Request for Help

‘What is this?’

I calmly re-examined the contents of the letter. I read it several times, from beginning to end, without missing a single word, and what I was thinking was correct.

A letter requesting my help from a nearby territory.

It was a quest signaling that the game’s main story had entered its middle part.

The ring I obtained after catching Arachneinera was still dormant in my room’s drawer. So, it wasn’t as if the ring had been delivered without my knowledge.

Rather, if something like this had happened in a sub-quest, I would have understood.

If you’re a user who prioritizes exploring the map and uncovering it more than pushing the story or clearing quests, they would sometimes achieve quests without even realizing it and be bewildered.

But beating down Arachneinera and delivering the Fratroid family’s ring is part of the main story. In other words, it meant that you couldn’t skip it in the middle or achieve only that part first.

It definitely should have been that way.

‘……Is this also the aftermath of meeting the World-Eater?’

My mind was tangled. If this happened due to the repercussions of the World-Eater smashing the entire story and barging in first, there was no greater nuisance than this.

I had almost given up on progressing according to the game’s story, but the appearance of the World-Eater and this letter requesting help were similar yet distinctly different cases.

In the case of that lizard guy, an event that didn’t exist in the game at all newly occurred, whereas in the case of this letter, an event that existed as a main story in the game happened earlier than expected.

If I had to compare it, it could be seen as similar to the time I beat down the creature abandoned by God as soon as I entered the Holy Nation.

‘Is it because I caught all the mandatory bosses of the first half?’

For now, it was the most plausible possibility. Among the three mandatory bosses of the first half, I had already beaten down the spider long ago, and I had also caught the golem and the wolf on this occasion, so it might be because of that.

In the game, various stories and quests intertwine, and they ultimately become mandatory bosses, but I completely ignored all that and went directly to beat them down.

“Are you alright, Captain-nim? Your expression doesn’t look very good.”

Lacxia also made a serious expression. Seeing that my mood wasn’t good, it seemed she had arbitrarily guessed the contents of the letter.

The content itself was absolutely not serious. Rather, wouldn’t it be a good thing from the perspective of the people of this world? It was to the point where one might think so. The one who needed to be serious was limited to me, who knew the inside story.

“It’s alright. It’s nothing much.”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing much, though. What kind of content is it that makes you like this?”

I quietly handed over the letter. Lacxia, who received the letter, read its contents carefully and tilted her head with a questioning expression.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything that serious in it. Whether it’s a request for help or what was promised as compensation. Neither of them would be bad for Captain-nim, would they? Rather, since they directly requested Captain-nim, it could also be seen that your reputation is that high.”

The content of the letter was simple. The lord of a city a little distance from here specifically requested my help.

The core content was a request to subjugate a dungeon that appeared near his territory, and the compensation was all loot and by-products from that dungeon, plus additional money.

The overall outline was similar to what I saw in the game, but the detailed contents were completely different.

The expressions referring to me-driving out a dragon, obtaining the position of Captain of a newly established knight order, and being a knight assisting Aurora, a collateral imperial family member-should not have appeared.

Other names should have appeared instead of those. Not the names of the World-Eater, the Knights of the Pitch-Black Holy Night, or Aurora. But the names of the main story’s early-to-middle part bosses that would appear after returning the family ring.

Because the player subjugating all of them was an event that happened before receiving the letter.

‘It feels like their trust in me is sky-high.’

In the game, it felt like they were requesting help from a knight whose name had recently risen, with the feeling of grasping at straws, but now, the feeling that they were certain I could unconditionally resolve this incident was much stronger.

It seemed to be because the level of rumors known as my achievements was different.

“I know. I have to accept it. I won’t refuse it like you think, Lacxia.”

“……?”

The question on Lacxia’s face grew larger. Her face seemed to ask why I had made such an expression if I was going to accept the request anyway.

“……I understand. How many people will you take? I will inform them while you prepare.”

“No. I’m going alone?”

“Huh?”

“So, you’re leaving again?”

“…….”

Resting her chin on the desk, Aurora, who puffed out her cheeks sulkily with a very displeased expression, was the first to speak.

“If you just leave alone like that, what about the promised next outing?”

“If I do it after I get back-“

Before I could even finish my sentence, the golden eyes that were steadily gazing at me gained strength. I quietly stopped what I was about to say.

The gazes of the other members, including Helga, the Vice-Captain of the Knights of the Pitch-Black Holy Night, were also felt from behind. Unlike Aurora, their gazes were full of excitement.

Lana, who was standing beside Aurora with her hands demurely clasped over her lower abdomen, also, though her expressionless face remained the same, the expectation of how our conversation would unfold was clearly evident in her eyes.

Because Lacxia vehemently opposed me going alone, throwing a fit, I compromised with one Vice-Captain. And that one compromise was Helga.

It was a fact I had only recently realized, but the Knights of the Pitch-Black Holy Night had a very firm misunderstanding of the relationship between Aurora and me.

I tried hard to explain that it wasn’t true, but they didn’t seem to believe it at all.

That’s why they were watching Aurora’s and my conversation with such excitement. Because from their perspective, this would look like a lovers’ quarrel.

‘It really is a strange world, isn’t it?’

Meanwhile, no one cared that I had even slept with Rije. It was even an atmosphere where they thought it was natural for someone like me to do so.

While a woman having multiple men was disgusting and unimaginable, a man having multiple women was considered an achievement worthy of praise, as it proved his capability.

Of course, they said that if a man didn’t achieve accomplishments befitting it, he would be pointed at just the same, but their thinking was already flawed from that prior stage.

“Why suddenly? It’s a request, not an order or a threat, so you can just refuse it, can’t you? They’re the ones in a hurry, not us, are they?”

“They say a dungeon has appeared nearby. It seems to be a Rune Dungeon, they said.”

“If it’s a Rune Dungeon, he could just gobble it up himself, couldn’t he? Why is he asking you for help? Since when was his heart so kind?”

“He already sent knights in to do that, but more than ten have already gone missing, so he must have found it difficult to handle alone anymore.”

It’s not just that he’s giving away all the rewards and subjugation spoils inside, or that he’s asking me to please just eliminate it, even offering additional compensation if I want it. There was an inside story like that to it all.

He tried to take it all for himself and wash his hands of it, but he ended up getting his mouth torn instead.

Moreover, although there are almost no people who uphold it, it was a principle to prioritize reporting a discovered Rune Dungeon to the Imperial Palace. The moment it was revealed that he tried to take it for himself without doing so, he would have to deal with the consequences himself.

So, he’s trying to request help and silence me with such massive compensation. No matter how precious runes are, are they more precious than his own life and family?

Unlike in the game, where it might be a new knight whose reputation is just rising, I don’t know what he was thinking, trusting me, who received a knight order directly from the Emperor, to request me to take the runes secretly from the Emperor.

What if I just went to the Emperor and told on him?

“……What about the compensation?”

“You can take everything that comes out of the dungeon, including runes, and they say they’ll give you additional money if you want.”

At those words, Aurora’s eyes widened slightly. If it even came to saying ‘take the runes,’ it meant the situation was that desperate. Aurora knew that well, so she must have shown such a reaction.

“…….”

Aurora seemed to be deeply contemplating something. And then, as if making a decision, she released the hand propping her chin.

“I’m going too.”

“……What did you just say?”

“I said I’m going too. Why, can’t I?”

Somehow, it felt like I understood Lacxia’s feelings when I said I would leave alone.

“Lord-nim. It’s fine if we go, but for Lord-nim to go as well could be seen with strange intentions-“

“I’ll handle that myself. And, you can just think of this as a substitute for an ‘outing’, can’t you?”

Aurora was headstrong. Perhaps blood doesn’t lie, she had a stubborn side, like her aunt Kaikilia-nim.

To break that stubbornness, persuasion with clear grounds was needed, but unfortunately, I didn’t have such a card right now.

“……I understand. However, you must not come to the combat zone, alright?”

“Of course. I know my place well. I’ll be treated as a guest and stay holed up in their mansion, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

I reluctantly nodded and turned my body around. Then, the knights who had been watching our conversation with excited eyes right behind me subtly averted their gaze.

Before my eyes, a feast of bunny girls unfolded.

And one reverse bunny girl too.

“…….”

Perky bunny ears of the same color as each person’s hair, sticking up on their heads. Clothing that tightly hugged their bodies, revealing their outlines as they were, and barely covering only what needed to be covered.

Bare legs, proudly displaying their thighs and calves without stockings. High-heeled shoes of the same color as each person’s hair, just like the bunny ears.

Lastly, thick, alphabet X-shaped stickers attached to the Vice-Captain’s nipples and pubic area.

I had felt dizzy since I saw the samples and designs, but seeing them directly, wearing bunny girl outfits as their uniform, made me twice as dizzy.

I forced myself to suppress those feelings and opened my mouth.

“Helga.”

“Yes. You can speak.”

As if bothered, yet not bothered, a half-languid voice replied, rather than the quick-witted Lacxia.

If I were to move alone, it was better to have a personality that just finished its own work and paid no attention to anything else, rather than an enthusiastic personality, so I just let it be.

“We need to escort Lord-nim, how many more people do you think we need?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. I think we’re probably enough on our own.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, that’s not it. I’ll bring one more.”

Perhaps realizing that all the burden would fall on her if she did that, Helga quickly changed her words.

Helga’s figure left, wagging the adorable bunny tail attached to her rear, and the remaining members also exited, following behind her, with their bunny ears and chests jiggling and their hips swaying.

It looked as if they were going to work as dealers in some casino.

ㅡSo, inside the carriage….

ㅡInside the carriage… the risk of being caught….

ㅡAs long as it doesn’t shake….

ㅡThe sound too….

And, from behind me, Aurora and Lana were busily whispering something. An ominous premonition already swept through my mind.