Leaving the royal city, the two of them led the small pony back towards the direction they had originally come from.
Although, by all accounts, their current, almost comical, set of equipment was more than sufficient, they simply couldn't bring themselves to embark on an adventure with just this, pinning their hopes on Sirin allowing the story to unfold smoothly.
At the very least, they had to get their own battlesuits!
---||---
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Shu had already discussed concrete countermeasures with Joyce and the others.
How to put it... there wasn't that sense of powerlessness he felt when discussing things with Otto. Shu didn't know if he had improved and could now keep up with these people's thinking, or if it had always been Otto's problem.
It definitely had to be Otto's problem. Otto always spoke so profoundly, insisting on meticulously planning every tiny detail, making it difficult even to just go along with it.
Compared to Otto's plan against the Herrscher of Evolution, Joyce and her group's plan against Sirin seemed exceptionally practical.
Instead of trying to fathom Sirin's personality and methods, they considered all the fixed factors and devised an unavoidable, overt strategy.
There was no need to worry about losing everything due to a single misstep. Even if flaws appeared, they could patch things up, with enough room for error.
Now that's what you call a plan! Otto's was just a scheme!
"In short, before our several phased objectives are achieved, everyone should refrain from acting rashly," Joyce concluded at the final stage of the meeting.
Everyone nodded. Then, Joyce looked towards Shu and the Homu.
"Shu, you and I will go. I'll take you out of here and find a suitable place."
Shu nodded helplessly. He truly hadn't expected to one day become the final boss, even having to figure out how to "hand over" all his "subordinates" to the "Knight" coming to defeat him.
Overall, their current plan was to exploit the bugs... features... within this world's [Settings]. This would allow them to gain more strength on their side as the story progressed, ultimately enabling them to seize control of crafting the next story after this one concluded.
In layman's terms: rebellion.
The target of their resistance wasn't the story itself, but Sirin in her role as King.
They weren't crusading against Sirin, the Herrscher, but against the King.
Sirin could very well abdicate her position as King and become an Empress with even greater power and status, a Dowager Empress, or even a lofty goddess.
Sirin herself could completely avoid this conflict falling upon her, but the King could not.
And the foundation of this plan lay in two points from the original storybook—
[Setting: Before capturing the Princess, the Evil Dragon had previously captured the King.]
[Setting: The citizens of the Great Homu Kingdom will tend towards a better quality of life.]
The first indicated that the King herself lacked the strength to resist violence. As long as Shu, in his role as the [Demon Lord], could capture or even defeat the King within the ongoing story, Sirin would have no ability to resist.
If Sirin, the core of the dreamscape, was defeated, the dreamscape would naturally collapse.
This was the conclusion Schrodinger reached after repeatedly studying the state of this space.
The second point gave them the possibility of turning all the Homus and toys to their side.
Those who prefer good things will inevitably reject bad ones. "Remembering past bitterness" is for appreciating present sweetness, not for enduring hardship indefinitely, especially for these innocent residents.
A little taste of societal reality for the pure fairytale residents.
What? You say they're too despicable?
Please! They're the Demon Lord's army! If they weren't a little despicable for the children to scold, should the Demon Lord be upright and honorable, teaching the children bad habits?
Over the past three months, Joyce had thoroughly explored every part of this dreamscape. This world was linear, starting from the Great Homu Kingdom, passing through Bomb Village, Mushroom Beach, Fairy Land, with the Dragon's Lair as the endpoint.
The entire world seemed to have been born solely for Homu Brave Fights the Evil Dragon.
But, was that really all there was?
There was space beyond the Dragon's Lair, just as there was an entrance before the Great Homu Kingdom.
This was just a conjecture. The real reason Joyce and the others believed there was space beyond the Dragon's Lair actually came from a plot point in Homu Brave Fights the Evil Dragon.
[Setting: To Be Continued]
An unfinished story will never have a true ending. The Dragon's Lair was still just a resting stop. After defeating the evil dragon Homusilla, the hero and his party would undoubtedly embark on a new journey.
An open journey has no end, just like Kuafu's staff transforming into a peach forest, guiding people forward with life itself. [Kuafu is a giant in Chinese mythology who chased the sun]
But what was that space beyond the Dragon's Lair? No one knew, and Schrodinger couldn't calculate it either.
"If no one has truly reached there, then it will forever remain unknown, even if it has already been photographed indecently like a young maiden."
Hmm, a very... 'them'-style metaphor...
Originally, this plan could have been executed even without Shu and his group's arrival. However, in that case, manpower would have been extremely tight, and the plan would have had no room for error.
Compared to the tasks assigned to others at the grassroots level, Shu and Joyce's mission was undoubtedly the simplest and most straightforward.
That was to investigate the space beyond the Dragon's Lair, the unknown place designated as the [Demon Lord's Castle].
The primary investigator was still Joyce; Shu was merely the bodyguard Joyce and the others had hired.
At the same time Mei and the others came before Sirin, Shu and Joyce set off.
Looking at the large and small bags Joyce had prepared, and that conspicuous yet not-so-conspicuous cloak, Shu silently asked.
"Are you planning to fly there?"
Joyce: "?"
In the end, they didn't fly. Instead, they chose to take a shortcut to their final destination.
Along the way, Joyce utilized technology Shu couldn't comprehend, and Shu employed [Hope]/[Wish] in ways Joyce couldn't understand.
When they first set out, both managed to maintain their composure and a worldly-wise demeanor. But that was only at the very beginning...
Before long, their true colors were completely exposed, and each became a "country bumpkin" who hadn't seen the world in the other's eyes.
It was reasonable that Joyce hadn't encountered such idealistic, fantastical powers.
It was also reasonable that Shu, being so young yet possessing such strength, hadn't focused on technological development and was engrossed in his own cultivation.
Both found a reasonable excuse for the other, then comfortably began to enlighten the other about their own abilities (technology).
Just as Schrodinger had said, Joyce possessed an intangible ability to draw others to her side.
Perhaps... that was why a digital lifeform, newly born into this world, could gather such a large group of people and independently create Future City...