Was gathering information supposed to be easy, or just simple?

Back in the stories Wude had read before, whenever the protagonist—or the protagonist's party—needed intel, they'd just sit in some tavern for a while. Then someone would conveniently walk up and spill exactly what they needed.

But reality didn't seem that simple.

Wude looked ahead at Elisa, who'd been drawn over by the tavern's juggling act, and at Alreis, who was sampling all kinds of snacks nearby. He suddenly felt that his chances of finding the Blessing of Life were basically zero.

They had crossed layer after layer of mountains and forests. They'd run into all sorts of obstacles along the way. Thankfully, with Alreis protecting them from the shadows, they had made it to this town without any real danger.

More than once, Wude had suspected it was because of his nonexistent "protagonist aura."

Seriously, who keeps running into that many monsters while still inside the country's borders?

Most importantly, Wude was still only Level Three. After so many battles, his strength should have gone up somewhat, but he still seemed far from breaking through Level Three.

Sure, they had gotten quite a lot of monster materials. The money Alreis was spending on snacks came from those recent gains.

But this world didn't give EXP for killing monsters.

Wude let out a silent lament.

"What is it?"

Alreis seemed to notice he wasn't in a great mood. After quickly finishing one snack, she turned around and asked him.

"Alreis, come closer."

Wude put on a cautious look. He even glanced toward Elisa, as if afraid she'd notice.

"What now?"

Alreis frowned. She shot him a slightly disgusted look, but still obediently leaned against Wude's arm.

"Alreis, look. Ever since we started traveling with Elisa, we haven't really had a chance to talk properly..."

A grin appeared on Wude's face, one that could only be described as sleazy. Then he wrapped an arm around Alreis, sat down on a chair, and placed her on his lap.

"Ehh?!!"

Alreis's face instantly turned bright red. Lowering her voice, she tried to sound stern.

"Wude, y-you... what are you... d-doing...?"

"Shh, keep it down. It'd be bad if Elisa heard."

Wude placed a finger against her small lips and spoke in a gentle tone.

Alreis's whole mind fell into chaos.

What was happening?

She had only been eating a few snacks. Why had Wude suddenly...?

"Alreis, we've been traveling for so long. I need to relax too, right? You like eating snacks. Elisa's watching that performance. You're both relaxing, aren't you? So how am I supposed to entertain myself?"

Wude looked at Alreis's flushed face and only felt that this creature was seriously adorable.

"Then you can eat snacks too. Or watch the performance..."

Pressed by Wude's heated gaze, Alreis turned her head away and didn't dare look at him.

"But I don't like those. If I'm going to relax, of course I should do something I like... right?"

He practically whispered those last three words against Alreis's ear.

After all, the two of them were in zero-distance contact right now...

"...Then what does Wude like?"

Alreis endured the discomfort at her ear and answered his question.

"Call me Master. Did you forget because Elisa's been around so long?"

Wude put on an unhappy expression, though Alreis couldn't see it right now.

"...M-Master, what do you like?"

Alreis felt her sense of shame being thoroughly washed away. This was a tavern. There were lots of people around. She had already noticed some of them looking this way.

After all, Alreis was very pretty.

Still, this town wasn't like the chaotic places in so many novels. If people really started harassing every pretty face they saw and then picking fights over it, how could anyone still live here?

No ruler would allow a town with security that bad to exist.

At last, Wude revealed a perverted smile and let out a perverted chuckle.

"Your Master here likes teasing cute maid girls the most."

"Wu—Master, not here. There are so many people here, and Elisa's right over there too!"

Alreis was panicking so badly that her words came out in a rush.

"So that means it'd be fine somewhere with no people around?"

"No, that's not it! That wouldn't be okay either!"

"By the way, Alreis, do you even know what I want to do?"

"Eh? Um, that... this... Master, didn't you say you wanted to, um... tease me...?"

Wude felt completely satisfied.

Alreis really was too cute. She was clearly the strongest, yet she was so airheaded and soft. He had no idea how someone with this kind of personality had managed to become an Ascendant Sovereign.

Meanwhile, he himself was obviously so intelligent, yet so weak.

Could it be that idiots were the ones who became strong?

Wude grumbled inwardly.

Still, the most important thing right now was to relax his mood.

That said, there was no way he could do anything too excessive in a tavern. Elisa was still nearby too. If Elisa found out...

Wude thought of those yandere girls from some anime he had watched before. He even thought of a certain Makoto in heaven.

Though realistically, things probably wouldn't get that exaggerated.

Wude set Alreis down from his lap.

This was the limit anyway. He wasn't some kind of exhibitionist. Teasing her a little to ease his mood was enough.

That said, Alreis really did feel amazing to hold. She was light, soft, and smooth.

"??"

With both feet back on the ground, Alreis seemed to have two question marks floating over her head. She looked left and right, then tilted her head.

"Master, aren't you going to do anything?"

"Too cute!"

Wude was hit by the full force of her adorableness. He forcibly held back the urge to get a nosebleed.

"Could it be that Alreis wants me to do something?"

He threw the question right back at her.

"No!"

Alreis denied it with all her might.

"Master this, Master that—Wude, you really are a pervert! Doing this to me here of all places."

She seemed angry now. Wude couldn't quite understand it. She hadn't gotten mad while he was teasing her, so why was she suddenly angry now?

Alreis straightened her clothes, then found a stool nearby and sat down on it.

"Hoo..."

After letting out a breath, she looked at Wude with complete seriousness.

"So, what exactly is making you this depressed, Master?"

A faint Hexagram flickered in Alreis's eyes, as if she could see through another person's heart. Under that gaze, Wude felt as though even his consciousness was about to sink.

"Mm... well, it's my strength..."

The moment he said that, he suddenly snapped awake.

Had Alreis just manipulated him?

"Tch! So it really doesn't work."

Alreis clicked her tongue and looked displeased.

"Alreis, you're forbidden from using that kind of trick on me again."

Wude hadn't expected her to be capable of something like that.

"Hmph. Fine, forbidden is forbidden."

Alreis acted like she didn't care. In reality, she was enduring the backlash of the Slave Contract at that very moment. If not for that backlash, Wude might have been completely controlled by her just now without even realizing it.

She had guessed before that it probably wouldn't work, but she still wanted to try...

Holding onto that thought, Alreis finally gave up hope.

"Anyway, Master, do you think your strength is too low?"

Alreis endured the discomfort and more or less guessed the reason for Wude's bad mood.

"...There's nothing I can do."

Wude sounded helpless.

"It really does seem like I don't have any talent for learning magic. Lingyue said the same thing."

Alreis knew that too. After observing him for so long, she could sense Wude's growth. His strength was increasing, but very slowly.

To put it bluntly, Wude just had no talent.

"We've been traveling outside for so long and ran into so many monsters. My strength has really been dragging us down. Honestly, if you weren't here and it was only Elisa taking care of me, we'd probably have died ages ago with that many monsters showing up. Seriously, why were there so many monsters anyway?"

Wude was getting a little worked up as he complained to Alreis.

"So many monsters?"

Alreis suddenly felt that the number of monsters they had encountered on the way really had been too high. Since they were all too weak, she hadn't paid them much attention. Because of that, she hadn't even noticed how many there were.

Now that she thought about it, it did seem strange...

"!!"

Alreis suddenly realized something.

"Hm? That look on your face just now... Don't tell me the reason there were so many monsters on the road had something to do with you?"

Wude seemed to have caught onto something.

"H-How could that be? You're overthinking it, Master..."

Cold sweat covered Alreis's forehead.

"Alreis, I'm giving you one chance to confess honestly. Otherwise... hmph hmph!"

"N-no, um, that was just... just..."

Alreis looked like she was about to cry. If she told the truth, Wude would definitely bully her. But if she didn't tell the truth, she'd probably get bullied even worse.

"I'll tell you..."