Book 4: Chapter 16 |
Q: What’s the benefit of being bound to the [Chef]?
A: You get to eat a richer lunch than everyone else!
Using her role advantage, Rosvitha managed to get her hands on quite a lot of ingredients, and at lunchtime she and Leon handled the meal together in the communal kitchen.
After the meal, the couple took stock of the clues and item cards they had on hand.
First were the scattered clue intel cards:
“[The two friends once received the princess’s favor, and the three of them have been close friends since childhood.]”
“[Although the queen also deeply loves the princess, she seems to have another motive.]”
“[Among the eight players, there are at least two lone-wolf players. They are isolated and unsupported, yet possess unique advantages.]”
“So… Mu’en and Xiaoguang’s friend group should be solidly on the good side,” Leon said, his gaze slowly shifting to the intel card related to [Queen].
“But this card says Claudia’s [Queen] identity has another motive. If the main quest for all the good-side players is to protect the princess and find the Black Holy Stone, then what is the queen’s other purpose?”
Rosvitha shook her head. “Claudia hasn’t shown any tell at all yet. She also barely spoke during meetings. Trying to analyze her main objective… might be difficult.”
What Rosvitha said was true. More than ten hours had passed since the game began, yet Claudia neither traveled with others nor said much at the table.
There was pitifully little information about her, so naturally they couldn’t infer her purpose.
“It’s fine. The game has only just started. Later on, when there are more and more clues, we’ll be able to piece together an answer,” Leon said.
“Mm.”
Next was the intel card about [Lone Wolf].
This was the one Leon cared about most.
Before getting this card, Leon had had no idea that besides himself, there was another lone wolf on the field.
So who could that other lone wolf be…?
Was it Rosvitha, bound to him at this very moment?
Or the [Queen] Claudia, who “had another motive”?
Leon’s thoughts drifted. For a moment, he had no lead.
“So there really are lone-wolf players—and it’s at least two,” Rosvitha said, smiling lightly as she looked at Leon. “Who do you think it is?”
General Leon replied in an instant: “Obviously Claudia. What, you think it’s me?”
One essential skill for a seasoned lone-wolf player:
Blame anyone, at any time!
The queen lifted her brows, then asked, “But you just said my sister might be a lone wolf.”
“Your sister might be, Claudia might be too. This says ‘at least two,’ doesn’t it?”
“Mm… you could be as well.”
“Your Majesty, I beg you, spare me. I’m truly a rock-solid good guy.”
Rosvitha gave a soft, amused snort, propped her pretty chin on one hand, and looked at Leon with languid eyes as she said slowly,
“But I… like men who are a little bad.”
“I’m the lone wolf, Your Majesty.”
Rosvitha thumped his arm, annoyed. “What are you talking about? Who says it like that?”
Leon, internally: Everyone saw that, right? I told the truth—she’s the one who didn’t believe me!
The couple looked at each other and smiled, then turned to the last intel card again.
“Special scenes can trigger ‘Fate of All’? I don’t really get it… Our family werewolf game didn’t have rules like that,” Rosvitha said.
“But from the literal meaning, it sounds like when one person completes a certain task, the effect applies to everyone, right?” Leon said.
Rosvitha nodded. “Makes sense.”
They didn’t dwell on it, and laid out the item cards they had collected that morning.
There were three in total:
“[Super Influence]”
“[Effect: After using this item card, your vote count becomes ‘5’.]”
“[Note: Can only be used once.]”
……
“[Great Detective]”
“[Effect: Can be used on any player to check whether that player has ‘killed’ another player within the last six hours.]”
“[Note: Can only be used once. No distance limit.]”
……
“[Avenger]”
“[Effect: If you personally witness a ‘kill,’ you will gain one ‘kill’ ability for fifteen minutes.]”
“[Note: If you have not found a ‘kill-type’ item card, you cannot kill others with empty hands.]”
Compared to the cryptic intel cards, item cards were more straightforward and rarer, so after an entire morning, the couple had only found these three.
But if you counted the [Mint Iced Tea] from earlier, that made four.
“It’s all here,” Rosvitha said. She glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and calculated the time. “Our Love-Strong-as-Gold is about to expire, so let’s split these up.”
Leon froze. “Why does that sound like we’re divorcing and dividing assets…”
Rosvitha rolled her eyes, then extended a finger and jabbed hard at his chest.
“You want to divorce me? Dream on. I want to… torment… you… for life.”
She jabbed once with every pause.
She nearly poked General Leon into a honeycomb.
“Alright. Let’s split.”
Rosvitha looked at the pile of cards on the table, then handed [Mint Iced Tea], [Super Influence], and [Avenger] to Leon.
She kept only [Great Detective] for herself.
“The tea was agreed earlier—you’ll use it. As for Avenger, same reason: you like wandering everywhere, so the chance of you witnessing a ‘kill’ is higher than mine. It suits you,” Rosvitha explained calmly.
“Then what about Super Influence? You should keep that,” Leon said.
“No. You keep it.”
Leon blinked, and a surge of emotion rose in his chest.
Even if she insults me out loud, she’s got me in her heart!
Leon opened his mouth to thank her. “Tha—”
“If I had it, I wouldn’t be able to resist full-voting you at the next meeting. Five votes, you know. Instant kill!”
“……”
The emotion evaporated instantly.
Just like this morning at the meeting table: the earlier flirtation and warmth didn’t stop them from clashing head-on at the meeting.
Same here.
Even after acting together for six hours and gathering and analyzing plenty of information, it didn’t stop Her Majesty from continuing to vote Leon at the next meeting.
You lone wolves, queens—those are just in-game roles with their own missions.
But this queen is different. This queen’s mission in life is to, across every game and every contest, solo-kill Leon Casmode!
They put away the cards. Then Rosvitha stood, patted Leon on the shoulder, and said,
“This afternoon we’ll act separately again. Same words as before: before I find a ‘kill card,’ don’t you die on me.”
With that, the queen clicked away in her heels.
Leon watched her tall figure and smiled, then lowered his head and stored his item cards away.
He stood as well and left the kitchen.
The game continued.
As more and more clues surfaced, everyone became increasingly immersed in this undercurrent-filled struggle.
And yet the game had only progressed by one third.
The steps ahead… would be even more unknown—and even more dangerous.
……
After dinner, Leon planned to return to his room to rest a bit, preparing for the night’s actions.
He also wanted to relocate the Black Holy Stone he had hidden in the communal kitchen.
But just then, the NPC’s voice came from the projection stone in his pocket:
“Someone has opened the castle’s alchemy room and released an infectious disease. Please go to the [Doctor]’s room within one hour. The antidote is there.”
“If you exceed the time limit, you will be eliminated.”
Leon frowned slightly. “Alchemy room… infectious disease…”
Leon remembered the intel card he and Rosvitha had found at noon about “special scenes triggering Fate of All.”
Could it be… that the alchemy room was the ‘special scene’?
And the infectious disease was ‘Fate of All’?
With that doubt in mind, Leon went to Big Sis Isha’s room.
When he arrived, Mu’en and Xiaoguang had just left.
“Daddy, did you get sick too?” Mu’en asked.
“Yeah. I’m here to beg your Aunt Isha for antidote,” Leon said.
“The antidote is super sweet, Daddy. You have to taste it,” Mu’en said.
Leon bared his teeth in a grin. Haha—actually Daddy already tasted it in the first round!
Now guess why Daddy got sick?
Of course—your mom’s handiwork.
“Alright, Daddy got it. By the way, did you find any useful clues this afternoon?” Leon asked.
“Oh, we found—”
Mu’en was about to share, but then slammed the brakes and immediately changed her words. “Nope! Mu’en and Xiaoguang didn’t find anything!”
Even though his second daughter’s face screamed I am lying, Leon still smiled and played along.
“Alright then. After you take the antidote, go back and sleep early—don’t stay up late, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy!”
The two little ones left hand-in-hand.
Leon pushed the door open and entered.
“You’re the last one to come ask me for antidote,” Isha said.
She sat upright behind a wooden table. On the table lay the last antidote.
Judging by the color, it still looked like orange flavor.
Leon walked up to the table and looked down at the candy. He didn’t take it right away, and instead asked,
“Sis, you saw the projection stone message too, right? Someone opened the alchemy room—that’s why we got infected.”
Isha complained along with him, “That bastard. Opening the alchemy room for no reason—worked me to death.”
“Then who do you think… opened the alchemy room?” Leon asked.
Leon assumed his clever big sister might offer some inspiration.
But Isha shook her head. “No clue… Everyone came to me for antidote. Even I, the [Doctor] myself, have to take it—otherwise I’ll be eliminated. So who opened the alchemy room… I’m not very sure either.”
Leon thought deeply. After a short silence, he said,
“So if we figure out who opened the alchemy room, we can identify a ‘wolf’—is that right?”
“Yeah, I think so too. Then do you have any clues or intel about the ‘wolf’?” Isha asked.
Leon thought, then replied, “I have intel related to the [Queen]. It says she deeply loves the [Princess], but has another motive. So I suspect Claudia is one of the ‘wolf’ faction.”
“Reasonable… At the next meeting, we should interrogate her properly.”
“Mm.”
“Alright. Eat the antidote. Don’t time out,” Isha said, flicking her chin toward the candy by Leon’s hand.
Leon picked up the candy. He hesitated for a split second, then put it into his mouth.
“Eight o’clock meeting. Don’t forget,” Isha reminded him.
Leon nodded, then turned and left.
The moment he shut the door, Leon hurried back to his own room.
He dashed into the bathroom and spat the candy out.
After rinsing his mouth, Leon took out the [Mint Iced Tea] Rosvitha had handed him.
He opened the lid and drank it all in one go.
…