Chapter 10

Chapter 10
Mursault Pendleton grew up as an orphan, just like every other kid in the zone. To keep even one more person alive, the military began taking in child soldiers. Over time, children born there were abandoned, raised by those who had been left behind before them, joined the military upon reaching adulthood, and eventually raised the newer generation of abandoned children.

Because of this cycle, being an orphan carried no real stigma in the zone, nor did any of the youngsters feel bitter about it. However, Mursault held a personal aspiration that his peers did not share. Even though orphans did not have family names, he chose to invent and give himself the surname Pendleton specifically because of his dream.

He created a surname for a single reason: the deep desire to build a family and pass his name down to someone. While orphans frequently formed close bonds and created households among themselves, the family Mursault envisioned was distinctly different. He did not want a partner who was also an orphan; instead, he wanted someone who had grown up surrounded by the love of parents and grandparents. He wanted to give any children they had grandparents of their own, and later show an old photograph to his future grandchildren with the words, “This person was your great-grandmother.”

That was the idealized family Mursault always wanted. In his view, only one woman in the entire zone fit that description: Daphne Goodman, the commander’s daughter. Her family had passed down the surname Goodman through multiple generations, making her the ultimate candidate for a spouse.

Mursault dedicated his life entirely to the military, rushing furiously through his duties in hopes of marrying her. But when he finally paused to look around, the person standing next to her was an absolute stranger he had never seen before.

Hayden, was it? Among all the orphans Mursault knew, that name did not exist. Was the man even from their zone? When the commander wed his daughter to Hayden, Mursault felt completely hopeless. He lost any desire to take a different woman as his wife, and though he wanted to retire and rest, he could not. Even though he failed to win Daphne’s hand, he remained recognized as one of the military’s most valuable assets.

The only silver lining was that this man Hayden—putting the Daphne situation aside—was someone genuinely worthy of loyalty.

Mursault soon realized that Commander Hayden and Daphne Goodman did not actually love one another, having entered into the marriage purely out of necessity. Discovering this filled Mursault with wild joy, prompting him to commit the craziest action of his entire life: marching right up to Commander Hayden to confess his feelings.

“If Lady Daphne were happy, I would have stayed out of this. But Your Excellency does not love Lady Daphne, and Lady Daphne does not love Your Excellency either! This marriage is completely void!”

Even though his adjutant had suddenly burst into the workspace to commit such an unexpected act of insubordination, Hayden didn’t even look away from his paperwork as he answered.

“I heard the rumors flying around, but you really have lost your mind. Though I will admit your work is good.”

“Do not try to change the subject, Your Excellency. I spent far longer devoting myself to the military solely to marry Lady Daphne. Now that her father has passed away, you need to recognize what I have achieved.”

“Listen to me, Mursault.”

Only then did Commander Hayden finally pull his gaze away from the documents to look straight at Mursault.

“Daphne doesn’t love you either, but—”

The commander spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact voice, sounding as casual as someone pointing out a wrinkle in a shirt.

“You don’t really love Daphne either.”

Those words hit Mursault like a sudden bolt of lightning. Because he had spent so long dreaming about marrying her, he had always assumed he was deeply in love with her. Yet, try as he might, he could not find a single argument to counter Commander Hayden’s statement.

If the conversation had ended right there, Mursault likely would have swallowed his pride and walked away, but Commander Hayden kept talking.

“Still, you aren’t wrong about one thing. This marriage is indeed void.”

“Not wrong, you say?”

“Mursault. Just as you pointed out, the woman meant for me is someone else.”

“Pardon?”

What followed was the most utterly bizarre statement Mursault had ever heard in his entire life.

“Someday, the woman meant for me and her child will come looking for me. Daphne knows about this as well.”

“Lady Daphne knows too? What on earth does that—”

“You will just have to pray that the child arrives safely and can inherit my position, Mursault. Only then will Daphne be free.”

Marrying the most prominent woman in the zone and rising to the rank of commander, while simultaneously keeping a separate wife and child somewhere else sounded like complete nonsense. Yet, knowing that Hayden never spoke idly, Mursault believed him and decided to wait patiently. He waited for two or three full years.

When a full decade went by without any sign of a woman, a child, or anyone else showing up, Mursault finally abandoned his wait. He began plotting a new path: rising to the rank of commander himself so he could marry Daphne.

Then yesterday morning, as unbelievable as it seemed, word came that a boy claiming to be the commander’s son had appeared. The child acted with extreme politeness, composure, and maturity, causing Mursault’s hopes to soar as he imagined the boy taking over the commander’s seat while he himself finally married the liberated Daphne.

However, before even a single day had passed, news broke that the child was an imposter and the real son had just shown up. Mursault immediately understood that things would not go smoothly. Once a fake had managed to infiltrate, there was no guarantee that the newly arrived son was legitimate either.

Still… what on earth is happening here…?

When he first laid eyes on the boy, he looked entirely ordinary. But suddenly, right before his eyes, the kid’s entire demeanor shifted. The words that came pouring out next completely shattered any expectations.

“You. Are you still planning to marry Daphne Goodman?”

It sounded just like someone pointing out a crumpled outfit. The intonation was intensely familiar, delivered in the commander’s signature indifferent tone.

“It seems you still aren’t entirely sure if you actually love Daphne, don’t you?”

Mursault stared at the small boy standing before him with the expression of someone who had just stumbled upon a strange mythological creature. It was absurd enough to think the commander would share his deeply private secrets with such a tiny child over the course of a single night. Even stranger, it felt less like talking to a kid he had just met and more like speaking directly with Commander Hayden Goodman himself.

“Your… Excellency?”

The title slipped right out of Mursault’s mouth before he could stop it, and he clamped his hand over his lips in sheer panic upon realizing he had addressed someone other than the commander by that title.

Despite hearing this blasphemous slip of the tongue, the child only smiled faintly, looking deep in thought.

“That is correct. His Excellency told me all about it.”

“Ah…”

Even if he hadn’t caught the mistake, Mursault had a lingering sensation that the little person standing in front of him was gliding past his defenses like a clever, ancient serpent.

“However… I understand.”

“You understand?”

Did this tiny brat genuinely comprehend his improper and forbidden desire for the wife of his superior officer? Even Mursault knew his feelings were far from honorable. Commander Hayden hadn’t chewed him out simply because Mursault’s crush on Daphne was completely irrelevant to him, not because he empathized with it. Yet here was this little kid using the word “understand.”

Right as Mursault was about to write the child off as a joke—

“Mister, you just want to build a family, right?”

The next sentence out of the boy’s mouth shook Mursault down to his very foundation.

“Not just any random household, but a spouse who grew up cherished by parents and grandparents, so that any kids you have can experience grandparents too. And then you want to show an old photograph to your future grandchildren and say, ‘This person was your great-grandmother’—that is the kind of family you want.”

Mursault’s eyes flew wide open.

“H-how do you possibly know about that…?”

As Mursault stammered out the question, the child offered a wry smile.

“Well, you see, I was an orphan too.”

Hit by the realization like a bolt of lightning, Mursault understood that he had finally encountered his ultimate kindred spirit.

Did I lean a bit too hard into this soulmate act?

Mursault’s attitude did a complete 180; he apologized profusely for his earlier rudeness and told me that if I needed anything at all while staying at the mansion, I only had to ask.

That level of enthusiasm would have been fine on its own, but the idiot Mursault went off saying he was going to draft a detailed list of potential spouses so I could construct my ideal household…

Even when I played through the game before, I always thought this NPC was totally unhinged and ended up poisoning him to death. His mental stability is completely gone, but since he is a crucial asset to Hayden, I have no choice but to keep him around.

Daphne Goodman’s life is genuinely tragic as well. Forced into an arranged marriage by her father, she finds herself bound to a man who keeps another woman and child elsewhere, while a lunatic constantly pesters her about marriage without even loving her. I felt a mild twinge of guilt for having poisoned her to death multiple times during previous playthroughs.

This time around, instead of killing her off with poison, I will keep her alive so I can make use of her unique skills. It is definitely not because I am running low on exploit-friendly NPCs.

Right at that moment, a system prompt materialized in my field of vision.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Shin has entered the public chat room.

Oh.

Evidently, a player located in another zone had managed to secure a meteorite item and unlocked the system interface. I had already anticipated that other players would begin gaining access to the chat room soon enough. We were rapidly approaching day three, and if even low-level zones like Candy or Beer failed to produce a single person capable of unlocking the system, that would have signaled a major issue.

However, the alerts didn’t stop with just one. They started popping up in rapid succession.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Dentist has entered the public chat room.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Ssapasuble has entered the public chat room.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
ImNotCrying Thats Aerobics has entered the public chat room.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Druggy has entered the public chat room.

What in the world? All of them at once?

Clearly, more than a couple of people had managed to get their hands on a meteorite item the previous night. Then again, if you still hadn’t acquired one by the second day of following the strategy guide, your run was essentially doomed anyway. Even so, there was no way they all unlocked the system at the exact identical second… Did the system purposely hold off on letting them into the chat room until morning?

And then—

Among the final batch of login alerts that drifted upward, a username that felt entirely too familiar caught my attention.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Home Protector has entered the public chat room.

That absolute scumbag!

The true mastermind behind the mass possession incident, Home Protector, had finally arrived.