*
Ding!
“Guuuh…”
A cheerful alarm sound disturbed my sweet sleep.
A Gallery alarm.
What on earth was it, waking me up when I’d finally been sleeping soundly for once?
I loosened up my stiff body and connected to the Gallery.
[Rain. Did you rest well? Good morning.]
“Good morning, Miss Sora.”
[You have connected to the Ark Gallery.]
[System upgrade available!]
[New functions will become available: photography and image upload.]
[Gallery access will be unavailable during the upgrade.]
[Would you like to proceed now?]
[YES / NO]
“Whoa! New functions!”
An image upload function, no less.
No wonder the Gallery posts had all felt so bland. Apparently it was because there were no images.
“An upgrade sounds good. It does, but…”
There was one problem.
I had no idea how long it would take.
No matter where I looked, there was nothing but yes and no.
If I started it right now, it might be the same as snatching back the bread that was currently being distributed to the Gallery users.
Still, surely it wouldn’t take that long, right?
[Judging by the resources consumed for the upgrade, it is estimated to take approximately one day.]
Thank you, Magic Conch Sora!
It seemed best to start after making an announcement.
[System Upgrade Incoming (Notice)]
Author: Manager
- TSIA.
Thanks to everyone’s support, it has become possible to expand the Gallery’s functions.
But as for how long the update will take, who kno?ws.
There won’t be any major changes, so I’m expecting about a day or so.
I’m planning to start it around noon later.
So
just in case, please buy three days’ worth of bread in advance.
(Comments)
-(TwoMealsADay) Holy shit;; I almost missed my two meals today
ㄴ Have you ever actually eaten two meals in a day, aside from yesterday? lol
ㄴ Welcome, you bald-mountain madman
- Manager, where do you live?
ㄴ(Manager) ??? Why?
ㄴ So I can plant a kiss on you. Get over here!
ㄴ(Manager) No no no no no no;;
ㄴ Why are you punishing him for doing something good? lol
-(ReformIsNeeded) A day? It really will be a day, right? It mustn’t take longer…!
ㄴ Please calm down, Your Highness;;
ㄴ It says one day, so why can’t you believe it? Humans lack faith.
ㄴ A friend who works at the imperial palace told me yesterday that they raided a bunch of imperial jewels and converted them into points, so it’s probably because of that?
ㄴ If I’d poured in my entire fortune and it vanished, I’d probably cry tears of blood too lol
ㄴ(ReformIsNeeded) …I’m sorry. This is the first happiness I’ve ever experienced, so the thought of it disappearing even for a moment frightened me too much…
ㄴ Uh;;
ㄴ Hmm…
ㄴ That… I’m sorry too. It is not your fault, so stay strong, brother.
Aside from Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess’s separation anxiety, no one seemed to be taking that big a hit.
“How much time until noon… Come to think of it, I don’t have a clock.”
While I was at it, I entered my exclusive shop to buy a clock.
[Welcome to the Gallery ‘ManagerExclusiveShop’!]
[Remaining P - 31,1--]
[Purchase Items / Currency Exchange]
Maybe because everyone had a lot of exchanged points left,
the rate at which points were accumulating was noticeably slower than yesterday.
But at the latest, in about three days, I’d be able to escape this room overflowing with the smell of ammonia.
“Don’t get greedy. Take it slow. Wait calmly.”
Home visits from the dragons? Absolutely refused.
While calming the goosebumps that had risen all over my body, I bought a clock.
[You have purchased 1 desk clock - 4P]
Fortunately, it even came with batteries, and the time was set correctly.
It really was fortunate.
If it had arrived as an empty shell, I would have had to do the insane thing of cracking the door open to check where the sun was.
The time the clock showed was roughly 11 a.m.
I set the alarm to ring exactly at 12 o’clock.
I might as well browse the Gallery during this brief free time.
[I wanna kiss the Manager so bad ㅇㅅㅇ]
Author: ㅇㅇ
Just wait until I meet you
I’m gonna trap you in my arms with my mighty forearms
and give your face a big, deep kiss
(Comments)
- So why are you punishing the Manager? lol
- The Manager does a good deed and gets punished;;
ㄴ Mighty forearms? Then does that mean he’s some old dude with hairy legs too?
ㄴ Oh shit
ㄴ You made me imagine it, you fucker
ㄴ Thinking he probably has a ㅇㅅㅇ face pisses me off for real
ㄴ Would
ㄴ ?
ㄴ ??
Wow…
The difficulty was considerable starting from the very first post.
A deep hug and kiss from an old dude with hairy legs.
I hadn’t exactly been raised like a precious young master, but I hadn’t lived a harsh enough life to go through something like that either.
“Next post. Hurry, the next post…”
[I feel strange. My belly got all full]
Author: ReformIsNeeded
- Is this what feeling full is?
I’ve never felt this way before
The long bread had such white flesh inside and looked so appetizing that I gobbled it down in a hurry, and they told me I ate 3 all by myself?
Manager, you filled my belly
Thanks to you, I’m so happy. Thank you
(Comments)
- Uh;;
- Oh…
- Your Highness? That is, well…
ㄴ(ReformIsNeeded) ? Finish what you were saying. Am I not curious?
ㄴ It is nothing. Seeing you happy brings me joy as well, Your Highness…
ㄴ(ReformIsNeeded) Thank you. This is the first time I have ever been so happy. Haha
Hmm…
What was this feeling?
There wasn’t a single sexual expression in there, but for some reason, I felt embarrassed.
Since it was a post by the Crown Princess, many people must have checked it, but the number of comments was miserable.
It was a relief, at least, that I didn’t seem to be the only one feeling this way.
I had to drive the filthy demon out of my head.
Having lewd thoughts about the heir to a nation was a perfect way to get myself killed.
When it came to emptying my mind, looking at the next post was the best.
[Any Gallery user who can tell me when noon is?]
Author: ㅇㅇ
- TSIA
Anyone carrying around a portable sundial?
Or even just for today, could someone write a post near the plaza sundial?
I volunteered as a settler for the frontier, so there’s nothing around me ㅇㅇ
The people who came with me keep looking up to see where the sun is every time they take a break from work lol
I heard the Manager would come back soon, but now that the time’s actually getting close, I’m getting insanely anxious;;
(Comments)
- This is the frontier life you chose. Endure it with spite and grit
ㄴ(Author) Fuck, I’m not the one who chose for the Gallery to stop
- At least the sun is up today. If there’s no sun, there’s no way to know the time ㅇㅇ;;
“Wait, they didn’t have clocks?”
It seemed this world’s level of development was terribly lacking.
“Is it fortunate that it’s noon, at least?”
The time when the sun was directly overhead.
Even without a clock, it was a time everyone could roughly judge by eye.
I wondered if the Gallery could have a clock function, so I looked at the screen I used for chatting with Miss Sora.
[Do you have a question?]
“Mm, well, you see…”
Since it had come to this, I decided to ask about the things I’d been curious about.
Could my opinions be reflected in adding functions?
Was it possible to add the functions I wanted?
I tugged on Miss Sora’s ring and asked the questions that had piled up.
[Yes. It is possible. It is also possible to add a clock function within the current Gallery.]
The capable Miss Sora gave me an answer.
I immediately asked her to add the clock function too.
“Then, by any chance, would it be possible to add upvote and downvote functions too?”
And while we were at it, I thought it would be nice to add a function that had naturally existed in the Gallery before.
[No. As there are insufficient resources, it is not currently possible. However, it is predicted that the required resources will be gathered before noon.]
So it was possible?
Kkiya-ho!
“Then if the resources are gathered before noon, could you please add that as well? The Gallery feels a bit too bland right now.”
I wanted to activate the Gallery as quickly as possible.
A Gallery with nothing but text.
There weren’t even upvotes and downvotes, let alone emotes or images.
On top of that, since everyone was suffering while starving, there were hardly any trolls to add a bit of vitality.
To be honest, this Gallery was dead.
If it was dead?
Then I just had to bring it back to life.
[Yes. Understood. Addition of the upvote and downvote functions has been reserved.]
Once the update was over, the Gallery would become a little brighter, wouldn’t it?
I was already looking forward to it.
“Thank you, Miss Sora.”
[Not at all. Please call me again whenever you need me.]
As expected, she stepped back after showing clean and speedy work.
“Oh. Found one.”
A post written by another race that I’d been searching for since yesterday.
Thanks to the fixed nickname, identifying the race was very easy.
The dwarf’s post had been obvious from the title alone, but elves were hard to distinguish from humans just by their writing.
[I am grateful, it is! Thanks to you, I ate bread for the first time in ages, it is!]
Author: WorldTreeGuardian
- We ran out of food, so for 2 years I only kept eating tree roots and drinking World Tree leaf tea, it is!
Sometimes I regretted saying I would stay behind without sleeping and perform guardian duties, it is!
But yesterday, my junior taught me how to use the shop, so I ate lots of bread, it is!
It tasted even better with World Tree leaf tea, it is!
I am truly grateful, it is!
(Comments)
- That way of talking is somehow cute and irritating, it is!
ㄴ(WorldTreeGuardian) Do not copy me, it is!
ㄴ I don’t want to stop, it is!
ㄴ It is up to us, it is!
- This is dizzying lol
ㄴ It is dizzying, it is! lololol
ㄴ(WorldTreeGuardian) Eek! Do not copy me, it is!
- Would. Age and where do you live?
ㄴ Ugh…
ㄴ(WorldTreeGuardian) I live in Eldrasil and I am 436 years old, it is!
ㄴ Uh;;
ㄴ Where did “Would” go?
ㄴ Ran away lol
It really was dizzying, it was.
Still, thanks to this post, I was able to confirm that most of the elves were in hibernation.
She’d been drinking only brewed tea with tree roots for two years, yet she wrote such a bright post.
Maybe elves were an incredibly positive race?
Tririririririririk!!!
“Whoa, shit, that scared me.”
The clock alarm announcing noon.
I immediately smacked the clock and turned off the alarm.
I reflexively watched the door for a moment, then sighed when there was no particular reaction.
For a cheap 4P desk clock, it was ridiculously loud.
“I need to hurry up and make a bunker. This isn’t how people live…”
First, I had to do the system upgrade.
[You have purchased 2 baguettes. -2P]
[You have purchased 2 bottles of barley tea 1.5L. -4P]
[You have purchased 1 roll of toilet paper. -1P]
Since I couldn’t know how long it would take, I prepared food and water in case of emergency, and even finished preparations for the big business.
[System upgrade available!]
[New functions will be added: photography, image upload, post upvotes & downvotes, and clock function.]
[Gallery access will be unavailable during the upgrade.]
[Would you like to proceed now?]
[YES / NO]
“YES.”
I firmly pressed the YES button.
[Remaining Time 35:59:59]