Special Story: In the World of Midgar (Part 1)
This is a story from long, long ago, so long that the person it is about doesn't even remember. In this story, no one was at fault, but no one was in the right either. She was just too powerful, unfortunately. That was really it.
Ever since she was born, or possibly even before that, she was too powerful. She herself knew that something was gravely off with herself. There was no fantasy in the world, just days of never-ending, unmerciful reality. People had no superpowers, and they could not use magic. Those who claimed they could on television were just those good at faking it. Fortune-tellers and prophets were all simply people extrapolating from the past to guess at the future, and none of them could actually do what they claimed. That was why they would strut around like a peacock reminding everyone of their achievement whenever they managed to be right, but when they were wrong, they would craftily pretend that they didn't remember ever making any such prediction.
People could not fly through the air, nor could they live without air. People could not produce fire from their hands either, nor could they combat aging. That was why all of that was confined to the realms of fantasy and fiction, only to be told of in fairy tales. All of this was simply a fleeting dream that could only exist in fiction, or it should have been.
She alone was different. In this world with no dreams and no fantasy, she alone had dreams; she alone was fantastic. She could use magic, and she had superpowers. She could fly through the air, survive being in space, produce fire from her hands, and if she wanted, she could stop growing at any time. She could even become younger at will. She had once tried burning herself to ash as an experiment, but even then, she'd never lost consciousness. All that had happened was that she'd lost her body. With her consciousness still remaining, she could get her body back in an instant if she wanted. Even life and death bent to her will.
Not even she herself knew why someone like her was able to be born. In fact, there was probably no reasoning behind it. After all, would anyone be able to answer if someone asked them if there was a reason the universe itself existed? No, surely not. There would probably be some scholars or religious figures who would try to answer the question with some convoluted logic, but without any proof, it would still be the same as if they hadn't answered at all.
There are always things that people cannot explain, as well as some things that will probably go unexplained forever, such as how the universe was created. If asked, the majority would probably answer with the big bang, but that invited the next question. Then what caused the big bang to occur? At this point, most would become unable to answer, but a minority of smart people would probably attempt to reason through an answer. They might say that something happened, or that there was some kind of coincidence, or maybe that some kind of component clicked into place. However, that would then invite another question. Where did such a thing come from?
By repeating this cycle, the conclusion that the beginning was nothing would eventually be reached. However, reaching that conclusion would erase all meaning. If there was nothing, then there would be no coincidence or component, and there would be no universe. Wouldn't the nothingness simply continue for eternity? After going that far, most likely no one would have a rebuttal, since this would be reaching into the area of philosophy.
Ultimately, there would always be unexplainable things if one inquired far enough, and she was probably one of them. She was something that could not be explained by reason. In fact, there might have been no specific reason behind her at all. She was from a completely failed place where human intellect could not reach and illogicality and inconsistency ruled. She may have been born because humans imagined God, or maybe humans were born because she had imagined them. She may have come from the universe itself, or it was possible that the universe came from her. Not even she herself knew which had come first. After all, she currently stood in a place where a sense of time could not take hold. She both felt that she could have been alive before the universe had existed and that she could have come after the universe had ended.
What kind of thing am I? Why was I born? Why do I exist?
Not even she could answer those questions.
In the end, it was probably all a coincidence, just like the universe that had sprung from nothing. Just like how a green planet called Earth happened to have been formed, and how life happened to have been born on it. Just like how fire and water existed and how time had begun as well. Just as how all things were born or formed, she was surely born as the concept of herself.
In other words, she herself was some sort of phenomenon, something that had even less of a chance of happening than the universe, a singularity that was able to be born and walk around on Earth. The biggest glitch ever to spring from the world.
She might have been the manifestation of all the unrealistic things that had been unnecessary when reality itself had been created. Maybe all the concepts and notions that had not been created in the world had taken human form and been born as her. This coincidence was basically impossible. It was as if someone had scattered computer parts all throughout the ocean, and they somehow came together and were assembled into a complete PC. There was an almost zero percent chance of it happening. However, she was born from such a happenstance. The impossible became possible.
Humans are beings who march towards death from the moment they are born. They lived with the fear of death their entire lives. However, she did not understand such things, and so she pitied humanity. No matter how much humans fantasized, they could never escape the cage that is reality. The only time they were allowed to dream was in their sleep.
How pitiful humans are, she thought. At the same time, she grew angry. Why does God not save these poor people? Look at how hard they're praying; it's almost comical. They're all wishing not to die. Why doesn't God reach out a hand to save them? Why, why, why?
Her questions were never-ending.
Why is the world filled with so much suffering? Why do people make so many mistakes? Why do they kill and hate each other?
People are scared, so they take up weapons. Though they seek peace, they cannot put down their weapons for fear of being attacked by others with weapons.
As long as the concept of conflict exists in people's hearts, then fear will not disappear either. If someone didn't have any means to protect themselves, they would just be killed, so peace and weapons go hand in hand. Deadly weapons and peace… though those two things are antitheses and will never mix, they've become synonymous. Just like that, people accrue weapons, gradually become stronger, and most likely they eventually fall, burned by the weapons that made them too strong.
People recognize the inevitability of this future, at least somewhat. That is why there are so many postwar, postapocalyptic novels and stories in general. However, they still are unable to let go. If they do, they will be destroyed by others who haven't, after all. There would be no protecting themselves. So, wouldn't this be the point where God should step in? If a child picks up a toy that would hurt them, is it not the job of the parent to take the toy away? However, God is doing nothing.
These poor, unstable creatures need strict guidance! But no matter how they pray or wail, God pretends not to see. No, he surely isn't even looking. She paused. If God really exists, then he is heartless.
At some point, she started to think like that. After years, decades, centuries of living amongst people, the dissatisfaction she had towards whoever had made this world grew ever stronger each time she came to know of the suffering that she was divorced from.
Living things die. They leave behind children as proof they were alive, and they continue to pass the baton to the next generation. The reason living things exist is in order to leave behind children. They lived in order to leave behind proof of their life. That was probably a necessary evolution in order to survive. It had to be done in order to allow creatures to adapt to their surroundings and maintain diversity. By having generations quickly change out, resources were not wasted.
There were many other reasons why this was done, and she understood that. However, she still felt it was cruel. Because they were gifted with knowledge, humans all died while crying about not wanting to die. The will of this world was for everything that lived to die. There was no salvation; from birth, the world itself told them to die, to not survive.
Why was the world made this beautiful but also this cruel?
At some point, she went out on a journey to save people. From the sick to the wounded to the suffering, she reached out the hand of salvation to all those she laid eyes on, continuing to pick them up. She was called a savior, a saint, and a goddess. She saved, and she saved, and she saved, but it was hopeless. There was no end. After all, people were made to die. In the end, it was as if she'd never saved them at all.
Because the world had been made this way, she was not solving the underlying problem. In order to save this world, in order to free everybody from their suffering, she had to flip the world over completely. That was why she decided to change the foundations.
Reaching the place was easy; she simply flew through the sky and space so fast that light was not even close to catching up, until she reached the end of the universe. It was impossible for a human-sized lump of matter to surpass the speed of light. Even if it did happen, it would be disastrous. However, none of that mattered to her. After all, she was a singularity. She was unbound by the laws of this universe, and she contained multitudes of different laws and providences within her. She simply rewrote the common sense of the universe, applied what laws were convenient to her, and forced them into place.
Normally, cooling water would turn it into ice. However, if she said that the water would become fire instead, cooling water would then produce fire. Why? Who knows? She was able to do it, and that was that. The question of why never entered her mind at all.
"I can do it."
That was the truth, and that was all that mattered.
If someone saw the entirety of space at once, they would see that it resembled a brain, and that outside of that, there was nothing. There was just white that seemed to stretch on forever, and there was no god to be found. It was just endless nothingness.
"Ah… as I thought. There is no God."
She was disappointed at that. The salvation that humanity believed in didn't exist. There was no fantasy, and there was no dream. All there was was merciless nothingness.
I see. No wonder no one can be saved. No wonder no one stretched a hand out, no matter how people prayed. I mean, there's no one here. But from now on, things will be different. I can save them. I can stretch my hand out. If there is no God, then I will become God. If they pray, then I can be like the Gods from their dreamed-up myths, living beside them and listening to their wishes. After all, I can do anything.
"Okay, it's time to change things. I will save them. It's the end of this world with no God. From now on, I will love all of you. I will save all of you. From this moment, the true world begins!"
She laughed and was innocently happy.
From now on, I'll be God. I can save everyone. I can make them happy. It'll be fine. I will never abandon humanity. I will definitely make them all happy. I will save them!
A prisonlike world with no special powers is just boring, so let me split off another world. I'll use a piece of my power, mana, to make a new universe, populate it with stars and planets, and invite everyone there. People will be able to fly through the air and use magic, and I'll even let them have ESP like in the games. I won't put any fetters on evolution. If they don't want to die, then they can live for thousands or tens of thousands of years if they like. I'll even let them be immortal!
That's right. It will be sad if they just disappear after death, so I'll just create souls. That way, they can be reborn as many times as they like. I'll also prepare a place.Valhalla, I'll call it, to accept people after death and allow them to be reborn. I'll trap all the bad concepts, like violence, life spans, hating others, and bringing people down, in bad mana, and separate that to make a wonderful world where everyone can live in peace.
Everything started with a wonderful idea. She simply had a pure desire to make people as happy as possible. However, her ideals weakened at some point, buried under vast years of time. She forgot what she'd set out to do. All that remained was the desire to make people happy, but it had been bent and twisted. Finally, all that was left was rampant goodwill left beyond the edges of space, continuing to comically dance alone forever and ever without forgetting the ideal of making people happy but making grave mistakes on how to go about it.
Nobody could move.
Neither the king on his throne, his soldiers, nor even the court mages. Not even the king's advisor, who'd lived for over thousand years. Everyone saw that figure and was drawn in, absorbed in its presence and yet drowned in utter fear.
Her long, fluttering hair was the color of gold that formed into a long braided. Her eyes, which seemed to see through everything, were a fire-like scarlet. Covering her fair white skin was a majestic black dress and a cloak of golden.
Her appearance was so beautiful, symmetrical, and flawless it made one realize the difference between them and perfection, going as far as to result in feelings of misery.
And peeking out of her cloak was proof of being one of the flugels while at the same time being the taboo of the same race: large, pitch-black wings.
As if a true king had just returned, people bowed their heads in fear. They could not raise their heads. They could not face forward. Knees shaking, they assumed the position of a retainer welcoming their master home, heads stuck to the ground.
She was the perfect example of a king whose presence commanded the space around them, prompting people to prostrate themselves just by standing there.
She had the presence and dignity of a supreme ruler, one that would brook no argument, as well as the dress of a leader.
And in the center of that whirlpool…
The black winged girl who forced all the people in the castle to prostrate themselves, who gained total control of the place without lifting a finger, smiled silently and thought:
What the hell! Some people I don't know are bowing to me. What is this? A prank? What should I do? Just how did all this happen? Someone, please help me!
It wasn't anyone else, but her, who was most confused in that situation.
Why is this happening to me?
That's probably first in the order of things I should explain. But, there's something I should say before that.
I'm just a girl. A perfectly healthy, normal, everyday high school girl living in Japan. With that as a premise, I'd like you to listen.
First… let's see.
I was playing a game, just like usual. That game being Xgate Online.
Xgate Online was an online game that got released in 2020, and this year was their 6th anniversary.
Apparently, it was based off of a family-friendly, orthodox RPG set in Midgar, a fantasy world of swords and magic, which got turned into a tabletop RPG before having that turned into the online game we have now. Unfortunately, I never had the original console, so I never played the original game.
… No, well, I had considered buying it. The console was called "Dreamstation", or "Dreast" for short.
But the Dreast was a console from twenty years ago; it was really hard to find. There exposed immediately and ostracized and hated just as fast.
There was also one more selling point to this game. The "Story System".
It was a system that partnered with the internet's largest novel-submission site, where the things that players did in-game got turned into official canon in the form of a novel.
"I started a war for this reason."
"We went through this much trouble to finish a quest."
Send those things in to the official site, and anything they accepted would get displayed on the official homepage.
If you paid money, you could get even small events made into a story, so everywhere in Xgate Online was a story, and the players were all the main characters. And large, critical events were turned into stories free of charge.
My character, Haruka Heartfilia, became a semi-official character that all the players knew. She'd destroyed and taken over many enemy states and was the first character since the game started to combine the entire world into a single country and reign over it as the Black Empress.
Haruka Heartfilia, the Blackbird of Death, the Angel of Darkness.
That's right, once I managed to take over the world and create my country and empire, Zodiac. As one would expect, I couldn't take over the official last boss, the Grimm King, his minions, but everyone other than the free players became citizens under Haruka Heartfilia.
The above event was treated grandly by the above Story System, and people started saying a lot of different things about Haruka Heartfilia. If I remember right, they were things like, "You're a wild last boss," or "Geez, why don't you just become the last boss?" But then, a problem happened.
A unified world was, honestly, not fun game-wise. It was a waste of a fun mechanic in the War System, and made it harder for new players to make their own new countries. So, I consulted with the other seven high-level players, and we agreed on holding a player-created event.
We contacted a famous novelist on the site and had him create a new "crux of history." The story went like this:
The world was invaded by the Black Empress Haruka Heartfilia and unified through force.
However, the heroes rose up.
Even while being ruled, they waited for a chance, and along with others who agreed, they stood against the root of evil, Haruka Heartfilia, in rebellion! Oh, great heroes of Midgar. Such bravery is true nobility!
Now, drag the Black Empress who exploits tyranny to no end down from her throne!
Yeah, I'm straight-up the bad guy.
Essentially, we split the world into two forces: the Zodiac's Army led by Black Empress Haruka Heartfilia, and the Army of Justice led by the heroes. Then, we proceeded to leave the official last boss in the dust as we held the biggest battle in the history of the game by ourselves.
So to spoil the conclusion for you, I lost. I mean, basically all the most powerful players were on the other side! As if I could win.
But I still tried my best. By the time I noticed, I was already alone, but I still rampaged as hard as I could.
I used my racial skill to neutralize all the weak players, around 80% of them, and did my absolute best and managed to take it to a one-on-one fight with their leader, a female warrior named Erza Belserion.
… Well, at that point my HP was already dipping past the 20% line, though.
Yeah, it was over in one hit.
I made the first move and managed to bring my opponent's HP down to 0 once, but she used the skill "Climax", something totally for main characters, to revive herself and win a miraculous come-from-behind victory. At least, that's how she played it.
I mean, she definitely took that last attack on purpose.
After getting hit by Erza's, and the rest of heroes', ultimate moves in a show of complete overkill, I was subjected to a subspace seal (a magic spell that exiles someone or something into subspace, or so the flavor text goes). It even came with the description: Finishing an enemy with this will extend the time it takes for them to revive.
Please stop! I'm already out of HP! Well, I didn't like the idea of getting wrecked without even saying anything, so before I was completely gone I even tried to roleplay, saying, "Well done, heroes of Midgar! You have done a wonderful job surpassing us! If it's with all of you, you might be able to win, even against that detestable Grimm King!" … Yeah, uhhh… I was young.
Just like that, Haruka Heartfilia lost, and the world was freed from her grasp.
That was how the end of the story went.
The reactions to it were really good. Enough that people said things like, "Like, this can just be the real ending," "That was a good last episode," "Hey, don't forget about the Grimm King (lol)!" "Grimm King? Oh yeah, the one that hid until Haruka was dead. Uhhh, what was his name again?" and "Lol, that's way too cruel." It was big enough that it basically sparked an internet party.
Even though I lost, I still managed to complete a huge event and was satisfied with that. I was even grinning from ear to ear as I looked at the message boards.
So, when I tried to log in the next day, an unfamiliar character popped up on the screen.
Her full name was the Goddess of Love and Creation, Lunaru. In the story, she was the one who created the world of Midgar, and to put it bluntly, she was basically the avatar of the devs.
She was a cheat character that popped up during times like when a player logs in for the first time or during official events, and although she does have her stats set, they're so ridiculously high no one would ever be able to even think of beating her.
Like, what the hell? 999999999999999 health? Are you screwing with me? Even bosses don't go past a million in this game, you know?
So, the official cheater Lunaru appeared and said this to me: "I shall bestow upon you a new role."
I took this as some sort of message from the devs.
Right now, Haruka Heartfilia was treated as a big boss character on the level of the Grimm King in Xgate Online. Of course, the game company wouldn't be able to ignore her, especially if the next day I tried to log in again after such a huge event like nothing had happened… yeah, I get it. Even I think it's kinda uncool.
I was thinking, like: If I just log in like this, what'll happen to the story if I just revive like nothing happened? So honestly, this was a godsend.
That's why I clicked the "Yes" option in response to the message.
I had no idea what kind of event it was, but I'd been getting through official events just fine up until now.
So whatever plan they have for me, bring it on, I say! With that thought in mind, then, my vision whited out.
And now, we're back to the beginning.
With all these people prostrating themselves around me.
I noticed the dress and cloak I was wearing, as well as the black wings growing out of my back.
Looking with my vision, which had gotten strangely good, and using a window that was a distance away, I saw an unbelievably beautiful girl reflected back at me. It was like a joke.
I… became Haruka Heartfilia? Nonono. No way.
Haruka was my game avatar, right? She was the beautiful girl character that I made after several hours of scratching my head over her.
"… Hm. Now, We're quite unable to grasp the entire picture… will someone explain this to us?"
… Heyyy!
I knew that my voice would be different I was prepared for it
But what was up with my speech?
I tried to say "Sorry, I'm not really sure what's going on, so can someone explain this to me please?" But instead, something needlessly pompous spilled out of my mouth.
Isn't this exactly how I used to roleplay Haruka when I was playing?
"What is wrong, children of man? Raise your heads. How long are you planning to lay there? Or is this the natural posture for your people? If that is so, We apologize for our ignorance." No, that's not what I meant! This is just roundabout sarcasm!
This isn't what I want to say.
"What's wrong? Please get up. If you keep staying like that we'll get nowhere. Also, this might be rude, but is this just how you all are normally? If that's the case, I'm sorry, I didn't know!" that was what I was really trying to say.
But like that it was just really oppressive.
Oh no, with this habit everything I say gets blown out of proportion. What should I do?
… Ah, right! That's what it is, my racial skill, "Pressure"! I probably have it turned on.
Uhhh, I should be able to turn it on and off… turn off, turn off! Come on, my Pressure!
Ghhh! My Pressure tingles…!
"… Ah, is that it? Excuse us, what a thoughtless thing We have done. Of course it would be difficult to talk like this."
Pressure, OFF! I tried to will it off, but unlike in the game, no convenient window popped up, and all these strange old guys stayed with their heads down and wouldn't move.
… Hey, I said OFF! You get it right? I want to stop my skill. Please, just take a rest, Pressure.
Ah, no, please turn off, I'm begging you.
My desperate pleas must have worked, as all the people that had stayed prostrated up until now raised their heads, and started sending terrified looks my way.
"Oh, ohhh… th-this figure is… no way… sh-she was alive…" Some stick of an old man with long ears dressed like a priest said while shaking like a leaf.
How rude. I don't remember ever dying. Ah, but didn't Haruka just die yesterday?
"O-Ohhh… what a mistake we've committed… something that will never be forgiven… never… just why did the ritual for the descent of the hero… instead of a hero, we have released the Blackbird of Death…"
"Hm, We understand now. It seems you all know of us. Then this situation, We shall have you explain it."
It seems like that elf geezer knows me. Then things should go a little better if I get him to explain.
In order to calm him down I put on a smile, and tried to place my words as nicely as possible to convince him I was harmless.
"Do not be so afraid, child of man. We shall do nothing to you… do not worry, and tell us everything."
But still, can't I do anything about the way I speak?
The Blackbird of Death, the Black Empress Haruka Heartfilia.
It happened one thousand years ago. The distinguished girl turned out, in the year 2000 of the Third Age of Midgar Calendar, to be hiding her true nature as an absolute ruler.
Her power would behead dragons bigger than mountains with a single swing of her arm, and her legs could carry her leagues in an instant. She was arrogant, and no one was more ruthless. Anybody that tried to stand against her would be beaten to the ground. Weaklings would not even be allowed to stand before her, and even the strong were torn to pieces like scraps of paper.
It was even said that she was the only opponent the Grimm King ever avoided. There is no shortage of historians who insist that if she had been allowed to remain in power, we might be living in a world without a Grimm King at all right now.
She was strong, relentlessly so. She used that strength to unite the world into her single country, "Zodiac", and ruled over all races, with the exception of grimmfolk.
However, being too strong incurs fear.
Back then, people were not nearly as weak as they are now. There were heroes that could oppose Haruka who gathered their courage and stood up to her.
The people came together, and with the objective of casting her down, they rose up against her.
That was probably the time people were most united in recorded history. Whether as a ruler or an enemy, for better or worse, no one united people like Haruka Heartfilia had.
The heroes, who came together with bonds like steel, splendidly brought down her stronghold. They defeated her loyal subjects, the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, and finally managed to drag Haruka herself to the battlefield.
The battle lasted the entire night.
The sheer aura of willpower that Haruka Heartfilia emitted would not even permit weaker opponents to stand, and out of eight million brave warriors, seven million of them had their wills crushed.
While carving through, piercing, or crushing countless warriors, Haruka ran the line between life and death. Even while being cut by swords, pierced by spears, and burned by countless magics, she finally managed to land a fatal blow on the chosen hero, Erza Belserion, the symbol of everyone's hope.
But Erza stood up once more. Using hope as her power, even after losing her life, she thrust her sword in order to destroy evil.
Then, the heroes all attacked at once.
Not even Haruka could escape unscathed. However, even so, she laughed.
With a pleasant smile, she shouted as if she would stand up once again: "Well done! Well done, heroes of Midgar, you surpassed us splendidly! We have nothing but heartfelt admiration for your bravery and strength! But do not forget, the darkness has not left. With your union, you may yet defeat even the Grimm King, but should you lose, the world will be plunged into even greater darkness. Whether your path is one of light or darkness, We will be watching from the depths of hell! Kuhhahahahaha… HAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Just like that, the story of Haruka Heartfilia ended. Having already been defeated, she was further sealed into subspace, and it should have been impossible for her to ever return to this world.
Should have been.
Ahh, but then how should I explain this situation? How should I explain this black-winged girl, giving off an aura of absolute presence?
"So, how long are you planning to stay silent? You, were you not going to explain to us this present situation?"
He, pitifully, was sitting across from Haruka one of the castle's meeting rooms. The old elf, who one thousand years ago succumbed to her Pressure without even being able to fight, thought:
Is this punishment from heaven for trying to summon a hero?
The object of the ritual was to draw in an uninvolved bystander from another world, and make them fight. Yes, it was a sinful thing to do. He knew that.
That's why he was sure he would receive divine punishment, and was convinced that he would be cast down into the depths of hell.
Ahh, but Great Creator Lunaru, this is too cruel!
It's too much to revive the Black Empress when we were trying to summon a hero!
In response to his confusion, Haruka crossed her arms and thought:
My wings are in the way; it's hard to sit.
The situation wasn't as serious as the elf grandpa was thinking.
It took several minutes of waiting for the silent, the long-eared grandpa to start talking. He threw glances at me every now and again, before immediately getting scared and hiding his face.
Even so, he started to slowly, word by word, start talking, while still being extremely jumpy and sensitive to whether I was getting angry at every little thing. His story could be summed up into three points:
Even after one thousand years, the Grimm King is so scary it ain't funny. Oh yes! Let's use an Xgate spell to summon a hero! But somehow, it wasn't a hero, but a last boss that appeared… ← We are here.
… So short! And it took him several tens of minutes to say that? Just how scared of me is he?
But more importantly, this place really was inside the game. I was already getting there myself, though. Not only that, it was one thousand years after the Midgar I knew. What kind of unknown world was I even called to?
No, but well, to tell the truth, I was a little excited at the situation.
I've always been optimistic, and I still feel like, as long as I'm having fun, I don't need to sweat the small stuff.
Now I could walk the world of Xgate Online, which I love, as Haruka, whom I poured all my heart into making. As an online game addict, this was basically a heaven.
Oh, right, the Xgate spell is derived from the name of the game, Xgate Online, and it was basically the blood and guts of this world.
The origins went back to when it was still a console game apparently, but it seemed that the protagonist of the original game was an average Japanese student. Said protagonist was summoned to another world via an Xgate, and over the course of the game's story basically was led to beating the Grimm King.
Anyway, for the online game it basically was there in name only… To think that bit of fluff survived. I actually felt a little moved.
Oh, wait, wasn't the hero supposed to appear in the year 3000 of the Midgar calendar?
Oh man, then isn't this timing perfect?
I dunno if an otherworld hero will actually appear here, in the online game world, but if he does I should totally get his autograph.
Still, I needed to figure out what to do now, first.
The elf grandpa and king over there have been looking so nervous for a while now and it's making me feel sorry for them. For now, it looks like I'm only going to be scaring them constantly by being here, so let's just show them I'm harmless and leave.
"… We see, We understand now. So the Grimm King is still alive and healthy… That one is also quite stubborn." The Grimm King got appended with a (lol) thanks to me, so hearing he was fine was a relief.
So, apparently, they tried to call a hero in order to counter him. Hmm… Yeah, sorry. I ruined your long-awaited coming of the hero scene.
"Ahh, do not worry. We do not feel like doing anything to this world now. We have already been defeated, our dreams shattered… there is nothing We want to do now."
"A-Are you telling… the truth?"
"Indeed. Although We lost, We were still satisfied with the ending of that fight. It's unfortunate that the ones who defeated us could not win against the Grimm King but… well, that is fine. More importantly, right now We just want to see this world and admire it." For now, I decided to throw all responsibility for the Grimm King to the hero that may or may not appear.
I'd rather go sightseeing around Midgar than do that. I wanted to walk with my own feet, and see with my own eyes.
Honestly, I almost wanted to leave right now.
"A king with no followers and an empty throne. It would be laughable to continue to sing of our supremacy like this, no? Right now, We are not the Black Empress Haruka Heartfilia, but simply a girl who has had her dreams broken." I have no intention of being the Black Empress in this world.
Actually, if I did that I'd totally head straight for the most-wanted list. So I won't stand out, and instead have my fill of this world at my leisure.
As for how to get back to my world, well, I'll think of that later.
"So there is no need for your concern. Just forget about us, and do what you like, even try to summon another hero." I can't stand to sit here any longer.
I got up off my chair and opened a nearby window.
It was a strange thing, but I knew how to move my wings, something I'd never had up until now, like I'd always had them.
I even knew how to fly.
I was thinking that there was no way to physically fly with a person's body and these wings, but my instincts told me I could and gave me the GO sign.
"Well then, We will be leaving now. Let us meet again should the fates will it."
"W-Wai-!…" I ignored the voice trying to stop me and spread my wings.
I jumped, and my body flew through the air splendidly.
I put distance between me and the ground in an instant, and in the blink of an eye the castle was already the size of a grain.
I'm flying… I'm really flying! I'm, like, swimming freely through the air! How should I express this feeling…
Freedom. Yeah, it's freedom.
The joy of being free from the bonds of gravity.
My feet weren't on the ground; I was completely free and insecure, making my way through 3D space. I can go in circles, I can go up and down, I can fly as free as I like! "Heh, heheh… Ahahahahaha!" I flew above the clouds, before descending rapidly, before stopping right above the ground, like bungee jumping without the cord. I started flying up right after almost hitting the ground, and returned to the sky, where I could see the whole world stretching before me.
Right now, the vast sky was my dominion. There were no annoying crowds or traffic.
I could fly as much as I liked; I could go anywhere!
"Haha… Flying through the sky like this feels nice. Now then, where should We go first?" It was actually more troubling to decide where to go if one could go anywhere.
For now, this country was out. That elf grandpa might have put out an order to everyone to arrest me, and if that was the case it'd be annoying to deal with.
I just want to have a leisurely trip around the world.
"… Hm? Ohh, that's… We see, so it still stands." While I was wondering what to do, something appeared on the edge of my vision. That something was a black tower, climbing high into the heavens.
I knew that building that was like the picture of a rude gesture challenging the heavens. I could never forget it. After all, that was the building I built with my friends, a symbol of our power.
The Sky Tower of Heart's Desire "Heartfilia".
It was my base, made by me… no, by all of us.
"It seems our first destination is decided." I changed directions and flapped my wings.
The distance to the tower I could see in the distance was unclear. Most likely, it was pretty far away, but that was no problem for me as I was now.
After all, I have these wings to fly with.
"Hah!" I flew as hard as I could towards the tower.
It was a perfect chance to test just how far this body would go, and, most importantly, I wanted to try flying for real.
The scenery blew past me at a tremendous rate, and the wind caressed my cheeks. This was just my feeling, and I wasn't sure if I was right, but it felt like the scenery was passing me by faster than if I was riding a bullet train. And on top of that, I could pick out little details in the distance with my sight.
I could easily dodge any birds in my way, and it was easy to change directions while keeping my speed.
Ahh, it feels so nice. It's uplifting my heart.
Flying was such a simple thing. I never expected it would make me feel this free and be this wonderful! However, all good things must come to an end.
After only a couple minutes of flying, I reached the tower and had to suddenly put on the brakes. The wind blew violently, and the atmosphere shook. It was only logical that a corresponding amount of wind would follow
if something slightly larger than a human were to fly at that speed before suddenly putting on the brakes.
A weak opponent might be blown away with just the force of that wind. Next, I climbed.
Past the clouds and yet still higher, I aimed for the top of the tower, made so that only a fraction of the most powerful flugels would be able to reach it with their flight.
According to a fairy tale, Icarus, who flew too close to heaven with his wax wings, had them melted and fell to the earth. However, my wings were not wax. Something like the light of the sun would never melt them.
I didn't know how many thousands of meters above the ground the top of the tower was, but after reaching it, I looked for the sole entrance built there.
There were only two ways to enter the top floor: to come in from the sky, or climb up from the inside.
It was a troublesome little tower, if I did say so myself.
While reminiscing in my mind, I entered the tower and entered the area where only the leader was allowed.
In Xgate Online, players who created countries, or in other words armies, were allowed their own base. Most bases were castles, but there was no real need for them to be castles. They weren't popular, but temples or shrines or, in extreme cases, cafes for some reason could become bases.
It made me think: I'm not sure how I feel about the center of a country being a cafe, but since it was allowed within the system there was no complaining about it.
Out of all those multitudes of options, I chose the tower.
Players were free to design their bases how they wished, so I got really into it. I customized the tower even more every time our forces grew bigger, and I even incorporated the ideas of players with better aesthetic sense than me, so I managed to make this "Heart Tower" the single best piece of architecture in all of Midgar.
"… It's grown old and worn. But We still see the resemblance." One thousand years had passed since this tower was in use, so it was quite worn and dirty. Even so, I could still see the shadows and traces of what the tower used to be.
The first thing I did was introduce my butt to the deep crimson throne, which, even after being broken, still looked imposing in the room.
The broken window was once occupied with stained glass.
Red, blue, green, gold, brown, orange, and silver. It represented the circle of seven elements that existed in this world: Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth, Sun, and Moon. The glass, which even had the colors labeled, was now broken, however, with only traces of it remaining.
Elements in games were usually represented by the usual four: Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth, but Xgate Online 's elements were made with the seven days of the week as reference. In order of weakness to each other, it went: Water → Fire → Metal → Wood → Earth → Water, and the player was able to choose their character's element in the character creator.
Of course, this affected the character's magical abilities, so it was important for people planning to play magic users.
As for healing magic… in this world it was called "heavenarts", and was treated as completely different from magic so even the flugel race could use it, but the character's element also played a big part in it. Messing up and making a fire-aligned acolyte, when fire basically didn't have any heaven-arts in it at all, would make for a sad character.
However, failing like that was also one of the fun parts of this game. Running my fingers along the cracked walls, I reminisced on fun times. Everyone was there back then. Everyone who followed me talked about just how huge they would make our army, and we had fun with other conversations about pointless things or made promises to hunt together. We partied together like idiots way into the night, and drank like we were bathing in alcohol…
— No, wait a second. Why am I remembering it like I was there? Thinking carefully, the Haruka in the game was the one drinking booze. It wasn't me. I was sitting in front of my computer.
In the first place, I was thinking of it like it happened a long time ago. But it was only a few days ago that my army split in two. It was way too early to think of it like a nostalgic memory.
This won't do; could it be my memories are mingling in with "Haruka Heartfilia"? This was a mixing between games and reality.
Well, given how things are going that's exactly how it was, though. Also—
"How strange. This should be our first time seeing this, but We feel it to be nostalgic. We feel relaxed in this place." There was a sense of nostalgia welling up in my chest. It was strange, like I'd come back home after being gone for a long time.
Is something wrong with me? Or am I really starting to merge with Haruka herself? At the moment, I couldn't tell.
"… Hm?" Suddenly, I heard a sound.
In this place, where I should've been alone, someone other than me made a sound.
Without turning my head, I looked towards where the sound originated from, and saw an unknown girl.
She has long, red hair and light-purple eyes. She was wearing an orange dress and her skin was fine and white like fresh snow. Her face was amazingly well formed.
… I don't know this face.
At the very least, she wasn't a member of my army, whom I allowed up here on the highest floor.
Who is she? Why is she here?
"Big Sis! You're Haruka Heartfilia, aren't you?!" The unknown girl shouted and ran over to me, before gripping my hand.
She looked truly happy from her face to her smile, and I got that she was celebrating my return.
But sadly, I didn't know her. "You… Who are you?"
"S-So mean! Did you forget me?! I'm your number one little sister and loyal advisor, Naruko! For these one thousand long years, I've always, always been waiting for your return here, you know?!"
Naruko? Advisor? Little sister? What is this girl talking about? I had members of my army who acted as advisors, but none of them went by the name Naruko, and I didn't have an actual sister. Least of all a girl named Naruko…
"…!"
—No, there was.
Right, I remember now.
Back when I first made our base, I placed a lot of objects around to decorate the place, and I think one of those was a girl NPC.
That's right, characters were included in the objects you could place around your base. They just walked around randomly and had no meaning and were complete background characters, but I definitely placed one here.
I did it for a pretty meaningless reason, that being that it felt kind of lonely being in a base without any mob characters, so I ended up forgetting about her. I think I remembered getting high on myself back in the beginning and gave her a weird background like "Haruka's advisor and little sister."
But she wasn't capable of combat, and to be honest she was basically a decoration that happened to move around and was shaped like a person, so I didn't bother to remember her. So at some point, she really did start to become part of the background.
So, that girl who I completely forgot gained a will and has been waiting this entire time? Even if I didn't remember, she did? So she'd been loyally waiting here the entire time, fulfilling her role of advisor?
"Ahh, yes… We remember now. Forgive us, Naruko. Something was wrong with us, to forget one such as you."
This wasn't a game. I felt like the truth, which I'd been taking for granted all this time, was suddenly thrust in front of me.
Even if I didn't care or forgot, this world had other lives that would be affected by it.
In the game, forgetting something slight like a decoration would pass with just a, "Oh I forgot about it. Oh well." But that won't fly now that they're alive, with their own thoughts and sense of self.
"Good work. Well done protecting this place while We were away, Naruko."
"Y-your praise is too much!"
I must never think of her as a "human-shaped decoration" ever again. I must always see her as an individual, a person.
"Excuse me, Big Sis. Just how did you manage to revive yourself?"
"Ahh, that? They tried to summon a hero… Excuse us, We don't know the name of the country. For now, the king of a country to the west made an error and returned us from subspace. Thanks to that, as you can see, We are free to move as We wish."
"West… That means the country of Laevateinn. Their movements have been hinting at a hero summoning for a while now, so that's what it was…" According to Naruko, that country's been trying their best to summon a hero for a while now.
Thanks for the hard work.
And, well, sorry. That I was the one to come out.
"Indeed, and so We are currently dull to the ways of this age. I have heard that that Grimm King is still alive and well, though."
"That's right! Those heroes that defeated you, Big Sis, those fools ended up splitting apart with their own countries before getting beaten to pieces by the Grimm King! They're so useless!"
Ahh, yeah. Sorry, Naruko. Splitting up the army was established beforehand. Actually, that entire event was made for our army to split up…
Well, as expected, the monolith that was Haruka's army crumbled, and after that many different players formed their own forces as they liked, aiming to be my successor. So that was how the world split apart, huh?
After all, fighting with the Grimm King was fighting with the official last boss.
Unlike me, where there was no prize even for beating me, beating the Grimm King had a clear prize to it. That was, rare items and drops. Of course, it'd be hard to get people to unite for that. In fact, there'd probably been vicious people getting in the way of others so they could get to the prize first.
But that's really just in terms of the game.
In this world, where the game was real, they split apart for some unknown reason, and no one knew why they lost.
No, in the first place, just how much of the game's settings were applied here? Was stuff that got cemented into the history of the game, like fighting the Grimm King, reflected here? Or did this place have its own history?… The more I thought about it, the less I figured I knew. In the first place, it was weird that game settings even applied.
Just what kind of relationship do this world and the game Xgate Online have? They definitely aren't just different worlds that happen to be similar.
"… Big Sis?"
"Ahh, sorry. We were just thinking. Naruko, if possible, could you tell us about what has happened since We left this world?"
"Yes, of course! If I can be of service to you, Big Sis, please ask me whatever you wish!" Naruko replied to me with a smile as clear as a cloudless sky.
W-what a nice girl… this girl might become my oasis in this place. For now, I've gotten something I need to protect.
It's a simple thing. Cute girls are the world's treasure. It's only natural you want to protect them.
"Then, starting from those awful, hateful seven women that defeated you: after the battle they were hailed as the Seven Princesses of Midgar, and they each formed their own country. Of those, four of them are already dead of old age, but three of them have long life spans, so they're still alive."
No doubt the Seven Princesses of Midgar were the other famous high level players from Xgate Online. Each of them mastered their classes, or specialized in a gimmick, and we went hunting or boss-killing several times together. They were former comrades.
… I wonder how they are. Are they like me, where on the inside they're players? Or not? Of course, I'd like them to be the former, but I won't be able to tell unless I see them in person.
For now, let's set meeting them again as one of my objectives while I travel around this world.
"All of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians are alive and well. However, they've all scattered and spread after you were defeated, and right now, I only know where six of them are. Out of those, two of them have sided with the Grimm King as revenge against humankind for having beaten you."
The Twelve Zodiac's Guardians… Their official title was The Heavenly Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, and they were NPCs or companion monsters.
One of the classes I'd mastered was "Monster Tamer", which gave me a skill to tame any monsters I'd defeated with a certain chance of success. Of course, once they became friendly their stats and data were changed from when they were wild. But for a Monster Tamer, who had almost no ability to fight themselves, taming strong monsters was a matter of life and death.
And I was… very lucky.
I'd gotten boss monsters that only appeared in events and rare monsters that basically never spawned at all. I managed to tame extremely rare high level monsters, and because of that I got full of myself and named the twelve strongest of them generals under Haruka, giving them the title of "Twelve Zodiac's Guardians".
For big bosses, it's cooler to have strong subordinates with titles like "The Four Divine Kings".
There was a time when I thought like that.
Anyway, please try not to pry into that stuff. It was a mistake of my long periods of chuunibyou youth.
… Well, to be honest, there are also things other than monsters mixed in, but that doesn't matter right now.
"The Grimm King, huh…? My my, even if this was brought on by our own worthlessness, they've done something quite shameful, haven't they? We will have to fix this promptly."
And one more goal for the trip. That is, to round up all the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians, and take responsibility and stop them if they're doing something stupid.
Man, to be honest, it's actually causing me stomach problems just thinking about how monsters I've tamed and raised are causing trouble. I'm gonna have to stop them, even if I have to beat them up a little, won't I?
"Hm… Naruko, for the three heroes that are still alive as well as the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians that you know of, are you able to put their locations on a map?"
"Yes, certainly."
For now, I'm going to see whether or not the heroes are the same as I am. And if the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians are doing something stupid, I'll stop them and return them to the tower. Let's make this the goal of my travels for now.
… Ahh, right.
And I need money, too. It's going to be really important to earn some money, since I've got nothing at the moment. I'm gonna have to find some way to make money, fast.
"It's done. I've drawn their locations on this map, please take a look."
"Mmm."
I took the paper from Naruko and looked at the map. Looking at the heroes first, the closest one to this tower was in the country of Svel, 1400km to the north. That was the location of the elven heroine, Juvia Lockser. And right next to Svel, at the base of a nearby volcano, was one of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians: Aries of the Ram constellation. She'd built a fort and was currently repeating attempts to invade the country.
… What the hell is that sheep doing?
Anyway, this is probably best as our first destination. I'll get an ulcer if I don't stop that dumbass sheep.
Oh man, prospects are grim, aren't they? But it's true there's a part of me that thinks this'll be interesting.
Now then, let's start by earning some money to travel with, why don't we?