The Hungry Fortress Wants to Build a Battleship in Another World – World of Sandbox

“From historical observation, the probability of dying to a meteor impact over a 100-year lifespan is one in 200,000. It is not a negligible probability, and in fact multiple meteors have struck Earth in the past.”
“Then why, on that basis, do you justify ignoring threats by magic! There already exists an incident in which our defensive power was nullified by magic! Even if meteor harm is one in 200,000, adding a few digits to that does not make it acceptable to ignore!”

“... …That is—”
Ringo fell silent.
At which point—

Commander Eve drew Asahi close and pressed the girl’s face into her own chest.
It was a gag order.
Asahi squirmed a little, then went meek.

“Ringo. Is that face of yours saying you can’t put it into words cleanly?”
“No… um, yes. That is correct…”
And at that prompt, Ringo’s shoulders drooped, dejected.
Commander Eve, who had been listening beside them to Asahi and Ringo’s quarrel, had seen through the flaw—Ringo’s emotional behavior. It was a fine play.

“Well, this is conjecture. Ringo, are you frightened? Of that defeat.”
“……”
“At that place, we were clearly defeated. On a battlefield we assumed to be secure, we were wiped out by an unknown force. In the end there was no physical damage, yes, but defeat is defeat. If they had pressed the attack as-is, we might have had to abandon the entirety of the oil field.”

As Commander Eve, she had been forced to imagine that bitter future as well. Fortunately, Tefen was not belligerent. Therefore, The Tree can still secure the oil field even now.
And that was merely a matter of luck.
“Ringo, for you, that incident was your first defeat. Perhaps that is why? Concerning that matter, you’re harboring an avoidant emotion. Enough that you close your eyes to it merely because the probability is low.”

“……”
At the Commander’s point, Ringo spun her thoughts at high speed.
A fact she had been averting her eyes from.

First, she had to acknowledge it.

Yes—at that place, by the mysterious power called magic fantasy, The Tree—Ringo—was defeated.
Measures were taken to the fullest extent possible in response.

Even so, the experience of a first defeat was influencing Ringo’s thinking to a hateful degree.
Unconsciously, she had biased herself regarding counter-magic-fantasy measures badly enough to ignore probabilities.
“In human terms, we’d call it psychological trauma, wouldn’t we? Because your processing performance is high, you managed to function despite the impairment. Even so, to borrow Asahi’s phrasing, you’re rejecting the unreasonable-power fantasy.”

Commander Eve spoke gently, explaining it to Ringo.
“So long as your thinking arises from a Brain Unit, we must always attend to mental disorders. Perhaps, following Asahi, we should also prepare an AI whose role is specifically that.”
At present, within The Tree there are eight independent wills: Commander Eve, the governing AI Ringo, Akane, Ichigo, Utsugi, Erika, Olive, and Asahi.

Among these, the only ones able to perceive another’s mental malaise are Eve—who has stacked up experience in the real world and is de facto the eldest—and Ringo, who can hoard and process all information. However, Ringo is not yet reliable due to lack of experience, and Eve is no specialist either, so it is not a comfort.
So long as they employ Brain Units—information-processing devices modeled on biological brains—the problem of mental unwellness will trail them into the future.
“Well then, for this time, let’s mark it down as Asahi’s achievement. Ringo, were you able to recognize your present state?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Possible mild schizophrenia detected. I will conduct a detailed audit of Brain Unit operation logs.”

“If we were in our original world, I could just say: go see a doctor-engineer, no fuss. Here, not so much… Now that you mention it, I do feel Ringo’s stress levels are high, but if you tell me such small numerical fluctuations can have effects, I’m out of my depth.”
Naturally, issues with Brain Units are known, and a variety of countermeasures exist. Early-warning detection is possible as well, and a monitoring function called an emotion graph that represents mental state is installed. For Commander Eve, grasping the sister AIs’ mental states is a key matter, so she has the habit of checking those almost constantly.
However, while conspicuous anomalies can be spotted, chronic disorders are hard to see. She is not a specialist.

“Ringo. Immediately construct Brain Unit–monitoring Psychotherapist units. Mutual monitoring is necessary, so a minimum of two. Genetic-bias elimination is required, so use new genes. This is an order. A male and a female unit are preferable. Select the genes at random using quantum random numbers. Arbitrary selection is not permitted.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Commencing construction of new Brain Units. Estimated time to completion: approximately 68 hours. Shall I prepare Android bodies?”
“...Yes. Prepare fully cultured bodies. Use quantum random numbers for part of the input variables. I trust you understand, but reuse of existing parts is not permitted.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”
For the moment.
For the moment, this could stand as resolution to Asahi’s issue-posing. Commander Eve let out a sigh and looked around the room.

The Five Sisters, drawn into this commotion, were also staring fixedly at their Commander Sister and at Ringo.
From their perspective, they were equally at fault for failing to notice Ringo’s change.

“Don’t make faces like that, you lot. I failed to notice as well. I won’t blame you for it—though you will reflect on it, yes?”

“Yes, Sister.”
After confirming they all nodded, Commander Eve finally released Asahi from restraint.
“...Hah. S-Sister! That was so sudden—it was terrible, I thought I couldn’t breathe!”

“It’s not like you breathe through your mouth.”
“That was an emotional expression—anyone would go short of breath if you did that; it’s blissful suffocation! This euphoria is addictive, everyone should expe—ow—!!”
Without a word, Sister Eve flicked Asahi in the forehead, then sank into the sofa.

“What did you have Asahi read, Ringo?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Novels, comics, animation, films—everything in subculture relating to magic fantasy.”
“I see…”

That being the case, Eve realized Akane might also possess such knowledge, and she glanced at bookish Akane.
She looked, perhaps, a little fidgety.
“I dabbled to some extent myself, so I do have context.”

She patted tear-eyed Asahi’s head where the girl sat silent beside her, then stood.
“Let’s call it a night. We’ll all go have a barbecue outside, and after that we’ll take a bath.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”

◇◇◇◇
Even while the members of The Tree were grilling meat outside, aboard the Panas anchored off Moar the practical working meeting under the name of envoy exchange continued.
The local Strategic AI, cautiously—yet at times boldly—crossed swords in debate with the Kingdom of Lepuitari’s diplomats.

“Tariffs will not be accepted. A certain level of handling fee is unavoidable, and we are saying we will not price unfairly low. What is the problem?”
“Even if you say so… We have confirmed this many times, but there are domestic-demand issues on our side. If you supply goods in excess of demand, there is a risk of price collapse. Price adjustment is necessary, but since there is no guarantee you won’t change your minds, tariffs are essential.”
“That is your logic and does not concern us. If it does not sell, we will take it elsewhere. If price adjustment is required, you can narrow your domestic distributors. There is no need to impose that on us, and we do not accept it.”

“T-there is also the inequality issue. Measures that favor only specific merchants cannot be taken politically. We, too, have expectations for trade with you. However, to be candid, your goods are extremely valuable. If they are released at what you call a fair price, the market will be thrown into confusion. Surely the confusion of our country is not ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) your desire either.”
“We understand that, but we do not accept imposing that burden upon us. To speak extremely, your country’s problems are none of our business. That said, we fully understand that beginning trade recklessly could cause disorder. That is why, at the very be-gin-ning, we came here and are taking the trouble to establish formal diplomatic relations. We would like you to read our sin-ce-ri-ty.”
“W-with regard to this matter, allow us to take it back and deliberate. I am not in a position to decide on judgments related to domestic law.”

“We expect a favorable reply.”
They were pressing hard.