The person who popped out of the living room was a rather beautiful red-haired girl.
The halo floating above her head, comparable to an LED ring light, made Lucas look a few more times with curiosity. Behind her were several small, translucent wings.
An angel?
This was the first word that appeared in Lucas's mind.
It seemed like he had been on Terra for a long time, but he had only been in the world for a few days. He only knew that the main inhabitants of Terra were 'Ancients' with beast-like features, like the cute cat-eared Jessica, the foxy Miss Franka, and Miss Liskarm who had features resembling a Wyvern.
Why?
Why would an angel pop out from a group of Ancients? The art style suddenly changed.
Jessica quickly explained to Lucas: "Mr. Reeve, this is the Sankta race from Laterano. Generally, Sankta are only found in Laterano. They rarely leave their country, so there aren't many Sankta outside of it."
"Oh~"
Lucas nodded.
"Hello, Miss Exusiai."
After a simple greeting with the angel who had invited him to join Penguin Logistics right off the bat, he followed Sora into the living room.
There were two other people on the sofa in the living room.
One was a rather flat-chested cow-girl with short orange hair, and the other was a wolf-girl with long, light-gray hair and a slightly cold expression.
"Phew~~"
"Mr. Reeve! Good thing I let you take over my body. There are so many people at Sora-chan's house. If I were here alone, I would have fainted from embarrassment and nervousness already!"
Jessica was right.
This scene was a nightmare for someone with severe social anxiety.
Being invited to the home of a friend you just met, expecting a pleasant one-on-one, only to find that other friends of your friend are also there, instantly turning you into a wallflower. Only a social butterfly could handle such a scene.
"Wow~ Just as cute as Sora said~"
The flat-chested orange-haired cow-girl vaulted over the sofa and bounced over to Lucas.
Her social butterfly talents were on full display.
"Hi there, my name is Croissant, an Operator from Penguin Logistics. Even though we're in the same line of work, and they say rivals can't be friends, since you saved our Sora, we're family now. And family doesn't need formalities. Got any money? Lend me some?"
Lucas: "?"
Jessica: "?"
What kind of super terrifying social beast is this!
This time, not only was Jessica shocked, but even Lucas was a little speechless.
Sure enough...
Birds of a feather...
The friends of a social butterfly are indeed even more impressive social butterflies.
It was a good thing Jessica didn't come alone. This was too high a level for her to handle by herself. With Jessica's social brain capacity, which could barely handle one person, meeting so many people at once, all of them social butterflies, would probably cause an instant system crash.
The only normal person present, the wolf-girl, stood up and rapped Croissant hard on the head.
"Be serious."
Then she extended her hand.
"Hello, Miss Jessica. Thank you very much for saving Sora in that crisis. As Sora's good friend and teammate, I express my sincere gratitude. My name is Texas, an employee of Penguin Logistics."
Finally, a normal person.
"Jessica-chan, please have a seat. I'll go to the kitchen and cut some fruit."
Sora happily turned and left, humming the melody of a new song.
Lucas sat down on the sofa next to her.
Instead, Jessica, the observer, started to get anxious.
"Mr. Reeve! What should we do! Shouldn't we be saying something now?"
"No need."
Lucas said to Jessica in his mind.
"Remember, Jessica, on a social level, as guests, we always maintain a position of initiative. So, we don't need to find topics of conversation, because we are the guests. As the hosts, they need to find topics to make the guests not feel awkward. In this situation, just sit down and wait patiently."
"Oh~~"
Jessica had a sudden realization.
"Not talking? I'm the best at that!!"
"Want to give it a try?"
"No...."
One second Jessica's voice was a little louder, the next second she was shot down again.
"Jessica-chan~~"
Exusiai's somewhat excited voice came from the side.
Just as Lucas turned his head, her face was almost pressed against his. The glowing 'LED lightbulb' on her head was quite dazzling.
"I got the surveillance footage of you saving Sora on stage from Texas yesterday. You were so cool~~~"
Exusiai's eyes were sparkling.
"How did you manage to go from one end to the other in an instant, whoosh? I feel like your speed is already close to my bullets! How about it! Just join us at Penguin Logistics! With your speed, if we're ever chased by a large group on our next mission, Jessica-chan, you can just pull us along and make a speedy getaway!"
"?"
One second, it sounded normal to Lucas, but the next second it became completely absurd.
*Thwack~*
Another crisp flick to the head.
Exusiai clutched her slightly smoking head and squatted on the ground.
Texas quickly apologized.
"I'm very sorry, Miss Jessica. Exusiai's brain was squeezed by a door when she was little, she speaks without thinking. Please forgive her."
After Exusiai shut up.
The living room finally quieted down a lot. Texas made small talk with Lucas, not asking anything about Blacksteel Worldwide, but rather chatting about her own experiences. As for Miss Croissant next to them, her main concern was the salary at Blacksteel Worldwide.
After a little while.
Sora came over with a large plate of fruit.
She sat down next to Lucas and asked softly.
"Jessica-chan, are you going back to Columbia after your mission is over?"
"Yes, but unless something unexpected happens, I'll probably be back in two days."
Sora was a little disappointed. Columbia was quite far from Lungmen. After this departure, she didn't know if she would have another chance to meet. Although Lungmen, as the current financial hub of Terra, had network connections with almost all major countries, it was... after all, just online...
—Five minutes later—
Lucas's ability to spin a tale was no joke.
After a round of bluffing and storytelling, the initial awkwardness and restraint instantly dissolved. The group chatted like old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time, talking about everything under the sun.
Jessica was incredibly envious of this smooth-talking skill.
As expected of Mr. Reeve (^∇^*)!!
Taking notes, taking notes!
There's a reason and a pattern to every word Mr. Reeve says. It might be very useful for my future conversations with others!
—Ten minutes later—
*Mmm~*
Huddled in the necklace.
Jessica saw Lucas using her body to chat happily with Sora-chan, and a strange feeling of discomfort suddenly welled up in her heart. It wasn't because Lucas was chatting happily with her idol that she felt uncomfortable, but rather seeing Lucas chat so happily with another girl, when he rarely chatted with her for so long at a time, made her feel a strange unhappiness in her heart.
"Mr. Reeve~"
"Hm?"
"I want to switch bodies.."
"Hm?! You're not nervous anymore?"
"I want to try..."
"You can."