Chapter 127

Chapter 127. Settlement

Skipping all the pathetic excuses and getting straight to the conclusion—

Almost all of the loot was taken from me.

What remained in my hands was one skill and the strategy guide I had left behind for future players.

In other words…

Honor.

“It always seems to end like this, Mister. Don’t you think things like this would happen less often if you lived a little more kindly?”

“It’s fine. My friends in Karantlia understand me. And Mister thinks he already lives more than kindly enough.”

“Haha. That joke isn’t funny.”

I definitely—

Definitely contributed the most to clearing that raid…!

But because of that damned contract, they took everything!

I should’ve been more ruthless when we made the contract!

I was too nice…!

The Empire took a share, saying they had been sent by the Duke!

Then a swarm of merchants from the Alliance showed up and took more!

Even someone from the black market came and took some!

Damn it!

Karantlia…

You merfolk I saved…

You’re the only ones I have left, my friends.

You’re better than humans…!

“You’ve found yourself an escape, I see. You’re going to become even weaker like this. If possible, I’d rather you depended on me…!”

“Levi, shut up. I’m in a bad mood.”

“…Hehe… Heh….”

“Ah! I hate this! You’ve been nice and quiet lately, and now look at you! You contributed a little this time, and suddenly you’re all proud of yourself! Ahhh! I hate it!”

It would probably be best to end this matter here.

Whatever.

I should just think of all of it as an investment.

Since we had properly settled the accounts this time, I should at least have earned that much trust in return.

“Hey, brat! Forget the nonsense! I found an excellent talent this time. Hurry up and go bring that child here!”

Judging by how excited Jin was, this meant one of the quests the Chairman had given me was basically finished.

So in that sense, this whole thing hadn’t been too bad.

I wanted to settle everything as quickly as possible and cut ties with the Chairman.

I hated that there were still connections between us.

“No.”

But that was one thing.

This was another.

“What?! W-Why?! Brat, think about it one more time! That child really is talented! There would be no harm in taking them as a companion!”

“No.”

“Why?!”

Because that person had been digging into my background!

They had even shamelessly approached Pai to try and get information about me!

Whether they were useful or talented had nothing to do with me.

Even whether Jin needed them to solve her own problem wasn’t something I had to care about.

Not at all.

There was only one thing that mattered to me.

Whether that person could become a threat to me.

That was it.

“As you already know, I’m pretty selfish.”

“Brat! How can you say that?! I know you are, but you cherish those you consider your people, do you not?! After spending all this time together, am I still not one of your people?!”

“…That’s right, Mister! How can you do that?! Don’t you feel sorry for Jin?!”

Aien.

Why are you sympathizing with Jin?

I genuinely don’t understand.

Jin and Aien kept firing complaints at me from both sides, but I didn’t particularly have anything to say.

If I told Jin, who was overflowing with hope, that this person had been snooping around behind my back, she would only be more disappointed.

At the very least, until I figured out who they were, whether they were connected to the person stalking me, and what their objective was—

Absolutely not.

“Brat, you can trust me. That child carries the power of hope within their heart. Would it not also be better for the future to keep such a child close and guide them?”

“Oh my~ Look at this little cutie. Trying to turn our baby into a baaad person just so you can keep someone you like nearby! No, no, you can’t do that!”

“Shut up, you lanky fool! I was not speaking to you! Brat, could you not reconsider just once?”

“….”

If she was begging this desperately, even my heart started to soften a little.

But I still didn’t want to bring a potential threat into our group.

Jin was far too excited.

If I carelessly said something, dealing with what came afterward would be a pain.

So it would be better to explain things carefully.

“Jin. I have eyes too. And I can think for myself. I’ll seriously consider your opinion. Of course I will. You’re one of the senior members of our group, after all.”

“…That means you are not going to accept my opinion….”

“No, that’s not what I… Haa… Jin, I don’t have the same eyes you do. I need time to understand someone. I trust your judgment, but I don’t trust my own. And precisely because of that, I need to confirm things myself before I can trust my decision.”

Lately, it felt like I was constantly calming down little kids.

At this rate, wasn’t I going to end up working as a kindergarten teacher someday?

…No.

The real me wasn’t that kind of person.

If I had to deal with children in reality, I’d probably get scared and run away first.

“…Then let’s do this. I’ll meet that person. I need to see what kind of person they are with my own eyes.”

Jin tilted her head several times after hearing my words.

Then, apparently finding a spark of hope, she smiled brightly and nodded.

I see.

To Jin, that person was proof that Jin herself truly existed.

What a sad life.

Seriously.

“Then I shall guide you there immediately! That child should still be somewhere nearby!”

“Yes, let’s do that. Seeing you so happy makes me happy too, Jin.”

“Haha! You rascal! You have learned to say empty words you do not mean! You’ve become more human!”

…That wasn’t an insult, right?

Step, step.

I walked into the group holding their own small celebration for clearing the raid and searched for the members of the rear support team.

It seemed everyone was already familiar with my appearance.

No—

Maybe it was Jayeon’s appearance they were familiar with.

Either way, the way everyone stared as I approached felt like their gazes would bore holes straight through me.

“There! That child is over there. Brat, even if the child slips up and says something foolish, please show mercy. I am certain that child will be useful to you.”

“Let’s see.”

Fine.

I’d take a look.

There was nothing to lose.

I was also curious about what kind of person Jin had grown so fond of.

Slide.

I sat down in front of the person who was laughing together with the others, wearing a confused yet unbelievably innocent and pure expression.

They were a nice person who had somehow made a good impression on most of the rear support team despite only spending around two days with them.

They seemed fairly popular even at the party.

Even after I sat down in front of them, people kept calling out to them and offering drinks from every direction.

And they accepted everything naturally.

“You seem pretty used to gatherings like this.”

They absolutely radiated the atmosphere of a good person.

The fact that I was already wondering whether the person I was seeing might be fake probably made me the bad guy here.

“Huh? Ah, yes! I hang out like this with my friends pretty often, so I’m used to it!”

“Oh, you must have a lot of friends. I’m jealous. I only play games, so I don’t have any friends.”

“Come on, that’s not true. Raid Leader, you were really amazing today! And I heard you charged into the heart of the castle alone and finished everything yourself? That’s incredible!”

“Haha… Ha. It was just killing a boss in a game. You don’t have to praise me that much.”

Was that fake?

Flattery?

Just empty compliments?

What was it?

Then why were you trying to dig up information about me?

What, are you secretly my fan or something?

Why the hell are there always people following me around?

Do I have some kind of scent that attracts people with terrible personalities?

“I heard you performed really well during this raid. My companions have been keeping an eye on you.”

“Y-Yes?! By companions… do you mean Ms. Lucy?”

“…No.”

Lucy had complained both in the game and in reality that some snot-nosed brat kept wagging their tail around her and annoying her.

She never directly said it, but it was basically an intense protest demanding to know why I had given her that role.

“Ah… But I didn’t really do anything impressive during the raid. Even those monsters that came around from behind… it looked like I killed them, but that was actually because of a bug.”

“That wasn’t a bug.”

At the time, I had wondered where Jin had suddenly disappeared to.

Apparently, she had found someone she liked and gone off to protect them.

And thanks to that, the raid group had managed to clear everything without taking heavy losses.

But…

Was that okay?

Jin was still an NPC from an unreleased region, wasn’t she?

Wasn’t she technically a character that didn’t exist yet?

She was probably only supposed to be some vague rumor right now.

She really shouldn’t be drawing attention to herself.

“Do you know something about it?”

“Well… if you tell me a little about yourself first, then I’ll tell you.”

“…All right. Ask me anything. I’ll answer as sincerely as I can.”

The person practically leaked good-natured energy.

They were the kind of person you occasionally met who could brighten the entire atmosphere of a group simply by being there.

Completely different from me.

I could be part of a group and barely make any difference whether I was there or not.

So I couldn’t understand what was going on inside someone like this.

But this was a game.

And I was different inside the game.

I would pressure them as much as possible.

“You haven’t been playing for very long, right? I’d guess less than a week.”

“Yes, that’s right. But maybe because the game is so friendly, it hasn’t been that difficult. It explained things really kindly even though I didn’t know anything.”

“Hmm? Hmmm. Really? This game was… friendly?”

What part of this damned game was friendly?

It dumped you into an unfamiliar world and explained absolutely nothing.

Maybe the system messages this person saw were extremely friendly?

System messages could appear differently depending on the person, so it was entirely possible.

“How did you know I was organizing a raid group here? You’re a beginner, so I doubt you already knew much about the Maze Forest.”

“Ah, I saw it on the forums. I really like games, you see. I’m good at finding the information I need!”

“Haha, really? That makes even less sense. This place isn’t on the currently recommended progression route for beginners. Doesn’t the guide even say that new players shouldn’t touch raid content?”

“Ah, well, that…!”

“You read the forums a lot, you like games, and from the way you talk, you seem like someone who cares about efficiency… But I suppose this kind of game might make someone ignore guides.”

“H-Haha! Exactly! You can’t find another game like this anywhere! I wanted to experience this world freely too.”

“Oh! Impressive. Raid preparations made this whole place incredibly hectic, yet you still somehow decided to come all the way here. There’s not much to see around here, and there’s barely anything here in the first place. How was the raid group? It must’ve been inconvenient having to follow orders.”

“Haha… Hah… Somehow, it just happened….”

Maybe everyone around us had noticed the atmosphere changing.

The people drinking nearby slowly began leaving their seats.

Pai and the village chief quietly came to stand behind me.

At some point, those two had started acting almost like my closest aides.

Meanwhile, the remaining three watched from a distance like children who didn’t want to interrupt an adult conversation.

I didn’t like getting farther away from the kids.

But deliberately creating opportunities to get closer to them would probably only make everything even more awkward.

I’ll think about that later.

“Did you enjoy the raid?”

“Yes! It was a completely new experience, so I was really surprised! It was also my first time working together with NPCs, so that was interesting!”

“Ah! Really! Just where in the world were you playing that you never interacted with NPCs? This game barely has anything to do besides interacting with NPCs.”

“Come on, that’s not true! There are lots of things to do!”

“…Haha. Like what?”

“…Umm….”

If they had started in the Empire, the structure of the game basically forced them to become involved with NPCs no matter what they did.

Yet this was supposedly their first time working together with NPCs?

What the hell had they been doing while playing?

Had they just been following me around the entire time?

Or were they lying because they didn’t want to accidentally reveal something suspicious?

Unnecessary lies only lowered their score.

I really wished they would answer as honestly as possible.

Jin had given them bonus points, and now they were rapidly throwing those points away all by themselves.

Just look at Jin fidgeting beside me.

Jin could see through people even better than I could.

If even she was this nervous…

What exactly were you doing right now?

“Haha! Come on, you’re way too tense! Relax! Today’s a celebration.”

“Ah, yes! Understood!”

They looked as stiff as a brand-new employee on their first day at a company.

Now I was starting to feel bad.

“I really, really like this game too. This is probably too much information, but in reality, I get exhausted dealing with people. So I feel much more relaxed in a game where I don’t have to deal with that kind of thing.”

That was a lie.

I suffered far more because of people here.

In reality, only the Chairman bothered me.

Inside the game, almost everyone who knew me caused trouble for me.

The person stalking me in reality?

If I really wanted to catch them, I could do it immediately.

Aien had her eyes, after all.

I was only putting it off because if I moved recklessly, I might end up unable to pull myself away from matters involving the Chairman.

“So, our… Zl존 Choi… Mr. Zl존. You seem like someone who would know a lot about things like this, so there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Ah, are you dealing with something difficult? If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll gladly help!”

“I’ve been getting stalked lately. And they’re extremely persistent.”

“Ah… Umm… That’s a… pretty heavy subject….”

Their pupils immediately started trembling, and they began stumbling over their words.

That meant something had clearly come to mind.

This person looked nice enough that their first reaction should have been something like—

What?! Really? Have you contacted the police? Oh no, that must be awful.

Instead, that was their first response.

From the look of things, they probably weren’t the stalker themselves.

But they definitely knew who it was.

Maybe they were even companions.

Could they be someone the Chairman planted?

Should I kill them?

“Seriously, sometimes they’re so persistent that if I ever catch them, I just want to—bam!—crush their head.”

“T-That! Isn’t that… a little extreme?”

“You only say that because you’ve never experienced it. Haven’t you heard any stories like that around you, Mr. Zl존? I asked because you seemed like someone who might be familiar with that sort of thing.”

“C-Come on~ Stories like that aren’t exactly common. I don’t really know either.”

“Hahaha! Liiiar.”

Both of us went silent at the same time.

The noisy party seemed to fade away as we stared at each other in silence.

The person clearly had something to hide.

They were visibly tense.

And looking at them made me feel something difficult to describe.

Should I call it pathetic?

Or maybe I was afraid that I was completely mistaken.

I was also scared that, like with the Chairman, everything I casually threw out would somehow turn out to be true.

“Um….”

“Yes?”

“How much… do you know?”

“…Ah.”

That anxious look.

The way they openly revealed themselves the moment they realized they’d been caught.

A natural liar couldn’t do that.

A bad person would be even less likely to.

If they had intended to lie until the end, they would have tried everything possible to deceive me.

This person simply had such absolute faith in their own sense of justice that they weren’t capable of living comfortably after telling lies.

Still, I should confirm it.

“You know me, don’t you?”

“…Yes….”

“Why did you do this?”

“…I’ll be honest. I was jealous.”

…Of me?

Why?

What part of me could possibly make someone jealous?

I was currently trying to find a bigger place because I had somehow gained a teenage daughter and a wolf the size of a person.

What exactly about that was enviable?

“I failed to save someone. No… because of me, that person was probably hurt.”

“…I see.”

Oh.

You’re Manga Guy.

Right.

Now I understood.

Aien currently had the traitorous woman’s body, and I was living with her.

Manga Guy had interacted with that woman to some extent.

So because he was worried about her, he had started following me.

And when he said he was jealous…

He probably meant he was jealous after seeing the traitorous woman—or rather, Aien—happily getting along with me.

“When I saw the person I failed to save smiling happily beside Ingwang, I felt completely pathetic.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Whenever she met me… she never smiled even once.”

Of course she didn’t.

You two fought with your lives on the line, and you almost actually killed her once.

If she happily grinned at someone like that, she would be the psychopath.

Yeah.

You’re the weird one, Manga Guy.

That wasn’t being kind.

That was being a pushover.

No—

Calling you a pushover was probably insulting to pushovers.

“That’s enough. We’ll stop here. Jin, do whatever you want.”

“As expected! You understood too, brat! This child may have made a small mistake toward you, but I am certain there was no malicious intention.”

“Intentions don’t justify actions. Still… I understand.”

There was no see you next time.

I simply left without saying anything else.

If he had something to say, he could come find me again later.

“Well, that settles another thing. Good, good.”

“You handled that surprisingly gently for someone like you, Mister.”

“Because he was a good person.”

“Wow, Ingwang can actually say something like that? I thought you hated people so much you’d never call anyone a good person.”

Time to thoroughly squish Mallang for stabbing me with facts.

How cowardly.

Bringing facts into this.

“We’ll rest for just one more day tomorrow. Starting the day after that, we’re heading out again, so everyone get plenty of rest.”

That should take care of things here.

Time to move on to the next matter.

It looked like something was about to happen in reality too.