It's a Game Stream~!

"Kon-Karona～! Kon-Karona～! It's your aspiring-ojou-sama B-Caster, Karona Ryutanji～! Today's a game stream, it is～!"

The stream kicked off with a gorgeous hotel-suite-looking room as its backdrop.

In BCD, the main focus was dungeon-clearing streams, but streamers could do game streams and other content too. Growing one's follower count that way made dungeon runs that much easier.

Specifically, once the follower count hit a certain threshold, SuperChat Potions unlocked, allowing viewers to heal the streamer's HP directly. (SuperChat, short for "Super Chance," apparently carries the meaning of delivering a chance across the barrier of the stream.)

They could also just be donated as-is. The funds could go toward equipment, or toward living expenses.

As a result, the most popular B-Casters had reached a level where they could live comfortably without ever clearing a dungeon, which was, frankly, putting the cart before the horse. But, well, that was that.

"Today's game, pulled from the Retro Game Archive, is… this! Fuurai no Tsureso～! A classic of the roguelike genre～! … Ah, if only I had a Secretary AI, it would whip up thumbnails for me automatically, wouldn't it? I want to buy one so badly～"

"kon-karo. ooh, tsureso? nice"

"kon-karo～… tsureso classified as retro… ugh, my heart…!"

The Retro Game Archive. For 500 yen a month, you got unlimited play of classic titles from the past, streaming rights included, a reliable ally for streamers everywhere. Since fans of the games themselves often dropped by, it was a valuable traffic source for small-fry B-Casters.

On top of that, within BCD's VR space, TVs, game consoles, and even controllers were faithfully recreated, so the act of playing could be shown side-by-side with the game screen on stream.

Karona herself quite liked it, since it felt like she was playing on a real console.

"Oh, everyone's showing up. Well then, shall we begin the game～? … But if I wanted to clear a dungeon in a game, wouldn't a dungeon stream be better? I might get comments like that. What about it, hm?"

"no worries, 2D pixel games are a whole separate appetite"

"i'd like to see a peaceful stream that doesn't have the streamer's livelihood riding on it for once"

"first time here. came cuz i heard tsureso"

"First-time viewer! Welcome～! I'm just about to start, so please stay and enjoy～! … Oh, what a cute little ermine. Is it a companion? How lovely～. I wish BCD would implement pets. Sometimes I get the urge to make a slime into a cushion and cuddle it."

"the person who recently handled one like a golf ball is saying something"

"saw the clip. apologize to the slime please"

Responding to viewer comments as she went, Karona kept the stream rolling. The recent clip apparently had a decent number of views, and she was secretly hoping for a bit of income from it.

Now, as for the game.

"… This 'Fai's Problem' thing is basically a puzzle, then. I'm hopeless at those～"

"don't you do way harder riddle gimmicks in your actual dungeon streams?"

"new viewer-san. this ojou-sama has never actually set foot in a dungeon that difficult, y'know…"

"yeah. come to think of it, she always subtly dodges the riddle-type dungeons"

"Th-the regular Karonite-samas are saying something, but please pay them no mind～!"

Teased by her viewers, she pressed on with the game.

At one point she wandered around aimlessly and realized her HP had dropped to the brink.

"Uh-oh. I'm about to die from hunger!? What in the world is this hunger system!!"

"classic. you die from just walking around, calm down"

"eat the rotten sandwich"

"Right, calm down… no, wait, I'm not being fooled!? This is rotten, no!?"

"but if you don't eat it you'll die of hunger? it'll restore some of your hunger meter"

"right right. well, if you're unlucky, you might die from eating it though"

"Kuh… I had the slot space so I was carrying it, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I'll wager on Tsureso's iron stomach! … Aaah!! I died～～!?"

"lolol what luck, ojou lolol"

"you pulled the damage effect right there!? lolol the correct move was to eat the herb first"

"i was running this alongside you and ate one too, but i only got a 3-point strength drop lolol"

Getting strategy advice, failing to capitalize on it.

On the flip side, as a streamer, these were the tasty highlight moments. Or so she thought.

And so, while Karona played along merrily, she suddenly noticed it was already about ten minutes past her planned stop time.

"Ah! Oh no, look at the time! I need to hurry or the time sale will be… mm, ahem. Let's call it here for today～. Well then, everyone, please do come watch again～. Likes and subs much appreciated, Otsu-Karona～!"

"otsu-karona～"

"otsu-karona～. ojou, next time let's do a clear endurance run"

"peace out. i'll check out your dungeon streams too"

Stream ended. She had to hurry and log out to make it to the time sale.

And that was when Karona noticed something.

There had been more viewers than at her usual dungeon streams. In fact, she'd set a new peak concurrent-viewer record.

Counting the so-called ROM-sen viewers who only lurk without commenting, there had been a full twenty-seven people in the stream. And her subscriber count had grown by five.

No wonder the reactions had been so lively, no wonder it had felt so fun…!

"Could it be that I'm actually better suited to being a game streamer…?"

Karona's heart wavered just a little in her role as a B-Caster. But that's a secret just between us.