Finally, My Era

"How do these people know I live for this stuff?"

Fair competition matters. It matters a great deal. Why? Because how fair a contest is changes how readily people can look at the outcome and actually accept it. If an athlete wins a sporting event on drugs, does anyone recognize the doped athlete as the winner?

By that measure, whether Raider's only competitive content—the boss First Clear race—was truly a fair contest was not a question with an easy answer. The First Clear race was a contest of execution with pay-to-win baked in.

My personal take was this. The moment you climbed into the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠very top tier, everyone's specs flattened out into more or less the same place, and what decided victory or defeat wasn't the gap in spending. It was the gap in control, the gap in game IQ, and the gap in luck. Fair enough, as far as I was concerned.

Plenty of people would never accept a contest like that as fair. Plenty of people never even made it to the starting line, shut out by what they could or couldn't spend. That was why it had always nagged at me. My brilliant champion's belt seemed to have a scratch in it.

But what was I supposed to do? The only champion's belt in existence was a scratched one. I had to strap even that on, and be grateful I had it.

Until now.

But a single sentence from Raider's executive director changed everything.

Competitive content with the pay-to-win stripped out. The kind of content where you could grab ten gamers off the street, ask whether it looked like it was aiming to be a fair contest, and get a yes from all ten. Content that could separate a true Gemjalseu from the pretenders. Content that could separate a true champion from everyone else.

That was the content the executive director had named with his own mouth.

My whole body shuddered. Goosebumps ripped across my skin.

"Has it finally come...? My era...?"

So that was it. Coming back to a year ago, landing in the Otaku Major World, turning into a national-treasure-class beauty, even my skill at games climbing—had all of it been for this moment? If so—

Even while I was still drunk on the aftertaste of that new competitive-content bait, the official broadcast marched steadily on, and a fair spread of information came with it.

"A new boss is waiting for you, Saviors. This one has a feel quite different from Techsecular last time, so I believe it will be able to draw out the full strength of our Saviors."

First to drop: this update would let us meet a new boss. My reaction?

"It's heeeere! Right?! No ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way they weren't dropping a boss! God-king update, locked in, yeah? God-game, locked in, yeah?"

I couldn't hide the excitement. Of course I couldn't. Sure, if no boss had come out, I could have kept the Raider world champion title safe for six whole weeks... but the gamer Marchen thrashing around inside me was throwing a fit about wanting a bloodbath with a boss as soon as humanly possible. I didn't have a choice.

The moment I heard that donation, I wiggled my fingers.

"The me from back then and the me right now are different, okay? This is a Marchen who went jogging and even took her tonics to build up stamina!"

I kept the relay broadcast going with a reaction along those lines. There was more than the new boss, of course.

"The main story will be added... however, for certain reasons, you won't be able to see it right away. It will be available after the update three weeks from now. Once you've seen the story through to the end, you'll understand why we held it for three weeks."

So the main story was being added. You'd just have to wait another three weeks to see it.

"New skins."

New skins were out as well. The concept this time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was dresses.

"Wow, that gothic dress really came out perfect."

"A limited-time event."

And they unveiled the limited-time event as well... except.

"...Hold on?"

I said that, then pulled the memo I'd written earlier back up along one side of the screen and checked, one more time, the section I'd labeled as the things extremely likely to show up.

Of the things I'd predicted, three were coming within a few days, one was coming in three weeks, and one had at least been mentioned as arriving eventually. Call it five out of seven, and that was a .700 batting average. Better than batting half....

"Don't tell me a NewTuber with half a million subscribers has the gift of prophecy...?"

The chat had been plastered wall to wall with fr lol.

...But now that I heard it, they weren't wrong. It felt like I was hitting a lot, and yet calling it prophecy still left something subtly short. Something like that. Turning the thought over, I popped one of the few remaining pieces of chicken into my mouth.

"All right, it's time to reveal the new pickup character our Saviors have been waiting for most. Before we unveil the new character, there's one piece of welcome news I'd like to share first. Collab merch!"

Scratch that.

Six out of seven was a pretty respectable hit rate. I chewed the chicken in my mouth down fast, swallowed, and opened it again.

"Raider really is doing well, I'll give it that. Already putting out collab merch."

The collab merch was a double-pack backpack. I studied it in silence for a moment, then reached my verdict.

"Pretty, and well made. At that quality, I'm buying it even if it's expensive."

"Well, obviously? Does missing the first collab merch even make sense?"

The new character reveal, voice messages from the voice actors, and finally a thank-you from the executive ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠director. The moment I confirmed the official Raider broadcast was over, I stretched hard.

"Aaaah...! All right, the broadcast is done, so shall I wrap up and end the stream too?"

And the instant those words left my mouth, the official broadcast screen—which had gone black—changed. I knew what it was the second I saw it. A cookie video. A post-credits stinger.

"How do these people know I live for this stuff?"

Beaming, I straightened up into a reverent sit and received the cookie video like a vision. And froze exactly like that. Why?

They'd just dropped information explosive enough to wipe every earlier minute of the broadcast clean out of my head. Of course I froze.

Come to think of it, I had predicted a short anime would drop, too.

"...Should I buy a lottery ticket tomorrow?"

For the record, after I ended the stream I also picked up word that the collab merch would be sold in Japan—and that Japan, specifically, was getting a sake collaboration.

...It seemed it was time to use that again, for the first time in a while. Ever since I'd come to the Otaku Major World, there simply hadn't been an occasion to use that. I didn't particularly want to do a drink stream. Even so, the NewTube angle was razor-sharp, and I personally wanted to wring Raider for every last drop, so it couldn't be helped.

Should I use it?

A package forwarder.