Arc-7 Ch-61

“Arroganz? What is that?”

Mother didn't answer my question. Instead, she glared at the Lost Item.

It wasn't anger. Yet the intensity of the emotion radiating from her small frame was far too fierce to be called mere irritation, and it seemed to fill the entire room.

Even in her present childlike form, Mother still possessed enough presence to intimidate anyone who looked upon her.

Yet the Lost Item remained calmly suspended in the air, completely unfazed by the fierce emotions pouring from her.

A confrontation between a formidable heroine and an otherworldly being. That was how the scene might have been described. I was the only one who felt like an outsider.

“The only reason Leon brought that out was as a precaution against the absolute worst-case scenario. I find it hard to believe we've reached a situation where that's necessary.”

『That worst-case scenario is precisely the situation we're in now. What began as nothing more than a rebellion by a single race has already resulted in the revival of ancient technology capable of becoming the spark for a war between nations. To deal with this situation, I have determined that the use of force is the preferable course of action.』

“That doesn't mean there's any reason to use that. The airship's cannons will be more than enough.”

『This airship is intended solely for transportation, not combat. The number of cannons and the amount of ammunition it carries are limited, are they not?』

Mother and the Lost Item refused to yield even an inch, each attempting to dismantle the other's arguments. It wasn't so much a debate as a battle of words.

Whenever Mother argued that the airship belonging to House Bartfort was capable of handling the situation, the Lost Item calmly presented the grounds for rejecting her proposal.

As their exchange continued, I could sense just how reluctant Mother was to employ something called “Arroganz.”

However, while Mother continued to repeat increasingly unconvincing arguments, the difference between them gradually became apparent. The Lost Item had an accurate grasp of the disturbances that had occurred inside the ruins, as well as the magical beast, having witnessed everything alongside us.

Several hundred seconds had already passed since I rejoined the airship and reunited with Mother. In that time, Father and Ariel might already be drawing their final breaths somewhere inside the ruins.

Even with that sense of urgency gnawing at me, I couldn't bring myself to decide whether I should join the argument or simply remain a bystander.

“If we keep bombarding the hole exposed on the surface with precise shots, that should settle this.”

『Let us assume that such bombardment succeeds in destroying that filthy, abominable monster. Can you say with certain that it will have absolutely no effect on the interior of the ruins?』

“…!”

『And it's not only the bio-modification facility at the heart of the ruins. Leon Fou Bartfort and his daughter are still inside.』

“You…”

『Angelica Fou Bartfort, if you're prepared to bury alive the husband and daughter who went into the ruins to save you, then you may proceed as you wish. However, according to my calculations, the firepower of this airship is insufficient to destroy that loathsome monster, which is the result of the chaotic fusion of Old Human and New Human technology.』

“……”

A heavy silence descended over the room. I didn't need to look at Mother to know that she was hesitating.

Every proposal she'd come up with had been rejected by the Lost Item.

And after being warned that a careless move could result in Father and Ariel being caught in the attack, there was no room left for her to argue.

Come to think of it, I hadn't considered things that deeply either.

I'd been swept along by the Lost Item's claim that using all the magical ammunition I had on hand might be enough to defeat the magical beast, without giving any thought whatsoever to the damage it could cause to the surrounding area. Realizing that made me feel as though I'd been struck over the head.

The idea that bombardment from the airship would be enough to defeat the magical beast had been nothing more than wishful thinking, a naive plan built on overly optimistic assumptions.

Even so, I still felt that there had to be some way out of this situation, and there was only one reason for that: the Lost Item continued to insist that it had a way to overcome the crisis.

Ever since visiting the elven village, I'd been dragged into one incident after another. It was there that I first learned of the Lost Item's existence and began acting alongside it.

There was no question that the Lost Item was far too dangerous an entity to trust.

But its observations were coldly precise, and its knowledge of ancient technology was undoubtedly worthy of my trust.

We'd been pushed this far into a desperate situation. If the Lost Item truly had a way to break through it, I was beginning to think that entrusting our fate to it might not be such a bad idea.

“Mother.”

“What is it, Lionel?”

“I don't think the three of us can resolve this situation on our own. If that's the case, perhaps we should deliberately try the Lost Item's proposal.”

“You…”

Mother's face was filled with surprise.

Come to think of it, until today, I'd hardly ever gone against either Father or Mother's wishes, nor had I ever made a proposal of my own.

It struck me anew that I'd never behaved the way an ordinary child naturally would, and the realization left me rather surprised.

It wasn't as though my parents had subjected me to some harsh education befitting an heir.

I'd simply, from the moment I became capable of understanding things, unconsciously convinced myself that following parents blessed with such exceptional talents was always the best choice.

With Father's life or death still unknown and Mother now possessing a much younger body, my desperate attempt to make the right decision had ultimately led me to side with the Lost Item.

The moment I realized I'd opposed Mother's course of action for the first time, regret came rushing over me.

Yet Mother didn't get angry.

She didn't look down on me, nor did she seem exasperated. She simply stopped moving for a while and stared intently at my face.

Her gaze wasn't sharp like it was when she reprimanded me for making a mistake. Instead, she looked as though she were observing someone she'd never met before.

I don't know how much time passed before Mother climbed onto a chair far too large for her current body and sat down.

Her body should have been younger than mine, yet for some reason, she looked terribly impatient. Or was that just my imagination?

“But the activation key needed to operate that thing isn't here. Only Leon has it.”

『Rest assured. The activation key is already here.』

“What did you say!?”

『It is no falsehood. I have confirmed that the activation key was transferred from Leon Fou Bartfort to Lionel Fou Bartfort.』

I suddenly remembered the small pouch Father had entrusted to me before we'd parted.

At the time, I hadn't even had the time to ask what was inside, and afterward I'd been so preoccupied with escaping the ruins that checking its contents had completely slipped my mind.

I was certain I'd tucked it into my breast pocket, so I frantically patted down my body. If I'd somehow dropped it along the way, the sheer embarrassment of such an utterly pathetic blunder would have made me want to die.

Fortunately, the small pouch Father had entrusted to me was still safely tucked inside my breast pocket.

I untied the cord and found a metal rod, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, covered in intricate patterns.

Was this the activation key Mother had mentioned? I timidly held out my palm to her, and she let out a sigh with a slightly dejected expression.

“…There is no one capable of piloting it. Even Leon couldn't master it, and you should know that as well as I do.”

『If I accompany the pilot, I should be able to provide a certain degree of assistance. In the first place, Arroganz was jointly developed by myself and your people.』

“I feel like punching myself and Leon for falling for your smooth talk back then.”

『Rather than dwelling on what cannot be changed, shouldn't we search for a means of dealing with the situation that is actually feasible?』

“But I already told you. There is no pilot. Even if we put one of the territory soldiers who came aboard this airship into the cockpit, not a single one of them possesses piloting skills superior to Leon's. And I want to avoid letting them learn of your existence.”

『Yes. That is why I will select someone suitable to serve as the pilot.』

Until then, the Lost Item had been discussing the matter with Mother, but as soon as it said that, it turned toward me.

I couldn't shake the feeling that its red eyes were fixed on me with a gaze that wasn't quite murderous, yet was somehow enough to make me freeze in place.

The Lost Item wasn't a living creature. It was supposed to be a machine. Yet didn't it clearly possess emotions and a will of its own, just like a human or demi-human?

Stop looking at me like that.

I'm the kind of person who has a hard time refusing when someone asks me to do something.

『I recommend Lionel Fou Bartfort as the pilot of Arroganz.』

“!?”

“I will never allow that!!”

Mother's voice rang through the room, drowning out my own shock.

From everything we'd discussed so far, I'd gathered that this “Arroganz” was something a human was supposed to pilot, and that even Father had been unable to master it.

And now I was supposed to pilot something that dangerous?

Absolutely impossible. The words had already risen to my throat, but I shut my mouth and forced them back down.

Father and Ariel had remained inside the ruins to fight the magical beast and hold it off so I could escape.

No, perhaps the magical beast had already killed them.

If the magical beast resumed its activity, the first to be attacked would be the elves living on this floating island and the tourists who had come to visit.

Even if I called out to everyone now and tried to convince them to flee, there was little chance they'd accept it. More importantly, there simply weren't enough airships to evacuate everyone.

Alternatively, we might be able to mobilize every airship docked at the airport and bombard the magical beast until it was defeated.

But if we did that, it could affect Father and Ariel inside the ruins, as well as the device needed to restore Mother to her original form.

If there was even one way to resolve this hopeless situation, we had to try it.

At the very least, it would be more productive than wasting time in a room aboard the airship.

No matter how frightened I was, Father and Ariel were fighting to hold back the magical beast so that I could escape.

More than the fear consuming my chest, I hated the thought of rendering the two of them's resolve meaningless.

“I'll do it.”

The moment the words left my mouth and reached my own ears, something hot, something that surpassed fear, took root in my heart.

Footsteps that sounded as though they were striking against the metal floor echoed from ahead.

The unmistakably irritated footsteps belonged to Mother, who was walking in front of me.

It was only natural. For the first time since I was born, I'd openly defied Mother.

I hadn't even tried to properly persuade her. I'd simply forced the matter through by insisting that we didn't have time, acting as though I wouldn't accept any of her opinions.

If Mother had still been in her original form, it surely wouldn't have worked. It had only succeeded because, no matter how strongly she refused, her current physical strength wasn't enough to resist me.

I trusted Mother more than the Lost Item myself. But in our current situation, the affection Mother directed toward me could become chains binding my actions and potentially make matters worse.

Thinking that I'd have to apologize properly later, I continued walking.

Mother's irritation was obvious in the way she walked, yet because her body had shrunk, her strides were short and her footsteps surprisingly light. It was a strange sight.

I knew that pointing it out would only make her angrier, so I deliberately kept my mouth shut.

We eventually reached a hangar near the bottom of the ship.

Of the several airships owned by House Bartfort, the one we'd chosen for our visit to the elven village was relatively large.

We also owned luxurious airships adorned with elaborate decorations, but those were intended solely for travel through safe airspace. This one, however, was equipped with gun ports and an armor hangar so that it could deal with attacks from sky pirates and flying monsters.

That said, it wasn't a fully military vessel, so it could carry only one or two armor units at most, and the weapons it could equip were limited by their bulk. Light equipment was therefore the norm.

We reached the hangar door, and I opened it instead of Mother, who was walking ahead of me.

With her shrunken body, opening the door herself would have been quite a struggle, and I didn't want to make her even more irritable over something so trivial.

The air inside the hangar was oppressively hot and smelled strongly of oil, presumably because the air conditioning wasn't running.

To make matters worse, the lights were off, and I was nervous that the slightest distraction might make me trip over something.

The Lost Item seemed to grow exasperated as I fumbled around looking for the light switch. It pointed toward the electrical panel mounted on the wall with a beam of light emitted from its red eyes.

I had no idea which switch controlled which lights, so I simply flipped them one after another. Gradually, the entire hangar began to brighten.

After flipping every switch on the electrical panel, I turned around and realized that the hangar we were in was far larger than I'd expected.

I couldn't see all the way to the back at a glance. The area around the stern was still unlit and remained shrouded in darkness.

No, something was wrong.

I’d flipped every switch on the electrical panel. In fact, every light on the ceiling was already lit.

Yet one section of the hangar remained black, as though it had been stained by darkness itself.

Only after my eyes had finally adjusted to the brightness of the lights did I properly recognize its presence.

Black.

Its head, torso, arms, legs, even its wings. Every part of it was black.

I couldn’t tell whether that was the natural color of the metal or the result of paint.

It was clearly different from the darkness brought by night or the shadows cast by the sun. Its color possessed the smoothness and luster of metal.

If it had been painted black to keep enemies from spotting it in battle, the effect would have been quite the opposite.

The reason was simple. The armor standing before me was clearly a size larger than ordinary armor.

Even if its primary purpose had been night combat or covert operations, it would stand out far too much like this.

For what possible purpose could armor like this exist? I couldn’t begin to guess.

“Is this… ‘Arroganz’?”

『It is a prototype that attempted to reproduce the Old Human technology in my possession using armor developed by the New Humans. I gave it the name “Arroganz” as a sarcastic jab at that overreaching ambition.』

“From what Leon told me, the armor his counterpart in another world piloted was also called ‘Arroganz,’ wasn’t it?”

『The origin of the name doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that with this weapon, we can reliably erase that blasphemous, immoral monster from the world.』

“In theory, perhaps. Does a defective machine that has only undergone activation tests and simple piloting experiments really possess that much power?”

『Angelica Fou Bartfort, that’s quite a way to put it. The Old Human technology I provided was of a low enough level that it should have been reproducible. Don’t speak as though my technology was somehow responsible for your failure to achieve satisfactory results.』

“Do you have any idea how much time, labor, and money it took just to gather the equipment you claimed was reproducible?”

『I do not take your financial circumstances into consideration. With thorough preparations, adequate results should have been achieved.』

“It was thirty percent of House Bartfort’s entire annual military budget! And that went on for several years! And all we got out of it was a defective machine!? Do you want to be destroyed, you bastard!?”

『If that will satisfy you, feel free. However, the me standing here is merely a terminal. Destroying it will simply result in another terminal being prepared, and it will only worsen the current situation, so I do not recommend it.』

Mother’s and the Lost Item’s argument sounded like distant noise.

I could tell that I was captivated by the enormous black mass of steel shaped like a human, towering before me, so large that I couldn’t fit all of it within my field of vision.

If this armor called Arroganz had been shaped much like the armor commonly used throughout the Holfault Kingdom, I wouldn’t have been nearly as drawn to it.

How much power would armor built with technology so clearly different from the norm display if it were to unleash its full strength?

I was surprised to discover that I harbored a desire almost like that of a child who simply wanted to play with a toy to his heart’s content.

That was probably because owning such massive armor was limited to the national army, wealthy nobles, or renowned knights, making it far less familiar than a sword or a gun.

I’d learned in class that the main actors in warfare had shifted from individual valor to group combat, then eventually from aerial fleet battles to combat using armor.

Even without being taught that, there was no boy who wouldn’t yearn for the heroes sung about in the tales of bards, the warriors who climbed into their own personal armor and shot down their enemies.

I was well aware that, given everything that had happened since coming to the elven village, I could hardly claim to have played a satisfactory role.

But if I piloted this armor and defeated the magical beast, couldn’t I wipe away all the disgrace I’d shown so far? That shallow, base desire suddenly welled up inside me.

“…What kind of armor is this Arroganz, exactly?”

I asked in a calm voice, though even I couldn’t tell whether I was asking out of genuine curiosity or simply trying to hide that base desire.

Mother and the Lost Item, who had still been arguing, seemed to hear my question and turned toward me.

Apparently, Mother had accumulated even more dissatisfaction over this matter than Father. Although her body was turned toward me, her head remained fixed on the Lost Item, glaring at it.

“It all began a little over ten years ago, when Leon discovered an ancient ruin while investigating a certain floating island.”

“I had no knowledge of that matter until today.”

“Because Leon and I discussed it and decided in secret. Outside House Bartfort, the only ones who have had even the slightest inkling are the Holfort royal family and House Redgrave.”

『The long-standing dispute between the royal family and the ducal house nearly escalated into a civil war that would have divided the country in two.』

“Most of those who knew what was happening at the time kept the information concealed. After all, it had only been a few years since the war with the former Principality of Fanoss had ended, and even postwar reconstruction was still uncertain.”

『The previous Duke Redgrave, who possessed a claim to the throne, seized that opportunity and plotted to usurp the crown.』

“I can’t imagine Grandfather and Uncle being the sort of people who would do something like that.”

“Father is rather indulgent toward his grandchildren, so naturally you’d think that. But the fact remains that relations between House Redgrave and the Holfort royal family were genuinely strained, and the engagement between Leon and me was arranged with the civil war that would eventually break out in mind.”

My head spun, my vision swayed, and I felt as though I was about to vomit.

Grandfather and Uncle, who had always greeted me so kindly whenever I visited the ducal residence in the capital with Father and Mother as a child, had been plotting something like that?

My younger siblings sometimes joked that they preferred Grandfather to Mother, who was strict about discipline and education. I’d never known that our parents’ marriage, the very event that had led to our birth, had carried such a meaning.

Still, the fact that House Bartfort was a large, harmonious family was well known not only throughout the territory but in high society as well, and there was no denying that Father and Mother were so affectionate toward each other that we children were often driven to exasperation by it.

Most likely, Father and Mother’s engagement had gone far more successfully than House Redgrave had ever anticipated, completely upsetting their plans.

“In order to put an end to that dispute, Leon explored an undiscovered ruin and formed a pact with this detestable Lost Item.”

『In exchange for helping me discover my kindred and my masters, the Old Humans, and providing me with information about the present world, I was asked to provide the information and technology in my possession.』

“With the cooperation of the Saintess, Father abandoned his plans, and the crisis facing the Holfault Kingdom passed. For the time being, at least.”

“…For the time being?”

『Leon Fou Bartfort’s mediation did not result in a complete reconciliation between the royal family and the ducal house. It would be more accurate to describe it as a temporary ceasefire, brought about by his becoming an uncertain third force and suggesting that all sides would be destroyed together if the conflict continued.』

“It was still shortly after the war, so from the perspective of the neighboring countries, a civil war in the kingdom would’ve been the perfect opportunity to expand their territory. Resentment toward the former Principality of Fanoss remained strong as well. If Leon had thrown the balance of the conflict into disarray, a third war with the Principality of Fanoss might have broken out.”

『It was an operation with an extremely low probability of success, yet you and Leon Fou Bartfort managed to accomplish it miraculously.』

Confidential information I’d never known about kept being revealed one piece after another, and my thoughts couldn’t keep up.

But now I understood why House Bartfort, whose founder was my father, a man born into a minor noble family that had spent generations quietly maintaining its bloodline in the provinces, was treated with such importance in the capital.

Apparently, my parents had been far more of a source of trouble for this country than I’d ever imagined, while at the same time being figures whose presence was vital to maintaining its peace.

Was I really supposed to inherit a count’s house with this much baggage?

Honestly, I wanted nothing to do with it.

“The real problem came afterward. In other words, once House Bartfort could no longer be ignored, the royal family and the ducal house had no choice but to make peace. That left the two factions facing a new enemy. Lionel, what would you do in that situation?”

“…If a new, rising power appeared as a common enemy immediately after a peace agreement, the optimal course of action would be to cooperate with the former enemy and crush it before it had a chance to expand its influence.”

“Exactly. Leon and I were afraid we’d end up in precisely that situation. No matter how gifted Leon was as a military commander, there were limits to what he could accomplish. It would be extremely difficult for a single genius to fight two enemies at once. On top of that, this Lost Item was hardly cooperative when it came to protecting us.”

『Do not misunderstand. You and I are merely in a cooperative relationship. I simply determined that there was no benefit in protecting you to the extent of making my existence known to the present world, nor was there any agreement that I was obligated to uphold.』

“That was why we needed to rapidly strengthen the military forces of House Bartfort’s territory. This armor, the accursed offspring of ancient technology, was one of the results.”

So that was why its technological lineage was so clearly different from that of ordinary armor.

Military armor had developed from the armor worn by humans, so it had many curved surfaces and a broad, sturdy appearance.

Arroganz, however, was larger than ordinary armor while being sinisterly slender by comparison. If another suit of armor stood beside it, its unnatural appearance would become even more apparent.

Was it really all right for me to pilot something like this? The hesitation I’d felt countless times before began to cloud my heart once more.

“We didn’t have the funds to build one from scratch, but modifying a mass-produced suit of armor would’ve produced the same result. So, reluctantly, we modified the most advanced armor possessed by the Bartfort feudal forces at the time, a unit bestowed upon us by the royal family. What we ended up with was something completely different.”

『That is because you did not entrust me with the design of the machine, the procurement of its materials, or its manufacturing and assembly. By only partially reproducing the mechanical technology of the Old Humans, you ended up with an oversized machine whose armaments were incomplete. It became a defective unit.』

“What Leon and I wanted was military strength as a deterrent, not a weapon capable of destroying the world!!”

『In the end, both the plans for mass-producing the armor and for reproducing its technology ended in failure. The only result was this single unit built for testing. Moreover, it has never been used in actual combat, so I cannot say that much should be expected of it as a fighting force.』

“You expect my son to pilot a machine like that!? Are you out of your damn mind!?”

『There is no other choice. I have not yet completed the download of sufficient information from the ruins, and an attack by my main body could destroy not only the ruins but this entire floating island along with them.』

The longer Mother and the Lost Item argued, the more obvious it became that this armor had never been developed under anything resembling proper circumstances, and my spirits sank.

By all rights, this was the sort of armor that deserved to be left gathering dust in a hangar somewhere in the territory.

If someone were ordered to pilot this thing and defeat the magical beast, ninety-nine out of a hundred people would refuse. It was that unreasonable, that reckless, that utterly foolhardy an operation.

If there were anyone who had no choice but to pilot it, it would have to be someone who had become involved with the people who created it and had an unavoidable reason to fight.

And I was one of those few people who had such a reason.

The longer I hesitated, the more victims there would be. If that was the case, then I had no choice but to steel myself and make my decision.

“I’ll ride it.”

At the words that left my mouth, Mother’s and the Lost Item’s argument came to an abrupt stop.

I straightened my posture as though to reinforce my resolve, turned to face the two of them, and declared my decision once more.

“I’ll pilot Arroganz and save everyone.”

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Authors Note

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At last, the original Arroganz armor from this work makes its official appearance!

The design was created by Yamazakura-sama at the request of the commissioner. (Thank you!)

[Illustration]

While the original Arroganz is a machine built almost entirely with Old Human technology by Luxion, the Arrogants in this work is a machine that attempts to reproduce Old Human technology using modern technology. (Much like Crossbone Gundam and Amakusa.)

The illustration for this chapter was drawn by uMIYAMA-sama. Other illustrations are also planned for use in later chapters.

Pixiv

The anime has also entered its climax, but I’ll continue posting this work with the same momentum as before.

Addendum: At the request of the commissioner, illustrations were also drawn by Shibua-sama, Kitakata Akashika-sama, and Hyakunichimu-sama.

Truly, thank you so much.

Shibua-sama Pixiv (Adult content warning)

Kitakata Akashika-sama Pixiv

Hyakunichimu-sama Pixiv

I’d be grateful for any opinions or impressions, as they’ll serve as encouragement for me going forward.

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Translator Note

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I’m honestly pretty dissatisfied with this chapter. First of all, it’s a very long chapter that seems to exist primarily to justify Lionel becoming Arroganz’s pilot, and I found that pretty frustrating.

More importantly, this feels very OOC for Luxion to me.

For starters, Luxion doesn’t seem like the kind of character who would casually hand over his technology for someone else to reproduce, especially if he wasn’t personally involved in the development. In MOBSEKA, his relationship with Old Human technology is almost parental at times, so watching him essentially say, “Sure, go ahead and reproduce my technology,” doesn’t sit right with me. And what Luxion have absolute superiority complex about old human tech he would never mix them with modern tech wait by modern tech it doesn't mean magic tech right? I can assure you Luxion won't be agreeing to that bulsh!t.

Then there’s the magical beast itself. We’ve already seen how much Luxion loathes it. If he genuinely considers it such an eyesore and believes it needs to be eliminated immediately, why wouldn’t he pilot Arroganz himself? Luxion is perfectly capable of operating it, after all. Leon was only allowed to pilot Arroganz in the first place because he was Luxion’s master.

And even if Luxion absolutely needed a separate pilot because he intended to handle most of the work himself, Angie seems like a much more obvious candidate. She’s already an experienced fighter, and Luxion could handle whatever assistance was necessary.

Because of all that, the entire setup feels less like a natural development of the situation and more like a convenient excuse to put Lionel in the spotlight.

I’ll admit that may be part of my own bias as a translator, but I found this chapter pretty hard to watch. The decision feels forced, especially when there seem to be more convincing alternatives available within the established characterization.

That said, I’m curious to see where the story takes this from here.