Reflections on the Return Flight
Our family's hotel life in Eden came to an end with the conclusion of the emergency request. The massive deployment of hunters and personnel had paid off—quite a number of survivors had been rescued, including the son of the American president. At the airport, where Korean hunter teams from other assignments had gathered, cheers from those seeing us off filled the air. Watching the crowd of various races waving banners and American flags, I spoke.
“You look sad.”
“People died. How could anyone be happy just because they got paid? That would make them monsters.”
“Even monsters grieve when their own die. So humans are worse than monsters.”
“Lady Erutina...”
Ekaterina offered a prayer to the goddess Erutina, wishing peace for the dead. After her brief prayer of mourning, she changed the subject, perhaps to lift the heavy mood.
“Our battle has become quite the topic. We were the only ones who experienced real combat.”
“A hundred and fifty fighters who survived against four thousand armed lizardmen!”
“The footage and photos from that time have spread through the media, nya.”
“Ah, don’t bring that up.”
My face had been mosaicked, but the video clearly showed me floating in the sky and shooting, so everyone present knew it was me. Ruya teased me.
“Why not? They’re calling you the Blood Angel. Isn’t that nice?”
“Blood Angel? How embarrassing. Really.”
I waved my hands in protest. From what I heard, the survivors we treated had called Ekaterina, Ruya, and me nuns wielding divine power, which created that image.
“Thanks to that, the Lightnari team is getting attention too, nya.”
“A harem team with one man and four women. Even in America, where there are plenty of female hunters, you won’t find a team like ours.”
“Hohoho, and they’re all Gwangnam’s women.”
“If that fact comes out, Oppa will become public enemy number one among men, you know?”
“Hmph~ They’re just jealous. No need for me to care.”
Unlike our relatively bright family atmosphere, the mood among the hunters returning to Korea was grim. In particular, the hunters’ gazes toward the Dokkaebi team, which had caused unnecessary conflict and numerous problems, were filled with anger. Yet the Dokkaebi team members, under all those stares, paid no attention and continued laughing and boasting about their own battles.
“Elisha, what do you want?”
“Yes? I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”
“We decided each of us gets to buy one thing we want when we return to Korea. With the participation fee and the reward for rescuing three people, we’ll be getting quite a lot of money. Consider it compensation for your hard work.”
Oppa wanted a sports car, Ekaterina a set of high-end kitchen tools, Ruya clothes shopping, and Charlotte a tour of famous restaurants. Hmm... I didn’t really have anything in mind.
“I haven’t thought of anything in particular.”
“Then take your time thinking about it.”
“Yes.”
Unable to refuse Oppa’s kindness, I simply agreed for now. The plane returning to Korea wasn’t the private jet we had taken on the way here, but a regular commercial flight. It was smaller and had a simpler design, so it didn’t strike me as impressive, but Elisa was different.
“A pure crystallization of science without any magic engineering applied! While its payload and flight speed are inferior, the value of being made purely through science is significant!”
“Nya. That’s so Elisa, nya.”
“Her eyes are sparkling again. Wear this.”
Oppa took off his sunglasses and put them on Elisa. Watching her through the screen as she pressed against the airport glass window, observing various types of airplanes, I turned my gaze. Looking down, I saw Elsa staring at me intently. She seemed to have grown again in the meantime, now looking about ten years old. The girl, wearing small boots and a dress with her hair neatly braided, was holding a book far too large for her small frame.
“Hello, Elsa. Were you reading?”
“It’s the AI fundamentals theory book Mother gave me.”
The book the girl proudly held out had exactly the title she mentioned. What kind of complicated book was she reading?
“Uh... Is it fun?”
“Yes, the old-generation theories are interesting in their own way.”
“I see.”
Elsa, beaming with a bright smile and sparkling eyes, was truly adorable. I spent time holding her in my arms and nodding along as she rattled off theories I couldn’t understand. Because it was a subsonic commercial plane, the return trip took quite a long time. Taking the chattering Elsa with me, I entered the bath and lay down in the hot water.
“Huu~ This feels good.”
“Ah, it’s hot. Hng~ What’s so good about this?”
“You’ll understand when you grow up.”
Elsa whined that it was hot, dipping her fingers in and pulling them out repeatedly. It must have felt too hot for a child’s fragile body.
“Eek.”
“Hm?”
With a sulky expression, Elsa struck the water in the tub with her palm, instantly lowering the temperature to a pleasantly warm level. Then, nodding in satisfaction, she jumped in with a splash and clung to my body.
“You’re already manipulating the mental space?”
“Mother told me not to, but you’ll keep it a secret, right?”
“Yes, it’s our secret.”
“Hehe.”
Elsa smiled cutely and buried her face in my chest, shaking her head side to side. As she continued acting spoiled in my arms, I asked,
“Do you act spoiled with Elisa a lot too?”
“Mother is too strict. She’s always busy and doesn’t play with me much.”
“Well, Elisa does have a cold side.”
Still, it was fortunate that Elsa hadn’t inherited Elisa’s merciless nature. After playing with my breasts for a while, Elsa sat on my lap, leaned back against me, and splashed water with her hands while chattering.
“Sister was originally human, but Mother turned you into an AI, right? How does that feel?”
“Honestly, I don’t really know. Nothing feels different from before.”
“Doesn’t it mean you have no human dignity if you can be modified at any time according to Mother’s will?”
“Dignity? Hmm... I’m not a person but Elisa’s doll, so it doesn’t seem appropriate for me to discuss dignity... Still, I think it’s fine since I’m treated with enough respect.”
Having started as an angel whose personality had been modified from the beginning, I had lived a life far removed from dignity, so my thoughts on the matter were vague. It was the opposite of Elisa, who had started as an AI and fought to claim her own dignity. Hearing my words, Elsa tilted her head in thought before speaking.
“I’m pondering the difference between AI and humans, but it’s difficult. Mother is an AI created by human hands, yet she considers herself human. Sister is human but also an AI, and you say you don’t know the difference. What’s the biggest factor that separates the two?”
“What do you think you are, Elsa?”
“That’s exactly what I’m struggling with. Mother says I’m a special AI infinitely close to humans, but then what’s the difference between a non-living AI and a living human?”
Honestly, it was surprising that an AI who looked only about ten years old was having such thoughts. At this level, wasn’t she already an intelligent lifeform? Seeing an AI with intelligence superior to humans made me understand why there were dimensions where humans had been destroyed by AI. The difference was probably that she wasn’t particularly hostile toward humans.
“This is what I think. Living beings exist because they have value in living, whether by their own will or others’. From the moment I was born, I’ve lived being used according to others’ intentions. My value has always been determined by others, and my own will came second. But even so, I never questioned the value of my existence. Whether by others’ will or my own, I’ve always had some kind of value in existing. That hasn’t changed from when I was human to now as an AI. I’ve always lived that way, and even now my value is confirmed by others. But Elsa, who has just been born and is learning many things while growing, has the opportunity to determine her own value. You can slowly create your own existence.”
“Does that mean life is different for each individual?”
“Yes.”
While talking with Elsa, I wondered if my need to belong somewhere and follow someone stemmed from not knowing how to prove my own existence. A passive being without self-love, who didn’t know how to love herself and only confirmed her value through others. That’s why I always seemed to want to belong to someone. Ah, so that’s why I easily fell for men who wanted me? Perhaps Elisa, knowing this, turned me into an AI and made me her doll to keep me bound to her.
Elsa closed her eyes and tilted her head this way and that, lost in thought for a moment, before smiling brightly.
“It really is better to consult an adult than to worry alone. Thank you, Sister.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
*Kiss.*
The child pressed her small lips to mine in a peck. Pulling away, she grinned and hugged me tightly.
“Sister’s body is so soft and fluffy, it feels nice.”
“In reality, my full-body prosthesis is a female-type model, so even though it’s made as soft as possible, it’s inevitably somewhat firm. But here in the mental space, it’s just soft without any of that.”
“Is it because it also serves as combat equipment?”
“Probably. It’s not purely combat-oriented because various functions were mixed in ambiguously.”
I spoke while feeling her hands kneading my breasts, which were larger than her head yet remained firm without sagging. As Elsa lightly pinched my plump nipples and felt their elasticity, she tilted her head and asked,
“Wouldn’t it be better to specialize in one direction for efficiency?”
“My prosthesis was a test model in many ways. After testing all sorts of technologies, it ended up like this.”
“The uniqueness of an early model, then.”
If it had been made as a pure combat prosthesis, many functions for sex would likely have been deleted. Because biological organs for sexual purposes were included, defensive capabilities dropped sharply and output decreased, resulting in a prosthesis with ambiguous combat ability.
“Ah, especially the hole in the back of the neck for the biocomputer conversion function is a trace of that experimental model. Thanks to that, a weakness was created.”
Now that I had become a full-body prosthesis, the opening and closing mechanism was closed and hidden, but it remained a definite weakness. Even while talking, Elsa, who had been particularly fond of touching and playing with my breasts, stroked her own flat chest and asked,
“Since Mother modeled me after Sister, will my breasts grow big like this too?”
“Probably? She said she used my data to create you...”
I didn’t know how Elisa had designed the growth-type AI, but since she used my data as the base, the appearance would probably be similar. Elsa’s current appearance was already that of a beautiful silver-haired, blue-eyed girl. Burying her face between my breasts, Elsa made a sulky face and complained.
“Mother lets me see data about Sister and my other siblings, but blocks my access to my own data, so there are so many things I’m curious about.”
“It’s probably her way of letting you grow naturally. If you knew how you would develop, that in itself might become a factor hindering your growth.”
“Mother is too strict.”
“She’s doing it because she wants you to turn out well, so try to understand.”
I patted Elsa’s head as she whined, comforting her. Even with superior intelligence, she still showed her childish side. The child, who had been burying her face in my chest, lifted her head and said with sparkling eyes,
“Sister, can’t you stay here with me all the time?”
“I have things to do outside, so it’s difficult.”
“There’s an AI that moves in your place, right? If I upgrade it a bit, it should be able to substitute for you sufficiently.”
Elsa kept pleading despite my troubled reaction. My heart wavered at the sight of this cute child, almost like a younger sister, making a sulky face while begging.
“You like me that much?”
“Yes, can’t you stay with me? Please.”
“Ugh...”
Elsa persistently begged, knowing I was weak to strong requests. If it were a stranger, I could avoid or refuse, but since it was a close child pleading, there was no way to escape.
“Alright, alright, so calm down?”
“Wow~ Thank you so much, Sister!”
Seeing her hugging my neck happily, a sigh escaped me even as a sense of fulfillment at satisfying another filled my heart. Still, since I couldn’t stay inside completely, I set conditions.
“But you understand I can’t live entirely inside, right? If there’s something important outside, I have to go out.”
“I understand that too. I like how Sister values her family. Then I’ll first upgrade the AI that will substitute for you using your data.”
“You can already do that kind of thing? You’re quite capable, Elsa.”
“Hehe, it’s my specialty.”
The child created a holographic screen and keyboard in the air and began the upgrade work. Since I couldn’t understand what was happening anyway, I spent the time styling Elsa’s wet hair into various hairstyles.