Chapter 11: Event Card!
The morning sunlight gently pierced through the gaps in the curtains, sprinkling into the quiet corners of the room.
It was that time again, the wake-up call most students dreaded.
Annie Leonhart was slowly woken by the alarm clock behind her.
Looking at the still soundly asleep Luke, she carefully slipped out of his embrace, gently freeing the hair pinned beneath her head.
She turned off the noisy alarm.
Although she really wanted to lie in the warm bed a little longer, time didn't quite permit it.
She gently shook Luke with her hand, her voice soft, "Time to get up."
Birds chirped merrily from the treetops.
The window, opened sometime during the night, let in a fresh breeze that rustled the leaves with a soft swish-swish sound.
Everything seemed so cheerful.
Only the groggy Luke, finally opening his eyes under Annie's persistent calls, seemed less than happy.
Looking at the blonde girl so close, he could even smell the faint fragrance coming from her. Rubbing his sleepy eyelids, he tried to stall.
"Mm, I'm getting up."
After saying that, he closed his eyes again, savoring the gentle breeze blowing in from the window.
Every time he had to get up for school, the bed always felt so comfortable it was hard to leave.
His body would feel as soft as the cotton inside the quilt.
Seeing Luke, who claimed he was getting up but still had his eyes closed with an enjoying smile on his lips, Annie wasn't surprised.
She skillfully grabbed clothes from the shelf one by one and tossed them like darts onto his face, piling them up.
After being suffocated under the clothes pile for a moment, Luke helplessly pulled his head out, forcing himself to get dressed, his mind repeatedly drifting towards the upcoming weekend holiday.
"Sigh! Life is so hard."
Annie picked up the prepared underwear and comforted him, "It's almost the weekend. You can rest then."
"Mm." Luke sat slumped on the bed, listlessly tilting his neck, looking at the blonde girl's beautiful body.
Annie slowly got dressed, her movements still calm and unhurried under the boy's gaze, each step appearing methodical.
Luke started getting dressed too.
Once dressed, she took out her phone, her fingers tapping lightly on it. "I transferred back the money you sent me yesterday."
"Oh."
After a while, he finished dressing, and the transfer arrived.
Luke stared at the panel, looking at his mission log.
525000/500000
Mission Complete!
[Notification]: [Life Mission]: Labor creates life's value. Earn 500,000 yen through work (525000/500000) Completed. You have received a reward: Event Card!
[Event Card]: When you obtain this item, a brand new challenge is approaching. Please follow the item's guidance to the destination within the specified time.
Note: Succeeding in the challenge will grant rich rewards; if you wish to abandon the challenge, you can destroy this item to signify ending the challenge.
Countdown: 2:00:00.
He hadn't expected that asking Annie to assign him a simple job, which he then completed, would actually count towards the mission progress.
What a pleasant surprise.
However, the reward for completing the mission, the [Event Card], actually had a time limit, and he didn't even know the challenge content.
How troublesome.
This was the first time he'd encountered such a situation.
Luke thought for a moment.
Since he couldn't determine if the challenge involved evil spirits, it was probably best to bring all his equipment just in case.
He continued browsing the system, checking for the latest mission.
Every time a life mission was completed, the system would issue a new one, never giving him a break.
Furthermore, he wasn't allowed to actively abandon the issued missions.
Only if he failed to complete a life mission for too long would the system replace it with another one.
[Notification]: You have received a new [Life Mission]: As a top figure in the exorcism industry, you need an event to prove your outstanding abilities. Solve a Ghost God incident alone: 0/1.
Hmm?
He carefully read the mission description again: Solve a Ghost God incident?
The corners of his mouth involuntarily drooped.
The mission requirement he was seeing now felt like the system was intentionally trying to trouble him.
Asking him to challenge a Ghost God all by himself?
It was uncertain who would be solving whom.
Compared to an evil spirit that could be called a Ghost God, what kind of small fry was he?
Luke speechlessly closed the panel.
This stupid system, having it was truly his blessing/misfortune.
It looked like this mission would most probably fail.
"Mikasa, help me get my treasure chest out, I need to use it today!"
Luke walked out of the bedroom, calling for the black-haired beauty.
"Okay," Mikasa responded.
...
"Yumiko, time for breakfast—!"
"Coming! Mom!" Miura Yumiko sat at her vanity table, carefully applying mascara.
As the central figure of the top normie group in her class, she naturally accepted the favor/support of others.
But as the queen, she still needed to show her beautiful side to her subjects/friends.
She put in a lot of effort for this, for example: waking up early every day to put on makeup.
Putting away her cosmetics, Miura Yumiko looked at herself in the mirror with satisfaction.
Still beautiful today, nothing needed adjusting.
She stood up, grabbed her school bag and phone, and glanced at the time.
"Ah—! I'm going to be late!"
She glanced at the intact talisman on the door lintel, muttering something about 'settling scores with Luke after school,' and ran out of the room.
"Every day is like fleeing a disaster." Miura-san (mother) sat in her chair, watching her darting daughter, sighing speechlessly.
"Every morning when I wake you up, you whine about being sleepy, and then you still have to put on makeup, even though you're cute without it~~~."
"Oh, Mom! Stop nagging! I'm leaving now!" Miura Yumiko sat near the entryway, a piece of bread dangling from her mouth, quickly putting on her jacket and stuffing her feet, clad in black mid-calf socks, into her shoes.
"Sigh! Youth is wonderful. Unlike me, I get sleepy again just a little while after waking up. Time for another nap." Miura-san (mother) yawned and headed towards her own bedroom.
Miura Yumiko stomped her foot speechlessly.
Comparisons are infuriating.
"Miura Yumiko."
Just as she was about to leave, Miura Yumiko inexplicably heard someone call her name.
She whipped her head around, calling out uncertainly, "Mom, did you call me?"
But her mother was no longer in the living room.
"Strange." Miura Yumiko took a puzzled bite of her bread, pushed open the front door, and began her race against time.
Back in her bedroom, having just lain down to rest, Miura-san (mother) saw the perfectly fine talisman on her own door lintel.
"Oh dear! I forgot to check!"
She remembered she needed to check if the talismans in the other rooms were okay.
Wearing slippers, she went to Miura Yumiko's bedroom and couldn't help but wrinkle her nose slightly.
"What's that smell?"
She detected a burnt odor in the air. Miura-san (mother) looked up at the lintel of Miura Yumiko's bedroom door.
The talisman there was conspicuously missing.
So, she lowered her head.
A small pile of burnt paper ash, and a section of the carpet scorched by high heat.
Seeing this, she frantically picked up her phone.
...
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