Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 8 - Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Freedom 
Prism Rider, Ray Starling 
Dr. Mario answered my question with another one. “How do you know that?” 
He didn’t pretend I was wrong or try to silence me — he just stared at me with his blue eyes, curious about what had given it away. 
“I’ve had a hunch since our talk yesterday,” I said. 
“Yesterday?” 
“You knew about Jade, didn’t you? They found that Prism Steed in Dryfe. I know someone who knows a lot about stuff like that. Just yesterday, she told me about the Prism Steeds she’d heard of, and Jade wasn’t among them. Someone who knew about it before she did has to have strong ties to the place where it was found.” 
“There’s more than that, surely,” he said. 
“Yes,” I nodded. “These days, the only countries looking into the pre-ancient civilization are Dryfe and Granvaloa, right? Well, you said your research involves official desk work, so it’s pretty likely that you’re from either of those places.” 
That was two reasons out of the way, and I also had a third. 
“You also said that you have Altarian noble blood. Altar and Dryfe might be at war right now, but I hear they used to be great allies. Consider that, and it’s not all that weird that a Dryfean has Altarian nobility in his ancestry.” 
I also had another reason I didn’t feel like saying out loud. Azurite was extremely wary of him — a mere scholar. And she was an operative working for someone in the kingdom’s upper echelon. 
As such, she might be acting with the assumption that Dryfe, too, had sent someone to investigate the ruins. 
“A+,” he said. “Your conjecture is correct.” 
Can’t say I expected to be graded, but okay. 
“I certainly am from Dryfe,” he continued. “I came here to investigate the ruins. Whatever is hidden inside could have a great impact on our country.” 
“And...? What’s the conclusion?” 
“The imperium will surely deem the Prism Soldiers unnecessary.” He showed no intention of trying to hide Dryfe’s plans from me. 
“Why?” I raised an eyebrow. 
“Because we already have something similar. I know you’re well-acquainted with Mr. Franklin and his Triangle of Wisdom. Surely you’ve heard of their Marshal IIs.” 
“Ah.” 
“Of course, Prism Soldiers have the autopilot system. That is a great advantage, but in the current climate, it will only provoke us more enemies. Acquiring the system would be time-consuming, not to mention that we would have to modify it, as well. The pre-ancient civilization’s programs are quite unlike ours, you see. We won’t manufacture decent amounts of the machines unless we port it, so it’s best to rely solely on the Marshal IIs we already have.” 
So, they wouldn’t see any need for the Prism Soldiers because they were much like Dryfe’s current war machines. 
“What if the kingdom gets them?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it be bad for you if we fixed the autopilot system?” 
“The kingdom knows nothing of technology. How many years would that take them?” 
“...Good point.” 
So Dryfe assumed the war would be over and the kingdom would be annexed before it could pull that off. Then, after things settled down, they would take over the project and take their time reprogramming the system themselves. 
“To Dryfe, these ruins would only matter if there were technology we didn’t know anything about or if they contained a finished weapon we couldn’t afford to let fall into the kingdom’s hands. Especially not before the war. This place has no significance to us otherwise. Do you understand, young lady?” He turned away from me and looked into the darkness some distance ahead. 
“Truth Discernment tells me you speak the truth,” the shadows replied in a familiar voice. 
“Azurite...” I said, surprised. I had no idea she’d even returned from the mansion, let alone that she was right here. 
“Truth Discernment makes this really simple, young lady,” said Dr. Mario, nodding. “Or should I say ‘Miss Altarian Spy’? Or perhaps, ‘the kingdom’s—’” 
“And what of you?” Azurite cut his words short. “You’re not a scholar, are you?” 
In a split-second, Azurite closed in on him and swung her blade so fast I couldn’t follow it. 
“Gh..!” I clenched my teeth as I pictured Dr. Mario being cleaved in half. 
My imagination was completely off the mark, though — he jumped backwards and evaded it. 
Standing at a safe distance, he looked directly at us. His blue eyes contained a powerful glare. It felt as menacing as Shu or Figaro when they were serious. 
“That was very violent of you. Molto violento,” he said. 
“Perhaps,” Azurite agreed. “Now, if I may ask... how did a mere scholar dodge my blow?” 
Oh, so that was a preemptive attack to test Dr. Mario’s identity and... WAIT, NO, HOLD ON! 
“Whoa whoa whoa! Did you think this through?! What if he’d been the real deal?!” I yelled. He would’ve been split in half! 
“No need to worry,” she said. “This blade of mine cannot cut now. Unless I aimed for his head, he’d have only ended up with a few crushed bones.” 
“Goddamn, you’re such a meathead!” 
Not as bad as Figaro, though! That guy’d probably just shove a chain into his face and turn his head into mush! 
“You’re one of Dryfe’s special soldiers, I assume?” Azurite asked Dr. Mario. 
“Special soldiers?” I repeated. I wasn’t sure I understood what she meant. 
“Dryfe’s Special Mission Task Force, often called just ‘special soldiers,’” she explained. “It’s a group comprised entirely of fully-trained battle jobs or Superior Jobs, all specialized in single warfare... or infiltration, like what we have here.” 
A group of maxed-out high-ranks and Superior Jobs? I guess they’re like Dryfe’s version of the Royal Guard before their post-war decline. 
Dr. Mario nodded. “Si. That is correct.” 
“‘Mario’ isn’t your real name, I assume?” I asked. “Also, if you ask me, that manner of speech stands out far too much for an infiltration. Is there something else you’re hiding that makes it part of your camouflage?” 
“You aren’t wrong...” Dr. Mario slowly nodded. “Except about one thing — I really am a scholar with a doctorate in archeology. Mario may not be my real name, but it is my name as a scholar.” 
So even if it wasn’t his real name, he was still Dr. Mario. 
“Anyway, I’ve been found out, so I guess this is it... Oh, before I forget...” 
He took something out and threw it to me. 
As I caught it, it made a hard jingling sound. 
“What’s this?” I asked. 
“The payment for my stay here. Could you give it to the hostess? Oh, and please tell her that the food was delicious and the hot spring felt amazing. I could feel my exhaustion just... fade away.” 
“...Okay.” 
He was one of Dryfe’s special soldiers and he’d infiltrated Altar, but... he really didn’t seem like a bad guy. 
“What if that’d been a bomb? You’d be one-armed again,” commented Azurite. 
“Ah.” I hadn’t even considered that. 
“You’re easy to fool, aren’t you?” 
“No I’m not. Sure, I had a secret player killer in my party, didn’t know my brother was the KoD until the thing at Gideon, and drank the drug-slime mixture Franklin gave me, but that’s it, really.” 
“...Let me rephrase. You are absurdly easy to fool. Such a simple man.” She looked at me with an indefinable expression. 
Dr. Mario watched our exchange with a friendly smile, then said, “It’s a shame, but I must take my leave now.” 
“You truly believe you can escape?” Azurite pointed her blade at him. 
“My dear. I already have,” he replied, and a split-second later he vanished, leaving behind only a small bird. 
“Wha—?!” Azurite exclaimed. 
I gasped. “That’s...” 
I recognized the creature. The bird was a monster created by Franklin. It was designed for Castling — a skill that switched the position of the user and the target monster. Gideon’s Masters often called it “Chimaera Wing.” 
“Well, he’s a Dryfean soldier,” I murmured. “No surprise that he has access to Franklin’s stuff.” 
Castling couldn’t have taken him too far, but the man had moved fast enough to dodge Azurite’s blade. Catching up to him would be a challenge, to put it lightly. 
“Might as well assume we lost him,” Azurite sighed. “He’s a special soldier. He might have prepared something for us in the ruins or its surroundings. We should urgently hire someone to investigate.” 
“You think he... or Dryfe, rather... will do something there?” 
“Yes, I do. In fact, I came here exactly because I assumed Dryfe will make a move.” 
“Huh?” 
I didn’t really understand that. I figured she’d known Dryfe would make a move, but I hadn’t thought she was here because of that. What did that mean? 
“That aside,” she sighed again, “don’t you think you showed him a bit too much? He is a Dryfean special soldier. The portrait from the ruins is one thing, but he could’ve assaulted you just for your Prism Steed.” 
“Well, I was told that all original owners were at risk of being attacked for them.” 
Even B3 would’ve attacked me if she’d been an active PK and if I hadn’t been her friend. 
“I’ll run into people gunning for Silver sooner or later,” I said. “Besides, he analyzed Silver for me. My gratitude for that outweighs the risks.” 
“Is that how it works?” 
“In my mind, anyway. Also, I know he’s from Dryfe and all, but he really doesn’t seem like a bad guy.” 
He hadn’t hesitated to teach me, an enemy Master, about the pre-ancient civilization. He could easily have lied, but Azurite had confirmed that he hadn’t. 
Enemy soldier or not, the man seemed cordial and honest — qualities you rarely found in bad people. 
“You really are simple,” Azurite grinned wryly. “But I have friends in the imperium, as well, so I can’t deny those words.” 
“You have friends in Dryfe?” I asked. 
“Yes. Our countries used to be allied, after all. I was a transfer student there, and...” She gained a nostalgic look and fell silent. “Oh, this is no time to talk about the past.” 
True, we went off on a tangent. 
“Back to the matter at hand...” she said. “According to Truth Discernment, he didn’t speak a single lie, but we should still be cautious.” 
“Speaking of which, how long were listening to us?” I asked. “You make it sound like you were there from the start.” 
“That’s because I was. I tried to call out to you, but you began speaking to him before I could.” 
I had no idea she was there! I thought, somewhat surprised. 
“Again, he didn’t lie... but his manner of speech was off in more than just quirkiness. It was technical, designed to conceal the truth without saying a lie. Most army men know how to speak like that. Special soldiers doubly so.” 
“Yeah. I also feel that he wasn’t lying, but it did seem like he was hiding something.” 
It had to be related to the portrait — something hadn’t felt right about the way he was talking about it. 
“As for what it is...” I said, pondering. 
He’d claimed, without lying, that Dryfe had no need for Prism Soldiers. However, that was still only Dr. Mario’s own take on it. We couldn’t rule out the possibility that Dryfe would come for them anyway. 
Besides, even if that didn’t happen... 
“These ruins might contain more than just the Prism Soldiers,” I said. 
 
Quartierlatin, mountain 
“So there was no point in trying to fool them, huh?” the man named Dr. Mario muttered. Thanks to Castling and his own two feet, he was now a fair distance away from the youngsters he’d just talked to. He wasn’t using his speech quirks anymore — this was his natural mode of speaking. “Knowing them, they’ve probably figured out what I was hiding.” 
He was speaking about what he’d seen in Ray’s photos. 
There was a part of the text that he hadn’t read aloud: 
“Here, within this facility, we will complete the anti-incarnation superweapon, Acra-Vesta, and the mass-production of the Prism Soldiers, and one day defeat the countless Incarnations of Beasts.” 
The part he’d kept secret spoke of a weapon that would make the Prism Soldiers pale. 
It wasn’t news to him, though. He’d already concluded that the ruins contained a supreme weapon based solely on the objects the other explorers had brought him. 
“A pre-ancient civilization superweapon...” he murmured. “We might be dealing with something as powerful as the Imperstand... or perhaps something greater.” 
He heaved a heavy sigh, both because he had to deal with something like this and because ignoring it wasn’t an option. 
“I can’t let it end up in the kingdom’s hands... the imperium would suffer if I did.” 
The special soldier looked at the mountain hiding the ruins. His eyes were bright blue, but his glare did nothing to complement the vividness. 
Ray might have felt that he looked tired, but that was an understatement — the eyes were downright devoid of the spark of life. 
He reached into his inventory, took out a magic comms item, and connected to a certain number. “Logan,” he said. “Are you near?” 
“Yeah. I’m in the nearby mountains. You?” 
It was Hell General, Logan Goddhart. He was his collaborator in this operation. The only one, in fact. But that mattered little, for he was sole, but many. 
“They found me out,” Dr. Mario said. 
“Now, listen here...!” 
“Easy there. They only figured out that I’m a special soldier. They still don’t know who I really am.” 
“They ought to know that you’re the only special soldier who backed the current imperator and survived the civil war for the throne! Then again, Altar’s idiots don’t know shit about Dryfe’s internal affairs.” 
“The operation starts in the morning, just as planned. Our goal is to either capture or destroy the superweapon in the ruins, Acra-Vesta.” 
“Understood. But why aren’t we doing a night assault? My devils can see in the dark.” 
“Not even the kingdom knows where Acra-Vesta’s stored yet... and I need some time to prepare.” 
“...Oh yeah, that.” 
“Mm-hm, I need more Edelvalsa marionettes. I brought some with me, but these numbers won’t do. If I use Marionette Platoon Creation right now, I should have a thousand by morning. That’s the maximum I can control at the same time. You go ahead and create your Demi-Dragon-class devils — at least two thousand of them.” 
“That’s more than we originally planned...” 

“Well, the plans have changed. We didn’t know about the Prism Soldiers in the ruins, or that Altar’s The Lynx and the Unbreakable were here, too. It’s necessary to be a bit excessive.” 
The Hell General was silent. I alone am already a bit excessive, to be honest, he thought. The second in Altar’s duel rankings? Some promising noob? A bunch of machines? They’re nothing to me. 
“Anyway, summon more than planned. Besides that, the plan is the same. I’ll go secure the technology while you keep Altar’s forces occupied.” 
“All right.” Logan didn’t speak his thoughts and simply agreed. “I’ll respect your decision and accept this quest, Field Marshal Gifted Barbaros.” 
 
Prism Rider, Ray Starling 
The Prism Soldiers might not be the only kind of weapon in the ruins. 
Even if the constructs were of no use to Dryfe, the spies from Dryfe were bound to make a move if they were interested in the other thing. 
We rushed to use comms magic and warn the countess and the guild that the imperium might do something. Good thing Azurite had taken a guild comms item the last time we’d gone there. 
“There’s one good thing about Dryfe’s involvement in this,” said Azurite. “If they attack, it will confirm that the second weapon truly does exist. We certainly won’t overlook the far greater danger these ruins hold.” 
I shrugged. That’s one way to look at it. 
“But man, this escalated quickly,” I muttered. 
At first, it had just been the Prism Soldier factory, and now we also had some other weapon and Dryfe. I had a feeling that this whole thing might turn out to be even more trouble than Franklin’s Game. 
Still... no matter what came, I’d face it head-on. 
“Dr. Mario knows that we’re stopping the ruins tomorrow,” I said. “Assuming Dryfe attacks, when do you think it’ll happen?” 
Would they come to take the weapon before or after the Prism Soldiers were all shut down? Or would they wait for the actual war? 
All cases seemed likely. 
“I haven’t heard of any movements from Dryfe’s army,” said Azurite. “If they attack sometime around the deactivation, it’s bound to be a blitzkrieg with a select few.” 
“A small, handpicked force, huh?” 
“Yes. Special soldiers like that ‘Mario’ person, or Masters who excel at battle.” 
That reminded me of what Franklin and Hugo had done in Gideon, but this wouldn’t be anything like it. Back then, they’d used The Clash of the Superiors and Cyco’s compatibility with Gideon’s Masters to declaw the kingdom’s forces. 
This time, they had no means of doing anything like that, so they’d likely use pure power. 
“The numbers would be low, though, surely,” added Azurite. “These ruins were discovered a mere three days ago. They haven’t had the time to prepare in the way they did in Gideon.” 
“Even Masters who could pull something like that off are few and far between, yeah,” I said. 
Of course, the same could be said for us. The only Masters here were the few who’d come to explore the ruins and the ones who had Quartierlatin as their main haunt. 
If Dryfe did what they’d done in Gideon and brought a Superior, the only one who’d stand a chance would be Tom, our previous duel champion. 
Or maybe... 
“Regardless, we must be alert,” Azurite said. 
“Yeah. How many Masters do we have?” 
“Well, there are the ones who took the quest to stop the ruins, but...” Azurite fell silent mid-sentence. 
I knew exactly what she didn’t want to say. 
Yesterday, she’d said that she was against using Masters in war. She would tolerate our help in exploring the ruins and stopping the factory, but she didn’t want to force us into a direct clash with Dryfe. 
This was like a pre-war skirmish. She probably thought we had no place in it. 
“The other tian fighters and I will stand to defend,” she proclaimed. “You join the other Masters and stop the ruins.” 
The gravity of the situation clashed with her line of thinking, causing anguish you could almost hear in her tone. 
Still, I couldn’t agree. 
“No,” I said. “I’ll stay on the surface and fight Dryfe’s Masters.” 
“Ray!” she exclaimed judgmentally. 
I didn’t give in. “Didn’t I tell you that Masters would come to help Altar when it needed them?” 
“...You did.” 
“And I also said I’d be one of them. So yeah, I’m fighting Dryfe’s Masters tomorrow, and that’s final.” 
I was choosing to fight, just as I’d said I would. 
“But that’s my role! I thank you for your help with the investigation, but you Masters mustn’t take part in—!” 
“Speak up.” 
“...Eh?” 
I knew I had to fight, but I didn’t know why Azurite was so against it. I needed to find out her reasons before the battle began. 
“Why are you against us Masters joining the war effort? Give me a reason. Tell me your feelings.” 
“M-My feelings?” 
“Why don’t you want us in the war?” 
I couldn’t make a choice that respected her feelings if I didn’t even know what they were. 
Azurite fell silent, but it didn’t seem to be because she didn’t want to talk about it. She was just conflicted... contemplating something. 
Soon enough, she opened her mouth, “Very well... I have two reasons, actually. The first is that I simply don’t trust Masters.” 
I’d already guessed that one. Thanks to the war, many Altarian tians no longer trusted Masters, and Azurite was among them. Masters had killed her mentor, Langley Grandria, and her teacher, the Arch Sage, and for all I knew, there might’ve been many more. I really couldn’t blame her for not trusting us. 
“But the reason I refuse your assistance is different,” she went on. “I don’t hold any mistrust towards you.” 
That was as good as saying she trusted me. And yet she was still rejecting me. 
“My second reason... is my late father’s words.” 
“Your dad’s?” 
“Yes...” Azurite said. “He was one of the people in the center of Altar’s government, and he thought a lot about the stark increase in Masters that started four or five years ago.” 
That was more or less when Infinite Dendrogram had come out. Shu and the other first-wave players had gotten online and started messing things up or solving them. 
“He used to think a lot about what would happen if these powerful, immortal beings kept growing in power and number.” 
“Did he think we’re a danger or something?” 
“No... the other way around, in fact. Father considered Masters to be inhuman agents of revolution who would lead humanity and the world to a better future. In his eyes, you were akin to divine messengers I’ve read about in legends.” 
“Divine messengers?” I raised an eyebrow. 
Well, that’s an... interesting way to look at us. 
It made me think of the Extra-Continental Vessel, the god and the servants, but that was probably unrelated. 
“That’s why my father refused to hire Masters for war,” she said. “He believed that there was no future for a world in which Masters were seen as nothing but sellswords for war. You are so much more than that. You are saviors from another world.” 
I was silent. Wow, he sure put us on a pedestal. 
That line of thought didn’t even align with the vast majority of Masters. After all — all of us had started out with the intention to play. 
Even if there were people like me, growing to value the lives of those who called this world their home, none of us came here to make this world a better place. 
I was pretty sure not even Miss Aberration was an exception, and she was a damn cultist. 
If Azurite’s father really was a big name in Altar’s government, this misconception might’ve been one of the reasons why the country was in such a dire state. After all... we Masters were no saviors or divine messengers. 
“You don’t agree with him on that, do you?” I asked. 
“I don’t. Even so, I’ll follow his words until the end. They... They were our last...” 
She fell silent again. 
From what I could tell, her father must’ve died in the war. 
Not even a year had passed since then. The memory had to be fresh enough that merely talking about it opened the wound again, making it hard for her to speak. 
I silently pondered. It was easy to say that she was just a slave to her father’s memory, but if it was near and dear to her heart, who was I to ruin it for her? 
I couldn’t take that angle, so... 
“Before I came here, someone told me this,” I began. 
“Eh?” 
I began to quote. “‘You can become a hero or the demon king, a king or a slave, a good person or an evil person. You can do something, or you can do nothing. You can stay in Infinite Dendrogram, or leave it. It’s all up to you. If it’s possible, then you can do anything you want.’” 
I was speaking about myself... or, rather, us Masters. That was what Cheshire had told me when I’d asked about the goal of Infinite Dendrogram. 
“Who said that?” asked Azurite. 
“Those were the words I was told before I came to this world as a Master,” I answered. “As far as I know, most Masters are told something similar.” 
According to Figaro, his control AI had seen him off with, “Blessings upon your days and the freedom they bring.” 
That was most likely the thing the control AIs — the devs — found most important. 
Basically... it was all about freedom. 
“Masters are free,” I said. “Whatever we do is up to us to decide. We’re not some single mass going around changing or destroying the world.” 
She was silent. 
“All Masters follow their own wills and choose how they’re gonna be,” I continued. 
Masters were free — we always had a choice. We were free to choose whatever we wanted, even if it came with a lot of responsibility, or it came at the expense of somebody else. 
Many Masters, myself included, had made many choices during their time here. And it was time for me to choose yet again. 
“As a Master, I choose to protect you and Quartierlatin.” 
My choice was probably against Azurite and her father’s wishes, but I would stick with it until the end. 
She gasped softly. 
“This isn’t some supreme Master consensus,” I said. “Your dad’s ideals, or your own, have nothing to do with it, either. This is all just me, my freedom, and my selfishness.” 
I would choose to protect Azurite even if she was against it, which was probably the purest expression of Master-like freedom. 
“Why are you so considerate of me?” she demanded. 
It was a very valid question. 
“I... I’m not really sure either, if I’m honest.” 
I’d only met her just yesterday. What reason did I have to care about her so much? 
“...Because you saw me naked?” 
“NO, DAMN IT! The reason I want to protect you is...” 
I didn’t know why myself, but I was pretty damn sure she was off the mark with that guess. A few seconds later, I finally figured out the real answer. 
“...it’s because I just couldn’t ignore you.” 
“What do you mean?” Azurite asked. 
“You are by far the most tense person I’ve ever met. It feels like you’re completely on-edge, even when we’re just talking like this.” 
This impression had reached its peaks back at the room with the portrait... and right now too, actually. She seemed on the verge of breaking or bursting, yet she was still giving her all to fulfill her duties. 
It made me want to support and protect her. Sitting by and just watching her waste away like this would leave a bad taste in my mouth, surely. 
“In my heart of hearts, I just want to support and protect you,” I said. “There’s nothing more to it.” 
“...I understand,” she said slowly. 
“So yeah, I’m going to be with the defense tomorrow. I won’t tell you to drop your outlook or go against your dad’s will — I’ll be by your side just because I’m selfish.” 
“I can’t even tell if your logic is flawed or flawless... I just can’t...” Azurite spoke in a teary voice. However, the edges of her lips were bent slightly up. “Still... thank you.” 
She was both smiling and crying at the same time. 
 
A few minutes later, the two left the scene to get ready for tomorrow. 
They needed to shut down the factory, prepare for Dryfe’s assault... there was no shortage of things to be done. 
However, neither of them realized that they hadn’t been the only ones there. 
Silently, the third person showed himself. 
It was The Lynx, Tom Cat. 
“Freedom, eh...?” 
Just like Azurite before, he’d hidden himself nearby and eavesdropped on their conversation, He’d heard everything from Ray’s calling out to Mario. 
“Looks like those words do reach people.” For reasons unknown, he smiled incredibly broadly. “First Sechs, then Benetnasch, and now Ray... that’s three Masters who’ve taken the words properly. Yup... I knew he was a good kid.” 
The mentions of the King of Crimes and King of Tartarus would catch the attention of many, if they heard him, but few would be able to understand what his words truly meant. 
A few seconds later, he walked away, finally leaving the scene completely empty.