Chapter 554: An Impossible Unreal One-Shot

Now then, having gained a one-hour advantage, we had arrived at the JGE venue.

"As expected of an entire island turned into an exhibition venue..."

"Sitting... next to each other... Ah, eh! Y-Yes! It's incredibly... spacious..."

Yes, it was spacious. Stupidly spacious; specifically, it was so wide you could see the whole thing on a satellite map without even having to zoom in that much. As expected of a state-of-the-art... well, previous generation mega-float. I've heard that over in the US, they're seriously constructing clusters of connected mega-floats. I wonder if they'll end up calling it the Ultimate Island Cluster Omega Float-ion? Probably not.

"Are there actual buses running inside the exhibition venue...? Anyway, where should we go first? Start with the ShanFro booth?"

"Y-Yes, let's. It's a game... w-we play together! After all."

I guess for a ShanFro addict like Rei-san, skipping it first thing wasn't an option. Well, even though I've distanced myself a bit recently, it's still my main game, and since it's bound to get crowded, heading there early is a solid plan. And so, we arrived at the ShanFro booth, which is where the vast majority of premium ticket holders were heading anyway.

"Whoa, this AR is insane."

"Sieg... wurm...!"

That's right, the thing welcoming the buses arriving at the ShanFro booth was a colossal dragon that looked like it could reach the very ceiling of the massive Mega-Float Site... One of the only seven monsters of its kind existing in ShanFro, whose memory was still fresh in my mind—Siegwurm the Heavenly Sovereign. Granted, it seemed to be nothing more than a purely decorative AR reproduction, so it didn't say anything upon seeing Rei-san and me. Which is obvious, considering the people standing here were Saiga Rei and Hizutome Rakuro, not Psyger-0 and Sunraku.

"For now, let's check out that NPC artbook we heard about in the advance info..."

"Ah."

My gaze turned toward the merchandise corner, and I froze. Noticing my reaction, Rei-san shifted her gaze as well... and upon realizing the reason I had frozen, she let out a short gasp.

It might seem like I'm changing the subject, but when selling these kinds of artbooks... there's a marketing technique where they show a few pieces of art in advance as "samples". It seems the ShanFro artbook was doing the exact same thing. And it wasn't a lie that these were the works of painters within the game world, as you could clearly tell each piece was drawn with distinctly different brushstrokes, but.........

"The titles are... 'Maiden of the Gravestone', 'White Cloth of the Heavenly Dance', and 'The Giant King and the Knight'......"

Uh, well, yeah, hmm. The first one is that, isn't it.

Although I've never seen it myself, it depicts a woman in mourning clothes standing atop a giant gravestone sword that I remember intensely well.

Uh, yeah, ah, right. The second one is that, isn't it.

Although I've never seen it myself, it's a painting of a guy fluttering through the air looking like a botched Halloween costume made of a white cloth with only eyes drawn on it, which I remember intensely well.

Hahaha, ah... yeah. The third one is that, isn't it.

I actually do remember seeing this one, it's definitely... a painting of someone who looks like a holy knight standing in front of the giant sword statue in Eleventar? I think it was, right before Fifticia.

"........."
"........."

Rei-san and I gently exchanged glances—no, strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to say that as a result of both of us averting our eyes from the sample images, we ended up making eye contact.

I mean, come on... it's literally me. The first one is from when I dropped that smug poem on the desperate old man whose name I forgot on the New Continent, the second one is the Festival Garment: Head of the DefeaterFesta Medje Khafie I wore during the Great Thirdrema Escape, and the third one is literally Rei-shi from when we were waiting to meet up in Eleventar? Or wherever it was...

"T-Things like this... happen too, huh..."

"The mysterious woman in mourning clothes and the mysterious white hood are definitely not the same person. Let's just go with that..."

I mean, look, there are about seven more samples, so maybe it's just a coincidence, or rather... Whoa, this painting titled "Hegemon of the Sword" looks like it depicts someone I recognize very, very well...

"Rei-san........."

"jUsT a sTrAnGeR'S rEsEmBlAnCe."

Your Sister... Right, just a stranger's resemblance, yes. Ah, but honestly, I'd genuinely want these pieces like "Parting the Sea" and "Prayer of the Saint" as actual illustrations... As for the familiar-looking holy knight, no comment.

"...Well, for an artbook, I suppose this price is reasonable."

6,000 yen... It's a bit pricey, it's a bit pricey!!! But it's not a bad purchase. Bought!!

Unlike me, whose hand handing over the 10,000 yen bill was practically dripping with lingering regret, Rei-san handed hers over without a single shred of hesitation, making me feel the biting cold of capitalism... Uuu, Commie-kun, will you accept me...???

Just like that, one of the strongest trump cards of Japanese capitalism vanished from my wallet, but I already knew I'd be spending money. No point agonizing over it forever... Besides, I'm more interested in the other main attraction: the character portrait machine. I see, so you log into the dedicated machine... Oh, and then you set the "Background", "Pose", "Equipment", and other things to generate a PortraitBromide. And the only things you can use are locations your character has visited, enemies you've encountered, and equipment you currently own or have owned in the past... Interesting.

Do this to this, do that to that... Kukuku, if I do this... As for the pose, let's grab one from the presets... This one? Maybe this one? No, this one's better...

"Done... It's a masterpiece."

The background is the center of the Sigmonia Frontline Valley, and the composition features Sunraku surrounded by a massive swarm of Crystal Scorpion-type monsters while leaning back arrogantly using an Elder Crystal Scorpion as a makeshift throne. The title is "Momentary Glory"... Yeah, if I actually got surrounded by the Scorpion All-Stars like that, I'd die instantly.

500 yen per attempt, huh... Maybe I'll make another one, since there's no line behind me. Maybe I should create a scene of me absolutely beating down Orchestra, as a sort of good-luck charm to make sure I actually pull it off? Let's see, Orchestra is... this one.

"Hm?"

Wait, was I selecting from the backgrounds? No... this is the monster selection screen, so why did the entire background just switch?

"Hnn?"

What is this, a bug? Or some kind of glitch? Is this thing registered as a monster object instead of a background? I can even scale the background theater up and down.

So if I do this... what the heck, I just created a bizarre image where a shack-sized theater is sprouting right in the dead center of Ruluiath.

"What am I supposed to do with this glitch..."

Wait... come to think of it, as far as I know, the only players who have actually encountered Orchestra are me and Mirei, meaning we're the only two people who would even have this problem.

I'm a man who is relatively tolerant of bugs, I just have to use it normally... Ah, I just thought of something good.

"Come to think of it, this is the ultimate flex..."

On this portrait generation machine, you can place any monster your account's character has encountered. If that's the case, there's a certain picture that only I can create at this exact moment in time.

Siegwurm, Wethermon, Lycaon (Shadow), Goldunine (both that specific clone and Wimp), Ctarrnid, Orchestra, and the final Unique Monster whose existence as one was definitively confirmed by the name displayed on this machine... Vysache the Immortal.

I placed the massive Siegwurm, Ctarrnid, and Lycaon in the background, set the relatively human-sized Goldunine, Wethermon, and Vysache in the foreground, and then shrunk the TheaterOrchestra down to palm-size—since I had an extra serving of personal grudges against it—and placed it right on top of Sunraku's palm, using the "Resting on the Hand" pose.

"Is this perfect or what..."

I titled it "Observer of the Seven Stars", taking the liberty of directly using the title awarded exclusively to those who have been involved with every single Unique Scenario EX.

Hmmm, printing it out in postcard size is only 500 yen, but I kinda want to make this one a bit more luxurious.

"Ah, come to think of it, Rei-san... Wait,"

"Ah."

Curiously turning my head to the side, I made eye contact with Rei-san at the exact moment she was purchasing the highest-tier Hologram Stand (10,000 yen).

CAPITALISM!!!!

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Author's Afterword

Ehh!? Are you telling me there's someone out there who made a two-shot of their crush's character and their own character after using the Chalice, and then dumped 10,000 yen on it without a second's hesitation even though they aren't even dating!!?!?!?