Kamui let Clara off the hook for now. The next test she had to face was…
Right now, under the staff’s arrangement, the two of them were sitting in the waiting room, waiting for the next interviewer to arrive.
It felt a bit like a real interview.
The interviewer would ask some potentially personal questions based on the identity information Clara had provided, to confirm whether her identity was real and whether she fit the image of a Hero.
Yet, the person in charge of interviewing Clara turned out to be…
“Huh? Alice?!”
The name Mechanical Angel Alice appeared prominently on the procedure sheet. Clara’s eyes went wide.
A Top-tier Hero coming to interview her in person? That bored?
‘Why panic? Isn’t this a good chance to get close to her? In her eyes, you should be a promising junior. She won’t make it too hard on you.’
Nyx said it lightly, but Clara wasn’t optimistic. She was so nervous she couldn’t even smile—her face was twitching.
Facing an AI Hero with so much “life experience,” would her proud acting skills really work?
Alice’s information processing speed probably wasn’t slower than Nyx’s. Fooling her wouldn’t be easy, especially since Nyx also had to handle information manipulation—there was a chance she’d get caught on the network.
Cold sweat beaded on Clara’s forehead.
Whether she could pass this hurdle suddenly became uncertain. If she failed, she’d definitely be arrested on the spot. She wasn’t even sure she could win against a Superior Hero—catching her would be a piece of cake for a Top-tier Hero.
[Trust Nyx. Nyx’s hardware is definitely more advanced than hers.]
Nyx was always inexplicably confident.
[Don’t assume the civilian technology you usually come into contact with is the upper limit of this era’s science.]
[So many Evil Organizations fight tooth and nail over all kinds of mysterious black technology and supernatural technology every day…]
Clara didn’t understand these things, but she always held science and technology in awe.
Compared to Clara’s panic, Kamui didn’t think much of Alice being the interviewer.
“It’s only natural, right? You came to register because she invited you. It’s only proper for her to play host.”
As she spoke, she stood up.
Clara thought she would insist on sitting in to learn about her background…
Lately, she couldn’t read Kamui at all.
“I won’t stay here. Hurry up and get it done.”
“Huh? Ms. Kamui is leaving?”
Kamui retorted, “Of course. This is your interview, concerning your identity. You don’t expect me to listen in, do you? Even if you’re okay with it, do you think Ms. Alice would agree?”
“…Then please wait outside the door.”
Clara thought about it—no need to make the task harder for herself.
With Kamui sitting nearby, it would be even harder to bluff.
“No, who wants to wait around outside?”
Kamui shook her head and said irritably, “I’m going somewhere else to take care of some business. Send me a message when you’re done. After you finish registering, I still have things to ask you. Don’t you dare sneak off!”
“Got it.”
Clara nodded.
Kamui grumbled as she pulled out her phone and exchanged Qt accounts with Clara, then swaggered out of the waiting room.
“Hmph.”
Kamui’s account level was very low—seemed like a dummy account.
Her phone was also new, looked like the latest VipO model.
Could it be that Ms. Kamui had never had any friends who were Heroes before?
That felt a little pitiful.
Independent Heroes really have no future, huh.
Clara sat alone in the waiting room.
Alice hadn’t arrived yet, but the Association staff had notified her, so she should be on her way.
Clara nervously looked around the small waiting room, holding the tea the staff had poured for her with both hands, her dangling feet gently swaying in a steady rhythm…
Then Nyx spoke up.
[Nyx has located the temporary Storage Room for the “god’s relic.”]
“…Huh? You’re still thinking about that?”
For Clara, getting through this immediate hurdle was the real priority.
The “god’s relic” was an extra challenge—if she could pull it off, great; if not, it was understandable…
Nyx continued, [The Storage Room is on the Top Floor of the Association Building. Security is extremely high, and it’s heavily guarded.]
[A visitor’s access probably won’t get you in, but if you get a chance during the upcoming interview to extract Alice’s data, or convince her to take you up personally, there might be an opportunity to sneak the “god’s relic” out.]
“That’s way too suspicious! Denied!”
Clara rejected the absurd proposal without a second thought.
“I’d be the first one they suspect!”
[Actually, Nyx also thinks it’s risky.]
“Then don’t bring it up!”
Besides, claiming to be the most advanced AI, always saying her performance was no worse than Alice’s, and yet she couldn’t even hack the Association’s access system?
That seemed to strike a nerve in Nyx, who fell silent for a moment.
Her reaction was quite human-like.
[…Th-then, give Nyx a little more time.]
If anything, an AI wanting something was strange in itself.
***
The door to the waiting room was knocked twice.
click—
Then Alice, whom Clara had already met twice before, made another appearance.
Clara looked up and, for the first time, took a good look at this Top-tier Hero.
Silver-white hair, but not pure—it shimmered with a flowing, light blue luster.
A pair of over-ear headphones circled her neck, hidden under her hair. Why a robot needed these, Clara couldn’t guess for now.
She wore her usual bodysuit, but since she was a robot, it was hard to tell if it was skin or clothing.
Still, her rounded figure made it difficult to believe she was a machine. Her surface had circuit board-like patterns with streaks of light flowing through them…
She looked at Clara with her diamond-shaped pupils.
“Miss Clara, sorry to keep you waiting.”
Her tone was meticulous, and her flickering eyes gave away no emotion, making it hard to read her mood.
In that regard, she was quite similar to Nyx.
“No, I only just sat down myself.”
“Good. Then let’s begin this conversation.”
Alice sat down across the low table from Clara.
She needed no tablet or paper files.
A waterfall of data streamed through her eyes, and she pulled up Clara’s records from the previous interview rounds.
“Please don’t be nervous. I won’t probe too personal questions. I’m just verifying the experience you provided to confirm what kind of Hero you are.”
“Mhm…”
Clara was mentally prepared. She had already prepared a plan for her background.
“Then, please start by introducing the company you belong to. I recall it’s a newly established company centered around you?”
“Huh?!”
Introduce the company?
That was an unexpected opening question.
“This is a background check, a necessary procedure for the registered hero network. Please bear with me.”
“Um, the Dream Witch is…”
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