Chapter 4: Rapidly Soaring Favorability, Blue Mommy Wants to Eat Me

While observing Roxy, Allen didn't neglect to focus his attention on the nascent Dragon Saint Aura Core in his abdomen. In his "vision," wisps of smoke were dissipating from its wrinkled surface, revealing a small magic pattern on one side.

It was a tiny tree-shaped pattern, faintly glowing with a blue light.

An intuition surged within him—if he willed it, the Intermediate Healing Magic would activate immediately.

The Healing Magic pattern... it could only affect himself and couldn't be projected outward. That meant activating it would essentially give his body a healing buff... a pseudo-immortality? The physical limitations of the North God Style's practical school were erased?

Wait, using it would consume his mana... Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how long his current mana capacity could sustain the Intermediate Healing Magic. He had been careless. In reality, the less mana-intensive Beginner Healing Magic might have been more suitable for him at this stage. Moreover, his mana recovery rate was too slow, so the skill cooldown would undoubtedly be long.

He wondered if the Dragon Saint Aura's buff, which reduced mana conversion loss, could stack with the healing magic pattern. Aura was essentially mana, so it should be possible... But the problem was that it might also consume his Dragon Saint Aura. He didn't have much of that either... Activating the healing magic pattern would definitely affect the quality of his aura.

He decided to test it... to see if it would really...

A pair of small hands waved in front of his eyes, snapping Allen out of his thoughts.

...Now wasn't the time for this.

Allen turned his attention to Roxy.

Because he had been pondering what to say during his first encounter with Rudeus and Roxy while traveling yesterday, he had naturally dreamed about them last night. Unfortunately, in his dream, he had seen their anime-style 2D versions, which lacked a sense of realism.

But now, the real Roxy was right in front of him.

The sense of realism was much stronger.

He focused his gaze on Roxy's face.

In his vision, the blue-haired, cold-faced loli gradually became clearer:

Unlike the soft, moe middle-schooler face from the anime, the real Roxy looked young, but her features were far from underdeveloped.

Her lips were somewhat thin but appeared incredibly soft. Her small nose with narrow nostrils seemed to cast a natural shadow, and its tip tilted slightly upward. Her half-lidded eyes matched the color of her hair.

The wind stirred the campfire, causing the highlights in her eyes to flicker like ripples on a deep blue lake.

Within those ripples were five parts panic and five parts concern.

"You... you... why aren't you saying anything? Do you still have hidden injuries? Are you feeling unwell?"

Allen blinked and shook his head, his thoughts racing.

The real Roxy was more beautiful and realistic than her anime counterpart.

She was a sight for sore eyes.

Unwell?

Not unwell—extremely well!

Roxy, noticing Allen's intense gaze, subconsciously touched her face.

"I don't look injured, so why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

As Allen compared the 2D and 3D versions of Roxy in his mind, he casually replied.

"No, your face is fine. More than fine, actually. It's much more real and refined than the one I saw in my dream last night. Every aspect of it is quite beautiful..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the crackling of the campfire seemed to grow louder, emphasizing the deep silence of the forest at night.

Allen waited for a response, but Roxy remained silent. He blinked, suddenly realizing what he had just said.

He looked at Roxy's deep blue, lake-like eyes, which were now wide with shock. Her hand, which had been touching her face, froze in place. Her usual half-lidded eyes slowly widened, the ripples in her gaze growing more pronounced.

The two stared at each other in silence.

A loud snap came from the burning firewood. The wind blew past them, carrying with it an imaginary cloud of dust.

[6.]

Red, bold, underlined.

[Keep it up. Work harder to win Rudeus's favor.]

[Rudeus: Countdown: 91:54:02]

Allen was stunned. To be precise, he had started spacing out the moment he realized he was spouting flirtatious lines to a "stranger." The system's timely addition of fuel to the fire only made him more dumbfounded.

Was this considered "flirting"?

Indeed, it was.

The world of Mushoku Tensei didn't have the cultural sophistication of Earth. It was a simpler, more straightforward place, with a kind of naive charm.

The way men and women flirted here was even more direct and simple than cheesy pickup lines, yet it had a surprisingly strong effect.

This kind of overly direct praise wasn't much different from flirting with a woman.

Roxy stared at Allen for a while before finally blinking in a daze. She puffed out one cheek and instinctively glanced to the side:

The severed head of the wild boar glared at Allen with its blood-red eyes, as if expressing its disdain for him.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to look back at Allen with a stern expression.

The latter was plucking a few strands of his hair, carefully checking if they were turning yellow.

This seemingly frustrated demeanor, in Roxy's eyes, actually matched his age.

'He didn't get the reaction he expected from me, so he's frustrated... Up close, his face still looks quite young. He's not that old, just tall... No, maybe it's because I'm short T T... But his swordsmanship... is very skilled.'

'A genius boy? Why do I keep running into geniuses these past two years? First Rudeus, now this kid. And they both act so mature for their age, saying things that flirt with girls... So... so smooth-talking... We've never even met before, so how could he have dreamed about me?'

'Maybe he thinks I'm his age, so he's trying to flatter me.'

Roxy took off her mage hat and adopted a tone befitting a teacher addressing a child.

"Flattery isn't the way to go... Don't let my height fool you... I'm actually old enough to be your mother... Saying things like that to charm little girls won't work on me."

Allen, still examining his brown hair, shifted his gaze to the trembling strand of hair sticking up from Roxy's head.

"Flattery? Uh... okay, Blue Mom...!"

Roxy's mouth fell open in shock as Allen immediately covered his mouth, realizing his slip. She then feigned anger, putting on a dark expression.

"The reason I don't grow is because I'm a demon..."

As she spoke, she grabbed a strand of her hair and held it up to the firelight. Under the orange glow of the campfire, the tips of her hair faintly shimmered with a green hue. She leaned closer to Allen, her half-lidded eyes meeting his.

"See? Green-haired demons... I'm from the infamous Supard race. If you keep calling me 'Mom' to mock me for being a child, I'll get angry... and I'll eat you."

Allen let go of his mouth and blinked, looking at the blue-haired loli's face so close to his.

Her expression was serious, her eyelashes trembling slightly in the firelight.

"Then..."

"Eat me. Right now."

Roxy was stunned.

The next moment, as soon as the words left his mouth, Allen wrapped his finger in aura and flicked the air in front of Roxy's forehead.

The wind pressure scattered her bangs, causing her blue hair to flutter and revealing her smooth forehead.

As Roxy stared in shock, Allen pointed at her forehead, indicating the absence of the Supard race's signature red magic-sensing eye.

"A goddess shouldn't lie."

"Demon, blue hair, short stature. You're a Migurd, not a Supard."