“Who on earth built this fortress?”
“...Hard to say.”
Not just the spirits they’re making.
All the facilities our engineers have put up inside this fortress.
Every bit of know-how required to make those things comes from—
“—what the fortress itself provides.”
Which is why
the Spirit Users couldn’t help but be unsettled.
“Such a radical, advanced spirit craft...”
—The approach is offensive, but I must admit the level is extraordinary. This isn’t something a simple change of perspective could achieve. “Spirit” is an abstruse concept... Without a perfect grasp of that concept, this method would be impossible. Even our tribe, who have communed with spirits for thousands, tens of thousands of years, never imagined such a thing...
If what they’re saying is true,
then whoever made this fortress possesses extremely deep knowledge of spirits.
No—more than that.
All the powerful facilities ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) erected here,
those too were built from information stored inside Vimana.
Cook inside and the effects of cooking are amplified; train inside and training gains are multiplied—
We’ve been enjoying it without a second thought,
but when you think about it, it’s an absurd level of technology.
“Who made it, huh.”
Obvious, if you stop to think.
A fortress of this scale doesn’t just appear for no reason.
Someone had to make it.
Someone had to record knowledge like that.
I am curious who they are, but
that curiosity—
“If we finish this, won’t we find out?”
“True.”
If anything could know,
it would be this thing called an Artificial Spirit.
“Otherworldly technology, is it.”
Thanks to Borjin joining us,
our unit’s Spirit Users and shamans have seen a massive rise in capability.
If we can learn the otherworldly tech sleeping inside Vimana,
our unit can take another step up.
The two Spirit Users threw themselves into the work with everything they had.
After a considerable time—
[Construction of the Artificial Spirit is complete.]
[Autonomous decision-making Artificial Spirit for fortress management]
[Vimanar]
—It is complete.
“We’re done.”
In the center of the command room,
something like the Spirit Core we’d seen not long ago took its place.
[The Artificial Spirit, Vimanar, recognizes the fortress’s ruling faction.]
[The Artificial Spirit, Vimanar, recognizes the fortress’s lord.]
[The Artificial Spirit, Vimanar, perceives the fortress’s current status and history.]
[The fortress’s autonomous decision system is activated.]
[The Artificial Spirit, Vimanar, begins operation.]
[The Artificial Spirit will, under any circumstances, act for the fortress lord, and will never betray or deceive the lord.]
[Depending on how you use it, it can become a helpful secretary. Please make good use of it!]
=Greetings, my lord.
A few lines of messages swept across my view,
and a neutral voice rang through the inner keep.
=I am Vimanar, the dedicated spirit honored to be entrusted with the supervision and governance of this Mobile Fortress, Vimana. I will serve with all sincerity, and I ask for your favorable regard.
A small sphere had formed in the middle of Command and Control.
The sphere began to speak.
****
The Artificial Spirit suddenly spoke to me.
At its words, I jabbed Jung Sua at my side with my elbow and asked,
“...Hey, can spirits talk?”
“I’ve never heard of a case where they can communicate with someone who isn’t a Spirit User...”
So this was new even to Jung Sua.
Perhaps the concept of a manufactured spirit still offended him.
Borjin frowned as he answered.
—It means it was made for a purpose that special.
“Hm.”
At that,
I faced the sphere and asked a question.
“You said you would serve with all sincerity?”
=That is correct.
“Then let me start with this.”
Since this thing is also a facility of the fortress,
the first thing to ascertain is, of course—
“What can you do?”
How can we
make use of this facility?
=At the most basic level, I can perform comprehensive management of the fortress.
“Management?”
The instant my eyes widened at that,
a transparent window surfaced before me.
[The Artificial Spirit — Vimanar is delegated the fortress’s management authority.]
[If you present the growth direction you want to the Artificial Spirit, it will construct facilities and perform level-ups in accordance with that direction!]
“...!”
I read the message that had appeared,
then asked it,
“You’re saying you can put buildings on empty lots, or level up facilities... things like that?”
=Yes. If you entrust it to me, I can handle as much of it as you wish.
I’ll admit, that surprised me.
And with good reason.
“One of the reasons I couldn’t leave for another region was this, to some extent.”
Only I, as guild master, could manage the fortress.
Abandoning duties only I could perform to leave for another region would have been extremely irresponsible.
But now,
I’m not the only one who can handle facility management.
“I do... like the sound of that.”
Even if I’m away,
at least this part won’t have to worry me.
=Beyond the overall management of fortress operations... I can also serve as an advisor, offering counsel on the plans you hold, my lord.
“An advisor, huh.”
If I ask something,
this thing will answer.
Hmm.
Facility management, just now—that part was tempting.
“But that... feels a bit vague.”
Bluntly,
I already have plenty of advisors.
The squad leaders I regularly trade opinions with, for one.
“I don’t talk with her often, but even Miho, our martial instructor, was a considerable intellect in her world.”
Her world’s destruction left her oddly resigned,
so she rarely offers advice unprompted,
but if I were to seek it, she’d give an excellent answer.
“And we have the monk, too.”
Beyond that, the Legion includes professionals across many fields.
Whatever comes up, someone can produce an answer.
Even so,
if there’s a reason to ask this thing—
“It would be something only it is likely to know.”
This fortress possesses deep knowledge of spirits,
and the technical prowess to build all manner of facilities.
And this is the Artificial Spirit installed in that fortress.
“If you call yourself an advisor, then answer just one thing.”
=Ask anything.
If it
knows all the information housed in this fortress—
“What is the true nature of this fortress?”
At least that much
should be fair to ask.
It was exactly the question Jung Sua had just wondered about.
Even as I posed it,
I figured it wouldn’t answer easily.
“I’ve never once gotten information like this the easy way up till now.”
Naturally there’d be restrictions in place.
So I thought... but—
=This fortress, Vimana, is a mobile fortress installation created with a special purpose.
“Eh?”
Contrary to my expectation,
it answered more readily than I’d thought.
=The purpose of its construction was escape from the dimension and survival in outer space. To that end, installations capable of withstanding the pressures of outer space were required, and a grand project commenced, pooling all technologies and resources of the manufacturing dimension, Babylonia. Materials invested: Misrandil 2,875 tons; Adamantir 12,763 tons...
“Uh...?”
=Personnel involved: War-King Gamaeshir; Beast Kidor...
It even began
to rattle off strange, complex details and names one after another.
The problem was—
“—even if you tell me, I don’t understand a word of it.”
I appreciated the explanation,
but to me as the listener, it was incomprehensible.
“...War-King? Beast?”
War-King, sure,
but why is a beast participating in fortress construction—
Anyway.
Compared to not getting an answer at all,
this was a big surprise.
“Are you really allowed to answer so easily...?”
=Of course. There is information restricted until the fortress’s functions are unsealed; aside from that, sharing all other information with the lord is only natural.
“...”
From its perspective, that might be obvious.
For me, it wasn’t.
“Ariella knew nothing; the pope seemed to know something, but wouldn’t tell.”
Seohwan and Miho—
aside from suffering an invasion, they knew nothing.
But whoever made a civilization like this—
this thing should know something.
“You said Babylonia.”
=If you mean the dimension that undertook the fortress’s construction, yes.
“They built this fortress with the purpose of escaping the dimension and surviving in outer space.”
As for the reason,
I didn’t bother to ask.
“I’m sure they were destroyed by other-dimensional beings swarming in, same as the others.”
=That is...
“Why do they!”
Same as with Changsu’s group,
I, too, had carried this question.
“Why do they go around destroying other dimensions?”
At last—
was I about to learn the reason?
****
...Or so I thought.
=My lord. There is one correction to make first.
“Hm?”
=Babylonia did not attempt escape because of other-dimensional beings.
“They didn’t?”
I’d taken it for granted it was like the other worlds,
and like our Earth—
that they were invaded by existences from another realm.
If not,
then why attempt to escape...?
=This fortress, too, has grasped what is happening in this world. However, Babylonia’s destruction occurred for reasons unrelated to that.
“Unrelated? Is that even possible?”
=There can be many reasons a world is destroyed. And those reasons are more diverse than you might think. That their world perished for reasons different from this one would not, in itself, be strange.
“...”
So the dimension that made this fortress did experience destruction—
but for reasons different from ours.
=Even in your world, my lord, wasn’t this particular manner of destruction something you hadn’t expected?
“...True.”
Stories about “the end of the world” were common on Earth.
And most of them leaned far more toward—
“—nuclear war or pandemics.”
Worlds destroyed for other reasons,
that wouldn’t be strange.
“Haa...”
A curious feeling of let-down.
I asked, as if in passing,
“Fine, say they had other reasons to build this fortress. Then why is this fortress here now?”
=Babylonia strove to avoid destruction and built the fortress... but failed.
“Huh? Failed?”
We have a completed fortress sitting right here—
so what failed?
=They had materials and technology in abundance, but ran out of time.
“Ah...”
=The fortress had no choice but to remain incomplete.
At that,
one thing surfaced in my mind.
—Looks like this fortress wasn’t a finished product after all.
When Vimana was first summoned,
its level was only 1.
At the time, since the system resembles a game,
I’d just assumed it naturally starts at 1 and moved on.
“...So it was like this from the start.”
=Correct.
From the beginning, this fortress
was mid-development.
“...I’ve seen a high-level Vimana under different conditions. What was that?”
=Though there was no time to complete it, the design up to Vimana’s completion is finished. Looking at the fortress’s summoning log... there is a recorded case of appearance in an imaginal world prior to formal summoning.
Ariella’s [Shadow Veil].
It must mean the time it was summoned in that world.
=What you witnessed, my lord, was likely the state achieved when every plan written into the design had been fully realized.
...So that was the completed form.
Then what is our Vimana’s state now?
If it hasn’t reached completion, a prototype, perhaps?
=And as for the question you asked, my lord—“Why is Vimana here?”—the answer is simple.
“...?”
=A trade.
...A trade?
=The contents of the trade are not recorded in the fortress. But the fortress’s previous owner struck some manner of bargain, and in return, transferred the fortress.
“...A trade, huh.”
I don’t know the details,
but in the end, the ones who built this fortress failed to bring it to the level they needed and were destroyed.
Right before destruction,
in exchange for handing over this incomplete fortress...
they made some kind of deal.
=What the deal was and who the counterparty was are unknown, so the route it took is unclear. Ultimately, however, the fortress arrived in this world.
As a result of that trade,
this fortress, somehow, was passed here,
and that’s how our unit came to acquire it.
Strictly speaking—
“We got it as a system reward.”
Something that appeared one day out of the blue,
telling us to fight.
“This thing, too... I still don’t know what it is.”
Too passive to be called Earth’s god,
and oddly slapdash in places.
Hard to call it the cause that made this world like this,
given that it showed hostility toward [Dungeons].
There are all sorts of questions, but—
“No.”
There’s no need to waste time on thoughts I can’t confirm.
What matters is one thing.
“So. This fortress was built with the goal of escaping a dimension.”
=That is correct.
“And if I raise this fortress’s level, it will have the specs to achieve that goal?”
=You understand perfectly. As expected of this fortress’s lord.
I think I finally understand
why those others from that world made this thing.
“Contractors leaned on demons, in the end... to escape a world doomed to perish.”
Why Vimana was built—
likely this, precisely.
They, too, just like us...
had no savior to carry them out of annihilation.
“So they chose to build one themselves, is that it.”
Something that would let them flee from a perishing world.
“An escape craft.”
An escape craft.
