Chapter 17 : What Not To Do At A Funeral

[Welcome, Irene.]

The moment I saw the message on the terminal, I felt a thrilling sensation course through me.

Yes, this is it.

Finally, I didn’t have to keep using Leon’s account to stir things up.

This was, without a doubt, one of the most meaningful moments since I was summoned here.

The Saintess had mentioned that even acquiring this account had been quite a struggle.

Naturally.

The terminal doesn’t allow duplicate usernames.

And my name had already been sold across the entire Hero Guild.

It wasn’t just “Irene”—even usernames like “Irene123” were taken.

She even tried “RealIrene” and “ReallyRealIrene,” but astonishingly, those were taken too.

Eventually, the Savior Saintess spent an enormous sum to buy the username outright.

At this point, I was starting to feel a little scared.

First, the entire community found out about my broadcast in an instant.

Now, they were claiming every username related to me by the hundreds.

What exactly was this “Irene fan club”?

One thing was certain: they weren’t normal.

I mean, just having fans as a sworn enemy of humanity is evidence enough.

Even after securing the username, it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

I thought there’d be trouble because a Demon King’s officer had registered an account on the Hero Guild’s terminal.

But surprisingly, there was no problem at all.

Apparently, there are fans of mine within the Hero Guild itself.

The real issue came from the Irene fan club.

If I had an official Hero Guild account, that meant I could stream directly, right?

And since the account sale wasn’t confidential, within 30 minutes of the transaction, a post like this appeared in the Irene fan community:

[Urgent! Irene Created an Account!!!]

Author: Irene999

I used to have the “Irene” username, but I recently changed it.

And guess who bought my old one?

None other than the real Irene herself.

I can’t prove it, but she’s bound to post something soon.

It looks like she’s finally decided to debut properly after all those times teasing us with her villainous persona.

LOL.

I’ve got 3 million gold ready, so you better be prepared when she debuts.

[Likes: 351][Dislikes: 1]

Comments:

“Finally! It’s happening!”

“I’ve rewatched her Hero Guild exposé stream three times already. And now she’s going to officially debut?!”

“Three times? LOL. I’ve rewatched it seven times.”

“I’ve saved up 400,000 gold. Irene better do a full cute dance routine!”

“Knowing Irene, she wouldn’t do it even if you gave her 4 million gold.”

“Then I’ll just die and be done with it~~”

“I’m ready with 500,000 gold. I’ve been hoarding it just for this moment. When Irene debuts, I’ll flood her stream with donations and support her for life!”

There it was again—this cursed talk of a debut.

Honestly, I thought this wouldn’t last long.

After all, what is a community user?

A wandering cyber ghost who could disappear at any moment.

Their defining trait is their inability to stick to one topic—they’re always moving on to the next flashy thing.

So I thought the talk of my debut or any buzz about me would be just another passing phase.

Even when the Irene fan community was founded, I didn’t pay it much mind.

[Irene Fan Community]

A place to share stories about Irene for eternity.

Interest Level: 1,819

But I was completely wrong.

Those ghosts suddenly built a base of operations and became fanatics spreading their gospel.

If the Hero Guild hadn’t restricted access to our Demon King’s castle under the guise of ‘reassessing threat levels,’ those people might have swarmed here in droves.

The mere thought made me feel uncomfortable.

Why not like Elian or Luna instead?

They’re heroes for humanity!

I’m humanity’s enemy!

Anyway, the conclusion was clear:

to deal with these people, the Demon King’s castle needed fortification.

And even without considering them…

[Hero Guild Subjugation Festival: D-3]

We needed to prepare for this event.

The Subjugation Festival is an annual Hero Guild mega-event.

The premise is simple:

during the event period, defeating the Demon King’s castle rewards double gold.

Simplicity is best, isn’t it?

Every year, this event drives people wild.

Heroes, retired warriors, and even people who quit being heroes to do other things—all of them unite under the lure of double gold.

This results in a fourfold increase in subjugation attempts around this time.

And thanks to the recent controversy, this year’s event offers triple gold rewards.

…Which means we need to prepare three times as much.

It wasn’t a huge issue, though.

In the past, I had to blanket the entire Demon Realm in my magic while sacrificing sleep, which left me in terrible shape.

But now, I could rest properly, and with Lumineal growing stronger, the amount of magic I had to expend had drastically decreased.

Currently, Lumineal has consumed five enhancement stones.

She’s likely at the level of a Danger Rank 4 Demon King.

Still, I’m not letting my guard down.

I continue to invest all my spare time into Lumineal, even taking up cooking recently.

Though my cooking skills are still terrible, Lumineal eats it with enthusiasm.

Lost in thought, I opened the terminal to check my notifications.

Among the 400 messages from strangers, I skipped them all—they were a sea of spam.

Instead, I opened the one that seemed important.

[Lagare: Elian’s resurrection is in two hours.]

[Irene: Wait, isn’t that at the Holy See?]

[Lagare: ?]

[Irene: ?]

Our brief conversation felt like two gears failing to mesh.

Then another message came.

[Lagare: Oh, my bad. I forgot to send you the location. I’ll send it now—just come there.]

When the location arrived, I was dumbfounded.

[Irene: You’re holding the Rank 1 resurrection ceremony in a secluded forest?]

[Lagare: Of course. Elian herself always insisted on no extravagant ceremonies.]

At least I wouldn’t have to worry about divine power kicking me out of the Holy See.

I walked quietly along the forest path.

It seemed like a simple place, but to me, it held significance.

This was my first time outside the Demon Realm.

Reaching a small clearing, I saw her—the Savior Saintess in her nun’s habit.

“Hello, Irene. You look adorable today.”

The ceremony felt more like an ancient ritual than a resurrection.

When I asked what was really going on, the Saintess avoided answering, continuing her work.

Soon, she spoke.

“Elian stored a part of her magic in this urn for resurrection.”

But something went wrong.

“We need twice as much magic, and I have no way to replenish it.”

Before I could process her words, she reached out and drained my magic.

“This is your magic converted to divine power.”

Finally, Elian’s form appeared—pure and untainted.

“Long time no see, Irene,” Elian said, tears streaming.

“Good to see you too, Elian,” I replied.

For a moment, even I felt touched.

Until Elian suddenly exclaimed:

“Wait, where are my clothes?!”