Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

"Probably. If it's not a long rest period where you need to fall asleep, this arrangement will be fine."

"Do we need an individual Ashetherin to stand guard?"

"Actually, I can use a protective array—"

"That's a three-ring spell, right? Lady Luna, it would be better to save the resources for the possible battles that may occur later."

"The warning thing—"

"Ashe and I will do it."

"Don't you need to rest?"

"The only one who really needs to rest is Luna. Luna is not a construct, so after such a level of regeneration from a severed limb, she needs to take some time to adjust to her current state."

"Well, am I..."

""No.""

"...Don't speak with me, Ash."

"Individual Ashetherin doesn't have such plans, right?"

Did he know what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth? Lunicia could only tilt her head slightly in confusion, and then, as Ella and Ashethelin had expected, she leaned on the relatively soft cushion, relaxed her mind, and entered a state of meditation. The energy and physical strength she had consumed would recover at a faster rate, and at the same time, the waves of light that often reverberated in her body would repair the damaged parts. The arm that had been cut off by Ella before, at first glance, was no different from the original one. In fact, even though the appearance had been restored, there were still some parts that were not adapted to it, which were reflected in the feeling of weakness and foreign body when used. Since the arm was used more frequently than other parts, this strange feeling and the temporary weakness after recovery were more obvious.

You may not be able to take care of so many things during a battle. Even if the strength you can use is lower than usual, you should not hesitate when swinging the giant sword. But since there is a rare opportunity to rest and adjust, it is better to restore your condition to the best level.

"Camping in a place like this..."

Ella seemed to be hesitant to speak, but Ashlee had no intention of letting her go.

"So, what?"

"nothing."

"Can you give me some guidance?"

"Stay on guard."

"Please, Miss Knight?"

"…I am a mage."

"Well, dear mage, would you like to say a few more words?"

"This place is definitely better than before."

Resting in a place like the corridor was not a good idea. To guard two completely different corners at once would undoubtedly lead to the dispersion of combat power. The space was too narrow to be used, and there was not enough distance to be used as a buffer. If you encounter something else during the rest period - even if it is just a hard-to-kill corpse like the one just now, it would be a headache.

The current terrain is a bit difficult to describe. If I must summarize it, it is like a huge corridor with many connections.

There were many rooms, or at least doors, arranged on the walls. Unlike the corridors, which were of uniform style and presented the charm of the Gunasaran Magic Kingdom, the doors had various styles and no uniform standards for style and age. Lunicia and her group had already roughly checked the cleanable parts of this floor. The reason for not checking the remaining parts was simple, because they could not find a way to open them, so they had to give up.

Crossing the guardrail, or rather, the blue wall of light that functions roughly the same as the guardrail, one can see many structures above and below that are like copies and pastes of this floor. They are also empty and have many doors of different styles arranged in rows. The entrances and exits are also similar to those on this floor, like staircases connecting the upper and lower floors.

This is surprising. I originally thought that the buildings belonging to the heyday of the Gunasaran Kingdom had long replaced the primitive structures with automatic escalators driven by dragon crystal magic. Now it seems that those proud ancient wizards did not completely pin their hopes on their seemingly inexhaustible magic. Or maybe it was because this was not a wizard tower or a floating city, but a rare post-Partica era airship in the world.

"But...it's not much better."

"Although this machine can fully understand the meaning of your words, it can also analyze this situation."

"What is this, a provocation?"

"I just wanted to say a few more words to you."

"Then don't use such ambiguous reasons."

"If I tell you directly, you won't agree, right?"

"..."

This is a huge corridor that connects the upper and lower parts.

Each layer is black, gold, broad white, and dragon crystals stained with magic. Many unknown data will appear at the nodes of the corridor from time to time. These modern adventurers can neither interpret the meaning nor gain any benefit from it. There is only one thing that can be understood by people even after such a long time: red error reports, missing data items, and malfunction-like clicking sounds. No matter which one can tell the later ones that the current condition of the ship is not normal.

If you look upward, the sight that comes into view is somewhat beyond common sense.

It was a replica of the corridor that stretched infinitely beyond the field of vision, a structure equivalent to the current platform, and its number of floors seemed to have exceeded the limit of what could be seen from the outside. So how many floors were there? Ten floors? Twenty floors? Fifty floors? Hundreds of floors? If the entire hull was connected, it might be possible to build so many corridors and platforms, but there was almost no point in doing so, and it was hard to say whether it was feasible.

If you look down, you can see the same scenery, a replica of the corridor that extends infinitely downward, with countless doors, each of which seems to be different. The deep canyon lacks light, so it is difficult to see its end with the naked eye, but here it is a long corridor that is brightly lit at first glance. Even so, you can't see the existence of the so-called bottom until your vision blurs, until the corridor that is too far away converges into a narrow point.

If you cannot judge the situation by looking up, because your vision will eventually be blocked by obstacles, then you can tell clearly by looking down. This is either an infinitely looping alien world, or an illusion, or - a mad brain bringing mad visual signals, a ridiculous farce, or a horrible silent film.

"..."

Is this an illusion? Ella couldn't help but ask herself.

Just now, when I scanned the corridor below, did I see something?

With such doubts, I went to observe again, but I saw nothing - there was only a spacious platform, glaring red error text, and doors of different styles that were almost decayed. The encrypted "Nasar Inscription" was difficult to decipher, and it was almost impossible to recognize the specific meaning in a short period of time. However, Ella always felt that she seemed to be able to see through the meaning of those red characters at a glance: meaningless, full of weird nonsense, writing teeth, feathers, blood and tears on the third day, and severed umbilical cord on Saturday's menu, writing the ceremony start in the grades column, and filling in the timetable with "that person is watching you, always watching you, never moving his eyes away", all of which were the product of meaningless words mixed together.

There is something there.

Looking down, the bottom of the abyss could not be seen. If this was not an airship but a tower, Ella might be able to laugh at herself and admit that this was the greatest and most boring creation in human history, an infinitely repeating structure hundreds of kilometers high. However, this was indeed an airship, so it was impossible for such an existence to appear. It was also brightly lit there, but it seemed so unreal, so unreal that it made people wonder where they would fall if they fell from here.

Is there really light out there?

Or is it just darkness like light?

There is something there.

"Ashe."

"what's up?"

"Here, there is a possibility of being attacked from above and below."

"It's really unlucky."

"This is not what the machine should say. Do machine puppets also believe in fate?"

"Think of this machine as a lamp or a wardrobe..."

"You asked for it... otherwise, I don't know how I could stop caring."

"As you wish. So, was it raided?"

"……No."

There's none?

I did see something in the corner of my vision.

See, what?

Swaying.

Fluctuating.

Uncertain.

Standing.

Sitting or lying down.

Ups and downs.

Twisted.

Crooked.

Shadow. Shadow. Shadow.

Chapter 18: The Girl Listens to Everything Here

"Have you rested well, Lady Luna?"

"Excellent condition—"

"Not really, right?"

"——I really want to say this..."

Simple camps used for resting during the journey are basically built with materials that can be discarded at any time, or they can be easily and quickly disassembled and folded, so that you can prepare to leave or enter a state of preparation in the shortest time possible.

The current situation is exactly what was envisioned when the concept of simple campsites was proposed.

After all - what are those?

Knowledge that is incomprehensible, difficult to understand, unnecessary, and even dangerous for human beings.

The corridor that was originally empty and lonely, with only countless doors lined up, now seems extremely lively.

Lively, eh?

No, there is nothing like that. It is still just an empty and deserted platform, but there are many more things that shouldn't be there. Exist, right? No, it's not. The brain is affirming it. Logically and perceptually, it doesn't admit that there is anything else there. It's just a mistake in the visual signal. It's just a shadow. It's like countless people are standing there. There is no one on the empty platform. There are only the black outlines projected on the wall one by one. What are they doing? No one knows. What do they want to do? No one knows. They seem to be just standing there, staring, staring at these fresh outsiders who came from nowhere.

There is indeed something there.

There was indeed nothing there.

Either statement is correct, so it is meaningless.

Click, click————

The sound attracted the attention.

In the dead silence, the tiny sounds were particularly obvious. The doors that were difficult to open due to structural reasons were now opened one after another, revealing the interiors that were either clear or unclear, words smeared with blood, walls covered with minced meat, empty white rooms, pitch-black darkness, rusty corridors, caves filled with corrosive mucus, solid water that would not flow, overflowing dragon crystal fragments, some repeated, some completely different, corpses fell to the ground with a dull sound, and something hanging from the ceiling twisted and squirmed. And more of them were stepped out from them -

Shadow. Shadow. Shadow.

There are shadows everywhere.

It was as if this place was not a ruin, not the inside of an airship, but a street at night.

The lights dragged a black outline from under the feet of the pedestrians, becoming a reflection of the present world in the other world. If there is a difference, it is nothing more than that there is no one here. Apart from Lunisia and her group, there is no one else who can be called a living being. It is particularly conspicuous and eye-catching. In this quagmire of nothingness, nothing can be more dazzling than life and existence.

"..."

Lunicia wanted to say something.

Did you hear that, too? Words like this.

I don't know when I started wanting to say this, but I just couldn't get it out.

"........."

The answer can be obtained from their expressions. Whether it is Ashlee or Ella, one is normal without any fluctuation, while the other is full of pure tension, hostility and vigilance. Neither of them shows any color called confusion. If you hear something like that, it is impossible not to be confused, right? If not, it means that the only one who can hear it this time is me, the one who "listens to the sound of all things" -

It's like being cursed.

Did the saints in the past also have such abilities? I have never heard of such a thing, whether from Father Sieli, Evelyn, or Sister Sestin. They are the channels for conveying the will and words of God. Even if they do not need such abilities, they can still achieve the meaning of their existence. After all, the words of God are not just a breeze in the ears. It is a clear and strong "will" that cannot be mistaken or ignored. They do not need such abilities with nice names to carry out the instructions of God.

So, am I the one who is special?

So, that’s why I can hear those things?

"Use a knife to cut open the throat, and use a knife to cut out the joints." "Breath brings decay." "Let's go to the sea of ​​trees together tomorrow."

"The shining, bright, hateful wind of light." "What happened on the thirty-second day of Mao in that year?"

"Life is flowing." "What happened on the 32nd day of Maoyue that year?" "The innocent child crushed the frog eggs." "I saw it." "His Majesty will land on the south coast on the 22nd of next month. Are we ready to welcome him?" "The banquet is about to begin. Please find your seat. There is your nameplate and a razor prepared for you." "Who are we?" "What happened on the 32nd day of Maoyue that year?"

"In the middle of the theater, a rope was lowered. Did you see it? That famous actress is called Colette H. Caroline."

"Who are we?" "The wind is burning, the wind is festering, the wind is clenching my throat." "What happened on the 32nd day of Maoyue that year?" "Where is this place? I can't see anything. I seem to see something." "There are newcomers." "Speak softly. Be quiet. No one is talking, why is it so noisy?" "Is there anyone else here?" "I can't see anything." "Gurgle... Gurgle..." "The corpse of a greedy baby, died of infection, and resurrected the next day." "The omniscient Lord is looking down on us." "I have prepared the stage for you, the audience, and..."

"Do you really love me?" "There is no one else here, no one exists." "The light of the Thunder Phoenix blinded my eyes." "The Transcendent will inevitably fall to the ground. The University of Barkovka has proved the truth of this prophecy in the debate thirty-three years ago. We will all burn." "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." "I saw the burning Tree of Man. His eyes were looking at me." "Who am I?"

"Her sister is dead, and she will probably be dead soon." "We have been cut. We are bleeding. Do we have blood to bleed?" "The Prime Minister is laughing again." "If this batch of goods cannot be delivered tomorrow, we will..." "Who are we?" "It's over, all of them." "We will throw the first mate's body into the empty sea tomorrow, so that no one can report us." "We made the plan together." "Who are we?"

"What happened on the thirty-second day of the Mao month of that year." "Who are we?" "You should know the answer." "Her sister is dead, and you will be too." "Who are we?" "What happened on the thirty-second day of the Mao month of that year." "Who are we?" "The Grand Master betrayed us." "Who are we?" "So we are here." "'Cang Yuan' has failed, everything is so unreliable." "What happened on the thirty-second day of the Mao month of that year." "You know." "We all know." "Who are we?" "Who are we?" "What happened on the thirty-second day of the Mao month of that year." "What happened on the thirty-third day of the Mao month of that year." "There are only thirty-two days in a month. There won't be thirty-three days in a month." "No one can enter the thirty-third day." "Who are we?" "There are only thirty-two days in a month. There won't be thirty-three days in a month. What happened on the thirty-third day of the Mao month of that year. Where is the captain. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Where is the captain. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me."

very noisy.

It's really noisy.

There has been a lot of quarreling since the beginning.

What are they talking about? I can't understand it. It's hard to understand. It's another world that I can't figure out no matter what. It's hard to describe, hard to know. Even the boundaries of existence become blurred, even the edges of the self become ambiguous. It's the opposite of existence, everything that non-existence refers to. Death and rebirth are connected into one point, and the end and the beginning are mixed and unclear. It's terror, the terror of self-dissipation, the terror of unknown things, the terror of non-reality. Because of terror, I refuse to admit it, because of terror, I choose to stay away. It's another world revealed in the words, a world that does not belong to the beings, the king of the other dimension who laughs wildly and happily, the turbid clown. It's incomprehensible, difficult to understand, so I don't want to understand it, but I don't refuse to understand it. This body does not have the power to refuse, just because it is "the voice that listens to everything."

very noisy.

Can hear.

It seems that he can't hear it.