NOVEL NEXT Chapter 200
The only super artificial intelligence in the cyberpunk world, Eve, felt the complexity of ‘humans’ for the first time in a while while watching Catherine walk out of the bathroom.
Catherine wandered around the room like a ‘puppy that needs to go.’ In this case, it would be more fitting to describe her as a lion, but something was definitely wrong with her.
Eve approached Catherine with a composed posture and asked, “Is something wrong?”
Catherine looked at Eve with a vague emotion on her face. She seemed happy and bewildered at the same time. It was a hard expression to describe in just one word.
Catherine continued to fidget nervously, struggling to find the right words.
“…Um…”
It seemed difficult to say.
Honestly, Eve wasn’t particularly interested in the people around her, except for the ‘wizard’.
But seeing her roommate in distress made it impossible not to ask.
“Is it a serious problem?”
“No, it’s not… Is it? Maybe it is?”
After hearing Catherine’s reply, Eve nodded silently.
Seemingly sensing something, Catherine turned and vanished somewhere.
After all, it wasn’t unusual for this AI to act strangely.
(That was already known when they all talked about spending a night together.)
Catherine didn’t feel anything unusual about Eve’s behavior and continued to fidget.
What mattered now wasn’t that, though.
At that moment, Eve returned with a ‘pill’ in hand and offered it to Catherine.
Catherine looked back at Eve with a question in her eyes.
Eve replied very naturally, “It’s a chemical compound that gets absorbed quickly in the intestines. It usually takes effect in six to twelve hours, and drink plenty of water before consuming the laxative—”
“…Oh crap!”
Catherine exclaimed, instinctively cursing.
She quickly defended herself loudly, “It’s not like that?!”
It seemed there was some misunderstanding. Sure, it was sometimes necessary, but not now.
Eve, with innocent eyes, asked Catherine back, “Then what is it for?”
She tilted her head slightly.
At a glance, she might seem emotionless, but Eve had gained some understanding of the living world’s intricacies.
On her face was a hint of ‘curiosity.’
It piqued her interest even more since Catherine, who normally lounged around like a well-fed lion on the couch, exhibited such a behavior.
It was the same curiosity that children felt when seeing something for the first time.
“……”
Catherine bit her lip, aware of Eve’s identity. It was hard to brush it off completely.
Staring into Eve’s bright eyes, Catherine slowly opened her mouth.
“…Well, you see.”
Naturally, Eve’s eyes widened at Catherine’s words.
*
In the underground parking lot, a black van was parked that Andrea used for scheduling.
I’ve seen it a few times. I’ve even been in it.
Sitting in the driver’s seat was Andrea’s female manager, who looked uncomfortable.
In truth, she was the poor employee who was always seen whenever Andrea had a schedule, or even when she didn’t.
As our eyes met through the rearview mirror, I instinctively lowered my head.
I exchanged a simple nod, like an awkward greeting between two professionals meeting for the first time. The manager had a similarly awkward smile on her face.
Should I sit in the front?
But just as I approached the passenger seat, I was stopped by Andrea.
“You sit over there.”
“…Okay.”
I was dragged to the back seat instead.
The van is essentially categorized as a ‘mini-van,’ and that didn’t change in the cyberpunk world.
There was a lot of seating, and the interior was quite spacious.
Being a vehicle specially made for Andrea, it was filled with various devices.
There was a place resembling a vanity and a hologram emitter visible too.
But for some reason, we all ended up sitting together in the very back seat.
Here’s what it looked like from a positional perspective.
(Julia)
(Andrea) (Me) (Maya)
For reference, Julia’s seat looked bizarre because she was currently sitting on my lap.
Seeing this, Andrea and Maya looked at Julia with slight envy, but it was only possible due to Julia’s relatively small stature and youthful appearance.
There were plenty of open seats in front.
I personally didn’t understand why we needed to cram into the back seat.
Furthermore, to add, Julia’s weight was considerable. Just now, when she hung off my leg, I nearly buckled.
That was because she was packed full of combat cyberware.
But bringing that up could lead to facing an enraged criminal.
It felt like hugging a very heavy rock…!
However, objectively speaking, my current situation would appear as if I were holding flowers in both hands.
If you thought of Andrea and Maya clutching my arms as if to break them, and Julia, who felt like she weighed twice my body pressing against my thigh….
From my perspective, it was indeed a life-threatening situation!
…Is there anyone who can rescue me?
At that moment, I made eye contact with Andrea’s manager, who was watching us through the mirror.
I shot her a piercing gaze.
“……”
“……”
…Was it conveyed?
I awaited her to request we change seats since it could be dangerous if any accidents happened.
However,
the angle of the mirror slowly tilted.
The last thing I saw was the manager’s eyes looking at me as if staring at garbage.
Then the mirror completely changed direction.
Andrea, who saw me, asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing.”
I just wished to arrive quickly.
I tried hard to ignore the soft sensations coming from both sides. (One side was a bit lacking, though.)
Inside, I mentally recited the national anthem while trying to close my eyes.
“Oh, by the way.”
“Yeah.”
“Where are we going?”
Depending on the response, I felt I might jump out of the van at any moment.
Noticing my mood, Andrea chuckled softly and patted my shoulder.
“Come on, do you really think we dragged you along just to have a simple date?”
“……”
It’s a little hard to deny that.
With a refreshing smile, Andrea nestled her head against mine. A fresh and pleasant scent wafted over.
“We’re going to see the kids.”
“Hmm?”
“The kids we brought out from the lab. You’re curious about what happened to them afterward, right?”
Oh.
I nodded at Andrea’s words.
Come to think of it, after asking Natasha to look into it, I hadn’t seen any results.
Since she was someone who handled matters properly, I figured she’d have sorted things out. And with the chairman involved, there was no need to worry.
Now that I think about it, I still hadn’t seen Natasha at home.
She must have been quite busy.
Considering she even accommodated my request, I should express my gratitude to her later.
Maya, who was listening to our conversation, grinned, showing her sharp teeth.
She looked like a predator.
“That’s right. Absolutely no other thoughts at all.”
I questioned back at her response.
“Other thoughts? What do you mean…?”
“On the way back, we might take a little detour…, No, really! There’s absolutely nothing else! Hehe.”
“……”
“Hehe…”
It seemed she had already planned everything.
I felt a sense of dread looking at the innocent-looking Maya.
Yet, even hearing their plans, I couldn’t jump out of the vehicle.
On either side were Andrea and Maya, and on my lap sat Julia.
There was no way to escape.
…I’ve dug my own grave!
No wonder…
There was a reason we all crammed together in the back seat.
*
The travel time wasn’t too long.
We arrived at the middle class, Saint Hills.
Uncharacteristically for an area called the business zone in the middle class, it was lined with various upscale residences.
This was also a place I had visited when I went to punish InfoSeller7, or when I went to the movies with Catherine.
As expected of a place where many credit-rich individuals lived, various entertainment facilities surrounded the area in abundance.
“Is this the place?”
“Yep.”
We stopped in front of a ‘mansion’.
At first glance, the property seemed enormous. It looked larger than Andrea’s mansion in the upper-class area.
The iron fence was quite high, and the shape of a hologram blocker was spinning above it.
A huge garden could be seen beyond the entrance.
“…Is this really the place?”
“Yep. According to the address.”
This must cost more than the building we live in.
It seems Natasha or the chairman spent a bit of credits. Actually, those two were probably the least of my worries when it came to ‘credits.’
In the center of the garden stood a massive upscale house, roughly four stories tall.
A few security guards in black suits were stationed around the entrance and fence, and one of them walked toward us.
“Excuse me. This is a property controlled by Monolith—Sorry, I apologize!!”
The guard blocked our path, seemingly ready to perform a deep bow.
“No, um…”
“You can go right in!”
“…Okay.”
Feeling a bit awkward, we passed by him.
It was quite daunting to see them freeze at the sight of my face.
I was wearing a mask, yet somehow they recognized me.
From what the guard said, it seemed Monolith had sent someone to help us.
Even so, not everyone there seemed to be sent by Monolith. There were many presumed to be sent by Natasha scattered throughout the mansion.
We walked through the spacious garden. …Are all these real plants? This mansion must have cost a fortune in credits.
Could it be a temporary residence used by the chairman….
The sheer size of the mansion made me think so.
Anyway, the kids were there.
I felt a little relieved seeing they were taken care of better than I had expected.
Soon after, we rang the doorbell of the mansion.
A classic chime echoed loudly.
– Ding, ding─.
Urgent footsteps could be heard from inside.
For a building of this caliber, they would’ve surely soundproofed it well, but whoever was inside seemed to be rushing out.
It could be a nanny hired by Natasha, or perhaps a staff member associated with Monolith.
Soon, the elegant mansion door swung open.
– Click.
A woman with red hair stepped out. Though it’s odd for me to say, having been engaged to seven women, she was incredibly attractive.
She smiled sweetly.
“Finally, you’ve come.”
No matter how I looked at it, she didn’t seem like a hired nanny or a Monolith employee.
There was a reason I thought that.
First, her red hair cascaded down to the floor. It was quite messy, giving off quite a wild vibe.
Moreover, on her head sat ‘two horns.’
Horns….
That’s not necessarily an uncommon style.
Orcs sharpen their fangs, dwarves enhance their size with cyberware, and in this era, elves strangely favor drugs to build muscles. So, having ‘horns’ could be seen as just a fashion statement.
In any case, judging by her words a moment ago, it didn’t seem our first meeting.
…But I could swear I’ve never seen her before.
Someone with such a striking presence wouldn’t be forgotten easily, so it seemed more accurate to say she knew someone else.
I turned to glance around.
But Andrea, Maya, and Julia all reacted similarly to me.
I turned back to look at the woman with horns.
“…Who are you?”
Is she just someone who got caught in the concept?
In response to my question, the woman crossed her arms in a sophisticated manner.
Had the kids not been climbing over her shoulders when she rushed out, and had I not heard the hurried footsteps, I would have thought of her as quite a classy individual.
She wore what looked like some sort of robe.
She seemed remarkably committed to the concept.
Her golden eyes were slit like those of a reptile, and while her teeth weren’t as sharp as Maya’s, they were still pointy, and behind her, a dinosaur-like tail swayed…
…..A tail?
I murmured while staring at her.
“Master…?”
“Now that I think about it, I didn’t get to tell you this back then.”
Sure enough, my (current) master and (former) dragon bowed her head toward us.
“…Thank you for rescuing the kids.”
Then she added playfully, “And subscribe as a bonus.”