The Giant Robot of P City
The giant robot of Punk. Seeing this relic from fantasy brought to life, I couldn't help but burst out with admiration. I'd never seen anything like it on Earth either.
On Earth, where the concept of fantasy didn't exist, giant robots were nothing more than inefficient delusions. And in reality, that's exactly what they were.
Super robots were never adopted for military use, and no wealthy eccentric ever built a giant robot as a hobby only to unveil it to the public.
On Earth, robots were purely two-dimensional beings that only appeared in fiction.
"This is incredible... It actually moves?"
"...To be completely honest, it still can't move on its own yet."
"What? What do you—"
While I stood there in confusion, the researcher let out a bitter smile and spoke.
"It'll be faster if you see it for yourself. Would you like to take a look?"
As the researcher said this and manipulated something, the robot—which had been hooked up to all sorts of devices—began to move on its own.
But the moment it took a single step forward, something went wrong and it immediately started to topple over.
The only reason the robot didn't completely collapse was because of all the connecting devices plastered across its body. It certainly wasn't because it had managed to balance itself.
"Now do you understand? Why we're asking you to create a soul for it."
"...You're planning to teach it how to walk, aren't you?"
"Yes. That's correct."
The super robot before us couldn't walk on its own. It wasn't surprising. After all, walking is an incredibly complex motion. It's no coincidence that it takes humans over a year to learn to walk on two legs.
So just how much processing power would be needed to make this massive thing walk? They wanted to offload that computation to a soul.
If they gave the robot a sense of self and let it learn the motion of walking on its own, then this giant robot would finally be able to walk.
However.
"If that's the case, wouldn't artificial intelligence be better? Why me instead of Dr. Kuroi?"
"We contacted Dr. Kuroi as well. But he said he wasn't confident in reproducing his own achievements... and instead recommended Dr. Eight."
"Me?"
"Yes. Originally we were planning to invite Dr. Siira, the foremost authority on souls. But she also recommended you, which is why we ended up calling you here."
So neither Dr. Kuroi, the master of artificial intelligence, nor Dr. Siira, the first author of groundbreaking papers on souls, were chosen. I'd been wondering why it was me—and it turned out there had been this whole behind-the-scenes discussion without my knowledge.
I didn't feel displeased about it. If anything, I was relieved. The fact that this incredibly thrilling research project—one that made my legs tingle just looking at it—wouldn't be stolen by someone else.
I was genuinely happy.
"Very well."
I reached out toward the giant robot and said,
"As you wish—I'll give that robot a sense of self."
When creating something, the most important thing is the design philosophy. There are cases like Viagra, where something was discovered to have a completely different effect than its original purpose and the direction was changed—but usually, when making something, there is a clear reason for its creation.
What was the design philosophy behind this robot? That was crucial.
"Ah, you'd probably get the quickest answer by asking the developer directly."
"The developer... So not all of you are researchers?"
"We're more like research assistants. One person oversees the entire project, so..."
The researcher said this and led me toward the heart of the robot. Inside, a man with his face covered in thick black soot was fiddling with something while holding a wrench. He looked exactly like a chimney sweep from 19th-century London.
"—Mr. Steelstone?"
"Huh—?"
"This is the new research assistant."
The man called Steelstone carefully stood up. His height was remarkably short, but his torso was disproportionately large compared to his stature.
It wasn't so much that he was fat as that his bones were thick. If a dwarf from a fantasy novel existed, this was probably what one would look like.
"Research assistant? What kind of research?"
"Souls."
"Souls—? Why the hell would my robot need something like that?"
"It can't walk on its own... That's why the higher-ups urgently—"
"Those damn bastards. Manual control is way cooler. What's the big deal if it's a little slow?"
After grumbling like that, Steelstone roughly wiped the oil and grime from his hands onto his clothes before extending one toward me.
Even his hand was as big as a pot lid. After we shook hands, Steelstone grinned and began his introduction.
"Name's Steelstone. Sorry about the mess. I'm pretty much like this twenty-four seven, so you'll have to bear with me."
"I understand. I'm Dr. Eight. I came from E City."
"Hmm...? E City, you say..."
I thought he was going to start talking about the giant robot, but that wasn't it. Surprisingly, Steelstone brought up something I never would have imagined.
"That's the place, right? Where that Cream Band is."
"Cream Band...?"
"You don't know? They're super famous. That villain who sings, you know?"
At those words, a few things clicked into place, so I carefully nodded. In E City, which was ruled by a villainous organization, being a villain meant belonging to that organization. And within that organization, there was only one villain who sang.
The former violinist, Milk Pocato. The girl who had abandoned her violin for guitar and rock. I never imagined she was going by the name Cream.
"She sings for people exploited by corporations and governments or something? For some reason, the people who hear her songs become more rebellious, so the government has banned the songs she sings..."
"Villains don't care about things like that."
"Exactly! That's what's so great about it! Do you know her? If so, could you get her to come perform here once? As you can see, this is a bleak city with absolutely no entertainment."
I shrugged and said I'd look into it. If I made it obvious that I knew her, he might immediately start pestering me to bring her...
Right now, the important thing wasn't whether it was Cream Band or Cream Bread—it was the giant robot. Finding out why it was built was far more important.
"Mr. Steelstone? I have one question."
"What is it?"
"This robot. Why was it made? I mean—what is it supposed to be used for?"
At those words, Steelstone's eyes turned fierce. He glared at the researcher who had guided me here. The researcher, receiving that look, gave a light nod and answered.
"Security measures have been taken."
"Really? Then I guess it's fine to tell him?"
"Well... Though it's possible this person might risk his life to spread the secret far and wide."
Steelstone let out a low groan at the researcher's words, then looked me up and down thoroughly. After deciding I was trustworthy, he quietly opened his mouth.
"—It's a final weapon."
"...A final weapon?"
"Yeah. In other words—these guys in this city want to create a weapon that can win even if they fight against every other city combined."
At those words, Vira—who had followed behind me—let out a groan. Her eyes flashed with disbelief.
I stared at the robot for a moment, assessing its specs. In other words, whether this robot could, as Steelstone said, defeat every city except P City if they all fought against it...
'Well... If we exclude a few conditions... it might be possible?'
It was obvious that if every single person—meaning all the villains and heroes from every city except P City—joined forces to oppose P City, this robot's purpose could never be fulfilled.
Even I alone could come up with a way to deal with the robot if I went all out.
But thinking realistically. If villains interfered with heroes as usual, if the world didn't particularly sense the danger of this robot and thus didn't unite their strength, if there were no other hidden secret weapons like this one, and if our villainous organization didn't lend its power to the opposition...
Under those assumptions, it was a weapon with plenty of potential. Like, if we compared it to Earth, it would be like the world's one and only nuclear bomb.
You couldn't win against the world with a single nuclear bomb, but you could gain the upper hand. And if you played your cards right from there, you might even be able to aim for world domination...
"This sounds fun!"
"Right? This guy gets it!"
"Yes! I think I can lend a hand with this too?"
A final weapon powerful enough to turn the entire world into its enemy. And if a soul was born from that weapon, there had only ever been one type throughout history.
—A good-aligned hero who hated violence.
'A final weapon, huh...'
I smiled brightly as I thought about the sense of self I would implant into the robot. Should I go with a classic hero type close to the royal road? Or perhaps a pure girl type who had been turned into a weapon?
Just imagining the expressions these people would make once the soul took hold and the robot was completed sent a shiver down my spine.
Really. I was so glad I accepted this request.