Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 52

Episode 52

After returning to Dover Village, I spent a while recuperating and farming.

This was because I had used up almost all my potions in the Hailey scenario, which I thought I would clear easily without much effort.

'Dammit!'

Perhaps because I'd been away for quite a long time.

When I returned to my garden patch, most of the herbs I had meticulously grown over the past two years, while I was out of my mind, were dead.

For me, who needed to make potions immediately for the next quest, it was a completely baffling situation.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately.

My past, crazy self had considered herb farming extremely important, so I had spare seeds and fertilizers stocked up.

Just like that, I quickly began farming.

Of course, I wasn't farming sluggishly by myself like in the past.

'In the end, the only thing you really need to grow something is money!'

I bought time by purchasing a ton of others' labor with money.

While the workers farmed for me, I moved to other regions and cleared minor quests all day, like simple hunting quests for leveling up or helping NPCs.

These were annoying tasks that were unavoidable in order to open the next scenario.

"Shari! Are you heading out again today?"

As I finished preparing to leave at the crack of dawn, Tom, the Dover Village Stableboy, greeted me.

Claire, a Dover Village Resident, who was fertilizing the Mandrake seedlings, asked.

"If the knights come looking again today, should I just answer as you told me?"

"Yeah, whoever comes looking, just say you have no idea."

"But they're the Lord's knights... H-h-perhaps you're being chased for committing a crime?"

"Max, do you want to get fired?"

"N-no, that's not what I meant...!"

Max, the Dover Village Warehouse Keeper, shook his head in alarm.

There wouldn't be another employer in this backwater village who paid as much as I did, so keeping them quiet was no problem.

Thankfully, today was the last day of anxiously traveling back and forth between Dover Village and other regions for quests.

This was because I had refilled my empty inventory with a decent amount of potions.

"All right, use this to make sure you all eat well."

Thud.

I took the heavy pouch I had prepared from my pocket and placed it on the table.

I'd slammed it down intentionally, and a few gold coins spilled from the open pouch.

"I might not be back for a while. Take good care of the herbs, and just like I said, just say you don't know where I went."

The village residents, who couldn't take their eyes off the shining gold coins, all nodded with determined faces.

"Got it, Shari!"

"Leave it to us!"

"We'll do exactly as you say!"

I smiled in satisfaction at their loyal responses.

'Money really is the best.'

Even though I'd warned them repeatedly, I wasn't worried that the residents I'd hired might talk about me.

After all, there was no way they'd know where I was going.

"Well then, keep up the good work."

I gave them a little wave and walked out of the shop with light steps.

The moment I pulled a teleport scroll from my pocket.

I spotted two burly men appearing at the end of the alley, loitering.

I grimaced and quickly hid behind the door.

"Agh, why do they keep coming when they're not even going to pay me?"

For over a week after finishing the Hailey quest, knights sent by Adam had been looking for me relentlessly.

The reasons were countless.

Now that everything was over, there must have been more than one or two strange things.

I must have seemed suspicious, having bolted without a word.

Given his cautious personality, he probably wanted to get to the bottom of it.

'I took care of the sealed monster and got rid of the disaster!'

'Now just go to the Imperial Palace, hand-in-hand, before I break that sword again!'

I shuddered at Adam's persistence.

If he had sent the knights with money in their hands, I might have met them at least once.

Because I'd had to let Kassel take all the credit, I'd had to become the cowardly apothecary who gave up the quest reward and ran.

But that didn't mean I was just sitting around sucking my thumb.

I recalled the chat I'd had with the developers right after I was forcibly recalled.

Me: Give me my reward. The reward for stopping the disaster and defeating the Giga-Centipede.

GM Jinu: ? We already gave you the S-Grade potions?

GM Jinu: You grabbed all the items to sell for yourself and you still want another reward? Top-tier shamelessness, amirite?

GM Sera: Ahem. You stopped the disaster easily thanks to us, and yet you're quite the ★ Fun Fun ☆ Hoobae.

'It's your fault the nerf patch was lifted, and you only shortened the disaster time because you felt guilty!'

If they hadn't at least made those changes, there would have been no way to stop the disaster and the Giga-Centipede at the same time.

And even then, it was only because it was me that I could finish the sword restoration and the Giga-Centipede subjugation in one phase with such a reckless method.

Other users wouldn't have stood a chance.

Of course, it was true that I had monopolized the monster items that party members were supposed to share.

But I had lost a comparable amount of potions by running the quests simultaneously.

Besides, I hadn't received the most important reward.

'Namely, money.'

Since I couldn't get the monetary reward I was supposed to receive from my employer, Adam, shouldn't the developer bastards pay up instead?

I saw red at the developers' behavior, who were subtly playing dumb at my demand for compensation.

Me: So that's how you're gonna play?

Me: @GM Ari @GM Sera @GM Jinu @GM Ari @GM Sera @GM Jinu @GM Ari @GM Sera @GM Jinu...

Of course, in the middle of it, they counterattacked.

[GM Jinu has summoned you.]

[GM Jinu has summoned you.]

[GM Jinu has summoned you.]

'Ding dong!' The notification sound rang incessantly, but I didn't back down and kept typing like crazy.

This was because I had already put in 'earplugs made of slime' in preparation for this.

Thankfully, Ari, the neutral-on-the-verge-of-hell, and Sera, who acted like an old man, were quiet.

Regardless, I sent the summon to everyone equally.

It was around the time I had been in a silent summon-war with Jinu for a while.

GM Sera: Stop! Stop it! I can't get anything done, it's too distracting!

GM Ari: Calm down, Jinu-nim! You too, Shari-nim! I'll just give it to you. ㅠ

[GM Ari has provided 5,000,000 Coins as compensation.]

[Current Coins: 11,062,900 C]

It was precious money I had earned through a hard-fought battle.

I grinned, looking at my coin window.

[Current Coins: 18,012,900 C]

Perhaps because I had been relentlessly doing quests in the meantime, my coin count had grown quite a bit.

I could now use teleport scrolls to travel to most regions in the Empire.

Snapping out of my recollection, I peeked my head out the shop door to check the situation.

The Count's knights had already approached the shop.

"Shari! Why are you still here, what are you doing?"

Just then, Village Resident 1, who was entering the shop, shouted loudly.

It was such a clueless action that I suspected they were doing it on purpose.

"Shari? Didn't you just hear the apothecary's name from inside the shop?"

"I heard it too! Hurry!"

Tatadadak! The sound of people approaching.

"Agh."

Clicking my tongue, I had no choice but to tear the teleport scroll right there.

I had always acted cautiously, even in front of the village residents, for complete concealment, but the situation didn't allow for it.

Riiiiip!

With the brisk sound of paper tearing, my vision distorted.

Shushushuk...

Overcome with dizziness, I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I opened them again.

[You have arrived in the Back Alleys of the Imperial Capital.]

I had arrived in the capital, a journey that would take about 15 days from Dover Village by horse or pet monster.

'I'm glad I paid 10 times the price of a normal teleport scroll at that pop-up general store.'

Originally, I was supposed to make my way to the capital step-by-step while doing quests.

But since my goal was a fast ending, I boldly gave up on the minor stuff and just cleared the main quests in each region.

Thanks to that, the capital quests opened up in just one week, and I was able to enter the capital.

There were three major quests in the capital.

Freeing the black market slaves, the Hero selection tournament, and uncovering the Temple's secret.

Of course, because it was still early, none of the three had started.

The reason I came to the capital this early, despite that, was.

Me: Which way?

GM Ari: Coming out of the second alley on the right.

I immediately closed the chat window after getting the prompt reply.

The back alley, in broad daylight, was haphazardly lined with baggage and piles of trash, but thankfully, it was quiet and deserted.

Just as I was carefully watching the alley Ari had mentioned, among the many branching paths.

Tatadadak!

Right on cue, a figure in a black robe and a green mask popped out of the very alley I was watching.

Then they ran toward me at full speed.

It looked like we were likely to collide, so I quickly stepped aside.

The green mask zipped past me at high speed.

Tatadadadak!

"Get him! Get him!"

"You bastard! Stop right there!"

Following the green mask, several men burst out of the same alley.

They shouted as they chased the black hood.

After the men also rushed past me, I walked leisurely in the direction they had disappeared.

I didn't need to hurry, as I knew that alley was a dead end.

It was a good while later that I reached the end of the path.

Peeking around the corner, I saw the green mask and several men lying on the ground, as if a fight had already taken place.

[Thief Green Mask]

His face was completely hidden by the mask, but the clearly visible white text revealed his identity.

Elaine Griselda.

The second main character who would help the Male Lead save the world was, absurdly, a petty thief.