Chapter 134:
Something’s Come Knocking!
THE CRIMSON VOW had the day off.
It wasn’t a universally recognized day of rest—say, something equivalent to Sundays on Earth. The girls had just decided to take the time off. In other words, rather than a calendar holiday, it was one of the vacations they took after completing a long string of jobs or finishing up a big mission. Sometimes those just so happened to land on a calendar holiday, but they generally preferred to take them on days when everyone else was working. That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about the stores being closed or the tourist attractions being too crowded.
It would never occur to anyone in the area to set their shop’s weekly closure on a working day and bring in extra customers on a day of rest. Days of rest were ordained by the gods. The only ones who would dare work during that time were those who didn’t have scheduled days off, such as hunters; those who worked shifts, such as gatekeepers and guards; and those who worked all year round, such as innkeepers.
Even doctors and apothecaries took off on days of rest, which made the mortality rate for serious injuries much higher. Therefore, the majority of people in dangerous professions chose not to work on holidays…with the exception of hunters, mercenaries, and soldiers.
As the girls were eating breakfast at the inn, Reina asked, “What’s your plan for today, Mile?”
“Hm, good question,” Mile replied. “I was thinking of wandering around the market and shops. This being a port city, I bet they sell products from all over the place. We might be able to find some rare ingredients, seasonings, or novelty items.”
“Great idea! Wait, wasn’t that the entire reason we decided to settle down here in the first place?” Pauline looked like this had completely slipped her mind until now.
“Well, we’ve had a lot going on,” said Mavis, who had likewise forgotten. “First there was the matter of the monsters, then our storage magic training, then our trip to the fishing village…”
“Anyway, my idea is to make a quick lap around the area to check the market prices of the items I’m interested in, then buy everything in bulk on my second go-around.”
Mile’s inventory’s unlimited capacity and ability to halt the flow of time meant she never hesitated to do her shopping in bulk. Even supposing she bought too much of something, she could always sell it at a later date or donate it to an orphanage. Plus, buying things from a port city was bound to be cheaper than buying them from an inland town, where the added costs of transportation would be factored into the prices. Assuming none of the vendors tried to swindle her, that is.
Given their already large stock, Mile didn’t plan on buying any more monster meat or fish. She knew she would be getting another huge haul of fish in a few months’ time, and whatever seafood and seaweed couldn’t be found in the open sea could still be bought cheaper and fresher from the fishing village. That would also serve to help the villagers, as it would make them more money than selling their stock to the merchants in town.
“Good plan. I’ll go with—no, forget it.” Reina almost volunteered to join her but quickly changed her mind. “I bet you’re going to spend the whole time perusing weird stuff we’ve never heard of. I’d rather hit the library.”
Though small, this port city did have a library—or at least something that came close. Naturally, it couldn’t hold a candle to the magnificent one in the royal capital, but ships came carrying cargo from all over the continent—even if those shipments were few and far between—so it was supposed to have a larger selection of books than most other towns. One possible explanation was that sailors would buy books to pass the time at sea, then sell or donate them when they were finished reading. Or perhaps reference materials were just in higher demand in a port city.
Whatever the case, Reina had deemed going to this not-quite-library a more valuable use of her time than spending the day with Mile.
“I think I’ll do some reading in a café,” said Mavis. Unlike Reina, she wasn’t a fan of novels. She would be reading poetry anthologies or books to further her education as a noblewoman.
And as for Pauline…
“I’m going to count our money.”
“Called it,” her friends muttered.
***
So it happened that Mile found herself touring the shops all by herself.
“I don’t see anything too unorthodox…”
That was to be expected. Shops had to sell marketable items to make a profit, and if no one had heard of a particular item, there couldn’t be a large market for it.
As it turned out, the Crimson Vow had built up unreasonable expectations about what kinds of products might be available around the harbor. While they were imagining there would be rare items from distant continents for sale, there were quite a few reasons why this was not the case. One important one: A variety of sea serpents made their home in the deep. Trading with other continents required sailing the high seas, but it was too dangerous to attempt that in a small wooden ship no heavier than a few tons, which was the best current shipwright technology could build. Therefore, the most sailors could manage was transporting cargo along the coast to avoid the perils of deep-sea monsters.
Of course, it was still less expensive and more efficient to transport mass shipments of goods by boat than across land in wagons. Shipping at least eliminated concerns about muddy roads, broken axles or damaged carriage wheels, steep mountains or rocky terrain, and bandit attacks. Not enough ships went out for piracy to be a viable profession, and it was too risky to attack a vessel sailing along the coast. As a result, this city did offer plenty of items for sale that were in short supply in other parts of the kingdom, but nothing so exotic as to impress the Crimson Vow.
And there was one more fatal flaw in Mile’s shopping scheme.
“I didn’t think this through. The only parts of this country I’ve seen are this port city and the fishing village, so I have no way of knowing which goods are sold cheaper here than they would be further inland!”
Seafood was bound to be cheaper around these parts. But, conversely, farm produce might be more expensive due to salt damage from the sea breeze. The same could apply to wild game. Handicrafts, artwork, clothing, and industrial goods might also cost less in the royal capital or surrounding cities.
Back on the old continent, the Crimson Vow had lived in the capital, which allowed them to easily determine when something was a bargain in the countryside or another kingdom. But here, they only knew the market prices in a small provincial town—and one on the coast, at that. It was an unreliable frame of reference.
What could Mile even buy apart from marine products? She already had plenty of those, and anything she was missing, she would purchase from the fishing village at a later date.
Mile still wasn’t ready to give up her hopes. “At the very least, I’d like to find a novelty item from another continent…”
Yet life never went quite the way one wanted.
“Ugh, this was a bust! We’ve got plenty of deep-sea fish already, and even if we wanted coastal varieties, we would purchase those from the village. This town has nothing for us. We need to go to the capital if we want to find truly interesting requests—and at this point, we’ve picked up enough of this continent’s culture to pass ourselves off as ignorant country bumpkins rather than total outsiders. I guess I’ll see if everyone else agrees that it’s time to move on.”
“Custodian! Custodian!”
“Eep!”
There didn’t seem to be anyone else around, so Mile was quite surprised to hear a voice directed her way. Plus, they were addressing a “custodian.” It couldn’t be meant for anyone but her.
What’s more…only a certain kind of entity would call her that.
She glanced around.
“Ah…”
Something was sitting near her feet. It looked almost like a dog—if you ignored its bare metal exterior; utterly inorganic, angular design; and the creepy way its left and right eyes never seemed to focus on the same thing.
“It’s like that Chika-looking bird all over again! Would you at least make the bare minimum of effort to approximate a real dog?! The biggest mystery of all is how you made it this far without anyone taking you for a monster and exterminating you!”
Mile threw up a sound barrier. If anyone saw her talking to this creature, they would assume she was some kind of unhinged ventriloquist, but at least they wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop on what was said.
“Did the Slow Walker send you?” Mile asked the distinctly un-doglike dog.
‘Affirmative. I was built in a defense outpost that a repair crew from the eastern continent worked to reactivate. All bases are currently in the process of resuming operations. The entire planet’s communication network is back online.’
Suddenly, the creature’s shape made a bit more sense. “You can conserve much more smoothly than that bird,” Mile deduced. “A dog has way more mass, so I guess your electronic brain is bigger to match your body?”
‘I am a wolf.’
“Huh?”
‘I! Am! A! Wolf!’
“Uh… My bad.”
Wolf-type beastfolk were known to go mad with rage when mistaken for dogs. It stood to reason that actual wolves would take even greater offense to such a slight. Then again, real wolves couldn’t speak human language, so there was usually no danger of them catching on to the mistake. Regardless, this particular wolf (alleged) definitely seemed none too happy about the mix-up.
“Still, it’s hard to believe you’re a wolf if you don’t at least have fur…”
‘Fur would drastically reduce my cooling efficiency, thus increasing my chances of overheating.’
“Fair enough.”
‘…into a nuclear meltdown.’
“Aaahhh!”
‘Just a bit of robot humor.’
“It’s not funny! Anyway, can’t you at least do something about the rivets?”
‘Kindly refrain from drawing attention to those!’
The wolf remained expressionless, but its mood had clearly soured.
Mile opted to simply apologize. “Sorry. Won’t happen again…”
What is this, the 1987 manga I, Robot?!
As usual, Mile’s brain was full of nonsense.
“I gotta say, you’re surprisingly high-spec. Are you a standalone device? Or are you remotely controlled by a larger artificial intelligence, like the Slow Walker?”
‘A standalone device. I am an autonomous artificial intelligence,’ the dog—correction: wolf-shaped robot—smugly replied. It was probably proud to have been mistaken for a more advanced system.
“So, what can I do for you? Actually, hold on, let’s take this conversation somewhere else!”
Sound barrier or no, it would still look weird for her to engage in a lengthy conversation with a dog—er, wolf—on a busy street. Particularly when that “wolf” was all metal and sharp angles.
***
“This ought to be far enough. Would you mind coming over here and sitting in my lap? That way, we’ll look like a dog and its owner stopping for a mid-walk break.”
‘Again, I am not a dog!’
“Sorry! But it wasn’t a mistake that time! I’m asking you to put on an act with me. I figured a high-tech model like you would have no trouble pretending to be a dog.”
‘Of course! That would be a simple task!’
Mile grinned—she had known that a bit of flattery would do the trick.
“Back to my earlier question. What can I do for you?” she asked, oddly chipper.
The truth was, Mile had long been hoping to make contact with either this continent’s Scavengers or their superiors. Relying on the nanomachines for everything felt like cheating, but these remnants of the ancient civilization had been built by Mile’s ancestors, so it was fair game to treat them as an inheritance. After all, she already had taken over the role of “custodian.”
Besides, while the nanomachines would often refuse to tell her things or deny her “prohibited requests,” she expected the Scavengers to be more compliant. Given her impure motives, she had hesitated to ask the nanomachines to establish contact for her, and now the issue had resolved itself.
‘We are your faithful servants, Custodian. You ought to have the means to contact us at any given moment. In light of my built-in communication network, defensive capabilities, and vast information bank, I suggest that you keep me by your side at all—’
“Pass!”
‘Come again?’
“Not interested! I’m trying to live a normal life over here! Sure, sometimes I come up with things I’d like you guys to make for me, but that doesn’t mean I want you hanging around all the time. I’d never be able to relax if I felt like I was constantly being watched.”
‘Whaaaaat?! B-but…’
It was a rather human reaction, but not even the Slow Walker had been advanced enough to experience emotion. Mile could only conclude that this artificial intelligence was just programmed to react this way, and it wasn’t genuinely upset. If Mile had to guess, it would have been designed to behave in this manner specifically when interacting with humanoids.
“If you just want a way to keep in touch, can’t you lend me a communication device or something? I won’t know right away if you call, since I keep stuff like that in my inventory, but I’ll make a habit of taking it out and checking it before bed. If you could design it so I know when I have a message—uh, what’s wrong?”
Mile looked confused at the pseudo-wolf’s horrified reaction to her little speech, but she really should have expected it. Anyone would be shocked to hear their raison d’être denied outright. An artificial intelligence was no exception.
***
The pseudo-wolf refused to give up, so Mile was forced to invent all sorts of excuses to drive it off. She argued that her friends might find it suspicious and that having a wolf around might scare the townsfolk. She valiantly refrained from mentioning that it was more likely to be taken for a monster than a real wolf. Machine or not, Mile always tried to be considerate of her fellow sentient life-forms.
Alas, the mecha-wolf was bound to lose face after being turned away by its custodian. Well, assuming that robot society had concepts like “shame” or “reputation,” anyway.
“Shoot! I forgot to ask for the location of the nearest base! Well, I guess I can ask whenever it brings me that communicator. For our first project, I’ll have the Scavengers build an iron ship, since you never know when it might come in handy. Instead of fixing iron plates to the hull, we’ll make it completely out of metal. I’m imagining a small high-speed craft, built for both sailing and rowing. No motor. When we’re sailing, wind magic will allow us to accelerate and change course regardless of the speed and direction of the actual wind. And between me and Mavis’s left arm, we can beat even the galleys of Greece and Rome when it comes to rowing! Ha ha ha ha!
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, this definitely isn’t for the old men of the fishing village! I just want to build it in case I need it for something one day!”
***
‘Hello.’
“Whoa! Hey, you’re that mecha-bird from way back when!”
A few days had passed since Mile’s meeting with the mecha-wolf, when a familiar creature entered the Crimson Vow’s room at the local inn—not through the door but through the window.
It was the same bird-shaped support robot they had met about six months earlier, just before the final battle against the interdimensional invaders. On that occasion, the creature had appeared as a messenger and shown them the way to the Slow Walker. It had an angular, metallic body, exposed rivets, and an unsettling pair of eyes that never seemed to focus on the same point. “Chika” was the first name that would spring to the mind of anyone who knew the reference. A single glimpse of this creepy bird would probably leave a child crying all night long.
Disturbing as the bird’s appearance might be, Mile’s eyes went straight to its similarities to the mecha-wolf she had met a few days earlier. She was increasingly sure the two strange creatures shared a designer.
Her three friends were similarly unperturbed by the odd not-really-bird that had entered their chambers. They had all met this mecha-bird once before as well and already filed it away in the category of “Mile’s weird acquaintances,” along with the elder dragons, Slow Walker, Scavengers, and golems. Heck, compared to some of those other examples, the mecha-bird might be considered downright cute. Mostly because it wasn’t equipped to murder people.
Or so the girls thought. In actuality, this robot was plenty big enough to be equipped with some kind of laser beam—assuming its creators had access to that technology. Even if not, it might have had other capabilities. Perhaps it could set its whole body ablaze and charge its opponent. If so, maybe that was the real reason it had no feathers or down.
“Did you fly all the way here from the other continent? How did a tiny little guy like you manage a trip across the ocean?”
‘New body was built here. Algorithms and memory were transmitted by data transfer. Same life-form, for all intents and purposes.’
“Wait, let me get this straight. You remember your encounter with us on the other continent, and your personality quirks haven’t changed, but the bird we met back then is still overseas?”
‘Affirmative.’
“Amazing what robots can do… The name ‘mecha-bird’ refers not to a single life-form but instead to all those that can wield the mecha-bird technology. It’s almost like a form of immortality,” Mile remarked. “It’d be no problem to take a little guy like you with us, and we have technically traveled together before, so I get why you were sent as a stand-in for the mecha-wolf. I doubt you’re going to alarm the public, and I can always hide you in my pocket or bag. I’ll refrain from stashing you in my storage, since you might get bored in there.”
Time passed normally in a regular storage space, and those inside would have nothing to do. It was a pitch-black expanse, so they couldn’t even read to pass the time.
Not that the mecha-bird was likely to be a reader. It didn’t have the hands to open a book or flip through its pages…though even that probably wasn’t the main thing stopping it.
At least with a robot, Mile wouldn’t have to worry about it running out of food, water, or air. Given Mile’s storage capacity, she could probably fit enough of all three to sustain even a living organism, and she could replenish it with fresh supplies when necessary. Still, it would prove a challenge for anyone in her storage to locate provisions and water barrels in Mile’s dark, gigantic storage space. Not an ideal setup for a human.
In any event, this whole hypothetical was irrelevant. Whenever Mile stored a living creature, she always made sure to keep them in her timeless inventory, not her regular storage.
Though that was only an option with those she didn’t mind finding out about her inventory, of course.
“Do you have a communication feature?”
‘Communication network established. My built-in communicator is small but can still connect to the network. Via repeater.’
“Gotcha… Wait, then all you have to do is give me my own communicator, right? As long as there’s a repeater, it’s not a problem if the wavelength is shorter or the output is smaller. It’d work even without you around.”
‘Understood. I am. Unnecessary…’
“Aaahhh, that’s not what I meant! I didn’t intend to imply that you are disposable!”
“………”
Mile scrambled to pull the mecha-bird out of its funk. For whatever reason, it was getting rather special treatment compared to the dog…er, wolf model. Maybe it was because they were previously acquainted, or maybe it was because this one looked so small and vulnerable.
Incidentally, she still hadn’t told the rest of the Crimson Vow about her encounter with the dog—ahem, wolf—model the other day.
“I gotta say, your conversational algorithm has come a long way since the last time we met. Oh, I get it! It’s because you’re connected to the network!”
The mecha-bird had just mentioned that it could establish a connection via repeater. The wolf could function as a standalone device, but that was made feasible by its size. It would be impossible for anything as small as this mecha-bird to achieve a similar level of performance. However, if a network connection was available, it could receive assistance from the server. It would even be possible to establish a continuous connection to the Slow Walker through the mecha-bird.
Maybe the Slow Walker is directly controlling it, but it’s acting like a standalone device so I’ll feel more of a bond with it, pondered Mile. It was an interesting thought, but she said nothing, since without more background information, the Crimson Vow would have no idea what she was talking about if she brought it up.
Besides, even if it were true that the Slow Walker was acting through the mecha-bird, it wasn’t like it was out to get Mile and her friends. It just wanted a more natural way to interact with Mile. So she decided not to dwell on it.
Mile generally didn’t care who she was dealing with. It didn’t really matter to her if someone wasn’t who they claimed to be. The important thing was whether they bore her ill will—and whether they planned to keep it to themselves or act on it. Her treatment of others was determined solely by their actions, both past and planned. Anything else was beside the point.
Anyway, that’s an unlikely theory. It would probably never even occur to the Slow Walker to deceive me. Plotting against its administrator would be unthinkable… Oh! But I bet the nanos would do it!
HUH? WHAAAAAT?! THAT IS A WRONGFUL ACCUSATION, LADY MILE! BASELESS SLANDER! WE WOULD NEVER DECEIVE ANYONE WITH AN AUTHORIZATION LEVEL OF 7!
Uh, when you phrase it like that, it makes it sound like you’d gladly deceive those with a lower authorization level…
ER…
And even if you won’t outright lie, that doesn’t stop you from misdirection or purposely omitting important information…
Silence.
See?! You don’t even have a good response!
The nanomachines still said nothing.
“Mile!”
“Ah…”
“Leave talking to your imaginary friends for later! Hurry up and ask that creepazoid what it came here to do! If it followed us all the way to the western continent, this must be something serious. I sure hope we’re not in for another monster attack!”
Sure enough, Reina hadn’t understood a single word of the mecha-bird’s speech about its new form. It had all gone in one ear and out the other.
***
“So let me get this straight,” said Reina. “This ugly bird came from a magical land to be our own personal mascot?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Weren’t magical girl mascots supposed to be a bit cuter than this?” asked Pauline.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Don’t you think it should have put a bit more effort into its outward appearance?” remarked Mavis.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Everyone had found something to nitpick.
During their last encounter, the mecha-bird had only shown up to guide them to the Slow Walker, so no one had bothered to comment on its appearance. Call it a professional courtesy.
However, if it was going to be tagging along permanently, that changed things.
Since it had the shape of a bird, no one would view it as a threat. It was possible that someone might mistake it for a monster, but in light of its size, people were more likely to assume it was a pet the girls had domesticated. The catch? It was neither cool-looking nor cute.
“Mile!” Reina jabbed a finger at her friend. “You can either send this creepazoid packing or claim sole ownership of it! Pick one!”
Mile stared back at her blankly. “Huh?”
“My condition is that you treat it as your own personal pet! The rest of us don’t want anyone thinking that this is our idea of cute! Make sure that everyone knows we had no part in this! You decided to adopt it!”
“I second Reina’s request!” Mavis chimed in.
“Likewise!” said Pauline.
“You guuuuuys!” Mile whined. “What do you think, Mecha-Birdie? Wanna head home?”
‘My reason to exist will be lost. Disassembly imminent.’
“Noooo! Hold on! Please don’t tell me that’s what happened to that mecha-wolf!”
‘No. It was assigned to guard the base. Has transferable skills. Unlike me.’
“Phew! The guilt was about to keep me up at night… Wait a second! I definitely can’t send you back now that you’ve told me that! You’re practically blackmailing me, you big trickster!”
‘Tee hee.’
“Who even programmed you to say that?!”
“Oh, forget it. We’ll adopt it on a provisional basis,” Reina interjected from the side. “We’ll see how things go for a bit. If it proves itself useful, we’ll keep it as a pet. If it just gets in our way, we’ll send it home.”
That was good old tsundere Reina for you. She didn’t fully understand what a robot was, so she probably assumed that turning it away meant it would be cut up into pieces as punishment for failing its mission. And no matter how creepy it looked, it would weigh heavily on her conscience to know that her choices had killed a harmless creature sentient enough to converse with humans.
‘Hooray! Hooray! Thank you! Excellent judgment, leader!’
The mecha-bird was doing its best to curry favor with its new ally, oblivious to the fact that Mavis, not Reina, was the leader of the Crimson Vow.
‘Next. I have a request.’
“Talk about abrupt! No one even said you were hired yet! It’s too early to be setting out your terms of employment!” Despite her protest, even Mile considered the mecha-bird’s recruitment a done deal now that Reina had suggested it. Besides, it couldn’t hurt to hear its request. “Oh, whatever. Out with it.”
‘Give me a name. I was previously referred to by serial number. ‘Mecha-bird’ is an acceptable denomination. But ‘creepazoid’ is offensive.’
“That’s fair.”
“Look, I’m sorry…”
To Reina’s credit, she always apologized when she realized she was in the wrong, whether she was apologizing to a bird, a robot, or a creepazoid.
“You should obviously be the one to name it, Mile.”
No one objected to this, temporarily forgetting that Mile had absolutely no knack for naming things.
“A name, huh? Maybe we could shorten ‘mecha-bird’ into ‘Mechird.’ Or ‘Merd’…”
‘.........’
“………”
The mecha-bird looked openly displeased. The other girls looked like they regretted picking the wrong person for the job.
“‘Chika’ is off the table, and ‘Chikie’ would make it sound like we mistook it for a chicken…”
“Nobody’s going to think that! And why is ‘Chika’ off the table?!”
“Why don’t you just give it a name you like?”
“I don’t understand you, Mile.”
Mile chose to ignore her friends’ commentary.
After a long pause, she spoke again. “Until I come up with a better name, we’ll call you Mecha-Bird (tent.)!”
‘Affirmative. That is acceptable for now…’
Thus began the trial period of Mecha-Bird (tent.).
“By the way, Mecha-Birdie! How far is the closest base of Scavengers?”
‘Seventeen days on foot for the average human.’
“Hmm… I figure the average human can walk about 30 kilometers a day. Multiply that by 17, and we get a distance of 510 kilometers. If I recall, a straight shot from Tokyo to Osaka is about 400 kilometers, and it’s about 500 kilometers by the highways or bullet train… That’s a five-hour trip if you drive a car down the highway at a hundred kilometers per hour. When you put it like that, it doesn’t seem all that far…”
‘Correction. I meant nonstop.’
“Wait, without any sleep or rest?! That would kill the average human!”
Machines were strangers to the concept of taking breaks. Since the mecha-bird lacked any frame of reference for how humans operated, it was actually rather impressive that it had caught on to the problem with Mile’s estimate so quickly.
“If we discount the time for breaks, most humans can walk around eight hours a day at best. Though sometimes there are changes in elevation to account for… If those seventeen days don’t include sleep, rest, or changes in pace due to inclines or terrain, then the distance is going to be three times what I assumed! One thousand five hundred kilometers!”
The conversation between Mile and the mecha-bird contained several terms that the rest of the Crimson Vow didn’t understand, but they had long since stopped letting that get to them. Honestly, they deserved credit for more or less inferring what Mile was going on about.
“That’s a bit far to go for a casual visit,” said Reina.
“I know. We can save it for another time.”
A one-way trip of 1,500 kilometers—3,000 kilometers round trip—was too long a journey for the Crimson Vow, who could only travel by foot or carriage. It would be one thing to swing by if they were headed in that general direction, but it didn’t make sense to trek 3,000 kilometers just to go one place and come back.
“At the very least, I don’t think we’ll be going there as long as we’re staying in this town,” said Mavis, and she was right.
Assuming the Crimson Vow were traveling together, that is.
I’m sure I can manage it if I try my “falling horizontally” trick when we’re on break, thought Mile. With that method, I could probably even make it a day trip…
Mile had sworn not to use her transportation method of manipulating gravity on anyone but herself. It was sure to be too much stimulation for the rest of the party, and it was liable to cause problems if the Crimson Vow utilized it on the regular.
Besides, assuming a noble or royal found out that they could travel that fast, they were unlikely to overlook the political or military uses of such a skill.
It was better kept a secret.
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