Transport Pod
Transport Pod
013.
"Heeeeeek!!"
The Imperial civil servant Marie thought she was dead the moment she opened her eyes.
No, maybe it would have been better if she had died. According to the coordinates she had heard right before crashing, this was likely the rumored frontier.
Marie opened her eyes slightly and looked around. The climate visible outside the window. It seemed 100% certain to be that place.
Marie clenched her fists tightly.
In fact, a new settlement popping up in the frontier might not be anything special.
After all, new places constantly appeared and disappeared.
However, for a new settlement to endure in the frontier—specifically, for three women to survive all on their own—that was something extraordinary.
And that too, as three women serving that, th-th-that Outer God.
This was a place that had recently become quite a hot topic, causing everyone to whisper.
Rumors said they cut off both legs of any man who approached, drove wooden pegs into them, and performed unknown surgeries repeatedly for days on end.
And in return, food and supplies poured forth in the middle of a barren wasteland.
<Witches of the Frontier>
Yet right now, one of those witches was resting her hand on Marie's forehead.
"Heek...!! W-Witch...!!"
Marie screamed. She checked her legs first. Both were still there. For now, at least.
"Your fever has gone down. Thank goodness. Here, eat this."
What the witch offered was steaming hot potato soup. It even contained meat. Marie desperately racked her brain. What were they trying to do by fattening her up?
Were they going to harvest her organs like typical frontier folk?
Grumble.
But her stomach, starved for three days, was betraying its owner. One spoonful turned into two, and soon the bottom of the bowl showed. It was even delicious.
"Would you like to change into these clothes?"
The next day, new clothes were laid out. Instead of her scorched Imperial uniform, it was a shirt with finer stitching than anything found at a market.
The witches were kind.
They changed Marie's bandages twice a day, applied medicine to her burns, and asked if she felt cold at night.
Marie was confused.
It was different from what she had heard. Far from cutting off her legs, they applied the finest medicine to them.
Then, Marie ended up seeing it.
"...If that is your wish, I will gladly do so. Thank you as always for looking out for us."
The sight of the eldest witch looking up into the void and praying.
Her face was so clear and pious that even priests in a temple couldn't make such an expression.
At that moment, all the puzzle pieces clicked together in Marie's head.
These ladies weren't witches. They were saintesses who had mistakenly ended up serving a terrifying Outer God.
That man in the rumors must have been judged after trying to commit some terrible deed in their sacred sanctuary.
If so, there was only one answer.
She had to behave obediently—extremely obediently.
"U-Um. The soup was truly delicious, Saintess-nim."
"...Huh? Saintess?"
Yes, for now, she was a saintess.
"Oh, he's here."
Chwiiiiik-.
It had been three days since the Imperial airship landed again.
The door opened like wings, and that familiar carpet unrolled once more.
"Uh, wait. No way."
Right in the middle of it, a white noble wig popped out.
It was that ear-bleeding bastard, Mozart Theodore.
- "I humbly address you. This humble subject serves the Master of the glorious Solar Calendar Year 872, the Ruler of the Seven Rivers and Nine Mountain Ranges..."
"Ah, no!! Skip!! Skip!!"
Vivian waited while [ Polite ], the Second while [ Yawning ], and the Third while [ Fiddling with Her Fingers ].
I went to the bathroom. By the time I came back, the conversation finally seemed to be starting.
- "...Theodore has returned once more. Damn it. Since it blew up under this humble subject's jurisdiction, of course this humble subject had to come. Those Control Center bastards got scared and passed the buck to each other. This humble subject is different. In the entire Empire, this humble subject is the only one who understands the situation here."
However, while Mozart talked big, his feet stopped exactly three steps in front of the door.
- "I-I won't be smitten if I enter, right?"
"No, I said you can come in."
While I was scratching my head, Vivian guided him inside with a smile.
Soon, the flight attendant Marie came out of the back room, supported by the Second.
Theodore cleared his throat and picked up his quill.
- "This statement will be recorded in the Imperial archives. What on earth happened at the scene?"
Flight attendant Marie flinched in surprise upon seeing Theodore.
"What's this?"
Marie was in a state of [ Eyes Cast Down ], so that Mozart guy actually seemed to be someone of pretty high rank.
- "H-Hello. A raid party looted the ship and dragged me out to do terrible things to me. At th-that very moment, judgment descended..."
- "J-Judgment?"
- "Y-Yes. I couldn't even see where the gunshots came from. Yet the bullet pierced precisely the legs of the person holding me. Twice, no less. The Saintesses said that He was awaiting the right moment..."
"Hey now! That was just maximum firing range."
However, the Second was displaying [ Shrugging Shoulders ] beside her. She was definitely secretly enjoying this.
Theodore's quill moved busily. Then, he displayed [ Puffing Chest Out Boastfully ].
- "S-Saintess? Excellent, first of all. Ahem. This humble subject truly possesses a keen eye for people. Now then, I convey the instructions from the Control Center. Recognizing your merit in the rescue, state the reward you desire."
"Desired reward, huh..."
I had never seen a quest reward like this in the game before.
Usually, it just gave options for uncraftable items to select upon accepting the quest, but since this was an AI mod, it seemed to prompt a conversation instead.
I leaned back in my chair and began calculating.
'Then wouldn't it be pretty good to ask for whatever takes the most time to craft?'
After pondering for a moment, an idea flashed in my mind.
"Could that actually work too?"
Construction materials—bricks.
You have to build a stone cutter's table, have settlers haul rocks over, and process them—a material that doesn't even raise settler skill levels while sucking up a ridiculous amount of crafting time.
Raw material caravans don't even sell them, forcing you to shut your trap and craft them manually—that very endless hellish loop of bricks!
In the game, you can't buy bricks even if you have money. But in this AI mod, wouldn't it be possible?
"Yup, got my answer."
I pressed <Give Revelation>.
- Tell him we want marble bricks. A lot of them.
[ Balance: 1,000 pt ]
Vivian looked up at the sky and conveyed piously:
- "He desires marble bricks."
Theodore's quill came to a dead stop.
- "W-W-What? B-Bricks?"
- "Yes. Marble bricks. A lot of them."
- "No, wait. Not a title, nor silver coins, nor weaponry, but the Outer God wants bricks?"
Theodore displayed [ Scratching Head with Quill ]. He scratched it for quite a while.
- "P-Pardon, I mean, why ask for bricks? Er, excuse me, but may I ask what they will be used for? I need to write down the reason in my report."
Vivian displayed [ Contemplating for a Moment ], which soon changed to [ Filled with Conviction ].
- "His will is always revealed only later. It is beyond our comprehension."
"No, I just want to build a house."
- "I-I shall record it as such. 'Usage unknown. Presumed to be a divine oracle.' Whew... This humble subject never imagined the day would come in the eighth year of my scribeship when I would write down bricks as a divine oracle."
Theodore closed the parchment and displayed [ Straightening Collar ].
- "Then an airdrop will be made within three days. As for the quantity... I shall prepare it with sincerity, absolute sincerity."
Tiring-.
[ Empire Goodwill: +15 ]
"Oho, it actually works? Nice!!!"
I stood up from my chair and threw a fist into the air. I had been dreading having to craft every single piece of building material, so I never expected it to be solved like this.
On top of that, I had even prepared myself for a -5 hit to Imperial goodwill due to neglecting them. But what rolled right into my lap was components, an engine, Unit 2, and now a plus 15.
"If this isn't sweet as fuck, I don't know what is."
Chwiiiiik-.
Having finished his business, Mozart's airship took off with Marie on board.
Marie was pressed against the window, displaying [ Bowing with Hands Clasped ] toward the three sisters.
- "Saintesses!! I will never forget this grace!!"
And three days later.
Shweeeeeek-.
Something fell from high up in the sky, tracing a trail behind it.
A parachute deployed over a nearby field, and it touched down with a heavy Kuuung.
- "E-Eonni!! S-Something dropped!!"
"Oh, it's a transport pod!"
It looked like the Empire was keeping its promise.
Soon, with a chwiik-, the pod opened, revealing neatly stacked white bricks inside.
Since one pod held about 120 items, I figured they had sent around 120.
"Tsk, they could've given a bit more. 120 isn't even that much."
It was right as the three sisters cautiously approached the pod.
Shweeeeeek-. Kuuung-.
- "Heek!! Another one is coming!!"
A second pod dropped. The three sisters, who had been about to step forward, dropped back to the ground.
Shweeeeeek-. Kuuung-. Shweeeeeek-. Kuuung-.
Third. Fourth.
"Huh???"
- "E-Eonni, just how many more are coming?"
- "G-Get down!!"
From about the fifth pod onward, all three just glued themselves to the dirt and watched the sky. Only after the eighth pod landed did the sky finally go quiet.
"Oh, Mozart!!! I knew I could trust you!"
[ Marble Bricks ] x960
He said he'd prepare it with sincerity, and he really was overflowing with sincerity.
- "Ugh... Eonni, do we have to move all of this?"
- "I-It's heavy..."
The three sisters began shuttling back and forth between the field and the settlement like ants.
Groaning as they carried a few bricks at a time. The sun set, the next day passed, and the day after that too.
"Alright then, shall we get to designing?"
Looking at the front yard of the settlement, where 960 white marble bricks were stacked up like castle walls, made me feel completely satisfied.
Our settlement used to be a dilapidated ruined building, its holes patched up with wooden walls, and its rooms consisting of nothing more than a few tiny back rooms.
A fire-vulnerable house where a single blaze would burn away all our assets.
Not anymore.
"First, let's replace all the walls. Expand the storage. Add more rooms too."
Blueprints smoothly took shape in my mind. Over 16,000 hours of gameplay, I had built hundreds of houses.
I pressed <Give Revelation>.
- Vivian, we're going to build a new house with these bricks now. Let's decide together where to start.
[ Balance: 900 pt ]
Vivian looked up at the sky and displayed [ Clasped Both Hands Together ].
- "A-A house? Are we... building our new house with these? I thought we were building an altar..."
- "Eonni! Eonni! Are we building a house? I want my room over there!!"
- "I want a spot close to the kitchen,"
The younger sisters chimed in all at once, causing a commotion. The three of them chattered away while drawing lines on the dirt ground with tree branches.
All three had low construction skills, but building is something you can manage as long as the three of them take their time raising it wall by wall.
"Khehe, right, right. I'll fulfill all your wishes."
Watching them with satisfaction, I suddenly paused.
At some point, Vivian had gone quiet without saying a word.
Stepping half a pace back from her noisy sisters, she was staring quietly down at the lines drawn on the ground.
[ Gloomy Expression ]
"Vivian?"
The square she had drawn with a branch.
That is, after staring at the spot that would become a room for a long while, a pop-up appeared showing her whispering very softly:
"Back home, there were three rooms too..."