Chapter

chapter04 · 114-ep114

Episode 111: A Flag for Karin Ojou-sama's Next Power-Up Flag

The Monday after the weekend stream where Karin became friends with Sharie-san, age fourteen—otherwise known as the African Unification Dungeon Queen (age twenty-seven).

"Hey, Yamada! You've still got that delicious-looking meat in your item box, right!?"

"You shoved a stupid amount in there the second the Dungeon Bureau officially gave permission, didn't you!?"

"Just one bite! One bite is all I need!"

"I gave you guys sausages a few times, remember!"

"There's something kinda taboo about eating meat Karin-chan personally beat into a pulp!"

"Nwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!? It's a horde of meat-mugging zombies, desu waaaaa!?"

The instant Karin stepped into the classroom, her classmates surrounded her.

Their target was the meat Karin had secretly brought with her.

After watching Karin eat it so deliciously throughout the stream, all her classmates had swarmed her at once.

Normally people should feel at least some degree of aversion toward monster meat... but perhaps Karin's zero-vocabulary dining scenes had stimulated their appetites that strongly, because not one of them seemed to care about that minor issue. No one even asked about the monster Sharie. Meat, meat, meat—that was their sole objective.

Naturally, Karin attempted to flee her opportunistic classmates with all her strength... But when Karin had been accused of staging her own incidents, these same classmates had believed(?) in her because "there's no way Yamada is smart enough to plan that," and they sometimes shared their lunches with her too.

And so—

"H-help yourselves, you thieves, desu wa!"

""""Ooooooooooooooooooooooh!""""

Her classmates cheered at the hamburger steaks that emerged piping hot from her item box.

It did count as transfer, but once eaten, it was gone—and Dungeon Bureau staff had officially confirmed that aboveground, with no magical effects, it was merely absurdly delicious meat. Giving it occasionally to people close to her therefore fell just barely within the scope of private use. Karin had checked in advance, so she didn't hesitate to release the meat.

The information that some degree of transfer was allowed had apparently been thoroughly researched, for her growing classmates had thoughtfully prepared paper plates and disposable chopsticks, and they all descended upon the meat at once.

"This is SO GOOOOOD!?"

"It's seriously worse aboveground and still tastes like THIS!?"

"I'm glad I packed extra rice in my lunch today!"

"So this is the taste of Karin-chan's (hamburger steak's) juices...!"

"P-phew. What a terrible ordeal first thing in the morning, desu wa."

"That's what you get for eating so much of it so deliciously on stream."

Karin had used the meat as bait to escape the horde of classmates and was catching her breath when a gloomy classmate spoke to her: Mafuyu, her best friend since middle school.

"Honestly. Even with a stream running, you went into a dungeon alone with an explorer you'd only just met who was supposedly your equal (...though the power you're hiding makes that label questionable). I've told you over and over to be careful because once you become a famous streamer, weirdos will come after you and it'll be dangerous. It worked out because she genuinely seems harmless this time, but still."

"Th-that certainly was not ideal, desu wa ne."

At Mafuyu's light lecture, delivered in an oddly prickly tone, Karin hunched her shoulders a little.

"I was excited, and Sharie-sama seemed like an ordinarily good girl, so I got carried away... Ah, but thanks to that, I brought back an excellent souvenir too, desu no!"

Using detection to check that her classmates were absorbed in the meat behind her, Karin drew it from her item box.

Among all the hamburger steaks she had made, this one looked especially delicious.

"I shared some with everyone in class because they help me too, but I really wanted you to be the very first to taste this, Mafuyu. If monster meat does not bother you—here you are, desu wa!"

"Eh... but you made this with that woman, didn't you?"

"I did, desu no! You've always helped me so much, Mafuyu, so this is just a little thanks, desu wa! It seems to lose some flavor aboveground, so to compensate, I compared lots of different meats and poured the most concentration into the very tastiest one, desu no! It's specially made!"

"Ngh..."

At first Mafuyu regarded the hamburger steak with complicated eyes. But Karin's expression was like a child's after preparing a Mother's Day present... and, as if giving in, Mafuyu let out a light breath.

"Okay, okay. I'll eat it."

"Truly, desu no!? Then... say aaah, desu wa."

"No, hold on..."

When Karin brought a chopstick-cut piece of hamburger steak toward her mouth, Mafuyu hesitated again.

Still, having a beaming Karin feed her something homemade did not feel bad in itself—glance, glance. Chomp.

After checking whether anyone nearby was watching, Mafuyu ate the hamburger steak Karin offered on her chopsticks. The instant she did—

"...Whoa, delicious..."

"Is it not!?"

Karin's voice bounced at Mafuyu, whose eyes had widened as the words escaped her.

"I simply had to share with you how I felt the first time I ate this delicious meat, Mafuyu! All that trial and error with different meats and preparation methods was well worth it, desu wa!"

"..."

(Oh, come on. This is what makes her so unfair. ...No, I'm just stupidly easy, aren't I...?)

Mafuyu could feel the sincerity behind Karin's delighted words in the hamburger steak's taste, and became aware that the tiny bit of murkiness she'd continued to feel since yesterday's Karin-and-Queen friendship stream (a truly tiny bit) was clearing away. Stuffing her cheeks with the hamburger steak Karin had made with all her heart, she found herself exasperated by how easily won over she was.

And after the outrage of a hamburger-steak tasting party first thing in the classroom was vaguely swept under the rug without anyone getting angry—the homeroom teacher's profoundly unteacherly response being, "This is the first time I've been glad to be Yamada's teacher (munch munch)"—after school came.

"Ehehe. I am glad I could finally repay Mafuyu a little today, desu wa."

Smiling in high spirits, Karin visited an ATM in her neighborhood.

She was there to withdraw this month's living expenses from the bankbook she had managed with tremendous care—the account containing the modest sum left by her parents.

"But Mafuyu has helped me again and again for so long; I would really like to repay her more properly. Still, the pit challenge with Sharie-sama is on hold... For now, I must at least be careful not to rely on Mafuyu too much, desu wa!"

Making that small resolution, Karin operated the ATM.

"Hmm. Since Sharie-sama gave me so much meat as a souvenir, perhaps I could try a month of zero-yen food expenses after all... No, Mafuyu would only become angry again... She might say my nutrition would be far too unbalanced."

After hesitating a little, Karin withdrew her usual living expenses and took the returned bankbook to check the balance—and in that instant—

Karin froze solid.

She did not blink or breathe. She stood utterly motionless as if time itself had stopped.

Because—

Balance: Approx. ¥260,000,000

—the number of digits printed in the bankbook had suddenly exploded.

An abnormal situation had occurred: the money originally inside was now little more than spare change.

"Hyuh."

A strange noise escaped her throat at the sudden event, and her brain went !?!?!?!?!?!? in complete panic.

But, unusually for Karin, she quickly grasped what had happened, stammering, "C-c-could this possibly be...!?"

Yes.

The donation money and video-view advertising revenue, whose administrative procedures appeared to have been delayed by their exceptionally high amounts, had finally been deposited.

Judging by the sum, this was presumably everything through the chatting stream after the dungeon collapse, when she had been called the "¥300 Million Woman."

Various fees should have taken a considerable cut from the superchats, but an enormous amount of advertising revenue seemed to have compensated for it to some degree—

"I-it really was deposited, desu waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!? Wh-what do I even do with thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!?"

She had checked the superchat total on her video site's creator page beforehand, and she had consulted Mafuyu in advance about how to use the money, but the shock of seeing the colossal amount truly deposited into her account was still beyond belief.

"M-Mafuyuuuuuuuuuuuu! Please help meeeeeee! It is too heavy for me to carry alooooooooone!"

So much for her earlier resolution.

Karin activated her detection skills at full power.

I-if anyone makes a suspicious move, I must 'deal with' them immediately...! she thought, watching the area with every fiber of her being while hugging the bankbook and trembling. She called her best friend at once.

※

【Her Friend Is】 Karin Ojou-sama General Thread Part 2032 【A Continental Queen, Desu wa】

100　Passing-by Anon

Hey, you guys! Karin ojou-sama posted a stream announcement! 【I Shall】 Karin Yamada's Elegant Chatting Stream 【Make the Purchase of a Lifetime, Desu wa】 I have an announcement: the superchat money all of you gave me was finally deposited yesterday... and with that, I have made a terribly expensive purchase...! So today's stream will be what they call an expensive-product unboxing video, desu wa...! → URL　Starts at 19:00

101　Passing-by Anon

Oh!? It finally got deposited, desu no! Our corrective red superchats!

102　Passing-by Anon

It should normally be a little faster I love the theory that the administrative work took stupidly long because the amount was just too huge

103　Passing-by Anon

Given the timing, it's probably everything up through the ¥300 million incident, so of course Taking first place in the annual superchat rankings from a SINGLE stream would naturally make all sorts of things bug out on the operator's side

104　Passing-by Anon

Finally! Congratulations! This should make Karin ojou-sama a little less of a papier-mâché ojou-sama! Use that money to eat something proper besides monsters, desu no...!

105　Passing-by Anon

Lmao that more superchats went flying over her troubling statement that she'd bitten into monsters despite not even having a unique skill like Sharie-sama's

106　Passing-by Anon

But isn't this a little odd? I hate to say it, but making an expensive purchase immediately after the superchats get deposited doesn't seem very ojou-sama-like, does it?

107　Passing-by Anon

Maybe it's for tax savings? Ojou-sama said she'd donate a pretty large portion of the ¥300 million in thanks-for-zero-dungeon-collapse-deaths superchats to the reconstruction fund, but there was a theory Best friend-chan knew about the tax deduction for charitable donations and put her up to it Given that she's deliberately making today's purchase into a video too, this one seems like Best friend-chan's or an accountant's suggestion

108　Passing-by Anon

Ahh, I see They do say that if you have a high income, you should make big purchases that can count as expenses to save on taxes

109　Passing-by Anon

But what's she buying? Even if she's putting a big chunk into donations, ojou-sama said she'd properly accept the first ¥40 million and part of the ¥300 million out of respect for the viewers' feelings. A purchase big enough to matter for tax savings would have to be pretty huge, no?

110　Passing-by Anon

If she spends several million, Karin ojou-sama might explode from the mental strain

111　Passing-by Anon

If Karin ojou-sama exploded, she'd probably release enough destructive energy to make nuclear warheads look like nothing

112　Passing-by Anon

Is she Godzilla melting down?

113　Passing-by Anon

When it comes to explorer tax savings, the standards are buying expensive magic equipment or stocking up on first-aid potions... but if ojou-sama bought that kind of thing, wouldn't she be really disappointed and go, "Is this truly all the performance it offers, desu no?"

114　Passing-by Anon

Ojou-sama probably looked at the finest goods from the highest-end workshops and went, "I suppose the 'surface' world only has passable equipment after all, desu wa~," then didn't even consider buying it But if that's the case, then what IS she buying?

115　Passing-by Anon

Streaming equipment can get fairly expensive if you buy a good setup, but it's cheap next to income in the hundreds of millions Maybe she's planning on buying all sorts of things and today's only one of them?

116　Passing-by Anon

Big purchases explorers can count as expenses are basically limited to equipment, but streamers can probably stretch things fairly far under the label of "content for a video" I seriously can't guess

117　Passing-by Anon

Well, no matter what she bought, I'm looking forward to seeing it, desu wa! And with Karin ojou-sama being a commoner on the inside, whatever else, surely she won't buy anything too insane, so this should be a relaxing stream to watch

118　Passing-by Anon

Indeed, desu wa ne! Off to the waiting room we GO, desu no~!

―――――――――――――――――――――