I set my objective for this loop as follows.
Become the Commander's lover, then die right before his eyes.
He'd ruined my tsundere Leila death plan, after all.
I intended to collect that debt along with everything else and bill him several times over.
Yet even with such a clear objective, the path ahead looked murky at best.
Seducing the Commander — I could manage that by throwing myself at him, one way or another.
But how was I supposed to die without it feeling contrived? That was the problem.
*Besides… a predictable, run-of-the-mill death wouldn't leave much of an impression.*
My death absolutely had to be a tragedy for the Commander.
The kind that wrings your guts out. An irreversible, devastating tragedy.
Only then could I sculpt his face into exactly the expression I wanted.
The kind that makes a person wish they could turn back time and undo it all.
But unless I had perfect foreknowledge of every future event —
dying at the exact moment I wanted, in exactly the way I wanted, was an extraordinarily difficult thing to pull off.
"Ugh, if only I had a talent for being a mastermind…"
My track record up to this point had been fairly close to that.
Predicting what lay ahead, positioning people and circumstances in exactly the right places.
Inflicting trials and suffering on others for my own ends.
At this level, an A-tier mastermind might be a stretch, but surely I qualified as B-tier.
And yet I knew better than anyone.
I was nowhere near enough to be a presence with any real weight.
*No grand cause, no resolve, no brains, no patience. Without the source material knowledge, I'm barely a third-rate villain. Or just a pervert with unusual tastes, at best.*
Conceited as it might look, I was capable of a fair degree of self-awareness.
The reason I'd been able to manipulate people the way I wanted up until now —
was entirely thanks to my knowledge of the source material and Lumia's peculiar environment.
I had no innate talent for playing the mastermind.
Which meant slipping past the prologue was a bit of a headache.
It was like losing my two most valuable cards at the same time.
Opportunities this sweet probably wouldn't come around again so easily.
So here, I had to make a choice.
Gratefully accept that I was still alive, clean up my misdeeds, and stop.
Or keep playing this clumsy little game, knowing full well I'd eventually get caught.
"…I'll keep going, obviously."
I wanted to watch someone suffer.
For me, that wasn't something as trivial as a passing amusement.
I needed it. Without it, I simply couldn't get excited.
To put it plainly — if it wasn't a face twisted in anguish, nothing stirred in me.
Well, I'm a woman now, so "stirred" isn't quite the right word. "Wet" would be more accurate.
The way a man gets aroused by a woman's curves.
The way a woman gets aroused by a man's handsome face.
For me, it was someone's suffering expression.
Telling someone like me not to torment the Commander —
was no different from feeding a person Viagra and then locking them in a chastity belt.
I'd sooner bite off my own tongue and die. How could anyone stand that?
*In that case… I need a new method. Something that lets me transcend my current limitations.*
Not just Leila, a plain B-rank Valkyrie.
Something beyond that.
The day after the Commander woke up and we spoke.
I came in wearing my uniform and made my way down the corridor.
Navigating on crutches was a bit of a nuisance, but —
Valkyries are sturdy. It wasn't particularly difficult.
I finally reached my destination.
A quiet spot with fewer people coming and going than I'd expected.
The nameplate above the door reading *Archive Room* was hanging slightly crooked.
No need to deliberate.
I slid the door open and stepped inside.
The Valkyrie sitting at the reception desk looked up with wide eyes.
"Oh — Leila!"
"Hello, Morka."
A Valkyrie with a short bob cut and a squirrel-like impression.
She was Morka — the one who had been slated to be sacrificed to Midir.
I'd asked her to stand in as a decoy during the 2nd loop and owed her in various ways.
Maybe it was because I'd felt a twinge of conscience and shared some food with her.
I hadn't done anything deliberate to manage her affection, yet she'd grown quite attached to me.
Was she actually a squirrel in disguise?
Maybe I'd try giving her an acorn next time and see how she reacted.
"You're back already? You haven't fully recovered yet…"
"It's just a leg. Better to come back sooner rather than later."
While my mind wandered through pointless thoughts —
Morka had leapt to her feet the moment she saw me and rushed over in a single bound.
News of my serious injuries had apparently spread widely.
She was probably worried about me moving around the very day after I'd woken up.
But aside from my thigh, I'd already recovered completely.
Her concern was less touching and more like nagging that only hurt my ears.
Still, no reason to get into an argument with the archive room staff.
After exchanging some small talk with Morka, I asked her:
"Would it be alright if I used a computer for a bit?"
"Of course! Just a moment — I'll get one ready for you right away!"
Morka scurried off at my request as if she were running an errand.
In the meantime, I sat down at my usual spot and turned on the computer.
I'd used the archive room at headquarters often enough. The routine was familiar.
Sitting in front of the computer, my heart fluttered unexpectedly.
In my past life, I'd spent nearly entire days planted in front of one.
That old sensation must have slipped out without my meaning it to.
*Having to come all the way to the archive room every time is a bit of a pain…*
Here's one surprising fact.
Valkyries had restricted access to the internet.
More precisely, they could only connect to the internet from within the archive room.
The exact reason had never been officially explained.
My guess was that it was to block unnecessary information.
Valkyries were expected to consider self-sacrifice for humanity a matter of course —
but what if, on the off chance, some outside influence crept in and gave them ideas?
Then, well — a war between humanity and the Valkyries might break out, or something along those lines.
I figured it was probably to prevent that sort of situation.
*The likelihood is probably low. But they wouldn't want to give anyone even the slightest pretext.*
So what Valkyries could freely access was the intranet.
In other words, the internal network used within the base.
But unlike the internet with its vast wealth of information —
the intranet was woefully inadequate for research purposes.
It was limited to work-related functions, more or less.
I even doubted whether it had the storage space for that kind of data in the first place.
So, in preparation for cases where research was necessary —
Valkyries were permitted to access the internet under restricted conditions.
Only from the archive room, only with a special blocking program running.
And every access log was recorded and available for review.
*No SNS, no games, no forums, no adult content… They've blocked everything remotely fun.*
Of course, even with those restrictions, the internet was tremendously useful.
Information on Valkyries, information on Erosion Species, current news.
City information, corporate information, the history of the continent, and so on.
All the knowledge I had of this world had been learned through the internet.
If only the information restrictions were lifted, I'd have nothing left to wish for, but —
right now, that wasn't what was on my mind.
I simply, quietly, without Morka noticing —
sent a current through my fingertips into the computer's port.
*Takeover… complete. Good. That should hold for about six hours.*
My business at the archive room was done.
But getting up immediately would look a little odd, so —
I browsed through encyclopedia sites as I normally would.
I took a quick look at who was listed among the S-rank Valkyries.
Confirmed that my name appeared on the B-rank Valkyrie roster.
Checked through the recent news out of Lumia.
Then used my leg as an excuse and quietly rose from my seat.
"See you next time, Morka."
"P-please take care!"
In a slight hurry, I let Morka's farewell go in one ear and out the other.
Then I moved quickly on my crutches and slipped into the Commander's office.
That man was still bedridden with his wounds not yet healed, so —
the Commander's office was cold enough that you couldn't feel a trace of warmth.
I locked the door with a click, just in case.
Then I sat down, laced my fingers together, and rested them on my stomach.
*Focus. From here on… this is what matters.*
I closed my eyes.
Concentrating my mind, I called up the Leila Network.
Though "calling up" was a vague image at best.
The Leila Network had no physical form to speak of.
I could sense, almost tactilely, the presence of the device I'd planted the current in.
Normally I would use it by feeling as though I were connecting to that device —
but instead, I gathered the current drifting around my body into my palm.
Then I let the current flow in, as if connecting it to my Stigma.
And when it felt sufficiently charged —
I drew the current in my abdomen up to my head, like turning a key.
"Connect."
*Click.*
Together with the activation word I'd decided on in advance —
the darkness that had filled my vision blazed with sudden light.
The sensation of seeing something even though my eyes were closed.
Before I realized it, I was standing somewhere.
A space with three rooms and a large window in view.
I was certain I'd been sitting in the Commander's office just a moment ago —
yet somehow I was standing barefoot in its entryway.
"This is…"
Leila's unique ability — negligible in combat power, but absurdly versatile in utility.
I had used that ability to create a variety of techniques up until now.
Trance, which mimicked the effects of specific drugs.
Sentiment, which manipulated nerves to elicit biological responses.
The Leila Network, which transmitted and received information.
And the Memory Corridor, which used the unique ability as a storage medium.
Then a curiosity had taken hold of me.
Could I cross-apply the techniques I'd created so far?
For instance, if I combined Sentiment and the Leila Network —
and fed the Leila Network's data directly into my optic nerves —
couldn't I play back images right before my eyes without using a terminal?
—*This actually works?*
Surprisingly, it did.
As if they had been designed from the start with compatibility in mind —
the Leila Network and Sentiment interlocked with perfect precision.
From there, I moved on to the next stage.
Would Sentiment and the Memory Corridor be compatible? They were.
Would the Leila Network and the Memory Corridor be compatible? They were.
Then what if I combined Sentiment, the Leila Network, and the Memory Corridor?
Weave the three techniques together through the Leila Network.
Gather data in the Memory Corridor's storage space.
Then feed in all five of my senses through Sentiment.
The result was exactly what was in front of me right now.
"I've gone and built… a virtual world."
Leila's ability — it's genuinely absurd.
I looked down at my faintly translucent hands and let out a hollow laugh.