Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 5

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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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Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke to commotion outside. A foul-mouthed man arrived at our house, cursing up a storm as he installed a lock on the door. He hammered away with his mallet—clang, clang, clang—straightening the warped window and fixing the latch mechanism. His constant grumbling finally pushed Mother to the edge; she swatted him across the back of the head.
Hmm… They must be incredibly close. I nearly caused a real disaster yesterday.
“Sir.”
“Huh? Yeah. What?”
The gruff-looking man seemed flustered when I initiated the conversation, asking why I’d called him. Guilt overwhelmed me, and I forced myself to speak.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Just… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you know how to speak respectfully to your elders?”
“That’s just how it came out.”
“I’ve never seen such a crazy brat.”
The man cursed, and Mother swatted him again. He protested that he was only speaking the truth, while Mother defended me, saying there were circumstances, calling me “young lady” repeatedly.
In front of the other villagers, she introduced me as her daughter and used my name, but here with this man, she called me “young lady” without hesitation… They really must be extraordinarily close. I’d nearly done something irreversible.
“I’m really sorry.”
“This is making me uncomfortable.”

After settling the house and preparing lunch, my mother introduced me to a man named Thomas. Apparently, he’d once dreamed of becoming a great pirate and abandoned his Hometown in his youth, only to be brutally battered by the harsh winds of the world. He’d barely managed to acquire a single ship and returned to Ilam, where he now lived as a fisherman—a complete waste of a human being, by her account.
“Nice to meet you. I’m also a worthless wretch who nearly threw away my entire life as a man.”
“Why would you call yourself worthless!”
Feeling a kinship with a fellow wretch, I shook hands with Thomas, and my mother raised her hand to strike my back but stopped herself, instead smacking his back repeatedly.
“This woman’s been beating me up whenever she’s bored since we were kids!”
I’m sorry, sir. I was truly in the wrong.
My mother and Thomas exuded the unmistakable scent of childhood friends who’d seen every embarrassing moment of each other’s lives. It pained my heart, yet at the same time, I felt intrigued. If Thomas had a ship, he might just become my ideal employer.
“Sir, I have a throwing skill.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Harpoon fishing. I can even catch tuna.”
My throwing skill was formidable—I could hurl a bed hard enough to bend the iron bars of the imperial Prison. Imagine what a fishing harpoon could do to tuna or marlin? One shot, and they’d be pierced clean through. Since tuna was a premium catch here, my usefulness to him would be considerable.
“Absolutely not.”
But my mother was firmly opposed. She said a lady raised delicately had no idea how dangerous the sea was. Ignoring her pleas not to act recklessly and drive a nail through her own heart, Thomas agreed with her.
“A kid whose blood hasn’t even dried yet, playing sailor? I’m against it too.”
Since everyone opposed it, I had no choice. I’d have to sneak aboard his ship later.
“Miss, don’t even think about stowing away on the ship.”
“Hmm…”
“If you board that ship, I’ll kill you, Thomas.”
“Have I lost my mind?”
My mother knows me far too well—it’s becoming a problem.
Since the wounds on my back still ached, I’d refrain from venturing out to sea for now. However, a leisurely stroll around the area and collecting small amounts of Mana Stones seemed feasible.
As I placed a dish into the sink and picked up a pickaxe and a picnic basket, my mother was startled and asked where I was going.
“Just taking a walk.”
“With a pickaxe?”
“It’s possible.”
People take walks with pickaxes all the time when they live long enough. I adjusted my glasses and spoke solemnly, and Thomas asked my mother, “Is your daughter perhaps mentally unwell?” He got hit in the head for that.

Whether Mother worried or not, there was no one who could stop me. After all, I was the former Mitchell Neftis and the current Evan Laef. Eleanor, my mother, wasn’t aware of it, but she herself was someone who could rival anyone in terms of recklessness. In the original story, when I died, Eleanor slapped Duke Neftis across the face and threw down her resignation. The petty Duke placed a bounty on Eleanor Laef for striking him, but what happened to her afterward was never written.
By now, Thomas must have said something like how his four daughters resembled me, and been kicked out of our house.
I examined the map and compass I’d bought in the Village and headed toward the Mana Stone Vein. If I picked up Titi along the way, that would be a bonus, but even if I didn’t meet her, I could exchange mana stones for money at the Adventurer’s Guild. Mana stones were always in high demand since they could be used to craft artifacts or various miscellaneous tools.
Finding a region that precariously overlapped with the Water King’s Territory, I set down my picnic basket and began swinging my pickaxe against the rocks with rhythmic clangs. I couldn’t hope for high-purity mana stones, but this seemed sufficient to earn some spending money.
After an hour of continuous clanging, I heard footsteps, and someone began unpacking their belongings near me. The man who started his work as if I didn’t exist in the slightest didn’t look human at all.
A Serpent Man? A lizard-type beastman? In any case, he was some kind of beastman—beautiful scales were visible around his neck, and he possessed skin that was nearly pure white. His pupils were vertically slit into narrow lines, and his crimson eyes and white hair gleamed brilliantly.
The man, who at first glance proclaimed “I am clearly non-human,” began pulling dishes from his bag, and as if they’d been waiting, wild cats and wild dogs gathered and had their meal time.
‘Wow, it’s Cat Daddy. Cat Daddy.’
I’d never seen Cat Daddy before. The snow-white beastman nodded with satisfaction as the animals ate, then pulled out a chunk of meat from his bag and waved it through the air.
Then, a Wandering Albatross appeared from somewhere, circled around the man, and dove into his arms, causing the man to stumble backward as he braced for the bird’s landing.
The two of them stood up from the ground, brushing off the dust as if accustomed to it, and the man fed the Wandering Albatross.
As for what a Wandering Albatross is—I first saw one while working at the zoo, and you can think of it as resembling a really large king duck. When it spread its wings, it easily exceeded three meters, usually lived by the seaside, and was a bird that was terrible at both takeoff and landing, so it spent most of its life gliding through the sky.
It was a rare sight, but it had nothing to do with me. I watched the Serpent Man for a moment, rested briefly, then struck the rocks again with my pickaxe. Once I’d mined enough mana stones to fill my picnic basket, I returned home in good time and had dinner.

◇ ◆ ◇

From the next day onward, I made trips to the mining site I’d found yesterday and extracted mana stones. Since the timing aligned, I encountered the Serpent Man every time, and after meeting him three days in a row, we awkwardly exchanged nods and parted ways. After doing this for a week, the man finished feeding the animals and approached me.
“Are you a miner?”
“No.”
“I see.”
The man nodded and turned to leave. Even though I’m always swinging a pickaxe and clanging away, I’m not a miner.

N) Mining Lv.1 skill has been created.

“….”
At this point, I can’t exactly deny that I’m a miner.
Wait, weren’t life skills like this supposed to develop only in seasoned miners or professional farmers? Skills are appearing way too easily. Is this the effect of my Extra Skill? They said skill acquisition was relatively simple, but this is absurd. I’ve compressed what should take years into a single week?
Regardless, since I’d already acquired the skill, I decided to test it by swinging my pickaxe directly at a boulder larger than my head. The stone cracked cleanly into eight pieces.
“….”
Skills are incredible. If Level 1 is like this, I’ll be tunneling solo by Level 10. Emboldened, I struck the rocks repeatedly, filled my basket to the brim, and headed home.
The next day, I went to the Adventurer’s Guild and exchanged the Mana Stones for coin. They didn’t offer much—claiming the cost of extracting Mana Stones from raw rock would eat into the profit—but I managed to pocket enough pocket money and bought a large woven bamboo basket at the Market. It could be worn on my back and hold plenty of ore, so it felt like a worthwhile purchase.
Now that I had the Mining skill, extracting ore required far less effort. In my spare time, I’d sort through the Mana Stones and bring them home.
“Hyahahaha!”
The next day, I went to the mining site and struck rocks like a woman possessed. That’s when I spotted the Serpent Man carrying a bag and proudly approached him.
“You can call me a miner now.”
“Why?”
“I acquired the Mining skill.”
“Congratulations.”
The man nodded expressionlessly, but I could sense sincerity behind his words. Strangely, his manner of speaking felt familiar. Where had I encountered someone like this before?
The Serpent Man was knocked down by the albatross again today, brushed the dust off, and stood up. Just as I thought he’d grab his bag and leave, he looked around the mining site and asked me a question.
“Miner.”
“What?”
“Do you intend to break all the stones in this place?”
“Yeah.”
“And after you’ve broken them all?”
Hmm…, if I go deeper from here, I’d approach the Water King’s Territory where Mana Stones would be of higher quality, but it would become proportionally more dangerous. Once I’ve conquered this area, I’d only come here to search for Titi.
“Are you planning to enter the Water King’s Territory?”
“What if I do?”
“I’ll kill you.”
Hmm…. This person’s manner of speaking—I definitely feel like I’ve heard it before.

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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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