Love or Work? Countryhumans x Reader

15. First quest, completed!

A/n: Currently on my knees for China- 

Ehem, you saw nothing. Translations are at the bottom btw

♡ ~ —•✧•— ~ ♡

This time, you were successful in baking rye bread, but it wasn't for the country you originally intended it to be, in fact, it was for Estonia, and she seemed to be way more mature than Latvia. "I wonder if she'll be willing to ask about that strategy for me..." You muttered as you cut the loaf of newly-cooked bread in half, one was for making rye bread soup in hopes that Latvia would be awake to eat it, the other was for Estonia. It took about 30 minutes to finish the bread soup before you approach the young country.

"Hey, Estonia, is your sister Latvia awake?" You asked, fully gaining the young female's attention. She quirked her eyebrow and looked at you, confused. After completely swallowing her bread, she spoke up. 

"Yeah, I think she is, I just saw her out in the hallway on my way here, why?" Putting up your best act, you smiled and answered the confused kid.

"I thought you won't be able to finish the entire bread loaf, so I made bread soup, Latvia likes those, doesn't she?" Estonia only nodded while continuing to eat her bread, after a few seconds she spoke again.

"Well, Latvi' should be up in our room..." You muttered a small thanks and headed out of the kitchen, a bowl of bread soup staying firm in your hands.

Walking and climbing the stairs took a bit before you eventually reached Latvia's room. Your hand rose to knock on the wooden door, only for the said door to burst open unexpectedly. The sudden door movement caused you to flinch and back away a bit. Quickly regaining your composure, you saw a sleepy Latvia widening her eyes at you. 

"...? Why are you here L/n...?" Before you could speak, she had already pushed you out, mumbling lightly, "Please go to sleep..." And she closed the door, a 'click' sound quickly followed. Groaning, you walked away, muttering about how you chose that specific quest in a row of a bunch of quests.

Walking back down the corridor, you were shaking your head profusely as you travel back to your room when suddenly, a strong force pulled you into a room nearby as a hand went up to shush your mouth that was about to shout out loud.

A soft yet annoyed voice whispered close to your ear as the hand slowly got removed from your mouth, "Hey, shush, there's a traitor who's murdering everyone out there, surely you wouldn't want to be targeted?" Turning your head around, you were met with a younger and shorter-haired version of China, who, still looked like a female. But apart from those things, you were curious as to why he decided to save you, since North Korea had said that he will only show 'kindness' to those he deemed profitable. 'Maybe he's different in the past?' you thought while locking your eyes on his.

As for China, he looked at you for a minute, then smiled satisfyingly, "Eh?~ You're looking at me, do you like me? 那真甜~" You could only shake your head at his claim and turn your attention back to your current situation, you haven't obtained the discarded strategy, and there's a traitor-killer on the loose, were you going to die here? If you do die, would you be gone forever or do you get teleported back to the original timeline? A bunch of questions swarmed your mind as you gaze at the door, the risk you were taking was pretty high. China took notice of your wistful look, but he said nothing.

"You know, all jokes aside, I will protect you if that traitor targets you... After all, what good can I do for my country if I can't even keep an innocent person safe?" You did not budge, but at least he was genuine about keeping you safe. Then, a thought crossed your mind, carefully, you turn back to the Chinese and ask.

"Hey, what-what about Sir Soviet's siblings? Shouldn't you ensure their safety first?" China looked at you with a serious expression, and grabbed your hand, pulling you to a random bookshelf as he speaks.

"They're safe, and now that you mention them, I just remembered that there's a secret path to the underground base in this room, let's go." And with that, he pulled out a book as the shelf moved itself, revealing a secret tunnel, without a word, China pulled you along with him.

'I wonder why he pulled me along' You thought while the male in front of you dragged you left and right through what seemed like a very confusing underground system. 

"Why'd you made me come along? I'm just a butler, I'm no use for fighting." China scoffed quietly.

"I did say I'll keep you safe, no? No use in taking back my words. But, Soviet also specifically requested me to get you to him somehow, so better do it now." You could only stay silent as you thought about the union and his weirdly specific request, 'What's with the everything-must-involve-me stuff? Oh wait, I'm the protagonist, great'

After what seemed like forever, the male finally stopped in front of a door, as he pushed it open, a bullet was sent flying straight to your face, it only left a scratch, gladly. "Aha... Stop shooting randomly, will you, Vietnam?" China sighed, "Shorties never learn..."

A moment of silence...

"E x c u s e  m e ?" Spoke Vietnam, he was glaring at China, who only smirked back. Then, all it took for them to quit the nonsense was simply an intended cough from Soviet. Who then turned to you not so long after.

"L/n, glad to see that you are safe, I hope you've brought the Nazis' strategy map as I asked you to?" You stood and gazed at him for a good minute before muttering out a tiny 'When..?' Which successfully earned a sigh from the Soviet as he stepped closer to you and snatched a random notebook that apparently, was hidden inside your jacket.

"Here it is, thanks for acting oblivious even if you're talking to me," USSR and the others went silent as they studied the map, "You know, Russia said that you were interested in our discarded strategy, so I had Bel brought it along, he's in the other room, go get it if you want to, also, watch my siblings for me." You nodded at Soviet Union and waved goodbye to the others, which earned you a smile from China, a scoff from North Korea, a wave back from Vietnam and Cuba, and a slight nod from Russia, as for Soviet, he didn't even notice you waving.

And so you walked into the other room, greeted the young countries and finally obtained your quest's item, "So all that work making bread for Latvia was useless..." you mumbled bitterly as a 'ding' played in your head. With that, you became unconscious again.

.

.

"嘿, you okay?" A familiar voice asked as you slowly but surely start to open your eyes. Right in front of you was China, bending down and looking at you, face straight. You gave him a subtle nod as you try to stand up, your head was hurting like hell, and your legs felt numb, so, you fell down. Lucky for you, the Chinese had quick reflexes and was kind enough to catch you from falling, "当心, you just banged your head to the floor during meeting an hour ago, I guess you haven't recovered." He then laid you down on a nearby sofa and left, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

'I can't believe I just finished that first quest, eh, time to sleep again, my head is spinning...' you thought.

♡ ~ —•✧•— ~ ♡

Translations: 

那真甜: That's so sweet

嘿: Hey

当心: Be careful

Information and Quests

Love Interests unlocked: 27(+0)

Quest points: 1

Next quest milestone: 10 points

Routes unlocked: 0