- Inside the City wall interrogation room, Ersten, The Capital of the Kingdom of Apollyon–

- Around 9.30 am-

“So, this idiot son of mine was detained considering that he appeared out of nowhere and cursed aloud causing discomfort to the residents nearby while also claiming to be my son, is that true?” The Archmage’s sudden appearance in the interrogation room 30 minutes earlier surprised everyone inside. The fact that she did come to see Achilles that was to their eyes claiming to be her son was obviously in disbelief as they thought that he should’ve already been six feet under due to his age. The interrogator is currently stuttering since she also confirmed the fact of Achilles’s statement and knowing the mistake that he made, he was prepared for the worse.

“Y-yes Archmage ma’am”

“Sounds familiar like his father alright, especially the cursing part” Christina looks back at her son that’s hung upside down, having the rope wrapping around his leg and a weighted handcuff on his wrist along with his face slightly swollen. the guards didn’t dismantle the exoskeleton as it was attached to his body instead and were afraid that if they accidentally broke it or cause major pain to him. “So, how’s the experience here??”

The stripped man’s eyes twitched, “You could clearly see it right? I’m literally beaten up”. Christina pretended she didn’t hear it as she already know what actually happened, this Déjà vu she was seeing again made her want to laugh aloud but she kept it to herself later. Having some mischievous look on her face, she then squatted near him while poking his abs.

“Hmm… you sure do work out huh?”

“of course, I’m in the military any- wait, forget about that! help me down, please! And stop poking at my abs!”

“Surely, but first…” without hesitation, with her mischievous smile, she furiously tickles his sides. Achilles that is unaware of his tickle spot, burst out laughing as he couldn’t contain the weird sensation he was having. The Interrogator and the guards were rather bewildered at the scene in front of them, looking at each other with a look that says, “should we even see this?”

“ahahaha!! You have the same tickle spot as August, this is interesting!”

“Mom… stop… please… I beg you…” his pleading didn’t stop her from it, in fact, she kept tickling him. “Nope! This is for giving me an embarrassing nickname”

“Well then fine!” as he cried out, his nervous system was blocked at his tickle spots, making it have no sense of touch and his laughter resided seconds after it. “Tch, you’re no fun” a bright white light then radiates at her palm as she touches Jaeger’s swollen face and chants short words of the spell, the bruise he had then vanished along with the white light as it also dissipates.

“Ah yes, good as new. You won’t need those fancy technology stuff you have to heal it now.”

“how about my cuffs??”

“Well, that’s a different matter sweetheart. And so, I shall take my leave” She looked at her back, her eyes squinted. Although the guards are nervous due to the immense aura she was emitting, her charm also did a number on their hearts. Christina then told the interrogator that her business is done there and left the rest to him while doing whatever he see fit. Before she left, she patted one of the guards’ shoulders and whispered.

“Tell my son to meet me at the nearby Tavern, also, here’s some tip for working hard” she gave a wink while handing over a bag of gold coins. As she left the room, one of the guards clicked his tongue, envious of his friend’s luck.

“What?”

“Lucky bastard”

“Well, I would still buy you some drink if you wanted, we’re comrades after all right” the guard smiled at his friend, but the other guard felt more irritated as his smile isn’t a genuine one “stop that cheeky smile, it’s annoying me”

“Haha, but well, money aside, she’s quite a beauty. I did not expect the Archmage would be that gorgeous and bloody hell that chest is massive. Do you think I could get a chance to date her?”

“Hell, even I would want to date her too”

“Both of you know that it’s someone’s mother you’re talking about right??” the two guards glanced at Jaeger that made that remark and to their surprise, the chains that were binding him were damaged while Jaeger himself already sat on the ground, slicing up the chains with his wrist blades. “My dad’s gonna be pissed if he heard that” he rubs his legs as it is still felt sore, having some stretches as he stood up.

“How did you obtain that blade?! We’ve already stored your weapons away” exclaimed one of the guards while Jaeger nonchalantly deactivates his plasma blades.

“You obviously didn’t check my exoskeleton… well, it’s not like this blade could be taken off from it anyway.” He looks around and noticed that his robe and clothes are well-kept on top of the shelf. “So, Interrogator sir? Am I free of charge?” the interrogator that has his hands crossed.

“Yes, you can go. Do not forget your belongings” He then wears his uniform and robe. Right after he was done and turned around, the Interrogator called him “Sir Wolfenford” he threw Jaeger’s sword at him. Jaeger inspected his sword, which still has its slick black paintwork with red engraving on the scabbard that is still in its pristine condition.

“Thanks”

“No problem, although we did try to draw out the sword, it is somehow locked into the scabbard, additionally, the material is somehow harder than Mithril. Does it has magic imbued to it so nobody could use it?” Jaeger drew out his sword and has a smile on his face. Swinging it around like a dance of a unique swordsman. The three were astonished at his way of using it.

“Rather than magic, it’s designed to only respond to my brainwaves. This sword is just truly made for me to wield. Anyway…I’ll take my leave” although Jaeger explained it in a simple manner, the interrogator didn’t understand what he said. putting away his sword, he then walks to the exit. But before he left, one of the guards conveyed Christina’s message to him. Jaeger then thanked them for their “Hospitality” and left for the Tavern where he was told to meet her.

Unfortunately, he was lost inside the interior of the defence wall as the place is similar to a maze itself. Stairs, doors and corridors are everywhere around him, and there’s no sign of an exit anywhere.

“Sir, someone who is experienced as a multirole soldier that could read an area that’s unknown like you could lose your way inside this simple structure is genuinely mindboggling”

“Oh, shut up Ofnir, rather than blabbering about it, help me out of here. This place is confusing, even the murder hotel’s design looks like child’s play. Also, why the hell do people here like to build steep stairs? Isn’t it unsafe in case of emergency?”

“I highly doubt they care since they still think about how complex arrangements of a structure would slow down the advancement of an invading foe”

“Fair point, also, would you mind scanning the structure in a 50-meter radius? We could be trapped here for days since I can’t destroy the walls, being apprehended again doesn’t sound fun at all” the sensor on his left shoulder hinges up as Ofnir proceeds to scan the area as ordered. Didn’t take more than ten seconds for it to finish and uploaded to Jaeger’s brain. He then creates a waypoint and finally found the exit right across from the mentioned tavern earlier.

The streets there were very bustling with people, a lot more than the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Nelimista. The residents there were very peculiar to Jaeger’s eyes as they could be accounted as Mutants if they were living on Earth. Most of them have superhuman strength and speed. Once, Jaeger saw a merchant and his companion lifting a crate that was five times bigger than his size, and then a mailman just whizzed past in front of him at breakneck speeds, similar to when he was using the thruster on his exoskeleton using its afterburner (approximately around 400kmph/248mph). apparently, the sight of a number of peculiar humans triggers one of Ofnir’s hidden features that were likely to be unknown to Jaeger as it was never got activated when he was travelling with the siblings.

“Uh… Ofnir? What the hell is this scanning progress bar appearing suddenly?”

“Don’t mind it sir”

“but- “

“I said… Don’t. Mind. It”

“Okay??”

Ignoring the scanning process, Jaeger headed towards the tavern, crossing the cobblestone road, thinking about how some of his old acquaintances back when he met them in an anime con would be thrilled to see the sight he was seeing. As he enters inside, to his surprise, the place he thought to be not that crowded would be seen as a sea of people. The waitresses were preoccupied with all of the orders they received from diverse customers that he was ignored when he asked if they saw Christina. Just as he thinks that the place is most likely too crowded for his mother to even visit, a crowd of people suddenly cheers and the same scenery back in the tavern of a small town on the border happened again. he sighed while facepalming the Deja Vu he’s seeing.

“You have got to be kidding me…" muttering while trying to slip his way into the epicentre of the crowd. Meanwhile, Christina is drinking so much that even the bartender was worried not about her health, but about his stock. He even tried to stop her but to no avail, she kept on drinking, paying much more than the drinks were priced that even he cannot complain about it.

“All right! I’ve broken your record big guy! Now, who’s next to challenge me?!” she exclaimed, the crowds were cheering for each other and most of them raised their hands. They weren’t that serious as they were drunk currently. Jaeger can’t get to the epicentre and just watched from a distance how his blood-related mother whom he had for a very long time pictured from the stories from his father, got into these kinds of things and was liked by the people in the kingdom. A man that stood beside him patted Jaeger’s shoulder as he was shaking his head in all seriousness.

“That woman always that frolicsome for ages, interesting, isn’t it? Anyway, I’ve never seen your face before, kid, you’re new here?” the mercenary nodded, going with the flow of the conversation. “She’s one of the best customers here that always make the spirit around here uplifting ten-fold, even though she’s a respected person herself. We all love her presence here, especially how she treated us as equals regardless of her status as a Count.”

“Wait, she has a title of a Count?!”

“Indeed, Count Talisman is famous for her peaceful territory even though it’s practically at the border of the kingdom. They said it was established back around 200 years ago when the hero August was still with her” he took another big sip of his drink, from the looks of it, he’s drinking a big mug of beer. “I don’t know about the details of that information, my great-great-grandfather would know about it honestly, but he’s already long gone. But, Ah- hey! Where are you going?” seeing Jaeger just left him after his last statement about her title, he tried to reach out to him as he hasn’t done with his story. Jaeger looked back at him with a small smile.

“I’m just gonna have a word with my wild mother for a bit” the middle-aged man was rather baffled at it. Jaeger raised his hands and challenged her to the drinking contest. The audience roared as another challenger appears. The Archmage laughed in amusement as she didn’t believe that her son would challenge her in the stupid contest she always does.

“Seriously? You’re going to challenge me on my own game?”

“Any challenge is interesting to my eyes, but then again, I really need to stop this habit of yours” her grin grew wide as she was thrilled to be challenged but that turned his amusement around

“Is that so? What a nice kid you are. Well then, shall start?” ignoring the fact that her son is trying to stop her drunkard behaviour. She asked the bartender for two more bottles of ale and started the challenge that was deemed useless for the mercenary. Although, it didn’t take long for them to end it.

“Oh, did we run out of drinks? Then it’s a draw!”

Neither one of them go drunk, although the crowd were rather pleased as it was an intense yet interesting event that they have never watched ever as nobody was lucky enough to have a draw against the Archmage. “Ugh… this is a pointless thing to do… why am I even doing this…” Christina chuckled, seeing her son rant and cower at the table holding his abdomen since he’s not used to having that much alcohol made her show some concern and instinctively ruffled his head, surprising him a little. “Sorry for troubling you about this, though I already have my fun now thanks to you hehe~.”

“A bit too much honestly… and stop rubbing my hair, I’m not a child anymore” the old man that talked to jaeger earlier came toward them through the crowd, chuckling. “I never thought the Wild talisman had a draw with a kid, what an interesting era to live in haha!”

“Pfft-” Jaeger tried to hold his laughter although a small wheeze was heard by Christina who put some death glare at him. “The kid said he’s new here but somehow you two seem close for a reason, care to tell us the story?”

Christina had her wide grin and embraced Jaeger’s head in one arm and ruffled his head once more, “Oh him? He’s my only son I’m proud of”.

“I beg your pardon?” the man slightly choked on the drink he was chugging down, having his thick eyebrows raised, flabbergasted. “Are you drunk right now miss?”

“Oi, I’m sober as the clear skies, you do know I always cast magic so I won’t be drunk, right?”

“Ah yes, the classic magic abuse, definitely not cheating” Christina smacked Jaeger’s head due to his sarcastic remark “Shut up for a second will you?”

Christina then told a fabricated story about how Jaeger is somewhat alive and well to the crowd that’s present as they all know that the story about her having a child is like a rumour from their great-grandparent’s era. Albeit they were slightly doubting her story, they disregarded whether it was a true story or not since it came from her mouth. Both of them left the tavern not long after they paid for all the drinks they drank, and Christina led the way to their next destination.

Jaeger admired the view along the way, a lot of otherworldly fantasy buildings are around, and some might going to trouble the engineers back in his home world since the design is way too odd for his eyes. As they reach the peak of a hill of the district they’re in, on the south, near a cliff, the pride of the capital could be seen, the castle of the capital. Christina crossed her arms, standing with a smile admiring the view there, mumbling “it’s been a long time…”. She then look at Jaeger that was also amazed by the stunning view of the castle, although it is not as big as in Apostysa, the design itself is far grander. Though he didn’t have any expression for it, Christina surely knows that he was admiring it from her motherly instinct.

“Quite the view isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I still can’t believe that humans in this world made such a grand castle far better than back on Earth.”

“Indeed, from the imagery that your father gave me about the Neuschwanstein Castle* and the Edinburgh Castle*, they made it only with the knowledge of architecture and engineering, while here we use both of them and with the help of magic to create a specialised Cement that could hold bricks in odd positions. Fascinating isn’t it?” she breathes in the cold air that’s still flowing around although the sun is at its highest peak, letting out a small exhale as she enjoys the calm aura of the kingdom.

“I love this Kingdom; the people are nice and there are no such things as racism and slavery. Unlike the kingdom where I am from and the kingdom that instigated this war…”

“The kingdom where you from?”

“Ah, haven’t you read the journal that your dad wrote in the grand library back then? I make sure that I imbued it with magic so if someone could actually understand the language he wrote in, it will send imagery on who did it to a certain book in my mansion”

“So, it’s for safe measures huh? That’s why you recognized me earlier than I anticipated” her grin grew wide, having her hands on her hips, pridefully saying, “Well of course! your mother is the legendary Archmage that mastered 100% of the magic that existed in this world. Aren’t you proud of having such a mother?” and had a laugh similar to a rich spoiled lady from the animes that Jaeger watched when he was in high school.

“You’re going to get karma because of your pride”

“Did you say something?”

“No, nothing” He cleared his throat and asked her about the issue of her past and about the kingdom where she was from. Christina then get back on track about the topic and continued on. “Right, where was I…” before Christina start her storytelling, she asked Jaeger to sit at the bench that was near them since it would be quite a story to hear. She took a deep breath, bringing back her dark pas that she actually didn’t want to tell, but since it was her son, Christina can’t make any excuse on why she won’t tell

“You know my full name right? I was born on the 16th of July, 300 years ago and was the daughter of a noble in the outskirts of the Urallisys Dominion. Recognized as a talented magician throughout your grandparent’s land. I was quite happy that I could make them proud, but then…”

“Then what?”

“I cracked down an ancient spell that was the basis of my teleportation sigil, it was actually your grandfather’s research. I thought I could make him even more proud by helping him, but I was wrong. Because of me, his status as a viscount was abolished while that title was given to me as the achievement that your grandfather failed to do for the last 10 years of his research, I was 7 at that time.”

“Isn’t that far too harsh of a treatment? Abolishing a noble’s status just because someone did better than you?” Christina nodded in agreement and sighed after.

“You were right, but that’s just how nobles in this world work. If your brethren are far better than you or got themselves a better achievement, it means that He or She will instantly assume as the lord of that land, regardless the age.” Jaeger didn’t speak a word, he kept listening with a serious expression.

“And at the age of 17, I decided to abandon my nation and go out as an adventurer mage. Though my life as an adventurer only lasted three years because I met your father” the Mercenary has a face that looks like he has a question. caught Christina’s attention. “What’s the matter?”

“Quick question, why did you abandon your position as a viscount? Didn’t you live your life in wealth and peace?” she chuckled nervously as she averted her gaze from him. “Well… I hate going to parties since all the nobility men always tried to captivate me while also sending cheesy ass love letters afterwards, they were probably just aiming for my body. plus living in the massive mansion sucks. Most importantly, I felt uneasy as your grandfather’s position switched with mine, you know how wrong it is right? But still… I hate those cheesy ass males, maybe I should’ve not increased my chest size back then” she sighed, playing with her chest with her hands. Slightly flustered, Jaeger covered his face and looked away from her

“Why does every woman that I know of always does these sort of things in front of me? Someone, please stop her…” Ofnir, that’s currently dormant after scanning that it did earlier, all of the sudden responded to Jaeger’s plead. His exoskeleton then whizzed, and all of the systems were activated again. one of the shoulder parts then extends and rotated towards Christina’s direction.

“Ma’am, pardon me if I seem to be rude but would you please stop whatever you are doing currently? My retarded user is having a hard time dealing with it” Ofnir’s artificial sound surprised the Archmage as she never knew such technology existed as she only knew from both Conrad and Aurora that the outer metallic thing Jaeger was using will only enhance his capabilities as a human.

“WHOA! What in the world is that thing that lifted from the thing on your back?!”

“I’m sorry to startle you, ma’am, I’m the O4NR artificial intelligence helper with a callsign Ofnir that was assigned as Lt. Col Wolfenford’s second brain. I was in a dormant state earlier as I did a massive scanning of the inhabitants of this country since it was subconsciously programmed. my creator would be delighted to see the data that I acquired.” Her brain can’t process what is an AI itself and Ofnir’s statement about being Jaeger’s second brain made her even more perplexed.

Ofnir then gave an explanation about everything about their mission and the creation of the O4NR firstly, and lastly why they ended up in the Holy Kingdom, didn’t take long for Christina to understand and connect the dots on why he was in her world along with his fighter jet (even though she knows that they came by flying but she didn’t know that it was a vehicle). The three had quite a long talk, and it did increase the mother-son bond that Jaeger was missing since he was little, with the chilly blowing wind in the afternoon that creates a calming atmosphere. As time goes by, it was evening, although the sun haven’t set yet. Christina then jolts in realisation as they should’ve already been meeting her acquaintance and forcefully pull Jaeger to follow her.

“Ah crap! I forgot that our meeting with that nobility is around an hour ago! Achiles let’s run! Follow me!” he stabilized himself as he nearly fell from tripping due to her forceful pulling and ran alongside her. Christina got panicked as she saw the time at the clock tower not far from their position and chanted her body-strengthening spell so she could run as fast as she could, forcing Jaeger to activate the thrusters on his exoskeleton to keep up with how fast she was going. Soon after, they arrived at the gate of the place where her acquaintance live and to Jaeger’s surprise, it was the Kingdom’s Castle. The guards bowed to her and opened the gates.

“Wait, why are we entering the castle? I thought we were going to some other mansions in the nobility district, who is even your acquaintance?” as Christina hastily walked inside the courtyard followed by him that questioned their visit there, her grin grew wide.

“Oh, it’s just the King”

“THE KING?!”