.｡.:✧ Chapter 16 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“…Women, you said?”

“Yes, women.”

Although I was slightly taken aback inwardly, I didn’t show it.

The fact that the lord was subtly proposing a deal to the player was the same, but the actual content of the deal was different from what I remembered. In the game, he had asked if I was interested in money or power.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“No need to put on an act. We’re birds of a feather. If you’re someone who committed crimes and was imprisoned there, you should know what I’m trying to say, right?”

I noticed that the lord’s tone had changed slightly in that brief moment. Perhaps it was because he was proposing a collaboration to me, but his tone was a bit more formal than before.

“……”

When I maintained silence without hastily answering, the lord smiled meaningfully, as if interpreting it in some way.

“Anyway, just keep in mind that there’s something I want to propose. It won’t be a loss for either of us. That, I guarantee.”

“For now, I’ll listen and then decide.”

“No, the moment you hear this, you have to join me. And keep this in mind. I have the power to cut you off from the knighthood with a single word. I also have the authority to kick you out of this city so that you can never set foot here again, or even imprison you. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for you to side with me rather than that?”

“Is that a threat?”

“Of course not. It’s just a proposal.”

“Then I’ll follow you. There’s no need to even think about which side to take here.”

I deliberately answered without a moment’s hesitation. This bastard’s personality was strong-weak-weak-strong, so he preferred people with the same despicable personality as him.

“Good, good. You made the right decision. Indeed, a person should be quick-witted to be at ease. Especially for guys like you.”

At my straightforward answer, the lord grinned slyly. His eyes, nose, and mouth were all deeply buried in his cheeks, distorting them to the fullest.

It was a smile that made me want to punch him.

“Now, shall we move on to the real conversation?”

After finishing the meeting with the lord and even shaking hands as a gesture of asking for his favor, I left the reception room. His palm was disgustingly damp and unpleasant, which put me in a really bad mood, but I endured it somehow.

I rubbed my palm vigorously against the wall to wipe it off, and as I left the mansion, I mulled over the lord’s proposal.

‘I had roughly guessed it from the moment he asked if I liked women.’

The fact that the bastard ultimately wanted to completely destroy the Silver Dawn Knights was the same, but the details were the opposite.

In the game, both the lord and the knight commanders of the Silver Dawn Knights were male, so he said he wanted to spike their food with poison to drastically weaken their physical abilities and then personally swing a sword to kill them.

The reward for that was the knighthood of the lord’s mansion.

But here, it was different. Spiking the Silver Dawn Knights’ food with poison was consistent with the game, but the purpose wasn’t to kill them directly but to make the knight commanders into sex slaves and own them.

Since they would obviously suspect the food given by him, he told me to befriend the knight commanders and visit the mansion, where he would provide me with the poison needed for the plan. I was supposed to spike it on my own.

If the plan succeeded, he said he would even give me the opportunity to ‘taste’ the Silver Dawn Knights.

‘He’s so fucking arrogant.’

Not only did he make me do such things without placing any restrictions on me, but he also arrogantly assumed that I would faithfully follow his words, unable to resist my desires.

Even in the game, there was an option to immediately expose this proposal to the knight commander as soon as you received it, so that tactless personality could be considered the developer’s official stance.

‘Well, I won’t do that though.’

However, to kill the lord, I had to keep it a secret from everyone for now. If I exposed the plan like this, it would simply end with that bastard being exiled to another region.

Moreover, after being exiled in such a way, he would harbor a grudge against the protagonist and persistently interfere with every quest related to the story.

You have to experience it firsthand to know how dirty it feels to go through that. A truly indescribable feeling of shittiness rushes over you.

“Are you okay?!”

As I stepped out of the mansion door, Iris, who had been waiting for me with an anxious expression while leaning against the wall, immediately ran over. Judging by the urgency that had risen on her face, she seemed to have been quite worried about me.

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Really, are you sure?”

“Of course. He did ask some probing questions in the middle, but I just told him to ask you. After repeating that a few times, he gave up.”

“You did well. Yes, you really did well. You weren’t threatened to leave the knighthood, were you?”

“If that had happened, I wouldn’t be standing here so calmly.”

“Thank goodness… Thank goodness.”

Iris let out a sigh of relief. It seemed she had been quite tormented by that lord bastard until now.

“Let’s return to the knighthood for now.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Iris constantly worried about me even while riding back to the quarters. Her expression revealed all the hardships she had experienced with that bastard until now.

But now, it would be a worry she wouldn’t have to have anymore, give or take two weeks at most.

‘Is this an ability confirmation orb?’

The day after meeting the lord, I was standing in front of an ability confirmation orb, following Iris. Next to it, Lizé and Erica had expressions of excitement.

Just like in the game, it was a sky-blue orb the size of a human head, placed on a red cushion. It was a magic tool that, when you placed your hand on the surface, would convert the target’s physical abilities into objective numerical values.

Even in the game, there was no explanation of who had created it. It was only mentioned that a renowned grand mage of the past had created it, and all the ones circulating now were exact replicas of it.

I already knew how to use the orb, so I placed my hand on the orb’s surface without hesitation. The orb flickered, and a blue light source scanned my body. Soon, numbers were drawn on the orb.

[Level] 4(+3)

[Health] 1

[Mana] 1

[Faith] 1

[Stamina] 1

[Proficiency] 1

[Strength] 1

[Magic Power] 1

[Divine Power] 1

[Endurance] 1

“……”

Although I had expected it to some extent, directly seeing the flashy stats with only 1’s, except for the level that had risen by 3 thanks to the experience gained from defeating the Human Butcher, made me feel dismayed.

If it had been any other class, it would have at least started at level 10.

The other three had the same reaction. Not only Lizé, who already had a lively personality, but even Erica and Iris were staring at the orb with wide eyes.

“Newbie, you… How did you endure my attacks?”

Lizé was the first to snap out of the shock.

“Seeing all the stats at 1 in reality is even more shocking. If the stat difference was this extreme, no matter how good your skills were, you should have simply lost. The first time our swords clashed, you should have been unilaterally thrown back.”

“That’s right.”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s right’? You didn’t do that. How did you do it?”

Even if she asked me how I did it, I didn’t know either. It was simply possible here because it was possible in the game, but how could I explain that?

Saying it worked in the game? It would be perfect for being called a crazy bastard.

In Brightest Darkness 4, no matter how extreme the stat difference was, as long as you didn’t make a mistake in deflecting, the combat fatigue gauge would never burst. And I simply never made a mistake in deflecting.

Naturally, regardless of the difference in stats, I was able to engage in a back-and-forth with Lizé.

‘I wonder. Can I teach them deflection?’

In the first place, the concept of perfectly timed deflection didn’t exist for NPCs. It was exclusively a player’s domain. Even for me, I couldn’t explain it theoretically.

Of course, if it were a situation where I could teach them, I would want to, but being able to use it and being able to teach it were two entirely different things.

‘Come to think of it, I need to allocate stats.’

Seeing the flashy display of 1’s reminded me. The number +3 displayed next to the level. That was the number of times I could raise my stats.

However, with the gazes around me, I couldn’t allocate the stats. If it was discovered that my abilities had increased with just a few flicks of my fingers, this place would be turned upside down.

In the game, I could check my character’s stats and skills at any time by pressing Esc, and I could also raise them. But now, it was different. I tried secretly calling out the status window, but nothing appeared.

In other words, it meant that I absolutely needed this ability confirmation orb to allocate stats. It felt like experiencing the sentiment of Brightest Darkness 1 again.

I didn’t want to experience that inconvenient sentiment again.

“…!”

Suddenly, Iris flinched as if sensing something and quickly turned her head.

“Claudia has returned.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. She’s almost at the castle’s main gate now. I think I should go out and meet her.”

Before I could even ask how she had noticed Claudia’s return, Iris hurriedly headed outside, and Erica followed behind her.

Lizé tried to grab my hand and drag me along, as if intending to stick by my side until the end, but I forcefully sent her ahead, saying I would follow soon.

Then, after making sure no one was around, I dumped all my stats into ‘Divine Power’ and quickly chased after the three.

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