Time (1)
Time (1)
The method to return to before a specific point in time had been blocked, but for me, that didn't pose much of a problem.
Having a Divine Treasure stolen and failing to confirm the identity of that black-robed person stung, but no one had died, and I had no desire to rewind time even further back than that anyway.
So, moving forward, I would need to meet that bastard again and, before the return path was blocked, carry out the task of confirming things a bit more thoroughly.
For example, by wandering around the imperial Forbidden Archive and checking the contents of that book more meticulously.
Just as it had been when I entered that place a few years ago, it was still a place that even a princess could not easily access.
But the thing was, I had already been inside.
I already knew which parts were vulnerable from entering multiple times in the game, and I had actually gone in and out a few times in reality to grasp the internal layout.
...... Though getting in was far more difficult now than when I had gone in and out years ago.
As I crawled diligently through the gaps while the clanking of cylinders echoed noisily, I thought to myself.
To be a little more precise, this sort of flat-on-my-belly crawling itself was hard for me. It wasn't impossible, but—
Whenever busty characters in subculture made comments that sounded like they envied the flat-chested ones and angered me, the usual talking points were things like stiff shoulders or feeling uneasy going downstairs because they couldn't see their feet. And, quite astonishingly, I found myself sympathizing with those words in more ways than one.
Even when wearing a school uniform, if I didn't fasten my chest as tightly as possible inside, running around was damnably difficult.
"...... Hah."
I stopped crawling and let out a deep sigh.
Above my head, a massive cogwheel turned, and hydraulic cylinders moved steadily, producing the sound of well-oiled machinery at work. Fortunately, there were no steam-belching machines here.
The Forbidden Archive was hidden in the deepest part of the imperial palace, that is, deep underground. Under normal circumstances, there was no path to descend. You absolutely had to take an elevator, and the entrance to that elevator was inside a room protected by a thick steel door, with countless guards posted both outside and inside that room.
Back when Alice and Leo infiltrated the palace, they had decided not to go that way for that very reason.
Granted, it was a bit odd to see characters who normally handled four to six heavily armed soldiers at once avoid that area just because a few enemies were standing there...... but, well, even though this was a world where bullets could pierce people, in actual combat, you could survive getting hit multiple times as long as you had potions or healing magic.
In any case, that was why those two had chosen this maintenance passage.
Analytical engines and difference engines were installed inside the imperial palace. Unlike CPUs that used semiconductors, massive engines driven by steam power were necessary to produce machines that behaved a bit 'computer-like'. And inside them, countless large and small cogwheels, ratchets, and hydraulic cylinders turned endlessly to display information on 'something like a screen'.
Naturally, the more parts there were, the more places there were to break down. The largest components were the size of a person, while the smallest were as tiny as the tiniest cogwheel in a wristwatch—innumerable components that required periodic repair once they reached the end of their service life.
And naturally, there were access points for going in to repair them.
Those access points were of course guarded by people as well, but—
Under normal circumstances, there was practically no way to get in here and reach the Forbidden Archive. You had to find and enter spaces like this, where no one would expect a person to go.
It was only because Alice and Leo had found and read the palace blueprints in advance that they had barely managed to get in.
I already knew that route.
...... If I were to turn back time, I could probably just pass through that entrance.......
But having spent several years here talking in various ways with the people who worked inside the palace...... well, how should I put it, I was rather reluctant to use it.
It was fortunate that I at least had this method.
*
At first, I thought they had just turned it into a dungeon, but when I actually entered, it was identical to the one in my memories, which had been truly fascinating. Though it was such a complicated place that I had wandered quite a few times and gone in by turning back time.
Yes. A dungeon.
That was the reason I'd brought a gun.
With various thoughts in mind, I pushed the gun forward and steadily repeated the motion of advancing. Perhaps because I had built up a little muscle over the years, moving at a measured pace seemed manageable enough.
"Ngh."
Groaning, I stubbornly crawled onward and barely managed to emerge outside—
Creak-creak.
The sound of poorly lubricated machinery moving reached me.
Creak-creak. It was a sound distinct from animal footsteps, the sound of cogwheels moving.
I rose to my feet with the loaded gun in hand and looked ahead.
It was dim, but not unlit. Thanks to the faintly glowing Mana Stone, the interior of the room was weakly illuminated.
A figure in armor was moving around the room.
Where one hand should have been, a sword was attached instead, and a short firearm was mounted on the other.
But it had no legs. It looked as if its waist had been severed and the torso fixed directly onto a pole.
Of course, since the whole thing was a machine, it didn't feel particularly gruesome.
Like the moving targets at a shooting range, the metal rod beneath it was fixed inside a long gap in the floor. The sound of cogwheels turning came from within that gap.
It would follow me, moving along the lines drawn chaotically across the floor.
...... Since keeping a person stationed here at all times was difficult, these were security devices placed at intervals.
Though they were infinitely more stupid than a person, of course.
I raised my firearm and aimed at one of the moving ones.
Its weak point was something I knew. In the game, you could only strike the weak point as a finishing blow after depleting its HP entirely, but this wasn't a game.
Bang!
Along with that sound, the back armor plate of one unit was cleanly penetrated, and its torso slumped forward. Even as this happened, the metal rod continued to move steadily, and the disabled machine shifted its posture limply, dragged along by the rod's motion.
Fortunately, it seemed the security installations hadn't been changed.
But the moment it was confirmed that one unit had ceased operation, the torsos of the remaining two swiveled toward me.
The one on the right first, then the one on the left.
Alright.
Again!
*
Before the right one could fully turn, I immediately swung my arm and shot it.
The frontal armor of those things was not something an ordinary rifle could penetrate. It was better to take down two first if possible, then deal with the remaining one afterward.
Watching the last unit turn toward me, I promptly rolled across the floor.
The machine fired its gun the instant it turned. With a dull thoom, countless pellets of shot struck the floor where I had been, scattering sparks.
Seriously, it was a relief it was powered by cogwheels.
In a world without cameras capable of real-time video or things like laser-based motion-detection sensors, physical impact was the only method for a machine to perceive its situation.
The floor of this room was also densely packed with minute switches, and everything except the spot for the custodian to descend was a danger zone. One wrong step and the machines would immediately send bullets flying in your direction.
Processing the turning cogwheels inside the machine, determining the direction the impact came from...... none of that happened all at once. In any case, it could only determine things after the cogwheels had turned.
Thoom, thoom. With the machine shooting at the spot I had occupied several times, I ran vigorously around its center.
The sight of the machine approaching me via the fastest rail was, frankly, a little spine-chilling, but I hadn't faced these things just once or twice.
Thoom!
It fired once, then turned toward me after an infinitesimal pause—had there been just a little more time, that machine could have shot me.
Bang! Bang!
Still, since I had started turning with forethought, I was just a tiny bit faster.
Having circled to the machine's flank, I immediately put two bullets into its side. Creak-creak. Perhaps some parts had been knocked out, as its waist seemed unable to pivot.
I moved around to the machine's back and fired a final shot.
Only after the most critical component in its back had been destroyed did the machine slump. Though all three machines continued to follow me at a set interval because of the metal rods that kept ceaselessly trying to move them toward me across the floor.
With no time to linger, I headed straight for the next passage. The switches on the floor not only served to awaken those machines but also to alert the outside that an intruder was present.
In truth, under ordinary circumstances, even if you obtained the information, you would lose every means of escape.
But not me.