139 – [3] Heartfelt Advice
#139
“Why is this… ….”
The first prize was something I definitely didn’t know about.
You may or may not know about the second-place product, but for now, you just don’t know it based on its appearance.
However, the third place product was clearly known.
Well, its unusual appearance was not something that anyone who had been in the gray zone could ignore.
An antique-made silver box.
A symbol reminiscent of a black sun clearly engraved on it.
The front part is so crazy that you have to put together a puzzle that doesn’t have a pair.
Traces of parts falling off as if they had walked a rough path.
“It’s a gorgeous box… ….”
The name in the game is Mayer’s Box.
When you open the box, you will find items that lead to the story at the end of the game.
However, for such a box, the circumstances of obtaining it were somewhat trivial.
As you progress through the game, you can go to a certain store, and it is an item that can only be obtained there.
It may seem strange, but if you think about it carefully, it was natural.
If you give something like that to someone who doesn’t even know the identity of the box, what can you do other than hand it over as stolen property?
It was an item that couldn’t be opened using normal methods because it was already under a protection spell.
It could only be opened by solving the puzzle on the front.
“But it’s the third place prize.”
I don’t know if it was just based on appearance, but it was a somewhat generous evaluation.
If you can’t open the contents, it’s just a lesser product.
And now I needed that.
Only with that thing could we deal with the warriors more reliably.
I thought deeply about how one of the keys to a happy ending appeared out of nowhere.
How will I participate, will I participate alone, will I participate in a group, and how will I rank?
“The ramen is all cooked!”
Ines spoke from the kitchen.
I put the poster back in the trash can.
Hunting competition with freshmen.
Okay, I remembered the name anyway, so I just had to think about it again at home.
I headed straight to the kitchen.
I immediately started eating with the enemy.
“Umm… ….”
It is an obvious fact, but whether it was poison or not, it just had no taste.
I guess it was tailored to the tastes of Americans, but it only tasted greasy.
Still, I took comfort in the fact that I had obtained good information, and continued to pass on the spicy ramen.
Of course, I was worried that Ines was poisoned, so I didn’t eat a lot at once.
Little by little, forever.
Knock, crack.
“No.”
“…… ?”
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like anything special was done.
Only then did I increase the amount I ate, but the more I ate, the stronger the thought of not being able to eat became.
Without kimchi and no side dishes, what kind of meal is this?
Since ancient times, food should have tradition and soul, but there was nothing like that here.
If there were a thousand people here instead of me, they would have overturned the table a long time ago.
Ines looked at me like this and scratched her head.
“Is it not tasty?”
“Yes.”
It was too much to refute.
You could call it a nuisance to come to someone else’s house, but it was more of a nuisance for Ines to confront me on a regular basis.
“It actually doesn’t taste good to me either.”
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However, an unexpected reaction emerged.
Ines put down her chopsticks as if it still didn’t taste like this.
“I thought it would be too salty for non-white people, so I added about 10 ounces of water, but I guess that was a mistake.”
“… ….”
Are you crazy? Why did you put that in?
Is there any reason why Asians dislike salty foods?
It was safe to say that the only people in the world who would hate sweet and salty food were communist commies and fascist scoundrels.
For this reason, I shook my head inwardly while looking at Ines’ amazing water control skills.
I don’t know if he had this kind of cooking skill during his Academy days in the Gray Zone game.
If so, I could see what the stomach of her cross-ethnic boyfriend would have been like.
Even since Inez’s default appearance was quite poor, her boyfriend must have had a hard time dealing with her girlfriend.
Of course, if you date the same boyfriend in this life, he will experience a different level of discomfort.
“I’m sorry. “I’ll make a new one.”
“No, it’s okay.”
Something was annoying, and when I looked sideways into the kitchen, I saw that all the ramen was gone.
It seemed better to finish it at this point than to buy another one for no reason.
When I took her ramen away and brought it to the kitchen, her expression turned somewhat gloomy.
It definitely felt like a mixture of upset that I couldn’t treat the person I wanted properly.
“Write…… This isn’t it…….”
It also feels strangely dull.
I couldn’t figure out what I was hoping for.
“Hey, I’ll just do the dishes.”
“Huh? Ah, ah, no! Okay! “You don’t have to!”
“I got it, so I have to do it. “You sit down.”
“No! “There’s really no need for that!”
He quickly got up from his seat and snatched the ramen that I was about to throw away.
“I will clean everything up. All you have to do is sit down!”
I was planning to go now, but you said that.
With the landlord coming out like that, there was no way to hold on any longer.
I stopped washing the dishes and stepped back.
Ines carefully put away everything from the ramen I ate to the chopsticks.
“Anyway, I was the one who invited you today. Of course I have to handle everything.”
Then she tried to return to her seat.
But I held onto her other hand with a sense of foreignness.
“That’s strange, is there anything you want to say?”
“Huh?”
“If it doesn’t exist, I’ll just leave. “If you have any, please tell me quickly.”
She took a moment to notice my words.
Eventually, her face turned a little red.
“Well, that…” … Do you have any time left next week? … “No, stay?”
A very polite tone.
Even his vocalization changed from an authoritative feeling to a soft one.
“I have nothing to do and I’m bored…… “Are you thinking about going to a competition?”
“Yes, participate diligently.”
“Wait a minute! “Listen to the end!”
I was about to let go of her hand, but on the contrary, she grabbed my hand.
I was sure what she was going to say.
“There is a hunting competition coming soon? But I don’t have the skills to go out alone. So, but—”
“You have friends in the club. “You just have to call them and go with them.”
Friends with strong self-esteem and confidence.
It was quite possible.
I don’t know what will happen to the problem of people being killed and injured as a result.
“It’s because their skills are so lacking. “Honestly, no one I know knows how to fight as well as you.”
“That’s why I’m a good fighter. “Would you like to take the bus?”
“That…” … That’s right. So, if you win a prize later, I’ll give it all to you!”
This was a tempting offer.
It meant that if I came in third place with Ines, I could eat the entire box by myself.
“…… “It doesn’t have much merit.”
And in that case, it was better for me to go out alone.
Considering her combat abilities, it might have been better without her in the first place.
Crucially, since Dixie might get in trouble, she was even more inevitable.
I glared at her.
“It could be a good experience anyway! Just participating in the competition can be considered a qualification!”
“… ….”
“So that’s why you’re in the same group as me—”
“That’s why I asked you to eat together today. It’s okay. “I’m not interested.”
It looked at me like the sky was falling.
It was as if he was asking if it was true.
“Why on earth?”
“Because I’m just not interested. “I still have some work to do.”
There was an incident where I participated in her competition without telling her exactly.
It may seem like a very bad lie, but it was also the fault of the other party who recklessly made a deal even though we were not really close friends.
“Oh… ….”
“If you want to find people to participate in the competition, just go out with the people in your club.”
“But like I said earlier─”
“Or go out on your own. Honestly, I’m trying to win the competition through someone else’s power. It doesn’t look that good. “I would rather practice briefly and go out alone.”
This was sincere advice.
It was very unpleasant to see her trying to win a prize in a competition by borrowing her power like this.
Even if she failed, it seemed better for her to take on the challenge with a desire for her own power.
At least at that time, I had some of the abilities I had built up to take on the challenge, so I could look forward to next time.
However, there was little room for growth by borrowing the power of others like we do now.
Especially if she stayed in the middle or lower range, there was a lot of room for her to become stagnant.
For Ines’ future, she should not have gone to the competition together.
She may be the one who can somehow pull off the effort.
“…… Okay.”
“Even if I can’t do it this time due to personal reasons, I’ll think about it properly for the next competition.”
“Huh?”
“Of course, even if you were in the same group as me, you would have to be skilled enough to not have any major problems.”
If they threw this much at me, I should have figured it out.
If you still can’t understand it, you should just stick your nose in the water on your plate and die.
“Ah…… !”
At the end of her words, I patted her on the shoulder a few times, telling her to do well.
With Ines’ expression brightening, she slowly headed out of her house.
* * *
I was left alone at home.
She threw away the ramen she was eating, and she threw the chopsticks she was using in the sink.
Instead, I ate the ramen that Kang Xian had been eating with the chopsticks that Kang Xian had used.
There was no etiquette in the sitting position, only legs folded to cover up one’s emotions.
Then, as it kept getting hotter, she took off her top and bottoms as the water flowed out.
Underwear that was so wet that it was transparent and dark skin was revealed.
It was truly a female body that could stimulate lewdness, and anyone would fall in love with it.
Ines, who had no such awareness, calmly summarized the situation facing her.
And I came to one conclusion that summarizes today’s conversation.
“By any means necessary…… As long as you become stronger…… “You mean it will work?”
Strength is everything.
Probably, it was.