[First Collab] Introductions

“…Hm? What is this, hast the stream already begun?”

《It has!?》

“Oh. My apologies. I was enjoying myself as but one Gem Pro viewer.”

《Vel-chan, aren’t you way too laid-back!?》

Apparently the opening landed well, because the comment section immediately came alive.

A flood of “LOL” filled the chat, and since Effie-san was usually the one dragging everyone else around, it was apparently rare to see her on the receiving end like this.

So the comments seemed delighted to see a new side of her.

“My apologies, my apologies. …Now then, what were we discussing?”

《Why do you sound like someone’s grandma!?》

“How rude. A mere thousand years is only somewhat long-lived by Demon Realm standards, you know? Besides, elves themselves are long-lived, are they not? We are hardly different.”

《My official age is 318! I haven’t lived for a thousand years!》

“Hah! Once one passes a hundred, it is all the same from a human’s perspective. We are both old hags.”

《Mugyaaaaaah! Don’t call me an old hag! Besides, you’re literally a high-school girl in the prime of youth, Vel-chan!》

“Indeed, I am. Jealous?”

《That really irritated me…!》

Thanks to Effie-san playing along so well, the comment section was moving at an incredible speed.

Honestly, I could read every single comment even at this speed, but most of the reactions were positive, while anything from antis or the like was immediately replaced with “This message has been deleted.”

The fruits of the staff’s tearful efforts, I supposed.

Still, Rio-san and Suu-san were both grinning from ear to ear.

I could immediately tell they were laughing on the other side of their monitors, and apparently the comments had noticed too, getting all warm and fuzzy over it and making a fuss about how rare it was to see Suu-san smile.

Now then, this entire sequence so far had actually gone more or less according to plan.

The reason was that Yuzu-neesan had warned me that if I opened immediately with my usual greeting—basically proclaiming myself before everyone—the viewers’ first impression might be something like, “Wow, she’s arrogant,” so she’d asked me to be careful at the beginning.

Around now, Rio-san and Suu-san were supposed to jump in with retorts and bring things to a stop, but perhaps they were too busy clutching their stomachs laughing, because every so often their avatars froze on-screen in strange poses.

Couldn’t be helped. I supposed I’d keep going a little longer.

It would be awkward if they tried to interrupt now, and waiting for them would probably just create dead air.

“Now then, what were we discussing again?”

《That’s exactly why you sound like a grandma! No, not that! Come on! Your greeting, and, like… you know! There are all kinds of things, right!?》

“Oh? For someone saying ‘all kinds of things,’ the only thing thou managed to name was a greeting??”

《Nuaaaaaagh! Honestly, the greeting was the only thing I could think of…!》

“O-oh….”

《Anyway! Vel-chan, your greeting!》

“Very well. I am Verchera Merisis. A pleasure.”

《…Huh? That’s it!?》

“What is it?”

《Give us more! You know! ‘Rejoice, my subjects! I am the one and only ruler of the Demon Realm, Demon Lord Verchera Merisis!’ Where’s the usual thing!?》

“You remember it surprisingly well. However, this is thy channel, is it not? My subjects did not come here for my sake. Even I know enough to respect the setting.”

《Ugh…!》

“What was that noise? Thou sounded like some beast being strangled.”

《Pff…! S-strang…! Stop, Effie, Vel-chan…! My stomach, my stomach is gonna die…!》

《…Pffhk…! Laugh—mmph》

Apparently Rio-san and Suu-san had completely hit their breaking point, because their speech had become rather strange.

Effie-san had also been sending so much “LOL” spam through 『Connect』 that even an aggressive reforestation campaign would have looked barren by comparison, so things behind the scenes had become complete chaos too.

《…Gnnngh… I never imagined Vel-chan would actually behave herself on someone else’s channel…!》

“Well, unlike mine, this is someone else’s channel—and not merely that, but the channel of a top talent from a famous agency. Surely I cannot call everyone here my subjects. Common sense dictates as much.”

《Pff—gh!》

《Puhya…!》

As I continued piling more damage onto Rio-san and Suu-san, a message from Yuzu-neesan arrived through 『Connect』.

『This is going amazingly well, and the concurrent viewers are climbing too! Great! Keep it up and steer things back to the main topic!』

Yes, ma’am.

“Now then, with that settled, allow me to introduce myself properly. A pleasure to meet you all. I am Verchera Merisis, the independent Vtuber whom Effie invited this time. I am a newcomer both to Vtubing and 『OFA』, and even I do not know why she invited me. Direct thy questions to Effie.”

《That was a sudden course correction!? Haaah, I can’t believe I’m the one who has to play the straight man…. Wait, Rio? Suu? You okay?》

《Haaah… haaah….》

《…………Fine, pff, mm, ahem.》

…I didn’t think I’d gone too far. I hoped not. I was going to decide that I hadn’t.

Besides, Yuzu-neesan seemed perfectly happy, and the concurrent viewers—the number of people watching the stream at the same time—were apparently rising considerably, so… yeah. I hadn’t done anything wrong, right?

《All right! So that’s Vel-chan’s grand entrance! Just like she said, this time I really, really wanted to invite her, so instead of asking around inside Gem, I got permission to use the open slot.》

《Some people in the comments have already noticed, but while Vel-chan really is an 『OFA』 beginner, her aim and eyesight are completely ridiculous. So I want her to take the role our team doesn’t have: a sniper focused mainly on rear support and surveillance!》

Just as the comments said, rear support, surveillance, and sniping were normally roles intended for experienced players.

『OFA』 was unusual for an FPS in that instead of using preexisting characters, you created your own character.

The tutorial let you try every weapon and every superpower, but during an actual match, you had to select both your class and superpower each time. Every class provided bonuses for certain weapons, while some weapons couldn’t even be used if your class wasn’t suited for them.

You moved across the map searching for equipment that took advantage of those strengths, then shared items among teammates to build up your fighting power… but the sniper class, in particular, was widely considered a position beginners shouldn’t play.

The reason was simple.

You had to understand the map, grasp the strategy, and make decisions accordingly.

And because of the nature of the role, you always had to stay some distance behind the frontline members, which meant that if another team’s players found you, there was a real risk of getting killed almost immediately.

《Huh? Come to think of it, we did tell Vel-chan about what position she’d be playing… right…?》

“Nay. This is the first I have heard of it.”

They really hadn’t directly told me they wanted me playing that position.

Effie sounded flustered too, letting out a confused, “Wait, huh?”

“Think nothing of it. I had already intended to make my character more suited to fighting from the rear, so this works well for me.”

《R-right! Oh, and of course we’ll support you at first! We’re not just going to dump everything on beginner Vel-chan and leave you to figure it out!》

“Mm. I would appreciate it if thou tell me whenever there is something I should know.”

《Oh, today? …Wanna do it?》

“What?”

Apparently, we were playing.

No one told me about this.