Ch.70[Episode 70] Operation: S.P.Y

The next morning.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica woke up early in the morning.

It was due to their habit as knights of waking up early for training.

“This is too soft. Completely useless.”

Sir Dominica yawned while stretching and scratching her messy hair.

She was munching on a cheap bread from her inventory, the kind sold in the Market Area at 120 for 10 Credit, when she realized Sir Dominic wasn’t in bed and went outside.

Opening the door to the yard, she heard birds chirping along with the fresh air.

I really made the right choice buying this house, thought Sir Dominica as she turned her head toward a dull thudding sound.

Wait, there’s nothing here, she thought, but as she turned her gaze a bit more, she saw Sir Dominic who had been hidden by her peripheral vision.

Sir Dominic was wearing a white t-shirt that said ‘This is a T-shirt’ and was training by pushing his shield against a scarecrow decoration he had obtained as a perfect stage reward.

“You’re up early. I think you’re the first person I’ve seen wake up earlier than me.”

“Ah. You’re awake?”

Sir Dominic turned his head when he sensed Sir Dominica’s presence.

They were both experienced knights, but because they came from peasant backgrounds, they had to wake up and act before other knights to avoid being scolded.

Both had experienced this and it was still ingrained in them, but Sir Dominic was particularly known for waking up early.

“Since you’re up, would you like to have breakfast? I’ve already had bread.”

“Same here.”

Sir Dominica waved the half-eaten bread in her hand.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were this similar.

“Then let’s get ready. I’ll prepare and come out.”

Sir Dominic went inside the house with Sir Dominica.

Then he took his armor from the armor stand and came back to the living room.

After all, it would be awkward to stay while a woman changed clothes.

Don’t misunderstand.

They have absolutely no romantic feelings for each other.

They were parallel world versions of each other, so they were essentially like siblings or family.

Feeling love or embarrassment toward family is something that only happens in novels.

Finally, both fully equipped with their basic gear, they silently left the house and touched the forest path leading outside.

“Where do you think the stage might be?”

“Let’s look for Story Mode first. That’s the most likely place.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Sir Dominica’s words.

He also thought it was the most likely place.

When they arrived at Story Mode, they could see two people guarding the entrance.

“Try the event stage before you go! Come try the event stage!”

“Ugh, for heaven’s sake. Why didn’t the PR team include the location in the notice? Everyone’s so obsessed with card packs and the election event that nobody’s coming to Story Mode!”

Sir Dominic saw an employee in a bunny girl outfit shouting enthusiastically with a megaphone.

It was the coder.

The very same System Industries coder he had met before to resolve a bug.

On the opposite side was a strange man wearing a hat on top of a hat on top of a hat, who appeared to be the coder’s parallel world counterpart.

“That must be the place. That face looks familiar though.”

Sir Dominica also looked at the man with multiple hats, suggesting she had worked with the coder before as well.

“We should go talk to them. It would be good to at least know what the event is about.”

“Right. They’ll probably tell us if we ask.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica approached the two coders side by side.

Remarkably, the two walked in perfect step, making quite an impressive sight.

“Is this where we enter the event stage?”

“Oh? Sir Dominic! Fancy seeing you here!”

“Sir Dominica is here too. Hello! Did you come for the event stage?”

The two coders high-fived each other with extremely bright expressions, finally having found visitors.

“Now we have one pair. The stage is designed to require four pairs to clear…”

“By the way, there was no information about this event stage anywhere. Could you tell us about it?”

“Yes, I can’t figure it out no matter how much I think about it.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica casually asked the two coders for information.

“Ah.”

“Right. We didn’t include any stage information, did we? Those PR team guys…”

The two coders tilted their heads as if wondering why they would ask such a thing, then quickly began raging about the PR team’s handling of the matter.

The coders sighed and said:

“This stage is called Operation: S.P.Y.”

“It’s a new project we started after finishing raid development.”

“We created this pilot stage as an event to gauge reactions.”

“But the PR team has been so focused on the general election that we haven’t even been able to start the stage yet.”

“We wanted to determine our development direction based on the feedback.”

“That’s PR teams for you.”

The coder then began listing 350 different complaints about the PR team.

The coder still had strong tendencies as a too-much-talker.

Two coders, when one alone was already noisy.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were starting to feel dizzy from their doubled chattering.

Fortunately, someone appeared to save them.

Or more precisely, people.

“Zero says hello to Sir Dominic.”

“Another Zero asks Sir Dominica if she’s been well.”

It was the artificial intelligence Zero.

The humanoid android Code Back Zero looked exactly as Sir Dominic remembered, but the crescent-shaped floating machine next to Zero was likely the parallel world version.

“Wow, amazing. This one’s an android?”

Sir Dominica, fascinated by the humanoid Zero, opened one eye wide and began examining the android.

“By the way, who are these people?”

Sir Dominica, while examining the android, noticed two people wearing deep hoods.

Curly hair was visible beneath the hoods, so curly and fluffy that both Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica thought it looked like sheep’s wool.

“This is the Doctor. This is also the Doctor.”

“That one is Dr. Banshee. This one is Phantom.”

“After hearing my words, they came looking for Sir Dominic with questions.”

“After hearing my words, they came looking for Sir Dominica with questions.”

The two perfectly synchronized Zeros introduced the doctors.

The doctors seemed shy, hesitating as if they wanted to say something.

“Um, perhaps you—”

“Sir Dominic?”

“Sir Dominica, it’s been a while.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica turned their heads at the familiar voices.

It was Unryu Hime.

Next to Hime was a warrior wearing a light iron helmet, with a similar build.

The doctors, whose words had been cut off, became dejected.

“Um… Sir Dominic. Well…”

Hime never expected to meet Sir Dominic here.

Her father had divined that she would meet someone with whom she had a connection, but she thought it was just a story her father made up to encourage her to gain experience.

Hime didn’t know what her father’s divination meant, but she resolved to learn divination from her father as soon as she returned.

The same was true for Teu.

Teu flinched at the glimpse of the gun barrel at Sir Dominica’s waist.

Just like Hime had pirate reality shock, she too had one terrifying thing.

And whenever she saw Sir Dominica’s gun, that trauma activated and made her heart race.

Meeting like this must be fate.

Her father’s divination was truly remarkable.

Father was indeed a wise man.

“So… Sir Dominic? Um… how should I say… um…”

“Wait, we have four pairs now, right? Everyone has their parallel world partner, right?”

“This is perfect for the event stage, right? Everyone agrees, right?”

Hime was trying to say something, but the coders counted the number of people and became excited.

They were that eager to show people the stage they had created.

Hime sighed as her words were cut off.

“By the way, what were you about to say?”

However, Sir Dominic hadn’t forgotten that Hime was trying to tell him something.

Being curious by nature, Sir Dominic couldn’t resist asking Hime again.

“What? Well, that… I… ah, you see…”

Hime stammered in embarrassment. Anyone would stammer in such a situation.

Dr. Banshee looked at Sir Dominic and Hime.

What kind of relationship did they have? And why was she stalling so much?

Dr. Banshee was just as poor at conversation as Hime, but she enjoyed watching situations like this.

As she was watching the two with interest, she was suddenly shocked.

“So, um… ta-da!”

Suddenly, Hime raised both hands above her head with palms open, and fox ears sprouted on her head.

And from near her tailbone, a lush fox tail popped out.

A truly transformed fox.

“…What are those ears and tail?”

Sir Dominic asked in confusion at the sudden appearance of ears and tail.

But Hime, already at her limit of embarrassment, could only lower her head with a red face without saying anything.

‘To win love, one must become a fox.’

Musashi’s advice meant to act like a fox, but Hime had taken the words literally and actually become a fox.

Just as Hime was about to faint from embarrassment:

“…Yip.”

Teu was similarly struggling with embarrassment as she showed her fox ears and tail to Sir Dominica.