The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume8 Chapter1

Status: Incomplete

1/6 parts completed

   

Stage 01: Welcome to the Media Celebrity Life

“…What should we do, Onii-chan?”

“We break our way through and run away.”

(Stage 01 Open 08/04 09:00)

Welcome to the Media Celebrity Life

Part 1

“This Chinese rice porridge is so good.”

“This abalone rice porridge is so good.”

The restaurants in C Block’s Chinatown were not yet open, but Shiroyama Kyousuke and Olivia Highland had still met someone there. While serving them a breakfast that looked simple but was actually a lot of trouble to make, Lu Niang Lan sighed in her red modified China dress.

She ran a secondhand store, so she had used an acquaintance’s supplies instead of her own.

She began speaking while finding the cicada cries to be far too loud already.

“Kyousuke-chan, you’ve been acting very wild lately. Is this a rebellious phase?”

“Lu-san, I had hoped to get this information out of you yesterday, but my entire schedule has been thrown off because you were collapsed in Aika’s bath.”

“Eh heh heh. Don’t you dare talk about that when you caused the wild global financial fluctuation people have started calling Black August. Do I need to give you a firsthand lesson in how my hidden weapons work? Eh heh heh heh heh…”

Lu Niang Lan hung her head and let out some endless dark laughter, but stocks and the like were none of Kyousuke’s concern. But as a capable young woman, she continued smoothly working at preparing the tea.

Kyousuke added some chopped pickled vegetables to accent the flavor of his fish stock rice porridge.

“I’ve already transferred the money to your account, so give me my money’s worth of information,” he said.

“Y’know, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the losses the entire organization has-…sigh, never mind. I guess I just have to work through my jobs one at a time. …Yes, chaos is an opportunity for my line of work. You can’t let this beat you, Lu Niang Lan. I can still ride this wave.”

With that, she pulled a small notepad from her cleavage.

Her shoulders were not quite at the same height, so she must have been crossing her long legs below the table. That was all it was, but it increased her relaxed allure. When taking a selfie, the slightest difference in angle could have a great effect on the impression people got from your face. Her behavior as an assassin had so permeated her body that she would make herself look nice without even meaning to.

“First of all, let’s talk about the Silver Resource War.”

“It’s an impressive-sounding name, but it doesn’t actually exist, does it?”

“There’s a reason it was given that kind of name. It’s a war that is ‘about to happen’ because a Euro lobbyist group has been pestering the US Congress about making it happen. So they couldn’t afford to give it a negative image.”

“The ‘resource war’ part doesn’t give it a negative image?”

“It didn’t have that name originally.” The modified China dress beauty breathed a sigh of exasperation and brushed her long black hair off of her cheek. “It began with the Global Sharing movement. Materials would be taken from resource countries and combined with the energy-efficient tech of developed countries to extract energy as efficiently as possible. It was the ultimate version of a win-win situation where everyone was happy.”

Olivia looked troubled by this.

“Am I behind the times? Because I’ve never heard of that.”

“You shouldn’t have. The instant it was announced at a press conference, it was criticized as a global colonization plan, so the name was erased from the White House’s website less than half a day later. They wanted to make sure no one ever heard of it again.”

“So did the government go crying to Toy Dream next?”

“It’s only been two weeks since the Queen was killed, so the world works fast, doesn’t it?”

A soft clunk rang out.

Lu Niang Lan had taken advantage of the table blocking their view to remove her shoes.

The modified China dress beauty breathed a relaxed and sweet breath.

“The Silver Resource War is a negative campaign name it was given during the online criticism. Silver refers to the perpetual snow in the beautiful mountains of Eastern Europe. But Toy Dream did not bother to get rid of that name. They knew that wouldn’t be possible, so they instead prominently worked it into their promotional video and twisted the already established name to mean something else.”

“You mean like how ‘incredible’ can be used to mean incredibly bad or incredibly good?”

“More or less. It’s kind of frightening. The Silver Resource War name was spread as a way to protest war, but when ignorant people look online now, it instead looks like all the search results for the term are people approving of war.”

And people had a weakness to the majority.

If “everyone” was saying something, it had to be true, right?

Everyone had been drawn in by some obvious numbers before, like the long line at a ramen shop or the top ranked item on a review site.

“Back up a moment,” said Kyousuke.

“Yes?”

“This was simply announced by America and named online…so the war hasn’t actually happened, right?”

He frowned even as he said it.

This was where the biggest distortion was found.

“The East Europe Axis has been named as an obvious ‘enemy of America’ in all this, but no one actually knows what counties that label applies to. Basically, any country or region that America attacks will have that label slapped onto them, making them an incarnation of evil. That’s completely backwards. Even the witch hunts followed a more sensible procedure than this.”

“Well, normal people only have the police’s word to go on that the terrorist the police shot was really a terrorist.”

The beautiful woman serving them breakfast was a high-ranking member of Illegal who sought freedom outside the protection of a large country or religion and were constantly the target of unwarranted criticism. She was likely familiar with that sort of treatment as a normal part of her reality.

And while he thought about this, Kyousuke’s shoulders rose slightly.

Below the table, a soft sensation had wrapped around his right shin. He looked up to see a smile on Lu Niang Lan’s lips.

Where no one could see, she had started teasing him with the bottom of her feet with only black stockings on them. How could she even do that with the two feet meant for bipedal walking? It felt like having a giant tongue licking up his leg.

“Hee hee. Kyousuke-chan, there’s no need to give me that look.”

“Lu-san… If you hadn’t made us breakfast, I might have hit you for being this rude.”

“Eh heh heh heh heh. I like being in control, so it pisses me off when you start feeling sorry for me. Get too gloomy and I have to reclaim my spot on top☆”

“Hm? What are you two talking about?”

Olivia tilted her head while focused on scooping up Chinese rice porridge with her spoon.

The modified China dress beauty maintained her smile while resting her elbows on the table, refused to explain, and simply returned to the original topic.

“The excuse seems to be that they want to prevent the East Europe Axis from destroying the valuable crystalline underground resources with soil improvements being made by dumping in all sorts of chemical fertilizers made from the shells of an older war. Although the photos released online are clearly fake, so I don’t believe it for a second.”

Lu Niang Lan said nothing about the secret battle below the table and toyed with her long black hair with a calm expression on her face.

“The focus this time is on a silicon mine newly discovered in a giant Eastern European mountain range. Silicon is the base material of Repliglass, but the rare silicon found there contains impurities as rare as colored diamonds, so they can be used for things very different from the normal variety. This is not something that can be reproduced in the artificial minerals made in modern labs.”

“Meaning?”

“There are new types of Repliglass that can only be made with that rare silicon. Think of it as a modern version of the old conflicts over rare earths.”

Olivia had stopped moving ever since “a giant Eastern European mountain range” was mentioned.

Yes, her Kingdom F was located deep in the mountains of Eastern Europe.

The modified China dress beauty’s teasing below the table also briefly stopped. Kyousuke slowly sighed.

“So they’re fighting over the right to develop special new kinds of Repliglass?”

“Just to be clear, Kyousuke-chan, you opened the door to this.” The modified China dress beauty waved a hand. “During the execution of the Queen, it was revealed that Houbi Village’s Meinokawa Shrine has a lookalike of the White Queen, right? That is a fully artificial method of constantly summoning the Queen with no risk. In a way, that is the greatest hope of humanity according to groups like Azalea Magentarain’s Guard of Honor. For better or for worse.”

“…”

“And this is an unstable period when the White Queen’s defeat has become widely known. For those who wish to regain stability from the Queen’s presence, the internal pressure has grown to the breaking point. They would consider backing a war or two if it meant obtaining a perfect doll like that.”

“And before that…oh, honestly. Repliglass itself was originally developed in a failed attempt to create a Queen lookalike.”

“Oh, is that true? So to Quad Motors and the rest of the Americans, this might look like taking an incomplete product and completing it.”

It was not actually known if they would be able to create another Meinokawa Aoi, the world’s oldest Joruri Method, even if they did conquer those Eastern European mountains and combined those special crystals with Repliglass technology. Azalea was a skilled weapons designer and she was approaching that level by fusing old and new technology, but it was unknown if those in control of this incident could do the same.

Lu Niang Lan then seemed to remember something.

“Come to think of it, what happened to the real Meinokawa Aoi? And I don’t mean the replacement you met in Houbi Village.”

“Hm? You mean Granny Aoi? Isn’t she hanging around Onii-chan’s cruiser? She’s looking after the place while we’re out. She was jumping around on the Western bed since she isn’t used to them and she was getting a tan on the deck while fishing in the ocean.”

Olivia was exactly right.

Meinokawa Aoi was an artificial vessel and a perfect lookalike of the Queen. Kyousuke had predicted worshipers around the world would target her once her existence came to light, so he had made sure that did not happen. The best way to protect yourself was not to surround yourself in thick walls; it was to disappear without a trace.

Thus, the people thrown into chaos by the Queen’s execution could not touch Meinokawa Aoi.

That meant they would have to create a new one for themselves, but to reiterate, there was no guarantee they would succeed just because they tried.

However, some had taken action in the belief that they could do it.

That was the problem.

“You could do it better” were the words the devil whispered in the ears of kings throughout history. But when they lacked the skill to achieve that ideal, their actions would transform into oppression and slaughter.

“And that brings us back to why you’ve returned to Toy Dream 35, Kyousuke-chan. …This is what’s going on with the Toy Dream Company.”

Watching the two eat must have made her hungry because the modified China dress beauty’s slender fingertips grabbed some pickled vegetables and placed them on her alluring tongue.

“There has always been a powerful link between Europe and America, so they are eager to protect their close friends from the Silver Resource War in Eastern Europe. No, they hold a lot of sway over Toy Dream’s international revived cities, so perhaps it’s better to say they want to protect their enclaves in Eastern Europe.”

In Toy Dream 35, the regional finances had been left with a foreign company, so there was an extent to which Japanese law did not apply there. Critical groups called the cities financial and economic colonies or CIA relay bases.

“So no matter where in the world war breaks out, America can claim they were ‘directly’ involved and retaliate,” said Kyousuke. “They don’t even need the indirect excuse of protecting an ally.”

“The military does not start the slow process of deploying troops only once the US Congress gives approval. They are already in every part of the world. The Toy Dream cities are scattered around the world like an oversaturated convenience store chain, so they can leave made-in-America ‘products’ anywhere they want. The instant they have approval, they can begin the attack. Scary, isn’t…nwoh!?”

“?”

Olivia frowned at Lu Niang Lan’s strange cry.

The modified China dress beauty bent over a bit and trembled.

“K-Kyousuke-chan. When intercepting someone’s foot with your own, the polite thing to do is to remove your shoes.”

“Kicking someone when they’re trying to eat seems like the bigger problem to me.”

Kyousuke nonchalantly replied after presumably lightly stepping on her stockinged foot when she tried to once more wrap her long legs around his below the table.

She really did look half in tears, but she managed to slip her foot out from under his sneaker.

“B-but unlike Europe, Asia does not approve of this war deep in the mountains. No one knows what the East Europe Axis is and nothing seems real when it’s happening halfway around the globe, so a lot of influential people are skeptical of the war. That is bad news for those who want to start the war after bringing the entire world onto their side.”

“…Lu-san.”

“People used to brag about being able to tie a cherry stem in a knot with their tongue, but I think this is more exciting.”

“Huh? I think I missed something… Onii-chan, did you two just change the subject all of a sudden???”

The situation under the table was difficult to explain.

Since Lu Niang Lan was in fact the Perfect Dragon, her toes inside her black stockings had begun moving the instant he had been slightly distracted and they had untied Kyousuke’s shoelaces. And then she removed his sneaker in a smooth motion.

“Kyousuke-chan, I assume you have a feel for that balance of power since you returned here to Japan.”

Yes. If this was all about Eastern Europe, Kyousuke and Olivia would not be here.

They had a different reason for being here.

Olivia must have burnt her tongue on the rice porridge because she reached for her drink, but that was warm oolong tea which only made things worse. He patted her head to comfort her and then cut to the heart of the issue.

“I hear Toy Dream has sent a ship to this city.”

“And there’s the left foot too. Yes, the Missing Princess. …That name would probably make you-know-who hide under a blanket if she heard it. Anyway, the design is based on the world’s 4th largest cruise ship that can circumnavigate the globe. I believe it could hold 5000 people. That makes it even larger than Azalea’s ship. But Toy Dream placed an entire VFX production studio and broadcast station inside it. There’s an old story of an entire village being built in the middle of the desert to film a movie, right? This is kind of like taking that movie village, packing it into the shape of a ship, and letting it travel freely across the seven seas.”

If it also contained enough entertainment facilities for 5000 people, it would be even larger than a high-rise resort hotel floating in the ocean on its side. Even nuclear aircraft carriers were quite cramped on the inside. If they were designed to be roomy, their size would balloon out endlessly.

“They had a few reasons for turning their big moneymaker into a mobile base. For example, the simple fear of being attacked and the ability to visit the location that inspired each new film to produce the VFX while viewing live material. There are also rumors that they use it to send powerful broadcast signals into dictatorships where normal broadcast signals can’t reach.”

“Then I guess it must be strictly guarded.”

“They’ve brought it to Toy Dream 35 to show off just how open it is, so simply getting on the ship wouldn’t be difficult. Were they calling it a Cruise Fest? Anyway, they’re giving tours of the inside for a summer break campaign. With the way that’s going, I imagine this country’s TV stations will follow suit and turn themselves into makeshift theme parks. Of course, the festival is only on the surface and you won’t be able to get deep inside.”

Lu Niang Lan fell silent for a moment there.

And then her alluring lips resumed moving.

“The Toy Dream Company is an important part of the world economy as a whole, so an escort fleet joins the Missing Princess as it travels to different UN countries. But it seems our industry has recently started to focus on that.”

“You mean there might be summoners and vessels there?”

“Using our Illegal logic, sending troops to a rich residence would suggest connections to an underworld family or gang…but I’m not so sure when it comes to Toy Dream. I would normally doubt that ultra-powerful corporation has any links to the underworld, but this is an unstable time.”

“…”

This was an age of chaos where the people who were supported by a powerful attraction (even if that attraction had been a negative thing) had scattered once more.

To put it another way, this may not have happened if not for what Shiroyama Kyousuke had done.

If the White Queen still reigned as the strongest, this may have been resolved without issue.

Kyousuke and Lu Niang Lan fell silent for a while. Only Olivia continued innocently eating.

“So someone wants to start a war badly enough to create a fictional category known as the East Europe Axis and they are pushing Toy Dream to action,” said Kyousuke. “All so they can spread support of the war around the world and prevent anyone from speaking out against it.”

“If the vote in the US Congress passes, the most powerful player in the ‘surface’ world will take action. Once the gears of war begin to turn, no one can stop them. What I don’t know is how many professionals being manipulated by the White Queen or the Colorless Little Girl are involved or where they are involved.”

“What do you know about Toy Dream’s war promotion video?”

“It uses the same format of ultra-high-quality CG as their movie versions of children’s books and cartoons. You know those foreign 3D children’s movies that….move in a squishy way like clay? They combined those with a few actors and some live-action footage. The internal development codename was Blue Film.”

“Blue…”

“Oh, Kyousuke-chan? You know what that term originally meant?”

Lu Niang Lan gave a bewitching laugh and placed her stockinged foot on top of his foot below the table. She then moved her toes as if tickling him. Meanwhile, Olivia Highland was confused by it all.

…Blue Film might sound cool, but the term actually referred to a cheap movie that used obscene content as a selling point.

“Hey, Onii-chan, what does that mean?”

“Yes, that’s a good question. But Kyousuke-chan knows everything, so I’m sure he’ll give you a nice, thorough explanation.”

“…Lu-san. Don’t blame me for what happens if you don’t stop this.”

“Oh? Are you still holding back because of my stockings? Or was that a declaration of war saying you’ll be tearing my stockings so you can see my bare legs?”

Kyousuke gave a troubled look and Lu Niang Lan smiled as a further secret battle was fought below the table.

Giving that name to a video meant to influence public opinion about a war hinted at just how Toy Dream viewed this agitation video. It clearly did not come from a desire for justice or patriotism.

“The official announcement for Blue Film says they plan to release a total of 4 episodes and the first episode was spread around the world using online video sites and satellite broadcasts yesterday,” explained Lu Niang Lan. “It depicted a silicon vein blackened by the chemical fertilizer made from old and unusable shells.”

“That has to be fake. And with all the VFX they’re using, there’s more than a 98% chance they just fabricated that along with everything else.”

“To understand that, you need a fair amount of film literacy and an unwavering heart even when faced with the majority numbers. …At 10 minutes an episode, the whole thing will be less than an hour. That is all it takes to complete the installation and tear down human history.” The modified China dress beauty traced her slender fingertip across her own lips. “The current public opinion is only 40% in favor of the war. But a major think tank’s predictions say the 2nd episode will bring it to 50%, and the 3rd to 60%. And once they have artificially brought the level of data to the point of supersaturation, the final 4th episode will decisively tilt the world toward approval of the war. Oh, but the episodes are broadcast in Asia early, so the actual limit might be sooner than that.”

“…I don’t care what the self-styled intellectuals have to say. What do your Illegal instincts tell you?”

“I’ve traveled all over the west and the east as an arms dealer and it feels plausible to me. Of course, I’m sure America will win in the end no matter what happens, but you can still make money supplying weapons to the losing side. In this case, that would mean a small country that will be declared a part of the East Europe Axis after the fact.” Lu Niang Lan calmly ignored all the rules of the world. “You can make business deals as long as you make sure to avoid a currency that is about to crash. You need to negotiate for gold, diamonds, or anything else that will retain its value even after the country collapses. And if you keep the scales between the two sides as evenly weighted as possible, the war will drag on and your market remains. Of course, just like with a bubble economy, how much you get involved is something like a game of chicken. If you stick with them to the bitter end, you’ll end up full of 5.5mm bullets stamped with that ‘made in America’ label.”

It was easy for a pacifist to shout from the safety of their living room, but if a criminal group had begun making the financial calculations, the threat posed by the Blue Film was likely very real.

It was not that war would break out if someone screwed up.

War would break out if things were left as is.

“The war promotion videos are treated as top secret, so they are produced on the Missing Princess and then transmitted from the large antenna tower on the ship itself. That would be the world’s largest online TV station: TD-ch, or the Toy Dream Channel. There are no third parties involved anywhere along the line, so it was apparently quite a shock for those in the old broadcast industry. The mass media is apparently trying to retaliate by finding some way to nab an internal leak, but you should assume there is essentially zero chance of any advance spoilers.”

“Nweh? But, Lu Onee-chan, doesn’t Toy Dream have a bunch of VFX studios besides the one on the ship?”

“I said the 1st episode has already been released, didn’t I? 7th generation Toy Dream films put more effort into the background than the characters. Instead of just making them ‘good enough’, they do such a thorough job that you could walk around them and enjoy some skateboarding or tennis if you put on some VR goggles. That is only possible with System Atlantis, the Missing Princess’s mainframe.”

“Atlantis? Oh, the one that sank into the ocean?”

“It’s meant to say they could construct an entire lost continent for a single film if they wanted to. Well, supercomputer names are always way too self-conscience. Hyahhh!?”

“Lu Onee-chan!?”

Olivia sat up from her seat when she heard that fairly serious scream, but the modified China dress beauty held out a hand to stop her while bent over and doing her best to resist something.

Kyousuke gave a triumphant snort.

During their secret battle below the table, Lu Niang Lan had gotten carried away and tried used her stockinged toes to remove Kyousuke’s socks, but she had banged her little toe against the table leg for a self-inflicted KO. Of course, the boy had lured her into doing it.

Even if she was the Perfect Dragon, she was still human, so the stun effect of a dresser corner worked on her. She pressed her large breasts against the top of the table, pointed the top of her head his way in something like a bow, and irregularly twitched as she did her best to get her voice out.

“…K-Kyoushuke…-chwan…”

“I said not to blame me. Now pull yourself together.”

At any rate, none of this would end unless they did something about the Missing Princess.

Videos would be regularly released like the ringing of a cuckoo clock and the 10-minute episodes of the Blue Film would gradually guide public opinion to work up the entire world population. Once things had been heated up to the point that no one could stop the war, the US Congress would be free to hold their vote and begin the war. Shells and missiles would take flight just because people wanted a lookalike of the White Queen, wanted her by their side, and wanted to protect this unstable age.

Kyousuke had thought he would bring peace to the world if he defeated the White Queen, but the flames of war were only spreading.

His stomach was not full, but he breathed a heavy sigh.

He asked Lu Niang Lan a question now that she had recovered from the pain in her little toe and finally got up from the table.

“What is the estimated death count if the war does start?”

“Oh? I thought you were the expert at working out those things, Kyousuke-chan.”

This time, he blatantly clicked his tongue.

That summoner worked it out in his head without relying on a supercomputer.

“About 2.5 million within 48 hours of the war beginning. After 98 hours, it would reach 10 million when indirect damage is included. Kingdom F and the four counties around it would be swept up in the flames of war one after another.”

“Digital wars are scary things, aren’t they? That is far more people than human beings could kill on their own.”

Some helpless fools were about to begin an orgy of violence activated by the flip of a switch.

Lu Niang Lan winked and made a suggestion.

“What do you need?”

“Everything I might need to infiltrate and sabotage a ship with the assumption that there is a summoner organization onboard.”

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