Antikythera scanned the swamp's ambient mana and nodded in satisfaction. It had been some time since he st checked the area's progress, and it seemed that things were going well. The visuals alone showcased considerable improvement—trees now grew next to the streams, pnt life, while invisible to the naked eye thanks to the murky water, was abundant on the riverbed. Fish, mollusks, and various invertebrates poputed the water and filtered inorganic material rich with magic.

  The water contained the magic that the pnts and animals produced and held it within its depths. Any locals to the river became more magical, slowly mutating. This was on top of the changes Asuka's selective breeding had brought to these critters; the food sources their forefathers called their diet were magically rich as well.

  All in all, the swamp was making good progress. The critters were growing big enough as well—a series of secondary predators should be introduced into this environment to take advantage of such abundant resources soon. Asuka was working on breeding them; Antikythera did not doubt this. And though the Automaton wanted to know more about the second phase of the project, he decided to cut off his review here.

  The selective breeding of the secondary predators was still in its infancy and thus had made no noteworthy progress that Albedo would want to check on. Everything else, however, was something that needed to be given to the overseer.

  Sakai had already compiled a data set consisting of what Asuka had learned over the course of the entire project. Albedo had the starting points as well as the various proposals, possible pns for the future, and what the hypothetical results might be in the end.

  All Antikythera was truly doing was reviewing the progress to confirm whether or not the papers Albedo received were accurate. And they were—Antikythera found no fws or falsehoods in what Asuka and Sakai submitted.

  After giving Sakai the results of his review, the Automaton left Nazarick to head to an area he was eager to see the progress of.

  Hana had finished most of the factory now. Everything was working in order, and all that was left were the designs of the building. Antikythera was not someone who preferred to put artistic additions to his work, let alone a factory, but Hana seemed to enjoy doing it. So even when the factory was technically finished—in terms of its production line, waste disposal, and efficiency—it was yet to be called a proper product by the cyborg due to her personal preferences.

  Antikythera minded none of this as he entered through the billowing entrance of the factory. Heat assaulted his body, and his processors began to run with magic in order to keep themselves from being damaged. His frame turned airtight, and liquid nitrogen ran through the tubes all over his body before stopping at the end of his cooling system. An expulsion of liquid nitrogen seeped out of the gaps present on his frame, cooling the surface and keeping any more of the factory's heat at bay.

  "I see that the factory is working accordingly," Antikythera said to Hana once he spotted the cyborg walking down a flight of stairs that led to the second floor. "You have done wonders for the efficiency of Nazarick, Hana. Lord Ainz will be proud to see this factory in working order."

  "Thank you, Lord Antikythera." Hana stopped moving to bow. She continued making her way to the ground floor. "I have modeled this after Nazarick's first floor, and though it isn't as expansive as the pce we call our home, it has a quarter of the factory's efficiency when it was at full power."

  "Good work." And Antikythera meant that compliment. "You are now making the finishing touches, yes?"

  "I am. I have chosen to give the factory a gothic look. It is inspired by the many steampunk novels that Lady Ankoro Mochi Mochi has left me, though I have made some changes in order to give it a visual story about how the factory has changed from the use of steam to pure charcoal."

  "I can see that," Antikythera replied as he gazed at the metal grates riddled with soot, the piping that still possessed a bronze sheen, and the retired fans, rotaries, and steam engines in the corners of the factory. A steam orchestra, long dead, sat in one corner. Once, Antikythera assumed, it may have pyed music using excess steam for the human workers to enjoy. Not anymore.

  There were no organics here, save for the tiny pieces that still clung to Hana's body. They had all been repced by automated machinery that did their job tirelessly—or at least, that was how the story went visually speaking. In truth, there had been no organics in this factory from the start.

  Antikythera deemed them to be a bit too inefficient for his liking, doubly so when this factory was supposed to deliver resources to Nazarick's growing economy. Lord Ainz had chosen to turn off the tomb's defenses—with an exception to that of the first floor because doing so would kill the factory entirely—and it could be said that Nazarick would save its finite resources until they secured a proper foundry.

  This factory—and the many others Hana would be making in the near future—was the answer to that conundrum. With external production lines, Nazarick would not find itself cking in refined metals, weaponry, or machinery.

  "How are your deliveries?" Antikythera stopped his musings and returned his perception of time to normal. "Renner has received the promised weaponry, correct?"

  "Re-Estize is wary of our gift," Hana spat in distaste. Antikythera could sympathize. He too wished lesser beings would recognize those crates as the answer they had been seeking in order to turn the tides of war against Baharuth. But as, they were not bright.

  "A check-up?" Antikythera asked.

  "Quarantine." Hana was scowling now. "They have chosen to hide the weapons I have given them!" She clenched her hands into fists. "Worms who can't even comprehend the complexity of my designs have dug through the rifles in order to figure out how they worked! They deemed my weapons harmless!"

  Antikythera pced a cold hand against Hana's cheek. "Calm yourself." His palm moved until he was ruffling the cyborg's hair. "They will soon know the true value of your weaponry when they see the criminal organization that has been gnawing away at their kingdom use it against the things they call knights."

  Hana breathed. She leaned into the headpat. "Right." She smiled brightly, then her expression turned into pure sadism. "They will see the beauty of guns once they get the first taste of it," she giggled. "Can I make caustic grenades as well?"

  "Not yet." Antikythera shook his head. "Re-Estize is not ready for such a well-developed weapon to be thrown onto their doorstep. But soon."

  Hilma should be moving to tell the nobles in both the Royal and Noble factions within the king's court to start working on popurizing the weaponry. Enough of it being distributed meant that they would get a hold on not just the underworld of the kingdom but also the surface.

  Jaldabaoth and his team would face a greater threat than expected, and then Antikythera would make his debut.