Something enormous was brought into Duke Silverhead’s estate.
After being unloaded from a large <Paraiso> cargo ship, it was transported all the way to the ducal estate under the protection of <Paraiso> soldiers.
The ducal estate was a symbol of authority.
It possessed vast grounds, and its main gate was correspondingly grand.
But the structure being brought in was even larger than that gate.
For that reason, the main gate had been dismantled, leaving the entrance gaping wide open.
“Wh-What did they bring here...?”
The marines guarding the main gate stared up at it blankly.
Even after every piece of gate equipment had been removed, the width only barely fit. As for the height, it looked even taller than the three-story ducal manor. That gigantic something, loaded onto an equally gigantic carriage, slowly moved under its own power into the estate grounds.
“You’re working hard.”
“Your Grace! Y-Yes, sir! Thank you very much!”
Watching with a wry smile as the beautifully laid stone pavement and the lush green lawn were peeled up under the weight, Duke Amajio Silverhead waved to the approaching Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero.
“Ah, Lady Sera. I’ve been looking forward to this day.”
“It was transported /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ all the way from the homeland. Proper hospitality is required.”
“You really never change. Well, I’ve got the terrace prepared. Let’s head over there.”
Amajio and his attendants guided the Aide-Envoy party to the terrace seating that had been prepared in advance.
There, rare tea leaves gathered by the Kingdom of Lepuitari from overseas and a variety of regionally distinctive sweets had been laid out.
“Good grief. I was wondering what you were planning to do, and then you go and bring in something this absurd.”
“For now, this. Eventually, the equipment will be moved to the leased territory, and this will become the backup.”
Answering like that, the Aide-Envoy immediately reached for the sweets that had been served.
Clearly used to this by now, the assigned pastry chef began the explanation at once.
While their light conversation continued for a while, the enormous mysterious machine that had been brought in finally reached its designated position.
Watching as it was fixed in place almost entirely automatically by the carriage’s own functions, Amajio took a sip of black tea.
“...Now then. Let’s confirm a little more about that.”
“Understood.”
The Aide-Envoy also set the cup down on its saucer, then held out the right hand to the side.
One of the accompanying <Paraiso> guards stepped forward and placed something in that hand.
“This is the access key.”
The Aide-Envoy set it on the table, then slid it smoothly toward Amajio.
It was an electronic key sealed inside crystal, about the thickness and length of a thumb.
A laminated circuit was embedded in the center, and eight gold terminals extended toward the tail end.
“It has been formatted so that you can read it directly. Once used, direct communication with that expanded Argument Brain will become possible from then on.”
“...Hm.”
Amajio Silverhead gently picked up the crystal key.
An electronic circuit no bigger than the tip of a little finger.
Inside it was stored the decryption certificate needed to establish an encrypted communications route.
“The A Argument B Brain structure carries a compact fusion reactor. More than half of that volume is the reactor itself. The rest is processing equipment and defensive armor. It can also be incorporated into the power-supply grid.”
“The power-supply grid... right, you mentioned microwave power supply before. You’re seriously using that?”
“There is no civilization capable of detecting it. Therefore, it is useful.”
“And one more thing,” the Aide-Envoy continued.
“An important function. Maintenance for your body.”
Those words left Amajio staring blankly for a moment.
“This is not especially surprising. Even if you call it maintenance-free, after a hundred years, distortion is highly likely to have developed. You should take this opportunity to conduct a full overhaul once. While we are at it, a memory-capacity expansion unit can also be added.”
“Ah...”
Amajio fell silent with an expression that was hard to describe.
“I have no intention of harming you, so I would like you to be at ease. There is no advantage to us in using such a roundabout method. Rather than planting something, simply severing relations from the outset would be far lower-risk and lower-cost for us.”
“Yeah, no, that’s not it.”
Turning the crystal key over in his hand, Amajio went on in a sighing voice.
“It’s just that I think you’re treating me awfully well. Even a device I could only use for a short time would have been fine on my end. All I really need is to expand my memory archive. And for that, you bring over something this huge, complete with a proper power reactor...”
With the crystal key, Amajio pointed toward the gigantic installation that was driving an earth auger into the ground and boring out foundation holes.
“You went to the trouble of bringing it here. Lady Sera—or rather, all of you—I can’t understand what you’re thinking, or what benefit there is for you in going this far. Well, if it’s goodwill, then I’ll accept it as that. I’m just not sure whether I can ever pay it back.”
“To me. Lord Amajio. You are already one of us. You were the one who declared that. In that case, we will make the most effective use possible of you. To the greatest extent possible.”
“...You AIs are easy to talk to. No tedious little games.”
Then Amajio gave the crystal key a small spin and drove its exposed pure-gold terminal end into the back of his own head.
Several maids watching the scene went pale in shock.
Amajio raised a hand to stop them, then pulled the crystal key back out as if nothing at all had happened.
“Hm. Is that already running?”
“It is running. One hundred percent usable. An overhaul is recommended after foundation fixation is complete, but information linkage poses no problem.”
“I see.”
And at that moment, a massive data transfer occurred between the AB structure and Amajio’s control device.
The compressed archive data had been transferred into the AB structure.
The archive expansion took only an instant. The transcendent supercomputer built into the AB structure expanded all of it in less than a millisecond and sent the access token back to Amajio’s control device.
“...”
“Requesting data sharing.”
The fact that the archive had been expanded had already been broadcast through the network of <Paraiso>—no, of <The Tree>.
More precisely, a publication request had been sent to Amajio at the moment of expansion.
“Hold on a second...”
Since he had been sending past memories into archive storage in a fairly random manner, some information mixed in there was not something he particularly wanted shown.
Mostly memories related to private hobbies.
For the time being, Amajio attached nonpublic tags to those, then uploaded the data to the network.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
The data uploaded by Amajio Salmon was cleansed and then transferred to <The Tree>.
“Coordinates for <Trout Nursery> confirmed. Latitude and longitude have been calculated from astronomical records. Continental map will be transferred.”
“...Hmph.”
Amajio checked the map and let out a short sigh.
He popped into his mouth a confection made by mixing eggs, flour, and sugar, then frying it in oil.
It was a calorie bomb, but what Amajio needed while releasing the processing functions inside his brain was calories.
A confection that could supply carbohydrates, sugar, and oil was actually quite excellent.
“I see. So it moved this much over a hundred years...”
By linking together the astronomical information that had been recorded at key points along the way, Amajio Salmon’s travel route was displayed on the map.
The journey Amajio Salmon had begun from <Trout Nursery> had continued over the course of several decades until it reached the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
“<Trout Nursery> is deep inside <Demon Forest>, within the territory of the Prava Divine Kingdom. Unless you use airborne insertion, you have to pass through the Prava Divine Kingdom to reach it. Since it is deep inland, cover from the sea is also difficult. As expected, the Prava Divine Kingdom must be pacified.”
“I see... Hm? No, hey, wait a second—you people already started invading, didn’t you!? What the hell is this icon? Hey, Jotun—this thing’s engine output is more than double most reactors out there... and 1,842 multi-legged tanks!? What the hell are you people doing!?”
