Ch.236Jagang Ducheon (4)

The unidentified man pressed a gun barrel between the clothes and whispered.

“Don’t scream. It’s better if you stay still.”

What an impressive threat.

An ordinary person would have panicked, but I had a high-level external deity from the Descartes line.

[— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity applies <Mental Stability> to you.]

Thinking calmly, the situation wasn’t entirely unfavorable.

The man couldn’t shoot me here.

There were too many people.

If I got shot and collapsed, the culprit would be immediately exposed. No killer in the world would accept an assassination request that assumed surrender.

The man muttered.

“I’ve positioned snipers. Don’t try anything and come with me.”

“Snipers?”

I smirked.

“How ridiculous.”

“What did you say?”

That’s when it happened.

THWACK!

A heavy piece of metal struck the man’s head.

Losing his balance, the man fell and rolled on the floor.

“ARGHHHH!”

“W-what’s happening?”

Startled people fled like an ebbing tide.

“What do you think you’re doing to the young master?”

It was Sonia.

Sonia put down the metal hammer she had gotten from somewhere and stomped on the fallen assassin’s waist. As always, her movements showed complete disregard for robotic engineering principles.

“Ah, an android hitting a person…! Ugh, ugh, urgh!”

Thud, thud, thud!

Sonia repeatedly kicked the man. For a robot, her kicks contained excessive emotion.

“What’s going on?”

“An android is beating up a person!”

“Shouldn’t we report this?”

The people who had moved away murmured among themselves.

After taking several blows, the man foamed at the mouth and then dropped his head.

He lost consciousness.

“Hey! What’s happening here?”

Police officers rushed over to investigate the commotion. Instead of talking to them, I searched the man’s body. As expected, I found an old-fashioned pistol and a badge with a black snake drawn on it.

“T-that badge…”

“The Black Mamba guys tried to assassinate me.”

Black Mamba.

A notorious criminal organization in this southern frontier, the Delaus planetary system.

Since they operate strictly for money, they apparently had no qualms about accepting a request to kill the head of House Rheinland.

“These bastards, to go this far even in a place like this… You are the head of House Rheinland, right? I’m truly sorry for not noticing earlier.”

“No. I didn’t notice him approaching either because of the crowd.”

I checked the nearby buildings with “Future Vision.”

Positioned snipers?

A lie.

The man was alone.

Of course. After all the effort I put into my security.

Still, I was surprised. I didn’t expect Sonia to take action first. I had originally planned to use Callipers or get help from Cartesia to knock the man unconscious.

Sonia, realizing what she had done, stood rigidly.

She wasn’t stiff because she had hit a person.

She was shocked because she had hit a person “without proper orders or instructions.”

The police officer who arrested the man said:

“No matter how urgent the situation was, an android committing assault is not a matter to be taken lightly. Sir, did you by any chance give the android an order that could be recognized as self-defense?”

Sonia looked at me with trembling pupils.

She had a combat module.

It was software that my father had installed long ago to control his delinquent son.

The module’s attack target was only me, and it had restrictions—only when I was causing trouble or making a scene, and only weakly enough not to kill me.

Sonia had hit an unauthorized person.

I answered the police officer’s question immediately.

“Yes. I had input a module allowing her to use force, as long as it doesn’t endanger life, if either I or she is in danger. If there’s any problem, I should be the one punished.”

“I understand. Then it was self-defense.”

“Aren’t you going to conduct a separate module verification check?”

“Yes, it was self-defense.”

The police officer gave me a knowing look.

For reference, module checks take quite a long time.

Such a negligent police officer. How thankful.

“We’ll handle the would-be criminal properly.”

“Thank you. Please proceed.”

After the police took the man away.

Sonia bowed her head deeply in front of me and murmured.

“Young master, I…”

“Shh.”

I covered Sonia’s mouth with my hand.

“Don’t say anything.”

Normally, an android attacking an unauthorized person is illegal.

Sonia had broken the law, and I had concealed it.

Strictly speaking, it was a crime.

“We’re accomplices now.”

This is the first time I’ve broken the law.

I don’t think it’s wrong.

People are above the law, how could the law be above people?

The relevant laws were created because of humanity’s inherent fear that self-aware creations could escape their creators’ control.

The idea that machines might not follow orders. That androids might show erratic behavior. I acknowledge that some people can feel sufficient fear about this.

I’m not one of them.

Was it because of what Sonia said before?

That they too are intellectual beings and should be respected.

She didn’t seem like a mere tool for my convenience.

Of course, I couldn’t think of Sonia as someone who would do morally wrong things either.

“You did well.”

So I praised her instead.

“Thank you, you saved my life.”

“…Thank you.”

Sonia monotonously replied and put the hammer she had used to strike the man back under her skirt. There was a black ring on her right leg that could hold hammers and knives.

Wait, it was portable?

“It’s for self-defense.”

I didn’t say anything, but she seemed to feel guilty and answered on her own.

The next moment.

“Eidel!”

Rustila came running from afar and fell into my arms. I felt a tender and soft sensation. The smell of hair wet with sweat and water stirred my heart a little.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine.”

She seemed quite flustered and checked my body several times.

Sonia looked at us with piercing eyes.

“Miss, this is a public place. You shouldn’t do this.”

“Sonia, I’m no longer a miss but Eidel’s wife. It’s natural for a wife to worry about her husband.”

Sonia and Rustila glared at each other.

The atmosphere was ominous.

But I didn’t understand why.

Did they fight while I was away?

I didn’t have the luxury to worry about that now. After wrapping things up, I left the training ground. Rustila made a fuss about protecting me but was dragged away by someone who appeared to be her superior.

On the way back to the laboratory.

I muttered.

“It’s a bit disappointing.”

“What is?”

“I’m married, but both my wives are busy. We’re apart even when I want to see them, so we don’t have many opportunities to share affection.”

I wanted to at least sleep together. Not in an indecent sense, but literally. At the very least, I should pay more attention to Zernya since she’s pregnant. Of course, I still check on her through messages and calls, but it’s still not enough.

“Sometimes I think.”

“What do you think?”

“If my wives had aimed to be physicists like me, we could see each other’s faces every day, sleep together, attend graduate school together, get our doctorates together, and get professor appointments together.”

“Oh.”

We arrived at the lab.

After entering the passcode, a black-haired woman greeted me, rubbing her eyes.

“You’re back?”

Ireh Hazlen.

She seems to have been researching late again today. She looks visibly tired.

“How’s your study going these days?”

“It’s going smoothly. Though finding a research topic is still difficult.”

“Should I suggest another topic?”

“No, wait. I’m just about to get a feel for it.”

She’s already trying to determine her own research topic.

She shows the qualifications to receive a doctoral degree.

I felt pleased naturally.

“…What? That happened today?”

When I told her about what happened today, Ireh jumped up.

“Those bastards. Black Mamba, they’re not just ordinary trash. They should all be dissolved in aqua regia. No, they should be thrown into an ion cannon and fried!”

Somehow her vocabulary is becoming more and more scientist-like.

Anyway, Ireh getting angry.

I understand.

She was a reassuring presence to me, and I to her.

Without each other, this cycle would have been ruined. Especially on my end. Without Ireh, there would be no [Great Triangle], no buff ability using holy spirit bullets, and no future papers.

Ireh made a suggestion with a sigh.

“This won’t do. From now on, you should go around in pairs with me…”

“Then we won’t have time to research.”

“Ah.”

“It’s okay. Whether it’s Black Mamba or Green Mamba, I’ll handle it right away. You know that House Rheinland’s authority is strongest in the south, right?”

Black Mamba’s headquarters differs in each cycle and period. So I couldn’t know immediately.

The would-be assassin from today would provide answers when interrogated.

Then I’d simply request the deployment of public force to sweep them away.

***

It didn’t take long. As soon as the clue emerged, Eidel used his influence as head of the house to make the government deploy troops to the gang’s headquarters.

Among those troops was an Omega-grade swordsman.

Although she was a cadet, her exceptional skill with sword and gun was recognized, along with her previous experience fighting external deities, allowing her to participate in the sweep.

SLASH!

The suited organization member’s arms were severed by a single stroke.

“AAAAARGH!”

Screams echoed through the hideout corridor.

The woman sheathed her Plasma Sword and drew a pulse rifle. While firearms struggle to produce meaningful firepower against monsters or incarnate bodies, they still deliver supreme destructive power in human combat.

Following hand signals, special operations forces in power suits infiltrated sequentially.

The woman, Rustila, followed behind them.

“Damn it, intruders!”

“Shoot! Shoot them!”

Tidididing!

An intense firefight broke out.

Rustila took cover using the terrain, aimed her rifle, and fired methodically, one shot at a time.

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

Not a single shot missed.

Her anger was as sharp as a blade and as cruel as a bullet.

She had no intention of showing mercy to those who had threatened her husband.