Nightly Outing

Three Contracts cleared. Three Protagonists Dispatched. A Passive Skill, an Active Skill, and a Trait.

"Librarian... I can buy the powers of the Antagonists I save―is that right?"

My voice trembled slightly, containing a misshapenmix of disbelief and exhilaration.

With the same radiance, she nodded.

"Certainly, that's correct! The Service Charge is a system where, albeit for a hefty price, you are able to copy one of the Skills or Traits of an Antagonist you successfully protect! Unfortunately, the received boon is random―however, fret not! It should nevertheless prove doubtlessly beneficial!"

Demon Lord.

Dark Wizard.

Arena Emperor.

They all sounded like titles you would expect from an Antagonist, but to acquire an ability of theirs was something I never imagined would be possible.

Curious, I briefly checked out each description.

"...I see. They're not great, to be honest."

Frankly, it was a bit of a disappointment. Not just because of the exorbitant price at 5,000 World Stability, but mostly due to the 'meh' usefulness.

The only one out of the three I would even consider purchasing any time soon was the Arena Emperor's Mastery of the Duel, which seemed to give all kinds of bonuses whenever the user was in a 1v1 occasion.

As for the other two, Demon Lord's Tyranny sounded cool on the surface, but it really only appeared to be good for intimidation―not something particularly helpful to me―and He Who Shall Not Be Named was more along the lines of a gimmick ability that only took effect when other people spoke your name, which was an irrevocable kind of ass.

The Demon Lord and Arena Emperor's Skills might become more useful when they level up, but it's just too expensive to justify purchasing at this point in the game.

They were all 5,000 Units, so yeah. It's not like I'd be able to buy any of them with the funds I have right now either way, but still, I probably wouldn't save up for any of them unless I learned something new about them somehow.

Since the Skill and Trait selection was said to be random, I just chalked it up to being unlucky with the drops.

Actually, I wanted to call it price gouging, but since it was effectively copying the personal abilities of these worlds' Antagonists, I suppose you could make the argument that it was fair?

At the end of the day, either Sneak or Lockpicking would be a better use of my wallet in every conceivable way.

'I guess I'll just wait and hope for better drops in the future.'

With everything in the Library that I wanted to check out sorted, I returned to Earth.

"Hm... Midday. I might get some normal sleep time, then."

I wasn't tired at the moment since I hadn't been out for long, and killing the Protagonist didn't take a whole lot of effort this time, so I could probably go to sleep at a human hour today.

Then, my gaze flickered to the date.

"Okay, it's only Friday... Friday?"

Surely that wasn't right.

I didn't even spend that long in my slave cell in the Illusory World, and I spent even less time in the arena.

It was Tuesday when I left. Most certainly so.

And yet.

[11:48 | Friday]

"..."

Somehow, what must have been no more than a couple hours spent in that place, turned into three days passing. Well, since it was still before Saturday, there was no harm done, but really? Friday??

That meant, if I dragged out this Contract for even just a little bit, I'd have been completely fucked...

"Oh, my..."

Suddenly feeling lightheaded, my hand moved to massage my temple.

"I even said it yesterday..."

'If you think about it, finding a place that would turn hours into days is extraordinarily unlikely. Besides, I have all the time from Tuesday to Saturday to clear it. There should be no problem...'

Reflecting on my own jinx, I gave a sigh of sweet relief and wiped the sweat from my brow. It seems I didn't quite realise just how narrowly I had escaped death.

Okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but still.

'I should probably be more careful next time.'

Ah, but then again.

'...What're the chances of it happening twice? To be honest, it's probably fine even if I don't worry about it.'

Was this a Gambler's Fallacy? Surely not. At the end of the day, I'd deal with it when it happened. Rather, 'if' it happened.

No, there was no 'if'.

After all, I was different from everybody else――Through my firm belief, I would manifest my truth into reality.

❖─────☆☆☆☆☆─────❖

Saturday rolled around and, as previously arranged, everyone gathered in the living room for 8 PM. 

Incidentally, I ended up sleeping late last night, or rather, this morning, so I only just recently woke up and was rushing to get ready. Since we were going out to drink, I had a shower, cleaned myself up, and dressed in the nicest casual outfit I could muster―which wasn't something great, but it was enough to put something half-decent together.

As a result of all that effort I wasn't used to, I was the last person to show up.

"Enki's here~! Hey, that jacket fits you really well! And wait, are you using products? You look so, what's the word... I don't know, but you're very pretty for some reason!"

"...What?"

When Mia announced my arrival for everyone to hear, they all turned their gazes towards me and, as they studied my face at her observation, began to make similar claims.

"Hmm, Mia's right. Enki, did you buy some sort of face cream or moisturiser? Because it definitely shows. Well, rather than pretty, I think your face is just more appealing... At least, I don't think I'm just seeing it, right Harriet?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. It suits you..."

"Yeah... Now that you mention it, it's quite astonishing. Do you mind letting me know where you bought it? I might have to inform my sister..."

"Huuh? Oh, wait, no way, Enki's wearing makeup or something? Seriously? Wait, see, didn't I tell you this guy would be looking sexy if he tried? You should start coming to the gym too, man! Then you'd really be unstoppable!"

Once it was pointed out, everyone began making a fuss.

It was no wonder the girls noticed it first and foremost, though Harriet seemed to be a bit preoccupied for some reason, and even the others seemed unable to revoke the realisation once they detected it.

'What the hell are they talking ab-... Ah... Does Charismatic really make that much of a difference?'

Until they pointed it out, I had completely forgotten that I purchased it, but now that I thought about it, this was certainly a good way to test the new Trait out.

Holding in a sigh, I glanced at each of them in the order in which they spoke―Mia, Ella, Harriet, Luke and Sami―the five of them together being the friends I shared this house with.

"I'm not using makeup. Do I honestly look that strange?"

"Strange? Absolutely not! In fact, I'd say you look... Well, it's not that you look strange or particularly handsome, per se... oh, I don't mean that in a rude way! Just... Mmm, aesthetically pleasing? I think, would be the more accurate term. Isn't he, guys? Don't tell me I'm the crazy one over here."

At some point, they all spat out their judgements in a way I didn't know how to take.

"No, you're right, Mia. He does look strange."

"Hey! I didn't say that! Take it back."

"I don't know if it's strange or not, but I have to agree that something is different. For everyone to be in agreement about it, something definitely must have changed."

"Hhmm, no, I think he's strange-looking. Strangely charming, that is. Heh."

"Oh! Maybe we should invite some other people to see if he looks like that to them as well?"

'Hold it right there.'

"Okay, guys, are we going or not?"

Before things derailed into an unmarked territory I didn't want to explore, I raised my voice slightly and brought us back to the main subject of tonight―the outing. Fortunately, they seemed to have been patient for long enough just waiting for me, and were thus reluctant to waste much more time. 

I'm pretty sure they were just saying all that to make fun of me, anyway. Surely my face hasn't changed that much, right? Nothing seemed that off when I looked in the mirror, but then again, I was in a rush...

We promptly left, soon arriving at the place we most commonly frequented: a local pub with a cosy atmosphere and few other groups present.

"―Hey, what'd you order?"

"Rum and Coke. You?"

"I got lager. Wanna swap?"

"?? No?"

"Tsk."

'Huh...?'

"―Yeah, so he said he wanted to invite this random bimbo round to have a threesome. Can you believe this guy?"

"Oh, sweetie, you should just dump him already. He clearly doesn't care about you. Anyway, at least he asked for your permission first―not at all like my dumb ex who just went and got with this lard-bodied whale behind my back. The heartless pig."

'Huh...??'

I passively observed the conversations around us, waiting at our claimed table whilst everyone else ordered their preferences. Suddenly wanting to distance my mind from said questionable conversations, I turned to the person sitting next to me.

"You not gonna buy anything?"

"No... Maybe in a bit."

Harriet briefly turned her gaze to me for a moment and flashed a small smile, but her face primarily remained pointing firmly down at her lap. 

'Oh... Well, okay then.'

I only asked because she was being especially quiet, and I know a lot of people don't like to sit in silence, but she seemed to have something on her mind.

'Now that I think about it, she did seem a little spaced out earlier too, and even on the way here...'

"Is something wrong?"

I planned to keep my mouth shut and not pry any further if she said anything that indicated a desire to keep whatever issue she was having to herself. After all, nobody who was going through something appreciated it when another person rudely started to try and poke holes in you to get you to open up.

Even if you have good intentions, it just doesn't come across well most of the time.

"...Actually... there is something..."

Surprisingly, however, her response wasn't anything like that. Maintaining my silence, in response, I cast her a glance.

"I heard that Mia told you? About that, um... the drama guy..."

With just those words, I could somewhat infer what was going on.

"Did something happen?"

"Mm. Well, it's that... Originally, Ella and Sami were there, so he backed off almost immediately, but ever since, he's been constantly approaching me during times when nobody else is around..."

Subconsciously, my brows furrowed. Everyone here, I've known them for over a year; it hasn't been that long, admittedly, but even though I'm not a very social person myself, I'd say that I'm pretty close with everyone. Because of that, hearing this story about some creep was even more infuriating.

It seems Harriet also noticed something about my demeanour as she hurriedly clarified.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm okay! He hasn't done anything, just... it just makes me uneasy. And, on top of that, the rumours... eugh..." 

She groaned in discomfort and covered her mouth, apparently recalling something disturbing. Even at a glance I could see how shaken she was, and it made me wonder for a moment just what kinds of rumours she had heard.

Of course, I had no idea what it was like to be repeatedly approached by a creep like that, especially as a young woman, but I've heard more than enough stories to get the gist of it. Besides, it wasn't exactly hard to imagine how frightening it must be.

I didn't really know what I could do to console her, though...

"Do you know his name?"

In the end, I wound up blurting that out rather impulsively. She proceeded to look at me, a hint of surprise evident in her gaze, before meekly shaking her head.

'Hm.'

Noticing the others on their way to us now, drinks in hand, I thought it better to end the conversation there for now. Knowing Mia, things might get out of hand real quick if she learns about that guy's ugly persistence.

'That's probably why she kept it to herself in the first place. Not wanting to cause unnecessary worry... Well, I don't get why she wouldn't just report him to the police or something, though...'

"Woo~! Hey y'all, we've arrived! And with boooooze~!"

Spotting Harriet's sideways glance as Mia loudly declared their return, I gave her a single nod of understanding, to which she returned a faint smile.

In that manner, it was established as if the conversation never happened.