This Love is Futile

Kyle stood in the middle of the field and turned over the medicine bottle containing the pesticide. The beautiful emerald green liquid glugged out and soaked into the soil, slowly turning it a slimy shade of green.

“If you till the soil properly, it’ll go back to a healthy earth color, so go at it until it’s no longer green!”

At Kyle’s cue, we swung our hoes at the green soil from the border of the healthy field first. When hoed about three times, the green color became a dark, earthy color. This was interesting. Kyle needed only one swing to turn it a solid dark brown, and Vidello-san changed the color in about two. Maybe it was a question of arm strength, as I had the weakest arms, after all. I convinced myself that the right person was in the right place, and steadily mixed the dirt with a gravelly crunch.

I plowed, and plowed, and plowed, all in silence. I jolted in surprise when I heard Kyle’s voice saying, “Alright, it’s over!” because I was so absorbed in plowing..

Huh? I thought, as I raised my face and looked around. The green color on the soil had disappeared completely, and the soil was soft and well-nourished. Eh, but I’ve only plowed this corner of the field. I stopped my hand, astounded by the area of the field that they had plowed, and Kyle lit a fire in the pile of dead grass. The dead grass ignited in an instant. As expected, the dead grass had an impressive flammability. With a beautiful bonfire like this I had the urge to roast potatoes. It was a shame that the fire was full of bugs and pesticide. I discarded my dreams of crispy potatoes.

“A healthy field is the best after all.”

Kyle let out a satisfied sigh looking around at the completely clean field.. At that moment, the quest clear notice sounded with a small ring… Vidello-san and Kyle were busy talking and looking at the field, so I decided to open the notification immediately.

{Save Kyle’s Farm!

Kyle’s farm is being attacked by pests!　

If left unchecked, the farm will experience total crop failure!

Let’s make a pesticide and spray it to get rid of the pests!

The time limit is 3 days!

Clear reward: Crescent Moon Drops

Quest failure: Kyle’s farm will be closed for one month

【Quest Clear!】

All pests on the Kyle’s farm were eliminated at Class 2.

Clear Rank: A

Quest Rewards: Crescent drops, medicinal pharmacon recipe, special cooking recipe}

I did it. I cleared it with Rank A. Right, it had only been 23 hours since I received the request. I completed this at Class 2, but what would be required for Class 1? What class would I have achieved if I had had the quest from the beginning and had been able to deal with it immediately? Well, I don’t think that would have been possible in the first place. This was my best clear. It wasn’t like how it was with the dragon.

As I let my face relax, satisfied with the result, I felt eyes on me and turned my head. I met the eyes of the two people who I expected to be looking out at the field and talking to each other. Huh, why are you looking at me? Is there dirt on me because I wiped my face with my work gloves earlier?

“Is my face dirty?”

When I couldn’t help asking, Vidello-san burst out laughing.

“It’s pitch black!”

“Seriously!?”

I tried to hide my cheeks with my hands in a hurry, but as I still had my work gloves on, the only thing I succeeded in was making Vidello-san laugh even more. Yeah, his smile was the best.

“Mac, you’ll only get dirtier wiping with those gloves. Wash your face. Also, you and Vidello-san have dinner together. I’ll make a special meal for you two.”

Even while laughing at me, Kyle’s offer showed his charming side.. His food was really good, after all. I felt lucky to be able to eat it again today. I looked back at Vidello-san with a gleam in my eyes and saw that he suddenly looked slightly upset. Seeing his face, Kyle laughed even harder.

“Vidello-san? Kyle’s food is really the best, you know?”

I thought he was worried about Kyle’s cooking skills, and this time Kyle let out a great burst of laughter.

“You’re an idiot, Mac. He’s jealous of me for making you look so happy.”

“Don’t say that, Kyle.”

“Are you jealous?!”

When I looked up at Vidello-san in surprise, he looked away and scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Because I can’t cook. So I can’t make you smile like that…”

Wow, sulky Vidello-san had a fresh charm to him, because he always had more of the air of an eligible bachelor or a handsome man. Cu-cute. I blushed and hid my mouth. Vidello-san poked me with a “Mac, you just thought something weird, didn’t you?” It wasn’t that. I just thought that Vidello-san was cute.

The dinner Kyle made for us consisted of steamed potatoes with butter, sautéed carrots with consommé, salted green beans, and for the main course, veggie hamburgers. He didn’t use any meat, and all the vegetables were fresh from his farm. It was really yummy! Vidello-san had apparently never eaten Kyle’s food before, and upon taking a bite, he let out a moan.

“It’s frustrating, but I get why you would make that face.”

At the sight of his frustrated face, I couldn’t help but laugh despite feeling guilty..

“Vidello-san protects the peace of the city, I protect everyone’s belly, and Mac protects us both. Isn’t that right? The right person in the right place.”

Kyle instructed Vidello-san with a grin. Kyle’s words carried a lot of weight, didn’t they?

After eating the meal, Vidello-san and Kyle began their dinner-time drinking, opening up the prized sake. I was given a bottle of Kyle’s special vegetable juice since I was underaged. I didn’t usually like vegetable juice much, but Kyle’s homemade juice was totally different. What did he put in there to make it so delicious? It felt like it’d been ages since I last felt so relaxed. Vidello-san and Kyle were having a great time together again, drinking more and more and talking happily about what was going on in the city, what was going on in the forest lately, and the like. This was how everyone shared information. Because players always ended up using the ingame chat and didn’t talk much in game, it was nice to listen to their stories.

As I drank my juice and listened to the two of them, my mind began to wander off, and I opened the status column for the first time in a while. I didn’t have much time to look at it during this quest. Ah, I’ve finally levelled up to 60. I’d been stuck at level 59 for a while. It turned out that slaughtering those numbing spiders and jumping snakes was quite effective. I felt a little happy, and looked through my skills section. Oh, did I unlock new skills? Speed Reading, Agriculture, and Pharmaceutics: Level 4 had increased. Had I read a level 4 pharmacy book? …Perhaps in one of the piles of books in Kyle’s father’s study? It was fortunate that I had memorized it beforehand. I had Speed Reading applied to myself, and without realizing it, my speed reading skill had increased. Blessed Speed Reading. I casually opened the pharmacist and alchemist recipes, and my eyes went wide.

My list of recipes was increasing… There were pages of weird things like recipes for nutritional supplements, and cultivation enhancements that I’d never seen before. Was all of this the result of reading the books in Kyle’s father’s study? I was so happy, I didn’t know what to do. That reminded me — there was something I was thinking of asking Kyle.

I looked up at Kyle, who was in the middle of chatting with Vidello-san.

“Kyle-san, I have a small favor to ask.”