Victory Cooking Club — Unpaid Labor Opportunities Available Now! #4

The Club Management System. Even for me, the name felt somewhat unfamiliar. Was this new content added in the DLC? If so, it meant they hadn’t just expanded the combat side of things — they’d introduced fresh elements to lifestyle content like clubs as well.

“The devs really did a solid job.”

“Simple enough.”

The menu was simpler than I’d expected. When I tapped the ‘View’ button next to Members with my finger, a list of entries scrolled down smoothly.

It was a straightforward list showing each member’s name, position, trait, and current HP. I wasn’t sure about the rest, but displaying HP seemed useful in all sorts of ways. So only Nike and I had traits? My Steel was one thing, but Nike’s Fidgeting was a trait I’d never seen before.

“Unlike skills, traits are characteristics that come with both advantages and disadvantages.”

I was curious what kind of risk it carried and what kind of return it offered, but there was no way to know right away. Like most traits, I’d just have to figure it out slowly over time.

After fiddling with the text for a bit, I finally tapped the item that had caught my attention from the start — the one labeled ‘DP’.

There were quite a few entries scrolling down like this. It looked like a point system earned by clearing achievements. And if there were points, it meant they could be spent somewhere. The hint for that was probably in the Shop option below.

“Now this is surprising.”

A system shop that sold skills and traits? In D&A, skills and traits were usually extremely difficult to obtain. Most could only be learned by clearing special achievements or being exposed to very specific situations.

There were only two skills listed in the skill shop: Campfire Lighting and Basic Cooking. Coincidentally, I had already acquired both of them.

“Does it only show skills I’ve already learned?”

In other words, it seemed like I could use DP to implant the skills I’d obtained onto other club members. It was only a hypothesis, but it felt very plausible. There had been players who said it would be nice if there was some kind of ‘skill inheritance’ system between characters. But if this was real… wouldn’t it make the game way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too easy?

Just to be sure, I checked the trait and facility options as well. But all that appeared was the message ‘Out of stock.’

Still, it was an interesting system. Even though Ludens had become reality, tapping through menus and checking the shop felt just like playing a game. It was genuinely fun. Yeah, if they were going to push lifestyle content, something like this was only natural. Especially after how much the DLC cost.

But why did this system appear for me instead of the club president, Nike? Was it because my contribution was higher?

“You girls were really running a club in a place this terrible?”

It was afternoon, some time after I had made ramen for Domina at lunch. The strict female teacher couldn’t hide her shock the moment she stepped into the storage room we were using as a clubroom.

“…There’s nothing here except cooking tools? These facilities are so outdated…”

Arnoi tilted her head at the question.

“Is there anything else a cooking club needs besides cooking tools-ip-ni-dat?”

Of course there was plenty.

“A Christmas tree should be number one on the furniture list.”

But Domina’s horror wasn’t over yet.

━Keong-keong!

━Beee.

“What the heck are those things? Isn’t this a place for cooking? Are you allowed to keep animals like that in here?”

She was probably bothered by Keong-keong-i and Elizabeth quietly curled up in the corner. But Nike immediately shot back.

“Keong-keong-i and Elizabeth are clean! They wash and groom themselves every day!”

That was true. Wolf spiders and Bashkir queen bees were extremely fond of cleanliness. If you left out a basin of water, they’d splash around in it on their own. They even used rags in their front legs to dust every corner of the clubroom. At first I had opposed keeping them in the clubroom too, but now I was certain that without them, the place would be at least one and a half times dirtier. Neither Arnoi nor Nike were exactly the cleaning type. In that sense, those animal friends were earning their keep.

“Those two are cleaning? I can’t believe it. In my six years of teaching, that’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Since Domina still looked skeptical, we had to show her Keong-keong-i and Elizabeth cleaning every nook and cranny with rags in their mouths.

“Kids, clean up for us!”

━Hioong…!

“This Arnoi has been at Ludens for eight years, but this is the first time I’ve seen such smart and wonderful spiders and bees-ip-ni-dat…! They are extremely nymph-friendly animals-ip-ni-dat…!”

“Oh my…”

After seeing the scene with her own eyes, even Domina had no choice but to accept it.

“How on earth did this happen?”

Well, it was probably because Nike had trained them properly in her own way. I had no other explanation. That was when Arnoi spoke up again.

“We should catch a squirrel too-ip-ni-dat…! Squirrels are incredibly cute animals…! If we had one, we wouldn’t have to bother peeling nut shells anymore-ip-ni-dat…!”

An animal that peels nut shells? It was actually a pretty reasonable idea. I decided to reward Arnoi for the excellent suggestion.

“Arnoi, that was quite helpful. I’ll give you one percent of the shares.”

“Aah—! One percent of the shares…! That sounds incredibly generous-ip-ni-dat…! In that sense, may I ask what exactly one percent of what shares-ip-ni-dat…?”

Right, I hadn’t explained it to her yet. I was about to do so when I noticed that Enio, who was also a club member, wasn’t present.

“I’ll explain that a little later.”

One thing I’d realized in life was that ‘the more specific a goal, the better.’ For example, vaguely thinking ‘I’ll heal someday’ was not a specific goal at all. But saying ‘I will pay off two hundred million in debt, start a business, found a company, and save up one point two billion’ was relatively concrete.

The more detailed you made your goal, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clearer the path toward it became. In that sense, I had a fairly clear objective of my own. And anyone who wanted to be a leader had to present a clear purpose and vision to their followers.

Scritch. Scritch.

I dragged an old chalkboard that had been abandoned in the old school building into the clubroom and began writing.

At that moment Enio asked,

“The V stands for Victor, right? Does the N stand for Enio’s N?”

“Isn’t it Nike’s N? Right, Victor?”

“It could be Arnoi’s N-ip-ni-dat…!”

“No, my name Domina also has an N…”

“You’re the youngest who joined last and you’re already this greedy-ip-ni-dat…!”

Everyone was making a fuss, curious about the meaning of the letter N, but they were all wrong. It stood for Nice Victory. Still, I didn’t think there was any need to explain that. Strangely enough, every person here had an N in their name. Depending on how you interpreted it, a name could hold any meaning you wanted.

“I will earn a massive amount of Rene and become a conglomerate. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠And if things go well, there’s no reason I couldn’t share shares with everyone here.”

I’d take about sixty percent. Nike, as a founding member, would get around twenty percent. The rest of the members would split the remaining twenty percent. But even that twenty percent would be enormous. After all, I planned to own every last Rene on Ludens.

Was that too big a dream? Dreams should be big. Dreaming is free, after all.

“This is me raising Arnoi’s share by one percent. You now hold one percent.”

“One percent of the shares…. Does that make me something like a count…?”

A count? I wasn’t too familiar with noble titles, but one percent seemed closer to a viscount or baron than a count. When I explained that, Arnoi’s whole body trembled.

“Gaaah…! This Arnoi wants to become a count-ip-ni-dat…! To make the other nymphs who left me behind and went to the land of the gods look back, I need to at least be a count-ip-ni-dat…! How many percent of the shares do I need to become a count-ip-ni-dat…?”

What a strange kid. Enio answered the bizarre question in my place.

“The Winter Count family owns seven percent of the mainland kingdom’s territory. So wouldn’t you need roughly seven percent of the shares?”

“Seven percent…. That feels like a number I could reach if I try hard enough…! This Arnoi will do her best from now on-ip-ni-dat…!”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but it was good that she was motivated. That was when Domina spoke.

“Having a goal is a good thing. Speaking of which, why don’t you all tell me what purpose each of you has for attending Ludens?”

It was exactly the kind of direction a teacher would take. Which made sense, since she was a teacher.

“This Arnoi’s dream is to graduate Ludens quickly and evolve from a ditch nymph ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into a university nymph…! But now, this Arnoi is also aiming for the count position in NV Company-ip-ni-dat…!”

Seeming to find the situation amusing, Enio let out a small hum and said,

“I’m fine with anything. As long as every day is fun. Though lately, I suppose something I could call a dream has appeared? Victor-kun already knows what it is, right?”

Knows what? She seemed to expect something from me, but I had no clue what she meant. Since it looked like my turn had come, I once again declared my ambitions for NV Company.

Now only the founding partner Nike remained. I thought she would probably say something like “I’m going to tame a ton of animals!” but instead, with a surprisingly serious expression, Nike spoke in a voice colder than I had ever heard from her.

“My dream is to get revenge on certain people.”