Lobelia thought back to the beams that spread in all directions, as she looked at the sky.
Both girls were skeptical.
“Did the beams from before all hit their targets?”
“Affirmative.”
The information displayed by the radar could not be shared, unless with another artificial intelligence.
Humans were never a hundred percent sure unless presented with physical evidence. Now that Qualia was a human, he saw this as a natural way of thinking.
“To raise your degree of trust, it is recommended to retrieve neutralized ancient magic stones.”
“Yes. Can you tell us where they are? Although… I kind of feel like it’s all right now anyway.”
Lobelia opened a map, and wrote marks on it.
And then they got up, and went to retrieve them.
“…I wonder why. The capital could be one second away from being swallowed by those Black Holes, but I’m feeling strangely calm.”
Whispered Spirito as they ran through the quiet upper area, which contrasted with the lower area.
Lobelia also showed an innocent smile.
“Hahaha, I’ll tell you. It’s because Qualia is so brimming with confidence.”
“Error. ‘Brimming with confidence’ not registered.”
“It means you don’t have a bit of hesitation in you.”
“Qualia’s hardware executes optimal solutions precisely. Hesitation is classified as static, and kept to a minimum.”
“Yes yes. You sure didn’t hesitate to see our naked bodies yesterday.”
“S-stop it big sister. Don’t remind me.”
Spirito’s cheeks turned red, but Qualia looked forward with no sign of being shaken.
“…You don’t hesitate, but you carry out your duty.”
“Affirmative. Qualia’s ‘role’ is to create tasty… There is a lot of ‘tasty’, a lot of smiles in the capital.”
He said, after reaffirming his duty.
But he was devoted to his duty not as a calculating artificial intelligence, but as a human who thought about what was beyond his duty.
“Humans are wrong a lot. It is estimated that those errors led to the current behavior of beast people who lost their ‘tasty’.”
“…Probably.”
“But, confirmed a woman who performed a helpful action to Ina. Detected a lot of ‘tasty’. Something can be presumed from there.”
Qualia looked at the lower area, where the fires of battle were slowly dying down, with more than just a blank expression.
“There is a lot of ‘tasty’ in the capital. A lot of life with appropriate ‘hearts’.”
“Why are you getting all philosophical all of a sudden?”
Pointed out Spirito, as the small light in Qualia’s eyes drew back.
“…Error. The specific definition of heart is not understood. It is difficult to put it into words with the current level of understanding.”
He revised his words without thinking, as they found the second ancient magic stone.
And they kept on going, until they found them all.
They were all inactive. Qualia’s hacking was successful.
“Wow. You really did neutralize them all.”
“But is this really all of them…”
Lobelia also nodded.
“From what we know, there are more that were diverged somewhere else.”
“There is a way for you to verify if these are all there is.”
Qualia thought back a little, to the one giving instructions to the beast people. Mind.
“There is a high chance that Mind knows if these are all there is.”
“Mind? The beast person you saved the other day? He’s with them?”
“Affirmative. Mind was giving instructions, and there is a high chance that his role is managing them. If that is the case, he should know where all the ancient magic stones are.”
“I see…”
Lobelia looked on at the battle, along with Qualia.
There were clouds of dust, sounds of swords clashing, and the last sounds of beast people.
Fighting was fierce in the upper area as well, as knights caught on to the existence of the beast people hiding.
And so, the knights clashed against the retreating beast people.
Since it was a covert operation, not many beast people were in the upper area. They were at a total numbers disadvantage, and it was only a matter of time until they were completely overwhelmed.
“Mind detected.”
Qualia found a dismayed Mind, and responded immediately by running towards him.
But as he was almost near enough to talk…
Don’t moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove!!”
Mind roared while holding a hostage tightly.
The mouth of a girl that was surely younger than ten trembled, as did Mind’s sword, close to her throat.
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