Chapter 168 : Chapter 168

Chapter 168: Homunculus (2)

Woong—

The rumbling occurred once more.

Vibrations rose from the damp ground.

Thud—

My eyes widened.

“Wh-what in the world is this....”

The three of us just swallowed our breath as if frozen.

It was like our instincts were warning us.

That figure beyond the fog was an inexplicable, silent strangeness.

Woong— Thud—

A massive frame several times the height of a person.

Its twisted limbs hung long and limp like tree roots.

Every time the round, shield-like cover on its head shook slowly, the fog shimmered ominously.

‘...It’s not a Demonic Beast.’

Should I call it a pulsation? I couldn't feel any aura of life.

‘An inorganic shell.’

It wasn't a living being, but just a moving, giant structure.

There was no trace of anything that could be called life.

Yes, a being that I couldn't even name.

It is the Unknown.

Woooong— Creeak—

It was after the thing had moved a couple of steps with its back to us.

Its cover-like head rotated with a creaking sound.

In the hazy fog, its reddish eye-light flared up.

I felt our gazes meet.

“Get down!”

I yelled in a low voice.

We each hid our bodies in the nearby bushes.

“Damn it, I've never heard of or seen a Demonic Beast like that! What in the world is it?”

“It’s not a Demonic Beast.”

“What are you talking about? Are you saying that's a person?”

“How is that a person?”

“Then what, are you saying we're all seeing a hallucination, Bolero?”

Bolero frowned.

I understood how he felt.

He must have been feeling the same way I did.

“Both of you, get a grip. No need to panic. If it threatens us, we strike back immediately. That's all.”

I commanded them as if I were instructing my unit from my past life.

We held our breath.

Crouched in the bushes, we sharpened our combat senses.

Well, Bolero and Noser weren't amateurs who needed me to explain every little thing.

Woooong— Thud—

Woooong— Thud—

‘...It's coming this way.’

A long shadow was cast before me.

I stuck my head out and stared in the direction it was coming from.

The distance had closed before I knew it, and its body was so large that I couldn't take it all in at a glance.

What came into my view was, at best, only a part of its leg.

No matter how much I looked around, I couldn't make it out clearly because of the thick fog unique to the swamp.

One thing was certain: it was looking for us right now.

‘No need to be scared.’

I repeated to myself. It's human nature to fear the unknown.

Why? Because we don't know.

‘Let’s just think of it as a dull Demonic Beast.’

I slowly drew the Heavenly Demon.

If I moved first, Bolero and Noser would follow suit on their own.

‘One, two....’

It was the moment I turned.

“Hello, is anyone there?”

It was a young woman's voice.

It came from the direction of the ‘giant unknown something.’

The thing is mimicking a human voice?

No, that's not it. It's a natural human voice.

It sounded close.

“W-who are you? Where are you?”

It was Noser.

I couldn't see his face from my side, but I could easily picture his anxious expression.

“Wow, you're real people!? My goodness! How long has it been, really!”

The other side couldn't hide their excitement either.

I couldn't get a grasp on the flow of the conversation.

“Come on out this way first! Kustos won't hurt you! Let's talk face to face!”

I stuck my head out again toward the direction of the voice.

The giant figure had already stopped moving, and in front of it stood a young woman around my age.

At first glance, her unusual attire caught my eye.

It was neither the shabby look of a vagrant, the appearance of a commoner, nor the clothing of a noble..., her outfit was so unfamiliar it seemed to belong to neither the Empire nor the Kingdom.

***

“My name is Panika. Nice to meet you!”

It was a cheerful voice that didn't match the surrounding scenery at all.

I couldn't readily give an answer.

In the first place, her self-introduction didn't even register properly.

My gaze was fixed on the giant ‘Unknown’ behind Panika, and the other two were the same.

“That... thing, what in the world is it?”

Noser was the first to speak.

The sound of him wiping his saliva was also heard.

Panika looked behind her, then looked at us and grinned.

“That's my friend, Kustos. Cool, right?”

The three of us blinked at the same time.

“That's your friend?”

“Yes! Of course!”

I raised my head.

My mouth fell open on its own.

Seeing it up close, how should I put it, it felt somewhat... hollow.

‘This is just... a tin can.’

What I saw beyond the fog was an unknown like death.

But what was revealed was a scrap metal frame.

Its limbs looked like long poles crudely pieced together, and its face was nothing more than a can with holes punched in it to mimic a person.

The rags and doll pieces draped over it were patchily attached, making it look ridiculous.

It was like a living, moving hideout for Wild Dogs and Sewer Rats.

“Say hello, Kustos!”

Simultaneously with Panika's shout, a red light flashed on in its empty eye sockets.

The three of us stepped back at the same time.

“Hehe, sorry. Kustos can't talk yet.”

“....”

When one is greatly flustered or surprised, one can become speechless.

That was our situation right now.

This time too, Noser spoke first.

“I've seen all sorts of magic in my time, but this is a first. To think scrap metal can listen to a person and move. Panika, where are your parents? I'd like to meet the mages who performed this miracle right away.”

“Eh— you're completely wrong.”

The gazes of the three of us, who had been looking up at ‘Kustos’, turned to Panika.

Noser narrowed his eyes and asked back.

“Wrong? Completely?”

“Yes. Kustos isn't just some scrap metal, he's an ‘Automata’.”

Panika turned and stroked Kustos's leg.

Her touch was as meticulous as if handling a pet.

“And Automata don't simply move by magic.”

The sound of small parts jingling followed from the pocket of her thick leather overcoat.

Panika grinned and then nodded.

“I'm the one who made Kustos. My parents passed away a long time ago.”

She pointed far away, in the direction where the Grimlok fortress was located.

“In there.”

***

Panika led us to her hideout.

“Uh oh, watch your heads there. I'm short so it's fine, but you guys might get a boo-boo!”

Her voice was full of excitement.

She turned to warn us, her face beaming.

She was like a child welcoming long-awaited guests.

“An underground hideout in a swamp like this. Is that even possible?”

“It is! Even in a swamp, if you dig just a little into the earth's layers, you'll find solid bedrock. Then, if you just drain a bit more moisture and design it well to disperse the pressure, a sturdy underground hideout is complete. Though controlling the humidity is a bit annoying. Hehe.”

I didn't understand what she was saying.

But as I listened, I realized I didn't need to.

“Of course, all of this is under the premise that the excellent Automata are all performing their functions well. Observation, design, verification, construction, management, all of it was done in a jiffy by the Automata I made. So, in other words, this underground hideout is a joint creation of me and my friends.”

...At this point, it would be strange if I did understand.

As I entered the corridor-like passage, a truly surprising scene unfolded.

It was as if a human house had been moved underground just as it was.

“You made all this by yourself?”

“Geez, mister. I told you. I made it with my Automata friends.”

“Mis, ter?”

“Oh right, sorry. Sir Knight!”

The three of us looked around with bewildered expressions, as if we had suddenly fallen into a strange world.

Every little thing our eyes fell upon was unfamiliar and fascinating.

Beebeeb-

Suddenly a noise rang out. It was piercing.

Soon, a red dot appeared on Bolero's forearm.

Bolero frowned and slapped the dot with his palm.

But the dot didn't disappear.

Instead, it remained on the back of his striking hand, twinkling.

“What is this, some kind of curse mark?”

“Ah, that's an Alarm Doll. It seems to have recognized you as an intruder, mister. It'll disappear if you step back from that shelf.”

Indeed, it was as she said.

When Bolero took a step back, the red dot and the noise stopped as if by magic.

Bolero, whose eyes met mine, shrugged awkwardly.

I took my eyes off him and continued to look around.

All sorts of junk were scattered messily on the desks and shelves, and their appearances were so unfamiliar that it was difficult to even guess their purpose.

It went beyond fascinating to the point of being bizarre.

“Panika, what is the reason you brought us here?”

At this point, I had to be the one to come to my senses.

The other two were still half out of their minds.

“You said you needed to go inside Grimlok, right? So I brought you here.”

Wheeeing—

Another strange sound came from somewhere.

This time it was a piece of scrap metal about the height of my knee.

It was holding a tray like a person, and on the tray were pieces of fruit, cut to be easy to eat.

“Eat up! You're the first guests to my hideout, so I'm showing you special mercy!”

“Hmm, in times like these, wouldn't it be better to say you're treating us, rather than showing mercy, Panika? The way you say it is a bit scary.”

“Anyway!”

Red skin with white flesh.

It's the fruit I tasted at the Aldenfort lord's mansion last time.

It seemed to be a variety from the southern part of the Kingdom.

“Can Automata gather or hunt too?”

After asking, my face flushed.

They can build a house like this underground, so wouldn't that much be a given?

The Automata that brought us the fruit finished its task and swiftly turned away.

It seemed to have wheels on the bottom.

“Only gathering. Hunting is impossible.”

Gathering is possible but hunting is not?

My eyes widened without me realizing.

What's the difference?

“Automata cannot extinguish life. To be precise, they are designed to be unable to perform the act of drawing blood itself. That is the creative principle and absolute rule of Automata.”

I couldn't give any answer.

I still didn't have a good grasp of what Automata were, so words like creative principle and absolute rule couldn't be easily understood.

“...But right now, inside Grimlok, Mutant Automata are swarming.”

Only then did the three of us look at each other.

Deiron's secret weapons that Oliver was wary of.

It was the moment I vaguely realized the identity of those things he had described as bizarre beings on the border between humans and Demonic Beasts.

“Mutant Automata?”

“Yes. In other words, Automata that were made for the purpose of killing people.”

Panika's voice sank gloomily.

It was a sharp contrast to her previous liveliness.

“We came here to beat every last one of those Mutant Automata and the Homunculi who made them to death.”

Panika quickly raised her head.

In that short time, her eyes had become slightly moist.

“B-beat them to death? The Homunculi?!”

“Yes.”

In that instant, Panika's pupils trembled violently.

Her complexion also grew paler, as if something had suddenly occurred to her.

I held Panika's shoulder.

“Calm down, Panika.”

I slowly sat Panika down.

Noser, who happened to approach from the side, bent his knees to meet Panika's eye level.

“Tell us everything you know about Automata, Homunculus, and Grimlok. We don't have enough information, so we can't fight recklessly.”

He seemed to be making an effort to speak in a somewhat kind tone.

Panika didn't even glance at Noser and just bit her nails, then raised her voice as if she had just remembered something.

“Ah, who are you misters?”

We had already done simple introductions.

It seemed she was asking what our true identities were.

Noser cleared his throat.

“Do you know Deiron?”

“Deiron? No? What's that? Never heard of it.”

Noser frowned.

He seemed flustered.

I kicked his thigh a few times to make him move aside.

When explaining something difficult to someone, it's best to first throw it out in an easy-to-understand way, then slowly correct it piece by piece.

“Deiron is the ruler of Grimlok. He's the one who ordered Homunculus to create the Mutant Automata.”

Panika's eyes widened.

She seemed to have understood and was startled.

Noser, watching from the side, muttered that I was quite something, and I was in the middle of snorting at him.

“...The leader who brought Homunculus to Grimlok is my father.”

All three of our mouths fell open blankly.

It seemed this was going to be a long story.

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