Chapter 38 : Daguri is a famous tradition (2)

“Ugh… If I do this one more time, my heart’s going to burst.”

Just like before, brown magic gathered together.

In an instant, it transformed into Exina’s form.

It had been over a hundred years since she had last seen something like this.

Yet, it was still fascinating.

Tania, who had been sitting quietly, let out a scoff after hearing Exina’s words.

Not out of ridicule, but purely because she found it amusing.

“It’s been so long since I last saw you so tense with your guard up. It brings back old memories.”

“That’s what you have to say?”

Exina glared at Tania with sharp eyes.

It was an act of absolute blasphemy.

But then again, wasn’t she Exina, the one who had been with her for over a hundred years?

Rather than being offended, Tania found it almost joyful that her old friend, whose emotions had long dried up, was reacting like this.

“Still, as I recall, this isn’t really your fault.”

“What do you mean, ‘not my fault’?! You hid the fact that you possess the same kind of magic as the Mirror Queen! And not just that—you have an absurd amount of it!”

“You simply didn’t try to find out. Isn’t that right, ‘Know-It-All’?”

“No wonder the empire is falling apart when its emperor is like this.”

Tania merely shrugged, adding, “Hah, what nonsense.”

Normally, she would have brought up Bertram and started a heated argument.

But both of them were too preoccupied watching Irene.

“Besides, I didn’t know either.”

“…Huh?”

Exina blinked, finding it hard to believe.

She didn’t know about the connection between the Mirror Queen and Irene?

Seriously?

And yet she vouched for Irene?

“I never really had much interest in the demonic realm.”

“And…?”

“Besides, it’s not the same magic.”

Exina thought carefully.

Strictly speaking, their magic was identical.

If someone told her it was all created by the same person, she might even believe it.

So, if she were asked whether there was any difference—

The answer would be yes.

The Mirror Queen’s magic had some kind of impurity mixed into it.

With Exina’s unparalleled ability to analyze magic, she could read that much.

But that was that, and this was this.

Even while conversing with Irene, who seemed like a genuinely good person—

The anxiety that Irene might actually be the Mirror Queen, that this was all a scheme to betray her—kept creeping into her mind.

Unintentionally, Exina had drawn out her magic.

It was purely an instinctive reaction to a sense of mortal danger.

Irene was definitely an unusual person.

After all, she was the first person in decades to make Exina feel threatened for her life.

Regardless, Tania quietly leaned back into her luxurious chair, pointing at the screen with her finger.

Irene was staring blankly at the raging sea.

“What do you think about the next match?”

Exina took a sip of her drink as she sat down.

Now that her body had calmed down a bit, she replied to Tania in a disinterested tone.

“It’ll obviously be an easy win for Irene. If she decides to sink the ship, it’ll be over in ten seconds.”

“Hmm… Is that so?”

Tania pondered for a long moment.

Then, without Exina noticing, she took out her terminal.

[Welcome, Irene1.]

Everything Exina had said was true.

If the match started without any interference, Irene would end it easily.

And from Tania’s perspective, that wasn’t ideal.

She was here as the emperor to spectate, sure.

But at the same time, she was an Irene stan.

A die-hard viewer of Irene’s streams.

She wanted to see the streamer put on an entertaining show.

Whether they were an ordinary viewer or an emperor, it made no difference.

“Let’s make this a bit more fun.”

“Yeah, do whatever you wa— Wait, what?”

Exina turned around, her mouth hanging open in shock.

On Tania’s terminal, the exact same scene as the screen was displayed.

“Tania… What the hell are you planning?”

Exina looked at her with a puzzled expression.

But Tania simply gave a bewitching smile.

She didn’t explain.

She only added one more thing.

“Heh, you’ll find out soon enough.”

This was just ridiculous.

The moment she realized what the ship was, that was the first thought that came to mind.

I mean, sure, I get it.

Ganging up on me is understandable.

I’m absurdly strong, and taking me down would give a huge point boost.

Of course, it was only natural that people would team up to target me.

Not expecting that would be foolish.

So the fact that a team had formed wasn’t surprising.

But…

“Is that almost the entire player count?”

Fan, fan, fan, fan, fan, fan, fan

The most popular warrior among warriors (is actually a villain boss)

The truth is, Irene is just a superstar lol

I’m a participant, and I’m coming to hunt down Irene!!!

But Irene’s a demon, so can she revive?

Irene is human, though?

?

Not everyone, of course.

There were still a few individuals playing solo.

But the fact that they were the extreme minority was the problem.

At this point, forming a team would only put them at an overwhelming disadvantage.

Still, there was one unfortunate thing for them.

And that was the environment.

“Normally, in games, falling into the ocean means instant death, right?”

It was the same in Laios Fantasy, so it should be the same here.

Even though this world is reality, some game mechanics still apply.

With that in mind, there was no need for me to take on each hero one by one.

How many of them could even fly?

Even if they could fly, how many could actually fight me while doing so?

Obviously, only a handful at most.

That meant the answer was simple.

Just blow up the ship.

I prepared a small explosion spell.

“This is going to end faster than I thought.”

Irene, declaring victory before the fight even starts!!

Interpretation: Irene: “I already won.”

As expected, a gangbang means nothing to The-rine lololol

Isn’t that too many opponents, though?

She was already exhausted from fighting the assassin last time.

The audience was divided into two camps.

One side believed I would breeze through this, just like I did against the Mirror Queen and Elian.

The other thought this sheer number of opponents would actually be difficult for me.

The latter was more accurate.

No matter what, my character “Irene” was built to be absurdly strong in short, one-on-one fights.

I made her that way on purpose.

I’ve always been a solo player.

Rather than investing in AoE skills for raids, I put everything into single-target damage.

But that didn’t mean I was going to lose.

The power gap was just too massive.

I could take them down easily.

“Let’s just blow up the ship and end this quickly.”

The moment I said that, chat exploded.

Blowing up the ship is peak content lmao

If it were me, I’d jump in and do a 1v100 showdown.

LMAO

Apparently their leader is Luna? How about a fair 1v1?

Bro, c’mon…

“What did I even do to deserve this much hate already?”

Not that it mattered.

I had no reason to care about what chat thought.

My only goal was to act as a stepping stone—directing all this attention and viewership to Luminil.

If I entertained the audience too much, there was a risk of me becoming Luminil’s rival, which would be the worst-case scenario.

Besides, my real job wasn’t to be a streamer.

I was a villain.

So there was no reason to listen to them.

I was about to ignore them and move on when—

*DING!*

A notification popped up.

[New mission registered!]

Win without using long-range magic like a true warrior.

Reward: 5000G (Time Limit: 2:00:00)

“…Hah. You expect me to take that kind of risk for this?”

I laughed involuntarily.

Like I said before, this is the kind of challenge streamers take seriously.

Not me.

Neither the gold nor the mission objective was tempting enough for me to bother.

“This is nowhere near enough.”

I said that just to make my stance clear—

But somehow, chat interpreted it very differently.

Irene says she doesn’t have enough gold!!!

We need to invest in gold! INVEST! INVEST! INVEST!

Irene, don’t worry! I can live off cornmeal for you!!!

Fact: If it’s for Irene, I’d give up all my gold and everything else!!!

You traitorous lunatics LOL

If I could marry Irene, I’d betray humanity in a heartbeat.

(fltlzm has been temporarily banned.)

The chat was now completely united.

I tried to clarify—No, that’s not what I meant.

But like a busy kitchen during peak hours, the notification sounds kept coming in, drowning out my chance to speak.

*DING!*

[Mission reward increased by 5000G!]

Win without using long-range magic like a true warrior.

10,000G (Time Limit: 1:59:33)

*DING!*

[Mission reward increased by 15,000G!]

*DING!*

[Mission reward increased by 100,000G!]

*DING!*

[Mission reward increased by 30,000G!]

*DING!*

[Mission reward increased by 10,000G!]

If you asked me if I could still back out—

Luckily, yes.

But if I gave them even a little hope, the audience might turn against me even harder.

Since I had to funnel them to Luminil, that wouldn’t be ideal.

I needed to shut this down completely.

I took a deep breath and spoke firmly.

“I said I’m not doing it. You guys are just trying to invest in a safe asset.”

?

??

She says she needs more gold.

“If you ever need more gold, just call me, Irene! I’m recharging right now!!”

LOL

Summon reinforcements!!!

Damn, I spent all my gold on Meteor, so I’m broke…

It seemed like my attempt to kill their enthusiasm had worked.

The donations slowed down significantly, barely trickling in at 3,000G increments.

In the end, the total amount didn’t even reach 500,000G.

Good.

This wasn’t worth my time.

I reached for the “Cancel Mission” button—

And then the chat exploded.

What the hell is happening now?

I quickly checked the mission log, and—

A nightmare unfolded before my eyes.

[Mission reward increased by 5,000,000G!]

[Win without using long-range magic like a true warrior.]

[5,430,000G]

“…Huh?”

My brain short-circuited.

This wasn’t from the collective effort of my fanbase.

One person.

One single lunatic had just dumped 5 million gold into this mission.

What kind of maniac—?

Either they were completely insane, or they had been drinking heavily.

I was so flabbergasted that I couldn’t even speak.

Caught off-guard Irene GET!!!

This idiot can’t process 5 million gold LOL

WHO TF JUST DID THAT

Bro just casually dropped 5M gold like it’s nothing LOL

This person is actually insane.

I immediately tried to check the logs—

And before I could even process what was happening, another donation notification popped up.

[Irene1 has donated 10,000G!]

Irene, are you finally realizing now? Irene, are you finally realizing now? Irene, are you finally realizing now?

“…Ah.”

Right.

How could I forget?

There was one absolute madman in my fanbase.

A person with the ultra-rare username “Irene1.”

No one knew what they actually did for a living, but they showed up to every stream, throwing around absurd amounts of gold like pocket change.

At one point, I even suspected they were Elian in disguise.

But—

Elian: HOLY SHIT WHO IS THIS GUY?????

Jealous? Then go stream yourself!

Gold Miners Guild is in shambles rn lol

Fact: All the Gold Miners have switched to Team Irene.

Damn, no stream = no 5M gold.

Even Elian seemed genuinely surprised.

So much for that theory.

I was still weighing the pros and cons—

500M gold versus dealing with an entire Hero Guild raid—

When another donation shattered my last thread of rational thought.

[Elian1 has donated 50,000G!]

Well, if you don’t think you can win, you don’t have to do it.

After all, it’s understandable if a villain like you is scared of a few heroes.

“…Excuse me?”

LMAO

Heroes can be scary, you know. Poor baby villain Irene.

Of course, villains should be afraid when heroes gang up on them.

So what you’re saying is, Irene is a washed-up relic who can’t win without magic?

LOL

She looks like a baby villain, though.

Honestly, she’ll still win even without magic.

JUST PUNCH THEM LOL

Ah.

So this is why streamers always fall for these dumb dares.

I could ignore a lot of things—

But being called a baby villain?

Absolutely not.

“The person who said baby villain—watch your back. I’m winning this mission and banning all of you afterward.”

WOW, A REWARD

If I say “baby villain,” will you ban me too?

She can’t ignore it LOL

Fact: Irene is still a baby villain.

Tbh, she’s barely been around for a few months and she’s short. Doesn’t that technically make her a baby?

I’d guess she’s a teenager at best…

I was serious.

Yet, instead of taking me seriously, they just doubled down.

Fine.

You wanna play? Let’s play.

I swore to myself—

Today, I would ban every single person who called me a baby villain.

[Irene – Currently Streaming!]

[Luminil’s Waiting Room]

[Viewers: 15,910]

I leaned in and smirked at the camera.

“Watch closely. Today, 33% of you are getting banned.”