Chapter 20

「 Gained 1 EXP from removing weeds. 」

「 Gained 1 EXP from removing weeds. 」

「 Gained 1 EXP from removing weeds. 」

“It’s a relief that you seemed to have recovered your energy while working. Right, let’s keep up the good work!”

Emily ran back after saying such a line with such vigor, that line being something that you’d only hear in some sports anime. I looked at her for a moment before I focused right back to my weed-whacking.

My goal for today was to reach a decent enough level from the EXP I’ll get! For these few days while I’m safe from Adrian, I should level up and gain some skills.

But maybe because I spent last night not sleeping, I had to shut my eyes a lot whenever I found myself staring blankly into the air. I woke myself up in a hurry and shook my head.

If I get caught sleeping in a place like this, I might get kicked out of this mansion and really become a beggar. Then I’ll be homeless and I’ll die in a ditch somewhere without ever knowing how I could go back to the real world… That can never happen!

“But I’m so tired…”

The grip I had on the weeding blade loosened slightly. If I could lie down and sleep right now, I might even sell my soul to the devil.

As I yawned and hit my stiff neck and shoulders, those white letters popped out as though they’d been waiting for the chance.

「 Work is not going smoothly because your fatigue is too high. 」

“Huh? No. No way. Think this over again. I’m not tired though? I’m doing a good job?”

I quickly pulled out more weeds, my eyes as wide as saucers. Wow, I barely slept a wink last night, but I’m not tired at all? Hilda’s a natural at manual labor, I guess. While working, my mind becomes so clear, like this much!

As if shouting into the air, I quickly handled the weeding blade. Don’t ever show any openings. I don’t know how this game system’s going to screw me over again if I ever give it the chance.

But no matter what I did, the system was relentless.

「 The success rate for weed pulling is dropping. 」

「 Weed pulling: Failed. 」

I stared back at the white letters with a look of devastation. The notification windows that popped up every time I gained some EXP didn’t appear this time. You’re not going to give me even this nail sized EXP?

「 The success rate for weed pulling is dropping. 」

「 Weed pulling success rate: 80% 」

「 Your daily wage has decreased. 」

「 The amount of EXP acquired has decreased. 」

「 The success rate for weed pulling is dropping. 」

The more weeds I pulled, the more tired I got, and because of that, the only notifications I received were about my success rate and my salary dropping. I thought about quitting, but I pushed that notion aside. I couldn’t give up hope that if I just kept trying, my success rate would go up and I’d get more EXP again.

「 The success rate for weed pulling has reached rock bottom. 」

「 Your daily wage has decreased by 20%. 」

I worked hard on pulling weeds until the late afternoon, and yet the only thing I got in return was… nothing. I couldn’t get any EXP and my fatigue had reached the limits.

This was all caused by a single pillow. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing in despair.

“Hilda! How could you make the garden like this?!”

What the system kept spitting out about the success rate failure turned out to be true. Leticia came by after she was done with her work for the day and started nagging me, asking why the garden looked like this. Since I’d been causing one ruckus after another, she seemed to be thinking that I was rebelling.

Out of all the crimes out there, the scariest one was the crime of disgrace.

“Hilda, what’s wrong with you these days? Did you catch a disease that you’ll die from? Or is there something you’re upset about with me?”

In the end, Leticia took my hand and asked me imploringly.

Now that I thought about it, it didn’t seem like this game should be categorized as horror.

A tragedy. The trashiest tragedy out of all trashy torture-fest tragedies.

Nothing big or amazing was happening, but it wasn’t like I gained the talent to deal with something like stopping blood from flowing. I was just going through the motions of bothersome and cumbersome things to do, as if I needed to scratch an itch that I couldn’t reach.

If there was some sort of determination not to make this game into a tragedy, how was it that everything somehow got wrecked anyway?

“I’m sorry. I’m not doing it on purpose.”

I answered honestly. I meant it. I suddenly found myself inside this game and I’m just trying to survive. I never tried to make a mess out of things. That’s why it’s all the more unfair.

“Huu. Okay. I know you’re not like that. You’re not an ill-tempered kid, and… things just didn’t work out for you, I guess.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“…Okay. I’ll finish cleaning up here, so go up and rest. Oh, but I have a favor to ask you before you go back to your room.”

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