I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"The engineering department will be able to complete the installation of all the equipment tomorrow..."

"When the time comes, I'll take advantage of that time to go and meet that celebrity, Hiyori."

Chapter Twenty-One: The Finally 'Completed' Xia Lai Building

“Sensei, Sensei… open your eyes…”

"Jok~! It's already daytime, time to get up and start our phantom thief activities!"

At the same time, the calls from two AI beauties, originating from the Shitei no Hako and the mobile phone, roused Amamiya from her deep sleep.

Before Sofia is awakened, it is usually Alona who acts as the 'alarm clock' to wake her up.

From the moment Sofia was awakened... she began to imitate Alona's 'wake-up service,' and if Amamiya was still asleep on time, she would also provide that service...

I have to say, being woken up by two AI girls at the same time, each with a different, energetic and lively voice... is actually quite comforting.

“They’re awake, Sophia, and Alona too… no need to call them anymore.”

After rubbing her messy hair and getting up, Amamiya immediately went through a standard washing and grooming routine.

I'm not really in the mood to make breakfast... so I'll just buy a bento box and make do.

With that thought in mind, Amamiya changed his clothes and prepared to go downstairs to Angel 24 to buy breakfast... and then he ran into three people from the Engineering Department who were also buying breakfast.

Utahara, Kotori, and Hibiki—these three girls, each with a distinct personal style but possessing foresight and extraordinary creativity… seem to have been up all night, and each of them appears somewhat distracted.

"...Didn't you get enough rest?"

Noticing the listless state of the three engineering department members, Amamiya moved closer and stood beside the three women, Utahara, who had already paid their bills, giving them a very close look at their somewhat sloppy work.

What Amamiya found particularly interesting was that the three of them all had completely different 'scents'.

The body of the singer had become somewhat like rubber resin, quite 'sticky' and with a slight odor.

Kotori, on the other hand, had a unique 'fragrant-smelling odor' that seemed to be a combination of various floral scents, so strong that it made people uncomfortable.

As for Hibiki... she exudes a stimulating vanilla scent, a kind of 'excessive sweetness' similar to the sap of plants.

Without even guessing, Amamiya knew that the scent on them was definitely related to the "Eden Metal" (a branch of the World Tree) that Amamiya had provided the previous night.

Utahara responded somewhat listlessly, "...I should say, I didn't get any rest at all."

"Ever since we received 'Eden Metal' from Sensei last night, we have so many ideas that need to be tested... so we decided to stay up all night exploring the various possibilities of Eden Metal."

"Considering that the raw material for 'Eden Metal' is a kind of 'magical wood' that we cannot understand, in addition to adjusting the alloy ratio, we also tried using other plant extracts, wood ash, and other plant-related items for smelting when we were smelting the alloy..."

Amamiya nodded, then asked curiously, "So what was the result?"

When the three from the engineering department heard Amamiya ask such an enthusiastic question, they looked at each other and remained silent for a moment.

Then, Kotori squinted and lowered her head, saying shyly, "You could say it was...very effective, but it's strange..."

Amamiya asked in surprise, "Is that strange?"

"Hmm...to be specific, it seems we've inadvertently created various...unique plant life forms with intelligence approaching that of standard humans?"

Amamiya: "..."

Listening to Kotori's ambiguous and vague explanation, Amamiya roughly understood what was going on.

He rubbed his forehead with one hand and asked helplessly, "If I'm not mistaken... you successfully harvested various new materials... but you were also quite overwhelmed by those 'plant life forms' that were difficult to deal with using conventional methods, right?"

“Hmm…” Geyuan didn’t know how to describe it, “That was… a plant life we ​​had never seen before, which threw us into a panic.”

"In the process of confronting them... although we were not injured, we inevitably became tainted with the 'blood' of those lives. Sensei should be able to smell the smell on us now... In fact, we have washed several times, but this smell cannot be washed off."

After all, it is a "branch of the World Tree"... The "plant vitality" contained within is beyond imagination. To understand it in a more magical way, the liquid smelted from the branches of the World Tree can stimulate the growth of plants in a very short time and enlighten them to intelligence, giving them intelligence almost equivalent to that of a human around 10 years old.

The 'plant life' that is born in this way is actually similar to the plant-type monsters in Western fantasy RPG games.

As for why there is hostility? Well, it's not that simple.

Think about it carefully: if you were thrown into a furnace to be melted down and luckily survived, wouldn't you be so angry after you got out that you wanted to kill the person who threw you into the furnace to be melted down?

"(III) Zero Umbrella Private Joy/Yi In other words..."

Hearing Amamiya's adjectives, Utahara realized something: "They... are hostile to us because their 'birthplace' is a furnace."

"If we cultivate plants from scratch using plant nutrition methods... perhaps they will stop being hostile towards us?"

Amamiya shrugged: "I don't know about that. I'm just analyzing the 'strange things' that the engineering department has encountered based on my personal experience."

After pondering for a moment with his head down, Kahara gave a serious response.

“Sensei’s suggestion is very helpful… When we get back, we will try to find one or two students who are good at plant cultivation to collaborate with.”

After a brief conversation with the 'disheveled' engineering department, Amamiya finished preparing breakfast.

Meanwhile, the engineering department also began the final day of equipment additions, replacements, and repairs.

Xia Lai's [Café] has been completed. In addition, public facilities that students can use, such as study rooms, have also been improved.

—Nowadays, after a 'renovation' by the engineering department, Xia Lai is no longer an empty shell with almost no functions and lacking various equipment.

Since there wasn't much time to plan in the morning, Amamiya took a quick look around the area that the engineering department had renovated to check on the situation.

Of course, it's mainly a rest area.

Study rooms, training rooms, lounges... these areas mostly adopt an ultra-modern minimalist style reminiscent of 'millennial technology'.

Amamiya also took a look at the restaurant, and it was no different from the company cafeterias he remembered.

Next up is the coffee shop—perhaps considering the style of the coffee shop, the engineering department chose a decor that is close to the style of Holy Trinity, which looks simple and understated yet grand.

After leaving the residential area, Amamiya went to check out some public facilities.

The library is currently 'brand new'. Although it has the shelves and a sense of tranquility of a library, it is actually empty of books. All the bookshelves are empty.

The laboratory and shooting range areas are quite unique... especially the shooting range. Amamiya went to take a look and found it quite novel.

After all, his previous combat experience almost all came from other worlds... He rarely had the opportunity to come into contact with training facilities like this.

Amamiya also glanced around the vehicle depot. Inside, there was an extra official vehicle that Xia Lai could use for official business trips, as well as many empty spaces that could probably be used to park tanks or other heavy vehicles. He also saw a helicopter.

It appears to have been 'purchased' there not long ago; the helicopter's paint job is brand new.

Incidentally, helicopter hangars are slightly different from garages for general ground vehicles. Considering the take-off and landing of helicopters, the hangars are specially designed with the function of 'opening the dome'.

"The necessary repair tools are also readily available..."

After taking a general look around, Amamiya had a pretty good idea of ​​what Xia Lai was like now.

As it stands, Xialai is no longer the empty shell it was not long ago, "with almost no facilities".

Now... with just a few more people, Xia Lai can immediately become an organization whose execution capabilities are no less than those of the Federal Student Union.

Of course... given the unique nature of the "Xia Lai" organization, we must be extremely careful when adding personnel.

Back at the foot of the Xia Lai office building, Amamiya looked up again at the building standing tall against the azure sky in the distance.

Hmm... From now on, I'll have my own residential area to live in, instead of living directly in the office building...

For some reason, I have a feeling that I 'truly have a home'.

"Let's stop the acceptance process here..."

After confirming that there was nothing to inspect, Amamiya went to the club activity room.

"Let's wait for Ayane to arrive, handle today's official business, and then prepare to meet that 'star Himari'..."

Chapter Twenty-Two: May I touch Ayane's ears?

Time gradually passed until the sun was high in the sky.

While pondering how to handle the document in front of her, Amamiya temporarily turned her attention to the view outside the window...

The weather in Kivotos seems exceptionally nice.

Since arriving here from Amamiya, it seems like I haven't seen any rainy days... Unless there are exceptions, this 'almost cloudless clear sky' is the main weather most of the time.

From a meteorological perspective, Kiwatos is quite different from the Kiwatos he is familiar with, which is prone to continuous rainy seasons, exacerbated by the urban heat island effect, or suffocating by the 'tropical night' effect, and whose weather changes faster than a change of face.

'Squeak~'

Before I could even marvel at the weather in Kivotos, Amamiya heard the sound of someone quietly pushing open the door.

The slightly shy short-haired girl pushed the door open a crack and peeked around to take a look at the room.

After discovering that she was indeed the only 'duty student' and not several other students besides Sensei as she had imagined, the girl, who seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, shrank back inside.

Thanks to the phantom thief's keen hearing, Amamiya could clearly hear Ayane, who had retreated to the door, gently patting her cheeks to encourage herself, and very faint, self-hypnotic murmurs like, "It's okay, Ayane, you can do it... Be brave and face Sensei..."

After a minute or two of silence, the door was finally knocked on.

Amamiya: ...

So she thought she wouldn't hear the sound of the door being pushed open earlier?

After a slight sigh of helplessness, Amamiya paused reading and writing, feigning seriousness, and said in a raised voice, "Come in."

With a 'click', the door was officially opened, and Amamiya turned around as the door opened, carefully looking the short-haired girl up and down. Her posture was particularly 'ladylike', but at the same time, there was a hint of unnaturalness in her short hair.

"..."

Although she had made preparations in advance, the moment Ayane saw Amamiya, she couldn't help but think of her adventures in the other world and the gentle encouragement she received, and she couldn't help but blush slightly.

"Ayane, it's been a while. How's everyone in Abydos doing lately?"

As Amamiya spoke with a gentle smile, the last trace of unease and resentment in the girl's heart was finally put aside and vanished completely.

"Thanks to you, everyone in Abydos is doing very well lately!"

【~??~】

The girl smiled sincerely and replied earnestly, "Whether it's everyone on the countermeasures committee or other people living in the Abydos region... their living conditions have improved significantly recently."

"only……"

Seemingly thinking of something, Ayane, preoccupied with her own thoughts, didn't say the second half of the sentence, "but."

'However… everyone on the countermeasures committee seems to be experiencing 'withdrawal symptoms.' They become inexplicably restless if they don't touch Sensei or anything that retains its scent.'

"That's good..."

Amamiya nodded gently, then beckoned to Ayane: "Ayane, come over here... This is the area where the duty students 'work' and 'take turns'... The duty students' work is very simple. In addition to being responsible for basic indoor cleaning, they can also help with some paperwork."

He paused for a moment, then said very seriously, "I believe that a good child like Ayane, who is so earnest and hardworking, will definitely get the hang of the duties of a 'duty student' very quickly."

【~???~】

The girl smiled slightly, looking a little nervous and embarrassed. She unconsciously tugged at her collar before responding, "...I...I will do my best to help Sensei."

As it turned out, Ayane's tension and worry were somewhat unnecessary.

She had expected to be dealing with some very difficult paperwork, but when she got the job, she found that it was just a very simple task for her.

Just like when Hifumi came to do her duty before, Amamiya deliberately took the initiative to deal with a small number of things that had nothing to do with Abydos in advance, leaving behind a number of documents and files that were more or less related to Abydos.

"...Regarding the question of 'the flow of funds and stolen goods in the black market'?"

"Does Ayane have any opinions or thoughts?"

"This one……"

The girl tilted her head slightly, looked at the ceiling and pondered for a moment before answering, "Sensei, you should know... the state of the black market after Caesar's control over it weakened or even disappeared."

"Without Caesar's checks and balances, the black market has become more chaotic than ever before... Naturally, channels such as 'stolen goods disposal' have become even more unimaginable..."

"Although Caesar's existence was largely unnecessary, it did bring relative stability to the black market..."

"Regarding the flow of funds and stolen goods in the black market, perhaps we could use Caesar as a check and balance, and..."

Even without Amamiya's active guidance on her demeanor, Ayane, with her considerable experience in managing the academy, was able to get into the zone more easily than Hifumi.

Soon, she was able to temporarily suppress her nervousness and other complex emotions, and chat with Amamiya about the handling of these paperwork tasks.

After processing dozens of documents concerning the Abydos region, Amamiya paused the paperwork and asked, "The 'collapse' of the Caesar Group, which controls the black market, hasn't had any major impact on the academy, has it?"

After thinking about it seriously for a while, Ayane shook her head.

"There have been some minor impacts... but the countermeasures committee is fully capable of handling and resolving them. As for any slightly larger impacts... none. Perhaps because of the deterrent effect of the 'Heart Thief,' no group dares to cause trouble for Abydos Higher Academy at the moment."

"Speaking of which, it's been quite a while since anyone from Abydos has ventured into another world, hasn't it? Would you like to go and explore another world, and perhaps even get the bad guys to 'repent'?"