Chapter 15
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Translator: Xrecker
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: First Friend (1)
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Due to the nature of the Lucadia Academy, most of the academy students, with the exception of the nobles who had their own separate villas in the city, stayed in inns or dormitories.
You could only apply for the dormitories after enrolling, so most of the students lived in inns.
Therefore, there were many inns in the Lucadia Academy, so there was no shortage of inn rooms.
Of course, the inns located close to the academy were extremely popular.
Pamela and I got rooms at an inn that wasn't the closest, but was at a reasonable distance from the academy, and then we immediately stopped by a nearby clothing store and showed them our badges.
"I'll take your measurements. Could you please take off your clothes for a moment?"
"Alright."
"Yes, then I'll just measure... Hmph! I-I'll hurry and measure!"
There was a small incident where the shop employee was flustered when I took off my clothes for a moment to get my measurements, but I was able to successfully place my order for clothes.
The scar customizations I had set to look cool.
But in reality, these scars were a factor that easily scared people.
'Well, it's not like I'll be taking my shirt off that often, so it should be fine.'
After leaving the clothing store, we stopped by a nearby cafe and ordered tea and snacks with Pamela.
"I-is this really real? F-for me to be eating snacks with my very first friend. Ehe, he. Hehehehe."
While waiting for the tea and snacks, Pamela, who was sitting across from me, muttered to herself and laughed.
"Pamela."
"Hmph! Y-yes! Ah, I'm sorry! Was I suddenly muttering to myself again? Did it make you feel bad? Is that it? I'll stay quiet. I'll keep my mouth shut like a dead rat!"
I lightly ignored Pamela's low self-esteem talk and asked.
"We're not going to leave right away, so how about you write your letter here beforehand?"
"A l-letter... Ah, y-you're right! If I write it beforehand, it'll be faster when I mail it!"
Pamela took out a pen and paper from thin air.
If you looked closely, there was a black ring on Pamela's left middle finger.
'That must be a subspace ring.'
"A subspace ring? You have a good one."
"Hmph! Y-yes! I'm sorry. You think I'm arrogant for having such an expensive item, don't you? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Did you get it from your master?"
"Ah, yes, yes! Someone like me c-couldn't afford something like this. My master's master's master's master passed it down to me."
"I see."
Pamela was grinning as she wrote her letter.
"He, hehe..."
I glanced at the contents for a moment and saw that she was writing about making a friend.
Just then, the cookies and tea arrived.
"Pamela."
"Y-yes! Wh-what is it?"
"First, have a drink."
"Ah, th-that, I'll have some when it's a little cooler... N-no! I'll drink it right now!"
"Is that so. It's true that it's better to drink it when it's a little cooler so you don't burn your tongue. Then let's eat the cookies first."
"Y-yes!"
What was needed to talk with Pamela was a moderate amount of ignoring and the conversational skill to move on to the next topic right away.
I ate the cookies with Pamela.
"I-it's delicious!"
"Yes, it is."
After eating the cookies, I drank the moderately cooled tea.
The tea I drank after successfully passing the entrance exam was special.
'But the notification sound for completing the quest hasn't come yet.'
As I focused on the quest details I had seen then, the quest window appeared in front of my eyes.
[Enter the academy.
Reward: Rare Item Box, 2 Points. Failure: World Destruction.]
'If just passing the entrance exam isn't enough...'
As expected, it would probably be a success only after successfully completing the entrance ceremony.
Still, it was as good as completing the quest already, so I could have a light-hearted tea time for now.
'Then, what I need to do from now on is...'
I looked at Pamela, who was sipping her tea in front of me and grinning, saying it was delicious.
Pamela, the debuffer I had chosen as a fixed member.
With the appropriate conversational skills I had used so far, my impression of Pamela would be very good right now.
More than anything, it was because for Pamela, who was timid, had low self-esteem, was prone to negative thinking, and had no friends, I was in the position of her 'first friend.'
Pamela probably wouldn't want to lose her first friend, to the point where she would say "Please don't end our friendship" with a look of despair.
'So if I ask, she'll probably grant most of my requests.'
Speaking of friends and requests, it reminded me of how Pamela was played with by many users in the community's fan-made works.
Like a player who合成 a screenshot to make it look like they were collecting a friend fee from Pamela.
Or a self-deprecating fan-made work with a hand-drawn picture of Pamela saying, "...Ugh! Is this the real face of a Lu-Fan user? I'm sorry, friend... I'm quitting."
Or a player who gets trapped and imprisoned by a yandere Pamela who has become very bold in her actions.
Pamela was a character loved by users in many ways, different from Shasha.
Of course, I also liked her as a character, both for her personality and her in-game performance.
After picking up another cookie, I spoke to Pamela.
"Pamela."
"Y-yes! Mr. Shih-han!"
"What are you going to do from now on?"
"Huh? I-I'm sorry. I-I don't really understand what you're saying."
"There are still 10 days until the entrance ceremony. I'm asking what you're going to do in the meantime."
"Th-that's right. Uh, um... I-I haven't really thought about it. I-I didn't think I'd pass the entrance exam...."
"I see. Then are you free?"
"Y-yes! I'm free. B-but why, why do you ask?"
"I don't have any particular plans for these 10 days either. I have enough money for a 10-day stay, but it's better to earn some money to cover my room and board after that. In fact, it's a loss to do nothing for 10 days."
"I-I think it's not bad to just stay in my room like a dead cicada... N-no, that's right! I think I shouldn't just stay still!"
After stating her own opinion, Pamela looked at me and hurriedly changed her words.
Pamela had a tendency to be too mindful of others, but in this situation, it was easier to proceed with the conversation because Pamela was mindful of me.
"Then Pamela, how about we take on a quest together?"
"A-a quest together?"
"Yes."
"Y-you and me, Mr. Shih-han?"
"That's right. Do you not want to?"
"N-n-no! I don't not want to! In fact, I-I was just surprised that you'd talk to someone as insignificant as me... you don't have to form a party with me, with your skills, Mr. Shih-han, you'd be fine on your own...."
Pamela had also seen how I had passed the test.
Her, who had passed only after firing off several skills, and me, who had passed in a single blow.
The difference in our skills was clear, which was probably why she was asking this question.
But in a party, there was a clear role.
Right now, thanks to Penetration and Spearmanship Mastery, I could easily defeat bandits and monsters, but....
'I'm pretty sure there will be monsters with a lot of health.'
Enemies who, even if you attacked them with a defense-ignoring attack, would push through with their health as if it didn't matter and were ridiculously hard to kill.
What was needed against such enemies were buffs and debuffs.
In Lu-Fan, a defense reduction effect didn't just end when the defense reached 0.
In Lu-Fan, there was a negative value for defense.
Let's say you formed a party of only debuff characters and applied several defense-lowering skills to a monster.
If a defense reduction of 120% was applied, exceeding the 100% defense reduction in the formula, the remaining 20% would be added as damage.
Furthermore, if a character with a Penetration skill like me attacked, the damage from the debuff applied to the enemy would be added to the damage by the amount of the reduced defense.
In other words, if you attacked a monster with a 120% defense reduction with a Penetration skill, it wouldn't be a 20% damage increase, but a 120% damage increase.
With strong damage, you could defeat the monster that much faster.
For boss monsters, it was a common strategy to stack them with debuffs and buffs and spam skills to defeat them before the cooldown ended.
According to the lore, the story boss monsters in Lu-Fan were all huge.
To deal with such enemies in reality, it was best to deal as much damage as possible and end it quickly.
For that, I needed the debuffer, the Debuff Queen Pamela.
I shook my head and said to Pamela.
"No, you never know what will happen in a real battle. So it's better to have even one more person. Besides."
"B-besides?"
"We're friends now, aren't we? I thought that as friends, we could trust each other and form a party."
"F-f-f-friend...!"
One might think, what could you trust in a person you just met and became friends with today to form a party?
If it were an ordinary person.
But for Pamela, her first friend would probably make her easily forget such common sense.
"If you say you don't want to, it's a shame, but I'll go alone...."
"N-no! It's fine! L-let's do a quest together. B-because we're f-f-friends... hehe, hehhehehe."
Pamela gave a very nice, gloomy smile.
"Then let's take on a quest tomorrow. You must be tired from the test today."
"Y-yes! I-I'll do my best on the quest!"
"Yes, I'm looking forward to it."
"He, hehe, hehhehehe...."
After that, we left the cafe, and Pamela headed to the post office to send her letter, while I returned to the inn first.
'Tomorrow, I'll be able to confirm how effective Pamela's debuffs are in this world. And... the current skills of the gacha characters.'
Tomorrow, I would ask Pamela many of the questions I wanted to know.
And Pamela would gladly answer the questions of her first friend.
'I'm glad I met Pamela early.'
If it had been another character, they would likely have been wary of my questions or found them strange.
But compared to that, Pamela was a character I didn't have to worry about that with.
If I handled her well, I could get close to her quickly and easily recruit her to my party.
It was really lucky that I had met Pamela so early.