Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 77

Episode 77

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"So... you're all gathered here because you have nowhere else to go?"

At my question, which I asked as if I was dumbfounded, the elves, including Elaine, nodded awkwardly.

From among the silent adults, only Lucy shouted brightly.

"That's wight, pwetty onni. We dunno where to go!"

"Ha..."

I let out a dry laugh, completely baffled.

It was one problem after another, here and there.

'Well... it's true that even if slaves escape, they have nowhere to go right away.'

It feels a bit wrong to say this, but hadn't even Elaine, who succeeded in escaping early on, been living hand-to-mouth, stealing?

I had never expected to run into such a realistic problem while playing a game, so I seriously pondered how to handle this situation.

'What happened in the original story?'

If I had played according to the main scenario, the liberated slaves' welfare would naturally have been handed over to the Imperial Palace.

The user who made their achievements known that way would catch Kassel's eye and get to claim an advantageous dungeon in the tournament.

However, for me, who had cleared the slave liberation quest in an abnormal way, that didn't apply.

'Damn this game. Isn't it all over once you free them?'

As I was thinking about the original game's progression, I suddenly recalled my last conversation with Kassel.

"There would also be the option of handing them over to the Temple and the Imperial Palace, along with the sinners and slaves."

Thinking about it now, it seemed he'd had questions not only about the cursed doll but also about me not caring for the slaves' welfare afterward.

As if he had predicted this very situation.

'No way! What the hell would that bastard know.'

I shook my head violently, denying that he had been right.

In that situation, getting the slaves out first was the best I could do.

He was about to blow up the black market, and if I, who was neither a hero nor a noble, had tried to take the slaves to the Imperial Palace, I would have been chased away without even setting foot on the doorstep.

This was before Kassel was reinstated as Crown Prince, and even if it had been after his reinstatement...

'Anyway, we're both hiding our identities from each other right now, aren't we?'

Even if I tried to entrust the slaves to them using his name, I would have to show up in the same state as when we'd run into each other at the black market.

But I was done getting entangled with him in my true form.

'He already keeps probing me, like he has some weird suspicion...!'

If I got entangled with him one more time and got caught, revealing I was the Apothecary, it would be an immediate death ending.

'Ugh!'

A shiver went down my spine at the easily imaginable, horrifying conclusion, and I trembled.

Was it because I, who had been silent for a while, suddenly started shaking?

"Um..."

Suddenly, a woman with familiar green hair stepped forward.

It seemed the elves had finally decided on a representative.

"You said your name was Shari, right? I'm Elena. Elaine's older sister and Lucy's mom."

"Ah..."

"First of all, I'm truly sorry. We didn't intend to be this much of a burden..."

Elena apologized to me, bowing her head with a genuinely sorry expression.

It wasn't the slaves' fault they had nowhere to go.

I hadn't expected such an apology, so I felt a little embarrassed.

"It's fine, well... The circumstances aren't ideal, so it can't be helped."

"See, noona. I told you the Teacher Apothecary-noona would say it's fine."

"Will you be quiet?"

Elena, who had shot a terrifying glare at Elaine for chiming in cluelessly, immediately changed her expression and added sweetly to me.

"Still, we're looking hard for jobs, so we should be able to move out soon. So if you could just bear with us for a little while..."

While I was listening to Elena, who was earnestly trying to persuade me on behalf of the less-than-silver-tongued Elaine.

"Jobs...?"

A tempting word brushed past my ear.

"You're looking for jobs?"

"Y, yes. We all went out looking today, but most of the shops in the capital said they don't hire slaves, so we didn't have much luck..."

"By any chance, do you know how to grow things like medicinal herbs?"

I cut Elena off and hurriedly asked back.

"That's our specialty..."

An answer came from the group of elves.

A male elf, who looked a bit older than Elena, muttered with an indifferent face.

"What else is there for elves who live in the forest to do? We just looked after trees and plants with the spirits, picked fruit, and farmed..."

"Great. Housing decided!"

Without needing to hear any more, the elves' welfare was decided.

People who were homeless, destitute, and didn't have a programmed setting to shower heroes with gifts.

On top of that, they would be extremely wary of outsiders due to the trauma of being slaves. Where else would I find such perfect workers?

Having made my decision, I immediately took action.

"Take this, Green Mask. And everyone else, follow me."

I took several Dover Village Teleport Scrolls from my pocket and handed them to Elaine.

At that, the elves stared at me with bewildered expressions.

"So suddenly...?"

Among them, that bastard Elaine stared at me with the most narrowed eyes.

"Teacher Apothecary-noona. Don't tell me you're planning to sell us all... Mmph!"

"Please just shut your mouth, Elaine!"

Elena, belatedly horrified, clamped her hand over Elaine's mouth, but it was already too late.

[Elaine Griselda now holds a faint hostility toward you.]

[Elaine Griselda now holds a slight suspicion toward you.]

'That bastard. I worked my ass off to save him and this is what I get...'

I was dumbfounded by the system windows popping up one after another.

I understood his deep concern for his kin, who had just been freed from slavery, but wasn't he the one who brought the elves to the hotel in the first place?

It was ridiculous that he was worried I'd sell them off now, after relying on me because they had nowhere else to go.

"No one will even take you in the capital, the most populated city in the Empire, so who would I sell you to? If you were such welcome beings, you wouldn't have had to live by thieving."

"..."

"And trafficking non-human races is strictly illegal."

When I retorted in a cold voice, the hotel room instantly grew solemn.

The elves' faces darkened, including Elaine, whose mouth was still covered by his sister.

It seemed it was because of their different appearance; non-human races were ostracized in the Empire.

They were coexisting now, but in any case, the people of the Empire had been plagued by monsters for a very long time.

So, it was a rather detailed setting that they couldn't help but be wary of anyone who looked even slightly different.

[Elaine Griselda now feels a certain level of disappointment toward you.]

[Elaine Griselda temporarily retracts the suspicion he held toward you.]

Unable to refute my words, Elaine's contradictory inner thoughts were laid bare through the system window.

He was the one who had been suspicious first; what a funny bastard.

However, seeing the completely sunken atmosphere, I wondered if I had pointed out reality a bit too bluntly.

"...So, I'm thinking of hiring you all."

I added belatedly, and clapped my hands together once, hard, to lighten the mood.

Clap!

"Alright. If you understand, stop with the useless chatter, and let's all move."

With those words, I tore a teleport scroll first.

"Let's meet again in Dover Village."

Shhhk. My vision distorted.

Whether they followed or not was now their choice.

"Onni! Lucy's here too!"

And, as expected, the elves arrived in the cramped shop with me almost simultaneously.

"Wh, where is this?"

"Why is it so messy..."

"The shop's a bit dirty, isn't it. Everyone, this way."

The dozen or so elves, packed tightly into the small space, looked around the messy shop interior with bewildered expressions.

I calmly led them to the back door.

Escaping the cramped interior and stepping out into the wide-open fields behind, it definitely felt easier to breathe.

The elves obediently followed me outside.

The last one out was Elaine, still with a dark expression, but he had a nuisance attached to his side.

"Let go! You bastards could have just left me in the capital and gone on your own, why drag me along...!"

"Die."

"Aaaaaah!"

Ballakk's resistance, as he struggled against being dragged along, was thus simply concluded.

In the meantime, the elves who had looked around the herb garden each added a word.

"My goodness, what on earth happened to this field..."

"The herb roots are all damaged. Who on earth harvested them so crudely?!"

"This shouldn't be arranged like this!"

It was partly due to the thieves rummaging through everything, but what the elves paid the most attention to were the piles of herbs the village residents had harvested in advance.

The incompetent Dover Village residents did as they were told, but their work efficiency was sorely lacking.

It was common for them to be unable to distinguish between types properly, and the loss rate was high because they couldn't handle them correctly.

When the elves recognized this at a glance, I became extremely pleased with my snap decision.

'I really am a genius.'

I was a hundred, no, a thousand times right to bring them here.

"Attention!"

Wanting to hire them quickly and find peace of mind, I hurried to speak.

"Everyone, as you can see, this is my home and a shop that sells herbs and potions. I'm the owner, the Apothecary."

At my words, all the elves, including Elaine, looked at me with strange expressions.

No one said it out loud, but they didn't seem to believe at all that this was such a peaceful place or that I was an ordinary citizen.

'What, why? Is there anyone as virtuous as me?!'

Of course, I had used a bit of magic in front of them, but it felt a little unfair to be looked at as if I were a criminal.

"Ahem, hem! The reason the shop is in this state is because thieves broke in last night."

"Thieves?"

"Goodness. Was there no one guarding the field?"

"There was, but there wasn't."

As I muttered grimly, thinking of the incompetent residents, the elves looked puzzled.

However, no one pried.

Thanks to that, I could continue my explanation smoothly without my blood pressure rising.

"What you all will do is, first, clean up the shop, and then you can grow herbs. Simple, right?"

"Ah, that's easy as eating cold soup!"

"I'll do my best, dedicating my whole body!"

"Me too!"

At my words, the elves clenched their fists and answered resolutely.

"Ah, I'm saying this just in case there's a misunderstanding!"

At their extraordinary reaction, I quickly added.

"I'm not saying I'm going to work you as slaves in my house. I'm obviously going to pay you wages. So, just do as much as you're paid. Got it?"

"W, wages?"

As if they'd naturally expected to be worked unpaid, the elves' eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes. You are the employees, I am the employer... Ah. Elena, and take this."

I wasn't done yet, but I was disappointed they were already surprised.

I hurriedly rummaged through my pocket and handed Elena a bundle.

It was a bundle of one million Coins, strung with glittering gold coins.

"The shop is small, so use this to buy materials, build houses to live in, and figure it out. Use this money to buy necessities. This money for food, this money is..."

At the endless stream of gold coin bundles, the elves' jaws dropped in shock.

But I wasn't done, and hammered the point of my wealth home.

"Ah. And all the land here is mine, so don't worry about it and use it."

As soon as I had extorted a significant amount of compensation from the developers, I had started a small loan-sharking business, lending small sums to my neighbors.

It was a simulation I ran in advance, before I escaped the game and started preying on the users.

I also accepted land or goods in-kind instead of money, but as is the case with people who take out private loans, a-majority of them couldn't pay back.

As I collected land little by little like that, 90% of this alley had become my land before I knew it.

The virtue of an employer is, by definition, capital that flows like water.

"How about recreating the village the elves lived in over there in that empty space? That area over there would be fun to decorate with a fantastical theme..."

To think I could finally fill this empty space that was nothing but fields and grass!

I excitedly offered up ideas, but for some reason, the elves all shook their heads with dumbfounded expressions.