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Chapter 31
How could anyone live feeling this pitiful?
The place Sam led her to was, surprisingly, a ruined general store.
One of the most severely collapsed spots even in Sweet Little Village.
Brody’s uncle’s store was now so destroyed that calling it a building seemed almost inappropriate.
The pillars had crumbled, the walls barely left a trace.
Only occasional pieces of shattered display shelves and dust-covered items proved that this had once been a store.
Yet Sam walked into the ruins as if it were nothing.
“Are you sure this is the place? Doesn’t look like a single thing is intact.”
Nana looked around suspiciously.
“Yeah. Everything else is broken, but these should be fine.”
Sam’s tone was full of certainty.
If he was that confident, there must really be something. And the quest didn’t say to see only intact inventions—it just said to see the inventions.
They carefully navigated over the debris toward what had once been the living area inside.
Even though the ruins had been collapsed for a long time, Sam never hesitated for a single step.
Instead, he walked as if he knew the way, heading straight in one direction.
Finally, they stopped at a place.
A large iron door that hung loosely on part of the broken floor.
A solid steel panel, a rusted handle, a door that would never open with ordinary strength.
“Are you seriously going to open that just after getting out of bed?”
Nana watched Sam skeptically.
But the next moment—
creeeeak—
Sam opened the iron door with ease. Of course, it wasn’t his arm strength that did it. More precisely, it was his foot pressing a pedal.
“My workshop is down here. These parts are things I brought from my time studying in the Duchy of Greenwich. Many are discontinued now, and I can’t go back there anyway. I designed this place to withstand disasters safely.”
Nana nodded absentmindedly, then froze.
Wait, he studied in the Duchy of Greenwich?
In the game, Greenwich was the nation that first established the concept of mechanical engineering.
They had drastically advanced technology based on the golem techniques of the ancient Rune Empire, and machines were now common even in households.
Mass production facilities, mechanized agriculture, automated cities.
Magic itself was slowly fading.
It was the only non-magic nation on the continent that trusted science over magic.
Nana stared blankly at Sam.
If that was true, he was a foreign student majoring in mechanical engineering—a truly astonishing fact.
It made sense, though; to Nana, Sam had been a lazy freeloader who did nothing but break his uncle’s back. A completely unremarkable freeloader.
But Nana couldn’t completely fault herself.
This was the kind of detail only revealed if you chose Sam as a route and followed it.
“Watch your step.”
Sam secured the iron door with a support and led Nana into the basement.
Below the stairs, it was pitch dark, but as Sam stepped forward, the lamps along the walls lit up one by one with click, click.
Wow… all automatic?
Not torches, not magic, only science-powered lamps.
The level of technology in this game world felt oddly out of place, yet exciting.
“I haven’t been here for a while, but the batteries still have power.”
Sam said casually.
“You made these too, didn’t you?”
“The lamps came from Greenwich, but I wired them myself. There, circuits and devices are usually all in one, so if one part fails, everything goes down. I connected them separately. That way, if one circuit breaks, the others are fine. Less power consumption too.”
Sam’s explanation clearly described series and parallel circuits.
Another game character might have blinked in confusion, but Nana, blessed with modern education, recalled faint memories of scribbles on an old test.
Thanks, public education in Korea!
Wait… parallel circuits weren’t even introduced in Greenwich yet. So Sam understood them? This guy was a hidden genius character?
At that moment, Nana upgraded Sam’s rank in her mind.
From an irresponsible freeloader to a competent freeloader.
Still unemployed, but her perception had slightly shifted.
At the end of the corridor was a large metal door.
When Sam opened it, something wing-shaped fluttered around.
A small, lightweight machine.
Clearly a drone-like device, powered by electricity, not magic.
When Nana stepped inside, the rolling of metal balls and clanging of metal echoed.
As a small ball inside a glass tube hit a button, a warm orange light spread like a wave, revealing various inventions one by one.
Gears interlocked and rotated, pistons pumped smoothly, levers and joints moved in rhythm in complex structures.
…Though the room was a bit messy.
‘No wonder she said he never cleaned. There’s more dust here than in a scrap shop.’
Still, Nana couldn’t help but marvel.
This room seemed like the dream collection of any machine enthusiast.
“More battery power than I expected. The magic stone mix lasts long.”
Sam examined a faintly glowing battery in the corner, then noticed Nana.
She walked slowly, taking in everything, as if she had stepped into a fairy tale.
Her expression was a mix of wonder, curiosity, admiration, and a pinch of emotion.
Sam chuckled and approached her.
“Most of these are my creations. A few I brought from Greenwich, but I modified all of them myself. Better than the originals, if I do say so.”
“You… really.”
“Now you know I’m not a lazy freeloader anymore, right?”
“Engineering student, huh.”
“Gom-dae-sae? What’s that?”
“Nothing. Can I look around more closely? I need to see if you’re worth keeping on the farm.”
“Do as you like.”
Sam stepped aside, and Nana wandered slowly among the machines.
Up close, each one had its own presence.
A machine that perfectly halves an egg, one that ties ribbons neatly, one that peels fruit skin as thin as paper…
“…Kind of useful, but not really.”
Nana sighed quietly, observing machines that were neither fully practical nor mere toys.
They might have a use, but she didn’t feel the urge to “take this!”
<Special Quest: ‘A Noble Talent Arrives by Delay’ completed.>
- Reward: 30,000 gold and experience points.
- Adrien Logiton may choose one of Sam’s inventions.
‘Seen everything. Nothing I particularly want to take though.’
Nana’s eyes paused on one item.
Rectangular, metal, with a door.
It looked plain, but Nana instinctively recognized it.
“You… made this?”
“Oh, that? It was supposed to keep food warm, but it kept freezing it, so I just shoved it in the corner.”
A freezer! Ice-making freezer!
Nana’s eyes sparkled like she’d seen a mirage.
Ding!
<Special Event: ‘A Noble Talent Finally Hired’ triggered.>
Hire Sam as a farm worker. His inventions become yours. No more hand-washing laundry, summer iced coffee whenever you want.
Reward: Greenwich machine parts and three bundles of premium rare parts, plus experience.
Limited-time event: 5 minutes.
“Sam, have you ever shown these inventions to Mrs. Paisley?”
“Oh, yes. I showed her a machine with a motor that spins one way, water-proofed the motor, and kept water in an inner container.”
“You mean it stops automatically after a while and drains water via a hose?”
“Exactly! How did you know?”
Obviously, it was a washing machine.
No wonder Mrs. Paisley always smiled warmly at him despite being lazy. The gold-handed nephew saved her from laundry hell—truly precious.
“Can you make it again?”
“Yes. I have all the blueprints and parts.”
<Special Event time remaining: 1 minute.>
A message appeared, and Nana slapped Sam’s shoulder.
Without hesitation, she said,
“You’re hired.”
