Until the Illusion King's World Opens...
"How long do we have to wait before the Illusion King's world opens?"
"It begins the moment the banquet ends."
"A banquet?"
"Yes. It's underway right now. It ought to be over before the day is out."
"Good."
The timing was excellent. More precisely, it was that very timing that had brought Yujun to the Illusion Realm instead of the Sky Prison.
At least the Illusion Realm connects to the Sky Prison. Small mercies.
Had he not even known a way to reach the Sky Prison, matters would have been far bleaker. And if he made Heminine the Illusion Queen, the authority to enter the Sky Prison would fall to him as a matter of course. However he turned it over, her proposal held nothing but benefit for him.
"I may enter the banquet hall, I take it?"
"There's nothing to gain by going in. You might only put my brother on his guard for no reason..."
"There is something to gain."
"What?"
"I can eat something good."
"..."
Heminine stared at him in sheer disbelief, but Yujun paid her no mind and took off toward the palace.
"W-wait!"
He turned his head at her call.
"What?"
"If you're going, we go together. You can't get in alone. The watch and the security are airtight."
"Is there illusion magic, by any chance?"
"Yes. It's laid all through the palace. Anyone ignorant of illusion magic who barges in blind could be left a mindless fool."
"Stronger than yours?"
"Oh, please. Even so, not that strong."
"Then I'll be fine."
"..."
At that, Heminine pressed her lips tightly shut. She had nothing to say. Her illusion magic, cast at full strength, had been blocked in the most absurd fashion—and the shock had cut all the deeper because her opponent hadn't known the first thing about illusion magic. She managed an awkward laugh.
"Still, we should go together. Other people will be watching."
"Understood."
Before they entered the banquet hall, Yujun spoke.
"And the down payment?"
"...What?"
"You don't expect me to help for free, do you?"
"R-right. What do you want?"
"What else would there be besides items?"
Heminine looked faintly relieved. The beauty of the Illusion Race far outstripped that of other species, even to outside eyes, and strange demands turned up often enough. There had even been a summoner who asked Sorsin—a man—to spend the night with him. It was a situation Heminine had every reason to worry over.
"What kind of item did you have in mind?"
"A Transcendence Grade item."
"...Have you lost your mind?"
"So you do know what Transcendence is."
"Knowing and owning are different things. I don't have one."
"I thought as much. Then a Mythic item will do."
"...Do you actually have something specific in mind?"
"I'd prefer to choose from among the consumables."
"You're not going to take it and run, are you?"
"Once I step into this so-called illusion world, I can earn the reward on my own, can't I?"
"That's right."
"Then I've got no reason to run."
"..."
"Show me."
Set against what he was about to accomplish, a consumable Mythic item was hardly excessive. If anything, it fell woefully short. Knowing that, Yujun made the demand without a shred of shame.
"Wait a moment."
"Now what?"
"You wouldn't happen to have a Synchronization Marble, would you?"
"A Synchronization Marble?"
"If you've got one, give me that instead."
"...I do have one."
"Really? Where'd you get it?"
"My mother gave it to me as a gift when I was little."
"Oh dear. And here I am asking for something that meaningful."
"Yes. What would you even use it for?"
"What are you doing? Hurry up and hand it over."
"..."
Faced with Yujun's bloodshot eyes, Heminine found herself backing away before she knew it. And so he came away with one more Synchronization Marble.
Current Synchronization Rate: 110%
Sorsin studied the player walking in beside Heminine.
"A human?"
Humans were a rare sight in the Illusion Realm. Barely five years had passed since they appeared, and beings strong enough to push into the Illusion Realm were hardly overflowing. He had heard they grew quickly, but that was only hearsay. He had never seen one with his own eyes. And yet the player Heminine had summoned this time was human.
Where does that confidence come from?
Was it even confidence? The summoning rite had failed. Had the wrong player been called by some mistake? He hoped so, privately, but he knew better. The aura rolling off the human was anything but ordinary. It was well contained, yet someone of Sorsin's caliber could catch a glimpse of its depth, if only a little.
Even so, the player I summoned is far better.
Sorsin's summon was a being of Heaven—and not merely that, but one of the higher races. No comparison to a human at all.
The banquet ended quickly. No one seemed to regret it. Everyone gathered there knew precisely what the banquet had been for: the last world the Illusion King had ever created, and the first he had opened to the whole of the Illusion Realm. The expectations of the Illusion Race were, accordingly, nothing short of staggering.
"What if I go into the world the Illusion King made and can't get back out?"
Yujun asked. The corner of Heminine's mouth lifted.
"You really don't know a thing, do you."
"Are you laughing?"
"What?"
"Never mind. So what happens?"
"You just die."
"And then I wake up?"
"Yes. You don't actually die. Your mind goes blank for a while, though. Think of it as a severe drain—utter exhaustion."
"I see."
He asked, but he hardly listened. There was no chance he would die inside the Illusion King's world. One entered, they said, by touching the golden statue set in the banquet hall.
"While I'm in the Illusion King's world, is my body asleep?"
"No. The Illusion King's illusion magic goes beyond even that."
"Sorry?"
"The Illusion King truly created a new world, and we enter it directly. It isn't a journey into a realm of the mind."
"...At that point, it's strange to even call it an illusion."
"He isn't the Illusion King for nothing."
Pride showed on Heminine's face—the ordinary look of a child pleased that her father was great. She herself had been born with the Illusion King's blood, so she had every right to be proud.
The Illusion King was not the only one with a child.
"Dad!"
He had only told Harp to keep his eyes shut for a moment, and the little one had actually gone and fallen asleep. Now he was awake.
"You're up?"
"Yes! But where are we going?"
"Somewhere that's hard to explain."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Moderately?"
"I can put up a really powerful shield, too! I'll help!"
Tell him it was dangerous, and he only seemed to like the idea more. The little thing was so endearing that a smile rose to Yujun's lips of its own accord.
"What's that?"
Heminine asked, curiosity piqued.
"My divine beast."
"A divine beast? You tamed a divine beast?"
"Yes."
"That was possible? I've never seen a player who owns a divine beast. Not once in my life. I've never even heard of one."
He wondered whether it really warranted such a fuss, but one look at her face told him a divine beast was, without question, an extraordinary existence.
That breath attack alone more than earns his keep.
There was no need to argue the worth of a divine beast—Harp's, least of all.
Time passed, and Yujun and Heminine's turn came. The two of them laid their hands upon the golden statue. Fwaaash—a flare of pure white wrapped them in gentle warmth, and before they could so much as close their eyes and open them again, the scenery had changed.
Hm?
It was a place both familiar and alien to Yujun: a city of cutting-edge facilities. Tiny flying craft darted among the towers, and a tidy, mechanical woman's voice poured out without a pause. Golems and robots larger than any human walked the roads at a measured pace.
"Amazing..."
That was Heminine's entire review.
"What is all of this?"
"Why are you asking me? It does look like a city of the future, I'll give it that."
"A city of the future?"
"One that seems a few decades further along than the place I was born."
"...?"
Unable to make sense of him, she tilted her head. She had no idea what Earth was, so there was no way she could have understood.
"What power moves those things?"
"Ordinarily it'd be oil, electricity, or batteries... but this is different."
"Are they strong?"
"No. Unless those robots have status windows of their own, there's no great need to worry."
An energy unlike anything he had ever seen was flowing from the robots and the golems—tremendously powerful, and highly efficient. Even so, they were only machines. They would hardly be a match for players with superhuman bodies.
That was when it happened.
Beep!
An outsider, I see!
A tin-can robot came clanking up. In a place where everything else was cutting-edge, it was the only thing that could be called old-fashioned.
"And what is this one?"
"A tin-can robot out of an old movie. Impressive that it still moves."
"You've been saying nothing I can understand since we got here."
Outsiders. See that you follow me closely!
With a creak, the heap of scrap that passed for a robot slid forward.
"..."
"We should just follow it for now."
"Without knowing what it is?"
"That'll come out in time."
Yujun, who had cleared no small number of missions and quests back in War of the Gods, knew perfectly well there was nothing to gain from making a scene here.
Did the Illusion King do a great deal of traveling between dimensions?
Perhaps he had actually laid eyes on a city of the future, taken inspiration from it, and designed this one. Otherwise there was no way he could have realized a cutting-edge future city—the sort that existed only in films—in such perfect form. What Yujun most wanted to know was what intention lay behind building it. If the reason was simple curiosity, there was no real need to fret... but he had a bad feeling.
Following the tin-can robot, he took a close look at the ordered city, and he found something strange. Aside from the members of the Illusion Race who had entered ahead of them, not a single living creature could be seen along the streets. Only robots and golems, and even most of the golems were fused with machinery. He couldn't begin to guess what the place was for.
The tin-can robot stopped before a four-story building, one of the smallest in the city. As it approached, the door opened on its own. The interior looked no more refined—shabby, and worn. The robot descended underground.
We have arrived, outsiders.
With that, the robot's movement ceased. Even the light pouring from its eyes went out.
"Welcome. I am Doctor Sammington."
To their surprise, a human was there to greet them. He was a middle-aged man with a face full of beard, and a mechanical prosthetic in place of his left arm. That was not all—mechanical devices hung all over his body, so he hardly looked like an ordinary human. Above all else—
Strong.
An immense aura sat in the man's heart, enough to startle even Yujun. The quantity was one thing, but the might bound up in that energy was nothing to take lightly.
"So there is a human the same as me."
He said it with open interest.
"That's right. Where are you from?"
"The planet Soyut. You as well, perhaps?"
"No."
"A pity."
Doctor Sammington scratched his head. Then his gaze turned to Heminine. The look on his face as he regarded her shifted, subtly, and returned to normal almost at once.
"Illusion Race?"
"You know the Illusion Realm?"
"The Illusion Realm, no. The Illusion Race, I do."
"How?"
"Because I've seen them now and then. And aren't most of the outsiders in the city at the moment of the Illusion Race?"
"That's right."
"Good. Shall we get to the point? You're curious why I called you, aren't you?"
"What is it?"
A faint smile touched Doctor Sammington's lips.
"I would like to propose a deal. It will not be one in which you lose. That, I guarantee."
"A deal?"
Yujun's face lit up. It was a word he liked very much.