A Lich, a Shield, and a Seven-Day Ban

The East Army of the Demon King (2).

Suddenly, an Elder Lich named Bernheiter had appeared.

"Like, 'Oh, I'm actually the Legion Commander~' and all that crap."

Of course, I didn't believe him for a second.

"If I believed every claim without proof, I'd be the Demon King and the Demon God of this gallery."

Besides, even if that weren't the case, why would a high-and-mighty Legion Commander hang out in a shady place like this gallery?

As a veteran of the Cheerful Demon Realm Village Gallery, 'DeathToPurebloods' had a rough grasp of the racial stats and social standings of most of the regulars here.

"I mean, you can tell just by looking at their random shitposts, self-introductions, and photos of their houses..."

Compared to the modern world, people in this fantasy world had zero concept of personal privacy. They didn't even worry that their identities might be exposed through stuff like that.

"As far as I know, there are barely any truly high-ranking people here."

At most, maybe the Red Duke? And a few others. I'd heard rumors that the webtoon artist guy was also someone of high status, but...

"Not my problem."

I didn't really care. Whether they were high nobles or hidden masters, it had nothing to do with me.

"As long as they enjoy the gallery and don't troll, that's all that matters."

That thought hadn't changed from when I was a mere user to now, when I was the Head Mod.

So, whether the person who wrote that post was the real Legion Commander or not didn't matter to me.

"Trolls get banned equally."

I deemed the Fixed Nick 'ElderLich' a troll and banned him.

"Sweet, chicken money."

I'd had a great nap, and as soon as I woke up, I'd cut down a troll.

"Now, shall we do some proper moderation?"

"Adjutant."

"Y-Yes, Legion Commander!"

"What is this screen?"

Bernheiter, the Commander of the East Army and an Elder Lich of immense power, could not comprehend the information currently floating in his field of vision.

"...Impersonation? Who on earth am I supposed to be impersonating?!"

His voice cracked with sheer disbelief.

His adjutant, a High Lich of the Magic Corps, answered.

"There are many attention-seekers in the gallery who impersonate people of high status. Because of this, an irreverent trend has spread where users immediately doubt anyone who hasn't gone through the verification process."

"Hmph, how absurd... Then what must I do to make those insolent fools believe me?"

"It is simple, Your Excellency. You must verify yourself."

"Verify?" Bernheiter asked, scratching his polished, smooth skull.

"Yes, Your Excellency. I shall lend you my account. Once you prove that you are indeed an Elder Lich and the rightful commander of the East Army, even the Head Mod will bow his head to you."

"Yes, that is an excellent idea. Let us do that."

Bernheiter took his adjutant's account and began typing furiously.

"Adjutant, is what this comment says true?"

"Well... now that I think about it, yes."

It was true that he felt a brief moment of anxiety. However, Bernheiter quickly regained his cool judgment.

'First of all, the Head Mod is not the Demon King.'

If the Head Mod were the Demon King, he would have contacted him immediately via the crystal ball. The young Demon King was notoriously short-tempered. He would have screamed at him to apologize immediately for insulting him.

And...

'The possibility of him being an Elder is also... non-existent.'

At least as far as he knew, those arrogant fools with the title of Elder only cared about their own precious lives. They were selfish beings who didn't know how to give to the common folk.

Which meant...

'The Head Mod is not someone of a higher status than me.'

Relieved by this conclusion, he was about to browse the rest of the comment section when—

"What?!"

Reading the Head Mod's comment aloud, the tone was incredibly arrogant and insolent.

And then...

He was banned again.

"That absolute bastard!!!"

Bernheiter was utterly furious. Heat radiated from his life vessel, which was safely kept on the table, causing its lid to rattle.

He immediately barked an order.

"Mobilize the Magic Corps at once!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

"Necromancy or whatever, how are they even going to find me?"

To reiterate, my house was under the protection of my mother, who was a highly skilled barrier mage. When I was a child, before she left for a regular business trip, she had said this to comfort my anxious self:

—Don't worry, son. I've set up a barrier stronger than the one protecting the imperial palace of the Ared Empire. Oh, and by the way...

...Wait, why couldn't I remember the last part?

"Now I'm just getting anxious for no reason."

Anyway, after easily suppressing the Lich's chaotic trolling spree and pocketing a free 80 points, I was just pondering what to have for dinner when—

"Huh?"

A post directly mentioning me was uploaded.

"What?!"

It bypasses barriers?

"These bastards are worrying about bread when my life is on the line?!"

They were incredibly insolent. If I had it my way, I'd ban and unban them every two seconds, playing with them like, 'Hey, try taking a breath, will ya?'

But I had more pressing matters to attend to, so I decided to postpone that.

"I need to survive first."

Swallowing my pride, I unbanned the Fixed Nick 'ElderLich' and his alt account 'LichLich', then summoned them to the admin-exclusive 1-on-1 chatroom.

Looking closely at the chat logs, I was reminded of a time when I desperately tried to avoid becoming a Head Mod or Sub-mod in another gallery.

"How did that end again...? Ah."

I failed, ended up as a Sub-mod anyway, and when the Head Mod who appointed me got kicked out for doing something weird, I was dragged down with him and put on the permanent ban list. Back then, it just ended with me losing my mod status and getting permanently banned from that gallery.

"Please! This time, I'll actually die!"

In my desperation, I waited for his reply.

The conditions had escalated drastically.

"What the hell..."

I'd swallowed my pride and sucked up to him just to survive, and now he wanted to put a leash on my neck and suck me dry? Obviously, I couldn't accept this—

"Sigh..."

Right, surviving came first.

"Once Mom and Dad get back, they'll figure something out."

Both of them were incredibly powerful. Even if it was a mess their pathetic son had made, wouldn't they sigh and clean it up for me?

With that thought, just as I was about to type 'I will obey'—

"Operator?"

The Operator had sent me a message.

The gallery was on fire once again.

Having been called away on official business, she had assumed it would be nothing major this time either and had taken a bit more rest. She had been utterly exhausted from her recent heavy workload, after all.

"The Head Mod will handle everything."

He was the most competent Head Mod in the history of the gallery, like a veteran jockey who could skillfully tame a wild stallion. So she hadn't worried.

"Huh?"

The Head Mod was being threatened. His opponent was the Commander of the Demon King's East Army.

Looking at the details...

"He's going to use necromancy to kill the Head Mod?"

How long had it taken her to find such a competent Head Mod? She absolutely could not lose him so pointlessly.

Hurriedly, she shifted her perspective and adjusted her screen to focus on the Head Mod.

He was typing out subservient messages, lowering himself endlessly. Yet, his opponent refused to be satisfied.

Finally, the moment of choice had arrived for the Head Mod.

"Head Mod... are you actually trying to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the gallery?"

Deeply moved, the Operator decided to send him a single gift within her authority, taking into account his contributions so far.

"Operator?"

The Operator's gift arrived before me.

So, this was basically like...

"A VPN?"

"It feels similar."

The long-time friend of trolls. The invincible online shield rumored to casually ignore cooperation requests from the police if you subscribed to a pricey, high-quality foreign company's paid plan. To think the day would come when I'd be using one myself.

I was safe now.

"Then, of course, my answer is already decided."

"Prepare my ass. I'm not scared at all."

The description of the