Chapter 91

Iri, Miyu, Silence, Ciel.

I had roughly set the growth direction that these four should take.

Since there was no protagonist and I was leading the story’s resolution myself, the situation had twisted beyond recognition, so I needed to develop them in a different way that suited reality.

First, Iri.

In the original, she served as the party’s field captain and vanguard.

But now, without the protagonist, she had to break away from relying on him as a substitute for her older brother and instead lead the team as a leader.

Second, Miyu.

Miyu didn’t need to change much from the original.

As an outsider to her field, I couldn’t give her much advice on technical progress anyway.

I simply had to help her overcome her shyness and provide an environment where she could fully display her talents.

And I had to make sure to solve the “crisis” that would come to her in Part 2 without problems.

Third, Silence.

In the original, he was a reliable senior in his third year, acting as a helper and advisor, but he was also the character who retired from the team the fastest.

Not only was his school year different from the others, but he also faced an unexpectedly high wall due to his damaged body.

‘But if I’m here, it’ll be different.’

Money to treat the side effects of the Junk Chip?

That’s nothing—just pay it.

The Stingray Family’s thick wallet, held as a passive ability, was powerful enough that I could completely alter the fate of a character who was supposed to retire, keeping him in place until the end.

If I treated the side effects and installed the best modules that suited him, we could stay together until the very end.

I wanted to keep him by my side for as long as possible.

And lastly, Ciel.

Originally, she was truly a “spice in the shop” type of character, and after Act 3 of Part 1, she became an unfortunate sub-heroine with extra-level importance, but as long as I was here, that wouldn’t happen.

I had promised to protect her with my own strength, and above all, I had discovered an unexpected potential in her.

‘Raise Ciel as a Wizard.’

With the protagonist gone, there was no one left to take the “Wizard” position.

I planned to hand that role over to Ciel.

It was quite different from her original role, but from what I’d seen last time, she seemed to have considerable hacking talent.

Even though Miyu was skilled in hacking, she was, in the end, an “engineer.”

From what I heard, diving directly into Cyberspace for various hacking modules required abilities somewhat different from those of a “Wizard.”

‘If Ciel fully bloomed as a Wizard, it would also help her protect herself.’

A debt of the heart… was maybe too much to say, but personally, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her whenever I saw her.

‘Iri and Silence are already taken care of.’

So now it was Ciel’s turn.

A few days after the Stingray Special Class assembly.

I finally managed to make some free time, and I took Miyu and Ciel to a specialty Android parts shop near the Academy.

Miyu said that unlike modules for Adaptees, she needed actual examples to reference in order to create parts that modified Androids for combat use.

Technically, I didn’t have to come in person, but honestly, when else was I going to go out?

If I didn’t use excuses like this, I’d just be chained to work all the time. Sob sob.

‘I miss you, little brother…’

If only you had waited patiently until our kids graduated, I would’ve gladly handed over management rights and everything else, and lived quietly like some old man in the back room.

Why did you have to get greedy, why?

With genuine regret, I got into the car heading to the Android shop.

It was the biggest store within a thirty-minute round trip from the office, and just like when I had rented out an entire department store last time, I had arranged for no other customers to be allowed in.

I just didn’t want to draw media attention and cause annoying trouble, but now that I thought about it, it was a stroke of genius.

“Aaron-nim, Aaron-nim! How about this~?”

Ciel, smiling brightly at me, had cat ears on her head.

A cat tail swayed from her hips.

For reference, those ears and tail had no special function—they were just Android accessories for matching the owner’s taste.

“Huh? Please answer~ How do I look~?”

“……”

How did she look?

She looked great… ah, no, wait.

I put my personal desires aside for now.

If rumors spread that Aaron Stingray enjoyed putting these kinds of parts on Androids, I’d be in big trouble.

No, actually, cat ears and tails were still relatively fine.

Apparently, it used to be trendy to cut off one’s original ears and attach animal ears and tails even without anyone telling you to.

But that thing on her chest was a bit much.

“Ciel. Let me ask you one thing.”

“What is it~?”

“Where did you get that atrocious chest part from?”

My head hurt.

I swear, I didn’t tell her to do this.

She had just wandered off somewhere on her own and suddenly came back with something dangling that seemed to condense a man’s dark fetishes about 500 times over.

Yet Ciel shouted in a very lively voice, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

“It was over in the adult section!”

Such a lively voice.

Her voice was so lively that if I had been a burger shop owner, I might have replied, ‘Good! Very lively! Give that guy one of those weeb specials!’

“……Take it off. Right now.”

“Hiiing.”

Hiiing, my ass.

Is someone trying to socially bury me here?

For a moment, I seriously suspected that this kid Ciel, unable to harm me physically, was plotting to deal me a social blow instead.

The sight was so embarrassing that Miyu, standing next to me, blushed all the way to her ears and couldn’t even lift her head.

But Miyu, your multi-tool isn’t any less dangerous either.

Anyway.

After that little incident, we began seriously picking out parts for the Android.

First, some expert advice.

“For an Android to use combat modules, it needs a ‘power pack’ part that can replace the role of nanomachines. Also, for Ciel’s AI core to handle the computing power of hacking modules, she’ll need a cooling pack and auxiliary processors, and if we just list the essentials……”

In short, for Ciel—who was originally just a maid Android—to truly become a Techno-Wizard, she would need a lot of things.

But this was something I had already considered, so I decided not to worry about it.

Money was never an issue for me.

“Ugh……!”

When I made my stance clear, Miyu’s expression turned oddly uneasy.

Then she cautiously voiced her opinion.

“A-a-actually, if we think about efficiency, wouldn’t it be better to recruit a talented student instead of turning an Android into a Wizard……”

“Even if we work really hard to modify Ciel, I doubt she could reach my elder-class level of ‘cuteness’…… I mean, performance……”

“Y-you see… if you check the records of combat Androids that were popular about ten years ago……”

Miyu’s ongoing explanation sounded oddly negative.

And her tone—like she was making excuses while avoiding my gaze—was as if she had done something wrong.

The meaning was clear.

“So, you’re against it.”

“Huh?!”

“You seem to disapprove of making Ciel into a Techno-Wizard.”

“……”

Struck right in the heart of the matter, Miyu was speechless.

Then, hesitantly, she revealed her true feelings.

“Yes…… I…… am against it……”

Miyu glanced back and forth between Ciel and me.

Ciel gave an awkward laugh at Miyu’s comment.

“Ah, I guess I must have done something wrong to Miyu-nim? Ahaha……”

“N-noo! It’s not like that at all!”

Miyu hurriedly denied it.

She sighed, then turned her gaze back to me.

“It’s just…… the truth is, Ciel is an Error Unit…… She’s in a very unstable state……”

‘So that’s what it was.’

I could immediately understand Miyu’s thinking.

As she said, Ciel was, to the general public, a very dangerous being.

A robot that had awakened its own self-awareness.

In my world, such beings only appeared in media.

Sometimes they were the protagonists of novels or movies, and we would empathize with them and feel pity for their unfair situations.

But what about to the people of this world?

Occasionally, these irregulars appeared.

Error Units that, for unknown reasons, disobeyed their owners’ commands, sometimes killing them, then fleeing to the Fallen Sector to survive through crime.

An unpredictable danger—how terrifying must that be to the people here?

‘Especially for Miyu.’

She had already experienced, through the “Blood Wolves” case, what it was like to see her own creations used in ways she never intended.

To her, Ciel’s very existence would be unsettling and frightening.

And now, I was trying to hand Ciel a weapon in the form of hacking modules, so she probably thought I had lost my mind.

‘I can’t say I don’t understand.’

What kind of being was Ciel?

A robot with self-awareness.

A human soul that had transmigrated into it.

And again, a self transformed by the will of the world.

Of course, the last two facts were only known to me, but even so, Ciel was clearly unstable.

But there was one thing I could say for certain.

“Miyu.”

I carefully opened my mouth.

With a tone slightly softer than usual, coaxing her.

As my voice grew more earnest, Miyu pressed her lips together in tension.

Her eyes trembled beneath her long hair.

“I’ll ask just one thing.”

“ㄴ, yes?”

“Do you truly think that one is so dangerous I wouldn’t be able to handle her? Just because I gave her a few hacking modules?”

“T-that’s……”

Miyu’s eyes darted away from me, avoiding my gaze.

Then, by chance, they met Ciel’s.

Ciel smiled faintly, as if to say she bore no hostility.

At that, Miyu seemed to realize something, letting out a small, “Ah……”

“……I think I was wrong……”

“Good.”

“Alright…… If you say so, Aaron-ssi, I’ll do my best……”

“Yay! Thank you, Miyu-nim~!”

Ciel practically bounced with joy at Miyu’s reply.

In Ciel’s mind, it was probably a moving scene where her sincere smile melted Miyu’s closed heart and finally persuaded her……

But I knew the truth.

Miyu’s gaze hadn’t been on Ciel’s face—it had been on the cat ear parts flapping cluelessly atop her head.

And the expression she wore then was similar to when she first met a Dwarf.

“……This is supposed to be an Android?”

“Huh?”

“Ah, it’s nothing……”

Ciel didn’t seem to hear Miyu’s mutter and just smiled brightly, bouncing in place.

In the end, it worked out fine, but seeing Ciel stack up several more embarrassing memories today alone made my chest ache.

See, I told you to take off the cat ears.

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