I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 30

Chapter 30

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Iris, Rize, Erika, and Claudia were still dumbfounded by the situation unfolding before their eyes.

Where had the original lord gone, and why was his daughter, Aurora, sitting on the sofa in an elegant dress, conversing with the new recruit?

Having never had a single good memory in this mansion, it was incredibly strange for them to see the mansion’s atmosphere so peaceful and warm.

The table laden with edible snacks, the maids treating them with respect, and the absence of that pig who used to scan them with his unpleasant gaze, all of it was unfamiliar.

Aurora opened her mouth with a gentle smile.

“First of all, I would like to apologize for the actions of that pig bastard and express my gratitude for your efforts for our city despite everything. Knight Commanders of the Silver Dawn Knights.”

Aurora, rising from the sofa, lifted the hem of her dress slightly with both hands, bent her knees a little, and bowed her head in greeting. The four of them looked straight ahead, feeling bewildered.

Even though they knew it was rude not to react while the other person was greeting them, their minds couldn’t keep up with the situation, so naturally, their bodies wouldn’t move.

They wondered what they were witnessing. As if fully understanding their confused feelings, Aurora chuckled briefly.

“I fully understand your feelings, Knight Commanders. You must be confused. I was too, at first. Even I was, let alone you. Please rest assured that I don’t think of you as being rude at all.”

“I, uh, Aurora-nim. What in the world is going on…?”

“I think we need to sort out the titles as well. From now on, you can address me as Lord. Or Lord Aurora is fine too. Please call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“…Yes?”

Claudia asked back in a dazed voice. Her expression clearly showed disbelief.

“Because that pig bastard is dead.”

Rize dropped the cookie she was about to put in her mouth. Iris squeezed her teacup too hard and broke it, Claudia’s mouth hung open, and Erika coughed and patted her chest as if she was choking.

“That pig ba…No, the lord is dead?”

“Feel free to curse as much as you like, Knight Commander Rize. Whatever you call him, whatever title you use, I won’t mind. No, I’d rather encourage you to call him by insulting names.”

At first, Rize was about to call him a pig bastard as usual, but she seemed to think it was a bit much to refer to her father with such a word in front of his daughter, so she quickly changed her words. But Aurora’s reaction was different.

She was actually encouraging them to call him by more insulting names.

“He is merely the biological father who passed down the royal bloodline to me, not a family member with whom I interact as a human being. See? What am I even calling that pig bastard right now?”

“Ah, I understand. Then, Lord-nim.”

A satisfied smile appeared on Aurora’s face. It was truly a pleasant sound to hear, no matter how many times she heard it. Yes, she should have been sitting in this position from the start.

Of course, she could never have achieved this alone, and there was someone else who made this achievement possible. Her golden eyes glanced sideways at the man munching on cookies a little distance away.

Seeing Aurora’s eyes scanning the new recruit with a somewhat sticky gaze, Rize fell into thought for a moment before quickly returning to reality at the sound of her name being called.

“Yes, please speak, Knight Commander Rize.”

“…Ah, yes. I’d like to hear a detailed explanation about the death of that pig bastard, if you don’t mind.”

As the question that all the other Knight Commanders must have been wondering about came out of Rize’s mouth, three pairs of curious eyes focused on Aurora.

No, four pairs, including the one who asked the question. Aurora leisurely accepted their gazes and brought the teacup to her lips.

“Of course, I should tell you. Now, let me explain everything step by step from the beginning.”

‘Wow, it’s the lie I came up with, but it sounds so real when I hear it like this. Did Aurora have a talent for acting?’

Aurora told the Knight Commanders only the superficial reasons, as we had agreed upon beforehand. She left it to me to tell them the truth behind it.

The fact that I subjugated the Headless Ironclad Cavalryman and ‘accidentally’ found the demon-possessed book.

The fact that I brought the book to the lord to secretly discuss how to handle it, but he, blinded by greed, sent me back and tried to summon the demon in secret.

The fact that fortunately, the demon possessing the book was significantly weakened, so there was no significant damage.

But as a result, the lord became a half-human, half-demon, and therefore, according to imperial law, all his rights were revoked, his whereabouts were erased, and she filled his vacant position.

Since Aurora explained it so fluently with a confident expression and tone, and even added details to the parts she felt awkward about, it became an even more plausible lie.

“That’s how it all happened, Knight Commanders.”

Aurora, having finished her explanation, brought the teacup to her lips as if she was thirsty. A slurping sound could be heard. It meant that the current drawing-room was quiet enough for the sound of sipping tea to resonate.

It was quite a while before anyone spoke again. Iris, who had been staring blankly at the ceiling, organizing her thoughts, cautiously opened her mouth.

“…To be honest, I think it’s a really absurd story. Except for the fact that that bastard was the type to summon a demon for his own greed, the rest of it feels like a dream.”

“But it’s also an incident that actually happened.”

“Yes, Lord-nim. I know. If someone had told me the same story that you just told me, I would have told them to swing their sword one more time instead of telling such an absurd lie.”

“Absurd lie…I see.”

Aurora chuckled as she savored those words. She must have felt ironic since she already knew that the explanation she had given was half a lie.

“But, new recruit.”

“Yes?”

Silver eyes turned towards me. It was the moment I was about to take the baton from Aurora and tell the four of them about the real plan we had devised.

“I have a question after hearing all that.”

“…?”

I blinked, wondering what Iris was about to say. There shouldn’t have been any flaws in Aurora’s explanation. I briefly retraced my steps to see where the explanation might have gone wrong.

And, I was able to easily find out what the problem was, unexpectedly.

“You couldn’t have trusted that lord more than us. If you really found such a book by chance, you would have come to us to discuss how to handle it, not the lord.”

Only then did Aurora make a realization.

Indeed, considering how terrible the lord’s reputation was in this city, the fact that I went to him to discuss countermeasures in the first place didn’t make sense. Iris had accurately grasped that point.

The excuse that ‘I didn’t know the lord was such trash because I hadn’t been a member of the Silver Dawn Knights for long’ might work for the Emperor, who didn’t know the situation here and my situation well, but there’s no way that excuse would work for the Knight Commanders.

“Right. You got it right. It’s just as you said, Iris. If I really found such a book by chance, I would have come to you guys for advice, not that pig bastard.”

I readily admitted it. I was going to reveal the real plan around this point anyway. It’s just that the timing was a bit earlier.

“You admit it readily. Then, where does the lie begin and where does the truth end?”

“Half of it is true, and half of it is false. First of all, the part about the lord turning into a half-human, half-demon is true. And the part about there being no damage around is also true. Up to the part about Aurora taking his place is true, and the rest can be considered false.”

“I roughly understand. Then, what was the reason for telling us the false plan first?”

“There’s someone I need to use that on. There’s a difference between hearing a lie knowing it’s a lie and hearing it without knowing, right? That’s why I was going to ask you what felt awkward. And the plan becomes more perfect if you guys cooperate as well.”

“…Someone you need to use the plan on, who is that?”

“The person who will come to kill the demon in the basement soon.”

At my ambiguous words, Iris made a puzzled expression, then as if she realized something, she looked at me with a pale face.

“New recruit, you, don’t tell me…!”

“It’s just as you think, Iris.”

Rize, Erika, and Claudia next to her weren’t much different. Their faces were pale, their hands trembling, and they were looking at me with expressions as if they were wondering what they had just heard.

“Her Majesty the Emperor. She’s the one we need to use the plan we just talked about on.”