Chapter 423

Episode 423. As always, a shady(?) back-alley story. (1)

What an incomprehensible situation.

—————————————–

Title: It’s time for the Central Zone’s Icarus the 1st’s royal broadcast!

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Icarus proving they’ve been blocked for 1 day.jpg]

Ohh, Your Majesty, ohh.

Praise that cold, sharp judgment.

Comments:

– [You’re gonna get kicked out soon too, dude.]

– [Even if you get blocked, you must praise His Majesty. True loyalty ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ.]

– [We decided to call those people sycophants, not loyalists.]

– [Why are users from other zones freaking out instead of Central Zone users where Icarus is?ㅋㅋㅋ]

– [Because it’s not their business, so they’re just enjoying the show?]

– [Ah, I see.]

—————————————–

“These guys, who always go for the throat or try to kill me at the slightest provocation, why are they acting like this all of a sudden?”

“Who knows.”

Why are users suddenly calling me a punching bag and trying to kill me in a non-killing way?

Witnessing this collective madness(?), I couldn’t help but feel utterly baffled.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one thinking this.

—————————————–

<Triangle Zone Official Chat Room>

<Notice: No clans here - Icarus>

– [Wait, were we part of a clan?]

– [Read the notice, we’re not.]

– [Fake outrage but not fake outrage.]

– [I’m confused, so confused.]

– [Long live the King of the Central Zone.]

– [Just because they said no clans, you’re trying to make them a king?]

– [What a mess.]

—————————————–

Because of the Leviathan Fleet’s appearance, the Triangle Zone users rushed in, and their chat room was filled with chaos.

—————————————–

Title: Sure, Icarus is the only top 10 ranker in the Central Zone, but…

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Image of a toad resting its chin.jpg]

But is there really a reason to hype them up that much?

Honestly, even they seem to hate it.

Isn’t this just baiting for attention?

Feels like they’re deliberately provoking to mess with people.

Comments:

– [Does that even make sense?]

– [Well, those kinds of people do exist, so…] (Author)

– [Honestly, it does feel a bit like baiting.]

– [Just laugh it off, why are you taking it so seriously?;;]

– [At least it’s better than those who push forced memes and cry about it being unfunny.] (Author)

– [What the hell did you just say?]

—————————————–

Title: Isn’t this just Icarus trolling?

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Image of a toad saying “Hmm, interesting.”]

Since things have come to this, maybe they’re planning to create a massive clan in the Central Zone?

I mean, it’s practically no different from a clan already.

And as soon as the Leviathan Fleet shows up, the baiting starts?

This is pretty interesting.

Comments:

– [Serious Central Zone PVP enthusiasts out.]

– [But didn’t they explicitly say in the notice they’re not doing it?]

– [Or not~] (Author)

– [“Or not” my ass, these guys haven’t grown mentally in over 3 years.]

– [Hmm, is that so?]

—————————————–

While some users see this bizarre hype as just a fun event, others suspect that the Central Zone is trying to push for actual clan formation.

With users popping up left and right, casting suspicious glances at me, the situation is nothing short of chaotic.

But as I was racking my brain over this, Jessica, who was browsing the gallery with me, said:

“But Commander, do you really need to stress over this so much?”

“Huh, what?”

“You’ve already made it clear in the chat room notices, gallery posts, and even before that, you have no intention of creating a clan.”

“You’ve been consistently expressing your opinions, haven’t you?”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“Since you’ve emphasized your opinions again in the chat room notice this time, I think it’s better to just do our work and watch from now on.”

“…Hmm.”

Giving me advice like that.

Thinking that there’s really some sense in what you’re saying, I nodded and decided to follow Jessica’s opinion.

And actually, shortly after.

“Commander~ Do you have some time?”

“Captain Lephan, and Aquarias and Bendalope? What’s going on?”

“Well, you see, we have something to report from the recent battle.”

Captain Lephan, with a chest as grand and beautiful as Pashtira’s, appeared with our base’s superhumans…

In other words, the two gumdrop girls, Aquarias and Bendalope, who barely balance the serious big-breast-small-breast ratio among the ‘executive-level’ members, came to talk.

In my mind, the above story quickly buried itself in a corner of my head, and its presence disappeared.

==========

But at the time when our Icarus was busy with daily tasks, unknowingly avoiding this matter.

Somehow, at the headquarters of ‘Justice’, one of the three major clans—no, now three plus one mega-clans—’Bellatrix’, where Arcadia’s base command center was docked…

—————————————–

<Justice Secret Chat Room>

<Notice: I to Y in progress.>

-[People are starting to catch on.]

-[Those are Humanity and Loki Clan folks, just push them as serious types.]

-[Humanity is busy with their own opinion manipulation, but Loki is a bit iffy.]

-[Let’s keep the positive influence of I’s clanization at this level and just eliminate the spies caught here.]

-[Agreed.]

—————————————–

Surprisingly, the ‘Icarus = King and representative of the Central Zone’ meme was being pushed as opinion manipulation by the Justice Clan.

Of course, while Arcadia might not know, the Justice Clan itself wasn’t particularly positive or negative towards Icarus.

Originally, engaging in such opinion manipulation would be incredibly awkward…

—————————————–

<Justice Secret Chat Room>

<Notice: I to Y in progress.>

-[Good work.] (Arcadia)

-[Through this matter, it’s important to forcibly clanize I as a means to check other clans.] (Arcadia)

-[The Clan Leader is right.]

-[Humanity has become too strong, so what can we do?]

-[Loki has also become stronger, but…]

-[They’ve just expanded their territory recklessly.]

-[Anyway, the important thing is that our upward trend is relatively less compared to them, right?]

-[Agreed.]

-[The Magellan Clan still doesn’t have the ability or will to check Humanity, so like it or not, we need I.]

-[Agreed.]

—————————————–

As mentioned in the secret chat room, they have become stronger, but… it’s true that they’ve somewhat fallen behind.

The Magellan Clan is a bit shady, so they’re pushing Icarus to create a new clanization to check all factions in the center.

Of course, as mentioned above, such talk was only accepted by the clan executives as making sense after Arcadia said, ‘My big picture is like this~’.

But the one who actually brought up the story, Arcadia…

“I will… make Icarus… the King.”

“You really sound like someone who’d get their stomach pierced by a lava fist, Commander.”

Being a hardcore fan of Icarus, the clan is fully mobilized in their fangirling without rest.