[Allow me to explain! If the gacha results are bad, the update frequency goes down!]
[The hundred-pull on the final day—a loser of a bygone era.]
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Akitsu Akane: "Ugh..."
Akitsu Akane's body suddenly lurched as the strength went out of it.
The next instant, a puff of smoke engulfed her, and she split into a girl hurriedly putting on her fox mask and a black dragon about the size of a large dog.
Akitsu Akane: "I-Is it... over?"
Noirlind: "Seems like it. Hmph... What was that about 'be proud of your name'? I don't need him to tell me. I am who I am. I am Noirlind."
Akitsu Akane: "Right..."
The long, far too long battle was over. Some people sank to the ground where they stood, while others simply lay flat on the ground without caring who saw them.
And in the middle of all that—
???: "Where's Sunraku-kuuun?!"
???: "What did that guy just summon!?"
???: "Ah! A magical girl with a huge smile is sprinting this way!!"
Massive Dynamite: "Oh my, my husband is getting all excited..."
Naturally enough, the enormous steel whale that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the battle against Siegwurm drew everyone's attention.
It was simply too enormous. Perhaps saying that it made Skull Azuchi look small gives some idea of its size.
The New Land research vessel was already enormous in its own right, but compared with that steel whale, the difference was like a luxury liner next to a small boat.
With something that massive surfacing from the seabed, it would not have been strange for a huge tsunami to form. Yet the seawater flowed in an unnatural way, never becoming a tsunami and merely pushing a few waves onto land... Apparently it was slowly moving closer, because its absurdly huge body filled more and more of their view.
Akitsu Akane: "Amazing..."
Was she amazed by its impossible mass, or impressed that Sunraku had managed to call something like that?
Akitsu Akane started walking as she murmured to herself... and then noticed a woman striding straight toward her—no, toward Noirlind.
Akitsu Akane: "Ah... um... Emilia-san?"
Emilia: "Yes. There is something I would like to discuss with... Noirlind there."
Bad. Akitsu Akane knew that instinctively.
This was like a butcher coming to collect a pig for slaughter, a cook putting a fish on the cutting board, or an executioner dragging a criminal to the guillotine...!!
Akitsu Akane frantically tried to think of something that might buy time, but somewhere inside, she knew Emilia had every right to be angry. The words simply would not come together.
Akitsu Akane: "Um, well, uh..."
Noirlind: "...What do you want?"
Emilia: "This is the turning point... Please apologize."
Noirlind: "......"
Emilia looked only at Noirlind, making it clear that Akitsu Akane was not to interfere. Akitsu Akane could no longer get a single word out.
All around them, the players were celebrating Siegwurm's defeat and the appearance of something completely unknown. Yet this one spot felt cut off from all of it, filled with tension.
Then Noirlind opened his mouth...
Noirlind: "—Ridiculous..."
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Isana: "Hello! Hello! Let me introduce myself again! I am 'Isana'! I may be an Irregular-Type AI, but I am an Uncontrolled Artificial Intelligence appointed as Leviathan's digital systems administrator! For a long time, under the orders of Leviathan's former acting commander, Julius Shangri-La, I have been conducting recovery operations and periodically monitoring fluctuations in Mana Particles at a point 20,000 miles directly beneath the deep sea! But now that I have received a Bahamut Call, the conditions for the Second Order have been fulfilled, and I have surfaced for the first time in 3,125 years, 5,329 hours, 35 minutes, and 23 seconds! Whenever I had time to spare, I used drones to observe the surface, but it has been such a long time since I saw the morning sun through my main monitor! Thank you! Thank you so much! Oh, and about that: because I surfaced while the next-generation primitive humans are at Civilization Level 7, access will be opened in Legacy Mode, with the information I can disclose intentionally restricted. I'm sorry. But once you clear this Leviathan, which has been converted into a pseudo-labyrinth, you will obtain new... no, wisdom from a far-distant age! Huh? Huhhh? Wait a moment. Do you possess Inventoria? What should I do? If you can use it properly, that would put your Civilization Level at 4 or 3..."
Sunraku: "Wait. Stop. Hold on, seriously."
Isana: "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry! There I go again..."
A torrent of words hits hard when your brain has already been overworked. Not "hits" as in getting high—hits as in taking a solid blow.
Sunraku: "More importantly, I got teleported without any say in the matter... Wait, am I inside this thing?"
Isana: "YES! YES! This is Legacy Mode: Labyrinth-Converted Leviathan, First Shell Layer 'Welcome Gate'! From here, you'll be heading toward the Central Shell Layer, 'Wisdom'..."
Sunraku: "Where's the save point? Is there somewhere I can rest?"
Isana: "Huh? Oh, right. Humans can't keep operating continuously without sleep or rest. Just a moment! Let's see... yes! Since you're the very first visitor, I'll give you some special service! I've projected a locator onto your retinas, so if both of you follow it..."
Sunraku: "Sorry, Araba. I'm going on ahead, so catch up with me later."
Araba: "Huh? Ah? What? No, right now I'm..."
Sunraku: "Sorry! I am insanely sleepy right now!!"
Maybe because we had been together, Isana had recognized Araba as my "companion," so he had probably been teleported inside that ridiculously huge spaceship along with me. Leaving him behind, I took off at full speed along the line shown by the locator...
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Noirlind: "—Ridiculous, is what I'd like to say... but showing mercy is also the duty of the strong. If it will satisfy you, then I shall say it. I. Am. Sorry."
The apology came so easily—and with so little tension—that Emilia's eyes went wide. Akitsu Akane, meanwhile, remembered something she herself had once told Noirlind...
—Apologizing is what matters! Even if you don't mean it at all, what matters is the fact that you said "I'm sorry"!
The original source of that line had not even been Akitsu Akane, but Pencilgon. Akitsu had never imagined Noirlind would actually put it into practice. Looking up at Emilia with an expression that made it painfully obvious how much he hated this, the large-dog-sized dragon delivered his stiff, broken-up apology, and Akitsu Akane could no longer hold it in...
Emilia: "...Pfft."
Akitsu Akane: "Ah."
But Emilia was the one who burst out laughing first.
Emilia: "Pff... fukukukuku... All right, hehe... I accept your apology."
Akitsu Akane: "I-Is that really okay?"
Emilia: "Yes. He suddenly reminded me of the dog we have back at my parents' house... hehe. Somehow, staying angry just started to feel silly."
Akitsu Akane: "You have a dog?"
Emilia: "Yes, a Labrador Retriever... and when that dog broke a vase, it made exactly this kind of face... Ah, no, I can't, this is cracking me up... cracked... the vase... hahahahaha!!"
Her slightly unhinged laughter looked like the mental fragility brought on by an all-nighter finally showing itself. Still, even as Emilia somehow brought someone else to mind, she also looked strangely refreshed. Once she had finally finished laughing, she naturally reached down and patted Noirlind on the head...
Noirlind: "What do you think you're doing?!"
Emilia: "Ah, sorry. Force of habit..."
The mood had softened enough that Akitsu Akane was just starting to relax too.
That was when—
???: "Arrival (We're heeere!): Liliel=217. Leviathan visually confirmed at a next-generation primitive-human settlement!"
???: "Arrival (What a drag): Mion=031. Same as above."
???: "Arrival: Recon Unit 'Strawberry,' leader unit Cynthia=014 to the follow-on battalion group. Leviathan Origin-contamination reading: standard-value deviation 5–15. Class X [Zehn] armaments are not required."
THOOM! Three girls landed with a noise that seemed impossible from such slender bodies.
Were the girls themselves, dressed in outfits completely out of place here, somehow far heavier than they looked? No. The real cause was probably the enormous boxes they were carrying.
Liliel: "Detection (Huh?): I'm picking up a response from Elma=317. Wasn't Elma=317 MIA?"
Saina: "Partial affirmation (Hold it): Liliel=217, your hypothesis contains biased data suggesting that you want this unit KIA."
Liliel: "I-It's operational (alive)."
Facing the three girls—three units, rather—was a suit of draconic mechanical armor. Somehow, the armor covering the head and torso had been folded away into storage, revealing the girl inside... Elma=317 crossed her arms and spoke.
Saina: "Cynthia=014, I can confirm the follow-on battalion group through the shared channel. The other Elma units are carrying their 'Closets' as well, correct? This unit requests replacement parts for its damaged components."
Cynthia: "...Approved. However, Elma=317, you are obligated to return to Doll Base and submit a record of everything that led to your present circumstances—"
Saina: "Whoa there."
Elma=317 theatrically held up a palm toward the mechanical eyes as they clicked through distinctly inhuman movements. If Akitsu Akane remembered correctly, this was the Conquista Doll that had introduced itself as "Saina." Saina now wore such an unbearably smug expression that even Akitsu Akane found herself muttering, "Yikes..." before making the declaration.
Saina: "Rejection (Too bad): This unit must reunite as quickly as possible with my Master, who is currently operating inside Leviathan... Yes, unlike you units who remain uncontracted (hopelessly single), this unit is intelligently busy."
Liliel: "Wha—"
Saina: "Liliel=217... Could it be that you are lacking Intelligence?"
With several more shadows visible against the blue sky, Akitsu Akane sat down on the ground and found herself thinking that Saina was starting to resemble someone...