World Keeper

Lena spent a grand total of twenty-four hours within the book, almost to the second, as if she had purposely timed it as such. Almost exactly one day after she entered the book, Lifre summoned the would-be invaders again to welcome her back.

When Lena emerged from the tome, she had a thoughtful expression on her face, though it didn’t carry the same frustration that Tsubaki had previously shown. Seeing this, Tsubaki was already certain that Lena had succeeded. “How was it?” She asked, and Lena nodded her head.

“There are a lot of points that we’ll need to focus on for this part of the training. The game systems that the enemy uses are far more robust than our own. While this makes it more difficult to evade detection, it also makes them more reliant on those systems.”

“How far did you get?” Dana asked, curious to hear Lena’s report. Lena, however, simply smiled.

“As soon as I entered, I tracked down a local celebrity and captured her. With a little bit of light torture, I was able to learn about the systems that we’ll need to be careful of. Then, I stole her identity, killed her, and disposed of the body. Because I copied her system onto myself before I killed her, she didn’t show up as dead on her friends list. Since they relied so much on their system, they didn’t even question if I didn’t act exactly like the original.”

“Meanwhile, I had a few avatars spread out and take the form of random monsters to simulate a dungeon break. I wanted to get an idea on their response time and how quickly they escalate the threat levels.”

Listening to this, Tsubaki nodded her head. “Given what you experienced, do you think that we’ll be able to handle the infiltration within the deadline?”

Lena fell into thought at that, running some calculations in the back of her mind. “It largely depends on where we arrive. You’ve seen in our own defensive battles, enemies can appear in completely random places. However, for the sake of this simulation, Lifre can’t add in that function. The Monarch simply doesn’t have enough detailed information to cover the universes owned by other guilds.”

“Because of this, the information that I could learn with the role of a celebrity was limited. I don’t know which guilds have a strict policy for entering and exiting their universes, or frequently patrol their territory.”

“However, I can confidently say that we will be able to survive, so long as we do not appear in the middle of an incredibly populated area.” Lena said with a bright smile. “As for getting to the enemy Keeper… that will depend on our luck in acquiring fake identities.”

“If I may.” Philia spoke up, taking a step forward. “I would like to be the next to enter the simulation.”

Lifre blinked, looking over at Philia. “Oh? Thought you’d hold off and wait till the end.”

Philia shook her head at that. “There is something that I want to try. This simulation is created based on the knowledge and memories of the leader of the World Tree Guild. That means that the most accurate part of the simulation will be that figure himself. I want to try to make contact with him, and discuss a plan together. A plan that his true self would be able to recognize, should we implement it within the real invasion.”

Julia arched a brow, looking at Philia in confusion. “Why don’t you just talk to the regular Monarch, if that is the case?”

Still, Philia shook her head once again. “It is important that the one I speak to is the Monarch who still has his guild to support him. After the loss of the guild in our realm, there was undoubtedly a shift within his mindset. The one I speak to needs to be as close to the one we will face in the future as possible.”

“For instance, I may be able to learn an original coded language of his world, or signals used to communicate discreetly with undercover operatives. If these methods are unique to his guild, and the world that they once came from, there is a high likelihood that the Monarch on that side will understand our message.”

Lena pursed her lips, thinking about it for a moment. “It’s a risky plan. Even if such a coded method exists, there is the chance that it will alert the enemy. Though, we have the perfect way to practice that, don’t we?” She asked, and Lifre’s eyes lit up.

“Right! We can use the simulation to practice the methods that the two of you come up with.” She nodded her head eagerly in agreement with Lena’s plan, opening her book again. “Alright! Philia, do you consent to being the subject of this book?” She asked, the golden threads appearing once again.

Philia nodded her head, closing her eyes. “I do.”

Within the world of Desbar, in the planet’s largest mana refinement factory, a tall, muscular demon wearing a suit walked across the catwalk. “Hey!” He called out to a pair of engineers that seemed to be working on one of the machines below. “What’s the hold up? How long do you think it’ll take to fix?”

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The two engineers looked at each other, unsure how to answer the question. One of them, a petite demoness, looked back and called out. “Not sure! We can’t really tell what’s wrong with it! All of the parts seem to be working just fine!”

The overseeing demon clenched his jaw. He knew that he couldn’t just lash out at these engineers, though he felt as if they didn’t know what they were doing. “The output on that one has dropped over eighty percent in the last month, and you say it’s fine? Mana demands are higher than ever, and we can’t afford to have one of our main generators offline!”

“It’s the truth, boss.” The second engineer confirmed with a shake of his head. “We’ve run a full scan, and even checked the software. If anything, this generator should be operating at a higher efficiency than some of the others here.”

The boss’s eye twitched at that, and his tone grew more serious. “Is there a chance that an outside force is acting on the machine? Memetic or otherwise?”

The two engineers paused, unable to properly answer that question. “We can’t be sure.” The female engineer spoke up. “Our tools aren’t made to scan for memetic influence. We haven’t found anything that appears anomalous, at least.”

The boss nodded his head grimly, looking around. “Just to be safe, I want the two of you to enter a memetic quarantine. I’ll have this generator disabled for the time being and then join you until a specialist can be brought in.”

Despite his gruff tone, this demon knew very well the dangers that could come from memetic influence. Although the risk was slight, there was the chance that this simple conversation could have transferred a trace of contaminated information, if such a thing were at play here. Thankfully, memetic events were a high priority to deal with, so they shouldn’t have to wait long before such a specialist arrives.

Priscilla let out a sigh of resignation as she stepped through the portal, looking at the mana refinement facility before her. She had been in the midst of her hidden dungeon training when a call came in from the church, asking for her to assess the problem. Lately, more and more incidents had been appearing across various worlds, suspected of being memetic activity.

Many of these incidents were benign, or simple pranks that had gone too far. However, every now and then a true memetic hazard was discovered, so they had to take every call seriously. Sadly, this led to them being rather short-staffed. As Priscilla had been the one to originally gather the group of specialists to screen incoming ships, she was eventually called to help with the examination.

Still, at least she hadn’t gotten a ‘talking tree’ or ‘laughing reflection’ incident. Although the situation at the power plant was not confirmed to be the cause of an information hazard, it was also certainly not just a child’s misguided prank.

Priscilla flew down to the facility, showing her ID to the security at the front. “I was called to investigate a possible information hazard.” She said in a dry tone.

Seeing the name on the ID, the security officer’s eyes widened. His wings twitched, nearly spreading out in shock. “Lady Priestess! Of course, right this way! The floor manager and two engineers are currently in the quarantine room. Or, would you rather see the suspected machine first?”

Priscilla shook her head. “Always tend to the living first. Machines can come after I’ve ensured that they are not in immediate danger.”

The guard nodded his head fervently, turning to escort her into the building. “Lady Priestess, please let us know before you deploy any large divine abilities. Some of the machines here are rather sensitive to outside energy, so we will need to shut them down to prevent any serious accidents.”

Priscilla offered a simple nod. While she wasn’t too clear on the refineries themselves, she understood how to act around sensitive equipment. “Don’t worry, there shouldn’t be a need for anything like that. If there is, I’ll give you plenty of warning.” She said with a kind smile, putting the guard at ease.

The two of them walked down the hall, through three reinforced bulkheads, and up to a room with a dense barrier separating it from the outside. “This is as far as I can go.” The guard said, stepping aside to deactivate the barrier. “I’ll be monitoring the situation from out here. Please be aware, if I see anything suspicious, I will have to assume that you have been infected, and the barrier will remain closed.”

Priscilla chuckled, knowing that this barrier would not be enough to stop her if she truly wanted to escape. “I understand. I’ve already activated my censorship abilities. As long as there is contaminated information within, I should be able to identify it quickly.”

After saying so, she stepped inside, the guard closing the barrier behind her. Priscilla took a deep breath, opening the door and entering the room. Inside were three demons, sitting around a table and having a pleasant drink. Priscilla could detect a hint of chocolate in the air, and assumed that what the three were drinking was hot chocolate.

When she entered, the three looked up at her in surprise. “You must be the specialist.” The floor manager said, rising to his feet. “I’m Albert Pine, the floor manager in charge of the affected area. These two are Lora and Jake Drummer, a pair of siblings that work together as our technicians.”

Priscilla nodded her head, not feeling any trace of corrupted information thus far. “My name is Priscilla, and I would appreciate it if you explained what happened, from the beginning.” She said, taking a seat and preparing to listen to a long conversation.

The sibling engineers looked at one another, nodding their heads and beginning to explain. They told her about the refinery suddenly having a drop in performance, despite presumably being in good condition, and how they had been called to find the cause. Throughout the conversation, Priscilla was only half paying attention to their words, keeping an eye for any trace that there was contaminated information within what they were saying.

I’m not noticing anything… could it really just be a faulty refinery? Well, that would certainly be for the best, if it were true.