#068
“Miss Wintum, please follow me. I’ll guide you to a room where you can rest. And Raon-nim as well.”
His expression looking at me was as stiff and polite as always. No, was it a bit stiffer than usual?
“Since it’s gotten quite late, it would be best for you to return to your room immediately and rest.”
When our eyes met with Hayden, I felt awkward remembering how I had lied to him and snuck out of the mansion. But since he was also in a situation where he reported my every move to Carlisle, I decided to think of it as mutual. Of course, he was Carlisle’s butler, so I shouldn’t feel hurt about that issue. Though I’d have to be more careful from now on.
When I woke up in the morning, Eira had already left the mansion. Taro had driven her back, and she had left the completed potion after finishing it at the mansion.
“Sigh…”
Holding the potion in my hand, I let out a sigh. I felt sorry and grateful… and somehow like I should explain things about my relationship with Carlisle (though I wondered if there was anything I could explain), anyway my feelings were complicated. But for now, it seemed difficult to visit Eira because I was conscious of Carlisle’s watchful eyes. If I left the village, the news would definitely reach his ears immediately.
It couldn’t be helped. When I go to pick up the potion I commissioned, I’ll have to bring something and bow my head in apology.
After delivering the potion to Elmer ahjussi early in the morning, I stayed holed up in Carlisle’s mansion for a while. It was to show Carlisle a self-reflective attitude (in the sense of apologizing for unintentionally dragging him into illegal activities), but the very person who should recognize that I was being considerate was nowhere to be seen, wandering off somewhere.
I heard through Taro that Kate was recovering quickly. Along with the story that she cried tears of gratitude. The word spread in the village that she had gotten better after taking medicine I had obtained from the desert expedition. Up to this point, it was good news.
The story Taro told me included some not-so-pleasant rumors as well.
Since naturally only Carlisle and I were witnessed coming out of the guild room that night, rumors spread in the village that Carlisle and I had a lovers’ quarrel in the middle of the night in the heart of the downtown area. News that I had gone on an expedition with Carlisle and had been staying at his house ever since was also shared, and eventually stories that Carlisle and I had definitely gotten back together were spreading like fact.
Even though the world had become like this, people’s interest in gossip seemed undiminished. Maybe it was burning even brighter since there was no other decent entertainment.
It was a damn world.
***
Meanwhile, Carlisle, who left the guild building on the day of the incident and headed into the sparsely populated darkness, had his mind boiling.
He was in a bad mood. Since there was always pain somewhere in his body, his mood was always bad, but this was somehow different in nature. He felt both irritated and surging with anger.
The cause of his unpleasant emotions was obvious. It was because of Kang Raon. But why his emotions had to be swayed like this by that promiscuous human was completely incomprehensible.
He had tried to organize and move on, thinking it was probably due to remnants of memories left in his unconscious, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore and overlook Kang Raon’s behavior.
One thing was certain. He couldn’t just let that promiscuous human run free. At least until all the Fragments of the Sacred Tree were collected, he shouldn’t let him go against his nerves and control his mood.
He simply ignored the endless questions rising from a corner of his heart asking why that wasn’t allowed. Only the fact that Kang Raon was irritating and that he wanted to eliminate that irritating feeling mattered.
Binding him with debt wasn’t enough. Kang Raon needed some kind of stronger restraint. And an appropriate reason to justify it.
Carlisle suddenly felt a burning pain in his back and frowned. At the same time, he recalled what Raon had been shouting just moments ago.
‘How can I not do it? Someone’s going to die!’
Kang Raon, contrary to his first impression, seemed to have quite a soft disposition. Couldn’t he somehow use that?
***
While eating well, sleeping well, and washing well at Carlisle’s mansion, I regained a fairly decent appearance in just a few days. I gained a little weight and my hair and skin became glossy. I’d probably look like a zombie again after the next expedition, but anyway I had recovered to about the same level as when I was first dragged into this world.
While lounging around Carlisle’s house, I finally confirmed that my reputation had recovered to some extent. My reputation, which had been -200, had somehow risen to -140. Suddenly jumping up by 60 points. It was still negative, but since it had been immovable for so long, I couldn’t help but be amazed.
I could guess what caused it. It was probably thanks to donating most of the harvest to the village after returning from the expedition. Since we could solve the food shortage even a little with bread trees and such, that part probably had the biggest impact.
“As expected, improving food and livelihood issues is the best.”
The favorability of other main NPCs had also risen considerably. Seiz was steadily rising, and the favorability of the Elmer and Kate couple jumped up on the day I delivered the medicine, then after about two days it was approaching a perfect 200.
“The medicine must have really been effective.”
It was thanks to Eira’s abilities rather than mine, but anyway my reputation rose thanks to it, so I could only be grateful. Only Eira’s favorability continued to fluctuate slightly even at the high numbers. I thought maybe when she remembered the past she’d get angry, then when she thought about the present it would rise again.
However, I had worried that her favorability might be greatly reduced because I had dragged her into this trouble (even though it was just one night, she must have been under tremendous stress), but fortunately that wasn’t the case. She really was a good person.
Only when the expedition departure date was right around the corner did I leisurely venture back into the city. I had to finish preparations. Actually, the rest period between expeditions wasn’t very long, so the break was short. It would be better for quickly completing quests and returning, but after spending a few leisurely days, I felt regretful for no reason.
As I left the mansion and walked through the streets, I suddenly felt the air had changed. Only a few days had passed, but the weather had become much warmer. Though rare, here and there light green and yellow colors were peeking and emerging.
Originally it should have been the height of spring by now, so it was actually quite late. That spring colors were emerging even like this was probably because we had found two Fragments of the Sacred Tree.
Thinking this way, I somehow felt a surge of pride. Though it was something I did to return to reality rather than for this world, it was still the game scenery I had loved. I couldn’t help but be happy that I was contributing to restoring its beauty.
The atmosphere of the streets also seemed lighter than before. It might be because people’s clothing became lighter as the air became even a little warmer, and their hunched shoulders straightened a bit more.
‘Of course, even so…’
I could see the sign of Kevin Bakery in the distance. Since the shop was in the city center, I inevitably had to pass by it several times a day when busy. But since there had been the incident of getting slapped by Rosie on the first day, I was trying to keep my distance by sticking to the far edge on the opposite side of the street. Today was the same.
Regardless of my efforts, the bakery, like most other shops, often opened late and closed early, or didn’t open at all. Even when it was open, I had never seen customers. Come to think of it, didn’t they not have products to sell either? I thought maybe Kevin and Rosie weren’t really trying to do business either, but just came to kill time since they had nothing else to do.
But today was different. The door was open and there were customers. No, not just customers but quite a long line. It was basically an opening rush. The faint scent of fresh bread and coffee drifted on the wind. I immediately understood the reason.
‘Ah… the bread tree and coffee fruit supplies have already reached the bakery.’
This might be an advantage of the game world. During the few days I was cooped up and lounging around Carlisle’s mansion, the village was changing rapidly.
As someone who particularly loved Kevin’s bread and Rosie’s coffee, I was so disappointed that I couldn’t join that line at times like this. I couldn’t take my eyes away, but it would be disastrous if I made eye contact with Kevin or Rosie. Kevin and Rosie’s favorability hadn’t changed much. It seemed their ill feelings toward me were too deep to be softened just by bread trees and coffee fruit.
I deliberately looked away and quickly walked, sticking close to the opposite side of the street as usual.
I stopped by Seiz’s workshop to pick up the items I had commissioned. Thanks to bringing heat stones from the desert, I was able to stock up on heating items unlike before.
“Wow, is this really what I commissioned?”
The sword that Seiz had enhanced with Halmite was still black, but it had gotten longer and a bit heavier. The handle, which originally had nothing, now had some kind of half-finished pattern carved into it. When I looked at the pattern once and glanced at Seiz, he shook his head.
“I didn’t carve it. It appeared on its own when the enhancement was complete. It’s a mark it originally contained.”
Then this half-finished pattern meant that as it underwent more enhancements, increasingly complete patterns would appear. I examined the sword curiously from various angles, then quietly checked the description window.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
