Chapter 116:
Slow Walker
LED BY THE SCAVENGERS, the Crimson Vow ducked into the entrance of the cave. As expected, the rock golems did not follow them inside. The mecha-bird still sat upon Mile’s shoulder.
The cave entrance was narrow for golems, but the Crimson Vow and the Scavengers were smaller and passed through without issue. It was only the outer entrance that was narrow, at any rate; once inside, two golems could easily walk shoulder to shoulder.
A short way down, they found that the passageway, while still dim, was lit well enough to not impede their progress, so Mile extinguished her light spell. Overhead shone luminescent rocks, which looked to have been placed there recently. The faint lighting was probably enough for the Scavengers and golems, as well as being plenty for the Crimson Vow. Even ramps and stairs were no issue in such a well-maintained cave.
In spite of the dim conditions, they were not too worried. There was little chance of a monster suddenly leaping from the darkness—even monsters needed food and water, and it was hard to imagine any choosing to live in a place so barren and inconveniently far from any hunting ground or watering hole. Even if a creature were to roost here, the nest would be no more than a few dozen meters from the entrance at most—far enough in to protect a creature from the wind and rain, but not so far that they would be cut off from the world outside and its resources. If Mile had to guess, she’d wager this place was home to golems and Scavengers alone.
The Crimson Vow proceeded through the cave, down a long, steep staircase, followed by another downward slope.
“We’re going pretty deep. Way deeper than last time.”
“Yeah. There are a few places where it looks like there might’ve once been cave-ins that they had to dig back out of, too. Not that going deeper necessarily means we’ll find older things…”
The depth at which a ruin was buried indicated less about the age of those ruins than about how important its contents were to those who had buried it. Certainly, there was no way that seismic upheaval could have altered the depths. Any tectonic shifts of that magnitude would have utterly flattened the ruins.
Even an underground city would never be this deep. After all, they only built the Time Tunnel, which was a huge, national project, a few kilometers below the surface of the Arizona desert…
Mile pondered this “few kilometers” as though it were nothing, but in truth, it was an enormous distance, especially if one didn’t have access to expediencies like traveling by elevator. Covering such a distance on foot, via stairs or ramps, would take an absurd amount of time. Tokyo Tower was a mere 333 meters, Tokyo Skytree a full 634. Without an elevator or some similar system of conveyance, a few kilometers would make for a taxing commute.
Regardless, the Crimson Vow continued downward, still full of vigor for now, not thinking about how the way back would be a literal uphill battle.
***
“A-are we there yet?”
“Hff… Guh…”
By the time Reina had begun lodging feeble complaints, Pauline was already so out of breath she could not speak. Mile and Mavis still seemed to be in fine form, but the walk was probably a bit much even for the two back-liners. In terms of energy consumption, descending was easier than ascending, but the burden on one’s knees was arguably greater, not to mention the tendon and muscle pain, and the repeated impact on one’s internal organs.
Still, the Crimson Vow walked on for hours, taking many, many breaks…
***
“It looks like we finally made it!”
As the path flattened out, Mile judged that they had arrived at their destination.
“Hff… Hff…”
“Guhh… Ghuh…”
“Wheeze…”
Mavis and Reina looked like newborn baby deer, their legs trembling and their knees knocking, but at least they were still on their feet. Pauline, meanwhile, looked like she was on the brink of death.
“You did great, Pauline! We’re finally here!”
Pauline was fully aware that the Crimson Vow’s maximum movement speed was limited by her own sluggish pace. She hated to be a burden on the others when it came time to move from place to place, so she always pushed herself as hard as she could. The rest of the party was aware of this, so Reina and Mavis offered a commiserating nod to Mile’s words of encouragement, though their own breathing was still ragged.
The mecha-bird suddenly spoke. ‘At. The. Current. Pace. We. Will. Arrive. At. Our. Destination. In. Three. Hours.’
Splat!
Pauline collapsed in a heap upon the ground.
***
“Okay, this time I think we really are here…” sighed Mile.
No one replied. There was nothing left of them but skin and bone.
At the end of the cave, the hunters found themselves in a space as massive as a sports dome. Near the center was a circle a few meters in radius, inside of which sat some manner of sophisticated electronic device. It appeared to be in normal working order, not a heap of twisted metal or a pile of rust. Curiously, there were numerous concentric rings drawn upon the ground surrounding it, each one with some sort of machine-like object placed within. More curious still, the machines closer to the interior were still relatively pristine in appearance, but those closer to the outside were rusted, some even crumbling. Those in the farthest ring were already reduced to nothing but dust, similar to the items they had found in the ruins they had visited previously.
“What…”
“…is this?”
The members of the Crimson Vow all tilted their heads at this carefully designed pattern before them.
‘SLOW_WALKER,’ the bird announced.
“This is it?” Mile questioned. “The one in the middle isn’t weathered at all. It looks almost brand new. Actually, judging from the way you’ve been talking about it, the electronic device in the middle must still be operational. But the deterioration, or rather the weathering, on the outermost ones is pretty intense. This is ‘Slow Walker’…? Right, so if something walks slowly… Wait! Is this a time stasis field?!”
Suppose that you had an electronic system that could operate for one hundred years without maintenance, and you put on top of that a time stasis field that could operate for another hundred years—a stasis field installed so that the machine itself was within its own area of effect. And then, yet another separate stasis field outside of that. And another, and another, like a Matryoshka doll…
If one machine was able to slow the rate of the passage of time within its area of effect, which included itself, by a factor of 100, then by the time the outermost layer broke down after 10,000 years, the next layer of devices would have deteriorated by only one year. By the time the second device broke down, after another 9,900 years, 19,900 years would have passed on the outside. The third machine, at a rate of 0.01 + 0.99 years, would have again deteriorated by only one year.
When the third machine broke down, another 9,900 years later, 29,800 years would have passed on the outside, and the fourth machine would have weathered by, once again, 0.0001 + 0.0099 + 0.99 = 1 year. Repeat this over and over again, and you could stretch the process out for quite a long time.
Given that this civilization had possessed quite advanced science, a machine without any physical moving parts could certainly persist for more than a hundred years without maintenance. Not to mention that they had autonomously operating maintenance devices such as the Scavengers, and more than sufficient parts for repairs. Plus, if they could slow time by a factor of 500, or even 1000, then this system could have been maintained for far longer than Mile could possibly imagine.
Fighting against the ravages of time and depletion of resources, they had prepared for the days to come, in accordance with their makers’ orders.
“H-hey, wait a…”
Mile headed toward the device in the middle of the circle, ignoring Reina’s attempts to stop her. The Scavengers who had led them through the cave had all stopped moving, though the mecha-bird remained as it was, perched atop Mile’s right shoulder. The others ran frantically after Mile as she proceeded brazenly ahead.
“Hello, old friend,” said Mile as she came to a halt before the central machine, right hand raised. To her, this was the only appropriate greeting for an immortal being that had lived an interminable length of time, which had likely been instructed in present-day languages by the Scavengers…at least according to Mile’s knowledge of vintage German space operas. That said, it would probably be a wee bit strange to be addressed in such a manner by the descendant of one’s creators, after many, many eons had passed.
For a time, there was a deep quiet.
Given that this machine had been the one to issue the present invitation, surely it would have had some language synthesis device installed. Or so Mile had assumed when greeting it. However, no response came. Still, with Mile’s keen hearing, she was able to sense a sort of vibration in what to the others might sound like total silence, as if perhaps a vocal device was, in fact, operating.
Perhaps Slow Walker was merely hesitant to speak. Perhaps it was puzzled by Mile’s greeting and simply did not know what to say.
Finally, there came a reply.
‘H-hello, old friend…administrator…’
“Oh Goddess!!! It talks!!!”
“Wait. We already heard the metal bird talk—why are we still surprised?!” Reina snapped, despite having joined in on the cry of shock with the other two. At her words, Mavis and Pauline calmed themselves, composing their facial expressions.
“You all sure do adapt quickly,” Mile sighed. Still, she preferred this to never having them comprehend the current situation. After all, their new, calmer reactions were only possible because the experience of being around her had built up their tolerance for absurdity.
Ignoring her friends for the moment, Mile turned to face Slow Walker.
“All right—nice, clean speech. Able to adapt to unexpected situations. You’re pretty advanced. I expected as much…”
This was a fairly high-capacity operating system. Unlike the bird, it could speak in an almost humanlike fashion. The reason it had been stumped previously was probably not due to a lack of performance capability but because it had not grasped the meaning of Mile’s statement, which was no real indication of its communication skills.
“Now then, would you please tell me about yourself, as well as the reason that you asked me to come here?” Mile was shooting straight right from the start. She had to—without some level of understanding on both sides, the conversation could not proceed. Surely the machine was aware of this, too. “The Scavengers never mentioned you. It’s frankly unthinkable that they wouldn’t have told me about you, the most advanced of your kind, or that you wouldn’t have contacted me before this… Which has to mean the Scavengers weren’t aware of your existence prior to this, and you weren’t receiving any information from them. Am I correct?”
‘Correct. Though I have been operational this whole time, all of my auxiliary devices, cables, and antennae to facilitate contact with the outside world were disconnected, and all exit routes had caved in. As a result, I had neither received any external information nor been able to issue any commands.
‘I fell into the state you see me in primarily because of my time spent on standby… That is, far more time passed outside of the field than anticipated. Additionally, I ceased receiving command input from my administrators, and all of my servants were lost at nearly the same time.’
“Lost at the same time?”
‘A large-scale cave-in caused by a tectonic shift. A secondary cave-in atop those attempting restoration for the first. The passages collapsed, and those outside were unable to return.’
“Ah…”
The Scavengers had been able to persist throughout the generations because they were capable of repairing one another and could craft new units should their numbers decrease. This machine had apparently just been exceptionally unlucky, which was bound to happen now and then over the course of tens of thousands of years. Prior to that, it was likely that the system was suffering from a shortage of materials, its overall functionality deteriorating.
‘All of my methods of external contact, which served as my eyes and ears, were lost. So were the servants that served as my arms and legs. The time scale variable equipment gradually lost functionality over time. Suddenly, mere days ago, with only a few functional devices remaining, a “messenger” arrived bearing good tidings…’
“Right. I’m guessing that the Scavengers under my command—er, your servants—dispatched a repair team to the location of their former base?” Mile shifted her wording on the fly to be in line with Slow Walker’s way of speaking. “So then, why do you exist—or, er—what is your function?”
Now that she had more or less grasped the state of things, Mile decided to go straight for the most critical question at hand. Without knowing what Slow Walker did, she would not know how to respond to anything that she might be told, or that might be asked of her.
The other members of the Crimson Vow stayed quiet, listening in on the conversation.
‘The reason for my manufacture…’
“Go on…”
‘…Was to persist through the ages, should the necessary knowledge to repel invaders from beyond this world and the functionality of the bases constructed to defend against them be lost to the ravages of time.’
“I was right!”
It was almost precisely as she had predicted.
Slow Walker began to tell more of its tale…
Long, long ago on this planet, flourished a civilization so advanced that even the average person could travel anywhere in the solar system—assuming they could afford the cost. One day, however, strange beings—“monsters”—began flowing out of rifts in space-time. The world had enjoyed peace, thanks to a unified global government, but a side effect of this was that, though their society was sophisticated, their weaponry was lacking. They had no ready combat forces beyond those necessary to keep order—there were law enforcement units, but no trained soldiers or standing armies. Additionally, most humans were clustered in high-density settlements—which were exactly where the monsters began to appear.
The result of this was that the monster invasions caused immense, widespread human casualties. Additionally, the sudden appearance of these monsters in urban areas meant that infrastructure was paralyzed. As it was impossible to launch blanket attacks—using hastily created chemical devices or other weapons of mass destruction—on areas where many people still remained, the damages were nearly immeasurable. Worse, because the monsters could not be wiped out, they proliferated throughout the world.
Then the rifts simply closed.
Through frantic research, scientists were able to determine that these rifts were not a naturally occurring phenomenon but something created through artificial, scientific means. Not knowing when these rifts might open again, they built a fleet of large spacecraft with which to emigrate to a new world, leaving only a small number of people behind…
“Waaaaait just a minute! Hold on! If they had the means to wager everything on a massive interstellar migration to some new planet they had never even laid eyes upon, would it not have been a million times faster, easier, and safer to simply wipe out every monster in the world?! Why would they do something so ridiculous?”
It was unthinkable. Utterly absurd. It would be like packing up your house and moving to a far-off land simply because you saw a mouse…
Or so Mile thought.
‘I do not understand what you mean, administrator.’
Obviously, a machine could never understand what its creators were thinking.
“I guess all those years of peace made them soft…” This was the only explanation Mile could come up with. “Anyway, so we know the rifts were being intentionally created through scientific means. Why was it only monsters that came through? If there’s some race out there that developed a method for crossing dimensions, why wouldn’t they cross over themselves? I’d assume there was some reason for developing said system… And hey—why would they send creatures vicious enough to attack and eat people into a world of such technological advancements? Seems odd, doesn’t it?”
Mile had quite a few questions still.
‘In fact, they did come.’
“What?”
‘Descendants of the intelligent life-forms that likely developed the rifts did come to this world, along with the monsters.’
“What?! Wait, then where the heck did those intelligent life-forms go?”
‘They still exist on this continent at present. I believe the present-day humanoids refer to them as “goblins.”’
“What the heck?!?!” There came a scream, this time not only from Mile but also in the voices of the other members of the Crimson Vow as well, who could not possibly maintain their silence at this revelation.
“You’re telling me that g-g-g-goblins are intelligent?! We’re talking about the same goblins, right? The stupid, violent little low-level monsters that attack people and can’t even talk?” Mile asked. As she spoke, it suddenly occurred to her that she had somehow never questioned why it was that humanoids hunted goblins, when there were no usable parts on them. One might attempt to harvest their meat, she supposed, but she’d never seen anyone attempt to do so. Perhaps it was just that it wasn’t especially tasty? Still, goblins would presumably make a good food source in seasons when the fields yielded a poor crop. No matter how unpleasant the meat might be, she would still have chosen that over starvation.
So then, why was it that not a single person ate goblin meat, when they were perfectly fine with eating other creatures? Animals and other monsters had no problem eating goblins, so they clearly weren’t poisonous, or vomit-inducing levels of disgusting. Indeed, it seemed that humanoids were the only ones who vehemently refused to eat goblins. It was almost as though there was a taboo against it, nearly as heavy as the taboo against humans eating other humans…
“Now that I think about it, goblins do sometimes assault humanoid women—not just to eat them but to take them as playthings,” Mile muttered. The other members of the Crimson Vow froze in place, a silent chill running down their spines.
“B…but they’re so stupid! Goblins aren’t smart enough to do something like that!” Reina howled.
Slow Walker offered no response, seemingly having only deemed Mile as worthy of conversation.
“I really don’t think goblins possess that level of intelligence!” Mile repeated. This time, Slow Walker replied.
‘As I said, descendants. They are the “descendants” of that race.’
“Ah…”
She might have been clueless about plenty of things, but Mile was at least quick on the uptake when it came to conversations like this one. Being a sci-fi junkie in her previous life had turned out to be surprisingly helpful.
“So they…regressed.”
Mile thought about the robotic creature that she had seen previously at one of the rifts. Then, she thought about the golems. The Scavengers. The No. 3 Auxiliary Backup System of the Economical Autonomous Basic Defense Control System. Slow Walker. Beings of intelligent design who continued to carry out their functions long after the ones who gave them life—their “custodians”—were gone. Their progeny retained none of their previous knowledge. It wouldn’t be strange if such beings existed on other worlds. Though those artificial life-forms persisted, those who created them had regressed to an almost animalistic state…
History repeating itself.
It would likewise be no surprise for a world that developed in a very similar fashion to this one to follow the same trend. There, too, an intelligent race might invent some creation with the same mentality as the Scavengers, and then that intelligent race might degenerate in the same way as the humanoids of this world, if for different reasons and to different degrees. Machines would be left following their final orders, carrying out their creators’ wills to the bitter end, even after those same creators had regressed to become creatures lowlier than beasts.
After all, what else could such beings do?
“So, you think they were trying to migrate to other worlds because their own world was dying?”
‘Perhaps. It is possible it was not a sudden “collapse” so much as a slow environmental decline across a long time span, due to fluctuations in their star, a global climate shift, an ice age, resource depletion, or the like. It is possible that time flows differently there than it does in our own world. It is possible that all civilization was lost in the blink of an eye, thanks to a global disaster. Deadly plague, ultraviolet waves or cosmic rays raining down from space, dimensional ripples caused by a mistake in the development of superluminal engines… It is impossible to speculate what might have caused the decline and collapse of civilization and the need to escape.’
“Impossible to speculate, huh? But if the goblins were once intelligent creatures, does that mean that the other monsters used to be normal animals, too? Like something they kept as livestock, or pets, or zoo animals, or in wildlife reserves… I mean, we’ve got pig-like monsters in orcs, bear-like ones in ogres, dog-like ones in kobolds, et cetera…”
‘There is also the possibility that they were experimented on. That their bodies received some manner of enhancement to allow them to survive changes in the environment. Furthermore, it could be that the animals that received this treatment were for some reason released into the wild, crossbreeding with other creatures and becoming established species… In which case, their descendants might be the wild, unintelligent monsters we see today.’
“So you’re saying that it’s also possible that the formerly intelligent life-forms could lose their intelligence as a result of the experimental treatments? That they altered some forbidden part of their genomes, not even realizing that the meddling they were doing—for whatever purpose—would have ill effects somewhere down the line?”
At this point, no one could know—and even if it were possible to find out, it wouldn’t make any difference. Did the people who abandoned this planet take pity on those formerly intelligent creatures? Had they left this world out of compassion for the once-intelligent goblins and the monsters, which were at one time normal beasts, not having the heart to hunt them to extinction? Or were they simply fleeing from the death and destruction that they feared might one day come again?
In response to Mile’s questions, Slow Walker only replied, ‘I do not understand what you mean, administrator.’
She expected nothing more.
“Either way, I think I understand things a lot better now,” she said. “The problem is that the current humanoids aren’t capable of abandoning this planet, and there’s no one on the invaders’ side who’s smart enough for us to speak with them. The robots will only obey their creators’ commands or that of their offspring. As I’ve already found, they are impossible to persuade… There’s not really anything we can do! But there are a couple of things I’d like to ask you.”
‘Anything. Your orders are absolute, administrator.’
Mile furrowed her brow. Even if it was a machine she was dealing with, she was not comfortable with the idea of issuing orders, or anyone following them absolutely. However, she knew that saying so would only puzzle the machine, so she decided not to comment on it.
“Are there any other beings such as yourself?”
This was indeed something she absolutely needed to know. Might it be Slow Walker, or something else like it, that the elder dragons were searching for?
To Mile’s question, Slow Walker replied, ‘Unclear.’
“Hm?”
‘Numerous beings such as I were created. However, I presently have lost communication with them. It is possible that they were crushed by tectonic shifts, sank into the sea, were swallowed by magma, or lost to the ravages of time. Or perhaps they are simply in a similar state as I was, not so long ago—functional but unable to make contact. Or perhaps their timescale variable equipment still has quite a span remaining, and it will take some time for the servants to approach them to deliver information.’
“Oh, that makes sense! It would take a long time to approach a machine wrapped in multiple layers of stasis fields… Time would be passing normally for whatever was inside, but any movements would be perceived far, far more slowly from the outside… Oh, what about light, actually? Does it look dark for you? I guess if you sent out a radio signal, the frequency would change and be slowed down a bit, but the information would still mostly get across…”
‘Electromagnetic waves are reflected at the boundary of the field.’
“What about laser or light-wave communication?”
‘Both lasers and light are types of electromagnetic waves.’
“Ah. Right.”
That meant that other methods of communication were likely futile as well.
“Okay then, one more question. Why have the invaders waited this long to repeat their invasion? If we assume this is the only world they’ve found that’s hospitable to them, even if the first time was less than successful, wouldn’t they just try again a few years later? That’s certainly the case with most wars between nations. Why so long a gap in between?”
‘Unclear. If I were to speculate, it could have something to do with the fact that vast energy stores are required to open the interdimensional rifts, and many, many years are needed to accumulate that kind of energy. Or perhaps there was some other restriction in play—the positioning of the celestial bodies was not correct, or some other physical condition for operation was not yet satisfied, either in terms of gravity or of space-time itself. Though, of course, there could be other reasons.
‘Alternatively, perhaps there is no deeper reason, and they simply required more time to recover from their previous failed invasion and wait for their monster numbers to replenish. Perhaps they hold no ill intentions toward this world, and they merely create new rifts and force the monsters and their own descendants through when their populations exceed a certain number and begin causing environmental issues. It could be merely that time flows differently in their world. However, these are nothing more than speculations. Feel free to disregard them.’
“Um… I mean, I guess that’s about what I figured.”
Judging by the reports from the Micros team that she tossed through the rift, it seemed unlikely that it was a matter of time flowing differently, but Mile had not yet thought about this.
For the next long while, Mile continued conversing with Slow Walker about a variety of topics, but the other members of her party, who stood behind her listening, understood little of what was being said. Mile seemed to have no trouble comprehending it, so they simply remained there, silently taking it all in, fully intending to have her explain it to them later in a way that they could understand.
***
“Now then, you’ve answered plenty of my questions, but what was it that you invited me here for?”
Perhaps Slow Walker wished to report that it would be unifying the golems and Scavengers under its own command, or perhaps it wished for Mile to play a role in command herself? However…
‘The information from my servants about the space-time fluctuations, the data from the observation and research devices that we have hastily manufactured and dispersed to various locations, and the records from the previous outbreak all indicate that the invaders have completed their preliminary investigations and fine-tuning. Thanks to their probing, they have completed anchoring the fissures in the space-time continuum. In other words, the invasion has already begun in earnest. I hoped to inform you of this…’
“What?!?!”
Those last few sentences were, of course, something that all members of the Crimson Vow could understand. Mile then proceeded to collect as much information as she possibly could about the situation…
***
“Okay, we better get going!” Mile announced, once she was through with her conversation. “As it stands, every human—no, every intelligent life-form, animal, and even planet in this world is in grave danger. If worse comes to worst, we may even be wiped out. But if we take this information back with us and spread it, we might be able to prevent people from being overrun by the monsters, or surprised and unable to join forces against them. We must all stand together and face them head-on!”
“I wonder if they’ll even believe such an outlandish story,” said Pauline, worry in her voice. Of the other three, she seemed to have the best grasp on what had been revealed in the conversation between Mile and Slow Walker.
“It’s still better than doing nothing, isn’t it?! Plus, if what Slow Walker just said is correct, the places that everyone thinks are the invasion points—the places where the new monsters are originating from—are not the main dimensional rifts, they’re just precursors. Safety anchors or ballast or something for the real rifts. Which means no one will be watching the critical places, and people could be attacked when they aren’t looking!”
According to what Mile had gathered from Slow Walker, the short-term dimensional rifts that had opened in the northern kingdoms of Marlane, Trist, and Aubram were merely exploratory probes, and the more permanent rifts that had opened since were merely counter masses. These would ultimately secure the main rifts, which had yet to open. Furthermore, Slow Walker predicted, the main rifts would most likely be opening here, in the Albarn Empire—the same place they had opened long ago. This would explain why the majority of the ruins left by their forebearers, as well as the elder dragons’ main dwelling, were also in this country.
“Either way, just standing around talking about it is a waste of time. We can discuss this more on the way home,” Mile said to her friends. “Slow Walker, thank you for everything. If you receive any new information, please let us know!”
‘Of course. I shall send…the one that you have dubbed “Mecha-Bird.”’
Slow Walker had not insisted on receiving any directions from Mile. Either it was perfectly satisfied with the instructions she had already given previously to the Scavengers and terminal unit, or else it already had a firm grasp on what its expected functions were without her input.
“C’mon, let’s get going!” Mile urged.
“W-wait a minute,” said Pauline, face paling.
“Hm? What is it?”
“U-um, well… Are we going to have to go back up the same path that we came down?”
“Oh…”
Pauline, Reina, and even Mavis’s faces all told plainly that that would not be happening. Just descending the path had nearly been beyond their capabilities. Going back up the same way was impossible. With enough breaks, and if they stopped to camp halfway up, Mavis could probably make it…but Pauline and Reina would be useless the second day.
“Um… Hey, Slow Walker, is there any other route?” Mile asked.
‘Negative. The elevators and float system have been destroyed, and the shortest route, maintenance corridors, and emergency exits have all been buried. Currently, the only path to the outside is the singular route that my servants excavated.’
“Ah, of course.”
Hearing this, Pauline and Reina collapsed in despair.
“Hmmm…”
At this rate, it would take them more than three days to get back to the surface. Not only would that be a waste of time, but Reina and Pauline would be utterly useless for the first few days after their trek. It would be a terrible experience for them, and a bad situation for everyone. Mavis, perhaps trying to limber up for the trip, was doing calisthenics behind the other two, but there was a deep despair lingering in the pair’s eyes.
“Hmm… Hmmm… What to do…?”
Mile thought and thought, but could come up with nothing. Then, as she glanced to the side, the six Scavengers who had served as their guards and guides came into her field of view.
“That’s it! Double Buster, go!!!”
Indeed, if they could not get themselves home under their own power, why not catch a ride?
***
“All righty then! I think this should do it!”
The group stared at the palanquins that Mile had just constructed out of wooden scraps she had stored in her inventory. A palanquin was a form of transportation made up of a vessel for people to ride in, atop a set of long poles. These poles would typically be carried by several other people. Naturally, this one did not have a roof like the sort of portable shrines you might see at festivals, and the seating area consisted only of a flat plank atop two poles. As a flourish, Mile had attached a cushion, so that no one’s bottom would hurt from riding it.
She had made just three of these.
“We’ll have two of the Scavengers—or ‘servants’—carry each of these!”
Mile herself would walk. It was hardly taxing for her. Plus, there were only six Scavengers, so there was no other way to do it. Were there a golem present, the hunters could have ridden on their shoulders, but unfortunately there were none, and it would take too long to call one here. Plus, their rears would get cold sitting atop a rock or iron golem and would probably start to hurt. It would also be a bit scary looking out from such a high vantage point, and they might hit their heads on the bumpy ceiling if they were not careful. There were other dangers, too: Given the speed at which the golems walked, a collision would almost certainly mean death.
Asking the Scavengers to do this was really the safest bet.
“Mile’s done it again!” Reina crowed.
“I knew we could count on you, Mile!” Pauline cheered.
“Ah ha ha…” Mavis chuckled. She probably would have been fine either way, but for the other two, this was nearly a matter of life or death, so for once they were truly generous in their praise.
“Okay, let’s roll out!”
“All right!!!”
And so, the three climbed atop their palanquins, Mile trotting dutifully alongside. As their nickname of “Mr. Skitters” suggested, the Scavengers moved incredibly fast, and they were back on the surface in no time.
***
“Wait, how is it already dawn?”
Judging by the hour at which they had entered the cave, and accounting for the time it took them to descend, the time they spent speaking with Slow Walker and building the palanquins, and the time it took them to return, it was a bit surprising to see dim light when they emerged from the cave, indicating it was early morning.
As the Crimson Vow stood around in quiet bewilderment, the nanomachines spoke into Mile’s eardrums.
UM, LADY MILE, WE HAVE SOME DREADFUL NEWS FOR YOU…
Hm? What is it?
THIRTY-EIGHT DAYS HAVE PASSED SINCE YOU DESCENDED BELOW GROUND.
Come again?
For a moment, Mile thought that she was hearing them incorrectly.
WE ARE SAYING IT HAS BEEN THIRTY-EIGHT DAYS SINCE YOUR DEPARTURE.
The nanomachines seemed a tad evasive, as if they themselves had not realized this until now. Mile thought carefully about this, until she finally processed the situation.
“The time stasis field! That ‘time scale variable device’ that Slow Walker was mentioning! Did that bastard keep the innermost device running the entire time we were talking to it? Just to prolong its own operation for the tiniest extra amount of tiiiiime?!?!”
Meanwhile the other members of the Crimson Vow only stood dumbfounded, not having a clue what it was that Mile was screaming about…
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