“–So, today I’m going to introduce a game I made.”
With that, I switch the stream screen.
A string of golden letters appears on the black screen.
《ASTRAL FRONTIER》
Then a seemingly infinite blue sky spreads out. Countless airships fly around a huge floating continent that pierces through the clouds. A waterfall cascading from the edge of the continent disappears into a sea of clouds. In the distance stands a gigantic tree that pierces the sky, with a town built on each of its branches, and from that vantage point, tiny flying dragons can be seen circling.
I switch the world. A vast grassland. Many animals can be seen. The beauty of hunting and being hunted is unmistakable, and it looks like real life. From the villages and fortified cities scattered across the grassland, horse-drawn carriages and peddlers come and go.
『???????』
“You’re doing something that doesn’t make sense again…”
“That’s not the kind of quality you’d get from a game.”
“No, no, no.”
That’s the reaction I expected.
“This is the actual game screen this time. Please look forward to it.”
“I love the games you make!”
“The kind made by 300 developers?”
“Really, just me.”
I move the character.
I walk across the grassland. When the wind blows, the grass sways in different directions. In the distance, a herd of large herbivores is crossing the river. One of them, a small calf, is swept away. Then a mother-like individual leaps out of the herd and enters the river without hesitation. She swims desperately and pushes the calf back to shore. I’m not doing anything.
“Has an event started?”
“No. They’re just living normally in this world.”
“Huh?”
I open the map.
Seven continents are displayed.
Cities, villages, ruins, underground labyrinths, and floating cities.
Places no one has discovered yet are painted black.
“Currently, there are approximately 230 million humanoid intelligences living in this world.”
“You mean the population setting, right?”
“Wait, they’re actually living there, aren’t they?”
I go into a nearby village and talk to an old man.
“Hello.”
“…Ah. Are you a traveler? You’d better not go west today.”
“Why?”
“The stone bridge collapsed in yesterday’s rain. The young folks are going to fix it, but it’ll probably take until evening.”
“Did it rain yesterday?”
“It rained here.”
I silently look at the comment section.
『…』
“Does he remember yesterday’s weather?”
“That’s how it works.”
A girl runs up beside the old man.
A dog chases after her.
“Everyone thinks for themselves and lives their own life, to some extent. They have jobs, relationships, and memories.”
“Is that necessary for a game?”
“It’s fun.”
“The developer’s way of thinking is scary.”
I laugh.
“There’s more.”
I open the menu.
“The world changes in real time. The terrain, ecosystems, and civilizations change automatically within a certain range. Wars happen. Revolutions happen too. Countries may even fall.”
“What’s the player supposed to do?”
“I’ve set up quests for now. You can do whatever you like.”
You can become an adventurer, a merchant, or a king. You can just till the fields and live out your life. Even if the player does nothing, the world goes on. Even if no one develops it, unless its truth is revealed, this world will slowly go on living within its limited time.
“This is a game?”
I look at the world spreading beyond the screen.
“I don’t think it has to exist just to entertain players.”
“This is by far the best of all your works.”
“Putting it out on Steam?”
“Releasing it. Today.”
The comments explode.
“Seriously!?”
“I definitely want to play it.”
“The server costs must be insane.”
“It runs on just my PC.”
That moment, the comment section is finally filled with confusion.
『????????????????』
I can’t help bursting out laughing.
“Are you that surprised?”
“Of course I’m surprised!!”
“How many GPUs do you have?”
“One.”
『No way』
“If anything, this just got interesting.”
Well. That’s to be expected.
I’d think so too if I only knew the common sense of this era.
After all, most of the technologies used in this game don’t exist in this world yet. Personality computation AI. Ultra-high-density information compression. Virtual particle computation. Quantum predictive processing. Wide-area world simulation.
All of these technologies were commonplace in the era I lived in.
–To be exact, in the era I lived in the first time around.
“Well, I’ll talk about that sometime.”
“So, are you from the future?”
I laugh. Not from the future.
I just came here after dying in a science fiction world.
◇
I had a first life.
There, my name was Yuu Kurogane.
Chief Researcher of the Seventh Technology Development Bureau of the Earth Joint Space Force. I was also the commander of the Special Fighter Unit of the 4th Independent Task Force.
Although I was a weapons developer, I was also an active pilot.
“Yuu! It’s coming from the right!”
“I see it!”
I knock the control stick over, and the fighter Legion makes a sharp turn.
A white beam of light pierces the space I was in a moment ago.
Far away, an asteroid takes a direct hit and explodes.
The star shatters. That’s not a metaphor.
“Enemy ships, 8,200 left!”
“That’s too many!”
“It can’t be helped, they keep increasing!”
I don’t have time to laugh. The enemy is the Glaive.
A group of machine intelligences that appeared from outside the galaxy and has been slaughtering humanity for 37 years.
Their purpose is unknown, and they can’t be negotiated with. Destroyers that only seek out civilizations and destroy them.
And today, humanity faces the final operation that will decide its fate.
“The Earth Sphere Defense Line is going to be breached!”
The radio operator’s scream. My entire field of vision is filled with the enemy fleet crowding space.
A structure larger than a planet floats at its center.
The Glaive mothership called 《Nemesis》.
If that thing reaches the Earth sphere, it’s over.
『Yuu』
The fleet commander’s voice.
“What about that weapon?”
“Ready to launch.”
“What’s the success rate?”
“Ninety-seven percent in theory.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“However, there’s one problem.”
I say it calmly.
“Someone has to carry it to the launch point.”
Silence. That’s all it takes for everyone to understand what it means.
The ultimate weapon I developed. 《Orthros》. A super-gravity phase-collapse warhead.
If it’s detonated near the enemy’s center, it can wipe out the surrounding enemy fleet along with Nemesis.
However, its range is short.
“What about drones?”
“Autonomous navigation is impossible because of the enemy’s quantum interference.”
“Remote control?”
“Same problem.”
『…』
“So…”
I laugh.
“A person has no choice but to fly it there.”
『Yuu』
“I made it. I’ll deliver it.”
I point the Legion’s nose toward the enemy fleet.
“Wait!”
The comm cuts off. I check my weapons.
《Orthros》, mounted on the underside of the fuselage.
All normal.
“Okay.”
I take a deep breath. More than 8,000 enemies are in front of me.
Earth is behind me. It’s blue, small, and beautiful.
I’ve loved making things since I was a child.
The first thing I ever made was a small game.
You flew around the universe and went to unknown stars.
But it was just a game.
It was fun.
Both making it and having someone play it.
But before I knew it, I was making weapons.
The AI I created killed the enemy. The guns I made sank enemy ships. I was praised every time.
“He’s a genius.” “He’s humanity’s hope.”
“…It’s nothing like that.”
It’s not as if I wanted to become that.
“Captain!”
A comm line is forcibly connected. It’s the voices of my subordinates.
“We’re going too!”
“Don’t come.”
“But!”
“That’s an order.”
“Captain!”
“From here on…”
Acceleration. The G-force presses my body into the seat.
“…I’m enough on my own.”
The enemy’s artillery fire looks like countless lights. I dodge. The fourth shot grazes the right wing.
“Caution. Right propulsion unit damaged.”
“I can still fly.”
Twelve enemy craft approach. Aim, fire. Shot down.
Four more from the side. Roll. Fire. Down.
“Kill count, 321.”
“Just today?”
That’s no kill count for a researcher. It makes me laugh.
I’ve always been exceptionally good in simulators. And I could do the same thing in the real machine.
Because of that, even though I was a developer, I got dragged to the front lines.
“It’s black.”
A missile approaches. Evade. The airframe creaks.
I pass through a gap in the enemy fleet. Distance: 20,000, then 10,000, closing.
《Nemesis》 fills my field of vision.
Its surface splits open. A huge gun muzzle.
“Not good.”
I confirm the energy converging where the light gathers. I’m going to be shot.
It can’t be avoided, then.
“Then I’ll strike first!”
《Orthros》 launches.
But.
“Warning.”
“Huh?”
“Guidance control lost.”
Quantum interference occurs, and the warhead drifts slightly off course.
“…!”
It won’t reach.
At this rate, the center of 《Nemesis》 will be outside the blast radius.
By only 300 meters.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
After coming this far, it’s not going to work out?
I knock the control stick over.
“Caution. Friendly weapon in flight path.”
“I know.”
I aim the Legion at 《Orthros》.
“Collision imminent.”
“That’s fine!”
The impact of the collision. The plane’s nose crumples, and the fuselage shakes.
My fighter pushes the warhead.
Its trajectory changes.
“Effective range reached.”
“Okay.”
“Warning. This craft is also within the annihilation radius. …Is that all right? Didn’t you say there was something you wanted to do with your life?”
“It can’t be helped if the home planet doesn’t survive.”
I look at my home planet again.
A blue star. Nearly ten billion people live there.
People I don’t know. And I’m sure there will be children born in the future who will play games.
I place my finger on the detonation switch. I feel cold metal on the pad of my index finger.
It feels very much like the first time I pressed the start button on a game as a kid.
“–Detonate.”
Light engulfs the universe.
This battle would later be called “Humanity’s Final Defense Battle.”
Enemy mobile fleet: 8,427 ships.
《Nemesis》.
All of it vanished. The Glaive’s central network collapsed.
The remaining weapons stopped functioning one after another.
Humanity survived.
Except for one person, the man who delivered the last weapon.
◇
I hear a voice.
“–He’s a healthy boy.”
I open my eyes to the glare.
An unfamiliar ceiling. A woman I don’t know. A man I don’t know.
“Thank goodness…”
The woman is crying.
What’s going on here?
I try to move my body.
It doesn’t move.
No, it moves. It’s just unusually small.
“…?”
My hands are squishy.
My fingers are short.
I think about it for a while and come to a conclusion.
I’ve become a baby.
“Fu…”
I try to speak.
“Fugyaaaaaaaaa!”
It comes out as a cry.
Wait. Wait. I died, didn’t I?
《Orthros》 was detonated, 《Nemesis》 was defeated, and I was definitely wiped out.
But.
“Daddy’s here.”
A man is looking at me.
He seems to be my father.
“You did a great job.”
The woman. She seems to be my mother.
I don’t understand what’s going on.
The word “reincarnation” comes to mind.
No way.
But there’s no other explanation.
And next to the bed, a two-dimensional display catches my eye.
It seems to be a news program.
“The government today announced plans for manned lunar exploration.”
The lunar surface.
“…”
A rocket appears on the screen.
It’s chemical propulsion. And liquid-fueled at that.
“…………”
Old. Way too old.
“Fugyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”
“Oh my, it’s all right, it’s all right.”
No. That’s not why I’m crying.
I finally understand.
I’ve been reincarnated.
Into a world far less advanced than the one I lived in.
Most of the technology I know doesn’t exist in this world yet.
I reach my small hand toward the light shining through the window.
I can’t grasp it.
Even so, I keep reaching.
As if I’m searching for the start button.
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