Chapter 59

“Ridiculous…”

Celine muttered in confusion.

When she cleared the stage as an ordinary game, or when she cleared the stage as the actual Celine, the result was the same — the music rang in her ears, and she was able to get a clear reward. However, the empty box showed that the whole process had gone askew.

Leonhard seemed to have grasped the situation as soon as he saw the empty box.

“Is it because it doesn’t have that drug?”

Celine shook her head. The healing potion was not significant now.

“It’s different from my dream.”

“Your dreams are often wrong, right?”

“No. This… It was a rule.”

“…Rule?”

Even though he looked puzzled at her words, he couldn’t quite explain it. At the same time, Celine bit her lip. She had to figure out how this happened.

‘Otherwise, I may not be able to receive clearing stage rewards in the next stage.’

Right now, she would have died at this stage many times without the ‘Hermes’ shoes’ she received as a clear reward for the last stage.

‘The game will have the answer. Think!’

Celine squeezed her head.

After a while, a similar situation popped into her mind.

‘…No way.’

In [ Celine’s Nightmare ], there was only one case where no clear reward was given… A case that she had never seen in a normal play as it has never happened to her.

‘Cheat key…’

In [ Celine’s Nightmare ], which was extremely challenging, there was a cheat key that allowed players to skip all the steps and clear the stage by entering a few English words. However, even those who died dozens or hundreds of times and could not move on to the next stage were hesitant to use a cheat key.

The reason was simple.

The production team of [ Celine’s Nightmare ] made it impossible to obtain rewards in stages cleared with the cheat key.

They wanted to impose a penalty.

‘Don’t tell me…’

Celine turned towards Leonhard, who looked at her worriedly. In the actual game, the cheat key was English words. It wasn’t a character in the game, and it wasn’t even a villain in the game.

‘Wait a minute.’

Celine recalled the cheat key that was famous among players, so even those who did not use it could know.

[ The Wolf. ]

“…Leonhard, I have a question for you.”

“What?”

At the question, he raised an eyebrow as if to ask what she was curious about in this situation.

“Is there anyone who calls Leonhard a wolf?”

“…What do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m sorry.”

Leonhard stared at the gibberish Celine.

“My family has been called the wolf of the north for generations. No one specifically calls me a wolf.”

“Ah…”

Celine let out a long sigh.

Indeed, Leonhard was the cheat key.

* * *

The way down was an ordinary hiking trail, and they arrived at the place where they first dismounted after a while.

“I think you should rest for a while.”

Climbing into Black, she nodded her head. The stages cleared so far felt like children’s pranks compared to today.

Leonhard drove the horse slowly.

Celine thought that after resting for a week in the nearby County, she thought about moving to the place she had seen in her dreams.

However, they did not rest a single day in the County. It was because as soon as they got off their horse, a messenger dressed in the imperial emblem ran to Leonhard and knelt down on his knees. His face hardened immediately.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. His Majesty just told me to convey this to the Lord directly.”

Then, the messenger handed him a rolled-up parchment.

‘…His Majesty?’

Leonhard unwrapped the parchment, not trying to hide his surprise. Since the northern part was basically under the Crown Prince’s jurisdiction, orders from the Emperor were unusual.

“When did he tell me to go up?”

“His Majesty said as soon as you receive this, come up right away…”

At those words, he shoved the parchment roughly into his pocket before answering.

“I understand.”

Celine stared at Leonhard, who was half-drowsy and tired, in the carriage on the way to the capital.

‘…Leonhard is the cheat key.’

It must have been very lucky that she was able to get the clear rewards so far.

‘No, only when I consciously keep him behind.’

Even in the mine, if she had left Leonhard and the mysterious shadow fight, she would not have been rewarded for the clear, so her spine chilled. Celine lowered her head as she gazed at Hermes’ shoes, and bit her lip.

‘As expected, I can’t give up the clear rewards.’

The reward she missed this time was unavoidable.

Nonetheless, it would be unclear whether she would even get to see the true ending next time she missed it. Although Leonhard was the cheat key, he was not the cheat key that allowed her to skip stages omnisciently like in the game.

He simply did things she could not easily do.

‘…That counts as cheating.’

Celine let out a sigh.

She didn’t want to give up the clear reward, and she didn’t want to challenge the stage alone, leaving Leonhard behind. Then, she remembered the next stage.

‘It was the swamp and poison zone.’

Without Leonhard’s help, she was likely to die dozens of times.

Her head was spinning.

‘Can’t I just get a little help? No, I might not see the true ending if I don’t get any more clear rewards… Would it be okay for the true-ending to get help from Leonhard?’

When she was unable to come to a conclusion after thinking for a long time, Leonhard’s eyes, which seemed to have fallen asleep, opened.

“What are you thinking?”

“Nothing. Wasn’t Leonhard sleeping?”

“I didn’t sleep.”

Celine then flapped her lips and asked if he had observed her, pretending to be sleeping.

“You’ve been worrying about that medicine, aren’t you?”

“…Yes.”

“Don’t worry about it. Don’t you still have enough?”

“Not that many.”

In the meantime, Celine thought that she would get a healing potion every time she cleared a stage. However, if she cleared with his help, she could not receive a clear reward, the healing potion was now a resource that needed to be extremely cherished.

Celine struggled to change the topic.

“Why did His Majesty’s order make you go up in such a hurry?”

“…Read it. You’ll understand right away.”

Leonhard handed the parchment to Celine.

“….!”

The blue-grey eyes widened as she quickly read the parchment. The parchment briefly contained the message that a new warlock had appeared in Agathirsus, so he had to come up quickly.

“Agathirsus… Wasn’t it completely destroyed when the old warlock died?”

“It seems it wasn’t.”

Even though Leonhard replied calmly, there was a glimpse of anger in him.

“I asked them to light it on fire so no one could enter. The space the warlocks use as their bases is all the same, so if one person leaves and the other sits in, it doesn’t change anything.”

“I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“They don’t know that Leonhard will come if they stay in Agathirsus. If it were me, I think I would use a safer place as my base…”

“I once thought so, too.”

Leonhard sighed.

“Still, I won’t be able to kill this warlock.”

“…Leonhard?”

Celine doubted her ears for a moment. It was the first time that he had meekly admitted that he could not do something.

“Those who move around like this are quick-witted and clever. Kind of like the guy who kidnapped you. I try to catch them, but I can’t catch them.”

The blue-grey eyes widened.

“Isn’t there a possibility that it’s the same warlock?”

“…Ah.”

Leonhard seemed to have realized something.

“That’s…a possibility.”

Celine nodded her head.

“This in itself may be a trap to catch me.”

“….”

Although he wanted to deny it, he didn’t say anything. Celine’s guess was correct. Already due to Agathirsus’ decrepit warlock, information about her spread among the warlocks.

It started with the kidnapping.

This was nothing more than the following notice from the warlocks who were about to take Celine into their hands.

“I have to be careful.”

Leonhard’s heart burned when he saw Celine, who was weak.

“I’m going alone, so stay at the hotel.”

Celine grinned.

“I will be in the safest place.”

“No way.”

Leonhard flatly refused.

“I’m in a safe place, what’s the problem?”

“Because you’re trying to say nonsense.”

“Is it nonsense to say that next to Leonhard is the safest?”

As she asked back, Celine rolled her eyes. Didn’t he think so, too?

“It was Leonhard who took me to the monster hunt, who only knew how to hide behind the scenes, let alone magic…”

She quickly shut her mouth. It was because Leonhard’s eyes were wandering aimlessly.

“No, I don’t mean to blame. On the contrary, I think it is safest to be with you even now.”

A rather sharp voice came out of Leonhard’s mouth, which was finally opened.

“…Celine, you died a few times by my side. Isn’t it normal for you to change your mind at this point?”

“Without Leonhard, I would die more than a hundred times.”

Even though she said it as a joke, his hardened face did not soften.

“Well, if Leonhard wants me to, I can stay in the hotel. But, think about it. I was kidnapped while alone in Bernoulli Castle, is it safe in the hotel?”

“….”

A sigh escaped Leonhard’s mouth.

“Do whatever you want.”

* * *

As soon as he reached the capital, Leonhard was eager to run to Agathirsus. However, as soon as they got off the carriage, they were blocked by the knights directly under the Emperor.

Leonhard exclaimed angrily.

“What is this?”

The knight commander, wearing a splendid helmet, got off his horse. Leonhard recognized him immediately. It would have been better if this was the subjugation of a group of ordinary monsters.

The knight commander bowed respectfully to him.

“We will go together.”

Leonhard shook his head harshly.

“The enemy is a warlock. Save your precious lives.”

“Lord!”

“I thought you basically had to follow my orders.”

Leonhard did not have any positions, though all the monster subjugation knights in the Empire had to follow his orders.

“But, His Majesty…”

He snorted.

“Did His Majesty order you to commit suicide?”

“No!”

“Then, let’s go back.”

Riding Black to the center of the Knights, he viewed it as too much of a hassle to explain further, so he did not say anything. In the meantime, the knights glanced at each other before slowly moving out of his way.

“Thank you. I was going to cut you off if you didn’t move.”