Atelier Tycoon Episode 5
In the game, he always repeated the same phrases, so there was no way to know what a good kid Zeno was.
If it wasn’t too late, she should start giving him proper gifts from now on.
“Do you like apple pie?”
The moment she saw him nod slightly, Liliffe sat Zeno down at the table and pulled all the remaining apple pies from the food box. It was a precarious amount to hold in two hands, but she managed to set them down on the table.
“Eat as much as you want.”
“Ah…… Th-thank you.”
Liliphe watched Zeno eat with a sense of pride.
“Um… Liliphe-nim, you should have some too.”
He’s an angel, an angel… She even found herself wondering if the species of this adorable familiar right in front of her was actually an angel.
“Zeno, is there anything else?”
Liliffe asked Zeno if there was anything else he liked besides apples. She needed more information about him to take proper care of him.
At her words, he rolled his eyes and gave a short reply that he didn’t really know.
“I’m sorry. Even though you’re being so considerate, Liliphe-nim……”
“No. It’s fine.”
It wasn’t something he needed to apologize for, so she waved her hand dismissively. This was the game company’s fault for creating Zeno this way.
‘Why did they only make him like one thing?’
Having only seen his polite and kind demeanor, even though they hadn’t known each other long, Liliffe had a good impression of Zeno. If a favorability window had appeared for Liliffe too, her favorability rating for Zeno would probably have been quite high.
Knowing he liked apples, she started thinking about what could be made from them. Her thoughts then spiraled, leading to how to deal with the portal and the shop.
It seemed best to start with the Golden Fields portal, whose unlock conditions she now knew. To unlock the portals in other regions, she’d have to visit them soon anyway.
She had a clue about the portals, but she had no idea how to open the shop.
Zeno, who was just standing there with his docile eyes, came into her view. Thinking that as a familiar, he might know something, she asked for his help.
“Do you know how to open the shop?”
“You have to clear the tutorial before you can open the shop. You can’t open the shop before the tutorial is over.”
“Ah! That’s right, I forgot…….”
The tutorial was relatively short, but before finishing it, you couldn’t do anything in the game. Consequently, the shop was also unavailable. It was a detail she had forgotten because it had been so long since she completed the tutorial.
“It seems like you’ve finished the tutorial, Liliphe-nim, is that right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then a door should have appeared in front of the mansion. You can enter the shop through it.”
Hearing Zeno’s words, Liliphe dredged up one of her buried memories.
In <Atelier Tycoon>, to enter the shop, you usually clicked an icon with a shop drawing, but there was actually another method. Namely, entering through the door that appeared in front of the mansion after finishing the tutorial.
As Lilype decorated her atelier, the shabby shop door looked aesthetically unpleasant, so she had hidden it somewhere in a corner of the orchard.
She would have liked to put it in her inventory or sell it, but since that was impossible, she hid the door among the trees and subsequently forgot about it.
“Ah, then…… It can’t be…….”
A foreboding feeling made Lily rise from her seat.
Her play data had been reflected in this world. If so, then the shop door might not be in front of the mansion like a beginner who just finished the tutorial, but hidden among the trees in the place Lilife had named the orchard.
Although the sun had already set, Lilife had no choice but to go outside and check, hoping her fears were wrong. Zeno followed her without a word.
“It’s really not there……”
There was no sign of a door anywhere around the mansion.
She wasn’t sure exactly where she had put it among the trees since she hadn’t paid it any mind, but she thought she should check the orchard first.
As Lilype was about to move, Zeno grabbed the hem of her clothes.
“It will be hard to find in the dark. Why don’t we look for it tomorrow?”
“You’re right, I can’t see anything.”
Was there anything to light the way? She’d have to check the box inventory. If not, she’d waste time making one.
More than anything, Liliffe didn’t want to shake off the hand holding her hem. She wanted to maintain a good relationship with this kind familiar, so she had to avoid actions that might lower his favorability.
“Alright. I’ll look for it tomorrow.”
Liliffe nodded and went inside the mansion with Zeno. Then, since it was late, she told Zeno to choose a room.
Except for the workshop, the reception room, and the central hall on the 1st floor, the 2nd and 3rd floors were all rooms. The rooms, each decorated with a different theme, were one of Lilife’s prides.
“I’m fine with any room.”
“That’s the most difficult answer.”
“Um…… Then, the smallest room, please.”
Wondering if he actually preferred small rooms, she asked if he liked smaller rooms over larger ones. Instead of an answer, she saw him simply smile.
He was excessively humble. And he didn’t even lie.
She wondered if all familiars were like this, but since she knew nothing about familiars, she couldn’t tell if Zeno was unique or if all familiars acted this way towards their masters.
“I understand. If you don’t like the room, you can change it anytime. After all, it’s just the two of us in this spacious mansion.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The next morning, the two headed to the orchard.
It was called an orchard, but it was just a place where Lilife had gathered all the fruit trees for convenience while playing the game.
She had placed it not far from the mansion, so it only took a few minutes to reach.
Different types of trees were planted in neat rows, each heavily laden with fruit. Apple, orange, pear trees, and more were bearing fruit, completely ignoring their proper harvest seasons.
Surveying the unrealistic scenery, she racked her brain, which couldn’t quite remember where she had placed the door.
“It was definitely at the far end. I think I placed the trees more densely around the door so it would be hidden, even if just by the trees.”
“Liliphe-nim, the peach trees over there seem densely packed as you described. Shall we check that area?”
Liliphe looked in the direction Zeno pointed and nodded.
Just as he said, the peach trees in the corner were arranged more haphazardly than the others. It looked exactly like someone had hidden something there, feeling it was correct, she walked over.
The peach trees had grown in a tight circular formation. The space inside was hollowed out, and within it was a single door.
The wooden door had the same shabby design as she remembered from the game.
Lily tried to open it, but the door was locked.
In Atelier Tycoon, the shop opened immediately after completing the tutorial. But here, even though she had completed the tutorial, the shop was still locked.
“It can’t be because I didn’t choose ‘Shop Open’ as a reward.”
There were four tutorial rewards; was the structure such that the shop only opened if you selected ‘Shop Open’?
‘I don’t have a character-specific inventory either, and the shop won’t open even though I finished the tutorial.’
It was similar to the <Atelier Tycoon> game, yet these sporadic differences were apparent.
‘I wish it would just be exactly the same as the Atelier Tycoon I know.’
Every time she spotted a difference, it was confusing because she didn’t know the reason.
Lilife grumbled inwardly and let out a sigh, and at that moment, a system window appeared before her eyes.
[Squirrel Shop (Locked)]
[Unlock Condition: Achieve a total resident favorability of 50 or higher.]
[※You must unlock the Squirrel Shop first to proceed with the ‘World Map Open Quest’.]
As soon as she saw the system window, one way to raise resident favorability came to mind.
In <Atelier Tycoon>, there was a system where fulfilling a resident’s request would raise their favorability. The request slips were posted on a bulletin board, and Liliffe had seen a similar board here, next to the mailbox.
“When I passed by earlier, there were no requests.”
Since arriving in this game world, she had seen the bulletin board a few times while going in and out of the mansion, but until now, nothing had been written on it.
Today, she had headed straight to the orchard after coming out, so she hadn’t checked the state of the board. Now that the tutorial was finished, perhaps something had changed.
“I saw a white pigeon when we came out earlier.”
“A white pigeon?”
“Yes, on top of the bulletin board. So, there should be a request on the board now.”
I realized what Zeno meant by the white pigeon.
Whenever she didn’t like a request and pressed the ‘Reset Request’ button, a new request would appear after some time, and whenever a new request appeared, a white bird would be sitting on the bulletin board. It was clearly a helper indicating that a new request had arrived.
Heading towards the atelier, just as Zeno said, a white pigeon was perched on top of the bulletin board.
However, the bulletin board, which was slightly taller than an adult man, was still completely empty.
Liliphe was about to ask Zeno what was going on, but she was left speechless by the pigeon’s actions.
“Coo-coo?”
The pigeon, noticing Lily, tilted its head and then began spewing paper from its mouth.
An unbelievable number of scrolls, seemingly too many for its small body, came streaming out.
Regardless of the humans’ astonishment, the pigeon began sticking the papers onto the bulletin board. Its movements were professional, without a hint of hesitation.
‘So this is how the requests get filled on the bulletin board……’
It was a destruction of innocence. She felt like she had seen something she shouldn’t have.
“Coo!”
The pigeon, having attached the last scroll, turned to look at Lily and greeted her.
“…….”
The bird, its task complete, flapped its wings and flew away. Liliffe stood there dumbfounded, mouth agape, until Zeno called out, “Liliffe-nim?” snapping her back to reality.
She had witnessed with her own eyes how requests were displayed on the bulletin board. Now that she knew the truth, she felt reluctant to even go near it.
