I pushed the thought that the NPCs had been ripping me off all this time into a corner of my mind and went up to the second floor of the ‘Rainbow Bridge’ Inn.
The first floor served as both a restaurant and tavern, while the guest rooms were on the second floor.
My room was next to Rion’s.
A female employee followed the two of us upstairs.
More precisely, she followed behind while chatting away with Rion.
“Could you please tell me about two sets of clothes, tops and bottoms?”
I gave five Pennies to Mary, who said she was Rion’s friend, and asked her to find me some clothes to change into.
I was so exhausted that I doubted I had enough energy to go shopping for them myself.
“This is too much.”
I had never bought clothing without any special function in the game.
So I had simply told her about the price of a cheap dagger.
“Then keep whatever is left.”
‘Damn, I’m completely charismatic.’
“…Ah, all right.”
With a somewhat reluctant expression, Mary said goodbye to Rion and went back downstairs.
“Rion, sorry, but I haven’t slept properly. How about we meet again around dinnertime, in about six hours?”
“All right. Let’s do that.”
“Good. If you get hungry, don’t worry about me. Eat lunch first.”
“Okay.”
CLICK.
After making a simple arrangement with Rion, I closed the door.
The room was larger than I had expected.
It was bigger than a studio apartment but smaller than a two-room apartment—roughly the size of a one-and-a-half-room unit.
“There’s even a bathtub.”
A four-legged Western-style bathtub stood inside the room, a short distance from the bed.
A short pipe was connected beneath the tub, and a shelf stood beside it.
Soap and simple washing supplies rested on the top shelf, while several square-folded towels were stacked below.
The service here was insane.
“Towels are one thing, but do they even have soap?”
Other than the letter ‘H’ stamped into it, the soap had no notable features.
I had been tired enough to collapse straight onto the bed.
But the moment I realized I could wash, it felt as though a foul stench were radiating from my body.
No.
A truly horrible smell was rising from me.
‘My hair is completely greasy too.’
When I touched my chin, the beard was rough beneath my fingers.
My hair was oily and caked with grime.
My mouth, which I hadn’t brushed in far too long, was unbearably bitter and stale.
When I looked into the full-length mirror hanging on the wall, I saw a beggar beyond comparison.
‘Rion looked fine.’
A sigh escaped me.
Rion had suffered and rolled across the ground with me, yet she looked perfectly fine.
Was it the difference between our faces?
“Whatever. Let’s wash and sleep.”
Once I became aware of the smell, it continued assaulting my nose.
Maybe this was why sleeping outdoors for too long raised Stress in the game.
“But where does the water come from?”
The room contained only the solitary bathtub and a drain for emptying it.
As I looked inside the tub, I found a spirit.
POP.
A spirit shaped like a small rain cloud had been sleeping inside the bathtub.
It opened its eyes and met my gaze with a cute sound effect.
“Wow. This is great.”
Rion had said the innkeeper was the teacher who taught her spirit arts.
So that person knew how to use spirits like this.
The cloud-shaped Undine floated over the bathtub and sprayed water, serving as a shower.
I scrubbed every corner of my body with soap and finished by enjoying the cool stream of water for a while.
“You can make hot water too. Thanks.”
When I gave it a thumbs-up, the Undine wore a triumphant expression.
The spirits I had used only to beat monsters in the game had become precious beings that provided at least some measure of modern convenience now that the game had become reality.
‘Considering the Sylph can be used as an Observer, spirits probably have even more uses than I thought. Should I build Rion as a spirit-focused Druid……?’
I dried myself and lay on the bed.
When I slept on hard ground, I had thought even a sleeping bag was heaven.
Now that I was lying on a bed, this felt like paradise of another kind.
My body seemed to sink deep beneath the mattress, and my consciousness rapidly faded.
***
“Woooow, I slept well.”
I stretched my arms and legs and rose from the bed.
My body felt refreshed.
Beds really were wonderful.
Sunlight shattered through the window.
“…The sun is still up.”
I opened the pocket watch I had frequently used inside the dungeon and checked the time.
[17:01]
“I went to sleep at twelve, so I only slept five hours.”
I got out of bed and looked around.
Fortunately, the daggers I had hung from the door handle were still there.
Once, when I traveled abroad in the real world, my hotel door had suddenly opened and a foreign stranger walked inside.
‘That scared the hell out of me.’
I made eye contact with a middle-aged woman I had never seen before.
She immediately left, claiming she had mistaken the room.
I later learned that she had been a thief.
At the time, I had spent half the trip inside my room suffering from diarrhea because the local water hadn’t agreed with me.
Every traveler except me had supposedly had their belongings stolen.
Afterward, I watched YouTube videos and began hanging something from the doorknob that would make a loud noise if it fell.
This time, I had no jars, so I had tied several daggers together and hung them there instead.
While retrieving the daggers from the doorknob, I noticed something strange.
‘Why doesn’t it hurt?’
I unwound the bandage around my left arm.
The arm that had been swollen blue had completely returned to normal.
SQUEEZE.
I opened and closed my hand to check it.
There was nothing wrong with it.
“Did I level up or something?”
Like many other games, this one restored all health and Mana upon leveling up.
However, that applied only to playable characters.
NPCs accompanying the player didn’t recover health or Mana even when they leveled up.
‘That’s why the player is called the [Chosen One] and treated as a divine representative within the game’s world.’
You could create an alternate character and send an NPC party to farm items.
However—
“I’m not a player character.”
The reason I believed that was that player characters began at Level 1.
They started at Level 1, accumulated experience, and could choose whichever class they wanted beginning at Level 10.
By contrast, NPCs such as the ‘Jar Warrior’ began at Level 10 with their classes already determined.
I couldn’t use a system window.
I had also been able to fight Rebels who started at Level 13.
That was why I believed I had possessed an NPC who began at Level 10.
Considering the experience awarded by the monsters I had killed since falling down the slope and my physical ability, which was roughly comparable to a Common Orc’s—
“Fourteen?”
My estimated level was currently 14.
No, seriously.
Even if goblins gave very little experience, I had killed dozens of them.
Could I really have failed to level up even once?
I had also defeated the Level 20 mutant Hobgoblin, even if it had involved plenty of luck.
That should have been more than enough to level up.
“Then this isn’t a leveling effect.”
I rested my chin on my hand and sank into thought.
One by one, I recalled everything that had happened since I opened my eyes in this world.
It still pissed me off just thinking about it.
Getting hit by ‘Switcheroo’ and thrown down the mountainside had been outrageously unfair.
“…The Instance Dungeon?”
That was the only time something truly strange had happened to me.
Everything else had threatened my life, but none of it had been especially extraordinary.
Inside the Instance Dungeon, the only unusual thing was that the Shaman Goblin had bitten me.
More precisely, it had sucked my blood.
My gaze unconsciously moved toward the arm it had bitten.
Not even a scar remained now.
Come to think of it, the voice inside my head had started around that time too.
Then had the buffs I received during battle not been part of the Jar Warrior’s talents?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Kain, are you awake?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right out.”
Time had passed quickly, and it was already when I had promised to meet Rion.
I went down to the first floor of the inn with her.
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
“Just order anything. I’m hungry enough to eat the plate.”
“Then I’ll order what I want. Do you want some mead too?”
“…Yes.”
When I asked about Miyu, Rion said she had fallen asleep and been left on the bed.
I had wanted to calm myself by petting Miyu.
Tsk.
Rion’s gaze fell on my arm.
“Your arm. Is it already all right to take the bandage off?”
“Ah, yes. I was too distracted while running away to remember, but I still had some potion left. I treated it roughly, then woke up after sleeping, and it felt completely fine.”
I had managed all the loot and consumable items until now.
Thanks to that, Rion easily accepted my lie and continued talking about various things.
I responded mechanically.
‘What happened to me?’
Looking only at the immediate effects, receiving buffs during combat and rapidly regenerating from wounds was beneficial.
But in this game—no, in this world—there was no return without risk.
I didn’t believe killing one mutant that had been driven from its territory was enough of a risk.
What did that altar look like?
It had been a cave-type dungeon without any unusual features other than a statue made from the mixed body parts of various animals.
Come to think of it, I had also obtained something there that might have been a Magic Stone or gemstone.
Could I learn something by having it appraised?
They would probably demand at least two Gold Coins.
Thinking of the goblins who had tried to boil and eat me—
‘Could it be a Monsterization Curse?’
A character afflicted with a Monsterization Curse gained increased stats, but their judgment deteriorated and their Stress rose more easily.
‘That describes me exactly.’
I wanted to deny it.
I wanted to insist I hadn’t been cursed.
‘You already know that kind of wishful thinking doesn’t help.’
For now, I decided to assume the worst.
In a previous game, I had been afflicted with a [Model: Goblin] Monsterization Curse.
At the time, I thought it was simply a buff and happily continued running dungeons until I suddenly became a goblin.
My party members chased me, trying to kill me, and I couldn’t enter villages.
More precisely, the guards greeted me with volleys of arrows instead of a welcome.
‘If I have a Monsterization Curse…….’
“Stress.”
“Hm?”
The word escaped me without thought.
Rion, who had been chatting to herself, tilted her head and looked at me.
I brushed it off as nothing and stuffed the food on the table into my mouth.
The food didn’t taste bad.
It was underseasoned overall and had a lingering gamey smell, but it was better than eating barley hardtack without water inside the dungeon.
With Rion watching me as though she were viewing a mukbang streamer, I continued thinking.
Monsterization turned a character into a monster once their Stress reached 150 or higher.
Every character, regardless of level, class, or race, could accumulate up to 200 Stress.
‘At 200, they die of cardiac arrest.’
The Monster Model was probably a goblin.
As long as I managed my Stress properly, few buffs could compare to this one.
In this game, there were four ways to relieve Stress: deep sleep, gourmet food, gambling, and romance.
My eyes fell on Rion as she raised a cup of mead to her lips.
‘No. Romance is the primary cause of a party falling apart.’
As though she would fall for me just because I tried to seduce her.
I would be lucky if flirting or using a confession attack didn’t ruin our relationship.
If I was unlucky, I might never receive payment for the Spirit Beast.
Gambling was also rejected because it was the fastest path to financial ruin.
I decided to relieve Stress through deep sleep and delicious food.
“One more drink over here!”
I drained my mead in one gulp and shouted.
“Add the whole roast pig, assorted skewers, and butter-garlic bread too!”
At my continued orders, the man who appeared to be Paradon, the innkeeper, grinned from ear to ear.
“Are you still hungry?”
Rion looked at me with concern.
We had already finished one entire round of food.
Rion had apparently eaten her fill and set down her fork.
But whether a beggar had moved into my stomach or healing my arm had consumed that much energy, I remained hungry no matter how much I ate.
“Yes!”
I clinked cups with Rion and drank the mead that arrived first.
It was so sweet that I had assumed it contained little alcohol.
But as a pleasant buzz spread through me, my mood improved.
I should stop before I caused trouble.
“You’re alive, young man!”
Someone called out to me with delight and placed a hand on my shoulder.
I followed the wrinkled hand upward and found an unexpected person standing there.
‘Why are you here?’