Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 69

Episode 69

'Why... are you here?'

I stared at Kassel, who had drawn his sword, with a bewildered expression.

It was because I thought he would have been the first to leave when Cheondung rampaged.

He hated getting involved in troublesome things, with the exception of events caused by his own nightmares.

That was why I was just staring at him with surprised eyes.

"Quite the spectacle you're making in that state."

The bastard suddenly clicked his tongue, looking me up and down.

At his contemptuous gaze, I glanced down to check my "state."

The dress, which had a slit to the calf, was now torn up to the thigh and dirtied with gray dust.

Did he feel sorry for me, wearing what was no better than a rag?

Rustle.

The bastard took off his outer garment and threw it at me.

Then he muttered arrogantly.

"You don't have to thank me."

I wasn't thankful at all.

"You'll be the one thanking me."

"What..."

I reached out, grabbed his arm, and threw my body hard to the side.

"Ugh."

Because I had grabbed his body tightly, we tumbled together messily for several rotations.

"What are you doing..."

Kassel, who had been grinding his teeth at the sudden, rough movement, abruptly stopped talking.

It was because when I came to my senses, I was on top of him, in a position as if I had pounced on him.

Perhaps displeased by my skin so close to his face, his eyebrows, barely visible through the eyeholes, were knitted together.

But with no time to worry about that, I immediately focused my attention on Ballakk.

Pushuuuuk!

As expected.

Black poison gas began to spray from the part Kassel had cut.

It was the same for the severed hand lying nearby.

Because of that crazy Male Lead, I almost got hit by the poison gas and received a health-drain penalty.

It was then.

The Lord of Nightmares is displeased by your actions.

"Get off."

A rude voice snapped me back to reality at the same time as the system window.

Realizing our position was strange, I hurriedly got up.

Unaware that I had just saved him from danger, the bastard glared at me with flashing eyes, as if he wanted to eat me alive.

"Use this to cover your eyes, nose, and mouth. You'll be in big trouble if you breathe it in."

Rustle.

I tossed the outer garment I had managed to hold onto back to its owner and muttered indifferently.

But instead of pulling the garment over his head, he slowly got up and said.

"...Are you alright?"

"No. Thanks to someone."

It wasn't a lie, it was the truth.

'HP -5'

'HP -5'

HP 960

I had tried to dodge, but I hadn't completely escaped the area where the poison was spraying, so my health was ticking down.

It was probably the same for Kassel.

'Should I give him an antidote potion?'

I hesitated for a moment.

But I couldn't just pull out an antidote potion right now, and he'd find it strange if I gave him one looking like this.

Maybe I was just overthinking it, but it was strange for someone who wasn't an apothecary to be carrying around potions.

I might look like someone who had intentionally infiltrated with the goal of defeating Ballakk.

"You don't seem to know how to mince words."

Fortunately, he cleanly resolved my brief dilemma.

'I don't care if his health drops.'

He's the Male Lead. He'll survive better than I will.

I threw aside my useless worries and asked what I was curious about.

"But why are you still here?"

"Are you kidding me?"

Kassel replied, almost growling.

"After you've dragged my name through the mud, if I just leave this be, I'm sure the Dark Society bastards will just let me go."

I had nothing to say to that.

When he is reinstated soon, the Dark Society bastards will naturally use his title and me, his "lover," for their own benefit.

Rather than jeopardize the position he'd barely regained by getting entangled in a low-brow scandal, it was wiser to seize this opportunity and collapse the Dark Society as much as possible.

"And did you really think that half-elf brat could free all the slaves by himself? I've taken care of over 100 of them myself."

"..."

"It was an absurdly optimistic plan."

Kassel scoffed, speaking nothing but the plain truth.

In any case, I had used his name and created a difficult situation...

I forced open my mouth, which really didn't want to move.

"...I didn't know you were the Lord of Nightmares. I apologize for that."

"Heh. You 'apologize for that'?"

"I'm also... grateful... for helping Elaine."

Whatever his ulterior motives, it was a relief that he had helped Elaine and the slaves escape.

I had only seen gameplay videos of a fully-grown Elaine pulling his weight as a party member, so I had a tendency to overestimate his abilities.

'Right now, he's just an 18-year-old kid.'

If it hadn't been for Kassel, the horrible scenario of him and the slaves being taken hostage again might have occurred.

"This time, I'll ask."

As I was thinking that, Kassel suddenly interjected.

"Are you a magician?"

I was a little surprised by the blunt question, which wasn't even an attempt to feel me out.

"You handle magic quite well. But all the skills you use are basic ones."

"..."

"As if someone who isn't a magician by trade is clumsily using magic."

Of course, my main job was an NPC.

But the bigger problem was that Kassel had seen through all my magic use.

I was in a completely different disguise right now, so even if he saw me use magic, there was no way he'd connect me to the apothecary.

And yet, I felt uneasy for some reason.

'No way... he didn't notice something, did he?'

Full of suspicion, I asked back.

"...Why do you ask?"

"To see if you're the person I think you are."

My heart sank at his immediate reply.

'Impossible!'

I calmed my trembling insides and answered coolly.

"...Whoever you're thinking of, it's not me. I've never seen you before today, and I only just arrived in the Empire from a distant foreign country."

"You're wearing a mask, but you speak as if you've seen my face."

"It's just an expression! And by that logic, you haven't seen my face either, have you?"

"I'm looking at it right now."

Kassel suddenly reached for my face.

As if playing, he poked my cheek with his index finger and pulled back.

"What are you..."

I froze for a moment at the warmth against my skin, then raised my hand to my face, feeling around frantically, and recoiled in horror.

'Crap, the mask is gone!'

The damn strap must have broken while we were rolling, as the crude mask was dangling by my ear.

In other words, I was showing my bare face.

"Every time you open your mouth, you spout annoying nonsense. Is it because of that face..."

"..."

"It's more tolerable than that guy I know."

He left me flustered, muttering something incomprehensible that could have been an insult or a compliment.

"What on..."

This wouldn't do.

I hurriedly fixed the mask as best I could, roughly securing it with the broken strap to cover my face.

Any more personal exposure was dangerous.

And just as I was about to grill Kassel about who this "guy he knows" was.

Fwoooosh!

With the sound of slicing wind, a large shadow fell over me and Kassel.

"Come here."

"Oof!"

This time, Kassel grabbed my waist and yanked me to the side.

Unlike me, who would have lost my balance and tumbled, he held me and landed securely on his feet.

And then.

Kaaaaang!

A large fist slammed into the spot where we had been standing just a hair's breadth of a moment ago.

"You damn rats... why have so many of you crept into my building..."

The puppet, having finished regenerating, retracted its fist and slowly rose.

"You two lovebirds... I'll tear you both to shreds!"

Unlike before, when he'd been quite relaxed, he was now panting heavily, clearly furious.

He then lowered his upper body.

It seemed he was planning to leap and punch again, as just running wasn't enough to catch us.

"Stay back. Your magic doesn't seem to have much effect on that thing."

"What did you say?"

Kassel pushed me behind him, saying something infuriating.

As long as I was in this form, I had no intention of pulling out a potion in front of him.

Therefore, I was still suffering from a lack of mana, but I couldn't stand being dismissed.

"You think you'll be any different?"

"I just have to avoid cutting its body, right?"

"Are you going to fight that thing bare-handed?"

"I didn't say bare-handed."

Sssrrng.

He sheathed his sword at his waist, and then gripped the scabbard itself.

I was amazed at how he was still meticulously wearing all the weapons he'd won at the auction, like armor and a crossbow.

'Come to think of it, did he give the sword I gave him to Adam?'

I was inwardly relieved that the sword looked distinctly different from 'Lumiekar'.

I backed away slowly, trying to find the right moment to sneak a mana potion.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Kassel, but I needed to be able to use a skill in an emergency.

Hwook!

Just as the puppet, having leaped into the air, was about to punch Kassel.

Kaaaang!

It fell short, dropping to the ground before it could reach Kassel.

And then it didn't move.

"...What?"

Kassel and I exchanged clueless looks at the sudden turn of events.

It was then.

Thud, thud.

Footsteps approached from behind.

I flinched and turned around.

'That's...'

Surprisingly, from the middle passage where I'd predicted he'd be, the real Ballakk.

That is, the main body was shuffling out, his hands in the air.

His face was covered in blood, showing how many monsters he must have bitten to replenish his mana.

He looked less like a human and more like the gruesome puppet he'd been controlling.

"It's the main body. I'll..."

"Wait."

I stopped Kassel, who had immediately drawn his sword and looked ready to charge.

It was because the bastard walked past us with a humiliated expression.

Judging by the doll held in one hand, which was raised up as if in punishment, he seemed to have stopped controlling it.

The bastard, who hadn't stopped walking, finally came to a halt next to the level 200 puppet.

"Ah."

I finally understood why he was acting so strangely.

On his head, where the splendid laurel crown should have been, sat a plain golden band.

And at that moment.

Right behind him, like magic, an adorable little figure appeared.

"At tention!"

At the sound, that bastard Ballakk surprisingly lowered his raised hands and stood at attention.