The Commission
The notification chime rang out in my head.
◈ Chili • Tomato • Sweet Potato • Potato • Cabbage • Radish • and more
Twenty different kinds of seeds had appeared in my inventory, twenty of each. It felt good to have them, yet at the same time I felt frustrated wondering when I’d actually be able to grow and eat them.
“If the growth buff or activation buff works on plants, I might be able to shorten the growing period.”
I wanted to test whether buffs could be applied to plants, but right now I had no way to farm. For the time being, I left the seeds stored in my inventory.
I logged into the game and cast the three standard buffs on Yanne like always. When I checked her status window, something had changed.
Her charm, which had risen to 1.2 thanks to the growth buff, had now increased by another 0.2 to 1.4. The sudden 0.2-point change made me wonder what had caused it. Nothing obvious came to mind, so I slowly went over everything step by step. That’s when I realized it had been exactly ten days since I first met Yanne and started applying the buff.
‘So the growth buff applies once every ten days? If that’s right, then in a hundred days her stats would rise by 2. In a year, that’s roughly 7 points?’
Her current total stats were 10. Raising them by 7 in a year didn’t sound bad at all. Actually, it was almost double, so her overall ability would skyrocket.
Since I’d confirmed the stability and growth effect by using the growth buff on Yanne, I decided to try it on myself as well.
“Huh!? Mine went up by 0.4, not 0.2?”
My magic power stat now read 10.4. It seemed that because I kept using the buff, the system had automatically chosen magic power as the most deficient stat. Apparently it applied 0.2 to others but 0.4 to me. Over a year, that meant roughly 14 stat points. Since the maximum value when creating a character was 60, gaining 14 points a year was pretty decent. And as my stats increased, the growth buff’s own value might rise even further.
‘Wait a second. If it’s like this, I could just pick up promising kids from the orphanage and raise them.’
A talent-farming loophole using the growth buff had occurred to me. If I gathered about ten orphans and invested three to five years, I could probably raise some pretty capable people. Of course, I’d have to keep working as a game tester until then, but if I could raise their abilities during that time, they’d grow into useful assets.
The Changing headquarters had told me to raise my mercenary rank and move to the capital, Daiven. It looked like I’d need to find ways to make the most of this growth buff while carrying out those orders.
“You’re here!!”
When I arrived at the mercenary guild, the usual crowd of injured mercenaries wanting magical healing and parties looking to recruit mages swarmed me again. There were also solo mercenaries hoping to form parties, but they couldn’t even get a word in past the larger groups.
“Sir Mage. Looking at the conditions these parties are offering, they aren’t bad at all. Is there a particular mercenary group you’re hoping to join?”
It was Vice Guild Master Eld who asked.
“I know the terms they’re offering are good. It’s just that I don’t like being tied down to a group, so I have to decline.”
I wasn’t quite at the level of leisurely wandering like an immortal hermit, but enjoying the occasional adventure in the game was enough for me. Since headquarters hadn’t told me to join a mercenary band, I figured I’d focus on solo commissions that could raise my rank and be completed in three or four days.
With that in mind, I headed to the request board, only to feel utterly defeated the moment I got there. The problem was that I couldn’t read the writing on the request forms.
“Sir Mage. There’s a gathering request for Blue Moonlight Grass. Would you be interested?”
The receptionist Aila, who had approached at just the right moment, sparked my curiosity.
“Blue Moonlight Grass is an ingredient used in healing potions. The alchemist guild put out the request.”
As late autumn arrived, the beasts and monsters preparing for winter became more active. This was also the season when the most extermination requests poured in. Naturally, demand for healing potions peaked at the same time, which meant demand for Blue Moonlight Grass was at its highest.
“It pays one gold per root. You only need to bring back five or more. Since this would be your first commission, there’s no fee, and if you succeed you’ll even receive an additional five silver as a congratulatory bonus.”
The moment Aila the receptionist finished speaking, I got the feeling. This request had clearly been prepared by the guild just for me.
“It looks like this. This one here still hasn’t fully grown. In November it gets taller and the tips of the leaves turn blue. Even if they aren’t fully colored yet, smaller ones are acceptable.”
Harvesting now would reduce its medicinal effect, but given the season, it was still fine.
To activate my status window I touched the plant directly.
“The place near here where Blue Moonlight Grass grows naturally is Hool Lake, about four days southeast, along with the surrounding wetlands.”
Looking at the map, it was a short round trip of about eight days, and it wasn’t a monster-infested area, so the conditions seemed reasonable. Since it was an easy request, the guild was probably recommending it to me on purpose.
‘I’ve been healing the mercenaries at half price with my treatment buff every time I stop by the guild. Is this their way of treating me well?’
Since it was a request the guild had deliberately set aside for me, I signed the document and accepted it.
“Hool Lake isn’t far, but would you consider forming a party and going with others?”
Vice Guild Master Eld subtly suggested forming a party. Now I understood the other reason the guild had offered me this request. They wanted to somehow draw a mage who had registered as a mercenary but showed no interest in joining any band or partying with other mercenaries into a mutually beneficial relationship with the guild.
Well, even though it was only an eight-day round trip, I would definitely need someone to stand watch at night or help in emergencies. Still, I didn’t want to dance to the guild’s tune.
“I’ll discuss forming a party with my current companion first.”
“Blue Moonlight Grass? I don’t know the name, but if it’s the grass that turns blue at the tips of its leaves, I’ve seen it before.”
True to her mountain village upbringing, Yanne said she had seen Blue Moonlight Grass.
“If there isn’t any near the lake the guild mentioned, we can just go all the way to our village.”
“The guild is telling me to form a party with others, but I don’t really like that idea. Still, I do need someone to stand watch while I sleep.”
“Hmm. Master, are you most worried about having a night watch when you fall asleep?”
“Yeah. When I’m sleeping I’m completely defenseless. Otherwise I’d have to sleep in a tree, and I really hate that. That’s why I was thinking about buying a slave.”
“A slave? Do you really have to buy a slave?”
Yanne had grown quite close to Yuria, the slave working at the inn, so she was negative about the idea of buying one.
“If the important thing is sleeping safely at night, couldn’t you buy something else instead of a slave?”
“Something else? What would that be?”
“If it’s just about standing watch while we sleep, wouldn’t buying a dog be enough?”
“Oh! Right. There are dogs.”
I felt the strong aura of a classic cliché. It was one of those must-have tropes found not only in Japanese JRPGs but even in Western games like WoW. No, it was the universal “Pet” cliché that existed without fail in virtually every game. The story of saving a dying mutt, healing it, and discovering it was actually Fenrir, the legendary divine beast among wolves, had been popular for a very long time.
A large dog with fluffy white fur that a person could even ride sounded heartwarming just thinking about it. Of course, I also knew the saying, “Big dogs come with big poop.” But the idea of a big dog that I could hold in my arms and sleep with while smelling that sweet puppy scent when it was small, and later use as a sturdy pillow once it grew up, was so appealing it practically exploded with charm. And if I could even ride it for travel, it would be a total cheat-key cliché item.
“Yanne! Let’s go buy a dog right now!”
When I asked around and found the livestock trading area, sheep, goats, pigs, cows, and chickens were all being traded actively. But there were no puppies in sight.
“Hey buddy, does it make sense to be looking for puppies right now?”
“Huh?”
“Winter’s coming. How would they give birth? Even if they did have pups, they’d all freeze to death.”
The game’s sudden burst of realism struck me again. Unlike monkeys, humans lost their fixed mating seasons and gained the ability to conceive and give birth year-round only after they learned to use fire to withstand the cold. Almost all animals besides humans had set mating seasons so they would give birth between April and June when the weather was warm. That way the young could grow enough during summer and autumn to survive the harsh winter.
Of course, in modern times, selective breeding, ample nutrition, and controlled temperature and humidity allowed livestock to breed year-round. But this place clearly hadn’t reached that stage yet.
“Then are there no animals giving birth at this time of year?”
“Sheep and goats aren’t giving birth right now either because they’re preparing for winter. Ah, there is one thing that’s having young these days.”
“What is it?”
“Birds like ducks, geese, and chickens. Those guys grow up in a month.”
“Ah…”
The cliché that had been flowing smoothly toward dog, wolf, and Fenrir suddenly took a sharp turn. Ducks, geese, and chickens. Those birds were far removed from the reason I wanted to buy a puppy. Just as I was thinking I should give up on newborns and look for a fully grown adult dog, a phrase came to mind.
“Geese make excellent watch animals.”
Geese were smart for birds and highly territorial. I had seen on a TV animal program that even while sleeping at night, if they sensed a stranger approaching they would go absolutely berserk. That’s why, since ancient times, European castles and fortresses had raised geese alongside guard dogs or even in place of them. The Roman army had also taken geese with them for security. During the Battle of the Allia, the geese they kept had alerted them to the Gallic invasion, allowing them to prevent a surprise attack. On top of that, their honking cry was eerie enough to make people jump at night, so it seemed to fit my purpose quite well.
I decided to buy goose chicks instead of a puppy.
“These are goose chicks that hatched a week ago. Two for one silver, how about it?”
I listened to the bird merchant’s offer, but my eyes were drawn to the shaggy dog sitting beside him.
“How about two silver including that dog over there as well?”
It was a dog with droopy ears and shaggy gray fur, about the size of a Jindo dog but with a face similar to a poodle.
“That dog too? But that one isn’t even ours.”
“Huh?”
I had assumed it was the merchant’s dog that had followed him out, but it was just some random dog that had been hanging around. When the merchant asked around after I said I wanted to buy a dog, no one claimed it. Naturally it had no collar either.
“If you give me two silver, I’ll hold onto one silver in case the owner shows up later.”
It sounded like he was trying to pocket some free money, but I didn’t want to be accused of just snatching a dog, so I paid the two silver.
I handed the goose chicks over to Yanne, then stopped by the general store to buy a dog leash and some beef jerky for the dog to eat. When I waved the jerky in front of it, the dog came over wagging its tail. The moment I offered a piece, it snatched the jerky and devoured it greedily.
I tried to put the leash on while feeding it, but the dog pulled back, bared its teeth, and growled. However, when Yanne took out the leftover meat pie she hadn’t finished and waved it in front of its nose, the dog immediately stopped growling, wagged its tail, and followed obediently.
“Yanne, what do geese eat?”
The dog could eat our leftovers, but since I had never raised geese before, I had no idea what to feed them.
“They eat tender grass. They also eat water plants and various insects.”
“That’s five silver. Buy vegetables for us and food for the goose. I’m busy, so you’ll have to take care of these guys.”
“Yes!”
Yanne looked delighted now that we had a honking goose and a dog. Seeing the animals made me feel greedy too. Specifically, I started craving a horse.
If the trip took four days on foot, riding a horse would cut it down to two. However, because the game was strangely realistic, I had a feeling that riding wouldn’t be automatic either. After getting permission from the horse merchant, I tried mounting one. As expected, the system didn’t let me ride automatically. It looked like I would have to learn both literacy and horseback riding with my own head and body.