NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
<9 - Can't Resist Rare Food>
Senior Examiner Michael.
A handsome nobleman with beautiful long blonde hair draped over him.
The gender-neutral charmer, Michael, completely ignores the gazes of the participants glaring at him and sits down at his reserved table.
“Is the honey drink still far off?”
“The honey stock hasn’t arrived yet. What a shame. You’ll have to wait about two days until the beekeepers’ supplies arrive.”
“Didn’t you say that two days ago? This really is a disappointing backwater town.”
After holding his place for ten minutes and finishing a decent drink, he heads upstairs.
After fifty minutes pass, he comes back down to his reserved seat.
“Is the colorful shaved ice still far off?”
“The ice stock hasn’t arrived yet either. What a shame. You might want to wait between three days to a week for the ice seller’s supplies to arrive.”
“Didn’t you say that three days ago? This really is a disappointing backwater town.”
Their conversation, which is like word-for-word repetitions with different menu names, struck him as dizzying, reminiscent of the NPC-style repetitive dialogues seen only in games.
Though he hadn’t thought much of it in-game, seeing it in reality made it look strange indeed.
“How about it, young lady? It seems the examiner has already set the questions.”
At the butler’s words, an event pops up as if driving the point home.
[Michael's Ticket Exam Event]
The ticket exam has already begun!
Like a broken NPC, Michael and the innkeeper repetitively state different menus every hour and discuss diminishing stocks.
Obtain hints from their cryptic conversations to pass the ticket exam.
Listening to the bard uncle strumming his instrument, Jonnas asked again.
“Is it really okay to just sit here doing nothing?”
“Don’t worry. I have it all figured out.”
If the strategies from the game work, passing the ticket exam should be a piece of cake.
Yet, his overly relaxed demeanor made him look rather uneasy to those around, prompting someone at the next table to abruptly speak up.
“Haha! The little lady over there seems to be using her brain to the max.”
“…That’s not a compliment, you know?”
“Yikes. It seems the lady isn’t in a good mood.”
The man offered a hint.
“Let me give you a little tip. This exam is a test of priority where you must collect the missing ingredients mentioned by the examiner by climbing the mountain.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
“Didn’t the innkeeper mention it would take days for the stock to arrive? That indicates the layers where you can obtain those ingredients. Something like within 1000m, within 2000m, and so on.”
The honey needed for the honey drink is an item obtained from the second layer, under 2000m elevation.
The ice needed for the colorful shaved ice is an item obtained between the third layer and the seventh layer, over 2000m to under 7000m elevation.
He knew all this information.
‘In the game, every time you clicked the next button, conversations automatically progressed by an hour.’
Random ticket exam getting stuck until a doable request comes up… pressing the [next] button endlessly.
If he got unlucky, the requirements would come out that he absolutely couldn’t meet with his current specs, leading to jokes about the absurd amount of desired dishes he wanted to eat.
He could just imagine how much weight he would gain from eating all the dishes Michael required, reminiscent of the images of a certain character, Pao-Hu, who got all the way to 100kg.
“Essence of the Thorn Vines Monster from the fourth layer. If I catch that thing, do I get a dish too?”
The Monkey Humanoid he saw outside poked his head in to look down at Michael.
Michael’s indifferent face didn’t change as he simply followed the humanoid with his eyes.
“If there’s enough meat, sure.”
“I’ll be back shortly.”
The Monkey Humanoid excitedly dashed outside at the innkeeper’s words.
“Is he going without forming a party?”
“Such a foolish monkey.”
“To be aiming for the fourth layer; he must really want to die.”
Most adventurers aim for items growing at the entrance and middle of the second layer.
Rarely, there are some who camp out for just one particular item that sometimes drops.
While there are some who form parties to aim for the middle and depths of the second layer, from the fourth layer onward, no one aimed for it at all.
‘Due to the level mismatch, gathering would typically be fruitless.’
If they died during the exam, no one would be held responsible.
The price of greed is death.
Climbing mountains in a game world where monsters exist is incredibly dangerous.
“What ingredients are you targeting, young lady?”
“Hmm? I don’t have anything specific in mind.”
“Did you give up on the exam?”
“You can’t just assume there’s only one method to pass the exam, can you?”
The man at the next seat’s eyes sparkled.
“As expected, my eyes don’t deceive me. I thought the little lady over there would aim for something different from all the cowards that crowd this inn.”
“Aren’t you one of those cowards?”
“Haha. I’m not sure if it’ll please the lady, but I’ve also prepared in my own way.”
Two days later.
We learned the man’s answer.
“Whoa, what an incredible procession of carts!”
“Did someone call for the merchants?”
As the man whistled, merchants wearing turbans presented ledgers.
“The items you requested have all been retrieved.”
“Well. You all must have worked hard to come so far. While I check the goods, feel free to have a cup of tea.”
At the man’s words, more than half of those at the table on the first floor stood up.
They all gathered to inspect the goods loaded on the carts and check their quality.
The adventurers murmured with dazed expressions.
“Unbelievable. Was all that part of one team?”
“There must be more than twenty of them.”
“I can’t believe it! That annoyingly handsome bearded guy. That’s the legendary All-Around Merchant Jezel!”
Jezel had taken the exam in a remarkably clever way.
“Now then, please exchange the items we brought for the items and tickets you can create.”
The innkeeper looked at Michael with a face of disbelief.
The innkeeper could neither judge whether something like this could be considered a pass.
Senior Examiner Michael was comparing the menu with the ledger, showing a slightly less bored expression.
“I see you’ve achieved 29 different menu items, including Chocolate Ball, Sparkling Pasta, and Honey Drink. This is the first time in my five-year career that a participant has obtained 32 tickets all at once.”
“Haha. If the head is dull, the body suffers, right? This is all just the reward of working harder than others.”
All-around Merchant Jezel.
He truly obtained 32 tickets all at once.
“Wow, amazing.”
“How about it, young lady? You’re rich, and I happen to have a lot of tickets. You have the money, so don’t you feel like buying some tickets?”
“Aren’t you also a Ticket Hunter?”
“Haha. One might say that. It wasn’t easy to collect all the various materials, from monster materials to those that can be gathered from the mountains. Most of them ended up as junk, but thanks to that, I reaped a lot of tickets.”
“Impressive. How much did you spend?”
“About 40 gold coins. In exchange, I plan to sell Bronze Tickets for 10 gold coins each and Silver Tickets for 100 gold coins each, so it’s more than worth it.”
Tickets sold for 10 gold coins and 100 gold coins each.
That unit was quite familiar to me.
‘The ticket merchant from the game!’
In the game, he was just an NPC who sold tickets as a rescue item when players lacked time. In reality, he was manifested as this!
The identity of the ticket-selling merchant was none other than All-around Merchant Jezel!
How could I have not recognized him? I also have excuses to make.
“Hrrggh. Those who wish to become new students at the Academy, come to me…”
“In our branch, if you can take out just one person, we’ll discount the ticket price by 10%…”
“Hey there, you look like you have the potential to become a new student at the Academy… care to buy this ticket for 10 gold?”
In the game, the ticket merchant was just a bunch of fools babbling nonsense at late hours in dark alleys while cloaked in hoods.
How could one consider a person walking around in broad daylight without a hood as a merchant!
“Quite a capable merchant. What will you do, young lady?”
“I’ll give you 10 gold coins.”
At the butler’s words, I promptly took out 10 gold coins from my pocket.
Jezel pouted slightly.
“Just a Bronze Ticket? You have plenty of money; why not go for broke and spend 100 coins? There’s always a reason for expensive goods.”
“I’m fine. What I originally wanted to buy isn’t that Bronze Ticket itself.”
Having simultaneously passed several ticket exam assignments.
The moment I saw that scene, I thought from the beginning.
If I were to buy, this is what I should buy.
“What I want to buy is the meal vouchers for the dishes I will be receiving after passing all of those assignments!”
“Huh? A meal voucher…? You want to buy the right to eat the food that will be provided for us?”
Jezel’s eyes widened in disbelief at the unexpected request.
He thought he would sell tickets to a rich little lady, and now he was being hit with something utterly bizarre.
However, from a player’s perspective, without a doubt, this was more beneficial than any ticket.