Morning came, and the Great Camp Bravo Kingdom citizens began to squirm and awaken from their huddled sleep by the campfires. I, Troach, Mizuho, and Astoria, newly named the Knight of our kingdom, woke up in that order, murmuring good mornings to one another as we outfitted ourselves.
Breakfast was bacon and thin pancakes fried on the Yukon stove, plus boiled bean soup. Though we still had little, Latten’s visit the previous day had improved our country’s food situation. Things were looking up.
The palace was filled with tension today. We would be going to war. Not hiding behind our barricades, but taking the initiative and invading the ogrekin home ourselves.
With the addition of a stalwart ally in Astoria, we’d come to the conclusion that this was the best option. We would be taking twelve soldiers, with Lostobi the Death-Cheater as their leader. Each was equipped with helmets, armor, and spears. What little weaponry and armor we’d obtained from Latten was a mishmash, and you could tell at a glance that the “fighters” were as well. Still, we needed a long line of spears to take on all those ogrelings without getting quickly surrounded and wiped out. To eliminate as many causes for unease as possible (that of the soldiers as well as my own), we had everyone do a check test, check test, check test with their gear several times. Undoubtedly, they were sick of it by the end.
After Mizuho, Troach, and I prepared ourselves as well, we met before the palace’s northern passages. In terms of our equipment, Mizuho had only a spear, Troach had a spear and a dagger, and I wore a wide-bladed weapon shaped like a billhook at my waist along with the spear I carried. Troach and I, plus two specially chosen subordinates, had painted every exposed part of our face and skin with ashes mixed with mud. I’d had to force the proposition on them. The others were marveling at us.
It took around half an hour to remove the items we’d piled up to serve as barricades. The defenses hadn’t been much, in the end.
The heavy footfalls of armored feet approached. I turned around as Astoria, fully geared up with her helmet under her arm, came riding in on Snorts. We exchanged glances and nodded to each other.
“Now then… Let’s be off,” I said.
Astoria hesitantly raised a hand. “I’m sorry—would you be able to wait a moment? There’s something I need to do before we set out.”
She took a square plate with fancy edges out of a pocket in her breastplate. It looked like a black mirror. Was she going to put on war paint? Or would she use it talk to herself and get pumped up? As I watched in fascination, she exhaled a long breath, reached out with her arms, and held the mirror up in front of her.
And then, suddenly, she started speaking to it in a very informal tone.
“Heya, everyone! Y’all still in good health? It’s me—Astoria the Wing-Blessed!”
“…?!?!?!?!?!”
Flabbergasted, I stared fixedly. Without seeming to care about the rest of us looking on, she continued, not missing a beat.
“I know it’s been two days since my last stream—sorry! Hmm? My producer isn’t here today? That’s right! I actually, well… I left him behind. Yes, yes, again. Heh-heh. He’s probably out of his mind with rage right now. Wouldn’t want to see him at the moment! Anyway, you’ll never believe it! I now belong to a kingdom! Ta-daa!”
With that, she pointed the square mirror in her hand at us. Mizuho, Troach, and I made suspicious faces at the mirror.
“Its name is the Great Camp Bravo Kingdom! It’s a tiny one, just created recently, but it’s a super comfy place to be! I’ll have everyone introduce themselves—starting with Lady Mizuho!”
“M-me? I’m Mizuho the Frequent Late-Nighter. Oh, and I’m the Minister.”
“…What, you want me now? Uhhh… I’m Troach of the Complicated Past… The Attendant, and… Hey, what is this—?”
“Last up is Sir Taiga!”
“……”
“…Go ahead, Sir Taiga!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“…I am called Taiga the Special… The Ninja…”
“Thank you all! Those three are my new friends. They’re the ones who welcomed me into their Court. What? ‘That’s all’? Yes! This Court has no King! Unusual, isn’t it? With that, let’s get season six of Wandering Knight, Astoria’s Great Adventure under way! Title: ‘Astoria the Wing-Blessed Becomes a Landmaker’! I hope you’re looking forward to it, everyone! See you all later!”
Astoria touched the edge of the mirror, and its surface went black. She sighed, then gave us a happy smile.
“Thanks for going along with that! The viewers seemed to like it a lot. Maybe I should have warned you beforehand, but I wanted to get everyone’s raw reactions on camera. Please forgive me!”
“Astoria, would you explain what you were just doing, now?”
“Sure. This is called moving-image streaming,” Astoria said casually.
“Moving-image…streaming…,” I repeated back to her.
She waggled the mirror in front of us with pride. “This allows whatever it reflects to be seen by people in faraway places. It’s Cogwheel’s latest technology. They took me on as a trial user in exchange for becoming my sponsor. Apparently, they want to have famous adventurers and Landmakers use them to make a big show out of their activities. My stream is pretty popular, too. Even when I’m traveling alone, fans from distant places will still watch. I’m truly honored by their support.”
“…I see.”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. “I don’t even know where to start with this… What is this Cogwheel?”
Mizuho answered my question. “It refers to one of the world powers, the Holy Capitalist Republic of Cogwheel. They are strong in scientific fields and create all kinds of mysterious items using technology from the deepfloors. This mirror must be one of them.” As the young woman explained, she peered into my face, suspicious. “What’s going on, Taiga? You’re acting oddly.”
“Well… Something similar existed in the world I’m from… It just felt…conspicuously similar.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, Mizuho’s face lit up. “Wait, wouldn’t that mean that streaming culture comes from Visitors?!”
“…Yes?”
“I knew it! Songs and stories make it clear that there’s been more than a handful of Visitors. Naturally, they brought with them ideas from their worlds and integrated them into Million Dungeon’s own! Until now, I’ve never had the means to confirm it. I’d given up… But with you here, Taiga, now I know!”
Ah… I see. She really is quite the Visitor maniac. Looks like I went and said something I shouldn’t have… I looked up, but my eyes found only the dark ceiling.
“Ms. Astoria! I have a great deal of interest in that mirror! How do you perform this ‘streaming’?!”
“Ha-ha-ha! There’s no need to be impatient, Lady Mizuho. I’m happy you’ve taken a fascination with it. I shall gladly tell you whatever you wish to know.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. And if it’s all right with you, Lady Mizuho, we could do a collaboration stream. We’ll need to decide on a name…”
I watched helplessly as the two young women abruptly got to be good friends. Troach seemed unsettled; she came up next to me and whispered, “Hey, Taiga, is she saying that if I see my face in that thing, people far away will be able to see it, too?”
“You catch on quick.”
“Whaaat…? I don’t want that. Great… What should I do? I was just on it before, and I even gave my name…”
“Something wrong with that?”
“Come on, you know my previous occupation,” Troach stated sourly, scratching at her neck. “Well, what’s done is done, but still… I’ll have to be careful I don’t ever show up on it again if I can help it.”
“I feel the same.”
“You do? But nobody here knows you.”
“It’s an ingrained habit from my world…”
I couldn’t help but associate this with the incident that led to me retiring from the Regiment. That nightmare in Ankara, where one photo uploaded to Instagram had ruined everything. This situation was completely different, but still…
“Now then, everyone, let us depart! We shall ride on into the depths of the labyrinth and destroy the ogres’ forces!” Astoria declared loudly, smoothly unsheathing the longsword from its place on her back. It indeed was an act befitting a model knight: bold and inspiring to all. It was clear just from the deft way she handled her weapon that she was as capable as she presented herself. My own experiences only further confirmed that fact. Astoria was strong. There was zero problem with us letting her be the outrider of the Court.
Why, then, was my mood not brightening at all?
Perhaps because I’d been in the Regiment for too long. It was the age of frontline soldiers filming combat on GoPros and uploading the footage to the Internet. Had the world left me behind while I’d been handling secret missions that could never come to light?
Such bouts of unease crossed the back of my mind occasionally. And as I led the party into the dungeon, I had no doubt I did so with a sullen expression.