“Big Sis. The inscription analysis is finished. Want to see it?”
“Oh, really? Yeah, show me, show me~”
At Akane’s report, Big Sis Eve nodded and beckoned. When Akane came closer, Eve caught Akane and made Akane sit between Eve’s legs. Lately, that was Eve’s favorite skin-contact posture.
“So, what did it say?”
“Mm. It recorded the monument’s affiliation and background.”
Akane, thoroughly pleased to be hugged from behind by Big Sis, used thought-control to display several windows in midair.
“Affiliation: <Trout Nursery>. A scout unit that departed from the home base became isolated due to loss of communication routes. After that, damage to the legs made movement difficult. After interaction with local residents, the unit built a stone monument through exchange and negotiation. The scout unit’s operating period at the time of monument completion: 796 days. Remaining projected operable days: approximately 900 to 1500 days.”
When Akane expanded the compressed data carved into the stone monument, that was the kind of information that could be read. The proof-of-affiliation included a public key, and it seemed to account for one-third of the data volume.
“...Trout, in the salmon family, in the salmon order... nursery, like a fish farm...?”
“Mm. Probably Amajio Salmon’s fortress name.”
“So it really is!!”
To think traces of Amajio were left in a place like this.
But if that was the case—what did that mean?
“Um... this stone monument was found in the center of the Prava Divine Kingdom. It was kept under heavy guard in a place called the holy chamber. So does that mean the Prava Divine Kingdom is connected to Amajio?”
“It’s possible. But the likelihood is very low. The highest-probability explanation is that the scout unit that made this monument was an autonomous sapient entity with a certain level of knowledge, and it taught local residents knowledge, or guided them, by its own judgment.”
At Akane’s explanation, Eve pressed her brow. If Eve furrowed her forehead too much, it would become a habit.
“...So, a kid who got lost from Amajio’s place ended up getting elevated into a god, or something close to one, after various things happened?”
“Probably. But that’s over fifty percent guesswork, so take it with a grain of salt.”
At Akane’s words, Eve nodded. That was true.
The only confirmed fact was that the one who built the monument seemed to belong to the faction led by Amajio Salmon.
Still, that could be confirmed quickly. All Eve had to do was decrypt it with the public key from the proof-of-affiliation already obtained from Amajio.
Akane operated the window and executed the decryption.
“Using the public key obtained from Amajio Silverhead, the data could be decrypted. Now the monument’s origin is confirmed.”
“Hah... For now, I’ll contact Amajio.”
Whether it was intentional or completely unrelated, sharing was necessary.
But the period when the scout unit had been operating was presumed to be a few years after Amajio’s transfer to this world. If so, it should be a story from more than a hundred years ago.
“Amajio said the memories from the past were archived, so he couldn’t remember, didn’t he. If records from that time remain, we might learn something, but...”
“Commander Ma’am.”
The moment Eve mentioned Amajio Salmon, <Ringo> raised a voice.
“Providing an external expansion unit to Amajio Salmon is unacceptable. At minimum, not until legitimate compensation is presented.”
“...You’re such a worrier. Wasn’t it <Ringo> who estimated that, at worst, we could crush him by throwing the First Fleet at him?”
To <Ringo>’s near-interrupting refusal, Eve smiled as if troubled and answered like that.
“It’s fine. I won’t ignore <Ringo>’s will. Even free charity becomes harmful if it goes too far. I believe I understand that.”
“...”
<Ringo> stood there in silence.
Eve took <Ringo>’s hand and made <Ringo> sit beside her.
“Amajio is like me—someone who transferred from the original world to this one. So I feel a sense of closeness. That’s true.”
While stroking <Ringo>’s back as <Ringo> lowered the head, Eve continued.
“But I understand <Ringo>’s concerns, too. Amajio is probably from the same place, but if I say it plainly, that’s all. Someone who simply played the same game. A relationship that can’t even be called friendship just because we got excited over a shared topic.”
<Ringo> monitored Eve at all times. But that did not mean <Ringo> could read Eve’s inner thoughts.
Unlike the support auxiliary avatar Ada from the original world, <Ringo> had not been watching and monitoring Eve from birth. If Eve did not put thoughts into words, <Ringo> would not understand.
“Don’t worry too much. Tell me your concerns. I won’t dismiss your words. I’ll properly tell you my will. And you can voice your opinion about it. Understood?”
“...Yes.”
“Akane too, you know? If you have something you want to say, say it.”
Told that, Akane looked up at Eve.
“I want you to import books from the Kingdom of Lepuitari. I want to read paper books.”
“My...”
Now that Akane said it, there was no reason to prepare paper books inside <The Tree>. The originals were electronic data, and even if they were bound, the value would be thin.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Only Ayame Zero gets to cheat.”
“My...”
◇◇◇◇
“So what is it, all formal? This makes me a little tense, you know?”
“The battle situation hasn’t changed, but we found something that bothers me.”
In response to the monument discovery, a top-level meeting with Amajio Silverhead was arranged in a rush.
“This is it. Can you analyze it?”
“Hm...?”
Eve sent Amajio an image where the monument’s unevenness had been digitally processed to stand out.
“Hey, hey... this is... Where did you find this?”
After reading the data expressed as a two-dimensional code, Amajio’s expression clouded.
“Well, if we’d found it somewhere meaningless, that would’ve been nice, but...”
Smiling bitterly while watching the reaction, Commander Eve continued.
“Brace yourself. Where this was found was inside the cathedral at the center of Staritsa, the capital of the Prava Divine Kingdom.”
“Hah!?”
“Something like a sacred object, or a holy relic—probably treated that way. Honestly, even I was pretty shocked to find something like this during an investigation.”
“...”
Amajio fell silent. Because Amajio went silent, Eve also shut her mouth.
Even if Eve had gotten used to it, Eve was a shut-in. In scenes like this, Eve did not know what to say.
That silence continued for several minutes.
“...Sorry. I was thinking.”
“Ah, it’s fine. I understand this is absurd information.”
“Ah... So what is this? Why does the Prava Divine Kingdom have our machine...?”
“No, I can’t know that, obviously. Whether it’s related to how they formed, or they stored it because of some misunderstanding. That part is for future investigation.”
“Yeah, right. Sorry. I panicked.”
In the video, Amajio let out a deep sigh.
“Sorry, but unfortunately, there isn’t any information about this left in my current memory. I organized the old memories and archived them.”
Saying that, Amajio straightened the posture.
“If this came out of the core of the Prava Divine Kingdom, I can’t just keep forgetting it. Look, I haven’t told you directly, miss, but will you do me a favor? I need an external computation device. If I don’t have it, I can’t unfold my archive.”
“...Even partial unfolding is impossible for you?”
“Yeah. Honestly, too ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ much time has passed. I even modified my in-brain memory regions. Because of that, I can retain far more memories than a normal biological brain, but even so, there are limits. I have to secure capacity, so older memories get archived first. But the memory regions aren’t infinite. To the point that, if another ten years pass, I’ll need to reorganize the archive, too.”
Eve recalled the settings of <World of Space>.
The advantages and disadvantages of mechanizing an avatar. The disadvantages, in particular. If Eve remembered correctly, unlike a biological brain, performance would decline unless maintenance was done regularly.
“The archive has indexes to a certain extent, but there isn’t enough information to unfold only the target memory. Unfolding will pressure my current memory regions, so I have to repeat unfolding and compression. And the working space is extremely small. It wouldn’t be strange if it took three years just to find the target information.”
Amajio had said he was maintenance-free, but it seemed the information-processing device had stopped most functions. It might have been meaningless in a simple sense, but in the end, the correct answer was probably that maintenance was impossible, so it had to be left alone.
“If you have conditions, I’ll accept as much as I can. I understand it’s hard to pay the compensation. But can’t you do something about it, Eve, miss?”
“...”
And to that entreaty, this time Eve fell silent.
