Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 75

Episode 75

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[Penalty for reduced health due to curse lifted upon leaving quest area.]

[HP and MP have been fully restored.]

Naturally, I was freed from the curse without needing to go to the Temple and beg for Holy Water.

However, I had no time to savor the satisfaction of a clean body and mind, and fully restored HP and MP.

"What... happened here?"

I gaped at the scene before me.

The inside of the shop was a disaster zone, as if it had been robbed.

Fixtures were overturned, every single drawer was pulled open, and the floor was a mess of crumbled, dried medicinal herbs.

That wasn't all.

The herb garden behind the shop, which I had painstakingly cultivated for several days after completing the 'Count Hailey's Estate' scenario, was also devastated, with herbs haphazardly ripped out.

I easily spotted a peculiar pattern in the ravaged garden.

As if planned, the number of herbs used as the main ingredients for health potions was significantly reduced.

"What happened here! Tom, Claire, Max!"

Livid, I summoned all the village residents I had hired.

"W-Well, you see, Shari..."

The AIs hesitantly approached and explained the situation.

"Y-Yesterday, the day before, heroes came from the village down below!"

"They suddenly came to the shop and asked for potions..."

"So? So you just handed them over without even getting paid?!"

Their pathetic excuses only fueled my anger, and I yelled.

It felt like the nightmare of the past two years, living faithfully according to the NPC settings, was replaying.

The Hailey territory, including Dover Village, was part of the early game, so it was relatively generous with rewards.

Because of this, extra characters designated as heroes, besides the users, sometimes showed motions of using NPC shops.

It was a faithful reflection of the game setting that revered heroes.

But there's a limit to faithfulness.

This was no different from outright robbery.

"B-But what could we do, Shari? The Heroes asked for them..."

Even seeing my fuming anger, the residents just looked confused and glanced at each other.

Those innocent faces, completely oblivious to any wrongdoing.

That was what made it even more infuriating.

Maybe for them, programmed as they were, giving everything they had to heroes was perfectly normal, but not for me.

"Then what about the herbs! Why did you just let them take all the herbs? You should have at least stopped them from pulling out the herbs!"

"But... one of the Heroes had brought a child. They said the child was sick..."

"Fine, whatever. Then shouldn't you have cleaned this up before I got back?!"

"You told us not to touch anything inside the shop..."

"Hah..."

I let out a deep sigh at the string of excuses.

I thought I could finally rest after finishing the grueling quest, but now I just had a mountain of work left.

Stealing potions and herbs was one thing, but I couldn't understand why they had dug up the garden, making it unusable.

'I'll catch them and kill them all.'

I needed to make potions immediately before the Hero Selection Tournament started, so this was quite problematic.

Feeling a throbbing headache coming on, I waved my hand weakly at the employees.

"Fine. All of you, just get lost."

But these clueless AIs casually struck up a conversation.

"By the way, Shari. About this week's wages..."

"Did you finish your work okay? What's that egg?"

"Are you not getting lost?!"

Only when I raised my fist threateningly did they turn pale and hurriedly disappear outside the shop.

Left alone in the suddenly empty shop, I carefully placed the egg on the relatively clean bed.

Then I gave the messy interior a rough scan.

Fortunately, I carried all the important potions in my inventory, so the damage wasn't too severe.

What they stole were just the mid-to-low grade potions I'd made to sell to the AIs, and some small change I'd left for change and the residents' living expenses.

But the quantity was significant enough that I couldn't help but feel enraged.

I immediately opened the chat window.

Me: What happened here?

GM Ari: Shari-nim, I really missed you!

GM Ari: You completed the quest splendidly again!

GM Sera: It's been a while, hoobae. Is Cheondung alright?

GM Jinu: yo

As always, cheerful greetings came back, completely ignoring my furious state.

By now, I'd gotten pretty used to it and could just state my business.

Me: Why did those X-ing AI XXXX steal all my potions?

Me: Give them back, my potions. -_-

GM Ari: Rumors are circulating that the Crown Prince's reinstatement will soon be followed by a Hero Selection Tournament, so heroes from all over the country are on the move!

Ari answered obediently, for once.

But I already knew that well.

According to the game's system, around this time, AIs with the 'Hero' title would flock to the capital.

It was a tournament, after all, and they couldn't just have users and main characters participate, so they needed extras to fill it out.

But heroes being on the move was no reason for my shop to get robbed.

Me: Then they should just go quietly to the capital, why steal all my stuff.

GM Jinu: They're heroes, so they kill quest monsters too, anyway.

GM Jinu: Don't you know about the reward stage?

Me: Reward... stage?

What was a reward stage?

It was an event right after a quest where you could frantically pick up minor items like coins, mid-to-low grade weapons, and potions within a time limit.

Among users, it was commonly called a 'tem room' or 'coin room'.

Remembering that, I understood why those bastards had wrecked my shop.

And along with understanding came a deep surge of anger.

Me: So... you're saying they used my shop as a tem room?!

Me: No, XX! I just came back from fighting for my life, isn't this really too much?!

GM Sera: Calm down, hoobae.

GM Sera: In any case, you are also registered as an NPC, and to make matters worse, the shop was empty, so it was an unavoidable ☆ Destiny of Fate ★.

"Empty?! What were all the guys I hired doing?!"

At Sera's explanation, I ground my teeth again at my incompetent employees.

'After I take back all the wages I paid you, you're all fired.'

Me: Where are those hero bastards now?

GM Sera: They are gathered at the Dover Village Hoff Pub.

Having stolen my potions and herbs, they were probably toasting their joy amongst themselves.

I was familiar with the Hoff Pub; it had always been practically the headquarters for those self-proclaimed Dover Village heroes.

I barely suppressed the urge to run straight to the Hoff Pub and destroy those bastards.

There was something I needed to do first.

Me: First, please calculate my quest reward.

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[GM Ari has paid 5,000,000 Coins as a reward.]

[Current Coins: 23,012,900 C]

'Yes, got 5 million coins back.'

After a bloody negotiation, I received quite a hefty reward from the developers.

In the middle, that bastard Jinu pissed me off a bit by spouting nonsense like, "Isn't getting a legendary pet enough?"

But when I retorted with equally nonsensical demands, asking them to upgrade Cheondung to mythic grade when it hatched from the egg, they gave in without further complaint.

'Anyway, they just can't put themselves in someone else's shoes.'

'Those bastards need to get trapped here someday to learn their lesson.'

Clicking my tongue at the dead conscience of the developers, I ran straight to the Dover Village Hoff Pub.

Bang!

As I roughly threw open the wooden door, just as expected, the thieves were brazenly drinking in broad daylight.

"Drink!"

"To Bilwood's victory!"

"Hahaha! We got plenty of potions, and fixed Jena's illness too! The gods are truly showering us with luck today!"

[Heroes from Bilwood]

[Total 5.]

White text indicating their identity appeared above the heads of the bastards clinking their mugs.

Bilwood was a humble region located below Dover Village.

The quests there were simple repetitive hunts with meager rewards, so I hadn't planned on doing them myself. It seemed those bastards had taken care of them instead.

"These bastards... even our neighborhood guys left a couple of low-grade monster essences as payment..."

These guys were even more shameless than Jack's banned group.

On the verge of losing it, I shouted thunderously at them.

"Hey! Give me back my potions!"

At that, everyone in the quiet Hoff Pub turned to look at me.

"Eh? What's that?"

Hero 1 from Bilwood, flushed with alcohol, tilted his head sloppily as he looked at me.

"Innkeeper! I asked you to call a woman, why'd you bring a beggar? You wanna die?!"

"Th-That... She's our village apothecary, Hero-nim."

'Douglas, Owner of the Dover Village Hoff Pub' quickly answered, glancing nervously between me and the heroes.

"Ah~ The kind apothecary who gave us our daily potions~!"

"Hey! Thanks to you, we recovered all our lost health and mana! As thanks, come over here and have a drink with us!"

"Shut up. Give me back my stolen potions if you don't want to die."

At my words, the Hoff Pub fell dead silent for a moment.

Creeak.

Finally, one of the group stood up.

"We earned those rewards by rightfully defeating monsters. Why should we return them?"

He staggered threateningly toward me.

"That's right! There's no apothecary in Bilwood!"

At that, the rest of them shot up too, clenching their fists and shouting.

"We are 'Heroes'! Do you think a tiny countryside place like this could survive monster attacks without heroes?!"

"Instead of offering more potions, how dare a mere apothecary..."

Perhaps because I looked easy in my worn-out hood, they quickly surrounded me.

I was already sick and tired of hearing their 'hero' chants over the past two years.

So, without another word, I threw a punch at the one closest to me.

Peok!

"Ack! Wh-What...!"

The bastard, hit unexpectedly, clutched his nose and screamed.

"D-Dammit! Kill that bastard!"

The others, who had been bewildered by the sudden turn of events, immediately charged at me with fierce curses.

"You're the ones who are going to die."

After letting Jack and the other Dover Village hero riffraff go so anticlimactically, I had chewed over my regret time and time again.

Why hadn't I thought of using a skill then?

"Onslaught."

[Lv.999 Onslaught skill has been activated.]

Good.

Let's unleash all the resentment from the past two years today.