Silver Dawn Knights – 1

“Honestly, it was a bit unexpected.”

“In what way?”

“Since Iris brought you, I somewhat guessed you wouldn’t be an ordinary person, but I never imagined you’d be this exceptional. Her personality is so lively and light, but my sister is still officially the Captain of the Silver Dawn Knights. Her skill isn’t something that would lose to anyone.”

“Really?”

“Please don’t try to gloss over it, Newbie-ssi.”

A pair of crimson eyes glared at me with a pout.

“Iris clearly said that Newbie-ssi was afflicted by a witch’s curse. In that case, your physical abilities should be below average, yet even in that situation, you fought on equal terms with Rije unnie. I think you should be a bit more proud.”

“That was only possible because Rije went easy on me. It wasn’t a full one-on-one fight.”

“Went easy, you say? Well, my sister doesn’t think so, and neither do I.”

Erica immediately denied my words.

“And Newbie-ssi, it seems you’re under a very big misconception. Although that person always appears to act as they please, they aren’t so self-willed as to neglect their duties. Even if they held back, as long as they were aware that the spar was an entrance exam, it would have been an attack that an ordinary person could absolutely not block. Whether they held back or not, equal terms are equal terms.”

That was the truth, so I kept my mouth shut. Even if clearing it only required reducing their HP by half, it was still essentially a boss battle.

There were countless people on the community forums who wailed because they couldn’t pass that entrance exam. Even if they chose a different route instead of joining the Knights, they didn’t fare particularly well either.

“It’s a fact I don’t particularly like, but this time, I can’t help but agree with my sister. Where on earth did Iris bring someone like you from?”

“Well, I don’t really know either.”

“I’ll take that as you not wanting to answer.”

Erica once again gave me a pouting look, then wiggled her butt, encased in red dolphin shorts, as she walked down the hallway. Was that also due to the mod’s influence? Every step she took was incredibly suggestive.

It felt less like her butt was emphasized while walking, and more like she was walking to emphasize her butt. Recalling that Rije and Iris were also like that, it seemed to confirm it was indeed the mod’s influence.

“Iris mentioned last time that this castle was originally used by the lord.”

I tried to change the subject to avoid focusing on her butt. As I brought it up, Erica stopped walking. A hint of awkwardness was in her eyes as she looked at me.

“……Well, that’s right. It’s true. This was originally that bastard’s residence. And then he dumped it on us.”

“And she also said it would be better to experience why he abandoned this place rather than explain it in words.”

“Iris doesn’t lie. Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it anyway, so it’s probably better for you to just experience it once. We’re almost there, so please be patient, even if you’re curious.”

When even Erica said something like that, I became even more curious about what kind of situation it was. After finishing her words, Erica wiggled her butt again and walked forward.

The interior of the castle was incredibly clean. There didn’t seem to be a speck of dust in the hallways, and not even a single footprint, let alone a speck of dust, had settled on the red carpets laid throughout.

In fact, it was so clean overall that it felt even more bizarre.

In a building large enough to comfortably accommodate hundreds of people, there was no sign of a human presence, yet every place we passed was so clean that there wasn’t a single speck of dust.

It would be impossible unless there was a cleaning fairy who cleaned all day long.

“The hallway is too clean. Is this also related to that experience?”

“You’ve hit the nail on the head. You’ll find out once you experience it for yourself, starting now.”

Saying that, Erica stopped in front of a door. It was an ordinary wooden door. Next to it, identical wooden doors lined the entire wall at regular intervals.

“You can use this one. I purposely chose the first room to make it 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 the room’s interior came into view, I doubted my eyes.

“……?”

This was because, instead of a medieval-style room like I’d seen in the game, I saw a room decorated with modern items, so much so that it wouldn’t feel out of place even if it were a studio apartment I used outside.

Not only was there a bed with an iron frame and a plush mattress, but it was also covered with a microfiber blanket. The pillow also had a modern design to match.

The walls and ceiling were meticulously wallpapered, and the window was made of clear, transparent glass, with a sliding mechanism and a handle. There was even a small balcony behind it.

Fluorescent lights, not candles or light bulbs, hung from the ceiling, brightly illuminating the room. What was even more absurd was that a ceiling-mounted air conditioner was also installed as a bonus.

Most notably, in one corner of the room, a desk identical to those in the outside world was prominently placed, along with a swivel chair on wheels. Even a fan was clearly visible right next to it.

I couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of mod had been applied to create this appearance.

As I stood dumbfounded and speechless at the sight of this modern room, Erica turned on the air conditioner. Her familiar way of operating the remote control suggested she had done it more than once or twice.

“Newbie-ssi, 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.”

As if tiles decorating the bathroom walls and floor weren’t enough, there was even a modern metal showerhead and a bathtub installed. The bathtub was large enough to comfortably fit two people.

The toiletries neatly placed next to it, like shampoo and body wash, made me wish I had seen wrong.

To avoid revealing my awkward expression, I turned to the other side and ran my hand over the bed and blanket. They were soft. The quality felt no different from the ones I used outside.

‘Is this…… right?’

What kind of crazy bastard made this mod? I became extremely curious about their face.

“Well, there’s nothing much left to explain, so it’s time to tell Newbie-ssi what you were curious about. Let’s go outside for now.”

I followed Erica out of the room. Confirming that I had come out, Erica conjured flames in her hand. The fire that bloomed from her hand gradually took the shape of a sword. A wave of heat washed over me.

As the sword made of flames was swung, half the room burst into flames with a roar.

The fluorescent lights shattered, the bed burned away, and the desk and chair melted and twisted. A pungent smell of burning spread from the scorched wallpaper. The entire room was instantly incinerated and vanished.

As I stood bewildered by this sudden sight, Erica calmly closed the door and then immediately flung it open.

“……Huh?”

And, in that brief moment of less than a second, the room was perfectly tidy.

“You saw it, right?”

I blinked. The pungent smell of burning that had lingered just moments ago, the blackened and scorched wallpaper and ceiling, the burnt bed, and the melted fan had all returned to their original state.

The fact that it had been engulfed in flames just moments ago felt like a lie. Erica looked at me, frozen in a daze, and chuckled softly.

“It’s because of this.”

“……Do you know why it’s like this?”

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

“Can’t you just call a wizard to investigate?”

“They all refused. It seems certain that that bastard lord did something and dumped it on our Knights, but since there’s no evidence, we can’t openly accuse him of doing anything.”

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

In that brief moment, the wooden sword had vanished.

“……The wooden sword?”

“It disappeared somewhere. More precisely, it’s correct to say that as the room restored itself, it automatically erased ‘objects that weren’t originally present in the room’.”

“Where did it disappear to?”

“We don’t know. And we can’t know.”

I understood why they hadn’t explained this in words. A room that resets every time you open and close the door? It was obvious that no one would believe it, telling them not to lie.

‘Is the game system implemented with magic?’

There was something I could guess.

In games, unless an object is originally designed to remain in a destroyed state, if a player swings a sword to lay waste to their lodging or uses magic to smash furniture, it simply becomes clean again just by stepping out and coming back in for a moment.

I wondered if that characteristic of games might have been implemented through some unknown magic. Of course, it was merely my conjecture, so the truth remained unknowable.

Right now, Erica wasn’t taking this for granted; she believed the lord had done something. If it were the influence of a mod, they should have considered this normal, just like their attire.

And in the story, there was no mention of the Silver Dawn Knights’ NPCs attributing this function to the lord.

“So, I’ll 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 at the blood-stained sword hanging at my waist.

“First rule: Never leave objects inside the room when you go out. You just saw it, right? How objects inside disappear as soon as the door closes. Once an object disappears, its whereabouts are unknown, and it can’t be found again, so you absolutely must not do that. There’s a storage shed for items outside, so use that. It also has defensive magic, so you can rest assured.”

The thought of the blood-stained sword disappearing was horrifying. I dutifully etched it into my mind.

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Second rule: When you sleep, only wear one piece of clothing. Whether you sleep naked with just underwear, or wear clothes without underwear. Absolutely only one piece of clothing must be touching your bare skin.”

“……Why that, too?”

“Why do you think? It’s because it’s related to the first rule. First rule: Never leave objects inside the room when you go out. Don’t you remember?”

“That’s about going out, and this is about sleeping. Are the two related?”

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

“Not being visible to human sight?”

Erica nodded, having heard my re-question.

“Even if you’re inside the room, it seems to treat you as invisible to sight if you’re sleeping. More precisely, from the very moment a person falls asleep. That’s why everything disappears except for the one piece of clothing closest to your bare skin.”

“That’s damn troublesome.”

“We think so too. That’s probably why that bastard lord dumped the castle on us. It’s probably his way of telling us to go screw ourselves.”

Seeing even Erica constantly cursing that lord, I figured that bastard must have really done a number on them.

He was still trash, unchanged from the game, so I wondered if I should be glad that I could kill him without guilt later.

“We tried an experiment once: if you sleep wearing both underwear and clothes, only the underwear remains the next day. If you take off your underwear and sleep only in clothes, the clothes are perfectly fine the next day. So, that’s the established rule.”

I wondered if she wasn’t embarrassed to openly say she slept naked like that, but since the speaker herself didn’t seem to mind, I just let it slide.

“That’s all for my explanation. Do you have any more questions?”

“So, as long as I’m in the room, things won’t disappear except when I’m sleeping, right?”

“For now, yes. As I just told you, simply closing your eyes won’t trigger the restoration. It only happens when you’re sleeping or unconscious.”

“Hmm…… Got it.”

Erica left, saying she would come pick me up when dinner time was near. I unbuckled the blood-stained sword, leaned it against the wall, and sat on the chair.

Just in case I fell asleep and an item evaporated. I wasn’t tired yet, but there was no harm in being careful.

“Newbie, you’re inside, right? I know you’re in there, so you don’t have to answer!”

“……Huh?”

As soon as I had just sat down on the chair, I heard a knocking sound from outside the door. I got up again.

“Rije? Why are you here?”

“I heard you got assigned lodging, so I came to visit! Hurry and open the door! If you don’t open it, I’ll break it down and come in, okay?”

Since Rije was the kind of person who would genuinely break down the lodging door and enter, I quickly got up and opened the door.

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

Rije smiled brightly and waved her hand.

“How have you been, Newbie?”