According to Kayoko, the more time she spent in this base, the more she sensed that something suspicious was hidden about this request. Also, the answer that Kaiser was looking for treasure here came surprisingly easily.
From there, she started gathering her own information about this treasure, but just when she discovered a huge structure underground, she found herself caught by the President.
For someone who was confident in her abilities, this must have been a somewhat bewildering situation for Kayoko, but the President’s evaluation tends to be quite high, provided it doesn’t involve me. Especially the Student Council President’s assessment of him was indeed at the highest level, as far as I can remember.
Last year, the lineup I could mobilize was as luxurious as FOX Squad, Arius Squad, and Veritas, and if I hadn’t inflicted irreparable damage on the Kaiser side back then…
I can’t help but think it would have been quite a bothersome opponent otherwise. But remembering the fact that I’m now an empty can with nothing to my name brings a smile to my face.
Anyway, after getting caught by the President, Kayoko somehow got the opportunity to discuss the ancient superweapon excavated from Abydos… or whatever it should be called. She had a brief chat with the President about its identity and capabilities.
I can’t tell exactly what the President was thinking, but if I had to guess, he probably wanted to keep Kayoko’s attention focused there while hiding his real plan? You know what they say, “it’s dark under the lamp,” and “if you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest,” right?
Well, that’s just a guess, of course.
If not, we’d be getting into something like “You and I, let’s figure out the identity of this structure with a combined IQ of 300!” But even then, that’s going too far.
And in the case of the President, it might be more about his computational ability than IQ? Maybe?
…Honestly, I still don’t know if they’re truly robots in the literal sense or just beings disguised as robots. With all their glaring flaws, they seem closer to the latter.
The introduction became a bit lengthy, but according to Kayoko, the structure seems to be akin to a super high-performance quantum computer. Of course, this isn’t certain, but at the very least from what she saw, that structure doesn’t seem to be equipped with any weaponry whatsoever.
And after verifying on our own, it seems likely that this structure is not inherently a threatening item.
If we were to delve in carefully for some time, the story might change, but that’s best left to the smart kids; my worrying about it doesn’t solve anything.
The operation wrapped up in a surprisingly swift manner, but as we discussed cleaning up the scene and aftercare, a whole day seemed to vanish in an instant. Naturally, we ended up talking about putting up at the dormitory provided by Abydos again…
“Excellent, oh Cheonsang-ui Mikael.”
“…Sigh.”
For some reason, the face of the suspicious Black Suit was what I saw as soon as I liked falling asleep.
It’s absurd, but on the other hand, I could somewhat guess why he came to find me even in this dream.
“It’s about securing that ancient superweapon, right? I’m not sure if it deserves to be called a superweapon yet…”
“Indeed. And I can assert without a doubt… it’s an item that can rightly be called so. You know better than anyone how powerful the so-called out-of-place artifacts of ancient civilizations can be.”
“Uh-huh… that’s true.”
Sanctum Tower. The Box of Shittim. The nameless out-of-place artifacts that significantly influenced Abydos.
None of them were to be taken lightly, and I suppose it’s reasonable to view the gift left by the President in a similar light.
“I was the one who informed the Kaiser Corporation of the existence of that treasure. You could say it felt somewhat like outsourcing. The super ancient weapon buried in the Kivotos strata. A terror from a time before enlightenment that current technology cannot comprehend. Hehe. It was indeed a tempting treasure, but for me, its existence was mere uncertain information.”
“So you’re saying the Black Suit didn’t want to invest your time and resources, so you used the Kaiser Corporation instead. Right, that’s basically the story.”
“Exactly. At that time, securing Takamachi Hoshino, the highest mystery of Kivotos, which had a slightly higher accessibility and equal value, took precedence. Meanwhile, my explanation would have been incredibly attractive to the Kaiser President.”
The Black Suit, with his fingers interlocked, broke into a sinister smile.
“In particular, oh Cheonsang-ui Mikael, for him to repeatedly be obstructed by you and lose everything he had, this treasure would be a golden opportunity he must secure at all costs. Of course, though it may have diminished greatly, there still were existing corporations, but how could someone who built a tower that could touch beyond the clouds possibly be satisfied with a small hill?”
To be honest, I already knew this. The President had started to devote all his efforts to the excavation site at least six months prior.
Though he finished the excavation much faster than the original, it seemed less slow than I expected simply because the scale of Kaiser had greatly diminished.
“The President is a wise businessman, but unfortunately, he falls short as a gambler. A gambler who has his entire hand read must also know when to fold.”
“…So, now that part has fallen through, does he want to set his sights on that item?”
“Hehe. Not at all. To handle that weapon properly, one needs the Sanctum Tower… or an artifact equivalent to it, the Box of Shittim. In other words, while holding practical rights over the Sanctum Tower, he also holds that box… the Teacher. His cooperation is absolutely essential, but the chances of him cooperating with me are exceedingly low. It’d be more likely if it were you.”
“Oh haha. Me? You want me to?”
“Oh, we’re already in a cooperative relationship, aren’t we? Let’s leave the unnecessary and even poisonous animosity behind. I never thought our relationship was that bleak…”
…I want to deny it, but it’s a bit hard to refute.
Even saying this, I might already be leaning towards trusting the Black Suit to a certain extent. After all, my internal bonus points went up because Gematria didn’t directly harm my love interests.
“Returning to the topic. That should be viewed as a ship. Originally, I believed that the treasure buried in that desert was likely the Ark…”
The Ark. The Ark.
I feel like I’m on the verge of remembering something…
“Hmm. Speaking of which, I should probably explain the Ark first. The Ark of Atrahasis, is a legacy left by the nameless gods, the former masters of Kivotos. It could be said to be the essence of ancient civilization, something that cannot be rivaled by the current technology.”
The Ark of Atrahasis… Protocol Atrahasis?
So, Aris… no. I remember clearly that the AI, Key, sleeping inside Aris wanted to bring forth the beginnings of destruction associated with that name, Atrahasis.
“And the ship currently in the possession of Shalle is a weapon comparable to that Ark. It is known by the name that contains the origins of Kivotos… the so-called Utnapishtim’s Ship.”
“Uh-huh… from what we’ve gathered, this ship seems more of a supporting computer than a weapon by itself?”
“That’s not entirely wrong, but on the flip side, it’s also wrong.”
“…?”
“That ship is a space battleship.”
“Wow——oh…?”
…What the heck is this? Why is this suddenly shifting the genre to space opera?
“Of course, it’s just a term for convenience… I don’t think it could output enough power to actually reach space, but in terms of its operational mechanism, it wouldn’t be out of place to call it a space battleship.”
“…But it can’t go to space. It’s not a battleship, either.”
“Hehe. It’s not so rare to find a discrepancy between a name and its reality, is it?”
“That is true, but…”
That’s like thinking of the Holy Roman Empire, where there’s some truth to the Black Suit’s words. It’s famously neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, isn’t it? But that’s an entirely separate story regarding how meanings can be misinterpreted.
“Honestly, I think it’s a pretty positive situation that Shalle put that into the water. I doubt we’ll have to deal with the Ark of Atrahasis led by the Nameless Priests…”
“Huh? Wait a moment. Why is that?”
“We classify them as an obsolete existence in Gematria. So, while I find it hard to guess how useful Utnapishtim’s Ship will be, I’m sure you and the Teacher would…”
The Black Suit trailed off and elegantly adjusted his outfit. The Black Suit, performing the first of two ways to anger a person, split his lips wide and wore a creepy grin.
“Oh Cheonsang-ui Mikael, allow me to share an intriguing story.”
“…I have this eerie feeling that I shouldn’t listen.”
“Not at all. It’s a story that won’t do you any harm to hear. I merely wanted to tell you that the moment you’ve been eagerly awaiting will come in about three months at most…”
“That is… certainly good news.”
Indeed, it is good news, but why is this strangely unsettling and ominous feeling tormenting me?
No matter how hard I think, I couldn’t come up with an answer.
