Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 22

Episode 22

"...Why?"

I walked toward the estate with a restless heart after coming down from the Tower.

I had already hammered it in that raising Kassel's rapport was impossible...

But now that I saw the system window saying he felt fondness, honestly, rather than joy or pride, puzzlement and creepiness came first.

'He feels fondness just because he got one potion?'

That's ridiculous.

I immediately shook my head.

From what I'd heard and experienced firsthand, that Male Lead bastard wasn't that sentimental of a guy.

If he were, he would have felt fondness when I was forcibly extorted, not just now when I gave him a potion of my own free will.

"...You scurry away like a rat."

It was more rational to interpret it as him mocking me for running away with my tail between my legs, worried he'd choke me.

The 'fondness' the system window mentioned was probably just the amusement of a murderer intentionally letting his prey go.

'A Psychopath Male Lead X-Bastard and the Crazy Developers Who Adore Him: A Fantasy Collab Game Exists?!'

Thinking that, a light novel title was created in a snap.

As I walked, I soon arrived in front of the room Adam had given me.

He must have known he'd given me an important task, because compared to how I was ignored for being an apothecary, he gave me a pretty good room.

But unfortunately, I was so swamped I didn't even have time to use it properly.

It was just as I was opening the door, intending to relax and enjoy a bath.

"Ah, that's right. The Darkness-Eating Centipedes."

I suddenly remembered what I'd forgotten.

Because of that damn Male Lead bastard, I forgot to ask the developers where the Darkness-Eating Centipedes were.

They're probably eagerly waiting for me to open the chat window, their hands itching to type.

I had to appropriately crush Jinu's expectations, who seemed to be secretly hoping I'd be killed by Kassel, and also ask for the Centipedes' whereabouts.

The moment I opened the door, intending to turn on the chat window right away.

The scene unfolding before my eyes made that unnecessary.

Because two servants, their pupils dyed black, were diligently rummaging through the room, having turned it into a total mess.

"...What are you doing?"

I asked, leaning crookedly against the doorframe.

At that, the bastards, who had been frantically searching the room, unaware the door had opened, flinched.

"Y-You...!"

A very obvious crime scene.

"W-We were cleaning the room."

As if they had no other excuse, the bastards, who had been darting their eyes back and forth, spoke brazenly instead.

It was so absurd that a scoff escaped me.

"In the Count's estate, I guess they call 'cleaning' completely ransacking a room as if you're robbing it?"

"Robbing! We said we're cleaning, so just accept it! Who are you, a lowly apothecary, to talk so much!"

"The Count himself ordered it, so don't talk back!"

'Adam?'

I, who had been letting it go in one ear and out the other, was taken aback by the other bastard's words.

Since yesterday, I just couldn't understand why the incorruptible Count kept getting involved with the monsters.

Just as I was trying to gauge whether Adam really ordered it, or if it was a dirty monster's trick.

"Move! We have to go."

The bastards scrambled to get out of the room.

"Ehei, where do you think you're going?"

I quickly straightened up from leaning against the wall and blocked their path.

They faltered for a moment, not expecting me to block them, then shouted brazenly again.

"The cleaning is done, so we're leaving!"

"What do you mean, done?"

"Wh-What..."

I didn't care if they searched the room or broke things.

It was a room I hadn't even stayed in for an hour, and anyway, they wouldn't be able to find what they wanted even if they searched.

However.

"Clean it up. Back to how it was."

Because I need to take a bath.

This happened just when I was about to relieve the stress I'd built up all night with one of the few healing therapies that exist in this game, so I was getting pissed.

"What are you doing. Get a move on."

"What! How dare a lowly apothecary!"

"The Count told us to return as soon as we were done! Move it, if you don't want a beating!"

Thud!

One of the bastards roughly shoved my shoulder as I was still blocking the door.

"Ah."

I stumbled, almost falling, but I barely caught my balance and stood straight.

They must have expected me to fall over powerlessly, because they exchanged glances, surprised I was standing firm.

Pushing up my hood, which had fallen from the impact and was blocking my view, I muttered darkly.

"Haa... These bastards. I was going to let it slide if you just cleaned up."

"Wh-What?!"

It was the first time I'd gotten this heated since realizing I was trapped in the game.

I checked that no one was in the hallway and then took off my hood completely.

My pink hair, which had been uncomfortably suppressed by the clothes, cascaded over my shoulders like a waterfall.

"Wh-What..."

"Uh..."

The bastards who had been threatening me just a moment ago let out stupid sounds, their mouths agape.

Even while being controlled by a monster, their instincts were unstoppable. Their dazed eyes and flushed cheeks were disgusting.

Of course, I didn't take off my hood to show off my beauty.

It was just that strenuous movement would be uncomfortable with the hood on.

"Onslaught."

I mercilessly shouted the skill at the bastards who were mesmerized by me.

Lv.999 Onslaught skill has been activated.

And I immediately threw a punch.

Pow!

"Urk!"

The bastard, who took a fist to the nose while off guard, sprayed blood and fell back limply.

The Onslaught skill is a skill that temporarily increases a weapon's attack power and agility.

But I'm not holding any weapon right now, so what does that mean?

"S-Save me!"

"Eugh!"

"Your attitude toward a lady is extremely impure, so I'll give you a special punishment by fist."

Pow, pow, pow!

For a while, only the gruesome sound of flesh being pummeled echoed through the empty hallway.

Unfortunately, the punching bags' lifespans were not as long as the skill's duration.

"You should have just cleaned up when I asked nicely."

I gave one last, hard kick to the two bastards, who were now unconscious and beaten to a pulp, and put my hood back on.

Normally, I wouldn't have inflicted this much pain and just thrown a potion to knock them out, but these guys were extremely unlucky.

They just had to get caught when I was in a foul mood.

It was a shame I couldn't take a bath, but looking at the bastards sprawled out, I felt relieved.

Was it because some of my stress was relieved?

'Maybe this is a hidden healing therapy?'

Vowing to use this method often whenever I get pissed off, I took out a Potion Containing Sunlight and tossed it at them.

Thud. Crash!

"Guuuh..."

"Uuuu..."

"Kieeeeeek!"

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

'Yes, four of them!'

I hummed as I picked up the Essences of Darkness from the still-level 2 Centipedes.

It was then.

"Apothecary! Wh-What are you doing right now!"

Someone shrieked from the end of the hallway.

When I turned my head from the fallen bastards, a middle-aged woman and a young maid were approaching quickly.

Head Maid, Madam Lena

It was someone I'd seen before.

"Wh-What in the world is this? Why are these men in this state..."

The Head Maid looked back and forth between the servants, who were beaten to a pulp, and me, aghast.

I answered nonchalantly.

"I caught some men who were trying to steal."

"You, yourself?"

"Yes. They were rummaging through my room... They even lied that the Count had ordered them, so I just knocked them out."

"Kn-Knocked out...? Th-They're not dead, are they?"

"Killed them? That's a crime, Head Maid. It was just to prevent the risk of them escaping."

"H-How could a woman's body... two able-bodied men..."

"I learned some self-defense."

The Head Maid, as if she couldn't believe it, stared at the servants with trembling eyes, then finally ordered the maid standing behind her.

"Quickly, go to the Butler, report the situation, and call the knights."

"Yes, Head Maid!"

"And you..."

The Head Maid looked back at me with troubled eyes and said.

"First, you should eat. Since the room is in this state, let's go to the room next door."

"Ah."

I hadn't noticed the tray hidden behind her.

It seemed she was on her way to bring me my breakfast.

"It's alright. Thank you for your concern, but I don't normally eat breakfast."

I had more urgent things to do right now, so I politely declined.

At that, she didn't insist further and turned around.

"Follow me. The Count asked me to bring you after you finished your meal."

Seeing the Head Maid come in person, it seemed Adam had given a separate instruction.

I nodded and followed her.

"...What's your name?"

On the way to the Count's office, the Head Maid suddenly spoke.

"It's Shari Azrael."

"I have one thing to ask you..."

Madam Lena hesitated with a complicated expression, then finally sighed and asked.

"Did I really come to you yesterday and buy sleeping potions? I heard as much from the Count, but when I woke up, I couldn't remember it at all..."

It had come.

I was faced with confronting the person I had used as an excuse, much faster than I'd expected.

Jinu's words suddenly flashed through my mind.

GM Jinu: What're you gonna do if you get caught lying?

What do you mean, "what're you gonna do."

Just as I'd answered then, I insisted without batting an eye.

"If it's someone who has never taken it before, there can be a side effect of memory loss."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes."

"I almost caused a huge disaster."

"It's not a disaster... You just did it out of concern for the servants."

She still had an unconvinced expression, but she nodded as if she accepted my soulless comfort.

"...Actually, the servants have been getting stranger and stranger lately, so I'm worried sick."

The Head Maid, with her cold and meticulous impression, grumbled in a way she normally never would.

Just as people trust medical professionals, it seemed she was confiding some of her worries, trusting me as an apothecary.

It was good for me, since I could get information.

"How have they become strange?"

"They're at each other's throats, fighting all day... and now, to think they'd even dare to steal within the Count's estate! These are things that would have been unimaginable in the past."

It was all the influence of the Darkness-Eating Centipedes, but I asked out of politeness.

"Did things like that not happen before?"

"That's right. I've managed the servants here for over 20 years, and it never happened once."

"You must have had the hardest time, Head Maid."

I offered some appropriate empathy for her troubles, then tactfully fished for information.

"Does the Count happen to know as well?"

"Know what?"

"That the servants have become strange."

"Of course. He was the first one to notice and personally dealt with a few of the servants who were stirring up trouble."

"I see."

"He was like that, but lately, he suddenly..."

A shadow of gloom suddenly fell over Madam Lena's face, which was much clearer now that the parasitic monster was gone.

'Looks like there's definitely something going on.'

She, who had been trailing off, suddenly snapped to her senses when we reached the Count's office.

"What am I saying in front of a guest... It's nonsense, pay it no mind."

Embarrassed that she'd confided in a guest, she knocked on the office door, her face flushed.

Knock, knock.

"You may go in."

At the Head Maid's push on my back, I entered the Count's office.

Despite the early morning, Adam was sitting perfectly upright at his desk, dressed in his full uniform.

'Honestly, isn't he the NPC?'

Seeing him looking no different from when I first saw him, I suppressed a dry laugh and offered my greeting.

"Hello, Count. Good morning."

"You weren't in your room all night. Where were you?"

Adam Hailey displays a certain level of hostility toward you.

Ha. This isn't easy, right from the start.