I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Raise With In-app Purchases – 16

EP.16 Rebecca (2)

“Suuu~haa…!”

After opening her eyes at the waterfall late at night, Rebecca immediately returned to her quarters.

The academy staff housing was incredibly spacious and provided a comfortable environment.

She entered her quarters with familiarity, spread out a mat, and sat cross-legged to breathe.

“Suuu~haa…!”

The special breathing technique of the royal family that her father had taught her since childhood.

Rebecca would habitually practice it whenever she felt lonely or had nothing in particular to do.

It would calm her mind and slightly quell the raging flames of her desire for revenge.

“Has it already been 6 years?”

It had been 6 years since she started working as a staff member at the academy.

However, this year was a bit special for her.

Had it not been for the severe injury she suffered that day, she would have continued to serve in the military, marking exactly 10 years today.

‘It took 6 years just to heal the wounds.’

She recalled the days of frustration when she saw her skills not improving but rather regressing.

Rehabilitation training was much harder and more exhausting than the training she had undergone as a student.

After all, training to regain lost strength and training for growth naturally require a different mindset.

It was a tough journey, and she never imagined it would require a full 6 years.

‘Let’s just do this until the end of this year.’

Although she hadn’t grown stronger than she was 6 years ago, she had succeeded in regaining her past strength.

For Rebecca, that alone was reason enough to return to the battlefield in the contaminated zone.

She needed to quickly make a comeback, achieve meritorious deeds, and propose to the nation to purify the desert kingdom.

The stronger she was and the more merits she accumulated, the less the nation could ignore Rebecca’s requests.

‘I’m already much delayed.’

Of course, that doesn’t mean she’s giving up.

She could never abandon the reconstruction of the desert kingdom.

Forced to flee the kingdom in a rush, the people of her kingdom were scattered to the winds.

‘Just wait a little longer. I will definitely succeed and come to get you!’

To gather them again and return to the desert kingdom, she could never give up on her return.

She would achieve merits and reclaim the desert.

That was Rebecca’s lifelong goal and a deep-seated mission she had to accomplish.

“I need to find a way to grow in the remaining year…”

Her current skills weren’t bad, but she harbored a strong desire to return to the military with improved abilities, as the saying goes, ‘If you’re going to pay the same price, you might as well get a red skirt.’

However, even practicing the breathing technique her father taught her wouldn’t enhance her skills, and no matter how hard she trained, her body, which had reached its limits, wouldn’t grow further.

“Academy training… won’t cut it.”

She was willing to do anything to improve her skills.

But the academy preferred methods that safely nurtured and protected the students.

‘What I need now is real combat experience. To regain all my former senses.’

Even though her physical abilities might have returned to their former state, her combat instincts had not yet fully revived.

‘There’s no way to regain combat instincts at the academy.’

The real combat she spoke of was the life-threatening battles in the contaminated zones.

If there was a way to loosen up her body…

“Is there a teacher capable of a duel?”

The only option was to engage in one-on-one duels with another person.

Rebecca began to plan how to spend the remaining semester, recalling the list of teachers, convinced that combat experience was the only thing she needed to grow.

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After drawing second guaranteed SSR at the Waterfall of Fortune, a character named Rebecca, who seemed more communicative than the previous one, was summoned.

The situation wasn’t bad.

Wasn’t she a character that didn’t necessarily need to be drawn anew?

Although I did possess Fran’s unique equipment…

‘What can you expect from a penniless church? They’re bound to try and take it by force.’

So, it was really fortunate for me that I drew Rebecca.

Moreover, I remembered Rebecca’s scenario quite in detail.

‘If you ask her to buy the unique equipment, she’ll never be able to refuse. She’s someone who would do anything to grow stronger.’

Even if it was high heels sold by a suspicious man, she would probably buy them.

‘I wonder if Rebecca will show a desire to own them immediately with the high heels, just like Shine did.’

It wasn’t possible to generalize based on Shine’s case alone.

After carefully observing Rebecca’s reaction, I decided to think about how to approach her with Fran’s unique equipment, the ‘relic’.

“The problem is how to approach Rebecca.”

If I’m not careful, she might hand me over to the guards as a suspicious person.

What are the chances that a woman would joyfully say yes if a strange man like me suddenly offered her high heels and asked if she wanted to buy them?

So, it was crucial to see how Rebecca would react when she saw her unique equipment.

“If Shine was here, I could have asked her to introduce me to Rebecca.”

The easiest way would have been to ask Shine to create a connection with Rebecca, but since she had been gone to the contaminated zone for a while, I couldn’t ask her.

She’s probably out there now, tirelessly working in the life-threatening contaminated zone.

“Should I just wait in front of the academy?”

It was a brute-force method I used with Shine, but it was undeniably effective.

If I waited persistently, wouldn’t Rebecca eventually come out through the academy gates?

However, this method takes too much time, and waiting aimlessly is not easy.

It requires minimizing eating, sleeping, and other activities, focusing all attention in front of the academy gates.

‘I have to kill my presence so as not to arouse suspicion from the guards at the academy’s main gate.’

I had promised myself never to do this again after waiting for Shine, but it wasn’t long before I found myself considering it again.

‘Fran shouldn’t have come out.’

If it had been another proper student instead of Fran, I could have sold the unique equipment to that student and naturally created a connection with Rebecca.

But everything got messed up because the person who should have been the intermediary turned out to be Fran.

I couldn’t help but frown at the renewed frustration with Fran when…

– Knock, knock, knock –

“Excuse me…”

“?”

Someone entered my general store.

It was strange for an ordinary customer to visit my store, so as I watched the door, something white flitted through the cautiously opened door.

‘Is that Fran?’

Who else could it be, flaunting their presence with white hair fluttering, if not Fran?

No fisherman would be unhappy when a fish that had been circling the bait finally bites.

I didn’t rush Fran, waiting nonchalantly as if uninterested until she entered.

“…It’s scary. Why do you live in such a dark and gloomy place? Who would enter a shop like this.”

Hey, miss. I can hear everything.

She muttered to herself, but I have good hearing, so I could hear all the badmouthing.

“Hey, if you’re going to come in, come in, if not, then don’t. If you keep the door open, mosquitoes will get in.”

I have a new item in my general store, and it’s a sachet that repels insects.

If you hang a sachet that smells like mosquito incense in a pouch or something, mosquitoes won’t come near because of the smell.

‘Mercenaries’ essential item, indeed.’

For mercenaries who mostly operate in forest, it was an indispensable favorite item, and having retired from mercenary work, I thought I wouldn’t need it anymore, but I ended up buying it again.

In everyday life, mosquitoes are tirelessly buzzing around trying to suck my blood, so it couldn’t be helped.

“I’m, I’m sorry!”

Fran hurriedly closed the door and came inside.

For some reason, even though she was the one who came looking for me, she seemed eager to leave the store already.

As far as I remember, I treated her quite gentlemanly, so it was strange.

“Are you a customer? Do you have business with me?”

“A c-customer?”

“Is that so?”

She didn’t look like a customer, but since she insisted she was one, I decided to let it be.

“Then go ahead and pick out what you want.”

“Y-yes!”

Anyone would think I had kidnapped her or something.

Fran, not living up to her nickname, looked extremely nervous as she carefully examined my store.

Of course, since she had business with me, it was obvious she was just pretending to look.

‘So, she wasn’t completely uninterested in me…’

I could feel her glancing over at me now and then.

After all, it’s a relic we’re talking about, there’s no way she could not be interested in me.

She might think I’m lying, but she couldn’t ignore the slight possibility that it could be true.

What if I actually had a real relic?

‘But still, it’s not time yet. If I show the relic too easily, the church will surely come and raid my general store.’

I couldn’t stand to see my general store trampled by those frauds.

However, if I pushed too hard, Fran might conclude that the relic story is definitely a lie and lose interest.

“Did you come looking for the relic?”

“Pff!”

I planned to keep her on tenterhooks until she was dying of curiosity, then gradually reveal information about the relic.

Just enough to keep her interest from fading completely.

“Do you remember me?”

“Of course. It’s not easy to forget a face like yours, is it?”

“I thought you had forgotten me since you didn’t acknowledge me and haven’t been to the square since that day.”

Fran wrapped herself up tightly as she spoke.

It seems she hadn’t come looking for me until now, but it wasn’t that she had no interest at all.

She must have thought I would show up in the square again and waited there for her.

“Why would I go there if I have no business in the square.”

I’m not like her, someone who frequently goes to the square to preach.

Fran sneakily glanced at me as she approached the counter.

As soon as she got close, she timidly brought up the question she had been curious about.

“About what you said to me that day.”

“What did I say.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You said you knew where our church’s relic is.”

I do know.

It’s in my item inventory right now.