Heart and Error (1)
In Melkidu's Korkolas, Shirone—having taken control of the Johan Cartel—made contact with a shadow organization under the guidance of its leader, Aria.
When a ship suddenly appeared in a place where every cell was isolated, the group couldn't help but be surprised.
"It's the system."
That thought gained weight—the bribery program was one of the orthodox ways to reach the Core.
Of course, getting this ship hadn't been smooth.
Desperado and the Red Union gangs ambushed them, but against Shirone and his group's force, any weapon proved useless.
At the truce meeting, the gang leaders accepted Shirone's proposal.
"You're leaving?"
Unless Shirone planned to take over Korkolas, it was wiser to give them what they wanted and send them off quickly.
"Fine. I'll concede this time. But if you ever set foot here again, either you or I will disappear."
It would of course be the gang that vanished, but their belligerence had already been proven through the Johan Cartel.
"This way."
The ship carried firearms you couldn't get in the real world.
"One hundred and twenty million points."
When the captain named the price, Aria accepted without hesitation.
Shirone figured that if she put her mind to it she could raise the ten billion points needed to enter the Core.
'Aria protects Korkolas for the sake of the Johan Cartel in reality. So real-world criminals can easily hide here.'
There was no need to create unsolved cases; they could simply lie low in Korkolas.
'Evil seeps everywhere.' Shirone, who bore the mission to save humanity, couldn't ignore that.
"Move it."
At Aria's command the gang began hauling the weapons, and the captain pointed at Shirone's party.
"Who are those punks? Faces I don't recognize."
Aria sounded displeased.
"I told them about the bribery program. They said they want to meet you."
"Oh?"
Even with a hint from the inner track, contacting a shadow organization still required the approval of the three major gangs.
"Impressive. The points are sufficient, right?" The captain was an administrator anyway. Nothing but points and dice could sway him.
"Yes. A friend of mine's imprisoned in the capital Parme's gaol. They said if we meet there, we can arrange something."
The captain lit his pipe.
"...I can vouch for it. But Parme, huh. The head of the guard there isn't someone to be trifled with."
When Shirone stayed silent, the captain pointed to the cargo hold.
"You can't get in the normal way. There are lots of empty boxes—hide in one of them. Stowaway fee is ten million points."
Ten million—that was far more expensive than the royal-city entry item.
If it were another user, they could just use Persuasion, so they might be willing to pay; for Shirone, though, there wasn't much merit.
"Curtis said at least fifty million. We haven't fully investigated the bribery program, so I expected extra costs, but at this rate we might run out of points."
They currently carried about a hundred million points—roughly twice the minimum required.
"That's pricey."
When Shirone said that and turned, Aria sighed.
"I'll pay."
Points were deducted, and the captain climbed to the helm.
"We'll leave as soon as the cargo's off. Get into the box now. We'll have to seal it."
Before heading to the hold, Shirone looked back at Aria.
"Thanks."
"Hmph. Consider it something I give so you never come back. My work here is done."
She was telling him not to come looking for her later if things went wrong.
'That was a cheap fix.'
They'd managed to obtain supplies worth 120 million easily, so paying ten million was acceptable.
"See you next time."
As Shirone said goodbye, Aria ground her teeth while stepping off the ship.
'That bastard. I thought he was a pushover, but he's sly.'
It was the kind of play she hated most.
Once Shirone's group squeezed into a box, the crew nailed the lid shut.
"We leave in ten minutes."
After the crew left, Pena muttered in a sour voice.
"This is annoying. Do we really have to do this? We could've just used the royal-city entry."
Iruki said, "This might be another form of the bribery program. Either way, to meet the shadow organization the captain has to be present."
A buzzer sounded and the ship shuddered on the waves.
The next moment, a riot of iridescent light streaked across Shirone and the others' vision.
'Space transfer.'
When the light faded, Shirone realized they'd arrived and asked, "Is everyone alive?"
"Yeah. But do we have to stay like this? Can't we break out?"
"I don't know. But they did say stowaway..."
Then the door opened and porters began unloading cargo.
"Keep quiet. If we get caught it's over." Unlike in Korkolas, the sailors' voices were edged with tension.
The porters who'd unloaded everything put the box hiding Shirone's group on a separate cart and moved it to a secluded part of the dock. One porter pulled out the nails and knocked twice on the box.
"Tomorrow morning."
They left that coded phrase and departed. Shirone and the others slowly lifted the lid.
Nade complained, "Ugh, it stinks. Did they put fish in here?"
Everyone shared short travel stories, but only Pena stayed quiet.
"What's wrong?"
"This... is Parme?"
Aside from Iruki, the players who frequented Melkidu most often came to the capital, and Pena herself had stayed there for various reasons—but she'd never been to a port.
"I didn't even know there was a port. No one ever mentioned it. Are we even in the right place?"
"Probably."
Shirone climbed out of the box. "This is likely an area you can only reach by stowaway. In other words, this is the administrators' world. So, Pena, how well do you know Parme?"
"Everywhere. I know the capital's layout like the back of my hand."
Something clicked in her and she looked at Shirone.
"All of Melkidu's spaces are divided into cells. Invisible walls, you know? But there's exactly one place that's different—the castle's outer wall. I always thought it was just background..."
"So there's probably a port behind the castle."
Shirone scanned the surroundings. Darkness lay heavy over the sea; a few moored ships had lights burning.
"This must be the system's mid-layer," Shirone concluded.
"All kinds of supplies for Melkidu move through this middle layer. Think about it like that, and it seems possible to reach any cell via stowaway."
Iruki said, "So the outer track and inner track weren't separate spaces after all. The government building in town—the space behind that door was the inner track. It's less about space and more a layer of permissions."
Eden added, "If Curtis had been imprisoned in some other city's gaol instead of the castle, we'd have arrived inside the administration building too—the administrators' quarters, item storage warehouses, that sort of thing."
Nade said, "That's really dangerous. And this is the capital with the most supplies. They could steal items, and there are lots of high-ranking admins."
Shirone said, "Right. In Melkidu, where any crime can be absolved, we'd be committing crimes again."
"The moment we're caught it's over."
It wouldn't end with merely being thrown in jail.
Nade's smile tightened.
"But we have until morning, right?"
"No, what the—"
Pena wore a blank expression as Iruki snorted.
"Why not take a look around? There might be unreleased items, or things that failed censorship and were discarded. What do you think, Shirone?"
They expected it would cost more Crime Points than they'd thought, so it was risky but perhaps worth it. In truth, Shirone's curiosity about the system's mid-layer outweighed the danger.
"Fine. Just until morning."
When the three slipped away, Pena panicked.
"Hey, you're really doing this? What if we get caught?"
"It's no use. He's been famous since school," Eden said, shaking his head as he followed.
"Once he gets obsessed he sees it through." Five stowaways vanished into the dock's darkness.
In dreams, time is determined by the quality and quantity of information, and within the battle between Miro and Imirr Shirone had absorbed vast data from the ancestral dream.
"Huff!"
Armand, who'd plunged into the river to save Yorahan, swam with everything she had.
The micro-world window had pinpointed Yorahan's location, but the strong current had already pulled him far away.
'Humans can't hold their breath long.'
Moreover, the impact of hitting the water had likely used up most of his oxygen, so time was tight.
"River—give him to me."
The center of the river reversed its flow, and Yorahan's body landed in Armand's arms.
She surfaced quickly, gasping, and hauled Yorahan out.
"Huu—!"
As soon as she reconnected through the micro-world window, Armand's face contorted from the pain of breathlessness.
'He's dying.' Thinking of words she hadn't yet said to him, Armand began artificial respiration.
She was more comfortable merging with the inanimate, so Yorahan losing consciousness was actually a relief.
His lungs, pumping regardless of his will, expelled a great deal of water.
And the moment she pressed her mouth to his again—
"Koff! Koff!"
Yorahan coughed and his torso heaved.
"Huh?…"
As his vision cleared, Yorahan saw Armand's face.
'Pretty.'
A sharp sting on his forehead sent stars flashing before his eyes.
"Ouch! Why'd you hit me?"
When the barely conscious man shouted that, Armand narrowed her eyes.
"Honestly, humans! I saved you from death and that's the first thing you think?"
"No, well..."
What else was he supposed to think?
"Anyway, if you're alive then get up. We have to head back before it gets dark."
She wasn't particularly afraid of the dark, but some instinct told her she shouldn't spend the night with Yorahan.
"Ugh!"
When Yorahan tried to sit up, he collapsed again.
"Sorry. I can't. I don't even have the strength to stand."
Armand, guessing his condition, sighed in resignation.
Since she'd worked his internal organs while he was unconscious, he probably felt as if he'd been hit by a hammer.
"Sigh, really."
Two hours later, beside the river where the sun had fully set, a fire crackled.
Armand had caught a fish and Yorahan prepared it, skewering it on a stick.
"There. Done."
Armand sat wrapped in a single blanket, drying her wet clothes in a corner.
"I don't like fire."
For someone of the fire clan, it made sense.
'Then again, even carnivores sometimes ate raw.'
Yorahan was human, so there was no reason for him to refuse grilled fish.
"Come closer. Warm up."
When Armand gave him a suspicious look, Yorahan suddenly grew nervous.
"No, I'm afraid I'll catch a cold. Sorry." For a brief instant the micro-world window had let them share each other's minds.
'This is unbearably awkward.'
Now that their feelings had been glimpsed, denial was impossible.
The only thing Yorahan could stare at was the fish, slowly browning over the flames.
"Huh?"
At the sound of footsteps he looked up. Armand had moved closer, clutching the blanket around her.
"It looks good. Let's eat." At that moment, seeing her reflected in the firelight, Yorahan realized.
'This is the one.'
A flower was beginning to bloom in his heart.