Chapter 60
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Martial Arts Tournament
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The scale of the broadcast had grown.
From 300 listeners to 1,000.
From 1,000-listener broadcasts recently up to 4,000 listeners.
As the broadcast grew, my obsession with the game only intensified.
Knowing that people came to my stream because of the game I was playing, I couldn't let it go.
That's just how internet broadcasting is.
There are guys who stitch together casually spoken words to fabricate forced controversies or blow minor slip-ups into so-called 'incidents.'
If you get swept up in that, even the most popular person can't avoid taking a hit, which is why popularity in streaming is so fleeting.
Even fleeting popularity, once lost, means an endless wait to regain it. So when it comes—even if just for a moment—you have to clutch it tight and cherish it.
"I need to work harder, even more, so the viewers don't leave."
Strictly speaking, my viewers weren't fans of me—they were fans of the game.
So everything I'd been doing lately was just pandering to those game fans' tastes.
Lately, the viewers were starting to get sick of the Saint.
So the current outcome was far better than the best-case scenario I'd imagined in my head. No reason to get mad.
"Demon worshippers...."
They were treated as monsters in the game.
Great targets for alignment grinding—killing them tilts your tendency toward good, as it reduces harm to the world.
But for our fool to befriend them, satisfy some condition, and unlock starting a new character as a demon worshipper?
That could provide fresh stimulation in all sorts of ways.
Starting as a monster right from the get-go.
As far as I knew, no streamer playing this game had ever unlocked this route before.
Stream first—my unique weapon to satisfy the viewers even more.
To figure out exactly what demon worshippers did, I took a day off streaming.
Once the info was gathered,
I fired up the stream and the game, then immediately created a new character.
First, the settings.
"Remember how I said we could make a demon worshipper last time? Gonna try it out!"
-Oh, that?
-Oh, that!
-Oh, that?
-Oh, that?
"Yeah, I looked into it while the stream was off. First up, let's pick an origin."
Before character creation, I chose my preferred playstyle.
I didn't want to start poor.
Playing the fool had been too frustrating; playing the Saint felt refreshing.
So origin: 'Noble.'
-Hmm.
-Hmm.
-Hmm.
-Hmm.
"Not good?"
-No?
-No!
-No.
-No?
Whew, good.
I'd gotten scared thinking they hated it.
"Next, alignment... let's see."
Demon worshippers need to be ruthless.
My previous characters weren't, but to avoid creating a weakling with aversion to killing due to alignment,
I cranked the evil tendency to max.
A demon worshipper has to be vicious, after all—no point if they're feeble.
Finally, just pick traits.
I already had one in mind.
"How about this for traits?"
[Loved by Demons B]
The effect was simple.
Demons like my character.
At the very least, any demons I summon won't kill my character off for nothing.
"The rest get assigned randomly on creation, so nothing to do but hope for the best."
No big greed—B-grade is fine, but it'd be nice if a few C-grades came along.
[Searching for matching individual......]
"Just occurred to me—this means if there's a matching person, that NPC becomes my character, but if not, I get to build from scratch?"
With the first one, I'd even customized to my tastes.
With the Saint, it auto-generated without me touching anything, so I'd just muttered it offhand, and the viewers chimed in.
-Yeah.
-Yeah!
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Searching for matching individual...... None found.]
"Ah."
That means I can customize from scratch to my tastes now.
[Summoning individual based on the specified settings.]
Plop— The lights went out.
"Argh, doing this again...."
Wonder if the wiring's bad. Lately, the lights keep going out.
"Gotta move soon."
"I have nothing more to tell you."
The Saint had come to see me.
He expressed thanks but wanted to know the current situation—though I saw no reason to tell him.
First off, I didn't trust the Saint.
Not like we were close before; these days, my distrust of people ran too deep for that.
Second, I just plain didn't like the Saint.
Maybe it was less distrust and more not wanting to share.
My heart was narrow, my mind vicious.
I knew he wasn't someone worth holding a grudge against, like I'd first thought, but I just disliked him enough not to say anything.
Harboring such feelings was childish in itself, but it was undeniably my true heart.
"That's fine! I'm not asking you to tell me right now or anything. I wouldn't force it either!"
"...I see."
Even as he beamed brightly, happily, my tone stayed curt.
"Anyway, that means the voices have stopped coming, right?"
"Yes!"
"Good."
Casual words, but my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.
I was piecing together the situation, and it didn't take long to reach a conclusion.
"Probably, things'll stay quiet for a while."
"...Is that true?"
"That's all I've got to say."
High chance she'd gone off to level an alt.
In that case, she'd focus on the alt for a bit.
Of course, she might get bored quick like me and come back, but Rie was a streamer too, and the Rie I knew was pretty obsessive about new things.
So she'd pour time into the alt unless something major happened.
"In that case, I can go see my family!"
"Your family?"
At my question, the Saint nodded.
His eyes sparkled purely, like that was all there was to it—just going to meet family without any ulterior motive.
"You've been through hard times... but your eyes are shining."
I knew my own eyes were dull as dead fish, so it felt a bit envious.
"Can't just mope around all wilted when things are tough. Gotta act energetic, at least on the outside!"
The Saint scratched his cheek while saying something annoyingly perky.
"Whether I want it or not, I'm riding this empty title of Saint, so when others look at me, I can't tarnish it, right?"
"Do you have to take responsibility for an unwanted title?"
"...Sometimes I wonder that myself."
The Saint gave a wry smile, his voice a touch subdued.
"You never wanted responsibility to begin with, did you?"
"Well..."
Exactly.
Who actually wants to shoulder responsibility for anything?
Responsibility is something you'd rather it never got dumped on you at all.
"Even if it's a title I never asked for, responsibility is responsibility. Can't be helped."
"Tough break."
I meant it.
Separate from my dislike, I had to acknowledge the Saint was carrying real burdens.
"Eliyang."
"...Yes."
"I learned about this too late and couldn't help. I'm sorry."
I noticed his gaze on my fingers.
Probably guilt over not stopping the 'investigation' torture in that village.
Come to think of it, back then the Saint had seemed dazed, out of it.
No reaction no matter what happened around him.
"It's fine. Didn't hurt that much."
"...All I can do is..."
The Saint reached out, grasped my hand, and soon a bright, warm light shone.
The hideous wound where my nail had been ripped to the root healed over, a new nail growing in its place.
"...stuff like this."
"...Thanks."
He'd given me the orc book and now healed me too—disliking someone like that brought massive guilt, but I still couldn't bring myself to like him.
After all, to me, the Saint had way too much going for him compared to me.
"Oh, speaking of— are you entering the martial arts tournament coming up?"
"Pardon?"
Come to think, yeah, I vaguely recalled one was happening soon.
More reasons to enter than not, so I gave a small nod, and the Saint smiled with his eyes, offering light encouragement.
"Hope you get good results!"
With that, the Saint left the room. Staring at his retreating back, I furrowed my brow.
Suddenly showing up just to leave like this was ridiculous, but it reminded me of the martial arts tournament I'd forgotten, so I scratched my cheek.
"...A tournament, huh."
My adventurer plate was wooden.
In other words, apprentice adventurer.
And the tournament pitted same-rank adventurers against each other.
So my opponents would naturally be fellow apprentices.
"If there aren't any monsters like Himsumjjin..."
I could even aim for the win.