Chapter 223
“…I’m the one who’s feeling wronged.”
“The one who should be saying that is the sandbag that got killed by you.”
“…”
I couldn’t bring myself to argue with Yuki’s words and just pouted.
After all, I was the one who messed up.
“When am I supposed to clean that up now…”
“…”
Yuki didn’t seem convinced, but I wasn’t lying when I said it was an accident.
I only meant to show them my mana, but suddenly a thought popped into my head.
‘Will people really believe what I say?’
Even Da-eun, who’s closest to me, took quite a while to believe it.
And that was when Edel was with us, too.
‘…Or maybe it was because we’re too close?’
I’m not sure, but even if that’s true, I didn’t think a complete stranger would believe me so easily.
What would be solid enough proof to convince everyone…?
If it were the old me, I would’ve just said, “Believe what you want,” and ignored it.
But I couldn’t do that now, and that was frustrating.
While I was deep in thought, I remembered something that happened recently.
When someone suddenly showed up at the gym…
‘…What was his name again?’
Was it Do-hyun?
I think it was something like that.
Anyway, when he first heard it, he didn’t believe me either, but by the time he left, he had accepted what I said.
How did I convince him again?
It wasn’t hard to recall.
‘That method should work.’
If I already had a successful case, there was no reason to try something else, right?
…That’s the kind of thought process that led me to demonstrate my strength.
Not considering Yuki in that process was a misstep.
‘…Still.’
I averted my eyes from Yuki, who was staring at the dead sandbag with a complicated look, and glanced at the chat.
The messages were flying up rapidly.
Some were saying the same thing, some different, but their feelings were mostly the same.
Shock, and disbelief.
‘Is it because they didn’t see it up close? The impact seems a bit lacking.’
I get it, but it was still a bit annoying.
It would’ve been nice if they just understood right away, but since they didn’t believe me, I had no choice.
Srrrng—
“You’re not thinking of doing it again, are you?”
“…Of course not.”
Yuki shot me a sharp look as soon as she heard the sound of me drawing my sword.
That was a genuine mistake, I swear.
I’m not stupid enough to repeat the same mistake twice—no, three times.
Then what would be the best way to go about this?
“How about showing them something flashy?”
Da-eun whispered, having appeared by my side at some point.
“I already did.”
“Hmm… Well, strictly speaking, that was more simple than flashy, right? It was like shhk, and slice—.”
“…Shhk? Slice—?”
Pretty cheap sound effects, but I got what she meant.
In short, it was so clean and quick that there wasn’t much to see.
And like I thought earlier, not seeing it up close probably played a part too.
“Do you have something like a sword dance? Anything like that?”
“Sword dance?”
I blinked in confusion for a moment, then narrowed my eyes at her.
“…I know you like wuxia, Joanie, but don’t tell me you forgot I was a knight?”
“…O-of course not! I’ve never once thought you were more of a mascot than a real commander!”
“Was that a confession?”
“Gasp…!”
…Well, yeah.
Even I know that saying I was a knight—let alone a commander—with this appearance lacks credibility.
Plenty of nobles I met for the first time said things like, “This little girl is a knight?”
But that doesn’t change my past.
At least in Grasis, there was no tradition or culture of dancing with swords.
While dodging my gaze, Da-eun suddenly went “Ah!” and gasped.
“You know that thing you did before? The one you used when we fought the Dimensional Creature on our trip? Wasn’t it called ‘Ascension’? What about that one? That was super flashy.”
“…That one’s definitely flashier, but you want me to use it here?”
“Eh? Can’t you?”
“Is Joanie rich?”
“…What kind of question is that all of a sudden?”
Da-eun blinked in confusion, then answered.
“To be honest, I’m not poor. Why?”
“If she has enough money to build a whole gym, then I’ll consider it.”
Grasis did have ceremonial sword styles.
Techniques meant for show rather than actual combat.
But the sword style I created was far from that.
Each technique had its own meaning, sure, but the goal was always the same—to silence the enemy.
And the “Ascension” Da-eun just mentioned was no different.
If anything, it was even more extreme.
“…I really should be more frugal.”
Da-eun took a step back, understanding what I meant.
“Something flashy…”
Should I really show them ceremonial swordplay?
I really didn’t want to…
It’d make me feel like one of those pompous royal knights who weren’t even stronger than me.
“Ah, that’s right.”
Something flashy, but not enough to cause damage nearby.
After some thought, I struck my open palm with a fist.
I nodded at Yuki, who was watching me nervously, to reassure her, and then drew up my mana.
I hated the Sage of the Empire, but I had to admit—my fight with him had definitely helped me grow.
Even the part about manipulating space—I started attempting that just to catch him when he kept flitting away across dimensions.
He even burned his own life in the end to give me that final insight, didn’t he?
‘Not that I’m about to glorify him now.’
He killed my father—why the hell would I acknowledge him positively?
They say if you have a rival with similar skill, you improve faster.
I just meant he happened to fill that role for me.
The difference was, instead of friendly rivalry, I wanted to kill him—without fail.
“This is how…”
I cut off my thoughts and released the mana I had gathered.
Mana is the energy that makes up the world.
In other words, it’s the power to manipulate the world itself.
So, like this—
Crunch!
As I clenched my fist, the space in the distance crumpled.
It was like a picture painted on canvas being wrinkled up along with the paper.
If there had been anything or anyone there, they would’ve been crushed and unrecognizable.
If my level had been higher, I could’ve sustained it indefinitely.
Unfortunately, the Administrator’s control power far surpassed my current level, so the moment I opened my hand, the wrinkled space returned to normal.
Nothing dangerous would remain, but just in case, I checked again before looking back at Da-eun.
“Was that flashy enough?”
Da-eun responded.
“…Yeah.”
She looked oddly timid, so I tilted my head.
I didn’t know why she looked like that, but she said it was flashy—so that’s good enough.
***
After the second demonstration, the doubts in the chat dropped noticeably.
I could tell just by looking at the flood of text—there were far fewer hook-shaped punctuation marks at the ends of sentences.
Luckily, it didn’t seem like I needed to show anything more.
There were still some saying it was CG or editing, but I never planned to convince everyone from the start.
It’s hard for some people to believe, and some just deny for the fun of it.
So my goal was simply to convince more than half and shift the mood—and I’d done that well.
—I still don’t believe it, honestly…
—But I have no choice but to believe…
—For real lol
—Like, if you don’t wanna lose your brain, you better believe this lol
—Wait, does that mean if I don’t believe, I might get to meet Kana?
—Huh?
—Tempting…
—Please… value your life…!
“…I’m not gonna kill you.”
It’s not like I’m some serial killer—I wouldn’t kill just because I’m annoyed.
I said it with a slight pout, and laughter filled the chat.
—So cute lol
—Aww, Kana got pouty?
—Hmph! Baby Kana got all huffy!
—Ahaha I wanna pinch those cheeks
—Yo, y’all saw what she just did and still wanna tease her? lol
—What? It’s not like she attacked us
—Yeah and she even saved us, so what’s there to be scared of
“…”
I silently watched the chat scroll by.
…They’re more receptive than I thought.
I assumed they’d be negative since I disrupted their daily lives, or just indifferent—I didn’t expect goodwill.
Da-eun spoke to me, tilting her head.
“Well, of course. Didn’t I tell you before? My viewers really like Kana.”
And subscribers, since they pay because they like the streamer, naturally have similar personalities.
That was Da-eun’s explanation, and when I heard it, I grimaced slightly.
“…They’re like you?”
…That part I don’t like.
As I glanced at the chat, the outraged crowd immediately rose up.
—Excuse me? Us???
—Nonononononono
—Hey! That’s uncalled for ^^
—Joanie? Who’s that? Never heard of her
—Bark! Grr! Woof!
—Lmao, she really thinks we’re friends now
Looks like they’ve got plenty of complaints too.
But even with their complaints, I think I understood what Da-eun meant.
Their chat style really did resemble the way Da-eun jokes around.
Still, if I said that out loud, both the viewers and Da-eun would get all noisy.
So I quickly assessed the situation and changed the topic.
“Since it looks like they mostly believe now, I’ll move on.”
Man, that setup took forever.
But finally, I could get to the main point.
“How can an NPC from a game called ‘Silia Online’ exist on Earth?”
The hottest topic right now.
The moment I said it outright, the viewers started murmuring again.
Earlier I waited for them to quiet down—but not this time.
“And how can someone who died be alive again? Those are the two biggest questions, right?”
To be honest, I was getting tired of this.
If I waited for each person, it’d never end—I’d be dragged into it forever.
And if they’re like Da-eun, they definitely would.
“To cut to the chase… yeah. I died.”
Even a Master is human at the core.
If your heart is pierced and you survive, you’re not a human anymore.
If not for several overlapping factors, I would’ve died the moment my heart was run through.
So up to this point, I was telling the truth.
“…And then I came back to life.”
What I was about to say next—was a lie.
Or more precisely, a mix of truth and falsehood—
Yeah. Let’s just call it a small lie.
—
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