There's a legend in the Kingdom of Michel: when children are crying and misbehaving, mothers whisper in their ears, "If you don't behave, the weird uncles from Anna's Support Group will come and take you away."
—Anna's Support Group, the Kingdom of Michel's only officially certified cult organization. From Atlantis to Midgard, Anna's Support Group's infamy is known far and wide.
Reportedly, Anna's Support Group was originally a proper organization named [Golden Dawn] until the maid Anastasia's character design was released, and everything changed. The leader fell in love with Anna at first sight, became hopelessly obsessed, and even changed the organization's name to the ridiculous "Anna's Support Group."
This move naturally incited outrage among the members, who repeatedly tried to persuade the leader. After forty-nine days of persistence, their efforts finally paid off: the leader successfully brainwashed all members.
After that, more and more people joined Anna's Support Group, eventually evolving into what players call the Anna Religion. They say everyone in Anna's Support Group is a bit mentally unstable, and there are only two types of people there: Anna fanatics, and twisted Anna fanatics.
That's roughly how it is.
As the person in question, my feelings are quite complicated, but I don't dislike them.
With the help of the player with ID "Tokisaki Kurumi's husband," he managed to contact colleagues active outside the camp, telling them to hurry back—Anna's tactical home invasion!
Time was tight, and I worried whether a meal without appetizers, vegetable salad, and dessert would be too casual. Still, the responses I received were along the lines of "that would be way too extravagant..." and "we'd be satisfied with simple cooking."
"Eh? Over eighty percent of the members... are in prison?"
While preparing the venison, I was somewhat curious about Anna's Support Group's numbers, so I asked for confirmation. Chris mentioned Anna's Support Group had over ten thousand members, but neither yesterday's turnout nor the camp's size suggested such a large organization.
The response I got was unexpected.
"We're not just boasting, Anna-chan, there isn't a prison in the entire Kingdom of Michel we haven't been in."
Why are you saying this with such pride?!
If players break the law and get caught, minor offenses result in fines, major ones in jail time. Unless it's an unforgivable crime, players generally get out after a few days at most.
"What did they do?"
Tokisaki Kurumi's husband awkwardly rubbed his palms together.
"Hitting on respectable young ladies."
"..."
What happened to being exclusively devoted to me?!
"Why would you do that?"
"Well, about that..."
"—An-an-an-an-an-na?!"
A sea of people rushed in from outside the camp. As they say, birds of a feather flock together—their reactions upon seeing me were identical, down to the number of syllables.
"Good day to you, brave warriors of the mercenary group."
After my greeting, a companion beside the bespectacled male player in front suddenly started trembling and said in a low voice, "Strategist... I'm logging off for a bit."
"Is he feeling unwell?"
"It's nothing, he got a bit excited hearing Anna-chan's soft voice. That guy's nickname is 'Anna's Support Group's Fastest Legend,' guaranteed to be back in about a minute."
The bespectacled player waved his hand, indicating I needn't worry too much.
"Everyone outside has gone crazy looking for Anna-chan, who'd have thought Anna-chan would come to us."
"If I'm causing you trouble, I can leave..."
"How could that be? Our camp is quite spacious, Anna-chan is welcome to hang out here. If you get tired, you can sleep right here, no problem."
I feel there's something odd about the nickname "Anna-chan," maybe it's Anna's Support Group's unique way of addressing me.
I explained my intentions to everyone in Anna's Support Group: avoiding player advances was one reason, thanking Anna's Support Group for yesterday's assistance was another, and the third was some personal matters of mine.
Although they claimed Anna's Support Group exists precisely to protect me, I don't want to take others' selfless devotion for granted—at least this venison dish is a small token of my appreciation.
They say that when the construction level reaches maximum, even building skyscrapers in a day isn't impossible.
So, what would a maximum cooking skill do?
"Is this... venison soup?"
"I've seen it on noble tables."
"Our combined cooking levels don't even reach two digits..."
"Food prepared by Anna-chan's own hands… I want to preserve it forever..."
"It won't taste good if it gets cold, you know."
Although it's not glowing food, and drinking the venison soup won't make their clothes explode, their enchanted expressions after taking a sip made me wonder if I hadn't accidentally added some strange ingredients.
Only two people were exceptions.
Tokisaki Kurumi's husband and that bespectacled male player didn't drink the soup; instead, they huddled in a corner, whispering seriously.
"...I don't know?"
"Strategist! Use that strategy god brain of yours to think of something! We can't watch Anna-chan getting conquered step by step!"
"Strange, don't you have a collection of Anna-chan NTR books? Shouldn't you be excited?"
"I had no choice before, but now I want to be a pure love faction member. Strategist, we need to protect Anna-chan in our own way. As long as we can keep her here, no one can conquer Anna-chan!"
"Hmph... mad thoughts."
"Strategist!"
"But I agree with your view. This old man needs just one strategy to make Anna-chan surrender completely, throwing down her armor."
"Nice! Strategist, I knew you could do it!"
...Um, I can hear you, you know?