“Master Falser. No intruders from seven to nine. No traces.”
“Good work.”
The man nodded at the patrol unit’s report.
The unit leader gave a silent bow, turned around on the spot, and left the room.
This was a garrison facility built within the Edea Beastin United Kingdom. It was the station for the blockade force on territory the Prava Divine Kingdom had seized.
“At present, there are no signs of military action.”
The battalion commander, who commanded several units, murmured that as he compiled the recent reports.
More than half a year had passed since the Prava Divine Kingdom began maintaining this blockade line, but the original owners still seemed unable to take action.
The battalion commander compiled the report into documents, then left the room with them in hand.
His destination now was the room of Izre=Kakitsubata, the military attaché stationed here from ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) <Paraiso>, their new collaborator.
When he knocked on the door, a reply came at once.
“Excuse me.”
“Thank you for coming.”
Izre=Kakitsubata rose from her desk and greeted the battalion commander, Falser, as he entered.
She then guided him to the reception set.
“It is the usual regular report. It should not take long.”
“Judging from your expression, nothing seems to have gone wrong. In that case, you may as well take your time.”
Izre seated Falser on the sofa, then promptly sat across from him herself.
As though taking that as a cue, a <Paraiso> servant girl emerged from the cooking space beside the room, pushing a wagon loaded with a tea set and light refreshments.
“...Very well. It is true there is nothing urgent. I will partake.”
Falser, too, was used to this by now.
To the Chimiya Family, <Paraiso> was the greatest collaborator they could possibly have. That much was clear even from the faint information they had heard from what, to them, was the front line.
In that case, he had no objection to exchanging words with Izre=Kakitsubata, <Paraiso>’s representative in this land. If anything, it was an event he ought to approach proactively.
“...Hmm. Today, we have an herbal tea said to have been drunk in this region since long ago, and baked sweets said to be distributed during special occasions such as festivals. The common versions tend to have a great deal of unpleasant aftertaste and are often rather subtle, but...”
“I see. Prepared with your technology, they are transformed into first-rate goods.”
After silently tasting the herbal tea and baked sweets, Izre=Kakitsubata nodded in satisfaction. Falser, who had likewise finished eating in silence, said as much.
Raw ingredients without adulteration, proper proportions, cooking time, and heat level. By controlling all of those strictly, commoner cuisine could be transformed into fine cuisine.
“If the appearance is also refined, it has enough potential to work as an export product. We found something good.”
This time, the items consisted of an herbal tea that turned a vivid orange when dried flower petals were mixed into it, and chiffon-cake-like baked sweets dyed orange by mixing in the same petals.
The herb that served as the raw ingredient grew wild in large quantities in this region, and some cultivation was apparently already being done, so Izre=Kakitsubata judged that it could likely be exported as a regional specialty.
“Well, that part is fine. It is a problem for the native inhabitants.”
As she raised her left hand to request a refill, Izre continued.
“Now then, let me hear today’s report.”
“Very well.”
In place of the cleared-away tea set, several reports were placed on the table.
“The contents are almost unchanged from the previous report. Number of repulsed attempts, number of captured persons. There are also no traces of intruders in the abandoned forts included on the patrol routes.”
“...I see. Compared to the last three months, there are no particularly conspicuous changes.”
Intrusions by forces believed to be reconnaissance units, conducted irregularly once every few days to once every ten-odd days. Border crossings by destitute people, with no particular pattern.
After confirming that there were no notable changes in those, Izre raised her face.
“The spies we have inserted have also reported no particular information that preparations for an advance are progressing. At the very least, this situation will likely continue for several more months.”
“Your confirmation is appreciated. Our unit will be transferred to a different site in roughly two weeks, but I ask for your continued support.”
The battalion led by Falser was scheduled to withdraw to the main base soon.
This was also part of a plan to gradually replace the guards along the blockade line with <Paraiso> units.
In the first place, to the Chimiya Family, the work of opening a road through the <Demon Forest> was far more important than preserving national territory.
If their units were not returned there soon, their dissatisfaction might explode.
“That side presents no issue. We are also opening movement routes in parallel. In another month, we expect to have a system ready that will allow us to control ninety percent of the blockade line.”
“Understood. I will inform the members of the unit as well.”
At present, the long blockade line was maintained by former cleric-soldiers incorporated into the Chimiya Family. <The Tree> was trying to have its automated machine groups take over that role.
Originally, the plan had been to simply hand all of that off to the Chimiya Family, but a mistake had occurred because <The Tree> had failed to understand the Chimiya Family’s behavioral principles.
The Chimiya Family was a group whose dearest wish was to break through the <Demon Forest>. And fundamentally, they had no other desire.
The former cleric-soldiers had been incorporated into the Chimiya Family in order to unify their chain of command, but because of that, the former cleric-soldiers had also begun to share the Chimiya Family’s desire.
When the AIs of <The Tree> first heard that report, they were uniformly bewildered.
The human species was not supposed to accept external alteration of consciousness so easily by nature.
And yet, in only a few days, the cleric-soldiers’ values had been overwritten into ones equivalent to those of the Chimiya Family.
It was not as though their previous memories had vanished.
And that phenomenon brought <Ringo> deep concern.
Magic fantasy, an unknown technology, could easily alter the consciousness and thoughts of living organisms that should have arisen from complex, bizarre chemical reactions in cranial nerves.
That could cause irreversible effects on brain units composed of pseudo-biological cells, and by extension, even on the fully biological Commander Eve.
For the time being, all artificial intelligences connected to the Prava Divine Kingdom were to use chassis equipped with photonic neural networks, allowing complete backups to be obtained.
The problem was what to do about the androids that were so eager to go out to the front line.
◇◇◇◇
“Hmm. Consciousness rewriting, is it?”
When something was unclear, ask the person involved.
After consulting with Eve, <Ringo> had asked No. 6, Asahi, who had returned to <The Tree> for a visit, what she thought.
“There’s no question that it’s a threat... We do have precedents for consciousness rewriting itself, after all!”
The example Asahi brought up was a certain man who had, at one point, caused the phenomenon of rewriting a brain unit from the outside.
At present, Eve had admonished them that confining him in an experimental facility would be far too inhumane, but he was too dangerous to leave at large, so he had been made to retire to the outskirts of Telek Port City.
A doll-machine communicator was always watching him, so, well, there probably would not be a problem.
Depending on how one thought about it, having a lovely fox-girl as a neighbor’s company should not be bad.
Probably.
Not that anyone knew.
In any case.
“I can imagine that it would be a little too dangerous for Asahi to go to the front line! If we used a remote-control-type doll-machine communicator and isolated me both physically and informationally, I don’t think it would affect us here. We did learn that the indoctrination man could be neutralized by those countermeasures, at least!”
In response to Eve and <Ringo>’s question, Asahi answered that way.
Perhaps because she had gained a certain amount of experience and become calmer, Asahi’s desire to go personally to the front line seemed to have gone quiet.
“If we can secure safety by our standards, I would absolutely love to go see it, though! And for that reason, information collection comes first right now!”
“I see... Asahi, you really are thinking things through. That’s a relief.”
“I can’t go causing you mental strain, Big Sister! Asahi grows too, you know!”
Eve caught Asahi as she clung to her and let out a relieved sigh.
That said.
<Ringo> was still watching Asahi with suspicious eyes.
