I had no intention of provoking the guy this much.
All I wanted was to test the reach of the gift, not get skewered.
[ Target: Gallion's anger has reached the threshold! ]
[ Imprinting indelible shame! ]
[ Negative tendency recorded! ]
[ Rewards Available! ]
[ Skill: Taint of the Virtuous activated. Obtained 1 command right over the target! ]
"…"
And somehow, it worked.
Honestly, it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. Any freshmen with a shred of common sense would've followed this route. Tallion, being the model student and overachiever he is, would've responded the same way.
So, naturally, I went full throttle. Just for… science.
I even tossed in some lines from the original story, just to be extra:
"It's really amazing! You're always behind!"
"Thanks for the materials!"
"Thank you for your incompetence!"
"If you try a bit harder, you might catch up!"
Polite sarcasm, top-tier.
I repeated the routine about 25 times.
"…"
Yeah. He's mad. Like, full-blown, glowing-red, probably-someone-will-need-a-fire-extinguisher mad.
Thinking that, I sprinted. Fast. Really fast. Because apparently, running from an indignant Viscount's son is the only sensible choice when you have a spear aimed at your face.
[ Danger Detected ]
[ Determined as attempt to injure ]
[ Skill: Last Resort raised to C Class ]
Not that I'm dying or anything. But the "perfect student" is now angry enough to turn my jaw into a modern art exhibit.
'The problem is…'
If he keeps chasing me like this, I'll eventually have to face him. And I really, really don't want that.
President Arivelle herself said: Don't stand out.
Yeah. Great advice when one guy's basically sprinting at you like a man possessed. Especially since he's tied to the Purifier. Angering him is fine. Fighting him? Bad.
I tried reasoning.
"Hey!" I shouted over my frantic gasps while running. "Look, let's just say it's my loss and split the harvest in half. How about that?"
[ Danger Escalated ]
[ Determined as attempt to seriously injure ]
[ Skill: Last Resort raised to B Class ]
"…"
Yep. That didn't work. Not even a tiny bit.
I wasn't trying to provoke him this time. I was literally just running for my life.
'…But won't I eventually get caught?'
Gallion could keep pace with Elize without breaking a sweat. Even with B Class Last Resort, I was already losing ground.
If he catches me, do I even want to know what happens next?
While debating my inevitable demise, someone suddenly appeared in front of me, and I nearly turned my face into dirt.
"…!"
Luckily, the person grabbed me before gravity could finish the job.
"What are you doing, sir?"
Elize sighed, patting her forehead like she was trying to press the stress out of her brain. Beside her, Trisha was panting like she'd just run a marathon.
'Ah… it's Trisha,' I thought.
The Hero Party's healer. Nicknamed the Natural Lie Detector because she could see everyone's emotions. Fantastic. As if things weren't already complicated enough.
Elize glanced at Trisha with her usual calm, like nothing could touch her.
"Trisha, can you isolate us?"
"Uh, en!"
A hemispherical barrier popped up around us, blocking everyone's perception. Sweet. Privacy. Finally, I could run my little chaos experiments without an audience… mostly.
Elize continued, her tone deceptively calm.
"You could've just come with us peacefully. Why are you running around in a place like this?"
"…No, there's a reason."
She turned her head, clearly skeptical.
"So what's the reason? We saved you, so you should tell us at least that much."
Elize sounded reasonable, but Trisha's expression said otherwise. The healer was practically radiating violent thoughts at me. Perfect. One furious mid-boss, one simmering lie detector—what could possibly go wrong?
Truth it is.
"That guy started the fight first."
"Fight?"
"He asked why a guy like me is friends with you."
Both Elize and Trisha froze, expressions caught somewhere between "wait, seriously?" and "what kind of chaos am I witnessing?"
"…Really?" I muttered. Was this shocking to them? I thought not.
"…Why fight over something like that? No, I guess he probably thought of you as a scammer or something."
Elize blinked at me, clearly puzzled.
"Then why don't you just ignore him? Gallion is strong. And you said we're not even close…"
"…How can I ignore that?"
Come on. This was a perfectly served experiment on a silver platter. Of course I couldn't ignore it.
Elize cleared her throat, the tiniest hint of red creeping up her nape. …Still angry, I see. And here I thought I was just stating facts.
Trisha, meanwhile, poked Elize's side with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"…Sir, did you know this would happen?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you know he'd act like that from the beginning?"
Did I know Gallion would flip his perfect-student mode into full-blown rage? Absolutely. I planned it.
"How could I not know? Anyone with even a hint of common sense could tell."
Elize's expression softened just slightly—okay, maybe just a smidge.
"…Is that why you didn't come with me before? Afraid he'd hurt me too?"
"…?"
Uh, no.
I really don't see how me poking Gallion like a human stress ball has anything to do with Elize potentially getting hurt.
[ Favorability of the target 'Elize' has been increased! ]
[ Favorability level upgraded to 'Interest Level 2'! ]
[ Rewards Available! ]
[ Because of the character's good alignment, the reward has been reduced! ]
"…"
I stared at the pop-up like it just insulted my hairstyle. Completely unnecessary.
Elize, meanwhile, sighed and gave Trisha a look that said, I'm about to unleash chaos, and yes, you're going to witness it.
"Trisha, can you remove the barrier?"
"Uh… why?"
"Nothing, it's just…"
And then, in true Elize fashion, she casually reached for her sword.
"I've always hated nosy people. Especially ones meddling in other people's relationships."
"…Uh, Elize?"
Trisha's voice stiffened like she just smelled burning incense—warning signs everywhere.
Elize's expression was far from anything a hero candidate should be rocking. Calm? Inspiring? Nah. She looked like she was about to carve the world into neat little pieces.
"You have to repay the favor of 'messing with your friend' in kind, right?"
I silently cheered inside. 'Finally, some stress relief. This is beautiful.'
Almost immediately, a system message popped up like a demon in the middle of class:
[ Target 'Elize' has been influenced by you and is feeling intense anger toward target 'Gallion'! ]
[ Negative tendency has been imprinted! ]
[ Rewards Available! ]
[ Skill: Taint of the Virtuous has been activated. Obtained 1 command right over the target! ]
"…"
I blinked.
What. The. Hell.