How it feels to babysit a NPC through a Quest...

"..." Inside a double bed-sized tent made of polyester fabric, a grown teenager with blonde hair, a black shirt, and a pair of jeans is sleeping inside his blanket rolled around his body.

Victor was trying to enjoy his sleep, without anyone stressing him further. It was a nice sleep… 

Unfortunately, because he relaxed too much, he seemed to have forgotten again where he was sleeping…

"I… Ilias!" Someone loudly shouted close to his tent, scaring the crap out of Victor as he immediately sat up from his sleeping position. His movements were frantic for a moment as he woke up from his dream of literally eating a kebab, drinking coke, and relaxing while watching Hellsing Ultimate Abridged in a curve Plasma TV of 65 inches of width.

It was really a cheap dream, but at his current conditions it is one of the best things he could hope for…

"Ugh… What's with all this noise so early in the morning…?" A woman's voice came from outside the tent. It felt tired, but also extremely pleasing to hear, with some bit of familiarity on it.

Victor took deep breaths and looked around himself, unable to recognize the unfamiliar surroundings for a dozen of seconds. As he brought back his memories to before he slept, supported by the voice outside, he finally remembered what happened…

Yeah, he was pulled along to Luka's journey by Alice so he won't snitch on the Monster Lord being here to anyone under her nose… She won't even bother healing his leg, and she comes at him with the full intention of bringing a cripple on a journey with her… Asshole.

"Whatever… make me something to eat." Alice spoke beyond the tents.

"Can you please this world a favor and shut your mouth?" The tent's zip opened, revealing Victor who had slept with the clothes he was wearing the day before without any care. His eyes held dark bags as he stared at Alice.

"I swear, people here don't have an ounce of respect towards other people. No one wants to hear loud voices in the morning." Victor commented as he crawled towards the wheelchair he shifted downwards so it won't roll away somewhere else. He put it back up and sat on it, before wheeling towards the center of the camp, with the fire turned off.

Alice was still coiled around her tree-bed, while Luka was inside his own tent. Both of them already woke up, but only Luka was fully conscious, as Alice and Victor were still recovering.

"Do your thing…" Victor said before he relaxed on his wheelchair and opened his system to check his gains.

"5'337 Gold Coins…" Victor mumbled before he went to the shop and bought a solid and metallic wheelchair. It appeared right in front of him, taking both Luka and Alice by surprise.

The two stared at the metallic and modern wheelchair for a dozen of seconds as their brains wrapped up what had just happened in front of them, and then they remembered about the weird and unique ability that Victor possessed, which was to buy anything with money. It was kind of vague, but now they will have to get used to this.

Victor spent 4'210 Gold Coins to buy a manual wheelchair of a good brand, and switched with it before selling the wooden one at 2'001 Gold Coins, leaving him with 3'128 Gold Coins that he left unused for the time. 

After more than a week of thought, he decided to spend money to buy stuff only when he can permit it. If it consumes a large deal of his coins, then he will have to wait and upgrade his production. 

In the original game, there was supposed to be only 1 Slug Girl, not seven of them surrounding him. It is possible that the future will retain certain important parts of the game, but it left everything else to the imagination.

It could be attributed to the Butterfly Effect and the luck factor. His mere breathing could have changed someone in the present or in the future.

Some events are destined to happen, but some will be changed. For example, there is a great deal of chances that Granberia will invade Iliasburg today evening… It's kind of funny thinking about meeting her.

It's like encountering the math problem's guy that was used as an example, since Victor made heavy use of her identity to explain some stuff to Luka back in the night of 2 days ago.

'Paul has bought 4 cakes and ate 3, what does he have? Diabetes…' Victor chuckled at his own thoughts before he closed the system and stared forward, seeing Luka trying to turn on the fire camp so he could make breakfast for all three of them.

Bread, salad, and fried eggs… If this keeps going, Victor is going to lay eggs in the future. Well, he will get his own lunch later, since he got the money. Some variety among the food is good, especially since now he can buy anything he wants around the same price. Everything costs around 30 Gold Coins, with large dishes being worth 70 or 80.

As for Alice-amount dishes… That will get kind of pricey.

Just as Victor started to lie on his new and comfortable wheelchair after eating breakfast, Luka suddenly cupped his hands together and bowed his head. "Oh great Ilias… please give me your blessing today, as well."

In reaction to Luka's prayer, Alice sighed. "Already saying stupid things so early in the day?"

"I'm just giving my thanks to Ilias." Luka replied with a respectful tone, although it was more towards the subject of the talk rather than towards Alice. "One of Ilias' five commandments is to be dutiful in your prayers."

"Five commandments…? Ilias likes to force people to do stupid things, huh? And to do those stupid things so happily… Do you really like being her slave?" 

"Here we go…" Victor sighed in exasperation, making Alice raise an eyebrow.

"What about it? Do you have any problem?"

Victor shook his head and replied. "Not really, I'm just kind of annoyed at assisting to arguments like these."

"Hmph." Alice scoffed and looked back at Luka. "Besides, doesn't Ilias hate monsters? Doesn't that go against what you believe in?"

"I… I'm sure that Ilias has her plans…"

Oh, she does indeed. Victor wanted to say those words but had to hold back. He simply wheeled back to his tent and picked up his stuff, putting it away on his inventory.

When he turned around, he saw that Alice and Luka already set down a stone on their conversation about religion and sighed in relief. After packing up their camping stuff, the unusual adventurer party headed off the camping site, to the north at Iliasburg.

…

"Damn, I would really like to take a bath…" Victor commented with a blank expression as he wheeled forward. He could feel the filth on his body now, and it was an annoying feeling.

"I think there is a large bridge on a river a bit further. We can stop there for lunch, since I will also need to take a bath. Even if we passed through it, we could try to find an inn with a bathhouse in Iliasburg."

"I see…" Victor sighed in relief. "I'll pay for it if you can find a good place there, as long as it has a bath and good services."

"I'll certainly find it! I had already been to Iliasburg once before, a few years ago. It's a huge city with large streets filled with adventurers, merchants, and all sorts of people! There were also tons of different things in all the shops, too, and many events going on in certain districts to entertain the city. Because it is the capital of the continent, there is also the best of what Ilias Continent can offer."

"I will look forward to it, then." Victor commented on Luka's words, followed by an unusually not annoyed tone of Alice.

"Hahaha… I'm also looking forward to it." Alice chipped in the conversation, although her attention was anywhere but on the discussion between Victor and Luka, since her eyes were stuck on an old book in her hands. She is currently reading one of the many pages of the World Traveler guide book that she proudly showed off the previous night.

A sigh escaped from Victor's mouth, knowing what she was talking about, while Luka asked with a tone filled with curiosity. "Huh? You are looking forward to it? That's surprising…"

"The famous Sutherland Inn at Iliasburg is known for their Happiness Honey-Filled Ama-Ama Dango! Any gourmet would salivate at the thought of tasting it."

Luka also sighed once he heard Alice's explanation before he focused on his memories. "...I don't think I have ever heard of this 'Sutherland Inn'."

"As if an uncultured man like you knows something about this." Alice scoffed before she turned her gaze back to her book. "Country bumpkins like you two will never understand anything about the greatest delicacies spread out in the world."

"Whatever you say…" Victor muttered before he faced forward with an annoyed expression, and noticed an unusual thing standing on their path.

It was a large green leaf standing all by itself over a small pile of dug-up soil. There was no nearby plant, no irregularity with the road's direction… there was only an impossibly large leaf stuck on the ground.

Turning around, Victor noticed that Alice was nowhere to be seen, and Luka is also focused on the leaf.

"Let's just keep going, don't bother with a plant…" Victor uncaringly spoke as he wheeled around the leaf. 

That leaf was not 'only' a leaf, it was actually part of a monster called Mandragora, like those little wooden crotch goblins in Harry Potter that scream very loudly. And just as they suggest, these Mandragoras can also scream very loudly and paralyze you. 

Maybe he should elaborate before Luka gets too distracted…

Victor wheeled around and faced Luka. "That leaf-What the fuck are you doing you pint-sized eggplant!?"

Victor immediately shifted tone once he saw Luka standing in front of the leaf, grabbing on it with the intention of pulling it.

"Eh?" Luka reacted to Victor's words by lifting his back and looking at him, but he still pulled out the plant.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" An extremely loud screech echoed in the surrounding area, followed by some avian bodies falling in the ground with chirpings and cawings, including the one who held the Mandragora, Luka, as he landed on the soil with a stunned expression.

"For fuck's sake…" Victor muttered as he covered his ears with both of his hands before squinting open one eye.

The ground where the giant leaf was dug in started to rumble as a human-like lifeform left her dirt nest. It was a naked and chocolate-skinned woman that was even smaller than Luka, and she was fixing her root-like hair before glaring at the person who pulled her out.

"What the hell are you doing?! I was finally able to fall asleep, too!" The Mandragora shouted at Luka in the middle of her anger.

"I… I'm really sorry…" Luka replied with a shy tone, just now realizing what he had done. However, he felt his energy leaving out of his body whenever he tried to move, taking him by surprise. "...Eh? I can't move my body… what is this…?"

The Mandragora scoffed and replied. "That's because you heard my scream. It can even kill people with weak hearts."

"Well, it can certainly raise up the dead." Victor commented with a grimacing expression as he wheeled towards the Mandragora.

She turned around to see who was the second person and got surprised when she saw Victor still moving towards her.

"Huh?! How can you still move?! There is no way that a crappy place like this can hold a human resistant to my magic!"

"I don't have any idea." Victor replied with a shrug as he looked down to the Mandragora., before he shifted his gaze to Luka. "Anyway, Luka, what the fuck did I tell you to not to do?"

"...Ignore the plant…"

"What the fuck did you do?"

"..." Luka didn't answer and looked away from Victor's eyes in guilt.

A sigh escaped from Victor's mouth before he looked back to the Mandragora. "Anyway, I'm really sorry for what my friend did. Waking up from a sleep is really terrible, I already felt that this morning with this idiot shouting as soon as he woke up. Still, I don't really want to be violent now; is there any way you could forgive Luka?"

The Mandragora simply stared up to Victor with an unimpressed expression and pointed at Luka. "I want him."

"What?!" Luka shouted in surprise at Mandragora's request, and Victor sighed again.

"Something else?"

"You."

"..." Victor stared at her dead in the eyes. "...Anything else?"

The Mandragora scoffed. "I'm a plant, what else do I need except for nourishment?"

"Fair enough…" Victor muttered while the Mandragora grasped Luka's boots and tugged him towards her. 

"Anyway, I'm going down with him, bye."

"Hold up!" Victor began to panic as he wheeled closer to the Mandragora. However, she raised another hand and grasped Victor's left wheel, stopping him from moving further. Her grip was quite solid for a child-sized monster…

"Hmph. What are you going to do about it? Stand up? Be lucky that you resisted my paralysis or I would have dragged you along with him." The Mandragora replied as she pulled Luka in her direction with a smirk.

"Get ready, boy. I won't let you sleep for the entire week…"

"N… No way!" Luka panicked and tried to struggle, but the Mandragora's paralysis scream still affected his body. "Victor! Help me!"

"What the hell am I supposed to do? Murder her?! Who do you take me for? I'm not trained for this, unlike you." Victor said in a panicked tone. The current situation didn't help him at all with his thoughts, and he didn't want to kill anyone.

He could have used the deodorant and lighter, but unlike with the Slug Girl, there is a 100% chance that it will kill the Mandragora instead of causing a bit of burn. One thing was being an asshole and using a molotov, another thing was to cripple their bodies barehanded.

He thought about tricking her using a bluff, but he realized that he just screwed himself by telling Luka that he doesn't have the heart to kill anyone; he also can't move since the Mandragora is blocking one of his wheels with one arm… Will the Evaluation Meeting still work? It should still work…

Well, he can only wait for the result... 

"Sorry Luka, I can't do anything at the moment. The paralysis should come off soon enough, so keep resisting." Victor could only relax on the wheelchair and tell Luka some hints to win.

If Luka loses and the Evaluation Meeting won't work, then Victor will simply have to take this matter in his own hand in some way… He has money and can buy anything he wants as long as he gets time. The only disadvantage he has is that he will be facing Alice in a more personal account without Luka leading the party somewhere else.

"Damn it!" Luka tried to struggle even more, but, of course, he couldn't move.

"Oh, are you trying to resist? I'll just have to lick you all over, then." The Mandragora's roots coiled around Luka's legs as she pulled him closer until she was between his legs. Victor awkwardly shifted his gaze away as the Mandragora was pulling down Luka's pants and underwear so that she could perform a Critical Ecstasy on him.

She also knows about the temporary effects of her paralysis, so she quickly proceeded on burying her face on Luka's groin. When Luka will reach his climax, he will not be able to move or think properly for a lot of time, which will be enough to properly restrict him underground.

As her tongue swirled around Luka's scrotum, a high-pitched voice came from him in reaction.

"A… Ah…"

Upon hearing his voice, the Mandragora smiled. "Haha, what a cute voice. Let me do something even better, then."

Victor did his best to ignore this and ultimately bought a pair of earphones with 73 Gold Coins. He quickly stuck them on his ears and connected the jack to his phone, before playing Cheshyre from his phone's playlist.

Passing past his ears without entering in were Luka's moans and the Mandragora trying to make him orgasm.

Still, it is kind of embarrassing that he couldn't find the strength to seriously hurt this Mandragora with his own hands.

One thing was using a gun or spreading salt around. After all, with the gun, he simply has to pull the trigger and he will incur fear on his chosen target, while the salt won't be enough to kill the Slug Girls of the previous day.

However, if he had to grab a sword, he wouldn't have the courage to strike someone with it. 

Victor really dislikes feeling the resistance of live flesh from being cut apart, it's a weird and uncomfortable feeling… Also, the Mandragora looked like she would snap apart with a single stomp, so he didn't use blunt attacks either.

There might be more ways to solve this case, but the morning and the sudden turn of situation left his thoughts messy for now. So he simply let Luka do it for himself…

…

Victor Luis' (future) Trivia Book: Mandragoras

Mandragoras are special monsters that are unique among alraunes, by the fact that they aren't born through pollination. Instead, Mandragoras are born from human blood and semen mixed up with fertile soil tainted with dark energy.

They have an incredibly great lifespan, capable of going way beyond a thousand of years if they have the chance. However, they are born naturally weak, even if they are still a bit stronger than normal human people.

For that reason, they have evolved and gained the famous 'Mandragora's Scream', an ability exclusive to them that will force whoever is in the range of action to fall into paralysis or even instant death.

It doesn't matter if you hear it or not, as the shockwave of the magical scream targets a human's holy energy and shakes it to the point where they will feel weakness. It is similar to Critical Ecstasy, but to a smaller scale.

While they have their famous scream to fight against humans, it won't work against monsters, and they have to collect a great deal of dark magic to make it work. For that reason, they usually stay buried underground with their leaves out, sleeping for decades at most.

Their leaves work like a regular leaf and are capable of going through photosynthesis, and their hair and body are the roots to absorb the nutrients on the ground.

In general, Mandragoras are mostly harmless, staying underground for a great deal of their lives and voluntarily come out during rainy seasons to shift their spot to somewhere else or simply because they have a friendly relation with someone outside, so that she can have a nice conversation with them and behave like a normal friend would during a discussion.

However, if pulled out of the ground by someone else's intent, they will let loose their Mandragora Scream to paralyze the attacker and will drag them down on the ground in the middle of her bad mood. If it is a man, they are used as a supplement for their diet by wringing them out of their semen.

As they are plants, their general weaknesses are fire and biological attacks. It is extremely possible that lightning is also part of the series of their weaknesses, but if you will find a thunderbolt strike a Mandragora during a storm, then run the fuck away from her because that is certainly an impossibly magnified Mandragora.

They are as small as an infant when they are underground, normally. How the hell would you see a thunderbolt strike them unless their leaves are massive like trees?