Arthur's expression was complicated as he brought up his Eighth Brother:
"I had someone investigate Roy's grades from childhood onward."
"They consistently hovered around sixty, whether in biology, physics, math, language arts, or anything else."
"His grades always fluctuated between passing and good."
At first, the butler was puzzled. Then his eyes widened:
"You mean..."
"Exactly. He deliberately controlled his scores."
"Neither the worst nor the best, just an invisible nobody right in the middle."
"Drawing absolutely no attention."
Arthur said through gritted teeth:
"A capable man deliberately chose to remain invisible, fooling every clever person around him."
"How great must his ambitions be? How dangerous must he be!"
"If he won't stand on my side, I absolutely cannot let him live to stand on Second Brother's or Sixth Brother's side."
Thoroughly convinced, the butler said:
"Yes, Young Master Arthur!"
But the butler was still a little puzzled. If Young Master Roy had concealed himself so well, how had the eldest young master discovered it?
As though he had seen through the butler's confusion, Arthur sneered:
"I didn't figure it out. The information leaked from Father."
"What?"
"Father probably wasn't happy that he kept refusing to join the struggle, so he decided to force his hand."
"That's why Father's butler secretly leaked it."
Arthur recalled his source. If he hadn't planted someone on Pops's side, he would never have known about the relationship between those two.
At this point, realization suddenly struck him:
"So that's it!"
"Eighth Brother has been playing games ever since that day to show Father that he has no interest whatsoever."
"Then, Young Master Arthur, should we wait a month?"
"Bullshit!"
Arthur sneered:
"Start preparing an assassination. I'll ask him again in ten days. If he still hasn't made up his mind, kill him outright."
"I'd rather he died than let him join any other side."
"Eighth Brother will definitely think I'll wait a month."
"In his dreams!"
His eldest brother Arthur was ruthless by nature. A month to think it over? What nonsense.
Nobody needed that much time. It simply meant he had no sincerity.
If he refused to join in ten days, Arthur would have him assassinated.
Roy was surely assuming that he had a month's protection.
"Brilliant, sir!"
The butler couldn't help praising him.
Young Master Arthur had little patience, but he was decisive and ruthless. That was how he had killed his other brothers one by one, drawing ever closer to becoming the family head.
"Also, have someone investigate who he knows in the game."
"Buy them off and have them help keep an eye on him. The price is negotiable."
Roy sat upright on the Throne in World City, while the city bustled with activity.
The game's lead designer had given him an interface that let him summon monsters whenever he wanted.
Naturally, Roy wouldn't fight them himself. Instead, he ordered the NPCs to summon monsters nonstop and finish them off right inside the world.
Even a World Boss that entered World City had no choice but to become experience points and materials.
An army of over ten thousand NPCs, supported by all kinds of traps, slaughtered monsters again and again, filling the entire treasury to the brim.
Roy simply sat quietly on the Throne, waiting for the game's grand finale.
Even with two days left, he seemed utterly idle.
After five days of hard work, he deserved a rest.
Meanwhile, Matsuno Hideaki had sent reports over the past few days about strange players buying up items.
This indicated that there really were a few extremely peculiar players besides Roy.
The game company's investigation found that they had deliberately taken out loans, pretended to be wealthy, and tried to buy up items before the servers shut down.
The company had frozen quite a few transactions over the past few days and requested Lord Joshua's instructions.
As far as Roy was concerned, he was the game company's daddy.
As far as ordinary players were concerned, the game company was their daddy.
Trying to stir up trouble before the shutdown? Dream on.
"Ban every one of them. Blacklist their ID numbers too, record their IP addresses, and don't let them register again."
"Yes, Pops!"
Wretched cries suddenly erupted all over the world:
"Why the hell did you ban me?!"
"You fucking devs! Fuck your ancestors!"
"I'm finished. I took out a loan from loan sharks specifically for this!"
These people had fallen before their campaign even began.
What awaited them next was a visit from the police, who questioned them and took them straight into custody.
For the next week, they would have no chance whatsoever to access the game.
If anyone had borrowed money to go all in, Roy could only wish them a speedy repayment.
Amitabha. Bless them, bless them.
Just as Roy was praying for those who had gone all in, Surshana sent an urgent message:
"Lord Joshua, we have a serious problem."
"Someone contacted us and offered us money to monitor your every move."
"We're keeping him occupied while informing you, Lord Joshua."
Oh, so my eldest brother Arthur couldn't wait any longer.
Roy wasn't surprised at all. Arthur had access to more resources and connections than he did.
The game company's designers and operations staff were Roy's diehard supporters, but that didn't prevent Arthur from finding a mole or two among them.
Roy smiled:
"How much is he offering?"
Surshana hurriedly replied:
"Five hundred thousand yen a month."
"How stingy."
Roy couldn't help laughing:
"At least three million a month. Anything less is out of the question."
"As for my situation, you can tell them anything except the fact that you're working for me."
"Sell whatever game-related information you can. Make them pay first."
"Huh?"
"What, don't you want to make money?"
Roy smiled:
"If you're the ones feeding him information, I'll know what's going on with him."
Surshana immediately grew excited:
"Yes, Lord Joshua!"
"We'll get it done!"
These Resistance members had survived under Skynet's relentless attacks. None of them could possibly be fools.
Roy entrusted the task to them with complete confidence, letting them make a hefty profit.
Finally, Roy recorded a video.
If he transmigrated, that would mean he had disappeared-or died.
Once his real-world self vanished, there had to be a murderer.
That murderer would be his eldest brother Arthur.
Otherwise, how could he possibly repay his brother's loving concern?
Knowing his brother, Roy was sure preparations for the assassination were already underway.
After being refused a second time, Arthur would send out the assassins.
This was simply everyday life in the Higuma Family, plain and unadorned.
Roy handled the matter without a care, because he had been setting Arthur up from the very beginning.
Arthur would probably lose patience in ten days, but Roy would already be long gone, leaving a bomb behind for him as a parting gift.
He had already paid to have an announcement released to the entire world when the time came, declaring that his eldest brother had murdered him.
If he went down, he would take Arthur with him.
His second and sixth brothers would be delighted to see it happen anyway, and the other powerful families wouldn't mind kicking Arthur while he was down.
If the transmigration fails, I'll take my time playing with Arthur.
If it succeeds, you won't even be worthy of speaking to me anymore.
That was why Roy paid no heed to a stray dog by the roadside, even if that stray dog happened to be his eldest brother.
He had only one last thing to do in the game.
That was to steal Eve, the Megacorporation's World's Strongest AI.
He needed Eve.
Even in the New World, he wanted this powerful AI to keep serving him.
"Oh my God."
"No, oh my Pops."
"Renting all of Eve's computing power is simply impossible."
"Eve costs 2.7 billion US dollars a day to operate. That amount of money could bury the entire company."
Matsuno Hideaki couldn't help exclaiming.
Roy smiled:
"Relax. Not all her computing power, just the unused capacity."
"And I'm only renting it for ten minutes. It'll cost just twenty million US dollars."
"It's so cheap."
Matsuno Hideaki declared that he couldn't understand this sort of human being.
Roy added:
"Didn't I just top up thirty billion yen, paying in everything allocated for the next two years?"
"Get the interface ready for me."
NPCs needed to be equipped with AI, which had originally been provided by the game company.
Now Roy intended to create the world's strongest artificial intelligence.
He would use the most unusual class in the game.
Automaton-Eve!
The moment of transmigration was approaching.
Before you continue