Chapter 824 — Ever-Blurring Boundaries

A minute later, Pi Yun—who had clearly seen enough—patted Byron on the arm. "A few tears is plenty. We've still got work to do."

"When was I crying?" Byron glared at the little old man. "I was simply overcome by emotion for a moment and got a bit sentimental!"

"Fine, fine, pretend I didn't see anything," Pi Yun muttered, casually handing Byron a handkerchief. "Wipe your face, and don't let your soldiers see you like this when you go out."

"You've never raised a child, so you wouldn't understand..."

Pi Yun rolled his eyes. "Who says I haven't? Didn't I raise Amber myself? She didn't learn to speak until she was nearly ten, and I didn't react half as badly as you are right now."

On any ordinary day, Byron would have backed his eloquence against anyone's, and even with Pi Yun's famously thick skin, he was confident he could talk the little old man into sullen silence—but right now he plainly had no stomach for a war of words. The gray-haired knight simply stood there, eyes somewhat reddened, gazing at Pea, who was smiling up at him, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes folding into layer upon layer: "Wonderful... truly wonderful... Is there anywhere that bothers you?"

"At first... a little... numb..." Pea said with some effort, but her voice quickly grew fluent, and though it was only a voice synthesized by the device, it seemed to carry more and more lively feeling. "Now... it's already much better..."

"Good, that's good," Byron said again and again, then had Pea turn around so he could look at the metallic neural cord lying quietly against the back of his adopted daughter's neck. "Is this heavy? Will it become uncomfortable after wearing it for a long time?"

"It has some weight, of course," Pi Yun said. "Weight-reduction runes need an extra energy supply, after all, and cramming the neural cord and the brainwave interface into such a small device is already a stretch—there's no spare room to allocate to weight-reduction runes. We'll gradually perfect that shortcoming in later models."

"I think... it's fine," Pea said, gesturing as she spoke—though she could produce sound now, the habit formed over many years still made her gesticulate unconsciously while talking. "It's not very heavy, and it's not tiring."

"Naturally. We couldn't fit a weight-reduction rune in, but we used the lightest materials we could, so the overall weight is still acceptable," Pi Yun said, pinching the few strands of beard on his chin with a proud smile. "After all, the whole point of this thing is to eventually bring it to ordinary people, and comfort and ease of use are very important standards."

A brilliant smile on his face, Byron could not resist rubbing his hands together. "Today is a day worth commemorating... I'm going back to have a few good drinks to celebrate..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Pea beside him could not help but frown, and the voice that came from the Neural Thorn's speech device was full of complaint: "Papa, you drink far too much! How many times have I told you to quit drinking, why won't you ever listen..."

Byron's expression turned a little awkward at once. He opened his mouth to speak, but Pea was clearly not finished:

"And the first time you resolved to quit, that was your own idea—you even thumped your chest and swore you'd be done within a month. Now two years have passed and you haven't quit at all...

"You're not young anymore, don't you know that? You've got more white hair than black now! The newspapers all talk about the harms of drinking too much—don't you always say Mr. Godwin is a learned man, that everything he says makes sense? So why won't you listen to him..."

Byron's face was a picture of embarrassment. He had just gotten out the single syllable "I" when another crackling volley came from Pea:

"And lately you keep going to bed without washing, so that I have to nag you into it. You don't even tend to your beard, and every day I have to lay out your clothes for you before you go out. I really don't know how you manage to live when you're out and about normally—didn't you say the army is strict about discipline?

"A couple of days ago Uncle Philip came back, and you dragged him off drinking and said you'd introduce him to some young ladies—and several of my classmates were right there at the time! Papa, you don't pay any attention to appearances. It was the same when Lady Carrie came to the house last time—you came out in your pajamas and gave her a terrible fright. She's my teacher, you know...

"And the time before that, when you finally got a bit of leave, you insisted on..."

"Stop, stop, stop... just stop for a moment!" Byron finally spied his chance and called out again and again, and having at last cut off Pea's stream of grumbling, he stared blankly at Pi Yun. "What's going on here... can this Neural Thorn actually affect Pea's personality?!"

Pea glared at Byron and Pi Yun, her face saying plainly, "I still have things to say—I'm only deigning to let you two speak for now." Pi Yun, meanwhile, gave Byron a peculiar look and said hesitantly, "I think... it hasn't affected her personality. It's that she always had this much to say..."

"Exactly," Pea cut in before Byron could open his mouth. Clearly she had adapted to the Neural Thorn very quickly, and she could already speak through it with perfect fluency. "I have lots of things to say! It's just that ordinarily I can't get them out—writing is too slow, gestures don't explain things clearly, and Papa, you don't pay attention at all..."

And then it was another crackling torrent, and this time Byron did not even get the chance to interject.

Astonished, Pi Yun looked at Byron with an expression of sympathy and helplessness, while the assistants and researchers around them wore expressions that were each more remarkable than the last—almost everyone here knew Pea, knew this child of bitter origins who was hardworking and sensible. The Pea in their memory had always been quiet and well-behaved, and when she cooperated with experiments in the institute she had never once caused trouble. But clearly the Neural Thorn had succeeded in making everyone aware of another side of Pea—

She normally did not speak, but the words inside her belly were anything but few.

Having been given another head-on scolding by Pea, Byron's face turned extraordinarily colorful. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he looked around and found that the gazes were basically all those of spectators; every face carried a smile that meant no ill will yet made him especially awkward. Pi Yun even asked him with a grin, "Regretting it a little now?"

Byron opened his mouth, glanced at Pea standing beside him—who looked especially pleased and happy now that she had poured out the words long pent up in her heart—and the awkward expression on his face at last gradually gave way to a smile.

"Regret my ass," he said with a laugh. "I think this is pretty good."

Pea immediately widened her eyes and looked over. "Papa, you just swore! How many times has Uncle Philip told you to mind your manners—even setting aside your position, you ought to think about the influence on me... Thank goodness I wasn't influenced by you, otherwise..."

Byron: "..."

When the new round of bombardment finally ended, Byron looked at Pi Yun a little dizzily. "So... can we leave now?"

"You can. There are no more tests today," Pi Yun said, suppressing a smile. "The Neural Thorn's practical performance must be confirmed through use over time. For the next half month, keep an eye on Pea's adaptability to the Neural Thorn, on her sleep, and on whether the skin near the contact points at the base of her skull shows any allergic reaction. In addition, every ten days bring the Neural Thorn in so we can examine it and confirm changes in the activity of the artificial neural cord. Beyond that there's nothing else to watch for—Pea can wear it often and get a feel for whether it causes any inconvenience in daily life."