#040
Only after taking a sip of the precious water I had saved from the hidden dungeon did the nauseating feeling that made my stomach churn finally subside. I couldn’t believe I was such a weak-stomached person. To be honest, it wasn’t simply that I had a weak stomach… I felt like my body was rejecting food made from monsters with all its might.
It might sound like an excuse, but that was the truth. I gave up on filling my belly with food made from monster ingredients for now. I decided to think positively that if I ever reached the point of starving to death, my stomach would become one that could eat even that out of desperation.
After packing my belongings, I went to the lobby to say goodbye to Elmer, who was on duty. When I returned the upgraded gloves and vest along with much higher quality enhancement stones than what I had received, Elmer’s favorability, which hadn’t been bad to begin with, rose even higher. This was probably the highest level so far. How should I put it… he looked pleased, like seeing a dissolute nephew finally come to his senses and mature.
After Eira, Elmer’s favorability had also risen, so I checked my reputation with some hope… but this was still stuck at -200 without budging. Since it’s called “reputation,” I guess I need to wait for rumors to spread. Thinking about it that way, the isolated Eira’s favorability probably wouldn’t be much help.
Judging by feeling alone, the Administrator of the Sacred Tree also seemed quite favorable toward me, but for some reason, like Carlisle, his favorability wasn’t displayed. In his case, it wasn’t deactivated but completely absent from the favorability list. Come to think of it, he wasn’t a romance target in the original game either. (Due to his handsome character design, countless requests poured in to allow romantic routes with the priest, but unlike Carlisle, requests about the priest were ignored until the very end.)
Anyway, it seemed I’d have to wait quite a while longer to see benefits from raising my reputation.
“I’ll be going, ahjussi.”
When Elmer heard that I was joining Carlisle’s team, he made an ambiguous expression. Probably because he knew about the relationship between Carlisle and me. But he also knew well that if not Carlisle, it would be Muchi, so I had no other choice.
“Be careful. Stay sharp and observant.”
Saying this, he slipped me a sandwich.
“……”
Looking at Elmer’s gaunt eyes and sunken cheeks, I wondered if it was right to accept this. But since it was the first day of departure, my stamina bar was only half full and even my health bar had decreased slightly, so I suppressed my guilt and reached out my hand. If I wasn’t careful, I might end up being left behind in the desert (or more precisely, abandoned by Carlisle) in a state where I couldn’t do anything due to lack of stamina.
“Don’t you need anything from the desert? Since I’m going anyway, I’ll get it for you if I can.”
I wanted to repay him somehow. I knew very well that he was an NPC, but it was difficult to take for granted the warmth he showed, speaking and moving so vividly before my eyes.
“Ah…”
The ahjussi opened his mouth hesitantly. Seeing him hesitate several times about whether to speak or not, I urged him to just say whatever it was.
“If you think it’s too much, you don’t have to do it.”
“Well then… I do need sand strawberries…”
“Sand strawberries.”
I searched my memory. Sand strawberries were fruits obtainable from desert oases, a type of cactus fruit. Though called strawberries, they only got that name due to similar appearance—the taste was completely different. They were extremely sour and astringent, and eating them raw could cause stomach problems. They could be cooked and eaten, but were more commonly used as medicine. For him to be looking for this at this particular time…
“Is someone sick?”
The ahjussi’s face darkened.
“Kate is…”
Kate was Elmer’s wife. I recalled the face of a middle-aged female NPC with rosy cheeks and an active personality. I couldn’t imagine the always energetic her being sick.
“No, just forget it. I said something unnecessary. Come to think of it, even if you brought them back, there’s no one to make medicine from them. It’s hard enough just to come back alive from there, so just think about your own safety.”
Elmer shook his head vigorously. But my thoughts were different. If I just brought back the medicinal ingredients, Eira would make the medicine. Since Eira was ostracized by the village, whether to accept it or not would be Elmer’s choice.
[Sub Quest: Sand Strawberries for Kate]
[Kate ajumma, who made cherry tarts and chocolate fudge cake for me in childhood, is lying sick in bed. Let’s get sand strawberries for her.]
[Reward: Favorability increase]
[Will you accept?]
【Yes / No】
“……”
The description seemed too emotionally manipulative for my liking… but it wasn’t something I would refuse, so I pressed Yes.
‘Anyway, I need to raise favorability, so I’m doing it for that reason. It’s not like I’m being swayed by the system or anything.’
After parting with Elmer and arriving at Carlisle’s mansion on time, I saw a jeep and a young man in his mid-twenties standing beside it. The youth with dark skin and bleached bright hair looked at me approaching with interested eyes.
He was Carlisle’s driver, an extra in the game who had no interaction with the player. However, like Muchi, he had a name, so that would be…
“Uh… Taro? Long time no see.”
Having barely recalled his name, I greeted him first with a pretense of familiarity. Given my current pitiful state as a useless low-level character, I needed to make a good impression on anyone in the exploration team.
“Hello, Raon. I did see you briefly at Wanderer’s Plains.”
Taro said with a bright smile. I thought about what he meant since we hadn’t met at the plains, then remembered there had been a car that came to pick up Carlisle right after escaping from the cave. Come to think of it, Taro must have been driving that car.
“You seem really busy lately? You were holed up like you were dead, then suddenly volunteered for an exploration team. What’s the occasion?”
What occasion, indeed. It’s because I’ll die if I don’t do quests. But since I couldn’t answer that way, I gave a vague response.
“Staying holed up at home like that won’t solve things by themselves… I figured I had to do something. The Mayor also mentioned that he’d like the village youth to actively participate in exploration work.”
“Hmm… I see. Still, I didn’t expect you’d end up going with us.”
Since I had no character information about Taro, I couldn’t figure out what he meant by that. Anyway, he was Carlisle’s person, and since I couldn’t go alone and couldn’t go with Muchi’s gang either, I had no choice—but I couldn’t exactly say that honestly.
I just smiled ambiguously and changed the subject.
“So is our team just the three of us?”
“Well… for now, yes.”
I thought a team would be at least five or six people. There was only one more person besides Carlisle. Of course, since Carlisle was worth a hundred men, maybe one team member for support was enough. Still, since he said “for now,” maybe someone would join later?
“Oh, just so you know, I completely welcome you joining us, Raon! I was just a bit surprised, that’s all.”
Just as Taro was smiling warmly and putting his arm around my shoulder—
“You two look like you’re having fun. Don’t tell me you think we’re going on a picnic?”
A familiar voice picked a fight.
Trying to suppress my naturally rising eyebrows, I turned around to see Carlisle Lightinger just coming out of the entrance. A faint tobacco scent drifted to my nose on the morning breeze. Same as always. Neat hair, sharp suit, and even a long trench coat.
‘What’s with smoking this early in the morning…’
The air was already bad enough without adding cigarette smoke.
I tried to smooth out my face that was unconsciously scrunching up. I wasn’t foolish enough to pick a fight over cigarettes with the team leader I might have to entrust my life to. Even if that bastard picked fights with me over every little thing.
As I’d thought before, it had a unique scent different from regular cigarettes—acrid but with a strangely herbal undertone that wasn’t exactly unpleasant. I suspected this wasn’t regular tobacco but some kind of stamina enhancement item. Just as I used coffee as my main stamina potion in the game, Carlisle probably used cigarettes that way.
“You plan to go looking like that?”
While I was thinking about his cigarettes, he was also looking me over. The difference was that while I tried to manage my expression, he openly showed his frowning face. Well, that’s the difference in power we held.
“What… is there a problem?”
Still, I couldn’t completely hide my rising rebellious spirit, and my chin lifted slightly.
“Looks like you want to get burned to death. I thought this before too, but you seem to have a hobby of inviting disaster. Why didn’t I notice when we were married?”
Burned to death—what an exaggeration. I had at least made minimal preparations. Eira and Seiz, who were horrified when they heard I was going to the desert, had packed some small fire-resistant items for me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
