In the Land of Leadale Vol. 6 Page 6

  “I managed to step in and stop him from getting too involved in uncanny affairs.”

  “Glad to hear it! But wait—you’re saying demons exist back in our old world, too?!”

  “Not many people can see them, but yes, they do exist. But no established summoning method was ever passed down, so any demons you attempt to summon will be a sham.”

  “…Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  This overwhelming revelation left Cayna at a loss for words. Yes, the existence of demons was partly to blame, but if anything, she was shocked her uncle would resort to such methods. Cayna remembered how he’d always say “You need anything? I’ll make your dad proud and spoil you rotten,” like it was some kind of personal motto. Cayna’s other visitor, her cousin Ako, would then sarcastically reply, “You never spoiled me like that, Dad.”

  “Ah, well, your mother and I have different ideas of child-rearing. Know what I mean?”

  “In other words, you caved.”

  “No, no, no! That’s probably not true! I’m sure I bought you stuffed animals.”

  “You mean, like, before I was five?”

  “Um, uh… Yeah, I guess so. Ha-ha-ha…”

  He was a pretty cool guy when allowed to make decisions, but unfortunately for her uncle, the women ran the roost. Watching him capitulate to his daughter was a little sad.

  Regardless, Keina knew Ako treasured the plush mascot she got at a certain amusement park as a child and remembered how incredibly embarrassed her cousin got when Keina tried to tell her uncle about it.

  “Um, Uncle Keisuke. Actually, Ako…”

  “Wh-wh-wh-wh-whoa?! H-h-hold on, Keina! That’s a secret! Don’t say another word! Got it?”

  “Huh? …O-okay.”

  At the time, Ako was terrified of looking like a child. The conversation felt like only yesterday, and Cayna felt a wave of nostalgia. She wished she’d known how concerned her uncle was, but Cayna was like a ghost or empty husk before the game came along. She’d given up on everything as Keina, and her mind was a constant swirl of hopelessness as she wondered what good she was if she couldn’t even move. She’d been in no state to hear anything to the contrary.

  “That was when I proposed a VRMMORPG that could save the heart even if the body was immobile.”

  “……What?”

  “I didn’t plan to profit off it initially. It was just a personal venture. I was told to save enough money to cover development costs if I wanted financial support, so I ended up starting a video game company…”

  “Huh? …Come again?”

  “After that, I needed employees, and the servers had to be built from scratch. As soon as I outlined my specific goals, our team fell straight into pandemonium. It was a rough time. Some fools even wondered who ought to be running the show.”

  “Wha—? Wait, hold up…”

  “Granted, I was only involved in the early stages. I left the development process to my staff later, but it’s still a mystery to me how they came up with such an outlandish aesthetic.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, just wait a second!”

  “What?”

  “I thought the whole thing about you being an Admin was just a joke, but you’re serious?!”

  “Haven’t I been saying that for a while?”

  It was a startling confession. There had always been rumors during the Game Era that Opus was an Admin, but Cayna figured it was all talk and never paid much attention. No one would have ever guessed that Opus himself would confirm such rumors.

  “By ‘save the heart,’ you mean…”

  “Precisely. The VRMMO Leadale was originally created to save Keina Kagami. Launching it nationwide was just a consequence of that.”

  “Whaaaaat?!”

  The series of bombshells was too much; Cayna’s shoulders sank with exhaustion.

  Her shock snowballed with each passing moment, and she had a feeling the pace wouldn’t let up anytime soon.

  In any case, there was no going back after everything she’d already heard.

  “You had a great time, right? You used to blubber about how happy being able to move around made you.”

  “…Oh yeah, I was really fixated on that…”

  Cayna was actually a little embarrassed by the memory. She’d completely forgotten up until that point.

  When she first joined the game, Cayna had been eager to share her excitement with whoever would listen. This, of course, was rooted in her freedom of movement and ability to go wherever her legs would carry her. That was why Cayna couldn’t help but pour her heart out to Opus the moment they met.

  Smiling brightly, she would immediately share her story with random players whether they asked or not. The first two ran off, but the third, Opus, was the only one who calmly and quietly listened to the very end. In fact, when she was finally finished, he gave her a compassionate pat on the shoulder and said, “That’s great.”

  It was fair to say everything thus far was rooted in that very moment. But what if their first meeting had been no coincidence?

  “Did you run into me on purpose back then?”

  “Well, I can understand why you’d be suspicious after everything I’ve told you. However, I don’t recall planning our first encounter—is what I’d like to say, but I take it that would be too far-fetched for you to believe,” he replied loftily. Opus didn’t try to explain himself or even admit it. That unapologetic, confident bravado made Cayna laugh.

  “Heh-heh-heh.”

  Regardless of how they’d met, she couldn’t end their friendship now and had no intentions to do so.

  “Something amusing?”

  “Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it. You just look funny when you’re all serious.”

  “Hmph. Nonsense,” Opus muttered.

  His satisfied nod was evidence he was patting himself on the back. It was one of his few behavioral tics Cayna noticed.

  “Okay, so you made Leadale specifically for me. That aside, why did you leave me in the inn?”

  “Because you lacked self-awareness.”

  “I lacked what?”

  “Since the very beginning, whether it be with me or anyone else, you would simply say ‘Yeah, sure!’ and go along with everything.”

  “…R-right, point taken. So…?”

  Cayna wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at but agreed anyway. Opus saw right through this and crossed his arms with a furrowed brow.

  “That’s why I wanted to let you stumble around unfamiliar situations on your own for a while. It was invaluable experience, correct?”

  “Yeah. It was…,” Cayna mumbled to herself as she recalled how lonely she felt upon waking up, how she befriended the villagers with the help of Marelle and Lytt and made her own decision to head to the royal capital.

  She’d even had a series of fortuitous encounters with her kids and grandkids. The next thing she knew, Cayna was so busy making friends with former players and raising her adopted daughter that her loneliness had long since faded away.

  “Thank you, Opus.”

  “What are you thanking me for all of a sudden? It’s creepy.”

  “I’m being sincere here. Don’t be so harsh!”

  “I see no meaning in senseless acknowledgment.”

  “I’m saying I’m grateful. I never knew being left on my own to observe and explore would be this much fun. So thanks.”

  Then, for the first time, Opus appeared flustered. He placed a hand on Cayna’s forehead and murmured, “No fever.”

  Bewildered, Cayna’s face flushed crimson almost instantly.

  A resounding thwack! followed by a subsequent rumble echoed behind Siren, who sighed as she kept her eyes on the road. Opus had undoubtedly said something insensitive again.

  “Honestly, he is so utterly twisted, that master of mine.”

  Twisted like barbed wire, to be more accurate. The image of Opus mercilessly sending all who approached him straight to hell with his artless, biting words fit him to a T. Siren giggled at her own colorful description.

  Inside the respite of the wagon was Opus lying flat on his back, a thorny mace sticking out of the lump on top of his head.

  This was an excellent example of just how much damage a demon Limit Breaker could take. Kuu smiled and twirled around his head like a halo of birds while the culprit Cayna sipped her tea with quiet poise. The prickly aura around her indicated how enraged she actually was.

  Opus recovered within a few seconds and calmly sat up as if nothing had happened. It was like watching a zombie in an FPS game. Even as a blood effect spurted from his head, Opus yanked out the thorny mace and tossed it back to Cayna. He was, of course, completely unharmed.

  Cayna put the weapon back in her Item Box with a single motion and passively set a cup of tea in front of him. For a short while, the two drank in silence.

  “…So why did I stay with you for so long?”

  She wanted to know why it took her two hundred years to wake up. After all, two centuries was a bit extreme to be considered oversleeping. Cayna previously had several physical impediments caused by her accident but didn’t recall ever being this lazy. She was well aware, however, that gaming had consumed her waking hours.

  “I’ll get straight to the point: It took a long time to get you synchronized.”

  “…‘Synchronized’? Like the sport?”

  “I’m not talking about swimming.”

  “So you were making music…”

  “No, that’s a synthesizer. I said ‘synchronize.’ It means to make two things into one.”

  “Oh… So I’m a chimera now?”

  “There were no monsters or animals involved. I just installed something.”

  “Installed?! You mean like a program?! Why?! What did you do to me
?!”

  “Glad to see you’re quick on the uptake, but there’s no need to get upset,” Opus replied flatly as he sipped his tea with a thousand-yard stare.

  “What did you install and where?! Humans don’t even have hard drives!”

  “They do, actually. In the form of an organ that normally operates at only ten percent.”

  “Ten percent… The brain?! You used my brain like a hard drive?!”

  “Wait, just calm down! Don’t whip out your Ancient God’s Blade in here!! I only mentioned the brain. I never said I put anything in it!” Opus could feel Cayna’s magic levels rising as she soundlessly stared at him with a glazed look in her eyes. He hurriedly waved both arms.

  He hoped to clear up any misunderstandings, but Kuu, who had been silent thus far, had a truly terrifying gleam in her eye. She was Team Cayna all the way.

  Opus collapsed in exhausted shock when Cayna’s demeanor instantly shifted.

  “Eh, I wasn’t gonna use that sword anyway,” she said, admitting to her bluff. “I never got the sense something was installed in me, though… What did you add and where?”

  Cayna tilted her head and patted herself all over. On her shoulder, Kuu tilted hers as well.

  “First, let me ask a question. What do you think happened to the game system when this world became reality?”

  “The game system? Um, it broke free and started floating around somewhere, right?”

  “It’s not a castle in the sky. No country would keep quiet if something like that was hovering in the air.”

  Even if an airborne fortress did pass by periodically, the earthbound people were unlikely to appreciate it. The three nations would probably conspire to capture it. One of the Guardian Towers was a floating garden that belonged to Hidden Ogre, but it was so well camouflaged no one would know the tower was there even if they looked straight at it. In other words, a floating tower couldn’t be realistic without the proper cover-up.

  “Okay, if the sky won’t work, what about underground?”

  “That’s just a standard dungeon.”

  “Huh? But isn’t it hidden?”

  “What do you think would happen if the system was left where people could easily find it? Everything would be over if someone looted it.”

  Opus looked more exasperated with each question.

  This was one of those times. Cayna recalled how Opus taught her to find answers within a conversation; she felt a chill as his cold, silent eyes bored into her. As she replayed their discussion, his final question made her gasp.

  “Are you saying you installed the game system…in me?”

  “Correct.”

  Opus applauded and grinned with satisfaction. Following his lead, Kuu cried “Wow!” and clapped excitedly as well. She clearly had no idea what was going on, but Cayna didn’t have the energy to complain.

  “Aren’t there side effects when you install something like that? Um, am I going to turn into a machine if I leave it in? Will I only be able to talk in beeps and boops?”

  “Relax! You sound like a retro sci-fi novel.”

  “Ouch!”

  Opus bonked Cayna on the head, forcibly snapping her out of her downward spiral of despair.

  “Now that you’re an actual high elf, your soul has infinite space. That’s where I ported the game system.”

  “How the heck could you install the game system in my soul?! It’s a soul! A soul! You can’t see it or touch it! There’s no outlet, either!”

  Correction: She lost her cool after all.

  “As a high elf, you’re functionally immortal. And high elves spend a lot of time alone. That’s why other races can’t endure long periods of solitude or replicate the strength of your soul. It’s a perfect match.”

  “At least get my permission first!”

  Cayna’s aggrieved protests were no match for Opus’s smugness. He was positively glowing with accomplishment. She reluctantly retracted her trembling fist and vowed to get her revenge one day.

  The game system within Cayna’s soul seemed to govern this world dotted with other players. Cohral’s comment about how things improved right after Cayna appeared further supported this theory. The incessant bugs and delayed skill effects up until that point must have been a result of the system still synchronizing with Cayna’s soul.

  But since Cohral was the only one who had mentioned anything odd, Cayna wouldn’t know if other players had similar issues unless she asked them. However, she had zero intentions of telling anyone she was synced up with the game system.

  Yes, better to keep this a secret. Being glorified didn’t sound like much fun at all.

  “Still, souls are pretty unstable. How did you install the system anyway?”

  “Hmm? Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m a master of transference.”

  “…Um, okay.”

  Demonstrating utmost confidence, Opus said no more. Cayna found herself nodding along simply because she had no reason to believe he was lying.

  “Oh, right. Also, Kuu runs the subsystem. The game system is more efficient when you’re together.”

  “………(Rage)”

  Why did this man keep adding fuel to the fire? She couldn’t decide whether to scream or cry. Cayna suppressed several emotions, including her urge to punch him right there.

  At that moment, she finally understood why Opus forced her to name Kuu and ensured the pair stayed together. The subsystem fairy herself seemed to have no awareness she was the subsystem and darted around innocently. Cayna figured she wouldn’t be too worried either if she approached life with such a carefree attitude, but there were a number of reasons why she couldn’t throw in the towel yet.

  “Anything else you’re dying to ask?”

  “Ah… I flipped out for a second and forgot my question. Can I get back to you on that?”

  “Hmph. Well, I’ll be around from now on, and you’re bound to have a few questions. If you wish to know something, ask me anytime.”

  Opus grinned fiendishly and gave a thumbs-up. Cayna listlessly collapsed to the cushion-strewn floor, exasperated that he’d picked that exact moment to use that gesture.

  “I’m wiiiiped.”

  “Wiped!” Kuu mimicked energetically, pressing her cheek against Cayna’s. The fairy’s face was squishy; Cayna felt her mental fatigue slowly subside.

  “I don’t even know what to tackle first,” she grumbled mindlessly.

  “Wouldn’t be the first time you jumped right in without thinking,” Opus shot back.

  Back in their gaming days, she often complained to him about quests and players whenever they worked together. Opus would dutifully respond to each one, and Cayna could now feel his presence fill the void in her heart.

  I see. Is this what they mean by ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’?

  “I doubt you will grow accustomed to his ego.”

  Oh, hush. Still, maybe I finally feel like myself again?

  “I suggest you do not let him get carried away.”

  “Trust me, I won’t,” came a reply from overhead.

  Cayna remembered Opus could hear Kee. Still lying on the floor, she stared up at him. He didn’t seem any less glum.

  “What do you get out of this, Opus?” she asked with sudden curiosity.

  In other words, was this really all just for her? She didn’t think Opus would have much to gain from helping an online acquaintance. Not to mention that she had no memory of meeting Opus in the real world before the game’s launch. She couldn’t begin to guess why he’d go this far for a total stranger.

  “Look, don’t worry about it. I benefit as well.”

  “…And may I ask how?”

  “Oh, you know. A little of this, a little of that.”

  He was being evasive.

  “Didn’t you say I could ask anything?” Cayna fired back.

  “Don’t assume I’ll spoon-feed you all the time. Try to work things out yourself,” he responded.

  “…Yeah, but still…”

  What could this man gain by working so hard to create a game for Keina, a girl who was alive in body but not spirit? He even did his best to give Cayna a new life in this world after the game’s service ended. His motives were cloaked in mystery. She was no mind reader, after all.

  Nonetheless, Cayna racked her brain. In her opinion, what he did was unnecessary. Tagging along with someone who spent her life in a hospital room waiting for death was no reason for Opus to sacrifice his own body.

  “By the way, Kee! You initially said I was disconnected from Leadale’s master system. If the game system has been inside me this whole time, isn’t that a huge contradiction?”