PART 2: THE TRIO

The Grand Duke of Fenix, Alice Blodeuwodd Duke Fenix.

Month 11, day 16. ADB 1706 [12:23] || Month 02, day 13 UT 8992 [21:23]

Inside the Windorn Palace, the secondary Auditorium theater room.

"Woah, to think that more than 500 million people are watching the live stream, everyone is surely excited about the game." Vanessa rejoiced as her eyes glued onto the 3d hologram displayed in the middle of the auditorium.

As Vanessa exclaimed, Alice glanced at the hologram displayed on the stage, featuring three men sitting on levitating chairs as they continued discussing parts of the game.

Alice, occupying the seat next to Vanessa, watched the hologram livestream as she silently sipped on a straw from a floating cup. For a brief moment, Alice closed her eyes and activated her LeGlass with her consciousness, which brought up several holographic UI before her.

A LeGlass is the most basic necessity for most people living in the universe as it performs various functions that assist its users with day-to-day tasks and among other things. As such, it was only natural for LeGlass to display the VitStatS or Vitals status system (VSS) - parameters such as nutrients, temperature, and hydration levels of its user. However, these parameters can differ depending on the user's race. Alice is a phoenix, and thus there are no parameters displayed on her user interface.

On the left of Alice's vision, a chat window of the livestream was floating. The number of people watching the livestream displayed at the top steadily increased, and numerous texts flooded the chat window; it was almost impossible to read what the audience was chatting.

Fortunately, the LeGlass had multiple functions that allowed users to filter spam and prioritize comments from famous people, friends, followers, and important announcements. However, Alice had every setting on default.

"Oh, it seems like you're right, my lady." A maid chortled.

Hernese is the name of the maid, the lady-in-waiting, and the closest friend of Vanessa. Her glossy, ebony hair cascaded down to her waist, and her dark pupils frequently shifted as if she was reading the comments that the LeGlass displayed. Hernese seated beside Vanessa, across from Alice, and had casual demeaning air around her.

'Hernese Cortez, I'm glad to see her doing well.' Alice observed, 'I wonder how her Father is doing. I have heard that he recruited several androids from the Protocol One Nation, presumably used for governing. But I hope his profession as a prime minister of Sector ALV-P doesn't overwhelm him.'

"Don't be so grumpy just because you lost to me earlier." Vanessa smug

"Sorry, I can't seem to recall?" Hernese replied, sluggishly waving her hand.

Several drones were floating around as they carried food and drinks requested by the three using their LeGlass. As Alice's cup emptied, a drone stealthily changed her cup without anyone noticing, and in its place was an iced mocha, perfectly fit to her taste. On the other hand, Vanessa and Hernese requested fries and burgers on their levitating plates, and pineapple juice filled their cups.

The auditorium room is small compared to others in the mansion, only having 70 seats descending towards the stage, and it has the same structural design as those traditional opera spaces. The staging area had warmer lighting, contrasting with the darker lighting of the audience area.

While Vanessa and Hernese were competing with each other, Alice focused on the hologram. Suddenly, as if influenced by the others, Alice had the urge to eat a snack, so she used her LeGlass to request food. In less than a minute, a drone floated beside Alice's armrest, carrying a tray with various berries. Alice took a blueberry from the tray and ate it.

[Hey, Dreamer, isn't it nice to see the anticipation of millions of people for the server opening?] The host remarked.

The livestream has a similar set-up as those HoloNews, featuring a large holographic screen at the center as the host and PR assistant stand to the side.

The host, Nyrar, had an unusual avatar - a well-tailored tuxedo-clad bodybuilder, matched with a cat's head that appeared disproportionately small compared to his muscular frame. Additionally, his voice was deep and resonating, which seemed perfect for radio-live commentary. However, one of his noticeable faults is that he teases people often.

[Yeah, this is quite thrilling.] The man with a cloudy-shaped human head exclaimed blithely, [But anticipation comes with high expectations, and if we can't deliver them, I'll put the blame on you for hyping everyone.]

The cloudy-shaped human head was called Dreamer, and he wore a plain gray shirt and a heavy blue coat over it, and it was long enough it touched the floor. With Misaligned pupils, a deformed face, and a melted head, it was hard to consider whether it was human or a failed mutated experiment of some unknown creature. Despite his questionable fashion, he displayed a casual demeanor as he fiddled with his pen, casually twirling his pen all around his fingers.

[Oh, come on.] Nyrar haughtily retorted as he relaxed his back against his chair, [We have been working so hard for this. What could go wrong?]

[everything...] Dreamer feared, and the terrors came to his voice. [We have more than a billion registered users, more than a billion potential players, and simultaneously playing differently while only on one server. If things go wrong, it could affect almost everyone. I wonder if opening the server intergalactic-wide was the best choice.]

Upon hearing Dreamer's voice of despair, Alice became worried.

'Huh? Are you allowed to be like that? Are you not part of the PR team, Sir Dreamer?'

"PFFT." A snicker escaped from Vanessa.

Vanessa continued, "Poor dude..."

'HUH? Was that alright?' Alice thought, confused.

[Worst-case scenario,] Nyrar comments, [we'll divide the server by their galaxy border and merge it later when we have better equipment.]

Opening an MMO on an intergalactic scale would increase issues such as lag, delay, and latency. To ensure seamless connectivity and minimal latency, most companies limit their MMO game services to a galactic scale. However, this approach creates a boundary between players from different servers, impacting their interaction.

Considering Vanessa's high expectations for the game and her daily gossip about it since its first announcement, Alice started to worry about what would happen if it failed to meet those expectations. Alice couldn't help but overthink what would happen to Vanessa if the game failed to reach her expectations.

'Worst-case scenario, huh?' Alice mentions as she hears Nyrar's plans, 'If things go south, I'll buy the game... No, I'll buy everything and make it work.'

A smug appeared on Alice's expression, but with everyone's attention focused on the hologram, no one noticed. She nods to herself, praising herself for creating a genius plan.

As the live stream progressed, Alice continued to enjoy the selection of organic berries from the silver tray, and each bite brought delight. For a divine beast, eating is a form of leisure to Alice. Unconsciously, she took the floating cup and placed it on her lap.

Out of nowhere, a surprised "Oh?" escaped from Vanessa's mouth that immediately caught Alice's Attention. Alice shifted her gaze away from the hologram, glancing at Vanessa, whose hand hovered to tap Alice’s shoulder with excitement.

Vanessa's eyes shined with expectations as she asked, "Your Grace, can we take a picture or a video and upload it to Social Net?"

Dumbfounded by Vanessa's request, Alice approved, "Sure?"

After receiving Alice's approval, Vanessa swiftly fiddled in the air, giving the impression that she was fiddling with her console using her LeGlass. A moment later, a drone materialized before them. The drone, NamCon, possessed a circular frame and an incredible lens at the center. Although the drone looked fragile at first glance, it was composed of natural metal alloy harvested from the core of supergiants.

With its size, it was no larger than a child's first, designed for high versatility and easy to control. One of its most outstanding capabilities was that it could become invisible at will, making it exceptionally powerful for multiple applications.

Hernese kept glancing at the Fenix sister from the side with a yearning gaze to participate in their picture-taking. However, she hesitates, not wanting to intrude upon their rare family bond. She continued watching the sisters in bliss as the camera materialized without her seeing it.

Vanessa looked at Alice with a tilted head and asked, "Should we take a picture first or a video?"

"Your call?" Alice passed the decision back to Vanessa.

Vanessa pondered before deciding, "Then let's take a picture!"

After making a decision, Alice assumed a relaxed posture, with one leg casually draped over the other. Her hand rested on the armrest as the other firmly pressed the floating cup to her thighs, as if trying to prevent it from escaping.

Noticing Vanessa's rapt gaze, Alice turns to her sister and asks with a soft, unbothered smile, "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Vanessa, flustered, replied, "I'm going to take a picture, okay?"

Just above the Namcon, a holographic countdown timer of five seconds appeared. Vanessa swiftly positioned herself by tilting her body towards Alice, and a vibrant and expressive smile appeared. Playfully, she formed a 'V' symbol with her slender finger.

'Please invite me next! I want bragging rights!' Hernese stared at the hologram while having an explosion of envious thoughts.

When the countdown timer ended, an image appeared in front of Vanessa. Her eyes quickly darted across the display, diligently assessing if there were any elements that warranted censorship and scrutinizing the picture's overall quality. Alice observed as Vanessa nodded her approval several times before making a 'tapping' gesture in the air.

"Hehe. Now I have bragging rights..." Vanessa said with a low voice while making a smirk expression.

Vanessa glances at the fidgeting Hernese at her side before calling her out. "Wanna take pics too?"

"I would be honored," Hernese replied excitedly.

Usually, people wouldn't be able to take pictures of Alice or most people in the higher class since it would automatically get censored by the LeGlass. Uploading any censored or uncensored images of the higher class people to any networking sites would immediately get deleted and call on authorities for inspections. That's usually the case if one lives within the Aetherian Empire.

To legally upload an image, the individual must ask permission from the person in question or their Social Media Manager. But if the individual has sufficient authority, they could bypass the strict security. In this case, Vanessa was Alice's social media manager.

"And if her grace allows it." Hernese continued.

Looking expectantly, Vanessa asked Alice, "Do you mind?"

"I don't mind Hernese joining too." Alice answered, "If you want to upload it, I'll leave Vanessa for check-ups."

At the bottom of Alice's vision, a window appeared with a flickering display with the text, 'Do you want to update Hernese Cortez authority?', but Alice ignored it until it faded.

Vanessa and Hernese clapped their hands, exclaiming, 'Yay!'

As Alice looked at the two festive expressions, she suddenly had the urge to throw a humorous joke. However, she decided to remain silent, not wanting her potentially lackluster jest to dampen the joyous atmosphere.

"Well then, let's take a picture first, and then we can take a video," Vanessa proposed.

The three ladies assume a pose in their seats. Vanessa and Hernese have their arms crossed while making a V sign on their right hands, almost forming a 'W' altogether. However, Alice wasn't accustomed to taking pictures and had no idea what pose to strike confidently or what was trendy.

She decided to remain as she was, thinking, 'Some kind of trend? Had I known I would be taking pictures, I should have taken the time to learn more about it.'

Once again, a timer appeared on top of the camera drone as it counted down to 0, capturing a picture of the three women.

After taking a picture, Vanessa swiveled her head to Alice and asked, "Shall we take a video?"

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Alice bobbed her head silently, confirming Vanessa's inquiry. Vanessa gestured her hand in the air, setting up the video with the help of the LeGlass. Meanwhile, Hernese was fiddling in the air, creating and refining her post to the Social Net and requesting permission to upload from Vanessa.

"I'm starting the video," Vanessa informed.

A few moments later, a crimson dot flickered within the lens of the camera drone, vanishing almost as swiftly as it had appeared, and just above it, a holographic text emerged, announcing the recording mode. Ordinarily, during instances like these, Alice's LeGlass system would promptly alert her to any video recording present and provide a list of their identities, regardless of their ranks or positions. However, Vanessa possessed enough requisite clearance to bypass the security measures, and, most importantly, Alice had willingly granted her the authority to take pictures or videos of her and upload them on any social media platform.

"Yoo!" Vanessa exclaimed enthusiasm, waving her hand towards the Namcom. "Hello! Hello! Everyone, how are you folks doing? My bad, my bad! I couldn't live stream today for my birthday and my reaction to the opening livestream."

'Wait, you stream?' Alice, surprised by Vanessa's declaration, 'I haven't heard anything about her streaming. I'll ask her for more details later on.'

"As unfortunate as it may seem, I have my excuse. And probably one of the best excuse cards I have up my sleeves. Presently, I am accompanying Her Grace, the Grand Duchess! We are enjoying the livestream together~!"

Elegantly, Vanessa turned her head towards Alice. Their eyes connected with an unspoken understanding, an invisible signal passing between them. In response, the Namcon drone adapted to Vanessa's gesture and adjusted its angle to fit two characters within the video. Alice's gaze shifted towards the Namcon, and despite feeling awkward, she waved her hand, feigning nonchalance.

Alice would usually prepare herself for recordings and search for more information about relevant topics that might come into discussions. Alice was slightly worried that she might get questioned about the game and wouldn't be able to answer it. But then again, it was only a recorded video and could be edited by Vanessa later.

With that in mind, Alice threw her worries away and continued.

"Greetings." Alice expressed, "I hope everyone is having a wonderful time."

"I'm sure everyone is having a wonderful time! I mean, it's the server opening of Yggdrasil, and what more can you be missing?" Vanessa enthusiastically replied as she looked at Alice.

'And it is your birthday,' Alice quietly retorted.

Vanessa turned her head to the camera before continuing, "Not to mention! Her grace said she would play the game!"

"Yes, indeed." Alice smiles as she confirms, "But if you see me in-game, treat me normally as a player or a Seeker, not as a Duchess. Would be weird if I suddenly get an offering out of nowhere."

"PFT!" Vanessa snickers, "I can imagine people opening a pathway for you or someone bowing as you pass by. You guys heard her! So spread the news, 'kay?"

Without warning, a holographic microphone materialized in Vanessa's grasp and positioned it before her lips as the illumination enveloping the audience area dimmed gradually. A grand orchestral symphony filled with boundless intensity seeped through the background. Vanessa's voice raised, triumphantly filled with pride, as she stood from her seat to exclaim her excitement.

"Behold - the Legend, the Champion of Fortuna! HERNESE CORTEZ!!!"

A ray of light showered Hernese as rhythmic applause echoed from a distant soundboard in the background. Hernese formed two V signs with her fingers, shaping a distinctive W as she beamed a stiff greeting to the camera. "Maid Hernese at your service~!"

Alice found herself in bewilderment, unable to process the unexpected declaration from Vanessa. However, the mysterious applause emerging from the background jolted her back to the present, stirring her mind, and joined seamlessly. Nonetheless, Vanessa proceeded through the video without noticing Alice's shock.

'I never knew that Hernese is a Legend of Fortuna.' Alice was astounded upon the revelation.

"So, after the opening livestream, let's meet again in-game! Byeee!" Vanessa concluded.

'Wait, that was it?' Alice was surprised at how Vanessa concluded the recording. 'that was so short.'

Alice glanced at the Namcon that was hovering nearby. After confirming it did not indicate recording mode within its lens, Alice immediately shot a question, slightly perplexed, "It's surprising how brief the video is, but was that alright?"

Vanessa directed her attention to Alice, noticing the subtle hint of confusion within her eyes. With a gentle smile of reassurance, Vanessa explained, "Yeah? Typically short videos are the usual go-to for this kind of stuff. I will edit and upload it later after the livestream on my profile, along with the pictures."

With Vanessa's assurance, Alice nods to herself while convincing her worry. 'It's probably a thing in the Social Net.'

[Is the game pay-to-win?] muttered the hologram boy staring at the empty space. [Many Seekers are asking if the game is pay-to-win?]

The voice of the boy took Alice's attention. She was particularly interested in using money to progress since she thought she might not have enough time to play all day, and catching up to Vanessa might become a strenuous effort.

Out of three people in the hologram, the boy stood out the most in appearance. In contrast to Nyrar or Dreamer features of a feline head and a marshmallow shaped-human head, this boy had exuberant and overly animated effects surrounding him; Flowers, fire, snakes, butterflies, and fog, and there were too many entities that it was almost impossible to name each entity as it constantly fades in and out. His long, spiky golden hair seemed to defy gravity and fit the attire of a heavy metal rocker. This boy was named 'Shy' by his peers.

Nyrar and Dreamer shifted their attention to Shy in response. Nyrar seemed to think for a moment before answering.

[It's unlikely a pay-to-win, but it is more like a 'pay-to-progress faster' category?] Nyrar claims as he nods to himself, pinching his chin with his fingers. [The game's marketplace is Seeker and NPC driven, so we made Yggdrasil's cash shop exchange real money for in-game money. That way, it will not destroy the in-game market.]

[Yeah,] Deamer continued, [While seekers could hypothetically spend millions of ISD for the game, they will progress faster than most seekers. To define 'progress,' they wouldn't need to farm as much as other Seekers for resources. Seekers can buy the premium currency, YGG coins, which players could sell in the auction house for hacksilber or another way around. Note that YGG coins are affixed supply from the game's cash shop, and we encourage Seekers to do their RMT, or Real Money Transaction, through the game's official trade hub to avoid scammers.]

'So it is like any other Sim-game.' Alice thought.

Shy, who has been nodding along with their words, continued, [During concluding phase testing, we rented a Matrioshka brain along with several hundred thousand AIs to simulate the Yggdrasil world in an accelerated time frame. We carefully analyzed behavioral patterns and preferences of a diverse range of players - from casual to hardcore, poor to rich, and inactive to active. We obtained valuable data which allowed us to change some systems and mechanisms of the world. You can freely access the documentation on our official website.]

'Mechanisms, huh?'

As Alice considered the game's mechanism, she couldn't help but ponder, 'Now that I think about it, I realize how little I know about the game. From what I have heard thus far, it doesn't seem to deviate much from the typical sim game genre.'

Stealthily, Alice sneaked a peek at Vanessa, who had a bright smile as though her excitement was evident. Sensing her unrelenting excitement, Alice hesitated to bother the excited Vanessa and decided to seek answers independently. Alice still had her streaming viewer UI active, but with a simple thought, the chat window quickly disappeared. Repeating the same pattern, she opened an internet search engine called Xpore to find the details about the game, and it brought up several windows that showed images found in the game, text descriptions, and gameplay videos.

Xpore displayed information about the game [Yggdrasil]. A sandbox simulation game that grants boundless freedom to its players, and while most of the descriptions were up to the standards of what a simulation game should be, the only intriguing part was its world-building.

Yggdrasil slightly differs from the norm, having floating islands rather than planets and defining nine main realms rather than a dimensional universe. Each of the nine realms interconnects by a web of magical pathways known as The World Tree. The game does not restrict or limit players on how they customize their avatars. And most importantly, the game has only one server and is not limited by galactic borders, which appeals to most players.

Alice pondered, 'Aside from the unusual design choice of floating islands instead of planets, it is not that different from most stimulated games. Arkth's power, racial evolution, Deities' call, dimensional areas, territorial building and management, player social and economy, and lore and storyline are not so different. Is intergalactic scale server the only one appealing?'

Alice's attention drew to the stage. This caused the Xpore window to sink away, being replaced by the chat HUD. Alice glanced at the viewer count and saw it numbered over 1.3 billion current watchers.

'Although I am not well-versed in the gaming and streaming industries, the number of viewers is relatively low. Popular competitive games attract more than trillions of viewers. Assuming that less than 1.3 billion viewers are players, that count is still quite low. However, if Vanessa uploads the video on Social Net, I am certain the number of players will significantly increase.'

Alice turned to Vanessa and saw her munching down potato fries at a quick pace.

"Vanessa?" Alice called for attention.

Vanessa swiveled around, crumbs falling from her overstuffed mouth, "Sup?".

"Can you provide me details regarding the dimensions within the game? There seems to be more to it than usual." Alice asked.

Before responding, Vanessa slightly shifted her head to Hernese, allowing the maid to clean the fry crumbs off her face with a clean towel.

Vanessa puts up two fingers, "Currently, there are two main dimensions and several realms that we Seekers know. They are 'The nine realms of the World Tree' and the 'Player dimension'."

Closing her second finger before continuing, "First, The player's dimension, or rather, The Seeker's dimension, consists of Two realms: the Racial Realm and the Lobby area. Tldr, the race you first select will determine your Racial Realm, and this is where you will spawn or have your housing system. While the Lobby area is just another realm where all players can meet up."

"Lastly, for the nine realms..." Vanessa hesitated, "we currently don't know much about it as there is only one realm announced called Midgard. We don't know how massive the game is, but the developers claimed it is bigger than the Infinite Horizons game which was released two years back with 42.3% finished collective exploration."

Vanessa couldn't contain her excitement, and a big smile appeared, "So I am extremely excited about exploring this world."

'So the game's exploration appeals to my sister the most.' Alice noted.

"Oh yeah, now that I remember it, I heard that [The QUEENS] will also make their movies in the game, as they did so far with their other movies." Vanessa excitedly grinned from side to side.

"Then we will see them in the game. Is it not that wonderful, Vanessa?" Alice calmly expressed.

"YEAH!" Vanessa eagerly exclaimed, "Oh damn, I wonder if we could see Sasha, she played so cool in the 'Harrowing Psyche'!"

'Should I call her here then?' Alice's question silently lingered in her mind.

-Month 02, day 13, UT 8992 [23:45]

After some time, the stream has ended a few minutes before the game's official server opens. The host and his assistants had left the stage, leaving only words credited to the people associated with the game. Various emoticons were thrown into the hologram by the people watching the stream.

Alice stood up from the comforts of her chair and stretched her body. Vanessa and Hernese were talking over something.

"Are you sure you didn't have to stream your reaction, my Lady?" Asked Hernese, "Or even taking a video and editing it later?"

As Alice stretched, she overheard Hernese's concern and remembered that Vanessa had mentioned streaming earlier. She looked at them as if it took her attention and saw Vanessa putting a thumbs up as she replied.

"Yuppy! I would not be able to enjoy my time with my sister if I am constantly bombarded by chats." Vanessa says with a smile

"Stream?" Alice inquired, slightly tilting her head. She continued, "I didn't know you stream."

Vanessa turns around to Alice with a smug expression on her face. Vanessa gestured her hands in the air as if she was trying to open something with her AR. Alice stared at her as if waiting to finish her agenda. Moments later, several holographic windows surrounded Vanessa. At a glance, Vanessa window has a chat window, community forums, a Wampus chat app, and several social media apps.

Suddenly, a holographic window greeted Alice in front of her. Inside the window was an account page Vanessa, with over 26.7 million subscribers and 122 million followers. Alice was surprised by the numbers of subscribers and followers her sister has, to the point that her usually neutral face turned into a dumbfounded surprise. However, as large as the numbers displayed, it was still not the standard to be popular galactic-wide.

"Woah!" A rare expression exited from Alice's mouth and shocked Vanessa and Hernese. Alice commented, "I didn't hear that you were streaming and stuff, even more so with the number of followers you have."

Considering the scale and the competitors, Alice had expected the number of followers and subscribers to be lower.

Vanessa smiled, "Hehe, I'm quite impressive, aren't I?"

Alice walked up to Vanessa and gently patted her head. With a warm expression, she praised, "Yes, I am astonishingly surprised. Good Job."

"Why don't you plan on streaming too, Your Grace?" Hernese suggested as she continued to eat the remains of the popcorn in the holder.

Usually, Hernese behavior was considered disrespectful, especially in front of her Grand Duchess. If it had been other higher class nobles, they could have executed Hernese for being 'improper'. However, Alice and Hernese have known each other for so long that their friendship is not bound by strict formality and etiquette. Hernese knew her limits and acted accordingly to the time, place, and setting.

"Me, stream?" Alice wondered.

Hearing so, Vanessa fiddled in the air with her AR as Alice continued patting her sister's head, and she gave her thoughts on streaming.

"I believe I am not entertaining enough to be of service to people, my reactions are rather bland, and I do not interact as much, no? In addition, there's no point in me streaming."

Alice has a general idea of what a live streamer is. They were one of the forms of entertainment in social media and the internet in general. Alice has heard of many successes of people by being a form of entertainment through streaming and nothing more, so hearing Hernese suggestion felt odd to Alice.

Alice assumed that Vanessa was streaming to become famous or that streaming was a form of entertainment for Vanessa.

Hernese had known Alice for many years and was confident that Alice had a different view on streaming and had misunderstood. Hernese assumed that Alice had taken streaming as a 'job' or something similar.

"Your Grace, I only suggested it as entertainment for you, not for others." Hernese corrected, closing her eyes to imagine, "It's also unnecessary for you to change for others' entertainment. Additionally, I think you already great yourself, a very natural-born roleplayer."

Hernese thought that Alice would stand out amongst the community as being one of 'the head of the family noble' doing live streams. Furthermore, adding the fact that Alice is a Divine Beast makes her unique from others. From Hernese's experience as a manager to Vanessa, she can't imagine the people's reaction to Alice's streaming. Still, it was funny to imagine a Divine Beast and the Grand Duchess streaming.

Titles aside, Alice's etiquette as a noblewoman is highly regarded within the Aetherian Empire. Having her play a simulated MMORPG world, Hernese could only imagine Alice's etiquettes would make other players assume she is a roleplayer.

"Yes!" Vanessa chimed in with a loud voice, "Look at this! Your official Social Net profile has over 40 million followers! You didn't even post anything, yet you have a lot of followers!"

Vanessa slid one of her AR windows to Alice. It displayed Alice's official main account, which had over 40 million followers. Alice was still higher than average government officials and governors, and she assumed the influence of her being a Divine Beast must have been the cause.

"That's probably because of my influence?" Alice commented.

"If you stream with me, I'll be super happy!" Vanessa made another push, one that Alice couldn't refuse.

"I see." Alice muttered as she continued to pat Vanessa's head, "Then, can you help me set up the stream next time?"

"Yay!" Vanessa cheered and hugged Alice, "We did it!"

"Good job, Milady." Hernese praised.

While Alice got the feeling that she got tricked, she shrugged that thought instead and accepted that fact since it was inevitable.