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A gigantic artificial island, often referred to as the Floating Continent, leisurely floats at a high altitude, akin to drifting clouds.

At the center of its surface lay a dazzling and majestic castle, seemingly carved entirely from ruby. The scale was as majestic as its beauty, so vast that even if it had been located on the ground, one could still glimpse its beautiful visage from space. Behind the castle stretched a forest of huge, lush green trees, while in the foreground, numerous buildings formed an orderly town—yet so comically small, like a miniature model, in contrast to the grand castle.

As the huge island advanced slowly, independent of the planet’s rotation, a ‘Green-Eyed Monster’ carrying two humans on its back followed at a slight distance in a camouflage state. The monster was seemingly holding its breath to minimize its presence, with only its shining green eyes hinting at its existence.

One of the two humans riding the monster was a blonde-haired young man in his twenties, clad in resplendent silvery armor with a greatsword fastened at his waist. He also held the reins of the monster. His naturally striking face now bore a hint of sternness as his gaze fixed on a parasite-like giant monster rampaging across the island as though it owned the place.

Sitting behind him was a violet-haired girl, aged around 15 or 16. She wore a violet, ribbon-adorned one-piece dress, a blend of an afternoon dress and a camisole, and held a golden staff in her hand.

“…Tamegoro, how is Hiyuki’s place holding up?”

A crease formed on the young girl’s forehead as the young man asked, momentarily turning around to glance at her.

“Hold on, my familiar hasn’t reached the main target yet since the castle is so ridiculously large and it also has to avoid some mechanisms—like spiderwebs spread around. And for the nth time, my name is not ‘Tamegoro’, it’s ‘Iroha Mei’! Geez, how many times do I have to correct you?”

The young man shrugged off her playful, cat-like protest.

“C’mon, it’s already too late for that. I mean, ‘Tamegoro’ always comes to mind first, and it’s easy to say. Besides, if I’m not wrong, even Hiyuki, who typically calls all her friends with honorifics, hasn’t called you ‘Miss Iroha Mei’ except at your first meeting, right?”

Recalling how her nickname evolved—first ‘Meigoro’, a combination of ‘Mei’ and ‘Goro’, before eventually becoming ‘Tamegoro’—a smile appeared on the young man’s face.

“But why… I really wanted Miss Hiyuki to at least call me like she called Shizucchi ‘Mister Takeshi’ until the end… Ah, there it is! Found the target.”

The young girl’s eyes, sulking in her frustration over Hiyuki, suddenly sharpened.

“Whoa! Would you look at that? Shimamura is getting wrecked so good. Uh-huh, maybe our assistance is uncalled for.”

The young girl said this in a bouncy voice. Meanwhile, the young man retained his stiff expression, gazing over the whole island and the monster wreaking havoc on it.

“Hope it really is as it looks. But I’m feeling a bit uneasy. By the way, in which area of the castle are they fighting?”

“Hmm?… Let’s see, they’re calling it ‘Throne Room.’ In the game, it was called ‘Control Room,’ I believe.”

“What, the control room?!”

The follow-up words caused the young man’s expression to further stiffen. Seemingly curious about it, the young girl asked with a skeptical look.

“Why did you suddenly look jumpy? There’s no way he can suddenly wrestle away the control of ‘Sky Garden’ as long as Hiyuki is there. And hell, when did it become possible to transfer authority to a third person?”

“…Makes sense. Thinking about it, the ownership should next be transferred to sub-guildmasters—you or me—in case something happens to Hiyuki.”

The look of panic receded from the young man’s face when he recalled how the ownership of “Mobile Fortress Centipede” was transferred to Otomaru, the sub-guildmaster of ‘Aniki and Happy Friends,’ after Animaru’s death.

“I mean, since Miss Hiyuki is an irregular existence, there’s no way to say if the rules that apply to us, the creations of that sly b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲, would apply to her or the ownership rules as well. After all—”

“Tamegoro!”

The young man rebuked the young girl as she spoke in self-derision.

“I’ve already said not to take his words seriously. There’s no way to know if we’re real or just a copy. Let’s say even if we’re just shadows of our former selves, that doesn’t change the fact we’re still living beings with our own egos. So, we ought to live in the moment, following our own will, rather than mimicking others.”

The young girl looked at the young man speaking with fervency, amazed, and then chuckled, bemused by the situation.

“You have changed, Lubbock. Before, it was like you had lost all your steam to live and were just breathing for the sake of breathing.”

“…Did I?”

“Yeah, really. I thought you had turned into a wuss for always following that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲’s orders, but now you look like the ‘One-Man Army’ Lubbock I know. Did something happen?”

The young girl herself hated being anywhere near the man she referred to as ‘Sly B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲,’ so she assertively took on any work that allowed her to travel around the continent.

Hearing her question, an astringent smile spread across the young man’s face, his eyes taking on a distant look.

“You must have heard what happened to Kagerou, right?”

“Yeah… yeah, I did…”

“I’ve been thinking about what Kagerou said before he was killed by that guy for defying him—’but if I am to die, it will be on my own terms.’ I always thought our lives were nothing more than toys he created and used at his whim, but Kagerou stuck to his own will in the end. Comparing myself to him and what I was doing… I felt pathetic, to be honest.”

The young man bit his lip, recalling the courage of his friends and then his own cowardice.

“Mr. Kagerou was truly an enigmatic person, wasn’t he? I bet even his chivalry in the end was for Miss Hiyuki’s sake. I feel like he was truly fascinated by Miss Hiyuki. Ah, I mean in terms of ‘love,’ not just ‘like.'”

“…Listen here. Internally, Hiyuki is a man. But I guess that doesn’t matter in his, or her, current state.”

Recalling Hiyuki’s demeanor from their earlier meetings, where he barely spoke with her and the meetings almost always devolved into fights, brought a bitter smile to his face as he reminisced.

“Well, it’s just my hunch at the end of the day. Anyway, it doesn’t change the fact that Miss Hiyuki is still liked by many, and the same goes for me.”

‘Likewise,’ the young man nodded in response to the young girl’s idle talk.

“That’s why I’m definitely going to protect her of my own will, not just because of that guy’s orders. So keep watching, Kagerou.”

The young man clenched his fist, recalling his close friend, now resting in the afterworld beyond that blue sky.

“Just you see, my dear friend. I will definitely accomplish it, even if I have to forfeit my life.”