Chapter 1

—Is this as far as we can go?

It is. Even though we have the latest technology preserving the players’ lives, there are still limits to what we can do. Keeping them logged in for too long will have detrimental effects on their bodily functions.

It’s the same as space travel. In essence, if you spend too much time in an environment you haven’t adapted to live in, your body will start to break down.

So just as we planned, we will have our players log out for a short time. A few days will be enough for them to take some time to relax within reality.

In doing this, it should be possible to alleviate the negative effects to an extent. I’ve heard of this happening in some experiments before.

Well, this is a strange, new technology we’re using, so we should be careful with it. The contract does say that ES will take full responsibility if something happens—

But it would weigh on my mind if there were any victims.

Speaking of victims, Valkyrie is the only unit who was completely swallowed up into this.

We’re doing this because it looks like these instructions came from the higher-ups, but I’ve pitied them since the beginning.

Ahaha, sorry. It’s all because I’m not allowed to be oppositional…

Of course, in the worst case scenario, I would ignore my orders and rescue them.

Of course. And I would have no objections to that, either.

Sora too! Because Switch isn’t a group of evil magicians ♪

That’s right. Even the strongest governments or religions can’t allow us our freedom—And that’s why we magicians exist.

It’s not as if we aim to indiscriminately oppose our superiors like Trickstar or Crazy:B.

We’re in different positions. We have a different identity altogether. We’ll create our ideals, grab onto our dreams, in our own way. …And we won’t let anyone object to that.

Fufu. Right now favorable winds are blowing our way, so I’m not anxious at all. I hope things will keep going well right up until the end.

HaHa~ ♪ Sora will keep doing his best to make sure we have a happy ending!

Yes. Compared to Valkyrie and the others who are all fighting for their lives within the game, we get to take it easy and just watch over them.

But Sora kinda wanted to play in SHINSEKAI, you know~? Isn’t it boring to just sit around and watch them?

We’ve already told you several times—We’ll handle everything that needs to be done, so it’s fine if you go play in SHINSEKAI, okay?

Nope! Sora isn’t a child anymore! He isn’t going to play around innocently while he pushes all the work on the grown-ups!

All right. Then we’ll be counting on you, Sora-kun ♪

Actually, Switch’s fame has risen considerably ever since last year’s SS, when Sora started taking the lead in our activities.

That must be the achievements of you, Sora, who took our hands and pulled us along with you.

However. At this point, we still don’t have enough of a track record. We still can’t say that we’re better off now than we were before.

In order to change the world, we need power. And in this industry, it’s ES that holds all of that power.

For a while after its establishment, ES played nice with everyone, but once SS began, it bared its fangs and started revealing itself to be the monstrous beast it really is.

And Switch will take ES by the reins in order to create a world without even the smallest amount of misery or sadness.

Our experiment with the SSVRS and SHINSEKAI is the first step.

The SSVRS is a device which can make dreams come true on a scale never before seen—The benefits it brings to the table are innumerable.

We’ll patent it under NewDi, and it will become one of our most important selling points.

This is the cutting-edge technology that will reshape the world, in much the same way as the internet and smartphones.

Ahaha, our agency simply doesn’t always have access to money or influence, so it’ll be nice to have that kind of massive income.

It’ll really help us to manage the agency from here on out.

Right. RhyLink is an exception because they’ve been massively influential from the beginning, but StarPro and CosPro have the support of wealthy financiers.

And even though we’re one of the four powers of ES, between those three and our NewDi, there’s a clear economic disparity.

It would have been nice to get Suou-kun backing us.

Compared to Eichi-kun, even he seems poor, and on top of that he seems to be having some trouble at home as well—

Yeah… Sora talks to Tsuka-chan a lot on HoldHands, but it looks like he’s going through a really rough patch right now?

Right. And in the first place, we can’t just keep relying on the success of Knights forever.

However. The SSVRS could fill in the gaps that exist between us and the other agencies.

And from now on, we’ll be able to work freely and openly without the support of other agencies or the diversions and checks from Double Face.

Yes. Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical. Let’s try to wield what power we’ve earned fair and square in a just way.¹

So that we won’t experience regret again.

Yes. We may not know what the future holds, but we can’t just be bystanders and do nothing at all.

Complaining from the sidelines won’t change anything—We should make a role for ourselves in the story.

This time, to finally get our happily ever after.

……

? What’s wrong, Sora? Sorry, we were leaving you out of the excitement again, weren’t we…?

HiHi~? No, Sora loves watching you two, even more than eating three meals a day or playing games ♪

So it’s not that. Actually, Sora was looking at the information inside the game, and it made him feel a little uncomfy—

Uncomfy?

Sora doesn’t know how to put it into words, but it feels like someone else is slipping some weird things into the story we were spinning…?