Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 9 - Chapter Ep3

Epilogue C: The Ancient Ones 
 
“Gurmalkin?” 
“It’s ‘Grimalkin,’ Master.” 
“Grewmalkin?” 
“Grimalkin.” 
“It’s so haaard...” 
“Then call me whatever you want.” 
“Can I?” 
“I just hatched, but I am your Embryo.” 
“Then... Tom!” 
“...Now that one is really simple.” 
“I think it’s cute.” 
“Isn’t it a bit too... normal?” 
“It’s fine! Tom is Tom now!” 
 
Cheshire woke up. 
“A dream, huh?” 
A side effect after using his real body was a cooldown period which caused him to experience something similar to human drowsiness. 
Right now, Cheshire wasn’t in the dream, but in a work space that he’d grown tired of seeing a long time ago. 
“It’s been so long, yet I remember so clearly.” 
He heaved a sigh. 
Cheshire had many names. 
His official title was “Infinite Multiplication, Grimalkin.” 
His name as a control AI was “Cheshire,” and like the others, based on a character from Alice in Wonderland. 
His name as the third major force that had fought to prevent the ultimate battle between the King of Kings and the Draconic Emperor two generations ago was “Schrödinger Cat.” 
Besides those, he also had fake names like “Stray Cat” and “Wild Cat.” 
However, the name “Tom” was especially important to him. 
It was just an alias, but he’d received it from his Master. 
Out of sentimentality, he’d chosen that name for his identity as the developer-side Master at the top of the kingdom’s duel rankings. 
“I’ll go take a look,” he murmured to himself. 
He left his work space and went somewhere else. 
He was currently in control AI territory... the place that the pre-ancient civilization had given the apt — but not completely right — name of “Extra-Continental Vessel.” 
Cheshire moved before the door leading to its deepest part and stopped. 
The door before him was like a bulkhead door to a nuclear shelter, except more complex and a whole lot larger. 
Though he was already in a space that only a control AI could enter, this place was even more secure than anything else here. It seemed to reflect its solemness. 
It was protected by the Red King — who could control space — and the Rabbit — who could control time. With multiple Infinite Embryos guarding it, no one had any hope of going inside. 
Thus, even Cheshire had to request that the supervisor let him through. 
“Number 0, can you let me in for a moment?” he asked. 

“Access granted.” He instantly got approval. The voice was the same as the one that had responded to Cheshire’s request to use his real body in the ruins. 
Soon, the complex mechanisms slotted out of place as the bulkhead slid and opened up. 
Cheshire slightly nodded and went inside. 
He looked around silently. 
It’s the same, he thought. Of course it wouldn’t change. 
He was looking at a certain object. 
It was a large, star-like sphere orbited by thirteen other bright, planet-like spheres. 
No, that wasn’t entirely right. 
The central sphere was surrounded by thirteen spheres that shone, as well as one that emitted no light. 
“How long will it be until that one lights up?” 
His whisper was full of several complex emotions. 
He’d spent too much time on this to be able to put those emotions into words. 
Of course, it was absolutely certain that the time it would take for the last one to light up would be nothing compared to the time he’d spent waiting and working. 
“We’re at over half already... so even at the longest, it won’t be more than five years.” 
Thinking about what he... no, they... were waiting for, he heaved another sigh. 
“I hope it’s someone I see as worthy... No.” 
He slowly shook his head and turned around. 
“Maybe it will be the same, no matter who it is.” 
With those incomprehensible words as his last, Cheshire left the room. 
Even after he left, the fourteen spheres continued to orbit the large one in the middle. 
 
Ruins, living quarters, great hall. 
The ruins at Quartierlatin were being investigated by the kingdom and the Masters they’d hired. 
However, the ruins seemed to be focused mostly on the material storage and the research and production plant. To them, the living quarters were secondary, if not tertiary. 
Thus, the great hall Ray had visited on his second day in Quartierlatin was completely empty right now. 
Some investigators had come here, but all they’d done was take pictures of the painting, like Ray had, and gather all the scattered Prism Soldier parts. 
The piece of art on the wall had been slightly burned by the lasers used in the battle against Tom Cat. 
The burns had mixed with the colors of the artwork, and it looked they had been that way from the start. 
If you strained your eyes, you could see some text there. 
Unlike most of the writing on the piece of art, it was written by hand, rather than burned into it, so the burns made it especially hard to notice. 
It said, “With a prayer for restoration, I lay hope to sleep in this mountain.” Those words were accompanied by a name. 
It was the signature of the one who’d written it, the man in charge of the facility — the great craftsman Flagman himself. 
This facility had many things with his name on it, so it wasn’t special in that regard. 
However, this one was a bit different than the others. 
While his title on most of them was “great craftsman” or something similar, this one had his role — his job. 
It wasn’t known why this artwork alone had his job on it, but Flagman’s job was considered to be one of the mysteries of the pre-ancient civilization, and it was solved right here. 
The small text next to his name said just two simple words: 
Arch Sage. 
To Be Continued in the Next Episode