Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 37

Episode 37

'...Understanding increased?'

I stared with surprised eyes at the system window's message, which was the opposite of the one just before.

It said his understanding of me had increased, but I couldn't tell if that was a good thing.

It was something that usually only popped up when you raised the affection of a main character you were rapport-building with.

In contrast, I had no intention of rapport-building at all.

If I had been trying to raise his affection, the right move would have been to refuse, even if Adam offered money first.

Saying things like "I didn't do it for a reward," or "It was for justice"...

A normal user would have said lines like that at this point.

But I wasn't a normal user who received quest rewards automatically.

'My reward. Must protect. Absolutely.'

If a situation arose where the quest-giver, like Adam, didn't give the reward, I would wring it out of the developers, even if I had to grab them by the throat.

It was just as I was making this firm resolution several times over.

"...Alright. I will make sure to pay you, including the additional pay and the life-risk pay, without forgetting."

Adam finally gave me the answer I wanted.

I quickly bowed 90 degrees.

"Thank you! I'll continue to work hard!"

"Ha."

Another scoff escaped him, but I didn't care.

'Long live infinite capitalism.'

Honestly, I just threw in the additional pay and life-risk pay, I didn't know it would actually work.

At this rate, I'd be receiving much more than the original quest reward.

'And if I add the one million coins Sera gave me?! Hehe!'

My illicit gains were forcibly stopped because of that crazy bug, which was a huge loss, but this more than made up for it.

'Here I am, trapped in a game, calculating the profit and loss of game money...'

I must have finally lost my mind, too. Tsk.

It was then, as I was tsk-tsking myself but also giddy about my fattened balance.

Adam suddenly spoke.

"...Before I pay the reward, I have something to ask you."

"Yes. Please, ask me anything."

The money hadn't been transferred yet, so I answered politely.

The faint trace of a smile from moments ago had completely evaporated, and Adam asked, his face back to its usual expressionlessness.

"How did you know the activation phrase for the chandelier's attack magic?"

"Pardon?"

"My ancestor's memorandum regarding the chandelier from 500 years ago was partially lost, so that thing has been left neglected, its purpose unfulfilled, for a long time."

"..."

"In later generations, the majority of people don't even know that the chandelier is our family's secret weapon..."

He trailed off, then stared at me with sharp eyes, as if looking at an enemy.

"I'm curious how you knew and activated something that even I, the head of the family, do not know."

"Uh..."

I just gaped stupidly.

Honestly, I was so flustered.

Most users couldn't even catch the leader of the Darkness-Eating Centipedes here, and even the videos from the very few who succeeded just showed them raising their affection with Adam and defeating it together.

No one had activated the chandelier.

'Damn it. I can't just say the developers told me.'

I darted my eyes around and frantically racked my brain.

Adam Hailey's suspicion is increasing.

Meanwhile, Adam's suspicion was sprouting rapidly.

With the reward right in front of me, I couldn't lose the money over something as trivial as suspicion.

"Actually..."

In my haste, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I heard it in passing from my grandfather."

"Your grandfather... knows about our family's secret art?"

"Yes. To be precise, my grandfather's teacher, who taught him pharmacology, had a mother, whose brother had a friend who lived next door, and that friend's maternal grandfather..."

"..."

"...was the exclusive apothecary for the head of the Hailey family 500 years ago, I believe."

I paused, catching my breath, and snuck a glance at Adam.

'Pant, pant. That should roughly match the 500 years, right?!'

But his narrowed eyes showed no sign of un-narrowing.

"At that point... isn't that person completely unrelated to you?"

"A-hem! J-just hear me out!"

This sharp bastard.

I cleared my throat at his sharp insight and spat out the words like a rapid-fire.

"I heard that the chandelier was personally designed as a secret weapon by the family head of that time to eliminate the lingering dark energy that hadn't disappeared right after the monster was sealed."

"..."

"The pillars supporting the chandelier and the curving sconces were made from a mixture of sunstone and moonstone to hold any kind of light, and all 199 high-purity crystals were engraved with high-level defense magic and light-reflection magic..."

I fumbled through, trying to recall all the miscellaneous details Sera had told me.

"...That glorious scene from that time has been passed down like a legend among the apothecaries of the Hailey domain ever since."

"..."

"Honestly, when I heard it from my grandfather, it sounded so much like something from a legend that I was half in doubt..."

"..."

"I really didn't know it would actually activate."

Having finished my story, I broke out in a cold sweat and glanced at Adam again.

He seemed to be deep in thought, as if gauging the truth of my words.

After some time had passed.

He finally seemed to reach a conclusion and slowly began to speak.

"It sounds like ridiculous nonsense..."

"..."

"But it's too specific to dismiss as a lie."

"Haha, if you just open a history book, don't legendary events happen in every era? Anecdotes that sound like lies but are true stories..."

As I added this with an awkward laugh, I held back a tear.

'That thing that sounds like a lie but is a true story... I'm experiencing it myself.'

No matter how unbelievable the anecdote, it was still more believable than me being trapped in a game because I can't log out.

Thinking that, I rapidly became depressed.

'Believe it or not.'

Anyway, I had finished my explanation.

Even if he dismissed it as a lie and tried to press me, I had nothing more to say.

I had given up on raising affection long ago anyway.

So I stopped caring what Adam thought and was standing there brazenly, just like before.

Adam Hailey temporarily sets aside his suspicion of you.

A system window suddenly popped up.

'Wow... that worked?'

I didn't even have time to be surprised by the game's nonsensical plot coherence.

"Glam!"

Adam called over a woman with a neat appearance who was passing by.

Accounting Adjutant Glam Blanche

Just from her name, I could tell why he called her, and I instantly felt at ease.

"Yes, Count! You called for me?"

"Please prepare some gold coins from the safe."

"How much should I..."

I perked up my ears, curious to know how much he was giving me, but I couldn't hear because Adam whispered in Glam's ear.

'It's money he's going to give me anyway, why be so secretive? This bastard, he's not just cutting the amount, is he?!'

I stared at him with eyes full of dissatisfaction, but Adam, having sent the woman off, just looked back at me with an indifferent expression.

"Wait a moment. She will bring it soon."

"...Eh."

I was in the position of not having been paid yet, so I couldn't argue further and just waited quietly.

'By the way, what time is it?'

Then, I checked the time on the grandfather clock placed in the corner of the lobby.

'It's already past 11?'

I was surprised to see it was suddenly so close to midnight.

I'd been through such a chaotic mess because of the Darkness-Eating Centipedes that I hadn't even noticed the time passing.

'I wonder if Kassel is okay...'

As I was thinking about the Male Lead bastard in the Tower, something important I had forgotten flashed into my mind.

I couldn't exactly open the chat window in front of Adam, so I had no choice but to ask him directly.

"I also have one thing I'd like to ask you, Count."

"...What is it?"

I was somewhat relieved that Adam asked right back.

I'd been talking to a guy with such a rotten personality for so long that for a second, I expected a response like, 'How dare someone like you ask me a question.'

Relieved by a normal person's reaction, I immediately spoke.

"Is it true that the seal that put the monster to sleep is coming undone?"

"..."

But Adam, who had seemed ready to answer anything, clamped his mouth shut for some reason.

A sense of dread and dismay, which I had briefly forgotten, washed over me.

'Please tell me it's a lie.'

That it was just to provoke the leader, or to unite the divided employees...

I knew it was nonsense, but I wished for it desperately.

Because.

"...Yes."

Because the monster sealed in the Tower was a high-level quest that could only be cleared after a user reached level 100.

'It wasn't because of the disaster the Lord of Nightmares would cause. This is why Adam was nagging me to get far away.'

With this belated realization, my vision went blank.

In that moment, a vision of Jinu typing, 'Hehe, you're screwed, right?

Time for the Tower monster quest, right?' flickered and disappeared.

"Even if you were some amazing hero and not a potion-peddler, you wouldn't be able to do it."

Just as Kassel said before, the greatsword restoration requires two steps.

The first step is gathering the Essences of Darkness, which I'm doing now.

And the next step is to complete the restoration by strengthening the greatsword while fighting the unsealed monster.

Catching the monster is easier said than done. That monster is a legendary-grade, level 99.

'Fuck, this can't be real.'

The situation was becoming an unbelievable headache.

As if mocking me for mocking its nonsensical plot, the game's difficulty was skyrocketing.

"Ugh..."

As I was unconsciously clutching my head and letting out a strange groan.

"Can you tell me why you ask that?"

Adam asked me, his face looking quite serious.

It's horrific just to imagine, but...

If Kassel falls asleep and the disaster begins at the same time the Tower's seal breaks.

It would be a true hell party.

"...Count."

I quickly admitted that I couldn't possibly handle this alone and confessed with a heavy heart.

"I don't know if it's an aftereffect, but the prisoner has recently developed a resistance to the Insomnia Potion."

"Resistance...?"

"Yes, it's a side effect of overdosing on the potion. It's still showing effects for now, but..."

Naturally, at my sudden confession, Adam's eyes widened in shock.

I glanced at him and forced my reluctant mouth open.

"If... the potion stops working, do you have a separate countermeasure prepared?"

"No."

Adam answered rather confidently.

"There is nothing... but to fight with our lives."

I wasn't discouraged and just nodded silently.

Right, there was no other humane way to keep the prisoner from sleeping besides an insomnia agent.

I held back my tears and stopped denying reality.

"I really hope that doesn't happen, but..."

And I prepared for the possibility of the hell-level difficulty that might actually occur.

"If we can't stop the prisoner from sleeping and the disaster arrives, please lead your soldiers and go to the western border first."

"What..."

"The monster horde will appear there first."

Of course, the best preparation was to use every bit of game information I knew.