novelVolume 8, Stage 01 - Welcome to the Media Celebrity Life (1)
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Volume 8, Stage 01: Welcome to the Media Celebrity Life (1)
"...What should we do, Onii-chan?"
"We break our way through and run away."
(Stage 01 Open 08/04 09:00)
Welcome to the Media Celebrity Life
"This Chinese rice porridge is so good."
"This abalone rice porridge is so good."
The restaurants in C Block's Chinatown were not yet open, but Shiroyama Kyousuke and Olivia Highland had still met someone there. While serving them a breakfast that looked simple but was actually a lot of trouble to make, Lu Niang Lan sighed in her red modified China dress.
She ran a secondhand store, so she had used an acquaintance's supplies instead of her own.
She began speaking while finding the cicada cries to be far too loud already.
"Kyousuke-chan, you've been acting very wild lately. Is this a rebellious phase?"
"Lu-san, I had hoped to get this information out of you yesterday, but my entire schedule has been thrown off because you were collapsed in Aika's bath."
"Eh heh heh. Don't you dare talk about that when you caused the wild global financial fluctuation people have started calling Black August. Do I need to give you a firsthand lesson in how my hidden weapons work? Eh heh heh heh heh..."
Lu Niang Lan hung her head and let out some endless dark laughter, but stocks and the like were none of Kyousuke's concern. But as a capable young woman, she continued smoothly working at preparing the tea.
Kyousuke added some chopped pickled vegetables to accent the flavor of his fish stock rice porridge.
"I've already transferred the money to your account, so give me my money's worth of information, " he said.
"Y'know, that's a drop in the bucket compared to the losses the entire organization has...sigh, never mind. I guess I just have to work through my jobs one at a time....Yes, chaos is an opportunity for my line of work. You can't let this beat you, Lu Niang Lan. I can still ride this wave."
With that, she pulled a small notepad from her cleavage.
Her shoulders were not quite at the same height, so she must have been crossing her long legs below the table. That was all it was, but it increased her relaxed allure. When taking a selfie, the slightest difference in angle could have a great effect on the impression people got from your face. Her behavior as an assassin had so permeated her body that she would make herself look nice without even meaning to.
"First of all, let's talk about the Silver Resource War."
"It's an impressive-sounding name, but it doesn't actually exist, does it?"
"There's a reason it was given that kind of name. It's a war that is 'about to happen' because a Euro lobbyist group has been pestering the US Congress about making it happen. So they couldn't afford to give it a negative image."
"The 'resource war' part doesn't give it a negative image?"
"It didn't have that name originally." The modified China dress beauty breathed a sigh of exasperation and brushed her long black hair off of her cheek."It began with the Global Sharing movement. Materials would be taken from resource countries and combined with the energy-efficient tech of developed countries to extract energy as efficiently as possible. It was the ultimate version of a win-win situation where everyone was happy."
Olivia looked troubled by this.
"Am I behind the times? Because I've never heard of that."
"You shouldn't have. The instant it was announced at a press conference, it was criticized as a global colonization plan, so the name was erased from the White House's website less than half a day later. They wanted to make sure no one ever heard of it again."
"So did the government go crying to Toy Dream next?"
"It's only been two weeks since the Queen was killed, so the world works fast, doesn't it?"
A soft clunk rang out.
Lu Niang Lan had taken advantage of the table blocking their view to remove her shoes.
The modified China dress beauty breathed a relaxed and sweet breath.
"The Silver Resource War is a negative campaign name it was given during the online criticism. Silver refers to the perpetual snow in the beautiful mountains of Eastern Europe. But Toy Dream did not bother to get rid of that name. They knew that wouldn't be possible, so they instead prominently worked it into their promotional video and twisted the already established name to mean something else."
"You mean like how 'incredible' can be used to mean incredibly bad or incredibly good?"
"More or less. It's kind of frightening. The Silver Resource War name was spread as a way to protest war, but when ignorant people look online now, it instead looks like all the search results for the term are people approving of war."
And people had a weakness to the majority.
If "everyone" was saying something, it had to be true, right?
Everyone had been drawn in by some obvious numbers before, like the long line at a ramen shop or the top ranked item on a review site.
"Back up a moment, " said Kyousuke.
"Yes?"
"This was simply announced by America and named online...so the war hasn't actually happened, right?"
He frowned even as he said it.
This was where the biggest distortion was found.
"The East Europe Axis has been named as an obvious 'enemy of America' in all this, but no one actually knows what counties that label applies to. Basically, any country or region that America attacks will have that label slapped onto them, making them an incarnation of evil. That's completely backwards. Even the witch hunts followed a more sensible procedure than this."
"Well, normal people only have the police's word to go on that the terrorist the police shot was really a terrorist."
The beautiful woman serving them breakfast was a high-ranking member of Illegal who sought freedom outside the protection of a large country or religion and were constantly the target of unwarranted criticism. She was likely familiar with that sort of treatment as a normal part of her reality.
And while he thought about this, Kyousuke's shoulders rose slightly.
Below the table, a soft sensation had wrapped around his right shin. He looked up to see a smile on Lu Niang Lan's lips.
Where no one could see, she had started teasing him with the bottom of her feet with only black stockings on them. How could she even do that with the two feet meant for bipedal walking? It felt like having a giant tongue licking up his leg.
"Hee hee. Kyousuke-chan, there's no need to give me that look."
"Lu-san... If you hadn't made us breakfast, I might have hit you for being this rude."
"Eh heh heh heh heh. I like being in control, so it pisses me off when you start feeling sorry for me. Get too gloomy and I have to reclaim my spot on top☆"
"Hm? What are you two talking about?"
Olivia tilted her head while focused on scooping up Chinese rice porridge with her spoon.
The modified China dress beauty maintained her smile while resting her elbows on the table, refused to explain, and simply returned to the original topic.
"The excuse seems to be that they want to prevent the East Europe Axis from destroying the valuable crystalline underground resources with soil improvements being made by dumping in all sorts of chemical fertilizers made from the shells of an older war. Although the photos released online are clearly fake, so I don't believe it for a second."
Lu Niang Lan said nothing about the secret battle below the table and toyed with her long black hair with a calm expression on her face.
"The focus this time is on a silicon mine newly discovered in a giant Eastern European mountain range. Silicon is the base material of Repliglass, but the rare silicon found there contains impurities as rare as colored diamonds, so they can be used for things very different from the normal variety. This is not something that can be reproduced in the artificial minerals made in modern labs."
"Meaning?"
"There are new types of Repliglass that can only be made with that rare silicon. Think of it as a modern version of the old conflicts over rare earths."
Olivia had stopped moving ever since "a giant Eastern European mountain range" was mentioned.
Yes, her Kingdom F was located deep in the mountains of Eastern Europe.
The modified China dress beauty's teasing below the table also briefly stopped. Kyousuke slowly sighed.
"So they're fighting over the right to develop special new kinds of Repliglass?"
"Just to be clear, Kyousuke-chan, you opened the door to this." The modified China dress beauty waved a hand."During the execution of the Queen, it was revealed that Houbi Village's Meinokawa Shrine has a lookalike of the White Queen, right? That is a fully artificial method of constantly summoning the Queen with no risk. In a way, that is the greatest hope of humanity according to groups like Azalea Magentarain's Guard of Honor. For better or for worse."
"..."
"And this is an unstable period when the White Queen's defeat has become widely known. For those who wish to regain stability from the Queen's presence, the internal pressure has grown to the breaking point. They would consider backing a war or two if it meant obtaining a perfect doll like that."
"And before that...oh, honestly. Repliglass itself was originally developed in a failed attempt to create a Queen lookalike."
"Oh, is that true? So to Quad Motors and the rest of the Americans, this might look like taking an incomplete product and completing it."
It was not actually known if they would be able to create another Meinokawa Aoi, the world's oldest Joruri Method, even if they did conquer those Eastern European mountains and combined those special crystals with Repliglass technology. Azalea was a skilled weapons designer and she was approaching that level by fusing old and new technology, but it was unknown if those in control of this incident could do the same.
Lu Niang Lan then seemed to remember something.
"Come to think of it, what happened to the real Meinokawa Aoi? And I don't mean the replacement you met in Houbi Village."
"Hm? You mean Granny Aoi? Isn't she hanging around Onii-chan's cruiser? She's looking after the place while we're out. She was jumping around on the Western bed since she isn't used to them and she was getting a tan on the deck while fishing in the ocean."
Olivia was exactly right.
Meinokawa Aoi was an artificial vessel and a perfect lookalike of the Queen. Kyousuke had predicted worshipers around the world would target her once her existence came to light, so he had made sure that did not happen. The best way to protect yourself was not to surround yourself in thick walls; it was to disappear without a trace.
Thus, the people thrown into chaos by the Queen's execution could not touch Meinokawa Aoi.
That meant they would have to create a new one for themselves, but to reiterate, there was no guarantee they would succeed just because they tried.
However, some had taken action in the belief that they could do it.
That was the problem.
"You could do it better" were the words the devil whispered in the ears of kings throughout history. But when they lacked the skill to achieve that ideal, their actions would transform into oppression and slaughter.
"And that brings us back to why you've returned to Toy Dream 35, Kyousuke-chan....This is what's going on with the Toy Dream Company."
Watching the two eat must have made her hungry because the modified China dress beauty's slender fingertips grabbed some pickled vegetables and placed them on her alluring tongue.
"There has always been a powerful link between Europe and America, so they are eager to protect their close friends from the Silver Resource War in Eastern Europe. No, they hold a lot of sway over Toy Dream's international revived cities, so perhaps it's better to say they want to protect their enclaves in Eastern Europe."
In Toy Dream 35, the regional finances had been left with a foreign company, so there was an extent to which Japanese law did not apply there. Critical groups called the cities financial and economic colonies or CIA relay bases.
"So no matter where in the world war breaks out, America can claim they were 'directly' involved and retaliate, " said Kyousuke."They don't even need the indirect excuse of protecting an ally."
"The military does not start the slow process of deploying troops only once the US Congress gives approval. They are already in every part of the world. The Toy Dream cities are scattered around the world like an oversaturated convenience store chain, so they can leave made-in-America 'products' anywhere they want. The instant they have approval, they can begin the attack. Scary, isn't...nwoh!?"
"?"
Olivia frowned at Lu Niang Lan's strange cry.
The modified China dress beauty bent over a bit and trembled.
"K-Kyousuke-chan. When intercepting someone's foot with your own, the polite thing to do is to remove your shoes."
"Kicking someone when they're trying to eat seems like the bigger problem to me."
Kyousuke nonchalantly replied after presumably lightly stepping on her stockinged foot when she tried to once more wrap her long legs around his below the table.
She really did look half in tears, but she managed to slip her foot out from under his sneaker.
"B-but unlike Europe, Asia does not approve of this war deep in the mountains. No one knows what the East Europe Axis is and nothing seems real when it's happening halfway around the globe, so a lot of influential people are skeptical of the war. That is bad news for those who want to start the war after bringing the entire world onto their side."
"...Lu-san."
"People used to brag about being able to tie a cherry stem in a knot with their tongue, but I think this is more exciting."
"Huh? I think I missed something... Onii-chan, did you two just change the subject all of a sudden???"
The situation under the table was difficult to explain.
Since Lu Niang Lan was in fact the Perfect Dragon, her toes inside her black stockings had begun moving the instant he had been slightly distracted and they had untied Kyousuke's shoelaces. And then she removed his sneaker in a smooth motion.
"Kyousuke-chan, I assume you have a feel for that balance of power since you returned here to Japan."
Yes. If this was all about Eastern Europe, Kyousuke and Olivia would not be here.
They had a different reason for being here.
Olivia must have burnt her tongue on the rice porridge because she reached for her drink, but that was warm oolong tea which only made things worse. He patted her head to comfort her and then cut to the heart of the issue.
"I hear Toy Dream has sent a ship to this city."
"And there's the left foot too. Yes, the Missing Princess....That name would probably make you-know-who hide under a blanket if she heard it. Anyway, the design is based on the world's 4th largest cruise ship that can circumnavigate the globe. I believe it could hold 5000 people. That makes it even larger than Azalea's ship. But Toy Dream placed an entire VFX production studio and broadcast station inside it. There's an old story of an entire village being built in the middle of the desert to film a movie, right? This is kind of like taking that movie village, packing it into the shape of a ship, and letting it travel freely across the seven seas."
If it also contained enough entertainment facilities for 5000 people, it would be even larger than a high-rise resort hotel floating in the ocean on its side. Even nuclear aircraft carriers were quite cramped on the inside. If they were designed to be roomy, their size would balloon out endlessly.
"They had a few reasons for turning their big moneymaker into a mobile base. For example, the simple fear of being attacked and the ability to visit the location that inspired each new film to produce the VFX while viewing live material. There are also rumors that they use it to send powerful broadcast signals into dictatorships where normal broadcast signals can't reach."
"Then I guess it must be strictly guarded."
"They've brought it to Toy Dream 35 to show off just how open it is, so simply getting on the ship wouldn't be difficult. Were they calling it a Cruise Fest? Anyway, they're giving tours of the inside for a summer break campaign. With the way that's going, I imagine this country's TV stations will follow suit and turn themselves into makeshift theme parks. Of course, the festival is only on the surface and you won't be able to get deep inside."
Lu Niang Lan fell silent for a moment there.
And then her alluring lips resumed moving.
"The Toy Dream Company is an important part of the world economy as a whole, so an escort fleet joins the Missing Princess as it travels to different UN countries. But it seems our industry has recently started to focus on that."
"You mean there might be summoners and vessels there?"
"Using our Illegal logic, sending troops to a rich residence would suggest connections to an underworld family or gang...but I'm not so sure when it comes to Toy Dream. I would normally doubt that ultra-powerful corporation has any links to the underworld, but this is an unstable time."
"..."
This was an age of chaos where the people who were supported by a powerful attraction (even if that attraction had been a negative thing) had scattered once more.
To put it another way, this may not have happened if not for what Shiroyama Kyousuke had done.
If the White Queen still reigned as the strongest, this may have been resolved without issue.
Kyousuke and Lu Niang Lan fell silent for a while. Only Olivia continued innocently eating.
"So someone wants to start a war badly enough to create a fictional category known as the East Europe Axis and they are pushing Toy Dream to action, " said Kyousuke."All so they can spread support of the war around the world and prevent anyone from speaking out against it."
"If the vote in the US Congress passes, the most powerful player in the 'surface' world will take action. Once the gears of war begin to turn, no one can stop them. What I don't know is how many professionals being manipulated by the White Queen or the Colorless Little Girl are involved or where they are involved."
"What do you know about Toy Dream's war promotion video?"
"It uses the same format of ultra-high-quality CG as their movie versions of children's books and cartoons. You know those foreign 3D children's movies that...move in a squishy way like clay? They combined those with a few actors and some live-action footage. The internal development codename was Blue Film."
"Blue..."
"Oh, Kyousuke-chan? You know what that term originally meant?"
Lu Niang Lan gave a bewitching laugh and placed her stockinged foot on top of his foot below the table. She then moved her toes as if tickling him. Meanwhile, Olivia Highland was confused by it all.
...Blue Film might sound cool, but the term actually referred to a cheap movie that used obscene content as a selling point.
"Hey, Onii-chan, what does that mean?"
"Yes, that's a good question. But Kyousuke-chan knows everything, so I'm sure he'll give you a nice, thorough explanation."
"...Lu-san. Don't blame me for what happens if you don't stop this."
"Oh? Are you still holding back because of my stockings? Or was that a declaration of war saying you'll be tearing my stockings so you can see my bare legs?"
Kyousuke gave a troubled look and Lu Niang Lan smiled as a further secret battle was fought below the table.
Giving that name to a video meant to influence public opinion about a war hinted at just how Toy Dream viewed this agitation video. It clearly did not come from a desire for justice or patriotism.
"The official announcement for Blue Film says they plan to release a total of 4 episodes and the first episode was spread around the world using online video sites and satellite broadcasts yesterday, " explained Lu Niang Lan."It depicted a silicon vein blackened by the chemical fertilizer made from old and unusable shells."
"That has to be fake. And with all the VFX they're using, there's more than a 98% chance they just fabricated that along with everything else."
"To understand that, you need a fair amount of film literacy and an unwavering heart even when faced with the majority numbers....At 10 minutes an episode, the whole thing will be less than an hour. That is all it takes to complete the installation and tear down human history." The modified China dress beauty traced her slender fingertip across her own lips."The current public opinion is only 40% in favor of the war. But a major think tank's predictions say the 2nd episode will bring it to 50%, and the 3rd to 60%. And once they have artificially brought the level of data to the point of supersaturation, the final 4th episode will decisively tilt the world toward approval of the war. Oh, but the episodes are broadcast in Asia early, so the actual limit might be sooner than that."
"...I don't care what the self-styled intellectuals have to say. What do your Illegal instincts tell you?"
"I've traveled all over the west and the east as an arms dealer and it feels plausible to me. Of course, I'm sure America will win in the end no matter what happens, but you can still make money supplying weapons to the losing side. In this case, that would mean a small country that will be declared a part of the East Europe Axis after the fact." Lu Niang Lan calmly ignored all the rules of the world."You can make business deals as long as you make sure to avoid a currency that is about to crash. You need to negotiate for gold, diamonds, or anything else that will retain its value even after the country collapses. And if you keep the scales between the two sides as evenly weighted as possible, the war will drag on and your market remains. Of course, just like with a bubble economy, how much you get involved is something like a game of chicken. If you stick with them to the bitter end, you'll end up full of 5. 5mm bullets stamped with that 'made in America' label."
It was easy for a pacifist to shout from the safety of their living room, but if a criminal group had begun making the financial calculations, the threat posed by the Blue Film was likely very real.
It was not that war would break out if someone screwed up.
War would break out if things were left as is.
"The war promotion videos are treated as top secret, so they are produced on the Missing Princess and then transmitted from the large antenna tower on the ship itself. That would be the world's largest online TV station: TD-ch, or the Toy Dream Channel. There are no third parties involved anywhere along the line, so it was apparently quite a shock for those in the old broadcast industry. The mass media is apparently trying to retaliate by finding some way to nab an internal leak, but you should assume there is essentially zero chance of any advance spoilers."
"Nweh? But, Lu Onee-chan, doesn't Toy Dream have a bunch of VFX studios besides the one on the ship?"
"I said the 1st episode has already been released, didn't I? 7th generation Toy Dream films put more effort into the background than the characters. Instead of just making them 'good enough', they do such a thorough job that you could walk around them and enjoy some skateboarding or tennis if you put on some VR goggles. That is only possible with System Atlantis, the Missing Princess's mainframe."
"Atlantis? Oh, the one that sank into the ocean?"
"It's meant to say they could construct an entire lost continent for a single film if they wanted to. Well, supercomputer names are always way too self-conscience. Hyahhh!?"
"Lu Onee-chan!?"
Olivia sat up from her seat when she heard that fairly serious scream, but the modified China dress beauty held out a hand to stop her while bent over and doing her best to resist something.
Kyousuke gave a triumphant snort.
During their secret battle below the table, Lu Niang Lan had gotten carried away and tried used her stockinged toes to remove Kyousuke's socks, but she had banged her little toe against the table leg for a self-inflicted KO. Of course, the boy had lured her into doing it.
Even if she was the Perfect Dragon, she was still human, so the stun effect of a dresser corner worked on her. She pressed her large breasts against the top of the table, pointed the top of her head his way in something like a bow, and irregularly twitched as she did her best to get her voice out.
"...K-Kyoushuke...chwan..."
"I said not to blame me. Now pull yourself together."
At any rate, none of this would end unless they did something about the Missing Princess.
Videos would be regularly released like the ringing of a cuckoo clock and the 10-minute episodes of the Blue Film would gradually guide public opinion to work up the entire world population. Once things had been heated up to the point that no one could stop the war, the US Congress would be free to hold their vote and begin the war. Shells and missiles would take flight just because people wanted a lookalike of the White Queen, wanted her by their side, and wanted to protect this unstable age.
Kyousuke had thought he would bring peace to the world if he defeated the White Queen, but the flames of war were only spreading.
His stomach was not full, but he breathed a heavy sigh.
He asked Lu Niang Lan a question now that she had recovered from the pain in her little toe and finally got up from the table.
"What is the estimated death count if the war does start?"
"Oh? I thought you were the expert at working out those things, Kyousuke-chan."
This time, he blatantly clicked his tongue.
That summoner worked it out in his head without relying on a supercomputer.
"About 2. 5 million within 48 hours of the war beginning. After 98 hours, it would reach 10 million when indirect damage is included. Kingdom F and the four counties around it would be swept up in the flames of war one after another."
"Digital wars are scary things, aren't they? That is far more people than human beings could kill on their own."
Some helpless fools were about to begin an orgy of violence activated by the flip of a switch.
Lu Niang Lan winked and made a suggestion.
"What do you need?"
"Everything I might need to infiltrate and sabotage a ship with the assumption that there is a summoner organization onboard."
The blazing sun shined on the Missing Princess, a nearly 450m cruise ship with floats attached to long arms on either side. When viewed from above, the arms would look like three long and narrow sticks lined up in parallel. The extra buoyancy would increase the water resistance and reduce fuel efficiency and it required a unique design for the gangway to disembark, but they stabilized the ship's balance. Even if a submerged torpedo or an anti-ship missile skimming just above the surface blew a giant hole in the hull, the floats would prevent the ship from sinking.
The ship had five levels for a total height of more than 30 meters.
The higher the center of gravity, the worse the ship's balance and the greater the risk of capsizing or sinking. That would be why they had floats on either side to increase stability, but that would normally not be an option since a ship's diesel engine cost more than 7 million yen a day to run. At this size, it probably could not use the Panama Canal, so it would have to take a large detour when circumnavigating the globe. But there was a trick to that. First of all, this was not a normal ship.
"That thing has a nuclear engine. And while I'm sure they need all the power they can get to support a cutting-edge VFX studio that will spend 30 billion yen on a single film, they're pretty brazenly breaking the Three Non-Nuclear Principles here."
It was frightening, but history had proven that - West or East - nuclear weapon states did not view nuclear power as a threat. Even though that was not something that should be left up to an individual country's sensibilities.
The foreign Toy Dream Company had bought the entire regional administration for the international revived city, so the normal laws did not apply. At times like this, they almost seemed to be gloating.
...The Missing Princess itself was famous, so simple diagrams could be found in plenty of pamphlets and guidebooks. Lu Niang Lan had dug a bit deeper and found the CAD data used to design it, but that only got them so far. The "authorized personnel only" zones were blanked out, so they would have to investigate those for themselves.
Everyone knew of it, but no one knew anything about the deeper areas. The Missing Princess's mystique was similar to that of important facilities like the White House.
Kyousuke performed a final check of their equipment and spoke to his little partner.
"C'mon, Olivia. Let's get started."
"Okay."
After crouching down on the wharf and giving a glass pellet to a small sea anemone while pushing on the bottom of Kyousuke's Repliglass Blood-Sign, the double blonde braid girl turned around. The Blood-Sign had apparently won the fight over the "bait". Olivia immediately jumped toward Kyousuke and he retrieved the long stick from her. Phosphorous quickly coiled around and took the shape of a waitress's tray.
Olivia was not dressed in her usual school swimsuit dress. She was wearing a skintight diving suit that showed off every curve of her juvenile bodylines.
"I'm a ninja, I'm a ninja. You've gotta be dressed like this for a stealth operation."
"Yes, yes."
"Okay, let's destroy that weird video base and protect everyone in Kingdom F."
Kyousuke was similarly dressed in all black and he sat on a vehicle that resembled a bike floating in the ocean. However, the entire thing was covered by a protective cover with a streamlined design that resembled a fighter jet's canopy. Once Olivia had climbed in to sit in front of him, which meant in his arms, he pulled down the clear cover.
"This is a smuggling model that was designed for stealth, so it doesn't have an air conditioner. Take frequent drinks from the water bottle I gave you to keep yourself hydrated."
"I have cooling sheets on my armpits and inner thighs, so I'll be fine. Uuh, in fact, I might be too cold..."
This might seem silly, but they would be exposed to the August sun in what amounted to a plastic greenhouse with no ventilation or cooling. And if they passed out in there, no one would come to rescue them.
Kyousuke felt bad keeping Olivia involved since the Queen execution incident, but he appreciated her skill at controlling Materials. In a different way than with Biondetta, he could work well with a partner who was familiar with how it all worked.
But the more someone carried with them, the greater the odds of losing them during the intense fighting.
He knew he had to cut his ties with her eventually.
"Hm? What is it, Onii-chan?"
"Nothing."
Kyousuke and Olivia made their way out into the ocean in the kind of small submersible that was primarily used by Illegal to hand off valuable but illicit goods in the dark depths of the ocean. Even at the depth of a meter, being under the water meant a lot. The sun sparkling on the surface completely negated any security that relied on eyesight. It felt like the temperature had rapidly dropped, just like entering the shade of a tree.
And after traveling about 2 kilometers...
"Huh? Onii-chan, you're turning off the engine?"
"Shh. When we pass by the escort ships, the flow of the tides is our friend."
This kind of small submersible was used by the best of Illegal. Talk of stealth tended to focus on the EM used by radar, but diverting and absorbing the soundwaves of active sonar could also prevent detection.
But the same could not be said for passive sonar that simply gathered noises from the ocean. Avoiding any and all noise when sneaking in was the most basic of ideas that even a kindergartner would understand.
Luckily, the Missing Princess itself was a giant mass of noise thanks to its large form and the floats on the sides. Plus, the Cruise Fest was underway. The party event had loud music playing on the deck, a host was speaking into a microphone, and fireworks were going off. Once Kyousuke and Olivia made their way far enough inside the Missing Princess's defenses, they had already won. The escort ships would have sampled the acoustic signature made by the Missing Princess's propellers, but the other noises were too loud for that to be any use. They could restart the submersible's engine and have it drowned out by the other noises.
They were also aided by the Missing Princess's structure.
If they surfaced in the gap between the hull and one of the floats on the side, they could leave the submersible there without worrying about the escort ships spotting it.
The clear protective cover popped up and the August air actually felt cool. The hastily-prepared smuggling submersible was like a sauna inside. Kyousuke tied the submersible to the side of the float using a synthetic rope. Olivia asked a question while having trouble as the submersible rocked unsteadily.
"How do we get up on top? I've heard Japanese ninjas like toads. Do we attach suckers to our hands and feet and climb up the side???"
"I think you have the wrong idea about ninjas, westerner. Let's do something simpler: humans can do just about anything with a rope."
"Oh, I know about that! Japanese bondage is an art, isn't it!?"
"...We're busy now, but we need to have a talk later, Olivia."
After tossing the rope straight up and tangling it around the ship's railing, he climbed up while carrying the small girl on his back. It looked simple enough, but climbing a vertical rope was a dangerous technique that could kill even a professional soldier. There were plenty of simple but deadly mistakes that were not featured in movies. And you should not even think about climbing a curved slope that was steeper than vertical with no powered assistance unless you had participated in a special training program for mountain soldiers or an assault team.
On his back, Olivia placed her slender chin on his right shoulder, rubbed her cheek against his, and made an innocent comment.
"You're like a spider... Is there not a Repliglass that can do this?"
"I'm sure there is, but we can't carry around a bunch of tools that can only do one thing."
While carrying all their equipment and an entire person (albeit a child), Kyousuke took only 15 seconds to climb more than 10 meters. He had combat-level climbing skills rather than sports-level. His speed was impressive, but it was also necessary. With the burden it placed on your arms and legs, you only wanted to climb for a short period of time. Even on a wall, you would search out small footholds and indentations where you could rest in between climbs. Even if the wall was large and vast, it could be heard to search out a route that moved from one rest point to another. Meanwhile, the smooth ship's hull had no footholds and sloped outward toward them. There was no hope of taking a rest there. If he could not finish the climb and cross the railing in less than a minute, he would have had to abandon the idea.
They climbed up onto the side deck on the far starboard side.
A straight passageway continued on and on like a school hallway. Kyousuke untangled the rope from the railing and retrieved it and then he lowered the waterproof zipper on his black diving suit.
He removed that to reveal his usual hoodie and track pants.
He was not all that sweaty for spending time in the plastic greenhouse of the submersible. That would be thanks to the cooling sheets placed on his major blood vessels at his armpit, neck, and elsewhere, but not sweating when you should was actually a sign of danger. He could not trust this too much.
He peeled off the cooling sheets from below his clothes.
"Olivia, put the diving suit in this bag. The cooling sheets too."
"Okay."
Olivia also began unzipping her skintight diving suit to reveal the short dress made from a school swimsuit and a floral pareo, but...
"Watata...hm? It's caught on something?"
"It's your swimsuit's shoulder strap."
The double blonde braid girl just about opened her swimsuit up from the neck in a tunnel shape that revealed everything below, so Kyousuke quickly stopped her.
Olivia did not seem to understand the danger, so she peeled the cooling sheets off of her soft inner thighs while he supported her.
"Onii-chan, where are we headed first?"
"Just remember the plan."
That was all Kyousuke said as he reached for the round knob of one of the waterproof doors lining the wall like in a school hallway. He opened the steel door which had the gaps filled with a rubber seal and the two of them slipped inside.
It was a striking change of scenery.
They were reminded that the ship doubled as a VFX studio and a broadcast station.
It looked like a shiny Wall Street office seen in a foreign drama. There was a short gray carpet and white plastic walls. The rectangular panels lining the ceiling may have been LED lights.
Wearing little more than a swimsuit, Olivia pressed her legs together and held herself in her arms.
"Ohh, this can't be good for my health... O-Onii-chan, it's like a fridge in here...!"
"We need to eat a stamina-building meal today. Eat somen here and the summer heat would get to you."
The overly-air-conditioned corridor was lined with numbered doors that had IC card readers for electronic locks. They looked like they led to corporate conference rooms, but this was where a normal cruise ship would have passenger cabins.
However, this was also a mass media facility.
"This door says Sean Bourdon and this one says Marilyn Javer! Th-those are movie stars..."
"These must be dressing rooms. They were originally just meant as a place to rest, but they've been expanded into something like a luxury hotel room."
Kyousuke gave that blunt answer while they climbed the stairs. The ship was floating in the ocean, but the dressing rooms alone filled three floors up from the deck. There was enough space for more than 1300 actors. There was also an exit to a heliport on the roof for the popular actors that could not stay for long.
"Wow, wow..."
"Don't forget that stopping the ridiculous war comes first. Besides, Olivia, you're a princess, so you don't need to feel nervous."
"Hm? Hmm? I don't follow, Onii-chan. Ah, someone's coming!"
They passed by a large man in a navy blue guard uniform, but there was nothing suspicious about them now that they were onboard. That was why they had changed out of their diving suits which looked like full-body tights. Olivia cautiously hid behind Kyousuke's back, but kids must have found the man intimidating all the time because he actually smiled gently and waved at her.
(Is he a normal Toy Dream employee? One problem here is that we can't tell the normal people apart from the Illegal soldiers. I'll have to make some guesses from how they carry themselves and any eye signals they make. )
They climbed another stairway to reach the third floor. The area had been full of blanks in the map they bought from Lu Niang Lan, but the number of columns, layout of lights, vents for the air conditioning and ducts, location of drains and faucets, communication cables, etc. all provided hints. They only had to work out the structure of the ship like restoring a corpse's living appearance by adding clay to the skull.
"I guess this works, " said Kyousuke
"Works for what?"
They stopped in front of one dark gray door among many.
Of course, they would not have needed the submersible if they had made a reservation, but Kyousuke pulled a multi-tool from his hoodie's pocket and easily opened the door's electronic lock.
"Hm? How did you do that with normal tools, Onii-chan?"
"Just hurry inside."
Kyousuke opened the door, urged Olivia in, and then slipped inside the cabin himself.
As soon as the small double blonde braid girl saw the large queen-sized bed, she dived onto it.
"Ohh. It's bouncy. I'm bouncing. This bed is even better than the one in your room! Too bad Granny Aoi missed out on this."
"You can't really compare my cruiser with a luxury cruise ship....But anyway."
"Huh? Why are the bathroom's walls made of glass?"
...Similarly, the entire cabin made no attempt to hide its purpose: the large bed had two pillows, the bathroom was fully visible from outside, the wallpaper and carpet were pink, the lighting was indirect, and there were an awful lot of tissue boxes available.
This was commonly known as a leisure room.
Kyousuke did not want to think too much about how it was used.
"Lu-san said some large equipment had been brought in for the video production, so I was guessing they would have reduced the number of people onboard to avoid being overburdened. But it seems this is why there are so many empty rooms..."
Yes, the diagram they had was incomplete!
"Ehh? But this room looks kind of fun. Ah ha ha! Look, look, all the walls around the bath are mirrors! And there are so many shampoo bottles!!"
"Olivia, I seriously doubt those are shampoo or conditioner, so don't pump any of it into your hand."
"Nweh? What are these rubber egg things? They're soft...but I don't think you could scrub your body with them. Wait...there's a hole on the bottom?"
"Olivia, put that down."
Exasperated, Kyousuke used the previous multi-tool to stick a knife blade into the wallpaper seam. He slid the knife straight down that line and removed a portion of the wall like it was a large panel.
He selected the necessary cable from the bundle running vertically through the wall and connected it to the mobile device in his bag.
"Good, good. I've got the signal....As I expected, it's coming from below."
After turning all the knobs and pressing all the panel buttons in the unnecessarily glass-covered bathroom, Olivia grabbed several of the mystery eggs and juggled them as she stuck her head out.
"Hey, Onii-chan, isn't that the main cable connecting the online broadcast equipment to the broadcast tower on the roof? If you cut that, won't it stop them from releasing the videos needed to start the war?"
"I could, but they would just find another way to release them. I want to get into the studio where they're producing the 2nd and 3rd episodes and destroy the System Atlantis computer being used to make the Blue Film videos. So Olivia."
"Yes, yes. I have to change again, right?"
Olivia left the bathroom, dived onto the large bed, bounced, and rolled over toward him. There were a few large waterproof bags inside the main bag and Kyousuke pulled out one that contained clothing.
Once a summoner or vessel earned enough Awards, normal people would forget about them the instant they were out of sight.
But when moving through a limited space like this, there was always a risk of running across the same person and having their memories return. There would also be Illegal summoners and vessels here. When a purse-snatcher or mugger was fleeing through the streets, they would often turn a reversible jacket inside-out just after turning a corner to give themselves a different look and lose the police.
"Wait a second, Olivia. Why are you starting to change right here?"
"But, Onii-chan, it doesn't matter where I do it in this room. The bathroom is surrounded by glass."
"..."
"A-and if it's you, I don't mind if you watch...wahp!? Wait, what was that for, Onii-chan!?"
Olivia had a thin bedsheet thrown over her head like a Halloween ghost and Kyousuke quickly changed while she was struggling with it.
(The jumpsuit? No, not yet. The tuxedo would probably be best. )
He never wore anything like this in everyday life, but a tuxedo was a more informal version of dress clothing. It was only a replacement for a proper tailcoat. A bowtie tuxedo was actually even simpler than a school uniform's blazer. By the time Olivia finally managed to get her head out from below Bedsheet Mountain, Kyousuke was already calmly putting on the black jacket.
"Ah! ...I missed the best part. Onii-chan, are you a magical girl...?"
"If you have time for that nonsense, get to work. Here, keep that sheet around you like a teru teru bouzu and you can change without anyone seeing. Just like before swimming class."
"Uuh. Why do I have to look so dumb while I change?"
Olivia puffed out her cheeks while looking like she was about to get her hair cut and she began rustling around below the sheet. The decorative collar and floral pareo fell to her feet one after another. The sheet was thin enough that her silhouette showed through in a rather risqué fashion.
Then the slender girl lifted up one foot to remove the swimsuit.
"(...Oh? I just had the best idea. If I pretend to trip and roll on out, I bet it would surprise Onii-chan. And I cling to him...)"
"Olivia."
Sensing an ominous atmosphere, Kyousuke gave a warning, so Olivia pouted her small lips and let the dark blue swimsuit fall to her feet.
The double blonde braid girl pulled a light champagne-colored dress inside the sheet and rustled around inside some more.
"There, and...oh, really? I can't get the zipper on the back..."
"Olivia, your body isn't quite soft enough to be having trouble there."
"This is none of your business."
"Honestly, what do you normally do with a bra?"
"I said it's none of your business!! Onii-chan, can you zip this up? The one on the back."
She pulled the sheet up. She had already put on the light champagne-colored dress, but the back was not zipped up and it had nothing to support it. She used both hands to hold it to her flat chest and turned her white back toward him. The shape of her backbone and her shoulder blades were visible and her milky-white skin was tinged with pink.
"Uuh, hurry."
"Is that any way to ask for a favor? I guess you really are a princess deep down."
The zipper was as delicate as the silver chain of a necklace and Olivia's back shuddered as she endured the ticklish sensation of it zipping up. She even squeezed her eyes shut and let out an odd voice.
"Nn...kh."
"Olivia?"
"It's nothing. (Your fingertip stroked up my spine, Onii-chan. ) Cough, cough. Anyway, just get it over with."
He finished zipping it up.
After making sure it was fastened, blushing Olivia fully removed the sheet. The skirt spread out below her knees using a pannier that worked much like an umbrella frame and she hopped up and down, perhaps to check on the fit of the chest which was decorated with fancy buttons.
"Good, good. I can jump around without it slipping or falling off. I'm ready to go!"
"Olivia, you changed from a swimsuit into a dress, but I didn't see you grab any underwear. Make sure to put some panties on along with the gloves and stockings."
"Tch. There goes my 'trip over nothing' plan..."
She reluctantly pulled some underwear out of the bag and put it on.
"It's a shame we have to leave this room so soon. Oh, what's this? It says 'take one'. I should bring a souvenir back for Granny Aoi."
She was like an old lady taking back the complimentary toothbrush or soap.
Kyousuke repacked the bare minimum of equipment in a small briefcase and left the large bag in the room. Having changed into dress clothes, Kyousuke and Olivia boldly reentered the ship corridor.
Because she was used to seeing them as a royal, Olivia did not even glance over at the maid pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies.
"Onii-chan, where are we going and how are we going to get there?"
"The signal itself was coming from below. The System Atlantis mainframe is probably in a windowless space at the very bottom of the ship below the waterline, but I just know we would run into a security gate if we took a direct route there. I don't want to cause any trouble just yet, so let's take a detour."
"What kind of detour?"
"Let's head up for now. The commercial area is full of restaurants and a mall, but they also make late night food for the staff. If we use the small elevator shaft for the food carts, we can reach the bottommost level without passing through the security gates."
The commercial area was above the three stories of actor dressing rooms. After climbing more stairs, they found something like a fashionable shopping mall. Both sides of the long corridor were lined with jewelry stores, boutiques, and luxury restaurants, the area overhead was opened up into an atrium, and more small stores could be seen on the higher level. The signs suggested there was also a casino and gym. A clown in heavy makeup and a bunny girl were performing card tricks in the middle of the corridor to gather passersby's attention.
"Oh, it's Gozaru!"
Olivia gave an excited cry when she saw people dressed up as the Gozaru Samurai and a sheep surfer who was apparently popular in the southern hemisphere. This was a Toy Dream ship after all.
Including the dressing rooms, the entire structure was 5 stories above the deck. A normal designer would want to scream at the poor balance of the ship, but that was why it needed the floats attached to arms on either side.
Glittering light shined down from above the atrium.
It did not come from fluorescent or LED lights. It was sunlight after passing through a thick layer of water. Basically, there was a 200m pool on the roof and the bottom was made of reinforced glass.
Olivia gaped up at the strange visual of seeing young men and women swimming overhead in swimsuits.
"Wow... So this is the life of a Toy Dream star on the forefront of the global film industry. When you have that much money, you end up looking kind of silly."
"Make sure you grow up to be a wonderful administrator with thrifty hobbies, Olivia. Kingdom F will thank you....Hold on. Is that who I think it is?"
"What is it, Onii-chan?"
"No, it's fine. Even if it is them, it shouldn't cause any harm...I don't think. But are they here for a job or for fun? Regardless, why have those useless twins changed into swimsuits?"
"Hm? Because it's summer?"
They probably had no idea what they looked like here. Shiroyama Kyousuke stared grimly up at the black- and blonde-haired girls doing the breaststroke. They wore what was known as a halter-neck bikini which had the cloth wrap around the neck instead of using straps and they wore a pareo around the waist. The swimsuits were white and the pareos red, but was that to give them shrine maiden colors? Because the swimsuits were not very revealing, waitresses at a seaside restaurant might wear the same thing. That made it easy to forget these were swimsuits, so he felt like he was peeking up miniskirts of normal outfits.
Then Olivia lightly kicked his right shin.
"C'mon, Onii-chan. We have a job to do."
"That's...right. We were having a serious discussion here. So what came over me?"
However, this was not the time to get into an argument over the nature of the world.
"Let's get down to business."
"We're using the food cart elevator shaft to reach the bottom level, right?"
"If every restaurant kitchen had a direct path, the ship would be full of holes, so it looks like they gather all the carts in one place and share the same elevator."
"That's for late night food, right? So it shouldn't be in use while the sun is in the sky."
"Normal room service runs all day long, so we need to make sure we aren't crushed while moving through the shaft."
"Oh, but this is such a wasted opportunity. I'm finally alone with you, so if only we could take our time window shopping."
"Olivia, stay by my side."
And just as they were saying that, Kyousuke sensed movement and breathing. A large group holding cellphones and mirrorless single lens cameras pushed in from an escalator to their side.
They were led by a tour guide who wore a tight skirt and waved a little flag. She used a megaphone that looked like a cross between a trumpet and a handgun to herd them around.
"Okay, we will now be taking a break while having a buffet-style get-together. You can join the party at any time, but you only have 10 minutes if you want to catch the greeting from Toy Dream President Michelange Toydream, so..."
They were quickly swallowed up by the crowd. Fighting against the current to reach the industrial elevator would only make them stand out.
They just barely failed to make it.
If Kyousuke had not needed to grab Olivia who was wandering around daydreaming, he could have escaped to the wall without being caught.
"Ah...ah ha ha. I guess we'll just have to go with them....Are you mad, Onii-chan?"
"..."
Kyousuke shut his eyes and breathed a heavy sigh before silently raising his index fingers on either side of his head. He was apparently upset enough to have horns growing from his head.
The tour group took the two of them to the very back of the ship.
There was a large space there. It had to be around 30m square. It was also made into an atrium to give it two floors' worth of height. The walls and ceiling were unnaturally white. It looked extremely sterile, but not because it was a party hall. This was the cutting-edge of Toy Dream's film VFX. Since the entire space was filled with a single color, it had to be the studio used to film the actors before everything else was added in.
The party hall was crammed full of people and Kyousuke frowned at the sensation below his feet.
It creaked.
(I see...)
"Ah, it's an all-you-can-eat!!"
Olivia cried out excitedly and it was cute how she seemed to think it was called "all you can eat" instead of a buffet. A variety of foods was lined up along the wall and everyone was free to take what they wanted. Since Olivia wore the dress perfectly even at her age, Kyousuke had thought she would be used to fancy parties like this, but it may have been a rare experience when you were a kingdom's princess. She would not be allowed to casually choose whatever food she wanted and pile it onto a plate herself without having a poison tester or anything like that.
Food was piled up in front of her like something from the Manchu Han Imperial Feast. That may have attracted a childish part of her because she forgot all about why they were here. She started panting with an imaginary puppy tail wagging full speed behind her.
"I want to do that! I want to do the all-you-can-eat! We've gotta do it to blend into the background, Onii-chan!"
"We can just follow the flow of people around the party hall and then leave."
"Ehh? You don't understand the maiden heart, Onii-chan."
"I'm not a teenage girl, but I know this has nothing to do with being a maiden..."
To Kyousuke, this ship was a target of infiltration and a crime scene. Even if he seemed unbeatable, he wanted to avoid leaving any kind of trace behind, even teeth marks or some saliva.
However.
"Oh, my. Is that Kyousuke and Via over there?"
They heard a female voice as sweet as honey cooked down until it was burned to the bottom of the pot. It was not that loud, but it pierced through the chatter oddly well. It was a gentle but forceful voice.
And double braided Olivia's face lit up when she heard it.
In a normal home or town, this would not be very remarkable, but given her position, she could not just ignore this.
"Huh? It's my mom."
It was Kingdom F's Queen Sinceria Highland.
Government Award 913, Noble Bride.
The unexpected appearance of this high-level vessel caused Kyousuke to press his fists against the sides of his head. With the index fingers sticking out a bit, of course.
A seemingly insignificant pebble was causing everything to derail.
He could not deny the sense that they were drifting further and further away from his plans.
The woman oozed attraction.
How attractive was she? There was a legendary story of the secret international meeting held by Government, Illegal, and Freedom in New York's UN headquarters having to pause so a VIP from another country could have their secretary tell her to restrain her attraction before it hindered the proceedings.
To the ignorant people, she was the mysterious queen who smiled beyond a mystical veil.
To those in the know, she was an unbelievably beautiful head of state.
She had to have countless servants, but her waist-length wavy blonde hair had not been carefully woven or blow-dried, but that was probably a part of restraining her attraction while on official business. Although having nothing to adorn her may have actually caused her natural glow to shine through even more.
Was it supposed to look like snow or ice?
Or maybe glass or crystal?
Assisted by the shine of her hair and skin which seemed to emit their own light, she wore a long dress colored a refreshing blue reminiscent of mint ice cream. It left her shoulders bare, but it was not very revealing overall. Nevertheless, the proportions pushing the dress out from within seemed like the ultimate form of human beauty. She wore the crown of Kingdom F's monarch, but it did not look remotely out of place. It was made of glass and an alloy that mixed iron with a few impurities. That design was apparently meant to represent the principle on which the kingdom was built: the glory of the royals must not place any pressure on the livelihoods of their subjects.
The glass jewels that represented the kingdom's six regions were supported by the alloy that represented the kingdom's strength.
In the end, it was not wearing platinum or giant diamonds that made someone shine. In fact, it was the people who were afraid what people would think who felt the need to artificially increase their value with gold and jewels. A truly beautiful woman would feel no such concern. That was why they could choose whatever they wanted without feeling any restrictions. And when someone who possessed that confidence and attraction wore it, even plastic could shine like the sun. The people who went the sour grapes route and tried to forcibly find a flaw would end up disgraced, so it was said her beauty was enough to silence even the critics.
If aliens were writing an encyclopedia entry on earthlings, they might use a photo of her. But that would technically be in error. Kingdom F's Queen Sinceria Highland's beauty had already partially left the realm of humanity.
Going through her facial features, skin, curvy proportions, etc. would leave you with too much to list, but her most unique feature was her ears.
They were thin and long like bamboo leaves and they extended outwards.
"Oh, my, my, my. I didn't see you here earlier, so where did you come from? If you had told me you were here, we could have spent more time together."
She was a character from a fairy tale.
Her dress was like something from a picture book, yet it looked right at home on her.
"Boo. You say that, but you're always so busy, mom."
"I had a good reason to leave you with a wet nurse, but that is an issue for another time. Getting together as a family really is best."
That ruler of a kingdom pressed her hands together in front of her large breasts, a shining locket was hanging from her neck and half buried in her cleavage, her ears twitched, and she smiled gently at them. Looking at her now showed a strange aura that seemed to combine an adult allure with a childish innocence. That may have been why everyone let their guard down around her and were dragged down into that bottomless pit.
Kyousuke was accustomed to inhuman beauty, so he used that to stay in control of himself.
"The party still has another 30 minutes and everyone is waiting for the final greeting from President Toydream, but let's enjoy this while we can."
"Eh? It's already ending? But I haven't eaten anything yet!"
"Hee hee hee. To make sure you don't gain any excess fat, avoid the fatty beef and pork or anything with too many carbs. Other than that, your mother won't stop you. You finally got started on that figure skating program, so we have to let the Aurora Fairy do its job."
When Shiroyama Kyousuke heard that, he silently stared at tiny Olivia.
That girl, who was lithe by any international standard, silently averted her gaze.
"Oliiiviaaa."
"D-do you need something, Onii-chan...?"
"You had trouble zipping up your dress and said it tickled, didn't you? Olivia Highlaaaaaand???"
As the suspect dodged the persistent old police detective's questioning, Sinceria placed a hand over her mouth and laughed.
When a vessel ended their contract, they would lose their memories like a normal person. They would return to a normal life until they came in contact with a summoner or vessel once more.
Sinceria had once left her daughter with a wet nurse and avoided seeing her in order to keep Olivia out of any trouble related to the Summoning Ceremony until absolutely necessary, but the White Queen worshipers of Bridesmaid had messed that up. Now she had no need to hide her love for her daughter.
At least there was one positive side to killing the Queen in Houbi Village.
That was how he had to view this.
"Anyway, Via, this is the Cruise Fest tour, so the events are divided up into short time blocks so no one stays in one place for too long. In exchange, they have a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even teatime scheduled. This is a bit of a late breakfast, so let's hope lunchtime works out better for us."
The Highland family had produced female vessels for generations. Whenever a powerful summoner was found within their knights, they would bind a contract with them to ensure the maximum performance in defending the kingdom, even if that meant wasting a chance at reaching Award 1000. A lot was unknown about what changes and side effects occurred when a vessel bound new contracts over and over, but Queen Sinceria was the greatest example of that. (Perhaps even more so than Isabelle who had been forced to repeatedly bind contracts according to certain rules to artificially break her soul. ) She had bound so many contracts that the structure of her body was gradually changing and she was obtaining an inhuman beauty.
Kyousuke breathed a heavy sigh and shaped his hand like a bowl to grab Olivia's small head as she tried to rush toward the mountain of food.
"...What brings you to this event, Your Majesty?"
"There is no need to be so formal. If you marry Via, you will be a royal just like us, so feel free to treat me like your own mother. Hee hee hee. Yes, think of me as a beautiful, kind, and somewhat defenseless mother-in-law?"
Kyousuke sighed again. He had been pivotal in ending Kingdom F's civil war, so she may have wanted to bring him into their bloodline so they could call it a victory for the royal family, but like a true ruler, she was acting like it was already a done deal. She gave no thought to his circumstances...or rather, she saw it as the greatest possible promotion in life, so she saw no reason for him to decline. It was the same unbeatable joker played by Cinderella or Snow White to live happily ever after.
No.
| ← Ch. 089 | Ch. 091 → |