Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

"You... forget it, I won't bother with you this time."

Ella finally restrained herself.

"Stop blaming yourself like this, right? Leah, who loves you the most, definitely wouldn't want you to hurt yourself like this, right?"

Even though she didn't know Leah Efayeret that well, and didn't know the "Arbitrator", she could still understand her thoughts and feelings. She must have loved this sister who was always with her. What a child like that would think and say, Lunicia seemed to be able to imagine in her mind all at once.

She would surely hug Lusa tightly and cry with her.

This is something I can't do.

"But...if you feel sad, just cry out loud, right?"

All she could do was to give such light words without any weight.

“Wu…Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…!”

I have no power to change the past.

Inconsolable pain and unhealable wounds are everywhere in this world.

The loss of life and the spreading sorrow seem to be everywhere.

Giving tragedy time will probably only yield greater tragedy. Not every time can go smoothly like in Muirand. Whether it is Shuichequ, Nosaway, or Tweck, the tragedies that I failed to prevent are far more than what I can do. Even if I try hard, even if I fight, I may not get a happy ending. Just like this world, even if I look for direction, a way forward, and the light of salvation, I may end up drowning in the tide of despair and ushering in a dead end at the end of the prophecy.

These are the only small, insignificant things I can do.

Listen, she is crying so loudly.

It's as if I want to shed all the tears in this life.

——It turns out that mechanical bodies can cry too.

Somehow, I raised my eyes and looked at "her" who had been standing by my side from beginning to end.

Her expression was still indifferent, and no happiness or sadness could be seen.

What is she thinking about?

Does she ever burst into tears like this?

……

"Do you feel better after crying?"

"...You don't have to worry about it."

"Oh, there's something fishy going on..."

Lunicia smiled bitterly and handed over the handkerchief - of course, Rosa had no intention of taking it.

"When I cried before, Sister Sestin comforted me like this, and I couldn't help but..."

"Will Lady Luna cry too?"

"Well, of course you will?"

"Well, I'm so sorry. It's rude, but I thought Luna-sama was a good kid who wouldn't cry even when she was little."

"Although everyone does say that I am a good child, if I have to live in a small courtyard forever, everyone would cry a few times, right?"

"Oh..."

Ashlee nodded slightly while making a strange noise.

"Is that so? This machine has absolutely no idea what crying is."

"Is it because we spend too little time with humans?" Lunicia smiled and shook her head. "Basically, everyone cries for all sorts of things, whether it's a small injury or a huge grief. It's not shameful to express emotions through tears. If you spend your life with others, you'll definitely see their tears."

As she said this, she once again turned her gaze towards the "Opera House".

She consciously moved her seat away from the three people she had invited.

"Even a proud playwright would have a sentimental side, right? Especially when it comes to the people closest to you."

"...Maybe so."

What is her mood now?

Is he still upset about Lunicia? Or is he ashamed of his actions that showed his strength? Or is he frustrated that someone unexpectedly saw his vulnerable side?

But, anyway, she does look a little better than before.

Perhaps - she really has been persisting, using the fragmented curtain called arrogance, boasting and self-admiration to cover herself, and from the beginning to now, she has never shed a tear.

Was it because of his pride? Or because it would make his subordinates uneasy?

"Lunishia-sama is different now."

"If you put it that way, it is indeed the case, compared to the beginning."

"Hey, me? Is there any difference?"

"Luna may not realize it herself, but Luna in the beginning would not be as bold as she is now - gentle, kind, and caring for others. She was like this before and she is still like this now, but now she is more proactive than before... and more bold."

"That's a terrible choice of words. If you really like reciting poetry, please correct it for me."

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"Bold... do you mean I won't hug her so presumptuously...?"

"Luna, please be considerate of the pink-haired dancer's feelings over there."

"Hey!"

"Ah? Huh?"

"...You guys."

At this moment, Lusa's voice came again.

She moved her chair back - once again getting closer to the guests she had invited.

"Though I won't apologize for what happened just now."

"Well, it's okay."

"But I will tell you everything I know about this place."

"…Is this okay? If you have any battle plans, we may not be able to guarantee participation."

Lunicia seemed to see through the other person's thoughts, but the beautiful woman in men's clothing just shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. I just told you everything I know, our experience, our intelligence, our plans. As for how to do it - that's up to you."

Chapter 25: Girls' Meeting

"Although I really want to say 'try harder'..."

The tone of Systine Perancine was not much different from usual, still as cold and ruthless, hiding all her thoughts and ideas in the deepest part of her mind, leaving only the obvious unfamiliarity and resistance - she resisted establishing connections with everything around her, and also resisted showing her true meaning to everything around her. Perhaps this is how a vengeful ghost in her mind should live.

But in this situation, one can only marvel at her tenacity.

"...But you can see that I don't have the luxury of doing that."

"Ah... You've done enough. Leave the rest to me."

The person in front of him, the "Opera" Lusa Ephayeret, spoke more politely than in any previous conversation, which made Sestine frown.

"What stupid things are you talking about."

"Do you think I can't finish it? That's really sad. It seems that I can't leave a perfect impression in your heart..."

"There is still a possibility of evacuation. If you want to die, go back and die."

"My relationship with you shouldn't be that good, right?"

"...Leah can go back and give birth again."

"Well, the same goes for me. Just report me as a loss."

"You've never been completely damaged before."

"It's really unfortunate, because I, as a sister, am too protective, so the same goes for Leah."

"It seems I can't convince you."

"I guess so - and besides, we don't have time to argue here, do we?"

Although Lusa Efayeret looked very embarrassed, she actually did not have any visible wounds. At most, she looked extremely tired, with a forced calmness on her face.

The situation of Sestine looked much worse - the wounds on her torso, limbs and shoulders were full of blood, and the wound on her side was even more horrifying. The huge penetrating wound could not be covered up by any means. Under the surging dark red blood, the surging internal organs could be seen directly. Even for a legendary strongman, this was an extremely serious injury, but she just leaned on the giant sword, not only did her expression not change, but she could not even see the slightest tremor.

"You must insist on doing this?"

"Just to cover the rear."

"There will be no reinforcements, no support, no chance of survival."

"You are too narrow-minded a playwright. Anyone can see this, right?"

"..."

Unable to convince the other party, Setin had no choice but to give up.

This was not a very important matter. Indeed, as Lusa said, the two were just colleagues who had known each other for a short time and there was no reason for them to take each other's lives too seriously.

"understood."

"Just abandon me."

"I will leave you a group of soldiers and the supply production line on the ship. Part of this place has been occupied by us, and these should help you buy some time. I will drive this Broadsword away, and don't expect me to turn back halfway to rescue you. The situation here is full of unknowns, and we can't delay the arrangement of the plan like this."

"Of course, as long as I can get you there, the castle in the sky will have fulfilled its duty."

"...I'll give you another farewell gift."

"what is it then?"

Systine did not answer, but placed his hand on the sword of the World-Worner.

At the junction of the palm and the giant sword, a dark "light" burst out.

……

"As I said before, during the voyage of this Broadsword-class airship, we encountered... this thing."

"Are you really okay, Lusa? Although we haven't seen each other for a while, I'm still a little uncomfortable with the way you talk..."

"Could it be that the time we spent together before was enough to leave you with a habit?"

"Please don't take it seriously, Lady Luna is just expressing concern."

"You don't need that kind of thing. Don't look at me with pity."

Lusa seemed reluctant to go further on this topic, so she could only continue, "You probably know what this is."

"'Constraint Ship Gleipnir', that's all we know."

Ashlee took over the topic.

"So, do you know this place better?"

"of course."

Lusa snapped her fingers, and then a huge and unfamiliar ship appeared on the sand table. Then it began to disassemble into a large number of blocks, and the structure inside was revealed. Even without explanation, it was known that this was the full view of the so-called "restraint ship Gleipnir". Even if you don't actually need to walk around the entire airship, just seeing the blueprint in front of you is enough to make people shocked and surprised at the scale of this ship. It seems a bit rude to simply call it an "airship". This ship is not a modern airship with a greatly reduced scale, but a city that actually floats in the sky. I'm afraid only the once glorious Kingdom of Nasalan would build such a thing.

From this drawing, we can roughly see some of the design ideas of this airship. In addition to the huge and complete "core ship" part that covers several departments such as bombardment, aviation, communications, research, housekeeping, medical, and machinery, the rest are modularly designed components, which seem to be easy to modify and add blocks in the future.

Although the structural diagram presented by Lusa shows the structure of a part of the interior of "Gleipnir", there are still many places shrouded in the fog of the unknown. In addition, the parts that have been measured also have many traces of modification and smearing, and some places are circled with question marks. It seems that the drawer of this drawing also has many questions about this.

"I did this."

Lusa knocked on the edge of the sand table.

"Based on the current exploration results and the data stored in the ship's database, we have integrated this structural diagram. We have not been here for a long time. You may have felt that there are many anomalies in space and reality in this airship. Therefore, the structure of some places cannot withstand scrutiny. In the end, we can only get this level of drawings."

"Not bad." Ashetherin floated around the sand table. "You guys probably can't use magic like me. How do you control the equipment in this Gleipnir? The Magic Kingdom probably doesn't use mechanical technology."

That’s right, in fact most of the mechanical puppets do not have the ability to use magic.

The common mechanical puppets in modern times are generally pure mechanical creations, man-made objects created with mechanical parts and etched imprints of prayer characters. Even if they are embedded with dragon crystal grids and have built-in devices similar to magic props, they are ultimately just variants of magic props. They do not have the ability to generate magic power themselves, and can only be recharged from dragon crystal charging devices or spellcasters to replenish the consumed magic power.

"Using the stolen authentication card and the stock of magic props, as long as we can obtain some permissions, we can dispatch the equipment here."

The same is true for the production line outside - Lusa added.