Otherworld TRPG Game Master - Chapter 342



342 – Aftermath: What the Tower of Illusions Left Behind – 3

Why is life so full of suffering?

Throughout the long period from birth to death, why must people struggle so painfully? Even after looking up at the sky and asking dozens, hundreds of times, there was no answer forthcoming.

As if it were only natural.

When the wind blows, the grass lies down, like a fallen apple embraced by the earth, the shape of life is naturally such and must be endured. That’s how the unspoken seemed to say.

So then. If life is a hell for embracing suffering.

Even if I act a little worse, make others unhappy, it wouldn’t be a great flaw. Like dust on a pitch-black wall, it wouldn’t show anyway.

“You damned thief!”

“It’s your fault for having your wallet hanging loose, you idiot!”

And so, Alice lived a life of stealing from others.

A pickpocket. In back alleys, spotting easy targets, bumping into them, and in that moment, nimbly swiping their wallets; an age-old skilled trade. She lived day-to-day like that.

Truth be told, she failed more often than she succeeded. While running away, clutching a purse, if the pursuing mercenary seized her by the hair, she’d get beaten until stars swam before her eyes.

“Be thankful your wrist isn’t cut off. Ptooey.”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

Her face swollen from punches, phlegm dripping thick down her forehead, even in that state, Alice laughed.

“Heh, heh heh⋯⋯.”

Of course, she wasn’t laughing because she was happy. She was laughing from sheer absurdity.

Because, just a few steps from the shadowy alley, on the wide road bathed in bright sunlight, a story like this was unfolding.

“Daddy, I want to be a mage! I want to enter the Red Mage Tower!”

“It costs a fair bit of money to apply for the Mage Tower entrance exam, but… well, if you consider it an investment, it’s not bad. Let’s take the entrance exam next year.”

“You promised! You promised, Daddy?!”

How could you not laugh at that?

While someone was about to become a mage, spending a sum Alice couldn’t even imagine, she was figuring out how to make up for her lost day.

“A mage, huh⋯⋯.”

Alice hunched over, thinking. The Goddess was said not to turn away the wretched. If she had any conscience, wouldn’t she have granted even a shred of talent to someone living like this?

Mage. Mage…

The word kept spinning in her head. For Alice, who’d never had a real dream, it was the first time she felt drawn to something.

What’s more, mages belonging to the mage towers held the authority of a baron by law. If she were lucky enough to have talent and succeed in joining, then she could say goodbye to her miserable commoner status.

If only she could.

Alright, somehow she’d gather enough money to enter a mage tower, and she’d become one of those fancy mages. That’s what Alice decided.

From that day on, she saved even more money. She ate just enough to not die, she’d get beaten by the gang boss but never paid her dues, always managing to stash something away, and in that way, she scraped by for a year.

She had three silver coins clutched in her hand.

Without a plan, Alice set out. She eventually reached the Violet Mage Tower, the weakest rated among them. Being the weakest, she figured their entrance fee would be the cheapest.

And so, she held out those three silver coins to the guard mage and said,

“I came here to become a mage.”

“Get lost. We’re not weak enough to be disrespected by beggars and vagrants.”

“I said I came here to become a mage!”

“Get lost, you vagrant! Go away, right now!”

The guard mage was stubborn, and Alice was even more stubborn. An argument broke out in front of the Violet Tower.

Looking back, that guard mage… maybe he was actually a good person. Because he didn’t steal her silver, and he didn’t lay a hand on her. Perhaps he knew about the tower’s inhumane experiments.

Maybe that’s why he was trying so hard to chase Alice away.

But the heavens are so cruel.

“□, □□-nim…”

“Ah… you do possess talent. You wish to become a mage? Come inside. We have a position that is perfect for you.”

“You should’ve come out like that sooner!”

Alice was drawn into the violet mage tower. She went inside, and that was that.

And she could never come out again.

⋯⋯⋯⋯.

Her life was filled with suffering.

Even the first dream she’d ever had was thrown into the mire, and she ended up ending her life miserably. She regrets being born. It was a life devoid of meaning.

Perhaps she was born under such a constellation. A cursed and unfortunate fate, where she would only suffer eternally before departing from this world.

It was that hard. Nothing ever worked out right, and she even died after being tortured by those crazy wizard b*stards. But the reason she clung so desperately to life, the reason she wanted to survive, was because.

She hoped, at least once in this musty life, to have a glimpse of sunlight.

“Since you are so knowledgeable about our god, we will choose you as the material for the 『Evil God Statue』, Alice.”

Though, the heartless sky was a b*tch to the very end.

Before falling into a long slumber within the 『Evil God Statue』, Alice thought in the hazy space between reality and dreams. A filthy life. A dog’s life.

Damn, dirty, cheap sky.

If the sky had any conscience, then, if it had. Just one thing, I’d ask. I wouldn’t curse this world, even if I felt like I’d die from injustice. I would fully accept my wretched life. So.

So, at least, just one thing.

‘I wish, please, make Yuna the happiest person in the world.’

I hope that at least my last wish is granted.

–

Fuzziness. Muffledness.

A feeling like I’ve been asleep for a very long time, a sensation where reality and dreams are indistinguishable. And. And⋯⋯.

“⋯⋯Ugh?”

Awake.

From noble mtl dot com

Alice was bewildered by this ‘life’ she was feeling for the first time in ages. She’d clearly died, hadn’t she? Then was this the afterlife? Her body wouldn’t move properly…

As she thrashed her limbs in a hazy confusion, a man’s voice came from beside her.

“Oh my, our friend’s awake? Your body’s in a right state, so you’ll need to rest and have some modifications before you can move around. Just relax.”

“Agh…”

“Probably after the second modification, you’ll be able to live freely again. Ease up and try to rest. Oh, I’ll go get the Tower Master.”

“Ughhh…”

Muttering with a tongue like lead, Alice forced her excruciatingly heavy eyelids open. And before her was… a man with black hair and red eyes, smiling warmly.

He went out of the room to fetch someone. Left alone, Alice’s mind was racing in the silence. I should be dead. But more than that, that guy just now…

He was wearing a Tower robe.

That pretty-boy face, the word ‘modification’, this body that barely moves, and that suspicious smile that could kill.

『□□』… I can’t remember the name, but he looked like that insane mage with the goat mask. The one who led the project.

Those purple tower fuckers.

Are they even resurrecting dead people now, just to experiment on them? Haven’t I suffered enough? What the hell are they planning now?!

This can’t be. I can be taken once, but twice is too much to bear. Fuelled by her injustice, Alice’s fighting spirit burned.

She didn’t know how she had been revived…

They won’t expect someone who just woke up to move. It’s now or never if I want to escape. Whether I run away or throw myself off a ledge, I have to do it now.

Alice mustered superhuman willpower and dragged her weakened body to its feet. Then, with a body stumbling like a baby deer, she opened the sickroom door and made her escape.

Moving stealthily down the corridor. The familiar building interior came into view.

⋯⋯This is definitely the Violet Magic Tower. Figures. It’s gotta be Experiment Season 2. The interior’s a lot softer now, with all these girly decorations like huge plush bunnies and stuff⋯⋯.

Alice, after a quick look around, found the stairs and went down.

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

She could sense people on the lower floor, so she crouched down and hid in a corner. Then, she cautiously peeked her head out to survey the surroundings.

It was the tower mages. Two women. All faces she didn’t recognize, but⋯⋯ they were definitely some evil b*stards. She needed to be on guard. If they caught her, it was over.

She quietly planned her escape⋯⋯.

“Senior Lorelei, um… Senior Charlie, who got possessed by something, already retired, right? So, what should we do with Senior Charlie’s research data? It’s such a waste, all those panty model collections.”

“Junior Luce, don’t destroy them, just keep them. I’m sure you’ll find a use for it.”

“Oh, this panty design is good. I’ll get this exact design tailored at the clothing store. I need to show my darling.”

“⋯⋯Junior Luce, your darling is a hologram⋯⋯ Oh, no. It’s nothing.”

⋯⋯⋯⋯?

Alice was completely baffled. Those tower mages were floating all sorts of racy panties in the air, discussing something. She had no idea what the hell they were doing.

Evil⋯⋯?

What kind of evil plan could you possibly make with women’s underwear designs?

No, this has got to be a trap to create confusion. Alice waited for the opportunity, and when the two mages went into the fitting room, she took the chance and went further downstairs.

There were signs of people there too.

A girl with horns on her head and a woman in a suit with pink hair in a ponytail were talking.

“Where’s Mima? I looked around but didn’t see her.”

“She’s waking up Yuna’s friend.”

“Mom’s friend, so that’s… the master of the last door, right? The Tower Lord is gonna cry some today.”

“I think we should be preparing a party or something. We need to blast away this sad mood with a festive vibe.”

⋯⋯⋯⋯.

Yuna? Mom? Dad?

If it’s Yuna, it must be her friend Yuna Ulensto. But Mom? Is that horned girl really Yuna’s daughter? Then how many years have passed?

All sorts of bad thoughts swirl around. In the end, Yuna couldn’t escape this violet magic tower… and it seems like she even had a child. Looking at the horns on that girl’s head, she clearly wasn’t a normal child.

There must have been some inhumane experiments. Alice clenched her fist and trembled. That goddamn sky had completely ignored her last wish.

Yeah, I’ll trust myself over the sky. I have to go find Yuna. And we’ll escape this place together.

Alice went down the floors one by one. She even fell down the stairs once, almost got caught by some dumb tower mage, but somehow, she broke through.

And so, the second floor. Only the final obstacle remained. Alice caught her breath, panting.

If she breaks through that lobby, she’s outside of the violet magic tower. But, she hadn’t seen Yuna’s face while coming down… That fact made her hesitate.

Yeah. I can’t get out alone. It’s enough to make that kind of decision only once. She’ll go back up and search for her friend’s traces. Right as she made that resolution.

“Tower Lord has arrived!”

“Welcome back, Tower Lord!”

The voices of the mages in the lobby rang out. Violet Magic Tower Lord… He’s back! No wonder she didn’t see him on the way down, he must have been out.

She had to hide somewhere. Alice hid her body inside a cabinet on the second floor.

Outside, the murmuring spread…

Someone’s gone missing, they had to search for them, voices yelled. Damn it, she got caught. Now the mages are going to comb through the tower like they’re looking for fleas. Alice bit her fingernails.

Time passed in tension and fear. And then.

Screeak──

The cabinet door opened. Alice squeezed her eyes shut. She was caught. She was going to become a test subject again.

But, there was no rough hand pulling her out. Instead, she heard the familiar, tear-soaked voice of a friend.

“…Alice?”

“Y-Yuna?”

She slowly opened her eyes. Yuna looked a bit older than she remembered, and she was wearing a pointy hat. Like a wizard.

But those big, innocent eyes hadn’t changed. They blinked, shining with surprise and emotion, as she said,

“You’re awake…?! I, I waited so long. But, why were you in the cabinet…?!”

“There’s no time to explain, Yuna. They found out I escaped. It seems the tower lord is back too. But, thankfully, we’re on the second floor. Let’s hide together…and when we get the chance, we’ll run to the first floor. Maybe we can escape then!”

“E-escape?!”

“…Yeah. We’ll get out of here and ask for help. Sure, those lazy guards won’t move easily, but if we report a dark mage, it should work. Then, we can get your daughter too–“

Just then, a black-haired, red-eyed mage burst through the door, panting.

“Tower Lord, while your friend was distracted for a moment, she escaped… she didn’t register on the magic scan, so we have to look by eye. She couldn’t have gotten out of the tower yet–you found her!”

Alice tilted her head. Just now, that man called Yuna the tower lord, right?

“…Tower lord?”

“Y-yeah. I’m the tower lord. Right now, I mean…”

“How?!”

“I, I killed them all. The bad people, the ones who killed my friend, almost all of them. And now… *sniff*, you’re alive too. I finally met you…”

Yuna hugged Alice tightly, tears welling up. It didn’t make any sense. Yuna, the amethyst tower lord? And, she killed them all?

The understanding, even though it was still incomplete. It wasn’t real yet.

“hhh…”

The warmth soothed her heart.

Yuna looked healthy. Good color in her cheeks, not skin and bones at all.

A natural smile stretched her lips. It seemed like so much had happened while she was asleep. And Yuna… it looked like somewhere along the way, she’d become some great, incredible person.

Greedy thoughts surfaced, bobbing gently. If my friend’s a Tower Master, I could coast for the rest of my life, right? No more picking pockets.

But she pushed those thoughts down, for now.

She wanted to enjoy this reunion in this happy world.

–

The Mad Mage watched the reunion of the two old friends with a satisfied expression. Although he was weakened, Alice’s mind and soul still remained in the evil god statue he had secured, and he could use it to resurrect her one way or another.

That was why he hadn’t been able to properly finish the ‘Lamb’. When the ‘Tower of Illusion’ collapsed, its energy was primarily used for Alice’s resurrection.

The Mad Mage casually spoke to the empty air.

“It’s a beautiful sight, wouldn’t you agree?”

Then, a voice came from the void. It was Yuna’s, but not Yuna’s. It was Mirror Yuna’s voice.

-Yuna thinks so too. Yuna achieved the scene she dreamed of.

“I’m the one who achieved it, you brat.”

-No matter what means, if it was achieved, it was Yuna who achieved it.

“Being born in the Illusionary Realm makes your thinking so fantastically naive.”

After the Mad Mage cast ‘Illusionary Realm: Open Gate,’ he was able to form a hazy channel with Mirror Yuna. That’s why they could talk like this.

“What are you going to do now?”

-Yuna lives to protect Yuna. That’s the happiness in my life. My ‘Tower of Illusion’ was crushed by you, but my heart wasn’t. If you mess up, Yuna will intervene.

“So you mean you’ll remain as her guardian angel. In that case, you won’t have to step in.”

-Then Yuna will become a calculator instead of a guardian angel.

“So.”

If that’s what she says, there’s no reason to stop her. The conversation was enough. The crazy mage finished directing traffic and turned away. As long as he fulfills his role, Mirror Yuna wouldn’t cause any trouble.

He pondered many things.

He now had to help with the Iridian throne succession, eradicate the remaining black mages, and most importantly, get rid of that unpleasant tenant in his head.

But for now…

“Shall we set up a full buffet course? I’ll show my wife’s friend, a former pickpocket, a taste of the ultimate flavors they could never imagine.”

-Yuna likes meat. Alice too, apparently.

“I know, you idiot.”

To commemorate this day of reunion, after overcoming tragedy, let’s start by painting the day in vibrant colors.