episode_0032

Drip.

Rainwater dripped from the ceiling, where even moonlight struggled to penetrate. It was rusty water falling from rusted pipes.

This abandoned factory, left unfinished, was no different from the remains of a living creature. The pipes were like veins that no longer pulsed.

And we were the maggots, writhing and teeming, that inevitably swarmed such a rotting corpse.

“Thinking about it, Captain.”

Just as I was wondering how everyone could sleep so soundly in a place like this, someone approached my side. It was the man with serpent eyes, who served as our eyes.

“It’s the first time we’ve all gathered like this with this lineup.”

“……”

“Romeo and Juliet had always dreamed of a gathering like this.”

I didn’t bother to reply.

“A place where all of us could gather.”

I silently furrowed my brows at the names that flowed from Silan’s lips.

Playwright Romeo, Tragic Juliet.

That couple, two names bound as one, were, as their monikers suggested, members of the ‘Black Serpent’ and the proud final bosses in the previous installment.

They had aimed to transform their story into a comedy, but ultimately, it ended in tragedy.

I still vividly recall fighting those two. As a user who played Heroic Era beyond the monitor.

Furthermore, as the ‘protagonist of the previous installment’ and a player, they weren’t the only serpents I defeated.

How much of it was a story from the game, and how much was a story from ‘this world’? I couldn’t tell. Not a single thing.

Therefore, I could only move forward to find out.

*

On the day of the World Military Exposition—

Bang!

Above the ash-gray sky, which wore a gloomy expression as usual, rainbow-colored fireworks bloomed.

The cheers of the crowd grew louder. Around the Crystal Palace, it was so difficult to even set foot due to the spectators.

Nevertheless, the honor of entering the Crystal Palace on the opening day was reserved solely for a select few guests gathered from various nations.

The majority couldn’t even enter, and could only stroll around the Crystal Palace, soaking in the festive atmosphere.

The people, too, didn’t wish for anything more.

Until the ‘surprise gift’ from the Bretona Empire, which had built and refined the Crystal Palace for this very day, made its appearance.

“What is that?!”

“Lo-look at that!”

“Good heavens!”

The reason the exhibition hall was deliberately built of glass was neither to allow glimpses from beyond, nor to showcase light and splendor by highlighting the theme of crystal.

It was to show everyone clearly and distinctly.

Above the transparent, shining glass of the Crystal Palace, an image appeared as if projected—a lifelike, moving picture, like a film.

It was the vivid internal scenery of the exhibition hall, projected with such clarity that it could be recognized from anywhere and any angle.

—At the same time, the video projection wasn’t limited to the Crystal Palace’s glass.

No sooner did one think it appeared from the horizon than the shadow of a warship cast itself directly overhead.

The ‘Sky Ship,’ boasting an absurdly intimidating presence, began projecting the interior of the exhibition hall onto its underside, as if it were a theater screen.

“……That’s a Dreadnought-class aerial battleship.”

Aria whispered beside me, without even glancing up at the sky.

Swaying and blending into the waves of people overflowing there.

“Wow, it’s absolutely jaw-dropping. I almost died trying to smuggle out those blueprints, you know.”

“You’re being too dramatic, Silan.”

“Hmm, that reminds me of my date to the underworld with Elder Sister that day. We quietly enjoyed the scenery together, and even dipped our feet amicably in the river…”

“……That’s fabrication. Don’t drag elves into your delusions.”

Not human, but an elf. Selena added, dumbfounded.

Amidst the waves of people, Silan and Selena calmly exchanged words.

……No, more importantly, he smuggled out the blueprints for that aerial battleship? Really? I had to doubt my ears as I listened.

“What do you think, Captain! Since I risked my life to smuggle them out, shouldn’t we invest some budget into creating something absolutely astonishing—”

“……”

After my initial doubt, I suppressed the deep urge to agree and remained silent.

At any rate.

None of us bothered to conceal our identities or actions.

Even among the countless people, our voices, as we exchanged words, were remarkably clear.

As if no one else but the ‘Black Serpent’ was here.

And indeed, that was the case.

For what bustled around us was far from human.

They were all automatons moved by Golden Mirror, disguises of puppets that moved according to command.

Moreover, they weren’t hastily deployed and set into motion just today.

All of them had lived as citizens of this city for at least several months at the shortest, and for years at the longest.

Furthermore, the lives of the city dwellers that the automatons mimicked were by no means acquired for free.

They were stolen.

From the ‘real’ individuals who were meant to enjoy and live those lives.

By skinning their faces and extracting their brains to mimic their memories and behavioral patterns, so as not to arouse suspicion from those around them.

They utterly stole and plundered their lives, blending in and living without a trace.

—All the automatons here.

I inadvertently suppressed a wave of nausea and lifted my head.

Before long, a ‘grand opening’ fit for a military exposition was being projected onto the Crystal Palace and the sky’s curtain.

The grand opening that could most easily draw people’s attention and most easily incite fervor was—

A public duel.

First, it was a match between Iron-blooded Duke Cromwell, one of the three great ducal families of the Bretona Empire, and a young knight from the Holy Kingdom.

Next, it was the turn of Lord Roland, the captain of the Holy Knights and ‘Divine Spear,’ who was said to be the strongest knight of the Holy Kingdom.

His opponent was, similarly, an unnamed guard soldier from the Germania Principality, unworthy of Roland’s fame.

It was just like the first match.

A stage designed to pit a strong representative from each nation against a rising star, thereby creating a scenario where everyone won, without damaging any country’s pride.

Literally, it was a place where no one lost, and everyone won.

—’Our’ victory was no exception.

I silently looked around.

Just like the victims there, whose lives had been stolen by the automatons and sunk into oblivion.

Beyond the projected video, on the stage of the public duel, there was ‘the same kind of victim.’

Now, it was one of the young men from the Germania Principality, currently dueling with Roland just beyond that screen.

As soon as he arrived in this city, that ‘young man,’ whose name I didn’t even know, sank to the bottom of the river that traversed Londinium. His face had been skinned, and part of his brain extracted.

And I knew the name of the one who, wearing that skinned face, now confronted Lord Roland, the Divine Spear.

“This is no place where mistakes can be tolerated.”

I said. At my words, Golden Mirror Robert smiled softly.

“Please trust in that child’s specialness, Lord Rain.”

“What makes him so special?”

“You will soon find out.”

The handsome man with a gold monocle and slicked-back blonde hair replied.

Because without something special, one could never claim the name of a serpent.

“Not through words, but through proof.”

The man of gold, renowned as the continent’s foremost mechanic, the continent’s foremost doctor, and ultimately, befitting his name, the continent’s foremost magnate.

The former Rank 1, who unreservedly displayed his past grudges and lingering emotions before me.

A man of duality, who paradoxically swore loyalty while confronting those emotions directly.

The symbol of gold, the color most contrasted with black—it was like a symbol revealing his contradiction.

Before long, the duel began.

A ceremonial public duel between a powerhouse and a rising star. Logically, it should have been so one-sided that the fight itself wouldn’t even be considered a contest.

However, this duel had the purpose of upholding the pride of two nations and drawing the fervent enthusiasm and support of the people.

The fight began with a preemptive strike from Ergo, the young man from the Germania Principality who had stolen the young man’s life.

The distance closed, and Ergo drew his sword and swung it.

Before him, the man called ‘Divine Spear’ blocked the swinging sword with his spear shaft and wielded it like a staff to deflect the blow. The distance widened.

In the fleeting moment the distance widened, I realized it, even just by watching the projection.

“From start to finish, he decided to wield the Holy Spear himself…”

“Well, logically, it’s the most reliable way to protect a holy relic.”

Silan said, shrugging his shoulders.

“No matter what you say, he’s a man beloved by the stars.”

The stars’ love.

It was as he said.

Holy Kingdom, Holy Relic, Holy Spear. The ‘holy’ attached to all these terms is not the character for ‘sacred.’

It is the character for ‘star.’

In other words, that man possesses a star’s relic, a star’s spear, from the Star Kingdom.

Just as the Germania Principality elevated its name with necromancy and mechanical engineering, and the Bretona Empire proved itself through the path of magic.

The Star Kingdom, as its name suggests, is a nation that boasts the blessings of the stars.

And not just ordinary stars, but a very special, sentient cluster of divine stars known as constellations.

Therefore, I had to observe him carefully at this opportunity.

Because whether I liked it or not, as long as that man protected the holy relic, there would only be one way to seize it.

As a result, their duel seemed the longest and most intense among any of the matches held thereafter. Even though it was a fight where no one doubted the outcome.

For us, that was enough.

The very fact that no one suspected anything.

And the fact that, while no one suspected anything, the blade of Divine Spear Roland’s spear ‘touched’ the opponent.

*

After that day, the ‘spectacles’ presented by each nation began, starting with the Bretona Empire.

The Bretona Empire showcased its aerial battleship in the sky and displayed its military, the ‘Red Coats’.

Next was the Northern Kingdom Alliance, led by the man known as the , Snow King Gustave II.

What they showed was a thoroughly modern, firepower-centric army that excessively excluded cold weapons and magic, moving solely around firearms and artillery batteries.

After that, it was the turn of the exotic Eastern nation, the Anatolian Empire.

What caught the eye was the immortal army called the Immortals. Next were the Janissaries, which they called ‘new-style troops’.

Up to this point, the turns of the three nations had passed, and finally, the time was drawing near.

When the Holy Kingdom’s turn came, we were no longer outsiders watching the exhibition from outside the Crystal Palace.

At the end of a tedious wait, the time for the Holy Kingdom to prove itself was approaching.

A stage to reveal and display the weapons and military might of a nation blessed by the stars, before the people of the continent.

That demonstration was no exception for the ‘Black Serpent’ either.

“Nothing will change.”

Among the puppets there, I spoke before the twelve who claimed and yearned for the name of the serpent.

“……Nothing.”

Without unnecessary preliminary work, without brilliant schemes, without anything else.

Just to show them what truly is.