Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game-Chapter 107: Cognation

Nikki Tanesia sometimes describes herself as a "nonexistent person."

It was a somewhat self-deprecating expression.

Originally, manifestors were beings who were not welcomed anywhere, so excluding the group Lemeton... Nikki’s life had been filled with living in hiding.

The memory that stuck most clearly in her mind was none other than her 10th birthday. After infusing divine power, a nail-shaped tattoo appeared on her side. Her mother's face wrinkled as if she had bitten into rotten meat. The horrified retainers and her father, quietly shedding tears in a corner. Everything was as vivid as if it had just happened.

Although she was only 10 years old, she could clearly tell something was wrong.

That night, Nikki was thrown out onto the cold street. She screamed and cried, but the people simply ignored her. In a single moment, she went from a noble lady with high honor to a person whose status was erased.

Anyway, after that, she went through many things. She ran away to avoid surprise inspections by the guards, joined an adventurer’s party for a while to live a peaceful life, only to be kicked out and left with a great scar on her heart.

By some twist of fate, she ended up joining Lemeton and managed to survive... but the wounds from her childhood were not so easily healed.

Thus, she was a "nonexistent person." After all, she was a bankrupt with no identification, living as a shadow in society, so being treated as if she didn’t exist made little difference.

It was a pretty miserable way to be treated, but Nikki didn’t dwell on the sadness of it.

After all, this was the life of most manifestors.

In fact, she considered herself lucky. Most manifestors were discovered at the age of 10 and executed. Or, even if they survived, they would soon turn into demons and self-destruct.

In that sense, surviving to adulthood was quite a decent life. After joining Lemeton, life had been pretty comfortable, and she found some peace of mind.

So, she had just resigned herself to living as she was born... she accepted that being recognized would be impossible from now on... and lived like that.

She wanted many things, but she could say her life had been somewhat satisfactory.

... Until she met him.

After encountering him, who lived leisurely in the forest, she began to feel one emotion.

It wasn’t anything particularly special. She’d sometimes felt it when seeing citizens walking down the street, laughing heartily.

This emotion was... inferiority.

“Ugh... he’s come sooner than I thought.”

Looking at the knights entering the territory, I frowned for a moment. There would be no worries about fighting now, but the timing was less than ideal. I had more I wanted to ask those guys.

“Well, we’ll be on our way now.”

It seemed like we had to end things here. If the knights overheard this conversation, it would become troublesome for everyone.

“If you need anything, come by the inn. We’ll be staying there. Oh, and please don’t report us.”

At Sephir’s words, Haneul and Chae-rin showed signs of unease for a moment. They must have been thinking the same thing.

With that, the two disappeared into the crowd, hooded.

After they vanished, Chae-rin let out a sigh. Being with a Lemeton faction leader, especially someone of Sephir’s rank, was probably suffocating. Still, once they disappeared, it seemed like the conversation was a bit easier, and Haneul asked me.

“Do you really think it’s okay to cooperate with them? Honestly, Lemeton is kind of...”

In other words, she didn’t trust them.

“It’s fine. They’re not going to help us actively. We can’t trust them fully, but they’re reliable enough. The more forces, the better.”

I said, trying to convince her.

Though she hesitated a little, it seemed like she was coming around. After all, a faction leader like Sephir was not someone easy to make an enemy of. Just not being hindered in our campaign was already a gain.

With that conversation over, Chae-rin started to complain lightly.

“Sigh, I’m kind of disappointed. I thought I could stream peacefully now... but the knights are coming. I’ll have to be careful about what I do...”

Not all streamers were like this, but Chae-rin was quite cautious about her broadcasts.

What she meant was, she tried to respect NPCs’ likeness rights. As time passed, the Gaia people became aware of the broadcasts. And their reactions weren’t very positive.

They couldn’t see the reactions themselves, but their faces were being sold without their knowledge. It made sense why they might find it uncomfortable.

Chae-rin knew this, so even when she was in high society, she would only stream in the carriage. Complaining slightly as she did.

For a streamer, a comfortable broadcasting environment was an important factor, so it was natural for her to feel down.

After all, when the knights arrived, security would tighten, and broadcasting would be controlled.

To comfort her, I said lightly, “Well, you can just stream inside the inn. I’ll be there to join you.”

At least it wouldn’t be boring. It would feel a bit like a trip, after all. With that, we entered the inn.

We booked two rooms: one for me and one for Chae-rin and Haneul.

Since it was between two different genders, we had to book separate rooms. Honestly, I would have preferred ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) one room, but I couldn’t ignore their consideration.

Especially Haneul, with her more conservative mindset, wasn’t that open yet.

Anyway, the inn life began.

And it seemed like this inn life would last longer than expected.

After consulting with the knights, the conclusion was that instead of blindly searching for Andras, we would wait here in the territory.

After all, he had descended nearby, so it was likely he would stop by this territory. Plus, the citizens here couldn’t be ignored.

It was decided that waiting here was a better option than taking the risk of a disastrous encounter. We all agreed to follow this plan.

Thanks to this, their daily life became peacefully uneventful. They only had to eat the meals provided, and their biggest task was occasionally exchanging opinions with the knights.

In essence, they spent most of their time doing nothing.

As a result, many days were spent simply streaming and chatting with the viewers. Judging by the responses, at least the time passed quickly.

“Hello, everyone!”

[ㅇㅎ]

[유하~]

[Why does the background always look the same?]

[Is it just another talk show today?]

[Stop the talk already, we've had enough talking.]

[Let’s stop getting so close...]

Of course, since the background was the same, there were many complaints from the viewers.

“Ah, don’t worry! I’ve prepared something special for today.”

Of course, Chae-rin didn’t just sit still and chat.

She did bring something she had prepared.

“Today, we’re practicing juggling~.”

Chae-rin said this and pulled out three daggers.

[Are you crazy?]

[Do you want to be hit?]

[Hope she gets stabbed while juggling~]

Of course, the viewers just teased her.

Swish—swish—

She threw the daggers into the air, repeating the motions. I quietly watched from behind her.

It was clear that she had some skill, possibly due to the hand coordination that Amducias had given her. Even though she was juggling daggers, it gave off a circus-like feel.

But such tricks didn’t last long.

“Oops.”

Since it was practice, she occasionally dropped the daggers. Every time, she bent down to pick them up.

“Ugh, this is harder than I thought... It looked so easy on YouTube...”

And each time that happened, my gaze would focus on one spot.

It was, of course, her backside, highlighted every time she bent over to pick up the daggers.

“Hmm...”

Since she was wearing leather pants, the curves of her body were even more noticeable.

Even in a reversed world, wasn’t it a bit too defenseless with me right behind her?

Unable to hold back, I smacked her bottom hard.

Smack!

“Aaah?!”

A sharp sound followed by her short scream erupted. The reactions in the chat came in quickly.

[ㅗㅜㅑㅗㅜㅑ]

[Did he just reward her out of nowhere?]

[I wanna be hit too, hek... hek...]

“Why did you suddenly smack me?!”

“Your butt was in my face, and I couldn’t resist anymore.”

“...Hmm.”

Haneul looked at the scene with a meaningful glance.

At first, it seemed like the usual playful banter, but the physical closeness made it hard to ignore.

It was only when we stayed at the inn together that she, with her conservative mindset, also noticed it.

Of course, she didn’t openly ask about it. She was still too shy to do so.

And so, two weeks passed again.

On the day the new moon rose, Haneul could hear my voice from the next room.

Despite booking two rooms, this was a shabby inn in a remote territory.

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There was no soundproofing to speak of.

"...Hmm."

At first, when she heard the sound, Haneul had some odd thoughts. Was he secretly relieving himself in his room...?

But no, it wasn’t that. Chae-rin and Haneul were here, after all.

Even though he was a ‘man,’ desires still accumulated. Unlike them, who could log out for some private time, he was alone in an unfamiliar inn, making it difficult to relieve his own urges.

That’s why Haneul had those unpleasant thoughts.

But Chae-rin thought differently.

She knew what the rising new moon meant.

With a worried look on her face, Chae-rin muttered to herself, looking at the wall.

“Ah, he must be experiencing Berserk A today...”

“...Berserk?”

Haneul asked, after hearing Chae-rin’s muttering.

Chae-rin hesitated for a moment, then decided to speak openly. After all, there was no need to hide it now, and she felt Haneul would understand.

She explained briefly. She didn’t mention Berserk B. After all, they were currently experiencing Berserk A, and explaining B would have been a bit too embarrassing.

Thanks to Chae-rin’s explanation, Haneul’s expression grew more serious.

“Is it okay to leave him like that...?”

“Well, it seems like the holy water is all gone...”

“Let’s go visit the knights. They must have some stocked up.”

“Good idea, sis.”

With that, they took some holy water from the knights and headed toward my room.

“Ugh...”

Pain surged in. The pain from within her body, as if blood were boiling, was not something one could get used to.

Every time she endured it, it made her want to die.

Damn it, I should have brought more holy water.

I frowned as I thought about that.

If this goes on, I might be kicked out of the inn tomorrow.

However, fortunately, these worries didn’t last long.

“Yor, are you there...?”

Chae-rin came to my room, holding four bottles of holy water. Haneul was with her, her face serious.

“Seems like she must have told you...”

Well, it wasn’t really a secret anymore. I let out a bitter smile at the thought of showing them something unpleasant.

Surprised, Haneul asked with concern.

“Are you okay...?”

There were a lot of emotions in that one question.

I gave a weak smile and told her.

“I’m fine now. You brought me the holy water. Thanks to you, I’m alive.”

“Do you need me to stay with you?”

“No. You’re tired too. Go to sleep.”

After saying that, I grabbed the four bottles of holy water and slowly closed the door.

I was really grateful for this. Thanks to them, I could pass through this berserk episode for free.

Glug-glug...

After drinking the holy water, the pain began to subside.

It felt like I had drunk some strong liquor, and the energy drained from my body. Still, it was better than suffering.

With a clearer mind, I estimated the remaining time.

I had struggled for about two hours... so with one more bottle of holy water, I’d be able to get through this berserk phase without issue.

‘That leaves two.’

It seemed like a lot.

As I thought about putting the remaining holy water into my spatial bag, an image of a manifestor suffering just like me passed through my mind.

Manifestors always experienced Berserk when the new moon rose, so they would definitely be struggling just like me.

I thought for a moment.

Should I give this holy water to that person?

‘Ugh, it’s a bit of a waste...’

But the thought was brief. After all, I had received help from that person too. Though not my ally, they were of the same kind.

‘Yeah, we should look out for each other in times like this.’

The world we lived in was harsh enough, so we had to help each other out.

Even if I didn’t like the guy much.

I decided to take the remaining holy water and sneak toward the inn where he was staying.