Chapter 33 – Yes, Lolita! No Touch!

"Ow my ears!"

I did not expect this girl to suddenly scream out loud. I've been using [Sensing] to enhance my senses and keep watch of the surroundings. I noticed her getting up so I stopped dissecting the wolf corpses. It was much harder than I thought it would be. The dissection process got quite messy but I got better at it as I kept practicing.

When I sensed Dawn waking up, I quickly finished up without cleaning my mess. I actually wanted to give her a lap pillow to surprise her when she woke up, but I got so into cutting up the wolves I forgot about it.

"Please don't kill me! My brother would kill me if you do!"

... Is this girl thinking straight? Why would I kill you when I just saved your life? What type of brother has the ability to kill someone who was already killed? I want to meet him.

"Calm down girlie! I'm not going to hurt you."

I tried to make her settle down. But she suddenly backed away with her arms around her chest acting as if I just defiled her. I'm not a fan of r*pe so why the heck would I do such a thing?

"H- how did you know that I'm a girl? W- while I was unconscious did you..."

"I said calm down! Although I do find you extremely cute right now, I'm not some kind of degenerate! My motto is 'Yes, lolita! No touch!'"

"I- I'm not a loli! I'm an adult, 16 years of age!"

"What?! You're only one year younger than me?!"

"You're only one year older than me?!"

It took a while before both of us could calm down and have a decent conversation. Turns out that once you turn 13 years old, you are considered as an adult in this world. In this area, my appearance and height make me look like a 13-year-old who has just come of age.

"Thank you for saving me! You also healed my wounds. I'll pay you back for the expenses!"

Dawn said to me while I cleaned myself up.

"It's no big deal. If you want to pay me, just let me have the wolves that you killed."

I am in need of money. It only took some mana and a few wolf corpses to heal her up anyways. She killed more than what I used to heal her.

"Yes! Please take them. But can I have one of them? I haven't..."

*Grrrrrrrr*

"... eaten breakfast yet..."

Dawn looked down and her cheeks started to turn a nice shade of red. Gah why is this girl so cute?

"Hehe. I already dissected some of the wolves. Why don't we roast some while chatting and getting to know each other?" I suggested.

"Un! Do you have monster repelling items or methods? They might be lured over by the smell."

Those exist?

"It's fine. Even if they come, don't worry. I'll protect you."

I put on the most appealing face I could make to reassure Dawn. Something about her brings out the protective nature in me. It might be because we are both half-humans and that she looks like a younger sister. No wait, she technically is.

"Uh... You are scary when you smile..." She said while stepping back away from me.

Ouch. I felt something stab through my chest just now.

Anyways, we set up a small space for a campfire and gathered some firewood. We were in a forest so it was easy to find some. Dawn worked on getting the fire started while I prepared the wolf meat.

I noticed her using mana to start the fire just now with [Sensing].

"Oh so you know fire magic while still being a Commoner job huh. I thought that was rare."

One of the disadvantages of my system from the normal one in this world is that I can't see the skills of others. In fact, even my own skills are lacking in descriptions.

"You can see my status too?! It's like I can't hide anything from you Ms. Krim... "

"Just call me Rim. We're close in age after all. I didn't mean to pry into your secrets or anything. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

I have quite a few secrets of my own so I know what it's like to be in her position. Just recently, I felt the same thing she's feeling with that Guild Master Argo.

"Then please just call me Dawn. Um... How much of my status can you see? I should have a disguising equipment on right now..."

"Not as much as you think. Just your name, Commoner Lv. 10, and Half-human race."

"Uuuu... One of those is the important part..."

"You mean Half-human? Don't worry about it. I'm a Half-human too."

Her eyes went wide open and her jaw dropped. She then looked around to check if anyone was listening in. I could tell with [Sensing] that there was no one within 50 meters of us. I couldn't see anyone within 200 meters either with the small mud scouts I sent out. I did take out a few Wild Boars that were lured over though. Naturally, they became my mana replenishment.

"Are you really Half-human?" She said after looking around and not finding anyone.

"Well, honestly, I'm not entirely sure. But that's what it says on my status."

"Then you should be more careful! Half-humans are discriminated against in any of the Humanoid Alliance territories."

That's a term I haven't heard of before.

"Why? What's the Humanoid Alliance? I'm new around these parts so I'm a bit lacking in common knowledge."

Dawn was shocked when I said that. The only reason I'm exposing so much of myself is because I need information. There are too many things that I don't know about this world and I just lost my chance to get some from the Adventurers Guild. Also, according to Albert, anyone who can use [Appraisal] can see my race including the question mark.

"The Humanoid Alliance is the union of all human, demihuman, beastman, and dragonic races. They are currently at war with the demonic races who are said to be the origin of monsters. Three years ago, the court magician of the Hugo Empire, which is a major power of the alliance, was assassinated by a Half-human. The Emperor decreed a wide scale hunt for Half-humans. That��s why it's dangerous being a Half-human here in Cloud Kingdom which is also part of the Humanoid Alliance."

Dawn said all this in one breath. She must have had a hard time because of all this.

"How can you not know all this?" She asked me.

"Well I have a few secrets of my own. I would appreciate it if you don't ask about it." I avoided her question.

"By the way, can I see your disguising equipment? I won't steal it. I just want to see how it works."

I tried changing the subject.

"Oh. Here. It's my necklace. My brother got it for me when the news about the assassination spread. We had to move to Lam City from the Empire because of it too."

Dawn handed me the necklace. It was silver chained with a small blue crystal that had a magic circle engraved on it.

Name: Loki's Crystal (Defective)

Rarity: Magical

Restrictions: None

Effect: Disguises the status to only show what the user wants. Can only omit characters from the status.

Woah. I've haven't seen an item with Magical rarity before. Is it higher than Rare like my Blood Bane? Back in my world Loki was a Norse God of Trickery. Do Gods exist in this world? Were my classmates and I brought over to this world by a God? Why is this item defective? I tried to insert mana into the magic circle into the necklace. I made sure to fully analyze the flow of mana and how it transformed as the magic circle activated.

"Um. Rim? Hello?"

"Huh? Oh sorry Dawn. I got lost in my train of thought. I was focusing too much on the necklace to see how it worked."

"It's fine. You just suddenly went quite. Can I have my necklace back now?"

"Sure. Where did your brother even get this thing? It must have been pretty expensive."

"Why? He told me that he bought it for cheap at some peddler's stand."

"Can't you see its details with [Appraisal]?"

"[Appraisal] can only be learned once you job up from Commoner and meet certain conditions. I'm actually here to do my job up requirements. Unfortunately, I ran into those wolves…"

Is that so? No wonder Dawn couldn't tell I was a Half-human.

We are the bland tasting roasted meat as we continued to chat. I kept trying to recreate the magic I saw from Loki's Necklace but something felt off and I couldn't duplicate its effects. It's probably the reason why the necklace was defective.

"I want to become a Hammer User which is the pre-requisite job for Blacksmith. I can't become an Adventurer because of my Half-human race. So I wanted to join the Craftsman Association as a Blacksmith's apprentice. Then, I can repair my brother's equipment for free.

The more I got to know about Dawn, the more positive I felt about her.

"How admirable. Is your brother an Adventurer?"

"Un! He is a C-rank Adventurer! One of the best Assassin classes, a Shadow Stalker! He doesn't want me going out often because I might get found out. But he's on a mission right now so I snuck out. He's always taking care of me and I feel bad that I can't do much to help him out. I feel like I'm just a burden to him sometimes..."

I recalled memories of my past when my Dad had once collapsed because of overwork. I knew he was working hard to give me a better life and I felt the same thing Dawn was feeling. I wanted to work part-time before but my Dad vehemently refused saying that I should focus on my studies. I still secretly did it anyways, but my Dad got promoted soon after so I saved up the money I earned instead.

"Hey Dawn, how about I help you with your job up requirements? In return, you can introduce me to the Craftsman Association. I'm in the same situation as you where I can't become an Adventurer."

I was about to smile but held back because I remembered what Dawn said. I just slightly curved up my lips instead.

"Really?! Deal! I only need to kill a few more monsters with a hammer and then I can job up."

After we finished tidying up our makeshift campsite, Dawn and I hunted together.

CHAPTER END.

Name: Ruby Sen Lv. 13

Age: 17

Race: Half-Human?

Class: Half-Magical Creature

Job: - Lv. 13

HP: 10 [32%]

MP: 15 [95%]

STR: 10 (+5)

DEF: 10 (+25)

INT: 17

WILL: 15

SPD: 10

<>

Assimilate

Mana Manipulation

Physical Resistance

Weaponized Limbs

Foresight

Shapeshift

Mana Absorption

<>

Dissolve

Body Enhancement

Mind Enhancement

Mana Release

Sensing

Camouflage

Sculpting

Detonate

Appraisal Analysis

Lesser Heal

Mana Coating

Cloning

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Tongue Enhancement