Chapter 49
[Posted by: IchigoIsCute]
[Title: Our Ichigo's Song Is So Healing....]
Even though she lives in a dangerous area while going through absolute hell.
She keeps working hard without ever giving up....
Now Ichigo is happily studying Korean with her friends.
She has to stay happy forever....
-It's been so long since I've seen lyrics like "smile, smile."
-It feels like a children's song, yet it's so bright and pure... Ahh... I'm being cleansed.
-Is this... a mother's warmth...? This warmth must be....
-I heard someone exposed her red pill?
ㄴWhat the fuck?
ㄴVTuber simpsㅋㅋ Serves you rightㅋㅋㅋㅋ The red pill got spread everywhereㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ? You can get sued for posting that, you know?
ㄴWhat kind of bullshit is that? You can't get sued over something like this, you idiots.
ㄴㅋㅋㅋ You attention-seeking bastard. You didn't read the notice?
ㄴLook who's here, you moronㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴOne bastard's going up. Lady Wakamo!!!
[Posted by: Anonymous]
[Title: The Face of the Bitch You Worship Got Exposedㅋㅋ]
(A photo of Yu Ying registered with the Climbers' Association)
They say she's seventeen. She's ridiculously young.
This is what the face of the VTuber you worship looks like.
Your sandcastle just collapsed, huh?
-Looks like this really is an attention seeker.
-Huh? Isn't that Ichigo no matter how you look at it?
-I'm genuinely asking because I don't know. What's different? I really don't know.
-The boss's stream really is the best. It exterminates all the internet losersㅋㅋ
-This place always has nice things to say, but not for you guys.
-I'm telling you for the third time: read the notice.
-No, they're picking a fight with a company backed by the South Korean government.
-Before that, digging up a Climber's personal information is a crime, buddy....
-I genuinely question whether they have human-level intelligence.
[Posted by: Wakamo's Foot-Wiper]
[Title: The Forum Is a Complete Mess. Isn't This Basically What Happened?]
(A GIF of Wakamo summoning a giant)
This person is the boss. She's also Korea's greatest Climber.
She even reclaimed Seoul(?) with government support through the Climbers' Association.
The attention-seeking idiots are acting up because someone's personal information got exposed, right?
It burns well. Better than the flames of the Yiling Forest.
So, China bullied the princess Daji was raising, is that it?
-Yes, you understand perfectly.
-So this is how the great Chinese empire falls....
-The Daji from Investiture of the Gods? Did Nüwa send her?
-The moderators are watching too, and all the attention seekers are disappearing.
-There's no need to issue complaintsㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-What kind of chaos breaks out right after announcing an original song, seriously.
-Pirate posted that she ran away because she was terrified after pissing off Captain Wakamo.
ㄴReally?
ㄴYeah, apparently it was the first time she'd ever seen someone's hair stand on end.
ㄴWe're fucked. Seriously.
ㄴBut Korea didn't do anything wrong, did it?
ㄴThat's why we're offering up the attention seekers to burn and calm her anger.
ㄴAha! Let's find the attention seekers and hang them!
ㄴThat's right, well done. Welcome to the fandom.
-The blue site and the green site agreed too, yeah.
ㄴFor now, we're all comrades!!
ㄴThe world has fallen into chaos, so heroes are rising.
ㄴAren't we supposed to be calming an enraged god, not raising heroes..?
[Posted by: Incheon Floor 56 Climber]
[Title: Guys, I'm a Climber. I Did Some Quick Research and Brought Back the Information]
After appraising it, here's roughly what the description of the famous item says.
【Han-China King's Sword Seal】
Grade: Relic.
Restrictions: Descendants of kings, royal family of Shu Han.
The jade seal of one who was once the king of Shu Han.
One who can wield this relic.
May dare to call themselves a sovereign.
Intelligence +30
Charisma +50
[Summon Soldiers][Cooldown: 3 days]
Summons Charisma × 3 soldiers.
They consist of infantry, cavalry, and archers.
[Summon General][Cooldown: 7 days]
Summons a general with higher stats than the soldiers.
Summons one general for every 50 Charisma, who commands the soldiers.
[Employ Strategy][Cooldown: 14 days]
Casts [Torrent], [Flaming Arrows], [Falling Rocks], and [Gale].
As you can see, this thing is fucking insane.
Relic-grade items are notoriously overpowered whenever the Tower gives them out as rewards.
Their restriction conditions are also famously filthy difficult to meet, yeah.
Wakamo's Kusanagi's Sword probably has restrictions attached to it too.
Maybe that enormous giant was a relic effect as well?
The reason she didn't use her slashing attack last time was probably because it was on cooldown.
Anyway, the Chinese chairman got his hands on this.
He tried to use it on his own side somehow to keep the [Collector] in check.
But as you can see, China is going under, right?
They asked America and Britain for help and called in Wizards.
While searching Shanghai for someone who met the conditions, the search area was so broad that it included Korea.
As you know, if it's Shu Han, that means Liu Bei, the Imperial Uncle.
But one of the Chinese Climbers who recently naturalized has the name "Yu Ying."
That means she's the only person who is both a descendant of Liu Bei and a Climber.
So China must have applied some political pressure to the president.
But the problem is that this young lady's guardian isn't humanㅋㅋㅋ
They created an original song, released it, and exposed their own VTuber's red pill on the very first day?
I don't want to investigate any further. It's too scary....
-We're going to conquer China to reclaim the legitimacy of the three Northeast Asian nations.
-Should we go take it soon...? China's legitimacy.
ㄴLet's go take it, "the throne."
-The fox god is going to recover the vast Manchugrad.
-There is one company where exposing a red-pill identity is especially dangerous.
ㄴGetting sued would be preferable. You might get cursed and die.
ㄴPlease leave Lady Fox God alone. She's quiet when you leave her alone.
-"I'll Daji you."
-Daji is like Wakamo's disciple, right? They resemble each other, as expected.
-Does China not know that Korea inherited the Han people's ancestral line?
-Has the time come to fulfill the dream of conquering the Central Plains that we abandoned?
-But didn't the [Collector] stay quiet?
ㄴHe got hit first, so it's fineㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴRectify names, follow the Way, borrow a road, bring in the troops (murmurs).
-How dare they... How dare they ruin my VTuber's original song! I'll kill the Collector!
ㄴThe Collector (did nothing).
ㄴHe conquered Sichuan and claimed to be Liu Bei's descendant, but now look at him, he's worthless....
-If she's Daji, then regardless of the details of her biography, she's a member of the imperial family, so the legitimacy is valid.
ㄴThen what happens if the boss uses that thing?
ㄴWhat do you think? We go conquer Liaodong.
ㄴAhㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Posted by: Sign of Doom]
[Title: Making a Fuss Over Bloodlinesㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
Meanwhile, three years since the Dragon's death...!!
The suffering our Kiryu family had to endure...!!
-I looked for reasons to kill them and found more than enough.
-How many of the Chinese VTubers the boss watched quit after their faces were revealed?
-There is absolutely no way to survive....
-Should we sweep them all away? We could slaughter them so thoroughly they wouldn't even be able to open their mouths....
-We have the Imperial Seal of All Under Heaven, and we have Daji too. Aren't we the legitimate ones?
ㄴAre you saying the Han-China King is above the Son of Heaven?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴWhoa... Daji is off-limits....
-What can China do in an age without Taigong Wang?
The unprecedented red-pill scandal erupted after Yu Ying's—or rather, Hajime Ichigo's—first original song was released.
Because Climbers' personal information was protected, the employee who leaked it was immediately fired, while Ichigo's friends, who were her fans, suffered in agony, bringing up the VTuber character and asking, "What are you doing?" like blind people even after taking the red pill head-on.
There were also viewers boldly saying that the red pill was basically the same as the VTuber anyway, so it shouldn't hurt, but Wakamo's heart ached.
Losing 200 million won was beside the point.
It was simply....
The VTuber she had created and raised.
The VTuber to whom she had given lyrics she had written herself for a song she had composed herself.
The music video she had looked forward to every day, excitedly dreaming about when it would finally come out.
Less than a minute after Ichigo's [Original Song], which had finally shown its face to the world, was released, the red-pill scandal exploded with astonishingly perfect timing.
As ordinary people who had come after seeing the news gathered in the comments asking whether it was real, users from China flooded in, adult-channel advertisements from YouTube appeared, and attention seekers left filthy comments, Wakamo watched Ichigo's first original song become an utter mess, covered in grime.
Wakamo lost her reason.
Wakamo's hair stood on end in extreme fury, her eyes opened wide, and she trembled with her fists clenched.
The Mana surging around her created a heat haze intense enough to warp the scenery, and Manager Won Da-hye desperately tried to calm her down.
She had also urgently contacted the Climbers' Association, so the response was swift, but that did not erase the wound that had already been inflicted.
"Are you all right, Yu Ying? You weren't hurt, were you..? Your song with the lyrics you worked so hard to write came out. I'm sorry your boss was incompetent."
"I-I'm otay... It didn't huwt!"
Yu Ying genuinely hadn't been hurt at all.
She was merely embarrassed that the song she had made was being uploaded in front of her friends.
If anything, she was more worried about Wakamo, who had stayed up all night making the song to match the lyrics Yu Ying had written.
"Boss... are you otay?"
Tears flowed from Wakamo's eyes at Yu Ying's timid question. No, since she had no tears, Mana flowed instead.
The Mana that dropped with a plop was so dense that it nearly melted the floor, so Pirate carefully backed away.
How could there be such a lovely, kind child? Wakamo hugged Yu Ying and calmed her anger.
The mental blow had been too severe. Her mind and body were practically in tatters.
Because [Mana Manipulation] had gone berserk along with her emotions, Wakamo's Mana pool had been drastically depleted.
[Stats]
Mana: 653,231 -> 252,835.
[Additional Stats: 35]
Even the steam escaping from her mouth was made of Mana, and the studio became nearly impossible to breathe in, so they opened the windows and aired it out for a while before Wakamo sat in seiza on the floor and began meditating.
More precisely, she was trying to calm her anger.
She was clearly not in her right mind, considering she was debating whether to raise the flag of the Kingdom of Marchen, shout "For Her Majesty the Queen!!," march north to conquer Liaodong, seize Manchuria, and restore Goguryeo's prestige(?).
Sadako broke out in a cold sweat as she watched Wakamo, whose body was steaming from the heat despite her efforts to calm her emotions and regain her composure.
"I knew the captain liked VTubers, but I didn't know she liked them this much."
Sadako had heard about the importance of the red pill from her brother, but she didn't care, thinking, What's the big deal? Pirate's face is the same anyway!
Wasn't Yu Ying's Ichigo and Wakamo's Wakamo(?) basically the kind of VTuber who used their real faces in the first place?
So she thought it would be fine, but she wondered why Wakamo was so angry.
"If I may hazard a guess... Lady Wakamo brought a descendant of the king who had been left in a monster-infested region, raised her as precious as a jewel, and China demanded that she hand over the girl because she was originally a citizen of their country. Wouldn't that be why she's angry?"
"It's ridiculous for them to demand her now that they need her. If she naturalized, isn't she Korean?"
"That's part of it, but...."
Manager Won Da-hye wanted to stab the president with a knife.
How could they bow their heads to China as though they had committed a crime and ask the Climbers' Association to hand over a Climber who had five fully conquered floors under her belt?
What would they do if Wakamo's eyes turned over and she announced that she was moving to Japan?
The Japanese prime minister had already contacted the Association president, causing an uproar by saying that Japan would accept Yu Ying too.
They were provoking Korea's two strongest Climbers at the same time.
'What a completely hopeless country....'
Their Climbers' position was already weak in East Asia, yet when they should have been making threats, they went and opened the front gates instead.
'And dealing with the [Collector] is another problem....'
China was in a considerably weakened state. You could say it was paying the price for all the havoc it had caused in other countries.
The Tower was a natural source of supplies, while Climbers were superhumans capable of standing against armies. Chinese citizens who had suffered because even graduating from college made finding a job difficult now gained the power of Climbers and set out to make their own fortunes.... With the country so vast, it was a mess in every sense.
'Even if one or two Climbers were shot dead, that would be one thing. But when there are dozens, they're difficult to control.'
It would be more accurate to say that all the suppressed discontent had erupted at once.
China had bombed the Tower that appeared in Beijing in an attempt to destroy it, then moved its capital to Shanghai because monsters emerged from the collapsed Tower.
At this point, Hong Kong's Climber factions had gathered and declared Guangdong an independent territory. Taiwan had seized Fujian across the sea while China was too distracted to respond. Russia had taken Heilongjiang. The Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region had also declared complete independence.
And Sichuan, lying between them all, was conquered by the Collector, who claimed to be Liu Bei's descendant and called himself the Son of Heaven.
China was becoming so tattered that conspiracy theories had even begun circulating that America was supporting the chaos from behind the scenes.
North Korea had been gone for nearly ten years, and Jilin and Liaoning had been devastated by monsters. Russia was advancing toward Jilin with expansionist ambitions, yet no one was helping them, showing just how many enemies they had in the international community.
The country was not merely failing to hold together; it was splitting apart in civil war, with the refugee crisis and unemployment rate soaring, even as Climbers brought back resources from the Tower.
The state of a country returning to the chairman's dictatorship was utterly pitiful.
China had attacked the Tower, but as the situation worsened, they blamed the Climbers, calling it a plot by the hostile class like the Xinyang Incident, insisting that a thorough democratic revolution and seizure of the leadership were necessary.... Anyway, that's why they fell apart.
The principle of One China had collapsed, and the Mandate of Heaven had been shattered.
The country was no longer in a state where it could even remain the People's Republic of China.
"You could call it a second Xinhai Revolution. Like the late Qing Dynasty, they're barely breathing while the great powers strip away their interests, and warlords are springing up everywhere. America is intervening, giving money to the Chinese warlords and instilling democratic ideas. They're openly provoking China by stationing the U.S. military in Taiwan under the pretext of helping resolve the Tower monster crisis. Humanitarian aid is just a bonus."
"I don't understand any of that difficult stuff!"
There is a saying: the great trend of the world is division after long unity and unity after long division (天下大勢 分久必合 合久必分).
In other words, the great trend of the world is that whatever has been divided for a long time will inevitably unite, and whatever has been united for a long time will inevitably divide again.
The [Collector] brought up those words and declared that he would open the way to a new China and a new era─ ...
But to Wakamo, it was ultimately nothing more than, So what do you want me to do about it?
If China splitting apart meant VTubers could hide their red pills and continue streaming, though? That was the kind of lunacy she might actually find tempting.
"Pheasant, pheasant, pheasant~"
As Sadako grew increasingly worried because the situation was becoming seriously abnormal, and the manager half-resignedly wondered how she would stop Wakamo if she went on a rampage, an extremely high-pitched metallic sound rang out, like someone striking a metal bucket.
A single 『pheasant』 with a red face and brilliantly colorful, dizzyingly variegated feathers was flapping its wings.
And when Wakamo saw that pheasant, a glint flashed in her eyes.
"Manager."
"....Yes."
"It should be all right for me to ask for two tickets on a ship bound for China, right?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Wakamo let the incoming pheasant perch on her shoulder and changed into a flamboyant outfit. When she glared at the manager with blood-red eyes, the manager decided simply to go along with it.
She isn't Daji.... She isn't..!!
※※※
Let's briefly turn back time─to when she received the rewards for Floor 30.
Wakamo had temporarily turned off her stream and was waiting for the Tower's message, unsure what kind of reward would appear.
[The Incheon Tower Floor 30 has fulfilled its Platinum conditions and is now open to all humanity!!]
[Calculating rewards for the Tower Platinum clear]
[『Wakamo Inarizushi Floor 1』 has been added to the Incheon 100-Floor Tower!]
[This floor combines every area from Floor 1 through Floor 30 into a new environment, covering an area of 830 square kilometers.]
[We support the future climbs of the Climber Wakamo Inarizushi in the Incheon 100-Floor Tower!]
'I wonder if there's an ocean too?'
While she was wondering about that, Yu Ying and Sadako were confused, saying that they had not received any rewards.
When she heard that they had not even received the basic reward of 10 additional stats that the Tower had given them until now, Wakamo tilted her head, wondering if it was another error.
Then choices appeared before her.
[Please choose your reward]
[1. Lower the Tower's difficulty for your companions]
[2. Receive a mythic item as your settlement reward]
[3. Receive a job-exclusive skill as your settlement reward]
Wakamo pressed 1 the moment it appeared, without even a moment's hesitation.
Now that Yu Ying and Sadako had gained a fully conquered floor, it was obvious that the Tower's difficulty would rise.
Wakamo did not care if she received no reward at all, as long as it kept them from being endangered, but the Tower seemed to think differently.
[The Tower gives a high evaluation to the selfless actions of Climber Wakamo Inarizushi, who considered her companions.]
[The Tower is settling Wakamo Inarizushi's rewards for the joint floor.]
[Relics related to idols are held by [Collector] Yun Wei. It has been confirmed that equipment worthy of the reward cannot be provided, that items matching the reward cannot be provided with mythic- and relic-grade stats, and that Wakamo receives only 30% of the Tower's rewards compared to other Climbers.]
It was a structure where she suffered far more losses than expected. No, was that because fully conquering floors was so easy for her... ?
[The Tower reviews Earth's history. It provides equipment most befitting the idol based on its findings.]
[Items are awarded after considering the idol's currently recognized reputation.]
"I'm suddenly really anxious."
[You have acquired the mythic-grade item [Divine Bird Luan (神鳥 鸞)]!]
Before she could finish wondering what that meant, a phoenix spread its wings and appeared in the sky.
The brilliantly five-colored bird's flames gradually died down, and it began to shed its outer layer.
Before long, it transformed into something resembling a pheasant and naturally settled on Wakamo's forearm.
[Divine Bird Luan (神鳥 鸞)]
Grade: Mythic.
A bird said to have been born from a phoenix.
Famous as the bird that gave birth to all birds.
It is said to usher in an age of peace and prosperity.
Shares the same amount of Mana as its master.
Mana Capacity: [653,231]
[Luan, Mother of All Birds][Cooldown: 7 days]
Can lay the egg of any bird.
Hatching and raising the chick depend entirely on the master's ability.
[Phoenix's Descendant][Cooldown: 90 days]
Transforms into a phoenix and bestows its blessing upon its master.
Mana recovery speed increases by 1,000%.
Duration varies according to the number of believers.
[Duration: 65 seconds]
"Wow! An E-tank!"
Could there be a cheaper comparison than that?
Luan glanced back at Wakamo with a horrified expression, as if asking, What did you just call me?
It looked like a pheasant in every respect, flapping its wings.... Could something like this really be an item?
Perhaps the Tower had provided it as an item because Wakamo had no skills like a Tamer.
Regardless, what mattered was that Wakamo finally had an item she needed more than anything.
And then, as if to say this was only the beginning, messages began appearing one after another.
[[Kusanagi's Sword] has been enhanced.]
It was an incredibly simple, bare-bones message. When Wakamo drew her sword to check it, it had [Mana Recovery Speed +50%] and, incredibly, a skill attached.
[Mythic Recreation][Cooldown: 30 days]
With a single swing, it creates a wind.
It can extinguish every flame.
She wondered where she was supposed to use something like this, but she could use it if a forest fire broke out somewhere, so whatever....
[[VTuber Asset]'s number of registrable assets has increased.]
[[VTuber Model]'s number of registrable models has increased.]
[[My Worlds] has been enhanced to the level of [Small Domain].]
The Tower really did give Wakamo only what she needed.
It seemed that Yu Ying and Sadako's rewards had also gone to Wakamo, but neither of them particularly minded.
Hadn't Wakamo lowered the difficulty for them and continued giving them her rewards until now? It would have been strange for them to get greedy here.
"Captain! What are you going to name that pheasant?"
"It's pretty...."
When Sadako asked while watching the pheasant—or rather, the Luan—peacefully accepting Ichigo's touch, Wakamo rubbed her chin.
"Nothing comes to mind, so shall we name it later?"
She let the matter pass and was about to call it Luan when China stabbed Wakamo with a knife.
So Wakamo decided to do exactly as she pleased.
She would beat up the cause of this whole mess: the [Collector].
※※※
Many tourists began disembarking from the ship that had crossed over from Korea.
Chinese civil servants, police officers, and even soldiers had come out to meet them.... An unusually large number of people had gathered, all tense and nervous.
They were only following orders from above, but they truly did not want to be there.
Soldiers pointed their weapons and cautiously approached the woman to inspect the luggage of the Climber who had crossed by ship.
A nonhuman being in an extraordinarily flamboyant red coat, with fox tails swaying behind her, was looking at them with an unpleasant glare.
"I'm going into China. Why should I need permission?"
Though she reacted as if their behavior had gone far beyond acceptable, she obediently submitted to the search and set down the [Imperial Seal of All Under Heaven] as her luggage.
The Climbers could check the item's information, so they could not help but flinch.
The item's effects were far more underwhelming than they had expected─but they mistakenly assumed they could not see the full information because they did not meet the conditions.
After all, there was no way the genuine article could have such insignificant effects!!
After confirming that the only item she had brought was that one, along with the luggage Manager Won Da-hye had brought─Wakamo blatantly ignored them when they said they would escort her immediately.
"Hohimi, come here."
When she called someone's name, a flamboyant bird fluttered down from the sky and landed on her forearm.
"Every single one of them has an unpleasant gaze. Should I gouge their eyes out?"
"Please bear with it."
"If it's your request, Manager, I suppose I have no choice."
She narrowed her eyes as though memorizing their faces, and they hurriedly lowered their heads.
It was an attitude unlike Wakamo's usual self. Naturally, she was acting.
She was making a reckless show of how displeased and angry she was right now. Since people kept treating her as Daji, she would really become Daji for them.
Of course, that did not mean she would actually carry out a mass slaughter like Daji.
She had told the manager in advance that she would act angry and asked the manager to play along.
The manager's expression suggested she thought this was Wakamo's true feelings, which was a little hurtful.
Wakamo tenderly picked up Yu Ying, who was about to walk, and carried her in her arms. Standing nearly 2.5 meters tall, the imposing giant led the way with confidence, forcing everyone to look up at her.
The Chinese Climbers and soldiers who worked for the government had been warned by the chairman to mind their attitudes so they would not dare defy the great nation.
But did that man really think he could win if he picked a fight with a monster like this?
'Hohimi is a monster, the younger sister of Daji....'
'Is it really wise to provoke this just because the [Collector] is displeased?'
The government officials trembled with worry, wondering whether this was not a monster that scattered factions would have to join forces to subjugate, rather than a mere figure of speech.
And in line with their concerns, Wakamo changed the destination on a whim, as though she intended to show them exactly what shamelessness meant.
"Yu Ying says she wants to eat something delicious, so we're going to a restaurant. Deal with it yourselves."
"O-Our chairman has summoned you. It's an important matter...."
"Is Sichuan over there? If we go down, that's Taiwan, right?"
It was a threat that if they acted unpleasantly to her face, she would simply go somewhere else.
It was an action that could easily cause enough political trouble to matter.
But no one dared consider resisting her.
What would they do if she really was Daji?
Everyone's life was precious to them.
=================================
I always receive AI assistance, but.
If I just draw it, it roughly looks like this.
For reference, the reason it looks unfinished is that my tablet died while I was drawing.
This is a little bonus illustration for readers; it took about 30 minutes....