NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7
Thud!
With one hand on the butler and the other on the maid, the three of us hold hands, drawing warm gazes from all around.
Maybe it’s the small height that makes us look like a young couple out on a stroll.
“Ah, the prime of life!”
“Going on a honeymoon to Shinjung Mountain, eh? Are you confident in your skills?”
“Butler and maid, huh? Former adventurer couple hired by some noble family, I guess?”
Those whispers are quite amusing!
“What about you two?”
“To be seen as a couple with a maid as beautiful as Lady Reap, I consider it an honor.”
“I… I also feel honored.”
Maybe because emotions are conveyed with each word, their joined hands squeeze tighter.
It’s good to be enthusiastic, but I hope both of you can hold on just a bit longer; my hands are starting to hurt!
“The line is long. Are you going to wait?”
“Just spend a week having fun! I’ll handle the spot in line.”
Our maid has a talent for making people feel guilty.
Telling rough-and-tumble men taking the exam to leave her alone for a week is quite the trashy move!
“Get us a table!”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to place a bet for a waiting ticket with 1 gold coin.”
If I win, I save a week off without spending a dime!
Am I a genius or what?
“…What’s your betting theme?”
“Arm wrestling!”
Though she can’t even properly lift a cup during meal times, she’s been training hard, so this should be a piece of cake after two days floating about in a carriage.
She looks all frail on the outside, but inside she’s got a huge investment in strength stats!
Anyone who jumps in without a thought will have a hard time!
“Please be careful not to break it! It’s a borrowed table for the arm wrestling event instead of a customer attraction, so if it breaks, you’re liable!”
“Yeees~.”
Thinking it would help with shop sales, the innkeeper agreed to promote the arm wrestling event after hearing the butler’s suggestion.
“Come on now! This isn’t your everyday chance! If you win against the wealthy adventurer young lady in arm wrestling, you’ll get 1 gold coin! The entry fee? It’s a waiting ticket faster than the lady’s!”
At the shouted words from the inn’s hustler, the people in line swarmed in like a cloud.
“Hey, man, is that for real?”
“Look at that! She’s tiny!”
“I wanna go first! Let me go!”
“Get outta my way! I was here first!”
The promotional effect was phenomenal.
Crack.
With a light headache, familiar windows pop up in my mind.
[Surprise Arm Wrestling Event]
People with their eyes spinning around, entranced by the gold coin, swarmed around.
Of course, I don’t plan to pay a single penny.
As long as I never lose, I won’t need to give up any gold!
Compared to the ticket exam, this is an absolute breeze!
Right?
An event appearing through the player’s proactive actions.
The more events like this, the more benefits I get from an event clear.
‘Winning in such an event can boost reputation.’
Reputation, fame, or titles.
All of these are a definite gain!
I can’t see the exact numbers without the status window, but I can gauge expectations and calculate how much they actually increase based on my veteran instincts.
‘Girl of overwhelming strength, strength increased by 2 points. Sounds about right.’
The first opponent, a young man, was overly excited while lifting his arm in triumph.
His surroundings sound like they’ve already decided he’s won.
“Ready… 3, 2, 1. Go!”
As the butler raised their fists, the young man yanked with all his might.
Grrrrr!
“Haha, what’s he doing?”
“Don’t hold onto the delicate girl’s hand for too long!”
“Just look at the butler’s expression! He’ll surely get smacked!”
“Is he a child predator?”
While the young man’s face turned bright red in embarrassment, I felt nothing at all.
After finishing the title crafting and having trained hard, there’s no way I could lose to some run-of-the-mill adventurer!
The mechanisms behind stat increases work like this:
From 1 to 9, it’s a 1-point increase per point.
From 11 to 19, it’s a 2-point increase per point.
From 21 to 29, it’s a 3-point increase per point.
And so forth, until from 91 to 99, it’s a 10-point increase per point.
For tens like 10, 20, and 30, you need to gather that exact amount for a 1-point increase.
Since I’ve already hit a strength of 20 from chin-ups and crafted titles, with an expected strength value of 29 based on my veteran calculations, my estimated strength is over 75 points!
I went from a strength of 20 (which is roughly 47 points) to more than 27 points, bringing my total strength to 29.
Ten thousand practice sword swings = +1 strength!
Ten thousand practice archery shots = +1 strength!
Ten thousand practice martial arts = +1 strength!
Another hit of +1 for each when hitting a million.
Each action counts when you swing, thrust, or shoot once.
Practicing one type of move for 10,000 times daily, and delivering three different techniques for each martial art means 90,000 without a doubt, and tackling advanced moves adds up to over 100,000 each day!
After 30 days of consistent practice, my total count has reached three hundred million actions!
That gets me +12 points from 3 points gained four times over.
On top of that, accounting for the all types of martial arts gets another 3 points.
With added miscellaneous small gains for achievements like ‘destroying practice dummies,’ ‘holding a bow until blood flowed from my hands,’ and ‘bursting punching bags’ equating to 12 points totals!
Are you kidding me? This fresh-faced young man is supposed to take on that?
Not a chance!
Thud!
“The young lady is the winner!”
“Ugh!”
“Ah, you idiot.”
“How have you not trained your strength at all?”
“Hey, why don’t you try it before you talk? It’s not the strength of a girl!”
“Woooo~”
“Get lost!”
With the jeers pounding down on him, the young man flees with a red face.
The staff attending to the waiting list announces,
“925!”
Is it even possible to have a waiting list number of 925?
In a normal inn, getting a room would take weeks, maybe even a month!
Which wouldn’t have happened without the senior examiner calling people in and raising the turnover rate, meaning the waiting time is merely a week now.
Without the examiner, this crowd wouldn’t have even formed!
From the innkeeper’s perspective, though, this is a rare specialty.
“Only taking the next participants ahead of number 925! That big-headed guy over there, 920? Who are you kidding? And you, bald-head guy! 850, come on out!”
The second challenger is a man with a shaven head.
I felt a little tense with his entrance.
If he practiced even just a single martial art for 3,000 actions a day, in ten years he’d rack up 19.5 million actions.
That’s five increases over a million—each time backed by hundreds of thousands will give bonus points!
Combined, he’d be getting at least another 20 points or more!
‘A total of 30 points. If he’s an average person with a natural strength of 10, he’ll hit 19.’
But if his training lasted longer, and he branched into multiple arts, he may stand a chance against my 29-stats!
Thud!
“The young lady is the winner!”
Well, it seems this bald guy was just a natural baldie and nothing impressive.
But this single event continued smashing through victory, dragging my number to 97.
Those waiting in line began to understand that my strength is not just an illusion!
“Where could such strength come from in such a frail body?”
“Could she be practicing the Mana Flow Technique?”
“She looks like a rich girl, so that might be it!”
“Tch, she’s just playing the rich folks’ game.”
“Still, at this point, she should be getting tired, right?”
A tiny girl under 140 cm tossing aside the arms of fully grown men?
It’s astounding! Watching the flowing excitement, people even started to wager on sides, leaving the innkeeper utterly flabbergasted!
They’re taking a 10% cut for handling the side betting!
“Hey, innkeeper.”
“Haha, our lucky charm! Would you like a basket of water? No, you know what? I’m treating you to lunch!”
“Nope, let’s share 50/50.”
“Hmm? Wh-What are you talking about?”
“I’ve seen you taking fees, you know?”
I squint and speak firmly, causing the innkeeper to turn a shade of furious shame.
“I’ll do 30/70.”
“If it isn’t split evenly, I’ll report you to the lord for using a frail girl as a moneymaking scheme!”
The innkeeper appears to have plenty to say about my “frail” strength but suddenly falls silent in shock.
Jonah next to me is looming with intimidating eyes, pressing the innkeeper into watching his words.
‘There’s no way a butler with stats higher than I is an ordinary butler.’
For him, it was a long time since we shared a meal, or I would have ended up complaining again, hoarding dishes like spinach stir-fry and cucumber that can’t even add to my collection!
“All yours…”
“Hehe. I’ve made some pocket money.”
Money is always better to have in abundance.
“Lady, you’ve exerted a lot of energy. You should take a break for now.”
“Hmm… So, I’m stuck out overnight?”
Aw, so disappointing!
I really wanted to make it back today.
But I don’t want to push myself too hard in this body of a frail maiden (exhausted) after all.
Unlike the training grounds, this isn’t a safe place to expose weakness freely.
“You’re sickly like her. If you don’t rest properly, you could be in trouble.”
People waiting in line couldn’t help but roll their eyes.
“Where’s the frailty in all that strength?”
“She’s an absolute monster!”
Amidst the mutters, something thudded into the wooden bulk of the taller adventurer standing next to me.
“My apologies, I’m just not used to maid work and accidentally tossed my self-defense dagger.”
Adventurers shivered, gulping hard!
As Leaf stooped to grab the dagger and whispered something to the adventurers, one crumbled to his knees while the other bolted in terror!
“Leaf, what did you just say?”
“I said my butler is ten times stronger than I.”
“Whoa.”
Leaf being ten times stronger means Jonah’s strength should be quite something!
“Leaf, you’re not that remarkable.”
“…”
“Wanna join me for some training sometime?”
The candy I ate at night was particularly nasty.
The next day, I got a stomach ache.