Chapter 65
I had no idea that a system window would pop up for the registered person.
And to think it wasn’t even anonymous, but used real names.
’Wait, I don’t think a registration window appeared for Park Seong-gyeon.’
Since he hadn’t shown any particular reaction, the registration prompt probably didn’t trigger.
But even if we assume the window didn’t appear for Park Seong-geon because he was just a sample, when I registered Je Hyeon-oh....
I stopped thinking mid-way.
Regardless of the situation, Je Hyeon-oh had to be treated as an exception.
’And actually, registration isn’t the only problem.’
I had used the Protection ability to stop the battle between the butlers and the
captains in the Third Class.
In truth, I already had a lie prepared for this.
"That... I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s related to a bound item I recently acquired."
I fumbled through my inventory and pulled out a Happy Smile Candy.
Then, I handled the registration and the protection in one go.
"It turns out this item allows me to use a defensive ability. When I tried to use it back then, a prompt appeared saying I had to register a target for the casting... In my haste, I did it without permission. I’m sorry."
Since it was a bound item, the captains couldn’t verify it anyway.
’Sorry, Captains.’
It was fine when the target was Dominic, but I felt a slight twinge of guilt toward the captains.
Despite my explanation, Mo Hae-in and Kwak Han-mook still seemed suspicious.
However, as if letting it slide, they didn’t press further.
I drooped my eyebrows, pretending to be pitiful, and asked.
"Would it be alright if I continue to use protection on the captains in the future..? I want to be helpful in any way I can."
Something about my words seemed funny to Kwak Han-mook, as he squinted his eyes and laughed.
"Chestnut is quite the thoughtful one."
Mo Hae-in didn’t laugh; instead, she gave a stern warning.
"Only use it in situations you judge to be truly dangerous. No matter how good an item is, it’s ultimately an object of the Trial. There is nothing to be gained by using it too often. Especially for a trainee like you, who frequently experiences anomalies.
"Yes, I will be careful."
After answering politely, I stealthily shifted my gaze.
Je Hyeon-oh, who had approached unnoticed, displayed a smiling emoticon on his goggles.
He knew perfectly well that everything I was saying was a lie.
Of course, in typical Je Hyeon-oh fashion, he didn’t bother to correct the truth.
[Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Je.]
As I sent him a message filled with gratitude, the emoticon changed.
o ‹b
..Is that lowercase alphabet a thumb?
I wasn’t worried about Je Hyeon-oh revealing the truth to the captains, but I was worried he might torment me in other ways.
For example, throwing me at a monster whenever I used Protection.
I felt I needed to be even more careful from now on.
The captains seemed to want to ask more about what happened after the Third Class, but clearing the Slay to-
Playing was their immediate priority.
Thus, they decided to stop the interrogation for now and proceed with the strategy.
"What are everyone’s classes?"
The originally planned class selections were as follows:
Je Hyeon-oh: Swordsman
Kwak Han-mook: Mage
Mo Hae-in: Paladin
Won Tae-beom: Berserker
Han Goyo: Chef
However, Dominic had intervened.
Since duplicate selections weren’t allowed and they were in a situation where they couldn’t consult each other, things got completely tangled, and the final classes were decided in a mess.
Je Hyeon-oh: Berserker
Kwak Han-mook: Paladin
Mo Hae-in: Swordsman
Dominic: Mage
Han Goyo: Chef
Everyone except me had their class changed.
Upon learning that Je Hyeon-oh had chosen Berserker, the captains and I all looked grim.
A man who was already insane even when standing still had now become a Berserker.
It was a bad start.
However, I didn’t bring up any negative comments and only checked on the captains.
"Are you all doing okay?"
"Swordsman, for me the blade is the most comfortable, but a standard sword is no problem. Well, a moon blade is a type of-"
"Wasn’t it a spear?"
Mo Hae-in laughed softly and explained the difference between a moon blade and a spear.
I had thought they were similar since they were both polearms, but there was a difference.
I had played games with Eastern-style backgrounds, but I had never used a moon blade, so this was new information to me.
While storing this new knowledge about her in my head, I wondered if there were other things the others had misunderstood.
After all, I had only ever observed them unilaterally within the game.
Anyway, thinking that Mo Captain was indeed impressive for being proficient with a standard sword as well, I looked at Kwak Han-mook.
"Ah, I really wanted to be a Mage. I even decided which spells I was going to use."
Seeing him spout nonsense as usual, he seemed to be doing fine too.
After organizing a rough plan in my head, I checked the time.
8:00 AM
Quite a bit of time had passed while entering and talking.
I hurried to assign tasks to everyone.
"Lieutenant Colonel Je, I ask that you tidy up the area around the restaurant. Captain Kwak, please gather collectibles around the village, and Captain Mo, you and I will clean the inside of the restaurant.]
"I’lI do the cleaning."
Kwak Han-mook said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Captain Mo isn’t good at that kind of thing."
"What? What do you....."
Mo Hae-in reacted with disbelief before shaking her head.
"Do whatever you want. I don’t care."
Inevitably, I ended up tasked with the interior cleaning alongside Kwak Han-mook.
Since I wanted to delay confessing about the slime to Kwak Han-mook as much as possible, I felt like I had been assigned to a slaughterhouse.
Mo Hae-in departed for the village, and Je Hyeon-oh stood right in the center of the restaurant’s front yard.
He looked at me and waved his hand, signaling me to get back.
To avoid being caught in his attack range, I fled to the entrance of the restaurant, but I didn’t go inside and instead took a moment to watch.
Je Hyeon-oh lightly swung his metallic hand.
The sight of black trajectories being drawn following his movement was so cool it naturally captured my attention.
It would have been cooler if the result wasn’t just cutting grass, though.
Swish.
The weeds in the front yard were swept away in an instant.
I had already experienced in the Third Class that his metallic hand was excellent for gardening.
I thought he’d be good at mowing grass, and I was right.
I applauded and added another task for Je Hyeon-oh.
"Lieutenant Colonel Je! Please take care of the backyard as well!"
Then, I gathered an armful of the grass he had cut from the ground.
[Grass Leaf: A useless piece of grass. Let’s just incinerate it.]
After picking up about 100 pieces and putting them in my inventory, I entered the restaurant.
Ping! A cheerful notification sounded.
[Yikes! It’s covered in dust. Let’s try cleaning the inside of the restaurant!]
Looking at the system window, I remembered something I had forgotten.
’Come to think of it, it’s been quiet.!’
It used to chatter constantly, asking things like "What about you?", but it had been silent since the Third Class, and even now that the system window had normally recovered, it remained speechless.
It was plenty of time for it to have spouted some useless nonsense.
I felt the squishy sensation of the slime on top of my head.
’Could it be.. is it walking on eggshells around Dominic?’
As soon as I thought it was a plausible guess, the system window popped up with a thud.
[You reflect on your own reckless behavior. You feel deep relief at the fact that you survived despite committing an extremely dangerous act.]
[This is because the one who exhausted all their strength for you-]
The text poured out as if it were angry, then suddenly cut off.
I called out to the system window internally.
’Why stop mid-sentence?’
However, there was no answer.
I pondered the words the system window had said.
What did it mean by "exhausted all their strength for me"?
I had no memory of receiving any particular help, so I couldn’t guess.
I didn’t think I had done anything particularly reckless, either.
One thing was certain: it had no strength left, so it wouldn’t be able to nag me for a while.
I whispered to the pudding slime on my head.
"Mr. Dominic. Did you see that?"
"The dust? I saw it clearly. This place certainly requires cleanliness."
Dominic expressed his distaste politely from atop my head.
’Can he only see the quest window?’
It seemed he couldn’t see the things the system window sent as if chatting to itself, or the notifications that appeared as the Trial progressed.
"Goyo! I’m cleaning the second floor!"
Kwak Han-mook suddenly popped his head over the stairs and shouted.
"Yes! I’ll do the first floor!"
I shouted back to him.
’You scared me.’
Because I had a guilty conscience, I jumped every time Kwak Han-mook said something.
I wanted to ask Dominic about Kwak Han-mook, but since I didn’t know when he would come down to the first floor, it seemed too dangerous to talk.
I decided to be patient and start cleaning first.
Before starting the cleaning in earnest, I picked one table that looked the most intact and cleaned it thoroughly.
I also found a large glass measuring cup and washed it clean.
"A lot of dust will be flying around. Please excuse me for a moment."
Then, I flipped the measuring cup over on the table and trapped Dominic inside.
The measuring cup fit Dominic’s size perfectly.
Seeing the pudding slime trapped and unable to move inside the glass measuring cup gave me a great sense of stability.
Dominic let his ears droop inside the cup.
"This place... is a bit uncomfortable, but I shall wait."
After opening the windows and dusting out the interior, I rummaged around and found a stack of paper cups.
I filled the paper cups with tap water, lined them up on the table, and dropped two pieces of grass leaf into each.
You have made Grass Leaf Tea.
I checked the item description.
[Grass Leaf Tea (0G): Tea made by putting two pieces of grass leaf in plain water.]
(One-line review: Blegh... Who would drink this?)
"Blegh" for my masterpiece!
’As if you know how precious drinkables are.’ looked at the 50 cups of Grass Leaf Tea with satisfied eyes.
Dominic, who had been quietly wriggling and watching from inside the measuring cup, called out to me.
"Roasted Chestnut..."
The voice calling me while staring up was ominous.
Wondering why, I jumped in surprise and waved my hands frantically.
"M-Mr. Dominic, no! Absolutely not! I just made this for practice. Would I ever give something like this to you? To my precious and only contractor, Mr. Dominic!"
I even stuttered a bit because I answered so hurriedly.
I pleaded with Dominic.
"I will treat you to a proper, delicious meal, so please wait just a little longer."
"Yes, Roasted Chestnut. I shall look forward to it."
Dominic replied, fluttering his ears.
It was a gesture so cute I wanted to bite it, but my spine chilled. Serving a pudding slime was not easy.
Since no customer would pay money to drink Grass Leaf Tea, the price was set at 0 gold.
’But if there are no customers to buy it, I can just make it myself.
Just as I equipped the mindset of a merchant, Kwak Han-mook came down to the first floor.
His gaze fixed on the table.
"..."
I had forgotten to release Dominic.
I quickly pretended to organize the Grass Leaf Tea and set the glass measuring cup upright to let the pudding slime escape.
Dominic, who had been stuck to the glass, flipped over following the cup and wriggled his way out.
Kwak Han-mook’s eyes followed Dominic precisely.
He pointed at the slime and asked in a voice that sounded as if he were doubting himself.
"Chestnut... Am I the only one who sees this?"
He had seen the pudding slime since the briefing, but since no one else had shown any sign of finding it strange, he seemed to have remained silent.
At that moment, Dominic crawled up onto me.
"Crazy! That thing again!"
Kwak Han-mook hurriedly reached out to grab the slime climbing up me.
His movements were swift, before I could even catch him.
My heart dropped, but.
"Huh?"
Kwak Han-mook’s hand passed straight through the slime’s body and touched my forearm.
Kwak Han-mook waved his hand several times, but each time he failed to grab anything and only brushed against my arm.
To me, who was flinching in surprise, Dominic informed me in a leisurely voice.
"Roasted Chestnut. You do not need to worry about me. Unless they are a contractor, they cannot touch me carelessly."
’You should have told me that long ago!’
I couldn’t dare get angry at Dominic, so I cursed only in my head.
First, two things were confirmed.
Kwak Han-mook cannot touch Dominic. He cannot hear his voice either.
I immediately discarded the excuses I had been thinking of, such as ’a squishy toy that’s popular these days was newly released as a Trial item’ or ’I couldn’t ignore a baby slime who lost its parents in a sudden accident, so I brought it home to raise,’ and so on.
And I immediately crafted a new setting.
"What is the matter?"
When I looked at Kwak Han-mook with shaking eyes as if I were surprised, he blinked in confusion.
"No, can’t you see this squishy thing?"
"No. I don’t see anything." I asked back worriedly.
"Captain Kwak... Are you alright?"