SWNOVELXO Chapter 141
[In the world before time, there was Yggdrasil…]
The narration at the end about Yggdrasil, the Demon King, and the primordial annihilation just went in one ear and out the other.
Still, the fact that it would always remain in my memory was just plain uncomfortable, but what can I do?
People have to learn to adapt to their given environment. With that mindset, I’ve been living as a girl for 33 years now.
Should I exclude the 7 years from this life? Anyway…
[Streaming will begin: 0:00:01 – NoName]
[World of Arseria – .]
[Broadcasting Time – 0:00:13]
[Number of Viewers – 5395]
– What happened? Are you awake?
– What? Is this the ending?
– Where’s Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella?
– Did you abandon Adella…?
– Is this broadcast actually crashing?
[‘Daehagwonsaengsalryeo’ donated 1,000 won!]
– Excuse me, teacher… Is Adella…?
In less than 10 seconds, 5,000 people joined.
However, the chat window was not moving fast considering the number of heads.
Was I making a solemn face for no reason?
For now, the biggest reason must be that Adella has disappeared from the party list.
– T_T_T_T_T_T_T
– Adella T_T_T_T_T_T_T
– Now that it’s the ending, we can’t go back, what should we do T_T_T_T_T
– T_T_T_T_T
– Adella, sleeping here… RIP
– This is just ridiculous…
“Looks like you all prefer Adella now.”
Still, the fact that they kept looking for Adella made me feel a tinge of jealousy.
After all, it was me who was streaming, and it was me who defeated Mephistopheles.
– That’s not what I meant, Room Leader T_T
– T_T_T
– I usually don’t cry, but ugh…
– In the end, is this the end?
“Don’t worry, Adella is safe.”
– In our hearts?
– That kind of joke doesn’t work, NoName!
– Don’t be too harsh on the Room Leader, they really did their best.
– Isn’t 10/10/10 the first clear?
└ That’s pretty insane.
– I saw you were using 5-circle magic freely.
[Do you want to exit the game?]
[
Exiting World of Arseria.]
The combat power calculation can wait for later.
Since the viewers were getting restless, I had no choice but to exit the game.
[Private Room]
knock knock
The place I was summoned to was just outside the private room.
I intentionally made noise knocking on the door before trying to enter.
But before I could even turn the handle, the door swung open, revealing a familiar figure.
A silver-haired girl with cat ears, the Adella we had longed to save.
“Huff… You’ve gone through a lot, Adella.”
Her hair was a complete mess. There must have been a comb on the table, she could’ve at least brushed it.
“Who…? Ahhhh… Huh… Is that you, sis? It’s really you?!”
“What? You recognize me?”
My current form was almost identical to how I looked in reality—a little black-haired child.
Despite the recent growth spurts, I still stood at 110 cm tall. So, well, at least I wasn’t 103 cm.
I had planned to tease her a little if she didn’t recognize me, but that plan went awry from the start.
Adella plopped down on her knees and hugged me tightly.
And there I was, cradled in her much smaller embrace, as tears flowed down her cheeks.
Tears soaked into my shoulder, but for some reason, being swept up in her emotions made me feel sentimental too.
As I patted her back while she cried for quite a while, the chat was already in chaos.
– Why is Adella here?
– We’re outside the game?
– ??????
– It’s a Private Room?
– ??????????
– What’s going on? How did this happen?
– Explain, NoName!
– DDDDDDDDDD
– What happened? What happened?
“Adella, what happened to that body of yours? Where are we?”
“Wait a minute… I can’t breathe, can you let go a bit?”
“Ugh! Sorry! Did I hug too tight?”
Here, my body isn’t as multifunctional as in the game world.
Of course, Adella must have been similarly nerfed since she was displaying average high school girl strength.
After pulling her away and sitting her down in an armchair to calm her down.
“People are curious about who you are. Look at the camera and tell them your name and age.”
– ???
– What the heck? LOL
– That line, ROFL.
“Um, um? So my name is Adella, and I’m eighteen years old.”
“There you have it, everyone.”
“Wait, is this heaven? Am I dead? This is not the cramped, shabby heaven I imagined!”
“Cramped and shabby…?”
– LOL
– OMG, what’s happening? T_T
– Is that really Adella?
– Ask if she remembers everything up to now!
– How the heck did you bring her here? DDD
– NoName is mad, LOL.
“This isn’t heaven. I’m not dead. To sum it up, this is the world I live in…?”
“Then it’s basically heaven, right?”
“No!”
“But you said you were an angel?”
“That doesn’t mean I’m an angel!”
“…?”
She was confused, struggling to keep up. The conversation was going in circles.
It looked like I had to turn off the stream for a while and have an honest talk.
“Just a moment, I’d like to ask for your understanding.”
*
“Wait, I was a character in a virtual reality game?”
“Do you know what a virtual reality game is?”
“Huh? Why do I know…? That word seems unfamiliar, but I understand it somehow.”
Adella trembled in confusion.
“Then does that mean I’m a fake…?”
Fake, copy, replicant.
All things derived from an original.
But I shook my head and denied her statement.
“No, the Adella I know is the only one.”
I pulled a tail comb from my inventory.
We were both sitting, her on the floor and me on the bed, as I gently brushed her hair.
It was quite damaged from the prolonged battles.
“Remember when I brushed your hair in the Abyss? You recall that?”
“Uh… Yeah…”
Adella’s back began to quiver.
Ignoring it, I continued combing her hair.
“We leveled up together, shared experience, distributed equipment, and defeated enemies. How can you say you’re fake when we have all those memories together?”
I went through every little detail of all the things we did together in Wagal.
From why she first dreamed of revenge against the academy, the noble sacrifices to defeat demons, to the countless regressions and crumbling worlds due to bugs.
Even if there were a doppelgänger with 100% matching DNA in this world, their differing experiences would naturally make them different people.
My sincerity seemed to have struck a chord as Adella’s head quickly turned my way.
“This damn world…”
Suddenly she spat out a curse and frowned deeply.
“Huh?”
“I thought it was strange! How could someone’s name be Etteugab C’pn? No parent would name their kid that!”
With an angry tone, Adella yelled.
I realized she was talking about an NPC’s name.
Flipping it would be NPC baguette; it’s definitely bizarre.
“And… and… Ugh! I was on my way to buy bread, but everyone walked by looking straight ahead, and when I was talking, no one responded… What kind of absurd world was I living in?!”
A sigh close to resignation mixed with her sob.
She hugged me tightly again. After a moment, to calm her down, I answered her questions.
“So, is this a real world?”
“No, this is an intermediary world.”
“What? Is this also a fake world?”
For a moment, she pulled away, her eyes wide.
Suddenly her tail perked up. Should I comb that too?
“To be precise, it’s virtual reality, not a world in a game. If you step outside that door, everyone you see is ‘real’ people.”
“Ugh, damn… Why is my life so tragic…?!”
“You’re not using cat language anymore, huh?”
“What are you talking about? Oh? Now that you mention it, I feel something’s changed.”
It was true; tacking on ‘nya’ at the end of every sentence would drive both speaker and listener insane.
I explained to her quite a bit about the world we lived in.
Adella’s ears perked up occasionally as she listened intently.
Despite the strong urge to touch her,
there were surprisingly more viewers urging me to resume the stream than when I ended it, but I had a lot to cover first.
“So, you’re more human than artificial intelligence.”
I didn’t know how it worked, but over here, they could kinda mimic “Persona Physis” with modern tech.
A being retaining its own identity was wrapped under the name ASI. And it was clear that Valpurgis was involved in that process.
The model governing Adella’s thoughts in-game would likely be located in Redwood City, California, but judging by the map, it was under the jurisdiction of Wearsoft.
When I listened to what the ASI personnel at the company said in our last meeting, they didn’t seem to be very well-versed in AI design.
So, if we were to unearth more about Valpurgis, we would need to pursue the manufacturers supplying ASI here; thinking that it wouldn’t be easy…
I cut out a lot of detailed facts due to time constraints, but Adella’s expression showed that she was already quite confused.
And lastly,
“Have you ever heard of a name called Al Zahab? Or the Kaizen Empire? Whether in the game or something memorable?”
“…Al Zahab? Nope, never heard of it. Are they important people?”
“Oh no, just asking.”
Adella had no connection to my past life whatsoever.
Well, it made sense since I couldn’t disclose anything even as a Persona Physis.
“Ah, but I have heard of something like that. When someone possessed my body, they kept saying they wanted to keep defeating Mephistopheles.”
“Kept?”
“Yeah.”
I think I remembered catching a glimpse of that in my mind.
Even when I lost control of my body, Adella was still talking to someone.
It might be the will left behind by the original body.
But what did it mean to say they wanted to defeat Mephistopheles over and over again when he only appeared once?
“Hey, sis.”
“Yes?”
“There’s one more thing I want to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“How old are you in the real world? I mean, what if you turn out to be like 40 or 50? I might feel a bit awkward calling you sis!”
“…”
The pesky cat was stuttering as she skirted around the answer.
“I’m seven.”
“Huh?”
“I’m seven years old in this form, so keep calling me sis.”
Slowly, I thought I should go see the viewers. I took her wrist and opened the entrance door.
“Whaaaat?! Is this a joke? Are you serious?!”