Thanks for the Invitation, I'm on Terra, and I'm a Parasite

Laurentina rubbed her head, recalling the hunters' group wilderness training from back then...

"Wow, Orca, you've already finished the pit Captain told you to dig? How did you do that?"

Beside the dazed shark girl, Skadi pointed at her greatsword, which was covered in dirt.

"With this... it was fast."

"Really?!"

"Skadi!!!!! Who told you weapons could be used like that?!"

"Captain!"

"A weapon is your companion! Your most reliable teammate! You should cherish her! Take care of her! Only then will she stay sharp at all times during a hunt!!"

Ulpian charged out from the nearby bushes, then glanced at the pile of excavated soil beside them.

He immediately rushed over and filled the entire pit back in, even making sure to stomp it flat in the end.

"Now! Gather materials from the surrounding area, make yourself a suitable shovel, and dig it all over again!!"

..

"Skadi can actually put up with Ulpian's guidance. She's quite a rare student."

Leaning off to one side, Gladiia sighed and looked into the distance.

"Um, Swordfish, can weapons really not be used for digging?"

Laurentina leaned close to Gladiia and asked.

"Actually, Ulpian merely wanted to teach Skadi how to quickly make appropriate tools from wilderness materials. But his pitiful communication skills and blunt behavior made him look like a thug who liked making trouble for his own team members."

"But can weapons dig dirt or not...?"

"...A lance isn't suitable for turning over large areas of soil, and a chainsaw's blade moves freely, so it isn't suitable either."

"So that question never existed to begin with."

The memory ended...

Wait...

Laurentina froze, suddenly remembering something Ulpian had said.

A weapon is your companion! Your most reliable teammate! You should cherish her! Take care of her!

She lowered her head and looked at Zuo Jian.

Swordfish, I think Orca's captain actually had a pretty good point!

[? Laurentina, you don't need to grip the hoe that tightly. The strength of that part can't even hold up under it... It's already cracking.]

Hearing that, Laurentina hurriedly loosened her tightly clenched hand.

At the same time, she turned her head away as though nothing had happened and pretended to cough.

"Ahem, it's nothing... I was just thinking."

[Thinking?]

"I mean... I mean... Right, the residents here don't exactly look very strong either. Is it really okay to make them do farmwork already?"

[Don't worry. This land has already been thoroughly tilled once. What the residents are doing now is simply becoming familiar with and learning the process of farming.]

[After all, we can't stay here forever, nor can we keep letting them eat the flesh-based plants I grew temporarily.]

[As long as their intake remains safe, they'll have to hold out until the crops they plant themselves begin producing a harvest.]

[I wouldn't want... a biochemical crisis to play out in this village after we leave.]

"A biochemical... crisis?"

[Nothing. Just one of my habitual expressions.]

"But if they're going to keep farming... can they really learn all the necessary skills in such a short time?"

Laurentina looked toward the residents in the distance, who were turning the soil under the nun's instructions. No matter how she looked at them, they didn't seem capable of quickly learning anything.

[So I never intended to have them learn everything at once. We'll take it slowly.]

"But didn't you say we wouldn't stay here forever?"

Laurentina paused, then sensed that Zuo Jian seemed to be calling something.

The next moment, the nun in the distance turned around. She stopped instructing the residents and began walking toward Laurentina step by step.

Laurentina noticed that the other's appearance seemed to have changed slightly, and... her eyes no longer had that puppet-like dullness.

That wasn't right! Zuo Jian was right beside her! So how could that body...

The nun arrived before Laurentina. Although her face still wore a cold expression, it somehow gave off... a sense of being alive.

This wasn't how she should have looked after Zuo Jian left that body.

The nun lowered her head in a respectful posture.

[...I put Quintus's consciousness into her, though I tried modifying it a little.]

[It just wasn't very successful.]

[I retained that Church of the Deep bishop's knowledge and memories, then used all remaining self-awareness and personality as nourishment to cultivate an entirely new conscious entity to control this body.]

[Unfortunately, human consciousness—or something like a soul—isn't something that can be mastered so casually.]

[I merely used an extremely violent method to tear him apart and put him back together.]

[And what I got... was really only a more advanced derivative that could obey and carry out my basic commands.]

"Then... does she have her own consciousness?"

[It's hard to say. She can answer people and serve as the nun here. The latter is mainly thanks to Quintus's memories serving as a template.]

[But that's also a good thing, isn't it? At least there's no need to worry about rampages or betrayal.]

"Um, hello?"

Laurentina walked up to the nun and waved her hand.

"Greetings, Ms. Laurentina, the Swarm's second consciousness."

[...Since I used Quintus's memories and knowledge as the vocabulary template, she might sound a little like the Church of the Deep?]

"...Zuo Jian... Then doesn't that mean..."

Laurentina froze, then suddenly remembered something.

This flesh had initially... separated through her own blood, hadn't it?

And that blood... had been produced when Zuo Jian first fused with her...

In other words, this body, which contained parts of both Zuo Jian and herself... had also gained consciousness, albeit an incomplete one.

And that consciousness had been shaped by Zuo Jian...

Then wasn't she...

Her and Zuo Jian's child?!!!!

Laurentina covered her mouth, stunned by the thought.

Meanwhile, on Zuo Jian's side...

It felt a little like refining AI, except the method was more extreme.

He had directly used a living person's consciousness as material—though it was the consciousness of trash like Quintus.

Since the only material fed to it was Quintus's portion, there was actually quite a limit to what this consciousness could independently carry out.

Still, it was enough.

As long as she could guide these villagers over a long period in properly harvesting and planting crops, that would do.

At the same time, the knowledge about the Church contained in Quintus's memories could help her blend in better among these brainwashed residents while gradually correcting them.

That was what he thought.

[Oh, right, Laurentina. You mentioned the appearance before. I did use some of your face as a reference template then, sorry, so this time I slightly erased the parts that resembled you.]

[That way, you probably won't...]

"Why did you erase them?!"

Laurentina suddenly hugged the nun in front of her and held her face in both hands.

"Um... second consciousness?"

[?]

"Why? What's wrong with this child looking like me? I think it's wonderful!"

[Huh?]

"Zuo Jian, I thought she looked perfectly fine from the start! Why change her?!"

[...Laurentina, do you know there's such a thing as a client who keeps changing their mind?]

"Um, Zuo Jian, Zuo Jian, have you thought about what to call this child?"

Laurentina stepped forward and hugged the nun tightly, constantly rubbing the latter's little head.

[A name?]

Zuo Jian, who had just restored the facial features resembling Laurentina that he had removed, asked in confusion.

[Wouldn't Nun work? For the people here, a simple title like that would be easier to remember.]

"What?! How can that sort of title count as a name?! It's merely a nickname like a codename! She's your child, Zuo Jian! Are you really unwilling to give her a name?"

"Wouldn't that be too pitiful?"

As she spoke, Laurentina lowered her eyes...

"She clearly has parents, yet she doesn't even have a name..."

Zuo Jian looked at the silent Laurentina and was momentarily at a loss for words.

He seemed to have forgotten that Laurentina had grown up in Aegir, in an environment severely lacking in so-called fatherly and motherly love.

To her, only the captain and the hunters were family.

As for familial affection... she had likely never had any...

[Hah, you're right. She really should have a name.]

What Zuo Jian didn't know, however, was that he assumed Laurentina had thought of herself because of the other girl and felt a trace of sadness.

In reality, while hugging the nun, she had lowered her head and was constantly thinking about something strange.

Since Zuo Jian doesn't want to think of a name, I'll do it!

What should I call her... I feel like it ought to combine both our names somehow!

Zuo Jian's name sounds like Yan-style, right? Zuo should be the surname—

"Zuo Jian! I've got it—"

[From now on, your name is 01.]

...?

"Huh?"

"Understood. My designation has been changed from Nun to 01."

"No! What's going on? Does that even count as a name?! It obviously looks like a casually assigned serial number!"

Laurentina released the nun—or rather, Number 01—and shouted at Zuo Jian in her mind.

[Let me correct one thing: I didn't name her casually. At the very least, every one of my children is named this way.]