The Price of Ignorance and a Misunderstood Blessing

Well, acting inexplicably is a quintessential trait of a newbie. Though they are NPCs, these characters boast significantly advanced AI. Furthermore, as early-event characters, they haven’t properly unlocked their story at low levels.

“Hmm. You remind me of Mima, my dog. Now that I think about it, the resemblance is uncanny.”

“Huh? Mima? What’s that?”

“A Miniature Pinscher. Judging by how much you yap.”

They look like a mix between a Doberman and a Chihuahua. Smaller dogs tend to be fiercer, while larger ones are often gentler. Not always, of course. Seeing him constantly yapping for no apparent reason brings back memories of Mima, the dog I raised when I was young.

“I don’t know what that is… but it doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

“It is a compliment. I loved Mima. Even though she didn’t live very long.”

There was nothing you could do when a dog was so small. Larger dogs had the stamina to endure, but smaller ones died in an instant. She died after picking up and eating rat poison in the yard. There wasn’t even time to make her vomit. It makes me sad all over again.

“When someone’s talking, listen! Do you even know the meaning of communication?”

“Shall I continue? Oh, right, I was talking about my name, wasn’t I? ‘I Want to Bang Faust’.”

“Be serious! How far are you going to tease me?”

They only get angry when I say my name. I’m not sure what the problem is.

Approaching Faust, who was huddled in a corner, I casually extended a hand.

“I don’t know why you’re like this, but let’s go eat. Oh, and I want to dance, too.”

“Sir Haut, I… I am a subordinate of a god, so, even if you harbor such feelings… purity before marriage is…”

“Hmm? Purity? What are you suddenly talking about?”

I couldn’t tell what thoughts were running through his head to make him blurt out such nonsense.

“Hamman only cares about adultery, doesn’t he? Though that’s a sudden thing to bring up.”

“Didn’t you reject me before, Sir Haut, saying you weren’t interested in human men?”

“What are you talking about? You’re worth less than a cat’s paw pad.”

“Crumb, half-melted cheese, hamster, and now a cat’s paw pad…”

Nocturne looked glum again.

Why?

I had brought them to such a nice place, dressed them in splendid clothes, and intended to have some fun, but I couldn’t understand what they were so dissatisfied with. The conversation was utterly incomprehensible, a complete mess.

I forcibly pulled Faust, who was still huddled in the corner, to his feet. His clothes would get wrinkled. I had dressed him in such expensive attire. He seemed to try to resist, but his stats were so pathetic that he was easily pulled up.

“Let’s eat first. The food here is delicious.”

Perhaps because it was a luxury cruise ship concept, the meals were excellent. While combat was useless here, meaning no buff benefits from eating, these things were meant to be enjoyed for the experience.

“I keep telling you, people shouldn’t be so fixated on efficiency.”

I consider myself a truly good senior, always ensuring new players have enjoyable activities. Of course, I haven’t accumulated enough wealth or power to raid the Imperial banquet hall and provide them with that kind of entertainment.

Perhaps their anger stemmed from hunger. I led the irate newbies down to the dining hall.

Blindingly opulent chandeliers adorned the high ceiling, beneath which elegantly dressed people, displaying a myriad of colors, laughed and chattered while holding champagne flutes. Tables for dining lined the perimeter of the banquet hall, while a clear space in the center was reserved for dancing. From all directions, orchestras in impressive tailcoats played music.

Our table was uniquely situated as a private room, offering a panoramic view of the central hall from the highest floor, with the ocean visible beyond. After all, it was a suite that cost 1,000 gold; this level of luxury was expected.

“Can we really eat this?”

“Don’t be so unnecessarily rustic.”

Their emotional scripts had become needlessly rich. Before, they would just gobble down whatever was served, be it barley bread or exotic delicacies. Though Jack spoke, the other two were also awkwardly seated at the gold-embellished table, unable to touch their food.

I sipped the wine poured by an NPC waiter and spoke curtly.

“Seriously, you’re trembling over just this? If I were to sell just one plate of the food I’ve fed you so far, it would be worth ten times this amount.”

“…Those were that expensive?”

“That’s the problem with low-level NPCs. They don’t know a good thing when they get it.”

They charged 100 gold for dinner, but that wasn’t even that expensive.

The food I had given them were special buff items not sold in stores. Typically, when resold, they’d be calculated at one-tenth of the shop price, so if I sold them for 100 gold, their original cost would have been at least 1,000 gold.

I didn’t actually sell them, though. 100 gold wouldn’t even cover the cost of seasonings. I did once sell about 50,000 barley breads I made for skill leveling because I ran out of inventory space.

I grumbled, casually cutting and eating the venison steak placed before me.

“Look. Besides satiety, there isn’t even a basic buff.”

“I hear it sometimes, but what exactly is a ‘buff’?”

“Oh, seriously. This term recognition error is annoying.”

I had intended to enjoy a nice meal, but discovering the system’s malfunction in an unexpected place made my blood boil. Sighing, I replied despite my irritation.

“Well, like making your feet faster, or increasing your attack power.”

“Th-that, wait a moment. Sir Haut, isn’t that a blessing?”

“Strictly speaking, a blessing is also a buff, isn’t it? Though, my homemade oatmeal porridge would probably be more effective than your prayers.”

“So, all the food we’ve eaten was blessed?”

“No. A blessing is a buff, but a food buff isn’t a blessing! Why can’t you understand?”

Faust dropped his knife and shrieked. Why was he suddenly so surprised? I couldn’t fathom it.

Since it wasn’t an enhancement gained by praying to a god, it wasn’t strictly a blessing. However, in terms of its effect, it was identical. Ultimately, anything that raised stats or skills was the same.

“But then, did none of you ever find it strange when you ate the food I gave you? Even when your steps became twice as fast and your stamina doubled, leaving you unwearied after just one meal? And there were times when you finished ten sword strikes in one go, too.”

“Well… we did pray before combat, and we don’t know the original distances, so we couldn’t tell if it was fast…”

Do NPCs not see the additional effects of the food or potions they consume? I’ve never really questioned it, so I don’t know. But shouldn’t they notice if their body feels different?

“Sir Haut, are you a saint?”

“In what sense? If you mean a pope like a Ninth Saint, then no.”

“So, like… an apostle of a god?”

“I told you before. I’m neither an apostle nor a saint.”

Technically, I am a believer, but Debora’s apostle position can only be held by ‘The Blind One.’ I stepped down from that role. While I do receive some favor, there are no system benefits.

“Oh, seriously. I don’t know where the wires got crossed. What misconception are you under?”

“Sir Haut? You were once Debora’s apostle, weren’t you?”

“Why are you butting in when you were eating so well? So what if I was?”

Nocturne, who had been quietly tearing at his lamb chop and glancing around, subtly interjected. Why was he being so cautious? I told him to eat well, yet he needlessly put down the bone he was sucking on.

“I was just wondering if that ‘blessing’ might be Lady Debora’s grace.”

“No way. How could she bestow a blessing if I don’t pray?”

“You, you don’t pray? Isn’t she the Goddess of Fortune? Surely you’d ask for good luck or…”

“The description explicitly states she’s a goddess no one prays to.”

Blessings are fundamentally buff skills. They are similar to magic but can only be used by priests serving specific gods. Players simply use the skill, but NPCs must perform the act of prayer to receive a blessing. In terms of lore, it’s an act where a god responds to what is spoken to them. A signal, like, ‘I heard your words.’

“My only prayer is gratitude. Nothing else.”

No, I’m just playing a role, to begin with. I don’t beg for blessings. My stats are already maxed, making everything easy, so why would I deliberately lower the difficulty with useless buffs?

“Asking for something is asking for results, and asking an unknown goddess to prove something—what kind of insane act is that? That’s true irreverence.”

“Unknown? Not fortune?”

This NPC, for all his talk, is so ignorant. He isn’t even giving me a quest. I chewed and swallowed the last piece of venison, looking at Nocturne.

“Even if you just stumbled into this for a quick score, didn’t you know what kind of god Debora is? She’s not only the Goddess of Fortune but also the Goddess of Mystery and the Unknown. That’s why she doesn’t need followers. This world is overflowing with mystery and the unknown, and humans desiring fortune are as numerous as clouds. It must have been pure luck that this guy found me. What a fortunate fellow. The Goddess truly showed great generosity.”

“So, that’s why the next apostle couldn’t receive her grace… because they asked for proof of the unknown through luck…”

While I finished a plate, these guys were still not eating, engrossed in such trivial lore. I tapped my fork against the plate and grumbled.

“Just eat. What are you going to do with all this useless talk?”

“No, how can this be ‘useless’ talk?! It’s so important!”

“The food’s getting cold. Even in the Imperial Palace, you don’t easily get such extravagant food. I paid a fortune to take you on this cruise to have fun, so why aren’t you enjoying it? And I told you, it’s not a blessing. It’s just the effects of the ingredient items. The magical properties of troll blood, wyvern meat, dragon flesh, or bone broth. Why can’t you understand?”

“That’s even more serious! Who eats such precious things as mere food?”

“What are you talking about? You’ve been eating them just fine until now!”

My words might have strayed, but I think I finally understand why they’re making such a fuss. Come to think of it, if they perceived food buffs as blessings when food couldn’t possibly pray, it would indeed be strange.

“You guys, hurry up and eat. I want to eat other things, but since you’re not clearing your plates, my course is getting out of sync.”

Should I just order something else instead of waiting? These guys seem to be getting stranger and stranger. Ugh. I pulled out three sprout headbands from my inventory.

“I’m annoyed, so just wear these.”

“Do we really have to wear these even now?”

“I was about to flip the table, but I’m holding back with these.”

Still, all three of them are handsome, so they look cute. Seeing the fresh sprout headbands, my irritation subsided a little. Right, they’re newbies, so it’s understandable they might not know the lore. Let’s just move past it.

“I want to dance, too. If we keep eating like this, we’ll just eat and leave. I haven’t been able to catch demons lately, so a debuff should be appearing soon.”

“Debuff? What’s that?”

Nocturne was chewing a piece of lamb chop, his cheeks bulging. I sipped my wine, waiting for the next dish.

“Status effect.”

“Excuse me?”

“What’s the best way to explain this…? Hmm… Ah. A curse.”

Ptooey—!! He spat out what he was eating, erupting in a messy spray. Honestly. Are they babies? Why can’t they eat properly?