I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“Claudia! What in the world……!”

Iris’s urgent voice could be heard from outside. All the members of the Silver Dawn Knights were gathered at the main gate of the castle.

Well, all the members, it was just the five of us: me, Iris, Rize, Erika, and Claudia, who had just returned.

“It’s as you see. I failed the subjugation.”

Before my eyes, there was no sign of the Silver Dawn Knights’ 1st Knight Commander, the strongest in the setting. Instead, I saw only a woman with a wry smile, heavily injured.

Bandages were wrapped all over her body, soaked and overflowing with blood, now dried to a dark red. It was harder to find a part of her body not covered in bandages.

There was no strength to be seen in her limping gait. She seemed to have trouble even moving, leaning against the wall for support.

‘I was sure she was a woman, but…….’

Claudia’s appearance was completely different from what I had imagined.

Light pink or cherry blossom pink would be the best way to describe her hair. Her bob, cut in a half-circle shape, reached just above her collarbone.

Underneath her straight bangs, light pink eyes sparkled. Her face was quite androgynous.

Although there were definitely feminine curves in her hips and waist, overall, she gave off a more androgynous, almost boyish impression than a feminine one.

On top of that, her height was incredibly tall, which added to the effect. I’m quite tall myself, but she was only a finger or two shorter than me.

If she dressed like a man, people would believe her to be a handsome woman, not a pretty boy.

Should I be thankful that the curve of her chest was visible even through the bandages?

‘If she had dressed properly, I might have mistaken her for a man.’

At least she was wearing dolphin shorts like the other Knight Commanders, so there was no chance of mistaking her gender.

On the floor lay a greatsword as long as Claudia herself and incredibly wide. It looked like it weighed over 20kg.

Honestly, it was closer to a blunt weapon than a sword.

“You failed the subjugation?”

“Ahaha. That’s what happened. I went out with a lot of bravado, but it’s embarrassing, isn’t it?”

Claudia awkwardly waved her bandaged right hand before Erika, who was rewrapping her bandages, scolded her, causing her to shrink back.

“It’s enough that you came back alive. It’s enough that you didn’t lose your life. The fact that you returned alive is much more important than the fact that you failed the subjugation.”

“Claudia, was that monster that strong? Strong enough to make even you fail?”

Claudia shook her head at Rize’s question.

“No. I couldn’t even get close to it. I’d be less frustrated if I had been defeated by it.”

“What do you mean, Claudia? You couldn’t even get close?”

Iris’s silver eyes widened in shock.

“I ran into another monster on my way to it. A horse in steel armor and a knight-like monster with its head cut off…… No, I’m not even sure if it was a monster. Anyway, I got beaten by it. No matter how much I hit it, my attacks didn’t work at all. Even with a weapon like this.”

Claudia nudged the greatsword at her feet with her toe.

The answer that her attacks didn’t work even after hitting it with a greatsword as wide as a human torso, as tall as a person, and as thick as two fingers, made the faces of the other three, except for me, harden.

‘Well, of course.’

In the first place, that guy wasn’t a boss designed to be defeated head-on. You had to use a specific item to remove the armor covering his entire body and then catch him.

If the armor isn’t removed, even if you hit it with a full-stat 99 character with a fully upgraded weapon and full buffs, the damage will only be around 10.

Very occasionally, there were people who tried to clear it without removing the armor, challenging the limits of human endurance, but most of them ended up finding the limits of their own patience.

“……I see. I understand.”

Iris nodded, biting her lip. Claudia looked ashamed.

‘Shall we go now?’

The event ended with that conversation. It wasn’t that a quest window popped up to subjugate that guy, but there were no quest windows in the game anyway.

Brightest Darkness 4 was a game where, no matter what mission the character was on or where they were, all quests had to be inferred through conversations or investigations, and the player had to remember them all.

What if you forgot or missed it? The storyline would get tangled up, and you wouldn’t be able to proceed as you wanted, or you would end up with a story completely opposite to what you wanted.

It was a very divisive style. Some people liked it because they didn’t have to see unnecessary quest window notifications like in other open-world RPGs, and others hated it because it was too inconvenient and unfriendly.

It was so bad that a mod was released that organized and displayed the current main story and sub-quests in an easy-to-see notification format like other RPGs.

Of course, that didn’t apply to me. Even if I couldn’t memorize all the minor sub-quests, the main story of the game and the major sub-quests were all in my head.

“Wait. Where are you going, newbie?”

As I calmly tried to leave the castle, Iris called out and stopped me. My mind briefly froze at a situation I had never experienced in the game.

‘……Come to think of it, this isn’t going to go as it did in the game.’

In the game, even if you took this route, it felt like you were just a member of the Silver Dawn Knights, but there wasn’t really any benefit to it.

The protagonist plays alone, and the Knights’ story progresses.

But I was now a bona fide new knight of the Silver Dawn Knights. And one who was highly anticipated, no less. Naturally, every single action I took would be scrutinized.

From Iris’s point of view, it was right to stop me from leaving alone.

‘I made a mistake.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly. Since things had come to this, there was no benefit to hiding it, so it would be better to just come out and say it. I opened my mouth with as calm an expression as possible.

“To catch that horse-riding guy.”

At my words, a chilling silence fell.

Rize and Erika froze, Claudia looked like she had just heard something unbelievable, and Iris, rarely frowning, shook her head as if she understood what I meant.

“No, there’s no need to involve a newbie like you in the subjugation. This is our job, and we have to go back after reporting the failureㅡ”

“I’m not asking to be taken on the subjugation, I’m saying I’ll go alone.”

Upon hearing those words, Iris finally grimaced. Claudia looked at me like I was crazy. Erika had a similar expression.

Rize came to my side and tried to pull me behind her, lightly grasping my fingers. I resisted by tensing my arm, signaling that I was fine.

“Newbie. I know you’re talented. I know you’ve already proven your abilities to us. But this isn’t training, it’s actual combat. The enemy won’t go easy on you like Rize did during the spar, and they won’t hold back. If you make a mistake, you could lose your life.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I won’t die anyway.”

“……You’re not listening to me at all.”

Iris sighed.

“If this is just an act of confidence, I absolutely cannot allow it. I fully understand where your confidence comes from. You’ve surprised us many times already. I don’t doubt your skills either. But that’s why I have to object. If you leave with my permission and come back dead, or don’t come back at all…… I will never be able to forgive myself.”

It was a valid concern, a reasonable worry.

If I were a Knight Commander, I would have stopped a talented new recruit from going to catch a monster that even the 1st Knight Commander of my own Knights had failed to subjugate.

But that was that, and this was this. There was a reason why I couldn’t postpone this subjugation.

I had to catch that guy to get the tools I needed to kill the lord later.

“Real combat is different from theory. Enemies don’t move the way you think they will. That’s an enemy we’ve never encountered before, and the right answer is to approach it with the utmost caution. I can’t send you into such a place. I’ll say it again, newbie. I highly value your talent and future potential. I won’t let such talent be wasted, and I won’t let such talent die meaninglessly. I won’t say it twice, newbie. I refuseㅡ”

“Knight Commander Claudia.”

“Huh, huh? Me?”

Claudia, who was being supported by Erika and looking back and forth between me and Iris, was startled and answered when her name was called out of the blue.

“Yes. Can you help me with one thing?”