Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 8
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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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Yes! Experience points flooding in like crazy!
“Whee! Wheee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”
I danced around gleefully by myself, pondering how to allocate these gains. For Mitchell Neftis, freezing was the priority. As for Evan Laef… Detection seemed genuinely useful, and Mining helped put food on the table.
Evan Laef
Status: Terminal, Blessed by Ursh
Experience: 0
N) Taming Lv.8 – 800 until next level
N) Horsemanship Lv.8 – 800 until next level
N) Mining Lv.2 – 200 until next level
N) Detection Lv.4 – 1 until next level
L) Sleight of Hand
EX) Will Do Anything to Survive
Mitchell Neftis
Status: Terminal, Blessed by Ursh
Experience: 1
N) Freezing Lv.7 – 300 until next level
N) Throwing Lv.6 – 600 until next level
N) Vitality Lv.7 – 699 until next level
R) Noble’s Grace
UR) Fusion
Hmm, I’m running low on ice magic. I think I just need to adjust the deployment pattern a couple more times. Is there anything else to do here anyway?
“Chirp! Chirp chirp!”
Ugh, why is this bird following me around?
The sparrow beastkin presumed to be Titi limped along on her injured wing, yet still pursued me relentlessly. I waved my hand dismissively, but Titi only wept profusely, chirping mournfully.
“Why are you following me?”
“Chirp! Cheep cheep! Chirp!”
Despite being a beastkin, Titi apparently possessed some intelligence—she displayed her injured wing through a series of pitiable gestures. I found myself utterly exasperated.
“Isn’t it enough that I saved your life? Now you expect me to heal you too?”
“Chirp…, cheep cheep….”
“I’ve never seen such an ungrateful bird.”
“Cheep cheep, chirp, chirp chirp!”
I don’t care—figure it out yourself.
I adjusted my deployment pattern and headed home humming cheerfully. Mother was sweeping the yard, so I greeted her warmly, but she coolly ignored my pretty self and turned her attention elsewhere.
“Oh my, what’s this bird? It’s quite large.”
So she didn’t see Titi before—she must have followed me secretly. I tried to kick her away with my leg, but the sparrow beastkin, sensing she’d finally found a sympathetic mark, rushed toward Mother with the most pitiful sounds imaginable.
“Cheep cheep! Chirp! Cheep cheep!”
“Oh my, look at those injuries. We need to treat them.”
“Cheep cheep! Chirp! Cheep cheep!”
The bird is angry at me. Normally, Mother’s response would be standard, so it seems like a protest…. But people each have their own individuality. One shouldn’t arbitrarily define the boundaries of normalcy.
“Those are serious wounds. Do you still have that salve, young lady?”
“It’s mine. I’m not giving it.”
“I’ll use it.”
“I said it’s mine!”
“We can just share what’s left!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Don’t hit me with the broom! It hurts! The broom stings! It’s painful!
Ever since Mother’s back healed, her hand has gotten worse. Is it because she couldn’t hit me for so long? Or now that we’re both commoners? Could it be she was actually treating me with some restraint all this time as nobility?
“I don’t know—figure it out yourself!”
“Young lady! You just got home and you’re leaving again!”
“We’re strangers!”
“How are we strangers!”
I don’t know, you’re crazy—if we’re strangers, then we’re strangers! I let out a shriek and bolted, at which point Mother hurled the broom after me and shouted, “Hey! Evan Laef!”
She used my full name—I’m dead if I get caught now. Cold sweat trickled down my spine as I hastily added that I’d be back before sunset.
“Huff, huff.”
I ran as though my life depended on it. Without pause, I sprinted all the way to the Village Square, where I begged a glass of water from the fishmonger before heading to the Blacksmith Shop. I picked up the harpoon I’d ordered, and it fit perfectly in my grip. When I praised the blacksmith for his craftsmanship despite his abrasive personality, he returned the compliment—saying my manners were rough as uncooked dough, but at least I knew quality when I saw it.
People truly should live by praising one another. I’d offered praise, and praise came back to me; the blacksmith and I had grown closer for it.
“Don’t you ever come back here, you cursed brat!”
I grabbed my item and bolted before the blacksmith could splash molten metal at me. Then I went to the Adventurer’s Guild, had some of my skills appraised, and received a certificate. A man who appeared to hold a prominent position in the guild suddenly emerged and grabbed my pant leg, asking if I’d consider registering as an adventurer. But I refused and headed straight for the Harbor.
I had to become a fisherman.
“Mmm… the stench of fish.”
This district reeked of the Sea just like everywhere else near the Harbor. If I wanted to strike it rich, the best path was to venture out onto the water. My previous body would have been bedridden for a month after a single shrimping expedition, but with my current physical abilities, I could manage. The labor was within my capacity. Besides, this time I wouldn’t be hauling nets—I’d borrowed connections to secure a boat and planned to catch only tuna out on the Sea.
I slipped into Thomas’s boat, the one I’d had my eye on, and hid myself in the provisions hold. Since I’d exchanged greetings with the crew a few times before, I’d simply said I wanted to look around the boat, then dashed about. They treated me like a scatterbrained fool and soon stopped paying attention to me.
After waiting about an hour, the boat finally moved and sailed into the coastal waters. I didn’t get seasick. My body is magnificent. Evan Laef is the best.
I burst open the provisions hold and gripped my harpoon. Rain and wind lashed the deck, and the waves rose high. I couldn’t gauge the Sea’s weather from the shore—the Harbor had been calm, but out here it was a full tempest.
“You crazy bastard!”
Thomas spotted me and shouted. As he rushed over, he slipped on the rainwater covering the deck and tumbled with a crash, yet his curses never ceased. He grabbed me and shook my shoulders vigorously.
“You crazy bastard! You damned brat! Your mother finds out about this, I’m dead!”
“Port side, fifteen degrees, five hundred meters ahead! There’s a school of fish! By their size, they’re mackerel!”
“What nonsense are you spouting!”
“Praise me! I’ve acquired a Detection skill!”
I thrust the skill certificate I’d obtained from the Adventurer’s Guild at Thomas. When he saw the partially appraised skills I’d listed—Freezing, Throwing, Taming, Horsemanship, Mining, and Detection—his mouth fell open and he cried out.
“Evan, what in the world have you been doing!”
“Just working odd jobs!”
I stood on deck, laughing wildly, and urged Thomas to turn the boat’s bow around. Since we’d already come out to Sea, there was no turning back anyway, so he cursed and cursed while barking orders to the crew.
“Captain! There really are fish ahead!”
“Of course there are—his Detection skill is level four!”
“No! It just became level five!”
“Shut up! You know you’re dead when you get home!”
Hahahaha, I’m not fooled by that anymore. I’ve figured out that Thomas is a tsundere. Besides, once he cast the net and hauled it in to confirm the abundance of fish, he couldn’t hide the capitalist’s smile spreading across his face.
“Uncle! How much do you get paid for sailfish around here?”
“Twenty thousand crowns per kilogram! Why do you ask!”
“I’m counting on you for a rescue!”
I’d already deduced that where schools of fish gathered, larger species would be present. I’d have preferred tuna, but I couldn’t expect everything on the first try, so I’d settle for this today.
Using a running start, I leaped from the boat and drove my harpoon downward. Thomas, who’d been watching with eyes bulging wide, cursed again the moment he heard the splash.
“You crazy son of a bitch!”
“Captain! What do we do!”
“What can we do! Throw him a rope!”
A sound decision. I’d successfully pierced the sailfish with my Throwing skill, but my strength wasn’t enough to haul such a heavy creature up. As I tied the rope firmly to the harpoon shaft, Thomas screamed again, telling me to tie a rope around my own neck instead of the fish’s.
But I was fine. A little seawater wouldn’t kill me. I held tight to the rope and endured, and after the crew pulled for over ten minutes, I finally made it back onto the deck. As I lay there retching up seawater, Thomas kicked me.
“You damned brat! What’s your mother supposed to do if you die!”
“It’s fine. I won’t die.”
“Huff! Huff!”
Thomas pounded his chest in exasperation, and as the winter Sea froze me from head to toe, I found the sensation absolutely exhilarating.
N) Cold Resistance lv.1 skill has been created.
So you gain cold resistance when you nearly freeze to death. Then if I go to a sauna, would I gain fire resistance? Surely I don’t have to jump into flames to get it?
I felt my body warming up and quickly brushed away the salt-crusted ice that had formed on my clothes. Then, to ease the man’s worries, I spoke with exaggerated cheerfulness.
“Next time, let’s go out farther, sir. I have something I need to do.”
“Hey, hey Evan Laef.”
“Huh?”
“I think I’m going to die because of you.”
“People don’t die just from getting a shock.”
This man worried about the strangest things. I laughed while patting Thomas on the shoulder, and he tried to hit me back before breaking down in tears instead. This man had surprisingly weak tear ducts.
By the time we returned home at dawn, Mother was sprawled out crying, saying she couldn’t live because of me. The man comforted her, then convinced her that it was better for me to cause trouble on his boat than to cause accidents where he couldn’t see.
That’s how I became a regular crew member on the man’s fishing boat. It was inevitable. I had the Detection skill, and I was a valuable resource for a man who caught fish.
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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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