A room in Rainburg Manor.
Even with the scars of the explosions and fire, this particular room had remained relatively unscathed. While soot stained one corner of the wall, the furnishings were intact, and even the curtains had escaped being scorched.
"...Phew. This should work," Roselia muttered as she spread her adjustment tools across the table.
There was me, Roselia, and Sebastian. The attendees of the "Report and Repair" meeting.
Roselia leaned back in her chair, tracing the connection point of her prosthetic arm with a finger. I had given it a quick fix, but she claimed that the fine-tuning would feel "off" if she didn't do it herself. I suppose she was right—only the user could handle the sensory calibration.
Meanwhile, Sebastian sat across from us, quietly clutching his bandaged left arm. His back was ramrod straight, his posture that of a soldier still on duty. He hadn't gone to receive medical treatment with Gordon and the other survivors, choosing to stay here instead. Apparently, a maid who attended to Cecily was handling things on that end.
Now then—first, a status check.
According to Sebastian, it all began with Cecily’s "awakening."
"Lady Cecily woke just before noon today," Sebastian began in a quiet voice. "Our joy at her recovery was short-lived, however, for something was clearly wrong. There was a certain... uncanniness. At first, I thought it was merely a discrepancy in her memory caused by her recovery from a clouded consciousness, but..."
Roselia tilted her head, prompting him to continue. "What kind of uncanniness?"
"...The feeling that while she was 'Lady Cecily,' she was also not 'Lady Cecily,'" Sebastian’s low voice echoed dispassionately. "Her wording, her gaze, her gestures... I received the impression of a different person in every detail. Most notably, her reaction upon seeing Lady Lucia was faint..."
Roselia stopped her work on the prosthetic and exhaled. "Like she had a different personality?"
Sebastian nodded. "Yes. Just as the Master and I were attempting to confirm the situation, the manor was attacked."
"The timing is too perfect," I noted. "It's as if someone was waiting for the exact moment she woke up."
"...Hmm."
I had to agree. It wasn't normal for a girl who had just regained consciousness to be that calm, let alone that capable in combat. It was as if she were being controlled by someone.
"Next point. I found a commonality among the 'Young Ladies' who attacked us," Roselia said, reading from her terminal. "Every one of them was a Vira Corp 'Designer Baby.'"
"By the way... were Lucia and Cecily the same?" I asked.
Sebastian answered. "Yes. Around the time Lady Lucia was born, that sort of DNA adjustment was a trend in the Upper District. The Master and his wife weren't particularly interested, but given the relations with other houses, they went along with it."
He narrowed his eyes, as if reminiscing about those days.
"Lady Cecily was found to have a congenital DNA abnormality, so the process was performed as a medical treatment. There were no problems immediately after her birth, but after some time, a virus manifested, and her life was briefly in danger. At that time, Vira Corp provided the treatment backup."
Roselia swiped her terminal, and holograms of several faces and data files appeared. These were the subjects of the Designer Baby program. They were born with perfect bone structures, beauty, and intelligence, but every face shared a certain "artificial symmetry."
Physical and Intelligence Enhancement Plan via Maternal DNA Manipulation. Jurisdiction: Second Technical Bureau.
When the common traits of the faces in the hologram were simulated and merged, the resulting image was a perfect match for Cecily.
And there was one other person who shared that face. The daughter of Olaf Karvel.
In the hologram, two identical faces stood side-by-side.
"Now for the info on the Second Technical Bureau. I managed to pull this data just now," Roselia said, swiping again. A new hologram appeared, showing the face of a white-haired man.
"Olaf Karvel, Director of the Second Technical Bureau at Vira Corp. He started as a medical researcher. He was a leading authority in bio-nanomachines, body control chips, and personality formation AI. He had one daughter, but she was frail from birth. Apparently, he entered the field for her sake. But three years ago, after he lost her, his behavior changed."
The hologram of the girl who looked like Cecily faded to gray.
"He still does his job, but he's almost always cooped up in the company research facility. Rumor has it he’s been conducting 'private research' that borders on human experimentation."
So, losing his daughter caused him to lose his grip on sanity.
"On top of that, he started buying up mercenaries around the same time and turning them into his private soldiers. But because he gets results, the company can't just fire him. Most people treat him like a corporate time bomb."
"...Olaf Karvel might have been trying to create a 'vessel' for his daughter," I said.
A heavy silence fell over the room. In the scorched air, only the distant beep of a medical drone broke the quiet.
Well, I guess we can just ask.
The two of them looked at me dubiously as I smirked. I reached for the storage box I had brought from my car. As I undid the metal fasteners, there was a hiss of escaping air, and a white mist of cooling gas billowed out.
"Master Haijima, what is that...?" Sebastian asked, deep wrinkles furrowing his brow.
Roselia narrowed her eyes. "Wait, you don't mean..."
It was exactly what she thought.
Without answering, I carefully lifted "it" out of the box. As the film of cooling air dissipated, pale blue hair swayed softly. It was a human head, crafted with excessive sophistication.
Cecily’s face.
No, to be precise, it was an android with the face of Olaf Karvel's daughter.
I gently placed the blue-haired girl’s head on the sofa. Though her skin lacked the flush of life, it had a porcelain smoothness. With her eyes closed, she looked like a sleeping human.
"...Lady Cecily?" Sebastian gasped. He must have seen the traces of the young lady he had served for so many years in that face.
I exhaled and prepared to "repair" her. I raised my hands and held them where her body should have been. I closed my eyes, making it look like I was concentrating.
Then, from the girl’s neck down—a body that hadn't existed began to take form, glowing faintly. Sparks of static electricity crackled as a skeleton was assembled and metallic lines stretched out like nerves. Muscles, skin, and finally clothes followed.
The way the lost body was reconstructed, as if rewinding time itself—no matter how many times I saw it, the process felt almost sacred.
"No matter how many times I see it," Roselia whispered, "your 'repair' is monstrous."
In a matter of seconds, the light converged and silence returned. Standing before us was a completely restored android—a blue-haired girl.
Roselia and Sebastian both gulped. As if triggered by that sound...
"She" opened her eyes.
Blink.
Mechanical irises slowly converged, focusing her vision. There was a quiet hum of movement, the nearly silent drive sound characteristic of high-end models. Every tiny movement possessed a breathtaking precision.
She blinked a few times, then slowly sat up. Her first gaze wasn't directed at me, but at Sebastian.
"...Sebastian?"
Her faint voice drifted through the room like the continuation of a dream.
"Why...? I used a treatment chip... and then—"
The color drained from Sebastian’s face. His hands trembled, and his eyes went wide.
"...L-Lady Cecily...?"
His voice shook like a prayer.
And the android girl—uncertain of where she was or what was happening—simply tilted her head to the side.