Observation-Deck-Only Marie

[Core Room]

"Marie-san, are stairs out of the question?"

The Master types the message into the terminal in the Core Room.

"Walking is difficult enough, and going up and down stairs looks to be beyond me for now."

Marie answers from the observation deck. Since Asura are little different from plants, they have no need to bathe; it's enough for Anne to hose water over her head from time to time. So there is no need for her to force her way down here. Incidentally, an Asura's "hair" is not hair, so it requires none of the painstaking, time-consuming care a human's does. In Marie's case, her hair grows mainly from late spring through summer, and not at all in winter. Spring is the proper season for a haircut.

"Are you getting the hang of thought input?"

"Yes. The way every stray thought turns straight into text has eased off as well, so I should be able to resume work, at least in a limited way. I really can't endure being a NEET. I was built from the very start to serve as both guide and adjutant, after all."

"Now it's just a matter of getting the body to move, I suppose."

"Since I can't move from the neck down and am operating the body from the World Tree, there are bound to be problems. And contactless connection seems to make the link unstable. For exchanging large volumes of information, such as operating the dungeon, it appears I still need to use direct contact with the World Tree alongside it."

[Tier-Group 3 Rooftop Observation Deck]

Marie rests her back against the World Tree and works slowly through the state of the dungeon. Her clothing is a loose-fitting one-piece dress of white-and-pale-sky-blue fine vertical stripes, buttoned up the back; the buttons are undone and her undergarment pushed up to her neck so that her back makes contact with the trunk. This sort of dress is one you can't put on by yourself if you put on weight.

"For combined contactless-and-contact use, about this much is just right. The hands alone aren't enough, and clinging to it is rather… ungainly."

Operating the dungeon system through the World Tree was a success as well. With that, even dungeon structures requiring precision, such as roads and waterways, can be built.

"If anyone should attack, I can manage some response, at least. There's the problem that I can't go to the site in person, of course. But if I keep shutting myself away, the dungeon-city will lose its sense of cohesion. I'll need to show my face to the settlers before too long."

"Still, this coming New Year's greeting will have to be by video, I suppose."

"Ah, Master, did that come out as text?"

"Better to give a proper New Year's greeting even if it's only by video than to fail at it because we forced you down to the surface to make it. If you look well, everyone will be reassured, but… Marie-san, you've grown a little gaunt."

"In truth, this is a state in which the World Tree is forcing the body to move, so it's only natural. Though for the greeting itself, I do think audio would be better than text."

"Synthetic voice, then. We synthesize Marie-san's speech from the existing recordings and the text of the greeting. I'll ask Mint whether it can be done by New Year's."

"No. There isn't much time, so I don't think we need to overdo it. If it can't be processed in real time, it won't handle a question-and-answer session and the like. After all, I think it's better to try and manage somehow with my own voice. Even if the body of the address is handed out on paper."