The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent-Chapter 367

"Doesn't it seem a little shinier than before?"

Claire asked in a slightly uncertain voice.

We were staring at the relic that Claire had brought after a long time.

Since it was the relic Claire and Alice had used to cross over to this world, we would naturally have to use it to return as well.

Using a relic created to steal the goddess’s power during a moment when the order she maintains becomes too fractured to handle — that was the theory we had built up so far.

But for that to happen, the world’s order needed to break down enough first.

Right now, there were still hardly any viewers suspicious of our true identities during the broadcast.

And signs that the power was returning...

"Hmm... it does seem a little brighter, maybe?"

Even Alice looked doubtful, her expression showing how faint the change was.

Honestly, it did seem slightly brighter to me too, but I wasn’t sure if it was actually shining more brightly or if it was just my imagination.

"Well, it’s not like worrying about it right now will change anything. We can afford to give it a little more time and see."

Truthfully, I wasn’t confident either.

Considering how little time had passed in this world when I went over to the other side, it might be the opposite now, with time flowing much faster.

But even if that were the case, there was nothing we could do about it.

As long as we were stuck here, there was no way to know what was happening over there.

"......"

"......"

"......"

The atmosphere sank into a heavy silence.

"......Should we order some fried chicken?"

"Agreed!"

"I feel like we’re going to get fat at this rate."

At the suggestion to order the ultimate cure for gloom, both of them immediately agreed.

*

That said, it wasn't like our broadcasts were completely ineffective.

"Look at this, there’s a post asking if we came from another world."

"It’s probably just a joke."

The post was full of '😂😂😂', so it was clearly written just for laughs. Same with the comments.

But back when we first started broadcasting, even jokes like this didn’t exist.

"Maybe we should verify our IDs next time."

At my suggestion, Alice and Claire tilted their heads.

"I thought we weren’t supposed to show that?"

"As long as we cover up the number and address, it should be fine. We just need to prove that our names really are 'Fangryphon'."

And once we did that, someone would surely report it to the police.

They’d accuse us of forging IDs.

But we weren’t idiots.

These days, you could easily get a certificate through the internet.

Of course, we had already checked that Claire’s and Alice’s IDs were completely genuine.

And as for my own ID, it had been verified when we got our internet service set up.

If it had been fake, we wouldn’t even have been able to live normally like this.

"Hmm... proving that we’re 'real,' huh..."

Alice fell into a brief thought.

"If you don’t want to—"

"N-no, it’s not that."

Alice quickly gave a wry smile at my words.

"It’s just... it’s kind of funny that we’re trying to prove we’re real. For these people, this game’s story is what’s real. They didn’t even know the world we came from existed."

......So that’s what she meant.

"The story flowed differently, and now we’re claiming to be the 'real' Fangryphons. Isn’t that funny?"

"And my last name’s Grace, not Fangryphon, you know, sis."

"......I was just speaking loosely since they call us the three sisters."

I sighed as I answered Claire’s sharp retort.

"They could just think we changed our names, right?"

"You can change your first name, but changing your family name ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) is extremely difficult. If we had naturalized as foreigners, we might have been able to pick a surname, but there’s no record of that either."

We were recorded as being born here, exactly matching our ages.

Naturally.

"The more we deny it, the weirder it sounds."

"That's exactly the opening we need. We can slip through that crack."

"Ah."

While Alice and I were talking, Claire let out a small gasp, drawing both our gazes to her.

"Did you think of something?"

"They said the chicken will arrive in one minute. Shouldn’t we get ready?"

"......"

That easygoing attitude was a little enviable.

Alice seemed to think the same thing, because a wry smile tugged at her lips.

*

[Wait, is this for real?]

[You know forging IDs is a crime, right]

[That’s serious criminal stuff]

"We’re sorry to disappoint you, but we’ve never forged our IDs. These really are our genuine IDs."

[Then are your parents also Fangryphons?]

"Our parents don’t exist in this world. They’re all back in Azerna."

Incidentally, we hadn’t been able to find any trace of parents in this world. If the goddess had any sense, she must have taken care of the paperwork somehow. But if we dug deeper, we’d probably have to go rummaging around government offices, and I had no intention of doing that. It would just complicate everything unnecessarily.

And if things were going to get complicated, it should be in a way that involved society, not just among ourselves. That way, the goddess would panic even more.

"If you really don’t believe us, feel free to report us to the police. If we’re innocent, it’ll prove that our IDs are real, right? By the way, we pay taxes too."

Since the standard deduction of 3.3% was automatically withheld.

Filing taxes properly was a problem for next year anyway.

"Even if you don’t believe we’re from Azerna, the fact that these are our real names is true."

Claire, sitting next to me, said seriously.

[Then is that hair color real too?]

"Huh? Hair?"

Claire tilted her head, so I explained why they were asking that.

"In this world, hair colors aren’t that diverse. Blonde like Alice’s exists, but blue hair like yours doesn’t naturally occur."

"Really?"

Claire was genuinely shocked.

"Red hair is possible, but purple like Sophia’s or your blue hair can only be achieved through dyeing."

"Whoa, seriously?"

Claire’s eyes sparkled.

[No way, lol]

[Obviously it’s dyed]

"Should we get a genetic test or something?"

I said it with a serious face.

Though honestly, I wasn’t planning to go that far.

If they were confused, that was enough for me.

......As long as no stalkers showed up.

Well, that would be a problem for future me.

[But why are you trying so hard to prove it?]

"Because we’re fighting the goddess of order. The more you believe us, the greater our chances of winning become."

[lolololol]

[lmao what a commitment to the bit]

[Still, even if it’s a bit, crime is a bit much]

"If you think it’s a crime, then just prove that we’re criminals. Easy, right?"

I said confidently.

The chat grew increasingly chaotic. Some were seriously wondering if it might actually be true because of how confident I was, while others absolutely refused to believe it.

I banned anyone who cursed. No matter how crazy things got, throwing slurs wasn’t allowed.

Incidentally, our viewer count hit an all-time high. Someone must have taken screenshots and posted them somewhere.

Maybe we’d even end up on a wiki? As long as even one person believed, that would be enough.

And if it seemed like things were about to spiral into a bigger incident...

Well, if it reached that point, we’d basically be ready to escape anyway.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. Let’s play some games."

Leaving the chaotic chat alone, I calmly booted up the latest installment of Chronicles of Azerna.

*

After that, the chat settled down a little while I was playing.

Since Sylvia had rewound time, but none of the other characters had caught onto it yet, the story was proceeding just like the timeline I remembered with my friends.

Of course, Sylvia in the game looked much more cold and emotionless than I did.

It seemed even more pronounced after the last time she rewound.

That day, I didn’t find any particular abnormalities in the story, so I ended the stream like usual, did some quick cleaning, took a shower, and went to bed.

And then—

"Sis, sis!"

I felt Claire shaking me vigorously and opened my eyes.

Judging by the faint blue light coming through the window, it was still early dawn.

But there was an even brighter blue light catching my attention.

"Look at this!"

It was the light pouring out from the relic Claire was holding.

"It’s definitely brighter now, right?"

"......."

Of course, it still wasn’t as bright as it had been when we first saw it back in the other world.

But among everything we’d seen since arriving here, this was the clearest light yet.

"Don’t you think... we might be able to go home soon?"

Claire shook the relic excitedly and flashed a big smile.

"......It seems that way. As long as we stay on this path, we’ll make it."

I glanced at Alice, who was rubbing her eyes as she got up, then smiled warmly at Claire.

It really felt like the path we chose was the right one.