Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 171, page 169: The Association is Established

"Hello everyone, nice to meet you all—Chisang, you must be Mr. Knight, right? I'm your loyal supporter!"

In the player lobby, Renault is depicted as a black and red armored warrior, the only difference from his real-life appearance being the helmet he wears, complete with an exaggerated front.

But his behavior at this moment was completely inconsistent with the samurai demon mask on his face; he looked like a knight fan who had successfully met his idol, with stars practically in his eyes.

Is this guy really that outgoing?
Nobita scratched his head through his armor and subconsciously looked at "wise strategist" Uesugi.

Nobita only believed 20% of what Renault said.

In the days following the resolution of the Demon Blade incident, he did not remain idle but began investigating some previously well-known incidents.

A rescuer who was injured while saving someone from drowning received the response, "I didn't ask him to save me, so his death has nothing to do with me."
Three 14-year-old boys murdered and dismembered a girl, but due to juvenile laws, they were only sentenced to 5-10 years in prison.
Because of Japan's presumption of guilt in sex crimes, a man was falsely accused by a habitual offender and imprisoned because he couldn't raise enough money for a settlement. Five years later, the habitual offender was exposed by the media, but the man was still not released early and had to serve his full sentence before being released. In the end, the person who made the false accusation kept delaying and never received any formal punishment.

Nobita took specific actions in response to these three incidents.

In the first incident, although the rescuer regretted his actions, he didn't want the other person to die, so Nobi grabbed the person and took him to the riverbank, making him repeatedly experience near-death experiences.

Then he threw the man's belongings into the river, and went to a place where a corrupt official hid embezzled funds to take some money to treat the rescuer's illness.

In the second case, the three men had already been released from prison and were living under assumed names, but with Taki's help, they were still found. The three were still notorious for their crimes and showed no signs of reforming, so they were simply killed—nothing more to say.

As the hero's sword pierced their hearts, their anuses burst open, and they bled to death.

In the third case, quite a few people were falsely accused by the habitual offender, but opinions differed. Some wanted him dead, while others only hoped that he would be punished by law.

Finally, one of the men, having suffered social death due to a false accusation, lost his parents, divorced his wife, and faced discrimination at work after his release from prison, leaving him with almost nothing. Therefore, he was willing to kill the woman himself and then turn himself in, begging Nobi to bring her to him.

Nobi, as he wished, brought the woman to the hospital, then watched as the man slit the terrified woman's throat with a knife. After enjoying the expression of her struggling, desperate, and dying face, he laughed loudly, said to Nobi, "Sorry, I lied," and then chose to commit suicide.

Many literary and entertainment works like to use the phrase "human nature is complex" to summarize human nature.

Nobita had never felt the weight of those words before; they seemed vague and light, as if they were both near and far from him.

But afterwards, he had a deeper feeling.

The so-called good and evil are not a clear-cut scale, but a bottomless chaotic vortex.

Human nature is like a series of ships caught in this whirlpool; no one can escape it.

Therefore, he did not become closer to "Sen," who was still a stranger at the time, just because the other party revealed that he was a fan.

To understand what kind of person he is, we need to observe more of what he does.

Seeing Nobita's gaze, Uesugi took over the conversation, welcoming the two of them, and then casually asked, "Mori-san, I remember you finished the game a few days ago, why are you only entering the player lobby today?"

"Well, actually I came here secretly when no one was around, mainly because I was scared. I didn't know the knight was here at the time, but," Renault nodded toward the big island, "I saw the notification and knew the island was open, so I waited for him to come in so we could come in together and avoid the awkwardness."

That explanation makes sense.

The island didn't say anything, but he felt it was a good thing that someone was sharing the social pressure.

But I wonder if I've heard of that outfit somewhere before?
Takii spoke up: "Recently, quite a few people have reported that a red-armored samurai has been appearing in Shinjuku and Adachi, helping people everywhere. Is that you?"

Hearing this, Nobita and Uesugi's impression of him improved somewhat.

"Are you Muramasa-san? I didn't expect to meet so many celebrities all at once." Renault exclaimed. "That's right, it's me. Because I really wanted to be like a knight, I did some clumsy imitation and taught some unrepentant guys a lesson."

Taki declined to comment, only adding, "The Extraordinary Measures Department has taken notice of you."

“I guessed so, so is Masako looking for an opportunity to arrest me?” Renault joked.

"Currently, the official attitude towards extraordinary individuals is to prioritize cooperation, while hostility is the only option. If you don't mind revealing your identity, you can choose to cooperate."

"A collaboration? I'll think about it."

Renault gave an ambiguous look, observing the somewhat reserved Oshima, and steered the conversation toward him.

"Island-san, what ending did you get?"

"Huh? Me? It's the normal ending. I killed Hattori Masanari, and then I was killed by Tokugawa's men." Oshima probably didn't have much of a guard up because of his basic trust in the player's identity and Reno's good deeds.

Renault nodded in realization: "Just like me, that Tokugawa is too cunning."

He didn't intend to reveal his demonic ending. Anyone who could achieve that kind of ending didn't seem like a righteous person; people would just think that his family needed to hire a master.

It's important to understand that the NPCs in this game are no different from living people; they're not like the NPCs in traditional games who drift when they walk or can steal things on the spot just by putting a wooden bucket on their head.

It's incredibly difficult for an ordinary person to withstand the psychological pressure, fight their way to the end, and even organize an army of knife-wielding slaves. To be frank, Renault's plan to infiltrate the good guys' camp will inevitably encounter more obstacles out of nowhere.

"Ahem, let me first tell you about the principles among players."

In order to promote his own information manual, Uesugi decided to take on the role of a new recruit guide without hesitation, hoping to gain some initial favor first.

It's like when you're a freshman and an upperclassman recommends you buy two packs of tissues; you feel a little embarrassed to refuse.

Moreover, she is very confident in the quality of her materials! Absolutely no deception!

However, she had already gathered information about the normal ending from Nobita, which meant that there would be no discount when selling it to them, and it would cost 20 points per person!
As expected, both of them were very interested in the previous game. After checking the purchase power of the points in the store and considering Uesugi's promise of free updates, they readily agreed.

"You won't regret it, it's absolutely great value for money! All the information inside has been meticulously checked and boldly speculated upon by me." After selling two more copies, Uesugi was in a good mood.

Seeing that she was getting a little too excited, Nobi coughed twice and said, "There's one more thing. Yue, Zheng, and I are preparing to establish a 'Lawful Players Mutual Aid Association.' The goal is to build a bridge of mutual trust among players and to restrain all players' destructive, malicious, and unscrupulous behavior."

He explained the role of this mutual aid association.

This is a more complete version of the previous hypothesis.

It simply aims to limit players' abuse of power, minimize harm to society, provide stronger guarantees for cooperation among players, and mediate disputes among members.

Upon closer inspection, it seems similar to the previous player principles, but with enhanced constraints and cohesion, and a more collective concept.

"This is a great idea, I'll join."

Good guy Renault didn't hesitate for a second.

These treaties have a major loophole, though it can't really be called a loophole, because the association is powerless to regulate them.

That means if it's not discovered, it's not considered wrongdoing.

Only the defeated are defined as war criminals, which is also one of Renault's creeds.

He didn't believe that all players would be so docile; there would always be those who were restless and dissatisfied with the status quo, and those would be the ones he could win over.

Oshima, who was looking at the information, also came to his senses: "I'd like to join too, but are there any requirements?"

Nobi and the others exchanged glances, and had basically no objection to their joining.

If someone joins and then acts recklessly in real life, the other players in the association will refuse to cooperate with them and may even attempt to kill them.

This association has no intention of becoming elitist. Its initial purpose was to restrict players from doing evil, so its goal is to recruit all players. They are actually unwilling to take action unless absolutely necessary.

Players possess a wide variety of extraordinary powers, and no one can guarantee that they will be able to defeat anyone without encountering unexpected situations.

The opponent might be weaker than you in potential, but they might be able to counter you, making a direct counter-kill not impossible.

Potential level doesn't tell the whole story.

"So, the 'Orderly Players Mutual Aid Association' is officially established today, and the five of us are the initial members. The association will have a rotating president, and related matters will be decided by voting, with the minority obeying the majority, and the president having two votes."

"The position of president is rotated every three months and is elected by vote. Presidents cannot serve consecutive terms, but may serve a term after a gap."

For an organization that is not particularly tightly knit, elections are indeed the optimal solution; otherwise, none of them would have the ability to completely convince everyone.

They also mentioned some rules that limit the president, such as "no confidence impeachment" and "principles that cannot be violated." In summary, the president's actual power is not that great, comparable to that of the UN Secretary-General.

It's only slightly better than a mascot.

As was quite natural, Nobita was elected as the first president by vote, while Uesugi became the vice president.

Taki did not participate in the election. Her identity is rather sensitive; she is an official partner. It's fine now that there are few people involved, but once there are more people, they will definitely become suspicious of her.

This would have a negative impact on the stability of the association.

She doesn't really need this identity, and in the short term, under the Knight's control, there shouldn't be any concern about the association changing its nature.

For some reason, when she thought of this, she subconsciously looked at "Sen," who was clapping continuously for the selection of the knight.

This person's actions seemed somewhat deliberate.

Afraid of embarrassment, they waited until the last player finished before coming in together, but their outgoing demeanor showed no sign of embarrassment whatsoever.

Would a sunny and cheerful young man really be chosen as a player?
(End of this chapter)