Chapter 98
The main culprit behind the strange changes to my words and actions was [Noble Demeanor].
This passive skill operates strictly in most situations.
But occasionally, it does waver.
In moments when I get drunk or startled and my emotions fluctuate violently.
For example, when I secretly sneak blood curd out of the stew at night, only to be caught red-handed by a retainer.
At times like that, relatively honest physical reactions can emerge.
“……Hic!”
…Like hiccups, for instance.
The kitchen light suddenly came on.
The one who appeared behind me was none other than Katarina.
“……My Liege?”
She gave my frozen figure in front of the pot a quick once-over.
“Hmm. You are awake.”
For the moment, [Noble Demeanor] reflexively made me speak in a composed tone.
“M-my faithful… Hic! retainer, Katarina.”
But my startled heart had yet to calm down.
‘Aaaah…! I can’t stop hiccupping…!’
Hiccups kept squeezing their way between my dignified words.
I tried to stand there boldly, pretending nothing had happened, as if there were nothing wrong with having a late-night snack, but I couldn’t help my face heating up.
“My Liege.”
Katarina’s face grew extremely serious.
Her voice was stern, too.
‘Th-this definitely means I’m about to get a lecture…!’
I was screwed.
No matter how much I tried to bluff my way through it, this situation was too pathetic.
I wasn’t even properly setting out a meal at night; I had simply been too lazy to turn on the lights and was picking out only the tasty blood curd from the pot.
Suppose someone like Riri had done this.
Katarina would have summoned her immediately and given her a fierce lecture about lacking refinement and violating proper etiquette.
I was her master, so I probably wouldn’t be scolded quite that badly, but this was absolutely a situation where I couldn’t avoid hearing an earful.
‘Yeah, I did do something wrong….’
Just as I lowered my eyes and resigned myself to accepting her lecture,
“I have committed a sin worthy of death……!”
Thud.
Katarina suddenly dropped to her knees on the floor, squeezed her eyes shut, and shouted.
“As the Liege’s servant and first retainer, how could I have slept so peacefully without even realizing that my Liege was hungry…! Such negligence can never be forgiven. Please punish me!”
‘Huh…?’
I stared blankly down at her, still holding my chopsticks.
Instead of scolding me, she was asking me to punish her?
Just how badly was Katarina blinded by her infatuation with me?
Even when I did something this pathetic, she blamed it on her own inadequate service.
Anyway, what a relief.
I swallowed the blood curd filling my mouth and cleared my throat.
“Ahem! N-no, that is not so! …Hic! The curse of hunger suddenly descended upon this body at dawn. I merely did not wish to disturb my retainer’s sweet slumber.”
I tried to put on the most solemn expression possible, but my shoulders kept bobbing, making my dignity feel rather diminished.
Fortunately, Katarina did not seem to care about my hiccups at all.
She looked up at me with eyes full of emotion.
“Ahh…! You were soothing your hunger alone out of consideration for this lowly servant’s sleep…!”
“F-failing to notice that was disloyal, but… Hic! I shall forgive you this once.”
“I am overwhelmed by Your Grace, My Liege. I shall awaken all the retainers this instant and prepare a grand feast!”
Katarina sprang to her feet.
She looked ready to wake everyone up immediately.
‘N-no!’
I frantically waved my hands, horrified.
Everyone was sleeping soundly right now, and waking them all at dawn just because I wanted to eat a little by myself would be terribly inconsiderate.
“There is no need! This body’s hunger has been completely sated.”
“But, My Liege, how can you eat cold food….”
“Ahem. Do you intend to defy this body’s command? Come, let us return to our quarters.”
“……As you command. I shall follow.”
Katarina bowed her head at my order, though she wore an extremely regretful expression.
‘Phew. I managed to get through it somehow again.’
After I drank a glass of water, my hiccups gradually subsided,
and my stomach was pleasantly full.
Thinking myself incredibly fortunate, I returned to my room and lay down on the soft bed.
It was finally time to fall into a deep, restful sleep.
***
Eugene’s room.
“……”
Katarina could not fall asleep, blinking in the darkness.
Soft, steady breathing….
The peaceful sound of her Liege’s breathing came from right beside her.
Yet the incident that had just happened in the kitchen kept circling through her mind.
When she awoke after sensing a faint presence.
‘…My Liege?!’
When she saw that her Liege, who should certainly have been beside her, was nowhere to be found, Katarina felt a chill run down her spine and hurried outside.
Could it have been the work of an enemy who had dared to infiltrate the domain?
Silencing her presence as she entered the living room, she heard clattering from the kitchen in the darkness.
The very moment she quickly turned on the light.
“……Hic!”
There stood her Liege, cheeks puffed out like a squirrel’s and eyes opened wide.
Her Liege, frozen in place with chopsticks in hand.
And perhaps because the Liege had been startled, tiny hiccups kept popping out as the shoulders bobbed.
Even afterward, the Liege continued to hiccup while speaking.
That sight was… quite. Too, violently.
Cu, cute…….
Katarina clenched both fists without realizing it.
‘W-what disloyal thoughts am I having……!!’
She shook her head vigorously.
To dare harbor the profane thought that her Liege was cute.
Such a thought would surely be a grave sin even to let enter her mind.
Had she not proudly lectured and thundered at that dark mage she encountered in the forest only yesterday?
And yet she herself was being swept away by that profane emotion.
This must never happen.
‘Y-yes! Let us recall the Liege’s noble forms.’
Katarina struggled to etch her Liege’s nobility into her mind once more.
Her charismatic Liege, who had frozen all the retainers with a single word today!
Her terrifying Liege, like a grim reaper, who had swung the colossal Death Scythe atop the castle wall and turned an army into a handful of dust!
That magnificent, noble figure who had donned a parasol and frilly dress and walked along arrogantly!
‘Yes. The Liege truly is my Liege.’
Great, cruel, and more solemn than anyone else.
Katarina continued recalling her Liege’s noble appearance.
Her Liege, who had held Dark and healed humans with golden waves.
And….
Her Liege, wearing a loose, thin short-sleeved shirt and rolling defenselessly around on the bed.
Her Liege, who would suddenly snicker to themself while looking at a smartphone?
The sight of her Liege’s white, soft belly occasionally peeking out whenever the Liege moved…?
‘N-no, stop!’
Katarina’s face flushed bright red.
She remained unable to sleep for a long while afterward.
***
‘Yaaawn. I slept well.’
When I opened my eyes, it was a refreshing morning.
Of course, it was nighttime by Korean time.
Ever since becoming a vampire, my day and night had completely switched around.
Well, even during my dark gamer days, my sleep schedule had often been reversed, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to adjust.
In any case, it was the start of a pleasant day!
“My Liege. Have you awakened?”
The usual respectful voice.
It was Katarina, who had approached to attend to me.
She was already dressed impeccably in her battle-maid outfit.
But.
‘Hm?’
Her posture was as straight as ever, but somehow she seemed strangely tired.
There even seemed to be a slight shadow beneath her eyes.
Was it just my imagination?
Come to think of it, I did have something to feel guilty about.
‘Ah, was it because I woke her last night?’
I had woken her while secretly picking blood curd out at dawn, so it made sense that she had slept poorly.
I felt sorry.
“Katarina. Did you perhaps sleep poorly last night?”
“……!”
Flinch!
Katarina’s shoulders trembled violently at my question.
‘I knew it.’
Seeing her look like someone who had committed a crime made me pity her even more.
“You seem to have some fatigue left, so rest in the [Coffin of Rest] for the day.”
Katarina’s lips twitched as she flinched.
“M-My Liege. There is actually something I wish to tell you…….”
“Hm? What is it? Go ahead and tell me!”
I nodded readily.
If it was a request from Katarina, anything was possible.
But Katarina hemmed and hawed for quite some time, then squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
“…Y-you are more noble than ever today as well!”
‘Pfft. What was that? Worshipping me the moment she woke up?’
I laughed inwardly.
It was such a Katarina-like answer.
I chuckled and gestured for her to go and rest.
“Hehe. I understand, so you may withdraw.”
“As you command……!”
Katarina bowed her head and hurried out of the room.
Left alone, I leaned against the bed and picked up my smartphone.
‘Hmm~ Shall I check the Hunter Gallery?’
The morning routine is checking the forums, after all.
Stroking Dark, who was still sleeping soundly, I opened the Hunter Gallery app with practiced ease.
But then.
The atmosphere on the message board was different from usual.
The whole place was in chaos.
[Nightmare 8F Chapter 1 First Clear ㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Is this actually real????]
[Holy shit, someone actually cleared it ㄷㄷㄷ]
Huh?
Wondering what had happened, I clicked the popular post at the center of the commotion.
[Title: First Clear of Nightmare 8F Chapter 1!!!]
[Author: News Wrecker]
An American ranker just cleared Nightmare 8F Chapter 1.
The person uses Anonymous as their Tower nickname.
Their clear score was 52 points. Not particularly high, but respectable.
Anyway, the score isn’t the issue; the fact that they cleared the 8th floor is legendary ㄷㄷㄷ
- Wow, as expected of our American bros ㄷㄷ
- Hiding their nickname as Anonymous is freaking cool.
- Wasn’t this person originally climbing Nightmare before switching to Normal difficulty?
ㄴ Wow, but being first in Normal and first in Nightmare is seriously freaking cool.
ㄴ And staying anonymous to the very end without contacting anyone is so damn cool.
As I read down the post, I tilted my head in puzzlement.
This feels familiar.
‘Solo Warrior. That guy, right?’
The registered user from the Climber Community who had sponsored me the enormous sum of ten billion won not long ago in exchange for advice.
It was definitely the guy who had secretly told me he was challenging Nightmare 8F.
‘Oh. So he succeeded in the end?’
Feeling an unexpected sense of familiarity, I immediately logged into the Climber Community.
If the Hunter Gallery, full of ordinary people, was this chaotic, then the place where climbers gathered was obviously going to be even more so.
As expected.
[Solo Warrior clears 8F ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Wow, holy shit, that’s insanely awesome]
[We are in the presence of the Tower’s god….]
[Climber Community GOAT = This Solo Warrior bastard, for real]
The board was in an uproar, plastered with posts praising Solo Warrior.
I found myself smiling with satisfaction.
I felt good because my sponsor was doing so well.
But then.
My finger, scrolling a little farther down the screen, abruptly stopped.
[What’s with Solo Warrior’s review post shout-out to the True Ancestor?]
[The Great True Ancestor ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Is Solo Warrior’s master the True Ancestor????]
[Slightly fabricated) Solo Warrior: I cleared 8F after being bitten by the True Ancestor]
‘……Huh?’
Why is my name coming up again!!!