The Villainess VTuber Rips People Apart

===

【Labyrinth VR Gallery】

[General] Duke’s Glory was in the VTuber viewer match

(GIF1)

(GIF2)

(GIF3)

Didn’t take off the armor but abandoned their teammate, the martial artist, lol.
And then took out three people alone, hahaha.

[Comments]

• Don’t tell stories only you know, you weeb.
  ㄴ (Author) This was already circulating in the gallery a few times, are you new here?
• Was that guy a -ber-?
• Is this the smurf account guy?
  ㄴ (Author) Yep.
• Taking out three alone is awesome, though.
• Looks like they got a heal from the saint, but still, they’ve got talent.
• Wasn’t it all thanks to magic power?

===

[General] ‘That guy’ is seriously disgusting

He just abandoned the martial artist to look good in front of the VTuber he simps for.

[Comments]

• He’s good, but his personality definitely isn’t.
• Smurfing to stomp noobs? Tells you enough about his character.
  ㄴ But if he’s not banned yet, doesn’t that mean it’s not a smurf account?
  ㄴ Maybe he reset his account.
  ㄴ Got wrecked in a ranked game? So predictable, lol.

===

[General] Didn’t think much, but these troll jerks are disgusting, thumbs up if you agree

It’s gross enough to bring up old drama again, but why are we even discussing some muscular VTuber in the labyrinth gallery?
Seems like it's already concluded that it’s not a smurf, but they’re losing it over a viewer match, how ridiculous, lol.
They should’ve just posted it on the social scandals page instead of cluttering the trending posts with nonsense.

[Comments]

• Probably got wrecked in a ranked game, lol.
• Has the labyrinth gallery ever been normal?
• Are those fanboys whining again because their master got trashed?
  ㄴ Why is that even being brought up now?
  ㄴ Probably trying to manipulate public opinion because they lost the match yesterday, lol.
  ㄴ (Author) Bingo.

===

[General] Are those fanboys now attacking regular people?

They’ve always trashed the opposing team when they lost, but now they’re trying to manipulate trending posts because nothing else works, lol.
They’re like sleazy tabloid reporters who leak celebrity scandals every time an issue pops up.
If you lost, just take the L quietly, morons.

[Comments]

• Wasn’t that the guy who took the wrong lane in the last match?
• So shady, lol.
• It’s not the fanboys, it’s the anti-fans.
  ㄴ Found the fanboy.
  ㄴ Doesn’t matter if they’re fanboys or anti-fans, attacking regular people is still trashy.
  ㄴ Get out and do some socializing instead of watching pro leagues all day.
• If the Steel Team loses tomorrow, their fans will definitely try to manipulate the narrative again, lol.

===

"Phew…."

Rion let out a sigh as she scrolled through the gallery.

Even though it had already been pretty much concluded that it wasn’t a smurf account, some people still clung to the controversy.
Did Laura even know she was drawing this kind of attention?
"…She probably has no idea."

Laura’s top priority had always been gaming.
She only browsed community sites during breaks from gaming, or when she needed to check a guide for a specific strategy.
'Besides, Laura’s not the type to care about others’ opinions….'

It wasn’t just that she had a strong mental fortitude. If anything, it was more like being in an "invincible" or "immune" state, like in a game.
No matter how much the little ants fussed, the elephant wouldn’t care in the slightest.
She was someone entirely unaffected by negative comments from others. In that sense, being a VTuber was actually perfect for her—mental toughness was essential in that field.
However, Rion didn’t think that just having a strong mentality was enough.
People live their lives caring about how they appear to others. They wear makeup, put on nice clothes, pay attention to their speech, and are mindful of their actions.
Of course, Laura did the bare minimum, but at her core, she wasn’t the kind of person to adjust to others; she expected others to adjust to her.
'…If you just look at her behavior, she’s totally a rich girl.'

Not that Rion could deny Laura’s charm. As someone who had been by Laura’s side for the longest, she knew that better than anyone.
But now, Laura was about to become a VTuber.
"There are three major tasks to handle."

The first task was to clear Laura’s name regarding the ‘smurf account’ accusation.
If this wasn’t dealt with ahead of time, Laura’s image might suffer badly after her debut.
Rion already had an idea of how to resolve this.
Now that she was officially acting as Laura’s manager, she was prepared to go to war if necessary to protect her.
The second task was to commission Laura’s VTuber model. In other words, they needed to find an illustrator.
Whether they could find an artist willing to rush the job using the 'time acceleration' system was uncertain, but as her manager, Rion knew she had to make it happen.

And the third task,

"Though it’s the simplest one…."

Rion suddenly found herself feeling worried. Could Laura really handle it?

After signing the contract, nothing had really changed.

The VTuber debut wouldn’t be happening until at least next month. If the model wasn’t completed in time, the debut would be delayed further.
In the meantime, there wasn’t much for me to do.
'The streaming equipment is all set up, though.'

The company had provided the broadcasting equipment, and Rion had come over to set everything up for me.
She’d installed all the necessary streaming software and even ran a few test broadcasts to make sure everything was working. All that was left was to wait for the model to be completed.
Finding an illustrator was the real issue, and Rion had been out of the house more and more lately, probably busy searching for one.
So while I waited, I just played games every day.

"Ugh, seriously, I’m matched with that smurf account. Don’t bother trying to win."

As soon as the game started, the twin-blade wielder on my team took a swing at me.
I dodged and, closing in on him, cut his throat in one swift move.
"He’s trolling. Let’s report him after the game, everyone."

I informed the rest of the party.@@novelbin@@

Lately, I’d been encountering more and more trolls.
The reason was obvious.
-"Sis, did you know you’ve been plastered all over the community site?"
-"They’re saying you’re a smurf account stomping noobs."
Rion had told me that a few days ago.
I had no idea. I was a smurf account?

"People are just jealous, whether here or 'there.'"

As the Duke’s precious gem and a peerless beauty, I’d always attracted envy.
Out of the ten years I’d lived as Laura Iris, I spent three of them at the academy, meeting all kinds of people. Many of them fawned over me to my face, but behind my back, they were constantly gossiping.
Some were jealous of my outstanding grades, some of my appearance, and others of my noble status.
People who can’t stand to see others succeed.
Such individuals are as common in the fantasy world as they are here, so I didn’t pay much attention to them.

'So this isn’t exactly new, but still.'

Having to deal with trolls wasn’t something I hadn’t encountered before in other games, so it didn’t really bother me.
The only downside was that these trolls were slowing my progress in ranked matches.
[We’re dropping out because we don’t like our Dark Knight teammate.]
[Can’t believe this smurf account is still playing.]
[Aren’t you embarrassed to play like that?]
[We’re leaving the party because we love the Dark Knight.]
[This Dark Knight is awesome, just stomping all over everyone.]
[Why did you kill me? I’ll report you for team-killing.]

It was like this.
Taking out the trolls right at the start meant we were left with five players, while the enemy had six.
Being short one person was already a disadvantage.
While I could make up for the missing person to some extent, our win rate had definitely taken a hit.
Previously, I’d been winning 3-0 in most games, but recently, thanks to the trolls, we’d started losing occasionally.

'Hmm… how should I deal with this?'

I pondered for a moment.
A few solutions came to mind. Changing my username, for example.
-"Sis, you know there’s a name-change option in the in-game shop, right? You’d have to pay a bit, though."
-"Why don’t you try changing your username for a while?"

That was Rion’s suggestion.
But I shook my head. It wasn’t a fundamental solution.
'Your match history still shows up anyway.'

Even if I changed my name, my match history would still be searchable.
It might even provoke the trolls further: ‘You changed your name to avoid us? That means our trolling worked! Let’s troll even harder!’
'Then should I just explain myself?'

Maybe I should write a post in the labyrinth gallery, saying I’m not a smurf and I’m not stomping noobs, just that I’m a skilled villainess who happens to play well.
But that wouldn’t work either.
People only hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.
'Looks like the only way is to push through.'

Both the trolls and the people looking at me with tinted glasses.
They just need an excuse, a reason to criticize someone in this harsh reality.
Even if I wasn’t Laura Iris, they would’ve found some other reason to troll.
It’s because I’m in the lower ranks of Diamond.
Once I make it to the upper ranks, I expect there’ll be fewer trolls since the people up there are serious about reaching Challenger.
Still, I’d better be prepared.
Even though I’m the perfect villainess, the world doesn’t always bend to my will. Being ready for things not to go smoothly is what makes me a peerless young lady.
I opened the replay record for a moment.

Of course, Rion would deal with my false accusations.
She seemed to have a plan. Knowing how diligent and thorough she was, I figured the issue wouldn’t escalate to the point where I’d need to get involved.
But unlike me, Rion wasn’t perfect, nor was she a villainess. So if necessary, I, the perfect human, would step in.
As I continued my usual gaming routine, I kept my blade sharpened, just in case.
Would the moment for vengeance come?
The best outcome would be not having to draw my sword, but my villainess instincts told me that I’d likely be cutting down some people soon.
After all, I am the villainess.
It’s my destiny.

[Sis, can you take a call right now?]

As I was preparing my "streaming content," Rion suddenly reached out.
[I’ll send you a Discord server invite. Join here.]
Rion sent me a hyperlink.
"What’s this?"
[You’re debuting as a VTuber next month, right?]
"That’s the plan. Did you find an illustrator?"
[…I’ll figure that out, so don’t worry. Anyway.]

Rion continued.

[We’re having a meeting this Saturday. I want you to get to know the others in your cohort.]

Hmm?

My cohort?

===