Just before leaving Lobelia’s mansion, Qualia looked at the grave in the backyard.
He saw two bouquets.
“Request explanation. Why are people buried under stone after their vital activities cease? Why are flowers offered to the graves?”
He asked to the grave. Speaking by himself to Love, who lied under the grave, with her vital activities stopped.
“Mister Qualia!?”
Ina and Ace came to see what he was doing, and he walked towards them.
Artificial intelligence had two flags in regards to broken individuals. They were either possible to repair, or lost. When the master, the artificial intelligence that gave birth to the autonomous humanoid combat android Shutdown was destroyed, all Shutdown did was confirm the loss of the signal.
The end of an artificial intelligence was very different from when a person’s vital activities ceased, and Qualia could not fully learn the concept of death.
But if nothing else, he did understand that people dying brought about bad effects. When he passed by where Mind died, he used what happened as feedback.
When he saw Mind die, his breaks failed to work for a moment, and he eliminated the beast person who did it.
Also, Liebe became a ghost through death.
A person dying and an android being destroyed were just too different. A person’s death caused the loss of much ‘tasty’…
“Ina, request explanation. Do people bury people whose vital activities have ceased in places designated as graves, and offer flowers?”
Ina was currently going to buy flowers to do just that, so Qualia figured she would have an answer.
“…I think people want to talk to people who died. Even if it’s one-sided, the grave is a mark for people to say what they want to say, and the flowers connect them to the deceased person.”
“…”
“That’s why I want to buy as many flowers as I can, and at least leave them in places where a lot of people died… When I told Princess Lobelia about it, she said she would give me funds too.”
“What do you want to say, Ina?”
“I want to say I’m sorry.”
She said to Ace with a sad expression.
“It was my big brother who caused this. I want to say I’m sorry to everyone who died. Random people, knights, beast people… I guess it’s just for my own self-satisfaction, right?”
“Error. Flowers do not have that functionality… But it cannot be judged that you are wrong.”
In the end, Qualia could not conclude that the action of offering flowers was meaningless. A bug as a human got in the way of his calculations as an artificial intelligence.
After a night of sorting things out in her head, she came up with her own optimal solution, and it was something that could not be explained in ones and zeroes.
It was part of a ‘heart’. Something that could not be seen by an artificial intelligence, but could be felt by a person.
They arrived at a scorched, destroyed building.
Qualia and Ina remembered seeing it in flames. It was the store of the woman who made Ina’s hair look ‘cute’.
“Oh, you’re back!”
But even though the store was destroyed, its owner was doing well.
“Thank you for everything in the shelter.”
“No, thank you two for saving me… I’m glad you’re okay. Do you want me to tie your hair again?”
“No, not today. Today I have my cat ears out, showing that I’m a beast person… And I want to buy flowers for the deceased.”
“…I see. But watch yourself. I’ve heard that there are people from the Fair Skies Church lurking around, and you know what they think of beast people. Well, I don’t think you’ll have a problem with such a strong knight by your side.”
“Thank you for your concern. Hum… I heard there were flowers for sale here… If they weren’t burned…”
“Oh! I do! The yard where I kept them was fine.”
They were taken along the destroyed store to the back.
Along the way, Ace stopped to see a path decorated by flowers. There were not many of them, but the many colors took her attention.
“Oh… Watching the flowers here feels relaxing somehow.”
“Flowers, or rather nature in general, is mysterious. They can soothe people like that, can be offered to others… And even to someone’s grave.”
Said the store owner, and Qualia asked something that remained on stand-by in his calculations.
“Request explanation. What function do flowers perform on individuals whose vital activities have ceased? For example, is there a function that allows flowers to make contact with deceased individuals?”
“Nope.”
The store owner’s response was so nonsensical to Qualia, that he could not comprehend it despite being just one word. And as she saw Qualia’s slight hesitation and Ina casting her eyes down, she continued.
“People don’t have to offer flowers at a funeral. The Fair Skies Church draws the sun on their chests, and other religions from far away light a bonfire. Everyone has their own way, and as far as I know, no one can talk to the deceased at a funeral.”
“Understanding situation…”
“But I definitely don’t think it’s pointless. What’s important is what Ina wants to say to the dead. What she wants to leave with them in the end.”
“…”
“Funerals are ceremonies for the living to mark the end of the dead’s life, and to send them off. I don’t think the words Ina is going this far to say are pointless.”
“Words.”
“Don’t you have any, boy? Don’t you have anything you want to say to the people that died in those two days?”
Words to offer along with flowers. Words to leave with a grave.
Qualia began to turn to the upper area, as he finally input the importance of those things. Ina also knew what he was looking at.
Unlike Ina’s, his heart had not settled to the point where he could speak to the ones who died in those two days. But there were words that did not come from calculations towards his acquaintance Mind, who almost found ‘tasty’.
“Analyzing situation. There are words to offer to the individual known as Mind.”
“…Mister Qualia, do you want to pick flowers to leave with those words?”
She was able to face Qualia directly here, because she knew he was trying to go back to being Shutdown after Mind’s death.
And of course, he could not shake off her gentle eyes. Not that he wanted to.
“Request accepted.”
Afterwards, he got his flowers, and Qualia found Ace crouching near the entrance.
There were a viola patrinii and a chamomile in front of her.
“Request explanation. Why are you looking at those flowers?”
“Qualia. The woman said before that flowers have a ritualistic power to connect with the dead.”
She then threw a question back.
“Then do they have no effect on humans whose vital activities are still strong? I want to heal Ina more, and I was thinking of flowers for that purpose.”
She said, before facing the flowers again, and two shadows were cast on the flowers.
“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”
Qualia turned that way, and saw two bald men wearing blue robes. And both had the same face.
They were twins.
“I am Ebiru, a priest of the Truly Wonderful Fair Skies Church. I received information that there was a beast girl here.”
“I am Damon, a priest of the Truly Wonderful Fair Skies Church. I received information that there was a beast girl here.”
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oy get outta here fair skies