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Aries’s voice echoed.

However, nothing followed it.

“Huh? What? That’s odd… Uh, was it like this? No, that’s not right… Oh, this!”

After a while, more holes began to open in the walls.

And numerous Golems that were just like the first one started to appear.

Fule looked around cautiously.

“Thi-this is bad. Isn’t it?”
“Well, we’re surrounded. However, it’s strange.”
“Strange? Well, yes. He’s very strange.”
“That’s not what I mean. The Golems aren’t moving. And this voice…don’t you notice it?”

Aries was still going on about something not working.

And the Golems remained stationary.

Fule seemed to understand me as she said,

“Yes, how is it that we are even able to talk to…”
“Yes. Besides, it’s letting us hear how it’s struggling… I don’t think a famous strategist would do something so stupid. …Mappa, can you open this device?”

I asked as I pointed to the machine that Shiel had been controlling.

And then Mappa tapped it lightly with his hammer.

“He-hey! Why would you do something like that?”

Aries asked. There was concern in the voice now.

As I thought…the first Golem would not have been able to see us from the other side of the device. In that case, there was something else here that was able to watch what we were doing.

After all, it had heard me even when I spoke quietly.
But the Golem was so far away that I would have had to shout to be heard.

In any case, Mappa ignored the voice and continued to tap the machine with his hammer.

After a while, Mappa grinned mischievously and pointed at one of the panels towards the bottom.

“You want me to open it?”

Mappa nodded.

“Alright…let’s do it. Is that fine, Shiel?”

Shiel seemed to think about it for a moment and then nodded.

Upon seeing this, I raised my pickaxe.

Then Aries’s voice echoed.

“Wa-wait!! Why are you wasting time doing that! The Golems are attacking you! You should fight them!”
“No, they aren’t moving at all… That being said, is there some reason that you don’t want us to open it?”
“Th-that’s not it… Uh, you should open it if you really want to. But don’t blame me if you don’t like the outcome!”

Aries was clearly flustered.

It was hard to imagine that Aries knew how to speak the Barleon language.
And so I assumed that some kind of magic must be used.

However, Shiel had once shown her true form to us in front of her grave and talked to us.
But that wasn’t Shiel’s own power, but something to do with how the graves were made.

Perhaps there was some similar contraption here as well.

Besides, Aries was much too aware of everything that was happening here…

And so there was a high possibility that the answer was inside of the machine.

“…Okay, I’m going to open it.”
“Wa-wait! Actually, you should stop! Something bad will happen to you!”
“Why?”

I asked. And Aries became silent.

But after a while, the voice muttered quietly.

“…Please. Please… I’ll do anything. But fight.”
“But we don’t want to fight… Besides, you don’t mean to kill us, right?”
“It’s true, I have no intention of killing you. However, I just wanted to know what it was like. Just once, I want to know the taste of ‘victory.’”
“What the hell…”

What was going on here? Well, I understood the desire to win in a competition, but…

“Alright. What if we admit defeat?”

I tried suggesting. And Aries’s voice rose immediately.

“Re-really!?”
“Sure. I don’t mind… If that’s all it is. Saying I lost this fight…”
“Ye…yes! I won!! I am finally victorious!”

An innocent cry of joy echoed throughout the dome.

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