Exiled to the Graveyard of Heroes, I Revived Them All and Now an Unprecedented Nation of Legends Has Been Born - Chapter 20: The Hero of [Resurrection], and Meanwhile Elsewhere

Chapter 20: The Hero of [Resurrection], and Meanwhile Elsewhere

“All right, we’re going to plan the attack on the capital now.”

I stood on the dais in the big hall we’d set up in a corner of the abyss and announced it.

Ayla and Zona had returned yesterday.

They hadn’t been able to get any information about new weapons, but Ayla’s power of [Love] had apparently driven thirty percent of the capital’s citizens into revolt.

The Ixion capital must be in serious chaos.

Since Ayla’s face was probably known now, we couldn’t use her again as a stealth chaos-creator. That plan was burned.

Honestly, I wanted to wait until Noel finished tracking down the Demon Lord’s corpse, but if we dawdled the unrest might die down.

So I wanted to strike first and weaken the Ixion Kingdom before they recovered.

This was the strategy meeting for that.

“As for the plan—hit fast, hit hard, and boom.”

“““““Aye!”””””

“W-Wait, Elott-san!? Can you be more serious!?”

Shizukuishi cried out when I summed the plan up so crudely.

But really—what I’d just said was a perfectly serious strategy.

“Shizukuishi, do you know what tactic heroes are best at?”

“Uh… I’m not sure, really—”

“Basically, heroes are expert headhunting fighters. They’re good at taking out enemy leaders—kind of like assassins. That’s how they usually beat Demon Lords.”

“R-Really? I always thought heroes fought fair and square…”

When Shizukuishi said “fair and square,” the other heroes burst out laughing.

“Aw, Shizukuishi’s so earnest.”

“Heroes are more like a mix of assassins and thugs, honestly.”

“We usually team up to take down a Demon Lord.”

“You won’t see many heroes doing one-on-one duels with Demon Lords.”

“Shizukuishi, your image of heroes is way too romanticized, milord.”

To be fair, Silesta’s big, flashy fight against the Ixion army was the exception—most heroes didn’t handle whole hordes like she did.

“That said, even if we go with a headhunting tactic, I have some concerns.”

“Whoa, suddenly this sounds like a real strategy meeting!!”

“…I’ll continue.”

I ignored Shizukuishi’s snark and went on.

“If we sneak into the capital once, the enemy probably won’t be able to use their heavy weapons.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Meimei, you don’t get it?”

“…Nope, I don’t.”

Meimei flopped her ears and tail down.

I’d noticed before that Meimei wasn’t great at thinking things through.

Shizukuishi looked like she wanted to bury her hands in Meimei’s fluffy ears and tail, but I ignored that.

“There are civilians in the capital, right?”

“Yeah. …Oh—if we recklessly use heavy weapons, those people will get caught up in it, so they can’t use them!!”

“Exactly.”

“…So what’s the problem then?”

“It’s the mysterious attacker that Ayla and Zona reported. Even though they’d been devoted to Ayla, that attacker killed the capital’s citizens. In other words, unlike regular soldiers they don’t care about friendly fire.”

I told the heroes in the room again what had happened to the two of them.

“My guess is that the assailant is a third force working for some reason with the Ixion Kingdom. There’s a real chance they’ll try to interfere. That’s the part we need to watch out for.”

“Taking that into account, we’ll send an elite hero squad to strike, right?”

“Yes, Rocoro. Specifically: destroy the weapon factories in the capital. Even better if we can kidnap the dwarves and Shizukuishi’s friends who are involved in developing those weapons.”

The hard part about Ixion was its national power—but that power only worked because of the dwarves and Shizukuishi’s engineer friends.

If we removed those two pillars, Ixion’s weapons development would grind to a halt.

“Speed is everything!! Before they recover from the chaos, we swoop in, smash our targets, and get out!! After that—we go all-out war!!”

“““““Yeeaahh!!”””””

“Alright, I’ll announce the members now!! If your name is called, shout out loud and come up to the stage!!”

“…Why does this feel like some high school club pep rally…”

I thought I heard Shizukuishi mutter something, but I ignored it and continued announcing the heroes who’d raid the capital.

◆

Meanwhile—

In a little shack on the outskirts of the Ixion capital…

“I’m telling you!! This stuff only looks cool if it’s manned!! Unmanned machines are boring!! Lame!! A true mecha needs a pilot inside to give it soul!!”

“What nonsense!! Weapons don’t need ‘soul’!! If we waste space putting a human in, the performance goes down the drain!!”

“I don’t care about your logic!! I’m talking about romance here!! Humanoid weapons are meant to be piloted!! It’s been that way since forever!!”

A boy from another world, Yamada, was in a shouting match with the dwarven craftsmen.

“Also—legs!! You absolutely need legs!! Big boosters and magic tanks look cool, but without legs it’s nonsense!!”

“Legs are just decoration!! You otherworlder just don’t get it!! The humanoid monsters that came out of the tower even sliced tanks to pieces!! So obviously we should boost evasive ability and make it faster!!”

“Ugh, another logical argument!! But legs are still essential!! Oh—reverse-jointed legs or four legs, or a tank version could work too! Having expandability means more customization and more fun!!”

“Enough with the demands one after another!! If you’ve got a design in mind, spit it out clearly!!”

“Of course!! First, the reverse-jointed legs are—”

The air was thick enough that a fistfight could have started at any second.

Still, despite the tension, Yamada and the dwarven craftsmen hurled their opinions at each other head-on.

What the dwarves hadn’t expected was this: Yamada had shown up out of nowhere at their workshop—where they were being forced to make weapons while their families were held as leverage—and blurted out a single line.

“I want to build a humanoid combat machine (a robot). Will you help me?”

Like a little kid talking about his dreams, Yamada had said it with sparkling eyes—and the dwarves were left baffled.

After all, they were being forced to make weapons they didn’t even want to… all because of this very boy standing in front of them.

But that unshakable gaze of pure curiosity and reckless creativity lit a fire in their long-dulled craftsman spirit.

From then on, they began sneaking out of the castle night after night, building a hidden underground workshop beneath a shabby old shack.

Thus began their days of working on a humanoid combat machine.

The money needed for production? Yamada skimmed it from Ixion’s treasure vault.

The materials? The dwarves swiped them from the weapon factories.

“…But what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your knowledge has already been turned into weapons that slaughter people. And now you want to outwit Ixion by building an even greater weapon? What’s the point? Did you suddenly grow a conscience and decide to clean up after yourself?”

“Uh…”

Yamada scratched his cheek, tilting his head with a troubled look.

“Well, yeah, I dumped a lot of knowledge here, but even if they used it to make weapons and kill people… that’s not really my fault, right?”

“…That’s pretty irresponsible.”

“Of course I’m not responsible. The one who pulls the trigger is always worse than the one who made the tool. Obviously.”

Yamada wasn’t trying to shift the blame.

He just genuinely had zero interest in the impact his actions had on this world.

All he cared about was building whatever he felt like building.

And ironically, that mindset was exactly the kind of craftsman spirit dwarves admired most.

Which was why the dwarf couldn’t help but scold him.

“What you’re doing could easily be seen as hostility toward Ixion. Not to mention, stealing from the royal treasury and selling it off for cash? That’s plain treason—an execution-level crime.”

“…In my world, we have a saying: ‘If you don’t get caught, it’s not a crime.’”

“…What sort of wasteland of a world did you come from?”

“A very peaceful one, actually. Sure, some regions had conflicts, but the country I lived in was peaceful. Well—except for how introverted nerds had no human rights. Aside from that, it was a pretty good place.”

“…I don’t really get it, but you terrify me.”

The dwarf craftsman let out a long, weary sigh.

“If you just followed Ixion Kingdom’s orders, you’d have a safe and comfortable life ahead of you.”

“Eh, I doubt it. Those guys are pretty shady behind the scenes. I mean, they literally took all of your families hostage to keep you obedient, didn’t they?”

“…And yet you didn’t seem too miserable, living it up surrounded by maids.”

“I’ll admit that. But you know, even when you’re doing nothing but fun and pleasant things, it gets boring after a while. At the end of the day, I’m the kind of guy who lives for his hobbies.”

“…I see.”

“Oh, and when I first heard about the ‘great calamity’ coming, I honestly did want to help. But the more I saw of this kingdom’s dark side, the more it hit me—‘Ah, so this is that kind of isekai summoning. The bad kind.’”

Yamada grinned.

That smile was bright and innocent like a child’s—

And yet, undeniably twisted.

“Doing bad things to bad people usually counts as a good thing, you know.”

“…All right, I get it. You’re evil enough to make me nauseous.”

“Wow, harsh!! …But don’t worry. Once this baby is finished, I’m done with this country. I’ll rescue your families, track down the missing Shizukuishi, and find a way back to my world. Oh, and while I’m at it—go full isekai tourist, woohoo!!”

“…Hmph. Then we’d better hurry and finish this thing.”

“Oh, and let’s make the shield on the right arm combine with a pile bunker!! Ultimate offense and defense in one!! And double the missile pods on the shoulders—instant firepower boost!!”

“Stop adding new requests while we’re working, you fool!!”

And so, the boy’s dream of “My Ultimate Robot Design” began taking shape.

At the time, none of them could have imagined it—

That this kid from another world would one day tip the scales, surpassing the revenge-fueled hero, the desperate kingdom, and even the schemes of the mysterious attacker.

―――――――――――――――――――――

[Afterword]

Quick Isekai Human Spotlight

Yamada

Originally just a nerd who loved games, anime, and manga. He was especially into sentai shows, had basically watched every Gund◯m series, and when it came to games, his favorite was Arm◯red Core.

Thanks to those influences, he even tried building plastic models—only to discover he was catastrophically bad at it. Since then, he stuck to building robots in his imagination instead.

He’s quick-witted and basically good-natured, but he’s also impulsive and always puts his curiosity and hobbies first. That personality only got worse after arriving in this world—outside of his fellow hobbyist dwarves, he doesn’t care about anyone.

At this point, he sees the Ixion Kingdom purely as a wallet and material supplier for building his giant robot.

If Yamada’s scummy vibes made you laugh, toss some ★s!

And if you thought, “Elott’s battle plan was way too half-baked lol,” “Yamada isn’t just trash, he’s special trash,” or “OI, YAMADA!!” —then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!