Chapter 9: This Is Not The Idle Life I Wanted
1308 Words
Early the following day, the three adventurers, watched by Robb and the mayor, left Westwind and set off for the Birch Forest in the southwest.
Cheryl was a little bit reluctant, but for an adventurer as young as she was, the temptation of adventures was far more appealing than a life of leisure. She couldn’t stay in one place, so she suppressed her admiration for Robb and the strange feeling that had just begun to grow in her heart, and waved goodbye to him.
“Stay safe!” Said Robb, waving to them in an eastern-style goodbye.
“We will!” Cheryl patted the bag hanging from her waist which contained the Instant Teleportation Magic Scroll that Robb had given her. She would certainly not say it out loud. Patting it twice was more than enough to convey her meaning.
Golda laughed, “We'd be safer if we had a Priest with us.”
Robb thews up his hands, “You will have your Priest, but it won't be me.”
“Heh-heh, that's a real shame.” Golda laughed and turned away, followed by Zick and Cheryl. The three of them left and slowly disappeared over the hill in the southwest of town.
The mayor felt relieved that Robb had decided to stay in the town. He thought to himself, "Puny monsters won’t bully us anymore now that a powerful man lives in our town." He smiled at Robb, “Mr. Robert, let me show you the church.”
“Thank you.”
The mayor walked in front with Robb strolling behind him. The two of them crossed the entire town. It was late when they'd arrived yesterday evening, so they'd gone straight to the mayor's home and hadn't taken a closer look at the town. It was only today that Robb saw the neighborhood in detail. It was a small town with about a thousand inhabitants. Mining, farming, hunting, and herb collecting were the only ways to make a living here, and merchants from the big cities brought everyday items like salt, cloth, and utensils here. Minerals, crops, animal furs, and herbs from this small town had to be shipped to big cities to be sold, which was how they made revenue.
Commercial life was almost the only way of living for this small town. Cutting off their commercial lives would lead to an awkward situation where all kinds of materials were lacking, which would make their lives rather inconvenient and difficult. Robb thought to himself, "I heard that the bipedal dragon often attacked their merchant caravans. No wonder they raised money to hire adventurers to take care of it. Otherwise, it would be a commercial disaster for all of them."
The mayor led Robb to the hillside behind the town, where a small church had been built. It looked dilapidated, for no Priest has been in it for several years, but it should look good again after a spot of cleaning.
In the church's courtyard lay stone tables, stools, a well, and a small barren field. Behind the church, on the hillside, where hundreds of gravestones spread along with it, rested a small cemetery.
Although Robb didn’t feel like living next to a cemetery, it was a standard decoration for many churches in the west, which he had to let slide.
The mayor smiled at him, “This church will be in your hands from now on, Mr. Robert! I will tell the townsfolk that we finally have a Priest in Westwind. Now everyone can come here to make confessions.
Robb thought to himself, "What the... confessions?! Does that mean I’ll have to sit in a confession booth and listen to people babbling about their personal affairs? That’s so annoying! But then again, it doesn't sound too bad. I played things like this in the game, and it was fine. Hahaha, I can still have fun!"
Robb wouldn’t be idle if there were things that he still hadn’t grown tired of.
Besides, it would be interesting to sit in the booth and talk to people.
He wasn’t like a clam that insisted on closing itself off. In fact, Robb liked making friends. Otherwise, he wouldn't have built a guild before charging into wars with thousands of other players. Wouldn't it be better for him to just play single-player games instead of MMO games if he wasn't a social person?
Socializing could quickly become a big problem in this world for Robb. There was no Internet, no QQ groups, no friends that could watch and discuss anime with him. It wouldn't be a bad thing if the townsfolk wanted to come chat with him.
The mayor sent a few servants to help Robb clean the place before setting up a bedroom for him. Then he left with them after delivering some daily necessities. Finally, Robb was alone in his big spacious church.
"The smell of silence and happiness. Finally! I can relax now!" Thought Robb.
Robb found himself a stone stool in the courtyard and sat on it. He looked up at the sky, watching the flowers in front of his bloom and fade; clouds drifted across the sky; things changed under the slow yet mighty influence of time.
He felt good being idle. It had been forever since he'd felt this way.
After an hour of being idle, Robb felt thirsty.
Unlike the gaming world, people could get thirsty in the real world, which was a serious matter of survival. Although Robb could use magic to conjure up water, magic-made water was “soulless.” For example, the mages in WoW (World of Warcraft) could use magic to conjure up water and food, but... they still preferred to buy it in stores nevertheless.
So Robb stood up, holding the wooden mug he'd got from the mayor. He was trying to find a place to get clean water when he suddenly realized that there was no running water in this world.
"This is so infuriating!" Thought Robb, "It seems I can only drink water from wells. That’s way too much effort!
I’m done! I’m done! I’m f**ked!
This is not the idle life I wanted!"
Robb began to seriously consider how he could achieve an idle lifestyle.
Thinking about it, he concluded that to be comfortably idle in the real world meant he had to solve the following fundamental problems: water to drink, food to eat, clothes to wash, and a house to clean.
Although he had just solved the water problem, there were still many other issues, which couldn't be solved with just a simple faucet. Take eating, for example. Although he'd maxed out his Cooking Skill, he still needed ingredients to make the food. Cooking the famous dish Delicious Wind Serpent would require Mutant Fish and Sweet Spices. "I don’t know why there is no serpent in the ingredients, either." Skills alone would not suffice.
And if he wanted to gather the ingredients, he would inevitably have to go to the market and bargain with old ladies, which would be incredibly infuriating.
As for washing clothes and cleaning the house, those were issues that couldn't be solved with any skills or classes in the game.
Robb began to feel the pressure of real life, which was too much for him to be idle.
It seemed that being a damn feudal landlord was the only way to be idle. A landlord could be idle by enslaving others, just like the mayor who had several servants to help him make the church spick and span.
Robb's pupils dilated upon this thought, "I want to get myself a blue-haired maid with a black uniform and white trim and have her take responsibility for my daily life.
Oh, no. I can't think about this. There will be no return if I don’t stop thinking about this."
- Writer
