Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 55

Chapter 55

 

Come to think of it, he had quite a youthful face.

Rather than simply looking young for his age, he still had that particular air of immaturity that came from not having completely outgrown his boyish features.

At most, I would have guessed he was in his early twenties.

Once I suspected he was younger than me, my wariness immediately softened.

I was terribly weak when it came to people much younger than myself.

Having grown up as the eldest of three siblings, I suppose I still had some of that eldest-daughter instinct left in me.

“Are you feeling better now? Can you make it back on your own? Or should I go get someone to help you?”

“…Ah, I’m fine. I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

He seemed to have finally come to his senses, because he was speaking perfectly normally now.

Had he hit his head or something?

“By the way, why were you lying here?”

“I believe my body simply couldn’t take it due to a lack of sleep. If you don’t mind, could you tell me your name, sister? I would like to repay you.”

Sister? What an unusual way to address someone. Anyway, I was glad he seemed to be all right.

I deliberately gave him a kind smile and stepped back.

“I’ll accept your gratitude instead of any repayment. If you’re feeling better now, I’ll be on my way. I still have some work to do.”

“Please wait a moment.”

Just then, a cautious hand caught the hem of my clothes.

“What do you mean by accepting my gratitude? This is the first time I’ve encountered such a situation, so I don’t know how I should behave.”

“Huh? I just mean that knowing you’re grateful is enough. I don’t need any material compensation or anything.”

I wondered if he had misunderstood what I said.

Since I was an outsider in this world, the language and expressions I would normally use were probably quite different from those of the people here.

However, perhaps thanks to my contract with the Demon King, I had acquired some convenient translation function. Everyone understood me when I spoke normally, and I could understand what they said just as naturally, so I had never given it much thought.

But what if my words were actually being translated into something awkward, like machine-translated prose? What if that was causing communication errors?

I was in the middle of wondering how I could fix that when…

“But I was taught that everything has a price. Therefore, I must repay you with compensation sufficient for what I have received.”

Ah. So there wasn’t a problem with my output. The problem was with my input.

“Good grief, you make life so exhausting for yourself. Sometimes people just want to do something kind without expecting anything in return. Besides, it’s not like I did anything particularly impressive.”

At my words, he looked rather shocked.

Just how strict had his upbringing been that he couldn’t even accept a little kindness?

His mindset wasn’t necessarily bad, but I had a feeling that dealing with him would get exhausting the longer I did it.

“……”

Taking advantage of the moment when his grip on my clothes loosened, I stood up.

I slung the basket over my shoulder again and approached the fruit trees.

He seemed well enough to go home now, but he remained seated in the grass, silently watching me.

His white clothes are going to get stained with grass. Well… worrying about that would be sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.

I carefully examined the fruit hanging from each branch and began picking only the ripe ones.

I needed to finish this errand quickly and get back to the dungeon.

The man spoke to me from behind.

“My name is Serio.”

Serio. It was quite a pretty name.

And then silence followed once again.

Within that silence, I sensed an unspoken demand: I’ve introduced myself, so now you should tell me your name, too.

Judging by how stubbornly he was insisting, I seemed to have guessed his age correctly after all.

“I’m Choi.”

“Choi, Choi…”

He repeated my name several times, as if he were chanting some kind of spell.

I did my best to ignore him and continued picking fruit in silence.

“I am…”

Even so, he stubbornly tried to strike up a conversation. Watching him, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

‘Could it be… that he doesn’t have any friends?’

Come to think of it, there weren’t many young people in this village, apart from the novice adventurers who visited the Training Center.

That was probably because it was a rural village quite far from the city.

If he had mistaken me for someone his age and was simply happy to have someone to talk to after such a long time… Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to keep him company until I’d filled my basket.

The moment I had that thought…

“I was recently assigned to Nest Village, and I am staying at the temple in the northern part of the village.”

How could that possibly be all right?

“…Pardon?”

I was so startled that I nearly dropped the basket I was holding.

When I asked him to repeat himself, he repeated exactly what he had just said, without changing a single word.

What had he just said? Did he say temple?

I couldn’t bring myself to turn my back on him.

Come to think of it… Ruadis had told me to be wary of anyone wearing pure white clothes.

The man’s outfit was completely white, too.

Had I let my guard down too much just because nothing had happened all this time?

I wanted to grab my past self by the hair and yank it around, just like Brownie did.

Only then did I remember what had felt strangely familiar about his appearance when I’d first seen him.

It had been when I first spotted an errand posted by the temple on the notice board in the plaza.

Out of curiosity, I’d gone all the way to the open field in the northern part of the village, where I’d once made eye contact with someone wearing pure white clothes.

It seemed this man was the very same person I’d seen back then.

“I was recently…”

“You don’t have to say any more. I heard you.”

The reason he was trying to repeat himself was obvious.

He had revealed another piece of information about himself, so now he wanted me to tell him an equivalent amount about myself.

I’d been told to avoid getting involved with them as much as possible, yet here I was, not only rescuing one but even having a conversation with him.

A chilling sensation spread through my entire body as I realized the mistake I’d made in a single moment.

How can I get out of this situation naturally?

“I am curious about where you live.”

“I can’t just reveal where I live to a stranger!”

Stop asking! Do you think I’m going to casually tell someone from the temple that I live in a dungeon?

“I am not a suspicious person. My identity can be vouched for by the Church of Leta.”

I wanted to cover my ears.

Every time that man opened his mouth, the reality I desperately wanted to ignore came back to assert itself with absolute clarity.

‘I’m screwed.’

No, it’s too early to jump to conclusions. He doesn’t seem to know who I am, right? Then maybe I can just let this end as a simple misunderstanding?

From that point on, I didn’t respond at all. I frantically picked fruit until the basket was full.

No matter how urgent the situation was, abandoning a quest halfway through would be betraying the trust of the person who had commissioned it.

If I carelessly threw the job aside, I might not be able to accept any more errands from that lady in the future.

There is a gentle lady waiting just for me, who will hold her crying baby in her arms and make jam with a basket full of fruit! If I don’t return, she might not be able to make her jam and could end up going hungry!

“Choi…”

I heard him calling my name longingly from behind, but I did my best to ignore him.

‘I-it’s full!’

After stuffing the final piece of fruit into the basket, I immediately stood up.

“I have to go now. I’m busy, so I’ll be leaving first!”

“Choi!”

Afraid he might grab me, I didn’t even look back. I ran with all my might.

I would never go anywhere near the north again.

Whether it was the northwest or the northeast.

From now on, I wouldn’t even turn my head toward any place with the word north in it!

“Haaah, haaah…”

“Chihuahua, you’re back? Why are you sweating so much?”

It was only after entering the dungeon that I finally felt safe.

Worried that the man might follow me, I’d run like crazy even after finishing the errand and leaving the village.

I’d repeatedly checked behind me and even taken unnecessary detours to shake off any possible tail.

After practically starring in an entire spy movie by myself, I was completely exhausted.

“Today, my carelessness nearly put the dungeon in danger.”

“What are you talking about? Was the errand really that exhausting? You don’t need to worry about the dungeon. Your underlings handled everything just fine. I even recorded the dungeon’s progress while you were away. Want to watch?”

“Oh… There was a recording function, too?”

“The sacred relic gained a new function when it was enhanced to Level 1.”

“What!? It was enhanced? While I was gone?”

Had I been wrong to go out on that errand today? I’d missed the moment the sacred relic was enhanced, and I’d even run into someone from the temple.

“You’ve had challengers coming in regularly, and the fear extraction has been going well. It makes sense that the sacred relic would have recovered some of its power.”

So that was why Brownie seemed unusually excited compared to this morning.

“I want to go see it right away, but my legs are trembling… I’ll take a nap first and check it out later.”

I wanted to see how the sacred relic had grown as soon as possible, but I was so tired that I couldn’t move.

Was this because I didn’t exercise enough? For office workers, lack of exercise, poor stamina, and frequent minor illnesses were practically an inseparable package deal.

“Sure, sleep well. Your underlings will handle your afternoon duties just fine in your place.”

“If anything urgent comes up… wake me up right away.”

“Urgent? Would the fact that there’s a Dullahan’s head under your bed count?”

“Aaaagh! How did that get in here, too!? Take it away, right now!”

I exhausted every last bit of the tiny amount of energy I had left by freaking out.

In the end, I buried my face in my pillow and fell asleep as if I’d passed out.