But I guess the fact that she wasn’t a familiar face was more important to the adventurers here, even if their gazes had been stolen away by her beauty. Some of them even backed away from her a little. She didn’t seem to care, though. She surveyed the room, then began to stare at me. Uh, what do you want? I’m feeling embarrassed. I looked away from her and focused on my drink. Regardless, she walked towards me, and then said the craziest thing I’d heard all day.
“Darling!”
I must’ve misheard her. When did I ever become anyone’s “darling”? All the same, she ran up to me and embraced me, burying my head in her bountiful chest. The soft texture of it was great, but right now I was a lot more confused than I was aroused. I was starting to suffocate, so I pushed her off.
“Get off of me! Who the hell are you?”
“Aw, don’t be like that. Not after that hot night we just shared.”
“Hot night”? What? She must have me confused with someone else... Wait. I used Appraisal. There’s no way...right?
Furuth / Demi-Human (Elf — Spirit Possessed)
HP: 65/65 / MP: 7012/7048 / STR: 57
VIT: 42 / DEX: 2364 / AGI: 56 / INT: 2846
Divine Blessing(s): Spirit Harmony
Titles: Spirit Priestess
Oh, god... She really is the elf from yesterday. But where were her pointy ears? Was she using a magic tool or something to hide them?
“Why are you here?”
“To see you! I told you I was looking forward to meeting you again, didn’t I?”
She did say that. I just hadn’t expected today to be the day. Did she come here to die? Elves entering human settlements was basically suicide. Or maybe I should be the one to kill her, since she had information about me that she shouldn’t have. She had high INT, so it’d be both convenient and delicious.
The people around me were starting to get the gist of what was going on and had begun to stir. As for me, I’d been drawing too much attention as of late. I’d admit that the entire incident with Sister Sensei had been my own fault, but everything else, not so much. Before things got too out of hand, she moved a short distance away from me.
“I only came to say hi real quick. I know you’re not very fond of standing out.” Then don’t do stuff that makes me stand out in the first place. I wasn’t too against standing out if it made people hate me, but I wasn’t really a fan of this kind of situation. “Don’t worry—I only have eyes for you. I’ll do my best to keep my head down.”
Just what did she think I was worrying about? She made it sound like I was one of those annoying, overly possessive guys. Or maybe she was saying that she wouldn’t get involved with any other humans? If that was the case, then if she went missing because I’d killed her, the first person they’d point a finger at would be me.
“I made sure to let my countrymen know where I am, so don’t worry. I send them letters periodically too.”
So she’s told them about me? If she was periodically writing them letters, it’d be suspicious if she suddenly stopped. Once again, I’d be the prime suspect. Even if I killed her and showed everyone here she was an elf, that wouldn’t save me from the wrath of her elven brethren.
Either way, I’d be in trouble. If I was going to commit murder, I didn’t want them to come to suspect me that easily. It’d cause a lot of different problems. Apparently, she’d come here having prepared a lot of different strategies to avoid me killing her. She was a crafty one.
“Then get going already.”
“Sure. Can’t wait to see you again.”
I could tell that she was serious about that. And I had a bad feeling that the next time I saw her, it’d be in my room. I watched as the elf, not paying attention to any of the gazes on her, left the guild.
“Who was that?” the old guy asked me.
For the record, the elf had avoided the old guy entirely. Even an elf meeting him for the first time didn’t like him.
“Don’t pry.”
“Your ex?”
“Somethin’ like that.” Not at all like that. Also, it seemed the word “ex” existed in this world too.
I started thinking back to recent events and how crazy things had gotten. I’d gone to the church yesterday and a god or something or other had tried to probe into me, I’d met a hero who loved virgins, I’d met a Spirit Magic user who was also an elf... Things had been so wild. I might’ve let my guard down too much. If I’d just Appraised everyone when we first met, then maybe I wouldn’t be constantly surprised by them. Then again, I got a feeling that I’d still be surprised regardless. Then again...would it really have hurt to learn a few more details about the people around me?
That was what I’d done when I first came here, but I’d kinda stopped because I’d gotten sick of reading everything. Since then, I’d gotten into the habit of only using Appraisal when I felt it was necessary. Maybe it’d be best if I got used to doing all this reading, though. There was a lot of stuff that I didn’t know about all these people.
Having had this thought, I glanced at the old guy in front of me. I’d yet to use Appraisal on him. I was sure he’d be strong in a fight. This made it all the stranger that nobody thought to take him with them on their jobs. They all seemed to avoid him. Yeah—I’m gonna use Appraisal on him.
But first, I needed to prepare myself. I needed to make sure I didn’t react in any way that’d bring shame to my name as someone who avoided jinxing himself. Judging by how things had gone recently, he might have been a pedophile, or a blade master who’d supposedly died, or a dwarf, or a cursed hero, or the lord of Regin, or the guild master, or the king of some country or other...
I decided to expect his identity to be something unexpected. That way, I wouldn’t be surprised when I learned who he was. No matter what. I would have absolutely no comment on his identity. I’d keep all my reactions inside me. Okay, I’m ready. Let’s do this. Appraisal!
Ighnoa / Demon (? — Chimera Homunculus — Demon 16.66% / Dragonewt 16.66% / Beastkin 16.66% / Elf 16.66% / Dwarf 16.66% / Human 16.66%)
HP: 1200000/1200000 / MP: 7200000/7200000 / STR: 50000
VIT: 50000 / DEX: 50000 / AGI: 50000 / INT: 50000
Divine Blessing(s): Demon King Tier, Sixth Pillar of Divine Punishment
Titles: Current Demon King, Previous Previous Demon King, Most Malevolent Demon King, Incarnation of Despair, Tyrant, Calamity Level Threat, Destroyer, Slaughterer, Annihilator, The Absolute, Demon King Personality, Extremely Savage, Salaryman, Reincarnated, Punished by God, Universally Hated