Chapter 193. Going Strawberry Picking
[Quest Generated! ‘When You’re Sick, You Need to Eat Loooots of Tasty Food and Keep Nice and Waaaarm!’ - Find healthy foods that will help her recover!]
“No... if even the game is giving me a quest for this... Phew....”
Once Pie and Aien were able to log out again and move around in reality, I was so happy that I started taking care of them with everything I had.
I did whatever they asked.
I even went out of my way to do things they hadn’t asked for.
At first, the two of them kept saying they didn’t need any of it.
Then at some point...
They started ordering me around nonstop.
That was when I realized something had gone terribly wrong.
I thought I would never feel the limits of my stamina again.
Apparently, yesterday was the day I discovered otherwise.
...
When Pie suddenly woke me up in the middle of the night and sent me out to buy strawberries, I swear it felt like all the blood drained out of my body.
“My heart still feels like it’s about to stop when I remember it.”
“Uuuugh....”
Even so, there wasn’t much I could actually do about it.
Especially Pie.
Inside the game, buffs and everything else had restored her health.
But in reality, she wore thick clothes even in cool weather because she felt cold, and she constantly kept herself wrapped in a blanket.
There was no strength in her steps.
She couldn’t talk for very long.
She kept nodding off whenever she got tired.
Sometimes she even whined like a little kid.
Once she became weak and helpless like this...
She somehow became cuter.
Which meant I couldn’t refuse anything she asked for.
“So the first thing we need to do is find Pie’s missing half.”
I looked over.
“You’ll help, right?”
“Uuuugh... my stomach is turning overrr....”
“Get up already!”
I shook her.
“The sun is already high in the sky!”
“Eeeee....”
No matter how much I fussed over Pie in reality, if half her soul was still somewhere inside the game, it was the same as pouring water into a bottomless jar.
And if there really was no way to recover the missing half of her soul...
Then we would need to find some other solution.
That was why I was with Game-Dori right now.
I had found her sleeping in a corner of the Abandoned District while hugging a liquor jar, woke her up, and dragged her here.
“Uuuugh... this old granny has such a terrrrible hangover~”
I grabbed her shoulders.
“Look over here, Mother.”
Her eyes snapped open slightly.
“Oh my, oh my! Mother?!”
She immediately giggled.
“Ehehe! Yeees~! Mommy is looking at her soooon!”
“Hehehe! Ohoho! What is it~? Did something nice happen to our Ingwang~?”
She was in even worse condition than usual.
Had I neglected her too much?
Once the country stabilized, I should probably prepare a proper place for her to stay.
“Listen carefully.”
I became serious.
“This is important.”
I explained everything about Pie.
Game-Dori listened with her eyes half closed, swaying around while repeatedly bumping her alcohol-scented head against me.
I honestly couldn’t tell whether she was listening properly.
“Mmm~! So you mean you want a way to fill the empty space if her soul can’t be recovered~?”
“Mm-hm.”
She raised one finger.
“There iiis~”
Then she wobbled.
“But! It might be a liiittle dangerous~?”
In the end, the only thing that could fill a space left behind by a missing soul...
Was another soul.
From the perspective of Game-Dori and me, it would need to be a soul whose Flow was completely identical.
And among those...
One with weak enough individuality that it would disappear quickly.
Otherwise, Pie could suffer an identity crisis like Aien did.
No.
Possibly one even worse than Aien’s.
I hadn’t forgotten that the reason Pie herself hadn’t suffered from an identity crisis was because she entered Lucy Lowell’s body after Lucy Lowell’s soul had already left it.
“Ahhh, fuck.”
Where in the entire world was I supposed to find someone with the same Flow as another person?
Even toys made exactly the same way possessed slightly different Flows.
The Porter twins, who got along so well.
The rats that all looked identical to me.
Even the Goblins who seemed capable of understanding only each other.
Every single one was different.
...If I manipulated it enough, I could probably make one identical....
But if I twisted and molded a soul into that shape...
Could it really still be called a normal soul?
A soul artificially created and inserted into someone might need constant maintenance like an artificial heart.
Maybe it would even require periodic replacement.
Living like that would be difficult.
It would probably harm a lot of people too.
And if I looked at the usual clichés...
The only thing waiting at the end would be destruction.
Game-Dori slumped against me.
“Wouldn’t it be bettter~ to just find the other half somehow~?”
“Yeah....”
There was no helping it.
For now, I would go gather gifts for both of them.
When your body was weak, you needed nourishing food.
Aien ate basically anything I gave her, so I might need to hold back a little with her.
...
Wait.
Was she going through a growth spurt?
Aien was still at the age where she should be growing a lot, right?
Right.
The body Aien had now originally belonged to that traitor girl.
And that girl had lived a life where she barely ate or slept properly.
Maybe her body simply hadn’t grown the way it should have, and now it was finally catching up.
“So, about that.”
I had come to find Sporty, the octopus lady from Karantlia who had visited to congratulate me on founding the nation.
We had created a separate lake where her people could stay.
Fortunately, they seemed to be doing well.
We had poured an enormous amount of seawater into this artificial lake, and it needed constant maintenance.
At this point, it was basically an aquarium.
Maybe it was because I was considered the benefactor of their race.
Even the Emperor of Karantlia treated me that way.
If I asked them for something good, maybe they’d give it to me.
Actually, this might be a good opportunity to make the place a little more proper and impressive too.
Seriously.
Other than our kids, hardly anyone in this game treated me with such pure goodwill.
...
And these people might repay me with even better things later.
Sporty thought for a moment.
“Food that is good for recovering one’s strength....”
She tilted her head.
“Most of what I know comes from beneath the sea. Would that be acceptable?”
“Anything works.”
Game-Dori whined beside me.
“Mmmm~? I don’t like the seeea~”
I patted her.
“Then Mom can search on land, okay?”
Her expression brightened instantly.
“Oh my, oh my. That ‘Mom’ sounds sooo nice.”
Then she clutched her chest dramatically.
“But it makes this old heart ache, so could you maybe not say it too much?”
I planned on asking the others to search on land too.
Game-Dori would probably be better at identifying things that were good for the soul.
So she needed to work the hardest.
...
I should probably bribe her with something.
I had absolutely no idea what.
Hopefully, a few bottles of alcohol would settle it.
Sporty nodded.
“Then I will speak with His Majesty.”
“Is there anything like...”
I gestured vaguely.
“You know, some legendary whatever that isn’t even kept in the royal treasury?”
Sporty considered it.
“Hmm.... There are such things if one descends to the very bottom of the Deep Sea.”
Her expression became awkward.
“But as you know, that place is... rather unusual.”
Was she talking about the Black-and-White World?
The grave of the Great Hero of Hope?
Maybe there truly were incredible things still hidden down there.
The last time I descended, I focused entirely on dealing with the Great Hero of Hope.
I hadn’t explored anywhere else.
There could easily be something else Hope had left behind.
The Church of Light has clues about the Chairman.
The Deep Sea has Hope.
The Demonic Realm has Asset....
If I’m going to visit places anyway, should I just hit all three and take every good thing I can find...?
Gildeupin was currently staying in the country.
So even if I left for a while, there probably wouldn’t be any serious problems.
If I was going to the Deep Sea....
Should I bring Mallyangi?
Levy?
Yeah.
I’d bring both.
Sporty smiled.
“If you intend to go, I can open the path immediately.”
I blinked.
“A path?”
“What kind?”
Sporty puffed out her chest proudly, planted both hands on her hips, and declared—
“I recently learned Portal Magic!”
My eyes widened.
