The Economics of Prophecy

We headed straight from Bertoldo to the Knights garrison. The garrison was in a state of war. Hidden knights and heavy troops are in and out.

The building that was under construction was completed as a new headquarters and we were put through to the deepest room. Sounds like a room for a role like Operations.

Once inside, the map is spread over a wide platform. Five spots are depicted in the north and south.

"The spot one sweep is complete. Troops are currently starting to sweep Spot 2. The scouts have also confirmed the outbreak of the Mucus in three other spots."

Just now, the female knight of the deputy was making a report. Again, they're experiencing a lot of slime in other spots.

"So far no warcraft other than Mucus has been confirmed. However, it is time-consuming due to the huge number and limited activity at night. It's just that the old Knights of the Second Knights say that when we say mucus, the colors and movements are subtly different from what we know."

There's no species in the kingdom. You're more and more likely to have been artificially sown.

"Are you back, Ricardo? This one's going well, but wasn't it a little later to get home?

Craig laughed niggardly and invited me. I've been bothering to write it on my face as a problem, but it's reliable. A female deputy sent a signal to the knight who stood in front of the door. The knight closed the door as he went out into the hallway.

From now on, it's an unpleasant story to ask. They are not warcraft without intelligence.

"- So it's likely that the eggs were intentionally sown"

On our return from Bertoldo, we gathered information in the surrounding villages in anticipation of the path of the Imperial Carriage. There were rare carriage sightings around and between the spots.

"I see. Don't even connect with the spots lining up nicely. Wasn't the race just a last resort for the Empire?"

I am also satisfied that I took part at the risk of leaking information about the carriage, which is a military secret.

The hardness of the air increased all at once in the prince's words. Sowing biological weapons to countries with business relationships. Clear hostilities, equal to a declaration of war.

Did you think we wouldn't find out we did it? But a decent schemer would have assumed when he found out. I would.

In other words, we have to assume that the other side is completely ready to cross the line.

"The Sage Hall. Any chance they're releasing a more powerful warcraft?

"As a result of Mucus eating magic in the ground for growth and growth, we have a spot where the demonic pulse has decreased. You can't have a mighty warcraft."

It is one of the few reassuring materials. But when it does, it's the purpose of using weak warcraft that bothers me.

The material of the Warcraft used in the carriage and this time the egg. The Empire still has a fairly advanced knowledge and skill in warcraft relations. This one, on the other hand, has only grasped the power of the other in fragments.

Furthermore, that carriage is essentially sent into the race by the hands of the Second Prince Faction.

My inner worries and external illnesses are dancing in a combination. Normally, you should be more alert to the empire behind you than Mucus. But there's a reason I can't do that.

"The relationship between the Empire's sown warcraft and prophecy is problematic."

Craig said. That's when the door was knocked. It was Alfina and Claudia who came in.

◇ ◇

"Have you been informed by the Imperial Empress about the warcraft of this prophecy?

To Alfina's words, Craig turned into a strange face. I'm surprised, too.

"His Highness Alfina. I just found out that it was the Empire who planted the Warcraft..."

Adele said.

"You can't trust what the Empress of the Empire said."

Hyde also roughed up his voice. I think so, too. It's just information. Besides...

"What was Ricardo's decision to spot the empire's plot?

"There are three possibilities. Of course, the most likely thing is that the princess is lying. The next possibility says only half the truth. The smallest possibility is telling the truth. The point is, they don't know we're spotting the empire's plot. I mean, if you flip it the most, you're closer to the truth. The second would be valid information if you knew it was incomplete. If it's the third, you can use it as it is."

"Well, if you don't listen to me, we'll talk."

To the words of his brother-in-law, Alfina began explaining the warcraft she had heard from Lisaberto.

The warcraft, the Empress says, is shaped like a mite, and its size increases the original world's Shinkansen round and round. He said he would burst into the wall with his spinning head and destroy it.

"You're like a living castle hammer. What does Lord Sage think?

"At least it doesn't exist in the Kingdom's records."

"It still sounds like a positive move. It doesn't look like Mucus. The problem is, this crowd of mucus could also be positive."

Hyde said. Widespread mass of weak warcraft. Attract the Knights' power to it, and in the meantime a real disaster strikes Bertoldo. It could be too much.

"But I didn't know His Royal Highness Lied to me..."

Alfina ate down. It also matches the image of the prophecy and the primary information. Besides, Alfina has a lot more eyes on people than I do.

A monster that spins like a drill and destroys a castle wall. It is the Monster of the Warcraft of the Other World. But as far as I know, the origin of this world's warcraft is supposed to be Earth. Will that be because the creatures that existed on Earth have evolved?

... No, wait, if you're simply a creature that moves on while spinning, there's one possibility.

"Dear Alfina, I want to ask you two questions. One is the trace of the ground in front of the walls, which was in the image of crystals. Master Alfina said it was like a drag, but were the marks on that ground straight?

"... if you say so, not vertical, but horizontal... no, it looked diagonal"

Alfina closed her eyes and thought about it a little bit, she looked stiff. I see, after the movement of the rotating object.

"It's another one. The destroyed walls are not one place."

"Yes, I've been able to expand my crystal image a bit since then. I don't know where it is, but I think there are at least two, no, more than three signs of the walls collapsing towards the inside."

"... ok"

Was I not able to do it again? Speaking of which, I feel a little pale.

"It's okay. Because this time it started late in the first place. Because I spent a lot less time using crystals than last time."

You noticed my gaze, Alfina smiled. That may be true, but I also want you to stop being impotent when the Grand Duke isn't around.

"Curator, you have a warcraft called the red carpet."

"Speaking of which, I told you that."

The red carpet that at night I snuck into the Knights tent. That would be a sticky fungus. Many amoebic individuals move together. Combined deformation of single-cell organisms. It was famous as the most primitive form of organization.

It's not in the same shape as Lisaberto's warcraft. But the nature of an elongated organism that spins and moves, and...

I thought of the sight of that night I picked up at the center of the spot. The slime we saw at night, the huge swarm of amoebas, was emitting red light as if in tune.

"What number?"

Craig asked.

"Unfortunately, number three."

Operations squealed at my words. Even I thought it was the most unlikely possibility. My gaze for explanation pierces me.

"Let's get back to the basics first. Due to the nature of previous prophecies, disaster is likely to be associated with demonic pulse fluctuations. Against the backdrop of disaster, we can also say that there is a tremendous amount of magic that causes it."

"That's right. But there's no such thing this time."

"No, I do. I had to be precise."

I pointed to the demonic zone between Bertoldo and the King's Capital, which was no longer in sight.

"Slime a wide and thin demonic pulse...... with the help of Mucus to gather it into one point. This is the magical fluctuation that causes this disaster."

A slime that has eaten magic and grown in numbers sends a signal to hang up the resulting hunger. It's a random signal at first, but eventually the signal starts to interact and become self-organized and centered.

Several centers merge, and the surrounding slime gathers to draw a vortex toward it. The result is the birth of a giant warcraft. In other words, the Warcraft of Disaster is Slug, a giant viscous fungus mover.

At least five moving bodies "slugs" arise from the five spots, as they create and assemble self-organizing centers in relays of signals. This fits in with the situation where multiple Warcraft raid Bertoldo.

The most important thing is to say that the moving body Slug also moves while rotating again. Self-organizing helical signals organize mucous bacteria, which are only a collection of individuals, into a single mobile body. Signals never disappear in giant moving bodies, and they serve as directives, so to speak, to move the moving bodies forward. As a result, the cells on the surface of the moving body rotate and move.

A good example of a primitive organizational structure is that a mentor has been shown a video of that simulation.

And if a moving body seeks magic and goes for the Red Forest, or west with Bertoldo, it all connects.

"Mucus gathers to become a living broken castle hammer? It's incredible."

"You agree with Hyde. But Ricardo wouldn't say anything unfounded."

"It's well founded, but if my hypothesis is correct, there shouldn't be time to verify it"

If the time limit indicated by the prophecy, and the red brightness of the mucus, is a starvation signal, it's not surprising that we've already begun to rally.

"As the hypothesis is correct, how do we deal with it"

"There are five spots. You have four more because you crushed one. What matters is the number of mucuses in one place that will be part of the broken castle hammer. Priority should be given to reducing it to no more than a certain number, not to sweeping"

The important thing is to reduce the number of individual spots. From what I've just heard, the threat of a living broken castle hammer is the rotating mass itself.

"We move assuming that the crowd of mucus is the warcraft of this disaster. We'll split the Knights' squad in two, and we'll have a spot of 2,3, and then we'll have a simultaneous attack of 4,5."

Craig made the decision. I appreciate the instant instant judgment because I don't have time, but the pressure on me makes my stomach ache.

"What do you do with the Empire"

Adele asked.

"I'll leave the move in the King's Capital to the Chancellor. The greatest aim of the empire would be the destruction of Bertoldo. Preventing it is a top priority."

If Bertoldo crumbles, the power of the Second Prince Valve of the Parent Empire can be rejuvenated. If the Empire considers invasion of the kingdom, it is strategically worthwhile to do damage to Bertoldo, the rear stronghold of defense.

Copy that, sir. Ha.

Both Adele and Hyde rush to take their seats to convince the commander of his words. Alfina approached me.

"Ricardo..."

White fingers grabbed the hem of my clothes. I still feel a little pale. "Of course I'll stay, because I'm a civilian," he wants to say.

"I'm sorry, Master Alfina, but I have to check one thing."

Problems remain. Multiple holes in the walls of the castle, which is one of the grounds. Actually, I can't explain just the hypothesis I just made.

"The Grand Duke and the workshop craftsmen."

I thought it was cowardly, but I said.

I'll do a thorough analysis of the crystals as soon as possible.