Over the night and the morning, NSLICE-00P began running an analysis on the Grimoire of Arofinas Leolar. It appeared much of the theoretical knowledge it contained was common knowledge she had already read in the Library, and the book didn’t particularly focus on such things. The mages of the Empire had a long time to catch up on theory, after all.

The practical knowledge, on the other hand, had great potential.

Unfortunately, the Grimoire did not contain anything regarding spatial magic, but it had some novel techniques that would be useful to NSLICE-00P. The first item that caught her eye was a large-scale enchanting technique designed for concealment. The island nation of Mirima, which Arofinas Leolar had ruled, had been founded by escaped slaves and elven defectors from the Empire of the Sun, and so had waged a long, asymmetric war for survival until Velus and the armies of Elteno had intervened. As such, they had developed many techniques to even the odds, one of which was a fleet of concealed warships that could pick off transports and supply ships.

That technique was recorded here.

It would take some effort for NSLICE-00P to apply the technique to her own assets. The technique had been designed for warships made with non-standard materials, not miniature drones made of mundane metal, so she would need to adjust the setup. Likewise, it would require testing to ensure said technique was still viable in the present day, given any potential advancements in sensor capabilities from the time of Arofinas Leolar.

But assuming she could get the technique working…it presented a massive potential improvement for her mini-drone units. One that had been proven to work against mana-based detection methods in a military setting, at least at the time it had been deployed.

It was a start.

And for NSLICE-00P, the start was the most important. Once she had a proven, completed technique in hand, she could iterate upon it to improve its efficiency. And now she had acquired such a technique.

And of course, she could always iterate in the other direction. Mini-drones were useful for immediate scouting and for being difficult to detect…but a drone’s capabilities ultimately scaled with their size, so scaling the drones up to fit the technique could be an effective option. She unfortunately didn’t have access to blueprints for any drones but she had been recording various mana-powered vehicles in action. It might soon be possible for her to develop her own autonomous units.

But she filed that thread away for now. Increases to the capabilities of the NSLICE network were of secondary importance now that she assumed she was in a different universe. Stealth drones would be useful to the major directive in order to scout for potential hostiles, but upgrading the friendlies themselves was the most efficient method of fulfilling that directive given the nature of combat in this world. So she would devote spare resources and processing power to upgrading the mini-drones whenever available, but would not go out of her way to do so. Developing entirely new models was beyond the scope of the resources she was currently willing to commit.

That situation could potentially change, but as long as she maintained cordial relations with the Empire and Imperial resources were dedicated to her investigations, there was no reason for her to reinvent the wheel.

Which is why NSLICE-00P requested to return to the Academy this day. Princess Caecila had sent word that she had a prior engagement today in any case, but that they were free to use the Imperial Family’s transport for the task. And so the group made their way to the plaustrum subterraneum station.

Just as they were approaching the station on foot, something happened.

A man bumped into NSLICE-00P’s shoulder. NSLICE-00P ignored it, as no damage was dealt and the bump was deemed too ineffective to have been an intentional act of hostility.

“Ow! What was that for?”

NSLICE-00P continued walking. The man placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey! I’m talking to you! What was that for?”

NSLICE-00P turned around.

“Query: Please specify what you are referring to.”

The man scowled.

“What I’m referring to? You hit me! You going to apologize or what?”

“Statement: This unit has not activated termination protocols or taken any acts of hostility. Walk pattern analysis indicates an unintentional collision on the part of the neutral entity, as this unit’s walk pattern had no deviations from the calculated optimal route.”The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Well I say you did! Now, apologize!”

“Response: This unit cannot identify a reason to do so.”

“Screw you!”

The man tried to shove NSLICE-00P. He grunted and waved his hands around as she refused to budge and he ended up striking her metal armor. Her robotic eye turned red.

The shove had done no damage…but it had clearly been intentional.

“Hostile intent confirmed. Engaging self-defense protocols.”

Taog had stopped walking as he noticed NSLICE-00P fall behind, and so caught the altercation. He glanced around and noticed a group of guards just entering the street.

His eyes widened.

This scene…was all too familiar to him. The children of his village had provoked him into violence more than once right as an adult passed by, leading to him being punished instead.

He stepped in between the two.

“Hold on, Seero. Just wait a moment, please.”

“Acknowledged.”

Taog then turned to the man, who was huffing at him.

“Stay out of this, boy. This girl hit me, a brother of a Senator! Don’t you know what that means?!”

Taog raised an eyebrow.

“From what I saw, you shoved her. Do you know what that means?”

“Shove off!”

The man tried to push Taog out of the way. Taog frowned as he was moved to the side and the man took a step towards NSLICE-00P. But then, he smiled.

For the first time in his life, he now had the tools to fight back.

“If you take one step further, then by my authority as an Imperial Inquisitor appointed by Emperor Lucius, I will place you under arrest.”

The man paused, chuckled and turned around.

“That’s a laugh…”

The words died on his mouth as Taog held out a pendant. He channeled his mana through it and the banner of the Empire appeared, with Emperor Lucius’s seal upon it.

“Y-You can’t do this. I’m a senator’s brother! He’ll talk to the Emperor for me!”

Taog narrowed his eyes.

“You have assaulted an Imperial Friend, and are interfering with her quest and my mandate. Tell me, can your ‘senator brother’ defy an Inquisitor’s mandate?”

The man thought for a second, and then paled. Taog shrugged.

“That’s what I thought. Now get going. I’d rather not waste time hauling you in.”

The man turned and left without another word. Taog heaved a sigh and turned to NSLICE-00P.

“Sorry about that, Seero. I think he was trying to provoke you into attacking him, so that you would get in trouble with the guard.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered.

“Query: This unit was acting in accordance with Imperial self-defense regulations. Target would only have been rendered permanently incapable of harm, and not terminated.”

Taog frowned, and his face turned dark.

“Ok, putting that terrifying statement aside, the guards may not necessarily have seen that. They would end up questioning you and it might not go the way you think it would, especially if that guy actually has the connections he was bragging about. You can get punished even if you didn’t do anything wrong. Trust me on that.”

Then he shook his head. He thought for a moment, and then smiled.

“Well…on the other hand, that probably doesn't actually apply to you, huh? I’m not actually sure what happens when an Imperial Friend is accused of a crime...I imagine a friend of the Emperor might be able to get away with a lot. But well, it would have been annoying to waste time on that, right?”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered.

“Requesting Clarification: So the intent was to complicate this unit’s relations with the Empire?”

Taog nodded.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

NSLICE-00P analyzed the scenario. On the one hand, leaving hostiles at large went against her protocols. On the other hand…souring her relations with the Empire would disrupt her current investigations and so interfere with her primary directive, as well as the major directive. She still did not understand why such a thing would occur if she followed Imperial self-defense regulations, but friendly Taog appeared confident enough for her to assume it was a possibility, and so she included a small probability of that case occurring. Threat analysis of the hostile indicated an insignificant probability that he was capable of meaningful damage to her. When she weighed the two probabilities, she calculated that ignoring him to resume her investigations was a more efficient option.

Provided the hostile didn't actually demonstrate the ability to cause meaningful damage or else present her any opportunities for a low-risk termination, that is.

“Revelation: It appears this unit’s self-defense protocols may require adjustment. Gratitude: This unit thanks friendly Taog for the assistance.”

Taog nodded.

“Of course, Seero. I’m not going to let you go through that if I can help it.”

Senator Balbus sighed as his deadbeat brother and Drusus complained to him.

“Are you two idiots?”

The two stared at him in shock, answering the question. Senator Balbus sighed again.

“Look, they might be barbarians, but they’re barbarians with official titles! You can’t just treat them like any old wide-eyed frontier peasant who doesn’t know left from right! I don’t actually know if I could have protected you against them this time! And it doesn’t work at all if WE’RE the ones to provoke the fight! You were about to ruin my plan, and I do not take kindly to that. By the Aesdes, a Turannian welp had to be the reasonable one here! You hear that? You were acting more stupid and ignorant than a Turannian.”

Drusus averted his gaze.

“But, Senator Balbus…”

Senator Balbus sighed a third time.

“No buts, Drusus. You have better things to do than pick fights with people you clearly don’t understand. Go back to your duties and do NOT interact with the barbarians again. Leave that to your betters.”

Drusus frowned but complied. Senator Balbus’s brother crossed his arms.

“I don’t get what the big deal is.”

Senator Balbus rubbed his temples.

“That is because you rarely look farther than the bottom of the wine barrel. Get out of here, Marcellus. And don’t approach those people again.”

Marcellus looked to argue, but shrugged and left as well. Senator Balbus shook his head.

“Come now. We are not barbarians. We do not stoop to their level. We do not act impulsively, enslaved by our emotions.”

He stood up and looked out the window. He started to smirk.

“We, the esteemed Elteni, act with purpose and foresight. And that is why the barbarian cannot help but fall before us. They run forward blindly, heedless to the trap until they are caught in it. I will show you how a true Elteni fights.”