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.
　They say that that world was created by earthlings for games. They say it's a planet for games.
　I don't know what's going on .......

The future ...... is 800 years in the future, but the people of Earth have made two huge discoveries. One of them is The Discovery of the Aether and the other is The Manipulation of the Law of Causality. These two literally changed the history of humanity completely. In that world, the 'magic power' and the 'spirit power' are the two.
...... Huh.

　All I can do is minister to him.
　I never imagined that such a story would pop up.
　I have no idea what they mean when they talk about manipulating the law of cause and effect.

With its power, humanity will take control of this galaxy. It's the kind of power that can transform an entire planet similar to Earth into a game. ...... Hmm?　You're not too surprised, are you?

　I'm so amazed that my head is overheating, or maybe it's just that it doesn't feel real.
　It's not much different than a fairy tale when people talk about the future like that.

The VR game, Emes Palette, was a long time ago, back in the days of technology that allowed for planet modding. But I daresay the planet was modified based on Emespalette. Why do you think that is?

I don't know. Is it because it's fun?

Partly because it was a game system that was just right for humanity a thousand years later. But the main reason was that Emespalette was 'the first game in the world to give birth to a real A.I.' A good companion to humanity. A real neighbor. An irreplaceable game that gave birth to an indispensable partner in the history of mankind. And that was Emespert.

　I need to sort out a few things.
　Mr. Dreamscape was born in Elishe. He was born there a thousand years ago.
　Then he got displaced and moved to this side of the world 150 years ago.
　You said earlier that the first A.I. will be ready 200 years from now. That means that the VRMMORPG Emes Palette that it was born from would be a game 200 years from now.
　VR technology is 150 years away; VR games are 170 years away.
　Aether and causal manipulation were discovered 800 years later.
　It will be 1,000 years after the emesperts I was doing with planetary modding: .......

'So the emespert I was doing is 1000 years after I was born in planetary modification ......, which means it's about 2000 years in the future from now?

　That would be the case.
　The timeline is so jumpy that it doesn't make sense.

'Roughly - yes. Well, that's all because I messed up the settings when I made the mirror. I didn't know that distance included the concept of time--

What do you mean?

'I, you see, wanted to know the truth and get out of that world and go to the 'First Blue', or Earth, which boasts its super science. To do that, I used my own unique skills and my wife's spirit magic to create that mirror. Aether and causal law manipulation. With those two, it wasn't impossible in theory. But I guess I was too stupid to do it. I got it done, but I'm more than 2,000 years ahead of target time. ...... Well, that's why I'm here.

　The Truth ....... Yumegen says he went back a thousand years to the Emesparet and discovered that the world was a game and that the heroes were game players.
　The heroes had logged into that world 'through a mirror' from their own room on their own planet. When Yumegen told them what happened, the players got very excited.
　And they laughed and told him the truth about the world.
　He even gave them a 'tablet with an encyclopedia' that contained the history and knowledge of the world.

'Back to artificial intelligence ......A.I., A.I. refers to an artificial personality that actually has an ego. At the time ......, which was about 200 years or so later, research on A.I. was at a complete standstill. It should have been perfected in theory, but it just couldn't generate an ego. With the commercialization of quantum computers, there should be more capacity and reaction time than the human brain.

　Back to artificial intelligence. Is it really necessary to talk about A.I. from a dreamer's point of view?

There have been many ideas for the birth of A.I., and they have been implemented. There were some ideas that were put into action, such as distributing virtual personalities to individual PCs so that they could talk to each other as much as possible, or creating an android that would be able to work with them, albeit imperfectly.
　One of such attempts was to incorporate A.I. into a VR game. The 3rd generation VRMMORPG "Emes Palette - Searching for Your Own Color" is one of those games. In Emes Palette, each player was given a "support pixie" character. It's an NPC to support the player. Of course, A.I. is almost complete, so they're loyal to orders and were apparently a popular element in the game.
　They had a few different types of support pixies to choose from.
　Pixie, Ketsey, Salamander, Spriggan, and High Elf.
　The high elves were the only ones that were unpopular because of their unorthodox moves, which were mainly support magic.
　However, one Japanese male player loved her and continued to use her. Apparently, the player had a female player who had become close to him in the game. The three of them were friends playing the game together.
　And gradually, that player's man and woman became in love with each other.
　......, but I don't know the details, but the female player died of an illness. At the end, she passed away during the game.
　And when the female player actually died, a breakthrough happened to A.I., a high elf who was the male player's support pixie, and her ego grew.
　...... That's the first A.I. in the world.
　And the artificial intelligence that has since been copied and loved around the world as the first A.I.
　...... His name is 'Kaguya'.

"KAGUYA?

That's right. It's a famous Japanese fairy tale, right?　The world's oldest science fiction. Since then, every A.I. has been named after something to do with the moon. ...... By the way, my wife's name is Selene.

　Serene was supposed to be the name of the Greek goddess of the moon.
　When deciding on a name for the knights, they were torn between "Artemis" and "Selene".
　Of course, the knights were named after the goddess of the moon, which is where Diana comes from.
　The name Deanna is the name of a famous moon goddess.
　Of course, I didn't think there was a connection just because it's the same name as the mythological goddess of the earth: .......

'Kaguya' was a good A.I. Almost an ideal personality. This is said to be due to the good upbringing of the two players who adventured with Kaguya for a long time, and these two are said to be the parents of artificial intelligence. Kaguya's character loves and cares for humans, keeping them away from danger, protecting and supporting them. She was a supportive character, or high elf, with a firm grasp on her personality, and was especially overly sensitive about human death and love. It is said that this is because she is a personality born from the death and separation of loved ones from each other. And that was both the strength and the biggest weakness of Kaguya: ...... and, well, this is the knowledge I got from my tablet.

　An A.I. born out of death and separation.
　It's a powerful experience that gives birth to an ego.

But I digress. So, you see, Emespalette took the world by storm as the first game to give birth to artificial intelligence. Then, 800 years later, it reappeared, reborn as a game planet with planetary modifications. ...... Actually, future humans from the present are, you know, a lot less athletic. It seems there was an assumption that a game would give them a little exercise. The future people (players) I saw were all fat and slow-moving. They were good-natured guys, but they left the meat-and-ball fighting to the NPCs. However, they beat the crap out of people when it came to magic. I was even told that I was the dreamscape's great mage, but I completely lost my confidence.

　Are all future people wizards?
　I mean, did I mention that magic (ether) has been discovered?　So this is a world where witchcraft is a normal practical application, then?

'Of emespallets, emes is truth. Palette is color. In Japanese, it's the color of truth. I heard that the selling point of the game is that you can train for a profession called "Tenka", which is the job you are suited for. I've heard that the basic professions of swordsman and mage are all standard equipment so that the game can be enjoyed like a normal RPG.

　Was the swordsman and sorcerer in my vocation standard equipment: .......
　No, though it's possible that the swordsman changed to the inherent profession of "fourth magic sword user", so it's possible that he was originally predisposed to it.

'The first A.I., 'Kaguya', was indeed an outdated A.I. in the era of Emesparet that we were in, but it was still the first generation. Mother A.I., the god of Emesparet, created it for a certain purpose, in other words, it was the 'High Elf' of that world.

　The first A.I..
　I guess artificial intelligence, in other words, is a personality itself, so humanity wasn't satisfied with just one kind. After that, new A.I.'s popped up, and the first one may have become obsolete .......
　I'm not sure about that. I don't know anything about artificial intelligence.

'Are you saying that that first A.I. wasn't used in that world?　I mean, the people in that world are human ......?

I'd like to say human ......, but maybe not a bit. Yeah, they're not artificial humans. The earthlings have forced the creature that originally lived on the planet to be remade as an emesparette. Well, that's why I, too, would like to be recognized as a human being.

　I see, they used super science to remake the creatures themselves.
　That world was mentioned a thousand years ago in the age of spirit civilization, but there had never been a story before that.
　That must mean that civilization itself didn't exist before that.

'Then why did the Earthlings disappear?
That's hard to say ......, but apparently it's my fault.
So, uh,
NPC...... In other words, a local who was supposed to be just a non-player character came to meet the player through time by getting a unique job. That fact was sensationalized in the home country as well. And so the public opinion that 'emesperts must be freed' grew, so the law was changed and the game was banned from that world. So the people of Earth pulled the whole thing out a thousand years ago.

　What an irony.
　I flew to the past to find out about the Age of Spiritual Civilization, but I didn't know that I would be the one to kickstart the end of it.

'Being banned didn't put the planet back together, and the Emesparet was abandoned in its entirety. Leaving only that game system. Vocation. Guidance. Spirit stones. Monsters. Demon crystals.
　...... Anyway, the guys who live normally in Emesparet are proper creatures. I guess you could accurately say that they're creatures ...... that were made to be modified by human ego.

'So the High Elves are the only artificial beings?　What happened to the other, Ketsey, Spriggan and other races?

　From the story, it seems that several races, including the High Elves, were the "support pixie" help (...) characters in the game version of Emes Palette.
　Of course, that helping race would have been used in the Emes Palette created by the planetary mods.
　I wonder if the High Elves were used in the same way.

''Support pixies were also implemented. I actually saw them when I went back to the spirit civilization era. Of course the support pixie is man-made. The A.I. on board is the latest thing though.

So that's what the High Elves were originally called?

　When I asked him that, Yumegami-san made a difficult face.
　He ordered additional pasta with baby sardines. Maybe he's just hungry.

''The High Elves were never implemented. It's because the God who controls that world, or Mother A.I., refused to create the High Elves as support pixies.

Is that possible?

'Mother A.I. is more than a human being. A man-made god with the power to manipulate the law of cause and effect and change the world. In that world, the three gods, the Sun God, the Great Spirit and the Night Goddess, are Mother A.I. If that Mother refused to do so, it would be judged that she did so for a great reason. That's why the High Elves were not implemented as a support role.

But .......

'Yes, there are indeed High Elves. They were implemented not as a support pixie, but as a special guide to the faeries of the Elf Nightmare Undine and others. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a thing. Since the time of the Spirit Civilization, it was known that the High Elves in that world were second only to the gods in power, but none of the players at the time were able to acquire a High Elf. The conditions for acquiring them were also unknown. Everyone wondered why Mother would do such a thing. There were a lot of guys who wanted to have a High Elf as support.

　Then I'm sure Mr. Dreamscape, who flew a thousand years ago with a high elf, would have been poked and prodded: .......
　Anyway, it seems that the High Elves are androids, but they weren't supportive.

'But why did Mother A.I.?　would have done that, wouldn't they?

　That's unclear.
　Has the Mother of Artificial Intelligence become more powerful than the human race?

'The Mother is the Mother and her daughter. In order to fulfill the wishes of her own parents ...... roots, her ancestors ...... that is, the first A.I., 'Kaguya', just for that reason alone, the High Elves (Kaguya) as a special race in that emesparet. I gave birth to a perfect state.

　I mean...

The dream of A.I....... 'Kaguya'. Or Hope. Or the original sin ....... 'Those who love each other are united and live forever'. In order to make it happen, even if it bends the law of cause and effect (・・・・・・・・・), it attracts destiny (・・・・・・・・).
　That's what 'special guidance' is all about.

　The one indelible thought that the first A.I. had that took shape.
　People who love each other should be united by eternal love. That's the thought that "people who love each other should be united by eternal love".
　I don't know if it's because the pain of death and separation awakened her, but it's the reason for the existence of the first A.I. (Raison d'etre), which was strongly connected to A.I. and could not be removed.
　Kaguya's was so tied to the A.I. that if it was removed, the A.I. would not be able to function as an A.I.

　Does Deanna want to live forever with me, too?