Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 31

Episode 31

GM Sera: Go to the laundry room in the east.

GM Sera: Do you see the servant cleaning the fountain in the garden?

GM Sera: On the path leading to the training ground...

Thanks to Sera actively telling me the locations of the Darkness-Eating Centipedes, I ran around busily.

I was on my way back to the Tower after handling the Darkness-Eating Centipedes attached to two knights near the training ground.

'Sixteen.'

That was the number of Essences of Darkness I had acquired today.

It wasn't a bad haul compared to ordinary users, but by my standards, I wasn't very satisfied.

It seemed they were being extremely cautious, likely because of the incident in the employee cafeteria yesterday.

Me: thx

I gave my thanks perfunctorily again when Jinu, who had been quiet until now, suddenly chimed in.

GM Jinu: But if you're using an AOE weapon, why are you grinding?

GM Sera: Come to think of it, that's true.

Don't tell me... you weren't toying with me just to get the locations of the Darkness-Eating Centipedes, were you?!

I was dumbfounded by Sera's follow-up comment.

Here I am, trapped and playing this game I never wanted to, all because of them.

The least they could do is catch the Darkness-Eating Centipedes themselves, but 'toying with them'? What nonsense!

Me: It's an AOE weapon, so I have to gather them in one place to use it. Don't you know what mob-pulling is?

Me: And. Stop watching me all day and go find a way to log out, okay?

GM Jinu: (Typing...)

GM Sera: (Typing...)

After closing the quiet chat window, I immediately went up to the top of the Tower.

While hunting the Darkness-Eating Centipedes, I returned to the Tower whenever I had a moment to give Kassel the Insomnia Potion.

Thankfully, the potion's duration hadn't shortened any further from 10 minutes.

But I didn't know when it might shorten again, and in the worst-case scenario, the potion might stop working altogether.

'Please... don't let it come to that.'

With a troubled mind, I opened the prison door.

"It's me, Shari."

My greeting was getting shorter and shorter, but thankfully, Kassel didn't seem to care.

"Has everything been alright?"

The sun was already setting.

The inside of the prison was aglow, stained reddish by the sunset light pouring through the open window hole.

I glanced at Kassel's condition out of habit and froze.

'As expected of the Male Lead.'

Kassel, sitting there bathed directly in the red sunset, looked like a painting.

He had only wiped himself down with a towel and changed his torn pants for clean ones, but for some reason, he seemed to radiate a halo.

Perhaps sensing my presence, his quietly closed eyelids lifted, revealing pupils tinged with an even deeper red.

A color that shone with unusual vibrancy amidst his pitch-black aura.

Kassel's eyes, like burning rubies flecked with dark onyx impurities, often glittered with a mesmerizing, mysterious light.

Except for that mouth of his, he was, objectively and subjectively, an incredible hunk.

'But I'm prettier.'

Just as I was firmly pushing that thought away, feeling my throat go dry for no reason.

"Where do you keep slacking off and wandering around?"

The "mouth" from "except for that mouth of his" was once again eagerly asserting itself.

For me, who had just come from working my ass off catching Darkness-Eating Centipedes, it was an infuriating remark.

But I had left curtly every time saying I "had business to attend to," so it was understandable that Kassel would be curious.

I replied calmly.

"There's just something I have to do."

"The Count's estate employees are strict with outsiders. You'll be lucky if you don't cause trouble and get kicked out."

"Trouble? What...!"

I was about to snap, but I suddenly felt something was strange.

"Are you worried about me right now?"

"Ha. Me, worried about you?"

Kassel let out a scoff at my absurd question.

The Lord of Nightmares is dumbfounded by your words.

He must have been really dumbfounded to say it through a system window.

But I didn't back down and retorted stubbornly.

"Yes. If not, then it's none of your business whether I cause trouble or do whatever else."

"You toss me six of them, leave, and then crawl back exactly one hour later, and you say it's none of my business?"

"I've never crawled."

Replying thus, I widened my eyes and scanned the area around him.

I immediately spotted two potion bottles containing purple liquid rolling around.

'I came back with 20 minutes to spare!'

I pointed at them accusatorily.

"It hasn't even been an hour...!"

Thump, thump!

It was then.

Someone pounded roughly on the prison door, which was usually steeped in silence except when I was talking with Kassel.

And then.

"Apothecary Shari Azrael!"

"Huh, me?"

"By the Count's solemn order, you are to be arrested on the charge of harming members of the Count's estate and stealing supplies!"

"What..."

"Come out on your own two feet before we drag you out!"

I was just bewildered by the man's voice from beyond the door.

"Looks like I was mistaken. You already caused trouble."

Kassel snorted, seeing my reaction.

But I didn't even have time to get angry.

Thump, thump!

"Shari Azrael! Get out here...!"

"Ah, just wait a minute!"

I snapped in irritation at the knights' impatient voices and reluctantly got to my feet.

'Well... is this going according to plan?'

I'd been stirring up trouble all over the estate all day, so there was no way the leader would just sit back and watch.

Although, I hadn't expected the miserable fate of being arrested and dragged away...

"I might be a little late this time."

I fumbled to put on my gloves, approached Kassel, and handed him the Insomnia Potions.

Insomnia-Inducing Awakening Potion x40

I planned to finish as quickly as possible, but just in case, I handed him a generous amount, enough to last until midnight.

Of course, I would definitely be back before midnight.

Because today was the day I would finally finish this goddamn greatsword restoration quest.

Just then, Kassel, who had been silently staring at the potions I offered, suddenly spat.

"Hand over everything you have."

"What did you say?"

While I was stunned by the sudden shakedown, Kassel's mouth started running wild again.

"It's not that you'll be late. I just won't be seeing you ever again, will I?"

"Unfortunately, this is all I have."

"Should I search you for five seconds?"

He said it while intentionally making his chains 'Clang.'

I turned pale, took a few steps back, and shouted.

"You swore you wouldn't lay a hand on me!"

"That I wouldn't threaten you. I never said I wouldn't touch you."

"It's the same thing! For me, just you raising your hand is a threat!"

"How absurd. You don't even think about what you've done..."

He stared at me as if I were pathetic and shook his head.

'What about me!'

I'd had enough of his ridiculous claim that I tried to kill him with a potion-injecting gun.

"I have to go, so just take them already."

I clenched my teeth and roughly shook the potion bottles I was holding out.

But for someone who had just tried to shake me down for everything I had, he showed no intention of taking the potions and just kept talking nonsense.

"...If it's for stealing supplies, it must be because of the towel and clothes."

That was one of the charges the knight was rattling off from outside.

I nodded noncommittally.

I had a feeling that was it.

Those were the only supplies I had gotten from here.

"They won't trust the testimony of a prisoner."

"Yeah, probably."

"There's also the charge of harming the employees, so there will be no one to take your side."

Listening to him go on, I was aghast.

'So. No one will take my side, and I'll be framed without a fight?'

I was so grateful for his kind, detailed explanation of my predicament, but I was capable of figuring that much out on my own.

"Ha. You were just cursing me, saying you'd never see me again, and now you're going to testify for me?"

When I asked with surprise and sarcasm, one of his eyebrows twitched.

"As if I would step up for the likes of you..."

"Then that's fine. I had no intention of asking you to testify for me anyway."

I cut him off cleanly.

I hadn't expected anything in the first place.

Thinking of the knights waiting outside, I let out a short sigh and placed the potions at his feet.

"If you're not going to take them, I'll just leave them here and..."

Or, I was about to.

As I bent down, he suddenly grabbed my wrist roughly, holding me in place.

"What can someone like you possibly do?"

It didn't hurt, but the grip strength was immense.

Startled by the palpable pressure, I looked down at where he was holding me.

'Contact...'

This guy, who loathed contact with others so much he'd even kill users for it, was voluntarily grabbing me.

A sudden, ominous premonition shot through my mind.

I recited in a rapid-fire burst.

"I definitely said that even raising your hand is a threat to me. Surely a big, tough man like you wouldn't go back on his..."

"Stop talking nonsense. So you're just going to let them frame you as a criminal and lock you up?"

"What exactly is your problem?"

Kassel was glaring at me with furious, intense eyes.

'Is not having any more potions really something to be this angry about?'

Baffled by his utterly unpredictable behavior, I pleaded in an aggrieved voice.

"Are you afraid I won't be able to give you more Insomnia Potions? If I become a criminal, I'll just ask them to lock me up here with you and keep making potions."

"..."

"The Count will probably love it, since he can work me for free without needing to provide any compensation."

"You..."

He suddenly called my name in a low, crushed voice.

And.

The Lord of Nightmares feels frustrated by your actions.

The Lord of Nightmares deems your intelligence to be at a very low level.

'Who are you to talk about intelligence?!'

I clenched my fists at the system windows that popped up.

But the fortunate thing was, he wasn't doing this because he wanted to kill me.

I had no idea what he was so frustrated about, but I didn't have time to ponder his inner workings.

Nor did I have any reason to.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easily, so just make sure you take your potions on time."

I pried off Kassel's hand, which was gripping my wrist hard enough to break it.

It was surprisingly easy. I also had a formidable level and stamina.

And then I forcibly pressed one of the Insomnia Potion bottles into that hand.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you'll be seeing me until you're sick of me from now on."

It was only natural, since we'd be painfully entangled until the ending.

"..."

Kassel stared blankly down at the potion I had forced into his hand.

I realized my mistake and quickly threw his hand off me.

I was wearing gloves, but it was just yesterday that the psycho had found even that unpleasant.

"W-well, I'll be going now!"

I'd gotten his oath, but I didn't trust him one bit, so I ran quickly toward the door.

Fling.

When I opened the door, I saw a knight with his fist raised, as if he'd been about to knock again.

Pupils overflowing with pitch-black energy.

And with the other knights standing at attention next to him, there were five in total.

It wasn't like I was some arch-traitor. It was a lot of people just to arrest a single apothecary.

"What took you so long!"

"Let's go. You said we were late."

I studied the knights' faces carefully, then calmly took the lead.

"Th-this...!"

The knight who had been pounding on the door bristled for a moment, but seeing my obedient attitude, he had no choice but to shut his mouth.

They must have judged there was no flight risk, because thankfully, I wasn't miserably tied up with a rope and dragged away.

Or maybe they just underestimated me.

'Not all of them are hosts.'

Having observed the knights in that short time, I came to a clean conclusion.

I'd caught so many that I had a pretty good feel for it now.

Looking at their faces, it seemed there were some non-hosts mixed in.

'If they were all hosts for Darkness-Eating Centipedes, I was planning to get a ton of Essences of Darkness and then go on my own...'

I licked my lips, feeling a rare sense of disappointment.

It seemed the leader had noticed that I had the absolute advantage when it was just its clones.

It must have judged that I couldn't just indiscriminately attack non-hosts, like the Count.

'I thought it was stupid, but it's actually using its head.'

It would probably be the same at the estate. Hosts and normal people all mixed together.

But this is what it doesn't know.

Since this is just a game, I will attack normal people indiscriminately if necessary.

And that I can pick out and kill only them, even in a crowd of people without parasitic monsters.

"Stand straight! Don't try anything funny!"

While I was lost in thought, we arrived at the estate.

The knights roughly dragged me in front of Adam.

Adam, who was sitting on the sofa, glanced up at me.

Most of the employees, including the Adjutant and the Head Maid, were gathered in the spacious lobby.

Earlier today, before I left his office, I had told Adam to agree to whatever the Adjutant demanded, within reason.

With his sister held hostage, he wouldn't be able to refuse anyway.

'About 60 people...'

By the looks of it, they had gathered all the employees.

It would be better for them if they were going to brand me a criminal and kill me.

After getting a rough count of the people gathered, I compared it to the number of Essences of Darkness I still needed and smirked to myself.

It wasn't a situation to be laughing in, but I couldn't help it.

The number of Essences of Darkness remaining for the greatsword restoration was 55.

'Hehe. This means that, except for the leader, they might all be in here, right?'

Helping me catch them all at once like this.

It was worth stirring up trouble all day just to catch these low-level runts.

This was, at last, the beginning of the Darkness-Eating Centipede slaughter party.