Lunaria's Blessing Lottery
You have won the Lunaria Blessing Lottery. (5)
I checked my stress level.
Stress: -0
The Righteousness trait wasn't all downsides. Performing just acts granted tangible rewards. Taking down those thugs must have registered as righteous in the trait's eyes. After all, they had openly confessed to human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping threats—crimes so vile that beating them down could hardly be anything but just.
Part of me wanted to keep prowling the alleys all night, but Leisa was injured and mentally shaken. It was time to return to the academy.
Her wooden staff lay scattered across the filthy alley floor alongside the thugs, snapped in half like a broken drumstick. The break looked like it had come from desperately blocking a knife. Scratches from blades covered the wood. Somehow, she had still managed to cast magic in that state.
Yet everything had gone far more smoothly than I expected. This was one of the reasons I had brought Leisa along for alley hunting tonight—to make her realize how impractical a small wand-like staff was in real combat. A skilled mage like Professor Giphotes would never have allowed close-quarters fighting in the first place, and even if he had, he would have protected his staff with mana manipulation while overwhelming the thugs. But Leisa, still inexperienced in battle and struggling to control her mana, would surely have felt the need for a sturdier staff after her first real fight.
I turned to her, still kneeling on the ground and trembling. "Your staff broke. Do you have a spare?"
Leisa looked at the broken pieces for a moment before answering quietly. "...I have a few in my dorm room, but not with me now. I should have prepared better..."
I had suspected as much from the moment I first suggested alley hunting. That was why I had proceeded with this plan in mind.
"Can't be helped. Let's call it a day and head back to the academy."
Relief spread across Leisa's face. She tried to stand, clutching her injured left hand, but her legs kept giving out. "...Ugh... My legs... won't listen... Sob..."
She looked so pathetic that tears threatened to spill. I quickly pulled the bandages and antiseptic from the sword case I had prepared in advance.
"Give me your arm. I'll treat it."
"...Okay."
Leisa obediently extended her wounded hand. Basic wound treatment was a required course in the Swordsmanship Department, so the diligent Leon would never have neglected it. I swiftly applied the antiseptic and wrapped the bandage with practiced ease. I had hemostatic agents and red potions that could heal such wounds instantly stored in the case, but I left them untouched. Not because I was stingy. This was deliberate—to activate the glitch on her.
The so-called "Favorability Glitch" or "Yas Glitch" in King's Crown utilized the Papiyas's Massive Root trait I had received upon possessing Leon's body. True to the blessing of the phallic god, it randomly increased favorability with a partner—someone you had physical relations with—by 1 to 10. The trait's mechanics were peculiar: the moment you engaged in sexual relations, both parties gained a positive status effect called "Sexual Love," which raised mutual favorability. It seemed designed this way because the trait needed to affect the partner as well, not just the holder.
However, as with any system created by the notoriously buggy developers, there was a way to trigger the effect without actual physical intimacy, provided certain conditions were met:
1. One party must possess the Papiyas's Massive Root trait.
2. Both parties must be in physical contact.
3. Both parties must be afflicted with the same type of status effect.
I already satisfied condition one. Now for condition two. Leisa still seemed unable to stand. Perfect timing. After finishing the bandage, I turned my back to her and said, "Get on."
"Huh?! Ah..."
As the daughter of a marquis, she hesitated to climb onto a man's back, but she had no choice if she wanted to return to the academy without crawling. After a moment's hesitation, she murmured, "Excuse me..." and climbed onto my back with a voice full of embarrassment.
Good. Condition two was met. Now for condition three. I stood up with Leisa on my back, holding the sword case in my left hand, and began walking toward the academy. In that state, I mentally called up the status window, and a cascade of text appeared in the air before me. I immediately looked at the Traits section.
Traits: [Divine: Blessing] Papiyas's Massive Root / Magnus Vision Swordsmanship / Handsome Appearance / ??? /
Acquirable Traits: NEW!! Clenching Teeth / NEW!! Throwing [Stone Type] / NEW!! Throwing [Sword Type] / NEW!! Sand Toss / NEW!! Spitting / NEW!! Threatening / NEW!! Shouting /
In King's Crown, aside from forced blessings, curses, or negative status effects, traits could be learned by player choice after acquisition, just as shown in the status window. Trait acquisition conditions were varied and often hidden, but usually involved witnessing them or killing an NPC who possessed them for a chance at random acquisition. Most of the traits I had obtained were Rank E—the weakest in the King's Crown world—but ignoring E-rank traits in version 1.0.0 could lead to big trouble. Farming the back alleys wasn't just for experience points. Fortunately, that short battle seemed to have netted me the traits I wanted. The acquisition rate for E-rank traits was already quite high, after all.
With one hand supporting Leisa on my back, I forced my other hand up and immediately acquired the Clenching Teeth and Spitting traits. This status window even worked like a smartphone's touch function.
Clenching Teeth: In the back-alley world, there are moments when you must clench your teeth and endure. Effect: Causes minor bleeding in the mouth and slightly increases resistance to stress.
Spitting: They say the strongest poison humans possess is their saliva. Spit on your enemies' pride. Effect: Expels liquid held in the mouth.
Upon acquiring the traits, I immediately used Clenching Teeth to cause minor bleeding in my mouth. Leisa was already under the Bleeding status effect from the knife wound earlier. That meant we now shared the same status effect—Bleeding—satisfying condition three. The Favorability Glitch conditions were finally complete. Checking the status window confirmed that the Papiyas's Massive Root trait was now active. If I just dragged this out a little longer, her favorability would rise steadily.
Building favorability with Leisa was essential. Without her trust, clearing Alhazard's dungeon would be impossible.
"...I'm sorry, senior. And thank you so much for helping me today."
On the way back to the academy, Leisa spoke up. After spitting out the blood pooled in my mouth with Spitting, I replied, "Don't mention it. You had it worse. I should have protected you..."
"You warned me before the fight, remember? If you'd tried to protect me while fighting so many thugs, it would've been dangerous. So don't worry about that. I got hurt because I was inexperienced. And... I learned a lot today. I never dreamed the world outside the academy could be this dangerous... I finally realize how sheltered I've been, like a flower in a greenhouse."
Leisa... you're suddenly quite eloquent. She must be shyer than I thought. Now that the glitch had made us closer, she spoke to me so comfortably.
"If I train like this every day... could someone like me become stronger? Could I become a mage who helps everyone... and my family...?"
Her voice gradually lost strength, growing thinner. The sudden increase in activity and the shocking events must have exhausted her. "...Your back... reminds me of my father's back from when I was little... Father... I miss... zzZ"
By the time we emerged from the alleys and returned to the academy, the early evening sky had darkened enough for the moon and stars to peek out together. The academy grounds, so lively and bright during the day, felt quiet and somewhat lonely in the darkness. Carrying Leisa on my back, I stopped near the path to the women's noble dormitory and gazed up at the moon softly illuminating the night sky.