67. Ancient Ruins (3)

※Below was translated by Sephallia. Thank you very much.

Stalling the enemy robots as we had before, we proceeded deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Aside from the cleaning robots we ran into earlier, we also had to fight mechanical arms that extended from the wall and robots that set and activated traps. None of them possessed anything remotely close to a murderous intent, making them all difficult to deal with. Still, Lily-sama and I managed to buy enough time for Lambert-san to successfully perform his hacking.

After proceeding a number of floors lower,

“This floor… seems a little different from the others, doesn’t it?”

Leading our group from the front, I was the first to notice something felt off. Being unable to detect the enemies’ presences in this dungeon, I couldn’t quite let my guard down, but I didn’t hear any of the usual signs of self-operating machinery. Beyond that, the floor before us was structured differently from any of the floors we’d traversed before.

“This… looks like it was some sort of research room.”

Lambert-san followed into the floor behind me and affirmed my suspicions. It seemed this floor was special.

“A research room?”

“We still don’t know the details, but it likely has something to do with the gates. I’d like time to collect some data.”

With that, Lambert-san headed straight for some sort of device and began investigating it.

“Well, guess we should just leave that to dad. Alea and Lily, y’all should take a break. You’ve been fighting all this time, aren't you tired?”

Retrieving two flasks containing juice from her bag, Simone handed Lily-sama and I one each. Gratefully accepting the flask, I took a sip. The cold and sweet liquid was perfect to quench my thirst.

“Thank you, Simone.”

“S-Simone-chan, you should make sure to drink some too.”

“Thanks. I will. But really, just what is this place?”

Simone asked that as we drank the juice.

“What might you mean? Didn’t Lambert-san just say it’s a research facility related to the gates?”

“Just think about it, doesn’t that mean the gates still have room to be improved on?”

“Ah…”

I see, Simone did have a point there. If the gates were considered complete, there wouldn’t be a need to research them.

“Well couldn’t it be that this was where the research was once completed?”

“But then I have the feeling this entire dungeon would’ve been taken down. The fact that it’s here and being maintained means it still serves some sorta purpose, don’t you think?”

“P-Purpose? What kind of purpose…?”

“I mean I can’t even begin to guess that.”

Simone redirected her gaze toward Lambert-san.

“Dad, figure anything out?”

“Yeah. Just as you said Simone, it does seem that this facility was here to research the gates. The self operating robots and artificial intelligence have continued to analyze and improve the gates over a long period of time.”

“So then, that means the gates still need some sort of improvement?”

“It does seem that way, yes. It appears the artificial intelligence behind it has determined that the gates have been developed enough to be functional, but there are minute errors that still need correcting among other adjustments and… hm? What’s this…?”

“What is it?”

It seemed Lambert-san had come to some sort of realization.

“No… Am I just imagining it…? But this is…”

“Lambert-san?”

“W-What is it?”

“Come on dad, don’t just ditch us into your own world.”

As Lambert continued to mumble nonsensically, the three of us called out to him.

“Ah, sorry. Uh, there was just some data that caught my attention.”

“And that was?”

“Alea-chan, uhm. Have you and Mei ever been through here before?”

“Huh…?”

That was an unexpected question.

“Mei and I… here…?”

“It looks like this dungeon, or well, this facility has its own gate, albeit an older model. Looking at the passage records, I happened to spot your names.”

“W-What does that mean…?”

“I don’t know. But well, it’s possible I just saw erroneous data. More details can only be determined after taking the data back with us so I can have a chance to sit down and fully analyze it, but this is…”

I had to admit, I felt a little shaken. It was true that Mei and I both remembered being somewhere else before we were taken to Bauer. While we couldn’t remember our birth mother, it was undeniable that she’d have to have come from somewhere. But could we have passed through a gate back then…?

“So? Come on, it’s not like that’s a big deal or anything. They might’ve passed through a gate a long time ago, or something, so what?”

“… Well, yeah. Though I can’t be sure yet.”

“Then there’s no point in worrying about any of that now. Our goal is to clear this dungeon, fix the gates, and get back to Bauer. None of that’s changed.”

Simone’s words were incredibly blunt, but she was exactly right. What we needed to do hadn’t at all changed from before. Hearing there were potential clues about my past right here in front of us was no doubt unsettling, but all of that was a second priority. The fact that we needed to return to Mei and Mother Rei who had both been left behind in Bauer hadn’t changed.

“You’re right. Sorry, it wasn’t necessary to bring that up now. Just like Simone said, let’s focus on clearing this dungeon. Alea-chan, once again, I’m really sorry.”

“Nothing to worry about, it didn’t bother me at all.”

“Well, at least we got a bit of a break, right?”

“L-Lily is ready to go at any time…!”

Looks like Simone and Lily-sama had both rehydrated and were ready to go.

“I’m done collecting data as well. Let’s continue on then, if my hunch is correct we’re almost at the end. The next floor is probably the last.”

“Then, that dungeon core, or whatever you called it, is close by?”

“Exactly. It’s just, according to the data, the monster that protects the core is very strong. Alea-chan, Lily-sama, we’ll have to rely entirely on you two. Do your best.”

“Leave it to us.”

‘R-Right…!”

Lily-sama and I steeled our nerves.

“Of course, just as I did on the earlier floors I’ll do what I can to support you two, but we might not be able to rely on hacking as we have until now.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

Being unable to rely on Lambert-san’s hacking would result in a massive difference in difficulty tackling the last floor.

“The enemy protecting the core is likely to be standalone―that is, hm, how to explain it. It might operate independently from the dungeon.”

“But the enemies we fought until now seemed to be moving around independently as well?”

“To try and explain that, even though it looked that way, they were all actually connected to the dungeon by an invisible string of sorts. But well, the boss won’t be. It’ll be completely independent and function autonomously. That’s why interfering with the dungeon’s systems won’t affect it either.”

In that case, it seemed we’d need to take down the boss ourselves.

“I’ll still be able to incapacitate the regular robot enemies, so Alea-chan and Lily-sama, I want you two to focus on the boss.”

“Understood.”

“O-Okay.”

We both nodded in response

“What about me?”

“Simone, it’ll be your turn after that. Please be cautious, especially so that the bag doesn’t get damaged. And of course, your own safety is the top priority.”

“Got it.”

Simone returned a solemn nod as well.

“Well that’s the gist of it. Does anyone have any questions?”

“Do you have any information about the boss’ attacks or patterns?”

“Ah, actually yes. The data I just extracted actually has some relevant information. But it might be a little hard for me to explain.”

Lambert-san scowled.

“Why is that?”

“This boss is composed of nanomachines―the tiniest possible robots―of a very special nature. They are able to imitate the enemy you’ll struggle to fight the most.”

“In a way we can understand?”

“More simply, it’s highly probable that the one enemy Alea-chan and Lily-sama would struggle to fight the most will appear.”

“The one enemy…”

“W-We’d struggle against…”

I had a bad feeling about this.

“Well, all this speculation won’t get us anymore. It might be a difficult encounter, but your abilities are the cream of the crop. If it really seems we can’t break through, we’ll retreat back to this floor and plan proper countermeasures.”

“Understood.”

“T-That makes sense.”

With that, breaktime was over.

“A’ight, let’s get going. It’s not quite my time to shine yet, but do your best, you two.”

“Yes, of course, we’ll give it our all.”

“L-Lily will too…!”

Lambert-san seemed to be operating the device again.

“Alright, shall we go then?”

The door leading to the final floor opened. The four of us descended the long flight of stairs past the door.

“…?”

Suddenly we noticed beams of light surrounding the four of us. The lights didn’t feel at all hot, nor did they seem harmful. The lights seemed to come into contact with all of us before finally disappearing.

“What was that?”

“It was probably… a scan.”

“Scan?”

“Just as I said before, the boss here will imitate the enemy we’ll struggle against the most. Just now, the boss collected our data.”

“So, that means―”

And that was when she appeared.

“Hey, a bit late aren’t you.”

“―!?”

“H-Huhhh!?”

“That’s…!”

Black hair and black eyes. Average height and a relatively slender, lean build. That person, who was very familiar to all of us was―

“Mother… Rei…?”

“Hey, Alea. Well, that said I’m just a fake though, ‘kay?”

She spoke teasingly with a shrewd smile on her face. She was, unmistakably, exactly identical to my mother, Rei Taylor.