Melinoë gets right to it. She kneels in the grass and rips out everything she sees.
Wait.
I look down at the little cub and pick up one of the weeds she discarded. It mewls and chews on the black grass. It growls before eating a little more. Thank god.
"Penguin! Collect all of the grass and put it in my inventory please."
He waddles back over to me at full speed and shouts."On it!"
While they were doing that I checked out the Store Function. It's like an online shop that offers almost everything in exchange for gold coins. I can even sell stuff too. My inventory has about a hundred weeds currently and counting.
I'll put half in the sell box and see what happens.
[Mid Grade Pet Feed.] X 50
Petfeed? That explains that. It gave me a price range and I gasped. Each of those little grass things is worth one gold. I sold the pet feed and received fifty gold in my mailbox. How much is actual food?
I searched for red rice and almost lost my soul. Thirty gold for seeds and one hundred gold for a bag of dry red rice! Jesus! I'm not wasting money on that.
Last I remember, rice was at most fifteen dollars at the grocery store. I exited out of that search and searched for live animals. Livestock is pretty important if I want to be self-sufficient. But I have a bad feeling that it's going to cost me an arm and a leg.
I found a couple of options. Chickens, ducks, cows, goats, and a few other monsters that I would never consider eating.
Chickens and goats were the cheapest. I bought a pair of live chickens for fifty gold and one goat for one hundred gold. Cows were at least four hundred gold. Daylight robbery.
I called out for my first employee. "Penguin? I bought us some emergency food. Where do I put them?"
He stares blankly at the clucking chickens and the yawning goat."How could you buy them without first buying a pasture?!"
I blinked."I can do that?"
"Of course."
Ha! I've heard that before. Now what's the catch? "For how much?"
"That service function costs one thousand gold."
"..."
"Ria, why are you putting the cub away?"
"..."
I chased after the traitorous Penguin as it screamed. "I don't set the prices and I can't change them! Please have mercy, Host!"
I roared at it. "Greedy!"
The chickens and goat chased after me as I chased down the Penguin.
Melinoë roared back at us from her place at the field ahead of us fed up with our antics."Enough! You're so noisy!"
The Penguin and I skidded to a halt in front of her. I glared at the Penguin when an idea hit me. Of course! I now have two tickets.
I chuckled darkly and opened the gacha screen."Heh heh. Tried to scam me. I'll show you."
I used the tickets on the Service Event and popped the stars all on my own. Please be a pasture! Please be a pasture!
"Congratulations! You've drawn the Service Function House!"
"Congratulations! You've drawn the Service Function Gardening! Converting into upgrade..."
I tilted my head and before my eyes, the cleared land that Melinoë had just weeded expanded. It was now over a thousand square feet. At the edge of such land was a small wooden shack.
"..." Several feet of weeds swayed softly as the wind from seemingly out of nowhere gathered.
I stared straight ahead as I felt the flames of her rage. Penguin scooched to the side and I used my foot to drag him back. You're not leaving me alone with her.
"Are you…Fucking...Kidding...Me! I just cleared this field! What the fuck?!" Her eye sockets bored into me and I shivered.
She chuckled darkly."This is your fault isn't it."
"..."
I will never answer that question. She raged and roared at the chickens who scattered after taking one look at her. Oh, she was talking to them.
"Why are there kotópoula?!"
"What? Oh. You mean the chickens. I thought it would be nice…if you could…raise them." I played with my fingers and gave her a sheepish smile I wasn't sure she could see.
"..."
I stepped away from her as her chest heaved. Then all of a sudden she smiled. Like a real…person's smile. I blinked in confusion. All of that wrath suddenly vanished and she just smiled. Then she hummed a tune and went back to weeding the garden.
"..."
Her harsh raspy voice lifted in time with the song she was tunelessly humming to in her head.
I looked at Penguin and he just shook his head.
What the fuck?
I stepped around the mad lady and walked towards the shack at the end of the field.
At least she can live here. Why is it so decrepit though?
"Penguin?"
"Can't we spruce this place up?"
"That would take some gold. Stingy Host."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing Ria. I think this is a fine living space though."
"…"
I took in the shack that looked to be on the verge of falling down judging from its exterior. The inside isn't much better either. The open doorway and lack of a door allows you to see its...contents.
There is a cot chained to the far wall. A desk, chair, stool, and that's it. "Hostages and prisoners of war have better lives than this. Unacceptable."
At least they have a door.
The Penguin begins it's bullshit. "Well. You do have another mission."
I groaned. "What now?"
"Home decor!"
"You're not even trying to hide it anymore. You do make the rules!"
The Penguin ignored me and passed a screen over to me."Tap this screen and you can open the Birds Eye view."
"Tch. Bad system."
"…"