Ch.56Hate Intelligence and Neo-Statism (4)

# Chapter 56: Living with Hatred Intelligence and Neo-Theocracy (4)

The day before entering the conference room.

“Hello, little flesh beings!”

We were in deep contemplation as we looked at the terminal drone brought by Alina (as she called herself), an ancient AI and personality.

“How can we reduce, even slightly, the ministers’ and Emperor’s aversion toward Alina?”

The Holy Sebelli Empire fundamentally harbored strong hatred even toward Synths who belonged to the ‘human’ category.

And now we had to bring Alina to the Imperial Council—the group with the strongest hatred tendencies—and announce that we had brought something extraordinary.

After gathering all the pro-foreign factions(?) from the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry to ponder this issue:

“The best approach would be to attach our religious symbols to Alina, the AI.”

“Symbols, you say?”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Initially, we decided to attach imperial symbols and various religious emblems to the terminal that looked like a massive supercomputer.

But there was a problem with that.

“Minister.”

“Yes?”

“Are we planning to sell Miss Alina somewhere in our empire?”

“…”

“Honestly, her current appearance doesn’t look friendly to the empire—it looks more like sponsor logos on athletes’ uniforms.”

Unfortunately, we lacked the aesthetic sense to artistically arrange the symbols…

As Riel pointed out, the visual impact was bound to be quite shocking.

“Then how should we handle this?”

“Hmm…”

I wished opinions would flow more freely.

Perhaps because I, as the head of the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry, was directly involved, everyone seemed cautious about expressing their views.

‘But if I just throw out random ideas, that won’t work either…’

“Tsk.”

When I unconsciously clicked my tongue, the atmosphere in the conference room seemed to sink even further.

‘Should I just attach the imperial seal and be done with it?’

But solutions to such problems always came from unexpected places.

“What if we first change Alina’s terminal from this container-like drone form to a humanoid body?”

“Hmm…?”

“If we can’t design the machine, wouldn’t it be easier to make Alina’s body human-like, since we ourselves are human?”

Hearing these words from someone who had been quietly listening in the corner, I looked up at the speaker and said:

“Hmm, where do you work?”

“Uh… if I’ve overstepped my bounds, I apologize…”

“Answer me.”

“I… I work in the 6th Division of Diplomatic Management.”

“Your rank?”

“…I… I just entered 9th grade…”

“Well, from now on you’re 8th grade, so work hard.”

“Pardon?”

Perhaps it was the influence of immediately promoting someone who came up with such a brilliant idea.

From that moment, civil servants with promotion fever began unleashing a whirlwind of frenzied opinions.

“Minister! I have a good idea!”

“I have one too!”

Chatter erupted everywhere.

“As religious people, isn’t clothing the most important thing?”

“And the religious symbols mentioned earlier… the imperial seal.”

“The seal should be placed where it’s most visible as soon as one enters.”

“What about gender?”

“Does that matter for an artificial intelligence?”

“Since most attendees will be men, making it female might make things smoother…”

After truly commendable(?) discussions and deliberations…

“Very well, we’ve decided on Alina’s form!”

We finally determined how to present Alina.

——————————

And now.

‘Oh my.’

I was internally expressing my bewilderment at Alina’s appearance, which was “slightly different” from what I had seen in the meeting.

‘This isn’t the form I saw.’

Of course, I didn’t mind that the hatred intelligence… AI Alina had a personality and maternal pouches…

The problem was that when combined with a nun’s habit that pursued asceticism, it had evolved into an excessively dangerous state.

“Hmm.”

“In the royal conference room, what is this… ahem.”

“How, how vulgar.”

Just looking at the reactions of most nobles and council members present, it was obvious this wasn’t the result I had anticipated.

And those reactions were actually the polite ones.

“Gah!!!!”

“How dare a hatred intelligence enter the sacred imperial palace with such a lewd appearance!”

“You wench, has the invasion of hatred intelligence finally begun?!”

The mental ascetics who made up the absolute majority of the Sebelli Empire were foaming at the mouth and going berserk at Alina’s appearance.

Especially those pursuing ascetic lives were criticizing Alina’s very form…

“Look at that lewd figure! How dare you enter the royal conference room with such a body!”

“Little flesh beings, this body form was based on the body of the person you call Emperor of this empire?”

“…”

Perhaps due to Alina’s sudden revelation:

“Ahem…”

“Come to think of it, it’s not exactly that kind of sacred body.”

“Indeed, it’s actually a sacred body too holy for a hatred intelligence.”

The very people who had just been criticizing Alina’s body were suddenly praising it.

And such caution seemed to extend to other groups as well:

“That body must never be defiled!”

“You, hatred intelligence…! To make loyal subjects disrespect His Majesty in this way…!”

“As expected of Minister Arto, it was quite an ingenious trap.”

‘Oh crap, I’m screwed.’

As I suddenly found myself being treated as an evil schemer who trapped opponents to crush them, I was inwardly shedding tears.

What I had deployed to reverse the situation had only made things worse.

‘At this rate, Arthraia might get furious and crush both me and Alina.’

As I was about to resign myself to accepting my fate, having no other strategies…

‘Huh?’

Suddenly feeling an odd gaze among those looking at me, I turned my head in that direction…

And at the end of it:

-Whoaaaa…!

“…?”

For some reason I couldn’t fathom, Arthraia was looking at me with a face full of delight.

When our eyes met, her reddened eyes curved into a slight eye-smile.

‘What’s going on?’

What could possibly make her so happy?

Could it be that she’s excited about the opportunity to keep me as a pet in the imperial palace?

‘If this continues, I’ll end up being treated not as a partner but as a pet by Arthraia.’

Feeling this sense of crisis, I decided to passionately expound on Alina’s capabilities to turn the situation around.

“The reason I brought this ancient AI, Alina, is none other than this.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s present here is merely a humanoid interface operated by Alina. Her actual entity is the underground facility that fell into the national park and was cleared away recently.”

-Whispers

“You mean that AI is the culprit behind that incident?”

“Isn’t she more of an involved party rather than the culprit?”

As my words spread, the council members’ whispers intensified, but…

‘Arthraia, please react somehow.’

Arthraia maintained her delighted expression without showing any particular reaction.

“The reason I brought her here is none other than this.”

“Then why did you bring a hatred intelligence here?”

“Because just as she has helped us, it is right for our empire to extend a helping hand to Alina.”

Therefore, I decided to emphasize Alina’s presence even more, to thwart Arthraia’s pet plan.

“Help? How so, Minister Arto?”

“As a sophisticated AI who once managed planetary cities of an ancient empire, she has expressed her willingness to serve the empire with her abilities.”

“Are you suggesting… giving that hatred intelligence the position of a planetary governor?”

“…”

“Preposterous!”

“According to the laws of the great Holy Sebelli Empire, it’s impossible for a non-human entity like a hatred intelligence to hold an admiral’s position!”

And naturally, opposition began to flare up, but…

“Hmm, let’s continue listening for now.”

“Yes, yes! Your Majesty!”

Thankfully, as Arthraia showed interest according to my plan, the situation progressed further.

“My plan is this: the best approach would be to utilize her as an auxiliary system for planetary governors, in line with her original manufacturing purpose…”

“That’s impossible!”

“Even as an auxiliary, wouldn’t that essentially mean falling under the control of a hatred intelligence?!”

But when they heard it directly from me, their rejection was truly intense.

Like water and magnesium engaging in passionate love, I inwardly thought ‘as expected’ and brought out my next plan.

“Alternatively, our Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry could promote her capabilities for use in diplomacy and other areas.”

“Wouldn’t giving a public official position to a hatred intelligence be extremely dangerous?”

“Indeed, conversely, the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry could suddenly become useless due to the hatred intelligence.”

Of course, these people disliked the very existence of hatred intelligence, so they showed strong aversion to the alternative plan as well.

But…

“If not that, then to help with imperial technological development, we could entrust her to Minister Bermut of the Technology and Science Ministry…”

“On second thought, it seems best for the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry to take charge of that AI.”

“I agree. If we give that madman the computational power of an AI capable of managing an entire planet, who knows what might happen.”

As soon as the name of the universally acknowledged madman left my lips, the council immediately opted for my alternative plan.

And Arthraia, observing all this…

“Hmm, then let the Diplomatic Enforcement Ministry take charge of that AI.”

She provided a very clean conclusion.

[Event: Emperor’s Joy]

[Although failing to make you an imperial pet, the Emperor was more pleased with your actions than expected and has decided to overlook the mistakes you’ve made.]

[Arto Virtorius Sebelli’s fatigue recovered]

With the event message appearing on top of everything else, I decided to pay homage to Arthraia with a much more energetic feeling than before.