Chapter 65: The Missing Noble Heiress

— [Wow, that famous line.]

— [It kind of suits him, lol.]

— [Wait, what? Do they all know that? Such a boomer vibe??]

“Hmm, I see. I was being shameless. My apologies.”

“No, not at all.”

“Then let us talk.”

Count Britten sat across from Exitra.

He seemed a little calmer now, most of his agitation fading away.

Even so, his eyes still carried a trace of unease.

“What do you want?”

He was quick-witted.

Count Britten already understood that Exitra wanted something from him.

“If it’s money, I can give you as much as you wish. I can even give you treasures passed down in our family. What is it you want? Just say the word.”

Arrogant and proud words.

But he had the standing to say them.

In truth, Count Britten was someone who could fulfill most of Exitra’s demands.

— [Ohh, as expected of a noble!]

— [Just say the word~ anything you want.]

— [Arrogant, but it suits him.]

— [Info] Count Britten has insane connections—even at the Academy.]

Some streamers and other players had met Count Britten before, so there were quite a few who knew about him.

But the man they knew was different from the one before them now.

— [Wait, his vibe is different.]

— [Oh, right. The Count we knew was after his daughter had already died.]

— [Back then, he was practically half a corpse…]

The Count they remembered had given up on life after his daughter’s death.

But now, his daughter was still alive.

So the impression he gave was completely different from what they recalled.

“If what I want is anything, then… if I asked you for this entire territory, would you give it to me?”

“I would.”

One second of hesitation—none.

For his daughter’s sake, he was saying that titles, land, money—none of it mattered.

— [Ah, Father!!]

— [Unbelievable…]

— [That’s so cool.]

[The heart of a father who thinks only of his daughter is truly touching. If this were the real world, even I would lend him my hand.]

Even Chronos was moved by the Count’s devotion to his daughter.

Exitra was impressed.

‘There’s no way he can refuse my proposal.’

“I see.”

“So what do you want? Stop testing me.”

“Hahaha. Very well.”

Exitra laughed.

His little test had been exposed.

He thought he had been subtle, but to think he’d get caught so quickly…

‘As expected of a noble.’

“Alright, then let’s get straight to the point.”

Exitra slid the serum across the table toward him and spoke with complete seriousness.

“Give yourself to me.”

A sudden silence fell.

It was so heavy, it felt as though time itself had stopped.

“Huh? What’s with that face? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Alfredo, sitting beside him, flinched and pulled back, his face twisted in shock.

The butler behind them also grimaced deeply, and across the table, Count Britten wore an expression of profound turmoil.

“What? Why are you all reacting like that?”

Exitra’s… tastes…?

— [Uhh… this is…]

— [W-w-what…]

— [What exactly did he just ask for?]

— [Did we just stumble into BL?]

[Well… I respect your preferences. Humans are… broad in their range, after all… ahem…]

Exitra suddenly realized he had misspoken.

“O-oh, that’s not what I meant! I meant that I want you to be my backing.”

— [Ohhh? Ahhh~ so that’s what he meant?]

— [Ah, I see now…]

— [Hah, I thought Exitra had awakened to something else, lol.]

— [Same here, haha.]

— [Tch, what a waste.]

— [A waste of what, exactly, lol.]

“My backing?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Count Britten nodded.

Just those words carried countless implications.

‘His family has fallen. As things stand, he’s lost his authority, power, wealth, and connections as a noble. He wants to fill that void with me.’

“You’re quite something.”

“You flatter me.”

“It seems I have no choice, then.”

Indeed, he had no choice.

As long as he would not give up on his daughter, he could not refuse Exitra’s proposal.

“Very well. I accept.”

“Thank you.”

“You saved my daughter’s life. This much is not difficult to grant.”

Count Britten stood.

“But if you ever attempt to overthrow the kingdom, or commit an act equivalent to that, I will cut ties with you immediately.”

“Hahaha, don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

Not overthrowing the kingdom—he was planning on creating a new one.

That was nothing the Count needed to worry about.

“Then let’s proceed.”

The negotiations were done. Now it was time to treat his daughter.

“Alfredo.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

Two voices answered at once.

The butler and Alfredo, Exitra’s younger brother.

“Hm?”

Count Britten widened his eyes.

Just in case, he asked, “Alfredo?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

Again, both the butler and Alfredo responded in unison.

Alfredo’s face twisted with disbelief.

“Don’t tell me… the butler’s name is…”

“My name is Alfredo,” the butler replied.

Thud!

Alfredo clutched his forehead.

Of all things, his name had to be the same as the butler’s.

“Then… could it be… you are…”

“I am Raiders Alfredo…”

“Hahaha. What a curious fate.”

“Sigh…”

— [Oh my god, the butler’s name is Alfredo too, lol.]

— [That’s going to be confusing as hell.]

— [Look at the younger one’s face, hahaha.]

“Then, while you’re here, we’ll call the butler ‘Butler Alfredo.’”

“Thank you for the consideration.”

“No, not at all.”

Count Britten turned to the butler.

“Prepare Elina’s room at once. We’re going immediately.”

“Understood.”

The butler left, and Count Britten turned to Exitra.

“Will you come with me?”

“Of course.”

Exitra also rose, along with Alfredo.

He put some distance between himself and his younger brother, then addressed the viewers.

“Things are going more smoothly than expected.”

— [Boring.]

— [Isn’t there anything fun happening??]

— [Well, the butler and the brother having the same name was funny, lol.]

— [But yeah, things are moving too smoothly, kind of dull…]

— [Wasn’t this supposed to be a misfortune streamer broadcast?? Why is everything going so well?]

“Hey, all my misfortune came from my territory being in the worst possible state, okay? It has nothing to do with me personally.”

Exitra shrugged lightly.

He still refused to acknowledge his own misfortune.

To him, admitting it meant defeat.

[Then what about in ‘ZomSurv’ (Zombie Survival)??]

“No comment.”

— [LOL.]

— [He got wrecked so hard in ZomSurv and still hasn’t learned…]

— [Oh, great God of Streaming… please, curse Exitra with more misfortune!]

Hearing that plea, Exitra couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hahaha, God is on my side. Prayers like that won’t work.”

Ding~

[Oh, god of the stream, if you exist, answer me!!]

The god clearly had no intention of siding with him, drawing a line firmly.

Who exactly was Chronos on the side of…?

”Haah…”

— [Please, please…]

— [You can do it! If anyone can do it, it’s you!!]

The viewers prayed desperately.

They wanted it.

They wanted Exitra to suffer.

They desperately wished for him to be plunged into hardship, trials, and pain.

And perhaps their prayers reached the god?

Alfredo, who had gone ahead to prepare, ran over with a pale face and shouted.

“Y-Your Lordship!! Miss Elina has disappeared!”

[System message]

[-A sudden quest, ‘The Missing Noble Heiress,’ has appeared.]

”The god exists.”

Ding~

[The god is real.]

”Is this… a game??”

”Huh? What’s going on here.”

”Ah, Team Leader, you’re here? How’s work going?”

”Managed to wrap it up somehow. But what are you doing?”

”Hehe, look at this.”

”What is it?”

”A streamer named Exitra is playing our game right now, and it’s really entertaining.”

”Our game?”

”Yes.”

”Hmm…”

The game company, Apollon.

This company had developed Heir of a Fallen House.

And right now, two employees were watching Exitra’s broadcast—the team leader and a team member responsible for managing the game.

Since Heir of a Fallen House’s popularity was rapidly rising, they monitored streamers’ broadcasts to gather feedback.

They planned to apply improvements in the next patch based on how people played and the viewers’ reactions.

”A Spirit Mage? Someone actually plays that class?”

”Didn’t you know? It’s incredibly popular right now. Really trending.”

”Oh, really?”

”Yes.”

”Impressive.”

The team leader feigned surprise.

The Spirit Mage had a high skill ceiling and was under consideration for a nerf.

But he never expected a streamer to play it.

Even if it existed, he thought it would be much later…

The team member sighed while watching the clueless team leader.

”Ah… Team Leader, you must have been stuck in the patch room again and missed everything, right?”

”What can I do? Work comes first. Or do you want to do it next time?”

”N-No, I don’t!”

”See?”

The team leader shrugged lightly.

There was just too much work to handle.

Due to the fast content consumption of Koreans, they had to keep updating constantly to match the pace.

Of course, Heir of a Fallen House contained hundreds, even thousands, of content pieces, but somehow, it still felt insufficient.

”Koreans are insane.”

No matter how difficult the content, Koreans would conquer it within a week.

Abroad, there was a saying: after Easy, Normal, Hard, Hell, the next difficulty should be called ‘Korea.’

At first, he thought it was a joke, but sometimes the team leader seriously wondered if a ‘Korea difficulty’ should be added.

”No matter what we prepare, it’s never enough. Even as a fellow Korean, it’s infuriating.”

”You really work hard…”

The team member looked at him sympathetically.

She knew exactly how much he suffered.

Look at his hair—honestly, just being near him made you smell it.

And…

”Wow, his hair seems thinner today…”

Stress-induced hair loss had started.

Considering the team leader was in his mid-thirties, it was happening surprisingly fast.

Amidst all this, he glanced at the team member’s monitor and said:

”Ah… This is the Britten Count’s estate.”

”Yes. Exitra brought the Death Worm serum.”

”Really?”

”What’s amazing is that he figured out how to store the serum properly.”

The team leader was astonished.

He expected someone would figure it out eventually, but not this quickly.

”He’s the first. Truly impressive.”

”Mingi, can you show me that scene?”

”Of course, no problem.”

Mingi, the team member, replayed the video.

It showed Exitra collecting the Death Worm’s poison using spirits and storing the serum carefully.

The team leader couldn’t hide his astonishment at how perfectly Exitra handled the spirits.

”This is incredible. How does he control spirits so well?”

”You should have seen the chat—it was chaos. Everyone screaming ‘Nerf the Spirit Mage!’”

”Really? That serious?”

”Absolutely. I’ll send you the link later; you should watch it.”

”Okay.”

The team leader nodded.

Feedback on the Spirit Mage had been scarce until now.

Other classes were more commonly played, but the Spirit Mage was rarely tried and usually abandoned after a few days.

Exitra’s video provided an invaluable reference.

”So what’s he doing now?”

”Ah~ He was going to deliver the serum to the Britten estate, but the quest popped up.”

”A quest? A quest appearing at the Britten estate… Could it be… that one?”

”Yes, the ‘Missing Noble Heiress’ quest.”

”Ah! That one appeared?”

”Yes. All conditions were met.”

”Right.”

The ‘Missing Noble Heiress’ quest required several conditions:

First, Elina had to be alive.

Second, Exitra had to use the serum once and figure out how to store it before bringing it to the Britten estate.

Once these conditions were met, the quest triggered.

”I thought it would appear later, but it popped up sooner than expected.”

”Yes, I was surprised too. This streamer Exitra is really smart.”

”Hmm.”

The team leader watched with curiosity.

He was genuinely interested to see how Exitra would solve this quest.

”I’ll have to check the replay later.”

The Spirit Mage, Exitra—how would he complete this quest?

It was personally fascinating.