Chapter 96

A little while later, Lucy left.

‘She held onto my hand the whole time we were talking, so it was a bit awkward.’

Still, it was nice to see her expression brighter than when she first came here.

If she hadn’t been chosen by the Evil God, she would’ve had pretty good traits too, even if not on Flora’s level.

‘She’d be a huge help in stabilizing the Order.’

After Lucy left first, Flora stayed a bit longer before going.

The way she stood there watching my conversation with Lucy with a bright smile was especially memorable.

It felt like a kindergarten teacher or a parent watching kids who had just made up.

That was a different kind of pressure in itself.

“Nemesia.”

When it was just me, Flora, and Daddy left in the room, Flora suddenly grabbed my hand.

At this point, I wasn’t even surprised anymore since it had already happened several times today.

But unlike Lucy, who had been tense and scared, Flora’s touch was surprisingly gentle.

“This is a secret, but I can tell who’s kind and righteous.”

“Mm.”

I looked at Flora as if I already knew, without reacting in surprise.

She blinked slightly, then smiled brightly.

“It’s my first time seeing Lucy talk without trembling or stuttering. She wasn’t like that when she was with me.”

“Mm… if she stayed with you longer, she’d be the same. You make people feel comfy too.”

“Mm, I knew my judgment wasn’t wrong!”

Flora gently swung the hand she was holding.

At the same time, she smiled so brightly, clearly delighted.

“I’ll trust and follow you no matter what you do, Nemesia!”

…Huh?

My eyes widened.

[Congratulations! Your warm affection has moved someone! You’ve gained a ‘Companion’ to save the world together!]

[Would you like to recruit ‘Flora Alison’ as a companion?]

This is popping up now?

Flora looked kind and righteous, but her standards for what she believed to be “justice” were unusually high and strict.

Which meant she also had high expectations of others, so she wasn’t someone who gave her heart easily.

In other words, she was a character that normally took quite a while to recruit.

While I froze for a moment at this unexpected stroke of luck,

Flora had already finished saying goodbye and turned around to leave.

‘No!!’

The recruitment prompt disappeared just like that. It surprised me, but I wasn’t devastated.

‘It’ll pop up again when I meet her anyway.’

It was definitely a good sign.

In the game, Flora’s impact differed massively depending on whether you recruited her or not.

If you failed to recruit her, she would sometimes even become an enemy.

Since Flora valued justice so strongly, if she didn’t become the protagonist’s ally, she would grow increasingly paranoid over time.

And if she caught even the slightest hint of something suspicious about the protagonist, she would label him a fanatic and relentlessly dig into him using every means possible.

That was when her danger peaked.

Game Category [Post][Casual Chat]

Title: When Lady Flora Investigates Me_JPG

Honestly, it felt kinda thrilling being falsely accused…

But I never want to go through that again

She was seriously terrifying… sob sob ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

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Comments

👤 Savior 1
Do Flora cultists ever reflect on themselves?

└ Sayver 2
No no no the OP just hasn’t fully trusted Lady Flora yet! A true Flora follower should even feel happy being looked down on by her!! Haaah!

└ Sayver 3
I even love her control freak side!!!

└ Savior 1
This is insanity. If this isn’t madness then what is… (hey fanatics, take these people instead)

‘Well, anyway, things turned out well, so I won’t ever have to see that side of her.’

This is how you steadily gather companions.

As I clenched my fist in determination, I noticed Daddy was already kneeling in front of me.

“Daddyy?”

Without a word, Daddy took my hand. Looking at it now, my left hand was noticeably red.

It was because Lucy had held it a bit too tightly earlier.

“…Didn’t it hurt?”

My eyes widened.

“Uh, you knew?”

“How could I not?”

Daddy carefully opened my hand as he spoke.

“I’m your father.”

For a moment, my chest tightened.

‘That’s amazing. He even notices things like this…’

Is this what a real guardian is like?

I grabbed Daddy’s finger with my other hand that didn’t hurt.

Then I giggled.

Daddy quietly stood up, brought some medicine, and applied it himself.

Then he said we should also go see a priest.

‘It’s not that serious though…’

It looked like it would heal quickly anyway, but I decided to stay quiet.

Honestly, if I said anything,

he’d probably say, ‘Didn’t you almost die from dust earlier?’

So I’d have nothing to argue back with.

I stared at my hand, now neatly wrapped with medicine and bandages.

‘He even wrapped it really well…!’

While I was still admiring it, Daddy sat down beside me and lightly lifted me onto his lap.

“They say little girls shouldn’t sit on cold floors for too long.”

“Grandpa said girls shouldn’t sit on the ground.”

Suddenly, I thought of Khan from the Labyrinth. The protagonist I loved.

He must be doing well out there, right? I could almost see his pretty light blue hair.

Just imagining him doing well made all this hardship feel worthwhile.

And besides… I met such a good guardian too.

“Hehe, did Ciara say that too?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Daddy held me as he fell silent for a moment.

Then he glanced down at me, his expression a bit unusual.

It looked like he had something to say.

“I have something to tell you.”

I knew it.

“What is it?”

Was he going to continue what we were talking about earlier? That ominous story the Shadow Host mentioned.

I had been thinking I should tell him what I suspected too.

“About what you said earlier… that you met Usher inside the paranormal phenomenon.”

But the next moment, I froze stiff at the unexpected topic.

…Should I look up at his face?

No, that’s kinda scary.

Even without looking, I could feel the intense aura coming from above.

When I slowly lifted my eyes,

“I’d like to hear exactly what happened.”

A face as cold as a winter storm was staring straight at me.

…Wow, he really is a former hero. That charisma. Scary!

I swallowed hard.

‘Here it comes!’

I took a breath first. I needed time to organize my thoughts too.

“Whew, Daddyy. Don’t be surprised and listen.”

After all, things with that guy Usher ended very much in my favor.

I was confident.

‘Confident I can reassure Daddy!’

But then—

“…Just how surprised am I supposed to be?”

Daddy got even more tense…!

Why?

Seeing his eyes practically shaking like an earthquake made me panic too.

“No, it’s not that, that surprising?”

Ugh, now I’m stuttering too.

“…”

Daddy quietly bit his lip and straightened his posture. His back became perfectly upright.

Then he spoke with a solemn expression.

“I’m… prepared. Go ahead.”

…Why so serious?

“Geez! It’s really nothing!”

I figured I should just say it quickly without giving him time to breathe.

“So all that happened is that one more fanatic swore loyalty to me!”

Yeah, and just happens to be a named fanatic. That’s all.

“…? Don’t tell me that’s… Usher Tatum?”

“Mm, yep!”

Come on, Dad, you can’t just deny reality.

I spread my arms wide.

“Nemesia won again!”

Ta-da, another fanatic added to the set! A set!

“…”

In the heavy silence, my eyes rolled around.

Until Daddy finally spoke.

“I want to hear everything that happened. All of it. Not a single detail left out.”

…Haha.

* * *

A few days later.

The results of the second test came out. Everyone had returned safely, but returning didn’t always mean passing.

For example.

“Three people got eliminated?”

“So it seems.”

Along with a notice that the training method would change after the second test,

each person received their results individually.

“Mm, two of them… mental issues…”

Since the test involved paranormal phenomena that triggered each person’s deepest fears and traumas,

two participants suffered delayed psychological aftereffects and were eliminated.

‘And one of them is Mel.’

One was Mel, Laura’s Pope candidate, someone I was familiar with.

And the other…

“Usher’s Pope candidate failed as well.”

That’s right, Usher’s Pope candidate.

He was going to be exiled anyway due to disciplinary action, but now he didn’t even have a reason to stay here anymore.

And the reason the last person failed was something even I didn’t expect.

“Gidehme got corrupted…?”