Ch.88 – No, One-Trick Butler

# 8 – It’s Not Allowed, One-Trick Butler

Having used some strength yesterday, no one came easily to challenge me to arm wrestling today.

“Hmph. How long do I have to wait?”

At least when training, I feel time passing.

Standing still and waiting is truly torturous.

“Oh, is this rich young lady’s entertainment?”

“Ah, an opponent has… come… uh…?”

I kept looking up and up, but there was no end.

Tilting my head back until my neck nearly broke, I saw a giant hairy man grinning down at me.

A massive hairy monkey beastkin, who must have been at least 2m 30cm tall, said:

“Hey, how about a match with me? You don’t need to bet money. On the contrary, if you win against me, I’ll give you one gold coin.”

“I-I can’t hear you, can’t hear anything.”

I quickly hid behind my butler, and the challengers who had been pushed back in the queue yesterday started jeering: “Wooo~” “Coward.” “Accept the challenge, super-strength girl!”

These people, really.

What are they saying to a frail girl who occasionally drops cups and spoons?

My butler, with a face that said this is too much, spoke:

“I’m sorry, but the size difference between you and my lady is too great.”

“I heard your lady has been defeating opponents despite her small frame.”

“What’s your queue number?”

“What if I bet money instead?”

“We have plenty of money ourselves. A young lady with a butler and maid would hardly be in financial straits.”

The monkey beastkin looked disappointed but approached the people at the front of the line.

I wondered what he was doing, then saw him take a gold coin and shuffle it rapidly between his hands, moving them left and right.

The first person in line, with wide eyes and an uncertain expression, pointed to the left hand, but the gold coin was in the right.

“Your training is lacking, young friend. Haha.”

He laughed heartily while patting the person’s back with his palm, causing them to tumble out of the line.

It seemed they had bet their queue position on the gold coin game and failed miserably.

Watching the monkey beastkin enter the inn, I thought, this is it.

“Excuse me. Would you like to play a game with me too?”

“Super-strength girl? I’m not doing arm wrestling.”

“Not arm wrestling, the gold coin game. It’s a 50% chance even if I guess, so it’s fair, isn’t it?”

“Hmm…”

“Are you afraid of losing to me?”

The man with a sword at his waist shook his head.

“If I get distracted by one gold coin and lose time, I might fail the exam. That would be putting the cart before the horse.”

Surprisingly principled.

Instead, a man clearly in his late twenties standing behind him gestured.

“I’m just in line to get tickets to sell. Let’s play, young lady.”

A ticket hunter.

These are people like scalpers who sell tickets to those wanting to take the entrance exam.

In the game, people use them when they don’t have time to take the ticket exam or when their basic stats are ridiculously low, but it’s always a gamble.

There’s a chance you’ll be rejected at the entrance of the exam hall for having a counterfeit ticket.

“Nope, you guessed wrong~”

“Heh heh. You missed it.”

The swordsman who had been watching the bet clicked his tongue, glad he hadn’t participated.

“Not only strong but quick-handed too. If I had challenged you blindly, I would have been thoroughly embarrassed.”

“Still slower than that big beastkin from earlier.”

You can tell just by looking at the muscle mass.

That guy earlier was a monster who had definitely surpassed 40 in strength.

The only question is why I’ve never seen that beastkin at the Academy.

Has he failed every time?

Or was he restricted by the age limit?

Recalling his brutish appearance, it’s likely he came to apply without even knowing about the age restriction.

“Group guests are leaving! We’ll take five more people now. Come in!”

“Finally!”

What I thought would take a week only took two days to get through.

* *

As soon as we entered, the warm air and peaceful atmosphere naturally relaxed the tension in my body.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the super-strength young lady?”

“Just give me a room, please.”

“We have two four-person rooms and two single rooms available. Which would you prefer?”

“One four-person room, please.”

No reason to save money when we have it.

I immediately grabbed a table on the first floor and picked up the menu.

“Everyone seems to be waiting for the senior examiner.”

“I don’t care about that, I want to fill my stomach first.”

“Prioritizing food is very like you, my lady.”

I didn’t even blink at my butler’s criticism.

This is all about survival!

From the menu, I ordered three bowls of apple walnut oatmeal, a dish hard to find elsewhere.

“Is there a reason you insist on this menu item?”

“It’s a dish I can’t eat anywhere else but here.”

In the game, this was the only place I could find that served apple walnut oatmeal.

For some reason, Jona started making a face that suggested he’d gladly cook oatmeal for a week if he could just stop me from eating like this, but that’s become common now.

I naturally ignore it.

Food collection is something you have to diligently pursue daily for it to translate into stat increases.

Of course, eating two bowls doesn’t double the collection effect, so one bowl is for me and the other two are for Jona and Leaf.

“You really do love trying new foods, my lady.”

“I’ve had enough experience eating the same food over and over.”

“But it’s a dangerous habit.”

While Leaf only says pleasant things, Jona doesn’t spare me the bitter truths.

This is where the difference between a maid and a butler becomes apparent.

“When eating unfamiliar food in foreign places, it’s difficult to immediately identify what foreign substances might be in the dish.”

“That kind of thing doesn’t happen easily, you know?”

What are you talking about in an Academy game?

Someone might think we’re trying to enter a ninja academy or something.

‘Anyway, eating a lot of the same food isn’t very efficient.’

While eating just one of a different food produces a collection effect, you need to eat the same food a thousand times for a similar effect.

That’s how you get titles like Apple Pie Maniac or Strawberry Shaved Ice Maniac.

But unlike the rewards from increasing your collection rate by 10 or 20 entries, these maniac titles give you their effects even if you only have one.

‘Was the Shaved Ice Maniac effect a 1% increase in ice resistance, preventing teeth sensitivity?’

It might seem useless, but every title has its use somewhere.

During the Academy’s summer festival food-eating contest, if shaved ice appears and you have this title, you can empty a bowl quickly without slowing down.

Sensitive teeth and a full stomach are separate issues, though.

Unless you’re acquiring titles for specific purposes, most are a waste of time.

It’s a hundred times more efficient to eat a thousand different dishes than to eat the same dish a thousand times.

‘No wonder there’s a gimmick that players are people who always eat different foods.’

Most people don’t easily try unfamiliar foods, but players prefer them.

Sometimes you suffer through bizarre foods like fluorescent chicken or twisted pollack, but apple walnut oatmeal wasn’t that bad.

“Mmmm nom nom.”

“Look at the little one eating with such gusto.”

“Hmm. Should we get a bowl too?”

The guests filling the inn’s first floor, which served as both restaurant and tavern, succumbed to the rich aroma of oatmeal and started ordering breakfast.

The innkeeper brought three glasses of apple juice to our table as service, saying our orders had increased his sales.

“Why so little? Fill my helmet to the brim!”

The monkey beastkin at a nearby table was being difficult, but since he offered to pay extra, the innkeeper happily took his helmet away.

Hygiene aside, he’s quite a spirited fellow.

“It’s not allowed.”

“…I didn’t even say anything.”

“It is absolutely not allowed.”

Butler Jona’s vigilance shows no signs of diminishing today.

I’ve discovered an unexpected downside to playing nobility.

The freedom is too limited.

Slurp.

Sip sip.

As I was sucking up the last drop of apple juice to soothe my frustration, someone gently knocked on our table with the back of their hand.

“Well, who do we have here. If it isn’t my travel companions!”

“Bard mister!”

It was a truly unexpected face.

He didn’t look as strong as the monkey beastkin, so how did he get into the inn so quickly?

“When did you get in?”

“Haha. I came in right after knocking on the inn door yesterday. Not as a guest, but as a musician.”

So that’s how.

In the game, I wondered who would choose such a garbage profession, but now that it’s reality, I’m insanely jealous of bards.

“It’s not allowed.”

“Tch. He always says it’s not allowed before I even say anything.”

I’m starting to dislike my butler a little.

“You three came for the ticket exam, right?”

The bard lowered his head and spoke in a quiet voice so other tables couldn’t hear.

“From 6 AM to 6 PM, every hour, an examiner comes down to the first floor. Listen carefully to what they say when that happens.”

“Why are you giving us this information?”

“I made your butler quite angry last time, and I’m sure the young lady was startled too. I felt guilty and wanted to apologize by offering this information.”

My butler’s expression softened a bit.

Is this my chance? Could I switch to the bard class?

As I glanced sideways to check, the answer came back sharp as a knife:

“It’s not allowed.”

I can’t say anything around here.