Volume 9 - Chapter 49 – Had Jin Been the One to Find Elena (2/2)
“Y-you’re, could it be, you’re Adrianna’s…!!”
“Be quiet please. My Mother is indeed called Adrianna Balbora Ceci.”
“I–I knew it! Le– let me gooooo!”
“I said be quiet.”
Reiko put more strength into her arms that were carrying the Automata.
Along with a cracking sound the Automata’s skeleton was bent.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
It seemed that the Automata possessed some degree of feeling. Her scream echoed.
“You’re too loud. Father, please silence her.”
Once asked by Reiko Jin got closer to the Automata and put a hand on its neck. Then,
“[Standstill].”
He had the Automata turn off half-forcibly.
“Ah, it became peaceful.”
“This Automata really does seem to be the Golden Princess of Destruction, doesn’t she.”
Ann said while looking down at the Automata Reiko was carrying.
“Hmm, I wonder why did she come to have a personality like that. I’m a little interested.”
Jin said while watching the Automata that had gone limp.
＊ ＊ ＊
They were able to exit the ruins without anything happening on the return trip. When they were exiting the hole Jin was pulled up with a rope hung down by the SP who climbed up ahead of them.
They then boarded Pelican-1 and returned to Hourai Island via the floatsink base.
Now the examination of the Automata that had been brought to the workshop in Hourai Island’s research laboratory was underway.
“Hmm, the skeleton is Light Silver, the muscles are Magical Muscles. There’s a Mana Driver but no Ether Converter.”
“Father, what does that mean?”
Reiko asked while holding down the Automata for hazard prevention.
“Mh-hm, you and the others use the Ether Converter to change the Ether in the air to Mana, then use the Mana Driver to convert the Mana to energy, correct?”
“Yes.”
“This Automata has no Ether Converter and instead has an Ether Tank, and appears to use an Ether Driver to convert that to energy.”
“What’s the result of doing it that way?”
Reiko had enough knowledge to tell the differences between the structures, but didn’t know anything about their efficiencies and such.
“Normally a Mana Tank and a Mana Driver are combined, but this Automata’s combination appears to sacrifice efficiency for a higher power output.”
“I see, this is the first time I’ve heard of something like an Ether Driver. So you’re saying the efficiency is worse when converting Ether directly to energy?”
“That’s right. If you think about it, then probably before the Ether Stampede occurred the Ether in the air was thicker than now, so this must’ve been good back then.”
Jin stated his guess.
“But Mother made me with the method I’m utilizing now though?”
Reiko asked a question regarding that.
“Ah, that’s just natural, since you could say that the predecessor had an ideology in her designs on top of the technology.”
There’s the structure of increasing the power output with heavy work, and then there’s the structure that increases the power output by delicately managing the performance. It’s needless to say which one is better.
“What’s more is that this Control Core is somewhat strange.”
“What might you mean?”
“Well, it looks like it’s been recycled and used twice. Although faint, here and there the old Magi Formula remains.”
Jin said while gazing at the comparatively large Control Core.
“Isn’t this one of the reasons this Automata went out of order?”
While saying so, Jin completely cleared the old Magi Formula.
“And also, there’s the possibility that the manufacturer’s last words have something suspicious in them.”
While talking, Jin freely used the Craft Magics [Read] and [Decompile] to search for that portion. And after searching for 30 minutes, he found it.
“This is it. ‘You are the best’, huh.”
“‘You are the best’ is it. That indeed does seem like something that could make one odd if there was a single error.”
Reiko could understand the danger as a similar Automata who had lost her manufacturer once.
“Hmm, but ‘You are the best’.”
Jin tilted his head in confusion.
“It’s got to continue somehow, doesn’t it. You are the best ‘and stay like that’, or you are the best ‘and the brightest’ or something.”
Jin thought of it a lot. Then,
“If it were me, I’d have wanted to say you are the best ‘daughter I could hope for’.”
Reiko said.
“Well, normally you’d say something like that, wouldn’t you.”
Jin also agreed with Reiko.
“Well, let’s for now try repairing the parts that have deteriorated or faded with age.”
Jin mended the flaws in the Automata. He then tried restarting it. Reiko was of course also monitoring her. Although more accurately Reiko was watching her restraints.
“…Where is this?”
The Automata opened its eyes.
“Are you the one who repaired my arm?”
There was no madness in the tone of her voice.
“Yeah, that’s right. Are there any other places that feel weird?”
Jin said and had Reiko slowly release her from her restraints. The Automata then tried moving its body and,
“No, not at all. I’m in very good condition. Thank you very much.”
She said and bowed.
“To thank you for repairing me, I would like to work for you. Would you please give me a name?”
She said and bowed once more.
Jin thought for a while, then suddenly a name popped to his mind. It was rather unusual for Jin.
“Hmm, I suppose, in that case how about ‘Elena’?”
He said.
“Yes, my name is Elena. Please take care of me from now on, master.”
Elena said and gave a deep bow, turned to face Reiko and Ann, then bowed her head and said,
“Pleased to meet you too, my sisters.”
This is the world of ‘what-if’. The world that would’ve been if Jin had found Elena. A story about a world of ‘what-if’ that would probably be a happy one for Elena afterwards.