1.
“Broadcast, is that right?”
For the sake of my goals, I will always need money.
To realize my ideals, to save students and citizens, and furthermore, to ultimately protect this world.
That’s why I chose to become a hero, and have reached a point where I can make even more critical choices.
If I had lived as an ordinary student…
Would I have been pondering such choices now?
Perhaps, I could have lived a simple life without needing money, acting as a supporting character who knows the original storyline.
But because of that, my current choices bear significant weight. Because I am a hero, because I wield influence, and because the outcomes of my choices will not be trivial.
As someone said, money should always be spent according to a rational plan, and the same goes for earning such funds.
If I had acted like a villain instead of engaging in hero activities, I would have undoubtedly earned more money than I do now.
But conversely, it would have been difficult to gain the cooperation of others. I wouldn’t have received goodwill either.
That’s why.
“I will decline.”
I decided to reject Hare’s proposal.
Broadcasting has been an important factor in spreading my activities widely across Kiburatos, but if money gets involved in the process, it would go against the purpose I aim to achieve.
Who knows?
I might end up doing hero activities not for the purpose of heroism, but to earn money.
That is something that absolutely cannot happen. I’d rather work loading and unloading than become a weak hero swayed by someone else’s capital. That was my belief.
To be honest, I did feel tempted by the mention of money.
Who wouldn’t be tempted by money? When Veritas provided funding arbitrarily, I might have felt a bit happy inside, even though I outwardly felt repelled.
But that’s as far as it goes.
A hero receiving money from the citizens under the guise of ‘sponsorship’ is something that must absolutely be avoided.
Perhaps once or twice, such as this time, might be forgiven as a one-time occurrence. However, if it repeats and becomes deliberate rather than accidental…
“Hare, I believe that my activities should have ‘assistance’ but not ‘sponsorship.'”
Why do sidekicks exist in all hero genres?
Why do most hero stories not explicitly show scenes of the hero ‘earning money’?
The answer to this question is simple.
Because it’s bothersome. Money is that much of a dangerous and greedy substance. A hero is for everyone, not someone who serves a particular individual.
While assistance in activities can be accepted, the root of hero activities should not be tied to anyone’s sponsorship.
Therefore,
“I have no intention of accepting any sponsorship.”
If hero activities involve someone else’s money, it would transform from vigilante activity into something else entirely.
It would turn into an activity for someone, rather than for everyone.
I conveyed this fact strongly.
The eyes of all the Veritas members widened at my firm reaction. It seemed they were surprised by my sensitivity. I felt a little sorry…
‘I have to make this clear.’
Regardless of her intentions or why she brought up the topic, my stance had to be clearly marked.
It’s because I truly wanted to consider her and the others as my comrades.
That’s why I hoped they would understand my sincerity.
“I have a dream. A very long, distant, perhaps impossible dream.”
“…”
“This process will be extremely difficult, and at some point, I might feel like giving up. But I will keep moving forward. That’s why I want to gather comrades who will help me.”
Everyone in Veritas stopped all their actions and listened to my words. I met each of their eyes as I continued speaking.
“Thus, there must be no interference in this process. It will be tough and arduous, something that must be achieved solely by my own efforts, and only by our own strength. There must be no interference from anyone.”
“…Is that why you’re opposing this?”
“Yes. I’m merely ensuring that I don’t get sidetracked while heading towards this goal.”
“…”
My serious assertion left Hare looking perplexed. She probably felt a bit upset by my sudden outburst. I felt a slight ache in my chest.
However, the words that followed were completely different from what I had expected.
“Sorry. I should have explained better.”
“…”
“If what worries you is just that, then it should be fine to proceed with the broadcast.”
“…”
2.
If we are to have the broadcast, does she understand what I’ve just said?
Just as I was feeling bewildered and was about to say something—
Hare shook her head and cut me off.
“Don’t misunderstand. I initially thought of broadcasting and sponsoring as separate concepts. It seems our notions of broadcasting differ, leading to this misunderstanding.”
“…The concept of broadcasting?”
“Yes. If I had to guess, your idea of broadcasting is probably something like this.”
Streaming live video to the public in real-time, interacting with the audience, and receiving their support—this was indeed similar to what I had in mind. My notion of broadcasting was either public broadcast on TV or internet streaming.
This is precisely why I felt averse to it.
Streaming broadcasts inevitably expose me to the sway of audience support and public opinion.
However, Hare dismissed this kind of broadcasting altogether. She never intended to proceed that way in the first place.
All traces of her playful demeanor disappeared as Hare, as Veritas’ brilliant hacker, seriously explained to me.
“The advantages of broadcasting that I had in mind are as follows: direct and indirect assistance through broadcasting, and acquiring new information from your activities. I never intended to broadcast all your activities live.”
The contents of the broadcast that she described were as follows:
Recording for documentation and information acquisition and interpretation. Beyond that, providing assistance during the filming process using transparent drones. This was akin to using the ‘EDITH’ system that Iron Man gifted to Spider-Man.
Furthermore, Hare suggested being always prepared to broadcast my activities across Kiburatos from time to time, similar to the battle with Wakamo.
“I’m sorry for causing the misunderstanding.”
“Ah, no…”
When I understood the truth, I felt too embarrassed to even look up. It was all due to my misunderstanding.
‘Well, honestly, it was a reasonable misunderstanding!’
I silently screamed this in my head, but I couldn’t voice it while seeing Hare smiling understandingly. After all, it was my mistake for jumping to conclusions.
‘Haa, this is why one should always listen to the whole story before reacting.’
The broadcasting she spoke about wasn’t the real-time streaming I imagined, but closer to documenting and assisting my efforts. Furthermore, it was a kind of preparation to flexibly utilize the recorded footage when the need arises.
Hare’s point was valid. Video recording had diverse uses.
It could come in handy if, at some point, I needed to publicly disseminate information or wage a public relations campaign.
Phew, I let out a sigh and asked Hare again.
“So, what about sponsorship?”
“It’s a measure to draw attention. Nanashi, you’re planning to earn money as a civilian to fund your hero activities, right? Your account history suggests as much.”
You’ve hacked that a long time ago, haven’t you?
I bitterly chuckled and nodded.
“There’s one thing we discovered when we hacked into your information and received your request. Do you know what it is?”
“What is it?”
“There are far more people in this city trying to uncover the truth about ‘Silk’ than you’d expect.”
“…”
“One example is Kaiser Corporation, which has been relentlessly trying to uncover your identity, delving into both official and unofficial information ever since you defeated them.”
“…”
“They probably suspect you’re a student at Millennium Academy by now. Once it becomes certain, they’ll tear down all Millennium’s security to find you.”
Heroes have many enemies.
This is an inevitable outcome.
Therefore, I understood the reactions of those who opposed me directly.
However, hearing directly that there are people secretly trying to uncover my information was a different kind of shock.
Even the Kaiser Corporation is targeting me.
Upon learning this fact, my reaction was a hollow laugh.
“…Ha, I guess I’ve been quite active.”
“Yes. To be honest, I was impressed while investigating. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone make so many adversaries in such a short time.”
I nodded at her explanation.
Hare’s notion of ‘sponsorship’ was essentially just a formality.
In the event that Silk’s identity as a Millennium student is ever revealed, we can use the money earned as a student to sponsor Silk, deflecting attention.
Further, there is the advantage of using this to make it difficult to identify specific comrades who help Silk.
“We judged that you began your activities with a greater purpose beyond just rescuing citizens. Consequently, we decided that we needed to quickly raise funds for your activities, leading us to think of this format.”
“Hare…”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, we’ll stop, but this is our opinion. If you’re aiming for a larger goal, isn’t it fine to accept the goodwill that citizens extend while you’re passing by?”
“…”
“It was simply our opinion.”
Of course, the direct contribution to Silk would come through a newly established non-profit organization, collecting funds under the guise of supporting Silk’s activities.
This will become the funding for both me and my comrades’ activities.
“Of course, there will be people who intend to sponsor Silk for specific purposes. We’ll carefully review and sort that out, so don’t worry. We don’t want that either.”
“Everyone…”
“I apologize if it bothered you. This was just a method we thought up to try and help you.”
Hare seemed to feel sorry for her earlier reaction and offered an apology while scratching her cheek.
Not just her, but the others also looked like they wanted to apologize, so I quickly shook my head and stood up, rushing to hug them.
<Poof>
Though there were too many to fit in my arms, it didn’t matter. My heart was swelling, so much that I wanted to tightly hug each one.
“Thank you all! Thinking this much for me! We’re together forever, really!”
“Eh, um… N, Na-nashi… It feels too close.”
“More grateful! Ha ha ha!”
“I can’t breathe.”
“I’m glad the misunderstanding was resolved.”
I didn’t let go.
I truly realized it now.
These guys really are angels, aren’t they? The Trinity might covet these angels if they see their nature.
3.
Our conversation took a different turn from my original purpose for visiting Veritas, but ultimately, our relationship grew much closer.
During this process, I subtly conveyed one of my goals to them, and they also expressed deep interest and voiced their desire to join me in this goal.
What was the goal I told them?
It was none other than:
“Defenders.”
Gathering heroes under my leadership to form a force.
We will, as one power, combat the numerous threats coming to Kiburatos and protect peace and order.
Famous “Avengers”-style.
Here, we will be guarding the academy city.
This is both a precaution in case I can’t handle a problem alone and my effort to unite everyone’s strength.
Moreover, it’s also an answer to the questions I conceived while observing Millennium.
Who watches the watchers?
If there’s no force to rein in the president’s autocracy, how can we foresee and prevent future turmoil?
“I will create it myself.”
That was my answer, and I was gathering the pieces to stop Tsukatsuki Rio’s autocracy.
The first piece was myself.
The second piece was the ‘Engineering Department.’
The third piece was the ‘Paranormal Special Mission Department.’
And the fourth piece became ‘Veritas.’
In this way, the cornerstone for the future was quietly gathering in one place without anyone noticing.
![[Blue Archive] I Became a Superhero in Kivotos](https://i1.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/gsyet.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "[Blue Archive] I Became a Superhero in Kivotos")
