Data Center (3)
Knock, knock.
The sound of a knock at the door.
Click.
I quickly hit the switch and cut the connection between the TV screen and my smartphone.
Anyone else looking at the TV would probably just think it was a movie rather than the Nano World, but it still felt better to keep the secret as tightly as possible.
"Come in."
At my permission, Secretary Hwang stepped inside, arms full with three iceboxes.
"Sir. The ice cream you requested."
Secretary Hwang's tone was as polite as ever.
"Oh, the ice cream's here!"
I took the iceboxes and opened a lid. Thick white smoke from the dry ice billowed upward.
The white vapor drifted across the floor like mist.
"I've packed as many flavors as possible—vanilla, chocolate, almond, and more."
Secretary Hwang listed the varieties as she carefully held out a cup.
"Oh, cups too! Thank you."
"And here are the spoons."
Secretary Hwang bowed her head and quietly left.
Three big tubs.
Should I have offered her a bite?
For now I opened the ice cream lids and scooped some into the small cup.
Then a spoonful.
"Mmm!"
Sweetness flooded my mouth—cool sensation, soft cream.
"Mmm… perfect."
I smiled and took another spoonful.
I was tasting the ice cream, but I hadn't bought it just for myself. This was a special treat for the nano-people, JH's core engineers.
I opened the large refrigerator standing off to one side behind my seat. Honestly, it was packed with all sorts of foods I had never even tried myself.
"I prepared everything since I don't know what they'll like."
I pulled only the ice cream from the iceboxes and put it into the freezer.
"I've got to feed them ice cream at least once."
There were plenty of delicious foods in the world, but I couldn't leave ice cream out.
Click.
With Secretary Hwang gone, I sat back down and reconnected the smartphone to the TV screen. I operated the smartphone that linked to the Nano World again.
The view of the Nano World appeared. At 8K, the fun of watching was on a completely different level.
But the atmosphere beyond the screen felt a little different from usual. How to put it—like they were preparing for battle.
Did someone invade again like last time?
I placed a call to Illys.
"Yes. Constellation."
"Illys? This seems like a different location than usual."
"There's a report of a strange place inside the castle. We plan to explore it today."
Behind her, knights including the knight commander stood fully armed. Behind them, mages with staffs. Illys had properly assembled a team.
"Where are you heading?"
"To the castle basement."
"The basement?"
"Yes. It seems to be the previous duke's secret place. Constellation, would you like to watch with us?"
I had been planning to watch the Nano World on the 8K big-screen TV anyway. Just what I wanted.
"Sounds good."
"Then we'll head down to the basement."
"Go go."
The knights, the mages, and Illys descended into the basement. The screen grew darker and deeper. Illys's party followed the spiral stone stairs downward. I watched it all on the large screen.
A rather eerie atmosphere. It felt just like watching a first-person protagonist-view movie.
"We've arrived."
Beyond the screen lay a strange magic circle. Its lines wavered irregularly, and at the center was a black hole.
"Illys. What is that?"
"It seems to be a dungeon."
"A dungeon?"
Illys nodded as she looked toward the TV screen. She couldn't see me, but she could tell the direction the TV was capturing, so she always thoughtfully matched her gaze to it.
"Yes. It appears the previous duke created it."
Well. It was a duke's castle, after all—there couldn't be a dungeon without the master's permission.
"Constellation. We'll try entering the dungeon."
"Alright. Be careful."
Ten knights and ten mages formed up. Knights to the front, mages to the rear, and Illys at the center. Standing in the middle, Illys shouted.
"Let's go in. Enter dungeon!"
With her cry, the magic circle glowed blue. In an instant the screen flashed.
Whoosh!
The scene on the 114-inch TV switched. Dark cave walls revealed blackened stone pillars. Cracks ran every which way like traces of incomplete magic. Black mist flowed faintly between the pillars. Now and then water droplets fell, dampening the dry floor.
Illys's voice came through.
"Everyone, be careful."
The knights scanned their surroundings. The scene on screen looked damp—metal and mold, old blood and stone dust. The floor was artificial packed stone, but covered in moss and dust. The screen moved slowly, following Illys's movements. This was some first-person cave exploration view—not Indiana Jones.
I held my breath in front of the TV.
Then it happened.
Beep, beep!
The space rang out. A metallic resonance seemed to vibrate through the entire cave, followed by a mechanical-sounding voice.
"What's that sound?"
"It seems the security function has activated! It's combat!"
At her shout the screen shook.
Swoosh.
I touched the screen with two fingers and pinched them together. The field of view on the TV widened. In the corner of the expanded view—
"Grrraaagh."
Corpses rose to their feet. As they stood, dust and rotting flesh fell away, revealing white bone.
Huh?
These were not creatures I wanted to see on an 8K screen.
"Uwaaaargh!"
The zombies howled.
"They're undead!"
The scene on screen was far too realistic. On the TV, zombies—no, undead—approached with guttural growls. The knight commander stepped forward and drew his sword.
"Knights! Strike off the undead's heads!"
The knight commander's cry echoed through the cave. His thick voice resounded along the stone walls, and the knights' eyes flashed.
"Hah!"
With battle cries the clash of armor erupted. Metallic sounds and vibrations poured out all at once as the knights charged as one.
Bang!
Slash!
Slash!
The sound of blades severing bone filled the cave. Sword tips flashed like blue flames as the undead's heads fell. It looked brutal, but the knights' steps never faltered. Their skill was excellent—one step, one cut.
"Maintain formation!"
But there were many enemies. They kept coming in droves from who knew where.
"Mages, shield the knights!"
Illys commanded the mages with a shout.
"After the shields, long-range attack!"
In an instant the screen filled with blue light. The mages' spells activated and barriers flashed.
Ziiing.
Shields settled over the knights' bodies. Fire, ice, lightning—magic of various colors engulfed the undead horde.
"Graaagh."
"Kyaaaa!"
Scratch.
The sound of claws scraping shields. Shields that blocked light attacks. Blood sprayed, undead limbs flew, magic soared through the air.
Wow…
It was like an 8K movie scene. At a glance, they were winning. Vivid screen and our side winning—fun to watch.
Before long, Illys's team had cleared the undead horde.
"Good work, everyone. Moving out."
Illys's party members advanced further into the cave. I touched the screen.
Swoosh, swoosh. Tap tap.
I spread and pinched my fingers. The screen zoomed in and out—up, down, left, right. I surveyed every corner of the large screen. This was basically a scouting function.
But up ahead, there was some huge dog. Its body was red as if burning, and it had two heads.
"Illys. There's a two-headed dog up ahead. Its head height is about that of a standing person, and its body looks almost like a ball of fire."
"Ah, no way! A hellhound?"
"What's a hellhound?"
"A hellhound is a dog summoned from hell to guard something. It can't move from its spot, but its defense is considerable and it attacks with hellfire."
So a strong guard dog that stays put. Get close and it's a fiery hell.
The knight commander thumped his chest boldly.
"I shall take it on myself!"
"It might be a hellhound… are you sure?"
"I've wanted to test myself against one someday."
Illys shouted toward the knight commander.
"Power up! Shield! Shield! Blessing of Wind!"
Shields and blessings could be seen settling around the knight commander's body—receiving buffs in real time. The always-cute Illys in front of me showed her charismatic mage side in battle.
"Then I shall engage! Hah!"
The knight commander flew through the air, bringing his sword down.
Bang bang!
KRA-BOOM!
"Hah!"
"Kyaaaa!"
The hellhound and Knight Commander Carlton went one-on-one. The knight commander's combat was spectacular. But the hellhound's torso was hot and hard. Hellfire blasted from the hellhound's mouths.
Fwoooosh!
It seemed to fight as if it itself were a ball of fire. Intense heat seemed to transmit even through the screen.
"Urgh! Hyah!"
Clang!
One of the shields wrapping the knight commander shattered.
Clang!
Another shield broke.
"Urgh!"
The knight commander retreated for a moment, flying back. His magnificent beard was singed by the fire.
"Are you alright?"
"Ahem. My apologies."
Illys thought for a moment.
"Constellation. The hellhound is quite strong. But since it's holding its ground, we should retreat for now."
The duel on the large TV—knight versus beast—had me gripping my seat with sweat.
Hmm. Our side was being pushed back a little. The fire-breathing hellhound looked considerably strong. But it seemed the hellhound had a restriction of having to stay in place. If it was stuck in place, was there no way to deal with it?
As I pondered that, I suddenly noticed the styrofoam box beside me.
"Ah!"
Opening the box, dry ice remained. The pieces were about half a fist in size. I grabbed the end of the bag holding the dry ice and smashed it against the edge of the desk.
Thud, thud.
Some of the dry ice broke apart.
"Perfect."
I operated the smartphone.
Dry Ice Fragments
Whoosh!
The small dry ice fragments disappeared.
"Illys."
"Yes."
"I've sent something extremely cold, so try summoning it on the hellhound."
"Understood! Summon!"
A giant magic circle formed beneath the hellhound's feet.
Rumble rumble.
And something massive rose up.
"Kyaaa!"
The hellhound, startled as something erupted from under its feet, spewed fire. Fire blasted from its two heads and mouths.
Hissssss!
That fireball met the dry ice and billowed white smoke.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
White smoke filled the air. The hellhound thrashed that hard.
Fwoooosh!
Hissssss!
The fire the hellhound spewed melted some of the rising dry ice.
Fwoooosh!
Hissssss!
But the dry ice was far too large.
Fwoosh. Hiss. Fwoosh. Hiss.
"Kack!"
The hellhound diligently melted the dry ice, but more and more kept rising. In the end, a completely frozen hellhound. It didn't match the name of a fire-breathing hellhound at all.
"No merchant can stand against quantity."
If it breathes fire, cold is its weakness. Of course if the amount was small it wouldn't work, but the characteristic of the things I send to Illys is that their quantity becomes enormous. Moreover, since the hellhound had to stay put, I just needed to summon the dry ice right there.
"Constellation! Thank you so much."
"Haha. Don't mention it."
"A giant ice chunk! No, it looked colder than ice. Amazing."
"It's not simple ice. If left alone it's so cold it's dangerous, so now offer the rest back as tribute."
"Yes!"
Sponsorship and tribute. The function for Illys and me to exchange items. I sponsor; Illys offers tribute. But items that needed to be cleaned up like this could be easily removed using the tribute function.
Swoosh.
The hellhound's corpse disappeared along with the giant frozen dry ice chunk. It had been offered to me as tribute. Of course if I accepted it, it would be summoned to Earth. But there was no reason to summon dry ice containing a hellhound corpse to Earth—in case it revived or something.
"Once Illys gets outside, I'll reject the tribute."
"Yes, sir!"
This way we could cleanly dispose of the hellhound carcass in the Nano World. This method was already familiar between Illys and me.
Illys and her party examined the area behind where the hellhound had been guarding.
"There's a door here."
Clunk.
And when the knights opened the door, they were startled.
"Wow!"
"Whoa!"
Wondering what it was, I too couldn't help my surprise when I looked.
"Jackpot."
What the duke had wanted to protect even with a hellhound. The ducal house's hidden fortune.
"Wow, this is mithril. Of course a ducal house couldn't be poor."
Illys said to me as she looked at the mithril.
"Constellation. There's a lot we can do with mithril. If we coat the semiconductors with mithril, their performance will improve even further."
Mithril, which everyone on Earth called a dream metal. Especially Wilson Hwang of Mvidia kept asking me what mithril was. Of course I hadn't told him. Even if I wanted to, I didn't know much about the metal called mithril myself.
"Constellation. Which semiconductor should we coat with mithril? The LPU? HBM? Or both?"
From beyond the screen, Illys held mithril in both hands like rice cakes—no, mithril.