Chapter 9. This Is My Holy Sword
Chapter 9. This Is My Holy Sword
An offering.
Money given to churches, temples, and the like.
But this was neither a church nor a temple. It was an internet stream.
Still, an offering.
Literally, money given.
[Ohh, that actually makes sense, you bastard]
[Wow! That's exactly what I wanted to know!!!!!!]
"Anyway, if you all want to see, hurry up and cough it up."
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 300,000 Watts! ]
- If this isn't amazing, I'm seriously unfollowing, fuck
The generous offerings warmed my heart.
"Don't be too surprised, everyone."
I said, full of anticipation, and smirked at the camera.
Then I fiddled with the earring with one hand.
[Don't smile like that;;]
[His face is seriously intimidating]
[And they're saying this guy is the Hero?]
"Whether you record it or clip it, keep your eyes peeled and watch."
I placed the earring on my palm.
As I channeled mana into it, it glowed and gradually grew larger.
The slowly expanding earring soon took the shape of a club.
A pitch-black club.
"How about it? My holy sword."
I confidently rested the club on my shoulder and waggled my fingers.
[?]
[...?]
[What's that?]
Everyone was entranced by the tremendous (?) performance.
"This is my holy sword."
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- Hey, you fuck, how is that a sword
The viewers began to rage.
But I started taming them with the experience I had built up from streams so far.
Well, not me, but by asking Laila...
"Everyone, please calm down. I hope we won't say hurtful things to each other."
As she gently soothed them with a voice that could melt your ears, the excited chat began to settle.
Once they had calmed down somewhat, I spoke.
"Sorry if it's different from what you expected. But isn't this surprising enough?"
[...]
[It is pretty fascinating, though.]
[But does an artifact like that even exist?]
This wasn't some shoddy artifact you could just pick up anywhere.
I couldn't hide my disappointment at the viewers' lack of appreciation.
[But with that face, that build, and now holding a club, he looks menacing as hell]
[If this guy ever had to self-reflect for school bullying later, what would we do? fuck]
Don't worry about any bullying controversies.
If anything, I was the one who got hit during my school days; I've never laid a hand on anyone else.
"Anyway, this is a divine item crafted by dwarves hammering away for months."
[Sure thing, fuck. A weapon used by the Hero.]
[Now elves will show up next, fuck]
[What, no emperor friends?]
[He's from another dimension, so yeah, he has a dragon friend LOL]
Soon, they started chatting among themselves.
They were entertaining themselves, saying someone was a prince, another had five wives or something.
Since I could see the end of the stream approaching, I tried to wrap things up at a good point.
"Now then, slowly..."
[ Overflowing Holy-Power Pouch has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- I don't have any hunter acquaintances, so I'm asking, does an artifact like that really exist?
[IDK? I've never seen anything like that either]
[But it's super fascinating]
[It'd be hella convenient to carry your weapon around like that for sure]
[ Resignation Letter Always in My Pocket has donated 5,000 Watts! ]
- I work at a pretty shitty small business, but as someone from a guild, I've never seen an artifact like that, fuck
Having never seen hunters' equipment, I had no idea.
The most I'd seen was when I sparred with my mother.
[Once this stream ends, people will be contacting him from everywhere, so the Hero's gonna be annoyed as hell]
[But if it's an earring, the portability is insane;;]
[Oh, now every accessory the Hero wears looks like an artifact to me;;]
Hmm, like the chat says, it would be a pain if people contacted me from all over...
But did an artifact like this seriously not exist at all in this world?
[ Resignation Letter Always in My Pocket has donated 5,000 Watts! ]
- There are artifacts where the blade shrinks for easier carrying, but as far as I know, there's nothing that completely changes shape like that, for real
"Hmm..."
[He's gonna get calls from everywhere lol]
[You've made it in life, man lol]
[A streamer who's getting contacted from all over on just his 3rd day of streaming]
"Ah, this is going to get annoying..."
[lolololololololol]
[For 300,000 won, we got our money's worth]
"Since it'll get annoying from now on... give me some offerings in advance."
The chat was spammed with question marks.
And mixed in were some curses here and there.
Still, the kind viewers donated a considerable amount alongside their curses.
"Then, I'll end the stream here today."
[Bye Hero]
[Bye bye]
[Get lost]
I wrapped up the stream warmly.
And the instant the stream ended, a phone call came in.
"...Mom?"
"Son, do you know why I called?"
"..."
"I know you're with Laila, so both of you stay put at home. Don't go anywhere."
---
"..."
A call that came as if she had been waiting.
She probably wanted to ask about the weapon I had shown.
And that prediction was spot on.
"Son, what made you do that... ha..."
Honestly, I didn't know if this was a serious enough situation for my parents to think so deeply about it.
It wasn't like it had some powerful magic on it. It was merely an artifact that changed shape.
"You don't seem to grasp the severity of the situation yet. Do you know how much is invested into artifacts every year?"
"Uh, well?"
I couldn't believe it.
The amount was so astronomical that I couldn't even begin to fathom it.
So much so that even the United States, the so-called land of a thousand trillion, was investing sums exceeding a thousand trillion.
"That's not all. Do you know what kind of significance that artifact you have carries?"
Its practicality and portability went without saying.
And if you had to point out one thing, its small size meant you could bring along a spare artifact.
...Small size?
"You can disguise it as something other than a weapon. Naturally, it wouldn't be caught even if inspected."
Miniaturizing artifacts would make smuggling easier, and you could conceal weapons with bad intentions.
Listening to my parents' words, it seemed like a pretty serious matter.
"Interference will come from everywhere. With the intention of investigating the weapon you have."
All sorts of people would be watching for a chance to target my weapon.
Perhaps there would even be pressure on a national level, and if it got worse, they'd aim for my life.
Aiming for my life wasn't scary.
"There's just one way. Show them that you're strong enough that no one can touch you."
A smile spread across my lips and deepened.
Simple was best.
The method my mother suggested was a solution that suited me better than anyone.
"That's simple."
Maybe I should push up my trip to the Baekdu Mountain gate.
It would normally have taken a while, but I had certainly drawn attention because of the weapon I possessed.
---
Even the next day, the fervor showed no signs of dying down.
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: How much would a price tag on an artifact like that be? ]
[ Content: (Clips of the Fucking Awesome Hero) Getting chills that the earring he wore for style wasn't just for show but an artifact lol ]
└ No idea about the price, but one thing's for sure, people were salivating over it from all over
└ Are there some who would just slash the Hero and steal it?
└ Wouldn't our country's major guilds or the Association be able to protect him?
└ lol How could the mere Association or guilds stop another country that steps up directly to slash the Hero?
└ But this bastard's probably also got a huge headache right now
└ If this guy's on the verge of quitting on his 3rd day of streaming, that's a mega upvote lol
Naturally, this wasn't just a hot issue in the community.
Since people naturally shared the videos uploaded to the community, he became even more famous.
It spread everywhere, whether on Nutube, StarStar, or TalkTalk.
[ Association: "An artifact we are not aware of." ]
[ What is the value of the artifact possessed by a streamer called Hero? ]
[ Black market trading potential? Association 'Remains Silent' ]
Not just the internet, but even the news was showing my face, mosaic'd over.
And calls kept coming in from unknown numbers, though I had no idea how they found out mine.
First, let's turn on the stream.
[ Fucking Awesome Hero: I think things are just fucked. ]
The viewer count began to rise overwhelmingly, likely because yesterday's stream had been so shocking.
So much so that the chat was moving too fast to read.
[Whoa, fuck, is this guy that famous Hero?]
[What Hero lol He's just a total street punk]
First, to kick out the trolls who came in, I changed the settings so only people who had been following for two days could chat.
Then the chat instantly thinned out and became clean.
"Ha... so many trolls."
[Just from the title, I figured it'd be this guy and not the Saintess lol]
[Hang in there lololol]
[You popped up a lot on the news, anyway]
[Mom! I'm on the stream!!!]
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 50,000 Watts! ]
- You must be troubled, but please at least have some chicken...
The guy whose dialogue was half curses shows a sweet side.
Later, if I become a big-time streamer, I'll have to send him a signed poster or something.
"Thanks for comforting me like this..."
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 30,000 Watts! ]
- I'm talking about the Saintess, not you. Why would I be worried about you?
"Oh my, thank you. I'll enjoy it~"
"..."
[ Resignation Letter Always in My Pocket has donated 30,000 Watts! ]
- You seem hella busy, are you alright?
"I'm unemployed, so I'm not going anywhere, so it's fine. But calls from unknown numbers are pouring in from everywhere."
[ Overflowing Holy-Power Pouch has donated 100,000 Watts! ]
- Hero-ham... will you at least keep streaming?
"Of course. How could I just take the money and run when our viewers keep giving offerings..."
The viewer count was incomparably higher than before.
But I talked with the people who had been watching from the start.
Originally, I had set the minimum donation to 30,000 won, so at least some of those who came solely to troll were filtered out.
[ Anonymous has donated 3,000,000 Watts! ]
- Are you seriously not thinking of selling the artifact? Or at the very least, I would like to get a look at it. I will pay ample compensation.
A large donation came in for the first time on my stream.
And they had hidden their nickname, making it visible only to me, the streamer.
And that nickname was an interesting one, enough to pique my curiosity.