“Send a drone over to retrieve my rabbit and the package.”
Clara said this with her eyes closed. The big-haired technician from the Administration Bureau quickly replied:
“Alright, I’ll get that ready.”
Although she had jumped down from the maintenance floor above, Clara couldn’t go back on her own. Under normal gravity, she didn’t have the ability to leap ten meters in a single bound.
“This package must be a relic, right?”
She hadn’t opened it to look, so she wasn’t sure. Although she was curious about the contents of the white cloth package, Clara still had a camera hanging around her neck. She couldn’t very well open this confidential package in front of everyone.
Now that the relic was found, only finding the thief remained.
For now, she just needed to wait.
But looking at its round shape, it felt like it might be some kind of sphere…
Clara (the rabbit) looked up again at the big iron ball hanging above its head.
Could the thief really be the “hero network”?
But Clara was a little unlucky, so things naturally wouldn’t be that simple.
The drone from the Administration Bureau hadn’t arrived yet, but the spider-shaped sub-drones crawling around on the server racks seemed to have received orders and were all gathering around her.
“Chirp?!”
Clara (the rabbit) bristled nervously.
They extended their mechanical arms that served as front limbs, trying to capture Clara, a living creature. But they didn’t have red eyes or show hostility; they were just following their program.
These machines were larger than the Moon Rabbit, imposing a sense of pressure on Clara.
[They detected you as an intruding living creature and are preparing to capture and eliminate the hazard.]
‘Then why aren’t they eliminating this white cloth package?!’
[Reasonable analysis. A relic is an inanimate object with low threat.]
[But as a furry creature, you are an unsafe factor for the server room and might engage in destructive behavior.]
[For example, urinating on the server.]
‘Who would do something like that!!’
Fortunately, these sub-drones weren’t built for security purposes. Although they had eight legs, their speed in pursuit wasn’t very fast.
The dog-sized Moon Rabbit Combat Body quickly hoisted the package onto its back and tied it in place, which made it look a bit like a thief.
“…It’s heavy.”
The relic was heavier than expected.
It quickly climbed back on top of the server rack, but here too there were spider sub-drones, constantly approaching with the rustling sound of their eight legs.
“These sub-drones! Where’s the drone?! Or get someone from the Control Center to stop them!”
Only after Clara urged this did the Bald Uncle press his intercom and turn to call.
But no matter how fast the support came, it needed time. Facing the spider-shaped drones closing in from all directions, the space Clara could maneuver was getting smaller and smaller.
The relic inside the package wasn’t large, but it was heavy.
It was the size of a soccer ball but weighed ten jin. Perhaps because the Moon Rabbit’s fur was soft, the object inside the package wasn’t as hard as imagined; it seemed to be a material with a relatively soft surface.
Carrying this thing while jumping around, the Moon Rabbit soon became out of breath.
“Chirp… chirp?!”
At last, it was completely surrounded by spider drones.
It had nowhere to go.
“M-my familiar is done for!”
Clara in the monitoring room shouted. The Bald Uncle, who had finished contacting, turned around.
“Oh, the Control Center replied and said it’s fine if it gets caught.”
“Huh?”
On the screen, the Moon Rabbit Combat Body still looked at a loss.
But Clara opened her eyes in surprise.
The Bald Uncle explained:
“Alice is communicating with the ‘hero network.’ Those sub-drones will safely deliver your familiar to the entrance. The reason the ‘hero network’ is chasing it is because your static electricity and shedding fur pose a potential threat to that dust-free server room.”
“…Is that the reason?”
Emboldened by these words, Clara tried to approach a spider-shaped drone.
After all, for her, the worst case scenario was death, and before that, she could have Nyx dismiss the Moon Rabbit Combat Body.
It had already been proven that the stolen relic was in the “hero network”‘s server room. The rest was up to the Association and the Administration Bureau. Clara couldn’t concern herself with that.
Then, it was caught by a mechanical arm.
This drone placed it onto its own body.
The tops of these spider drones were flat, and they barely tilted when moving, so Clara sat quite steadily.
It was suitable for transporting materials or climbing between servers; that was why it was designed with eight legs.
The maintenance floor above could be used to leave, and there was also an exit route nearby.
So, the spider sub-drone carried Clara and proceeded in a certain direction.
But for the spider sub-drone, carrying a dog-sized rabbit plus such a heavy white cloth package up above was also somewhat difficult.
So the spider sub-drone carried Clara through another narrow tunnel on the ground.
At the other end of the tunnel, there was a ladder that led up to the maintenance floor.
[It seems normal maintenance drones come down from here.]
‘Maybe?’
Clara jumped off the spider sub-drone’s back and walked toward the ladder.
The sub-drone stood motionless at the tunnel entrance, as if seeing her off, or blocking the way to prevent her from turning back.
[It seems you are an unwelcome guest.]
‘Shut up.’
Mission complete, time to go.
But just then, a piercing alarm rang inside the Association Building.
“Wh-what’s wrong?”
Clara looked at the Bald Uncle, who shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.
Then he pressed the intercom to listen.
The big-haired technician’s panicked voice came through the intercom.
“Shadows! There are shadow people everywhere outside! A dark, massive crowd!”
The Bald Uncle waved his hand again, dispelling the magical barrier covering the Interrogation Room, and then they heard the commotion outside. The situation seemed to have turned into a chaotic mess.
“It seems the real criminal can’t accept that we found the hidden relic~”
Kamui said this, but Clara muttered:
“Shadow people… Could they be the ones we encountered at the Expo Center?”
“A wormhole phenomenon has been discovered above the Association Building. Command Center says they don’t know who… activated the wormhole device that was contained from the previous incident…”
“…The Association’s ability to store things is really unreliable.”
At a time like this, the only one who could have activated the wormhole device was that relic thief.
However, the other party was clearly causing a disturbance with a different purpose…
Were they preparing to snatch the relic?
The Bald Uncle obviously thought of this too and said to Clara:
“Have your familiar come back quickly. We need to retrieve the relic as soon as possible.”
“It’s already climbing!!”
The maintenance floor was only half a meter high, and with this large bag on its back, even the short Moon Rabbit could only move on all fours.
“Chirp, chirp…”
But just then, there was a sound from the elevator shaft ahead.
“Chirp?”
‘I haven’t even gotten close, why did this door open?’
‘Could it be the thief himself coming down?’
Just as Clara was thinking this, a shadow soldier crawled out of the maintenance elevator.
“Chirp!!?”
Although the other party had no facial features.
But the head that turned clearly locked onto “line of sight.”
Oh great