episode_0008

Episode 8. Bitch with no manners.

After walking for some time, she and I entered an inn with a sign that read ‘Giant Rose’.

We were hungry and needed to find a place to sleep.

The innkeeper was a stout middle-aged woman. The innkeeper asked us.

“Lodging? Or just a meal?”

A gruff voice devoid of any customer service. I looked to my side.

“What do you want to do?”

“Let’s eat first.”

“Yes.”

The innkeeper, hearing our conversation, said in a hearty voice.

“Sit anywhere. Call me when you decide on the menu.”

“It’s my first time here, so just give me what sells well.”

“Alright.”

The innkeeper immediately headed to the kitchen. We roughly chose our seats and sat down.

As soon as we sat down, she asked me.

“What job did you choose?”

Isn’t it customary to introduce yourself at the beginning of a conversation? I wasn’t used to the way a regressor spoke yet. Well, I can get used to it from now on.

“I chose magician. What about you, Ms. Kim Sara?”

“I chose swordsman.”

“Ah, because you’re good with a sword?”

“Yes.”

I expected it. Her knife-wielding skills were extraordinary. If I were her, I would have chosen a job related to swords.

“What about you? Why did you choose magician?”

“As I said, I have a good memory.”

“Memory?”

“Yes. So I decided to choose a job that uses my head. Then the job of magician caught my eye.”

“Ah…”

She didn’t seem convinced. Well, how good can a person’s memory be? Just forgetting less than others. I’m different, though.

Anyway, the Q&A with her continued after that.

What rewards she got in the reward room, what her current stats are, what skills she got… and so on.

We openly shared information about ourselves.

I mostly told the truth. I judged that lying to her, a regressor, would be foolish.

After talking for a while, we started talking about each other’s traits.

“You said your memory gets better?”

“Yes. It’s actually written like that. Absurd, right? A trait that just makes your memory a little better.”

“Well, it might be useful. Even more so for a magician.”

“I believe so… But I’m still jealous of Ms. Kim Sara. [Indomitable]? Even the name sounds like a good ability.”

“It doesn’t seem like a bad ability. It says that stats increase in proportion to the damage inflicted on the body.”

“Damage… I don’t know how much that is, but it seems useful.”

I was serious. Unless there’s an overwhelming difference in skill, getting hurt is almost essential in a fight.

Besides, she’s a death regressor, isn’t she? It was a perfect ability for her.

She wiped her mouth and said.

“Shall we get up now?”

“Yes.”

The food that came out during our conversation had already been eaten a long time ago. It wasn’t as tasty as modern food, but it was decent.

We approached the innkeeper. The owner grinned, revealing her yellow teeth.

“It’s 250 gold for the two of you.”

I don’t know if this is a cheap or expensive price. But it was a similar amount to what other guests had paid so far.

‘At least it’s not a rip-off.’

While talking to Kim Sara, I looked at the people at the other tables from time to time. What topics they were mainly talking about, how much the food cost, and so on.

I subtly brought my right hand to my back waist. Because what I’m about to do shouldn’t be shown carelessly.

‘Gold withdrawal. Only 250 gold.’

Something jingled and caught in my hand. I gave the object I was holding to the innkeeper with a calm face.

There were five gold coins with the number 50 engraved on them.

‘There’s a person’s face drawn on the back. It’s no different from real-world currency.’

I’m not sure what meaning the concept of summoning gold coins from thin air has in this world. It might be taken for granted, but what if it’s not?

‘I don’t need unnecessary attention.’

The innkeeper quickly took the gold coins.

“Um! Confirmed. 250 gold.”

“Then we’ll be going.”

“Uh! Come visit often!”

After exchanging light farewells, we went outside. She asked next to me.

“How do you do that? There was clearly nothing in your hand.”

“You just have to think about taking out money in your mind.”

I found out while pressing here and there on the status window. It wasn’t particularly a secret. Soon I saw her spreading her hand.

Clang─

“Ah, so that’s how you do it.”

“Yes. That’s how you do it.”

“Here you go.”

She handed me 125 gold. Very thorough calculation. I received her gold coins as if I expected it and recited inwardly.

‘Gold storage.’

Poof, the gold coins disappeared. Looking at the status window, 125 gold was added.

Soon she and I walked towards our target destination. At some point, I felt like the temperature of the street had risen. No, it wasn’t just my imagination.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Sss─

A resounding hammer sound and an ear-piercing extinguishing sound. This was an alley lined with blacksmiths.

We just went into a place with a lot of people. We didn’t have the eye to distinguish a good blacksmith anyway.

Squeak─ Tring!

As soon as we entered the store, we saw swords, shields, and armor displayed everywhere. It was my first time coming to a place like this in my life, so I scanned the weapons with curious eyes.

“Welcome~.”

The store clerk said without even looking at us. Leaving behind the parrot-like greeting, we each looked around the store.

‘What should I buy? Shield? Sword? I don’t have enough money.’

I was shocked when I saw the price tag on a certain longsword. It was a whopping 4,500 gold. I only had 2,475 gold in my possession. I carefully put it back in its place.

I repeatedly picked up and put down various equipment. Most of them were way out of my price range. In the end, only two pieces of equipment were on the shortlist.

‘A one-handed shield to hang on the elbow. And a dagger with a hand span blade. Let’s buy these.’

The two of them cost a whopping 2,400 gold. I headed to the checkout counter with trembling steps.

“It’s 2,400 gold.”

“Here you go.”

“Yes. Confirmed.”

It felt like blood was draining instead of gold. I turned around. I saw Kim Sara walking over, holding a one-handed shield and a straight sword with a blade that looked like it was 80cm long.

Thud─

“It’s 4,200 gold.”

“Yes.”

“Confirmed.”

Is this the gap between rich and poor? I looked at her with somewhat bitter eyes for some reason.

“······? Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

She and I came out and talked.

“They even give additional gold rewards from 2nd place, I can’t imagine what 1st place received.”

“I know. They might have received a skill.”

“Possible.”

The reason we bought equipment was simple. We got information from the inn.

Information that there are monsters living in the forest outside the city. It was also a place where adventurers living in this city mainly go.

The deeper you go into the forest, the stronger the monsters come out, and skeletons mainly inhabit the beginning of the forest.

As the name suggests. It was a bone monster with a human form.

“I caught rabbits in the field and got karma and gold. Maybe something will progress this time if I catch monsters. I’m not sure though.”

“It’s highly likely. That’s the only plausible threat in this peaceful city.”

I felt something while walking through this city for a while. That’s how peaceful it is.

The tower is not very friendly to us. It gives trials, and if you fail those trials, it mercilessly takes your life.

Maybe that will be similar even on the ‘1st floor’. It will give trials, and if you don’t break through those trials, you will receive some kind of penalty.

“There’s no information at all on how to get to the 2nd floor. I think even this might be a trap.”

It only gave the message ‘You have arrived on the 1st floor’ and there is no explanation.

It was originally unkind, but isn’t this too much? What is the tower’s intention? Maybe in my opinion…

“If you don’t leave the 1st floor within a certain amount of time, something big will definitely happen. Whether it happens inside the city or outside.”

“I think that’s a good deduction. I don’t think the tower dropped us here to heal or anything.”

“Yes. Then let’s go to a place called ‘Forest’ now.”

“Okay.”

Not long after she and I started walking, we saw the guards guarding the outskirts of the castle.

“Let’s take them out now.”

“Yes.”

We took out the ID cards in the second slot of our inventory. It was a fact I realized when we were talking about the inventory at the restaurant earlier.

“Please wait, there will be an inspection.”

“Yes.”

“The name is… John? Sara? Confirmed.”

“Yes. Thank you for your work.”

The ID card wasn’t anything special. It was just a picture of the face with the name and age written on it. Thanks to that, I found out that she was 21 years old.

“You’re one year older than me.”

“Yes.”

So what? She looked at me with that kind of look. As I always feel, this woman has no manners at all.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”