In the end, we waited the entire night, but Kushina didn't show herself.
Is it as I thought? Did she actually move on a long time ago?
I don't know if there is an afterlife, but if other worlds and magic exist, then I don't see why an afterlife wouldn't.
Gods existed in this world, too, after all. Apparitions and vengeful spirits actually did appear in the game as monsters, so the existence of a heaven and hell wouldn't be that far of a stretch.
Actually, wasn't hell Tayuya's birthplace?
But this was a problem…
With Kushina dead, that turned the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians into the Eleven Zodiac's Guardians instead. Even I wouldn't disturb the dead and force a spirit to keep working for me, which meant the 'Virgo' seat was now open. In fact, Kushina had been doing her best all this time. I actually wanted her to rest.
But then that left me with only two choices: either search for the next 'Virgo,' or just give up and change the name to Eleven Zodiac's Guardians.
For some reason Haruka was pointing to herself and really trying to get herself noticed. I ignored that and looked off into the distance.
Should I find another decent humanoid monster and train them from scratch? Or maybe I'll just make a golem…?
Either way, the replacement probably won't be as good…
"It seems like Kushina is not around. There is no more reason to stay, so let's leave."
I declared that we would be leaving the forest. Haruka and the rest of them nodded.
I wanted to talk to Kushina a little bit, at least. But we couldn't stay too long, or we'd cause trouble for Wendy. I didn't know whether Kushina had already moved on or if she was just mad that Tayuya had broken her barrier, but it should've been all right to just come back later. After all, there wasn't anything bad happening here, unlike Svel, which had been invaded, or Gjallar, which suffered from civil unrest.
I felt sorry for the flugels who had gotten chased out of their homes, but I personally felt like this could be left for later.
"Ah… but… are you sure?"
"About what, Fiona?"
"Isn't this your birthplace? So wouldn't your mother's grave be up there on top of the mountain? You told me about it before."
I froze and looked up at the mountain.
My mother…
Oh, yeah. She made an appearance in the dream memories I saw back in Gjallar, didn't she?
It seemed like Naru had hated her father quite a lot and was hated in return, but she'd had a good relationship with her mother. In fact, she wanted to crush the unfairness of the world for her mother. But her grave was up there; she was already long dead, which might have influenced Naru's actions.
"I remember that one thousand years ago, you would always come here once a year to offer prayers to your deceased mother, Master. We have come all this way, so might I suggest visiting your mother's grave, since it's been so long?"
Hm. It sounds like a good idea from Penny's explanation, but the act seems to carry a lot of weight for Naru. And to me, it's the grave of a stranger. But right now, I'm Naru. So in that sense, Naru's mother isn't a stranger at all.
"…Yes. If this place has been secluded for one thousand years, then it has probably gone unmaintained. It's not a bad idea to stop by."
Naru's mother probably wouldn't want some random person like me to visit her. But, well, there was no other option. Even I was questioning why it'd come to this, and I hadn't come up with an answer. But there might be some sort of hint to all my questions up there. I can't help but hope.
If I were to believe the Grimm King's words, then Naru did some things that I didn't know about, had her own experiences, and noticed something I hadn't.
The 'Goddess's Script'… No doubt this would be the key word from now on. As long as I figured out what that was, I might come to understand why this happened to me. And the key to understanding was none other than Naru.
Before being sealed, Naru noticed something and tried to take action. If I could figure out those two points, that would most likely lead to me solving the mystery.
"A grave visit? Aren't there more pressing matters we should attend to?"
"…? How unexpected, Haruka. I never thought you would object."
"Ah, no! I'm not objecting per se, but I just don't think staying too long would be a good idea."
It was a little unexpected that Haruka spoke against visiting the grave. I figured she'd just aloofly say, "Then let's go." But I understood after hearing her explanation.
"I mean, aren't mountains really tall? I don't want to climb all that."
"…Ahh, understood." I nodded, looking up once again at the mountain. "Idiots and the flugels both love high places," wasn't an aphorism that actually existed, but it was true that the flugels love heights. The higher up a person went, the thinner the mana got, so to flugels, it grew far more comfortable higher up. They could also fly, so they didn't have a problem navigating at those heights.
Take a 500m tall mountain for example. Since flugels could fly, ascending that 500m was no different to them than a human walking 500m on flat ground. Or is it 700m to account for slight horizontal progression? It didn't feel that tiring.
Mountains made for natural fortresses as well. It made the flugels harder to attack just by living on them, allowing them to also obtain peace of mind.
So when it came to Vanaheim… Uhh, how tall is that mountain? I'm not great at estimating measurements by eye, but it seems incredibly huge to me.
"Penny, do you know how tall that mountain is?"
"Yes. It is estimated to be 3807m tall."
Ah, it's taller than Mt. Fuji.
That was certainly too tall to just climb up without any plan. But for a flugel, it was no different than walking four or five kilometers. It was noted in official lore that an adult could fly faster than a bike, so it wasn't that difficult a distance. Many people back in Japan commuted that distance to school or work by bike, so it should've been easy to do, even every day. If Penny and I were to fly at full speed, it'd only take a minute… No, not even thirty seconds.
"True, that height is troublesome. Still, it wouldn't be impossible to carry you up."
"I can carry Fiona and Tayuya, and there should be no problem for you to carry Haruka, Master. However, I believe it will be necessary to secure some method of transporting larger numbers through the skies in the future."
Penny was correct. We were fine right now, because there were so few of us, but since our numbers would only grow, things couldn't stay as they were. Other than Penny and I, the only other person who could fly was one of 'Gemini' from the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians. That also meant that the other Gemini couldn't fly. So the more people I gathered, the harder it would be to move around.
More than anything, having both hands occupied carrying people meant that it would be harder to react if something attacked.
"Wait, Tayuya can't fly? She has wings."
"My king, I may be able to fly, but I cannot go very high. Did you forget?"
"Oh, is that so?"
"It is so."
Tayuya did have wings, but apparently she couldn't climb too high. I see. So like first-gen Charizard before it could learn Fly. That meant the only ones who could actually fly were Penny and I.
"Hm… Then… Why not have that thing fly?"
We needed a method to carry everyone who couldn't fly by air, but also one that didn't occupy Penny's or my hands. So that left one option—have something that could carry everyone and fly. It was simple.
"Right. We're all going back to the forest for a little while. Also, Haruka, weren't there alchemy materials in what we recovered from the grave? Bring back the floating stone and whatever else you think would be useful, please."
Now, then. Let's get to remodeling.
In the game, there was no way to change something once it had been made. If a player really wanted to redo something, they'd just have to start over from scratch. But we weren't in the game, so I should be able to remodel things. I should at least try this out once, to confirm things for the future.
—And that was why I decided to remodel Honda.
The outside look didn't change, but in order to accommodate future passengers, I increased its size and made it much taller. Of course, I didn't make Honda ridiculously tall, but I did add a second floor. I also added a deployable roof so that we could enjoy a terrace at any time.
But that was only the beginning. The big change came next.
"Right. Honda, Transform."
"Y E S, B O S S."
Following my orders, Honda illuminated itself. Then, the car floated upwards as if it had suddenly been picked up by a gust of wind from below, and its tires rotated to become horizontal. Then, jet exhaust flames flared out from the hubcaps of the horizontal tires, pushing Honda even higher. Steel wings also deployed out of the car's sides while emitting a loud sound.
This was Honda's new, remodeled form. Its name was…
"…"
…I can't think of a good name.
Oh, whatever. It can just be "Honda Jet mode."
[ Honda ]
[Level]: 350
[Race]: Artificial Life Form
[HP]: 18000
[SP]: 0
[STR (Strength)]: 862
[DEX (Dexterity)]: 120
[VIT (Vitality)]: 987
[INT (Intelligence)]: 9
[AGI (Agility)]: 1530
[MND (Mind)]: 78
[LUK (Luck)]: 100
I see. So by remodeling and adding better materials, its stats and max level can also rise.
I suddenly thought of remodeling Penny, but she was already far past the limit of most golems. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to make her any stronger. Jenny might have been able to, but there was no use asking the deceased.
Still, the thought of a flying RV was really surreal, even though I'd done this myself.
"What do you think, Haruka? We can move everyone with this."
"Y-yeah… You're right."
It seemed like Haruka was a bit creeped out by the flying car; her reply didn't sound very positive. In contrast, Fiona and Wendy looked at Honda like they were excited children.
As for why Wendy came with us, she was performing double duty as our guide and watchperson. This was the forest that her grandmother had worked to protect for most of her life, so it seemed she was accompanying us just in case we were going to try something weird.
I couldn't exactly refute that suspicion, either, given what that fool Tayuya did earlier.
"Would you like to get on, too?" I offered to Wendy, who looked incredibly interested.
She happily accepted. "Huh? Really? Then yes, please!" Thought so. Flying vehicles really are cool everywhere. It looks a little… uhh… not cool, but I don't hate it.
"There is a problem, Master Naru."
"What's wrong, Penny?"
"Honda is not equipped with weapons for aerial combat. I believe you should give it gun emplacements, at the very least. A main cannon and anti-air capability wouldn't go amiss, either, and explosives for bombing would—"
"Just what are you going on about?" I retorted.
After I entered, Fiona, Tayuya, Haruka, and Penny followed. Wendy, still seeming hesitant and reserved, brought up the rear.
After confirming that everyone was inside, I gave Honda an order. "Right. Now, Honda."
"Y E S, B O S S," Honda replied before flying upwards.
While this was normal since this was another world, it would be beyond surreal in Japan. But flying cars were a subject of wonder, and they were basically fixtures in fiction. The fact that such a thing had been realized in such a way impressed upon me that anything really can happen.
Now, then. We're going to Naru's hometown. It'd be nice if we find a good clue there.