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Three days passed after that livestream.

“Urgh…there’s a bunch of them again.” After school, Crim logged into the game and went to her office to check the guild’s inbox, letting out a groan after seeing it filled with requests.

Da’at noticed that, and her face began to cloud over with worry.
“I’m sorry… it’s all my fault.”

“Ah, not at all. You haven’t done anything wrong, and actually it’s thanks to you that our finances are recovering again.”

The livestream had been such an exceptional success that Crim almost wanted to squeal in happiness. The countless requests were the only downside, and Crim had spent the last few days politely turning down each of them.

“I’m still glad that Ryunosuke outlined our recruitment policies beforehand. Thanks to that, I have an easy excuse to turn down everyone without them holding a grudge.”

Ryunosuke had anticipated that Lua Cheia would eventually reach that point, so he had written an official announcement that the guild would not recruit any viewers, and only accept people they had interacted with in the past.

Thanks to that, Crim only had to write a short polite message turning everyone down, and send it in response to the piles of requests she was getting.

At the same time, that popularity was overall a positive thing. After the broadcast, many guilds began to approach Lua Cheia, either wanting to sightsee around the area, meet Adonis and Da’at, or simply form an alliance with Lua Cheia.

Crim pulled the curtain to the side a bit and watched what was happening outside. There were many boys holding wooden swords in the garden, who were the students of the school who had wanted to learn swordsmanship.

Teaching them were two men, Elohim, currently the butler of the castle who had once been a knight in the past, and another one who was mainly there as a sparring partner.

He was Elmir, the Guild Master of Silver Wings, which was the first guild that approached Lua Cheia to form an alliance.

Silver Wings did not have a territory to their name, and they mostly worked as freelancers. After the live stream, they decided they wanted to merge with Lua Cheia.

They were a group that Crim had met in the past, and had a rather friendly relationship with, so she accepted their request.

Something tells me he’s just trying to get closer to Da’at though…

She grimaced a little at the thought, which confused Da’at, who was oblivious to everything happening inside of Crim’s mind. Still, Crim felt like she could trust them more than a group of random strangers, and she was hoping to eventually assign them to guard the Howling Ogre Ridge.

Other than that, there were various other guilds she saw positively, so she agreed to form alliances with them, though they did not go as far as to merge with Lua Cheia.

There was no guarantee that an alliance would stop them from backstabbing Lua Cheia though, so Crim wanted to be careful with who she chose, remaining as safe as possible.

So once again, she focused on rejecting almost all of the requests she was getting, when two pairs of footsteps ran into the office.

“Master! Master! There’s an upcoming large-scale raid battle!!”
“We can fight a dragon! A huge dragon!!”

They were the youngest pair, Hinagiku and Lycoris, who sounded excited out of their minds.

Their abilities placed them as some of the most powerful players in the whole game, but their personalities still corresponded to their youthful age, where anything could make them excited.

The two girls brought a flier of the event starting the following week that everyone was talking about, the arrival of the Corrupted Dragon Fafnir.

But sadly for them, Crim had bad news involving that event.

“Oh…I’m sorry. We three Demon Lords were asked to rescind from participating in that event.”
“…Huh? Why?”

The two looked bewildered hearing Crim’s conflicted response.

“You see, they asked us to instead watch everyone in an instigating manner from a high position. It’s not forceful, but they said they’d really like us to stand above everyone and laugh in a mocking way.”

When they heard about that, Sorleon and Shao were also confused. But that request was also bundled with an enormous bribe in Points, showing how desperate management was to keep the three Demon Lords out of the event, so the three accepted that payment.

There were also all the rumors floating around about the winner of the event gaining the title of Hero, which would stand opposite to the Demon Lords. When the three of them discussed the matter, they arrived at the conclusion that management was keeping them away for that reason as well.

“Instead, we’ve been granted a magnificent vantage point, none other than the rooftop of Wyndham’s Central Tower. That place which is usually off-limits will be accessible to us to watch the event unfold.”

“I… I’d like to see the view from there.” When Crim was done explaining, Lycoris seemed interested in that as well, as she was fond of high places.

There was a small hill in the middle of Wyndham, and on top of it a tower had been built. But that area was usually closed off from players. All of Wyndham was visible at a glance from atop the tower, and it was rare for someone to be able to experience that.

“Frey and Freya already agreed to go there with me.”

Those two were also planning something more, so they were currently away, consulting with Adonis and Elohim. Crim had tried to learn what they were doing, but they refused to tell her.

The newest members, Jade, Sara, and Kasumi, all had less fighting experience than the rest, so they wanted to fight the dragon. So Crim would allow everyone else to decide on their own.

“I’m going to fight the dragon!!”
“Mhm, I’m sure you’ll do great, Hinagiku. Good luck.”

Hinagiku was more of an adrenaline junkie, so she made her decision instantly. She had recently obtained a new Skill, named Anti Large-Size Enemy Form, so she was itching to give it a try too. Seeing her excitement made Crim chuckle a little.

On the other hand…

“I’ll… Hmmm, I’m not sure yet.” Lycoris was interested in both participating in such a large event and being able to get a rare view, so she struggled to make up her mind for a bit.

“Whether you participate or not, just make sure you won’t regret your decision. There’s still time to think about it.”
“Mm, okay.”
“Got itt!”

That was all Crim could do for them, and both gave energetic replies before leaving.

Afterword:
There’s also other Alternate Forms, [Cryo Form] and [Full Moon Form].