Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 142

Episode 142

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In any case, I had obtained the 'Queen Siren's Essence,' so I spent a day in Dover Village with a relaxed mind.

The next morning.

"Noona!"

When I arrived at the alleyway in front of the Imperial Palace, Elaine, who was out to meet me, greeted me with wide eyes.

Sadly, the Imperial Palace was not a place just anyone could enter.

Only Elaine, who had an entry pass as a tournament participant, could get me in, so I had used the 'Communication Crystal' to tell him to come get me.

"Why on earth did you go all the way to Dover Village? Don't tell me you didn't have a teleport scroll? Do you know how surprised I was when I came back and you weren't there, noona?"

He must have been quite surprised by me suddenly saying I was in Dover Village, as Elaine poured out a stream of questions.

From his perspective, knowing nothing about 'forced summon,' my travel path must have been hard to understand.

"It just... happened."

But I didn't want to explain it further, nor did I have the energy to, so I just brushed it off.

"What's that supposed to mean? You're really weird."

I thoroughly ignored the familiar line and system window, scanned Elaine, whom I was seeing again after just a day, and asked.

"More importantly, are you hurt anywhere?"

"Nope. My recovery was fast because you gave me a healing potion in the middle, noona."

He, answering with a smooth face, looked perfectly fine, just as he said.

Getting attacked by monsters, pierced by arrows...

It seemed I was the only one who had gone through all that shit.

"I'm the only one who's fucked. The only one..."

"Noona, are you hurt? Let me see."

At my muttering, Elaine's expression changed in an instant, and he grabbed the shoulder of my back as I was turning away.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, just hold still."

It was a rather awkward moment between us, so I tried to immediately pull away from that bastard's grasp.

However, the eyes that held me and scanned me were quite serious.

That side of Elaine was a little unfamiliar.

'Come to think of it, he seems to have gotten a bit taller lately...'

They say other people's kids grow up in the blink of an eye.

I don't know when this bastard, who seemed like just a snot-nosed kid, grew up so much.

On top of that, his hair, which resembled a deeper green forest than when I first saw him.

I, who had been leisurely scanning Elaine, who had become noticeably more mature, finally opened my mouth.

"You think you'll burn a hole through it by looking like that? Glare harder."

No matter how he looked, he wouldn't be able to find a single scratch.

I had no idea what he was trying to see when I was wrapped in a robe from head to toe.

"Ah! You're really the best at ruining the mood."

At my scolding, Elaine stomped his foot like a child and shouted.

[Elaine Griselda strongly doubts your ability to empathize.]

Seeing the system window that popped up at the same time, I snorted and muttered.

"The blood on your head hasn't even dried, and you're talking about mood."

"If the blood on your head dries, you're dead, you know?!"

Elaine, who bristled at my words, stomped his foot hard on the ground once more and added.

"And can't you take off that damn robe? You're not a witch, so why are you always wrapped up so tightly?"

"I'd like to take it off, too..."

I half-listened to Elaine's grumbling and swallowed the tear that was welling up.

Where did things go so wrong?

'This definitely wasn't my original intention...'

I had now reached a point where I couldn't take off the robe even if I wanted to.

Thinking of that Adam-bastard, who was probably sharpening his blade for me right now, I felt a chill despite the warm sunlight.

Thinking of Adam, I remembered something I had briefly forgotten.

"Oh! You still have the Queen Siren's Essence, right?"

"Of course."

At my urgent question, Elaine pulled something out from his breast with a triumphant look.

A sigh of relief escaped me at the sight of the brilliant blue orb in his hand.

Now that I had the Queen Siren's Essence, that was it for defending our tournament rank.

Thinking that, all the shit I went through yesterday, which had been so grueling, felt like glorious wounds.

'Right. Who cares if that Adam-bastard is looking for me.'

How was he going to find an unidentified person who wasn't even an official participant in the tournament?

Even if he grilled Elaine, there was no way he, who held deep anger and hostility toward Imperial citizens, especially nobles, would tell him straight.

Remembering that, Elaine suddenly felt reliable.

I thought that it was a good thing I had saved him and kept him by my side early on.

"You worked hard, Green Mask. Thanks to you pulling off that big move at the end, we were able to wrap up our plan safely."

I meant it as a compliment filled with gratitude, but for some reason, his face turned odd, as if he'd heard something he shouldn't have.

"Uh..."

He gaped at me blankly, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish, and I couldn't guess the reason.

"Why that expression?"

"Did you just... compliment me?"

"What, did it sound like I was cursing you?"

When I asked back in an incredulous voice, his face gradually turned a peachy color.

Just as I was tilting my head at that incomprehensible change.

He muttered timidly, unlike him.

"Do you know... that's the first time you've complimented me?"

"What? No way."

I shook my head and quickly tried to recall a memory of complimenting Elaine.

I was confident I could list several anecdotes right away.

But no matter how much I searched my mind, I had no memory of complimenting Elaine.

Even the few scenes that vaguely came to mind were only of Lucy, or Elena, or the other elves...

'I've been that stingy with compliments...?!'

I was shocked anew, realizing that I had never once given Elaine a direct compliment.

"I'm doing a good job, right?"

In the meantime, Elaine asked with a slightly shy expression.

While thinking, 'What's with him,' I mumbled evasively in a flat voice.

"Well... better than I thought..."

When he got caught by Ballakk and dragged to the auction house, or when he was carried on Adam's shoulder, I honestly wanted to turn back time to right before I rescued him.

But in the black market, and at the tournament opening ceremony, and this time with the Queen Siren's Essence...

It was also true that thanks to Elaine, I had broken through situations in unexpected ways.

When my thoughts reached that point, a question suddenly arose.

According to the original game scenario, Elaine acts solely for his family's revenge.

He needed wealth and power for revenge, which is why he raised his rank in the tournament using despicable methods.

But the current Elaine...

"By the way, what are you going to do if you get into the rankings and become a final party member?"

I suddenly asked Elaine, who was grinning like an idiot over a single compliment.

At that, he looked back at me, puzzled.

"What do you mean? You told me to contract with the Crown Prince and subjugate monsters, noona."

"No. I mean, if you gain wealth and power by doing that, what will you do then. You must have a goal, right."

"I don't?"

"What?"

At that bastard's utterly baffling reply, I shouted.

"Are you kidding me? Who doesn't have a goal!"

"Um... I haven't thought about it."

As if he really hadn't ever thought about it, Elaine replied with a bright face.

I, who had been clicking my tongue, dumbfounded, suppressed my rising emotions and asked again.

"Then what on earth were you thinking when you signed the employment contract?"

"Tch! I did it because I thought it would be fun to work with you, noona. You give me regular meals, so I figured I wouldn't starve."

A truly carefree and sigh-inducing reason.

I was speechless, staring blankly at his pale face, when he suddenly shouted as if he'd remembered something.

"Ah! But if I get a lot of money, I'm going to build a house for my family to live in first. If there's still some left over..."

He wasn't living completely brainlessly after all, but my brief brightening at his somewhat constructive plan was short-lived.

"I'll give the rest to you, noona."

I scowled at that bastard's following words.

"What? That was going well, so why are you giving it to me. Are you stupid?"

"You're better at managing money than I am, noona. Like how you took all the village land with high-interest loans."

"High-interest loans? That was a perfectly legitimate financial transaction."

I, who had been seriously correcting that bastard's exaggeration, finally let out a deep sigh.

"What will you do if I end up running off with all your money? Get your head on straight and start setting a goal for how you'll live later, starting now."

"Then I'll just follow you to the ends of hell, noona."

"Stop talking nonsense."

I couldn't listen anymore, so I shook my head and turned away, but Elaine suddenly stuck out his lower lip and mumbled in displeasure.

"Sheesh... Why do you say it so hurtfully. As if we'll never see each other again after the subjugation is over."

[Elaine Griselda feels a glimmer of disappointment at your words and actions.]

[Elaine Griselda holds a slight respect for your heartlessness.]

Looking at the system windows that popped up in succession, so typical of him, I couldn't bring myself to say it.

That once the monster subjugation was over, we would be people who would never see each other again.

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"What?! Why are you telling me that now!"

The temporary tent in front of the Imperial Palace Dungeon was filled with my shocked voice.

"Did you even give me time to talk, noona? You just said your piece about coming to the front of the Imperial Palace tomorrow and then hung up."

Elaine retorted peevishly.

Of course, that was true, but...

If it was this important, shouldn't he have called back to tell me!

The situation he confessed, after escaping the Siren dungeon, was this.

Elaine, who had returned to the Imperial Palace Dungeon using a teleport scroll, had run into the Emperor, who was leading a group of mages in front of the lake.

The Emperor showed interest in the suddenly-appearing hero, and...

It was then.

"Ahem! Hero Green Mask, are you in there?"

Suddenly, a presence was heard from outside the tent.

Elaine and I looked at each other in surprise.

"His Majesty the Emperor has ordered me to bring you to the banquet hall. Prepare quickly and come out!"

It seemed to be the Emperor's attendant.

I couldn't understand the Emperor's ulterior motive in suddenly inviting Elaine to a luncheon.

Why would he invite Elaine, who was just a mere tournament participant?

Besides, an episode like this didn't even exist during the tournament in the original scenario.

I wanted to ask the developers right away why this was happening, but there was no time.

"What do we do, noona?"

Elaine whispered to me, his face quite tense.

"What do you mean, 'what do we do.' Answer that you're coming out now."

I replied, jerking my chin toward the tent entrance.

And I quickly pulled out a miniaturization potion.

Because there was no way I could send that idiot in front of the Emperor alone.

Poof!

I, who had become thumb-sized with a small explosion, hurriedly gave him instructions.

"Hey! Lister properly! If the Emperor ask you anything, just play dumb about everything! Like I told you before, even if you have fuck-all, act like you have something...!"

And then, I slid, quite familiarly, into Elaine's front pocket.

Thanks to me raising hell, that bastard no longer put onions in the pocket I went into.

"Let's go."

Around the time we arrived at the banquet hall, after following the attendant for a long walk.

I was continuously hiding in the dark pocket, so I could only guess at the meeting between the Emperor and Elaine based on the sounds I heard.

"Oh, hero. Welcome! I'm very glad to see you again."

"I greet the Sun of the Empire. I was not in a state to greet you properly yesterday. I am called Green Mask."

"Aha, so that was the name. Green Mask... Haha, what an amusing alias!"

Unlike my anxiety, Elaine answered quite smoothly.

Just as I was about to relax.

Fling.

Suddenly, the tightly closed banquet hall doors opened, and at the same time, someone strode in without hesitation.

Screech!

Following that, the sound of someone carelessly sitting in the chair opposite Elaine was heard.

"I'm a bit late."

"Th, this insolence... How dare you come here!"

The Emperor fully revealed his displeasure at the uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared in the banquet hall.

"And why can't I come?"

However, the other person retorted, not intimidated at all.

"Thanks to someone who's thrown away state affairs and only thinks about shoving chunks of meat down a monster's throat, I'm working like a dog day and night. I have to eat to live, don't I."

"Th, that wretched bastard...!"

The Emperor wasn't the only one shocked by that brazen voice.

'Fuck, there was no mention that the Kassel-bastard was coming too...!'