On the other side.
Silas breathed a sigh of relief; this trash game didn't screw him over for being a decent person.
[You returned to the large town]
[The women were still hiding in the building; thanks to the supplies you provided, their lives had improved significantly]
The moment he gave up on fighting the monster and left the wooden hut, it switched back to Regular Simulation.
[You noticed that the women's stares were even more intense than before.]
[Fiona, the leader, told you... this was all thanks to you leaving so many supplies and returning unscathed.]
[Learning that you truly went to the zone where the knights perished, and seeing the knightly short sword at your waist, she asked if there was a way to leave.]
[You told her about what you encountered and shared your perspective.]
[Fiona told you that while there are ways to repel insects, can you be certain they'll work? Not everyone is as strong as you.]
[She argued that if even you returned in such a pathetic state, sending these people would just be sending them to their deaths.]
[She believed staying put to wait for the knights or the regular army was the proper way. The kingdom wouldn't abandon such a large territory.]
[You felt she was difficult to communicate with and chose to talk to the noblewoman instead.]
[...]
[She still knew you best. She served you with everything she had, though she seemed to share Fiona's opinion, just stated more tactfully.]
[She didn't want to risk her life. She suggested that if you wanted to elope with her and live alone, she'd be willing to scream even more wantonly for you.]
Is she not wanton enough already?
She didn't care at all if others heard her; her screams were as slutty as they could get.
[You stayed only until the afternoon. After finding a new carriage, you decided to head back.]
[Fiona seemed to have made a decision. She told you... if you stayed, she'd swear on her family name to give you the maximum reward, including a title.]
[She didn't even care what you did to the women there, as long as you could handle any chaos that arose.]
[You intentionally asked if "whatever you want" included her.]
Silas now felt that Fiona was even worse than the noblewoman.
At least the noblewoman wasn't a hypocrite.
[She fell silent for a moment, looking at you. She said if you weren't afraid of noble retaliation and could keep a secret, then when out on patrol together, you could.]
Hmm?
That actually made him look at her with a bit more respect.
Unfortunately, she wasn't his type. Small chest, not particularly beautiful.
If a title were real life, Silas would consider it. But this is a game.
Being an emperor in a game is useless.
[You left the refuge anyway.]
[You rode the carriage, driving the mutated horses at full speed.]
[...]
[Traveling day and night, pushing yourself to the limit. Finally, in just two days, you saw the familiar convent.]
[But strangely, even though it was night, you saw no light.]
[The convent gates were intact. Not destroyed. No walking dead were wandering around, but you didn't see the noblewoman you left there.]
Did she go back to town because she hadn't been fucked in a long time?
Impossible to get in. The doors were fine and blocked with obstacles.
I hope she didn't get killed by a trap on the way back to town. My conscience would feel bad.
[You climbed over the wall into the convent. Instantly, you realized something was wrong.]
[In the courtyard sat the flowerpots you told Sister Rose to plant if she was bored. Next to them was a corpse with a chest mangled by stabs.]
[The short sword was still stuck in it. The sword you left for Sister Rose.]
[The corpse belonged to the noblewoman you had "deeply communicated" with.]
[The door to the confessional was smashed.]
[A low table and debris were piled at the entrance. Through the door, you could see a long bloodstain on the floor, as if a body had been dragged.]
[Rose's younger sister, Elena, was inside. Seeing you, she wailed.]
[She asked why you only just returned?]
[You comforted her and asked where the nun was.]
[Elena cried, saying Sister Rose became very strange after killing the noblewoman and burst through the door to go who-knows-where.]
[...]
[Sure enough, on a different part of the wall from where you climbed in, you found bloody handprints. This proved the nun had truly gone out.]
[You anxiously followed the trail, praying she hadn't mutated.]
[...]
[Early morning.]
[In the grass nearest to the convent, you saw Sister Rose curled in a ball. Her clothes were covered in blood, her chest was bulging unnaturally, and she was murmuring strange words.]
[No matter how you looked at it, she was on the verge of mutation.]
[You decided...]
[Important Choice Triggered]
[Option 1: Before she gets too powerful, ambush her breasts!]
[Option 2: Attempt to stop the mutation! Let her keep her healthy, normal breasts!]
[Enter Free Simulation]
She wasn't dead yet.
If she wasn't dead, there was a way.
But if her sister Leah was doomed to die, did saving her with hypnosis even matter?
How did the noblewoman get in? The door was fine.
Can walking dead climb walls? He had never seen that.
[You chose Option 2]
Regardless, Silas decided to try first.
If there was really no other way, he'd just restart.
Even for the sake of efficiency, getting his head eaten by a nun... would be fine.
"..."
With the choice made, Silas's senses returned.
He could see Sister Rose with her back to him, shoulders trembling. The air smelled of thick blood.
"Sister Rose?"
If this were a horror movie, he'd be the typical victim who approaches a monster thinking it's a person, only to get eaten.
"...You're back."
Rose seemed to still have some consciousness. But her eyes were devoid of light. Her cheeks were smeared with blood.
She was clutching the jar Silas left her—the lubricant.
"Why... why come back now?"
"Leave it to me. I'll find a way to save her."
Silas tried to rescue the situation with words.
"It's useless..."
She murmured, crushing the jar in her hand. "Leah... is dead. For sure."
"That walking dead... Mrs. Osman. Lucky her... she was being used by someone when she died. I saved Elena... but I'm supposed to have two sisters... two."
The clothes over Rose's chest burst open, revealing squirming tiny teeth. Her grey eyes showed the loathing only a living person could feel.
"You... are a scumbag."
"You only came back now... because you were hiding somewhere, waiting for Leah to die, waiting for me to despair... to force me to beg for your 'trade' to satisfy your perversions. All because... I didn't accept immediately."
She still couldn't hold it together; she was becoming something else.
[Skill "Hypnosis Apprentice" activated]
"Would I really go through all that trouble?"
Silas was pinned to the ground, those squirming, dense teeth right in front of his face.
He felt no fear. He was used to it—whether it was her eating people or her blaming him for everything.
He just felt a sudden surge of irritation from old and new grudges.
Damn it. Who do you think built those fortifications and traps around the convent one brick at a time? Who made sure the zombies couldn't wander near?
"Why... why did you have to do this?!"
"I had already... hah..."
"Decided to beg you for the trade, or whatever you wanted... I would have done anything. Why let... Leah die?!"
"..."
But this time, either the skill was useless, or it simply failed to trigger—after all, the success rate was only 40%. She remained twisted.
"..."
Silas gave up. He had considered if he had stayed away too long.
But based on his cautious measures and the abundance of food, he thought there wouldn't be a problem.
Who knew the noblewoman could get in?
Even worse, the nun blamed him. So he was right to just focus on his own pleasure and finish the task quickly. He did nothing wrong.
Go ahead, eat me.
He'd go back to the hut with the female corpse, travel day and night again, and focus only on dealing with the noblewoman. Even exhausted, he could manage that. Then he'd either fuck her or, if training made her mutate, he'd dump her at the refuge and do his own thing. This hot potato wasn't worth the trouble.
"Hah..."
But Sister Rose didn't bite down.
"I can't... you... you can save Leah, right?"
"You can... tell me you can! Please..."
Crunch—
The sound of flesh tearing echoed, but Silas felt no pain. He saw Sister Rose's own left hand blocking the ravenous rift that was about to consume him.
She bit her own hand. That hand seemed to fight back, reaching deep into her own torso, grabbing at something haphazardly.
Blood from her mouth and blood from her bitten hand splattered onto Silas's face simultaneously.
"..."
Silas had seen Leah's condition. It might be a mild concussion, or more likely internal bleeding.
To be honest, he had no medical knowledge. If it was serious, he had no idea how to save her.
"She's not dead yet. She's breathing."
Silas wasn't lying.
She was breathing, but whether she'd live or die was unknown.
"Then... use... your strange methods... help me..."
[Skill 'Hypnosis Apprentice' has reached its daily limit. Cannot be used again.]
No hypnosis left.
Could he still succeed by lying and using the lubricant as a fake "antidote"?
"I beg you... please, save Leah... she's only seven."
"How can she... die like this? Hah..."
"..."
Silas's head was pulled into Sister Rose's cleavage.
His face was pressed against the tiny teeth. Groping around, Silas grabbed the jar she had dropped, and with fingers covered in lubricant, he pried open her mouth. He forced the liquid down her throat.
Rose's hands still gripped Silas's arms like iron pincers, but she didn't shove him further into the rift.
"Hah..."
Silas's head broke free, and he took deep gulps of fresh air.
"..."
A few minutes later.
Though the rift in her chest hadn't fully closed, the horrifying teeth stopped squirming, and her hands released their death-grip on Silas. Warm tears flowed down her cheeks. She stopped changing.
"It's impressive how Sister Rose can shamelessly ask a scumbag like me for help."
Silas stood up from the ground and wiped the slime from her chest cavity off his face. "If it were me, I really couldn't do it."
Terrified, despaired, and now she crawls to beg him.
What, does she think he's just an ATM?
If this weren't a simulation, he'd have to risk his life to save her and worship her. Where does she get off crying?