“I know your secret,” I whispered to her.
❈❈❈
The rest of the appraisal session progressed without incident, and I didn’t meet any other important characters. After my work was done I got rid of Recilia by telling her I wanted to try triggering a certain event which required me to be alone, then made my way to a high-class restaurant on the outskirts of Freelea known as the Wyvern’s Perch. It took me longer than I’d wanted to persuade Recilia to leave me alone, but I still managed to make it before the meeting time I’d written down on the page I’d handed to Lily. Looking around, it seemed she hadn’t arrived yet, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Just then though, I heard a voice call out to me.
“Good evening, Mr. Rex.”
A familiar figure stepped out of the building’s shadow, and even though I’d been expecting her I still gasped in surprise.
“Good evening, Lily Harmonix.”
“Umm... Do you mind telling me what all that was about? What do you mean, you ‘know my secret?’”
“Hm? Oh yeah, sorry I guess that sounded like a threat.”
In my time playing BB, Lily had been the character who’d tugged at my heartstrings the most, in both good and bad ways. As I mentally went through what I knew about her from my time playing the game, I glanced over at her. She was clearly uneasy and a little afraid, but she was also tightly clenching her fists as if determined to stand up for herself if need be. She was like a small animal that you instinctively felt like you needed to protect. I even felt that way despite knowing her true nature, which meant whoever had designed her on the BB team had done an extremely good job.
“First off, thank you for coming here to meet me. We probably don’t want to talk about this out in the open, so let’s go inside.”
I led Lily to a private booth I’d reserved earlier. I thought she’d be wary of entering an enclosed space with a man she barely knew, but to my surprise she didn’t look the least bit reluctant as she followed me.
Well, I guess it makes sense now that I think about it.
The setting of Braves and Blades meant crime basically never paid, and this particular restaurant was used during numerous events with important NPCs, so it had a reputation as being a trustworthy establishment. Or maybe...
I shook my head before I started going down the hypotheticals rabbit hole and turned to face Lily. I did actually know her most important secret, but I needed to be careful about how and when I revealed it. The goal was to recruit her, after all.
“Umm?”
Lily was starting to get worried by my long silence, so I stopped my thoughts there. I was in an advantageous position already, so I didn’t need a perfect plan or anything.
“So, I can see a person’s growth rates with Analyze, but it actually lets me see a lot more than just that.”
“What do you mean?” Lily asked with trepidation.
“Exactly what I said. I can learn a lot about a person just by using Analyze on them. Their name, their class, any special skills they might have or what unique magic they’re capable of using.”
Lily’s shoulders trembled a little at the word “magic,” just as I’d hoped.
“C-Can you really do that?”
I was of course lying through my teeth. But it was true that I knew everything about Lily already.
“What would I gain by lying to you? If you want proof, I can tell you what your specialties are.”
“Uhh...”
I pretended not to notice Lily’s stiff expression and said, “Your name is Lily Harmonix, your class is Bard, and your specialties lie in singing and playing instruments. Most importantly though...you can use dark magic.”
Lily went white as a sheet. After a brief silence, she timidly said, “A-Are you going to report me to the city guard?” She looked like she was terrified of me.
If this is an act, then Lily’s one hell of an actor...
I spread my arms out and smiled reassuringly at her. It wouldn’t do for Lily to guess my true motives.
“Ah, no need to worry on that front. I bear no ill will toward practitioners of dark magic. Besides, even though many other people do consider it evil, learning dark magic in and of itself isn’t illegal. That being said, I’m not sure the guard would approve of casting Sleep or Confusion on people.”
Because crime was harshly punished in BB, the cities and towns of this world were even safer than Japan’s. However, there were still drunkards and troublemakers, and I knew Lily had cast sleeping magic on them before in order to avoid having to deal with their unwanted advances. After all, she had told me as much herself in-game.
“I... I know it’s not right, but as a woman traveling alone there are times where I needed to in order to peacefully resolve some situations, so...”
I nodded in understanding. “Of course. Like I said, there’s no need to worry. I don’t blame you. If anything, I’m impressed.”
“Y-You are?” Lily asked, looking shocked.
“I’m not appraising other people just out of the goodness of my heart, you know. The whole reason I agreed to the Guild’s request was to make it easier to find skilled adventurers, or those who have high potential. I invited you here because...”
“You want to recruit me?” Though she looked like she was spacing out half the time, Lily was quite sharp. “B-But I just started adventuring, and I’m not that great at fighting...”
“I know. But I’m looking for people who will help me gather information, not fighters. I need someone who’s sociable, quick-witted, and knows a few tricks to get people to loosen their tongues.”
Lily seemed surprised by my proposal, but not against it as far as I could tell. I just needed one more push.
“I apologize for prying into your private affairs, but I did a little digging on your history. From what I hear, you always help those in trouble, and everyone you meet speaks highly of you. You’re exactly the kind of person I’ve been looking for.”
This too, was bullshit I’d made up on the spot.
“Do they really? I-I’m not that special though. If anything, I just happen to run into a lot of nice people, so...” Lily blushed and covered her face with her hands.
“It’s because I’ve heard so many good things about you that I wanted to recruit you. Would you be willing to help me in my quest to save the world?”
“I...”
Lily looked hesitantly up at me. I knew her facade forced her to act like a good person, so it would be hard for her to refuse my invitation unless she had a very good reason to. However, I decided to lay up on the pressure here.
“Sorry, this must all seem so sudden to you. Don’t worry, you don’t have to decide tonight or anything.”
“Okay...”
“We should start by getting to know each other better. I’m sure you’d also like some time to mull over everything I said. Sorry, I guess I was in too much of a rush to recruit you. Since we’re here, how about we relax over a nice meal and some fine spirits?”
Though I said that, I was relatively certain Lily would decline to drink, though she might order some food. In medieval times, it had been common for people to start drinking alcohol at much younger ages, but the developers of BB had likely wanted to avoid depicting minors drinking alcohol, so they’d set the drinking age in the game at 20. I’d been expecting Lily to refuse the offer of alcohol since she was too young to drink, but to my surprise, she actually took me up on my offer.