I have to admit…
Seeing this with my own eyes is pretty amazing.
But why does this feel so familiar?
Shuma or whatever that guy was called…?
No, no, no.
Taro shook his head quickly, ruthlessly shoving those already-dead memories back into the grave.
You're dead already, why are you popping up now?
After he waited for a while,
the light in the General's eyes slowly brightened.
The dead loop was completely broken.
Her underlying logic had finished being sorted out and optimized.
That cold gaze slowly fell onto Taro.
A calm, rippleless voice sounded:
"This body is a puppet. A tool."
"The soul once housed within was something created to pursue eternity and resist erosion."
"Now, this body is no longer needed by that inner self."
"The deal is complete. I now belong to you."
"First question: how should I address you? And should I inherit or discard the name 'Shogun'?"
"Second question: what principles am I to uphold?"
"Third question: what is it that you say I seek?"
Raiden Shogun was strong. That much was beyond doubt.
She had inherited everything of Ei's,
and even possessed things Ei had never had.
If you really wanted to,
you could say she was "Ei 1.0."
The reason her transformation had been so slow before
was still Ei herself.
Because the owner hadn't changed,
there were no variables in the logic that couldn't be solved.
Ei wanted to change.
The Shogun agreed—but she had to observe first.
That was something very, very long-term.
The Shogun had to confirm that Ei had truly, firmly decided what she sought,
and wasn't just acting on a whim.
So the underlying logic had never changed on a large scale.
But things were different now.
The one giving orders had changed.
Ei's presence had been faded out.
Taro had taken her place.
Naturally, the Shogun's underlying logic was overturned wholesale by his will.
Now was rebirth.
The answers to these three questions
would become the foundation upon which the Shogun perfected her own core logic.
"Questions, huh…"
Facing the Shogun's inquiry, Taro rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, then counter-asked:
"Your current state. Your needs. Your wishes."
"Once you've confirmed these three points, I'll give you your answers."
"Understood…"
The Shogun nodded.
Her logic wasn't fully perfected yet,
but since her owner had asked, naturally she had to answer.
And she answered very quickly.
"This body is complete and perfect. At present, what I require is your answers, so that my logic may be perfected. I bear no selfish desires of my own."
She finished in one breath.
There wasn't the slightest stutter.
It was the kind of answer she gave without even needing to think.
An all-purpose household robot?
That was not what he wanted.
What he wanted was a Shogun who was actually alive.
Maybe his question hadn't been tricky enough?
"How do you define yourself?"
Right now, Taro was curious about only that.
"A tool."
The Shogun answered very seriously.
As expected…
Taro instantly understood.
If, within her logic, she defined herself as a "tool,"
she could sweep away the vast majority of logical problems.
It was the simplest solution.
That absolutely wouldn't do.
If questions could be dodged by logic,
then he would give her an answer she couldn't dodge.
The corners of Taro's mouth lifted slightly.
"You can call me Sensei. As for your name… Thunder."
"Understood."
"As for the principles you must uphold—none."
"…Received."
"What I need from you is to become a real lifeform. A real person."
"..."
The Shogun didn't freeze.
There was no logical conflict either.
She just quietly looked at Taro.
After a moment, she tilted her head.
"What is a person?"
To the Shogun,
this question was very strange.
Life she could understand.
But "person"… how was she supposed to define that?
In the past, the answer had been simple.
People are just… people.
But now, that didn't feel right anymore.
"…"
What is a person?
Come on, I literally just gave you the answer, and you're throwing the question back at me?
For this question…
you could say there is an answer, and there could be countless of them.
You could also say there is no answer, not even one.
It was something no one could give a definitive reply to.
Still the same old trick—dodge the issue.
Taro pointed at himself, then pointed at the Shogun.
"This is a question I can't give you a precise answer to. You'll have to discover it for yourself."
"But here's a hint: possessing a soul, a self, and emotions is the minimum requirement for being a person."
Emotions? Soul? Self?
She understood, and yet she did not.
Still, she had her "answer."
The Shogun blinked, then immediately nodded.
"I am yours. Answer recorded."
"Logic loop closed."
"This body shall exist for Sensei's sake, fulfilling all that Sensei requires."
"…"
Is that… really the correct answer?
Taro's mouth hung slightly open, his expression as weird as it could get.
I try to up the difficulty,
and you respond by playing mind games with me?
Fine. Forget it.
"…Alright then~
"We'll talk about it when we get back."
For now, Taro gave up on correcting her mindset.
He had originally thought the Shogun would fully awaken this time.
From the looks of it now, this was just optimization, not evolution.
Something still felt… missing.
He shook his head,
pushing down those extra thoughts.
With a gentle wave of his hand,
Taro brought the Shogun back to Yaoguang Shoal.
The moment the two of them appeared,
everyone's gazes turned toward them at once.
"Sensei (Boss, Lord of Wisdom)!"
Yingda, Fanan, Beryl, and Huoliya all called out at the same time.
It was just that, among the four,
half of Huoliya and Beryl's attention was still on…
or rather, on Muso Isshin in its dream-form.
Off to the side, Raiden Makoto's expression was complicated.
The Muso Isshin in her hand was trembling ever so slightly.
"What's going on here?"
"Don't tell me you started fighting?"
Seeing the slightly tense stand-off,
Taro raised an eyebrow.
He'd only been gone for, what, not even a minute?
"That didn't happen…"
Huoliya shook her head with a smile.
"We just heard a story, that's all."
Everyone's gaze simultaneously shifted to Muso Isshin.
Then back to the Shogun standing behind Taro.
For a moment, their thoughts were a little tangled.
"Sensei, she… is that puppet?"
"She doesn't look like one at all."
Yingda frowned, staring fixedly at the Shogun.
The warning bells in her heart were already blaring.
This thing was really a puppet?
Who are you kidding.
"Mm."
Taro nodded lightly.
"Looks like they already explained it to you."
"She's the Shogun, Ei's creation. As of now, she's mine."
"No way I'm buying that…"
Yingda shuffled up next to Taro,
staring at the Shogun again and again,
muttering under her breath.
A puppet of Archon-level power?
Unit-Zero?
Built from Beelzebul's physical body?
How was this not still Beelzebul?
They'd just separated the soul from the body of the Archon, that was all.
Don't treat her like an idiot.
Roaming-the-Realms techniques were something any Liyue adeptus worth their salt knew;
naturally she was one of them.
A soul leaving the body—
hard?
A puppet, my foot. What a load of nonsense.
This woman had clearly just handed her own Archon body to Sensei as "payment."
Who knew what kind of scheme she was plotting.
It was only because Sensei was kind and chose not to expose her.
No… maybe Sensei had just gotten greedy for her looks?
The other two also had somewhat strange expressions,
but they didn't say anything out loud.
"…"
So now the pressure's suddenly on me?
Taro raised his hand and flicked Yingda on the forehead.
Smack.
"Ow— that hurts… Sensei, what was that for?"
"You know perfectly well what you were just thinking."
"…"
(End of Chapter)
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