Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 174

December 31st.

11:30 PM.

This is the time when the year comes to a close.

Naturally, the last day of the year should be adorned with a sunrise.

Facing the coming new year, we talk about the future with our precious ones.

I smiled, filled with happy thoughts.

As luck would have it, Helena was also online. I sent her a message.

Yeo – [Helena. Do you have time?]

Helena is always busy. So, I needed to check if she had time before asking her something.

It seemed like nothing special was happening, as Helena replied right away.

Helena – [Yeah, I do. What’s up?]

Yeo – [How about watching the sunrise with me?]

Helena – [Wait, really? With me?]

Yeo – [Yep.]

Helena – [I’ll do it! I’ll definitely do it!]

I smiled a little at Helena’s answer.

Seeing her so happy over something so trivial made me feel good too.

By the way, where should we watch the sunrise this year?

A new expansion pack has come out, but the whole map isn’t much different from the existing Deron.

So it’s probably going to be that place, right?

In Deron, there’s a map called the Hill of the Sun.

A towering hill with a small shrine to the Sun built on top.

And because the area is wide open, you can watch the sun rise from all directions.

When it comes to watching the sunrise in Deron, everyone recommends this place.

Helena – [Where should we go? What time should we leave? What should I wear?]

Helena seemed really excited. I nodded and typed my reply.

Yeo – [Come to the Hill of the Sun, isn’t it fine if you wear what you usually do?]

Helena – [Hill of the Sun…? Yeo, when I looked it up, only screenshots from Deron came up?]

Ah, it looks like Helena didn’t know where the Hill of the Sun was.

I opened the map and sent her the coordinates of the Hill of the Sun.

Helena – [Coordinates… Hill of the Sun… Deron… It’s not real…?]

What’s she talking about? In this weather, going out early in the morning would probably lead to a cold.

And for gamers like me, the sunrise in Deron was way more meaningful than the one in real life.

Every year, there were achievements added in Deron.

With the start of the new year, there was an achievement you could get by witnessing the first sunrise in Deron.

I wasn’t particularly focused on achievements, but I wanted the title that came as a reward.

After finishing my conversation with Helena, I logged into the Deron gallery.

Lately, my spot has been heavily threatened.

[Deron Online Gallery] [4]

[Today’s Gallery Master:]

(A screenshot of the small girl Paladin Jupiter wielding a Holy Sword)

Saw it while walking by;;; lol

He said he was giving out character reset items, but doesn’t seem to use them.

Honestly, I hope he doesn’t.

When I went over and said I was a fan, he pretended not to be super happy.

Lolololol

[Comments]

[Squawk lol]

[Baby Sparrow is so cute haha]

[What’s this guy been doing lately?]

ㄴ [Looks like he’s been doing quests alone. Most sightings say he’s solo.]

As soon as I entered, my brows furrowed at the posts in my line of sight.

Wasn’t I the Gallery Master of the Deron gallery? I didn’t get that position willingly, you guys put me in it.

How could there not be a single rebuttal comment?

Jupiter isn’t the gallery master; the true owner of this gallery is me, the Blood Demon King.

I hoped for such comments to be posted.

But, no matter how many times I refreshed, there were no new comments.

I hurriedly typed a comment.

[Why is this guy the gallery master? The real one is the Blood Demon King lol rofl]

I wrote it trying to make it look like a regular gallery user, not too weird.

Just when I was feeling proud of my completed comment, a reply notification arrived faintly at the bottom of the website.

[Why is this guy the gallery master? The real one is the Blood Demon King lol rofl]

ㄴ [The tides are speaking — the Blood Demon King is washed up.]

ㄴ [For real lol how can you compare a fake middle school girl to a real one?]

A fake middle school girl…?

How did they know? Could someone have figured out my identity?

I rubbed my arms and frowned.

No, there’s no way I’ve been exposed. I am absolutely a current middle school girl.

Though, after midnight, I’ll become a high school girl…

“Ugh…”

I wanted to farm during the remaining time, but it seemed like I had to postpone that.

These guys were getting on my nerves.

[Why is this guy the gallery master? The real one is the Blood Demon King lol rofl]

ㄴ [The tides are speaking — the Blood Demon King is washed up.]

ㄴ [For real lol how can you compare a fake middle school girl to a real one?]

ㄴ [Why is the Blood Demon King washed up? Didn’t he prove he’s a real middle school girl?]

I posted the reply and waited for a reaction.

But there were no further replies from the people waiting.

It was clear they had already lost interest and fled to new posts.

I was frustrated. I wanted to show them how cool I am and who truly belongs in the gallery master chair of the Deron gallery…

I sighed and pulled out of the post, looking around at others.

And then I was astonished.

Almost everyone in the gallery was talking about Jupiter.

Here a chirp, there a chirp. The whole world was filled with chirping.

What on earth, what on earth could be the reason?

[Jupiter<<If you're feeling it lately, upvote it lol] [3]

(An image combining Jupiter’s face with a sparrow)



I should start from myself lol



[Comments]



[Chirp lololol]



[Chirp lolololol]



[Baby Sparrow is flying away haha]



Checking out the newly posted posts, I frowned.



They were clearly trying to gain upvotes and get on the recommended posts list.



What on earth is so good about this that people would comment?



I pressed the dislike button hard.



But, despite my efforts, I couldn't stop this post from being recommended.



It was truly infuriating.



"Ugh..."



"Why are you sighing like that?"



"Huh?!"



I jumped up startled by the voice coming from behind me.



Turning around to see, there stood Helena with a somehow displeased expression.



How did she find me here? There were hardly any people I knew in this farming area.



"Hmm... Just, I ran into a little problem."



"Oh really? Have you resolved the problem?"



I shook my head at Helena's question.



This problem wasn’t the kind I could solve. I had been robbed of my share in the gallery by Baby Sparrow Jupiter. To regain it, I had to prove that I was superior to her to everyone.



Publicly challenging Jupiter to a one-on-one duel wouldn’t be a good choice either.



People still didn’t know how exceptional Jupiter’s hidden skills were.



On the other hand, I had a track record of winning tournaments in the arena.



To others, it would probably look like a match between a skilled player and a beginner.



Right now, fighting Jupiter would cost me more than it would benefit.



"By the way, why did you come here? There’s still a lot of time until sunrise."



"... Just."



"Just?"



"I wanted to see how you were wrapping up the year."



"Me? Well..."



Was there really anything special?



I just planned to keep farming until the meeting time and then head straight to the Hill of the Sun.



Nothing to brag about.



"Don’t you have anything to do, Helena?"



"Yeah. I already finished everything."



What a diligent child. I chuckled lightly and drew my sword.



"I'm going to farm now. Are you going to continue watching?"



"I'll stay here."



"Probably? Unless something special comes up, I think I’ll keep hunting."



Helena nodded at my response and settled down to sit.



It really seemed like she was planning to watch me hunt until sunrise.



If she wanted to spend her time like that, wouldn’t it be better for her to go to my channel and farm there?



Of course, I didn’t say that out loud. The way one plays the game should be free.



If I imposed my play style on others, it would backfire on me.



"Hmm..."



Then, let’s put on a show.



A nonstop five-hour hunt.



Since I was just hunting ordinary monsters, there was no need to use acceleration.



I moved quickly, cutting down monsters.



An hour passed like this.



At first, Helena's gaze had distracted me, but I had gotten used to it by now.



I moved even more fiercely, slashing through the monsters.



The short skirt fluttered and danced.



Three hours flew by. I had hit my stride, slaughtering monsters like a bulldozer.



"Really... are you just hunting?"



Helena's voice occasionally floated weakly.



Then what did she expect me to be doing?



I didn’t answer, focusing more on the hunt.



Now, five hours in. Finally, I stopped hunting and turned around.



The corpses of the monsters lay strewn about, fading away.



And there was Helena, sitting on a large rock, squinting her eyes and glaring at me.



What was it this time that she was displeased about?



It was honestly very difficult to understand the mind of a current middle school girl.



I shook off the demon sword and approached Helena.



"Finished hunting?"



"Yeah, let's go watch the sunrise."



As I sheathed my great sword, I reached out my hand, and a smile spread across Helena's face.



I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of her.



Hand in hand with Helena, we headed towards the Hill of the Sun.



After the server merge, the time for the sunrise was set based on Korean time.



Global server players protested, but Deron completely ignored it.



In the end, the complaints from global server players faded.



"Oh..."



In the dim surroundings, many users had already arrived.



Not only that, even now, other users were flocking to this place.



"Guild Leader?"



"Oh, Iyap."



Someone called out to me from among the users, and when I turned my head, it was Iyap.



As expected from a shadowy thief, he had a knack for hiding among people.



Iyap also seemed to want to see the sunrise in Deron.



"Hello... Iyap."



"Ah, Helena is here too..."



Iyap and Helena exchanged greetings, and a subtly awkward atmosphere formed.



Then, Iyap suddenly looked startled, as if he remembered something, and opened his mouth.



"Oh, that reminds me. I just remembered something urgent, so I’ll be stepping out for a bit. Have a great time."



"Wait? Aren't you watching the sunrise?"



"Ah, I will. But there’s an important trade, and the other party is in a different channel."



"Then can’t you just tell them to come to this channel?"



"I tried saying that..."



Iyap said that with an awkward smile.



Looks like the trade partner was being stubborn.



I shook my head with my arms crossed.



"Guess there's nothing you can do."



"Haha..."



Iyap then disappeared as he moved to another channel.



And just like that, it was just Helena and me again.



Now that the moon hanging in the sky had also disappeared, the bright light began to rise from beyond the horizon.



The sun was rising.



"Yeo."



"Yeah?"



"Let’s take care of this year well."



"Sure."



Helena said that, pulling me into an embrace from behind.



A soft, heavy sensation passed over my head.