Chapter 71
After the theory of imperialism spread.
I buried myself in thought, clutching my head.
“Anything but a Red Mod.”
I wanted to become the Head Mod, not have my body and mind turn red here.
I worried it might leave me with some strange stigma later, but the Gallery was quieter than expected.
“What the hell? Nobody's mentioning it.”
At first, strange posts started popping up one by one, but now there wasn't even a mention of it.
Phron, which had been going wild over the theory of imperialism in particular, had gone completely quiet—not even uploading posts anymore.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief when there was still no mention of it by the next day.
“Did I beat it?”
I wondered if it might not have had as much of an impact as I'd expected.
Once I'd caught my breath, I began choosing books to sell on the Marketplace.
Of course, I inspected them one by one in the store and chose them myself.
I couldn't let even one strange book get released into circulation.
[Les Misérables] - 10P
“This should do.”
One book I'd found that way.
It was a novel that had been loved by the public for a long time, just as much as the two fairy tales before it.
That's right, it was a novel.
But an easy-to-understand, condensed fairy-tale version had been uploaded under the Fairy Tales category.
It seemed easy to read, containing only Part One—the story of stealing bread, going to prison, becoming a mayor, and Fantine.
“More than anything, the art style is cozy.”
Was it a relatively modern fairy-tale book? The art style was familiar and warm.
Of course, the story itself was pretty devastating.
“Should I sell fewer copies this time?”
Spending points was good.
But the imbalance between the points and mana dumplings I currently had had become a little—no, a lot—too severe.
I could convert points into mana dumplings, but not mana dumplings into points.
No matter how much mana dumplings served as a means of gaining experience, it seemed I needed to be careful.
[Set the quantity for sale to 100.]
So I decided to sell the books in two batches.
“All right, let's do this.”
[New items have been added to the Marketplace!]
I released Les Misérables on the Marketplace.
[Level Up 6 → 7]
[New feature ‘Good Deed Points’ unlocked!]
“Huh?”
A new feature had been unlocked at the same time.
*
[Good Deed Points Level 1]
As a reward for good deeds performed without receiving payment, points will be refunded, with an additional 50% granted.
Gifts received later as tokens of gratitude are excluded from the definition of payment.
Limit: 10,000p/month
Amount refunded so far: 0p
A new feature had opened up.
Unusually, this time it wasn't a feature within the Gallery but a new source of points.
From what I read, it seemed the system would reward me with points for accumulating good deeds...
“What the hell? This is fucking awesome.”
To keep the Gallery running, I'd occasionally given things away for free.
Or sold them at cost, or even cheaper.
The world had ended, so it couldn't be helped.
But now, it could be helped.
The system itself had stepped in and offered to fill that gap.
“It even gives me points?”
And not mana dumplings, but points!
“Let's get this started right now.”
[Strawberry Cream Cake] - 30p
I immediately bought a cake from the store to try out this system.
Then I grabbed the delivered cake and barged straight into Penny's room.
-Bang!
“W-What is it?!”
Penny, who had been lying on the bed, flinched in surprise and curled up.
I thrust the entire cake into Penny's hands.
Penny's eyes grew as round as saucers.
“Enjoy.”
“Huh? Thank you.”
She looked utterly bewildered, but soon broke into a smile as if she'd been given the whole world, reveling in happiness.
Penny especially liked cakes and bread.
I'd heard that there had been nothing to eat outside except monsters, contaminated water, and meat.
Leaving Penny behind, I quietly returned to my room, activated the system, and checked.
[Good deed performed. Refunding 30p.]
[Additionally, 15p has been granted.]
Limit: 30/10,000p
“Woohoo!!!”
All the points I'd spent had come back—no, more than that.
The system is god, and I'm invincible.
I distributed cakes to all my hardworking blue slaves too.
[Head Mod has delivered ‘Strawberry Cream Cake’.]
Full-Health Elf: Cake? Cake!!!
Die-Standing-After-All: Delicious...
Die-Standing-After-All: (Vampire emote unable to continue speaking...)
[Good deed performed. Refunding 60p.]
[Additionally, 30p has been granted.]
Your good deed has been converted into points.
“I can't contain this joy...”
I spend money, and money comes in.
Now that this insane formula existed, shouldn't I obviously spend even more?
Reveling in my joy, I opened the popular posts.
But a peculiar title caught my eye among them.
[Title: Central Library Opening Announcement]
Author: Lloyd
It's been a while.
We've opened a central library in the Kingdom of Kelliarton.
We're engaged in all sorts of activities, including book donations and lending,
so please show us lots of support.
(Picture of a ruined noble's mansion)
(Picture of the mansion newly transformed into a library)
- Oh, look at this place.
- The exterior is neat. It makes me want to go inside.
- Hmph, it's still way shittier than the Eladrien Library, though.
ㄴ What is this elf-eared bastard?
ㄴ Oh... is this WWE again after all this time?
- But there's already the Apocalypse Gallery Wiki.
- Lol, who's going?
- 137.7.32) (World Tree emote laughing)
It was news that a new library had opened in Kelliarton.
And it quickly drew a great deal of attention.
- Culture? Is that something you eat?
- You eat three meals a day? Are you a noble?
- You enjoy leisure? You fucking bastard?
That was only natural, since this was a post-apocalyptic world.
Food and survival were everything.
The library that appeared in the middle of all that was a truly fresh shock.
“But what books are you going to put in the library?”
The problem was where the library's books would come from.
All that remained were mountains of books burned in the flames of the Great War.
For now, all that was left consisted of historical records, half-burned literary books, and various degraded editions.
- Will people really go?
- I probably won't, lol.
- What kind of library is that? lol You can just buy them on the Marketplace and read them at home.
As expected, people's reaction was lukewarm too.
“Well, I guess we'll see with time.”
But as usual, you couldn't know the results until time had passed.
The library wasn't important right now, anyway.
In the meantime, I decided to make use of the new system I'd acquired.
“What day is it?”
And as luck would have it, the month changed at the end of that week, resetting the limit as well.
I was wondering what to spend 5,000 points on when the Food category suddenly caught my eye.
“Well, when there's nothing else to do, food is the safe bet.”
No matter how much more livable the world had become than before, food was always in short supply.
I entered the Food category and chose the most ordinary baguette.
“Baguettes are the one food that's a safe bet for every species.”
Elves, dwarves, and humans alike all eat bread.
People may differ in their preferences, but it was the most universally acceptable food.
[Baguette] - 3p
“Are these prices fucking insane?”
Of course, inflation had gone insane, and even the cheap baguette I'd barely managed to find cost a whopping 3,000 won.
But since up to 10,000 points was practically free, I immediately bought 3,300 of them.
“This should be enough.”
It wasn't enough compared to the total population, but it was far better than nothing.
I roughly calculated the numbers for each race and opened the Gallery to distribute them among the representatives of each race.
But the Gallery's mood had already changed.
- Fuck, head to the library right now.
- NEVER STOP READING.
- Wait, what the hell? New Marketplace releases are up at the Central Library? Lmao.
- Ah, shit, I failed to win again. Fuck fuck fuck.
“What the—”
The Kelliarton Central Library, which had been deserted after opening, was packed with people after only an hour.
*
Kelliarton Library.
A fallen noble's mansion had been bought and transformed into a library like a work of art.
It was the very mansion where Evelyn had once hidden.
“It would be better to put it to some use than leave it abandoned, right?”
Evelyn gazed at the mansion, now brimming with life, her face filled with pride.
The ducal mansion on the outskirts of the city had since become part of the expanded territory of the Kingdom of Kelliarton.
Moreover, many people were looking for it, all thanks to the Marketplace's new releases.
“Don't push your way in.”
“Keep your place. The Marketplace's new releases are distributed randomly anyway.”
That was because the library had no fewer than 20 of the 100 copies of Les Misérables in its collection.
“I've been waiting since this morning!”
“Please, please let me win this time...”
Les Misérables could be borrowed for a total of five hours.
Even with the restriction that it could only be viewed in designated areas inside the library, its popularity showed no sign of stopping.
It was because the fairy-tale books I'd released earlier had made such a huge impact,
and because the reviews left by those who read Les Misérables were full of praise.
[Popular Post: Holy shit, it's fucking sad...]
Just got back from reading Les Misérables.
I went on a whim and got lucky enough to win.
So I read it... and damn, I couldn't help swearing.
How could they treat someone like that just because he stole one thing?
Even I would have broken down like Jean Valjean and stolen it from there. No, I'm sure of it.
But then, in a real twist, I never expected that person to turn out like that.
And even then he didn't come to his senses, stepped on it, and pretended not to notice, only regretting it later...
This was where I couldn't help letting out a sigh.
How can a fairy-tale book contain all of that?
And what happens to Jean Valjean after that?
I hear the original is a five-part novel...
Ah, I think I'm really going to lose my mind. Fuck fuck.
[Recommendations 5232] [Dislikes 5152]
- The fuck, I'm the one who's going to get a mental illness.
- What the fuck do you mean, “that,” “it,” and “that person”?
- You might as well not say anything. Now I'm fucking curious, lol.
- Just tell us what happened!
ㄴ Don't tell us, fuck! I haven't read it yet!
ㄴ Ah, just spoil it all already!!!
ㄴ ...Let's not use such harsh language.
ㄴ Author) What the fuck do you want me to do?
Because of the spoiler warning, the reviews were filled with vague words like “that” and “this.”
As a result, those who hadn't read it yet were driven nearly mad with curiosity.
And there was one more thing.
Without exception, those who won, read the book, and came out were clutching large bread bags to their chests.
Inside were huge, fragrant baguettes poking out because they were too big for even the bags to contain.
- Ah, lol, you win and they give you bread too?
- Head Mod is god, and Kelliarton is invincible.
The Head Mod had distributed the baguettes for free.
Besides, the fact that bread was what had driven Jean Valjean into tragedy made the atmosphere strangely fitting.
- Is this the bread Jean Valjean stole?
- But I heard they gave this out for free.
ㄴ For real, is Head Mod actually a god?
ㄴ His way of thinking is fundamentally different from ours.
ㄴ What does Head Mod actually do? He must be a solemn, pious saint, judging by appearances, right?
This naturally led to even more praise for Head Mod.
While everyone was writing posts praising Head Mod and getting worked up over literature and bread...
[Good Deed Points have been completely filled.]
[Total additional points awarded so far... 5,000]
“Woohoo!!!”
The Head Mod was cheering at the flood of rewards,
utterly unaware of what was erupting in seemingly quiet Phron.