The World Tree Is Just a Big Tree
The World Tree is… just… a big… tree…
Four hundred and fifty-three viewers.
A month ago, that was a number I could never have imagined for my stream.
But the chance to defeat Albion came along, and I managed to seize it.
The longtime fans who had watched from the very beginning were probably feeling emotional about the current situation, right?
It didn’t seem like they were moved at all.
The chat window looked like the end of the world.
Not a single person was defending me.
Instead, the familiar usernames I knew so well were the ones fanning the flames even harder.
For a second I wondered if they were angry that I had returned before the one-month break I promised, but then I saw messages asking why I was only showing up now, so it didn’t seem like that.
They all probably had rough days today.
If I gave them the present I had prepared, they would be really happy, right?
“Ahem.”
It felt awkward speaking into the microphone after so long.
But I pushed past the awkwardness and slowly opened my mouth.
“Hello, everyone…”
“Starting the broadcast today, I am the Heretic Inquisitor Lene…”
The moment I said it, I began streaming the broadcast background and avatar I had prepared.
How did they know…
I was flustered for a moment, but I didn’t let it show on the outside.
I simply continued with what I had to say.
“It’s my first broadcast today, but there are more people watching than I expected. Thank you…”
“Well then, I suppose I should explain who I am now, right…? I worked really hard on this.”
I sent the memo pad I had written earlier onto the screen.
Name – Selene (Please call me Lene)
Age – 17 years old
Occupation – Heretic Inquisitor of the Ia Order
Gender – Unknown
“Fans, please do not curse at each other or fight. I will ban you immediately.”
After calming the hostile atmosphere, I continued reading from the memo pad.
“My name is Selene. Please call me Lene. I am seventeen years old.”
“And my occupation is not student. I am a Heretic Inquisitor of the Ia Order…”
There were quite a few angry messages mixed in, but many fans were still paying close attention to my self-introduction.
“And my gender is… unknown.”
At first I had planned to say I was male, just like I had told Tyuni before.
But then I started wondering if there was any real need to do that.
The Lene from before and the VTuber Lene were completely different people anyway.
I had considered just saying I was female, but that could ruin my plan, so I officially set my gender as unknown.
Besides, even if I claimed to be female right now, most of the viewers already thought I was male, so it wouldn’t mean anything.
“Then from now on I’ll explain what kind of order the Ia Order is…”
Didn’t turn on the camera. Used a voice changer for a female voice. Keeps insisting he’s a heretic inquisitor.
I think it’s actually stranger that he didn’t debut as a VTuber from the start.
Rather than staring at a pitch-black screen with only chat when he’s not gaming, it’s better to have something even if it feels a little otaku-ish.
There were a lot of times I wondered if this was even a real broadcast.
Do you honestly think it’s right for this malicious idiot to be using such a pretty, pure, and intellectual big-sister panel…?
At least I don’t think so…
There is a male god called Tet and a goddess called Ia. The gallery owner belongs to the Ia Order.
He says that if the two orders fight, the Ia Order he belongs to wins.
He doesn’t really know what the goddess rules over or how far her power goes.
He just says she’s an insanely amazing goddess so she can do pretty much anything.
But watching him brag about it is kind of annoying (actual words he said).
(Gallery Owner Voice Clip.mp4)
[Um… an interesting story from when I worked as a heretic inquisitor?]
[Hmm…. It’s basically just finding heretics when they appear and making them repent, so would there even be an interesting story…?]
[Ah. There is one thing that happened while I was wandering around that I still remember.]
[Everyone. Have you ever seen a really, really huge tree?]
[When you get close, the sky completely disappears. When a tree gets that big, people start believing in it, you know.]
[That it protects us, that sort of thing….]
[But when you think about it, it’s still just a big tree. Right?]
[Still, when you see it in person, you can understand why they would think that way.]
[…Oh, right. Talking about that big tree reminded me of something.]
[Bae was trying to climb that tree. It was incredibly cute.]
[Who is Bae, you ask?]
[Ah, Beatrice. It’s the nickname for the fox I picked up. That child’s nickname.]
[It’s a silver-furred fox, incredibly soft, and it smells so nice that hugging it makes me smile without realizing.]
[…No. I don’t like it.]
[It saved me when I was left all alone, but every day it follows the other priests around.]
[It interferes every time I eat, crawls into my robes while I’m praying to bother me….]
[Hmph….]
[…Well, but whenever I go out for work, it always follows me.]
[And when it’s time to sleep, it always comes back to my bed, so it’s not that I dislike it. I just don’t like it.]
[I wonder if it’s doing well….]
[Ah, it’s currently back in my hometown.]
[But right now I’ve lost all contact with everyone from my hometown….]
[I hope it’s doing okay.]p>
Hmm.
I had pretty much gone through everything I prepared, so should I move on to the next part?
“I’ll end today’s debut broadcast here…. Everyone, take care…”
“Uh… please don’t curse, and… anyway, I’ll be going now…”
With those final words, I quietly ended the broadcast.
“Hello everyone. It’s been a while since I last streamed…”
No, why are they cursing the moment I appear….