< 5 : Awe and Fear (1) >
What do people need to live?
If I asked this question to anyone, most of them would give me similar answers.
They would say that people need the basics to live.
Food. Clothing. And a safe place to stay.
There are many things that are necessary to guarantee a minimum level of life.
And that seemed to be no exception for the character that was reflected in front of my eyes.
The first character who awakened the <Fanatic> trait, Eutenia Hyroste.
She had been constantly displaying a food emoticon above her head since a while ago.
“They said it was an idle game, but now it’s like they left the feeding to me.”
The catchphrase that I saw when I first encountered this game was that it was an idle game that anyone could play.
Idle game.
It meant that most things could be done without much effort.
But looking at the character in front of me, leaving her alone didn’t seem like the best option.
It had been three days in game time.
Eutenia had been stuck in the cave without eating anything and starving.
The physics of this game were not much different from reality.
If she didn’t eat for a long time, she would surely die.
In that sense, leaving her alone seemed like a bad idea.
“I can’t just leave her to starve to death. It’s not like I don’t care about her.”
She was just one character.
What difference would it make if one character disappeared?
But still, I felt a bit reluctant to let her go.
She was the first <Fanatic> character I got.
It wouldn’t be too bad to take care of one character and raise her well.
I moved my finger and pressed the inventory button on the corner of the screen.
Ding.
A light notification sound and the items registered in the inventory appeared in my sight.
-[Rusty Iron Sword] x 3
-[Hard Black Bread] x 4
-[Torn Cloak] x 1
-[Crude Dagger] x 1
The items in the inventory were all obtained through the 10 consecutive draws.
It was impossible to obtain items other than through the draws in the store.
That’s why the contents of the inventory were not much different from a few days ago.
I dragged one of the [Hard Black Bread].
As I clicked and moved the graphic that looked like bread, the bread followed my finger out of the inventory.
Thud.
The bread that came out of the inventory fell right in front of Eutenia.
As soon as I put down the [Hard Black Bread], Eutenia’s eyes went straight to it.
-(Question)
The first reaction that Eutenia showed when she faced the bread was a question mark above her head.
From her perspective, it was sudden that bread appeared.
It was natural for an AI to have doubts if it was normal.
But soon she seemed to have made a judgment about the situation, and she picked up the bread on the floor.
Eutenia’s speech bubble changed quickly as she lifted up the bread.
-(Thankful)
-(Moved)
-(Thankful)
-(Moved)
The graphic of the bread was barely distinguishable from the character as she lifted it up.
Eutenia started to eat the bread slowly, expressing her gratitude.
Eutenia’s graphic was small, and the bread’s graphic was even smaller.
It was hard to feel more than just understanding that she was eating from looking at the screen.
But as I saw the bread disappearing little by little, it was clear that Eutenia was eating it.
“Is this how it feels to feed a pet?”
I felt a warm feeling as I watched Eutenia eat.
I remembered when I fed my fish when I was young.
When I put in food, the fish would swarm around and nibble at it with their mouths open and closed.
Maybe because of the poor graphics, I couldn’t feel more emotion than that.
I rested my chin on my hand and kept watching Eutenia eat.
About 20 minutes after I put down the bread.
Eutenia finished eating all of it and got up from her seat.
-(Satiated)
-(Moved)
-(Thankful)
After finishing her meal, Eutenia thanked me again with a prayer gesture.
I thought she was a bit crazy AI, but she seemed to be very good at expressing gratitude.
Maybe I could show her some more mercy if she reacted like this.
I opened my inventory and took out some other items.
[Crude Dagger]. [Torn Cloak].
They were both items that were useful for living in the cave.
As I dropped the dagger and cloak on the floor, Eutenia blinked her eyes and watched them.
“Take these as gifts from me, who generously gave you the results of the 10 consecutive draws.”
They were useless items for me.
I couldn’t use any of them except for the magic book.
But for Eutenia in front of me, they were valuable items.
As I gave Eutenia the items, she showed another intense reaction and prayed again.
-(Moved)
-(Thankful)
-(Moved)
-(Thankful)
Even if I lent money to someone in need, I wouldn’t see such a reaction.
I was satisfied with Eutenia’s reaction and closed my inventory.
I didn’t think she would stay here forever.
But they were useful items for living in the mountains.
If I wanted to see a different reaction later, I would have to kick her out of the mountain by touching her or something.
Anyway, it was fun to see Eutenia’s reaction to the items I got from the draw.
Except for the fact that they came out of the draw.
“Evil bastards. This is how you plan to take my money.”
I recalled the items I got from the last draw.
Bread that I could feed to the character.
A weapon that I could give to the character.
And magic that I could use myself.
Except for the unreasonable price and probability, it was a tempting composition that made me want to press it more often.
I realized this temptation after I got used to the game a bit.
I resisted the urge to press the draw button right away with my twitching finger.
It was all for their own wallets.
******
Eutania Highlost.
The ash-haired girl looked up at the sky with dry lips.
She had been holed up in the mountain for three days now, feeling empty about the ruined village and hateful towards the world.
A nameless god had saved her from the brink of death, but that didn’t mean that Eutenia’s life had a happy ending.
Family. Clan. Relationships.
Everything that supported her had already collapsed.
Now, the only things left were the god who watched over her, and Eutenia herself, who had become a lonely outcast.
And even that was only prolonging her life thanks to the nameless god who saved her.
If it weren’t for the nameless god who struck lightning at the last moment, she would have taken her own life long ago.
“Sigh…”
Eutenia let out a sigh as she looked at the cave shrouded in darkness.
The cave was damp and dark, with no one else in it.
Gurgle.
Her stomach screamed after not eating anything for three days.
She was cold. And hungry.
She had never experienced such hunger for so long.
At least, not as far as she could remember.
She was used to facing a plentiful table every day, so this experience was unfamiliar to her.
But she couldn’t hope for a lavish table all of a sudden either, so all Eutenia could do was to space out to forget her hunger.
“…”
Eutenia’s eyes scanned the empty cave.
Moss. Damp floor. Humid air.
There was nothing else but Eutenia.
Her eyes moved again.
Moss. And damp floor.
Thud.
Moss. Floor. Hard black bread.
Life returned to Eutenia’s eyes, which had been moving listlessly.
“Bread fell down.”
What fell on the floor was unmistakably bread.
It looked hard as if it had been there for a long time, but it was still edible bread.
Eutenia picked up the bread that had fallen on the floor and looked up at the ceiling.
It was impossible for bread to sprout on moss in the middle of a cave.
It wasn’t that she missed it rolling on the floor either, so it must have fallen from the sky, Eutenia thought.
But all she could see from the ceiling were rough stones.
“It must have been sent by you.”
A smile bloomed on Eutenia’s lips as she lifted up the bread.
It wasn’t the last time that he sent lightning down.
The nameless god had been caring for Eutenia’s affairs all along.
He even prepared bread for her to eat, knowing that she was hungry.
Eutenia brought the bread to her mouth and bit it slightly.
Crunch. Crunch.
Her teeth bounced off the bread without penetrating it easily.
The old bread was harder than she thought.
“Do I have to lick it slowly?”
She had no choice but to soak the bread enough to bite it off.
Lick. Eutenia’s tongue brushed over the surface of the bread.
It was hard bread that she wouldn’t have bothered to look at normally.
But in this hungry situation, it was a delicious feeling just to touch it with her tongue slightly.
Eutenia slowly melted the hard bread and put it in her mouth.
She wasn’t in a situation where she could swallow it quickly, so there was no risk of choking or vomiting.
‘It would have been nice if I had some milk.’
She felt a bit regretful that she didn’t have any milk to soak the hard bread in.
But there was nothing better than eating bread in this hungry situation.
Besides, the bread she had now was a gift of mercy from heaven.
She thought it would be a sin to complain more than this.
“Mm, hmm…”
It had been quite some time since Eutenia started eating bread.
The large piece of black bread had mostly disappeared into Eutenia’s stomach.
Now, all that remained in her hand was one last piece of bread.
Eutenia put the last piece of bread in her mouth and looked at the sky with satisfaction.
She felt good after filling her stomach for the first time in a while.
She clasped her hands and thanked the sky briefly.
“Thank you for the meal. I appreciate it.”
She didn’t know which god was watching over her, but he had helped her several times already.
Eutenia was ready to serve and follow him no matter what god he was.
He was the last milestone left in Eutenia’s life.
It would be foolish not to follow the only path left for her.
Even if he was a god full of sinister rumors.
As Eutenia prayed to the sky with excitement, she heard something falling from above.
“Huh…?”
Thud. Thump.
In front of Eutenia, a shabby cloak and a crudely made dagger fell down.
A light dagger that anyone could use.
And a warm cloak that could cover her body.
Her god was not only concerned about her meal, but also her life in the mountain.
Eutenia picked up the dagger with tears in her eyes.
“What words should I use to thank you? Really, it’s a hard thing to do.”
They say that after hardship comes sweet reward.
She thought that all the trials she had gone through were for this moment.
Devotion to a nameless god.
That was the path that the ash-haired girl chose for herself.
