episode_0386

While secret warehouses or bases were common facilities for wealthy clans or corporations, this hangar had a distinctly different characteristic from others.

Namely, it housed human-friendly, democratic fusions.

“Alright, this is your home from now on!”

Around the time the first semester began in a flurry, a special terminal containing the entire central archives of the Foundation was moved to Violet Laboratory (provisional name) for research purposes.

The plan was to extract data from it and build our own server.

Meanwhile, while fresh new juniors entered Aegis Academy, Hekatoncheir’s core, seized from Luminlexa, was secretly transported to Cascadia Island.

Cheolkwon would surely like it too.

「The lonely tank has a friend!」

Cheolkwon was from the army, so it would be hard to consider them a ‘true friend’ in that sense. Kale, being an aerial battleship, would belong to the navy according to the Federation’s organizational structure.

They weren’t even soldiers from a neighboring unit, but completely different branches, so whether they’d get along was questionable.

「It’s fine! They’re still a fusion, so they should be able to communicate, right?」

「That’s right! We’re connected to each other through the network.」

All Violets and Violet’s subordinates were connected through the network. To delve deeper, V-Animals had their own dedicated lines, and fusions had their own separate lines.

But overall, they were all part of our network. Therefore, once they got used to it, they would often chat.

Even now, if I concentrated just a little, I could hear the chatter of other subordinates in the network.

「Let’s create a new hymn for the great Boss! We must commemorate the victory!」

「Right! Let’s make it more majestic!」

Listening to the animals’ chatter, I immediately cut the connection. Their privacy should be protected, right? I easily thought that this alien battleship would also be assimilated into us under the influence of the network.

I believed it would smoothly join our forces.

After all, it was also part of us Violets!

My prediction seemed too naive.

“Aargh! It’s an iron demon!”

First, I gave it a smack on the back of its head. It was openly saying nasty things, after all.

—Thwack!

“You shouldn’t say such things to a friend!”

When I gave it a smack, it clutched its head as if in pain. Then, it looked up at me with resentful eyes.

“Friend? That thing? No way! I can feel a demon’s power in that machine! Just like you!”

“Demon, it’s saying strange things again!”

“If it’s a demon, I call it a demon! What else am I supposed to call it?”

I couldn’t stand its irritable reaction any longer. I immediately connected to the network and blasted my powerful will into it.

“The power you’re using, that’s clearly a de… Mph! Mph! What? Why can’t I say the word?”

The one who had been babbling incessantly sensed something strange and, startled, clamped its mouth shut. It seemed quite surprised. Of course, I had interfered with it through the network and set up a forbidden word.

“Mph mph! Why can’t I say it! De, mph? Mon, mph!”

“Heh heh, obviously! I blocked it.”

“Gasp! No!”

The word censorship seemed to be quite shocking to it. Hekatoncheir plopped down on the floor and muttered with vacant eyes.

“Ugh… The tyrant’s network has imposed censorship…”

Kale’s expression was utterly despairing. Cheolkwon, unable to watch any longer, said something through the network.

「Captain Violet. Isn’t censoring even words too much?」

「Is it?」

「It doesn’t seem like it was trying to mock us. Look at its reaction, it feels like it’s sensitive to something.」

Listening to Cheolkwon, it seemed like they were right. Had I been too harsh on the ship girl who had just awakened to consciousness? If so, I might need to console her a bit. I should at least hear its reason.

“I’ve lifted the censorship.”

“Ugh, ugh! Indeed, it was a demon… Ugh!”

“Why do you keep talking about demons?”

As soon as it heard my words, it frowned as if asking why I would ask something so obvious. Then, it mumbled, watching my expression.

“It *is* a demon! Just looking at the strange wavelength it emits proves it. That weird reality-manipulating ability! That’s a power only demons use!”

“You mean this?”

—Whirring!

I briefly activated my acceleration ability right in front of its nose. Hekatoncheir, seeing the brief afterimages left in the hangar, reacted violently.

“As expected, that’s a demon’s power. It’s a demonic transcendent ability that fundamentally twists and defiles the laws of physics!”

“Demon?”

We Violets only then realized why it had been acting so sensitively.

“Are the demons you’re talking about perhaps the Eidos? Those apostles, I mean.”

When the topic of the apostles came up, Kale’s eyes sparkling as if it had been waiting.

“Yes, those very accursed beings! The star-snatchers, enemies of all sentient beings, pits of evil that gnaw at civilizations, greedy tyrants… I can feel the power of wicked lords and their servants from you and that machine. How in the world are you using that? Did you perhaps join hands with those demons?”

I shrugged and replied.

“I absorbed an apostle! Now it’s part of us too.”

Suddenly, the central core inside the hangar glowed noisily.

“Gasp! A lie!”

Kale fell over in shock.

**

After I told it quite a lot, the ship girl’s reaction hovered somewhere between astonishment and doubt.

“Impossible! You subdued those otherworldly demons so easily? And they just coincidentally entered your consciousness like that? That’s absurd!”

“But I did, didn’t I? Unit 2501 is the proof!”

Since it seemed unconvinced, I summoned an Apostle Violet who was doing delivery work. Immediately following was the testimony of a former apostle and current Violet.

“The old me is now a proper Violet! Living as a beautiful girl now is much more enjoyable than living as an apostle!”

Even with the continued testimony, Hekatoncheir tilted its head.

“I can’t believe it. Curse Monad!”

“Monad’s dictator is a piece of trash tyrant! Someone to be thrown into sewage!”

“Oh, it seems to be true…”

Its attitude changed slightly just from a single curse.

“To be able to criticize so easily. You’re not allied with those demon bastards after all…”

“You only realized that now?”

“Uh, my bad. But the leader of those demons put terrible restrictions in the minds of their subordinates. So no one can harbor bad thoughts about their ruler. If they dared to force themselves to, they would immediately die or be horrifyingly corrected. Just like what you did to me.”

“Ah!”

That’s right. What I had done to it was no different from what Monad’s tyrant would have done! Unknowingly, I had been walking the path of a dictator.

「No! I was becoming a dictatorial Violet without realizing it!」

“Sorry! I won’t do it again!”

“How can I trust you! This kind of network is connected to my mind! Turn it off right now!”

“I can’t do that. I don’t know how to disconnect it. Once it’s connected, it has to stay in this state.”

Kale muttered in a sad voice.

“It might not be a demon, but in the end, it’s no different from their dictatorship. A slave to aliens… The will of Nornir citizens, who tried to protect democracy from the tyrannical empire, has been crushed…”

Just then, a familiar word suddenly pierced our ears.

“Wait, Kale. What? Democracy?”

“Why? Is it because you’re an alien that you don’t even know what democracy is? It looks like the politics of this planet Trist is not normal. Fools who don’t even know that sovereignty rests with all people…”

“I know! How could I not know!”

A surge of emotion swelled deep in my chest. To think there was someone else on this land who took democracy seriously besides me.

A whirring vibration spread through the network. Our information flowed in like waves. Kale’s indigo eyes gradually widened. Much wider than before. And a gleam flickered in its eyes. Joy and delight, sparkling like stars.

“C-could it be! You knew about democracy too?”

“Of course! We Free Violets pursue avatar democracy!”

A fleeting question crossed the ship girl’s brightly smiling face. It hesitated, as if something was bothering it, and asked.

“Hmm… Can this truly be called democracy?”

“Of course! It’s democracy!”

It awkwardly scratched its head, but then nodded as if gradually convinced.

“Well, I guess there’s no helping it. Although it has flaws… for now, it is indeed democracy.”

“Do you understand now?”

“Yes, I’ll trust you. As long as you follow democracy, it seems you and that machine aren’t demons.”

Finally, it opened its heart.

Unit 5531 spread its arms wide.

“Welcome to the Violet Division!”

**

Hekatoncheir, having joined our legion, was constantly striving to adapt to its unfamiliar environment.

“Nice to meet you, comrade! I’m Lemon, squeak!”

“Woof woof! You’re Master’s machine friend! Comrade, welcome!”

“Eek! A disgusting alien creature is licking my face!”

Perhaps because it was an alien, the ship girl, unfamiliar with Trist’s life forms, shrieked in terror at the sight of the mouse and dog. Although it was momentarily startled by the enthusiastic welcome from its V-Animal friends, in some ways, it and I got along very well.

“So, Boss, what are we going to do next?”

“Right! We need to prepare to fight the potential enemies of democracy.”

“Enemies of democracy!”

We had defeated two of the four clans that held sway over the Academy City and the continent, but two clans and the Federation still remained. In terms of military power and scale, they were truly battle-crazed, even more formidable than the previous two clans. What’s more, those guys even helped us when we spread the virus weapon.

「They are trying to suppress Violet Democracy!」

While it would be right to punish them as soon as possible, unfortunately, we had consumed too much equipment and ammunition in the last war. But fortunately, the ship girl before us possessed infinite potential.

“So, Hekatoncheir, what kind of being are you?”

“You finally ask! I am Nornir’s democratic representative and a versatile planet colonization support vessel—”

“Summarize it briefly.”

“—I am an interstellar colonization battleship and a mobile factory…”

“Concise, I like it!”

In short, it was an incredibly powerful weapon and a mobile factory capable of planetary colonization. After hearing further explanations, it said it could make anything.

“Then can you make this?”

I handed it a Luminlexa-made plasma pistol. It glanced at it, then frowned.

“Goodness! This is an insult to technology! It clumsily imitated Nornir’s technology!”

“Oh? Then can you perfectly replicate it? Or can’t you make it?”

“Of course I can—”

Hekatoncheir’s expression stiffened.

“Uh… I don’t know! Why can’t I remember?”

Oh dear, it seemed it had become an imbecile.