Chapter 44: Prove Your Resolve (6)
“You have purchased a total of 450 items including slaves, a corrupted holy sword, elven eyes, and artifacts from the Black Market.”
“220,000 gold and 240,000 silver will be charged.”
“……You lack 220,000 imperial gold coins and 240,000 imperial silver coins. The payment cannot be verified.”
“You have violated the rules of the Black Market.”
“You have incurred the hostility of the Black Market owner.”
GAME OVER. You were killed by the enraged Asher.
…Error occurred.
“The forced defeat event cannot be confirmed. The bad ending did not occur.”
“Character ‘Asher, the Archmage’s son’ cannot be found.”
“Objects ‘child corpse A, B, C, D, E’ cannot be found.”
“Error details: Asher died for unknown reasons. The slaves held by Asher were revived for unknown reasons.”
…Cannot correct the error.
“Child corpses A, B, C, D, E and 25 unnamed slaves have become your allies.”
Special Event Occurrence!
“Your allies are experiencing an awakening event.”
“The hypersensory trait of child corpse C evolves into insight.”
“The insight trait of child corpse C, due to some reason, has reached the state of future vision.”
An impossible achievement.
“The insight trait holds the possibility to evolve into ‘Eyes that Peek into All Things (Legendary).”
“The twist of fate is at an immeasurable level.”
System overload.
Warning! Advising the user.
“Please stop twisting fate any further and accept the predetermined fate.”
*
In a situation where Miss Rubia, overly excited, had bolted out of the room, I was left behind, leisurely savoring high-quality tea and a slice of bread spread with sweet jam, while frowning.
It was natural.
Weird characters suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.
‘What on earth is this nonsense again?’
The status window had been playing tricks on me in very clever ways until now.
A prime example was when it bombarded me with dozens of messages in less than 0.1 seconds, making it impossible to read them.
‘Is it seriously trying to mess with someone?’
I filed a complaint asking it to slow down, and this time, the status window graciously complied with my request.
[■■ ■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■, ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■.]
The characters were too jumbled to decipher, but at least they were appearing slowly as I had asked.
I could leisurely admire those squares.
Uniform and angular, they were quite pleasing to look at.
“Ha…”
A sigh naturally escaped my lips.
I was thoroughly enjoying my leisurely meal. But somehow, this thing can’t stand seeing me in a good mood.
Why on earth is it doing this to me?
‘I can accept that it’s not helpful.’
It’s been like that from the start. It wasn’t particularly surprising anymore.
But this was beyond being unhelpful; it was outright trolling.
What did I do to deserve this?
This level of bad luck was unprecedented.
In the end, after staring at those squares for a long while, I gave up and dismissed the message from my view.
I wanted to return it immediately, but that wasn’t possible.
‘Fine, go ahead and mess with me all you want. I’ve been doing fine without this crap, and I’ll continue to do so.’
Ultimately, all I could do was convince myself of this.
I erased that useless status window from my mind and savored the fragrant tea again.
Maybe because it was expensive, it made me feel at ease.
I couldn’t understand why Miss Rubia had left without even finishing half of it.
‘Come to think of it, what is Miss Rubia doing right now?’
Naturally, the thought occurred to me.
It seemed like it had been about thirty minutes since she left.
All she had to do was ask the children if they wanted to participate, so why was she taking so long?
It was utterly incomprehensible.
Rubia was on the verge of losing her mind.
At first, she only intended to scare them a little.
She wanted to prevent the children from joining the revolutionary organization and getting killed without knowing the dangers.
But somehow, that led to her putting the children through an entrance test.
In the end, Rubia ended up throwing a bizarre test at the children, telling them to block a flying sword.
And the children… they succeeded.
Artifacts.
They boldly blocked such powerful items and passed the test.
They even declared victory with a triumphant smile.
‘This is our resolve!’ they said, full of pride.
She couldn’t wrap her head around the situation.
‘Weren’t they just ordinary slaves?’
Moreover, how could there already be children among them who could use magic?
And what about that brown-haired girl?
The leader said she was blind, but how could she be blind when she acts like she can see the future?
‘No, even setting that aside.’
She couldn’t understand the desperation of these children.
Was the leader exuding some sort of drug?
It was seriously suspicious.
They hadn’t even spent a few hours together, but in that short time, they had all turned into fanatics.
‘Is everyone who gets involved with that leader going to end up like this? Is this going to happen again?’
A foreboding feeling crept over her.
The image of endless fanatics growing in number, with her awkwardly caught in the middle, filled her with dread.
“Unnie?”
It was the brown-haired girl’s question that pulled Rubia back to reality from her grim imaginings.
Rubia quickly collected herself and looked the girl in the eyes.
White pupils.
Her pupils were trembling erratically.
She’s still just a child.
Earlier, she had declared victory so confidently, but now she seemed a bit nervous.
“Did we… pass the test?”
The girl hesitated for a long time before asking Rubia the question.
Naturally, dozens of eyes focused on Rubia.
Everyone was waiting for her response.
Rubia’s head started spinning again.
‘What should I do now?’
She had somehow ended up in a situation where she had become the crazy woman declaring trials involving swords to the children.
If she told the truth now?
If she declared that she would lose even in an arm-wrestling match with them?
It would be embarrassing… but that wasn’t the main issue.
There were other problems.
Rubia was in a position to lead these children from now on.
Who would trust and follow an idiot who had been forced into such a bizarre situation?
No one would trust or follow her instructions.
As someone who had to manage these children in the future, that was something she had to avoid at all costs.
In the end, Rubia had only one option left.
“The road ahead will be tough.”
She said this with as much gravitas as she could muster.
It might have been appropriate for a high-ranking officer in a revolutionary organization shaking the Empire, but for someone nearing thirty, it was rather embarrassing.
“To change this world, you have no choice but to turn it into your enemy.”
Her words made her cringe internally.
However, there was no turning back now.
“Are you prepared to walk this path?”
The atmosphere grew heavy instantly.
However, no one gave up.
Everyone nodded, solidifying their resolve.
They declared they were ready to give their lives for the Black Fangs.
“Then, if that’s the case…”
With those words, Rubia walked toward the children.
The black robe she had been too tired to take off last night billowed dramatically.
“I, as the third fang of the Black Fangs, accept you.”
She had no idea what the third fang was.
It sounded weird to call herself a tooth of the Black Fangs, so she made something up.
She could feel the children’s adoring gazes.
…Her blanket tonight was sure to be kicked off countless times.
It was inevitable.
But she was a professional.
She couldn’t stop acting just because she was embarrassed.
“Enough with the chatter…”
Rubia looked at the children again.
She held back her blush with superhuman patience.
“Well, I just want to say, let’s do our best together!”
She smiled brightly as she said this.
The children’s faces lit up instantly.
Thus, Rubia managed to maintain her authority at the cost of her blanket’s lifespan.
As she looked at the excited children, she fought back tears.
The strict but kindhearted high-ranking unnie.
She prayed that no one would ever find out she had created and acted out this concept at her age.
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