At this moment, Kai had returned from Pete's diner together with the Fairy Goddess, who faithfully followed him. The two of them were now in Kai's room, with Kai lying his weary body down on the bed.
"So where exactly can we find all of that? Hey, Fairy Goddess... you should know where it all is, right?"
Kai asked, glancing at the Fairy Goddess with a complaining tone. Truthfully, Kai didn't want to get involved with the village's problems, but remembering his goal of winning over every girl in the village, he had no other choice. Even so, he still couldn't hold back his grumbling.
"I'm sorry, Kai... I can't help you with that. You'll have to figure out on your own how to solve this matter."The Fairy Goddess answered in an apologetic tone. Kai looked even more irritated at that response.
"From the way you're answering, I can tell that you actually know where I can get all of this, but you're deliberately hiding it... Am I right?!"
An arrow seemed to pierce the Fairy Goddess's chest when Kai said that. His words hit the mark, and she couldn't hide the truth from him.
"I'm sorry... but I can't answer that question."The Fairy Goddess replied while averting her gaze.
"Oh, kind Fairy Goddess... could you at least look at me when you're talking to me!"Kai said sharply. With stiff, jerky movements, the Fairy Goddess tried to turn her eyes toward Kai—only to meet his piercing, unforgiving stare. In the end, she quickly looked away again, unable to withstand such a gaze from him.
"HEY! Look me in the eye and tell me where I can find all those weird things?!"Kai shouted, his voice rising sharply.
"I'm sorry, but I truly can't answer that question! You must find it on your own!"
The Fairy Goddess responded, trying to flee from Kai. But Kai swiftly blocked her path so that she couldn't escape.
"Kai, how could you move so fast!?"
The Fairy Goddess asked, realizing that his movements had gone beyond the speed of an ordinary human. 'Wasn't he lying on the bed just a moment ago? How is he now already standing at the door?' she thought, her expression showing a trace of fear.
"That's completely irrelevant! Just answer my question—where can I find all those troublesome things?!"
This time Kai's tone turned threatening, which made the Fairy Goddess even more frightened.
"Um… well… sorry, but I really can't tell you where to get any of that. There are rules that forbid me from doing so… I can only give you a hint…"The Fairy Goddess bowed her head, looking deeply remorseful. Seeing her expression, Kai's face softened and his anger seemed to fade.
"Are those rules really that important? Isn't there any exception at all?"Kai asked, scratching the back of his head. He couldn't understand it—this could've been solved quickly, but because of rules he didn't even know about, they had to take the long route.
The Fairy Goddess didn't know how to answer, so she only averted her eyes from Kai, keeping the same regretful look. Kai sighed at that.
"Alright, I get it… I won't ask about that again. So can you at least give me a hint?"
At Kai's request, the Fairy Goddess finally changed her expression. She brightened up and smiled.
"Okay, Kai! Listen carefully… ideally, you'd fulfill everything Grandma Lyla mentioned before, but actually you only need to complete three out of the seven things she listed.""Three…? And I can finish the task?"
"Yes, that's right!"
The Fairy Goddess nodded happily.
"Then why did Grandma Lyla have to list seven troublesome things?""I already said—it's the ideal set of tasks. But if you can't do all of them, you only need to complete three, and you can make this village famous."
"Is that really true?"
Honestly, Kai still doubted the Fairy Goddess, but her confidence made it hard for him to stay skeptical.
"Just imagine you heard there was a golden egg somewhere… wouldn't you want to come see it?"
The Fairy Goddess asked with sparkling eyes.
"No, not really."
But Kai replied in a flat tone instead. The Fairy Goddess looked at him in disbelief when she heard that answer.
"Why not!? It's a golden egg, you know! A golden egg! Aren't you even a little curious to see it?""I don't know about other people, but whenever I hear the words 'golden egg,' it just sounds like a scam to me."
If golden eggs really existed in this world, then surely everyone would be raising the creatures that could lay them and make themselves rich. But in reality, not a single person in the village was doing such a thing. That meant golden eggs had to be nothing more than a fairy tale.
The Fairy Goddess couldn't deny Kai's words. After all, golden eggs were hard to believe in—even in this world.
"But Kai... if this were in a game, wouldn't it be completely normal?"
The Fairy Goddess asked, her tone now less enthusiastic.
"Hmm... when you put it that way... I guess you're right."
When it came to games, golden eggs were a classic. Any item with the word "gold" in its name was always valuable—except for gold coins, which were just the standard in-game currency. Kai recalled how he would often end up with too much money in games and not know what to spend it on. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in his everyday life.
"Wait, Kai, why are you suddenly crying?"
"It's nothing! I just realized how pitiful my life used to be."
The Fairy Goddess could only tilt her head in confusion as Kai turned his face away, wiping the tears that had slipped out.
"Anyway, back to the main topic... is it true that we only need to collect those three troublesome things? And if I manage to get all the things Grandma Lyla mentioned, will I receive some sort of reward?"
Kai asked, his expression back to normal.
"Do you really have to keep calling them 'troublesome'?"
The Fairy Goddess said, holding her head.
"Of course you'll get something amazing if you manage to collect everything Grandma Lyla mentioned... it's just like in a game—when you complete all the quests, you naturally receive the best and rarest item as a reward, right?"
The Fairy Goddess said enthusiastically, pointing her index finger at Kai.
"Not really... some stingy games only give you a useless 'Achievement' when you finish all those troublesome tasks."
Kai replied with a flat expression.
"Really?"
"Well, not all games are like that... just some of them... I guess."
Kai turned his gaze away from the Fairy Goddess. Honestly, he felt reluctant to discuss things like this. Gamers often didn't care whether achievements gave any real benefit; they just focused on collecting them all. Kai couldn't exactly call that a bad thing—it was simply one way of enjoying a game.
"Enough! Forget about games already! So, what's the actual reward I'll get if I manage to collect all those troublesome items?!"
Kai said, waving his right hand from left to right as if brushing away the previous topic. Seeing that gesture, the Fairy Goddess quickly dropped the game talk and returned her focus to the matter at hand.
"Alright then... the main reward you'll receive is that you'll be recognized as a Hero in this village!"
"Isn't that just another achievement?!"
The Fairy Goddess instantly froze when she heard Kai's reply.
"Is it, really? To be honest, I don't quite understand what this 'Achievement' you were talking about earlier even means."
The Fairy Goddess said with an awkward smile. She scratched her cheek with her index finger, trying to ease her nervousness. Seeing that, Kai could only let out a sigh.
"Any title you gain can be considered an achievement in a game... whether it's useful or not. But instead of something like that, I want something practical—something that can actually change my life!"
"But doesn't becoming a hero change your fate?"
"I've never once wanted to be called a hero!"
"You said that in such a cool way... and yet somehow, I just can't think of you as cool at all."
Kai simply ignored the Fairy Goddess's remark, unwilling to admit that he truly wasn't cool at all.
"So, is there nothing else I can get out of this?"
Kai asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track.
"Hmm... aside from that... since you'll need to befriend the villagers and get to know them in order to obtain all those items, I suppose another reward would be winning the villagers' hearts."
"I have absolutely no interest in winning the villagers' hearts. I only care about the girls!"
A large drop of sweat formed at the back of the Fairy Goddess's head when she heard Kai's firm tone. It seemed this young man really only cared about that one thing.
"Of course, that also means you'll grow closer to the girls and have a very good chance of gaining their love."
The Fairy Goddess said somewhat awkwardly.
"Really?"
Kai asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Yes, really."
The Fairy Goddess nodded in reply.
"You're not lying?"
"I'm not lying!"
"Can you swear to that?"
"I swear!"
"Swear for real?"
"I swear for real that I'm not lying!"
"Really, truly swea—"
"That's enough! I'm absolutely serious about what I said!"
The Fairy Goddess quickly cut Kai off before he could drag the conversation into another pointless and troublesome back-and-forth.
"So all you need to do is befriend the villagers, and you'll naturally obtain all the things Grandma Lyla mentioned... That's it, goodbye!"
After saying that, the Fairy Goddess left Kai's room, leaving him frozen in place.
"Wait a second! I haven't asked the most important question yet!"
Kai shouted angrily a moment later. He glared toward the direction the Fairy Goddess had gone before finally asking the question he considered the most important of all:"How many girls can I get if I actually manage to collect all those items?!"
The Fairy Goddess, who could still hear Kai's voice even though she was already far from his house, could only frown with growing irritation before shouting back just as loudly.
"Are girls and your lust really all you care about?!"
And with that, she flew back into the forest toward her dwelling.