episode_0010

Episode 10. Sleeping with a Crazy Woman.

It didn’t go in that deep to begin with, so it came out quickly too.

Before long, a blue field came into view. At that moment, a boisterous sound was heard nearby.

“Keuhahaha! We really caught a lot today. At this rate, we’re going to be rich.”

“Keuheuk, you crazy bastard. When are you going to save up money picking up skull bones? If you’re a man, you have to make it big. How about we go deeper tomorrow?”

“Stop it. Don’t overdo it. It’s not too late to get more equipment.”

I inadvertently scanned my attire. They were men wearing much more flamboyant equipment than us.

Of course, that’s compared to us, but they didn’t look to be in great condition either.

‘Four people.’

As much as I discovered them, they discovered us too. The sturdy men stopped walking and fixed their gazes this way.

“Huh? What’s that? Just two?”

“Even a woman and a man. They’ve got guts. Do they think this is a tea house run by old lady Bella?”

It was loud for a soliloquy. They were putting strength in their voices as if they wanted us to hear.

We immediately averted our gaze and walked forward. There was no need to argue.

“───.”

“───.”

It sounded like they were muttering something behind us. But it was hard to hear as we got further away. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“I agree.”

“I’ve memorized their faces for now.”

“Good. That’s all thanks to your trait, right?”

“Yes.”

Before long, the guards protecting the castle walls came into view. With familiar gestures, we passed through security and headed to the giant Rose Inn.

“Earlier, I saw those men. They were carrying bulging bundles. I presume they were the remains of skeletons.”

“I saw them too. It didn’t look like they put the entire skeletons they caught in there; it seemed like they only collected certain parts.”

“Yes. It seems there are certain parts that are worth money. I don’t know what they are, though.”

“Let’s find out the information when it gets light tomorrow. What time should we meet?”

She naturally made an appointment. But we could both realize at the same time.

In the current state where cell phones can’t be turned on, we can’t figure out the time.

Silence lingered between us for a moment. Eventually, she opened her mouth.

“I have a good idea.”

“What is it?”

“Let’s sleep together.”

“······.”

“······.”

As always, I couldn’t keep up with the regressor’s way of thinking.

***

She and I were sitting facing each other in chairs.

After requesting lodging and meals from the inn’s mistress, we had just come out of the publicly used bathing facilities after washing our bodies.

Her cheeks were slightly red, as if she had washed her body in hot water.

‘I guess she paid extra. Mine was lukewarm.’

She caught the most skeletons in today’s hunt.

Of course, the difference wasn’t big, but it’s an undeniable fact that she has more money than me.

“Let’s go get new equipment tomorrow morning. It’s still very lacking.”

“Yes. Like those men we saw earlier. It seems our enemies aren’t just monsters.”

What if we had met them in the forest instead of near the fields? For some reason, my imagination didn’t extend in a peaceful direction.

“Let’s go to that adventurer’s guild first. I heard they buy monster remains there.”

“Yes.”

There were still many things we didn’t know. It was natural. It had only been a day since we came here. It would be weirder if we knew a lot of information.

After that, she and I continued the conversation. Of course, it wasn’t about private matters, but only about extremely public matters.

“Let’s stop. We’ll be busy tomorrow too.”

“Yes.”

There was one bed in the room. We placed our equipment on either side of the bed’s perimeter, then lay down near it.

That was in case we were attacked while we were sleeping.

She seemed unfazed even though she was lying in bed with a fully grown man. It was just like a regressor who could go back to the past if I did anything foolish.

I opened the status window with my eyes closed. As always. It was amazing that I could see it even with my vision blocked.

[Stats]

[Strength – 14]

[Sense – 13]

[Durability – 13]

[Stamina – 13]

[Mana – 13]

[Trait]

[Perfect Memory]

[Skills]

Magic Missile. Lv1

[Karma – 2]

[Gold – 2111]

The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of gold. The amount of gold I had earned had decreased a lot thanks to paying for lodging and meals at the inn. For reference, the bath fee was free once a day when staying at the inn.

‘There’s not enough money. But I can’t sleep on the streets.’

I don’t know what will happen later, but right now, I’m struggling to even pay for fixed expenses. Can I buy decent equipment with this?

‘I hope that adventurer’s guild will deposit a decent amount of money for the skeleton remains.’

The skeletons’ corpses were quietly sleeping in the inventory. I found out something new, the inventory, which consists of a total of 5 slots, could hold a capacity of 1 cubic meter per slot.

I thought it was a decent size. But it was difficult to fit all the skeletons that she and I had killed.

In the end, I had to tearfully grind them into powder. I couldn’t let others take it.

As I was thinking, sleepiness was gradually finding me. I really have to sleep now. Hmm······

.

.

.

Sarah was looking at Johann, who was sleeping with his back turned, with calm eyes.

“······.”

‘Suspicious.’

She was very suspicious of Johann. When he first stepped foot on the first floor, she was secretly surprised when he approached her. A strange stranger, an even stranger place. It was strange not to be surprised.

Soon, her name came out of Johann’s mouth. She raised her guard another level. The misunderstanding was later cleared up, but it still remained.

He asked her to accompany him. He said it wasn’t easy to walk around alone in such a dangerous place. It was a reasonable suggestion, and she accepted because he didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives.

‘Too kind. To the point of being bizarre.’

She wasn’t usually friendly in her relationships with people. Emotions are a consumable resource, and it was always a scarce resource for her, trapped in the endless regression. That’s why most people didn’t like her very much.

It was only because she had beautiful looks. If she was an ugly woman, she would have been hated even more.

Johann’s reaction to her response was bland. He was moderately polite and moderately indifferent to her. In other words, he was normal.

‘He doesn’t exactly look kind.’

Even that kind of reaction was rare for her. Naturally, her attention was bound to be drawn. The strange thing wasn’t just that.

‘Too transparent. He has no qualms about telling his information or expressing his thoughts.’

Of course, she doesn’t enjoy lying either. Since others won’t remember when she regresses, there was no reason to tell a lie.

But Johann was an ordinary person. A 20-year-old man who had just graduated from high school. Do people usually give out information about themselves so freely at that age?

‘There’s no way.’

Even if it’s a difference in personality, there’s a limit. The two of them had only met for the first time today. He didn’t seem to have that kind of personality to begin with.

‘Let’s watch a little longer.’

He was suspicious, but it was also true that there was no one like Johann. A comrade who doesn’t pay special attention to her and has excellent combat skills.

He even placed third in the fields. He was a talent who was in the top 3 percent in this bizarre tower.

‘If it wasn’t a rock but proper equipment, this man might have taken first place.’

Moreover, Johann was a mage with a position in the rear, not the front.

That means he and her were quite a good match. How could such a necessary talent come to her, like······

‘It’s like he chose his job with me in mind from the beginning.’

Is it too far-fetched? She shook her head. There’s no way, didn’t he receive a trait that improves memory? It must be because of that.

But it was a possibility. Anyone who saw her wielding a kitchen knife in the fields could easily predict her job choice.

Wouldn’t she roughly choose a job that uses a knife? One might have thought.

‘Let’s stop thinking. I have to sleep now.’

She thought so, but she couldn’t easily shake off her suspicions. You could say it was a strange feeling, that sense kept sending signals.

It’s strange, that man is hiding something. You have to find out what it is.

In the end, she entrusted herself to deep unconsciousness, but also considered one faint possibility. Maybe, just maybe······

Did Johann find out that she was an infinite regressor?

She smiled slightly in her sleep.

‘Crazy woman. There’s no way.’

In any case, Johann passed her own test.

He didn’t do anything even after seeing her defenseless. She decided to have a little faith in Johann.

Of course, it was very faint, though.