I Became a Raid Boss

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“It’s so unfair.”

“The one who got pummeled, the poor sandbag, should be the one saying it.”

“….”

I couldn’t retort against Yuki’s words and merely pouted my lips.

After all, I was the one who had caused the mess.

“When will they clean that up again…?”

“….”

Yuki seemed skeptical, but I was not lying when I said it was a mistake.

I originally just wanted to show off my mana, but I suddenly had this thought.

‘Can people really believe what I say?’

Even Da-eun, who has been my closest friend, took a long time to get on board.

And that was even with Edel around back then.

‘…Is it because we were too close to each other that she couldn’t believe me?’

I wouldn’t know, but even if that assumption is true, I didn’t think someone who didn’t know me at all would easily believe my words.

What would be solid evidence to convince them…?

If I were acting like my usual self, I would just tell them to believe whatever they want and not care.

It was frustrating that I couldn’t go with that plan, but while I pondered, a recent incident came to mind.

The surprise visit to the gymnasium…

‘…What was the name again?’

Dae-hyun, maybe? That sounded about right.

Anyway, he couldn’t believe what I said at first, but by the time he left, he accepted it.

How did I get him to believe me?

Recalling that wasn’t hard.

‘That method might work.’

I had a solid success story, so why bother trying something else?

…That was when I showcased my strength.

Not thinking of Yuki during that process was a blunder.

‘…Still.’

I turned my gaze from Yuki, who was looking at the sandbag corpse with a troubled expression, to the chat window.

The chat was scrolling up rapidly.

There were similar and different comments, but the emotions behind their words were largely the same.

Shock, and then doubt.

‘I guess it makes sense that it’s not as effective since they didn’t see it firsthand.’

I understood, but it was also a hassle.

I wished they could just accept it right away, but since they couldn’t, there was no helping it.

*Swoosh—*

“You’re not thinking of doing that again, are you?”

“…No way.”

Hearing the sound of my sword being unsheathed, Yuki shot me a sharp look.

That was a real mistake, I tell you.

I wasn’t stupid enough to make the same mistake twice… or rather, three times.

So what should I do now?

“How about showing something flashy?”

Da-eun, who had come up beside me, whispered.

“I already showed that, didn’t I?”

“Well… to be precise, it was more like a neat technique, right? A swift slice and a whoosh.”

“…Whoosh? Slicing?”

The onomatopoeia felt quite cheap, but I got the message.

In short, it was so clean that there was nothing to see.

And that wasn’t helping since they hadn’t directly witnessed it like I initially thought.

“What about a sword dance or something? Isn’t that flashy enough?”

“Sword dance?”

I was momentarily flabbergasted, then my eyes widened.

“I know Joanie likes martial arts, but you haven’t forgotten I’m a knight, right?”

“N-No way! I’ve never thought, ‘Wasn’t she just a mascot instead of the leader?’”

“Is that a confession?”

“Gasp…!”

Well, it isn’t wrong.

Having this appearance as a knight, especially as a knight commander, is not convincing at all, I know that.

A number of nobles I met for the first time muttered, “This kid is a knight?”

But that doesn’t change my past.

At least in Grasis, there’s no culture or tradition of knights dancing around with swords.

Da-eun, who had been dodging my gaze, suddenly gasped.

“Remember that thing you showed us before? The one you used to fight the dimensional beings when we traveled? Was it called ‘Ascension’? That was super flashy.”

“Well, it might be flashier, but am I supposed to use it here?”

“Huh? Is that a no?”

“Does Joanie have a lot of money?”

“W-Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

Da-eun looked bewildered at my sudden inquiry about her finances.

“Honestly, I have a decent amount, but why?”

“If it’s enough to build a gym, then maybe I’ll give it a try.”

Of course, there were ceremonial sword techniques in Grasis.

But those focused on display rather than practicality.

However, the techniques I crafted were leagues away from ceremonial swordplay.

Each technique had its unique purpose, but ultimately, they all aimed to silence the enemy.

Even ‘Ascension,’ as Da-eun just mentioned, was no different.

If anything, it pushed the boundaries further.

“Indeed, I really should conserve my funds.”

Upon understanding what I meant, Da-eun took a step back.

“Something flashy…”

Should I really show them ceremonial swordplay, though?

I’d rather not…

It feels like I’d be brought down to their level, who don’t even match my strength but prance around with arrogance like the Royal Knights.

“Ah, right.”

Something that’s adequately flashy yet won’t cause unnecessary harm.

As I pondered, I slammed my palm down into a fist.

To ease Yuki, who looked at me nervously, I nodded and summoned my mana.

While I despised the Empire’s sage, my experience fighting with him definitely helped me.

It all started when I attempted to capture him, who danced around in space.

In the end, he even sacrificed his own life to grant me some insight.

‘That said, I’m not going to glorify that encounter now.’

He’s the one who killed my dad; there’s no way I’d praise him.

They say you grow faster if you have a rival of similar skill.

That’s simply what I meant regarding him playing that role for me.

The difference is that rather than exchanging positive rivalry, I merely thought about killing him every time.

“Like this…”

Stopping my thoughts, I released the mana I had gathered.

Mana is the energy that forms the world.

Put simply, it’s the force to manipulate the world.

So, in this fashion.

Crunch!

As I clenched my fist, the distant space crumpled.

It looked like a picture drawn on a canvas being crumpled up.

If there were objects or people nearby, they would’ve been squashed to such an extent that their original form would be unrecognizable.

If my prowess was higher, I might have been able to maintain that indefinitely.

Unfortunately, the control of the administrator was vastly more superior, and the moment I opened my hand, the crumpled space reverted back to normal.

It wouldn’t cause any issues passing through, but just in case, I checked again and then turned to Da-eun.

“Is this flashy enough?”

Da-eun replied,

“…Yeah.”

She looked strangely subdued, making me tilt my head.

I didn’t understand why she looked like that, but her affirmation meant it was flashy, right?

Then that’s good.

* * *

After the two demonstrations, the questions flooding the chatroom had significantly reduced.

The reason they could assess it just from reading the text was that the hooked symbols at the end of sentences had clearly diminished.

Fortunately, it seemed there was no need to show anything else.

There were still mentions of CG and editing, but I never intended to convince everyone from the start.

For them, it was something hard to believe, and some might even deny it for fun…

Thus, my overall goal was to persuade the majority while also creating a buzz, and that objective was splendidly accomplished.

-Honestly, I still can’t believe it…

-But there’s no choice but to believe it…

-For real, lol

-Ugh, if I don’t want my head to explode, I have to believe it, lol

-Oh, then if I don’t believe, can I meet Kana?

-Huh?

-That sounds tempting.

-Please value your life…!

“…I won’t kill you.”

I’m not some sadistic killer, I wouldn’t just off someone because I took a disliking to them.

My grumpy reply painted smiles across the chat.

-So cute, lol

-Aww, is little Kana sulking?

-Hmph! Baby Kana is sulking!

-Lmao I really want to pinch her cheeks!

-The upper folks are still gonna tease after that, huh?

-We weren’t even attacking you, so what’s the big deal?

-For real, don’t we even have any reason to be scared since you even saved us?

“…”

I silently observed the climbing chat.

…Their reactions were surprisingly favorable.

I thought they’d look at it negatively since I interrupted their everyday lives, or at the very least not give it a second thought, but I didn’t expect them to be this friendly.

Da-eun, tilting her head at me, said,

“Of course! Didn’t I tell you last time? My viewers like Kana.”

Furthermore, since the subscribers were fans of the streamer, they likely shared similar inclinations.

That was Da-eun’s explanation, and hearing it left me slightly aghast.

“…Are you saying I share similarities with you?”

…That’s a bit unsettling.

As I glanced at the chat, a horde of disgruntled individuals rose up.

-What? Us?

-No, no, no, no!

-Don’t cross the line, okay? ^^

-Joanie? Who’s that?

-Woof woof! Grrr! Woof!

-Lol, they really thought they were friends just because I played with them.

It seemed this side had quite a bit of dissatisfaction as well.

However, despite their grievances, I figured out what Da-eun meant.

Their friendly banter resembled Da-eun’s usual playful vibe quite closely.

But if I were to say something like this, not only would the viewers get noisy, but so would Da-eun.

Having quickly assessed the situation, I decided to change the topic.

“Looks like they’re somewhat convinced, so let’s move on to the next topic.”

The preliminary work sure took a long time.

But at last, I could finally get to the main point.

“How can an NPC from ‘Silia Online’ possibly be here on Earth?”

This was currently the hottest topic of conversation.

As I bluntly brought it up, the viewers began to murmur again.

I had waited for the noise to die down earlier, but this time I wasn’t going to do that.

“And why is it that someone who was supposed to be dead is walking around like nothing happened? These two questions are the most intriguing, right?”

I was starting to get annoyed, and if I let them wait individually, it would drag on endlessly.

If they had similar traits to Da-eun, I was sure they would do just that.

“To cut to the chase… yeah. I was dead.”

Even if I was called a master, at the core, I’m still human.

Getting my heart pierced and still being alive would mean I’m something other than human.

Without a myriad of factors aligning, I likely would have died the instant my heart was penetrated.

So, up until this point, that was the truth.

“…And then I came back to life.”

The next thing I’m about to say is a lie.

To be more precise, it’s a clever mix of truth and lies—

Yeah, one could call it a little white lie.

 

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