Ch.6868. Back in the old days, you know.

“Hey! Elise! Aren’t you going to open the door?”

“No! Wait a bit! Can’t you even wait that long?”

“Just show me a little! You opened your room earlier without any problem!”

“No! I really can’t!”

“Hey! Open the door!”

I’ll just ignore the noise coming from over there.

“Here, let’s take care of this box first.”

“Huh? Is it a weapons box?”

“No, it’s not weapons. It was something personally precious to me. Personal items, personal items.”

“Hmm. But can we really pack all these weapons?”

“With your magical power, there’s more than enough space… but, well, since there won’t be room for my weapons at the Association or your home, I’ll carefully select what to take.”

“Where should I put them?”

“Well, don’t I have a room or something? You mentioned it before, didn’t you?”

“Ah, that place. I did tell them to prepare it. Let’s check it out later. But even if we use it as storage, I don’t think everything will fit…”

“I’m only taking a few things. There are already plenty of documents there, and I don’t want to burden you.”

“Even taking just one of each thing here would be really heavy.”

“Our weapons are extremely lightweight. They’ll be lighter than you think.”

“No, I’ve been hit by your guns in close combat more than once. I remember that weight… It felt really heavy when I got hit. It hurt.”

“That’s because they were infused with magical power.”

“I’m telling you, it felt different from the weight of magical power. I’ve felt your magic plenty of times, and if I couldn’t tell that difference, shouldn’t I quit being a magical girl?”

“Hmm… They were extremely light. Should we weigh them?”

“Maybe you unconsciously enhanced your body with magic?”

“I didn’t do that. If I had, my body would have adapted to magical enhancement, and I wouldn’t have been able to move when wearing this necklace. Yet I can still move well even with this damn necklace on.”

“Or maybe you’re mistaken about the weight because you’re a monster.”

“I’m actually more sensitive to weight now than when I was a student. As a monster, I can detect even a 1g difference if I concentrate.”

“Hmm… Then why…”

“I don’t know. These weapons were made for me by him. The doctor helped, and he designed them specifically for me. What is there for me to understand? I just became familiar with them, and more familiar still. That was the only path for him, and I know that better than anyone.”

“You talk so much. In the end, you don’t know either.”

“How could I possibly reach his level of knowledge?”

“So you don’t know. Right.”

“I mean they’re light. Seems you can’t even understand that.”

“Sigh… Fine, let me try lifting it and see… Huh?”

“See? I told you they’re light.”

Blanc’s expression showed disbelief as she tried to lift the box containing the weapons.

Let’s just ignore the fact that she almost stumbled because she was expecting it to be heavy and used too much force.

“Huh…? Why is it so light…?”

“It’s definitely lighter than you thought. Would it make sense for me not to know the weight of my own weapons?”

“But the weapons we brought from the confiscated items storage all had normal weight…?”

“Those were the weapons I used during Ragnarok. Those are a bit different.”

“Sigh… I really don’t understand any of this. Eden is really…”

“It wasn’t created to be understood. It was only to realize his ideals. Understanding comes later. Realizing the ideal comes first.”

“You’re being especially like that today. Vine. Is it because we came to Eden?”

“Like what?”

“Ah, never mind. Besides this, where should we go next?”

“From here to the end. Please take at least two of each item on this shelf. If you’re thinking we’ll never come back, take three. We need spares.”

“And the ammunition, we don’t need that?”

“You should know better than to ask.”

“You used regular bullets too, not just magic bullets.”

“That’s right. As for special ammunition… that’s not really…”

“I clearly remember regular bullets with tremendous explosive power. That summer seven years ago. You blew up an entire building with them. I remember it clearly.”

“Ah, that watchtower or whatever. You’re talking about that one bullet that destroyed just one of countless buildings that were supposedly monitoring Eden with some antenna or something I can’t even remember.”

“Magic… right. But the explosion was too powerful to be just magic. It was definitely a physical explosion.”

“It was a physical explosion, but it was probably regular ammunition.”

“Hmm… How?”

“I infused magic into each grain of gunpowder. I was surprised too. I didn’t expect the power to be that strong.”

“Magic into each grain of… Wait. Is that even possible? You controlled all of that? Your brain should have melted from processing that much magical calculation!”

“I have devices to assist with calculations. My tail isn’t just for decoration.”

“Sigh… You’re amazing in so many ways. Really… how could a human…”

“I’m a monster. I collaborated a lot with the doctor to get closer to his goal. I had quite a few calculation assistance devices implanted in my body at one point. The magic consumption was too high, so I’ve transplanted most of them outside my body now, except for a few.”

“Wait, what?”

“It’s nothing to make a fuss about. I had calculation assistance devices inside my body. Now they’re all gathered in my tail. If you keep worrying about me endlessly like this… sigh… it’s getting frustrating.”

“No, if it’s inside your body… calculation devices in your nervous system… there must be problems…”

“Eden’s technology is far superior to your medical standards. Have you forgotten that? If there were problems with my nervous system, I wouldn’t have been able to fight you, would I? Really… you still don’t understand that worrying unnecessarily about others could cause you great harm? I remember personally teaching that lesson to your body twice.”

“Sigh… You’re so weak right now. How can I not worry?”

“Really. It’s hard to even argue about this. Why are you being like this?”

“Sigh… I’m genuinely worried. What can I do? You collapse at the slightest thing. You can barely go outside without sitting down. You have trouble facing people. Sigh… really.”

“You’re not my mother, so there’s no reason for you to worry about such things.”

“Still, we’re living under the same roof. How can I not worry?”

“Sigh. It’s excessive worry. For both your mental health and mine, you should stop.”

“More importantly, isn’t something strange about this place?”

“Strange how?”

“I’ve been feeling it since we came down here. My head keeps throbbing…”

“I don’t feel anything like that. If anything, being in my homeland makes my thoughts clearer. Maybe it’s a sign you should retire?”

“No. Sigh… I think we need to investigate beyond just packing your things. The Association President asked me to do something too.”

“The Association President’s request?”

“She asked me to investigate Eden headquarters in more detail. Sigh… I was planning to do a quick survey with your guidance, but it seems I haven’t done any investigation at all…”

“Don’t worry. Well, there’s no secret to hide in the collapsed Eden anyway. I’ll show you everything as long as it’s not personal.”

“Thanks. So I’ve packed everything from this row. Is there anything else we need to take?”

“We still have a long way to go. With your massive storage capacity, I think it won’t be a problem.”

“You said you were only taking a few things.”

“I’m the type who feels at ease only when a storage room is fully packed.”

“Sigh… So where next?”

“This way.”

“That’s a lot.”

“It’s not much. I didn’t bother to fill it up completely.”

“Didn’t you just say you feel at ease only when storage is fully packed?”

“I said I feel at ease when it’s full, not that I feel uneasy when it’s empty.”

“You and your wordplay, really.”

“Here. Ah, the medicine I mentioned earlier. It’s in this box. Let’s take it in pill form.”

“Don’t tell me this box is…”

“It’s full. Let’s research this for a while. If it reacts badly with this dog collar on my neck, you’ll probably go berserk again.”

“Berserk…”

“Really, if you were that worried, you should have hit me more gently back then. The attacks I took then hurt more than this.”

“I had no choice back then. And now is now.”

“I was a villain then and I’m a villain now. Nothing has changed about Vine, right?”

“You’ve definitely changed. That’s for sure. Who would know better than me?”

“The person herself says otherwise.”

“I can confidently say I know you better than you know yourself. Sincerely.”

“We’re already betting on that, aren’t we? No point in talking more about it. Please pack those items on the shelf behind too. Two of each from there.”

“You’re really bossing me around. Geez…”

“You’re the one who came offering to help. Get to it. We still have many shelves to go.”

“Right… I did agree to do this.”

Despite complaining, she’s working hard. That’s so like Blanc.

Sigh… We’re still only halfway done.

I wonder when we’ll finish.

While packing, I assessed the situation outside.

The crying shouter has gone quiet, so either they gave up or Ellie opened the door.

But could that room be organized in such a short time?

I should go check. Yeah.