Season 4: Chapter 214. The Reason I Returned (3)
A day earlier, the six participants of the Main Scenario, the disciples set out on a long journey.
“The Library of the Instant and Eternal...” Orange repeated the name under his breath. “Feels like I’ve heard it somewhere.”
— admin mentioned it once
— wasn’t it in the book the devs gave you?
— when you wanted to change the Dark Knight class
Orange’s eyes widened as he read the chat.
‘Right. Then?’
Black Pepper’s Avenger class had been launched with a severe, game-breaking bug. The developers delivered a special book to guide the Paprika players in the right direction. That book had been borrowed from the Library of the Instant and Eternal.
‘No way.’
Back then, Team Rocket had never found the library. They’d only managed to locate the lunatic scientist described within it.
“Now, we’re the ones going to find it? But can you even find it just because you want to?”
“Do not worry. I know where it lies.” The Saintess dismissed his doubts.
“O-Oh. Really? That’s great, but... Then, this quest is kinda too easy, no?”
— LOL
— what do you want from her?
— dopamine addict behavior
— he really wants to start from scratch every time
“Hah? You fools scrambled the progression so badly that I must proceed this way. Who else should I blame?”
“Huh?”
“Paprika should have conquered Cheese Village long ago and mined beneath it. That was the intended path.”
“What?”
— lmao
— NPC dropping dev lore
— this is literally the admin talking
— Orange wasn’t even the cause LOL
— culprit is the guy carrying her
“In that library, someone would’ve found the clues to my seal. Then, you were supposed to come for me. However, you were too weak, so everything was reversed.”
— she’s actually blaming them
— but Orange doesn’t deserve that one
— the criminal is Almond
Orange shrank. “We, we didn’t want to do that! Some lunatic invaded Paprika alone and slaughtered us!”
— HAHAHA
— tragic but true
— the Lord’s mercy hits different
Almond flinched.
‘Damn.’
Realizing he had slipped up, Orange scrambled to change the mood. “L-Lord? Why is the Saintess riding on you? I’ll carry her! Really!”
The Saintess was on Almond’s back. As a subordinate, he felt he had to do the labor.
Smack!
The Saintess slapped his hand away. “No, you lack far too much chakra.”
— lmao
— actually ruthless
— “you’re too small”
— poor Orange
— viewer count discrimination is crazy
***
“No, tell her to insist on being carried by Almond. We need them in the same frame.” In the monitoring room, PD Jang gave the order.
“Understood. Sending it now.”
Tap tap tap.
A staff member messaged the Saintess player. Then, the avatar obediently slapped Orange’s hand.
“Camera thirteen, zoom in on the Saintess.”
“Yes!”
Whirrr...
Her avatar’s face filled the monitor.
“No, you lack far too much chakra.”
PD Jang nodded. “Good. Perfect. She’s better at this than expected. She acted so shy earlier.”
“Right? She fits the commanding role surprisingly well. By the way, Boss, didn’t you recruit her during the Civil Empire tournament?”
“Nope.”
“Then who did?”
“She contacted Cheese first and asked if she could participate as a coach in the Platform War. She wanted to join without being a streamer.”
“A coach? Does she even play ranked?”
“Who knows? I guess Cheese was also desperate. She’s got name value.”
“True. She was insanely popular during the tournament.”
“But she had no justification to appear because she wasn’t a streamer.”
“Ah...”
“So I suggested it. We needed someone to play the Saintess anyway. I told her to join the Cheese Village content first. It’ll give her some standing.”
“That’s wild.” Producer Park nodded slowly, but something still puzzled him. “It’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Usually, people join internal events because they want exposure. She seems reluctant to stream at all...”
“She’s probably not interested in the fame. Maybe she just genuinely likes the game.”
“Maybe.”
“No one knows her real intentions. Even during the tournament, she disappeared right afterward. Tons of rumors floated around with zero follow-ups.”
“True. She could’ve made bank from just commercials.”
Suddenly, PD Jang snapped toward the monitor. “Next message. Send it. Quickly.”
***
“Since we are talking about chakra, let me elaborate.” Still on Almond’s back, the Saintess addressed her disciples. “There is an artifact in the library. Its seal can only be undone by an immense density of chakra.”
Everyone turned toward the Lord, as if to say, ‘We have that right here.’
“No.” The Saintess firmly shook her head. “The type required is different.”
“Different?”
“You must bring red.”
It was the opposite of her earlier release. This time, they needed to fill the red bar. They needed Paprika viewers.
“But how?”
Almost all of them were from Cheese.
“Paprika? I’m Paprika!! I can do it!” Orange raised his hand eagerly.
The Saintess scoffed. “Hah? Your density is pathetically insufficient. We need far more.”
“Oh...” Orange wilted again.
— Oh no...
— the bullied small-time streamer
— RPG world kill record means nothing to her
— her expression omg
Even with increased viewers from the Main Scenario, Orange alone wasn’t enough.
“S-Sorry... I’m... small.” His confidence nosedived.
“It’s fine. Cheese Village is right above us now.”
“Huh?”
“We can simply harvest more chakra.” The Lord clearly had a plan.
“That’s... possible?”
“Yeah.” Almond checked the server chat again.
He couldn’t respond, but he could read it.
“And I already had a reason to go.”
***
Miho squeezed her eyes shut. “Please... Lord. Just once more. Save us...”
Mockery rained down on her.
— girl that’s impossible
— he’s not coming
— this is a bit delusional ngl
— get it together Miho
Hoping for him to come even in the face of death was foolish. The hammer was already falling. Everyone believed that he wouldn’t come.
Thoom!
“Huh?”
Miho opened her eyes a little. Her blurred vision caught a silhouette.
[Almond]
Almond stood there, pushing back the raging hellfire in every direction and bracing the colossal hammer. In that instant, the world seemed to stop.
Even Bubblegum, who had waited so long for him, froze in disbelief. “L... Lord? I-Is that really you?”
The Union also gaped.
“Holy shit.”
“He actually came back?”
The Cheese residents felt equally shocked.
“T-That’s impossible...”
Thud.
Miho, who had been praying, collapsed to the ground. “The Lord... came back?”
No one could quite believe it, but he had appeared. His solid presence stood between them and annihilation, forcing back the threat.
Screeeee!
Zelu’s massive hammer spat out sparks as it ground against the Black Turtle. No matter how much he tried to push through, his hammer simply wouldn’t advance. The more he forced it, the stronger the rebound became.
Flash.
Zelu’s hammer vanished in midair and scattered away as a ring of hellfire. Almond had deflected Zelu’s blow and protected the villagers.
“T-This can’t be! The Lord! The Lord has returned!!”
“Wooooaaaaaahhhh!!”
Only then did everyone truly register what had happened. They leaped to their feet and screamed. The viewers were just as slow to catch up.
— holy
— ???
— is this for real???
— no way
— he’s insane!
— LMAO
— this crazy guy...
— that’s our lord!
The chat exploded. Every major streamer’s chat lagged from the flood, Cheese and Paprika streamers alike.
“Huff... huff...? H-How? Since when?”
Even Dark Knight Black Pepper’s chat fell into shambles.
— bro
— wtf
— it’s over
— HELLO???
— ???
— lmaoooo
— we’re doomed
Zelu’s chat was no different.
“Th-This is insane... Is this real?”
— it’s real???
— Zelu, nice three day reign, we done now~
— just surrender bro lol
— hey. it’s me, big bro~
— LOOOOOL
No one had foreseen this. Not even the Cheese villagers, who had begged for the Lord’s return and staged a full-on independence movement in his name. Least of all, the One-Village Alliance, which had planned to crush them and rule with ease.
“Grrr...” Zelu ground his teeth and roared, “One-Village Alliance! All hands out here, now! Our mortal enemy has appeared!!”
From the Hellgate he had stepped through, more troops began pouring out.
“Gasp...!”
“Lord?”
Among them were the many Knight remnants who had betrayed the Lord.
“This is...”
“So it returns to haunt us, after all.”
ForeverAlone was among them. “Lord... you’ve been gone all this time.”
He looked more conflicted than ever.
— oh shit
— yikes
— ex-boyfriend entrance
— welp
— time for the worm to earn his pay~
— he really came back lol
— thought he went camping forever
Clink.
They drew their blades and leveled their weapons at the Lord. The war and rematch against Paprika would soon resume.
Zelu stepped to the front. “Why did you return, Lord? Was my gracious mercy not to your liking?”
— wipe that smirk, man LOL
— low-key hyped his own viewer count just now
— he likes Almond, you can tell
— suddenly the stream got cracked again
— Almond you insane content god
— ??? Damn it, Almond! I like you!
“You abandoned this village. Now you show up again. What do you plan to do? And alone, at that!?”
Almond shook his head. “I’m not alone.”
“What...?”
“Four knights have already surrounded you on all sides.”
“F-Four knights? Surrounded? Pfft... Hahaha!” Zelu exaggerated his laugh on purpose. “There are at least twenty knights here already. How do you surround us with only four, Lord?”
— why did he suddenly slip into Pang speech? LOL
— “Lord dialect” patch failed
— lmao
“Ah, n-no. You s-surrounded us, right?” Even now, Zelu struggled to talk properly in front of the Lord. “A-Anyway, what are you going to do with them? You already abandoned Cheese Village. Go back to fishing while you still can. Why did you come back?”
Almond nodded. “True... I was going to go fishing.”
Every Cheese villager’s expression went blank.
‘This bastard?’
‘He really was going to leave us?’
‘Son of a...’
Their stares were mixed with resentment and attachment. On some level, Zelu was right. Almond had walked away.
“Exactly, it’s not too late. Just walk off to some nice lake and...”
“But I decided to come back.”
“What?”
Why? Just for fun? Because of the Main Scenario? Or...
“There were still people calling my name.”
Silence fell.
“When I thought about it... That’s what we are. We only exist because there’s someone somewhere calling for us. And if one person, just one, keeps calling us even after we’ve vanished... Then we owe it to them to exist again.”
Far away, watching from a distance, the Saintess smiled faintly. She had spoken almost the same words. Treevy viewers still existed, and her disciples remained in this world. For these reasons, she braved the curse to cross dimensions again.
— awwww
— My Lord!!
— is that really Almond??
— he 100% practiced that line for two days straight
— sponsored speech level clean
— YES
— “because... that’s what being a streamer is.”
— chills
Zelu adjusted his sunglasses and lowered his head. “If that’s the reason... I can’t argue.”
He didn’t refute it. He couldn’t because he was a streamer too.
“But...”
Hellfire burst to life in both of his hands.
“Many here also don’t want you to exist. Almond, if you truly wish to return, then...”
Fwoooosh!
“Prove it.”
At the same time, his underlings drew their blades.
Shing!
The two forces squared off once again: Almond versus Zelu. The numbers were different this time. Behind Almond stood the Cheese villagers, packed shoulder to shoulder. The weapon he drew was also no longer the same.
[Bow of Hope — Treeana’s Noble Arm]
He had received this treasure from Treeana.
Creak...