Standing on stage wasn’t Joan, but Lori.
And not the petite, loli-sized Lori everyone knew.
The Lori on stage looked genuinely happy—maybe just because she got to be on stage again.
Lori: “Hi! I’m your host today.”
Lori: “Eh? Why, you ask?”
Lori: “Mhm~ because I’m the female lead, duh!”
Director offstage: “......”
Lori: “Oh, oh, I know already. I don’t need you to remind me.”
Lori: “Ahem, ahem~ there was a little problem yesterday, and Joan took the day off. So I’ll be hosting today.”
Lori: “Mmm! Never thought I’d actually get to host one day. Since this show started, I’ve only appeared once. Just once.”
Lori: “But my second time on stage, and I’m the host? Mmm~!”
Lori: “Hm? You mean the ‘mmm’ thing?”
Lori: “It’s ’cause Joan told me about that game called FGO before, so I went to check it out. Then I rolled someone named Nero Claudius. I totally love her, she talks in such a fun way.”
Lori: “Right, from now on I’m not gonna use ‘I’ to refer to myself. I’ll use ‘Yu’ instead!”
Lori: “Mmm~! Yu’s a genius. From today on, you’ll all have Yu’s name on your lips. Rely on Yu as much as you want!”
Director offstage: “......”
Lori: “Mmm~ Yu gets it. Yu will get along with the guest really, really well later.”
Lori: “The director said we’ll have a guest coming up next.”
The lights dimmed in an instant.
The entrance doors slid open on their own. A girl stepped out, wearing a pure white magical battle dress, the hem trailing like the cosmos. Behind her, a pair of white wings had sprouted from her back.
Beside her hopped a white raccoon-cat; a golden ring circled its tail, and every swish of that tail made the ring glow faintly.
“Luge. Luge East.”
“This concubine greets you all once more.”
At that moment, “elegant” felt like a word created just for Luge.
Every small move, every gesture, radiated the aura of a noble lady.
Luge wasn’t actually noble, but she understood noble etiquette better than most nobles. With that outfit on top, she was basically perfection.
“I’m Holy Flame.”
The raccoon-cat bounced a couple of times at Luge’s side.
Luge: “Long time no see, Miss Lori. Have you been well lately?”
Lori: “Quite well. Seeing that you’re doing fine too, Luge, Yu’s very happy.”
Luge: “‘Yu’?”
Lori proudly puffed up her tiny chest: “‘Yu’ means me.”
Luge: “I thought Joan would be hosting today. I didn’t expect it to be you, Miss Lori. Thank you for the hard work.”
Lori: “Mmm~ it’s not hard at all, not at all. This is only Yu’s second time on the show.”
Luge: “So what’s today’s topic?”
A big question mark practically popped over Lori’s head: “Eh? Topic? What’s that?”
Luge: “Don’t tell me you don’t know what this show’s about?”
Lori guiltily turned her head away: “H-how could that be? I-I just f-forgot, that’s all.”
Lori: “R-right, today we’re continuing with the ranking of the most popular female characters.”
As soon as she said it, a virtual screen appeared in front of Lori and Luge.
On it was the ranking of the most popular female characters from “After Crossing Into the Game World, I Became the Strongest Existence.”
No.1: Joan
No.2: Lori
No.3: Merlin (???)
No.4: Moonless (???), Feifei, Canglang
Lori: “Why are there question marks on third place, same as Moonless?”
Lori: “And why is Moonless even on a female character ranking?”
The fact that Moonless made it onto the female list left Lori completely stunned.
Why could Moonless be on there?
Even if it was the last spot, why was he on the list at all?
No matter how hard she tried, Lori just couldn’t figure out why Moonless was on the ranking.
“What’s this?”
Luge had just received a tablet-like device from a staff member.
Staff: “.......”
Luge: “I see. And how do I use it?”
Staff: “......”
Luge: “Got it. Thank you.”
Curious, Lori leaned in close: “What’s that?”
Luge smiled slightly: “Character profile data.”
Lori: “Oh—eh!!!”
Lori practically jumped in fright. She never expected something like detailed character dossiers to exist.
Luge: “Found it. Moonless, male. Gender can be changed.”
Lori yelped: “What!?”
Luge chuckled: “See for yourself.”
“T-that’s so spicy! Not that Yu minds yuri, hehe~”
Holding Moonless’s data file, Lori stared at it. The more she read, the more her laugh turned into something like a pervy chuckle.
Luge: “Since you forgot today’s topic, Miss Lori, why don’t we just use the ranking as our theme?”
Lori: “Mmm~ let’s do that!”
Luge: “Then let’s start with Canglang. Apparently, later on a lot of people assumed Canglang was male. Canglang is the guardian holy beast of the ruins in Fingri Forest. The Creator eventually clarified Canglang’s gender.”
Lori: “Mmm~ Yu thought so too. Seems like lots of people guessed wrong~”
Luge: “Let me share a little trivia here: holy beasts don’t have gender at first. Their gender’s only determined after they evolve into human form.”
Lori: “So that’s how it is.”
Luge: “Not only that, some holy beasts, once they evolve, can inherit the abilities of their ancestors.”
Lori: “That’s true! It says so right here. But do those abilities really exist?”
Luge glanced at the file: “Yes, it’s definitely possible. The Age of Origin was shrouded in mystery. They say all kinds of abilities already existed back then.”
Lori: “Oh, look at this person’s info. This ability is even scarier than the last one.”
Luge: “I’d say abilities like that are reserved for gods.”
Lori: “And this person’s one of the Ten Rings’ ten members.”
Luge let out a wry smile: “The Ten Rings, huh. I’m quite interested in them too. Unfortunately, I’m not qualified.”
Lori: “Yu’s decided!”
Luge: “What have you decided on, Miss Lori?”
Lori: “Yu’s gonna join the Ten Rings too!”
Luge: “The Ten Rings is limited to ten people. And I think the Creator’s already pre-booked all the slots.”
Lori: “Yu doesn’t care. Yu’s joining the Ten Rings and becoming the eleventh member!”
Luge: “Why are you so fixated on this, Miss Lori?”
Lori’s face overflowed with bliss: “Because then Yu can stay with Moonless~”
Luge: “I see. Now I suddenly feel like playing a song for you, Miss Lori.”
Lori: “You do? That’s great. Yu’s been learning how to sing lately too. I’ll let everyone enjoy Yu’s singing~”
Ten minutes later, the entire stage had fallen dead silent.
Only Lori, looking completely satisfied, and Luge, wearing a helpless smile, were still standing in the spotlight.
Everyone in the audience had already passed out, foaming at the mouth.
And so, today’s little skit came to a close...
