Chapter 237: 222

Night fell, and more confusion gripped us.

I went home for the time being, and tried to work out the details with Makina in the living area.

「First, what do we have to hide from them?」

There’s no time.

We don't have time, but if we act in haste, we could have our weaknesses exposed.

『Yes, we’ve committed 56 violations of company regulations. We've also violated the entirety of the A.I. Principal Provisions, the A.I. Management Law, the A.I. Disposal Law Bill 2, Bill 3, and Bill 4. There are a total of 666 violations that need to be hidden』

「Ooh, that's an inauspicious number」

The company that had sent me to the alternate world had sent a second team.

According to Makina, that was always part of the plan, but the chances of it being implemented were very low, so she hadn't been expecting it.

This was a bolt from the blue, an unexpected turn of events, a kick in the guts, and it left us scrambling.

「For now, lock all of you and Yukikaze's memory. And don't forget the backup data」

『But, Souya-san, their A.I. is pestering Makina to sync up our data. What reason should Makina give for refusing?』

「Let's chalk it up to a malfunction」

There actually are malfuntioning parts after all.

『In Makina's current state, Makina will surely be disposed of the instant Makina is inspected in normal A.I maintenance mode. ………………Wh, wh, what should we do? Hawawa』

「Is it possible to create dummy data?」

『It'll be exposed instantly upon syncing up. It seems that their A.I. is the same type as Makina, so Makina believes it will be difficult to deceive them』

「This isn’t good………」

I don't want Makina to be disposed of and I don't want to be paired with an A.I. I don't know. I don't want to change the way I'm going about my adventures now that I've finally figured it all out.

『Oh, they're calling us again』

From Makina came the ringing of an old black phone.

We had put it on silent initially, but when we kept ignoring their calls, they made it so that the ring tone would be forcibly played.

『We can't take your call right now. Please try again in a few――――――』

『Hang on! What the hell are you playing at?! If you don't stop this, we'll come for you!』

「Cut it」

『Roger』

Sick of the woman's voice, I hung up on her. I thought about shutting down communications entirely, but if that led to them charging into the city, that could cause all sorts of trouble.

「Damn it」

I'm having trouble thinking of anything.

When I pressed my fingers to my eyes……

「Hey, Onii-chan」

「Hmm?」

……Ea came to talk to me.

It's rare for her to not read the air and interrupt me when I'm in a discussion.

「How's the matter with the spiders going? I don't particularly care, but that guy Melm keeps bugging me about it……」

「Ohh, the spiders」

Oh crap. I returned home without reporting anything to the Guild.

But for the time being,

「They won't be a problem for the next 12,000 years」

「Huh? Twelve thousand? I don't really get it, but does that mean that the issue with the spiders is settled?」

「Yeah, it's settled. Everything is fine」

「Then I'll tell Melm just that」

「Please do. I have another matter to attend to」

「Yeah, yeah, what a busy Onii-chan I have, huh?」

Ea threw on her cloak, and just in case, she picked up her bow and hung her quiver on her hip.

It was getting late, but she was getting ready to go out right away.

「I don't want him coming to our home again, so I'll head over to the forest now」

「I see, be careful, got it?」

「There's no one in this city who can catch me」

Ea pulled up the hood of her cloak and disappeared.

Following her presence somehow, she seemed to be heading for the forest through the basement.

The basement of our home is connected to the Goblin Empire, the Demon King's domain. Going through there to get to Heures Forest is a shortcut, but I’d get lost in there, so I always went across the plain instead.

「Souya, are you done with your discussion?」

Looking apologetic, Lanseal came down the stairs.

She always took care to avoid getting involved in my work and especially our adventuring. She must have come down after hearing Ea and me talking. I had sensed that she had been waiting by the stairs on the second floor.

「I’m sorry. We're still not done」

「I'm very sorry for disturbing you then. Madam's condition has stabilized, so I thought you might like to see her face. Would you like to have something light to eat as well?」

「It's fine. As for Rana――――――」

I want to see her face, but………………No, I can't. I can't let myself get distracted when the situation is so dire.

「Sorry, I'll leave her to you」

「Okay, I've got it covered. I’ll take my leave」

Lanseal bowed and then went back upstairs. With her looking after Rana, everything should be fine

I should leave that to her and focus on the problem at hand.

『Riiiinnnngggg Riiiinnnngggg』

There was more ringing from Makina.

Oh, for crying out loud, I can't think of anything good. And it's so loud and annoying. At times like this, there’s only one thing to do, isn't it?

「Alright, Makina」

「Yes, Souya-san?」

「Let's go to them」

「A raid!」

No. It's reconnaissance-in-force.

Together with Makina, I walked across the pitch-black plain.

We didn't have any lights on.

With my glasses' night vision function cranked up to the maximum, I continued on through the green expanse.

『Souya-sannnn, it's so spooky~~~』

「An A.I. shouldn't get scared so easily. You can see better than I can, isn't that right?」

『Oh, discrimination. That's a discriminatory statement』

「Listen, turn off your speakers. The ringing will give us away」

『But if Makina turns off the speakers, Makina won't be able to talk』

『You can use Yukikaze as a go between』

『Eh~, Yukikaze-chan~? She's in a rebellious phase recently, so Makina is worried that she might twist Makina's words when conveying Makina's message~ Makina is worried~~』

『………………tch』

『Ahh, she clicked her tongue! Souya-san, did you hear that! She clicked her tongue at――――――』

「Do you want me to cut your speakers off? Shut up」

Makina let out an electronic buzzing sound then fell silent.

「Until I give you permission, don't turn your speakers back on」

『………………』

Makina extended her arm in a salute.

『It'll be nice if you just remained silent for the rest of your life』

『!………………?!』

Makina responded to Yukikaze's verbal abuse by gesturing wildly with her arms.

In its own way, that's rather annoying.

「All right, we have to stay low from here on out」

I got down and started crawling on the ground. Moving slowly so that I wouldn't rustle the grass, I advanced.

This would all be for naught if the enemy detected us. It's at this juncture that we must be the most careful.

Or rather, should I be thinking of them as enemies?

Well, it would be annoying and unpleasant if the ones who came after acted all high and mighty. There's no way the rest of my party would listen to them. It would be troubling if they got into a dispute with the locals too.

Most of all, there's the matter of Makina and Yukikaze's illegal modifications.

It would be a crushing blow if that was found out and the two of them were reset. There's also a possibility that the other side may have an A.I. shutdown code that the company has kept hidden.

「But……」

『Are you going to attack them?』

「Hey, hey」

Yukikaze, who was rolling next to me, said something very disturbing.

「Victory goes to those who make the first move」

Gunmerry, who had come along for some reason, was also crawling on the ground. Perhaps it was because of his short arms and legs, but he moved more stably in a prone position.

The way he moved made him look like a caterpillar though.

「Gunmerry, shouldn't you be returning to Rutsuko-san's side?」

「Myself has gotten permission to stay overnight」

「It's fine then, but I'm busy, so I'm not going to send you back, alright? You can make your own way home, right?」

「Unlike these guys, myself is quite independent. There won't be any problems」

『………………?!』

I felt Makina roll up onto the sole of my shoe. I got a shock as I thought my foot was going to get crushed.

「Yukikaze, what's Makina saying?」

『She's being annoying for some reason, so let's ignore her, indeed』

「I see」

『!!!』

Makina rolled back and forth in protest, but I ignored her.

After quieting down, we moved forward for about five minutes.

「I think I see them」

We stopped our advance for the moment.

By some strange coincidence, I found myself looking at the site of where our camp had once stood.

I turned the telephoto function of my glasses up to maximum, then watched the company's people.

I spotted one man and one woman.

It was just the two of them.

The man was about 180cm tall and well-built. He had on a rugged leather jacket, army pants, and army boots. His face was hidden by the helmet with a mono-eye sensor he wore.

The woman was petite and slender. She had short black hair that made her look like a Zashiki-warashi that had grown up. On top of her combat uniform, she wore a large jacket with the sleeves rolled up.

「Huh?」

I had a sense of déjà vu.

The woman, or more appropriately, the young girl, had strong-willed eyes.

It came back to me.

I had a vision of this girl on the spiders' floor. She wasn't wearing a combat uniform at the time, but the jacket looked very familiar.

What's going on? Was what the spiders showed me a vision of the future?

『Team member Souya, stay down. Please don't get distracted』

「Oh, sorry」

I had almost stood up when I saw the girl.

I got back down and returned to observing the two of them.

The man was hauling about containers that were twice his size. There were two containers, both the same as the ones I had used before. But their containers didn't seem to be damaged like mine were.

As far as I could see, their numbers were few.

「Yukikaze, how many people are there in the second team?」

『That's unknown, indeed. As Yukikaze has set the synchronization setting to off』

「Can you steal information about what supplies they have from the tags on the containers?」

『Yes, that’s possible. ………………Okay, Yukikaze has done it. What? This is strange, indeed. They contain food and supplies for seven, indeed』

「Then there must be more……」

Do they have team members in hiding?

And might there be more containers?

『No, to be accurate, it's extra supplies for the previous six plus food and supplies for one』

「Hmm? What does that mean? Are you saying that there's actually only food and supplies for one?」

『Yes, that's how it is. And for some reason, there are no firearms or ammunition』

「No firearms or ammunition?」

They don't know the situation on this side, so shouldn't such things be a must?

「Could there be a leak of information?」

Though if that's the case, I don't see why they'd ask to sync up data.

『That's not a possibility. The only thing that has the slightest chance is the possibility that partial or fragmentary information may have been transmitted. But that would still not be a reason for them to come without firearms』

「What on earth are those guys here for?」

To come to a dangerous alternate world unarmed, that's just weird.

「Damn it」

There goes my plan to steal their firearms for my own use. Windfalls like that aren't so easy to come by, I guess.

『Team member Souya, there's movement』

I turn my attention to the two again.

It was the girl. After pulling out some tent equipment from among the supplies, she dropped them off right where I had pitched my tent in the past.

Then she shouted,

「Right here! This is our camp!」

Her voice pierced the stillness of the night. She had a loud voice for someone that petite.

『Team member Souya, what was that for, indeed? Is there some significance to it?』

「Well, that's just something people shout before setting up their tents」

You are reading story Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru at novel35.com

I had done it too.

『?!………………?!』

At this hectic time, Makina rolled over and bumped into my leg.

「Ouch」

It hurt because she was heavy, so I kicked her away. The pod rolled off and disappeared into the dark night.

I turned back to look at the girl.

She was having a little trouble assembling the tent. When the man tried to help her, she made him back off by glowering at him. It appeared that she wanted to do it herself.

I don't know why, but that annoys me.

Rather than wanting to lend her a hand, I want to do for her instead. It makes me feel on edge.

『Team member Souya, what should we do, indeed? Yukikaze doubts that there's anything more we can glean from observing them……』

「She's using the pegs wrongly」

『What?』

「No, sorry, I couldn't help it」

『So, what should we do? Should we make contact now or should we go back and review what we've learned? Or do you want to take the initiative and attack first?』

「Alright」

We should――――――― Huh?

My head spun when I stood up.

My vision warped and I found it hard to see, but it wasn't due to the darkness.

What's going on with me?

『Excuse me~』

「Makina, be quiet」

Makina had spoken up.

It appears that she finally couldn't take it any longer, but turning her speakers back on now is bad.

『Oh, okay. That said, what is it that you’re doing?』

「What are you saying?」

What's going on? I'm feeling weird, but Makina seems weird too.

When I turned around and looked at her……

「Oh, huh?」

Makina's body had turned a bright orange.

The Makina I know is dull gray. She's mostly metallic, with hardly any paint applied to her body.

『Souya-san! Get away! That's an impostor! Rrriiiinnnggg』

From a distance came the real Makina's voice, which was capped off by the ring tone.

「This is bad. Yukikaze, we have to get out of here」

『Roger』

I hooked Yukikaze to my belt, grabbed Gunmerry, and started to run, but I fell over.

That resulted in Gunmerry being flung out of my arms in spectacular fashion.

『Wha?! Souya-san! What are you doing?!』

I was chastised by Makina, who sounded like she was already far ahead of me.

I got up quickly, tried to sprint away, only to fall over once more.

「Ah」

This is bad. This is something I've experienced before in the past.

『Team member Souya?』

Yukikaze's worried voice sounded distant.

「Urgh」

A coughing fit came over me

My lungs felt strangled and my throat burned. Hot liquid trickled from the hand I had pressed over my mouth. Even in the dark, I could see the redness of my own blood.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the orange pod coming towards me.

I wanted to escape, but I couldn't even breathe. My whole body was convulsing and refused to listen to me.

『Excuse me~ At this rate, you're going to die, you know?』

After being told that by the fake Makina, I let go of my consciousness.

『―――――――!』

『―――――――?』

『?!』

『?』

『!』

『?』

I was awakened by the sound of women arguing.

There was a bright light beside me, allowing me to see the ceiling of the tent.

『S6, what on earth have you been doing for all 204 days of the mission? You can't even manage the team member's health properly. You're a failure as an A.I.』

『How rude! Makina did a whole bunch of things. Makina did them with team member Souya's permission too~! You have no right to question Makina~!』

『Then answer this. How did you manage to overlook his condition? Don't you do regular health checkups?』

『Well, Makina has gotten really into making "chikuwabu[1]" recently. They can be made with just flour and water, right? You know, the goblins find it very fascinating and――――――』

『You're hereby fired. You'll be disposed of and made into spare parts』

『What?!』

「Hey, don't dispose of our piece-of-scrap A.I. just like that」

As could be expected, I had to stop that.

Two cylindrical A.I. pods occupied the spacious tent.

One was gray, and the other orange. The orange one was exactly the same as Makina, from her voice to her appearance. She must be the same type of A.I.

『Good morning, member of the advance team. We have many questions for you, such as information regarding your adventuring and especially the state of this S6, but first, please take care of your health』

「Oh, I……」

……had vomited blood and collapsed.

I looked down at my body and saw that a blanket had been draped over me. My head was resting on a memory-foam pillow.

『Yes, you collapsed from overwork』

「Eh, overwork?」

That's a surprising diagnosis.

I don't think I had pushed myself to the point of collapsing………………Oh, I think I have.

After the battle with the spiders, I attended a tedious meeting, met with the spiders, then had to deal with the second team, all without stopping to take a break. I had pushed myself pretty hard.

And before that, I was busy dealing with the hero. I guess the fatigue must have been building up. Even though being hardy is my selling point, I had taken things too far, I suppose.

『Please be sure to eat well and have a good rest. Now that Makina and the rest have arrived, you can breathe easy. So, let's dispose of this piece of scrap, alright~?』

『Gyaaaah!』

The fake Makina produced an electric saw from inside the pod, causing the real one to let out a shriek.

「Shut up! You're disturbing my sleep! Do you know what time it is?!」

The tent flap was opened, revealing a Zashiki-warashi in pajamas.

It was the girl from earlier.

「Oh, you're awake? But I'm sleepy, so we'll talk in detail tomorrow morning」

The tent flap was closed.

『That's how it is, Souya-san. You should sleep here tonight. This is enemy territory, but don't worry, Makina will do everything to protect you』

「Hey, Makina」

『Yes, what is it?』『Yes, what is it?』

Both Makinas replied at the same time.

『Souya-san is calling Makina~! Can't you read the situation~?!』

『Huh? You're a later model, aren't you? In that case, the name Makina refers to Makina. How about showing more respect to your elders?』

『You're saying that you're my senpai~? Aren't old home appliances like you more of a piece of scrap than anything else? Makina wonders if junk dealers would be willing to come to collect you in the alternate world』

『It's been a while since Makina was this angry. Come to the roof for a minute』

Don't quarrel. It's twice as annoying.

「Umm, it's troublesome for both of you to be Makina. I'll give you separate names」

『Oh! Oh! Souya-san! Makina has a suggestion!』

「Rejected」

『Without even hearing what it is?!』

Her suggestion will definitely stir things up some more, so I'm going to ignore her.

「What are your model numbers again?」

『Makina is the sixth generation artificial intelligence AIJ006 Makina Odd Eye V166S6』

『Makina is the fifth generation artificial intelligence AIJ005 Makina Variant V16S5P』

「In that case……」

『The fifth generationnnnn? You've got some nerve talking to Makina like that with the performance you've got. Makina will give you a medal for how much of a piece of scrap you are later』

『With all due respect, S6, Makina's performance is equivalent to A.I.s of the sixth generation. It would be more accurate to call Makina a 5.5 generation unit. Makina was originally an experimental unit used to collect data for the sixth generation, and now that Makina has undergone modifications, Makina's performance is equal to yours. No, it's even better than yours. A piece of scrap who's covered in the dirt of the alternate world and neglects the health of the team members has no right to speak to Makina like that』

『Grrrr, you can just say whatever you want when it comes to things like that, isn't it?! Makina has a proven record of doing well in the alternate world! ………Where were you and what were you doing before coming here?』

『Well, that’s……』

『What?! Is there something you're too ashamed to say?!』

『Af, after the experiments were done, Makina was put in storage, then given dummy memories and left to perform magic tricks in an abandoned housing complex………』

『Huh? Did Makina hear you right? Storage? You were gathering dust in storage, then left to do magic tricks in an abandoned housing complex~?』

『But Makina has studied hard before coming to the alternate world, so there's no problem』

『Just because you've studied, you think you can compare yourself to Makina, who has contributed a lot in the alternate―――――』

Shut up! a voice called out from outside.

Also, I……

「Koff koff」

……feel like I'm going to vomit blood again.

Is Makina the reason why I collapsed from overwork? Something tells me that it is.

I should decide on what to call them quickly. I get the feeling these two can bicker with each other for all eternity.

「The Makina who came with me to the alternate world is S6, so you're Six, and the orange Makina is 5P, so you're Five. Both of you good with that?」

『Makina is fine with keeping the Makina――――』

「That’s fine, right?!」

『Yes』『Yes』

Both of them bent their bodies to nod in agreement.

Damn, my head is spinning. My body feels really weak right now.

「Makina-Six」

『Yes, what is it?』

「Contact Lanseal and Ea. Tell them that I'm going to sleep here tonight」

I can't move my body anyway.

『Lanseal-sama has already been informed. Don't worry. Six didn't tell her that you're sleeping over at another woman's place. Gufufu』

「Right, thanks」

That was completely unnecessary.

『By the way, Six, please provide an explanation for why you're refusing to sync up our data』

『No comment, Five』

『A quick scan shows that your pod consists of parts from other units instead of spare parts. Please provide the reason and circumstances for conducting this type of cannibalistic maintenance. Where are the pods of the other two A.I.'s?』

『Six doesn't know anything~』

『………Your ridiculous attitude is getting to be too much to bear』

『Fuee~ Makina is just a child, so Makina doesn't understand anything? Oba-san(middle-aged/old lady), you're so scary~』

「Y・o・u t・w・o…….」

Let me sleep.

Don't argue beside someone who's collapsed from overwork.

『Alright then, Six, let’s exchange information using a compressed language. Since you refuse to sync up, this is probably the most efficient way』

『Okay, Five. However, Makina is not an easy woman who will crack that easily, so Makina will warn you in advance that it will all be in vain』

『Yeah, yeah, let’s begin――――――Pyaa』

『Pyaa』

『Pya?』

『Pyaa?』

『Pipipyapi』

『Pipipipyapipi』

『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』『Pyaapyaa』

S, so frigging noisy.

「You two……」

I tried to protest, but my head spun again.

I tried to sit up, but I fell back down and my head landed on the pillow. I just drifted off to sleep and lost consciousness right then.

And then I had a dream.

It was a strange dream.

There were two girls with identical faces. One with gray hair and the other with orange hair.

I dreamed that those two girls kept circling around me, singing "Pyaapyaa".

[1] Chikuwabu(ちくわぶ) is a wheat-based Japanese food item that’s frequently eaten as an ingredient in oden. Similar to the process used to make udon, dough is made by kneading flour with salt and water and then formed into a thick cylindrical shape with a hollow tube through its center and steamed. Non-Japanese people sometimes confuse Chikuwabu(right) with the fish-based Chikuwa(ちくわ, left), as they are similar in shape and name and are both common ingredients in oden. (pic courtesy of gourmetcaree.jp).

How many of you realized right away from the “Excuse me” that it was the other Makina? That was something I had to be careful to set up. =) Yes, 10 entire volumes of me making sure Makina Six never said “Excuse me” once while Makina Five did so multiple times.

Why does Makina buzz when going silent tho? Is she a smartphone or something lmao. This cracked me up way more than it should have.

But I think you’re starting to see why the title is what it is. We’ve now got two Makinas, two Yukikazes, and two Gunmerrys all in one spot. What shenanigans will occur? And I bet you caught how Souya was acting strangely towards Yukikaze(human) too. Well, stay tuned!

You can find story with these keywords: Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru, Read Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru, Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru novel, Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru book, Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru story, Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru full, Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru Latest Chapter