Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Ch. 14 .｡.:✧ Escape ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“I said I used to work as the saintess’s bodyguard knight in the past. It just didn’t suit me, so I quit and left. We really had no special relationship.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“…”
Yerina stared at me silently.
If I made even a small mistake, I could freeze on the spot.
Not figuratively, but literally have my entire body freeze.
Thinking that, my head started throbbing.
“We really had no special relationship. It seems the saintess highly valued my skills and wants me to return.”
“Is that so? Then shall we read the contents of the letter? I was wrong, Yoo-jin. I’ll do better. I’ll be a good girl. I can’t live without you. Hmm. I guess there’s no need to read further.”
Now my head felt like it would split.
“Tell me honestly what your relationship is. I’ll forgive you if you tell me.”
It was a lie.
I, who wrote Yerina’s lines, knew it well.
If I told her, I was fucked.
“If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to suspect you’re a spy from an enemy nation. Cooperate, Yoo-jin. Otherwise, I’ll have to detain you.”
I knew she didn’t actually suspect me.
Her ears showed that she trusted me.
The problem was that Yerina’s ‘trust’ was somewhat different from others’.
Yerina suspected in order to trust.
And once she harbored suspicion, it continued endlessly, no, probably forever.
“Yerina. Can I go to the restroom for a moment? It’s urgent.”
“Even if you have to relieve yourself here, answer me right now.”
It meant the path to proceed with the harem route had vanished.
Confirming there was absolutely no hope, I tightly closed my eyes.
And then I dropped the smoke bomb I had at my waist.
Bang!
“Yoo-jin!”
As the small mana bomb detonated, smoke scattered around.
And at the same time, cold air rushed in from all directions, freezing everything.
Yerina began to go berserk.
“Kuk?!”
The slippery ice floor instantly transformed into a rough surface with spikes, freezing my legs.
I couldn’t pull my feet out.
I had no choice but to take off the boots Yerina had gifted me and escape barefoot.
“Why are you running away?!”
A chilling voice pierced through the smoke.
Why was I running away?
This was a complete psycho.
‘The smoke will last quite a while. I have to escape in this gap.’
No matter how much Yerina used mana to disperse the smoke, the smoke bombs I had prepared kept detonating, and the smoke only continued to increase.
In this gap, I completely escaped the ice cave and made a run for it.
Of course, Palana was a remote area among remote areas, completely isolated from the outside.
Yerina would soon escape the smoke and come chasing after me.
Of course, there was a way.
I had diligently prepared an exit strategy in case of this.
“Damn it…”
It was cold.
I was hungry.
I felt like I would die.
Dragging a boat alone in the snowstorm, it felt like my whole body would shatter at any moment.
‘It doesn’t seem like she’s chasing me.’
I had succeeded in safely escaping Palana.
Yerina was probably persistently searching only the land routes.
Of course, she would think I was trying to escape through the mountain path and board the transcontinental train.
She would think I was hiding near the platform, enduring until the train arrived, and would be searching that area.
But I chose the sea route, not the land route.
The sea route where ships absolutely never sailed except for the monthly regular transport or external ships.
From the first day I arrived here, I had asked a craftsman to build me a boat.
He looked at me like I was some crazy bastard.
The boat I had completed in secret from Yerina was packed with cold weather gear, drinking water, food, and all my assets.
And today, I pretended to escape through the land route as a fake, and immediately set the boat afloat.
They would never think that I would sail the northern sea in a small boat, not an icebreaker, in general.
I decided to exploit that blind spot.
This boat was designed to slide well on ice like a sled.
If blocked by ice, I would drag it, and when I reached water, I would float it on the water again, repeating this as I headed south.
“What a struggle this is…”
I only regretted taking off my shoes.
I didn’t think I would escape barefoot, so I didn’t separately prepare boots.
I hurriedly wrapped bandages around my feet, but still, my toes hurt as if they would be cut off at any moment.
Looking at the endless ice field, I let out deep sighs.
Ah. My mouth was freezing.
I should stop sighing.
After about half a month of sailing, I was able to reach a beach on the northern continent.
Just going down a little, the weather felt so warm.
It was still below zero, but it felt like a sweltering summer.
In the meantime, it seemed Yerina’s claws had reached here, as wanted posters with my face drawn on them were everywhere.
In the end, I immediately bought a ticket for the transcontinental train and came down to the southern continent.
It seemed I had to run away to a place where Yerina’s influence didn’t reach to be safe.
By coming to the warm south, I had succeeded in escaping Yerina’s pursuit.
-Arrest Warrant
-Name: Yoo-jin
-Charges: Treason
“Damn, what is this now?”
Here, the Pope’s Office was chasing me.
The noble saintess had sued me.
Claiming that I attempted to rape the saintess and ran away.
Putting that aside,
“What is all this?”
I accidentally stopped by the post office and saw it.
The sight of hundreds of letters piled up with ‘Yoo-jin’ written in the recipient column.
The addresses were all different.
I secretly opened a few letters, and the contents were all the same as the letter I had received in Palana.
“She didn’t know where I was after all.”
Jill hadn’t found me.
She was just sending the same letter to every address in the country.
Hoping that I might receive the letter and return to Hameln.
That meant she had done this just for that one possibility.
Crazy bitch.
-Yoo-jin. If you happen to see this message, please come to Hameln. If you come, I’ll cancel the charges. I’ll make the treason charge disappear.
“Oh gosh. You scared me.”
I stopped by the bank, saw this note stuck in my account book, and ran away in shock.
I never expected her to touch my account too.
If I had thoughtlessly withdrawn money, the Pope’s soldiers would have rushed in and taken me into custody in an instant.
Just imagining it gave me chills.
I had nowhere to go.
In the north, Yerina’s influence was strong, so if I showed my face, I would immediately have my hands and feet tied and be dragged to Palana.
In the south, the church’s power was mighty, so there was nowhere to hide.
But there was one place.
I knew a place where the power of the two forces didn’t reach.
“Wow, you’ve become a complete celebrity. Wh-what on earth did you do to make the church chase you with such fi-fiery eyes?”
“I know, right…”
Looking at the cityscape that looked like a foreign modern city unfolding outside the window,
I heard a giggle from behind as I was watching the raindrops constantly hitting the window.
Yulia, who seemed to have washed up in the meantime, put on a gown and placed a tray on the table.
It seemed she had brought liquor.
“Oh, I was so surprised.”
“I’m sorry. For dropping by so suddenly.”
“Ah, no no. It’s okay. Staying here. You, you don’t have to feel too burdened. Because Yoo-jin is my precious friend…”
Yulia readily agreed to hide me, who had unexpectedly returned.
Even though I had committed the rudeness of briefly stopping by Petenburg and leaving right away on the day I left Hameln.
I was taking advantage of Yulia’s favor.
I was exploiting Yulia by using the fact that I was the only one who knew her true self.
From the beginning, I had intended to deceive and trick all the heroines to return to reality.
Facing Yulia, who had accepted me without demanding anything in return, my guilt only grew.
“Thank you.”
“Y-you’re welcome. An expression of gratitude is m-much better than an apology.”
You didn’t think about how the listener would feel.
I chuckled and accepted the glass Yulia handed me.
The aroma was unique.
Was this the liquor Yulia had mentioned before?
The one that wasn’t popular with the public but was highly regarded by experts.
“The rumors… A-are they true?”
“That I tried to rape the saintess? Of course not. My relationship with Jill became a bit strained. So I wrote my resignation, went on a trip, and when I came back, it was like this.”
Today’s tip.
If you bid farewell with the conquest rate raised to a certain level, the girl will chase after you by any means necessary, without being picky about methods.
Whether it’s slander or whatever.
Jill had probably realized by now that Yerina was thoroughly searching for me in the north.
The harem conquest was already beyond reach.
Like this, the 1st playthrough had completely gone to hell.
Now there were only two options.
Either challenge the final boss conquest as is and attempt to achieve escape condition 2.
Or return to Jill, clear the game, and start the 2nd playthrough.
‘I hate dangerous things.’
Even if I knew the dating sim story, I had no idea what would come out in the dungeon.
It wouldn’t be strange if I died to a common dungeon gimmick before even reaching the final boss.
Yeah. Let’s go back to Jill.
The conquest with Jill had progressed to almost the stage right before dating, so if I went back now, I could kiss her in three days and clear the game.
“Heh, hehe.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Just… From the moment we first met, I had a feeling it would turn out like this. The saintess isn’t normal either. Copying someone else’s technique and acting sh-shamelessly.”
“You knew from then that I would quit being a bodyguard knight?”
“Ye-yes. On the day Yoo-jin stopped by Petenburg and left again, the saintess barged in. Demanding to hand over Yoo-jin right away… I realized it then. That the saintess had made a mistake and the relationship had gone awry.”
“Hahahaha. Thanks for taking my side.”
“I’m n-not taking sides. Yoo-jin is really not at fault. If there’s any fault, it’s just that you’re a b-bit of a playboy?”
I was taken aback.
I clinked glasses with Yulia, who was laughing while covering her mouth, and gulped down the bitter liquor.
“Y-you don’t discriminate between races, Yoo-jin? Humans, elves, and even demihumans…”
“What? Demihumans?”
“Didn’t you go to Palana to s-seduce a demihuman woman?”
Yulia sent me a puzzled look.
But soon she realized her mistake, and her expression gradually hardened.
Palana.
Why would that place name come up now?
I hadn’t told anyone that I took the transcontinental train to Palana.
“Ah…”
It was too late even if she belatedly covered her mouth.
All the pieces of the puzzle had already been put together.
With Petenburg’s information network, it would have been easy to find out that I had purchased a transcontinental train ticket.
Yulia had known everything about where I was and what I was doing.
If she knew all the information, predicting the future wasn’t difficult.
No, with Petenburg’s power, it would be possible to manipulate the future as desired.
The hangover medicine that Jill had taken when she came for sightseeing in Petenburg.
Who had given her that?
There was no way Jill, who didn’t even know about the existence of hangover medicine on the first day, would have suddenly bought it on the second day.
Someone must have given it to her, telling her to take it before drinking.
It was the doing of someone who would benefit from the strain in my relationship with Jill.
And the postal logistics network that covered the entire continent was owned by a company that Petenburg owned.
It meant Yulia was the one who approved Jill’s letter bombing of the entire continent.
She must have given her approval, anticipating that the letters would drive me out of Palana.
‘I had a feeling it would turn out like this from the moment we first met.’
This wasn’t just talking about a simple hunch.
Yulia really knew.
My future of being chased in the south and north and eventually escaping to Petenburg.
My future of having no choice but to seek help from Yulia, unable to rely on anyone else.
Of course it was obvious.
Because Yulia herself had directly designed this future.
“I, I found out by chance. Really. Please believe me.”
There was no way I could believe her.
I had earnestly hoped that at least Yulia would remain a completely good person.
Perhaps because I was a bit tipsy, I put down the glass.
I wanted to end it now.
“I understand. I’ll believe you. But what you said earlier, do you really mean it?”
“Wh-what?”
“That I’m a precious friend to you.”
“It’s t-true.”
“Do you really want to remain just friends?”
“…”
A moment of silence.
Yulia’s eyes, flushed with intoxication and reddened cheeks, became hazy.
And then, knocking over the liquor bottle, she began crawling over the table towards me.
“Y-you seduced me first, Yoo-jin. Even if you get startled and freak out, I, I don’t know.”
“…”
Yulia grabbed my collar and brought her face close, and at that moment, time suddenly stopped, and Yulia froze.
Yulia stiffened as if time had stopped.
I slowly released Yulia’s grip and stood up, and saw a large system window floating outside the window.
[Congratulations. You have cleared the game.]
[Escape Condition 1: The affection rate of all heroines must exceed 95%.]
[Escape Condition 2: The final boss ‘Draken’ must be defeated.]
[Proceeding with the tally.]
[Number of monsters hunted: 12]
[A-rank boss: 0]
[B-rank boss: 0]
[C-rank boss: 0]
[Hunting score: 315 points]
[Heroine affection rates]
[Jill Diner: 80%]
[Yulia Petenburg: 100%]
[Yerina Frost: 87%]
As expected, the game was cleared with Yulia’s ending.
Achieving the escape conditions was out of the question.
Both Jill and Yerina’s affection rates fell far short of 95%.
I had known it for a while, but having the numbers shoved in my face like this, I could only sigh.
[Failed to achieve escape conditions.]
[Moving to the starting point in 10 seconds.]
So this was how the 1st playthrough ended so anticlimactically.
I glanced back and saw Yulia still frozen on the table, staring at the empty void.
The culprit who had ruined the 1st playthrough was frozen there.
Grinding my teeth, I approached Yulia and whispered in her ear.
“Stupid bitch. I seduced you just to return to reality anyway. You’re nothing more than a trophy for clearing the game, nothing more, nothing less.”
“…”
I carried out a timid revenge only after everything was over.
She wouldn’t remember it anyway when the 2nd playthrough started.
But it seemed like Yulia’s eyes had moved slightly just now.
It must have been my imagination.
[Returning to the starting point.]
My vision went dark and my consciousness faded.
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