Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 8: Midnight Warning

Nol concentrated and carefully selected “No” with utmost care. He had a premonition that if he let Teest know, the guy would definitely laugh out loud.

He no longer appreciated the deliciousness of breakfast and ate distractedly.

After the meal, Nol asked Mrs. Petty for a leather cord. He wore the wedding ring given to him by the system on his chest, hidden deep in the fabric. Neither he nor Teest had put it on their ring fingers. Teest’s ring had always been in that little pouch, never seeing the light of day.

Ever since returning to the novice village, apart from occasionally jokingly calling him “honey”, Teest never mentioned the farcical marriage. At this moment, Teest was in the backyard, milking Mrs. Petty’s ewes.

This sheep’s milk would be sold to the village bakery, where it would be turned into delicious cheeses, pastries, and candies.

Nol leaned against the window, looking at the scenes within the novice village, his eyes as soft as a wanderer returning home.

The village was lush and green, with chirping birds. The roads were soft and muddy, lined with wildflowers, with no muddy feel. Farmers carried hoes, merchants drove carts, adults busied themselves with daily life, while children played carefree.

Some villagers passed by the window, always slowing down to nod kindly to Nol, even though they had never seen him.

Everyone had a satisfied smile, giving an almost unreal sense of perfection.

He created the village, and now he was a part of it.

Nol knew the location of every tall tree in the village, just as he knew there was a bakery 200 steps from Mrs. Petty’s house. At the end of the road in front of her house was the village’s only tavern. The tavern’s proprietress liked to wear bright orange-yellow, and her husband always wore a silk tie, trying to imitate the gentlemen of the big city.

Unfortunately, there was no bread for breakfast, Nol thought. The honey bread in the novice village was delicious. They had designed it meticulously so.

……

Not long after breakfast, Bly came with two bottles of wine, seemingly afraid that Teest would run away. Teest wasn’t surprised by Bly’s attitude and made one request—

“I want to bring him.” He pointed to Nol.

“That’s fine. Barto probably won’t mind the NPC,” Bly responded readily.

Nol was a bit puzzled by the abrupt statement. Not until they walked into the tavern at the end of the road and saw Barto by the table.

She was a very beautiful girl. The interior of the tavern wasn’t large, and she shone brightly, drawing the eyes of nearly half of the patrons.

She had curled golden hair, a proud figure, and delicate features, especially those clear, green eyes, which stirred a desire to protect.

It was just Barto was dressed sloppily and clearly in a bad mood—with her head slightly lowered, a gloomy expression, and her beer glass already empty.

“Brother, I brought someone.” Bly greeted her.

Barto rolled her eyes. “Why did you bring two?”

Bly was indifferent to her attitude and sat down next to Barto. “The other is an NPC. Teest took on a quest.”

“Oh.” Barto glanced at Nol with little interest and quickly looked away.

“I heard from Bly that you guys are planning to leave today,” Teest said with a smile.

Barto let out a dry laugh, fidgeting with the gold earring on her left ear. “Yeah, it’s not good to always stay in the novice village. Anyway, I’m getting used to this body now.”

Nol’s face remained calm, but he took a deep breath inside—apparently, his recent suspicions about Teest were justified. It seemed that Barto was a male player using a female avatar.

He took the opportunity to survey the tavern but didn’t see the orange-yellow proprietress and her bow-tied husband. So he just looked away, pretending to be invisible.

Once the conversation started, the three players chatted casually. Nol noticed that when more people were present, Teest spoke less. This didn’t make him seem introverted; he still appeared cheerful, just spending more time listening.

Like right now.

“…Damn it, there’s no hope for rescue now.”

Barto drank her second glass of wine, sounding quite annoyed.

“Remember those guys who quit the game? I went to the forest yesterday, and they all came out of the giant view. This doesn’t seem like a successful exit. If they really did leave, it’s been so long, there should have been official news by now.”

She sighed deeply, her cheeks flushed from the alcohol.

Bly patted her shoulder. “Let’s think positively. At least we’re immortal here. Death just means a decrease in levels… Just hang in there and don’t actively quit.”

“It’s easy for you to say. It’s not that it won’t hurt just because we won’t die. Yesterday, you were scalded by the pot and screamed for a good five minutes.”

“I suggest you find a safe place to stay. It might be safer,” Teest said after taking a sip of his iced fruit vinegar.

Barto, slightly drunk, slammed the table and shouted, “Safe? What the hell do you know about safety? I, hic, can only join a big guild, the kind others can’t mess with. I have to…”

She didn’t finish her sentence and passed out, her head hitting the table.

Bly looked conflicted.

“I’ll give him a detoxifying herb later,” he said with a forced smile, looking at the unconscious Barto. “We’re leaving anyway, so let me explain. Boss, Barto really didn’t mean anything against you.”

Teest just sipped his iced fruit vinegar without replying.

Bly took a deep breath and continued, “You’ve been soloing*, so you might not know. Despite his appearance now, Barto was the strongest and most troublesome among the three of us when we first started playing. He would mess around quite a bit when we first entered the game.”

*See author’s note.

“He would flirt with other guys, saying something like ‘let the brothers have some fun’. He also used this avatar to prank—or rather, harass—actual female players. Then, in a few days, strange incidents like ‘death after quitting’ happened, and the ‘intimate contact protection’ and ‘pain protection’ mechanisms failed.”

Nol slowed his cheese cutting, taking this new information seriously.

“Pain protection” was self-explanatory, and “intimate contact protection” was one of the most critical mechanisms in “Tahe”.

It strictly prohibited any intimate contact beyond friendship for underage players or underage characters. Adult players also had the clear right to refuse—if one party was unwilling to continue, they could stop the interaction and physically push the other party away.

The malfunction of “intimate contact protection” was a significant safety incident that the game operators couldn’t ignore.

Every time he guessed that “this isn’t a game”, the game system would intervene. But when he believed that “this is just a game”, unexplained incidents increased.

At the wooden table, Bly continued to talk—

“After knowing we couldn’t leave, some, well, started treating him like a woman. One night, a jerk sneaked into our house, and he…”

Bly’s round face scrunched up.

“Anyway, that guy didn’t succeed. Barto killed him on the spot, and he lost a level. As a result, that guy made a fuss everywhere, saying ‘it doesn’t matter since we’re all guys’, demanding public justice. Afterwards, Barto started showing signs of, um, PTSD.”

“Guilds that only recruit female players don’t want him either. To be honest, I can totally understand those girls. Latus thought he was making a big deal out of it and causing problems, so they had a big fight, and then Latus left first… Even though Barto is a bit uncouth, we’ve known each other for so many years, so I can’t just leave him alone.”

“So that’s what happened.” Teest took a bite of the roasted flatbread, making his voice muffled.

“That’s the story. I apologize on his behalf. Don’t take it to heart.” Bly raised his cup, looking a bit brighter.

“Let’s get to the point—actually, I’m still in contact with Latus. He recently joined the Temple of Life. Over there, in the big cities, they provide food and accommodation, and there are elite Players to help level up. Even if Players don’t want to join, the Temple will offer help for free. Brother, if you run into trouble in the future, you can try reaching out to them.”

“I’ll consider it.” Teest nodded politely.

“We’re heading to the capital of Gemino. It’ll probably take half a month.” Bly reverted to a casual tone. “What about you? Any plans?”

Teest didn’t answer, turning his gaze to Nol.

“We’re heading south. I want to go back to my hometown,” Nol answered quickly.

In fact, before being cursed, he had several “hometowns” in mind, ready to fabricate as needed. But to solve the problem of the marriage contract along the way, he only has one option left—

The southern alliance country of Shidina.

…If it was still called the Shidina Alliance.

“So, I need to go to the south,” Teest continued.

“Alright, I hope we meet again. It would be even better if we could meet in person outside the game,” Bly said with a hint of melancholy.

“Hope to see you again.”

Teest took out six gold wheels from his waist pouch and pushed them in front of Bly.

Bly was taken aback, quickly waving his hands. “Come on, brother, you don’t have to!”

“Consider it a farewell gift.” Teest smiled. “Wishing you a smooth journey.”

……

After eating the detoxifying herb, Barto sobered up almost immediately. Bly and Barto sat on a merchant’s open carriage and drove into the boundless grassland. The carriage was like a small boat in a green sea, gradually disappearing from view as it moved over the rolling hills.

“Let’s go back. I need to cook meat soup for Mrs. Petty.” Teest stretched lazily, still smelling of lamb chops and fruit drinks.

Nol softly hummed in agreement.

With the intelligence from the Players, not only were his doubts not dispelled, but more questions accumulated in his heart.

With this inexplicable Temple of Life focusing on Players, Nol decided not to reveal his identity for the time being—after all, the Players had no way of leaving here. Fortunately, as long as they didn’t log out of the game, they wouldn’t truly “die”. Their need for information wasn’t urgent.

However, his monster neighbors weren’t like the Players. They didn’t have immortal bodies.

‘I should prioritize rescuing the neighbors,’ Nol thought.

“I want to stay here for a few more days,” Teest said, his silvery hair shimmering in the sunlight. “The air is so fresh, and the sheep’s milk is delicious.”

Nol was succinct. “I hope we can leave as soon as possible.”

“Alright, tomorrow? The day after? Anyway, not today. I need to let Mrs. Petty know in advance.”

“Let’s leave tomorrow,” Nol said. “After breakfast.”

In fact, Nol liked it here very much. The “novice village” instinctively made him feel safe. If it wasn’t crucial to find his compatriots, he wouldn’t mind staying here with Teest for a month or two.

And indeed, the sheep’s milk was delicious, he thought. Even if the attached skill was a bit odd, he wanted to taste it again.

Sadly, this little wish didn’t come true.

That night at midnight.

Teest curled up, leaning against the wall, sleeping quietly on the straw. As an undead, Nol didn’t need sleep. He played with the Dragon Corpse Notebook, trying to find a loophole in the curse.

[All players have left the novice village.]

The system’s sweet voice suddenly echoed.

[The novice village is about to close. Warning, the novice village is about to close.]

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The author has something to say:

Hehe（?

On second thought, these two might be the most unfortunate protagonists I’ve started with _(:з」∠)_

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Note: Solo Players refers to those who prefer to play alone in multiplayer games. I feel such people are either socially anxious or experts, or socially anxious experts (…).

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Kinky Thoughts:

Note: In cases like Barto, where the avatar is female while the real player is male, I’ll use the corresponding gender based on what is being referenced. In this case, Barto will be female, but when speaking about him, she’ll be male.

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