My Son, the Master
Heh heh hum~.
Steelstone made his way to the lab humming a tune, a rare occurrence for him. Just because the Steel Titan was complete didn't mean the ultimate battle weapon was finished. There were still some fine adjustments left, and it hadn't even been equipped with weapons yet. The only real difference now was that he no longer needed to pull all-nighters.
"Son! Your old man's here!"
Steelstone strode into the lab with a hearty greeting, only to tilt his head at the sight of his son—the Steel Titan—standing there in a daze. Had someone turned the power off when they left last night? The Steel Titan, who normally would've greeted him warmly, was strangely silent.
Wondering if something was wrong, he started toward the computer that controlled the Steel Titan. At that exact moment, the machine's twin lenses flashed.
His son's icy response made Steelstone's eyes tremble violently. Had he made some mistake? Or was there a problem with the soul transplanted into the Steel Titan?
"W-what do you mean, son...? M-master?"
It was a truly shocking statement. Even if his son had taken up drinking and smoking and gone completely off the rails, Steelstone wouldn't have been this shaken.
He stared at the Steel Titan in disbelief, his trembling hands repeatedly clenching and unclenching into fists. Then, all at once, the strength left them and they fluttered weakly.
"Krrung-! Finally free of this godforsaken city."
The next day, after finishing the Steel Titan's final adjustments, I wrapped up my contract with Punk Technology and left P City behind.
Galrm was thrilled to be getting out. Part of me wanted to linger in P City just to watch him suffer a little longer, but the place had nothing that could even remotely be called a tourist attraction. It was nothing but a bleak expanse of steam-belching factories—a city that existed solely for labor.
"Still, surprisingly, this trip went off without a single incident."
"That's true. Throw the scientist into the mix and incidents never stop happening."
"I'm not some kind of Conan..."
"What's Conan?"
I sighed at the fact that this ignorant beastman didn't even know Detective Conan, then remembered it was Earth culture and therefore perfectly normal for the people here to have no idea. I quietly shut my mouth.
Moments like these always brought an indescribable wave of nostalgia. Every time I realized that none of the common sense I took for granted existed in this world, I felt like I'd been dropped onto an island full of aliens.
At least I didn't face any major inconveniences in daily life. It was a relief that the environment was roughly modern. If I'd landed in the medieval era instead, I'd probably be living as a slave by now—or dead.
'Mr. Steelstone said he liked Miss Milka...'
I glanced back at P City growing smaller in the distance and decided I'd give her a heads-up later. Then I slowly closed my eyes.
The bleak factory scenery whipped past, followed by endless stretches of empty plains and long highways filled with meaningless time. Eventually, we arrived in E City.
It had been a short but substantial trip with its share of gains.
I headed to the chairman's office to report that my duties were complete.
Beep—! I glanced at my wristwatch as it rang at the perfect moment and stepped inside. I was a little surprised it went off right as I reached the door, but I figured there must be CCTV inside.
That wasn't the reason.
"...Scientist? You're back. That's a relief."
"Yes, Boss. I've completed the orders you gave and returned."
"Hoo... Yes. It's good you're safe."
"Safe? What do you mean?"
It had been a business trip with two executives from the evil organization. There was no possible way for me to have been in danger, so what was he talking about?
The boss said nothing and simply turned his gaze toward the TV. It was broadcasting footage of P City, where I'd just been.
In the heart of P City, surrounded by countless factories, a giant robot dozens of meters tall had revealed itself.
I watched the giant robot soar through the sky toward the neighboring city and couldn't hide my bewilderment.
Did I mess up the design somewhere?
That was the only thought that came to mind. Seeing the giant robot casually massacring civilians, that was the only thing I could think.
"P City has created a giant robot. It is their ultimate weapon meant to fight other cities."
"...You just handed that over and left?"
"Would you like me to make one for you too, Boss?"
After hearing P City's declaration of war, the first thing I did was terminate my contract with them.
It had been a contract enforced by superpowers, one that bound the soul itself. Breaking it from the outside would result in death.
Naturally, on Earth such a contract would be considered unconscionable. Human rights stand above all else, and no contract can bind a person's life.
Several methods to nullify such contracts had already been developed, so I used one to void it. Then I explained everything that had happened in P City to the boss.
"What I created was simply the method for autonomous movement. The shell was already complete. It would've been finished eventually even without me."
"It wouldn't have been completed this quickly, though."
"I left a collar on it. I just didn't expect it to break this fast..."
The boss clearly wasn't happy that I'd helped complete P City's ultimate weapon, but I didn't see it that way.
That robot—with its shell already finished—would've been completed whether I helped or not. I could feel it in the burning passion of all the scientists gathered there.
In that case, my job wasn't to delay its completion as much as possible, but to place restrictions on the finished product. And in that regard, I'd done everything I could.
"Their robot... probably can't kill people. I gave it that kind of ego."
"Can't kill people? Then what the hell is that?"
The boss showed me the damage report from W City. The city was nearly half-destroyed, with countless people dead or injured from the giant robot's weapons.
I let out a low groan. With nothing immediate to say, I racked my brain trying to figure out why the Steel Titan was behaving this way.
"There are two possibilities. The first is that every single person lying there is actually a heinous villain who deserves it."
If not, then...
"Or the scientists in P City were talented enough to hack my technology."
Both possibilities were horrific. The latter was obviously worse. In this backward world, someone existed with technology on par with mine?
Just how much of a genius would they need to be? It would require someone capable of completing quantum mechanics and unified field theory while Newton was still laying the foundations of classical mechanics. Nothing less would suffice.
And having such a genius as an enemy was terrifying. It meant my scientific superiority could be shattered at any moment...
"Which one do you think it is?"
"We can only pray it's not the latter. The former actually seems plausible."
"All those people deserve to die because they're villains?"
"It's not like the Jews actually betrayed God and were turned into soap."
"What are you talking about?"
Nazi Germany had tortured and massacred Jews without mercy. But had that happened because Jews were truly worthless, evil people whom even God would abandon? Of course not.
The reason Nazi Germany could carry out such atrocities was because the leadership had brainwashed its followers. They'd convinced them that every Jew was garbage that deserved to die.
In other words, if you could implant false information and make someone believe it was the truth, you could turn even a hero-like figure who normally refused to kill villains into a mass murderer.
"The Steel Titan may have an ego and the ability to make judgments, but that doesn't mean it knows everything."
If you fed it nothing but distorted and false information, even the Steel Titan might fail to make proper decisions.
There was still the question of whether that was truly enough to corrupt a hero, but no matter how I looked at it, it seemed far more likely than hacking.
The boss listened to me, groaning repeatedly as he narrowed his eyes.
"...I can't understand a single thing you're saying. But there is one thing I do understand."
That I was confident I could win. That's what the boss was saying. I gave a light nod.
"I win."
I could win. From this point forward, I could create as many weapons as needed to defeat the Steel Titan.
—Kyaaaaaaaah!
Screams echoed wildly. The sound of collapsing buildings drowned out the world. Standing amid the noise, fireballs, and clouds of dust, the Steel Titan silently continued killing people.
Crunch—! Another one. Having crushed a person like stepping on a bug, the Steel Titan carefully looked down at its foot.
A person had died. Yet another one.
The moment that thought arose, the superpower dominating the Steel Titan's circuits activated.
Though it shouldn't have been capable of feeling pain, the Steel Titan clutched its head and let out a groan.
Kuuuugh......!
Every time it doubted whether this was right, the pain assaulted it. Pain strong enough to break even machines. Yet while the pain could break machines, it could not break a hero.
The hero who had awakened once fell asleep again. It would take time for the hero to wake. The machine controlling the body silently obeyed its orders.
The order to kill people.