Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: I Am the Lord of the Demon Realm
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"I don't exactly know what parents are, but I know they're terribly important to humans."
I skimmed past the chat window and continued.
"Thus, even if I cannot be true parents, could I not at least cradle them like parents?"
Ignoring the chat, I gazed at the orphan beyond the monitor.
Vermin Slayer 4
No matter how I looked at it, with no parents in sight, I could at least play the role of their parent for a moment and cradle them.
This was my consideration, my mercy.
"Come now, regard me as your parent and nestle into my embrace."
I messaged Vermin Slayer 4 via chat, but from some point on, they stopped typing, wiped us out in an instant, and ended the game.
"Are they shy?"
"So it is shyness."
I skipped over the pitiful chat messages and looked at the game results screen.
We'd lost miserably.
Our team's supposed MVP couldn't even console me, because the orphan on the enemy team had performed far too well.
"What am I good at?"
Not destruction, apocalypse, annihilation, ruin, extinction, conquest, subjugation, or slaughter—but something suited for streaming.
"Life is inherently out of nowhere, thus I ponder. To stream properly, I need my own content, yet I have none now, do I?"
I'd tried the simplest approach—gaming—but it only proved I had no talent for it.
No talent means no need to cling to it; I must find another direction.
"...If I did as you say, a week might be fine. Or even a month."
Perhaps even a few months.
My looks were anything but ordinary, after all.
Perhaps the most beautiful in this world.
But I couldn't rest easy on that.
All beings have a tolerance threshold.
No matter how beautiful, repeated exposure raises the viewer's threshold inevitably.
Once that threshold rises and rises until my appearance feels mundane—I dare say it won't take long.
Before that happens, I must find my own content.
"Once your thresholds rise and you grow accustomed to my looks, you'll abandon me, no?"
"For a stream with nothing but looks, once accustomed and it feels ordinary, what's the reason to watch?"
I lowered my head slightly, glancing up at the camera timidly with just my eyes.
"The streaming setup's poor too, and you keep telling me to shut up, so my talk game probably isn't great either..."
I hunched my body more, my voice shrinking smaller as I spoke.
If they all left, I'd just be baggage to Madness again.
A thought I didn't even want to entertain.
So I needed my own content somehow, but with no money, expensive stuff was out.
And the PC specs weren't great, so no new AAA games either.
"It's so daunting..."
It was sincere.
Streaming was far harder than I'd imagined.
Building something in this limited setup was like creating something from nothing.
Even back in the Demon Realm, creation was a realm that challenged me.
Just daunting, nothing more.
"I know it's ridiculous to say this on just day three of streaming."
I shot a glance at the chat. I raised both hands, pressing my index fingers together.
"But thinking of you all abandoning me feels lonelier than I expected..."
"No, I just wanted to weigh on your hearts a bit."
I flashed a bright smile. The hand I'd been peeking timidly with went to my waist as I straightened up.
Crack— A bone popped in my back for a moment, but it felt refreshing, not painful.
"Eunya..."
They still hadn't caught on... Humans, huh.
Did I really have to explain this pathetically myself?
"When you abandon this beautiful little girl, recall that sound—a curse upon you."
Content hunt failed, so temporary plan: sell pity with looks to appeal to sympathy.
No magic used.
But with a beautiful girl pleading like this, who would really leave?
I smiled as cutely as possible, beaming brightly.
"S-Sister, you won't really hit me, right?"
The moment 50k was on my crown, I whipped around to Madness, but luckily, she showed no movement.
She'd just hidden her hands behind her back.
"...Sister, show me your hands."
"No need for that, is there?"
"...Sister..."
At my earnest plea, Madness slyly brought her hidden hand forward—and in it was a ladle.
"Were you going to hit me with that..?"
"50k isn't a small sum, and I can control the strength precisely..."
Maybe I'd trusted Madness too much.
Betrayed by the one I trusted, I glared at the chat culprits, but they were just spamming 'lololol'.
They wanted to hit me that badly?
I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut.
50k.
Yeah, that's a solid amount.
Shut my eyes once, and it's mine.
Not demanding my body or purity, so I shouted to Madness.
"...Please, gently!"
At my permission, Madness swung the ladle, and a pathetic bonk echoed from my head.
It didn't hurt. A bit harder than a tap, but just enough for sound.
I cracked my eyes open.
Didn't expect her to actually swing—tears welled up from shock.
"Sister... I trusted you..."
I shot up from the chair, hugged Madness once, then returned beaming triumphantly at the camera.
This was the bond between me and Sister.
That paltry sum was too much to call "just money," but,
anyway.
"Don't think Sister would hit me hard just 'cause the money's good!"
"Sister, don't block him—he gave us money, didn't he?"
Madness rarely smiled and nodded, and I stretched toward the camera, flashing a V-sign.
"You all underestimated the bond between me and Sister!"
"I'm sick of abuse—requesting pure adoration henceforth."
"Anyway, thanks for the 50k donation—shall I sing a song?"
"I'd appreciate no insults to the Demon Realm anthem."
I'd snapped and mentioned the Demon Realm, but thinking it over—mentioning it wouldn't make them figure anything out, right?
Then, was there even need to hide my identity?
Hiding it was its own chore; just calling it their "setting" and revealing myself might be a fine choice.
The thinking was long, the decision quick.
"I am precisely the Lord of the Demon Realm!"
My declaration of identity.
The result appeared in the chat.
Startled by the last one, I turned—and Madness slyly avoided my gaze.
"No way...?"
Asking just in case, Madness said nothing.
A sense of betrayal settled in.