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After what felt like an eternity, homeroom was over and the students entered their first break.

“Say, Mitsuki, do you have any hobbies?”
“Well, sometimes I play some games…”
“Ohh, I see. I guess it makes sense since you can’t go out much…’
“Ah… Yes, that’s basically it.”

Unsurprisingly, all the girls surrounded Kou and began showering her with questions.

“Sooo, do you have anything to eat for lunch today?”
“Well, I brought a lunchbox actually, so I’ll be alright. I usually pack lunches for my parents too.”
“…You can cook?!”
“Hya?! Y-Yes, kinda… I guess I’m decent for a student.”
“It’s actually amazing that you’re making them for your parents too. You’re such a good girl.”

Kou was starting to get really flustered, not used to being surrounded by so many curious girls. Eventually…

“Umm…Mitsuki? Can I touch your hair? I’ve been trying to hold back for a while and…”
“Huh? Sure…”

One of the girls asked that, looking like she was at her limit, and Kou instinctively said yes. Then again, in the worst case scenario, hair would simply grow back, so Kou did not feel like she had anything to worry about.

“It would’ve been alright if you said no… But if you don’t mind, then thank you!” Saying that, the girl hesitantly reached out to Kou’s hair, carrying up some strands which then slid off her fingers one after another.

“Ohhhhh…” Somehow the girl seemed really impressed by Kou’s hair, who was a bit confused, as she knew that it was soft, but did not think it merited such a strong reaction.

“Incredible, it’s so smooth… How do you get it to be like this?”
“I…I dunno..?”

That was no lie, as every day Hijiri would storm into the bathroom to take care of Kou’s hair for her. But there was no way Kou would ever admit to that, so she just gave a vague reply.

“Ah, can I touch it too?!”
“Huh? S-Sure…”
“And me next!”
“Can I pat your head too?!”

For some reason the other girls got excited to try too, carefully touching her hair, and then letting out sighs of jealousy.

“Hey, can I-”
“””No boys!”””
“Hyah?!”

The moment one of the boys of the class approached them, all of the girls instantly swarmed Kou as if protecting her. Feeling the scent and softness of girls everywhere she turned, Kou’s face started to turn red.

But there was something else in her mind. For some reason, they always spoke more softly to her, and acted extremely protective, just like at that moment, so a certain thought became rooted in her mind.

Is it me, or are they treating me like a little girl?

Kou began to doubt whether her classmates actually realized that they were all the same age in the classroom. Meanwhile, the boy who had just been barked at by the girls went away. If Kou’s memory of her classmates served, that was Soma from the volleyball club.

He clicked his tongue and seemed slightly miffed, but it mostly looked like he was just joking around. Once he was back at his seat, he said, “I really thought it’d work,” which made one of his friends laugh and reply with, “What made you think that?”

Realizing that Soma had likely planned everything to play out that way, Kou laughed a bit. Then the rest of their lessons came and went without issue, and school was over for the day.

“Umm, Mitsuki… There’s something I’d like to ask…”

Kou, and the twins accompanying her, tilted their heads, wondering what the class president wanted from them.

That night in the Starting City Wyndham, in the park with a fountain where Crim and Sorleon dueled during the tournament…

“Ohh, I was right! You’re Crim-chan! I can’t believe I’m seeing Crim-chan in the flesh!”
“Why dost thou address me with such a tacky name…”

A human character with green hair parted into two braids exclaimed that, her eyes glistening as she looked at Crim. Her player name was Kasumi, belonging to the class president.

Her request was to join Crim’s guild. Lua Cheia did not have any hard requirements to join, and they were not closed to new members either, so they welcomed her in without much fuss.

So Crim and Frey went to meet her in the Starting City. Somewhat shockingly, she turned out to be a warrior girl wielding a spear.

“Heh, I didn’t expect to see you with a spear, prez.”
“Oh, yeah, I mean, I’m part of the naginata club at school…”
“Ahh, I see. That makes sense, now that you mention it.”

Knowing that explained why it looked like she fit next to a spear so well.

After greeting each other, they added each other as friends and sent her an invitation to join the guild.

“It still feels so surreal though. I never expected that I’d be classmates with one of the Demon Lords.”
“Well, I could say the same… Who would’ve thought our class president played the same game as me.”
“I kinda tried to keep it secret so…”
“Do you think there could be other classmates who also play then?”
“Hmmm… I haven’t heard of anyone else, but considering the new server and all, there might be some who just started, we just haven’t heard about it yet.”
“I see, that makes sense.”

There was also the fact that Lua Cheia had not streamed in a while, as they were busy farming Skill Points and enhancing their territory, so new players would not know about Crim yet.

Otherwise, they would have also let out shocked voices like the class president that morning.

“You look identical to how you look in real life though, doesn’t it get hard to speak differently here?”
“W-Well, ’tis a habit I’ve grown accustomed to, and shedding it now proves not as easy…”

She had gotten so used to the persona of Crim Lua Cheia in this world that trying to act normally felt weird now. It was only hard to keep role playing when around people who knew her in real life, but that was something she felt was irrelevant now.

“Also, prez, about this…”
“Don’t worry Subaru… I mean Frey, my lips are sealed shut. At school we also get drilled about not spreading personal info about others online anyway.”
“You’re right… The regulations also keep getting stricter about that every year.”

When Frey raised that concern, Kasumi instantly agreed to keep it secret.

More than 90% of the population used NLDs in modern society, so the spread of intimate information online became a major concern, leading to regulation and penalization of such actions even before Kou was born.

So as Frey had mentioned, there were strict rules and harsh punishments around the reckless spread of personal information online.

After they accepted each other’s friend requests, Kasumi suggested they go hunt outside the city for a bit, and so they left together.

“Oh yeah, have you heard of the ‘Hero’ everyone’s been talking about around Wyndham, Demon Lord?”
“A… Hero?”

Crim was a bit puzzled hearing what Kasumi mentioned.

Usually that was not a title many appreciated in online games, as usually it was a sarcastic nickname given to selfish and cocky players who just acted as they wanted without caring about others.

But soon enough, Crim would realize that was not the case this time.

“It’s not someone referred to as such in the slang way, is it?”
“No. Lately there have been some weird and strong monsters spawning all around the Starting City area.”
“”Weird monsters?””

Crim and Frey asked the question at the same time, tilting their heads in confusion.

“Yeah, they always spawn somewhere around here. They’re these monsters with some creepy vine-like black mark all over them, and they’re crazy crazy strong!”
“That’s a bit…”
“That doesn’t sound good…”

They were probably part of some event, considering they were spawning so close to the starting area, but it still sounded rather harsh for new players.

“That’s why some players volunteered to come back from other areas to help out the newbies, and they started telling some weird stories when they came back from patrolling the area.”
“Weird stories?”
“Yeah, apparently from time to time, there’s someone with a strange sword that shows up to kill those monsters.”
“Huh… What’s strange about this sword of his?”

Crim was especially intrigued by that part.

“Well, apparently it’s a sword with a red blade, and when it hits the enemies, the weird marks disappear and they become weak.”
“…A red sword?”

That instantly made them think of the Red Lion Emperor’s Twelve Blades.

“…It couldn’t be, right?”
“What’s wrong, Demon Lord?”
“It’s nothing, thanks for sharing that with us.”

While Crim said that, it was clear that she was intrigued by it all, a certain hunch starting to take form in a corner of her mind…