Ch.3535. The Meeting.

# 35. The Meeting

Trapped on the shelf, with the Robot Puppy prowling around me like an alligator… let’s just call it Puppy.

Puppy glared at me for quite some time, then headed to the shelf behind the counter, apparently having come to the pharmacy to get something.

It was the same shelf I mentioned earlier that had bolts and nuts.

“What’s it doing…?”

Clank, clank.

Curious about what Puppy was doing from the sound, I stretched my neck to see.

Good heavens.

“…Could that be Puppy’s food?”

It was putting the scrap metal from the container into its mouth.

I wasn’t sure if it was actually eating it as food or just storing it inside to transport somewhere else.

Seeing that, I finally understood why Puppy was so hostile toward me.

From Puppy’s perspective, I was a bad person who sneaked into an unattended pharmacy in the middle of the night to steal its food.

“Would it forgive me if I returned it now?”

“Grrrr….”

If the problem was that I stole its things, maybe it would let me go if I returned them now.

With that thought, I opened my bag’s zipper, but Puppy bared its teeth even more at my action.

Maybe it was telling the criminal to stay still.

It looks cute, but its behavior and those glowing red eyes are truly frightening…

“…Alright. Let’s see who wins.”

As if I’m going to stay here until I starve to death?

If I wait long enough, its battery will surely run low, or it’ll get tired and leave first.

I was feeling tired anyway, so I started preparing to take a nap on the shelf.

Whether Puppy intended it or not, the shelf I was on was isolated in a corner like a remote island.

There was nothing to lean against except the wall, and the space was so narrow that I couldn’t lie down properly.

An ordinary person probably couldn’t endure in such a place for a long time.

But… don’t underestimate my adaptability after surviving in freezing environments all this time.

“Phew….”

Somehow finding a way to sleep on the narrow shelf, I closed my eyes hoping that when I woke up, the Puppy in front of me would have gone home—

“Puppy, why aren’t you coming back? My joints are so stiff they’re about to fall off.”

—when an unfamiliar voice came from the entrance.

A natural human voice. In contrast, a body made of metal.

A round body floating in the air with several cameras and robot arms attached.

Finally, a display with a round face drawn on it.

The moment my eyes met with the robot that had arrived without making any sound until entering the pharmacy.

“Uwoaaaack!?”

The robot reacted first.

The round face drawn on the display turned to shock as its body jerked violently.

“Huaaack!?”

They say emotions are contagious.

I couldn’t help but be startled by the robot’s very human-like reaction.

“Oh my, oh my, I apologize. I never expected there would still be travelers coming from outside!”

It seems the robot and Puppy knew each other.

When the robot discovered Puppy confronting me and patted it with its arm, Puppy’s eyes returned to normal, and it no longer showed hostility toward me.

Come to think of it, the robot had asked why Puppy wasn’t coming back and mentioned stiff joints.

It must have sent Puppy to fetch parts or lubricant needed to fix its body.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m not hurt. I fell a few times and got my hand bitten, but it wasn’t a deep bite, so I’m fine.”

Finally down from the shelf after several hours and sitting in a chair, the robot scratched its head… awkwardly while examining my condition.

If I just heard the voice and words, it would feel like talking to a person, but what’s actually in front of me is a hard machine, which makes it feel strange.

“I’m glad you’re not hurt! If you had been injured because of us… sniff, sniff, I would have been kept awake all night with guilt.”

“…Kept awake at night?”

Is it a metaphor for turning off power while charging?

Or do robots in this era actually sleep like humans?

Curious, I asked without thinking.

“Of course— I don’t sleep! How could a robot sleep? It was just a light joke, a joke.”

“A joke… Like how you were startled earlier, you really act and talk like a human.”

“I have an empathy module installed to converse with humans.”

An empathy module. Could such a component really enable such human-like speech and behavior?

As I was about to sink into contemplation over this somewhat troubling statement, the robot addressed me again.

“But I’m truly surprised. I never imagined there would still be a living traveler. And you don’t even have a chip implanted.”

“Chip?”

“Oh, don’t you know? It’s this small… goes into your head….”

The display showed a small component reminiscent of an SD card.

“Did everyone else have chips implanted in their heads?”

“That’s right. To be precise, part of the brain was replaced with a chip. All authentication methods for machines and various systems are connected to the chip, making proper living impossible without one.”

It seems people in this era all had such chips implanted in their heads.

If they had chips in their brains from a very young age, allowing them to unlock doors or operate machines just by thinking…

It would be convenient in many ways, but I’m not particularly keen on it. What would happen if the chip malfunctioned?

“…Ah. Is that why nothing worked when I made a hole in the fence and snuck in? Because the machines couldn’t recognize me?”

“No! That’s simply because we cut off electricity to the gates and fences to save power. The same goes for security devices and robots. You need thieves to have police, and victims and perpetrators to have prosecutors and defense attorneys, right?”

“I see. So if electricity had been flowing through the fence….”

“You would have been roasted the moment you touched it, or security robots would have rushed over and carried you to a holding cell.”

“My goodness.”

I had a vague idea, but I really did something extremely dangerous.

“In that sense, I was truly surprised. It’s been years since the last visitor came from outside. I thought there were no survivors left outside this city… How did you get here? What exactly are you?”

The robot brought its camera closer to me. Despite the body and eyes showing no signs of life, I could tell the robot was deep in thought.

Contemplation from a robot with advanced computing capabilities. Thinking about how contradictory that sounded, I opened my mouth.

“There’s nothing special about my identity. If I had to describe myself, I guess I’m a wanderer with a purpose but no fixed destination…?”

“A wanderer……. I apologize, but may I ask your name?”

“My name?”

“Yes. I. Really. Want. To know. Your name.”

The moment it heard “wanderer,” the robot’s demeanor changed.

Like the “Gift for the Last Wanderer” written in the factory.

Could there be some special meaning to the word “wanderer” that I’m not aware of?

But I had no way of figuring out that meaning right now.

“Mori. My name is Mori.”

After a moment’s hesitation, I revealed my name to the robot.

“My goodness.”

Upon hearing my name, the robot showed a very surprised expression, just like before.

As if it knew about me.

Or at least about the name “Mori.”

“…Do you know about me?”

“—No? How could I know about Mori when I’ve never left this city since I was assembled?”

“Really? For someone who doesn’t know, you seemed pretty surprised when you heard my name. Are you sure you don’t know?”

“That’s right. I was surprised simply because of the name. After all, ‘Mori’ isn’t a common name.”

…Something seems suspicious.

It clearly seems to have information about me but appears to be deliberately hiding it.

But… no matter how human-like its behavior and speech, a robot is still a robot.

If the robot in front of me was created within the technological lineage made by humanity…

It cannot deviate from the principle that it must never harm humans under any circumstances and must obey human commands.

The same goes for lying.

“Alright. I’ll believe you. It must have been my imagination.”

Though there are many suspicious points about this robot…

Under the assumption that the grand principle of always serving humanity is maintained, it won’t pose a threat to me.

Unlike humans who betray as easily as flipping their palms based on self-interest and hide their true intentions, there’s no harm in trusting it.

“So, who are you?”

A robot freely moving around in an era when most cities and machines are frozen.

Advanced artificial intelligence that acts and speaks like a human.

The robot before me was likely not an ordinary one.

At the very least, it must have been a robot that managed the entire city or performed quite important roles.

Then perhaps it also has the information I need.

“Well, who am I indeed?”

“What?”

But… the robot gave a strange answer to my question.

What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?