Chapter 167
Chapter 167
I had lit a campfire in front of the earthen house and was staring at the system for a while.
I sensed a presence.
“……Villed.”
“You’re awake.”
Lapin’s sleep had lasted about an hour. She woke up right when the golden sunset seeped into deep navy blue.
And then, as if it were only natural, a sound came from Lapin.
Grrrk-.
“You woke up because you were hungry.”
“Yeah…….”
I had been just about to make dinner anyway, so the timing was perfect.
I was about to take out ingredients and a pan from the subspace when someone approached and looked around cautiously.
It was that freckled girl I had seen yesterday.
In both of her hands was…… a pot?
“Hello, young master, young lady!”
The girl met my eyes and quickly came over.
“Since you encouraged me yesterday to try applying to the academy, I wanted to offer a small token of thanks. If it’s not a bother…… would you be willing to have this for dinner tonight?”
As she came closer, the delicious smell of cheese and meat wafted through the air.
“I-I know it’s presumptuous, but it’s a dish I’m confident in. It’s a food that represents Kirchen.”
Hearing that, I took out Boogie’s card and created a square table about one meter wide and long.
“Well, if you’re offering, I’ll gratefully eat it. Put it here.”
“Thank you!”
When the girl lifted the lid of the pot, hot steam rose softly into the air.
“It’s a Kirchen specialty called grilled Baekseoljam!”
The dish was neatly divided into three parts: meat, cheese, and something like shrimp.
I knew this food because I had seen it in the game. It was a dish made using ‘mana creatures’.
Even though it had ‘creature’ in the name, it wasn’t an insect.
It was a type of crustacean that lived in icy waters of the snowy mountains, and its appearance was almost identical to a shrimp.
“Ah, it tastes even better if you dip it in this.”
The girl handed over another dish.
“It’s a cream made with Seolhyang mushrooms.”
“Oh…… can I try it?”
When Lapin’s eyes sparkled, the girl nodded happily.
“Yes! Of course! Please go ahead!”
Just as she said, Lapin and I dipped the Baekseoljam into the cream and tried it.
The distinct aroma of mushrooms spread out, and a soft, rich flavor filled my mouth.
It was quite excellent.
Lapin seemed satisfied as well and picked up another piece.
“It’s delicious.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad it suits your taste……!”
The girl kept bowing repeatedly, as if she were the one who was grateful.
‘No, this isn’t just politeness…… it’s really good?’
It was good enough that I wanted to try cooking it myself.
My cooking skill was fairly usable, but the range of dishes I could make was narrow. That was probably because I didn’t have many recipes.
‘If I get the chance, it might be nice to learn some Kirchen recipes.’
Whether to adapt them or use them directly, they would come in handy.
‘I should check out restaurants around here that are known for good cooking.’
Thinking that, I asked the girl.
“Would it be possible to buy the recipe? I think it’d be fine to cook it occasionally at the academy.”
“Yeah, Karin and the others would like it too.”
When Lapin chimed in, the girl shook her head side to side.
“N-no! If I can repay you with this, I’ll happily teach you! And on top of that, you’ll be promoting Kirchen at the academy……! I feel like I should be the one paying you! I’ll be right back!”
The girl hurried into the building, then returned with a small piece of paper and handed it to me.
“This is the recipe. Thank you, young master!”
“I should be the one thanking you. I’ll enjoy cooking it even after I return to the academy.”
“Then I’m grateful!”
She replied, deeply moved, then blinked.
“Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t told you my name. I’m Hesti. Hesti.”
“……Hesti?”
It was a name I had seen in the game.
She wasn’t a core character of the episode, but…… she had given a ‘specific quest’ before.
‘Was she destined to enter the academy from the start?’
After all, she could use two attributes. Letting that talent go to waste wouldn’t make sense.
I raised the corner of my lips and replied.
“Alright, I’ll remember it. This is Lapin, and my name is…… just call me Riz.”
“Thank you! Mr. Riz? Hmm, I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere…….”
Hesti seemed very interested in the academy. There was a chance she knew the name ‘Villed’, who had been accused by the princess.
She might get scared for no reason, so I gave a different name instead.
“……Anyway, Young Master Riz! I’ve remembered it.”
Hesti nodded.
Then, as if something suddenly made her curious, she asked me.
“But what brings the two of you to Kirchen?”
“……Well, nothing in particular. I heard it’s a famous tourist spot, so we came. I also heard it’s famous for a certain medicinal herb.”
“Ahh, you mean Moonlight Herb!”
Hesti continued proudly.
“To find the legendary medicinal herb, Moonlight Herb, which can undo any poison or curse, people from all over the country gathered here, and because of that, Kirchen’s lodging and tourism industries developed as well.”
“Hm, so it has such meaningful history.”
“My grandfather was a specialist herbalist for Moonlight Herb. He sold that precious herb to build this building and buy the land.”
“He built a building just by selling herbs? That’s an impressive grandfather.”
“Yes! He’s our pride.”
The more she talked, the more a smile spread across Hesti’s face.
“So the family business wasn’t this inn, but being a Moonlight Herb herbalist. Then, are you inheriting that family trade too?”
Hesti shook her head.
“……No.”
Then, with a lonely smile, she added,
“When I was young, I wanted to be a Moonlight Herb herbalist like my grandfather. It felt like being a treasure hunter, and living freely in the mountains guided only by nature’s intuition, beyond logic…… it looked so cool. But I can’t do that anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Moonlight Herb has disappeared. Literally. Over the past ten years, not a single herbalist has found even one Moonlight Herb.”
Hearing that, the Kirchen travel booklet I had read with Lapin on the bus came to mind.
It said that Kirchen was a natural habitat of Moonlight Herb, but…… it seemed to be outdated information. Or maybe it had just been exaggerated advertising.
“My grandfather said, ‘I can’t see it anymore. I can’t see a single one.’ Since Moonlight Herb disappeared…… he’s been bedridden ever since.”
“It sounds like Moonlight Herb was the meaning of life to your grandfather.”
“Of course. He had been with it since his youth. If something you see every day suddenly disappears…… I think the sense of loss would be pretty big.”
“Then, does that mean you really can’t see Moonlight Herb at all anymore?”
Hesti nodded.
“Yes. Since I was very young, the harvest had decreased drastically every year, and now it’s not even distributed in the market.”
Hesti seemed to hesitate for a moment, then spoke as if she had made up her mind.
“Actually, the reason I thought of entering the academy without really knowing my place…… was to find out why Moonlight Herb stopped appearing, and to propagate it. I wanted to go to the Alchemist Department and help restore Moonlight Herb. Until my grandfather is still alive, I absolutely want to see that restoration through. It’s my dream.”
“Hmm…….”
She was quite a devoted granddaughter.
“I don’t want to think that it’s extinct…… Isn’t it possible that somewhere, in a place people can’t see or reach, it’s still alive?”
I see.
That was why Hesti had said Moonlight Herb had ‘disappeared’ instead. Because she didn’t want to believe it was extinct.
“The reason Moonlight Herb disappeared. Do you have any guesses?”
“Ah, I’ve thought about it, of course. From my perspective…… I thought it might be because of monsters.”
“Monsters?”
“Yes. According to my grandfather, when he was young, there wasn’t a single monster in Kirchen. But as time passed, monsters gradually started to appear.”
Was that why there seemed to be an unusually large number of restricted zones around this area?
“People of Kirchen, including me, think that Moonlight Herb can’t grow naturally because of monsters. Unless the empire’s knight order carries out a large-scale purge…… it would be hard to eliminate them all.”
“Don’t adventurers or mercenaries help?”
Hesti shook her head.
“I heard that you need some kind of proof to enter restricted zones. Most adventurers and mercenaries don’t have that proof, so they can’t enter restricted zones.”
“In the end, nothing’s been resolved.”
“Yes. Unfortunately…….”
Hesti gave an awkward smile, picked up the empty pot, and stood up from her seat. Since it was late at night, she probably thought staying any longer would be rude.
“Will you be staying here again tonight? A room just opened up…….”
Hearing that, I fell into brief contemplation.
The earthen house we had built had thick walls that blocked the wind well, and once we lit a fire, it became quite warm.
More than anything, I liked the fact that I could freely let the spirit beasts roam.
“This might sound a bit out of the blue, but can animals come into the room as well?”
“Pardon? Animals……? That won’t be possible.”
“Then, I’ll stay here one more day.”
“Yes! Understood!”
And so, after Hesti left.
I opened the system.
Heart-pounding Special Event!
Conquer the four mountains of Kirchen!
As proof of conquest, defeat the ‘King’ that exists on the largest mountain in each direction!
King of the East Mountain - 0/1
King of the West Mountain - 0/1
King of the South Mountain - 0/1
King of the North Mountain - 0/1
Reward - Learning Machine ( one-month rental )
For someone like me who couldn’t afford to buy a Learning Machine, the system had offered a new event.
‘Conquering mountains, huh…….’
It wasn’t a quest that could be finished overnight. At the fastest, a few days…… at the longest, it might take about a month.
‘It’s pretty intense, but if I clear all of it, they really do give a reward.’
A reward comparable to a whopping 30,000 points.
By livestock shed labor standards, it was an enormous reward equivalent to 300 days.
Missing it would be a huge waste.
‘It’s definitely a drastic event.’
Each mountain had been designated as a restricted zone, and unlike abandoned mines, they were marked as particularly dangerous areas, to the point that imperial sentries were stationed there.
But that wasn’t a big problem for me.
I took a golden compass out of my pocket. With this alone, I could legally enter restricted zones.
There were illegal ways to get in…… but the probability of getting caught was quite high. And if I did get caught, things would get extremely troublesome.
‘If luck was bad, you could end up becoming a wanted criminal, and if life on the run dragged on, one of the captains of the Imperial Knights would even come personally to capture you.’
Anyway.
I had already been considering a growth method that would be worth aiming for a big reward, so the timing was perfect.
‘But can Lapin and I really clear it……? I mean, it feels like we probably can.’
The problem was that the difficulty of the conquest was quite high. The ‘King’ was a powerful boss that ruled each mountain.
Even Ren at the current point wouldn’t dare challenge it.
In the game, clearing it in first year was impossible.
At the very least, you had to finish the first semester of the second-year curriculum, add two more key characters including the protagonist and the Princess, equip the best possible gear, form a party, and only then attempt the conquest.
But now, it was half a year earlier than that point. And instead of four people, we only had two.
‘The skills the two of us have are all cheat-key level, so it doesn’t seem like the conquest would be impossible.’
I could try the easiest mountain first, and if it felt too much, I could recruit companions.
‘I want to start the mountain conquest right away from tomorrow, but…….’
While I had good equipment, Lapin had nothing.
I needed good items to protect Lapin.
The deliberation didn’t last long.
‘……Right now, I’ll make her some usable combat equipment.’