Chapter 78
The fourth morning arrived.
Once again, Han-byeol logged into the game to spend another tedious day.
Though her hunger had subsided a bit from secretly eating last night, she was still starving.
And above all else, she was incredibly bored.
With her whole body tied up, all she could do was sit there and think.
Of course, she would occasionally log out to browse the web...
But befitting her rank as #1, she spent most of her time in-game except when exercising.
She felt antsy otherwise. It had become a habit of sorts.
Because of this, she often found herself feeling bored.
Though there was one thing she could do in this confined space - observe Yor as he moved about.
Despite being in the leisurely forest setting, he kept himself quite busy.
In the mornings, he would prepare her meals before heading out to hunt.
Around lunchtime he'd return to make another meal, then do housework.
Cleaning, laundry, and such. If time allowed, he'd even finish bathing around this time.
He'd usually appear all fresh and clean during these hours.
Then he'd prepare dinner...
He seemed to have some free time around then. He'd often try to play with her.
Though she typically ignored him since he treated her like a dog...
In any case, he kept himself quite busy throughout the day.
To think an NPC would move so autonomously even for minor things...
While she'd heard about it on the community forums, seeing it firsthand was quite fascinating.
At one point, she even caught herself thinking.
'He really is handsome...'
Though he had imprisoned her, she was still a "woman" after all.
She couldn't help but react when seeing an attractive person right in front of her.
Moreover, he had a unique presence beyond just his looks.
Unlike other men with their soft demeanors, he had a certain sharpness to him.
Peaceful normally, but gave the impression he could cut deep if provoked.
Probably an aura developed from living in this forest.
But she didn't find it unpleasant. If anything, it left quite an impression in a good way.
To be honest, she wasn't very fond of that soft demeanor typical of "men".
It made her feel like she had to protect and lead them... Han-byeol had little talent for that.
Perhaps that's why she'd never dated before.
Though she'd been busy, she'd also never felt particularly drawn to anyone.
'...What does it matter, he's just an NPC anyway.'
But those thoughts were fleeting.
She soon sighed and returned to reality. Those were all pointless thoughts anyway.
What mattered was figuring out how to escape this cave.
Another day passed like that.
And on the fifth day, she made her decision.
'...Fine, I'll tell him.'
What was the point of all this suffering? Just giving him the Holy Water would resolve everything.
True, Holy Water prices had gone crazy lately, but that wasn't worth five days of her time.
Though it would hurt her pride a bit, she was starting to want to get out, eat properly, and get back to leveling.
She needed to resume her streams too.
Finally, she called out to Yor.
"Hey."
"Hm? What is it, Happy?"
"...I'll give you what you want."
"What?"
"The Holy Water you mentioned. I'll give it to you."
"Oh..."
Yor let out an ambiguous exclamation.
It was like he was glad things were working out, but somehow seemed disappointed too.
Of course, Han-byeol didn't care either way as she pulled Holy Water from her inventory.
One by one, bottles emanating a sacred aura appeared.
She produced a total of 3 vials of Holy Water.
While not an enormous amount, it was far from insignificant given how nearly impossible it was to buy Holy Water now. She had used 2 vials fighting him earlier too.
Yor cheerfully collected the Holy Water she provided.
"Thanks. See, wouldn't it have been easier if you'd just given it from the start?"
For him, even these 3 vials were an incredible gain.
It meant he could get through one Rage Mode for free.
But that wasn't all. If used well, this could even save his life.
Beyond the pain, Rage Mode A had the drawback of spreading the scent of blood everywhere.
Until now he'd managed by staying deep in the cave where the scent wouldn't spread, but now his cave's location was exposed.
If Rage Mode hit while he was in hiding, he'd need something to help conceal himself.
'Better save this.'
The waning moon would come soon.
However, Yor had no intention of immediately drinking the Holy Water even if Rage Mode A triggered.
Even if he had to endure that terrible pain, he planned to conserve it as much as possible until more Holy Water came in.
Thinking this, he carefully stored the Holy Water in his storage area.
Now that he had the Holy Water, it was time to learn its source from her.
He asked Han-byeol.
"From what I know, you can't get Holy Water even if you go into the church now. Where did you get all this?"
"...I have connections with the Knights."
Han-byeol continued.
"Though the Knights are collecting Holy Water, they don't use all of it. If you build up goodwill with them, it's convenient in many ways. You can get various benefits through proper trading."
"Hooh."
Yor let out an impressed sound at those words.
This was another unexpected fact.
Come to think of it, quite a while ago the Knights' Order had promised to be regular buyers of Holy Water. It seems they had surplus from buying it regularly.
And Han-byeol, with her connections, could obtain it without much difficulty.
"Then did you learn that swordsmanship from the Knights too? It seemed quite refined."
"Well... I got some help. Though they didn't directly teach me."
Yor nodded briefly.
This unexpected source was giving him much to think about.
The Knights' Order was a closed group, making it difficult to get information from them normally.
They were known for their strict security after all.
Because of this, Yor thought:
'If I play this right...'
He might learn new information he didn't know about.
"The Knights put the bounty on me, right?"
"Well... probably."
"Then... how strong is the Knights' Order?"
"What? Pfft."
Han-byeol snickered at his words. She could sense slight anxiety in how carefully he asked.
"Why, are you scared of the Knights too? Well, I guess you would be, since they'd raid you on sight, hehe..."
"......"
Yor didn't respond to that. Instead, he silently flicked her forehead.
Thwack-!
Along with the dull sound, a somewhat sensual moan escaped her lips.
"Ahh...!"
"Just answer without the commentary."
After writhing in pain briefly, Han-byeol spoke:
"...It's not something I can easily answer. The Knights' strength comes from their unity, even though each individual is capable."
She continued.
"Especially the Knights' Order Commanders, they're all monsters. It's a position that only the Empire's finest can reach after decades of training."
"......"
Yor nodded.
He asked Han-byeol several more questions after that. What the Knights' Order was doing now, if they were showing any unusual behavior, and so on.
But it was difficult to get any proper answers.
Han-byeol wasn't deliberately hiding information. She was still an outsider after all.
She lacked the connections to access proper information.
Still, it had been helpful.
After hearing everything, Yor got up from his seat with satisfaction.
Seeing this, Han-byeol said to him:
"Are we done? Untie me now."
"...Hmm."
Yor gave a meaningful smile at those words.
True, she had given him everything originally promised.
But why did he not want to let her go?
Perhaps because his inner plans had gone awry.
So Yor smiled mischievously and said to her:
"I don't want to."
"...What?"
At those words, Han-byeol immediately began thrashing about. Her resistance was so fierce it was like seeing her when she was first tied up.
"You bastard...! This wasn't the deal!"
"Whoa whoa, calm down. I'll untie you after you do me one favor. It's nothing difficult."
And that favor was, of course, to eat the food he made.
Face in the plate, like a dog. Of course, hearing this, Han-byeol frowned and refused.
"No way. Just kill me instead! Don't untie me, just kill me and set me free!"
"My my, spoken like a true Otherworlder, throwing around death so casually."
Of course, Yor had no intention of letting her go that way.
The reason was simple. He hadn't seen her eating yet.
But her resistance was so fierce that he had no choice but to take a step back for now.
Arriving at the kitchen where the campfire was lit, Yor began to ponder.
'What should I give her to make her eat...'
Though she was acting like this now, she wouldn't stay that way.
She'd need to leave the cave eventually, and she was still hungry.
Though she'd eaten some fried rice before, she'd basically been starving for nearly 5 days otherwise.
She had to be hungry.
In other words, what he needed to do was make food so delicious even she couldn't resist.
Fortunately, Yor was quite confident in his cooking.
Though not by choice, he had over 10 years of experience living alone after all.
He happened to have one excellent ingredient too.
The troublesome Old Tiger's tail.
Though it restored vitality when eaten since it was from a spiritual beast, that only worked a few times.
Yor, having eaten the tail several times already, was starting to not feel the effects.
He'd gotten tired of eating it too.
He'd been leaving it in storage nearly to the point of spoiling, but now it seemed he had a use for it.
Though he was tired of it, the tiger meat was excellent in terms of nutrition, taste, and uniqueness.
"Alright. Let's do this."
And so Yor began to cook.
*
Meanwhile, Han-byeol was venting her anger by mentally cursing out Yor.
"Seriously, I shouldn't have trusted him. What a crazy bastard..."
What was with his obsession with making her eat? He definitely seemed unhinged. Did he have some fetish about faces in plates?
But behind these thoughts was also a hint of anxiety.
'He's not really planning to keep me tied up forever, is he?'
He probably was.
The Yor she'd observed these past few days had shown quite a determined side.
Which meant she only had one choice.
Just thinking about eating with only her mouth made her face heat up.
After waiting a while, Yor finally brought the meal.
This time though, the smell was quite unique. Slightly sour, with a cheesy savory aroma.
The richer food aroma stimulated her salivary glands more than usual.
Finally, Yor set the plate down in front of her.
[Demons Saga] had one rather unique system feature.
Nearly every object had system descriptions pop up.
For items and elixirs, these sometimes included detailed effects.
This was no different.
+
[Dry-aged Mountain Lord's Tail Cube Steak]
Slightly over-aged tiger meat. However, it hasn't spoiled due to being saturated with mana.
Permanently increases HP slightly when consumed.
+
A long description of the food appeared.
Tiger meat? Where did he get something like this?
More importantly, this was her first time seeing stat increases attached to mere food.
Was this food some kind of elixir?
Of course, the description included the word "slightly" so the effect probably wasn't huge...
But free stats were always valuable.
Because of this, her heart leaned slightly toward the food.
During this, Yor spoke up:
"Here you go. As promised, I'll untie you right after you eat."
"......"
"What's wrong? It's not that difficult, is it? It's even beneficial for you. This is meat you couldn't eat even for tens of thousands of gold."
It certainly seemed that way.
Things that affected the body like this were always extremely expensive.
Moreover, she couldn't leave unless she ate anyway.
Plus she'd been starving for nearly 5 days, so her desires were already filled with hunger.
Gulp-
Her throat bobbed heavily.
Her pupils shook violently as if hit by an earthquake.
Pride, once bent, becomes much easier to bend again.
If you've already bent it once, that psychological hurdle becomes much lower.
Humans are creatures of adaptation, and habits are more powerful than one might think.
The first time is always the hardest.
"......"
So she silently lowered her head toward the plate.
Slight embarrassment and self-loathing weighed on her. Her bound hands trembled because of it.
But unlike that, the reward entering her mouth was incredibly sweet.
The perfectly cut meat melted in her mouth.
A rich umami flavor spread throughout her mouth. The meal, her first proper one in nearly 5 days, was incredibly delicious.
Watching this, Yor quietly placed his hand on her head.
Contrary to Yor's expectation that she'd immediately freak out and reject it.
Han-byeol only flinched briefly before silently accepting Yor's touch.
A strange sense of conquest and achievement wrapped around Yor's mood.
Yor smiled while petting Happy's head.
"Eating well, our Happy."
Hearing that voice, Han-byeol felt something resonate somewhere down below.