"W-W-Wha-what on earth is that supposed to mean..." (Mile)
"Eh? No, in the answers to the various questions I had asked the Angel up until then, the topic of 'A civilization that disappeared a long time ago' had come up from time to time... So, I asked various questions about it, and there was a fairly wide range of prohibited items on the subject, so I thought, 'This must be important,' and asked more questions, and when I didn't get an answer, I changed the way I asked or approached it from a different angle, and I just kept questioning the area with the most prohibited items. And the conclusion I came to by piecing together the few fragments I was given was, 'Something's wrong with this world!'... So, I conveyed this to the Ancient Dragons, and we discussed it a lot." (Girl)
"Just how skilled are you?! What's wrong with you!" (Mile)
She was the girl who chose the option that Mile did not choose, "Asking Nanomachines about everything and anything," but in this civilized world, she was too smart for "An ordinary girl living in a closed rural village." ...Not the mad one.
However, that being said, it's likely that she was worthy of being given "Level 3 Authority," meaning that she originally possessed extremely superior abilities.
Ancient dragons were born at level 2, humans at level 1, and very rarely, a level 2 or even a level 3 human might appear, but it's easy to imagine that in the case of demons, the probability of a level 2-3 person appearing was higher than that of a human... considering their adaptability to magic.
However, it was surprising that level 3 authorization at such a young age, rather than being reached as a result of years of training and on the brink of death.
Perhaps she had achieved a high score on Nanomachines due to throwback, mutation, or something similar, or perhaps she had superior intelligence and was at the cutting edge of demon evolution. Or was she a vanishing flower on the evolutionary tree, an early species that appeared in the gaps of history and then disappeared? Still, among the living beings that currently existed here, it could be said that this girl was one of the most intelligent life forms on the planet.
"But it seems the Ancient Dragons don't really understand my explanations... They are very intelligent when it comes to everyday things, but they have a hard time understanding things that are completely different from their usual selves, or new things..." (Girl)
And Mile could somehow understand the girl's complaints.
(Ah, it's because their brains are small... Even if you force the brain to evolve and make it intelligent, there's a limit, so I guess we can't expect any further development. It's not a natural evolution, it's because they're forcing their small brains to evolve... Maybe it's too tight in terms of capacity, with no room left for improvement...) (Mile's mind)
Mile was thinking very rude things towards the ancient dragons, but based on the knowledge she had gained from her previous life, she believed that ancient dragons simply existed the way they are.
Currently, ancient dragons were thought to have intelligence superior to that of humans, but this was because their brain resources had already been fully utilized, and there was likely no room for any further development in the future.
On the other hand, there was still room for development and evolution for humanoid lifeforms, including humans, elves, dwarves, the human race, beastfolk, demons, and fairies.
Yes, Mile thought that the ancient dragons were probably only of that calibre.
(But no matter how many times I tried to ask from various angles, did she really tell me that much? Nano-chan that's stuck with me is even more bitter, you know? It's disappointing.) (Mile's mind)
[Shut up! Mile-sama knows a lot of things, so all of the questions in that area are taboo! On the other hand, this girl doesn't know anything, so each question is simple and within a limited scope, and we can answer many of them!] (Nano)
(Ah, I see…) (Mile)
Somehow, Mile was able to understand the nuance that Nanomachines was trying to convey.
[Also, there are strict restrictions on matters related to us, other powers, and matters that have a large impact on the future of this world, but even if it is something related to this world, if it is something that has already passed, the restrictions are quite loose since it has almost no impact on others.] (Nano)
(Ah, that's how it is...) (Mile)
Mile was convinced by Nanomachines's explanation.
If Mile had asked a question like, "Did people from the ancient civilizations escape from this planet and head for other planets?", Nanomachines would probably have answered "Yes" or "No."
Even if Nanomachines had been released onto the planet after that, the few remaining people would have still maintained their civilization by then, and records would have remained, so it would have been natural for that much information to be obtained...
"Anyway, that's why I recommended it to the Ancient Dragons that we should investigate, in case the disaster that caused the downfall of prehistoric civilization could occur again. Then, it seems that a similar story existed in some legend passed down among the ancient dragons. After we had a hard time explaining it, the ancient dragon elders heard about it and made part of the secret legend public to the higher-ups... So they started investigating, but it doesn't seem like they've made much progress yet. Well, since the Ancient Dragons are long-lived and bored, they might just be thinking that they have found something to kill time with. It's not something that needs urgent attention, and it's a bit of a mystery..." (Girl)
"So, it's all your doing after all! And it looks like we don't have much time left!" (Mile)
"Eh?" (Girl)
Mile screamed, while the young girl Sacred Maiden stood with her mouth open.
"...Ah, no, it's nothing. Anyway, I've finished asking everything I wanted to ask. Is there anything else you still want to ask?" (Mile)
"I still haven't heard anything, you know!" (Girl)
...Indeed, up until now, it was either Mile who listened or the girl who spoke unilaterally, and Mile had rarely provided any explanations.
"Anyway, you were sent by the angel to be my servant, right? From now on, you will serve me as my errand boy and as a worker to bring food to my house. Even if you are a weak human, if you are a hunter, you should be able to hunt animals for food and low-level monsters!" (Girl)
The young girl, Sacred Maiden, stared at Mile with sparkling eyes.
She seemed to be extremely hungry for meat. And...
"No, you're not! Who is your servant?!" (Mile)
Of course, Mile denied it wholeheartedly.
"Whaaaaaat?! You're not my servant..." (Girl)
After hearing the detailed explanation from Mile, the young girl Sacred Maiden's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
"I thought I'd have a lot of meat to eat after having my servants hunt monsters..." (Girl)
It seemed she was hungry for meat after all.
Certainly, being at the northern tip of the continent and at a high altitude, the temperature was low and there probably weren't many plants to serve as food for animals and monsters. If there were fewer plants, there would also be fewer insects and small animals, which would inevitably mean fewer large animals and monsters that feed on them.
Of course, in a cold region, the crop's yield would be small. Furthermore, with almost no trade with other regions, it was hard to imagine that people could live a particularly prosperous life.
It was probably why this girl was trying so hard to gain knowledge, to make everyone's lives just a little easier, so that they could live safer and happier lives...
And so, from the young girl Sacred Maiden, whose shoulders were slumped in disappointment, Mile skillfully extracted the information that had led her to think, "There's something crazy about this world!", and the contents of the story she had shared with the ancient dragons.
Even though she had poor communication skills in her previous life, it wasn't that bad in his life as Adelle and Mile, and with the difference in knowledge and age, it was easy for her to do something like that. She always had high intelligence, so...
Afterwards, Mile tried to cover it up by saying things like, "I came to greet you as a friend of Sacred Maiden's, and that on the day of the coming disaster, let's fight together as apostles of the Goddess to protect the world," and so on, and the night's summit ended.
"...So, how was it?" (Reina)
As soon as Mile returned to the tent, Reina asked her that question.
As Reina, who was curious, this was only natural. That's why she had been up all-night waiting.
"Hmm, it was an unexpected harvest, but it didn't mean much..." (Mile)
"What's that?... Hey, tell your onee-san more about it!" (Reina)
"Eh~..." (Mile)
Not even having the energy to ask who the onee-san was, Mile was at a loss, with her shoulders slumped, wondering how she was going to evade the questioning that was likely to drag on...