Chapter 43
Chapter 43
A month had passed since Rosalyn Freya arrived at the mansion.
Whenever Rosalyn Freya saw me, she would hurl insults like “As if you could succeed by selling mere desserts,” and I would brush it off with “Thank you for your kind words.”
Roen would applaud me for this, and I would leave him behind to focus intently on ice cream research with Apple.
Thanks to Apple’s efforts, I gained another ‘C+’ grade recipe, which was ‘chocolate ice cream’.
It was said to be a recipe obtained by satisfying special conditions.
Anyway, I now had two choices: ‘vanilla ice cream’ and ‘chocolate ice cream’.
Apple and I were in the process of researching toppings and other ingredients to put on the ice cream.
But after discussing with Apple, we decided on the form of ice cream to sell in the capital.
“The question is whether the texture and taste of ice cream can truly be popularized.”
The only downside was that the New Year’s party was in the dead of winter.
If it had been summer, sales would have been easier.
Anyway, I was very busy.
Preparing for the New Year’s party, researching ice cream, and planning how to sell it and set up samples to gauge its popularity.
I was really busy.
“Really, Irina. Why didn’t you hire people earlier when you got the hiring authority from me?”
“I did hire.”
Just not people to plan with me, but people to organize and manage existing businesses.
Anyway, I was really busy.
[Oh, Irina. Your luck has finally filled up.]
“Finally?”
[SYSTEM | Luck index: 31/31]
The luck stat had started at just 15 and now, after diligently accumulating, had reached 31.
The problem was that, living with misfortune, I would use up the luck index before I could even accumulate it.
At one point, I even had to use the luck stat to avoid misfortune because the luck index was too low.
This is the first time in my life I’ve seen it fill up completely.
[Now, let’s open the ‘Random Skill Box’.]
The reason I waited for the luck index to fill up was entirely because of the ‘Random Skill Box’.
The ‘Random Skill Box’ was a reward obtained while progressing through the quest ‘Sian Terezia, who on earth is that man?!’, and they had gradually accumulated to a total of fourteen now.
Originally, I was going to open them as soon as I received them, but the system said I would only get lousy skills if I opened them with a luck index of 3, so we should wait a little longer.
Of course, being an unfaithful player who always doubted the system’s words first, I ignored it and opened one, only to get a lousy skill.
[SYSTEM | You have opened ‘Random Skill Box (1)’ and obtained the skill <Deep Breath (3 seconds)>.]
[SYSTEM | You can check your possessed skills in the ‘Skill Window’.]
After that, I diligently waited until the luck index was full.
And that day was today.
[Still, Irina, don’t forget it’s random.]
[That’s right, the probability just increases a bit, it doesn’t mean lousy skills or items won’t come out.]
‘Items come out too?’
[Yes.]
‘Oh ho.’
[SYSTEM | Do you want to open all ‘Random Skill Boxes (14)’?]
[SYSTEM | You have selected ‘Yes’.]
I waited with a pounding heart.
What skills would I get?
[SYSTEM | You have opened ‘Random Skill Boxes (14)’.]
[SYSTEM | You have obtained the skill ‘Telekinesis (Weight: 0.9g)’.]
[SYSTEM | You have obtained the skill ‘Diary Master (Passive)’.]
[SYSTEM | You have obtained the item ‘Alpaca Wool (1)’.]
[SYSTEM | You have obtained the skill ‘Not Getting Sick from Eating Rotten Apples (F)’.]
I blankly scrolled through the list.
Truly, shockingly, it was a list that showed no reward for diligently accumulating luck.
If there was anything that looked somewhat decent, it was some ‘herb’ item that sparkled specially.
[SYSTEM | You have obtained the item ‘Mysterious Herb’.]
[…Well, at least you got something.]
[Aren’t there any good skills?]
I scrolled through the skill window.
Skills that made me think ‘Why on earth this?’ filled my skill window.
“At least ‘Idol Skill Look at Me!’ seems usable.
It’s even at level ‘C+’.”
I was really curious about what the ‘Idol Skill’ prefix meant.
[Ah, that. We made the ‘Random Skill Box’ with the god from next door.]
[Their setting is saving the world by debuting as an idol.]
“……”
Saving the world by paying off debt seemed much better.
[What about the ‘Mysterious Herb’? Check its description.]
But there wasn’t much of a description.
It just ended with two sentences: “Mysterious herb. Seems to have a special secret hidden.”
And so, in my room, the weed I obtained while progressing through the quest ‘Letter Starting from 1 Jurang Commemorative Coin’ when I first came to the North, and the ‘Mysterious Herb’ were placed together.
Anyway, time flew by again, and the already cold North entered into full winter.
“For me, it was already full winter in September.”
“Oh my. Then how is it now?”
“Weather that feels like death.”
Cassis nodded while fixing my slipping muffler.
“That can happen. But please endure a little more. We’ll be heading to the capital tomorrow.”
“The capital will be much warmer, right?”
“Of course.”
“As warm as the South?”
“Not as much as Seike, I’m afraid.”
After carefully tying the scarf, Cassis looked curiously at the two flowerpots trembling in my arms.
“What are these plants?”
“One is a weed, and one is an herb.”
Because we were leaving for the capital tomorrow, Cassis was heading to healer Luka’s greenhouse to get his insomnia medicine prescribed again.
“I see. And why are you going to meet Luka with these pitiful plants in your arms?”
And I…
“I thought they might die if I left them in Luka’s greenhouse…”
He took the two flowerpots I was preciously holding in my arms, unable to see me struggling to move step by step in the cold.
Healer Luka’s greenhouse is located outside the mansion.
Although there’s a lab inside the mansion, he said he put the greenhouse in the city center for better accessibility to the marketplace.
So Cassis and I ended up walking side by side through the bustling streets of Leknes, the central city of the Luwin Grand Duchy.
Leknes, fully embraced by winter, was truly beautiful.
Everywhere was covered in white snow, and without pollutants, it didn’t get dirty like Seoul’s snow.
Perhaps it was the mystique given by the cold winter air.
It felt even more like stepping into a fairy tale than Leknes in autumn.
Moreover, with dusk settling at 3 PM, the lengthened nights and short days made it feel a bit more unreal.
[Our Irina is on a date.]
[So cute and fresh.]
“It feels just like that time.”
“Pardon?”
“When we wandered around together during the festival. It feels like that time.”
I buried my face in my muffler, giggling.
Luka’s greenhouse could be seen in the distance.
“I can see the greenhouse over there. Let’s hurry.”
* * *
I watched Cassis and Luka intently while holding a mug of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows.
Luka was a young man with long black hair tied in a ponytail, and he had a faint air of a developer I used to work with in the early startup days.
[Looks tired?]
‘In a word, he’s an office worker worn down by society.’
[Ah, I see.]
“Cassis, you still need to try to sleep.”
“I always try.”
“No. That’s just you being obsessed with work and selling your health.”
“Hmm.”
“You need to sleep.”
He started scolding Cassis fiercely.
Saying that instead of getting up to work when he can’t sleep, he should at least make a minimal effort to sleep even if he can’t fall asleep.
‘What time would be good for the meeting?’
‘Hmm, the timing is awkward. What time do you usually set it?’
‘Well, should we have the meeting at dawn? I don’t mind.’
And there I was, watching and suffering from guilt.
After berating Cassis for a while longer, Luka finally looked my way.
“So what brings you here?”
His gaze was closer to that of an office worker facing a pile of work rather than a worried look asking if I was sick.
I smiled shyly and put down the pile of work, no, the flowerpots I had been holding gently in both arms.
Luka repeatedly looked at the flowerpots once and then at me once, his face full of questions.
“These are plants I’m growing.”
“And?”
“This is Yeppi, a weed, and this is Leonardo, a mysterious herb!”
“Ah.”
He answered soullessly and looked at me with a face that said ‘So what do you want me to do?’
“As you know, I’m going down to the capital, so I was hoping you could take care of them while I’m gone.”
“Why me?”
“Because it’s winter.”
Luka frowned at my beaming smile and turned his gaze to the plants.
Then he looked at our Leonardo, which I had pointed out as a ‘mysterious herb’.
He examined it a bit and then said incredulously.
“It’s a weed.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s a weed. You can see it in the front yard if you open the door in summer.”
He even muttered to himself, ‘Why grow something like this?’
I was shocked.
I even gave it a cool name like ‘Leonardo’, so why?
The system clearly said it was an herb!
[Oops, seems I gave you wrong information.]
[It’s a weed, a weed.]
Leonardo, don’t listen.
You’re my proud herb Leonardo no matter what anyone says.
Luka turned his gaze to Yeppi with a really unimpressed expression.
He carelessly lifted the leaves and tilted his head a few times.
Then he exclaimed softly.
“Oh, my God…”
His handling of the plant changed in an instant.
He examined each leaf as if touching a work of art and then stood up.
Luka said solemnly.
“This is.”
“Yeppi is.”
I interrupted Luka and corrected him to ‘Yeppi’.
He looked at me as if wondering what kind of crazy person I was, but continued speaking using the name I corrected.
“Yeppi is a rare medicinal herb that can barely be obtained from the jungle.”
“Oh.”
[So it was a medicinal herb!]
[The thing Isiel gave was a rare medicinal herb!]
I felt a bit wronged.
If I had known it was a rare medicinal herb, I would have taken better care of it.
‘Doesn’t this mean we have to change the quest content too?’
[SYSTEM | NOPE]
[SYSTEM | The ‘system’ has judged this herb as a ‘weed’.]
After finishing the conversation with the system and turning my head back, Luka was holding the Yeppi flowerpot in his arms with sparkling eyes.
I stepped back a bit, feeling somewhat burdened.
“Why, why?”
“Please give this to me.”
“…Why should I?”
“Then this weed.”
“Leonardo.”
I quietly corrected him.
Although he’s now reduced to a weed, our Leonardo is still Leonardo.
Luka immediately rebutted, seemingly dissatisfied with my response.
“…Why is our Yeppi ‘Yeppi’, but that weed is ‘Leonardo’?”
Well, that’s because I thought Yeppi was a weed and Leonardo was a mysterious herb!
