No Room for Failure
Bartre had never known failure in his life. In the seven years Uno had worked alongside him, this was the first time he had ever witnessed Bartre fail at something.
Even so, Bartre showed no signs of agitation or despair. He simply stared at the situation unfolding before him with cold, indifferent eyes. In his chilled mind, the next steps were already falling neatly into place. It was precisely this quality that made his subordinates trust him without question.
“We’ll have to head into the forest.”
When his calm voice finally broke the long silence, his men doubted their own ears.
“Pardon?”
They thought their leader must have misspoken. But when they saw the faint smile on Bartre’s lips, they realized he had neither made a mistake nor cracked a joke. Uno muttered with clear frustration, thinking it might almost be better if the man had thrown a raging tantrum instead.
“That forest is home to monsters, Captain.”
“Entering the forest requires careful consideration. Right now the monsters are at their most sensitive.”
Following Uno’s words, the gray-haired Alber spoke in a cautious tone. Bartre, who hadn’t even blinked at Uno’s comment, let out a deep sigh at Alber’s voice before replying.
“That’s exactly why we must go in.”
His subordinates tried to grasp the meaning behind their captain’s words, but they couldn’t make sense of it. They remained silent, waiting for him to continue. Pressing him with questions at a time like this would only earn them his icy disregard. The only person who could ask Bartre anything resembling a question was Alber.
“The Death Cave, the Cullen’s habitat, is nearby. We’ll steal one of their young.”
At the unexpected answer, Alber’s eyes widened as he stared at Bartre. It wasn’t just Alber who was stunned; every single subordinate looked at their leader as if he had lost his mind.
“Their young? Do you have a plan? The mother will go berserk.”
Cullens were monsters with such fierce maternal instincts that they would tear off their own flesh to feed their offspring when food was scarce. Stealing a pup from such a creature was no different from dousing oneself in oil and leaping into a bonfire.
The hot-tempered Uno fidgeted restlessly and added his thoughts. The others nodded vigorously in agreement, but Bartre paid them no mind.
“We’ll put it to sleep.”
Bartre pulled a small pouch from his coat as he spoke. Though the pouch was sealed in three layers, simply holding it made his hand tingle.
The logs that had been cut for the next village’s repairs now encircled the settlement.
The fence construction continued all day, mobilizing everyone from the logging team to those who had volunteered for Enol Village’s construction, and even the servants from Grace Castle.
Despite the nonstop labor, not a single person complained.
The fear that monsters might swarm the village now that the defensive barrier had burned down, combined with a fierce sense of duty to protect the village they had barely rebuilt, kept them working in steadfast silence.
Though the weather was cold, sweat poured down the workers’ foreheads. The labor that had begun at dawn continued straight through until lunchtime.
Ding ding ding!
“It’s mealtime!”
Ding ding ding!
A single child ran around the half-finished fence, ringing an old bell with cheerful clangs. Every time the child moved, the eyes of the sweat-soaked adults followed.
The boy, who was shaking the bell for a meager wage, looked positively delighted. His bright, innocent expression seemed completely untouched by the dangerous situation looming just ahead. That sunny smile momentarily softened the adults’ hardened faces.
But soon their gazes, as if by agreement, turned back toward the Black Forest. The hill where the defensive barrier had been reduced to ash in an instant made the already dark forest look even more ominous.
Fortunately, they had yet to detect any unusual movement from the Black Forest. Outside the fence where construction was underway, knights stood guard without rest. Thanks to the fully armed knights, the workers could focus on their tasks.
Among the mobilized mercenaries, those whose skills had been proven were also assigned to stand watch alongside the knights. Though they were being paid, they knew that if monsters attacked, their own lives would be on the line, so they never let their guard down for even a moment.
“Squad One and Two, eat first!”
Builder, Farmer, and Helsa shouted as they moved among the workers. Some of the laborers who had been staring blankly into space stopped what they were doing and stood up. Between their movements, the child’s bell rang out brightly.
The people lined up one by one in front of the temporary dining area.
“Today, Her Ladyship has prepared a special meal for everyone.”
At the words “special meal,” the murmuring among the crowd grew louder. The faces that had been weighed down with gloom at the thought of a possible monster attack quickly brightened with anticipation.
“She said it’s a special meal!”
“It smells really delicious!”
“Isn’t that the smell of meat?”
The people who had caught the scent first spoke in amazement, sniffing the air, and the others widened their eyes in surprise.
“It really is! That’s definitely meat.”
Even those who hadn’t yet reached their turn stopped working and turned their heads toward the temporary dining hall. The heavy fear that had been pressing down on their hearts became as light as cotton candy thanks to the aroma of meat.
A few hours earlier.
“All of this meat?”
Donghee had originally intended to feed the castle servants first, but she released every bit of meat she had onto the construction site instead. She would have to return to the castle to retrieve the meat she had left behind while bringing the fire extinguishers, but she didn’t mind repeating the effort.
“It might still be a bit short. For today, make stew with this. Since it won’t be enough on its own, prepare plenty of bread and steamed dural as well. Oh, and boil some ramen too. Make sure anyone who wants more can eat as much as they like.”
Donghee generously distributed all the meat she had brought from the mart to the construction site.
“It’s real meat stew! There’s so much meat in it!”
“How long has it been since we last had meat!”
“This is truly delicious!”
The moment the people received bowls of stew with chunks of meat floating in it, cheers erupted as loud as when the fire had been extinguished. Many swallowed hard even before taking a bite. Those who couldn’t wait simply drank straight from the bowls without even sitting at the makeshift tables.
“Her Ladyship instructed us to prepare plenty, so don’t hold back. You’ve all worked so hard today.”
Scrooge moved among the people, offering encouragement, while Handsome supervised those waiting in line and did his best to maintain order so that chaos wouldn’t break out.
Henry, who had been excitedly holding his bowl of stew, suddenly grew somber the moment he looked down at the steaming food in his hands.
“I wish my little sister could eat this too.”
The image of his sister’s gaunt face with sunken cheeks flashed through his mind. On the day Henry had left to earn money, his sister had bravely waved without crying and told him to have a safe trip. Though she had forced a smile, he could never forget the tears that had filled her large eyes.
He had left her with a kind-hearted neighbor, so she wouldn’t be starving, but that household wasn’t well off either. Every night, his sister probably fell asleep clutching her empty stomach.
Ned patted Henry’s shoulder as his friend stared blankly at the stew he couldn’t bring himself to eat. Ned, who was also unable to eat because he was worried about the mother he had left behind, understood his friend’s feelings better than anyone.
“It would be nice if our families could live here too.”
“Yeah. If only we could bring my sister and your mother here.”
Scrooge was the one who noticed the two boys standing there holding their precious meat stew without eating it.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
When Scrooge approached and asked, Henry and his friend quickly wiped their tears and shook their heads.
“It’s nothing. We’ll eat well.”
Fearing they would be scolded for not being grateful for the food, Henry and Ned hurriedly wiped the tears from their faces. But Scrooge, whose perceptiveness had been honed over decades, immediately understood why the two couldn’t eat the meat stew despite receiving it.
“Are you worried about your families?”
It was a short question. But the tears Henry had been holding back finally spilled over.
Henry pressed his lips tightly together to hold back his sobs and bowed his head, even holding his breath. Scrooge quietly watched the tears falling onto the boy’s worn-out shoes, then turned away without a word.
Donghee, who had returned after collecting all the empty fire extinguishers, dragged her body—now heavy as waterlogged cotton—back to the convenience store.
Since she had used up all her remaining hidden points by employing Taechang as an assistant, she had to empty all eight hundred points by herself. Donghee had naturally assumed that even if each task was worth ten points at most, she would only need to pay about thirty points in labor fees. When she saw her completely depleted remaining points, she flew into a rage. But the status window was utterly shameless.
In urgent situations where time is of the essence, the value of labor naturally skyrockets. Why are you acting like such an amateur?
It was outright robbery. Donghee ground her teeth, vowing that next time she would definitely check the payment points first before hiring any assistants.
“The blue one comes up with the plans, and the silver anchovy one does all the physical work. What a perfect pair they make.”
She grumbled loudly on purpose, but the status window only displayed the astonishing message [Adjusting screen]. Donghee finally understood why the company presidents in dramas were always clutching the backs of their necks and collapsing.
The first hundred were manageable. But once she passed two hundred and approached three hundred, it felt like her arms were going numb.
“Ugh, my arms are killing me. When am I supposed to finish taking all these out?”
She was incredibly grateful that the fire extinguishers had helped put out the fire, but cleaning up alone was far too much. A sigh escaped her lips involuntarily.
While staring at her inventory packed full of empty fire extinguishers, Donghee poked at the inventory window floating before her eyes and spun it around, just in case. She wondered if she could flip the inventory like a bag and dump everything out at once.
With little expectation, the moment the inventory flipped over, Donghee let out a cheer at the message that suddenly appeared.
Would you like to empty all items at once?
“Whoa! Absolutely, yes! Empty all items, please!”
Items emptied once cannot be recovered.
“Empty them!”
Executing bulk empty. Shake shake shake!
The flipped inventory trembled, and the red color that had filled the screen all poured downward at once. She had been worried they might fall and hit her feet, but fortunately that didn’t happen.
The emptied items were simply deleted and did not spill out into the real world.
“Why didn’t you tell me there was such a convenient function!”
Donghee, who had painstakingly taken out nearly three hundred heavy fire extinguishers one by one, shouted in fresh indignation.
You never asked.
“But you saw me struggling to take them out one by one.”
That is true.
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
Because you never asked.
Should I just kill it?