Why Won't You Work Hard
"Whoa. Did you see that?"
"......"
Redberry, who had watched the Grand General showdown as a fellow teammate, couldn't hide her astonishment.
When Lily first declared she would take the Grand General title, it had struck her as sheer arrogance.
No matter how skilled or popular she was, her opponent was a ranker who had held a spot in the top 10 for years. He was the man who, ever since his race change into a Nymph, had been spoken of as practically among the strongest — Leo herself — and who held his own even against Chukachip, a pro player of exceptional caliber.
That was why Lily's bravado hadn't been pretty to watch...
"I honestly thought there was no way, but she actually won."
She had won.
And not by a narrow margin, either — she'd held the advantage for nearly the entire duel.
Even more than that, the way she neutralized his final skill and copied it in the same breath — it left Redberry speechless.
How was something like that even possible?
If it was possible, could other users do it too?
Maybe... even me?
Listening to Lily go on about feeling mana and whatnot, perhaps a mage like herself could manage it without too much trouble.
"Hey. Devil!"
"Uh, wh-what?"
"I said, what do you think? Lily's seriously good."
At Redberry's question, Devil — who had been staring fixedly at Lily this whole time — jolted and snapped his head up.
His face was flushed a little too red.
"Sh-she's good. For a human. Yeah."
"...? Did you fall for Lily?"
"Wh-what kind of nonsense is that, you red human!"
Devil shrieked like he was having a convulsion, glared daggers at Redberry, and stomped away in a huff, grumbling all the while.
His ears, red as could be.
"Yeah, he's got it bad."
"I won."
I had unleashed a skill that mimicked Moon Cleaver.
There weren't many reference points, so I couldn't be certain, but I'd say I managed to reproduce it about seventy percent accurately.
...Though that might be pushing it.
The ranker's level was stronger than I'd expected, and he had used abilities that went beyond mere physical prowess.
I wasn't about to collapse on the spot, but I could definitely feel the fatigue — both physical and mental.
If it were ordinary DeoEn fatigue, a recovery potion or a stamina item would sort it out, but this exhaustion somehow didn't respond to any of those.
I'll just have to sleep it off.
"Lily."
"?"
Vlack had returned, having finished the post-match interview and wrap-up. His manner was a little different from before.
"Honestly, I had my doubts. But watching you just now, I think I finally understand why you wanted this so badly."
"You fought well too, Vlack. It wasn't easy for me either."
"...Well. Hm. I suppose I did. Though I wonder what the point of any of this really is."
Vlack burst out laughing.
When I tilted my head at him, he waved his hand as if it were nothing.
"In any case, the Grand General title goes to Lily. We'll change the team name as well, and the team captain will be..."
"You can be the captain, Vlack."
"...Are you just dumping this on me right now?"
"Perish the thought."
It was absolutely not because it was a hassle.
Vlack would simply be better at it than I would. I've spent most of my life fighting alone, whereas he surely has plenty of experience with tournaments and team battles like this.
Vlack let out a hollow laugh and nodded.
"...Fine. Understood."
With team selection complete, our first practice was scheduled for March 14th, a week out. We'd all gather then, get acquainted, and start building our synergy.
"...So, exactly how much did you spend?"
I'd cracked the donation window open for just a moment before ending the stream.
My original plan was to end it right there out of sheer exhaustion, but given the whole incident earlier and the sheer number of people begging me to open donations, I caved. So I decided to keep it open for exactly five minutes, and...
"Thank you for the 10,000 won, TenThousandWonDonated. Though that felt like a bit more than ten seconds..."
God only knew how much money people had shoved into that five-minute window — it was endless. I was already forty minutes deep into nothing but reading donations.
Thank goodness I'd closed it fast. If I'd left it open even five minutes longer, it would've been a full-blown catastrophe.
"LilyLilyLily, thank you so much for the million won. As always, I'm grateful for your incredible support."
I think this every time, but a million won is a lot. It almost feels guilty to read it out once and move on.
Sometime soon, I should come up with something that can properly repay all this generosity.
Content, obviously. Something like content would make them happiest.
Beep. Beep. Beep...
"...I'm tired."
Seven in the morning. I wake at the same time as always.
There's no particular reason for it. At some point, my eyes just started opening at seven a.m.
Whether that began the moment I first entered Lily's body, or whether it simply worked out that way, I honestly can't remember. I remember everything else about those days — everything except this one small thing.
"Mmmgh...!"
A good stretch, the same breakfast prep as every morning, a wash, and then sitting down in front of the computer. The routine has become so ingrained that my body moves on autopilot now.
Ding.
Ding. Ding.
"?"
The Discord room where my editors hung out was lighting up like a Christmas tree. I hopped in to find them frantically uploading what looked like screenshots.
"Whoa. Twenty-seven hundred thousand viewers."
A screenshot posted by White Autumn. The viewer count for yesterday's Mock Siege Battle — a staggering 270,000.
Even for an official broadcast, that was an absurd number. And with nearly every other streamer and ranker running their own broadcasts on top of that, if you added up all the concurrent viewers it had to be pushing half a million, maybe more.
My own channel had peaked at 93,000 viewers, which I'd watched with my own eyes.
"...Hmm."
"Ah."
How did she know?
Oh.
Come to think of it, my Discord was logged in.
Still, how did she know I was actually looking and not just logged in?
Ding.
— Boss~
"How did you know?"
— Hehe.
Through the voice channel, White Autumn was snickering away for no particular reason. Somehow, it was irritating.
— You always wake up around this time. Every single day, right past seven, you log into Discord.
"I leave it on plenty of times without actually looking."
— And yet you always answer right away. That's just the bond between a boss and her loyal 1st video editor.
Heh heh.
"...Have you finished editing the video?"
— The very first thing you ask when you see me is about work? So cold, boss.
"It just feels like you might be slacking off and goofing around instead."
Payment and labor — these are matters of utmost importance. On the surface it looks like a diligent conversation about editing, but scroll up and it's nothing but idle chatter.
That said, the video had turned out so well that I'd sent her nearly double her usual fee as a bonus.
White Autumn had immediately fired over the finished videos with a big ahem!.
— I did~ I did, that's why I'm here like this.
"Then that means you have even more work to do, doesn't it?"
— ...Huh?
"The Mock Siege Battle edit, I mean. Since I thought it was such a good idea, how about our White Autumn takes it on?"
As fast as humanly possible, just like I said.
— ...Wasn't Battery supposed to do that one—
"Oh come on. You're brimming with confidence and your skills are excellent, White Autumn. This is the perfect chance for you to knock out something truly spectacular."
— I-I was up late managing the stream yesterday, so I'm a little tireeeed...?
"And I recall someone saying they'd work extra hard... how strange."
Why won't she work hard?
— ...Boss.
"Fighting~"