Chapter 4

The novice quest looked somewhat vague.

Mining stones was no issue. After all, in most construction games the very first task is either chopping wood or moving stone—basic operations.

But what exactly did “a certain amount” of reward mean?

Although Green Grassland had ended up with a hunched back and uncoordinated limbs thanks to the randomness, he was tall enough, and his voice carried strongly. “A certain amount… how certain is ‘certain’?”

Among them all, the female player with the most meticulously crafted face, Flower Roll, accepted the quest first before replying, “Probably like recipes that say ‘appropriate amount,’ or ‘a pinch.’ Up to interpretation.”

Pipi Shrimp nodded. “Agreed. Quests like this are usually fixed, but the rewards are variable. The exact amount probably depends on completion rate. The system should have some calculation method.”

The System, who heard everything: No, I didn't.

The reason it said “a certain amount” was entirely because Duchess Rosa Stuart hadn’t yet decided how much to give them.

NPCs with high autonomy were just willful like that.

The players, however, accepted the quest without hesitation and, following the map prompts, quickly ran toward the edge of Mangas City to begin moving stone.

Before that, though, they had to change clothes.

Rosa had already discussed this with the System and knew that all early-stage equipment for the players would have to be issued by her.

Since that was the case, Duchess Rosa certainly wouldn’t give them the chance to damage anything. especially since their own clothes were decent beginner equipment. Unfortunately, they had limited durability, and if they ran out, they'd have to be given new ones, which was too much trouble.

So, the lord had a batch of rather crude but very durable leather jackets made in advance for them to wear, partly to protect their property.

At this moment, Pipi Shrimp shook the leather jacket on the stone: "Giving away equipment before even starting the quest?"

Then he saw Cold Blade expressionlessly pick up the jacket and pat it on his body.

Then, the leather jacket fell to the ground with a "thud," and he remained completely unaffected.

Cold Blade: ...

Green Grassland swiftly picked up the leather jacket and handed it to Cold Blade, who thanked him softly.

Meanwhile, Pipi Shrimp held the jacket up to himself for a moment, then concluded, "You can't equip clothes directly in this game."

 

Green Grassland was dumbfounded: "Then what do we do?"

Flower Roll, standing nearby, gave the group of idiots a disdainful look, briskly put the leather jacket on, donned her gloves, and went to move stones without looking back.

Everyone: …Oh. So that’s how you wear it.

Soon everyone was properly dressed—except Green Grassland, who was still wrestling with his jacket. Cold Blade tried to help, but still couldn’t get him into it.

His randomly generated body was too unusual, structured far too differently from a normal person to fit standard clothing.

Watching through the control panel, Rosa noticed this as well. After a moment’s thought, she said, “Shall we just give him a piece of leather to wrap around?”

The System immediately cut in: [Beautiful Duchess, I believe we should treat every player well.]

Rosa was unimpressed. “Tell the truth.”

[…Please have someone tailor a custom garment just for this player.]

The Duchess raised a brow in surprise.

Though this System gentleman appeared timid and simple-minded, he had always treated players equally.

Why the favoritism now?

“Give me a reason.”

The System did not conceal it. In fact, it sounded faintly pleased. [Because I very much like this player’s appearance. He is the perfect model of aesthetic excellence. Such outstanding taste deserves reward.]

Rosa’s eyebrow twitched. She stared at the uniquely shaped player for a long while.

This… was perfect?

Suddenly, felt that all the system's previous compliments and praise had become less pleasant.

Still, Duchess Rosa was magnanimous and not stingy in fulfilling such a small request.

She ordered a large leather coat sewn— specially for the most unique warrior among all the warriors.

Not long after, she saw through the panel that all players’ statuses had changed to [Busy], and a smile curved her lips.

“I very much look forward to seeing what performance these players you so highly praise will deliver, Mr. System.”

[You will be satisfied. Shall we go watch?]

“No. After so many days of preparation and busyness, I require rest.” Rising, she turned to Morris. “How much of the essential oil remains?”

“Thirty bottles, my lady.”

“Bring some. My hair needs treatment. The wind these past few days has left it rather dry.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The System was puzzled. [I recall you said earlier that you brought no food because your luggage was too full.]

As a result, she didn't bring any food—but she did bring thirty bottles of hair oil?

Was hair truly more important than food?

Rosa cast the crystal ball a sidelong glance and tapped it lightly. “You wouldn’t understand.”

[?]

“Beauty requires persistence. Especially in such harsh conditions—I must be even more diligent.” She thoughtfully polished the smooth surface of the crystal sphere. “But it’s only natural you wouldn’t know. The people you design don’t even have hair.”

[…Hmph!]

Elsewhere, the players were diligently mining and moving stone.

The most serious among them was Cold Blade. Pipi Shrimp, after a while, grew restless. Inwardly he grumbled—the dog planner had finally behaved like a decent human being, but had gone too far.

The game was excessively realistic.

Clothes had to be worn manually. Roads had to be walked. Even mining required swinging the tool oneself.

There was no fatigue mechanic—but there was boredom.

His eyes rolled. Mangas City was large enough; he wouldn't be able to finish mining all the stones in a day. Might as well scout the city first.

Once decided, he set down his pickaxe, informed the others, and set off.

It would be even better if he could ransack the place and loot some equipment.

Alas, ideals are beautiful, but reality often falls short of expectations..

He had just wandered through the streets when he encountered a patrolling guard.

Bold as he was, Pipi Shrimp did not dare break into civilian homes under a guard’s watch.

So he could only wander around the streets for a short while before heading back.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw a little girl sitting on the steps, looking at him with a curiousity.

She looks to be only six or seven years old, but she is much thinner than most children. Her arms are very thin, and she still has some baby fat on her face. Her eyes are bright and lovely..

When their gazes met, she smiled. “Hello, Mr. Warior.”

An NPC who initiated conversation? Pipi Shrimp would never ignore that.

Besides, he had a younger sister about the same age at home. Skilled in coaxing children, he walked over and sat beside her with a grin. “And what may I do for you, young lady?”

It seemed she had never been addressed as “young lady” before. Her face reddened. “My name is Annie.”

“Hello, Annie.” He glanced inside through the doorway. “Are you alone at home?”

She nodded obediently. “Yes.”

His eyes brightened.

Then she added, “There’s no one else left.”

His fleeting excitement froze. “…What do you mean?”

Annie lifted her small face and answered softly, “A dragon attacked here before. Mama and Papa died. Later my brother went out to look for food. He met a magical beast. He died too. Now it’s just me.”

“….” Pipi Shrimp opened his mouth and found himself speechless.

Annie did not look sorrowful. She smiled instead. “Life was hard before. But now the Lord has come. I can eat every day at the place she arranged, and I have new clothes. Now brave warriors have come to repair the city walls. In the future, no one will die again, right?”

A grown man, rendered mute by a child’s simple question.

Comfort her? She was an NPC.

Make promises? He had just been complaining about building walls, thinking of looting houses…

His heart tightened painfully. He turned away and wiped at the corner of his eye.

Damn it, these dog planner are inhuman —why make NPCs this real? With backstories too? What is this emotional manipulation? I… I’m not sad at all.

…

Damn the dragons. Damn the magical beasts.

Yet before those clear eyes, he swallowed everything and nodded. “Mm.”

Annie, unaware of his turmoil, only thought the brave warrior from afar was taciturn. Seeing him agree, she beamed.

She ran inside and quickly returned, pressing a small piece of bread into his hand. “For you.”

“I’m not hungry—”

His stomach betrayed him with a loud growl.

Annie laughed brightly.

She stuffed the bread into his hand and darted back indoors, shutting the door as if afraid he might refuse again.

Pipi Shrimp stood there a moment, clutching the bread, then grit his teeth and ran back toward the quest site.

When he returned, the players were working fervently.

Though oddly structured, Green Grassland was immensely strong—one man equal to three. Tall as well, he carried one stone in each hand and a basket on his back. Seeing Pipi Shrimp, he cheerfully called out, “How’s the city?”

Instead of answering, Pipi Shrimp snarled, “I’ll move them! It’s just a damn wall—I refuse to believe we can’t fix it! Those cursed dragons and magical beasts—once I level up, I’ll cut them down one by one!”

Green Grassland: ?

Pipi Shrimp plunged into hauling stone. With his current strength stat, one stone at a time was his limit.

His body was ordinary—unlike Green Grassland’s peculiar build.

But soon he noticed that Cold Blade, whose base stats matched his own, was lifting three at once.

He hurried over. “Master, did you find a way to level up?”

Cold Blade glanced at him. “No.”

“Then why are you so strong?”

Cold Blade lifted another stone. “Check your stats.”

Pipi Shrimp opened his panel. At first nothing seemed different. Then he saw that the strength column had changed.

It had increased.

It's not just that the stats have increased, but the maximum strength had increased.

And since entering the game, the only thing related to Strength he’d done was moving stone.

Though the increase was slow, the kind of stat that usually required leveling up could be accumulated through manual labor—

Unbelievable.

But then it clicked.

Of course. That was logical.

Train strength, increase capacity, improve stamina.

His earlier gloom evaporated, replaced by enthusiasm. Every quest has meaning! Roll up your sleeves!

At that moment, Cold Blade suddenly paused.

“Tired?”

Cold Blade frowned slightly, placing a hand on his stomach. “…Hungry.”

Immediately, Pipi Shrimp’s stomach growled again.

They exchanged a look.

“HP’s dropping,” Cold Blade said.

There was no hunger bar, but their bodies felt hunger—and hunger meant losing HP.

This realistic?

Pipi Shrimp quickly broke out his bread, split it in two, and handed half to Cold Blade. “Here, eat this to fill your stomach first.”

Cold Blade accepted it softly. “Thank you.”

Pipi Shrimp grinned brightly. “Now we’ve shared bread—bond sealed. This game’s not bad. Let’s play more. Once we level up, we’ll go slay dragons.”

Cold Blade was nibbling carefully, calculating HP recovery per bite.

At the mention of dragons, excitement flickered across his normally cold expression. He nodded at once.

The others gradually discovered the hunger-HP mechanic as well. They temporarily abandoned moving stone and prepared to head back into the city together in search of food.

Only Green Grassland stayed behind.

Squatting, he decided it best not to frighten anyone. He made an agreement with Miss Flower Roll to bring him food, while he remained to move more stone.

But hunger was hard to endure—especially for someone of his size. His HP dropped faster than anyone else’s.

Clutching his stomach, he stood and looked around.

His gaze settled on a nearby forest not far from the quarry.

Mangas City’s land was barren, vegetation scarce—but this grove was an exception.

A rare patch of green. And on the trees hung crimson fruit—apple-shaped, though smaller.

He plucked one and sniffed it.

Sweet and fragrant.

Probably edible.

Curiosity—the eternal attribute of players.

He bit into it.

“Wait—don’t eat random things!” Cold Blade had just finished his bread and, looking up, spotted him eating the unfamiliar fruit. He shouted in alarm.

Something about it felt wrong. If it were safe, wouldn’t the people of Mangas City have eaten them long ago?

The shout came out sharper than usual, startling Pipi Shrimp.

They both looked over.

Green Grassland had already collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Cold Blade ran forward at once, Pipi Shrimp close behind.

Before they could examine him, his large body dissolved into white light and vanished.

In the castle, Rosa—fresh from her hair treatment—received a system notification:

[Player “Green Grassland” has died. Revive?]

 

Author’s Note:
System: This is high-level aesthetic taste. You wouldn’t understand.
Rosa: Oh. No hair.

System: …(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

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