"LiLiLi, are you free?"

In the underground space of the castle, which had been transformed into an exclusive research institute, Liecho, fully immersed in contemplation over the pharmacological effects of a certain recipe recorded in an ancient text, suddenly heard a knocking sound coming from behind the heavy metal door.

Being interrupted while deeply engrossed in thought was quite irritating for Li, akin to being abruptly awakened in the middle of the night and dragged to a dance hall.

Oh well, I'll just ignore her and pretend I'm not here.

With this thought in mind, Li reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a pair of earplugs, hoping to block out the disturbance and delve back into her thoughts.

However, the visitor at the door had no intention of giving up; the knocking continued.

"Li, open the door—I know you're in there! Open it!"

The sound, filtered through the door and the earplugs, had diminished significantly, but the intentionally prolonged trailing tone resembled the buzzing of a mosquito, still causing a considerable nuisance.

Snap.

Li finally couldn't take it anymore. She forcefully closed the precious ancient text she had found in some ruins, causing the binding, which had become somewhat fragile over the course of time, to show signs of coming undone.

Opening the door, Li stared at the princess who seemed a bit uneasy.

"Little Li, you seem not to be in a good mood..." Sensing the resentment emanating from Li, Tiran clenched her hands behind her back.

Under normal circumstances, it would be best to keep as far away as possible from Li. Although Li's equipment, specifically designed for inspecting and treating high-ranking knights, was not functioning properly until Aya returned, what if something unexpected happened? Tiran didn't want to undergo a complete physical examination from head to toe due to a momentary lapse in judgment.

—A thorough examination from head to toe. Moreover, she came under her father's orders, which made her visit legitimate and indisputable, with no means of refusal.

If it were any other time, she could just leave home and stay outside for a few days. The problem was, she couldn't defeat Li right now. Thinking about this, Tiran felt even more uncomfortable. In the past, when she possessed an almost Holy Rank strength, she didn't think it was a big deal. Now that she had lost it, she truly understood how frustrating it was to be weak and bullied. Moreover, due to the recent turbulent situation, she couldn't casually leave the castle anymore.

But even so, she had no choice but to find this scholar from the Mage Academy.

"I was in a pretty good mood originally." With a cold face, Li showed no respect for the princess. In her eyes, Tiran was just a nuisance interrupting her reading.

"If there isn't a satisfactory reason, I don't mind borrowing some money from the Magic Academy and fixing the machine in advance."

"No, no, no, there's a legitimate reason." Tiran quickly waved her hands. "I came to ask about Chirp."

"Chirp? Is it the artificial life form discovered in the Sainz underground ruins?" Li realized.

"Yes, and I'm still trying to figure out what kind of being that child actually is. Lately... I've been holed up in the study and almost finished reading the entire castle's inventory," Tiran recalled seeing Chirp reading in the study earlier that morning, and smacked her lips in frustration.

Being absorbed in reading as a literary girl... or rather, a loli, was beautiful, but unfortunately, the way Chirp looked while reading was completely different from the serene atmosphere one would imagine in a room filled with the scent of coffee, basking in the afternoon sunlight.

Three thick books, equivalent to dictionaries, were lined up on the desk in front of Chirp. If it weren't for Chirp's small body, which limited the ability to turn the pages of all three books at once, there might have been even more books piled up.

And Tiran had never seen such a mechanical gaze focused on Chirp before, as if she was not a girl but a scanning machine.

How could such a situation not be worrying?

"Well, I'm quite interested, but if it's a product of an ancient civilization, it may not be possible to find out much with the current equipment. My suggestion is to wait for your maid to come back..." Li's resentment subsided slightly, replaced by a thoughtful expression with furrowed brows.

Wait, wait for Aya to come back? And let you fix that grotesque device that's like a tentacle play? Are you joking! If Chirp were to go through something like that... hey, isn't that already hentai?!

"No, no, I think something's not right with Chirp at the moment, so we should act quickly."

"But..." Liecho was also moved, for a researcher, anything related to the ancient magitech civilization was definitely on the same level as studying dragons... no, maybe even higher, after all, dragons had clear clues to follow, whereas relics like this could only rely on luck.

Under Tiran's coaxing and persistence, Li finally agreed, and they went together to find Chirp.

"Oh, by the way, Tiran."

On the stairs, Li suddenly asked, "I saw another interesting person in the castle earlier... Where did they come from?"

"Interesting person?" Tiran was taken aback, still not getting it.

"A golden-haired girl around her, with golden pupils, looks a bit younger than you, but with a bigger chest."

"The last sentence is unnecessary!" Tiran couldn't hold it in on her face, "What do you mean bigger chest?! Don't say such hurtful things! I'm only eighteen years old, I still have room to grow, okay!"

"There's probably not much chance left. According to the research on human development, Tiran, your puberty is almost over..."

Tiran covered her face with a slap, "Please stop, let's just stay friends for now."

Seriously, what's so great about having a big chest? For a knight, this is the most suitable for battle, right? Not only does it decrease the chances of being hit, but it also makes it easier to maintain balance in combat... Okay, she knew she was just deceiving herself, saying she didn't envy it was all fake!

Tiran felt full of resentment.

"You're probably talking about Fizzi." After hesitating for a moment, Tiran said.

She hadn't decided whether to tell Li about Fiona being an Angel yet, because once Li found out, she would probably start thinking about how to deceive the innocent Angel girl into becoming an experimental subject again.

"Yeah, that girl seems quite special too. My own detectors couldn't determine her race... By the way, where do you find so many interesting items?" Li's eyes lit up brighter, asking.

"Hey, don't make it sound like I'm a human trafficker or something." Tiran had a vein popping on her forehead.

"It doesn't matter," Li said casually, "How about it? Give it some thought?"

Tiran was torn, because if Li did something exaggerated and it was known by the heavenly figure, who knows what kind of consequences it would lead to. According to the information Aya extracted from the Angel girl, this land was covered by a goddess' surveillance network.

"I guess it's still not a good idea," Tiran firmly shook her head, but if little Fizzi didn't behave, she could try using that as a threat.

"Huh, is that so?" Li looked somewhat regretful after being rejected, but finding the legacy of an ancient civilization and Dragon was already a pleasant surprise, so she didn't seem dissatisfied.

When Li found Chirp after traversing the corridors, the child was still in the study, scanning through books diligently as if in a trance. There were already small mountains of books on either side that had been finished.

"This amount...did she finish them in just a few days?"

Li also looked surprised. There were at least a hundred books in that pile, and the contents...some of the titles seemed familiar, all highly specialized academic materials.

Even if it were mundane knowledge that required concentration to read, it would be impossible for a normal person to read this amount in just a few days, let alone various fantasy novels and even comics on the market!

"Now do you understand why I had to find you?" Tiran spread his hands, then walked over and called out softly, "Chirp."

"Chirp? Daddy?"

--Well, it seems that title can't be changed.

...

Returning to Li's lab and seeing the research equipment and the books Li had read, Chirp seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, which Tiran happened to notice.

"Chirp? Is something wrong?"

Chirp shook her head vigorously, but her expression seemed somewhat blank, as if caught between the scanning mode when reading books and her normal state.

"Let her lie down, take off her outer clothes." Li adjusted a bed-like examining device fixed to the floor at the back of the room, reminding them.

"...Chirp, daddy, what, what are you going to do?" Looking at the device, Chirp seemed a bit uneasy.

"Don't worry, it's just a check-up, nothing will happen. Just lie down on it." Tiran rubbed Chirp's soft and fluffy animal ears, gently lifting her up and placing her on the platform, soothingly.

"Don't move on the platform, there may be bright lights, you can close your eyes, and as for the noise, just get used to it. It won't take long, this is just a basic scan." Li stood by the control panel, adjusting switches while speaking.

"Will this...be useful?" Tiran whispered.

"Not sure. With limited conditions, I simply increased the power of the normal scanning equipment. Whether we can find anything depends on luck. As for going further, we'll have to fix the previous device first."

"Uh..." Tiran's expression was also conflicted.

While talking, the magic array under the platform on which Chirp lay started working and the machine rumbled, accompanied by a shimmering blue light gradually growing brighter.

"Oh, this is not just a little bit, it's blinding...!" Tiran couldn't help squinting, while Li kept her eyes fixed on the screen at the control panel, waiting for the results.

The first thing that caught their eyes was an image.

"Huh..."

"..."

"What the heck is this?!"