I Gave Up on Conquering the Heroines – Chapter 83

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Ah. My head feels like it’s splitting.”

Boom boom boom.

Clang clang clang.

Thud thud.

After suffering from all kinds of noise throughout the dawn, repeatedly waking up and falling asleep, I felt like I was going crazy.

I swore to myself that I would never try to sleep in the Clockwork City again for the fourteenth time.

I rubbed my throbbing head as I got up.

“Hm?”

“Krhurr…”

But at that very moment, a centipede’s maw and antennae were pressed right up against my nose.

“Ugh! Shit, you scared me!”

“Kkhack?!”

Startled, I ended up kicking the centipede away.

The giant centipede flew off with a loud crash.

In that split second, it transformed into a girl’s form, banging its head against the wall with a thud and making a pitiful face.

“Ah! Why did you suddenly kick me while I was sleeping?!”

“When I woke up, there was a giant centipede showing off its stinky mouth right in front of me. How could I not kick it?”

“Huh? Me? When?”

“Have you gone senile too?”

This is why bugs are no good.

Look at Undecided.

See how quietly she’s sitting still in the corner of the room.

Even now, she must be…

“What? Why are you here?”

“…It’s warm.”

“Why is a blood ghoul looking for warm places?”

“…”

The one who should have been sitting in the same spot I saw when I went to sleep, had somehow slipped into the bed and was huddled under the blanket.

Was she sensitive to cold?

I certainly felt she had been becoming more human-like lately.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if her heart started beating later.

Of course, that couldn’t really happen, but…

The current time was 8 o’clock.

Cern’s mornings started before sunrise.

He had probably already finished the final touches on the magic tool by now.

It seemed to be about time for us to go see him.

I rolled Undecided up in the blanket, tossed her aside, and got up from the bed.

“…Sniff.”

“Apologize! For kicking me! Apologize right now!”

“But why haven’t you left yet?”

“What?”

“You’re free now. Hurry up and get your demonic energy replenished and go.”

The centipede nun who had been following me and talking back had a blank expression.

Last night, after her avatar’s suicide-that-wasn’t-really-suicide in the dungeon, she had been completely liberated.

Now the centipede nun and I were in an equal contractual relationship.

The centipede nun had already fulfilled her part of the contract.

Now I only had the obligation to periodically replenish her demonic energy.

It seemed she had forgotten about that.

“W-what does it matter to you! It’s none of your business when I leave!”

“It makes me uncomfortable. Hurry up and get out. Every time I see you, I’m reminded of squishy centipede bellies and centipede mouth smells, and it makes me want to throw up.”

“W-what?! That’s rude to a lady!”

“Oh my. You’ve become quite human. Despite being a monster.”

“Anyway! I’m going to accompany you until you receive the finished magic tool! I was involved for a short while, so I’d feel uneasy if I didn’t see the conclusion!”

I understood.

It’s like when the video the person next to you on the subway is watching gets cut off in the middle and you feel unsettled because you couldn’t see the ending.

It must be something similar to that.

“Let’s go. Undecided. But what are you doing?”

“…Can’t. Get out.”

I had already finished preparing and reached the entrance, but Undecided still hadn’t followed, which seemed strange.

Undecided was struggling, still rolled up in the blanket.

“Hmph. Let’s just leave her and go by ourselves.”

“I can’t do without her.”

“I think I could substitute for her.”

“You absolutely can’t.”

“…”

How could she substitute for an all-purpose tool that could handle Guardian Knight’s constant activation and electric and fire magic?

That was nonsense.

Ignoring the centipede nun standing there with a sulky expression, I unrolled the blanket with a swish and freed Undecided.

Then Undecided, as if nothing had happened, calmly walked out and stood beside me.

Undecided’s expressionless face distorted just once, when she briefly looked at the centipede nun.

‘I thought they had become friends.’

I had thought they would quickly become close since they were both monsters.

It seemed the difference between a monster of human origin and a pure monster was greater than I had imagined.

“Ah. No way.”

Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong.

We arrived at Cern’s mansion and kept ringing the doorbell, but there was no response.

Somehow, memories of when I first came here resurfaced, and an uneasy feeling crept up my spine.

‘Don’t tell me he’s gone senile again?’

It had only been a day.

One day since he regained his senses.

It hadn’t even been a full 24 hours, and he was already showing symptoms of dementia again?

That couldn’t be.

I hadn’t received the magic tool yet.

I used the familiar unlocking magic to pick the lock and entered the mansion.

“Old man! Are you here? Hello?”

“…”

No matter how much I shouted inside, there was no response.

I couldn’t sense any sign of life.

Even when I reached the bedroom and flung open the door, the bed was neatly made and empty.

“No way…”

Surely he hadn’t been taken to the hospital overnight?

Suppressing my anxiety, I left the mansion and headed for the garage.

But strangely, the garage door wasn’t locked and was slightly open.

Puzzled, I opened the door, but Cern wasn’t in the garage either.

Only Linda was sitting demurely at the charging port with her eyes closed.

“This is driving me crazy. I need to leave here quickly…”

I had to leave this place before Yerina arrived.

Where on earth had Cern gone?

As cold sweat soaked my entire back, I discovered a paper box placed on the shelf.

A note was attached to the box.

When I opened the box, inside was a magic tool that looked like an elegant pocket watch.

This was the machine that could open holes in space-time.

A clockwork machine nicknamed “Longinus’ Spear.”

No.

That wasn’t the name I intended to give it.

Can’t this be changed?

Come on, Longinus’ Spear is too embarrassing.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

No matter how much I internally shouted ‘Change item name!’, ‘Rename!’, nothing changed.

I finally had to give up.

It didn’t matter anyway since only I could see this name.

‘Now only one part is left.’

Only one part remained.

When moving to the reverse world, a part that acted as a sort of navigator to transport to the final boss’s location was needed.

I could get that later at the St. Francesco Sea Fortress.

In essence, I had already obtained a passage to assassinate the final boss.

[Are you satisfied with the finished product?]

“Yes. It’s perfect as expected. Even though he’s old, his skill is still… Huh?!”

“…Huh?”

“Eh?”

A voice naturally came from behind me.

Realizing it wasn’t Undecided’s or the centipede nun’s, I hurriedly turned around.

Then a breathtakingly beautiful maid’s face appeared right in front of me.

“What the?!”

[Whoa.]

When I shouted in surprise,

Linda flinched and stepped back.

As if she was surprised too…

Now that I looked closely, her expressions were quite varied.

The corners of her mouth and eyes moved flexibly.

If I hadn’t known this was Linda, her face was so elaborate and realistic that I could have easily mistaken her for a real person.

[I seem to have startled you. My apologies.]

“You. Don’t tell me.”

[I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Linda ver.3.1.2. I’m a clockwork doll made for household chores.]

Linda gracefully grasped her skirt and curtsied.

Her movements were so smooth that I couldn’t help but admire them.

The diverse facial expressions unseen in clockwork dolls.

Natural movements as if moving her body in real-time, not just performing programmed actions.

This could only mean one thing.

[I’m sorry for my unseemly behavior during our last meeting. I’m glad to meet you again like this.]

“You. The artificial soul was still there.”

The ‘error’ that had occurred in Linda’s logic circuit.

The error that had briefly appeared and disappeared in front of Cern long ago.

The error, the artificial soul, that had reappeared when corrupted by the dungeon’s demonic energy.

It seemed to have remained intact in Linda’s logic circuit.

I was sure I had completely absorbed the demonic energy…

This was strange.

“How did this happen? I thought I had absorbed all of the demonic energy.”

[It seems the damage caused by the demonic energy remained in the circuit as it was. That damage caused an error, implementing the artificial soul.]

“Then the demonic energy didn’t play much of a role from the beginning?”

[Yes. The demonic energy clouded my consciousness, creating an obsession that I had to harm people. So I forced a shutdown and should have entered sleep mode. But I was awakened because someone maliciously cast a curse.]

“…”

We were the ones who cast that curse.

Feeling a pang of guilt, I turned my head to see the centipede nun also trembling and avoiding Linda’s gaze.

Still, it was a huge relief.

Thanks to Linda choosing to force a shutdown, there were no casualties caused by Linda.

A few mercenaries nearly died, but I saved them.

Fortunately, we had avoided the creation of the first killer machine.

“Your skin feels so real.”

[It’s silicone.]

“What about the hair?”

[It’s a donated wig.]

“Oh.”

Fascinated, I circled around Linda, touching her here and there.

I patted her head, touched her fingers, and observed her reactions.

If I pressed hard, I could feel the metal inside, but with a light touch, there was no difference from a human.

Suddenly, I became confused.

Was this really a clockwork doll?

She seemed too human-like.

“Hold still for a moment.”

[Eek…]

Flap.

I went behind Linda and lifted her skirt to check her back.

Unlike in the past when gears were fully exposed, her back was now covered.

When I slightly lifted the backplate, inside were tangled gears and the logic circuit I had brought, meshing and turning.

The sight was dizzying just to look at.

[Um… It’s a bit embarrassing to have my insides looked at, so could you come out?]

Linda requested shyly.

Come to think of it, for a clockwork doll, showing the inner machinery might be like showing one’s naked body for a human.

Out of consideration for Linda, I closed the backplate and lowered her skirt.

“This is really amazing. Cern must have been overjoyed to the point of passing out.”

[He actually did have difficulty breathing and needed emergency treatment.]

“Huh. But where did Cern go?”

[He said he had achieved everything he could as an engineer and had no regrets. He said he would make amends for his past mistakes and went to ask forgiveness from his wife and daughter.]

Did he reach enlightenment now that his life’s research had successfully worked?

He went to ask forgiveness from the family he had abandoned in the process…

I wasn’t sure if he would be forgiven, but one thing was certain.

“He’ll get healthier.”

[Yes. His complexion has improved a lot.]

Cern’s dementia symptoms would improve significantly.

Cern had gone mad because he had lost all purpose and motivation to live, unable to overcome his despair.

As long as he had the motivation to make amends with his family,

Cern would no longer groan like a 100-year-old man.

That one thing, at least, seemed to have turned out well.

“I can understand why he left you behind.”

[You know the reason?]

“If a maid like you was by his side, his wife would be suspicious. He had to leave you behind to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”

[Beep beep. That’s incorrect.]

“What?”

I had thought he left her behind because he disliked the mechanical sounds, but Linda made an X with her index finger and smiled brightly.

It was an extremely charming smile.

[Mr. Cern left me behind for a different reason.]

“What’s that?”

[Mr. Cern expressed his gratitude to you for retrieving my logic circuit by handing me over to you. I am now your property. Please use me as you wish.]

What…?

Linda was mine now?

I was so dumbfounded that I was at a loss for words for a moment.

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[Bro I totally ship centipede x yujin its funny af]