"Gurgle..."
Tiny bubbles kept spreading through the life-support apparatus. Aleister floated expressionlessly in the liquid, his vacant gaze drifting ever farther, utterly unfocused.
"Even cleaning up a mess like this warrants waking up specifically to think about it? Aleister..."
Inside the Windowless Building, the angel floating serenely above Aleister calmly questioned her contractor.
But the quiet smile on her face made it clear that the answer to that question was not her objective.
"Because Roland is worth doing so for."
The indifferent mechanical voice rang out as always.
As though he had not understood Aiwass's implication at all, Aleister's words remained devoid of emotion.
Ordinarily, most of his thinking was machine-assisted, and he issued commands through the question-and-answer artificial intelligence he had built.
Only when an unpredictable development arose in a scheduled scenario would Aleister leave his hibernation-like state and devote himself fully to thinking.
"I refrain from interfering with other developments because they will inevitably remain within my grasp. Maintaining this balance is preferable, as it prevents the Fate that dooms me to failure from introducing unnecessary interference."
"But when dealing with a variable, such arrogance is no longer an option."
"Is that so?" Aiwass sounded somewhat noncommittal. "Does this cautious attitude serve as proof that seeing hope has brought about a change in you?"
"I am merely adapting to the circumstances."
After receiving the reports from the cleanup teams and the AIM Diffusion Field, Aleister's gaze shifted slightly.
"Judging by today's gains, the reliability of this approach has been confirmed once again."
Although those who had died were all insignificant small fry, to Aleister, the value their deaths provided far exceeded what they had offered alive.
It was just like how even experimental waste had to be destroyed collectively to prevent information leaks.
The traces left by this