Inside the corridor of a magnificent palace before the dawn, hurried footsteps echoed.
The servants who were already starting to work turned their gaze in wonder about the loudly stamping footsteps, there their expression turned startled because they recognized the figure of the high official with a grim expression. That was because the high official of the divine country wasn't a mendable character with the habit of waking up before the dawn.
The male high official turned through several passages, and before long he arrived in front of a room that was guarded by soldiers armed with firearm. Even though the guards recognized the high official's face, but they instinctively put themselves on guard seeing his unusual state.
「You guys, announce my arrival to his majesty quickly! This is an emergency business-」
「Silas-sama. However, his majesty is still in the middle of his rest……」
The male high official who raised an angry voice――Silas was answered by one of the guards, but Silas cut him off with angrier voice.
「I don't care-, wake him up! Quickly! I told you this is an emergency-」
「Ro, roger!」
One of the guards called out to inside the room. After a while, who came out was a woman wearing thin clothes with a displeased expression. When the guard explained the situation, the woman's expression was being even more displeased even while she drew back into the room.
Silas was tapping his foot in irritation while waiting. The guards were stirring awkwardly seeing that.
After a while, the displeased woman just now showed out her face with her clothes in order this time. And then she prompted Silas to enter.
Silas entered the room by pushing aside the woman and he ignored the small curse of the woman that came from behind while heading toward the door inside the room. The room he was currently in was the room before the bedroom. It was a place for reception.
He knocked on the door a bit roughly, then he obeyed the voice「Enter」ing from inside that was said with a voice that sounded deliberately bad-tempered and he opened the door.
「Silas. Do you really have a reason to rouse me out from bed?」
It was a man who was past his middle age. He was gulping amber colored alcohol that was poured into a glass while asking that. Although his appearance was only wearing a gown, his eyes' sharp glint and grim expression had the pressure that naturally overpowered anyone who saw.
This man was the king of Sky Divine Country Qwailent――the usurper Gregor Cluzet Qwailent.
This king who had lived until now by stealing from other people since the time he had awareness of his surrounding would easily turn his back on other even if it was his trusted confidant. Silas knew that. This man's overwhelming violence, and his craftiness that fully made use of that violence, and then his atrocity that was deeply dyed by his pillaging nature, his aura that came from all those wasn't just papier mache.
Such atmosphere would usually make Silas shrank into himself, however this time Silas only gulped his saliva and opened his mouth.
「The mother ship Ostinato, fell. ――It was shot down.」
「……What did you say?」
A mother ship getting shot down had never happened since the founding of the country. Gregor's eyes slightly opened wide from hearing that report. His pressure was increasing further than before while he urged Silas「What happened?」to continue.
「Last night, a sky battlecraft that belonged to Ostinato returned back alone. The pilot was a man named Higgs from Glowser squad. His sanity was mostly lost, so it was difficult to question him about the circumstance, but according to him, they were attacked by two monsters in the middle of a battle against Avenst, and then Ostinato got shot down.」
「Monster? Is it about Bovid's squad? Indeed, their skill is like a monster but――」
「No, that's……he said that they were done in by a man who fired a bombardment in the level of a mother ship's main cannon by his lone self, and a black dragon that flew in the speed of sound while manipulating flame and wind at will.」
「……Redo the questioning. No matter how you think, he must be crazy. Don't tell me, you aren't waking me up because you swallowed that kind of nonsense right?」
Gregor whose displeasure was increasing drastically had his finger gliding toward the gun placed on the desk. He must be thinking that if Silas was that kind of inpetent, than he didn't need him anymore.
Silas continued his report even while he was trickling cold sweats.
「Of course, I'm reporting this after confirming that it's not nonsense. After the questioning, we sent a call at Ostinato using wide area munication. But, there was no result. And then when we sent an investigation unit at the place where Ostinato fell……」
「It was true?」
「Yes.」
The investigation unit here referred to a unit that mainly investigated the land. They were mostly unarmed, in exchange their airship was fast and thickly armored, the unit members were also wearing special protective clothes that could defend against the black rain's encroachment for a little while.
The ponent of black rain that had been raining down for many years on the land was also included by a lot into the moisture in the air, so even if someone didn't get touched directly, their body would get eroded just by breathing the air. To investigate the land, what was needed wasn't respiratory device that purified the air, but a fully sealed protective clothes with oxygen tank.
Therefore, even if they were called as investigation unit, but their activity on the land was limited timewise……
「It was an investigation unit that was sent urgently, so they didn't look around for much detail but――」
Silas was at loss for words. His lips distorted as though he was hesitating and choosing his words carefully. Gregor urged him「Doesn't matter, just report it as it is」in irritation.
「It seems that the exterior of Ostinato, its 3-gun turrets as well as the ship's rear bottom are gouged out wholly. The sky battlecrafts onboard are mostly gone, most of the important spots were blown off as though they were exploded from inside. And then……about the crews……」
「Hmph. They are annihilated anyway right?」
「Yes. But, it seems that the cause wasn't just the black rain.」
Saying that, Silas took out a data storage of recording video inside the mother ship that was brought back by the investigation team. Silas's expression was pale for some reason. Gregor received the data storage while looking suspicious and inserted it into his personal console.
What was projected in the display was……
『That guy-, that guy is ing-. Run away quickly-』
『Stop-, it's me! Don't shoot-』
『Noooo-, no moreeee-. The voice won't go away-. Someone-, hel――』
『Aa, aAAAAAAAAAA-』
『Die-, DIEEEEEEE-』
It was a scene of chaos and madness that would make one covered their eyes. The recording was only showing the crews of Ostinato. However, everyone was fighting, bawling, or desperately running away as though they were being chased by something unseen.
And then, the people who lost their sanity early attacked the people nearby, and then the stray bullet from the attempt to counter attack that would attack other people……after that it was just like a stone that rolled down a slope. It was a crucible of madness that created unseen terror and excessive paranoia against the rade before them.
「What, is this……」
「……」
Silas couldn't answer at the mutter that unconsciously came out from Gregor's mouth.
Before long, when the madness reached its peak, everywhere inside the ship exploded unnaturally, and Ostinato ultimately crashed to the ground. The lightning strike inside the sea of clouds further destroyed the inside of the ship, but someone must be displaying their last obstinacy, because the ship recovered its floating power for a moment just before it crashed on the ground and it somehow avoided plete destruction. Even so the ship still exposed a figure that looked atrocious even just from looking.
「Silas, what happened with Ostinato?」
「I don't know. We cannot confirm the existence of intruder from the ship's recording. Just what is "it" the crews were frightened at……or perhaps, it might be the "monster" that Higgs was talking about.」
Inside the room became deathly silent. It was an eerie silent that would make one wanted to express it by saying it was like even the insect was holding breath.
「……What about the battle record against Avenst? You will know what was "it" Ostinato was fighting from there right?」
「That's, because of the explosions from unknown cause, all the record inside the ship except this one was destroyed and couldn't be recovered.」
Perhaps, that too was the work of the "monster"……even without putting it into words, the two of them thought of the same thing.
Silence ruled the place for a while. Gregor was looking across the window at the sky that was nearing dawn while he suddenly gulped down his alcohol. He drank directly straight from the bottle. Its alcohol content was high and quite some amount was remaining in it, but he drained it dry without feeling bothered by that.
And then, he threw the bottle to the floor that it broke into pieces. He wiped his mouth roughly and looked at Silas with a fiercely blazing gaze.
Silas's body jumped while he fell into hallucination as though he was being glared by a wild beast. Gregor made a grin that displayed his brutal nature and gave his order.
「Summon the ship captains. Everyone of them except the defense fleet.」
「Wha-, that's……. Your majesty, you will finally take care of those guys?」
「Yeah. The struggle of those Avenst bunches was a suitable amusement. I don't know what they are starting to raise, but this time they overdid it. I'll have them disappears now.」
By no mean Avenst had succeeded in applying guerilla tactics against the divine country. In the first place there was overwhelming difference in resource and technology between the two sides. If Gregor felt like it, it was a trivial matter to annihilate them.
They were surviving solely because battle that happened unpredictably became Gregor's amusement. That was all.
But, as expected the prided mother ship of the divine country getting shot down was a situation that he couldn't turn a blind eye on. Because they introduced themselves as country of god that ruled the sky, they couldn't have themselves got even a single scratch from the like of pirate. This concerned the dignity of the nation.
Therefore, he would overwhelm them with all his forces excepting the fleet that was left behind for the country's defense. He would exterminate them from this world, not leaving a single dust behind.
Silas lowered his head wordlessly and turned on his heel in order to acplish his task.
「e to think of it, that princess too should be in a suitable age about this time……kukuh, maybe it's also not bad to take in the royal blood. Or perhaps, I should even show how the last royalty fall in front of the survivors.」
A delighted laugh echoed.
Gregor Cluzet Kwailent――he was without a doubt a usurper.
The gigantic mother ship Avenst was moored in the valley of a cloud mountain..
The mother ship of divine country Ostinato that Hajime sank was also gigantic, but Avenst was two sizes larger than it.
Although, if it was asked whether its majesty surpassed Ostinato because it was superior in size, then the answer could be no other than "No".
After all,
「……The gun turret, has a lot of laundry aired there.」
「……The deck, hath plantation spreading through the whole thing there.」
Hajime and Tio who were observing the gradually nearing Avenst using binoculars muttered so spontaneously.
Yes, the mother ship Avenst was horribly peaceful from the outside. The gun barrels and turrets on the exterior were linked with each other by wire and laundries were hanged in a row there. A panty of some madam was hanging on the tip of the main cannon. Honestly the two of them couldn't help but felt their strength drained from them seeing that.
In addition, there was a splendid plantation on the deck. There were a lot of people taking care of it diligently even now. And then, on top of such deck children were running around energetically. There was even a daredevil that slid down something that looked like a slide that stretched to the outside from the deck until the bottom of the ship in one go.
「I, it's more or less treated as the "royal capital
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