Clockwork Planet - Volume 03

by Kamiya Yuu

Marie knew very well the method to generate electricity from gears.

  But that method could not possibly generate an electric current that could be controlled precisely for magnetism removal.

  Researching on such knowledge itself was a crime, let alone knowing it.

  And also, a legal magnetic remover required a strict set of controls akin to that of a level 4 contagion.

  It would be difficult for Marie, no different from an ordinary civilian at this point, to obtain one at this point.

  Furthermore, there was no such magnetic remover as large as a humanoid robot anywhere in the world, let alone this city grid.

  If one were to take a long retreat say—even if they could intrude into a control facility and steal a magnetic remover, they could only remove it from a few delicate parts.

  The protection on Halter’s head might still be working at this point…but there was still insufficient time.

  At this point, it was already—

  “…We can’t get out of this room in the…first place…”

  Marie muttered, and looked down.

  —But that move alone,

  Was that enough to render her so helpless?

  Because of one single move, all the knowledge she accumulated to this point, expertise she etched within her body—

  That was really…like an illusion—just when she shed a tear, at that moment—

  —Suddenly, a crack could be heard from that thick glass.

  Marie lifted her head in shock, and found Naoto smashing the window with a chair.

  Twice, thrice,four times—the crack on the hardened glass began to expand after multiple hits.

  “R-argh!”

  And after an umpteenth hit, the window finally broke.

  It seemed that as Naoto was too forceful, the chair slipped from Naoto’s hands, and flew out of the window.

  “Okay. RyuZU, AnchoR, old man Halter…I guess we can just hold that head in our hands. We can throw them all down one after another…the 8th floor? Well, we’ll just get a long cable or cloth to get to the ground.”

  “…”

  While Marie continued to remain still, Naoto clicked his tongue,

  “—Argh, enough already! Get over there, you’re so slow you’re in the way!”

  After saying that, Naoto again moved over to RyuZU.

  Without hesitation, he reached his hand out to the body that was so hot, it could melt the floor.

  “Wa-wait a sec!”

  Naoto ignored Marie, who was trying to stop him, and grabbed RyuZU’s body.

  “—(sizzles)”

  Naoto’s face suddenly winced, and the smell of burnt human flesh reached Marie’s nose.

  But Naoto naturally lifted RyuZU, appearing not to be in ay pain.

  Marie shrieked at him,

  “Do you know what you’re doing!?”

  “Shut up! If you’re not going to be helpful, then just stay in a corner and shut up!”

  Naoto dragged RyuZU along the scorching floor, and yelled,

  “I don’t know what I’m doing at all! But I know that I can’t let RyuZU remain like this!”

  The moment he yelled this, he put RyuZU back down onto the cooled floor.

  The sight of her lying face up, to put it lightly, was that she was hideous.

  The parts, starting from the abdomen, were starting to melt—even her skeletal frame seemed to be transforming, probably due to being in excessive heat over a long time.

  If it were an ordinary automata, surely such severe damage would have warranted her to be scraped.

  Even Marie could not patch up this level of damage immediately.

  It was not merely an issue of tools; there were too many pricy parts to be replaced.

  But at the same time—Marie sensed that something was amiss.

  Was this ‘merely the level of damage’ caused by a high temperature that could melt metal.

  She thought about the parts in the abdomen; they probably were at several thousand degrees Celsius heat at some point.

  But despite the effects of that heat, there was no damage to be seen on the clothing, the artificial skin, or the hair, nothing other than the abdomen.

  No. Marie already had a doubt.

  Was the heat that melted the parts due to the electrical resistance?

  “—!”

  However, upon seeing RyuZU in such a state, Naoto shook his head hard, and suddenly got up.

  He did not care about the burnt skin and melted adhesive sticking onto his clothes as he proceeded into the workshop to look for wires, cables or something that appeared sturdy, and tied them all together.

  Marie watched his back, and stammered,

  “…What…are you doing…”

  “Can’t you tell? Oh great genius!? If you can’t open the door, get out from the window!”

  As Marie had said, this was a workshop, a sealed environment where not even a speck of dust could get in. The automatic door that was locked by machinery was damaged, and they could not open it—now then, what could they do?

  —Just break through the window used for lighting and get out.

  That was simple enough. However…

  “—Once you get out, what are you going to do…?”

  The moment Marie asked this question, Naoto turned his head around in frustration.

  Those eyes were clearly—giving a condescending glint, and he yelled at her without hesitating.

  “Get out of here! Try and find a way to get to that bellend! RyuZU, AnchoR, and get old man Halter and Vermouth along!? And fix that guy up!”

  Then, Naoto’s face was suddenly contorted.

  That was the most heinous glare Marie had yet to see before.

  He glared outside the window while a vengeful glint, of which a killing intent would be putting lightly.

  —That was the culprit behind everything.

  He glared at the massive weapons stomping through the streets of Akihabara, saying,

  “I’m going to boil those guys who got my wife and daughter involved alive, you hear me!?”

  —

  “If you aren’t going to help, then just stop getting in my way and just shut up!”

  —This guy really doesn’t understand the situation after all? Marie wondered, but at the same time, she understood.

  If they could not get out through the door—they could slip out from the window—truly, she had fallen on hard times, to be unable to think of things even an idiot could think of.

  “…I told you already, right? The magnetic fields in Grid Akihabara basically means that everything ‘stopped’…even our normal means of getting to the next Grid are limited. Don’t know…?”

  “It’s much better than just stupidly staying around here!”

  “Yeaaahhh…—I guess that’s really the case!”

  Yes, she had to admit this.

  Naoto, who had been taking action without thinking, was correct as compared to her.

  After hearing this unexpected answer, Naoto was momentarily stunned.

  At the same time, Marie patted her face, and stood up, meeting Naoto in the eyes.

  As usual—no, the grey eyes gave off a brighter glint than usual in the dim light .

  She had the eyes of one who was not defeated despite this situation.

  At this point—she would let those eyes guide her.

  “First, we need to make sure to get to the arranged place with Teacher Conrad and the others—Grid Ueno. Normally it’s not easily to get over there when the one of the areas in the Multiple Grids stops functioning—but nobody’s around in Grid Akihabara, so we probably can use the forbidden bridge…”

  Marie continued on, and suddenly felt something strange.

  Once she saw Naoto lower his eyebrows, looking relieved as he beamed, she felt her heart skip a beat.

  At this moment.

  “—Magnetic field confirmed to have vanished. Emergency Sequence Ended. Booting normal sequence.”

  Upon hearing that soft voice,
Naoto and Marie immediately turned their heads over.

  Right where they were looking at was—

  “…That shocked me.”

  AnchoR blinked her round eyes, widened them, and tilted her head in confusion.

  We’re the shocked ones here, okay? Marie thought. Faster than her was—

  “WAAAAHHHHH!!!! ANCHOORRR’S FINNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE YOU NEARLY SCARED ME THERE DAMMIT!!!”

  Naoto, who was right beside her, immediately leapt right at AnchoR, screaming excitedly,

  “—!? I don’t want papa to die!”

  And while AnchoR innocently believed Naoto’s words as she embraced him firmly, Naoto continued,

  “Okay, don’t worry, I won’t die! RyuZU’s not too bad, or else I really would have passed out.”

  “…Is it AnchoR’s fault? …Is AnchoR, a bad girl?”

  “Not at all, you’re really a good girl! It’s thanks to you that papa here didn’t die! Papa might think of dying right away if you aren’t moving at all, AnchoR!”

  “…? Papa nearly died because of AnchoR, but thanks to AnchoR…?”

  After hearing that conversation between the idiot and the automata, Maria could not say anything.

  —How did it end up like this?

  She actually managed to withstand a electromagnetic pulse?

  That was a magnetic field that utterly burned through Halter’s defenses!? And the latter had the next generation military cyborg body developed by the Breguets.

  This is not the moment to be surprised by them, right? N-no—if that was not it, why is it that they stopped until just a while ago? No no no! More importantly, what did that idiot just say?”

  “—Naoto, did you just say…that AnchoR was moving…”

  “Eh, ah, she was up and running the entire time. That’s why I gave up on killing myself.”

  Naoto stated this as if it was a matter of fact.

  “Since AnchoR was moving, I thought RyuZU would be heated up due to something, but I didn’t have any proof, so I thought I had to hurry and do something, even if it’s a second earlier. And then you were hesitating so much, Marie…”

  Marie ignored Naoto’s voice as he grumbled and caressed AnchoR, thinking,

  —The reason—why she got hot…?

  And for an instance, right before Marie was about to think about something, AnchoR said apologetically,

  “…So-rry…the ‘anti buzz’ function…erm…”

  She explained, not understanding her own functions—or rather, she appeared not to understand herself at all.”

  “…I entered an ’emergency’ heat sequence…”

  —

  Marie did her best to hold herself from passing out.

  —Ahh,that was true—there was another way to get rid of the magnetism.

  She would admit it, that she had forgotten all about it. Her mind was in turmoil after all.

  —But at least let me explain myself somehow, Marie begged to no one.

  Because this method typically ‘could not be done ‘, and would ‘hardly be done’.

  And furthermore, it was an automatic action. However, with the unknown actually explaining this, Marie exclaimed,

  “Heating to remove magnetism? That can only occur at Curie point! Are you kidding me? How do you do that?”

  —This was a phenomena called Curie Point,

  Where anything with magnetism will lose it once it was heated at a certain temperature.

  To put it simply, the magnetism could be removed through heating. It was really an overly simple method.

  But such a method would be called a final course of action—

  —No, it was such a violent course of action, it would not even be ‘considered’ as a final solution.

  Why? Because once it was heated, the objects would naturally expand or melt. Every part was made of different materials, and so the temperatures required to cool them down was different. This would cause any intricate machinery to be ruined in the process of heating.

  However, there were automatas that could automatically heat themselves up?

  The gears would lose firmness under the heat, and the cables would self-destruct—surely, it would be strange if that was not the case. To look at it another way, even if it was possible, the mechanics would have stopped the moment they were magnetized.

  In any case, how was the heating function able to continue working—!?

  While Marie continued to ponder alone, Naoto ignored her as he muttered,

  In other words, heating can remove the magnetism, right? AnchoR has a ‘perpetual gear’ with zero friction, and can continue running to slowly increase heat. RyuZU herself converted all her energy into heat, and stopped, right?”

  After hearing this, AnchoR suddenly stood up, and exclaimed,

  “S-sister…! No, she can’t cool down by herself…”

  “It’s fine, AnchoR~no matter what happens~don’t worry. RyuZU’s moved to an icy floor!”

  “…Papa’s amazing…!”

  AnchoR widened her eyes as she marvelled.

  However, she turned to look at the burns on the hands, and her eyes lowered sadly.

  “…But, you’re hurt. Doesn’t it hurt…?”

  “Ahahaha! This isn’t much for my wife and daughter!”

  Naoto said with a straight face, basically like a father acting tough in front of his daughter.

  Yeah—this really is amazing, Marie was frustrated.

  So amazing that it was beyond her comparison, and one could say that it was beyond what was common sense.

  —The situation was beyond her understanding.

  But after looking at such a scene, Marie merely matter,

  “Yeah yeah. The heat dispelled the magnetic fields.”

  She could not accept this.

  She could not understand.

  But Naoto merely ignored her dumbfounded self as he moved forward, and for some reason—

  Marie felt a hollow, dry feeling rising in her, and she grabbed Vermouth’s head that was left on the floor.

  In any case, she had to do what she could do.

  “Anyway, first, we need to get out of Grid Akihabara.”

  Saying that, she picked up the head,

  And casually tossed it at the scorching floor.

  ●

  “You rotten bitch! You nearly boiled my head off!? Has your head loosened as much as your ass did!?”

  While they were moving through the completely silent Akihabara, Vermouth suddenly yelled.

  “Oh? You’re still alive? I thought the magnetism removal failed.”

  Marie calmly said to the head yelling at her, not stopping at all as she continued to move on.

  Vermouth looked over, and found AnchoR carrying RyuZU, with Naoto panting as he straggled at the back. Marie was at the front, tucking Vermouth and Halter’s heads under her armpits.

  Intrigued, Vermouth asked,

  “What…? What’s going on? How come that Mister’s left with a head too? Hey, ghost girl, mind speaking up and explain—what did you just do, you bitch!?”

  Marie slammed Vermouth’s head, now in her right arm, onto the passing street lamp, making him shut up.

  Halter’s cyborg body was too heavy, and too damaged to be repaired, so Marie took his head off. Vermouth felt some pity that he was unable to see Marie’s expression back then.

  Naoto finally caught up to him, looking a little awkward, saying,

  “…Ah, you really woke up at the wrong time, uncle…anyway, you’re okay, right?”

  “Huh? Ah, so you’re the guy with this bitch? Ha—on what basis do you say that I’m alright here? The oxygen gauge meant to protect my head was damaged, and I could have died in another 3 seconds. My right eye’s probably gone, and I can’t really differentiate the colors. It’s amazing that I’m still alive, and if I’m called fine, that corpse should be called completely healthy with her limbs intact, huh?”

  —This certainly was an energetic head to be able to prattle back a ra
ttle.

  Marie did train for this before, but holding a head in each arm and running at full speed was really an arduous activity. Though they were just heads, each of them was as heavy as a bowling ball.

  She really had the urge to simply throw aside the head in her right arm, and narrowed her eyes.

  There was nothing moving as the morning sun shone upon the streets of Akihabara, and flames were smoking everywhere, probably because of the scorched gears burning. The most concerning thing how was that for a while, Marie’s ears could pick up some sort of rumbling from the underground.

  —Surely this was the noise of this city being destroyed.

  “Anyway, brat, how’s my handsome face right now?”

  “There’s a really old robot movie with a guy who sank into a furnace of molten steel and melted, you know?”

  “My artificial skin got melted!? What did you do to me, you damn slut—hey, this is abuse, right!?”

  This time, she smashed Vermouth’s head onto a passing guardrail, saying,

  “Be good now, you hear?”

  She angrily glared at the head that was raised to her eyes.

  “Whether you end up in the trashbin or flushed down the toilet is up to my mood, and I’m feeling so bad right now, I’m thinking if I should just vent on you and heat you up to cook you—but this me who has a rare angelic kindness in the world has decided to keep you alive, so you shitty bastard should be touched to tears and swear loyalty to me, alright?”

  “That’s just a choice between a demon and the devil, right?”

  Marie ignored Naoto’s snark.

  With a tender voice even a demon lord would be terrified by, she said.

  “—Serve me, or you can go and die, okay♥?”

  This is the meaning of your existence; Vermouth could hear the hidden conclusion, and muttered in surprise,

  “—Hey, this bitch’s really crazy now.”

  “It looks like you either prefer the trashbin, or the toilet?’

  “Old man, if you really want to ask if she’s crazy, the answer’s yes. I won’t hurt you here, you better be a little more obedient here.”

  “You gotta be kidding brat. Eh—think about it calmly, I too have the right to be angry, right!?”