Ch.77 – Between Monstrous Strength and Frailty

<7 – Between Superhuman Strength and Frailty>

With one hand holding the butler, and the other hand holding the maid.

As the three of us walk hand in hand, we receive warm glances from all directions.

Perhaps due to my small stature, we must look like a young couple with their child.

“They’re at that wonderful age.”

“Honeymoon at Mount Shinjeong? Are they confident in their abilities?”

“A butler and a maid. Must be a former adventurer couple employed by some noble family.”

The comments I overhear are quite amusing.

“How do you two feel about this?”

“To be mistaken as a couple with a beautiful maid like Miss Leaf, I consider it an honor.”

“…I also consider it an honor.”

Perhaps because their emotions are conveyed through their grip, I feel increasing pressure on my hands.

I understand they’re happy, but my hands hurt, so I wish both would restrain themselves.

“The waiting line is long. Shall we wait?”

“Please go enjoy yourself for a week. I will hold our place.”

Our maid has a talent for making people feel guilty.

Leaving just the maid among these rough men waiting for the exam while we go play for a week?

That would make me look like complete trash.

“Please prepare a table.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I’m going to bet 1 gold coin on a waiting ticket game.”

If I win everything, I save a week for free.

Am I a genius or what?

“…What will be the subject of the bet?”

“Arm wrestling.”

I may be a frail young lady who can barely hold cups and utensils at mealtime, but that’s only after exhausting myself with intense training.

After spending two days in a carriage, my body feels light as a feather, so arm wrestling should be nothing.

On the outside: a delicate, frail young lady.

On the inside: incredible initial strength stats.

Judge by appearances and you’ll regret it.

“Please be careful not to break anything. The table is borrowed for customer attraction events, so you’ll have to compensate if it breaks.”

“Yes~”

Thinking it might help their business, the inn staff agreed to promote the arm wrestling event after hearing the butler’s explanation.

“Come one, come all! This isn’t an everyday opportunity! Beat this wealthy adventurer girl at arm wrestling and win a gold coin! The entry fee is a waiting ticket with a number earlier than the young lady’s!”

At the inn barker’s call, people from the waiting line swarmed like clouds.

“Hey, mister. Is that for real?”

“Look at her. She’s tiny.”

“Me first! I want to go first!”

“Move it! I was here first.”

The promotional effect was definite.

Throb.

With a slight headache, a familiar window appears.

<Arm Wrestling Impromptu Event>

People blinded by the prospect of a gold coin have gathered in droves.

Of course, you have no intention of paying a single penny.

You won’t have to give away any gold if you never lose.

Compared to the ticket exam, this is like eating rice cakes lying down!

Right?

An event triggered by the player’s proactive actions.

Considering the rewards that come with clearing events, the more events that appear, the better.

‘Winning events like this builds reputation.’

Reputation. Fame. Or titles.

These are always beneficial to collect.

They provide at least 1 point to ability scores as passive effects, and when accumulated, these points lead to stat increases.

Without a status window, I can’t see the exact numbers, but with my veteran gamer instincts, I can estimate the expected values and actual increases.

‘Girl of Superhuman Strength, passive effect +2 Strength. Something like that.’

The young man who became my first honored opponent raises his arm with an “Alright!” and seems delighted.

Judging by the sighs spreading around, people already think the young man has won.

“Ready… 3, 2, 1. Begin.”

As soon as the butler raised his hands covering both our fists, the young man pulled with all his might.

“Nnnggghhhh!”

“Hahaha, what’s he doing?”

“Don’t hold the pretty girl’s hand too long.”

“Look at the butler’s face. He’s going to get hit.”

“Is that guy a pedophile?”

Unlike the young man whose face has turned bright red, I feel nothing special.

After completing title farming at the training grounds, there’s no way I’d lose to such a common adventurer.

The mechanism of stat increases works like this:

From 1 to 9, 1 point per 1 increase.

From 11 to 19, 2 points per 1 increase.

From 21 to 29, 3 points per 1 increase.

And so on, until from 91 to 99, 10 points per 1 increase.

For stats at multiples of 10 like 10, 20, 30, you need to gather points equal to that number for 1 increase.

Starting with strength barely reaching 20 and after farming titles, my estimated strength according to veteran calculations is currently 29.

Converting strength 29 to points, that’s at least 75 points.

A body that was strength 20 (47 points) has gained over 27 points to park at stat 29.

Sword practice 1,000 times, Strength +1 point.

Archery practice 1,000 times, Strength +1 point.

Martial arts practice 1,000 times, Strength +1 point.

At 10,000 times each, another +1 point.

At 100,000 times each, another +1 point.

At 1,000,000 times each, another +1 point.

Practice counts are tallied by individual actions like one slash, one swing, one arrow shot.

Doing 10,000 repetitions of one action per day for each martial art with three actions each already totals 90,000, and moving to advanced actions easily reaches 100,000 daily training repetitions.

With consistent practice for 30 days, the current total is 3 million repetitions.

Getting 3 points 4 times equals 12 points.

Add 3 more points from martial arts practice that counts all types of martial arts training.

Small achievements like “Destroying Practice Dummies,” “Gripping the Bow Until Hands Bleed,” “Bursting Sandbags” add up to 12 points.

The total strength points gained from all these titles comes to 27 points.

How could a rookie young man handle that?

Not a chance.

THUD!

“The young lady wins!”

“Argh!”

“What an idiot.”

“How little strength training must he have done?”

“Hey, try it yourselves before talking! That’s not a girl’s arm strength!”

“Booooo~”

“Get out and die!”

The young man blushes and disappears amid the shower of jeers.

The staff member looks at the waiting ticket the young man bet.

“Number 925!”

Is number 925 in an inn waiting line even reasonable?

For a normal inn accepting long-term guests, it would take not just a week but a month.

The line is reduced to a week only because people leave after taking tests from senior examiners, improving turnover.

If not for the examiners, such lines wouldn’t even form.

From the innkeeper’s perspective, it’s a temporary boom.

“Next participants must have numbers before 925! Hey, you with the big head! Number 920? Who are you trying to fool! You, baldy! Number 850? Come on up!”

The second challenger is a bald man.

I tensed up a bit at the appearance of the bald man.

‘Bald men are dangerous. They might have lost their hair from intense training.’

Even casually training 30,000 movements of one martial art per day, after 10 years that’s 109.5 million repetitions.

That’s five stat increases at the 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000, 10,000,000, and 100,000,000 milestones.

Plus, whether it’s swordsmanship, martial arts, or archery, martial arts practice counts are calculated together, adding five more point increases.

Adding incidental point acquisitions in between, that’s at least 20 more points.

‘Total 30 points. Even with average innate strength of 10, that would reach strength stat 19.’

If the training period is longer, more than one martial art is trained, and innate power is just a bit greater…

There’s a small possibility someone could match my strength stat of 29.

THUD!

“The young lady wins!”

Well, this baldy was just someone with early-onset natural hair loss.

After winning 9 consecutive victories and advancing my number to 97, people in the waiting line began to realize my strength was extraordinary.

“Where does such strength come from in that delicate body?”

“Perhaps she’s mastered the mana cultivation method I’ve only heard rumors about?”

“She looks like a rich young lady, so that might be the case.”

“Tch, played into the rich people’s games again.”

“But shouldn’t she be tired by now?”

A super-strong petite girl under 140cm flipping over the muscular arms of grown men?

People who rushed in excited about this unimaginable event are even placing side bets, leaving the innkeeper’s mouth hanging open.

The inn is taking 10% commission for holding the money to prevent fraud.

“Mr. Innkeeper.”

“Haha, our little lucky charm. Would you like a bucket of water? No, I’ll even treat you to lunch!”

“Never mind that, let’s split it 50-50.”

“Huh? W-what are you saying~”

“I saw you taking commissions.”

When I narrowed my eyes and spoke firmly, the innkeeper replied with a face that looked like he was dying of frustration.

“30-70.”

“If you don’t split it evenly, I’ll report to the lord that you used a delicate young girl as a means to profit from illegal gambling.”

The innkeeper, who seemed to have much to say about which part of this super-strong girl was “delicate,” flinched.

Behind me, Jona was openly intimidating the innkeeper with a fierce gaze, pressuring him to choose his words carefully.

‘A butler as capable as Jona is no ordinary butler.’

There were times when I tried to complain about food that couldn’t even be collected, but gave up and just ate it because I was overpowered.

The long hours of humiliation and oppression, having to eat spinach roast and stir-fried cucumber ten times despite not being able to collect them as recipes—I don’t want to recall that anymore.

“I’ll give it to you…”

“Hehe. I’ve earned some pocket money.”

The more money, the better.

“Miss. You’ve exerted a lot of strength. Perhaps you should rest for today.”

“Hmm… so we’ll be staying out after all?”

Darn, that’s disappointing.

I wanted to get in today somehow.

Still, I don’t want to push too hard with Oknodie’s body that becomes a frail young lady (exhausted) once tired.

Unlike the training grounds, this is a street.

It’s not a place where I can relax and freely show weakness.

“Someone as frail as you must take sufficient rest when resting.”

People in the waiting line were bewildered, as if this was madness.

“What part of that superhuman strength is frail?”

“She’s a complete monster girl.”

Something went “thunk” into the wooden post next to the two grumbling adventurers.

“I apologize. Being unfamiliar with maid work, I accidentally threw my self-defense dagger.”

The adventurers trembled and gulped.

Leaf went to retrieve the dagger and whispered something to the adventurers; one collapsed with weak legs, and the other fled in terror.

“Miss Leaf. What did you just say?”

“I told them the butler is ten times stronger than me.”

“Wow.”

Ten times Leaf equals Jona.

So Leaf is one-tenth of Jona?

“So Miss Leaf isn’t that incredibly strong after all.”

“…”

“Would you like me to teach you some exercise sometimes?”

The candy I ate that night tasted particularly bitter.

The next day, I had an upset stomach.