Ch.122The Armband Conscription. (2)

“I use the nickname ‘Arcadia,’ I’m ranked 4th… and I lead the clan ‘Justice.'”

The female ranker with typical silver-haired model appearance didn’t seem to care about Betelgeuse’s piercing gaze that fixed on her the moment she mentioned her clan.

After looking around, she fixed her gaze on me and gave me a welcoming gesture.

I was puzzled by Arcadia’s reaction, wondering why she would respond to me like that.

“Nickname ‘Menaldo,’ 10th place.”

The male ranker with a furry appearance who had been showing off earlier.

He apparently had nothing else to say and wasn’t affiliated with any clan.

After just stating his ranking, he maintained his silence.

“I use the nickname ‘Shaolin Monk,’ and I barely managed to hit 8th place.”

The bald middle-aged man who briefly became a topic in the gallery for scoring the peculiar 1,000,001 points.

Seeing his appearance that matched his nickname, I and most of the other rankers nodded in agreement.

“…Laura, 5th place.”

This one had an appearance that made it impossible to determine whether they were male or female.

Their physical appearance made it absolutely impossible to distinguish their gender, causing me and the Indefatigable beside me, as well as other rankers, to tilt our heads in confusion when looking at the ranker named Laura.

“I’m Betelgeuse, 6th place and leader of the Loki clan!”

No need to mention anything about Betelgeuse, so I’ll pass.

However, she seemed to have judged the current situation as an information gathering opportunity.

Despite bouncing around energetically, she focused intently whenever other rankers spoke.

Of course, whenever she looked at me, she immediately gritted her teeth with veins popping on her face, but that’s another matter.

“I’m Arto, I lead the clan ‘Dragon’ and my ranking is 9th.”

The 9th ranker who spoke in a very calm tone was, how should I put it…

Somehow strangely lacking in presence.

And with that, according to the table order, it was my turn next.

Like everyone else, I adjusted my posture slightly and began to speak.

“My nickname is Icarus, ranked 3rd… and I don’t have a clan.”

Of course, after my introduction, there wasn’t any particular response.

Even when others introduced themselves, people only ‘reacted’ without saying anything.

The only difference was…

-Grind.

Unlike the others who reacted similarly to each introduction,

Besides Betelgeuse grinding her teeth while looking at me,

For some reason, Arcadia, the silver-haired beauty, smiled brightly after hearing my introduction.

It gave me a somewhat, somewhat, somewhat subtle feeling.

And as soon as my introduction ended, the next person stood up for their turn, but…

“Second place.”

“You’re the 2nd ranker?”

“I can tell just by looking.”

“Definitely 2nd place.”

“How can a person look like that?”

“Please don’t come near me, it’s disgusting, 2nd place Raksha.”

“I’m genuinely curious why you chose such an appearance.”

“…”

As soon as they stood up, all the rankers except me and one other person responded in unison.

The face of the 2nd ranked player was truly bizarre.

To describe it briefly, the face of this 2nd ranked player named Raksha… was like taking a potato dough that had been roughly kneaded and distorted beyond recognition,

Then slamming it on the floor about 5 times.

It was such a grotesque appearance that even with the once-incredible freedom of the ‘Commander’ appearance customization feature—which had been implemented when players complained about lack of content in this crappy game—it would be difficult to create something so monstrously ugly.

Even the other rankers who had only reacted without speaking until now were each throwing comments at the hideously ugly Raksha, whose gender was impossible to determine—though in a different way from the 5th ranked Laura.

Of course, I remained quiet as I had absolutely nothing to say.

Hearing their comments, Raksha showed a dumbfounded reaction.

“Why would a veteran player use such a skin? Who would do something so unnecessarily strange?”

“…Hmm.”

“No matter what, that face is a bit too much.”

“Let’s acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged.”

“…”

At Raksha’s words, all the rankers present nodded in agreement that it was a reasonable point.

Of course, the 2nd ranker, who had suddenly been attacked by strangers, showed a rather complex expression.

But only for a moment.

“I didn’t actually choose this appearance in the first place.”

“Oh.”

“What I originally customized was nothing like this.”

When they revealed that their appearance wasn’t actually what they had chosen but the result of a “glitch,” all the rankers who had been mocking them froze.

In this situation that called for cries of “unfair,” all the rankers who had been laughing at or reacting to the 2nd ranker showed dismay on their faces.

Seeing their expressions, the 2nd ranked Raksha waved dismissively and spoke again.

“I don’t know what I did in my past life to deserve such a broken character model, but at this point, it’s just bad luck abandoning me, right?”

“Well…”

“But since a game’s fate isn’t determined by appearance alone, I will never give up because of mere looks.”

“…!”

“My goal is to prove myself through skill to those appearance-obsessed elves and make them ashamed…!”

As they vented their frustration, the expressions of the rankers who had spoken up only to end up looking “unfair” were truly worth seeing.

Thanks to that, I thought I had made the right choice by keeping silent.

Anyway, after the 2nd ranker’s introduction ended, the last remaining man stood up and began introducing himself.

“Nice to meet you all. Since this is our first meeting in this place, I should properly introduce myself.”

“Huh?”

“My nickname is Antares, current 1st ranked player and leader of the clan ‘Humanity.'”

“Oh…”

“So you’re the newly risen 1st ranked player.”

The appearance of the man who stood up was…

Like someone who often appears in romance fantasy novels, with golden long hair flowing down past his waist.

Overall, he was handsome, but, well, how should I put it…

Despite his friendly smile and naturally engaging with other rankers as soon as his introduction ended—the very definition of a “social butterfly”—

He gave off the strong impression of being the mastermind who would cause a major incident later.

‘He looks really suspicious.’

Of course, since that was just my personal impression for now, I didn’t voice it out loud.

==========

Anyway, after we finished our introductions and were about to reach the point of “so what do we do now?”

<<“Have you all finished talking, dear rankers?”>>

“Oh.”

“This is…?”

Along with a voice that felt similar to Oxianor’s telepathy, from the center of the space where we were,

Something humanoid appeared amid a dazzling light.

However, calling it humanoid was merely my assumption.

The part that seemed to be its head was shining so brightly that it was impossible to properly see the entity’s appearance.

And it seemed others felt the same way.

Looking around, everyone was either raising their hands to shield their vision or closing their eyes in irritation.

<<“Ah, I see I haven’t adjusted the brightness properly.”>>

The fortunate thing was that, unlike its appearance which seemed to proudly declare “I am a transcendent being,”

When it saw us suffering from the excessive light, it kindly reduced the intensity of the light emanating from its head.

Of course, even so…

<<“Now this should be manageable for our conversation.”>>

“…”

Apart from the glowing head,

Its body and limbs boasted an unidentifiable color reminiscent of cosmic hues or something from the void.

Despite knowing the entity was a “game administrator,” our gazes were filled with nothing but confusion.

Of course, that didn’t last long.

<<“The reason I’ve called you all here is, as you already know… to appoint you as community moderators according to the original announcement.”>>

As soon as the administrator’s(?) words flowed out, a peculiar seriousness could be seen in everyone’s eyes.