CH 23

Haishin had become a big name in the world of Ataraxia.

The culture of streaming he created had a minor presence at first, but it steadily spread among people and became the big swell it now was.

[If you’ve got anything to say, just tell me, and I’ll read it. I can’t wait to hear from you guys!]

Haishin’s voice was that of a teenager, but the way he looked at things and had values like that of an adult.

His pioneering of information delivery, which no one had ever done before, and his boldness in taking a scalpel to the world’s conventions in a matter-of-fact manner gained him great popularity.

[I’m just saying what I want to say. No one’s telling me what to say. I’m just doing it because I feel like it.]

It was an experiment never attempted before, and people across Ataraxia got drawn to him because he was something they hadn’t seen before.

The person behind Haishin only said what he wanted to say, and his voice also had a certain charisma, despite the fact that he was uttering his words according to the values he held in his previous life…

He became a social phenomenon. 

But naturally, there were many who were jealous of his power to influence even countries just by talking, and there were idiots who tried to do the same thing he did.

“… Hey, this is not enough magic, you piece of s**t!”

“F-forgive me…”

“You’re all useless f*cking worms!”

It was a scene at a nobleman’s mansion in a small country.

The nobleman holding a terminal in his hand yelled at the many slaves waiting behind him.

He was trying to imitate Haishin, but he wasn’t able to supplement with his magical power alone. When he thought about how to remedy it, he came up with the idea of buying a large number of slaves and sucking all the magical power out of them.

“… Haah… Haah.”

“Please… not anymore…”

In the world of Ataraxia, the magic power that flows through the body is an important thing that allows it to exist, whether a lot or a little, and it is the same thing as blood.

If one forcefully extracted that magic power, it would naturally deplete their vitality, causing them to become exhausted to where they would lose consciousness, or worse, even death, which was rare.

“Are there no other slaves?”

“That’s all we bought today, Sir.”

“Damn. I guess a bunch of bottom-feeding slaves only have this much magic power.”

The law against slaves had passed, and it certainly made the world a better place for slaves to live in.

But it’s also true there were still those who did what they wanted in hidden places like this, and it’s not as if all slaves could get saved.

If this were a kingdom, empire, or principality, a place where the name of Haishin was deeply ingrained, it would be a major crime, but… apparently, the country this nobleman was in was not.

“Damn… I can’t do it like Haishin. No matter how much magic power I collect, it’s not enough. Just how many does that sonovabetch have, un?”

It was a naive way of thinking, but in a way, he could only come up with this understanding because he didn’t know Haishin’s secret… No, Kanata’s.

“Just how many does he sacrifice to be able to do one stream?”

So he came to that conclusion.

In case you were wondering, he also had adventurers with high magic ranks cooperate with him in what he called an experiment, but not even SS ranks lasted more than a few minutes. Thus, he thinks that Haishin might be SSS rank or have a usually high amount of magic.

However, the calculation results showed that no matter how far they held, they would not be able to hold onto enough for an hour.

“The b*****d from Haishin talks for two hours at the longest… Impossible. It’s impossible for an ordinary person, and there’s no way he can generate that much magic power on his own. He must’ve been doing some outrageous things behind that mask!”

That was still a guess, but… it was how the speculation about Haishin started.

In this world, infinite magic power is beyond belief, and all living creatures, large and small, have some magic power that will inevitably run out.

“Kukuku, I don’t know why no one has ever thought about this before, but I’m going to expose the evil of Haishin. Hey, Haishin, this is as high as you can get. I’m going to drag you down from your crown.”

He, too, apparently knew that spreading negative publicity would hurt him, given that even in this small country, the influence of Haishin’s name was insane.

Yet he decided to step on the tail of the sleeping tiger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“… Let’s see what I can do.”

Kanata muttered to himself as he sat on a bench in the courtyard after his classes were over.

The matter of the mail that read after his sudden encounter with Mira had caused a ripple effect that was by no means small.

He was often asked how he could broadcast to so many people, but Kanata never gave any particular answer.

“… It’s just a matter of time before it catches fire.”

The infinite magical power that resided in his body after reincarnating in this world was truly unique.

Since he had no limit for his magic power, he could perform any sort of advanced magic without stopping. Above all, he was immune to traps and things that drained magic power in dungeons. He could even crush anyone with just his absolute magic power alone…

However, even if he told people he had unlimited magic power, they may still not believe him.

“Well, it’s better not to talk about unlimited magic power. It’ll definitely get me into more trouble.”

As he had said many times before, Kanata was fine with just being able to stream.

In his previous life, there was a saying in the online world that said, ‘do what you love and live for it.’ That was exactly what Kanata was doing. 

Fortunately, there weren’t many bad rumours about Haishin, but it seemed that some country was spreading the word that Haishin was piling up evil deeds, and I was afraid that it would become a loud voice and lead to further flaming of some sort.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Kanata-sama.”

“Whoa!”

“Is something bothering you?”

Before he knew it, Mira appeared seated next to him.

She looked at him curiously, wondering what was wrong, but she held out several sheets of paper from her pocket and handed it to Kanata.

“I have gathered some information on my own. I had to use force to some extent, but if it is for Kanata-sama’s sake, there is no need to be stingy with it.”

“… I see. Thank you, Mira.”

“…”

“Mira?”

She widened her eyes, and then just like that, her eyes went white, and she stopped moving.

He knew there wasn’t anything to worry about her as she’d recover in a minute, so he looked at the papers she handed him.

There was a detailed record of the information that Mira had collected, and it seemed that a certain nobleman in the small country of Senshi, which is quite far from here, was the source of the rumours.

Moreover, not only the aristocrats but also many people who were jealous of Haishin gathered to form an organization of their own… 

Kanata sighed.

“Even so, I can’t believe you gathered this much information so quickly… as expected of the legendary Raven.”

Kanata’s encounter with Mira was so abrupt that he had yet to figure out how to interact with her.

“Is there something I can do? Just say the word, and I’ll gather some information.”

“Can you do it?”

“With ease.”

With that, Mira disappeared from the room and had just returned.

As for Mira, she just wanted to help Kanata, her beloved Haishin-sama.

Kanata didn’t expect her to come back so quickly with all the information compiled together, and her specs as Raven were so high that he was tongue-tied.

“He speaks warmly of his slaves, but that is a lie, and in fact, he uses them to compensate for the depletion of his magic power… That’s how he came up with such bullshit.”

Her words continued further.

“‘All those who support Haishin got brainwashed, and the only way to end the tyranny is to choke Haishin out as soon as possible…’ Haha.”

Kanata let out a dry laugh.

There are definitely some fans who say dangerous things, but Kanata did not brainwash them… Above all, Kanata conveyed his gratitude for what they said. He didn’t like it when his followers got referred to like that.

“So they believe I’m forcing the magic power out of others. Well, not many people are taking these guys at their word… Oh yeah, this must be Slandering as they say.”

Not that he was visibly hurt, but he understood very well through social networking sites in his previous life that if you let these things go, they can be troublesome.

But words were meaningless. 

He needed to show it in some understandable way… so Kanata had to stream.

“I wonder if this is where the technology of projecting images comes into play. The quickest way to do that would be to use the magic measuring tool, but… Hmm…”

There is a magic measuring orb in your hand when you enter the academy, and it is quicker to prove himself by putting all his energy into it.

At SSS rank, it lights up a lot.

It is likely that the orb will shatter if unlimited magical power is poured into it, but if the result gets recognized as the secret of Haishin’s magic power, which is an unlikely event, then all the better.

“However, that orb can’t be taken out, and if you shatter it…”

After thinking about it, Kanata came up with an idea.

And just in time, the two girls appeared on the scene.

“Kanata-kun…”

“Kanata-sama…”

Somewhat worried about Kanata, a slight feeling of anger flared in their eyes.

He tilted his head and wondered why they were there, but putting that aside, he was relieved to see Mira, who had disappeared before him knowing, and after confirming that there was no one else around, he opened his mouth.

“I have a favour to ask you… is that okay?”

Maria and Alphana were greatly surprised by what followed next.

Kanata mentioned that name.

“Sorry about the suddenness… but the truth is, Haishin is actually me.”

Kanata mouthed this to the two of them, lightheartedly to all intents and purposes.

They told him they were fans of Haishin, so he decided to rely a little bit on their status and the fact that they’re close friends these days.