The Scarlet Grand Canyon
Located to the east of Pars, tracing the border with Trisen, lies the Scarlet Grand Canyon. This area was originally part of Trisen’s territory, but during the past great war, it was ceded to Pars as part of the peace treaty that established Seijo Town Pars.
A rugged, fifty-meter-wide path spreads between towering red, precipitous mountains, serving as the shortest current route connecting Pars and Trisen. While it’s not impossible to force one’s way up the mountains, their near-vertical slopes and immense height, reaching into the clouds, make them extremely difficult to traverse even with the means to fly. Furthermore, numerous nests of Rank C Bird-beast Monsters, sensitive to presence, are scattered near the peaks. Therefore, for a military unit marching in formation, the path through the valley floor is far safer. Although, they likely expect ambushes from that direction.
“Arrived. Efil, what time is it?”
Amidst a fierce sandstorm, we reached the Trisen side entrance of the Scarlet Grand Canyon. While the valley floor was a dry, desolate path, the territory on the Trisen side beyond the gorge was a vast desert. If their entire territory is like this, it’s no wonder they face food shortages. Moreover, in such circumstances, they declared war on Traage, their main trading partner. Don’t the citizens and merchants of Trisen have any thoughts about this?
“It’s just past 11 o’clock. We’re pretty much on schedule,” Efil replied, taking a pocket watch from Kuro-chan. 11 o’clock, almost lunchtime.
“My king, I apologize, but could you release me?” Gerard, who had been dispelled, urged. Gerard isn’t slow, but his movement speed is significantly inferior to the others. Because of this, I had him return to my magic until we reached our destination.
“Right. I’ll summon you now.” I quickly summoned Gerard. The familiar black armor appeared from the magic circle.
“Hmm, lately, perhaps due to my age, I’m struggling to keep up with everyone. Perhaps I should learn a riding skill and have Alex give me a ride.”
“Gau…”
“Mmm, you don’t need to make such a displeased face. I’ll get sulky!”
Alex moves freely, much like Rion, but does Gerard truly consider that? It’s way beyond anything like rodeo, that’s for sure.
“Hahaha… Alex can burrow into shadows, you know. Ger-jii, you’re a knight. Can you ride horses or something?”
“I don’t have any skills, but I can ride better than an average person. Shall I teach Rion next time?”
“Really? It’s a promise! Pinky swear, pinky swear.”
“Yes, pinky swear.”
Well, it’s nice to relax and be cozy, but we need to get moving on our next task. We’ll miss lunch if we don’t.
“Alright. Then, I’ll assign roles to everyone. Efil, for now, prepare lunch. Are the cooking utensils okay?”
“They are perfect. I have all the equipment you made for me, Master, being carried by Kuro-chan. Do you have any requests for lunch?”
“I want katsudon!”
“An omelet for me!”
“I’d prefer something light. I’ll leave the choice to Efil.”
“I’ll eat anything (if Efil’s cooking is enough quantity).”
“Gau! (Meat!)”
“I think I’ll have katsudon too.”
“Yes, understood. Kuro-chan, are you okay with that too?”
Normally, we should all agree on the same dish. But we take advantage of Efil, who can easily cook anything we request without complaint.
“Sera, Rion, Gerard, Kuroto, Alex: hunt the monsters around the desert. Oh, and you can ignore the monsters in the canyon. Don’t try to cross over them.”
“Why?” Sera tilted her head.
“It’s to act as a deterrent and an early warning system in case Trisen tries to cross the mountain. With Sera’s detection abilities, you’ll notice immediately if something happens, right?”
“Well, at this level in this area, it’s no problem.”
“Besides, they don’t seem to attack unless we try to climb the mountain. So, you can ignore them. The time, let’s see… gather here in an hour.”
“Master, what about me?” Melfina, who hadn’t been assigned a role yet, raised her hand slightly.
“Mel, you’ll be working with me.”
“Oh, could it be that here—” *Bonk.* I lightly chopped Melfina’s head as she blushed.
“We’re going to build a wall here.”
～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
After an hour. It seems Rion and the others have returned from their work. I’ve also finally reached a good stopping point. A good smell is wafting over, so it’s time to eat.
“Yo, good work. Efil’s seems ready too, so let’s have lunch.”
As soon as they returned, Rion and the others began staring intently at the wall I had put my heart into.
“More than that, Kel-nii… this doesn’t look like a wall…”
“Yeah, well… I guess it’s the result of my effort?”
To prevent Trisen’s invasion, the Black Fortress now towers over the path of the Scarlet Grand Canyon, blocking it. From the giant fortress to the castle walls, everything is unified in black, and all of it possesses a strength comparable to the Dark Black Sword, which is specialized for defense. Under Melfina’s guidance, I recreated the S-Rank Green Magic, [Improbable Black Fortress]. Honestly, I initially just thought of making a stronger wall-like structure, but perhaps because my handling of magic improved through training with the Great Wind Demon God Scythe, something like this ended up being created.
“It’s a complete castle. And, even more so than at the Elf Village—”
*CRASH!*
“Sturdier?”
“Sera, don’t try to break it all of a sudden. Please.”
I was a little startled when Sera suddenly clenched her fist, but the castle walls seem undamaged. As expected of S-Rank magic. Though, perhaps Sera wasn’t serious.
“As an S-Rank magic, by focusing on defense, it’s still on the easier side to control. It’s a natural result for you, who can now wield the extraordinarily wild Great Scythe.”
“Is that so? Hmm, it turned into a half-hour city instead of a one-night castle. The exterior and interior seem customizable, though…” *Rumble.*
My stomach growled, perhaps from using my head and magic. I need to get Efil’s katsudon into my stomach quickly.
I’ll explain the details while eating, and we begin our meal at the table set up by Efil. I’ve also created rooms for various facilities inside the fortress, so we’ll probably eat inside from now on. It’s fine as long as I’m manipulating the wind, but the sandstorms here are severe.
“Regarding what’s next, I’m going to start modifying the Golems.”
“Golems, you say?”
“Yes, as one of the means to intercept Trisen. We currently have 53 Golems in stock. Excluding the ones stationed at the mansion, the rest are stored by Kuro-chan. However, more than half of them still don’t have Gatling Guns mounted. I could create Golems with full equipment from the start by remaking them with magic, but that would be a waste of magic.”
The more powerful Golems become, the more MP they consume. It’s more cost-effective to create basic Golem bodies and equip them with mass-produced parts. With the current time constraints, this method of conserving MP is the best. I don’t want to rely too much on recovery potions and vomit in front of my allies. Based on the details of the magic, there’s still plenty of room for this type of Golem generation limit. Numbers do make strength, so I want to make as many as possible.
“Then I’ll help as usual. Now that my Black Magic is S-Rank, I think I can possess more Spirits through Soul Possession!”
“…Where will you procure the Spirits to possess? The ones you possessed before were monsters from the Trisen dungeon, weren’t they?”
“Aha! I’ll just pop over to Trisen for a bit!”
“Wait, wait! There are other things to do, so help with that! For example, devising new equipment!”
They say strike while the iron is hot, but Sera’s decisions are truly swift.
“Speaking of which, when do Sabato and the others arrive? Kel-nii, did you contact them properly?”
“I asked the reliable Ellie to pass on the message, so it’s fine. No problem. With A-Rank Adventurers, they should be able to arrive quickly if they wanted to, right?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure.”
“Well, they’ll probably arrive when we’ve forgotten about it. So, about the work this afternoon—”
Sabato and the others arrived at the Scarlet Grand Canyon five days later.
