4 - An Afternoon With Dolls

The girl was in a room surrounded by non-functioning Liradans; in other words, dolls.

She was still only around 10 years old, but there was something in the room that was very strange for a girl of her age to have: dozens of mana screens. They were the only thing in the room besides the dolls. There was nothing else there at all.

“The only thing I feel after I finish a work of literature is empty,” she said, speaking into the mana screen.

There was a doll on the screen. From the shape of the room and the other men visible on the screen, she seemed to be participating in a meeting.

And the mana screen next to it was clearly showing what the doll saw.

This was the true identity of the person codenamed 2V. She’d belonged to the cabinet’s magical intelligence office, the organization that worked for Boichiro, and now she was controlling it. She was an expert spy and strategist capable of controlling dozens of dolls at a time. Even CMID-8, the office’s most high-ranking experts, had never seen her real face.

“This isn’t a book club. What does that have to do with this meeting?” one of the meeting participants said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Don’t get so upset. It has plenty to do with it. I just witnessed a revolutionary use of virtual phase space.”

2V brought another screen close to her. It showed footage of the old library on the grounds of Constant Magical Academy. Several of the students there were dolls.

“Virtual phase space? That’s a defensive mechanism built into the gods’ devices. It’s the space we pass through when we’re teleporting...”

“Virtual phase space is essentially empty, though you’re free to bring whatever you like from the outside. So unless you’re trying to use it as part of a defense system, it’s an inefficient way to kill people, or lure them in to start a war.” 2V spoke with far more complex words than a girl her age should have been able to use. No, maybe she wasn’t that age at all.

“And?”

“It seems it’s possible for the Demon King’s wavelength... no, the wavelength generated by the resonance between the Demon King and the Law of Identity, to have an effect on virtual phase space. Ahem. This means that if you can get a hold of the Law of Identity, we can bring things like images, stories, and similar concepts into virtual phase space.”

“I’m afraid that’s too complex for me to understand...”

“Well, we’ll go over the detailed theory later. Essentially, you can go inside a game, or a movie. Something like that.”

“And that’s why you mentioned literature...? No, but we’re talking about our plan...”

“Haha! I thought I made it very simple to understand. We can make a playing field where we decide the rules! And when the Demon King gets inside... he’ll be human.”

2V’s words, or more precisely, her doll’s words, caused chaos in the meeting room.

“I see...! So then we can kill him...”

“Then we won’t have to fear that the next god will die, too!”

“And the streets will be safe again. Now we can stop the demon worshipers from growing any more powerful.”

“That’s right. I’d like your permission to come up with a plan.”

2V promised to submit a plan within a week, and her doll left the room.

“Now then... It won’t be easy to kidnap the Law of Identity, but I can go myself if I have to. Those cells of Akuto Sai that Rubbers brought back will probably be quite handy.”

2V rolled up the sleeves of her plain white shirt, crossed her grey slack-clad legs, and turned to look at the mana screen.