episode_0298

When she opened her eyes, the girl felt warmth.

Though she had lived here for over 10 years, falling asleep inside the water tank was always a new experience for her.

One thing was certain: it was comfortable.

The facility staff who saw her sleeping place often said it was like a mother’s womb.

But the girl couldn’t understand the true meaning of those words. The faces of her mom and dad were even blurry to her. In fact, she sometimes even got her real name confused.

It had been too long since she was called by her nickname.

The enormous water tank maintained a warm temperature 24/7, all year round. The girl liked that very much. It was because sleep would often overwhelm her.

With the thought of wanting to sleep a little more, the girl lowered her eyelids again.

Thud, thud, the knocking sound, carried by the water, resonated once more.

“Trinity, wake up. It’s morning.”

From beyond the water tank, a scientist in a protective suit called out to her through a microphone.

Unable to resist the loud echoing of the speaker’s voice in the water, the girl emerged above the water tank.

With familiar movements, as she always did, she removed her breathing apparatus, shed her sleeping suit, and changed into the new clothes she was given.

“Ugh, it’s salty.”

“How many times have I told you not to drink that water? How much have I emphasized that boric acid isn’t good for your body?”

“I don’t really feel anything strange.”

It was nagging that repeated every day. The girl paid it no mind, wringing out her orange hair, which flowed down to her waist, to remove the water.

Once again, the daily routine repeated. Breakfast, chewing and swallowing the food in the disposable container. Morning health check-up, studying, lunch, combat training. And then, dinner.

As always, the girl posed a question.

“Sir, when can I go home?”

The researcher replied curtly.

“I’ve told you many times, Trinity. If you study and train a little more diligently, you’ll be able to enter the academy. Then you can leave here.”

Thinking of the other children in the lab, the girl asked.

“Then can I meet my other friends too? I miss Liz and Roberta. I haven’t seen them for a while since I went outside last time.”

The researcher, who had been staring at the meter, frowned at the girl’s question and snapped.

“Enough! Let’s talk about that later, Trinity. Your readings are high again today, so get back into the water tank.”

With a “Tch,” the girl changed her clothes and lay down inside the water tank.

Whenever she asked about her friends, the outside world, or her parents, the researcher always avoided the topic.

At the end of the day, recalling the outside world, the girl fell asleep.

Over the past 10 years, the number of times the girl had gone outside was countable on one hand.

The only places she had breathed fresh air were vast, boring open lots or gloomy dungeons.

‘What does a city really look like?’

It must be an exciting place. There would be delicious restaurants everywhere, amusement parks, arcades, cafes, and dessert shops.

They said there were academies too. Maybe she could make new friends. If they were witty and fun, that would be even better [like adding brocade to embroidery, making a good thing even better].

Slowly, the lights went out, and the inside of the water tank was plunged into darkness.

Before she knew it, the dark water was once again illuminated by a subtle blue light.

In the quiet water, a mysterious and beautiful blue radiance was emanating from the girl’s body.

Like a bioluminescent creature glowing deep within the ocean.

**

Violet’s emergency deployment produced a great effect.

Ariel’s satisfaction level reached its peak after the first lesson.

“Oppa, thank you so much! I received so much help thanks to you!”

“Humph, it’s nothing.”

As Ariel smiled brightly, Lucian glanced at me, making a smug expression as if to say, ‘How about that?’

Why on earth is he like that?

Anyway, just as we expected, no, far beyond our expectations, Lucian’s tutoring skills were outstanding.

“You understand this part too, right? You need to approach it step by step. Differential equations might seem complicated, but if you solve them one by one, anyone can do it.”

“Ah, I get it! I think I’m getting the hang of this part now too. Thank you so much, Oppa!”

Watching from the side, Lucian immediately grasped Ariel’s questions and explained them clearly.

Even I found it helpful, so I realized anew just how smart he was.

Unfortunately, every good thing comes with side effects.

“Um, Unnie… I’m sorry, but I don’t think I need tutoring anymore.”

“What? Why?”

Ariel barely opened her mouth, her face clearly showing an apologetic expression.

“Well… Lucian Oppa said he would answer right away if I asked him on messenger. And he also said he’d come by occasionally to check on me in person.”

“Actually, what Violet Unnie explained felt a bit… complicated. Oh, it’s not your fault, Unnie…”

Just then, Lucian annoyingly interrupted.

“Oh, isn’t that obvious? Her being first place is actually a lie.”

“What? No! I really got first place on the last exam! Perfect scores in all subjects!”

“Just kidding, Violet really is first place.”

This guy, he was now teasing me even in front of my prospective junior. It felt as if Ariel had been taken from me, and my stomach twisted.

As we stepped out of the hospital room, Lucian asked with a face mixed with half curiosity, half confidence.

“Why on earth are you so bad at teaching kids? With such basic problems, too.”

A plausible reason flashed through my mind.

“Well, it’s probably because we’re too smart!”

“…?”

That’s right, this might be an unavoidable reality.

Our Violet is such an excellent being that perhaps it actually produced a counter-effect.

「Well, that’s reality. Nothing we can do.」

「Because our Violet is a genius!」

Objectively, in terms of overall computational power and memory, our Violet overwhelmingly surpasses ordinary people.

However, it’s not easy for a computer to teach its own methods to humans.

Perhaps our Violet was too outstanding to properly teach others.

“Don’t joke. You say your memory is good? Then tell me the name of the Great Battle of 312, where Arnor and Vernius fought. Answer in 5 seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2-”

“Uh… what was it? Wait! Just a moment!”

“Don’t copy, tell me honestly. It’s the Landor Battle. You learned it just two weeks ago, and you’ve already forgotten? What genius.”

He alternately pointed at his head and my head, wearing an arrogant smile. It was a look I hadn’t seen in a long time, and annoyance welled up.

“Ha, this is the difference between a truly diligent prodigy and someone who just uses cheat codes. You should set an example as a senior for your prospective juniors.”

“Ugh!”

At Lucian’s sharp retort, we were speechless.

At this rate, our Violet’s intellectual abilities might even be doubted.

「No! We’re geniuses!」

But a week later, an unexpected situation occurred.

At first, only Ariel was receiving tutoring, but before long, the other children in the hospital room had joined in.

“W-what is this? Why is there such a huge crowd?”

Lucian sat leaning against the desk, shaking his head and grumbling.

“What’s the point of talking about it? Sigh…”

It seemed that word of mouth had spread among the children hospitalized in the same ward who were preparing for academy admission, just like Ariel.

“Hyung! I have a problem I don’t understand, please help me!”

“Hey, I was in line first!”

“Oppa! Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Tell us about the academy!”

The prospective juniors in hospital gowns looked up with sparkling eyes. In front of them, Lucian couldn’t bring himself to refuse and could only grumble.

“Alright, we have plenty of time anyway. Now, slowly! Bring your desks! We’re all doing this together. Got it?”

“Yes!”

Watching the scene, our Violets were inwardly basking in a sense of triumph.

「He boarded the express train to hell himself! Hehe!」

**

As April began, the Violets were producing results one by one.

The most prominent was the pioneering of the Red Zone; the development was proceeding smoothly.

This was because we, who had been living a nomadic life, had discovered a solution after countless studies.

「Guys! We succeeded! What we saw was right!」

What lay before the pioneering Violets was a crudely built hut.

It was nothing more than a crude structure built from mud bricks and rocks cut with sword energy, but it held great significance for us now.

Because nothing happened.

「No mutations are happening! Ghost faces aren’t getting imprinted!」

「How many hours have passed now?!」

「48 hours!」

The bricks were made by putting local soil from the main island of the Karnak Archipelago into molds and drying or baking them.

And, astonishingly, nothing happened.

「The concrete and rebar transported from our inventory all corroded or grotesquely transformed…」

「Nothing’s happening!」

The reason humans couldn’t reside in the Red Zone was due to the hostile anomalous phenomena occurring every hour.

Organic matter would somehow rush to kill people, and even inorganic matter, if not constantly infused with magic and managed, would corrode weapons and cause buildings to collapse or become unusable demon dens.

Even the expeditionary forces of the three great clans and federal units had to rely on specially processed preserved food, mobile bases, or a very small number of expensive outposts for long-term operations. That was the reality.

However, humans are adaptable creatures. While diligently searching for data, we happened upon the past efforts of the clans.

「Procure and use materials locally?」

「The influence of the anomalous phenomena is less?」

The Federation and the clans made a rather extraordinary attempt.

They mobilized architectural 3D printers, magic, and artifacts to try and build cities using local materials.

「If we use contaminated local materials, the Red Zone recognizes them as part of itself, not human property?」

The researchers’ idea was simple. The Red Zone reacted with hostility toward humans. However, it wouldn’t treat elements constituting itself as enemies.

Added to this was the assertion that if they properly infused magic to reduce the Red Zone’s influence and used the materials, changes would be minimal or wouldn’t occur at all.

「Plausible. So the building itself won’t collapse!」

The outcome was disappointing. The initial plan succeeded, but the Red Zone seemed to have recognized the concentrated human presence.

As demonic beasts swarmed and disasters struck, casualties surged, and urban expansion was halted.

The high-ranking officials seemed reluctant to choose a new method that didn’t particularly reduce money and manpower consumption compared to existing mobile bases or barrier protection.

However, our Violets had no worries about manpower. We could just keep going.

We properly shaped the local rocks with sword energy and, while making mud bricks, injected our magic little by little. The result was perfect.

The Violets finally succeeded in building houses that neither collapsed nor crumbled.

「It seems that recognizing it as part of itself was correct!」

Our Violets finally succeeded in skillfully deceiving the Red Zone.

Although other anomalous phenomena remained, it was considered considerable progress that they were able to create a stable space to stay.

「Construction Violets, ready!」

「Yay! Overtime!」

Boosted by the success of the experiment, we baked bricks, carved and processed rocks with sword energy, and erected gigantic structures.

「This will be the Violet Headquarters from now on. That’s the Violet Bunker!」

「Violet Headquarters! Violet Bunker!」

「Woohoo!」

Our hearts were filled with excitement. We had finally been able to establish our own base in the middle of this terrible Red Zone.

It was a truly touching moment.

「Alright, let’s raise a toast!」

But the exhilaration over the completion of the Violet Headquarters was short-lived.

A few hours later, eerie screeches and loud noises echoed from the outskirts.

The construction Violets quickly grabbed their weapons and poured outside.

「The base is under attack!」

「Our forces are under attack! Argh!」

「Everyone, evacuate to the bunker!」

The Red Zone didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving us alone.

**

The girl opened her eyes to the usual boring routine. It was because the researcher had suddenly turned on the speaker to wake her.

“Trinity, wake up!”

The waterproof clock in the water pointed to dawn. Just as she wondered what could be so urgent, the lid of the water tank opened.

A rough hand pulled her out of the water.

Her surroundings were chaotic. Amidst the loud ringing of the emergency bell, researchers hurriedly packed documents and hard drives, and guards, weapons in hand, busily moved back and forth in the hallway.

“What? Why?”

“It’s dangerous. No time to explain. Get in here!”

The researcher roughly pushed her into a small container filled with water.

Without knowing the reason, the girl put on her breathing apparatus. The guards dragged the container with her inside and rushed off somewhere.

‘What on earth happened?’

Explosions and screams erupted one after another. Although she couldn’t discern the specific situation, the girl, who had undergone combat training, instinctively realized that someone had raided the lab.

The small window inside the container only allowed her to see the backs of the guards and researchers sprinting down the hallway.

From hallway to hallway, the path kept turning.

‘Where are the other kids?’

Without time to ponder, she was brought into a large space. It was a parking lot.

The container was loaded into a truck. The girl belatedly realized that the vehicle she was in was driving somewhere.

The researcher, who had barely managed to sit down, mumbled.

“Trinity, listen carefully to me from now on. Your clothes and staff are packed here. Your medicine is here too.”

Facing the vacant gray eyes staring through the small window, the researcher spoke incessantly.

Outside, a noise like pounding on metal plates was getting closer and closer.

“Make sure to take your medicine every day. Never miss it.”

“Got it.”

“And don’t forget the most important thing. You remember what your constitution is like, right?”

The girl nodded.

“That you must absolutely, never carelessly make contact with ordinary people-”

-Crash!

The researcher’s words couldn’t continue to the end.

The girl witnessed the researcher and guards suddenly floating up into the air and being flung in all directions.

-Thud!

The truck crashed from the overpass. Rolling three or four times, the truck came to a stop on the sidewalk.

In the aftermath of the explosion and impact, the door was torn off.

Recovering her senses, the girl belatedly realized that the container holding her had shattered into pieces.

Wiping away the strange salty taste from her mouth, she looked around and saw that the researcher and guards were motionless. A sense of crisis washed over her, who had been staring blankly.

‘I shouldn’t… go outside carelessly…’

However, the sounds of combat grew closer. According to what she had learned, she absolutely shouldn’t stop.

The girl crawled out of the container and hurriedly picked up the clothes scattered on the ground, putting them on as she had been taught.

It was a thick, suffocating protective coat.

Suddenly, gunshots grew closer, and the girl fumbled for the staff hanging on the wall, snatched it, and ran outside.

For the first time in her life, the girl faced the night view of a big city.

Dazzling lights, countless cars moving on the streets.

Murmuring crowds, buildings soaring high into the sky.

As the unfamiliar sights swirled in, fear suddenly seeped into her heart.

-This is the Inspection Bureau, surrender!

-Damn it! Where’s the test subject! Find her!

-This is the Inspection Bureau! Retreat for now!

Shouts from all directions, dizzying noises.

Frightened by the unfamiliar environment, the girl began to run.

Along the streets, across the roads, into narrow alleys.

Before long, rain poured down. Feeling the seeping dampness, the girl ran wildly without a destination.

As she did so, the girl encountered a pizza delivery scooter that popped out from an alley corner.

It was a bizarre accidental encounter born from five thousand scattered possibilities in the central district.

Startled, the girl instinctively unfolded her staff and swung it.

A small explosion occurred in front of the scooter, which was trying to dodge.

“Argh! No!”

The moment the scooter exploded, the delivery person flew into the air.

With desperate effort, the delivery person twisted their body with astonishing agility in mid-air and barely managed to land.

“I’m alive!”

The delivery person, who had rejoiced at their survival, faced a cruel reality.

The scooter was shattered into pieces.

「Waaah! My order! It’s ruined!」

While the delivery person screamed internally, the girl suddenly felt hungry.

A delicious smell wafted from the box rolling at her feet.

‘It’s pizza!’

Her hand instinctively reached out for the food she hadn’t seen in a long time.

What caught the eye of the pizza delivery person, who was trying to sort out the situation, was a girl with orange hair, crouching on the ground and frantically eating the fallen pizza.

The girl didn’t care about getting wet in the rain, stuffing the pizza into her mouth.

“Hey! Give that back! That’s our delivery! You thief!”

The girl mumbled, holding the rain-soaked pizza, as if she had no intention of giving it up. “Won’t give! G’way! Go ‘way!”

A brief tussle over the pizza ensued.

The delivery person, unable to bear it any longer, was about to strike the back of the girl’s head with an iron bar when they stopped moving.

The delivery had already failed, so they had only intended to vent their anger.

“Enrica?”

The orange-haired girl coughed in surprise and choked.

Only after gulping down the drink the delivery person quickly handed her could she speak.

“My real name, how do you know it?”

Fortunately, the delivery person barely managed to pick out an answer.

“It was written on your clothes? Enrica.”

Only after seeing the name written on the left pocket of her protective coat did the girl concede.

“Oh, I see.”

A faint, bluish light very weakly emanated from the girl’s body.

**

What I encountered on the rainy street was a girl with voluminous hair that reached her hips.

She was shorter than me.

「Trinity!」

「So she was here!」

It was strange to encounter playable students like this so often.

Meeting several of them in Polaris had its reasons, but.

But the student in front of me now was a familiar face I hadn’t seen in a year.

The child I couldn’t find even after trying to locate someone with the same name, of all places, she was here.

As the surprise subsided, worry washed over me.

「The delivery! What do I do about the delivery! The customer is looking for us! Asking why we haven’t arrived?」

「We’re in big trouble!」

As Number 4211, the biggest problem was that my delivery was ruined.

Because of that damn Trinity, my scooter was shattered, and the pizza evaporated.

The star rating was obviously going to hit rock bottom.

By the way, looking at her, she was indeed the character I knew.

The thick coat, the outfit that left no skin exposed except for her face. It was clear she was the 5-star girl who would become Vesperia Academy’s best witch.

「First, I need to contact the scholarship officer!」

As I watched, a faint flash of blue light shimmered before my eyes.

I rolled my tongue, a strange sensation of metallic taste on it.

I fell into thought. First, since she was an important person, taking her to our house was the top priority.

Due to her constitution, it wasn’t good to keep her here for long.

“Hey, Trinity. You look hungry. Want to come to our place? I’ll give you something delicious!”

Trinity hesitated.

“Wait, are you an ordinary person? Then…”

“I’m an awakened one!”

“Really?”

“Yep! So don’t worry. I’ll give you something much more delicious than the pizza you just ate!”

At that, Trinity’s face brightened.

“Oh, okay!”

Trinity trotted along behind us.

We brought her to the factory house, sat her down in our empty room, and gave her an armful of frozen foods.

“Delicious!”

She devoured the food as if tasting delicacies from mountains and seas, then quickly fell asleep.

「Good, since I’m sleepy, let’s contact the scholarship officer tomorrow!」

「Anyway, it’s a relief I brought her!」

What was important now was the delivery problem.

Sorting out this mess immediately was the top priority.

Preoccupied, I let my guard down.

I should have paid attention to make sure Enrica didn’t go outside.

Because the next day, Yurik Ajusshi collapsed from a stomachache.

“U-ugh!”

“Gasp! Ajusshi! Are you alright?”

Ajusshi, who had suddenly collapsed to the floor while drinking milk.

I injected a recovery potion into his neck.

But even then, his condition didn’t improve, so as I prepared to move him to the hospital, Bernike, who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, approached him with a bewildered expression, extending robot tentacles to examine him, and then shouted.

“You, you! What did you get on yourself from somewhere! What did you do yesterday?”

Feeling wronged, I protested, but what came back was Little Broca’s reaction, clicking and vibrating as if an earthquake had struck.

Chills suddenly ran down my spine.

「No way!」

Just then, Number 321, who discovered white residue and snack crumbs around the mouth of the soundly sleeping culprit, clasped her head.

「Argh!」