A several-kilometre-wide green magic circle appeared in Jerilo-IV orbit as a massive, dagger-shaped spaceship blasted in, followed by two much smaller ships.
This was Marcus, who returned after his trip to the other side of the galaxy. The Dreadnought flew to the core piece of the Assimilator while the two support ships went to the defensive line.
Once they docked at the station, Marcus walked toward the exit, followed by his two maids and his carrier-ship girl.
"Umm… can we come? I want to explore the city." Kallen and Firefly, who met him halfway, asked with hopeful looks.
"Sure. We can arrange it."
"We would like to join." Athena, with Kiana, also walked over from a different corridor.
Athena noticed Quinella wasn't there.
"I can assume that your assistant is still incapacitated." The Goddess stated while pushing her glasses up.
"I am letting her rest. She will need several good hours of sleep before she can move." Marcus confidently commented.
"I see. Regardless, we–" Athena looked at Kallen, Firefly and Kiana."...are going to explore this unique city. I am curious about their culture, while these girls want to sightsee."
The Inventor nodded with a smile.
"Sure. By my estimation, we will stay here for at least a good week while I fix the planet and finish helping Bronya establish control in the Underworld." Marcus told her what he would be doing in this world.
"And then we will return to Cretaceous Earth?" Athena asked with a raised eyebrow.
"...Maybe. I still need to fix the mess Sirin did in Kiana's world." He sighed, recalling the 50 thousand years of simulation Sirin ran, with some permanent consequences, just to have Kiana.
But that makes her even more special, a crazy existence made by Sirin's manipulations.
Even rarer than the usual 'Tuna'.
"T-That reminds me! Any news about my mom?" Kiana asked as she took a step forward to get into Marcus's line of sight.
The Inventor smiled when he saw her. She looked cute in that hoodie with cat ears; it was hard not just to hug her.
Instead of saying anything, he brushed his right hand index finger down, and his hologram appeared. He ran through options, then enlarged the hologram and turned it around.
It was a picture of Erina and her group eating ramen in a restaurant.
One of the people in the group was a white-haired lady. A very familiar lady to Kiana!
"...I-Incredible!" The girl teared up! It was indeed Cecilia Schariac!
"So that's your mother. She does look very similar to you." Athena commented, prompting Kallen, Elysia, and Firefly to look at the picture.
"Yes! She was…Is one of the greatest Valkyries of Schicksal!" Kiana puffed proudly.
"Even in my time, the Schariac family produced great Valkyries." Kallen nodded in approval.
"Good for you, Kiana. It would seem there was something good from that simulation; Sirin did." Athena grimaced. Fifty thousand years is a considerable amount of time. Even for a goddess like her!
"There was. I got Kiana out of it." Marcus replied with a raised eyebrow.
"And this Kiana is special. Compared to other Kianas that are found through the parallel universes."
"Ugh! Don't speak about me like I am some special breed of cats!" The white-haired girl complained, making Marcus chuckle.
"But it is. That is why you are here." He shook his head.
"Okay-Okay, sheesh. Tell me when I can see her?" For now, she ignored the comparison and asked the important question instead.
"In a few days. Erina still needs to do her research. I did allow her to study food there."
"I see…" The girl was a bit dissapointed but understanding. After all, because of him, she is even out of whatever time prison she was in.
"For now, enjoy the city and what it has to offer."
She nodded at what he suggested. He then took a step forward; his hands slowly went to her cheeks as he leaned forward a bit.
This made her cheeks erupt in deep red as Kiana's eyes began to dart to the sides, trying to look anywhere else but not at him!
'W-What is he doing in front of everyone!'
Marcus smiled while looking at her. Still very cute when embarrassed.
"For now, enjoy your day. Tomorrow, continue your magic training, okay?" He said softly to her.
"...Umm…yeah…sure…" She tried to answer while keeping her embarrassment down.
"Hmm, how about Gene baths for her as well?" He didn't let go of her as he looked at Athena.
"I suggest that she first grasp magic as she is, then you can start improving her." The Goddess replied with crossed arms.
"True, I guess it will become too easy once her genetics are improved." Marcus nodded, looking back at Kiana.
By this point, her eyes were spinning as embarrassment was slowly taking over.
"Heh. So cute. Kiana is truly a cat." He joked as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. That was the last straw, as she almost passed out.
"W-What are you doing in front of so many people!" Kiana began to complain as she couldn't take it anymore.
"Oh, please, as if anyone here is a stranger." He shook his head as he finally let her go.
Kiana immediately retreated next to Athena.
"Now that you have finished teasing the girl. Does anyone here want to study magic?" Athena asked the other girls.
"M-Magic? We can learn?" Kallen asked, and next to her, Firefly looked uncertain.
"Can we even learn such a mysterious art? I mean… There is no magic where I come from." The Last of Iron Cavalry said with a frown.
"You don't need anything to learn it. It's purely a theory and a grasp of a specific energy. Once you all go through the Gene Altering session and become Psychics, it will become even easier to become something like a sorcerer."
"Or a witch! I can cosplay as a witch!" Elysia exclaimed in a happy tone.
Marcus turned around and looked at the pinkette.
"Do remember that your duties are to be next to me, Elysia. Apart from that, you can study magic."
He smiled, then decided to remind these girls what kind of faction they were in.
"Remember this, girls. What kind of faction are you part of?"
"?"
"..."
All of the new girls were confused for a second.
"You all are so focused on me that you forgot something important."
They all stopped breathing for a second as they wondered what he was getting at; it was a bit worrying!
"This is Technocracy. A faction where hard work is rewarded. If you train hard, master magic, or some different form of energy.
And get stronger, you will be more appreciated by me. I love hard work."
The girls slowly had the look of realisation.
He then motioned at Athena.
"My first fiancé over here is Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Her intelligence is something she sharpened for many years until it became a divinity, isn't it, Athena?"
"...That is true. While I was born Olympian, I didn't have any sort of divinity at the beginning." She pushed her glasses up, realising where Marcus was going with this.
"What my future husband wants to tell you all is that Technocracy is a faction where we appreciate hard work.
That includes things like cooking. As you all know, Erina Nakiri became Marcus's fiancée through her sheer love of making food. It's art and constant improvement of it… attracted your attention." As the Goddess explained, her eyes ended up on him once more.
"Indeed. Sirin is no different. I love her dedication and drive… to end you, Kiana."
"Haah!? You love that part of her!? But she is trying to end my life!!!" The girl got self-conscious! This was dangerous!
"I know. But she won't succeed. Because, regardless of what, Technocracy won't allow that. Simply because she is you and you are her, parts of the same individual.
Remember what happened? When soldiers turned on her?"
"...Right." It was one of the weirdest moments for the white-haired Valkyrie!
"At that moment, everything changed." Marcus smiled while saying that.
"...Do you mean she realised that?" Kiana tried to understand.
"Yes. Sirin realised that she can't continue, and from then on, her goal is different." The Inventor hinted at something else.
Just hearing that made the white-haired girl sigh in relief! Does that mean the Herrscher persona won't try to end her or her counterparts?
"...Do you know her goal?" Kiana asked curiously.
Marcus showed her a sly smile.
"It's me. Haven't you listened to what she's been speaking about the whole time?"
At that moment, both Kiana and Elysia realised something.
Sirin wouldn't stop talking about being Marcus's fiancée. She was like a broken record, obsessed with her new status.
"So…that was your plan! You allowed her to go on that trip with this specific purpose!" Athena slowly nodded as she realised that it was on purpose.
"No and Yes. I simply used what was in front of me. I noticed what she was plotting and ensured it went the way I wanted.
There are perks when you have so many assets as I do." He shrugged while saying that.
It's like having a deck of cards; if you keep pulling them… eventually you'll get the one you want. This was the same.
He gave her an army; that army eventually did its job for him.
The Inventor simply stacked the odds until he got what he wanted.
"...so it was… your plot to begin with." Kiana realised that!
"I always test my girls." He honestly replied.
"The greater the benefits, the more I check out certain things. It's fair, is it not? You aim to be an Empress of Technocracy after all."
For some reason, Kiana and the other newbies… except Firefly, who was too honest to feel that chill pass through their backs.
"...I… see… I will keep this in mind. That much you can be sure." The valkyrie tried to smile.
Marcus simply smiled and said something the Valkyries would remember for the rest of their lives.
"There is no finish line here, in this race. Remember that. I don't have one, and no way in hell will I allow you ladies to laze around." He shook his head.
"...So it's like that, I can agree with this." Kiana and Kallen nodded; neither was afraid to work hard! Same with Firefly and Elysia.
All of them were warriors. One could say their initial confusion was over.
"Good that you get behind this. There is a reason that I got Valkyries."
"Is it because you enjoy cute girls fighting?" Elysia commented as she was already thinking of dazzling him with her performance.
It started to make sense why he had a literal warship in the form of women.
It's because it blends two things males love, and that is war machines and beautiful girls.
It was so obvious that she was ashamed of herself for not noticing from the beginning!
"You know the answer already. You are here, aren't you?" He joked before starting to walk towards the exit of the warship and into the docks of the Assimilator
"Moh, I want to hear from you directly!" Elysia rushed after him.
"Yes. I do. One of my favourite things. So don't waste it." He rolled his eyes, making her smile even brighter.
"By the way…where is Kafka?" Firefly noticed the wine-coloured lady wasn't here! Again!
Marcus chuckled, hearing that.
"I did speak with her. Her excuse was that the planet was too cold." He shook his head. It was a lie; the girl had just learned a few functions in clothes-making, like utilising the leather from species that have been dead for hundreds of millions of years.
Or utilising Dragon scales from his Earth. And many more. Gene technology, atom manipulation, even time manipulation- all of that can be used to make many clothes.
Marcus realised his Assembly lines were quite dangerous for truly materialistic girls like Kafka.
For now, he will let her fall deeper into the rabbit hole before he pulls the plug on her. After all, he was Solomon's Heir; he tames devils, the very same devils who are supposed to be beings who prey on people's sins.
"Is that? Didn't I fix the planet? The temperature should be increasing." Enterprise, beside him, commented on this strangeness.
"It's an excuse, Enterprise; what do you expect? Kafka loves fashion, and at the moment she is in her heaven." Belfast slyly smirked. This was the first time someone was addicted this much to one of his Master's creations.
The Realitus system is a close second. People love artificial realities like the Realitus, especially with the latest upgrades…
It's a literal reality simulation by this point.
~~~
Bronya, with Cocolia and an entire honour escort, was waiting for Marcus' gunships to land. The Heiress of the city saw the notification on her HUD and swiftly arranged a landing point for her husband-to-be.
She could see massive warships flying much lower than the ones high in the sky. This means that he was away in one of these.
Honestly, the scale of things still boggles her mind. Where normal people take a walk, this guy takes massive war assets for his 'walk'.
It will take a while for her to get over that! Especially her, who grew up with scarce resources and always had the best intentions for her people.
"It's a bit awkward. Since yesterday, he left before I could thank him or apologise." Cocolia sighed as she recalled the last day in detail.
His technology saved her, and now it's saved the whole world, and all he asks in return is her daughter.
Sure, she isn't happy that Bronya isn't the only one in his life. But that is what every single parent thinks in this kind of situation.
Eventually, three gunships landed, revealing an array of people.
Bronya can see familiar faces and some new ones.
The one thing that was blatantly obvious was that they were all females.
"Apologies that we were a bit late. I was busy finding a gift for you." Marcus spoke the moment he walked out of his gunship.
"...you know that I don't need any more gifts! This is more than enough!" She pointed at the triangle device she was carrying on her chest.
"I will do for you as much as I want, and besides, it's not something specific you can carry around or even use."
That description confused her as she looked at her mother, wondering if she understood what he was saying!
But Cocolia shook her head; there was no way she could even imagine what was inside this guy's head.
"Don't worry, you two. It's beneficial to your world. You two will be able to see it at night." He hinted with a smile.
"...Did you put something in the sky?" Bronya concluded after getting a few clues.
"You will see for yourself, don't worry." The reply only made the two more curious. Regardless, they can't be pushy…
"Fine…"
After that, Cocolia took a step forward and introduced herself.
"I am Cocolia Rand, Bronya's mother. I would like to apologise formally and thank you for yesterday." The lady slightly bowed her head.
"No worries. This is exactly the reason why I gave you two a day to catch up so that we could today get into the business of changing your world to how it was before the crisis." Marcus waved his hand, making sure they calmed down. Now he is focused on testing out his terraforming technology.
"...Umm… we leave that in your capable hands. There is not much we can do to help you.
None of us was alive when the world was green. Not that we understand how this works." The blonde Rand tried to explain, but Marcus raised his hand to make her stop.
"I know. But-" He motioned to Bronya next to her.
"She is to be my wife, as one of Technocracy's Empresses. She will terraform countless worlds in the future." He said in a dead-serious tone, making the pair tremble in disbelief.
'I-I will!?' Bronya squeaked internally.
"Indeed. Don't look that surprised. That is why I am here to teach you the basics; eventually, you will pick this up. After all, you are smart."
As he spoke to the pair, the group of girls behind him listened patiently to all of it. By this point, Athena was well aware she would be on the front lines in the future and would conquer worlds for him.
She knew that, but what about the other girls?
Especially Kiana, who wants to be in a similar position as Bronya.
'Well, well. She is dead serious; not even this could faze her. But holding her face in front of people did? What a strange upbringing she had.' The Goddess wondered how this Valkyrie was operating after seeing that expression.
A similar expression was on Kallen's and Elysia's faces. They imagined helping worlds like this.
"Your confidence in me is a bit concerning." Bronya nerviously replied.
"Hah. Don't worry, for now." He looked at the group behind him, then back at Bronya and her mother.
"Can you arrange for someone to show them the city. They all want to experience Belobog."
"Sure! We can do that." The Heiress smiled immediately.
"Leave it to me. While you focus on what Lord Marcus wants to teach you." Cocolia decided to be the guide. She needs to let Bronya do her thing.
'M-Mother!? You are just leaving me like this!?'
Marcus could hear Bronya screaming mentally.
"You can do it. Don't sell yourself short." Cocolia smiled at her, then looked at the small army of females.
"Come with me; I will show you the best places to eat and buy things if you want. We have several other interesting locations to show." The blonde Supreme Guardian motioned for them to follow her.
"Okay."
Kallen and Kiana perked up at the mention of food.
"I am interested in culture and food. When a city has such conditions, the food should be very unique." Athena commented while stroking her chin.
Cocolia was about to answer, but then she looked at Athena for longer than necessary.
'...W-Who is she?'
There was a certain 'wow' factor just being in her presence.
"Hmm…" Athena looked around before looking upwards.
'What are these gazes? Is someone looking at me? Wait, are these the Aeons I read about?
Conceptual God-like beings who represent these strange Paths.'
Eventually, her eyes landed on Cocolia, who was looking at her.
"Relax, it takes a while for humans to adjust to me." The Goddess commented.
"...Who are you?"
"Athena, goddess of Wisdom and Warfare. I am the first of Marcus's fiancées."
'A-A Goddess!? She is a deity!? No wonder I have this feeling! It's her divinity!' The blonde was a bit nervous with such a revelation.
"...To think… that even a Goddess is a fiancée to him."
"It should not be a surprise. Us being in your world is more difficult than something like being engaged to one of my kin." Athena chuckled in amusement; percentage-wise, it's rarer to visit an alternative reality like this one than to get a goddess for a wife.
Especially such a unique reality like this one.
"...I don't have such knowledge, so I can't comment." The blonde Rand shook her head; she had no knowledge to give a decent comment.
"Let's just say that you and your daughter have won one of the greatest lotteries in your civilisation's history."
That comment made some sense. Since the plague that was Eternal Freeze was over, and soon enough, their world will have greenery as it did back in the old days.
"That much I can agree with."
The group of two Kaslana, the last member of Iron Cavalry and a Goddess went on their way to the centre of the city. The one who was the most awed by everything she saw was Firefly.
As someone who has only seen cities from the skies, being in one is a completely different experience. The poor girl was awed by the smallest of details.
Slowly, a desire began to manifest in her—a desire to see more cities, more worlds, and experience all of the smallest of things.
'Like that food they are selling over there.' A bit of drool appeared on the corner of her lips.
"Hmm?" Cocolia and the rest noticed that Firefly was just standing there and looking at the food stall.
"Are you interested in trying it out?" The blonde Supreme Guardian asked her.
"...Umm…"
At that moment, Kallen and Kiana were already walking towards the food stall.
"You heard our Esteemed Leader, Firefly; we can try whatever we want. So we MUST try." Kiana reminded her of that.
"...When you say it like that." The silver-blonde girl slowly nodded as she walked after them.
"...It would seem we are eating food then." Cocolia realised that midway…
"Those two white-haired girls are built a bit differently; they love food. I can guess we will be eating a considerable amount on this exploration trip." Athena explained to the Supreme Guardian.
"I see…"
'If they eat a lot, how are they so slim!?' Cocolia frowned. Wondering what their secret is?
~~~
"Shall we?" Marcus took Bronya's hand as they began to walk towards the Administrative building in the city centre.
Bronya smiled, feeling a bit worried when he just left her like that. It was a new thing to her. Never experienced such male attention before.
But now, it was fine. He was back and once wanted to cuddle with her.
As the pair walked towards the centre, Marcus stopped for a bit as he saw something strange.
A woman was trying to sell books at a makeshift stand.
"Not her again," Bronya complained as she massaged her forehead.
"Who?"
"A scammer by the name of Pleam. This woman is trying to sell another individual's book. All she did was replace the cover and the name of the book and try to sell it to unsuspecting people.
Her book 'The Daily Life of an Inventor in the Anime' is a literal copy-paste of 'Devils and Artefacts', which is a much older book." The Heiress explained to him.
'That is such a Japanese name.' The inventor commented as he pondered this. He does hate scammers. That much is given, but they even exist in such an apocalyptic place.
"Why don't you just arrest this nuisance?" He asked the girl.
"We do, but she always gets out," Bronya said with an eye roll.
"I see. These kinds of people exist in my world as well.
But it's mostly on a specific platform that everyone can access. You understand how the HUD I gave you works, right? There is a similar system in my world.
This system allows for the rapid sharing of information. So scammers use it. However, you can spot them as they don't allow people to comment on scammer pages."
'Like Patreon, these idiots just turn comments off. So don't fall for those tricks.' Marcus nodded to himself before his HUD contacted his Assault Squads.
The jet pack-wielding Mandalorian-style G.A.T. soldiers are equipped with means to capture people.
"I see… anyway, I will contact the guards to apprehend her again." Bronya sighed, feeling her mood had been dampened.
"Don't worry, I have an idea. I will deal with this… Pleam."
With that said, Marcus and Bronya continued to walk towards the Administrative building, and the Inventors' escort followed after.
The ship's girls noticed that a squad of Assault Knights left the Inventor's Assimilator. They immediately knew that this squad was here for the Scammer.
'Pitiful. I felt a bit of sadness for a simple human to get in the Admiral's bad side.' Enterprise shook her head. Well, someone is about to suffer.
As the group entered the building, Bronya took him to her mother's office.
"Well. I am ready." The girl declared as she took a deep breath; she was imagining that it would be some super difficult lesson. With tons of maths formulas and equations…
Marcus chuckled, seeing her on edge like that.
"Relax. It's nothing THAT difficult." He shook his head as he motioned towards Belfast.
"Bell, a holo projector, if you would."
"Yes, Master." The silver-haired maid elegantly nodded as she walked over and used her nanites to make a small box in her hands.
Once finished, she placed it on the table. The Inventor used his HUD to access the holo projector.
Moments later, there was a hologram of a planet floating above the projector.
"This is your world of Jerilo-IV. Over millennia, you had Eternal Freeze; a stellaron was ravaging your world."
'Isn't this like Honkai… in our world?' Elysia wondered about this. This does look like honkai, only in the form of ice instead of monsters like on Earth.
"This is directly linked to civilisation growth, to my understanding so far.
Regardless of its origins and purpose. It was erased by Enterprise. Now, the issue you are facing is that there is no concept in your world. Without concept, regular laws and rules of the universe will settle in once more."
"...And is it bad?" Bronya asked as she was a bit on edge.
"Yes, eventually your world won't be able to generate oxygen as there are no plants that produce it. Your world is as barren as it gets."
"!!!" The city Heiress trembled when she heard it.
"Y-You mean people won't be able to breathe anymore!?" The girl squeaked. This was worse than Eternal Freeze.
"Yes, but that's hundreds of years in the future. Something like this is easily solvable just by planting trees and restarting the ecosystem."
The girl sighed in relief when she heard that.
"Don't scare me like that. I don't need to know what is in the distant future." She said while holding her right hand on her chest. The Heiress nearly had a heart attack!
"Fine. I am more of a guy who removed all the issues, but I see your point.
Now, how are we going to solve the issues?"
Once more, he changed the hologram. This time around, Bronya can see the Assimilator and its parts surrounding the whole planet.
When Bronya saw it, she needed to process this image.
That whole thing has encased her homeworld. It's that big…
"In Assimilator's Assembly docks, we have built five Terraforming towers. These towers will be placed in these areas."
Marcus highlighted the North and South Poles, where two of them will be placed, and the equator will have three of them.
"These towers will continuously emit chemicals that will assist in the growth of biodiversity. The Assimilator itself will sculpt the world into how it was before the Eternal Freeze.
And lastly, we shall release all the species of creatures that were around before the event.
"...You can do that? You know the species that roamed this world!?" The girl was surprised to hear that! How does he know what was around!?
"Well, the Assimilator was sent to the past and collected samples of the necessary species."
He summoned a hologram and showed her a live stream from the Assimilator, where Rangers are feeding massive crocodiles.
"..." Bronya's eyes trembled seeing the size of those animals.
"...A-Are you sure we need such a size of monsters?" She asked, her voice hopeful that such creatures won't be roaming her world again.
"Biodiversity is needed. You do know that if we ignore the predators, something else will replace them." Marcus sighed, already knowing where this was going.
"...F-Fine… It's not that I know much about these things anyway." The girl sighed. This declaration made Marcus smile a bit.
"That is good. Let me explain and teach you everything you need to know about having a diverse planet." He grinned while saying that. This is a perfect opportunity to spend some time with her!
Lessons like these can last for days!
"I-If you want." The girl blushed as she imagined that they could be spending time together quite a bit!
"I do want." He winked at her before returning to the matter at hand.
He began to explain how her world would have climate zones and different temperatures.
All of that made her gawk and marvel at the new stuff she learned. Never did she imagine that her frozen world could have such a wide selection of biomes.
It sounded like a dream.
Eventually, the meeting was over as it was getting dark outside.
"Oh, it's dark. Come, Bronya, there is something I want to show you." Marcus was drinking tea and eating biscuits prepared by the maids when he noticed that it was dark outside.
"...Right, you did say something you want to show me." Bronya perked up as she got up from her seat.
Marcus followed after her as they walked from the Office of her mother and walked to one of the balconies.
As they got outside, Bronya's eyes widened to a massive degree as there was something in the sky apart from the space station.
It was a half-crescent of a blue moon, reminding one of a gorgeous ice-glass figurine.
"...W-What is that!?" She stared at the celestial object in the night sky.
"I call it Bronya's gift to Jarilo-IV. It's a moon, a moon that stabilises the climate for your world. Without it, the climate would be chaotic, as there is nothing to stabilise planetary rotation.
But now you have one. You can enjoy stability." Marcus explained with crossed arms.
"The reason that I was a bit late is that I was collecting this. I needed something nice for my Fiancée's world." He declared with a smile.
"...oh… I am sooo jealous!" Elysia, from behind them, pouted as she saw a literal moon as a gift!
Belfast elbowed her… elegantly.
"You are just a maid; remember that, Elysia." Belfast reminded her in a soft tone under her breath.
Marcus shook his head when he heard Elysia speak like that. Well, it was a good gift in his opinion.
Bronya thought the same thing as she lunged into his hands before starting a sloppy but very heated kiss.
~~~
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