INBE 10

Chapter 10

What is this insane quest?

I should just ignore this kind of thing.

[Reward: 3,000p]
[※There is a penalty if you fail.]

As if it had read my mind, the system message changed.

No—why does a sub-quest even have a penalty?!

[This is not a sub-quest, but a surprise quest.]
[For your information, surprise quests have a time limit. 10, 9…….]

“What? Wait a second!”

I was so flustered that I ended up blurting out what I should have kept to myself.

“What are you doing?”

At that, Kalix Kraubel asked with a clearly displeased expression. His gaze was so fierce that cold sweat ran down my back.

“Ah, well……”

Even as I tried to come up with an excuse, the system window’s countdown continued.

I couldn’t organize my thoughts as I grew more and more anxious.

[4, 3, 2,……]

“Please take me safely to the city gate!”

In the end, I had no choice but to accept the quest.

As expected, riding in a carriage alone with Kalix Kraubel was extremely suffocating.

If I looked straight ahead, I felt like I’d make eye contact with the lord, so I kept staring out the window.

The carriage I had taken before circled around residential areas and markets to pick up passengers, but the lord’s carriage cut straight through the city center.

And so, a completely different scene unfolded from what I had seen before.

The buildings were far more luxurious, and the streets were spotless without a single piece of trash.

‘This must be the area where the rich live.’

While I was looking around, what caught my attention was a triangular roof.

‘How did they make that?’

Could it be that they saw what I made and copied it?

If so, that meant they had copied my technique without permission, which was extremely unpleasant.

‘Wait. Shouldn’t I actually be happy about this?’

The reason the lord placed me in the City Construction Department was because of that triangular roof.

If he finds out they can make the same thing without me, it’ll be much easier for me to get fired.

“Is the work at the City Construction Department manageable?”

Just as I was hoping to get fired as soon as possible, the lord suddenly asked.

I didn’t like the silence, but I liked being spoken to even less.

“Yes. It’s fine.”

“I heard the employees there give you a hard time.”

Looks like Noah Roheim reported it.

“It’s less that they’re hazing me and more that they doubt my abilities. It’s something I can handle, so you don’t need to worry.”

If the lord intervened, it might ruin my plan to get fired as soon as possible, so I emphasized that everything was fine.

“They said it was your first time working, yet you speak like someone with years of experience.”

“I-Is that so?”

I hadn’t really thought before speaking, but it must have shown too much.

I’ll have to be more careful from now on.

‘More importantly, how am I supposed to enjoy this cozy carriage date?’

It’s not like I’m supposed to act like real lovers and be affectionate or have intimate conversations.

Up until now, the quests were related to architecture, so why did something like this suddenly appear?

“Have you lived in the hunter’s village your whole life, from birth until now?”

As I was thinking about the intent of the quest, he suddenly started interrogating me.

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t you step forward until now?”

“Pardon? What do you mean…?”

“The rainy season. There’s been damage every year, including last year and the year before. Why did you stay quiet all that time and only act now?”

Well, that’s because I only just possessed this world.

The words rolled around in my mouth, but I couldn’t say them.

Even if I did, there was no way he would believe me.

“I tried to stop it a few times before, but I failed each time. This time, I just got lucky. Yes, it was all luck.”

Up until now, I hated it most when people dismissed my abilities as mere luck, but with this person, I desperately hoped he would believe exactly that.

“Luck is also a kind of skill.”

“Haha, is that so?”

I’ve felt it before, but this person is strangely generous in unexpected ways.

“I hope your luck continues to work when you’re in the City Construction Department.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll do my best.”

I couldn’t say that I had no intention of continuing to work, so I gave a vague answer.

At that, the lord’s straight lips curved slightly upward.

What—he can smile like that?

[Surprise Quest Completed!]
[You will receive 3,000 points as a reward!]

Suddenly, a quest completion notification popped up before my eyes.

This counts as success? What’s the criteria?

It was absurd, but it’s not like I could get an answer even if I questioned it.

More importantly, I wasn’t losing anything, so I decided to let it go.

“Did you finish separating the blueprints?”

The next day, as soon as I arrived at work, Toma Harens called me over and asked.

“Yes. Here they are.”

I placed the box of blueprints on his desk.

Toma Harens looked at me as if he couldn’t believe it.

“What are you doing? I clearly told you to separate the approved blueprints from the rejected ones.”

“They’re all rejected, so I didn’t separate them.”

He must have given me only rejected blueprints to mess with me and told me to sort them, so he was probably surprised that I figured it out.

If he acknowledged me for that, the main quest would be completed as well.

“Hah, that’s an amusing thing to say.”

As I was thinking about what equipment to buy with the points I had gathered so far, Toma Harens scoffed.

“So you don’t know anything, and decided to just claim everything is wrong?”

That meant there were approved blueprints among them.

That surprised me even more, and I widened my eyes. I checked several times, but no matter how I looked at it, there wasn’t a single one that deserved approval.

“Which ones are approved?”

When I asked out of genuine curiosity, Toma Harens pulled out four sheets from the stack.

“These.”

I looked over the blueprints he handed me again.

How could these possibly be approved?

Even after rubbing my eyes and checking again, I couldn’t understand it.

“This blueprint has a foundation that’s far too thin. If it rains and the ground sinks even a little, the entire building will tilt. And this one—the spacing between the pillars makes no sense. If it’s this wide, it’ll never be able to support the weight of the upper floor.”

I pointed out the flaws one by one.

Toma Harens’ face flushed red and blue.

“What does a newbie who just got here think he knows, spouting nonsense like that?”

“Don’t step out of line when you don’t even have experience. Just do as you’re told.”

Whether in novels or in reality, incompetent superiors say the same things to protect their pride.

I had planned to act incompetent to get fired, but seeing truly incompetent people made my blood boil.

This really isn’t something I can keep up.

“Even I, as a newbie, can see what’s wrong, yet a team leader with so much experience couldn’t notice. That’s quite unfortunate.”

The real-life ‘Han Seona’ had to endure things no matter how humiliating to keep her job, but ‘Aileen’ in this novel had no reason to do that.

“And since we’re on the topic, I noticed yesterday on my way home that quite a few buildings had triangular roofs installed.”

The moment I brought it up, Toma Harens’ face visibly stiffened.

It was exactly the expression of a guilty person.

“It seems someone copied the triangular roof I made… Could it have been you, Team Leader?”

Bang—

“Who are you calling a copycat!”

Toma Harens slammed the desk and shot to his feet.

“I analyzed it myself and made it. It’s far better than what you made!”

“That’s what we call copying.”

“I said it’s not!”

Anyone could see that it was, yet he stubbornly denied it, which was ridiculous.

“I didn’t think you’d be someone this impossible to reason with. I almost feel sorry for the employees working under someone like you.”

Before I could even finish speaking, I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

They probably thought the same as me but couldn’t say it out loud.

“My word is law here! If you don’t like my way, then leave right now!”

“Why should I? If you don’t like me, fire me yourself.”

“Y-you…!”

Toma Harens glared at me with bloodshot eyes but couldn’t continue speaking.

It was obvious he wanted to fire me right away but couldn’t because of the lord, which made it almost amusing.

“You’re not going to fire me?”

When I provoked him, Toma Harens threw the blueprints at my face.

“Get out of my sight right now!”

Ah, I failed to get fired again.

“I’ll take that as permission to leave early. I’ll be heading out now. See you next week, Team Leader.”

I gave a slight bow, grabbed my bag, and left the office.

“That crazy woman…!”

“Please calm down, Team Leader.”

Toma Harens’ roaring voice sounded incredibly sweet to me, as if it was telling me that the day I’d finally get fired wasn’t far off.