Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game

It's already been a month since Im Ha-neul left.

During that time, there was a single incident of a berserk state "A" triggering, but thankfully, I was able to handle it easily with three holy elixirs. It was a bit sad to have used all three, though…

Other than that, nothing much happened to me, thankfully. It seems like she really didn’t tell anyone about me, just like she said. I don’t know much about international politics, but a month is more than enough time to send a hunting or pursuit team.

Because of that, I was finally able to relax. There was no need for me to leave the comfort of this cave.

The only downside… was that the magic she cast wasn’t all that effective.

I think the spell was called "Illusion Sight" or something like that. That sounded right. Unfortunately, I didn’t know much about magic. Spending all my time in the forest, I rarely encountered those high-class mage types.

If I’d known a bit more, maybe I could have prepared for Ha-neul’s visit better… but I decided to let it go since everything turned out fine in the end.

In any case, Illusion Sight was a rather inconvenient skill. The duration didn’t last longer than half a day, and it required the caster to stay nearby.

The one good thing, though, was that even with the illusion in place, I could still recharge my demonic mark. It was, after all, only an illusion that affected sight.

The condition that my demonic mark be exposed to sunlight and air was still fulfilled. What a foolish mark. Failing to account for something like this—definitely a failure as a programmer.

Because of that, whenever I needed to sunbathe, I’d just take advantage of her.

I’d have her sit nearby and cast Illusion Sight while I sunbathed. People might suspect our relationship, but at least no one else would see my mark.

Out of courtesy, I wore a sleeveless shirt for her sake. After all, I only needed to expose my collarbone. Honestly, I didn’t mind going shirtless, but she freaked out so badly last time that I decided to hold back. Apparently, it’s improper for a guy to show his body so casually.

…Moments like that remind me just how much the world has changed.

“...Ahh.”

Of course, even now, with me just in a sleeveless shirt, she was still embarrassed. She couldn’t meet my eyes, and her face was as red as ever. It seemed like she had zero tolerance for seeing a "man."

Every time I saw her like that, I wanted to tease her a little, but I held back. She was still holding onto the bombshell of knowing about my mark.

So, that’s how I ended up with one more visitor to my forest. Because of her editing work, she couldn’t come too often, though.

Naturally, Yu Chae-rin had also been visiting regularly over the past month. Her visits were always welcome since she usually brought some new information with her. She had been faithfully keeping her promise from last time.

Of course, not everything she brought was groundbreaking news. Most of the time, it was trivial things, like some fight between an outsider and an NPC or the discovery of some treasure somewhere.

These things didn’t really concern me, but they were entertaining enough to help pass the time, so I enjoyed listening.

However, the information she brought today was much bigger.

“Yor, listen to this!”

She exclaimed, clearly excited.

“You remember that demon that descended recently? The one called Andromalius?” “Yeah.” “Well, the arm we got from him was stolen!” “?”

It’s only natural for items to drop after successfully completing a raid.
After all, if that didn’t happen, the players would throw a fit.
Of course, Demons Saga was no different, and even Andromalius, after being defeated, left behind an item.

Specifically, it was Andromalius’s left arm, coiled with a serpent. Even though his body burst into flames and disintegrated right after his death, his left arm somehow remained intact.

Of course, it didn’t end up in the players’ hands.

The sole item dropped from the raid was immediately handed over to the Empire.
It made sense, considering the one who had cut him down was the commander of the 5th Knights, and no one was going to leave such a dangerous demonic artifact in just anyone’s hands.

That demonic arm was scheduled to be transported to the church and sealed away for eternity. Since no one could use such a cursed thing, they intended to make sure no one ever could.

However, that plan unfortunately fell apart in the end. The carriage transporting the arm was attacked by an unknown group of assailants.

Naturally, the carriage was guarded by dozens of knights. Some of the guards were even otherworlders standing in for soldiers.

Though there wasn’t a commander-level superhuman present, their force was more than enough to scare off ordinary bandits.

And yet, they were ambushed. The assailants struck while the carriage was camped, trying to steal the vault inside.

Of course, the knights, being experienced in such matters, had set up lookouts in advance.

“Huh? Who—”

The problem was, the attackers were exceptionally skilled.

Swish!
With a chilling sound, two knights’ heads flew through the air.
Two of the assailants had struck with a single sword slash, decapitating the sentries.

Both of the knights had sharp reflexes, but the assailants’ blades were even faster.

Still, there was a silver lining—the commotion had at least alerted the rest of the group.

Thud!
The sound of bodies hitting the ground echoed through the night. And that alone was enough to rouse the others from their tents.

“Who goes there?!”

One of the knights shouted, waking everyone up.

Seeing this, the assailants exchanged words.

“I told you to handle it quietly.”
“Apologies… there wasn’t much we could do about the noise from the bodies hitting the ground.”

There were six assailants in total.
Five of them wielded swords, while one stood empty-handed. From the looks of it, the unarmed one seemed to be in charge.

However, their faces were all concealed behind masks, making it impossible to identify them.

The unarmed one soon gave a command.

“We can’t finish this here. Let’s go.”

And with that, the assailants fled with the item in hand, triggering an unexpected midnight chase.

For the knights, the theft of the item was a matter of professional duty, so they had no choice but to pursue the thieves with all their might.

Their efforts paid off, and they managed to capture one of the assailants. But no matter how desperately they chased, they couldn’t quite catch up to the stolen item.

The assailants were much faster than expected.

Still, one knight, driven by determination, managed to reach the leader at the front of the group.

“Hyaaah!”@@novelbin@@

The knight let out a war cry and swung his sword. But the blade never reached its target.

The unarmed assailant unleashed magic from her hand.

Crackle, crackle.
Flames erupted, bright and fierce like fireworks. It was a dazzling sight, like the moments before a firework exploded.

Then, she aimed it straight at the knight.

“Aaargh!”

And that was the end.

Hundreds of sparks flew from the assailant’s hand, engulfing the knight and snuffing out his life in an instant. As the knight’s charred body collapsed to the ground, the assailant spoke.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. You see, this artifact is practically a holy relic to our order.”

The display was so overwhelming that the knights halted their pursuit. And with that, the assailants made their escape, vanishing into the night.

“No, you see, this was posted on the forum a few days ago. At first, I thought it was just some made-up story since it was only text.”

But then, rumors started circulating a few days later.
Specifically, the rumor that Andromalius’s left arm had been stolen.

“Wow, when I heard that, I realized the story was from an otherworlder who had participated in the raid. It would’ve been great if they at least shared some photos instead of just writing about it.”
“Hm...”

I nodded. It seemed like something else was brewing that I wasn’t yet aware of.

Why had those assailants stolen the arm? It didn’t seem like they were just planning to sell it. According to what Chae-rin said, strange words like "cult" and "holy relic" had come up in the discussion.

Anyone capable of taking down a knight with one blow wasn’t your average fighter.

Of course, none of this directly involved me, so I didn’t think too much about it.

Then, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
Didn’t they say they had captured one of the assailants? They should be able to get information from him.
Who exactly were these assailants?

I asked her about the current status of the captured assailant.

“Oh, that.”

And then I got this response:

“They escaped.”

“Damn it, catch them!”
“Don’t let them get away!”

Luck had been on her side.

The guard had carelessly left the key in his back pocket, making it easy to steal.
Foolish guard, he never expected that someone’s arm would grow long enough to snatch it.

“Haah… haah…”

Thanks to that, she was able to grab the key and slit the guard’s throat before making her escape.
She’d probably be put on a wanted list by the Empire, but that didn’t matter—she had been on the verge of brutal interrogation anyway.

‘The pursuit squad will come after me...’

As she watched the commotion after her escape, she thought to herself.

‘I need to hide for a while.’

With her face now exposed, she would have to avoid being seen wherever she went.
The Empire would be on the hunt, determined to extract any information they could from her.

At the very least, she needed to find a safe place to hide until she could make contact with the cult again.

While on the run, she came across a forest. It was known as the ‘Forbidden Forest,’ a dangerous area filled with many deadly monsters. Dangerous, yes, but… with her level of skill, she could avoid detection long enough to make contact with the cult.

Tap!
With that thought, she ran into the forest.