After the planetary war ended, I remained aboard the Adeptus Mechanicus vessel until we soon arrived at the Forge World located within the star system where I was stationed.
A mecca of technology, where countless stores of knowledge and technical arts were preserved, and innumerable machines and devices operated amid the clatter of gears.
That was what a Forge World was.
"Come to think of it, you are a Magos, aren’t you? There is something I would like to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"I want to attach new equipment to my Knight. A retractable axe and rocket thrusters."
The Magos fell silent for a moment before asking me again.
"You are saying you wish to entrust the modification of your Knight to me? Are you serious?"
"I am. Is there a problem?"
"No! None whatsoever. If anything, I should be thanking you. The Knight is also a relic from the Dark Age of Technology, and you are permitting me to personally dismantle and modify such a relic."
"Moreover, your bond with the Machine Spirit dwelling within the Radiant Crusader is strong, so surely nothing will go awry."
The Magos seemed thrilled by the prospect of modifying a relic of that lost age, and thanked me with almost manic fervor.
"Ah, then move the Knight to my workshop for the modifications."
"All right."
After moving my Knight to her workshop, I headed for the guest quarters prepared on the Forge World. Naturally, given the nature of a Forge World, I could not expect much.
They called it a mecca of technology, but it was a place built upon the exhaustion of servitors and humans with fewer rights than livestock. Even the guest quarters would surely be "highly efficient."
-----
"You have arrived, little brother."
Erin had arrived first and was waiting in the quarters. But where was Tess?
"You went with Tess, didn’t you? Where is he?"
"While you were off somewhere with that woman, my eldest brother sent me to the quarters alone and headed for the technical library to look through the books."
"Ah, the technical library... Well, collecting knowledge is his hobby, after all."
Tess had a hobby of collecting knowledge. He would bring along an attendant and have the knowledge he learned written down on paper... "Little brother."
"Hm?"
"I am bored. Entertain me."
"Go to sleep. This is a Forge World, so of course you are bored."
When one was bored, it was best to sleep... "Theo, dear brother." Right.
Ah.
"Dear. Bro. Ther?"
"Uh..."
She began stepping toward me. One step. Two steps. Just as she came right up before my nose, my terminal fortunately rang from within my pocket.
"J-just a moment. What is it?"
The caller was the Magos—the woman from earlier.
"There is a slight problem with the Knight. Could you return to the workshop?"
"A problem with the Knight? Understood. Erin, something has come up, so... I will be going now!"
I immediately turned around and hurried out of the room. Whew... I nearly lost my chastity(?).
-----
The voice that had come through the terminal undoubtedly belonged to Carmilla, a genius who had attained the rank of Magos with only partial mechanization, owing to her superhuman intellect.
But...
"That bitch... is getting between my brother and me?"
Boom!!!
Erin punched the wall in fury.
Craaaack
Against all reason, a crack spread across the wall, which should have been unbreakably solid.
"Oh dear, I lost my temper... I need to clean this up before my brother sees..."
Whirr
"Uh, little sister. It looks as though you are very angry...?"
"Eldest brother, you are here? Perfect timing."
"Ah."
-----
Whirr
"Magos, did something happen?"
Without a word, the Magos pointed in one direction. Following her finger, I saw... the Radiant Crusader with a sword attached instead of an axe.
"Uh, was it not an axe that I asked you to attach?"
"I did not change it. The Machine Spirit dwelling in the Knight changed it itself."
What was that supposed to mean? Was that even possible? Just because a Machine Spirit existed, could it manipulate something like this?
"So you are saying the Knight changed its own weapon into a sword?"
"Yes! I personally procured it a fine sword."
"Is what I say more important, or is the Machine Spirit more important?"
"Naturally, the Machine Spirit."
Thud!
"Guhk!"
The instant I heard that, I drove a punishing fist into the Magos’s stomach.
Hummmmmm!!!
"The Machine Spirit is angered! Cough!"
Murmur, murmur...
The Magos, who had been attaching the sword, cried out in alarm at the Knight’s sudden activation even as she collapsed.
The others were startled, calling it the Machine Spirit’s wrath, but it sounded different to my ears.
[I am sorry... But an axe is not knightly, is it? Honestly, I was badly hurt in the last battle too, and suddenly being told to wield an axe... it felt a little wrong, so I thought a sword would be better...]
"Calm down."
[...]
"It appears the Machine Spirit has calmed down. Resume the work..."
Once the Knight had calmed down, the Magos used servitors—cybernetically altered slaves—to resume work. I let out a deep sigh and spoke.
"I wanted to hack that daemon bastard to death with an axe, but it cannot be helped. Magos, it will still be retractable as I initially requested, correct?"
"Yes, that enormous sword is, "astonishingly," retractable. I used technology from the Dark Age of Technology that I had carefully kept in storage. Heh heh..."
"Is it all right to show off technology from the Dark Age of Technology so freely?"
"The Knight itself is already a relic of the Dark Age of Technology. Whatever technology is added to it, ordinary people will not notice."
The Magos explained what sort of technology she had applied. She had named it Dimensional Refraction.
It was a technique that bent dimensions to create a small space between reality and the Immaterium, allowing objects to be stored there permanently.
With this, she said, in a combat situation I could instantly attach the sword to the Knight’s right hand and pierce an enemy.
"A masterpiece."
"It is a masterpiece."
...
"Is that all you have to say?"
"That is all."
"This will not do."
The Magos’s eyes gleamed as she began a lengthy speech that would last more than two hours, expounding upon her own history and the excellence and superiority of her technology.
And so forth.
I was only able to escape that speech after it had completely ended, by acknowledging her.
Keep the bloodline pure 😂