Chapter 18: Territory Only Needs Two People

The remaining ice cubes in the snow-top coffee cup finally lost the buffer of liquid, colliding messily at the bottom of the cup, emitting a light and crisp sound.

About five hundred milliliters.

That was the maximum capacity this self-service beverage machine could dispense at once.

Normally, such a bottle of coffee wouldn’t last through the entire night; I usually needed at least two bottles to stay awake during an all-nighter.

But now, this one was more than enough.

Because what was truly preventing me from calming down wasn’t the caffeine—

But the words Ameno Yotsuba had just spoken.

“The former… KING?”

I subconsciously repeated it, my tone carrying a hesitation I hadn’t even noticed myself.

“Hm.”

Ameno Yotsuba nodded, his action crisp, without evasion. “That’s right.”

When he said this, a very faint bitter smile appeared on his face, not self-pity, but more like a confirmation of the past.

“The me standing before you now might look a bit disheveled.”

“But I did, indeed, once stand in that position.”

He lifted his eyes, his gaze steadily falling on me.

“So— Night Witch.”

“Are you willing to lend me a hand?”

That tone wasn’t like begging.

More like a king who had lost his throne, evaluating a potential ally.

“…Disheveled?”

I silently refuted in my mind.

Ameno Yotsuba’s “disheveled” was more of a self-mockery.

From his eyes and posture, this person was still far from “never recovering.”

He would be unwilling, that was certain.

But he would never sink because of it.

Even so, these reasons still weren’t enough for me to nod immediately.

“W-wait, wait.”

I hurriedly raised my hand, waving it somewhat flustered in front of me, trying to slow the pace a bit.

“You see… I do have some fame in BHAO right now, that’s true, but that’s all there is to it.”

“In terms of combat power, I can at most deal with some low-tier players.”

“Compared to those goals you mentioned— I don’t think I can help much.”

This wasn’t an excuse.

It was a fact.

The “Night Witch” character was stuck at a low tier.

Against mid-low tier players, I could still rely on the stealth and surprise of skills to create “surprises.”

But once facing opponents with complex skills, mature tactics, or clearly higher tiers—

The things I could do would rapidly decrease.

“So…”

“You can completely find someone else—”

“There is no one else.”

Ameno Yotsuba’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it was calm and decisive, as if directly cutting off all my subsequent possibilities.

I was stunned.

He lowered his head, pressing his hands on the tabletop, his knuckles slightly tightening, as if suppressing some surging emotion.

“BHAO… No, more accurately, ENDLESS WORLD.”

“Its requirements for KING are far crueler than you imagine.”

“Those who stand on the throne can enjoy glory.”

“But once they lose qualification, the former glory becomes a joke.”

The lights in the BHAO club were already dim, and now they seemed deliberately lowered in brightness.

Ameno Yotsuba had his head down, and I could barely see his expression.

But I could feel that it wasn’t pleasant.

“Losing the KING identity is equivalent to losing everything.”

“Allies, trust, position… all reverse in an instant.”

He paused, his tone suddenly becoming unusually steady.

“As for betrayal—”

“I’ve tasted it long ago.”

That sentence wasn’t heavy, yet it made my heart sink slightly.

After a brief silence, he took a deep breath, as if completing some self-restraint.

Then, he lifted his head, the familiar calm and restrained expression returning to his face.

“Sorry.”

“It’s been a long time since I lost composure like that.”

Ameno Yotsuba stood up, taking a bottle of clear water from the automatic beverage machine.

Before returning to his seat, he tilted his head back and drank most of it.

“Ha—”

The exhale with water vapor brought him fully back to the “rational” track.

“Emotional complaints end here.”

He placed the remaining small half bottle of water on the table, side by side with my snow-top coffee that only had ice left.

“Night Witch.”

“I don’t fully understand you.”

“But from your way of acting, choice of paths, and the fact that you’ve still been acting alone until now—”

“You and I are the same type of person.”

When he said this, his tone wasn’t urgent, but exceptionally restrained.

“Lonely, rejected by the system, yet still unwilling to stop.”

“Now, the one who can truly help me is only you.”

“So— I hope you consider it seriously.”

He didn’t repeat words like “please.”

He just calmly placed the choice in front of me.

Silence once again enveloped the space between us.

I took a deep breath.

…He’s right.

In a certain sense, we were indeed alike.

Both pushed to the edge by BHAO, yet having to continue struggling within the rules.

This was supposed to be a game for entertainment.

Now it had become a scale measuring social value.

And neither I nor Ameno Yotsuba planned to obediently accept this conclusion.

“…Alright.”

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding for a long time.

“I agree.”

The moment the words fell, my heart actually felt a bit lighter.

Once I made a decision, I wouldn’t regret it.

That was my consistent principle.

“Really?”

Ameno Yotsuba’s eyes brightened slightly, yet he didn’t lose composure.

“Hm.”

“That’s something worth being happy about.”

He said it very plainly.

No exaggerated emotions, no excessive joy.

…As expected of a KING.

Even happiness seemed filtered through rationality.

Just as I was secretly quipping in my mind, his gaze suddenly became serious.

“However, before formal action, there’s one more thing that must be explained.”

“BHAO’s territory system has a hard rule.”

I looked up at him.

“The minimum number for territory application is—”

“Two people.”

His tone was steady, yet carrying an indisputable sense of authority.

“Only with two or more will the system open territory creation permissions.”

“This is also why— I had to find you.”

…I see.

In other words, from the beginning, he didn’t “randomly pick me.”

Rather— the Night Witch was the only one who met the conditions.

I opened my mouth, ultimately only uttering:

“So now…”

Ameno Yotsuba smiled faintly, that smile very light, yet exceptionally clear.

“Now, it’s enough for us to apply for territory.”