As Qualia ran, the rampaging beast people sank.
Not a single one had been killed yet, proof that his protocol to not stop people’s vital activities was still barely running.
But as he ran, he saw countless beast people rampaging, and the bitterness it put on Ina’s face.
“Determining the value of your expression. Conclusion, your expression is not ‘tasty’.”
“Well… Because of beast people like me… A lot of blameless people are dying. I can’t help feeling bad…”
They saw it way too much on the way. The bodies of innocent humans killed by beast people, and the bodies of guilty beast people who were beaten back.
The stench of blood and death corrupted the capital.
The sound of yet another explosion echoed, along with screams and yells.
With each passing moment, multiple ‘tasty’ were crushed.
“…The person who arranged my hair.. Because of beast people like me…”
“It is not your fault. You are not performing this destructive activity.”
Qualia held Ina’s hand tightly, and his voice had more of an intonation than usual.
“T-the shop…!”
They finally reached it, but it was too late.
The shop where Ina’s hair was done in a ‘cute’ way, was destroyed to a point where no trace of it remained.
And the fire rising only spurred on more despair.
“Y-you two…”
“The owner…!”
The owner of the shop was covered in dust, but she was alive.
However, the rubble pressing her down did not budge. She was pinned down.
“Y-you need to get out of here…! Do you have a death wish!?”
“We can’t just leave you!”
Ina screamed, but at the same time she noticed the flames burning the shop were close to the owner.
The flames crept up all the way to the rubble pinning her down. Within a few minutes, they would have to see someone who was nice to them burn. The moment Ina realized this, she put her hands on the rubble.
“Hot…!”
“Y-you idiot! You’re going to melt your hands!”
Where Ina grabbed, the heat of the flames was already being transmitted. Her hands were clearly burned.
Not to mention that this pile of rubble would not budge if dozens of people worked on it, let alone one girl.
“But!!”
Ina knew it, but refused to give up.
Even if it did not budge, even if it burned her, she would not let go.
Until Qualia pulled her away, that is.
“M-Master Qualia…!?”
“Analyzing situation. Your approach won’t solve this problem.”
“But that doesn’t mean I can just give up.”
Qualia did not respond. Instead, he manifested a photon weapon with his 5D printer.
“Type GUN. MAGNUM mode.”
He pointed the long gun barrel at the pile of rubble.
“Destroying rubble.”
His optimal solution was to eliminate the rubble crushing the owner of the shop.
With the range of the magnum mode beam, he could erase it without a trace.
But the giant pile of rubble was right above her. If his aim was just a little off, he would vaporize her along with the rest.
He looked at the target to be destroyed, and the target that could not be destroyed.
The margin for error was less than a few millimeters.
“Master Qualia…!”
Ina looked on with an unsure expression.
“Requesting understanding. Qualia won’t let that human’s vital activity cease.”
There was the sound of a large amount of energy concentrating, as more than enough collected on the muzzle.
He supported the weapon with his left hand, and pulled a trigger with the index finger of his right hand.
The recoil pushed his body back, but even that was factored into his optimal solution.
“No prediction revisions.”
A shining darkness covered the world, as the wave of light consumed a lot of inorganic matter.
Unlike what happened earlier with the salamander, it did not focus on one point, but rather scattered like a shower of light.
“Removal of rubble successful. Confirming target’s life signs.”
The light disappeared, and Ina finally saw the result. There was only some rubble on the woman’s back, and she was alive.
She blinked rapidly, with a confused look on her face.
“…I-I’m alive.”
“T-thank goodness…!”
“Thank you so much you two. You saved my life.”
“Creating ‘tasty’ is confirmed as the role of Qualia in the guardian knight chivalric order Hello World.”
“You’re a knight, boy…”
“Ina. You should repair your hands quickly.”
The shop owner got up with Ina’s help, and looked at her hands. They were decorated with a bright red color.
“Your hands are terribly burned!”
“I was desperate… Nevermind that, are you all right?”
“My wounds aren’t serious. I’ll have them looked at in the shelter!”
“Request explanation, what is shelter?”
“Are you new in the capital? I guess it makes sense that you don’t know.”
She said with confidence after hearing Qualia’s response.
“It’s not the first time something like this has happened. Some time ago, something similar happened when some religious people started going crazy.
I’m sure they learned from that incident and are setting up shelters right away. I think there should be one nearby.”
“…Ina, request that you stand-by in the shelter.”
“…”
There was no response from Ina. Her expression seemed restless.
“…Do you think that because you’re a beast person, you should take responsibility and not evacuate?”
Ina’s eyes opened wide, as the shop owner was right on the money.
“Yes, it’s beast people who are on a rampage, but not too long ago it was human religious extremists. And that doesn’t mean every human is responsible.”
The shop owner took Ina’s hand, which had painful looking burns all over their palms.
“You’ve done enough. If anyone complains, you can show them these wounds and declare it proudly. What you need to do now is stay alive and let the boy here fight to his full potential.”
“…I understand.”
The shop owner gave Ina a strong tap on the shoulder.
“I’ll take responsibility and make sure Ina goes to the shelter. If people start grumbling because she’s a beast person, I’ll set them straight. And I’ll never sell ’em anything again.”
“Thank-you.”
“I’m the one who can’t thank you enough.”
“‘Tasty’ detected.”
Qualia saw another smile.
“But don’t go and die, boy. If you think your life’s at risk, evacuate too.”
“Master Qualia…”
Ina looked on with worry while pressing her hands. She had the same clinging look she had when Qualia was going to duel Arrows.
There was only one way to wipe away her worries.
“Request understanding. Qualia won’t die.”
And after seeing them run towards the shelter, Qualia once again threw himself into the battlefield.
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Hope MC go all out with the terrorists. It’s a bit obvious they’re being incited by a third party. Also I hope MC stops saying tasty and just speak normally. A super intelligent AI should be able to learn that much, right?
He’s not some general purpose AI, he was specially build for war. The ppl that made him wouldn’t consider “proper human speech” a vital part of sometime designed to commit mass slaughter and warfare. As retarded as the author is about this entire story, at least he stuck to this point
I’m surprised he’s capable of speech at all, with how he was designed to be a berserker type. Especially with how he was made by ai, who would be more focused on efficiency.