Chapter 76: Epilogue: The Present and Future for Each

"Nn, kuaa... Haa, I'm so tired. I need to get back in top form by next week."

Sunraku... or rather, Hizutome Rakuro, has a gaming setup in his room, but Uomi Kei—OiKatzo—woke up in a room that was superior in both price and scale. He wasn't playing a pro gamer for show or eccentricity; as a player known not just in Japan but in America and Europe, renting an apartment solely for gaming was a trivial matter for Kei.

"Still, Shangri-La Frontier really is a well-made game... I only intended to play it to kill some time."

He looked at the shelves where game software was arranged logically and orderly. As someone with a tournament coming up in a week, a forced march fueled by energy drinks like this wasn't something he should really be doing. But it was a fact that he had been swept up by the fearless smiles of his two friends. Kei downed a sports drink in one go and headed toward the bathroom while operating his mobile terminal.

"The opponent is 'Ivy Express'... They suck at metagaming (counter-picking), so I guess we'll manage somehow. In that case... hmm?"

Kei frowned and pondered the good news and bad news displayed on his terminal. He thought of the two people he had just survived a fierce battle with.

"No, but that's a bit too... No, wait. If we're throwing them at that guy, those two might actually be a decent choice... Well, whatever happens, happens."

Tossing the mobile terminal onto the bed, Kei entered the bathroom. Just before entering sleep mode, the letters "GGC" were displayed on the screen...

"Massive progress... It's massive progress for me...!"

Removing her headgear and moistening her dry throat with bottled green tea (homemade tea transferred into a plastic bottle, likely placed there by the housekeeper), Saiga Rei made a small gut pose.

They had passed each other by so many times. Originally, she started Shangri-La Frontier merely as a preliminary step to get used to the games he played, but she wasn't unfeeling enough to ignore the fact that the means had become the end. However, that had paid off, and she was now able to communicate with him more than ever before. She had nothing but words of gratitude for her sister, Momo (Saiga-100), who had half-forcibly invited Rei into her clan as a senior player.

"I-If we keep getting along like this, eventually..."

Eventually, we can have a friendship in reality. One might say, "Why not just talk to him normally in real life?" but Rei knew that while it sounded simple, it was extremely difficult. Besides, there was one other reason Rei was in a good mood.

(I was very surprised when I first saw that woman, but... game friends. Yes, we are game friends...)

Arthur Pencilgon. Because they were the same gender, Rei understood her natural poise. And from her sister's attitude, she realized that the player was almost certainly "Amane Towa" herself. When she first learned that Towa was close to him, she felt a sense of despair comparable to a fat giant clad in flames falling from the sky while crossing a suspension bridge on the verge of collapse. But if they are friends, it's safe. It is safe.

She felt as though Pencilgon was several moves ahead in the position Rei was currently aiming for, but she turned her eyes away from that point.

"Do your best, me... No, seriously!"

Saiga Rei (Saiga-0). Whether it is fortunate or unfortunate, she remains unaware that she is treated by him... Hizutome Rakuro (Sunraku)... as a "Dangerous Person who mercilessly obliterates players, even if it is PK."

I parted ways with OiKatzo at Thirdrema and used the last scroll containing teleportation magic, which I had swiped from Pencilgon, to warp to Rabitu.

"Now then......... What are you doing, Emul?"

"Fugyaah!! S-Sunraku-san!?"

I spoke to Emul, who for some reason had her head buried in a pillow on the bed. Emul jumped up at my voice and opened her eyes wide at the sight of me. Ah, come to think of it, I hadn't changed my head equipment. Where's the bird mask... ah, there it is.

"Look, the bird-person Sunraku-san has returned without respawning."

"Fwe......... Fubieeeeeeeehhh!!"

"Oof!"

I managed to brace my legs and withstand the impact of Emul, who dove into my stomach with the jumping power of a rabbit... and a Vorpal Bunny at that.

"Id's amaaaaaziiing! You zurvived desu waaa! Sunraku-zan, you defeeded Wezamooon!?"

"Come again?"

"I'm goig to tell Faaazeeer!!"

She ran off. It doesn't really matter, but the echoing, slightly messy mountain echo of "Desu wa~... desu wa~... desu wa~..." gave me a sense of déjà vu and made me chuckle a little.

A few minutes later, I stood before Vash, carrying Emul on my head—I couldn't tell if she was sobbing or laughing.

"Ueggu, eggu, sniff!"

"Wait, why did you blow your nose!?"

That was a handkerchief, right? Please tell me it was a handkerchief. I really hope it was a handkerchief.

"Oh... You done?"

"Ah, yessir."

"Then let's hear it... How was that 'Failure to Die'?"

"He was strong. At least... well, incomparable to the Losers-something or whatever."

I can assert that, excluding bugs, he was in the top class of strength among all the games I've played so far. If you include bugs, unreasonable attacks that surpass even [Tachikaze] become the default, so the ranking of strong enemies becomes complicated.

"Hah hah hah, I bet... Did he pass on satisfied?"

"He praised me, called it Splendid (Appare)."

"Is that so... Is that so..."

Vash nodded deeply, deeply, closed his eyes, and muttered softly.

"Nurture, and open up... It might be about time."

"About time?"

"Now, we're talkin' about us. Let's see... You, do you want to know the truth of the world?"

"......That's exactly what I've been hoping for."

Epic of Vorpal Bunny... Faster than anyone else, I was stepping into the chaotic frontier of this World (ShanFro).........!

"Though, for that, there's somethin' a little necessary you need to get."

"Roger that."

Before stepping in, a fetch quest, huh.

"Talk about losing some weight," Pencilgon chuckled bitterly. She ran from Firstia to Thirdrema, and then visited the Cavern of the Myriad Flowers. With unwavering hands, she dissolved all friend relationships except for Sunraku and OiKatzo.

"Alright, now I restart as a brand new player, Pencilgon."

That place no longer held any value beyond being a location. But that was a third party's value judgment; for Pencilgon, it was still a precious place. Beyond the moss that had lost its light and crumbled, through the dark tunnel, lay the field of Cluster Amaryllis (Spider Lilies). Pencilgon reached the end of the red carpet of flowers, arriving at the roots of the withered cherry blossom tree.

"I'm literally penniless, you know. I bought this by earning money killing random Goblins on the way here... Next time I come, I'll prepare something a little better. It's my first time using an NPC florist, ahaha..."

At the spot where she always spawned—by that withered tree which felt devoid of life yet had not crumbled away—Pencilgon placed a bouquet made of white flowers.

"I'd never seen this flower before, so I asked what it was. You'll laugh... It's called Setsunatowa (Ephemeral Eternity)."

Naturally occurring, it is a rare item that blooms fully in five minutes and withers in five minutes, making it plainly difficult to obtain. However, once harvested as an item, the flower will never wither unless destroyed. Living for a moment, remaining for eternity... The fact that this fictional (game) flower was named Setsunatowa was so perfect that Pencilgon suspected the admins had peeked at her personal info and were pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

"You called yourself a manuscript... a copy. But to me, you were the original text. You were the real thing."

Even if she was merely a game character. She showed emotions in response to Pencilgon's words, and the one who responded was nevertheless a game character.

"Set-chan. I'm going to try enjoying this World (Game) a little longer... I still have the 'homework' Set-chan gave me, after all."

———If you wish to know your roots, to know the truth of the world, seek out "Bahamut."

"Bring it on. Bahamut or whatever it is, I'll drag it out into the broad daylight, down to the marrow of its bones."

With renewed determination, Amane Towa (Arthur Pencilgon) immersed herself seriously into the game.

Wethermon the Tombguard. The man who bound himself with a vow and spent an eternity as a gravekeeper has gone to sleep. The remnant of the woman who, knowing her lover's clumsiness, harbored a wish strong enough to be carved into the world, has finished her role.

The world advances to the next stage, and the pioneers' hearts dance at the new unknown. The new frontier is opened, and the "Great Voyage" begins.

Shangri-La Frontier was about to heat up even further...

Author's Afterword:

With this, we conclude the run from the Prologue to the Tombguard Arc for now. I will be taking a break for about a week, but I plan to write character introductions and answer questions frequently asked in the comments section, such as "What is the proper walkthrough for Wethermon the Tombguard?" and "What was the lame walkthrough method mentioned in the 'Appare' (Splendid) dialogue?"