[Preliminary Skirmish Begins—!]
A castle stood in the middle of the ‘Holy City Helheim’.
It used to be owned by some old man named Pope Gregory. Sounded like a robot’s, huh? Anyway, in one of the rooms in the castle, the Demon King side was currently holding a strategy meeting.
It was attended by several groups’ representatives, and all of them were tilting their heads with “Hmm”, me included.
“8:2, huh… That’s big. Say, Zansword, how did things end up like this?”
“Well, one of the major factors is undeniably the fact that the BSO’s developers branded us as evil during the event the other day.
“But of course, this is, at the end of the day, just a game. No one really thinks of us as bad guys, but they’ve probably seen us as the ‘event’s antagonists’”
Ohh, that made sense…
Online gamers were the kind of people who would unhesitatingly draw their weapons and kill anyone and anything the devs’ designated as ‘event monsters’ for the promise of rich rewards.
“Well, nothing we can do about that. I’m guessing another factor is that many people wanted to fight and defeat me in the first place, which I welcome.
“That said, that still doesn’t explain this kind of gap. For one thing, there should be quite a few people who’d rather be the bad guys, and to say nothing of the fact that I promised to give free items to those that join the Demon King side I made at the parade the other day.”
As the saying went, ‘bread and circuses move the masses’. Free items and the touch-monsters-all-you-want permits were very attractive benefits, even if I do say so myself. Yet the reality couldn’t more different from my expectation.
“I thought that even if more people joined them than us, the gap wouldn’t be this big…”
To my murmuring, Zansword replied “About that…” in a quiet voice for some reason.
“I am actually into vtubers…”
“Wait, what the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?! We’re having a serious discussion here!”
“Just let me explain first! This is related to the situation we have at hand!
“Ahem. A vtuber named ‘Akahime’ is currently standing at the top of the vtubers industry. Incidentally, she is the petite sœur of ‘Aohime’, who is well-known as the first vtuber. It felt like just yesterday when I watched Aohime-sama and Akahime-tan hugging each other at the end of Aohime-sama’s graduation stream. I was so moved that I wept all night. The next day I overslept and was late to the office, missed a really big business deal, got fired, and ever since I’ve been a shut-in…”
“So, you messed up your life because of vtubers?! Well, that aside, what’s that vtuber got to do with this?”
“Here is the story.”
Zansword began to explain.
This Akahime girl recently uploaded a video titled: ‘Drafting! Let’s All Work Together to Defeat the Demon King Yuri! ☆’
It came out of the left field, but her fans enthusiastically answered the call to arms. With millions of subscribers to her channel, the Goddess’ side was instantly stacked.
–I was struck speechless hearing it.
“Haa… no way a top vtuber like her would suddenly do that for no reason. Pendragon must be behind it…”
“Indeed, I’m of the same opinion. Her grande sœur, Aohime-sama, used to play ‘Darkness Soul Online’. Akahime-tan herself also played it under the name ‘Red Hood’. The two of them met in the game and there they swore to become the sweetest sœur and–!”
“Okay, okay, that’s enough! I get your point. Pendragon is a top player in ‘Darkness Soul Online’. They might know each other from there… haah.”
Asking for an old friend’s help—it was a simple and often used move. And when that old friend was a big deal like a top vtuber, it became a very terrifying move. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was cheating. I mean, looked at how stacked the Goddess’ side was now.
I sighed without me knowing, and Zansword continued with a complicated look on his face.
“Gamers are calculating kind. When faced with such a big power gap, it’s only natural they would join the side with the upper hand. That results in the present situation.”
“That so…”
Oh, right. The players on the winning side would be rewarded with special items.
Couldn’t blame them for putting their bet on the side that was more likely to win. Okay, I got the situation now.
“…What a headache. With only four days left until the war, we aren’t going to recruit enough players to close the gap between us no matter what we do. So, let’s give it up.”
“W-w-w-what are you talking about Yuri?! Are you going to back out of this war?!”
Zansword shouted after hearing my words. The others looked at me in shock, too.
–However.
“Hey, hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m only saying we should give up on the numbers. Instead, we should focus on improving our ‘quality’, which we have an edge over them in the first place.”
“Quality…?! You’re right…!”
Everyone’s anxious expressions relaxed slightly at my words.
…Yeah. We hadn’t lost yet.
“Think about it. Those people that got fooled by that Akahime gal to start BSO and join the Goddess’ side would at most have four days to raise their characters. Just how high could you raise your level in such a short period?
“And online games are cruel. Here, level rules. As long as your level is high enough, you can massacre thousands of low-leveled players and they won’t make even a dent in your health bar.”
Right. Numbers were absolute in real life. One man could never defeat a hundred men. Heck, the poor dude would be lucky if he could get out of such a fight alive.
But things were different in online games. 1 level 100 player could massacre 100 level 1 players. As long as there was no trick involved, the level 100 player would always come out on top.
“Further, the more players they got meant just as many supplies they’d need. Just imagine how much equipment and items are needed to arm such a huge number of new players.
“On the other hand, I have so many items and money that I’ve got no idea what to do with them. With the Producers Union’s excellent equipment and the Rookies’ Force’s guidance, our newbies would definitely become stronger than the enemy’s.”
[Ohhhhh…!]
The gloomy atmosphere in the room began to brighten.
Everyone had been on the verge of losing their hearts even before the war, but now they regained their spirits somehow.
…I knew most of what I said was sophistry, but it was my job as the leader to encourage my comrades.
I hoped we could bridge the gap created by the difference in our numbers as much as possible by the day of the decisive battle.
–However, as everyone was regaining their spirits.
A message window suddenly appeared in front of Zansword. As soon as he read it, his face turned livid.
Then he yelled, “Those bastards!”
“What’s going on, Zansword?!”
“Crutteruo who is currently away to gather information has just contacted me. She says that high-level players on our side are being attacked and killed one after another…”
“Is it the doing of those assassin players?! They have been quiet since I hunted them last time!”
“Yes, but it’s not only them. Thousands of high-level players from the Goddess’ side have started attacking our comrades simultaneously!”
“Wha–?!”
I didn’t expect Pendragon would directly pick a fight first.
She was merciless, too. Mass-PK of all things, she’d put even the evilest men to shame–!
