Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 13 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Color Illustrations

  Prologue: Friends

  Chapter One: The Third Job

  Chapter Two: Clan

  Chapter Three: The Fearsome Clan

  Interlude: The Imperium’s Preparations

  Chapter Four: The Rabbit Skips Through the Darkness

  Chapter Five: The Night Before the Peace Conference

  Chapter Six: Peace Conference

  Interlude: The Assault on Altea

  Chapter Seven: Opened Hostilities

  Chapter Eight: The Battle of the Masterless

  Chapter Nine: Vorpal Rabbit, Vorpal Hare

  Interlude: The Spectator

  Afterword

  Bonus Short Stories

  About J-Novel Club

  Copyright

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  Prologue: Friends

  Sacred Princess, Altimia A. Altar

  I immediately realized that I was dreaming.

  I’d had this dream many times before — a dream of the past. However, unlike the previous times I dreamed of this, I didn’t relive the last time I saw my father.

  Instead, I saw a scene that dated back a lot further than the day my father died. The dream was more of a vision from half a decade ago, when Altar and Dryfe were on such good terms that the very idea of a war between them seemed absurd.

  It was a peaceful time, before the attack of The Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria, and even before the increase in the number of Masters.

  Back then, I was a transfer student at a school in Dryfe. On that day, I was in the dorm’s lounge, reading a book I’d checked out from the library.

  I was the only one there, most likely because I was the first princess of a kingdom. I’d been here for almost a year now, so I was used to being avoided — not out of hate, but out of fear.

  “Altimia, can I have a moment?”

  Despite all that, there was still one person who would always talk to me.

  “Claudiah. What is it?” Claudiah was her name, and she was one of my few friends here. You could definitely say that we were close.

  ...Though, it’s not like I had many friends in Altar, either. There was only Liliana — the daughter of my father’s friend — and Integra — the youngest of the Arch Sage’s disciples.

  “Would you like to come shopping with me this afternoon?” Claudiah asked. “We can get some tea at a café, too. They should start selling fall treats today.”

  “...You really like going out, don’t you?” Claudiah was the daughter of the third prince of Dryfe and one of the candidates for the throne. She had also been in charge of helping me live in this foreign land. We were about the same age and had some things in common, so we got along rather well.

  “What do you need to buy, if I may ask?” I wondered out loud.

  “Clothes! Mostly for you!”

  “Me?”

  “You’ve gotten a little bigger in the chest, haven’t you? By next season, all your clothes will be too tight for you.”

  “Well, I am in the middle of a growth spurt. I’m impressed you noticed.”

  “...Heheheh. Well, people really pay attention to things they desperately want, but can’t easily get.” Claudiah then indicated her own bust — it was on the smaller side, and it didn’t look like it would be growing anytime soon... If ever.

  Claudiah was staring at my chest with envy in her eyes, too. I got the impression she’d reach for it if I took too long to respond, so I rushed to give my answer.

  “Very well... Let’s go. I wanted to look around the bookstores, anyway.”

  “Splendid! Let’s meet up outside the gate at one o’clock! I can’t wait!”

  I found the meeting time she specified a bit odd. My watch said that it was still ten in the morning. That meant that we wouldn’t be meeting up until over three hours from now.

  “Why the afternoon?” I asked. “I’m free. We could go right now. Do you have some prior commitment?”

  “My brother asked me to help him in his workshop! Ugh... I know my stats are high, but he shouldn’t make a lady carry things around for him.”

  “Oh, I see...” Like she’d just said, her stats were extremely high.

  After all, her job was The Ram.

  Claudiah had been born with incredible talent that had allowed her to claim the open Superior Job at the tender age of thirteen. That was one of the reasons why we got along so well. Though I used the Swordmaster job title as a cover, I was actually the Sacred Princess. We were both daughters of ruling families, and we both spent a great deal of time honing our martial skills, so it made sense that we would see eye to eye. We even sparred together at least once every few days.

  “Could you not simply have someone else assist your brother?” Claudiah was a lady — someone you could truly call a “princess.” I found it unfitting for such an individual to perform manual labor, and it seemed strange that her brother would ask something like that of her.

  “Sadly, no,” Claudiah answered. “My brother is extremely anxious around strangers and cannot focus on his work if he’s with someone besides me or a member of our mother’s family... the Barbaros, I mean.”

  “I see...” That seemed reasonable enough to me.

  Claudiah had lost both of her parents, and it was rumored that they were assassinated by someone from the imperial family. While Claudiah had somehow gotten through everything while remaining innocent and cheerful, I could only guess that her elder brother, on the other hand, refused to trust anyone but those he considered his own.

  “Well, I don’t mind waiting,” I said. “You go help your brother.”

  “Thank you! I will not take long, so please be patient!” Claudiah rushed out of the lounge and through the hallway at supersonic speeds.

  That was a level beyond the usual rule-breaking in the dorms, but her carelessness just made me chuckle. I resumed reading my book, killing time until she came back.

  About two hours later, I closed my book.

  There was less than an hour left until one o’clock, our proposed meeting time, but Claudiah hadn’t returned.

  A bit curious, I went to the workshop she’d mentioned earlier. Dryfe was a country of machines, so all places of education had facilities for machine-related crafting jobs.

  And so, in a pleasant hallway outside the workshop, I found a familiar face — Claudiah herself.

  “Oh. Claudiah — Hm...?” However, once I came close, I realized that it wasn’t her.

  This person had a very similar face, but the expression and the eyes were nothing alike.

  Princess Claudiah was cheerful, energetic, and had the vigor of a true battle-focused Superior Job. This person, by contrast, was far too gloomy to even serve as her shadow.

  The lovely face that so resembled Claudiah’s was spoiled by the dark expression and the oil staining their hair and cheeks. They also weren’t wearing a school uniform — instead, they were clad in a set of dirtied work clothes.

  However, what made it plainly obvious that this couldn’t possibly be Claudiah was the gaze. It was icy cold, as though this person had never once felt any warmth or passion.

  Still, the face resembled Claudiah’s so much that it must have been someone related to her.

  “Are you... Claudiah’s brother?” I asked.

  “...Yes, Your Highness Altimia.” Though his voice was lower, it was similar to Claudiah’s in tone, just as you would expect from a sibling.

  I could only assume that they were twins.

  I also realized that he knew who I was. Perhaps Claudiah had told him about me?

  “Claudiah... I mean, Her Highness i
s always a great help to me.”

  “...No need to act like that around me. She does what she does because she wants to. Also, you don’t need to use ‘Highness’ for me, or her.”

  Though it seemed like he wasn’t fully tuned into the conversation, I felt like his attitude had shifted slightly.

  “Do you know where Claudiah is?” I asked. “I was looking for her. We agreed to meet up, and it’s almost time.”

  “...I suppose she’s taking a bath right now,” he replied. “I had her help with my work, so she’s probably as dirty as me... She can’t go with you in such a state. I’d appreciate it if you wait for her a bit longer.”

  “Oh, so that’s what’s happening.” Gloomy as he was, his words still held a hint of gentleness towards his sister, as well as some consideration for me — her friend. I also started to notice that his eyes held more warmth than I’d realized at first.

  I quickly revised my impression of him. Maybe he wasn’t such a cold person after all.

  I looked down and saw a metal container clutched in his hands.

  “A toolbox...”

  “...Despite appearances, I am the King of Machines. I’m often entrusted with repairing all kinds of devices, like the machines here in this school or the Imperstand.”

  King of Machines was the Superior Job in the mechanic grouping. Dryfe Imperium was a country that boasted far more technicians than warriors. You couldn’t say the same about Claudiah’s job, The Ram, but there had to be a great many people here in Dryfe competing for the King of Machines title. If he was truly Claudiah’s twin, he was far too young for such a job. The fact that he actually had it meant that he must be nothing short of a genius.

  ...Though, I did find it odd that a candidate for the throne was entrusted with something as mundane as repairs.

  “I will be going, then,” he said. “Please keep being a good friend to my sister.”

  “I will. Thank you.”

  And with that, we parted ways.

  However, it was only after I’d returned my book to the library that I realized something important.

  “Oh... I forgot to ask his name.”

  What was it, again? I didn’t know at this point.

  After several dozen more minutes, Claudiah finally appeared in the lounge.

  “My apologies! I’m late!” she exclaimed.

  “It’s okay. You had a hard time, didn’t you? It doesn’t bother me at all.”

  “Ohh! You’re so nice! I love you!” Claudiah ran up to me and hugged my arm like a little girl. Her hair smelled faintly of the machine oil she’d failed to entirely wash off.

  Oh, I could only imagine how hard she worked to get rid of this smell.

  She soon realized that I’d noticed the smell and jumped back about twenty metels, like any normal battle-focused job would.

  “I-I’m sorry! Ugh! Why did my brother have to make me help him today, of all days?! My usual deodorant did nothing! I can’t walk with you like this!”

  “There’s no point in shopping separately. The smell doesn’t bother me, really, so you can come closer.”

  “Altimia... Th-Thank you!”

  And so, we stood side-by-side and went shopping just like we’d planned. Shoulder-to-shoulder, we talked about many things on the way.

  One of the things we discussed was her brother.

  “Oh? You met him?”

  “Yes. And as rude as it may be, I forgot to ask for his name.”

  “Well, he almost never introduces himself,” she said, before heaving a heavy sigh and shaking her head. “I’ll make introductions in his stead! His name is... Reinhard!”

  The moment I heard that name, the dream ended.

  ◇

  Then, I awoke from my dream of the past and sat up. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I let out a sigh.

  “To think I would dream of her now, of all times...” Once the dream was over, that was the only thing I said.

  However, I knew full well why I saw that vision in particular.

  It was no doubt the peace offer from the imperium.

  Now, there was a small part of me that hoped the war would soon end and our relationship would go back to the way it was. That small part of me had dreamed of my time in Dryfe — the fun memories I made with my friend.

  If all went well during the upcoming peace talks, the war would be over.

  But if it didn’t, the fighting would inevitably resume. It would be a war that would decide the fate of both the kingdom I led and the imperium that Claudiah’s brother Reinhard ruled.

  In silence, I pondered the situation. We were no doubt good friends.

  However, the war with Dryfe had taken my father from me.

  The gulf between not just the two of us, but our whole countries had grown too vast and too deep.

  If there was no peace to be had, then we would have no choice but to fight.

  She and I might be friends, but both of us had something more important to protect.

  I was the Sacred Princess — the sword of the kingdom — while she was The Ram — the spear of the imperium. Just as I wanted to protect my sisters, she wanted to aid her brother. I was certain that we would be forced to fight each other to protect what we held dear.

  It might even lead to one of us taking the other’s life.

  “But...”

  No matter what happened next.

  No matter what lay in store for us.

  No matter what terrible fate might befall me.

  “I... I want us to always be friends.” That was the conclusion I drew from my nostalgic dream, before I steeled my resolve once more.

  ◆◆◆

  The Imperator’s Office, Dryfe Imperium

  On the day that Gideon, the City of Duels, was shaken by the two Superiors — King of Berserk, Hannya and Over Gladiator, Figaro — Field Marshal Gifted Barbaros was having an audience with his imperator.

  “And that concludes our report on the events in Quartierlatin.”

  Barbaros had been summoned here for two reasons.

  One of them was to deliver the final report about the Quartierlatin incident. His mission there was to investigate the ruins and prevent the kingdom from acquiring any powerful weapons there — and by his own estimation, he’d failed.

  However, that wasn’t because the superweapon, Acra-Vasta, had been destroyed by the kingdom’s Masters and the Sacred Princess, Altimia A. Altar. The real problem was in the reports that followed the events, saying that the kingdom was only growing stronger thanks to the discovery of certain facilities in the ruins — a plant that produced not the uncontrollable Prism Soldiers, but Prism Steeds instead.

  Thanks to events such as the clash with The Lynx, Tom Cat, and the large-scale battle against Acra-Vasta, Gifted had found the whole incident to be an extremely hectic experience. However, he saw the ultimate outcome as a failure on his part and didn’t even try to hide that assessment in his report.

  “I see how it is, Uncle Gifted,” a matter-of-fact, emotionless voice replied. “Also, there is no need to be so formal with me.”

  The person calling Gifted “Uncle” was none other than the current imperator of Dryfe — Reinhard.

  “You claim that this is a failure on your part, but I do not see it that way. The primary objective was to destroy the superweapon. That was accomplished. Certainly the ideal outcome would have been for us to secure the weapon and destroy the production facilities on top of that, but the outcome we have is far better than one where the kingdom wields the weapon as their own.”

  Gifted took a moment to think about how to respond, but his train of thought was cut off by a different voice resounding in the room. “But Brother Dearest, this ‘Acra-Vasta’ was an uncontrollable superweapon, was it not? If Dryfe could not master it, the very notion that Altar could do so is absurd. They never could’ve wielded it in the first place.” This new voice was much like Reinhard’s; the differences were quite subtle.

  “It’s entirely possible to control
supposedly ‘uncontrollable’ weapons with Embryos. We even know of one example, do we not?”

  “Oh, The Weapon. I’d somehow forgotten how he ruined an entire underground city.” With a voice that carried slightly more emotion than before, Reinhard was now talking to his sister, Claudiah.

  Gifted said nothing. He merely listened, thinking back on the past and noting how the machine-like Reinhard always had a soft spot for his sister.

  They were both his relatives. Gifted had been adopted by the Barbaros family, meaning that their mother was his elder step-sister, and his wife was their cousin. It was a complicated family tree, but this relationship was a major factor in his rise to the rank of imperial field marshal. He was their uncle, Claudiah’s mentor, and the only person in the military that the two of them could trust. No one else was worthy of it.

  “By the way, Uncle Gifted... you met Altimia, did you not?” Reinhard asked. “How was she?”

  For a moment, Gifted wondered why he would ask such a thing, but then recalled that the First Princess of Altar and Claudiah had been good friends in school.

  “She seemed to be in good health, but...”

  “But... what?”

  “She was wearing a mask and calling herself ‘Azurite.’”

  “Pfft!” Claudiah covered her mouth and burst into laughter at the mental image. “A mask...! And ‘Azurite’? That’s just her middle name...! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Claudiah was so amused by this that she actually fell to the floor clutching her sides, rumpling her fancy business clothing.

  “I-I know she really loved books about aristocratic girls concealing their identity and bringing change to the world... but I didn’t think she’d actually do it...! PFFT! AHAHAHAHAH! HOOH! HAAH!”

  “...Claudiah,” Reinhard spoke up, having had enough of the sight and the sound. “I have nothing against laughter, but snorting like that is unbecoming. Also, you are not much better than her in that regard, are you?”

  “...Oh. Th-That is true.” That was enough to calm Claudiah down.

  “I wish to continue talking to Uncle Gifted. Could you please keep yourself under control?”

  “Then I’ll have to wage a mental mock battle against Altimia herself!” And with those words, Claudiah vanished from the room.