chapter05 · 137-ep137

Episode 130: Ojou-sama's Fury!

That evening, after realizing the voices expecting her to prevent the dungeon-collapse attack had grown to an abnormal volume, Karin held a chatting stream to explain her views and position, hoping to calm people down.

"G-good evening, everyone, desu wa~. As I briefly mentioned on social media, today's stream is to explain my stance? on the dungeon terrorism that has everyone in such an uproar."

【She's heeeeeere!】

【It's Karin ojou-sama's stream!】

【We've been waiting!】

【I saw the announcement, but Karin ojou-sama, you aren't going to help this time!?】

【Please help us, Ojou-sama!】

【Surely Karin ojou-sama could reach the deepest abyss!?】

【Wait, wait, calm down!】

【Even if Karin ojou-sama is insanely strong, this is too dangerous!】

【The deepest abyss is a ridiculous ask, especially in Arakawa Dungeon!】

【A plan that might destroy Tokyo AND cost us Ojou-sama is a no-go】

【If we're going to ask her for help, defending against the monsters like in Shibuya would be safer!】

【At a glance, a lot of Team 'Help Us' are new viewers... I understand, but that's irresponsible!】

【Let's shut up and wait to see what the authorities do!】

【B-but Karin ojou-sama defeated an abyssal boss almost unscathed...】

【Save Tokyo, Ojou-sama!】

"Ah, ahwah..."

Karin trembled slightly at the enormous flood of comments and concurrent viewers surpassing two million almost the moment her stream began.

The comment section in particular was in an uproar. A quarrel had broken out between people who wanted her to stop the collapse and people urging caution, creating utter chaos.

The suspicions that she'd staged an incident had caused plenty of turmoil before, but this was in some ways even worse. She could hardly entertain them with an Elegant stream like this.

After barely finishing her greeting, Karin began explaining why she shouldn't act rashly in this incident.

Her explanation was largely the same as her social-media appeal: the police, Self-Defense Forces, and other powerful people who normally remained out of the public eye, surely including warriors stronger than Karin, must be working under national leadership with proper expertise. If she forced herself in, she'd probably get in their way.

"—And so, of course I shall do everything I can if there is a way for me to help. I am deeply honored that you trust me as an Elegant explorer like Setsuna-sama, one who can smash any crisis with her fists... But you know how experts you see on television often look like the very best in their field, regardless of their actual abilities? With all due humility, I believe I do fairly well for an explorer my age, but in reality I still have much to learn. I am well aware that I am far from the strength you so kindly celebrate as 'the strongest.' For that reason, I believe we should leave this matter to people with the appropriate abilities. So please refrain from pestering the authorities and adding to their burden. Let us be Elegant, desu wa."

【Ojou-sama's speaking so seriously... Wait, that's completely insane!?】

【The scary part is she ISN'T dodging the subject because she can't reach the back of an abyssal dungeon!】

【O-Ojou-sama is so humble...】

【She's actually completely mistaken about her own abilities】

【Ojou-sama, are you serious!?】

【Going by everything she's said before, this sixteen-year-old ojou-sama really does believe it...】

【N-no, Ojou-sama...? Speaking seriously, there aren't actually that many anime-level powerful people...】

【Isn't Ojou-sama the only one who could resolve this!?】

【If stronger explorers than you were all over the place, the world would be over by now!?】

Naturally, Karin's argument, based on her deranged view of the world, wasn't enough to convince everyone. Comments protesting that nobody that powerful existed streamed past.

But Karin met her viewers with eyes utterly free of doubt.

"But listen. America and Africa both reportedly suppressed abyssal-class dungeon collapses with little damage, and nobody knows how. Surely powerful people who don't ordinarily show themselves were working secretly in both places!"

It was the same in Dungeon Alive: the truly strong stayed out of sight and acted only when a crisis demanded it. Karin cited what she took to be a real-world example with such perfect sincerity that even Team 'Help Us,' consisting mostly of newer viewers, began to waver.

【W-well, maybe...?】

【But weren't the casualties low because they happened in wilderness and the monsters happened to be close-range fighters, so everyone could hold out until the collapses ended?】

【The details are unknown. That's why the theory that a hidden monster of an explorer fought an entire abyssal-class collapse alone has been around for a while】

【No way...】

【If monsters like that were everywhere, I doubt fishing boats would've turned around when Karin ojou-sama ran wild in the abyss...】

【But Sharie-sama DID appear...】

【At least in Africa it was definitely Sharie-sama who acted...】

【Even so, there's no way a dungeon developing nation like Japan has loads of Karin ojou-sama-tier fighters!】

【U-um, but Ojou-sama broadcast her abilities to the entire world for over a year and nobody noticed, so I guess other exceptional people could be hiding too...】

【N-no, that'd be just like an anime...】

【But artificial dungeon collapses are already anime territory...】

【The fact that a first-class apparition called 'Karin ojou-sama' suddenly sprang up makes our common sense kind of useless anyway...】

【...Then maybe a tiny chance some other force, if not quite Karin ojou-sama-tier, IS working on the problem...?】

【P-people, get a grip!】

【I'm wavering too, but this is Karin ojou-sama's delusion! (Though if it stops people from forcing a minor into the abyss, fine by me!)】

【Hidden dungeons, artificial abyssal collapses, Sharie-sama, Karin ojou-sama... The nonstop barrage of impossible shit lately is eroding our common sense!】

【Too much has happened lately for me to completely dismiss Karin ojou-sama's Elegant worldview, damn it!】

【Even the people desperately pleading for help are getting confused now lmao】

【Well, all this weirdness WOULD confuse anyone】

【A-as long as this calms the calls to forcibly deploy Ojou-sama, I don't care...】

【But even if there were other Sharie-samas out there, surely Karin ojou-sama is the only one who might reach the end of the abyss!? At least in Japan!】

【Whether even Karin ojou-sama could clear an unseen abyss on her first try is the real question】

In fact, even before Karin's wild claims, there had been persistent rumors that somebody nearly as exceptional as her had suppressed the earlier abyssal collapses.

That made Karin's words, delivered with perfectly clear eyes, oddly persuasive, shaking her viewers' sense of reality.

They were only slightly shaken, of course; they hadn't swallowed her claims wholesale. There were still calls for Karin to conquer Arakawa Dungeon rather than trust hypothetically powerful people who most likely didn't exist. Karin, at least, was demonstrably a monster capable of rampaging through the abyss's first floor nearly unscathed.

But after so many recent violations of common sense—mostly involving Karin—the people demanding her help online were growing confused by her words. Their hysterical urge to harass the authorities had visibly diminished. It was a form of mental contamination transmitted by a girl who genuinely couldn't distinguish anime from reality.

(Phew. Everyone seems to trust me tremendously, and some still wish I would go... but perhaps they're becoming willing to stop pestering the authorities' accounts?)

Karin breathed out lightly as her viewers settled down compared to the beginning.

(That is hardly everyone, of course, and many people aren't watching this stream... Perhaps I should continue appealing to them and ask everyone to spread clips and transcripts...!)

She was thinking like a streamer now. Even if the matter couldn't be fully settled until the collapse was prevented, continuing like this might calm them enough that the authorities could do their jobs. She was about to resume her appeal—

When, without warning, or perhaps with perfectly deliberate timing, a massive bombshell shattered the atmosphere that had almost settled into something manageable.

¥50,000　@Bakenekomata

O-Ojou-sama! This is terrible! Those dungeon terrorists just uploaded this video, desu wa! → Video URL

"...Hm? Eh, wh-what is this superchat...?"

The sudden red superchat made Karin stare in confusion. Not only had someone thrown an enormous ¥50,000 at her out of nowhere, but they also claimed the terrorists had uploaded another video.

Viewers who noticed the superchat seemed agitated too.

【Hm? What's that?】

【Fifty thousand yen just to post a video link? Is this an ad?】

【Ah】

【This is bad!】

【Who paid for a superchat just to post THAT!?】

【Ojou-sama, you don't need to watch it!】

【Karin ojou-sama shouldn't watch that! Seriously, DON'T!】

Perhaps they'd followed the link first, or seen the video elsewhere before the superchat. Several viewers frantically told her not to watch.

Even so... someone had paid ¥50,000. She couldn't simply ignore it, and if it was sensitive content, as the channel owner she might have to delete the post. So—

"What on earth...?"

Karin tilted her head and clicked the link.

Then—

"...Hah?"

Her eyes widened at the video that began playing, and a word escaped her lips.

It really had been uploaded to the terrorists' account.

But unlike the previous collapse warnings with only a black background, subtitles, and a synthesized voice, the video showed a stark room with not a single window that might reveal its location. Stranger still were the anime character figures lined up on a desk.

The same female-sounding synthesized voice used for the collapse warnings began speaking.

"Ah, judging by the internet, people are making a fuss about so-and-so saving them or preventing the dungeon collapse... How ridiculous. Convenient heroes out of fiction don't exist in the real world. And even if they did... what could they possibly do against us?"

Then a long-handled hammer extended into frame.

DOGON!

The terrorist, apparently standing offscreen, began smashing the lined-up figures—popular characters from dungeon anime and manga—while sneering.

"Japan, I'm talking about YOU in particular. What Elegant ojou-sama? What explorer straight out of fiction? A little girl influenced by some trashy anime couldn't possibly interfere with our plans!"

DOGON!

"No anime characters have actually leaped into the real world. Stop clinging to fairy tales and do as we demand!"

DOGON! DOGON!

As the figures were smashed one after another, the last one to fill the screen was a quarter-scale figure of Setsuna Kiryuuin, one of Dungeon Alive's most popular characters.

"And even if someone like this actually DID pop out of an anime... a ridiculous woman dressed as if dungeons were a joke would be no match for an abyssal monster. She'd lose immediately, never mind stopping a collapse. Just like this!"

DOGON! DOGON! DOGOGON!

Shattered. Pulverized. Ground to pieces.

When the violent blows stopped, all that remained was what had once been a Setsuna figure, smashed beyond recognition.

"Now then, see reality for what it is and prepare to obey us, people of Japan."

The synthesized voice rang out over the broken figures, and the short video ended.

"........................................................................"

【Whoa...】

【What the hell is that video... It's in unbelievably poor taste...】

【Hey hey hey hey】

【Wait, Karin ojou-sama is watching it!?】

【Ojou-sama, are you okay!?】

【O-Ojou-sama?】

【Y-you haven't said a word. Are you all right!?】

Viewers who'd watched it along with her voiced their concern. The video was THAT awful, and Karin had frozen so completely that it was almost a broadcast failure.

Then, at last, her lips moved ever so slightly.

"...........................................You wanna die, you fucking bitch?"

【Ojou-sama!?】

【E-eek...!?】

【Ojou-sama!? Your language is as lawless as Fist of the North Star!?】

【She's speaking like it's the apocalypse!?】

【The Thug Ojou-sama returns!?】

【That's past thug, past yakuza—she's the boss now!】

【Ojou-sama, your FACE!】

【Ojou-sama!? Th-the camera is still on!】

【S-stop talking, people! She's dangerous right now! Say the wrong thing and she'll 'Elegantly' take you out through the screen!?】

【Ojou-sama snapped!!】

【She's a hundred times more pissed than Doppo!】

【Of course she's pissed!】

【Isn't this bad!? Why the hell would the terrorists upload that!?】

【I saw it. Terrorists, don't you know there's shit you just DON'T do!?】

【If they knew, they wouldn't be terrorists】

【Don't fall for it, Akainu!!! Apologize!!!】

【My side effect screamed and then fell completely silent...】

【Side Effect bro!?】

【The side effect of Side Effect bro, who can apparently detect mana through a screen, has been cremated!?】

【O-Ojou-sama!? I understand, but please calm down!?】

【I have a terrible feeling about this!】

【Ojou-sama, why don't you end the stream and take a deep breath!?】

No trace remained of the Elegant ojou-sama who'd just called on her viewers to stay calm. Faced with Karin's wide-open pupils and voice rumbling up from the depths of hell, an explosion of comments begged her to regain her composure. Even Team 'Help Us' was asking her to calm down.

But Karin's anger would not abate.

Of course, she was furious about what they'd done and said to Setsuna-sama... but that wasn't the only reason.

Karin Yamada knew.

Setsuna-sama was not alone. Just as Dungeon Alive had saved her, countless creative works had brightened people's lives. Every character they'd destroyed had fans like Karin, people hurt by this video. She knew how unbearable it was to see a beloved character insulted.

And so—SNAP!

Something in Karin broke spectacularly.

"FINE BY ME, YOU BASTAAAAAAARDS! I held back because I thought I'd get in the way and there'd be no need for me—but clearing an unseen abyss in one go is old hat! And if my helping out lets the other powerful explorers focus their manpower on wiping out the terrorists, then all the better! I'll beg Prime Minister Kongouji on my knees if I must, but I'll conquer a little place like Arakawa Dungeon, which doesn't even HAVE a pit, by myself and do it Elegantly!! Your piddly little plan to mess with an abyssal-class dungeon isn't worth shit! I'll show you that even MY still-inexperienced Elegant conquest can smash it to pieces, never mind Setsuna-sama and the characters you mocked and crushed!!!"

【Ojou-samaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?】

【Nothing about what you just said was Elegant!?】

【Actually EVERY SINGLE WORD of that was dangerous!?!?】

【Clearing unseen abysses on her first try is OLD HAT!? Is she serious!?】

【Surely that's a lie!?】

【But Karin ojou-sama can't lie...】

【Come to think of it, she said she couldn't interfere because stronger people would handle things. She NEVER said she couldn't clear an unseen abyss!?】

【Saying she couldn't do it would have calmed everyone down more easily, but she NEVER said that!?】

【What kind of narrative trick is this????】

¥50,000　@Mitsuki

O-Ojou-sama, please calm down! If you promise that outright, nothing will hold people back—ah, but that look in your eyes is a little electrifying...

【Don't get electrified!!】

【Mitsuki-sama!? If you're going to stop her, do it properly!】

【(Is it really only 'a little'...?)】

【No, I understand you, Mitsuki-sama...】

【Isn't it too late to stop her now!?】

"...Ah!"

Amid a greater comment explosion than ever before, perhaps Mitsuki and the others finally got through to her, or perhaps shouting had let her regain her senses. Karin finally remembered the purpose of today's stream.

However terrible the other side was, entering this crisis now would be purely personal revenge. She couldn't interfere with the government's response and cause confusion. So—

"I-I apologize. That vile video made me rather too heated...! I-it is true that I wish to crush those terrorists' plan into a mangled heap with my own hands, but only if the government formally asks me! Though surely they won't... A-at any rate, everyone, please continue to refrain from pestering the authorities! Truly, nothing would please me more than crushing the terrorists' plan to pieces with these hands if only I were asked!"

Karin hurriedly retracted(?) her words, but her desire to charge into Arakawa Dungeon was all too obvious, and everything she'd already said on-stream couldn't be unsaid.

Calls harassing the authorities did subside as she'd requested. But now she'd told the entire world that she was willing to go and accustomed to conquering abysses, the government had no choice but to act independently of internet opinion... and made up its mind.

Several days later, Prime Minister Kongouji arranged a visit through the Metropolitan Police, came to Karin's home in person, and bowed his head. Karin fainted with foam at her mouth and subsequently undertook an official streamed conquest of the entirety of Arakawa Dungeon.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Nekoyashiki-sama has the right idea, but doesn't know where to stop. No wonder she's bad at office politics, desu wa ne...

Next time, we'll touch on why the conquest is being streamed and the circumstances that forced the government's hand (or rather, Mafuyu-sama and the others' perspectives) before entering the 'Karin Yamada: Fury in the Abyss' arc I briefly announced in an update!

To celebrate the new arc getting underway, if you enjoyed this, I'd be delighted if you supported it with stars and follows, desu no! They help the rankings rise so more people can see Ojou-sama go wild...!

※After making a whole lot of changes to my environment, my health has fortunately recovered, and I've been able to write much as I used to...! I'm glad I felt better before running out of the chapters I'd written ahead.

I'm truly sorry for worrying everyone, and thank you for all your kind words and advice!