Conquest Complete, So Why Is the Affection Dropping? - Chapter 57
[Cedric] has sent you 5,000,000,000 gold.
Do you accept?
Yes / No
This guy seems to have misunderstood my joke. Don’t tell me he thought I was asking for 5 billion in this world’s currency?
I looked up at Cedric in disbelief.
It’s just a game anyway, and with Shin Joo’s status, I can get pretty much anything I want materially, so why would I need 5 billion gold? Besides, no one can take my money except the system.
‘…Though it is game currency, it’s interesting that he has 5 billion.’
I was wondering how to increase my money from the initial 10,000, but could it be that instead of working part-time jobs or quest rewards, I should be extracting money from capture targets?
Even family members need to be careful with financial transactions, but sending 5 billion right away to someone you’re not even married to shows his sense of money is as abnormal as his mental state. I sighed and declined.
You have declined [Cedric]’s request.
50 gold has been deducted as a cancellation fee.
Current balance: 19,855G
I forgot that this system’s fees are the most outrageous of all.
Why am I being charged a fee for rejecting money he sent without my permission?
‘This is really not funny… huh?’
About to close the window in frustration, I froze when I checked my balance.
The amount was strange.
‘The starting balance is 10,000 gold, and I haven’t spent any money this playthrough, so after the 50 gold fee, it should be 9,950 gold. Why is the number different?’
The amount wasn’t clean enough to suggest increased starting money for a second playthrough.
‘Wait a minute.’
Suddenly remembering something, I reopened my profile window.
‘Why is my profile like this?’
I hadn’t noticed earlier since I only checked the name before closing it, but the information values were different from what I remembered.
Name: Shin Joo-ah (Player)
Age: 24
Height: 165cm
The only savior maintaining the world’s existence. Called “Shin Joo” as the vessel containing god and god’s representative. While the divine nature is eternal, the human body can perish from fatal damage.
Can exercise various divine abilities through physical training, and possesses resistance to all types of poison and disease.
Skills: Judgment Lv.3, Barrier Lv.3, Blessing Lv.2, Meditation Lv.2, Purification Lv.1, Ancient Language Decoding… > See more
Reputation: 1,134
Gold: 19,855G
My reputation in this playthrough was 210. It hadn’t increased at all since playing with Kaint’s siblings.
The system even gave me penalties for not doing enough public activities to raise my reputation.
‘So why is it over a thousand now?’
That’s not the only strange thing. Except for healing Hexion in prison, I hadn’t used the Judgment skill, yet it’s level 3, and I even have the Ancient Language Decoding skill I got from the bonus roulette in the last playthrough.
‘Since this branched from the second choice in the last playthrough, the data shouldn’t be linked like this…’
When I started at Kaint’s castle, both reputation and money were reset. There’s no way they could have increased suddenly without me doing anything.
‘When did they increase? Is this really a bug?’
I carefully recalled past events.
‘Ah!’
I remembered. There was that notification about the save data bug being patched! When I clicked ‘Yes,’ I saw a message about data being merged and new branches occurring.
The bride abduction event happened right after that, didn’t it?
Does this mean my data got mixed with someone else’s data to end up like this?
“Miss. What are you thinking about so intently?”
“Eek!”
A handsome face suddenly popped up beside me, making me jump back in surprise.
Come to think of it, this all started when Cedric sent me that 5 billion. I’d completely forgotten about him while checking my status window.
“Oh, it’s nothing!”
“Your ‘nothing’ usually means something you don’t want to tell me.”
Cedric tilted his head with a bright smile. His expression, blinking as if asking to be told, was so lovable that I almost asked, ‘My profile window seems to have a data error, could you fix it with magic?’
If I hadn’t seen him massacre those people at the dock, I really would have asked.
“Ah, if you know, don’t ask.”
“Haha.”
When I responded glumly, Cedric laughed lightly and stepped back cleanly.
“I understand. If you don’t wish it, there’s nothing I can do.”
***
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Cedric didn’t try to force himself on me.
When he noticed my defensive attitude, he left after saying I could look around anywhere in the tower as I pleased. I suppose it’s because he knows I have no way to escape from this tower floating in the sky anyway.
‘Damn it. If you’re going to imprison me, at least do it properly!’
Of course, if he had followed the standard kidnapping trope with forceful R-18 events, I would have been in serious trouble, but couldn’t he follow other clichés? Like fattening me up with delicious food or showering me with riches and treasures.
‘Ah. He did try to give me something like treasure.’
Of course, there was as much difference between the treasures I wanted and the 5 billion gold Cedric tried to transfer as there is between natural curly hair and a perm, so I declined.
‘Maybe I expected too much from a madman.’
I trudged down the stairs. Perhaps because it was a tower floating in the sky, even going down didn’t make it dark; blue sky and clouds were visible through the windows. It was fantastical in a way – seeing the sky while going underground.
‘But it’s rather desolate.’
While the interior was certainly mystical and beautifully decorated befitting a wizard’s tower, it felt too empty given how vast it was, with no one walking around.
Who was it that said humans are social creatures? I don’t know for sure, but perhaps Cedric’s personality became so strange because he had to stay alone in this sky tower where there was no one else.
Of course, that was Cedric’s circumstance, so it wasn’t my business. I had no reason to put up with his crazy behavior, that’s for sure.
‘By the way, why are there so many rooms when he lives alone?’
Past the laboratory filled with flasks of bubbling liquids like a wizard’s research room, an open space appeared.
A large ink-colored pillar that reached the ceiling was studded with blue jewels, looking like fruits hanging abundantly from a tree.
Do people normally decorate jewels like this? Or perhaps these are magic stones that Cedric uses when casting spells?
The gleaming blue jewels seemed somehow familiar. I feel like I’ve seen something similar somewhere before, but where?
Just as I approached, drawn by this strange familiarity, I heard Cedric’s voice.
“Shin Joo!”
“Eek?”
I turned around startled, but Cedric wasn’t there.
What? Hadn’t he spotted me and come over?
“Shin Joo. You’ve finally come!”
“I’ve been waiting, my lady.”
“Ah… Please, let me feel your touch. Let me hear your voice.”
Cedric’s voice echoed from all directions simultaneously. Yet strangely, each voice sounded disconnected, as if different people were speaking. Unconnected conversations poured out from everywhere.
“Shin Joo. Are you there?”
“Call my name, I want to hear your voice.”
“My lovely lady. Though I swore to sweetly accept even the pain you give me, please don’t make me pine too much.”
The voice was identical, but the way of speaking was all different. I narrowed my eyes and stared at the blue jewels embedded in the pillar.
“Ah… I wanted to see that gaze again.”
“Shin Joo, come closer.”
Each time a Cedric with a different tone spoke to me, the jewels sparkled in slightly different shades of blue. It seemed each of those jewels contained a different version of Cedric’s voice.
‘Don’t tell me his personality has split into as many parts as there are jewels.’
While some people might prefer split personalities since you can get two flavors from one person, even multiple personalities become beyond a matter of preference when there are this many.
There must have been hundreds of blue jewels embedded in the pillar.
If Cedric’s personality had split into as many parts as there were jewels, this wasn’t the time to be discussing how to date him.
I need to get him to a hospital right away.
