With the traces left by the surrounding explosions and the soot clinging to my body as evidence, I did not need to say much to explain everything to everyone.
More importantly, my character had always been solid. I acted upright and sat straight, never having done anything out of line, trustworthy enough that they had not really suspected me of doing anything strange in the first place.
As for the reason I shielded Kei from the missile despite her being an enemy, there was nothing worth hiding.
"Subduing Kei is one thing. Now that victory was already assured, how could I just stand by and watch Aris's body suffer severe damage?"
Momoi suddenly understood, then became righteously resentful. "Damn it, occupying our companion's body and forcing us to hold back… how utterly evil of an AI!"
"Onee-chan, I am begging you, as a scriptwriter and acting like this, even writing it into a script. Our game would get mocked along with it, you know?"
"Sh-shut up! This is called classicization! What do you know about the affairs of literary creators!"
The scum of Kivotos literary creators, a certain Momoi, stubbornly retorted here.
"All right, this place is not suitable for staying long," I said. "The commotion we caused was too big. Even though it was resolved quickly, we could still be attacked by robots at any time. Let's find a safe place to regroup."
My proposal was unanimously approved by everyone.
And so, carrying the unconscious Aris, we returned to the abandoned factory.
The Sword of Light was temporarily kept by Eimi. To be safe, we also used sturdy cloth strips to bind Aris.
As for the source of those cloth strips, they were simply the remains of half a Schale uniform and one Millennium uniform.
This time, Midori had brought spare clothes as well. They fit well enough and were just right to change Aris into.
As for me, since I did not have clothes of a suitable size, I could only remain bare chested for the time being.
As a result, I suffered from the girls' somewhat restrained yet curiosity filled and probing glances.
Could this be what they call some form of gym creep?
What was more, someone as bold as Momoi was not satisfied with just looking. She directly came over and started touching, sighing as she did so.
"Wow, Sensei, you are all solid muscles everywhere… whoa."
I could not help myself and gave Momoi a chop on the head, warning her, "Do not touch randomly."
Unless you are willing to let me touch you back.
The originally eager Midori immediately became sulky.
Eimi, meanwhile, stood beside Midori and tried to reason with her, who was firmly opposed to a certain action.
"Sensei can take it off, but I cannot?"
"Of course not! Sensei is doing it because his clothes were destroyed by unavoidable circumstances!"
"I am also under unavoidable circumstances. I am very hot and need to dissipate heat."
"Then could you not just turn your back to everyone like earlier?"
"No, I have to keep an eye on Aris, who seems to have been controlled by a strange AI. Otherwise, you would all be taken out in an instant."
"We are not that weak!"
Yuzu, who was watching over Aris, quietly remained neutral.
While resting my tired body in the corner, I turned my thoughts back and reorganized the entire incident, searching for details I had not had time to pay attention to earlier.
First was the relationship between Kei and Aris. According to Kei's own words, she claimed to be an existence that helped AL-1S complete a "mission." What exactly was that "mission" she was designed for?
Second, Kei seemed to have mistaken me for one of her own kind, her attitude before and after being completely different. Perhaps I could take advantage of her misunderstanding to gain her trust and extract more related information.
Third, there was the massive white and yellow robot that had clearly fired missiles while aiming at Kei. What was its purpose? Why did the faction it belonged to hold an almost hostile attitude toward me? These questions might all be worth investigating.
Lastly, there was the matter of the card.
This time, after divine name release ended, I did not fall unconscious.
I could think of four possible reasons for this.
First, this time I did not perform any moves that were too heavy. Second, the lifespan I consumed this time was only a little over one year. Third, I had not been forced to the point of utter exhaustion beforehand. Fourth, perhaps it had something to do with the additional effects of Ako's authority.
The so called fertility enhancement seemed to have, to a certain extent, also made my stamina more abundant.
The card's descriptions were always like this, making me involuntarily glance at a certain blonde, pink eyed girl who was completely absorbed in playing some kind of game.
It felt like a perfectly matched opponent meeting a worthy rival.
Just as I felt I had rested almost enough, suddenly, a faint yet clear whimper sounded within the room.
The sound came from Aris lying on the floor, instantly drawing everyone's attention, their emotions all different.
I quickly walked over and crouched down, preparing to feign cooperation with Kei to see if I could learn about Aris's current condition.
However, after a slight tremor, what slowly opened were a pair of blue eyes, clear like spring water.
"…Aris?" I tried calling.
"…Sensei? Everyone?"
Aris tried to get up from the ground. Realizing that she was bound, her expression grew even more confused. "This is… what happened?"
The one who woke up was Aris, not Kei. This was also one of the possibilities I had considered.
Of course, it was not impossible that Kei was disguising herself as Aris, although from the current situation, Kei did not seem to disdain doing such a thing.
And Kei probably would not call me Sensei either.
"Aris-chan, thank goodness…" Midori let out a heavy sigh of relief, then helped Aris up and moved behind her. "Do not move around. I will untie you."
I hesitated for a moment, but did not stop her.
Momoi pointed at her own face. "Aris, you still recognize me, right?"
"Ah, Aris knows this kind of scene!" Aris looked both delighted and surprised. "Could it be that Aris has slept for a thousand years and has finally been awakened?"
All right, this kind of innocence that could not be easily imitated confirmed that this was indeed Aris herself.
"No, no, not that long. It has not even been an hour."
"Oh…"
Aris nodded in disappointment. At the same time, after the restraints were removed, there was no abnormal reaction at all.
Yuzu swallowed. "Aris, how do you feel? Are you okay?"
"Ugh… an unprovoked sense of fatigue, and my body hurts faintly. Current situation cannot be understood."
It would have been better not to ask. Once asked, Aris looked as if she might cry at any moment.
I asked gently, "You do not remember anything at all?"
"Yes… the last memory is… did Aris do something bad?"
Aris asked uneasily.
Those of us who knew the truth looked at each other.
In the end, I reached out and patted Aris's head, shaking my head with a smile. "Nothing like that. Aris just suddenly fell asleep. Maybe you have been staying up too late playing games recently."
"N-no such thing! Aris enters sleep mode before sunrise every day!"
"…Is that not exactly staying up late?"
In any case, although there were still all kinds of unresolved mysteries waiting to be explored, at least Aris had returned for now.
The rest could be worried about after we went back.