Chapter 25
Chapter 25
“Ah!”
Apple seemed to remember something and fumbled in his pocket to take something out.
He glanced at me once and then quietly held out something with both hands to Cassis.
“This was found in the belly of the fish you caught today.”
On Apple’s huge hands was a relatively dainty ring.
“This was inside the fish’s stomach?”
“Yes!”
Cassis lifted the ring with an incredulous expression. Roen and the butler, who were waiting behind, let out an exclamation close to admiration.
“Could it be…!”
Could it be what?
[It looks like a ring.]
[I know that too.]
[Could it be some kind of treasure?]
[Can we pay off the debt by selling it?]
“This is a Luwin family heirloom.”
“Ah.”
[Haha, guess not.]
“It looks exactly like one of the family rings passed down for generations that was lost about 100 years ago.”
Cassis continued the butler’s words.
“This ring should have magic on it that allows access to the family’s secret archives.”
It was more amazing than I thought.
I don’t understand how one could possibly drop such an heirloom into a lake.
It’s fortunate that it’s been found now.
“I don’t even have the energy to be surprised anymore.”
Roen muttered from behind.
He started clapping slowly while looking at me.
“I didn’t do anything though?”
“Miss Irina, you truly… are the luckiest person I’ve ever met.”
Am I lucky?
[Hmm, no?]
I guess not.
The system denied it outright.
I considered myself quite lucky.
Just look at the process of paying off Seike’s debt, and even being chosen by the system.
[You’re unlucky.]
[That’s right.]
[Your luck stat is critically low.]
“Is there such a thing?”
I muttered without realizing it since I was hearing the word “stat” for the first time.
[Yes. There is.]
[Normal people have about 50 as a base, but you have one that’s 20.]
I blinked.
So you’re saying that normal people are born with about 50 luck, but I have 20?
[That’s right.]
‘Isn’t that screwed up?’
[You could say that.]
Damn it.
No wonder.
Lucky people don’t go bankrupt in the first place.
To think I’m below average!
“Lucky people don’t go bankrupt.”
“Let me correct myself. You seem to be the luckiest among unlucky people.”
When I reluctantly rebutted with a face like I’d eaten something sour, Roen corrected himself without changing his expression.
“Is that a compliment?”
[It is a compliment! Irina, you have us!]
‘Ah, I don’t think so. Of all people, I have to protect the empire. I think I’m unlucky.’
[Ah, why~ You met us, didn’t you?]
While the system was whining, Roen was saying what he wanted to say with a bright smile.
“Of course. His Grace is among the unluckiest of unlucky people.”
“Roen, I’m right here.”
‘But I’m a bit surprised. I thought I was on the lucky side.’
Since heading to the North, there have been shockingly many quests that were favorable towards me.
In conclusion, just by holding this absurd ice fishing competition with only two participants, we obtained an incredible treasure.
We fished out objects from 21st century Earth from under the lake.
I even got an inventory as a quest reward…
That’s why I thought I was lucky.
[Well. That’s because we’re working hard to make up for your lack of luck.]
[That’s right, we’re running around so hard that our Irina is enjoying almost 100% effects with just 20 luck stat.]
‘Thank you.’
So that’s what it was!
If no one had been around, I would have bowed 90 degrees.
‘What’s the next quest? Please give me one with a good reward.’
Among the things I’ve gotten recently, the inventory was the one I liked the most.
Next time, I hope they give me a teleportation skill.
When I urged the system with impure intentions, the system window froze.
[Irina. I’m saying this because you seem to have forgotten for a moment.]
‘Yes.’
[‘Ice fishing’ is, after all, just a linked quest to the ‘Chef Quest’.]
That’s right.
Through the “Find a Chef!” quest that I had been hesitating whether to do or not, I was able to find out how deeply Marquis Cloi had infiltrated Luwin, find a new chef, level up my cooking skill, and also get 3 more recipes.
[And that ‘Chef Quest’ is ultimately just a sub-quest of ‘Grand Duke Luwin Family’s Debt Situation’.]
That’s right too.
Quests usually progressed like this.
I can’t know the content right away when I receive it.
However, as I move around to solve the quest, I approach the truth or discover new paths.
[So don’t forget the essence.]
‘Yes.’
[There won’t be any free quests like this for a while.]
[And what did I tell you, huh? If you listen to the system well, good things come even if you just stay still.]
‘Yes, I believe you.’
[You trust us?]
‘Yes, I’ll faithfully donate to the Twin Gods’ temple from now on.’
[No, no, they don’t offer it to me, they just swallow it themselves.]
[Just pay off your debt.]
‘Okay.’
As I was nodding and listening to the system’s sermon, a servant came running breathlessly.
“He’s awake!”
He caught his breath and shouted again.
“The person who fell into the lake has woken up!”
* * *
‘So who is this person?’
[I don’t know either. Do you know?]
[I don’t know?]
‘Why don’t you know?’
[How would we know?]
Huh?
Wasn’t the quest given to find out the secret contained in the lake?
I naturally thought the man in ancient clothing found in the lake was part of the secret.
[We don’t know everything.]
[We just collect things that might be helpful and throw them in as quests.]
[We’ve often given wrong quests and made you do useless things, haha.]
That’s true.
Damn it.
The system lords claim to be gods, but they don’t know anything.
[You know how developers don’t recognize the code they wrote themselves, right?]
I nodded.
They would sit with pale faces and repeat, “Tap… Huh? …Tap. What’s this?”
[Yeah, that’s it.]
[But then unexpected viruses appear too.]
[And unexpected errors occur.]
Ah, yes yes.
I see.
[It’s true.]
‘But you two give the quests, don’t you?’
[We do give them, but there are times when we give them without knowing much.]
[There are more parts we know by tendency than parts we know for certain.]
‘Tendency?’
Understanding my question, the system continued its explanation.
[For example, we can know something like ‘things will go well if you go to a certain place’.]
[But sometimes we know what that new direction is, and sometimes we don’t.]
‘Ah, so that’s why all the quests came so absurdly.’
[What nonsense.]
‘Ridiculous.’
[…Fine.]
‘Plus, there are really a lot of weird quests.’
[It was our first time too. Let it slide this once.]
[Let it slide just once.]
It wasn’t just once or twice.
I clicked my tongue and turned my attention back to the man.
The man was being examined by someone Cassis had introduced as the family doctor.
The man had hair that was too dull to be called silver, but too sparkly to be called gray.
Hair like completely burned ashes.
Below it was a white and sharp face.
Maybe because of his unique appearance, or maybe because of the atmosphere, but he felt like a detached foreigner.
As if he had just fallen from the sky.
Is it because of his clothes?
Cassis and Isiel were looking at the man with eyes full of suspicion.
But my perspective was slightly different from theirs.
Just as the system gave me quests, even if not precise, there must be a clear pattern.
The quest said that I would learn the secret of the world through this ice fishing, and objects from the previous world came out of the lake.
I had a feeling that the secret of this world was related to the long-term destruction of the empire.
Meanwhile, the healer finished the examination and reported that there was nothing wrong at all.
Cassis sighed deeply and dismissed everyone.
“Haah.”
So the people left in the room were me, Cassis, Isiel, their assistants, and that strange foreigner, six in total.
Amidst the long silence that stretched across the room, the man’s voice reached us first.
“Hello?”
The man smiled, squinting his eyes.
The tear mole under his eye stood out.
The man’s voice was low and cracked, it was husky.
He looked just like a cunning snake.
[His hair color is gray too, he really looks like a snake.]
[But Schen, doesn’t that person look familiar somehow?]
[I don’t know?]
Cassis answered first.
“Who are you?”
But instead of answering, the man added a question.
“Where is this? Hakshen? Sheriff?”
“How rude.”
“Ah? Rude.”
I, who had only seen Cassis’s blank expressions, covered my mouth at seeing such a Northern Grand Duke-like attitude after a long time.
Well done, our boy.
Regardless of my excitement, silence fell over the room again at the man’s answer.
I felt like the temperature had dropped by 5 degrees.
“Come now, let’s not do this and try to sort things out for a moment?”
Isiel was the first to step forward.
Isiel clapped his hands good-naturedly to focus everyone’s attention.
He didn’t mind the gazes fixed on him.
“First… I’m Isiel Lemiere.”
Isiel smiled and held out his hand to the man for a handshake, and the other stared blankly at that hand before barely moving his lips to answer.
“Sian Terezia.”
As the man responded, my vision flashed white.
“…!”
Was it just my vision?
A headache that made it hard to breathe struck my head.
“Irina?”
I bent over and gasped for breath, barely enduring the upset stomach and the horribly ringing headache.
I didn’t even know someone was grabbing me.
It felt like tinnitus was piercing through my head.
I repeatedly dry heaved.
I couldn’t come to my senses with my vision fading to white after being showered with all sorts of brilliant lights.
[Aaargh!]
[J-just a moment! Irina! Turn it off! Turn the system off!]
[Hey hey hey, what do we do!]
[Shut down! Shut down!!]
[How do we shut down again?]
“Cough, cough cough.”
“Irina? Irina Seike.”
“Irina Seike, can you hear me?”
All sorts of sounds were distorted in my head, and there was a strong iron smell in my mouth.
[We’re shutting down! Wait a little! We’ll reconnect again!!]
“Haa, haa.”
[SYSTEM | Forcibly terminating system access.]
[SYSTEM | Penalties are applied to passive skills under the system’s protection.]
[SYSTEM | Luck 18/20 > 3/12.]
Only the system window was clear beyond my blurry vision.
It felt like all auditory senses were being blocked.
[SYSTEM | 10, 9, 8 until forced termination……]
[SYSTEM | 3, 2, 1.]
[SYSTEM | Terminating system access.]
And then it went dark.
