Lain raised her hand.
“But then if we know who it is, why can’t we go after all of them? Just interrogate them all with drugs and electrocutions and torture. It’s not like you had a problem with that when it came to the players.”
I audibly facepalmed. Why did my creations actively try to get us all killed? Come to think of it, most of the characters in the media that I used to enjoy all had outspoken characters who said whatever they thought, as if there were no negative consequences, because there weren’t since they were in a fictional world where honesty mattered.
“I have a question as well.” A boyish voice said. What was it going to be? Maybe I should have ordered them not to ask any questions.
“Oh, the teenage detective,” said Chamberlain. “To think you’d bring to life even fictional characters. Excellent. But be careful if the author finds out then you might have to delete it for copyright infringement.”
Bang.
At that moment two sparks exploded in the middle of the room. Rina had shot a bullet at the room towards Chamberlain only for it to be intercepted by Helen’s own bullet. Neither of them had materialised a gun when shooting, so the guns materialised after they had actually shot. Helen held a Walter P-38 while Rina held an outdated Murata Rifle but it actually made no difference which weapons they used as they both held permissions almost as powerful as those of superusers like me.
“Although humans can’t be physically harmed, it is not guaranteed that they can’t be psychologically harmed here, as I am sure you are aware, Master Chamberlain.”
“Hahaha.”
Chamberlain smiled heartily at the anime-esque development.
“You never fail to amuse me. I was joking, only joking. As your creator, I am kind of disappointed you wouldn’t understand me, but that’s why you early models have always been fun to play with. The law, which I might add I made into law thanks to yours truly, states that any works published in Britain can be used to train UK government-backed AI without any need by the author’s permission, or rather by publishing their books in Britain they have already granted me the permission to do as I please. Now, there is nothing to worry for Ryouta or you about that.”
Rina then turned to me as if it was my turn to put out this fire that she started.
“In that case I’d argue that it would be better if Mr Chamberlain didn’t just casually joke about destroying us. Remember that the success of your political career depends on us, and that you have no time to replace us.”
“A tool like you has no right to—” started Helen but Chamberlain stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Now, now, there’s no need to get so emotional. This all started because of a poor word of choice on my part. Unlike my political opponents I am always ready to accept my flaws and move on. What is not a flaw, however, is my choice in having chosen you to run this operation. You are right that I need you.”
Helen glared at Rina but then sat back down, and then her and Rina’s weapons disappeared.
Arthur continued where he had left off.
“The four organisations which he frequented were the right wing Anglo Solidarity Front, the leftwing International Anarchists United, the centrist European Institute for Global Politics, the feminist Future Women’s Literature Society and finally the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement Protocol Organisation, or VHEMPO, a bunch of environmentalist nutjobs that broke off from the UN, or rather were kicked out, for being too extreme. All of these groups have been publicly against the existence of a virtual reality project run by the British government. However because they are involved with other governments we cannot just send the police in there without enough evidence and not cause an international accident.”
“Do we even know the spy’s real name?” asked Helen.
“No, he went by different names and disguises at each of these organisations in order to fit in. For example, he cross-dressed as a woman named Li Mei to enter the women’s society and at the environmentalist organisation he pretended to be an aboriginal native from Indonesia. In any case, it’s too late to catch him now. That concludes my briefing on the accident at the door to the inner chamber. Are there any further questions?”
There were none. Well, I wondered what he had passed himself off as when frequenting that white nationalist group, what— an anti-semitic samurai? But I decided there was no point in knowing this. In any case, I could satisfy my curiosity privately with the report later.
