I could only hope that what I had said was enough for the two to truly leave me be here, even if in the future I would come up against them due to the nature of my deal with the Goddess.
Well, I can't exactly tell them that last part, so I won't.
Next, needless to say but I will anyway, I upgraded and expanded the factory.
Trains now transport cargo consisting of those further away fluids and ores I found with the radars to supplement the stuff nearby and gun turrets of three types defend the thick concrete walls I have surrounding the factory.
Machine guns, flamethrowers, and laser beam turrets adorn those walls to defend my precious factory from the likes of those who would try to destroy all I have built up.
I don't think that the two ladies out there, Yuuma and Chiyari, would try given their wariness, but it's mostly for what else might be around.
I have no idea how, but aside from the occasional fairy and that river of ghostly-skeleton fish or whatever, it really is the truth that I've not seen or met any other person here.
Y'know? I think I'd rather it stay that way until I've got to complete the objective of creating chaos. Better that I'm an unknown individual until I really start, that way as little is known about me and my capabilities so that whatever weaknesses I may somehow gain are completely nullified.
I wish to have the element of surprise on my side, basically, and to get it I'd need the previous to happen, which is kinda a problem because of, well, those two.
The sheep-girl, Yuuma Toutetsu.
The…chupacabra/tenkajin-girl, Chiyari Tenkajin (whose species is also her family name?).
They are both part of an alliance, the former of which is actually the leader of said group.
Technically speaking, I've failed spectacularly in my goal of remaining hidden. Not instantaneously, mind you, but by accidentally attracting attention through oil, apparently.
How fun.
I, therefore, believe that my only recourse in order to remain as hidden as I can be at this point is diplomacy to get them to not say anything about me.
And wouldn't that be nice!
Unfortunately, as far as negotiations go, I might be on the back foot here with those accusations of theft by the leader—and thus presumably the most powerful person—of that alliance she mentioned.
…Wait. Alliance? Could this be just a facade to get me to join it? A bridge between Gouyoku and Hecate?
Not that I have any sway towards Lady Hecatia herself, since all she's done is very strongly request that I do as she asked of only one thing, really, but that one thing is why I am here and having to consider this.
Either way, though, the two are still discussing something kinda quietly and are occasionally looking or pointing in my or the factory's direction with strange expressions.
I'm still just sitting on the wall, but I've pulled up the radar view of the factory and am planning it out with the Blueprint Function to make "ghosts" of where my machines are going to go.
My next machine, if I get lucky enough to find some of a certain specific material, will be a Nuclear Reactor that will then power the factory and nearly everything else I build after it.
Huh. Y'know, what if I didn't have to find it myself, like I had to with the oil? I know I have radars to scout out the area around me, but that's not quite what I mean.
No, no. I'm talking about the Alliance. What if…
What if I got this alliance to go looking for Uranium for me? I certainly don't think I would trust them with anything else, mostly because their lack of Engineering Suits makes for a lack of beyond-surgical precision that the factory needs.
However, I don't think I have anything to offer in return. Not any of the resources I've got on the conveyor belts or stuff being produced or whatnot, I need those badly enough that I can't spare any of them.
At this rate, though, with whatever those two Alliance members' are still conversing about, I really need to get back to work setting up the next non-nuclear reactor steps.
The Research Packs I've got are ones for Automation, Logistics, Military, and Chemicals.
Each of their colors are, respectively, Red, Green, Gray, and Blue.
According to my memories, there's three Packs left and they are Purple-Production, Yellow-Utility, and White-Space.
I won't need those Space Packs at all, quite frankly, as they had previously needed the Rockets this whole factory is needed to create, as well as something else…
But that's not relevant. So, with the Research stuff I do have…
Lessee here…I will have—
Ah. In just a few steps, I will have robots.
Exciting! That means I can start very soon!
And that means that that chairwoman or whatever will not have anything to offer me very soon, except to stay out of my way.
Although…hold on. Weren't they flying towards the factory?
Not even I can fly. At least, not right now I can't. For that, I would need…
I would need to contact someone from home. I have no idea if it's possible, considering that, according to my Engineering Suit, the current time is 2023 AD.
I've pretended not to care about that little fact or how the suit knew for the entire three hours I've been here by distracting myself with a factory and conveyor belts and the thought that I didn't even have to accept this whole entire mission from a random-ass woman claiming to be a Goddess—
I could almost hear said woman in the wind, shouting something in mock-outrage.
Now I'm pretty sure I'm about to get harassed by some animal-women with some false stealing claims.
Therefore, I think I've got to say it now.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
—-
"—The oil! He's doing something with it! That means we can get it!"
"But for what, Chiyari? Do we even know what he wants? Does he even want anything?"
Their argument was less of costs and more of benefits. What could they get out of the factory that had been set up—
Er. Scratch that. More like…
What could they get from it without alerting the Goddess he was sponsored by, that same Goddess known for caring closely for her subordinates?
Yuuma took a glance at the man in question, Jeremiah, only to see him with his head in his hands, shaking slightly.
Then he simply leaned backwards and tipped over the wall, back into the factory.
Gone.
…Or, not as gone as she thought as his head sticks right back up from behind the walls—
"Come back when you've got something I want, yeah?"
—and is gone again just as fast.
At least it gave her more time to discuss what exactly they could offer to fulfill that phrase.
Chiyari continued on from the lull the man had created.
"I know I'm relatively new in the alliance, but don't you have other guys working for you that you can command around? Can't we offer him some people to, uh, 'help out' or something?"
Her boss took on a thoughtful frown before shrugging.
"Eh, not really. The whole point of the Gouyoku Alliance is that the members are essentially independent. To ask that of them would be a betrayal of the core principles of the alliance. Although…"
Yuuma cocks her head to the side. Thinking. She continues after a moment.
"Hm. I won't make it specific then, only that I need a certain Jeremiah of Neos to join the alliance, and that he can be found here. The members can then take up this mission of their own free will to get it done however they please. Yeah…perfect. Keh-heh-heh."
That smug sharp toothed smile returns to Yuuma's face.
"Excuse me."
Yuuma doesn't quite jump, but there's that definite flinch in her body language in that way where one gets so into their own head they forget their surroundings.
Especially since they hadn't moved from the place along the border of the factory, where the engineer had indeed proved he heard them just fine.
Chiyari and Yuuma turn back to the man, who appeared to have something else to say after having supposedly left.
"Dead bodies aren't the worst thing I've ever been given, but I prefer uranium ore. Theoretically, I would even trade for it. Best of luck."
Jeremiah, torso only sticking out over the walls, salutes the two of them, once more dropping down, bringing him out of sight.
"...Well, that's that. Smart to use some, uh, reverse psychology stuff to get that info outta him, boss."
Well, if Chiyari didn't know it was an accident, then it was fine. Yuuma chose to hide her embarrassment with a laugh as if it was purposeful.
"Keh-heh-heh. All according to p-plan."
Although, this made a new question appear.
As they turned around, away from the factory and flew off back to the Former Hell of Blood Pools, Yuuma kept wondering.
The heck is uranium?
—-
As it turned out, someone Yuuma knew had the answer.
It was rare for her to get a visitor, but Flandre Scarlet was bored and thus much more receptive to surprise visits from acquaintances.
"Uranium? Urgh. That's the stuff the sun-crow uses in her danmaku."
Flandre groaned at the question. As it turned out, nuclear energy had a similar, but lesser, effect on the vampire girl as the sun, the very bane of all vampire-kind, and had grumbled her dismay at the fact to Yuuma over the tea and snacks provided by the maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya Izayoi, who made herself scarce after setting a table up.
Yuuma froze in the middle of her bite of the fruit-cream sandwich, concern written all over her face.
The sun-crow? Utsuho Reiuji?
The eternally young vampire girl couldn't prevent a smile from appearing on her own face from the scrunched expression the taotie had suddenly gained.
"…I think I'm going to try talking first this time, before anything else."
The Gouyoku Chairwoman eventually continued with that. Flandre perked up at the stressed word.
"Oh? Did you not, then, last time?"
"No. I was attacked first and couldn't get a word in until that crow had practically blown herself up. I'd rather not have to fight that bird-brain again."
Yuuma grimaced.
The younger sister of the more well known Scarlet Devil hmm'd, then asked a question she had avoided this entire time.
"So why do you need uranium, anyway?"
Instead of immediately answering, Yuuma chose to very disgustingly shove three slices of strawberry shortcake into her mouth and chew, using the time to think on what she wanted to say.
She could answer with a non-answer. She could continue eating and say nothing at all. She could lie.
But the truth? Unlike the cakes to the lamb-shaped greedy beast, it might be much harder to swallow.
Oh, a man appeared in Hell, summoned by the very Goddess of Hell, and is currently creating an auto-mechanical marvel of the outside world that even the technologically advanced Animal Realm can't compare. And he wants uranium, the material the vessel of Yatagarasu uses in her attacks, for some reason, having promised something in return if she were to get some for him.
Right. Very believable.
Well, actually…
To hear the 'Black Water Incident', so it was called, from an outside perspective…
As the perpetrator herself, even Yuuma thought it sounded a bit fantastical.
She decided to explain.
