"Cough, cough. Let's talk about the [Moment of Twilight] instead. My companion visited there too. Did you see anything, Miss Acheron?"
Acheron spoke at length:
"I saw people who wished to realize their dreams, or had already realized them, throwing money around and staking everything there."
"Everything could be priced. Everything could be bought and sold—even dreams themselves."
"I saw an automaton there. The item it had prepared for auction was its [self]."
"Once someone won the bid, for the agreed period and under the agreed rules, it would carry out every instruction from the buyer and become that person's absolute possession."
"That automaton had been auctioned off twelve times in total. I attended its thirteenth auction."
"It was the most bustling feast I had ever seen, yet no one looked its way anymore."
"This time, it failed to sell."
Although Acheron had put it tactfully, Mr. Welt still understood what kind of place the Moment of Twilight was.
An automaton's [self] could be auctioned.
Then what about everyone else's [self]?
"Mr. Welt, please stop thinking about it. This is a 16+ game. You can't let your imagination run wild," Acheron reminded him.
Mr. Welt adjusted his glasses.
"It's fine. This is Tomato, so it doesn't matter."
Acheron: "..."
"In any case, those were merely my brief observations along the way."
"Someone once told me this: Penacony was not like this long ago, nor should Penacony be like this."
"I traveled through the reality and dreams of the Planet of Festivities, watching night rise and fall, watching time linger for people, while spiritual wealth and poverty... remained forever fixed at their respective marks."
"So I believe the collapse of the [beautiful dream] was inevitable."
Mr. Welt said gravely:
"Perhaps there is a way to change all this."
"Perhaps." Acheron's thoughts