Chapter 85

It's safe as long as it's within an hour!

Regarding the mystery of Rosé's growth values, by having her participate in the verification, I was able to deduce the general reason.

First, regarding Rosé's innate values, after raising her level to six and changing her job a few times to check her growth values, I found out that her true innate value is fourteen, which is five points higher than mine, and there's no doubt about it.

After all, her growth value as a <Novice>, with no corrections, was fourteen. This can be said to be an almost undeniable fact.

Then, why could she, who has an innate value of fourteen, only increase her ability by eight points in her initial state?

It's probably because, in the initial state of an ordinary person, that is, in the state of "having no class," a negative correction was applied to growth.

As evidence, I forcibly took Elina, the guild receptionist who was working, out of the guild, saying that "I might be able to find out some important information about adventurers," and tried leveling up and changing jobs in the same way. The result was the same as Rosé's. The growth value when leveling up as a <Novice> was one point higher in all abilities compared to when leveling up before changing jobs.

In other words, the premise that the initial job of ordinary people is <Novice> was wrong.

If we consider people without an initial job as having a job called <No Class>, the growth correction for <No Class> is -1 in all abilities.

The reason the ability values of ordinary people walking around the city are lower compared to adventurers is that this class correction is one of the major factors.

(Or, is it the opposite?)

Perhaps, instead of the state of having no class being negative, the class correction is one point higher than the general perception.

Or, perhaps, when ordinary people obtain a class, their innate values increase by one point in all abilities.

This is something that can't be verified, and whichever is correct, the result wouldn't change.

What can be said is that ordinary people can significantly increase their growth values once they obtain some kind of class.

(This... might be a bigger discovery than I thought.)

There is a significant gap in ability between adventurers, who have an initial job, and ordinary people, who don't have a job.

The average innate value of ordinary adventurers is eighteen, and with the correction from a primary job, the growth value is twenty-four.

On the other hand, the average innate value of ordinary people is six, and since they have no job correction, their growth value is six.

The difference is actually four times as much...

However, it turned out that if ordinary people change to a primary job, they can reach an average growth value of eighteen.

With this, it wouldn't be strange for people from the general population to aspire to become adventurers.

And...

(Lex, you... have a lower innate value than most ordinary people, huh?)

By this calculation, the average innate value of ordinary people is twelve.

While it doesn't reach the average of eighteen for adventurers, even if it fluctuates downward, it would easily surpass Lex's nine.

Did the developers have some personal grudge against Lex?

I thought I had come to terms with Lex's innate values, but seeing the numbers still makes my head spin from the unfairness.

Not that Rosé was concerned about me, but after this verification and discovery, she didn't say she would continue leveling up.

The sky was already beginning to darken, so we decided to call it a day.

"Thank you, Lord Lex."

"Yeah... Are you sure you don't need me to see you off?"

To my repeated question,

"It's fine. I have the equipment you gave me."

Rosé held up the <Fire Rod> and smiled proudly.

Although she was very apologetic, I decided to entrust the set of equipment I gave her today to Rosé for a while.

I intended to give it to her outright, but she refused, and we agreed that she would borrow it while she helped me level up.

After parting ways with the cheerful Rosé, Elina and I walked down the evening street.

"Sorry for calling you out of the blue today."

"You really do treat me like a handyman, don't you?"

Elina complained, but then,

"Sorry. But I haven't forgotten who compiled that last adventurer's newsletter."

"Ugh... Then, let's call it even for this time."

She immediately gave in when I brought up the last adventurer's newsletter. She's easy to handle.

"And, about this matter, don't tell anyone except Veltaran..."

"I understand. I won't let this slip to anyone. ...Sigh. You always find something outrageous, Lex. Thanks to you, my stomach hurts."

Elina sighed gloomily but then raised her head and said, "But, it's probably for the best. She seemed happy."

It was an unexpected comment.

When I looked at Elina with wide eyes, she narrowed her eyes in obvious displeasure.

"Let me make this clear, I'm not some heartless workaholic. As a guild employee, I do feel that you found something incredible... but..."

After spouting her complaints, she glanced back in the direction Rosé had gone.

"Rosé, was it? I've seen her a few times... She always seemed lonely. So, maybe this is for the best."

I felt a slight warmth in my heart as Elina, who had turned away, continued, "I don't know, though."

...If the future progresses as in the game, Rosé will face a great ordeal.

She will be branded with a "Curse Mark" by the Vampire Lord who raised her, and that night, she will turn into a vampire and attack the players...

She will regain her sanity quickly, but that future is filled with despair.

After the event, the healer who examined her will say:

This "Curse Mark" is a marker for the caster to cast the main curse.

It happens at midnight, the moment the date changes, and this attack cannot be avoided or defended against.

Furthermore, while this curse attack is harmless to the human body, it becomes a fatal "poison" to those with a certain factor.

That factor, of course, is the "vampire" factor.

Each time she receives the curse, her health and mental strength will be drained, and if either drops to zero, she will succumb to the curse and turn into a vampire.

Furthermore, as a vampire, she will not be able to resist higher vampires, and her free will may be lost, the healer will say.

The only way to remove this "Curse Mark" is to defeat the caster.

The "protagonists" will travel the world to find ways to reduce the curse and to find the origin of the curse to save Rosé.

--- That's the introduction to the <Vampire of Freila> event.

(From there, Rosé will be bedridden in the mansion.)

The damage from the curse cannot be healed by medicine or recovery magic.

So even if she doesn't turn into a vampire, she will be forced to live in a weakened state.

(But, if we increase her health and mental strength, i.e., HP and MP limits, now...)

The relative impact of the curse should be less.

After receiving the curse, she might even be able to live a normal life.

(Also, there's the method of obtaining a "substitute" to receive the curse.)

While the curse cannot be avoided, it can be distributed.

To do this, you need to create an item called a "substitute," but it's incredibly time-consuming.

You need rare materials from various places, and you can only make one at a time.

Moreover, it burns out after a while, so if you run out of substitutes, Rosé will succumb to the curse and turn into a vampire, leading to the Freila collapse route.

So if we gather these now, it should make a difference.

(But...)

But that's just treating the symptoms.

It doesn't solve the root problem.

If you really care about Rosé, you should avoid the future where she is cursed in the first place...

"Is this enough? I'm going back to work, but Lex..."

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

Was I so engrossed in my thoughts?

We had already reached the intersection near the guild.

The evening street was bustling with adventurers heading to the tavern after finishing their work, people hurrying home, and the old lady sweeping in front of the general store.

"Lex?"

Elina, who had stopped and was looking at me curiously.

"Hey, Elina, about Rosé..."

I opened my mouth to talk about Rosé, but then,

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