Chapter 141

[In the Beginning, there was Wigrasil…]

The narration at the ending about Wigrasil, the Demon Lord, and the primordial destruction flowed in one ear and out the other.

Still, the fact that it would always remain in my memory was simply uncomfortable, but what could I do?

People must learn to adapt and live in the environment given to them. It has already been 33 years since I began living as a female body.

Should I exclude the 7 years from this life? Anyway…

[Streaming Starts: 0:00:01 – No Name]

[World of Arseria – .]

[Broadcast Time – 0:00:13]

[Number of Viewers – 5395]

– What happened? Are you awake?

– What? It’s the ending?

– Where’s Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella? Adella?

– Did you abandon Adella…?

– Is this broadcast for real?

[‘Save the Graduate Student’ donated 1,000 won!]

– Teacher… is Adella…?

In under 10 seconds, over 5,000 people joined.

However, the chat wasn’t moving as fast as the number of heads might suggest.

Was it because I had a solemn expression on my face?

For the moment, the biggest cause must have been that Adella disappeared from the party list.

– T_T T_T T_T T_T T_T

– Adella T_T T_T T_T T_T T_T

– It’s the ending now, but I can’t go back, what should I do T_T T_T T_T

– T_T T_T T_T

– Adella here sleeps… RIP

– It’s really unbelievable…

“Now it seems you prefer Adella over me.”

Still, hearing them call for Adella made me a bit jealous.

It was I who was broadcasting, and it was I who defeated Mephisto.

– That’s not what I mean, the host T_T

– T_T T_T

– I hardly ever cry, but ah…

– Is this really the end?

“Adella is alive. Don’t worry.”

– In our hearts?

– That kind of joke doesn’t work, No Name.

– Don’t be too harsh on the host; they really did their best.

– Isn’t it a 10/10/10 first clear?

└ It really is.

– I saw her using 5th circle magic freely.

[Would you like to exit the game?]

[▶ Exiting World of Arseria.]

It wouldn’t hurt to check the battle power tally later.

The viewers were pushing for it so much that I had no choice but to end the game.

[Private Room]

Knock, knock-

The summoned place was right outside the private room.

I intentionally knocked on the door and tried to enter.

However, before I could turn the handle, the door swung open to reveal a familiar figure.

A girl with silver bobbed hair and cat ears—it was Adella, the one we longed to save.

“Phew… You’ve worked hard, Adella.”

Her hair was in complete disarray. There should have been a comb on the table, at least she could have brushed it.

“Who…? Ahhhh… Huh… Is that you, Sister? It’s really you, Sister…!”

“What? You recognize me?”

Right now, I looked almost the same as my real self—a little child with black hair.

Even reflecting my recently grown height, I still stood at 110cm. Well, at least I wasn’t 103cm.

I was planning to tease her a bit if she didn’t recognize me, but my plan was thrown off right from the start.

Adella fell to her knees and tightly hugged me.

And she cried tears while being held in her small grasp.

My shoulder soaked with her tears, but I couldn’t help but feel choked up by her emotions.

As she cried for a long while, the chat was already in chaos.

– Why is Adella here?

– We’re outside the game?

– ??????

– It’s a private room?

– ??????????

– What happened? What’s going on?

– Clarify, No Name!

– ddddddddddd

– What’s going on?

“Sister, what happened to your body? Where is this place?”

“Wait… it’s hard to breathe, can you move back a bit…?”

“Oops! Sorry! Did I hug too tightly?”

Here, my body wasn’t as omnipotent as in the game world.

Surely, Adella had suffered a similar nerf, as she had the strength of an ordinary high school girl.

After releasing her from my embrace, I seated her in a comfortable chair to calm her down.

“People are curious about who you are. Please look at the camera and tell them your name and age.”

– ???

– What the hell, lol

– The dialogue, lol

“Uh, um… My name is Adella, and I’m eighteen years old.”

“That’s what she says, everyone.”

“Wait a minute, is this heaven? Am I dead? The heaven I imagined wasn’t a cramped and shabby room like this…!”

“Cramped and shabby…?”

– lol

– What the hell T_T T_T

– Is this really Adella?

– Ask her if she remembers everything until now!

– How on earth did you bring her here, ddddd

– No Name is mad, lol

“It’s not heaven. You’re not dead. In short, this is the world I live in…?”

“Then it is heaven!”

“No, it isn’t.”

“But you said you were an angel!”

“Which means I’m not an angel.”

“…?”

She was clearly confused. The conversation was going in circles.

It seemed I needed to briefly turn off the broadcast and have a heartfelt conversation.

“Please give me a moment.”

* * *

“Are you telling me I was a character in a virtual reality game?”

“Do you know what a virtual reality game is?”

“Wait? How do I know…? I mean, I’m hearing this for the first time, but I understand it automatically.”

Adella trembled in confusion.

“So, does that mean I’m fake…?”

Fake, replica, replicant.

All of them derive from an original.

But I shook my head and denied her words.

“No, the Adella I know is the only one.”

I pulled a comb for tails from my inventory.

She sat on the floor while I perched on the bed and gently started combing her hair.

After long battles, the ends of her hair had become quite damaged.

“Remember how I combed your hair back in Abyss? Do you recall that?”

“Umm… Yes…”

Adella’s back convulsed.

Ignoring that, I continued to brush her hair.

“We leveled up together, shared experience, distributed equipment, and defeated enemies. You have memories of everything we did together, so how could you be fake?”

I recounted every detail of our time in World of Arseria.

From the reason she dreamed of revenge against the Academy, to her noble sacrifices to defeat demons, and the worlds collapsing due to endless loops and bugs.

Even if a doppelganger with 100% matching DNA existed in this world, they would inevitably be different beings due to the experiences accumulated afterward.

My sincerity seemed to be settling in as Adella’s head suddenly turned towards me.

“What a terrible world…”

Suddenly, she let out a curse and frowned deeply.

“Hmm?”

“Yeah, I thought it was strange! How could a person’s name be Etteugab C’Pn? A parent shouldn’t name their child something like that!”

Adella shouted with a tone filled with frustration.

I thought for a moment and realized the name she mentioned belonged to an NPC.

The opposite would be NPC Baguette. Definitely strange.

“And… and… ugh! I was on my way to buy bread, but everyone was just walking straight ahead, and even when I spoke, no one responded… What kind of nonsensical world was I living in!”

A sigh of resignation mixed with her tears escaped.

Once again, she jumped back into my arms. I gently stroked her back until she calmed down, answering the questions she asked.

“Then, is this real world?”

“No, this is an intermediary world.”

“What? So, it’s also a fake world?”

She suddenly pulled back and opened her eyes wide.

Suddenly, she poofed her tail up. What? Should I also comb that tail?

“Technically, it’s a virtual reality, not a game world. Everyone you see outside that door are ‘real’ people.”

“Geez, why is my life so complicated?”

“Now you’re not using cat language?”

“What do you mean? Huh, now that you mention it, something does seem different.”

It certainly felt like adding ‘nyan nyan’ at the end of every sentence could drive anyone—both speaker and listener—crazy.

I went on to explain to her about the world we lived in.

Adella listened intently, her ears twitching occasionally.

Managing my desire to touch them was surprisingly difficult.

The viewers in Twish End Space were surprisingly more active than when I had cut off the broadcast, but there were still many points that needed to be addressed.

“So, you are closer to being human than artificial intelligence.”

I didn’t know how they did it, but on this side of Earth, they seemed to be trying to mimic the ‘Persona Physis’ magic through modern technology.

Entities maintaining self-awareness were labeled as ASI. And in that process, it was clear that ‘Not Applicable’ was involved.

The model controlling Adella’s cognition would likely be in Redwood City, California, but checking the map indicated it was under the jurisdiction of Waresoft.

When I listened to what was said during my last meeting with a corporate internal ASI official, it seemed their knowledge of artificial intelligence design wasn’t that deep either.

So, to delve into Not Applicable, it meant I’d have to consult with the manufacturer supplying ASI here, but that wouldn’t be easy…

I omitted these intricate details due to time constraints, but Adella already seemed quite overwhelmed mentally.

And lastly,

“Have you ever heard the name Aljahab? Or maybe the Kaizen Empire? You know, from the game, or something that stuck with you.”

“…Aljahab? No, I haven’t heard of it. Is it an important person?”

“No, not exactly, just asking.”

Adella had no connection whatsoever to my past life.

Well, given that I couldn’t reveal myself as Persona Physis, it was natural for her not to know.

“Oh, but I heard something like that. I mean, when someone took over your body, that person kept asking to defeat Mephistopheles again and again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah.”

It felt like I had caught a glimpse of a memory.

Even when I lost control of my body, Adella was still conversing with someone. It could have been the will left by the main body.

But what did it mean for someone to repeatedly request to defeat Mephisto when he only appeared once?

“Sister, Sister.”

“Hmm?”

“I have another question.”

“Go ahead.”

“How old are you in the real world? I mean, what if you turned out to be around fifty or sixty when I’d feel a bit awkward calling you Sister…?”

“…”

Pouting and evading my query—what a frustrating cat.

“Seven years old.”

“Huh?”

“In this form, I’m seven years old. But you can still call me Sister.”

I thought it was about time to check in with the viewers. I took her wrist and opened the entrance door.

“Whaaaaaat? Are you kidding? Huh? No? Is this for real?!”