Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

“I’m beat…So many crazy things happened…”

Kyle sat down on a chair in this room surrounded by stone walls, with no window in sight. Next to him was the corpse of the giant Minotaurus that had tormented the fortress not too long ago. However, it had one arm missing, a giant hole in its stomach, and was as dead as a fish on land. To put it into words, it was still mid-construction.

“…That bastard almost killed me.”

Kyle looked up at the cow head as he heard a cheerful voice, unbefitting the sight of this monster.

“Well, I didn’t expect it to get out of control like that.”

The one to answer Kyle’s grumbling was the magic engineer from the mining city Callan. Magic engineer was someone who specialized in the creation of magic tools, and it was Gou’s job to construct the magic weapon lost when the Ancient Magic Kingdom Zaales fell—the so-called Golem. He always had a vibe of being a mad scientist, but that only grew stronger after Kyle offered him the necessary budget.

“Yeah, it did go out of control, but it also showed fine work.”

“Th-Thank you very much!”

Receiving this praise from Shildonia, Gou grinned like a little child who got a present from their parents. Whether or not he carried actual romantic affection or not, as the developer of these golems, he couldn’t be happier. The three of them currently sat in the secret research facility located beneath the fortress. In truth, it wasn’t much of a lab or anything, but Gou and Shildonia just went ahead and called it that.

“I know it’s a bit late to ask, but are you sure that was the right call? You made this test version attack all the influential people of humanity, right?”

“That is very late, yes…” Kyle was surprised to hear that question from Gou.

“Rest assured, it was a necessary evil.”

“Well, if you say so then it must be right, Shildonia-san!”

Gou carried bottomless trust toward Shildonia, which did worry Kyle a bit, but it was very convenient so he didn’t intervene. Just as he stated, this Golem disguised as a demon Minotaurus was actually a prototype built beneath the fortress. This naturally meant that the attack had been instigated by Kyle himself. Of course, the reason for that was simple—he wanted the leaders of the humanfolk to grasp how terrifying of a threat the demons truly were. In the original timeline Kyle came from, the Great Invasion began a year and a half from now. Kyle tried everything he could to mess with the demons’ affairs, so he still didn’t know if that invasion would be happening or not. But that’s also why one wrong misstep could prove fatal, and he needed to do everything to ensure humanfolk’s survival.

Needless to say, if someone found out that Kyle was actually behind this attack, they would execute him on the spot. He had to make sure his preparations were perfect. First, he had Shildonia and Gou recreate the Golem in the shape of a Minotaurus-type demon.

“I have to say, even bleeding when getting hurt? I wouldn’t have caught on if I wasn’t in on it from the very beginning,” Minagi commented while gazing up at the head of the Minotaurus.

“It’s a type of flesh Golem. You cover the bone structure and mechanical details with flesh, like a homunculus. That made it look like a living being.”

“You can make it breathe and show rage when getting injured, but that took the most effort.”

“Yeah, that was definitely a big hurdle. But it ended up just fine.”

“But with this design, the flexibility might be an issue…”

“That is true. Though, I’m even more worried about the driving force it can muster. If we support it with enough flesh…”

Shildonia and Gou already moved on with their next plans, but Kyle had something more urgent to talk about.

“Can you reflect on that later? What I want to know…is why it didn’t stop despite me attacking its weakness at its right torso.”

It was set up to be easily defeated if you struck its right torso. However, after attacking it repeatedly, it only angered the Golem, which is why Kyle almost died.

“I’m sorry, that was my mistake. It didn’t weaken the Golem, it made it more violent instead.” Gou stuck out his tongue which only heightened Kyle’s intent to murder Gou with his own hands.

“But other than that, it was incredibly well done. The strength it possessed is second to none. It surpassed anything of what I expected before.”

After all, it scattered knights left and right like they were loaves of bread.

“That said, even five of those probably wouldn’t have been able to hurt Three-Arms. They might have only saved time.”

“Why? The parameters should be around equal,” Shildonia commented, having made the plans for the original model.

“Yeah, speaking in terms of strength and speed, as well as sturdiness, its abilities are crazy. But, that’s all it is, too.”

It possesses simple movement, and its actions are predictable. Since the previous attack was set up as a surprise attack, the army didn’t have time to organize, but if they had time to prepare, they would have been able to handle the giant in due time.

“That’s the limit of what magic can achieve. If you want it to have as many variables as a first-rate swordsman with fitting experience…I can’t even fathom how long that would take.” Gou shook his head.

“I know that. I’m just trying to keep human casualties to a minimum. That’s more than enough.”

The moment they acted as valuable shields during a battle with the demons, misleading the demons’ plans, it was a passing grade. The biggest fear Kyle had while plotting this self-instigated attack was that the others would see through the disguise. Luckily, not many of the people present had seen a demon before, so they couldn’t say for certain. The reason he had sent the dragons away on the sixth day is because they knew the demons all too well, and he was lucky enough that Angela left as planned because the Minotaurus was modeled after Three-Arms, which she had encountered in the demon territory. And she was a skilled swordsman, so she might have seen through the Golem’s stiff movement.

Of course, Kyle didn’t want his parents or his little sister to get wrapped up in his plans. He sent off Lieze and the others to ensure they made it back home to Rimarze. He would have preferred to send the elves back before the final day, too. However, he was met with the dilemma that he needed their testimony to identify the golem as a demon.

“…Are you sure you should have used that drug on Rifuaro and the others?”

“You can ask that as many times as you want, it won’t change the answer. I used a healthy amount. It won’t have any lasting effects, so rest assured.”

As a matter of fact, Minagi had been adding a drug to the elves’ meal here and there. It made sure to gradually leave their mental state unstable, robbing them of their ability to make educated guesses. Thanks to that, they were too shaken to be able to make the differentiation, mistaking the golem as a demon. And they weren’t the only example of Kyle working behind the scenes. Since Kyle had planned everything, it was easy to set up things, just like this underground research lab. Basically, this whole fortress was not meant as a venue for the world meeting, but to show the strength the demons possessed.

Of course, he didn’t want to create any casualties because of his plans, so he made sure to dull the blade of the Minotaurus so that it wouldn’t leave fatal wounds, only making it so that the people got blown away instead. And he created a large storage of medicine that could be used right then and there. Amidst all of that, the one error coming back to bite him was Basques. She would be able to beat the Minotaurus by herself. So to avoid that, Minagi had to act silently again.

“You did well with Basques, too.”

“Hopefully. I’m exhausted.”

Originally, Seran was supposed to be present at the fortress, but Kyle feared their strength might overwhelm that of the golem, so he urged him to head back to Rimarze prematurely. Meanwhile, he also set up a trap to seal Basques’ abilities. The reason she slipped at such a bad time is that Minagi made it happen. And after that, Shildonia controlling the golem set up a trap to blow off Basques so that she wouldn’t be able to move. That said, if it hadn’t been Minagi acting in the shadows, it probably wouldn’t have worked.

“It worked out quite well. I did panic for a moment when the controls didn’t register, though.”

In reality, it would have been Kyle’s job to finish off the golem, but because the controls messed up, it instead headed for the evacuation site of the participants. Because of that, everybody involved panicked a bit. However, Kyle made it in time, and he could use the fear they felt towards the demons while raising his own influence yet again.

“Still, having it all destroyed like this…What a shame. I worked so hard on that,” Gou looked at the broken golem with a saddened gaze.

“It was the necessary evil. If they tried to learn more about the body, they would have found out that it was a golem. We had to thoroughly destroy it.”

That was the main reason Kyle packed so many magic stones. He had to remove every trace of this being a golem. He even used magic stones with [Replay Sound] to ensure that the Minotaurus would continue howling as they fired more magic into it. Once everything was done, he simply had to use a convenient excuse.

‘This must have been planned by Targ and his faction.’

He was a convenient excuse to pin everything on.

“With everything working out like this, surely it must have raised their caution toward the demons, right?” Shildonia asked, and Kyle nodded.

“Absolutely. And I was given authority when it came to planning any anti-demon strategies. It was a bit extreme, but it was worth it. I’d give it…80 points.”

“Not bad, not bad. Didn’t think you’d praise yourself like that,” Minagi showed a surprised reaction.

“…I feel like I finally gained some more confidence. Once everything is over here, I’ll go back to see Lieze and the others.”

It had been a year and a half since Kyle left Rimarze. He had been working all this time so he needed a break.

“That should be fine. You need to take off every moment you get so you’re ready when something happens. The same goes for Lieze, Urza, and Seran, too.”

“Expect the unexpected, huh? Well I hope it won’t come that far…” Kyle laughed it off, but a part of him worried nonetheless.

“Anyway, I’ll be cleaning up the rest of this. Have to close down this secret laboratory, too.”

Every little thing hinting at the demon attack having been set up by Kyle had to be removed by them before leaving the fortress behind, and the plan was for the whole place to be flattened.

“The earlier the better. I shall help.”

Gou and Shildonia prepared to clean up, with Kyle getting up from his chair, trying to put a clean end to this whole World Meeting.

“Actually, there’s one thing I wanted to ask…”

Minagi called out to Kyle’s back, using a quiet voice so that Shildonia and Gou couldn’t hear them.

“…Why did you attack with magic stones? Couldn’t you have used close-range magic? I know you did use physical strengthening magic, but still…”

Kyle stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around, so Minagi couldn’t see his expression.

“I didn’t have any real reason. Just wanted to preserve my magical power.”

“That’s a horrible excuse. Did you just not use it…or is it that you can’t use it?”

Minagi wouldn’t let any excuses slip. And the force she had didn’t let Kyle escape.

“…”

Kyle didn’t respond for a moment.

“I don’t think you’d be able to hide that explosive strength as just strengthening magic, right?” Minagi slipped past him, not allowing him to leave through the door. “Is it something you can’t tell me? Or something you don’t want to tell me?”

“…Sorry.”

Cornered by Minagi, Kyle could only apologize.

“…Fine. I’ll let it slide for now.”

“Thanks.”

“That said, I’m gonna let Lieze and Urza know that you’re hiding something.”

“S-Say what?!”

Minagi really wanted to make fun of Kyle’s expression at that moment.

“…I don’t really care too much myself, but I won’t forgive you if you make Lieze and the others cry.”

Minagi placed her head against Kyle’s chest as she muttered these words. Kyle couldn’t see her face right now, but she was actually close to breaking out in tears.

***

Rimarze was known as a border town located to the west of Zilgus’ center. It was awfully close to the demon territory, and also the hometown of Kyle, Lieze, and Seran. In the corner of town was a small hill with historical remains, where a lot of children often played. Now it was empty, approached by Lieze.

“This is where you were? Kyle would often come here, too, but I guess you two really resemble each other.” Lieze called out into the empty air, as a shadow appeared from behind a stone.

“Please don’t say that,” Seran grumbled.

“I was looking for you, okay? Stop pushing it onto me.”

“You say that, but nobody’s forcing you to tag along.”

Five days had passed since they returned to Rimarze, so things finally calmed down. Of course, chaos ensued when they appeared with the dragons, but the villagers had heard the rumors of Kyle, so it didn’t take much explaining. It was Lieze’s duty to talk to them and explain things, and express that the rumors were exaggerated.

“I know nothing happens in this rural place, but they really took it to the limit.”

In fact, the villagers were ready to build a statue for the [Dragon Slayer] Kyle.

“I was thinking we could take a break here, but with all this chaos, the quicker we leave, the better, probably.”

It almost sounded like Seran felt as if this wasn’t even his home anymore.

“I guess a lot changes in a year…”

What surprised Lieze the most was that friends her age had already gotten married with children.

“Yeah, I was surprised, too. Rosie and Raed, right?”

Seran showed a similar reaction to what Lieze felt, realizing that nothing stays the same for too long. But of course, those very friends said that Lieze was the one who changed the most.

“Everyone knew they’d get married eventually. Only you and Kyle were oblivious.”

“…For real?”

Seran felt left out from his friend group, suffering quite the shock.

“Well, more importantly, I’m a lot more curious…about that over there.” Seran moved his jaw to point in a certain direction, over at the demon territory.

He saw dark clouds, with periodic lighting.

“The wind is strong today.”

“I have a horrible feeling today…”

“Don’t jinx things, okay?”

Usually, Seran’s feelings were right on the mark. And then, the thicket near them began shaking. The two thought that an animal was around, but they then heard a voice.

“Seran and Lieze…To think I’d actually meet you here. I guess I’m lucky for once.”

The voice they heard was awfully familiar.

“Y-Yuriga?! What happened to you?!”

It was the demon Yuriga, left in a half-dead state. Lieze panicked and rushed over, supporting Yuriga who was close to collapsing. Her body was riddled with wounds, making it a surprise that she could even move.

“Hey, what happened?”

“Please…save Luiza-sama…”

Yuriga answered Seran’s question with ambiguous words, as she collapsed on the ground. Far in the distance, the storm above the demon territory grew fiercer.