Chapter 626: The Melancholy of the Goddess of Genesis

The mornings of Tsukuri Tsukuyo, the World Administrator for "Shangri-La Frontier," basically begin in the afternoon.

It feels strange when put into writing, but Tsukuyo, who leads an irregular lifestyle that would make even a vampire tell her to sleep a bit more regularly, generally begins her activities in the afternoon (strictly speaking, she begins her work in the afternoon).

That being said, today seems to be a bit of an exception.

The current time is 8:12 AM. While it's too late to be called early morning, it's still a time well within the classification of "morning"... and unusually enough, Tsukuyo was awake.

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

Her expression was a complex one, looking as though all of her emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—had been boiled down together in a single pot... and it was obvious that whatever she had been watching just moments ago was the cause.

"Let's put aside the fact that I didn't like him to begin with, his words and actions weren't entirely bad..."

The difficulty adjustment of the Leviathan, and the revival of Orchestra's "Canon".

While specifically targeting a certain individual, the adjustments she made to bring the world closer to her ideal had caused one player to stumble, yet ultimately conquer the divine whale.

If one were to ask why he lost to Orchestra, it was because Tsukuyo revived the "Canon." However, the fact that he completely conquered the Leviathan while barely sparing a glance at the myriad of content and eye-catching elements she had heavily added alongside the difficulty meant that, to Tsukuyo, this player had acted in a highly inconvenient manner.

Even so, from what she had been eavesdropping on, despite occasional mood-ruining remarks, he and the other players had maintained their roleplay as inhabitants of this world. "Isana's" high affection rating was proof of that.

"He's actually quite capable," brought a sense of interest.

"He cleared it way too fast," brought a sense of astonishment.

"Know your place as an outsider," brought a sense of indignation.

"He is enjoying this world," brought a sense of jubilation.

"This world is even more wonderful than this," brought a sense of dissatisfaction.

Even a genius who causes technological revolutions on a whim cannot explain her own emotions using only zeroes and ones. To summarize, the external personality of the person known as Tsukuri Tsukuyo is built upon a spiraling structure of possessiveness and a desire for validation.

"Was the difficulty adjustment insufficient? No, both Orchestra and the Leviathan are characters fundamentally reliant on 'understanding.' Unlike the Genesis Monsters, they must ultimately be conquered..."

............

The ignorant and uneducated masses might only be capable of the idiotic thought process of mixing up Unique Monsters and Raid Monsters, but that is a laughable misunderstanding not even worth a scoff.

The essence of the Genesis Kin—or rather, the Kin called by the crass name of Raid Monsters—is that of an "Antagonist"... whereas the essence of the Seven Colossi, called by the crass name of Unique Monsters, is that of an "Opponent."

Without understanding that, the image of that idiotAmachi who treats them purely as enemies to be defeated crossed her mind, causing Tsukuyo's emotions to tilt toward anger.

That's right, that's exactly it. The fact that the brilliantly precious world of Shangri-La Frontier was being squandered as mere entertainment was nothing but a source of irritation.

"What do you mean 'external collab', or 'seasonal event'? There's no way Santa Claus would take a business trip to another star system. Finland was wiped out right down to the crust by nukes, for crying out loud."

............!

"...But, I suppose the possibility of the legend of Santa Claus remaining in the Divine Age databases isn't exactly zero. How irritating. It's even more infuriating because it actually leaves a little room for lore justification."

If her former classmate had intended to degrade it into a clichégame by only looking at the surface without understanding anything, Tsukuyo would have cut her off without a second thought.

However, the obsession that the woman named Amachi Ritsu poured into "games" was practically borderline insanity... She had read into and understood the world of "Shangri-La Frontier" deeply enough to actually hold an argument with Tsukuyo.

That is exactly why it doesn't just devolve into apathy... Clinging like a wedge into Tsukuyo's life with a feeling of hatred that borders on affection, that woman spends day and night glaring at the consoles, the parameters (and Tsukuyo herself), all to ensure the game known as Shangri-La Frontier functions properly.

.........!! .........!!!

But that wasn't the main issue here. The biggest factor currently plaguing Tsukuyo's mind was an unexpected event that had occurred inside Shangri-La Frontier.

"...'Vysache,' I'll ask you one more time. Why did you lend out Agatleo to a player?"

To borrow Amachi Ritsu's words, that weapon is an event weapon... and furthermore, it is originally a weapon strictly for NPCs. To take it a step further, its time to appear was supposed to be much later... Yet right now, "Agatleo" is in the possession of a certain player whose name Tsukuyo had memorized.

Faced with a situation where something that shouldn't have been lent out was lent out, Tsukuyo had investigated in a moderate state of confusion. From what she gathered, "Agatleo" had been placed under a system lock, rendering it usable only under extremely limited situations and conditions...

There was no human to respond to Tsukuyo's question. But in their place, one of the hologram windows Tsukuyo had whimsically left floating in the room displayed a string of text.

『SS7: Due to the nature, implementation history, and difficulty of the Orchestra of the Reverberating Nether's "Canon"... combined with the high affection rating from Vysache the Immortal, an assistance event was executed.』

.........!!!!! ............!!!!!!!

"Assistance... I see. So it hasn't deviated from the worldbuilding."

There was enough reason to accept it. The Unique Scenario EX tied to the Unique MonsterSeven Colossi "Vysache the Immortal" is heavily dependent on the hidden parameter known as "Vorpal Soul".

If this Vorpal Soul parameter is too low, the scenario itself will not progress... The four players who have currently triggered the Unique Scenario EX "Vorpal Epic" are as follows:

・Sunraku

・Akitsu Akane

・Psyger-0

・Imron

Naturally, there is a difference in the Vorpal Soul parameters among these four, and thus a ranking.

The possessor of a Hero Weapon, a top frontline player, a ninja who runs alongside a dragon... Even when compared to these players, whom Tsukuyo herself evaluated as "quite capable" and "targets to watch," the Vorpal Soul of the first-place holder in accumulated parameters, Sunraku, had double the score of the fourth-place Imron, and a massive 1.5 times lead over the second-place Akitsu Akane.

In other words, it was an achievement worthy enough for the character known as Vysache to acknowledge him as a "favorite."

Tsukuyo did not doubt the judgment of the sub-servers in charge of the character AIs for the Seven Colossi. After all, she was the one who had built them from scratch.

"A 4-to-3 decision... I see. Personal likes and dislikes aside, the logic holds."

.........!!!!!

In that case, while there may be some slight deviations, the world of Shangri-La Frontier was operating exactly as Tsukuyo desired. Accepting those deviations was also part of the magnanimity of the one who created the world...

Thud!

〜〜〜〜〜!!?!?

"...I was wondering what was distracting me this whole time."

Once locked from the inside, no matter what anyone did, zero external interference was possible unless Tsukuyo opened the door herself. When she opened the door to her private room on the seventh basement floor of the Utopia Corporation, she found Amachi Ritsu crouching there, clutching her knee.

"What is it? Did you bump your knee against the unopenable door or something?"

"Y-You bastard... You tampered... with the data for the Raid Monsters, the Leviathan, and Orchestra...!!"

"...I'm going back to sleep."

"You lit—"

Closing the door, she locked it. While pondering if she should upgrade the soundproofing... Tsukuyo's thoughts drifted back to her beloved world. Or perhaps, that was the only place she had ever been looking at from the start.

"Yes, yes. Just as Grandfather said... creating a world is just so much fun."

If Ritsu was facing Tsukuyo with obsession and madness, then paradoxically, Tsukuyo was standing her ground with equal willpower.

As she thought of the world of Shangri-La Frontier and smiled, there was unmistakably a light of obsession and madness dwelling within Tsukuyo's eyes.

---

Author's Afterword

There's no way a producer who goes 1:1 on a matchup diagram against a crayfish and takes recoil damage after throwing a tantrum knee-strike at a locked door exists in real life, right...