Chapter 00012: Paranoia
# Paranoia
Chapter 12
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 12: Paranoia
Several knights carefully lifted the food tray, like they were performing a sacred ritual.
They placed it solemnly on the altar, and after that, they knelt down below and began to pray.
Li Chengxi felt like a giant question mark popped up in his mind.
He never once asked for offerings.
He scrolled the mouse wheel, zooming in and looking from above, from below, from the left and right.
No matter how he looked, it was definitely a plate of food covered with a dining cloche.
Offerings made of pastries, livestock, or fruits, that he’d seen before—but a whole food tray like this? That was a first.
Or maybe Viola had a very surface-level understanding of a wooden plate.
Maybe she thought a plate simply meant he was hungry?
Honestly speaking, he really was hungry.
The little diner next door had been closed for days, and Li Chengxi had been surviving on instant noodles all this time.
Alright then.
Hopefully it’s not something creepy.
He reached his hand into the screen and gave it a yank.
Just then, something hard hit the plastic edge of the screen with a soft ding.
The 16-inch laptop screen really was a bit small.
So Li Chengxi pulled out an HDMI cable and connected his laptop to the monitor he used in the store to check surveillance footage.
He then reached in again.
This time, a silver, shiny, dome-shaped food tray was barely tugged out, swaying slightly with a ripple from the screen.
He tapped on the cloche—it really did seem to be made of silver.
Li Chengxi’s phone and the desktop upstairs had all behaved like they were infected by a virus, automatically installing this game, AAI.
He’d been using only the laptop because he believed using a touchscreen was necessary for interacting with the people in the game.
Normal screens just wouldn’t cut it.
But now that the monitor worked too, it seemed like the type of screen didn’t matter at all.
Why things were like this—why he could directly affect elements in the game with his hand, or even pull things out from within it—Li Chengxi had no clue.
But still, like he always said: “If it’s a blessing, fine. If it’s a curse, I can’t dodge it anyway.” For now, he’d just play along, and deal with any real problems if and when they came.
He placed the tray on the cash register counter and lifted the cloche.
A wave of warm steam lightly hit his face.
He saw a bowl of creamy vegetable soup, a plate of seared meat, and a big chunk of white bread, all piping hot as if they had just been served.
He bent down and sniffed—the meat was likely lamb.
The smell was heavy—the usual gamey scent—and it looked like they hadn’t used many spices to mask it.
Li Chengxi didn’t care much for Western food, but it sure was a hell of a lot better than instant noodles.
He grabbed a pack of BBQ seasoning from his shop’s shelves and sprinkled some on the lamb.
Then he pulled out two big plastic bowls that came as free gifts with the instant noodles and transferred the soup and meat into them.
“The bread’s kinda tough... Is this really what nobles eat?”
The bread's texture was more like biting into a slightly fluffy brick of dense flatbread.
Not the soft, airy texture he had imagined.
It was dry too, and basically tasteless—not even as good as the cheap bread sold on the store shelf.
But thinking about the game’s setting, having white bread at all was already a luxury.
Even with magic, society hadn't progressed much beyond the medieval level.
He remembered checking on the situation in Haim Village earlier in the morning, and the villagers there were eating black bread—bread that had to be soaked in hot water and mashed into porridge before it could be eaten.
That was what the peasants lived on.
Compared to that, white bread was king’s food.
——–
Demon Lord Calendar, Year 648,
April 2nd, Night.
With a dull thump, a golden goblet was slammed onto the table.
Count of Leon exhaled a puff of wine-laced breath.
“What exactly is Her Highness the Princess doing? Why hasn’t she called for troops and left already? If this keeps up, my territory will be swallowed by war!”
The young lord, just thirty years old, complained angrily.
He had assumed the Princess would only stay a few days before moving on.
He never expected that Viola seemed intent on taking up long-term residence in the Leon Territory.
If the Avarus Demon Kingdom still existed, having the Princess stay would’ve been something he wouldn’t even dare dream of.
But with the kingdom practically destroyed, her prolonged stay had become a tremendous liability.
“Has Her Highness shown any signs of leaving recently?”
“No, my lord,” came the polite reply from the butler beside him, as he graciously refilled the golden goblet with more wine.
He spoke softly, “Lately, the Princess frequently speaks with the commoners in the city. I fear those commoners may spread rumors and slander about you.”
“Hmph! I don’t care what rabble have to say!”
Count Leon’s tone showed his rising temper.
“Her Highness doesn’t have a shred of consideration for others! Truly the arrogance of royalty!”
“My lord speaks the truth.”
The butler readily nodded and added, “We never should’ve let Her Highness into the city in the first place.”
“You fool! I’m still the official lord under Avarus Demon Kingdom, at least in name. Not letting her in? What kind of disgrace would that bring upon my family name!”
“It was my mistake. Please forgive me, my lord.”
For nobles, reputation was paramount.
Even impoverished nobles would keep up appearances no matter how costly.
As for refusing entry to one’s rightful sovereign—if that sort of news got out, Count Leon would become a public laughingstock.
Still, reputation was one thing.
Whether Count Leon actually [i]wanted [/i]Princess Viola to stay in his territory was another.
The Avarus Demon Kingdom had already been overrun by the Coalition of Four Nations.
The kingdom was effectively destroyed.
Even though he lived on the outskirts, Count Leon had heard the news.
He didn’t care if the kingdom fell, as long as he could remain the local overlord of his remote little territory.
He had planned it all out.
No matter which of the four nations sent troops here, he’d immediately open the gates, surrender, pledge loyalty, and throw in a few ceremonial bows to sweeten the deal.
Loyalty?
Loyalty depended on who held the power, didn’t it?
The entire Leon Territory only had about a hundred soldiers who barely managed gatekeeping and maintaining public order.
They couldn’t defend against [i]anything[/i].
Switching allegiance quickly and decisively was absolutely the smartest move.
But what Count Leon never expected was that Princess Viola, who should’ve been surrounded in the capital, had actually managed to escape.
And not just that—she’d somehow made it past enemy lines and reached the Leon Territory.
Count Leon had no choice.
When he saw the Princess, he had to put on a bright, welcoming face—if he hadn’t, he might’ve ended up strung up on the city gate to dry.
Frowning, Count Leon asked again:
“What did the Princess do today?”
“According to the man tailing her—Her Highness went to Haim Village outside the city.”
“Haim Village? What for?”
The butler shook his head.
“The man tailing her only reported a burst of light near the village entrance. As for the details…”
“A burst of light…”
Count Leon's face darkened as something clicked.
“You said earlier that the Princess converted the Audience Hall into a chapel, right? Did you see the idol placed inside?”
“Well, though the statue is still being made by the stonemasons, a sacred emblem in the shape of a hand was placed there.”
The butler made a gesture with his hand.
“Her Highness leads prayers there every day.”
“This is wrong. Something’s not right. I haven’t been to the Capital often, but even I know the Avarus Demon Kingdom doesn’t have any gods involved. If the Princess were truly a devout believer, word would’ve spread long ago.”
After thinking it over for a moment, Count Leon asked:
“Which god are they worshipping?”
“No exact names, my lord. But I heard them mention a Demon God.”
That name stirred something in Count Leon’s memory.
He recalled seeing it in the family archives as a child.
It was said that this Demon God had created all demons—truly the original ancestor.
“So that’s how it is!”
Upon hearing this, Count Leon suddenly rose to his feet and roared:
“Princess Viola means to take my land!”
(End of Chapter)