( Yuuki's POV )
After my bodyguards appeared at the castle, the next to arrive were a group of porpos-kin; they said they had come to join forces with us, so things went well on Seig's side.
The exploration team returned after the porpos-kin and they brought with them the false chronicle of the porpos-kin; the priestess Neira said that it was more useful and they would be safer with us, It seems things went doubly well.
With our new allies, we met in the great hall to replan our attack strategy, that was similar to the previous attack plan, but now the Magedome won't be the center of attention, The attack on the bridge would be led by the Stella company, and since this was only a distraction while the Porpos-kin invaded by river, the Magedome accepted the strategy, I'm sure they just didn't want to throw any more of their soldiers at the Auster folk.
There was a small incident while we were on our mission to recruit the Porpos-kin, the Magedome made a hasty attack because they thought the Austers had been withdrawn from the fortress; the result was, Vaslof and his men were not so far from the fortress and more than one hundred soldiers of the Magedome were captured, another great defeat for them.
That's why a boy from the Magedome named Nakil came to deliver the message that we should hurry with our plans to retake the fortress, receiving a message basically saying "hurry up and clean up our mess" wasn't well received, but when he hinted that the Magedome wanted me to do something personally, Athena became agitated and seemed ready to attack the boy, but I stopped her, "Don't shoot the messenger," and all that.
We continued with the story that I was not in a condition to return to the battlefield, but now that we had the help of the Porpos-kin, my presence should not be necessary, another more practical reason why he shouldn't be on the front lines was to make the enemy lower their guard a little, especially the one who was creating portals.
When the Porpos-kin team (apart from Nimni, two other individuals had received the mark of the stars) and the diversion team were formed, they departed for the Magedome where the final preparations would be made.
I said goodbye to Cougar because I knew the mission would go well and I wouldn't see him again. Well, that wasn't entirely true; I'm sure we'll see each other again.
When those two teams left the castle, I gathered the people who didn't belong in this world on the castle roof for a serious conversation.
Rossweisse: Yuuki, what's your plan? What are you going to do now?
Yuuki: Now that you're here, I think the girls won't take more than three days to contact us, but I plan to stay here until the matter with the order is completed.
Rossweisse: Do you think they are such a big threat? To be honest, they don't seem that way to me.
Yuuki: I think they're a ticking time bomb; I can't let them do whatever they want, Matabei, we have an exploration team that faced those homunculi of the puppeteer; you can join them soon if you want.
Matabei: Thank you Yuuki-san, but if you don't mind, I'd like to stay by your side. There's so much I can learn from you.
Yuuki: I certainly won't complain about having you around, what about you, Jubei?
Jubei: Um? I just want to be with Onii-chan, I want to help you.
Yes, I was expecting a response like that from her.
Fumina: Hey, I'd like to leave this world when the opportunity comes, there's something I have to do.
The world traveler, Fumina, was the only one who wanted an out of this world. Athena looked at her with some suspicion, but I understood why and I spoke before she did.
Yuuki: I understand, you want to meet up with your friends, I don't need any more details.
Fumina: Thank you, really; don't worry, I'll be back to help you soon, that's the deal, right?
Yuuki: Perfect, as I said, three days should be the maximum time for the girls to contact us, be prepared for that, I have my own preparations to make.
Athena: master, you're thinking of going out? I'll go with you.
Yuuki: Yes, a trip north to a town called Grayridge.
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Grayridge was an old mining town that was Erin's hometown, and I was here because of a rumor I heard from Anya about a supposed genius inventor in the mines.
I was accompanied by Athena, Jubei, and Erin was our guide, although there wasn't much to see in this small town, but these places had their own kind of charm.
Yuuki: I forgot to ask, Athena, don't you recognize anything about this world? Just in case you might be from around here.
Athena had more power than the limit of this world so that wasn't very likely but I still had to ask, and as expected the answer she gave was negative.
Athena: I was focused on finding you master, but no, nothing looks familiar to me.
Yuuki: That's a shame.
This town was somewhat strange because technically it was under the control of the order, and there were some who followed its teachings, but others simply wore their colors and went on with their lives as normally as possible, a curious balance.
After that short excursion, we went to the abandoned mines, upon entering, the first thing we encountered was what appeared to be an elevator being work on by a strange duo, an old man and a small automaton that appeared to be made of random parts.
Yuuki: Excuse me, are you the famous genius who built this elevator?
???: ohh master, did you hear that? That person called you a famous genius.
???: ...uhm as if I cared about something like that.
The elderly genius seemed to be a classic eccentric, I can understand that, but when I heard the automaton speak in a way that felt alive, my attention shifted to it.
Looking with my mystical eyes I could perceive an aura and vital energy that a creature of flesh and blood should have, but that was contained within an artificial shell.
Yuuki: And who are you? I'm surprised to see an automaton like you in a place like this, and it's not easy to surprise me.
???: I am Yod, my master's greatest creation! Wait, you know what an automaton is?
Upon correctly identifying what Yod was, the old man paid some attention to me, but pretended to continue working.
???: What do you want, boy?
Yuuki: My name is Yuuki, I am looking for your help to finish some new inventions.
Yod was almost like the guardians I created, not in power but in structure, a shell created from random parts, mixed with my power and containing a new soul, whether he created that on purpose or even if it was an accident, that showed how capable he was, so I knew he could help. I took my phone out of my pocket and showed it to the inventor.
Yuuki: I want you to build this, or something similar, using only materials from this world.