What is a happy ending?

  I don’t know.

  Is it supposed to be happy?

  I feel like it should.

  After all, it’s a happy ending.

  Does everyone have to be happy for the story to have a happy ending?

  Yes. I think so.

  At least, that’s why I want to make it happen.

  I will give everyone a happy ending,

  If that is the last thing I do.

  “-s…youn…miss...”

  “Young miss, are you listening?”

  “Hmm? What is it.”

  “How long are you going to stare at that countdown.”

  “Until it finishes.”

  In the large bedroom, a woman was sitting at a desk. In front of them was a large screen with a countdown timer displaying 0:05:43. Beneath the numbers, the title, Achievements of Heroes 2, scrolled past in red.

  “Still over an hour left…”

  “Young miss, you should take a break. Sitting like this for too long is bad for your health.”

  “I know.”

  “Then-“

  “I did the same thing 10 years ago when the first game launched. Now the sequel is launching soon, so I refuse to look away for even one second.

  “Sigh, very well then.”

  “Hey, I swear there was a hint of weariness in that. After being my personal AI for so long, you know I can’t be swayed once I’ve made up my mind.”

  “…You are correct.”

  00:04:14

  00:01:23

  00:00:03

  00:00:02

  00:00:01

  00:00:00

  Suddenly music and applause burst from the computer as the game’s trailer began to play.

  Heroic music filled the room while words and graphics flashed on the screen.

  Ever dreamed about becoming a hero? Fulfilling your duty and saving the world? Achievements of Heroes 2 brings you the same epic continent, and a new storyline.

  Featuring the beloved characters from Achievements of Heroes, Achievements of Heroes 2 allows you to create your own character and craft your very own hero party to defeat the demon king and save the world!

  Achievements of Heroes 2 brings you the complete and realistic fantasy world. Calling to all adventurers, the journey starts now!

  “It’s finally here!”

  The woman jumped up giddily and spun around the room. Feeling dizzy, she collapsed on the bed.

  “My favorite childhood game has now become virtual reality! Am I dreaming? Ahhh!”

  The original Achievements of Heroes was her favorite childhood game. In her teenage years, she devoted herself to learning everything about the game and completed it dozens of times. She loved every hero and devoted herself to making parties that made each member’s strength shine.

  She rolled around hugging her pillow as the AI watched silently. As her movements slowed, she began to think.

  ‘Although, why did the first game only have unhappy endings?’

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Even if the run ended in success, terrible events would still take place. Cities would be burned, party members died, there was even an ending where the entire continent was destroyed before they defeated the demon king.

  Players complained that the game was too dark, but it was met with silence from the company. In the end, most players left. Either they moved on to other games or became frustrated with the difficulty of being unable to see the ending they wanted. In the end, she was left as one of the last remaining players, still seeking the best ending that had to be buried in there, waiting to be found.

  After reminiscing about the past, she suddenly realized what she was doing.

  “What am I lying about for, I have a game to play!”

  The woman walked over to the virtual reality pod and immediately sat down and closed the door. Once inside, her consciousness became immersed in the virtual space. Her AI sounded near her:

  “The game has been purchased and downloaded using the same account you used back then.”

  “Alright, Let’s get to it! Start!”

  With that exclamation, her vision went dark, and a title screen appeared in front of her. She pressed [New Game] and the sight before her changed.

  She was presented with a character creation screen.

  “I’ve already known what character I want to create, so this should be easy.”

  After a while, her fully formed character appeared.

  The image in front of her was of a girl, around 170 cm in height. Her bright pink hair stopped just below her shoulder blades. Her round face and golden eyes gave her a particularly cheerful and good-natured look, even with a neutral expression.

  [Insert Character Name]

  “Haha, maybe it’s too childish, but whatever, I’m just playing for fun.”

  [Character Name: Candy]

  Once she hit accept, the character creation screen disappeared and was replaced by a class and skill selection.

  “For class… I want to pick one I haven’t played before, and I also want it to be fun.”

  Looking through the list of familiar classes, her eyes landed on one she had never seen before.

  “Magical Girl? Is this a joke? What magical girl, isn’t it just a mage or something?”

  She quickly scanned through the description. Then read it again more carefully.

  “Are they serious here? What does it mean ‘unique body that absorbs all magic directed at it and converts it to magic power’? ‘Unable to use magic and magical weapons’? This isn’t a magical girl class, it’s an anti-magic class.”

  Shaking her head in disbelief, she raised her hand to keep scrolling.

  “But it is a newly added class. As a hardcore fan of the original game, how could I get scared seeing this? Plus, there must be secrets hidden in this right? It can’t be all negatives.”

  “Why not. I’m just playing the game for fun, and now I want to see what this class really is.”

  [Character Class: Magical Girl]

  After selecting her class, she turned her gaze towards the skills. A character could have 3 starting skills, so she needed to choose carefully.

  “Okay, for this, I’m going full on bright, bubbly, and optimistic so my party’s morale stays high.”

  Her hand quickly moved as she scrolled through the available skills before finding the ones she wanted.

  “Hmm, look at all these new starting skills. This will be more difficult than I thought.”

  Soon, her eyes landed on a skill: [Weapon Mastery (intermediate)]

  “Woah, hold on. How is this a starting skill? That’s way too overpowered.”

  “But… I’m not looking for a hardcore play, and I probably won’t even finish the game.”

  “Let’s have some fun. It would be boring to use the same weapon all the time or spend time and effort to level skills in other weapons. With this, I get to use them all at an intermediate level. It’s perfect.”The second skill she chose was [Danger Sense (novice)], which notified the player of potential danger or hostile forces within a certain radius.

  “The last skill…hmm.”

  After thinking for a moment, she chose [Poison Almanac (novice)] as the last skill.

  “Although it probably won’t be needed, it’s always good to know if there’s poison. This even lets me build resistance through exposure, so it’s a good choice for any run.”

  She pressed the confirm button and was brought to a screen where her complete character was shown.

  [Name: Candy]

  [Class: Magical Girl]

  [Starting Skills:

  Danger Sense (novice)

  Poison Almanac (novice)

  Weapon Mastery (intermediate)]

  “Perfect.”

  She hit confirm and was greeted by yet another selection screen.

  [Select Starting City]

  “I get to choose where I start?”

  ‘In the original game, you were placed in whatever town your chosen hero started in. Did they add this because we can make characters now?’

  As she scrolled through the seemingly endless towns and cities listed, her eyes suddenly brightened.

  “No way right? There’s now way they would put that as an option.”

  She scrolled through the list and eventually found what she was hoping to find.

  ‘They really put in in. Silva.’

  Silva was a fortress city that existed in the first game. It was located at the very front of the line between the lands of dark and light. Having been destroyed before the game’s start, players could only visit its ruins, but the concept art that was released made it her favorite city.

  In the chilly forest of pear trees, the walls of the city stood tall and gleaming in the sunlight, while the tall spires of its buildings asserted their dominance over the flat terrain. At night, the city made from pearl wood and stone softly glowed, and the surrounding forest lit up with sparkling light like hundreds of fairies had come out to play.

  It was beautiful and ethereal, but that only made its destruction more tragic.

  The woman hesitated as she looked at the name of the city she loved most.

  ‘Should I choose it? But in the last game, Silva was destroyed before the game even started’

  If she chose it, would she have to face the city’s charred, crumbling remains? Or would she be able to see it. The real Silva, before it was overrun by demons. Maybe…maybe she could even save it from being destroyed.

  Her hand moved, and without a second thought, she made her choice.

  [Starting City: Silva]

  “It’s finally time to play. Let’s go!”

  [Game Starting…]