Chapter 73

I've made several adjustments to the book, so I'm reporting them:

- Strengthened the Doom Demon's status (it was too weak for its level)

- Changed the "Human" race to "Ningen" (increased the sense of authenticity!)

- Changed Nuke's hair color from brown to blue (his partner Rad is red)

- Cleaned up the prefaces and afterwords of each chapter (no more false update announcements!)

"......Well, see you again."

She said, smiling gently, and turned on her heel.

"Lily Harmonics..."

As I watched her back, which never lost its composed demeanor no matter what, my mouth involuntarily repeated her name.

"Damn it. The developers did a great job...!"

I spat out words that I couldn't tell if they were curses or compliments.

(...Well, I guess it's going smoothly, right?)

The second encounter with her ended with a generally satisfactory result.

From her reactions, which were friendly from the start today, the feeling is not bad. I was worried about how things would go after she showed an unexpected ugly side at the tavern last time, but it seems that her actions then had a positive effect in the end.

(At the very least, her flag hasn't been broken yet.)

If that's the case, I want to do everything I can to recruit her.

This isn't just because of her appearance; she is genuinely useful.

I shifted my gaze to the data in my hand.

There, her potential values were clearly written.

――――――――

Strength: Average

Health: Average

Magic: Terrible

Spirit: Amazing

Agility: Terrible

Concentration: Super Amazing

――――――――

Just looking at this, she is by no means a powerful character.

Her total potential is nineteen.

While it's slightly higher than the average of eighteen, unique characters often have a total of around twenty.

Moreover, the distribution of her stats is quite peculiar.

With high concentration, she might seem suited to be a thief, but her low agility is a drawback. Her high spirit suggests she could be a healer, but her low magic power is a hindrance.

However, there is one class that can fully utilize this peculiar stat distribution: the Bard.

The Bard class requires only "concentration" for playing music and "spirit" for developing a rich sensitivity. This class can fully utilize her high concentration and spirit.

—Bard.

This is a rather unique class among the many available.

Bards have almost no combat power and primarily enhance allies or weaken enemies through music and song.

Their main feature is the wide area of effect and the fact that they don't consume MP to use skills, unlike mages or priests.

While this might sound great, there are drawbacks: they become vulnerable during performances, and mastering the essential skills takes an absurdly long time compared to other classes. The rate of skill improvement is so slow it makes you suspect a bug, and an unskilled performance can get you stoned.

Of course, I gave up on Bard-related skills from the start and never even considered a class change.

In that sense, she, who has been a Bard from the beginning and has learned performance skills, is a rare talent. But that's not all.

In the thick booklet that came as a special edition bonus with "Brave & Blade," her data is listed in the corner of the character section.

And there, her secret was casually recorded!

・Unique Skill

【Lorelei Voice Level 1】

The Unique Skill, a special ability exclusive to unique characters.

Hers is the ability to "charm those who hear her voice."

While it's unclear how effective it is against monsters, it's an excellent skill for negotiating with humans.

(Definitely, I have to recruit Lily!)

While I can manage combat with effort, many events require negotiations with NPCs.

With Lily, I can entrust all such matters to her.

※ ※ ※

With renewed determination, I started to act more proactively from the next day.

While usually exploring nearby areas for leveling up and item collection, I made sure to meet Lily whenever possible.

I gave her frequent gifts and fulfilled her requests.

Her initially stiff attitude gradually softened, and on the fifth conversation, she even proposed,

"An impudent request, but... Could we start calling each other by our first names? Of course, without any honorifics!"

"Damn! So sly! So sly, you damn...!!"

I writhed on the spot but immediately agreed.

No, it's not that I was easily swayed or anything.

Yeah, nodding along to everything will help reduce her wariness.

I repeated this unconvincing excuse in my head, and when the number of conversations with Lily approached twenty, a turning point finally arrived.

She, who never made any requests no matter what I asked for, said, after a usual query about what she wanted, "It's not exactly something I want, but..."

She looked at me with a serious expression and said,

"---There's something I absolutely need to tell you. Can you accompany me to the dungeon?"

The next update is tomorrow!