Episode 6
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 6
Let's think positively. This was a new experience, in a way. I’d dragged plenty of drug addicts to the interrogation room, but this was the first time I’d been the one getting dragged. How fresh.
…Yeah, no. Freshness is for the produce aisle. A mental victory was impossible.
“I’m really not the one, you know.”
“That’s what they all say.”
“No, I’m saying I’m not the one because I’m really not the—what is this place?”
Finding herself standing alone in a vast field, Elysia stared at Evan with bewildered eyes. He pointed at the field, covered in dark green grass, and commanded.
“Run.”
“Excuse me?”
“Thirty laps.”
“Th-thirty… Why?”
The moment she faced his business-like expression, Elysia wondered how on earth the other students hadn't noticed how much of a soldier this man was.
He’s so rigid and inflexible, he’s obviously a soldier!
“It’s your punishment.”
This isn’t the army, what are you, crazy? Making me run laps on the parade ground? This son of a bitch is a true military nutjob!
Just as she was about to protest, a pink notification window popped up with a cheerful sound effect.
♥ A quest from Evan Sylvester! Run 30 laps around the field! Reward: None ♥
Why should I do this if there’s no reward? As if reading her mind, another notification window immediately appeared.
♥ Penalty for failure: Favorability -50 ♥
…Is this a dating simulation or a physical fitness program?
My favorability with him had already hit rock bottom from our first meeting, so I doubted things could get much worse. I considered making a run for it, but what stopped me was none other than my hardcore gamer DNA.
It’s a quest. You have to clear all the quests. It feels so damn unsatisfying if you don’t! Besides, this is the first quest I’ve received since falling into this world. She was, by nature, too much of a hardcore gamer to ignore something like this.
So, damn it, for fuck’s sake, hell!
“Ugh, dammit!”
Elysia shot past the man, who stood as firm as a rock, and started running, her back straight and her eyes fixed forward.
Fine, what’s so hard about thirty laps? I’ll do it just to get this over with, you bastard!
The warm weather made her break into a sweat almost immediately. By the fifth lap, she was starting to feel out of breath.
To be winded by this little… the effects of the level reset were immense. There was a time when her body wouldn’t tire even after chasing a culprit all day long…
“Hah, hah… you son… of a bitch!”
Sweat poured down like rain, making it hard to even keep her eyes open. By the time she’d completed the eighteenth lap, she could taste blood deep in her throat.
Her pace was now considerably slower than when she’d started, and she ran with all the grace of a flailing octopus. The more she ran, the more her anger grew.
By the twentieth lap, Evan was gone, but Elysia didn’t stop. Instead, she grit her teeth and forced her legs to keep moving.
That bastard! If you’re going to order someone to do something, at least watch until the end! Just you wait until this quest is over. I’ll throw something at that sullen face of yours!!!
From the moment they met, there wasn’t a single thing she liked about him. If she had done something to provoke him, he should have said so, or just ignored her completely.
The way he’d sulked off only to reappear and try to screw her over was infuriating.
♥ You have completed Evan Sylvester’s quest! Congratulations! There is no reward! ♪(^ 0 ^)♪ ♥
The moment she finished the last lap, she collapsed onto the grass, flat on her back.
She could feel the passing students glancing at her—lying there casually in a sweat-soaked blouse and a grass-stained skirt. But that was the least of her worries.
“What are you looking at? Lower your damn eyes.”
♥ SYSTEM: Favorability of all characters within a 10m radius -20 ♥
♥ SYSTEM: Player, profanity is not good for your favorability ㅠ0ㅠ ♥
Feeling the stares on her instantly vanish, Elysia pouted and looked up at the sky.
Ah, the sky is so clear here. In <Panic in the City>, it was always raining or overcast. Both then and now, the sky was fake, not real, but the feeling was different.
Though she couldn’t rashly say which was better…
The wind-swept grass lightly tickled her sweat-drenched neck. Elysia shot up and muttered to herself.
“Right, they said there was a dormitory.”
She had been wandering the school, gotten mistaken for a drug addict, and even punished for it, but her original destination had been the dormitory. Her sweat-soaked body felt disgusting. She singled out a male student passing by and asked.
“Hey, you. Spit out the directions to the dorms.”
*
She was furious to learn that the dormitory, which she had naturally assumed was inside the school grounds, was actually located outside. No wonder Adrian had asked if she knew the way…
Elysia glared at the white fountain in the center of the massive plaza in front of the school’s main gate, watching students who were clearly from wealthy families board their carriages.
She saw Siene Reve—the one who had nearly gotten her killed by a piece of paper—flinch the moment their eyes met, quickly turn her head, and scramble into her carriage.
“Oh, ma’am! I see you found your way, but… what in the world happened to you?”
“Ran into some crazy bastard.”
“Ah… still, this is a bit much. Get in, quickly.”
Pushed unceremoniously into a carriage, Elysia frowned at Adrian as he hastily locked the door.
“What’s this about?”
“You’re supposed to walk to the dorms, but I’ll just give you a ride, so get in.”
Her mind, sluggish from the sudden intense exercise followed by a crash, finally caught up with the situation. She asked with a blank expression.
“You’re not going to the dorms?”
“I live off-campus.”
“Hmm…? You can’t afford the dorm fees?”
Oh dear… I thought he was the child of a noble family… As she looked at him with pity, Adrian let out a disbelieving laugh.
“You really don’t know anything, do you? How did you even get into this school?”
“I’m wondering how I got here myself.”
She meant she didn’t know how she had physically arrived, but Adrian seemed to have understood it in a completely different way.
“Well, I suppose when I’m studying, I also wonder how I managed to pass.”
Wow, I never thought I’d be able to relate to a game character like this. Then again, when I was in college, I also used to wonder how a dummy like me ever got in… Elysia chuckled.
“Do classes start tomorrow?”
“Fill out the course registration form in the dormitory mailbox and submit it tomorrow. You know you have to balance classes with research, right? Hmm, judging by that expression, you didn’t. What do you even know?”
Spotting Elysia’s eyes widening in horror, Adrian answered his own question.
What the hell, research? I thought this was a university-like school, but it’s a graduate school? What did I do to deserve this divine punishment?
“You’ll just be assisting with my research at first, so don’t worry too much. We’re here, so you can get out. I gave you a ride because I couldn’t bear to see you walk in that state, but from now on, you walk.”
With a clatter, the carriage came to a halt. It seemed they had arrived at the dormitory building. Adrian opened the door, then threw open a window with a look of relief and cried out desperately.
“Please wash up as soon as you get there, and show up looking decent tomorrow! Please!”
Elysia shot a glare at Adrian, who was still sitting in the carriage. He let out a sharp gasp and hastily had the carriage depart.
Left all alone, Elysia spotted the dormitory building and her jaw dropped open without her realizing it.
The glossy ceramic bricks, as if glazed and fired, shone brilliantly.
Stepping inside, she was greeted by a massive hall. It seemed to double as a lounge, as huge bookshelves and simple sofas were arranged on either side.
Light filtering through the stained-glass ceiling cast colorful shadows across the floor. Elysia stopped when she noticed a bulletin board placed in front of the staircase.
♥ SYSTEM: Welcome to the ‘Dormitory’! The ‘Dormitory’ has been added to your ‘Map’. ♥
Carefully scanning the list, Elysia found her name assigned to Room 303. As she was about to move, she frowned upon seeing a familiar name placed right below hers.
「Evan Sylvester (4th Year): Room 304」
Why does this bastard keep popping up? The thought of having to live next door to someone she already had such a difficult relationship with made her stomach churn. It was probably too late to ask for a room change…
Sighing, she headed to her room for the time being.
It was smaller than she’d expected, but it had everything she needed. A desk attached to a bookshelf, a bed… and wow, a private bathroom?
Just as she was starting to feel pleased with the unexpectedly luxurious space, Elysia caught sight of her reflection in the bathroom mirror and muttered, “Aha.”
“So this is why he gave me a ride.”
With her hair a mess, her blouse wrinkled and soaked with sweat, and her skirt heavily stained with grass, she looked like a madwoman, no matter how generously one looked at it. No wonder Adrian had been so horrified…
After a quick shower to wash off the stench of sweat, Elysia returned to her room in a robe, only to tilt her head at a system window that had suddenly appeared.
♥ SYSTEM: You can purchase furniture with Gold to decorate your room! Go to the ‘Shop’? Yes | No ♥
About to choose ‘No’ out of annoyance, she casually glanced at the Gold window and frowned when she noticed a strange figure.
Unless my eyes were deceiving me, the value in the currency window, which was supposed to show my current amount of Gold in numbers, was…
♥ ∞ ♥
Is this a fantasy brought on by my own greed, or… did I win the lottery? An endless supply of money? What is this, the legend of the magic pot?