(Uru－Lannong)
"Please support Casa do Penedo!"
"Hey, handsome, are you looking for adventurers for a commission?"
"Hey, beautiful, want to come to our guild and have a cup of coffee?"
I never thought that one day I would be wearing a dress and handing out flyers on the street. But compared to the strange situation of my little brother disappearing, wearing a dress and working hard seemed like a small matter. Although it was a bit embarrassing, it also brought a bit of unexpected novelty.
"Wow, you are so beautiful. Why are you handing out flyers for this shabby Casa do Penedo? In fact, there are many ways to make money in this world. For example, if you have dinner with me tonight, I'll give you five hundred silver."
At this moment, a handsome adventurer appeared in front of me with a mocking smile and said some shallow words. I didn't get angry, as I used to be a man myself and understood that some people used money to pursue certain things. However...
"Sorry, I don't sell myself. And our shop doesn't offer the kind of service you're looking for."
I politely refused him with a smile that I always used to serve customers. He didn't act like a third-rate novel villain and just shrugged indifferently before leaving my side.
Only after seeing him walk away did I secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Although my intuition and reason told me that he wouldn't persist, I couldn't help but be a little frightened seeing the large knife at his waist. Unlike the Earth Federation, it seemed that there were no laws regulating weapons in this city of Moboris. Almost everyone on the street had a weapon in hand.
Occasionally, adventurers would get into a heated discussion and even start waving their weapons around. This made me, a small service provider holding flyers on the roadside, constantly on edge. I was afraid that a swordsman might accidentally swing his weapon and a magic apprentice might cast a fireball in the wrong direction, turning me, someone with combat abilities inferior to a goblin, into a pile of ashes.
Unknowingly, I had already handed out flyers for three hours. Although I had no previous experience in this area, the residents of this world seemed quite receptive. Roughly one or two out of every ten passersby who received my flyer would actually be influenced and enter Casa do Penedo. Every time I successfully attracted a customer, a pop-up message would appear on my text window.
"[Player successfully attracted one silver-level customer, character experience points +3, job experience points +3!]"
"[Player successfully attracted three bronze-level customers, character experience points +3, job experience points +3!]"
"[Player successfully attracted one gold-level customer, character experience points +10, job experience points +10!]"
In these three hours, more than twenty customers brought me a total of 102 character experience points and 102 job experience points. From my initial observation, the system seemed to have a general rating standard for the spending power of each customer, starting from bronze, then silver, and up to gold. The stronger their spending power, the more experience points I would gain.
But...
Looking at the experience point limit of 40,000, I couldn't help but feel discouraged. Unlike most online games, my leveling system clearly tested the patience of players. Assuming that handing out flyers could earn me 34 experience points per hour, it meant that I would have to work hard for 1,176 hours just to level up from level 3 to level 4. However I looked at it, I couldn't help but feel that this world was indeed a bad game...
"No, maybe it's not the world or the game's fault."
I glanced at the Adventurer's Tree house across the street and silently noted their hourly customer flow. I then plugged the estimated numbers into my experience point formula...
In the end, I suddenly realized that the world was still beautiful!
But it seemed that President Ehadd's Casa do Penedo had offended the gods.
Although the conditions of the Adventurer Guild across the street seemed very attractive, I wouldn't rush to join the opposing force on my first day of work. After all, I didn't know how long I could stay in this unknown world. Instead of blindly pursuing a game level that had no substantial meaning, I would follow my heart and help the hardworking and endearing young girl."And besides, isn't it an interesting feat to save a struggling company from closing down?"
Gurgling...
Although that may be true, the feeling of hunger is anything but interesting.
As soon as I heard my body complain, my enthusiasm for repetitive work diminished significantly. Along with it, the adventurers walking around in front of me became repulsive. In order to maintain the quality and efficiency of my service, I decided to temporarily stop my work and return to Casa do Penedo, dragging my lifeless body like a corpse to find Berany in the kitchen, who was wiping dishes and cups.
"Please cook something for me to eat!" I said lacklusterly.
Upon seeing me, Berany stopped wiping her cup and stared at me expressionlessly. With a skeptical tone, she asked, "Have you distributed all the flyers I gave you?"
A long time ago, I had an incurable condition that I could never change. When I'm hungry, I refuse to work. Otherwise, my head would start to spin and I would become extremely irritable, to the point where everything and everyone would become unforgivable evil in my eyes. Because of this condition, I used to manage my bodily temple well during work.
Unexpectedly, even with a new body, this bad habit continued as usual...
To avoid trouble, I lowered my head and tried not to look at the indifferent expression on Berany's face. While enduring the dizziness, I responded with the utmost friendliness, "I've distributed half of the flyers. Can you arrange lunch for me first?"
Unfortunately, Miss Berany, who had no empathy, was not a mind-reader. She completely misunderstood the significance of three meals a day for me and firmly upheld her discipline. "It's only eleven o'clock. It's not your break time yet."
Gurgling...
The sound of pain complained again, causing the string of sanity in me to snap.
I fell silent and resolutely abandoned this uncommunicative and insensible woman in front of me. Following my primal instincts, I began my search for food in the kitchen. I mechanically found ingredients such as onions, beef, eggs, and white cheese, and then clumsily started the stove...
I have no memory of what happened next.
...
"Well, I'm very satisfied."
"But what just happened?"
When I regained consciousness, I had eaten to my heart's content. However, my brain, which had come back online due to the calories, felt a sense of loss. At the same time, I couldn't recall any memories from the past twenty minutes.
I was sitting at a dining table, and Senior Berany was staring at me intently from across the table!
I nervously swallowed my saliva.
"Um, did I do something strange just now?"
Berany blinked and calmly told me an astonishing fact.
"You called me a stinky old hag and hit our chef."
"..."
Although I was somewhat prepared for it, I still felt guilty and covered my face with both hands. When you make a mistake, the first thing you should do is admit your fault. Therefore, I stood up straight and sincerely apologized, "I'm sorry, when I'm hungry, I go crazy. Is the chef I hit okay? What can I do to make amends?"
"It's alright. For him, your fist was the best reward."
Berany revealed another piece of significant information and then shook her head. "But more importantly, I want to know how you made this outstanding dish."
An outstanding dish?
I followed Berany's gaze and looked at the plate in front of me.
"Do you mean this beef fried rice?" I asked in confusion.
Berany shook her head again and said calmly, "No, even with cheese added, this is just a regular beef fried rice. Any chef in a restaurant can make it."
Pausing for a moment, she extended her index finger and pointed to a peculiar glass next to the plate.
"I want to know about this strange drink."
……
……
