I gave Belsus a meat pie made by sautéing onions, meat, and mushrooms with spices, putting them inside flour dough and baking it in the outdoor oven, along with a lettuce salad garnished with milk jam made by stirring sugar into milk and reducing it, for dinner.
‘I feel like similar repertoires are starting to repeat…’
It can’t be helped. A farmer’s hands make any food generally delicious, but that doesn’t mean I suddenly know recipes I’ve never seen before.
Before I possessed this body… I had never cooked. I mainly boiled ramen or bought side dishes to eat.
‘I could eat ramen six times a week, but I can’t raise Belsus like that.’
Anyway, since my knowledge is like this, even now I’m not really recalling specific recipes to make them, but just roughly imitating what I’ve seen somewhere with the ingredients I have. Whether this is French cuisine or Italian cuisine—I don’t really know.
Anyway, since the game was a virtual kingdom, not just food but various aspects had no historical accuracy. So there’s no way Belsus would find the food I make strange.
As I was about to leave after setting down the food, Belsus gently grabbed the edge of my sleeve.
Belsus absolutely never touches me, perhaps out of propriety, but when necessary, he grabs the hem of my clothes like this. I looked down at the sleeve he was holding.
It did feel strange to see those large, rugged fingertips carefully holding just a bit of cloth.
“Would it be okay to eat together? Of course not every time, but occasionally. When you feel like it…”
I was eating separately to gather even a bit more experience points by doing housework while eating.
But this time, I sat down across from him at the table without a word. Then Belsus’s face brightened noticeably.
If I do something wrong and dampen Belsus’s motivation and appetite even slightly, I’m the only one who loses. In fact, I’m an animal living as a parasite on Belsus.
Belsus is a sucker who becomes timid and cautious over the smallest things, so I have to pay full attention to everything.
‘Someday, I wish he’d just not care what I do and go about his business cheerfully.’
But I understand. Originally, I only understood it intellectually, but as we lived together and I started seeing Belsus as a person rather than game graphics, I came to understand him better.
This isn’t actually Belsus’s first time lodging somewhere.
Back then it wasn’t lodging, but Belsus unilaterally begging and mooching. This also appears in the game scenario.
It’s Belsus’s recollection, from when Belsus was just around twenty, much younger than now and less worn down, still presentable. Deep in the mountains while fleeing from knights, Belsus met a woman living alone in a cabin she built.
She provided Belsus with food and a place to sleep. She was originally a kind person who often gave travelers lodging and meals.
A brutal bounty hunter chasing Belsus sent in a captured monster to capture Belsus, who had sensitive danger perception. She became the monster’s prey as the price for helping Belsus.
‘Having lived in this kind of environment, a place like the subspace farm that can’t be invaded by anyone is as valuable as paradise to Belsus…’
To not be abandoned by me. Or to not become a burden to me. That’s why Belsus has no choice but to be cautious.
I finished eating first and stood up. Belsus readily let me stand up first.
I went to the backyard and carefully dug up a plant root I’d been preciously growing with the hoe, as if handling a baby.
[Ginseng (Ready for harvest.)]
Originally, medicinal herbs couldn’t be grown on the farm. They were only sold in shops, but when I tried planting some, they grew here.
There are also medicinal herbs that help with combat power. I’m mixing them into the meals I feed Belsus.
[You have harvested Ginseng (medicinal herb).]
[Experience points increase for special harvest.]
I gave Belsus water boiled with ginseng as dessert and made him chew and eat the root too.
Having become accustomed to the food I give him, Belsus frowned greatly at the earthy taste he was experiencing after a long time. But despite struggling, he chewed thoroughly and swallowed without complaint.
“Good.”
I casually patted the head of the sitting Belsus. I quickly withdrew before Belsus could find it strange.
There’s a reason I started wholeheartedly caring about Belsus’s emotional state, eating with him, and feeding him precious medicinal herb water.
Finally.
The first dungeon was approaching tomorrow.
And the dungeon announcement appeared not just to the possessors but also to the characters.
“Since you’re a Hunter too, you must see the secret message.”
Belsus even brought it up to me first.
Belsus doesn’t know anything about the game, and only knew that a special dungeon was announced for some Hunters.
‘For us it appears as a hologram window, but the characters see it as a transparent parchment form like we saw in the game. Reflecting the era.’
[Special Dungeon Announcement.]
[In 24 hours, a wicked dungeon will open in this world that only chosen Hunters can save.]
[There’s no problem even if you fail to clear the dungeon, so entry is free.]
[But great experience points and rare monsters await, so the choice is yours.]
Very scam-like wording.
Regular dungeon. In the game, participation is mandatory according to the scenario. But with possession, it changed slightly.
‘So that either yourself or your character, just one of the two, needs to participate.’
Of course, both coming in was fine too. Since the mobs and bosses caught here return as generous experience points, you should enter with your partner if possible to maximize farming.
But that’s also only for rankers.
“I have one more ginseng root, I’ll boil that right before you go to the dungeon.”
Belsus looked at me quietly. I nodded as if to say his thoughts were correct.
“You’re fighting alone.”
Why would I go in when I’m not crazy? What would a powerless farmer do following Belsus around? I’d just be in the way.
‘Instead, if your body is ignorant, your head must suffer.’
I plan to use my head to the fullest and utilize everything I have to get my share from this dungeon.
* * *
First dungeon.
Rankers entered the entrance one by one.
“Excuse me… Puppeteer-nim?”
“Yes.”
Like people who met online gathering for a meetup, the rankers who were meeting in one place for the first time whispered and greeted each other.
Right then, there was another figure belatedly entering through the entrance.
“Huh?”
The Thief who spotted them opened their eyes wide and pointed with their finger.
“It’s Belsus!”
Wait, so he really didn’t die to Kaline? The rankers forgot the conversation they’d been having and murmured. Of course, in very small voices.
“How did a beggar get into the dungeon?”
“Did he eat?”
“Did he enter the dungeon because he had nothing to eat?”
It wasn’t mockery but pure curiosity.
* * *
[Regular Dungeon: Welcome to the First Dungeon.]
[Below is the list of participants.]
A special dungeon created by the game system, different from actual gates.
The possessed rankers, and some characters who knew nothing, entered the dungeon.
Among them, a list of participants appeared before the rankers’ eyes.
—
(Sorted alphabetically.)
[Brawler]
[Thief]
[Bard]
[Archer] / [Royal Knight ‘Kaline’]
[Puppeteer]
[Paladin]
[Doctor ‘Hesther’]
[Mercenary ‘Belsus’]
*(Participation Impossible) Wizard / Magic Tower Lord ‘Eden’
—
The Brawler, whose name was at the front, organized the information while looking at the other names.
‘First, among eight rankers, six entered. Who didn’t come?’
One was the Wizard who couldn’t participate due to penalty.
And the other was the Alchemist.
‘So they sent in their Doctor character instead? Why didn’t they come?’
If circumstances allow, having both come would be beneficial. They could help each other, and could gain lots of experience points by each catching the endlessly respawning monsters.
The person who came with their character like that was just one among the eight—Archer.
But looking around, neither Archer nor Kaline were visible.
‘Those two must be hunting monsters separately. Lucky them? They’re determined to get first place.’
Including the Brawler, the rankers standing far apart were in a state of no information. They were people who couldn’t hide their surprise only when Belsus entered through the entrance, confirming that Belsus had survived without dying.
They were clearly behind in information. And they weren’t even going to know the fact that they were behind. Since everyone didn’t know together.
“Excuse me, Puppeteer-nim?”
“Yes. Hello. You’re Thief-nim, right?”
The six rankers who entered the dungeon naturally gathered in a circle.
