Volume 2, Chapter 40 – The Born of An Adorable Throne Lord

“I… I will accept it…”

As if driven by some unseen force, Tianyin blurted out those words without thinking.

“Eh, eh? Master, you…”

Standing quietly behind Tianyin all this time, Xiaomengyao looked at her in surprise.

In front of Tianyin, the NPCs who heard her answer all showed expressions of joy and excitement at once.

Then, without hesitation, they dropped to one knee.

The tall, burly Beastman, and the ordinary-looking young man with a delicate face, both stood before Tianyin and lowered their heads, performing the highest ritual of loyalty to their lord, kneeling on one knee before her.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Following Orgum and Sharl’s act of kneeling and bowing their heads, the few hundred surviving soldiers from the Kingdom Faction and the Beastmen did the same without hesitation, one knee to the ground.

Thud thud thud.

The sound of their knees striking the ground rang repeatedly in Tianyin’s ears, heavy and resonant.

One after another, though to Tianyin they were just NPCs… watching this group of ordinary NPCs kneel in perfect unison toward her in mere seconds…

Rеаԁ οո КatReαdiոgСafе

It wasn’t just shocking. There was also a strange, indescribable emotion welling up in her chest.

“Lord—!”

That was the deep voice of the Beastman Orgum.

“Lord—!”

And that was Sharl’s voice, youthful, clear, and steady, his eyes filled with intelligence and resolve.

Following their cries, all the NPCs behind them, whether Beastmen or humans, struck the armor over their chests with their swords.

Clang, clang, clang.

Though they were only a few hundred in number, at that moment Tianyin felt as if an entire army, tens of thousands strong, was standing before her.

“From this day forward, we are the blade in your hand. Wherever the blade points, our hearts shall follow.”

Their unified voices echoed in Tianyin’s ears.

This was…

「They’re pledging loyalty to you, Xiaoyin~」

Samael’s voice suddenly sounded in her mind.

Rеαⅾ oո ΚаtReadiոgСafе

「What’s wrong, Xiaoyin? Are you that stunned? That won’t do~ You’d better respond quickly, or they’ll keep kneeling there forever~」

Samael teased playfully inside her head, sounding amused.

And right at that moment, Tianyin realized exactly who the culprit behind this situation was, Samael.

『It’s you… Samael, you’ve got some nerve talking to me right now! I wasn’t planning on accepting the command in the first place, and then you just suddenly told me to accept them! Look at this mess! What am I supposed to do now? Why are they all swearing loyalty all of a sudden, ahhhh!』

Tianyin shouted furiously at Samael in her mind.

『Samael, if you don’t fix this somehow… I swear I’ll bite you to death next time!』

「Pfft… I look forward to it~」

『Ah, you… Wuu…』

「Alright, alright, what else can you do now? You might as well accept their loyalty, Xiaoyin, it’s that simple~」

『Damn it… easy for you to say…』

「Well, anyway, go ahead and acknowledge their loyalty first. The rest can wait. Have you forgotten, Xiaoyin? I used to command hundreds of thousands of Blood Knights myself~」

To be honest, Tianyin really had forgotten that Samael had once held such a status.

It was mainly because Samael kept teasing her so often in her head that Tianyin had started thinking she was just like Xiaomengyao, someone who liked to “toy” with her…

Well, Tianyin didn’t really care why both of them liked teasing her anyway…

Rеαd οո КatReаdіոɡСafе

“Master… these people… they’re still kneeling. Should we… should we tell them to get up?”

Though Xiaomengyao usually acted naturally around Tianyin, whenever there were a lot of people around, she reverted to that shy, cautious girl Tianyin had met before.

As she spoke, Xiaomengyao hid behind Tianyin, clutching the hem of her clothes, her voice tiny and timid.

But Xiaomengyao didn’t realize that in the utterly silent atmosphere, her small voice was surprisingly clear.

Hearing it, both Sharl and Orgum unconsciously straightened their backs.

At the same time, strange thoughts flashed through their minds.

‘Hmm… the Lord’s disciple… even though she’s an outsider… she looks so young. And the Lord herself also looks like a little girl… So, the Lord… prefers younger girls, huh…’

A very strange thought indeed…

“Mm… yeah… I got it…”

After finishing her mental argument with Samael, Tianyin also heard Xiaomengyao’s timid voice behind her tugging on her sleeve.

She sighed helplessly.

“Well, you can all get up now. Let’s just call this oath thing finished, okay? But I’ll warn you first. I’m really, really not a Throne, so don’t expect too much from me, alright?”

“You jest, my Lord. If you are not a Throne, then who could possibly claim to be one? Please, do not be modest. To single-handedly wipe out all those outsiders, such power is not something ordinary beings could ever hope to wield.”

Rеaԁ оn ΚatReaԁіոɡCαfе

“Eh… am I… really that amazing?”

Tianyin was momentarily speechless.

But thinking about it, to kill tens of thousands of players in mere minutes, her speed really was absurd. It wasn’t unreasonable for the NPCs to mistake her for a Throne.

Besides, those players had kept shouting “That’s a Throne! That’s a Throne!” Even the players themselves believed she was one. So, yes… it kind of made sense…

“…Alright, alright, fine. You’re not going to believe me anyway. Just don’t regret it later, okay? Oh, and as for commanding the army, I really don’t know much about that, so I’ll leave the actual decisions to you two.”

Before long, Tianyin handed command right back to Orgum and Sharl, becoming a hands-off “commander.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Accepting her decision, Orgum and Sharl both bowed their heads in acknowledgment, though faint smiles appeared on their faces.

Because, from their perspective, Tianyin’s way of immediately passing the authority back to others was… truly… irresponsible.

So, was this decision really the right one?

They both wondered inwardly. But the moment they thought of her Throne-level power, those doubts were quickly suppressed.

After all… she was a Throne.