Yuri was the Demon King’s daughter. Working as a Demon Kingdom Administrator, she used Village Five as her base of operations. Her job involved managing towns and villages that lacked a resident magistrate, which meant she was constantly on the move. When she was in Village Five, she would often stop by the Village of the Great Tree for a meal, but when her work took her elsewhere, I might not see her for six months at a time.
"I apologize for being unable to help with the harvest," she said.
"Don't worry about it," I replied. "You have your own work to do. Don't let it bother you."
"Thank you. And the Kitchen Carriages... they’ve been a tremendous help."
The Kitchen Carriages were a smaller, more affordable version of the camping carriages. We had started supplying them to the Demon Kingdom Army based on Yuri’s suggestion. I’d heard they were meant for the patrol units, but it turned out the units acted as her escorts during her administrative rounds. I see.
"Once you get used to the food in Village Five or Shashato City, eating anywhere else is quite a trial," she admitted.
It seemed to be a common sentiment; Alfred had told me much the same thing.
"Is that so? Oh, by the way—I ran into Urza while I was traveling."
"Urza? Was she doing well?"
"She was very energetic," Yuri said.
That was a relief, but also a cause for concern. "She didn't cause any trouble, did she?"
"..."
Yuri just smiled at me.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
"Um... have you received any word from her recently?"
"Nothing."
"I see. In that case, perhaps it would be better to wait for her report..."
"If you know something, please tell me. I’d like to be mentally prepared."
Yuri hesitated. "Well... she took a castle."
...
"She took a castle."
I didn't mishear her. "Huh? A castle? What?"
"Ah, when I say 'castle,' I mean an abandoned one. It wasn't some modern fortress."
"I see. That makes sense. An abandoned castle wouldn't have much in the way of defenses left."
"Actually, it functioned perfectly well as a castle; it simply lacked an owner to manage it."
"..."
"Since it's a nuisance when bandits nest in such places, the patrol units usually check on it periodically. It seems they took advantage of a gap in the patrol schedule."
"So bandits occupied it?"
"To our shame, yes."
"And I assume Urza and her companions drove them out?"
"That’s one way to put it."
"I see, I see. Bandit hunting, then. She's doing dangerous things again... I'll have to scold her, even if she was helping people. I think dangerous tasks like that should be left to the experts. Wait... if she was just hunting bandits, she didn't really cause 'trouble,' did she? Did she punch someone she wasn't supposed to?"
"No, nothing like that. But, as I said... she took the castle."
"Right. The bandits were squatting, so she kicked them out."
"That was the end result."
I felt like Yuri and I were looking at two different pictures.
"There were about a thousand bandits," Yuri added.
"..."
"Urza and her group set fires on the west side of the castle to draw them out, then charged in from the east to seize it."
So they had performed a frontal assault on a fortress held by a thousand bandits.
"That’s how it happened," Yuri continued. "It might have been abandoned, but you're still not really supposed to burn it down. However, since it was occupied by a group large enough to be called an army, we've been coordinating things to pin all the damage on the bandits and let the matter quiet down. Once everything is settled, I'm sure Urza will send you a formal report."
...
"Shall we change the subject?"
"Yeah, let’s. I'll wait for the report. Urza and the others weren't hurt, were they?"
"No. Not a single scratch on them."
"Good. That’s a relief. Anyway, let’s move on."
"Oh, right. Count Pugyal was truly something else," Yuri said.
"Something else?"
"When I stopped by the capital, he appeared before me by leaping out of a third-story window. He performed several mid-air spins before landing perfectly, bowing, and handing me a Letter of Authorization. The sheer spectacle was so intense that I accepted it without even asking why."
"I see."
Prada and Erme had mentioned that the Count fought like a martial artist during his duel with Beton. He was clearly quite the athlete—and apparently a competent professional as well. His daughter, Kurakasse, who worked with the Civil Official Girls, didn't seem to think much of him, but maybe he just had a different persona at home. I’d have to ask her for more details later.
"Oh, about the Artie Horses. I heard they won't move if the pilot has too much magic power?"
"Yes. Older machines like those tend to have that trait."
"Why is that?"
"There are several reasons, but... they look quite powerful, don't they?"
"They do."
"Wouldn't it be a disaster if such powerful weapons could be hijacked by external magic?"
"It would."
"Exactly. So, apparently, they were designed to reject external magic power entirely."
That made sense. You wouldn't want a malicious mage taking control of your heavy equipment.
"Like operating dozens of units at once from a distance," Yuri suggested.
"I get it."
"However, as a result of blocking external magic, they became extremely sensitive to internal magic—the pilot’s magic power."
"What happens then?"
"They can develop their own egos or even go on a stampede. I don't know the exact details, though."
I saw. Ego born from magic power. The Intelligence Boxes, the Flying Carpet... even the Universal Ship fell into that category. As for the "stampede" part, I was reminded of the children’s toys the cats had accidentally sent into a frenzy recently.
"Because of that, they have a safety device that shuts them down if the pilot's magic power is too high."
So that was the reason. It wasn't that they couldn't run; they were being prevented from running for safety. And that was why pilot suits were needed to dampen the pilot’s magic power.
"You're remarkably well-informed about this," I noted. "Isn't this technology from thousands of years ago?"
"It comes up frequently in the classics."
"The classics... you're quite a scholar."
"Not at all. It’s just a hobby of mine."
"Was knowing how to pilot the Artie Horse also thanks to your reading?"
"Yes. The classics go into great detail."
I shouldn't underestimate the classics.
"We have much to learn from the past," Yuri said. "On that note, the classics also mention battles between Artie Horses. Why don't we host a match in Village Five? I’ll even volunteer as a pilot."
I was curious to see such a thing, but...
"We need to finish investigating the units first. We have spare parts to categorize as well."
"It can wait until you're finished. Let's make it happen."
"Alright, alright. I'll consult with Yoko. We can probably manage one match, at least. We'll see how it goes before deciding on a second."
Maybe I should prioritize recovering those pilot suits. Lu and Tia were interested in the magic-dampening functions, and they also wanted to research how to prevent the Wing Demon Crystals from degrading.
With so many new projects piling up, it was becoming a bit of a headache.
Village Head: "The boxes, the carpet... and I suppose the Universal Ship is like that too."
Death Mage's Sword: "What about Quentan, the Intelligence Sword?! You forgot all about Quentan!"