Chapter 2 - Antheia

 

Lighthouses that never burn out.

 

It was a term used to describe the game company buildings that glowed late into the night in the city center, a city full of towers. I was the head of the development team who worked overtime at those lighthouses, and now…

 

Ding—

 

A crystal clear bell rang as the wooden door of the inn opened. Through the open doorway, I could see the sandy beach glistening like gold in the sunlight, and the blue bay beyond.

 

“Welcome, adventurer.”

 

Here I stood, the sole employee of the inn within the game world I had created.

 

💫

 

Dressed in comfortable clothes from head to toe and wearing an apron, I identified myself as the innkeeper. Except that, I might be mistaken for a boy.

 

I tucked my stray hairs into my puffy hat as I watched the guests approach, knowing that the hat the sailor left behind was too large for me. So even with my hair up in a bun, my hair still fell to my forehead.

 

The newcomer came right up to the counter instead of sitting down at the table. He had just gotten off the boat, judging by the slight salty odor of the sea.

 

“Would you like to order?”

 

A corner of the customer’s lips quirked up as he leaned on the counter with only one arm, whispering.

 

“They say the pie here is so popular.”

 

“What kind of pie are you referring to?”

 

“The one with cherries on top.”

 

Despite my casual tone, the customer’s response was blunt.

 

“How many cherries can you put on top of a pie now?”

 

I smiled and replied, “Five in a row.”

 

“Oho! That means you can make it to the top.”

 

With a knowing smile, the sailor shrugged.

 

“But I’ll take three because I’m sure I’ll get fat trying to eat more.”

 

“You might, but you won’t regret it.”

 

“Okay. As long as it’s three, I don’t care where you put the cherries.”

 

After asking him to wait a moment, I went into the kitchen.

 

It was long after lunch, so there was no one cooking in the kitchen. I walked past the countertops and pantry and headed to the storage room.

 

Opening the storage door, hidden in a blind spot on the counter, I saw shelf after shelf of rolled parchment paper. There was no real pie.

 

I pulled out a parchment from the third shelf.

 

It was a [Quest].

 

In the game, it’s a mission to earn rewards and improve, but here it led to information.

 

And information becomes money.

 

The ‘Pie’ was the information I had, the ‘Cherry‘ was the difficulty level, and the ‘Location‘ was the specific mission type.

 

Needless to say, the higher the difficulty, the more expensive the information.

 

‘Five of those don’t make it to the end.’

 

I glanced at the lowest compartment, where a single piece of parchment lay in a heap.

 

I closed the storage door and went to the counter, where the sailor’s countenance brightened.

 

“Is that the ‘cherry pie‘?”

 

Watching his eyes sparkle as if he’d just seen something delicious, and then reach for the counter, I stepped back, holding out my hand.

 

“You have to follow the order.”

 

“If this isn’t real, I’ll have your fingers and toes chopped off, as per sailor’s rules.”

 

The guest’s hand slammed down hard on the table. When he retracted his large, hairy hand, I saw three silver coins. I set the parchment down next to the silver coins.

 

“You must be mistaken, right?”

 

“Isn’t the fact that I’m still here, alive and kicking, proof of that?”

 

Taking the parchment, I flicked at both of his wrists. The guy grunted and let out a hearty laugh. I don’t know how they all have that same laugh, the way they hunch their backs and lean their heads.

 

“It would be great if you could become a regular here.”

 

Without answering, he just smiled back. He turned the parchment over meticulously as if it didn’t matter. I could tell he was excited about the prospect of making money.

 

“But do you think you’ll be able to keep selling them in the future? If you run out of materials, you’ll have to close up shop.”

 

“Of course, that’s out of my control.”

 

This time, I purposely gave a vague answer. But in my heart, I was saying something else.

 

‘As long as I’m here, it will never run out.’

 

I made the game, so it wasn’t hard to generate the information.

 

Ding, Ding—

 

The customer, who had finished tapping the counter with the parchment, neatly restored to its original appearance, gestured toward the silver coins as if to say, ‘Hurry up and take them’. I leisurely reached out.

 

My fingers had just touched the silver coin.

 

The coin began to glow faintly in the center of my fingers. One, two, three. All the coins glowed in turn as my fingertips touched them.

 

Before my eyes, the coins that were silver now looked like gleaming gold coins.

 

But the guest in front of him hadn’t noticed the change at all.

 

“Well, then, may this inn prosper forever!”

 

Seeing that I had taken the last of the coins, he tucked the parchment he had purchased into his arms. I glanced at the parchment, then glanced up to see his face.

 

A moment ago, when all the coins were shining. At the same time, something strange had happened.

 

A light green name flashed above the guest’s head.

 

“I look forward to hearing you perform, adventurer!”

 

The color of the name was a marker of the adventurer’s level, how strong he was. A chartreuse name meant that he was still a novice.

 

The bell rang again as a farewell: a new customer had entered. The customer who had bought the information earlier had long since left the store. I fixed my gaze on the new customer.

 

I fixed my gaze on the newcomer and said quite casually,

 

[Welcome, adventurer!]

 

It was the first line that every player who entered the game for the first time would hear, and it was the inn’s NPC, Antheia, who recited it.

 

💫

 

NPC: Non-player character.

 

A character that helps the players in the game by giving them quests or selling them items, but does not have direct player control.

 

They are helpers and supporting characters that are placed in the game to help the main character follow the story in a certain order.

 

Among them, Antheia was special.

 

This world was originally an online RPG.

 

The ‘Horned Whale Inn’ was the place where players started the game for the first time, and Antheia was the first character they faced when they entered the game, and the one they couldn’t help but meet.

 

In other words, Antheia was the signature model of the game. 

 

[Welcome, Adventurer!]

 

As the company’s most painstakingly crafted character for mass appeal and likability, Antheia was the game’s anchor, a gentle, graceful character that everyone loved.

 

As the creator, I knew her life better than anyone else, so I was able to take her quests from boring, side quests to the heart of the story.

 

‘Maybe that’s why the words are catchy.’

 

It had been a profitable business for a long time, but I felt strangely conflicted.

 

“You bastard! You’re at it again, aren’t you?”

 

“Ahh! Auntie!”

 

Just as I thought I heard the sound of someone running toward me, Iris, the innkeeper, and adoptive mother, slapped my back.

 

It hurt like hell.

 

“Wa– wait, please wait, ah, it hurts!”

 

I tried to pull away, feigning weakness, but Iris grabbed me by the arms and pounded my back without protest.

 

“Ow!”

 

As I twisted and writhed to somehow make it less painful, my hat came off.

 

The hair I’d kept hidden under the hat spilled down my back. It was transparent, shining silver, contrasting with Iris’s vivid carrot-colored hair.

 

Iris’s hand stopped dead in its tracks at the sight of my hair. I took a couple of steps back from her, pretending to retrieve my fallen hat.

 

“I told you to stop doing that, you’re going to get us in trouble at the inn!”

 

Some profits go into running the inn.

 

‘Isn’t it supposed to look good for a foster daughter who makes a lot of money?’

 

Although I felt a little resentful, if I said it out loud, she’d only beat me up more.

 

“What are you going to do if the inn really gets in trouble!”

 

“I don’t sell it to people carelessly.”

 

So how does a green level, who’s just starting to earn the title of Adventurer, get hacked?

 

Light Green was the color of the most novice adventurers.

 

It was Iris whose name I first saw above her head. Even now, if I concentrate, I will be able to see her name above her head.

 

‘I remembered the past when the bread she was baking caught fire.’

 

The smoke was thick and hot, and I couldn’t see a thing. A name flashed in the air.

 

I fainted from the shock, but when I woke up, I remembered my past life.