What in the world kind of scene is this?
Underground, in the mansion that served as the hideout for Tasan and the Torquetam.
A dark, damp room enclosed by iron plates, like a prison cell.
Haiarn was hanging from the center of it.
Surrounding Haiarn were women in maid outfits wearing eerie masks.
One of them held a whip that looked like a cleaning broom.
"Um…"
Akindura had already left.
She said she still had trade association business to take care of.
She really is dedicated.
"Help meeeee!"
The very embodiment of laziness, Haiarn, screamed.
Then she spotted me.
"Wh-why are you here?"
"Why!?! When did you get back!?! And more importantly, why are you doing this!?"
"Why, you ask…"
The maid wearing what Munieka had on—a butterfly mask—spoke.
"Haiarn. Because of you, Hydrangea was on the brink of a crisis."
"A crisis!?"
As expected of this rabbit. She hadn't noticed at all.
I sighed.
"Listen. You were building an empire inside the kingdom. That's pretty serious treason, you know."
"…Ah."
As I suspected, she really hadn't noticed.
Haiarn had gone completely still.
"I was wondering—didn't anyone try to stop her? The nobles in the aristocratic district, or the people who govern Hydrangea?"
"Master. Those types fled first."
"…?"
"The Tasan household's people were evacuated by Minosdor and the others. So no one is in the mansion."
"That explains why it was so quiet."
Nobles through and through.
Like rats fleeing a sinking ship.
"Oh, and breaking into that fortress-like headquarters building would be difficult with our current forces. Depending on the situation, Shiro and Rorif might even end up as enemies."
"Heh heh! They're members of my Haiarn Girls, after all!"
Haiarn crossed her arms proudly.
That really gets under my skin. Maybe I should take another swing at her.
"Mmm… today… bunny hotpot…"
"A wine stew would also be nice."
"Hey. Don't try to eat me. Anyway, what's that thing over there? The ship with the sphere attached?"
"What about it?"
"Oh, that's a ship."
"A ship?"
Right. Munieka hadn't seen it.
"Mmm… pervy rabbit… does the lab have a hangar?"
"It does."
"Mmm… I want to repair the ship…"
Oh right. That thing was damaged in several places.
As for me, I had absolutely no idea what was broken or how.
"Fine. I'll open up one hangar. But in exchange, you'd better give me a proper explanation."
And so, while Haiarn was still hanging there, Riv began to explain.
Munieka was listening to the explanation—though her mask made it hard to tell, her eyes were blinking rapidly.
Even the always-composed Munieka couldn't hide her astonishment at this.
Even a witch would be surprised, I supposed. I'd have to explain this to everyone later.
Haiarn began to speak.
"…A long time ago, I once excavated a ship similar to this one. It was completely destroyed—beyond repair."
"Something like that happened?"
"They call it a Child of the Divine Ship. As far as I know, the Seihou faith is the only one that possesses a complete one."
"The Seihou faith?"
"It's said to be in Juto—the cathedral city and holy seat of the great cathedral."
The cathedral city, Juto.
That was home to the Eucharistia Cathedral—the largest structure in the world.
Inside it was an entire city, and that city was called Juto.
A building so massive it contained a city within.
I couldn't even fathom how large it was.
Munieka furrowed her brows.
"That's a first. Why would the pervy rabbit know something like that?"
"Because I am Haiarn."
"That makes no sense."
Munieka narrowed her eyes.
That pervy rabbit really did know a lot of things, huh.
"M-more importantly, Wof—won't you show us around inside the ship?"
While she was still hanging up there?
"If you want a tour, Riv would be the one to ask."
"Mmm… leave it to me…"
The scenery shifted in an instant. The bridge.
Sci-fi–style seats and windows projected in midair.
"Wh-where is this?"
Munieka looked around in bewilderment. She'd been teleported along with us.
"This is the bridge."
"Oh. So this is it."
Haiarn was looking around too. She'd been freed the moment they teleported.
Munieka had removed her butterfly mask by now.
"I've never seen anything like this."
Well, this was a world of swords and magic, so that was to be expected.
"Hmm. I wonder what the rest of the ship looks like?"
Haiarn asked with an air of superiority. That annoyed me.
But now that she'd brought it up, I was curious too—the guest quarters, the engine room…
But Riv answered with her usual blank expression.
"Mmm… no… I mean… there's nothing there."
"Nothing?"
"…System… initialized… apart from the bridge and the engine… the data is… gone."
"What does that mean?"
"Mmm… this ship… apart from important blocks… like the bridge… everything else can be freely… reconfigured… its selling point… is customizability…"
"What does that mean? That's all very complicated."
Munieka tilted her head.
Haiarn didn't seem to understand it either.
But I did.
In other words, everything on the ship except the bridge and the engine had been initialized.
So it was completely empty.
If data existed, it could be incorporated in.
This reminded me of how dungeons were built.
Dungeons used resources to create monsters and pathways, and so on.
This ship was similar, except it used data instead of resources.
"Riv. Is the data physical, or is it purely digital?"
"Mmm… both… are possible… but physical… is better…"
"I see. So you convert actual objects into data and integrate them."
"…Yes…"
In that case, maybe we had something good lying around.
"Wof. You… don't tell me… you actually understand this…"
Haiarn was stunned.
I felt like she'd been insulting me somehow.
"I built something with a similar mechanism, after all."
"You built…?"
"Master, what is it that you've been creating?"
"A dungeon."
"Huh?"
"Wait, what?"
I could overlook Munieka's reaction, but Haiarn's attitude was really getting on my nerves.
"Mmm… the kid… at Haizen… is building a dungeon… something like… a permadeath game."
"Well, I mean… there was a bit of that kind of concept at first, yeah. But I've fixed that since."
In the early days, I had indeed drawn some inspiration from that concept as a starting point.
But now I'd moved well beyond permadeath.
"Is Wof really building a dungeon…?"
"I am. Shall we go to Haizen now? Riv, if you would."
"Mmm… before that… we need to retrieve Isibara."
"Ah, right."
"…If we don't get back… today… there'll be a huge commotion."
"That's true too."
"Master. Honestly, this ship is beyond my comprehension. For the first time in my life, I am thoroughly bewildered. However, I can see that you are accomplishing something extraordinary."
"Ah, thank you."
"Mmm… kid… spill everything… give everyone… the full rundown…"
"Right. We should go."
First things first—we'd retrieve Isibara and head back to Haizen.