After addressing the matter of Mordred’s and Isanna’s budding conflict, Vahn spent a few more hours just engaging with his children while his second vessel discussed their futures. He couldn’t make as much time as he’d like so it ultimately fell to the children’s mothers and the various castle staff to ensure they were properly attended. He didn’t really want to pressure them too much but, in order to ensure they were building rapport with each other, Vahn came up with planned family functions such as picnics and internal competitions. The latter was necessary as, with the children growing like beanstalks, he knew it was only a matter of time before they needed a platform to compete amongst themselves in a low-risk manner.
Fortunately, Da Vinci had made several breakthroughs in Virtual Projection technology so, in lieu of allowing the children free reign to move about in the outworld, they would be able to use their own personal terminals to access the virtual world. Since he couldn’t really let them outside at the present moment, this was the best alternative he could come up with to ensure that the children experienced some degree of freedom.
Since they all knew how important it was for the children to experience a variety of things, there wasn’t much resistance against the idea of allowing the children to make use of the Virtual World. Though there were a fair number of restrictions put into place, as the last thing they needed was the children becoming addicted to something that didn’t exist, the time dilation within would give them ample time to play around in between their training and studies.
To convince everyone, Vahn had made a template using his memories of the Record of Danmachi so, while there would be a distinct lack of people, at least in the beginning, it would allow any of the castle’s residents to experience his home. This was something nearly everyone was interested in as there was a very big difference between viewing memories and experiencing them. With the tech developing at a monstrous rate, there was a very real chance they could even experience an entire life within the simulation, including joining various Familia and attempting to conquer the Dungeon.
Vahn really wanted his loved ones to share in his experiences so, while it would be embarrassing to see a simulated version of his past self, it would still be interesting. Better still was the fact that, if they wanted to, each person could experience a unique instance of the same world. Once the ‘full immersion’ mode was completed, they would even be able to interact with the past version of himself to shape the world in a completely unique way, entirely determined by their decisions…
While these types of discussions could quickly reach existential levels, it obviously didn’t deter any of the Heroic Spirits occupying the castle. Even Gawain was looking forward to experiencing the Virtual World as it was a way of broadening his horizons without wasting much time. After all, up to fifty days could pass within the Virtual World for every day that passed in reality.
By entering the world for just a single hour, you could experience the passage of two days within, time that could be spent on both study and recreation. As a result, people were restricted to four hours per day, separated into hour-long blocks, as it would become a big problem if they spent literal years inside while their body remained unchanged in reality. This was a regulation that Vahn intended to pass as Common Law in the real world as, if left to their own devices, he knew a large number of people would spend all of their time inside without any regards to their actual lives…
The Virtual World could be a tremendously useful tool or a debilitatingly addictive social platform depending on how it was used. Using it, a person could study any subject to mastery within a few months and, despite a relatively short lifespan, experience dozens of different lives amongst the myriad worlds that would be created within. There were, virtually, no limits to what they could achieve and, if they managed their time accordingly, people could be professor-level in their early teens.
Inversely, because real-life could be ‘boring’ or ‘difficult’, Vahn knew a lot of people would flock to the Virtual World since it was effectively a place where all their wishes could be realized. Sadly, this made them just about as useful as inert dolls. Thus, in order to prevent the effective death of human progress and culture, access to the Virtual World needed to be regulated. People had to earn the right to use it and, even then, they could only access it for a few hours each day…after all, life may be difficult but, for the same reasons that you enjoyed living in another world, you should face reality and make the most of it…
—
Around the same time that Vahn was discussing projects with Da Vinci, his main body was idling about in the Menagerie, his head resting against the soft thighs of Circe as she gingerly cleaned his ears. There wasn’t actually any wax inside but, as it was a strangely pleasant and intimate act of trust, Vahn enjoyed being pampered by the woman who usually demanded that he pampered her.
Circe, along with practically everyone residing inside the castle, knew that Vahn wasn’t in the best mental state since his announcement so she was giving him special treatment. They knew he was heavily affected by the ongoing chaos and, every time he heard about some major tragedy, Vahn would radiate a melancholic and somewhat cold aura. Since they didn’t want him to break under the weight of his own decisions, they had daily discussions to effectively determine which of them would be pampering him that night.
This time around, Circe had won the right to pamper Vahn and, now that she was pregnant with her second child, her emotional state had mellowed out more than she ever expected. She was no longer plagued by the ‘slight’ urge to harm the other women, something that usually resulted in her holing up inside the Menagerie. Instead, she felt happier with each passing day, almost as if the little bundle of life growing inside of her was a literal bundle of joy…
Now, with Vahn resting against her thighs and leaving himself completely defenseless, Circe had a gentle smile on her face as she picked at the hair around his ears while swabbing the pristine interior of his ears. The peaceful and content smile on his face made her feel happy and, while a part of her wanted to swap places with him, she ultimately kept it buried since the moment was too enjoyable to bring to an end.
Unfortunately, Circe wasn’t alone with Vahn and, while it didn’t affect the mood too much, having a few pairs of eyes staring at them wantingly was a moderate distraction. This was especially so for Vahn as, after enjoying the lap pillow for the better part of ten minutes, he opened his left eye to see Jeanne staring directly at him. Though she averted her eyes immediately after, the fact nearly everyone else repeated the action caused him to chuckle in amusement.
Circe puffed out her cheeks when she felt Vahn begin to shift his weight but, without complaining, she set aside the long swab as he moved to a seated position. Ultimately, the best thing for Vahn’s mentality was to just let him do as he pleased so, while the peaceful moment was rather pleasant, Circe actually looked forward to what he would decide. After all, nine-time-out-of-ten, Vahn would seize the momentum from them and, ten-time-out-of-ten, they would all be happier for it.
This ended up being one of the few instances where Vahn wasn’t actually in the mood to have sex so, before things could get out of hand, he began to caress the underside of Circe’s ears and neck as he explained, “There are a few things I need to deal with. When I’m finished, I’ll return here and we can all spend some quality time together…”
Without waiting for a reply, Vahn stole Circe’s lips for himself, pacifying her with a few gentle pecks as his right hand gingerly stroked her abdomen. This was enough to remind her of the current state of her body so, while she was slightly frustrated that he would be leaving them, she quickly regained her senses. At the same time, Gareth, Okita, and Jeanne began to prepare their clothes and equipment, fully intent on accompanying their Master wherever he intended to go…
After a small parting ‘ceremony’ with each member of the Menagerie, including some head pats for Medea, Vahn made his way outside of the Inner Sanctum to visit the nearby Residental Halls. A lot of people had come to reside there over the last week or so and, while it might not be proper for the Emperor himself to go check up on people, Vahn had a habit of doing so. It would be a lot more awkward to summon him to private quarters and, as it wasn’t really much an inconvenience for him to do so, he didn’t see the harm in paying them a visit.
With this in mind, Vahn soon found himself in front of a door that, as per usual, had a number of people and Companions present. They quickly gave way for him and, after a few polite greetings, Vahn entered into the room to find Spenta and one of the castle’s newest residents, Aura, sitting together as they drank tea. The rest of the room was filled with hundreds of Companions and, as the aura emanated by Spenta was simply that pleasant, many of the Homunculi liked to rest inside while on their breaks.
Though they had already noticed his presence due to the clamor at the front door, Spenta and Aura both gave pleasantly surprised smiles when they saw who entered the room. Considering the latter was blind, the sequelae of one of her Innates, it was always peculiar to see her easily follow his movements with her eyes. As for Spenta, she delicately placed her teacup on the saucer before hopping out of her chair and practically bouncing over to Vahn and throwing her arms around his waist.
Feeling the tension in his body practically melt away, Vahn’s smile became more natural as he bent down and picked up Spenta in his arms, holding her like one of his own children. She had a special place in his, and many other’s, hearts so he couldn’t help but be good to her.
‘Seeing’ the interaction between the two, Aura’s smile turned more radiant as she mused, “How envious. I wonder if a day will come where you hold me in a similar manner? To be cherished is a wonderful thing…”
Understanding there was a bit of seriousness in her words, Vahn lightly shook his head before taking the seat vacated by Spenta, the latter happily accepting his lap as her own. Then, making eye contact with the blind Alien Conceptual Entity, Vahn stated, “Despite your appearance, I do not believe you have the capacity to act like a child. Spenta is a truly innocent young girl so there is no danger in treating her as such. You, however, have an agenda and a hyper-rational mind…I will do my best to treat you well but, treating you like a child, that is something I cannot do.”
At this point, Vahn had come to learn a lot more about the nature of Aura’s existence so, in spite of her appearance, he knew she was an especially ancient being. According to the information he had been able to obtain, she was even older than the planet itself by around 100 million years so, on the low end, she was around 4.643 billion years old. This was information ‘purchased’ directly from Akasha and, after their discussion, Aura herself had been allowed to answer his questions.
With this knowledge, Vahn knew that one of Aura’s primary functions was to ‘observe’, not just Gaia and Alaya, but everything transpiring on the planet. She served a similar role to Ouranos in the Record of Danmachi and, despite her innocent appearance and disarming aura, she had an immense amount of power. He had originally thought she was only near the peak of Tier 4 but, after learning her true nature, Vahn discovered that Aura was, at the very least, more powerful than Gaia, Alaya, and ORT…combined…
(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘The dangers of unrestricted full-dive…!’,’90% of the time, Vahn leaves women 100% satisfied (>,…,<)…!’,’There is always a taller mountain but, no matter how high you climb, there is still a sky beyond even that…!’)
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