Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game

Chapter 44

Here’s the continuation and completion of Chapter 43 of Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game:

I quickly apologized.

“No, um... I’m sorry. Just forget what I said. I’m a bit on edge right now.”

“Uh... it’s fine. No problem.”

I had snapped at her for a moment, but I knew it wasn’t good to act based on my emotions. She had come all the way here, and my attitude was far from pleasant.

After gathering my thoughts, I told her to come inside. Honestly, I wasn’t in a state to receive guests, but it felt wrong to send her away just like that.

As we walked deeper into the cave, I could feel her eyes on me. They were filled with concern. She seemed to be wrestling with her curiosity, opening and closing her mouth as if unsure of what to say. Eventually, unable to hold back, she cautiously asked me,

“Um... what happened yesterday?”

She usually knew I didn’t like to talk about such things, but this time, her curiosity was evidently piqued. If I were in her shoes, I would definitely want to know the circumstances behind seeing someone covered in blood.

I gave a vague response.

“Menstruation.”

“...What?”

“I said it’s menstruation.”

“........?”

Was that accurate? It happens roughly once a month, and there is bleeding, so it could be considered somewhat similar.

She tilted her head, clearly confused, but that was the best explanation I could give. I certainly couldn’t explain Frenzy, and right now, I didn’t have the energy to entertain any questions.

As I walked further into the cave, I pondered internally.

‘What do I do with her now...?’

I had let her in, but I didn’t have the strength to deal with her. My mind was hazy, and my body felt as heavy as lead. I was just so tired.

The Frenzy had kept me awake all night, and I had exhausted both my mental and physical strength.

Normally, after a Frenzy, the rule was to sleep the entire next day. That was the only way to return to normalcy.

‘Should I have her keep watch...?’@@@@

With that thought in mind, I considered the possibility.

Sometimes, the blood scent from my injuries attracted monsters into my cave.

Although the smell didn’t permeate far from the depths of the cave, the monsters' sense of smell was beyond imagination.

As a result, I had experienced a few monster attacks while sleeping. Each time, I woke up just in time to save my life, but the anxiety lingered.

Of course, it was uncomfortable to have someone else nearby while I slept...

‘Hmm...’

I found myself pondering this for a moment. Would it be better to send her away and sleep defensively, or would it be right to keep her around for comfort while I slept?

Fortunately, I didn’t dwell on it for too long. I asked her,

“Would you like to do me a favor?”

A little while later...

“If someone comes, wake me up immediately. And absolutely don’t go inside.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Just to say, don’t do anything weird. I have sensitive hearing while I sleep.”

“Look, I can’t do anything even if I wanted to, right? Just go take a shower and sleep.”

“...Fine. If you get bored, you can turn on your stream.”

Chae-rin accepted Yor's request for protection. Amazingly, a quest popped up this time. The task was to guard the area until Yor woke up, and the quest reward was a small payment for her trouble. It was such a simple mission that there was nothing to hesitate over.

Even if there hadn’t been a quest, she had already intended to help him. He looked so worn out and vulnerable.

With a troubled expression, she thought,

‘What on earth happened yesterday...?’

She had planned to share her Arena story while being cheerful, but who would have thought she’d find him covered in blood as soon as she arrived? It was obvious that something had gone down at night.

While there were no visible wounds on his body, the amount of blood smeared on him looked as if he had juiced a person. His complexion looked terrible and fatigued.

Honestly, when she first saw him, she nearly fainted from shock.

The only reason she didn’t fall over was that her body had frozen in place. It was that shocking of a sight.

But when she finally mustered the courage to ask, the answer she got was... menstruation.

“Hm...”

After thinking for a while, she simply turned on her stream.

Despite it being a sudden morning stream, viewers started flocking in. This meant her channel had grown.

[Oh, I see]

[Yoo-ha]

[Huh?]

[What’s with the morning stream?]

As she greeted her viewers, she asked seriously,

“Hey guys, do men menstruate...?”

[?]

[What the hell is this nonsense right when you log in? lol]

[Can you even do that? Damn it]

[Please understand~ The owner has never met a guy before, that’s why~]

‘Guess I’ll have to talk about the Arena later...’

She felt a twinge of disappointment, but there was no helping it. She didn’t feel confident about going back at night.

“Let’s go, I’ll walk you back.”

At Yor’s words, Chae-rin nodded.

While she could return on her own, having him accompany her felt reassuring in a whole different way.

It was much more comfortable to walk with him keeping watch than to stealthily navigate her way back alone.

They could chat casually while walking too.

Thus, Chae-rin and Yor sipped their soup and headed out of the cave.

Fortunately, no monsters attacked them.

It was late afternoon, and the recent monsters in the forest had their attention spread out across various locations.

After walking through the forest for a while, they spotted a group approaching from the opposite direction.

“Found you!”

“Wow, the forest feels the same everywhere. It’s super hard to meet up.”

They were otherworlders identical to Chae-rin.

It had been a year since the release of [Demons Saga]. In that time, the average player level had increased quite a bit.

Consequently, many were challenging the "Forbidden Forest."

Of course, only about 5% of them succeeded in reaching the mid-level milestone... but that meant 5% were still able to reach it.

Thanks to that, the forest had become rather lively recently.

Every now and then, while wandering through the woods, you could spot items dropped by players who had met their demise.

In a sense, Yor’s prediction had been spot on.

“Hello, we’re fans.”

“Here’s a gift.”

And this time, the otherworlders they encountered were viewers from Chae-rin’s stream.

As soon as they saw Yor, they pulled out bread from their inventories to hand it over.

“...?”

Yor stared at them with wary eyes and accepted the bread with a bewildered expression.

It was a sugar-coated donut.

“Hey, let’s hurry up and leave. I’m out of mana and about to die.”

“Then we’ll take our leave. Good luck with your stream~.”

With that, the viewers, who had made a real-life donation, casually left the forest.

A few similar encounters happened afterward.

The viewers who had found Yor approached to greet him.

Each time, he would either receive gifts or be asked for autographs.

“...?”

Yor wore an ambiguous expression.

What was going on? It felt like he had become a zoo monkey after a long absence.

While receiving gifts felt nice, there was a lingering discomfort.

He looked at Chae-rin with a dazed expression.

She answered awkwardly.

“Ahaha, it’s fascinating, isn’t it...?”

“Were there really that many powerful viewers among the audience?”

“Right? I’m a bit surprised too.”

Seeing Yor's confused expression, Chae-rin glanced at the chat and said a few words.

While she was grateful at heart, she wished they would stop coming around.

Right now, the viewers were pretty nice, but who knew when a more intimidating viewer might show up? After all, not everyone was normal.

Regardless, they continued onward.

Not long after she had deterred the viewers, they encountered two more people.

When Chae-rin spotted them, she was about to say something.

“Guys, I appreciate your kindness, but could you please stop coming around—”

And then it happened.

Thud.

Yor stepped in front of Chae-rin. She looked at him for a moment.

His amber eyes were filled with wariness.

He then asked fiercely,

“What do you want?”

Chae-rin didn’t know, but at that moment, a spear seemed to rise in Yor’s eyes.

It was a different spear than any she had seen with the viewers thus far.

[Conditions not met!]

['Player's Eye' cannot be used on these targets!]

In other words, they were not otherworlders.