Ch.267Unforgettable Memory (6)

Ireh carried the collapsed Eidel on her back and ran to the hospital.

She didn’t care about physical contact with a man.

If something serious happened to him, the world would be finished.

“Sigh… this kid again.”

Zernya quickly examined Eidel and set up an IV drip. She sighed repeatedly. Rustila and Seti, who had heard the news, rushed over immediately.

“Eidel, are you okay? What happened this time!”

“Overwork.”

“I knew it.”

Seti grumbled.

“Get ready. The professors will be swarming in soon.”

Seti was right. Professors and researchers came to check on him. Arnold and Rezein, who worked at the same hospital, occasionally came to check on Eidel’s condition.

Several hours passed.

Eventually, only five women remained in the hospital room.

Rustila, Zernya, Ireh, Sonia, and Seti.

The night grew deep. Seti made a makeshift bed and drifted off to dreamland. Rustila, Zernya, and Ireh hoped for a recovery buff. They wished for Eidel to recover quickly through the triangle effect.

Meanwhile, Sonia was feeling strange.

[— Current recovery rate: 73.39%]

“…Hmm.”

A meaningless sound escaped between her teeth.

It was natural for a dedicated android to worry when her master was unwell. Nevertheless, the feeling was unusually intense right now.

If Eidel were to die.

Perhaps it would be better for her to cut her own power and disappear from this world.

The fact that she was even thinking such thoughts was telling.

It was strange.

‘…I am an android. If my current master passes away, I should be transferred to Lady Seti. Also, I am the private property of the Rheinland family. Making such decisions on my own would violate the law.’

Just as she felt this dissonance and snapped back to her senses—

Buzz.

Rustila’s radio emitted a vibration.

[Colonel, enemy infiltration! Please return to the unit immediately!]

“…What? Understood. I’ll be right there.”

Rustila, who had been stroking her husband’s hand, stood up with a regretful expression.

“Zernya, please take care of Eidel.”

“I’ll take such wonderful care of him you wouldn’t even need to ask.”

“If anything happens to Eidel, I won’t let it slide.”

“Second wife.”

The two wives parted after their usual power struggle. Rustila left the room with lightning speed, and Zernya took Rustila’s place and stroked Eidel.

Zernya, caressing her lower abdomen, muttered to herself.

“You fool, why do you push yourself like this… You should at least see our baby’s face, right?”

“…”

Why?

Sonia found Zernya’s behavior irritating.

Even though there was absolutely no reason to feel that way.

***

A world filled with darkness.

I looked around and let out a hollow laugh.

This was a familiar space now.

“What did you call me for this time?”

As I threw the question into the void, lights burst like shutters. Eventually, a foreign god with navy blue hair and teal eyes emerged from the darkness.

“Cartesia.”

“…”

“You’ve been ignoring my calls all this time.”

Cartesia looked different than usual. Worn out with fatigue, perhaps. She approached me slowly with her eyes half-open.

Fortunately, no tentacles were visible. Only the clicking sound of her shoes echoed around us.

“Youngster.”

She answered a beat late.

“You’ve gotten quite impudent.”

“What?”

“You said you considered me a comrade, didn’t you?”

A black chair appeared in front of Cartesia. She leaned her back against it and buried her head. There was no strength in her voice.

“You seem to be under some misunderstanding… Our species and you humans can never be equals.”

“That depends on how you interpret it.”

“No, it’s a fixed truth. No matter how many coins you give me, this will never change.”

[— You have donated 100,000 coins to the ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’.]

“Even now?”

“…”

“Foreign gods use coins as an energy source, right? You look tired, so have this to regain your strength.”

“You really are impudent.”

“The corners of your mouth are turning up, you know?”

“…Huh?”

Cartesia hurriedly placed her hand on her face. She touched her lips a few times and then returned to an expressionless look. A “tsk” escaped from her lips.

“Your presumption knows no bounds. Well, connecting expressions directly to emotions is something only underdeveloped species do.”

“You’re embarrassed, aren’t you?”

At that moment, two black tentacles shot up from the floor, which had been as calm as a lake. The tentacles grabbed my legs instantly and forced me down.

Splash.

Water splattered.

I ended up lying on my back, staring at the ceiling. Cartesia’s face blocked my view. She was staring down at me with visible displeasure.

“This is where you belong—lying on the floor. The only reason you’ve been able to associate with me until now is simply because I’ve been indulging a whim.”

“I know.”

“If you know, then stop trying to climb above your station and act according to your level.”

“Still, I need to ask this one thing. What’s your relationship with Sonia now?”

The tentacles gripping my ankles gradually loosened.

I got up and looked up at Cartesia. She answered.

“The Darwin lineage identifies avatar bodies through cores. We don’t have such a concept. It’s an unnecessary mechanism anyway, since contracts can’t be broken until the avatar body dies.”

“So. Sonia is no longer your avatar body, right?”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you’re a foreign god related to the mind.”

I formed a hypothesis.

The hypothesis was that Descartes-type avatar bodies determine life and death based on the loss of information, not the loss of physical body.

Perhaps Sonia could never function as an avatar body until she regained her memories.

“Sonia’s body is alive, but her original mind is dead, making her a completely different being. She doesn’t remember the memories she had with me, let alone the contract she made with you. So until she regains her memories, or until you propose a contract again, Sonia is not your avatar body.”

“Hmm.”

“It would be difficult to establish a contract again. This time, Sonia might not accept you.”

“Go on.”

“If my guess is correct… you’ve been independently processing data to revive Sonia. That’s why you’re so drained, and why you barely responded when I called you.”

Cartesia laughed hollowly. She soon frowned. A dark shadow appeared in her expression.

“Your ability to interpret things in your favor is remarkable. Why would I do such a thing for you out of sentiment?”

“You might have.”

“Youngster, what do you take me for?”

“A comrade.”

“I clearly told you earlier that I don’t consider you a comrade.”

“Even so, that’s how I think of you. Even if you don’t think of me as a comrade, I still consider you on my side.”

After all, how much help had I received from Cartesia all this time?

“…”

“Why, isn’t it my freedom to think of you this way regardless of how you see me?”

Cartesia looked dumbfounded. Taking advantage of this moment, I naturally stood up.

I hadn’t been able to check before due to lack of opportunity, but now I could see that Cartesia was of average height. Just about the same as Sonia. In terms of height alone, I could look down at her.

Cartesia seemed quite uncomfortable with my head being above hers, so she used her tentacles to force me to sit down again.

“You really don’t know your place. If I wanted to, killing you through a quest would be nothing.”

“But you didn’t.”

“…”

“See? You’re flustered.”

In the end, even foreign gods are thought entities. They’re intellectual beings.

Therefore, dialogue is possible. Emotional exchange is possible too. Whatever ulterior motives Cartesia might have, I believe that the five years we’ve spent together couldn’t have been a short time even by her standards.

“I told you before. Once I decide to trust someone, I trust them all the way.”

“Ha.”

Cartesia gave a short snort.

“You just don’t listen. Well, think what you want. You haven’t forgotten about making the graviton bomb, have you?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s all that matters. Youngster.”

Cartesia crouched down to meet my eye level.

“Now go.”

Snap!

She flicked her fingers.

My body and consciousness began to float and gradually overlap with the real world.

Before the world of the imaginary space completely disappeared, Cartesia added one more thing.

“…Thanks for the coins.”

***

I regained consciousness.

I slowly raised my creaking body. The sensation of the IV in my right hand was the first thing I felt.

So I’m in the hospital.

I looked up at the window.

It was the dead of night. A full moon hung brightly in the sky.

Next, I saw a girl with snow-white hair sleeping face down on a makeshift bed. I got out of the hospital bed and approached her.

The room was so dark that I couldn’t see clearly. But there were only two women who would stay by my side like this when I collapsed.

Rustila, and.

“…Zernya.”

I slowly stroked the back of her head. Her glossy hair slipped through my fingers along its texture.

“I’m awake.”

Zernya made a cute sleepy sound, “Mmm.” Since her figure was hidden in darkness, I brought my face closer.

“Hmm…”

Soon her eyes opened. Lovely golden eyes stared blankly at me.

“…”

Wait a minute.

Golden eyes?

“Kyaaaah!”

“Aaaaah!”