HTPTMOTMM Chapter 31

"Hah, absolutely unbelievable. That I—I of all people—should be subjected to such treatment in this godforsaken backwater..."

Raphael gritted his teeth and muttered another string of curses under his breath.

From what I could see, Raphael was a man who had the most sacred appearance of anyone, yet possessed the most rotten personality of anyone. Compared to Raphael, even Conrad could be called an angel.

I clicked my tongue while looking at Raphael.

'What a waste of good looks and a good name.'

Then, after briefly appearing to contemplate something seriously, Raphael spoke.

"...Fine. I'll stay in the guest room. Since I'm here anyway, it wouldn't be bad to see Redford with my own eyes."

"Why bother? I think the stable would be better."

"You...!"

"It'll be fine, Lady Lynne. If we keep the windows wide open, it should help with the claustrophobia. Ah... though of course, we can't open the windows at night."

Sara Rose added hesitantly, as if belatedly remembering the rule about not opening windows at Redford Manor during the night.

"Enough, just show me to the room."

Raphael spoke irritably, as if he didn't want to deal with this anymore.

While heading toward the manor, Sara Rose carefully asked Raphael.

"Um, by any chance... are you a priest?"

Sara Rose must have thought Raphael was a clergyman after seeing his clothes. I hadn't bothered to tell the people at the manor, including Sara Rose, that today's visitor was affiliated with Stella.

Come to think of it, Sara Rose, who had been shy and kept her distance when I first entered Redford Manor, was strangely talkative today in front of Raphael.

Raphael concealed his true identity written in the character information and agreed with her words.

"That's right."

"Wow... how fascinating. Where I used to live, it was really hard to see clergy."

Sara Rose's eyes sparkled brightly as she looked at Raphael. Fortunately, the emotions she harbored toward that personality disaster seemed to be nothing more than curiosity and admiration.

I had been on guard just in case, but felt relieved and patted my chest.

'Phew, thank goodness. I was worried that squirrel-like Sara Rose might have fallen for that personality disaster's outer shell.'

"Hmph, of course. The level of lower worlds is predictable."

Raphael curled up the corner of his mouth as if mocking Sara Rose.

This bastard kept going on about "lower this, lower that," constantly looking down on everything, and now he was pulling the same act with Sara Rose. Sure, this was our first meeting in this playthrough so things felt a bit stilted, but Sara Rose had been my fellow maid and companion for years and years in the game. That kind of time would make anyone lifelong friends in the real world.

But for this personality disaster to ignore Sara Rose like that made me feel unnecessarily annoyed.

I slyly approached Raphael. As I got closer, he grimaced and flinched slightly.

I whispered into Raphael's ear.

"Senior, wouldn't it be better to watch your words a little?"

Raphael's shoulders twitched slightly as if his ear was ticklish.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I should speak while being mindful of such trivial humans?"

"You're currently following orders from our agency to carry out a secret mission, Senior."

Of course, I hadn't fully grasped this worldview yet, but I tried to act knowledgeable based on the settings I had confirmed from my conversation with Raphael earlier. Since he didn't say anything about the title, it seemed like calling him this was correct.

"What does that matter? The guide will translate and convey things appropriately anyway."

Raphael looked at me as if I were an ignoramus.

Oh ho, I learned another new setting. The system, or what this guy calls a "guide," has that kind of function?

"Still, my guide broke down for unknown reasons, and there's no law saying yours won't do the same. If you act carelessly and sensitive information gets leaked to the people here, it could cause trouble for our agency, couldn't it?"

"That... makes sense."

Raphael reluctantly agreed with my words, his eyebrows twitching.

"But Lynne Dorchester, are you indirectly criticizing me for being careless?"

"Of course not. Until you return, please feel free to speak comfortably in front of me anytime, Senior."

I smiled brightly at Raphael with the most harmless face possible, as if it were a misunderstanding.

Raphael flinched and trembled again upon seeing my face. But the strange reaction was only momentary; he soon grimaced as if he had seen something unsightly and turned his head away sharply.

"Oh, Senior. And I've also prepared what was written in the postscript."

At my following words, Raphael's head turned rapidly back toward me. Goodness, his neck must be suffering because of its fickle owner.

"Really?! Did you prepare the red orange? Where is it?"

"In my room."

"The Archbishop will be pleased. He enjoys collecting specialties from around the world."

Ah, so he added that postscript to give to that archbishop or whatever? I thought it was some kind of secret code since it was written so meaningfully.

'As expected, the Archbishop's lapdog...'

As I recalled the nickname that didn't suit his elegant appearance, I naturally sent a coldly indifferent gaze toward the man before me.

Come to think of it, the basic character information stated that I was the Archbishop's adopted daughter. But for this guy to fawn over the Archbishop while ignoring and treating me rudely meant...

'The Archbishop and I aren't a normal family, I suppose.'

This unpleasant feeling wasn't particularly unfamiliar to me.

I slightly frowned and entered the building.

The sun was gradually setting outside.

Rumble! Crash!

That day, not long after the sun had completely set, rain suddenly began pouring down. It was an ominous downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning.

The already dark atmosphere of the manor became even more eerie.

"I can't see it... Is it embedded deep inside?"

After Raphael was shown to the guest room, I returned to my room and unbuttoned my shirt. I then lowered my clothes halfway and turned to check the mirror.

But the hard object I had felt with my hand earlier wasn't visible to the naked eye.

But how did Raphael replace this?

As I tilted my head in wonder and placed my hand on the back of my shoulder, I felt something hard again.

"Oh, it came out!"

But when I touched it, there was a reaction. A purple oval gem-like object rose up onto the skin I touched.

I have quite a fearless personality, so I tried to scratch it out with my fingernail. But it was useless. It was as if this gem-like thing had firmly taken root under my skin.

Since I didn't feel like digging it out with a knife, I decided to just leave it alone. For now, this seemed to function like a system, and if it disappeared again, it would be inconvenient.

System loading... 11%

'...But it's slow! Incredibly slow!'

Since the loading was still in progress, the available functions were significantly limited. I couldn't even confirm whether the most important logout function existed.

Still, for rabbits, they seem to be working hard...

For now, I tried to thoroughly examine the functions that had come back to life and reopened my character information window.

<Lynne Dorchester (23 years old)>

• 44th World Central Secret Agency Stella affiliated 3rd-grade Interrogator
• 18th World Redford Manor Caregiver/Supervisor
• Archbishop Rick Dorchester's adopted daughter/hunting dog
• Personality: Optimistic, intuitive, simple
• Nickname: Butcher
• Current state: Annoyed
• Stress level: 3/100
• Quest in progress: Redford Manor Investigation (completion date undetermined - detailed description available)

The quest to deliver the red orange to Raphael had already been completed and was in the completed quest window.

So I selected the detailed description of "Redford Manor Investigation," which had become the last item.

▶Redford Manor Investigation (long-term) Secret directive from the 44th World Central Secret Agency Stella.

Understanding the system of the 18th World's central hub, the veiled Redford Manor. As Stella's supervisor for the "Pandora" project's control tower, protect and monitor the children and caregivers of Redford Manor. Find and summarily execute reactionaries who oppose Stella and the World Common Peace Alliance, and have infiltrated Redford Manor.

※Failure penalty: Archbishop Rick Dorchester's disappointment, excommunication from Stella, dishonorable death.

※Success reward: Archbishop Rick Dorchester's joy, promotion by one rank in Stella, honorable death.

So basically, I was a supervisor sent here by Stella—some government black ops agency—to investigate Redford Manor and report back to my superiors. From what I could tell in the mission details, there was apparently someone here I needed to track down too. Though summary execution seemed pretty damn harsh.

Most importantly, I was dumbfounded and let out a hollow breath after seeing the quest's final description.

"What? Death even if I succeed?"

Failing meant death, and succeeding also meant death—wasn't this a quest unlike anything I'd ever heard of or seen anywhere? Could this also be a system error?

'What is this? What am I supposed to do? Die whether I do it or don't.'

Thinking about it carefully, isn't this usually the case in such situations? After the hunt ends, the hunting dog gets boiled.

'Ha, right. Come to think of it, it was written in the character information too. The Archbishop's adopted daughter and hunting dog.'

Then I suddenly noticed something strange.

'A guide issued by Stella? But they're letting me know in advance that their own organization will abandon me?'

Of course, being the player and all, this whole "guide" business was probably just window dressing to fill in for the system, and these future-telling features were likely meant for my eyes only anyway—so it made sense when I thought about it that way.

"Search Pandora plan."

[Search function is unavailable.]

"Ugh, frustrating."

[Stress level increased by 1. (4/100)]

Even though I wanted to see more detailed explanations, there were limits for now. For reference, the system loading was still stuck at 11%.

"Lady Lynne, Lord Dian is looking for you."

Then Sara Rose's voice came from outside the door. Oh, our cat is looking for me, so I should go.

"Coming out now!"

I quickly tidied my clothes and left the room.