Ch.565″Congratulations on becoming the Emperor.”

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Title: From now on, there will be a coronation ceremony for His Majesty the Emperor of the Holy Hourglass Empire

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Images of toads photoshopped onto German Empire coronation scenes, very crude.jpg]

What are you doing

Everyone bow your heads and pay homage

Comments:

-[Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!]

-[Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!]

-˪[You idiots, he’s an emperor so you should say “Long live”]

-˪[Oh, I see]

-[Long live! Long live!]

-˪[Upvote for anyone who shows something through action]

-[Long live! Long live!]

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Title: Upvote if you think Icarus wants to escape to another zone by now lolololol

Author: Anonymous

Content: [A gif of a toad repeatedly making mocking gestures or flipping someone off.gif]

Not a chance, gay boy lol

The Central Zone you chose lololololol

ABSOLUTELY!!!

You can’t escape lolololololol

Just accept the throne lololol

Comments:

-[Look at him getting killed by everyone]

-[Wait, isn’t this just pointless hype? Why is everyone laughing at this?]

-˪[Because the person involved absolutely hates it](Author)

-˪[Oh, that makes sense]

-˪[To outsiders it looks like collective worship by cultists, but to those in the know, it’s everyone collectively killing their boss]

-[Just how many people are killing him?]

-˪[10,000 +@]

-˪[Lolololol damn]

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“Haaaaaah…”

“That’s quite a regretful expression and sigh, Commander.”

“Wouldn’t you be the same in my position?”

“Well, I suppose so.”

It was true that I’d been pranked rather spectacularly after trusting those jokesters and leaving things to them.

But since they didn’t have genuinely malicious intentions to mess with me…

“Sigh, it can’t be helped.”

In the end, I decided to accept that users would call it by that name from now on.

Of course, accepting it just meant letting them use whatever name they wanted among themselves.

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<Hourglass Empire Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Only a true emperor would deny being an emperor>

-[OK](Icarus)

-[Then it’ll be as you all want](Icarus)

-[His Majesty has finally accepted his destiny!]

-[Hurrah! Hurrah!]

-[Lolololololol]

-[But when I refer to it, we’re just the Hourglass Zone](Icarus)

-[Ah]

-[You’re twisting it like that?]

-[Don’t run away! Face it and fight!]

-[Unable to call an empire an empire, and an emperor an emperor!]

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“Is that really okay?”

“It’s my territory anyway. If they don’t like it, they can leave.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

How I referred to my own territory was entirely up to me.

I declared that regardless of what those crazy users called my territory, I would call it my way.

Of course, in response to my reaction, the Tannhäuser mercenaries and other users flooded the chat with complaints.

Despite my warnings not to go overboard, they even threatened to protest in front of Daidalos…

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<Hourglass Empire Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Only a true emperor would deny being an emperor>

-[That’s enough](Icarus)

-[Jokes are only funny in moderation](Icarus)

-[Ah]

-[Hmm]

-[If you keep going overboard, I’ll genuinely get angry and kick you out](Icarus)

-[OK]

-[Heyo, he’s mad!]

-[OK]

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When I sent a signal to “take it easy” because I was genuinely getting annoyed,

those damn jokesters finally stopped their crazy antics and began to calm down.

==========

Anyway, after being suddenly proclaimed “Emperor of the Neurotic Empire” like that.

“Commander, we’ve received congratulatory messages via communication from Humanity Clan, Loki, Justice, and Magellan Clan…”

“Just tell me the content.”

“Overall, they seem to think the empire formation is a joke and are congratulating you on capturing the level 9 stronghold.”

“…I see.”

Seeing the four major clans sending congratulatory messages nearly a month after I moved to Daidalos,

I couldn’t help but wonder if they were mocking me.

“Oh right, but what I just mentioned only applies to two of the four major clans.”

“Huh?”

“The Loki Clan’s message has a half-mocking tone, how should I put it… there are dozens of ‘k’s between every word of ‘Congratulations on founding your empire.'”

“…That’s just like them.”

Looking at the congratulatory message (?) sent directly by Betelgeuse, that pink-haired one from the Loki Clan, my suspicions were confirmed.

But unlike the Loki Clan’s approach…

“…Commander, the one from the Justice Clan is a bit strange.”

“What do you mean? I’d expect something fairly normal since Arcadia probably sent it herself.”

When Jessica’s expression twisted while reading the congratulatory message from Arcadia’s Justice Clan, who was genuinely kind and competent unlike our professional troublemakers,

I tilted my head in confusion.

After a moment of silence, Jessica said:

“It’s the opposite. Unlike the Loki Clan, she sent a long congratulatory letter ‘sincerely’ celebrating the declaration of your territory as an empire.”

“What.”

“Unlike the other clans, she only dedicated a single line at the end to congratulate you on capturing the level 9 stronghold.”

“Huh???”

Her statement was so bewildering that it left me dumbfounded.

‘Haha, no way, our competent and normal Arcadia wouldn’t do that!’

I decided to read the “congratulatory message” myself, but…

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<To: Icarus>

<Hello, Icarus>

<I’m sending this using the congratulatory message function, but to get straight to the point.>

<Congratulations on finally establishing your empire. I always believed you would accomplish it.>

…(approximately 5,700 characters of “praise” omitted)…

<And lastly, congratulations on taking over Daidalos.>

<From: Arcadia>

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“What the hell, why is she doing this to me?”

Unlike the Loki Clan folks, it was, well…

Reaching a level of madness that surpassed even the many lunatics lurking in my territory, I couldn’t help but feel my shoulders twitch and tremble.

Seeing my reaction, Jessica perked up her ears and gave me a curious look.

“Did you perhaps do something wrong to Commander Arcadia?”

“That’s impossible. We barely even meet except during events.”

“That’s true… then why would she send such a deranged congratulatory message?”

“Um… I have no idea.”

But no matter how much we pondered, unlike the Loki Clan or the other major clans,

we simply couldn’t figure out why Justice’s Arcadia had sent something like this.

After deep contemplation, when sending reply messages:

For Humanity and Magellan, we decided to follow proper formalities.

For Loki, since they openly mocked us, we’d match their tone but add a “^^ㅗ” at the end.

For Justice, we were genuinely confused, so we crafted a message that strongly conveyed our bewilderment.

Shortly after sending these replies, Arcadia messaged us saying “it was just a joke, I didn’t think you’d take it seriously,”

so we just thought “oh, I see” and concluded that Arcadia had a very peculiar sense of humor.

Of course, in the distant future, we… no, I would realize that this was Arcadia’s true feelings and experience cultural shock, or rather, cosmic horror.