Chapter 92
[You gained 102p.]
[You gained 150p.]
.
.
“Wow, that’s legendary.”
The effect of making a dragon a sub-mod was incredible.
Choosing Felicie—DragonDragonWillDie—as a sub-mod had been a stroke of genius.
Points began pouring in, as though someone had activated a money duplication bug.
- Is the Head Mod asleep?
- Is this the moment?
- Tactical nuke incoming!
The only time when moderation got lax was in the early morning hours.
Yet even then, Felicie stayed in the Gallery, eyes wide open.
[This user has been banned for 10 days.]
[This user has been banned for 3 days.]
ㄴ No way, she’s active even at this hour?
ㄴ Fuck, then where am I supposed to vent my stress?
ㄴ Why are you venting your stress with naked orc porn?
From orc nudes and goblin mating pictures to images dissecting and analyzing filthy slimes.
How much suffering had the sub-mods endured?
But no tactical nuke could shake a dragon’s mental fortitude.
- DragonDragonWillDie) How fascinating. Do humans make a hobby of looking at images like these?
ㄴ No, fuck no.
ㄴ Please just kill all those bastards.
ㄴ (Praise me! Elf emote)
The Gallery’s early-morning hours had been normalized.
Thanks to that, the rate at which I earned points had increased by about 1.3 times!
On top of that, Felicie had been given the top floor of Kelierton’s Vermilion Mage Tower by Geoquake Mage.
With a place to live as well, Felicie became absorbed in Gallery activity day and night.
[Moderator Chat]
DragonDragonWillDie: Hmm, it seems never-ending no matter how much I delete.
DragonDragonWillDie: I am deeply concerned that one of us may be neglecting our duties.
DragonDragonWillDie: Is that not so, Blue Elf moderator? :)
Full-HP Elf: Eeeek
Besides, DragonDragonWillDie whipped Full-HP Elf into shape.
Thanks to that, even Full-HP Elf threw himself into moderation, bringing the rate up to exactly 1.4 times.
Head Mod*: How are you moderating that quickly?
DragonDragonWillDie: I doubt you are in a position to say that... We can accelerate our thought processes.
DragonDragonWillDie: Managing the humans’ collective monologues is easy enough.
“Dragon-dra...”
Thanks to the dragon’s absurd racial buff, the dragon could do the work of a hundred people.
DragonDragonWillDie: What do you think?
Head Mod*: (cat emote giving a thumbs-up through tears)
DragonDragonWillDie: Bestowing a fitting reward upon a capable subordinate is a queen’s virtue. :)
Every now and then, Felicie would message me and demand a reward, but that was simple too.
[Royal Rose Tea Time Set] - 200p
[Earl Grey 2g, 100 bags] - 15p
DragonDragonWillDie: As expected, you do not disappoint me. ^^
Felicie was extremely satisfied even when I gave her only a tiny fraction of the points she earned in the form of tea.
Felicie was quite simply the most cost-effective sub-mod imaginable.
“But why am I the queen?”
Since I was the Head Mod, I understood why DragonDragonWillDie called me a subordinate in a formal sense.
But what did DragonDragonWillDie mean by “queen”?
Head Mod*: Why am I a queen? I’m a guy.
DragonDragonWillDie: Hmm? Do you think my hearing is so poor?
DragonDragonWillDie: O great beautiful half-elf archmage?
DragonDragonWillDie: I have already seen your statue in the plaza. You are remarkably beautiful. :)
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
There had been a slight misunderstanding, of course, but the sub-mod selection had concluded successfully.
From now on, Felicie would earn points for me as my capable blue slave, the sub-mod.
Felicie had been particularly friendly toward me, so I felt relieved, as if I’d gained a dependable ally.
More than anything, Felicie didn’t dislike being a sub-mod.
If anything, Felicie seemed to regard the title of sub-mod I’d bestowed upon her as a kind of gift.
DragonDragonWillDie: Now that I have bestowed upon you the title of sub-mod, I should reward you. Is there anything you desire?
A few days later, Felicie suddenly said she wanted to send me a present.
“A present?”
I didn’t need anything like that.
Besides, if it was a present, my storage room was already overflowing with them.
I was just about to reply that it wasn’t necessary.
“Wait.”
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
No matter how airheaded Felicie seemed, Felicie was still a genuine dragon.
Ordinary magic probably wouldn’t bother Felicie in the slightest.
“In that case...”
Head Mod*: Can you teleport me, by any chance?
*
Things were fine at first.
Though I’d been watched, confined, and kidnapped, I had thought it was still better than the Rabbit Hole.
But as time passed, I could feel Vampire to the Bitter End’s obsession growing.
Vampire to the Bitter End’s gaze had grown even more intense, and the vampire was taking my blood more often too.
‘At this rate, it’ll be faster for the vampire to suck me dry.’
My goal as the Gallery’s Head Mod was to spend a long, long time on the Gallery before dying a natural death.
I had never dreamed of being sucked dry by a sub-mod vampire and dying like a mummy.
Besides, Vampire to the Bitter End, who had been doing a decent job before, had even begun neglecting the sub-mod duties after starting to stay with me.
“I really need to go back now.”
It was time to return home.
[Detailed Moderator Information]
[IP – 1.20.2]
“Found it.”
The first thing I did was find my IP.
IP addresses had meanings of their own.
Even in the modern world, you could use an IP address to find simple information, such as the internet service provider.
Of course, in the modern world, users could hide their location as much as they wanted if they put their minds to it...
“That won’t work here.”
The IP visible to me as Head Mod could only be honest.
After analyzing it ever since I found myself in this body, I had determined that the 1 at the very front represented the species.
The 20 seemed to be the approximate location when the map of this otherworld was divided into n sections.
And the 2 at the very end was...!
“I don’t know.”
I really had no idea.
But knowing just the 20 in the middle was enough.
The abandoned castle where Vampire to the Bitter End had first appeared was the same abandoned castle where I was staying now.
And I had confirmed that its location had not shifted.
DragonDragonWillDie: You mean teleportation? Of course I can. Just tell me where.
“Thankfully, it seems she can.”
In that case, things were simple.
I immediately left Felicie a chat message.
Head Mod*: There’s an abandoned castle in Kelierton territory. The exact center of it, yeah.
DragonDragonWillDie: Where should I send you?
Head Mod*: Spawn me somewhere random in Kelierton.
I set the destination to somewhere, anywhere in Kelierton so it wouldn’t be too specific.
All that remained was getting to the exact center of the abandoned castle.
I’d spent about a month in the castle, so I had familiarized myself with what it looked like.
With Vampire to the Bitter End out for a moment, I left the room and walked toward the garden.
“If it’s the exact center, it should be around here...”
I arrived near the garden fountain.
DragonDragonWillDie: Are you ready?
Head Mod*: Let’s go.
I double-checked the location several times before replying to Felicie.
Everything was perfect.
“Head Mod? Why are you there?”
Until I ran into Vampire to the Bitter End.
The vampire seemed to have already returned from the outing.
As I watched Vampire to the Bitter End tilt their head, I felt a cold sweat trickle down me.
“Taking another walk?”
“The garden suits my tastes more than I expected.”
“Let’s go back now. It’s cold.”
“Um, we can’t do that.”
If Vampire to the Bitter End approached me like this, we’d be sent to Kelierton together.
And Vampire to the Bitter End was already getting closer to me in real time.
Unable to think of a good reason to make them stop, I felt my mind go completely blank.
What if they figured out I was trying to run away?
‘Then they’ll really suck me dry.’
I didn’t know for sure, but the longer we stayed together, the more Vampire to the Bitter End’s obsession seemed to deepen.
“S-Stop!”
I held out my hand firmly and shouted.
Fortunately, Vampire to the Bitter End stopped right where they were, following the universal rule.
“W-Why?”
“Don’t you dare stay still there!”
“Absolutely” and “Stop”—my two ultimate moves.
It was the moment Vampire to the Bitter End froze, their eyes wide as a startled rabbit.
-Vwoom
“Ah...! Head Mod, you!”
In an instant, the area around me flashed brightly, and warm light began filling my vision.
Knowing what was happening, Vampire to the Bitter End flew straight at me, but...!
“Gasp!”
Thankfully, it worked.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in an alley somewhere in Kelierton.
“It worked!”
Operation Abandoned Castle Escape, Season 12.
At long last, I had successfully returned home.
And when I turned my head, I even spotted the Famous Sword that had arrived with me!
“You escaped too.”
Fortunately, it seemed the Famous Sword had also noticed what was happening and escaped in time.
I was so delighted that I picked up the Famous Sword, then realized.
“Wait, then where’s the Holy Sword?”
*
“I bought Melona.”
Actually, I hadn’t.
When I opened the basement storage door on the familiar street, the lavish bunker interior came into view.
I let out a blissful sigh as I breathed in the familiar smell of home.
“Home really is the best...”
The Holy Sword... Well, it would probably survive just fine in the abandoned castle.
Putting my worries about the Holy Sword aside, I entered my room, where something was wriggling beneath the blankets.
“What is that?”
When I pulled back the blankets to check, Penny was curled up and fast asleep.
I grabbed Penny and vigorously ruffled her hair.
“Ack! Wha—who are you?! Malphite?”
“I’ve been through so much. I’m really exhausted.”
“You’re back!”
Penny sprang up happily, even as her face and hair became disheveled.
Fortunately, Penny seemed to have spent her time alone at home just fine.
No, if anything, Penny may have been doing even better.
Penny hadn’t missed a single thing I’d sent her and had eaten it all, so her complexion seemed somehow healthier.
“Here, take this at least.”
[Strawberry Milk Cake] - 38p
I didn’t have Melona, but I did have cake.
I handed her a cake to reward her for her hard work, since Penny loved strawberries.
“Yay!”
I was happy to be home.
But before I could completely collapse, there was something I had to do.
The expression on Vampire to the Bitter End’s face when we met just before the teleportation still lingered vividly before my eyes.
I opened the Gallery and first checked whether I had received any notifications.
“Not as much as I expected?”
But there was no chat from Vampire to the Bitter End.
There were no new posts or chats either.
[Moderator Chat]
Vampire to the Bitter End: Lizard, that’s you, right?
DragonDragonWillDie: (A dragon emote shrugging its wings: “Who cares?”)
At most, that short chat I’d exchanged with Felicie was all there was.
“Tsk, nothing happened, right?”
It felt ominous, but we hadn’t continued arguing much further.
So I was about to stop worrying and dive into bed when—
-Crash!
“Wha?”
With an enormous impact, the bunker shook for an instant.