Chapter 139

Sedition “I want a homeland.” That was what Abbie said after they defeated all the conjured soldiers she wanted to eliminate. “A homeland?” “That’s right. A homeland for us conjured soldiers.” “Isn’t that what the Mechanical Society is?” “This place?” The Mechanical Society was indeed where conjured soldiers were born. But Abbie snorted at Menou’s question. “I thought you knew that the Mechanical Society is us. Didn’t you?” Spatial life-forms. Primary Triad conjured soldiers were spaces made of Guiding Force with high intelligence. Even the place Menou stood now was only a part of Abbie’s own form. It was probably akin to asking a human if their stomach was their homeland. “We can’t move from the place where we were born. The best we can do is send out terminals like this one. And on top of that, if the materials inside us mix together and form another new spatial life-form…we basically have to consume them.” That unique feature was part of the natural way of life for a Primary Triad conjured soldier. “That’s why I want a homeland, a place where we conjured soldiers can be in contact without stealing from or fighting one another.” “Even though you’re fighting right now?” It seemed contradictory to Menou. Abbie just smiled. “My older siblings were a lost cause. They’d gotten too used to stealing.” Abbie was probably including herself as one such lost cause. For Primary Triad conjured soldiers, their fellows were nothing more than top-quality materials. They consumed one another, and Abbie had taken part in that, too. It was a true dog-eat-dog world. “So we have to make it ourselves. A place where more of us can be born without anyone rejecting or attacking us… A safe haven.” “Is that your real motive, then?” “Yep. That’s it.” Having revealed her aspirations, Abbie smiled bashfully in a way that didn’t suit her mature appearance. “Why? Is that weird?” “I don’t think it’s weird at all.” Menou didn’t know what it was like to have a homeland, nor could she sympathize with the insistence on having one. Perhaps the monastery could be called her homeland, but she had no real attachment to the place when neither Momo nor Master Flare were there anymore. “Even if I don’t quite understand it myself, I think it’s a lovely idea.” Abbie’s dream still made Menou smile, if only because it was something she lacked. “Your wish won’t come true.” The woman with stars in her eyes spoke to Momo. After parting ways with Menou in the holy land, Momo visited the City of Ruins. She was looking for a good place to hide Akari. She couldn’t go on rolling the girl’s body around in a suitcase forever. She intended to find a hiding spot for Akari that no one would find and use that as her base as she strived to help Menou. The City of Ruins was one potential hiding place. It was a place where rejects lurked deep underground, and if she went deep enough, the Faust would never find her there. It was there that she met a conjured soldier. “My wish…won’t come true?” Momo watched her warily. The individual who’d been lying in wait for Momo’s arrival deep underground was clearly something special. She introduced herself as Nono Hoshizaki, and she seemed unbothered by Momo’s distrust. She smiled brightly. “Momo, my friend. You want to protect someone precious to you, correct? But achieving that goal will be extremely difficult.” Nono clapped her hands together sharply and, once she had Momo’s full attention, slowly opened both hands. “Because in the end, she’s going to choose to sacrifice herself.” Although they had never met before, the girl’s declaration was strangely convincing. “So join forces with me.” Momo glared at the other girl with open hostility. They had only met each other by chance about ten minutes prior. They certainly didn’t know each other well enough to work together. Most of all, Momo had no reason to believe anything this shady-looking stranger said. “It sounds like you’re just trying to use us to accomplish your own goals.” “So what if I am?” The Pure Concept of Star, the woman who could see the future, readily confirmed Momo’s suspicions. “Of course I’m trying to use you. After all, my eyes can see the future! It’s only natural that I, the beautiful genius Nono Hoshizaki, would try to make the future better and more convenient for myself. All you have to do is use my prophesies for your goals, too.” Nono Hoshizaki smiled cheerfully. “When two parties try to use each other, that’s called ‘joining forces,’ you know?” Momo opened her eyes. The combination of unpleasant dreams and uncomfortable waking put a frown on her face as soon as she arose. “…It makes me mad to remember that, even now.” Nono Hoshizaki. She was the holder of the Pure Concept of Star, with star-shaped Guiding Light in her dark eyes. With her special ability to predict the future, she tended to see through everything and steer conversations exactly where she wanted, which was incredibly annoying. Momo learned for the first time how discomfiting it was to have someone act like they understood you when you’d never met before. The bad mood she’d woken up with stayed with Momo even as she took a shower and donned her priestess robes. Once she had put her pink hair up in two pigtails using the scrunchies that were her most treasured possession, her preparations were complete. Momo glanced out the window. There was no concept of “morning” in this world. The sun that kept the Mechanical Society sealed was always at the same height. Without a clock, she would probably lose all sense of the passage of time very quickly. In this world where colors mingled in the air, a great many humans were hard at work. The construction of the ceremonial hall was going well. They’d laid down emergency tracks from the nearest station on the northern continent route to the Mechanical Society and used a Guiding train to carry the necessary materials in, building the place according to Hooseyard’s theory. Since they’d exercised the full power of the Faust to move things along at a fever pitch, the project was getting closer to completion at remarkable speed. They were going to use a ceremonial conjuring to fight back against the Mechanical Society, which was itself a conjured space. The idea, at least, had existed for a long time. Since the space was created through conjuring, it stood to reason that it could be dismantled with conjuring as well.