Witches (1)
"Huh?" I felt like I had been struck over the head with a heavy hammer.
"Every single word is spot on."
Shut up and take my money! Isn't there a famous meme of someone shoving a wad of cash forward, yelling exactly that?
"I can see why the gallery users are so pissed."
Only a select few get to enjoy the benefits of these events, while everyone else is left staring at the Gallery, drooling.
"And since she wrote such a detailed review, it ended up teasing everyone's desires."
Starting from the fried chicken, the random food boxes, the relief supplies sent to the refugees and the Eastern Legion, and now the caffeine drink set I gave to the Fixed Nick 'Red Secretary'.
"But seriously, she exaggerated way too much."
What I gave her was just a highly caffeinated coffee milk bought from the Gallery Shop. It wasn't some kind of time-acceleration potion.
Sure, my mother was a mage, but ever since I was a kid, I grew up hearing her say, "Oh, sweetie... my son doesn't have a single drop of talent, does he? Why don't we just live a normal life?" Obviously, I had no idea how to brew potions.
But to the gallery users, my opinion didn't matter.
After handing a 3-day ban to the guy who was subtly trying to scrape my nerves, I gave it some serious thought.
"Sell it for money, huh?"
Since I obtained these items by farming points, I didn't need to worry about trivial things like raw material costs or labor. However, if I recklessly dumped food and supplies onto the market, wouldn't that cause issues for the local economy in its own way?
After pondering for a moment, I tried calling the Operator.
"Operator, you there?"
Still, there was no answer.
"Hmm..."
To be completely honest.
"I'm a bit hesitant."
If my head only contained the knowledge of Derek, a mundane half-demon, half-human youth, I wouldn't have worried about complex things like market economics.
"...Wait, is that right?"
On the flip side, why should Derek bestow delicious treats upon people who discriminated against half-demons as naturally as breathing?
That thought snapped me back to reality. I put the plan to release items in the shop on hold for now and thought it over.
"The real issue is the value of points."
Points, which allowed me to purchase whatever I wanted from the Gallery Shop, could only be earned through moderating the Gallery.
"Besides, what's the point of buying food with points just to sell it for local currency?"
The poor youth named Derek was a half-demon, meaning he couldn't exactly go out and spend money freely anyway. In the first place, there was nowhere to spend a large sum of money in a deep mountain village like this. And even if there was...
"I'd be lucky if they didn't drag me away, demanding to know where a half-demon got that kind of cash."
That was the kind of world this was. The more I thought about it, the dirtier it felt.
"I'm not releasing them."
My points held far greater value than gold or silver treasures. There was no need to wastefully convert them into local currency. That was my conclusion.
"The Gallery burning up a bit? Like I give a shit."
But back then, I was being far too naive. Unfortunately for me...
Because the Fixed Nick 'Red Secretary' was diligently writing reviews, the flames of the "Sell the potions!" trend showed absolutely no signs of dying down.
"This is driving me insane."
The Fixed Nick 'Red Secretary' was diligent—far too diligent. Just as I had told her, she drank only one a day and kept her promise to the gallery users by posting a review every single day.
"No wonder the fire won't go out."
She was posting about drinking a premium potion with a new flavor and effect every day, boasting about how she achieved maximum work efficiency yet again. There was no way the gallery users would stay quiet.
Posts begging for the potions to be sold flooded the board without rest. And then...
"This looks like a troll."
I spotted some instigators slowly crawling out of the woodwork. Sure enough, this guy was using a freshly created, squeaky-clean throwaway account.
The user has been banned for 7 days.
1 malicious user banned.
"Get lost."
I banned them as soon as I saw them, but the gallery users, already thoroughly triggered, began fighting among themselves, and the situation quickly spiraled out of control.
Just as the Gallery was burning up in a blazing inferno...
"Hmm?" A remarkably calm post, completely out of place in this heated atmosphere, caught my eye.
Witches. Rather than a single race, they were a "collective of talented female mages" spanning multiple species. Thus, their ranks included not only demons and beastmen but also humans and elves.
"But aren't they an organization that isolates themselves to focus solely on research?"
It seemed the rumor that my caffeine drinks were "time-acceleration magic potions" had distorted so wildly that they were willing to break their isolation.
However, because witches shared a tragic history of being persecuted by both the races of Order and the Demon Realm, I felt a pang of sympathy, and my heart softened slightly.
"...Should I sell them just a little bit?"
Just as I was contemplating whether to list them in the Gallery Shop...
The gallery user had a point. It was the same with the Archeinia refugees. While it was intriguing how the witches had found their way to the Gallery, "it really is an eyesore when people who never post suddenly show up and act like this."
After all, this was a gallery. I couldn't be favorable to outsiders who didn't even participate in the community but showed up to disrupt the atmosphere.
On top of that, they were witches—a group with a long history of persecution. Their mere appearance drew massive aggro, and they were instantly met with hostile glares from everyone in the Gallery.
Not only did the demon users attack them, but even the lurking Hum-Elf-Dwarf trolls joined in on the assault. It was a veritable fantasy-style united front.
Seeing this...
"Huh? This is exactly like..."
It was the spitting image of those damn villagers and arrogant brats who used to torment me. Regardless of age, they harassed people by picking fights in the most childish, petty ways. Just because I was a half-demon.
"Now I'm pissed."
This was the Cheerful Demon Realm Village Gallery. It was a space for all residents of the Demon Realm, and witches were undeniably part of the Demon Realm as well.
"Just like me, a half-demon."
I absolutely would not tolerate harassment targeted at specific groups or races.
Why did people fear and oppress witches? It was the same whether they were demons or the races of Order. Because they were different. And because they were unfamiliar with such a closed organization.
So, if they slowly began to communicate in this online space called the Gallery...
"Maybe one day, they can clear up the misunderstandings and coexist."
And as a bonus, if the number of active users grew and the Gallery's activity spiked, it would benefit me too.
About ten minutes had passed. Thanks to the influx of witches, the Gallery's post refresh rate skyrocketed.
However...
"What?!"
With the arrival of the witches, a tiny (?) problem arose.