The Taste of Trust
“Oh no! What do we do!”
Delma pounded Chloe’s back with heavy thumps while holding her palm right in front of the girl’s mouth. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
Her voice trembled as she urged her to spit it out, and her feet shuffled anxiously, unable to stay planted on the floor.
Aaah… Delma really does care about me.
Alright, that’s enough of the prank!
Donghee quickly composed her expression and looked at Delma with a perfectly normal face.
“Delma! I’m fine. It was just so delicious that I got surprised!”
Her back was tingling from how hard Delma had been hitting it.
Delma still hadn’t fully processed the situation. She kept her hand on Chloe’s back as she asked,
“Pardon?”
She looked completely out of it. Seeing those vacant eyes made Donghee feel even more guilty. She decided she would never again pretend to be in pain in front of Delma.
“I’m really okay. Look. Nothing’s wrong with me.”
To prove she was perfectly fine, Donghee spread both arms wide like a scarecrow and flashed a bright smile.
Tears streamed down Delma’s round, wide eyes.
Ugh. Guilt stabbed at Donghee’s chest like tiny needles.
Delma quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand, then began circling Chloe, inspecting her from every angle. Even after being told multiple times that she was fine, it seemed Delma needed to see it with her own eyes before she could relax.
In that short time, Delma’s gaze swept over every inch of her with clear worry, and sighs kept escaping her lips. Between each sigh, she muttered things like “I can’t live like this” as if they were exclamations.
“Are you truly alright, my lady?”
Even after seeing that Chloe looked perfectly normal, Delma repeated the same question several times, still unable to believe it.
“Yes. I’m fine. Here, try some.”
When Donghee grinned again and held out the dural fries, Delma’s body instinctively leaned away as if trying to escape. Embarrassed by her own reaction, she straightened up and brushed off her skirt with her palms, even though there was nothing on it.
“I told you it’s really good!”
Donghee offered them once more.
The flavor was on a completely different level from the side-menu fries she used to eat at hamburger shops back in Korea.
Since the potatoes were so large, each fry was nearly thirty centimeters long.
On top of that, the rich nuttiness that exploded in her mouth the moment she bit down, combined with the perfect crispiness only found in freshly fried potatoes, made her gasp in admiration with every bite. She had never been particularly fond of french fries before, but she felt like she could keep eating these forever.
“It would be perfect if we had ketchup. Delma, do they not grow tomatoes around here?”
“They used to grow them in Lasen Village, but the drought ruined the harvest this year.”
Delma understood the word “tomato” immediately and answered without hesitation. It seemed tomatoes were called the same thing here.
“The tomatoes from Lasen are truly exceptional.”
Delma smacked her lips with clear regret.
Donghee felt greatly relieved to learn that the soil in the territory was suitable for growing tomatoes. She picked up another dural fry.
Next time, I should try making potato pancakes—no, dural pancakes!
Just thinking about it made her mouth water.
Donghee stared at Delma, whose eyes had doubled in size from shock, and crunched into the long dural fry like it was a giant Pocky stick.
Before long, Donghee had polished off her second fry and gave a big thumbs-up. Only then did Delma hesitantly reach for one. But instead of grabbing it boldly, she used only her thumb and index finger to pinch the very tip. Her expression was so reluctant that anyone watching might have thought she was being forced to pick up a bug.
Delma looked at Chloe and raised her thin eyebrows high.
It was as if she were asking, Do I really have to eat this? So Donghee nodded vigorously.
Ah, it takes this much effort just to get her to try one dural fry!
If it were up to her, she would have told Delma not to eat it, but she couldn’t. She had to solve the territory’s food shortage. If she couldn’t even convince Delma—who already held her in high regard—then it was obvious no one else in the territory would touch dural.
“Just try it. Mmm! It’s delicious!”
She felt like a daycare teacher trying to convince a picky child that vegetables tasted as good as chocolate cake.
With a confused expression, Delma glanced at the two people standing at the kitchen entrance before slowly bringing the dural fry to her mouth.
Yes, yes! That’s it! Aah! Open your mouth wide!
Donghee watched with her own mouth rounded open, just like a mother feeding baby food to her child.
As the dural fry drew closer to Delma’s lips, Donghee’s eyes grew wider and wider with anticipation.
She could even hear the two people at the kitchen entrance holding their breath.
“What are we going to do! Head Butler, please stop her! This is going to be a disaster!”
The head chef’s voice sounded like he was about to burst into tears as he urged Scrooge.
“Do you really think they would listen if I tried to stop them? Besides, it looks like everything is fine from what I can see.”
The young lord had touched the dural without any hesitation—something that had terrified the adults—and had even gone so far as to cook and eat it. It made Scrooge feel ashamed of himself for having been far more frightened than a girl who wasn’t even twenty years old, despite being well past fifty. Now that he thought about it, he had never actually heard of dural harming anyone.
Why was I so scared of it?
As he pondered this sudden question, the sound of Delma biting into the dural fry reached his ears.
Crunch!
The tense atmosphere in the room seemed to crack.
“Hm?”
Delma’s chewing speed gradually increased.
Crunch. Crunch.
The shorter the fry in her hand became, the wider her eyes grew.
It was almost as if a status window would pop up saying, The size of the fry and Delma’s eyes are inversely proportional.
Before long, her sparkling gaze had already moved on to the next dural fry.
“See? I told you it was delicious.”
“Oh my goodness! You’re saying dural is this tasty?”
The dural fry had completely vanished from between Delma’s thumb and index finger.
She chewed nonstop and urgently waved the two people over while her other hand was already reaching for a fresh fry.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and come eat!”
“Try the steamed ones too. Steamed dural, I mean.”
Dural, dural… that sounds kind of weird.
Dural’s friend lolololololol
Donghee shook her head, dismissing the silly joke that had popped into her mind. If she made such a lame pun in front of these three, they would definitely look at her strangely.
The strange looks she was getting right now were already more than enough.
Scrooge and the head chef, who had been watching the excited Delma with deep suspicion, slowly approached.
Come on over. First time eating dural, right?
After completely clearing not only the dural fries but also the perfectly steamed dural, the three of them patted their bulging stomachs and gazed at Chloe with awe.
You have earned the infinite trust and loyalty of three territory residents!
You have taken one step closer to solving the territory’s food shortage.
Perhaps you possess exceptional talent for managing a fief! Hehe!
I applaud your ever-growing abilities.
Instead of applause, how about giving me some points or abilities or something?
So impatient!
Special bonus for the user who has obtained the infinite loyalty of three people!
So far, the only bonuses the status window had given were tiny amounts of hidden points. Without much expectation, Donghee chewed on a dural fry while waiting for the next message.
Please select one of your currently activated activity zones. The area around the selected zone will be expanded.
Huh? What does that mean?
Expand the area around an activity zone! No way!
Donghee, who had been lazily leaning back while rubbing her full stomach, shot upright at the status window’s explanation.
“My lady, what’s wrong?”
“You’re not feeling sick, are you?”
The head chef asked with a frightened expression as he watched Chloe suddenly stand up after eating so much. The corners of his mouth were shiny with oil, as if he were wearing lip gloss.
“No, it’s nothing like that. My stomach’s just full, so I thought I’d take a little walk.”
At those words, the head chef visibly relaxed and plopped back down into his seat.
Even though he had been muttering about how stuffed he was, he reached for another dural fry.
Leaving the three of them behind, Donghee stepped into the corridor and focused on the status window again.
What does it mean to expand the area around an activity zone?
Oh dear! Your comprehension is rather lacking! Do not worry. As I am a kind system, I will explain with an example suited to your level. If you select the convenience store, it means the locations surrounding the convenience store will also be included in your activation range.
Wow!
She hadn’t liked the first sentence, but the explanation that followed was fantastic. Without hesitation, Donghee chose the expansion location.
In that case, it had to be Borimdang. The alley where Borimdang was located was a street full of old gold and silver shops.
You have selected Borimdang as the expansion zone.
You may now use a certain range connected to Borimdang. However!
However?
There is a time restriction.
Since there had been a time limit at Borimdang as well, this wasn’t particularly surprising.
What happens if I break the time limit?
Borimdang will be removed from your activated zones.
Damn it! What the hell!
How much time do I get?
Ten minutes after leaving Borimdang. Please return to your shabby basement room within ten minutes. Not even a single second of overtime will be tolerated, so please use your time wisely. Hehe!
Shabby?
If the status window had a mouth, she would have grabbed it and stretched it as far as it could go. Sure, her basement one-room apartment was shabby, but it was also a precious space filled with her entire twenties.
The status window’s snarky attitude was improving day by day, as if it were taking private lessons on how to be annoying.
Donghee huffed in irritation before falling into thought.
Ten minutes. That’s not bad.
She had managed to bring out a decent amount of items from Borimdang within ten minutes, so the same should be possible elsewhere.
Her activity radius had increased to 3, and the favorability of the residents in Morta Village had risen significantly.
But a new line had been added that wasn’t there before.
Next village can be unlocked?