Ch.84[Chapter 84] Candy Story

Sir Dominic’s third match with the Chief of Staff was about to begin.

“Hey, hey, are you sleeping?”

“You?”

Star I’m Not Little was trying to sleep under a blanket with the broadcast still on.

It was a blanket with 8-bit Sir Dominic printed on it, purchased for 890 Gacha Stones from a fan market.

It wasn’t official merchandise, but there were quite a few places selling them through word of mouth.

Anyway, why was Star I’m Not Little sleeping with the broadcast on?

This was a fate predetermined from the moment she turned on the broadcast for her deception.

Though exhausted, I’m Not Little had steadfastly kept the broadcast on for her deception, and while revealing her remaining cards, she ended up performing an unintended additional deception.

An explosion of viewers that even I’m Not Little, the embodiment of aggro and master of tightrope walking, hadn’t anticipated.

In the end, I’m Not Little managed to calm the public sentiment with a 72-hour non-stop broadcast.

Of course, Stars didn’t actually need to sleep.

But she was still a young Star, not even ten thousand years old, and still retained the habit of sleeping from her mortal days.

Above all, the combination of her experiences in Gachaland and the current harassment from viewers had caused her tremendous mental fatigue.

So, by agreement with her viewers once again, she was taking a brief nap with the broadcast still on.

“Huh? Wait. Isn’t that Sir Dominic over there?”

“Come on, that’s the Academy area… why is this real?”

At that moment, Sir Dominic appeared in a small window in the corner of I’m Not Little’s screen.

“Hey, hey. Wake up, streamer!”

“Sir Dominic is on! Channel 3! Academy Channel 3!”

Those who knew how much of a Sir Dominic fan Star I’m Not Little was tried to wake her up like loyal subjects.

“[‘Anti-A’ has donated 100 Gacha Stones!]”

“[‘Hall of Aga’ has donated 10 Gacha Stones!]”

Donations kept pouring in.

And Star I’m Not Little’s closed eyelids began to twitch.

…

“You scoundrel…! Not content with trying to kidnap the Demon Lord, you’re even trying to kidnap the opium poppy that the Demon Lord cherishes!”

“!”

In fact, this flower wasn’t an opium poppy, nor was it a flower cherished by the Demon Lord.

It was just a dandelion planted for a school assignment to keep a plant growth diary.

Initially, she had grown an opium poppy received from the Chief of Staff, but since opium poppies were illegal, it was replaced with a dandelion.

However, the Chief of Staff, a typical example of desk-bound administration who had never properly seen an opium poppy, couldn’t have known this fact.

The Demon Lord, who was wondering if she had really treasured this flower as much as the Chief of Staff suggested, just pretended it was a cherished flower as he said.

According to Don Castello of Greed, one of the Four Mighty Kings, if you pretend something is precious, the other party will give more compensation out of guilt.

The Demon Lord’s eyebrows moved subtly as if angry.

But her flailing arms revealed that she wasn’t really angry, just pretending to be.

“Look! The Demon Lord is also furious at your cruelty! You’ve had inexplicable luck so far, but this time will be different!”

With that, the Chief of Staff took a stable stance with lowered hips, then pressed his right arm against his side and extended his left arm forward, palm open toward Sir Dominic.

A posture suggesting he was about to deliver a powerful strike!

And before Sir Dominic could even take out his shield, the Chief of Staff launched a cowardly surprise attack!

An incredible shockwave arose as a fiery fist flew instantly toward Sir Dominic’s blind spot, his eye patch!

Just as that cowardly but powerful move was about to connect!

[Warning. This is a child protection zone.]

With the warning message appearing before him, the Chief of Staff suddenly felt all strength leave his body.

“You… you planned this far…?”

[Violent behavior detected in a child protection zone. A fine of 150,000 Credits will be imposed.]

With those words, the Chief of Staff collapsed on the spot.

Unexpectedly realistic Gachaland in an unnecessary place.

“!”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead. We’ll be at the snack bar—”

The Demon Lord, seemingly concerned about the collapsed Chief of Staff, briefly excused herself from the surrounding students and approached him.

In truth, the Chief of Staff had already recovered his strength and could have gotten up anytime, but he was pretending to be unconscious out of frustration and embarrassment at falling for Sir Dominic’s underhanded tactics again.

However, the fact that the Demon Lord was worried about him made him feel disloyal. The Chief of Staff, the most loyal of loyal subjects, couldn’t commit such disloyalty.

“Don’t worry, Demon Lord! This Chief of Staff is perfectly fine!”

“!”

The Chief of Staff displayed what he thought was a cool posture to show his well-being.

And the Demon Lord was happy, thinking the Chief of Staff had recovered.

“You provoked me to forget that this is a child protection zone. Truly an excellent strategy, kidnapper.”

“What’s he talking about?”

Sir Dominica, standing nearby, looked at the Chief of Staff as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“But now that I know your strategy, I won’t fall for your tricks anymore! Behold! I can bring you to your knees even without direct attacks!”

Black mist gathered around the Chief of Staff and lightning began to strike.

The Chief of Staff’s skin gradually darkened like a gradient, and he floated slightly above the ground, keeping his distance from Sir Dominic. Then, a grid divided into rows and columns began to appear between them.

“Oh, great. I hate puzzles.”

Sir Dominica touched her forehead and shook her head in disgust.

“What on earth is all this?”

Sir Dominic asked Sir Dominica, who seemed to understand the current situation.

“We need a party of four, but there’s only two of us now. What should we do?”

However, Sir Dominica ignored Sir Dominic’s question and looked around.

The students were just taking pictures with their phones, seemingly enjoying the situation, but no one looked willing to help.

“Haha! Since we’re short on time, we’ll have to do this with just two people! This is absolutely not because I’m upset about the 150,000 Credit fine and starting in a hurry!”

The Chief of Staff truly wasn’t upset about the 150,000 Credit fine… probably.

Originally, this combat method was meant to be fought with pre-built decks, but Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica couldn’t possibly have decks suitable for this mode.

Sir Dominica might know, but this was Sir Dominic’s first time with this type of combat.

While the Chief of Staff laughed vilely and Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica wore troubled expressions, five types of candies fell onto the grid drawn between the Chief of Staff and Sir Dominic.

Red, blue, yellow, green, and purple candies sparkled brilliantly as if trying to show how delicious they were.

“What on earth is all this?”

“Just try it and you’ll understand. It’s easier for us to understand by doing rather than being explained.”

Sir Dominic asked again, but fell silent at Sir Dominica’s logical words.

“A four-player boss… The Demon Lord will probably join in too, so at least a full party…”

Sir Dominica muttered something.

To avoid disturbing the concentrating Sir Dominica, Sir Dominic simply raised his shield and stood between the Chief of Staff and Sir Dominica.

Neigh—

That’s when it happened.

With the sound of a horse neighing from the school rooftop, a red cape fluttered.

Shimmering golden bob-cut hair.

A red velvet cape and a school uniform adorned with luxurious frills.

A majestic sword held high in the air.

It was the prince on a white horse—

“!”

No, it was the Grand Duke on a white pony.

Grand Duke Po Le Jak, who had been striking a pose on the rooftop, seemed to think he looked cool enough as he blushed and came down from the railing.

Then, thumping down the four-story staircase as if rolling, he stood next to Sir Dominic and raised his foam sword.

“…!”

The Grand Duke was on the side of justice and was a hero.

That meant he had a duty to fight against evil.

And right now, anyone could see that the Chief of Staff had taken on the appearance of great evil.

A sufficient situation for Grand Duke Po Le Jak to step in!

Three of the four slots were filled.

“Ha! But you will never find the last one! So that you can clearly see how weak you are without evil and vile strategies— Huh?”

The Chief of Staff was mocking Sir Dominic, thinking the last position would never be filled.

Originally, the field created by the Chief of Staff was a 4:4 PVP map, but having no friends, the Chief of Staff had recklessly modified it into a 1:4 PVP map.

All modified maps undergo inspection by the central system.

The central system approved modified maps only if the win rates weren’t skewed to one side, but both sides had a fair chance of winning.

Normally, only coders could do this, but at the Academy, modified maps often appeared under the pretext of practical training.

The Chief of Staff took one of the candies from between the grid and crunched it.

Sweet. Very sweet.

Candies from surrounding areas moved into the empty grid, and new candies appeared from above.

This map was a 1:4 full party modified map where both sides needed to be in sync to achieve a 50-50 win rate.

Finally, the Chief of Staff expected to bring Sir Dominic, who had been toying with him through vile and underhanded strategies, to his knees.

“!”

“De-Demon Lord?”

That was until Princess Teu Le Vante, the Demon Lord, walked over with small steps and took the fourth and final position.

This was not part of the Chief of Staff’s plan.