CH 23 - Day 33 of Spring
33rd day of spring
The warm sunlight that brightens the morning tickles my eyes.
It was so nice to wake up to the soft feel of the bed.
Not that I felt sore when I woke up at camp.
It was just a matter of mood.
My body, which had been forcibly trained in various skills, was not in a state where it would deteriorate after sleeping outside for just a week.
My cooking level improved because I cooked a little while traveling.
My current cooking level is beginner level 2.
Logging is beginner level 6.
Mining is intermediate level 5.
The battle is intermediate level 2.
Farming is advanced level 1.
Fishing is intermediate level 8.
There is definitely a satisfaction that comes from numbers.
Looking back after a little over a month, I feel like I lived hard and did a lot of things.
The days of grinding and pouring in hours of labor were rewarded with this level of achievement.
Morning of the 33rd day.
7000 Musk Melon Seeds.
3000 strawberry seeds.
1500 Kingsberry Seeds.
I purchased a total of 11,500 seeds at once with the idea of planting them over two days.
The planting of seeds to open the morning continues today as always.
I dig through the moist soil swept by the sprinkler and plant the seeds one by one.
It was tedious repetitive work, but it was more meaningful and rewarding than walking around in a daze.
The neatly vacated land is once again colored with seeds.
I ate breakfast while working and lunch while planting seeds, and roughly half of the seeds were planted nicely in the ground.
I looked at the time and it was about 3 PM.
The eight hours of non-stop work starting around 6 a.m. were completely replaced by planting seeds.
Sweat soaks my clothes. I couldn’t go out to meet people in this condition, so I washed up and changed clothes.
Like this, housework piles up again.
“Let’s see. Strawberry and melon. Passion fruit will do, right?”
Divide the fruit into small pieces into small boxes to give as gifts.
There is help received indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, and help received directly cannot be ignored.
As he is reminded that he must repay the favor he has received, he heads out to Chongchong Village with a gift.
Not only that, but there are also things you give just to build goodwill.
Now that I have a lot of free time, there is no need to feel burdened by just passing this on to people.
The scenery of the village, with the yellow light of spring in full bloom, was beautiful.
It was also a moment when I understood that the place called Starwind Valley is a place of healing with nature as a friend.
After handing out fruit and greeting people, we arrived at a familiar place.
Ann’s house.
I stood in front of the house where I could feel the gorgeous blonde hair and knocked on the door.
I was planning to come later if I didn’t have it, but I heard a noise from inside the house.
“Who are you?”
“It’s me. Minho.”
“Huh? Wait a minute!”
The sound of Anne’s footsteps spreads throughout the house.
My sharpened senses easily catch it.
Certainly, compared to before, my body is much better now.
Sound and sensation.
In the past, we were just ordinary people who couldn’t understand such trivial things.
“What happened?”
Anne can be seen through the door that clicks open. White blonde hair flowing smoothly.
And the yellow flower in her hair. Daffodil.
I burst out laughing at that sight.
“I want to give you this.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“You had a flower on your head.”
“Doesn’t it look good on me?”
Anne’s head tilts.
“It suits you well. I smiled because it looked good.”
“Is that so? I almost misunderstood.”
Anne’s smile brightens.
“Then I’ll go.”
“Where are you going? If you give a gift, shouldn’t you also watch the opening ceremony where the recipient opens the gift?”
“Uh… Really?”
“Of course. Come in. Give me the box.”
The half-open door opens wide.
Soon, Anne’s gesture made my body hesitate and head towards the house.
It has a refreshing scent.
A bright house that cannot be compared to my crumbly, shabby house.
Looking at the interior and neat house, you can roughly guess how she lives and spends her days.
No matter what happens, it means she is sincere.
This was something I could tell just by looking at how diligently I followed my daily routine.
“So what is this? Can I open it now?”
“It’s fruit. It’s filled with sweet and delicious things.”
“Fruit? Do you have that melon from last time?”
“Of course.”
“But what kind of gift is this? Are you repaying me for the chair I gave you last time?”
“There are things like that. It’s a combination of all these things.”
“This and that…?”
Anne frowned for a moment as if thinking about something, and then she shook her head, shaking her flushed cheeks.
The fixed daffodils flutter and move along with the shaking.
“That is now the basic gift given to the villagers, and this is given to you.”
“What? You weren’t just giving it to me?”
“I’m giving this to you only.”
“You should have given me that first.”
“They say the main character usually appears last.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right.”
Anne opens my gift with her signature smile.
The first things that come out as soon as it opens are melon and strawberry. And passion fruit.
It was a basic fruit set given to all villagers.
“Wow, are you giving this to everyone in the village?”
“I just said hello when I moved in, and I didn’t give anything else. It was a tradition in our village back in the day. We gave gifts when people moved in.”
It is not wrong to say that it is a village tradition.
In the Korean village where I used to live, there was a tradition called isa rice cake.
If it’s a village, it’s a type of village.
“It’s a good village! I wish we had a tradition like that in our village too. No. Should we make this a tradition? I think it’s okay.”
“Well, I heard no one is moving in.”
“That’s right. Minho, you were the first person to come in 5 years… Our village is a bit remote.”
Anne pouts her lips.
Then she opened the neatly sealed black box and put it back on.
It was a gift box she had prepared for Anne.
Neat musk melons arranged in green.
And Kingsbury boasts a large size.
I squeezed in as much as she could, especially for Anne.
One way or another, she was my benefactor on my first day and one of my closest friends in town.
I put out a lot of delicious fruits.
Well, it wasn’t much different from the first gift, but the difference was the satisfaction that comes from quantity.
“What are these strawberries? Have you ever had one this big?”
“Call it Kingsberry.”
“Kingsberry? Huh. That’s a fitting name. It looks like a real king would eat it.”
Anne picks up the red flesh with her hands without hesitation.
“So if I eat this, will it become a Queensberry?”
“Well, that could happen.”
“Would you like to taste the Queen’s strawberries?”
Om nyom nyom.
Anne’s mouth moves subtly.
Soon her eyes widened and she naturally reached for her Kingsberry.
She took another one and ate it without saying a word.
She takes another one and eats it.
It was only after eating three more that Anne’s eyes became brighter.
“What is this? It’s so delicious.”
“Good thing I brought it.”
“You’re the best!”
Anne’s soft speaking voice has a strange charm.
Anne, smiling brightly, picked up each piece of fruit she had and slowly approached me, and she placed a piece of fruit in my hand as well.
“You brought it, try one too.”
“I eat it often so it’s okay.”
“Uh huh! The owner of the house is recommending it, but are you really not going to eat it?”
“If that’s the case.”
I took a bite of a Kingsberry.
Its unique refreshing juice and sweetness.
That tangy taste that fills your mouth.
The more you chew, the more sweet and refreshing juice comes out and spreads throughout your mouth.
There was a reason why it was so much more expensive than strawberries.
“I need to eat sparingly. I can’t eat all of this.”
Anne stopped eating after saying those words, then she wrapped my gift neatly and put it in the refrigerator.
Refrigerator.
Although it was an invention and strange object that did not fit with the Middle Ages, I can understand in my mind that some kind of magic concept must have been applied.
“Then I’ll go.”
“You’re going?”
“Huh.”
“Did you just come to give me a real gift?”
Ann puts my gift in the refrigerator, and soon she comes running too.
Because her head comes up to around my neck, it creates a composition where Anne is looking up at me and I am looking down at her.
And a moment of silence.
While she was talking, not sure what to say, Anne sneakily grabbed the hem of my clothes with her hand.
“Uh?”
“No. Your clothes were just disheveled. I tried to smooth out some of the wrinkles. Heh.”
“Uh, thank you.”
“It’s no big deal.”
Anne’s touch is soft.
“Sit down and rest for a while. You worked like crazy this morning again, didn’t you?”
“Not crazy, just like I usually do.”
“We usually have a social agreement to describe it as crazy.”
“Well, then let’s say I went crazy.”
“If people do that, they will die quickly. Get some rest.”
“I haven’t given all the presents yet.”
“You said the main character was the last. Are you saying I wasn’t the main character of the last gift?!”
“Sometimes the person who receives two gifts can become the hero.”
“I mean, you are really good at talking.”
Anne sits down at the table she quietly led.
Anne, who was sitting across from her, had a playful smile on her face.
There is a strange energy in her eyes as she rests her chin and stares at me.
“Did you have a good trip?”
“Huh.”
“How was it?”
“It was fun. Walking was a little boring.”
“Look at that. Is that what happens when you travel alone?”
“What do you mean by that? I had no choice but to go alone.”
“You didn’t ask me.”
Her strange behavior of pointing both index fingers at herself.
“If you ask me, were you planning on going with me?”
“Hmm. Well? You won’t know until you ask. Huh.”
“That’s why I said I didn’t ask. It was difficult following me and then I had to carry you on my back.”
“It’s good to double your stamina.”
Doran Doran.
We sat at the chair and told my stories.
I went to the city and met the lord.
I met a fairy.
Receiving my fruit from a fairy.
The thing I did camping out.
I slowly unravels what happened so far.
Even though Anne listened quietly, she enriched the story with various reactions.
As I was killing time like that, it was already dinner time.
I had to go here and there before the sun went down, so I shook off Anne, who was trying to grab me, and left her house.
She waves her hand to see me off until the end.
In fact, the daffodil on her head was more noticeable than that.
How long will she be wearing that at home?
I walk around the village as the sun is about to set.
The streets of the village at sunset had a different taste.
It was always fun to see the sky turning pale yellow and deep scarlet.
I thought something similar would happen when I stopped by Evangeline’s house, but she wasn’t there.
Her brother stuck his head out to greet me, and I explained it well and left two fruit boxes and an additional gift box as gifts.
What.
Because there is no law that there is only one main character.
This was the end of today’s schedule.
Since there was still some time left, I leisurely cast my fishing rod at the lakeside.
I am no longer the person of the past who fished hard and desperately to make money.
There are only those who use their time frugally, both by obtaining cooking ingredients and by raising their fishing level in their spare time.
“Ah. Now that I think about it, I guess I have to go to the dungeon too.”
I also need to make painkillers.
I consumed all the painkillers made from red sea spiders during the trip, so I had to prepare new ones.
It was essential to prepare because it was impossible to know when and what skills would reach intermediate and advanced levels.
Of course, other methods will be needed when the skill reaches advanced level, but at least this is all I know of for now.
I also need to acquire new equipment.
The time is coming when equipment made from ore such as mithril becomes superior to the equipment obtained from treasure chests.
As fishing becomes more advanced, the level of equipment appearing in treasure chests increases dramatically, and now we have reached a point where crafting surpasses fishing luck.
Even if it costs a lot of gold and materials, it is essential to prepare as best as possible to face the uncertain and dangerous task of battle.
As I reached the intermediate level, I gained a lot of confidence, but if that led to overconfidence and arrogance, I could always get seriously injured or lose my life in an instant.
Even though I had a little leisure time today, something to do is secretly waiting for me.
I want to rest, but it is very sad that my body has become unable to do so.
At night, I return home and do some housework.
I’m not tired, but as soon as I lay down on the bed, I feel sleepy.