“Excuse me? The pay…?”
I asked hesitantly as if I had suddenly forgotten what I was about to say.
Suddenly, a scene flashed through my mind like lightning.
“Hand over all the potions to me and leave. I’ll make sure you get paid handsomely.”
It was a proposal the aide had made before we arrived at the dining hall.
I dismissed it as one of the many tricks of the monster to stop the disaster.
‘Adam Hailey? Why?’
Have the players ever encountered a situation like this before?
I looked at Adam with confused eyes.
The eyes of those tainted by magic had a hazy look, with their pupils dilated strangely. However, Adam’s blue eyes remained clear and sharp.
「 [Adam Hailey] is displeased with your silence. 」
Maybe it was because he grew impatient because of my silent stare. Suddenly, a system window appeared, and his brows narrowed slightly.
Though still bewildered, I had no choice but to accept it now.
I nodded slowly.
“…Yes, a bit.”
“You damn coward! When did a small-timer like you think you could make so much money?”
“Bill, that’s enough.”
Along with my acceptance, Adam interrupted the angry outburst from the aide with an annoyed expression.
His brow furrowed in an unfamiliar way.
“I see. Let’s adjust it a bit more and talk again tomorrow.”
With that, he dismissed me.
I could hear the aide mumbling discontentedly behind him, but at that moment, I couldn’t hear him properly due to the words that appeared in the air.
「 [Adam Hailey] feels a slight liking towards you. 」
I left the castle with a strange feeling.
It was getting dark outside.
As I hurried towards the main tower, I finally let out a sigh.
“I don’t understand what’s going on…”
I had thought about it all the way here, but I still couldn’t comprehend why Adam had suddenly made such a proposal to me through the boss.
He had to prevent the impending disaster at all costs.
It was a matter unrelated to the game’s story.
He was the lord of this place.
Besides, this wasn’t only the place where his knights and people who had sworn loyalty to him lived, but also a ‘home’ filled with memories of his deceased parents.
In the video that played if the disaster couldn’t be averted, Adam Hailey’s desperate cries while looking at the land that had turned into a pit and disappeared without a trace still haunted me.
In the end, Cassel, stained with absolute evil, disappears, and Adam ends his life by suicide.
After that, it was game over, and there was no need to say anything more…
Thinking about it again made me grimace.
After confirming that there was no one around, I immediately opened the chat.
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― Me: Excuse me. Can the main
character also become a host for the monster?
― [GM Ari]: Shari, nice shot! Your performance
today was truly amazing! The wicked villain couldn’t
even move a muscle in the face of your audacity!
― [GM Sera]: I knew you had a knack for
improvisation, but I didn’t know you could be
this reckless, Junior!
― [GM Sera]: Can we start calling you
☆Runaway Mouth (talks big with an open mouth)★
from today onwards?
― [GM Jinu]: What are you going to do
if you get caught lying?
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“Runaway Mouth?!”
Once again, the chat window exploded with messages in response to the streamers’ rants.
They seemed like compliments, but when you look at it closely, they were all mockery about my fabricated lies.
‘These people… they can’t even cheer me on for getting out of a tough situation.’
Feeling annoyed, I frowned and typed my response.
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― Me: What’s up with that? -_-
I have to insist that there are memory loss side
effects when you overdose on sleeping potions.
― [GM Sera]: Indeed, Runaway Mouth has
made quite an impression.
― [GM Jinu]: Did your intimacy level
hit rock bottom?
― Me: So, I should just stay quiet and
let myself be accused of being a witch?
― Me: And please answer the question
already!!!!!
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The question I had asked when I first opened the chat had long been pushed out of view. Adding five exclamation marks for emphasis, I finally received a somewhat reluctant response.
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― [GM Ari]: There is no scenario in this story where
The main character falls victim to monsters.
― Me: But why did Adam ask me through
the aide to give them the potions and leave?
― [GM Ari]: I’m sorry, but this is the first time for
me… ㅠ Has anyone else ever encountered
something like this?
― [GM Sera]: I, too, am in the same boat.
― [GM Jinu]: Nope.
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“Ugh…”
I let out a deep sigh as I looked at the consecutive chat messages. Ari seemed to hesitate before typing a useless response.
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― [GM Ari]: Maybe Adam has his own reasons?
― Me: What reasons?
― [GM Ari]: (Typing…)
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They had admitted that they didn’t know themselves, so there was no way they could provide an answer.
However, I couldn’t accept it so easily.
‘How can the developers not know?’
Sera gently reassured me as if she could read my thoughts.
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― [GM Sera]: Junior, we can monitor your
situation through this chat server,
but we can’t grasp all variables.
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But… no way!
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― Me: You guys haven’t played this
far, have you?
― [GM Ari]: (Typing…)
― [GM Sera]: (Typing…)
― [GM Jinu]: (Typing…)
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“Ah, forget it!”
I closed the chat window, fearing that I might die of frustration or anger before starvation if I continued.
I could find out what was going on tomorrow anyway.
With that thought, I stared at the top of the tower in front of me.
‘Ugh… I don’t want to go.’
My head throbbed at the thought of catering to Cassel’s whims.
Honestly, I was confused about whether I should really prevent the disaster for the game’s ending or if the main character had just gone completely off the rails.
But I had to go.
I had to provide food for the Greatsword with the whopping 27 Dark Essences that I had acquired.
I also needed to check on Cassel’s condition, who had been left unattended with potions.
I trudged up the rickety stairs.
Creak, squeak…
After opening the prison door, I entered with a slight sense of tension.
“…Sir, I’m here. It’s Shari, the apothecary.”
I stood right in front of the prison door, peering inside.
I decided not to get too close, remembering the nightmare of getting too close and being nearly choked to death.
Although Cassel had freed himself from the chains of the handcuffs, his feet were still securely bound by leg irons.
So, as long as I don’t approach him like an idiot, it’s impossible for him to get to the door where I am.
Thankfully, it seemed like the frantic phase was over, and he was leaning against the wall, sitting quietly.
“How… is your body feeling now… wait?”
As I carefully observed the guy who didn’t even bother to respond, suddenly…
Tap, tap!
In contrast to my earlier proclamation of not being foolish, I hurriedly rushed towards Cassel.
“One, two, three, four, five, six…”
Wait, except for the stamina potion I gave him, there were a total of five empty potion bottles rolling in front of his feet.
I counted them and was left dumbfounded.
“You… You’ve consumed all of these already?!”
“…”
In response to my almost scream-like question, he finally turned his head to stare at me.
He didn’t answer, but his gaze was as confident as if he were saying, ‘So what?’
‘Please, can someone do something about this madman?’
Is this what it feels like to almost faint?
I had emptied the prison for a maximum of about two hours.
I generously provided him with five bottles just in case, but in just two hours, Cassel had consumed all the awakening potions.
In other words, the lunatic protagonist had paved his way to drug immunity all by himself.
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