＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ [Brilliant Cavalry] Ray Sterling

After sweeping the indoor machines, Tom walked over, waving at us as he noticed us in the aisle.

"Ya, Ray, to you... strange masked lady. Hello -"

"Bunya."

Grimalkin, who should have disappeared many times in that battle, is also riding over Mr. Tom's head as a matter of course.

"You're annoying.... That was a great fight."

"Ma'am. I fought hard because there were a lot of them."

With that said, Tom gave his body a big breath by bending forward.

"Soaked, annoyed"

…………

I know you're tired as the word goes, but it doesn't even look like the "I lost my cat weight -" diagram because of the overhead cat.

"That's enough for today's exploration, and I'm going back to the inn. Oh, you can explore that room. It's probably all traps."

"Oh, thank you"

"... thanks. But don't you have to explore?

I snort at Azrite's words, too.

Tom just cleaned up the trap with the monster and hasn't explored magic items or anything.

On the contrary, he had not recovered that wreckage left behind by the monster he defeated either.

"Yeah, I don't need that. Whatever you want."

"Bunya."

That's what Tom said and left with a flickering wave.

Nemesis shrugs after the figure is invisible beyond the corner of the aisle.

"Oh man, what are you here for?"

I have my doubts about what Nemesis said, but now I've decided to accept the generosity to do the investigation.

◇

We'll get out of silver and explore the room. Nemesis is also returning to the human form.

There are machine wreckages rolling around and it's hard to walk, but the room feels a lot like that crystal room.

And the most eye-catching mural in this room would be a large decorated mural on the wall.

But rather than say it was painted on the wall, it looks like it was burned and printed.

The mural depicts the sight of several people and many beasts colliding with each other, and the sight of many beasts standing and roaring over what looks like a castle.

There are some letters written underneath it, but there is no sign that it will be automatically translated like letters all over the city.

Something seems important.

"Azrite, can you read what it says?

"... I don't know"

If you don't know Tian's Azrite, is this not the general language of Infinite Dendrogram, but the ancient language of civilization or something?

Then... I just have to ask Dr. Mario, who is on the ground, to read it as well.

"Azrite. Don't you have a camera? Polaroid or digital camera, if possible."

"I don't know what polaroids and digital cameras are... but there are magic cameras that can be developed right away."

That's what Azrite says, removing an object from the item box that resembles a polaroid camera.

He just came to the boulder to investigate and was preparing all sorts of things.

Azrite takes a few pictures as they are and gives me what the wall photographs the whole thing and the part of the letter enlarged to photograph it.

"You're going to show that archaeologist, right?

"Oh. I'm going to..."

"I don't mind, but... do you teach me the translation results, too?

"Well, of course."

I take pictures.

But the attitude is that Azrite has something to catch on to Dr. Mario somewhere.

As he said yesterday, "It's strange that archaeologists are at this point," I guess there's suspicion.

However, the only archaeologist in the current situation is Dr. Mario, so which way you have to ask Dr. Mario if you want to know this literature.

"Does Azrite not trust Dr. Mario?

"I honestly don't want to get too involved with outside people, rather than say I don't trust them. I wish I could investigate it more internally... because few institutions in the kingdom are familiar with archaeology today"

"Really?"

"Yes, Doctor... [The Great Sage] was familiar with you, but he died in the war ahead. Because his brother-in-law with knowledge is also no longer at war and the [Gloria] raid before it..."

"Oh......"

I've heard before that it's hard for the Knights to suffer massive damage from Liliana, but are they worn out outside of the Knights?

"This < relic > is vaster than expected, and the ancient letters are difficult to understand because of the many jargon. Without outside cooperation, I don't even know what kind of factory this was."

"Really? You already know what I was making here, don't you?

"... Huh?

Azrite looks unexpected, but it's not hard to guess from the facts you already know.

Steel plates boasting the ruggedness of the magic item class brought to Dr. Mario's appraisal and artificial diamonds for laser irradiation devices.

In addition, the mechanical monsters had no problems working at all in order to protect the < ruins > of civilization over two thousand years ago.

Likewise, the Sentry Gun, which protects the site, was about half unusable, but as far as fighting us and Tom is concerned, their weapons haven't caused any malfunction.

So what was made here is eighty-nine...

"This is a factory that mass-produces mechanical monsters. In short, a weapons factory."

We didn't defeat the guardman who had been protecting this place for a long time.

It was just recently made.

"Weapons, factories..."

Azrite listens to my guess and puts his hand on his forehead as he thinks.

If this is an arms factory, it will undoubtedly be the kingdom's power of war if used successfully.

There is no more if we raise our national, military power.

But... I have one problem.

"Ray...... If this is a weapons factory and this mechanical setup is a product, I have one question."

"Oh. I know."

I know exactly what Azrite wants to say.

The first question I have about this mechanical monster.

That's......

"I don't know why unrelated names like [Tealwolf] or [Goblin Warrior] appear, do you?

"That's right."

Typically, monster race names are displayed overhead.

The same goes for monsters such as the Golem.

But these guys aren't.

The names displayed overhead varied, even though they looked two kinds.

That's also a name that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the machine.

If you were to find an answer to that, is it possible that that mechanical trick would require other monsters to be used as materials for production?

It is said that the fur was sticking out from the inside of the first machine I defeated, which is likely.

However…….

"Oh, the monster with the hands... I wonder if it would have been a different name from the material."

"... that's what it is"

That Franklin's modified monster is an easy example to understand.

The base is another monster but each was given a different name.

If this is the factory that makes a mechanically engineered modified monster with a monster as a material, I can't solve the fact that the name remains the same.

That's why it should have been nice to have a unified name for each type of mechanical trick somehow.

Besides, even if it's a modified monster, if it's defeated, it's supposed to be dust all together, but the machine remains.

I don't know why.

"Still, they look just like Hugo's."

"Well, that was made by that fucking white clan, but the technology belonged to Drife. Because the technology of that drife itself has been analyzing the machinery of civilization for a long time, so with that connection…, …!

That's what I'm saying... I noticed.

< Maggie Gear >.

Prior periods of civilization.

Silver.

Replica.

Ruins.

A mechanical monster.

The feeling that those keywords come to mind and connect to one.

And to the drawn conclusion... I held my mouth.

"Ray? What's up?

"You look pale."

The two of you look at this one worried.

I guess I suddenly got pale the rest of the time.

But this conclusion is so terrible that you don't think it's surprising that you do so yourself.

This thought is close to what it was when I dived into the Azit basement of that Gozmays Bandits.

............... bad chest shit.

"... Ray, what did you find out?

"These guys, they're not monsters..."

Answer Nemesis's question that way, but the two tilt their necks.

So I overlap words, too.

Say the answer to this.

"These guys..., all the machines rolling here... are specially equipped (...)"

"Huh?"

Azrite sees my silver in that word, which is also a special piece of equipment.

Nemesis meditates and perhaps remembers < Maggie >.

"But earlier, there was an indication of his name over his head"

"I'm equipped (...) Because the monster is dead, he's gone. And only the special gear left... that's all I'm talking about"

"So does that mean the monsters are attacking us armed?

"No. Then there's no way [Goblin Warrior] and [Pasilabit] could have a completely different species of monster stuck together. Well, Mr. Tom was turning over fifty at the same time to his enemies, but were those guys fighting each other monsters then?

…………

That didn't happen.

"They were fighting Mr. Tom in perfect collaboration, as if they had been governed by one will"

Yes, he was in charge.

to irrelevant (...), such as monsters in the contents.

"Ray, no way..."

You see what I think, look at the wreckage around you like Nemesis was stunned.

And I'll tell you who these guys are, too.

"These guys - they take over the wearer (...) It's special gear."

!?

To my words, Azrite looked badly shocked.

But I don't think there's any mistake in this idea.

Equipment is not all about adding a positive effect to the wearer.

The traces had already disappeared, but so had [Karsd Bloody Armor], which was the prototype of the previous equipment.

"Cursed Special Equipment...... No, that's how it originally works"

"Wait, Ray. Wait.........!

Azrite asks me if I haven't taken it yet.

"For what, do you have such special equipment?

"... my silver is the original brilliant horse. I don't wear out MP for driving because I have an institution inside that produces its own MP"

That's what I asked Hugo before.

The machine of civilization had previously produced MP on its own, he said.

Silver seems to be a prototype or experimental machine, not an official version, but the mechanism installed would be the same.

But the replica's brilliant jade horse, not the original, drains MP, Senior Beasley said.

"But the replica brilliant jade horse consumes the human MP it rides and works...... Maybe that's what replicas do because of the cost. We couldn't build an MP-generating engine for mass production."

Otherwise, there's all that performance.

There should be a lot more originals made and a lot more left.

But most of the ones left are replicas... they say they are mass produced.

"So what about these guys?

……!!

"How many dozens of these guys have already been destroyed just because we ran into them, are they luxury goods loaded with that engine or are they mass-produced?"

…………

"You'll see, these guys are mass-produced. So...... I crave other organisms as fuel (...)"

Yeah, he's excellent as a combat weapon.

You don't have to make it as fancy as the original brilliant jade horse.

I can also prepare quite a few.

Even if you let them wear into weak monsters, like [Pasilabit] or [Tealwolf] (...) MP efficient enough to move.

It would be excellent as a weapon, including that “something that doesn't become a force of war” turns into a force at one end.

I get revulsion.

"... when I found the first piece of shit yesterday, that was attacking Shirley.... but I wasn't trying to kill him"

You suddenly fired a firearm at me, and you didn't do it against Shirley.

attacked, but didn't do that to Tian.

"That... was trying to capture him alive"

"... no way!?"

Nodding at the voice containing the strong agony of Azrite.

And tell them an answer that makes them nauseous.

"These guys, human beings (tians) only see it as fuel"

To be continued