#281
Tech Revolution (3)
A large interior where, for some reason, a heavy air lingered.
All across its broad walls hung several magnificent paintings.
Created beings prostrating themselves on the floor in worship, and a being looking down upon them from the heavens.
People fleeing storms and tidal waves, and a giant bursting into laughter as he watched them from atop a colossal wave.
A woman wrapped in light, wearing a warm smile as she embraced the sick…
Their techniques and styles were all different, but the theme those paintings sought to convey was the same.
They were works expressing the relationship between gods and humans.
Click—
In that space, which even gave off a sense of reverence, the incongruous sound of a mouse click rang out softly, ill-suited to the setting.
“Black mage Hahoe Mask.”
Soon, a low female voice followed.
In one corner of the office that could only be reached after passing through the displayed paintings, all manner of reference photos appeared on the computer monitor set up there.
From CCTV captures, to the gigantic bone dragon filmed in Japan, and finally the interior of a certain Shanghai building reduced to utter chaos.
“Vampire Heinz.”
Once again, the click of the mouse rang out, and the screen was filled with another person’s trail of activity.
From friction with the Blood Alliance to his activities maintaining public order under the name Phantom, the process was neatly organized at a glance.
“Unknown paladin.”
The next materials that appeared were not nearly as numerous as those before.
Their contents concerned only a single incident.
They were solely about the miraculous event that had occurred during the terrorist attack on a large hospital.
“Three newly emerged special-grade watchlist targets in a single country in less than half a year. And they failed to ascertain all of their movements, no less…”
Along with the sound of the mouse accompanying the woman’s languid voice, the materials on the monitor rapidly flipped past.
The president of the Korean Returnee Association, Seoul Southern Branch Manager Yun Jiyun, a secret agent of the Ability Management Bureau…
After checking through the entire list of watchlist targets of Korean nationality that had been identified thus far, she finally tossed out a single remark.
“They deserved to die.”
It was a cold tone devoid of even a shred of sympathy.
After all, no matter how many times she checked, the conclusion was nothing more and nothing less than incompetence.
‘…Still, for now, I should finish what I intended to do. It’s not as though this has no relation to our side at all.’
A file that had passed across the monitor once before appeared again.
A composite sketch of armor, drawn directly by a witness and corroborated by numerous other witnesses.
After staring at it in silence for a moment, she smoothly rose from her seat.
‘It’s a good thing to gain more comrades who share the same will. All the more so if that existence is competent.’
A strange smile formed on the lips of the gray-haired woman, the Scribe.
“…For the salvation of this world.”
At the same time.
The investigation team from Pantheon’s general headquarters, dispatched from the United States, arrived in Korea.
***
“If I do this… like this…!”
Howard, who had spent about ten days by Auterica time studying abroad on Earth.
As soon as he returned, he immediately shut himself up in his workshop.
And at once, he began working to apply the new knowledge he had obtained through “Tech Revolution” to this world.
He had already grasped all the principles behind the necessary technologies.
He also understood well enough why such results were produced.
What he needed was only the intermediate process required to reach that conclusion.
Of course, at present, he could not reproduce technology on the level of “Mechanical Eye: Callicas.”
Naturally, even if he was a dwarf, there was no way he could completely grasp cutting-edge technology of that level in just a few days.
‘Honestly, the most efficient method would be to use it myself, but…’
But he could hardly pluck out perfectly fine eyes just to save a little time, could he?
Even if the objective specs themselves were inferior, in matters related to production, a dwarf’s eyes were far superior.
In truth, that was also why he had handed the artificial eye over to Hesperon right away.
‘I’ve grasped the rough concept, so time will solve the rest. If actual usage data is added as well, it shouldn’t take that long either.’
Howard was someone who always had his innate natural talent, all kinds of growth corrections, and even the effects of the precious “Growth Elixir” with him.
From the standards of an ordinary human, he was absurdity itself, to the point that calling him a genius would not suffice.
And as always.
It was always the role of an extremely small number of geniuses to lead the transformation of the world.
“…It’s done.”
Several days after he had practically secluded himself in the workshop and devoted himself to his work.
He was overcome with emotion as he looked at the small metal gauntlet placed before him.
Its smooth silver surface and sleek curves, its near-future appearance, caught the light of the furnace and created a strange atmosphere.
“Phew, then let’s see.”
After staring at it as if entranced for a while, Howard soon put it on his left hand without hesitation.
Since he had made it from the start to fit his own arm perfectly as a test, the gauntlet tightened without a gap from his fingertips to his elbow.
‘The fit isn’t bad either.’
In that state, Howard moved to the experimental space in a corner of the workshop.
There, metal plates of various materials made for testing product performance were lined up, firmly fixed in place.
‘Since it’s the first time, let’s start lightly.’
The material would be steel, and the thickness about a span…
After finishing the test preparations, he took a light breath and clenched his left hand.
Creeeak.
Shiiiiik—
Along with the sound of metal rubbing together, compressed energy was ejected through the nozzle.
At the same time, the magic stone attached to the inside of his wrist glowed, and lines of light extending from it covered the entire gauntlet like the circuitry of a board.
‘Here I go!’
Howard was a one-hundred-percent pure craftsman who had never been in a fight even once, but such trivial matters were no problem for an avatar who shared everyone’s experiences.
The compact, sturdy body of the dwarf stamped forward in a perfect stance, and the impact was transmitted intact through the rotation of his flexible waist and shoulders into his fist.
“Hrratcha!”
Fwoooosh—!
The moment his fist shot out, a torrent of energy erupted from around his elbow like a rocket—
Immediately afterward.
Kwaaaaang—!
With a thunderous roar that shook the workshop, a fierce gust swept through the interior.
“Cough! Cough!”
Howard, coughing from the scattering dust, subtly furrowed his brow.
‘Uh, this might have been a bit much…?’
Needless to say, it was obvious.
Having gotten carried away and accelerated recklessly in his excitement, he only then grasped the situation and put on an awkward expression.
Of course, it was already too late.
Bang!
“What was that? Who is it! Is it an attack? Howard! Are you all right? Howard!”
After the sound of hurried footsteps, Jaonic kicked open the workshop door and came in, holding a hefty hammer as he glared in every direction.
His vigilance continued until his eyes met Howard’s beyond the dust scattering everywhere.
“……?”
“…Hm, well now. Hahaha!”
Howard, who had thrown his punch in a perfect stance that could have come straight out of a manual, both feet firmly supporting him on the ground and one arm extended forward, let out an embarrassed laugh.
While struggling this way and that to pull out his left arm, which had completely pierced through and lodged itself in a steel plate a span thick.
‘…It won’t come out. If this happens in actual combat, it’ll be a big problem. This is an issue. I’ll need reverse ejection too.’
Amid the bustling footsteps of the workshop guards beginning to rush in.
Howard forced himself to continue thinking of something else as he quietly avoided Jaonic’s gaze, which was gradually beginning to frown.
It was an utterly ordinary and smooth development site.
***
While Howard’s study abroad on Earth and technological development continued, time in Auterica also flowed quickly.
The enormous event that could not help but affect everyone on the continent—the pope’s funeral—ended without incident, and the unofficial third continental summit that followed was also smoothly concluded.
“Though the talks only covered the obvious.”
Heinz II, sinking into a plush chair, gently closed his eyes and fell into thought.
Of course, he had not attended in person.
He had merely dispatched Duke Bright as the representative of the Talia Kingdom.
No matter how amicable their relationship had become of late, would it not look strange for him, the king of vampires, to personally appear at the pope’s funeral?
‘I was also in the middle of being busy with all sorts of things.’
Until only recently, he had needed to pay attention to both Auterica and Earth simultaneously.
These days, for various reasons, Heinz had no leeway to go to Earth, and his Phantom activities had naturally gone on hiatus, but…
‘No, actually, if I think about it, it’s not as though I’m free even now.’
No matter how much of the work he entrusted to capable sailors, a captain could not simply become one and then sit idle.
Since recently absorbing even Obaifo and ascending to the position of Blood King, not only the nation but the very fate of the race itself now depended on him. How could the amount of work he needed to personally confirm be small?
If not for the management-type perk, “Sovereign’s Authority,” which he had obtained at the same time he achieved the Blood King accomplishment, he would probably have been spending his days so busy he would have had no room to think of anything else.
It was also true that, thanks to that perk, most matters were proceeding smoothly.
‘However, if there is one thing that weighs on my mind…’
Of course, not everything flowed according to his intentions.
The search for the missing person, which was taking longer than expected—the matter concerning the son of Vice President Kayla McClare—was precisely that.
The matter, which he had thought would end quickly by conducting a complete investigation of Obaifo’s vampires, was being delayed more than expected.
Of course, there was a fitting reason for that.
‘To think that revolutionary bastard was personally involved in that matter.’
The being he reached at the end of a tenacious pursuit.
Unfortunately, the leader of the Oath of Reversal, the Revolutionary, who was now dead, was at the very end of it.
‘…He really is a useless bastard to the last.’
Naturally, even he, who had the continent’s intelligence organizations in the palm of his hand, could not continue the pursuit under these circumstances.
The bastard had been an opponent even Hans had struggled to track, so following his movements from over twenty years ago was out of the question.
Though it left a bad taste in his mouth, he had no choice but to assume that the boy had ultimately been sacrificed as an offering for some ritual and move on.
‘Still, I’ll continue tracking for now. Since I personally avenged him, I’ll at least have something to say to Kayla.’
The giant who had appeared in the Tulk Kingdom and attacked Tarak had been none other than the Revolutionary himself.
Somehow, Heinz had ended up carrying out the revenge on her behalf as well.
With that much, he could probably save face to some extent.
“Then next is…”
Heinz, who had been muttering so, pressed his lips shut.
The goals he had first set for himself, the unification of vampires and their emergence into the light, could already be considered complete.
If nothing special happened, even if he left things as they were, they would probably continue to run on their own.
Then what should Heinz II aim for now?
What goal should he set next?
‘…Is it about time?’
The things he had to do in Auterica were roughly finished.
Then was the next step not obvious?
“Earth.”
Come to think of it, now was the optimal timing.
As for the Buncheon Society, the branch that governed all of East Asia had been blown away.
The bastards, sensitive as could be, would surely be focusing all their nerves there by now.
‘Hans, a watchlist target, has left Korea and extended his reach all the way to China, which is as good as their own backyard. They won’t stay still like this.’
On top of that, though it had been unintentional, the paladin Heinrich, who had been a hot topic before Hahoe Mask’s reappearance, was also one of the things drawing their attention.
Had he not, through the Ruler’s memory fragments, identified signs that they were attempting to cooperate with someone called the Scribe, the branch manager of North America?
‘If the memory loss hadn’t been so severe, I could know more for certain.’
It was regrettable, but it could not be helped.
For now, he would have to be satisfied that he had learned in advance that this person called the Scribe held an important position in Pantheon.
In any case, one thing was certain: if their gazes followed Hans and Heinrich and turned toward East Asia, the other side would become at least a little more careless than usual.
Considering the scale of their organization, he did not know how effective that would be, but if he was going anyway, it was best to take whatever advantages he could.
‘That way, no matter what traps there are, I’ll be able to smash through them for sure.’
The eyes of Heinz, who had been sitting quietly, sank coldly.
It was an opportunity to break through the limit blocking his path and grow one step further.
Could he keep running away every time things seemed a little dangerous?
Having organized his thoughts one last time, Heinz quietly rose from his seat.
Then, licking his lips, he murmured softly as if declaring it to himself.
“Then shall I go? To Europe.”
The land where vampire power was strongest on Earth.
To the center of world gastronomy.