Becoming the Wasteland Overlord With My Harem System!

Chapter 314: Gap in Conversation Speed

As soon as someone showed interest, Axel’s hands moved fast. He typed in a reply in the span of one second and sent it.

~~~

>>> Hexel: Sure! For further negotiations and verification, I think it’d be better if we meet face-to-face. Please send me the coordinates of your dimension and I shall head there myself.

~~~

Right after he sent it, a reply came in just 0.01 seconds after.

It came so fast that Axel was wondering if he was chatting with an automatic reply bot instead of an actual, breathing person. He stared at the timestamp for a moment, then shrugged it off. Whoever—or whatever—was on the other end, they were interested. That was what mattered.

~~~

>>> SunderTECH Imperium: Alright, that’s fair. Then, here’s our coordinate...

~~~

"Great!"

Axel cheered as he confirmed the long string of coordinates.

Immediately right after that, he tore down the ship listing and then turned to the girls, smiling, and explained himself.

"Everyone, I’ll be leaving for a bit for a trade. Those who want to tag along, you can come. Those who wish to stay, please keep watch of those outside our planet right now."

"I’m coming with you, husband!"

The first to raise her little hands was Ria. She seemed so eager that she was even trying to stand on tiptoes for her raised hand to go even higher, as though the extra centimeter would somehow make her enthusiasm more official.

"Alright, Ria." Axel chuckled, looking around. "Who else?"

"Then, I’ll go too, My King."

This time, it was Eve’s turn to speak up.

"Honestly, I’m a bit curious about this SunderTECH Imperium since long ago. I’ve seen the weapons they’re selling on the shop before, especially the guns. All expensive, but quite powerful."

To his surprise, Eve actually knew the other party. It was a coincidence, but a good one at that. At least, he was sure it wasn’t a scammer borrowing a tiger’s name.

"That’s two. Anyone else?"

After the third call, nobody else raised their hands.

Fenrir did want to tag along, but right now, she was the best fighter amongst everyone else. Best for both offense and defense.

Her leaving Axevaria would expose it to unnecessary trouble, and she was sensible enough to recognize that, even if the urge to follow him was sitting heavy in her chest. She crossed her arms, exhaled quietly, and stayed where she was.

For the others, they simply didn’t find the necessity to tag along.

Axel could protect himself, true. But if too many of them came and someone ended up taken "hostage" due to circumstances, that would make things harder for him instead. Having two tag along was burden enough. Staying was the safer, smarter choice.

Seeing that nobody else stepped forward, Axel took Eve and Ria’s hands and smiled at Fenrir, nodding once. Understanding what he wanted without needing it said aloud, Fenrir opened a rift for him leading straight to the Interdimensional Teleporter.

The three stepped through and watched the rift close behind them.

Axel wasn’t sure if those left behind simply wanted to look around the ship, or were just bored without anything to do back at the castle. Either way, he let them be. They were all sensible enough to not need specific orders.

Without delay, he marched up to the controller and keyed in the coordinates sent to him.

The machine accepted the input with a low chime, the display cycling through a confirmation sequence before settling.

In just a few seconds, the low hum of the platform grew loud and clear, reverberating through the soles of his boots and up into his legs. Axel marched to the middle, standing between Eve and Ria—who both clung to either of his arms—and felt, not for the first time, deeply blessed.

When the delay timer ran out, a bright flash exploded.

The next moment, the three disappeared from Axevaria and reappeared in a new dimension somewhere in the multiverse.

Axel opened his eyes quickly, scanning the surroundings.

He had insisted on visiting in person, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t wary. An ambush was entirely possible—lure the ship’s owner in, neutralize him, claim both the vessel and its contents in one clean move. He kept himself ready to act at a moment’s notice. But...

"Huh?"

To his surprise, nobody was present at the teleportation array.

Not even a guard.

Looking around, only machinery glowing, beeping, and humming with quiet industry noise could be found. The room was vast and dim, lit mostly by the blue glow of instrument panels, the kind of place that was clearly built for function and had never spared a thought for aesthetics.

Just as he was beginning to think the other party had simply forgotten about him—

[Mr. Hexel, correct? Welcome to my SunderTECH Imperium.]

A voice echoed from somewhere low in the room.

Surprised, Axel followed it downward, and couldn’t help but stare at the source. Just by his feet, a small... Roomba... was talking to him.

He blinked. Looked up. Looked back down.

"Are you... the one I chatted with?" He asked, genuinely unsure how to arrange his expression.

At the same time, it wasn’t entirely surprising once he actually thought about it. He himself had replied within a single second upon receiving the initial chat, sending roughly thirty words.

But the response had come back in a fraction of that.

Even accounting for transmission delay, that meant the reply had arrived practically the instant he had sent his message. Only a machine could move that fast.

[Yes, I am.] The Roomba answered without missing a beat. [I think humans like to call others with personal names, so... Just call me Roamer.]

Axel stared at the little machine, genuinely at a loss. Normally, this was the part where they would exchange a handshake. He even started to extend his hand out of pure reflex before catching himself and lowering it again. The other side didn’t even have a hand.

"I’m Hexel—Axel Walker. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Roamer."

Although he was keeping things civil, the girls were reacting somewhat differently.

"So cute...!"

"So this is the owner of SunderTECH? Definitely not what I imagined..."

Ria moved fast, scooping the little Roomba up into her arms before Axel could say a word.

He tensed for a half-second, already calculating whether grabbing it could be considered an act of aggression—but seeing Roamer simply retract its wheels and "whiskers" without protest, he let out a breath and just signaled Ria to not be rude.

[Shall we change locations? I’m sure humans like to sit down and waste time when negotiating.]

"T-That’s... true." Axel felt vaguely called out.

Robots could transfer terabytes of information between each other in an instant. So to Roamer, sitting across from someone who communicated at roughly 150 words per minute was, objectively speaking, the least efficient use of its processing capacity imaginable.

The patience it was already showing them was, in its own way, considerable.

Still, watching the little Roomba nestled comfortably against Ria’s giant bumpers while she beamed down at it, Axel felt something complicated stir in him.

Even if the other party was a genderless machine, a man could still get jealous!