Robot Protection Zone Chapter 45

After the brief commotion subsided, we got into my master’s car.

As I entered the familiar space, the tension that had been churning in my heart gradually eased. I leaned my body against the plush seat and deeply inhaled the faint scent of my master’s perfume that lingered in the car’s interior.

A sense of relief finally washed over me. I could feel my anxiously vibrating circuits quickly calming down. As the trembling of my body gradually subsided, I began to have the composure to look around a little.

“……”

I secretly glanced at my master sitting in the driver’s seat. The expression on my master’s face as he silently held the steering wheel was still icy. It was scary because he seemed angry, but… my gratitude toward my master was even greater.

I thought my master wouldn’t look for me after I disappeared without a word. I thought he would find it a bother, postpone the search and then just forget, or maybe even give up altogether.

But the fact that he came to get me back himself… doesn’t that mean I’m a somewhat precious existence to my master?

I carefully opened my mouth.

“Master, thank you for coming to rescue me. You were very worried, weren’t you…?”

“Worried?”

I asked with a heart full of emotion, but the response I got was completely different from what I expected. My master’s face contorted, and his cold gaze pierced me. Startled, I took a small breath, and my master continued in a frigid voice.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. How could you let yourself fall into someone else’s hands when there could be some important information hidden inside you?”

“……”

“If you understand, be careful from now on. If something like this happens again, I’m going to forbid you from going out from that point on.”

“Yes…”

I hung my head limply. I thought my master had come to rescue me because he was worried about me… but he had rushed over worried that some non-existent confidential information would be leaked.

Realizing it was all my misunderstanding, my chest felt empty as if a hole had been punched through it. With a sense of disappointment I couldn’t quite explain, I quietly turned my gaze to the unfamiliar scenery outside the window.

After a long drive, the first place we arrived was the company.

I followed my master straight to Thomas’s lab. As soon as the door opened, a grumbling voice could be heard from inside.

“William, what on earth is going on that you’re suddenly telling me to come to the company?”

It seemed that Thomas, who had been resting on the weekend, had been urgently called in after getting a call from my master. Feeling that I was causing trouble for several people, I felt even more apologetic and shrank back.

As I entered the lab with the humanbot, following my master, Thomas, who noticed me a moment too late, widened his eyes.

“Good heavens, Didi, what happened to you?”

“I was kidnapped for a bit. Check if anything’s broken.”

“Kidnapped? Didi?”

Thomas asked back with a disbelieving face. But my master, as if he didn’t want to say anything more, plopped down on a chair and ignored Thomas’s question. Thomas, perhaps noticing that my master was in a very bad mood, didn’t press any further.

Thomas took me toward the inner part of the lab. As I walked to the repair room, I glanced back. My master was sitting with a frigidly stiff expression, and the humanbot was standing quietly in a corner, watching my master’s mood.

Only after the door was closed could I carefully tell Thomas what had happened.

“Aha, so that’s why William is so…”

After listening to my explanation, Thomas nodded as if he now understood my master’s behavior. But as I continued my explanation, I became more and more dejected. It was because I was once again reflecting on my mistake.

“You must have been really scared. First, shall we check your injuries?”

“Yes…”

I answered in a small voice and slowly took off my clothes.

I showed Thomas each of the throbbing areas. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. I had bruises and contusions here and there, and my wrist was scraped. A clear handprint remained on my neck, and it stung, but it seemed like it would be fine after a day.

“Just applying some medicine should do it.”

Thomas carefully applied ointment to the wounded areas. My body flinched as a stinging sensation brushed against me.

Still, the treatment was simple. The check-up was over in an instant, and as I was fumbling to put my clothes back on, Thomas asked.

“By the way, who is the person who came with you? He seems to be badly hurt too.”

“Ah… he’s the humanbot who was with the person who kidnapped me. He got hurt trying to protect me… I asked my master and came with him.”

“That’s a humanbot too?”

Thomas was startled and suddenly shot up from his seat. He hurried toward the door and gave me a look that said to come out quickly. At Thomas’s urging, I quickly got dressed and came out of the repair room.

As soon as I came out, my master’s gaze turned to me. His sharp gaze felt as if it were piercing right through me, and I couldn’t bring myself to face my master directly, so I hung my head low.

“Thomas, how is Didi’s condition?”

“Fortunately, nothing is broken. The wounds will heal quickly if he just applies the medicine well.”

“Alright. You’ve worked hard.”

As soon as my master heard the results of the check-up, he got up from his seat, grabbed my wrist, and started walking out of the lab. Thomas hurriedly followed us out and shouted.

“Wait, William! Aren’t you taking that humanbot?”

“You deal with him.”

“Really? For real? Then can I have him?”

“Do as you please.”

“Gasp!”

A gasp of overwhelming emotion was heard from behind. I could hear the sound of Thomas clamoring and rushing noisily back into the lab, but my master continued to walk without even looking back.

It was a good thing. Even when I first visited here with my master, Thomas was someone whose eyes lit up when he saw me. He was kind to the other lab robots too, so he would surely treat that humanbot well.

Without even getting to say goodbye to the humanbot, I was led out of the company by my master’s hand.

Now, it was just my master and me left alone. No conversation took place in the car, and silence flowed.

My master and I maintained our silence with each other until we returned to our familiar neighborhood. Was my master very angry…? Looking at his stiff expression, it was clear that he was at least not in a good mood.

I quietly raised my hand and pressed down firmly on my chest. A part of my chest still stung with a deep sense of disappointment.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t even apologized to my master yet. I disappeared without a word and even got kidnapped… it would be right to say I’m sorry.

But I couldn’t easily find the right timing to apologize. While I was just trying to gauge when would be a good time to apologize, we had already arrived in front of the house.

My master got out of the car first. At this rate, the day would pass without me being able to apologize.

I hurriedly followed my master and got out of the car. When I grabbed his sleeve, my master stopped and turned to look at me.

“Master, I’m sorry!”

“……”

“I’ll never disappear without a word again… and I won’t follow strangers either…”

I apologized, bowing my head cautiously. When there was no reply, I peeked up. My master was staring at me silently for a while. It was an indifferent gaze, neither cold nor warm.

After a moment of silence, my master replied in a low voice.

“It’s enough that you’re reflecting. Is there anything else you want to say?”

“Ah, come to think of it…”

I hesitated and put my hand in my pocket. I felt the stiff texture at my fingertips.

“The collar you gave me, Master, is broken.”

On the slowly revealed palm of my hand lay a shabby red leather collar.

My master’s gaze turned to the collar in my hand. The red collar, with the marks of being trampled still on it, had a broken clasp, and its decorations had fallen off, making it a mess.

The leather collar, which had once shone brightly, now looked shabby, covered in scratches and blemishes. Just like me right now.

My master looked at the broken collar, then soon turned his gaze away indifferently.

“I can just buy you another one of those. It’s dirty, so don’t keep it, throw it away.”

“But it’s the first gift you gave me, Master…”

I became sullen.

It wasn’t a gift I particularly liked, but I had still cherished it and never took it off my body every day. It might have been a meaningless object to my master, but it was different for me. With this, I felt like I could always return to my master… but now that the collar was broken, I didn’t feel that way.

With a complicated heart, I looked down at the collar in my hand. And without being able to say anything more to my master, I clutched the collar in my hand and entered the house.

It was later than usual, but Sophia and Eve were out to greet me as always. After a brief greeting with them, I quietly headed to my room.

I took off my dust-covered clothes and immediately started to shower. After lathering up with soap and washing my body clean, I looked in the mirror.

Finally, the grubbiness was gone, and my skin was fresh again. But upon closer inspection of my body, I saw my skin had turned blotchy with bruises here and there.

“I’ll have to reapply the medicine…”

Perhaps because I had washed too thoroughly, all the medicine Thomas had applied had washed away.

I came out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed, starting to apply the medicine. As I was applying ointment on my wounds, the door burst open and my master came in.

“Master?”

I stopped with the medicine in my hand and looked up at my master. My master’s gaze swept over my body, then settled on the blotchy bruises.