Chapter 62: Overblown Publicity
The intensity of the official publicity campaign quickly exceeded Asker’s expectations.
The next morning, as Asker emerged from Furnace Island, he heard a commotion outside.
Although the barracks were theoretically allocated to Azure Longsword, the city guards, and the Spartans, the city guards were stationed on the top floor 24/7, and the Spartans seemed to have their own accommodations, so the large common sleeping area outside was always empty, with only Hood residing there.
And this kid, he didn’t know where he had gone early in the morning.
Today, Eleanor was in charge of guarding the book in the room. She was sleeping soundly, hugging the book, her golden hair spread out on the pillow, mumbling something about “protecting everyone” in her sleep.
Asker looked at her beautiful sleeping face. Hmm, better not disturb her.
He left the barracks room and went to the common sleeping area, where he realized the noise was coming from further outside the door.
Leaving the barracks again and following the sound to the stairwell, he saw a large crowd of unfamiliar citizens gathered at the bottom of the stairs leading to the barracks floor. Hood was trying to maintain order.
Seeing Asker appear at the top of the stairs, an excited shout erupted from the crowd:
“Holy Swordsman of Azure!”
Asker: ???
Huh?
Then, the citizens below began to frantically take pictures with their phones, the clicking sounds merging into a cacophony.
“What’s going on?” Asker looked at Hood with a bewildered expression.
As a professional player in his previous life, he occasionally encountered situations where he was recognized and surrounded by fans when he went out, so Asker was quite calm in the face of this small scene.
In the eyes of the onlookers, this seemed to be some kind of “master demeanor.”
After Hood’s explanation, Asker finally understood.
You’re famous!
Starting from 11 o’clock last night, the Crusaders at the foot of the mountain had started continuous shelling, making the citizens panic-stricken, unable to sleep due to the tremors and loud noises in the middle of the night.
(Most of the girls were resting on Furnace Island, so they weren’t affected.)
What to do with insomnia? Get up, watch TV, play with your phone, browse CM.
Coincidentally, a late-night variety show in Olympia, cooperating with the official publicity campaign, produced a program about (praising) the Azure Longsword mercenary group, successfully capturing this wave of traffic and greatly spreading Azure Longsword’s fame within the city.
To what extent did this variety show hype up Azure Longsword? It could be seen from the nicknames they gave to each member.
Giving nicknames, a traditional pastime of the lower-class Siris people, could be traced back to the ancient Siris mythical heroes of the First Age, such as “Filial Son” Oedipus (who killed his father and married his mother), “Loyal One” Jason (who abandoned his wife), “Honest Man” Odysseus (the proposer of the Trojan Horse, known for his cunning), and so on.
In addition to satirizing mythical heroes, emperors of all dynasties were also added to the list of those nicknamed.
For example, John II, who was short and ugly, was nicknamed “The Handsome”; and Leo VI, who lost the battle, was nicknamed “The Wise,” and so on.
Because of this, Asker politely declined the nicknames given by the Siris people. If these guys, like Hood, gave him a nickname like “President” or “Producer” (satirizing that his team was full of beautiful girls), he wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
What the hell was this “Holy Swordsman of Azure”?
“It’s probably praising your superb martial arts skills.” Hood replied.
Asker was highly skeptical. A nickname like “Holy Swordsman,” it sounded like satire, okay?!
“Well, there must be some haters, after all, they hyped you up too much on TV last night.” Hood spread his hands helplessly. “But there seem to be many people who believe it, and they seem to take the nickname seriously.”
So, the haters used it as satire, while the fans used it as a badge of honor?
Asker was speechless. Even as a professional player, he had never encountered such a complex fan culture in his previous life, so he could only adopt his usual attitude:
Ignore it.
“I’ll leave it to you.” Asker patted Hood’s shoulder.
“Huh?” Hood looked confused.
Seeing Asker turn to leave, the crowd blocking the stairwell became anxious. Several young girls even squeezed to the front and shouted at the top of the stairs:
“Give me your autograph! Please, I’ve been waiting here since 5 am!”
“Holy Swordsman of Azure! Holy Swordsman of Azure! Aaaah, Holy Swordsman of Azure!!!”
“Are you still recruiting? I’m young and beautiful, I like singing, dancing, and rapping, Brother Asker, consider me!”
“Ahhh!!! Ohhh!!!” (Screaming)
What the hell are these… Asker was speechless and continued walking upstairs without looking back, only to see Eleanor open the door of the stairwell ahead.
“What’s going on, so noisy early in the morning.” Her golden hair was messy, her face haggard, as if she was still sleepy. She held a water cup in her left hand and a toothbrush in her mouth.
The crowd below became excited again:
“It’s the Knight of Dawn!”
“She’s even more radiant in person than on TV!”
“Look, the Knight of Dawn is brushing her teeth!”
“She looks so good even with toothpaste foam in her mouth!”
Eleanor: ???
“Let’s go back first.” Seeing that several fan uncles below were about to break through Hood’s defenses, Asker hurriedly pushed and pulled the bewildered Eleanor back inside.
…
A rerun of last night’s program was playing on TV. The girls of Azure Longsword stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
“Knight of Dawn, Eleanor.” Nuo recited Eleanor’s new nickname seriously. “Eleanor, the brave and fearless, Eleanor, the guardian of justice.”
“Stop it.” Eleanor raised her hand weakly. “I’m so embarrassed. Don’t you also have a nickname? Angel of Light?”
“This nickname isn’t that bad.” Nuo said, resting her chin on her hand. “Holy Swordsman of Azure, Angel of Light…”
“What the hell is ‘God of War of the North’!” Sidlipha complained excitedly. “At least give me Valkyrie or something!”
“It’s better than the cheesy nickname ‘Assassin of the Night’.” Mia covered her face and said.
“I think ‘Assassin of the Night’ is quite good.” Miel said, “I’m the ‘Elf Gunslinger,’ we can be partners.”
“That’s not the point.” Mia said, “A nickname like Shadow Assassin is clearly not well thought out. It’s just putting together the associative words of ‘assassin’ like ‘shadow’ and ‘night’.”
“Look at the scheming bitch’s nickname, ‘Rose Sorceress’! The quality is completely different from our nicknames! Why! Just because she has big boobs?”
“Do you have any opinions about your sister’s figure?” Medea smiled and touched her head. Mia angrily tried to bite her, but she quickly withdrew her hand and dodged.
“Comrades, is the problem now whether the nicknames sound good or not?” Asker stood up speechlessly. “The problem is that we’re in the media now!”
“I don’t care about myself, but some of our team members have sensitive identities and it’s not convenient for them to be publicly exposed, right?”
As soon as he said this, Eleanor looked up at the sky guiltily, Nuo looked down at the floor silently, and Medea facepalmed.
Thira secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she had been wearing a mask all along.
“Ah, whose identity is not convenient to be exposed?” Sidlipha, still not understanding, tilted her head and asked.
“Ask them yourself, I’m going to answer a call.” Asker said as he picked up the vibrating phone on the table.
“Hey, do any of you have a secret identity?” Sidlipha asked casually, while Asker had already answered the phone. After speaking for a few words, his brows gradually furrowed.
“Thira, Peggy, you two come with me.”
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