Chapter 11. The Spark Called the Gald Cup
Chapter 11. The Spark Called the Gald Cup
"Hero, do you think they'll really listen without a fuss?"
"Well... from what I saw, they didn't seem like the type to pull anything like that. Didn't seem like they had the guts for it, either."
"Yeah, I think so too."
'A bit of a shame the broadcast drama's gone, though...'
If Laila thought that way, then it was probably right.
Laila had always been eerily good at reading people.
When I asked her about it once before, she just called it a gut feeling.
Though, if that gut feeling had a 100% success rate, it wasn't really a feeling anymore—it was more like a superpower.
"Hmm... nothing to do."
"Hero, since we're out, how about we grab a bite to eat and take a walk?"
Laila pitter-pattered over and grabbed my hand.
"An outdoor broadcast sounds good too."
"That's not what I meant..."
Laila grumbled something under her breath.
We headed to the lobby on the first floor of the lab, where a crowd had gathered.
Was it lunchtime? There were a lot of people.
Holding Laila's hand, I pushed through the crowd and went outside.
And three days passed by faster than expected.
---
At the Nova Group's affiliated lab, the researchers there were racking their brains.
They still hadn't even figured out what the club that the person called Hero had left behind was made of.
"Three days as of today..."
The only thing they'd managed to grasp was that it possessed an almost unfathomable level of hardness.
Sandblasting, shot blasting, water jets—nothing could even scratch this weapon.
And, contrary to its appearance, it was incredibly heavy.
"Hah... at this rate, we might as well have just wasted money..."
The person in charge shook his head at that remark.
They had gotten something out of it.
"We're faster than anyone else. Something that doesn't exist on Earth..."
Mid-sentence, he glanced over at the club.
"No, it exists now. But we've discovered an unknown material, faster than anyone else."
The person in charge was putting his heart and soul into it.
He knew the long-cherished ambition his company's chairman held.
And exactly 72 hours after Hero had come and gone, the club emitted a light and vanished as if scattering away.
---
[ World's Strongest Hero : Streaming ]
[Look at this bastard, half-assing the stream title now too]
[Now that you're rich, you lost your original passion?]
[Original passion (didn't even do a month of streaming) lol]
"Everyone, calm down."
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- So where'd you leave your Holy Sword
"I'm going to show you that."
I looked at the clock.
And it was now exactly the three-day mark.
I raised one hand and reenacted the exact same eccentric act I'd pulled at the lab.
[???]
[What the hell is this, is he Thor?]
[At least Thor's hammer flies to him; this dude just summons his shit?]
[ Resignation Letter Always in My Pocket has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- But what kind of effect does that weapon have?
[Curious about that actually]
[It's not just any weapon, it's the one Hero uses]
[Doesn't it shoot fire or lightning or something?]
What ability did this weapon have...?
As everyone saw earlier, no matter how far away it was, I could summon it right to me.
And...
"It's really damn hard."
[???]
[It's a club, of course it's hard lolol]
[Then by that logic, the golf club I use is hard too, you bastard]
"Tch... seriously, it's harder than you guys can even imagine..."
Even if a nuke went off right in front of it, this thing probably wouldn't have a scratch.
My vocabulary was so lacking I didn't even know how to begin describing it.
As I was mulling it over, Laila chimed in from beside me.
"It's way harder than what you're seeing. It'd probably be totally fine even if it got hit by a car."
[Aha! I see!]
[If it's fine even getting hit by a car, then it's definitely hard]
'These sons of bitches... total discrimination...'
My explanation and Laila's weren't any different.
The only difference was who was saying it.
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- You gotta give an example like the Saintess did, saying it'd be fine getting hit by a car. If you just say out of nowhere 'it's frickin hard,' how the hell are we supposed to know?
"Aha! In that case, it wouldn't have a scratch even if it got hit by a dragon."
[Of course, of course lol. It's a legendary weapon, naturally that would be the case]
[Then it'd be fine getting hit by a unicorn horn too lol]
"So what should we do now?"
[This streamer bastard going 'so what now' and shit]
[You're the one who has to think of content, you damn asshole]
[Come to think of it, this guy's just trying to leech through his stream]
"Throw a few ideas at me. I'll gather them up and spin a roulette."
[Hunter World Cup, go go]
[Saintess horror game, go go]
[Let's do a song World Cup then]
[Mukbang...?]
I skimmed through the scrolling chat and casually tossed entries into a list.
It wasn't exactly a fair roulette.
Content that a lot of people wanted got a proportionally larger space on the roulette.
"Alright, alright, let's spin it."
The one that took up the most space was the 'Hunter Ideal Type World Cup'.
Starting from at least B-rank hunters and going up, you'd weigh their abilities and looked, and whichever hunter was the last one standing would be the winner.
"First off, I'm ruling out all the guys."
[We're not interested in guys either]
[Nice, Hero's so refreshingly straightforward]
We kept the stream going for a whopping four hours.
What I felt while doing the Hunter World Cup was that there were way more abilities out there than I'd thought.
"Wow, this person's hair color is really pretty..."
[ Overflowing Holy-Power Pouch has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- Saintess's expression looks jealous lolol
At the sudden donation, I looked over to see Laila grinning as always.
"Why?"
[Why? lololol]
[Doing an ideal type world cup when his ideal type is right next to him, what the hell lol]
[What was that just now, Saintess...?]
[Hey man, you almost just died lol]
At that, the Saintess leaned her face toward the monitor and spoke.
"Hmm... Should I try dyeing my hair a color like that too?"
[No no no no no no]
[No no no no, you'll just damage your hair]
[Saintess, you are sufficiently beautiful just as you are]
"She's right. You're already plenty pretty."
At the straightforward compliment about being pretty, she grinned from ear to ear.
I'd always thought that that one word had incredible cost-effectiveness.
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- As expected from his looks, his flirting is insane too
"Flirting? I just stated a fact. Is there a problem?"
[Flirting is just second nature to him]
[A guy like that is a virgin who's never dated lolol]
[He's voluntarily single, while we...]
[While we what? Finish what you're saying, you fucking bitch]
"Anyway... hmm..."
I was about to wrap up the stream.
But someone threw out a massive piece of bait in a donation.
[ Anonymous has donated 10,000 Watts! ]
- Then, besides your ideal type, who do you think is the strongest among the S-ranks?
The spark called the Galde Cup had been lit.
As a years-long veteran viewer, I knew if any fuel was added to this, it would blaze completely out of control.
"That's something for you all to discuss nicely among yourselves. We'll be back tomorrow."
[Look at how fast this bastard started talking lololol]
[You're dead when you come back tomorrow, for real lololol]
[Alright, see you tomorrow then~]
"Ah, and also..."
[?]
[You have something to say?]
"In my opinion, an excellent S-rank is..."
I said exactly that much and then cut the stream.
Pajijik showed the additional chat messages that came in even after the broadcast ended.
The last thing I said had turned into firewood, blazing wildly.
"Hero, what are you trying to do?"
"Dunno. Guess we'll find out tomorrow."
---
There were no official rankings for S-ranks.
Things like 1st place, 2nd place—those don't exist.
It's very finely divided depending on the day's condition, compatibility, form, and combat style.
It was impossible to rank those people by a simple numbers game.
So while there were no official rankings, on the internet it was always a prime topic for the Galde Cup.
Streamers who weren't hunters sometimes stated their personal opinions, and viewers generally took a tolerant attitude toward it.
After all, they were 'normal' streamers, not hunters.
But for someone who was a hunter and a streamer to make such comments was practically taboo.
'A B or C-rank nobody who isn't even A-rank dares to judge S-ranks?'
'Were you actually insane?'
'Not knowing your place, who's judging who lol'
Such opinions were dominant.
[ Author: Saintess's Foot Wiper ]
[ Title: That Hero bastard tossing in firewood and running off is just mind-boggling, wtf lol ]
[ Content: (World's Strongest Hero clip) It's so ridiculous I'm writing a post in the gallery for the first time ]
└ Whoa;; He pulled that shit and ended the stream?
└ Ah, I missed it yesterday. Dammit, missed a hilarious moment.
└ Does this guy not have replays?
└ Replays, what replays lol. He doesn't even have a Neotube channel yet.
└ But who the hell was this guy anyway? Is he an S-rank or something?
└ That's not it. Saintess was C-rank, so he's probably around there too.
As expected, there were some who expressed concern over the stream.
And...
[ Author: Anonymous ]
[ Title: So who do you guys think is the strongest? ]
[ Content: As expected, America? ]
└ Obviously America lol
└ That Chinese guy who uses swordsmanship seemed pretty damn scary too?
└ If that American dude hits you with one punch, the sword breaks, wtf.
└ On the flip side, if the American guy gets hit by a sword, he gets sliced in half too, you moron.
└ That Japanese guy was pretty cool too.
└ Don't mention had-beens.
└ Has-beens? Wtf, do S-ranks look like pushovers to you?
On the other hand, there were also people adding fuel to the fire.
But there was one thought everyone shared.
Whether they liked it or not, this bait was going to cause huge ripples.
---
[ World's Strongest Hero : KeepYourMouthsShutAndListen ]
Viewers came in from the very start, intent on ripping the arrogant title to shreds.
But unfortunately for them, I had frozen the chat window, so they had no choice but to keep their mouths shut just like the title said.
"Ah, everyone must have had a warm night last night."
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 30,000 Watts! ]
- Warm my ass, you bastard! I thought I was gonna burn to death!!!!