The dull sound echoed like thunder, but beyond the castle gate remained silent. The ancient, massive castle still stood like an unyielding wall before Rudis.

“What is your business?”

After a long wait, the gate opened, and the Lord’s representative spoke in a low voice. Rudis relaxed her tension and answered briefly.

“…I’d like to get a building approval.”

“Follow me. I’ll guide you.”

Following the representative into the castle grounds was always both familiar and strange. This wasn’t her first time entering the Lord’s castle, but the peculiar atmosphere she felt each time remained unchanged.

This space, surrounded by high castle walls, felt like another world completely cut off from the outside. Even the sunlight filtering through narrow gaps was only dimly spread, while heavy air enveloped the surroundings. The vitality and noise from outside couldn’t cross the massive gate, replaced instead by a thick, heavy silence.

The air even feels different somehow.

Was it because the castle walls were too high? Or because of the structure of this place? With each step, footsteps bouncing off the walls seemed unusually loud. After walking for a long time through the long, narrow corridor, they finally reached the audience chamber.

The interior of the audience chamber was also magnificent. The ceiling was so high its end was barely visible, and intricate patterns on the walls shimmered faintly in the dim light. In the center stood a throne placed atop high steps, draped with thick curtains.

What a jerk.

Even Rudis, undoubtedly this era’s greatest pushover, had someone she disliked. It was this Lord. Not only was it annoying that he sat far away in a high place, seemingly afraid he’d catch some deadly disease by breathing the same air as commoners, but he also practiced some mysticism by hiding his face behind curtains and never showing himself. Usually, this would make people curious, but Rudis had accumulated so much resentment that she didn’t want to see his face at all.

Whenever she tried to do anything, he collected money or confiscated items. And what did he say when she wanted to pave a road before? Oh, right. He opposed it, saying, “Don’t do unnecessary things.” Fortunately, the villagers took her side and the road was paved… but then he imposed a tax on village development anyway. And that letter.

[Please do not do anything at all.]

Rudis’s eyes narrowed even more sharply at the belated memory.

“What is your business?”

The Lord’s voice resonated from behind the curtain. Rudis barely swallowed and placed the documents she was holding on the table.

“I need a building permit.”

Disliking someone was one thing, but she couldn’t ignore the rules of this place. Rudis pointed at the documents Kuku had prepared for her as politely as possible, even while narrowing her eyes and breathing heavily.

At the Lord’s chin gesture, the representative standing nearby took the documents from the table and brought them to the Lord. After examining them for a while, the Lord put them down with a thud. Rudis gulped.

“Why do you always meddle in others’ affairs? When you can’t even take care of yourself?”

In the end, it was another comment about her meddling. If anyone was meddling, it was the Lord himself. She just wished he would stop caring whether she involved herself in others’ affairs, built houses for them, or paved the ground with gold.

“Haha. I request your approval, please.”

But as expected, Rudis, conditioned by the class system, smiled and showed proper respect. Though her real meaning was: Just approve it and stop the nonsense.

A moment later, with a bang! the approval was granted. As soon as she saw the representative approaching with a face soaked in joy, ready to bring up taxes, Rudis quickly took out the Sparkler and placed it on the table.

“I’ve found the stolen ‘Sparkler.'”

At those words, the Lord glanced at the Sparkler on the table and asked in a somewhat indifferent voice.

“What is that?”

Hearing his tone suggesting he was hearing about it for the first time, Rudis hurriedly checked her system window. Surely…

[Quest Name: The Real Beginning

Quest Description: Find the ‘Sparkler’ and submit it to the Lord to prepare for the ‘Beginning of Spring.’ ‘Sparkler’ 1/1

Deadline: Before the ‘Beginning of Spring.’

Reward: ???]

It said to submit it to the Lord…

Rudis forced her lips into a smile and pointed to the Sparkler again.

“Um… I heard it’s an item needed for the festival…”

At that, the representative took the Sparkler and hurriedly approached the Lord, whispering something. Only then did the Lord let out a long sigh.

“I never said it was stolen, nor did I ask anyone to retrieve it. Why do you always do these useless things?”

‘Useless things?’

Rudis couldn’t believe her ears at the Lord’s words. Just the other day, the whole village was buzzing about the theft, but now the Lord himself was responding like this.

Swallowing the words that were about to burst from her mouth, Rudis forced a smile. Her hands had turned pale white, tightly gripping her clothes.

“I… heard that a thief stole the ‘Sparkler.’ I looked for it because I heard that without the ‘Sparkler,’ the Beginning of Spring might be canceled.”

Though she spoke calmly, she couldn’t suppress the indignation rising inside. She recalled the moment she had found it late at night in the western forest cave, tense with fear. She had thought it was quite an achievement, especially considering the dangerous situation involving Xenon.

The Lord spoke in a low voice, almost with a sigh.

“I wonder how far you went rummaging around to bring back something like this.”

It’s not just ‘something like this,’ it’s the Sparkler. And I didn’t just ‘bring it back,’ I found it… Rudis bit her lip and lowered her face. There was nothing to gain by arguing in this situation.

“I suppose I should reward you anyway.”

As she was silently grinding her teeth, the representative handed something to Rudis.

[Quest Completed!

Quest Name: The Real Beginning

Reward: One Common Roadside Flower x1]

Ugh… A reward so worthless it was worse than nothing, like being told to eat dirt. By the time she raised her head, blowing air sharply through her nose, the Lord had already disappeared.

And then,

“Um… you need to pay taxes for the new building.”

A bandit holding the document stamped with the Lord’s approval seal stood beside her.

* * *

‘Sigh… Today was tough too.’

Rudis threw herself onto the bed as soon as she got home. Why was today so long? She felt completely exhausted. Of course, before coming home, she had paid the taxes, gone back to Kuku to inform him that the approval was complete, picked some Kiki berries along the way, and even killed a few passing monsters. But still, it had been a strangely tiring day.

‘But something feels off no matter how I think about it…’

Rudis mulled over today’s quest. From finding the Sparkler to submitting it at the castle. The quest was completed, but a strange uneasiness remained.

She had done similar quests before. Back then, it was a quest to find a hidden letter, but what she eventually discovered was Colin being held captive. She had been so surprised then. It was a quest where she learned about Colin’s very interesting but absolutely uninviting love story of not just two-timing but five-timing. Well, it wasn’t particularly welcome, but discovering such interesting secrets was the charm of in-game quests.

But this time, there was nothing. All she learned was…

‘…it’s my preference.’

Just Xenon’s effeminate preferences. Clearly the most useless and shocking secret in her entire life.

‘And on top of that… I almost did it!’

The memory of Xenon’s desperate voice and half-n*ked appearance in the cave resurfaced. Even herself, about to lift her skirt, seemingly enchanted until she checked the time.

‘I must have been crazy.’

And the more shocking fact was,

‘Honestly, I was excited.’

Xenon’s low, husky moans, his slightly parted red lips, the beads of sweat soaking into his firm muscles. She couldn’t deny that the hot, strange atmosphere emanating from his body had momentarily enchanted her.

Even now, just thinking about that day made her face burn and her lower regions throb. She had been properly enchanted by the intensity of the atmosphere.

If time had been more leisurely, that night could have become Rudis’s first experience.

No. It definitely would have.

This late realization made it difficult to face Xenon. Today, if things had been normal, she would have stopped by the tavern to get quests and gather information, but the reason she didn’t go was because of that. Because the moment she saw Xenon, that day’s events would vividly come back to her.

‘Ugh. This is troubling.’

Why did something like this happen? The age rating had changed too drastically all of a sudden. Despite being in this game for eight whole years, she still couldn’t get a grasp on it. She had thought it was a simple farming game…

Could the genre have changed? That’s impossible…

Well, the most nonsensical thing was herself, incarnated into a game she didn’t even know.

‘Let’s just sleep.’

Rudis pulled the blanket up to the top of her head and fell into a deep sleep.