Belsus’s expression wasn’t good. At that moment, all sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind. What did I do wrong?
“Why are you declining?”
“……”
The feeling of what I’d been carefully enticing slipping right out of my grasp was quite startling. Belsus was just watching my mood endlessly while avoiding my gaze.
Of course, I know it’s stranger for someone who’s been a wanderer for 20 years to accept such a proposal right away. But the current Belsus is someone who was just lying there thinking he’d starve to death there, right?
A guy who would accept anything rather than die, why…… did he develop his own will?
Is it because he doesn’t trust me? Does he think I look like a pauper too?
“Is it because the facilities suck? I’ll level up soon! Are you worried I can’t even feed you?”
I shot out words rapidfire as if personally offended. Belsus shook his head hard.
“No…… This is a place too good for me.”
I can tell without Reading. That he’s speaking sincerely. When Belsus lowered his head, my heart naturally cooled down.
“Or do you not trust me?”
At my casually tossed words, Belsus raised his gaze. I was smoothly caught by his eyes like black beams of light.
After meeting eyes briefly, Belsus shook his head slightly this time too.
He says no, but that doesn’t mean this becomes a meaning that he trusts me.
Being a sucker means being kind to everyone, not that he readily trusts anyone.
To be precise, it should be said he has a disposition to knowingly let himself be deceived.
“You…… you think you yourself don’t even have the right to trust me or not, right? Because you’re a beggar. Because you have no way to repay me. Isn’t that right?”
The corners of Belsus’s eyes trembled slightly then returned to normal. The bastard clamped his mouth shut again.
It’s like a large dog is sitting across from me. A dog that slyly avoids even when you pet it with your hand and shrinks back again.
‘Even though he was on the verge of starvation, that damned personality doesn’t go anywhere.’
It’s obvious without seeing how frustrated I’ll be with this bastard going forward. I’ll have to hold back the words telling him to please stop caring about useless things.
Fine. I’ll let it slide since we’re both still unfamiliar with each other.
I’ll tell you several times.
“Too good? Why? This garbage-like old farm? Other people would say no even if you paid them?”
“Garbage…… it’s not. I mean, it must be tight even for you to live alone.”
So in the end, you don’t want to be a burden to me, a pauper.
“What if the food I gave you was my entire fortune?”
I saw his face genuinely worried, no, even in the midst of that, thoroughly watching me lest he upset my mood.
He keeps hurting my pride from earlier. To think I, who was 1st place in farmer ranking across all servers, would be looked down on like this.
Belsus is the first to treat me like this.
I decided to deploy a truth bomb.
“You know it too, right? That other people aren’t like you. No, that in this world, you’re the only stupid bastard who gives food to others with his entire fortune.”
Belsus’s lips closed neatly.
Belsus, caught off guard, didn’t look particularly pleased. If Belsus weren’t ‘a stupid bastard who gives food to others with his entire fortune,’ wouldn’t I have gotten hit once?
I completely changed my expression and smiled brightly.
“You’re more at ease when treated harshly, right?”
Belsus had a face like he didn’t know how to react to my words. I continued speaking.
“I’m doing charity work. I obtained an awesome subspace ability, and I thought one more person could live with me, so I chose you from that slum as the one most likely to properly repay the favor.”
This way, it’s actually far from charity work. But neither I nor Belsus listening to my words cared about such errors.
“Watch. How far this farm will succeed.”
I proposed post-paid lodging to Belsus.
I’ll provide lodging and four meals a day, so pay the lodging fee monthly.
I know well he’s penniless now, so he can stay on credit for now and earn money during the month to pay.
“I don’t care what work you do to earn money. But just one thing.”
Actually I do care, but anyway Belsus is in the palm of my hand.
“Don’t die, and don’t get hurt either.”
Belsus’s expression became strange.
Because it’s troublesome if he dies, and troublesome if he gets hurt too.
How much will other bastards level up while he’s recuperating from an injury? He’ll fall behind in the competition.
One year from now on this exact day, the person with the highest level and combat power will be invited as the one to challenge the Tower. Since I myself don’t have the power to become the Tower’s challenger, Belsus must become the continent’s strongest in my place.
The start is now.
To pay me lodging fees, Belsus will come to rely on his one and only talent.
Return as a Hunter.
To do that…… Belsus must first rest thoroughly and pull himself together.
“You must be exhausted, so sleep.”
Belsus glanced around slightly, looked at my face briefly, then carefully lay down in that spot. The afternoon sunlight fell on his pale-colored skin.
……Is that your place to lie down?
Of course I can’t let him sleep like this. Right now it’s sunny, but depending on the real weather, it could rain or be windy.
But after deciding this far, there was one problem that bothered me.
‘Where should I put him to sleep?’
I looked at my cabin.
It’s the house I barely secured, but I have to share it with another bastard, which is a bit.
It’s absolutely not because it’s precious.
It’s absolutely not because it’s precious…….
I’ve never lived in the same house with anyone. Moreover, the cabin is still a studio. How can two people fit in that cramped place?
I looked around the yard. A barn smaller than the cabin caught my eye.
I opened the barn door. *Creaaak*… A considerably wrong sound came from the hinge. In the old, dusty space, outside sunlight poured down abundantly.
However, the door opened and closed well anyway.
Ignoring the door that didn’t fit well with the doorframe, I looked around the interior of the barn in its initial state, which I was seeing for the first time in ages.
It’s bigger than a goshiwon. Let’s put Belsus here.
Belsus, who followed me, looked inside. I confidently lifted my chin and waited for Belsus’s reaction.
……No. I can’t act more shameless than this. I have something called dignity too.
“Within a few weeks, I’ll expand this room too, put in a bed, and make a private bathroom.”
The barn isn’t for this purpose, but it’s a high-freedom system so nothing should be impossible. If it really doesn’t work, I can make a separate annex.
No. Looking closely, it’s not that Belsus has no reaction.
‘This bastard is so moved right now he can’t open his mouth.’
The large frame standing in the doorway trembled quietly. He even shuddered while swallowing saliva.
I’m the fool for underestimating this bastard’s sucker power even briefly.
Let’s say the probability of my only lodger being dissatisfied with the facilities and filing a complaint is 0.001%.
* * *
Belsus lay down his weary body and fell asleep.
I slightly opened the barn door and came back after watching Belsus sleep through the crack.
The yard had ridges rising neatly everywhere without room to step. I tiptoed around stepping only on the furrows. The seed named Belsus that I planted in the barn, and the seeds prettily planted in each ridge were now my only assets.
Even if I wanted to plant more seeds, this was all that was in the starter pack.
The rest I have to buy, but since the Archer and Kaline might still be lingering in the slums outside, I’m trying to be cautious for today as much as possible.
‘If I plant them more densely than this, there won’t be enough space for roots to spread and efficiency will drop too.’
Because the degree of freedom is so high, there’s a lot to pay attention to. Most users who found lifestyle activities bothersome really did them half-heartedly just to raise the enhancement probability numbers.
That’s why it’s so frustrating.
‘If everyone competed with lifestyle levels, I could win by a landslide without even bringing Belsus.’
I checked the time. It was 5 minutes before 8 PM.
While doing the work of removing the creaking wooden boards of the cabin and replacing them with new ones, I brought up the yellow status window.
From 8 PM to 9 PM. The time when possessor chat is in operation.
[Thief]: test
[Thief]: oh it sends
[Thief]: Hello
A person with the name ‘Thief’ posted a chat lightning-fast as soon as it became 8 o’clock.
[Bard]: Hello.
[Alchemist]: hi
[Puppeteer]: Hello
Bard, Alchemist, Puppeteer. Combat classes that existed in the game.
[Brawler]: !!!
[Brawler]: Hello
[Paladin]: Hello
[Wizard]: Hello
I stared seriously at each character as if there were secrets hidden in them.
Formidable combat classes appeared in succession, and the person I’d been waiting for barely greeted last.
[Archer]: hihi
One, two…… eight people.
As if everyone had been waiting for 8 PM only, messages rolled up starting with Thief the moment the status window time hit 8 o’clock.
No matter how much they’re competitors, since they’re the only comrades in this unfamiliar world, everyone seems willing to talk.
I also quickly moved the status window to give my first greeting.
“……?”
Wait.
‘Why don’t I have a keypad to send chat?’
