“Do not be stressed, we will share the burden together.”
Even Celty, who always adhered to cold facts, added earnestly, “From the perspective of resource optimization, restricting your ability to a single target is an immense waste of our team’s combat effectiveness.”
Kaguya, who stood off to the side, crossed her arms and let out a soft huff before speaking awkwardly, “Though they are exaggerating a bit… it does make sense.”
Haruhime looked thoroughly overwhelmed by their overwhelming persuasion.
Right then, the door to the goddess’s chambers opened, and Mizuki stepped out with a complicated expression.
He was greeted by the sight of everyone swarming around Haruhime.
“Hey, are you bullying Haruhime again?”
“Bullying?” Alise spun around, retorting with mock outrage, “Mizuki, what are you talking about! Haruhime is our precious treasure now! We are protecting her!”
“That is right!” Neze stepped in front of Haruhime, baring her teeth and growling playfully at Mizuki, “Whoever dares lay a finger on our darling Haruhime will have to go through me first!”
Iska held Haruhime’s hands, eyes sparkling with delight.
“I am already wondering what kind of makeup would best suit Haruhime and her miraculous ability!”
The girls chattered excitedly among themselves, completely engrossed in discussing how to utilize Uchide no Kozuchi and protect Haruhime, totally ignoring Mizuki, who had just received his falna.
At that moment, Kaguya slipped out from the noisy circle.
With her arms crossed, she walked past Mizuki without glancing aside, seemingly heading toward the far end of the hallway.
Yet, as she brushed past him, she paused slightly without looking back, asking offhandedly, “What came of your falna?”
Seeing her feigned indifference, Mizuki laughed, “Look at that, it is my wife who truly cares about me after all.”
Kaguya froze, then whirled around to glare at him fiercely, “Who… who cares about you! I am merely worried that your abilities are so pathetic you might drag our familia down!”
“Right, right,” Mizuki nodded with a grin, “Since you are my fiancée, everything you say is correct.”
He gently handed the sheet bearing his status over to her, “Take a look, darling fiancée. Witness the might of your future husband, and try not to faint from shock.”
“Who cares to look?”
Despite her sharp words, Kaguya took the paper anyway.
Mizuki had actually been debating whether he ought to hide that indecipherable entry.
Whether judging from their interactions over the past two days or the memory of their tragic end, where they laid down their lives for their comrades and their justice, this group of girls was undeniably a dependable family to whom one could entrust their back.
Did he truly consider Alise, Ryu, and the others his comrades?
The moment he saw how warmly and without reservation they welcomed Haruhime, he already had his answer.
Besides, an unreadable entry was hardly a crisis.
It was not as if one needed to look far, Cassandra had an unusual trait of her own, after all.
As for his deepest secret, that was something he would never share with a living soul.
That had nothing to do with trust or loyalty, it was simply his bottom line.
A reincarnator who went around telling others about other worlds and systems would have to be out of his mind.
Kaguya grabbed the paper, intending to maintain her indifferent facade.
However, as her gaze swept over the runes, her eyes went wide, and her grip on the sheet tightened. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“How… how is this possible?”
Her stunned reaction drew everyone else’s attention.
“What is it?
Let me see!” Alise bounded over, leaning her head right against Kaguya’s, “What is this?
It cannot be deciphered?”
Alise’s shout made the entire hallway quiet down for a second before turning into an uproar.
“Seriously?”
“Let me see too!”
Iska, Neze, Lyra, and the others rushed over, crowding around Kaguya and Alise.
The status sheet passed from hand to hand, every pair of eyes filling with identical disbelief.
Act of Justice.
When upholding justice, Strength, Endurance, and Agility are enhanced.
Born to Wealth.
Consumes mind.
Abundance, flow, protection.
Manifests wealth to bestow upon designated targets, granting an all-around stat increase, improved recovery efficiency, and enhanced resistance to negative statuses.
The caster receives no enhancements, and Dexterity is reduced.
Can be applied to up to three people.
Capable of growth.
Development ability: Beyond Truth.
Unknown.
“This one… is completely blurred?” Lyra’s eyes widened, her small face full of bewilderment.
“An ability that even Lady Astraea cannot decipher…” Ryu murmured, voice laced with shock.
Kaguya turned her sharp gaze entirely onto Mizuki, “Why do you possess an unidentifiable development ability?”
Unlike Kaguya’s suspicion, their captain’s focus took an entirely different turn.
“Oh, who cares about what we cannot read! Put it aside!” Alise clapped her hands, eyes shining as she beamed at Mizuki.
“The real prize is this Born to Wealth! This is an unbelievable skill! It buffs three targets at once with an all-around stat boost, plus recovery and status resistance!”
“Good grief, Mizuki, you are a walking enhancement station!”
“Tactically speaking, the value of this skill is no lower than Haruhime’s Uchide no Kozuchi. In fact, in certain situations, it might be even more versatile,” Celty analyzed calmly.
“Is it a flat value or a percentage? Additionally, how severe is the reduction to the caster’s Dexterity?”
Celty’s string of questions cooled down the feverish mood slightly.
“Whatever!” Alise waved the paper around before resting her hands on her hips, bursting with eagerness, “We will find out once we test it, right?”
She grabbed Mizuki by the arm, “Come on, Mizuki! To the training grounds! It just so happens that Ryu and Kaguya are here too.”
“If you place this Born to Wealth on the three of us, let us see if it pushes me to the level of a level four!”
Without giving Mizuki any room to protest, she pulled him toward the courtyard.
“Hey! Alise!” Kaguya shouted from behind, watching their complete change in attitude, and scoffed.
“You fickle traitors! A minute ago it was all ‘darling Haruhime’ this and ‘darling Haruhime’ that, treating her like a sacred idol! Now look at you, tossing her aside the moment something new comes along!”
Having already reached the stairwell, Alise poked her head out and yelled back, “They are both our treasures! Both of them!”
“We are just testing darling Mizuki first, then darling Haruhime next, that is just proper testing order!”
With that, she dashed down the stairs.
Watching the crowd disperse, Haruhime let out a long sigh of relief.
Being surrounded like that under such intense stares had made her feel like she might faint on the spot.
This was much better.
With the spotlight off her, she could quietly follow Master Mizuki just like before.
As Haruhime quietly savored the calm, a hand gently took hold of her wrist.
It was Kaguya.
“Come on, let us head down too,” Kaguya said, her expression slightly prickly but resolute, “I want to see what these fickle hypocrites look like after this.”
Down in the courtyard, the girls formed a tight circle around Mizuki.
Every single eye bore into him, practically screaming for him to hurry up and activate the skill.
Being stared down by so many eager faces made him profoundly uneasy, reminding him of times back in his previous life when unruly friends would corner someone outside the restroom.
The setting was completely different, but the sheer awkwardness felt exactly the same.
“Look, could you all please stop staring at me like that?” Mizuki sighed.
“What, are you shy?” Alise casually threw an arm around his shoulders, “Your wife Kaguya has not even complained, so what is a grown man like you dragging his feet for?”
“Fiancée,” Kaguya corrected instinctively.
“Oh?” Ryu, who had stayed quiet until now, let a faint smirk grace her lips as she teased smoothly, “Kaguya, are you finally admitting to being his fiancée?”
Kaguya choked on her words, feeling on the verge of losing her mind with how much they were teasing her.
She glared fiercely at Ryu, biting back, “Stupid elf! I never thought you would be just as fickle as the rest of them! Barely a moment ago you were coddling Haruhime, and now you have moved right on!”
Scrambling to deflect the heat, Kaguya quickly dropped the topic of the engagement entirely.