Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 17

Episode 17

Considering my rapport with Adam, I couldn't just kill them all, so I appropriately cast one of my basic skills.

Bzzt, bzzzt, bzz!

With an eerie sound, blue sparks flashed on all the servants' bodies.

"Ugh!"

"Ack!"

"Gaaah!"

Before even a few seconds had passed, all the servants in the dining hall trembled where they stood, then collapsed one by one.

The Stun skill wasn't for killing, but an attack to temporarily stop an enemy's movements.

Since they were all conveniently holding metal objects, what could be easier than this?

Unfortunately, the skill was just an attack. The method to kill the Darkness-Eating Centipedes was separate.

'Who has time to sit here and break them all by throwing potions.'

As I was sighing at the hassle, a good idea suddenly came to mind.

'That's right. I have that gun, don't I?'

My face brightened, and I took out the Monster Tranquilizer Gun I had used on Kassel.

If I just adjusted the pressure back to normal, it was sufficient to use as a long-range weapon.

This way was much simpler, faster, and more precise than throwing potions one by one, making it perfectly efficient.

I quickly loaded a bottle of the Potion Containing Sunlight and glanced back to ask.

"Hey. You got any more?"

The Adjutant, who had been staring wide-eyed at what happened in the blink of an eye, shouted abruptly.

"Y-You bastard…! You know how to use magic?!"

Unfortunately, since I'm an NPC, I can't use the second and third-tier expansion skills with flashy effects like other users.

Just the basic skills that any Hero can use.

But now, with max-level stats added to the mix.

If overpowering them with health and attack power counted as using magic, then I guess it did, so I nodded.

"Can't you tell by looking?"

"But when we searched your room, nothing came up…!"

In every scenario, there were events, big or small, where your weapons or accessories would get stolen.

Naturally, I didn't need anything in particular, so I had sold off all the junk weapons I'd picked up from grinding hunts. I had nothing but potions.

'Ah, correction.'

I just got a weapon.

"You think I can only use magic?"

Click.

I aimed the monster tranquilizer.

No, I aimed the potion water gun at him and smiled sinisterly, just like he had moments ago.

"I'm pretty good at shooting, too."

Pshew!

As I immediately pulled the trigger, the yellow potion shot out in a straight line.

"Ugh, dammit!"

Slam!

The Adjutant, who narrowly avoided the potion baptism by a hair's breadth as he slammed the door, quickly disappeared with the sound of urgent footsteps.

"Thanks for closing the door."

It was what I expected, so I let him go without any lingering feelings.

There was no way I could catch the level 25 leader with just this potion anyway.

'Alright, time to pick up some free loot.'

Click. I hummed as I loaded a new potion.

After that, well, it was no different from a monster massacre.

Pshew, pshew, pshew. Pshew.

Ssss, sssssssss.

"Kkieeeeeek!"

"Kkiiiiiik!"

"Kkuueueuk…"

You have defeated Lv.2 Darkness-Eating Centipede using Potion Containing Sunlight.

You have defeated Lv.2 Darkness-Eating Centipede using Potion Containing Sunlight.

You have defeated Lv.2 Darkness-Eating...

Every time I fired the water gun, the Darkness-Eating Centipedes hidden inside the humans' bodies died off quickly.

Their level had gone up by one, probably because the leader had shown up, but it was meaningless since the hosts they needed to control couldn't move.

Thanks to that, I was grinning from ear to ear.

'What a windfall.'

Just because their level went up by one, the Essence of Darkness drops doubled!

Having quickly and easily subdued all the monsters thanks to the potion water gun, I put the gun back in my pocket and frantically looted the items.

After picking everything up, I had a whopping 24 Essences of Darkness.

'Awesome. Combined with the three I picked up earlier, that's 27. 98 minus 27 is?!'

I was completely satisfied, having gathered close to 30 at once.

It felt like some of the stress piled up because of that bastard Kassel was fading, so I was smiling brightly for the first time in a while.

Slam!

Suddenly, the door the Adjutant had closed earlier burst open, and people rushed in.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Adam Hailey harbors strong suspicion toward you.

'Crap. He shows up now?'

The sudden appearance of the main character put me in a very difficult spot for a moment.

Standing tall alone amidst a crowd of fallen people, I looked anything but normal, no matter who saw it.

"Bill said he heard strange noises from the dining room, so I came to see."

Adam Hailey scanned the messy dining hall.

"Did you harm these people?"

His gaze, after sweeping over the fallen servants, finally nailed onto me.

His bright blue eyes, holding a clear light, stared directly at me.

The system window said he harbored suspicion, but he had such a stoic expression that I couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

'Dammit. I should have pretended to collapse as soon as he came in.'

Honestly, I let my guard down. I admit it.

I didn't expect that bastard Adjutant, possessed by the leader, to run away and bring Adam right back.

I thought he'd be more careful, since nothing good would come from revealing his true nature to the master of the estate.

'At this rate, I'm really going to be framed as a witch.'

I hurriedly took a step forward and opened my mouth to explain.

"Harm them! It's a misunderstanding, Count. There was just a small accident…"

"B-Be careful, Count!"

"Don't come any closer!"

Following the Adjutant standing next to Adam, even the butler stepped forward and shouted.

I had reverted to my lowly NPC mode and even used polite speech, but it backfired.

As the two men who had served the Count for a long time stepped forward to antagonize me,

Shing.

The escort knights standing behind the Count also began to draw their swords one by one.

'Should I just kill them all?'

Adam, being a main character, would never be controlled by a lowly parasitic monster.

Since no one knew who the hosts for the Darkness-Eating Centipedes were anyway, maybe it would be fine to just kill them all, including the leader, and explain afterward?

'Of course, the suspicion would hit max level then, right?'

Even if I had given up on building rapport with Adam in this scenario, I didn't want it to go into the negative.

Just as I was considering extreme measures in this headache-inducing situation.

"Explain what kind of accident."

Just then, Adam raised a hand, stopping the knights who looked ready to charge me at any moment.

'As expected of the incorruptible White Sword God, not falling for a mere monster's tricks!'

After tossing out the kind of cringey praise only a player would use, I immediately poured out my prepared words.

"Around lunchtime earlier, the Head Maid came to my room and purchased three or four sleeping potions."

"...The Head Maid?"

"Yes. She said that recently, due to anxiety about the sleepless prisoner in custody, many servants have been complaining of insomnia as well."

Head Maid, Madam Lena

It was an idea I'd quickly come up with after seeing the name among the fallen servants.

"But the number of potions she purchased seemed far too low compared to the number of servants she mentioned, so I stopped by just in case…"

"..."

"It was after things had already happened."

I pointed to the large serving pot on the dining table and shrugged.

The old butler standing to Adam's left summarized the situation, looking a bit confused.

"They all fell asleep in the middle of eating food laced with sleeping potions…?"

"It's not a potion with such strong effects, but it seems there must have been quite a few people who had been up all night."

For a hastily fabricated excuse, it was pretty good. I praised myself again.

"Don't lie!"

It was only natural for the Adjutant to fly into a rage at my lies, which I'd spouted fluently without batting an eye.

"I saw with my own two eyes that you were trying to harm the Count's faithful servants!"

"The dining hall door was clearly closed, so how did you see that, Adjutant?"

"Th-That's…!"

When I pointed out the flaw, the guy's face flushed red, and he shut his mouth.

Then the old butler asked with a slightly more serious expression.

"Then why were you just standing there among the fallen people? Without coming out to call for help."

"Since this happened because of a potion I made, I was contemplating a way to resolve it."

"...There isn't a shred of falsehood in those words, I trust."

Adam, who had been silent until then, suddenly stared at me with a stiff expression.

"It can't possibly be true, Count! No matter what, for everyone here to fall asleep while shoveling food! That witch-bitch is undoubtedly trying to sabotage the Count's estate…!"

"Please check if anyone is injured or dead."

As the atmosphere started to die down, I cut off the Adjutant, who was desperately trying to frame me as a witch, and met Adam's gaze head-on.

After staring at me silently for a moment, he then gestured with his chin to the escort knights standing behind him.

The knights scattered in perfect order to check on the unconscious servants.

A short while later, one knight returned to Adam, seeming to have finished checking, and reported.

"We'll have to wait for them to wake up to know the exact extent of any injuries, but fortunately, there are no fatalities."

I was the one who was truly fortunate.

To be honest, I had been terrified that one of the escort knights might be a Darkness-Eating Centipede and create a fatality as a deception.

Adam looked back at the Adjutant, who was tapping his foot impatiently, and spoke.

"So it seems."

"Th-Th...!"

Although he knew the whole situation, the guy couldn't add another word and trembled, thoroughly incensed.

'Nyah nyah.'

I smiled despicably, mocking him to my heart's content.

Of course, hidden by my hood, no one could see my expression.

"I am very sorry that things turned out this way, Count. The sleeping people will wake up soon. I will be more careful in the future."

Seeing as the situation seemed to be more or less resolved, I decided to make a quick exit.

It was my first time using the Stun skill on humans instead of monsters, so I had no idea how long the effect would last.

It would be a huge problem if someone woke up right now and the interrogation continued.

"I have to go check on the Prisoner, so if you'll excuse me…"

Taking advantage of the gap as the escorts moved the fallen people, I tried to quickly slip past Adam.

"Wait."

Suddenly, Adam stopped me.

I had a lot to feel guilty about, so I froze.

"Is something the matter…?"

Adam, who was looking down on me with his cool eyes, asked abruptly.

"Was the pay… insufficient?"