CHAPTER 45: ARE YOU A PLAYER?

Having secured her new home, Cecilia went to the inn to tell Gertrude and Marya.

Lyska was there, chatting with Gertrude and helping with the cooking.

"Oh, that’s great news, Miss Cecilia! Do you need help with cleaning the house? It must be quite dirty. You shouldn’t move in right away."

"Hehe... Yeah, I think so..."

((Honestly, I have no idea how to clean it. I was thinking on calling Mina because of her Maid techniques.))

"Marya, go help Miss Cecilia. And Lyska, you go as well. I can finish this by myself."

"Yesss!!!"

"Yes, Miss Gertrude."

Marya was obviously elated, and Lyska just bowed obediently.

"Hahaha. I told you already, Lyska. Drop the ’miss.’ I don’t need those formalities."

Seeing Cecilia eyeing them curiously, Gertrude explained.

"Lyska will work here at the inn from today on. It will allow Marya to have free time for studying."

"I see... Well, let’s go, then."

:::

The trio spent the day in cleaning duty. Cecilia used some simple spells for creating water and heat, but most of the time she simply followed Marya’s lead. The way she was clueless over even some basic things prompted several laughs from Marya and Lyska.

But, at the end of the afternoon, it was her own time to shine.

She dispelled the rune that was on the inn and cast it again in the basement of her new home. Then, she went to her hidden base, dropped all unnecessary things from her inventory, and came back full of basic materials.

She then started crafting [diamond] and [orange] level furniture and placing them on the house, to the astonished sight of the other two girls.

"Whoaaa... You are so amazing, Miss Cecilia!"

"It’s just techniques, like the one you use to create infusions."

Marya was beaming with excitement. Meanwhile, Lyska just looked at it all in awe, the meaning of their words unknown to her.

"Do you need to be high level to do it? Can I learn?"

"Hm... The first few craftings should be easy if you have the blueprints. Blueprints are the techniques used to craft something. They don’t have a requisite in skill, and you’ll need to craft the same thing over and over to raise your skill levels."

"Oh, I see. My mother had some blueprints with her. She gave me the one to make herbal infusion, and then made me do it over and over again, as well..."

"So that’s how you raised your skills and jobs that much."

Feeling left out of the conversation, Lyska excused herself.

"Eh, it’s getting a bit late... I’ll go back to the inn and see if Gertrude needs something."

"Thank you so much for your help, Lyska!"

"No, I should be the one thanking you for everything you did for us."

((She is a good girl, after all. I knew it! I’m so glad I rescued her and the mayor didn’t lump her together with the other bandits...))

After some debate in the village, it was set that Lyska would work at the inn while Dorfin would work with Mutt, hunting. They would give half their wage to the village as compensation for the troubles and would live in a small house near the wall.

Two knights stayed to keep watch on them and guarantee that they wouldn’t try to flee or cause more trouble, but it didn’t seem that their services would actually be needed.

The two were simply thankful for being given an opportunity to work and live like normal people. Fleeing or returning to the outlaw life didn’t even cross their minds.

:::

After Lyska left, Cecilia and Marya were the only ones in the house, and Marya prepared some tea, while Cecilia went back again to the hidden base to restock her inventory, including some culinary ingredients.

Most ingredients in the game would spoil over time, but there was a refrigerator item that slowed the process. All Dead Nerds Society would have one of those built by Carol, aka Jungblut87, that was so strong it actually made the spoil rate zero.

That’s why she still had eggs, flour, sugar, and fruits, which she brought back with her.

When she got back, the tea was ready, and Marya was wandering around the room, looking at the furniture.

"I’m back."

"Oh. Miss Cecilia, this furniture is so good..."

"Hehehe. Wait until you see this."

Cecilia didn’t know the first thing about cooking, and almost all recipes she had from the game were for nasty-looking monster food. But there was one ’useless’ recipe she got on a random timed event years ago, and she had only used it for decoration before.

It created a beautifully decorated birthday cake. The cake itself didn’t give any bonus, so it was considered useless by the players. She was hoping that it would at least be tasty in this world.

"Whoooaaaaa!!! So pretty!!!"

"Hehehe. Let’s just hope it tastes as good as it looks. I’ve never tried it before."

"Huh? Why? Don’t you like cakes?"

((Ugh... How do I explain that...?))

"I never had the opportunity. That’s all."

"Then let’s eat before the tea gets cold!!!"

"Yes!"

Cecilia served cake for both, while Marya served the tea, and soon they were eating and chatting happily.

"This is so delicious, Miss. It’s a pity that you hadn’t eaten it before."

"I agree. But it’s good to have it the first time with you. I have five variations of flavors."

"Really? And you never ate any of them?"

"Never..."

((I imagine that without the context it would be really weird. I would be questioning the sanity of the person myself, if I were in her place.))

"Well, then we’ll eat all of them. Not at once, of course. They are so big..."

Each of them had taken one slice, and the cake was big enough to feed a birthday party of more than thirty people.

"We’ll take the rest to the inn later."

"Yes!"

They took a new slice each and went silent for a bit as they savored it. It was a vanilla cake, and Cecilia thought that she would make a chocolate one next.

Marya then raised her eyes from the cake in front of her and commented.

"You make it all seem so easy, Miss. All those spells..."

"It’s just practice. Like kneading dough or sewing."

"But you use words no one knows."

"That’s because they’re not from this world..."

She was about to explain that they are a sacred language of Ephemerys when Marya cut her off, asking the question that had been in her mind for some time.

"Are you a player, Miss?"