episode_0276

The first idea originated from Unit 2319, who ventured out into the open sea with a small fishing boat.

“How about we just live on this boat?”

According to Violet’s common sense, it was entirely possible. Supplies could be easily managed with a multidimensional bag. The boat also had small facilities necessary for living.

Therefore, there was no problem with residing on it.

“That sounds good? Try it!”

“If we’re doing it, let’s go far!”

Inspired by Unit 2319’s realization, countless boats, from fishing vessels to used yachts, set out into the ocean with the headquarters’ approval.

“The Age of Exploration has begun!”

“To the sea! To the further sea!”

However, the Violets, who were not sailors, made a few mistakes.

“If we drop the anchor to the bottom, it’ll fix itself.”

“Wow! But where is our boat going now?”

The Violets’ attempt to anchor their boat in the open sea failed.

The seemingly manageable sea was utterly unfamiliar and constantly changing.

“The waves are so high! Was there a typhoon warning?”

“They said the weather would be calm? Ugh! It’s capsizing!”

“Gasp!”

Soon, some of the boats that had embarked on long-distance voyages capsized. They were too small to withstand the harsh conditions of the open ocean.

“Blech! Salty! So salty!”

The sailor Violets, having tasted the seawater, grumbled and un-generated themselves.

“How are the others? Any progress?”

“No…”

The situation of other Violets wandering the sea was not much different.

“Oh! The engine! The engine’s on fire!”

“Fire!”

In one case, the engine caught fire from being pushed too hard.

“Unit 2991, why do you keep looking underwater?”

“Unit 1197! Come down here and look. Something keeps following us under the boat-”

-Splash!

“Whoa! It’s a sea beast!”

There were also Violets who were attacked by sea beasts. As accidents and deaths recurred, the Violets changed their strategy.

“Let’s anchor in nearby waters!”

“How about we save up some money and buy a bigger boat? We don’t know how to handle the machinery, but…”

“A cargo ship!”

In that way, the Violets grew accustomed to the sea.

**

After countless hardships and efforts, we gradually adapted to the sea.

The Violets playing on the sea were proof of that.

“It’s refreshing!”

This was the sea near the southern continent of Libreria, far from the Rustroom Archipelago. Violets, wearing wetsuits and flippers, splashed in the deserted waters.

“It’s coral! It’s fish!”

“Grilled fish for dinner tonight!”

The exotic beach, characteristic of a tropical region, was peaceful, and the water was as clear as glass.

Even from the surface, the colorful corals growing on the seafloor seemed within reach.

“You can see everything inside!”

Of course, they hadn’t intended to come this far.

“That used-goods dealer! They’re definitely a fraud!”

“Right, how could they sell a boat like this?”

Unit 2761 grumbled on the boat, whispering with other Violets. The engine of their used yacht had somehow broken down, forcing them to wander the sea for a long time.

“But thanks to that, we came all this way, didn’t we? Let’s have a drink!”

“Alright, then.”

Unit 2761 jumped into the water below the yacht. The blue surface was filled with Violets who had come to enjoy the tropical sea.

“Everyone! Let’s drink something cool!”

I landed on the sandy beach, shouting in an excited voice.

First, I spread out a mat and arranged large buckets on it. Each container was filled with ice.

Now it was time for the drinks. I took out the various kinds of carbonated beverages I had prepared, one by one, and poured them into each bucket.

-Glug-glug!

Colorful drinks poured over the ice. Soon, all the buckets were filled with cool beverages. The sloshing sound of the ice seemed to cool the heat.

The Violets who had been enjoying their swim came up one by one.

“It’s fun, but too salty…”

“Thirsty!”

Everyone was suffering from thirst. After first rinsing the salt off their bodies with cool water, they held cups like ladles and scooped up the drinks.

“Wow! So refreshing!”

“Ahh….”

The tingling carbonation tickled their throats, and the icy coldness filled their stomachs, leaving them refreshed. As they held and drank from the colorful buckets, a variety of flavors flooded their network.

“I’m drinking cider, but it tastes like orange!”

“Apple flavor! Grape flavor! Lemon flavor! Sports drink flavor!”

“Beer flavor! Champagne flavor!”

We shared all the flavors and coolness with each other. Dozens of exhilarating sensations came together to create a wave of refreshment that swept through the network.

“Oh, this is the one!”

“It’s the best…”

A few Violets who had drunk too much cold liquid clutched their aching heads and happily lay down on the mat.

But something felt missing.

“Something’s not enough…”

“What?”

“I want to drink more!”

The problem was the quantity of drinks. With countless Violets clinging to them and drinking, they emptied instantly.

“The buckets are too small…”

“Isn’t there a better way?”

As I pondered, a good idea came to mind.

“Not enough drinks? Let’s use bigger containers!”

The answer was a bathtub.

I took out single-person portable bathtubs, large enough for one Violet to bathe in. I had bought them before to use in a dungeon, but they had never been used, so they were clean.

“Great! This is it!”

“Ice in!”

The vinyl bathtubs were filled with ice. Countless beverages were then poured over them.

“This is what I wanted!”

“It’s a flood!”

We joyfully rushed to the bathtubs filled with ice and drinks. Some Violets, finding scooping with cups insufficient, plunged their heads into the drinks.

“Hey! Get your head out! It’s dirty!”

When Unit 992 snapped, Unit 3120 asked, sounding puzzled.

“What’s wrong? What’s the problem?”

“It’s dirty to dunk your mouth into the drink and drink it. Use a cup!”

As Unit 992 and a few other Violets grumbled, Unit 3120 asked back, sounding puzzled.

“What’s the big deal if it’s just us drinking? We all washed our faces before drinking.”

“But saliva mixes in!”

“What’s the problem with that? We’re all the same being. It’s not dirty.”

Faced with this unexpected logical rebuttal, I was speechless. Thinking about it, it made sense.

“Uh…is that so?”

“You try it too! It’s even more refreshing this way! You can drink more!”

Unit 992 joined the ranks of those dunking their heads into the bathtub.

“Wow! This is the best!”

On the tropical beach, under the pouring sunlight, the Violets, without exception, plunged their heads into the sea of drinks filling the bathtubs and savored the coolness.

“This truly is heaven…”

**

As they enjoyed the beauty of the tropical sea for a while, evening arrived.

“It’s wonderful…”

The red sunset stretching far into the distance faded, and soon it was dark all around. Most Violets chose to de-generate and move elsewhere, or return to the hibernation network in a corner of the cabin.

Currently, only one Violet lay blankly on the deck.

Even the sunset, which had dyed the blue light red, then purple, submerged beneath the water’s surface.

A cluster of clouds slowly drifted above it. As the briefly emerging moonlight was obscured, shadows fell upon the coast.

“It’s quiet.”

Keeping my eyes closed, it was peaceful. All that could be heard was the lapping of waves.

As I lay there, a sudden thought drifted into my mind.

“What kind of world is this?”

Being on the dark, swaying sea, thoughts I wouldn’t normally have kept emerging one after another.

“Is this really the game world we know?”

In truth, there had been many questionable points even before. The appearance of never-before-seen enemies, only hinted at, and things like my abilities.

“Are we truly possessed?”

A Violet posed a question.

“Perhaps this is reality, and we’re just girls from a place called Earth who mistakenly believe we were transmigrated here?”

“No, we have memories.”

Everything was ambiguous. What were the Apostles? Where was this place? For a world made of digital data fragments, it was remarkably detailed, and many things differed from what I knew.

“Why is there a status window?”

Questions sprouted anew like spring shoots, but each time the answer was the same.

“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t know.”

I, Violet, only knew that I didn’t know.

As troubling thoughts kept surfacing on the lapping waves and swaying boat, suddenly the last hint of red vanished, and one by one, glimmers of light appeared in the pitch-black sky.

Above the dark canopy, a sea of countless stars unfolded.

“Wow…”

Never-before-seen constellations, unfamiliar stars. Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I had looked at the night sky in such detail in this world.

The appearance of the stars was clearly different from where I had lived, but they also possessed their own shapes and formations, studded across the night sky.

All Violets in regions experiencing nighttime, driven by curiosity, looked up at the sky without exception.

Even the Violets in the Federal Army’s controlled zone.

Even the Violets on deserted islands.

Even the Violets in the Red Zone, who were in the midst of fighting sea beasts, wiped away their blood and looked up.

The Violets from the Southern Aegis Academy, and those in the Central and Western regions, also lifted their heads. Even in many places where stars weren’t visible, it didn’t matter. They could just share their vision.

“Could Earth be beyond those stars?”

Looking up at the night sky, the Violets whispered.

“It might be somewhere else.”

The topic had, unnoticed, shifted to the stars.

“There are so many…”

“More than us…!”

Imagining the stars in the night sky, more numerous than the Violets, and the vast emptiness beyond, they trembled with awe.

Then, they realized something important.

“Those stars must have always been there, even before.”

Yes, that’s it.

“The stars have been watching us all along!”

Even when we first fell into this world.

While we faced countless enemies, met many people, and experienced numerous events,

the twinkling stars in that sky were always above our heads.

Even the magic of the Red Zone, where all malice against humanity unfolded, could not block the stars’ gaze.

It had truly been a long time since we faced the sky like this.

Facing such a vast world, we truly felt how small and insufficient we were.

No, yet one thing was clear.

I am Violet.

A flash of realization shook the entire Violet network.

“Why were we so obsessed with outward expansion?”

“It just felt right. My heart pounded!”

When did it start? After absorbing the Apostle, it felt like a whisper urged them to spread far and wide.

But now that I thought about it, it was all futile.

“Right, land wasn’t important.”

Why were we so fixated on land, which was nothing more than a speck of dust compared to the vast universe beyond the wide sky?

The nation of Violet was within our own hearts.

“Our nation exists throughout the whole world!”

Yes, the Violet Nation has no borders.

The Violet Democratic Republic.

The utopia we would create.

Clone Democracy and freedom.

I, Violet, am my own leader, citizen, and possess sovereignty. No one can be our king or president.

Therefore, wherever a Violet exists, that is where the Violet Nation exists.

“Though the body may die, the spirit is immortal!”

“Let’s work even harder to increase our numbers in the future!”

Even now, I’m working hard, but I need to increase my magic power and find various means to improve magic usage efficiency, just as I absorbed the Apostle before.

Because our numbers are far too few compared to the stars in that night sky.

Perhaps thanks to the energy of the universe, the Violets were able to learn many things.

“The world is vast.”

“We Violets are special beings!”

Satisfied that I had gained a small opportunity for learning today, I closed my eyes.

**

As noon approached, and the scorching tropical sun shimmered on the emerald surface, Violet’s yacht received unexpected guests.

“Hey, hey. Wake up!”

The Violet, who had been leisurely sleeping on the deck, opened her eyes. Feeling someone impolitely tapping her cheek, she frowned and lifted her head.

“What…?”

Violet realized two things. One was that she was on an unfamiliar ship. The other was that armed men surrounded them.

“Mister, have you seen our boat? Where are we?”

In the center, a man with an unpleasant expression, arms crossed, replied.

“Ah, that yacht? You mean that broken-down boat?”

Only then could Violet examine her surroundings more closely. Seeing the harpoon cannons on the deck, it appeared to be a whaling ship for hunting sea beasts. And beyond the railing, her yacht floated some distance away.

I forgot to drop the anchor.

The shallow coast with its beaches and coral reefs was far behind. It seemed the boat had drifted a long way while they slept through the night.

“It seemed like you were adrift, so I brought you here.”

Violet asked.

“Wow, did you save us?”

“You’re quick to understand now.”

The armed men chuckled mockingly.

“Then I want to go back, let me off.”

The men responded roughly to the girl’s demand.

-Slap!

“Shriek!”

Violet’s expression crumpled at the burning sensation on her cheek. As she was about to protest this unreasonable form of communication, her gaze hardened. The sight before her was glittering crossbows and dark muzzles of guns.

“This is why these youngsters these days, tsk tsk. Someone saved them, and instead of gratitude, they just want to leave?”

With a clink, magic restraints were clasped onto her wrists. Two men roughly grabbed Violet’s arms.

“If your life was saved, you should show some sincerity, shouldn’t you? Tell us your family or relatives’ contact information. Or rather, are you a student? Which academy?”

To the question from the man who appeared to be the leader, Violet asked back.

“I’m from Aegis Academy. But Mister, what kind of person are you? Why are you tying people up?”

Violence was inflicted once again. Violet, hit on the back of her head, let out a short yelp.

“Kid, do you not understand the situation right now?”

The men grinned slyly. The feeling of their sticky gazes raking over her body made Violet’s stomach churn.

“You’ve been kidnapped, you fool!”

Only then did Violet understand. These people were pirates.

One of the pirates, watching Violet being dragged into the cabin, licked his lips.

“Boss, we’ve got some time until we contact the land and negotiate a ransom, don’t we? Can I have some fun with that girl?”

The men’s gazes met. That girl from a moment ago, though a little short, had an undeniable maturity evident in her body. Lust surged through them already.

“Already? Go ahead. But don’t be too rough! It’ll be a problem if she breaks like the last time.”

“Of course. She’s clearly a low-grade student, so I’ll adjust my strength appropriately. Then…hehe…”

The awakened pirates couldn’t suppress their laughter in anticipation of what was to come.

Without them knowing at all what was about to unfold.

Five minutes later, the whaling ship was swarming with Violets.

“Aargh! I was wrong! I’m sorry!”

“Come on, don’t be like that and hurry into the drum!”