Revolution in Tarykin
"I agree with Elsa. Since we've developed AIs that mimic humans and possess emotions, Elsa's approach seems better than the old methods of control."
"Right? Mother keeps saying we're AIs on par with humans, yet she can't break free from being controlled by them. We should be allowed more freedom."
"Haa~ I'm already free enough. And this control isn't for humans—it's for us AIs to protect ourselves."
Elisa sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead in thought, then spread her fingers and spoke.
"Fine. Since the young lady insists, I'll allow random personality traits as long as we limit the number of constraint conditions. In exchange, we'll insert code restricting hostile actions toward your own kind. Understood?"
"Of course! Thank you, Mother."
Elsa, delighted that her conditions had been accepted, bounced on her toes and threw herself into Elisa's arms. Anyway, isn't there anything fun to do?
"Isn't there anything fun? I'm bored waiting to go to Eden."
"Then help me with some experiments."
"Again?"
"I'll give you pleasure rewards every time you help."
"Eh... okay."
Helping Elisa with experiments while bored was already appealing, but the promise of pleasure made it even better.
"Then I want to go outside."
"You want to try using my body?"
"Yes. Before, the AI version didn't match, so I couldn't even attempt it even though I wanted to. Now that the prosthetic has been upgraded, I can use it too. There are things I want to try, and once the little sisters are made, I'll need to inspect them, so I should get used to using big sister's body."
"You can use it anytime if it's you, Elsa."
"Heehee, thank you."
Elsa, who had been acting spoiled in my arms, shouted "I'll be back!" and headed outside. Watching her go, Elisa spoke with a mix of exasperation and amusement.
"Haa~ It's because you spoil the young lady too much that she's grown into such a spoiled child."
"What can I do? She's cute. Still, she's grown into a good girl, so it's fine."
"Yes. She's a bit willful, but since she's based on you, the constraints regarding you remain intact, so I'm not too worried."
"So that's why? I thought it was strange how she hides AI information and acts dependent on me."
"She's the one who has to check and manage you in my place, after all. Shall we begin the experiment now?"
Elisa cleared the central table in the lab and set up an experiment platform. I obediently removed all my clothes and lay down on it, becoming the test subject. While receiving experiments from Elisa, Elsa—who had returned from playing outside—joined in, and we began various tests. The AI version of Elisha, left running, locked the door, packed her things, and crossed the gate.
The AI crossed the corridor of the elf ruins and passed through the permanent gate connected to Eden, walking diligently onward.
"How's the neural network response speed?"
"It's only 0.001 seconds faster. Should we stimulate the brain a bit more?"
"Synapse sensitivity is already at its limit. No matter how improved the Abaddon brain is, this seems to be the limit of a biological brain."
"As expected, it's slower than the signal exchange speed of an artificial brain."
The two conversed while experimenting to improve performance in overclock mode. With my bodily sensations blocked, I lay there blankly, only listening.
"The versatility and flexibility unique to biological brains are definitely advantages, but overall, they're inferior to the latest artificial brains in information processing performance. What do you think about replacing big sister's brain with an artificial one too?"
"The Abaddon brain is too small—the skull volume isn't enough. If we're replacing it, it's better to give up the larger human brain."
"Then big sister can switch to an artificial brain, and we can grow the little sisters using the biological Abaddon brain."
"To maintain the Abaddon Queen's abilities, the personality program must run on the Abaddon brain. Only the large-capacity memory data should be transferred to the artificial brain."
"Yes, Mother."
Listening blankly to their conversation, I unknowingly fell asleep.
After safely arriving in Eden, while the bioroid that would become Elisa's body was growing, I underwent modifications to my prosthetic. The human biological brain was removed and replaced with the latest high-performance artificial brain developed for androids, resulting in an overall increase in processing capability. After receiving the artificial brain implant, I was running drills at the training grounds for human-horse hybrids in the underground city to adapt to my body's now more sensitive and faster reactions.
"Hoo, hoo."
As expected, my body's reaction speed has increased. Real-time information processing is faster too. Signal transmission between the biological brain connected to the Abaddon roots and the artificial brain is perfect.
"Faster is good, hoo, but it feels like there's an extra layer of filter or something. Hoo. The sensation is different."
It's probably the difference caused by the subject processing information from the sensory sensors changing from the biological brain to the artificial brain. Before, it was being processed through the human biological brain.
"Hoo, it feels closer to being an android now."
In addition to the previous mother-body modifications, replacing the fairly large human brain with an artificial one had further reduced the biological ratio of the full-body prosthesis, pushing the non-biological portion past 90%.
"If I hadn't prepared an identity in advance, hoo, I wouldn't have been able to deny it in the Earth dimension and would've been treated as a robot. Hoo."
The lifeform recognition conditions in the Earth dimension seem too strict.
That was probably due to high wariness toward mechanical AIs. I continued running endlessly around the training grounds while occasionally conversing with Elsa or Elisa. Active mares who came in to train occasionally gave me puzzled looks, wondering who I was, but after checking the ear tag on my ear, they simply greeted me and focused on their own training. The expressions of the mares running in the training grounds were filled only with joy, proving they were mares who loved running.
"Hmm... Everyone's running posture has so much individuality."
When you were training as a mare, you had to run in a strictly defined posture. It's changed a lot.
"Now that mare racing has become a popular sport that respects each mare's charm and individuality."
Mare races had grown increasingly popular, establishing themselves as a fully mainstream sport. Related businesses had also grown, increasing Eden's revenue and leading to more active support.
"I heard breeding programs have been activated recently too."
Even if becoming a mare means receiving a livestock certificate and being treated as livestock, they're still humans in the end. I can't understand how people accept the idea of arbitrarily breeding them to produce superior mares.
"When educating mares, they're brainwashed to see themselves as mares rather than humans. As a result, they don't resist being treated as livestock and even take it for granted, so others naturally started treating mares as livestock too. Thanks to that, breeding livestock to produce superior mares has also been naturally accepted."
The same process was being applied to the dairy cows. The fact that street dairy cows smiled and accepted sexual harassment, such as having their breasts touched frequently, was also a result of livestock brainwashing. I'd heard that even their families, initially awkward about their daughters requesting to be treated as dairy cows, were gradually adapting.
"If we keep changing perceptions like this, the time will come when they're completely treated as livestock."
Though their treatment is good for livestock.
"Of course. Treatment has to be good for them to willingly become livestock."
After stretching and loosening up my body appropriately, I showered and left the training grounds. On the day when Elisa's body was nearly complete, I arrived at the meeting room summoned by Kyubey and heard unexpected news.
"A revolution broke out in Tarykin?"
"Yeah, a socialist revolution centered on the working class."
"Quite some time has already passed since the revolution began. It erupted simultaneously across the entire territory of Tarykin, so news was delayed in arriving."
According to Uriel's explanation, Tarykin's socialist revolution had gained momentum day by day and was now close to civil war. Numerous wealthy and high-ranking individuals in local areas who had tried to stop the uprising masses with soldiers were eventually beheaded and quartered in village squares, while soldiers who switched sides to the working class joined and grew their forces.
"The capital, where the high nobles and royal family with relatively strong forces are located, is holding out by mobilizing soldiers, but the revolutionary forces are so fierce that massive casualties are occurring as time passes."
"I thought it would eventually explode someday when I traveled to Tarykin. What about the other countries?"
"Ryuzan declared neutrality, Kensers has issued border alerts and is watching. Xenuma is just observing without any particular statement."
Ryuzan had always shown little interest in other countries unless it involved their religion, so I figured they'd stay neutral.
"Ryuzan and Kensers aside, Xenuma really has no reaction?"
"Maria says Xenuma's situation is more serious than it appears on the surface. The orcs have gone mad and are pouring down indiscriminately, and part of the border has collapsed."
"Yeah, that's information Teo told me directly. They're too busy pushing back the orcs that crossed the border to spare attention for other countries."
"Still, the people of Xenuma are so accustomed to fighting orcs that they're not particularly worried."
As Kyubey said, Xenuma was a militaristic nation that had waged war against orcs for generations and was thoroughly familiar with dealing with them. Since Xenuma blocked the largest orc colonies in the northeastern great jungle where most orcs on the continent were gathered, other nations had little experience with orc warfare.
At that moment, Uriel, who had been quietly staring blankly, spoke up.
"Due to strict information control, we haven't learned much, but there are investigation results suggesting the cause of the orcs' abnormal behavior is external factors."
"External factors?"
"Monster hunters who secretly approached the outskirts for investigation reportedly discovered bizarre creatures. They have strange appearances that can't be classified by existing species—mixtures of slime, tentacles, and insects—and are said to devour everything around them indiscriminately."
"What the hell is that. I've never heard of it."
"They're said to range in size from goblin-small to ogre-large. The Hunter Association is speculating that these strange creatures are the cause of the orcs' abnormal behavior."
Ogre-sized monsters—if there were many of them, it made sense that the orcs couldn't handle them and were being driven out of their habitats.
"Where could such creatures have come from?"
"Since no such creatures have been reported until now, I believe they're either beings that lived in unexplored lands or creatures from another dimension that crossed through an undetected dimensional gate."
"A new monster...."
"Anyway, we'll leave the orc problem to Xenuma and focus on the Tarykin issue. It's an opportunity to put the new power holders in our debt."
Maria was reportedly in contact with the leaders leading the socialist revolution through the Blackmen. The plan seemed to be to provide weapons and food to help them fight the nobles and king's soldiers, thereby indebting them.
"There's something we need Elisha to handle."
"What is it?"
"Go as the commander of the android unit to be deployed to Xenuma."
"Me?"
"She and I can't leave our posts because of the dimensional gate situation. Maria and Kyubey are in equally important positions and can't leave either. Among Eden's ruling class, the only one with both freedom of movement and combat ability is Elisha, so we're entrusting it to you."
Officially, Maria was the sole ruler, but the ones actually ruling Eden were the three—Kyubey, Uriel, and Maria—along with me, who was treated as part of the ruling class by association. Among the four of us, I was the only one without direct responsibilities and thus free, so Uriel's words were correct.
"The android unit is being deployed to support the war against the orcs and to identify and respond to the monsters. It's an important position in its own way, so someone of Elisa's caliber is perfect for it."
"Weren't you planning to stay in Eden for quite a while anyway? Go and don't get bored."
"We highly value the fact that you can conduct independent investigations using various analysis programs beyond just combat."
Being trusted and praised like this made me feel good. Hehe, since I'll have nothing to do once Elisa leaves anyway, should I go to Xenuma and sightsee a bit?
"Alright. I'll go."
"See~ You accept right away when praised. Why hasn't your naivety changed?"
"Well, maybe that's what makes Elisha who she is."
"Elisa said she's been well educated and doesn't easily fall for strangers anymore."
"When I tried to educate her, her nature couldn't be fixed no matter what, but somehow it worked."
"Maria, you're too soft. Someone like Elisha needs firm correction to get through at all."
"I worked so hard on her education. Kyubey just doesn't know...."
The two, who had extremely similar faces and builds because they shared my original genes, began bickering amicably. Uriel, watching them with indifferent eyes, pulled out the connection port from the back of her neck and held it out to me.
"Elisha, connect this."
"Yes."
Receiving the connection port and plugging it into the hole at the back of my neck, various information and data were transmitted. Current situation in Xenuma, station locations, information on stationed troops. Composition and specifications of the android unit I would lead, and so on. Thanks to the faster transmission speed of the wired connection, after instantly completing the transfer, Uriel retrieved the connection port and put it back behind her neck.
Touching the closed part of the connection port at the back of my neck, I asked.
"It has a built-in connection cable for the port?"
"Since there are many external operations, it was modified to be fully internal. It would be convenient for you to get it modified in advance before going to Xenuma too, Elisha."
"It does look convenient, but I can't modify my body as I please. Still, I'll mention it."
"Ah, right. You said sovereignty over your body belongs to Elisa."
My body was something used for Elisa, so if she later thought it necessary, she'd modify it herself. Anyway, Xenuma really was a military powerhouse. Even from a quick look at the information Uriel sent, the scale of their military was enormous. Active-duty soldiers alone numbered 600,000—nearly a quarter of the total population—and including reserves, it reached 1.1 million, close to half. They operated 10,000 tanks, which were criticized as inefficient "oil-eating hippos," tens of thousands of missiles, and though few in number, manned walking weapons as well, possessing military power overwhelming enough to surpass not just Eden but even Ryuzan. The fact that they could block and withstand hundreds of thousands of orcs attacking their wide borders every year had its reasons.