Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER CHAPTER!

ANYWAY, this is the first time in a good time that I got 2 IO chapters in a successive release like this! But, this isn’t the matter of importance, so let me rewrite it here with pretty colorful letters.

I’m announcing the start of the next Q&A that will happen AFTER the 100th chapter. Same rules as previously: 2 questions per reader, any question can go to any character, no spoilers asked. I could go for either the same style as the previous one, or a more direct one, where there’s question and answer only. This will depend on the amount of questions I’ll have.

ANYWAY(2), THE SAME GOES FOR THE CHARACTER BOSSES AT THE END! TELL ME THE ONES YOU WANT TO SEE AND I’LL DO IT!

ANYWAY(3), lastly, for whoever followed me on my wordpress account. Thank you! I won’t promise fast updates, but I’ll try to keep things interesting up there. If there’s anything you want to ask me about the fics, feel free to ask either here or there.

Have a good read!

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For someone who was getting all excited about getting a new disciple and starting to teach me, Kotetsu surely fell asleep really easily. It seems like he wasn’t used to traveling around too much, so the jet-lag hit him hard, kind of like how it did with Yuu back when she first arrived.

Not being a bad host, I made sure to at very least give him a decent place to sleep. Since my apartment was one of the smaller ones, I didn’t have a guest room, so I simply took a reserve mattress I had and prepared it on the ground of my room. I could have laid it on the living room, but since that’s the place where people tend to walk past the most, I decided that it wouldn’t be good for him to lay there.

I did try to dig in a bit more on the whole: Mari is a martial artist thingy, but I didn’t get any information besides the fact that she’s surprisingly good at it. Deciding to make a deeper research later on, I didn’t dig much deeper into the matter.

Now that I thought about it, she did use some kind of Iai technique when fighting… Could it be that it was always obvious and it’s just me who tend to be oblivious to things like that?

Nah. Certainly not.

Afterwards I asked the reason why Mari and Maya were waiting in my room, it seemed like they had finished their negotiations, so Maya gave the idea of waiting in my room so that they could surprise us with her act. She even picked the lock from my door just for that sole reason alone.

“…Why the hell would you know how to pick locks?” I asked suspiciously.

“It’s needed for a maid’s job.” She replied with a glint of pride in her eyes. I stared at her for a few seconds before finally nodding and saying.

“Ah, you use that to peep on Mari when she’s taking a bath!”

“Also so I can sneak into her room at night.” She confirmed with a nod.

I sincerely didn’t know what was worse. The fact that I somehow managed to guess it spot on, or the fact that she admitted to doing other things besides that. Sighing loudly, I turned towards Mari who was still sitting around in my living room.

“Kind of anti-climatic that he just went and passed off like that.” I said with a sigh while taking the seat besides her. “Also, channel thirty four. Best channel ever.”

“Thirty four?” She asked while changing the channel and seeing a gaming controller appear on the bottom-right corner “Oh, I know this one.” She mentioned cheerfully. “And yes. Teacher always was one to fall asleep quickly.”

“Was he? Didn’t look like that to me. More like: Yaarr! We train until morning, and once morning comes, we train until night!” I said with a wry smile. “And yeah. That channel is a gaming focused one. Best one ever.”

“Grandfather believes that a good sleep leads to a good body, so he always preached that a good martial artist should have good nights of sleep.” Yuu said as she sat besides Mari, on the other side of the couch.

“…That somehow makes sense.” I said with a wry smile.

“Yeah…” Mari said while putting a similar smile. “Once he got really excited about preaching of how a martial artist should be as fast to sleep as he was to wake up and decided to show us…”

“He fell asleep in ten seconds of laying on the ground.” Maya added with an voice full of surprise and admiration. I was a bit confused whether it was sincere or sarcasm.

“Goddamit. I take half an hour of laying still to be able to truly fall asleep. Can’t he teach me how to do that?” I asked annoyed while leaning back on the couch. Mari and Yuu gave a brief giggle at my words while Maya sat on a chair nearby.

“I could try and search for a few methods to help you sleep, you know master?” I heard a voice coming from my pocket. Blinking surprised, I quickly pulled out my cellphone and saw Crys looking slightly sullen in the screen.

“So… You felt left lonely since we didn’t add you to the conversation?” I asked and saw as she looked away pouting.

“If you are all just going to sit around and watch TV, you could at least do it within the D-lute, you know?” She said in a sad tone. Yeah, she’s totally feeling left out. But I didn’t know I could watch TV in there… What about the time distortion thingamajig? “Actually, why are you watching TV again?”

“Good question…” I said with a nod while turning to Mary. “Why are we watching TV?”

“Ermm… Because I was bored of waiting for you?” She replied directly.

“Aah… I see…” I nodded understanding. “Then… What are we waiting before we get back on the game again?”

“Hmm… I don’t know?” She shrugged. “It were you guys here who sat down while I was surfing the channels.”

I see… Basically it’s one of those situations where you are following someone, and after noticing that you are pretty much walking in circles, you ask the person and he says that he is following you.

Smiling wryly, I prepared to raise myself from the couch and go to the game, but right before I stood up completely, the TV said something that caught my attention.

“So, now we’ll pass the baton to Oerthus Foulhorn, the one responsible for news about the new hit-game Insania Online.”

… Oh?

Yeah, now that I think about it, a large game like Insania would probably have some kind of news about it going on. Since I’ve spent most of my time in-game, I never really looked around for it, but being the kind of game it is, it would make sense that something like having a news-source like this one would exist.

“What is it, Lecherous master?” Maya asked as she saw me freeze.

“Oh? Didn’t you guys hear?” I asked while turning to the TV, only to notice that show was being dubbed to Portuguese in real time. Clicking my tongue, I quickly stole the control from Mary and changed the settings. “They are going to talk about IO right now.” I sat back down while watching as the TV started sounding in English.

“Oh?” Mary said while looking surprised. Maya simply nodded while Yuu looked confused.

“Why would they talk about what’s happening inside the game?”

“Well, my disciple.” I said putting on my teacher tone. Cygnasdamnit! How long has it been since I did this? “You see, Insania is a unique game compared to others due to the sheer size of it. As well as the fact that the NPCs dictate the direction that politic takes just as much as us players do. So it isn’t strange for them to use a news based method to cover everything that happens in there, since many unforeseen things may happen.” I made sure to keep my voice graver than usual to give weight to it.

While the others all put on wry expressions, Yuu nodded with acknowledgement. I really felt tempted to go and pet her, but the distance and the screen interrupted me. My attention was caught by the television when it faded to another type of image, one where three people stood behind a long mahogany-looking table inside a rustic-looking building.

Then, there was the fact that the three people were a savage looking half-elf half-demon man with long sickly-green hair, a red tattooed golem girl who had her hair-mass tied in a pair of pony-tails and her skin being a marble white and a Centaur with black fur wearing full plate armor.

While looking at it in confusion for a moment, I finally understood that it was an image from within the game. Clearing his throat, the half-elf started.

“Thanks Tony. Starting today with our important news, we have some things to talk about the capital of steam, Eldor.” He said in a professional tone that didn’t seem to fit his savage looking image. “First and foremost, we received news that the owner of one of Eldor’s most famous player shops just left on a long voyage, taking with him one of his clerks.” As he said that, an image of Argento, the gnome, popped up on the air behind him together with Lily. “As you can see here, when this photo was taken they were about to board the ‘Wailing songstress’, a ship known for making travels westwards, in the direction of the borders of Eldor.” The elf took a moment to breath in. “It’s still unknown what would bring him to leave the city, but we do know that he was followed by at least 4 bodyguards at the time.”

I sighed in relief once I noticed that they had no plan on actually showing the rest of us in the image or the news. Laying back on the couch, I watched as they went on with the news. One talking about how there was a sudden drop in items that I crafted in the market and that there were many people claiming to be me roaming the streets. I found this rather amusing.

There was also a talk about rumors of Green-eyes appearing near a village, where he tamed a mighty dragon. I paled at the idea remembering on how powerful Rathian was. There was also the image of an odd Undead-dwarf paladin telling how they’ve been tracking said Green-eyes the brutal.

“Hey, Cyg.” Mary asked suddenly. “How can they talk like that in real time with the different speed settings?”

“Simple.” Crys replied proudly. “That’s a setting made especially for the press, where they can convert a player-owned room to the normal time speed for a brief moment.” She explained, and Mary nodded.

“Then, what happen to NPCs that waltz into the room?” I asked curious and saw as she nodded proudly.

“If the NPCs are present when the room is converted, they will receive a notification warning what will happen. If they appear after the room is set, the room is immediately converted back to the original in-game speed.” As she said that she quickly put on a proud look as if she was answering a question we didn’t even make. “For the room to be converted, it must be completely enclosed. This means that windows and doors must be shut and nothing connected to the outside world. Otherwise, weird things would happen.”

Not asking what weird things are. I’m just going to nod and accept the fact that weird things happens. While thinking so, I watched as the vid made one last talk about Eldor as they deepened the brief mentions they had. The most amusing one was that of a Panda-beastman claiming that he was the famous crafter Wargon and was saying that he stopped crafting because no one was paying him enough or something.

Funny part was that there were at least 3 of those people talking the same thing in the same block.

I couldn’t help but find it really amusing what was happening, and really felt like meeting one of those guys to see how I could fool around with them.

After 20 or so minutes talking about Eldor, they changed to another of the capitals. One that stood above a massive looking bridge.

Losing interest since there wasn’t anything more about things I actually knew, I decided that I would go and log in already. The girls decided to lay around a bit more, as they all had been enthralled by the news going around about the regular magic battles that occurred just outside the capital.

Jumping over the snoring grandfather laying on the ground of my bedroom, I quickly made my way to my bed and laid there, putting on the visor above my head and logging in.

Finding myself on the usual white room, already in the golem body, I found Crys wearing her maid outfit awaiting for me up ahead. It didn’t take me too much of a long look to notice how she was looking slightly sullen, despite trying to not show it.

“What is it?” I asked while approaching her. She raised her eyes towards me for a moment before looking down again.

“Nothing at all, master. It’s all your imagination.” She said with a slightly sullen voice. “Anyhow, we should get going since you probably desire to know the results of the negotiations, correct?”

“Yeah…” I replied wryly to her cold tone. “You know… if you are feeling lonely you could just call us.” I said as the pillar of light enveloped us, leaving me in the middle of the streets where now covered almost everything. It seemed to be the beginning of the night at the moment.

I turned towards Crys, who was now in her smaller body. She still had a slightly annoyed look, but she still floated near me.

Leaving the sullen cute crystal elemental floating alone for now, I turned back to the city, seeing an amazing sight before me, as half the streets were blocked by barricades and snow covered all the nearby walls. Some small flakes of snow kept falling as if to make the scene even more like a war-scene.

There were some people roaming around crouched, as if trying to avoid being caught off-guard. Looking around for a moment, I quickly managed to get sight of a certain cat, standing at the top of a tower while cackling loudly as if he was a villain from an anime. Besides him were both Rio, who was napping on the roof, and a certain white-haired boy, who also had the same evil look in his eyes.

Somehow, Lieutenant managed to enlist that Lucas guy into his team, it seems. I sighed loudly while shaking my head and trying to decide whether to solve that problem now or to leave it for later.

My response came quickly, once one of the guys walking around the streets saw me and pulled me to cover.

“What are you doing in open space? The general will see you!” A dwarf woman told me while making a motion for me to stay quiet.

“General?” I asked confused before looking towards the direction where the cat was earlier. “Oh, you mean Lieutenant?”

“No, he’s the general!” She said while motioning for me to stay quiet. “Come this way before his patrols come here! The Tailed savior will help us.”

Tailed savior? Aura?

While I quietly and confusedly followed the woman around the streets, I saw as she gripped the snow-ball in her hands and made sure to not make any sound while walking around.

“Ever since the General enlisted the white demon, our savior has been having trouble keeping up with his offenses! He already have all the city under his control!” She said quietly, making me nod in an understanding manner as it dawned on me what it meant.

“I see… So Lieutenant managed to sweep all the city under his play, huh?” I asked with a wry tone.

“Huh?” The dwarf asked before stopping and looking ahead.

A patrol of five dwarves wearing snow-armor waltzed the street ahead of us. In their hands large snow balls as they marched in a perfect manner down the streets. The moment their eyes landed on us, they lifted their arms in unison and started to throw the snow-balls at us ins a rhythmic manner. Under the sudden attack, the woman that had been pulling me quickly took cover and hid behind a dump.

I looked at the scene a bit stunned, seeing as the snow-balls missed me by a hairsbreadth.

Then, something clicked inside me.

“So… He’s been having his fun all this time, haven’t he?” I asked as I felt a certain scarily ferocious feeling swelling within my chest. “I see… I see…”

“Huh? Master…?” I heard Crys asking me from my side. “You… Are kind of scary…”

“It’s nothing, Crys.” I said while giving her a gentle smile and petting her head. She closed her eyes in pleasure for a moment before letting out a satisfied sigh. “It’s just that from now on there’s a new player in the game.” As I said that, I turned to the five patrols in front of me with a ferocious smile. “It’s time to play in the snow!”

…

“Yo Aura!” I said to the three tailed fox that laid on top of the table with an angry look in her eyes. The other people in the inn all stared at me in shock and confusion as I entered while being followed closely by Crys and the dwarf.

“C-Captain Whiteale!” The various people gathered inside the inn asked surprised when they saw the woman, then turned towards me. “And… Who are you?”

“A monster… He’s a monster…” Baurna Whiteale said with a trembling voice as she walked in, rubbing her arms off to scare away the cold. “Three patrols… Just like that… Gone… Alone…” She said scared as I walked in towards Aura.

Ignoring the worried glances the others in the Inn gave me, I quickly rested my hand on the fox’s forehead and gently rubbed it. She closed her eyes in pleasure before looking away with an embarrassed look.

Sitting down on the table besides her, she quickly gave in and rested her head on my legs while letting me pet her. Crys was the same as she sat to my side and waited for my hand.

I had been in a really good mood all this time since I finally got to play around a bit in the snow, so I felt like it wouldn’t be bad to give her some satisfaction too. While the others looked towards Baurna as she told them the story of how I buried a whole squadron with a well placed snowball to the snow that was on the roof of a building nearby.

After that there were the two patrols we found on the way back to the “rebels” base, and I made sure to pick off all the members without being found out. I do enjoy playing the occasional stealth game, you know?

“You… You did that alone?” A grey haired dwarf asked me in shock, but I nodded proudly.

“Yeah, and I plan on taking down Lieutenant next.” I said with a comforting smile to the people gathered around. Gasps of admiration came from all of them as they looked at me in awe, but soon they shook their head.

“What will you do about the white demon?”

“Not even the tailed savior managed to defeat him!”

“He’s undefeatable with that snow magic of his!”

They said fearfully, but I simply smiled while shaking my head. I had a plan for that, and all that I needed was to confront that white haired demon of theirs. Once I told them about my plan, they all stared at me wide eyed.

It didn’t take longer for us to get along with the plan. The hundred or so members of the “rebels” left the inn they had been using as a hideout and starting wreaking havoc on the streets. Destroying the barricades and attacking the patrols relentlessly.

Doing so, it didn’t take long for them to get the attention of the other patrols, and soon, Lieutenant and Lucas made their move. Leaving the tower where they stood, they flew towards street level and started to bombard the rebels down there.

Just as I foresaw. You really got carried away with victory, Lieutenant. Where are your tactics now?

As I smiled fearlessly, I slowly walked away from my cover behind the roof of a building, being followed by Aura who walked behind me with a fierce look.

As soon as we stood on the edge of the roof, Lieutenant saw me. Widening his eyes in shock and horror at the snowball I was playfully throwing up and down in my hands. Before he could even react, the ball left my hand with a scary speed, heading straight up to the cat’s head.

But the snowball was stopped mid-air as Lucas jumped up and grabbed it with his hands.

“I’m not letting you take the General, Gondorrer!” He told me with a fierce look in his eyes.

“I never intended on doing it, White demon.” I replied with a taunting smile.

“Oooh. You think you can stop ME? Did you forget who was it that destroyed a whole ship back at the pirates incident?” He asked me in a daring tone.

“What? You really thought I came here without a plan?” I said while making another snowball and showing it to him. “I’m not a warrior. I’m a hunter. I always search for my opponents’ weakness before going in seriously! I don’t care whether it’s a cheap-shot or not. As long as its effective, I shall be using your weakness” I said to him with a ferocious smile.

“Oh? And mine would be?” He asked me with a slight hesitation in his voice.

“Come and see!” I said.

He immediately took on my words, jumping from the ground and standing on the roof right in front of me in an instant. Luckily, I had heard about him from the rebels, so it didn’t get me off-guard.

Taking a step back, I opened way so that Aura could raise the snow in front of me into a tall wall, obstructing him.

“USELESS!” He shouted as his hand tore through the wall and he stepped through.

But I already expected that. The moment he passed through the wall, I threw my snowball at him. He twisted out of the way before making a motion with his hand. Feeling the snow below me tremble, I quickly used my roll skill to the side and saw as a snow geyser appeared from there.

Digging my hand into the snow, I once again made a hasty snowball, throwing it towards him with all my strength. However, the snow geyser contorted itself as if it was a snake and blocked the ball before twisting its way towards me, the edge taking on the shape of a huge viper.

“FOOL! ANIMALS ARE MY SPECIALTY!” I said as I jumped back and threw one of my stun knifes on the snake’s open mouth.

The knife exploded, and the shock ran through the whole snake, destroying it as it fell to the ground lifelessly. Lucas stared at his magic in surprise for a moment before noticing Aura with the corner of his eyes, cursing as he understood what I was doing.

I smiled victoriously as Aura bombarded him with a thousand or more snow-balls the size of my fist. He quickly erected a snow wall to block them, but I once again brought it down with a stun knife.

Caught with no other way but falling back, Lucas jumped out of the roof where we were and fell to the ground below where we couldn’t see him.

It still wasn’t over. I knew it.

Not even ten seconds later, a huge storm raised itself from the ground below as snow and ice stormed in a circle around the white-haired human. A thick snow pillar sustained him as four gigantic snow serpents surrounded the building.

Aura looked at the serpents in worry, but I simply looked at Lucas who had a victorious smile in his face.

“Your snow-balls will never pass my barrier, and my snakes are more than enough for you now!” He said proudly. “WHERE IS MY WEAKNESS NOW? GONDORRER?” He cackled madly as he said that, the serpents contorting themselves while preparing for the attack.

“Who said I used your weakness yet?” I asked back to him, and saw as he froze for a moment with a confused look.

“…What?”

“OI! LUCAS! IS THAT WHAT I HEARD ABOUT YOU COURTING OTHER GIRLS JUST BECAUSE YOU SIDED WITH THE GENERAL TRUE?” I shouted loud enough so that everyone in the streets could also hear us.

For a moment, everyone stopped, but in the end Lucas gave a brief smug laugh.

“And that’s how you were going to stop me?” He asked.

“Huh?” I asked back at him confused. “Who said I was going to stop you?” He froze at my words, trying to understand what I meant. “All I said was that I was going to use your weakness!” I pointed behind him and as he turned his head back as if he was a badly oiled machine, I finished. “The ones who would stop you are they!”

““LU-CAS!”” The vampire and the demoness shouted as their eyes burned two pairs of holes through his chest. ““EXPLAIN YOURSELF!”” They said as they slowly made their way towards him from street level.

The white haired boy became flustered and quickly dropped his magic, falling back to ground level before taking a step back.

“Wait! That’s a lie! It’s not true in any means!” He said while shaking his head nervously.

The girls didn’t buy it, and it didn’t take much longer for the two of them to grab his arms and drag him away.

As the soldiers of the tyrant all stared at him in shock and confusion, the Rebels received a boost to their morale as they shouted in cheers at the defeat of the strongest enemy. I raised my shout in victory with them as Aura also let out a loud howl.

Then, something snowy and cold hit the back of my head.

I fell to the ground due to the sudden impact, and turning my head back to where the snowball came from, I saw as a cat mounted on a wyvern flied above me. The cat had a tense smile in his face for a moment before he started meowing in victory.

“NYAA-NANANANA! NYAA-NANANANA” He laughed at me as he saw my defeated face into the ground.

I looked towards him and gave a satisfied smile. Slowly raising my hand to the air and giving a thumbs up.

“I knew… I could… Count on you…” I said lowly. “I leave… The rest… To you…”

The cat’s laugh froze as he heard my words. But by the time he understood what was happening, it was already too late.

“It is the maid’s duty to avenge her master’s defeat.” Crys said from above Lieutenant and Rio as she raised the snowball she held in her small hands. A heave tone to her words.

Then she threw it.

As I closed my eyes in satisfied expression, I heard the sound of a small furry body hitting the snow besides me head on.

And that, was how the very first Annual Snow-ball war of Wichcrad county came to an end, with the sacrifice of a the green eyed monster to bring down the Tyrant general.

And I still have to go see the results of my negotiation!

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Author's corner: I felt that this link might prove fitting.

Spoiler :

Name:Lieutenant General Whiskers McBallofur Maximilliamus Von Scratchy the thirdRace&Class:Trick CatSignature MovesFlash bombs/ Nyaa-speech/ Militarize/ ParodiesAttack:42Defense:45Magic:15M. Defense:45Speed:90Technique:87Sanity:43Medals earned:12A strange male cat with furry antennaes that wears a military outfit. Loves playing jokes and his whole existence can be said to be a joke. Seems to be heavily influenced by his military attire, going as far as to create a military information network with the cats of Eldor"Nyaa-naa-nyany. Nyaa-naa-nanya nyananana" – Lieutenant

“I couldn’t have said it better!” – Wargon about the statement above

This one is an example. More below so it don’t get too long.

Spoiler :

Name:AuraRace&Class:Freezing tailSignature MovesIce armors (Water, ice and mist versions)/Ice spikes/Puppy eyes/ Fluffy furAttack:50 (90 ice armor)Defense:53(85 ice armor)Magic:67(90 water armor)M. Defense:67(90 water armor)Speed:70 (99 mist armor)Technique:80(100 mist armor)Sanity:99FluffynessimmeasurableA female blue furred three tailed fox. Gon’s first pet and his most jealous one, despite trying to hide it. Once a strong boss, now she feels a bit conflicted that she’s weaker than she was, although happy that she can help her owner. Extremely fluffy.”How do I explain it… She gives a feeling really like Yuu, but its still different somehow? Well, who cares! SHE’S FLUFFY!" - Wargon

Name:Rioreia (Rio)Race&Class:Dragon: Greater wyvern(young)Signature MovesCave-breaking/Combine! (+Lieutenant = Dragon rider)/ Backflip(in training)Attack:70Defense:45Magic:30M. Defense:45Speed:120Technique:50Sanity:80Successful backflips:8A young white wyvern, Daughter of the one now known as Rathian. She seems to really look up to her mother, and is now entrusted under the care of Gon. Although still a child who likes to play around, she cares a lot for those she considers friend. Gon’s head is her favorite nest."Awww... Look at you! Already hunting boars all by yourself! You make me so proud!" -Rathian

Name:Crys(Cyg)Race&Class:Lesser Crystal elemental (Goddess)Signature MovesCooking/Pout/Tease gon/(Bend reality)Attack:10(???)Defense:0[passive pet](???)Magic:50(???)M. Defense:0[passive pet](???)Speed:Variable(???)Technique:100Sanity:83Cooking:100Both a silver-haired goddess and a pink crystal elemental that uses a maid apron She’s the main AI behind the Insania game. She follows Gon around since she likes seeing the game through different points of view. Seems to have taken an interest on the player and likes watching over him."MY CUTE DAUGHTER! I WILL ALWAYS LOVE AND PROTECT HER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! I SWEAR BY THIS CUTE PIC OF YOU DISCOVERING YOUR FIRST ROMANCE STORY!" –S2daddylovescygS2