“E-execution! He must be executed immediately for the crime of insulting carrots!”
Rezé, having transformed into a chef rabbit, radiated an overwhelming aura.
She looked ready to declare Ryoiki Tenkai and deploy a domain expansion at any moment.
Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?
Well, let’s just say it’s as dangerous as Erosion, one of the greatest threats in this world.
That should be enough to understand just how furious Rezé was right now.
“Please, have mercy! Just this once!”
“M-mercy is unnecessary!”
Unnecessary? Why? This was the perfect opportunity to skip that annoying twenty-questions challenge.
I slipped my hand under Rezé’s shoulders and lifted her up.
“Keke, calm yourself, Chef… No, Miss Rezé.”
“E-execution! He must be executed immediately!”
“The atmosphere is practically that of a festival. We can’t have bloodshed on a day like this. Besides, you can’t just execute someone over something like this.”
Perhaps regaining her senses, Rezé’s body suddenly went limp.
“Ahh! Thank you for your generosity! If there’s anything you want, just say the word! I’ll give you whatever you ask for!”
The carrot fry vendor’s declaration wasn’t an empty promise.
With Annwood Academy students visiting for their vacation, getting kicked out of town for fraud would be devastating for him.
‘That secures the vendor’s information.’
Rezé seemed a little dejected, but this was still a much better outcome than buying a hundred carrot fries.
Just as I was about to ask the vendor for information…
“Boss! We found some suspicious people!”
“Move aside! I can’t see!”
“H-hey, if you push like that, we’re gonna fall—”
Thud—.
Three kids who had been peeking at us from the alleyway tumbled over each other.
The child at the bottom, unable to bear the weight, collapsed, and the ones on top naturally fell along with them.
“You idiots! How could you fall over?!”
“You were the one pushing!”
“I-I think I’m dying…”
I knew these kids well.
Though this was my first time seeing them outside of the game.
‘They’re kids I need to build rapport with early for the story to progress. This is perfect timing.’
Kids are always hungry, after all.
Even an unappetizing carrot could turn into a great snack for them.
And the best part? I wouldn’t have to spend a single coin.
“Keke, but of course, everything comes with a price. How about offering these children some carrot fries for free?”
“T-this many?”
“Yes. Let them get used to carrots from a young age. They’ll fill their stomachs, improve their health, and come to appreciate the greatness of carrots. Incredible! It’s a win-win-win situation!”
Spreading the wonders of carrots—Hongik Carrot, if you will. (TL Note: Hongik is something that benefits everyone, including yourself)
Perhaps realizing this, Rezé hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“I-if you promise not to lie about the origin of your carrots and give three fries to each child in this village for free… I-I’ll forgive you.”
“Understood! I’ll do just that!”
Trash Village was a dying town.
Even counting generously, there were fewer than ten children living here.
With hundreds of Academy students visiting, the vendor could easily afford to spare a few carrot fries.
That concluded our goodwill-building phase. Now, it was time to extract information.
‘But I can’t just outright ask about demons.’
If I did, Ron would step in immediately. I needed to make it seem natural.
Scratching the back of my head, I spoke in a bored tone.
“Keke, this place is pretty dull, huh?”
“Haha! That’s just how it is. This village has only just started developing as a tourist spot. But today’s actually better than usual, thanks to you folks visiting.”
“Any interesting rumors? Something… mysterious, perhaps?”
My question wasn’t odd.
Finding mysterious relics in the countryside was a common occurrence in this world.
Even now, farmers continued to stumble upon them and strike it rich overnight.
“Mysterious things, huh… Well, being a rural village, there are plenty of strange rumors. Though most of them are nonsense.”
“Keke, but you say that as if you actually have some real information.”
“Haha! As expected of an Annwood Academy student. Sharp as ever.”
The vendor cleared his throat before continuing.
“A few years ago, a miner told me something. He said there’s a glowing sword inside one of the mines.”
“A glowing sword?”
“Yes. Or, to be precise, a glowing sword hilt.”
Intrigued, Luna and Ron’s eyes sparkled as they focused on the vendor’s story.
“The blade… Is the blade part missing?”
“No idea. The hilt is embedded deep in a wall.”
“Why not just pull it out and check?”
“If that were possible, they would have done it already. The miners tried everything, but nothing they did could budge it.”
“Couldn’t it just be an oddly shaped chunk of iron ore? Maybe one of the miners carved it into the shape of a sword hilt as a prank?”
It was a plausible theory.
Some miners loved playing tricks on people obsessed with relics.
But the vendor firmly shook his head.
“The material is wood.”
“Wood?”
“That’s right. A glowing piece of wood shaped like a sword hilt. Isn’t that bizarre? If this isn’t a mystery, then what is?”
He had a point. It was certainly an unusual phenomenon.
It was something so bizarre that there was no way to explain it without considering it a relic.
“Where! Tell us where it is!”
“I don’t know.”
“Huh?”
“He never revealed the exact location, probably because he wanted to pull it out himself. I only managed to get this information out of him thanks to alcohol loosening his tongue.”
There was a hint—the fact that it was located in a rest area.
But rest areas were often built throughout mines in case of collapses.
Since the mining operation had been ongoing for over a decade, there were likely too many rest areas to count.
“Do you have any proof that this information is real?”
“After that miner left, about three more people mentioned the same thing. Two of them were serious individuals, even though they occasionally traded with me. I doubt they were lying.”
Apparently, the vendor had even visited the mines himself a few times.
He had checked the rest areas in zones 1, 3, 7, 15, and 23—but found nothing there.
Since there was no guarantee he could even pull the sword out if he found it, he eventually gave up on searching.
“Hm… Maybe it’s just a baseless rumor?”
“Haha! Who knows? It might just turn out to be a legendary sword.”
I tried probing for more details, but nothing substantial came up.
Besides, this wasn’t related to the missing persons case, so I decided to drop it for now.
‘Well, it’s not entirely unrelated.’
Luna and Rezé wouldn’t realize it, but we had just acquired a small puzzle piece for this episode.
Just as we were about to move to the next area, I noticed Rezé staring at the ground, her head bowed.
It seemed she was still in shock over the carrot insult incident.
‘Honestly, these kids require so much attention.’
I placed both hands on Rezé’s head and gently lifted her gaze.
“Look over there.”
Her eyes followed the direction I pointed in.
The children who had been watching us earlier were now gathered together.
“This is delicious!”
“Hm, carrots aren’t so bad after all.”
“I-it’s hot!”
The kids were happily munching on carrot fries.
Their reactions varied, but they all shared one thing in common.
“They’re all smiling. It seems they’ve realized the greatness of carrots.”
A bit of lip service to lift Rezé’s spirits.
It seemed to have worked—her eyes, hidden behind her long bangs, widened slightly.
“I-I have a dream now.”
A dream… huh.
Whatever it was, it didn’t matter—as long as it gave her the motivation to move forward.
“I-I will spread the greatness of carrots to the world!”
“???”
…How the hell did she reach that conclusion?
Isn’t this the part where she’s supposed to say something like, I want to make sure kids can keep smiling! or I want to open a free food shelter for children!?
“Rezé, I’m sure you can do it!”
“Mhm! If you love carrots this much, it’s definitely possible.”
Luna and Ron chimed in, showing their support.
“T-thank you! I-I’ll do my best!”
The globalization of carrots! A world where carrots are added to every dish—the era of carrot bibimbap!
Perhaps she was envisioning that radiant future.
Rezé let out a sinister chuckle—one that sent shivers down my spine.
“Keke, a carrotastrophe… No, a carrotvolution.”
At that moment, I gave up on thinking.
Once again, I was reminded that I was the only sane person in this world.
A short distance from the village center, we ran into a group of students.
Yuridia and Victoria.
The unusual thing was that both of them were carrying an armful of food.
It seemed they had spent quite a bit of money gathering information. Money was, after all, the ultimate trade tool.
“Mmm! Such freshness!”
“They say wild-grown food tastes better. And to think only farmers got to enjoy this? Truly despicable!”
…Or maybe they were just indulging because it tasted good.
For these noble ladies, this kind of food was a rare treat.
‘Junk food always tastes better, after all.’
They seemed to have noticed us as well because they rushed over immediately.
“Oh my! Miss Luna!”
“Here, have some! I’ve never had anything this delicious before!”
Yuridia and Victoria eagerly handed us piles of food.
Even Ron, our instructor, wasn’t left out.
“Hey, gimme a bite.”
“Screw off! Buy your own!”
“Why should I? You guys are here.”
“Stop acting like it’s normal! Where the hell do you even spend all your money?”
Wait… was he actually mooching off them?
Well, it wasn’t my problem.
Yuridia and Victoria devoured the carrot fries they had received from Rezé at an alarming rate before elegantly dabbing their mouths with handkerchiefs.
“Alright, shall we begin?”
“Keke, begin what, exactly?”
“Information exchange, of course. Sharing food is nice and all, but in a mission like this, information sharing is essential.”
“We already confirmed with the instructor that information exchanges between students are allowed.”
It was the same in the game. If your relationship with a character was high enough, you could exchange information with them.
Of course—
“Keke, but whether the information is real or fake depends entirely on your ability to judge.”
“Well, we don’t even know if the intel we’ve gathered is actually relevant to the case.”
“But at the very least, we wouldn’t deliberately mix in lies. That’s why alliances are important.”
They had a point.
The only problem was… our side had vastly superior information.
‘I’ve been waiting for this moment.’
In this episode, information was treated as an item.
It could be traded, and depending on its value, you could gain extra rewards like money or artifacts.
For the record, the information we had just obtained was classified as A-rank.
“Keke, but are we obligated to share our intel?”
A bit of pressure—to squeeze out even greater rewards.
If you had higher-grade information than your opponent, this negotiation tactic was foolproof.
Right now, Yuridia and Victoria likely only had C-rank information at best.
‘I can squeeze a hefty sum out of them.’
If this played out like the game, Yuridia and Victoria would soon hesitate before naming a price.
I was eagerly anticipating their offer when—
Yuridia tilted her head and said,
“Of course, you’re obligated. We’re a team.”
“…What?”
“Haven’t you heard? This was all arranged with Miss Luna.”
…Luna made that kind of deal?
I turned my head to look at her, only to see her confidently giving me a thumbs-up, as if telling me to trust her.
She had absolutely no idea she had just caused a massive problem.
“We bonded deeply with Miss Luna through various activities.”
“We shared such intimate and profound moments together.”
…Uh, girls. Those word choices are definitely misleading.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
The nearby kids started whispering among themselves.
“As expected… he is a pervert.”
“We must protect Miss Luna at all costs.”
“Don’t take your eyes off him for even a second! We can’t let evil sink its claws into her!”
“Unite! Fight! Win! SAAANG-DONG!”
“Oooooh!!”
All around the village, mysterious chants erupted.
The ground trembled slightly from the sheer intensity.
At that moment, I instinctively knew—
Somewhere, beyond my awareness…
Something very serious was happening.
–TL Notes–
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What in the martin Luther king jr is going on here wit raze lol