Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Volume Chapter 8

“Young miss, may I ask you a question?”

“Yes?”

“Could you tell me more about these ‘machines’?”

“Machines?”

“Indeed. I cannot quite grasp what exactly a ‘machine’ might be. And so I was hoping you could impart your wisdom unto me.”

“Okay. I don’t know the finer details, though.”

“That is quite all right. If you can share what knowledge you do have, I would be very grateful.”

“Very well. But it might take a while. Do you mind if I use Telepathy?”

“No, please go ahead.”

“Thank you. You want to know about the kinds of machines that were in those ruins, right, Merazophis?”

“Yes and no. I have very little understanding of machines in general. Please share anything that comes to mind, young miss.”

“All right. I’ll talk about the machines from my old world, then.”

“By all means.”

“To put it simply, a machine is something that exists to make life easier.”

“Is that right?”

“As far as I’m concerned anyway. Of course, there are weapons like the ones we saw in those ruins, but you could say that those, too, are meant to make life easier in a broad sense, right? By protecting people from enemy attacks.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So machines make life easier. Since you were in charge of a mansion, you know how taxing even everyday life can be, right? Cleaning, cooking, laundry. It’s a lot of work.”

“Quite.”

“Machines are supposed to help with that. In my world, for example, we had a machine called a vacuum cleaner, which gathered up dirt and garbage much more easily than a broom.”

“More than a broom?”

“Yes. I don’t quite understand the principles behind it, but you could say a vacuum cleaner was like an evolved form of a broom. Machines are basically evolved tools—more convenient, often able to do their work automatically. I think that’s a decent way of looking at it.”

“So the machines in those ruins were the same?”

“Yes, even those. Swords and such are weapons for fighting, yes? It’s just like if those evolved. Weapons that can move and fight on their own. That’s what a mechanical weapon is.”