"Oh, is that person Alice?"

"No, that person is Sasha."

When I shouted and waved, Sasha "Ah! He ran towards us.

"Kirito-san, and everyone! \"

\"What's wrong, Miss Sasha? \"

"That's when I remembered what happened last time." After fighting Heathcliff, when I came to church, Sasha came out and asked if Alice was there.

At that time, it was said that Alice had been absent from the church for about three days in order to find S-class ingredients. Shortly after that time, Alice returned, but could it be that this pattern, the same thing happened again?

\"Is it possible that Miss Sasha and Miss Alice are gone again?" \"

Sasha nodded in frustration.

"Yes, today Teacher Alice is going to let the children here practice cooking while enjoying cooking, and she said she was going to find the materials, so she left the church again. It's been two days, and he hasn't come back yet. ”

\"So you're looking for S-grade ingredients again? \"

"Probably the children's cooking skills are not that high, so I think it is a bit of a waste to use such rare ingredients, but Teacher Alice didn't listen and went straight to the wild. Again, out of reach, untraceable. ”

I don't know if Alice, who is the leader of the kindergarten teachers and a reliable teacher for the children, should make the church so empty. It's like giving up your job. Thinking so, Asuna looked troubled.

"I understand that you want your child to eat good food, but you don't have to go that far"

Shina, Alice's exclusive patient, crossed her arms with a confused expression on her face.

"Teacher Alice is a very liberal person, so it's not surprising that she makes some unusual moves.

"It's true that Alice has been acting strangely lately." In search of S-grade ingredients, I left the church for three days, annoying Sasha and the others, and today, I repeat the same thing.

"I agree that the kids are cute, but why is she so critical of them?"

"That's right, Mr. Sasha. What are you going to do with your children? ”

"Ahh Beef with salad dressing that is familiar to both manga and anime. ”

Suddenly we heard a voice behind us, and we turned our heads in surprise. It was a reddish-brown man, with long black and shiny hair that reached to his waist, a red headband, a white coat similar to a white coat, and a sword-like sword at his waist. with eyes.

"That's right, it's Alice we're looking for."

"Alice Sand! \"

"Mr. Alice!"

Alice smiled softly and raised her hand. It's an expression of intent, meaning hello.

"Looks like I've embarrassed you again, I'm sorry."

Sasha walked in front of Alice.

"Teacher Alice, where have you been? The children were also worried. ”

"No, no, it's the same as last time. I wanted to use good ingredients, so I looked around for ingredients, and two days passed. But Sasha, if it goes according to plan, I'll be able to practice cooking. "Tonight."

"Well, I can do it, but"

"Then there's no problem.

Alice looked at Philia with a puzzled expression.

"This is the first time I've been with you. I'm Alice. I am the owner of this church. ”

Filia was slightly stunned and lowered her head slightly.

"Oh, I'm Filia, I'm a treasure hunter, a treasure hunter."

"Huhu, treasure hunter, treasure hunter, just like the protagonist in an adventure movie, please take care of it."

"I turned to face Crane." Klein was also meeting Alice for the first time and should introduce himself, but Crane still looked at Alice stiffly with his mouth still half-open.

"Hey Crane, say hi to me too, what's wrong, are you lagging behind?"

Immediately after, Crane suddenly appeared in front of Alice and lowered his head.

"Oh, I'm Klein, my job is a company employee, and my hobbies are crazy."

When Klein was about to talk about his hobbies,

"No!"

"Ahhhh

Suddenly, Alice drew her sword and performed a stabbing spell. Crane's body, which had been hit by Alice's whole body, was easily blown backwards and rolled onto the stone carpet in front of the church, where it stopped.

At this point, I heard a ringing sound coming from Alice's pocket, probably because it was caught in an intrusion alarm set up by Alice.

\"Mr. Alice!? \"

Shino's flustered voice startled Alice.

"Well, they look like former army thugs, but they don't look like they're not."

Alice withdrew her sword and looked at Crane.

\"That, Klein-kun. As I said, I'm Alice. \"

Klein lay on his stomach and raised his hand feebly.

"Yo, please take care of me"

"Alice gave us her face back."

"Well, as I told you, I went out into the wild for a while, and as soon as I saw me, I beat the guy who said 'AIEEE!' Oh my Buddha iris-----!! Monsters! "As far as I know, what are you here for?"

It was natural for this man to talk to monsters a lot, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Probably for humor.

\"Ah, yes. I want to meet someone, Alice Sand. \"

As I said this, Strea shouted next to me.

"Is this Alice?"

\"That's right. This person is Miss Alice. Her name is-\"

Before I could say this, Alice opened her mouth.

"Strea"

We turned our faces to Alice almost at the same time. There was an expression of surprise on his face, just as he had when he had discovered Jupiter.

"Strare, it's not!"

"Isn't this Strea?"

We were surprised when Alice called out Streya's name. This is the first time Alice and Strea have met, and they shouldn't know each other's names and existence. However, Alice reacts as if she had known Strea from the beginning.

\"Teacher Alice, do you know Miss Streya? \"

Hearing Asuna's words, Alice nodded.

"Oh yes. I can't say it too loudly, but I definitely know this person. Streya, there is no doubt about it. ”

When her name was called, Strea tilted her head, even though she hadn't said it yet.

"Have I introduced myself to you? Do you have one? ”

"This is"

Hearing Streya's words, Alice looked even more surprised. Sure enough, Alice seems to know Streya. Since Alice knew Strea, maybe Strea was

"Where did you find Streya? Or rather, where did you meet? ”

"Hey, this is the 48th floor of the city, and that's where I met Streya."

\"I see, so you're wandering in the fields\"

Alice turned to face Sasha, who was still tilting her head.

"I'm sorry, Sasha, but the supervision of the children's cooking training is left to you.

"It's okay, but Teacher Alice is a doctor. \"

"Yes.

"I see, in that case, leave it to me."

Alice manipulated the window, making gestures similar to those used when sending items. Immediately after, the item reached Sasha's hand, who manipulated the window and displayed it. Probably he gave the materials he got to Sasha.

"I've kept you waiting, let's go into the church, I'll set up a room there, please wait a minute."

After we nodded, Alice rushed into the church, woke up Klein who was lying on the stone pavement, and walked inside. I followed them and found Alice surrounded by quite a few children, and I went into the hallway where I was sleeping. Following him on, he came to the door of Alice's room, where Alice was standing.

When I heard the story, I told Strea to "go to the director's office and check out Streya". The naïve Strea, expecting something interesting, went to Alice and entered the director's office, and Alice said, "Wait in the room you use often, please stay with us." So, we went to the empty room we usually used and decided to wait there for a while.

Probably because we used the couch a lot, and in a well-maintained room, I sat on the couch and Asuna shouted to me.

\"Hey, Kirito-kun. I've never seen Ms. Alice's reaction before. \"

I looked up at Asuna's face, and at Yui and Shino sitting next to me. The expressions of the three faces are almost identical. Perhaps, the same expression will appear on my face.

Alice's reaction at the time was similar to Yui's reaction when she put Jupiter together. The reason at the time was that Yui and Jupiter were ultra-high-performance AIs created by Alice, that is, children. When Alice sees Streya, she reacts the same way she did with the two of them.

\"Ahh Alice Sand knows?? Strea. All I can think of from here is \"

Immediately afterward, both Philia and Crane had puzzled expressions.

"Hey, Kirito. How did Ms. Alice find out about Miss Strea? What exactly is Teacher Alice? \"

"That's right.

I didn't tell the two guys, Yui and Jupiter, who they really were, and who Alice was. Like we did at the beginning, she might be confused, but as long as she's in a relationship with Alice, I'll have to tell her about it.

"You may not believe it, but Mr. Alice does."

I told Philia and Klein everything I learned from Asuna from Alice, Yui, and Jupiter. At the end of the story, Philia and Klein's expressions did not change, and their eyes widened.

"Well, in other words, Yui and Jupiter are ultra-high-performance AI that were born to heal our players, and the designer is Alice-sensei. \"

"Teacher Alice is making this game?? One of the Argus staff so what do you mean? ”

"Sure enough, he has an incredible face." Well, it's true that Yui and Jupiter are capable of acting with the player without humility, so it's hard to believe that they're AI, and it's hard to believe that the former Argus staff is trapped in this world. This must be true.

But it's all true. Miss Alice knew about Yui and Jupiter from the beginning. She had the same reaction when she met Streya. \"

Lifa looked surprised. \"

"That is, Mr. Strea could also be"

"Oh. Maybe—"

"If not, yes."

We were startled at the same time and turned our faces to the door of the room. Alice was also present, and she was supposed to check on Streya. The expression on his face was rather grim.

"Yes, Teacher Alice. \"

Alice opened her mouth as if in response to Shino's call.

\"I don't know if you are fateful, it's easy to get involved in this kind of thing. \"

"After all, Strea is"

Alice walked through the standing crowd and sat down next to me, sighing softly. Asuna shouted to Alice, who seemed to have just accomplished something big.

"Teacher Alice, where's Mr. Streya? \"

"Strea complained of sleepiness during the examination and then fell asleep in my bed."

I took a deep breath and said to Alice.

"Miss Alice, what is Streya's true identity? \"

Alice squinted at me, then looked around at the crowd and said.

"[mhcp Prototype 02], codenamed [Strare]. It's the second machine in the mental health counseling program I've created...... Martell, Jupiter, and Yui's sister. ”

"Even though I thought so, I was still surprised inside." Alice's reaction is due to the encounter with MHCP Streya.

"My Little Sister"

Seeing the surprised Yui, Alice chuckled.

"She's older than you, it's a little weird."

Shino put her hand on Yui's shoulder and asked Alice.

"Strea is an mhcp... Yui and Jupiter, why mhcp and mhhp mdouble .

Alice held her head.

"Yes, they should have been sealed under the cardinal system, but they came to this world normally, and the answer may be simple."

You looked worried.

"The cardinal system is down?"

"It makes sense to think that way. However, the game's balance doesn't seem to be affected, so it looks like the part that manages the game itself isn't paralyzed, but it's likely that something is wrong with the monitoring part. "It's paralyzed. That's probably why Strea was able to come out. ”

Alice looked up.

"Moreover, she seems to be a player recognized by this world, and it is estimated that she has not logged in when the game is opened, so she materialized into this world with an extra avatar, let's go"

"That kind of thing, then, what about the function of Strea as an MHCP? She didn't seem to remember anything. ”

Hearing my words, Alice nodded.

"Yes, like Yui and Jupiter, she has lost most of her functions and suffers from amnesia. And, perhaps, because she uses player data, she thinks she is the same player as everyone else. In fact, her window is the same as everyone else's. "Player's, I can't find the word "mhcp_002". ”

Lifa frowned.

"Didn't you tell Streya about this?"

"Originally, she had been hurt by some kind of burden, and she had come into this world in a state of amnesia, and if you told me, it would have caused more serious damage.

Yui made a sad face. He must have imagined the moment when his sister was hurt.

"No, no, no..."

"So don't tell her anything about MHCP, even if it's wrong. Until she wants her own memories. ”

"So how can we recover her memories and characters?"

Alice seemed to react to my words and looked at me.

"One way to get Yui back to normal is to go into the cardinal system like Yui and restore her language and memory.

But that was to get the cardinal system to recognize Streya's existence, which was not supposed to show up in the first place. No matter how paralyzed the cardinal system is, Strea will not go unnoticed. In fact, Cardinal is a system group with a solid foundation to create Jupiter and Martell. ”

"That means you can't recover your memories like Jupiter?"

Alice nodded helplessly at Asuna's words.

"If you access the cardinal system, it will be fixed.

Alice turned her face to Yui.

"However, although Yui was hurt when we first met, didn't she return to normal before we knew it?

"Yes. At that time, I was using the cardinal system to restore the data to its current state. At that time, I was discovered by the base monitoring agency, and it was about to be deleted."

Shino said to Yui.

Just as Yui was about to be erased, Lilan suddenly pierced Yui and slashed her body.

"Finally, I said."

"Yui was transferred to my local memory. Thanks to it, I was able to escape from the cardinal system. \"

"What? Is there such a thing? ”

Klein raised his eyebrows, crossed his arms and said:

"Uh, uh, what the hell is going on?"

Shino turned her face to everyone with a confused expression.

"In other words, Yui helped Lilan Asuna arrive, and what awaits us is a sight that makes us not know what to do except be surprised.

Waiting for us are Jupiter and Ariki. However, Jupiter tasted dinner in front of us. They prey on non-food items known as "field leaders" and taste them.

Looking at the innocent childlike Jupiter, Asuna's son Jupiter greedily preying on the domain boss, we can't help but be dumbfounded.

In addition, Jupiter was still calmly eating while being watched, so we were surprised.

"Jupiter, what are you doing?"

When the mother, Asuna, shouted with a look of surprise, the son slowly turned around.

A part of the domain boss's body was taken in the mouth by Asuna's son, dyed with a red glow, and swallowed by me.

Then she exclaimed with a nonchalant look on her face.

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"We were even more surprised." All along, Jupiter was slurred and couldn't speak well, but now Jupiter's mouth spits out very fluent words.

Just like when Yui enters the cardinal system and regains her language skills.

"Jupiter, you, your words"

When Jupiter got up and approached Asuna, the Field Boss's tragic corpse finally turned into a light blue figure, and with a sound similar to an explosion, it immediately turned into polygonal shards and disappeared. Then, Jupiter came up to Asuna and bowed her head slightly.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I'm a little hungry, so I ate first."

"Are you hungry? You want monsters just because you're hungry? ”

When it comes to preying on monsters, the same goes for Lilan, but Lilan doesn't feed on monsters, just biting them into pieces and dealing a lot of damage.

However, Jupiter apparently preyed on monsters and turned them into sustenance. And, I don't know if it's because of this, I've been able to pronounce words fluently. - It looks like it's evolved.

"Jupiter, what's wrong with you? Why are you doing this? And, how did you become so fluent? ”

When I screamed in embarrassment, Jupiter turned to face me.

"I don't know what it is, the monster looks delicious, so I ate it. Somehow, my body felt much better. ”

"W-what's going on?"

Suddenly, I turned my attention to Alice, the developer of Jupiter. Alice had a grim look on her face.

\"Self-evolution is not, it's absorption evolution!? \"

"Alice Sand, what's wrong?" \"

Alice, still staring at Jupiter, answered my words.

"Yupibo has evolved, and in order to repair himself, Yupibo defeats a wild boss equipped with a more advanced AI, preys on that AI, absorbs it, and fuses it with himself. As a result, Yupibo's processing power has increased and it has become what it is now. ”

According to Alice, both Jupiter and Martell have the ability to evolve themselves, and even if they are damaged, they will eventually return to their original state by erasing their memories.

Now, if Alice's words are right, then Jupiter has evolved, however, Alice never seemed to have imagined that she would evolve by eating the AI of other monsters.

"Are you saying Jupiter preys on other artificial intelligences?"

"Ahh And, if my assumptions are correct, the current wild boss won't be there anymore. Until this game is cleared. ”

Rank bosses never respawn once defeated, but wild bosses reappear after a while, so you can fight them multiple times.

I couldn't help but be surprised that the common things of Ayn Grant were denied.

"What do you mean? Even if you defeat a field boss once, it will reappear. ”

Alice's face turned gloomy.

"Normally, yes. But now that Yupibo has evolved, it means that he has absorbed the AI installed on the domain boss, and Yupibo has absorbed the AI that controls the domain boss on the 48th floor, even if it is a field boss, it will not pop up again if it loses AI."

Our eyes all turned to Alice and then to Jupiter. Jupiter eats the 48-stack wild boss AI, absorbs it, improves his processing power, and tries to return to his original form. Wild bosses that are eaten by the AI will never respawn.

I immediately understood the meaning of this sentence, and suddenly felt a chill in my back.

"No, Jupiter really killed the domain boss, the domain boss on the 48th floor!?"

"I see, Jupiter was originally just a life form born in this world, but due to the accumulation of mistakes again and again, he unknowingly learned to eat other AI and life forms."

We humans, or rather, creatures born on Earth, are constantly stealing the lives of others and eating their flesh to survive.

I thought it had nothing to do with Jupiter and the others, they were creatures on the earth and were born on a computer, but Alice's words and Jupiter's actions completely negated this.

"But the cardinal system wouldn't allow such a thing, would it?"

In response to Shino's inquiry, Alice lowered her head.

"I told you, the cardinal system is down. Under normal circumstances, Yubibo's actions should be canceled by the cardinal, but if this is not the case, it means that the cardinal cannot function properly. It's a big change, and even we developers Agus couldn't have imagined that something could happen in this world. ”

"Never!"

Alice approaches Asuna and Jupiter.

Jupiter used to hide behind Asuna when he saw Alice, but now he stared at Alice as if nothing had happened. Through growth and evolution, Alice's fears seem to have disappeared.

"Asuna, you hear me. \"

Asuna nodded slowly.

"Jupiter eats other AI, kills them and evolves, is that what you call the ability to evolve itself?"

"No, it's not like that. It's because of the accumulation of some factors that Yupibo has mutated into something like that. Now that your son has grown up, how happy are you? ”

Asuna, with a sad expression, gently stroked Jupiter's head. Even though he grew up and spoke well, and even after adopting other AIs, he still seemed to be Asuna's child, and Jupiter happily accepted Asuna's hand.

"I'm sorry I should be happy for Jupiter to be healed, but I'm not happy at all."

"Me too. Yubibo is becoming a different being than I created him. Even I don't know what's going on, and I don't know what's going to happen from now on. But I've accepted it now. It seems that he is a very intelligent artificial intelligence, so he will not eat other artificial intelligence for the time being. ”

"Really"

"yes, but if you're not good at it, this kid's appetite might be endless. If this kid eats one more AI, it will have some impact on the entire game and all players. I have to teach you, you know. ”

Asuna nodded.

"Yes. But I don't know if I can do it well. ”

"There's almost no difference between this kid and a real-world kid, and you might interfere with other NPCs.

This wild boss is on the 48th floor and is the boss that the player has stopped paying attention to, so it's a little better, but if you eat an important NPC, you won't be able to meet the conditions, or you won't be able to complete the mission, which will become impossible. When something like this happens, it's easy to imagine the severity of the loss.

Asuna looked at Jupiter in disbelief, then put her hand on Jupiter's shoulder.

"Why did you do that, Jupiter? Can you tell me one more time? ”

"I'm hungry. Then I saw something that looked delicious, so I ate it. ”

"Although that's where I shouldn't have been?"

“... Because "

Asuna's face was a little solemn. His face looked like a parent scolding a child.

"It's a very dangerous place. And what Jupiter eats is also very dangerous. ”

"Dead, huh?"

It seems that Jupiter did not know the concept of death. Well, no one taught me that my processing power is the same as that of a child, and I guess it's because I haven't seen the moment when AI really dies until now.

However, Jupiter seems to have had a rather peculiar way of collapsing, such as the fact that although he knew eating etiquette, he had no concept of death.

"Just now because of what you ate, that jungle boss died. If you do something like this again, you may die next time. You can't stay together, you can't even eat together, you're stuck in one world. "It's pitch black, you don't understand anything. Is this good for you, Jupiter? ”

Jupiter bowed his head slightly, silent, as if thinking about something, but soon a look of fear appeared on his face. But surprisingly, he didn't shed a tear.

"No, no. I don't like that, Mom. ”

"Yes, Mom definitely didn't want Jupiter to die, everybody thought so. So, no matter how hungry you are, you can't eat anything around you, and you can't eat monsters. That's it, if you eat it, you're going to die one day, please, don't do it again, just eat the food your mother makes, and don't worry about your mother and everyone anymore, okay? ”

Jupiter nodded.

"I understand, I won't eat anything other than what my mother made, and I won't come out again."

"Can you promise me?"

"Commitment"

Asuna smiled and gently hugged Jupiter's body.

"Good boy, Jupiter. Sorry to starve you. ”

Jupiter didn't say anything, just buried his face in Asuna's chest and wrapped his arms around her back. She looks exactly like a child spoiled by her mother, while Asuna is no different from her mother, who loves her children.

Maybe when it comes to loving Yui, she's more like a mother than Shiina, and I don't think I'm her opponent.

"Miss Asuna, you are definitely the mother of Jupiter-kun. \"

Shino listened to Lifa's words and nodded.

"Asuna, you may be more of a mother than I am. \"

"As Yui's father, I've lost faith."

Hearing my words and Shiina's, Klein smiled bitterly. \"