The Druid Who Swallowed Mother Nature - Chapter 76



Only Noblemtl

Episode 76. Call me by my name.

Her silver hair flowed softly.

The skin covered in faux leather was soft and rosy, and the youthful yet neutral facial features made it difficult to tell her gender.

The overall body line also has contradictory characteristics of being delicate yet firm.

It was the result of Bell’s aesthetic that machines have no gender.

‘As long as the person in charge doesn’t recognize it as an Android, that’s fine.’

As long as the criteria were met, the appearance could be tailored to Belle’s taste.

Actually, for me, it didn’t matter what I looked like as long as I worked hard and did my job well.

“Hey, get up.”

Belle spoke in a voice filled with intense emotion.

This is a historic moment as the first Android is launched after a long development process.

Although he tried to appear calm, his trembling could not be hidden.

Wheeing!

“Oh, oh.”

“The World Tree claps its hands vigorously.”

There was no precision or precise accuracy in the android’s movements.

But it felt rather natural and humane.

“Well, how is it? This concludes the deal. No complaints, right? I’ve also handed over the command to you. You won’t disobey.”

Belle started talking as if she was being chased by someone.

It seemed like he was worried that I might go back on my promise.

My wish has come true, so shouldn’t I be a little happier?

Somehow, I felt like if I nodded, he would just leave without looking back.

“There’s still some left.”

Unfortunately for the guy, there was still something missing.

“What is left?”

“I need to check if it works properly.”

“Oh, you’re being too picky. Let’s just let it slide.”

Is that what you’re talking about now?

“Look back at your actions and say it again.”

I’ve been through so much trouble that I need to trust it.

“What, what! If you do it, it will work, if you do it!”

When you get stabbed a lot, you tend to yell loudly.

I ignored A’s whining and approached the android.

“What is the initial name?”

“It’s beta.”

“Beta… … There’s no need to change it.”

The first Android, a failed model, was left at Delight Conf’s headquarters, so Beta was the second.

In that sense, it was a very intuitive name.

“Beta, from now on I’m going to test your performance.”

“I will faithfully carry out my duties.”

Beta expressed his determination.

As far as expressing emotions, he was human.

Belle lifted her chin confidently.

He was telling me not to waste time, since his liberation was expected.

… … Of course, it was something to be seen.

***

And so it has come to this point.

“The World Tree droops its shoulders, saying it has no answer.”

I agree.

“… … .”

Belle stood in front of the ruined garden, clutching her head.

What are you going to do if you keep doing this and your head gets empty?

I was worried so I tried to say something but stopped myself.

It was all your own doing.

“This is… … .”

I looked back at Beta.

The android stood alone, looking down at its fallen creator on the ruined garden.

“It’s useless.”

“Yes.”

“?”

Why are you answering this?

“My current performance is in the early learning stage. No one is good at it from the beginning. It’s currently at a level that is unusable, but I’m getting better little by little.”

Words are like flowing water.

however.

“You are a machine.”

Even if you aren’t good at it from the beginning, you should learn quickly and become skilled.

“Since it’s an android, you could say it’s half human.”

I see.

It was a strangely persuasive logic.

“… … .”

The android, who had completed the logic within himself, was upright and proud without any shame.

I didn’t mean to say anything about that either.

Because in other words, it was true.

“hey.”

So I turned my arrows to someone else.

It is the law that the parents should be blamed for the child’s mistakes.

The bell rang feebly as I kicked.

“What happened?”

“……what.”

“Just like you said, it’s just a piece of scrap metal. What good is it if the learning period for weeding is only 10 years?”

“… … .”

More important than the maneuverability of an aircraft is its performance.

Beta’s specs were not up to par at all.

To put it simply, my hard work and the balance of the scales were not right.

The stinging bell made an excuse carefully.

“Well… … maybe something went wrong during the design process.”

“Any failed researcher says that.”

“It’s true!”

Belle lay down on the ground and rang loudly.

Do you want to be like that when you get older?

Because it was an unbearable sight, I nodded my head, asking him to say more.

“Do you remember that I did a lot of work to pass Delight Conform’s audit during the development process?”

“okay.”

“Actually, I borrowed a lot of help from Beta back then. I hacked into the intranet, modified the program… … It was an unavoidable choice.”

“Yes, so the assessment that I am incompetent is wrong.”

“Look at that mess and tell me!”

“I did my best. It’s just a trial and error for meaningful progress, so it’s minor.”

“What can I do if it’s hard for me to clean up after myself!”

I left the two bickering alone and gathered my thoughts.

“… … So does that mean that since a lot of computational power is allocated to that area, the performance of the rest of the parts is greatly reduced?”

“That’s correct.”

“You could say that… … Eww!”

I lifted the bell upside down.

The world tree shook its trunk violently in response to my anger.

“This is different from the promise.”

“I, I didn’t know it would turn out like this!”

Belle refused to admit her guilt and continued to struggle.

Added the crime of contempt.

The guy freaked out when the watchman’s tattoo glowed.

“Oh, don’t be angry! I’ll take responsibility and fix it!”

“Of course. Time is the key. How long do you think it will take?”

“Well, well.”

The guy muttered something and folded his fingers one by one.

If you calculate it as 1 month per one… … .

I gave up on calculating.

“I will do my best.”

Belle scratched the back of her head and laughed.

His face turned bright red from the blood flowing into it.

“Actually, I don’t need you to fix it.”

“really?”

“If you just provide the labor instead, that’s all.”

“… … .”

That was the promise we made.

Belle couldn’t bring herself to protest and just looked up at the sky with empty eyes as if she had given up.

“So now he’s our slave again, and the only thing left is how to treat him… … .”

It was hard to make a quick decision because the expected all-purpose slave had become a plaything.

“Please give me anything. I will work hard.”

Motivation is good, though.

“You shouldn’t work hard, you should do well.”

The two are different.

“This is a headache.”

Even if it wasn’t gardening, there was a high chance that Beta would get into trouble if he was asked to do anything.

Anyway, it’s Bell’s job to sort it out.

Wouldn’t it be too costly to just leave it alone?

Luckily, the idea came to me quickly.

“you.”

I handed Beta my phone.

“Try hacking this.”

***

[Crowd density on the road ahead is extremely high. A detour route is recommended.]

I took a detour following Beta’s recommendation.

There are still a lot of people, but it is not as congested as the previous route.

“I am amazed at the comfort of the World Tree.”

“It’s navigation.”

I was amazed by the familiar comfort.

The idea of ​​using Beta as a hacker was not wrong.

Beta hacked into the city’s surveillance system via wireless communication devices and used this to provide directions.

As it is a densely populated city, navigation is a great help in daily life.

‘There will be a lot of things that will be helpful during the request.’

Securing computer networks, seizing electrical facilities, disrupting security systems, etc.

The hacker’s usefulness in various assignments was endless.

‘Am I killing two birds with one stone this way?’

Although the all-weather, all-purpose slave has gone across the water, we have acquired a nimble slave and a hacker at the same time.

This was a hugely profitable investment.

‘It’s going well.’

He is making great strides as a contractor, is steadily building trust with his assistants, and is also smoothly recruiting trustworthy colleagues.

‘Now, what I need to focus on is my own growth.’

As my fame and the difficulty of my requests increased, the level of my opponents also skyrocketed.

For example, Madhouse.

It was uncertain whether we would be able to fight them again next time.

‘Buggy Byle is a rookie who hasn’t matured yet, and Bianca is nothing but a thief.’

Madhouse’s reputation for not considering the failure of a request actually stemmed from the powerlessness of the members other than themselves.

‘Even Bianca missed the finish.’

Madhouse isn’t the only headache.

Sheriffs from the Sheriff’s Office, city government agents, Megacorp security forces and minions… … .

There were so many monsters in this world that it was almost overflowing.

On the other hand, I was still very immature.

In order to avoid future disasters, I needed to further strengthen my own power.

And the most obvious way to solve this was to find the whereabouts of the spirit’s corpse.

‘It is certain that the whereabouts of the spirit’s kochi will be discovered by investigating the sentry.’

It was still premature to antagonize Megacorp.

It’s not like the spirit’s gochi can be found by burying its head in the ground or something like that.

In the end, it is difficult to complete the spirit’s cocoon and promote growth.

‘So we have to find another way.’

The growth of the World Tree and the growth of the Druid are strictly different areas.

As a multi-time FP user, I can clearly see the difference.

In terms of gameplay, the growth of the World Tree is similar to progressing through the character’s main story.

The development of abilities was a secondary area.

On the other hand, the latter, if we were to explain it, was closer to improving the specifications or strengthening the internal structure.

A Druid’s abilities don’t necessarily come from the World Tree.

Strictly speaking, I am a special case as a Druid, having accepted the World Tree into my body.

So what I should be aiming for now is the latter.

‘The conditions are quite strict, but… … it’s worth a shot as it is now.’

As it turned out, there was a suitable assistant to help with this.

To be exact, I am the one who comes between them.

“Cromwell.”

I found Cromwell in his office.

He looked at me as he had just sent down one of the contractors.

“The timing wasn’t right.”

“… … ?”

He didn’t seem very welcoming to me.

“I’ve been so busy lately. I’ve been getting a lot of requests to find a veteran who was able to stand up to and defeat the Shadow Empress.”

“Then shouldn’t I be happy since I came to work?”

“That’s not necessarily true. Anything that is ripe needs to be left to its own devices. That’s the case now.”

Cromwell gestured for them to sit down.

“Your information is being updated in the industry’s lists and related networks. It’s not the rabble that’s interested, it’s the real deal. If you wait a little longer, I’m confident I can broker the best price.”

“hmm.”

Is this a strategy to deliberately delay the release to build anticipation when interest in the product is high?

“You figure it out.”

It seemed like a good strategy, but that was more of a concern for the broker than me.

“Hasn’t there been any rumors about it?”

“What are those rumors?”

“What, I conspired with the Shadow Empress to… … steal the androids.”

I was paying attention, but you never know.

“That’s ridiculous. It’s common sense that she’s not big enough to share what’s mine with others.”

“That’s fortunate.”

It meant that all the suspicion and resentment that should have been directed at me was directed at Bianca.

Since she has already been branded like that, no one will believe her even if she reveals the truth.

“Did you come here to ask that one thing?”

“That’s not it… … I want you to arrange a request.”

A contractor is a subcontractor who receives work orders from clients.

It cannot be said that this public perception was wrong.

But that doesn’t mean it fits exactly.

Everything depends on the person.

Senior personnel with guaranteed skills were able to select commissions and even plan commissions.

And in this regard, negotiating with clients was the job and competence of the broker.

“It’s a request for arrangement… … Let me hear what it’s about.”

I was manpower enough to demand this.

Cromwell’s reaction proved this.

“Relics exploration.”

“… … You brought me something troublesome.”

Ancient ruins exist outside the city.

In other words, it is an area beyond the administrative reach of the city government.

The journey there naturally carries with it unknown dangers.

And the benefits that could be gained were just as great as the risks.

“Do you want the relic?”

For example, there was a relic.

Objects from ancient civilizations or relics left behind by great people of the past functioned as special artifacts.

It has abilities that surpass common sense, and whenever it is discovered, it causes a stir.

“The more means you have to protect yourself, the better. Personally, I think it’s more reasonable to obtain it through other means than digging it up yourself.”

The excavation of the relics was a huge project.

Exploration of the ruins does not necessarily guarantee the excavation of relics, and there were many difficulties to overcome to achieve this.

That is why no individual explored the ruins.

It was accomplished with the full support of companies and others, with at least one team formed.

‘A small number of expeditions plan their own excavations of relics.’

That’s literally the exception.

“I’ll try to find out. But I can’t say for sure when it’ll happen. I guess the discovery of the ruins is the priority, so please understand.”

The discovery of ruins is the job of adventurers.

They first discovered traces of the ruins and sold the information, and only then was an expedition formed.

If you’re unlucky, you might not get any new exploration requests for years.

“Don’t worry about that. I know where the ruins are.”

“Do you want to join the exploration party of the existing ruins? Then it won’t be easy to secure a share of the relics.”

“It’s a relic unknown to the world. I’ll take care of the share of the relics, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Since they would have been nothing more than decorations without my help anyway, securing shares was not a matter of concern.

“Contact the Juggernaut School in the Magic Tower with my name. Isn’t it time to resume exploring the ruins?”

What I’m after is the place where the wanderer Colin and his teacher Matapju were conducting their research.

It was the remains of a druid who discovered the eggs of the watchman’s hawk.