006. Pointlessly Realistic.
After getting enough sleep and logging back into the game, a notification from the dev team was waiting for me.
[Ding-dong! The dev team has sent a weapon to your inventory. If your starting point is a remote area, a dagger and slingshot will now be provided by default through a patch.]
I was glad to have a ranged weapon, but a slingshot was still just a slingshot that fired using rubber bands. I worried whether I could take down wolves with it, but I was happy just to have a ranged weapon, so I logged in right away.
When I opened my eyes in the tree, the red-maned wolves below were glaring up at me, fire in their eyes.
I took the slingshot out of my inventory and examined it. It was designed to attach to the wrist, then grip and pull back to shoot, feeling like a proper weapon.
When I fastened it to my wrist, grabbed the handle, and pulled the rubber band, I felt considerable tension.
There were fifty steel balls included, so I felt like I might be able to handle the wolves somehow.
To check its destructive power as well, I pulled the rubber band to the limit and fired at a wolf's head.
[Swoosh!]
The powerfully launched steel ball embedded itself squarely in the center of the wolf's head, right between the ears.
[Thud!]
"Yelp! Yelp!"
Startled, the beast leaped into the air, then trembled violently and collapsed, unable to rise again. It seemed the steel ball had shattered its skull. I hadn't expected much since it seemed weaker than a bow or crossbow, but its lethality appeared more than sufficient.
The other two approached the trembling, dying creature, sniffing as if asking what was wrong. But it only shook, unable to stand.
I aimed at another's head and sent a steel ball flying.
[Swoosh!]
[Thwack!]
"Yelp!"
It wasn't dead center like the first shot, but it seemed to hit the skull. This one also leaped up, collapsed, and pissed itself.
However, this one got back up, tucked its tail, and ran off pissing itself.
The remaining one didn't know what to do, tilting its head in hesitation as one died and the other fled.
[Swoosh!]
[Thud!]
"Yel! Yel! Yelp!"
This time, it didn't hit the head but the side of the face. Its jaw seemed broken, and it fled with its mouth hanging open, bleeding and pissing.
The slingshot. Immensely satisfying.
I hadn't expected much, but like the saying that small peppers are spicy, it demonstrated the best possible efficiency as a ranged weapon.
Especially when considering ease of use, the advantage was that it could be used immediately even in narrow spaces. I also thought it deserved points for allowing you to aim using the gap between the handles as a sight.
After checking for a long time whether the ones that fled would return, I climbed down the tree.
The one hit in the head first was already dead.
As I was wondering whether wolf meat was edible, Yanneu approached the wolf.
Yanneu tied the wolf's hind legs with the rope she had used to climb the tree and tried to hang it upside down from the branch.
"Please pull the rope."
Since Yanneu was lighter than the wolf, I grabbed the rope and tied it to the branch.
Yanneu took out a small knife, barely the size of her palm, from her bosom and slit the wolf's throat. When the carotid artery was neatly severed, unclotted blood trickled down.
"Mage-nim. Can cut meat like this also go into that magic space, not just items?"
"Uh, yeah, it can go in."
"Wow, that's a relief. It'd be a waste to throw away Red Mane Wolf pelts or meat."
Yanneu gently pulled and skinned the bled wolf, then cut open the belly of the skinned wolf. Blood that hadn't escaped and its internal organs tumbled onto the ground with a wet sound.
Yanneu stepped on those intestines with her bare feet and carved out the meaty ribs, back, and thigh meat.
"If you dry it in the shade for a few days and grill it, it's delicious. Hehehe."
Seeing Yanneu smiling brightly with blood-soaked hands full of meat, she didn't seem like a simple girl. Remembering that she had been running for her life against goblins every day, I somehow felt an air of a seasoned hero about her.
I had thought she was a tender young girl... Yanneu, you somehow feel unfamiliar.
Surprised by Yanneu's unfamiliar side, yet seeing her resolutely gather the meat and leather, I felt it had been the right call to bring her.
Given how strangely realistic the game was, it seemed I could leave such butchering work to her.
'Now that I think about it, how dependable!'
After packing away the leather and some meat, we quickly left the blood-scented place.
That was when I realized that it probably wasn't wise to camp recklessly in fields or on roads. I would need to learn alarm magic or find a way to defend ourselves before I could sleep peacefully.
Moreover, I realized that if you cooked food to make it tasty and let the smell waft, uninvited guests might arrive.
This game. It was pointlessly realistic.
***
"That's Hilton Village over there. I've only been there three times, but there's an inn, a restaurant, a blacksmith, and a general store."
It was Hilton Village, reached after eating hard bread and smelly jerky and sleeping in trees for four days, so it simply looked wonderful to me.
About sixty to seventy houses were clustered in the village, and the wheat fields and various crops ripening around it created a pastoral scene.
Of course, wooden watchtowers were erected here and there between them, so it didn't seem entirely peaceful.
The Hilton Village guard let us pass immediately when I said we came from Honey Mushroom Village.
"That's the general store where you can tan leather. You can probably only get two or three silver coins for Red Mane Wolf pelts since they aren't tanned. Ah, since that's the price traveling merchants pay, you might be able to get one or two more silver coins."
Yanneu had already become a merchant apprentice.
"Let's buy a bag first."
With a proper travel bag, I wouldn't attract unnecessary suspicion when buying and selling things.
So I looked around the village, but I couldn't help being disappointed.
It was only larger in scale than Yanneu's hometown, Honey Mushroom Village; there were no proper shops.
The only inn in the village had a tavern on the first floor and rented out rooms on the second. It was meant for people from surrounding villages on market days, not travelers.
"Rather than selling wolf pelts or goblin poison sacs here, I think it would be better to sell them at Durendal Territory. There are no proper stores here."
"R-really?"
Still, I bought two backpacks at the general store that sold various goods, as well as leather sandals for Yanneu.
Yanneu had been wrapping cloth around her bare feet, and since they had soaked in wolf blood and turned reddish-brown, it was unpleasant to the eye.
Of course, she acted mature, saying she had walked barefoot all this time so her feet didn't hurt, and that she had cast magic on them so they were comfortable, insisting I didn't need to buy them.
But from a modern person's perspective, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, so I forcibly bought the sandals and put them on her.
"Honestly, it's my first time wearing shoes. Hehehe. I didn't know they were this nice."
When Yanneu actually put on the sandals, she said her feet felt soft and fluffy, jumping in place repeatedly.
'Yeah. This is why you buy things—to see you smile and enjoy them like that.'
Seeing Yanneu smiling brightly, she finally looked like a child my age.
I wanted to buy her clothes too, seeing her so happy, but the clothes for girls sold here were no different from what she was currently wearing.
It seemed they thought you could just dress kids in sackcloth and raise them roughly.
I'd have to buy her clothes when I saw something more proper.
Since it was getting late, I rented an inn room for one night. Including one meal, it was 2 silver.
Since I hadn't eaten proper food for several days, I sat at the table.
"Owner. What's this place known for?"
"Everyone likes the meat pie loaded with dog meat. One costs one quarter-silver."
"Then give me four of those first, and also—huh?"
As I tried to continue ordering, Yanneu tugged at my clothes and shook her head.
It seemed she was telling me not to order meat pies.
"Just two meat pies for now."
After the owner took the order and left, I quietly asked Yanneu why she had stopped me.
"I heard this from my late father. He said that even if you eat the perpetually boiling stew at inns like this, don't eat the meat pies."
"Why? For what reason?"
"It's just, four would be a lot, right? And even though they say they put dog or chicken meat in, they actually make it with rat or frog meat. So he told me to avoid meat pies if possible."
"Rat or frog meat?"
Hearing Yanneu's words, I realized she was right.
Even in Korea, which has laws regarding food hygiene and ingredients, news frequently breaks about meat origins being falsified. Why wouldn't that happen here?
Just as there are all kinds of people in the world, some might sell rat meat instead of dog meat, since the raw material cost is practically nonexistent.
But this is a game.
I wondered what crazy developer would create a merchant setting involving fake meat inside a game.
And the developers of Changing had probably assumed and designed meat pies based on those sold in Australia or America, so I had expected a palm-sized small pie to come out.
However, the meat pie the owner brought was almost as large as a small pizza.
'This isn't an Australian or American meat pie.'
When the game developers designed food, they had definitely referred to existing Earth foods.
Yet, I couldn't understand why a meat pie of such a different appearance came out.
Meat pies eaten in Australia or America were consumed as snacks rather than staple foods, so they weren't large.
Was this the prototype of an old-fashioned meat pie?
I tried to ask Yanneu, but she was already eating the meat pie deliciously.
'You little rascal, you told me not to order it, yet here you are.'
Still, she was cute eating so well, so I dropped my concerns and picked up the meat pie to taste it.
Since they didn't use yeast or various additives in the pie dough, the bread lacked a chewy texture.
Instead, the meat was properly minced; finely ground meat was stuffed full inside.
I first picked up the filling with a fork and put it in my mouth, and I frowned involuntarily.
I tried recalling the taste of dog meat I had sampled out of curiosity, but this was absolutely not it.
Moreover, a musty gamy stench filled my mouth, and a strong, fishy stench of old meat wafted up.
Since there were no refrigerators, it seemed to be a setting where unsold, old meat was minced to make meat pies.
I was about to put down my fork because it tasted bad, but since Yanneu and the others were eating it deliciously, I had no choice but to force myself to eat, deciding that good enough was good enough.
***
"Hey, look over there."
"What?"
At the chin jerk of a mercenary whose hair was so caked with filth that oil dripped down, the heads of the seven people seated at the table turned.
"He's wearing a finely woven, expensive hood, but the kid across from him is wearing cheap linen. Doesn't that feel off?"
"What's weird about that?"
"Joy. That's common. What's the problem?"
"Yeah, picking up a starving kid, feeding them, and keeping them around is common."
"Shit! It's because it reminds me of my younger brother I lost long ago."
"Joy. Stop bullshitting and just eat your food. We're already on edge because Captain Chico got hurt."
"And it's better to be sold to a wealthy person than to starve in a poor household."
Several people snapped at Joy, but Joy moved toward the table where the two were sitting.
He couldn't just sit still and watch, because the child sitting there looking toward them reminded him of the younger brother he had lost as a child.
"Excuse me. It's not usually my place to ask, but did you properly pay money for that kid?"