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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: 30x Funding Event
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After Virtual Idol Heart-chan achieved unprecedented success, the Illusion Tower Lord's condition had been a bit strange.
She seemed to be harboring some slightly unpleasant misunderstanding.
"..."
The look in her eyes screamed, 'Are you seriously gay, milord?'
Only the Illusion Tower Lord knew the true identity of the mysterious beauty Heart across the entire continent. It was no wonder she thought that way when her prized disciple's (male) illusion magic (female character) had shaken the continent like a storm.
But the Illusion Tower Lord was missing one crucial truth.
"Characters and players must be clearly distinguished."
"...?"
Yeah. Characters and players have to be kept separate.
In RPGs, you might immerse yourself in a character, but you shouldn't become one with them. What would happen in real life if you fused with your GTA character the moment you started playing? Your life would be ruined.
The same goes for TRPGs.
Just because you're rolling a super stunning beauty inside the game doesn't make you one, and identifying with her leads straight to disaster. You'd catch the disease of 'not being able to treat the game as just a game.'
'GM, my character worked so hard—sure, the die rolled a 1, but shouldn't it succeed anyway?'
A level 1 newbie picking a fight with a dragon, and it's a critical fumble on the die? What am I supposed to do, twist it?
'GM, my character is an elf, so she doesn't want to sit at the same table as these pathetic humans! It's not that I don't want to play—it's what fits my character!'
All the other players picked humans. How am I supposed to run the session?
"......"
...Are you seriously shutting up after your character failed the check and firing up Hearthstone right now?
"Urk."
I clutched my chest and staggered, overwhelmed by the rising demon of obsession.
Anyway, characters and players must be distinguished, just like how a novelist writing a furry girl protagonist doesn't become one herself.
I manipulated Heart to rake in sweet donations, but that was about creating and unleashing the character Heart—not me crossdressing online.
I like women.
"S-Surely the heartbreak from Lord Northern Grand Duke still lingers...?"
How had she interpreted my tormented trauma that way?
The Illusion Tower Lord started rolling out the forbidden love bait. Time to go all-in on denial.
Misunderstandings are hard to clear up in the first place. If they won't believe you no matter what you say or do, the answer is to leave it to the heavens and get back to your own business.
Right—magic development.
I already knew what magic to create next.
They say a story's three key elements are characters, events, and setting, right?
I'd just finished my paper on ~Implementing Virtual Idol Heart: Realistic Hologram Projection Using Illusion Magic, Centered on Tactile Illusion Enhancement via Immersion~.
Illusion magic is, after all, just illusion. No matter how much you fool someone in a dream—severed fingers or burning people—it doesn't create real wounds. Zero physical damage. A fatal flaw.
Plus, superhumans beyond a certain level resist it well. High magic resistance blocks it, strong will blocks it. Swordmasters shatter hypnosis with sheer grit.
What I'd developed was a special hologram to cover those weaknesses.
It reverses the target's will to instead amplify the illusion magic. If they think even a little, 'I want to believe this,' it swells that emotion to solidify the illusion.
The enhanced illusion can even replicate touch. Illusions you can actually feel!
In development, resource limits kept me from smells, but after tweaks, now even scents are possible. With characters implemented so perfectly, next up is backgrounds.
Earth, flowing streams, rising sun, blowing wind.
Sunlight shattering through rustling leaves, the scent of phytoncides. If I can make them feel that as illusion...?
My isekai TRPG plan would be complete. Motivation surged.
I boldly demanded of the Illusion Tower Lord.
"I'm holing up in my room for about three years to develop magic, so feed me three meals a day with meat and don't bother me for trivial stuff."
"Y-You're getting ruder by the day... B-But three years?!"
"Two and a half at shortest."
"U-Um... You know about the presentation next spring, right?"
"Pardon?"
"The Magic Tower research presentation... N-Nobles and royals dispatched to inspect towers, checking funding usage... W-We always get grilled, but this year we have you, so..."
"Hm..."
Code red.
I'd pulled in donations sweetly with Heart, but conscionably, it wasn't a fortune. If I'd sold my soul and shaken my hips, I could've funded another tower—but that would've shredded my delicate heart along with my manhood.
The subsidy amount was too huge to shrug off with 'I'll just earn my own.' Gotta secure the budget somehow to cover research costs...
A presentation, huh.
Demoing the Virtual Idol project would be a smash hit, but the tower might literally go up in flames that day.
Discreet inquiries via the Tower Lord revealed Heart's popularity was beyond imagination.
Even two years after her "graduation," guys were still hunting her traces. Public reveal? No way. Finding out the girl they obsessed over was a male mage's illusion? They'd come with pitchforks and gasoline.
Nor did I want to research slick mass-destruction spells for show. No fun, no感動. My soul would die.
Hm.
I didn't agonize long.
"Just trust me."
"R-Really? Not something... weird again?"
"Yeah. Even the bigwigs will love it."
"O-Okay, I trust you then... G-Good luck! Lamb for dinner tonight...!"
The Tower Lord's face lit up as she dashed off do-do-do. Her gastritis-pale complexion bloomed brightly—such a sight for sore eyes.
Yeah, peace of mind is key.
There are such things as white lies. If I'd voiced my true thoughts—'On second thought, I'm not the Tower Lord. Not my problem if budgets run dry—you earn it,'—would she be smiling like that?
I doubt it.
I prayed for her mental and physical peace to last. Good food depends on it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Even the Tower Lord's calmed heart, bought by my hot check, churned into a storm as the presentation neared.
A week before.
Having declared 'I trust you,' she couldn't ask 'All set?' or 'How's it going?'—just paced around me.
She'd blurt 'H-Hey, talk!' then pivot smoothly to 'N-Nothing... How's the stew today?' Prime material for otaku character research—I jotted notes furiously.
After three days, pity overrode study zeal. Couldn't bear watching her bite nails like a woodpecker. I decided to show my magic.
"R-Really...?!"
"Yeah. To ease your mind."
"Y-You're just... overthinking weird directions, but you're a genius! Y-You've prepped properly for the presentation, right? So I trust you..."
Her infinite trust warmed my chest.
Calling my thinking trashy? She only spat one syllable—safe.
I stood my staff afloat, crossed hands, spread them side to side.
Gather mana. Power flows through body via fixed laws.
Precisely. Like carving water into blades—precisely.
Soul into perfect convergence of meaningless motions, offered to the world. That's magic.
"The heavens are heartless. No love in the gaze that looks down." "If no one fathoms my heart, I must cross that moon alone." "With my heart as brush, I paint beneath my feet."
⟨ Moon Crossing Scene - Sky Pillar Bind ⟩
The world flips around me.
Moisture seeps from my feet. It beads into droplets, rising airborne. The dry training ground floor turns to serene lake surface in an instant.
"...U-Uwaaah!"
The Tower Lord flailed splashily, but no submersion. Droplets merely scattered; the still lake cradled her feet like jelly.
Beneath the clear lake mirrored the sky.
In the lake's reflection—a pure blue sky, centered by a massive pillar like Sun Wukong's staff, floating midair. Mana threads undulated on its surface like jellyfish. Beautiful, majestic—but the Tower Lord shrank from the intense threat.
Her intuition was spot-on. The pillar's mana threads were venomous jellyfish tentacles. One brush, and illusion resistance crumbles.
Domain granting mana resistance penetration to all illusion magic within—pinnacle of illusion magic... as background modeling.
Hm.
What old weebs call Noble Phantasm realms, new weebs call Domain Expansion.
Took effort honing it. Moisture, lake scent, oppressive pressure—all implemented.
Gawking at the impressive effects, the Tower Lord gazed piercingly, awe and anticipation in her eyes. One hand to chest, deep breaths to calm.
Then cautiously asked.
"W-What does this spell do...?!"
I answered cautiously.
"It's cool."
"...Huh?"
"Awesome."
"...Any effects besides that?"
"Nope."
"Gurgle."
The Tower Lord twintails-flapped backward in a faint.
Overwhelmed by my "cool" verdict, apparently.
Hm. Wasn't planning to use this at presentation. Big shots would see through "cool illusion only" fast; no selling as ultimate technique.
She fell for it because her specialty differs slightly.
What I'd replay at presentation was different.
The point: I can produce killer visuals. Why not dive into movie media? Top genre by share? Action.
Action appeals to all ages.
Nobles like new things, I hear.
Answer: Heavenly Demon.
A Heavenly Demon unleashing Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon, blasting a mountain with Heavenly Demon Death Beam? Epic.
Everyone would love it, right?
......
Analysis fail.
"Planning to scam subsidies with this half-baked illusion? Pathetic."
"Look at that fool—doesn't even know the first stroke of sword arts. Why swing horizontally? Awkward for channeling mana."
"Kekeke... Pfahahaha! What knight uses such clumsy, inefficient techniques?"
"Fancy words to look cool? 'Peerless Reinforcement'? Wahahaha!"
In a magic world, swordmasters popping from exploited peasants? Normal. Meaning: Nobility hard without power.
Titles proportional to might. Even if not, bodyguards match. Before war-hardened human weapons who've cleaved multitudes, my illusion magic...
Like showing soccer pros 'Dribbling tip: Use your heel—it works great.'!
Bathed in curses, end of story.
Only a scrawny boy knight gave approving eyes. Yeah, that age loves flash and cool...
Post-fiasco presentation, Illusion Tower became 0.7 funeral home.
"M-My funding... my funding...!!"
Thud.
The Tower Lord gasped and collapsed.
I brooded grimly over defeat.
But no all-in on lethal magic; holing up gains nothing. Characters and backgrounds done—like building the server now.
I entered the lab, quietly shut the door.
"Y-You bastard, f-fucking bastard! Horny now- Aaaack!"
Someone's harsh cursing echoed, but
I wanted to believe it wasn't the Tower Lord's...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Clop-clop. Clack.
A lord-vassal pair rode a carriage through forest paths.
A boy with a longsword bigger than himself sat high; a bearded middle-aged knight held reins. Quite the sight.
They discussed the Illusion Tower's odd show.
"A laughable spell. Flashy illusion, sure, but the content so childish."
"Well..."
Oddly, the elder knight honored, the boy condescended.
The boy tilted head, asked the knight.
"Think it was really illusion magic?"
"Are you saying it wasn't, my lord?"
"What we saw was illusion, yes. But the content wasn't fabricated. How'd that man's martial arts strike you?"
"Outlandish. Ground quaking from steps? Laughable. Orbs at blade tip... Mage thinking. That mountain-cleaving strike? Ridiculous."
"That's how it looked."
The young noble recalled the illusory man in strange cloth garb.
A man likening himself to a demon. Heavenly Demon.
His arts were crude, grandiose yes.
But his words held profound martial truths, exquisitely woven. Terms like "Peerless Reinforcement," "Water's Extreme Must Return"—depth to mull over. Clarity only a martial master imparts.
Could a tower-room mage conjure that solo? Plus, his attire, terrain—unseen cultures.
More rational: Mage who witnessed firsthand recreated via illusion, but lacked eye to capture 100% nuance.
"You mean..."
"Thought dimensional magic was lost."
Yes.
Fools dismissed as made-up illusion, laughed. But it wasn't an 'illusion demo.'
Dimensional magic.
Illusion Tower announced—metaphorically—observing other worlds beyond space-time seas.
"Then why twist such greatness once? Nobles there could've poured fortunes."
"To filter."
Sift mediocrity, demo only to true appreciators.
Whisper to few elites over continent-wide fame/wealth.
Many interpretations, but showing a brazen "lone supreme" man...
Message clear: 'We'll go our way; you handle traffic.'
"Clever."
Block continental chaos from revealed dimensional magic covertly? Cheap for tower investment. The boy scrawled on fine parchment: 'Illusion Magic Tower Imperial Funding Increase: 30x.'
...
Post-presentation bedridden Tower Lord got punched by sudden 30x funding boost—dashed tower-wide, kissing everyone met.
Illusion magic now includes lip sensation.