5. Arankal’s Armory>Arankal’s armory was broadly divided into four levels of security zones. The Level 1 security zone consisted of arms for soldiers, military supplies, and provisions. The sword of Dame Rianna that Pareon had discovered and moved to his territory for use, as well as elixirs, Talic Stones, and various pieces of information, had all come from the Level 1 security zone.
Because these were goods in which all the Empire’s arcane law and magical sciences had been gathered, even the Level 1 items possessed tremendous value. In fact, in just four years, they had given the collapsing Barony of Kulan enough strength to contend with the entire Logadis region.
However, up to Level 1, its role was closer to that of a “warehouse” than an armory. The true “armory” began at Level 2.
Having managed Usharan’s armory for many long years, Kurandas knew this well. He advanced toward the Level 2 security zone while diligently slicing apart the dog-shaped artificial weapons,
It was only because he was a Gran-Bander that he could cut down Pablak so easily; Pablak, created to subdue civilians and soldiers in wartime, were quite powerful. That fellow Pareon must have considered taking them and using them, then decided they were too conspicuous and left them here to maintain security.
Before long, Kurandas reached the entrance to the Level 2 security zone and sensed an odd feeling catch in his perception.
‘He’s here…….’
Surely the owner of this armory had arrived here through spatial transfer.
Even with the arcane law of the Imperial era, miniaturizing the Great Teleportation Formation, Ra-Shar-Roa, would not have been an easy task. Still, at least the armory’s chief administrator could move by spatial transfer to any location inside the armory in an emergency.
This function had been developed because some authorities necessary for operating the armory could only be executed with the chief administrator’s command.
‘But what does he plan to do now that he’s here?’
Kurandas thought with a grin.
Kurandas was in a good mood, since everything was proceeding exactly according to plan.
As expected, blocked by the encirclement, the man had come alone without dragging along any troublesome tails. If he had brought troops, Kurandas would have had to carry out a massacre, which would have drawn the attention of the Tian Kingdom’s central authorities. But if he came alone like that, Kurandas could simply ignore him and go about his business.
If the administrator possessed all authority over this armory, Kurandas’s life would certainly have been in danger. No, he would surely have buried his bones here.
But that greenhorn likely had no such authority. That was why he was still dragging things out; if he had merely opened the Level 2 zone, this entire area would have been cleaned out in a single day.
And yet, despite that, he had even left his trail all the way to Usharan. He would have nothing to say even if he was robbed blind.
Thinking so, Kurandas began striking the iron door of the Level 2 security zone before him as though chopping firewood.
Kooong!
Boom! Kakakak!
It was a far sturdier door than the one at Level 1, but not sturdy enough to withstand a Gran-Bander’s sword strokes.
Looking at the door that had been chopped to pieces in an instant, Kurandas walked inside. As expected, this place was not yet operating.
If that fellow Pareon had obtained authority over this place as well, the
Thinking so, Kurandas looked at the tremendous number of Bander-suppression war weapons, the Kanuan, lined up across the unimaginably vast space, and prepared to activate the subspace of Nitzmatan that he had brought with him.
This extraordinary artifact, created with an immense quantity of Talic Stones equal to five percent of a nation’s annual consumption and the participation of dozens of first-class arcane-law mages, had been specially granted to him for this mission.
This artifact, first created by the great arcane-law mage Nitzmatan of the Empire several hundred years ago and later made according to the blueprints he had left behind, had only one function.
A technology that twisted dimensions to create a space on the reverse side and store inanimate objects. Ordinary artifacts of that sort would certainly not be worth managing at a national level, but Nitzmatan’s Subspace was different.
By realizing overwhelming capacity in his blueprints and adding various special functions, Nitzmatan maximized the utility of subspace and transformed what was merely a subspace pouch into a strategic-weapon-class artifact. According to tests, it could stockpile enough supplies for one hundred thousand soldiers to use for an entire year.
And now, it would display that performance here.
After placing Nitzmatan’s Subspace in the air, Kurandas stepped back and kept watch over his surroundings in case of any unforeseen situation.
The small box-shaped artifact that had left Kurandas’s hand, Nitzmatan’s Subspace, did not fall but floated in midair. Then, with a sudden whirring spin, it began pouring out brilliant radiance.
The blue light that emerged from the spinning Nitzmatan gradually widened in range, and at last reached the Kanuan stacked throughout the entire security zone.
And the Kanuan touched by that light vanished with a soft slip, as though melting away. They had entered the subspace.
‘A magnificent sight, no matter how many times I see it.’
Kurandas thought as he watched the Kanuan, wrapped in blue light scattering in all directions, disappear at tremendous speed.
Before he knew it, the thousands of Kanuan had all vanished. Now, he had to proceed to the Level 3 security zone.
As Kurandas thought that, he suddenly felt puzzled.
It was too quiet.
When he had sensed the spatial transfer earlier, Kurandas had prepared his defenses in case that fellow attempted some desperate struggle.
Even if he had no authority, he was surely watching this place. Overall surveillance authority over the armory was one of the basic privileges, after all.
‘What is this…? Don’t tell me he’s given up? That fellow Pareon?’
Perhaps that fellow did not know the value of the Level 2 and Level 3 weapons. That would explain why he had given up so easily.
‘He was more of an idiot than I thought. Makes things easier for me, though…….’
Thinking that it was convenient but had become uninteresting, Kurandas trudged onward.
Meanwhile, Pareon, whom Kurandas assumed had given up, neither failed to understand their value nor had any intention of giving up. No, precisely because he knew their value so well, he was struggling desperately. Elsewhere.
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‘Good heavens! Where did someone like that come from…….’
Pareon, who had been observing the state of the armory’s interior through “Kranga,” let out a groan.
The Pablak he had stored away because he judged it was not yet time to use them had all been sliced apart, and the door to the Level 2 security zone that had refused to open no matter how hard he tried had been torn apart like a sheet of paper.
The brilliant radiance flashing from the sword, which he had only heard of through rumors, showed that the man was unquestionably a Gran-Bander.
Since he could not break through the encirclement, he had transferred only himself near the armory, but it seemed he had done well not to bring the subordinates below.
Even if he had brought them, it would have meant little. They would all have died.
He did not yet possess the authority to stop that man. If only he had one more year… he could have released the Level 2 seal… and perhaps even the Level 3 seal. Then he might have been able to stop that man.
Pareon let out a sigh.
‘If only I had a little more time…….’
He could not begin to guess how someone like that had found this place. He had been so careful… and on top of that, the man had accurately found the location of the armory, which no one but Pareon knew. That meant this was an attack carried out by someone who had come knowing.
Pareon sighed at his own powerlessness.
Of course, even the Level 1 goods moved to his territory were tremendous. But if those objects were things that would make him a powerful noble, then the things inside there were enough to make him the master of Tian, and further still, an emperor.
Those goods were being sucked wholesale into the mysterious device the unknown intruder had brought.
As he agonized over it, Raka-Doom’s words suddenly came to mind.
‘First, if a situation arises that you cannot handle, go to a place called A-13. I don’t know what that means or where it is, but you will…….’
At the time, he had not understood it at all, but now he felt he did.
“Kranga! Move me to Area A-13!”
Pareon shouted into his wrist.
Soon, Pareon was engulfed in brilliant light and vanished, then moved to Area A-13 inside the armory.
“Huh? How did you get here?”
When Pareon opened his eyes, Sian was standing before him, looking at him as though fascinated.
“…What…….”
Pareon was rendered speechless by the sight of Sian before him.
This man was clearly the Garan-Tia whom Lord Raka-Doom had told him to be cautious of. But why was he here? In the middle of the night like this? And in the armory, no less?
For an instant, he wondered whether this man was one of the intruder’s accomplices, but soon discarded the thought.
Even if he were an accomplice, things could not get any worse, and if that were the case, Lord Raka-Doom would not have told him to come here. Lord Raka-Doom’s advice had never once been wrong.
“Are you not Sian? What are you doing here?!”
At that, Sian replied with an extremely sheepish expression.
“…Haha, I came to sightsee.”
“…Sightsee?”
“To tell the truth, I came here to sightsee last time too, but it was blocked by an iron door. But I couldn’t exactly break it down and go in, could I? It seemed to have an owner, and it wouldn’t do to damage someone’s property. But then I sensed the person up front smashing it apart. Haha! I was incredibly curious, and since he opened it from the front, I came inside to have a look. As expected, there are a lot of fascinating things here. That blue light earlier went zwoong and sucked everything in—it was truly spectacular…….”
Pareon was so bewildered by the man chattering away before him that he did not know where to even begin objecting.
This man was supposed to be staying inside the territory. Yet he said he sensed the door being broken on this cliff and came here? It was over twenty kilometers from the territory to this cliff.
Furthermore, Pareon had come by spatial transfer the moment he sensed it being destroyed, which meant this man had run more than twenty kilometers in an instant, sweeping past the encirclement in the process.
And on top of that, he had come to watch someone else’s warehouse being robbed.
But this was not the time to think about such things. The intruder was racing toward the Level 3 security zone at tremendous speed. The defenses there would buy some time, but in the end, they would be breached.
If Lord Raka-Doom had told him to come here, then this man before him, Sian, must have a solution.
“There is no time for this! We must go and stop him!”
“That’s right. Baron Pareon, you shouldn’t have time to be doing this here… You should go stop him. Wasn’t this place Baron Pareon’s property? What are you doing here?”
“……!”
At Sian’s words, Pareon felt as though his tongue had been stopped short.
That was right. Why on earth should Sian stop this?
“Y-you… are you not a Garan-Tia?”
“…That’s right?”
“Then… shouldn’t you stop an intruder like this somehow? Public order is the duty of the Garan-Tia!”
Even as Pareon spoke, he felt his face flush. It was a forced argument, but that was how urgent he was.
“……? My working hours are over… this isn’t my jurisdiction… this isn’t administrative inspection work… and besides, this belongs to you, Baron. You haven’t transferred it to the kingdom, right? Judging by the fact that you’ve been hiding it…… I don’t have any duty to protect even your private property for you.”
As expected, it did not work in the slightest. Rather, when Sian refuted him point by point like that and even dug into his weakness, Pareon found himself completely at a loss for words.
Once he grasped the situation, Pareon’s agitation instead cooled somewhat, and Lord Raka-Doom’s words came to mind again.
‘No matter what argument you make, none of it will work. When that happens, say this…… And keep this in mind. You must let go of your greed.’
Recalling Lord Raka-Doom’s words, Pareon hesitated.
He did not know whether this method would work, but if he stayed like this, everything would be taken by that unknown intruder. This would be better than that.
“Huh?! This won’t do. I’ll miss the spectacle. Baron, do your best. I’ll be off to keep watching what I was watching.”
At the voices that came from “Kranga” and Sian at the same time, Pareon steeled his resolve. Then he shouted exactly as Lord Raka-Doom had told him.
“I will transfer all goods in this place to the Tian Kingdom! And I request the activation of Article 3, Paragraph 7 of the Garan-Tia!”
Hearing this, Sian paused, then began carefully recalling what Article 3, Clause 7 written in the manual was. Before long, when Article 3, Clause 7 came to mind, Sian’s face twisted.
And Pareon, seeing Sian’s expression twist, let out a sigh of relief.
『Garan-Tia Article 3, Clause 7』
-All Garan-Tia bear responsibility for the defense against intrusion upon, and the safekeeping of, state-owned military assets. This applies regardless of time or place.
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Having reached the Level 3 security zone, Kurandas could not help but tremble at the scale of this armory. At the same time, he was relieved. If that fellow called Pareon had swallowed all of this whole… the Tian Kingdom, along with the surrounding kingdoms, would have fallen beneath his feet.
The “Armory of Arankal” they had discovered was, compared to this place, no better than a neighborhood old men’s vigilante group. At this scale, it made sense that it had been located in the middle of the Rashian Continent and could suppress rebellions against the Empire.
Watching no fewer than two hundred anti-Master-class Vander suppression weapons,
With thirty of those things, even his own life would be in danger.
If he returned to his homeland with just this… they would be able to push aside the likes of the Kon Kingdom, which bordered them, in an instant. And the Tarang Kingdom bastards, who were smiling now but sharpening knives against one another behind the scenes, could also be trampled underfoot.
As Kurandas was laughing at such thoughts, one bulkhead entered his eyes. And when he read the ancient Imperial script written there, he could not hide the tremor in his gaze.
“…Level 4! So it was true that the Armory of Arankal would have a Level 4 security zone!”
Kurandas could not conceal his shock and joy.
The “Armory of Arankal” discovered in the Usharan Kingdom had been divided into a total of three zones.
Level 1, a storage area for the four-legged autonomous mobile weapon Pablak, which suppressed ordinary people and civilians.
Level 2, a storage area for the four-legged autonomous mobile weapon Kanuan, which suppressed Beginner- and Expert-class Vanders.
Level 3, a storage area for the humanoid autonomous mobile weapon Kel-Lupen, which suppressed Master-class Vanders.
Even these alone were truly tremendous fighting power. When their country had first discovered that armory, they had been unable to stop trembling before ancient technology. Machines assembled by human hands could suppress even Masters!
But at the same time, a question had arisen. Because with only that much, they could not control all seven kingdoms of the Rashian Continent.
The reason was the Grand-Vanders. Even among the seven kingdoms of that era, Grand-Vanders were few, but they certainly existed, and no matter how numerous the Kel-Lupen were, they could not suppress a Grand-Vander rebellion that struck and withdrew.
And so a hypothesis had emerged.
The warriors who heard this snorted. Autonomous mobile weapons capable of suppressing even Masters were certainly astonishing in and of themselves. But autonomous mobile weapons capable of suppressing Grand-Vanders!?
They dismissed the hypothesis, saying that since those scholars only sat at desks, they did not properly feel that greatness in their bodies. And in truth, there had been none.
But to think those words had been true! Kurandas could not hide his shudder.
Then, with an excited expression, he began smashing the Level 4 bulkhead. The Level 4 bulkhead was quite sturdy, but perhaps because it had not been made as a protective barrier to begin with, he was able to break it more easily than expected.
Kurandas gulped and passed through the gap in the bulkhead, entering the Level 4 security zone.
“Ooh… Oooooh…….”
Carrying Nitsmatan’s subspace, he entered and trembled at the sight of ten humanoid weapons.
Those things were clearly not even operating.
Even so, he could feel it. The moment even one of those things lit up, he would have to engage it in a duel to the death!
Filled with emotion, he approached and read the name engraved there.
“So the name ‘Armory of Arankal’… originated from this.”
Indeed, it was worthy of being called the master of such a vast armory.
As he gazed at them, lost in deep emotion, he suddenly flinched.
The things here were different from those outside. If the ones before were in a state where their energy had not been charged, these were things that could begin operating from the moment the start-up phrase was uttered.
And if his thoughts were correct, he knew that start-up phrase. It was probably the same as the start-up phrase for their own armory.
Having worked in an armory for a long time, Kurandas knew very well what happened when autonomous mobile weapons like these began operating without an authorized administrator, and cold sweat ran down his back.
Then, thinking that he had to store them carefully, he prepared to activate Nitsmatan’s subspace.
At that moment, a voice came from outside, and Kurandas, who had sensed no presence at all, flinched in surprise and looked outside.
“Mister! Leave that there and go. That’s illegal theft. You’re old enough to know better… Ahh…….”
Looking outside, he saw some young brat staring at him and making his annoyance blatantly obvious.
Kurandas hardened his expression, gripped his sword, and approached the fellow before him.
Judging by his appearance, he was not the one called Pareon whom Kurandas had confirmed. In truth, it did not matter who he was.
Having judged that, since he had already become deeply involved, it would be all right to kill one person or so, Kurandas swung his sword just like that.
Sian was sighing heavily as he looked at the situation he had truly gotten tangled up in.
Unable to believe what Baron Pareon had mentioned earlier, he once again opened and examined the abridged manual he always carried around, but there was simply no way to avoid it.
“Well, now… what a clever fellow.”
Sian sighed and dashed toward the place where the person who had kindly opened the door for him was.
He had accepted because all he had to do was subdue the target, so he probably would not have to kill anyone over this, and it did not seem dangerous either, but getting tangled up like this was exhausting.
When he arrived, some man was in a corner, stroking a humanoid machine with an enraptured expression.
Seeing that, Sian got goosebumps.
‘…Is he a pervert? At his age, too…….’
In any case, those items were now state-owned assets from this moment on, so he had to do what needed to be done.
“Mister! Leave that there and go. That’s illegal theft. You’re old enough to know better… Ahh…….”
When Sian shouted, the man inside flinched in surprise and looked at him.
Sian thought that at least the man seemed to know shame. Seeing how startled he was.
But then, didn’t the man come closer and swing his sword without warning?
Sian had not expected this man to say, “Oh dear… yes, is that so,” and let himself be dragged in. Judging by the swordsmanship he had shown earlier, he was someone who had been around the block.
But this was not enough to make Sian release his “Lock,” so Sian still had room to spare. From the looks of it, he seemed a bit weaker than the golden-sword old man, and there was no one beside him restraining Sian with some strange blackish stuff… At this level, even if it took some time, he could beat him down and subdue him.
“I am subduing you on charges of trespassing, theft of state-owned assets, and assaulting a Garan-Tia, mister.”
Then he drew his scabbard and began swinging it mercilessly.
Thwack! Tok! Smack!
“Guh! Gah! Ghk!”
Kurandas could not get his head straight at all. The young fellow who had dodged the sword he swung had babbled something incomprehensible, then begun fiercely swinging a scabbard at him.
He could not understand his own situation at all.
The fellow before him was not using some unusual power. No light was flowing from the scabbard, and neither its speed nor its strength could be considered exceptional.
But he simply could not dodge that scabbard, which was being swung with light taps by someone wearing an annoyed expression. Apart from dodging the first few blows, he was being beaten senseless.
He was clearly not one of Tian’s three Grand-Vanders. Since there were not many Grand-Vanders, unless he was a hidden Grand-Vander like Kurandas himself, Kurandas had grasped all their appearances and traits.
He did not know who this was, but one thing was certain.
‘Far above me! And he hasn’t even brought out his full strength yet.’
Analyzing the situation while dodging as much as possible, Kurandas wore a look of despair. To be beaten like this by someone whose identity he did not even know! Even worse, if things continued like this, he would soon be captured. His mind was already growing hazy.
Before coming here, he had killed Viscount Tern. Once this matter was over, he had planned to kill Baron Pareon as well. If, claiming injustice, they spoke to the Tian Kingdom and an investigation team came after him, it would become troublesome.
After all, the deaths of merely two nobles from the borderlands could be brushed off as assassinations during a territorial war.
But what meaning would any of that have if he was captured before then?
In the end, it would all be revealed as the doing of the Usharan Kingdom. And he would die as well. Relations between kingdoms were not good enough to let a Grand-Vander captured during an illegal intrusion go alive.
He could not tell whether this situation was a trap laid by Tian or mere coincidence, but once it became clear that he would die either way, his decision was made. Since he was going to die anyway, he would complete his final mission and open hell here in Logadis.
The moment Kurandas made that decision, he gathered the Vander throughout his body and spread it in all directions. At this, Sian stepped back slightly, then waved away the storm of Vander and approached again with an annoyed expression.
But for Kurandas, that brief moment was enough.
Enough to shout the Imperial words that activated the autonomous mobile weapons.
“AKO-RAK-TA-SHE, A-RANKAL!”
Then the eyes of the Arankal in the corner flashed, beginning to emit a red glow.
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“Insane!”
Pareon, who had been tucked away in a corner and comfortably watching Sian resolve the problem through “Kranga,” shot to his feet.
To think the intruder would know the start-up phrase!
The start-up itself was not important. What mattered was that those things had no administrator. Since he himself had not received recognition above Level 2, he was treated as nonexistent.
In a situation where no administrator controlled them, the principles of action input into autonomous mobile weapons during the Imperial era were simpler than one might expect.
Here, suppress meant kill.
In this way, the Empire forcibly registered and controlled all Vanders and civilians of the seven kingdoms under the Empire’s management system.
In truth, the Empire did not care even if one did not register. It was just that when the “Armory of Arankal” system was activated, unregistered life-forms would be tracked by the mobile weapons and killed without exception.
Since they feared death, unless they were rebels, all ordinary people and Vanders had no choice but to register.
The number of people currently registered was… none. After the Empire’s fall, all registration data had been erased, and besides, there was no way anyone registered back then would still be alive.
That meant that, from now on, those Level 4 mobile weapons would run rampant for blind slaughter, and…
As far as he knew, the Arankal were the ultimate mobile weapons created for the purpose of suppressing Grand-Vanders.
According to “Kranga,” only after these things were made did the Rashian Continent fall completely under Imperial control without the need to dispatch an Imperial armed force.
They had not taken them because they were of no use in the war against the Kal-Gul tribe; if they had been useful, these were not things that would have been left in a place like this.
That meant that, from now on, ten Grand-Vanders would run wild in order to kill every living thing they saw.
Having judged this much, Pareon asked “Kranga” to use spatial movement to the lord’s castle.
He felt sorry for the one called Sian, but… he had to evacuate his household quickly. As far away from here as possible…….
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Pareon, having hurried back, moved busily to evacuate his household first.
“Lord Raka-Dum! Hurry! This place will become hell now. We have to run!”
But Raka-Dum’s expression looked utterly calm. And he gave Pareon a bitter look.
“…Lord Raka-Dum?”
“Brat, everything about you is fine, but the problem is that you’re a brat. You have to see things through properly. I even told you one more thing, didn’t I?”
Only then did Pareon remember the last of the three things Raka-Dum had said to him—something he had failed to recall in the urgency of the moment. “And absolutely do not run away on your own. Stay there. Unless you want to get beaten up in front of your lovers later.”