Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Appearance
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“Make it even cleaner.”
“Understood.”
Lana issued the order to tidy up the surroundings even more meticulously. The ten or so maids moved in perfect unison to carry it out.
This was Aurora’s room. The room’s owner was probably off bustling around the city with a man at her side right now, and they were taking advantage of the gap to clean up.
It was a cleaning in preparation for any possibilities.
Of course, the one who had urged her to go out was Lana. Unable to bear her master’s frustration any longer, she had advised her to continue the conversation as ordinary people rather than as Aurora.
Aurora had looked intrigued at first, then pondered a bit, and finally left the mansion with a slightly anxious expression.
She wondered if it would go well like this, but since Lana herself had zero experience with men, she wasn’t exactly in a position to give advice on romantic relationships.
‘If it works out, great. If not, nothing to be done.’
Lana had half let go of the matter. Her master was usually so strong and resolute, yet strangely, whenever she got involved with that man, she couldn’t be honest and just went around in circles.
It would surely be the same this time. Lana had told her to keep her identity hidden to the end, but the chances of that were slim to none. She’d either reveal it herself midway or get found out—one or the other.
‘He doesn’t seem like the type to chase after women, either…’
After several conversations at the mansion and hearing various explanations from her master, Lana prided herself on having a decent grasp of Delta’s personality.
With that man, you couldn’t wait for him to approach first. If you did, you’d spend your whole life just waiting.
Moreover, with the woman he’d already been intimate with right there beside him, that was even more out of the question.
It was Lana who had strongly insisted that Aurora seize this opportunity while the seat next to him was empty, practically shoving her out the door.
Since ancient times, the number of women a man kept symbolized his prowess. It would be good for Delta, and for Lana’s master as well. Beneficial for both.
The only thing to worry about was whether the man could handle multiple women, but Lana wasn’t concerned about that at all.
Delta was more than capable, after all.
‘Might be overstepping my bounds, but…’
Worst case, she’d take all the blame herself. She had, after all, egged Aurora on and gotten her moving, so it wasn’t like she’d be shouldering unearned guilt.
And if all else failed, there was always the fallback of an affair.
Entertaining such a notion that would make her master gasp in horror and question her sanity, Lana bellowed with an expressionless face.
“Check even more thoroughly!”
Like master, like maid.
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“Had a good time after so long, right?”
“……Probably?”
I was sitting at a table in the city center with Aurora.
I had no idea what was so fun about just looking at clothes nonstop, but if she said it was fun, then that was that. She didn’t seem to be lying.
The clothing store Aurora had taken me to had facilities rivaling a modern department store. There was no way a medieval-era department store existed, so it had to be the mod’s influence.
“What’s with that reaction? Was it only fun for me?”
“You don’t seem to have any intention of hiding your identity anymore, do you, my lord?”
Aurora was now showing her face completely. Midway through, she’d casually removed her hat saying it was getting in the way of trying on clothes, and later tossed the mask aside too, staying like that ever since.
“It’s fine. People here don’t know my face anyway. How often do they get to see their lord in person? I’m holed up in the mansion most of the time. Even if they have something to say, my subordinates handle it first. You’re the special case, Delta.”
“Then disguising yourself from the start was pointless, wasn’t it?”
“They’ve got eyes. If they see someone in a fancy dress, they’ll figure it’s some highborn lady even if they don’t know who.”
‘Fancy dress?’
To me, it looked like urban minimalist fashion.
I puzzled over it for a moment, then recalled the uniform Aurora wore in the game and barely managed to understand. Yeah, that outfit could definitely be called flashy.
“Delta, if it were you—”
At that moment, Aurora clamped her mouth shut.
Something felt off. The hand on her thigh trembled violently, and her golden pupils, wide with terror, anxiously scanned the surroundings.
“What’s wrong? You look pale—are you okay, my lord?”
“S-something. Something’s weird……”
“Weird how? What exactly?”
“Th-that’s……”
“My lord?”
I could hear her teeth chattering. She was shaking that badly. I hurriedly stood and moved to her side.
As soon as I sat next to her, Aurora reflexively grabbed my hand. I gripped hers back. Her grip was immense—her fingers had gone white.
‘Why is this happening all of a sudden?’
I carefully supported Aurora’s shoulder as she seemed about to topple sideways. Whether by instinct or not, she squirmed into my embrace. This was absolutely not normal.
We needed to head back to the mansion. I didn’t know what was going on, but it had to be better than staying exposed here.
Aurora’s legs had given out; she couldn’t stand properly. It took several stumbles and near-collapses before she barely managed to rise. Her supporting legs quivered uncontrollably.
“My lord. Can you walk?”
“D-don’t know. I don’t know. It’s weird. Really……”
“Yeah. You look it at a glance. Let’s get you back to the mansion. I’ll escort you.”
The moment our bodies separated even slightly, she seemed ready to collapse, so I carefully slipped my arm under her armpit to support her. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
‘No one around?’
Only then did I realize how eerily quiet the surroundings were. I scanned everywhere. Just moments ago, people had been milling about, but now it was deserted.
Not a soul in sight on this vast street. It was an unreal sight that sent chills down my spine. Was there an event like this in Brenac 4?
“My lord. Excuse me for a moment—”
“H-hello. Care for a quick chat?”
A voice called out. I spun around reflexively, still supporting Aurora, my free hand going to Wingless Nightmare.
From the other end of the street, a woman approached us with a sinister smile on her face. She had hair half purple and half green, and enormously large breasts.
I couldn’t fight while carrying Aurora, so I glanced to the side, thinking of fleeing if needed. Aurora was clutching my waist crushingly tight, her body shaking violently.
“My lord.”
“……”
“My lord. Pull yourself together.”
“……”
“Aurora.”
The moment I called her name, I yanked her fully into my arms. I wanted to hide her behind me, but I might need to scoop her up and run any second—this was prep for that.
Feeling my warmth seemed to snap her out of it a bit; she looked up at me with eyes full of fear.
“D-Delta…… I…… My body’s…… weird…… Legs won’t move……”
“I know. Calm down.”
My head cleared a little. I’d seen something like this in the game before. Not 100% sure, but about 90%.
Brenac 4 had six status ailments: freeze, bleed, stun, confusion, poison, burn. But there were two special ones that didn’t fit those categories.
Charm and Fear.
The reason they were treated differently was that they only affected NPCs without attack capabilities—not enemies or players. They were a completely separate category in the game system too.
They only worked on NPCs that didn’t attack the player first and fled instead of counterattacking even if attacked.
‘Basically a one-time gimmick for story progression.’
There was no normal way for a player to inflict them, the enemies that could were few and far between, and they never appeared again after that story.
Exactly a disposable setup for specific storylines.
And the reactions those NPCs showed during that story matched Aurora’s current state pretty closely.
‘……’
If that woman was the cause, there were at most three possibilities I could think of. I racked my brain. Was there an NPC that could inflict Fear and would seek me out in this situation?
Aurora kept burrowing into my arms. Seeing it, the woman let out a bizarre laugh.
“Kee-hee. Hey, there. Could you just let that woman go? I won’t do anything, for real. Promise. Let’s talk just us two. Just us. It’ll be fun. Yeah. It will.”
‘Casual speech?’
Hadn’t she been polite just a second ago?
“No can do. If I let go here, she’ll collapse right away.”
I rejected her outright. The woman looked blank for a moment, then hung her head and muttered to herself.
“You won’t let go? What now?”
“Let’s pry her off by force.”
“No! We might get hated for that!”
“You’re pretending to be nice after coming all this way? Everyone fled because of you.”
“Because of me? What about you? Gonna pretend to be the nice guy all alone?”
Her voice grew increasingly agitated, letting me overhear snippets of the conversation. She was arguing with herself, using different voices for each side.
I didn’t recall any schizophrenic NPCs in Brenac 4.
After a heated self-argument, she lifted her head again. And looked at me with pleading eyes.
“Hey, you know me, right? Don’t you know me?”
Her speech had shifted again. From polite to casual. Then back to polite.
“No clue.”
There were no dual-personality NPCs or humanoid bosses in Brenac 4, and with mods altering appearances, I couldn’t guess from looks alone.
I carefully drew Wingless Nightmare so it wouldn’t hit Aurora.
“Heh. You really don’t, huh. How about this explanation then?”
The woman in front of me chuckled softly.
Casual speech this time.
“The witch who cursed you.”
She tapped her head with a finger.
“That’s me.”