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― [GM Sera]: Head to the laundry room in the east.
― [GM Sera]: Can you see the servant cleaning
the fountain in the garden?
― [GM Sera]: On the path leading to
the training ground…
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Thanks to Sera actively pointing out the locations, I busied myself moving around.
Finally, I was on my way back to the tower after dealing with two knights near the training ground.
‘16.’
That was the number of Essences of Darkness I had acquired today. It wasn’t a bad harvest compared to regular players, but it didn’t satisfy me much.
It was probably because they seemed extra cautious due to the incident at the servants’ dining hall yesterday.
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― Me: Thanks.
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I was about to casually say goodbye when Jinu, who had been quiet until now, chimed in.
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― [GM Jinu]: But why grind manually when
you’re using AoE weapons?
― [GM Sera]: Come to think of it, that’s true.
Don’t tell me… you’ve been deceiving
me to find their locations?!
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Jinu’s following words left me speechless. Here I was, trapped because of someone else, playing a game I never wanted to.
Not only can’t they catch the parasites themselves, but now they even accuse me of deceit!
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― Me: Because AoE weapons work better when
you group them together -_-
Ever heard of mob hunting?
― Me: Also, why don’t you find a way to log me out
quickly instead of staring here all day?
― [GM Jinu]: (Typing…)
― [GM Sera]: (Typing…)
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After closing the quiet chat window, I immediately headed to the top of the tower.
In between hunting the Essence of Darkness, I occasionally went back to the tower to give Cassel some awakening potions.
Fortunately, the potion’s duration hadn’t decreased from 10 minutes. However, if things continued this way, I didn’t know when it might stop working altogether.
‘Please… don’t let it come to that.’
With a heavy heart, I opened the prison door.
“I’m here.”
The greetings were getting shorter, but Cassel thankfully didn’t seem to mind.
“Is everything okay?”
The sun was slowly setting. Inside the prison, the glow from the setting sun seeped in through a small window.
I paused as I checked on Cassel’s condition.
‘Indeed, the male lead isn’t the male lead for nothing.’
Sitting directly in the red sunset glow, Cassel looked like a painting.
He had only wiped himself with a towel and changed his torn pants into clean ones, yet he seemed to radiate an inexplicable aura.
Maybe he noticed my presence because his eyelids, which had been calmly closed, lifted, revealing his eyes that were more reddish.
It was a color that glowed unusually vividly in the midst of his dark aura.
A blazing ruby and dark onyx, Cassel’s eyes were often mesmerizing.
Apart from his mouth that spouted harsh words, objectively or subjectively, he was incredibly handsome.
‘But I’m prettier.’
Feeling a strange pride, I was about to dismiss my thoughts when he spoke.
“Where have you been swaggering around this time?”
Except that the ‘apart from his mouth’ part of him put up an argument once again.
It was a bit frustrating to hear, especially since I had just come back from working hard and farming Essences of Darkness.
But since I always left abruptly saying I had ‘things to do,’ it was understandable that Cassel would be curious.
I replied quietly.
“I had something to attend to.”
“The Count’s servants are strict with outsiders. It would be lucky if you don’t get thrown out for causing trouble.”
“Trouble? What are you talking about…?!”
I was about to shout, but then I realized something strange.
“Are you… worried about me right now?”
“Ha. Me, worried about you?”
At my unexpected question, Cassel burst into laughter.
「 [The Lord of Nightmares] finds your words absurd. 」
I wondered how ridiculous it must have seemed to even prompt a system message.
However, I didn’t back down and retorted sharply.
“Yes, or else it’s none of your concern whether I cause trouble or anything else.”
“You crawled in exactly one hour after throwing six potions at me, and now you say it’s none of my concern?”
“I’ve never crawled in before.”
With that reply, I squinted and scanned his surroundings.
I immediately spotted two potion bottles filled with purple liquid rolling around.
‘There’s only two left with 20 minutes still on the clock!’
I pointed at them accusingly.
“It hasn’t been an hour yet…!”
Thud, thud—!
That’s when it happened.
Someone vigorously banged on the prison door, a rare occurrence.
And then…
“Apothecary Shari Azrael!”
“Huh, me?”
“The Count has issued a stern order to arrest you on charges of harming his associates and stealing supplies!”
“What…?”
“Come out on your own before we drag you out!”
I stood dumbfounded at the man’s voice outside.
“I must have misunderstood since it’s already done.”
Cassel snorted at my reaction, but I had no time to get irritated.
Thud, thud!
“Shari Azrael! Right now!”
“Ah, give me a moment!”
I reluctantly got up from my seat, irritated by the knights’ impatient voices.
‘What… is everything going according to plan?’
After I spent all day wandering around the mansion, there was no way the boss was going to leave me alone.
Though I hadn’t anticipated being arrested and dragged away so miserably…
“This time might take a bit longer.”
I approached Cassel with gloves on and handed him the awakening potions.
[Insomnia-Inducing Awakening Potion] ×40
Even though I planned to finish quickly, I gave him enough to last until midnight, just in case.
Of course, I would definitely return before midnight. Today, I’ll finally finish this damned Greatsword Regeneration Quest once and for all.
Just then, Cassel, who had been silently staring at the potions I offered, suddenly blurted out.
“Hand over everything you have.”
“What are you talking about?”
While I was stunned by his sudden demand, Cassel’s mouth freely moved again.
“It’s not about being late, is it? You might never come back.”
“Unfortunately, this is all I have.”
“Should I search you for five seconds?”
He said this while deliberately rattling his chains.
I stepped back a few paces, pale with shock, and shouted.
“You swore not to touch me!”
“I promised not to threaten you, not that I wouldn’t touch you.”
“It’s the same thing to me! Any action from you is a threat!”
“This is absurd. You don’t even think about what you’ve done…”
He stared at me as if I were pathetic, then shook his head.
‘What have I done?’
I wasn’t buying the absurd bluff that I tried to kill him with the potion tranquilizer gun.
“I need to leave, so just take these quickly.”
I roughly shook the potion bottles I offered him.
However, instead of accepting the potions, he continued to blabber without intending to take them.
“…It’s probably because of towels and clothes if they’re saying it’s theft of supplies.”
The knight listed it as one of my crimes when he was outside.
I nodded without much enthusiasm.
Somehow, I had a feeling this would happen. After all, the only things I had collected here were those.
“They won’t trust a sinner’s testimony.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“And since there’s also the charge of harming the servants, there won’t be anyone to vouch for you.”
I was dumbfounded by what he said.
‘So, you’re saying no one will take my side, and I’ll be stuck with the blame?’
Although I appreciated his detailed explanation of my predicament, I was already well aware of it.
“Ha. First, you curse me, saying we’ll never meet again, and now you’re offering testimony?”
I asked sarcastically, and his eyebrow twitched, seemingly surprised.
“I wouldn’t stand up for someone like you…”
“Fine by me. I wasn’t planning on asking you to testify anyway.”
I cut him off cleanly. I hadn’t expected anything from him in the first place.
Thinking about the knights waiting outside, I let out a short sigh and placed the potions on his feet.
“If you don’t want to take it, I can leave it here and go…”
But that was when it happened.
Out of nowhere, he grabbed my wrist tightly and held it as I leaned over so I couldn’t move.
“What could you possibly do?”
It didn’t hurt, but it was an incredible display of strength.
Shocked by the intense pressure, I looked at where he was holding me.
‘Contact…’
The guy who hated contact with others so much that he would kill players for it was voluntarily holding onto me.
A creepy premonition flashed through my mind, and I fired words like a machine gun.
“I said even touching me would be a threat to me. Surely you, as a man of honor, wouldn’t go back on your word…?”
“Stop talking nonsense. Are you saying you want to be framed and imprisoned like this?”
Cassel glared at me with an angry look.
‘Is he this upset over not having more potions?’
“What exactly is the problem?”
Frustrated by his unpredictable behavior, I protested in an aggrieved tone.
“Are you worried I won’t be able to give you more awakening potions? If I become a criminal, I might as well be locked up here with you and continue making them.”
“…”
“Without having to pay compensation, you can take advantage of my services. The Count would probably like that.”
“You…”
He called out to me in a low, guttural voice. And then…
「 [The Lord of Nightmares] is frustrated by your actions.. 」
「 [The Lord of Nightmares] thinks your intelligence is very low. 」
‘Who is he to judge my intelligence?!’
Seeing the system message, I clenched my fist in anger.
But luckily, the good thing was that he wasn’t doing this because he wanted to kill me.
I didn’t have the time or reason to figure out whatever was frustrating him.
“Don’t worry about never seeing me again, so just make sure to take your potions on time.”
I forcefully removed Cassel’s hand, which was gripping my wrist as if it wanted to break it.
It was surprisingly easy. Well, I also had a pretty high level of strength.
And then, I forcefully pushed one of the awakening potions into his now-free hand and spoke.
“Sorry to disappoint, but you’re going to have to put up with seeing me a lot more in the future.”
It was only natural, as we would be entangled until the end.
“…”
Cassel stared down at the potion bottle I had given him.
Realizing my mistake, I quickly let go of his hand.
Even though I was wearing gloves, he found it contact uncomfortable just yesterday.
“Uh, well, I’ll be on my way then!”
Though he promised, I didn’t trust it at all, so I quickly ran towards the door.
Bang―.
As I opened the door, a knight who seemed about to knock again stood there, fist raised.
His pupils were filled with a deep darkness.
And next to him were four other knights, making it a total of five.
It was quite a lot for just capturing one apothecary; it’s not like I was some major criminal.
“Why are you so late?”
“Let’s go. You said I’m late, right?”
I carefully examined the faces of the knights and calmly stepped forward.
“Thi-this…”
The knight who was knocking was initially taken aback but eventually closed his mouth after seeing my compliant attitude.
Perhaps judging that there was no risk of escape, I fortunately wasn’t tied up and dragged away in a miserable state.
Maybe they had underestimated me.
‘Not everyone here is a host.’
As I observed the knights, I neatly organized my thoughts.
After catching so many hosts, I developed a sense for it. As I scrutinized their faces, I realized that there were people who weren’t hosts.
‘If they were all hosts, I would have seized the opportunity to collect a lot of Essences of Darkness and go on my own…’
I bit my lip in disappointment.
It seemed that the boss had realized that I was in a position of absolute advantage when only the hosts were around.
He probably decided I wouldn’t indiscriminately attack people who weren’t hosts.
‘I thought he was stupid, but he’s using his head quite well.’
Even if I went to the mansion now, it would likely be a mix of hosts and regular people.
But what he doesn’t know is this.
As long as it was a game, I would attack non-hosts too, if necessary.
Also, I could kill the hosts selectively even among those without parasites.
“Stand properly! Don’t try anything funny!”
Lost in thought, I had arrived at the mansion before I knew it.
The knights roughly dragged me in front of Adam.
Adam, who was sitting on the sofa, glanced at me.
Most of the servants, including the aide and the head maid, had gathered in the lobby.
Before leaving the office this morning, I had told Adam to comply with whatever the aide asked, as much as possible.
After all, with his sister held hostage, he wouldn’t be able to refuse.
‘About 60 people, give or take…’
It seemed like he had gathered all the employees. It would be easier for them to brand me as a sinner and kill me.
After roughly estimating the number of people present, I compared it with the remaining Essence of Darkness.
It wasn’t the time to smile, but I couldn’t help it.
There were 55 Essence of Darkness left until the Greatsword’s resurrection.
“]’Hehe. Excluding the boss, they might all be in this crowd.’
Helping me to capture them all at once was truly a blessing. All the effort of scurrying around catching low levels all day was worth it.
Now it was time to start the Essence of Darkness slaughter party.
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