Chapter 16: Death Flag

7:30am, 13th of Leric(2nd month)

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The next morning came.

Breadwinners left to go to work early in the morning. Adventurers returned from their quests and went to bars or stores to spend their hard-earned money. Informal workers opened their stands to start another day of working.

A single man walked down the street carrying bags in his hands. He was wearing different clothes instead of the dark blue suit from yesterday.

'I hope they're not worried.'

Even if Arnold was gone for most of the day in the past, he would never miss dinner. Even to him family time was important.

Yesterday, Arnold had taken Lauran to an inn so she could rest. A day had passed since the incident. He had left her in the care of Flora and decided to rent another room for himself. Though, he didn't sleep much.

Her wounds were already healed yesterday by the potion Arnold bought but that wouldn't mean that she'd be ready to head home yet. That potion was a high-class potion so it was very valuable. Arnold had to carry at least one whenever he was outside.

Since Lauran only had a blanket over her body, he couldn't just let her walk around naked so he bought her some clothes to wear for the time being. It was commoner clothes since they couldn't reach a store in the shopping district. The heat from yesterday hadn't calmed down yet.

Arnold didn't consider the possibility that people other than the gangsters might head towards the scene where they commenced their attack. Yesterday, while carrying Lauran on his back, Arnold and Flora had passed by several Temple Priests who were heading to the scene where everything occurred.

Arnold was standing outside the inn. He was going through a few notes he made regarding this world. In his notebook was written:

Levels exist.

The plot is somewhat the same as it is in the game. Some things happened earlier than others.

I was reborn a few months before the game's story Hero Expansion DLC officially starts.

Still no sign of Arnold's status yet.

He stared intently at the last one.

'Why can't I see Arnold's status yet? Is something preventing me? Is it a glitch?'

The last one wasn't logical since he wasn't in the game anymore.

Somehow he was now living as the villain in "STAR FANTASY". Everything seemed real.

The food he ate.

The air he breathed.

The feeling of cutting through human flesh was real.

'Now a bigger question; why was I born as Arnold and not the main character? I'll have to think about this later.'

"….." Arnold put away the notebook and looked at his hands. He had so many questions that his head began to hurt.

'Why don't I feel any guilt from killing humans?'

He didn't kill all of them so most of them were just knocked out. For some reason he didn't feel bad about killing them with his own hands.

They are bad people.

They do even worse things to others.

I shouldn't feel guilty.

They were in the wrong for coming at me with killing intent.

He was brainwashing himself at this point.

"Master Arnold…?"

As Arnold was waiting outside the high-class inn, someone called out to him.

Lauran was standing there.

"Are you ready to go?" Arnold unfolded his arms and approached Lauran.

She nodded and looked down. She fidgeted and stole glances at his face.

"I-I…"

When Lauran was about to speak, Arnold held out his hand. In his hand was a stack of documents.

"This is…" Lauran's mind blanked when she saw what they were.

"All the debt you owe is gone now. There's no need for your family to struggle anymore. I'll personally submit my statement if the Knight Order questions your family's involvement of Ruduli and his minions' murder."

Even if they were just simple townsfolk, the Knight Order would need a scapegoat for this crime of murdering so many people. Otherwise their reputation would crumble if they couldn't even solve this. Liumiala had covered up their tracks so they shouldn't be involved. On the surface at least.

By using his father's name and pressuring the Knight Order, Arnold can prevent them from accusing Lauran's parents of holding a grudge and hiring people to slaughter the Felix Brothers Gang.

Even if he took the documents, some way or another they'd find out.

"…." Lauran looked at Arnold with a blank expression.

"I'll find someone else to take the fall. My contact, that woman from before, will handle all the paperwork involved in this mess. This is going to be troublesome. Well, I started this mess anyway."

"…."

"We'll need to convince your parents to believe a rival gang took them out. Also, keep your injuries a secret."

Arnold, who was talking realized that Lauran had been quiet all this while.

"Hm?"

When he looked at her, he saw that she had lowered her head. Her fists were clenched and shivering by her waist.

'D-Did I do something wrong? Shit. Is she mad I killed that guy? Did she want to kill him on her own?'

He thought of all the things he could have possibly done wrong. However, nothing made sense even after he thought hard.

"Lauran…"

When Arnold called her name, Lauran's shoulders shook. He heard a quiet sniffle from her.

'Is she crying?'

She wiped her face repeatedly as her head was lowered.

"I-I'm sorry for showing such a disgraceful side of me…" Even though she said that, more tears came out of her eyes.

The two of them gazed at each other.

Her eyes were moist and her lips were parted. She smiled. This time, her smile wasn't the sort she made to hide her pain.

It was a genuine smile that heightened her exotic beauty.

She took a deep breath whilst looking into Arnold's eyes. The sun seemed to glow on her unblemished skin as the wind blew her blood-red hair.

"Thank you…"

Almost immediately after…

Death Flag has been successfully eliminated!

By helping a major character in her quest to rid herself of the demon from her past, affection has increased drastically.

{Infamy has decreased by 500 points!}

{Current infamy points -9500}

{Reward—Star Draw(1 use); Archmage's affection level +50; <Archmage's Magic Vow>.}

A sudden ring sounded in Arnold's head. When he looked above Lauran's head, he saw a certain box.

There, in bold black letters incased in a red rectangle stood:

[Death Flag evaded]

"Huh?" Arnold's face blanked. It was like the people walking by and the buildings around him were gone. His attention was solely focused on that box.

Death Flag...Death Flag

Those words were the final blow.

"Haha…"

"….?" Lauran tilted her head when she saw Arnold look down. There was a dark shadow over his face.

He grabbed Lauran's shoulders.

"W-What?"

"Hahahahahaha!!!" Arnold suddenly burst into maniacal laughter. His eyes were opened wide and his maniacal laugh shook the streets. All of the people looked at him strangely.

'I eliminated my first Death Flag!'

It was earlier than he expected. When Liam finished high school, he didn't have time to play the game since he had to go to college. He had no idea how he would even begin to rid himself of the current death flags he had. He was thinking of eliminating Olivia's death flag first since she was the biggest threat to him at the moment.

She must've already come up with ways to kill me by now, he thought.

Lauran was only learning her powers after all, so she wasn't anything to be concerned about. Plus, he freed her from slavery and distanced himself from her so that should've got him enough time.

He was uncertain about a lot of things which concerned the game. Although he stayed in contact with his guildmates. They had spoiled the game for him many times in the past. Since Liam only played the story halfway through, he had to research about the game on the internet when he began playing again.

There was a special group on a community app that was dedicated to informing players the amount of death flags the villain Arnold von Berkley had. Not only was he famous for his talents but his infamy as well.

That was how Liam knew of the potential enemies he had to avoid in the future. The list was so long that he got tired of going through all the names.

Arnold looked at his hands.

They were trembling. Not from fear or anger. Rather, it was excitement.

A rather unexpected but welcomed event took place.

He could eliminate his death flags.

"Guahahahahaha!!! Wonderful! Truly marvelous!!" Arnold put his hand on his face and continued laughing. His back was so bent that one would worry he'd fall over.

No one knew what he was talking about. Lauran stepped back after freeing herself from his grip.

"E-Eh…" She looked at Arnold who was still laughing. His eyes weren't focused. Although his laughter was that of crazy person, tears rolled down his eyes as if he were the happiest person alive.

It was behavior befitting a person with his reputation so Lauran didn't find it weird. It wasn't strange for the trashy heir of the city lord to publicly shame his family.

"What's all the commotion out here?" Flora came out of the inn after giving the keys to the owner. Her hair wasn't purple like before. It was now green.

Instead of using the magic item again, Arnold had her buy herself hair dye to change her hair color. The magic item broke during the fight so they decided to stick with the hair dye.

Arnold also told her to buy contacts which made her eyes a honey brown. If it was necessary, they'd have to use other, more drastic means to disguise her.

Unless there weren't people who knew of her identity, it was better to stay conspicuous. The rushing priests they passed by yesterday were especially worrisome. There was a high change that they had contact with the Theocracy.

"Muahahahaha!!" Arnold continued laughing.

"What the hell is he doing?" Flora nudged Lauran's side. There was a disgusted expression on her face. Unlike the bastard who blackmailed her with a smile on his face and even used her to his own benefit, he looked like any other person belonging in a mental hospital.

"I-I'm not sure. He suddenly smiled and laughed like that." Lauran answered.

Arnold continued laughing even under the gazes of the people.

Her shank to his knees and clutched his face.

His crazy laughter continued. It took a while before he calmed down.

◇◇◇

"…."

"…."

"…."

On a quiet carriage ride home. There were three people sitting in a luxurious carriage on its way to the Berkley mansion.

Arnold was silently looking out of the window. He was enjoying the view of the villages out in the distance. As the duke wanted the city to expand, he began building multiple settlements outside the city.

As time passed by, he will slowly connect the settlements with the city, thus expanding it further.

It wasn't easy to just take down a castle city's walls. There was a lot to sacrifice. Not only would it be expensive, but the time it would consume would be a lot. Security would also have to be raised since the protective walls would be demolished to expand the city.

The city would be likely to be attacked if precautions aren't taken.

To Lauran and Flora, Arnold might've looked like he was enjoying the view of his family's city. The truth was…

'How could I do something so embarrassing!?'

Arnold hated himself for letting his dark past out like that. It reminded him of his high school days. It was exactly that behavior that caused him to remain a virgin in high school.

'It was so edgy! Why did I laugh like some cheap third-rate villain!?'

He despaired inside. If there was a hole in the ground then he'd gladly jump into it.

As he looked up from his notebook, he noticed that Lauran was looking outside. Her eyes seemed unmoving, as if she was staring into dead space. Even the beautiful scenery outside wasn't sparking any joy.

It was obvious that she couldn't forget about yesterday even though she knew the man was dead.

"Lauran."

"…Yes?"

"How about you take a few days off? I will speak with Victoria when she gets back."

Although Sebastian was the head of the servants, he was too busy with other matters, so Victoria was the one Arnold had to talk to about this.

"That is—"

"I will not take no for an answer. In that condition, you will only cause trouble for our family. What if you make a mistake which effects the relationships between us and our vassals?"

If she were to get a meeting wrong, for example. A simple mistake would have a great impact on the household.

"That is…That is true…" She lowered her head and clenched the folds of her dress.

Her red hair was covering her face but they knew that she was crying. Her continued sniffling was proof of that.

Of course, as a man he should've comforted her. However, since the two of them were not in that close of a relationship, it wouldn't matter.

Flora was the same. She could only watch as the girl balled her eyes out.

"Stop crying for god's sake." Arnold said with feigned annoyance. "Don't think a simple thank you will make up for what I had to do to get you out of there."

Flora glared at Arnold, however, he only ignored it.

She was in a fragile state right now but his villainous-persona was unbreakable.

"I-I'm sorry…" Lauran tried to wipe the tears, however, more came out.

"Remember that while that store is out of debt, it belongs to me now. I may not be the heir anymore but my authority still reaches that far."

He was thinking of informing his father about buying the building for himself. Of course, since they lost the Black status, things would return to normal in the coming weeks.

"Yes…Yes…" Lauran only gave her agreement. There was a smile on her face even as she cried.

"I expect some form of compensation in exchange for what I did."

"Would you stop it? She's gone through enough." Flora finally spoke up.

"Why don't you quiet down, slave."

Flora clicked her tongue when he called her a slave.

"I-I'll make sure to repay master Arnold's kindness. Even though we have no relation whatsoever, you sacrificed for me. For that, I am truly grateful."

Lauran stood up and knelt on the ground. She got into a kneeling position.

That was the highest respect one could show to another person. Arnold had always made her do the same thing whilst naked, however, it seemed that she was doing it out of her heart.

Even though he thought his act was unbreakable, Arnold was speechless by what she did.

"Ahem. Very well. You may stand."

"Yes!"

Flora was shaking her head as she watched them.

The air turned awkward after Lauran sat down. She lowered her head and kept glancing at Arnold.

'I guess I don't need to worry about her anymore. Well, at least for now.'

He was partly worried that Lauran would suffer mentally as she did in the game. Reason being that she became a love-struck psychopath in the game.

Her whole life was dedicated to magic. Such was her empty life when she finally killed the demon of her past. Not long after she was asked to join the hero party.

Needless to say, she too fell for Luke.

After their exchange, Flora turned away from Lauran who seemed to have gained a little color on her complexion.

"You still haven't told me what it is that you want from me."

"Hm?" Arnold looked up from the notebook.

"I can see that it isn't my body. So will you tell me what it really is?" She stared at Arnold with a serious gaze.

"I would've liked Luke to be there when I explained. Well, whatever." Arnold put the notebook and pen away in his magic bag.

"Luke? That kid from yesterday?"

Arnold nodded. "Exactly. I want you to be his master in swordsmanship."

"Hah?"