After Laura and Narin left, Vincent suddenly realized something.
"…Everyone, get up. We need to follow them right away."
"Huh? Can’t we rest a little longer…? If possible, I’d like to never work again and just have fun forever…."
Was Annaroid dreaming of unearned income?
While Chel, who was watching two streams at once (a practice known as '2-Mado' in technical terms), recalled that joke, Vincent remained urgent.
"This isn’t the time for jokes. We can’t let them go on their own."
"Why, Captain? If it’s Laura-chan’s autograph, I can get it for you instead."
"We can’t let them find our comrades' corpses before we do."
Vincent, who knew how to use his brain, realized that this situation wasn’t good.
The cost of reviving a comrade was proportional to their skill level.
Early on, reviving a teammate didn’t cost that much, but now they were in the mid-game. While they had gotten the hang of dungeon exploration, the difficulty of the dungeon had steadily increased. That meant they had no choice but to level up their skills.
As a result, the current revival cost was around 10,000 gold per person.
"If Aurora finds the bodies first, she’ll probably make us this offer: She’ll use a skill and revive them for 8,000 gold."
"Then wouldn’t that be a huge gain for us?"
Shina tilted her head.
At that moment, some viewers were probably thinking the same thing.
Ah, this blockhead….
"…Think about it. If we spend 10,000 gold to revive our comrades, how much does that widen the gap between us and Leviathan?"
"A 10,000 gold difference, right?"
"Then what happens if we pay Aurora 8,000 gold to do it?"
"Uh…?"
The Cerberus-Behemoth alliance spends 8,000 gold.
Leviathan earns 8,000 gold.
That means a total difference of 16,000 gold per revival.
"I see… But would Laura really demand that?"
Elenoa optimistically raised a point, but Anna shook her head.
"Laura-chan absolutely would. She is a Villainous Noblewoman, after all."
She was already intelligent, but when it came to making others suffer, her brain worked several times faster.
Anna had experienced this firsthand.
Of course, Anna wasn’t the only one.
Shina agreed.
"Yeah. Aurora’s got a nasty personality."
"But that’s exactly what makes Laura-chan charming."
"…Your brain is completely broken."
Shina looked at Anna with a dumbfounded expression.
She was starting to think Anna would probably enjoy getting kicked by Aurora.
…Was it really the right choice to ally with someone like this?
Would she betray the team and side with Aurora at the first opportunity…?
***
【The previous Duke had three sons.
The eldest son died. He supposedly fell off his horse during a hunting competition.
The second son died. He succumbed to an unknown illness.
The third son ascended as the new Duke.
Was all of this just a coincidence? - Record of the Knight Commander】
After reading the memo, Narin approached Laura.
"Laura, I found this memo."
Narin held out the note, but Laura didn’t take it.
She glanced at the text with an uninterested expression and said,
"A memo from the Knight Commander? Do what you want with it."
"…It looks like an important clue, though."
Narin pointed it out, but Laura only looked bored.
"I already know about it. That memo was in the 'First Series' as well."
That was her response.
Narin was slightly surprised. So she can make that kind of expression too…?
…She’s always smiling.
Laura always wore a smile. It had a slightly sinister quality to it, but it was a smile nonetheless.
It was probably similar to how service workers always maintain a business smile.
Maybe she used that smile to conceal her true emotions.
Then again, sometimes it felt like she smiled just to pressure others. Thinking about it that way, she really was the perfect Villainous Noblewoman.
There were rare moments when Laura didn’t smile. It usually happened when she was concentrating intensely on something.
But this time, her expression was different.
To Narin’s knowledge, Laura had never openly displayed negative emotions, yet now, for some reason, they were plain as day.
…I think I understand a little.
Son Narin had been analyzing (not obsessing over) Laura for a while, and her efforts were finally paying off.
Laura was talented in many areas—a true all-rounder.
She gave off the impression that even if a meteor came crashing down, she’d still keep smiling. But precisely because of that, it seemed her greatest poison was boredom.
Realizing this gave Narin a small sense of satisfaction.
Beep. Your understanding of Aurora has increased by 10.
Beep. No new features have been unlocked, but you feel a sense of accomplishment.
Son Narin couldn’t help but imagine system messages popping up in front of her eyes.
"But Laura, are we just going to sit here like this?"
Regardless of how good she felt, Narin wasn’t sure whether this was actually a good situation.
The two of them were currently inside a guest room.
At least, it was supposed to be a guest room. The wardrobe had been smashed and was lying on the floor, something that looked like bloodstains splattered across the walls, and the bed was covered in what seemed to be sword marks.
Narin had been investigating the room to the best of her ability, but Laura remained seated, utterly indifferent.
"Aren’t we supposed to be looking for clues?"
"You must have forgotten already. Everything has its proper role. I’m the brains, and you’re in charge of the grunt work."
"…That was during the escape room game! Help me look, Laura!"
"There’s nothing here except for that memo you’re holding."
"Isn’t that a spoiler?"
For the record, most viewers didn’t like it when streamers played a game beforehand. The rawer the reactions, the better.
If it felt like the streamer was acting, it was off-putting. And if they already knew everything, their reactions tended to be dull and uninteresting.
"I only played the 'First Series,' you know. Things might have changed."
Laura said it so nonchalantly.
Then again, she wasn’t the kind of VTuber who relied on reactions for content.
Unlike other VTubers who squealed and screamed, she wasn’t fazed by anything. Humans, zombies, monsters—it didn’t matter. In her presence, they were all ruthlessly torn in half.
Her viewers expected overwhelming strength, smooth progression, and her signature personality. So even if she had played the game beforehand, they probably wouldn’t care much.
"I guess that’s fine, then… But if we’re done investigating, shouldn’t we leave? We won’t progress if we just sit here."
"It’s not time yet."
"Time?"
"But you have a point. Since we’re just waiting, let’s chat for a bit."
As soon as the word chat was mentioned, Laura’s boredom disappeared.
She seemed interested again.
Wait, did that mean—
…Was she looking forward to talking with me?
"Why do you look so dazed?"
"A-Ah, it’s nothing!"
Narin cleared her throat.
Her mind kept overanalyzing things.
She was just suggesting a way to kill time. That was all. From the start, that was exactly how she had understood it.
There was no other interpretation. None at all.
Either way, she could at least entertain her for a bit.
Narin straightened her posture.
"W-What do you want to know about me?!"
"? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Laura had only suggested some casual chatting, but why did it suddenly feel like an interrogation?
Finding it incomprehensible, she decided to throw out a random question.
"I'm thinking about learning to dance. Like I mentioned earlier."
"Oh~, you mean what we talked about before the stream?"
- Oh?
- Dance?
- Why dancing all of a sudden?
- Is something big coming?
Seeing the chat flood in, Narin grew serious.
It might have seemed like a casual conversation topic, but Narin knew that the real reason Laura wanted to learn to dance was for an upcoming 3D event scheduled for two months later.
And this was still unannounced information.
While it was more or less confirmed, any VTuber fan had probably experienced this before—anticipating a 3D stream, only for it to suddenly be postponed!
Unconfirmed news should never be spoken carelessly.
Determined not to let a slip of the tongue cause problems, Narin focused.
"But I don’t really know where I should learn to dance. Narin, do you take dance lessons?"
"Um… I don’t really dance much either."
Among the Serenade VTubers, Narin was considered a senior with quite a bit of experience.
She also had a sizable subscriber count, meaning she already had a 3D model. However, since gaming was her main focus, she hadn't had much reason to do 3D streams involving dancing.
Even when she did use 3D, it was usually just for group performances.
There was an event called Serenade All-Star Live, where all sorts of Serenade VTubers gathered to perform. It was held once or twice a year.
Even someone like Narin, whose main content was gaming, had to dance and sing during those events. Of course, she wasn’t as good as the others.
"But Laura, you can’t dance? You seem like a good singer, though."
"I learned some ballet in the past. Since I’m a duke’s daughter, I had to make appearances at ballroom events quite often. I prepared for those occasions by learning waltz and such, but I don’t know much about modern dance."
"…Ballroom events?"
Hearing the unfamiliar term, Narin blinked.
…Was this RP?
Laura's roleplay sometimes felt so method-acted that it was hard to tell where the character ended and the real person began.
Anyway, about dancing—
"So I’ve been looking into it, but it’s not going well."
Laura explained.
And in that moment, Narin realized something.
Oh… right. Laura’s from EYEAI…
If that was the case, it might be difficult for her to find a dance trainer anytime soon.
EYEAI and Serenade KR were likely on a similar level. There was no real point in comparing their fanbases—both had strong followings.
However, when it came to know-how, Serenade KR had the upper hand.
Since Serenade had a dedicated headquarters, various forms of expertise were continuously passed down.
EYEAI, on the other hand, had very few VTubers who had even received 3D models.
As far as Narin knew, only a few top-tier VTubers like Rinco had been given one.
And even then, their experience with 3D live performances was limited.
Come to think of it, Rinco—the face of EYEAI—mostly used her 3D model for external events rather than actual concerts.
That meant EYEAI was particularly lacking in 3D-related expertise.
So maybe EYEAI doesn’t have many connections to dance trainers either.
On top of that, it was the beginning of the year. Lunar New Year was also approaching.
Wait, hold on—
"Shina might know someone."
"Know someone?"
"You don’t know? The Badario Festival is happening next month. Shina is performing there."
Narin had heard that Shina was set to sing and dance at the festival.
That meant she had probably been practicing dance lately, which meant she might have connections to a dance trainer.
"Should I ask Shina about it?"
"That would be helpful. If the location works out, maybe I could take lessons with her."
"I’ll do that, then. Ah…?"
Wait a second.
Wouldn’t this mean she’d have a chance to meet Laura?
Narin suddenly realized.
…And so what if she did?
It’s not like I want to meet her or anything.
Narin repeated that thought to herself.
But still…
As a VTuber, wasn’t playing games every single day a bit… monotonous?
She hadn’t been going outside much lately, so her body was getting sluggish…
And eventually, she would have to do a 3D stream, so learning to dance wouldn’t be a bad idea, right?
Yeah, I should learn to dance too.
Narin said this with complete sincerity. Purely as a VTuber, fulfilling her professional duty.
Of course, if she happened to take dance classes in the same place as Laura, there was a chance they might run into each other.
But just to be clear, she wasn’t looking forward to meeting Laura or anything. It would just be an incidental occurrence.
There was a saying: Life is a continuous process of learning.
As long as one lived, they had to keep learning new things. Humans continued to grow until the day they died, and viewers didn’t like stagnant VTubers.
Self-improvement was essential.
Since it was the new year, setting a goal to properly learn dance seemed reasonable.
And once again, let’s be clear—there were no ulterior motives.
This was simply a matter of fulfilling her duties as a VTuber.
"Anyway, it's about time."
Completely unaware of Narin’s burning sense of duty as a VTuber, Laura muttered to herself.
***
【Tower of Magic - Incinerator Party Member Status】
【《Survival》 Mashina: Deceased】
【《Exploration》 Orga Hansen: Deceased】
【《Recovery》 Elenoa: Deceased】
【Adventurers’ Guild - Resource Selection Exploration Team Status】
【《Exploration》 Vincent Edward: Online】
【《Search》 Kanto Akito: Deceased】
【《Survival》 Shiroki Anna: Online】
【《Protection》 Choi Changyoung: Deceased】