Episode 7
---
Why did Derek speak so formally? Truthfully, it wasn't all that important. It could be that his personality hadn't turned nasty yet, or perhaps some unknown event was about to occur.
Besides, it was already in the past. He wouldn't be getting involved with me anymore, anyway. I didn't have the luxury to dwell on such things. Something far more pressing had happened to me.
I had suddenly fallen ill with a severe cold.
"Ugh..."
The ceiling spun in circles as my body shivered. Even though my fever was spiking like crazy, I felt freezing. It was so cold that no matter how tightly I wrapped myself in blankets, I couldn't get warm.
Perhaps the goosebumps that had prickled on my arms earlier were actually the onset of this cold.
To think I'd collapse after barely doing anything. I had always been robustly healthy, even in my past life; this was the first time I'd caught a cold severe enough to make my entire body tremble.
'I-Is this what they mean by shaking like a leaf?'
I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to suppress the shivering, but it was no use. In fact, my arms ached as if they had been beaten.
Why had my health deteriorated so suddenly? Figuring out the reason through the haze of my dizziness was surprisingly simple. There was only one person who had briefly intruded upon my otherwise ordinary life.
'That guy definitely sucked away all my health...'
The moment Derek fully recovered, I collapsed. It was impossible unless he had entirely drained my vitality.
'And there's no way I was exhausted from that little scuffle we had.'
I huffed indignantly from beneath my tightly wrapped blankets. While this world was well-equipped with antidotes and wound salves, it was severely lacking when it came to illnesses. Even if there were potions for such things, they weren't the kind that provided a quick cure.
Having a healer would be a different story, but the cost of calling one was exorbitant.
'Maybe for a Count's son like Derek, but it's out of the question for a commoner like me.'
Especially for something as simple as a severe cold. It was a moment that made me deeply miss modern medicine.
'I should've asked her to take a quick look at me back then.'
If I had sneakily gotten an examination when Derek's knight called the healer, I could have pinned the bill on them and gotten treated. If I was going to get sick, I should have gotten sick then. What was the point of collapsing after the fact?
I felt a pang of resentment toward my own body. The healer who came had completely cured Derek's poison, so her skills must have been top-notch.
'But who was she?'
A figure of that caliber would surely be talked about. Yet, I had no information about her. I didn't think I'd ever seen her in the game, either... At the very least, she was a healer I had never visited. Was she not just an ordinary NPC?
"..."
As I thought about the healer, her image strangely and naturally faded away, replaced by the perfectly fine Derek standing right in front of me. At that, the irritation that had been bubbling up slowly began to subside.
"Ha, haha..."
Despite my aching body, a hollow laugh escaped my lips. To think his looks were enough to soothe the anger and complaints brought on by a raging fever. I was jealous. And I couldn't help but feel that keeping a face like that hidden was a real waste.
'If you're going to hide it, give it to me.'
Even though the profession of celebrity didn't exist in this world, there was no downside to being handsome. Maybe the inn would get more guests. Revenue would go up, and my life plans would proceed smoothly.
'Sigh, if only he wasn't the son of a Count...'
Even in the midst of a rising fever, a silly grin spread across my face at the thought. Derek, looking like that, doing various chores around the inn. It didn't suit him in the slightest.
"..."
Feeling my eyelids growing heavier by the second, my thoughts continued to wander.
'Still, wouldn't it be a little fun?'
Because a guy like that would definitely be terrible at everything except fighting.
---
It was only after being bedridden for several days that I finally recovered my normal health. It had been a dreadfully severe cold.
"Cecil! Are you feeling alright today?"
"You caught a cold?"
"What's going on with the kid who's never been sick a day in his life?"
"Did it rain the other day or something?"
As I was helping out around the inn, the regulars spoke to me one by one. I lifted the hand I was using to wipe the tables and waved it dismissively. My body felt so light and refreshed, it was as if I'd never been sick.
"I'm completely fine now!"
"That's a relief."
"Seriously, isn't your dad overworking you?"
"Exactly! You have no idea how much he works me to the bone!"
Fortunately, it seemed no other stories had leaked out. Then again, when my father decides to keep a secret, his lips are as sealed as a vault. The problem is that when he's loose-lipped, he chatters like a sparrow.
I finished wiping the table, slyly playing along with the chatter around me.
"What can I get you to order?"
"The usual."
"Me too."
"Strangely enough, I just don't have any energy unless Cecil cooks it for me~"
One regular customer put a hand to his head and pretended to stagger, acting as if he had taken a massive hit.
"You too? Me too!"
"Same here."
Soon, similar jokes began pouring in from all over the room. All this fuss just because I took a few days off. At this rate, if I told them I was going on a trip after saving enough money, they might hold a protest outside the inn.
'I'll have to keep it a secret until right before I travel and leave secretly.'
With that thought tucked in the corner of my mind, I beamed a bright smile.
"Anyway, you're all having the same thing, right?"
"Yeah. We're counting on you."
The menu was just one item. After doing a rough headcount, I headed straight for the kitchen.
There is a certain convenience to getting orders like this. I immediately pulled out a few frying pans, drizzled them with oil, and tossed in a heap of sausages. The number of sausages per plate was fixed. I just had to cook them all at once and divide them up.
Quickly frying the sausages, I plated the remaining ingredients onto the lined-up dishes.
"Hmm~ Is this enough?"
Then, I just had to place the nicely browned sausages on the plates and I was done.
I skillfully balanced the finished plates along my arms and stepped out of the kitchen. It probably hadn't taken much time at all.
"By the way, I heard something big happened here?"
"I heard knights were coming and going?"
"Apparently a healer from far away came too."
"I heard her skills were incredible, that she saved a man who was at death's door."
"..."
I had come out in high spirits, but my expression instantly hardened. The fact that I managed to keep the plates balanced during that moment was something I wanted to praise myself for.
'So the rumors hadn't been suppressed; they just hadn't started talking about it in earnest yet?'
I paused at the kitchen entrance for a moment before calmly resuming my steps.
"I heard he was a young master from some prominent family."
"It sounded like his escort knights came too."
As I placed the plates of appetizingly seared sausages on their tables, the whispering faces turned toward me in unison. When had I ever experienced such a terrifying moment?
'Can't I just pretend I don't know?'
What their gazes were demanding was singular: Is it really true? I maintained an uninterested expression, pretending it was no big deal. Then, one by one, I smoothly placed the remaining plates stacked on my arm in front of them.
"..."
What flashed in my mind was Derek's icy glare. It felt as though if I ran my mouth here, those dagger-like eyes would pierce right through me. But I couldn't just ignore the regulars' questions as if I hadn't heard them, either.
'The best method to use at times like this is...'
Pretending to carefully set down the plates precariously balanced on my arm, I wracked my brain and eventually came up with a rough answer.
I tilted my head in feigned confusion and opened my mouth.
"Something like that happened? I was laid up in bed the whole time, so I had no idea."
"Ah."
"True, Cecil's been sick in bed the past few days."
"Did that story start circulating right around the time Cecil got sick?"
"Yeah. It did."
True to being regulars, they even remembered the exact dates I wasn't able to work. But because the incident was far too shocking for a small town like this, it seemed no one realized I had been working perfectly fine right up until that day. In this case, getting sick actually worked in my favor.
Realizing they wouldn't get any juicy gossip out of me, the customers turned their attention back to each other.
'Phew.'
One wrong move and my head could've rolled. I rubbed my cold, clammy neck and headed to another table. Derek's gaze wouldn't be piercing through me anymore.
"By the way, did you hear the news?"
The customers, now starting their meals, were shifting the topic of conversation.
'Well, as long as it's not about that, I don't care.'
The source of the rumor was here, and if they dug around, a witness or two would surely pop up. Contrary to my internal worry that they might persistently dig into the incident, their interest faded quite easily.
"What news?"
"About the Peorne region in the south."
"...!"
As I cleared an empty table, I perked up my ears in their direction. Peorne was an incredibly important place in this game. If it was news related to the story, I couldn't miss a single word.
"It seems Viscount Peorne was preparing a rebellion."
"What?!"
"Shh, shh. Keep your voice down."
"S-So what happened?"
Gulp.
I wasn't the only one swallowing nervously. In the suddenly quieted dining room, everyone was waiting for that one person's voice to continue.
"If the news has already echoed all the way out here, wouldn't that mean the outcome has already been decided?"
Lowering his voice even further, the man spoke slowly.
"Then..."
"The Peorne region was laid to waste, and it seems the Viscount's entire family was wiped out."
"...!"
I tightened my grip to stop my trembling hands. That was a story from the very beginning of the game. No, it was the starting point of everything.
"But when did this happen?"
"I heard it was a few days ago."
And instinctively, I realized it. Perhaps that incident occurred on the exact day my past life's memories had resurfaced. The world had kindly informed me, the reincarnated soul, of that fact.
That the game was now truly beginning.
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