Dark clouds covered the sky, leaving no trace of what a morning should look like.
After climbing over a moss-covered broken wall, onto a dust-laden floor.
Crouching down, I gripped the edge of the wall, cautiously poked my head out, and gazed toward the distant scene.
Within the abandoned, deserted ancient city, large numbers of mysterious robots of unknown origin and varied forms continuously wandered along what seemed to be predetermined routes, as if patrolling under someone's orders.
Their paint scheme, predominantly white with yellow accents, gave me a strong sense of familiarity.
It made me involuntarily recall the mechanical giant serpent that had appeared in the northern part of the Abydos Desert.
Suddenly, I felt someone urgently tug at the hem of my clothes.
"Sensei, Sensei," Momoi urged in a hushed voice, "lower your head, it's coming over."
I quickly pulled my head completely back behind the cover. Then I shifted my gaze sideways, looking at the girls hiding here with me.
Momoi, Midori, Yuzu. All members of the Game Development Department were gathered here.
All for the sake of finding the legendary game bible, G.Bible, within the ruins on the outskirts of Millennium.
It really felt like a classic, orthodox RPG.
Holding my breath, I focused on the movements outside the cover while recalling the information Himari had provided.
The [Ruins] on the outskirts of Millennium were an urban area near Millennium, long abandoned, with completely unknown origins and history. In Kivotos urban legends, their status was comparable to Trinity's [Catacombs] or the [Abyss] beneath Gehenna's Hinnom Volcano.
Himari speculated that this place might be where things forgotten by Kivotos gathered, perhaps something like a sewer of history.
This area had originally been heavily guarded by the General Student Council, with strict orders prohibiting entry.
However, the one who issued that order was the current General Student Council President herself, who had since gone missing.
Due to the GSC president's mysterious disappearance, combined with the chaos in Kivotos caused by the lack of a proper transfer of power, the General Student Council had withdrawn all troops stationed here some time ago.
And because of that, the Game Development Department was able to infiltrate smoothly and begin exploration.
Still, none of us had expected that this place would be crawling with robots of unknown origin.
Although their numbers were not yet beyond what the Game Development Department could handle, mainly out of concern for conserving ammunition and supplies, we chose to proceed cautiously and avoid combat as much as possible instead of exploring loudly.
The sound of the robots' footsteps gradually faded away.
Yuzu, who had been watching their movements with full concentration, let out a small sigh of relief. "Everyone, we can move forward now."
After that, we slipped out from behind the cover, staying alert to our surroundings as we advanced stealthily under Yuzu's guidance.
I had already expressed amazement and curiosity at Yuzu's superb stealth skills before, and her answer was that it came from playing games.
"Because, um… I cleared the entire "Dishonor" series with all achievements, including the one for never being detected… and the "Assassin's Creed" series too… s-so I have a bit of experience with this kind of thing… the enemy distribution here isn't that dense, at least…"
Yuzu shyly shared part of her gaming background with me.
I suddenly felt that someone who designed such inhuman difficulty values for games might actually be a genuine gaming expert.
By the way, even though we called it infiltration, perhaps because we were all just ordinary students, the atmosphere was not overly tense. At least along the way, the girls still chatted casually.
After successfully sneaking past a few more robots, Momoi patted her chest and said with lingering fear, "I mean, it is a restricted area, so I was mentally prepared to face some danger… but wow, it's still kind of scary…"
"I-it's okay. We're already on the final stretch to the coordinates where the Veritas Department last confirmed G.Bible was running. If we calculate it… from here we should be able to see it. It should be that factory over there…"
At the very front, Yuzu pointed at a distant abandoned factory and looked back.
"Doesn't this sound like you're setting a flag?" Midori complained, clearly worried. "What if, like in an RPG, we run into a powerful enemy blocking us when we're just one step away from the treasure?"
Momoi could not help but shout, "Midori, you're the one setting the flag!"
"Shh, Onee-chan, keep your voice down!"
Fortunately, Momoi's noise did not attract the robots' attention, and the situation Midori worried about did not occur.
We avoided all combat and successfully entered the building that looked like a factory.
Inside the factory, it was completely silent, with no trace of the robots' activity from outside.
Momoi looked around. "It looks like there aren't any enemies here anymore."
"We still shouldn't let our guard down."
I reminded her from the side. Momoi nodded perfunctorily, then said excitedly,
"According to the Veritas Department's information, G.Bible should be inside this factory!"
Momoi already looked impatient.
In contrast, her younger sister Midori was much calmer.
"Sis, don't rush. We still don't know what it's like deeper inside the factory. Let's listen to Sensei and keep exploring carefully."
Momoi blinked in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about, Midori? I didn't say I wouldn't listen to Sensei."
Seeing signs that the sisters were about to bicker again, I quickly stepped in to mediate.
"Alright, finding G.Bible is the priority right now."
Since we had no internal map, we could only search room by room. Because most rooms were empty, checking each one did not take much time.
But soon we realized that the biggest challenge was the sheer number of rooms and the complex terrain layout.
Thankfully, with Arona providing support and drawing a map in real time based on our exploration progress, it would have been far more difficult otherwise.
About two hours later.
Still finding nothing, and with our stomachs growling from hunger, we took a break in an empty room.
"Sensei, this is the bento I prepared… I made a bit too much, so if you don't mind, would you like to try some?"
Midori took out a light green lunchbox from her backpack and opened it. The food inside was already cold, with no aroma wafting out, but its beautiful presentation alone was enough to whet one's appetite, especially for people who were tired and hungry.
Including Momoi, who was about to start gnawing on some bread nearby.
Momoi stared in disbelief, looking at Midori's lunchbox, then at the convenience store bread in her own hand, which instantly seemed completely unappetizing.
Swallowing hard, Momoi protested indignantly, "Midori, why are you sharing with Sensei but not with me?"
I felt that sometimes, Momoi really lacked self-awareness.
Midori glanced at her sideways. "Yesterday I asked you to go buy ingredients and you said you wanted to play games. Today I asked you to get up and help prepare the bento and you said you wanted to sleep in. Why do you think I wouldn't share with you? A onee-chan who refuses to help should fend for herself, right?"
"Ugh! Stingy, who needs it anyway!"
Momoi, who clearly did need it, angrily took a bite of her bread.
But the next moment, Midori revealed a mysterious smile and pulled out two more lunchboxes from her bag, one orange and one pink.
"Just kidding∼ Here, I already prepared a portion for my silly onee-chan. Take it∼ And I have one for Yuzu too∼"
Yuzu said in surprise, "Eh? I have one too? Thank you."
"Wow∼ Midori, you're amazing∼!"
As for Momoi, she hurriedly stuffed the bread back into her bag and cheered, "You'll definitely become an excellent bride in the future!"
"Heh heh∼ of course∼"
Having successfully shown off her high domestic skills and generosity, Midori quickly sneaked a glance at me as I was eating the bento.
A moment later, Momoi, halfway through her meal, suddenly remembered something and added, "Also, I'm not a dummy."
I felt her words were not very convincing.
After finishing lunch, we discussed things while looking at the map Arona had drawn on the tablet.
"Modern cutting-edge technology is really amazing. I can't believe it can even do something like this."
Momoi marveled.
For some reason, Arona's existence could only be perceived by me, as the owner of the Shittim Chest's authority. Perhaps this really was some kind of cutting-edge technology.
In any case, that was also how I explained it to the Game Development Department.
"Based on our current progress, compared to the estimated total area of the factory…"
Momoi trailed off.
"Our progress is probably not even at five percent."
Midori provided the answer and further calculated, "At our current efficiency, if we don't plan on staying overnight here, it'll take nearly a week. And that's assuming we keep taking leave from school."
"M-missing too many classes isn't okay…" Yuzu said firmly. "I'm already like this anyway… next time, if we bring enough supplies, I can just stay here alone and search!"
"There's no way we can leave you here alone, Yuzu."
Midori shook her head. "Also, with a factory this large, it wouldn't be strange if it had underground sections… honestly, instead of wasting so much time on a vague, uncertain G.Bible that we don't even know will work, we'd be better off making games properly."
"This…"
Even Momoi, who believed most strongly that obtaining G.Bible would definitely allow them to make the best games, could not help but waver after hearing Midori's words.
After a suffocating silence, Momoi finally spoke softly. "I think… our luck can't be that bad, right…"
Even as she said it, she clearly did not have much confidence.
"…If only that were true."
Midori muttered quietly. Among the two sisters, she was always the more rational, calm, and also more pessimistic one.
"Don't be so down," Momoi hurriedly said, then pulled a game console out of her bag. "Anyway, let's play a game first?"
"…At a time like this, you still want to play games?"
"It's exactly because it's a time like this that we need to replenish our MP! For us otaku girls, games are an indispensable source of mental energy. Midori, the way you're acting just shows you don't play enough games."
Momoi's peculiar logic was unexpectedly uplifting.
"Hah…" Midori sighed, then chuckled lightly. "Heh, I suppose you're right. Then let's play "Back Alley Brawler". I'll cheer myself up with a clean and decisive victory∼"
Hearing that, Momoi's fighting spirit ignited. "What a shame∼ I won't hold back, you know?"
But Midori looked puzzled. "Onee-chan, when did you start believing that you only lose to me because you're holding back?"
"What do you mean by that?!"
While grumbling about proving her strength, Momoi and Midori sat down on the floor, each pulling out the game consoles they carried with them, and started their match.
Meanwhile, Yuzu and I continued studying the current map, trying to find some kind of helpful pattern.
Unfortunately, we found nothing.
That made me feel restless and uneasy.
Pressing my fingers to my brow, I glanced at the twins, who were fully absorbed in their game, and suddenly felt like playing a game myself to relax a bit.
Together with Yuzu, who also seemed to be a gaming expert like me.
At my invitation, Yuzu was first surprised, then happily agreed.
As the head of the Game Development Department, Yuzu naturally led by example and had brought a game console with her.
"Because the network signal is very poor, we can't connect to servers, so the games we can play are limited… Sensei, what would you like to play? A versus type or a co-op type?"
"Anything's fine… by the way, how are Momoi and Midori playing together with two consoles?"
"Ah… their consoles can connect via Bluetooth, so they don't need the internet and can exchange data like that… then, is this "Fighter King 98" okay…?"
"Of course."
Even though I had never played it, I was confident I could pick it up quickly.
I went in full of enthusiasm.
I was utterly defeated.
Could it be… that I'm actually really bad?
"Sensei, is this your first time with this game? Or has it just been a long time since you played it?"
Yuzu put down the controller and said with lingering excitement, "You're amazing. I was thinking of holding back a bit, but before I knew it, I was giving it my all. That was such an exhilarating battle."
I chose to take that as praise.
But if I had not been shaved 10 to 0 by my own student, I would have been happier.
Glancing at the time, then at Midori, who had clearly won her match and was beaming with pride, and Momoi, who was slumped in defeat, I planned to call everyone to continue searching for G.Bible.
Suddenly.
I froze in place, my mind spinning rapidly as my thoughts chased the tail end of a flash of inspiration.
"Sensei? What's wrong?"
"…Momoi, let me ask you something," I said slowly. "In what form is G.Bible stored?"
"Eh? Of course it's in electronic form. Otherwise, how could it be sending out a signal?"
Although the probability was not high.
It was still absolutely worth trying.
And it would not take much effort anyway.
I closed my eyes, cleared my mind, and used an authority I had almost forgotten, buried in some corner.
More than ten seconds later, I opened my eyes in mild surprise.
Although the feedback was extremely vague, I clearly sensed it.
"Follow me."
Leaving those words behind, I took the lead, heading toward a still-operating electronic device nearby that I had sensed through the authority of [Geometry].
If a connection could be established, then it should be possible to search. That was the simplest logic imaginable.
Not long after.
I found a computer that was powered on.