Chapter 27 :  Irene Is Really Famous From The Inquiry Office

“Haah… This is such a pain in the ass. Seriously. Dumping this on me and just leaving.”

The man irritably drummed his fingers on the table.

As if his fingers didn’t hurt.

He had been doing this for a full hour.

Not that it was completely incomprehensible.

This place was utterly dead.

That’s just how it was at the Hero Guild Inquiry Office.

‘Why the hell does this even still exist?’

I mean, they set up remote inquiry terminals ages ago.

Why on earth are they still maintaining a physical inquiry office?

Even Leodur, who was currently filling in as a counselor for his friend, hadn’t even known this place existed until he took the job.

At the very least, it was undeniable that this place was an accessibility nightmare.

And on top of that, the job of a counselor wasn’t something just anyone should be doing.

‘Please, man! Just cover for me for a day as a counselor! No one comes here anyway, you just have to sit around! I’ll send you the gold, obviously.’

Still, the thought of earning gold just by sitting around wasn’t exactly unpleasant.

Besides, in this place…

It seemed like they had minimized the staff to the bare minimum.

Amazingly, there wasn’t a single soul here besides Leodur himself.

Which basically meant nobody gave a damn about what he did here.

Figured as much.

Leodur naturally pulled out his mana charger.

This was what they called “salary looting,” wasn’t it?

Right now, Leodur needed it desperately.

“Where did I leave off yesterday…”

It took him less than an hour to discreetly boot up his terminal.

Honestly, his so-called “friend” turned it on the moment he clocked in.

By that standard, Leodur was practically an exemplary employee.

Unlike his friend, who would spend the entire day whining about the lack of entertainment even with the terminal, Leodur actually had plenty of content piled up.

After all, he had stayed up all night.

[Irene] – [55,000]

[She’s the worst villain in the Demon King’s Castle.]

Ever since he stumbled upon Irene and Luminil in a recommended video, he had been completely hooked.

For someone like Leodur, who had always gravitated toward peculiar streamers, Irene was nothing short of a destined match.

“Irene compilation…? How the hell did someone collect all this?”

Even just glancing at the current state of Irene, he could tell.

She had a dedicated fanbase big enough to warrant its own community.

She frequently appeared on the streams of massive figures like Elian and Luna.

And yet—she wasn’t even a personal streamer?

She was supposedly some executive in the Demon King’s Castle who occasionally made guest appearances?

And she had only ever uploaded a single video?

Leodur quickly understood why people were going crazy over Irene.

This girl… she was a master of the push-and-pull game.

It was undoubtedly a calculated strategy to keep her popularity from fading!

That said, it wasn’t like he hadn’t fallen for it himself.

“Wow, unbelievable. I should’ve watched this live!”

Of course not.

At some point, Leodur had become a full-blown Irene fanatic.

“If she streams again, I should try using the donation feature.”

How long had he been watching?

Suddenly, the door to the counseling office swung open.

The sound of the bell attached to the door startled Leodur.

He immediately yanked his feet down from the desk.

No one was supposed to come here.

What the hell was going on?

‘Well, it’s probably nothing.’

At worst, it was probably just a supervisor checking in.

If they asked why he was here instead of his friend, he’d just be honest and let his friend take the scolding.

‘What was I supposed to say when someone walked in?’

“Hello?”

Or maybe, “How can I assist you?”

Nothing came to mind.

He quickly realized his friend never actually told him what to say, so he just blurted out whatever came to him.

“Welcome! How can I help—AARGH!”

Leodur, who had been seated comfortably in his chair, was so shocked he fell backward.

Cold sweat ran down his back.

And for good reason.

“Did you see a ghost or something? Ah, I suppose it’s natural to be startled.
After all, you’re face-to-face with humanity’s enemy, aren’t you?”

The very person he had just been watching on his terminal was standing right in front of him.

If he didn’t freak out, that would’ve been weird.

“What if you scare him too much?”

“But it’s true, isn’t it? Besides, if I don’t dispel my perception distortion magic,
I won’t be able to verify my identity, which would just be annoying.”

The two women completely ignored him and continued their conversation.

It wasn’t hard to guess the identity of the other girl.

It was Luminil—the very same one he had seen in the videos.

But honestly, Irene’s reason for why he was shocked wasn’t exactly correct.

They weren’t in some terrifying monstrous form or anything.

They were just two pretty girls—what was there to be scared of?

And based on all the research he did on the community last night, Irene was famously against killing.

On top of that, she hardly ever left the Demon King’s Castle.

In a way, Leodur had just used up a lifetime’s worth of luck.

He wanted so badly to send them a message filled with excitement, but he composed himself, got up, and spoke.

“I’m Leodur, a counselor for the Hero Guild. May I ask what brings you here today?”

He asked, but unfortunately, there was no immediate response.

Instead, Irene just stared at him for a long time, as if she were seeing right through him.

Then, she muttered,

“Did they update the NPCs…?”

“…Huh?”

“Ah, never mind that. More importantly, my Hero Guild account got suspended.”

Leodur was shocked.

Of all people, his favorite person—whom he had only just become obsessed with yesterday—had gotten her account suspended?!

The unfortunate part was that Leodur wasn’t actually a real counselor, so he had no way of fixing it.

Desperate to do something, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

That’s when he spotted a terminal on the table labeled “For Counselors Only.”

“Please wait a moment, Miss Irene. I’ll check on it right away.”

“…I never told you my name. Am I really that famous?”

Irene mumbled to herself, thought Leodur was too focused to hear her.

He pressed the power button on the terminal, only to immediately let out a sigh.

[Incorrect password.]

‘Of course. That bastard really can’t do anything right, can he?’

Leodur forced a smile and pushed the counselor’s terminal aside.

Then, he pulled out his own terminal and checked Irene’s account.

[Irene]

[This account is currently suspended.]

Digging deeper into the profile, he found the official reason for the ban.

So it really was a suspension.

“But what’s the reason for—”

“It says it’s for sexual content. Was Luminil really that lewd?”

“H-Hey, don’t say stuff like that out of nowhere!”

Luminil panicked and lightly punched Irene’s back.

But even that was blocked by Irene’s barrier, leaving her completely unaffected.

‘Hmm… what the hell am I supposed to do in this situation?’

As he had mentioned many times before—

Leodur was not a real counselor.

Naturally, he had no idea how to handle exceptional cases like this.

At this point, screw it.

He was just going to wing it.

It wasn’t his real job anyway.

And wasn’t it his friend’s fault for not preparing him at all before dumping this on him?

Which was completely true.

“Is there anything you’d like, Miss Irene?”

“Take me to Lucena.”

“Lucena. Understood.”

…Wait, who?

Leodur wracked his brain as hard as he could.

Then, a memory flickered in his mind—

the Hero Guild directory sign he had seen when he first arrived.

“Ah! If it’s that place, I know exactly where it is! I’ll take you there.”

Leodur grabbed his terminal, stood up from his seat, and gestured for them to follow him.

As he led the way, however, Irene’s gaze landed on the terminal he was holding.

“The whole world is my subscriber… Is it really okay for the Hero Guild to be subscribed to an enemy?”

Once again, she found herself baffled by this world’s absurdities.

But for now, she decided to follow him.

Lucena.

‘They’d better explain exactly what was so “lewd” about it when they stand before me.’

She was already planning something terrifying.

‘And I’ll hold a public reading of their explanation at the Hero Guild plaza.’

“This is killing me…”

A woman with green hair let out a groan in the office.

Her desk was buried under a mountain of documents.

Naturally, they were all related to Bertram.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

As incompetent as Bertram might have seemed, he was actually the one handling the majority of the paperwork as the top brass of the Hero Guild.

So what happened when Bertram was suddenly removed from the picture?

“Ding-ding! Of course, it all gets dumped onto Lucena’s desk.”

Lucena signed and stamped another document.

Despite being a Rank 9 Hero, her arms were actually starting to ache from all the stamping.

Just as she was enduring another monotonous day, a sudden knock came at the door.

“This is a Hero Guild counselor.”

“…?”

Lucena blinked in confusion, staring at the door.

For one, this person hadn’t even gone through the attendants.

But more importantly—since when did counselors come knocking on her office door?

It was unheard of.

“…Come in.”

Still, she gave permission.

Her judgment had been dulled after hours of paperwork.

The moment the “counselor” walked in, however, her doubts only deepened.

‘Did they always look like that…?’

He looked completely different from when they first hired the counselors.

Wait—when was that?

…Four years ago?

Lucena decided to let it slide.

Well, four years was enough time for someone to undergo a total transformation.

She didn’t even remember his name anyway.

Besides, with Bertram gone, there wasn’t much reason for anyone to send assassins or spies here.

“Oh, right. Our counselor. So, what business do you have with Lucena?”

The room fell silent.

Both parties were completely taken aback.

Leodur could understand being mistaken for a real counselor.

But…

Did she just refer to herself in third person?!

And not just anyone—

Lucena, a high-ranking leader of the Hero Guild, was talking about herself like that?!

‘What is with this person?’

Irene was just as baffled.

She had only seen Lucena twice in the game, but she was definitely not the type to talk in third person.

Both sides found each other incredibly suspicious.

Yet, because they were each hung up on different things, this bizarre combination somehow managed to interact smoothly.

“This he—no, this demon—no, uh… this person has some business with you.”

“Business? You do realize you need an appointment to speak with a high-ranking member of the Hero Guild, right?”

Lucena’s voice carried a sharp edge.

Understandable, considering she was in the middle of drowning in paperwork.

“That’s great to hear. Would’ve been a pain if we had to wait forever.”

“Things are going surprisingly smoothly.”

That was, until the two women standing behind Leodur finally stepped forward.

Lucena was stunned.

Not because she disliked Irene.

Quite the opposite—she should actually be grateful to her, since Irene had helped bring down Bertram, Lucena’s political rival.

But that aside—

Irene was still an executive of the Demon King’s Castle.

An outright enemy faction had just waltzed into the heart of the Hero Guild.

Lucena once again started questioning the guild’s security measures.

But before she could dwell on it further—

Irene casually dropped a bombshell.

“So, tell me—what exactly was so “lewd” about Luminil that my account got suspended?”

“…What?”

Lucena’s eyes went wide.

Just like everyone else in the room.