The completion of the Mana Reactor progressed faster than expected.
The theoretical design was completed in just a month.
After working out the finer details, construction began, and it was expected to be completed within six months.
Of course, the Mana Reactor was still in its experimental stages and absurdly large in scale, so miniaturization remained a massive hurdle for commercialization.
‘We can’t rush it, not even for the sake of progress.’
If the Mana Reactor went out of control, a disaster as horrific as those on Earth could occur.
Even though I already knew the dangers of a reactor, it was a strange situation where the field workers—who were encountering this concept for the first time—were even more cautious than I was.
They grasped the risks of radiation even before I explained them.
I witnessed the rare phenomenon of safety regulations being established before any technical advancements.
It was a relief to think, “With these guys, at least we’ll avoid a catastrophe.”
Meanwhile, electrical engineering advanced rapidly while the Mana Reactor was being built.
We quickly reached the point where we could create rudimentary batteries.
All the electricity produced went into opening the ancient one’s skull.
Within two weeks of starting the project, we succeeded in removing all the alloy plating around the head.
Afterward, we dismantled all the internal weapons and created terminals that matched the specifications to begin charging.
About an hour into charging—
A noise started coming from inside, and the power turned on.
“Hey, ancient one. Can you hear me?”
[…How many decades has it been?]
“Decades, my a*s. It’s only been a month since you went to sleep.”
[What? From a medieval-level civilization to electricity in just a month…?]
“What, weirded out because some ‘primitive people’ pulled it off?”
[I am surprised by the rapid progress of such a low-tech civilization. But I don’t think of you as primitives. Intelligence doesn’t drastically degenerate over just a few millennia. The accumulated knowledge is different, but fundamentally, there’s not much separating your people and mine.]
“Your tone’s changed a lot, hasn’t it?”
[…Apologies. I wasn’t in my right mind before.]
The rebooted ancient one’s demeanor was a far cry from when it had been attacking us indiscriminately.
According to it, its memory had been corrupted over 40,000 years, causing its personality and moral compass to deteriorate…
Hard to believe that at face value.
Back then, it had overwhelming defensive systems, powerful limbs, and a weaponized dimensional gate, so it acted all high and mighty.
Now, with just a harmless body remaining, it’s suddenly well-behaved—an act, perhaps?
“An apology isn’t enough. Do you realize how much damage you caused us?”
[I want to atone, however I can. So I’d like to propose a deal. You want to access the contents of the time capsule, don’t you? I’ll build a computer to decrypt the storage device. In return, I ask that you ensure the safety of those in cryostasis.]
“That’s impossible. They were all dried-up corpses a long time ago.”
[All of them?]
“All of them.”
[…]
The ancient one fell silent for a moment.
[So the restoration of our civilization was impossible from the start… I nearly sacrificed you all for a hopeless dream… In that case, I’ll make no further demands. I will fully cooperate in passing on the knowledge of our civilization.]
“Fine by me.”
Whether it had given up or was scheming something else, I couldn’t tell.
But either way, we succeeded in gaining its cooperation.
***
[What the hell is this squishy thing? And this is supposed to be one of the Evil Gods? As a fellow Evil God, I’m honestly embarrassed!]
[···!!!]
Flap Flap.
Laura’s tiny avatar squirmed in Kali’s grip.
Kali just shook her head in disappointment, looking down at her.
[What? You’re asking what I’ve done? And what about you, huh?]
[···!]
[Ugh… Sending just an avatar like a coward because you can’t even show up in your real body!]
[···!!]
[Did you seriously just say that!?]
[···!!!]
The argument between Laura and Kali grew more and more heated.
I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I could tell with absolute certainty that it was a pointless bickering match—so I lost interest.
“Still, pretty impressive. I didn’t realize Lady Kali was that powerful. Compared to her, Lady Laura is…”
“She may not be strong, but I think Laura’s way more competent.”
“Really?”
Irene tilted her head while sipping her tea.
Maybe because she was used to having Laura’s Spirit’s Eye by default, she didn’t fully grasp how capable Laura actually was.
“By the way, I heard you successfully restored the ancient one’s head?”
“Yeah. Thanks to Yuri’s Aura, its memories were fully restored, and its personality changed drastically. I got a promise from it to help us access the ancient legacy.”
“Hmm. Can you trust it?”
“Not really. It’s hard to say whether the personality shift came from memory restoration or if it’s just acting. It lost all its limbs and weapons, so maybe it’s just pretending to play nice since its life is in our hands.”
“…”
Cooperating with the ancient one might look cordial on the surface—
But we still couldn’t trust it completely.
It had once tried to wipe out the entire world, after all.
Trusting it blindly would be the real mistake.
Still, since it said it would help, we would accept its assistance for now.
But we had to keep an eye on it, in case it tried anything suspicious.
“It doesn’t even have a body anymore—just a head and a mouth…”
“That’s more than enough. You’ve achieved dozens of things just with that flashy mouth of yours. For all we know, centuries from now, that thing could rally countless factions and try to conquer the world again.”
“That’s why, once the computer is complete, we plan to destroy the ancient one.”
“Does Her Majesty know?”
“It’s a secret between Her Majesty and me. Once it’s destroyed, we’ll announce it broke down due to an internal error.”
“Mm. That’s a clean solution.”
Irene nodded in agreement as she sipped her tea.
It’s simply too dangerous to keep it alive.
We’ll take everything we can from it—
And once it’s no longer useful, we’ll throw it away without hesitation.
It might seem heartless, but there’s no other way.
The fall of the ancient world can only be completed with the death of its last survivor.
“But wouldn’t it be better to leave killing that guy to me? I already have a long criminal record, so one or two more villainous acts won’t make much of a difference.”
“Getting my future wife’s hands dirty would be like spitting in my own face. I look like a villain from the start—might as well act the part.”
“Hmm. Do you really look that villainous? I feel like your face got a bit better-looking ever since your ‘inner person’ changed…”
“Oh? Really?”
“Nope. Must’ve been my imagination. One smile and you instantly look threatening again.”
“…”
So much for feeling good.
Guess there’s nothing I can do about this naturally villainous face of mine.
“But it’s fine. No—actually, it’s better this way. If I had a handsome face, I’d be swarmed by flies everywhere. Didn’t all those noble daughters who came to propose marriage run away crying?”
“Well… yeah, that did happen…”
“And even with this face, I’ve already made this many women fall for me. Just imagine if I were actually good-looking. Ugh, what a nightmare…”
“…”
Not sure if that was an insult or a compliment.
Irene gave a faint laugh as she walked over and climbed onto my lap.
“Yep. No matter how many times I see it—you’re ugly.”
“Could you please refrain from calling your fiancé ugly?”
“…?”
And then—Slam—the door burst open.
Yuri appeared, showing off her sparkling engagement ring.
She must’ve come straight from her mission—covered head to toe in blood.
“Oh my. I’m just calling it like I see it—ugly is ugly.”
“Well, I think he’s handsome enough.”
“That’s because you’ve always imagined some mysterious ‘Mr. Black’—a cool and handsome figure—and now you’re projecting that image onto Aslan.”
“And you, Lady Irene, can’t stop seeing the old, mean, vicious version of your little brother—that’s why he looks ugly to you!”
“Hah? Huh??”
While Kali and Laura were still bickering in the background,
this side started escalating too.
Why are their fights always so… childish?
“What do you think, Lady Sylvia?”
“Yeah, knight. What’s your take?”
“Well… I’ve never really thought about whether he’s handsome or not. From the moment he saved me, I’ve been captivated by his generosity and warm heart.”
“Oh please. Coming from the most sexually honest one of us, that’s not exactly convincing—”
“Yeah. Totally unconvincing.”
“…!?”
Sylvia’s opinion was brushed aside immediately,
and Irene and Yuri resumed their heated debate.
Just as I was starting to wonder when this nonsense would finally end—
“Hey, hey, Mister! Look at this!”
“Aslan! We got it all!”
“…?”
Crash!
With loud footsteps, Charlotte and Julia came bursting in.
They were beaming, bright as ever, and both thrust passbooks at me.
“Ooh.”
I took the passbooks and opened them—and couldn’t help but be stunned.
One billion.
Each book showed a balance of one billion Larks.
“Now that we’ve gathered all the money, it’s time to keep your promise! …Sir!”
“We’re paying ten billion to buy our freedom from you!”
“Right. A promise is a promise.”
Unable to suppress my smile, I carefully folded the passbooks and slipped them into my inner coat pocket.
Then, I pulled out Charlotte and Julia’s slave contracts and unfolded them.
I’d carried them around, always expecting a day like this would come.
“From this moment on, you are free. You no longer need to obey my orders, and you’re no longer bound to House Vermont. Live freely, however you wish.”
“Waaah!”
“At last…!”
I tore up their contracts and threw the pieces into the fireplace.
Charlotte and Julia’s faces instantly lit up with joy.
They high-fived each other, laughing with pure delight.
I had thought this day would fill me with happiness too—
But instead, there was a subtle bitterness in my chest, a strange lump in my throat.
As I let out a quiet snort and closed my eyes for a moment—
[Affection levels are being automatically updated.]
‘…!?’
A system window appeared before my eyes.
Affection levels for Charlotte, Julia, Sylvia, Vanessa, and Irene began to rise.
From negatives, they shot up into the positives, pierced past 99, entered triple digits, and just kept going—until finally.
[Affection Level: MAX]
All of them had hit the maximum value.
“Until now, we belonged to you only by circumstance…”
“But now, we want to be yours—by choice!”
“This is a formal proposal!”
Saying the most embarrassing things imaginable in front of everyone, their faces flushed bright red.
Julia turned beet red and threw herself into my arms, and Charlotte followed right after her.
[The system seems to have lost its purpose.]
[System shutting down.]
That was the last message.
The system window vanished completely.
No matter how many times I called for the status screen, it didn’t respond.
But I didn’t miss it—not even a little.
I didn’t need the system anymore.
– I Kidnapped the Hero’s Women Main Story Complete
