I Thought It Was a Healing Farming Game - Chapter 89

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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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I thought this was supposed to be a relaxing farming game.
Chapter 89

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A few days later, on the morning we’d agreed on, I went to Siard’s House as planned and attended his lesson.

Herbalism +30
You have reached Herbalism Level 5!

“Wow! So I can try making Advanced Potions now?”
“There’s a chance of failure, but with practice you’ll master it before long.”
Excited by the level increase, I dove straight into crafting Advanced Potions.
After three failed attempts, I finally completed one bottle, and Siard clapped warmly from beside me.
“Hehe. I worked hard, didn’t I, Siard?”
“You worked hard as well. It’s a joy to teach when you bring such passion to every lesson.”
After the lesson ended, Siard even gave me a small gift.
“What is this? It’s so cute!”
It was a tiny Keychain that could attach to anything.
“I chose it thinking of you.”
“I love it! I’ll have to think about where to attach it. I’ll use it well.”
We’d exchanged gifts often before, but never anything this adorable.
‘Siard really is thoughtful. Kind, too.’
And yet—what secret was he hiding?
Ironically, the kinder Siard was to me, the more my curiosity about the Basement grew.
“Well then, I’ll head to the Clinic.”
“Sure! I’ll review what I learned today a bit more before I go.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
With that concerned advice, Siard left the house. I watched him recede into the distance through the window until he was completely out of sight.
Only then did I pull out the item I’d brought with me.

Copycat Mirror
Creates a replica that mimics the form and function of an object reflected in the mirror.
The replica disappears after one hour.

Living here, I’d found that expensive items I didn’t own were often necessary.
I’d started feeling bad about borrowing from other residents, so I’d bought this.
Of course, the real reason I purchased it was that it was half price.
“I had no idea this would be so useful.”
I removed the Key labeled “Basement” from the Keychain.
When I held it up to the mirror, the glossy surface rippled like water.
A moment later, the Key reflected in the mirror bulged outward and dropped into my palm.
“Perfect.”
It looked identical to the original.
I quickly hung the real Key back in its place and pocketed the duplicate.
I hesitated before the carpet, but steeled myself and lifted its edge.
Then I grasped the handle that came into view and pulled.
Creak—
A staircase leading down to the Basement appeared.
Carefully setting my foot down, I turned back, spread the carpet in its original position, and closed the wooden door.
Click.
Darkness swallowed everything at once. I turned on my flashlight and descended the stairs one step at a time.
‘It’s so dark…….’
At last I reached the iron door. Taking slow, deep breaths, I inserted the duplicated Key into the lock.
Click.
It fit perfectly. Rather than open the door immediately, I pulled out the Invisibility Potion and drank it in one gulp.

Invisibility Potion: 30 minutes remaining

I lifted my arm cautiously and watched as my body faded from sight.
‘Remarkable. With this much time, I should be able to explore everything.’
Siard might return earlier than expected, so it would be safer to slip away at least ten minutes before then and tidy up.
Which meant I had perhaps twenty minutes at most to examine the basement.
I wiped my damp lips with the back of my hand and opened the basement door.
Creak.
The moment the door swung open, a chill rushed through like a living thing.
Ding!

Hidden Quest
– Siard’s Basement

At last the question mark vanished, and the hidden place’s true name was revealed.
At the same moment, the familiar scent of herbs stabbed at my nostrils.
It was the sharp, acrid reek that had hung thick over Siard’s herb garden—the kind that made your nose sting.
‘The sort used to mask foul odors, or to staunch wounds and wipe away bloodstains…….’
A faint glow seeped from deeper within, so I switched off my flashlight.
Beyond a short corridor, the first thing that caught my eye was iron bars.
I stopped in my tracks, staring at the sight before me.
“…….”
Inside the old, rust-eaten bars sat a single cot, bare and solitary.
Despite its prison-like appearance, the interior was maintained with an almost unnatural cleanliness.
‘What on earth is this place?’
I crept forward, and a wastebasket tucked in the corner caught my attention.
After a moment’s hesitation, I bent down slightly to peer inside.
The bin was filled with gauze and bandages caked with dried blood.
My nose detected only that sharp herb scent, yet simply looking at the contents made me imagine the reek of iron and suffering.
‘What is this? Why would anyone need to clean up so much blood……?’
I carefully turned my gaze and scanned my surroundings.
The excessively spotless interior contrasted sharply with the dilapidated fixtures.
‘What happened down here? Was someone operated on……?’
Tense and unsettled, I suddenly heard a faint human voice from deeper within.
“Uh…….”
I started violently and pressed myself against the wall.
I froze for a moment, then checked the time remaining on my Invisibility Potion before cautiously venturing deeper.
Barred rooms lined both sides of the corridor, stretching away into the gloom.
Most of the cots sat empty and rusted, but in two or three of them lay figures.
‘Their appearance…….’
Somehow both strange and familiar.
Not like inhabitants of Node, but rather like homeless people you might see in the real world——
“Ah, uh…….”
Inarticulate groans of pain spilled out without ceasing.
‘A hospital? But why keep people locked in a basement when there’s a perfectly good Clinic available……?’
There was no reason to confine people in a sunless basement.
The decayed facilities, the wretched state of the patients, and yet a cleanliness that contradicted all of it—it created an unsettling wrongness.
I approached the figures on the cots, every sense alert.
Looking closer, I saw an IV Drip inserted into one of their arms.
At that sight, a phantom pain lanced deep through the inside of my arm—impossible, yet vivid, like a trauma response.
I reflexively felt my own arm. Thankfully, it was intact.
‘No……I’m not hurt. I don’t hurt anymore…….’
I forced down the rising panic and examined the face of the patient.
The eyes were empty and glassy, the facial muscles slack—no trace of suffering remained visible.
That sight disturbed me even more, and instinctive revulsion and dread flooded through me.
I should continue exploring the basement.
But all I could think was that I wanted to flee this place immediately.
This was clearly somewhere I shouldn’t have entered. Red warning lights flashed endlessly in my mind.
“Hah, uh—hack……ack!”
A convulsive sound came from behind me. I flinched and spun around.
The man lying in the back was seizing, thrashing as he stumbled out of bed and slammed his fists against the metal bars with brutal force.
“Ahhh!”
“Hick!”
I swallowed a startled breath and backed away.
“Let me out! Get me out of here!”
The man, whose eyes were shot through with blood and had been staring blankly into the void, turned his head toward me.
‘There’s no way he can see me.’
There was still considerable time remaining before the Invisibility Potion wore off.
His unfocused eyes suggested he’d already lost his mind, yet each time his gaze swept in my direction, my heart lurched as though dropping into an abyss.
Bang! Bang!
My body jerked involuntarily with each crash of metal against bars.
“I’ll kill you all! Every last one of you……!”
The man began thrashing about with the crazed expression of someone utterly unhinged.
I wanted to escape from this place.
‘I need to get out. I can’t stay here……!’
The fear was too much to endure any longer.
To put distance between myself and the man, I bolted desperately toward the iron door.
Reaching the vicinity of the door, I frantically rummaged through my Inventory and found the Key.
The moment relief washed over me as I felt the Key’s texture at my fingertips.
Creak―
A shaft of bright light pierced into the dark Basement.
I froze entirely, unable to believe what was happening, and slowly lifted my head.
My grip loosened and the Key dropped to the floor with a soft tap, but I had no mind for the sound—I reflexively stumbled backward.
A pristine white shoe entered through the crack of the opening door. A neat, composed figure and that dazzling white hair I’d seen countless times before.
The moment I saw Siard step inside, the world tilted before my eyes.

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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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