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1-1. Koreans do a lot of grinding in games, too. (8)
Translated by Yonnee
Just like that, three and then four days passed. The punishment of pulling weeds never happened because I made sure to wake up on time everyday, and I only left the medicine tray in front of Adrian’s tray, too. It was nice not having to meet him in person.
Every morning after breakfast, us servants had to gather in the hall for a simple assembly (read: Leticia’s sermon), and Adrian’s schedule was also regular and had no deviations, so I was able to avoid him well enough.
It didn’t seem to bother him that I was only leaving the tray in front of his door, so it was peaceful. If I had offended the young master, then Leticia would have already keeled me over long before. Nothing terrible happened so far either, nothing like someone dying and nothing like Adrian regaining his demonic power.
Since I had tried playing the game myself, the difficulty really was ‘hell’, so it’s hard to kill someone without being noticed. But on the other hand, this was very good for me. While carrying out the character Hilda’s missions, I could quietly look for a way to return to the real world.
Though… I’ve yet to find a clue in these past few days…
I paused for a moment and sighed. A notification window for EXP came up in front of me and disappeared.
「 Gained 1 EXP from peeling onions. 」
Getting EXP for skills like this was so slow-going. I looked at my pitiful EXP bar with a rather gloomy expression.
Back then, I rose to level 4 in just one day from pulling weeds, but after resetting the game, my progress was at a snail’s pace now, perhaps because I lost my motivation. I couldn’t collect a lot of experience points from the repetitive tasks in the dull daily life of a servant, and I quickly got tired of doing things on purpose for accolades.
Getting more EXP was easier when taking on the main quest, but this game wasn’t showing me a quest window or anything.
I should at least gain a skill. That way, I’d know what kind of skills they were and how they could help me return to the real world. Right now, I’m so low level that even if I look at the skill window, I wouldn’t be able to see what kind of skills were available.
Since this was now my reality, I was feeling anxious even when seemingly nothing was happening in my daily life.
As I bit my nails, I furtively looked to the side. Aside from voluntarily peeling onions here at the kitchen, there was another reason why I woke up early today.
“Haa…”
It’s Catarina, Emily’s sister.
I heard that she was having a hard time peeling onions in the morning. She tried to talk to the other servants to swap tasks last time, but in the end, she had to come back here because she couldn’t find another person willing to take the job.
“Sister, peeling onions is hard, isn’t it? Give it to me,” I told her.
“Uh, mmh. Thanks…”
“Isn’t it hard to peel onions like this everyday? I’m asking because I’m worried.”
There was pity in my eyes as I looked at her runny nose.
“Yeah. It’s really hard to wake up so early in the morning, too…”
“I know. I feel sorry for you, Sister, and you even have to cry like this every morning. Mm, it would be nice if there’s someone who could replace you, right?”
“Yeah, that’d be great. But the problem is, no one wants to do it.”
Answering lifelessly, she picked up yet another onion, sniffling with her red nose all the while.
“Um, then, Sister. Can I do it?”
“Huh? You? You said you didn’t want to do it before though.”
“Thaa… aat’s because… I just thought it over, and I think it suits me now. I think the only good time to peel onions is in the morning, isn’t it? See, just like today. I came earlier than you to peel onions. So why don’t we exchange our tasks starting tomorrow?”
“Which task?”
“Bringing medicine to Young Master Adrian. Why don’t we swap with that?”
“Really? Is that okay with you?”
Her eyes widened into saucers as she asked back. Certainly, anyone would think this was weird. It’s much easier to bring Adrian’s medicine than to peel dozens of onions every morning. At least, that would be the case for someone who didn’t know who Adrian really was.
“Yeah. I really can’t go on knowing that you’re having such a hard time, Sister. I couldn’t sleep at night while thinking that I’m the only one who has it easy. I wake up early anyway and I can peel onions effortlessly, so don’t worry and leave it all to me!”
There! I don’t have to be so nervous every morning! Resisting the urge to jump up in excitement, I waited for Catarina’s answer with eyes sparkling with hope.
Catarina opened her lips with a bright expression as though she was about to accept it, but then she looked away and sighed.
“No, we can’t do that.”
“Why!”
I jumped up, throwing the onion in my hand without realizing it. Catarina looked up in surprise, but I had no time to notice this.
“Why not! Why can’t we do that! Isn’t it hard peeling onions like this? I already said I’ll do this difficult job for you, so why…!”
“Hilda. Young Master Adrian personally ordered you to do that, so how can we trade our tasks?”
“H-Huh?”
“I knew it, this won’t work. Young Master Adrian will be very disappointed.”