I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop

Chapter 68: Let’s Go Find a New Friend 1

Saya Guild’s mornings were always a little noisy.

“Alright~ Everyone, gather around~!”

“Waaahhh!”

“Exciting morning!”

“Sleepy morning…”

“I love Mondays!”

When Sohi’s cheerful voice echoed, girls would appear from somewhere.

Occasionally, some girls made their flashy entrances by bursting through walls or ceilings.

However, this mansion, built with shape-memory materials, could quickly recover from most damage.

There were 148 children.

Spreading out mana waves, I sensed a few kids still hadn’t woken up.

The remaining 20 children had gone on a northern front outing with Alice.

It was the first time Sohi had entrusted as many as 20 Immortal Girls to someone other than herself.

Though she was uneasy, thinking back on what Alice had shown in the past week, she believed it would work out.

‘Above all, Alice is a girl too.’

Alice considered herself an adult, judging by her tone and behavior.

Yet, in appearance and demeanor, she wasn’t much different from the Immortal Girls, at least from Sohi’s perspective.

However, her abilities and sense of responsibility were undeniably reliable.

Sohi had secretly investigated Alice’s background.

The blue choker on Alice’s neck was essentially proof that she was the successor to a First-Class Overseer and one destined to turn blue.

Such conspicuous colors weren’t for fashion.

In Ark, it was imperative to be cautious of people bearing them.

The blue signified a First-Class Overseer, the red for high-ranking Executors or Hunters, and the yellow for golden Administrators.

‘She’s probably the successor to a First-Class Overseer.’

For anyone else, the blue choker might just seem like a fashion item or artifact.

But Sohi knew it was a direct gift from an Administrator.

There was a reason Sohi had offered Alice a long-term contract.

The guild’s expenditure wasn’t insignificant, but forming ties with the successor to a First-Class Overseer was worth it.

No need to worry.

Sohi decided to focus on the children in front of her for now.

“Alright, since it’s Monday morning, let’s stretch so we can grow tall.”

“Stretch!”

“Stretch, stretch!”

“Streeetch!”

“But Guild Leader! We’ve been doing this for like 13 years, and we’re not getting taller!”

“Right!”

“No way, I’ve grown!”

“That’s your nails.”

“No, it’s because I got new shoes.”

“Hehehe, now. Everyone, one, two, three~.”

“Grrrr!”

“Streeeeetch!”

“Ow, ouch!”

“Eek! My spine’s broken!”

The Immortal Girls’ conversations flowed freely.

But Sohi looked at them with loving eyes, clearly accustomed to their antics.

With arms and legs stretching wide, they teased and played with loving smiles.

Of course, Sohi acknowledged these were dangerous children.

They had mastered mana techniques, wielded bone blades, and fired biological bullets.

But she believed proper education and discipline could guide them well.

That’s how it had been so far.

‘What would happen to these kids if I weren’t here?’

It wasn’t as though such thoughts hadn’t crossed her mind.

Life in Ark wasn’t just about surviving monster invasions or calamities.

Humans often tore each other down, disregarding the value of life.

‘I’m not exactly young anymore.’

Sohi’s body wasn’t what it used to be.

Alice had estimated her to be around 40, but Sohi’s actual age was far older.

Her reaction speed and sensory range were now only half of what they were at her peak.

In a satellite city like Zain, without Ark’s protection, if a Mega Corps made a move against her, even Sohi wouldn’t be able to stop it.

‘Frankly, I can’t entirely prevent the kids’ information from leaking between Hunters and Mega Corps.’

Saya Guild was an unusual entity among Mega Corps.

Despite being a mere Hunter guild, it had earned corporate approval to participate in outer satellite city development projects exclusively for Mega Corps.

Whether they liked it or not, Saya Guild naturally drew attention.

For now, Earnest Rail and Dawn were too focused on competing against each other to deal with Saya Guild.

But once control of Zain tipped in one direction, Saya Guild would be next.

Even if they tried to hide, some people might have already caught on.

Mega Corps had long cultivated Awakened individuals with clairvoyant or foresight abilities to spy on competitors.

In truth, the current situation was precarious.

The number of times Sohi had dealt with drones and Mega Corps intelligence agents sneaking in at night had already reached double digits.

These Immortal Girls, who weren’t even regarded as human, wouldn’t stand a chance if they lacked protection.

Crime syndicates, Mega Corps, or power-hungry individuals seeking immortality would dissect and torture them to uncover the source of their regeneration and immortality.

In that sense, Alice was a stroke of luck for both Sohi and the children.

She had been someone of even higher standing in Ark in the past.

Sohi’s proposal for a long-term contract with Alice was based on her prior experiences.

Investing in ties with the future First-Class Overseer was money well spent.

Money could always be earned again.

What mattered to Sohi was providing these children with a place to belong and a future.

-Ding Dong!

“Ah! Who is it?”

“Guild Leader! Someone’s here!”

“Gasp!”

“A new friend?!”

“……”

Sohi’s mana detected someone approaching the mansion.

It was an unfamiliar presence.

Who could it be?

‘Anti-mana barrier, refractive cutter, corrosive metal…? What is this? A robot? No, it feels more like a person…’

Since they had come straight to the front door, they weren’t a thief.

But their presence felt unusual.

“Kids? Can you go inside for a bit?”

“Eeeehhh~”

“Okay!”

At Sohi’s gesture, the children understood her intentions.

They climbed the walls or clung to the ceiling to hide themselves.

As Sohi took a step, she swiftly moved from the underground plaza of the mansion to the front door.

To prepare for any unforeseen situation, Sohi opened the door fully ready for combat.

“…Oh my?”

Standing there was an adorable child.

Unlike the Immortal Girls, the girl before her had white, bleached hair and was staring blankly at her.

“Oh my, who is this cute little lady?”

“………”

There was no response.

However, Sohi didn’t let her guard down.

The white-haired girl before her had an innocent and harmless appearance, but Sohi could see with her sharp gaze that the girl possessed anti-barrier technology, mana-cutting blades, magical EMPs, and corrosive adapters.

A substantial collection of Mega Corps combat weaponry and technology was condensed into her small frame.

Only then did Sohi realize the girl’s true identity.

‘Could she be one of those rumored dolls…?’

Rumors had been circulating quietly.

Stories of Mega Corps abducting young girls or orphans, converting them into bio-computers, and using them as combat doll bodies.

There was no concrete evidence, but urban legends tied to Mega Corps often had some basis in truth.

This girl must be one of those.

“…What brings you here? Could it be that Earnest Rail is finally declaring war on the Saya Guild?”

“………”

The doll silently handed Sohi a note.

In her other hand, she held an Earnest Rail meal kit.

With a slightly suspicious look, Sohi took the note and unfolded it.

[It’s delightful. At last!]

The note the doll handed over contained only a short sentence without any recipient’s name.

But from that alone, Sohi quickly understood the situation and smiled.

“Hehehe, Alice. You truly didn’t become the next blue band for no reason.”

Looking at the note, Sohi could guess who had sent this doll.

It was Alice.

Still, “delightful” was understandable as things seemed to have gone well.

But “at last”?

What could that mean?

Was it a phrase only Returnees from another world knew?

It crossed her mind that the word might have been a typo for “finally,” but the overly emphasized and clear handwriting made it seem intentional.

‘Considering the circumstances, it seems Earnest Rail, who was planning to annihilate the native forces, used this doll without external witnesses.

And Alice seems to have seized the doll along with the Immortal Girls during the process.’

It was clear that only high-ranking executives or officers of Earnest Rail could have the authority to command this doll.

Sohi wondered how Alice managed to gain control over it.

‘There’s no external damage or signs of combat. Could she have completely taken over its ownership and command rights with just a word?’

Sohi couldn’t fathom how Alice had so flawlessly stolen such a secret weapon from a Mega Corps.

But for someone like Alice, the successor to a First-Class Overseer, possessing some extraordinary ability or magic wasn’t unthinkable.

From the perspective of the Saya Guild, this was undoubtedly good news.

She knew firsthand how difficult ambiguous sabotage missions could be.

Still, what choice did they have?

For the future of the Saya Guild, they had to meddle between the two Mega Corps somehow.

While Earnest Rail had been weakened after backstabbing Dawn, facing even a single Mega Corps and disrupting operations on the northern front was still a monumental task.

But now, the ownership of the doll had been seized.

And in its hands was an Earnest Rail meal kit.

This implied that even the supply routes leading to the northern front were being plundered.

“Hehehe, the results are far better than expected?”

“…..”

“Oh my, what’s wrong?”

The doll extended her hand toward Sohi.

Sohi tilted her head in curiosity, then gave the doll a caramel-flavored soft chewy pig candy, just like she would to the Immortal Girls.

But the doll pocketed the candy and held her hand out again.

What was this?

Did she want more?

“Oh, are you requesting a reply?”

“……”

The doll silently nodded.

Sohi tore a piece of paper from the guest registry by the door.

Using a faint spark of mana at her fingertip, she burned the paper lightly to create soot and began writing.

Though communication technologies existed, the northern front where Earnest Rail and Dawn Guild had stationed troops was heavily monitored by broad-spectrum signal tracking waves.

The natives and external forces, being intelligent, often used smuggled or stolen communication devices from Ark.

Naturally, the two Mega Corps tracked those signals to locate and bomb the hiding spots of the native forces.

While such tactics had worked in the early battles, the external forces eventually realized that digital signals exposed their locations.

They switched to analog communication, but the Mega Corps continued to monitor every digital signal detected in the northern front, necessitating analog methods of communication.

Following Alice’s lead, Sohi opted for a simple message.

[Mission Update]

Initially, it had been a simple sabotage mission, but stealing a Mega Corps’s secret weapon changed everything.

Seizing a secret weapon, raiding supply routes, and now…

[Make friends with the North.]

If an alliance with the native forces succeeded, the groundwork for not mere sabotage, but a full-scale annihilation battle, would be set.