Chapter 20: The Speedrunner and the Struggling Maid

“What should I play…?” Gengetsu Shiori pondered, bouncing lightly on her feet. “The Any% main story is too competitive, and the play time is so short that everyone would surely find it unsatisfying.

Besides, I’m not really good at it. How about I go for an all-red strawberry run for you all? …Hmm, never mind, I won’t ask.

You probably wouldn’t understand anyway, so I’ll just decide on my own! My dear audience, grab your popcorn and watch closely~”

Arriving at the foot of the mountain, Gengetsu entered her zone, skillfully maneuvering the protagonist’s sprite.

With nimble ‘tap, tap, tap-tap-tap’ movements, the character darted and leaped, wall-running between crumbling ruins and treacherous cliffs.

Incidentally, after hearing Gengetsu’s decision, Chahuayuan did a quick search. The world record for “all red strawberries” was under 50 minutes.

“Well now~~~”

Chahuayuan glanced at the bullet comments on Chajingyuan’s stream.

As expected, the netizens, never ones to miss a good spectacle, had already started fanning the flames and relaying messages.

[Streamer, streamer, the colleague next door said the main story isn’t satisfying and takes too little time to complete. What’s your take?]

[Cyka-Official Electronic Warfare Commander has issued an important opinion, stating the bratty maid is a noob.]

[The difference is immediately clear when compared to the stream next door.]

“What—what are they saying! Which scoundrel is spouting such nonsense without a care in the world!” Chajingyuan fumed.

“This twisted game, it’s full of first-time kills everywhere! It’s perfectly normal to spend this much time on it, alright? You trashy bullet comments, no gloating… Wah, I got hit and died again!”

“Ugh, you lot of goshujin-sama, don’t you dare gloat! How could anyone possibly clear this disgusting, trashy game easily? Whoever said that, let them try it then!!”

Chajingyuan wailed, continuing her battle against both the bullet comments and the game.

Incidentally, since entering Chapter Two, the number of times she had been forced to call her viewers “Master” had accumulated to nearly fifty.

Having provoked a response from Chajingyuan, the utterly bored viewers immediately relayed the messages to Gengetsu Shiori’s live stream:

[Streamer, streamer, the trashy maid next door said, “If you can do it, you go ahead.” How do you respond?]

[The bratty girl next door sharply commented that Celeste is a twisted, disgusting, trashy game. What’s your opinion?]

Of course, Gengetsu was currently focused on precise game maneuvers, so her replies were slightly less aggressive than Chajingyuan’s.

“What do you mean, ‘if I can do it, I go ahead’? I’m already doing it, aren’t I~.

As for some people thinking this is a trashy game, well, I can’t really do anything about that. Different people have different skill levels, and some people’s skill and game understanding just… stays right there…………”

“Tolerance, tolerance. Oh my, with so many games and so many diverse people in this world, one must learn to accept varying levels of intelligence. Some people are just a little… incomplete, so don’t be too hard on them.”

‘Hmm… of course, it was only slightly less aggressive.’

‘The missing bit of aggression would simply be amplified by the message relays.’

[Maid, maid, the streamer next door claims that those who can’t appreciate Celeste are people of low intelligence. How do you view this ‘disability care’?]

[So uncouth.]

[For the remnants of s*ave-owning aristocrats who keep maids, decorum isn’t necessary.]

[Streamer, streamer, I just checked, the world record for Celeste’s main story is 26 minutes.]

‘Just like that.’

“Sigh.”

Chahuayuan let out a faint, resigned sigh. Fun was fun, but it had to be said, some netizens’ intentions were truly impure.

In this “dream collaboration,” there were all sorts of extreme, instigating comments.

Both streamers were originally focused on playing, especially Chajingyuan, whose mentality was clearly on the verge of collapse, making her control over the chat inevitably slip a bit…

While some bullet comments “attacking” the streamer were acceptable, others, inciting mutual attacks among the viewers themselves, were a step too far.

It was unclear how many of the earlier trolls, still unwilling to give up, were lurking within the frenzied bullet comments of both streams, eager to stir up more trouble. Chahuayuan watched both chat feeds,

temporarily banning a small number of users whose comments were excessively hostile and filled with negativity, then continued to observe the spectacle.

Chajingyuan’s state seemed less vexed and enraged now. Clearly, she understood that she couldn’t compare to the professional speedrunner next door.

However, acknowledging her inferiority didn’t mean she wouldn’t try. It was evident that while Chajingyuan continued to argue defiantly with the bullet comments, her gameplay grew increasingly serious and precise.

Gengetsu remained effortlessly skilled, continuing to answer the seemingly objective relayed messages and questions from the bullet comments, all the while unwittingly handing fuel to the instigators.

“Oh? You’re asking about the difficulty of Chapter One? Well, of course, it’s easy, super easy.”

“There are practically no demands for control precision or distance management. Even a beginner can figure out the jump paths at a glance.

Hehehe, it is the first chapter after all; they want to trick you into playing for two hours to prevent refunds. However, for a speedrun, there are still some difficult parts.

Those wall-bounce hyper jumps and spike jumps – whether you can pull them off or not makes a huge difference in speed…”

“Is it normal to spend so much time on Chapter One?… Well, everyone’s situation is different.”

“Died 73 times, 34 minutes for Chapter One? It’s fine, it’s fine. That’s probably the stats of a newcomer with some gaming experience.

When I first played this game, I died 60 times just trying to grab strawberries… Hey, wait a minute, where did you get such specific data?”

“Oh! So you were talking about the stream next door, no wonder. I haven’t had a detailed chat with that… oh dear, who was it again? Oh, right! Chizaki! I haven’t really talked to her in detail yet; I just didn’t realize until now.”

“Ugh… you lot, always stirring up trouble, acting as message relays, huh? Ugh, how smelly, how shameful.”

Gengetsu finally, albeit accidentally, figured out what was happening with the bullet comments. She scornfully and sternly criticized a few of the instigating comments.

Of course, such comments could never truly be eradicated. After all, having learned from the bullet comments about this coincidence with a girl from her own club, Gengetsu was naturally quite interested.

She couldn’t help but continue to ask the chat about Chajingyuan’s progress and offer her own opinions.

Although Gengetsu Shiori’s comments became more serious than teasing after she understood the full situation, they were still inevitably turned into “further inquiries and reports” by the bullet comments, relaying back and forth between the two streamers’ channels.

After some time, Chajingyuan’s game progress finally advanced to Chapter Three, the “Celestial Resort” filled with malevolent entities.

By this time, Gengetsu Shiori had already completed Chapter Five of her speedrun.

“Oh? Chapter Two took 40 minutes? Died 83 times? Not bad, not bad. Though the death count could actually be a bit lower. Chapter Two doesn’t have that many environmental traps, so if you play steadily, you could die less.”

[The expert next door sharply commented that the bratty maid dies too much, dying everywhere even without spikes.]

“Gah-ooh, talking big again, huh?!” Chajingyuan yelled. “It’s true there are no spikes, but there’s a ghost chasing me! I have to rush to survive, can’t you see that? Are you blind??”

[The maid next door said her game understanding is that you have to charge forward to survive.]

“True, true. It’s easy to panic when Badeline is chasing you, but that’s precisely when you need to stay calm.” Gengetsu explained.

“Badeline’s pursuit path actually mirrors your exact movement route, so don’t be scared! Just be a little steadier. Even if you make a mistake, taking a detour makes it easy to survive.”

[…………]

“Detour, my foot! If I detour, I’d have to cross that jelly block back and forth. Haven’t you seen it? How can you just casually detour around that jelly block?!” Chajingyuan cried.

“Guh-woo-woo… If you can do it, you go ahead! Try crossing that jelly block yourself. If your angle is off, won’t you smash your head and die?!”

“And when you first enter a new map, you have no idea of the route!

Plus, someone’s chasing you! Isn’t that like blindfolding you, throwing you on a road, putting a dog behind you… and then the bullet comment gods say, ‘Oh, I’m not scared at all,’ and stride forward only to get run over by a dump truck?!”

“Ahhh! It’s all your fault! I was too busy cursing you all and bumped into the black goo again! *Goshujin-sama*, you’re all just a bunch of idiotic, trashy masters!!”

“…………”

“…………”

“Hmph, ah, hmph, hmph… This annoying, swaying black goo, and you stupid masters who only cause trouble—no, no, you stupid bullet comments—are just as disgusting! I’m exhausted.”

Not long after, Gengetsu Shiori successfully completed her “Main Story All Red Strawberry Collection Speedrun” demonstration.

The moment she reached the summit, she checked the timer: exactly fifty minutes. At this very moment, Chajingyuan was still struggling deep within Chapter Three of the game.