.｡.:✧ Chapter 11 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Honestly, this was a bit unexpected,” Erica said.

“In what way?” I asked.

“I had a feeling that since Iris brought you here, you wouldn’t be an ordinary person, but I never imagined you would be this exceptional. Despite her lively and easygoing personality, Sister is still a knight commander of the Silver Dawn Knights. Her skills are not something to be underestimated.”

“Is that so?”

“Don’t try to brush it off, Mr. Newbie,” Erica said, narrowing her red eyes at me.

“Iris clearly stated that you were cursed by a witch. That means your physical abilities should be below average, yet even in that state, you fought evenly against Sister Lizé. I think you deserve to be more proud of yourself.”

“That was only possible because Lizé went easy on me. It wasn’t a proper one-on-one duel.”

“Going easy on you? I don’t think so. Neither Sister nor I believe that.”

Erica immediately denied my words.

“And it seems like you have a huge misunderstanding, Mr. Newbie. Although that person may always appear to act on her own whims, she’s not so self-centered as to neglect her duties. No matter how much she held back, as long as she was aware it was an entrance exam, those attacks would have been impossible for an ordinary person to block. Whether she went easy or not, a match is a match.”

That was true, so I kept my mouth shut. Even if reducing the opponent’s health by half was considered clearing the exam, in reality, it was no different from fighting a boss battle.

There were countless people in the community who had failed to pass this entrance exam and ended up in a miserable state. Even if they chose a different route instead of joining the knighthood, they didn’t fare much better.

“Although I don’t like to admit it, I have no choice but to agree with Sister this time. Where on earth did Iris find someone like you?”

“Who knows, I’m not sure either.”

“I’ll take that as you don’t want to answer.”

Erica glared at me with narrowed eyes once again, then walked down the corridor, swaying her buttocks covered in red dolphin shorts. I wondered if that was also an effect of the mods, as each step she took seemed extremely seductive.

It felt like she wasn’t emphasizing her buttocks while walking, but rather walking with the intention of emphasizing her buttocks. Recalling how Lizé and Iris did the same, it seemed it was indeed an effect of the mods.

“Iris mentioned before that this castle was originally used by the lord,” I said, trying to change the subject to avoid being conscious of her buttocks.

Upon hearing my words, Erica stopped walking. A slightly disgruntled look was visible in her eyes as she looked at me.

“…Well, that’s true. This place was originally where that bastard lived. And then he dumped it on us.”

“She also said it would be better to experience it firsthand rather than trying to explain why he abandoned it.”

“Iris doesn’t lie. Even if we explained it, you probably wouldn’t believe it anyway, so it’s actually better to let you experience it once. We’re almost there, so just bear with your curiosity for a bit longer.”

Hearing those words from even Erica made me more curious about what kind of situation it was. Having finished speaking, Erica walked ahead again, swaying her buttocks.

The interior of the castle was extremely clean. The corridors seemed to have not a speck of dust, and the red carpets laid out in various places didn’t have a single footprint or dust particle settled on them.

Rather, it was so thoroughly clean that it felt eerie.

It was impossible for every place we passed through to be spotless without a speck of dust, even though the building was large enough to comfortably accommodate hundreds of people, unless there were cleaning fairies who did nothing but clean all day.

“The corridors are too clean, is that also related to the experience you mentioned?” I asked.

“You’re spot on. You’ll understand once you experience it from now on.”

Erica stopped in front of a door as she said that. It was an ordinary wooden door. Along the wall next to it, there were identical wooden doors lined up at regular intervals.

“You can use this room. I purposely chose the first one so it’s easy to distinguish. Well, if you don’t like it, you can choose another room. They’re all empty anyway.”

With a creak, the door opened. And as soon as I saw the interior of the room, I doubted my eyes.

“…?”

Instead of the medieval-style room I had seen in the game, the room was decorated with modern items that wouldn’t feel out of place in a studio apartment, even if you said it was outside.

The bed had a metal frame and a plush mattress, and it was covered with a microfiber comforter. The pillows also had a matching modern design.

The walls and ceiling were meticulously covered with wallpaper, and the windows were made of clear, transparent glass with handles, sliding open. There was even a small balcony behind them.

Instead of candles or light bulbs, fluorescent lights were attached to the ceiling, brightly illuminating the room. Even more absurdly, there was a ceiling-mounted air conditioner as a bonus.

Above all, on one side of the room, there was a desk that looked exactly like the ones from the outside world, with a rolling swivel chair placed in front of it. There was even an electric fan right next to it.

I had no idea what kind of mod had been applied to result in this modern appearance.

As I stood there, dumbfounded by the modern look of the room, Erica turned on the air conditioner. She seemed to be operating the remote control with familiarity, as if she had done it more than just a few times.

“You can adjust the air conditioner temperature as you see fit, and this is the bathroom. Is there anything you need an explanation for?”

“…No, I don’t think so.”

Not only were the walls and floor of the bathroom decorated with tiles, but there was even a modern metal shower head and a bathtub installed. The bathtub was large enough for two people to comfortably fit in.

The toiletries such as shampoo and body wash neatly placed next to it were something I wanted to believe I had seen wrong.

To avoid being caught with a disgruntled expression, I turned to the opposite side and ran my hand over the bed and blanket. It was soft. The quality was no different from the ones I used outside.

‘Is this… right?’

I wondered what kind of crazy bastard had created this mod.

“If there’s nothing to explain, then it’s time for me to tell you what you were curious about, Mr. Newbie. Let’s go outside first.”

I followed Erica out of the room. After confirming that I had come out, Erica ignited a flame in her hand. The fire that rose from her hand gradually took the shape of a sword. The heat wafted towards me.

As the sword made of flames was swung, half of the room was engulfed in flames with a loud roar.

The fluorescent lights shattered, the bed burned, the desk and chair melted and twisted. The charred wallpaper emitted a pungent burnt smell. The entire room was instantly incinerated and reduced to ashes.

As I stood there, dumbfounded by this sudden scene, Erica closed the door with an indifferent expression and immediately opened it wide again.

“…Huh?”

And in that brief moment of less than a second, the room was neatly restored.

“You saw that, right?”

I blinked my eyes. The pungent burnt smell that had filled the air just a moment ago, the blackened wallpaper and ceiling, the burned bed, the melted electric fan, everything had returned to its original state.

It felt as if the fact that it was engulfed in flames just a moment ago was a lie. Erica laughed softly, seeing me frozen in bewilderment.

“This is the reason.”

“Do you know why it’s like this?”

“We don’t know either. We have no idea if it’s a type of magic, a curse, or something else entirely.”

“Can’t you call a mage to investigate it?”

“They all refused. It seems clear that the lord bastard did something and dumped it on our knighthood, but without evidence, we can’t openly accuse him of doing something.”

This time, she threw the wooden sword she was holding into the room, then closed the door and immediately opened it again, just like before.

In that brief moment, the wooden sword had disappeared.

“…Where’s the wooden sword?”

“It disappeared somewhere. To be precise, as the room restored itself, it erased the ‘item that didn’t originally exist in the room’ on its own.”

“Where did it disappear to?”

“We don’t know. We can’t know.”

I understood why she didn’t explain this verbally. If you told someone that the room resets every time you open and close the door, no one would believe you and say you’re lying.

‘Is the game system implemented with magic?’

I had a guess about it.

In the game, unless it was an object specifically designed to maintain a destroyed state, even if the player wreaked havoc in their quarters by swinging a sword or shattering furniture with magic, it would be clean again just by briefly going outside and coming back.

I thought that such a characteristic of the game might have been implemented with some kind of unknown magic. Of course, it was just my speculation, so the truth was unknown.

After all, Erica didn’t take this for granted but thought the lord had done something. If it were the effect of mods, she should have considered their attire normal, just like how they did.

There was no mention in the story either about the NPCs of the Silver Dawn Knights attributing this function to the lord.

“So, let me explain the precautions. You absolutely must listen carefully and memorize them. That is, if you don’t want to lose that weapon forever.”

Erica’s finger pointed to the Blood-Stained Sword hanging from my waist.

“First rule. Never leave an item in the room and go out. You saw it just now, right? The moment you close the door, the items inside disappear. Once an item disappears, it’s unknown where it went, and you can’t find it again, so you must never do that. There’s an item storage outside, so use that. It also has a protection spell, so don’t worry.”

The thought of the Blood-Stained Sword disappearing was terrifying. I obediently took note of it.

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Second rule. When sleeping, wear only one layer of clothing. Either wear only underwear and be naked, or wear clothes without underwear. You must have only one layer of clothing touching your bare skin.”

“…Why is that?”

“Why do you think? It’s related to the first rule. First rule. Never leave an item in the room and go out. Don’t you remember?”

“That’s about going out, and this is about sleeping. What’s the connection between the two?”

“The exact condition for the room to restore itself is ‘not being visible to human eyes.'”

“Not being visible to human eyes?”

Erica nodded at my repeated question.

“It seems that even if you’re inside the room, if you’re sleeping, it’s considered not visible to your eyes. More precisely, from the very moment a person falls asleep. So, all the clothes except the one closest to your bare skin disappear.”

“That’s annoyingly complicated.”

“We think so too. That’s probably why that lord bastard dumped the castle on us. It must be his way of saying ‘have a taste of your own medicine.'”

Seeing even Erica constantly cursing that lord, I thought he must have really messed up.

It was fortunate that there was no difference from the game, and he was still trash, so I could kill him later without any guilt.

“We did an experiment. If you sleep wearing both underwear and clothes, the next day, only the underwear remains. If you sleep wearing only clothes without underwear, the clothes are intact the next day. So that’s the established rule.”

I wondered if she wasn’t embarrassed to blatantly talk about sleeping naked like that, but seeing her speak about it without any concern, I let it slide.

“That’s all for my explanation. Anything else you’re curious about?”

“As long as you’re in the room, nothing disappears except when sleeping, right?”

“For now, yes. As I mentioned earlier, simply closing your eyes isn’t enough to trigger the restoration. It only happens when you’re sleeping or unconscious.”

“I see… Understood.”

Erica left, saying that dinner time was approaching and she would come to get me then. I leaned the Blood-Stained Sword against the wall and sat on the chair.

Just in case I fell asleep and the item disappeared, I couldn’t afford that. Although I wasn’t tired, it was better to be cautious than sorry.

“Newbie, are you inside? I know you are, so no need to answer!”

“…Huh?”

As soon as I sat on the chair, there was a knocking sound on the door from outside. I got up again.

“Lizé? Why are you here?”

“I heard you were assigned quarters, so I came to hang out! Open the door quickly! If you don’t, I’ll break it down and enter!”

Lizé was the kind of person who would really break down the door and enter, so I hastily got up from my seat and opened the door.

Standing in front of the door was the blue-haired female knight, wearing a sleeveless top that exposed her abdomen like a crop top and extremely short blue dolphin shorts.

Lizé smiled brightly and waved her hand.

“How have you been, newbie?”

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