Black Records (Cold Steel III)/2

English= The Magic Knights - Year 527 150 years after the recapture of the capital by Emperor Hector, powerful families rose across the empire while Imperial power stabilized. The empire slowly took on the form of multiple territories. The noble families were recognized by the emperor, and they soon began to quarrel over territories, starting many small-scale battles. During this time, great knights akin to Emperor Hector's Vermillion Knight appeared and were occasionally used in conflict. Some noble families each received their own Azure, Violet, Ash, Silver, and Gold knights, allowing them to wield overwhelming power and determine the outcome of battles. However, the great knights were something of a Calamity. Other powerful noble families were not in search of more power or mira, but in search of some kind of resistance. Then came the mages' new creations. Golems born of magic, the Magic Knights. Like many others, the mages were in pursuit of the glory of the ancient Zemurians, and were obsessed with recreating it. With mira from the noble families and the help of a certain faction, several Magic Knights were created to resist the great knights. Unfortunately, these Magic Knights were imperfect. They had a critical fault of only being operable when spirit veins were activated. Luckily, spirit veins were always disrupted wherever the great knights appeared, so the Magic Knights became a successful resistance countermeasure. In the year 527, the first golem that was used as a basis for the Magic Knights was created by a mage serving a now extinct, but formerly powerful northern noble family. At a height of five arge, this headless golem, called Ol Gadia, became a remnant of the mages' trial and error and a prototype for later golems.

かのヘクトル帝による帝都奪還より150年、帝権は安定を見せながらも、帝国各地で豪族が出現し、ゆるやかに領邦としての容を取るようになっていた.
 * -|Japanese= 『魔煌の傀儡兵』	S527

豪族たちは皇帝に貴族として認められつつ、しだいに競うようにして互いの領土を奪い合うようになり、小規模な戦いが各地で無数に繰り返されるようになった.

そんな中——ヘクトル帝が迎えた"緋"と同種の"巨いなる騎士"が各地で見出され、時に争いに使われた.

蒼・紫・灰・銀．金——それらは暗黒時代前期においてそれぞれの豪族たちが持ち得た戦力を遥かにしのぎ、圧倒的な力を振るって兵たちを駆逐し、戦の趨勢を決した.

しかし"巨いなる騎士"は天変地異のようなものであり、有力な豪族が力とミラに飽かせて迎えられるわけでもなく、その意味で"何らかの対抗手段"が求められたのである.

——そこに登場したのが、当時の魔導師たちによって幾つも産み出された魔導の《魔煌兵》であった.

他の地域同様暗黒時代の帝国の魔導師たちは崩壊したゼムリア時代における奇蹟と栄光を追い求め、その再現を成し遂げようという妄執に取り憑かれていた.

そこに有力な豪族たちがミラを出し、ある勢力の助力もあって"巨いなる騎士"こ対抗する魔煌兵が幾つも造られたのである.

——実際の所、魔煌兵の多くは不完全で、霊脈が活性化している時しか動かせないという致命的な欠陥を抱えていた.

しかし"巨いなる騎士"が顕れる時は大抵、霊脈が乱れて活性化していることが殆どであったため、"対抗手段"としてはある程度成立していたと言えるだろう.

——七耀暦527、魔煌兵の原型とも言える最初の傀儡が、今は亡き北部の有力豪族に仕えた魔導師の工房で誕生する.

名を《オル＝ガディア》——全高5アージュほどの後の魔煌兵よりもやや小さい"首無し"の甲胃傀儡であり、その後の魔導師たちの試行錯誤の跡を垣間見ることができる.