The crowd jeered, and threw things.
Angry roars echoed, about them being there to buy their safety, not to watch that kind of show being put on. Some nobles even got fed up and went home.
Among all that hatred, Qualia saw a budding sense of self beginning to sprout.
“Qualia, please explain. If this is not an error, if this is a question, then what should I do? What am I requiring? What is the answer?”
“That is an optimal solution for you to calculate.”
Ace was at her wits end. What did she want to do? She had no idea.
At the very least, she knew that protecting the merchant that kept taking his anger out on her, or the crowd that was angry at her for now reason, was not it.
Those were duties assigned to her.
Ddos’ instructions appeared to still be inside her, as she moved to defend him when Qualia tried to approach him, but her movements were weak. They were clearly defective, if she was an unwavering guard magic doll that feared no pain and did her duty to protect her target.
“I am a magic doll. Requiring anything is a contradiction.”
“You are wrong. There is no contradiction in being a magic doll and having a heart at the same time.”
But that defect was the gateway to a heart. That was why Qualia was fully behind Ace.
“…I require one thing. To look for my role.”
“Proposal. Ace, Qualia recommends that you join Hello World.”
Ace finally raised her head, and saw Qualia standing in front of a sky that looked like it would start raining at any moment.
“Is my role to join Hello World?”
“That is wrong. But experiences in Hello World will help you define what a role is.”
Even the calculation abilities of an artificial intelligence could not find what Ace wanted to do. That was for her to find for herself.
But as a being that was once not human, Qualia managed to become human and find what he wanted to do, create ‘tasty’.
And so, he understood.
“Through activities in Hello World, you can learn your role. And if you find that your role is to create ‘tasty’, you can continue working as a member of Hello World. If not, you can take action based on the role you computed. That is Qualia’s recommendation.”
Said Qualia, as he stretched out his hand.
“What is this action?”
“It is defined as a handshake. According to Lobelia, it is common etiquette to do it while forming the pact ‘…I hope, we can, get al-ong’. You are going to be a member of Hello World as well, so you need to handshake.”
“…”
Ace said nothing, but moved her right hand forward.
She had no idea how to shake hands, so she took Qualia’s right hand and pulled it.
She used that momentum to get up, and continued holding his hand.
“…Understood. I will become a member of Hello World to search for my own role. I hope we can get along.”
“I hope, we can, get al-ong.”
“There are errors in your speech.”
“Analyzing situation. Insufficient learning about words specific to humans.”
“…What kind of joke is this?”
A bitter voice echoed heavily.
Ddos looked on with bloodshot eyes and while breathing heavily. As he clenched his teeth, the magic dolls with strings still attached to him stood right behind him.
“Ace… Not only did you not do your damn job, but you’re betraying me…!?”
“I will continue my duty to guard you from Qualia. However, the plan was for me to be auctioned and for the winner to become my master.”
Ace stood in Qualia’s way, as he still tried to neutralize him. It was part of the programming as a magic doll that still remained in her.
But her eyes pointed to Ddos with irritation. She spoke to him as an individual.
“But having a master greatly impedes me in my goal. As a result, this was your last instruction, as you are no longer defined as master.”
“…Magic dolls, I’m giving you an order.”
Ddos’ low toned voice was not directed at Ace. His words were for the nineteen magic dolls standing behind him, whose magic stones were shining.
“Scrap that defective item!!”
The nineteen magic stones released nineteen streaks of light. And then, all cast Reverse, and used strong skills.
Many different skills appeared, more powerful than Ace’s Gaia, even though she was stronger as an individual.
Magma, a skill that could melt anything.
Ocean, a skill that could sink all sorts of things.
Lightning, a skill that could terminate all living beings.
Hurricane, a skill that could blow anything away.
Meteo, a skill that could crush anything in its way.
For a moment, Qualia saw in Ace something he saw before.
He thought back to Mind, who regained his heart as a person, only for that to be his end, as his head was cut off by the scythe of the grim reaper.
“You damn defective product!!”
The nineteen magic dolls fired. The sound of explosions echoed, and removed all other sounds.
A destruction that was too large to the point of cruelty engulfed Ace.
“Hihihihi… That’s what you get for…”
He could not see Ace among the dust that was kicked up, but Ddos was sure. Rather, it would be strange for anything of her to be left, after being hit with nineteen skills.
And they even hit that eyesore called Qualia.
Two obstacles were removed from his world in a second, drawing out a laugh from Ddos.
But that laughter stopped, as he saw two shadows in the dust. Two shadows who appeared to be perfectly fine.
“It can’t be… How can you even retain your shape after an attack like that…!?”
“An error has occurred.”
Ddos looked at the magic dolls, and saw them all bound by a Domain Tree.
“The Gaia skill… But Ace should be scrap…!”
Ddos was baffled.
The dust started to clear, along with his vision. And among the wind that was still blowing as an aftereffect, there were two figures that looked like they were trembling.
“Type SWORD BARRIER MODE.”
Neither Ace or Qualia were turned to scrap.
Qualia was pointing his photon weapon, but rather than stretching in the shape of a blade, the beam seemed to envelop them.
It was activated in defense mode, and it became a wall that even nineteen skills could not break.
“Feedback acquired after the stoppage of Mind’s vital activities employed successfully. Confirming Ace’s survival.”
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19 to one? Cmon, your bad a 1 trillion to one advantage to beat Qualia. Your 19 is just morning coffee to him.