Chapter 264: 264 Nothing

Ian opened his Potential page once again in his room.

At the very back of the numerous Potential pages.

The page he thought he would never have a reason to use was opened by Ian’s hand.

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[Blind Faith]

– 1 point is required to activate this Potential.

– Potential Activation Bonus: Probability of affinity decrease occurring -25%

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In the current situation, it was an ability that wouldn’t particularly help with clearing the game.

Since it was a situation where every bit of power had to be used for the clear, Ian hadn’t shown any interest in this ability at all… but for Mika right now, this was the only way.

Of course, looking more long-term, there were other options.

By the time they became a C-rank mercenary group and finished preparations to enter the Labyrinth, a way to treat erosion would emerge.

Living with the curse right now would be difficult, but if she waited until then, she could receive treatment.

However, she wouldn’t be able to go on missions in the meantime,

And by then, the level gap would have widened too much… so she would have to be dropped from the first-string party.

He had left the final choice to Mika.

Either way, he had no intention of just letting Mika go like this. It depended on Mika’s choice.

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[Kind Eyes]

– Wariness toward the player -25%

[Fulfillment]

– Random stats slightly increase for the target during the next mission after sexual intercourse

[Psychological Dependency]

– Removes a certain amount of negative effects from the target after sexual intercourse

– Slightly increases the target’s affinity when negative effects are removed

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1 point to activate the ’Blind Faith’ Potential page.

3 points for the target ’Psychological Dependency’ and the prerequisite skill tree to acquire it.

A total of 4 points were required.

“…”

These were points he had been saving to take ’The Honorable One’.

Ian let out a small sigh.

But up to this much… should be fine.

In the end, once it becomes the late game and all the most effective skills are taken, there eventually remains nowhere left to invest points.

When that time comes, people usually just pick anything with the remaining minor points to get even a bit of efficiency or small convenience.

If he used points that would become unnecessary later for Mika’s treatment now, he could even think of it as being efficient…

—Creeak.

It was then.

While he had been talking with Mika and giving her time to think, the sun had completely set before he knew it.

Normally it would be time to sleep, but the city was still noisy with the festive atmosphere spreading after the monster invasion ended.

Amidst that chaotic noise, the small sound of the wooden floor in the hallway creaking could be heard.

The footsteps of someone walking slowly down the hallway,

Stopped in front of Ian’s room.

***

– I have a way to treat that…

Mika lay on her bed, pulling the blanket up to the top of her head.

The story Ian had told her earlier continued to circle in Mika’s mind.

– So, you mean… if I do th-that with the Captain, the curse will be lifted?

The sight of Ian nodding silently at her flustered question.

Ian had provided no other explanation besides those words.

…Even if he tried to add a supplementary explanation, it felt like no matter what he said, the suspiciousness would only increase.

No matter how much he thought about it, Ian didn’t have the confidence to express it more persuasively than that.

In the end, Ian had decided to just calmly deliver the facts.

– I-I’ll think about it.

What other answer could she have given in that situation?

After giving that answer and letting Ian leave the room, Mika had no choice but to have time to think.

…What would change just by thinking?

Mika let out a quiet sigh from inside the blanket.

Beside the bed where Mika was covered up sat Rin and Tanya, whose cheeks were flushed red.

“Mika. Are you sleeping?”

“No…”

Finally unable to hold back, Rin pulled back Mika’s blanket.

The reclining Mika let out another sigh, the count of which she didn’t even know for today.

“What’s been wrong with you for a while now?”

“I just have something to think about…”

“Exactly what did the Captain say?”

Ever since the two of them, Mika and Ian, had their secret conversation, Mika had been in this state the whole time.

Rin had thought Mika would tell them what they discussed, but exactly what was the content… Even Mika kept what she shared with Ian a secret from the two of them.

Mika was just sighing deeply with a dark face, continuing to agonize alone over something they couldn’t identify.

“Does it cost a lot of money? I’ll lend it to you.”

“Y-yeah, Mika. I heard the settlement money this time will be huge… wouldn’t it work out somehow if we pooled all three of ours together?”

Is it because it’s hard to ask to borrow money?

Rin, thinking so, made the offer first and Tanya agreed, but Mika shook her head with a face that showed her worries hadn’t cleared at all.

“No. It’s not because of money…”

Mika looked at the two of them, hesitating as if she wanted to say something, but eventually gave up on speaking and turned her head away.

“No… it’s nothing.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this today either.

Rin and Tanya exchanged glances with suspicious eyes.

They had stepped aside because Ian said he needed to talk to Mika alone, but…

Mika’s attitude had been strange ever since she heard the story.

Rin had pressed her, wondering if he might have talked about dismissing her behind their backs, but Mika denied that absolutely.

She said Ian had clearly told her there was a way to treat it.

However, Mika was absolutely refusing to tell the two of them what that method was.

Tanya and Rin, sensing Mika’s mood and distancing themselves slightly, spoke in whispers.

“Why won’t she say?”

“Does she just not want to talk about it…?”

“What on earth is it that she won’t even tell us?”

Tanya, pondering with Rin while rubbing her throbbing cheek, said,

“Maybe it’s not that she doesn’t want to say… but that she can’t say?”

“She can’t say?”

“Like it’s the Captain’s secret… or it’s dangerous because it’s something illegal…”

Tanya, who had helped Ian with something she couldn’t tell others before, suddenly recalled that time.

Certainly, looking at the scale of the things that were called general treatment methods… Ian’s method probably wouldn’t be an ordinary means either.

The stuff about holy relics and whatnot was quite shocking, but if there was a way to replace that.

Whatever it was, it was bound to be extremely suspicious.

But for it to be something she couldn’t even tell her comrades.

An unspeakable way to lift a curse…?

An illegal… ritual?

Suspicions suddenly bloomed like lightning in Rin’s mind.

The Captain was a noble, right?

He denied it himself, but all the circumstances were clear. For such a person to flee to a city like this and work as a mercenary…

Perhaps he had committed a crime so serious that he had to flee punishment even as a noble.

For example… heresy.

If the method to treat Mika was…

A pagan spell. Something like a devil’s contract or a human sacrifice ritual…

Then it explained why Ian sent everyone out and why Mika couldn’t speak of it either.

Because just bringing it up was a dangerous thing.

Serious imaginings flourished in Rin’s head as she glanced at Mika’s dark expression.

Mika was still lost in thought.

Ian, who explained the solution, had said he would give her time to think and that she could refuse if she didn’t want to.

He said he would leave the choice to her.

Of course, that thing Ian called a solution was.

The more she thought about it, the more suspicious the proposal was, but…

Well.

Maybe because of his usual self, she didn’t get the feeling it was some murky scheme.

He didn’t seem like the type of person to do such a thing by targeting someone when they were weak.

When Mika turned her head, she saw the eyes of her two friends looking at her with worried faces.

When she was agonizing alone, she couldn’t get a sense of what to do…

But seeing them, she instead made up her mind.

She didn’t want to leave this place.

She wanted to continue working here with her friends.

Mika, having finally reached a decision after long deliberation, sat up.

Rin and Tanya, who had been talking quietly a short distance from Mika, saw this and approached her.

“Mika? Where are you going all of a sudden?”

“Is it the bathroom? I’ll take you.”

“N-no. It’s okay.”

When Mika, who found it hard even to move her body alone, suddenly stood up, Rin and Tanya approached to support her.

Mika flusteredly shook the two of them off.

It was true that moving was difficult, but it was just hard to run or perform intense actions; she wasn’t at a level where she couldn’t even walk.

Mika got off the bed on her own strength.

“I’m going to the Captain’s room for a bit.”

Mika told the two of them with a face of resolve.

…There definitely is something.

Tanya and Rin exchanged glances, looking at each other.

“Will you be okay alone?”

“I’m okay with this much.”

When her body suddenly became like this, she struggled because she was flustered… but now she had gotten a little used to it.

If she moved slowly and carefully, she could sufficiently walk alone.

Mika, opening the door while carefully moving one step at a time,

Looked back at the two of them with a slightly anxious expression.

“Um…. You absolutely, must not follow me, okay?”

Mika left those words and closed the door.

…Rin and Tanya faced each other with suspicious looks and then nodded.

***

Deep night.

Someone who arrived in front of Ian’s room stood before the door for a long time, agonizing.

How many minutes had passed like that?

Perhaps having finally made up their mind, someone grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened Ian’s door.

Because Ian had not locked the door in preparation for Mika’s visit, the door opened slowly with a small sound.

Seeing that Ian had not fallen asleep even at this late hour and was waiting for her, Mika entered the room with a slightly flushed face and quietly closed the door.

She had come with her mind prepared, but Mika, whose tension surged again now that she had to say it with her own mouth, took a brief deep breath.

“…I’ll do it.”

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