To the southwest of this continent, just west of the Great Sea of Trees, you can see a long, large island and two islands about a third of the size of the long island.
　The longer island is Igland. The smaller island is Marlette. These two islands are called the kingdom of Egret.



　The kingdom of Egret doesn't have outstanding resources, but it's a wonderful country with a warm climate and scenic landscape surrounded by the sea.
　Culturally speaking, it seems to be a backward-looking country, but even in this country, it has something that is second to none.
　That is the sea dragon, the Sea Serpent.
　This dragon lives in the waters near Egret and is revered by the people of Egret as a guardian god. Legend has it that when Sandra's kingdom invaded a hundred years ago, this dragon sank only Sandra's ships.
　There is a legend that the day the Sea Serpent is seen on the island, there will be a great catch of fish.

So this sea dragon, the Sea Serpent, is he related to you?
''Yes, sir. Yes, he is a member of our family. They are a species that has always loved the company of people, and they have grown fond of the island's people.

　When I heard that there was a dragon, I was heading to that Iglet Kingdom with Ruri as my companion. I'm riding on the back of Ruri, who has turned into a giant dragon that flies in the sky, to that island. It's pretty easy. The wind is harsh, so I'm keeping my shield up, though.

''Oh, you can see it.''

　An island popped into view beyond the horizon. Is that the Kingdom of Egret?

''Lord, the sea dragon is here to greet you. A sea dragon is waiting to greet you.
What?

　When I looked down at Ruri's voice, I saw a dragon peeking out of the surface of the sea. It wiggled its snake-like body, floating up and down on the surface of the sea. It's big. Bigger than Ruri. In the sea, the buoyancy of the sea makes it easier for large creatures to be born because they don't put too much pressure on the body. Is that the reason?

'It's been a while. ''Sea Dragon.''
''Good day to you, Ao-Tei-sama, and welcome to Iglet, Fuyuyo Mochizuki-sama. And welcome to Iglet, Fuyuyo Mochizuki-sama, your principal, Soh-Emperor.
'Huh? Do you know me?
Yes. The incident on Dragoness Island has been well documented among the dragons.

　Oops. I've heard a lot of rumors about you. Well, I've killed more than half the dragons on the island. I guess it's partly because of Ruri that I'm not resented.
　Basically, dragons don't try to fight with people. That's because they knew that if a person really tried to defeat a dragon, they would be quite formidable. However, over the years, the young dragon's lack of knowledge of such things led to that incident. To say that it was a lack of education would be an understatement.

''But how did you know we were coming?''
"I was told by the bird, the errand boy, that the ruin you were looking for was located deep in the cave where you were sleeping. "The ruin you seek is located deep in the cave where you sleep.
'Oh, yes. Then I'll have to ask you to show me around.
"Will.

　We followed the sea dragon as it began to swim in reverse with a zap.
　As the sea dragon approached the shore of Marlette, the smaller island of the Igrette Kingdom, it entered a narrow cave that was located between rocks. We followed, and as we walked through the cave, we found ourselves in a fairly open area.
　It's like a secret base. I climbed down from Ruri's back to the rocky area of the cave.

''At the end of the cave at the back of that one, there are the ruins you're looking for.''

　A cave that led farther in the direction of the sea dragon's gaze could be seen. I see, it's just ahead.
　I'm sure there's a lot to talk about, so I left Ruri with Kairyu and proceeded to the back of the cave on my own.
　When the tide rises, this place will probably be in the sea, but the rock surface was slippery and wet. After going through the cave like a passage for a while, I finally arrived at the thing in the back.
　It was a true sphere in shape. At first glance, it looks like a black sphere with a diameter of more than five meters, but the side of the sphere is embedded with marble-like magical stones, with narrow slits in the sides of the sphere like a geometric pattern.

"For now, I guess this is what you want me to do, to channel my magic power.

　The magic power of fire flows into the red magic stone. Then a red light ran along the slit that extended from the magic stone to the surface of the sphere.
　From time to time, the light circled around and came back to the original location of the red magic stone.
　In the same way, blue, green, brown, yellow, and purple lines of light were released one after another. Finally, an unattributed white light ran into the sphere, and like a puzzle, the crunching surface slid part by part, opening a small entrance.
　As he stepped inside, the entrance quietly closed, and in the dim light, he could see the magic circle that had been drawn on the floor. In pieces.

''Wait. This is........

　The patterns were painted on what looked like massed tiles. Each one was independent and could be moved around.
　A sliding puzzle. It's a common puzzle in which you have to line up the numbers correctly.

[01] [02] [03] [04]
[05], [06], [07], [08]
[09], [10], [11], [12]
[13], [14], [15], [16]

　The puzzle is to pull out the [16] part of the [16] and slide the empty spaces one after another to break them apart and put them back together.
　That's what the floor is covered with a magic circle. It's probably the only way to activate the transfer spell when you've lined it up correctly.
　The problem is the number of panels. I counted them and found that there were 10 x 10, or 100 panels. No, to be exact, it's 99 panels because one of them is missing because of the gap to move it. But if the problem is a picture, the difficulty is much higher than that of a number puzzle.

What a pain in the ass...

　I buzzed and slid the panels on the floor.
　Well, my grandfather once said that there is a little trick to sliding puzzles.

[01][02][03][04]
[05], [06], [07], [08]
[09], [10], [11], [12]
[13] [14] [15]

　If you want this kind of sequence, you can start with the outer

[01], [02], [03], [04]
[05]
[09]
[13]

　aligned. And then its inner

[06] [07] [08]
10]
[14]

　and finally, the

[11] [12]
[15]

　You have to align the If you do it this way, you can complete any large number.
　The problem is if it is a picture panel. If I don't know what part of the whole thing it is, I can't move it.
　It helps a lot if I have the original picture....
　I spend a lot of time silently moving the puzzle around. It took too much time, so I decided to ask Ruri to go home first to remind her.
　Ninety-nine pieces is still quite a lot.... And they're not pictures, they're patterns. You can't really tell if they're aligned until they're right next to each other.
　Nevertheless, I repeat my sober work and manage to complete the puzzle, and then light floods in from the transfer station on the floor and I am instantly transferred.




　I was swallowed by the usual whirlwind of light, and as my dazzled eyes adjusted to the dazzle, I saw the familiar landscape of Babylon spread out in my vision.
　Through the trees swaying in the wind, I could see a chalk building. Was that the 'Institute'?
　As I stepped out of the transition camp to walk there, someone was walking in from the other side. Is this the manager of the Institute? I'm not sure if this is the same person as me, but I'm not sure. He's a year or two younger than I am in terms of appearance.

Welcome to the Institute. You will find that you will be able to get the most out of your time with the help of a few of these people. Please call me Tika.

　I flinch a bit when I see the girl politely bend at the waist to greet me. She moves like a president's secretary. She's a sharp and serious-looking girl. Her speech is also fluent. In a way, you could say that it is not good for the crass Monica.

Tika. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am...
Fuyuyo Mochizuki-sama, isn't it? The doctor has told me about you.
Is this from the doctor?
''Yes. With the Jewel of the Future Vision that Dr. Fuyu created, he knew at least that Master Fuyu-sama would be coming to the Garden and the Laboratory.

　Well, there was an artifact like that in the "storehouse". I tried to use it, but it never activated. Parshe, the caretaker of the storehouse, said it was probably because in the future when the treasure ball's power reaches us, there won't be anyone with the same bio-wave, or all attributes.
　In other words, from now on, there won't be an all-attribute holder for at least another five thousand years. Unless the flow of history changes.
　I let Linze use it to try it out and it showed an old man I didn't understand, so I don't think it's broken. It's weird to think that maybe that old man is living as a child in this time and age now.

'So how many 'Babylon' did Fuyu-sama find?
This is the last one. I've found and docked everything else.
I see. Enough to be a good fit. Then the Institute and I will be transferring the Atlantica and signing a master agreement.

　As he said this, Tika took a small stick with a round cotton-like object attached to it from his breast pocket and handed it to me.

'Take that in your mouth, please,'

　She did as she was told and sucked the stick and was told to take it out after a while.
　When she receives the master of the swab that she took out, Tika crunches it and takes it into her own mouth.

'Registration complete. We have memorized the Master's genes. Ownership of the Institute and myself, Babylon number 22, Atlantica, will now be transferred to the Master.
"Oh, what?
What is it?
No, it's not...

　So it wasn't a kiss like I've been doing. No, I wasn't looking forward to it! It's kind of a letdown.
　She seems so serious, so maybe she draws the line at such actions.

Then this way, please. Before I explain to you about the Institute, there is some work I would like you to do for the master.
Work?

　Tika leads us into one of the "laboratories".
　The laboratory is divided into several buildings, and it is said that they are used for different purposes.
　We entered the first laboratory, which is where Sheska and the other Babylon Numbers were born.
　A number of large sleeping capsules, similar to those in the Alchemy Building, are set up near the wall. I don't know what they were, but there was some kind of luminescent culture fluid flowing through transparent tubes, and there were capsules with some kind of material floating in formalin. It is just like a suspicious "laboratory".
　It looks like a human experimentation facility (or maybe it's just as it is), and it's a bit uncomfortable. It looks like they're building a human alteration....or was it built? I guess it's more of an artificial person than a modified human.
　Tika took me to the cylindrical machine that was set up in the farthest room and pointed to the part of the room that looked like a coffin window.
　Through the glass I could see the face of a young girl floating in a solution that glowed a light green color. Her platinum blonde hair appears to be long, but there's no way to discern it from the window as it's only visible from her forehead to her chin. It's hard to tell because her eyes are closed, but she vaguely resembles the Tika in front of me, or rather, everyone in Babylon Numbers.

''This girl is........''
Babylon Numbers, last number 29, our last sister.

　There was a 10th person.... Was it abandoned during development, or was it not awakened for some reason?
　As I was thinking about this, Tika throws an oversized bomb at me.

But at the same time, she is also our creator, Dr. Regina Babylon. I would like to ask the master to help with the awakening.

　 Huh?