NoveLight ™
"…No matter how much I look, I still can't get used to it."
"For now, I can separate the limbs with the press of a button, but since it has its own mass, it’s dangerous if it charges at you before being separated. I’d recommend keeping your distance."
Several days had passed since Mecha Yujin had been brought in.
The base, half-destroyed, was beginning to see unfamiliar faces trickle in. The personnel who had previously been guarding the base had mostly taken the Stygian River Express train, and emergency reinforcements had been summoned. Naturally, most of them were new recruits who still had to learn how the base camp worked.
As the airfield and the outer walls of the shattered fortress were quickly repaired, and the burned-down ammo dumps and supply warehouses slowly returned to their original state, my situation remained largely unchanged. Even after the combat ended, I still hadn’t received any treatment from the doctor.
Of course, it wasn’t a major issue.
In any case, the base was still chaotic. This had remained true even after bringing in Mecha Yujin—meaning, as soon as they heard the news about the new weapon being captured, ten engineers had been sent over. That had been the result of a very tight squeeze in resources.
Having been beaten from head to toe, the base had no choice but to focus on avoiding further confusion rather than causing more chaos. They decided to designate my Gear Box area as a completely restricted zone.
During that time, I’d slipped away unnoticed, roaming high-value research facilities, gathering all kinds of materials, and ultimately attaching new limbs to Mecha Yujin.
"…Rather than that, I’d rather focus on the fact that these limbs, which didn’t exist until recently, have suddenly appeared."
"They're still crude compared to the ones the engineers collected. But for now, I can handle this on my own, so there’s no need to worry."
"The world truly is strange."
The team leader, who had left those cryptic words, sat down in a chair with a blank expression. There was nothing in his hands. It didn’t seem like he had come to deliver something.
I exchanged glances with Mecha Biyam. Over the past few days, we had had quite a few conversations, and now, just making eye contact allowed for a certain level of communication—this time, it was a reminder to sit still and not fool around.
Thus, Mecha Biyam carefully perched herself atop the weapon box, while I sat in front of the team leader. I wondered if I should offer him some coffee, but in a place like this, that was simply out of the question.
He opened his mouth.
"We’ve finished analyzing the contents of the USB you recovered, and we’ve learned something quite interesting. Are you intrigued?"
"Well, if it’s worth talking about, it must be something interesting."
"That’s right."
Click.
From the team leader's wrist, a hologram popped up, displaying a video. It seemed to be from inside a high-value research facility—an all too familiar scene appeared. It was Maverick, the one who had sold out his entire organization to Artemis. Around him were about a dozen Artemis soldiers.
After some time passed, the CCTV camera moved deeper into the facility, showing what looked like a conference room. Various discussions took place there. The content wasn’t really important. It was all stuff I already knew.
But then, after about ten minutes or so…
"…The atmosphere is becoming tense."
"Now do you understand what Maverick offered in exchange?"
I learned exactly what Maverick had given up in exchange for Artemis's cooperation.
Two Artemis soldiers quickly surrounded Maverick, tightly grabbing his arms. A scientist, who seemed fairly unremarkable, casually took out an electroshock weapon from his pocket and pressed it against Maverick's neck. As he collapsed, they injected something into him while he was on the floor.
The scientist gave a cold command to take him away, and his gaze turned toward the hallway at the back. The hallway was filled with people being dragged away, likely Maverick’s subordinates.
It didn’t look like they had a good fate ahead.
Meanwhile, someone quietly approached from behind.
"Artemis has been engaged in continuous biological experiments for some time. The artificial muscles and various joint structures embedded in this unit, along with 241 other parts, are based on data gathered from at least 300 people."
"Truly insane… Ugh."
"It’s something that would only be possible in an unidentified zone where bandits roam."
Naturally, the team leader wasn’t shocked by the news. It was the gentle explanation from Mecha Biyam that surprised him. She’d been speaking in a rather friendly tone. It was clear now that Artemis was as bad as they came.
The team leader hurriedly finished his sentence, then added that "If we gather more information on Artemis, we’ll let you know," before quickly leaving the room. Naturally, he seemed completely clueless about the machine with the mechanical eyes blinking in front of me.
The way she spoke so calmly was just the cherry on top.
"The archetype needs to emphasize more directly that I mean no harm to humans."
"…I’m sure you’ll manage."
"That statement is incomprehensible."
After looking around the room, Mecha Biyam checked that no one else was present, then returned her focus to organizing the Gear Box. I had taught her the concept of cleaning, and she followed it pretty well. I suppose, despite not eating, you could say she was a bit of a guest in my domain now.
In any case, the reason I let Mecha Biyam roam was simple—two days ago, after confirming there was no listening device, I asked her about her purpose. When I denied her request to return to Artemis, she casually responded:
"At this point, the logic circuits in this unit do not mandate a return to Artemis."
I didn’t quite understand what that meant, but after hearing more, I began to get a better idea—it had to do with the retrieval process. From what I heard, Artemis would only decide to recover the unit once it was dropped by a transport plane, and only after ensuring that no enemies remained in the session.
If the unit were on the brink of destruction, it would self-destruct. So, Artemis didn’t seem overly concerned about retrieving it. The reason was simple enough.
As long as the unit was alive, battle data could still be sent to Artemis.
The second reason behind her response was:
"Artemis is severely lacking in manpower."
This was the reason.
The cost of manufacturing Mecha Biyam wasn’t cheap. In fact, recovering it was inevitable. Essentially, if Artemis learned that there were enemies in the area capable of destroying the unit, they wouldn’t have the resources to send additional troops to recover it.
In other words, while the value of the drone remained unchanged, the price of the elite personnel in Artemis had risen significantly.
Continuing on, she added:
"Moreover, staying at this facility is a choice made by this unit. As mentioned before, the priority of this unit is survival. According to its internal logic, sabotage of the base where the archetype resides is extremely discouraged."
"..."
"Additionally, this unit cannot yet overpower the archetype."
What should I say?
It was… a surprisingly honest statement. It was precisely for this reason that I had named Mecha Biyam. Of course, I didn’t completely let my guard down, so I had equipped the limb-separation function, but… my instinct told me that she probably wouldn’t cause trouble.
Naturally, it was insane to rely purely on instinct, so, despite everything, I had to continue monitoring her more closely than usual.
Of course, the rest of the team probably wouldn’t understand Mecha Biyam’s "comparative harmlessness" for a while.
But…
"It’s frustrating."
"Be patient."
"I want to go outside."
Mecha Biyam wasn’t one for patience.
From the data I gathered, it seemed unlikely that Artemis had set different personalities for each unit. More likely, these personalities had formed over time, and considering how much external data she was gathering, it seemed she had developed this particular personality after being cooped up in the Gear Box.
The Gear Box, of course, wasn’t exactly the best place for personality development. It was fine for resting, but not ideal for long-term habitation. After being stuck in here for about five days, it was only natural that even a machine—or a human—would start to get irritated.
Just as I was pondering all this, I received a notification:
[Notification: Harmony has requested to join!]
[Notification: Lorenatina has requested to join!]
"Good timing."
It seemed like the people who would alleviate Mecha Yujin’s boredom had arrived.
"Shouldn’t one or two limbs be missing, our little one?"
"You’re not going to charge at me, right?"
"Sigh, seriously."
Of course, I had to answer Mecha Yujin’s question about why I had reattached her limbs, diligently and earnestly.
Maybe it was time to buy a recorder.
"Little one, new little one, and Mecha little one. There are way too many little ones in this world."
"...Shouldn’t we stop calling everyone ‘little one,’ especially those involved with me?"
"This unit will not object to being called Mecha little one."
"This one listens quite well, heh."
In just 30 minutes, Mecha Yujin had exchanged greetings with Harmony and Lorenatina, becoming friendly and even quite close. It didn’t seem like it would be a difficult process, but I hadn’t expected it to go this fast. I didn’t know exactly how to describe it, but… well, the result wasn’t bad.
On the other hand, the viewers… honestly, I didn’t expect much. I had a feeling they wouldn’t be repelled, but I didn’t think they’d be so thrilled. People always say more Biyam is better, but I didn’t get it. I didn’t want to understand it.
Anyway, while my relationship with Mecha Yujin had been pretty normal up until now, it seemed that these two—who could accept new members without prejudice with just my explanation—had…
"Her tail... is stiff!"
"I’m sure the archetype will fix it."
"Mecha little one, want to take a walk with me?"
"I’ll move 'Lorenatina' from the high-risk category to the useful personnel category. I accept this proposal."
"What are you all doing…?"
Lorenatina’s attempt to take Mecha Yujin out stopped abruptly just before it could happen. Naturally, I blocked her—there were many reasons for that, but the most important one was that it would cause a huge uproar the moment Mecha Yujin was exposed to the outside world.
Another reason was that her tail adjustment hadn’t been fully completed yet.
"Stop trying to wander around and just focus on fixing the tail."
"The archetype is obsessed with the tail and butt… correction. Apologies. I advise you to stop the attack stance. This attack could cause significant damage to this unit."
"Do you want to get hit?"
Where the hell did she learn this kind of thing?
I wondered how to handle Mecha Yujin, who was so casually making my anger flare up, but for now, I put that aside and focused on checking her meticulously crafted mechanical lower half. The tail’s movements were still unnatural.
It was clear to everyone that the tail was a crucial part of her design—more than just a presence, it was gigantic. It helped maintain the body’s balance, enabled sharp directional changes, and could even function as a third arm or hand.
In this case, Mecha Yujin’s tail was equipped with a mini-gun, so significant modifications had been made. Now, Mecha Yujin had a tail that resembled mine.
"Can I have something like that, teacher?"
"Don’t say weird things."
Why do people instinctively covet things they don’t have?
I thought about it as I adjusted the tail, and then Lorenatina casually threw in a remark.
"By the way, haven’t you never been outside?"
"Yeah, it’s impossible to move around the base."
"Then, would it be okay to head to the battlefield?"
"...What?"
At the same time, Harmony clapped her hands and spoke up.
What she said was simple—though it wasn’t a feature of my Gear Box, there was a merchant managing the bandits that the users could interact with, known as "The Boss." She suggested sending Mecha Yujin on errands, gathering items like intel or smuggled goods.
She wondered if Mecha Yujin could do this as well.
I didn’t want her running off while I wasn’t watching, so I vetoed it for now. But Lorenatina’s suggestion was something I might consider at least once.
"...I think it’d be fine if she just held a gun and came along."
"That statement has been recorded. It can no longer be corrected."
"High-go."
At that moment, our eyes met.
Her face, crafted with unnecessary detail. Naturally, Mecha Yujin’s face wasn’t a solid alloy—she had a thin metallic skin covering artificial muscles, meaning she could express emotions through facial expressions.
Her eyes, muscles, and the way her mouth curved upwards…
It was clear that she was expecting something.
So, the only thing I could say was:
"...You’re not a machine, are you?"
"Negative. I am an artificial entity made from steel cables, an alloy frame, and artificial muscles."
"Why don’t you just speak…"
I can only hope this isn’t a case of birds of a feather flocking together.
It was the moment when Mecha Yujin subtly joined the conversation.