The creature knelt, its head touching the ground.

Its bloated, pulsating figure towered over Princess. It swayed back and forth as it struggled to support its weight. The movement caused its pores to spit the tiny spiderlings. They fell from the body in a group of black dots and scattered upon the impact.

Princess strolled to the creature and placed her hand on its head. Her fingers scraped its crude yet soft skin.

"What are you?"

She leant against it and closed her eyes. As their forehead touched, the gem embedded in her chest glowed azure, generating Fons that rushed through her body and connected with the creature.

Princess took control over it. The darkness she saw blurred and split into two scenes. Through the connection, she absorbed the knowledge something embedded on it.

"Broodmother, you come to assist me?"

Princess came into contact with another will inside it. The will dissipated into Fons before merging with Princess.

A torrent of information surged into Princess, which she absorbed like a sponge. The original owner of the Broodmother relinquished its control and handed the Broodmother to her.

Though Angelica had informed her about the Arachna, the information couldn't be as accurate as coming from the Arachna themselves.

"Angelica, fret not. The Broodmother is one of us."

Princess glanced at Angelica. When Princess looked at Angelica, she didn't feel any murderous urge. She treated her like a companion.

"Princess, why are you with the Arachna?" Angelica said, her eyes full of curiosity. She tilted her head and stepped closer to Princess.

"Why are you with me?" Princess turned to Angelica. She didn't expect her to ask a question.

". . . because you are my owner, mistress." Angelica froze before answering in the usual cold attitude. She strengthened her body and returned to the aloof vibe.

"I see." Princess narrowed her eyes.

An android couldn't think—that was what separated life and machinery.

"Angelica, tell me about our current location," Princess said before picking up the scattered guns and gadgets, her hands playing with them.

"Princess, you are within the boundary between the Human Empire's Sector D-34 and Northern Mistwood."

A Sector was a great piece of land the noble lineages ruled over. They dissected the enormous territory of the Human Empire and controlled a small part of it.

In term of authority, they only answered to the Central Government directed by the Royalty.

"Sector D? We're at the edge of the wasteland." Princess nodded.

As long as she didn't reveal her existence to the world, she could slowly build her army and take over the Sector.

"Explain what Northern Mistwood is."

"Mistress, Northern Mistwood is the common name for the woodland beyond the boundary of the Great Races' territory. Legends say that dragons and fantastical creatures reside within it." Angelica covered her amused smile with her hand.

"We stationed at the most deserted place possible."

Princess closed her eyes to contemplate about her circumstance. Because of reasons unknown, the Arachna and the Great Races refused to claim Northern Mistwood. Without any conflict of interest, Sector D remained exceptionally peaceful.

"Mistress, please don't celebrate too early. As the group of scavengers disappears, someone will come to investigate the anomaly."

Sector D was relatively peaceful. They would deal with all anomalies as soon as possible. Though they couldn't go to war, they didn't lack the manpower to deal with small abnormalities.

Princess agreed with Angelica. Despite the arrival of the Broodmother, it didn't bring any grown spiderlings. In the short term, there was little to no increase in her force. The Broodmother couldn't fight, and Angelica was merely a supportive android.

It took Princess a pistol, two spiderlings and an ambush to finish off a group of five unarmed scavengers. If this continued, she knew she would die before she could regain her memory and uncover the reason behind her existence.

"Isn't this interesting?" Princess stood up and gestured Angelica to follow. She commanded the Broodmother to wait in the central control room.

"What do you mean, mistress?" Angelica hurriedly picked up the guns and followed her.

Along the way, Princess admired the structure of the vessel. With a closer look, she found the design to be too perfect as if someone had meticulously planned everything from the beginning.

"Angelica, is there anyone around here beside us?"

Angelica systematically spread her hands. Her mechanical pupils dimmed. Her emotions faded and got replaced by the dull routine.

The Fons circulated in the predetermined circuit. According to the routine, Angelica drew a complicate spell formation. She pushed her hands past it. It collapsed into a wave of transparent field, expanding outward.

After a moment, she drew back her arms, her indifferent expression gradually regaining its curiosity. She shook her head and turned to Princess.

"There is no one else within one hundred meters radius."

Angelica froze when she saw Princess staring at the circuit on her chest. A strange sensation swelled in her metallic body. She felt embarrassed.

Though both of them were female, she hadn't seen anyone staring so intensely at her before.

"Let's not waste any more time." Princess lifted her gaze, a smile showing on her face.

Throughout her sightseeing, Princess observed Angelica who was shivering from her urge to speak up. She appeared restless when silence prevailed, but she was too afraid to do anything.

...

"Master, we've lost contact with Experiment S. Her last known location was at Sector D-34" a little boy's voice echoed.

The man scribbling onto his record froze before turning to the monitor. "Sector D-34, are you kidding me?"

He slammed his desk before standing up and circling the room. The papers and books were scattered, but he didn't care about them right now.

He looked into his desk and found a record of Experiment S.

"How did they die?" The man clutched his fists and resisted the urge to punch the wall. "I gave her to them because they're sharp, but they die in that god-forsaken place!"

As anger built up in him, he decisively slapped his face. The pain woke him from his rage.

"Where is she in D-34?" he said.

"Between the boundary of Sector D-34 and Northern Mistwood."

The regional map manifested in front of the man, detailing the landscape and the approximated location of Experiment S.

"Really?" The man struck his fist against the desk and broke it in half, creating a rift on the wall as his arm expanded, doubling its size and turning blue in colour.

The veins on his skin throbbed as Fons circulated throughout his body, numbing the pain and healing the scratches.

Despite the damage he caused, no emergency signal rang. The A.I. had already predicted that this would happen.

"Send out a request for an investigation, but don't put it on any special order. The mercenaries only need to know it's an ordinary mission."

The man couldn't afford to use the local armed force. If he collided with the local government, he would lose the chance to get his Experiment S back. As one of the upper-echelons of the Human Empire, he knew all about the human's greed. It wouldn't leave anything it could get behind.

"About those five scavengers, make sure their bloodlines disappear from the Human Empire."

As soon as those words left his mouth, their fate had already been sealed. They were commoners. No one would care about their life and death.

After all, they failed their missions and angered him, the Founder of Bureau of Fons and Myths.

"Consider it done." The A.I. giggled.

They should blame those five for carelessly dying and losing Experiment S.