“M-M-Monster…” 

I… I picked the wrong person to mess with…

Looking at Kang Chul-In, who had just shattered a boulder with his bare hands, Franz realized that he had messed with the wrong person here.

As he thought that…

“Milord! Quick! Get back inside the hall!”

Schneider, the leader of the Mecha Knights in the dome, spoke.

“Quickly, sire! Come inside!”

Helping Franz over, the Mecha Knights and Franz went past the dome’s sturdy, iron gates. 

 BANG! 

After Franz and the Atlases came back in, the gates started closing, and the Mecha Dome started disappearing, going back underground.

“Hmm… a magical fortress that is good for magic engineering and guerilla warfare, huh? Interesting.”

Franz had made a mistake. 

The Atlases were the only saving grace of the Mecha Dome as they were limited with the small number of people and small amount of resources that they had.

Using the Atlases to fight against Kang Chul-In? That was a critical mistake.

I will kill you and take away all of your magical engineers.

Whether it was Pangaea or Earth, good technology and science were a must. The Lords that possessed the skilled magical engineers were the ones who could build and/or upgrade artillery that helped immensely during a war.

“Let’s head back to our territory.”

Kang Chul-In turned his back after staring at the now-underground Mecha Dome for a long while.

“We’ll go back to the Burrow Lands and prepare special forces that can deal with those stupid Atlases that they possess.”

There were many ways to fight against or around an Atlas, even without going for the joints.

“Yes, milord.”

Lucia followed behind Kang Chul-In.

“Umm… Can I ask you just one thing?”

“Of course.”

“My weapon.”

Maybe it was Kang Chul-In’s imagination, but he thought Lucia sounded quite depressed.

“...Was it a precious one?” Kang Chul-In asked, looking over the horizon.

“Zenith… is a Soul Weapon. Along with Aegis over here, it grows with me as I get stronger.”

Kang Chul-In had borrowed a sword because he didn’t want to throw away Kaiforce, but it seemed like that sword was extremely important to Lucia. 

“Cough, cough.”

Kang Chul-In could do nothing but cough in embarrassment.

“Of course, I completely believe in milord’s words. I also believe that milord will be able to take that stupid, cheeky Lord’s head within a month. But… the only worry that I have is whether or not that Lord will throw away Zenith into a furnace and melt it, or break it.”

Listening to Lucia’s voice that was full of worry, Kang Chul-In felt his conscience being hurt.

“... I’m sorry. I promise that I’ll give it back to you within a month. Of course… if that bastard destroys the sword, I can’t do anything either. I’ll find you a better sword if that happens.”

“No, sire. It’s okay. But… I have a request.”

“Request? Speak.”

“Uhh… Well, the princess…”

“Arshelly?”

“Yes, milord.”

Lucia spoke without directly looking at Kang Chul-In. 

“She has said that she wanted to visit your hometown.”

“...Did she?”

Kang Chul-In’s face stiffened in anxiety.

“And… I thought that I too would like it if I had the opportunity to go. This is my request… Will you let me and the princess go to your hometown?” 

It was a request that was hard for him.

“It... It’s not a difficult request, but…”

“For someone of Pangaean birth to go to Earth, they need a rainbow-colored ‘Recall Stone’...”

“That’s fine, sire! That useless wom… I mean, the Lord of the Dorado territory has given us some as compensation for us helping them last time.”

“Oh, and also, Princess Arshelly has said that she also wants to go to a school or an academy back in your hometown, sir.” 

School?

Dammit.

Although Kang Chul-In had nothing that he was jealous of and was a greatly accomplished man, becoming Arshelly’s parent for when she went to school even though he was still unmarried?

“About that… we’ll decide later.”

“Then, what about visiting…?”

“That’s fine,” Kang Chul-In said.

There was no reason for him not to bring his Secretary, as well as his adopted daughter, and show them around Earth.

But allowing her to stay there and study was a completely different matter. Kang Chul-In felt that he would rather fight 10, no, in 100 battlefields if he didn’t need to do that.

“But about her going to school there… Hmm… I’ll need to give it some more thought.”

----

Meanwhile, as Lucia and Kang Chul-In were talking about their future plans, the Magic Engineers of the Mecha Dome territory were working hard, repairing the 3 Atlases that had been damaged and broken by Kang Chul-In.

“Dammit… Dammit! That bastard! That rotten bastard!”

Franz stared at the working engineers and cursed Kang Chul-In.

“Who’s in charge here…? Director.”

The engineers stiffened as they heard Franz’s angry tone that made him look like he was growling at them.

“Yes...milord…”

Bashular, the leader of the Engineers, answered, his head down.

“The enemy took down two Atlases before we could even turn on the boosters. Do you know what this means?”

“N-No, sir.”

“He found the weakness of the Atlases and stabbed a claw-like thing inside, making it explode. Bashular. I want to take revenge on him. Is there any method? To protect the Atlases from being blown up like that again and to beat that man?” 

Saying this, Franz’s eyes filled with madness. It was an obsession for him to beat Kang Chul-In.

“Well… the best, surefire way to do that… is to cover up the joints with not just steel but also with a harder, more durable substance.”

“Well, do that then,” Franz commanded.

“But… if we want to do that, the cost won’t be small. If the opponent is skilled enough to take down an Atlas with their bare body, then it won’t be cheap to find a metal that can stand up against him.”

“Still, do it.”

Franz didn’t care. All he cared about was his revenge against Kang Chul-In.

Although it was a completely inefficient and foolish choice, Franz didn’t care.

“It doesn’t matter how many resources are used to fund this project. Use up all of the funds in the territory to fund this project, and for the two remaining Magic Gems…”

Franz laughed maniacally.

“... Put them into one Atlas! HAHA!” 

He was prepared to make a secret weapon that could defeat Kang Chul-In.