Chapter 4
I recognized them at a glance.
They were the ones I often saw in the ga.
“Ah, hello……”
A short-haired girl with golden hair slightly nodded her head and greeted .
Her hair and voice trembled a little, and her erald-colored eyes were clouded with worry.
She was doing her best to avoid my gaze.
‘I didn’t think I’d et her here.’
She was ‘Arowell’, who could be definitively recruited after clearing a later chapter.
“……”
Next to her was soone with long black hair and strikingly aggressive red eyes.
This one was ‘Nixie’, who could be recruited through the rcenary draw, glaring at with all sorts of unpleasant expressions.
‘Well, they’re both good people.’
I felt almost sorry that soone like would be paired with them.
Nixie was an S-rank damage dealer, and Arowell was an A-rank supporter.
Especially in terms of performance, they were as good as any SS-rank character.
‘Should I just hitch a ride with them?’
It seed certain that I was the weakest in F4 Group.
‘Still… this is intense.’
Arowell, with her anxious eyes, eventually lowered her gaze.
But Nixie’s case was different. She was glaring this way with eyes sharp as a blade.
If soone could kill with their eyes alone, it would probably look like that.
Suddenly!
Before I could say anything—
Nixie grabbed Arowell’s hand and stood up from her seat.
Then she quickly ran toward the auditorium.
‘What’s with her?’
I was a little dumbfounded by the unexpected action.
But I soon found out the reason.
“Professor.”
Nixie gave a brief greeting to the professor and then spoke.
“I cannot work with Villed. Please replace him with another team mber.”
The professor silently looked at Nixie.
Nixie pleaded even more earnestly.
“You must have heard the rumors about Villed, Professor!”
“Of course I have.”
The professor nodded subtly, then continued.
“Of course, that’s a separate matter from the group exam.”
“Even so!”
“That’s enough. Don’t be unreasonable. Wouldn’t it be unfair if only F4 Group were given the chance to replace mbers?”
“Ah, uh, grr…”
Realizing her request wasn’t going to work, Nixie bit her lip and glared at .
Her eyes looked as though she were facing her mortal enemy.
‘Just how much karma has Villed accumulated?’
Am I going to get stabbed later or sothing?
I was even considering finding so sort of protective gear when—
Nixie and Arowell, having achieved nothing, returned and sat down in front of .
“……”
“……”
No one spoke first.
Arowell looked restless, like she was sitting on a bed of thorns.
Nixie was busy glaring at with her arms crossed.
“Look over there, of all people, they’re in the sa group as Villed.”
“Nixie and Arowell, how unlucky.”
“Don’t even need to see it to know—he’s a useless noble who will just give orders.”
“They can kiss a good score goodbye. Who knows what kind of sabotage he’ll pull.”
The murmuring voices naturally drifted into my ears.
If it were the old Villed, he would’ve exploded in anger, but I didn’t bother.
Pretending I couldn’t hear a thing, I just leaned back in my chair and yawned.
‘So the protagonist is over there.’
It was a table so distance away.
The Astrid Empire’s princess, Arlhardt, was sitting together with the protagonist, Duke Ren.
By now, the story of Chapter 2 must have already started for him.
Neither the princess nor Ren spared a glance.
In the story, Villed was already a discarded character.
I had no desire for their attention either.
What was far more important was the upcoming exam right in front of .
I looked back at Arowell and Nixie.
‘At least they’re skilled. That’s a relief.’
The dungeon attack exam was a kind of ti attack, where rankings were determined by how fast each team cleared it.
Skill was, of course, important, but so was teamwork.
It was a type of challenge that required a proper strategy.
‘Honestly, teamwork already seems out the window.’
Other teams were sitting together, discussing how to clear the dungeon.
Only our F4 Group sat in silence.
‘I still need to do well in the exam, though.’
‘Exams’ were an important system in this ga.
Depending on how much you achieved in each exam, you could receive a set amount of ‘bonus stats’.
The ga’s core chanic was that competition and results directly translated into power.
‘The more stats, the better.’
It was obvious that being capable was better than being useless.
If I stacked stats early on, my activities would be less restricted, and I’d be able to handle the countless upcoming incidents better.
‘The problem is…’
I glanced at my teammates.
Setting aside Nixie’s displeased expression, Arowell had been restless and frightened from earlier.
Was she really that scared of ?
‘Wait, is she just nervous?’
Then I rembered one thing I’d forgotten.
‘Villed is infamous for having an intimidating face.’
A disposable villain with a naturally vicious look—
That was Villed.
‘I’m not angry at all, so smile.’
With the intention of showing there was nothing to be wary of, I forced a big smile.
Bang! Nixie slamd her fist on the table.
She had clearly taken my smile as provocation.
“To laugh without sha…”
She muttered to herself, then spoke in a calm but barely restrained tone.
“Let say this first. We have no expectations of you.”
I know.
I never intended to give them any expectations in the first place.
I didn’t even have the ability to do so.
“I’d rather you not participate in group practice or etings.”
If I had any sense, I’d take the hint.
“Let’s go, Arowell.”
With those words, Nixie stood up.
“Ah, um… goodbye…”
Flustered, Arowell gave a small eye-greeting before following Nixie.
As I sat there blankly, Nixie turned her head one last ti.
“You don’t have to do anything. Nothing at all.”
At that mont, only one thought crossed my mind.
‘Is she saying they’ll carry in the group project?’
I quietly thought, ‘That’s actually better for ,’ as I watched her figure grow distant.
---
After class ended, the students were training at the free training grounds.
Of course, I alone headed toward the stables instead.
‘Co to think of it, I should check on Hwayo.’
It would take a few more minutes to reach the stables.
Since I had nothing better to do while walking, I logged into Animal Farm.
✿Animal✿Farm✿
Ddan-ddan ddara-ran!
Let’s open the door to Animal Farm!
A vast green plain appeared, but there were no animals in sight.
‘Where did it go this ti?’
Looking around the screen, I finally spotted it in the far corner.
* Popong!
A blue lizard, staring at with sleepy eyes as if it had just woken up.
I looked at it closely with hopeful eyes.
“Hwayo, did your experience go up even a little?”
With a pounding heart, I tapped on Hwayo to check.
‘What?’
My expectations shattered.
Spirit Fla “Hwayo”
Level: 2 EXP: 0%
Traits: None
It hadn’t moved a bit from zero.
‘I thought it would’ve gone up at least a little!’
It hurt my heart to realize all my effort had been for nothing.
It wasn’t like I’d left it alone entirely.
When Hwayo was awake, I gave it eggs and even petted it across the screen.
‘And yet there’s no effect?’
It seed that simply raising it wouldn’t give it experience.
I crossed my arms with a groan.
‘There has to be so way…’
Just as I was tapping around the screen in thought—
‘Huh?’
The words “Shop” appeared in front of .
‘What’s this?’
I blinked, rubbing my chin.
‘Has this always been here? This is the first ti I’ve seen it.’
Curious, I clicked the “Shop” tab.
Then—ddara-ran! ddan-ddan!—a gaudy tune played, and a new ssage appeared.
Welco to the General Store!
This place is stocked with goods for your animal friends!
‘General Store, huh. Let’s see how impressive your stock is.’
I scrolled down the list of items for sale, and my brows furrowed.
‘There’s nothing for sale.’
Contrary to its na, the General Store had absolutely nothing in stock.
Every item slot was marked with an X, so I couldn’t even tell what kind of items it carried.
“You call yourself a general store? There’s nothing here.”
As if responding to my words—whirr! pop!—the shop suddenly lit up.
Happy Nest
It was just an ordinary brown nest. Nothing more.
‘And what am I supposed to do with this?’
Instinctively, I clicked on the nest, and a new description window appeared.
Your animal friend can sleep here warmly and have happy dreams!
Gain experience while sleeping!
‘Experience… experience!’
My eyes lit up.
Wasn’t that exactly what I needed most?
The nest was the ans to bring Hwayo to level 3.
‘So I can get experience from this! How much is it?!’
I rapidly clicked to buy the nest.
Money was no object. Wasn’t I the son of a noble family?
If I contacted my family, I could get the funds.
The price was…
50 points
I blinked.
‘…What kind of currency is “points”?’
Looking carefully, I saw my current points displayed at the top of the screen.
Of course, my points were 0.
Just when I thought I’d found a way to get experience, I’d been tripped up again.
“How do I even get points…”
I muttered to myself just as I arrived at the stables.
At that mont, a new pink hologram appeared before my eyes.
A daily quest has arrived!
‘…Daily quest?’
This wasn’t sothing that existed in .
‘Let’s check it out first.’
When I placed my hand on the hologram, the details appeared.
Feed the horses
Feed the goats and sheep
Feed the chickens and rabbits
Give special feed to cows and lambs
Total points obtainable: 10pt
‘This is… huh?’
It looked like the sort of quest you’d see in an animal-raising ga.
The strange thing was that the quest targets were the animals in the stables.
‘It’s not Hwayo… it’s talking about the real animals in the stables?’
Tilting my head in confusion, my eyes were drawn to one particular detail.
‘Wait, points?’
If I completed the listed tasks, I could get up to 10 points per day.
Even if I did one day’s worth, it was only a fifth of the nest’s price—
‘But this is huge!’
That alone was a major breakthrough for .
Reviews
All reviews (0)