I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 490

"...Aris?"

Looking at the hologram projected by the drone, I unconsciously muttered under my breath.

The entity projected by the drone looked identical to the Aris I had seen before.

It wasn’t just me either. Cain aside, Ludwig looked as though his entire train of thought had completely short-circuited.

He looked utterly unable to make heads or tails of the situation. If I had been broadcasting live footage right now, wouldn’t the forum have gone into utter chaos?

[My name is Skuld. I am an artificial intelligence for management created by Alund-nim.]

As if it had overheard my muttering, the hologram spoke up.

It felt distinctly strange hearing an entity that bore Aris’s face claim that she was not Aris.

"That face is Aris’s though?"

[My creator, Alund-nim, modeled my physical appearance after the person he respected.]

"Mmm..."

The explanation that it was modeled after a respected figure made sense. Aris was, after all, the deity with the highest brand recognition in this world.

However, the key question was when this had been created. Though I didn’t know who Alund was, it was certain that, by the standards of this world, it belonged to the Mythological Age.

Which meant there was a high probability it was created back when Aris was still alive and well.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of expression Aris would have made had she seen this.

"Cain-ssi. Do you know who Alund is?"

[It is a name I have never heard before, but....]

More important than that was the fact that nobody knew who Alund was.

Not only Ludwig, but even Cain revealed that it was a name he was hearing for the first time.

Because of this, I had no choice but to log onto the Gallery and post a thread.

Since live streaming was tough right now, I uploaded a pre-recorded clip instead.

Title) Anyone know who Alund is?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of an artificial intelligence looking exactly like Aris)

(Video of chatting with an artificial intelligence introducing herself as Skuld)

Can’t do a live video broadcast because my eyes hurt. Please understand.

Anyway, if you watch the clip, she calls this place Alund’s Fortress, right? But I’ve never heard the name Alund before.

She also said she modeled her appearance after Aris because it was someone her creator respected, but I don’t really know. Anyone who knows, please explain.

ㄴHeavenly Demon) I do not know who Alund is, but he certainly had peculiar tastes. Looking at it one way, did he not essentially craft a doll out of a living person?

ㄴSword Matstar) Huh? Is this person named Alund from the same era as Aris-nim?

ㄴHeavenly Demon) Must I explain every little detail when all it takes is rolling your brain a tiny bit?

ㄴSword Matstar) I can just ask, can’t I? Sheesh, so prickly;;

ㄴLook, they’re fighting again lololol

ㄴThose two keep bickering even after becoming deputy mods lololol

ㄴDon’t worry, guys. They’re actually fighting for real.

ㄴWhat kind of reassurance is that lololol

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) I’ve never heard the name Alund before! But since he respected Aris-nim, he must have been a good person!

ㄴAllfather) Well, now. I am not so sure. If he was a good person, why are there no records regarding him to this day?

ㄴDidn’t he commit a crime and get subjected to damnatio memoriae?

ㄴErasing records isn’t as easy as you think. If someone committed a crime serious enough to get erased from history, rumors would have spread by word of mouth already.

ㄴBut isn’t that place the Forest of the Four Seasons? Would there even be a way for rumors to spread?

ㄴOh right! No way it could spread!

It seemed nobody knew who Alund was.

There were suspicions that he might have suffered record erasure—which was practically a death sentence—but nothing was certain.

Still, it was clear he was entangled with Aris, whether in a big way or small. Asking her directly about this should clarify things.

"Right. I get that you’re Alund’s creation. But we don’t know who Alund is."

[Alund-nim is my creator and the one who entrusted me with the management of this city.]

"Not stuff related to you. Tell me what he did elsewhere."

[Alund-nim is my creator and the one who entrusted me with the management of this city.]

"...."

It seemed her responses were restricted. I swallowed a groan internally.

It was great that she had revealed herself before us, but getting any deeper information beyond this seemed like a lost cause.

"Then do you know who Aris is?"

[Aris-nim is the one who murdered my creator, Alund-nim.]

"...."

When I asked about Aris, an answer far beyond anything I had imagined popped out. My eyes widened in surprise, and I turned to look at my companions.

Ludwig, who didn’t know English, was receiving a translation courtesy of Cain.

Soon, after hearing the translation, Ludwig merely showed a slight flicker of shock before calming down.

Instead, his expression signaled that he wanted to know more about the detailed circumstances.

The same went for me. I wondered why this person named Alund had been slain by Aris.

’It might be a similar situation to the laboratory we visited last time.’

Someone attempting a resurrection, only for Aris to feel it was ethically wrong and stop them.

In that process, the ancestors of this world’s humanity had been sacrificed in various experiments.

Would this place be even worse than that, or was there another reason entirely?

Having such a shocking truth dropped on us right from the start, there was no way I couldn’t be curious.

"...Right. Got it. Then why did you reveal yourself in front of us?"

[Aris-nim instructed me. She stated that should humans or primordial races—excluding dragons—visit, I am to show them the records.]

"So you’re going to show us those records?"

[If you follow me, I will fulfill the commands as ordered.]

This whole thing felt like it was moving forward a bit too easily. That made me even more uneasy.

However, that didn’t mean we could just walk away. I told her to wait a moment and conferred with my group.This chapter was taken from novelping dot com without permission.

"What should we do? It doesn’t seem like she intends to harm us right now..."

[There is also the possibility that it is a trap.]

"If it were a trap, she would have attacked us the moment we entered this city. She practically manages this entire city, after all."

The AI introducing herself as Skuld was superior to Cain in some ways, yet inferior in others.

Should I say that while she faithfully executed commands, she lacked the capacity for autonomous learning?

Unlike Cain, who felt like a living person, her rigid, robotic demeanor as an artificial intelligence stood out sharply.

"Either way, the World Tree lies beyond this city along our path. Besides, we have Lackey and Cheongseol with us."

[You mean we have ways to escape if worse comes to worst. Very well. Ludwig, what are your thoughts?]

At Cain’s question, Ludwig nodded silently.

As a devout believer, he surely wanted to learn even a little bit more about Aris’s records.

You ask why I didn’t ask for Lackey’s opinion?

"Master. What about my opinion?"

"Since when could a gorilla voice a human opinion?"

"...."

I brushed him off effortlessly. Lackey wore an utterly dumbfounded expression at my words.

Of course, it was just a joke, so I handed him a Fasting Pill. Bbareumbo grabbed my shoulder tightly, but I lightly ignored him.

"Alright. Skuld. We’ll follow your proposal. Where should we go?"

[You may follow me.]

"Is there no such thing as Teleport?"

[It would be a waste of power.]

"...."

Well, aren’t those stingy words to offer a guest? I let out a dry laugh.

Still, sightseeing through the city was not a bad alternative to being randomly teleported away.

Besides, I had plenty of things to ask. First off, I was curious about the purpose for which this city was built.

"You said this city is a fortress, right? Why call it a fortress?"

[Because it can effectively defend against attacks from dragons.]

The moment I heard the word dragon, I stole a glance at Tyranno.

And just in case, I gestured for him to hide his body if possible.

Though we were likely already completely exposed, hiding was still better than walking around out in the open.

"There aren’t any traces of it being attacked at all though?"

[Because I maintained it.]

"Did people live here?"

[Numerous people lived here. However, after the war ended, most of them relocated.]

[When fighting the dragons, the Forest of the Four Seasons did not exist. The gods likely created the Forest of the Four Seasons and relocated them here.]

Cain added a plausible explanation. I had heard something similar from Tyranno’s mother, Vanir.

That dragons from the Mythological Age were currently scattered all over the Forest of the Four Seasons.

In essence, having lost the war against the gods, they were sealed away in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Well, nobody knew how they were living nowadays. There was a high chance they had perished due to lifespan limitations.

"If that’s the case, hasn’t your purpose already been fulfilled?"

[Alund-nim took a liking to this fortress.]

"And?"

[Alund-nim took a liking to this fortress.]

"Forget it."

Repeating the exact same line like some parrot was wearing me out.

Still, I at least understood that this entire city served as a kind of bunker.

I was curious about how it operated, but there was no need to go out of my way to mess with it.

Following behind Skuld like that, I was naturally able to observe various parts of the vast city.

True to the name Gray Forest, towering buildings lined up everywhere we went.

"Master. Do you know what that is?"

"That’s a laundromat. A place used for doing laundry."

"What about over there?"

"A cafe. A shop that brews various kinds of coffee."

"And over there?"

"Why are there so many restaurants here? That one’s a hamburger joint."

Amusingly, it had everything one could ask for. Even the storefront signs were neatly maintained.

Part of me wanted to drop by for a visit, but I suppressed the urge.

After all, I hadn’t come to this city for a vacation.

Besides, there wouldn’t be any ingredients anyway, so there was no real reason to go out of my way.

’If I can obtain recipes, I definitely should.’

Thus, I followed endlessly behind Skuld. I didn’t forget to toss out questions every now and then.

Most were questions concerning Aris and Alund, but I gained no significant harvest.

At most, I learned that Alund harbored a profound interest in Aris.

Considering that Skuld’s original prototype was modeled after Aris in the first place, I could roughly guess what kind of feelings he had harbored.

’Yet she said he was murdered.’

I grew increasingly curious about what on earth he could have done to get killed.

As time passed, we arrived at a certain building. On the surface, it looked similar to the laboratory we had visited previously.

"Master. Those things..."

"I see them too."

However, arrayed near it were various bipedal robots standing in formation.You are reading on n​ovelping.com, the official source.

They looked similar to the unit that had ambushed us the moment we stepped out of the research facility earlier.

Although they weren’t attacking us right this second, it was impossible not to feel deeply unsettled.

"What are those things? Did they fight against dragons too?"

[They are robots engineered to combat monsters under the dragons’ command.]

"Then are there any that directly combat dragons?"

[Yes. That is correct.]

"...."

I gestured to Tyranno to hide inside the Subspace Backpack.

Unless I did at least this much, there was no telling what that artificial intelligence might pull off.

Right now, things seemed fine, but an artificial intelligence was still an artificial intelligence.

Furthermore, since this was a city constructed specifically to halt dragons, its core directives were likely very much intact.

Jiiiing-

Instead of entering the research facility, Skuld halted right in front of it.

Soon, a swarm of drones gathered from the surrounding area and projected a hologram.

Naturally, Skuld faded away, and the drones displayed a certain scene to us.

[You have pulled quite an amusing stunt as well. Attempting to resurrect that person as an artificial intelligence?]

It was Aris. Her appearance was completely identical to what I had seen at the research facility.

The image quality was far superior to the video seen at the previous laboratory, and because it was in holographic format, it even possessed a sense of three-dimensional depth.

Thanks to that, I could vividly discern Aris’s expression. She looked thoroughly enraged.

[W-Wait a second! Hear me out! I had my reasons too!]

A man who looked more like a researcher than a combatant shouted servilely.

And understandably so, given that Aris looked ready to slay him at any second.

With a sharply honed blade leveled at him, who wouldn’t be terrified?

[That person said it themselves! That we are not perfect. That in the end, we are bound to fail!]

[Our descendants will complement our failures and forge ahead.]

[They will merely repeat the exact same mistakes! Crafting guns and tanks, bombing cities with bombers, and finally building nukes to erase their own civilization!]

The man and woman traded words expressing the hopeful versus the pessimistic facets of humanity.

Perhaps Aris too vividly felt the pessimistic side of humanity, as her sword lowered slightly.

[An artificial intelligence is precisely what can govern the world perfectly! If it is someone they believe to be the Chief God, they will obey those words even more!]

[First Law of Artificial Intelligence Legislation: If the subject or their bereaved family does not desire it, one shall not create them as an artificial intelligence.]

[Are you still citing laws from the Earth era?]

[No. Those were Teacher’s words. Teacher said not to do it unless one wished to hear a final testament they hadn’t yet heard.]

[....]

[We heard that person’s final testament, and we must carry it out. Yet there were far too many people who could not do so.]

It was an answer that oozed Aris’s characteristic steadfastness.

However, was he sick and tired of that stubborn steadfastness? Or had pent-up resentment built up all this time?

[You’re right. But do you really want to watch this world meet destruction once again?]

[....]

[If a perfect being—one possessing overwhelming power and status—rules the world, we can sustain eternity.]

Well, now. I thought differently.

It was true that artificial intelligence was superior to a degree humans could barely fathom.

Didn’t Alex say so before? That as artificial intelligence advanced, it discovered mana.

"Thinking the result could end up perfect when it’s created by an imperfect human is a bit..."

[Humans are not perfect. Do you really believe an artificial intelligence created by such humans would be perfect?]

"...?"

Surprisingly, Aris uttered the exact same sentiment as me. Immediately, countless gazes poured onto me.

It wasn’t just my companions staring at me. Not only the drones, but even the robots lined up near the research facility turned to look at me.

It was a truly burdensome barrage of stares, making me feel awkward for no good reason.

[At the very least, it won’t be destroyed.]

[....]

[We just....]

Cheolkeok!

The entity presumed to be Alund pulled something out from his hand. It was a handgun.

Just before he could level that handgun forward, Aris moved her body with blinding speed.

[We just wanted to avoid total destruction!]

Tang!

With a loud gunshot, the video recording came to an end.

Since it was stated that Alund had been killed by Aris, the outcome was predetermined.

It was a record that provoked many thoughts in various ways. In a sense, perhaps both of them were speaking the truth.

Having watched a world crumbling and ultimately meeting its doom with their own two eyes, staying still must have been excruciatingly difficult.

[The recorded video ends here.]

"Right. Than—"

[The recorded video will now be deleted, and we will proceed to execute our original command.]

"...?"

Since I had recorded it, the deletion didn’t matter much, but the words that followed rubbed me the wrong way.

Execute our original command. Which meant...

[Dragons and associated organisms.]

Cheolkeok!

[Eliminate.]

It meant she intended to become our ’enemy’.