Chapter 118 Game

Wait, what? I didn't expect to have my "name" come up in their conversation, too.

The younger one, pissed at his sister, mentioned three issues he had with her. Tactless when summoning the heroes, failing when waging war under Father's authority, and then pulling "that." At first, the third implication wasn't so clear I could understand I was the one they spoke of, but after a moment, it became clear they were also talking about Princess Elina's own little pet soldier.

So I was famous already? …No, not so much. If the boy's sources were as valid and sure as he said they were, I guess he would have known Elina the fool didn't recruit a demi-human under her, but indeed a high-level monster-type.

And he went on, carrying his rant. Elina sure was a troublemaker, being so flawed and awfully bad at the path she picked. "I could go on and on, hours on end, complaining—no, exposing her for her own foolishness until dawn!"

After the younger one spoke again, his voice filled with contempt and scorn, a blank unfolded. Neither of the two spoke for a while, and I casually thought, A'ight, bored, let's head off, before I continued exploring the palace.

I didn't think much of any of it. The fact that Elina the fool already let "that" information leak or the other mistakes the younger brother kept saying she repeated, didn't really matter to me. If Princess Elina was a fool and made mistakes, well, most people were fools and made mistakes. That was all there was to it.

Sure, if the noblewoman who chose me happened to be in trouble, said trouble would befall me, too, but I was confident I could handle any trouble coming our way anyway. Plus, wasn't that supposed to be my job anyway, whenever the royalty required my services? That's hitting the nail on the head. So let her go and sow all the trouble in the world if she wants, and I could handle my end of our contract. Leaving the two sons of the king, I was on my way again.

Taking nearby stairs, I navigated toward this or that direction, again and again, passing by many halls and corridors, up until, in what I deemed were living quarters, I found that door.

The System guided me here, and I thought it might have been the final destination for that quest to be completed. That was right, the guiding fragrance, or guiding device the System directed me with came to an end, here. If before I was even inside the royalty's territory I could somehow sense the objective of the quest was still a long way of exploration ahead, presently, I felt like my hand could reach and seize the quest—or rather, Elina the third princess, making her mine alone.

In front of that door, the monster ceremoniously stood, arms crossed upon his chest with dignity, locking his eyes onto the prey. At once, the door's handle was clutched, and a person came out of the third princess' apartments. No, not one person, but two. They were two. Maids?

"So fast asleep, the lady is!"

"My, yes. Leading the campaign surely has been hard on our lady."

Move it along, humans, I thought. With basks of what appeared to be many clothes and robes, the two female humans head off, closing the refined door after them.

Shoo, shoo—the humans were gone. Of the two—no, three servants, two left, and one remained; it was me.

And so, there was a door, a monster, and a sleeping noblewoman. Not anything else was here. The castle, at night, like most other places, was quiet. Not a soul was around to prevent the monster from carefully sliding in the noblewoman's apartments. Not a soul, so the monster could go on completing the quest, at long last.

All the monster had to do was "get all comfortable" with the noblewoman… whatever that meant. That was it.

The chamber was spacious. Truly spacious. After a rather short hallway, the residence directly gave on one broad sleeping accommodation. One widely opened window, from which the winds came and made themselves as comfortable as I was going to, let the room's air be constantly refreshed, and I took notes of it. Next time I swung by, this was my gate.

The night sky, still a bit bluish and dim with light, adorned with a few peeking stars from behind the canopy of clouds, was a most gorgeous canvas on the wall of the place. And the moon, standing deep buried behind the canvas, slowly and faintly whispered to the monster not to ever get so full of itself like the moon did, using the winds as envoys sent to me.

Within the room, there were desks, shelves, and closets. All of them being of the highest quality, imperial, majestic, and mostly extravagant. Carpets, too. A throne-like chair was exposed in a corner of the chamber. A fancy coffee table here with scattered books and documents on it. Other than the open canvas of the night sky, other paintings, encased in golden frames, decorated the walls, covering each of the six walls of the grand bedroom. Animal skins and trophies could also be exposed so much the bedroom was immense. A few expensive accessories here and there. A royal mess. To the point of depravity.

I wasn't used to such an abundance of wealth and hoped never to be.

Anyway, the third princess. In the middle of the heavily decorated chamber, there was a huge double bed. Layers on top of layers, rich silk and linen sheets were clothes to the thick mattress. On top of all these blankets and duvets, there was a woman.

Sleeping soundly as she was, still so tightly dressed and accommodated, she was completely exposed to the monster.

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Reassuming my human form, I scoffed not for any reason.

"Get… 'all comfortable with her'... was it?"

Cautiously approaching the bed, I carefully slid myself under the pile of hot duvets, wondering what exactly I was required to do.

What lies behind the story? I knew nothing.

This was my story. The story of the game. The story of the monster, of the Player, or the story of Mana. It was true—I knew nothing. And suddenly, nestling within the noblewoman's warm embrace, I fell asleep… not thinking about anything.

I fell asleep not thinking about the reason why the System had brought me here. Not thinking about the game or about the story. Not thinking of Isekai Production and what I had been involved in. I was the Player, and hey, "it" was the game.

I didn't think about "Shop" either, or the two waiters who served me, the glass of water, to that table, back in the restaurant. "For Shop's will," they had said. Well, of course, for Shop's will!

And, similar to how the third princess was completely exposed to me, all subdued and docile, I, at the time, soundly sleeping as I was, was also completely exposed to "him."

Similar to how my fangs were held right above the noblewoman's throat, threatening to do away with her at any moment I pleased and spill her blood, these two waiters, at the time, were also holding their fangs right about my throat, threatening to snatch the life away from me, their fangs being even closer to me than my jugular vein.

For Shop's will.

And Shop received a quest, too.

"Mana's Benediction." Mana had called it a Benediction. The truth was, it was neither a benediction nor anything remotely close to it.

But hey, it's just a game.