Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)

Satou here. I kinda like special TV programmes that cover treasure hunts for Tokugawa\'s buried treasures. That the hunt would end up in failure was obvious since news about it didn\'t turn up on the headline, but even so, I still like to watch them.

◇

"Your Highness, could I have a moment of your time?"

On the way to the ceremony to celebrate the new airship\'s completion, I went to the first prince to consult about the bet.

I have worked out the content of the consultation together with Arisa and Hikaru through space magic [Telephone] on my way here.

Incidentally, the figures of nobles who lost their bet clinging on me incurred the wrath of the first prince and they were ordered to cool off their heads elsewhere.

It seems they\'re currently having strategy meetings among their own small factions.

Thus, the only people near the first prince are his guards and me, convenient for holding a private talk.

"Is it about the bet?"

The first prince took a half step forward before stopping and turned around.

"Yes--"

"I will not allow it if you\'re asking the bet to be annuled."

The first prince interrupted my reply.

"No, that is not what I have in mind."

When I shook my head, the first prince looked like he found it unexpected.

Looks like he thought that I was hesitating to say, "I\'d like to annul the bet."

"After receiving the betting prizes, I would like to present them to your highness."

"Hmph, you\'re the only person who dares to force a chore on me without a hint of hesitation."

The first prince who saw through my real intention had a sarcastic smile on his face.

Looks like he had assessed that I was asking him, "Afterward, please grant them back to their original owners as a reward from your highness."

It\'d be bad if we had a misunderstanding so I told him something to that effect, and the prince consented even while looking reluctant.

"If those prizes are to be granted as a reward, you\'re saying that they have to work hard to earn it, no?"

I assented to the prince\'s question.

It\'s a bit annoying, but it should be advantageous for the first prince too since he will be showing off his generosity while also working his followers hard.

"Good grief, Sir Pendragon, you should familiarize yourself more on the greediness of an average noble."

"--Greediness, is it?"

"Indeed. Do not flaunt enticing treasures within a hand reach of children."

Looks like he\'s implying about not only the diamond key, but also my magic and ability.

"Yes, I will strive to improve myself on that."

"--You do just that."

After saying that, the first prince continues his step forward.

My Attentive Ears skill picked up him muttering, "I don\'t want to worry about receding hairlines while I\'m still young", but I managed to ignore it with the help of Poker Face-sensei (skill).

I\'ll make sure to send him some seaweed dishes and hair regenerating shampoo and conditioner later.

◇

"These are all the ground support functions of airship Geldever."

The Chief of Royal Airship Arsenal was having a fervent speech on the stage during the ceremony to celebrate the new airship.

The new airship that was choke full of facilities to deal with monster stampedes was quite something, but the people seemed like they had their minds elsewhere, so the chief\'s explanation felt like it was being ignored.

There\'s no mistaking that it\'s due to the rumor about Holy Shell Mobile Armor.

Due to the poor reception of the audience, the chief gritted his teeth while looking like he wanted to, "Gununu."

It might be also because test the fire of magic artillery installed around the royal capital got delayed to another day.

I was also a bit disappointed since I had some interest in the [Magic Artillery] discovered in a ruin in a territory under direct control of the king.

"I can see it!"

Lady Karina who was with me shouted out loud while pointing at the southwest sky.

Lured by her voice, the spectators look at the direction she pointed.

"So that\'s the Holy Shell Mobile Armor--"

Relying on Farsight skill, I gaze at a huge armor tied onto two large-scale airships in the horizon.

It\'s bigger than I thought.

I imagined it to be human-sized since the story said that Hikaru wore it, but it looks more like a robot that\'s almost as big as Odaiba.

"....That\'s, General."

I heard Hikaru, who was beside the king, muttered.

True, the AR shows [Holy Shell Mobile Armor: General].

Is it just my imagination or Hikaru doesn\'t look happy somehow.

Contrary to the king and the prime minister who are getting excited as they look up at the coming Holy Shell Mobile Armor.

Hikaru left the two and walked outside the ceremony hall.

"What\'s the matter, Hikaru."

"Ah, Ichirou-nii."

When I followed Hikaru and called out to her, she turned around with a face that was about to cry and smiled lonesomely.

"That\'s, you know... it\'s a remain."

Hikaru muttered weakly.

Come to think of it, it\'s called [Holy Shell] Mobile Armor.

"They were the last survivors of an old old giant race whose sole wish was to eradicate demons, they fought as the vanguards of Furu Empire."

Hikaru who had fought together with them spoke.

"But you see, they couldn\'t fulfill that wish."

I couldn\'t see Hikaru\'s expression as she was looking down.

"Furu Empire\'s emperor granted them the last request they uttered in their dying breath--"

--We want to keep fighting demons even after we have turned into a corpse.

So the Giants wished.

"A Holy Shell Mobile Armor was strong enough to put up a good fight against a true dragon if it was only for a short while."

Hikaru narrated weakly.

Fragments of 『Dragonflame Orb』 they got from Dragon God in exchange of a vast amount of crimson treasures and other treasury, acted as the heart of Holy Shell Mobile Armor, demonstrating a far greater output than any conventional magic reactor.

If a Holy Shell Mobile Armor was to move at full power, the humans inside would die from the inertia so they would wear a three-meter tall mobile armor or a powered suit called invincible armor before getting in.

Additionally, that Dragonflame Orb was used at the final stage of the war between Furu Empire and Orc Empire, creating a vast desert to the west of Labyrinth City.

"And then I think it was after I befriended Ten-chan? I found these kids buried in a ruin of Furu Empire\'s arsenal."

According to Hikaru, there were four [Holy Shell Mobile Armors] and only [General] and [Dynast] remained at the end of the war.

The magic specialized type that Hikaru used, [Sage], got seriously damaged in the fight against the Wild Boar King.

The last one, [Saint], had its central part run amok right before the final battle and was destroyed along with the orc army.

"I originally wanted to let them sleep in their graves once the war was over, but I was an awful king you see. I couldn\'t manage to revive the kingdom without the help of those kids."

I hold Hikaru in my chest as she forced a smile while shedding tears.

"And you see, Sharlick-kun promised me this when he became the king. He will keep the kingdom peaceful during his rule and let those kids sleep in a place no one can find he said."

"Then, now I will promise you this--"

I pat the sobbing Hikaru\'s hair.

"--I will let them sleep in a place that absolutely no one could find."

First of all, I will make a fake with the same capability as the Holy Shell Mobile Armor to the limit of Disguise skill.

Although, the king and the prime minister will definitely return the Holy Shell Mobile Armor back to its grave asap if only Hikaru tells them what she feels.

But if we did that, some adventurers with reckless abandon to life and dilettantes would likely show up to find the [Absolutely Indiscoverable] Holy Shell Mobile Armor.

◇

"Guilty?"

"Ah hey Mito, what happened?"

"Aa, it\'s, well."

Arisa and Mia who had gone back from their special lecture greeted us when I returned to the Solitary Island Palace while lending my shoulder to Hikaru.

Apparently, princess Sistina who should have been with them is secluding herself in the forbidden library because the content of the lecture caught her interest.

I told what I heard earlier to Arisa and Mia after letting Mito sleep.

"Hmm, Mito-tan\'s been through a lot too~"

"Nn, seasoned."

Arisa gazes at Mito\'s room worryingly despite her light tone.

"So then, what do you plan to do Master?"

"Hm? I\'m thinking of exchanging the armor with a fake that no one can notice and then bury him in a place no one can find."

Of course, I\'ll be doing that after I\'ve spoken with the king.

"Un, I think that\'s a good idea."

"Could Satou-san really do that?"

Zena-san, a person with common sense, asked beside the nodding Arisa.

"Nope, not right away. It\'ll be after I\'ve scanned the structures of Holy Shell Mobile Armor."

People from Royal Research Institute have begun their investigation in one of the royal castle\'s hangars you see.

◇

"--Ancestor King-sama said that?"

"What have we done."

I visited the king\'s room as Nanashi, which I hadn\'t become in a long while, and told them about what Hikaru told me earlier.

"N-no... This retainer only wished to please his king...."

Marquis Kelten who were in the room groaned while falling prostrate on the ground.

Looks like he\'s deeply regretting that his surprise present he thought would please his lord ended up saddening her instead.

"It cannot be helped. The circumstances surrounding that weren\'t handed down were they?"

After all, they even got the mobile armor worn in order to pilot the Holy Shell Mobile Armor mixed up with the real thing.

"I will exchange it with a fake later. Tell me about the place you found it. There should be another Holy Armor sleeping there according to Mito."

"No, Nanashi-sama. The only Holy Shell Mobile Armor we found in the ruin was the one we brought here."

Marquis Kelten answered my question.

"Do you swear?"

"Yes I swear on ancestor king-sama, the royalty, and the honor of Kelten Marquisdom."

Marquis Kelten promptly replied to my question.

Fumu, that means, even after retrieving Holy Shell Mobile Armor [General], I\'ve still got to find the other armor--which is called [Dynast] it seems.

"Very well, I believe you."

Since marquis Kelten was looking at me anxiously, I gave him my assent.

I sure am acting high and mighty here.

Feels like I\'ll get caught up in hubris if I\'m not careful.

Additionally, the king immediately give me the permission to change the armor with a fake, so I quickly infiltrated the hangar and scanned the Holy Shell Mobile Armor.

The source of power, its reactor seemed to be a kind of Philosopher\'s Stone Reactor of unknown type so I\'m thinking of making one that only looks exactly the same outwardly.

For the time being, the king has ordered to stop the investigation of the magic artillery and the reactor inside.

◇

"--On top of having a large scale Mana Reactor inside, it\'s also able to manufacture and command 100 giant golems all at once huh...."

I was astonished at the results of the scan.

It far outclassed magic weaponry in present days.

Ancient Furu Empire sure had some amazing technology up their sleeves.

"Satou."

Princess Sistina knocked and entered the room.

"I\'ve looked up the documents pertaining magic artillery you asked."

"Thank you very much."

She brought three documents from the forbidden library in the royal castle.

Unfortunately they weren\'t about the technical sides of magic artillery, but more about their destructive power and history.

"It seems Furu Empire repaired artillery they excavated in a ruin of Lalakie civilization and made use of them."

Princess Sistina told me as she turned the pages.

Lalakie huh.... It crossed 20,000 years of time and was revived during the Divine Punishment, but it has sunk back into the depth of oceans now.

The half-ghost and homonculus sisters-in-law I saved back then should be acting as gravekeepers if I\'m not mistaken.

After looking around the map for a bit, I found out that wreckages of magic artillery are sleeping not only in Lalakie, but also in the oceanic state of magic kingdom Lalagi that\'s related to Lalakie, in the territorial waters of Ishlalie, and even in the Sea Dragon Archipelago at the coastal waters of Boruenan.

Few survived getting submerged in the sea for 20,000 years, only an ancient ship made of adamantite sunk in the Sea Dragon Archipelago remained.

"Sa-Satou, that\'s?"

When I used space magic [Item Pull (Aport)] to take a magic artillery from the ancient ship here, princess Sistina was shocked for some reason.

She probably wants to know what I fetched since I relatively often took things out of Storage in front of her.

"It\'s a small magic cannon installed in a sunken ship from the era of Lalakie Dynasty."

Many types were present, but the ones installed in the Holy Shell Mobile Armor were of this type, so I chose this one.

"I\'ll be heading off to the studio."

"Yes, take care."

I parted ways with princess Sistina who sounded tired somehow and went to make a fake Holy Shell Mobile Armor.

It should be done by tomorrow morning if I just work hard here.

※ planned updates are as scheduled

8/8 12:00 In commemoration of the day before new publication volume release, [16-7. Holy Shell Mobile Armor (2)]

8/10 12:00　In commemoration of the new publication volume release day, [16-8. Ringrande Returning Home]

8/13 18:00 Regular update [16-9. Sera\'s Resolution]

(The above is a plan. If I can\'t make it in time.... Please accept my apology.)

※ Regarding Lalakie sisters, please look at [15-40. Divine Punishment (9)] or publication volume 9