135 Episode 135: The Truth About the World.txt (1/2)

Oh, yeah. Didn't the androids look like those robots?

I think of Deanna.

Robot .......

Robot............?

I don't really get it. Honestly.

In a broader sense, yes.

Yumegen replies sternly.

Robots in a broad sense.

Somehow the national cat-shaped robot comes to mind.

'I see. ......'

I'm not shocked at all.

It seems to have been a pretty big story for Yumegen-san, but I wasn't too ...... or shocked at all, or maybe I wasn't too ...... concerned about it... ...

It's a good thing that you're a member of a different race, and since you're an otherworldly person, you know your ecology is different from that of an earthly person.

Of course, I would have been shocked if he was more robotic, but Deanna is emotional, companionable, sleepy, and sloppy, and that's what I didn't get .......

If Deanna is a robot, then she's probably a robot that can hardly be distinguished from a human being.

I'm sure you're more comfortable with it than I thought.

...... no ...... yes. Maybe. I mean, it doesn't really ring true, does it?

'We don't have a real A.I. yet in this day and age. I'm sure they do.

Real A.I.?　I've heard a lot about artificial intelligence, don't you have one?

It's not quite there yet. I guess it's finally starting to look like that ....... Essentially, we're still holding onto a cloud. It's another 200 years before real A.I. -- artificial consciousness, or Strong A.I., as it's called -- reaches a practical stage.

200 years ......?

I mean, how does he know so much about this?

What is it about that world's wizards that makes them so special? That's funny.

'Don't look at me like that. Do you care how I know all this stuff?

'That's right. Aren't you an otherworldly person, Yumegen? How do you know about Earth's future technology?

'Because I know it as knowledge. I went back in time and asked.

In the past?

See, I don't know what that means anymore.

I guess he was a bad guy after all. Is it true?

No, no, no, don't look at me like I'm that dangerous. By past, I mean the past in the Emesparet. You've heard of the Age of Spiritual Civilization, right?

I think it was a thousand years ago. I've heard it was an amazing time.

It's something that can't be compared to today, where people had their own professions and were wielders of magic swords and holy swords, and where monsters and magical beasts ruled the world. Even now, relics from that era are treated as treasures and sold for a high price.

The doll that broke the mirror for me is also a relic from the spirit civilization era, right?

I want to solve the mystery of the spirit civilization era. There were many records from that era, but most of them didn't make sense to me at the time. My wife's parents had a lot of material at her parents' house, but where did the ”mythical heroes” come from and where did they leave off to? That was something no one knew about.

The Age of Spiritual Civilization was a thousand years ago.

In Japan, it was the Heian period. It's a bit unthinkably long ago. It can't be blamed if there are no documents left.

That's why I actually went there. A thousand years before that. And I found out the truth.

Oh, really? How did you do that?

You're awfully dynamic, aren't you? You built a time machine?　I wonder if he got it out of Doraemon's pocket.

I'm not sure I've ever seen such a thing before. It's a spell that allows you to rewind time to a certain point.

Oh, there is such a thing?

High Elves are amazing.

The rejuvenation magic is great, but how much can you rewind time and how .......

I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but it's not. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

Okay, so that's what you'll be doing at ......?

''Yes. ...... Well, as expected, I only had about a year to fly at a time, so I barely used a mountain of spirit stones ...... roughly a thousand of them.

A thousand pieces: ......

As expected of a former world hero. It was an order of magnitude different from a thousand spirit stones.

''Yeah, so how did it go?　The Age of Spiritual Civilization is ......

Mr. Yumegen took a beat here.

He ordered more coffee and the waitress poured the coffee in the decanter.

After savoring another sip of the hot coffee, he finally opened his mouth.

'...... What do you think that world is like?'

'Let's see, that world is ...... other world ...... emesparetto, right? You say you think it's something, but it's ....... What is it?

Don't you get it?

Um, ...... yes.

I don't know. There's no way to know.

All I can say is that there is a magical world ...... that you can go to through a mirror.

But the inhabitants of that magical world are right in front of you now.

You can even travel back and forth from the mirror.

If you think about it in a normal way, that world is the real ...... that exists there?

I read the message board, because the logs were saved on a summary site, and there were some pretty sharp posts here and there. I thought the world is this universe, and the other world is another planet.

I'm pretty sure I've read something like that.

'But wouldn't that be too similar to Earth?　Oxygen levels, and the presence of unknown pathogens. And the length of the day. Temperatures and people. Even the proper nouns were the same as the ones you know, weren't they?

'Yes. I had a vague idea that it was that way because that's what it was: ......

It's a fantasy world, so all I could think of was ”so and so is that”: ....... Isn't it?　What's the mystery?

That's crazy. Do you think that's a coincidence?　It's strange that everything is the same as on Earth, and that people on Earth can live without any problems. Even the food there is as good as or better than the food on Earth, I'm sure.

...... Well, it sure is weird.

Call me weird, if you ask me.

I only thought I was lucky because it wasn't a detriment to me.

A world similar to Earth.

So, does this story connect to the Emesparet of The Age of Spiritual Civilization?

...... In short. That world was created by the people of Earth. That's the truth I went back a thousand years and found out - and I've found out.

What?

The Emesparet was a world created by the people of Earth for the people of Earth.

While drinking coffee, Yumegen-san said that indeed, without changing her expression.

◇◆◆◆◆.

170 years from now, we'll have the world's first VR game. 170 years from now, we'll have the world's first VR game, do you know what VR is?　Virtual Reality. In other words, it's a game that puts you inside the game world.

Mr. Yumegen began to talk about it.

He said that virtual reality technology itself will be in the practical stage in about 150 years. Some time after that, the technology will be applied to games.

One of the most popular genres will be VR MMO role-playing games. There are still role-playing games, right?　Like Dracula and Wizardry. It's the kind of thing you do while experiencing it in real life. You move your consciousness into the game. Theoretically, it was a way to store a copy of your personality in the game, and that copy of your personality would play the game in the game, and when you quit the game, you would paste the memories into the original ....... At the time, though, it was pretty confusing, because they said it was a copy of the soul or something.

Yumegen-san talks about the future as if it were a thing of the past.

'So you're saying that world (Emespalette) is that VRMMO world?　I mean, I could even bring in real or ...... goods, though. And I was able to take them out.

No, this is supposed to be the future ...... in the first place, right?

What's going on here?

Oh, did he say you can go to the future or the past, he said.

So, does that mean you've actually been to ......?　To the future of this world?

No, no. But it's close. That's what the game world is really all about, isn't it? Didn't you enjoy that world as much as the game itself?

Like the game ......?

I didn't have much of a sense of that, but if you say it's a game world, does that mean that life there is all about gameplay?

Receive blessings, receive a vocation, train your vocation, and have adventures.

No, it's hardly an adventure, but it's certainly a game.

However, the people I met over there were all decent people.

The word ”game world” doesn't even come close to describing it.

Of course, I didn't live my life thinking it was a game. Of course, I didn't think it was a game. But the truth is, it is a game.

'But the game world is ....... What do you mean by that? For all intents and purposes, that world was real. There's no such thing as ...... virtual!

For some reason, Yumegami looked distantly at my words.

Then he exhaled deeply once and spoke the answer.

''...... That world is. It's a game planet based on the third-generation VRMMORPG Emes Palette - Find it, your own color.

What about ......?

I sounded dumb.

What's a planet for a game? It's too grand.

That world is a different planet (hosiery) ...... than Earth?

No. Is it possible to be realistic about ......?　No, there's magic and stuff at ......, too. .......

I'm confused.