Chapter 54

□【Reporter】Mary Adler

Let's organize the situation.

I went for a walk.

A girl was about to be kidnapped, so I helped her.

She got attached to me.

I almost got caught by the guards.

I took the girl and ran away.

It turns out the girl was actually the second princess of this country.

Organization complete.

If this continues, I'm on track to be charged with a combo of kidnapping a VIP and abduction of a minor, which will definitely land me in serious trouble.

What should I do?

"If I'm not careful, I'll be sent to 'prison'..."

"'Prison'?"

"Prison."

It is the isolation facility in <Infinite Dendrogram> where players who commit serious crimes are sent.

Serious crimes here mainly refer to criminal acts against Tien, and player-versus-player (PvP) actions are not included.

It would be problematic if they were included.

Travel to and from "prison" is completely impossible, and no player who has been sent there has ever come out.

According to information posted on the bulletin board by players sent inside, "prison" has various facilities and dungeons, allowing players to enjoy <Infinite Dendrogram> to some extent.

However, they cannot leave the outside world.

The location is unknown, and it is speculated that "prison" might be the only isolated server in <Infinite Dendrogram>, which uses a unified server system, but the truth is unclear.

Moreover, just committing a serious crime does not send you to "prison."

If you commit a serious crime and become a wanted criminal, you can no longer use save points in the country where you are wanted.

Save points are located in various towns and cities in each country, such as the fountains in the Alter Kingdom, and it is common knowledge that players usually revive from the save point they registered in advance after a death penalty.

Therefore, if you receive a death penalty without a save point, you will be sent to "prison" upon your next revival.

In a sense, this is a reasonable measure.

<Master> is practically immortal within <Infinite Dendrogram>.

A deterrent system is necessary to prevent players from repeatedly committing crimes and reviving.

Since you are a wanted criminal, you need to know your name, face, and charges.

Incidentally, if you are wanted in one country, you can still revive in another country where you have registered a save point.

This is colloquially known as "high flying."

Furthermore, powerful <Masters> can sometimes be embraced as a national asset even if they are criminals in other countries.

However, if the crime is particularly serious, you will be internationally wanted, and save points will be unusable in all seven countries.

There have only been a few precedents so far.

Incidentally, if you kidnap a royal, you will be immediately internationally wanted.

What should I do?

I think about it while looking at the princess's face as she munches on cotton candy.

"Hmm, what's wrong? You're staring at me. Is something stuck on me?"

"Just a bit of cotton candy."

I picked it up and put it in my mouth.

Yeah, it's sweet.

Well, first, there's the combo of the <Disguise> and <Illusion> I cast earlier. She won't be recognized as a princess so easily.

I could use <Presence Manipulation> to make our presence less noticeable, but if I do that, strong people might realize something is off.

So, it's fine as it is.

Now, the question is why the princess was wandering around in the city.

The guards were also looking for her, so perhaps she was on a covert tour.

It's like a Roman holiday.

Does Gideon have a place called the Mouth of Truth?

Like in that movie, where you stick your hand in the Mouth of Truth... Ah, no.

If I, a liar, put my hand in, it would really be torn off.

"Have you been thinking hard for a while now?"

"Yes, well, it's a bit of a comedy from the audience's perspective."

"Comedy?"

Let's get back to the question of why the princess is here.

The best way is to ask her directly.

"Oh, by the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Mary Adler, a [Reporter]."

"Ah! Mary! I am Elizabette, the second princess of this country!"

"......"

...She had no intention of hiding it.

But, she was wearing a mask... Was it just because she wanted to wear a mask?

"Princess, why were you in that alley?"

"Ah! I heard Gideon is a very fun city! But the guards wouldn't let me go out. So, I sneaked out for 'Mr. Mysterious'!"

...She really was on a tour.

Moreover, from the way she revealed her real name and status, it seems she had no intention of hiding her identity and just wanted to have fun.

Strong style.

"That's quite a big escape."

"Ah! I planned the 'timing' well!"

...Can a princess really escape that easily?

If that's the case, is this country okay?

...It can't be okay, can it?

The country has been in decline since the last war.

"I'm going to stretch my legs today! And then..."

"What do you mean?"

"Actually, I got lost on the street earlier... So, I want Mary to guide me..."

So, that's why she was in that alley.

Now, you want me to guide you, huh?

If I stay with her, I might be caught as a kidnapper.

However, I'm more worried about leaving this innocent and naive princess alone.

...There are a few points of concern as well.

"Sure, I'll do it."

"Really!"

"Yes, I never lie."

Sorry, I just lied.

◇

First, I asked the princess where she wanted to go, and she simply replied, "A fun place!"

The most popular tourist spot in this dueling city of Gideon is undoubtedly the arena, but it's a bit too bloody for a young girl to visit.

Well, the smell of blood doesn't reach the audience due to the arena's barrier system.

Players who receive fatal damage during a match are unharmed when the match ends.

It's a convenient and convenient barrier.

Incidentally, the arena with this barrier system was not built by the kingdom's people.

The setting is that the thirteen arenas that have existed in this place since ancient times were used as they were, and the city was built based on them.

A barrier that can negate fatal injuries is overpowered, whether by magic or science, and if it could be replicated, it would be misused in various ways.

The management probably considered this and made it a lost technology.

There are many such lost technologies. Like the underwater ruins that Gran Baroa is investigating.

Since the arena is out, I took the princess to the large square near it.

Like the main street earlier, there are rows of stalls, but that's not all.

Various performers, such as street performers, musicians, painters, and fortune tellers, gather here.

"Wow! Is this a festival!?"

"People gather here, so you can see various performances."

There were standard acts like juggling and acrobatics, as well as shows performed by <Masters> using their <Embryos>.

Among them, the most eye-catching... or rather, ear-catching, was the music performance.

It was a performance by a quartet... no, one person and three creatures.

A man wearing a bird-faced hat and waving a baton, a centaur playing a stringed instrument, a kishi blowing a wind instrument, and a kobold playing a percussion instrument.

Such an unusual band.

Despite only three creatures performing, it sounded like a large orchestra, which was quite mysterious.

Even some of the performers were stopped in their tracks by the performance.

Yes, it's a very good performance.

The piece they were playing was an orchestral arrangement of the opening theme of M☆nger Z.

It felt like a school band competition or a cheer at Koshien.

"Very powerful sound."

"Yes, it is."

It's a city of iron.

"Is that a human and monsters performing?"

"No, they are likely TYPE: Legion <Embryos>."

"Legion?"

TYPE: Legion is one of the advanced categories that mainly evolves from the basic category of Gardener.

The characteristic is the simultaneous deployment of multiple Gardeners.

The "multiple" aspect of Legion is what makes it interesting.

For example, a group of four elite Gardeners like "We are the Four Heavenly Kings!" or a large group of hundreds of Gardeners are both categorized as TYPE: Legion.

It doesn't matter whether it's quality or quantity.

This band seems to prioritize quality.

My <Embryo>, Alcanshelle, is also a Legion... but which pattern is it closer to?

Both are possible.

"Those are <Embryos> too, right?"

"Yes."

"I thought <Embryos> were something to fight with."

"<Embryos> can also represent the state of mind. So, not everything is born for battle."

In fact, there are quite a few <Embryos> that only have non-combat skills.

Since they reflect the <Master>'s personality and experience, it makes sense.

However, speaking of which... my <Embryo> is too focused on killing, and I can't help but mock my own state of mind.

The princess clapped and threw a tip to the band after their performance, then went on to see other things.

She ate soft serve ice cream, tried to catch fish-like monsters, and so on.

These are scenes you might see at a Japanese festival, and for a commoner, they are nothing special.

However, the princess was smiling very... very happily.

What is nothing special to me is a treasure to her.

"Next is a portrait! I want someone to draw my likeness!"

"Are you usually drawn portraits?"

"Yes! But they are stiff! And they don't look like me! I'm not that scary!"

It seems she has some trauma.

Portraits seen from a child's perspective might be like that. Like Beethoven in the music room or Bach's third eye.

Oops, I shouldn't have said that.

"Princess, if you want a portrait, I'll draw it."

The princess is under my <Illusion> now.

If I leave it to a painter, the portrait will end up looking completely different.

"Hmm? Can Mary draw?"

"Yes, I have the confidence to outperform most [Artists]."

One of the non-combat jobs, [Artist], has the <Painting> skill.

This skill allows you to draw lines and create art as you imagine, providing technical support.

However, if you can already draw, you don't need the <Painting> skill. I'm in that category.

Incidentally, skills like <Painting> and <Cooking>, which can be substituted by skills and senses that players bring from the real world, are called sense skills.

Another example is the <Deduction> skill of [Detective], which allows you to understand evidence, clues, and tricks in a case.

Real-life detectives wouldn't need this skill.

Well, I've never met a real-life detective player.

"Anyway, if you want a portrait, leave it to me. I'll draw you cutely."

"Yes! Then I'll leave it to you!"

The princess sat on a bench in the square, straightened her back, and looked at me.

Seeing her posture, I can really feel that she is a princess.

"Leave it to me."

I took out a sketchbook and a brush from my item box.

The page I opened had a sketch of Ray's dog-eared half-naked fantasy I drew earlier.

...I should flip a few pages to make sure the princess doesn't see it.

I put in a fair amount of effort, and it took a while even without coloring, but the drawing went well.

It's a caricature, but since she doesn't like realistic portraits, I avoided that and used my usual style.

"How about this?"

I sat next to her and showed her the sketch I drew.

"Wow! It's very cute! This is me!"

"Yes."

Since the original is cute, it was easy to draw a cute character.

"Mary is amazing! You can break through walls! You can run on walls! And you can draw!"

"No, no, it's not that impressive."

"Is it because you are a [Reporter] that you can draw?"

"No, it's not because I'm a [Reporter] that I can draw."

"Then why can you draw?"

Why can I draw?

It's because...

"I was a manga artist in the real world."

To be continued

The next post will be at 21:00 tomorrow.