Opportunities from the Game Come to Reality Episode 114
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Opportunities from the Game Come to Reality Episode 114
29. Goddess Sepia (1)
"Ugh!"
Isabella, who didn't know the situation from the pet talk, reacted with a mix of fear and caution, asking what I was talking about, but I lightly knocked her out and laid her on the sofa.
"That's more useful than slitting her throat."
Then I took out two spare virtual reality headsets, put one on myself, and fitted the other onto her head.
As soon as I put on the headset, it powered on automatically and holographic windows filled my view. Leaving Isabella on the study sofa, I logged into Chronicle Online alone.
"Sir Adrian?"
"Ah, sorry. I should have said something first."
When I logged into Chronicle Online, Arcia called out to me from behind.
She could see my online status, so there was no way she wouldn't know I logged in.
She must have been watching a movie and eating popcorn in the lounge when I logged into the game without a word, and she followed me in out of habit.
"I was asked by Chester to do something, so I logged in for a moment. I'll be out soon, so you can just rest."
"No, I'll log out together with you."
"Is that so?"
If Arcia says so, there's no need to force her back.
I visited Manuel Lucas's Mage Tower, the secret space in the game, together with her.
And as I stepped onto the 8th floor, the highest floor I had opened so far, the Opportunity Manager Chester appeared as if he had been waiting.
A palm-sized grandfather fairy bearing an uncanny resemblance to Manuel Lucas in life.
No matter how many times I see it, I can't get used to it.
"I've prepared what you requested, Chester."
"Ah, thank you. What kind of beast did you prepare?"
At my words, Chester bowed his head in thanks and then wondered about the gift I had prepared.
"At first I was thinking of preparing a flying beast like the Black Eagle, but then I thought nothing suits better than a human."
"What?"
But this was something he hadn't expected, so he voiced his doubt.
What he wanted was a beast that wouldn't stand out even in the city center not a human living in that city.
"You plan to blank out its brain and turn it into a puppet, but a human?"
His surprise was only natural.
Using humans as test subjects is something only dark mages would think of.
"There is one more person wearing a headset in my room right now."
"One moment."
Then, as if hacking, he rode the signal from my terminal and broke into the domain castle of the Lawrence Ducal territory.
"Oh? Her?"
Had it even been a second?
Realizing who I meant, his expression relaxed.
"I was wondering why you made such an odd choice. Is it revenge?"
"Correct. She is a grudge that rivals even Anna and Cedric in my life."
If I hadn't been reborn with memories of my past life, it wouldn't have been surprising if her bullying had driven me to an extreme choice.
What made me happiest about shedding the skin of the Second Prince's faction was that I could now deal with the Marquis of Ereiven and Isabella.
"A revenge worse than death."
Knowing my nature showing no mercy to my enemies Chester merely shrugged.
As if scanning Isabella lying in the real world, he stared into the air and stroked his long beard.
"I thought it'd be at most a flying beast, but a human. This is getting complicated. Rewriting a human brain isn't easy..."
I knew that the head of Blue Moon and many others had been brainwashed and restrained through the Hollywood System and virtual reality headsets.
That's why I judged a human wouldn't be a problem but was I wrong?
"But still, a human is capable of complex actions, so it'd be more useful, right?"
As always, I should have heard him out to the end.
After a moment of thought, he replied in a tone that suggested it was possible.
Then, from empty space like a subspace, he took out a small birdcage.
"Is that what you mentioned?"
"Yes. It's a bug that occurred when the system went down due to those thugs. Though it's a product of chance, it's a highly complete artificial personality."
At the mention of an artificial personality, I briefly glanced at Arcia.
As a homunculus, she too could be considered an artificial personality, after all.
"Arcia is special. There's no comparison. In terms of completion, she even surpasses me, the Opportunity Manager."
More than Chester, the Opportunity Manager?
Chester was, after all, a being created by replicating Grand Duke Manuel Lucas's memories.
"In the first place, she isn't a data-based artificial intelligence being. To be honest, the term 'artificial lifeform' is just a label she's essentially no different from a human. Moreover, since everything a human can do is possible for her, she holds truly boundless potential."
"Is that so?"
It was a remark that made me feel once again just how extraordinary the man named Manuel Lucas was.
This is practically the domain of gods.
Just what kind of life did Grand Duke Lucas live, that he could produce so many things that others would spend their entire lives researching?
Is it something you can do once you reach the 9th circle?
As I gazed at her with fresh admiration, Arcia let out a little "ahem" as if to show off.
And she did it with her usual calm, gentle expression.
Her actions and her face didn't match at all, and laughter welled up on its own.
"It can't compare to me, but this bug has high potential in its own right. With its excellent learning ability, if used well, it could become a butler on par with me. And if properly installed into a shell, mimicking a human wouldn't be difficult either."
"What about copying it to make more?"
At my question, his expression stiffened.
"This isn't mere data."
Since it was, after all, also an artificial personality, my remark must have felt rude.
"An artificial personality differs from simple AI that only carries out human commands. It is like a 'soul' born in a virtual world. Souls are not copied they are born. Just as I replicated Grand Duke Lucas's memories but am not Grand Duke Lucas himself, the replication of a soul is impossible."
"I apologize. That was thoughtless of me."
"No, it's fine. You didn't do it on purpose. In any case, artificial personalities cannot be made easily. Even Grand Duke Lucas was only able to create one artificial intelligence being based on the Hollywood System me."
"So there's no risk of an artificial personality copying itself and taking over the world, then."
Recalling a movie I'd seen in my past life, I said that.
At that, Chester chuckled, saying I had a vivid imagination.
"Impossible. The Hollywood oversight system wouldn't just sit by, after all. Even this one acting up would be dealt with immediately."
Even if this world ran on the same data, it was still one founded on magic I was thinking of it too simply.
"Then I will transplant this into Isabella Caskbell."
He looked as if he were seeking my permission.
'If the transplant succeeds, Isabella will no longer be Isabella. That means the old her would be as good as dead.'
And so, in that brief moment, countless thoughts flashed through my mind.
But my choice did not change.
"Yes."
"I shall begin."
I am a fairly humane person.
I take good care of those who are mine, and I greatly dislike others being hurt because of me.
I even secretly provide financial support to the roughly 26,000 people harmed by the war between the Bringham Empire and the Prius Republic.
But there are those to whom this sentiment of mine does not apply and those are 'enemies,' or 'beings with the potential to become enemies.'
Isabella is an enemy.
And so my hesitation lasted only a brief moment, passing like a flicker.
* * *
February 23, 2021, Age of Magic Holy Land Everhill.
"How do you do?"
"So you've become a Duke?"
With only the goddess's selection of the Saintess and Holy Son remaining, the candidates and the sponsors supporting each candidate gathered together to look up at the great ruin called the 'Path of the Goddess.'
It resembled a pyramid, and also an Aztec sacrificial altar, and was built entirely of pure white stone so bright in the daylight that it was almost blinding.
I casually approached Duke Francis as if we were old friends and offered a greeting.
Is a grudge also a kind of bond?
Perhaps because we'd had our exchanges, he surprisingly seemed to acknowledge me.
The sponsors supporting the Saintess and Holy Son candidates were all formidable, and among the noble sponsors excluding royalty, the only ones Duke Francis would greet were me and Duke Olivia Riverdale.
"Thanks to you."
"Hmph, you certainly live a busy life."
Starting with a snort right at the greeting that was very much Duke Francis.
As I looked up at the 'Path of the Goddess,' Duke Francis abruptly spoke to me in a way that seemed out of character for him.
"The Path of the Goddess cannot be entered by anyone without permission even a Grand Master or a Grand Wizard."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, they say you can't move forward as if blocked by an invisible wall."
"Ah... so that's why there's talk that some Saintess or Holy Son candidates might not be able to ascend those steps?"
"Correct. This place was originally meant only for a Saintess or Holy Son. The only exceptions allowed entry are those who are candidates for the current Saintess or Holy Son. If you can't even enter, it simply means you lack the qualification, so you can just go back home."
Since the contest to select the Saintess and Holy Son is an event that people all over the world participate in together, it's said that the Goddess also takes the contest results and human support into serious consideration.
So there's no chance Ibril will fail to climb the steps and be eliminated.
"But do you know something?"
"What?"
"That there was one person, aside from the Saintess, Saintess candidates, the Holy Son, and Holy Son candidates, who ever ascended this place?"
Duke Francis suddenly turned into an exposition machine.
But since my interest was piqued, I obediently voiced my curiosity, and he mentioned an unexpected figure.
"It was Grand Duke Manuel Lucas."
"Really?"
I shrugged, pretending not to care. My reaction was as if to say, "Are you bragging about your nation's hero now?"
At that, Duke Francis let out a wry laugh and, fortunately, told me the story I'd been very curious about.
"They say Grand Duke Lucas spoke with the Goddess here. And apparently, even the Saintess and Holy Son don't know what was said. It was the first and last time in history that the Goddess raised her voice for an individual."
"Did some incident befall the Grand Duke afterward?"
"No, the Grand Duke just shut himself in his laboratory as always. So to this day, what conversation the Goddess and Grand Duke Lucas shared remains a mystery."
"Aw, what...? Here I thought something big had happened."
Even when you're in the middle of a conversation, if it ends like that, the wind just goes out of your sails.
I looked at Duke Francis as if to ask what the point of all that was, and he added a story he'd left out.
"However, for several days after Grand Duke Lucas ascended the Path of the Goddess, for some reason, the Goddess did not grant entry even to the Saintess and Holy Son. That means the great man of our Bringham Empire was prioritized over the Saintess and Holy Son by the Goddess."
"Must be nice to have such a great nation."
In the end, it was just bragging.
Well, the content was interesting, but it only left questions with no conclusions, so I couldn't help but feel unsettled.
"Perhaps you could receive the Goddess's attention?"
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
"No, just saying."
I tilted my head, and with that, Duke Francis moved on to talking about the facility.
Though his gaze did turn elsewhere.
"You seem to have a strange woman with you?"
Duke Francis showed interest in the woman standing beside Arcia.
And understandably so there was a strange handmaiden who kept sighing heavily and radiating immense annoyance.