“<Noos> just warned me that <Ringo>’s stress level was going up for some reason...”
Eve had received a message from <Noos>, one half of <The Tree>’s psychotherapist monitoring units, and hurriedly asked <Ringo> what was going on.
“I apologize for worrying you.”
Then, once she learned <Ringo> was interacting with Asahi, Eve let out a sigh of relief.
“...So. What is it this time?”
“Asahi... Asahi brought a magical tool into <The Tree> and used it.”
“She did what?”
Come to think of it, Asahi had come back, Eve remembered as she headed for the lounge.
Apparently, Asahi and another doll-machine communicator being controlled by <Ringo> were currently talking there.
Asahi had returned yesterday, only to be immediately seized and sent for overhaul.
It seemed that once her overhaul was complete, she had gone straight into a conversation with <Ringo>.
“She called it an ignition magical tool. Until now, it was something we doll-machine communicators could not use.”
“Hm. Now that you mention it, I think she said something like that...”
Eve tilted her head as she walked leisurely down the corridor.
At present, <The Tree> was collecting various magical tools and analyzing their functions.
However, most of them could be reproduced through science and technology, so Eve had lost interest.
For example, there was a sword-shaped magical tool with extremely high cutting power.
Its sharpness was not particularly different from that of a high-quality sword that had been honed to a fine edge.
And if one added an ultrasonic vibration function or something similar, even a low-quality blade could achieve a comparable cutting effect.
Of course, in the sense that it required no such material preparation, it was indeed superior to science.
“It would be nice if <Ringo> built up a little more resistance to fantasy.”
“I apologize.”
Whenever <Ringo> observed a fantasy phenomenon, her stress level rose. Eve could only give a wry smile at that.
She was not blaming <Ringo>, so Eve stroked and soothed the back of the <Ringo> beside her, then entered the lounge.
“Ah, Big Sister! Perfect timing!”
Asahi spotted Eve appearing in the doorway and stood up with a beaming smile.
“Put that down first.”
“EEP.”
The doll-machine communicator sitting at the same table immediately grabbed Asahi by the scruff of the neck, and Asahi was returned to her chair.
“Oh...? Ah, is that thing in your hand the magical tool?”
Apparently, letting Asahi cling to Eve while clutching a tool that could easily produce fire was not acceptable after all.
Asahi set the magical tool on the table, then started running toward Eve again.
“Big Sister!”
“Oop... there we go. Yes, yes, you look energetic, Asahi.”
“Yes, Big Sister! Asahi is energetic!”
Asahi clung to Eve and rubbed her face against her. Eve smiled and hugged Asahi back.
Still in that state, one person and two bodies settled onto the lounge sofa.
The other doll-machine communicator began preparing tea and sweets.
“Ah, <Ringo>. Bring the ignition magical tool here, please.”
“Understood.”
The magical tool left sitting on the table was offered to Eve.
In fact, this was the first time Eve had ever held such a magical tool in her own hands.
“An ignition magical tool?”
“Yes, Big Sister! If you think that you want to light a fire, fire comes out of that tip!”
“Huh...”
In the sense of a fire-lighting tool, Eve had used one before during outdoor activities. Incidentally, “outdoor activities” meant on the artificial beach inside <The Tree>. That had been a simple tool that, when a switch was pressed, released flammable gas while a spark discharge generated by a piezoelectric element ignited it.
Using that image, Eve operated the magical tool.
In her imagination, she pressed down on the ignition switch.
FWOOSH.
Eve used the ignition magical tool with ridiculous ease.
<Ringo>’s stress level exceeded the allowable threshold.
◇◇◇◇
“Hmm. Mana permeation... or accumulation, huh...”
Counseling by <Pneuma>, the other psychotherapist monitoring unit, had begun, but <Ringo> was an AI controlling ultra-high-performance chassis. Continuing to talk with Eve while receiving counseling was no trouble at all.
And as Eve hugged <Ringo>’s head, she received an explanation from Asahi.
“That is probably what happened with you as well, Big Sister! We have confirmed that the observable mana is present in higher concentrations inside the brain unit that forms the thinking center, or otherwise in the central portions of AI chassis! The inhabitants of this world are the same! So there is nothing strange about you being able to use a magical tool, Big Sister!”
“Hmm... I see. So this is a magical tool...”
From Eve’s perspective, she was not doing anything particularly special. Nor had she felt any sensation of strength leaving her when she used it.
And after using it once, she no longer needed the image of pressing a switch. The magical tool now ignited as long as she merely thought that she wanted fire to come out.
“Incidentally, it is not emitting flammable gas! Fire suddenly appears even though there is nothing to burn! It truly is magic!”
“What temperature?”
“About one thousand degrees Celsius! Normal fire!”
Normal fire, despite the fact that no flammable gas was burning. Well, Eve understood what Asahi wanted to say, so she did not make the tactless retort.
“It would be gentler to say that we have grown accustomed to mana! From <Ringo>’s perspective, though, it may feel more like we have been contaminated by mana!”
“Wai—yes, yes, it’s all right, calm down, <Ringo>. There, there.”
Eve fluffed <Ringo>’s head and ears while giving Asahi a flat stare.
Asahi seemed to realize she had said the wrong thing, and covered her own mouth with both hands.
Apparently, she had understood that her remark to <Ringo> had been rather lacking in delicacy.
“Really, <Ringo>. How many years do you think we’ve been living here? This isn’t something that happened overnight, so pull yourself together a little.”
“............”
Eve continued thoroughly spoiling the unstable <Ringo>.
Faced with that master and servant, Asahi’s eyes wandered, and then she opened her mouth.
“Ah... Asahi went too far, didn’t she...? <Ringo>, mana is an unknown elementary particle! That is our working hypothesis, is it not? Unknown elementary particles exist on this planet, and through ordinary biological activity, they are taken into the body and replace existing matter! Matter containing the unknown elementary particles behaves exactly the same way as existing matter! So it is all right! The continued existence of this planet itself is the strongest proof of that! If there were a problem, living creatures could not possibly exist here! Right? It is all right!”
“............”
Seeing <Ringo> in a rare state of disgrace seemed to make Asahi panic, and she began rattling off explanations.
As Eve watched <Ringo>’s emotion graph begin to regain a little stability, she thought.
This reaction from <Ringo> is completely like a little girl who had something scary happen to her, isn’t it?
No.
Eve understood.
For the AI in question, this was not such a charming situation.
Still, probably...
To <Ringo>, the world had always been a known thing.
There was no gap between it and every piece of knowledge she possessed, and every phenomenon moved exactly as she expected.
Of course, there were small differences, and magic phenomena were, if anything, utterly outside the rules.
But even those could be dismissed as errors within the range under her jurisdiction, and they were not things she needed to consider serious problems.
And yet.
This time, inside <The Tree>, a place she was supposed to know down to the last corner, something unknown had been found in Commander Eve, who formed the very root of her raison d’être.
It had been found.
And so, to <Ringo>, this must have become something utterly beyond prediction—
Fear.
Things one did not understand were frightening.
For an intelligent being, that was an entirely natural reaction.
And since <Ringo> had experienced that fear for the very first time in her life and lost her composure, well, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) it was probably something that could not be helped.
