The Mysterious Girl, Ashia, and Bricoleur
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Translator: SFBaka
Editor: Thor’s Stone
「What’s the Nemesis warfront?」
「It refers to the entire battlefield. In other words, all the fronts that are experiencing attacks from the Stones invading this system. As for Nemesis, it’s the name of the celestial body shining like the Earth’s Sun right above us. It is called the red dwarf Nemesis.」
It appears that the object shining above really wasn’t the sun Kou was familiar with. Since it was a red dwarf, that meant its temperature was lower than the Earth’s own sun.
「Let’s give that thing a killing blow, just in case.」
Kou controlled Unit 5 and delivered a final blow to finish off the Mantis-type. He completely severed its fuselage and its power reactor went cold.
「Kou, Make sure to retrieve the『Axion Spinel』from the Keres.」
「Spinel?」
「Yes. It’s the name of a fake gemstone. But this one isn’t really made of magnesium and aluminum oxide like a true spinel.」
Master began explaining.
「There are two materials that give birth to Whis. The axion spinel is one of those materials. Its name is typically abbreviated as ‘A Spinel’.」
「In other words, it’s one of this world’s mysterious materials that allow the creation of that bogus armor, right?」
「I’m glad that you’re quick on the uptake. That’s correct. It isn’t an explosive material, so you can be at ease. Spinel also means ‘safety’ after all.」
Unit 5 proceeded to pry the enemy’s wreckage apart.
After a short while, it finally found a crystal sporting a faint red glow that was the size of a soccer ball.
「That’s it. It’s a pseudo-high-dimensional material. It’s practically weightless despite its appearance.」
「Weightless?」
「It’s a high-dimensional material. Its mass is a whopping zero. It’s a theoretical value after all. As long as something is in 3-dimensional space, it will have mass.」
「I don’t get it.」
Kou quickly recovered the aforementioned material and returned to the underground facility while dragging back the tattered Bear he used earlier as a shield. He couldn’t stand simply throwing it away.
After rehydrating and eating some rations, he proceeded to get some sleep.
Thus passed his second day in this strange world.
He slept like the dead.
I saw a dream
「Wake up.」
When I opened my eyes, I saw an innocent-looking young girl standing before me.
She had beautiful silver hair, but her skin was apparently tanned. She had a healthy-looking light brown complexion.
Her voice seemed familiar somehow.
「You are?」
「You’re Kou, right!? I’m called Ashia. Nice to meet you!」
「Y-Yeah.」
I gave a half-hearted reply.
「You’re Japanese, right? Do you like anime?」
She started asking away with a twinkle in her eyes.
「I don’t hate them.」
「Hey. Hey, Kou. Are you the type who thinks that objects also have souls?」
「Uh, maybe?」
「Do you name cars and stuff and then talk to them?」
「Yeah, I guess I do.」
「Yay!」
The young girl jumped up and down in joy. I was dumbfounded and didn’t get what was going on.
「So, you think this child you call Master also has a soul as well?」
I turned to Master who was sleeping soundly.
「Of course.」
Master was my lifesaver.
「How about Lanius Unit 5?」
「Of course, he does too.」
I’ve already decided not to part with Unit 5 in my heart.
It’s already become that important an existence to me.
「I understand. Machines, you see, really do have souls. I’m glad that more and more people are starting to realize that.」
「So there are more people like me?」
「There are only a few of them, but they do exist. There isn’t anyone who has a stronger wavelength than you, but there are certainly many Japanese among them.」
「I see. Yeah, I bet a good number of them are Japanese.」
「I’m sure you’ll encounter all sorts of machines from now on. Can you promise me you’ll take good care of them?」
「I promise.」
I wasn’t that good with socializing.
I preferred tinkering with my car alone or driving around on my bike.
「Thank you! Well, time’s almost up, so I’ll cast a charm to help you out before I go.」
「Time? A charm?」
「Wait a bit, okay. There. All done.」
「Just what did you do anyway?」
「I’ve given you authorization. From now on, you are granted the qualification to be a【Development Engineer/Bricoleur】.」
The girl looked quite proud. She closed her eyes, placed her hands on her hips, and thrust her chest out as she declared with great fanfare.
I was entirely unfamiliar with the term.
「Bricoleur?」
「They are people who gather various things together to make lots of interesting stuff. You can also call them do-it-yourselfers or hobbyists. In English, I suppose ‘handyman’ would be the right term.」
「So it’s qualifications to become a handyman huh. That actually does sound nice.」
「Yeah. And I’ve granted you the highest authorization level. And if what I’ve granted you proves useful… Once you become stronger, I have a favor to ask……」
「A favor?」
「Yes. Someday, please save me. –No, I’ll be fine with getting found, so please do find me, okay?」
「Sure.」
「It’s gonna be really, really hard you know?」
「When I was at a loss after first encountering that Keres, it was you who called out to me, right?」
「Yup.」
「I’m not sure how hard ‘really, really hard’ is gonna be, but I’ll do my best.」
「Thank you. That answer is all I could ever hope for!」
My consciousness began to become hazy once again.
「We’ll get a chance to meet again in the future! I’ll be seeing you then, Kou. Just ask Master about where you need to go next.」
Before long, Kou managed to regain consciousness.
「Was that really a dream?」
「What’s wrong, Kou?」
「So you were also asleep, Master.」
「I suppose it’s due to me nearing the end of my operational limit. There’s actually no need for me to sleep, but I lost my consciousness for some reason.」
「It’s too early to be thinking about that, Master.」
Kou would be really troubled if Master passed away at this time.
「I’ll be able to move normally again soon.」
「I actually had a strange dream. It seemed like a vivid dream, and a girl named Ashia appeared in it. She helped me out before I met you, Master.」
「You met Ashia? Directly? I learned about you arriving from her, but to think a human can actually meet with her directly.」
Master’s round eyes became even more round. Russian Blues had fox-like features, so Master with its eyes rounded in wonder seemed even cuter than usual.
「So I guess you know her. She apparently gave me the qualifications to become a handyman.」
「Handyman?」
「I think the original term was Development Engineer (Bricoleur) or something. She said she’d given me the highest authorization level, whatever that means. And she told me to ask Master about the next destination.」
「……I see. I understand. It seems our next destination has been decided. Let’s pack some supplies and depart from here by today.」
Master apparently received information about their next objective.
「It looks like we need to hurry huh. And you’re gonna tell me you’ll explain everything later, as usual, I suppose.」
「Oh, on the contrary, we have plenty of time to talk. We’ll be spending quite a while riding a Silhouette after all.」
Kou nodded at Master’s words.
He still didn’t understand a lot of things, but it was good that they had a definite goal for now.
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