201: Sumeri

"Phew..."

I wake up.

At the same time, I check the status of the trap set in Magatsuki's alternate space—nothing unusual.

My main body, the puppet, the greenhouse, and the view from the Ether Space of the surrounding real space—all appear normal.

There's no sign of any abnormality that I can immediately recognize.

"Good morning, Satu."

"Good morning, Vee. I'll return to guard duty."

There's no need to panic. The situation hasn't changed that much.

I moved near Vilijanira.

Vilijani, Memoku, and Joharis all had documents spread out on their personal terminals, yet none showed signs of panic or fatigue.

I see. The situation doesn't seem to be moving so quickly that immediate action is required.

"Does that mean, conversely, that there's been some progress?"

"Yes. Memoqui."

"Yes. Let me explain."

Memoqui produces a document.

The image shows a young woman with a refined face and golden hair... Her pointed ears suggest she is an elf.

"Her name is Sumele Commone Clanress. She is the girl currently being used as Magatsuki's physical body."

"So she's been identified?"

"Yes. Based on the evidence that remains, her likelihood is the highest."

Not definite—just highly probable.

It's impossible to be certain due to the unique nature of the actions carried out within that personal colony.

If those individuals had meticulously kept records, it would be different. But without such records, even determining the exact number of victims would be nearly impossible. In that sense, there's nothing we can do about it.

To provide a preliminary overview of her background: Suemree is an 18-year-old native of the first primal colony in the Shibrasmith system, who has never left the colony. According to records, she was found unconscious about a week ago and died three days later from an unknown illness. Her family requested that her body be cremated, and it has already been disposed of. Although there was some suspicion surrounding the incident, no abnormalities were discovered.

"In other words, she was kidnapped a week ago, and an artificial human identical to the previously created Sumeleé was left at the scene, dead. The family didn't realize the truth and disposed of the body. Honestly, those people from that personal colony give me the creeps."

"I agree."

"Seriously, right?"

"On that point, Satā's absolutely right."

Sumeleé was purely a victim.

She was completely blameless.

Of course, the same applies to her family.

The blame lies entirely with those people from the personal colony and their associates.

"Have Sumeleé and Magatsuki been found yet?"

"Not yet. They're believed to be somewhere within the Sixth Prime Colony or aboard the 'Jichikaneto' vessel, but beyond that, we have no further information."

"What about the reaction from the 'Hishui Mirror'? Considering everything we've seen so far, if Magatsuki used some kind of mod, there should be a response, right?"

"No response. The constant surveillance without Lord Johariss's involvement doesn't trigger it, and even our periodic high-precision scans—coordinated with Lord Johariss's assistance and utilizing residual traces—don't trigger it either."

"I see."

The whereabouts of Sumeri and Magatsuki remain unknown.

This... is abnormal.

Magatsuki herself could be concealed if placed in a suitable container, but for Sumeri to hide, she'd have to avoid not only personnel involved in maintaining public order but also various surveillance cameras monitored by mechanical intelligences.

That alone is already abnormal.

And if Magatsuki used a mod to achieve this, the 'Hetero Mirror' would have detected it.

Yet there's no reaction from that direction either.

"Hmm..."

"Satā-sama. Do you think Magatsuki can create a new mod like you can?"

"Well... creating a mod requires specialized knowledge and equipment. Even if we could manage the equipment using the power of the cosmic monster, I doubt there's anyone among those who've acquired Magatsuki who would use their knowledge specifically for Magatsuki. Even if Magatsuki could somehow extract knowledge from those it's cut... it still seems unlikely."

So, a new mod?

No, doesn't feel like Magatsuki could make one.

Even stacking assumptions... it's hard to believe someone capable of creating a mod existed among those individual colonies.

Besides, even if made with ordinary mod creation knowledge, it's doubtful it'd run on Magatsuki's OS, and that alone wouldn't let it escape the 'Hetero Mirror.'

Yeah, I don't think so.

That means we'll have to make do with what Magatsuki has on hand—but if we're talking about Magatsuki's hand, there's the body control mod, the shield-penetration mod...

"Could it be you used the body control mod's application to change Suumele's face before teleportation? Theoretically, it should work, assuming we ignore bleeding or pain..."

"「「「……」」」"

I calculate it mentally in my head.

Calculating... bone destruction and regeneration, fat burning, skin tissue metabolism, blood flow regulation... Ah, well, theoretically, it seems possible.

Still, it's only feasible to a certain extent.

Even if it's possible... it wouldn't be a proper or sensible use of it.

Given Magatsuki's past, though, if he came up with the idea, he'd probably just do it casually.

"I'll contact them about the possibility of changing Suumerē's appearance. However, as an extreme point, what Memo and the others should actually be searching for is Magatsuki, not Suumerē."

"I understand that. So we just have to wait for now, right?"

"Yes."

In any case, the current situation leaves us no choice but to wait.

"By the way, Sata. Do you think it's possible to save Suumerē?"

Vilijanira asks me this at this moment.

Whether it's possible to save Suumerē or not...

"I can't say anything for certain until I see them myself. But I do think it's better to act with the belief that it's possible. If my understanding of Magatsuki's neural control mod is correct, rewriting it would trigger an irreversible reaction in the brain."

"I see..."

Unfortunately, saying it's possible doesn't mean I can actually do it.

But Suumerē is truly in a dire state... I really want to do something about it... Is there any way?

I decided to think about what I could do myself while waiting for the situation to change.