Boss: "..."
Ifrit: "..."
The two walked silently along the road out of the city.
Ifrit sat on the Calcification crystal platform with her knees hugged to her chest, her little face buried in the crook of her arms, saying nothing.
The real world was silent, but the [Mental Chat Group] was in an uproar.
[Boss: What do we do, what do we do?! I brought her over in a moment of impulsiveness! I forgot she has a mom!]
[Fourth: Mom? Boss, what nonsense are you talking about?]
[Boss: Isn't that white-haired woman her mom? They look pretty alike, don't they? Both have horns, tails, and white hair!]
[Fourth: No! They aren't even the same species! Saria is a Vouivre, while Ifrit is... uh, a modified Savra! At most, that would make her... her foster mother? Or an important guardian?]
[Second: Stop dwelling on that irrelevant question. You've already brought her out. Are you planning to send her back now?]
Hearing that, Boss glanced at the tiny figure curled into a ball in his palm.
[Boss: We can't... can we? Look at her now. If we send her back, this child will completely break down...]
[Third: Then do we raise her?]
[Fourth: Great! A raising sim! Never thought I'd get to raise a daughter in real life! And she's a little fire dragon!]
[Second: Get lost! Do you even know how to raise a child?!]
[We've only just arrived in this world ourselves and haven't figured anything out. What are we supposed to raise her with? How do we ensure her safety, health, and... education?]
The group fell silent for a moment. Second's concerns were always the most practical and cutting.
[Boss: Then what do we do now? Should I bring her to the hall?]
[Second: ...That's all we can do for now. At least we can make sure she isn't harmed by the outside world.]
[By the way, Fourth, is she Infected?]
[Fourth: ...]
Fourth's silence instantly made the atmosphere in the connection heavy.
[Second: ...I understand.]
[Avoid contact with Ifrit's bodily fluids and Originium crystals whenever any member comes into contact with her.]
[Fourth: Hey, hey! Isn't that a little excessive? She's still a child!]
[Second: We must remain maximally vigilant against every unknown risk! This is for all our survival, and also for...]
Second's impassioned tone suddenly sank.
[Hey...]
[If something happens to us, she really will have no one to rely on. Understand?]
[Fourth: ...Understood.]
[Second: ...I never said she couldn't come in. We still have to raise her, and we have to raise her nice and chubby!]
[Fourth: Great!]
[Third: Great!]
[Boss: Great...]
[Second: No more "great"!]
Second irritably cut off the atmosphere before it could derail again.
[Second: Now, Boss, hurry out of the city and find a concealed place to teleport back to the hall.]
[Boss: Received.]
[Third: +1.]
[Fourth: +1.]
[Second: ...(Tired)]
While they talked, Boss had already brought Ifrit to the edge of Trimports.
Raising his head, he saw the towering, intimidating wall of the mobile city before him.
The two giant hands behind Boss steadily braced the crystal platform, preventing Ifrit from falling during what came next.
The next instant, the two hands before him lit up with dazzling radiance, like red-hot branding irons.
"Boom!"
The giant fists thrust straight forward, carrying extreme heat as they violently pierced the thick Iron Wall.
The instant they made contact, the sturdy alloy melted like butter beneath a hot knife, leaving behind a huge crater flowing with molten metal.
Boss did not pause in the slightest. His lava fingers dug deeply into the edge of the crater, using it as a foothold as he began climbing rapidly upward.
"Wah!"
Ifrit was startled awake by the sudden commotion and helplessly grabbed the edge of the crystal platform.
Gale howled past her ears, while the ground beneath grew farther and farther away.
Boss focused entirely on climbing. With his enormous body and current strength, this height was nothing to him.
Soon, his head rose above the top of the wall.
He "snapped" a picture of the scene outside the wall and sent it to the group.
[Mental Chat Group]
[Boss: (Wilderness scenery.jpg) Sigh, I thought I'd get to see some magnificent natural scenery.]
In the image lay a desolate wasteland ravaged by the mobile city's tracks, with only scattered stubborn weeds and exposed rocks remaining.
[Fourth: Columbia was originally developed from a wasteland.]
[And after a mobile city passes through somewhere, how could there possibly be any intact land left? It would be good enough if there was still some soil.]
[Second: You already told us about the setting of mobile cities, but seeing this scene in person is still pretty shocking.]
[Third: They can build something this enormous, yet they can't fly off the planet? Is the tech tree here really this crooked?]
[Fourth: Circumstances forced them into it. Catastrophes can happen in this world at any time, and they can occasionally excavate advanced technology through archaeology. It's already impressive that they've developed this far.]
In reality, Boss let out a low, comforting growl toward Ifrit, who was still somewhat shaken in his palm.
He took a few steps forward and came to the outer edge of the city wall.
Ifrit looked at him in confusion, unable to understand what he intended to do.
Just as she stood there blankly, Boss showed no hesitation whatsoever. Holding her up, he leaped directly off the city wall hundreds of meters high.
"Aaaaaaah—!!!"
The sudden sensation of weightlessness made Ifrit scream in terror. She instinctively flattened herself against the crystal platform, both hands gripping its edges tightly.
A fierce wind rushed upward from below, dragging her fine hair backward until it was nearly parallel with her body.
She squeezed her eyes shut, her heart nearly bursting out of her chest.
Boss watched the ground draw closer and moved with a thought.
[Energy Shield]
A crimson lava domain instantly spread out, like an enormous cushion.
His massive body landed on the ground, yet the earth-shattering impact she had expected never came. Not even the slightest sound was stirred.
All the kinetic energy from the fall was converted into pure energy at the instant of contact.
Ifrit: "?"
The expected shattering impact never came, and she did not even feel the slightest jolt. Ifrit cautiously opened her eyes.
What entered her sight was solid ground.
She raised her head and looked toward the towering figure ahead.
He still held her steadily, as though that perilous free fall had merely been her illusion.
A sense of security quietly seeped into Ifrit's exhausted heart.
He really is protecting me...
At that moment, Ifrit could not help thinking of Saria again, the figure who had shielded her from every storm.
Ifrit simply lay down and looked up toward the top of the mobile city.
If it were Saria... would she get hurt jumping from that high up?
She knew Saria was strong, incredibly strong.
But from that height... with no cushioning at all...
She would definitely get hurt, right?
As soon as the thought arose, her breathing, which had only just calmed a little, became difficult again.
Silence's final anxious, pale face, and Saria's cold, broken body...
Ifrit's little hands unconsciously clenched, her nails digging deeply into her palms.
Silence... Saria...
How are they now?
Rhine Lab, medical room.
"Her vital signs are temporarily stable, but even a Vouivre's body is nearing its limit..."
"Multiple internal organs have ruptured and are bleeding. Her Originium Arts have been severely overdrawn. The most troublesome part is her right arm..."
"...Director Silence, the neural connections have been completed, but extensive areas of bone and muscle tissue have necrotized. The success rate of conservative treatment is below 35%..."
"...There's no time to transfer her to a better-equipped medical center. We have to operate immediately, here!"
Silence stood at the chief surgeon's station. Her hands in sterile gloves were perfectly steady, without the slightest tremor, but through her protective goggles, sweat could be seen beading densely across her forehead.
She stared intently at the complex display before her. On the screen was Saria's utterly terrible condition.
"Prepare... amputation."
Silence's voice was dry. The assisting medical staff beside her silently and efficiently prepared the instruments.
But when the high-speed rotating bone saw approached Saria's right arm, which was barely retaining its shape, Silence's hand still began to tremble.
Silence handed the work over to someone else and assisted from the side.
She could not bring herself to cut into Saria... even to save her...
"Bzzzz—"
The saw blade met bone. Though anesthesia and hemostatic measures were in place, the process was still visually harrowing.
Time slowly passed amid silence and the hum of the machines.
When Saria's right arm had been completely removed, Silence immediately proceeded with hemostasis, debridement, and treatment of the stump.
Her movements were precise, but noticeably faster, as though she were fleeing from some emotion.
Only after the preliminary treatment was complete and Saria had been sent into a life-support chamber for intensive observation did Silence seem to have all strength drained from her body.
She staggered out of the operating room, leaned against the cold corridor wall, and slowly slid down to the floor.
"Pant... pant..."
The sensation and sound of Saria's arm being sawed off replayed over and over in her mind.
Silence raised her own hands and watched them tremble violently beyond her control, unable to stop no matter what she did.
Just then, a female voice with a distinctive mechanical quality sounded beside her.
"Director Silence, your vital signs indicate extreme fatigue and stress. According to medical protocol, you require immediate rest and mandatory sleep for at least six hours."
It was Ptilopsis.
She had appeared at some point and was calmly looking at Silence.
Startled awake by those words, Silence abruptly raised her head, and her unfocused eyes regained their clarity.
She fiercely wiped her face with the back of her hand and struggled to stand.
"No... I can't rest yet..."
"Ifrit... I... I still need to pick her up! Prepare a vehicle for me! Now!"
She shouted into the empty corridor, hoping some passing staff member would hear her.
However, the only response was the echo from the end of the corridor.
Those subordinates who had once obeyed her every command seemed to have vanished.
Occasionally, figures in white coats hurried past distant corridor intersections, yet they turned a blind eye to Silence's cries and did not even spare her a glance.
They had heard her, but chose indifference.
Watching those cold backs, Silence gritted her teeth, forced her weakened legs to support her, and headed toward the vehicle dispatch room.
Ptilopsis silently followed, reaching out to support her swaying body.
"Director Silence, in your current physical condition, you cannot safely operate any vehicle," Ptilopsis stated matter-of-factly.
"Ptilopsis... you don't need to worry about me..." Silence tried to push her away, only to find that she no longer had even that much strength.
"Based on logical judgment, Director Silence's current condition requires my accompaniment. Otherwise, you will be unable to reach your destination and may even suffer an accident en route."
Ptilopsis's tone held no fluctuation, but the hand supporting her was steady.
"This is the optimal solution."
Silence opened her mouth, but in the end, helplessly closed it again.
The two no longer placed any hope in others. They went to the garage themselves and found an off-road vehicle that could still be used.
Ptilopsis took the driver's seat. Silence collapsed into the passenger seat, nearly falling asleep at once before being forcibly pulled back by sheer willpower.
"Quick... go to where we left Ifrit before..." Silence said with the last of her strength.
The vehicle started and sped out of Rhine Lab toward the area that had just suffered catastrophe.
However, when they reached that street, Ifrit had long since disappeared.
"Ifrit—! Ifrit, where are you?! Answer me!"
Silence shoved open the car door and shouted, her voice filled with terror.
On both sides of the street, peering eyes appeared once more behind tightly shut doors and windows.
But this time, all that remained was coldness and faint blame toward Silence, the "negligent one" and "troublemaker."
Silence's cries echoed through the ruins, receiving no response.
Just as Silence was about to despair, that familiar residential door was pushed open once again.
"Stop shouting, little girl..." The old Pelo man sighed, his cloudy eyes fixed on Silence.
"That child... was already taken away by that big thing."
"Taken... away?" Silence looked as though she had been struck by lightning. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground.
The old man looked at the devastated Silence. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to tell her what he had seen earlier.
"That huge monster... seemed to be protecting the child. It sheltered her beneath its body... In the end, the child followed it of her own accord."
Hearing the old man's words, Silence showed no sign of relief. Instead, her expression grew even more bitter.
Protecting her?
Even if it really was protecting Ifrit...
But... what about Ifrit's body?
The stability of the Flame Demon fragment inside her, the regular medication she might need, the monitoring of her condition as an Infected...
Could that Flame Demon handle all of that?
"Ifrit..." Silence sat slumped on the ground as tears finally rolled silently down her face.
"Saria..."
"What am I supposed to do..."
Before you continue