When she opened her eyes wide and showed an unusual appearance, such as giggling and covering her mouth and laughing by herself, the merchant made a reluctant expression and forced a smile.

“Haha, isn’t that what markets are about? Items with excellent effects are traded like this in the underground market.”
“I really want to buy it. How much is it?”

The merchant silently turned the cake box to show the price tag. No less than 10,000 gold… But she had already spent a lot of money in the secret shop. Sylvia’s mouth opened at a high price.

“Ah… It’s too expensive.”
“Are you not going to buy it? Then I’ll dispose of it immediately…”

Sylvia hurriedly stopped him when the merchant raised the cake box high as if he would smash it right now.

“I’ll buy it! I’m buying it. Who said I wasn’t? You’re in a hurry, aren’t you?! Give it to me right now.”
“You made an excellent choice. Dear customer.”

Sylvia quickly handed him the payment and took it from the merchant’s hands, just in case he would smash the cake. Saying a rough goodbye and taking short and quick steps to go home, she did not notice that the merchant smiled wryly.

After spending 10,000 more gold, she had 28,000 gold left in possession. She thought she was spending a little too much, but she consoled herself, saying that it was okay because it was an expenditure for the future. The 〈Growth Accelerator〉 was an item that she wouldn’t be able to buy for a while because it was 1 million gold, so she couldn’t believe she got an item similar to it. It was a great profit.

Sylvia hummed a song and went through the gate-like entrance. The entrance sucked in Sylvia like a vacuum cleaner and spit her out into the game world. Because of her sudden popping out of a hole, the cat in the alley meowed and ran away in shock.

Calling Limbo with the key, she arrived at the house in an instant.

“Sevis! I’m here!”
“… You’re back.”

Sevis greeted her powerlessly. He was sitting on the sofa with a gloomy face and a conical hat. There was a small, dried carrot cake on the table, that had perhaps been bought in a hurry on the closing sale, and it was about to crumble due to the cheap candles having been forced into it. Feeling as if she were about to burst into tears as soon as she saw it, she walked over to Sevis, feeling like she was an incapable head of the family.

“Sevis, what’s wrong? Did you play a lot today?”
“Play? I cleaned up, put on a visor and dug up some mugwort in the front garden, and went to the market to sell it… I don’t think I should play around if I want to escape from this damn house… This carrot cake was bought for cheap at the market bakery, but it must have expired. It tastes weird.”

Sevis smiled weakly. As he raised the corners of his mouth, she could see that his lips were cracked like drought-ravaged rice paddies. And digging up mugwort; what miserable thing to do when it was his birthday.

Naturally wiping the tears of her eyes, she decided to surprise Sevis. She said, ‘I see…’ as she sneaked into the kitchen, then watched out for him as she carefully took out the cake box from her inventory.

When she opened her inventory, there was an ominous item called 〈One Step Closer to Being an Adult! … Cake Box〉 with ‘…’ in the middle of the name, but she didn’t notice that and placed the candles in it with a happy face.

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Sevis. Happy birthday to you!”

After lighting the candles with a match and carrying the cake across the room while singing happy birthday, Sevis’ eyes widened in surprise.

“Miss Sylvia! How did you know it was my birthday?”
“Ahem, well… I know everything! Anyway, happy birthday! Now, you have to make a wish while blowing out the candles.”

Sylvia held out the cake before Sevis’ eyes. Of course, she had other thoughts in her mind. Finally… he would finally become an adult.

‘How long I’ve been waiting for this day!’

Sevis looked at Sylvia’s sparkling eyes for a moment with a moved expression and smiled faintly.

“Thank you! Fuu—”
“Wow!”
“Neigh!”

Suddenly, Limbo, who was sleeping on the horse’s cushion, also woke up and approached them. Then, it celebrated Sevis’ birthday with them, clashing its hooves into each other.
The moment Sevis blew out all the candles, Sylvia put her hands together with a burst of emotion.

After a moment of awkwardness, the message she had been waiting for finally appeared.

———————————————

[With the effect of 〈One Step Closer to Being an Adult! … Cake Box〉, Sevis’ body has aged to 19.111111… years. Congratulations.]

———————————————

‘Wow! … Wow… Huh? I think I just saw something wrong. Did the system make a mistake?’

Sylvia, who was cheering inwardly, tilted her head. On top of that, Sevis, who was in front of her, seemed to have only grown microscopically, let alone become an adult. She wondered if his body and mind had become mature, but didn’t the Black Wolf Tribe change significantly when they reached adulthood? That was impossible.

‘No way… Let me open the record window again.’

While Sevis, who had blown out all the candles, went to grab some plates, Sylvia tore her fingernails in nervousness and opened the record window.

‘This can’t be happening; something must be wrong… Huh?’

19.111111… years? Sylvia rubbed her eyes several times at the unbelievable reality, closing and opening the record window repeatedly. Suddenly, cold sweat was dripping down her back.

She couldn’t believe that the cake she had bought for 10,000 gold, which wasn’t a small amount, was making fun of her. She could not believe it. Come to think of it, she was so excited about the ageing cake that she didn’t properly check the item. After opening the record window and clicking on the detailed description of the item she had used, Sylvia was stunned.

———————————————

[〈One Step Closer to Being an Adult! … Cake Box〉
– You were one step closer to being an adult! But you didn’t become one. What a waste of cake.]

———————————————

So the merchant outside the game world deceived her! She could not believe it. No, in fact, it was ambiguous to say that she was deceived. It was her fault for not checking properly…
Sylvia stood there blankly, then suddenly slumped to the floor.

‘My 10,000 gold… 10,000… What should I do!’

Sevis, who had brought plates and forks, crouched and made eye contact with her as she sat there out of her mind.

“Miss Sylvia, what’s wrong?”
“Ah… Sevis, that’s…”

What should she say to Sevis? The cake she bought because she wanted him to become an adult and was blinded by desire turned out to be fake? So she just threw away 10,000 gold?
Sylvia’s eyes dimmed at the dismal, inexplicable situation. Sevis gazed at his master, who had completely gone crazy, then anxiously patted her on the shoulder.

“Miss Sylvia! Get yourself together! Did something happen?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing, Sevis… Yeah, that’s right. I have… I have a gift for you.”

It was Sevis’ birthday, so she shouldn’t be like this. She shook her head and tried to come to her senses before pulling out a gift package from her shopping bag. They were toys that she had bought at the pet cafe during the day.

Since she already had that damn cake, she decided to put the two slices of cake she bought at the same time in the fridge. As she held out the gift package, Sevis opened it and smiled warmly with a moved face.

“Wow! Thank you, Miss Sylvia.”
“Y-yeah… Until you’re an adult… Ahem… Play with it until you reach adulthood.”

Feeling tears in her eyes as she uttered the word ‘adult’, Sylvia quickly took a deep breath. Adding insult to injury, a quest failure message popped up and disappeared in a situation where she already felt she was about to cry. It was a message that made an infinite sense of reverence rise, but she just felt like she was digging into the ground because she was not reverent.

‘I failed a game quest for the first time and also lost money. I really am the worst.’

Sylvia’s expression began to worsen. Seeing Sevis looking at her anxiously for a moment, she tried to give a calm smile. He tilted his head.

“What’s really going on? You don’t look very well. Don’t hide it. Tell me.”
“It’s nothing, really… It’s nothing…”
“Miss Sylvia.”

Sylvia flinched at Sevis’ resolute expression. Even on his birthday, Sevis himself had made money by digging up mugwort, so it would be crazy to know that his master had spent money like water.
However, she didn’t know if he would be angry if she let it go now and then later he discovered that they had lost money. Sylvia, who had only lived with him for a month and had a lot of affection for him, did not want to be hated by him, so she decided to confess that she had spent the money.

If he had become an adult, as she originally intended, she was going to say with excitement that she had been able to obtain such a mysterious item. But since she bought it without asking about it properly and only wasted money, she couldn’t say anything.

“The truth is…”

After a moment of hesitation, she honestly told him about the cake. Leaving out the part about her own desire, she said that she bought the cake because she sincerely wanted him to become an adult and had been scammed. She then closed her eyes tightly. However, there was no response even after a moment passed. When she opened her eyes and looked forward, Sevis’ expression was strange.

‘Is he angry after all? What should I do?’

Sylvia bit her lips to hold back her tears and looked at Sevis, but he suddenly let out a sigh and hugged her unannounced.

“Uh… Sevis…”
“Ahh… I was wondering what it was. Miss Sylvia, I don’t care at all, so don’t cry.”
“Huh…?”

Only then did Sylvia realize that she was crying. Recognizing this, she cried out, overwhelmed by sorrow. She wasn’t a child, she wasn’t supposed to cry in front of Sevis. After living in poverty for a month, the shock of blowing 10,000 gold unreasonably hit her harder than she thought, so her tears didn’t stop easily.

In addition to that, she failed a quest for the first time in the game she had been playing so well. When Sevis, whom she thought was going to be angry, comforted her, tears welled up even more as she felt relieved.

“I’m really happy you thought of spending such a large amount of money because of me. And that’s a relief. It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s not a big deal… I blew up the money we gathered perseveringly. I’m an idiot. Sob, sob…”
“It’s no big deal because we can gather it again. There will be more dungeons in the future, and then you’ll know that what happened right now was nothing.”

Her tears gradually stopped with Sevis’ comfort. Sevis took a tissue and wiped her teary face clean. He then cut a slice of cake and put it in her mouth.
Silently, Sylvia ate it like a baby bird. Next to her, Limbo also enjoyed the cake, and the terrible 10,000 gold cake incident ended as an unexpected event thanks to Sevis’ warm consolation.

After finishing washing the dishes after the birthday party, Sevis handed warmed milk to Sylvia.

“Miss Sylvia, you have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Why? … Ah! That’s right. Did you hear back from the captain of the shrimp-catching boat?”

Sevis nodded at Sylvia’s question. He said he had talked to the shrimp boat captain and that she could get on the boat right away tomorrow. Sylvia, who had originally planned to leave Sevis behind as he would be an interference in her attack on Luca, was so moved by his firm appearance that she promised to take him with her.

And it was now late at night, so it was time to sleep. Thanks to Sevis lovingly holding her hand as they lay on the bed together, Sylvia was able to fall into deep sleep with a comfortable expression.

–