Chapter 31
In the simulation control room, I grumbled while manipulating the magic.
The magic was stiff and unresponsive, as if it had rusted.
If it were just a hinge, I might have prayed for the blessings of WD-40, but in this world, there is no magical lubricant to spray on magic… or wait, there is actually one right next to me.
“Tower Master, please help. This magic isn’t responding well, you see?”
“Huh? Where, where?”
The Purple Magic Tower Master, who was watching the grand adventure of Elaine and Pero, waddled over. I gently stroked the core magic circle that powered the narration while addressing the most urgent issue among the many problems that had arisen.
“It’s the narration. The Second Prince’s mind could be read exactly as it was, but in the case of the First Princess, the perspective keeps jumping to NPCs. It works properly when someone briefly immerses themselves in an NPC, though.”
“Aha… It’s because the First Princess’s domain is higher than yours.”
The Purple Magic Tower Master kindly pointed out, “It’s because you’re a noob.” Judging by that metamorphosis metaphor — whatever that was — she implied it wasn’t working because I hadn’t achieved something resembling an awakening. How wonderfully condescending.
If that was the case, the reason the entire simulation was creaking could be explained. It felt like the CPU usage was stuck firmly in the red, oscillating madly between 80% and 90%.
No wonder maintaining it was so strenuous. Apparently, I had to put in more effort to bestow Illusion Magic upon the First Princess.
“Hmm, ahem… should I help?”
As I was hunched over, tweaking the magic circle here and there, the Tower Master’s twin tails dangled in front of my face. Taking a sneaky sniff, I noted it smelled delightfully fresh and clean, like some lovely flower.
It was genuinely uplifting that she’d developed hygienic habits, but… occasionally, I found myself missing the Tower Master’s scent. Ah, those days when she bathed once a week.
Swatting away the twin tails tickling my nose, I turned down her assistance as gently as I could.
“Why?!”
“Because, Tower Master, your basic skills are all focused on offense. You know you’re planning to slightly shatter the First Princess’s mind to make casting Illusion Magic on her easier, right?”
“That… about that…! That was the plan, but! Just a little breakage is okay!”
The Tower Master made a remark that sounded suspiciously like something a Black Wizard would say.
No wonder poor seniors and juniors had their research crushed. It seemed that an uncontrollable impulse for destruction was sleeping deep inside her little heart. The old martial arts saying about being wary of children, women, and the elderly clearly applied in this fantasy realm as well.
“It’s true! If breaking a person’s mind a little would cause issues, wouldn’t everyone who feels sad be dead?! And besides… didn’t you smash the Second Prince’s mind mercilessly?!”
“That was an unavoidable accident.”
What did she expect me to do when the story took such a sharp turn? According to the news I had heard occasionally, the Second Prince had been extraordinarily active these days.
Somehow, he had rooted out a criminal guild that had been hiding in the underworld and gathered them as his own.
It might sound a bit delusional, but perhaps my session had somewhat… influenced the Second Prince.
Thinking this made me slightly proud. In some way, he had drawn strength to survive from me. It was also amusing in its own twisted way — moving people toward the direction I desired…
At that moment, a weight settled on my shoulders and neck.
Right as I had begun tuning out the nagging comments about how I was the one with an impaired personality for troubling so many hearts, including that of the Second Prince — who, by the way, had never been violent at all —
The grumpy Tower Master mounted my shoulders while I was crouched down. I could feel her warm body temperature around my neck. If she were wearing pants, maybe it wouldn’t feel so odd, but as it was, riding on my shoulders while in a skirt felt a bit inappropriate.
I forcibly shoved down multiple thoughts trying to surge forth. Questions like whether I should have worn thinner clothing, or what was currently happening with the back of my head, swirled in my mind.
To prevent my feelings from getting any weirder, I tried to change the mood to something comedic.
“Ugh, you’re heavy.”
“I’m light, okay?!”
The Tower Master patted the top of my head like a drum. It didn’t hurt, but I suddenly noticed that lately, there seemed to be a lot more playful physical contact.
Hold on a moment.
If it was difficult to cast Illusion Magic on an expert due to the significant differences in levels, then thinking back to when I showed Earth to the Tower Master — besides the very beginning, the narration definitely hadn’t worked properly.
If the Tower Master, being a vastly superior Archwizard, could show what she wanted while hiding what she didn’t in the session, then a terrifying hypothesis popped into my mind. I’m talking about that time at the department store.
The scene where the Tower Master was intensely ogling lewd underwear.
What if that had been shown to me intentionally…?
What if the Tower Master were actually a genius at seduction?
“What are you thinking to have that expression?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing…”
“I may not be able to create a simulation like you do, but I do know how to manipulate it, you know?”
The Tower Master raised her hand. With that simple gesture, the control over the meticulously crafted magic was snatched away in an instant. My thoughts on the Tower Master’s genius in seduction also grew stronger. If she could take control like this…
I built a mental barrier and tried to resist as much as possible, but the narration had its authority snatched away, sweeping through my mind like a tempest.
It wasn’t a grave situation of hypnosis or brainwashing. The Tower Master just read through my thoughts, cleverly avoiding the black-boxed parts. So, in the end, this was just another extension of a joke.
As the narration wrapped up its search, it proceeded to output a rather bold conclusion.
Output: If that’s the case, didn’t the Tower Master intentionally show you that she was looking through lewd panties at the department store?
Poof.
In an instant, I was almost convinced I could hear some sort of sound effect as the Tower Master’s face turned crimson. Around her, various panties of all shapes and colors appeared, spinning around haphazardly.
The startled Tower Master flailed her arms, trying to erase the illusory underwear, but there was no sign they were vanishing anytime soon. Caught in a moment of panic, the Tower Master seemed to have arrived at a rational decision; eliminating the only witness would be far easier than erasing the illusion she had created.
The Tower Master’s finger pointed sharply at the top of my head.
Even attempting to escape was futile; I was currently in a mounted position! With the Tower Master’s soft thighs enveloping me, there was no way I could dodge the impending attack!
Before the Tower Master could unleash her Death Beam, I frantically shouted.
“Y-Yuna, I love you! You’re my favorite in the whole world!”
“That won’t work twice, you know?!”
Zing. The Death Beam shot straight toward me.
I was thoroughly bombarded with it until the Tower Master’s embarrassment finally subsided.
While getting hit by the lukewarm Tower Master Death Beam, I pondered thoughtfully. I could sometimes read the Second Prince’s inner feelings, which made things easy, but the First Princess was a different story. There was nothing certain about her.
This was how it had to be. What Game Master in the world could perfectly read a player’s mind? The normal flow was to sprinkle crumbs, deduce reactions, and assemble the puzzle pieces of the story.
Thus, my immediate goals were laid out as follows:
One, immerse the First Princess deeply to enhance the Illusion Magic. In doing so, I’d grasp her core preferences.
Two, once I understood those core preferences, I would prepare a tailor-made ending scene to match.
Three, and ultimately — ####.
?
Something felt… how should I say? An oddly unsettling feeling crept in.
It was like the moment I was stacking cards to build a tower but missed the last piece before completion. A sensation similar to being meant to point at the moon but only staring at the tip of my finger.
After agonizing over it for a while, I ultimately gave up when nothing came to mind.
===============================================================
I had just passed the part where the First Princess fed a naive boy some fishy, squishy slime. This sharp dagger was something I’d planted myself — or rather, a sharp multi-purpose tool.
It was ideal if the bait could be open to multiple interpretations.
“If you’re asking whether it’s safe to drink… Even after filtering, it would usually cause stomach issues. Some might experience hallucinations or an increase in body temperature, or so I’ve heard.”
From the GM’s perspective, it unfolded like this:
=> This slimy substance may cause stomach aches or hallucinations, and could even have aphrodisiac effects.
Crucially, the ambiguity of whether or not it would occur was important. I could see dozens of futures. If the First Princess continued her close onee-shota interactions with Pero as it was, the side effect of the slime would lean toward a slight aphrodisiac effect.
If it seemed like things needed to be more tense, I’d throw in hallucinations; if the Princess didn’t appear to crave thrills, I’d wrap it up with a mild tummy ache instead. Conversely, in what I deemed the worst-case scenario, it would be necessary to use it as a means to propel the story forward.
The First Princess held affection for Pero while also harboring suspicions. If the narration had truly read her rightly, in a real crisis, she was ready to abandon Pero.
If she actually discarded Pero, it would complicate the plot.
That was the challenge with having a pivotal NPC take center stage in a scenario.
What would happen if the Second Prince felt no affection for Centra? How presumptuous would it be for lowly Resistance scum to think they could dine with me!? Everything would get ruined, including “Beer and Song.” I’d have to keep deploying noblewomen with a suspiciously strong preference for blonde hair.
So, here lay… Plan B.
If the First Princess grew suspicious of the innocent boy, I would swap out the romantic onee-shota tale for a quest to uncover an impostor. The slimy substance from before would lend me a hand in that.
In that alternate reality, the slime held wriggling eggs of a Variant.
Upon swallowing the slime, Variant larvae would hatch within Pero’s body. The larvae would feast on the boy’s brain And what happened next would vary with the circumstances. It made me chuckle with delight.
“What are you thinking about?”
At that moment, the Tower Master hugged me unexpectedly. Initially startled, I accepted it for the time being.
The Tower Master’s expression was clear as day. About 75% embarrassment and 25% concern. I couldn’t understand why she was propelling herself toward me even while so bashful. Did she think I liked contact? I did, but…
As for the concern… Did she worry I might overdo it? There wasn’t really a need to fret. TRPG was merely a hobby — just some fun pastime. No reason to worry at all. So I responded.
“Nothing much.”
I could feel a slight dizziness creeping in, though.
===============================================================
A crisis featuring a Giant Variant had been introduced.
The First Princess did not abandon Pero.
He treated her to salad.
I thought she might suspect that poison was mixed in, but she didn’t.
I introduced a young man with narrow eyes, Learo.
It was a setup to foster suspicion.
I quietly cast my fishing line. The choice was now in the hands of the First Princess.
===============================================================
From the get-go, the Purple Magic Tower Master, Yuna Yurensto Violetiris, had seen his oddities. It was that day, at that moment when all the Tower Masters gathered in a small village for just one boy — yet not a single one could learn his name.
From then on, the Purple Magic Tower Master, Yuna, had been watching him.
It was indeed a stroke of luck that he became captivated by the peculiar hobby of TRPG for two reasons. Thanks to that, he chose the Purple Magic Tower, and the progress of That was delayed.
After that, it was just days filled with surveillance and observation.
He possessed the talent of a Grand Wizard. Had he been in the Red Magic Tower, he would’ve wielded magic capable of incinerating half the continent. Had he been in the Blue Tower, he would have had the prowess to drown half the continent in the sea.
With such immense talent, he must have been chosen by That.
Little by little, he began to lose his mind. It started subtly, becoming somewhat shameless. His interest in others waned, and empathy faded away. He even forgot his past and the parents who gave him life, becoming entirely obsessed with a single goal.
One day, he brought back something interesting — a world. In this new, never-before-seen realm, Yuna saw the sincerity hidden deep within his heart before he was completely tainted by That.
It was an exhilarating dream — the search for a story. Together, they made a pinky promise on the railing of the hillside slum, with the moon shining brightly above.
From that point onward, he transformed, approaching madness. Making various excuses, he deceived his own heart, yet upon closer thought, they amounted to nothing but lies.
He was the master of the simulation world. Whether the Second Prince avoided events or not, he could always force events upon him, just as he had with Centra. But he restrained himself, diligently allowing the Second Prince’s heart to dry out.
He offered affection as sweet as honey before snatching it away.
Paying no heed to anything — whether the Prince’s status or the fact that a Grand Wizard and a Sword Saint were clashing behind him — he was too busy toying with the Second Prince. All while fooling himself.
Those consumed by That became such; madmen living solely for amusement and intrigue.
Watching the unfolding session of the First Princess, the Purple Magic Tower Master sensed the time was nigh. He would soon be fully swallowed… and that moment would be Yuna’s last opportunity.
Eventually, the time would come when he must confront himself.
Yuna desperately hoped that he, whose name had been swallowed, would find a way to look back at himself.
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