Hmm. Feigning ignorance, I knocked on a house door.
"Old man, are you selling today as well?"
The old man, opening the door to check his visitor, let out a groan, "Egu-gu...", and went right back inside. A moment later, he came out holding a bottle of fresh milk milked this morning and a few blocks of cheese stored in his pantry.
"Are your knees aching badly?"
"More than usual today. I guess it's going to rain..."
This old man from the village was less than an extra; a character that didn't even exist in the game but was created only when it became reality. Yet, to me, he held a special significance.
He was a natural weather totem, if he said, "Egu-gu, I guess it's going to rain," it was a 99% guarantee that it would pour the next day.
I should plant all my seeds when I get back home.
I turned around after receiving the milk and cheese. Even then, I could feel a gaze from somewhere.
'What's his problem? That punk.'
Soon, the Archer sneakily peeked out from behind a tree.
If he had genuinely tried to hide, a mere Farmer like me might not have noticed him at all. That meant the Archer was deliberately begging for attention.
"Let's meet up regularly every day to have some bonding time."
What kind of nauseating nonsense was this? Plus, it was highly suspicious.
"Get lost."
Unbothered by my cold treatment, the Archer hovered around me before dropping a hint.
"You know. Could you be my personal blacksmith...?"
"Personal?"
"I misspoke. I'll be your doormat."
The Archer clung to me, looking like he was about to prostrate himself. I stood askew, hugging my grocery basket and pretending not to care.
"Please enhance my weapon...!"
Ah. So I was the enhancement master now.
I had read yesterday's chat too. The rankers seemed to have finally settled their basic needs and were starting to prepare for battle in earnest. And they had been discussing the grim prospect that upgrading weapons without the life-skill bonus from the original game would be a brutal ordeal.
So, out of curiosity, I had picked up a farming tool earlier to check.
[Would you like to attempt a +1 -> +2 enhancement?]
I guess since I'm technically a Hunter too, the weapon enhancement prompt pops up on farming tools?
Anyway, the important part was what came next.
[Enhancement Probability: 90% (+10% Life Skill Bonus)]
'I didn't know I'd have this kind of perk.'
Those who have are always at ease. I was more desperate for Belsus's food expenses, so I hadn't even bought him a weapon yet.
Even if I bought one now, Belsus wasn't in any condition to go out and run dungeons anyway.
So I had never even tried enhancing anything yet, but this presumptuous Archer punk was begging me to give him my first time.
"I'll pay the enhancement fees!"
"There's a commission fee. 20% of the enhancement cost per attempt. Regardless of success or failure."
In other words, even if I hammered the anvil once and it failed, I took no responsibility for it.
The Archer's face twisted mercilessly.
It's unacceptable for others to rip me off. However, it was perfectly fine for me to rip others off.
Taking advantage of the Archer's temporary loss for words, I quickly fired off my final remark.
"Bring the materials, and I'll think about it."
The Archer muttered, "Wow, you're a real scoundrel," along with a few curses, but I ignored him.
You wouldn't know because you live alone. Try having dependents like I do. You'll always be strapped for cash.
I had to act cold like this so the Archer wouldn't rely on me and would grow on his own.
I left the Archer behind and returned to the farm. As soon as I arrived, I planted a bunch of sweet potatoes, which require a lot of water.
To grow grains like wheat or rice, I needed to unlock the farm size past a certain point. It was impossible in this palm-sized field.
That's why I was growing sweet potatoes and pumpkins. I planned to use them as a substitute for wheat to make bread in a pinch.
'I need to grow a variety of crops to level up and to keep Belsus's meal satisfaction high.'
One day, I will absolutely get my hands on some rice, but that's a story for the distant future. Honestly, I might be the one most desperate for rice and kimchi right now.
As I was bustling about like usual today, I spotted a large figure trying to sneak behind a tree to avoid my notice. I tightly grabbed the hem of his clothes.
"Where do you think you're going? Hand over the laundry."
Belsus flinched slightly before going into the shed... no, his room, and brought out his laundry.
However, the clothes were already soaking wet.
"I told you not to do the laundry yourself!"
Belsus looked completely crestfallen, but he surprisingly stood his ground and offered an excuse.
"I accidentally dropped them in the water. Really."
I brought the clothes to my nose and sniffed them. Right after overtly smelling them, I caught Belsus's reaction.
"See? You didn't panic just now. Why is that? If these were unwashed clothes, you would have freaked out thinking they smelled like sweat when I sniffed them. But you just stood there? That means you already knew they didn't smell."
Cornered, Belsus was now speechless. What a pushover. Just as I was assuring my victory, he mumbled belatedly, devoid of confidence.
"...I don't smell like sweat or anything."
Now he's just spouting nonsense.
To be fair, Belsus really did have a weak sweat odor. Honestly, I had braced myself when I first started hand-washing his clothes, but he actually smelled less than I did.
Plus, his natural body odor was very clean and smelled nice.
Damn it, my EXP... Even though washing Belsus's clothes only gives a mosquito-sized amount of EXP, every bit of it is precious.
Even though the clothes were already wet, I washed them one more time and hung them out in the sun.
Fortunately, just doing that was enough to push my nearly full EXP bar to the next level.
[You have leveled up.]
[Please select a reward.]
[1. Upgrade cabin to a brick house]
[2. Acquire Passive 'Threat of the Hoe Lv.1: Decreases the probability of weeds growing']
[3. Add a stone oven]
I never thought I'd see the day I'd choose the third reward when crossing the Lv. 12 to 13 threshold.
[You have selected 'Add a stone oven'.]
Normally, I should have shut up and picked option 2. For an ex-office worker like me, reducing weed-pulling time was a huge boost in efficiency, and raising the 'Threat of the Hoe' passive level was necessary to increase crop yields later on.
However, as soon as I saw '3. Add a stone oven,' I picked it without a shred of resistance. I wouldn't have even glanced at it originally.
'Now I can feed Belsus homemade bread.'
And so, my cabin ended up with two chimneys. In addition to the fireplace and the cooking hearth inside, I could now light a fire in the oven outside and bake bread.
The more of my personal touch went into the food, the higher the buff efficiency became.
Food cooked from scratch using prepped ingredients was better than food bought with money outside. And cooking food with ingredients I grew myself on my farm was the absolute best.
'I need to feed him the best buff food as soon as possible.'
Time was running out. There were only a few days left until the first regular dungeon notice. Besides food, I also had to provide Belsus with a weapon.
'Swords are way too expensive...'
It wasn't that I was stingy about giving Belsus something nice. I genuinely didn't have the money to buy a sword.
'In the game, Farmers had no reason to pull for weapons, so this kind of expense wasn't necessary!'
I briefly debated whether I should sell all my furniture just to buy a sword. But that was like drinking my own blood because I had no water.
Shaking my head, I looked around and spotted the largest scythe in our house, hanging on the outer wall after I had finished using it.
'Can't we just use this scythe for a while?'
Belsus had lived as a rolling stone mercenary, so he could use any weapon. Since his character could handle any melee weapon, it should be fine as a temporary fix...
In the original game, it would make no sense, but since my Farmer class was essentially elevated to a combat class here, Belsus might be able to wield farming tools.
I made up my mind. For the sake of my conscience, I brushed the dirt off the scythe and rigorously wiped it down with oil, polishing it until it shone like new.
[Well-Sharpened Scythe]
[Durability: 95]
[Would you like to attempt a +1 -> +2 enhancement?]
+1... No, let's just enhance it to +2 for now and let him use it.
An anvil-shaped system interface materialized in thin air. I placed the scythe on top and struck it hard with a hammer.
Clang—!
A clear, metallic ring echoed in my head. A blinding light burst from the scythe as if it had been given a halo.
[+2 Enhancement Successful.]
Of course. It was a 100% probability.
'Now, straight to +3.'
But then I suddenly thought the light was lasting too long. Why wasn't the effect endi—
[+3 Consecutive Enhancement Successful.]
Flash—!
[+4 Consecutive Enhancement Successful.]
The scythe began to glow insanely. The light grew brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. The status window was going crazy, too!
"Uh, uh, uh, uh, uhhh?"
Faced with this absurd, wildly improbable situation, I could only let out dumbfounded noises. I almost plopped backward onto the ground.
[+6 Consecutive Enhancement Successful.]
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