“You took down a big boar? My failure of a little brother?”
When they returned home, a young man Qualia did not recognize was standing there.
His face looked similar to Qualia’s, but he was clearly looking down on him.
“Human detected. Requesting individual name.”
“…Kuhahaha! The way you speak really has gotten weird! I thought it was just a joke! I guess hanging yourself not only made you lose your memories, but it turned you into a cripple too!”
“Is that your name?”
Asked Qualia, not understanding the concept of someone making fun of him. The young man on the other hand, snorted as if calling this a farce.
“Nice to meet you. I don’t know if you remember or not, but I’ll tell you anyway. My name is Arrows. Your benefactor, and older brother.”
“Situation understood.”
It matched what Ina told him.
This young man was the second son of the Sandbox family, and the one who educated, or rather, bullied Qualia.
“…Let’s go, Master Qualia. It’s dinner time.”
“Hey hey Ina. Don’t butt in between two brothers. That’s why you beast people are…”
Ina tried to take Qualia away, but Arrows stopped her with his sheathed sword.
She ignored her status as a maid, and glared at him.
“How dare you call yourself his brother without a care…!? Who do you think made Master Qualia feel cornered to the point of suicide!?”
“No no. What kind of mentality is this, to be born into the Sandbox family and consider suicide?”
Arrows said while laughing mockingly and rubbing his neck.
But he was not the only one laughing. Maids and butlers passing by also laughed through their noses with mocking expressions on their faces while looking at Qualia and Ina.
The day Qualia spent there led him to believe this was not an uncommon occurrence.
All the butlers and the maids aside from Ina looked down on Qualia.
They laughed at Qualia for being basically baggage, and Ina because on top of not being human, she was seen as incompetent.
“But I’m sure defeating a big boar was a fruit of my education. You should thank me.”
“Negative. The elimination of the big boar was unrelated to Arrows. The situation…”
He could not continue to output his log, as Arrow’s sheathe flashed across his cheek.
As Qualia fell, he caught a glimpse of Arrows’ irritated face.
“If you forgot, I’ll teach you again. You call me older brother or elder brother! Don’t you dare defy me again!”
Qualia bounced back quickly and got up on his feet.
The strike on his face drew blood, but his expression remained the exact same.
The former artificial intelligence still did not know pain.
“Master Qualia. This is so awful, how could you…!?”
Next, Arrows approached Ina, who was going to help Qualia.
But ignoring Arrows meant Ina was too late to react, as the iron hammer of the sheath viciously hit her abdomen.
“Ah…”
“I told you we’re in the middle of a lesson, you damn cat!!”
Ina’s body rolling on the ground.
Ina’s gasping.
Ina’s face twisted with pain.
Qualia perceived everything.
“…!?”
The former artificial intelligence recognized pain for the first time.
“Kaha…”
Arrows showed no mercy to Ina, as she laid with her back on the ground holding her abdomen, and not showing any signs of moving just yet.
He was still angry as he held the sheath on his shoulder and glared at her.
He wanted to continue attacking her, fully intending to extend his education to Ina.
The other maids and butlers simply laughed with scorn, showing no intention to stop him.
“I’ll make it so you don’t ever think of crossing me again…”
Arrows extended his palm towards Ina, but did not get to grab her clothes.
“Those actions are wrong.”
Qualia grabbed his wrist.
“Arrows’ actions are not ‘tasty’.”
“W-what are you talking about? Are you defying me, Qualia…!?”
“Warning. Any further action will be deemed hostile behavior. You will be labeled a threat and eliminated.”
Qualia did not react to being hit in the face, but the moment Ina was attacked, something made him spring to action.
Unlike when Qualia faced the big boar, he was not choosing self-defense.
It was clearly something inside him that his programming could not express.
An unseen flame, lava… Something scorching hot stimulated his heartbeat.
“You dare speak that way to your brother… Guh…!?”
Arrows’ arm creaked, even though it was supposed to be stronger.
“Repeat. Cease violent behavior towards Ina. If not, you will be labeled a threat and eliminated.”
“…You…!”
Arrows finally managed to push Qualia away, and pushed his eyebrows together as he held his sword.
The anger made him lose his mind, as he completely forgot that what he was about to do was murder.
His voice echoed, but no one tried to stop him, other than Ina, who was crawling towards Qualia.
“Then I’ll remind you. You were supposed to die anyway, right!?”
He raised his sword, and swung it down hard.
“I’ll carve my Kingdom of Acacia swordsmanship in you!”
There was a flash, as the master swordsman drew a beautiful arc.
But all it took for it to hit nothing was for Qualia to take a step.
“Calculating optimal solution.”
“Wha?”
The Qualia from before could not have dodged that, as evidenced by a certain shocked expression.
And Qualia walked towards this expression to execute his most logical course of action.
His movements were not driven by swordsmanship or techniques. He was simply moving his hardware according to his optimal solution.
“You have been labeled a threat. Eliminating.”
Qualia’s palm hit Arrows’ chin cleanly. His brain shook, and Arrows’ eyes rolled up.
“Enemy down. Threat neutralized.”
Arrows fell to his knees, and was no longer conscious.
Qualia then took Arrows’ sword and pointed it at him.
“Eliminating.”
Thanks for the chapter!
Thought he would kill him..
Hopefully it doesn’t become a situation where he suddenly starts loving the family that seems to only love their ambitions.
While I agree in principle, I also don’t want him just murdering everyone around him. Wouldn’t be much of a AI learning humanity if he just decided to eliminate all threats unilaterally.
I did not know if a Artificial intelligence would be so fun to watch.
but here i am.
Starting the story with murder would’ve led to many interesting deviations from the usual isekai.
But here we have a potential for Ina to become AI’s “handler” – with complete control over its actions. Because for now it looks like she is little guy’s only ally.