“Wow, isn’t this game a prison then?”
I sank down on the bed with a plummeting pulse. When I went on my computer, I didn’t know that it’d be like this. Anyway, it didn’t seem like I could choose anything on the officially provided menu.
Would I need to choose ‘New Game’? What if I wouldn’t be allowed to choose that either?
I slowly raised a hand to press it, but before I could—
“Hilda! Why didn’t I hear you come out?! How long do I have to tolerate you?!”
The door slammed open, and once again, I saw an angry Leticia. She looked like she was about to rush in and hit me dozens of times on the back right away. Nervous, I reflexively closed the menu, but it didn’t seem like the menu was visible to the other characters.
“You’re wasting time here and you’re even forgetting to bring the Young Master’s medicine. And you haven’t even changed yet? So you’re going to be like that all day long? What’s wrong with your hair?!”
“Uh, ah… I’m sor—”
“I can’t stand it anymore. Everyone line up! You all haven’t pulled yourselves together!”
Leticia disappeared while shouting, and in the meantime, Emily returned from Adrian’s room. She urged me to come with her quickly, so I picked up my clothes and followed her. This reminded me of a time when I was still in either middle school or high school, when the entire class was called to attention. We were spun round and round to death—was that going to happen here, too?
With Emily in the lead, we ran out, but I couldn’t help but be filled with awe. A huge and colorful garden reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles was right there. Wow. It’s so much more vivid compared to just seeing it in a cutscene in the game.
“Why are you standing so far away?! Hurry up and come here!”
“Hilda, Hilda.”
Emily poked me on the side with her elbow, and I belatedly noticed the glances coming my way from all sides. I took a small step forward and stood in the back.
“There’s no one to blame! I called you all out here not just because of one person, but it’s because everyone seems so relaxed these days! Today, I expect everyone to work together and straighten up the garden!”
“Haa…”
As though it was rehearsed, sighs broke out in unison. Garden cleaning seemed to be like spring cleaning. I mean, with such a humongous garden like this, it seemed like it would take all day to straighten it out even if there were so many people here for the job.
“Quiet! You won’t settle down?!”
At Leticia’s scolding, everyone quieted down. She looked ten times more livid than before. Ha, we’re screwed. I didn’t think I’d receive disciplinary punishment even once.
We’d have to do well from the start the moment it’s ordered so that it’ll be easy… The more people whined about not wanting to do it, the heavier the amount of work would be.
“Are you not going to pull yourselves together?! Take this opportunity to clean up the rear garden together!”
Look, see. I’m right.
Nevertheless, some couldn’t pull themselves together and grumbled while picking up their choice of gardening tools, but fortunately by then, Leticia had left after saying that the count had come.
If she’s talking about the count, then it’s Adrian’s father. Until the part of the game that I played, the father didn’t make an appearance, so I didn’t know anything about him in detail. I think I read the detailed character introductions in the game’s wiki, but because I was so wasted, I couldn’t remember anything.
“Haa, and I had a bad feeling about today.”
Even Emily, who figured that this would happen, let out a sigh after being scolded first thing in the morning. I made a furtive glance at her—why does she look so much like a typical NPC?—and picked up a weeding blade used for removing weeds. I went to a place where weeds were abundant, grabbed a bunch, then cut them with the knife.
As the weeds were cut off with a distinct sound, it was at that moment—
「 Gained 1 EXP from removing weeds. 」
As the notification flashed, I saw ‘+1’ flickering in a white, shiny font at the corner of my field of view. Oh? What’s this?
「 Gained 1 EXP from removing weeds. 」
Again, the moment I cut up some weeds, ‘+1’ flickered in and out. So, by removing two handfuls of weeds, I got two experience points. When I looked closely at the bottom left, I saw an experience bar right there, like the ones in an actual online game. With only those two points, the bar was a little fuller just now.
Wow… It’s no different than an MMORPG. I couldn’t believe that such a realistic game existed. If this game was actually released, it would be a smash hit.
What do I get from gaining experience points? Do I get any skills? I looked around and found ‘Skills’ at the upper righthand corner and pressed it.
「 Level 1. No available skills 」
「 Level 5. ‘Perception’ 」
「 Level 10. (Locked) 」
「 Level 15. (Locked) 」
……
Oh my god, is this real? I can’t believe I can really use skills. If it’s ‘Perception’, is it like a sensing skill? Should I gun for level 5 first? But can I really use a skill?
“Gosh, Hilda! You can’t just cut weeds like that! You have to take out the roots, too!”
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“Huh? Ohh, you’re right.”
“These are weeds so they’ll grow even if you twist them around, and just cutting them wouldn’t make them go away… But you’re really weird today, you know?”
Emily snatched the weeding blade that was just vaguely in my hand, and she stuck it to the ground. Then, effortlessly, she uprooted the weeds that I had cut up poorly.
So that’s how you do it… I took the weeding blade from her, feeling a little embarrassed and awkward. As I was born and raised in the city and have since only been living in apartments or studio buildings, I never had to pull out weeds with my own hands. And in the game, a character would just need to click on them to take them out.
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