Chapter 17: The Maid’s Humiliation and a Deceptive Victory

Predictably, the audience erupted in protest against Chajingyuan’s impudent opening remarks, having been denied the expected address of ‘Master’ and instead subjected to several gratuitous insults of ‘trash fish’.

[???]

[Streamer, please treat your Masters kindly. Do not speak rudely or disrespect your superiors.]

[What trash fish? A mere maid is not allowed to sass her Master.]

“Hmph.”

Having steeled herself to break her promise, Chajingyuan had, of course, anticipated such a barrage from the bullet comments.

Already mentally prepared for this, she instantly gave a dismissive flick of her head, a cheeky expression on her face.

“Oh, please,” Chajingyuan scoffed.

“Yesterday, you all colluded to deceive me, a new streamer, using high-tech trickery to bully this honest little Xiaosaki.

That’s precisely the sort of thing only trash fish would stoop to. And you still have the audacity to constantly harp on such underhanded deeds? Truly, it’s just like you all.”

“What’s wrong?” she continued, her voice dripping with disdain.

“It’s perfectly reasonable for me to refuse to acknowledge such an unfair arrangement. Do you disagree?

Even if you coerced your streamer into signing an unequal treaty, it still won’t alter the undeniable truth: petty trash fish cannot dictate the words or actions of their streamer. Hmph.”

Chajingyuan averted her gaze, a blend of feigned innocence and shameless audacity in her demeanor, all while continuing her tirade and casting condescending glances at the bullet comments.

“It’s the modern age now, you know,” she declared, drawing out her words.

“You really ought to shed those old, dishonorable ways of thinking. Concepts like bullying ‘golden belt’ streamers or honest streamers falling into debt simply don’t apply to someone with my inherent strength.

I have the capital, you see. After all, you’ve never once fairly and squarely defeated me.”

“Ah, what a shame, what a shame,” she sighed dramatically.

“While I can certainly empathize with the deep-seated resentment harbored by all you trash fish ‘brothers and sisters’ – how you yearn to hear a maid’s adorable cries to fulfill your myriad fantasies,

ooh-hoo – a streamer also maintains their own rhythm. Even if your Super Chats demand that I ‘put on a show,’ or ‘debut me,’ or…”

“Eh?”

As Chajingyuan was smugly spouting her twisted logic, a glaringly red, prominent message suddenly burst into her field of vision.

[SC-￥200.00: “Basic salary for the maid from Master.”]

‘Why had this person suddenly slammed down two hundred yuan, she wondered…’

“W-wait a minute? Isn’t this large Super Chat a bit…?”

Chajingyuan’s eye twitched uncomfortably.

“Er… well, even if you suddenly and unilaterally declare yourself my Master…”

[SC-￥400.00: “Covering the share for other Masters.”]

[SC-￥400.00: “Advance payment to honor the promise. The maid will receive a bonus if she performs well.”]

“Ugh, eh?? W-wait… wait a minute!?”

Chajingyuan was instantly startled.

That a viewer would suddenly go ‘crazy’ and send so many prominent messages in quick succession sent several conditioned reflexes scrambling through Chajingyuan’s mind: ‘More money than sense?’ ‘Was her persona truly so charming, so lucrative?’ ‘Or was it…?’

‘This was bad!’

By the time a certain sense of “crisis” welled up in Chajingyuan’s heart, it was already too late.

Prominent messages, both large and small, poured in from countless different viewers, one after another.

[SC-￥30.00: “My share.”]

[SC-￥30.00: “Quick, quick, call us Master!”]

[SC-￥30.00: “Having paid this salary, I am also the Master of the impish maid.”]

[SC-￥60.00: “Streamer, streamer, if you don’t call us Master, wouldn’t you be violating your employment contract as a maid?”]

“…”

“N-no, no, no, absolutely not!”

Chajingyuan began to panic.

“You g-g-g-trash fish viewers,” Chajingyuan stammered, her voice laced with panic,

“don’t imagine you can succeed with such forced transactions! Only a fool would acknowledge a mere verbal promise!

Giving money unilaterally, just giving it away, is essentially a free offering, you know! Are you seriously planning to jump into the internet to beat me up?!”

[SC-￥600.00: “Final payment to honor the promise has been sent, Chizaki baby, be good now. Don’t be sassy with your Masters anymore, quickly call us Master obediently.”]

“Eek—! I-I…?”

Chajingyuan’s mind went completely blank, her brain crashing.

First, one crucial point needed clarification:

Chajingyuan genuinely had no love for money. Even though she was keenly aware that her current financial situation was a world apart from her comfortable life back home, she remained utterly indifferent to wealth.

However!

With a deluge of payment demands thrown directly at her, she found it impossible to remain unaffected.

In other words, she simply couldn’t withstand the psychological pressure of taking money without delivering!

What’s more, even setting aside the psychological burden, with so many ‘live ammunition’ Super Chats practically shoved in her face, the momentum was clearly designed to force her down the contentious path of ‘losing viewers by breaking promises’—a practical pressure Chajingyuan simply could not afford to ignore!

Before the stream began, Chajingyuan had, rather naively, taken all these factors for granted, never truly contemplating the consequences…

“Guh, y-you… you despicable trash fish viewers, don’t go too far!”

[SC-￥30.00: “Final payment made. The streamer surely wouldn’t want her Masters to apply for customer service refunds, claiming the streamer engaged in deceptive inducement, right?”]

“Uwah, they’re really pushing their luck!?”

Chajingyuan, of course, was well aware of Bilibili’s notorious refund mechanism, and this revelation utterly shattered her psychological defenses!

“…I-I-I know, alright! Stop sending such huge Super Chats! I-I was wrong, I’m so sorry, so sorry QAQ!!”

She caved.

More than just caving, Chajingyuan’s eyes were already swimming, on the verge of tears.

“Y-you all, stop sending bullet comments. W-wait… wait for me to mentally prepare myself… I’ll fulfill my promise right now…”

“Goshujin-sama, gomen nasai (I’m sorry)!”

Having initially been so confident in her denial and refusal to acknowledge, only to be violently bombarded by massive Super Chats, Chajingyuan truly never wanted to experience such a thing again.

“Goshujin-sama, hontou ni sumimasen (I am truly very sorry)!”

[“Too mercenary, not sincere enough.”]

[“This kind of maid should just be fired.”]

[“Purity isn’t enough, major apology needed.”]

[“Major apology lawsuit unavoidable.”]

“Alright, alright, alright… major apology, major apology!”

Chajingyuan became even more apprehensive.

“Goshujin-sama~~~! Makoto ni taihen moushiwake gozaimasen (I sincerely offer my deepest apologies to everyone)!”

“π﹏π Guwu… wuwuwu…”

In the end, not a single one of the most dignified ‘Master’ phrases she had meticulously practiced beforehand found its use. What remained in everyone’s screen recordings was solely that most tragic and utterly humiliating vocal tone.

“Ugh, you trash fish Masters who clearly don’t understand rational consumption, are you satisfied now? Right, let’s—let’s take a look at how we’ll choose today’s stream program…”

[“The impish maid, violently ‘indoctrinated’ by the power of adults, is truly too lewd.”]

[“The power of adults (deep meaning).”]

[“The impish girl who prided herself on being a ‘hard power’ streamer, unexpectedly encountered an even ‘harder’ force.”]

[“Taught a harsh lesson by ‘hard power’.”]

“…Guwu…”

Chajingyuan could only pray that her sister wouldn’t continue watching her stream today, for this humiliation would be truly immense.

After all, Chahuayuan, being acquainted with Makino Shibahime, would undoubtedly know that she was supposed to dutifully address the viewers as ‘Master’ according to their plan, and would therefore have ample reason to mercilessly mock her for this spectacular self-sabotage…

Fortunately, her sister wasn’t in the ‘Xiaosaki Hotline’ channel in the club’s voice room, so it seemed she hadn’t been watching.

Chajingyuan temporarily disabled her model capture, seizing the opportunity to take a deep breath and compose herself for a few crucial seconds. Then, she reactivated the capture, striving to calmly steer the stream back to its intended topic.

Having already suffered such humiliation at the outset, the upcoming poll absolutely had to result in a good game, ideally one she could clear in a single attempt. She refused to allow those detestable trash fish viewers to gain any more advantage!

“Everyone should have seen Xiaosaki’s post from this evening. There are still three minutes until voting closes. To accommodate most viewers, I’ll also introduce it here…”

“…………”

“…………”

“…Mm, well, that’s the gist of it. Consider this a rare boon, a small advantage I’m granting you all. You have two final minutes to quickly cast your votes.”

As Chajingyuan spoke, she opened the voting poll.

Following the earlier trend, ‘Sekiro’ still held the lead in votes.

Chajingyuan genuinely dreaded touching that notoriously lethal game. As long as it wasn’t ‘Getting Over It,’ that other infamous blood-pressure-raising game, she would welcome any alternative.

Fortunately, after several hours of back-and-forth, the difference in votes between the options had become remarkably small.

It was clear the viewers were eagerly anticipating the torment each of the four games would inflict, and the current second-place contender was indeed not ‘Pot Man,’ but ‘Celeste’.

“Hmm…”

“…”

“…What intense voting.”

Chajingyuan feigned meekness as she awaited the poll’s closure, though in her heart, she was already secretly hatching a new plan.

Celeste. The name, at least, sounded rather peaceful. As a game about climbing mountains and enjoying scenery, even if it proved to be a sadistic challenge, it couldn’t possibly be like Sekiro, where the entire world was populated by deranged, life-threatening mad dogs, mad bulls, and mad bald monks…

Furthermore, comparing a first playthrough of its main story to Sekiro’s second playthrough with the ‘Demon Bell’ active, Celeste surely had to be the gentler option.

Chajingyuan secretly concurred with this line of thought. She glanced up, only to find that the vote difference between ‘Sekiro’ and ‘Celeste’ had dwindled to just three votes.

Thus, Chajingyuan promptly and discreetly locked the stream window. As a seasoned troll who had dominated countless forums, she pulled out her treasured five Bilibili alt accounts and cast five votes for ‘Celeste’.

Hmph, hmph, hmph.

To protect her dignity as a streamer of ‘hard power,’ to die fewer times during the broadcast, and to prevent those irritating ‘trash fish’ bullet comments from growing too smug, this was a perfectly justifiable tactic.

Her operation complete, the voting closed precisely on time.

“Oh-oh… time seems to be up! No need for you trash fish bullet comments to remind me, I’m watching. Alright, alright, let’s check the results and see what we’ll play tonight…”

Hard work paid off; ‘Celeste’ had overtaken ‘Sekiro,’ ultimately leading by three votes.

[“Feels fishy.”]

[“Tsk.”]

[“This is bad.”]

[“Who did this? Step forward now!”]

[“r.i.p.”]

“…Phew, what a shame, what a shame. In the end, it wasn’t the wicked Souls-like game after all. What a pity. What’s so bad about it? This is quite good, actually. Please wait a moment.”

“By the way, what do you mean by ‘rip’? Hmm, is it the ‘rip’ I’m thinking of??”

“…………”

“…………”

“Ah, it’s downloaded! This game is quite small, isn’t it? Looks like I’ll have to apologize; you’ll probably have to wait tearfully for several hours and still might not hear even a single ‘Goshujin-sama.’ Launching the game!”

Chajingyuan confidently opened the game.

Opening sequence, keybind settings, new player name, entering the first chapter—

“Oh, this opening animation is indeed quite serene and peaceful.”

“Pixel art, hmm, it’s more refined than I expected.”

“The controls feel pretty good, actually? Heh-heh, quite smooth, like a winter outing.”

“Wow, a beginner tutorial raven, how thoughtful.”

And so, controlling the little red-haired figure on the screen, Chajingyuan bounced and skipped, step by step, into the first official level of the first chapter.

Then, what greeted Chajingyuan’s eyes was:

“…”

‘Uh.’

“…………”

Chajingyuan’s ‘outing-like’ enthusiasm vanished along with her pleasant smile.

It was an incredibly ‘friendly’ mountain foothills map, composed of roughly 45% spikes, 45% pits, 10% mechanisms, and an almost nonexistent number of safe footholds.

“Me? I… Ah ha ha ha, can I switch games??????”