## Chapter 260 – Counterattack (11)
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“Brother…? What do you mean…”
“I only heard it, so I’m not sure. But… in times like these, even if it’s just a rumor, we need to be careful. For the time being, don’t stay in the workshop after class, and go straight back to the dormitory.”
“Yes…”
My brother, who usually would do anything I wanted…
But today, he seemed determined not to allow any objections, giving Carla a look that cut her off firmly, leaving her looking bewildered.
The reason was the rumor circulating about how this incident had started.
In Antonio’s case, as a teaching assistant, he inevitably had some information coming in through the professors he’d been close to for the past week.
Of course, the professors were in a position where it was difficult to speak openly, so he couldn’t get detailed information, but after piecing together the stories, the conclusion he reached was that the royal capital’s back-alley cartel had invaded.
Fortunately, Carla had been safe during the chaos, thanks to the help of Hyeryung and Yeriel.
She had been hiding in the workshop until the situation was sorted out, and not long after, she was able to reunite with Antonio, who had fought his way to the workshop, even engaging in hand-to-hand combat with two monsters.
‘Are you okay, Carla…!! I’m a little late… but I’m here…!!”
‘B… Brother… Blood… Blood…!!’
“Haha!! That Regulus… As expected, when it clashes with a monster at full power, it breaks!! It needs more upgrades. Hahahaha!!”
Although he was armed with mechanical armor that deployed the mechanical eagle Regulus, it was only natural that he, who wasn’t a combatant, would sustain some injuries.
But thanks to his relentless determination, worthy of a sis-con, Carla and her companions were able to leave the workshop and hide in the evacuation zone.
It was a bit foolish of him to rush out, saying he didn’t have time to wait, just as the swordsmanship department’s rescue teams were about to move.
After receiving simple treatment, Antonio thankfully confirmed that he had no serious injuries, except for a slight fracture in his arm bone.
Of course, despite that, he was overjoyed to have safely rescued his sister, even after being told not to overdo it by the Sistina clerics.
‘Lady Hyeryung, thank you for protecting my sister. I’ve incurred a great debt that I can’t repay with words alone.’
‘E… That’s… It’s nothing… But… You can’t repay it with words alone… Maybe… If you’re free this weekend… I could help you so you don’t strain your arm…?’
Hyeryung, who got to monopolize him all weekend, was probably the biggest beneficiary of this situation.
Of course, Carla, who couldn’t give up her brother’s side until dirt was in her eyes, expressed her deep regret, but she couldn’t help but acknowledge Hyeryung to some extent, as she had helped her.
‘Just… this once…’
But to be precise, the most important reason for Carla was that she didn’t have the spare energy to interfere with Hyeryung.
That was also important to Carla, but there was another problem that was important to her.
‘Spider-kun… Where are you…?’
Her liquid metal drone, commonly known as ‘Spider-kun – Mk.1’.
Clearly, in her memory, Spider-kun had malfunctioned for some unknown reason, ignoring her commands and trying to invade her womb, during which she had lost consciousness.
But when she woke up, Spider-kun was gone, and the outside world was in chaos.
‘What should I do…’
Let’s say it malfunctioned.
After all, if a machine malfunctions, you just have to fix it.
But since the main body was gone, there was no way to fix it, even if she wanted to…
“I could… make it again from scratch, but…”
Unfortunately, among the various papers and research samples that had disappeared from the magic research lab in the same workshop, which were almost leaked due to this incident, there were none of her research results.
The liquid metal formula she had given to Eloise would have been leaked to the outside world.
In addition, some parts were lost in the chaos, and some of her research results, which she hadn’t made copies of yet, were missing.
It wouldn’t be difficult to conduct experiments again, following her memory, and derive similar results, but first of all, there had to be an original to compare it to in order to increase precision.
In this state, there could be a permanent loss of research results.
Therefore, she had no choice but to look for the original, Spider-kun, but there was a problem.
It would be fortunate if it was wandering somewhere in the workshop after leaving the lab, but what if it had left the workshop a long time ago?
What if it had gone somewhere unknown, not even around the workshop?
What if it attacked someone and caused casualties?
She had been desperately searching every corner of the workshop, as well as the area around it, for a week now, just in case.
But with Spider-kun nowhere to be seen, Carla’s worries only deepened.
“Could it be… that the intruder took it away at that time…?”
In the midst of all this, Carla couldn’t possibly return to the dormitory with peace of mind, given the ominous atmosphere.
After Antonio hurriedly left with Regulus due to an emergency summons, leaving her alone in the workshop, Carla was restless, thinking about how to find Spider-kun.
In the meantime.
“Carla? Are you done with class? Shall we go back together now?”
Yui’s voice was heard as she opened the door to the workshop.
Part of the workshop belonged to Yui, and she often came to find Carla, so Carla naturally greeted Yui with a wave, and then subtly changed the subject.
“Ah… I… still have some experiments left to do… Hehe…”
“Really… Your experimental spirit is great, but you need to know how to rest too, right? More than that…”
Yui, approaching Carla with a playful expression, flicked her tongue out and poked Carla’s cheek before pulling away.
“This taste… is the taste of lying…? Carla von Sterben…!!”
“Heeek…!!”
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing that she was thinking about something serious, Yui asked, and Carla slowly told her the stories she had been thinking about, except for the things she couldn’t say.
But Yui, like Carla, trailed off with a bewildered expression.
“That can’t be… If that’s the case… No matter how I think about it, it’s not a problem we can solve on our own… Reporting it would be the best option, but… I’m sure the academy is also trying to recover the leaked data…”
For now, they were civilians, and strictly speaking, foreigners from the perspective of the Kingdom of Groden.
No matter how much their position was that of a noble lady of Barmhausen and the daughter of a prestigious Chaoxing family, there was no room for them to directly intervene in official duties, using that as a weapon.
“Yeah… I think that’s probably what’s happening… It’s important for the academy’s survival… But… When I see that the professors and the academy aren’t saying anything… Hehet… I guess there’s no choice…?”
Seeing Carla’s forced, awkward smile in the midst of her gloom, Yui’s expression also gradually hardened.
“Carla…”
“I… want to find it… I want it back…”
“But… what we can do right now is…”
“I’m going to look for it… somehow…”
‘I’ve… been to the back alleys before…’
“That’s another sound I can’t ignore, isn’t it?”
Carla’s eyes, startled by the voice coming from behind them, turned in that direction.
She had returned with shopping bags full in both hands.
The owner of the jet-black hair and eyes like black pearls.
Hyeryung, returning from her date with Antonio, entered the workshop.
“What are you thinking about again?”
“Hye… Hyeryung…”
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‘This is bad…? Should I give it to her for now…?’
While agonizing over the urgent stories coming from all directions.
Unfortunately, this time, I was restless and agonizing over the news coming from Carla.
Many professors and students were harmed by this incident, but one of them was Carla.
It seemed that she had been robbed of quite important research data, so I didn’t think anyone could stop her from reacting like that.
Maybe she thought that Laratina had planted spies because her liquid metal spider was missing.
But even if she said she was ‘retrieving research results’, it sounded like she was going to take down Laratina, who had instigated the work in the back alleys.
‘That doesn’t make sense… It’s dangerous…’
In the end, without even realizing it, her idea of going to take down Laratina was extremely dangerous.
Of course, if you think about the worst situation that could happen to a mischievous noble lady who entered the back alleys, it would be a big mistake to send her like this.
If I could stop Carla from doing something stupid before she did, I was the only one who could do it.
‘But even if I give it back to her now…’
It’s not like the lost research data will come back, so there’s no change in the fact that she’ll try to retrieve the data herself.
Rather, it was a big problem that unknown problems could arise by returning a spider that couldn’t be controlled.
‘What should I do with this… Okay… Let’s buy some time…!!’
For now, Carla is fortunately with friends from the medical and pharmaceutical departments who have decent skills, Yui and Hyeryung.
If something goes wrong, it won’t be difficult for Carla to get help, and the problem will be delayed because she’ll have to solve the problem first by causing trouble.
‘I can’t help it…!! Let’s just do it…!!’
In the end, while Carla was trying to go out and Hyeryung was trying to stop her, and Yui was caught in the middle, arguing.
Suddenly, something dropped from the ceiling like a drop of water, and the three women’s eyes were on the floor.
“Ah…!! Spider-kun…!! You’re back…!!”
A silver liquid droplet, about the size of a basketball, bubbling on the floor like a water droplet with strong surface tension.
But because she still had the experience of having a painful time, Carla was carefully observing it without rashly touching it.
I had also scolded it as much as possible, telling it not to do anything stupid…
Inevitably, I couldn’t help but focus on its next move.
“You’ll… listen to me, right…?”
That was how Carla’s trembling voice was directed at it.
The spider, which had been twitching violently in place for a while, began to extend silver tentacles as if swirling.
‘Did its instincts become stronger after meeting the Enic particles…!!’
“Ah…!! Carla…!!”
At the moment when Carla’s eyes were tightly closed as it wrapped around her body, leaving Hyeryung and Yui next to her, the girls who had screamed for a moment also stopped and watched the situation.
“Carla…!! Get out of there…!! Hurry!!”
“Th… That’s right… Good boy…? Let’s come here… Let’s come here…?”
“What are you doing…!? It’s out of control…!! Uh…?”
When Carla gently held out her arms, it climbed up Carla’s body, which it had wrapped around, and gathered between her outstretched arms like a stream of flowing water.
In that way, the basketball-sized liquid metal felt heavy, and it was still, held in place on Carla’s chest as she lowered her arms and hugged it.
‘What happened…?
It’s not attacking…?’
In fact, I thought that there would be chaos from the moment it puffed up its body like a tentacle.
So, as a measure against possible problems, there were dozens of spiders and kernel worms ready to jump out of the tunnels that had already been dug in various places.
There was also a spider waiting to drop from above Hyeryung’s head and inject a poisonous needle, just in case she was caught by a woman named Hyeryung.
But seeing it become docile when it was hugged by Carla, I couldn’t help but sigh.
The sight of Carla sitting down and hugging the silver ball tightly was truly a sight of pure happiness.
“It’s okay… I won’t… blame you… Thank you for coming back… Spider-kun…”
Her reunion was a bit touching, to the point where I could feel that Carla had grown quite fond of it.
Her creation had run away from home and come back, so I might feel a little like that too.
Moreover, it had even corrected its behavior of attacking its owner, so I couldn’t help but feel that way even more.
“But… for a while, until you’re fixed… I’ll have to skip meal times…? I’ll definitely fix you again and give you food… So…”
But after hearing Carla’s last words, the body of the silver liquid ball seemed to tremble, was that just my imagination?
‘This bastard…
It’s not a drone…?
Is it actually a person…!?’
But just as I was thinking that things were going well.
“Spider-kun… Zwölf Sammlung Protocol… Do you remember?”
As soon as Carla finished speaking, it began to spread out from her arms, as if enveloping her body.
“Hmm…? I’ve heard of that in the Ancient Barmhausen language class…? So… that’s definitely… Ah!! I know!!”
Then, Hyeryung, who was suddenly next to her, began to give an ancient language lecture, and her expression was changing from a happy expression of encountering something she knew to an unusual expression…
“‘Twelve Collections’…? Why…? What are you trying to do again…!?”
“… E… So… Zwölf Sammlung Protocol!!
Ein!! Fünf!! Acht!!”
Spider-kun moved to the sound of Carla shouting incomprehensible words.
They had spread out from her arms, but the ones that were still wrapping around her body continued to change their appearance according to her commands, and began to take the form of something.
“Carla…!! That’s…!!”
“After all, there’s not enough mass with this… I can only do one at a time…”
A silver-white armor reminiscent of the previous hydraulic armor.
“Then… I’m going to go get the research data now…!!”
The appearance of the smooth armor, which especially protects the vital points and also properly protects the other parts, was met with a dazed silence in the workshop.
And it goes without saying that screams close to screams were echoing from the two girls soon after.
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“Carla…!! You’ve never fought before…!!
We’re non-combatants…!!
The Barmhausen armored soldiers are basically combat soldiers…!!
More than that, what are you going to do in the back alleys?”
“That’s right, miss!! We have to think about your b…
No, your brother!!
What are you going to do when nothing is certain…?
The back alleys? Did you just say the back alleys…?
Are you finally crazy… no… are you a little mentally ill…?”
“Even the public safety police can’t solve it…!!
And… if I can’t get my research results back like this…
The academy will definitely be in trouble…!!
I… I put out my research data for the academy…!!
Then I have the right to go find it myself…!!”
I was looking down at the three girls arguing from the corner of the ceiling, and I was also itching to say a word.
‘If I had known it would be like this…
I shouldn’t have given it to her… damn it…
It was a complete misjudgment…!!
I should have known from the time it was attacking…!!’
Who would have thought that the slime would become a weapon?
In a way, Antonio was also using his mechanical bird Regulus as a kind of armor or weapon, so it might have been natural.
And looking at the previous appearance, there were quite a variety of types.
The shape is not constant, so I can’t say for sure, but it was also changing into a kind of weapon such as a sword or a bow.
There were also axes and warhammers, and even the fixed armor shape this time.
Is it because she had the experience of fighting Vivian in hydraulic armor before?
It’s like the saying that people become the most confident after having a clumsy experience, and she might be saying that she’s going to go out thinking about the memories of that time.
Of course, as a matter of course, she left out only the memories of almost dying.
“This… can become a crime if you do it wrong, Carla!!
It may spread to the responsibility of the country… the family…!!”
“But…!! If I leave it like this, I’ll lose my research data completely…!!
And… my research too… will become ownerless research like this…
It will be misused here and there… and I won’t be able to hold my head up…
This is… a research for my brother… my mother and father too…”
“Still… Carla…!!
There are things to do… and things not to do…!!”
“We have pride as alchemists…
No matter what happens… I won’t let my research be misused.”
I would usually take Carla’s side if possible, but Yui is definitely firm about the realistic parts.
And despite her persuasion, Carla thinks that she has to protect her beliefs.
Just before their argument turns into a quarrel.
The eyes of the two people were turning to the deep sigh coming from the side.
“Haa… I can’t get through to you…
So, you’re just going to try to get the research results back somehow?”
“Yes…!!”
“I’ll join you.”
“Hyeryung…!! You can’t stop me…!!
What are you talking about right now…!!”
Hyeryung’s bombshell declaration made not only Yui but also Carla’s eyes widen.
In the first place, if it’s not a place where she gets attention, she hates to do anything, saying that everything is trivial, but she’s saying that she’s going to do something.
Even about something that’s not her business.
“You know, don’t you, Kazunomiya?
Do you think I agree with this kind of foolishness?
But what are you going to do if you don’t do anything like this?”
“What we can do is…”
“Can’t you see that she’s out of her mind because of the research?
Then, are you going to tie the young lady up in the dormitory and prevent her from going out?
She’s about to run out as soon as you take your eyes off her, right?
It’s better to solve this kind of problem quickly.”
It was a part where I could realize what kind of evaluation she had from the people around her, but Hyeryung was saying the right thing for some reason and shooting back at Yui.
“Even if you don’t do that… definitely somehow…!!”
“I wouldn’t have been much different in the first place.
I’d be making a mess in a situation like this.
How dare you touch the knowledge of the Tang family without knowing your place.
I’ll show the world the price.
Now that it’s my in-laws’ house, the Sterben family is the same.”
“Hyeryung…?”
“However, this time, I’ll get back the research data and get out right away.
As you said, it’s not the Tang family’s business.
I hate it when things get complicated.”
Is it because of the dangerous atmosphere she’s giving off that she can’t object to Hyeryung’s words that she’s going to get married?
Yui, who was just watching her words with a look of caution, eventually gently closed her dark eyelids, where her trembling eyelashes stood out.
“Then I’ll join you too…”
“Yui…?”
“I’m worried about sending you two alone like this…
Maybe there are things from the medical department among the things you get back…
I’ll do first aid if a dangerous situation arises…
But I’ll never let that happen…!!”
“Okay, okay.
You’ve been worried about this and that too much since before, Kazunomiya.
You seem to have forgotten already? I’m the best masterpiece the Tang family has created.”
Hyeryung, who was folding her arms as if she knew it would happen, as Yui raised the white flag and said the terms of the negotiation.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, her black pearl-like pupils reflecting the evening glow with a chilling glint.
“I know better than anyone… how to deal with those who have coveted what is ours since time immemorial…”
The moment she smiled coldly, goosebumps prickled on Yui and Karla’s skin.
“What kind of conspiracy is this…?
Haa… Students should act like students…!!”
Just when they thought Hyeryeong was the last, the door opened again, and someone rushed in, scattering their silver hair, causing Yui to cover her forehead with her palm.
As Karla called out the person’s name, the named individual stared back at the girls with wide, incredulous eyes.
“Professor Eloise…!!”
