The creep came to his senses and hurriedly straightened his clothes.

He somehow produced a comb and tidied his greasy, gleaming hair.

He cleared his throat twice and struck what he thought was a very gentlemanly pose.

“Th-this... this young lady... no, this beautiful lady... no, no, this goddess—would you do me the honor of visiting my humble home?”

“No way!” x2

Hill and Locke protested furiously.

They were still young, but they knew this creep definitely had no good intentions.

They absolutely couldn’t let someone as beautiful and kind as Vivi fall into that scumbag’s hands.

The big men looked at the man before them with envy.

There was nothing they could do. The man was their master, after all.

And he was far stronger than they were, too.

They swallowed dryly, then shifted their gaze to Hill.

Hill felt the big men’s gazes, as if they could devour him.

Frightened, he shrank into his mother’s arms, but kept looking at me with worry.

“Sir, if you want me to visit your home, could you ask your men to stop looking at us so frighteningly? They’re scaring my friends.”

I smiled with narrowed eyes. This man might actually be of some use.

In that case, I could get some information out of him.

“Ah, the goddess is right! Hey, you lot! Didn’t you hear her? How can you go around scaring children? Get out of here, now!”

The creep nodded with a fawning grin, then rounded on the bald men and cursed them out.

“Vivi!”

“Big Sis, you can’t go!”

When Hill and Locke heard that I’d accepted the man’s invitation,

their faces filled with disbelief. Worry was written all over their little faces, and they started to run toward me.

“Don’t worry about me.”

I raised a hand to stop them, then stepped forward and helped the woman who was kneeling on the ground to her feet.

Feeling her weight in my hands made my heart grow even colder.

She weighed far too little for an adult.

Just how tiny was the body hidden beneath those wide sleeves?

“I...”

“I understand. You didn’t let me stay here because you wanted what was best for me. Thank you for worrying about me. Leave the rest to me.”

I cut off Hill’s mother before she could finish, then squeezed both her hands tightly to reassure her.

I turned to look at the creep, then headed for the door without looking back.

“What, do I have to find your place myself?”

Seeing the group still standing there dumbfounded, I spoke coldly.

Their actions had completely ignited the fire burning inside me.

Scum who could bring themselves to hurt a frail woman and child deserved to be punished.

“Huh? Oh, yes, yes! I’ll show you the way, Goddess.”

The creep was so delighted, it was as if his soul had flown straight up to the heavens.

Then he hurried ahead of me to lead the way.

“Um, this is my home.”

Neatly laid red tiles covered the roof, each one clearly set apart from the next.

Its smooth walls and old-fashioned door were in a completely different league from the homes of ordinary villagers.

A large yard was enclosed by neatly arranged sections of fencing. It really was the finest building in the village.

“There are some things about this world I don’t quite understand. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”

The moment I said it, a chill ran through me. I imagined myself, a man, saying those words,

and felt an urge to slap myself a few times.

But I had to hold back for now if I wanted to learn more about this world.

Gathering information was the most important thing at the moment. As for my dignity, I’d just have to set it aside for now.

“Of course! Ask me anything. I’ll tell you everything I know, Goddess.”

The man heard that the goddess needed his help.

He immediately thumped his chest and sat up straight, as if he knew everything under the sun.

“What’s the state of the world like? Don’t mind me—I spent my childhood living in seclusion in the mountains with my family, so I’m not very familiar with the world as it is now.”

I offered him the most plausible excuse I could come up with and asked my question.

Given his intelligence, he probably wouldn’t suspect a thing.

“I see. That’s easy enough. I happen to have a map of the world at home. I’ll go get it for you.”

As expected, the creep didn’t suspect a thing. He got up and went to look for the map.

I had to admit, my looks might attract trouble,

but sometimes they could save me quite a bit of it, too.

So this was what they meant by beauty being a curse, huh? Well, I’d just have to take things one step at a time.

“Now, take a look at this map of mine! It marks all the important places in every country perfectly. The only problem is, it’s a little big—not very convenient to carry around.”

Before long, the man came back carrying what looked like a scroll of parchment.

“Are there Mages in this world? You know, the kind who can throw Fireballs.”

I looked at the world map, which was a full meter long, and silently rejoiced before asking my second question.

“Of course. Mages are highly respected, since they’re so difficult to train, as you know, Goddess. And high-ranking Mages are even rarer. Aside from a few freakishly gifted prodigies...”

The moment he started talking about magic, the man seemed possessed. He almost forgot I was even there.

Ranks? From what the man had said, I could tell that this world had a system of levels.

Mages had ranks, so other professions must have some kind of ranking system, too.

“Then how do we find out what our level is?”

I asked again. The ranking system was a very important clue.

I needed to find out as soon as possible how this world measured strength.

Knowing that would also make things easier for me later.

“Don’t people usually get their identities activated in a big city when they’re kids? Their levels naturally rise as they grow stronger...”

The man froze at the question, then rolled up his sleeve to show me the mark on his shoulder.

Normally, even people who lived in seclusion

had their identities activated at birth.

But it was obvious that the goddess before him had no idea about any of this.

So that was it. No wonder I’d seen similar marks on Hill and Locke’s necks earlier.

Did that mean I was basically an undocumented person in this world?

“Well, Goddess, now that you’ve finished asking your questions, how about we do something adults are supposed to do?”

The man grinned lecherously. He’d been holding himself back for a while now.

With a beauty this easy on the eyes right in front of him,

he could even smell her scent clearly. It would’ve been a miracle if he could keep holding back.

“Yes. It’s time we did something adults are supposed to do.”

I hadn’t gotten all that much information,

but at least I’d gained a basic understanding of this world.

Looking at the creep before me, who clearly couldn’t change his spots, I smiled faintly...