Capítulo 8: Chapter 8: A Journey that Starts from a Question.
Carman continued to talk to Ryuzu for hours, carefully painting the image of a curious yet naive mechanical prodigy in her mind. He did not want her to question how he could understand and speak English, so he said he had met an old man on the streets that had taught him the language a few months ago, but the man had disappeared before completely teaching Carman.
Telling Ryuzu that the common language in the area was Fontainian, Ryuzu quickly asked Carman to translate some common phrases for her to memorize. Starting with simple things such as indroductions, every day items, and inquires, Ryuzu learned quickly, but sometimes took time to fully master the different use of inflections and different ways to address people in regards to status or relation to the speaker. While learning, Ryuzu commented on the similarities between Fontainian and the French language from her world.
Ryuzu was perplexed about how her storage unit has ended up in a sealed off room, feeling that as masterpiece of Clocksmithing, she would have been fought over and probably stolen several times.
Carman decided to tell her a half truth, claiming that the box that transported her had just appeared out of thin air like a magician had pulled a cloth from over it. He however didn't say that it was him who had made the container appear in this world. While she was skeptic initially, she chalked it up to a tear in the dimensional fabric of her world.
Finally, Ryuzu decided to ask this runaway boy who has repaired her, "after so many grown adults tried and failed to find and resolve the problem on my core, how did you know how to repair me?"
Carman replied, "I've recently been learning under a clockwork engineer who works on repairing constructs from simple toys to complex security Mekas, in every repair job he has taught me to always check the power core for any lose screws, bolts, springs, or gears, a change in the alighnment of those core mechanisms can cause the whole machine to stall. I decided to have a look there since it seemed less complicated than digging through your main logistical processers."
"That cannot be all, young man I observed as you altered my visual processers, adding a function that even my creator failed to produce, and he was considered an unrivaled genius in the field of Clocksmithing. I could see from the various schematics you had strewn about you that you managed to take a design from a completely different machine and adapt it to not only work with my current equipment, but also miniaturized it. Do you not understand the level of understanding and intelligence that takes?" Ryuzu said in shock at Carman's nonchalant manor. "Seeing and replicateing a design you have seen is one thing, what you did was alter the whole design while keeping the desired effect, that takes a whole other level of talent and understanding, not to mention the near perfect installation and repairs you achieved."
Carman blushes a bit at Ryuzu's comments, if it hadn't been for the artificial increase to his mental stats he doubted he would have come up with such a perfect design and likely would have scrapped the idea all together. He also had his skill [Steady Hands] to thank for his near perfect assembly and installation of Ryuzu's new hardware.
Ryuzu leaned closer to Carman carefully looking at his face, while he was a scruffy and rough around the edges appearance wise, he didn't look too plain, and while it was clear to her that he had been hiding some things she believed it was likely related to the fact he was a run away.
"Monsieur Carman, allow me to formally introduce myself though it may seem redundant," said Ryuzu in near perfect Fontainian, astonishing Carman, " I am Intial Y-Series Unit 1, Ryuzu, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I have a minor request that I hope you may indulge."
"What is it? If I can help I will." Said Carman.
"As the only person who managed to repair and even improve upon my design, you are the only clocksmith who has proven themselves competent enough for me to consider serving them. As such, I request that you allow me to formally register you as my master." Ryuzu said as she performed a small curtsey.
While he had partially been expecting it, Ryuzu's request still hit Carman hard. While he couldn't deny how much he wanted to work with her like Naoto did in the original story, he also thought of the many complications that her presence could cause, from finding a better place to stay, to fighting off greedy nobles. And as a person from the modern day, Carman had many reservations about owning another sentient being, even if said being was mechanical.
Ryuzu frowned slightly at Carman's silence, "is there something wrong? Do you not wish to own such a high class automata? Or does my perfection scare you?"
"It's not any of that, it's just there are many factors to consider. First, this is the first time we have met and you are asking me such a loaded question, second there are problems in my life I am currently dealing with that I don't want to pull you into, or risk having a greedy noble hire an assassin to slit my throat at night because they want to get their hands on you." Said Carman, trying to explain his reluctantce.
"I see." Said Ryuzu, " it seems you have yet to understand my full set of capabilities, rest assured, with my power, no noble will be able to lay a finger on you while I am around, and if they do manage to do so, I will end the bloodlines of every person involved. I guarantee that compared to spending just over two centuries isolated with nothing to do except silently listen as fools tried to repair me to no avail, the struggles you face will nothing more than an interesting challenge for me. I promise to follow and assist you through thick and thin until the day my cogs stop turning and crumble into dust."
Carman continued to convey ways that being Ryuzu's owner would be a bad idea for a few minutes, but after Ryuzu shot all of his concerns down, he gave up and let Ryuzu register him as her master.
"Please give me your right hand." Said Ryuzu, Carman put his hand in hers and she stared at Carman's hand for a bit while she registered the changes made to her registration system. "Master Carman, it seems that you have made a change to my registration process, I understand the facial recognition functions, but why would you make me require a drop of blood from you?"
"It's because people can change their appearance to look like me and learn to act like me, but the hardest thing for them to do would be to match my blood. Blood is a powerful catalyst and is used, from what I've heard, in some parts of Liyue to create unbreakable contracts. Here in Fontaine, engineers learned how to make Meka recognize the energy signatures from samples of a person such as hair, a lost tooth, and even blood." Carman said as he retrieved a small vial he had cleaned after collecting from the scraps of Livre's work. Taking a small sewing needle, Carman punctured the skilln on his pinky finger and squeezed a dropp of blood into the vial before inserting it into a compartment that has opened on Ryuzu's chest. As soon as he has inserted the vial, Ryuzu suddenly grabbed his hand and started dressing the small puncture wound before wrapping it in a pice of cloth she had gotten out of nowhere. Grasping the sides of Carman's face, Ryuzu looked him dead in the eye and said, "Although I have to overlook it this time please refrain from causing yourself harm in front of me, do you understand?"
Nodding in confirmation, Carman watched as the mechanisms in Ryuzu's eyes shifted and she started looking at every inch of his face, memorizing it. After a few seconds, Ryuzu's eyes returned to normal.
"It is done, now Master Carman, what shall we do?" Asked Ryuzu.
Yeah there is no way I am going to stand this. Thought Carman as he responded, "well first of all, I want to set some ground rules, if we are going to be working together there are a few things I want you to understand."
"Please proceed master, I am willing to comply to whatever rules you set, so long as they do not demean or run counter to my basic functions."
"First, always try to de-escalate conflicts with other people before resorting to violence, second please refrain from commenting on other people's intelligence I understand that you are simply stating observations, but people with bruised egos tend to become aggressive and may cause trouble for us, and there are to many troubles on our plate."
Nodding her head slightly, Ryuzu waited to see if there were any more rules that Carman was going to vocalize.
"The final and most important rule, you have to consider yourself equal to me. I am not interested in a master-servent relationship. That makes me feel like I am one of those annoying nobles, I need a friend I can confide in, and someone I can trust to tell me when I am going in the wrong direction. So no more "master" or "sir," just call me Carman."
Hearing this last rule, Ryuzu was speechless, she had literally been designed to serve, to be subservient despite her sentience. She made a small pouting face, her cheeks puffing out slightly while feeling indignant towards the notion that she should do something she considered highly disrespectful and consider herself, a servant automata, on the same level as Carman.
Carman knew it would take some time for Ryuzu to accept it, but he would be damned if he was going to follow the trope of getting a slave after entering another world like some weak hearted isekai protagonist. While she sat there silently, Carman decided to go over his skills, which despite having unlocked and seeing notifications regarding learning new ones, he had yet to go over and read their descriptions and effects.
Closing his eyes, as to not seem to be staring off into space, Carman mentally called his system and navigated to the skills tab within the skills page. Reading though the skills, he was surprised to see he had Elemental Sense. How come I haven't seen or felt anything yet? Why can't I sense anything?
After pondering this issue, he chalked it up to his lack of proficiency in using the ability. Opening his eyes, he found Ryuzu patiently sitting in front of him observing him.
"Ma..Carman, it seems you were lost in your thoughts for a while, is there something that is troubling you?" She asked.
"Not really, I just was pondering some personal matters, I should probably start saving up to start renting a place, since this room probably isn't going to fit our needs." Carman said as he started looking around the slightly cramped room.
Ryuzu tilted her head in response, "you are aware that as an automata, I do not have as many needs compared to a biological person? The amount of space I require is minimal, this room, while admittedly tiny and not as grand as a person of your status should reside, still serves our needs perfectly well. But if you insist, I can also assist in gathering the funds needed to rent a residence."
"Let's put that aside for now and go outside, I think I need a bit of fresh air, and I'm sure you would like to stretch your legs after spending so long inactive." Carman said, stretching his arms and back.
Moving over to the hole that was the only enterence and exit from the room, Carman realized there was a minor issue, while his body was small and easily made it through the hole, Ryuzu was much bigger and could not move more than her head through the hole.
He has to stifle a laugh as he watched poke her head through the crack, her face in her usual deadpan as she said, "I have a solution, please step back from the wall."
After telling Ryuzu to be sure not to break it, Carman backed away, suddenly at the edges between bricks and mortar, sharp curved black blades poked out like shark fins over the surface of the ocean. The blades ran in blocky zig zag up by about two meters before running along the top of the top layer of the bricks and retracting back to the other side. With a grinding noise, the section of wall was pushed forward from the other side enough to let Ryuzu through. Grabbing the chunk of wall, Ryuzu then carefully fit it back into place, with almost no gap showing where it had been cut. Pushing the crates back in front of the hole, Ryuzu turned to Carman and said,"Shall we get going? Or do you plan to stare at me and the wall all day?"
-to be continued.
Capítulo 9: Chapter 9: Touring a New World
[Ryuzu's perspective]
Pushing the section of wall between us out of the way and then moving it back into place, my percice cuts leaving little evidence of damage to the wall. After graduating some minor details to make the area appear undisturbed, I turned back to see my master, no what is the word... Equal? friend? Maybe Partner?
His stare displaying shock to my capabilities made me feel warm inside. It is nice being able to distinguish facial expressions. Before Mister Carman's upgrade I was able to see people but the difference in their facial expressions evaded my comprehension, it was like trying to focus on a tiny speck of detail on a large mural.
Looking at this small child who barely made it up to my waist in hight I somehow had the unresistable urge to tease him.
"Shall we get going? Or do you plan to stare at me and the wall all day?" I said whilst trying to suppress the joy I was feeling. It had been over two centuries since I was able to move about on my own. It is such an odd feeling, this amount of gratitude from just being able to move a finger, limb, to be able to converse with another being instead of confined to be a silent observer.
Being lost in my own thoughts, I only half heard what Carman had said to me. But it was to the effect of asking me to follow him while being stealthy. He is extremely vigilant and precautious for a child of his age, and the level of stealth he showed was astounding. While my superior senses could still easily detect him, it would surely be a different story to a human casually looking around.
I kept pace with him, my design easily capable of this level of movement as I asked, "Mister Carman, if I may ask, why are you living in a litteral hole in a wall? Should you not be living with your parents at this age?"
As I watched, a sad expression flickered on his face before disappearing into his own deadpan facial expression. It was the only emotion I had seen other than shock and embarrassment on this child's face. I felt a sinking feeling in my chest, as though the cogs within my chassie were caving under a strengthened force of gravity.
"I used to live in an orphanage, but a certain group kept pressuring the director to let them adopt me, I didn't like them so I ran away because I didn't want to gamble on the Director's will outlasting the group's interest. My family didn't want me, I know I was left on the doorstep of the orphanage, I checked the records, there was nothing saying that the country's legal system has anything to do with my appearance there, other than a note with my name I have nothing to prove my identity other than documents the orphanage filed for me."
To be abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for him, I could not think of what he could be going through. I have many fond recollections with my creator, but not even having a memory, it could be either a blessing or a curse. It seems like he himself didn't notice it, but as he talked there was a minor change in his facial expression, as his eyebrows knit together the more he talked about his situation before he stopped. I was half a minds to scold him for recklessly running away from the orphanage, but if he hadn't, I probably would have stayed in that sealed off room, unnoticed and dormant until they remodeled or destroyed the building.
This whole situation is in the ambiguous gray area of morality, so many contradictory arguments too and against any of the decisions that lead up to this point. In the end, this was probably the best outcome for him, at least with me by his side there will be nothing that could harm him.
By the time I finished that thought, we had reached the main street, looking up into the sky, it was much different compared to what I was expecting. Despite all of his genius, Y was never fully able to replicate the natural atmosphere of the natural world. The air had to be trapped using artificial gravity generated over several sectors. This caused the cloud layer to be significantly different compared to the original planet, there were also no major storms apart from areas where there was significant damage to the grid. This sky was not the controlled Cirrus nor nimbostratus clouds I had come to expect, there were large fluffy clouds of many shapes and sizes.
Within the ground, there was no trace of the constant ticking movement of trillions of gears working in tandem. Looking around however, there were still many sights and architecture that resembled whatI remembered of Y's world, gears worked into buildings, but the purpose they serve I would not know.
I caught sight of Mister Carman staring at me, after a moment I realized I had let slight expression of shock onto my face. "It has been a while since I've seen the sky. And from what I am seeing, this is not the sky I am used too, the atmosphere is different and more lively than the one my creator was able to create. I was previously still working under the assumption that this world was just far ahead in the future, which would explain the reason why the language was similar to one spoken on in my world, and why you are able to understand english. But it somehow feels that this place is full of much more life than where I am from."
Taking some time to process what I had said Carman nodded, and continued to show me around this city that was both completely foreign to me and yet had a comforting sense of familiarity.
[Carman: Third person Perspective]
Carman continued to walk around Fontaine, watching bemusedly as Ryuzu gaped when she gazed at the sky and buildings. It was strange seeing this amount of surprise on the automata's face, her usually emotionless face expressing more than he would have expected from how she was portrayed in the series. he showed her all of the areas he frequented, even pointing out the orphanage he used to live in.
When it was getting close to the evening, Carman decided to show Ryuzu the city from a higher vantage point, taking an elevator, Ryuzu and Carman walked out onto the elevated platform and walkways overlooking Fontaine passing by the entrance, Carman saw the statue of Focelors that was located to the side of the main walkway. It was in its dormant state, not giving off any light, but unlike it's in game counterpart, this statue was still reasonably maintained from the attention and effort from the city. At the moment it resembled the 3rd level of awakening players could achieve in game by offering Hydroculi to them.
Well, there goes one way of attuning to the Hydro element. It seems that only the Traveler is able to awaken them. Thought Carman as he walked over to the statue and didn't feel any reaction. He felt something softly radiating from the statue, but it was so faint he couldn't get a grasp of it. His best guess was that it was trace amounts of hydro energy leaking out despite is dormant state. The fact that he was able to feel the energy did get him slightly excited however, bringing him hope that he would be able to use his Elemental Sense skill.
After spending some time near the statue, Carman and Ryuzu move on and watched the sun set and send glimmers of crimson and orange hues to be reflected along the metal trims and gears on the architecture.
Waling Carman home, Ryuzu told Carman to that she would be going out for a short while, and that she would be back later. Carman tried to follow her out but lost track of her as she leaped to the top of a building and disappeared.
Giving a sigh of resignation Carman returned to his hideout and sat on his makeshift bed.waiting for Ryuzu to return.
It was at approximately midnight when there was a sudden change in Carman's surroundings, one moment, the room was normal, the next there were bags of what Carman could only assume was Mora, some scrap machinery, and Ryuzu laying face down on the floor.
Jumping up with an eep, Carman was startled by the sudden change in his surroundings but quickly put two and two together as he moved towards Ryuzu, who was dormant from using her Imaginary Gear. Hovering his hand over her upper back he could feel heat emanating from her. Deciding to wait a bit for her to cool down, Carman periodically held his hand over Ryuzu's back to see waither she was still warm or not. Once she had cooled down, Carman flipped her over and opened one of the metal spheres on her collarbone revealing a place to insert a tool to wind her up. Picking up a hexagonal key (Allen Key) he turned the mechanism until he heard a click. Pulling the key out and letting the mechanism turn, the compartment closed itself as a soft whirring noise permeated the room.
After a few seconds, Ryuzu opened her eyes again. "Why did you activate your imaginary gear?" Asked Carman, "you know that it activates your failsafe leaving you dormant again, why would you risk going through that again after spending so long in that state?"
"Because I deemed it necessary when I found myself besieged by a group of those Meka we saw as you took me around town." For some reason a lot of them were in a warehouse in the lower level of the city. I was visiting that area while gathering funds, and a lead I had brought me to the warehouse."
"What lead? And how did you get this much Mora so quickly, this has to be at least 500k in Mora." Inquired Carman.
And thus Ryuzu recounted her first encounter with the criminal underworld of Fontaine and how she raided several Sinthe dealers, causing panic amongst their ranks as an unknown entity entered the picture.
Unbeknownst to the two Ryuzu had almost caused a war to break out between Vacher and Spina Di Rosula, but fortunately for Navia, Vacher, in the guise of Marcel, was quickly able to deduce that Spina had nothing to do with the raid. Additionally though his contacts within the law enforcement, he found that the court had nothing to do with the raid either.
Rumors also circulated around all of Fontaine regarding a strong wind that had swept through the city in the dead of night, some suspected an Anemo user had something to do with it, but after no evidence was found, and the average citizen quickly moved on.
After failing to dig out who had done this raid, Vacher decided to lay low for a while, reorganize resources, and temporally stopped kidnapping civilians for his experiments with Primordial Seawater.
-to be continued.
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