CH 266

Chapter 266 – Turning Around

At the very moment when the granting process to the assault rifle was completed, the world came to a halt.

It was not a figurative expression, but everything in the area that could be seen lost its color as if it were on a grayscale, and the three oni girls, who were looking at the granting worktable with interest, also lost their color and stopped as well.

“Oh? Finally! I’m tired of waiting!”

Damn it! Just as I was breaking out in a cold sweat with impatience, I heard a frivolous voice coming from somewhere. Hearing this mysterious voice, which sounded as if it was coming from space itself, I involuntarily held up my submachine gun, which I had registered in my shortcut key, and looked around.

“What is it? Who is it?”

“Who do you think it is? Can you guess it?”

“Who knows?”

At any rate, I decided it was a bad situation and immediately surrounded Shumel and the others with stone blocks to protect them in a semi-enclosed area. I can build a strong stone shelter in an instant in case of an emergency, so this is no big deal.

“Hmm… it’s just like you to try to protect the women as fast as you can there. Should I have made them a little more aggressive? Or maybe I should have made your initial point at the saint’s place instead of the forest. But you know, if I took that route, there was a high probability that you would have died defending the saint.”

“You…”

I don’t know what he is, but I could guess what kind of guy he is to me by what he just said and did.

“You’re the guy who brought me into this world, aren’t you?”

“Close enough! I snatched you away, didn’t I?”

I can’t see his face, but I can sense that he’s smirking. I’d hit him once if only he’d show himself.

“You’re the fun-loving guy who manages my achievements, huh? Or the one who gave me this power?”

“Well, you’re generally right, but you shouldn’t be concerned about me, should you? It’s more about you.”

“I don’t really care about you, but… I mean, what about me?”

‘You, why are you holding yourself back?”

I choked on the words of the mysterious voice.

“Ohhh? What, ignoring me? What’s up with you playing the good boy and restricting yourself?”

“…..”

I don’t answer anything. That is because I have no idea what the purpose of this guy is.

“There is no point in being silent, you know? I know exactly what you’re making with your powers. Golem core is a very useful thing, isn’t it?”

Even if I keep my mouth shut, he can see right through me. I’m in a bind with this guy. Can’t I kill him with a magic sparkling stone bomb?

“If you want to do it, you can do it. You are really a hard guy to understand, aren’t you?”

And he can read people’s minds. There is nothing I can do about this guy.

“I have many questions, but I don’t think it’s right to answer a question with a question, so I’ll answer first. I think that I can’t solve everything by myself, and I think that the problems of this world should be solved by the people of this world. Meanwhile, I’m going to give my support to whomever I want to give it.”

“Hmm? Is that what you think? Are you the type of person who just smiles and watches NPCs compete with each other in a survival game? You’re a psychopath with bad taste.”

“That’s not what I want to hear from you.”

“I bet you are!”

Gahahahahaha, the mysterious voice laughed vulgarly. I don’t want to be told by someone who abducts people, throws them into another world all alone, gives them strange abilities, and then peeks at them, you know?

“What the hell are you making me do this for?”

“Well, you know, it’s a hobby that combines entertainment and practical use. I call it a job.”

“So someone other than you brought me in and gave me these abilities to keep you amused. No, you are involved in the selection of personnel, huh? You’re almost the mastermind behind the whole thing, aren’t you?”

“Oh, you noticed? Well, it’s mostly me, but I’m not the mastermind. I am just, you know. I’m just a humble subcontractor.”

Hihihihi, the mysterious voice laughed again, this time in a frivolous tone.

“But I miscalculated your love for women. I didn’t expect you to take a step back to support the woman you fell in love with. If you’d taken the initiative and used your abilities to the fullest, the Holy Kingdom would be gone by now.”

I don’t deny it. If I build a large number of workbenches without any restraint and repeat mining and logging at a rate that will level the mountain, I can handle the problem of supply. A single mountain can be converted into a mountain of materials in an hour if I use my mithril tools to their full potential.

And the golem core, as he pointed out earlier, is a problem. I can now make golem cores at the workbench. Once I make that golem core, I can make “any” golem I want. Usually, a golem core has to be configured with a formula that is tailored to the golem’s purpose.

But on my workbench, there is no need to do so. As long as the golem core and the necessary materials are there, I can make any golem I want. How convenient is that?　Raw water in a wooden canteen can be turned into plastic bottled drinking water just by passing it through a fire, and the ability to create “universal gunpowder” from human and livestock excrement and a few other materials, the golem core’s formula is a trivial matter. And now I also have a super-powerful source of magic sparkling stone.

In other words, if I wanted to, I could create an army of iron golems armed with heavy machine guns and firearms. I can also create golem-driven tanks and perhaps even develop flying golem fighter planes through the development of wind-magic propulsion systems.

In fact, I have already developed several prototypes of heavily armed iron golems. If I were to deploy as many as ten of them, an invasion from the two northern countries could easily be crushed.

“What is your purpose? What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing specific at the moment. It’s just too slow to see. Well, you’re doing fine, aren’t you?”

Does this mean that the purpose of the mastermind behind this voice, and by extension, the mastermind who ordered the “job” to this voice, is to exterminate the teachings of the mainstream of the Holy Kingdom? Is that okay? Is it okay to go ahead with what this guy wants?

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. My interests aside, the intention of the top management is only to be concerned about the current situation in which so-called subhumans are discriminated against, and their happiness is impaired. There is no malice or anything; it is really 100% goodwill or benevolence. The rest is, well, sanctions against those who create such misery.”

“You talk about benevolence, but at the same time, you tolerate war in the name of sanctioning it. That’s contradictory.”

“It’s not contradictory at all. If there is no pain, people don’t pay attention to anything. A savior comes along, reaches out to the unfortunate, and puts the evil-doers to death. People need such heroism. Those who are saved are grateful and in awe of the rescuer and the one who sent them, and those who are punished learn a lesson and reflect on their actions. And so the world will run right.”

The mysterious voice spoke as if singing. His words had a hint of mischievousness in them, making them extremely untrustworthy.

“That’s terrible. Well, I don’t care whether you believe it or not. What has already begun cannot be stopped, and if you do not resist the movement, your country will be destroyed, and your women will be unhappy. You will have to do what I want no matter what. Or will you betray your women now and go over there? That would be an interesting thing to see, but you won’t, and you can’t, can you?”

“Tch.”

I reply with a click of my tongue. Certainly, betraying Sylphy and the others now is a no-no. What’s the point of doing that now? If my only goal from the beginning was to get Sylphy and the others to do as I pleased, I would have done whatever I could when I left the Black Forest and began to build a base in the Great Omit Wilderness. But at the time, I didn’t have a grasp of Melty’s fighting ability, and I wasn’t prepared for a lot of things, so I doubted if I could have achieved it.

“So, what do you want this time? Did you go to such great trouble just to have this talk?”

As I said that, I decided that there seemed to be no danger, so I took my mithril pickaxe out of my inventory and began to destroy the stone wall that I had made appear to protect Shumel and the others. They would be surprised to see themselves suddenly in such a state, all three of them.

“No, I simply preloaded the guns with advanced enchantments so that it would trigger this situation, and we could talk like this. I’m just really frustrated that you’re not doing something more advanced.”

“Pardon me. I’m sorry about that. It’s just that I’m so fragile that I can’t help myself. So?”

“So far, it’s all going according to plan, so I don’t have any particular request for it. The only thing I have to say is that it’s a pain in the ass to watch, so I just want you to hurry it up and get it over with.”

“I have my own way of doing things. And I will use my tricks when the time comes.”

“But you never use it in the end, do you?”

Shut up. It’s best if I don’t have to use it. It’s just stupid to be reluctant to use it and cause more damage. So far, the training of the magic riflemen is going well, and at this rate, we should be able to bounce back from the northern invasion.

“I hope so, huh?”

“What the hell, you bastard. If you have something to say, say it.”

“Nothing, really. Well, whatever happens, you’ll handle it, won’t you?”

Kukuku, the voice chuckles. This guy is really annoying. I’m ashamed to say this, but would you please explode and die right now?

“I think it’s more likely that you’ll be the one to die in the explosion. Thanks to all your hard work, switching from one person to the next, night after night.”

“You fucking perverted peeping Tom, perish immediately!”

I threw all the murderous intent I could at the voice that laughed vulgarly. I really want to hit him with my hands until I’m satisfied, but it’s frustrating that he doesn’t seem to be an ordinary opponent. I am only wielding the power he has given me. If push comes to shove, he could easily strip me of my abilities or even disable them.

“Well, it’s a power I’ve given you. Use it well and enjoy it. It feels good to use your overwhelming technological prowess to lay waste to uncivilized barbarians, doesn’t it?”

“You’ve got very bad taste. That’s not why I’m licensing the technology to Sylphy and the others.”

“Hey, hey, don’t lie to me. Did you ever have any feelings about that?”

“You shitty bastard.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any feelings. Yeah, I’d be lying. When I showed the Holy King’s Army what I could do with the weapons and tactics I’d created, I felt like I’d fucked up, but at the same time, I felt good about it.

“So, yeah, admit it. And you should continue to enjoy it. It’s your show; you have to enjoy it, right?”

Kukuku, hahahaha, hahahaha! He laughed three times, and the sound of his voice faded away. At the same time, color returned to the world, and everything began to move.

“Hmm?”

“Huh?”

“Ara?”

The oni girls tilted their heads with curious expressions as if they had sensed something. It’s a good thing I broke the stone wall before they noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

I thought about it a lot and decided to keep my head down. Even if I told the three of them what had just happened, they would have a hard time reacting.

“No, I had a strange feeling just now, but I’m sure it’s just my imagination.”

“You too, Nee-san? I had a strange feeling, too.”

“I hope it wasn’t the workbench.”

Tozume pointed out sharply, but I just cowered my shoulders and let it slide. Then I took the finished product off the magic-granting table.

“It just looks the same, doesn’t it?”

“How it looks. Oh…”

I put it in my inventory, checked its performance, and gasped. No, I had a feeling it was going to be like this.

・Improved assault rifle +9 (Automatic Repair, Infinite Ammo, Enhanced Penetration III)

This thing is dangerous.