The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 494: David

Watching the settlements below light up with bonfires and candlelight, accompanied by the sounds of festive cheering and singing, a faint smile appeared on Tsubaki's face. It was as if, in this moment, he had found what he was looking for, leaving him quite satisfied.

Of course, although its name was the Ideal State, there were still many practical problems to face. For instance, many conflicts arose between the various settlements that had migrated into the country. As the saying goes, wherever there is life, there is conflict. Even though Tsubaki provided them with good food and drink, dissatisfaction still occurred. It might be because someone looked at someone else the wrong way, or a single word went to someone's head, leading to an argument.

Tsubaki didn't have any good solutions for this. He could only use his power as a Mythical Species to resolve things, just as he had used his Mythical Species power to solve the previous issue of material scarcity.

But at least, it seemed to be resolved quite well.

"Tsubaki, everyone is very happy tonight. Bring out the wine and share it with them."

At this moment, Margaret, who was standing beside him, suddenly said this.

"Now? But in a few days, Mother will finish the King's reincarnation. Although we're making fast progress with that little girl's help, Mother might finish early too. I've already seen the Eye Trees planted outside the country by the agents my brothers and sisters sent. It's better to be cautious at a time like this. Many races love wine, and if something happens—"

Margaret smiled and shook her head. After hesitating for a moment, she gently reached out and held the Elf's wrist.

"But this war doesn't really have anything to do with them, does it? As long as we stay clear-headed, that's enough. They know nothing. Today... is the first festival I'm celebrating since coming to this world. I no longer have any attachments in my past world; my family and friends are all dead, which is why I declined their deal...

"I don't have a home anymore, Tsubaki. This will be my home from now on. As my family, I hope they can be a bit happier these next few days. The conflict with your mother is inevitable, and if we fall, how could they possibly escape? So, even if... we ultimately fail, they will still be able to leave this world having experienced happiness."Despite being an Elf of the Mythical Species, his body still stiffened unnaturally when touched by this Rank Zero human woman.

He didn't let go of Margaret's hand. He had heard about the tragic past of the pitiful Transferred Person before him, and she sympathized with his situation among his compatriots on the Tree Continent. Both of them had experienced suffering, which was why they could understand each other.

"...Alright."

"What's this about drinking wine?"

Hearing this, the "confident version" of Gou Wen immediately walked over with a smile. He patted his chest and boasted shamelessly,

"In all the Four Seas, my alcohol tolerance is second to none! Hurry up and bring out whatever fine wines you have!"

"..."

The next second, Tsubaki raised his finger, and thick, hollow branches slowly grew out of the ground. As the branches grew, one could even hear the sound of liquid sloshing against the wood. Combined with the rich, pleasant aroma of wine, it made both Gou Wen and Mikhail gulp.

"Please, help yourselves, everyone. It's a festival today; we should all be happy."

Tsubaki's voice spread throughout the space of the Ideal State below. Upon hearing this, cheers from different individuals, settlements, and races quickly rang out time and time again in the dim night. With the addition of fine wine, the atmosphere here soared to a new height, like adding fuel to a fire.

Beside them, Mikhail and Gou Wen were preparing to go get some wine. Asuka Karasawa absentmindedly started to follow them, but before she could take a few steps, Margaret called out to her from behind.

"Asuka, you can't drink if you're underage."

"...I know. I'll go hand out Easter eggs to the children."

"Wait, I remember you sewed a very ugly rabbit for your teacher, didn't you? Did you forget to give it to him earlier?"

"Ah! You're right! But it's not ugly at all, it's just... well, I think it looks nice. After I finish handing out the Easter eggs to the children, I'll go deliver it to Teacher Fisher. I was too nervous when I brought him the food I made earlier. Hehe, I wonder if Teacher Fisher liked it. I'm off then, Margaret!"

Margaret smiled and waved at her, keeping her hand raised until she watched the backs of the three of them slowly disappear into the distance.

Then, she turned her head to look at the Elf who was still standing beside her.

"Tsubaki, why don't we have a few drinks too? People usually drink at times like this."

"...Alright, Margaret."

Tsubaki nodded. Watching Margaret walk briskly to get the wine, his mouth unconsciously curled up into a slight smile as he gazed into the night wind for a long time.

"Hahaha, how about another drink with me?"

"Huh, your qi and blood are unsteady, and your kidney water is sluggish. You seem very weak, my friend."

"Don't move! I'm already married, and I have a wife at home who obeys my every command. Don't try anything funny."

Mikhail sat under the eaves of a wooden cabin with a cup of wine in hand. This seemed to be a settlement for a race called the Dogman Race. They were just as weak as humans, and generally shorter than humans. However, the floppy ears and short tails on the female dog-people were quite cute. If Fisher were here, he would definitely love them.

Mikhail thought this while taking a shallow sip of his wine, looking completely different from Gou Wen over there, who had completely let himself go and was drinking with the dog-people.

His brain must be completely scrambled, but even so, he still hadn't forgotten his loyalty to the wife he kept mentioning. It seemed he wasn't completely broken yet.

"This whale-man... has he turned into an idiot?"

Right at this moment, an ethereal voice suddenly rang out by Mikhail's ear from an unknown source. Listening closely, it was exactly identical to the androgynous voice of Michael, the Nineteenth-Tier Archangel who ruled the Fifth Heaven in the Sanctuary.

Yes. Recently, because he was worried that Michael couldn't figure out the Artificial Intelligence technology he had provided, he requested Michael to implant a Gospel in his eye for "assisting with research," allowing them to communicate over long distances.

However, Mikhail hadn't expected Michael to hold something back. He could actually share his vision through his Prosthetic Eye, seeing exactly what Mikhail saw.

Because of this, the two of them often had conversations completely unrelated to research, like right now.

"I don't know. He went out with Fisher earlier and came back like this. He's a doctor himself, and I told him to examine himself, but he said he feels great. Fisher just woke up, and I haven't had time to ask him, so I just left it at that for now. But other than becoming... well, a bit less afraid of death, he doesn't seem to have changed much."

"Hah. A healer cannot heal himself. Moreover, there is indeed nothing wrong with his body. It must be due to some other reason that even I do not know."

"You can actually get that much information just from my perspective? As expected of an Angel... By the way, I've been meaning to say this for a while: I don't get any notification when you use the vision-sharing function. Next time you share my vision, could you let me know? Don't just do it in silence..."

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"...I'm just worried you'll see something you shouldn't, and I'd feel very awkward."

"Hah. A mortal body. Both times you went mad, I was the one who treated you. If it comes to seeing something, I saw it clearly long ago. Not to mention, many of my Holy Artifacts have see-through functions. Even if you cover yourself with clothes and refuse to let me look, I can still see everything clearly."

"That sounds a bit perverted."

"Are you courting death?"

"..."

Mikhail took a sip of wine and stopped talking. Michael also seemed to fall silent, not speaking further.

"Regarding..."

"Over there..."

After waiting for a long time, just as Mikhail wanted to speak, that ethereal voice echoed in his ear at the exact same time. The two of them stopped simultaneously, like two cars colliding.

The other side didn't speak, but Mikhail spoke up chivalrously,

"You first."

"How is the situation over there?"

"What situation?"

"The Tear of the World Tree."

Michael was a bit impatient, using only a noun as an explanation, but Mikhail still understood what he meant. He was asking about the progress of obtaining the Tear of the World Tree on this end.

Mikhail took a sip of wine, shrugged, and said,

"Almost done. As the reward for getting the Tear of the World Tree, Margaret wants us Transferred Persons to help her control the Loom of Fate. But it basically has nothing to do with me; it's all Asuka's effort. According to Margaret, she seems to be much more sensitive to the Loom of Fate. Asuka was tired earlier, so I thought about going over to help out, but not only did the progress not speed up, I actually made things worse."

"...I understand. Is that Transferred Person actually using the Chaos buried inside you Transferred Persons to help her control the Loom of Fate?"

"Something like that. I don't really understand the principles either. But if that's the case, why can Asuka do it and I can't? Do I not have that... Chaos... in my body that you mentioned?"

"Idiot. It's because the type and amount of Chaos in your bodies are different. I examined you all earlier. That female human has far more Chaos than you... probably over a hundred times more. That Transferred Person named Fisher doesn't have as much as her, but he still has sixty or seventy times more than you."

"So I'm really the weakest one, huh."

Mikhail chuckled and took a sip of his wine, but he didn't look disappointed at all.

He didn't even know what this "Chaos" was. The way he arrived in this world was how he still was now. There was no comparing him to the powerful beings here.

Mikhail thought about how Asuka had so much of that "Chaos" inside her, yet the two of them had been taken care of by Fisher and Gou Wen the entire journey. It was evident that this amount of Chaos was basically an irrelevant factor. Perhaps it would only prove slightly useful in special moments, like when controlling the Loom of Fate.

"It's good that you know."

Michael's words were as hurtful as always, but Mikhail was already used to it. Right after that, his questioning came again.

"...Before you came to this world, how old were you?"

"How old? Let me think... hmm, I don't really remember. Probably thirty-eight or thirty-nine. That might be a bit too young compared to you."

"You fool. Do not use your concept of lifespan to compare with ours."

"Yes, yes, yes. My mistake."

After a brief pause, Michael's voice came over again.

"The issue is that I took a record when I first treated you a few years ago when you arrived at the Sanctuary. When I treated you again recently, I also took a record. I found that there has been absolutely no change in your Life Factors."

"Life Factors? I don't understand that. So what?"

"So, Chaos has made it such that you do not abide by certain Rules here, such as lifespan. You should know that even an Angel's Life Factors change over time, however infinitesimally small the changes might be, let alone for you humans whose lifespans are like those of ants. A few years' time should cause a noticeable shift in your Life Factors, but you have experienced none."

Mikhail's drinking motion paused slightly. He then repeated his question in disbelief to confirm once more,

"Are you saying... our lifespans have become very, very long?"

"It is not that your lifespans have become longer, but rather that your lifespans have been frozen in place. In all likelihood, you will forever maintain the physical state you arrived in this world with, until you are killed or undergo some other change. Your previous illness and injuries have already proven this."

"How truly miraculous..."

Mikhail took another sip of wine. For a moment, he couldn't recover from the shock of suddenly becoming "immortal." He never expected to easily achieve something that even the top talents from the massive corporations in his home world hadn't managed to do...

Well, although it happened after he failed a suicide attack and crossed over to another world. This had to be considered heavily ironic.

"Hehe... Hahahaha."

"Idiot, what are you laughing at? Has your brain been rotted away just like that whale-man?"

"Hahaha, no, it's just... You don't know this, but in my original world, a small fraction of people are willing to spend more wealth than I could earn in a lifetime just to live an extra year, an extra month, an extra day, or even an extra second. Yet I achieved their wildest dreams without doing anything. It seems that God really did open His eyes—good people get good rewards, after all..."

"Hah. Boring."

"You aren't from our world, so of course you don't understand. Just like you don't understand how envious I was when I saw that Asuka was completely unharmed, a normal human being. I used to swear that if my wife and I ever had a child, I would create an environment for them where they could live without needing Prosthetic Body implants."

The wine in the bowl was already gone, but in the faint glimmer of moisture, the somewhat lonely look in Mikhail's eyes was still reflected.

"It's just a pity... there's no chance for that anymore."

He went to pour himself another bowl of wine. The ethereal voice by his ear didn't continue the topic either, instead changing the subject to ask him,

"What were you trying to say earlier?"

"What? Say what?"

"...You told me to speak first. What about you? Did you swallow your words?"

"Oh, oh, I remember now."

Mikhail took a sip of wine and patted his head, saying,

"It's nothing much. I just wanted to ask about the progress of your research and all that. There's no hardware from my world here. Even the computer part is just this Microcomputer in my eye that can't carry much computing power. I figured the calculation steps later on would still be a bit difficult."

"That is it?"

"Ah, yeah."

Mikhail suddenly remembered that over the past four days, he seemed to have talked to Michael every single day about the Artificial Intelligence. The crux of the matter was that he himself didn't put in any effort; he just directed things vaguely from the ground below. This made him start feeling a bit embarrassed.

"...It is already complete."

"It's okay, even if... Huh? It's complete?!"

Mikhail was instantly struck dumb again. Michael hadn't asked him any questions earlier; it had all been him talking. He had thought Michael couldn't do it without hardware support, since the methods he wrote on the Scrolls were all related to computers.

"It's more or less done. I do not know what that tool you spoke of is, but as long as I know the general methods and logic, it does not matter. I used the Gospels and machinery to create another item that can assist with calculations and reactions. From the looks of it now, the results are quite good. It can engage in simple conversations, and can even connect to your Prosthetic Body as a basic auxiliary tool. You can try it out later."

"Holy crap."

Mikhail couldn't hold back anymore. Although he already knew that Angels were far higher than humans on the hierarchy of life, he never expected that the patented technology the Torch Dragon Company was most proud of in his home world could be so easily reverse-engineered in front of Michael.

Even if the structure of this world seemed simple, that was only true for the other races. These two Mythic Species were far too superior to the others.

"Boring. You think too little of Angels... But remember to be careful later when you connect for the check. It does not yet have a fully autonomous consciousness. Having it help you perform tasks will still increase the load on your Prosthetic Body. You know what the consequences of that are. I treated you for free the first two times... If there is a third time... Heh."

Mikhail chuckled bitterly. Although the other party could only see his perspective, he still nodded his head to show agreement.

Immediately afterward, he seemed to think of something again.

"Right, what about the name? What name should that intelligence be called? Have you picked one?"

"A name?"

Michael's normally placid voice rarely held even a single ripple. After a silence, a feeling of deep contemplation quickly emanated.

Mikhail wasn't surprised at this. He had discovered a long time ago that Michael was terribly unsuited for giving things names.

Just look at the bird-brained names he gave all the Holy Artifacts he forged: Moon-Treading Ark, Toy, Scythe, Sun Ring...

Michael was a complete naming failure from the ground up.

"If you don't mind, how about calling it 'David'?"

"...David? What the hell is that?"

"It's just a person's name from our world. If you don't mind, of course. Since you built this thing, if you prefer, you can give it another name."

"Giving a person's name to a thing like this. Idiot."

Mikhail took a sip of wine and started smiling. In the distance, after proudly drinking an impressive "five bowls", Gou Wen collapsed straight onto the ground, utterly motionless, making all the dog-people surrounding him laugh.

"My wife and I agreed in the past that if we had a child, a boy would be named David, and a girl would be named Lucy. But I preferred boys, so..."

"Hah. Do as you please. Let it be called David, then. I do not care about the names of my creations."

"Thank you, Michael."

On the other end, there was no reply for a long time. It seemed the Archangel had already disconnected.