World Arbitration Organization

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Of course, we weren't really heading to the square. The moment we left the residential area, we turned onto a small road. After winding through several turns, we arrived at a parking lot, where an inconspicuous, tacky gray sedan was waiting.

I'd had enough of being carried on the little one's shoulders and flapping in the wind, so I made those Empire Commanders who spent all day playing guerrilla warfare with the city inspectors do something useful for once—like preparing a car for me.

Don't let this plain-looking, tacky car fool you. It only looked inconspicuous because I didn't want attention. This was a high-end piece of technology designed with Carbon-Based Lifeforms in mind. Not only were its speed and safety absurdly high, it also made no sound while driving. Those commanders, whose heads were full of Empire-style war doctrines, had also added all kinds of ridiculous functions to it: a Phase Transition Engine, a Psionic Shield, two Re-Shaped Photon Cannons, a Tooth Bone Razor Missile Swarm using a Hyperspace Ammunition Supply Mechanism, and an entire dozen copies of the Ai Iijima Collection...

I'm going to shoot that bastard Sikaro! I'm definitely going to shoot him!!!

"From a purely comedic perspective, that subordinate of yours is still quite valuable." Looking at the island-nation version of Animal World Sikaro had left in the driver's seat, Sandora gave a fair assessment.

"...Enough nonsense. Get in!"

Although Pandora's information sharing had taught me how to drive, only she could fully bring out the potential of this car, which could practically be called a mobile war fortress. Naturally, Pandora took the driver's seat. But the little one was simply too short. Even sitting in the driver's seat, she had to stretch her legs with all her might just to reach the accelerator. There was nothing to be done about it—Pandora was almost the shortest in her class, practically like an elementary school student. If No. 2 Middle School hadn't lacked an elementary division, I never would have sent her to the Junior High Department. Pandora's petite cuteness had now become the first major obstacle to driving. The little girl struggled for a long time, her face turning slightly red. I couldn't tell whether she was anxious or embarrassed about her height. Finally, with no other choice, she pressed a button beside the seat. The driver's seat immediately lowered to a height where she could comfortably reach the pedals.

As a result, Pandora's little head was almost completely hidden behind the steering wheel. From the front, the car looked like a driverless ghost car...

Fortunately, Pandora didn't observe the outside world through her eyes, so being blocked by the steering wheel didn't affect her driving. Still, a grayish-white old-fashioned car silently speeding down the road at midnight, with no driver in the seat—it looked eerie no matter how you saw it...

Thus, at midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a bizarre car that seemed to have driven straight out of a horror movie swept toward the outskirts like a streak of white mist.

Sitting in the smoothly moving car, I finally had time to speak with the Shilin Apostle who called herself Alaya.

"It is an honor to speak with you." The moment the Spiritual Connection was established, a gentle female voice sounded in my mind.

"Your name is Alaya?" Her name was the first thing that caught my attention. The name Alaya carried considerable weight. In Earth's legends, it represented the consciousness formed from the thoughts of all humanity, an existence on the level of a god. Then there was Gaia, the Second Unit of the World Arbitration Organization on the Shilin Mother Planet, and Pandora, the Shilin General at my side. It seemed that the Shilin Apostles under my command were inextricably connected to Earth's myths and legends. But due to missing information, Pandora couldn't gather enough data to answer my doubts. Even she herself couldn't remember where her name had come from. Sandora, meanwhile, was an emperor from even more distant Empire territory and knew little about the portion of the Empire under my name. Without more information, I couldn't make any further guesses about the coincidence between Shilin Apostle names and mythological legends.

"Alaya is honored to answer your question, my sovereign. Alaya is the First Unit of the World Arbitration Organization."

"Sandora," I said, turning to the Blonde Girl beside me, "what does the World Arbitration Organization mean?"

"You don't even know that?" Sandora said in surprise. "This is the most basic common knowledge!"

What normal high school student on Earth would consider military knowledge about a cosmic empire common sense?

Sandora seemed to realize that as well. She shook her head helplessly and said, "I forgot that you're different from ordinary Shilin Emperors. Then I'll explain it in a way that's easier to understand—you humans once proposed a theory called the Three Sages. Have you heard of it?"

"The Three Sages? I feel like I've seen that name somewhere. What does it have to do with the World Arbitration Organization?"

"The Three Sages were a hypothetical judgment system proposed by some of your brilliant scientists. The simplest model was to use it when judging criminals: set up three computers with high intelligence and complete knowledge of all human laws, feed the criminal's relevant offenses into those machines, and let them make independent judgments based on the information in their Databases. Under normal circumstances, they would reach the same conclusion—guilty or innocent. But because the three machines possessed high intelligence and a certain degree of flexibility, and because many real cases weren't as rigid as programs, all kinds of external factors could make it difficult to determine whether someone was guilty. At that point, the three computers would reach conclusions that weren't completely identical. Under the principle that the minority obeyed the majority, the two computers sharing the same conclusion would render the final judgment. That was the basic idea behind the Three Sages. Of course, a true Three Sages system was far more complicated than that, and it didn't judge matters so carelessly. It went through more precise reasoning and analysis, and there were even situations where one judgment system possessed veto power. Machines didn't have as many emotions as humans, nor could they be bribed, so this method of judgment was far fairer than modern human courts. Unfortunately, with humanity's current technology, creating three Super Computers capable of serving as judges was simply impossible. But what was impossible for humans wasn't necessarily impossible for the Empire. In fact, far more advanced and powerful ultimate arbiters than the Three Sages had long been widely used in the Empire. The one with the highest authority was the World Arbitration Organization. When the three machines within it reached exactly the same conclusion, that conclusion could even possess the same authority as an order from a Shilin Emperor—this was a defensive measure intended to prevent a Shilin Emperor from making mistakes due to an accident. Understand?"

"More or less..." I shook my somewhat dizzy head and roughly understood the World Arbitration Organization's role. It was three ultimate consciousnesses with high intelligence, specifically responsible for judging right and wrong, helping the Shilin Emperor handle daily affairs according to the principle that the minority obeyed the majority. It seemed that during all those days when I'd been an absentee boss, Gaia, Alaya, and the unnamed Third Unit of the World Arbitration Organization had been fulfilling an emperor's duties for me on the distant Shilin Mother Planet. But why had Alaya, one of the arbiters, come to Earth now? Could she be planning to drag me, a half-baked emperor who had been skipping work for ages, back to serve the Empire?

The thought made me shudder all over.

"What's wrong? Are you cold?" Sandora looked at me curiously, then shook her head. "Carbon-Based Lifeforms are too fragile."

"I'm fine. By the way, you said the World Arbitration Organization was far more powerful than the Three Sages humanity imagined. So just how powerful are these three super-consciousnesses?"

Sandora revealed a proud smile. "Just like their name says~~"

"Just like their name?"

"The World Arbitration Organization—an organization that arbitrates the operation of worlds." Sandora waved one of her pale, delicate fingers in front of me. "For example, how much nuclear reaction a star should carry out each second; when a planet should stop rotating; whether a species should become stronger or weaker; or—performing all the daily work that gods in human legends are supposed to perform. That is the work of the World Arbitration Organization. At our strongest, every inch of space in this universe was under our precise control. We possessed the same authority as gods!"

I was too shocked to speak. An incomprehensible gurgling sound came from my throat, but I had no idea how to react—precisely controlling the operation of the universe? They had once been that powerful? Even gods were no more than that!

My first reaction to Sandora's words was disbelief, but I quickly overturned my own doubts. Sandora and I shared a complete information connection. When we opened access permissions to each other, we were practically parts of one another. I could tell immediately whether she was lying to me—and everything Sandora had just told me was the truth!

"Unfortunately," Sandora's expression suddenly darkened, "for unknown reasons, we fell apart, and our strength weakened drastically as well. I believe the World Arbitration Organization suffered the same fate. From what I can sense, the World Arbitration Organization called Alaya is extremely weak right now. She probably can't even use one-tenth of her power..."

One-tenth—of a god. Even with only one-tenth of her power left, that was still terrifying enough!

I suddenly thought of something absurd, yet entirely possible: could the gods in humanity's myths and legends have been Shilin Apostles who once came to Earth?