Led by the golem, they arrived before a white door at the end of a white hallway flanked by white walls.
It vaguely brought to mind No. 700672’s quarters, the "White Room."
The guide golem stopped in front of the white door and stood perfectly still.
Jin suspected it was communicating with someone, somewhere. He proved to be correct when the golem finally opened the door to usher Jin D and Anne inside.
《Permission granted. Please, enter.》
As Jin D stepped slowly into the room, he noticed an elderly lady lying in the bed.
“It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Jin D stopped and gave a polite bow. The elderly lady looked at him with a gentle smile.
“Welcome, new person.”
“...My name is Jin Nidou. Though, the one you see before you now is a Doppel.”
Jin wanted to ask what she meant by "new person," but he prioritized the introduction. He had always had a soft spot for elderly women who reminded him of the director of his old orphanage back home.
“Heh, you didn't ask what I meant by 'new person,' did you?”
“Ah, well...”
Jin and Jin D were both slightly flustered, their inner thoughts having been read so easily.
“I am Milowina. The last survivor of the Leonard Kingdom... I suppose that is what I am.”
Looking closely at the elderly lady who called herself Milowina, Jin saw that although her skin was etched with age, it was strikingly pale. Her hair was now completely white and lacked its former luster, but it suggested it had once been a beautiful platinum blonde.
And though they were now sunken, her eyes had surely once been a clear sky-blue.
“We chose the wrong path and have come all this way to this day without ever turning back. And now, that path is about to reach its end.”
Jin, controlling Jin D from Hourai Island, found himself unable to interject. Elsa, sitting beside him, remained equally silent.
“I only hope that those who follow will not walk the same path. That is my only wish.”
Milowina closed her eyes.
“Jin Nidou-dono, you could have used force if you wished, yet you did not conduct a reckless investigation. You avoided a conquest driven by power and reached this place through peaceful visitation. To such a person as you, I entrust the entirety of this facility.”
“That is...”
But before Jin D could say more, Milowina spoke again.
“Control Brain, Jack. Serve Jin Nidou-dono just as you have served me—just as you served us.”
《Yes, Milowina-sama.》
“...Ah, I am glad... I made it in time...”
With that, Milowina fell silent.
“Milowina-san!”
Jin D rushed to her side. Anne followed suit.
“Behandeln.”
Anne applied beginner-level Healing magic, then performed a Diagnose.
Though she wasn't on the level of Elsa, Edgar, or the Nurse Golems, she knew basic first aid.
“She is fine, Goshujin-sama. It seems Milowina-san has simply fallen asleep.”
“I see. That's a relief.”
《Jin-sama, as of this moment, I, Jack, and this facility are under your command.》
Just then, the Control Brain, Jack, made its declaration.
“I see. I'll be counting on you. First off, can I leave Milowina-san's care to you?”
Since it had likely been looking after her until now, Jin thought it would be most reassuring to leave the task to Jack.
《Yes. Please leave it to me.》
Simultaneously with that response, the golem that had guided Jin D and Anne into the room re-entered.
《This golem is in charge of her care.》
“I see. I'm counting on you.”
Jin D then left the room. He had much he wanted to discuss with Jack, but he felt it wasn't appropriate to do so in the room of the ailing Milowina.
“Is there a room where we can sit down and talk?”
《Yes, there is. Please proceed down the corridor to your right.》
Following the instructions of the Control Brain, Jack, they proceeded down the hallway and came to a large door.
《This is the room that serves as the command room.》
“Ah, that's convenient.”
The door opened silently, and Jin D and Anne stepped inside. The construction was, as expected, reminiscent of No. 700672's room.
《Please, be seated.》
A chair rose from the floor. Very sci-fi, Jin thought back on Hourai Island.
A Doppel didn't strictly need to sit, but for the sake of formality, Jin D took a seat. Anne stood diagonally behind him.
“Now then, where should I start...”
He had a mountain of questions. He decided to begin with his biggest curiosity.
“This Moon... Uni, was it? Its orbit is far too unnatural. Is it an artificial object?”
《That is half correct. It was originally an asteroid drifting through space, but 'the Masters' found it, hollowed out the interior, and created this facility. I am told it was moved to its current position afterward.》
“...That's incredible.”
Jin felt a slight sense of deflation at how easily the mystery of the Moon had been solved. Still, he pulled himself together, realizing this was a major discovery in its own right.
“In that case, the reason Uni's mass is so small and why the gravity inside the facility varies by location is...”
《Yes. Since Uni was originally a low-density asteroid, gravity is being artificially generated using Gravity Magic.》
With the Control Brain's answer, a massive question was resolved.
“And the orbit is the same way, I assume?”
《Yes. It is fixed in its current relative position using the same principle as the propulsion system of the Heavenly Ship.》
“What is that propulsion system?”
Jin hoped it might be a principle similar to a force generator, but...
《My apologies. I have not been provided with the knowledge or information required to explain that.》
Regrettably, it seemed the brain didn't know everything.
《I know what role the Magi Machine plays, and I can build or repair it, but I cannot explain the underlying principles.》
“I see...”
It seemed the Masters who created the Control Brain hadn't given it all their knowledge. It was restricted to a level where it could maintain, repair, and even manufacture new units, but it couldn't apply the principles to new concepts.
In contrast, Jin had given Laojun all of his knowledge. In exchange, he had placed a limiter on Laojun's authority regarding creation.
One could build but not innovate. The other could innovate but was restricted in what it could build.
It seemed they had achieved similar results through different methods.
In any case, it meant the Moon—Uni—was being held in its current position using a method similar to a force generator.
It was an incredible feat of technology.
“Do you know the reason Uni is kept in its current position?”
《Yes. It was for the purpose of serving as a reference for 'time.'》
Jin was even more shocked. No matter how much Jin might act without restraint, he would never think to use a celestial body as a substitute for a clock.
The Progenitors occasionally did things even more outrageous than Jin.
That said, there were multiple Progenitors, while Jin was only one person. If a third party were to evaluate them, who knew how they would compare?
“It's not rotating... no, why is it kept with the same face always toward Ars?”
《Yes. That was to make it easier to observe Ars. However, the Magi Machines for observation were never ultimately installed.》
“I see...”
With Progenitor technology, observing Ars would certainly have been easy. And if they had been observing, there was no way they wouldn't have known about Jin.
He had launched satellites, conducted spaceship experiments, and just the other day, he had orbited Uni.
Given their level of technology, it wasn't that they couldn't have made such tools. Perhaps they lacked the time or materials—or perhaps they simply disliked over-interference.
Jin had a feeling it was the latter.
Not all the Progenitors who arrived had moved to Ars, but perhaps they felt that communicating with those who had was enough. They chose to live lives where they did not interfere with one another. And if it ever came down to it, they could always return via a teleportation magic circle.
As time passed, not a single Progenitor remained living on Uni, and those who had moved to Ars forgot their origins. Only the legend that one could flee to the Moon in times of need and the teleportation magic circles remained.
Based on what he had heard from the Control Brain, Jack, Jin formed such a hypothesis.
(Still, "Jack," huh...)
Jin had once named a micro surgical golem he created Jack as well. Even if it was a coincidence, Jin was surprised by the identical name.