Chapter 51 – The Game of Kings and Pawns
It was late night outside—Asgard's sky still glowed with its perpetual daylight, a halo of gold and white that never dimmed. The concept of night didn't exist here, only cycles of mana pulsation that HIME liked to call "circadian code."
In other words: light was eternal, time was meaningless, and I was definitely running on my third imaginary coffee of the day.
I was sitting on the balcony of the Central Hall, overlooking the floating expanse of clouds below, when HIME's voice broke through the silence.
"Ren-sama."
There it was. That tone. Calm, elegant, and just slightly heavier than usual—her I-have-something-important-you-should-probably-listen-to-before-you-accidentally-trigger-a-world-event voice.
I leaned back in my chair. "You sound serious, HIME. What is it this time? Please tell me Ignivar didn't start super explosion fire experiment inside Muspelheim."
"No, Ren-sama," she said smoothly. "The problem is external. We have received a new report from the Hanzo network in E-Rantel."
Ah. That kind of serious.
I turned slightly toward her projection, where a soft blue holographic image flickered above her palm. "Report away, then."
"According to multiple sightings," HIME began, "one of the key figures within the Kingdom of Re-Estize—the Warrior Captain, known as Gazeff Stronoff—has departed from the royal capital under direct royal command. He is currently traveling toward the outskirts surrounding E-Rantel with a specialized unit of soldiers."
I frowned. "Gazeff Stronoff… that's a name I've seen mentioned in the administrative records, right? The royal army's golden boy. Basically the human version of a raid boss with plot armor."
"That description is… accurate within ninety-two percent probability," HIME replied after a brief pause that sounded suspiciously like suppressed amusement.
"Flattery from my AI? I must be doing something right."
"The order given to him," she continued, ignoring the jab, "was to investigate and neutralize a series of village assaults occurring near the border. Witness accounts suggest the attackers may belong to the Slane Theocracy, though no official declaration of hostility has been made."
I blinked, tilting my head. "Wait, hold on. The Theocracy? That's one of the major religious nations, right? The one that supposedly hates anything non-human?"
"Correct. The Slane Theocracy has historically maintained an antagonistic stance toward demi-humans and heteromorphic entities."
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "Then this should be a big deal. Why send just Gazeff and a few soldiers? Why not mobilize the local garrison at E-Rantel? That's the logical move for a border incursion."
"That," HIME said softly, "is what makes this incident peculiar."
The projection on her hand changed—a miniature map of the region materialized, glowing lines showing troop positions and patrol routes. She pointed to a cluster of red marks at the city's northern periphery.
"If this were a true military threat, E-Rantel's regional forces would have sufficed. Instead, they pulled a national asset from the capital to deal with it. Moreover, intelligence reports from E-Rantel show no pattern of aggression from the Theocracy's side. No troop buildup. No reconnaissance. No pre-war tension indicators."
"So it's a trap," I said bluntly.
"Most likely," HIME agreed. "Someone within the Re-Estize Kingdom itself may have orchestrated this. The pattern suggests an internal political maneuver rather than foreign aggression."
I whistled softly. "Politics. Of course. Nothing's ever simple."
She folded her arms, looking faintly troubled for an AI.
"Gazeff Stronoff is considered a national hero. Eliminating him would destabilize both the army's morale and the royal family's legitimacy."
"So," I said slowly, "someone wants to cripple the kingdom's military strength from the inside."
"Precisely."
I exhaled, running a hand through my hair.
Even in another world, humanity can't go five minutes without stabbing itself in the back.
I stood and began to pace, the hem of my crimson coat brushing against the polished marble.
"This makes no sense strategically," I muttered. "Gazeff's the kind of person you deploy when an entire kingdom's on fire, not when a few villages are in trouble. So either the king's being manipulated…"
"Or the king himself is compromised," HIME finished softly.
I glanced at her, narrowing my eyes. "You're suspect this could be a setup at the royal level?"
"Merely hypothesizing," she replied calmly. "But the data suggests layers of misdirection. The order is real, the villages are real, but the timing is… convenient. Too convenient."
I couldn't help but smirk. "You always did have a talent for conspiracy theory."
"It is not paranoia if the probabilities exceed seventy percent."
Touché, again.
I stopped at the edge of the balcony, looking out over the radiant expanse of Asgard's horizon.
Below the floating citadel, the world stretched endlessly—fields, clouds, and lands I still didn't fully understand. Somewhere out there, men were marching to their deaths, and they didn't even know who was pulling the strings.
It was the same story everywhere, wasn't it?
"HIME," I said quietly, "do you know what the funny thing is about humans?"
"Humor is subjective, Ren-sama."
I gave her a flat look. "I mean in general. Even in my old world, people loved destroying what they didn't understand. If they saw power, they feared it. If they saw peace, they broke it. That's the pattern. Doesn't matter if it's a nuclear wasteland or a medieval kingdom. Same bugs, different software."
"So you believe this is inevitable?"
"No," I said, shaking my head slowly. "Just… predictable."
I smiled faintly. "That's why we exist, right? The Three Burning Eyes. We don't pick sides. We just watch, record, and prepare."
"You intend to continue as an information guild."
"Exactly." I turned back toward her, hands tucked into my pockets. "We'll do what we've always done best—observe, analyze, and archive everything. If there's a threat to this world, we'll find it before anyone else does."
HIME bowed her head slightly.
"A familiar mission, then. One that suits us well."
"Yeah," I said softly. "Information is the purest defense. Knowledge can stop wars before they start—or at least make sure we're not the ones buried under the rubble."
"Then our next phase begins," she said. "I'll assign Echo and Ethael to begin deeper infiltration. We'll map every major political and military entity across this continent."
"Good. Start with Re-Estize, Baharuth, and the Theocracy. I want every piece of data you can find—names, ranks, alliances, potential motives."
"Understood. However…"
Her voice hesitated—rare for HIME.
"Ren-sama, what about magical threats? We have yet to determine whether super-tier magic functions here as it did in Yggdrasil."
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's been bothering me too."
Super-tier spells were beyond even divine-class capabilities. In Yggdrasil, they were catastrophic but contained—a system-defined event.
Here, though?
We didn't know the rules.
"If the effects are permanent," I murmured, "then one misused spell could level entire continents. That kind of power doesn't belong in a living world."
"Should we test it?"
I smiled faintly. "Not yet. I'd rather avoid accidentally deleting half the atmosphere before breakfast."
"A prudent decision, Ren-sama."
I rested both hands on the balcony railing, looking down at the endless expanse of clouds.
"You know," I said quietly, "there's another thing that bothers me. Gazeff. If he's really one of the strongest humans here, I need to know how strong."
"According to records and battlefield accounts, he has been described as unmatched within the Kingdom. However, we lack numeric calibration to estimate his level accurately."
"Right," I murmured. "For all we know, he could be level forty… or level one hundred. And if he's the latter, then we're sitting on a ticking bomb."
"Your concern is logical," HIME said. "If individuals of such strength exist without constraint, the world's balance could be volatile."
"Exactly." I glanced up at the glowing mana streams crossing the sky. "If someone like that ever decides to fight using world-breaking magic—or worse, if they're manipulated into it—this world could share the same fate as mine."
HIME looked at me, her expression unreadable, and then spoke softly.
"Then it is our responsibility to ensure it does not."
I smiled faintly, the expression half weary, half amused.
"Responsibility, huh? That's a big word for someone who started life as a data assistant."
"I learned it from you, Ren-sama."
That one hit deeper than expected. I turned away before she could see the small, tired grin that tugged at my mouth.
"Yeah," I said finally. "Maybe you did."
The wind shifted again, carrying faint traces of Myrr's song from the lower halls—peaceful, steady, endless.
Somewhere out there, soldiers marched.
Plots brewed.
And maybe, just maybe, the world had already started its next chapter.
I straightened, adjusting my crimson overcoat.
"All right, HIME," I said, tone returning to its usual calm. "Send word to Echo and Ethael. Expand the Hanzo net, and prepare a new classification for what we find."
"And what shall we call this classification, Ren-sama?"
I smirked. "The same name as always."
I turned toward her, eyes glinting faintly with reflected light.
"Project Observation. Let's find out what kind of game this world is playing."
End of Chapter 51 – The Game of Kings and Pawns