Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 10 - Chapter SS2

The Triangle of Bygone Days 
A certain day of a certain month 
This happened back when Triangle of Wisdom was just another crafting clan among many others in Dryfe. Franklin, a Master with an Embryo in its fourth form, was sitting in a wooden shack attached to a shabby warehouse incomparable to the headquarters he would eventually have. The leader and originator of this clan, which he had started with the idea to create a humanoid robot, was silently facing the documents on his desk and reading them with a bitter expression. 
“Fran, ya heeeere?” AR-I-CA, the clan member who had been with Franklin since the start, opened the creaking door and went inside... but as she did so, the door came off the hinges and became nothing more than a board with handles on it. “Whoops. Sorry.” 
“It’s okay. You can expect that sort of thing from this cheap shack,” Franklin replied. He didn’t sound like the mad scientist most people knew him as — he was actually being “herself.” The reason for this was because “she” was alone with AR-I-CA, one of the few people she could be completely honest with. 
“Why not make this place a bit better?” AR-I-CA asked. 
This place had been built by the ToW’s clan members, but the material was some of the cheapest possible. There was no security here to speak of; instead, any valuables were in their inventories at all times and the clan barely had anything worth stealing, anyway, so this shack was only used for office work. 
“If I had funds I could spare for our living environment, I’d fund our prototypes instead. That’s what Holheim would want, too,” said Franklin. 
“Ahahah. Yeah, he really would.” AR-I-CA laughed as she remembered the exhausted face of the clan’s sub-leader who doubled as the accountant. It always made him look like an overworked-yet-skilled secretary. 
Franklin cracked a wry grin, too. 
“So, what’s that?” AR-I-CA asked as she pointed at the documents Franklin was holding. 
“Most of these are logs concerning the prototype we lost yesterday,” Franklin replied with a bitter expression. 
“Ohhh...” 
“Prototype” could only refer to the humanoid Magingear their clan was trying to create. It didn’t have a proper name yet — it wasn’t even complete. 
“That’s a whole fifty we’ve lost...” Franklin sighed. 
Thanks to the existence of crafting skills, creating parts and building the robots didn’t take a lot of time. Even so, designing and creating fifty robots was time-consuming, and they hadn’t had a single success yet. 
“It’s a nice number, but it looks like there’re still lots of problems,” said AR-I-CA. 
“In the real world, the main problem behind building humanoid robots is power,” Franklin explained. “Here, though, that’s solved by the mystery voodoo we call ‘magic,’ which can be converted into all sorts of energy. But using it complicates the way the energy flows, which causes all these self-destructions.” 
They were using the already-existing powered suit Magingears as a reference to create prototypes that were basically bigger versions of those, but that almost always caused some circuits to overflow or become underpowered, making it impossible for the mech to even move. 
“Maybe I should refer to the tanks instead?” Franklin added. “I’d whip up a simple mechanism where you just make the wheels spin and... but that would come at the cost of combat ability...” 
“Hey, don’t worry about it alone, okay?” AR-I-CA said as she hugged Franklin’s head from behind. 
“...What are you doing?” 
“Breast cushion. Happy?” 
“No. How many times do I have to tell you that I’m a woman in real life?” 
In fact, your size kinda irritates me, Franklin added in thought. 
“Oh. Well, it calmed you down, didn’t it?” 
“Well... I guess.” 
The warmth of another human being did have a calming effect. 
“Aroused?” 

“No.” 
“Oh, okay. Anyway, this clan’s got lots of smarties, so I’m sure you’ll solve the problem if you just talk to them!” 
“That’s not a good idea.” 
There was the saying “Two heads are better than one,” and this clan was built with the idea of research and development using the combined knowledge and brainpower of many individuals. However, Franklin was controlling and directing the development to prevent a “Too many cooks spoil the broth” situation. With so many hobbyists here, it was obvious that letting everyone do what they wanted would make the project lose structure and make completion that much more distant. 
“There’s the risk of others trying to take charge or having disputes over minor things. I really can’t ask for their opinions,” Franklin explained. 
Another problem with being a group of hobbyists was that people were likely to become upset or try to take matters into their own hands when their ideas went unused. Franklin wanted to provide them with an environment where everyone could develop what they wanted, but for that, they had to complete the very first unit, and that problem troubled him to no end. 
“I get it now,” said AR-I-CA. “By the way, you said that ‘most of these’ are logs. What else is there?” 
Franklin still had a wry grin on his face, but a select few would be able to tell that the question made him a bit depressed. “Letters of resignation...” 
“Ohh? Again?” 
“Blitz and Waterloo left. That’s another two of our fighters gone. They even called me a parasite here. Not that I can argue. I’ve wasted a lot of our money.” 
It was impossible to make something from nothing. You always needed money to create something, and building robots was a costly task even here in Infinite Dendrogram. 
The ToW raised funds by either selling products crafted by Holheim and the other crafters, or by trading in quest rewards or monster loot gathered by the fighters. Both sides played a part, but there was a big difference in the way they saw things. The fighters could only participate in mech development by being test pilots or mock battle targets, but the development hadn’t even progressed to that point yet. There were even cases of test pilots getting the death penalty due to the robots exploding. From the fighters’ perspective, the crafters were just burning the money they gathered, which was leading many to quit. Some crafters also left due to the lack of prospects. 
Franklin silently pondered just how bleak the outlook was. Holheim was doing his best, but despite his efforts, people were leaving, and their funds were dwindling. Whether they would even achieve their goal was an open question, and it worried Franklin to no end. 
She hid it with the personality she played, but her thoughts were always on the negative side. 
“It’s fine! Don’t worry, Fran!” said AR-I-CA, puffing her chest. 
“I can see it! It’ll go great!” she continued as she pointed at her artificial eye, which was her Embryo. 
“Your Embryo can’t see that far, can it?” Franklin retorted. 
AR-I-CA’s Cassandra could see the future, but it was limited to near-immediate events, and only to dangers directed at her, so there was no way she could see their clan succeeding in what they were trying to do. 
“Yep! That’s why I’m seeing it with my normal eyes! I believe in you and everyone else in the clan! I can see our bright future!” 
“I’m... not sure if I appreciate those words.” 
Baseless confidence and optimistic observations were an enemy to all tech developers. Still... 
“But if you trust me that much... it makes me want to meet your expectations,” Franklin said at last. 
She felt like she could keep on trying. AR-I-CA was the only person she could show weakness to, and the only person who brought her back on her feet when she was close to breaking. With AR-I-CA supporting her mental state and Holheim supporting her environment, she was a balanced triangle. Because of this, she felt like could keep on trying — keep moving forward. 
“All right. I guess I’ll go, then. Getting it all back on track once this is done is gonna be a pain in the ass, though.” Franklin stood up, log in hand, to go consult the other members about the problems with the prototype and take their ideas for the development direction. 
AR-I-CA watched her best friend off with a smile on her face. 
 
A month of such difficult days later, the Triangle of Wisdom completed the first Marshall II.

A while after that, AR-I-CA left the clan. 
Her reason for doing that was a mystery to all but Franklin and AR-I-CA herself, but the influence it had on Franklin must’ve been immense.

The End