***Arc 6 One Who Pierced Through, Chapter 117 Place to Return To***
The underground laboratory of the royal palace looked a bit like a large warehouse, with countless books on the shelves.
There were countless books on the shelves, metal rods of unknown use, and piles of magic crystals placed here and there.
Elvena finished sorting the piles of magic crystals and duplicate it then turned her attention to her master.
“Krische-sama, I've finished with the whole process but…”
"Is that so? How many did you make?"
“Twelve. If you include the ones from the other day, that makes 56.”
When the finished magic crystal is packed in a dedicated box, Krische crossed her arms and turn to the object in front of her.
There was a doll made of a metal rod and a birdcage lying on the table.
It had four limbs and a head as if it were a simplified human body, and each joint of the four limbs had a total of 24 magic crystals. There was one large magic crystal in the birdcage-like body and another in the head cage.
Each joint was connected by a chain, giving the figure the appearance of a poorly made model.
The seven shaku frame looked creepy, and the cold blue glow of the magic crystal was chilling.
"That ... Krische-sama"
"It seems that minimal movements can be done."
"...will it move?"
"It moves"
Krische gets on the small pedestal, she puts her finger on the fuselage――the magical crystal of the heart on the table.
Blue light shines through each magic crystals as if propagated by the magic power sent from her fingertips.
*clank, clank*, the sound of the chain echoes,
“!”
The doll rose and stood up.
The body of the seven shaku is likely to hit the ceiling in this basement, and Elvena braces herself a little at the sight of something non-human moving in front of her.
Clinging to its metallic body were imaginary muscles formed by blue magic.
Though its body was thin, there was a strange sense of intimidation.
The doll move one hand of its hand to the front and put it on its chest.
It makes a saluting motion.
"... After all, the joints of the legs and arms shouldn’t be chains, it is better to connect it properly to some extent. The loss of magic power is great.”
Krische narrowed her eyes and looked at the doll's limbs.
The doll walked around the table in a circle.
*clank, clank*, every time it walked, the chain, metal, and the sound of the floor echoed.
It is something that will never be injured and will never die.
It was an iron soldier that will continue to fights as long as it had magic power.
“There is still some problems when it comes to fighting, but it moves properly, right?”
“…It moves, yes”
When finished, this strange doll would kill her on the battlefield with sword, axe, and spear.
A weapon for murder――the bizarreness of what the girl was making in between her free time of household chores gave Elvena an indescribable chill.
It had been less than a week since they had begun work on it.
But it was already taking shape.
Imaginary muscles created and worn by possessor of magic power.
Its deployment and processing were replaced by the magic crystal, which become the flesh and blood that moves a metal dolls that do not speak.
The formula engraved on the magic crystal was elaborate.
It is inscribed with a complex formula that is beyond Elvena's comprehension, and she didn’t even know what was functioning what.
This doll was made of something that she could understand logically (theory, reason) but couldn’t comprehend.
"If we want imitate the human body, it may be better to distribute the load with two bones that are thinner than one. In particular, considering that its feet are heavier than humans…it seems better to expand the ground area a little more. It seems like it would be stuck in the ground. "
Krische took a piece of parchment and writes down the information on her mind.
She did not use any kind of measurement, but her drawing was precise and accurate to the last detail.
The orders for its parts were dispersed among multiple craftsmen. This was partly to prevent information leakage, but more importantly, it was simply more efficient to distribute the orders.
After a while, the doll returns to the stand, and when it lies down again, it stops.
Silence reigned once again, as if nothing had happened.
“Any problems with the duplication crystal?”
"Ah, yes ...Depending on the quality of the magic crystal the result will be a little wierd, but if you use it for magical measurement, there is probably no problem. I've tried to fine-tune the ones that I can fix, but I'm not sure if I'm getting it right...”
"which one?"
"These three"
When Elvena handed it to her, Krische nodded and returned it with a glance.
"It's enough. Let’s finish with what we made now."
“Yes.”
"Elvena, can you deliver this? That's the end of Elvena’s work…hmm, Elvena can go home and rest for three days.”
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's a reward because Elvena did her best. It's dangerous, so please take an escort."
Elvena bowed her head happily.
“I'll probably be at home, if Krische-sama need anything please just call me.”
“Krische doesn’t think there will be anything, but Krische will let you know if there’s anything. Please have a good night's rest.”
One of the small estates in the royal territory――used as a place to prepare for guests, was given directly to Christand family and had become the Christand estate cum the princess's bedchamber.
Although it is somewhat smaller than the original Christand estate, there are at most six of them staying there, including Elvena, who often goes back to Kalua and Mia's house outside the royal domain.
The small estate was more than enough space for all six of them.
Krische, Kreschenta, and Bery sometimes use the same room, and even considering guest rooms you could say there was too much excess room.
"Ehehe, today was a critical pumpkin pie. The pumpkin is better in the royal capital."
"Yes, all the foods are all good... shopping is fun, though sometimes it feels lonely."
As usual, Krische was on Bery's lap on the sofa.
The two of them, after taking a hot bath, were dressed in negligee as usual――the distance between them had long since disappeared, and they were in no condition for outsider to see.
The texture of the fabric, which reveals a thin layer of skin, was lascivious, and Krische, wrapped in a blanket draped over Bery's shoulders, occasionally changes position to bury her face in her chest, hugging and kissing her.
The two of them were alone in the decadent space, and the civil war, which has been over for less than a month, was a distant memory.
The only word to describe Krische when she was in her room was depravity.
When she woke up, she had a ‘pre-breakfast’ consisting of last night's leftovers and prepares breakfast.
After finishing breakfast and cleaning up, she heads to the royal castle with her lunch box, where she does some ‘work’, comes back during snack time to help with cleaning, then cooks dinner, eats it, and then takes a bath with and gets a good night's sleep with Bery.
Krische life cycle was like that, and her schedule was set up so that she spends as much time as possible with Bery.
Compared to Selene and Kreschenta, who were busy with paperwork and political affairs after dinner, Krische’s appearance was more depraved, but the reason for this was the meeting with neighboring countries scheduled for the next month.
The meeting was to be held under the guise of unveiling the new queen, it is a regular event that is held every time the king changed.
The Kingdom of Erna in the north is a given, but the Eldeland Kingdom in the west, the Galshan Republic in the south, and the Holy Elsren Empire, which had only recently recovered from the recent war, have also been invited to attend the meeting, and letters have been received from each country stating that they will participate.
Although only the Holy Empire of Elsren has yet to reply, it would be diplomatically difficult to attack the Kingdom now as long as the other three countries have expressed their participation.
The kKngdom had at least two months of peace.
Despite the kingdom's exhaustion, the possibility of an invasion at this time of year, when winter was about to begin, was not high to begin with, but now that the seeds of such an invasion had been completely squashed, time could be devoted to repairing the country.
The reason why Crescenta was the first to present herself to the neighboring countries after she became queen was for this purpose, and the attempt was going well.
"Oh, that's right."
“…?”
Krische gets off of Bery and pulled out some magic crystals from her bag.
She then placed them on the table, picked one up, and showed it to Bery.
"this is?"
“It's a duplication magic crystal Krische made as a trial. It seemed practical enough, so Krische thought to give one to Bery.”
"Duplication..."
Bery, who did not seem to understand what it was, picked it up and looked at the formula engraved inside.
Inside the crystal were countless lines forming a geometric three-dimensional pattern.
The only thing that can be read at a glance was that this was a formula that affects something else, and she could only understand that it was a very sophisticated formula.
"It's okay to duplicate the everlasting magic light right?"
Elvene held up one of the magic crystals――bringing it closer to an everlasting magic lamp.
“Attach it to the lamp and let the magic flow through it.”
“...... like this?"
The magic crystal in her hand was placed against the lamp in Krische hand, and magic power is poured into it.
The duplication magic crystal in the palm of Bery shone, and a small new formula was engraved inside.
It was a simple formula for the everlasting magic lamp, which only emits light.
"So it can remember the formula of the everlasting magic lamp, and the same procedure was used to make a new magic crystal.”
Then, Krische held a new blank magic crystal.
She pressed it against Bery's magic crystal and looked at her. Bery understood the intention and poured magic power into it,
"……I see"
In no time at all, the formula for the Everlasting Magic Lamp was engraved on the blank magic crystal.
“It is a magical crystal that temporarily store a formula and then write it. Elvena has been named a duplication crystal, so Krische call it that for now."
"Duplication crystal ..."
"This time is a simple everlasting magic lamp, but Krische think it's quite convenient because it can be used for more complex ones.”
It is not that difficult to carve a new formula into a magic crystal.
If it is a simple one like everlasting magic lamp, Bery can made it from scratch.
However, this was kind of like making a sculpture using magic power. The more advanced it becomes, the more difficult it becomes, requiring the help of a magician or sorcerer who specialized in that field.
It was can’t just be described with a single word, convenient.
"It's amazing ... this is"
The first thing that comes to Bery’s mind was the magic of the past and she frowned.
Krische was always a few steps ahead of the time.
She is talented but her idea was always one generation ahead.
“Don't worry. Krische give this only to Bery.”
“Huh.”
“It is designed to react to the magic power that is poured into it for the first time and engrave it inside a special formula. The replica crystal is not designed to work well for anyone other than Bery, and aside from Elvena, who uses it for her work, Krische and Bery are the only ones who have it.”
Krische smiled as she sat on Bery's lap.
"Krische can actually make it easier, but Krische thought about it and made it that way. If it’s this way, Krische thought Bery will not mind it. "
"……is that so"
Bery also smiled and gently stroked her head.
“Once memorized, the formula can also be erased by magic, Krische made so only Bery can know how to erase it too.”
She waved her fingertips to draw a formula in the air and combined it with the formula of the duplication crystal.
The combined effect is that the everlasting magic lamp formula engraved inside disappears.
It is not that difficult. After watching and memorizing it, Bery asked.
“......that, can I really not help?"
She had heard that Krische was making something together with Elvena using magic crystal.
Bery taught Elvena about the elementary magical crystal knowledge, instead of the explanation from Krische, which is too difficult and intuitive.
It was certainly not because she wouldn’t be able to help.
However, Krische chose Elvena, not Bery, as her assistant.
Bery was busy with the estate.
She knew Krische was being considerate of her.
“Now that Anne-sama is here…the mansion is also smaller than before. If Krische-sama needs help, I... can I help you?”
There was something in her heart that she couldn't understand, and it suddenly leaked out of her mouth.
Krische looked up at Bery, lowered her eyes and hugged her.
"...Eh, of course, it would be best to have Bery help Krische, but, how should Krische put it..."
Krische stammered as if at a loss for words. stammered as if at a loss for words.
Bery couldn’t see her face, only her silver hair. But Bery shook her head, seeing that.
“…I'm sorry for asking such a strange question. I've heard it before.”
"Um, it's not that Krische doesn't like Bery or anything like that..."
"It's okay, I understand."
She looked up at Bery and shook her head, as if she wanted to say something.
Then Krische hurriedly told her that it was her selfishness.
“selfishness…?”
“......Krische kills a lot of people. Krische will also kill a lot more in the future. But because Krische is weird, Krische doesn't really feel sad or pained when Krische kills people. Krische is fine with it. But when Bery sees Krische like that, Bery feels pain and sad, right?"
Bery opened her eyes wide and took in her words.
Krische pressed her face against her chest again, sighed and told Bery.
“Krische...in the palace, is thinking up tools for war and stuff. Krische is always thinking about how to easily win without any harm and kill a lot…Krische is only thinking about war... killing people. That's why, umm…Krische doesn’t want Bery to see that kind of Krische, so..."
“…Krische-sama”
"That's why Krische want Bery to stay at the mansion. When Krische comes back from the castle, forgetting about it as much as possible, cooking with Bery, helping Bery, and doing things like always…umm, just like before, Krische want it that way."
Bery squeezed her small body and pressed her lips to her head.
There was an indescribable feeling inside her, and she just stroked the girl's head.
"..Understood, Krische-sama. I won't ask it again."
"Um, um, it’s not like Krische doesn't like being asked, or anything like that――nhm"
The soft lips of the girl who raised her face.
She held it with her thumb and traced it, and she smiled.
"I don't think so. I was the one who asked the silly question. ...Can you forgive me?"
With her lips still pressed down, Krische nodded in embarrassment.
Without accurately conveying her intention, and without any intention to convey it.
But that's fine.
Bery stroked her cheek and put their lips together.
Krische was not surprised, as if he had expected it, but she also relaxed as if relieved.
After that, Bery hugged the girl's body for a while.
