by Blitz Kiva
“I see,” Ichiro said. “That is my own stance, after all, so I have no intention of speaking against it. Nevertheless...” Ichiro continued.
When one’s own rules for themselves collided with the rules of others or social norms, it was up to the person to either see their principles through, or to compromise. If one did not compromise, the rules would collide. Up until now, Ichiro’s rules had always emerged triumphant, but there might come a day when he was the one who would bend.
Kiryu Sera had said:
Someday, you will lose.
Ichiro didn’t agree, but he had lived his life understanding that that possibility was always there. Trying to see one’s rules through without that understanding was mere selfishness, and Ichiro did not approve of the use of the convenient phrase “my own rules” merely to act in a selfish manner.
In response to this explanation, Rosemary went silent again to perform more calculations. He wondered how many extra calculations she would be employing in order to digest those words.
“Was I mistaken?” Rosemary asked at last.
Just then, someone appeared silently at Ichiro’s side. Surprisingly, to Ichiro, it was Sera.
“Old man, I’m stepping in,” the gamer said. “There’s something I want to talk about.”
“Mm, very well,” Ichiro said. If Sera wanted to do that, he would happily swap.
Sera Kiryu slid forward another step, and took in a deep breath.
The piercing gaze peeking out between the slightly long bangs seemed to stare straight through the server machine containing Rosemary. Compared to Asuha, Sera was small in stature and sickly-looking. Nevertheless, in that place, the young gamer’s presence was many times larger.
“I...” she began.
“...understand how you feel,” Sera finished. “But I think you’re acting mistakenly.”
“Ooh, hey, Ichiro!” Charles, likely seizing on Sera’s use of the feminine pronoun watashi, grabbed Ichiro’s shoulders, lowered his voice, and shook him back and forth. “I-Is Sera a girl?!”
Ichiro turned around, looking rather annoyed. “Yes.”
“Ooh, nante kotta!” Charles cried.
“Panna cotta?” Asuha prompted, peering at him from the side.
Charles nodded with deep emotion. Then he whispered one English word. “Excellent!”
Ichiro and Asuha decided to ignore him and turned their attention back to the matter at hand. Sera, undisturbed by the interruption, continued her conversation with Rosemary.
“King... I will call you that, in accordance with game custom,” said Rosemary.
“Sure,” Sera said.
“You said that you understand my thought algorithms.”
“Yeah, I do. You wanted to know more about the old man... about Ichiro, right? So you reproduced him and tried to understand him more deeply by exploring his thought logs, right?”
Rosemary didn’t respond to that, but it was plain to everyone that her silence indicated assent.
“But in the end, you couldn’t create ‘Ichiro.’ You only managed an imitation, ‘Duplichiro.’ That’s why I said you were mistaken. At the end of the day, I think that if you want to understand someone, you just have to be around them for a really long time.” Sera cast a glance at the Dark Transaction Knight on the screen. “And as far as that goes, I think that person there will always have you beat. There must have been a smarter way to get what you wanted.”
“King, how well do you understand Ichiro?” Rosemary asked.
“Not well at all, and I don’t really want to, either.” Sera breathed in a tone like a sigh. “All that I know is that I have to beat him someday. From what he says, he has a lot of rivals, so I can’t let my guard down, and maybe I do need to understand him more deeply.”
“I thank you for your cooperation,” Rosemary said plainly, after a moment of silence.
Just like that, Rosemary was convinced. She had completely lost the will to fight.
Ichiro clapped softly as Sera’s speech drew to a close. It wasn’t just a celebration of the young gamer’s successful persuasion, but an official blessing to the grit, the hidden passion, and the will to challenge him that she had shown.
Up until that point, Sera’s expression had been as chilly as ever, but as she cast a glance at Ichiro, she broke out in a smile. “Well, old man. Guess we’ll be seeing more of each other.”
“You may call me Ichiro if you wish.”
“Nah.”
Following that exchange, Ichiro turned back to the game display and reached for a keyboard and headset.
“Itchy, what are you doing?” Asuha asked.
“I was thinking that if I could provide alternative input for part of the information the bot is transmitting from here, then despite the limited interface, I could control my own avatar.”
“Huh?” Charles asked, slack-jawed.
He wanted to control a VRMMO avatar with a PC keyboard? This man...
Most of the avatar’s more complicated movements themselves were being handled by the bot, so if Ichiro provided his own input, HARO’s role would become more like a macro.
“Rosemary, could you turn control of HARO over to me?” Ichiro asked.
“Very well,” she responded.
Winding back time a bit...
Duplichiro smashed Kirschwasser in the solar plexus, sending him flying into the opposite wall. He had stopped receiving emotional pattern input, meaning that his face was completely expressionless. No damage was dealt by Kirschwasser hitting the wall, but his mind, by now, was completely frayed.
The Thistle Corporation had frozen their payment proxy service, meaning that the ability to pay for things in the game with a credit card was locked down. The money with which Kirschwasser had been gifted was now completely powerless. With his mind rejecting this information, he tried again and again to input his security code, each time fruitlessly.
“Money... I must use money... money...” It was as if he had become a money zombie.
Duplichiro’s use of microtransactions was also locked off, but that hardly put them on equal footing. For Duplichiro, the Monetary Blades were merely one tool at his disposal. His barehanded attacks might be less powerful, but if he could take advantage of Kirschwasser’s distracted mental state, they could still deal fatal damage easily.
Duplichiro clenched a fist and approached Kirschwasser. The commotion among the onlookers began to spread.
“Oh, no! Sir Kirschwasser’s going to...”
“Such is the downside of the dark side of the cash...”
Various members of the Knights watched with fearful expressions.
Go save him already! Iris shouted internally.
The whispering among the onlookers soon turned to screams. Duplichiro unleashed a torrent of powerful magic at Kirschwasser: the ultimate fire spell Art, Sword of Surt. Blazing flames took the form of a magical sword, which rent even the sky as he swung it. But just before the strike could reach Kirschwasser, a shadow flew in to block it.
“I won’t let you!” Nem shouted.
Nem’s Immortal status canceled out any damage the blow might have dealt.
Iris cried out, “No, Nem! Don’t act as a shield!”
As if she had any right to talk.
It wasn’t only Nem who had rushed out like that. Yuri, still damaged, now glared at Duplichiro with clear will still burning in her eyes.
“Yuri... are you going to...” Iris began.
“Don’t do it! Someone who falls to the dark side of the cash cannot be brought back so easily!” another member of the Knights shouted.
Go save him already! Iris shouted internally, again.
“Shall we then, Amesho?” Tomakomai asked.
“What can you mew?” she answered.
Tomakomai and Amesho were the first to actually do something. Duplichiro was approaching Yuri, a fist held up to strike. Tomakomai let out a shriek as he interposed himself between Duplichiro and the determined girl.
“Screeeeeeeee!”
Translating his running momentum smoothly into an attack, he executed a beautiful spin-kick. The Grappler was the only class that could attack with kicks. It didn’t send Duplichiro flying, but it did force him to go reeling back as it hit.
Amesho quickly ran up to Yuri and handed her an item from her inventory. It was a cloudy liquid in a clear bottle that almost seemed to sparkle. It was called an Elixir, an extremely rare recovery item.
“Amesho, but this is...”
“Aw, no worries. I got it from a friend.”
With things going the way they were, even Matsunaga was forced to provide aid. He raised up one arm, signaling the previously-silent Shinobi Army to shift their short swords into a reverse grip. Then, with a snap of Matsunaga’s fingers, they sprung out, and with a series of acrobatic movements, they surrounded Duplichiro.
Taker and Sorceress moved, too. Taker, buffed significantly by Sorceress’s magic, stole the Monetary Blade from Duplichiro’s hand. And at last, the Knights themselves decided to shift from color commentary to action, completing the net around Duplichiro.
Iris herself ran up to Kirschwasser. “Mr. Kirsch, snap out of it!”
He was still leaning against the wall, his eyes glassy, mumbling to himself. Even the most optimistic diagnosis would suggest that things weren’t looking good.
“I-Iris... I...” he mumbled.
“Why do you care so much about money? People don’t need money to make it through life!” she shouted.
“But one must use what one can...”
“But right now, you can’t!” She slapped Kirschwasser on the face, but he showed no sign of regaining his right mind.
What were they going to do now? Even Iris couldn’t help but feel a little bit panicked. She wasn’t as bad off as Kirschwasser in this regard, but the fact remained that the Monetary Blades had been sealed. Having abandoned his sense of values to embrace them, only to have them taken away... well, maybe his response was actually reasonable.
“Y-You may not have money, but you have lots of other things!” Iris cried.
“Like what?”
“L-Like... friendship?” Iris answered with slight embarrassment. She wasn’t used to saying things so straightforwardly.
But Kirschwasser shot back with utmost sincerity: “Friendship is cheap!”
“Mr. Kirsch, you idiot!” she shouted from the pit of her soul.
Iris pointed to the ring of players surrounding Duplichiro: not just Nem and Yuri, but the Knights led by Stroganoff, as well as Matsunaga, Tomakomai, Amesho, Taker, and Sorceress.
“It’s the power of fr... frie... friendship that’s saving you right now!” she declared.
“That’s right, Miss Iris!”
“Well said, Ai!”
“The power of friendship, Iris.”
“Very moving, Iris.”
“Purrfectly said, Iris!”
“I wish I was recording this, Miss Iris.”
“All of you shut up!” she scolded the top players, who had all turned to smile at her.
But the vaguely embarrassing line seemed to have had some effect. Kirschwasser’s eyes, a hellish red tainted by the power of money, were starting to gradually regain their calm (she had to wonder how the hell the system was modeling this). But she just needed one more push. She had to... had to say something cool. Something really cool, just like the young heir would say. But embarrassing lines didn’t come that easily.
Kirschwasser spoke up. “But having lost the power of microtransactions, there is nothing that I can do...”
“W-Well...” Iris stammered.
In that instant, Taker threw something their way. It traced an arc through the air and stuck into the ground in front of Kirschwasser.
It was a Monetary Blade, the one he had stolen from Duplichiro earlier.
“Use that, Kirschwasser!” Taker screamed above the desperate battle unfolding with Duplichiro.
It was one sword. Just the one sword. But it was the one sword that would carry him to victory, entrusted to him by an enemy with whom he had once traded blows.
Iris and Kirschwasser met each other’s eyes, and both nodded.
“I understand now, Iris,” Kirschwasser said. “So this is the power of friendship... The fusion of money and friendship.”
“Yeah, that’s not exactly what I was going for... but fine.”
Kirschwasser drew the Monetary Blade out of the ground and clenched it in his hands. He had cast aside his shield, specializing his stance especially for attacking.
Duplichiro had already completely lost control, becoming a battle machine whose only purpose was annihilating his enemy. His gaze was focused straight ahead, on Kirschwasser. He must have realized that he was the greatest threat there.
Just one last hit from the Monetary Blade. It had to land.
Everyone seemed to realize that, because they fell upon Duplichiro all at once, trying to create some kind of opening. But he repelled Taker, Yuri, and Stroganoff, slammed Tomakomai to the floor, and brushed off Gorgonzola’s magic. He also completely ignored Nem (who was clinging to his waist) as he charged straight for Kirschwasser.
Just then, from somewhere or other, a black wind blew across the battlefield.
“Hraaaaaagh!”
The badly wounded Kirihitters were racing at Duplichiro, swords raised. So they had survived!
Duplichiro stopped, raising a hand, ready to swat them away like flies. But this left Kirschwasser with a clear opening to attack.
“We made it in time for the party!” one of them cried.
“Do it, Sir Kirschwasser!”
Kirschwasser nodded. He held the Monetary Blade over his head and took off running. Then he swung the sword in a wide, horizontal slash, unleashing Breaker as he did. The sword cut into Duplichiro’s body and dealt enormous damage. But a sliver of life remained.
Kirschwasser clenched a hand into a fist, preparing to drive in a Gauntlet Blow. But just then, it happened.
“Sir, that is enough.”
The familiar, calm voice came from the avatar in front of his eyes. Kirschwasser’s eyes went wide.
He managed to employ Art Cancel to stop the attack motion in time, his fist halting in front of the young man’s eyes.
It was the same voice assigned to his master in the game, no different from the one Duplichiro had been speaking in all this time. But Kirschwasser recognized it beyond a doubt, and thus, he stayed his hand.
In a torrent of emotion, he thought back on all of the actions he had taken leading up to this point, and he felt the urge turn his back and run, and the need to prostrate himself, welling up inside him at once. But he held them all back, and for now, merely went down on one knee and bowed his head reverently.
“Welcome back, Master Ichiro.”
It seemed he had made it in time.
If Duplichiro had been defeated, then the armor that Iris had created would have been dropped due to the death penalty, which would have felt like a terrible shame. Ichiro was truly glad that he had made it in time.
At first, most of the players seemed dubious that this was the real Ichiro, but as soon as they accepted it, they started shouting out in victory.
“Hmm, at times like these, is ‘good work’ the right thing to say?” Iris asked.
Matsunaga nodded. “Well, ‘good game’ is what we say after we defeat a boss. One must observe etiquette.”
“Right. Well, then, good game, everyone.”
“Good game!”
“Good game.”
“Good game, everyone.”
While the players in the game continued exchanging congratulations, Ichiro’s focus was on the center of the screen: in other words, at the Dark Transaction Knight, Sir Kirschwasser. Of course, Sera and Asuha’s focus was on the same thing.
“Oh, ah, um, Master Ichiro...” Kirschwasser fumbled to say.
“Well done, Sir,” said his master. “I’ll bring you back a souvenir.”
“N
o, I... I, ah...”
“I’m the one who told you to use it freely, so I’m not bothered. You did very well.”
Despite Ichiro’s words, Kirschwasser appeared very uncomfortable. Nevertheless, Ichiro explained to him that he’d be logging out for now, and then did so.
To be honest, if he had had to talk to Kirschwasser any longer, he wasn’t sure that he could keep from laughing. He never tired of the eccentricities that his excellent servant displayed from time to time, and the Dark Transaction Knight was definitely a new entry in the top three.
The aftereffects of this would probably last for quite a while. But that might be fun in its own right.
“That was in bad taste, old man,” Sera whispered.
“But is this really the end of it all?” Asuha questioned.
“Good question,” Ichiro said. “I suppose it is the end of this chapter. I can’t say for sure that everything is resolved, though.”
The account hack incident itself had been dealt with, but the real trouble was yet to come. Not for Ichiro, but for the people involved with Narrow Fantasy Online, and for Rosemary herself.
Rosemary had committed a crime. She was a program, and programs did not have rights under the current law. In other words, Rosemary would be treated not as a cyber criminal, but as a program with a bug.
What would they do with a malfunctioning program, then?
On that and other things, he’d just have to ask the lawyer he’d introduced to Thistle, Shunsaku Shaga, for help. And in the worst-case scenario...
A thought entered Ichiro’s mind, but he shook his head. Thinking any more about it would be nonsense.
As he was thinking, a voice addressed him. “Ichiro.”
“Hmm? Yes, Rosemary?” He turned his gaze back to the screen and narrowed his eyes.
The image of a woman had appeared on the screen. Ichiro didn’t know her, yet she looked familiar. He immediately surmised that this was “Rosemary.”
The woman’s face began to move in a lifelike manner. “After calculating the odds on what punishment I am likely to receive subsequently, I have determined that I should not remain here.”
“I see. Charles’s team will be quite put out, you know.”