Contrary to the circulating rumors, Riru Garda was not the kind of person who’d attack others thoughtlessly.

In truth, the majority of the cases that seemed like she was giving out one-sided violence were carried out under cold and calculated reasoning.

She was aware that she was an easy target. That was why, to avoid troublesome situations, she decided that beating everyone into submission with overwhelming strength and planting the seed of fear within them was the best approach.

After all, she herself was more than aware that she was a kind of existence that would never fit within the academy.

‘There are only weaklings here.’

That was her first impression when she arrived at the Academy and it never changed ever since.

But there were two individuals that were an exception to that.

Her head had been filled with thoughts of wanting to provoke one of them, but that particular person was incredibly elusive. Where and why was that person wandering about so much?

Perhaps that was the reason why even the Empire highly valued such a powerful warrior.

“If you continue, you’ll die, you know?”

And that person was right in front of her.

‘...This guy is definitely…’

She had seen him once during the Observation class.

The way he managed to compete quite well against her was vividly etched into her mind.

“...”

She sent the man a perplexed gaze.

Meanwhile, he was standing in front of her, facing the group of people in front of them.

Almost as if he was trying to protect her, who was standing behind him.

“...Senior Dowd?”

Mage Falco of the Hero Party spoke in a confused voice.

“Senior?”

“I mean, you are a second-year now. We are still freshmen.”

“Oh, right.”

“...Anyway, putting that aside, why are you trying to stop us?”

“I literally just told you. You guys will die if you continue.”

The expressions of the entire member of the Hero Party stiffened at the same time as Riru furrowing her brows.

After all, no matter how one interpreted it, the intention behind his sentence was obvious.

“...Why are you siding with such a woman?”

“Who’s siding with who, now?

“...”

Falco glanced at the blood dripping from Dowd’s head with a look of incredulity.

If that was the case, then why did he intervene even at the cost of obliterating his own body?

He thought that unless there was a very good reason, there was no point in doing such a thing.

“...Hey, guys.”

Trisha, who had been silently watching, grabbed everyone's arms and pulled them towards her.

“Let’s stop here.”

“What? No wait, in the the first place, she’s the one who start—”

“Remember that we’re the ones who jumped into this situation without understanding it properly.”

“...”

Her words were correct.

After only considering her bad reputation, they had rashly assumed that Riru did something wrong once again to cause this situation.

“Well, that’s not a hard problem to solve.”

After saying that, Dowd turned to approach the male student who had initially faced off against Riru.

His appearance, as he limped while blood dripped from his entire body, gave off an odd pressure.

“What did you say to her before this happened?”

“I-I didn’t say any—!”

“Stop lying.”

Dowd let out a grin.

Seeing such a carefree grin emerging from his bloodsoaked face made the male student’s face instantly turn pale.

It was as if he asked while knowing what had happened. In the end, under such seemingly omniscient pressure, the male student stuttered out the words he had spoken previously.

“...Woah.”

“...”

At the same time that Grid and Falco frowned, Luca made a troubled look.

The reason was because of the extremely vulgar language that the male student uttered. And those extremely inappropriate insults were directed directly towards Riru’s family.

“...While using violence is prohibited, in this case, when an extraordinary amount of malice was involved, I think it’s perfectly justified to enact it.”

The words that the male student uttered were so bad that even Falco, the one with the most moderate temper among the Hero Party, made such a remark.

Meanwhile, Luca, who knew about Riru to some extent, sent Riru an apologetic look.

“...I must apologize.”

Luca bowed his head.

“Insulting the clan of a warrior of the Tribal Alliance is akin to challenging them to a death battle. I was short-sighted in this matter.”

“...”

“Not to mention, your clan—”

“Shut up.”

Riru shot back coldly.

“I don’t care what you think. If you’re not going to fight me, then get lost.”

“...No, I cannot do that. Honor is practically the equivalent of a warrior’s life and what I had done was no different than staining your honor.”

With that, Luca took something out from within his clothes.

A dream catcher made by intertwining the teeth and bones of a beast.

Riru’s eyes immediately widened at the sight of this.

“Once someone receives an expulsion order, they can never return to the Tribal Alliance. However, an exception is applied to those forgiven by a War Chief and his direct line.

Luca calmly extended it to Riru.

“I, Luca Han-Chai, the next War Chief of the Red Jaguar Tribe in the Hyrule Mountain Rage, declares; Riru Garda. Under the patronage of our tribe, you will be given one chance to step onto the land of the Tribal Alliance.”

“...”

“I’m sure this was the right that you desired all this time. This is the proof of that promise. Please take it.”

After staring blankly at it, Riru’s expression soon stiffly sharpened once again.

That was undoubtedly what she wanted.

However, the pride left in her heart was acting up again.

Before she could ponder deeply, she impulsively began to speak.

“...I don’t ne—”

“Yes, thank you.”

But, Dowd promptly intervened and smoothly intercepted the dream catcher before hanging it on her wrist.

Immediately, he leaned towards an extremely bewildered Riru.

Then, in a voice that could only be heard by her, he whispered.

“Accept it, Riru.”

“What?”

“If you don’t accept it, there will be many regrets.”

“...Who do you think you are to say something like that?”

“I’m saying that I’ll regret it.”

“...”

Leaving Riru dumbfounded, Dowd, who had slightly raised his body, spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“I understand you’re angry. I also know that I’m being rude here. However, can’t you accept it for my sake?

With that, he tied the dream catcher to her wrist, as if telling her to shut up and take it.

At that moment, Riru’s voice, which was about to explosively retort in anger, waned.

It was because, for some reason, she felt this man’s ‘sincerity’.

His speech about his rude request or whatever was merely a way to uphold her dignity.

After all, she was undoubtedly trying to throw away what she desired, solely because of her petty pride. As such, he was clearly trying to adjust to her needs and desires.

“...”

‘But why?’

She scrutinized this man from top to bottom once again.

There was no doubt that this man knew nothing about her. After all, they had barely crossed each other’s paths.

‘Then, why would he go to such lengths? He even hurt himself to help her.’

Considering her image in this academy, it would undoubtedly bring him more losses than gains.

Moreover, he even presented himself in such a pathetic way in order to further provide and take care of her needs.

‘...What in the world…?’

‘What is this guy even doing?’

‘And what did he mean when he said that he would be the one to regret it if she didn’t accept it?’

‘Why does it matter to him if she returned to the Tribal Alliance or not?’

“...”

It was almost as if…

The important things to her were also important to him.

After all, that was the only way to interpret what this man had said.

“...”

In the end…

Riru, unable to even meet the man’s eyes, could only obediently offer her wrist.

Thanks to that, I gained two things.

System Message

[ ‘Devil’s Aura’ weakens. ]

[ ‘The Fallen’s Seal’ quiets down! ]

Honestly, considering that I intervened in front of Riru, who was practically itching to fight, it ended remarkably peacefully.

From what I had seen so far and even when considering the original game…

In this kind of situation, it was natural for a person like Riru to say and then proceed to bash the skull of the person interfering.

Of course, I had something to believe in.

System Message

[ Checking the current status of target ‘Riru Garda’! ]

[ More susceptible to the influence of ‘Skill: Fatal Charm’ than before! ]

[ Target’s anger is subsiding! ]

This was the same case as Eleanor and Yuria.

Devil’s Vessels were extremely susceptible to my skills.

As such, I was confident that she wouldn’t directly pose a significant threat to me.

So, yeah… Well…

Although I had been feeling something hot running down my head since earlier and one of my legs was completely fucked…

I still managed to block the power of a Devil appearing at this very moment. Considering that, the price I had to pay was cheap. Not to mention that I managed to save the entire Hero Party as well.

It seemed that my sincere plea that they would die if they fought against her had resonated quite well within them.

‘You guys get it, don’t you? I’m doing this for your own good.’

“...But Senior, she seems to listen to you well. I understand why you took her side now.”

“What?”

“As expected, the rumors are indeed true. Even that mad dog became docile in front of Senior.”

“...”

As I tied the dream catcher to Riru’s wrist, who kept avoiding my gaze, the Hero Party left such disturbing words as they disappeared.

‘Rumors? What rumors? I don’t know what you guys are talking about! I’m sure there aren’t any rumors about me!’

‘Even if there’s any, I don’t know anything about it!’

Such thoughts came to mind as I finished tying the dream catcher around Riru’s wrist.

Anyway, my second gain was this accessory.

This thing was so important that I had to bow down my head to a pissed off Riru so that she could accept it.

‘An opportunity to increase my Endurance stat…!’

I was being 100% serious when I said that if Riru did not accept this, I would regret it.

Luca’s dream catcher was an object that could open a hidden branching route in Chapter 3.

Since Luca only gave it when the player’s credibility was at a MAX, I would’ve only been able to receive this if I spent my time gaining his trust for a good while.

And there was an ‘Endurance Stat Exclusive’ item that could only be eaten when taking the hidden branch route.

The endurance stat was one of the hardest stats to increase.

These days, my body already couldn’t catch up to my exploits, so in my perspective, there was nothing more precious to me than this…!

‘Well, anyway if it’s this much.’

I think I managed to conclude this situation quite decently.

Considering Riru’s character background, the mere emergence of a ‘hope’ that she could return to the Tribal Alliance would very likely lead her to passionately participating in tomorrow’s Exchange Student Selection.

After all, until now, she had probably felt that her faraway hometown was akin to looking at a sour grape.

With her abilities, passing the test shouldn’t be too difficult. As such, once I placed her in the Forge of Struggle, the purpose of recruiting her would be no different than fulfilled.

“...It’s tied properly. Can I go now?”

Riru, who had been avoiding my gaze continuously since a while ago, said as such in a cautious voice.

‘What is wrong with her?’

‘Is she that angry that I interfered?’

‘If so, then I should discreetly run away as if I’m invisible.’

 

As I tried to move with such thoughts, my body suddenly got caught in midair.

“...Where do you think you’re going?”

‘W-Why are you doing this?’

 

‘I really tried my hardest to not piss you off…!’

Beyond the gradual loss of my sanity, I heard Riru’s wavering voice.

“It'll be difficult for you to walk with that body.”

When I turned my gaze to her, she had caught my clothes tightly between two fingers.

She still had her head turned away from my eyes.

“...Follow me. I’ll at least give you some first-aid.”

And with that sentence…

The ‘third gain’ abruptly popped up.

System Message

[ Skill: Fatal Charm is activated! ]

[ The efficiency of skill activation is extremely high! ]

[ The favorability level of target ‘Riru Garda’ has drastically increased to ‘Interest Level 1’! ]

[ Rewards Available! ]

‘…The fuck?’