24-Hour Friendly Market, Specializing in Dimensional Items - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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24-Hour Friendly Market Specializing in Dimensional Items Episode 49

Episode 49. The Arrow That Left the Bowstring (8)

A uniquely shaped house with walls built between the roots of a giant tree.

“Should I do the knocking…?”

“Ah, yes. Please do.”

Han Romi knocked on the door with difficulty, her hand as lifeless as her tone.

We had now come to the same place.

No, the very situation where Han Romi and I are grouped under the category of ‘we’ is absurd to begin with.

This woman, I have no idea what she’s doing here instead of completing her scenario.

That said, I, who had been pretending to be an ‘ordinary human from the Ganashia continent’ all this time, couldn’t show hostility toward Han Romi.

Han Romi and I were, if I had to put it in words, cellmates.

‘Let’s maintain composure.’

I should make an effort to clear the scenario, but not lose sight of my initial resolve to avoid getting entangled with the strategy team.

I waited for quite a while with that determination, but no signs of life could be heard from inside the house.

“They were here just a moment ago… I guess they’re not in right now.”

Clara said, shrugging her shoulders.

At least it’s fortunate that it’s not just Han Romi and me alone.

Clara, who had gone to meet the turtle beastkin, seemed to have been caught up with acquaintances during that commotion.

Well, even I wouldn’t have been able to resist asking about the current situation of a friend who had eloped with a human.

Of course, I was also held up for quite a while explaining why I had become an adult man, keeping it secret from Han Romi.

More than that, it’s disappointing that after finally coming here, they’re not home.

“I think they were usually in the backyard around sunset. Shall we take a look around?”

…this might be an opportunity.

Clara readily stepped to the right.

Behind the giant tree was a not-so-large vegetable garden.

A vegetable garden where various plants I’d never seen before were growing.

The fence surrounding the area was utterly shoddy.

And in the middle of that vegetable garden stood the beastkin we were looking for.

“Grandfather Gilliard! It’s me, Clara!”

“You came quickly, Clara.”

‘Wow, it’s really a turtle.’

The turtle beastkin named Gilliard was small enough to reach about my waist level.

However, the shell he carried on his back was so large that overall, he felt quite imposing.

Deep wrinkles were carved into his aged-looking face.

His gait as he approached with a cane was very slow and careful.

Gilliard closed the creaky gate of the fence and looked at Clara affectionately as he asked.

“Are these humans the ones you mentioned earlier?”

“Oh, no. This one is the human I mentioned, and this one is a human I don’t know.”

The former was me and the latter was Han Romi.

Gilliard didn’t even glance at Han Romi and grabbed my hand firmly.

“I heard you saved Clara? Thank you so much. She’s a child I’ve cared for like a granddaughter.”

The smile he directed at me was so kind that I bowed my waist deeply.

This was the first beastkin here to show me goodwill from the start.

Gilliard’s thick hand patted my hand gently.

“I happen to have just enough tea for about three cups. It’s tea that’s good for fatigue recovery, so it’ll be exactly what you need.”

My whole body had been stiff from climbing up and down ladders with trembling legs.

I was happy at the thought of drinking a warm cup of tea and relieving my fatigue when it happened.

“I’m here too though…?”

Ah, right. I brought something along with me.

“What are you?”

At the pointed question, Han Romi blinked slowly and answered.

“I’m… Han Romi.”

That wasn’t what he was asking for.

Gilliard clicked his tongue lightly and shook his head.

Unlike the beastkin in the trees who had experienced Han Romi’s nature while getting angry and flustered, this experienced turtle beastkin seemed to have noticed her troublesome nature the moment he saw her.

Gilliard ignored Han Romi and looked at me again with a warm smile.

“What’s your name?”

“Ah, I’m…”

I hesitated as I was about to blurt out my name.

With Han Romi standing beside me with her eyes wide open, it was a bit awkward to openly reveal my manager name…

But then again, Clara beside me already knew the name ‘Lee Hae.’

To give a different name would be strange since my face was obviously Asian, yet attaching a Western name to it would be odd.

I quietly answered, hoping Han Romi had no interest in the Friendly Market’s manager.

“My name is Hae, and my surname is Lee. Just call me Hae comfortably.”

It’s sad that this is about as much as I can deviate from my course.

Although my name seems to be getting shorter and shorter, I smiled shamelessly.

“I see, Hae. A bright and cheerful name of the day. I heard you were desperately looking for me, what’s the reason?”

I was stuck again.

‘Damn it!’

I shouldn’t have come with Han Romi.

What I wanted to ask Gilliard about was the ‘Ancient Oath.’

It happened to be a name explicitly mentioned in the scenario.

Everyone would know that one person from the strategy team couldn’t enter, and by now they’d be desperately searching for the intruder.

In such a situation, asking about the Ancient Oath here?

It would only be a matter of time before Han Romi noticed my identity.

Just as my malfunctioning brain was desperately seeking a solution after coming up with flimsy excuses countless times since entering Floor 51.

“Hey, where are you going?!”

Clara shouted in a shrill voice.

Han Romi, who had been standing still, suddenly began walking in an unexpected direction.

The place Han Romi was heading toward was the vegetable garden where Gilliard had been standing just moments before.

“What’s with that human? Is she your companion, Hae?”

“No, I also met this human here for the first time today… She was looking for blending herbs?”

“…Blending herbs?”

“Yes, the grass that helps those medicinal herbs mix well together.”

“Ah, are you talking about Gromia grass by any chance?”

Gilliard, who mentioned the unfamiliar name, looked at Han Romi with displeasure.

Meanwhile, Han Romi, who had arrived in front of the fence stepping on the rustling grass with bare feet, stared endlessly into the vegetable garden.

“She’s a human who makes medicine.”

“It seems that way.”

Well, if I mentioned that she made medicine that instantly healed Onak’s serious wound, Gilliard might welcome her with a brightened expression.

I kept my mouth shut since I didn’t particularly want to help Han Romi.

However, Gilliard seemed to have softened slightly at the very fact that she was ‘a human who makes medicine.’

“You there.”

“Me…?”

“Have you ever given medicine to beastkin? Have you ever healed us, is what I’m asking.”

“Just a moment ago. Someone called a warrior chief was injured, so I gave him medicine and treated him…”

Even without me saying anything, Han Romi was proving her harmlessness on her own.

Her light attitude, as if it was nothing at all, made Han Romi appear even more upright.

If this was how it would be, I should have just spoken up myself.

‘Making me look petty for no reason.’

Nobody would know, but I felt like I was the only one who lost out.

Gilliard stared at Han Romi for quite a while.

Eventually, having made a decision, Gilliard asked in a somewhat softer tone.

“Why do you need Gromia grass?”

“Among all the mixing herbs I’ve discovered so far, there’s been no mixing herb that raises the combination rate as much as this grass… No matter what mixing herb I added, it always failed…”

Han Romi, who had been keeping her eyes on the mixing herb called Gromia grass all this time, raised her head.

Han Romi looked straight at Gilliard.

“There’s a medicine I need to make.”

For this moment at least, she answered clearly without drawing out her words.

It felt like a cool wind was blowing between Gilliard and Han Romi.

Gilliard, who had been standing quietly without a word, slowly opened his mouth.

“I’ll give you the Gromia grass.”

On Han Romi’s face, which had been hazy throughout, appeared a faint smile so subtle you’d miss it if you didn’t look carefully.

‘What exactly is she trying to make that she wants that mixing herb so badly?’

Even pushing the scenario aside from her priorities.

As I was staring at Han Romi’s incomprehensible expression, Gilliard spoke up.

“But everything must come with a price. For beastkin who bear the duty of records, there are such rules.”

Well, he was offering a mixing herb I hadn’t seen anywhere during the climb to Floor 51.

Han Romi would probably try to pay whatever Gilliard demanded.

From the way she was reaching into the air, she was definitely searching through her inventory.

“That applies to you too, Hae-ya.”

“Huh? Me?”

I looked at Gilliard with wide eyes.

Gilliard, who was still looking at me with warm eyes, nodded.

“Yes, answering curious questions also requires payment.”

But I never said I wanted to ask anything.

‘Is this what experience brings?’

“Well, I’m not asking for much. Just…”

Both Han Romi, who was rummaging through her inventory, and I, who was flustered, focused on Gilliard’s mouth.

The price that beastkin and humans wanted might be different, after all.

Gilliard, who had been rolling his eyes as if pondering for a while, smiled lightly.

Then he added in a nonchalant tone.

“Clean up the barnacles on my back.”

…What?

* * *

What a shocking discovery!

A turtle beastkin’s shell has a detachable structure!

When he asked us to clean up the barnacles on his back, I thought I’d have to use tools on Gilliard’s shell while he was lying down, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.

“That barnacle over there hasn’t fallen off yet…?”

“Ah, I know…”

I answered curtly and hammered in the direction Han Romi pointed.

Using a chisel and hammer for a long time makes your grip hurt.

That’s a fact I didn’t want to know.

Still, I could ask about the Ancient Oath without spending Gold.

Being able to pay with physical labor – what an efficient trade this was.

Spin, circuit of hope.

I glanced at Han Romi, who was diligently hammering on the opposite side.

Perhaps because she was such a pale person, her reddened palms were starkly visible.

‘Come to think of it, this is quite a surreal moment.’

The situation of cleaning a turtle beastkin’s shell together with Han Romi, the guild leader of Verdant, one of South Korea’s seven major guilds.

I never could have imagined something like this.

Even if I bragged about this to Guk Min-seong, Aegis’s slave, he’d just snort and tell me to stop lying.

“It’s almost finished…”

At Han Romi’s casual murmur, I raised my head.

After hammering silently for two hours, we could finally count the number of barnacles left on the shell.

“That’s right.”

I gave a half-hearted response and began attacking the barnacles stuck to the edge.

Wait, hold on. But.

‘Where is Han Romi going after this?’

It wasn’t thinking about barnacle ‘attacking’ that made me think of this – Han Romi’s whereabouts were really an important issue for me.

Because wherever Han Romi went, there would be raid teams, and I needed to avoid them.

Without taking my eyes off the hammer, I casually asked.

“Where are you going after getting the Gromia grass?”

“Me…? I don’t know…”

No, what am I supposed to do if you don’t know?

“I’ll know when the time comes…”

No, I need to know that now so I can decide my next destination!

I was going crazy with frustration since I couldn’t openly reveal my identity.

That’s when it happened.

The hammering sound stopped, and Han Romi straightened her back and stared into the air.

Her eyes moving busily left and right were clearly reading something.

“Oh… someone is looking for me.”

“Really? You should go then.”

“I suppose I should…”

Han Romi let out a short sigh and slowly continued hammering.

I didn’t need to ask where she was going.

I was also seeing the window that Han Romi was looking at.

[■ Babel System > Scenario Participant Shared Message

– Ms. Han Romi. Ι Seo Jae-hyuk (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)]

– Come to Prorovel right now. Ι Seo Jae-hyuk (Dimension-Earth Ι Zone-South Korea)]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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