You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

Setsuna took a bottle of green potion from his pouch and tossed it to Altair: "Catch! This is a power-enhancing potion!"

Altair caught the potion in mid-air and drank it all in one gulp.

Instantly, her power surged, and she swung her greatsword even faster, each strike causing the black dragon to roar in pain.

The battle lasted for a long time, and the black dragon's movements gradually slowed down. Its enormous size gave it invincible power, but it seemed to be a huge burden on its stamina.

"There is a flaw!"

Altair seized the opportunity and leaped up, thrusting his greatsword straight at the black dragon's throat!

With a mournful howl, the black dragon finally collapsed, its massive body crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Success!"

He breathed a sigh of relief and a joyful smile appeared on his face.

"what!"

Altair sheathed his greatsword, uttering a sound that didn't quite fit his aloof image, and then excitedly walked to the black dragon's corpse: "As usual, it's time to gather materials."

"Alter's sword is as valiant as ever."

"Even a fleeting arrow can be incredibly accurate!"

I love watching Setsuna shoot arrows; every shot is so focused, it's like my heart is being pierced by the arrow.

"Alter~"

—It seems that the long trip has caused some changes in their relationship that cannot be told to outsiders.

No wonder Altair's expression and words were so much gentler than before... Indeed, at least two-thirds of sharp tongues are simply due to unmet needs!

"Speaking of Shadow Dragon, the most precious thing is naturally the stone in its eye, cough, it is the Dragon Jewel."

Altair skillfully dissected the dragon's carcass, quickly finding a faintly golden gem within its eyes. Just as the two were about to act, a white shadow suddenly darted out from the corner, snatching away the most precious dragon gem with lightning speed!

"Ah! That's—!"

A gasp of surprise.

"So fast!"

Altair's eyes sharpened: "Chase them!"

"Could it be a side quest? The game guide didn't mention it!"

"The optimization of this game is garbage. Even the development team doesn't know how many bugs there are. Don't trust any guides!"

The two immediately gave chase. The small white beast nimbly darted through the woods, occasionally glancing back as if in provocation, which infuriated Altair.

"Hey, do you need a scarf?"

"Altal, as hunters, we can only hunt prey that is harmful to humans or that is overpopulated."

"That……"

"But I clearly see a harmful beast in front of me, so it's fine!"

"I love you, for a fleeting moment!"

Altair and Setsuna chased after them, passing through dense forests and leaping over streams, until they finally came to a clearing. They then slowly stopped because they had discovered something unusual.

"Fufu, why did you suddenly run away?"

In the center of the open space, an orange-haired girl was squatting on the ground, gently stroking Fou's head. Fou placed the Dragon Jewel in her palm and proudly called out "Fou" twice.

"Where did you find this?"

Another armored girl with bangs partially obscuring her eyes said reproachfully, "Don't pick up these things of unknown origin. What if there's danger... Ah, senior, someone's coming."

"what?"

"This is...your pet?"

He asked breathlessly in an instant.

Altair frowned as he sized up the two people and the beast, then quietly gripped the greatsword on his back, preparing for battle.

Ritsuka looked up and gave an apologetic smile: "Sorry, Fou is a little naughty, it didn't mean any harm."

We are travelers passing through. May I ask who you are?

"hunter."

Altair said briefly.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind, making Junji's heart skip a beat and cold sweat suddenly break out on her face.

"Looks like you guys had a lot of fun."

"This voice..."

"Could it be that!"

Altair and Setsuna turned around at the same time and saw Iori walking slowly with his hands in his pockets and a faint smile on his lips.

"Iori?!"

She opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Altair frowned slightly: "What are you doing here?"

Iori shrugged. "Just passing by. What a coincidence. But since we've run into each other, why don't we chat?"

Passing by?

"Ah!"

Altair sneered. Having once "cooperated" with Iori, she had a very "wonderful impression" of her.

"I don't believe you! Let's go, this man coming to our door won't be anything good!"

Having said that, Altair directly opened an arched doorway in the void, ignoring the Dragon Jewel, and pulled the still-unresponsive Shimazaki Setsuna into it.

"Aizen Iori, give up! I'm a free man now!"

……

"Iori".

"Okay, no need to say more."

"Didn't you say you had a very good relationship with her and that she respected you a lot?"

"I already told you not to say anything more."

Iori chuckled sheepishly, "Maybe she remembered she owed me a favor and scared her away."

Do I really owe you a favor?

"I'll get it right away."

Iori smiled brightly.

For some reason, Ritsuka and Matthew felt a chill run down their spines despite Ritsuka's perfectly sunny, standard toothy smile.

……

Inside a meeting room in the government building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Iori pushed a stack of documents toward a middle-aged man in a suit. Outside, rain slanted against the glass, blurring the city's neon lights into hazy patches of light.

"So, what Mr. Aizen means is..."

Government representative Councilor Matsumoto adjusted his glasses. "Indirectly controlling the flow of [recognition] through the entertainment industry?"

"exactly."

Iori lightly tapped the data chart highlighted in red on the document. "Your side should have already realized that simply using force to contain created beings will only exacerbate conflicts. However, it is much simpler to guide public awareness through creation. In order to prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future, a complete set of regulations should be formulated to manage them."

“That makes sense… but this plan doesn’t seem like a preventative measure at all; it’s more like a provocation…”

"Hmm? You have a problem?"

Iori smiled kindly: "I'm the kind of person who's always happy to hear criticism, so please feel free to speak up."

"No! The government will fully cooperate with His Excellency Aizen's instructions!"

"Don't force it."

"No! There can't be two suns in the sky. Lord Aizen is the only sun in my heart!"

"Did I scare them before?" Iori shook her head slightly.

He is actually a very gentle person, and he doesn't know why these people are so afraid of him.

"Um, I would appreciate your guidance on how to implement this..."

Before she could finish speaking, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open, and Ritsuka poked her head in, holding a cardboard box full of donuts: "Um... the lady in the administration office said the person you invited has arrived... Eh? Did I disturb you?"

Mash, acting as Iori's secretary, hurriedly got up and took the cardboard box, noticing that Ritsuka's hair was still wet with rain: "No, Mr. Aizen and this person had a very pleasant conversation... I'm so sorry! Senpai said that the strawberry donuts in the cafeteria are delicious, and she insisted that Mr. Aizen try them."

"Oh, thank you~"

"..."

As Councilor Matsumoto watched Iori accept the snack box with a smile and chat with the two girls, he suddenly felt much more at ease and even laughed out loud: "It seems that you are all more adapted to the real world than I thought."

Thankfully, he's someone I can communicate with... He's different from the virtual characters I've seen before. I absolutely mustn't anger this man!

……

a few days later.

The cold light from the LCD screen illuminated three faces with different expressions. The well-known adult screenwriter "Black Honey" was frantically marking up the storyboard with a stylus: "The princess in military uniform should pull her tie more roughly! Add a close-up of the collar here!"

"Yes, but..."

The young artist pointed tremblingly at the script, "In the original design, Miss Altair was supposed to be a cold and aloof type, right? Suddenly she's become a sadistic queen... Doesn't this seem a bit out of character?"

"What do you know!"

Wearing a mask, light novel author "Polar Bear" slammed his fist on the table. "We're going to use contrast to shock the market! Look at the data from this doujinshi convention—"

On the sales list he pulled up, "Lily Military Princess Training Log" was prominently ranked first.

"Entertainment comes before rationality! We must prioritize what readers want to see, understand?!"

University textbooks are very rigorous, why don't you just spend two thousand yen to buy one?!

Does anyone think the Leap of Faith is reasonable? But we still give Ubisoft money every year!

"Got it, Senior!"

"You guys seem to be having a lot of fun!"

Iori leaned back on the leather sofa, watching the debate with great interest, while Mashu blushed and shrank into a corner, and Ritsuka openly flipped through the setting book.

"So, creators in the real world are all so...passionate?"

"This is just the beginning."

Iori snapped his fingers, and the holographic projection unfolded, revealing more than thirty project proposals.

"We will expand across all media, including games, animation, and novels, and within three months, we aim to make Altair's fan-created image cover the entire subculture."

—Actually, it was already covered.

However, last time, under Iori's deliberate control, mainstream fan creations still moved towards the directions of "battle," "hot-blooded," and "fantasy," and all strange fan creations were severely cracked down on.

This time, however, the restrictions have been lifted.

……

The doujinshi convention venue in Akihabara was packed with people.

A long queue had already formed in front of one of the booths, and the line even turned three corners. A girl wearing cat ear headbands stood on tiptoe, anxiously looking at the booth.

"How much longer do we have to wait..."

She tugged at her companion's sleeve, "Won't the limited edition of 'Sweet Punishment of the Military Princess' really sell out?"

"Do not worry!"

My companion waved his phone. "The official Twitter account said they reprinted it three times, that's definitely enough... Ah! Why are the people in front of me buying ten copies at once?!"

Behind the booth, the editor, "Black Honey," was frantically yelling into the walkie-talkie: "Warehouse! Send over five hundred more copies! No, a thousand!"

He wiped his sweat, turned to the artist and shouted, "Quickly give me the line art for the side story of 'Silver Rose'! The printing press is going crazy with requests!"