78th Floor, Sea of the White Whale
Arie Branch Estate — White Whale Palace
Knock knock knock.
Hoaqin's empty office. From the door leading in, the sound of someone knocking could be heard. Naturally, since nobody was in the office, no answer came, and the one who knocked—having apparently done so merely as a formality—immediately opened the door.
"Excuse meee...."
Creeeak—carefully opening the door, Hagipherione entered the office. The room was dark and completely empty. Normally, when she came in like this, oppa would smile and welcome her in...
"Mmm, it's too dark."
After looking around, she finally found the power switch. It was positioned much higher than she was, but a simple jump let her press it, and light flooded the dark office.
Her reason for coming here was nothing special. She simply thought that if she came in, perhaps, just perhaps, the brother who was always here would welcome her from inside—a childlike fantasy mixed with hope... and because she missed the cookies that Hoaqin always brought out whenever Hagipherione visited.
"Mmm... it was somewhere around here, I think... should I try finding it by smell?"
Sniff sniff—she sniffed around, then sighed. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't a dog, and how was she supposed to find cookies that barely had any smell...
Deflated, she went back to rummaging diligently through Hoaqin's drawers, when she discovered something.
"Hm? ...It's a photo."
Hmm... the person in the middle looks like oppa... and who are the other people next to him? Is it a birthday party? Their hair, eyes, and skin are all white, just like mine.
Flip, flip.
"....?"
Falling particles of purple light, and the faint sound of fluttering wings. Her keen ears distinctly caught the sound of those wingbeats, and curiosity piqued, Hagipherione turned her head in that direction.
The source of the sound was Hoaqin's desk, and there, a purple butterfly sat quietly perched.
"It's the butterfly oppa keeps... butterfly, have you eaten?"
Oppa hasn't come home in days... if the butterfly starves to death because of this, he'd be sad, wouldn't he?
"Ah, I found the cookies!"
With perfect timing, she found the cookie storage, opened it, and offered some cookie crumbs to the butterfly.
"Here, you eat too."
Flutter, flutter.
Naturally, the butterfly gave no answer and simply flapped its wings. Obviously a butterfly couldn't eat cookie crumbs, but to Hagipherione, it looked like the butterfly was too weak to fly and could only feebly flap its wings.
"...Are you sick? I must have fed you too late..."
To examine the butterfly, Hagipherione slowly reached her hand toward it. It won't fly away, right? It was always sitting calmly next to oppa... it should be okay to touch it a little.
Thinking so, the moment Hagipherione gently touched the butterfly—
FLASH!!
"Kyaaah!"
In that instant, an intensely powerful purple light erupted from the butterfly's body. Hagipherione, who took the light head-on, collapsed straight to the ground.
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