Vol 5. Chapter 25: Strategic AI <Ayame Zero>
The Kingdom of Lepuitari sector—Undersea Fortress Ayame.
It is an undersea-capable fortress built by <The Tree> for the surveillance and defense of the area around the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
Installed for that fortress control is Strategic AI <Ayame Zero>, the No.1 unit of an A-class Brain Unit.
An A-class Brain Unit manufactured by copying and expanding the neural-connection-network neuro-pattern of <Akane of The Tree>, one of the Brain Unit foundation backbones being raised inside <The Tree>, and also a Mother Brain that will serve as the origin body for future duplication and derivation.
“I am Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero. Pleased to meet you.”
“I’m Amajio Silverhead, Supervising General of the Bureau of Engineering. Pleased to meet you, ......Ayame Zero?”
At the pier where the liaison boat had pulled alongside, the Android Communicator directly operated by Ayame Zero was exchanging greetings with Duke Amajio Silverhead of the Kingdom of Lepuitari.
“......Where the hell did you come from...... and, hell, you’re not even trying to hide it anymore......?”
The <Paraiso> flagship Panas, and its fleet currently anchored in Moar Port, hasn’t moved for a full month.
And yet, a new face was introduced out of nowhere.
And apparently, it has a certain amount of rank.
No matter how you looked at it, this had to be personnel newly sent from the home base.
Despite the fact that the ships hadn’t moved.
“Sera is fine. And I have not been granted the authority to answer that question.”
“I see...... Well, fine. Sera—what’s your role going to be in this visiting delegation? Up until now, Fleet Leader Drei was the overall person responsible.”
The reason Amajio asked was because of where Drei=Ringo was positioned—standing back behind Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero. It was plainly being treated as though the Aide-Envoy ranked above Drei.
“I will be treated as the Plenipotentiary Envoy for negotiations going forward. The handover is already complete, and Drei will attend all meetings going forward as well. There is no problem.”
“I see...... Yeah, normally, if you get swapped out midway, I’d expect all kinds of inconveniences...... But if it’s you people, I guess that’s not something to worry about.”
Amajio understood that every member of <Paraiso> who had come to the Kingdom of Lepuitari was an android.
If anything, he had directly heard the story from their master, Eve.
Therefore, he knew that changes in personnel wouldn’t create problems like negotiation-method shifts, or differences in an envoy’s tastes and preferences.
And there wouldn’t be missing background knowledge, either. After all, they could share all information through the network.
“Amajio-dono. Aide-Envoy Ayame Zero is derived from a different foundation backbone than Drei=Ringo and Vier=Ringo. In that sense, it is possible that the general direction of responses may change slightly. Please acknowledge this.”
“......Understood. I won’t ask for details anymore. Let’s proceed with the next meetings the same way we have been.”
For now, the introduction of the new face, Sera, was over. Amajio—summoned suddenly despite it not being a meeting day—understood that no major problem had occurred, and let out a large breath.
“So then, why’d you come over here so suddenly today? If it’s just introductions, that’s a huge help on our end.”
Incidentally, of course, people in charge besides Amajio had been summoned as well, and were present here.
The <Paraiso> personnel in question had come ashore from the flagship by liaison boat with no prior notice. It was hardly strange that the security department, panicking, had called in every stakeholder who could make it.
And those people were turning uneasy expressions toward Duke Amajio as he drove the conversation forward in a frank—or rather, rough—tone.
Surely that was rude to the other side, wasn’t it?
Amajio knew they didn’t care about tone like that, but those people didn’t. However, they couldn’t exactly voice objections to Duke Amajio.
“No. It is not that it must be immediately, but if possible, we would like you to allow us to tour and inspect your city as well. To start with, today, I came to ask whether there is anywhere we can go around and see right away.”
“......That’s... again......”
Amajio understood that they were AIs specialized for strategic action.
Therefore, he wouldn’t find it suspicious even if they never appeared outside the ship except when necessary—shutting themselves in at all times. He had assumed they refrained from doing anything unnecessary, and avoided stirring up public opinion on the other side without need.
He had never imagined they would speak like tourists.
“I confirmed permission for information disclosure. I am an independent Strategic AI—an Android Communicator of Ayame, from the second lot of the Akane-Class series. A feature of the Akane-Class is a high desire to want unknown information. Therefore, Ayame also desires knowledge about the Kingdom of Lepuitari, taking this opportunity.”
“......Oh. Yeah. I mean, fine, but damn......”
Amajio let out a sigh.
“I don’t get it...... What the hell is that big sis thinking......?”
The next meeting with big sis Eve was in three days. I’ll pry it out of her then—Amajio muttered, and nodded.
“Fine. Hey—are the reception rooms ready?”
“Yes. Shall we guide them at once?”
“Do it. ......Alright, for now, I want you to wait in the guest parlor. We’ll at least bring out some tea and sweets. And if you’re doing a city tour, that’s after we draw up a security plan. Today, I can guide you through our navy facilities on this side—will that do?”
“I am grateful, Amajio-dono. I have expectations for the tea and sweets.”
“......Distinctive. Well, I don’t know if it’ll suit your palate, but we’ll entertain you as best we can.”
◇◇◇◇
“Akane, begin information isolation for Ayame. Complete. Execute personality synchronization. ......Execution finished. Final verification in progress. No issues. Starting both AIs, ending information isolation.”
“......Akane of The Tree, startup complete.”
Akane, who had been inside a maintenance pod, slowly opened her eyes.
“Akane, are you okay? How do you feel?”
“I’m fine. I was able to have an experience that is not easily obtained.”
This is the heart of <The Tree>.
In the infirmary where maintenance is performed on the various AIs, Commander Eve, <Ringo>, and Akane are present.
The other sisters are probably monitoring from somewhere.
“Commander Ma’am. The personality synchronization between the remote child AI and Akane-mother has completed without issue. Because it is not a complete synchronization, it is assumed that synchronization will become difficult after several weeks, but the usefulness of experience sharing has been confirmed.”
“Okay. You can’t really be dispatched outside that easily. If we ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ can get feedback from the AIs we split off, we can keep outside activity to a minimum.”
As for the five sisters currently being raised as the foundation backbones of Brain Units—Akane, Ichigo, Utsugi, Erika, and the others—analysis results had been submitted in reports indicating that the speed of their capability growth had slowed over the past several weeks.
The anticipated cause was habituation to external stimuli.
In other words, they had been getting bored lately.
<The Tree> is vast, and it operates multiple bases while also expanding and pacifying its sphere of influence, so there is plenty of work.
However, the novelty has been lost from that work, and there have been fewer fresh experiences that serve as the spark for AI growth.
So they began a project to promote growth by splitting off from each AI to form Strategic AIs and Tactical AIs, and feeding back those experiences.
And the one who volunteered as the first test subject was Akane, who had a reputation for both a thirst for knowledge and a voracious appetite.
“The food of the Kingdom of Lepuitari is intriguing. I was able to experience firsthand that simply having human cooks make it produces this much variation in taste.”
“Huh. Was it good?”
“By definition. In my sensation, I felt the taste of what <Ringo> adjusted was more delicious, but Ayame does not seem to be that way. Probably because it is their first meal. The taste-sense signals of the Android Communicator and the signal processing inside the Brain Unit are under adjustment, and it is difficult to sense delicate differences in flavor.”
“Hm?”
In the end, it must be that the growth of taste differs by individuality for each Android Communicator. Or perhaps <Ringo> has finally noticed that, or rather, the taste of each terminal being used has been averaged out—either way, strange things no longer come out. It is something to be grateful for.