Chapter 10
Even before Elettra came over to Gilliam, the stares were sharp—but they grew even sharper when she sat beside him.
‘That guy, right now….’
‘The princess….’
‘What’s he trying to pull…?’
Elettra was famous for her beauty.
And although Maron was shunned because of the Phantomblaze Star (幻爛星) she bore, in terms of looks alone, she was just as beautiful as Elettra.
The two most beautiful girls in the classroom had ended up sitting on either side of Gilliam.
‘What is the princess thinking? Is she actually planning to join forces with that delinquent?’
‘Is she trying to oppose the Crown Prince’s faction…? Or is she trying to show that she has no interest in the power struggle…?’
Some people were agonizing over how to interpret it as a political message, but…
‘That delinquent….’
‘Everchess….’
‘He’s got girls sitting on both sides of him… I’m jealous….’
‘I liked him first… I liked him first….’
There were plenty of purely jealous stares, too.
Especially from the men.
An unexpected voice came from Elettra’s direction.
“U-um… You’re Princess Elettra, r-right?”
Maron, the socially awkward girl, spoke in her own awkward way.
Elettra gave her a less-than-friendly look.
“And you are?”
“I-I’m Maron Clearias.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know.”
On the surface, it was an apology.
But what she really meant was, ‘I don’t know who you are, but you’re not someone I need to pay attention to, are you?’
“…Your Highness, it seems you and Liam haven’t gotten to know each other very well yet.”
She emphasized the words “Liam.”
“…Oh?”
“I went over and sat beside Liam in his very first class yesterday.”
Meaning: I claimed him first.
“Oh, really? Liam came over to me first.”
Meaning: The guy you claimed seems to like me better.
“A lot of people approach Your Highness.”
Meaning: You have plenty of people who like you, so why are you trying to steal the one man I have? Besides, it’s not like you know for sure Gilliam approached you because he ‘likes’ you, is it?
“Hmm… I suppose pearls sometimes turn up in the sand.”
Meaning: How many people like me and who I like are two different things, aren’t they?
“Hahaha….”
Maron gave an awkward smile.
“….”
Elettra smiled silently.
But neither of them was smiling with her eyes.
A fierce battle of nerves, waged with smiles on their faces.
Romance-fantasy-style posturing. Talking in circles. A deadly battlefield.
The female cadet sitting in front of them hunched over, afraid she might get caught up in it.
Whispers filled with other emotions spread among the cadets.
‘Wow….’
‘Getting stuck between those two sounds like hell.’
‘Well, maybe I’m not that jealous after all.’
The stares aimed at Gilliam grew less sharp and a little more sympathetic instead.
But then.
Gilliam’s reaction, caught in the middle of that blood-chilling battle, was…
“Haaah….”
A carefree yawn.
As if that weren’t enough, he stretched his arms out, then scratched his head vigorously.
“—”
“….”
Maron and Elettra interpreted the meaning of that yawn.
‘I-I guess he’s telling us to stop talking about such trivial things?’
Maron had low self-esteem to begin with.
After being shunned her whole life, she’d finally made her first… friend… probably. At least for now. And if Liam thought of her that way, then he was her one and only, irreplaceable person.
She couldn’t keep going after he’d made it clear he wanted her to stop.
And Elettra…
‘…Does that mean I should go somewhere else if I’m going to annoy him?’
In her own way, she was growing anxious around Gilliam, too.
Strangely enough.
It was natural to shower a princess with compliments.
She’d listen to compliments she didn’t even want to hear, and if they were at least decent, she might grant a small reward.
The princess was above; the one giving compliments was below.
But Gilliam alone… might be different.
Maybe she wanted to hear the compliments this man gave her again.
The two romance-fantasy heroines met each other’s gaze.
“…Shall we get ready for class?”
“Yes. That sounds best.”
One yawn from Gilliam, and a ceasefire agreement was reached.
The stares that had eased up turned sharp again.
‘What’s with that guy?’
‘…He’s kind of obnoxious.’
‘Who does he think he is, ordering two girls around with a single yawn?’
‘I liked him first… I liked him first….’
Gilliam hadn’t even realized a battle had broken out in the first place.
But…
He did have a dilemma of his own.
Maron was on his left.
Elettra was on his right.
Originally, he’d planned to farm points from Maron.
‘It’d be awkward to do that with this setup.’
There was one thing he’d learned from working at a shitty, women-dominated company.
For some reason, women got upset if you complimented another woman in front of them.
‘I really don’t get why.’
I could understand getting upset if you complimented a woman they didn’t get along with.
But if you complimented a woman they were close to, would that make them happy?
No?
If anything, they got even more upset.
Why on earth was that?
Why would someone feel bad when a friend of hers got complimented?
‘If I knew that, I would’ve gotten along better at that women-dominated company.’
So what should I do?
【Unexpected Quest Activated!】
〈Symmetry〉
Objective: Earn Praise Points by complimenting each of the targets beside you
Reward: 1000 Praise Points
Time Limit: 1 minute
‘One minute? They’re cutting it close again.’
Compared to the last unexpected quest, which gave me only ten seconds, this was generous—but this time there were two targets.
Still, 1000 points was too much to pass up.
Can’t be helped.
I lowered my voice and whispered.
“Maron, Elettra.”
“?” “??”
“I’m going to compliment you two in turn from now on.”
“??” “???”
Time Limit: 54 seconds
There’s no time.
Given the situation, I probably wouldn’t succeed on the first try. I had to hurry, in case I needed to retry.
“Maron.”
“Y-yes!”
Maron blinked.
Her irises, which had been a dark red when she spoke to Elettra earlier, turned bright orange.
“Your eyes are pretty today, too, Maron. That fresh color makes me feel good just looking at them.”
“E-ehhehe….”
【The target is happy】
<Praise Points: +50(150→200)>
“And Elettra.”
“….”
“You were beautiful when I saw you at night, and you’re beautiful in the daytime, too. It seems you look good in both sunlight and moonlight.”
“….”
【The target feels joy along with embarrassment】
<Praise Points: +50(200→250)>
‘Huh?’
【Unexpected Quest:〈Symmetry〉Complete!】
【1000 Praise Points awarded as a reward (remaining: 1250)】
Wait, why did I succeed on the first try?
I thought I was supposed to try as many times as possible within a minute, so I’d just been throwing out random compliments.
‘Well… I guess it’s fine as long as I succeeded.’
With 1250 points, I could go for a two-star skill now. Or an item of a similar level.
The question was what to pick from the shop.
‘There’s something I absolutely need to get for the event that happens during next week’s dungeon expedition.’
〈Cross of the Inverted Night〉
An item that lets you wield more powerful holy magic the darker your surroundings are.
‘And I should start getting ready for my main weapon, too.’
In <Astra Radius>, it was clear which weapon had the highest potential.
‘And if I’m going to plan out my build….’
As I pondered, I looked up and found sharp stares pouring in from both sides.
“…” “…”
“…What’s wrong?”
“Is that all?” “Don’t you have anything else to say?”
…Did they want me to compliment them more?
If not, there was nothing I could do.
“Maron, I like how diligent you are. You came early and waited for class.”
“Hehehehe.”
【The target is pleased】
<Praise Points: +30(1250→1280)>
“I like how elegant Elettra looks.”
“….”
【The target is satisfied】
<Praise Points: +40(1280→1320)>
Maron nodded, grinning and saying, “Yes, yes.”
Elettra stayed silent.
‘Wow….’
How misandrist was this system, anyway?
I’d thought that complimenting women simply made the points multiply…
“And?” “Anything else?”
I’d found a problem.
I was starting to run out of things to compliment them on.
‘What happens if I give them almost the exact same compliments as before?’
“And… Maron, your eyes really are lovely. This yellow color is pretty, too.”
“Yes, hehe.”
【The target likes it】
<Praise Points: +20(1320→1340)>
“And Elettra, you look lovely with the sunlight falling on you, too.”
“….”
【The target likes it】
<Praise Points: +20(1340→1360)>
They both gave me points, but the amounts had gone down.
‘Did they feel less happy because they were getting used to it?’
Rule 1: The Praise Points you receive are proportional to how happy the target feels.
‘Well, of course.’
It still feels good to hear the same compliment over and over, but it’s only natural that it doesn’t give you as much of a dopamine rush as the first time.
‘Then there are two solutions.’
One is to keep finding new things to compliment.
The other is to keep finding new women.
‘Tch. If this system weren’t so misandrist, I’d be going around complimenting men and women equally.’
Can’t be helped.
‘From now on, I’ll just have to meet as many different women as possible and compliment them.’
Life really isn’t easy.
What can I do? The whole world seems determined to screw me over.
“…Are you done flirting, Gilliam?”
While I was lost in thought, the professor had come in.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t an attractive woman like Professor Kadisha, but a balding middle-aged man.
I was pretty sure his name was Orkh.
“Hmph. Women are all creatures who only care about a man’s money anyway.”
It wasn’t very convincing coming from a potbellied, bald man with a nasty personality… but Orkh himself seemed to genuinely believe it. Or maybe he’d brainwashed himself into believing it.
“Even the most demure women can’t help rushing toward any man richer than their husbands. Their brains are designed that way from the start.”
Orkh tapped his head. Dandruff fell from it.
“That’s why I never got married.”
You mean you couldn’t?
“Living with an inferior gender would only drag my life down with it.”
Looks to me like you couldn’t.
“Ah… Yes, I’m finished, Professor Orkh. Please begin the lesson.”
Professor Orkh’s face turned bright red with anger.
‘Good heavens.’
He was that angry because a student might not pay attention in class.
What a model teacher.
“Sorry. I’ll try not to talk to the women on either side of me during class. You heard me, right? Don’t crowd up against me or whisper in my ear, either. I mean both of you.”
Professor Orkh’s fist began to tremble.