She stopped breathing for a second and I could tell I was pissing her off. Ok. Maybe not a good idea to piss off the Goddess of the Bat-Shit Crazy.
The Penguin waddled over to me and tugged on my hair. It can just call my name or something. I sighed. "What's up?"
It lists my responsibilities like they're just chores that need to be done. "Your pets are hungry, your garden needs to be maintained, and you have missions that need to be completed." Feels like home already. All I need is a 'and take out the trash!'
Even in my sleep, I have to work. I massaged my temples and took a deep breath. You know what? I need a cuddle."Bring me the panther."
That sounds so dope.
The cub appeared out of thin air and landed in my outstretched arms. The cute little baby purred and nestled into my chest. Aw. I stroked it carefully and gave the baby lots of love. Its fur is so soft.
I look up from the little lovebug to ask. "How do I feed it? How do I feed any of them? What do they eat?"
He starts."Well. Your panther is partial to raw meat. You could obtain some meat from the outside and bring it here…"
That sounds a little risky now that I have a super nanny watching my every move. What's my other option. "Or?"
"You could complete a few missions and obtain more gift bags."
"How would that help me?" I don't remember any food being in the previous bags.
"You could obtain a new system function that would help you. Alternatively feeding the butterfly will be much easier than the panther." I still have to name this thing.
"Why?"
"It mainly eats the flesh and blood of its master. With your permission, I could siphon off some of your blood to feed it every twelve hours."
I grimaced and stroked the kitty for comfort."Isn't that bad for me?" This is one of the man reasons I hate bugs. Cats are officially Supreme.
"As long as I carefully manage the doses…It shouldn't affect you too negatively."
Melinoë interjects."What about me?"
"..."
"..."
What should I do with her? For whatever reason I can't just put her in a bag. Well…I ask somewhat hopefully. "The inventory?"
The Penguin retorts."No living beings in the inventory."
So what is she going to do? She can't just stand there and be weird all day."Ugh. Hey. What about the garden? Can't she manage that for me?" If I could just push all my chores onto her...
The Penguins eyes light up and it does a literal twirl."Yes!" What in the theater kid—Melinoë however is not impressed."Gardening? What am I twelve year-old nymph?"
I shot back without hesitation."Do it or sit here for eternity in silence."
"..."
The Penguin taunts her with it's hands on its hips."Well? What's it going to be?"
Melinoë grits her teeth and bites out."Fine. I'll manage your stupid garden. What are you growing?"
"..."
What will I grow? Obviously, I need food. But how do I get seeds?
The Penguin trails off suspiciously."Ria. I strongly believe that if you just look at your missionboard…"
I narrow my eyes and call the mission board over. Melinoë trots over and tries to read it with me. Two missions in progress? Ok, that's the murder mystery mission. But the other is a daily mission.
[Daily Mission: A Noble Ladies' Upbringing.]
I tapped on the summarize button and scanned the contents. Woah. It says here that every day I'll be rewarded as long as I comply and become an outstanding noble lady. How long is this mission? Four thousand and eight hundred more days?!
That's at least a decade!
I tapped collect on the bottom of the screen and received my daily rewards.
"Congratulations Host! You have received: One hundred EXP, Ten Gold, and a Rookie gift bag."
That's really convenient. I wonder...I look over at the Penguin that's whistling to himself. Is a certain someone listening to what I say and assigning missions to me? Or is it someone else? Either way, that stupid duck is involved.
I kept my thoughts to myself and opened the bag. Inside were two golden gacha tickets, a new system function, and a bag of seeds.
The new system function is The Store. My eye twitched.
"..."
"Penguin."
The Penguin waddles off into the distance and avoids the confrontation. It's doing this on purpose. It's helping me for sure but for what purpose? This Reincarnation Society. They're the key to everything.
Why did they do this to me? Why did they put me in this body and give me this system? I refuse to believe that anyone with that much power has no hidden intention or agenda. What on earth could they want from me?
Melinoë asks with a reluctant hand outstretched towards me."May I see?"
I look over at what she's talking about. Oh, the bag of seeds. I give them to her and she studies all of them before sighing. "You have grain, flower, and vegetable seeds here. I would recommend growing the vegetables first. They grow very slowly."
"Where are we going to get water?"
Melinoë says in a duh tone."There's water all around us."
I look down at my feet and realize she's right. The floor of my soul is covered in water. I guess I just got used to it at some point. It's neither cold nor warm. If she hadn't reminded me I would have just forgotten it was ever there to begin with. Why is there water in here?
I shrug and agree with her since she seems to know what she's talking about. "Alright. Sounds like a plan. I don't have any gardening tools though."
Melinoë scoffs at me and walks off towards the black field."I don't need any. I can do this in my sleep."
Huh. Didn't take her to be a green thumb. She saunters off towards the plot of grass and I follow her. It's about six hundred square feet and neglected at best. Weeds and grass are everywhere. I would help but I have no idea what to do here.