Gifts Are Always Great (2): Even Mount Geumgang After a Meal
There is a saying that even Mount Geumgang is best after a meal.
No matter how magnificent the natural wonders spread before your eyes, they only truly come into focus once your stomach is full.
Zion swallowed hard. Soft white bread, meat roasted to a golden brown, and melted cheese draped over the top of it all.
"Wow."
"It's nothing fancy, but… I can guarantee the taste and the portions."
"I-Is it really all right for me to accept a feast like this?"
"Of course."
Her ragged breathing and the sweat sheening her skin might have looked alluring given her outfit… but unfortunately, her audience was the wrong one. Right now, Zion's most important mission was filling her empty stomach.
Still, she crushed the urge to snatch the meat and tear into it with superhuman patience.
"O God, I thank You for providing daily bread to this lost little lamb."
After a light breath, Zion clasped her hands together and recited a prayer as piously as she could manage.
Of course she didn't mean a word of it. She'd simply cobbled together plausible-sounding phrases she'd picked up over the years.
The reason she bothered with the prayer at all was to look as much like an NPC as possible for Ifrit.
How can I not milk this free… no, this golden goose for everything she's worth?
This was a first meeting with an NPC, so Ifrit would try to grant as many requests as she could. That was exactly the opening Zion needed to exploit.
That was why she was putting on this saintess act she had no business performing. At the very least, she couldn't afford to be suspected as a fraud.
Fortunately, the clumsy prayer seemed to work — the light of expectation in Ifrit's eyes grew stronger by the second.
Oh man. I'm gonna live.
Whether Ifrit was impressed or not, once the performance was over, Zion carefully tore off a piece of bread and put it in her mouth. It was so sweet she could have cried.
The bread, the meat — even plain water tasted like a sweet drink.
Only after she'd chewed and swallowed everything and a warm energy began circulating in her belly did Zion finally feel free from hunger.
"I'm sorry — I got so focused on the food that I…"
"It's fine, it's fine. Makes hauling all this over worth it."
"Then, about a reward…"
She didn't actually need to give a reward. She'd already made it clear she had nothing to her name right now.
But freeloading had its limits. Keep offering nothing and Ifrit would leave soon enough.
The problem was she genuinely had nothing to give. As she fretted, something caught Zion's eye.
"That wound…?"
"Ah, this? I ran into an annoying bastard while I was grabbing the food and had a little scrap."
A bloodstain that definitely hadn't been there before she left for the food was now glaringly visible.
Zion tilted her head. Was it even possible for someone to leave a wound like that on the administrator of the first floor?
No — that wasn't what mattered right now. If she played this right, she could offer a reward. Zion raised her hand at once.
"Recovery."
Recovery
Wooooong—!!
The moment the word left her lips, pure white light poured from Zion's fair, delicate hand and began to envelop Ifrit.
Ifrit made no move to refuse the warm baptism of light. Instead she closed her eyes and drew the radiance fully into herself.
Thank god I can still use skills.
At first she'd been half-skeptical. Even if she'd possessed a game character, could she actually use skills?
But the moment she decided to use one, the method appeared in her mind — and when she followed it, the skill actually cast. Now she could at least offer a modest reward.
"I have nothing I can give you right now… but if you ever get injured, please come find me anytime."
"How on earth…"
"Pardon?"
"No, it's nothing. Thank you, really. I thought I'd be stuck nursing this for days."
Despite her calm expression, Ifrit was reeling inside. Who was she, after all? A High Ranker.
Naturally, very few people could wound a High Ranker whose every stat pierced the heavens.
At best, high-floor boss monsters or fellow High Rankers could inflict meaningful damage on her.
To heal a wound inflicted by a High Ranker this easily… and she's not even an Adventurer — she's an NPC…!!
Healers were essential for adventuring. But healers were vanishingly rare. That made them nobility.
Finding a high-ranking priest capable of healing wounds from a High Ranker was like plucking stars from the sky.
Well… she was the great Saintess who had once attended the legendary hero. Healing a wound like this would be nothing to her.
Ifrit was thoroughly lost in her own misunderstanding. Zion, oblivious, was already preparing for the next step.
Clothes and food are sorted for food, clothing, and shelter… now all that's left is a house.
She had the nun's habit she was wearing, and she'd just eaten — now she needed a roof to keep out the wind and rain.
She would have loved to leave this place for somewhere else… but unfortunately she had no justification for that.
Zion racked her brains desperately. Drawing on all the games she'd played, she cooked up a plausible quest.
"Um… may I ask one more favor?"
"Of course. I'll help however I can."
"Thank you, Adventurer. The truth is, I'd like to repair this place."
"You want to repair this place?"
"Yes. This is where I've treated and cared for the sick all this time."
Zion lied with a straight face, without so much as wetting her lips — shameless to the core.
And Ifrit took the bait beautifully. Looking at it, there was no way she wouldn't.
A ruined church, and a nun NPC who refused to leave it. Everything was perfect, wasn't it?
"…No, I'm sorry. Please forget what I just said."
"Why all of a sudden?"
"It was too shameless of me to ask for something like that…"
"I really don't mind."
"What? But…"
"I just want to help, that's all."
Zion even played hard-to-get, bowing her head as if ashamed — so of course Ifrit was hooked.
Of course, Ifrit's absurd misunderstandings played a solid part in why she was going this far…
But Zion couldn't read minds, so naturally she had no way of noticing that.
"I'm sorry — this is all I can offer."
With that, Zion pulled out an old book. Something she'd found while rummaging through the church before Ifrit arrived.
Restoring a completely ruined church for a single old book? Obviously an absurd deal.
Under normal circumstances, yes. But right now, countless messages were floating before Ifrit's eyes.
The target's information is extremely concealed.
Appraisal proficiency is insufficient.
Only partial information will be displayed.
Appraisal Result:??? (???)
An item even I, a High Ranker, can't properly appraise… As expected, the great Saintess of legend is on another level.
Ifrit's hands began to tremble with exhilaration. She didn't know what it was, but it was definitely no ordinary book.
A book the legendary Saintess had treasured for so long couldn't possibly be ordinary.
What was it? A key item for a hidden quest? A skill book containing skills used by the heroes of legend?
Either way, I can't let anyone else get their hands on it…!!!
Of course it was nothing so grand. It was simply an item from another world, which put it in an unappraisable state.
But to Ifrit, who knew none of that, it looked like a treasure she absolutely had to claim first.
With that book, she could pull ahead of everyone else. Greed flashed in her eyes for an instant.
"Ah, if the reward isn't enough…"
"That's more than enough!!"
"Pardon?"
"S-Sorry. Got carried away."
"Are you sure this book is all right?"
"Of course. Just don't give it to anyone else until I get back, okay?"
"Of course not!"
At Ifrit's stern warning, Zion nodded. Her silver-white hair swept out in a beautiful arc.
What a relief. She'd been worried when Ifrit just stared at the book without saying anything — even a sucker might draw the line somewhere.
Then again… a true Adventurer takes the quest first and asks questions later, no matter how trash the reward.
She'll rebuild a whole house for one old book? Why be an Adventurer? I'd rather live easy as an NPC forever.
Zion was freshly reminded of just how sweet NPC life had been in all the games she'd played.