Surviving as a Useless Bard in a Game

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You are dark, dark, dark, dark…

It was as if the status window kept repeating the same sentence as if it were malfunctioning.

All that filled my vision was pure black. A perfect darkness where no other colors existed, as if all the light in the world had vanished, an absolute void.

I slowly crawled along the floor, feeling my way with my palms. At first, I thought it was a small room. But the endless flatness completely overturned that hypothesis.

It was a disconcerting thought that this place was much larger than I had imagined or maybe… it could be infinite.

‘What on earth has happened.’

I rummaged through my memories. Let’s replay the last moment. I distinctly remember falling asleep on my back. And when I opened my eyes… I was already here.

Just before my consciousness faded, the status window had cruelly displayed only the choice of “Unable to awaken.”

I suddenly yelled out.

“Ah—!”

It was louder than I expected, yet there was no echo.

No, there was something even stranger. The sound abruptly cut off as if it had been blocked by something. Not even an echo remained, just an absolute silence that seemed to swallow the sound.

How much time had passed? Suddenly, the status window changed.

– Check progress.
– Check current status.
– Body: Confirm possession of eyes.

Welcome back, ■■■ Master.

The malfunctioning status window seemed to have returned to normal.

The reason I used the vague expression “seemed to have returned” instead of asserting I was back was that the tone and choice of words in the status window felt oddly unfamiliar.

It was strange that it referred to me as ‘Master.’ Moreover, it proceeded to confirm my status, something it would never usually do. It felt like I had become a different being.

‘…It wouldn’t be right to say it confused me with someone else, since I confirmed that I have eyes.’

It was likely that the Master the status window spoke of was indeed me. The reason the letters were broken was due to insufficient level? Or unmet requirements?

I attempted to initiate a conversation.

“Um? Status window?”

But there was no response. The incomprehensible characters that had appeared earlier did not manifest again.

Suddenly appearing, then vanishing without ever providing anything helpful, this suspicious system seemed more bent on putting me in danger.

To be honest, it was essential to question the status window if I wanted to survive.

‘After all, the only one who could trap me in such a place is the status window.’

It had forced my previous actions, displayed strange choices, and made it seem like I had no options—there was something very foul about it.

No, I needed to focus.

For now, the status window was also my ability, and it did respond to my will when the Adventurer’s Guild initially popped up.

Perhaps I could make the choices emerge myself.

Hmm, should I pray desperately or something?

‘No, I have my pride; that’s a bit much.’

Alright. Let’s look for a way out of this place without lowering my pride by any means necessary!

…
…
…

Time passed, and I kneeled, clasping my hands together earnestly.

Have you ever been trapped in lightless darkness for hours on end?

The fear is hard to express in words. If I had to compare it… maybe it’s like spinning the final gacha chance in a gacha game and getting some silhouette that’s not the character you wanted. No, it was far worse than that.

In the face of such fear, pride felt trivial.

Eventually, I knelt and clasped my hands. Initially, it was a naive thought of, ‘I’ll just wait and it’ll open up eventually.’ But as time passed, my mind began to crumble.

The more horrifying thought was this: They say a being with a body does not age… what if I were to be trapped in this space forever?

I didn’t even have the luxury to worry about what happened to my real body.

‘A method worth trying.’

What action could allow me to escape this place?

Assuming the entrance and exit are the same, I contemplated the cause of how I arrived here.

I thought for a long time, but I didn’t recall doing anything strange. In the first place, I had simply been dragged into this space while I was asleep!

‘…Sleeping?’

Sleeping? Yes, what if I sleep here and wake up in reality?

With that thought, I closed my eyes and tried hard to fall asleep. However… sleep eluded me entirely. As if sleep was not permitted in this space.

In the end, I chose to use my ‘eyes.’ Why I thought to do that, I couldn’t say. It was just a gut feeling.

I channeled my mana.
Like I learned from Skylar.
Slowly. Close my eyes, then open them again.

With that simple motion, the dark world regained its light.

As the darkness lifted and light returned, I was astonished to discover that I possessed night vision. It seemed that any ability related to ‘seeing’ was quite feasible.

‘…Upon awakening, I now have more to test.’

It was only then that I realized the space I was trapped in was not entirely dark and black. It was simply devoid of light.

The white marble floor became visible. This place had not been dark from the start. It just lacked illumination.

Countless frames were laid out on the floor.

Each frame contained an image of ‘me.’ There were images of both my current appearance and the one I had before entering this body. While the face was the same, the portraits conveyed very different impressions.

I felt a sense of familiarity with this scene; I had undoubtedly seen it somewhere.

‘…Classic games.’

Old classic games had several distinctive features.

The characteristic elements of classic games. A space called the ‘Ending Room.’ A special place where players could check all the endings they collected.

This was reminiscent of the ending room of classic games.

In one frame, I was reigning as the queen of an alley, collecting protection money.
In another frame, I was indulging in a debauched lifestyle among various women.
In yet another frame, I was a prostitute in a brothel, gazing vacantly out a window.
In the last frame, I was adorned with a crown, receiving reports from nobles and soldiers.

‘…What is this?’

No, the resemblance of this scene to the ending room of classic games was simply my conjecture.

Could this possibly be a dream? I haven’t dreamed lately, so perhaps this bizarre dream could be happening. Maybe I wouldn’t remember anything when I woke up.

I walked through the countless frames. Finally, I arrived at the end.

There, I found an empty frame devoid of any image.

– 1. [I leave.]

The choice popped up.

I pressed the choice firmly.

*

Meanwhile, Skylar was doing his utmost to solve the situation.

He used a scroll to check Selina’s sudden sleeping condition. The result of the ‘Diagnosis’ revealed no abnormalities in her body.

‘…A perfectly normal person couldn’t possibly end up in this state.’

There must have been a curse at work. Skylar was sure of it.

Recently, Selina’s condition had been continuously deteriorating.

She tried to hide it, but it was impossible to conceal.

Compared to when they first met, her body had become much lighter. Despite her meal intake remaining the same, her body kept growing thinner.

Propertyius and Nisha were both adventurers and clergy.

With divine healing, there were nearly no illnesses that couldn’t be cured. The meaning of not being fixed even with modern divine treatment suggested issues at the root of her body.

‘…Where?’

A curse that could neither be located by magic nor healed by divinity, worsening with time—this was unprecedented.

It was something he had neither heard of nor experienced.

Skylar did not want any more visitors. Since losing his family due to the divine body, he always felt that way. When someone he knew died, they showed up in his dreams to torment him. Why hadn’t he done his best? Why couldn’t he save them?

Even knowing they weren’t real, Skylar couldn’t bring himself to tell them to go away.

Being able to meet those who had already departed, even in dreams, was both a curse and a blessing.

‘I don’t want to see someone I know die before my eyes.’

That was the simple yet complex guiding principle of Skylar’s life.

A day passed.

All kinds of attempts had failed.

Recovery potions and antidotes yielded no results.
Magic had failed.
The scroll proved ineffective.
Even the town priest’s divine healing had failed.

A mountain of failures had accumulated in just one day.

And finally, Selina suddenly opened her eyes without a care in the world.

“What’s wrong?”

“You finally awakened.”

“What time is it?”

“Not just what time, but what day you should be asking.”

“Hmm, has it really been that long? No wonder I was feeling hungry.”

Seeing Selina brushing off her serious condition as a joke made Skylar internally furious. But he masked it and continued the conversation.

At first, it had simply been a relationship where they used each other. But now? It had become a bond where he felt anxious without her beside him.

They bickered, tossed jokes at each other, and continued their journey with trivial chatter. When everything was over someday, would he be ready to let her go with a smile?

The carriage driver set off, and the wheels rolled toward the next city.