Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 13
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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What troubled me more was this: with so many skills available and the ability to use Fusion, multiple options would pop up, forcing me to choose one.
I snapped my fingers together and quietly opened my status window, staring blankly at the choices. First, there was Nobility’s Charisma—that was definitely an enhanced version of Nobility’s Refinement. If I wanted to make social life easier, I’d have to fix this damned speech pattern first. Especially once I entered the Academy, the place would be crawling with nobility, and if I kept spouting crude language like that, I’d invite all sorts of complications.
Beast’s Charisma was a terrible name, but it was the only option available to me right now. Whatever the case, I had to fix this nature of mine where I only bowed my head to those with titles like “King” or “Emperor.”
I raised my hand, which felt oddly weak, and selected Beast’s Charisma. Then I tested it immediately.
“Mother….”
“Yes, yes, Miss. Shall I bring you water? Or would you like me to make something spicy, salty, and sour again?”
I intended to tell her to be quiet since things were chaotic, so I continued speaking.
“Shut up. Close your mouth.”
“We were quite loud, weren’t we? I’ll leave now. Just call if you need anything.”
“….”
Mother left the room with Thomas and Titi.
“…Damn it.”
Why did this happen again?
I abandoned the Nobility thing, you insane system.
I composed myself despite wanting to cry and checked the detailed description of my new skill.
R) Beast’s Charisma Lv.1: I do not listen to those weaker than me. It has the effect of overwhelming beasts.
“This is infuriating.”
Frustrated beyond measure, I let out a piercing shriek and lost consciousness. Apparently, obtaining a Rare skill had drained my mental strength once again.
I got to my feet only after the typhoon had completely passed. While I’d been sleeping, a Spider Woman who appeared to be Gerth’s friend had visited, and because she was so polite and accommodating, Mother thought it unfair to blame a bachelor’s friend for the bachelor’s faults and sent her up to my room.
The Spider Woman took one look at me and said, “Wow, Hubert must be causing quite a fuss,” left a gift, and departed. A Tiger Man also came by huffing and puffing, but when he heard I was bedridden and ill, he shouted “We’ll settle this once you’re better!” and left.
I’d suspected as much given Gerth’s pleasant nature, but he really did have many friends. People like that were typically called popular. Here, Gerth was my only friend, but if he thought of me as merely one among many friends, then… well, it felt a bit unsettling.
“Miss, where are you going again!”
“To catch tuna.”
“That blasted tuna!”
What else can I do, Mother? If I want to strike it rich here, tuna is my only option. I can’t exactly raid a friend’s house for treasure chests.
As I picked up my harpoon to head to Thomas’s place, Mother insisted I at least take medicine first and brought out a bowl of herbal brew. She said it was the best thing for nourishing the body, but I had no idea what “it” actually was, and that terrified me.
“Mother, what is this?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Why?”
“Because you won’t drink it if you know.”
Mother really was technically skilled at frightening people. I made a horrible sound and had no choice but to gulp down the bowl. It tasted like dandelion roots and leaves I’d desperately eaten long ago when I was starving.
“Ugh.”
“Good medicine doesn’t taste good.”
“Ughhh.”
I gulped down cold water to dilute the bitter taste and left the house. I’d barely taken three steps toward the uncle’s place when someone shouted loudly from behind me.
“I’ve been looking for you!”
A man with tiger-striped hair suddenly bared his claws at me. Reflexively, I swung my harpoon against his attack aimed at my vital points. With a whoosh, the ground gouged deeply.
“….”
Insane superhuman skills!
What was happening to my body? Could all that time I spent lying down have been some kind of growth spurt?
“Is that all you’ve got!”
“Skill. Ice Throw.”
I opened a gate with my artifact and created massive amounts of ice to pour down on him. Since I skipped the ice generation process, it consumed no mental energy.
As I continued firing ice harpoons, the man bounced around dodging. This much was within my calculations. I threw a harpoon at his landing point and moved quickly.
“Ugh!”
While the man knocked my weapon away to avoid a fatal wound, I spun my body and delivered a spinning back kick. With the rotational force added, it would hurt far more than a normal kick. With a crack, the man’s neck twisted, and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
But it was shallow. No matter how many superhuman skills I’d gained, I couldn’t gain the weight that came with a higher weight class. I should have eaten more and bulked up.
Since the man grabbed my leg, I prepared for it to break and jumped, putting my weight on him. He staggered, apparently not expecting me to charge through instead of escape, and I seized that moment to grab his shoulders and wrap my legs around him. Using leg strength to choke his neck, the man finally collapsed.
I grabbed the rope attached to my harpoon and retrieved my weapon, then tapped the back of the man’s head as he lay sprawled forward with a thud. Move and I’ll skewer your skull. Understanding the threat, the man declared his surrender.
“Hahaha! I lost! I admit defeat! There’s no denying it!”
Hmm… what nonsense was this crazy bastard spouting? In any case, I no longer sensed hostility from him. Completely defeated and asking me to move aside, I felt somewhat annoyed and smacked his head with the harpoon handle before stepping back.
“My apologies! Hubert gets so carried away sometimes.”
“Hubert? Gerth’s son?”
“Yes! That fox’s son! If the Serpent King’s consort is this fun to fight with, I welcome it!”
“I am not the Serpent King’s consort.”
“Come now, there’s no one quite like our Serpent King! Your Majesty, the Serpent King’s consort!”
“I am not the Serpent King’s consort.”
“Then I shall see you again, Your Majesty! Oh, and this is a small gift—a get-well present since you’ve been ill.”
“I am not the Serpent King’s consort.”
“Farewell, Your Majesty the Serpent King’s consort!”
“I am not the Serpent King’s—”
No, you lunatic. Did that Tiger Man stuff his ears with a wrench so he couldn’t hear me?
“…What the hell is he doing?”
I scraped my knees for nothing. It hurt like death.
The loud banging outside sounded ominous, so I saw Mother emerge with a broom in hand. The moment I spotted her, my knees throbbed unbearably, and I went running toward her wailing, “Mooooom! I scraped my knees!” like a child.
Mother patted my back asking how I’d fallen so badly, then applied medicine while asking what I held in my hand. When I unwrapped what the Tiger Man had given me, a Demon Beast Core tumbled out.
I took it to the Adventurer’s Guild for appraisal and sold it, netting ten million crowns. The Tiger Man turned out to be quite the generous fellow.
◇ ◆ ◇
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“Woooooah!”
“Uoooooh!”
I hoisted the harpoon high on Thomas’s fishing boat and roared triumphantly.
Finally caught it. After an hour of chasing bluefin tuna across the frozen sea surface using ice-throwing magic, I’d finally skewered a four-hundred-kilogram bluefin with my harpoon.
Three months since arriving in Ilam. Over two months aboard the old man’s fishing vessel. The bluefin that hadn’t shown its face for two months had finally fallen into my hands.
“Congratulations, you brat! You finally caught that damned tuna!”
“Hey, celebrate with us!”
“How much are bluefin going for these days?”
“Who cares about the price—look at that size! High-end restaurants will line up and pay for this!”
Rarity from sheer size commanded premium value. Indeed, a four-hundred-kilogram tuna butchering show was the kind of spectacle even Nobility would pay to witness.
“Academy, Evan—you crazy kid, you can finally go to the Academy!”
“Wait, was Evan aiming for the Academy?”
“Well, she can use magic, right? Especially if she’s a combat mage, I heard even the Royal Palace recruits them.”
“A real dragon emerged from Ilam!”
I basked in the sailors’ congratulations and laughed heartily, even taking a commemorative photo.
I said I’d have it enlarged and hung in the captain’s quarters since they’d miss me when I left for the Academy, and as the past two months of hardship with these men flashed before my eyes like a lantern show, tears welled up and dizziness struck.
“Hic!”
“Hey, hey now, Evan—why are you crying on such a good day, for heaven’s sake!”
“Oh my, Eleanor is so lucky, having such a beautiful and talented daughter! Stop that, you brat!”
“Hic, cough!”
I must have used magic too long. Another one-out. I sobbed and coughed up blood, collapsing face-first onto the deck.
Thomas let out another scream.
“Why do you keep coughing up blood!”
Because… it’s a one-out….
As I muttered one-out, one-out again, the sailors urgently shouted to turn back to shore. In novels, kids fight while coughing up blood just fine, so why am I like this? Is it because I haven’t put in the effort to gain skills like they do?
“Gack.”
“Don’t make dying sounds on purpose, you madman!”
Thomas slapped my cheeks repeatedly, asking who I thought I was to drop like that. It stung. But I couldn’t get up. I had lost consciousness.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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