Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Resetting Room
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“Honestly, it was a bit unexpected.”
“What part?”
“I figured since Iris brought you here, you weren’t just some ordinary person, but I didn’t expect you to be this outstanding. Her personality is so lively and carefree, but my sister is still the captain of the Silver Dawn Knights. She’s not someone who’d lose to anyone, no matter where you put her.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t brush it off like that, newbie.”
A pair of red eyes glared at me petulantly.
“Iris definitely said you were hit by a witch’s curse, right? So your physical abilities should be below average, but even in that state, you went toe-to-toe with Lize sister. I think you can afford to be a little prouder of that.”
“Lize went easy on me. It wasn’t a straight one-on-one.”
“Went easy? Hmm, she doesn’t think so, and neither do I.”
Erika shot down my words immediately.
“And newbie, you seem to have a huge misunderstanding. Sure, she looks like she does whatever she wants on the surface, but she’s not so reckless that she’d neglect her duties. No matter how much she held back, since she knew it was an enlistment exam, it was an attack no ordinary person could block. Whether she went easy or not, toe-to-toe is toe-to-toe.”
She was right, so I clamped my mouth shut. Even if it was just whittling down half health to clear, it was basically a boss fight.
There had been tons of people in the community forums wailing because they couldn’t pass that enlistment exam. Even if they took another route instead of joining the knights, they didn’t end up in a good spot.
“As much as it pains me to admit it, this time I have to agree with my sister. Iris, where on earth did you find someone like him?”
“Well, I don’t really know myself.”
“I’ll take that as you don’t want to answer.”
Erika gave me another petulant look, then swayed her hips—wrapped in red dolphin shorts—as she walked down the hall. Was even that influenced by the mods? Every step was incredibly seductive.
It didn’t feel like her hips were emphasized while walking; it was like she was walking to emphasize her hips. Thinking back, Lize and Iris did the same, so it had to be the mods’ effect.
“Iris mentioned before that this castle used to be the lord’s residence.”
I tried changing the subject to avoid focusing on her hips. As soon as I spoke, Erika stopped in her tracks. Her eyes held a hint of unease as she looked at me.
“...Yeah, that’s true. This place was originally that guy’s home. And then he dumped it on us.”
“She said it’s better to experience it once than have it explained why he abandoned it.”
“Iris doesn’t lie. Even if she told you, you wouldn’t believe it, so it’s better to let you see for yourself. We’re almost there, so hold your curiosity just a bit longer.”
Hearing even Erika say that made me even more curious about what was going on. She finished speaking and resumed walking, swaying her hips again.
The castle interior was impeccably clean. Not a speck of dust on the corridors, and the red carpets laid everywhere showed no footprints, not even a single particle of dust.
If anything, it was so spotless that it felt eerie.
A building large enough to comfortably house hundreds of people, yet no sign of any humans anywhere, and every passage pristine without a speck of dust.
Unless there were cleaning fairies working all day, it was impossible.
“The halls are too clean. Is this related to that ‘experience’ too?”
“You nailed it. You’ll understand once you experience it from here on.”
Erika stopped in front of a door. It was an ordinary wooden door. Identical wooden doors lined the entire wall at regular intervals beside it.
“You’ll use this one. I picked the first room on purpose so it’s easy to find. If you don’t like it, pick another. They’re all empty anyway.”
She flung the door open. The moment I saw inside, I doubted my eyes.
“...?”
It wasn’t the medieval-style room I’d seen in the game. It was furnished with modern items that wouldn’t feel out of place in an off-campus apartment from the outside world.
A bed with a metal frame and plush mattress, covered in a microfiber blanket. Even the pillow had a modern design to match.
The walls and ceiling were neatly wallpapered, the window was clear glass with a sliding handle. There was even a small balcony behind it.
Instead of candles or bulbs, fluorescent lights illuminated the ceiling brightly. And absurdly, there was a ceiling-mounted air conditioner too.
Above all, in one corner sat a desk identical to those in the outside world, with a wheeled swivel chair plopped right there. And next to it, an electric fan.
I couldn’t even guess what mod had done this.
While I stood there dumbfounded by the modern room, Erika turned on the air conditioner. She operated the remote with familiar ease, like she’d done it many times.
“Set the AC temperature however you like, newbie. This is the bathroom. Anything need explaining?”
“...Nah, doesn’t seem like it.”
Not content with tiles on the walls and floor, it even had a modern metal showerhead and a bathtub. The tub was big enough for two people comfortably.
The shampoo and body wash neatly lined up beside it made me want to believe I was seeing things.
To hide my uneasy expression, I turned away and ran my hand over the bed and blanket. Soft. No difference in quality from the ones outside.
‘Is this... normal?’
I was dying to know which madman made this mod.
“Then there’s nothing else to explain. Time to answer what you’ve been curious about. Let’s step outside first.”
I followed Erika out of the room. Once she confirmed I was out, she conjured flames in her hand. The fire rising from her palm slowly took the shape of a sword. Heat rushed in.
She swung the flame sword, and with a roar, half the room went up in flames.
Fluorescent lights shattered, the bed burned away, the desk and chair melted and twisted. Acrid smoke from the charred wallpaper filled the air. The entire room incinerated in seconds.
While I gawked at the sudden scene, Erika calmly closed the door, then flung it open again.
“...Huh?”
In that split second, less than a second, the room was spotless again.
“See?”
I blinked. The acrid smoke from moments ago, the blackened walls and ceiling, the burned bed, the melted fan—all restored to original condition.
It felt like the flames engulfing the room had been a lie. Erika chuckled softly at my stunned expression.
“This is why.”
“...Do you know why this happens?”
“We don’t know. Whether it’s magic, a curse, or something else—we know nothing.”
“Why not call a mage to investigate?”
“We tried, got rejected. It’s clear that lord did something and dumped it on our knights, but no evidence, so we can’t accuse him outright.”
This time she tossed the wooden sword from her hand into the room, closed the door, and opened it again.
In that brief moment, the wooden sword was gone.
“...The wooden sword?”
“It vanished somewhere. More precisely, when the room resets, it erases anything that ‘wasn’t originally in the room.’”
“Where’d it go?”
“We don’t know. And we can’t know.”
I got why they didn’t explain it in words. A room that resets every time you open and close the door? No one would believe it without seeing.
‘Is the game system implemented as magic?’
I had a hunch.
In the game, unless an object was designed to stay destroyed, whether you swung a sword and trashed the lodging, or used magic to smash furniture, it’d be clean again after stepping out briefly.
Maybe that game mechanic was recreated with some unknown magic. Of course, just my guess—the truth was unknowable.
Erika wasn’t treating it as normal; she blamed the lord for something. If it were the mods, she’d accept it like their outfits.
The story never had Silver Dawn Knights NPCs blaming the lord for this function.
“Anyway, here are the precautions. Listen and memorize them carefully. Unless you want to lose that weapon forever.”
Erika’s finger pointed to the bloodstained sword at my waist.
“First rule: Never leave items in the room when you exit. You saw it, right? The moment the door closes, stuff inside vanishes. Once gone, it’s untraceable, unrecoverable. Never do it. Use the storage warehouse outside; it has protective magic, so it’s safe.”
Losing the bloodstained sword? Horrifying just to think. I committed it to memory.
“Got it. Next?”
“Second rule: When sleeping, wear only one layer of clothing. Whether just underwear, fully nude, or no underwear but one piece of clothing. Only one item touching bare skin.”
“...Why’s that?”
“Why do you think? It ties to the first rule. Never leave items in the room when you exit. Remember?”
“That’s for exiting, this is sleeping. How are they related?”
“The exact condition for reset is ‘out of human sight.’”
“Out of human sight?”
Erika nodded at my question.
“Even inside, during sleep, it counts as out of sight. More precisely, from the moment you fall asleep. So everything vanishes except the one item closest to your bare skin.”
“That’s annoyingly finicky.”
“We think so too. That’s why the lord dumped the castle on us. Probably to screw us over.”
Even Erika kept cursing the lord, so he must’ve been a real piece of work.
Still trash like in the game, so no guilt when killing him later. Lucky me.
“We tested it: sleep in underwear and clothes, only underwear remains next day. Sleep in just clothes no underwear, clothes intact. That’s the rule.”
She said it so bluntly, like sleeping half-naked was nothing, and since she wasn’t embarrassed, I let it slide.
“That’s my explanation. Any more questions?”
“As long as you’re in the room, nothing vanishes except when sleeping?”
“For now. As I said, just closing your eyes doesn’t trigger it. Only actual sleep or unconsciousness.”
“Hmm... Got it.”
Erika said dinner was soon and she’d come get me, then left. I hung the bloodstained sword on the wall and sat in the chair.
Just in case I dozed off and it vanished. Not tired, but better safe.
“Newbie, you in there? I know you are, so no need to answer!”
“...Yeah?”
I’d just sat when knocking came from outside. I stood again.
“Lize? What brings you here?”
“Heard you got dorm assignment, so I came to visit! Open up quick! Or I’ll break it down!”
Lize would really smash the door, so I hurried to open it.
There stood the blue-haired knight in her usual crop top baring her midriff and ultra-short blue dolphin shorts.
Lize grinned and waved.
“Been good, newbie?”