After leaving the barbecue restaurant, Li Zihan casually walked over to the side of a certain scum maid and greeted her.
"Long time no see, Rita."
"It hasn't even been a day since we last saw each other, Director."
"Your sense of time seems to be a little off."
"Then, good evening?" Li Zihan offered, glancing at the already darkening sky with a raised eyebrow.
"Director, is it really appropriate to use such an unromantic greeting when you're with a young lady?"
The charming woman, who had decided to grow her hair out a month ago, reached up to brush a strand of hair from her temple and spoke with a gentle smile.
"Then what kind of greeting do you think would be better?" the boy asked. He was more than happy to learn a thing or two from Rita about how to get along with girls, and he looked with great interest at the scum maid, who, based on her appearance and temperament alone, was practically flawless.
"Something with a bit more charm."
"Director, are you planning to learn how to interact with girls from me so you can go pick up young ladies?"
The maid, who had noticed Li Zihan eating with a certain white-haired dango just moments ago, wore a faint, knowing smile.
"My knowledge of how to interact with girls comes almost entirely from female magi."
"To a normal human, a magus is basically no different from a phantasmal beast that gnashes its teeth and sucks blood. The knowledge gained from getting along with female magi isn't exactly applicable to normal girls."
The boy, a magus himself, spoke. His simple words concealed a rather enormous amount of information.
When these words reached Rita's ears, she couldn't help but be taken aback.
But that expression lasted only for an instant.
Very quickly, she resumed her former flawless and poised maidly demeanor.
"Director, you really are quite the mystery."
She chuckled lightly, then glanced towards the all-you-can-eat restaurant where a certain white-haired dango was still stuffing her face.
"That girl from just now… she seems to be interested in you, Director."
"Are you trying to learn how to get along with normal girls so you can get closer to her?"
"That's part of the reason," Li Zihan said with a shrug. The list of girls he needed to charm certainly didn't end with just one white-haired dango.
Kiana's favorability towards him was very high.
This much was already obvious.
If nothing else, if an ordinary person had carelessly used Fenghuang Down to temporarily erase a part of her memories, the white-haired dango who cherished her past so much would have exploded long ago.
Yet when Li Zihan did it, she merely made him pay for two meals.
And that final comment of hers, puffed up like a pufferfish and sounding incredibly proud with an air of "you should listen to me," could really be translated as just "I want to have another meal with you."
That Kiana girl was surprisingly dense and cute.
"When it comes to getting along with a girl with a normal worldview—er, no, a mostly normal worldview, the set of skills I learned back at the Clock Tower isn't very useful."
The boy who had carelessly used Fenghuang Down as a basic attack spoke up.
The girls he had been around before were few and far between.
Aoko was the Blue of the three primary colors, Touko was a Grand herself, and while Alice hadn't been officially ranked, judging by her control over her familiars, she was also at the Grand level.
And a magus's neurosis index was often directly proportional to their level of research.
The social skills he had developed from associating with female magi who were Color-rank at a minimum were clearly not suitable for use on, er, presumably normal girls.
"So, on a whim, you decided you would try to learn from me some methods for interacting with a generally normal girl?" Rita asked in return, looking at the boy who had vaguely revealed that his living environment might be highly problematic.
"Mhm, that's about right."
Li Zihan turned his head, glanced in the direction of the barbecue restaurant, then turned back to Rita and said, "Also, stop calling me Director."
"The position of Chaldea's Director is cursed. They have an average Luck of E. I'd rather not have that title affect my A+ Luck."
"In a couple of days, I'm going to dump this position on Otto or Theresa the Silly."
???
Rita was a little confused.
A+ rank Luck?
What kind of calculation method was that?
Could something as ethereal as luck even be quantified?
"You're quite humorous," Rita said with a laugh, thinking Li Zihan must be joking. The eye not covered by her hair narrowed into a perfect crescent moon.
"Alright, before we get back to the main topic, allow me to teach you how to greet a girl."
The maid, who was actually here because the second and third test subjects of the Artificial Herrscher Project were about to arrive at Chaldeas and she had come to find the master of Jizo Mitama and Fenghuang Down, tapped her chin.
Then, she began.
"Caring about details is, in truth, a reflection of caring about the person who possesses those details."
"If a person pays attention to details, especially when it's very obvious with another person, it can be understood as them sending a signal that says 'I care a lot about you'."
"So, if you can show that you are loved, the person you desire will surely find it easier to reciprocate that love, don't you think?"
"So you're saying, if I wanted to hit on you, Rita, I should have noticed that you've let your hair grow out, and then used that as a starting point to unfold a conversation?"
Feeling that Rita's appearance slightly overlapped with the Irene Adler from the world bubble story, the boy stared at her with great interest.
This woman… she isn't planning on using Lady Green Lily's photos to blackmail Otto, is she?
Isn't she afraid of getting her account physically banned?
"Or perhaps, should I have asked if the katyusha on your head is shaped like sheep horns, which is different from the one with a flower you wore when we last met?"
The maid, who was being stared at, paused for a moment, then broke into a smile.
"Your attention to detail is truly sharp, Director."
"Even without paying much attention, you're able to ascertain a great deal of information. If you just show it a little, you will make a girl feel your sensitivity and the joy of being valued."
That sounds like the description of a born, high-level scumbag playboy.
Li Zihan thought to himself.
"Perhaps."
Thanks to the bonus from Karna's skill—Discernment of the Poor (A)—Li Zihan's observational abilities were frankly bug-like. He shrugged and replied.
"It seems you don't need my guidance after all," Rita said, smiling at Li Zihan.
"You just need to rely on your keen attention to read information from your surroundings, and then present the side of you that girls prefer. You'll be very popular."
In short, it meant he needed to put away his libertine act.
Li Zihan understood Rita's meaning.
"I understand."
"Since you understand, then please return to Chaldea with me."
Rita gave Li Zihan a slight bow.
"The car is already prepared."
"Wait for me for a moment."
Li Zihan turned back and said to Rita, then, under her slightly surprised gaze, he walked back towards the barbecue restaurant where Kiana was still eating.
"What are you doing?"
"Girls are always concerned with the details, aren't they?"
Li Zihan looked back, his smile relaxed and cheerful.
"So, pushing aside important, high-and-mighty work to steal a moment of leisure to play arcade games with her… that should be a plus point, right?"