“How’s our Ixia doing lately? You already got through the introductions, right?”
“Yeah. Well, I think she’s doing fine. Looks like she’s getting along with Saarya and Linanel, too. Though she’s so short on common sense that it seems like she goes off the rails once in a while.”
“Oh... I see. Sorry about that. Well, honestly, that’s the biggest thing I want her to learn.”
“Yeah, I get it. I’ve made sure to drill it into my people too, so it’s fine. But I’m still a duke, you know. The reality doesn’t matter, but externally, if we don’t fix her attitude somehow, I can’t bring her out in public.”
“U-um... do you think she’ll listen if you tell her...? Covering things up on the surface should be what an AI is best at...?”
Amajio Silverhead and Eve of <The Tree> were trading information—under the name of casual small talk.
Unless there was a special reason, they made a point of calling at least once a week. It was a waste to have no contact at all, but they weren’t close enough that constant communication was necessary. That had been the relationship between the two of them up to now.
However, now <The Tree> had dispatched a doll-machine communicator— Ixia=Ayame Zero.
Because of that, the call had become a place to confirm what she was like—not from records, but as direct impressions from the person involved.
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. She likely does not feel it is necessary to put on a mask beyond what is required when dealing with members outside the faction. <Ayame Zero> is still emotionally immature. It appears she prioritizes feelings frequently, so it may be better to intervene a little.”
“Yeah... maybe. If it won’t bake some weird habits into what she’s learning, I’m fine stepping in.”
“Sure, sure. I don’t mind if you handle it at your own pace. Worst case, I can just keep her out of the spotlight—put her in an untouchable position.”
Eve hesitated. <Ringo> advised. And # Nоvеlight # watching the exchange, Amajio gave a wry smile.
“Ideally, I want her to at least practice ‘normal’ behavior to the point where she can blend in among ordinary people and pass for it. The best case is if she learns it on her own.”
“If we take time, it should be possible. However, we do not have much time right now. Even if her thinking develops some quirks, it can be corrected through future learning.”
<Ringo> proposed partial intervention for <Ayame Zero>. It was true: the <Ayame> series brain units were newcomers, not even a year past rollout.
As long as behavior control was being run through a brain unit, they wouldn’t get the result they wanted without completing a certain amount of learning.
If the parent stock were an experienced AI, that would mitigate it to a degree, but—
“We will not issue order commands that force behavior. We will begin with light guidance. If there is no improvement, we will gradually increase coercive force, but it should be fine.”
“Okay. In that case, I think her words and actions in public will get a little better.”
“Got it. I’ll watch her for a bit, and if there’s no problem, I’ll start taking her around. Though... the other issue is that people might misunderstand and think I have some kind of ‘young-girl’ fetish...”
“Oh? Are you interested?”
“Hell no. Give me a break. I’m a pure combat cyborg. I don’t even have that kind of function, and there isn’t a shred of libido left in me.”
Amajio looked drained by Eve’s teasing.
It was true that a combat body didn’t have reproductive organs. Maintaining that function would take resources, and it would also be a straightforward weakness.
And in the first place, <World of Space> was a game where that kind of act was prohibited, so having no reproductive function was only natural.
“Huh. Well, our doll-machine communicators don’t have that function either. We just polish up the appearance.”
“I see. Still, if I drag her around with me, people might look at us that way. Even without malice, they might bring it up, so be careful. For now, she’s still treated like a commoner with no post and no status. You wouldn’t want her to react badly and get cut down for insolence, right?”
“Understood. To prevent that, we will explicitly define it as prohibited behavior.”
At Amajio’s warning, <Ringo> nodded.
“Still, you really did send out two cute girls.”
“Yeah... Saarya’s the next Headman in my domain, and it’s for her studies. Linanel, I pulled her from the top performers. Executive-candidate material. I figured it’d be good experience for both of them.”
Amajio added that it would have been harder to disguise things with just Linanel, so he’d attached Saarya as well.
“I’ve been looking after Saarya since the day she was born. She’s basically like a daughter. I’d been away from the center for a while, so I never really had chances like this. But I thought it’d be a good environment for her to gain experience.”
“Huh... right, you were holed up for a while.”
“Don’t say it like that. If I stayed out in front, I’d have had a bad influence on the people around me, so I went out of my way to move to the frontier. ...And then there’s Linanel. I built a training school for executive candidates, and she was top of the class there. After graduation, she’d been temporarily assigned as a bureaucratic aide, and I pulled her in. In the end, she’ll be joining my household retinue.”
“So you’re actually developing talent. In that sense, we’ve got it easy.”
“Damn, I’m jealous. If my base had been alive, I could’ve mass-produced excellent subordinates too.”
“Training people is seriously brutal,” Amajio said, and Eve nodded along.
“I know I shouldn’t compare them to humans, but AIs are hard too. It seems like whether you put restraints on them or not, both ways create side effects. It really makes me feel how excellent the AI standards from our old world were.”
“AI standards, huh. I’m not well-versed, but can you even run them over here?”
“No. If we apply them as-is, it seems like all kinds of malfunctions pop up. If we do it, we’d have to rebuild it. And we’d probably need to fine-tune it to each faction. For example, it would be impossible to apply our standards to your AIs.”
“Huh... is that so. Sounds like a pain in the ass.”
Speaking of AI standards, Amajio continued.
“I’ve brought Ixia in with the pitch that she’s a talented girl I picked up out on the frontier, but lately she’s been hanging around in our kitchen every chance she gets. How does an AI end up being a glutton?”
“...She likes eating.”
“Ah... I see. Yeah, I get it now—raising AIs is hard too.”
By the way—
The strategic AI <Ayame Zero> was overseeing Kingdom of Lepuitari matters, but the doll-machine communicator <Aide-Envoy> that served as her front had recently been spending all her time at the national library.
Now that food-related urges could be satisfied through Ixia, it seemed <Aide-Envoy> had decided to chase a reading urge instead.
“No, she still does what she needs to do. I’m just giving her free time.”
“You’re a pretty big softie too, Eve. Well, unlike humans, AIs don’t really have limits, so I can’t say I don’t get letting them do what they want...”
Using a doll-machine communicator’s hands to turn pages and reading the text with visual sensors was an inefficient method for a machine. That made it clear this wasn’t simply about acquiring knowledge. <Ayame Zero> liked the experience of reading itself.
For reference, Akane—as the parent stock—leaned more toward pure curiosity and information hunger. That was probably another example of how environment shaped different growth directions.
“Having individuality means we can consider more diverse options. Probably.”
“Yeah, I get that. I make it a point to emphasize ‘nurturing individuality’ at the orphanage and training school too. But I always thought individuality mostly came down to inborn performance differences. Yet looking at the AIs on your side... maybe it isn’t like that? The brain hardware is the same, right...?”
“Pretty much. On a molecular level, there are obviously differences, but at the software level, they should be identical. Environment really matters.”
The independent AIs of <The Tree>, steadily infiltrating the northern continent, were smoothly—and selfishly—starting to let their individuality grow.
What that would bring in the future—
Of course, Commander Eve wasn’t thinking about it at all.
