How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 81

“But I found something strange.”

Did she find Dilaf or Suriel or something?

“There was this bizarre statue in one of the rooms.”

Does it look like Dilaf or Suriel?

[You have entered the latter half of <The Child’s Secret>.]

Already?

If this were the latter half of the game, that meant the ending was close.

In the latter half of <The Child’s Secret>, the exhausted protagonist and her party discovered that the escape gate had appeared.

Filled with hope that they could finally escape, they searched desperately for the gate.

But as I said before—

it had only ever been a trick by the demons.

When the protagonist’s party arrived at the gate overflowing with hope, the demons brutally murdered them.

Depending on the route, Holloway could kill them.

Or Suriel.

Or Dilaf.

To put it simply, the latter half of the game was basically the story of the demons slaughtering all the humans.

If I had just entered this hotel, I might have been terrified by that.

But after learning the secrets and seeing how much more tolerant the demons had become—

hearing that we’d entered the latter half didn’t feel especially threatening.

Moran shook my arm when she saw how uninterested I looked despite her saying she had discovered something.

“You aren’t listening to me right now, are you?”

“Of course I am. You said you found something like Dilaf or Suriel.”

“……What? What are you talking about? Who are those people?”

Ah.

Right.

Moran still didn’t know their names……

Holloway buried his face against my stomach and burst into laughter.

Moran stared at us with invisible question marks practically floating over her head.

Since I didn’t bother explaining, she returned to the original topic.

“It’s over there. Not far. Do you want to see it?”

“Are you a vengeful spirit pretending to be Moran?”

At my abrupt question, Moran blinked her large eyes.

“……A vengeful spirit?”

Guess not.

Because she seemed to be deliberately leading me toward that statue, I briefly suspected something.

Apparently she really was only curious.

I’m suspicious of absolutely everything after coming here.

“Why do we need to see it?”

“It might be a clue! Lady Evelyn, you haven’t really shared everything with us, but you seem to have gathered quite a lot of information……. Whatever it is, wouldn’t it be better to check? It could be related to the island’s secret.”

Smart.

She had a point.

If it had been nothing but an ordinary statue, Moran probably wouldn’t have suggested we investigate.

I could search for the black mage’s laboratory along the way too.

Still—

the written pact came first.

That was my highest priority.

The statue could wait until afterward.

“Mm. But I need to find something first.”

“Something you need to find? May I ask what?”

“No.”

“……That was very firm.”

Moran’s pout was quite cute.

Still, I had absolutely no intention of telling her.

We had similar opinions, but I didn’t trust her enough to share everything.

Who knew what kind of disaster might happen if I carelessly spread information?

And Alhulf absolutely could not know.

He fiercely opposed revealing the truth.

It was easy enough to predict what he might do from now on.

If he found out a written pact existed—

he would probably try absolutely everything to take it away from me.

He was usually such a coward.

Yet when he rushed at me to snatch the ring, he looked like an entirely different person.

It had honestly given me chills.

He looked capable of anything if it meant hiding the truth.

“Did you see anything like a laboratory on the way here?”

“A laboratory……. I was too busy avoiding monsters to look carefully, but I did see a room that looked similar. That’s where I found the statue.”

“Which direction did you come from?”

“This way.”

Then I should retrace her route.

***

Laboratory 3.

1!

Found it.

Why did they need so many laboratories?

It’s not like they were doing anything admirable.

Grumbling, I grabbed the handle of Laboratory 1.

Moran suddenly clapped lightly, as though she had only just remembered something.

“Ah, right! This was the room! I was too busy watching for monsters to look around properly, so I didn’t realize it was a laboratory!”

“What?”

The instant I stepped inside, the atmosphere changed.

Moran didn’t notice.

She continued chatting excitedly.

“That statue. It looked strange, so I pulled out one of the swords stuck in it to show you……”

“You pulled out a sword?!”

You never mentioned that part earlier!

Just as I prepared to scold her—

BANG!

The door slammed shut.

I was trapped alone inside the laboratory.

I couldn’t hear anything from outside.

Silence completely surrounded the room.

I grabbed my hair in frustration.

Why would you touch something like that?!

In horror games, you never touched suspicious objects.

You had no idea what they might wake.

Getting angry now wouldn’t change anything.

Boom……

Boooom……

The entire laboratory vibrated.

Then stopped.

“……What?”

The tremor repeated at regular intervals.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to damage the laboratory itself.

I forced myself to calm down.

If Moran had removed a sword from that strange statue—

these tremors were probably some warning that something bizarre was about to happen.

Rather than wasting time on a door that wouldn’t open, I pressed my back against the wall and surveyed the laboratory with hawk-like focus.

Unless I cleared whatever this room wanted—

the door probably wouldn’t open.

Even finding the written pact might not be enough.

The fact that I had been sealed inside meant something expected something from me.

And sure enough—

the bizarre statue Moran described stood on one side of the laboratory.

Its twisted shape looked like someone had gathered wet clay into a lump and punched it.

Or perhaps a person buried beneath the ground.

Two swords remained embedded around the statue.

Beside them was an empty hole.

It clearly looked as though something had been removed from there.

Moran definitely pulled the sword from that spot.

Ah, Moran……

Does she not understand that you shouldn’t randomly touch things in places like this, no matter how curious you are?

Even if something looks suspicious—

it would’ve been safer to call everyone over first and inspect it together.

She hadn’t known.

So I wouldn’t scold her too harshly.

But frustrating things were still frustrating.

I sighed.

Then tightly gripped my dagger and assumed a defensive posture.

I could tell myself it was fine because she had only removed one sword.

But horror games didn’t work like that.

Even removing one could be incredibly significant.

Better not assume nothing would happen.

Stay alert.

And stay as far from the statue as possible.

First, the vault……

There.

A skeleton hung blatantly from the ceiling of a laboratory that looked suspiciously like a science classroom.

That thing is definitely going to move.

“I’ve figured out your pattern.”

Still—

please don’t move.

Keeping my eyes on the skeleton and statue, I slowly sidled along the wall.

Eventually, I reached the safe beside a desk.

I inserted the key.

Turned it.

Click.

The locked mechanism released.

I pulled open the iron vault.

A rolled parchment lay inside.

I immediately snatched it and unrolled it.

Names written in blood.

Seals stamped beside them.

And exact dates.

[Blood Pact

Feature: A faint scent of blood lingers from it. This agreement was created using black magic and will not decay no matter how much time passes. The power contained within each family’s seal has been engraved into it.]

No matter how much anyone denied it—

if I produced this document, it would prove the founding Emperor and every participating faction guilty.

Even after countless years—

their wrongdoing remained intact.

Of course, their descendants could still claim they hadn’t personally done anything.

If that happened, I’d have to find evidence that they knew the truth and deliberately concealed it too.

But that could wait until after we escaped.

‘This pact alone could throw the Empire into complete chaos. For now, that’s enough.’

I rolled it up.

Then put it inside my bag.

From now on—

this bag is my life.

[Main Quest <The Fate of Those Who Participated> Complete!]

[Clear Reward will be announced later.]

Give me a weapon or something.

You probably aren’t going to reward me by letting me leave this room.

Now that my business here was finished, I returned to the door.

I tried the handle.

Nothing.

Still locked.

If the quest was over, why am I still trapped?

Is there another task?

If there were, it should’ve displayed some window saying I couldn’t leave the area while the quest was ongoing.

Why are you silent?

No way.

“Are you just interfering with me?”

You bastards!

I’m in a hurry!

Why are you obstructing me?!

―The sword…… pull it out……

I flinched.

I thought I was alone.

The sudden hoarse voice made my shoulders jump.

Creak.

I turned my face.

Ominous energy seeped from the statue.

―The sword…… the remaining swords……

A gloomy voice filled with suffering echoed through the laboratory.

Listening to its pitiful tone—

I deliberately grinned.

Come to think of it—

I had no reason to be this scared.

I have defensive items.

―Please…… pull out the swords……. Then I’ll grant whatever you desire……

“Open this door.”

That’s what I desperately want.

This door wide open.

―……Promise me.

“I promise. Open it!”

―…….

Silence.

It didn’t trust me.

Fair.

My entire life was built on lies.

I was shameless enough to break a promise like that without blinking.

Wait.

Then the system didn’t close this door?

The statue did?

It has that much power after only one sword was removed?

If all three swords came out……

A chill ran through me.

If it could trap a person inside this room with only one seal removed—

crushing me would probably be easy.

Even if I used every defensive item……

My spine went cold.

“Aagh! Holloway! Big sis is going to die! Open this door right now!”

BANG BANG BANG!

There was no way he couldn’t break one door.

Don’t tell me you plan to leave me trapped in here.

Are you working with this thing too?

“Hollo! Way!”

Sounds like I’m cheering for him.

―If you remove the swords…… I’ll open it.

“You need to do what I want first if you want to make a deal.”

If you only demand what you want—

that’s an order!

And unlike everything else, this thing had been deliberately sealed.

That probably meant even the demons couldn’t deal with it normally.

And if I had to guess—

that thing was the black mage.

The black mage who built this island and directed all those human experiments.

Someone like that wouldn’t die through normal methods.

Maybe Holloway and the others didn’t simply torture and kill him repeatedly like the Emperor because this bastard still had enough power to cause trouble even in this place.

So they sealed him.

At least—

that was my veteran horror-game-player intuition.

Trust it.

And Moran, knowing nothing, probably pulled one sword out proudly because she wanted to show the statue to us.

Fortunately, two swords still remained.

It didn’t appear completely free.

If I took Moran’s sword and inserted it again—

maybe I could restore the seal.

Which meant this door—

I tried desperately to break it.

Clank.

The door suddenly shook.

“Huh?”

Before I could even wonder—

BOOM!

The entire door tore free.

It flew backward.

“It opened!”

Afraid it might close again, I immediately sprinted out.

Then collided with something solid.

“Mmph!”

“…….”

My lips landed directly against an enormous, magnificent chest.

Holloway’s firm chest.