The Aspiring-Ojou-sama-type Dungeon Streamer

A brick-stone passageway. A lovely ojou-sama clad in a wine-red Gothic dress overflowing with frills, light-purple twin-drills bouncing wildly as she ran. Behind her, a massive boulder rumbled along with a heavy, ominous sound. The heels of her boots clacked out a frantic tempo in time with her sprint.

"Wait just a moment! Wait just a moment! Nobody told me about this trap!"

Tossing all elegance aside as she fled from the boulder, the ojou-sama went by the name of Karona Ryutanji.

As for why she was being chased by a giant boulder—up and to her left, comments in white text floated past, scrolling by. Those white letters were comments from viewers watching Karona's escape drama.

Right now, twelve viewers were tuned into Karona's stream, and three of them had left comments.

"well duh. it's literally called a trap dungeon"

"even in a low-rate dungeon you really ought to do your research beforehand～"

"oh, Miss Karona, you just stepped on something"

"Eh!? Wh-what did I just step on—!?"

An instant later, an arrow whooshed in from the side and struck her shoulder. A damage effect flashed and the arrow vanished. Her green HP bar chipped off by 5 points with a sharp ping, a sliver of red peeking out.

That's right. This was a game.

Karona was a player of this game, and her dress-clad ojou-sama form was her in-game avatar. The fact that she was being chased by a boulder and sniped by an arrow was simply because, well, that's the kind of game it was. In short, it was a VR game where you conquered dungeons while streaming.

However, this dungeon's rate was set at "1 HP = 100 yen."

Which meant that one hit just now had obliterated 500 yen.

"Nooooooo!! My savings balance!! Do you have any idea how many bean sprouts 500 yen could've bought!? At 20 yen a bag, that's 25 bags! Which means 25 meals!!"

"one-bag-of-bean-sprouts-per-meal budgeting lol"

"ojou please eat something better… waiting for you to unlock superchat"

"Lady Karona, that boulder is estimated to deal 100,000 yen in damage. Do please take care～"

"aaah the ojou's screaming is just SO satisfying～"

The comments rolled in harder and faster in response to Karona's reactions.

When she spotted "estimated 100,000 yen damage" among them, a chill ran down Karona's spine.

"If I get flattened by that boulder, that's 100,000 yen… practically my entire fortune, gone!? No way! A 100,000-yen clear bonus is not worth this kind of risk!!"

"harsh. dangle 100k to lure a newbie and drain 100k out of em, what a dungeon"

"so THAT'S why this dungeon's minimum HP requirement was 1000. scummy af"

"these first-visit-killer dungeons, you can report em but they never get taken down. operators do ur job"

"get killed on your first visit, that's on you tbh"

Even after learning all this, the commenters remained unbothered.

And why wouldn't they be? Viewers didn't have to pay a single yen if they were just watching, so they got to witness a streamer's ruin entirely for free. At the end of the day, it was someone else's problem—kh, Karona dabbed at her nonexistent tears with a handkerchief pulled from somewhere. Oyoyo. Even at a moment like this, she didn't forget her ojou-sama moves.

But up ahead, the path was leading straight to a dead end. A brick-stone wall loomed before her.

Behind her, the boulder. No gap to dodge to either side. A truly desperate pinch.

"why not just give up? not like it's a real dungeon where you die, just start over lol"

Another comment streamed past. At those trolling, hostile words, Karona's eyes snapped wide open.

"Because it's a game, no lives are at stake? Nay! Money is life. We B-Casters—we Battle-Cast streamers put our very lives on the line, I shall have you know!"

Still running toward the wall, Karona glanced over her shoulder. The boulder was closing in right behind her. Between the boulder and the walls on either side there wasn't even a centimeter of clearance. It fit the brick-stone passage perfectly.

Now running backwards, she opened her item box and pulled out a ribbon-adorned parasol.

"ojouuuuu!!!"

"run! sideways, sideways!? oh wait there's zero gap!!"

"yaaay 100k get! thanks for being a meal ticket lolol"

"… Right here!!"

With that shout, Karona rammed the parasol into the gap between boulder and wall. There was practically no gap to speak of. But that was precisely why the parasol wedged in—grinding against stone and rock, it brought the boulder to a halt.

"Ohohoho! I did it, it's stuck!!"

"eeehhhhhhhh"

"oioioi lol what just happened lol"

"huh? cheats confirmed. reporting"

"oh, looks like the dungeon master who made this dungeon is in chat. hey, how's it feel? how's it feel?"

"Ara ara, this isn't cheating, you know? Or perhaps you've never heard of a doorstop? Even a small wedge jammed into a gap can bring something massive to a stop, you see."

"no way a plain parasol stops a giant boulder!! cheats!! CHEATS!!"

"Nay, nay, this happens to be a custom-ordered item, the Mithril-Made Parasol, 'Mary-chan.' Her one flaw is being a touch too heavy for everyday use, I suppose. But she is ever so sturdy, you see. Behold."

Karona zoomed the camera in on the parasol pinned between boulder and wall.

The parasol had been chewed up by rock and stone, its frame crumpled into a sad bent shape, fabric peeled and shredded, a ribbon hanging limply before finally dropping to the floor with a sad little plop. It looked like a rag that had been used for ten years straight.

"NOOOOO!! Mary-chaaaaan!? Oh my heavens, my custom-order 30,000-yen parasol is ruined!!"

"cheap af lol. did she skimp on the mithril?"

"well, avoiding -100k with a 30k item is a net win I guess…"

"parasol named Mary-chan, huh. sounds like something that'd fly off"

Karona lamented her ruined favorite parasol. Hoping to salvage at least some material, she yanked it free with a zubo, and from the spot where it had been, cracks spread through the boulder with a pishi pishi… and it crumbled with a gara.

"… Hmm? There's something inside the rock?"

Inside the crumbled boulder, she spotted something glimmering. When she brushed away more of the debris, there, nestled inside, was a long, semi-transparent hexagonal crystal—the goal of this dungeon, the Dungeon Core. Being a low-rate dungeon, it was a green Dungeon Core.

Shattering this Dungeon Core would clear the dungeon.

"Oh? Ohhh? Hold on, this is the Dungeon Core, isn't it?"

"found out… dammit! I thought it was the perfect hiding spot!"

"if you run from the boulder you can't clear the dungeon. never would've thought of that"

"so THIS is how they balanced the difficulty to get it past review. I see, I see"

"… Hoh. So that's it. That's how it was! My, what a mean-spirited dungeon this is! But at this rate, I shall make it to today's time-limited sale with plenty of time to spare!"

Hoisting the Dungeon Core high overhead, Karona slammed it to the ground and shattered it.

Congratulations!! The dungeon clear effect rose up before her.

"Cleared! Oh-ho-ho-ho kaff kaff kaff, y-yes, m-my victory, indeed!"

"ojou don't push the noble laugh. gj on the clear"

"managed to avoid bankruptcy again today. rooting for you going forward"

"yakiniku tonight on the prize money? what luxury, how ELEGANT"

"O-ohohoho. I merely choked a tiny bit on my victory champagne, that's all."

Karona hastily tried to salvage her failed noble laugh. The dungeon had been cleared early enough that she might just catch the afternoon time-limited sale, so she transitioned straight into her sign-off.

"Ahem. Everyone, thank you ever so much for tuning into today's stream～! The aspiring gorgeous-and-elegant ojou-sama with a 100-million-yen goal, Karona Ryutanji! I shall continue pressing onward toward my ojou-sama dreams～! To all my Karonites, Otsu-Karona～!"

"otsu-karona. good luck at the sale"

"otsu otsu～"

"had fun today, otsu-karona～"

Karona watched the sign-off comments through, ended the stream, and logged out.