Chapter 337 ·The Villain’s POV in the Academy
Chapter 337: The Villain’s POV in the Academy
“It’s been a while, Lord Aaron~”
Ciel was smiling brightly through the intercom.
It was the kind of customer-service smile I often saw on housekeeper androids. Compared to her, Airi’s complexion looked considerably darker, as though something was troubling her.
The mansion management system displayed speech bubbles above the two of them that read ‘Registered Device’ and ‘Guest.’
Well, Airi had been here before, so it made sense that she was registered as a ‘Guest’…… but what was ‘Registered Device’ supposed to mean?
After thinking about it for a moment, I remembered that quite a while ago, Ciel had registered herself as one of the maid androids belonging to our household.
“I’ll just let myself in for now~”
Thanks to that, even without me operating anything, Ciel opened the mansion’s front door on her own and came inside.
This was a somewhat pointless thought, but if Ciel was a ‘Registered Device,’ wouldn’t the mansion system recognize her as something like a lost item? After all, she lived somewhere else rather than here because she was attending university.
While I was entertaining such meaningless thoughts, I heard the two of them open the door and enter the building.
I went out to greet them.
“Welcome. You did well to make it all the way here.”
“What’s with that Demon King-like line~”
Ciel burst into laughter as if she had heard an amusing joke.
I had only said that because not just anyone could enter Elysium, the aerial city of the highest social class, but had I said something funny? Unable to understand, I remained silent, and Airi also kept her mouth firmly shut.
“Ah, ahaha~…….”
When Airi and I remained silent, Ciel’s awkward laughter gradually died down and stopped. Apparently embarrassed herself, she cleared her throat and added an explanation.
“Lady Maria helped us~. When I told her we needed to see Lord Aaron, she was more than happy to help~”
“I see.”
“Have you been doing well, Lord Aaron~? Um…… technically, this is the first time we’ve seen each other since ‘that day,’ isn’t it~”
“Yes. I’ve been well.”
“I…… see…….”
“What is it?”
“Ah, it’s nothing~”
Ahaha, Ciel laughed awkwardly again. For some reason, Airi’s expression grew even darker as she watched.
But I didn’t particularly feel like prying into their circumstances, so I led them into the living room.
The mansion management system appropriately detected the movements of my guests and me, and automatically brought out tea in my place. The only problem was that it made the mistake of bringing only two cups.
“……Sorry about this. Apparently, it recognizes you as a ‘machine.’”
“Ah, it’s fine~. That can happen~. We can just ask for another cup~”
“No, it’s fine. Just drink mine.”
With that, I pushed my cup in front of Ciel.
“Lately, I haven’t felt like consuming anything at all. Even without ingesting food, my body continuously produces more than enough energy for me to function.”
“Uh…… then you don’t eat?”
“No. There’s no need.”
I nodded in response to Airi’s question.
In the past, I had needed to regularly consume food if only to keep the Bio Generator that replaced my heart running, but after ‘that day,’ there had been no need whatsoever. It was essentially as though I had a nuclear fusion reactor inside my body, making eating a completely meaningless activity now.
Thanks to that, I no longer spent anything on food.
The mansion management system used to automatically replenish ingredients whenever the refrigerator became empty, but now it left the completely empty refrigerator untouched.
At my explanation, Airi’s eyes trembled. Looking flustered, she asked another question.
“Then what about sleep?”
“I sleep for about 30 minutes a week.”
Just like eating, sleep had become almost unnecessary.
Of course, I had never been much of a sleeper to begin with. About once every five days, the original parts of my body, including my brain, would become fatigued and my efficiency would drop unless I slept properly, so I had merely made sure to rest regularly.
But now that my Replacement Rate had soared far beyond 70%, I hardly slept at all.
For the sake of organizing the memory in my cybernetic devices, I would enter a power-saving state for about 30 minutes, and by the time I opened my eyes, the process would be finished. I wasn’t sure whether that could really be called sleep, but in any case, that was the entirety of the rest I currently took.
“Then what do you do at night if you don’t sleep at all? You haven’t been going to work lately either, so you must be at home all day…….”
“I’m accumulating data.”
“D-Data?”
“Most of what currently makes up my body consists of modules I’m unfamiliar with. Perhaps because I lack sufficient data on their usage, their efficiency is extremely poor. So I spend most of each day actually using the modules and accumulating data. Aside from that, I’ve been researching materials on other [Mysteries], primarily the Dragon Race, as well as other dimensions.”
The unfortunate part was that I couldn’t test the modules by using 100% of their power.
If I used enough power to defeat the Sky Dragon inside the mansion, it wouldn’t merely blow away the house. Elysium itself might be completely annihilated or fall from the sky.
If I had my way, I would have used a ticket and gone to a Hunting Ground, but Miyu had firmly forbidden it. She said that if my already unstable condition were exposed to the completely different environment of another world, some unforeseen problem might occur.
“Come to think of it, Miyu still seems to think there’s something wrong with me. I’ve been following her instructions since she’s the expert, but even after living like this for three months, I haven’t noticed anything particularly strange. I’m starting to think the daily examinations are no longer necessary, but she simply refuses to let me go.”
“…….”
“…….”
For some reason, the two of them made extremely complicated expressions at my words.
“What is it?”
“Ah, it’s nothing~”
Ciel brushed it off.
She apparently didn’t want to talk about it, so I didn’t bother pressing her. She hurriedly changed the subject again.
“Speaking of ‘tickets,’ that’s actually one of the reasons we came today. We wanted to tell you some news~”
“News?”
“When you fought the Sky Dragon, you scattered a huge number of tickets as a way to drag him outside his territory, right? I heard that caused a problem.”
“Specifically?”
Airi explained.
“……Apparently, a large number of tickets fell into the hands of corporations, criminal organizations, and even civilians. People who had nothing to do with Transmigrators ended up obtaining tickets.”
“I see.”
Even without hearing the details, I could guess that it had become quite a troublesome problem.
Some people probably used the tickets without knowing anything, got dragged into another dimension, and were killed by monsters without even understanding what had happened. Others might have figured out how to use them and begun abusing them.
“Fortunately, the government recognized the problem and started collecting the tickets. But before they could really do anything, the problem resolved itself.”
“Resolved?”
“The tickets became useless.”
Ciel explained that, from a certain point onward, the tickets lost their effect, and using them no longer allowed anyone to enter a Hunting Ground.
“At first, we thought they were fake. There were quite a lot of cases where people duplicated them and sold them on the black market.”
“But then I personally bought a ticket and tried using it~? Its effect was just gone~. And not long after that, the tickets themselves completely disappeared from the shop page~”
The ‘Author’ had probably intervened. Otherwise, perhaps as this world gradually became ‘reality,’ the Transmigrator privileges themselves had begun disappearing.
There would be no way to determine which of those two possibilities was correct unless I met the Author again. Well, there was no need to meet that man again just to find out something like that.
“That’s fortunate.”
“Right~? And there’s more news~”
Ciel began explaining, one by one, facts I hadn’t come across through the news or media.
First was the City Reconstruction Committee.
The City Restoration Committee, which had been plagued by all sorts of controversy and trouble, safely completed its mission after two months and was disbanded.
Large-scale construction that would have taken years in my original world was cleanly completed in just two months here thanks to the power of technology.
Even the areas that had been completely devastated during the battle with the Sky Dragon had now been fully restored, with buildings and skyscrapers said to be even more impressive than before.
“You’d be seriously shocked if you went there sometime~? Sectors A, B, and C have all become completely different worlds~”
“I see.”
“Lady Kalia used to work in the art, fashion, and entertainment industries, right~? Maybe that’s why she had the buildings and roads constructed so beautifully~?”
“Kalia?”
“Ah, I hadn’t told you about that~? Apparently, when the City Reconstruction Committee was selecting companies to handle the reconstruction projects, Lady Kalia somehow worked her magic and won the contracts~? I have no idea how she managed it when the Stingray Group itself had collapsed and she was already busy just trying to clean up that mess~”
That was certainly surprising.
From what I had vaguely heard, the complete collapse of the Stingray Group had left the foundation that had received the group’s support with a bleak future as well.
Considering that Kalia herself had even been hospitalized because of the Sky Dragon, it was beyond surprising to the point of being suspicious. Had she gotten her hands on something like a hypnosis app?
While I was harboring such suspicions.
Airi added an explanation.
“Well…… I heard this from some kids affiliated with other corporations…… apparently, she threatened the committee and the corporations.”
“Threatened them? How?”
“With you, Chairman.”
Ah. I understood.
Regardless of what had happened to the employees of the Stingray Group, a considerable amount of the assets the group had owned—large quantities of weapons, real estate, and technology—still remained.
And above all, the tactical weapon named ‘Aaron Stingray’ was still perfectly intact. In fact, the name ‘Aaron Stingray’ was now treated as something closer to a strategic weapon than a tactical one.
Apparently, Kalia had been using her blood relationship(?) with me, selling my name to gain various advantages in the business world.
‘I don’t know the details, but that’s probably why I can live without worrying about anything right now.’
It had been my idea to put Kalia forward as the representative in the first place, so I had no intention of interfering.
Of course, later on, I would have to demand compensation for her using my name for business without even consulting me, but for now, rebuilding the Stingray Group was more important.
“Any other news?”
“Other news~? Actually, there’s this guy at university I’ve kind of got something going on with, but he still doesn’t know what I really am, so~”
“Not interested.”
“You’re so mean, Lord Aaron…….”
“There are a few more things.”
When Ciel started talking nonsense, Airi spoke in her place.
“I heard Ms. Maria is helping your younger sister with her work, Chairman. Because of that, the acting Chief Secretary is currently handling both your duties and Ms. Maria’s work at the foundation…….”
Airi continued.
There had been lawsuits over how I had taken the modules belonging to the Fixers and high-ranking corporate Adaptors and distributed them among the kids.
Because of that, a legal battle had begun, and the modules had currently been taken from the kids and seized by the court.
And due to the recent Sky Dragon incident, the opposition party was preparing to introduce a revised version of the ‘Adaptor Special Act’ it had been pushing.
After putting everything together, it seemed that New Valhalla City was currently like a forest that had burned once.
Just as countless plants and animals might die in a fire, only for new life to take root using their ashes as nourishment, New Valhalla City was changing into something new thanks to the empty spaces left behind by the countless people who had died or disappeared.
In the middle of that…….
“And…… there still doesn’t seem to be any sign of Lady Serena or Lord Lexus waking up…… I don’t know the details, but apparently, the plant belonging to a company that supplied certain medical equipment was destroyed during this incident, causing production problems…… and because of that, they don’t even know when proper treatment will become possible…….”
I had already heard that several people I had known…… no, people who had been fairly close to me, had either died after being caught up in the war or remained unconscious.
It wasn’t particularly new information, so I merely nodded calmly and answered.
“I see…….”
But at that moment.
“‘I see.’……?”
Bang.
Airi shot to her feet and began glaring at me.
But I couldn’t understand her attitude. So I asked.
“What is it?”
“Chairman…… you hear all of this and don’t feel anything……? Really……?”
“I don’t.”
“Not just anyone, but Evangeline!”
Airi shouted, her emotions flaring.
“Evangeline, whom you cared about so much, ended up ‘like that’! The entire shelter was caught in the bombardment! And yet you’re saying you don’t feel anything!”
Airi began choking up halfway through her words.
I still couldn’t understand why she was crying. Just as I was about to honestly tell her what I thought, Ciel grabbed her shoulder before I could and calmed her down.
“Airi. Right now, Lord Aaron is…….”
“……I know! I know too!”
“Both of you, what is this about?”
“……It’s nothing. I’m sorry. I’m going to get some air for a moment.”
Airi wiped away her tears, turned around, and left for a while.
As I silently watched her go, Ciel, who remained behind, gave me a strangely bitter smile and spoke.
“Lord Aaron.”
“What is it?”
“For a while from now on, Airi and I are going to come visit you together. For your treatment.”
“Treatment? My assigned Moduler is…….”
“Lady Miyu was the one who asked us first. Actually, before Lady Evangeline ended up like that, I learned a little magic from her. Now I can reproduce the ‘Necromancing’ used by ‘Shade Wells’ to some extent. Originally, I thought there might be some way to use it against the Sky Dragon…… but back then, I couldn’t do anything, and now I’ve ended up using it like this.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“It’s okay, Lord Aaron.”
With a bitter smile and determination in her eyes, Ciel looked at me and said.
“I…… I’ll make sure to cure you.”