Chapter 86 – Unexpected Hindrances

In the day following the one I talked with the princess, I went to Eren’s place early in the morning and told him about the change in plans. I’d usually be at school at this hour, but it was closed today, so I had some extra time.

“… Are you serious?” Eren asked.

“Yes, I will start a war.” I replied.

“Why are you doing this again?” He asked.

“… You really want to me to explain myself?” I told him.

“No, no, it’s fine like this.” He hastily said.

“I see.” I wondered why he seemed so scared, was my face that frightening? I think it’s a pretty clean face, just like mom’s.

“I’m just… A bit worried.” He commented.

“About what?” I asked.

“It’s just… Who are we even going to talk to in order to declare the war? The emperor?” He asked back.

“Who will be least impacted by his death?” I asked him. His reaction was strange though, I’m letting him decide on things, but instead of finding a solution, he keeps holding his head while thinking of something. He even gives this kind of reaction when I make simple questions about what we’re eating for dinner today… Oh well, it doesn’t matter either way, “If you can’t think of anyone, just go for the person with the highest position available.”

“It just keeps getting worse…” He then asked his subordinate to fetch some stomachache and headache medicine, he really asks for those a lot.

“Is there something that’s bothering you?” I asked.

Before he could answer though, one of his subordinates barged into the room while shouting, “Enemies are attacking us!”

“What the!?” Eren shouted in response.

That’s weird, we didn’t contact the empire yet, so they shouldn’t have attacked us, yet I can’t think of any other force that would start an attack. The kingdom’s government should be in turmoil and unable to properly organize a rescue operation in this little time… Even their battalion near the frontier is gone now, so what could they possibly do?

The person making the announcement clarified before I asked, “Sir! The enemies are Migrants, though we do not know the size of their full force just yet!”

“Migrants!?” Eren asked in disbelief… So the players are the ones attacking us. Could this be because they’re trying to restore the order in this city? I suppose it would make sense when considering that the Order faction is the biggest one.

“They have also made an announcement, ‘We will not forgive the ones who created chaos in the kingdom and kidnapped the princess!’ that’s all that they said, sir!” The subordinate continued.

“Really now…” Eren seemed troubled… But I started giggling. That’s Yuu’s and Maria’s doing, isn’t it? No wonder they didn’t interfere with me when I was in the castle, they were gathering the forces of the players!

I started laughing out loud, “Did she break?” Eren asked, but I ignored it. I finally understood it after all. Yuu wouldn’t be able to be this bold, so this must be Maria’s doing… Yuu might still be cooperating from the shadows, but he wouldn’t be able to talk directly to the top players, so this must be her doing.

“… Isn’t this joyful?” I asked Eren.

“… Of course, you have always been broken.” He replied. Let’s ignore that and focus on the matter at hand.

For now, I should try thinking of what they would be aiming for. Their victory should come if they save the princess, obviously. Though it would probably would be enough to just kill Eren, since he is the one that is controlling this city right now. However, It would be a real shame to lose this puppet that I obtained with much effort.

I won’t be able to ‘play’ with the princess just yet, but that doesn’t matter, let’s try thinking of how to make the attackers lose instead… Well, I guess we just need to wipe them out or make them lose enough morale to flee.

… Ain’t I actually in quite the disadvantage here? It would be easier if I had the initiative, but now that they’re already attacking, my movements are quite constrained.

“Well, let’s use the entire army under my command now.” I said.

“… Can you even give them proper orders? To think we’d fight such a deadly battle for the sake of a member of the royal family…” Eren asked with teary eyes, while trying to organize a defense plan with our troops.

******

(Maria’s PoV)

“… Hey, do I really need to give a speech?” I asked Yuu.

“Well, you were the one that called them…” He replied. I mean, I did use the forums to call as many players as possible, so as to make an event that would entertain miss Ichijouji to the fullest, but still…

“I’m also a person that lives in the shadows, you know?” I told him.

“So it’s fine if you don’t entertain Rena?” He asked me.

“… You sure hit low.” That Oda, he really doesn’t hold back at all sometimes. Though right now he seemed to be trembling just from the presence of all those players that will soon be paying attention to us, it’s the first time I see him like that… I guess it can’t be helped that he can’t make the speech himself… Even though he can easily speak non-stop when talking about otaku matters.

“Well, I’ll make sure that your voice can reach everyone, so leave it to me!” He said proudly.

“You’ll be using <Party Magic> and <Dumbass Magic>, right?” I asked him.

“That, and also the <Broadcast> spell from <Public Magic> that I learned recently.” He replied.

“… Your skills are way too weird.” I told him. He is always unpredictable when playing games, but that’s why it doesn’t get boring to be near him, so it’s not really a problem. I took a deep breath and then asked him, “Well, you’re coming too, right?”

“Roger!” He said as he accompanied me while I climbed to the top of the podium. A bunch of players turned their attention to us all at once. It was a bit scary, but… For the sake of entertaining miss Ichijouji, I’ll do my best!

“Thank you all for coming here.” I told them.

“Your voice is too loud!” A player said.

“Tone it down!” Another said.

… So annoying! I’m not used to using this kind of magic! Let’s not bother with them and focus. Focus… “Everyone knows why we’re here, to get get revenge against the Genocider.”

“Is that even doable?” Someone said.

“Well, we should just enjoy it.” Another said.

“It should be fine even if we lose.” A third one said.

… Of course, miss Ichijouji achievements are nothing short of amazing, it’s no wonder that it became common sense that she is invincible, so everyone is just taking things easy.

… But it’s no good like this, “I’m serious.” I told them. I didn’t shout, but I tried my best to convey my feelings to them. They went silent. They must have noticed my will and stopped talking to each other and stared directly at me. Their gaze gave me goosebumps, but I had to persevere here, I could not lose here, “I’ll say it one more. I’m serious.” They remained silent, “You all think that you can’t beat the Genocider, don’t you?” They seemed to be silently agreeing, “Ridiculous. You’re just preserving yourselves behind some silly excuse, saying that it can’t be helped if you lose again. You’re so afraid of her, that you already gave up on winning before you even started fighting!”

“… What!?” Finally some reaction.

“Why are you making them angry?” Yuu whispered to me in a hurry, but I ignored him. There’s no point in saying that they should just do their best. If I want to get some serious entertainment for miss Ichijouji, then I need to pull them in properly.

“It can’t be helped that you’re scared of a newbie who created such a chaos right at the beginning of the game even though she had no experience from the beta whatsoever.” They stayed silent, but they were paying attention to me, “It can’t be helped that you’re scared of a person that defeated strong NPCs like Alexei while also repeatedly beating the top players of the game.” Their stares were making me feel ill… I can’t stop now, I need to continue, “’It can’t be helped that I lost, she’s just invincible’, that’s how you think of her, isn’t it?”

“You kidding me!?” A player shouted.

“Did you call us here just to annoy us!?” Another shouted. They’re finally getting angry. That’s how it should be.

“Too many of you died in the first official event of the game! Only Hannes’ party was able to put up a fight!” I told them all.

“… Well… Yeah?” One said.

“What were we even supposed to do there?” Another said.

Too many people already lost to miss Ichijouji, they’re starting to realize that all of them want the same thing… Now to finish it, “I’ll say it once more. I’m serious.” They went silent, “Don’t you want to break her myth of invincibility? Don’t you want to show the might of the Order faction? Don’t you want to regain your pride as the top players of this game!?

“… Don’t you want to stop making excuses for yourselves!?” To step on their pride as gamers, that’s the only way to bring out their full potential, to make them go all out, to give miss Ichijouji the entertainment she deserves.

“Alright, what are we doing?” Someone seemed motivated.

“Is there some secret plan that will make us win?” Another was a bit doubtful.

“I can’t guarantee that it will work.” I told them honestly.

“Wait, isn’t it impossible then?” They’re losing morale…

“We’re just gonna lose again…” Really quickly…

“But hear me out.” They went silent. This is the critical moment. I need to show them that my confidence doesn’t come from nothing, that they do not need to be afraid, “The Genocider may be great at mass slaughter, but she is not that good at defending, or at least she has never shown to be.” I got their attention, “Think about it, how do we win this battle? We need to either save the princess, or to defeat the puppet lord that rules this city. We can win.” The wide area of this mansion is hard to defend, and miss Ichijouji can’t cover it all by herself, they should be able to understand this much, “What’s the biggest faction in this game? Order! We are the overwhelming majority! Numbers are power! We are strong! Show her the difference between one’s power and the power of the collective!

“Here is a declaration of war against the Genocider! Here is a war for revenge! Show her that we can win! Show her your pride as gamers!

“Show… What is order to this world!” This feels horrible, I’m about to vomit, I’m not the kind of person that is suited to making speeches… I must have made something terrible in my previous life to accumulate enough bad karma to make me do this…

However, it was worth it. They all shouted in unison, a strong willed shout as they charged towards the mansion… Meanwhile, I got off the podium and let my weight fall loose on top of Oda, “I’m gonna puke. I really pushed myself way too much over there…”

“Yeah yeah, you did well.” He said while patting me.

It was a relief that I could watch from the sidelines as they all charged towards the mansion. I’m sure miss Ichijouji will be entertained by this.