"Haaah, with all the chaos going on, installing this got delayed."
What Cleare was installing looked like a large radar device.
It was equipment recovered from Ideal, which had finally been repaired enough to be set up.
It had been quite badly damaged, so the maintenance had taken a long time.
The work robots were protesting to Cleare.
"Because I was playing around? Nope~. I was just enjoying a little experiment~. Master approved of it too~."
While that exchange was happening, the device started up.
Then Cleare's blue eye flashed.
"--You've got to be kidding."
The work robots fell silent too, and after a short while they began moving about frantically.
"Ideal, what you were afraid of—don't tell me—"
◇
The thirtieth basement floor of the dungeon.
Because Finn was insisting we hurry, we had come to the ruin section of the dungeon to clear Mia-chan's event.
There was a large stone tablet, with characters faintly glowing on it.
In the Kingdom, this thing served as a kind of landmark.
Unless a noble could reach the place where this stone tablet stood, they weren't recognized as full-fledged.
Livia plopped down on the ground.
"W-we finally made it~."
Angie and Noelle reacted differently to her state.
"Livia, you did well."
"No, you're just chronically out of shape, aren't you?"
Luxion, who had been navigating us this far, looked at the stone tablet with a displeased air.
"This is writing used by the New Humanity."
"You can read it?"
"It says 'We shall be victorious.' The rest has deteriorated and is unreadable."
Kurosuke, floating beside Finn, was needling Luxion.
"And the ones who won were us, after all!"
"--I wouldn't lose if we did it now, though?"
"Even if we did it now, we'd win!"
Ignoring this routine bickering, Finn placed both hands on Mia's shoulders.
"Mia, are you all right?"
"Yes! I'm feeling really good, actually. Um, do I touch this?"
When we nodded, Mia-chan touched the stone tablet.
According to Erika, this should cause Mia-chan to awaken.
When Mia-chan touched the stone tablet, the characters began to shine brilliantly.
"It's beautiful."
"Is it?"
Unlike the displeased Luxion, Livia was excited.
"Amazing. It's as if it's reacting to Mia-chan—Mia-chan?"
But something seemed off.
Mia-chan was in pain.
"Mia, hey, what's wrong, Mia!"
When Finn hurriedly held Mia-chan close, she was shedding tears.
"Sir Knight, I—suddenly felt a tightness in my chest."
"You can't breathe? Th-then, your mask, quickly!"
"That's not it. It was sad, and painful—I heard such an incredibly sorrowful voice."
At those words, Kurosuke suddenly began looking around.
"--This feeling, could it be—"
The dungeon trembled slightly.
When the shaking dungeon began to settle, Mia-chan stood up.
"I can hear a voice."
Saying that, Mia-chan collapsed, and Finn caught her in his arms.
"Mia? Mia!"
I immediately called out to Finn.
"Idiot, this is as planned. Let's get her outside right away."
"I-I get that, but the way it happened was strange. Wasn't it a little different from what Erika-chan described?"
What Erika had told us was that Mia would lose consciousness and collapse upon awakening.
Originally, she'd supposedly be carried out by the male capture targets, and from there awaken to a special power.
The sickly setup she'd had until now would supposedly disappear.
"Maybe she just didn't remember the fine details? She's still breathing, and her condition's stable. Let's hurry and get her out."
"Y-yeah—"
Finn just couldn't calm down.
Neither could I.
A strange uneasiness was welling up.
◇
The Holy Magic Empire.
Baltfault, the Emperor, was beneath the Empire's lands—at the bottom of the sea.
Boarding an excavated airship capable of operating underwater, the destination he was heading for was the resting place of the cheat item known as 【Arcadia】.
From Finn's report, he'd heard that Mia would awaken any day now.
And so, he had been waiting.
While seated on a luxurious chair, the sight before his eyes set his retainers buzzing.
"Your Majesty!"
"Look, the ruins!"
"Unbelievable."
Baltfault stood up.
As if chasing after the ruins that had begun to rise, the airship also ascended.
"Mobile Fortress 'Arcadia'—so you safely awoke through Mia's blood."
A weapon that had awakened simultaneously with Mia.
Beforehand, Mia's blood had been collected and registered with the ruins.
That very weapon was the fortress of the New Humanity.
It was a fearsome weapon that had terrified the Old Humanity, and which the artificial intelligences had only barely managed to sink.
It was the very source that produced magic essence and turned Earth into a planet of death.
"Your Majesty, the magic essence concentration in the surrounding area is spiking rapidly!"
"Monsters are spawning!"
"Let's quickly get away from here!"
Baltfault sharply rebuked the voices of his subordinates piloting the airship.
"Unnecessary. We'll stay right here near the ruins!"
When he shouted and then began coughing, those around him rushed over.
But he held them off with a hand.
"It's fine. If anything, I feel a little better now."
Like Mia, Baltfault had also been showing signs of failing health lately.
He understood why.
(Who would've thought the game knowledge my little sister in my previous life was so obsessed with would come in handy.)
Arcadia rising up.
The fortress named Paradise had a castle perched atop a hexagonal pedestal.
On each of its faces, a red eye was painted.
(With this, the Empire's people will be saved.)
Baltfault made his declaration.
"Summon my daughter—Mia—Millialis Lux Erzberger back from the Kingdom."
His retainer's eyes widened.
"Y-Your Majesty, were you not the one who said Lady Mia must not be involved with the imperial family?"
"The situation has changed. Mia is to become the empress of we, the people of the Empire."
(Yes—for the people of the Empire, whose New Humanity blood runs strong, the power of the awakened Mia is necessary.)
The mobile fortress rose from the surface of the sea, beginning to spew magic essence into its surroundings.
Although monsters appeared around it, they showed no intent to attack Baltfault and his people.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Baltfault felt strength welling up within him, more than ever before, as the outside air came in.
He closed his eyes.
(Boy—Finn, I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you.)
From Finn's report, there had been mention that he was close with a reincarnator living in the Kingdom.
And so, he could not tell him.
(This is a struggle for survival. Between we, the New Humanity, and those who carry strong remnants of Old Humanity blood—)
The Empire's people had thick New Humanity blood.
The imperial family more so.
And the Kingdom's people—had thick Old Humanity blood.
The war between Old Humanity and New Humanity had not yet ended.
◇
Two weeks later.
Finn, hearing the situation from an imperial knight who had come to fetch him, broke into a cold sweat.
"--What did you say?"
The young knight before him was the Empire's third-ranked knight.
The third strongest knight in the Empire.
A so-called prodigy knight.
He was a handsome young man who, despite his youth, had attained the rank of Sword Saint.
He was a touch cheeky, but he looked up to Finn.
"It seems you are to be relieved of your duty as her escort knight. Lady Mia will be formally reinstated into the imperial family and will become first in the line of succession, you see."
"Don't screw with me. --Don't screw with me! Why is Mia inheriting the throne!? That girl is a girl, you know! There's no way the other imperial family members would stay silent!"
The knight made a troubled face.
He explained with what looked like a sulky expression.
"I don't know the details either. However, His Majesty persuaded the imperial family members. I myself find it surprising, but the majority of the imperial family accepted it. Some gave conditional approval."
An envoy from the Empire.
Considering when he had sent the letter, they had come far too quickly.
(That damned old geezer, what the hell is he thinking!)
"--Will Mia be able to come back to where she's studying abroad?"
"Senpai, you don't understand. There's no longer any time to let her study abroad. Lady Mia has her education as the next successor waiting for her. Besides—His Majesty intends to distance himself from the Kingdom."
Finn was shocked.
"What did you say?"
"The embassy will also be withdrawn. We'll be taking the personnel back with us."
"H-hey, do you understand what that means? Has the Empire abandoned the Kingdom? If you think the Kingdom will descend into civil war, you're mistaken. There's no way Leon would let that happen."
In fact, Leon was currently protecting the Kingdom.
There was no civil war.
While he didn't know what the nobles were thinking, the Kingdom had been peaceful these past few months.
"You mean the Kingdom's heretic knight? Personally, I was more interested in the Kingdom's next Sword Saint candidate, but it seems he's fallen from grace now. Oops, I'm getting off topic. Senpai, this is His Majesty's order."
When the knight handed him a letter, he roughly tore it open and was shocked by the contents.
"What does it say?"
The knight before him apparently didn't know the contents either.
Written there, politely, were the words 'For Mia's sake, please obey for now.'
"--It just says to come back."
"You're His Majesty's favorite, after all, Senpai."
"It's not like that."
"Is that so? But from the outside, it looks like special treatment. Well, I recognize your strength, Senpai, so it doesn't bother me. Now then, excuse me."
When the knight left the room, Finn crushed the letter in his fist.
"--Why, damn it."
With nowhere to direct his anger at the letter's contents, Finn shed tears.
Written there were the words 'We will be at war with the Kingdom. Beware of the Old Humanity's weapons.'
Brave showed himself.
"Partner—strike first and win. Take Leon out, right here."
At those words, Finn's eyes widened.
"Kurosuke, do you understand what you're saying?"
He glared, but Brave wouldn't yield.
"If you want to save Mia, partner, that guy is definitely going to turn against us. Don't take him on on the battlefield! Even I—don't have the confidence to protect you and Mia. So, partner—decide right here, right now. They'll catch on soon too. When that happens, Leon will come to kill you, partner!"
Faced with Brave worrying about him, Finn lowered his head.
"--I know. I know the right answer is to take him down here."
◇
The day the envoy from the Empire arrived.
Stunned by the information Luxion brought in, I was dumbfounded.
"--Erika's condition has worsened?"
The information brought in at the same time was the fact that the New Humanity's fearsome weapon had awakened.
"The magic essence concentration is spiking rapidly. There is no doubt it has been revived. Based on the data, it appears not to be in a complete state."
"--I see."
"Master, please decide."
"--No. I can't kill Mia-chan."
"The master of the awakened 'Arcadia' is Mia. There is no mistake. Cleare and I have already verified it!"
On the day Mia-chan awakened, a weapon called Arcadia had been revived.
It scattered magic essence into the atmosphere, and because of it, Erika's condition had worsened again.
"I request permission to attack."
"We crush the weapon instead."
"--That's impossible."
Luxion was uncharacteristically without any margin of composure.
"To crush Arcadia, we lost a great fleet in the past. Even so, all we could do was sink it. We could not destroy it."
From past data, Luxion seemed to have judged it impossible.
There had been many warships more specialized for combat than Luxion, and the military strength back then was more abundant than ours now.
And yet, even fighting at full readiness—it was a mutual annihilation.
Both Old Humanity and New Humanity ended up lacking a decisive blow, and from there a battle of blood washing away blood apparently continued.
"Brave must have already noticed too. We should preempt them before they attack you and the others first."
Even though it wasn't complete, Luxion seemed to have judged that he couldn't win.
"Is there no possibility of joining hands?"
"There is none. This is a struggle for survival. Until now, balance was maintained. The one who broke that balance was—us."
The balance had been broken by the Sacred Tree going out of control.
Because of that, the people on the Empire's side had apparently begun to suffer in greater numbers.
There was little data.
Who would have thought the Empire's people had thick New Humanity blood.
Conversely, those on the Kingdom's side apparently had thick Old Humanity blood.
Mia-chan had awakened her New Humanity blood, while Erika was an atavism of the Old Humanity.
They had been mutually incompatible existences from the start.
"Is there any way for us to live together?"
"--There is none. One side will be forced into a cramped existence. Neither side will be able to accept that. Master, this is not a problem concerning Erika alone."
"What do you mean?"
"Cleare investigated the Kingdom's people. As a result, it seems their Old Humanity blood is growing thicker."
The children to be born from now on would apparently continue reviving the Old Humanity's blood in this way.
I remembered the child in Jenna's womb.
And then—Erika's smile floated into my mind.
"--I see. What about the island with the Sacred Tree? The Sacred Tree absorbs magic essence, right?"
"Considering the Sacred Tree's growth rate, saving everyone would be impossible. At the same time, the Empire would surely find the Sacred Tree and burn it down."
Since for them it's nothing but a loss, of course they'd cut it down if they found it.
"What the hell, another dead end?"
"Permission to attack. We can still make it in time. With Arcadia's revival, our comrades have also awakened. After killing Mia, we will, this time for certain, destroy the disabled Arcadia."
I hid my face with my hand and laughed.
"So we were fated to be enemies from the start. Makes me laugh. Why—"
--I'm pathetic for hesitating.
Ideal—I see, so you judged that you couldn't rely on someone like me.
"Master!"
Luxion's single red eye flashed strongly.
"Luxion, this is an order—"