Chapter 36: Yet to release.

"I do feel broken, but not in a good way." Mark scoffed as he looked at his bedridden state.

He was so weak that the System believed it was impossible for him to survive Malarak, and Lara sucking some of his blood was enough to almost kill him.

"Count your blessings, kid. Most people don't even get an Inventory." Rebecca smiled wryly. "With your Level 05 LRGS, you will be speedrunning your career like it's Mario 64."

She went back to the game, pressing a single key repeatedly to speed up the on-screen text. The sound generated from it was unbearable, reminding Mark that a big part of his game was just that. Wanting to distract himself from it, he retreated into his own thoughts and opened his status windows again. He was staring at it for some time when he suddenly noticed the clicking had stopped, and when he looked up he found the doctor smirking at him, the reason being the image on her screen.

It was one of the few event CGs in the game that appeared after encountering one of the heroines. It showed a blond female elf surrounded by goblin-like monsters. Her long blond hair was a mess and she seemed to be injured, but the first noticeable aspect about her was the massive melons barely contained within her tattered dress.

"That's… I…"

"Hey, I'm not judging," Rebecca said, but the smirk on her wasn't getting any smaller. "I just want to say I understand why you didn't want anyone to know you made it."

"Hey! I told you someone else did the art!" Mark tried to save what little face he had, but that only made things worse as the doctor continued playing.

"But you did approve it, didn't you? Unless you specifically requested it to be like this."

He had no comeback.

"Hmm… so this is Celestia…" As if to add to his suffering, Lara turned to him with half-lidded eyes. "I see Master has a particular… taste…"

"He likes them big, alright." The doctor gave him a knowing look. "It's a surprise you made the others normal-sized."

Mark began to wish Malarak had finished him off back then.

"Still, I don't get why you didn't make her your first choice?" Rebbeca continued with the teasing. "Aren't you looking forward to her special services? Or do you prefer the young miss over here?"

"Special services…" Lara muttered and a second later her face went pale and she quickly hugged herself, turning to her master with a disgusted look. "As I thought, Master had indecent intentions all along."

"Can you blame him? The woman of his dreams just became real. Of course, he would be raring to do all kinds of things with her."

'All kinds of things…'

The words ignited Marks's imagination and the fantasies flooded in. Sadly, his maid was of an entirely different opinion.

"My apologies but I have no intention of providing you with any special services of any kind." Lara's cold gaze sniffed the fire of Mark's imagination. "Our contract clearly stated that I have the liberty to refuse any advances, be it romantic or otherwise."

"The contract?" Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Mind sharing what it entails?"

"In exchange for a vessel and a steady stream of Aether, I would work as his maid," Lara replied to the doctor before returning her gaze to Mark. "I only accepted because the contract guaranteed I would not be forced into any compromising situations."

Mark felt his soul leave his body. He wanted to believe that he wasn't the kind of guy who would force himself on a girl who didn't want him, but hearing what she said made him feel like an idiot.

From what he understood, Lara's vessel was created using his abilities. That meant he technically owned her body, but due to the contract, he couldn't do anything with it without her consent.

"I see, I see now!" Rebecca exclaimed. "You're a pretty upstanding guy! You could've done the opposite, but you decided to give them the choice instead!"

Rebecca's praise was like a hammer that shattered the frozen Mark. The truth was that he didn't have a say in the whole matter. Lara was summoned by the System and his input wasn't taken at all. If he did, he definitely would've made special services a requirement in the contract.

'It's the game…' While covering his embarrassment with both hands, Mark realized why things turned out the way they did. 'It's because of the game…'

Rebecca let out a gasp as if she understood as well, but thankfully she didn't say anything and just resumed the game.

"That said, I don't see how being a maid relates to combat. Does that mean you don't have to fight if you don't want to?"

The question was directed at Lara who was still giving Mark a cold gaze.

"Combat is included in the contract." She said. "There is also a part about only drinking his blood, and another one about avoiding any intimate relationships with anyone other than him."

Silence permeated the room once again, and Mark took another step toward the bridge.

"W-well, that's understandable…" Rebecca decided to try and rationalize what she heard. "Loyalty is very important. It's only normal that he would be worried about you dedicating yourself to someone else while working for him."

Though the embarrassment was about to crush him, Mark found solace in the last condition Lara stated. He could stand her not having feelings for him, or not getting to have his way with her, but one thing he would never allow is for someone else to take her away from him.

'Author, please spare me the NTR tag…' he thought. 'I won't complain anymore so please…'

Rebecca continued with the failed attempts at lighting the mood.

"By the way, what do you think of your new body?"

"Our compatibility is high enough for me to feel right at home," Lara answered while looking at herself. "If I had anything to complain about, it would be unnecessary craving for human blood."

"Understandable. Your vessel is modeled after a fictional character. I doubt he took our current situation into consideration when he created her."

"I only learned of that being the case long after my arrival." Lara sighed softly. "Only then did his reaction to my presence make sense."

"Uh-oh," Rebbeca's eyes began to sparkle. "Go on, tell me!"

Lara glanced at Mark, not hiding her displeasure.

"He ignored my existence for some time. If the people around us didn't inquire about my identity, it is doubtful whether he would have recognized my presence that early."

"Seriously?" Rebbeca asked.

"Indeed." Lara nodded.

Mark decided to keep anything he wanted to say to himself. He already experienced enough humiliation to last him for a lifetime. Instead, he focused his mind on what the doctor said. He certainly didn't consider the chances of his maids becoming real, and thinking about the others he started to worry… or not.

'Now that I think about it, Lara might be the only troublesome one…'

Unlike the dhampir who needed human blood to keep her strength, the others didn't have any physical traits that could be inconvenient in real life.

"Oh, right." As if just remembering something, Rebecca turned in her chair and looked at Mark. "I was going to ask you earlier but totally forgot." she pointed at the screen behind her with her thumb. "When do I get to meet the young miss? I didn't see her with the heroines on the cover so…"

Mark also had a question. He wanted to ask her why she was playing his game, even though she already gave him a reason. He also wanted to ask her why she decided to play it now, right in front of him. Nevertheless, he was the one lying on a hospital bed with a blood bag attached to his arm. Until he could properly move again, he had no choice but to shut up and take it.

"She isn't in the game." He said, heaving a sigh. "I… I have yet to release the update…"