Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Lord's Proposition
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“……A woman, you say?”
“Yes, a woman.”
I was a little taken aback inside, but I didn’t let it show.
The lord subtly proposing a deal to the player was the same as I remembered, but the actual content of the deal was different. In the game, he had asked if I was interested in money or power.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“No need to put on airs. We’re both cut from the same cloth, after all. If you’re a criminal locked away in there, you should know exactly what I’m getting at, right?”
I noticed that in that brief moment, the lord’s tone had shifted ever so slightly. Maybe because he was the one proposing a collaboration, but it was a touch more formal than before.
“……”
When I held my silence instead of answering rashly, the lord flashed a meaningful smile, as if interpreting it in some profound way.
“Anyway, just know that I have one proposal for you. It’s a win-win for both of us, I guarantee it.”
“I’ll hear it out first and decide.”
“No, the moment you hear it, you’re with me. And keep this in mind: I have the power to kick you out of the knights with a single word. I can exile you from this city forever or throw you straight in a dungeon. Wouldn’t it be better to join me instead?”
“Is that a threat?”
“Hardly. Just a proposal.”
“In that case, I’ll go along with it. There’s no need to think twice about which side to pick here.”
I answered without the slightest hesitation on purpose. This guy’s personality was the type that bullied the weak and fawned over the strong, so he preferred people who were just as underhanded as he was.
“Good, good. You’ve made the right choice. A sharp eye keeps the body at ease, as they say. Especially for guys like you.”
At my straightforward reply, the lord grinned slyly. His eyes, nose, and mouth all sank deep into his chubby cheeks, scrunching up together.
It was the kind of smile that made me want to punch him.
“Now, shall we get down to business?”
After wrapping up the meeting with the lord and shaking hands as a gesture of goodwill, I left the drawing room. His disgustingly damp, clammy palm had soured my mood, but I somehow held it together.
I scrubbed my hand against the wall and mulled over the lord’s proposal as I exited the mansion.
‘I had a rough idea ever since he asked if I liked women.’
His ultimate goal of completely destroying the Silver Dawn Knights was the same, but the details were the polar opposite.
In the game, the lord was a man, and so were the Silver Dawn Knights’ captains, so he talked about poisoning their food to massively weaken their physical abilities, then finishing them off with his own sword.
His reward for that was a knighthood in the lord’s mansion.
But things were different here. Poisoning the Silver Dawn Knights’ food matched the game, but the purpose wasn’t to kill them outright—it was to turn the captains into sex slaves for his ownership.
Since they’d obviously suspect food from him, he’d give me the necessary poison once I’d befriended the captains and brought them to the mansion? And it’d be up to me to administer it.
If the plan succeeded, he even promised me a chance to “sample” the Silver Dawn Knights.
‘What an arrogant bastard.’
Ordering me to do something like that without any restrictions on me, assuming I’d blindly follow out of lust—it was sheer hubris.
Even in the game, there was an option to immediately rat him out to the captain the moment you got the proposal, which said it all about his irredeemable personality. It was canon from the developers.
‘Not that I would.’
But for now, if I wanted to kill the lord, I had to keep it secret from everyone. Exposing the plan outright would just get him chased off to another region, and that’d be the end of it.
Worse, after getting exiled like that, he’d harbor a grudge against the protagonist and relentlessly sabotage every story-related quest.
The filthy feeling of dealing with that was something you had to experience to understand. It was an indescribable wave of pure shit.
“Are you okay?!”
As I stepped out of the mansion, Iris—who’d been leaning against the wall with an anxious expression, waiting for me—rushed over. Her face was full of urgency; she’d clearly been worried sick.
“As you can see. I’m fine.”
“Really? You’re absolutely sure?”
“Of course. He tried probing with a few questions midway, but I just said to ask you. After I repeated that a couple times, he gave up.”
“You did well. Really, you did great. He didn’t threaten to kick you out of the knights, did he?”
“If he had, I wouldn’t be standing here so calmly.”
“Thank goodness…… Thank goodness.”
Iris let out a deep sigh of relief. It seemed she’d been through hell with that lord up until now.
“Let’s head back to the knights for now.”
“Yeah, got it.”
Even as we rode back to the barracks, Iris kept fretting over me nonstop. Her expressions revealed every hardship she’d endured at that guy’s hands.
It was a worry she wouldn’t have to deal with in another two weeks, give or take.
‘So this is the Ability Check Orb.’
The day after meeting the lord, I stood before the Ability Check Orb with Iris. Lize and Erika were beside it, watching with keen interest.
Just like in the game, it was a sky-blue orb the size of a human head, resting on a red cushion. The lore said placing your hand on its surface converted the subject’s physical abilities into objective numerical values—a magic tool for that purpose.
The game never explained who made it. It was just some legendary archmage from the past, and all the ones circulating now were perfect replicas.
I already knew how to use it, so I placed my hand on the orb without hesitation. It pulsed, and a blue light scanned my body. Soon, numbers appeared above it.
[Level] 4(+3)
[Vitality] 1
[Mana] 1
[Faith] 1
[Endurance] 1
[Proficiency] 1
[Strength] 1
[Magic Power] 1
[Divine Power] 1
[Durability] 1
“……”
I’d half-expected it, but seeing my dazzling stats—all 1s except for the level 3 boost from experience gained killing that human butcher—left a complicated feeling.
If it were any other backstory, I’d have started at least at level 10.
The other three reacted the same way. Even Lize, who was usually energetic, along with Erika and Iris, stared at the orb with wide eyes.
“Newbie, you…… How did you withstand my attacks?”
Lize was the first to snap out of her shock.
“Seeing all your stats at 1 is even more shocking in person. With that huge gap, no matter how skilled you are, you should’ve just lost. The first clash of our swords should’ve sent you flying unilaterally.”
“Exactly.”
“What do you mean ‘exactly’? That’s not what happened. How the hell did you do it?”
How did I do it? I had no idea myself. It just worked in the game, so it worked here too. But how do you explain that?
It works in the game? Yeah, that’d get me called crazy.
In Brutal 4, no matter the stat difference, as long as you didn’t mess up the parry, the combat fatigue gauge never breaks. And I never messed up a single parry.
That’s why I could trade blows with Lize regardless of the stats.
‘I have no clue. Wonder if I could teach those three parry counters?’
Perfect-timing parries were a concept that didn’t exist for NPCs to begin with. They were strictly for players. Even I couldn’t explain it in theory.
Of course, if I could teach it, I would, but being able to do something and being able to teach it were two different things.
‘Oh yeah, I need to allocate my stats.’
Staring at that parade of 1s jolted me back to reality. The +3 next to my level—that was how many stat points I had to spend.
But with everyone watching, I couldn’t do it. If they saw my stats jump just from a few finger flicks, this place would flip upside down.
In the game, you could hit Esc anytime to check and upgrade your character’s stats and skills, but not here. I’d tried secretly calling up my status window, and nothing happened.
Which meant I absolutely needed this Ability Check Orb to allocate stats. It felt like reliving the clunky vibes of Brutal 1.
I had zero interest in experiencing that hassle again.
“……!”
Suddenly, Iris flinched as if sensing something and whipped her head around.
“Claudia’s back.”
“Huh? For real?”
“Yeah. She’s almost at the castle gate. Looks like we should go meet her.”
Before I could ask how she knew Claudia was back, Iris hurried outside, with Erika following.
Lize tried clinging to my side all the way, even grabbing my hand to drag me along, but I insisted I’d catch up and shoved her ahead first.
Once I confirmed no one was around, I dumped all my points into ‘Divine Power’ and quickly chased after the three.