Combatants Will Be Dispatched - Volume 4 - Chapter 4.7

7 

Thanks to a certain someone’s depth charge, many of the mysterious floating lamps have been shattered, leaving the halls in these ruins dimly lit. 

The wreckage of something is lying on its side at my feet… 

“Hey, Rose, this might be the place you grew up in, right? The person who wrecked it is standing right there. You’re welcome to hit her if you want.” 

“W-wait a second, Six! It’s not like you thought we’d find a ruin like this inside that giant lizard’s lair!” 

The fact that Lilith and I are more talkative than usual is just part of the fun. 

There’s no way that a Supreme Leader and a Combat Agent from an evil organization can run on home, leaving a girl to fend for herself in here. 

We managed to convince Rose not to go alone and have resumed our survey of the ruins. 

“Um, Boss, Lady Lilith, you don’t need to keep going if this is too much. You two get twitchy every time we find something odd, but for some reason, I’m not afraid of any of it. I should be fine on my own.” 

Rose continues leading us along the sparsely lit hallway. 

Using Rose’s tiny back as a marker, we continue deeper into these ruins, which reverberate with the creepy groaning. 

“…You know, looking at the wreckage strewn everywhere, it doesn’t seem like this stuff fell apart naturally. Just so we’re clear, my depth charge wasn’t the cause, either. This junk has been this way since way before that. These are the remains from some sort of battle.” 

“Hey, Rose, don’t believe a word of what she’s saying. She’s always making baseless statements of one kind or another.” 

As I ignore Lilith’s murderous gaze, Rose lets out a soft chuckle. 

Despite her claims to the contrary, no doubt Lilith feels a bit guilty, which explains why she’s still tagging along, complaining under her breath, even though she was petrified earlier. 

“Lady Lilith, honestly, you do remind me of my grandpa,” says Rose affectionately. 

Unused to the syrupy sensation this elicits, Lilith turns away to avoid Rose’s eyes. 

We eventually arrive at a giant door deep inside the ruins. 

Still wary of the groaning and rumbling from within, we open it and find a glass case that I swear I’ve seen somewhere before. 

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s the one we found in the neighboring kingdom of Toris. 

The same one Russell had been sealed in… 

“Look at this, Six! This device is used to gestate dangerous organics inside this glass tube! Specifically, stuff like pretty-boy homunculi or maybe someone’s clone! Let’s have Alice analyze it and make a second and third Astaroth and Belial! We can have a bunch of sweet, freshly born Astaroths pamper and take care of us.” 

Lilith responds much like I did when I first saw one of these. 

“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt, Lady Lilith, but…this is probably where I slept…” 

Rose apologizes while Lilith continues gushing over the device. “Of course, I knew that. This is what you’d call a ‘scientist joke’… Six, what are you looking at, exactly? If you have something you want to say, I’ll listen to it later. Just…leave me alone for now.” 

As I watch her with a smirk, Lilith blushes and begins her survey. 

The two of us walk in silence for a bit. 

“Lady Lilith, do you have something to say?” 

“Six, look at him. No doubt he’s spent ages guarding this place. To stand here, obeying his creator’s orders even as his body falls apart… A certain rebellious android could stand to learn a thing or two from him.” 

Sprawled out in front of us is a human-shaped robot, the source of that eerie rumbling, though its arms and legs have been destroyed. 

I’d peg it at about three meters tall. 

I don’t know what it’s made of, but even I can tell lead bullets wouldn’t do much. 

“Is this the thing you were afraid of, Lady Lilith?” 

“Sh-shut up! You refused to explore deeper, too.” 

Rose returns to us after wandering around the room. 

“This is Mr. Tomekichi, the gardener robot.” 

““Mr. Tomekichi.”” 

As her words completely wreck the dystopian mood in the room, Lilith and I can’t help but repeat them. 

“I don’t know what a gardener robot is, but this golem is Mr. Tomekichi. His name popped into my head for some reason.” 

“…Lady Lilith, what should we do with Mr. Tomekichi? Should we take him back to the hideout and repair him?” 

“No, no. Even I can’t repair a Mr. Tomekichi I’ve just seen for the first time. I may be a scientific genius, but I don’t know how an alien robot is constructed.” 

As though hearing our whispered conversation, Rose shakes her head gently. 

“Actually, since there’s no more garden to tend, Mr. Tomekichi would like to retire. He isn’t able to reach the switch on his back without his arms, so he’d appreciate it if you could do it for him.” 

“Huh…you can understand him…?” 

Rose and Lilith circle around to Mr. Tomekichi’s giant back to press the deactivation button. 

While they do the honors, I decide to take a look around the ruins to see if there isn’t something of value left lying around… 

A map on the wall catches my eye. 

Approaching and touching it, I notice it’s not made of paper but some sort of petrochemical plastic. 

“Six, what are you looking at? We’ve finished granting Mr. Tomekichi’s retirement request.” 

Turning toward Lilith, I see Rose with her hands together, offering a little prayer for the now-immobile Mr. Tomekichi. 

She’s a good kid, but I wish she’d taken off the entire fursuit and not just the head. 

…Anyway, the gardener robot (Mr. Tomekichi), these mysterious ruins, and an ancient super-culture… 

“Lady Lilith, can I just quit thinking?” 

“It’s not like I ever had any expectations for you in that area anyway. Leave this sort of thing to Alice and me…but never mind that. This map…” 

Looking refreshed, Rose joins us in studying the map. 

“Boss, let’s head back to the hideout. It’s just a hunch, but I feel like there’s nothing left here. I have no idea why I know this, but…” 

It seems like Rose is remembering bits and pieces, but I guess she still can’t sort out the important details. 

“Oh, this map…” 

Rose suddenly points at the item that’s captured our attention. 

“This! This seems to be the place where they found me. I’m not sure how I know this, but these are the ruins I was found in, and this is one of our summer homes.” 

These ruins appear to be stirring up all sorts of memories. 

What do you mean, “summer home”? Aren’t you a Chimera? 

Or maybe she was a pretty well-off noble in the Chimera Kingdom? 

“…Lady Lilith, you’re smart, right? You get along with her pretty well. Can I leave figuring out her identity to you? There’s just way too much Rose backstory, and I can feel my mind slipping away.” 

“You lost your mind a long time ago. And you’re really going to push another thing on me, even though I don’t know her nearly as well…?” 

Rose begins tagging the map with the marker we’d been using for tic-tac-toe. 

“So to recap: She was born here, and she was asleep in the summer home. When she woke up, someone had reduced this place—her home—to ruins. Meanwhile, Rose herself is suffering from amnesia…” 

“…Aren’t you the one who wrecked this place, Lady Lilith?” 

“My depth charge wouldn’t do this much damage! I-it’s true! Besides, there wasn’t much left of it anyway! I swear! Quit looking at me like that!” 

I suppose it’s enough of a discovery to learn that this wreckage-strewn ruin is where Rose was born and raised. 

Just then, Rose interrupts our conversation. 

“I remember there being a lot more machines in here… There should have been a Mr. Kikuzo, the giant-lizard gate guard… How did anyone get in before Lady Lilith stopped Mr. Kikuzo? And who were they?” 

This new detail is another blow to Lilith’s heart. 

“Well, what are you planning to do, Lady Lilith? Not only did you wreck this amnesiac little Chimera’s home, but that lizard you killed? That was Mr. Kikuzo.” 

“Wh-why don’t we try phrasing it this way? Mr. Kikuzo’s mission was to guard this place until Rose returned. He was defeated in the line of duty…… Once we get back to the hideout, I’ll treat you to a ton of Japanese junk food! Can you find it in your heart to forgive me, Rose?” 

“I don’t know what Japanese junk food is, but that sounds good to me!” 

Although she doesn’t know what it is, Rose pieces together that Lilith is talking about food, so she eagerly agrees. 

I feel a bit bad for Mr. Kikuzo being worth less than junk food, but from Rose’s perspective, Lilith’s right in that he actually did complete his mission. She thanks Lilith for retiring him like she did with Mr. Tomekichi. 

Subjected to her thanks, my loner, shut-in boss, who’s only accustomed to being reviled, shuffles her feet in discomfort…