No Game No Life - Volume 9 Epilogue 1

── Elkian Castle. Throne room.

10 days have passed since it was remodeled to become the live show’s venue. But now it was perfectly

back to normal, it was almost as if everything had been just a dream. They thorne room was restored to its

original, historically significant state, and Shiro too returned to her original state:

“Hmm… is this ‘one turn’going to end soon?”

“… Probably… in three more days… more or less…?”

The Elkian monarchs, Sora and Shiro, were nodding as they said that. They were sitting on the throne and

fiddling with their tablets.

… ‘One turn’… is it enough time for the other players to finish making their moves? Sora and Shiro

thought about that turn. The turn they had p

assed

, but was still far from a break…

── There weren’t supposed to be any moves to make. The whole turn was supposed to be about

‘producing’ Holou.

However, some very unexpected visitors made that turn an unexpectedly turbulent one ── the

Ex-Machina.

When the game ended, they… just left without saying a word. But of course. Sora and Shiro didn’t make

them pledge to become their allies if they lost. In fact, they were forced to pledge to ‘abandon their love.’

In order to avoid their own extinction, the Ex-Machina had been forced to reproduce ── that was all.

They were free to go wherever they pleased or even challenge Sora and Shiro for real next time.

── B

ut if that happens, then so be it,

Sora and Shiro thought with a smile.

If the Ex-Machina want to challenge Blank out of their own will… they are welcome to. That said, the

achievements that were accomplished using the Ex-Machina’s powers still remained:

“… Sora～… Shiro～… the merchandise has already sold out…”

A delivery person with a tired face appeared in the throne room ── correction. It was Steph in worker

clothes who said that, and in response, Sora gleefully smiled:

“Hm, don’t worry about it. The 18th edition’s extra printings are already coming out! So chop-chop!”

That’s right. Holou’s live show was legendary, an absolute success. And right now, Sora and the others

were making a killing from it. Well, that being said──

“… But we’re only selling Holou’s ‘pictures’ and ‘picture compilations’… can’t we figure something

out?’” Steph lamented. With Imanity’s current technology they can’t make anything too impressive after

all. In fact, they had gone to great lengths just to make the bromide for the pictures and the photo albums.More specifically, they photographed Holou using their smartphones, then Jibril made a ‘picture’ with

magic. They had also commissioned the Academy to make prototypes of the printing press and paper

manufacturing machines and put those at full throttle, and finally had those pictures colored by artists…

Otherworldly technology, magic, and even the abuse of the powers of the country. All these contributed to

making such fine products.

Steph was amazed by the waste of skill and hard work that went into that, but even so:

“I want to hear Holou’s songs again… wouldn’t that sell?”

That’s right… Steph had completely fallen in love with Holou’s songs. She ── no, everyone was

desperate to get their hands on Holou’s songs ── on a ‘music player.’ So wouldn’t that sell?

Just making photo albums was already this hard for Elkia, there’s no way they sound recording

technology or the like. However, if they were to use the other race’s power, then even if it was impossible

for the ‘Kingdom’ of Elkia──

“Yes… Of course you’d think that, right Steph? Everyone would think that. Heck, even I think that.”

Steph was asking if it would be possible using the combined technology of the Elkian ‘Federation,’ so

Sora nodded:

“Of course they would sell. And that’s the reason why we’ll use them to crush the Eastern Federation’s

idol agencies,

you see ♪”

“… Wh-What…?”

Steph took a step backward because of Sora’s very evil smile, but Sora and Shiro just ignored her, stood

up from the throne, and continued:

“Miko-san was at this live show… did you really think that was just a coincidence?”

“… An invitation… to various places… in the Eastern Federation… especially those who work with… the

idol agencies…” For no particular reason, Sora and Shiro walked around as they answered.

“? Then, what’s going to happen?” Steph asked, and then:

“Ha hahaha, so you don’t know? I see ── then let’s explain!”

Sora and Shiro deliberately stopped on their heels and boasted about their great plan:

“There were thousands of people at Holou’s live ── However, its fame has already reached half the

whole Elkian Federation!!”

“… with just hearsay… mere photos… are already… flying off the shelves…!”

“But Howeeeeeever! The essential videos and music are missing! After all, Elkia can’t make them, you

know!?”

Losing out on profitable merchandise goes against the very nature of a merchant. Therefore──!“The Eastern Federation merchants who refused to provide us with equipment will all come to us with

their music players at full blast!”

“Ah! So we just need to ask those guys from Eastern Federation to ──”

“However, we will refuse!! Decline! Turn them down! Throw salt and ask them politely to leave──!!”

“… we will… tell them to get the hell out… as we roll around… laughing!”

Steph was already convinced, but Sora and Shiro’s screams denied everything and echoed through the

entire castle. Sora ignored the dumbfounded Steph, and continued with a melodramatic tone:

“Eh～? After all～ those merchants like, sucked up to the big agencies～ They prefer the big, strong

agencies instead of 989 Production～ Those guys dumped Holou, and she’s an idol from our

agency ～♥

Just because she started selling a liiittle bit those guys totally flip flopped and now they are sucking up to

us, what’s up with that～!! So slutty～!! Isn’t that like, totally gross～??♥”

── Sora speaking like a gal like that is the grossest thing if anything.

Shiro and Steph swallowed those words as they were on the tip of their tongues and listened to Sora’s

conclusion. He sat back on the throne and crossed his legs, then he arrogantly spoke:

“Well… if they sign a contract to become 989 Productions’ exclusive provider we might think about it!”

“… There’s no way anyone is going to take such a deal right?”

No matter how much profit there is in this, cutting ties with all their other clients surely isn’t worth it.

After all, they only have Holou. Steph was having such doubts, but Sora made a declaration:

“No, they will take it. Because 989 Productions will become the largest idol agency in the whole Elkian

Federation.”

Using the Seiren’s musicality, the Elves’ artistic theories, and the technology from another world, we’ll

create completely new music! But more importantly, by consolidating the other races and producing an

Old Deus like Holou, we’ll become even better producers than Blank!!

Some of the people who work with idols that Sora and Shiro invited will think like that for sure. And they

frankly don’t care about the ones that won’t. The only important ones are──!

The Producers with a strong spirit and an indomitable will!

The Producers with a passionate spirit, those who want to take their idols to new heights themselves!

── Only the ones who think it’d be better to transfer to 989 productions!!

“Come and assemble, my passionate Producer brethren! Become 989 Productions vassals and bring

the animal-eared idols with you──!!” Sora said, opening his arms to the skies. He was ordering all his

comrades in arms, all the heroes to assemble.

“… We’ll get… aaaall the Eastern Federation’s… merchants… idols… and producers…”

Shiro returned to her original position ── Sora’s lap ── with a plop and reached a conclusion:She declared that they’d devour all

the Eastern Federation’s agencies, human resources, and even the

marketplace. They’d remove the tariffs if necessary! Or even reduce the taxes by increasing deductible

maximums! The payback for underestimating 989 Productions… for opposing the very county’s

administration will forever be etched into their minds…!!

“… That slyness combined with how you are so trustworthy sometimes gives me a headache…”

“However!! That is just the beginning…!!”

However, Sora ignored Steph and displayed his endless ambition!

“We will eventually install relays across all the Elkian Federation’s territories including, of course, the

Eastern Federation!!”

Something like TVs and radios. Then Holou’s music will be famous all around the world!

“Even gathering the whole Elkian Federation’s technologies, that’s still impossible… However──”

Sora’s blazing eyes were saying that they’d be able to do it one day.

“Oh! Sigh ── aren’t you being a bit cold… my beloved?…”

──Suddenly, something that Sora didn’t want to see, a machine man, appeared.

Sora saw his own reflection in his eyes. His face was so close to Sora’s that the distance between them

tended to zero. He sensually took Sora’s chin and raised it. Then he made his teeth sparkle, and said:

“If you want that equipment… then by the power of this unit’s love, I shall make it possible at once.”

“Don’t you have any other power source!? Or actually, why are y

ou

even still here!?”

── I said that the Ex-Machina had left somewhere right? Well, that was a lie. It was a real shame. But out

of all the Ex-Machina, Einzig was the only one who stayed for some reason. No… he was certainly too

valuable to just let him go back to the Ex-Machina. It was true that if Sora and Shiro had the power of the

Ex-Machina everything would be solved. They were omnipotent special effects devices after all. Sora

even decided to make sure to get them into the Federation next time, but──

“Why? Heh… Do I really need a reason to want to stay by my beloved’s side!?”

“You. Have. The. Wrong. Person! How many times do I have to say that!? Plus you’re supposed to have

discarded that love by the Pledges ──”

“No. You are not the Spieler. You are Sora… I know that very well.”

Einzig made a very sentimental smile and continued:

“Calm down. Everything is alright. Since I

fell in love with you

, my beloved!!”

“Nothing you said has anything calming in it, dammit!”

── Why. Why was it him

of all people? The normal pattern here is that a girl would remain, right? Or at

the very least, that line just now should never be said by a man, right!?Sora cursed the world that kept betraying his expectations so much.

“… I am sorry. I know I’m being annoying, but I am reluctant to part ways. Could you overlook it this last

time?”

Einzig made a 180 turn and suddenly looked very lonely. However, his beaming smile won out in the end.

“… This unit, same as the other Ex-Machina, will be returning to base.”

Einzig turned on his heel, and continued with a refreshing smile:

“Currently, the highest priority unit for reproduction is the unit who surpassed its limits a long time ago,

the ‘All linking and commanding unit, Einzig’… the successor to this unit. This time, you can be

relieved… After all, this will be the last time we meet.”

“…………”

Einzig was walking with his back to them, so Sora and Shiro couldn’t see his face.

“My beloved… you certainly weren’t the Spieler. However ──”

But his back somehow looked very determined.

“You both

are the Fortsetzer. And we will not break our promises ever again.”

── ‘We Ex-Machina came here to become your power. We are your allies.’──

Einzig remembered the first time they met, when he said that line and with that reassurance:

“The Ex-Machina will always be your allies. When the time comes and you challenge Tet (the world)

once again, we’ll come running to your aid.”

He didn’t stop walking as he finished:

“… It might not be this unit, but we’ll for sure deliver victory into your hands.”

“This time for sure. This next time for sure ── we won’t make any mistakes.”

“… Don’t make me wait that long.”

He was a machine 5982 years past its service life. A machine that kept moving only because of its

‘feelings’… no. H

e was a man

, and he was leaving without turning back, but in response to his parting

words:

“You held on for 5982 years, right? Just hold on a bit longer ── and we’ll see you later.”

“… Bye-bye… Let’s play… together again… sometime… okay…?”

Sora and Shiro said, returning Einzig’s smile, but even so he didn’t stop.

Sora’s smile was gallant and cool, but his voice cracked a little. He decided not to notice that his eyes

were a bit wet…────…………

“How should I say this? They were an earnest bunch. But they were also awkward and very

troublesome…” As he saw Einzig off, Sora thought about the machines that had obtained hearts and made

a recap.

They had embraced contradiction and just like inexperienced humans, the Ex-Machina had arrived at that

same awkwardness.

── But even so, they kept going with a purity superior to a human’s.

Even though they knew that the one they loved was already dead, they kept yearning for an unrequited

love for several thousand years.

“… I can kind of understand why you fell in love with the godly gamer who ended the Great War.”

Sora refreshingly concluded, and both Shiro and Steph nodded with small, bitter smiles.

── When suddenly.

“Hypothesis: On the previous game, you specified that the love we had to discard was only the one we

had for the Spieler.”

Whoa!

A monotonous voice resounded from behind the throne and made everyone swallow a scream.

“Deduction: I presume that’s the loophole that allowed this unit to not discard her love f

or Master

. That

must be it.”

She probably had been using optical camouflage again, or some other crazy power.

They could hear the rustling of a certain robo maid’s iris-colored hair and skirt from behind the throne.

That’s right… it was the only non-conformist among the Ex-Machina, Emiline, and she had Sora’s heart

in her finger gun’s sights.

“Confirmation, and Reauthentication: Master fell in love with this unit. Bang.”

She imitated the sound of something firing at a heart-shaped target and made an expressionless wink that

was unexpectedly very smooth. However, her shot missed the target and the word ‘miss’ appeared above

Sora’s head.

“Emiline? Eh, so you were here too!?” Sora raised his voice.

“Affirmation: The whole time.”

“Even Einzig has already left! Why are you still here!?”

“Instant answer: Because this unit is Master’s wife.”

“You. Have. The. Wrong. Person. How many more times will you guys make me do the same routine

again!? Did you delete and/or modify your memories again!?”When Emiline saw Sora hold his head in frustration over his lack of progress, she became flustered ──

Or not.

“Irritation: I presume there was a misunderstanding. My previous statement isn’t true. It’s merely this

unit’s wish.”

“Ah, so you do understand…”

Just like she said, she spoke with irritation. However, she corrected her tone to indifference once more

and continued:

“Consolidation: The Ex-Machina lost. When this unit was dum… dumped… by Master, I had a fatal

misunderstanding… Unit temperature rising. Feeling ‘embarrassed’. Deleting memory ── failed. I’m

disconnected, so why?… Hilfe.”

However, as she consolidated her knowledge, her indifferent voice began to shake more and more, until

she even began to let out smoke. Until in the end, she left them only with a single word that meant ‘help

me,’ and hung her head like a doll whose strings had been cut.

She was suffering just like a person who had remembered their dark history ── However, before Sora

and the others could worry:

“Defiance: But even so. This world allows for a rematch. Therefore. Consequently. This unit will.”

She raised her head. Sora could see his own reflection in her glass eyes. He could also see that they were

determined. However, the hands she had clenched in front of her chest were shaking. Was she aware of

that?

“Hope: Once more. I want to tell Master my feelings once more. This time for sure

I’ll win……… may

I?” Emiline was begging. And why would a gamer ever say ‘no’ to someone seeking a rematch?

“… All right, I get it. But you only have one more chance. If it doesn’t work, we’ll play another game.”

── Originally, she had the wrong person. Her being in love with Sora right now is simply an extension of

that.

In any case, if you want a rematch I’d prefer it if you challenged us

both

,

Sora implied. In response,

Emiline raised her skirt, bowed deeply and recited:

“Lesen: ── Org. (n) ── ‘True Sora seducer: Checkmartyr’──”

Then, she took a deep breath. No ── the Ex-Machina don’t even need to breathe. In that case… it must

have been something to shake off her uneasiness, worry, or resignation. She turned to look at Sora, and

everyone braced for the rewriting phenomenon they had seen many times before.

──However:

“Hesitation: Master… No. I have determined that under these circumstances I have to make a

correction──” Emiline muttered, and kept walking with just a little bit of hesitation.

The scenery around them, the time… nothing was changing.

Not even her appearance, or her voice, or

even her clothes ── but she still kept approaching him. Someone who was not her Master, the Spieler.Someone who wasn’t the Spieler. Someone who wasn’t even really her Master ── he was none other

than himself:

“Identification: Unique subject. Name ── ‘Sora’…”

That’s right, Emiline had called Sora by name.

Then she timidly reached out with her trembling hands. Hesitating a little, she put them around Sora’s

chest hugged him tightly, and buried her face in his chest. She squirmed around… and pushed her face

against his chest as if to hear his heartbeat,

── Then, she said a single sentence:

“── Confession: … I… love you”

…………

…………………… ah. This is bad.

He barely managed to stop his own arms from hugging her back by reflex.

A large crack ran through the diamond that was Sora’s reason. He looked at the transcendental race that

had finally arrived at the truth.

That’s right. The truth. It was the same with Holou.

Eloquently reciting beautiful poems of love, or professing your love by giving someone 1000 bundles of

flowers with an orchestra at your back.

If you take into account their preferences, circumstances, and make plans to cover each and every

eventuality… then it doesn’t matter what you say.

── You have to say it awkwardly, clumsily, but also desperately.

If you don’t, then the feelings for the other person will never be properly transmitted. That is the real truth

she──

── Or rather, Sora had just used the power of logic (i.e. the fact that he isn’t popular) to harden his virgin

sense of reason (diamond). But that truth was like a sledgehammer about to crush it──!!

This is bad… this is the first time anyone has confessed to me directly like that.

Because of his nature as an unpopular guy, for a second he almost said ‘I love you too.’

“Re-confession: I love you. This unit loves you…”

He had barely managed to avoid the complete pulverization of his reason (diamond), but Emiline kept

attacking mercilessly ── No…

“Boiling emotions: I love you. I love Master. I love Sora. I love you. I love everything about you. I love

who you are. I love your eyes, I love your thoughts. I want to become one with Master. This unit has aproposal: If I neutralize our spiritual boundaries, then fusion could be possible ── This unit is amazing.

Good job me. Pinging Zeichen65. Ah. I’m still disconnected──”

“That’s way too scary, just stop! Or rather, way too passionate! If you keep that up your body will boil for

real too you know!?”

── It was something more akin to a berserker rampaging around than a merciless attack.

It was enough to fix the crack in Sora’s reason and make him scream. That finally made Emiline snap out

of it:

“Speculation: It seems I still can’t control this ‘emotion.’ That just now was an unfortunate accident. No

one’s fault.”

She took some distance from Sora and became flustered trying to smooth things over. No.

“Correction: Master’s warmth is at fault. You should think about what you’ve done. But this unit is

elated. Yay.” The robo maid splendidly shifted the blame.

“So in the end you didn’t change at all!? This is the same as the first time we met when we were already

married inside your head!!” When Sora saw her being so haughty he screamed, but:

“Negation: This unit still hasn’t ‘won.’ However, I’ll keep trying

. No matter how many times it takes. I’ll

do my best.”

If this doesn’t work, they’ll play another game…

And… Emiline concluded that it kind of worked

. She made a small, really small smile of confidence.

But suddenly there was a spike of killing intent next to Sora.

65 設計体(ツァイヘン, S(h)aihen) Designer unit in kanji and something to do with drawing in bad german I think.

This time I can’t seem to find a better german word that coincides with both the sounds and meaning, if someone who speaks german has a better suggestion I’m all ears.