Chapter 170.

Henry and Kiri were easily persuaded, and I went with them to the building I bought . It was a bit weird to think of it as my building since I only bought it 30 minutes ago .

I walked inside with Henry and Kiri who were marveling at the building .

“…Hiik!”

When Henry and Kiri saw the inside of the building, they gasped . The more quick-witted Kiri noticed that something was unusual .

“T-There’s nothing here…”

“Huh? Oh . ”

I could understand where their misunderstanding came from . An empty place like this was usually where crimes took place .

“…Hiyaak!”

KWANG!

To make matters worse, a fierce wind shut the door closed .

“It’s empty because I only bought it a little while ago . ”

I tried to calm them down, but Kiri’s legs were shaking uncontrollably . She quickly hid behind Henry, and Henry glared at me with a terrified expression .

“W-What do you want!?”

“S-Save us! We’re sorry, please don’t kill us!”

“Um, kids, I’m not a bad guy…”

Their faces turned purple . I approached them slowly to calm them down .

“Guys?”

“W-We’ll give you back the money! Please don’t kill us!”

“Ah, aaak! Aaaak!”

“…Uh . ”

Talking any more would probably make the situation worse .

As such, I sat down on the ground . I took out the burner and frying pan I bought from the Player Shop and then took out my special marinated boar meat .

“…Hic . ”

“Hic . ”

The brother and sister became quieter, only sobbing slightly . I put the meat on the frying pan and glanced at them . They were still on guard and in fear, but they were also sniffing the air and smacking their lips .

I opened my mouth .

“Of course there’s nothing here . I only bought it just now . Come eat . You must be hungry . ”

Starvation was a huge issue in Prestige . I had even written something about a group of people who practiced cannibalism . Because of this, the two children’s suspicion was only natural . Kiri was still hiding behind Henry, and Henry stuttered as he asked .

“…Re, really?”

“What would I gain from hurting you two anyway?”

Tzzz— The marinated boar meat gave off a savory smell, tempting the two children .

“Come eat . It’s fine . ”

“…That, that’s not human meat?”

“It’s boar meat . ”

“W-Where did you get it? I… I heard livestock can only be found in the inner city . ”

“I showed you my ID, didn’t I?”

“Ah . ”

Kiri and Henry were finally convinced . They approached the frying pan hesitantly, drooling with saliva .

I took out two plates, put pieces of boar meat on them, and gave them to Henry and Kiri .

“M-Me first!”

“Ssp . Wait . ”

Henry took the two plates and stopped Kiri from rushing to eat . Then, he took the first bite . Nom, nom . He seemed to be checking whether it was poisoned . As he chewed, his eyes became livelier and more sparkly .

“O-Oppa, can I eat it too?”

“Yeah, eat . ”

They finally began to eat the meat with their hands .

Worried that they would get sick from the germs on their hands, I took out two forks I made before and handed them to them .

“Thank you!”

“Huu, huu!”

They ate quickly .

I watched them silently with a smile on my face, then carefully asked .

“How old are you guys?”

“I’m 13, and Kiri is 12 . ”

Henry’s reply was surprising as they looked like they were 10 years old at most . It seemed they couldn’t grow properly due to malnutrition .

“Are you two living by yourselves?”

“Yes~! Hehehe . ”

Kiri nodded joyously as she chewed on the boar meat .

For some reason, it sounded bitter .

Kiri had said that the Black Pouch was something their father left behind . Now, she was saying that they lived alone . It was clear what that meant .

…I took out another large chunk of meat and put it on the frying pan . Once it was cooked, I cut it in half and put each half on their respective plate .

“You guys can stay and eat while I’m fixing up this place . ”

“Y-Yes!”

“Thank you!”

I patted their heads before standing up .

“Hm…”

Looking around the empty space, I pondered .

How should I decorate the place so that it would become well-known around here?

Of course, I already had an idea in mind .

**

30 minutes .

That was the time it took me to transform the building into an actual shop .

With brand new shelves, display cases, stands, and a counter, it should be the best-looking shop in the outer city .

“Wow… you’re so good at making things!”

“Uwoaah…”

Henry and Kiri exclaimed in shock .

They were sitting with their bellies full after eating all the boar meat I cooked for them .

“I’m just talented . ”

“Uwoah, talented… . ”

“Wow… . ”

They were impressed with whatever I said . How cute .

“Alright, you guys don’t have to sell flowers anymore . Just work here instead . ”

“Here?”

“Yeah, and I’ll provide three meals per day with a monthly salary of 200TP . ”

“2-200!?”

Their jaws dropped from shock .

“W-What kind of work do we need to do?”

“Cleaning the shop and selling items . ”

“W-We’ll do it! But um… what items?”

“Oh right, hold on . ”

Coming up with items to sell was easy .

I took out the four Random Dice in my inventory and rolled them thinking, ‘please change into anything that can be sold . ’

The four dice transformed into four items, of which the only sellable items were a Lv . 3 sword and a Lv . 2 leather armor .

But, well, it was better than nothing .

I put the sword and leather armor in a display stand then took out other equipment I’ve made so far: bear leather jacket, red crystal axe, gorilla tendon wrist protector, etc .

“I’m opening the shop tomorrow . The sword is 1500TP, the axe is 1000TP, the armor is 600TP, and the jacket and wrist protector are 300TP each . You can sell them for higher, but don’t lower the price . ”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

Henry and Kiri nodded excitedly .

I smiled and added another sentence .

“From now on, think of this place as your home . You can live here too . ”

There had to be an attic in this building considering its size . I wasn’t sure how I knew this exactly, but I guessed it had something to do with the dwarven knowledge I obtained from the different steles .

“…Here?”

“Yep, that’s okay with you, right?”

“… . ”

Henry and Kiri stared at each other .

They looked happy at first, but their expressions darkened after a moment .

“N-No . ”

“Our dad might come back, so we have to stay home… . ”

“You can just leave a note behind . ”

“…Oh!”

They were easily persuaded .

Kiri tightly grabbed Henry’s hand and spoke .

“Then we’ll be back soon . ”

[TIP – Players can become friends with NPCs as well . ]

[Friended NPCs can be contacted through the messenger . ]

[You can become friends with the NPCs Henry and Kiri . ]

“Sure, but before you go…”

I friended Henry and Kiri . It was simple . I just had to think about it while holding their hands .

Once that was done, Henry and Kiri went home to leave a note behind, and I began to clean up the attic .

After crafting a bed, a table, a mirror, and a dressing table, I bought a refrigerator from the Player Shop to furnish their room . Since I was going to go back to Earth for a few days, I put some boar meat and sandwiches in the fridge for them to eat .

As for the bathroom, they could use the one on the first floor .

“…Oh right . ”

Looking at the sandwiches in the fridge, I came up with a good idea .

I made a new sandwich and left the shop . Then, I went straight to the guard standing outside the inner wall .

“Good work . ”

I greeted the guard and gave him the sandwich .

“…What’s this?”

“A sandwich . ”

The guard looked at the sandwich but didn’t take it .

“Ah, you see, as a fellow ‘citizen’, I was just grateful for all the hard work that you do . It’s lunchtime, so I brought you a sandwich . ”

I emphasized the fact that I was a citizen .

As guards were one of the strongest existences in this city, befriending one would only be beneficial . In fact, Medea was likely the only one who was above guards in strength, but that was obvious .

“…Kuhum, thank you, citizen . ”

The guard took the sandwich . After examining it more closely, he swallowed his saliva .

I laughed and bowed .

Ding—

A system message arrived .

[Player ‘CaptainBritain’ sent you a friend request . Would you like to accept?]

I accepted it immediately .

CaptainBritain: 「Hajin-ssi, are you on the 3rd floor? ^_^ 」

「Yes, what about you?」

CaptainBritain: 「I just arrived, but I’m in a meeting right now in my waiting room . We’re deciding whether to buy citizenship to enter the inner city . Also, thank you for the deer meat . I just ate some with my guild members, and they all said it was delicious ( o uo)b!」

Rachel sounded as energetic as ever in her messages .

「Haha, I see . Um, you should buy the citizenship . Otherwise, you won’t be able to do much . Also, I’m returning to Earth for a bit . 」

CaptainBritain: 「Earth?」

「Yes, there’s someone I need to check up on . 」

As soon as I sent this message, I received a message from someone else .

Boss: 「Newbie, when are you coming back?」

It was Boss .

「I’ll be gone for about 2~4 days . Do you want to come with me?」

Boss: 「Should I?」

「ㅋㅋㅋ Actually, Jain and Cheok Jungyeong can’t do anything without Boss, so you should stay . 」

Boss: 「I guess you’re right ㅋㅋ」

I was half-kidding, so it wasn’t a lie entirely . In battle, Boss’ judgments were always spot on .

After ending the conversation with Boss, I left behind a message for Henry and Kiri before closing the messenger .

「I’m going to be away for a while, so just keep the place clean while I’m gone . Eat lots and do some workouts . If something happens, ask the guard in front of the inner-city gate to help . Also, bring him a sandwich every day for lunch . There should be a lot in the fridge in the attic . 」

With that, I bought a return ticket and a re-entrance ticket from the Player Shop .

[Would you like to leave the Tower using the return ticket?]

[You will return to the place where you used the entrance ticket . ]

[Warning! If you do not have a re-entrance ticket, your record will be deleted from the Player Database . ]

I equipped the bracelet-shaped re-entrance ticket on my wrist .

“Yes, I’ll leave now . ”

[You used the return ticket . ]

Along with the system alert, a black portal shot up .

===

[Lv . ??? Black Pouch]

○Special Item

—Allows you to copy one item from the outside world and bring it into the Tower .

—The copied item can only be used inside the Tower .

===

Holding the Black Pouch I got from Henry, I walked into the black portal .

I came out to the same empty space I was in when I first walked into the black ticket’s portal .

[Here is the storage box owned by Player Extra7 . ]

A system alert popped up along with the storage box .

[You can bring these items back to Earth or you can leave them inside . ]

“I’ll just go . Oh, this is okay, right?”

I held the Black Pouch up .

[…Special item has been confirmed . The ‘Black Pouch’ can be brought outside the Tower . ]

[The exit portal will now be created . ]

Another portal shot up .

This time, it was a portal that led to Earth .

I closed my eyes and walked in .

**

“…Huu . ”

I opened my eyes with a sigh . I was in a familiar place, Chameleon Troupe’s hideout . Goblins were busily running around doing work .

“…Auu . ”

As I exited the Tower, I was no longer under its stat restriction . However, I felt more sore than light . I likely needed some time to get used to my changed stats .

I stretched and looked around the lobby .

“Oh? Newbie, when did you come back?”

“Ah, hello . ”

I found Setryn who was lying on the couch . Next to her was a man I wasn’t too familiar with, but I still knew who he was .

The seat of Indigo, Yoo Kyunghwan .

Although we were members of the same family, I had to be on guard around him . It was because ‘Indigo’ swung the other way .

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