Leave a comment

Many days passed by in the blink of an eye after the guild was formed.

“I have a proposal for all of you.”

It was night already, and they were all gathered in their guild house’s living room. Some were resting from their training during the day, others discussing the strategy and formations they could use, when all of a sudden Ryunosuke raised his hand and spoke loudly.

“Hm? What is it, Ryunosuke?”
“Do you remember the other announcements that came when the territory registration system came out? Namely being able to broadcast live streams, and gain popularity points necessary to grow a guild.”
“Well, yeah. The official channel keeps pumping out videos all the time from those too.”
“Exactly. And I think it’s about time we start doing that too, we have a bunch of unique and quirky members, so we’re bound to stand out.”
“Yeah… I can see that.”

It was a strange coincidence, but most of the guild’s members came from rare or unique species, giving them a striking visual appeal.

Crim also felt like there was a lot of untapped potential there, but live streaming and recording videos were foreign concepts to her, so she never felt comfortable suggesting anything about it

“And in that vein, I’d also like to know who you think the member with the most visual appeal is as well ”

Visual appeal… Hinagiku and Lycoris are definitely on the cute and innocent side, but when it comes to overall appeal I’d say Freya has the most.

Crim took the question seriously, going over each of the guild’s female members, with Freya standing out the most. She had silky blonde hair, bewitching green eyes like emerald, adorned with perfectly shaped long eyelashes, a delicate nose and lips of an alluring pink color. And while possessing glamorous proportions, her body still retained a certain modesty.

That settled it, so Crim raised her face ready to appoint Freya as her choice.

“…Huh?”

Everyone was looking at her. They all had chosen Crim as the member with the most visual appeal.

“No…no way…no… Why me?!”
“It should be obvious. You’re already so popular you have your own dedicated thread in the forums.”
“You know~ I just think Crim is the fairest of them all.”
“I think so too!”
“Umm…me too…”

Everyone was in unanimous agreement. Crim’s creek began to twitch nervously, unable to resist the avid looks from everyone.

“Yes! She’s extremely cute, like a muse of legends! But…how do I put this, her tone, nay, her whole character is non-existent!!”
“Hoo-kay old man…stay where you are and don’t move a muscle.”

Saying that, Crim took out her throwing knife with an enchantment that stopped it from dealing any critical strikes, which she had bought to use as a comedic prop, and finally had a chance of being used.

Ryunosuke looked at her for a moment, then continued talking to everyone.

“By the way, this is the guild master of Nord Glacier, currently touted as the strongest guild!”

Saying that, he showed everyone a floating window where a video was playing.

‘Fame..? I’ve never cared about such things, I just live to see my opponents grovel at my feet, showing them who the strongest one is.’

That was an excerpt from the impromptu interviews with the biggest guilds.

In it, a familiar young man with silver hair and horns was talking. He claimed to not be interested in being famous, and yet he looked straight into the camera with a defiant pose, and even kept adjusting his hair as the interview went on.

It’s the same guy with black clothes I met the other day.

There was such a stark difference in his attitude that it took Crim a solid second to remember where she had seen him before. Something about his relentless confidence seemed almost humorous though.

Then there was his exceedingly handsome appearance that looked almost artificial, which made Crim, Frey, and Ryunosuke feel irritated and want to punch him in the face.

Freya was smiling like always, so it was impossible to tell what she was thinking, but the other girls of the guild, Hinagiku and Lycoris, were still young and impressionable, and they just stared at the window with dreamy eyes. The power of hot boys was terrifying.

All hot boys should just keel over and die.

Without letting it show on her face, Crim muttered that in her mind.

“So…they’re throwing away their shame for fame…or I guess popularity? So that’s what the other guilds have been up to!”
“Yes…”

Crim’s competitive spirit was quickly tickled by that, and she looked almost too ready to fight back.

“By the way…just in case, when creating such a public persona, showing competence isn’t the important part. Or well, it can help, but it’s best to not worry about being a good fighter, or a good singer, or anything like that. Instead…”
“What’s more important then?”
“Right, what’s more important, is… Having an obvious defect!”
“A defect?”
“Yes, watching a perfect superhuman gets boring fast. But watching someone full of defects and incompetence gets annoying. So you need to strike a balance! An audience loves stupid quirks that pop up every so often!”

Ryunosuke became more excited as his lesson continued. Crim just listened, slightly taken aback since he had never behaved that way before.

“Hey Crim, try reading this for example.”

Saying that, Frey passed over an open book to Crim. Without thinking much of it, Crim accepted it and looked at the first page.

“Huh, what’s this Frey? Umm… In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light…wait, HYAAAAAAAHHHH?!”

By reflex she threw the book to the floor.

“You little…Frey… you little..?!”

That book, known as the best-selling publication in the entire world, instilled terror into Crim, who shook violently as all color drained from her face, leaving her staring at it vacantly..

The convulsions were so strong that she could not even insult Frey properly, her twitching clear even through her robe. And seeing that…

“That was an even stronger reaction than I expected…”
“Just apologize properly later, alright?”

Frey and Ryunosuke whispered to each other, though they did feel a bit of guilt.

It was getting late at night, so Hinagiku and Lycoris logged out, followed shortly after by Freya, who usually struggled with staying up. The rest remained there, constantly coming up with ideas and shooting them down quickly after.

“I was thinking of just trying to act more masculine…”
“To be honest that wouldn’t work for too long, it’s too much of a mismatch for your adorable appearance.”
“Hey! Who are you calling adorable!”
“I guess the most fitting option would be the sickly beauty trope? Considering what she looks like now.”
“What did you say? There’s no way in hell I’m doing that s̲h̲i̲t̲.”
“Aaand there’s the problem.”

All that arguing was starting to push Crim to the brink of tears, not wanting to budge from her position.

“So what I’m gathering is that you don’t really like talking or behaving in a girly way.”
“Yeah, I’m really not made to act weak.”
“Then…I have the perfect idea.”
“I have a really bad feeling about this…but tell me.”
“How about…a wizened loli!”

There was a long silence.

“…Okay, we’ll go with that then.”
“Wait, waitwaitwaitwaitwait?!”

Crim raised her hands in resistance and tried to pull back, while Ryunosuke tried to keep her there and calm down.

“I don’t wanna! Or rather, why are you trying to make a middle school girl do something like that, old man!!”
“No no no no, I just thought it’d be better than going for the rich young lady trope!”
“Both are just as bad for me!!”

Crim shouted as loudly as she could, resisting with all her might and almost out of breath from the scuffle. Though thinking about it more, she realized that option would indeed sound less feminine than the alternatives.

“C’mon Crim, just give it a try. Imagine you’re answering to the disgust…erm, revolting guy from the video.”
“Okay… Also Frey, that correction didn’t make it any better.”

Being pressured by the two, Crim sighed and decided to give in…just one time.

“I guess I have no choice… Ahh- ahem…”

After coughing and clearing her throat a few times, Crim tried to picture the wizened loli that would be the most obnoxious. And eventually she thought of something. She had mixed feelings for drawing inspiration from a relative like that, but she could not think of anyone else who fit the bill.

“Keh heh heh, oh how deluded thine words ring… I, the almighty Crim Lua Cheia, shall defeat ye in battle, and use thy blood to ink my name as the one true strongest! And carve it into thy body! Thou’rt nothing but a pig! Yes! I shall let the world know thy true place!!”

Crim crossed her arms, puffed her chest, and held her chin up to better turn her eyes down, shouting with derision. In a way… that seemed to fit just perfectly.

“Yes, that’s it, Crim. That’s the savage little girl I was looking for!”
“Mhm, it was perfect. I actually had to hold myself back from punching you halfway through, it’s exactly what we needed!”
“You need psychiatric help if you think you’re complimenting me by saying that!!”

The excited compliments(?) from Ryunosuke and Frey finally pushed Crim over the edge, her eyes teary as she flung two throwing knives, which lodged themselves firmly between their eyes.