Chapter 4: Jrpg’s national rules

The eyes focused on us soon converged on one side.

I didn’t need to specify if those eyes were on me or her.

“I-I’m embarrassed…”

“Act confident. When you pretend to be weak, others try to torment you more.”

It’s a harsh truth, but she needs to become stronger.

That way, NPCs won’t take her lightly and harass her.

Of course, being a bold protagonist won’t necessarily stop them from sexual harassment… but it’s still better than a heroine who can only squeak “H-hoeee.”

“Okay. Confidently… confidently…”

After much deliberation, she put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

“She’s cute.”

“Her trying to act confident is a turn-on.”

“Damn it, I’d tie her up in the bathroom for 24 hours straight…”

Damn it.

It’s backfiring.

And the guy who just made eye contact with me and shut his mouth.

I’ve memorized your face.

“We’ll practice later; let’s go quickly for now.”

“Huh? Okay!”

Their whispers, which I had heard, didn’t seem to reach Maeve, as there was no significant change in her expression.

I left an unspoken message of ‘just you wait’ for the guy who had uttered the filthiest words, then moved to the central counter.

“Are you here to register as an adventurer?”

“Yes. It’s me and Maeve, the two of us.”

“And your name, sir?”

“Jin.”

My name isn’t originally Jin.

It’s Jinwoo, but this damned game seems to have lopped off the last syllable, so it suddenly became Jin.

Perhaps it’s a fixed name, regardless of my actual name.

A Korean name like Jinwoo doesn’t quite fit in a Western-style fantasy world like this.

“Understood. Then, 200 gold for registration for both of you, please.”

“…How much?”

“200 gold!”

Feeling Maeve’s gaze fixed on the back of my head, I subtly whispered to her.

“How much do we have?”

“160 gold.”

“Why do we only have this much?”

“Jin, you bought equipment saying it would be dangerous to just wander around.”

Oh, right. That’s true.

I had spent all our money equipping her with the best weapons and armor in the first village.

Normally, buying equipment from the very first map isn’t a very efficient choice in these types of games, but that’s only when your opponent is just game data.

When monsters are savagely swinging their weapons right in front of you, do you want to take that with your bare body?

Even if it was trash equipment, for us, who had to face them directly, even that was a blessing.

For that reason, she was currently equipped with mid-to-high-tier armor and a sword in this city.

My equipment was one tier lower than hers.

Because there wasn’t enough money to buy both.

“Uh, what do we do? Should we sell the armor?”

“Are you crazy? Sell that and fight bare-handed?”

“Ugh…”

Selling equipment wasn’t even worth considering.

In times like this, it’s better to…

“We’ll be back in a bit.”

“Goodbye!”

I took Maeve and headed back to the general store.

“Hmm. Welcome.”

The pot-bellied, chubby old man who had almost gotten a punch from me a moment ago gave me a subtle look.

What, you punk.

So you’re not going to sell anything?

If there’s one fortunate thing about this being a game, it’s that no matter what I do to him, he’s obligated to buy and sell goods.

“How much is one of these?”

I placed the tails of the rats I had encountered on the counter.

They were drops from the lowest-level monsters, so I didn’t expect much, but I just needed to earn 40 gold somehow.

“I’ll give you 1 gold per piece. How many do you have?”

Only five.

This won’t even be close.

“Uh, what do we do?”

‘…We’ll have to find a part-time job.’

I really didn’t want to do this, but there was no other way.

First, to progress the story, she had to register as an adventurer and receive quests, and since we had no money, we had no choice but to take a part-time job.

All we could do was pray there was a decent part-time job.

“Then that weapon shop earlier…”

“Not there.”

“Okay.”

Part-time jobs that overtly reveal desire are out of the question.

I wish there was a somewhat decent part-time job.

For example… um…

“…”

There isn’t one.

All I could think was that anything we did would be dangerous.

Then again, since it’s an eroge to begin with, there might not be any decent part-time jobs.

Most eroge earn money through quests or prostitution, not through ordinary part-time jobs like this.

In an eroge, a part-time job is nothing more than an act of collecting ‘scenes’.

‘…It must be somewhere.’

“Okay. Let’s look together!”

So we wandered around the city, searching for places offering part-time jobs, but it was all in vain.

There were no decent part-time jobs in this city.

“Damn it.”

“I-it’s okay! I’ll try to bear it a bit, so let’s sell the armor!”

Seeing my self-reproach, she didn’t know what to do and comforted me.

But this is my fault.

Because I foolishly spent all the money without thinking…!

‘…Are you short on money?’

“If you’re thinking of doing something stupid, get lost.”

I sharply cut off the suspicious man who had approached us.

He definitely looked like someone who enjoyed lewd things.

“It seems you’re misunderstanding something. I’m not trying to do anything strange to her.”

“Doesn’t look like it to me.”

In reality, physiognomy is treated as pseudoscience, but not here.

An expert like me can assess an NPC’s character just by their face.

And from what I remember, this man is.

A common character model in eroge.

“This is quite disappointing. I merely approached out of goodwill.”

‘…I’ll hear you out.’

Honestly, I’d like to kick him out, but we were desperate for money right now.

I decided to take a one-in-a-million chance and listen to his story for a moment.

Of course, I hid her behind my back so he couldn’t touch Maeve.

“I’ll give you 500 gold.”

“In return?”

No one in an eroge just gives away money for free.

There must be a price.

“Do me a favor.”

“I’ll kill… No, what kind of favor?”

I reflexively almost said I’d kill him, but then I realized it might surprisingly be a normal quest, so I quickly changed my words.

How could this be.

Was my physiognomy wrong?

“First, I’d like to clear up a misunderstanding. I harbor no ill intentions toward her. It’s offensive, so I’d appreciate an apology for that.”

“…I apologize.”

Right. Maybe I had overthought it.

Not every NPC in an eroge actually commits sexual harassment, right?

Perhaps an extra NPC who could only say one line in a room in the original game has been implemented as this kind of character in this world.

Surprisingly, a normal person might be hiding within this eroge world!

I reflected on my hastiness and bowed my head to him.

*Slurp.*

“…?”

I think I just heard a strange sound effect.

“Ahem. I’m not interested in women.”

“I see…?”

No. So what’s the favor?

I could apologize more if needed, but I’d like him to get to the point soon.

“So, about that… ahem…”

“Why are you stalling so much? I’d appreciate it if you’d speak quickly.”

“Jin. If you say that…”

“No, no. You’re right. Alright. I’ll be direct.”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded at my words and spoke with a serious expression.

“I’ll give you 500 gold if you let me have you just once.”

“…”

It took 2 seconds to understand the situation.

“You said you wouldn’t touch her! I’ll kill—”

“W-wait! No! I wasn’t talking about that woman!”

“…What?”

What kind of…

“I-I was talking about you…! You look so soft and tender, I couldn’t resist!”

It took only 3 seconds for my momentarily blank mind to return to normal.

“No! Don’t kill him, Jin!”

“Hey, you…! Where are you going! Come here!”

“Hieeeek!”

Maeve desperately held me back as I tried to chase after him, who was making a run for it.

No, who is this bastard making such a suggestion to right now!

“Huu… huu… What kind of idiotic game is this…”

“A-are you okay?”

Thanks to her, I barely managed to calm my anger, leaning on the wall and finally catching my breath.

What is this game?

What’s with this suddenly bewildering character?

Naturally, the original work doesn’t even have a character like me.

It’s a story where Maeve travels alone, so there should be no reason for a gay character like this to appear.

‘…Is he a gag character?’

That was the only thing I could guess.

Perhaps he was a gag extra NPC who would later react indifferently, saying, “But I’m gay?” even if the corrupted heroine tried to seduce him first.

The fact that I, an external entity, fell into this world alongside her caused him to exhibit behavior he wouldn’t have otherwise.

“…”

It was just a hypothesis, but if it were true, a slightly unsettling factor emerged.

My existence.

Could it change the game’s progression?

And what if I couldn’t clear the game because of this?

“Jin. Your expression is serious, are you okay?”

‘…I’m fine.’

It was definitely a problem to think about seriously.

While pondering the immediate problem of 40 gold, I also began to seriously consider the butterfly effect my existence might cause.

“Hmm… I don’t really know, but if you have something to worry about, why don’t you sit down for a bit?”

“You’re right. My apologies.”

“No, it’s okay!”

Since we were in a back alley, there was no bench here.

So I followed her gesture and plopped down onto the nearest barrel.

*CRACK!*

“Gah!”

The barrel was completely destroyed.

“Kyaa! Jin!”

“I’m fine! I’m not hurt.”

Jeez, you scared me!

I thought my heart was going to drop.

Why is a mere barrel so weak to impact?

Just as I clutched my pounding heart and stood up.

“…Huh?”

I saw it.

The 20 gold shining inside the broken barrel.

And at the same time, I remembered a system I hadn’t considered until now.

The tradition of JRPGs.

Pot smashing.

‘…Maeve. We have somewhere to go.’

“Huh? Okay.”

Until now, I hadn’t even thought about touching other people’s things, but come to think of it, these are all ownerless items designated for the protagonist.

As long as I don’t break into someone’s house and steal, isn’t it fine?

“Smash all ownerless barrels in this city.”

Right. Maeve is the protagonist, so this much is allowed.

Right?