"Why is Mister Knight looking for us?"
Having returned once again to the tactical command room, Anne lowered her voice and asked. Guleya shook her head, and the others also looked puzzled.
"He's not going to have the Inquisition go attack some aliens again, is he...…"
Sherry's expression was rather complicated. On one hand, the Inquisition's previous actions really had made her hesitate, but on the other hand, as a scientist, Sherry also knew very well that humanity's survival was built on sacrifice. After all, she was in biomedical science—there were at least hundreds, if not thousands, of lab mice that had died by her own hands. If she didn't even have that much resolve, it would've been impossible for her to achieve what she had today.
Still, Sherry was very conflicted. After all, sapient humanoid beings that could speak should be different from animals. Although the Inquisition seemed to regard them as the same kind of existence, from an ethical standpoint...… alright, forget it. The more she thought about it, the more Sherry felt her head swelling.
For her, this problem was really...… well, if this were her own world, you'd probably have to gather anthropology and biology PhDs from all over the world to discuss it, maybe even add in sociology...…
"Ka-chak!"
Just as Sherry was letting her thoughts run wild, the hatch door opened. Duanmu Huai walked in, looking refreshed and in high spirits. Seeing the smug look on his face, the girls were more or less stunned. After all, up until now, Duanmu Huai had always appeared very calm and steady in their eyes—this was the first time they had ever seen him like this.
Duanmu Huai walked straight into the tactical command room, came before everyone, and turned around in a circle. Then he turned again and walked another lap, like a model strutting down a runway.
"???"
Watching Duanmu Huai's performance, everyone was completely baffled. In the end, Anne was the first to speak up in confusion.
"Mister Knight, what are you doing?"
"Have you noticed anything about me that's different from before?"
As Duanmu Huai spoke, he looked at them again. This time, with his hint, the girls narrowed their eyes and began to carefully examine him. They scrutinized Duanmu Huai from head to toe, exchanged looks with each other, and shook their heads.
Instead, when Lorena looked at Duanmu Huai's head, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Ah, could it be that you've grown hair, Sir Knight?"
"..."
That was really an unnecessary consolation.
Hearing Lorena's answer mixed with concern, Duanmu Huai fell silent.
You women are always complaining that men can't recognize even the slightest change in you, but now my charm has gone up by one and you still can't tell?
Forget it. I'll just call someone out directly.
"Olgis, you say it."
Duanmu Huai looked toward Olgis. After all, his own doll had been with him for so long—surely she could notice a change in her master.
Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Olgis looked at him and fell silent for a moment.
"Master is the same as usual, with no changes. Still just as impressive as ever."
"...…"
Forget it. Maybe because we're always together, she's not very sensitive to changes in me. It's like visiting relatives during the New Year—people who see you once will say, 'This kid's grown so big,' but those who see you every day don't notice anything at all. Yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense.
Then I'll find someone who doesn't see me that often.
"Sherry, what do you think?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Sherry froze for a moment, then finally shoved aside the thoughts in her head about what order, family, genus, and species the Amians should be classified into. She hesitated as she stared at Duanmu Huai for a while before speaking.
"...…Did your skin get lighter?"
"...…"
That really was a woman's line of thinking.
"Ah, ah ah ah ah! I found it!"
At that moment, Anne seemed to have discovered something. She excitedly raised her hand and jumped up, and Duanmu Huai immediately looked at her.
"Oh? You found it?"
"Mm!"
Anne nodded vigorously.
"I figured it out. Before, Mister Knight always gave people a really fierce and scary feeling, but now if you look for a long time, you'll find you're actually pretty good-looking. I remember...… what was that word again? Miss Feilin?"
As she spoke, Anne looked toward Feilin. The latter silently swept a glance at Duanmu Huai, then spoke.
"Ugly-cute."
"Yes, yes, ugly-cute!"
"...…"
Duanmu Huai almost failed to catch his breath and nearly passed out on the spot.
Of course, adding charm wasn't plastic surgery. It wasn't possible that Duanmu Huai's face would actually change just because his charm increased. Although Anne's phrasing was a bit of a slap in the face, she wasn't wrong—simply put, it was a change in temperament.
For example, there were some people who clearly didn't have particularly striking looks, but their presence and aura were on point. That was exactly what this charm was like.
In fact, Duanmu Huai had seen similar characters in games. There was a streamer who had molded his character's face into something that looked like the surface of the moon, full of craters, then desperately dumped points into charm. In the end, he actually still managed to get praise from NPCs everywhere he went...… He even made an entire series of livestream videos. Every time the audience saw that cratered moon face, they laughed until they sprayed their drinks.
And when an NPC princess solemnly said to that shovel-shaped face, "A handsome and charming knight like you...…" it sent people straight into hysterics.
But no matter what, this was still a good thing.
Simply put, before, Duanmu Huai's face could scare children straight into fainting. Now it would only make them cry...… mm, that really was an improvement.
At the same time, Duanmu Huai made up his mind.
From now on, he had to do those divine duty missions, and he had to do them no matter how hard they were! After all, this was the only way to save his charm!
Unfortunately...… Duanmu Huai had no clue how to trigger this kind of special divine duty mission.
If it were a class mission, Duanmu Huai still had plenty of materials and intelligence he could rely on. But divine duties, although they were also categorized under the profession tab in the system interface, had never once been obtained by any player in the game. So how to trigger the enhancement of the God of Destruction's divine duty...… for Duanmu Huai, that really was a problem.
But forget it. There was no rush to think about that. In short, for now, he could happily enjoy the joy of Charm +1.
Naturally, Duanmu Huai couldn't tell the others that his charm had increased by one. Instead, he found an excuse and took the girls to Venus Island, where they held an open-air barbecue as a celebration.
It had to be said that Venus Island was beautiful, with clear mountains and waters—a truly great place for a vacation. Honoka and Marie Rose had also done a good job managing the place, so everyone had a lot of fun.
For example, right now...…
"Hey!"
"Yah———!"
Lying on the beach, listening to the girls' cheerful cries by his ears, looking at the beautiful scenery before him, eating skewers, and drinking beer, Duanmu Huai felt extremely comfortable.
In front of him, four girls were jumping back and forth across a net, playing—beach volleyball.
That's right, beach volleyball.
Venus Island had plenty of entertainment options of all kinds, but with only so few people around Duanmu Huai, they didn't plan to go running all over the place. So they simply played on the beach instead. Olgis was building sandcastles, and after listening to Marie Rose's introduction, Anne dragged Guleya, Lorena, and Odelle into a game of beach volleyball.
Mm, of course, Duanmu Huai guessed that Anne's real reason for doing this was probably her unwillingness to get into the water and expose the fact that she couldn't swim.
At the moment, Marie Rose was acting as their referee, while not far away, Honoka was grilling food. Even Feilin, who usually stayed cooped up at home and never went out, was now lying on a floating bed, leisurely enjoying life.
Ah...… if only the world were always this peaceful...…
Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai stretched lazily.
However, just as he was about to take a good nap, a sudden rumbling sound came from the distance.
"Hm? What's going on?"
Duanmu Huai frowned, opened his eyes, and looked over. On the surface of the sea, a jet ski was racing rapidly toward them. At the same time, the others also noticed this scene, stopped what they were doing, and looked over curiously.
"What's this about?"
Duanmu Huai stood up and watched the jet ski drawing closer. If he remembered correctly, the entirety of Venus Island and its surrounding waters were his private territory, and entry was forbidden without permission. And now this...… could it be coming for him?
"Whoosh!!!"
Just as Duanmu Huai was thinking, the jet ski charged straight up onto the beach, slid a long distance across the sand, then suddenly spun around and came to a steady stop right in front of him. Then Duanmu Huai saw a small girl with silver twin-tails sitting on it. She was wearing a standard school-issued swimsuit, and on her chest were two large characters written clearly: [YUE HUA].
Next, the girl turned her head and looked at Duanmu Huai. Her small face still carried the same blank expression as always, and she calmly spoke a few words.
"I'm back."
Back? This isn't your home. Back from where?
At that moment, Anne and the others also ran over, curiously looking at the girl in front of them.
"Mister Knight, who is she?"
Anne looked at the girl curiously and asked. Previously, they had already greeted Honoka and Marie Rose, and had also heard about the two of them from Lorena, so they weren't surprised by them. But no one knew this girl, and with such an unexpected entrance, it was only natural that the girls would be confused and curious.
Facing Anne's question, the girl slightly raised her eyebrow, then looked at everyone and spoke.
"My name is Yue Huasha, and I am his wife."
"...…"
Hearing the girl's answer, everyone fell into silence for a moment. Then...…
"Eeeeeeeeh?!!!"
In the next instant, piercing screams erupted out of nowhere, echoing across Venus Island.
(The End of the Chapter)