I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"Unleash your anger, your resentment... your rebellious spirit, along with our anger!"

Amamiya: ...?

Here, they're awakening their personas.

After a brief moment of surprise, Amamiya was utterly speechless.

Well, as expected... Alice still ruined his life.

"Alice..."

Noticing that Amamiya's expression was a little off, Midori quickly tugged at Alice's sleeve and whispered, "Alice... this is for you to introduce yourself, not a phantom thief's mission..."

"Oh……"

Alice, reminded, showed the same 'sudden realization' as Momoi, and then quickly changed her expression.

In an instant, she transformed into a sweet and charming 'junior'.

"Good afternoon, Amamiya-senpai! I'm Alice Tendo, a member of the game development department."

Amamiya was stunned by the overpowering "senior" voice that made him dizzy.

For some reason, I had a feeling that I was talking to a junior like Yoshizawa Kasumi or Sofia.

"No, no..." Momoi also looked 'disappointed', covering her face with one hand while correcting, "Alice...Sensei is our 'teacher,' we can't call her 'senior'!"

After thinking for two seconds, Alice changed her tone again.

She lowered her head, her hands nervously twisting the hem of her skirt. "Um...Sensei, good afternoon. Nice to meet you, I'm Alice Tendo..."

Amamiya: ...

It's just right, it's just right.

But for some reason, I always have this feeling that the 'training dialogue set' has been ruined.

Can Alice like this really survive well in the world of Giwatos?

"Alice doesn't need to learn from others."

After walking over to Alice and touching her head to encourage her 'performance', Amamiya solemnly uttered a classic RPG game line.

"Alice is Alice."

"Alice can't be any other 'Alice,' she just needs to be 'Alice.' Whatever kind of Alice she is, we'll accept her and love her."

The AI ​​girl was stunned when Amamiya patted her head.

'————'

Emotions that cannot be processed or understood by computer modules seem to be surging violently like waves at this moment.

Combined with the comfortable sensation coming from above my head...

【~???~】

Amamiya then turned to Momoi and Midori.

"...Alice's 'language learning' is passable."

"Then now..."

"Let's move on to the next step of the plan."

After saying that, Amamiya withdrew her right hand, which had been gently stroking Alice's head, and looked at the engineering department's activity building: "Everyone knows why I called you here to help, right?"

“Hmm…” Yuzu said softly, “Sensei wants to… customize a weapon for Alice…”

"Actually, there's another reason... that is to see if the engineering department has come up with any new technologies recently."

After explaining his other reason for coming here, Amamiya led the four members of the game club into the engineering department building.

What was somewhat surprising was that the engineering department's "style" seemed quite different from when he last visited...

One obvious indication of this is that the alloy materials used in the interior of the engineering department, including the floors, ceilings, and walls, all seem to have been replaced.

In addition, the room, which was originally filled with the smells of engine oil and rubber, was now filled with the delicate fragrance of flowers.

The art style suddenly shifted from StarCraft 2 to an alchemy room in a fantasy world, creating a sense of déjà vu.

"Huh? Is this still the engineering department...?"

Momoi, who was traveling with him, looked around in confusion and began to wonder in disbelief what was going on with this engineering department she was seeing.

How come the engineering department's style has completely changed in such a short time?

"This is the engineering department, of course..."

A rather mature and cool voice answered Momoi's 'complaint'.

Everyone looked up in the direction of the sound and saw...

Wearing a knee-length Lolita-style dress with various shades of green as the main color, and a witch's pointed hat, she resembles a "plant witch" from a fantasy world.

"welcome……"

As she spoke, Geyuan snapped her fingers, and illusory flowers began to bloom beneath her feet, entwining with illusory vines.

"The members of the Game Department, and...Sensei, are here to visit...the Engineering Department."

Chapter Fifty: The 'Witches' of the Engineering Department

"Welcome to the Engineering Department, everyone in the Games Department and Sensei."

Momoi's eyes widened as she looked at Utahara dressed as a 'punk witch'.

Especially considering that flower and grass effects would temporarily appear wherever she walked, and that these temporarily generated flowers and grasses could actually be smelled, Momoi found it even more unbearable.

"W-w-wh..." Momoi's eyes welled up with astonishment, "A plant witch...?!?"

"Wow, that's amazing... Is it 'magic'...?"

Little Green, who had never seen anything like this before, was both amazed and already hanging her head, trying to figure out what was going on.

Judging from these 'special effects'... if I'm not mistaken, the materials must have been provided by Sensei...

Could it be a 'magical effect' created from precious materials like 'loot from another world'?

"..."

Yuzu lowered the brim of her witch's hat slightly, remaining silent, but her light blue eyes were also filled with longing and anticipation.

Whether it's her 'physique' or her attitude towards Utahara—being able to speak to outsiders without any shyness, and even wearing such a 'witch outfit' with such propriety and grace...

"Wow~~"

Besides Momoi, Alice had the most exaggerated reaction.

"The great 'Plant Witch'... Can Alice accept a quest from here?!"

Just as she was about to introduce herself, Kahara paused slightly. Being stared at by four pairs of admiring or longing eyes, she felt a little helpless.

"...In short, Sensei, come with me. Let me introduce you to the technological breakthroughs brought about by the 'Eden Metal' you gifted us..."

Reluctantly enduring the intensely innocent gazes of the four children, Utahara led Amamiya and the game club to the spacious area that resembled a 'workshop'.

—Similar to the style inside the building, the style of the workshop area has also undergone an almost earth-shattering change.

The most obvious change is... the original art style here looked like a production workshop, but now...

It looks more like the interior of some 'elf forest', like the secluded dwelling of beautiful girls who love blacksmithing in some fantasy story.

The scent of nature was incredibly rich... Everywhere you could see traces of woodwork, inlaid with gold threads, as if meticulously crafted using techniques like wood carving.

The surrounding 'walls' seemed to be covered with vines that glowed faintly, and a beam of sunlight naturally fell through the gaps in the branches and leaves from the dome, making it look exceptionally beautiful under the influence of the Tyndall effect.

It's like an artificially created "Garden of Eden".

“Sensei… As you can see, the ‘Eden Metal’ you brought has led to groundbreaking progress in many of our research projects…”

Turning back, after seemingly appreciating the astonished looks on the four members of the game club, Utahara continued smugly, "Thanks to this... the engineering club has given the main activity areas a 'special makeover'... using the scraps from the latest research findings."

After speaking, Geyuan slowly raised his hands above his head and clapped them.

'Splash splash...'

The next second, the flapping of wings and the chirping of birds came from afar.

Immediately, Kahara clenched his fist towards the sky and slightly bent his arm.

'唳——'

Accompanied by what may have been the cry of a bird of prey, a mechanical bird that appeared to be intricately pieced together from various types of wood, but was actually made of metal, landed on her forearm.

"...It is also because Eden Metal has unimaginable properties in bionics that we are now able to create mechanical creations like this 'highly intelligent raptor' type."

After waving the 'wooden mechanical bird' away, Utahara led Amamiya and her group to the area under Hibiki's jurisdiction.

"Wow... Is this really the same engineering department I know...?"

Looking at the 'spectacles' he had witnessed along the way, Momoi began to have some doubts.

Little Green chimed in, "It doesn't feel like an engineering department at all; it's more like an 'alchemy workshop for witches' or something..."

Yuzu nodded in agreement, "Mmm..."

Song Yuan, who had captured the aspirations of these little ones, smiled faintly.

"Heh... Ever since Sensei produced that 'magic metal,' the engineering department can no longer be considered entirely an engineering department."

"We've recently been considering renaming our club... for example, changing the Engineering Department to the 'Engineering and Magical Alchemy Department'... but considering the potential difficulties in getting this name approved, it's still under consideration."

Amamiya: ...

Goodness, these 'master craftsmen' in the engineering department are really going to start researching magic.

After leading Amamiya and his group to the area under Hibiki's jurisdiction, Amamiya also met the master craftsman he hadn't seen in a long time—

At this moment, she was wearing goggles, nervously watching a scalding hot crucible.

She looks like a witch in the midst of alchemy.

Sensing something amiss beside him, Hibiki temporarily stopped what he was doing and took off his goggles.

"Sensei... good morning... good afternoon."

She realized her mistake halfway through her sentence and quickly changed her words.

After glancing at her companion Utahara and the four members of the game club behind Amamiya, she immediately understood what she needed to do.

"After studying the 'Eden Metal' provided by Sensei, we... successfully created many technologies that are beneficial to the development of bionics and other tech trees, including but not limited to the [Ultra-small Miniature Reactor] and [Variable Shape Memory Metal]..."

"In addition... we have also done some research on the 'everyday life' application of Eden Metals."

As Hibiki spoke, she slightly raised her leg, drawing the attention of Amamiya and the four members of the game club to her unusually mature outfit of fishnet stockings and shorts.

"We have already made breakthroughs in areas such as fabrics..."

"The fabric produced seems to possess remarkable 'toughness,' surpassing the materials used in the uniforms of the vast majority of current Kivotos academies..."

After a pause, Hibiki finally chose the simplest and most easily understood adjective as his summary: "...all are 'durable'."

In short, clothing made from plant fibers produced using Eden Metal will not be easily destroyed by everyday events in Kiwatos such as gunfights and explosions.

This... in fact, most school uniforms can do this.

After all, there are gunfights every day in Kivotosne, and even if the students have an aura that can withstand damage, the protection of the aura does not include clothing.

Small-scale armed conflicts occur among the students every day, so the damage to their clothing during these battles is quite severe... it's easy for it to be badly damaged.

For this reason, Kiwatos's research and development of clothing materials is exceptionally advanced...

However, the usual school uniforms can only be like 'high-tech bulletproof vests,' resisting attacks from guns, small explosives, etc., and are not easily damaged.

The new plant fiber fabric produced by 'Eden Metal' can completely resist damage from small explosives such as firearms, and can even photosynthesize, self-repair, and absorb kinetic energy (firearms) and heat (explosion) to clean itself!

"This is truly...a very meaningful invention."

After listening to Hibiki's series of introductions, Amamiya's eyes widened in shock, and she exclaimed in sincere admiration.

After temporarily bidding farewell to Hibiki, Utahara took Amamiya to the area under Cortori's jurisdiction.