The mechanization of mages.
To think such a cruel technique had been pioneered solely for the sake of creating the perfect army.
It's a ridiculous idea. Won't this just end up wasting the budget?
They say the Beta beings have broken through from above again...
Phew.
Hmm.
Still, that fellow usually produces results. Let him proceed.
There's nothing to gain from unnecessary rumors spreading. Keep this quiet.
The planet is doomed anyway. What do we have to lose?
Murmur.
A moment later, once the meeting concluded, the marine creatures gathered before the leader filed out of the chamber together.
The official record was filled with approvals and affirmations, but the mood among the highest-ranking nobles was anything but optimistic.
Judging from the murmurs drifting through the corridor, they had only tolerated the eccentric's proposal out of desperation.
Had the invasion of the Beta beings not threatened their entire species with extinction, they would never have poured public funds into such a ludicrous and absurd project.
But as always, life was impossible to predict.
Before long, the very powerholders who had mocked the eccentric scholar's proposal would become some of its most enthusiastic supporters.
Because soon enough, they were given a reason why the project absolutely had to succeed.
***
The reason the highest ruling class suddenly began applauding the eccentric's invention was simple.
In an even-numbered year, a prodigy appeared on the planet Alphaut whose talent seemed capable of surpassing even the limits of what future generations might achieve.
~
Green blood.
Long legs.
And a body that, upon reaching maturity, would possess three eyes.
The innate magical talent of this green-skinned individual was so extraordinarily overwhelming that even the poor-sighted inhabitants of the deep sea could recognize it at a glance.
It was almost frightening.
The spells he constructed instinctively were so refined that the magic of others looked crude and vulgar by comparison, like the clumsy workings of wild beasts.
And then there was the incident in which he flayed the dean alive in order to graduate from the training facility.
On his very first mission, he personally slaughtered more than a hundred Beta beings.
He had accumulated achievements capable of leaving anyone speechless before he had even reached adulthood.
Who could possibly doubt his talent?
Amazing.
He was an unrivaled genius.
The moment the green-blooded deep-sea prodigy appeared, the ruling class—already aware of the controversial project—immediately sprang into action and began demanding that it be carried out.
I've never really understood the expression "frighteningly talented" before, but this time it seems perfectly appropriate.
Indeed. I've seen his magic with my own eyes on the battlefield, and it's difficult to believe someone like that came from the deep sea.
His talent is simply excessive.
If he naturalizes in another country later, we'll have a serious problem. Didn't you say his brain underwent some sort of preliminary processing when he was young? Terminalization or whatever you called it? Listen, hurry up and carry out that plan. Just knowing a monster like that exists makes me uneasy!
You said the whole project was obviously going to fail before, and now suddenly you're the most enthusiastic one here.
Everyone, calm down.
The leather-skinned scholar waved his tentacles at the power-hungry nobles berating him.
For a moment, irritation flickered through his thoughts.
Did these people really storm in here while I was eating lunch?
But once again, he showed none of it outwardly.
This wasn't worth getting angry over.
As I told you before, extraction is impossible right now.
Why!
At the very least, we must wait until all of his organs have fully developed. To be frank, my technology is still in its infancy, so naturally there are inefficiencies. For example, when transferring the heart into a mechanical system, approximately 17% of the original tissue is lost...
The frightened ruling class had panicked as though struck by lightning from the sea upon witnessing the birth of such an extraordinary individual.
The eccentric's faction, meanwhile, viewed the prodigy's existence as something beneficial to the entire planet and expressed only positive opinions.
If we attempt mechanization while the subject is still immature, the probability of failure rises exponentially. We absolutely must wait until he reaches adulthood.
Far across the universe, in a world ruled by mammals, something similar had once occurred.
Whenever people listed the greatest intellects in history, one particular name was always mentioned.
After that extraordinary scientist—celebrated for his unparalleled genius—eventually died, people even preserved and displayed his brain in a museum.
Such was the fascination intelligent beings held for genius.
And the scholar named ■■ was no less captivated by innate brilliance.
So captivated, in fact, that he might have been willing to abandon even his own pursuit of "immortality" for the sake of preserving it.
He had developed a technique capable of keeping something alive within a body bound in steel.
And now, in the deep sea, a fragile newborn monster had appeared.
One of his own kind.
A being destined, beyond any reasonable doubt, to become a genius.
Why are you suddenly laughing?
The bubble burst.
Today, the marine creature wearing skin red enough to resemble a mammal suddenly began laughing.
Why are you laughing?
The laughter continued for quite some time.
The eccentric, whose intelligence was well above average, could already roughly imagine what was going to happen on Alphaut.
First, there's something I'd like to make clear. When I was young—still a minor, in fact—I personally ushered in the age of healing potions.
Of course I know. That's the greatest achievement of your family.
And yet, despite possessing talent of that caliber, I carry profound humility within my chest.
Profound humility.
At those words, his countryman's blood suddenly faded to a slightly duller shade.
A sign of anxiety.
Ahaha.
True to his reputation as a notorious eccentric, the scholar paid no attention and continued speaking.
I understand your reaction. You're surprised that someone who claims to have changed an entire era would speak of humility, aren't you?
Hmm.
What I mean is this. At the very least... I understand my own limitations perfectly.
Someone waved a tentacle through the empty water.
I'm only exceptional in the narrow field that genuinely interests me. No matter how arrogantly I behave, the truth is that this world is full of geniuses far greater than I am.
Bang.
He even slammed the tip of his arm against a nearby workbench to emphasize the point.
And the worst part is that all those damned geniuses are mortal creatures with limited lifespans.
His voice trembled.
Not with fear.
If anything, throughout the conversation the scholar seemed almost delighted, his words overlapping in the peculiar speech pattern characteristic of the Alphaut people.
Do you know?
Tell me.
When I was a child, I had a thought while reading biographies of great figures my parents gave me.
And what thought was that?
That it's such a terrible waste for so many geniuses to die so young—
Oho.
If all those great figures were still alive today, the world would be completely different. It would be a paradise! Compared with the magic they might have developed by now, everything we use today would look like primitive children's tricks.
Of course.
And now, at last, I have a chance to realize the dream I had as a child...
The Alphaut continued in an increasingly excited voice.
A chance to preserve a one-of-a-kind genius for eternity! So don't rush this. Just wait. Please—give me time.
And so the eccentric waited patiently for the genius's brain to finish developing.
Several years later.
The green mage's adaptation to the Academy.>
As you can see, the situation has changed drastically.
Oh...
This isn't good.
Even to someone like me, who knows virtually nothing about combat magic, this is clearly...
This won't do.
Originally, a servant had been assigned to keep watch over him.
But by coincidence, the leatherworker ■■ belonged to the same institution—the Academy—and was therefore able to follow news of the war hero with ease.
Without even bothering to change out of the white leather he had worn the previous day, he delivered the latest information to the nobles.
It appears we can no longer afford to wait for his brain to finish developing.
As expected, do all of you also believe this has become dangerous?
Because by now, they had learned what kind of magic the war hero was developing.
Golem control.
Strictly speaking, they weren't even sure whether "developing" was the correct word.
But one thing was certain.
If the war hero fully mastered it, they were doomed.
Even after every kind of drug and magical treatment had been applied to his brain, their attempt to control him might still end in humiliating failure.
The green mage's research was simply that dangerous.
According to the deep-sea man himself, his goal was merely to install higher-performance behavioral protocols into golem minds and improve their functionality.
In other words, at most, he claimed he wanted to reduce the mental burden of everyday labor for ordinary citizens.
You're lying!
Surely the true value of golem-control magic lies not in ordinary labor, but in warfare?
What made matters even more terrifying was that the green mage's objective did not sound unrealistic in the slightest.
The genius of the century was undeniably arrogant, but that description applied primarily to his personality.
Highly intelligent beings often possessed strong metacognition—the ability to understand the workings and limits of their own minds.
The green mage was no exception.
He had a remarkably accurate grasp of what he could and could not accomplish.
I might have understood if he claimed he wanted to control all the seawater on this planet. But considering the current state of golem exterior design, the power of core-based magic stones, and the various theories regarding the inscription of spells onto inanimate objects...
I believe it may already be possible, even in this era, to create an unmanned army.
If only there were a truly exceptional controller...
The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly chaotic.
There must still be limits, no matter how talented he is, right? At most, it would be automation capable of convincingly imitating a knight's movements. There's no way an autonomous golem could outperform one directly controlled by a sorcerer using a carefully programmed set of instructions...
Is this really a question of direct control versus automation?
Then that fellow's research draft...
I couldn't steal it. Apparently some rat has been spreading rumors, because that green one has tightened his personal security considerably lately. Whatever he's working on, though, it's unquestionably a broader form of magic than the machinery techniques I possess.
I couldn't bring back a single line.
Not one word.
That alone is proof.
Of course. If someone that young is already capable of protecting his own research, then perhaps he truly can realize whatever he imagines. Ahhh, I can already see it—hundreds of golems moving as extensions of his will, freed from the flesh and bones of their species!
Fear spread through the room.
Those who had survived the Great War after losing nearly all their predecessors no longer possessed much courage.
And in their shallow panic, they forgot one simple fact.
The mage they were discussing was unlikely to live even twenty years.
Was it truly right to force an uncontrollable genius into a state resembling a lifeless machine through mechanization?
No ethical discussion of that kind ever took place.
He had committed no crime.
He had harmed none of the nobles.
And yet...
He possessed overwhelming power.
Enough power that a potential rebellion could not simply be dismissed out of sympathy.
Once he rises, there will be no stopping him.
We have no choice...
The frightened egoists soon seized control of the discussion.
Let's begin immediately, before we waste any more time.
Originally, they had intended to wait patiently until the deep-sea creature's body stopped growing and entered decline.
But now that circumstances had forced them to act so hastily, the probability of success had fallen to rock bottom.
They therefore prepared for the possibility that the marine creature laying the golden eggs might go into shock and die during surgery.
If that happened, they intended to extract whatever final value they could from him before losing everything.
The spies we've planted in the neighboring country's Magic Tower are developing nicely. We'll use them to stir up the internal situation. Those graceless creatures have been itching to expand their territory since before the Great War anyway. If we gradually expose signs of weakness, he'll take the bait soon enough.
.
.
.
So that's what...
From now on, be more careful in every respect. I've heard the whole story myself, so take this as a warning.
In short, even the reason the orange man had subtly rejected the eccentric genius was connected to this.
Let's do that.
The ruler's excessive indifference during the negotiations over the treasure vault.
The magical hunts at the Magic Tower.
The unfortunate coincidence of that incident occurring precisely when the orange giant compatriot had returned to his ancestral home for the holidays.
And so on.
Once the truth was known, all the events that had once seemed strange—or had unfolded suspiciously smoothly—finally made sense.
Hidden forces had been manipulating events from behind the scenes all along.
A skin-changer.
An eccentric.
And an Alphaut known by titles such as the leader's right hand.
[This is insane.]
They had discovered the green compatriot when he was around two years old and had watched his intellect closely for virtually his entire life.
Moreover, the green genius had never known that his major organs had undergone preliminary processing before he even left the training facility.
He had known nothing.
He excelled in nearly every field.
There were only two things he lacked.
Age.
And malice.
Compared with the people of this planet, he had possessed far too little of either.
A reincarnator from the distant future once claimed that the chain of disasters had occurred because of arrogance.
But had it truly been nothing more than his own negligence?
His own carelessness?
Back when he was still young and naïve.
At a time when he knew nothing about magic or medicine, the most advanced spell available on the entire planet had already been engraved into his body.
And even though the Alphaut people could conceal their ruthless nature—the willingness to kill without hesitation whenever necessary—the green child had been born a genius.
Naturally, they had feared what that young mind might someday become.
[Ha, hahaha...]
The gaps in his memory were finally beginning to fill.
Several hundred years after the end of the Middle Era, the green man at last understood why he had spent all this time speaking in honorifics and working as little more than someone else's obedient tentacle cleaner.
It was because that damned researcher's plan to turn people into devices had succeeded.
[■■ / ■■ That b*stard deserves to be skinned down to the last scrap of leather and ground into dust!]
The former rulers had ambushed the deep-sea Archmage while he was returning from defeating the enemy nation.
And they got exactly what they wanted.
They extracted the genius's brain and heart, along with his spine and certain proteins, then somehow succeeded in integrating that factory of thought into machinery.
And afterward, they bestowed titles upon those machines.
"Magic Master."
A rank that had originally been reserved only for the highest-ranking Alphaut.
First Magic Master!
Some people even claimed that the title he had once taken such pride in had originally been intended as a kind of derogatory designation.
Even so, the green mage at the center of the incident continued to take pride in his status even after reincarnation.
After all, back then there had still been a handful of living Magic Masters among the Alphaut—though calling the mechanized ones "dead" was not entirely accurate.
And even if he had never been dragged into such an absurd fate, he was confident that he would eventually have earned the rank through his own ability.
[Right. I remember everything now. In this era, Magic Master is a recognized rank, something like Archmage. Wait... then what year is it now...?]
At first, the engineers had preserved the genius inside little more than a simple cylindrical apparatus that responded when spoken to.
But as time passed and technology advanced, it seemed they had eventually grown the green mage inside a vessel and turned him into a golem pilot.
[Thank you so much. I feel like my blood is about to run cold. Damn these b*stards.]
Of course, all of that technology had ultimately been built by stealing the genius's research directly from his own brain.
No wonder his life had contained so few meaningful ups and downs.
The arrogant man had always believed that he had no real rivals simply because he was too strong and too capable.
Only now did he understand the truth.
The rulers of the planet had already done everything in their power to protect themselves from him.
It was shocking.
[Ugh.]
No matter how insane a sorcerer might be, hardly anyone would consider dismantling their own head.
He had never even been given a chance to notice the ingenious preliminary processing hidden within him, disguised to resemble the flow of his own internal magical energy.
[My tentacles... that glossy skin... all of it turned into hard machinery...]
That was how completely he had been taken advantage of by their underhanded scheme.
Wait.
No.
There was something else.
Now that he thought about it, the nation's highest ruler had since changed to ■■.
With that realization, the Archmage remembered still more of what he had done in the past.
[Hmm.]
Back when his genius had nearly been stolen in the deep-sea territory...
Even in his confused state, he had fought against the invading mages and resisted with everything he had.
And near the end, after learning that the ruler had personally approved the insane operation, he had cast one decisive spell upon the royal castle...?
[...Come to think of it, how many major mountain ranges were there in this sea region? Were there always trenches this deep in the Northern Hemisphere?]
Just as the mechanized Archmage muttered those strange questions to himself—
There weren't!!
A voice suddenly answered from somewhere nearby.
The speaker looked completely different from before.
But the voice still retained its old cadence.
He recognized it immediately.
The leader of the skin-changers.
The one who had set this entire nightmare in motion—
was approaching.
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