Speaking casually is fine, but in that case, I become a family-hierarchy breaker.

Because I’m using honorific speech with Hako.

“Um, well.”

Trailing off I looked back and forth between Aka and Hako.

How old is everyone anyway?

“Uh, everyone’s age—”

“I’m 17!”

Kino smiled brightly and shoved her face close.

Way too close.

Close enough, I could see pores.

Not that characters have pores.

‘Why is she pushing in like this?’

Kino’s usually someone with little sense of distance, but even considering that this is uncomfortably close.

From a distance where only I could see her, Kino winked.

‘What is she doing?’

“Aka is a hero who just turned twenty! Hako is a beastfolk who left her village at nineteen!”

“Ah.”

Kino’s added explanation tipped me off.

In short, ‘don’t ask.’

For vtubers asking age is an unspoken rule.

It creates a gap with the image they need to show.

“Then you all have different ages, but you speak casually with each other?”

I nodded and asked.

“Yeah! So I’m saying you should speak casually too, Shiroring!”

“I’m fine with Shiroring too!”

Kino raised a thumbs up and Hako backed her up.

“Um, then Aka? Kino? Hako?”

I called each name one by one.

It came out smoothly without getting stuck.

I’d already called them a bunch while hunting monsters.

are you a thug you’re talking totally casual
for real family-hierarchy breaker

I wondered if all vtubers drop honorifics, but judging by viewers’ reactions, that’s not always the case.

It means we got closer, so it’s not a bad thing.

* * *

We hunted lizards, hunted birds and even repelled a dragon.

Back then, I thought we were a hero party.

I thought we’d keep pushing forward and even defeat the Demon King.

There’s no Demon King in a monster-hunting world though.

My shoulders rose endlessly.

I almost lined up the people who called us a trash party and bragged.

‘Good thing I didn’t.’

If I got cocky what would viewers be saying right now?

“Just die already!”

Kino, who had only been blowing the hunting horn in the back, couldn’t take it and had already joined the fight, holding a hunting horn as big as her body.

The monster we’re facing is a Tyranno that breathes fire.

A reddish body and when it opens its mouth, fire comes out and its patterns are tricky.

lololol
the ‘Teacher’ nickname is legit [TL: Seems like a Korean meme about a teacher you listen to no matter what.]

Maybe because it’s a famous newbie shredder, its nickname is ‘Teacher.’

Viewers love it.

But we’re dying.

I don’t even know how many times we rode the cart (died).

If you ride the cart and chug a green potion, your body heals cleanly.

The problem is mental stamina.

“Kino! Dodge!”

Aka shouted, but it was already too late.

Tyranno did a back kick.

Kino, who’d been hammering its back legs hard, flew off and collapsed.

[Quest Failed!]

Without fail, the failure message appears in red.

I’m used to this message now.

Everyone simultaneously strikes the pose of defeat.

Aka clutches her temple and collapses and Hako kicks at the ground.

It’s the defeat motion that plays when you fail a quest.

‘Haa, I really want to stop looking at the ground.’

You have three lives.

Even if you fall, you can rejoin, but if the party goes down a total of three times, you’re forced back to town.

“Aaah! Seriously! I can’t do this! Akaa!”

Kino sprawled out in the middle of town.

The one who went down the most is Kino.

She was blowing the hunting horn in the back like always, but the Tyranno targeted Kino and spewed fire.

And as the monster gets stronger, we run out of time without Kino’s damage.

The feeling when we were beating it for thirty minutes, then got forced back to town.

I forced back the sigh leaking out.

If we were just four people gathered to enjoy a game we would’ve quit long ago.

‘We can’t just turn off the stream either.’

We’re cursed.

The devil’s curse, called donations that won’t lift until we clear it.

This is a ‘devil’s contract’ with money on the line.

A viewer in Aka’s room put 1,000,000 won on a Tyranno no-ending-stream clear mission.

‘Wow! Thanks for the mission!’

At the first time seeing that amount, my eyes went wide.

I looked at my reflection in the town fountain.

My eyes are hollow.

“Kino, but we got a lot further than before. Let’s try just one more time.”

Aka walked up to Kino and said.

Even her own voice had no emotion.

“Yeah, Kino. Earlier, hitting its legs was good.”

Hako backed her up.

Hako really is a tank.

Her mentality is sturdy like the shield she carries, so she’s reliable at times like this.

“Then, just five minutes I need the bathroom...”

Kino stepped away for a moment.

“Ah then I’ll go too!”

Hako said that, then didn’t move.

We got a moment to cool our heads.

I don’t know how many hours we’ve been staring at this short-armed, ugly Tyranno.

My head is pounding hot.

I want to dunk my head in the fountain and bathe.

“Haa.”

Aka sighed and sat beside me.

Sitting, she swung her legs up and down wildly.

“Frustrating, right?”

I asked, looking at Aka.

“Noo I expected it, but.”

Aka answered, stretching her body out.

“I didn’t think it’d go this long. I didn’t think a mission would get put up.”

Aka continued kicking the fountain we were sitting on with her heel.

“Seriously. Seeing just one guy over and over gets old.”

“But if we can’t beat ‘Teacher’ we can’t move on. We have to beat it.”

Aka clenched her fist tight.

“We’ll be able to beat it this time! You’re still okay, right Shiroring?”

“For me, I can play games forever and be fine.”

I grinned at Aka.

Honestly, it’s hard.

I don’t know the exact time, but even being generous we’ve been ramming our heads into it for at least three hours.

Even sitting and only tapping a keyboard is long enough to drain stamina.

I’m in VR, rolling around here getting hit there, getting smacked here, getting smacked there and being hauled around on carts.

If you pour potions on your body, it heals, but there’s no potion that restores your mind.

‘I want to drink an MP potion at least.’

Items aren’t all-powerful.

Even if I drink it my mental stamina won’t fill up.

At best, it would just increase the number of times I can use magic.

Though this world doesn’t even have MP potions.

“That’s a relief. Shiroring, you haven’t died even once. I was worried you’d start getting sick of it.”

“Still, we have to clear it together. We started with four.”

“Right?”

The point is to clear it together.

We’re a hero party.

If even one person drops out, it means nothing.

Even without the 1,000,000 won donation, I’d think the same. Probably.

“What were you talking about?”

At some point, the armored knight Hako stood beside me.

Since I’m sitting, I naturally look up at her.

The lance in her hand points at the sky.

“Hm? We were saying next time we have to clear it! Stuff like that.”

Aka answered.

“Yeah! Let’s do our best!”

Hako raised the lance high.

Aka and I raised our fists too.

“Oh!”

My aching head felt refreshed.

Like hazy smog cleared away.

But exhaust doesn’t clear that easily.

‘When is she coming back anyway?’

Even after ten minutes, Kino still isn’t back.

My head starts to hurt again.

Aka is silent.

Silent she stands, crosses her arms and paces in place.

Hako, who’d been standing, is now sitting still.

Now I’m the one kicking the poor fountain with my heel.

At this rate, will my shoes wear out?

“Sorry! Sorry!”

Just as I realized my heel would break before my shoes Kino appeared.

“Kino—”

Aka scrunched her face and started to speak, then stopped.

Maybe because nothing good would come out.

Hako is groaning to herself.

Is she thinking about how to say it?

This time I’ll step in.

I have the least to lose.

Meaning I don’t have viewers to worry about.

“You’re late, Kino!”

“I’m really sorry, my stomach hurt.”

If she says she was sick and apologizes, there’s nothing to say.

unbeatable logic lol
Shiroring loses like a dog

For once, they’re right.

You can’t spit on someone who’s sick.

you made 10,000 people wait so it’s 50,000 minutes yeah

‘You made ten thousand people wait five minutes, so pay back fifty thousand minutes!’

I can’t exactly argue like a school teacher.

“Let’s go.”

At some point, Aka brought the quest document.

Digging into it more is pointless.

Hako and I stood too.

Lastly, Kino trailed after us.

* * *

“This way.”

Aka leads.

We’ve met it so many times that the monster info got recorded in the encyclopedia.

No need to investigate traces anymore.

The moment we enter the forest map its location appears.

“Let’s go!”

Aka ran out.

Without melting down those clumped-up salt-like feelings at all, we once again faced the fire-breathing Tyranno.

‘First, let’s deal with that.’

Kill the Tyranno blocking our way.

Cut the neck stuck above those disgustingly short arms.

Cut the fire-breathing neck, then temper iron in it and maybe the salt stuck in my chest will melt too.

“Gwooooh!”

The Tyranno turned and whipped its huge tail like a lash.

Aka blocked with her greatsword and kept running without losing speed.

“Hako!”

I shouted.

I know this pattern now.

It’s the pattern it uses right away.

The tail, which swung sideways, comes down from above.

Hako raised her shield and blocked.

Pwoo unlike at the start, Kino’s hunting horn rang out clear and bright.

Aka’s greatsword slammed and smashed Tyranno's crown.

“Shiroring!”

At Aka’s call, I ran to the side.

It’s a short damage window.

We have to shave off HP before it gets mad and spews fire.

“Hah!”

I drew my sword from the scabbard and lifted it over my head.

I brought it down toward the Tyranno’s exposed flank.