*
Krantz, a nation of humans.
A nation founded by the first emperor, who had received dragon blood, gathering the persecuted humans together.
A great empire that had maintained its existence for fifty years even after the Great Calamity.
The secret to how it had managed not to collapse despite suffering constant food shortages was not particularly special.
“Food, we’re short on food. At this rate, we won’t last even a few years before everything falls apart...”
Instead of a crown, the emperor put on a straw hat; instead of splendid garments, he wore work trousers, and with a plow in hand, he headed for the fields.
When the emperor took the lead, everyone in the imperial family could only follow, and the crown princess, too, took up a plow in accordance with the long-standing tradition that had continued since the Great Calamity.
“We’ve done everything we could. We really tried everything...”
A woman clutched the plow, held her head, and whimpered.
Crown Princess Eleonora was despairing again today, just as she had yesterday.
“New farming methods don’t work, crop improvement has no hope, and it’s not as if there’s anything else left to try. There really is no hope anymore...”
The previous emperor, Valerian, who had driven out the tyrant and taken the throne, had done his utmost to resolve the food shortage.
He permitted the people to cultivate all lands owned by the imperial family, and even plowed under the gardens of the imperial palace, which boasted a long history and tradition, tirelessly conducting high-risk experiments such as new farming methods and crop improvement.
Grrrrowl went the sound of her stomach.
“...I’m hungry.”
At the sound, loud enough to reverberate through her whole body, Eleonora suddenly came back to her senses.
It was still too early to give up.
Though this year was a poor harvest too, wasn’t this the fourth poor harvest in a row?
Judging from the records so far, there had never been five consecutive years of poor harvests.
“There has to be a way. There must be a way...”
It did not matter how trivial it was.
After all, Eleonora’s entire life had been spent failing to find even that one trivial something.
“Lady Elean! Lady Elean!!”
Her maid, wearing a straw hat as she ran over, urgently called out to the princess, who had been agonizing over whether there might be some other way.
Clara, who never raised her voice, was this flustered; some great, unexpected problem must have occurred.
“Clara. What on earth has happened for you to be in such a hurry?”
Eleonora quickly checked Clara’s body for anything wrong.
Her clothes were shabby but clean, and she did not appear to be injured anywhere.
“Please, look at this!”
Clara hurriedly pulled something from within her robes, and—
“...Bread?”
Bread. A very long loaf of bread came out from inside her clothes.
“W-where on earth did you get that? Such appetizing bread?”
Warm, soft-looking bread.
In a world where it became gossip if one properly ate two meals a day, it was bread one would not dare taste.
“Hic... Please look at the gallery! You’ll understand as soon as you see it!”
Overcome with emotion, Clara burst into tears.
“The gallery? What on earth could be in there...”
For the time being, Eleonora accessed the gallery as Clara had said, and—
[It’s the Head Admin (Notice)]
Author: Head Admin
- Title says it all.
I’m the freshly appointed head admin.
I look forward to working with you from now on.
I prepared a gift as my first greeting too.
Since it looked like you were all starving to death, yeah;;
If you go into the Shop tab, you’ll know right away.
Well then, that’s all.
(Comments)
- A new head admin is always welcome~
- How long will this head admin last? I’m betting 10 years lol
└ 10 years? Do you know that head admin personally?
└ If they slip up, the dragons will reality-ban them, and you say 10 years lol thanks for the laugh, gallery bro
└ (BooksCanBeEatenToo) I say half a year lol
└ (Head Admin) The dragons reality-ban people? What does that mean?
└ You’ll find out in half a year lololol
└ (Head Admin) No, tell me now
- Shop? What’s that? Is it food?
└ Our baby is going goo-goo, huh. Back in the old days, the gallery did have a shop function.
└ It did... It did, technically.
└ (Head Admin) It’s not food, but you can get food through it.
└ ?
└ (TwoMealsADay) ???
└ Is this for real?
At the words that food could be obtained, her eyes widened.
“The shop, where is the shop?!”
Her hands trembled so much that she could not properly tap the screen.
Her gaze urgently darted back and forth between the bread Clara was holding and the screen.
“Lady Elaine, please calm down! If you go to the main screen, you’ll see it right away...!”
“Y-yes. I must calm down. I must maintain my dignity. I must.”
In order not to lose her dignity as a member of the imperial family, Eleonora took a deep breath and calmed herself, then immediately pressed the Shop button.
[Welcome to the Gallery’s “Plain Shop”!]
[Remaining P - 0]
[Purchase Goods / Exchange]
First, purchases. She would have to enter the purchase tab to confirm what was going on.
Feeling her heart pound, Eleonora pressed the purchase button, and—
[Baguette - 1P]
[A very long loaf of bread. If dried well and swung, it can also be used as a blunt weapon.]
[500/48-]
[An item designated as the gallery’s basic food supply. When stock is depleted, the quantity will be replenished through automatic restocking.]
She could see a loaf of bread standing there alone, imposing and dignified.
“C-Clara? That bread. Did you buy it here...?”
Please let it be so.
Clara, at whom she stared with that desperate wish—
“Hic... Lady Elaine. Hwaaaah...”
—answered in place of words by nodding her head vigorously.
Bread.
It was bread.
She did not know how much the exchange system would skim off, but that did not particularly matter.
They had precious metals in overflowing abundance, but what even those precious metals could not buy was food.
“Kyaaaah!!! Bread! It’s bread, Clara!!!”
But if they could sell those useless stones and buy food...?
It was something they had to purchase even if they had to carve out the imperial palace and exchange it.
“His Majesty went out to the farmlands beyond the eastern wall today, correct? Is my memory right, Clara?”
“Yes..! He went out with Her Majesty the Empress. His Highness the Prince should be in the imperial palace receiving lessons from His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus... Sniff...”
Far.
Of all times, the two people who needed to hear the report were far apart.
Eleonora tore off half of the baguette and ordered Clara.
“You take this and go inform His Majesty! I’ll deliver the news to His Majesty the Emperor Emeritus!”
Throwing the dignity of the imperial family aside, she simply cheered and ran.
It was the moment hope appeared for resolving the food shortage.
*
Inside a shabby room reeking of ammonia.
While rechecking the notice regarding the sale of bread at cost price under the guise of rationing, I was startled.
“What do they mean, the dragons reality-ban people, gallery bro...”
While lying on the table and checking the comments on the notice, I had found an extremely disconcerting comment.
A dragon’s reality-ban?
For someone like me, who was too afraid of four-eyed wolves to even leave the house, it was a trial I could not overcome.
It would be nice if I could at least know the criteria for being reality-banned.
At times like this, I should ask Sora, of course.
“Lady Sora-Sora, I have a question.”
[Yes, Rain. Please speak.]
“Please tell me the criteria for a dragon reality-ban.”
As always, I pulled on Lady Sora’s ring, and—
[The clear criteria are unknown. However, it is possible to infer them through information written in the gallery’s posts. Do you need this?]
—I received an answer that was more disappointing than expected.
Still, it would be better than knowing nothing.
“Yes. Please.”
[Greed and incompetence. It is inferred that if either of these two issues was severe, a reality-ban occurred. A representative case of greed was the act of using the gallery system during the chaotic period after the Great Calamity to establish one’s own kingdom. A representative case of incompetence was the act of the head admin of that generation using the system only to a minimal extent alone, out of fear of being reality-banned.]
They really were greedy and incompetent.
By the way, greed, huh...
[Welcome to the Gallery’s “Exchange” system!]
[Register Item]
[2% of the value of the item used for exchange will be deducted as a fee. The deposited P can be used as currency in the Gallery Shop.]
I had also quietly raised the fee by 1% and was taking it.
The baguettes could be managed by rotating the first 1,000P I’d received, but I had raised it slightly, thinking I might need it if I were to do more things.
They wouldn’t call this greed too, right?
Since nobody has come looking for me yet, doesn’t that mean it’s fine?
I calmed my pounding heart and checked the gallery.
[Bread! Snow-white bread! Fucking seeeeex!!!!!]
[Thank you... Thank you...]
[Thanks to you, I ate bread instead of tea for the first time in ages. Thank you so muchㅠ]
[I don’t know how many years it’s been since I let my family eat their fillㅠㅠ]
[Head admin, I’ll give you a kiss. Come here!]
[No, what on earth is going on? Brothers, hurry and check the shop!]
[TwoMealsADay lived up to his nickname for the first time lololol]
I hadn’t gotten too greedy and had done lots of good things, so it was probably fine.
And the reason I’d indulged in a small bit of greed wasn’t simple avarice either.
[Welcome to the Gallery’s “Head-Admin-Only Shop”!]
[Search results for Housing—Safe House.]
[Personal Small & Medium Bunkers]
[Military & Large Bunkers]
“It’s too scary here... I hate the howling of the four-eyed wolves...”
Since I felt my life being threatened twenty-four hours a day without rest, I was suffering from a lack of sleep.
The bathroom smelled bad too.
The bathroom smelled bad too.
It smelled so bad I said it twice.
On top of that, thanks to being so tense, I also had to gradually resolve the serious matter of a certain signal not coming.
It had been stored up for a week, so now it was time to let it go.
[Personal Small & Medium Bunkers]
[Personal Air-Raid Shelter 10000P / Details]
[...]
[Personal Bunker 50000P (Customizable after purchase) / Details]
[...]
[...]
[Personal Super-Luxury Bunker 10000000P / Details]
What I was aiming for was the customizable personal bunker.
I looked closely, and the cheap bunker was not a place for a person to live, but merely a personal shelter.
As for the excessively expensive bunker, I was afraid of the dragons’ house call, and gathering that many points would take forever.
The 50,000P bunker, which was just right as a space for a person to live, was my goal.
Judging by the speed at which points were accumulating, it seemed I would only have to wait another day or two.
“Nngh...! Hah...”
I stretched lightly and sprawled across the table.
A sense of satisfaction I hadn’t felt in a long time. And fatigue, too.
Though I could not go outside, my heart was at peace.
“Good night, Miss Sora.”
[Have a comfortable night, Rain.]
It felt like I would be able to sleep deeply for the first time in a very long while.