Chapter 520: Turned Into Gacha?! - 520
That Herta was finally coming?
Hearing this, Tatsumaki, whose face had been perfectly calm just a moment ago, widened her eyes slightly. Without a second thought, she pressed for answers: "Where is that guy!?"
"Um, she should be in the laboratory right now," Alice replied, taking another sip of her floral tea, looking completely unbothered by any sense of urgency.
Tatsumaki was losing her patience. "Where is this lab? Let’s get over there right now. It’s best if we settle this before working hours."
"L-City."
The young girl answered, "Tatsumaki, you can always come by after you finish your work. Auntie Herta cleared her entire schedule today just to help upgrade Alice’s equipment, so it’s fine to come over whenever you’re not busy."
She’s actually in Fubuki’s city?!
Hearing this, there was no way Tatsumaki could wait any longer. "No! We’re going right now. We can drink tea anytime later!"
Alice could certainly understand her urgency. But thinking about Tatsumaki’s current misunderstanding of Herta, coupled with Tatsumaki’s notoriously sharp tongue, Alice was absolutely certain that the two would clash the moment they met.
"Auntie Herta is a very powerful and great scientist. Tatsumaki, you must promise not to get into a fight with Auntie Herta when we get there!" The young girl set down her teacup, her expression showing a rare streak of stubbornness.
"..."
From that stubbornness, Tatsumaki saw concern... not for that Herta person, but for herself.
This stupid, robotic brain of hers is actually worrying about me? Worrying about the Tornado of Terror? Is this some kind of joke?
Yet, even though she felt a flash of annoyance at being underestimated, facing the young girl’s sheer persistence, Tatsumaki couldn’t bring herself to voice a flat, blunt rejection.
In the end, she could only huff, "That depends on how things go when we get there. It’s not up to me."
Even so, an attitude like that meant she had at least listened to the advice. Through their days of spending time together, Alice could easily discern this much.
But... listening was one thing. Though Tatsumaki might restrain herself slightly, it really did depend on Herta’s attitude, just as Tatsumaki had said. And Herta... she was clearly approaching Tatsumaki with a conclusion already in mind, looking for a reason to find fault.
To put it simply, Herta was absolutely going to stir up trouble. If Tatsumaki couldn’t present an attitude that satisfied Herta, she was practically guaranteed to suffer a setback.
The young girl sighed inwardly. Even knowing this, things had already progressed to this point, and there wasn’t much else she could say. Tatsumaki wouldn’t listen anyway.
More importantly, Herta was doing this with the intention of venting anger on Alice’s behalf. Giving Tatsumaki a mild warning was one thing, but she couldn’t exactly turn against her own side.
After both sides considered themselves to have made a compromise, Tatsumaki took Alice and soared into the sky. Following Alice’s directions, they flew high into the airspace of L-City. Then... Alice stopped guiding her.
Tatsumaki looked around in confusion, her tone carrying a hint of displeasure. "Is this the place you were talking about? Are you sure this is the destination?"
Alice had long since grown accustomed to Tatsumaki’s temperament.
"Actually, we don’t need to be in any specific location within L-City. As long as we are within the boundaries of L-City, we can reach the [Ark]. Auntie Herta’s laboratory is built right on the [Ark]."
The Ark?
Tatsumaki knit her brows. The word ’Ark’ sounded like a ship, but having seen plenty of sci-fi works, Tatsumaki knew all too well that a ship didn’t necessarily sail on the sea.
But how were they supposed to get there like this?
She used her psychic powers to blanket the entirety of L-City, including the high airspace above, yet she failed entirely to find any suspicious targets, no matter how much she deepened her perception.
Before Tatsumaki could speak again, she suddenly felt a bizarre sensation of weightlessness. At the exact same moment, the scenery before her eyes completely shifted right in front of her.
A clean, immaculate laboratory suddenly manifested before her.
A reclining chair, looking slightly miniature compared to what a normal human would use, was positioned in the center of the lab, connected to various pieces of machinery with unknown functions.
A multitude of meters and gauges were stacked all over the room—numerous but orderly—appearing as though they weren’t frequently used.
"Since you’re here, don’t just stand there like an idiot."
Suddenly, an unfamiliar, youthful voice rang out from the side. Only then did Tatsumaki take a proper look at her current surroundings.
They seemed to be standing in the center of some kind of apparatus. While she couldn’t be entirely certain, it was likely a teleportation device. It was this very thing that had brought her and the robot-head down from a height of thousands of meters.
And standing right beside the device was a witch who looked as though she had walked straight out of a manga.
A wide witch hat failed to obscure a face that even Tatsumaki had to admit wasn’t bad at all. Her mysterious, arrogant aura complemented her witch attire almost flawlessly.
Contrary to what she had imagined, this young girl bore absolutely no resemblance to a researcher, nor did she look like any sort of "aunt."
Could it be that she wasn’t that Herta, but rather a research subject of this institute?
Looking at that witch outfit, it really was highly possible that she had something to do with espers.
The moment this thought surfaced, the anger in Tatsumaki’s heart became somewhat difficult to control.
"Auntie Herta!" Unaware of Tatsumaki’s current misunderstanding, Alice leaped straight down from the teleportation platform upon hearing the voice.
She then trotted over and wrapped her arms around Herta, her face brimming with pure joy.
I can finally upgrade! Awesome!
Herta didn’t particularly resist Alice’s clinginess. However, even though she had cleared up the matters at hand specifically to free up a day to come over, it didn’t mean her time wasn’t valuable.
Allowing Alice to remain excited for a brief moment, she reached out and pushed the young girl away from her side. "Alright, enough! I haven’t even settled the score with you for calling me ’Auntie’ yet, so don’t get too overly familiar."
But it was Amber (Sensei) who had told her to call her that, so how could she blame Alice?
Seemingly aware of this point as well, Herta didn’t dwell on it further and switched back to the main topic.
"I’ve spent some time researching the mechanism and essence of the ’Sublime.’ Upgrading you now won’t be a difficult task anymore."
"But more importantly than that, I’ve brought you more equipment to increase your combat options. The Aatrahasis has also been upgraded."
"By the way..."
"Hey!"
Herta’s voice was interrupted by a sharp, delicate shout. The two turned their gazes simultaneously toward Tatsumaki, who was floating not far away.
"Are you that Herta? The one who tricked my little sister!"
"Your sister?"
Though a memory like that took only an instant for Herta to recall, she still put on an act of ’remembering something utterly trivial.’
Subsequently, those mysterious, arrogant purple eyes locked onto Tatsumaki. "By ’tricked,’ do you mean taking a half-finished Sephira Crystal from a genius like me as an advance payment, when the job was merely to take care of a little girl for a period of time?"
Sephira Crystal?
The unfamiliar term made Tatsumaki uneasy.
She thought of the power Fubuki had gained to become stronger, yet she remembered that Fubuki hadn’t been carrying anything that could be described as a ’crystal’ at the time.
An intense wave of dread made her entire body shudder, and even her voice trembled slightly. "What is that Sephira Crystal!? What did you do to Fubuki’s body!?"
"If you wish to converse with a genius, you must first recognize your place and consider your attitude."
Herta’s tone remained calm. It had been a very long time since anyone had offended her.
If the other party possessed any value that caught Herta’s interest, then an offense could be overlooked as a quirk of personality. But... Tatsumaki held absolutely no value to her.
With a snap of her thumb and middle finger, Tatsumaki only heard a crisp click echo in her ears, and her consciousness began to rapidly fade away.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance Chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL
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