Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: It's Nothing
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Ian opened the potential page once more in his room.
At the very end of the countless potential pages.
The page he thought he'd never have any use for was now opening in his hands.
◆ Blind Faith
- Activating this potential requires 1 point.
- Potential activation bonus: -25% chance of favorability decrease occurring
In the current situation, it was a ability that wouldn't particularly help with clearing.
It was a power Ian had paid no attention to at all, since he needed to pour everything into clearing, but... for Mika right now, this was the only way.
Of course, looking at it more long-term, there were other options.
By the time they became a C-rank mercenary corps and finished preparing to enter the labyrinth, a way to treat the erosion would emerge.
Living under the curse right now would be tough, but if she could hold out until then, she could get treatment.
However, she wouldn't be able to go on missions during that time,
and by then, the level gap would be too wide... so she'd have to drop out of the first-string party.
The final choice was left to Mika.
No matter what she decided, he had no intention of just letting her go like this. It all depended on her choice.
[Benevolent Gaze]
-25% wariness toward the player
[Satisfaction]
- Target of intercourse gains slight random stat increase during the next mission
[Psychological Dependence]
- Removes a certain amount of negative effects from the target of intercourse
- Slight favorability increase when negative effects are removed
1 point to activate the "Blind Faith" potential page.
3 points for the target "Psychological Dependence" and the prerequisite skill tree leading up to it.
Total needed: 4 points.
"......"
They were points he'd been saving to pick "Honorable One."
Ian let out a small sigh.
But it should be fine at this level...
Anyway, by the late game, after picking all the most effective skills, there'd be nowhere left to invest points.
By then, any leftover points would just be dumped into minor efficiencies or conveniences.
If he was going to use points that would end up useless later on Mika's treatment, it could even be seen as efficient...
─Creak.
It was then.
While he'd been talking with Mika and giving her time to think, the sun had fully set.
On a normal day, it would have been time to sleep, but the city, still buzzing with festive energy after the monster invasion ended, remained noisy.
Amid that chaotic din, a faint creak came from the wooden floorboards in the corridor.
The footsteps of someone slowly walking down the hall
stopped in front of Ian's door.
"I have a way to cure that for you..."
Lying in her bed, Mika pulled the blanket up over her head.
Ian's words from earlier kept swirling in her mind.
"So... you mean if I do that with you, Captain, the curse will be lifted?"
His image nodding silently in response to her flustered question.
Ian hadn't given any explanation beyond that.
...Even if he'd tried to elaborate, anything he said would just make it sound more suspicious.
No matter how much he thought about it, Ian didn't have confidence he could phrase it more convincingly.
In the end, he'd decided to just calmly state the facts.
"I... I'll think about it."
What else could she say in that situation?
Mika had given that answer, sent Ian out of the room, and had no choice but to take time to think.
...As if thinking would change anything.
Mika sighed quietly under the covers.
Next to Mika's bed, where she lay buried under the blanket, sat Tanya—her cheeks still flushed red alongside Rin.
"Mika. You asleep?"
"No...."
Finally unable to hold back, Rin pulled the blanket off Mika.
Mika, still lying down, let out yet another sigh— who knew how many that made today.
"What's wrong with you since earlier?"
"I have something to think about...."
"What the hell did the captain say?"
Ever since Ian and Mika had their secret talk, she'd been like this the whole time.
Rin had thought Mika would tell her what they'd discussed, but... Mika was keeping the conversation with Ian a secret from both of them.
She just kept sighing with a dark expression, lost in some incomprehensible worry all by herself.
"Does it cost a lot of money? I can lend you some."
"Y-yeah, Mika. I heard the settlement this time is gonna be huge.... If we all pitch in, maybe we can manage somehow?"
Was she hesitating to ask for money?
Thinking that, Rin suggested it first, and Tanya agreed, but Mika shook her head, her face showing no relief.
"No. It's not about money...."
Mika glanced at the two of them, seeming like she wanted to say something but mumbling instead, then finally turned her head away.
"No.... It's nothing."
Who knew how many times they'd seen that today.
Rin and Tanya exchanged suspicious glances.
They'd stepped out because Ian said he needed to talk to Mika alone...
But Mika's behavior had been weird ever since.
Rin had even asked if he'd secretly told her she was fired behind their backs, but Mika denied it vehemently.
Ian had definitely told her there was a way to treat it.
But Mika refused to tell them what that method was.
Gauging Mika's mood, Tanya and Rin backed off a bit and whispered to each other.
"Why won't she tell us?"
"Maybe she doesn't want to share...?"
"What could it be that's making her not even talk about it?"
Tanya, pondering alongside Rin, rubbed her throbbing cheek as she spoke.
"What if it's not that she doesn't want to say... but that she can't?"
"Can't say?"
"Like it's the captain's secret... or something illegal and dangerous...."
Tanya suddenly recalled the time she'd helped Ian with something she couldn't tell others about.
Considering the scale of the so-called normal treatments... Ian's method probably wasn't ordinary either.
The holy relic stuff had been bewildering enough, but if there was an alternative...
Whatever it was, it was surely highly suspicious.
But something she couldn't even tell her comrades about.
A forbidden method to lift the curse...?
An illegal ritual...?
Sudden lightning-like suspicions flashed through Rin's mind.
The captain was nobility, right?
He denied it, but all the signs pointed to it.
For someone like that to flee to a city like this and become a mercenary...
Maybe he'd committed a grave crime that even nobility couldn't escape punishment for.
For example... heresy.
If the way to treat Mika was...
Pagan sorcery. A demon's contract or human sacrifice ritual...
That would explain why Ian sent everyone away and why even Mika couldn't speak of it.
Just mentioning it would be dangerous.
Glancing at Mika's dark expression, grave imaginings sprouted wildly in Rin's mind.
Mika was still deep in thought.
Ian, who had explained the solution, said he'd give her time to think and that she could refuse if she didn't want to.
He'd leave the choice to her.
Of course, what Ian called the solution...
The more she thought about it, the more suspicious the proposal seemed...
Well.
Maybe because of his usual demeanor, it didn't feel like some shady scheme.
He wasn't the type to target her when she was weak like this.
As Mika turned her head, she saw her two friends looking at her with worried eyes.
Alone, she couldn't decide what to do...
But seeing them solidified her resolve.
She didn't want to leave this place.
She wanted to keep working here with her friends.
After long deliberation, Mika finally made up her mind and sat up.
Rin and Tanya, who had been quietly talking a short distance away, saw this and approached.
"Mika? Where are you going all of a sudden?"
"Bathroom? I'll take you."
"Ah, no. It's fine."
As Mika, who could barely move on her own, suddenly got up, Rin and Tanya hurried over to support her.
Mika panicked and shook them off.
It was hard to move, true, but she couldn't run or do anything strenuous—walking was still possible.
Mika got up on her own and climbed down from the bed.
"I'm going to the captain's room."
Mika told them with a resolute expression.
...So there is something.
Tanya and Rin exchanged glances.
"You okay on your own?"
"This much is fine."
At first, her sudden condition had left her flustered and struggling...
But now she was a bit used to it.
Moving slowly and carefully, she could walk alone just fine.
Cautiously taking one step at a time, Mika opened the door.
She turned back to the two with a slightly anxious look.
"Um.... You absolutely can't follow me, okay?"
Mika left those words and closed the door.
...Rin and Tanya, eyeing each other suspiciously, nodded.
Deep into the night.
The person who came to Ian's door hesitated there for a long while.
How many minutes passed like that?
Finally resolved, the person grasped the doorknob and slowly opened Ian's door.
Ian hadn't locked it in anticipation of Mika coming, so the door opened with a soft creak.
Seeing that Ian hadn't gone to sleep despite the late hour and was waiting for her, Mika—her face slightly flushed—entered the room and quietly closed the door behind her.
She had come prepared mentally, but saying it with her own mouth made tension well up again, so Mika took a moment to breathe deeply.
"......I'll do it."