Entering inside, a small-scale space appeared.

I thought a dark guild store would have a dark and gloomy atmosphere, but it was more ordinary than I expected.

“Welcome, how may I help you?”

A woman with lavender-colored hair asked me.

Brillanta Branch Dark Guild Store Manager

Glancing above her head, I saw a somewhat half-hearted name.

[1. Buy and sell goods

2. Complete dark guild store daily quests

3. Exchange 10 old horns]

“I came to buy goods.”

[You have selected .]

“Oh my, you’ve come to purchase goods. We have some nice new items in stock.”

[You can buy special items that are not distributed through ordinary channels. Be careful as most are illegal and mere possession can be problematic.]

Along with the friendly guidance text, Lavender showed me the items placed on the counter.

Item

A miraculous translator that reads the other person’s inner thoughts. Can only be used on targets of lower level than the user.

Item

The scriptures of a suspicious religion. Reading the verses lowers the faith of people in the same location.

Item

A ring commonly used by Azester men when proposing. Increases confession success rate by 500%.

Item

A fan made from the tail feathers of a wind peacock. Creates fierce winds, and can even cause typhoons if severe, so use with caution.

‘These are obviously bizarre items……’

Not only did they have dubious effects, the price of each item was astronomically high.

However, I was a princess whose only asset was money. Since I had come all this way, I politely purchased some items.

“Give me everything from here to there. It’ll be hard to carry, so please arrange wagon delivery service to the 3rd Princess Palace.”

At those words, Lavender was startled and asked again.

“You mean… everything, Your Highness?”

“Yes.”

“……!”

As I nodded, Lavender’s eyes sparkled for a moment.

“My goodness, our branch finally has a VIP customer…!”

Lavender rang the gold bell placed on the table.

Ring-a-ling.

With the clear sound of the bell, men in black clothes who had been hiding here and there revealed themselves.

“This is the Brillanta branch’s first VIP customer! Serve them to the utmost of your ability!”

“Yes, Branch Manager!”

At Lavender’s order, the dark guild members moved like lightning.

Swish!

Swish swish!

Swish swish swish!

In an instant, I was moved by them to a secluded room inside the dark guild store.

“Hoho. The Brillanta branch, which had been on the verge of closure for failing to produce results, has been saved by the customer.”

Although Brillanta is the largest city in the continent’s largest nation, Lavender lamented that it had faced closure due to the lack of adventurers.

After all, most of the people who come to such secret places to buy decent items are adventurers.

“Please sign here, customer.”

As I sat on the plush sofa sipping the drink they brought me, Lavender slyly held out the payment statement.

I glanced at the amount written at the top and softly signed.

[SYSTEM] By spending over 100,000,000G, you have become a VIP of the dark guild!

[SYSTEM] Acquired the item .

[SYSTEM] You can entrust requests to the dark guild! (Required Level: 50)

“The VIP membership can be used at all branches across the continent. With this, you can entrust requests to the dark guild. Although it does require a small fee.”

Lavender handed me a black gem with ‘VIP’ written in small letters and explained.

I had materialized and handed my inventory to Anselot, so I roughly shoved it into my sleeve.

“If you need anything, please let me know.”

Lavender grinned and spoke to me. I casually asked in response to that favorable attitude.

“Is it possible to purchase a new horn?”

“Oh, unfortunately, they haven’t arrived at our branch yet.”

Lavender answered with sincere regret.

‘I guess horns can’t be obtained here either.’

I swallowed my disappointment and looked around at the other menus.

[2. Complete dark guild store daily quests]

It seemed daily quests could also be done here.

Skimming through, it appeared to be a system that offers players quests in the form of various requests received by the dark guild.

I wasn’t particularly interested in quests, so after a quick glance, I moved on to the next menu.

[3. Exchange 10 old horns]

As seen in the item description, it was a menu for exchanging old horns.

I had lent my inventory to Anselot, so I didn’t have any old horns on hand at the moment, and in the first place, I only had 1, so there was no reward to receive……

‘Huh?’

At that moment, something caught my eye as I was perusing the menu.

“This is……”

As I stared blankly, Lavender explained.

“Ah, this is the ranking of the top rewarders in our branch! When you exchange , we convert it into points based on the number and display it on the ranking. It’s a kind of marketing!”

[ Top Rewarders Ranking

1st □□□□ □□□ -18000 points

(180 )]

overcame the limitations of a single-player roleplaying game by creating various rankings with the characters in the game to add competitive elements, as I had heard.

So the suddenly appearing top rewarder ranking window wasn’t awkward. However……

‘Someone exchanged this many old horns?’

I blinked in disbelief.

“Additionally, if you achieve 1st place in the ranking, we provide a monster subjugation restraint as an extra reward!”

Lavender explained with a refreshing capitalist smile, to which I responded with a soulless reply while continuing my thoughts about the horns.

was an item left behind after using a horn that summons beginner monsters.

‘Then someone summoned at least 180 beginner monsters.’

However, I had never heard of any monsters other than what Hezen summoned appearing in the capital, and above all, it wasn’t easy to obtain horns in the capital.

‘Could it be the same person who gave Hezen Aegir’s Horn? But if so……’

At that moment, I noticed the piled up in a box in the corner.

‘If their purpose was simply to help awaken the player, it seems a bit strange.’

It seemed like there was something else entangled with those .

[This is the timeline separator]

Anselot was in a very good mood.

Last night, he had snuck into Duke Hamilton’s bedroom while he was sleeping and poured on his face.

The effect of the potion was tremendous!

Duke Hamilton’s lush and healthy hair, which he took pride in, lost its strength in an instant.

Riding that momentum, Anselot planned to make Crown Prince Orent bald following Duke Hamilton.

Thinking about it immediately made him feel good.

It wasn’t that he particularly enjoyed tormenting others. He just……

“I hope our princess will be happy to see it.”

He wanted to see Luibel’s smiling face.

Anselot, who had been humming a cheerful tune with a refreshing expression, suddenly paused and frowned.

“I think I’m being too nice to our princess.”

He was doing bothersome things that he normally wouldn’t bother with.

Just as he was about to feel down wondering why he was doing all this…

“Well, this is all a fanciful effort to seduce our princess and persuade her to progress the scenario.”

But thinking like this again made him feel accomplished, as if he had done what he was supposed to do.

Of course, Luibel may not change her mind despite his cute antics.

She truly did not want to progress the scenario.

‘No! I just want to live my comfortable life in the imperial palace!’

Recalling her intense refusal made him slightly worried.

If she doesn’t end up changing her mind, if we can’t kill the Mad Dragon this round……

‘Was it a mistake to make her the player?’

Perhaps because she wasn’t originally a player, she had a particularly strong aversion to the scenario.

But Anselot had no regrets.

If he hadn’t stepped up, she would have been sacrificed for that damn player’s awakening.

The death of Luibel Azester.

“……”

An unpleasant outcome that he didn’t like, an unpleasant result just imagining it.

Anselot quickly shook off the fragments of that unpleasant feeling and searched for Luibel.

“By the way, where is our princess?”

She seemed to have gone out somewhere, as she was nowhere to be seen.

Then, he ran into Luibel who had just returned from an outing in front of the Princess Palace main gate.

“Huh? Princess!”

Anselot, who was about to approach her with a bright smile, suddenly stiffened his expression.

She was not alone.

A man in a neat uniform was escorting her.

“……”

Anselot looked the other person over with cold eyes.

Platinum blonde hair down to his waist, a height similar to his own, and aristocratic good looks.

‘Klaus Winster……’

Anselot glanced at the blue window above the man’s head.

Strangely, a feeling of his mood twisting arose.

Anselot immediately strode over and blocked Luibel and the man’s path.

“Looks like you went out somewhere, Princess.”

Then, twisting his handsome lips and raising them, he greeted in a chilly voice.

“Anselot?”

“But you brought back something odd.”

The displeased gaze turned to Klaus.

“Ah, this is……”

“I am Klaus Winster. I was entrusted by Her Highness Princess Luibel to escort her.”

At Klaus’s concise answer, Anselot’s eyes narrowed.

“Our princess directly asked you to be her escort?”

“Yes.”

As Klaus nodded plainly, Anselot looked at Luibel.

In response to his expression asking for confirmation, Luibel stammered an answer.

“Yes, well. It’s true that I asked for an escort, but……”

“Then from here, I will escort her.”

Anselot held out his palm towards Luibel.

Then Klaus blocked Luibel’s path, showing signs of wariness.

“She is the Princess of Azester. I cannot entrust her to a stranger.”

“A stranger?”

Anselot retorted with a crooked smile.

“I am Prince Anselot from the Luenhart Kingdom. Who else has such a clear identity as me?”

“It’s because you are Anselot Luenhart that it’s more dangerous.”

Klaus replied without changing his expression.

Klaus also knew of Anselot’s notoriety, so that response contained the meaning ‘I can’t entrust the Princess of Azester to a butcher like you’.

Instantly, the smile lingering in the corners of Anselot’s eyes deepened.

Luibel instinctively felt it.

That a deeper murderous intent was blooming within that deep eye smile.

“It’s okay, Sir Klaus! Prince Anselot is someone who can be trusted!”

Luibel quickly grabbed Anselot’s hand and mediated before his mood worsened.

“But Princess.”

“He escorted me at the last ball too. So don’t worry and you can go back now, Sir.”

“……”

At Luibel’s choice, Klaus’s expression stiffened.

‘Huh? Even before, behind his displeased expression……’

Luibel recalled the moment when Klaus had made a displeased face earlier.

Strangely, his favorability had risen despite his obviously uncomfortable expression.

‘Then this is a good sign!’

“Thank you for today, Sir Klaus.”

Luibel waved her hand languidly towards Klaus, then turned around with Anselot.

Not knowing that behind them, Klaus continued to gaze at her and Anselot’s retreating figures.

[This is the timeline separator]

The sudden confrontation between Anselot and Klaus almost became troublesome.

It was fortunate that it ended well by sending Klaus back.

It was also a bit uncomfortable to be escorted by a man who didn’t like me……

“Looks like you got close with that man.”

Anselot suddenly blurted out in a sulky voice after walking in silence for a while.

“Didn’t you see the favorability earlier? It’s in the minus.”

“Didn’t you see, Princess?”

“……?”

“Guess you didn’t see it.”

“What did I not see?”

“Nothing.”

Anselot replied blandly, shaking his head.

“But now it seems I’m someone you can trust.”

“Huh?”

“You said it before. How could you trust me.”

‘But the method you suggested isn’t certain either. And how can I trust you.’

“Ah, that’s……”

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I fake coughed.

“It’s a separate issue.”

I just gained the belief that Anselot wouldn’t harm me now.

Even though he has nicknames like murderous psycho or nutcase, except for our intense first meeting, he had always protected me……

‘No, when did I become so soft-hearted again? It wasn’t long ago that I became a player after following that bastard’s words……!’

I shook my head, recalling the atrocities he had committed against me.

“Anyway Anselot, what exactly did you do to Duke Hamilton?”

As I slyly changed the subject, he languidly curved his eyes.

“When you already know everything.”

Anselot readily admitted that he was the one who made Duke Hamilton bald, replying glibly.

“So why did you do that? Although Duke Hamilton said bad things to me, making him completely lose his hair is too cruel.”

“But Princess, you felt exhilarated too, right?”

“Well, that’s true, but……”

I responded in a slightly abashed voice, thinking it was a cruel act but honestly feeling good when I heard the news.

Anselot suddenly stopped walking. As I tilted my head at his gaze fixed on me, he bent his waist towards me with a slanted smile on his lips.

Then, pressing his lips close to my ear as if telling a secret, he whispered in an intimate voice.

“Bribe.”

At that soft whisper, a sudden eerie sensation flowed down my spine.

As I raised my head, blushing, I saw him already standing upright and looking down at me.

Murderous psycho, butcher. But now the ‘pretty’ butcher with ‘pretty’ added was smiling prettily at me and said.

“It’s a bribe given in hopes that the Princess will change her mind.”

At that radiantly smiling face, I unknowingly swallowed nervously.