Chapter 78

78 – How Should We Make It Look Attractive?

Extremely fluffy dough. Round in shape, with a thickness to it. Its color in the center was a deep brown while its borders were slightly white-ish. There were five of them piled up. Almost like a tower. On the very top of this tower sat ice cream, slowly melting from the heat rising from the dough below. The dough itself was covered with a rich, concentrated amber sap in a beautiful pattern.

「It’s so soooft~」

Cashew’s eyes sparkled like stars, knife and fork at the ready.

Her little ears were fluttering. Cashew then looks at me and then Nicola.

「Ca-can I really eat this?」

We nodded at the same time.

「Of course.」

「I brought you to this place because I wanted you to try it. So please, enjoy.」

Nicola sounds somewhat princely whenever she talks to Cashew.

「O-okay, then…」

Cutting the pancake into bite-sized pieces, she takes a piece and brings it to her little mouth.

Eat. Chew, chew. Swallow.

She puts it in her mouth, chews, and smiles. Everything she’s doing is adorable.

Perhaps thinking the same thing, Nicola watched with a relaxed expression on her face.

「Fufu, you look so happy eating that. Watching you brings me joy as well.」

「Yesh, itsh sho tashty.」

Now then.

We are here at the cafe of Nicola’s recommendation.

Enjoying sweets while basking in the sun on an outdoor table.

Nicola is having a parfait. I’m having a slice of cheesecake.

For quite a while now, passersby have been stopping in their tracks, captivated by Nicola’s beauty and some of them even end up entering the cafe.

I guess seeing someone as beautiful as her enjoying her meal in such a place piqued their interest…

I guess a beautiful person can attract customers, huh? Amazing.

「So, Nicola.」

「Y-yes?」

Having just taken a spoonful of her ice cream, she used her finger to wipe her lips.

「You can keep eating, so please listen.」

「P-please continue.」

Since we’ll be forming a duo together there are a few things I need to confirm first.

They’re going to tinker with it themselves, but exactly what do they have in mind about turning Nicola’s Avatar into a Monster?

The rest is what Nicola and I can do, what we want to do, and how we can draw the attention of the audience.

「You made a contract with a Lesser Spirit of Earth, right Nicola? Am I right to assume that the Spirit Magic allows you to manipulate silver?」

「Yeah. It’s a fraction of Earth Control. Limited to that silver thing, I can create it, change its shape, and move it freely.」

Having been shown an old video, you could say that the Nicola of now is more of the middle guard whereas the Nicola of the past was a vanguard.

She also favored in-your-face fisticuffs. Covering her body with silver.

She can concentrate the silver into one arm to create a giant fist or create a large shield from the ground to block an enemy’s attack.

It was an exciting way of using it that I could not have imagined.

「I don’t wish to discriminate. but basically, today’s viewers don’t like seeing women get hurt. It’s fine if they are defeated in a single blow, but your original combat style usually ends up in fistfights, right?」

There are people who don’t wanna see anyone get hurt, regardless of gender, but there are also people who get excited watching men have fistfights, but the number of people who specifically don’t want to see women get hurt is…surprisingly high.

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「Y-yeah…」

Nicola dropped her shoulders.

「However, there are examples like Hervor as well.」[1. TL Note: “Hervor” is the name of a badass female Viking in the Herverar Saga who wielded the cursed sword Tyrfing]

Nicola’s face lit up instantly.

「Exactly! Do you like Hervor too, Lem?! I decided to become a hero after seeing her! When I was little, people would say all kinds of things about me because I was a girl, but when I saw her fight, was like「Oh, things like gender are trivial matters」!」

Hervor. Known as the Hero of the Cursed Sword, she’s a brave woman who leads the world’s 3rd ranked party.

A descendant of a hero who killed a Demon King long ago, wielding the cursed blade Tyrfing, passed down through the generations, that is said to bring misfortune to its wielder. Well, she rarely wields it.

She basically fights barehanded. And because of that, you see her rip and tear the heads off of Orcs and Werewolves.

Which is probably why she’s called a「mighty warrior」or「the insanely strong, mad warrior」.

She’s a very beautiful woman, but not the kind of beauty like Nicola’s that has people cheering for her in a shrill voice, rather the kind of beauty that makes you want to shout「I’ll follow you for the rest of my life!」.

「I enjoyed watching her Clears too. They were exciting to watch. The kind of excitement that gets the blood pumping.」

In the past, when me and Hervor greeted each other, she stared intently at my body from head to toe for some reason. Then she said「Hmm…」meaningfully. I wondered what that was about.

When I asked, she just said「Oh, it’s nothing」so it remains a mystery.

By the way, she said to Fenix「How about putting that sword away and punching with a flaming fist sometimes, eh?」as advice. Is it…advice? I think it’s just her personal preference.

「Yeah yeah! Just like that! I…I wanted to be just like that…」

Nicola looks depressed.

I certainly understand why Philip had to change course.

Nicola is a lovely woman.

It’s possible to tweak your Avatar to look more gallant, but it’s difficult to make it look gruffer. 

You’re not allowed to make changes that make you indistinguishable from your real body, so you can’t change the image that your face and body give off.

But admiration isn’t limited to things close to you.

You can be drawn to something contradictory, even seen from afar.  It makes you want to go closer to it.

If you can’t throw it away, what should you do with those feelings?

「I’ve read the rules of the tournament.」

「Huh? Oh…you’re a serious person aren’t you, Lem. I think that’s wonderful.」

「…Have you read it, Nicola?」

「…There’s…like, a lot of words…all tightly packed together… I only have a rough idea.」

「No, that’s fine. I get it. There are probably a lot of people who didn’t read the whole thing.」

I can understand why it would be depressing to look at something like that.

「There was something on there about Avatars that’s interesting.」

「Interesting?」

「It’s quite something. I wonder how they got permission for it. You know how you aren’t allowed to alter your Avatar to a point where you are indistinguishable from your real body?」

「Right?」

The use of one’s Avatar isn’t limited to Dungeon Clearing. It can be used when operating in dangerous places as well.

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In fact, the connection time is fixed, so if used for a long time…this could work.

Anyway, modification is allowed only to the extent that you can still identify the real person.

But this time, it is allowed, albeit on a limited basis.

In other words.

「Limited only to tournament participants, the clause on modifying Avatars are allowed. In other words, a thin person can become a muscular one. A Normal can be changed into a completely different-looking Monster.」