Should I Have Thought About It a Little Longer?
Maybe I should have thought about it a little longer?
The circumstances that led me to build a toy robot went like this.
I woke up in a room that rivaled a five-star hotel, finished a luxurious breakfast, and was immediately summoned by Regalia. It was only natural, since the whole reason I’d been allowed into this mansion in the first place was her curiosity about me.
In her room, I told her everything she wanted to know about Earth—a pure world without superpowers or other races. Unfortunately, I had zero talent for captivating an audience, and a world that only had science and humans didn’t seem particularly special to her.
“Hmm… how boring. Is there nothing interesting at all?”
“Well, there was that time the president almost got shot and killed…”
“Shot? You mean a president can die from something like that? That’s ridiculous. Are all the people in your world this frail? Or are the heroes there so weak they can’t even stop bullets?”
“Both, actually…”
“Ugh… I was a little excited because it was another world, but there’s nothing special about it at all.”
Regalia clicked her tongue like a little old lady, then began to lose interest and turn away. Seeing that, I started fidgeting in a panic.
As her bodyguard had said yesterday, the only reason I was allowed to stay in this mansion was her goodwill and curiosity. If she lost even the slightest interest in me, I could be thrown out onto the street tonight…
Fortunately, instead of kicking me out right away, Regalia brought over a huge pile of toys from somewhere and said,
“Listening to stories is no fun. Let’s play house with me—!”
“Y-yes? Ah, yes.”
“You will play the role of a hero robot who lost his powers, retired, and is now getting revenge from the villains. Understood?”
At the absurd role assignment, I glanced at the toys. There wasn’t a single doll in a dress—the kind girls her age usually played with. Instead, the floor was covered with robot toys that boys would typically enjoy.
It wasn’t that Regalia was secretly a boy. I clearly remembered her bodyguard calling her “Young Lady” last night. Which meant her taste simply ran toward robots that boys would play with.
“You don’t play with dolls?”
“Dolls? Why would I play with something so weak? The current trend is robots! Super robots! Isn’t that wonderful?”
“Ahaha— My nephews like playing with dolls, so I just assumed…”
I see. After talking with her a few times, I realized her tastes weren’t all that unusual. After all, this was a world where supernatural beings like espers and heroes actually existed. It wasn’t strange for a girl’s interests to lean in that direction.
I looked at the robot she handed me. It was small enough to fit in one hand, yet ridiculously detailed. The limbs moved, the armor could be detached, and even the eyes had some kind of lens that sparkled. It was far too well-made to be considered a mere toy.
“That robot has a sad story behind it…”
“Pardon?”
“Curious? Then I shall tell you. It happened on my fifth birthday party.”
…Wasn’t that only a few years ago?
Watching her speak of something that couldn’t have been more than two or three years old as if it were ancient history made me want to laugh, but I hid my expression and focused on her story. After all, she was currently my only means of survival.
“On my birthday, government officials and heroes I’d only ever seen on television came to greet me. Some of them even brought gifts, hoping to win my favor. This was one of those gifts.”
“A gift?”
“Yes. Originally it could shoot beams from its eyes and hands, but it stopped working about a year ago. It felt too wasteful to throw away, so I kept it in case I ever met the giver again and could ask him to fix it.”
“Oh… I see.”
Only then did I understand why the robot was so meticulously crafted with such high quality. She was the young lady of this enormous mansion. She clearly had both money and power to spare. To win her heart, the creator must have poured his soul into every detail without caring about cost-effectiveness.
After staring at the robot for a moment, I remembered her saying it had stopped working a year ago and began turning it over, analyzing its structure.
Ah, found it.
“So anyway… what are you doing?”
“Could I try fixing this?”
At my offer to repair the robot, Regalia’s eyes narrowed suspiciously before lighting up with curiosity. She looked at me as if this would be fun.
“You’ll have to take responsibility if you break it, you know?”
“I might not be able to fix it, but I won’t break it. Probably.”
“Very well. Kitty? Bring me the repair tools.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
A short while later, I took the tools her bodyguard brought and pried off the robot’s armor to inspect its interior. Sure enough, there was what looked like a battery inside. Around it were rusted, dust-covered circuits and components.
She said it suddenly stopped working a year ago.
In most cases like this, the battery would be dead, but this one still seemed to have power. Since it was supposed to shoot beams, the circuits probably couldn’t handle the output and had burned out.
I used the nippers to carefully trim and reshape the internal circuits so they could function again. When parts were missing, I cannibalized pieces from the exterior. After working on it for some time—
Whirrrr—
“Oh, it works.”
“Wait, how did you…”
I reinserted the battery into the repaired circuit, reassembled the robot, and to my surprise, it began moving on its own. Just as Regalia had described, the robot stood up by itself, raised both arms, and fired beams from its eyes.
Ziiiiiiing—!
“Whoa, it moves! It’s moving!”
Regalia was overjoyed as she watched the moving robot. Seeing her like that made me feel good too. Not only was it nice to see a child smiling, but if she found me useful, I might be able to stay here a little longer.
However, the moment I saw the beam the robot fired streak across the sky, my uplifted mood plummeted in an instant. The beam sliced straight through the clouds and continued into the distance.
“Uh… uhh…”
“Uwahahaha—! Rdx-13! Fire once more!”
─Firing.
Ziiiiiiing—!
Watching the toy robot set the garden on fire at Regalia’s command, I was at a complete loss for words. I’d thought it would only fire beams at a toy level.
Damn it, no wonder non-powered people have nothing to do around here…
While I stared blankly at the robot, the bodyguard who had been watching us from the side let out a gasp of shock.
“How in the world…”
Why are you surprised too?
The bodyguard who protected Regalia from her side frowned as she watched the unknown man sticking so close to the Young Lady she guarded. An insignificant vagrant whose origins were completely unknown—how dare he cling to her like that?
A useless non-powered person, at that.
If the Young Lady weren’t so kind-hearted, and if she didn’t possess a natural talent for reading people’s hearts, that man would never have been allowed to remain here. The moment she lost interest, she would have tossed him back onto the street where she’d found him.
But because she was soft-hearted, she knew he was anxious and was playing along with him like this. Dragging out all those old toys she used to play with.
“This is from a while ago—”
“Ah, I see…”
Is he ignoring the Young Lady’s words—?
The bodyguard furrowed her brow deeply as she watched the man fiddling with the robot instead of listening to her lady. No matter how hard he tried, fixing it was impossible. Every single part had been handmade—it was essentially a work of art. Moreover, it was a super artifact created through the combined power of three or more espers.
It might look like a toy robot, but it was practically a weapon. And a non-powered person was going to fix it? Clearly impossible. She’d be lucky if he didn’t break something the Young Lady cherished and earn himself a scolding…
“Ah, it’s done.”
But astonishingly, the man succeeded in repairing the robot. She had no idea how he’d done it. Look—the Young Lady, who hadn’t even been expecting much, was blinking in surprise. Ah, even her surprised face is adorable.
After her brief moment of astonishment, the Young Lady smiled brightly while holding the robot he had fixed. Seeing that smile, the bodyguard instinctively knew.
There was no way the Young Lady would let this man go now…
Name: Rdx-13
Ability: Crystallized Energy
Description: A model of the giant robot that appears in the TV animation 「Assault on Daidis」. Unlike the original, it fires beams from its eyes and hands.
After I fixed the toy robot, Regalia stared at me with sparkling eyes, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“You… were you a scientist!?”
“Huh? No, not exactly a scientist…”
More of an engineer, actually.
But Regalia ignored my words and flailed her hands excitedly.
“—Eight! I shall grant you the eighth seat!”
“What does that…”
“It means I am inviting you to join the secret organization I created!”
I didn’t have time to wonder what this secret organization was or what the eighth seat meant. I had pretty good instincts, and I knew exactly what I should say in a situation like this.
“—I look forward to working with you, Boss.”
“Ooh—! You understand perfectly!”
How could I refuse when it meant free room and board? I mustn’t forget that I was a non-powered person with no identity and an illegal resident. Having found a new job, I grinned and asked my new boss,
“So, what kind of organization is it?”
“Hehe— It is an evil organization.”
“…What kind of organization?”
“An evil organization.”
Regalia wiggled her finger from side to side as she answered.
“In other words, a villain group.”
…Maybe I should have thought about it a little longer before accepting?