Chapter 288 — A Wound That Unleashes a Curse
Ritsu: "........."
Tsukuyo: "Aphid, isn't that completely opposite to everything you claim to stand for?"
Ritsu: "...Shut up."
At a certain company, on a certain floor, in front of a certain machine.
A woman in a tracksuit spoke to a woman in a lab coat standing before one of the servers in the server room—the heart, brain, and soul of the game called Shangri-La Frontier. In other words, the center of its world.
Tsukuyo: "I'd rather you didn't touch my world with hands soaked in that much selfish desire."
Ritsu: "Shut up! It's happening again!!"
Tsukuyo: "Even I know that trying to delete a player's data because of a personal grudge is insane."
The woman in the lab coat was Ritsu Amachi. The woman in the tracksuit was Tsukuyo Tsukuri. Both were indispensable to the existence of Shangri-La Frontier, and depending on how one looked at it, they could even be called the game's "gods."
But now the two faced each other in positions opposite to their usual ones, and a tension different from their normal hostility hung between them.
Tsukuyo: "Your screwups make first-rate drinking entertainment, so I'm always happy to hear about them. But could you stop letting your trauma fester until it causes trouble for me too?"
Ritsu: "Guh...!"
BANG! Ritsu kicked the equipment. That said, both Ritsu and Tsukuyo had garbage physical strength, so the act of violence did no actual damage.
It wasn't anger. The feeling was clingier than that, poisonous and hard to remove. It was hatred.
Tsukuyo: "So? First the Gamma Gunman, then the Phi Wildman. Who did the third one turn out to be?"
Ritsu: "...Mu."
It was connected to a game that had once existed—a shadow from the past that clung to Ritsu like a curse.
She could have ignored it if the person had simply slipped in as an ordinary player. But every time one of those names clearly surfaced within the vast, deep world of SLF, Ritsu's emotions were thrown into turmoil. She normally carried out her duties as an administrator almost excessively seriously, yet this could drive her to act on pure impulse, like a child throwing away food they hated.
Tsukuyo: "That match with the Master of the Sword the other day was incredible, wasn't it? And then you got curious, checked the underlying history, and found out who it was."
Ritsu: "...You're awfully calm yourself, aren't you? Even after they made contact with Goldhuneenay."
Tsukuyo: "Anyone would look calm with a chimpanzee making a racket right beside them. And even setting that aside, unlike you, I have a generous heart."
Ritsu nearly spat out, You've got some nerve saying that, but she knew exactly how idiotic that would be in this room. What little reason she had left beat the impulse down, and she managed to restrain herself.
Still, there was a reason she found it so difficult.
While investigating a player who had already become involved with more than half of the Unique Monsters, three games appeared in the player's history. All three were land mines—wounds—for Ritsu, lined up together on the screen.
Tsukuyo: "You really do turn into a savage beast whenever your father is involved."
Ritsu: "...Don't talk about that shitty old man."
Tsukuyo: "I respect him quite a bit, actually."
The man had prioritized realism above everything else and nearly destroyed VR itself because of it. Ritsu, who shared his blood, had regained some composure, but she still glared resentfully at the console.
Ritsu: "I refuse to acknowledge him... If he'd only destroyed himself, that'd be one thing. But a man who nearly dragged everything else down with him? I'll surpass him..."
Tsukuyo: "And that is the result, isn't it?"
Ritsu: "That's exactly why I never cut corners with SLF. Even if it's you, if you get in the game's way, I'll crush you."
Tsukuyo had been watching Ritsu with a cold expression, but those words drew a merciless smile onto her face.
Tsukuyo: "Big words, Aphid. Still... if you're going to make my world better, I'll let you off without exterminating you in return for that benefit."
Ritsu: "Tch... keep talking."
Ritsu left, leaving Tsukuyo alone in the server room. The "god," dressed with remarkable human sloppiness, walked through the room wearing a smile that showed she was enjoying herself from the bottom of her heart.
Tsukuyo: "Hehe... hehehehehe. I was fairly annoyed that Ctarnidd was defeated... but thanks to that, I get to see Stage Three earlier than expected. I suppose that's a blessing in disguise."
Shangri-La Frontier. World Quest Stage Three: The Great War to Bring Down Gold—a war between the "dragons" and Siegwurm that would engulf every living thing in the New Land.
Siegwurm the Sky Ruler. Like Lycagon, he was a randomly encountered Unique Monster, but one born from a different origin.
Tsukuyo: "My Unfinished Dragons... Even so, I'll love every one of you. You're all part of what makes Shangri-La what it is."
Giggling with genuine delight, Tsukuyo stopped in front of it.
Tsukuyo: "Do your best, Siegwurm... Slaughter lots and lots of players to relieve my boredom, won't you?"
There was no answer. Siegwurm returned only an inorganic sound.
It should also be noted that when Tsukuyogi later learned about Ritsu's rampage, his stomach took a critical hit for severe damage, but his loving wife's homemade lunch restored him completely.
These people aren't exactly good people, so they casually do some pretty gray stuff.
And then Tsukuyogi's stomach takes damage.