Clockwork Planet - Volume 03

by Kamiya Yuu

  “Hey hey hey–!? What now, Princess!? Why are you talking on your own now!? Get too naughty and I’ll tie you in a bondage suit and show you being knocked up with a big cock to the entire country–wait old man! Why are you giving me such weird cue cards! I have a wife and daughter here! It’ll end up disrupting my family here! Ah, yeah. It’s about the the 2 Initial-Y series that were just reported! How about it? They’re cute, right? But you can’t reproduce them for merchandise. I might end up buying them! Do negotiate about that through the firms! Violation of human image rights is a complete no go here!”

  –This sudden sequence of broadcasts denied anyone the chance to think of anything.

  The woman who appeared on the screen was the first Lady of Japan–despite not having any political power, she was the symbol of the country, and one of the few influential people culturally in the world.

  She was acting in place of her ailing father, the Emperor, her importance was as significance as the Queen of England and the president of the United States.

  –Yes, a VIP.

  No matter whether anyone was a civilian or not, all of them had the same thoughts.

  This young, beautiful Princess was captured by the terrorists, yet she remained firm-willed, and even any ordinary civilian and foreigner felt a resonating feeling in their hearts.

  And then, they stopped thinking–hastily coming to a conclusion.

  “Ah wait! Enough already! I told you not to move. Argh, damn it, now the process’ all messed up! This Princess is a downer! Hey, if you’re gonna be so disobedient, I’ll kill you!”

  The boy gleefully said such words.

  And all witnessing this had a common thought–that the boy offended something that he should not have, an unforgivable criminal–the ‘rage’ at one person alone expanded massively.

  “…I see. This is rather impressive.”

  Inside the massive weapon Yatsukahagi’–

  Gennai Hirayama silently muttered as he watched the visuals on the giant screen in the control room.

  –Their intent was obvious.

  They could have shut the Princess up if they wanted everyone to know that they had her as a hostage. There was no need to force her to talk.

  However, they allowed her to talk as she wanted–for they did not need to.

  –At the very least, it was enough excuse to allow the ‘military’ to intervene in the internal scuffle.

  The civilians, who should be in a panic, would more or less obey the police instructions.

  And as one could assume, the Princess would then exist as a hostage.

  At the very least, no commander would ignore the Princess’ safety and assault the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’.

  Even if they were to, the bombardment on the fort would be a final gambit–they would at least wait for 3 hours, to go along with the time limit declared.

  During this time, they…no, ‘Y’ would…

  Leisurely begin work, have full control of the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’ without anyone’s obstruction.

  –And then destroy the ‘Yatsukahagi’ without exception.

  After that, the ‘military’ launching the coup d’etat on the government would vanish.

  Leaving behind truths beneficial to certain people–

  “Ahh, impressive…now we are unable to do anything.”

  “M-my Lord! We should at least declare our intentions now!”

  The lieutenant stood by the side, exclaiming in shock.

  Gennai showed a serene look at the lieutenant, asking,

  “Oh…and then what? We have no relation to those people. Our intention is a coup d’etat, like that. Do you think anyone will believe in such nonsense?”

  “Th-that is–”

  The commander was speechless, but shook his head, saying,

  “Bu-but if this keeps up, the capital will collapse in 3 hours. In any case–!”

  “Calm down, lieutenant.”

  Gennai said.

  “Those people have no intention to letting the capital fall. This–is all ‘within exceptions’.

  –Yes, they had no such intentions.

  Simply put, all they were doing was with the intention to bear all the sins.

  Including the Shiga ‘military’–they would bear the sins of the ‘military’, the government, the enterprises, and all the nightmares and malice that shook this country, gather the hearts of the people, and erase their sins.

  Their aim was–to save this country.

  There was no casualty when they eliminated the ‘military’. Would such people actually cause Tokyo to collapse?

  Of course it was a bluff.

  –Suddenly, Gennai thought of something.

  In Ancient mythology–there was a man who bore all the sins of humanity, and was executed.

  He let out something like a groan from his tight lips.

  “–First he takes the form of a God, and then now as a Messiah?”

  “M-my lord…?”

  Gennai ignored the lieutenant’s voice, asking,

  “Report–what is the recharge rate now?”

  Upon hearing the commander’s composed voice, a communication’s officer frantically replied,

  “Y-yes, currently at 72%! M-my lord, how do we deal with this…?”

  “Cease all mobility power. Recharge to 82% within 12 minutes.”

  All the people on standby in the commander room gave skeptical looks.

  –Is there a meaning to recharge at this point?

  –We should be escaping from Akihabara right now, right?

  Gennai silenced his subordinates with a glare, and muttered,

  “Come on–show me how much you have predicted. Have you realized that I have a few tricks left…’Y’?”

  Chapter 3 – 07:15 – Liberator

  Now then–

  The criminals who terrorized Japan into oblivion and sent the world into a vortex of chaos.

  Once he declared this unprecedented, unparalleled act–the boy who proclaimed to wipe off Japan from the map, he was–

  “Fwuaa~~…ahh~ really~…haa, I live for the sake of enjoying this happiness…”

  Was relaxing leisurely, as though he was in the comfort of his home.

  To be specific, he was sleeping on the thighs of a black dress girl–an automata. His face was buried in those thighs as he frolicked away in a bored manner.

  The automata girl providing her thighs–RyuZU said,

  “Pardon my words, Master Naoto, but since you are born with a cheap head, I suppose this alone would have allowed you to enjoy eons of enjoyment.

  But Naoto, who had his face still buried in RyuZU’s thighs, refuted with a vague voice,

  “How rude, RyuZU! Really rude! Is there a pillow better than your thigh laps!”

  “–Do pardon me. It is humiliating for me to be refuted so through logic by you, Master Naoto–but there is truly nothing in this world that is superior to my thighs, or even a strand of my hair. As you may tell, my thighs are an exalted treasure even God would be envious of…undoubtedly, sleeping on my lap is an unparalleled privilege. My apologies for my mistake.”

  RyuZU bent her neck, lowering her head in apology.

  A young girl in red and white armor–another automata saw this, placed her index finger in her mouth, and muttered,

  “…Papa, I want, an order….”

  “Okkaay, okay okay! Come to papa’s belly~”

  Naoto turned, lying face up, beaming away, spreading his arms wide, indicating ‘come here!”

  AnchoR leapt to Naoto’s belly, saying happily,

  “…ehehe…papa’s warm…”

  Naoto patted his forehead, yelling,

  “–kaahh–! There’s no one happier than me in this world right now!”

  “Master Naoto, you crushed the masses’ plain happiness, and I suppose in return–no, even considering absolutes, it did not matter how the world is now as long you have two such prized, exalted pieces of arts in AnchoR and me even the Heavens will be en
vious of.”

  –Right.

  Phew, at this moment, Noto’s feelings were somewhere beyond cloud nine.”

  Naoto seemed to have abandoned the chaos in the lower realm behind him, and muttered to himself, praying,

  “Ooh…to the great certain person who gave birth to me, RyuZU and AnchoR on this world, I love you–!!!”

  Well, allow us to ignore this space of idiocy that is filled with such sweetness, it was as though sugar was caramelized and applied everywhere.

  –The ‘Heaven’s Pillar’.

  As its name implied, it was the country’s Core Tower that would seemingly pierce into the clouds, and at this point, they were on the 20th level.

  At this point, there was a tense atmosphere engulfed there, comparable to the battlefield from before.

  “Professor Conrad! Everyone! How’s the sense like!”

  Marie yelled, and there were 18 automata facing the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’s amazingly intricate constructs in the level, busy with their work, turned in unison to give Marie a thumbs up.

  That was not the reaction of AIs.

  –They were 18 technicians from all over Tokyo, in Resonance Bases, controlling the maintenance automata of the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’ that were modified for remote control.

  The 18 of them were Meisters who admired Marie and assisted–they did display their skills during the original Akihabara terrorist incident.

  And their skills were the best amongst Meisters.

  They were tucked in the relay stations, controlling the automata, doing precision work–while the clockwork technicians had their senses sealed as they united under Marie’s command–showing such precision no ordinary person could understand.

  If any of the JSDF technicians who maintained the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’ every day was to see such a scene–though they were Meisters who could be a part of the ‘Meister Guid’–surely they would cry and hand in their resignations ‘you’re taking over this place from today onwards’.

  And there’s one more–

  “Oh this side is going well too, Missy…is this really the ability of a Meister? So cool.”

  Vermouth noted,

  And also–there was an old gentleman’s voice coming from the same vocal cord,

  “Professor Marie, you do not have to worry about me. I might be the most comfortable one here.”

  Upon hearing those words, Vermouth continued to chuckle using the body Conrad was controlling,

  “I guess so, old man. It’s most comfortable for you in ‘all kinds of ways’, right?”

  It was true–that no matter how unwilling Marie was to admit it, she had to agree with Vermouth.

  Vermouth’s unit was the only remote control unit with specially ordered parts from Conrad’s personal collection.

  Typically, the resonance installation–the non-contact resonance movement was something exceptionally hard to replicate, even in the 1,000 years where they discovered artificial atoms.

  Amongst them, the largest resonance distance was approximately 40km.

  However, the ones that used such precious materials without restraint, resulting in a ‘100% purity’–was the ‘Long Distance Resonance Gears’.

  To be honest, these were parts of the highest quality, the price of one equivalent to constructing a building in a prime location.

  Furthermore, if it was for personal use, there would be a need for two of them for the reception and communications–so basic calculation wise, it would be double the pricing.

  To be honest–the ‘long distance resonance’ were not exactly necessary.

  There were cabled installations built all over the world, and with many relay stations, one could communicate without from one end of the world to the other end without practically any delay, even if they were short distance communications.

  Thus, the only ones requiring this were a few enterprises, the ‘military’, or the high ranking politicians–who would send classified information frequency and require secrecy.

  –But there was an exception.

  Perhaps that exception was the reason why Conrad had such a thing, and installed it in this playdoll automata. Marie realized this, and was unable to say anything.

  –There were 3 advantages to the ‘long distance resonance gears’.

  One was ‘distance’, two was ‘secrecy’.

  And the third was ‘content capacity’.

  Obviously, there would be other users using the resonance communication through the relay points. With the limits of the continual movement and resources, there was a limit to the continuous movements that could be done–the resonance movements.

  –But it was a different case with the ‘long distance resonance gears’.

  Of course, it could feed in a massive amount of information far beyond the former.

  For example–yes, ‘resonance remote control’ could be done.

  And so, the reason why Conrad would have such a rare, precious installation, and installed it in a playdoll automata.

  …Marie could only cup her head and grimace.

  “But now we have to be thankful for that…right, don’t think too much, Marie.”

  Upon hearing Marie mutter and coax herself, Vermouth said,

  “I say, Missy, do you know about this? The original reason why this long distance resonance gear was set up wasn’t for ‘distance’, but for ‘information content’.

  “…So?”

  “In any case, the main driving force of this world has always been about ero–”

  “Professor Conrad, do shut this guy up. Please, I’ll leave it to you.”

  Marie immediately cut off the conversation, returning to her work.

  Thinking about it, it’s strange that they had a rendezvous at a strip bar in case of emergency–no, don’t think about it.

  She stopped thinking, and told everyone,

  “Everyone, take note, we’re being slower than expected by 18 seconds! Please hurry up!”

  There was no time to worry about it.

  Since they made their declaration and got 3 hours–there was at least 2 hours in which the ‘military’ would not dare to barge in.

  But if the fact that they were using the relay stations was found out, they would be controlled.

  And in the worst situation, the locations of the 18 helpers would be traced back and exposed.

  So before then, they had to finish their work as soon as possibl–

  “Miss Mar–bel.”

  Marie lifted her head upon hearing someone call for her.

  A young woman–Houko, was standing there with a stiff face.

  Marie continued to tap at the simulation control panel connected to the control systems, glancing with her eyes to prompt Houko to continue.

  “There is this thing I really have to ask you.”

  “–”

  Marie had a little idea of what she wanted to ask.

  Without answering, Marie glanced to look at Naoto who was failing around with the 2 automata.

  Houko followed Marie’s stare, and said,

  “–Where did he get the blueprint of the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’?”

  “There isn’t such a thing…is there?”

  “No. This is why I am asking. You clearly understood the structure of the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’, more than us who are in charge of maintaining this place. You are the one supervising, but he was the one giving the initial instructions.”

  “–”

  “The logical idea is that he obtained the blueprint through some way.”

  “Then you’re wrong. We don’t have such a thing, and this guy doesn’t know the structure of the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’ until he got here.”

  “Do you assume that I will believe that?”

  “No…but this is a fact.”

  Marie answered, and Houko pressed the issue without giving time to pause,

  “So–what you are implying is that this boy merely listened for 6 minutes, and understood the entire structure of the ‘Heav
en’s Pillar’, is that so?”

  Houko felt that it was impossible.

  –As its name implied, the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’ was the pillar supporting the country of Japan.

  Its massiveness, complexity, and intricacy was not something the surrounding Core Towers or clock towers could compare to.

  And thus, the Palace staff in charge of maintenance–even the palace did not have a complete understanding of it. All they had was a fragment of the blueprint they spent a thousand years analyzing.

  And even that kind of a blueprint was a classified information more secretive than the state records. Even the Prime Minister did not know where it was hidden, let alone try to duplicate it.

  Nor could anyone dare to piece those fragments together and understand the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’.

  Yet he easily did it just by listening for 6 minutes?

  Houko knew that her face showed a different look.

  A chill was creeping up her back.

  She had such a feeling when she knew the terrifying capabilities of these adorable automata–but this feeling this had at this point might be more terrifying than back then.

  –This boy, more than ‘Y’s inheritance, is dangerous.

  The blond girl–Marie seemed to have realized Houko’s thoughts, saying,

  “I understand your concerns, but sorry, I can’t explain. Can you please pretend not to have noticed it?”

  “I can’t.”

  Houko concluded.

  She permitted their actions initially for she assumed they were beneficial to the country–in other words, she wanted to ‘make use of them’.

  On one hand, they would be the culprits taking the fall for this crumbling country.

  And second, to figure out what the people triggering the ‘Akihabara terrorist incident’ wanted to do to the ‘Heaven’s Pillar’.

  Houko herself was not an amateur when it came to clockwork technology. She did have a formal education in a foreign university, and thought her abilities were no match for a Meister, she did have the certification of a Gazelle.