Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 55

Episode 55

"Magic? You must have seen wrong."

I played dumb for the time being.

[Green Mask harbors a slight suspicion toward you.]

Along with the system window, Elaine's expression crumpled a little as he looked at me.

"What are you talking about? You definitely used some weird lightning magic on those bastards and me earlier... you."

He frowned, as if dissatisfied with my counter-question that was muddying the point, and reluctantly added the suffix.

'This is bad. To think he remembers everything.'

Setting aside the fact that I'd blasted him with magic, I had to prevent myself from deviating from the image of a normal apothecary.

This was because Elaine was destined to become the Male Lead's colleague, no, his faithful dog, in the upcoming Hero selection tournament anyway.

"You must have had a wild dream after getting hit by that tranquilizer gun."

I had no choice but to insist.

"I didn't use magic. I threw a sleeping potion to make you fall asleep."

As evidence for my claim, I pulled a Sleep-Inducing Potion from my pocket and showed it to him.

"Logically, how could I use magic? I threw this from a distance to put you to sleep."

"But..."

"But what! Tranquilizers have side effects, like hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, so be quiet. As an apothecary, I know best."

In truth, I had no idea if such things existed, but I stuck to my act of ignorance.

Fortunately, Elaine seemed to reluctantly accept it and changed the subject.

"By the way... the necklace I stole. Where did you put it?"

"I sold it at a pawn shop."

"What?!"

At my answer, he leaped up from his spot, appalled.

The truth is, I hadn't sold it; I'd just thrown it out somewhere in the alley while bringing Elaine here.

If someone picked it up, those Black Syndicate bastards would run around in circles, completely unable to find us.

"Ah!"

But the thief, who had no way of knowing my grand intentions, shot up from his seat and unleashed his irritation on me.

"Why would you sell it without telling me!"

"So what were you going to do, hug a fake?"

"Ah, but still...!"

"Calm down and sit."

At my words, he sat back down, still fuming.

Then, he glanced at me and said in a disgruntled tone.

"...How much did you get for it?"

"Hah."

"I stole it, so... split it?"

"Are you kidding me?"

I was dumbfounded by the thief's behavior, trying to split the money even in this situation.

"The jewel looked like a cheap fake, what money! Besides, if you had kept carrying that around, you'd have been dragged off already!"

"What? Why?"

"Because it had a location-tracking spell on it, you dimwit."

"Ah... so that's why I couldn't lose them in the alleys."

Even at being called a dimwit, he muttered with a ridiculously bright face, as if he'd had an epiphany.

'This bastard, was his setting always this 'innocent-brained'?'

He was a guy who had almost zero lines in the cutscenes or highlight videos, so I was continually baffled.

"Why are you acting so clueless? Those bastards set a trap, dead set on catching you."

A rebuking sound escaped me out of sheer frustration.

At that, Elaine replied with a sullen face.

"But... my noona said it was real. My step-noona."

"Then that means those bastards have caught on that you're involved with the elves."

As I coldly made him face reality, his clear, wheat-colored eyes wavered helplessly.

He seemed lost, not knowing what to do, and soon hung his head.

"Then... then what do I do now? Wh-what about my noona and hyung?"

"..."

"I have to keep stealing. It's the only thing I know how to do."

"..."

"I have to keep doing it, so I can free my noona and hyung..."

The tips of his pointed ears, sticking out from his green hair, turned red.

'Is he... crying?'

I mean, he's only considered an adult in this game world. In Korea, he'd just be a second-year in high school.

This cruel reality must be devastating and shocking.

Feeling like I'd been too harsh on a kid, I comforted him in a slightly softer voice.

"Don't cry, Green Mask."

"I'm not crying."

At that moment, Elaine, who had been hanging his head, snapped his head up and answered.

His revealed face was, indeed, completely dry.

"I was just thinking for a second."

The bastard, having said that, continued as if nothing was wrong.

"Can't be helped. I'll just have to go down to the provinces and steal for a while."

"Hah. What the hell is with this bastard..."

I was so dumbfounded by his quick change of attitude that a hollow laugh escaped me.

"Whyyy..."

He pouted, as if he'd been wronged.

To put it nicely, he had an infinitely positive personality. To put it badly, he seemed like a clueless psycho.

'Why is everyone in this game like this?'

There wasn't a single normal character.

I felt like I was dealing with a kid I couldn't reason with, and it was draining my energy.

I resolved to end this conversation quickly.

"...The thing you're trying to do, I can help you."

"The thing I'm trying to do?"

"You just said it. Your siblings. I mean, you want to free the non-human slaves, don't you?"

"Th-that's right! I want to free them. No, I have to free them, quickly, before they're sold out of the auction house!"

Elaine nodded his head vigorously.

The Empire officially strictly forbade enslaving, buying, and selling non-human races.

That's why, for now, it was limited to just selling sex to those who visited the Black Syndicate's building.

But soon, the black market would open in earnest, and the captured non-human races would begin to be sold off.

"What do I have to do? I'll do anything you say, Noona. Please help me. Please. Huh?"

Elaine, who knew this better than anyone, begged me with a desperate face.

He had somehow managed to escape on his own, but he felt a strong sense of debt to the siblings who had raised him, who had desperately protected him from the evil grasping for him.

When I didn't answer right away, Elaine got off the sofa and went so far as to kneel and beg me.

"Please, Noona. What do I have to do? Please help me."

"I wasn't asking you to beg, so sit back down. And read this."

I took a piece of paper I had prepared in advance from my pocket and handed it to him.

"Take it."

Elaine, who had been begging, took the paper in a daze and soon read the words written on it with a bewildered expression.

"Employment Contract...?"

"It's a contract saying I'll hire you for the next two months. In exchange, just like you said, you have to do whatever I tell you."

"...Anything?"

"That's right. Then, not only freeing the slaves, but the thing you're looking for."

I met Elaine's confused eyes and recited.

"I'll make sure you can get your hands on it."

"The... thing I'm looking for?"

"Belisser's Eye."

"..."

"Isn't that what you were looking for when you almost got into huge trouble today?"

No matter how many stolen goods he sold, Elaine's situation never improved.

This was because no matter how rare or expensive the stolen goods, there was no place in the Empire that the Black Syndicate's reach didn't extend to.

If he rashly sold them to nobles who offered to buy, he'd be caught by those bastards in no time.

So, he went to a distant port city, found merchants from other countries, and with great difficulty, sold what he had stolen.

Because of that, he never got their original value; instead, he was constantly ripped off by the cunning merchants.

With the money he'd saved, it was nowhere near enough to save his siblings at the upcoming slave auction.

Pushed to the brink, he came up with a clever plan.

The artifact of the ancient elf king, passed down as a legend among the elves.

'Belisser's Eye' only activates its power when used by one with elven blood.

The elf who possesses it can hide their body, sound, smell, and all traces of their presence.

Having heard news that 'Belisser's Eye' was being moved from the Black Syndicate's treasury, Elaine had planned to steal it, infiltrate the black market, and free the elves.

"But... you don't even have it right now. How are you going to help me, Noona?"

Elaine pointed out with wavering eyes that I didn't have 'Belisser's Eye'.

It was pretty sharp insight.

'Seeing this, maybe he's not just an innocent-brain after all...'

It was confusing, but I didn't let it show and nodded calmly.

"Of course I don't have it right now. Those Black Syndicate bastards have it."

"..."

"But that doesn't mean there's no way."

Dalkak. I took something from my pocket and placed it on the sofa table.

His eyes went wide when he saw it.

Its main ingredient is herbs, so I spent quite a bit of money farming for this.

"This is..."

"I told you. I'm an apothecary."

[S-Grade Invisibility Potion]

"It can't hide sound or smell like Belisser's Eye."

"..."

"But still, isn't this worth a shot?"