CH 104

On the next day we charged into the boss room. As predicted, it was an ice dragon. What made it a lot more fiendish than the flame dragon was its ice breath for which we didn’t have any countermeasures.

In the first place, the existence of a huge living being with a body temperature below freezing point is weird. Well, it must have adopted itself to its environment, yep. I’m sure. That must be it.

＊

Immediately following our entry, the battle began. The room temperature was -35°C. Moreover, it was a whiteout.

You’d freeze into a solid block if you became careless and stood still, and although Sword was slashing away with his fire sword, the parts that melted from his cuts immediately froze again. This was looking to become a difficult fight.

“…Damn it. Got any ideas how to deal with this?” Sword asked me after stopping his attacks for a moment.

“Yeah… It’s heresy to do it like that, though…”

“Still better than a war of attrition, ain’t it?”

“I could remove the limiter on the laser gun which would allow us to shoot through it.”

“Alright, let’s go with that.”

He was totally hyped by the idea.

“I think your light magic would work as well, though. Also…oh, I’ve got something even better! It should be more suited for you, too!”

What I took out was a lightsaber as it was used during certain space wars. You could probably call it a standard item for space battles.

“It’s a laser sword! This will definitely be able to burn through it! And not just melting it, but actually vaporizing it!”

“Gimme,” he held out both hands.

“The switch is at the guard. Watch out, okay? I’m not kidding, but it can basically burn through anything.”

Once he pressed the switch, the laser extended with a buzz.

――This was a superior weapon that used quite a bit of knowledge and technology to affix its starting and end point. I would never have been able to put it into practice with just my otherworld knowledge. The clincher here was gravity control!

By the way, I couldn’t come up with a theory for extension magic. However, I could reproduce it since I was able to grasp how to control magic elements, although I don’t understand the principle behind it.

Anyway, I digressed.

“You can adjust its length by turning the guard. Set it to the length you like and chop the dragon up.”

“Roger!”

Sword happily tuned the beam sword’s length.

“…Still, I gotta say, she really excels in buildin’ toys that tickle a man’s heart, doesn’t she…?” Sword muttered under his breath.

Well, look, Sword. That’s just because you love SF stuff, okay? I mean, a guy with no interest in that direction wouldn’t hype it so much either.

＊

With Sword looking very happy, we challenged the dragon once again. The Ryokus’ Gatling guns and rocket launchers already were effective because of their bursting shells, therefore they kept going just like that.

――Me? I can cut everything.

This is something I don’t understand at all, but wouldn’t you think that cutting something like ice would be child’s play if you can cut through rock with wood?

Even when I was turned into a snowman after getting directly hit by the dragon’s breath, I only had to shake the snow off without needing any evaporation agent or anything.

“Whoa, just as I thought, you ain’t no human,” or some such said Sword, but I don’t want to be told that by a guy who kills his enemies with his sixth sense.

In the end, Sword cut off its tail, and I used that chance to chop its neck, killing it in the process.

“――If you cut off the tail, the loot in the treasure chest increases, was it?”

Sword said, selfishly making up rules as they suited him. This was a comment directed at Sir Dungeon Core.

＊

After the ice dragon turned into particles and vanished, a treasure chest appeared.

“Ooohh!”

“Whoa!”

Probably because Sword had earlier talked about us getting unnecessary stuff, Sir Dungeon Core splurged for us.

There were two treasure chests! A second had appeared!

I put my hands together, praying towards the treasure chests.

“Thank you very much, Sir Dungeon Core. I cannot thank you enough for being as kind as going along with Sword’s selfish rule making after complaining about only getting unnecessary items. …Gyaaah!”

Sword’s iron claw lunged at me!

“Hey, you’ve been the one talkin’ ’bout tail this n’ that, so I went out of my way to cut it off at great pains, so what’s with all your bullshit now!?”

That was me talking about games! It’s not like I claimed that you’d get a high-score for cutting off the tail or anything like that!

Moreover! Probably because Sir Dungeon Core heard my booing last time, the gems were inside ores this time around.

On top of that, ice dragon materials, platinum coins (come to think of it, it looks like platinum coins and healing potions come from dungeons after all), and even a huge magic stone!

“Yaaay! Truly, thank you very much, Sir Dungeon Core! That’s an incredible magic stone! I think I’ll use it for the Ryokus’s server~”

I had used the best magic stone in Sword’s possession to run the server, but this one here is bigger by several sizes.

“And if you do? Then…wait…aren’t magic stones embedded in the Ryokus?” Sword asked me with a puzzled expression.

“They are, but those are for the data load, or what you’d call a temporary storage device. The server stands in the mansion. The magic stone over there is so important that I’ve programmed all Ryokus to eliminate anyone approaching the server room except for me. The information obtained by all Ryokus is being stored on the server and likewise distributed to all Ryokus. That’s why they shouldn’t have any individuality.”

…But, individual personalities have started to appear. I cannot help but feel that it’s quite strange. No, it’s actually scary instead.

“I’ve built the Ryokus with the intent of being able to revive them at any time if they get physically destroyed by just building the machine anew and loading the data on the new unit. And yet…”

…the Ryokus possess personalities. The only explanation I can think of is that their personalities are stored on the magic stones for the data load. What if an emotion of being a separate “individual” has been stored there? Since that’s no information, it won’t be uploaded to the server. However, the most crucial data is contained in the part that’s not being uploaded.

Sword knocked on my head as I was hanging it in contemplation and then stroked it.

“I know. The golems made by you are alive as they possess emotions. This is what you’ve wished for all the time, isn’t it? Thus, it’s a good thing. The Ryokus protect me. And you and I protect ’em. So they won’t get destroyed. Gotcha?”

……

“I see.”

We just need to protect them. If they don’t get destroyed, the Ryokus with souls won’t die. As long as they’re alive, I’ll keep giving them maintenance. And at a time when I’ve passed away, they will recognize Sword as “Dad” if he’s still alive at that time, or they will run on an autonomous program if Sword is dead as well.

Hence, if they possess a soul as individuals, they might live on while following their own, independent wills.

＊

Now then, the next floor is going to be…

“Hmm, if Sir Dungeon Core has done his best and prepared maps and dragons that are a lot more fiendish, we might have another ten or twenty floors ahead of us, but I’ve got trouble to imagine maps that would much more brutal than the ice and snow maps we just passed.”

“I agree. Anyway, whatever might come at us, I’m sure you n’ me can deal with it one way or ‘nother.”

When he cast a broad grin at me, I quickly averted my face. And thus I had to suffer from another iron claw, which forced my face back to look at him.

“Gyaaah!”

“Where’s your reply?”

“O-Of course! Something like an event you and I can’t beat doesn’t exist!”

Seemingly satisfied, he released his iron claw and stroked me instead.

“Okay, let’s go then?”

“…Mmh.”

Somehow, he’s quite irrational.