R3 – Part 2

Half a year had passed since we arrived in the Magic Continent. In that time, my newborn baby sister had grown up enough to talk and call me an idiot older brother.

I was devastated... But I knew the day would come considering who my Dad was, so I just had to account for it going forward.

It was a good thing that I had a group of competent people to rely on now to keep me in check... even if they were all a bit weird.

And speaking of those 'competent people...'

"Onii-chan's going to have a meeting now, okay Stella? Be good, okay?"

"Kay~"

My cute genius of a baby sister gave me an absent-minded wave from her crib as she played with a group of baby elemental spirits I summoned for her.

...And by playing, I meant having those spirits trace out basic magic formations while Stella stared at them with glittering eyes.

Literally.

I was fairly sure that constant exposure to high-density mana had caused my baby sister to develop some crazy abilities of her own... But she was healthy, happy, and entertained. That was enough for me.

I smiled at her one more time and then headed downstairs. As I did, I swept my hand to the side and summoned my work uniform.

A pristine white suit, paired with my gray scarf. Matching white pants with crimson lines down the sides. Gloves made from pure mana bearing a crimson lightning bolt.

I adjusted my scarf as I walked down the stairs and muttered, "It still doesn't feel right."

Maybe it was because my body grew too fast.

It turned out that there was a reason why we had a microclimate around the tower. And it also turned out that distorted spacetime had weird effects on healing mana when you kept circulating it throughout your body.

Like skewing the body's natural internal clock and healing mana adjusting the body's growth to fit what the internal clock says it should be.

Managed to realize it and stop before I turned into an old man and had to test my hypothesis on how Rika's resurrection magic worked, but the result was that I had jumped right into my awkward teenager years.

Probably.

The hormones hadn't started yet, but considering my genetics I was seriously dreading when puberty would kick in.

Especially considering a few of the very devoted and beautiful spirits that I had summoned since we got here...

But until they kicked in, I was going to keep going like everything was fine.

Fake it til you make it, right?

Right.

And speaking of faking it...

I stepped onto the floor of the meeting room below my office and took a look around.

A round table with a throne for me and lower seats for everyone else.

Pretentious, but also a sight that gave off a pretense of cooperation instead of tyranny.

At least, that was my hope. Seemed to work well enough, but maybe that was because of my reputation.

The important people had already arrived and taken their places.

On the right side of the throne, Ruijerd was sitting with his silver spear leaning against the back of his chair.

On the left, Rika was sitting with a bored expression on her face. A stack of papers sat in front of her, but she pointedly ignored them, instead staring off into empty space.

The Valiant Supard, Ruijerd, and the Queen of Redtape, Rika.

...Though Rika's title was still unofficial. On paper, she was 'The Ever Beautiful and Peerless Mind.'

Not that anyone believed that.

I shifted my gaze to the other side of the table and looked at the people sitting there.

As always, there was Roland, leader of my White Knights. Like usual, he sat there wearing his sparkling silver platemail and crimson scarf.

Apparently, he had a super handsome face underneath all that steel that made all sorts of girls swoon for him. The knight never showed it to me though and made excuses like it would be improper due to our relationship.

Still, while weird, he was loyal and followed my orders to a tee so I let it slide. Though I could use less of being called 'Lord Rudras' or 'Your Highness.'

On Roland's right was another member of my White Knights. Specifically, the second in command, Astolfo.

As to what Astolfo looked like...

Was it because of the name?

Unlike Roland, Astolfo wasn't wearing a helmet. As a result, Astolfo's appearance was clear for everyone to see. As to what that appearance *was...*

A cute face that was clearly effiminate. Flowing pink hair braided in a neat ponytail. Bright pink eyes, cherry lips, and flawless skin...

A beauty. Astolfo was someone who could turn heads no matter where Astolfo went.

Except...

...I could have sworn that the base model I summoned her(?) in was male. And the few times I caught Astolfo changing, there was definitely 'that' down there.

...But there was also 'that' up top, so...

Better to not think too much about it.

Anyway, Astolfo was there and idly writing some letters while he... she? She.

Astolfo was sitting there with a bunch of letters and envelopes, sealing them with a kiss after she finished writing.

Roland the Peerless and Astolfo the Charming, the two famed members of the White Knights who kept up morale and hope to victims of the Spacetime Disaster.

With them, almost everyone was here.

I made my way over to the throne and said, "Are Enoch and Cliff not here yet?"

The remaining two members of my makeshift roundtable.

The former was my trusty scout while the latter was the representative of the human survivors staying under my... Or rather, 'Lord Rudras's' protection.

I would have thought that they'd be on time though. If anything, I would have thought that Astolfo would be missing...

Roland shook his head and said, "Enoch said that she recently discovered something important about the traces of the spatial rift and that she hopes you will understand her absence."

Ah. That's right. She *did* mention something about that earlier.

Considering that the state of the world beyond the Magic Continent was still up in the air due to the Spacetime Disaster, any lead was potentially lifesaving.

That definitely took priority.

I nodded and said, "What about Cliff?"

Before Roland could respond, Ruijerd looked up at me and said, "I can answer, Rudy." He leaned back in his chair and said, "It seems that there was a commotion between a few of the new human immigrants and a demon that arrived last night."

I groaned. "Not another one."

Ruijerd let out a faint smile and said, "The burden of the crown is heavy, 'milord.'"

"Stop that."

Ruijerd's smile widened.

I sighed and then waved my hand. "Well, I trust that guy to handle it. Cliff's a bit straight-laced because he's the son of a pope or whatever, but he's got a good sense of right and wrong. Instead..." I leaned forward in my throne and laced my hands together. "Let's talk about the future."

Silence. Everyone waiting on my word.

Even Rika.

...Dammit. She was serious about deferring the responsibility to me, huh? Some undying millennium old Great Empress she was.

But that was fine. Just another day as King for me, I guess.

"Stella can talk now. And from a few casual conversations, it's clear that she's a genius. Not only that, but she can communicate with spirits and use mana already."

Astolfo looked up and grinned. "That's great news, isn't it Boss? You don't have to worry about Stelly anymore."

"Yes. But that's still a terrible nickname, Astolfo."

She huffed and said, "I think it's cute..."

Rika glanced over at me and frowned. "Rika is worried. You are not planning to leave us now, are you? Lord Rudras's presence is essential."

Ruijerd nodded. "I agree." He frowned and said, "I understand that you're worried about your family, Rudy, but if you leave now countless innocent lives will be at risk."

I didn't say anything.

He was right.

I hadn't ventured out to experience it in person, but I saw enough through my Clairvoyant Demon Eye.

Constantly appearing spatial rifts spawning monsters over towns. People getting sucked into space fissures at random and getting chucked out into dungeons.

Demon Kings taking advantage of the chaos and vying for territory and resources.

It was chaos.

We were safe from it here because of me and the way I set up the flow of mana here, but everywhere beyond my little kingdom of Arcadia it was hell on Earth... or whatever this world was called.

Being W had seriously resorted to a desperate move to try and neutralize me.

It worked too. Kind of.

The moment I left this place, those Demon Kings would pounce on it like ravenous wolves.

The people living here... both humans transported from around the world and the weak demons who fled and begged for mercy. They were counting on me to keep them safe.

Of course, it wasn't just one way. In return for living here, they had to go back out and fight to rescue others caught in the mayhem.

But it was a delicate and infant system. One that relied on me as the pillar in this maelstrom of chaos.

So I didn't answer Ruijerd right away. Instead, I turned to Roland and said, "Did the Survey Corps confirm the status of Windport?"

That town was the only port on the entire Magic Continent. In other words, it was the only way off this place to visit other lands.

Roland nodded. "Eos reported that it has been completely turned into a Dungeon and enclosed by a Distortion."

I leaned back and tapped my fingers along the arm rest. "In other words, everyone is trapped here unless that place is cleared, huh?"

There were three ways to leave this continent:

1. By sea through the town of Windport at the southernmost part of the Magic Continent. Of course, the main issue there was the fact that it had turned into a Dungeon.

2. By air... theoretically. If you had wings or a familiar that could fly, it would be possible to leave like that. But there seemed to be a higher frequency of monster spawns in the sky. Probably due to the lingering distorted mana that Being W used to send me and Stella here.

3. By teleportation... Hypothetically. I had been doing a lot of research into it with Rika's help, but a lot of variables complicated things. Mostly the fact that the fabric of space and time seemed to be distorted throughout at least the Magic Continent.

While I was confident in being able to send us to the right 'space' with my magic circles, I wasn't sure about the right 'time.'

And I had a feeling things could get really, really, *really* messy messing with that, so I would rather not.

...Though it made me worry about everyone else.

They were strong, so they'd be fine no matter where they ended up. The problem was *when.* Especially if they popped up in a place where time was flowing at a different rate than normal.

But I could worry about that later.

The first objective was finding a way off this place to confirm the state of the outside world. And the safest bet for that was Windport and the fact that it turned into a Dungeon-

Wait.

I blinked and looked at Roland. "Why hasn't the place been cleared yet?"

Roland was strong. Not only that, but when backed up by all the knights, they could steamroll pretty much everything.

Even if the Dungeon was in a Distortion, they were equipped to be able to handle it and get resummoned if things went south.

In fact, if it was reported to be a Dungeon, Roland should be on his way there right now instead of sitting in front of me. So...

Roland stared at me.

Astolfo pursed her lips and looked up at me as well.

Not only that, but Ruijerd and Rika both seemed shifty.

I frowned. "What? Don't tell me it's an enemy you guys can't handle. Did Orsted pop up as the Dungeon Boss or something?"

Roland shook his head. "No."

"Then is it so distorted that you guys would go beyond my reach if you entered?"

"That is not the case either."

My frown deepened. "Then what is it? Is there some evil version of me standing guard there or something and you guys are scared that you might get mind-controlled?"

Silence.

I froze. "...You can't be serious."

Roland cleared his throat and said, "While the town has been mostly shrouded in darkness due to the Distortion, Eos was able to confirm the condition as well as the parameters of the Dungeon."

"...And?"

"It is a land where the dead roam the Earth once more. Where twisted monstrosities of bone and flesh run rampant. Then, the ruler of this realm..." He paused and turned to look at me.

I groaned and rubbed my face. "I freaking hate multiverse theory."

[author] Chekhov gun goes boom. Also, Occam's razor is a lie.

P.S. I just realized this, but Rudy's initials are RNG. lmao. I swear, the gacha bit wasn't planned with this in mind. I'm taking full credit for it though since my subconscious is apparently smarter than I am. XD [/author]