"Lady Laura, a guest has arrived."
The moment I heard those words, I realized it immediately. I was dreaming of those days.
The time when I was not Aurora, but Laura Iris. A fragment of the ten years I spent in the world of Labyrinthos.
I placed the teacup I had been drinking from down on the table.
"A guest? If I remember correctly, I don't think I had any scheduled appointments."
"You are correct, my lady."
"I see."
In other words, someone had come to the Iris Ducal residence without notice.
Even when the imperial family visited, we exchanged several letters beforehand. When I considered that, it meant this guest was being exceptionally rude.
So, under normal circumstances, I could have had them sent away without issue.
"Who is it?"
"It's Lady Cecilia."
"...Cecilia, huh."
At the mention of that name, I frowned slightly. In some ways, she was the most troublesome person in the world.
"Let her in. I'll see her myself."
"Understood, my lady."
The butler withdrew, and soon after, a girl appeared in my tea room.
Her hair was stark white, as if all color had drained away. Her skin was pale to the point of being ghostly. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, giving off a faint blue hue.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature was that she was seated in a wheelchair. It was well-known at the academy that Cecilia was quite frail.
While it wasn’t unusual for Cecilia to look unwell, today, she couldn’t hide it from my eyes. There seemed to be more scars on her limbs than I remembered, and parts of her dress were torn.
"It's been a while, Lady Laura."
"Lady Laura, is it?"
I thought to myself after hearing that title. So she’s giving me permission to treat her as an inferior.
"Yes, it has been a while. You look quite different from usual. What happened?"
"There was an accident. I apologize for showing up in such an unsightly state."
"An accident?"
"Yes."
Cecilia nodded.
"I’ll be direct with you. The academy has been overrun by the gate. Could you help us, Lady Laura?"
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They’ve got no luck with matchups, lol.
Sunday, September 22nd.
The day of the EYEAI LabyrinthosVR tournament had finally arrived.
[How are you today, Mother?]
The opening match was between our Winter Team and the Spring Team, a combination of 1st-gen and 2nd-gen members.
Before the match, there was an introduction and pre-game interview, and Ainatsu, the commentator, opened with that ridiculous line.
“Are you still drunk?”
[Nope. I’m perfectly sober.]
“Then why the ‘mother’ bit?”
[Mother, after three years of being a VTuber, I’ve learned something: once you start feeling embarrassed, there’s no end to it.]
Despite being sober, Ainatsu had started spouting nonsense.
[Since things have come this far, sticking with it is better for my mental health. So, I’ll continue to call you Mother.]
"I have a lot to say about that, but first, what’s with the tone?"
[I wanted to express my feelings. Did it bother you?]
"It did."
I said bluntly.
Ainatsu is as annoying as Anna.
Maybe even more so than Anna.
[Then I’ll just call you Mom. Laura Mom! Laura Mom! Laura Mom!!!]
“I just want to ask one thing. How old are you?”
[Asking that is cheating! Don’t ask questions, just pet me...! Even adults want to whine sometimes! I’m desperate here!]
[...Stop bothering the juniors.]
Veronica Miyamoto, Ainatsu’s co-commentator, sighed.
[Anyway, Director Laura, could we get a word of determination before the match?]
“Determination? I once looked up the word ‘determination’ in the dictionary. It said it means ‘mental preparation for what lies ahead.’ But is there really anything we need to prepare for?”
I smiled.
“How many people mentally prepare for the sun rising and the moon setting? Our victory is already decided, so there’s no need for any special determination.”
[Haha! Director Laura is brimming with confidence! We’re looking forward to an exciting match.]
[See you again, Laura Mom!]
With that, the pre-match interview ended, and we moved into the Winter Team’s voice channel.
[...Ainatsu-senpai is really something.]
"She sure is. I never expected to have an older daughter only a month after debuting. I wonder who the father is."
[Don’t joke like that... If weird memes start spreading, people might take it seriously.]
People who regularly watch EYEAI VTuber streams wouldn’t misunderstand, but in places like the VTuber gallery, people often approach things through memes.
Without context, those memes can lead to misunderstandings. There’s a famous person everyone thinks is from the Shin family, but in reality, his name is Kim.
So, Sora warned me that some might wrongly think I’m a married woman with kids if the joke goes too far.
“That’s kind of scary. Anyway, let’s focus now—the match is about to begin.”
[Got it.]
The camera feed from the Discord screen-sharing shook slightly. It looked like Sora nodded her head.
Currently, Sora, Inagika, and Chel were all logged into Labyrinthos. The three of them had already entered the custom room.
I was watching through Sora’s screen share since, as the director, I had to leave the voice channel once the game started.
[The ban/pick phase has started.]
Sora spoke in a low voice.
A large notification appeared on her screen.
[The battle has been decided: Academy Map / Guardian]
[Both the allied and enemy teams have a ‘Guardian.’ Eliminate the enemy team or defeat their Guardian to win. Defeat the enemy Guardian before your own falls.]
"Academy."
I muttered to myself.
I had a dream about something like that today, and now we were playing on the Academy map. It made me feel a bit nostalgic.
[Lo... Laura?]
"The Academy map is an outdoor map, but the buildings are spread out."
I explained.
It’s somewhat similar to the Ghost Town map that Sora had played before. It emphasizes outdoor combat, so it tends to play like urban warfare.
The key difference is that the buildings aren’t clustered together like in a typical city. Each building is huge, and some even have secret rooms or underground facilities.
“Ban the Assassin.”
The Academy map is wide open with few places to hide, so it’s important to keep an eye on mobility. Assassins, with their speed and ability to take advantage of open spaces, had to be banned.
After we banned the Assassin, the Spring Team banned the Cavalry.
Their intention was clear—they didn’t want us to take advantage of the wide map either. It also felt like a direct shot at Chel.
"Next, ban the Necromancer."
I chuckled. We had no intention of using Cavalry anyway, so their assumption worked in our favor.
Next, they banned the Archer. This was clearly aimed at Inagika, preventing her from sniping from rooftops.
‘That’s Rinko’s handiwork.’
To be precise, it was Spring Team’s coach—Kisaki Rinko—making these decisions.
She was clearly trying to limit the character pool of our team.
"Finally, ban the Tech Mage."
We didn’t care much about their picks. Once our strategy was in place, victory would be ours.
But we couldn’t allow them to use Tech Mage. Its map-hack ultimate was too dangerous to leave unchecked.
Spring Team’s final ban was the Bard. They were wary of the team-wide movement speed buff, while also further restricting Sora’s character options.
With that, the bans were complete.
"Inagika, pick the Martial Artist."
[O-Okay...!]
Inagika locked in the Martial Artist.
Now it was the Spring Team’s turn to pick, but they hesitated. There was a moment of silence in the pick window.
Were they caught off guard by Inagika picking the Martial Artist? That wouldn’t be surprising, given her usual preference for backline roles.
After some deliberation, the Spring Team chose the Beast Tamer. While not as fast as an Assassin or Cavalry, the Beast Tamer had decent mobility, especially with their giant wolf mount, and was better suited for rough terrain.
Since this was a snake-style pick, the Spring Team had the next choice as well. They went with the Gunner, clearly intending to kite the short-ranged Martial Artist.
“Chel, pick the Hunter.”
Chel locked in the Hunter.
Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.
The Hunter has tracking abilities and excels in vertical combat.
Incidentally, it was also Rion’s main character in Labyrinthos. Given that the Hunter is a cat beastkin, old archives of Nekozuka Rion’s streams showed her playing the character a lot.
Now, it was Sora’s turn to make the final pick.
“Sora, can you handle it?”
I asked.
I already knew how she would respond, but I needed to confirm one last time.
[I can do it. I’ve practiced.]
“Good.”
I nodded.
If Sora was confident, there was nothing more to say.
I spoke up.
“Sora, pick the Dark Knight.”