112. Time to Steel My Resolve
Since I ended up missing the game for an entire day without meaning to, I decided that I might as well spend today preparing myself to live in reality.
“Hellooo~ Baby~!”
“Hiii~ Mommm...”
“Oh my, oh my! You called me Mom! Mom!”
Sitting on the edge of the rooftop of an incredibly tall building, I casually answered Dorfin.
Below us stretched the glittering city, filled with the lights of people working overtime.
It was the kind of city people described as a city where the night never falls.
Ever since I learned about Pai's existence, I could feel the power of the Flow rapidly growing stronger.
More clearly than anyone else.
Maybe it was because my faith had become stronger.
Yeah.
Just like something out of a comic.
Look at me right now.
Sitting on the edge of a rooftop, staring down at the city while worrying about my life...
I seriously looked like some protagonist from a comic trying to act cool during an emotional scene.
“How have things been lately?”
“Hmm~ How should I put it? The roots go much deeper than I expected, so I can't even tell how biiig the whole thing is?”
“Haa...”
Even today, I had somehow ended up going on a da...
A d-date...
With Pai!
And considering how quickly people had started following us, it was obvious that the Chairman had his hands spread everywhere and could respond extremely quickly.
Even now, after I suddenly disappeared, I could see those people running around trying to figure out where I had gone.
It was honestly a little creepy.
“Still, those people aren't like me, Pai, or you, right? They don't have any special powers?”
“The ones chasing you right nooow don't. But if things get a little more serious~ people like you might start appearing toooo?”
Chairman.
What kind of fantasy novel have you been writing in this world?
An otherworld fantasy, perhaps?
Were you hit by a truck in some destroyed world and reincarnated here?
There was... a tiny possibility, wasn't there?
Seriously.
I had only come looking for Dorfin because I figured that since I was already outside, I might as well take care of some things in reality.
But the more I thought about everything, the more troublesome it became.
What exactly do I want to do?
“Actuallyyy? In places my baby doesn't know about, there are some amaaazing superpowered battles going on~!”
“Wow! Wow, I really hate that! I don't want anything to do with it!”
“Yup! I figured you'd say that! So I told them not to make contact with you!”
“Thank you! As expected of Dorfin! My master is the best!”
“Heh! Worship me more!”
“Dorfin is amazing! She's a goddess! When I grow up, I wanna be Dorfin!”
I gave Dorfin exactly the kind of praise she wanted to hear.
She couldn't stop smiling.
I had said something similar to Dorfin inside the game once.
She had become so happy that she'd clung to me far more than usual, leaving me completely flustered.
Maybe the Dorfin inside the game acted that way because I was the only person she could cling to.
In reality, she still loved hearing those kinds of things, but she didn't cling to me nearly as much.
“What a ridiculous world. Until recently, I was already losing my mind over World Gate's insane technology, but the more I learn, the crazier everything gets.”
“Thaaat's how it is!”
Maybe I should be a little more honest with myself.
I was in a good mood today.
So perhaps it was okay to admit a few things.
I was nervous.
I was anxious.
And the fact that I had a rough idea of the Chairman's true identity only frightened me even more.
What if everything I was doing...
was still happening inside the Chairman's palm?
That thought terrified me.
I wanted to drag the Chairman out of the position of mysterious mastermind as quickly as possible.
Because only after doing that would my life become even slightly more comfortable.
And because I couldn't do that right now...
I was becoming impatient.
Should I buy a building?
Should I invest?
But what if the Chairman destroys all of it?
At this point, I even felt nervous about ordering delivery food.
For the first time in over twenty years of living, I had finally obtained some wealth.
For once, it felt like my life was starting to work out.
So what if all of it suddenly disappeared like smoke?
I wasn't someone with that much courage.
This wasn't something happening inside a game.
I wasn't brave enough to confidently fight against something happening in reality.
“Still, you feel like you should do something, don't you?”
“...”
Inside the game, I'd somehow ended up taking on the role of a leader despite not deserving it.
At first, I thought it was simply because I was the Player.
But when I saw other Players getting pushed around by NPCs, or failing to blend in and fighting among themselves...
Maybe I had simply been lucky.
And now...
For the first time, I had found someone I wanted to share all of my firsts with.
That only made me want to get rid of the Chairman—the mysterious person whose identity and goals were both unclear—as soon as possible.
“So the Chairman really wasn't trying to create a new world?”
“Maybe not~ But then agaaain, maybe that is what they're trying to do! This old granny is working haaard to find out, you know?”
“...”
Should I join the superpowered battles Dorfin had mentioned?
