Chapter 58: The Maiden Greta

“If I remember right, the next intelligent machine should be the tunneling machine, right?”

Perched on Phaga’s arm to guide the path, Eous watched Ellen moving ahead smoothly. It was amazed that Hollow exploration still left room for casual conversation and seized the chance to ask Grace.

Grace happened to be smiling their way. Ellen’s reliability gave her the freedom to indulge in what she considered the most beautiful sight in the world—it was wonderful! So wonderful that she relaxed a little too much. Only when Phaga gave a light cough did she snap back, her cheeks flushed red.

Grace brushed back a strand of hair, raised a small fist to her lips to hide her embarrassment, and explained—though she couldn’t help but steal glances at Phaga now and then.

“The Type III Hollow Excavator, Greta. She’s a very cute and capable child—her job is tunneling through caverns.”

“To expand her capabilities, she’s also equipped with a demolition saw for breaking down buildings.”

A hint of sadness clouded her face. She sighed.

“I thought after updating her logic core, she’d grow even more capable. I never imagined she’d run away...”

“...Heh, just like how children inevitably go through rebellious phases, right? Guess anthropomorphizing AI isn’t such a good idea...”

Belle meant to console her, but her voice trailed off. Without realizing, she glanced toward Fairy.

Fairy seemed to notice. Its round, deep-blue eye turned her way. With its immense computing power, it simulated Belle’s emotional parameters, compared them against vast datasets, and found the most accurate descriptor.

Then, having spent the extra computation—and electricity—just to reach that conclusion, it silently withdrew, offering no words of comfort.

Sigh.

Belle sighed too. She’d intended to comfort Grace, but the more she spoke, the more the words resonated with her own feelings.

Slumping onto the table, she went limp. Eous, too, curled into Phaga’s arms, motionless and listless.

Phaga noticed. With the arm holding Eous, he gently scratched its side, then tilted his head toward Grace.

“So... judging from what happened with the Grappler, Hans, is it possible this tunneling machine might also have developed... peculiar traits?”

“No! Impossible! I won’t allow it!”

Grace’s sudden outburst caught Phaga off guard.

At that moment, Ellen returned from the front after clearing the way, just in time to hear Grace’s sharp cry:

“One Grappler was bad enough. I won’t allow a second child to turn into some unruly, rebellious beast!”

“What’s next—midnight street racing? Scratching their own hulls? Covering themselves in giant, impossible-to-remove stickers? Experimenting with forbidden mixed Ether fuels? Even trying to fuse with other machines like in ancient civilization cartoons!”

Ellen froze on the spot. The light drained from her eyes, her lollipop nearly slipping out of her mouth before it knocked against Little Shark’s sharp teeth.

“...Huh?”

Wait. What were they even talking about while I was gone?
How did the conversation get to machine fusion?!

Hands on her hips, Ellen blinked back to focus. She quickly sidled up to Phaga, tugging him to a safer distance away from Grace.

Phaga looked down, noting the faint hostility in her eyes despite her calm expression.

...Yeah, this one’s got issues. Best keep my distance.

Phaga seemed to understand without a word. He let Ellen pull him forward, murmuring softly,

“Master, since Miss Grace is this worried about her child, I think we should find it quickly.”

“Good point. Follow me!”

Eous patted Phaga’s arm before hopping down. With short strides, it stepped over collapsed Ethereal corpses, gazing through drifting, reverse-flowing sparks.

After comparing Fairy’s data carefully, Belle pointed decisively.

“This way!”

Phaga moved up quietly, his expression sharpening. With a swift motion, he drew his blade and stepped into the spatial fissure.

The next moment, his entire figure slipped through and vanished.

Ellen swung her giant scissors onto her shoulder and followed close behind.

Soon after, Eous and Grace also stepped through. The three of them—and one Bangboo—halted in a strange new place.

Looking up, Ellen voiced the question first.

“Unfinished buildings?”

Indeed, what lay before them was a stretch of abandoned, half-built towers.

Funded but never completed, they never even had a chance to be born, their fates sealed with death.

“Be careful. That building has a strong Ether signature.”

Phaga narrowed his eyes, lowering his blade to shield Eous behind him.

At the same time, the eye beneath his monocle flared crimson. Through the purple-and-red filter of his vision, he spotted a patterned, purple object perched atop the structure.

Tilting his head, he asked quietly,

“Grace, look up. That machine on the roof—could it be the tunneling machine we’re looking for?”

Grace snapped her gaze upward, raising a hand against the sun. Sure enough, a massive machine loomed at the top of the abandoned tower. Her voice brimmed with excitement as she called out:

“Hey! Greta! It’s me, Grace! I’m here!”

Her voice carried swiftly, amplified by the dense Ether concentration, and drifted straight into Greta’s receiver.

But instead of eagerly leaping down to reunite with her, Greta’s reply came in a girlish, coquettish tone laced with faint threat:

“Please don’t come any closer! This is my private space with my lover!”

“I’m not going back! I’ll stay with Mr. White forever! I won’t go back to being some drab, ugly duckling!”

Phaga and Ellen both froze, trading bewildered glances.

...There’s no way this personality came built-in, right?

No. Definitely not.

They turned at once, dreading Grace’s reaction.

Eous looked too. Belle, utterly inexperienced in romance, scrambled to offer comfort, her words coming out clumsy:

“Grace, calm down. It’s just a rebellious phase. Sure, it... lured off some white-haired kid from outside—but we can talk it around, get it to—”

But instead of breaking down as they feared, Grace clasped her hands, her legs pressed together, and a radiant auntie-like smile spread across her face.

“Hehehe... It’s only been a few days, but the tunneling machine has already grown into such a splendid young lady! Hehehehe!”

“...She switched sides.”

Belle’s voice grew smaller and smaller until she could only stare through Eous’s vision, wide-eyed.

After a long pause, she sucked in a sharp breath and gasped, full of disbelief.

“Eh???”