-A new blueprint has been updated.
-A new file has been entered.
-The operating AI for the “Spear” has been entered.
New information scrolled up across the scanner’s screen.
In contrast to the brightly glowing scanner, all of the management facility’s maintenance equipment had stopped functioning.
Even when I tapped the screen in front of me, even when I pressed the buttons scattered messily beside it.
The equipment showed no response.
As if the data I had obtained was everything.
“Mm… shall we head back for now?”
It didn’t seem like there was anything more to gain by staying here.
At the very least, it seemed wise to check the information I’d obtained before coming back.
└Truth Scholar: Let’s hurry back, shall we? I’m really curious!
└Draw-Sword Sword Saint: I am curious as to what it is.
Perhaps because it was data from the management facility, even the Draw-Sword Sword Saint was curious about what it was.
As for the Truth Scholar… well. Hadn’t she always been like this?
In any case, I placed my hand on the elevator door again.
I was a little worried, since all the management facility’s equipment had stopped.
Ding.
As if telling me my worries were unfounded, a clear chime rang out and a cluster of bright light leaked from the elevator.
When I stepped through the doors that opened automatically, the elevator naturally closed them behind me.
I was about to press the button for the first floor, then paused.
Come to think of it, Eosollujeun had gotten off first on the twenty-third floor.
Without hesitation, I pressed the button for the twenty-third floor and waited a moment.
The elevator soon descended with a faint noise.
The floating sensation, as if I were rising upward, lasted only a moment before the elevator came to a stop.
Ding.
With a clear chime announcing our arrival, the elevator doors opened.
Inside, revealed beyond the doors, was Eosollujeun—
“Hello.”
—no, some woman was standing there.
No, seriously, the elevator doors opened and there was a woman staring straight into my eyes.
Eyes like red flowers.
Black hair like the deep sea, falling down to the line of her chest.
A mole beneath her eye, shaped like a cross.
Even her clothes were different from mine, since I just bought a few sets of everyday wear and rotated through them. She was dressed in a neat suit.
A tight black suit, a gray skirt, black stockings, and leather boots.
She looked like someone who lived in a different world from me.
And yet she walked closer, as if she belonged to the same world after all.
“Uh, uhh.”
As she approached, I had no choice but to step back.
But this elevator was close to a one-person elevator. I soon felt the cold touch of the wall against my back.
Her face came close to mine, almost pressing against my body.
Then, stopping beside my ear, her lips let out words once more.
“Turn off the broadcast first.”
The cold sweat running down my back from tension soon chilled.
My pounding heart grew still, and my senses sharpened.
Thud.
The elevator doors closed automatically.
I was alone in a sealed room with a beautiful girl, but my head was working coldly.
First, turn off the broadcast.
The swarm of comments that had been climbing at high speed vanished in an instant.
While circulating my mana so I could draw it out of my body at any moment, I opened my mouth.
“It’s off.”
“Well done.”
Then she moved away from me and leaned against the door.
Her hands moved mechanically, without any wasted motion, and pressed an elevator button.
-1
The elevator descended with a faint noise.
I surveyed the situation inside.
An extremely narrow sealed room.
I had one mana rifle left, but it was unsuitable.
Then, a pistol?
No, same thing. With even a slight shift in direction, it wouldn’t hit.
Then a sword would be the most appropriate.
But this was a sealed room. There were limits to taking a stance and drawing the blade.
…It was an unsuitable place to fight, but if we got out on the first floor, those restrictions would disappear.
So, when we got out on the first floor—
As my mind was turning tautly, the elevator chime rang.
Ding.
The doors opened, and the information desk could be seen behind her.
But she stood there without the slightest movement.
A subtle silence and distance.
As if throwing a stone into it, she opened her mouth.
“Don’t be so tense. Eosollujeun is—”
Taang!!
It happened in an instant.
The moment I heard Eosollujeun’s name, I tried to draw my sword. But a hand flew in as if she had expected it, stopping my draw.
A chill rose from the hand gripping mine tightly.
Just from her grip strength, I could feel how much power she possessed.
She opened her mouth again with an indifferent expression.
“I recommend you listen to the end before making a judgment.”
“…Eosollujeun disappeared, so what are you—”
“I am Eosollujeun.”
“Huh?”
What… does that mean?
No, Eosollujeun?
As if reading the subtle distortion in my expression, she spoke calmly, mechanically.
In a voice with little sense of pitch.
“The twenty-third floor was where the facilities for equipment management were located.”
Had she judged that I would keep listening, or did she think she could handle it even if I attacked?
The strength began to leave the hand that had been gripping mine.
…There were red marks left behind.
How strong was her grip?
“For equipment management, this city mainly used autonomous AIs. That’s why the mechanical enhancement facilities were on this floor as well.”
She recited an ancient history. An era whose information had all been blown away.
Facts I could not have known.
As if recalling a distant past, she slowly continued speaking.
“Among the enhancement facilities, there were also enhancement facilities related to biotechnology.”
“…You used that facility and gained a human body?”
“Yes. As expected, you’re good at understanding the flow of things.”
After praising me like that, she continued.
“But to correct you, I merely used the enhancement facility meant for me.”
“Meant for you?”
“Yes, I am… hm. This is unnecessary information.”
She tried to say something, then glossed over it. Hm… should I call her Eosollujeun?
In truth, I had sharpened my intuition to judge whether it was true or not. The conclusion was that it was true.
In other words, the one in front of me really was Eosollujeun.
Her appearance as something like factory machinery had vanished, replaced by a beautiful woman.
She took my hand and began walking, as if telling me to follow.
I moved my feet as if being pulled along by her steps.
Eosollujeun glanced back, then looked forward again.
Then, as if letting the words flow out—or as if talking about a memory—she opened her mouth.
“When you first found me, I gave you the map.”
“You did…?”
No further words followed, and a quiet silence continued.
But the next words were something that would come sooner or later.
“Thank you.”
With those words, Eosollujeun turned her head and looked straight at me.
Her lips were clearly lifted, as if she was sincerely happy.
But only her red eyes, like roses after rain, seemed to hold pity.
I wanted to look a little more carefully, but she whipped her head away, so I couldn’t examine her in detail.
***
Following behind Eosollujeun, I arrived at the submersible.
Normally, I would have arrived while continuously dealing with Cyclopes, but strangely, when I followed behind Eosollujeun, I didn’t encounter anyone.
When we reached the submersible, Jui, who had been asleep until we left, opened her eyes and welcomed me.
“Beep beep!”
“Yeah, were you doing okay?”
She snuggled into my arms and rubbed her face against me. When I stroked Jui’s head, it felt as if all the hardships I had gone through until now were melting away.
After staying like that for a few minutes, Jui poked her head out over my shoulder and looked at Eosollujeun.
“Beep??”
Then her eyes widened, and she immediately approached Eosollujeun.
She floated here and there, circling around from every direction as if doing a model shoot.
“Beeeeep….”
She even sniffed around nearby, continuing to check something.
…I wondered if she actually didn’t recognize Eosollujeun.
“Beeeeeeep.”
Then she climbed right up onto Eosollujeun’s chest.
She even looked happier than when I held her.
“Um… Jui?”
Jui opened the eyes she had comfortably closed, glanced at me, then closed them again.
No, aren’t I your owner? Why won’t you come to me….
Heasya clearly doesn’t have a gender, so why are you discriminating….
Suddenly dejected, I turned my steps toward the submersible.
At times like this, preparing for survival was the best option.
After entering the submersible, I immediately connected the scanner to the fabrication machine.
The information in the scanner transferred to the fabrication machine, and soon new blueprints appeared.
[Spear]
[Mana Diverter (分岐器)]
-About “Protocol 0”
Two blueprints and one text file.
Among them, I pressed the two blueprints first.
[Spear]
-A submersible with a sharp shape like the blade of a spear. It is capable of moving on land as well, and is sufficient to withstand the pressure of the deep sea. Underwater, it can reach a maximum speed of 80 km/h.
[Mana Diverter (分岐器)]
-A device capable of momentarily changing the direction of the “isolation force field.” Can be attached to a submersible.
“No, wait, what?”
Something far more incredible than I had expected had appeared.
It could change the direction of the force field? That meant… the force field that had been one-way could now be entered from the outside as well.
Finally… I could go out into the deep sea.
I could see hope of escape.
Clutching my heart as it began to pound, I opened the text file.
There might be cautions of some kind.
-About “Protocol 0”
The beginning of that file… made my pounding heart sink again.
-Are you insane? You know what Isolation Protocol Zero means, don’t you? That is.
You’re saying we should block all passage to the surface with ███ so that no one can ever leave.