In the World of Midgar 27 — The Flugel Country Gjallarhorn (1)

꒰ঌ The Flugel Country Gjallarhorn 1

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It was dark, as if the space was enclosed in something dense enough to let no light through. But strangely, I could see in the darkness. I could clearly make out my arms and legs, and I could walk sure-footedly.

That's why I thought, Ahh, this is a dream.

As I walked in the darkness, I eventually came upon a room that I recognized.

I wasn't in the world of Midgar, which I was becoming more familiar with recently. I was in a room of some house in modern Japan. I was surrounded by white walls, daily necessities scattered across the floor, and the bookshelves overflowed with manga and lightnovels.

This should be… Yeah, it's 'my' room.

Everything was exactly as I remembered it — the placement of the furniture as well as the PC on the desk.

But… Why?

Why do I feel no attachment to this place? I don't feel nostalgic. The room doesn't feel familiar, nor do I feel at peace. It was as if I'd just visited the room of somebody I didn't know, even though I should've recognized this place.

I'm feeling a really strong sense of incongruity. Strange.

Is there something wrong with me? Why was it I felt nothing when I was in the place where I'd been living for a long while, even though I felt some amount of nostalgia when I saw Fiona?

I looked over at the PC, which was left on.

… It was displaying the title screen of a very familiar game: Xgate Online. But it was weirdly blurred, kind of like it was mosaiced… as if one game screen was slapped on top of a different game. The looks were mismatched.

And that wasn't all. There was a window open, and it displayed something I should have been engrossed with without a doubt.

But when I took another look…

Suddenly, my shoulder was grabbed from behind.

I saw thin, white fingers. The grip's strength was disturbingly strong, and I couldn't resist.

By the time I had even thought to resist, it was already too late. I had been out of time as soon as I was discovered. I'll just have to wait until my next chance.

And my consciousness was forcefully pulled from my dream. "—Sis! Big Sis!"

… I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was Minako's face as she shook me. Next, I saw Fiona and Penny standing next to me.

"You need to wake up already, Big Sis. We're going to Vanaheim, right?"

"… Y-yeah… You're right."

The haziness lifted from my consciousness and everything came into sharp focus.

Ahh, that's right. I remember now; that was our destination. I get the feeling that I was in a really deep sleep.

"Sorry. We had a strange dream."

"What kind of dream?"

"… Ahh, that's… No, what kind was it…? Sorry, We cannot seem to remember. It felt like a strangely important dream, but We just cannot seem to remember."

What was it, I wonder? I get the feeling I was having a pretty important dream, but I totally can't remember a thing.

Well, I get that dreams are just like that, though. I've heard that people only remember dreams for about five minutes after they wake up.

I really felt this dream was personally important somehow, but it very well could've been that I just thought that way and the dream itself was nothing special. I guess there wasn't much reason to keep stressing over it.

I got in Honda, and we made it for my hometown, 'Vanaheim'.

It was a small country on top of a mountain that was inhabited by the self-proclaimed 'children of heaven', the flugels… Well, it was more like a village. I remember that I — Lucifen — also didn't break tradition and set this location as my birthplace.

But, I had these black wings. I'd never thought of any really detailed backstory, but it wasn't a stretch to imagine that I most likely had been persecuted.

While I was playing the game, there were so many flugels with such gaudy wing colors that my black almost seemed normal. It felt more like, I was prejudiced against black wings (lol). I mean, there were people who changed the color of each of their feathers and turned their wings into pictures. I was totally on the normal side of things.

"It's about nightfall. Let's stop here."

Honda didn't need a driver, so even if we left it alone it would just keep going. But sometimes it would try to go in some weird directions, and if it spotted a monster on the way it would chase it to try to attack. Someone needed to be awake to rein it in. That was probably why Minako woke me up.

Honda may have looked like a car, but it was a golem. In other words, it'd automatically attack enemies like an automated turret. We couldn't allow ourselves to forget that.

If I'd equipped it with the max AI level of 5 like Penny, we could have given it detailed instructions, like to avoid unnecessary battles. But it wasn't, and we couldn't let our guards down even with AI level 4.

Put simply, it was like this certain redhead S.E.E.S. member who kept hurling charm spells at enemies that were immune to it from this certain popular JRPG. With that level of idiocy in mind, I think it should be understandable why we couldn't let our guards down.

"If that's the case, Big Sis, there's a perfect country just up ahead."

"Country?"

"Yes. Actually, in terms of borders, we're already in the country… Just a little bit ahead, you'll find the capital of the country, 'Gjallarhorn'. It's the country founded by one of the Seven Maidens of Midgar, the 'White Empress' Ootsutsuki Hinata, and is inhabited by the flugels."

One of the still-living Seven Maidens of Midgar, huh? Meeting her is one of my goals alongside retrieving the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians.

But the knowledge that it was a country of flugels founded by Hinata stopped me from making a decision. No matter how I thought about it, stepping into a country of flugels was a recipe for disaster. Of course, I didn't have any plans of getting captured or killed. Even if they tried it, we could totally beat them back now that Fiona and Penny were here.

I also just don't like kicking up a fuss.

No matter how I shake it, I'm like a landmine to these people, not to mention the fact that one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians is currently occupying their old home.

Still, it's not like anything will change if I put this off. We might as well go.

I'm gonna have to hide my entire body again, won't I? The flugels had long lifespans, so there were probably a lot of people who remembered my face.

"Understood. Let us stop there for the night. We do not much enjoy the idea, though."

Given that there were only three of the Seven Maidens of Midgar left, we couldn't avoid this.

Feeling like a criminal headed for the gallows, I kept Honda running. Just as Minako said, we saw the capital ahead.

My first impression was — What a strange country. That was basically it. It was incredibly white. They completely ignored aesthetic sense and color balance. It was just as white as could be. It was impossible to tell which buildings were housing and which were for some other purpose. It was all white, lacking in individuality.

Next was the location.

For some reason, all the buildings were facing a cliff. Actually, it was more like they were shoved onto the cliffside, as if clinging to it.

Just why would they bother building like this, even though there was perfectly good land elsewhere?

It reminded me of a Grecian town that I saw in a picture once, but this was even worse.

At the very least, they'd given a sparing thought to tourists and built stairs that led up to the city, but it honestly looked hard to traverse.

It was totally a town built upon the premise that everybody could fly. And even stranger, across from the cliff was a second cliff, also with a town built upon it. But unlike the first side, the buildings here were all black. As with the first side, the second town was built under the assumption that people would be able to fly and seemed completely unsuited for those who couldn't.

There was a white palace built on top of the mountain in between both towns, giving off a strong presence.

"What is this idiotic capital?"

"It looks really hard to walk through…"

Seeing a city made up of two separate towns on either side of a mountain — and colored black and white on top of that — was stranger than fiction in my opinion. Likewise, Fiona seemed to be of the same opinion, an exasperated look on her face.

Well, making the town's two different colors was fine, honestly. At that level, it could be explained away by saying it was the design or aesthetic of the place.

But white and black is way too extreme a difference. They seemed like completely different cities at first with one side completely white and the other completely black.

Just what was Hinata thinking when she founded this place?

"Minako, what is this?"

"Uhh… Well, I've heard that this country is split into two factions and is currently going through something of a small civil war."

"Factions?"

"Yes. There's the 'White Wing Supremacy' faction, which maintains that white wings have been the flugels's pride since olden times and will continue to be. Then, there's the 'Mixed Wings Promotion' faction, which opposes that viewpoint. As you know, the flugels have always been fixated on the whiteness of their wings, and those with different colors will experience oppression and persecution. Ever since you disappeared, that tendency has only gotten stronger."

I got a terrible feeling while listening to Minako's explanation, causing cold sweat to drip down my cheek.

Huh? Could this be my fault? Like, because someone bad like me came out of the flugels with different colors, things have gotten worse?

"I think you remember that during your reign, Big Sis, you outlawed persecution and oppression because of the color of one's wings. But once you left, the white-winged ones started to strongly spread their opinion saying they really were better. In response, those with different-colored wings pressed for equal rights. Both sides have been arguing for almost one thousand years."

Oh no. This is totally my fault.

Wait, what did she mean outlawed oppression and persecution? I don't ever remember giving out that order! In the first place, it wasn't unusual no matter what color wings a flugel had, so of course I wouldn't have cared about any of that.

Looks like this is totally something that this world's 'Lucifen' has done and I haven't.

"What's Hinata doing?"

"Hinata has taken a neutral stance and is somehow stopping both sides from actually coming to blows, but it doesn't seem to be working."

"… She's got her own share of troubles, huh…?"

"What an incompetent woman."

"Penny. You shouldn't be saying that."

From what I remembered, Hinata was the attentive kind of girl who paid attention to the atmosphere of the room and watched what she said so as to not anger anyone. At the very least, she wasn't the incompetent woman that Penny claimed her to be.

If even she couldn't do anything about this fight, it must have been pretty deeply rooted. And since the reason for it lay with me, I couldn't just let it pass without doing anything.

"So, where do we go? White? Or black?"

"… Let's go with black first. They're most likely the 'Mixed Wings Promotion' side."

"Got it."

I get the feeling I'll just cause all sorts of trouble if I go to the white-wings side, so let's head for the somewhat friendlier-seeming mixed-wings side first. Of course, I didn't have any intention of revealing my true identity, but being prepared was never wrong.

"Master likes black… I have added that fact into memory. Next time, I will select black underwear."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

As usual, Penny was saying weird things with a completely expressionless face, so for the moment I just made sure to poke holes in what she was saying. I couldn't really tell from her expression whether she was actually serious or just trying to make a joke. I would have been able to tell if, like, Minako was making the joke or something, though. And Fiona was totally innocent, so her face had gone all red.

"Of course, I am talking about picking clothes for you, master. Or should I wear them and show off the perfect amount to maintain decency?"

"… No, it's fine."

"Understood. White it is. So you are mainstream."

"No, We're not for either of them."

"…?! No way… Commando…?!"

Hey, this thing's broken.

Without speaking a word, I smacked Penny upside the head.

Is this hunk of junk all right? Her thought patterns are weird. She should be AI level 5, but did Jenny teach her something weird, or what?

Fiona was completely unable to keep up with the conversation and was just flailing around. If we didn't stock up the party with some more people who had common sense she'd be stranded.

Wanted: someone who can call Penny out on her shit.

"At any rate, we will head for the black town first. Honda, you hide behind a nearby rock or something."

"Y E S, B O S S."

The rest of us got off, and under Penny's instruction, Honda entered the shadow of a nearby boulder. Once he was tucked in safely, Penny took out a large square of cloth from somewhere and covered Honda before joining us.

Yeah, she actually was really useful if she tried. She only did stuff that anyone could do, but her actions were quick and without hesitation.

"So, how are we getting in? There seem to be some stairs at least, but…" Minako said, pointing at the stairs with a reluctant look.

There was, in fact, a set of stairs so people could climb into town. But they were just incredibly long with hundreds — no, thousands — of steps. If we were to try to climb up them it'd be dawn before we got into town.

"Please rest assured. I will carry everyone. Program selection: Skill: 'Sky Jet' activate," Penny stated confidently.

At the same time, her back opened up, allowing something like a jetpack to appear and activate. It was a mystery how she could fit it inside her body, but apparently, she could fly.

It was actually just a skill for golems though — Sky Jet.

An item to teach a golem skills could be bought in-game for about 200,000 el, and I'd had Penny learn quite a lot of them. But did the skill always look this… sciencey? What happened to the fantasy genre tag…?

Penny took my right hand, Fiona was locked against her left flank like she was carrying a barrel, and her left hand grasped Minako's nape. Minako made a strangled noise that should never have come out of a girl, but Penny didn't seem to care.

And with an incredible feeling of acceleration and booming sound, her verniers fired and we rose up into the air.

Wai—! You!… Stop! Stop! This'll wake up everyone in town! Penny, stop! STOOOOOOOOOP?!

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