Chapter 74
Mo Hae-in and Kwak Han- mook immediately sprang from their seats and drew their swords.
I tried to rush forward to open the door for them, but I couldn’t.
The Holy Knight’s white greatsword blocked my path.
Kwak Han-mook frowned and spoke.
"Now, now..."
Mo Hae-in also spat out a short command to me.
"Trainee, wait."
Kwak Han-mook left me behind and approached the door.
He looked as if he were about to kick the door down, but perhaps remembering that business started tomorrow, he opened it quietly by hand.
Creeak. The rusty hinges made an unpleasant sound.
Outside the restaurant, the sun had completely set, leaving everything in pitch darkness.
As light spilled out from the interior, the figures standing in the dark became visible.
Ella, her face pale with shock, was clutching a blood-stained Elun.
Kwak Han-mook flinched and muttered.
"Damn, is it Lieutenant Colonel Je?"
Since Je Hyun-oh had headed toward the dungeon, it was natural to think of him as the culprit first.
Mo Hae-in seemed to be thinking the same, but I knew.
Je Hyun-oh was not the culprit.
Because this was...
An event that occurs right before the ending.
It was the ’Punishment of Infernus.’
This was a probabilistic event that triggered when a player was progressing smoothly in both restaurant management and dungeon conquest.
It happened when Infernus, sensing that he would be unable to devour the player, flew into a rage.
Having been unable to enjoy gourmet delicacies for a long time, Infernus relieved his anger by punishing his subordinates, the twins.
I recalled the scene where the twins, each with one wing broken, stood before the dungeon and spoke to me.
"Roasted Chestnut. The dishes you made for us were the most delicious in the world. Continue to strive for excellence in the future."
"Roasted Chestnut is the greatest chef."
No matter how many times I chose the option to ask what was wrong given the unusual atmosphere, the twins only repeated the same words.
And once the player entered and exited the dungeon, the twins would vanish.
They couldn’t be found even after searching the village and the dungeon thoroughly; their traces were only discovered after defeating the final boss, Infernus.
[Inside Infernus’ ingredient storage.]
[Fire Dragon’s Red Horn (Small): A fresh horn of the Fire Dragon race. When powdered and sprinkled on food, it adds an amazing flavor. Due to its small size, it is less valuable than a standard horn.]
Since the player had no issues with restaurant management or dungeon conquest, they could proceed to the normal ending.
But for me, it wasn’t a normal ending--it was a bad ending.
And now, facing this reality instead of dot graphics..
I grit my teeth as I looked at Elun’s twisted right wing.
At least Ella seemed uninjured.
’It shouldn’t be the right situation for the event to trigger yet!’
The conditions for the Punishment of Infernus event were conquering the highest floor of the dungeon and having a restaurant reputation score of 800 or higher.
At that point, if the player paid the daily quota to Infernus but sent no dishes to the dungeon for ten consecutive days, the event would trigger with a certain probability.
However, while I had pushed through the dungeon quickly, that was all. I hadn’t even opened the restaurant yet.
Suddenly, Infernus’s voice flashed through my mind.
"’Yes, if I could eat you, it would be a pleasure for the first time in a long while..."
Perhaps the problem was that he perceived me as a special delicacy.
In the game, he never spoke such lines directly to the player.
Still, since only Elun was injured, it seemed I hadn’t fully entered the punishment event.
There was still a chance.
I carefully called out to Ella.
"Lady Ella."
Her trembling eyes flickered past Kwak Han-mook and turned toward me.
Ella called my name almost like a scream.
"Little Lamb!"
Clutching the limp Elun, Ella sobbed, unable to finish her sentence. Her large eyes were brimming with tears.
I made a request to Kwak Han-mook.
"Captain Kwak. Please let her inside."
Before he could object, I quietly added.
"It’s absolutely necessary for the True Ending clear."
In fact, the True Ending was impossible without the twins.
They had to drive out Infernus and become the masters of the dungeon.
Upon hearing the necessity, Kwak Han-mook looked at Mo Hae-in.
She stared at the twins with an expressionless face before slowly turning back to me.
"..It can’t be helped. If it’s for the True Ending."
At Mo Hae-in’s answer, Kwak Han-mook sheathed his sword with a slightly dissatisfied look.
I immediately ran to Ella.
"I’ll check Lady Elun’s injuries first."
With a vacant expression, Ella handed Elun over to me.
I laid him on the floor and checked the wing; the condition was poor.
The wing membrane was torn in several places, but fortunately, only one bone was broken.
Looking at the wretched sight, Ella’s eyes turned black with despair.
"What if Elun can never fly again...?"
"That will never happen. I can definitely treat this, so please don’t worry."
As I reassured Ella, Dominic spoke from above my head.
"Roasted Chestnut. I shall try using magic. I see healing magic among the skills."
It seemed he had taken a liking to magic after catching the boss in the dungeon, but that was absolutely out of the question.
Given how he used magic, he might turn Elun into a metallic mecha-dragon in the name of healing.
I recalled the system window that had broken twice because of Dominic after entering SL2P, so I had to be careful.
Fortunately, there was one method I could use as a treatment in this situation.
’But first, I have to set the bone back in place.’
I tried to ask the Captains for help.
However, Mo Hae-in had disappeared somewhere, and only Kwak Han-mook remained, standing still and watching me.
"Where did Captain Mo go?"
"She said she was tired and went up first."
I blinked for a moment at words I was hearing for the first time in my life.
I thought there was no way Mo Hae-in would do that, but now was not the time to interrogate him.
"Captain Kwak, please help me. I need to set the bone here."
Kwak Han-mook strolled over and crouched beside me.
He frowned as he looked at the broken wing.
"I’ve never set a wing bone before."
"Just this protruding part-you just need to put it back in place."
"Hmm... Okay. I’ll set it on the count of three."
"Yes."
With a tense face, I held Elun’s body. Ella held the opposite wing.
Kwak Han-mook carefully gauged the position of the bone and placed his hand on it.
Then, without counting, he snapped it back into place immediately.
"Aaaagh!"
Crack. The moment the bone was set, Elun, who had been barely wheezing, let out a scream.
Ella and I hurriedly pressed down on his body as it flapped reflexively.
"You... you... you barbaric..!"
Small sparks erupted from Ella’s mouth.
Even as she glared at him with pink eyes whose pupils had narrowed like blades, Kwak Han-mook replied nonchalantly.
"It was going to hurt anyway."
...He wasn’t wrong.
I asked Kwak Han-mook to hold Elun and put on the Crow Gloves.
Then I ran to the hearth and retrieved the core of a Flame Slime.
I placed the glowing core, brimming with flames, atop Elun’s damaged wing.
The moment the slime core touched the wing, it hissed with smoke and slowly melted.
I spread the slime core, which had turned into a viscous liquid, evenly over the wing like an ointment.
After gathering the torn membrane with my hands and applying the slime, the pieces stuck together.
As the liquid seeped in, Elun’s breathing gradually stabilized.
Once I had applied the entire Flame Slime core, the damaged wing roughly regained its original shape.
Since the membrane had only been connected, the torn lines remained visible.
The broken bone also needed to be immobilized, so with Kwak Han-mook’s help, I folded the wing.
Then, I wrapped it tightly with a temporary bandage made by tearing a long strip from my apron.
Finally, I connected leather straps to the bandage to fix the wing firmly against the torso.
It was a device to prevent the wing from flapping.
Only after finishing the treatment could I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
I was glad I had looked up the treatment for bat wings.
I had just searched for it once after playing SL2P, but I never thought I’d actually use it.
I spoke positive words to Ella, who was weeping silently.
"It will get better little by little from now on."
Probably.
The information that Fire Dragons used Flame Slime cores as a universal remedy was something I had gained fragmentarily in the game, and I had never actually used it.
I didn’t know what the result would be.
But for Ella’s sake, I spoke positively.
’If it really doesn’t work, maybe I’ll just live with the right wing as a metallic mecha-dragon!’
It might actually look cool.
While I was having these extreme thoughts, a discouraged voice reached me.
"Little Lamb."
Ella looked up at me, her wings drooping.
"If the Flame Slime core is gone, you cannot cook..."
Ella also knew that the core was necessary to cook monster meat.
Of course, I could just go back to the dungeon and get more, but the problem was the mountain of lizard tails that had to be cooked today.
Fire Lizard tails spoil completely if not cooked on the day they are harvested.
They were ingredients whose shelf life only extended if they were grilled over fire.
"That’s... okay."
"Why is it okay? You are lying!"
"Ah, it’s not that. Lady Ella is going to help me."
"I am?"
To the bewildered Ella, I nodded and replied.
"’Yes. Let’s grill some lizard tails together."
I successfully made 500 lizard skewers.
[Great Success! Fire Lizard Tail Skewers (* * * *) have been completed.]
[Additional proficiency and buff effects are granted due to the Great Success.]
[Proficiency has increased significantly. Current Proficiency: 54%]
"Huff, puff... Little Lamb. Is it finished now?"
Ella asked me, gasping for breath. Her face was completely flushed red.
Ella was in charge of the firepower for grilling the 500 skewers.
Using a Fire Dragon’s breath to grill the skewers was incredibly convenient and extremely fast.
Since I hadn’t been able to buy additional hearths today, it would have taken forever if I had used the single hearth in the kitchen, so I was glad to have the Fire Dragons help.
"Thank you for your hard work. They’re all done."
I thought about offering her a skewer, but Ella fled, saying she didn’t even want to smell them anymore.
11:00 PM
Checking the time, I left the kitchen holding two skewers.
Kwak Han-mook had an empty wooden skewer in his mouth.
Beside him was a box where items could be stored outside of the inventory, and it was packed tight with the twigs created yesterday when Je Hyun-oh made the landscaping trees.
While I was grilling the skewers, Kwak Han-mook had crafted the wooden skewers from the twigs.
Thanks to his quick hands, I was able to grill the lizard tails without a hitch.
"Roasted Chestnut, all done?"
"Yes. Please have some."
I handed over the skewers in my hands and cautiously brought up the topic.
"Um... I don’t think we should send the twins back to the dungeon. I’m thinking of letting them sleep in my room and having them help with the restaurant business tomorrow..."
Perhaps trust had been built through the chop steak; Kwak Han-mook took the lizard skewer without hesitation and answered while chewing.
"Do whatever you want."
I was surprised by the easy permission.
As I stared with wide eyes, he shrugged.
"We went through the trouble of fixing the wing, so we might as well put them to use. I think Lieutenant Colonel Je will be back soon, so I’ll explain it to him. You should just go to sleep, Chestnut."
"...By any chance, Captain Mo..."
"..?"
"Captain Mo."
Kwak Han-mook stopped eating the skewer and let out a long sigh.
Looking toward the second floor with longing eyes, he spoke very slowly.
"She has a Fire Dragon allergy."
I, who had been extremely tense, lost all my strength the moment I heard his words.
Kwak Han-mook chuckled and poked me with an empty wooden skewer.
"It hasn’t been long since her butler allergy cleared up, so don’t think about going to find Captain Mo and just go to sleep. Got it?"
"Yes..."
Seeing him go that far, it seemed best to just go to sleep quietly.
I had to check on Elun’s condition anyway.
I took Ella and went up to my room on the second floor. Elun was fast asleep on the bed.
Ella and I lay down carefully at the corner of the bed. The Pudding Slime was perched on my chest.
"Hey, Little Lamb."
Clutching a pillow, Ella mumbled while glancing at me.
"Thank you for helping."
"Lady Ella helped me too. I survived thanks to the recovery potion."
"For something like that..."
Ella bit her lip before speaking.
"The Monarch broke Elun’s wing. But since you treated it, the Monarch may become hostile toward you in the future."
"It’s the same for me."
I couldn’t say that I wanted to grill Infernus well-done as a Fire Dragon steak, so I just answered simply.
Ella looked blank at my response.
After a long silence, while I was thinking about tomorrow’s tasks in my head, a voice that was almost a whisper reached me.
"Why were you the first person I thought of?"
Shrouded in darkness, Ella continued as if talking to herself beside me.
"The moment Elun’s wing broke, you were the only one who came to mind, Little Lamb. It’s only been two days since we met, but for some reason, I felt that you would definitely help us..."
I turned my body toward Ella.
At that, Ella quickly covered her face with the pillow.
"Lady Ella."
"Why are you calling me?"
I smiled slightly as I saw Ella peek out with only her eyes.
"Just because."
"Thank you for coming today."
"I’ve imagined it sometimes. What it would have been like if, back then, you hadn’t disappeared without a word and had asked me for help. I looked up all the ways to treat it... "
"Ah, something like that happened to me a long time ago. Anyway, I was just saying that I was really happy you came today, Lady Ella."
"That’s all. Now please sleep."
I lay back down, facing the ceiling.
And I fell asleep, feeling the Pudding Slime, which had slipped a bit, climb back onto my chest.
"You are strange, Little Lamb."
I didn’t hear the words Ella whispered softly.