I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 176

Early morning. My room in the detached palace.

I’ve been up since dawn, surrounded by dozens of servants, in the middle of a fashion show.

Bathing, makeup, hair styling…

At the same time, I’m trying on this tuxedo, that suit, this evening coat, and so on, checking myself in the full-length mirror.

‘My life as a shut-in gamer has led me to this.’

As they trimmed my eyebrows, beard, nose hairs, and even ear hairs (what?!), I was struck by a new thought.

Back on Earth, I wore shorts and a shirt every day. So much so that viewers called it my uniform.

I even received donations several times, telling me to change and buy some clothes with it.

‘But that was comfortable.’

I groaned, feeling the pressure of the suit tightly constricting my body.

I can’t breathe! Do men have to have their waists cinched this tight?

“Your Highness has such a naturally good physique that you look good in anything, but you must pay extra attention on a day like today!” Alberto, personally directing my grooming, stroked his beard with satisfaction.

“In the past, you would always tear your clothes somewhere or come to events with bizarre skull decorations, causing me so much grief. The worst was when you came wearing a women’s dress…”

“…A women’s dress? Me?”

I pointed at myself, dumbfounded, and Alberto nodded heavily.

“Yes. It was a very bright fluorescent green with flamboyant floral decorations. You even wore high heels and had flowers in your hair…”

“…”

Looking around, all the servants helping with my grooming looked pale, as if they were reminded of that day. Really?

‘He wore women’s clothes to an official imperial event? The prince?’

Kim Ash, you were a real, living, breathing rebel and a madman! I’m proud of you! You crazy bastard!

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen Your Highness looking so serious and handsome, wearing a party suit according to etiquette… Unworthy Alberto, I can die without regrets now…”

“Geez, you seem to have a lot of other regrets, stop crying.”

Every time I do something, this old man says he has no regrets? I grumbled as I slipped my arms into the next suit jacket.

I think I’ve tried on about twenty sets in total. I don’t know what’s what, and my head is spinning.

If there were item options or set effects, I’d choose based on that, but there’s nothing like that.

I just told Alberto to choose for me, and after much deliberation, Alberto finalized the combination and dressed me in it.

“You look absolutely stunning, Your Highness! The most handsome man in the Imperial City!”

Listening to Alberto’s flattery, I looked in the full-length mirror.

‘It looks like funeral attire…?’

In the mirror, I was wearing an all-black suit.

From the shirt to the vest, tie, and the tailcoat, as well as the pants, belt, socks, and shoes. There wasn’t anything that wasn’t black.

I wouldn’t be surprised if even my underwear had been swapped out for black ones.

‘Even if I’m a prince of the Everblack Empire, isn’t all-black a bit much?’

Looking in the mirror, the only white thing was my face. With makeup on, my already pale face looked even more so.

Tapping my neatly combed back (and therefore unfamiliar) black hair with my fingertips, I grumbled.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to add some other colors to the shirt or vest? It’s all the same black.”

Since all the suits are like this, I can see why the old Ash would have crashed the party in a fluorescent dress.

“What are you saying, Your Highness! They are not all the same black!”

Alberto began to explain passionately.

The coat and pants are the black of the imperial family’s symbolic color, the dark black water, the shirt is a lighter ebony color, the vest is some kind of velvet, the socks are some kind of silk, and the shoes are made of some kind of leather…

They all look the same to me, but I guess it’s different in this country’s etiquette.

“Okay… I get it. I’ll wear it like this. Stop explaining~”

After all, I’m just a shut-in gamer who knows nothing about fashion. I’ll just wear what I’m given.

I slipped my fingers between the tight tie and loosened it slightly. Taking a breath, I thought to myself.

‘I want to take a selfie and show it to the guys.’

I want to show the Crossroads guys that this is what their lord looks like when he’s all dressed up.

Would they say I look cool, or would they laugh their heads off?

Alberto is bowing in front of me, polishing my shoes by hand.

They’re already so shiny that they could be used as a mirror, but something still seems to bother the old butler.

“Alberto.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Is there anything else that is uncomfortable?”

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

I spoke calmly to Alberto, who looked up in surprise.

“It’s a request I’m making because I trust you. Can you do it?”

“…”

Perhaps sensing the unusual weight in my words, Alberto’s aged eyes flashed with experience.

***

The official start of the victory celebration party is said to be at 6 PM.

‘Then why are they making such a fuss since dawn?’ I thought to myself.

The main event is from 6 PM, but the actual party itself is said to continue from the morning.

So, I arrived at the grand banquet hall of the main palace, where the party was being held, around 11 AM.

This place, as wide as five of my detached palaces combined, is said to be a place built solely for holding imperial events.

‘My detached palace was about three times the size of the Crossroads lord’s mansion…’

This grand banquet hall is about fifteen times the size of the Crossroads lord’s mansion. What is this, the difference in combat power!

Anyway, the vast banquet hall was already packed with people. Are there so many people in the empire with nothing to do?

I first noticed the servants, who were working hard to carry drinks, snacks, and meals.

They were expressionless, as if they were more than used to this work.

The orchestra, which occupied one entire side of the banquet hall, was currently on break.

The main event is still a long way off, but the music team is already on standby.

And in the middle of this banquet hall, the nobles, all dressed up in their finest, were holding champagne glasses and chatting, even though it was still morning.

They’re making connections, flattering each other, having fun, and getting their fill. They must all have a lot to do.

Into that boiling cauldron where hundreds, maybe thousands, of people were playing mind games.

I stepped in.

“The third son of His Majesty the Emperor and commander of the Southern Front, Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack, is entering!”

With the booming cry of the herald, I entered.

The orchestra immediately straightened up and began to play fast and exciting music.

What, is this like a character theme song? Like the ones that wrestlers or baseball players come out to?

Immediately, everyone in the banquet hall turned their attention to me.

I’ve given speeches in front of the citizens of Crossroads several times. This number of gazes is nothing.

I walked towards the center of the banquet hall with a relaxed smile. Whispers could be heard from left and right.

“The imperial family’s biggest troublemaker has arrived.”

“He’s just a pretty face…”

“Did you hear? He lost thousands of soldiers in the first battle of the Southern Front.”

“He’s so incompetent. If only he was half as good as his older brother…”

“This is why bloodlines are so important…”

Some nobles were openly badmouthing me,

“Kyaaaaak!”

“Prince Ash! Please look this way just once!”

“Hey Ash! I allow you to set up house with me! Tonight!”

“Mom, I want to be Prince Ash when I grow up!”

“Go out with me! Or I’ll die!”

Some nobles were obsessively fawning over me…

It was like the obsessive viewers who would cling to me whenever I was streaming, and it sent shivers down my spine.

Why is the atmosphere in this place so extreme?

Anyway, outwardly maintaining a relaxed smile, I smiled in all directions and plunged into the center of the party.

I took a glass of champagne from a serving servant, took a quiet sip, and tried to quickly bury myself in the party.

Most of the nobles soon lost interest in me and went back to their own business, but there were also a lot of young nobles flocking to me. These thugs.

“Your Highness! How was the Southern Front?”

“I heard it’s swarming with monsters? Did you catch any yourself?”

“Rumor has it that you even spent a night with the queen of the monsters!”

“Kyaaa! As expected of Prince Ash! You beast!”

What are you talking about, you crazy people? Well, if you’re talking about the black spider queen, I did spend a few nights with her on the same battlefield.

I feel like summoning an automatic defense turret to this place and threatening them with the muzzle, shouting, ‘Get lost!’

But these are nobles who have the family and wealth to attend such a party.

I need to make a good impression. They might become sponsors for the Southern Front.

I downed the champagne and grinned, looking around.

“I didn’t have a hot night with the monster queen, but I did take down quite a few of the monster army commanders myself… How about it? Would you like to hear about my hardships on the Southern Front?”

They all said they would love to hear it and gathered around me.

I smiled bitterly.

It was sad that the stories of those who risked their lives to defend the front lines were treated as just a slightly interesting story here in the Imperial City.

But that’s how the world is. The affairs of others, no matter how heartbreaking, are ultimately consumed as a commodity.

What I can do is to let them know how much people are suffering on the Southern Front and to extract as much support as possible.

Cough! I cleared my throat. I loosened my tie further.

I began to tell my story.

“Alright. Then, I should start with the story of my first battle…”

I’m a streamer who made a living by just talking in front of a camera.

Today’s content is a visible radio, nobles of the Imperial City!

***

“…And so, we held the funerals for the 155 soldiers who died that day.”

After telling the story up to Stage 5, the battle with the Vampire King.

My throat was dry, and I downed yet another glass of champagne. Ugh, this is tiring.

My body was stiff from talking for hours. The time had already passed noon and was heading towards the afternoon.

I had hidden all the stories that needed to be hidden, such as the dungeon and the origin of the Shadow Unit, and just told the story without any particular exaggeration, but it was still like this.

Around me, there were several times more nobles listening to the story than at the beginning.

At first, other nobles who were standing aloof in the distance began to listen, and as the stages progressed, they gasped every time I told the story of the warriors who died one by one in the battle with the Vampire King.

I, who was thinking of those who had fallen while defending the front lines, smiled and looked around at the crowd.

“That’s the story of the heroes who are defending the Southern Front. If this has made you even slightly interested in the border front, I would be happy.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the nobles rushed towards me.

“I want to send a donation, Your Highness!”

“Our family will also, to the warriors of the South…!”

“Instead of this, we should just establish a foundation-”

As I received the flood of donation promises with my whole body, I shouted to my subordinates in Crossroads in my mind.

Guys, your lord is working hard here too!

I made a list of the nobles who would donate to the Southern Front, and we decided to have a more detailed discussion at my detached palace in a few days.

It seems that the hours I spent talking were not in vain, as the list was long and thick.

I grinned as I received promises of support not only in the form of money but also in minerals, fabrics, and food.

I didn’t even think about this kind of thing when I came here, but it’s an unexpected harvest.

After spending a long time just organizing the donation promises.

“Aigo, aigo, I’m tired…” [Aigo is a Korean expression of exhaustion or frustration]

After finishing most of the work, I left the banquet hall to rest alone for a while and squatted down in a corner of the wide garden.

‘This is so tiring…’

The genre that suits me and that I’m good at is a single-player game that I can play alone.

I don’t even play MMORPGs because they’re tiring. It’s too much for me to hang out with people.

I’m far from this kind of party! Now that I’ve extracted enough donations, all you social butterflies, get lost!

‘Huh?’

At that moment, I felt a gaze watching me. I looked up in confusion.

“…”

A girl standing in the garden was staring at me intently.

She was a girl with braided, ivory-colored hair.

Her skin was pale, as if it had been frosted, but it was a healthy cream color, as if it had been slightly tanned by the sun.

Her pearl-colored dress was finished with the white fur of an unknown beast.

Ivory hair, cream skin, pearl dress. So, all three colors are similar. Anyway, a white and fair feeling.

“Indeed, as befits the empire’s notorious playboy.”

The girl slowly opened her mouth.

“Your eloquence is impressive. Prince Ash. It’s fun just listening to your stories.”

The girl’s wild, yellow eyes narrowed.

“But how much of that story was true, and how much was a lie…?”

I tilted my head.

“Who are you?”

“Who knows?”

The girl shrugged indifferently.

“Maybe I’m just one of the many women you’ve slept with.”