Ch.185185. Magical Girl Fressia

News of the successor to Infractus being decided struck the entire empire. This meant that the emperor’s previously announced suppression of the rebel forces had been successfully completed.

The empire announced Horizon’s death to all its subjects to show the fate that awaited traitors.

The end of Horizon—who had led thousands of New Resistance mecha and proclaimed himself the next Lion King—was rather inglorious.

He was defeated in two consecutive battles at Obitus, fled, and ultimately met his death without even leaving his body intact.

The man once called the Great Sage and recorded in history books quietly disappeared into the annals of history, now labeled a traitor.

However, the fall of Horizon, once praised as the Great Sage, didn’t capture much attention from imperial subjects and historians. There was more interesting news to focus on.

The imperial successor position—vacant for a very long time since the current emperor took power.

Everyone was curious about who would claim this position.

As news spread of the return of succession candidates who had departed for Obitus, grand trumpet sounds and military band music began from the distant city gates.

People flooded the streets to witness the triumphal ceremony being held in the imperial capital after a long time.

Standing at the forefront of the victory procession would be the person who had made the greatest contribution to handling the rebellion—meaning the person who would lead the next era of the empire.

Spectators debated about who this person might be as they waited for the ceremony.

Finally, the figure of a giant mecha leading hundreds of others appeared beyond the massive city gates. People’s eyes naturally turned to the banner fluttering in the wind.

A banner with crossed swords and a lion emblem.

It was the banner of Seraphina, the First Imperial Princess and Knight Princess.

People let out gasps of admiration.

Gamblers laughed or cried over the results of their bets on the successor competition, while ordinary subjects who hadn’t placed bets smiled hopefully at the bright future awaiting the empire.

Some lamented that their preferred candidates hadn’t become the successor. Everyone had different ideas about the ideal monarch.

But no one said she was inadequate. Knight Princess Seraphina had been imprinted in the subjects’ minds even before the competition began.

She, more than anyone else, had been closest to the successor position.

Just before Seraphina’s mecha passed by, the subjects knelt down.

This was both praise for a hero returning victorious from war against the rebels and their respect for the empire’s successor.

Seraphina’s face, looking down at her subjects from the open cockpit, was that of a serene yet resolute ruler.

The subjects couldn’t bring themselves to look directly at the imperial countenance of the Crown Princess who would usher in a new era, and remained bowed even after she passed.

Glory to Infractus.

For the eternal prosperity of the empire.

The subjects’ cries as Seraphina passed echoed throughout the capital, following the victory procession.

***

After the ceremony, Gilbert returned to his temporary quarters and sat deep in thought, holding Fresia who had transformed into the Moonlight sword.

His mind was extremely complicated with various problems.

The sudden death of Horizon, the issue with Fresia’s transformation, and the gradually increasing distortion readings.

There were too many matters to worry about, though no clear solutions were apparent.

Realizing his scattered thoughts were getting him nowhere, Gilbert sighed and decided to organize his thoughts methodically.

First, he recalled the current situation.

The recent battle at Obitus against the large New Resistance army had ended in victory. Despite being outnumbered, they had managed to completely eliminate the New Resistance.

The empire had gained significant benefits from this suppression. It served as a prime example of what happens to those who rebel, and it was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the imperial family’s strength.

Additionally, they had successfully filled the position of the next emperor—the successor—which had been vacant until now.

With this, it was fair to say that all elements of instability in the Infractus imperial family had been removed.

But for Gilbert, too many things didn’t add up. No matter how long Horizon had lived, it was incomprehensible that he had secretly gathered thousands of mecha.

This had been a question since the previous Resistance suppression operation when they had eliminated numerous mecha, but an army of thousands was beyond what Gilbert could have imagined.

Horizon’s death also raised questions.

After his battle with Gilbert, he chose to flee when defeat was imminent.

He probably intended to turn the tide of the war by piloting a reserve mecha.

Knowing this, Gilbert had pursued the fleeing Horizon with Fresia. Though there had been a somewhat unfortunate incident during that time, the delay had been extremely brief.

Yet in that short time, Horizon had been horrifically murdered by someone. It was difficult to accept that Horizon, an exceptional magician even without his mecha, had died so pathetically.

Even before that, Gilbert was troubled by the appearance of someone capable of dealing with him. The emergence of another powerful threat he knew nothing about was certainly not a good sign.

And for some reason, Seraphina’s distortion index had been gradually increasing after their victory at Obitus, with the succession ceremony still pending.

Though the increase was minimal, her distortion level had already exceeded the danger threshold. It would be too risky to complacently assume it would stop.

He needed to meet Seraphina as soon as possible to assess the situation.

Gilbert finished this line of thought and let out a deep sigh.

He had organized his thoughts roughly. Nothing was resolved, but at least he had stopped the endless chain of scattered thoughts. His head had been aching from being lost in thought since his return.

But there was still one more issue he needed to resolve.

This wasn’t just a matter of thought or worry, but a problem that genuinely needed solving.

“What? Do you have something to say?”

“No.”

Gilbert stared at Fresia, who was sitting on the bed eating bread.

The problem he needed to solve—

It was the humanized Fresia.

Recently, after inserting Fresia’s spirit core into the Moonlight sword’s cross guard, she had transformed into a human body.

Gwendolyn, who created the Moonlight sword, had mentioned that it could give artificial spirits unique abilities, but Gilbert never imagined it could transform them into humans.

He couldn’t understand how Fresia, originally an inanimate object, could change into a living human body.

This seemed no different from the polymorphing abilities of dragons in legends.

Of course, having such a mysterious ability wasn’t particularly problematic. He was rather satisfied to see the potential of the Moonlight sword.

But when did things ever go so smoothly?

Gilbert, who had transformed Fresia back into the Moonlight sword form, tried to remove her artificial spirit core from the cross guard to return it to Ian.

However, for some reason, her core refused to be removed from the cross guard. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he immediately went to Gwendolyn’s weapon shop, but to make matters worse, Gwendolyn was away searching for rare minerals.

In the end, realizing it was currently impossible to separate the Moonlight sword and Fresia, he had no choice but to return to his quarters with Fresia.

As a result, their uncomfortable cohabitation had continued for several days.

Fortunately, perhaps due to some grudging affection or camaraderie developed during the Obitus campaign, they weren’t clashing as they had before. They still bickered like in their Tactical Combat playing days, but their relationship was much better than before.

“So when are you planning to send me back?”

“When I can retrieve the Moonlight sword.”

“Ian will be extremely worried. Send me back quickly.”

Fresia grumbled as she tore at her bread.

Gilbert fully understood her position.

Although she had temporarily cooperated with Gilbert, she was an artificial spirit with a contractor. It was only natural for Fresia to return to Ian, her contractor.

However, regardless of the reason, Gilbert couldn’t simply return Fresia to Ian. The Moonlight sword was a masterpiece created with great care by Gwendolyn, who would later be known as the greatest swordsmith.

She herself had said that she could never create another sword like it. Gilbert absolutely could not give such a sword to Ian.

“How many days has it been now! You’re the one who arbitrarily installed my core into this sword and caused this mess. How much longer do I have to wait?”

Gilbert firmly closed his mouth as he watched Fresia glare at him, apparently at the end of her patience.

Her words were absolutely correct.

It was Gilbert himself who, out of curiosity, had attached Fresia’s artificial spirit core to the Moonlight sword.

In this situation, forcing her to stay would create problems. Considering that he might need to cooperate with her in the future, there was no need to strain their relationship.

Ultimately, what mattered was Gilbert making a decision.

And he wasn’t someone who made foolish choices.

“Alright. I’ll send you back as soon as dawn breaks tomorrow. However, I’d appreciate it if you refrained from taking that form.”

“I don’t plan to anyway. Explaining would be troublesome. Unless I’m changing in front of you, that is.”

The latter part was said in a barely audible voice, but with his superhuman physical abilities, Gilbert heard it all.

However, having no intention of teasing her as her ears turned red, Gilbert pretended not to have heard.

“It’s a bit of a shame though. I finally had a body for a while.”

“Finally?”

What was this about?

Gilbert instinctively realized that a MacGuffin he knew nothing about had appeared.

“I originally had a body too. I ended up like that due to certain circumstances.”

“Circumstances?”

“Well, this is something I haven’t told even Ian… but I suppose it’s okay to tell you as a comrade?”

The bond formed with Fresia during the Obitus campaign seemed deeper than Gilbert had anticipated.

Fresia winked her left eye at Gilbert and began to share a story she had never told anyone.

“Before I start, let me properly introduce myself again. My name is Fresia Luna Eldorado. I am the princess of Eldorado, an ancient empire that once ruled the continent… now fallen into ruin.”

Truly unexpected words came from her lips.