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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 553 Part 2

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 553: The Guidance of the North Star Part 2

If Rei’s memory served her correctly, and she was pretty sure that it did serve correctly, if you were to follow the guidance of the character named Ricky, you would be able to reach the venue even if you were to go some really roundabout ways that would lead you away from the hustle and bustle of the man roads. So theoretically the lack of people in their immediate surroundings should not be all that much of a problem. …… And so finally, after a few minutes of going through some less crowded streets and passageways the two of them turned left at the next corner, and they emerged on one of the main streets where already a whole long line of people was waiting patiently, resembling a snake from those early versions of mobile phones.

「Are those…… Are those all people who wait to get into the venue……?」

「This thing right here is apparently called: “New Tokyo International Exhibition Island Mega Float Site”, and it was supposedly built around five years ago…… It may sound intimidating, but it is actually an automated system of ticket gates that makes the process of entering various venues so much easier and faster than before……」

When you start thinking about it, human beings really are one hell of an amazing creature…… I mean, just look at that! The rapid development of science in recent years has made the impossible possible! Now we can seriously carry out an operation like that “If the land is too small to accommodate our needs, you should simply make a new one!”. Even I remember that during its development, this artificially made island was the subject of a heated debate all throughout the country…… But just look at this thing! Just think about the sheer amount of both money and labor it must have consumed! And now this thing is going to become a Holy Land for gamers from all over Japan! And it was only possible thanks to the blood, sweat and tears of all fellow gamers and workers out there…… Sure, there was also a whole lot of heavy machinery and robots that were involved, but you get what I mean, right? Besides, robots do not bleed and sweat, so it would sound nearly as poetic as it did in case of people.

「Well, the good thing is that the special tickets are being checked out at a separate gate than the normal tickets. So let’s just go there now and……」

「WELCOME! WELCOME! TO THE JAPAN GAMING EXPO!!!」

「Whoa, what the hell!? That gave me a fright!!」

Was that a voice coming from the inside of my wallet just now!? What the hell is this!? A case of the Japanese youkai at large!? Or maybe a Japanese Tsukumogami!?

But no, it was not exactly my wallet that spoke up just now. It was that special ticket that I have put inside of my wallet. Apparently, some of the built-in functions that were inside of it must have started to work once we approached the JGE venue. Could this be some sort of a proximity mechanism? Look, there was even a dwarf-sized character that appeared from the card-like ticket that I took out of my wallet just now. Could this be this so-called AR hologram technology? And it was even looking at us with a really friendly smile…… And once you turned around it would turn as well. Really impressive.

「I AM THE OFFICIAL MASCOT CHARACTER OF JGE! MY NAME IS POLARIS! NOW I SHALL GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS OF REDEEMING YOU SPECIAL TICKET!」

「Ooohhh…… Talk about science advancing forward and being put to some truly nifty use……」

「Whoa, umm, where is the ticket even……」

Yeah, maybe I should get that ticket somewhere else? Because at the current moment it’s as if its voice is coming straight from my ass, if nowhere else.

For the time being, the self-proclaimed Polaris character starts to guide us towards a certain place with a plethora of overblown gestures. That’s one heck of a mascot character, let me tell you that…… Maybe it’s programmed in such a way that it’s responding to some sort of a microchip inside one of the ticket booths? And while I thought that this thing was just a plain and normal ticket, it might actually turn out that it has quite a whole lot of fancy and advanced tech stuffed inside of it.

「Oh? This thing looks different from the other gate out there?」

「Yes, but even though their number is fewer, there are still people waiting in line in front of that gate……」

Apparently we are not the only ones who were guided here. For now, we come closer and follow the line that people made here. There were not as many people as before here, but it was still quite a crowd. But how are we even going to get to the venue? It’s a man-made island, right? But at the current moment there is no bridge connecting the mainland to the island itself. So the only thing we can see here is the autumn sea…… Maybe once the time is right something is going to happen here?

And then the Polaris character on my ticket came to life once more with a strange SF sound accompanying it. She started to spin around in place, and then she started to talk while looking at the direction that was dead ahead of us.

「LOOK! THE TIME HAS COME! COSTUMERS WITH THE SPECIAL TICKETS CAN ENTER THE VENUE ONE HOUR BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE! NOW GAZE UPON THIS! IN JUST A MINUTE, A FLOATING BRIDGE SHALL APPEAR TO CONNECT THIS PLACE TO THE VENUE!」

Is it going to be a floating deployment bridge that forms a bridge by opening the hydraulically expanding and contracting pillars installed on the seabed? Could it be the kind of technology designed especially for this thing right here? A huge board then appeared by tearing through the white waves from the seabed, opening like some sort of sea gate. Then, similar gimmicks started to appear at equal intervals, and then became connected to one another. …… Before long, a bridge leading to the man-made island on the sea was completed.

And then, one after another from the side of the venue…… Well, what was that thing, a golf car? Or something similar to it? Whatever it is, it seems to be something that gamers would rather enjoy. I’m sure my mother’s uncle was a golf enthusiast…… I heard that once he even swung the golf club at full swing in a drunken state and a club actually slipped from his hand and broke the window. And then he just took it back and managed to score a hole-in-one thanks to it. I would always call this thing “Excalibur” in my mind.

「Alright…… Let’s go for a ride, shall we?」

And somehow I understood that the people with normal tickets would not get to benefit from this vehicle. …… Ah, capitalism can sometimes be such a cruel thing, no? Well, not that I would like Japan to be any other way……