episode_0340

The young city rat opened its eyes. An unfamiliar landscape surrounded the rat.

Suddenly thrown into a vast world, the rat twitched its small nose nervously.

‘Where am I?’

It was a vast expanse that the rat’s short vision couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

Lemon trembled with anxiety, squeaking briefly as she looked around. The world always seemed overwhelmingly vast to this tiny creature.

Moreover, with a rodent’s poor eyesight, it was merely an immense, endless space. Could this be how a sailor adrift alone in the middle of a vast ocean felt?

The dim, blurry vision brightened in an instant. Lemon tilted her head. Was the world always like this?

Lemon was bewildered by the sudden influx of new information pouring into her eyes. Light and information from a realm she had never experienced in her life surged in like a tide.

All this small creature could do was stare blankly at the world with her mouth agape.

It grew brighter and wider… Was the world made of such diverse colors?

Everything was unfamiliar.

‘The world is so bright!’

Only then did Lemon perceive ‘colors’ for the first time. The unfamiliar always came with fear.

Facing a new world, the rat’s heart swelled with fear.

‘My eyes are weird!’

Her white fur stood on end from tension, and her ears drooped limply. In fear, Lemon hugged her tail and trembled.

It was then that Lemon belatedly realized she was being lifted by someone. Warm hands gently enveloped her.

Looking up, she saw her bosses with joyful expressions.

“It’s real! She was here!”

“Lemon is alive!”

Relief was momentary, as Lemon cautiously asked where this was.

Violet answered.

“I’ll show you now!”

With that, she tapped her own shoulder. The rat, a mix of anticipation and fear, climbed onto her shoulder.

At that moment, a new world unfolded before Lemon’s eyes.

“Wow!”

The young city rat felt a thrill at the sight of the network, which she was seeing for the first time. Violets bustled to and fro across the widely spread out plazas.

All around, there were bizarre yet mysterious buildings and structures of all sizes.

In the sky, dozens of giant french fries and sausages floated as if in a dream.

After they finished looking around the streets, Violet brought Lemon to a magnificent museum filled with countless weapons and sculptures.

“This is the War Memorial.”

“War Memorial!”

Lemon stood on her owner’s shoulder, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the exhibits.

On the wide wall, scenes of the Violet regiment fighting against surging demonic beasts unfolded, and on the opposite side, the dignified figure of the boss was depicted, confronting the army of an evil archmage and defeating the apostles from another dimension.

“Boss is amazing!”

Before she knew it, Lemon had moved to a place where mountains of food were spread out.

The feast of gourmet delights, accumulated from memories and consciousness, stretched grandly from the depths of the earth to the edge of the sky, vast enough to be eaten forever without end.

“Delicious!”

The location changed. This space, where the flow of time couldn’t be measured, changed ceaselessly.

Vast plains turned into snow-capped mountains, and snow-capped mountains into a bustling port with countless ships coming and going.

Within the Violet Network, the small creature felt her consciousness expanding greatly throughout her entire being.

Suddenly, a white-haired girl appeared before Lemon’s eyes.

A charming figure with large, round ears and a long tail. A shimmering scene, almost within reach yet unattainable.

If only she stretched her front paws a little further, if only she waited a little longer…

How much time had passed, Violet asked.

“Do you want to stay here?”

Lemon’s snout, about to answer that she wanted to, suddenly stopped.

She hesitated, remembering her animal friends who were different in size from other mice.

‘My friends would love to see this place too…’

After pondering for a long time with her small brain, Lemon finally made a decision.

“I want to tell my other friends about this place!”

Violet smiled warmly.

“Alright, let’s go back!”

For reasons she couldn’t explain, she felt very regretful.

However, Lemon now had a duty.

She had to tell her other friends about this amazing scenery, this happiness.

As the time to leave approached, Lemon slowly closed her black eyes.

And so, as if waking from sleep, the rat sprang up. Around her, densely drawn magic circles glowed.

“Squeak!”

“It’s a success!”

A familiar girl extended her hand with a bright smile, and a familiar scent wafted around her.

Two men with glasses were quietly conversing.

“Our prediction was correct. It’s regenerated.”

“It’s within the calculated range, but to think the network’s capabilities would extend this far…”

The two men were studying something with serious expressions. But that wasn’t important to the rat.

Because behind them, the bosses were jumping up and down with expressions of elation.

If the bosses were happy, she was happy too.

And so, Lemon extended her two front paws and cried out in a joyful voice.

“I’m back! Squeak!”

Professor Albert and Dr. Yurik’s faces twitched slightly.

“It speaks…?”

**

After returning from Circcliff, many things happened, but to summarize simply, it was this:

“Lemon has been resurrected!”

“Hooray!”

The heroic mouse who played a significant role in destroying the evil Nemesis Protocol had finally returned to reality.

Searching the network, we found a white mouse wandering in Violet Plaza.

While showing her around, we made several attempts, and with the help of Professor Albert-nim, we quickly succeeded.

“No, it was unnecessary. I had placed auxiliary spells to fix the original corpse as a coordinate just in case, but it turns out it wasn’t needed. I merely assisted with the stabilization; in the end, it was all your unique ability.”

Hmm, so that’s it. That means our Violet has grown even further.

But there was another problem to worry about right now. The expressions of the two people who witnessed the miraculous success of the animal friend’s resurrection were strangely serious.

Why aren’t they happy?

“A rat that talks. We expected some changes, but…”

“Squeak! I can talk!”

“Hahahaha… What is this? The more I see it, the more amazing it is.”

I tilted my head. It felt a bit absurd that the very people who connected my animal subordinates to the network were so surprised.

“Is that so surprising?”

Uncle Yurik answered my muttered question firmly.

“Of course! Rats can’t speak like humans! Their vocal cords, their oral structure are different! But this… it’s not even telepathy, what on earth… the sound is actually physically present…”

Professor Albert-nim also interjected with an excited voice.

“Is that all? This creature, though faintly, has active magic power being detected in its body! Look at these detectors. It’s measuring values beyond the normal aether contained in a biological creature. Normally… it should have mutated or died long ago.”

“Ah.”

Perplexed, I finally realized, at least a little, what I had done. I had done something truly remarkable.

“I’ll propose a hypothesis. It’s an extension of the theory Professor-nim presented earlier: within the network, there’s a biological blueprint of a human named ‘Violet.’ That’s why clone generation is possible. Isn’t it possible that a part of that blueprint got mixed in when this rat was first copied? That would explain these changes.”

“No, if that were the case, we should be seeing a being half-animal and half-human before our eyes, shouldn’t we? What we’re seeing now might simply be a mutation caused by magic. We’d need to dissect a few elements to know for sure, but…”

“No dissecting!”

“It’s a joke, dear. We’re not Bernike, that woman, are we? We’ll only investigate to a non-harmful extent…”

The professor, clucking his tongue, adjusted his glasses and mumbled.

“Anyway, Violet, to sum it up: Your rat is no longer a city rat. That’s something entirely different, just with the appearance of a rat!”

“If it’s not a rat, then what is it?”

Uncle Yurik, stroking his chin with a serious expression, opened his mouth.

“Academically, a mutated creature other than a human that can use magic is called… a demonic beast.”

“Squeak! I’m not a demonic beast!”

I sympathized with Lemon’s protest. A demonic beast? Wasn’t that too violent a term to attach to our benevolent and righteous mouse?

“It’s not Violet-ly correct!”

“Exactly, Lemon is a far superior being than a demonic beast!”

Suddenly, a question arose. Would other animals someday be able to speak like Lemon?

“Boss! Make me like Lemon too!”

“Me too! Me too!”

The animal network was already stirring. This has become quite awkward.

**

Separate from the resurrection and return of the brave V-rat, the Violet unit had a mountain of tasks to handle.

Fortunately, most problems were neatly resolved on site. The enemies were annihilated, and some were captured as prisoners.

But the most difficult people to deal with were these.

“My goodness… all of them…!”

While some of the enemies were captured as prisoners and other Violets collected all sorts of odds and ends and corpses, we had to deliberate on how to deal with the senators.

During the engagement, Enrica and the escort force had been stationed in the basement connected to the building, but after subduing all the enemies, it was a headache trying to figure out what to do with these gentlemen.

I decided to leave the fate of these humans to their autonomous choice.

“For now, external communication is connected, and the barrier has lifted. You gentlemen know people, right? Go on your way.”

Just then, as the barrier lifted, a convoy of vehicles approached from beyond the road. The mark of Restraidna was clearly visible.

“…By any chance, gentlemen, are you acquainted with Restraidna?”

Councilor Remar immediately answered.

“Yes, we came at Restraidna’s invitation. It’s confidential, so I can’t say more. Perhaps you’d consider following us? I can speak to my clan about your efforts…”

I shook my head decisively. What nonsense, I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

Moreover, the identity of the enemy who attacked the senators was still a mystery. It seemed like I was getting involved in troublesome politics, so this was as far as I could go.

“No. Just deposit the money first. Understood?”

Perhaps my attitude towards Councilor Remar was unpleasant, as one of the councilors snapped.

“Hey! We are senators! How dare you, a mere mercenary who might have come from who knows where…”

“So what?”

I subtly raised my mace. The councilor quickly turned his head, then cleared his throat as if nothing had happened, feigning innocence.

“What a bunch of insignificant guys.”

I shook off the guys who were about to complain to us and tried to leave with Enrica.

Because we didn’t know when the Luminousa reinforcements would burst in.

It was then. Remar, who had been observing us and the surrounding streets, suddenly widened his eyes as if he had realized something.

He suddenly grabbed us again with a serious expression.

“By any chance, are you people that organization? That…”

“Goodbye!”

We vanished instantly into an alley between the buildings, like ghosts.

“Let’s go! Into the urban dimensional space!”

I rummaged through the interrogator’s memories. The bizarre places called urban dimensional spaces, separated from reality, are secretly hidden throughout the city.

They can be used if only difficult and complex conditions are met.

“The Entanglement Corridor?”

“Yes, that’s what they call it! It’s a kind of shortcut!”

Along with Kalia and Enrica, the Violets traversed alleys and walls multiple times. If you knock on a dead-end wall three times, turn left four times, and then jump in the air…

…you instantly fall into a dimensional space.

“Where did you learn this?”

“I just kinda figured it out!”

“Ugh!”

Kalia and I landed cleanly. Enrica, on the other hand, fell on her backside.

After helping her up, I looked around and saw a space where iron pipes and concrete walls bizarrely repeated themselves.

The true nature of this space is a dimensional rift located between the academy city and the dungeon’s levels. The Luminousa guys gave it the official name “Hyper-Geometric Subconscious Entanglement Corridor.”

It’s shortened to “Entanglement Corridor.”

The Entanglement Corridor is a fluid space that changes moment by moment and cannot be fully understood, but one thing is clear.

“It’s a shortcut!”

The checkpoints of the Blockade Enforcement Unit also utilize this space. It’s rough and unstable, but since we have the knowledge, we can somehow make use of this place too.

“Let’s go home and rest first!”

“…Ugh, you’re right. My clothes are covered in blood. Enrica, are you okay?”

Enrica nodded. She looked mentally exhausted. Of course, the most tired-looking was Kalia. She grumbled, adjusting her jacket.

She wasn’t severely injured, but there were quite a few scratches and scrapes on her face and body.

“Then follow me! We can go this way to get to the outskirts of Circcliff!”

Thus, everything ostensibly came to an end. Afterward, Lemon was resurrected, and the spoils of war were examined.

In truth, there was still a mountain of tasks left to do.

“What about Luminousa?”

Even though their elite special forces were crushed here, the foundation itself is still intact.

It’s uncertain when they might do something bad again to take Enrica.

“We have to crush them!”

I’ll definitely have to deal with them before final exams are over and vacation begins.

**

As midnight approached, I began interrogating the prisoners isolated in this space.

“Alright, it would be best if you answered our questions honestly now. Understood?”

There were two types of prisoners. One group consisted of Luminousa agents, and the other was terrorists who had indiscriminately opened fire, claiming to be looking for senators.

Though we are also called terrorists, these guys were truly the worst of the worst.

Claiming to search rooms, they threw explosives whenever a door opened and fired indiscriminately as if the people around them didn’t matter.

“That’s a violation of the Geneva Conventions!”

Nevertheless, in the end, we, with only swords and spears, prevailed. This must be proof of the superiority of clone democracy.

“I’ll ask one last time. Answer me! Water Splash!”

“Uuugh…”

Surprisingly, they remained silent throughout our rough interrogation. This attitude made me even more suspicious. What on earth was their true identity to be like this?

“Lera comes to mind. She also endured electric torture to the end!”

“Gasp! Could these guys be professionals too?”

It was incredibly frustrating. We were masters of combat, not experts in torture. Hitting an unexpected wall brought on a sense of helplessness. If it were a psychopath like that Witch of Immeasurable, she would have found a solution.

“Wait! There’s a better way, isn’t there? Let’s use that!”

“Ah, right!”

At Unit 7200’s suggestion, we remembered something we had completely forgotten. The interrogator was an innate ability user; we had democratized her and turned her into a Violet.

If so, couldn’t we also utilize her ability?

“Good…”

I grabbed the head in front of me to test it. The terrorist sneered.

“It’s meaningless. Hmph, what trick are you trying now…”

“…”

I recalled how to use Unit 7200’s ability and tried it. I rummaged through memories, embracing the sensations and experiences of the woman who was the interrogator as my own.

Slowly, I wielded magic power and infiltrated his consciousness.

Only then did the terrorist sense the danger and urgently cry out.

“W-wait! What is this? My head, something in my head—!”

The Luminousa agent tied next to him suddenly lifted his head, horrified.

“You monstrosity! What are you doing!”

“Interrogation!”

I wield magic power according to the manual in my memory. Slowly, I burrow in, unlock the bolts, and infiltrate…

It was precisely then that an unexpected pressure surged rapidly. Suddenly, the magic power flowing from my right hand towards the subject’s head burst forth as if a dam had broken.

“Huh? Oh! This shouldn’t be happening!”

The terrorist’s head began to violently swell. I was flustered, not knowing what to do.

“Kuaaaagh!”

Instantly, the soldier’s head exploded with a *pop*. Covered in its contents, we, bewildered by the unexpected side effect, scoured the inside of the network.

Just in case something had been absorbed.

“No new Violets!”

“Gasp! Why not?”

Perhaps due to inexperience in using the ability, the prisoner died.

“There might have been a security spell. That would make the failure rate much higher.”

I see, so the innate ability wasn’t perfect after all. It ultimately ended in failure, and now all that remained were blurry fragments of the terrorist’s memories.

“Lieutenant Colonel Biral… Navy… was he a soldier?”

“It seems he was from a faction with many grievances against the council.”

A soldier, yet he was just shooting guns in the metropolis fighting demonic beasts – utterly pathetic.

The Violets sighed, gathering the scattered fragments of consciousness.

They were too blurry to discern anything, no matter how closely they looked.

“This won’t do. Let’s practice the ability!”

I slowly approached the remaining prisoners. The enemies, terrified, alternated their gaze between the headless corpse and me.

“Since it’s come to this, I’ll practice a bit. Sorry.”

“N-no! Don’t come!”

-Pop!

Head fireworks exploded one after another.