chapter 6

My head froze as an unexpected situation unfolded right before my eyes.

The NPC knight from the tutorial area that I remember was a middle-aged man with wrinkles all over his face and a thick gray beard.

But the knight in front of me now was of a different gender.

Her silver hair, shining with the brilliant moonlight, flowed long along her back and neck, and the ends reached mid-thigh. Her bangs were divided into three neat sections, half covering her forehead.

Beneath it were silver eyes that seemed to reflect the moonlight just like her hair. It was a face of immense beauty, both objectively and subjectively.

Maybe it was because the shock was so great, but my head didn't turn at all. As if sensing my gaze, the female knight, who had been tapping her corroded helmet with her foot, turned to me. Her silver eyes turned in this direction.

"What's wrong? Do you have something to say?"

"Uh, that's, that's what. The woman, was… …?"

"You really think I'm a man with this face? That's a strange question to ask."

The knight smiled faintly as he spoke. Even that faint smile was dirty and pretty. It seemed like he thought I was joking.

But to me, it wasn't a joke, it was a serious question.

'No, what the heck is this… … .'

I tried to calm my shock down while desperately racking my brain to figure out what the hell was going on. Wasn't the knight in front of me the NPC from the tutorial area?

But aside from gender and appearance, all other factors matched the NPC in my memory. That meant there was no room for doubt about the identity of this female knight.

Even in the Bella mode, I didn't really change the gender.

'Wait, Mode?'

Suddenly a possibility crossed my mind.

I took great care to glance at the knight's face, trying not to seem rude or mean-spirited. Her silver hair was long enough to reach her waist, and her eyes were as silver as her hair.

It was an appearance that was vaguely in my memory.

'That looks like the one that appears in the appearance change mode.'

Because the world of the Brightest Darkness series is so gloomy and hopeless, the positions of NPCs that seem to have significant importance are almost all filled by men.

The emperors of the empire, the knights, the popes of the holy nations, the priests, the magicians, the magicians, and most of the mid-boss enemies and even the street mobs.

There were female NPCs, but they were so few in the entire game that you could count them on one hand.

At first, the mainstream mod was naturally retouching the female NPCs to make them prettier and more beautiful. Since there were already female characters, there was no need to touch the male characters.

However, as time went by, the modders' skills in retouching the appearances of their characters became more sophisticated, and eventually a mod appeared that changed the appearances of all the major male NPCs, who were over 100, to females.

I, too, couldn't resist my curiosity and tried installing it once.

It was a really well-made mod. The NPCs' appearances were not only pretty but also natural, there were few conflicts with other mods, and it was easy to avoid boss battles by observing their patterns.

The only problem was that, although she was a pretty woman with a nice body, her voice sounded exactly like a man's. It was no longer within the modder's domain to even touch up her voice.

There were many people who enjoyed it, ignoring the discrepancy between its appearance and voice, but I just couldn't get used to it, and since the Bella mode came out at the same time, I played it for a while and then just deleted it.

'... ... No way, is that it?'

There was no other way to explain this situation than to say that the appearance change mode or NPC retouching mode was applied.

"This is useless."

While I was desperately racking my brain, the knight who was wiping the blood off his armor frowned and clicked his tongue. The spot where the black blood had been wiped off was covered in corrosion and rust.

The knight took off his armor without hesitation.

"...?"

And as soon as I saw his bare body with his armor removed, I doubted my eyes.

A white sleeveless dress that completely revealed her flawless arms and smooth armpits. This was the outfit the knight wore under her armor. Her skin was so pale that it didn't even look good under that outfit.

The size was so tight that it felt suffocating to the viewer, so her body shape and figure were completely revealed. The bare skin on her stomach and sides that could be seen here and there was a bonus.

That wasn't all. She was wearing silver dolphin pants on her lower body. Her slender thighs and calves were visible through the armor that clanked and fell.

'No, what is it? What is it, really?'

I'm even more confused now than when I first confirmed the knight's gender. Dolphin pants and sleeveless shirt? And that's under full plate armor?

I searched my memory. If I remember correctly, the appearance change mode and NPC retouching mode only changed the appearance. But out of nowhere, the clothes were also changed. And they were incredibly sexy clothes.

Whether I was confused or not, the knight took off his shin guards and gauntlets, and fastened his sword to the belt around his waist, wearing only a sleeveless shirt and dolphin pants.

'...crazy.'

It was an extremely suggestive sight. The white sleeveless top that clung to her body slightly soaked with sweat, her buttocks swaying under her silver dolphin pants, her thighs that looked incredibly soft.

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I tried to look away so as not to be conscious of the sight.

This time, the situation was grasped more quickly than in the previous two cases. It was clear that a mod that changed the NPC's appearance had also been passed along with a mod that changed their clothing.

The Darkest Light mod is already applied, and the appearance change mod is also applied, so how can there not be a clothing change mod at the same time?

I had a vague memory of whether I, the person involved, had installed such a mod, but it may have been installed as a side dish to something like an integrated pack.

"You there, prisoner?"

As I was going over the list of mods I had installed so far in my head, I heard the knight's voice calling me and I looked up with a start.

"yes yes?"

"Do you have anywhere to go now?"

Hearing the familiar dialogue, I felt like I was coming back to my senses a little. Yes, it was confusing, but now I had to do what I could to survive.

"No, there isn't."

"Yes, that's right. If you go from here, you'll either end up a fugitive or be transferred to another prison. That's why I'm making this offer. Would you be willing to follow me and join the Knights? With your skills, you'll be able to do your part with just a little bit of practice. I guarantee it."

'Okay.'

I was secretly delighted when I was presented with the same choices as in the game.

If you defeat the human butcher at your first encounter, an event will occur where you can join the Knights right away by following the NPC. This was the easiest route to get through the early part.

Since you only have one life, it's best to take it as easy as possible.

"Your skills have been proven since you were able to defeat that monster alone without any decent weapons or skills, and your courage is sufficient since you didn't get scared even when confronting that monster head-on. I think it would be a waste to let your abilities go to waste like this. Oh, and don't worry about your status. Whether you were a prisoner or not, if you want to join the Knights, I won't care at all. I can roughly gauge a person's disposition by looking into their eyes. You are someone I can trust."

It felt strange to hear the very same line that became a meme on the Internet being said right in front of my eyes.

That was a fixed line uttered by the NPC who became the original character of the knight during the recruitment event. It said that he could tell the character's disposition by looking at their eyes, and that was why he trusted the protagonist.

The reason why this seemingly ordinary line became a meme is because once an event is underway, it appears unconditionally regardless of the character's appearance.

Even when players customize their characters to have appearances that are completely inhuman, in secondary creations they are often depicted as having serious vision problems or being blind because of such expressions.

But that doesn't mean that my current appearance is one of purple skin, eyes bigger than my mouth, and a very distorted face.

"How about it, are you interested?"

If it were a game, there would have been a choice here: 'Yes' or 'No'.

Of course, my choice was already decided.

"Yes, I will do that."

"Okay. Then let's leave right now. There's no use lingering around here, is there? Especially not for you."

With those words, the knight turned around and walked towards the entrance.

Her buttocks, covered in dolphin pants, swayed obscenely as she walked, revealing her slender waist and a small, sunken valley along her spine.

It was an outfit that I couldn't get used to no matter how many times I saw it. It was because he was wearing full plate armor right over it, and his expression seemed to show no discomfort in his outfit.

"Oh, just a moment before that."

The man here stopped walking and met my eyes again.

"Come to think of it, I almost let it pass without even giving my full name. My name is Iris."

'Iris?'

It was a name I had never heard before in the game. Since the gender changed, did the name change from a male name to a female name as well?

"What is your name? I can't keep calling you 'you' or calling you prisoner."

Come to think of it, I've never thought about my name.

In the game, you can just name it with any combination of letters and it will all be recognized, but it won't be like that here, and it feels a bit weird to use real names.

After thinking about the answer for a moment, a good idea came to mind and I opened my mouth.