TRL 71

Chapter 71

As a golden haze wrapped around the barrel of the gun, unfamiliar patterns appeared vividly on the grip. A magic circle the size of a coin, with a butterfly symbol in the center.

The magic circle absorbed Lillietta’s aura and glowed golden. Then, the tiny butterfly symbol in the middle began to shimmer with a subtle iridescence. Once the glow filled the mark completely, the butterfly gently fluttered its wings and rose into the air.

It was a butterfly-shaped mass of light, glittering with pale opalescent hues like a carved opal. When it was just a symbol, it was only the size of a fingernail, but now fluttering in the air, it had grown to about the size of a finger.

The light fluttered around the Silver Grace for a while before settling on the barrel. Each time its delicate wings twitched, the golden aura enveloping the revolver shimmered in response.

Rita watched the scene breathlessly, without even realizing it.

A moment later, the glowing butterfly flew up again and landed on the tip of the hand holding the revolver. Then, raising its twinkling antennae, it looked up at her face.

The butterfly twitched its antennae busily for a while, then suddenly stopped. Soon, the opalescent body glowed with a golden hue, and a calm voice was heard.

[Recognition: Greetings, user.]

[Request: Please provide your name.]

The voice sounded like a young girl’s, but the mechanical, flat tone and abrupt pauses made it feel more like a machine or a doll than a person.

Rita flinched in surprise, quickly swallowed the potion she was holding, and opened her mouth.

“Olli, it just talked!”

“It talked? Good, that means it’s working properly.”

Olivia muttered proudly and added,

“It only talks to you. It doesn’t use sound—it connects to your aura flow to transmit communication.”

“What is this? How can it talk?”

“It’s an artificial spirit made with magic. In the city—well, maybe not the city since you haven’t been there much—you’ve seen the computing machines at headquarters, right? The ones that answer in a human voice? Those are artificial spirits.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of them… So this is like a mini version?”

“Not wrong. It’s like a compact version specialized in certain functions. Of course, spirit creation isn’t really my specialty, so this one won’t be as high-performance as those computing spirits. But it should be good enough for you.”

[Re-request: Please provide your name.]

“It keeps asking for my name.”

“It’s not like those public computing machines—this one’s made for single-user use. It’s identifying and registering its owner, so just answer.”

Looking down at the glowing butterfly with its antennae upright, Rita replied awkwardly,

“Lillietta del Nysa Rascaille.”

[Confirmed: User name recognized.]

[Request: Please designate a name to call this artificial spirit.]

[Note: Current name in use is ‘Rita’s Tantrum Blocker,’ abbreviated as ‘TantrumBot.’]

“…”

Lillietta stared blankly at the sparkly, pretty butterfly and then looked over at Olivia, who raised her eyebrows.

“What? Is it broken? Can’t understand you? For the record, while it’s connected to you like this, it can understand your thoughts. You don’t even have to speak aloud.”

“Olli… it just told me its name is ‘Rita’s Tantrum Blocker.’ You’ve been calling it TantrumBot all this time…?”

“TantrumBot? Pfft! Olli Pascal, your naming sense is next-level awful!”

Ethan, who had been sitting on the backrest of the sofa watching, burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. Olivia averted her gaze and muttered defensively,

“…I was just calling it that temporarily while making it. You were going to name it anyway.”

[Reminder: Creator responded to this naming issue by telling me to wait for the user.]

[Comment: This artificial spirit is highly dissatisfied with its current name.]

[Request: User, please designate a new name.]

Despite the stiff tone, the spirit’s words sounded surprisingly earnest. Rita sighed—half laugh, half exasperation—and looked down at the opal-colored butterfly and the silvery Silver Grace.

She didn’t have to think long.

“Let’s go with Grace.”

[Recognition: New name recognized.]

[Confirmation: From now on, ‘TantrumBot’ is ‘Grace’.]

[Comment: This artificial spirit is highly satisfied with the new name.]

The butterfly on her fingertip flapped its wings rapidly. Its joyful fluttering was kind of cute, and Rita chuckled softly before turning to Olivia.

“So, what does it do?”

“Long story short, it has three main functions.”

Olivia counted them off on her fingers as she explained.

“First, emergency magic proxy casting. You always say you’re in a hurry, right? So when you try to act like an enhancer despite being a caster, it’ll cast reinforcement magic on you.”

“…”

“Second, combat technique support. When you start pulling some reckless stunt claiming recoil is no big deal, it’ll assist you by reducing that recoil. It can also help calculate bullet trajectories—so no more bloody noses from you trying to compute ridiculous angles.”

“…”

“Third, real-time monitoring of your physical state. Obvious what that’s for, right? If you throw a tantrum, TantrumBot—I mean, Grace—will respond appropriately. So be careful.”

“…Yeah.”

It was clearly created with a strong and specific purpose. It felt less like a support item and more like a leash. But since Rita had done something reckless, she had no room to argue.

She quietly nodded, and Olivia gave her a look before continuing,

“You’ll get used to how to use it as you go. It learns and grows based on the magic and techniques you use, so try different things when you’ve got time. It’ll learn on its own, but talking to it often speeds that up. It runs on your aura, so make sure to recharge it regularly.”

“Got it.”

“By the way, if you touch the magic circle with your thumb and cut off your aura flow, it’ll go into sleep mode. But if you leave it off too long, it’ll automatically restart, absorb your aura, and check your physical condition. Don’t be alarmed. If anything’s wrong, it’ll automatically report to me.”

“…You know, this doesn’t feel like a support tool for a gunmage. It feels more like a surveillance device. Just me?”

“It’s definitely not just you, my friend. It is for surveillance. Didn’t I tell you it was a tantrum-prevention part?”

“Right… of course…”

“Well, that’s what you get for going and self-destructing like that. Thanks to you, I got all fired up and ended up making this. So before I lock you up somewhere, just carry Grace around quietly, okay?”

“…Yeah.”

[Acknowledged: This artificial spirit prioritizes user’s safety and health.]

[Warning: If neglected for an extended period, it will self-activate, assess the user’s condition, and transmit results to the creator.]

[Recommendation: User should call Grace at least once a day for recharging and status updates.]

The voice of the artificial spirit, faithfully following its creator’s intent, echoed. Rita accepted the gift from her friend, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Ethan, still sitting on the sofa with an overly casual posture for a footman, opened his mouth.

“Looks like the swelling’s gone down. From how you’re talking, your mouth’s healed too.”

“Yeah, I’m okay now.”

“Then talk. Seriously, Rita—what the hell happened to you that made you return like this?”

“I…”

Rita briefly explained the events of that night ten years ago and how she regained her memories after breaking the coffin at the bottom of the lake.

“…So I thought everyone would come back in changed bodies like me. I was surprised when that wasn’t the case.”

After hearing her story, Ethan and Olivia had strange expressions. Ethan muttered curses under his breath, face twisted. Olivia fell into deep thought. After waiting a bit, Rita asked,

“Come to think of it, how did you guys return? I thought dying didn’t automatically bring you back. Pascal’s experiments all failed, and Gide said you guys succeeded somehow…”

“That’s…”

“Wait, hold on a second.”

Olivia interrupted Ethan and asked seriously,

“Pascal called you an ‘exception’?”

“A few times? When he first implanted the memory, he said I was an exceptional case… and he called me an exception again when giving me the oath.”

“Your oath was ‘to eliminate all visible monsters,’ right? That was a bit odd.”

“Why?”