Chapter 699 - 699: The Catgirl Turns the Tables!

"Interesting."

After returning to the capital and finally having some free time, Setsuna at last had the chance to take a good look at this little catgirl Herta.

What exactly had happened when she transformed from a mechanical life-form into a carbon-based one was a complete mystery. At present, no one could make sense of Haruhi Suzumiya's ability to manipulate information.

The only thing they could be certain of was that this little Herta had completely broken free from Herta's control. Herta could no longer casually log into her body whenever she wanted, nor could she control what the girl thought, said, or did.

"Hey, could you show your creator a little respect?"

Herta lightly knocked little Herta on the head.

"No!"

Little Herta's ears twitched.

"Madam Herta, theoretically speaking, you are my creator, but all you gave me was a puppet-like mechanical life and an AI-like preset personality."

"What truly gave me life was the Commander's order and Haruhi Suzumiya's power. Practically speaking, my current body was born from Haruhi's wish."

"Therefore, I am no longer the original Herta Puppet No. 42. I am a new, independent individual."

"You were originally created by me."

Herta stared at her with great interest.

"No, no, no..."

Little Herta shook her head.

"Every organ and every cell in my body was reborn through information manipulation. The current me is no longer the me from before."

"To give an analogy, suppose you replaced every single component of a wooden sailing ship until it became a starship warship. Would it still be the same ship as before?"

"???"

This Ship of Theseus-like question left Herta stumped for several minutes.

Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that one day she would be interrogated by one of her own puppets.

And compared to Herta herself, this little Herta was actually closer to Setsuna and Haruhi Suzumiya.

—In a sense, those two were the true creators of this Herta.

"I want to conduct an in-depth study of you."

Herta stared at little Herta.

"A mechanical life-form transforming into a biological life-form is a fascinating research topic, especially since you've also inherited some of my characteristics..."

"If we ignore the cat ears and tail, you probably resemble the younger me by about eighty percent."

"I refuse. If you're willing to let me study you as well, we can make an equivalent exchange."

Little Herta immediately turned the tables on her.

"I'd also very much like to study Genius Society Member No. 83, including your biological characteristics, intelligence level, physical structure, and so on..."

"Oh, right. Theoretically speaking, I'm also Herta herself. I just don't know whether they'll acknowledge me. There doesn't seem to be any precedent in the Genius Society for the same person joining under two separate identities. That's fine. There will be one in the future."

"..."

The corner of Herta's mouth twitched. She realized that what she had encountered was not merely a scientific problem, but also a philosophical problem and a social ethics problem.

Little Herta's personality came from the exact same mold as her own. A genius would never willingly subordinate herself to another genius, even if that other genius was herself.

"Incredible."

Setsuna watched in amazement and rubbed little Herta's head.

"The Starsea Empire has two Hertas now."

"Your status should be equal. Neither of you is subordinate to the other. Hmm... having one more genius is always a good thing."

Although little Herta could no longer reconnect to Herta's network, she had inherited nearly all of Herta's intelligence and knowledge. The main difference between the two was their physical size.

"From now on, you're a citizen of the Starsea Empire and will receive the Empire's standard treatment."

"If you want to continue your research, I'll establish a new research team for you. You'll have completely independent facilities, equipment, and resources, all under your own management."

"Thank you!"

Little Herta's ears swayed. She felt very close to the Commander who had accidentally granted her life and treated her as an independent person.

Perhaps because she had become a catgirl, she inexplicably loved having her head patted and her ears stroked.

"So cute!"

Unable to resist, Setsuna picked little Herta up, pinched her cheeks, and rubbed her ears, teasing another series of purring sounds out of her.

Asta curiously came closer as well. In the past, she had held Madam Herta in immense respect. Whether it was Herta or the little Herta puppets, neither was particularly approachable.

But this catgirl Herta who had become human was much friendlier. Asta cautiously touched little Herta's tail. Not only did the girl not get angry, she even swished it like a cat.

"Ah!"

Asta then cast Setsuna an inquiring look, hesitating as she tested the waters.

"Um... may I touch her too?"

"Of course."

She tentatively reached out and stroked little Herta's head, running her hand gently over the girl's flaxen hair before rubbing her fluffy ears.

"This is amazing!"

"..."

Herta watched speechlessly as Setsuna and Asta played with little Herta as though they were teasing a cat.

"How about having Haruhi create a few more catgirl Hertas? They're way cuter than the puppets."

"We could even add a few geniuses to the Research Department at the same time and improve work efficiency."

"Don't!"

Herta looked utterly exhausted by life.

"Two of me is already more than enough. If there were any more... don't you think things would become a huge hassle?"

"...True."

Setsuna thought about it and temporarily suppressed that strange idea.

He instructed the shipgirls and Angeloids to make the arrangements, setting aside an area for little Herta inside the research center.

There, she could establish her own team and conduct her own projects.

After all, regardless of whether Herta was big or small, their passion and obsession with scientific exploration were exactly the same.

"To distinguish between you, you'll be little Herta and she'll be Herta. From now on, the two of you are colleagues."

"All right."

Little Herta saw no problem with distinguishing them by body size.

"Commander, that wish you had Haruhi make was excellent. Don't ever make a wish like that again."

Herta sighed.

"Next time, I'll have Haruhi turn you into a catgirl."

"Hey!!!"

...

After dealing with the unexpected incident caused by little Herta, Setsuna took the opportunity to visit the other members of the Research Department.

In the Life Sciences Department, Ruan Mei and Mobius were carefully examining the Golden Fairies and taking care of the little girls who had come from another world.

It was partly for research and partly to fulfill the task Setsuna had assigned them.

Haruhi Suzumiya, meanwhile, had immediately become the center of attention for every research group. Together with Yuki Nagato, she was dragged away by Grey and subjected to one examination after another.

The nanomachine girl clicked her tongue in amazement as she looked over the reports.

"Commander, you've found a treasure."

Grey spoke seriously.

"You mean Haruhi?"

Setsuna did not quite understand.

"I admit Haruhi Suzumiya's abilities are extremely powerful, almost reaching the level of a Demon God."

"But when she causes trouble... she doesn't hold back there either."

Back on Earth, although Haruhi's supernatural abilities had been uncontrollable, they were restricted by common sense. At most, she could imagine things like aliens and time travelers into existence, or subtly make the world revolve around her.

But after witnessing genuine fantastical otherworlds, Haruhi's worldview now accepted that interstellar civilizations, Demon Kings, monsters, ghosts, and supernatural beings were all real. A single stray thought from her could cause a major disaster.

Even though things had been temporarily brought under control, she would still distort her surroundings without realizing it.

"That's not the important part. She's brought us an entirely new method of interfering with the world—information manipulation."

Grey opened an enormously complicated interface before them.

"Yuki Nagato possesses a similar ability. She can use her own thoughts to interfere with information governing matter, such as its state of existence, size, temperature, structure, and so on."

"More importantly, as long as Haruhi believes something is reasonable, then it becomes reasonable and exists... does that remind you of anything?"

"?"

"Isn't that just the power of 'I reckon'?"

Gudako scratched her head.

"You're not seriously going to tell me Haruhi Suzumiya is some kind of super Ork, are you? Uh, she's way stronger than an Ork. She's at least on the level of Gork and Mork."

"Exactly! This is an entirely new power system!"

"So we can try analyzing Haruhi's power through other methods and see whether we can give other people similar but controllable supernatural abilities."

"In other words, Haruhi Suzumiya is also one of the beings most likely to grow into a god, assuming she matures a little more."

"...So we're raising a baby god."

Setsuna had plenty of experience dealing with little girls. Even a willful brat like Haruhi could be trained until she behaved obediently.

"Also, her abilities have tremendous potential applications within the Starsea Empire!"

With a pop, Grey projected a massive stack of data.

"First, let's talk about pocket universes. Originally, the largest pocket universes we could create only reached the scale of a galaxy. You've already seen Haruhi's power. As long as she's given a fulcrum, she can create an entire universe out of nothing."

"In the future, Eternal Snowfall could carry numerous genuine full-sized universes!"

"Mm."

Setsuna nodded. When they had tested the upper limits of Haruhi's abilities last time, she had displayed creativity far beyond anything they had imagined.

"And since she can create civilizations through imagination, could she also 'reckon' a few Galactic Wonders into existence for us?"

"That would be even easier than using Bulins!!"