* * *
A week had passed since Ruadis warned me to be careful of the temple.
Contrary to my worries, there hadn’t been a single incident yet.
Of course, I didn’t even glance down the northern road, and just in case, after my part-time job ended, I waited quietly at the restaurant until Ruadis came.
After being advised it would be best to keep my distance from Ragner, I had been worried about how to treat him, but as if he knew this, he had completely stopped coming after the first day.
I had been troubled, so I was simply grateful that he was keeping his distance on his own.
And finally, I received my first weekly wage from the restaurant.
“Choi, you’ve worked hard. You’re so skilled, it’s like you’ve been working at our restaurant for years.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
Receiving compensation for labor is always a good feeling.
But the fact that a week had passed also meant there were expenses to pay.
I was already paying the monsters their second weekly wage.
‘Still, I saved 25,000 eon from the operating funds!’
I had stopped the money from being nibbled away without a single customer!
It was money that would be used for operating funds anyway, but I didn’t know why it felt like I had come into extra money.
“Now I need to use this money to properly fill the reward room.”
The plan I had reported to Ruadis had passed successfully.
When I said I wanted to fill it with items to help graduates safely pass through Garga Forest, she gladly gave me 30,000 eon as an investment.
Now I just needed to prepare suitable items with a total of 55,000 eon.
“She said there are ten graduates this time. Then I should prepare ten sets for now.”
Combining the advice I had heard from Ragner and Ruadis, the dungeon clear rewards I had in mind were as follows.
First, the most important special compass!
Its exact name was the Holy Stone Compass.
It was essential equipment for finding your way through Garga Forest and getting out safely.
‘Ruadis showed me hers, and it looked more like a watch than a compass.’
The operating principle was surprisingly simple.
An ordinary compass responds to the earth’s magnetic field and points north, but the Holy Stone Compass points toward the holy stone that protects human settlements.
The reason humans could maintain villages and cities even in the middle of a demon realm was thanks to the barrier. And at the center of that barrier, there was always a holy stone.
‘She said the location of the holy stone in the village is a secret. They hide it thoroughly so monsters can’t target it….’
The Holy Stone Compass was a device that detected the energy radiating from the holy stone and changed the direction of its needle.
Unusually, it had two needles—one pointing to the nearest holy stone, and the other pointing to the strongest holy stone.
The larger the scale of the barrier, like in a city, the stronger the holy stone’s power. So if you just followed the needle pointing to the strong holy stone, you could naturally arrive at the city.
Next was the purification stone.
A person can survive several days without food, but without water, they quickly reach death.
So to secure a stable water supply in a demon realm, a purification stone was absolutely necessary.
It was said to purify all contamination because it was made by hardening holy water.
Lastly, healing potions!
‘Mmm… Yes! If there’s adventure, there must be potions!’
With my budget, the best I could get were low-grade healing potions. They were said to be at the level of healing scrapes or minor bleeding.
In a demon realm, even a small wound quickly becomes infected and risks rotting, so fast first aid was more important than anything.
I couldn’t even dream of the highest-grade healing potions that could raise someone from the brink of death, but this was the best I could prepare in my current circumstances.
‘At least it’ll prevent dying from a wound getting infected once or twice.’
There were many other necessary items, but I excluded those that were hard to obtain in the village.
“She said the general store is the place where I can get all of these?”
She said that in cities, there are specialized shops for each category, but here, the general store handled all sorts of goods like a department store.
The day before, I had told Ruadis in advance that I planned to stop by the general store after my part-time job ended, so we should meet a little later.
So from now on, I’m going to the general store!
‘She said priests wear white clothes, right?’
I moved cautiously, staying alert and on guard.
Then I paused for a moment in front of the square’s bulletin board.
“There are quite a lot of errands today too.”
The temple’s high-quality memo paper, which stood out conspicuously, was still posted today as well. The content was different from before, though.
‘I must not even glance at it!’
I quickly turned my eyes away and looked at the other notes.
“Huh? There’s a note posted by the general store too?”
It was a request for someone to interpret a letter. It was closer to a commission than a simple errand….
I was glad the errand location and destination were the same, but interpreting a letter was a specialized field, so I hesitated.
Even if I could naturally accept this world’s language through my contract with the Demon King.
Rashly offering to help and then embarrassing myself would be worse, so I regretfully took my eyes off the board and headed to the general store again.
“There it is!”
Right next to the square, a building beside the well caught my eye. It looked like a building that had been repeatedly illegally expanded, patched together here and there.
Perhaps because the inside couldn’t hold everything, goods were piled up outside and being sold.
With a fluttering heart, I carefully entered the general store.
Because of the goods piled up to the ceiling, only a narrow path barely wide enough for one person remained.
“Excuse me.”
“If you know it’s rude, you shouldn’t come.”
“Uh…?”
A curt voice.
An old man with a sturdy build sat in a chair with an expression that said everything was bothersome, staring intently at a piece of paper in his hand. He didn’t even glance at me.
He seemed to be the type who didn’t particularly welcome customers.
With people like this, it was best not to make small talk and just get to the point quickly and leave.
“I’m looking for a few items. A Holy Stone Compass, purification stones….”
“We don’t have any.”
“Pardon?”
“The Holy Stone Compass. I said there’s no stock.”
This was… an unexpected situation.
I didn’t know about the others, but the Holy Stone Compass was absolutely necessary.
Both Ragner and Ruadis had mentioned it first.
“Um… is there no way?”
Swipe—a sharp gaze pierced me. I could swear that within five seconds, either a curse or a shout was about to burst out.
Just then, the old man slightly lowered the paper he was holding, allowing me to see its contents.
‘Huh? That’s….’
The unfamiliar language filling the letter was instantly translated into a language I was familiar with.
A sentence composed perfectly in Korean from start to finish, just like the monsters’ resumes.
I endured the old man’s stinging gaze and focused on the paper.
Three seconds before being yelled at, two seconds before….
The first line of the text. To Father.
The moment the old man finally opened his mouth, I urgently raised my hand.
“W, wait a moment! The letter—weren’t you looking for someone to interpret the letter!?”
To fill the dungeon’s reward room, I needed the general store’s cooperation! I couldn’t be kicked out or have his opinion of me drop like this.
It wasn’t that he didn’t carry the items at all—it was just a matter of stock running out, which meant it could be restocked.
“What did you say?”
“The letter. Aren’t you looking for someone to interpret that letter?”
I was almost certain.
The moment I mentioned the letter, a subtle change began to stir in the old man’s indifferent eyes.
“You can read these characters?”
The old man’s sharp tone softened just a little.
“Could I take a proper look at it?”
“Don’t take it—just look.”
It must be a very precious letter. It was worn from how many times he had looked at it, and he didn’t want it touched by others’ hands.
I carefully examined the letter the old man showed me. And I read it aloud to him exactly as it appeared.
“Ahem, ahem, To Father. Have you been well and in good health?”
“Kuhn!”
I had only read a single line, but the old man’s bulbous nose turned red in an instant, and tears burst out.
“Um… shall I keep reading?”
“K, keep… sniff.”
“By the way… when does the Holy Stone Compass stock come in?”
“…….”
“Thinking of my father, who must be alone in my hometown, my heart is uneasy….”
“Kuh-huhk!”
If I had known it would be like this, I should have torn off the memo from the bulletin board.
Surely they wouldn’t refuse to pay me the errand fee just because I didn’t tear it off, right?
