alwaysunqualified

  Chapter 53 – Still missing clues.

  “Date starto!”

  [Target: Hijisa]

  [A pleasant Café date.]

  I sigh in frustration. "Another miss," I mutter. This is the third time I haven't been able to secure the target I wanted, and now I'm nearly out of date points—just five left. Reflecting on my strategy, I think to myself, 'I should have used the target feature to boost the points of those I already have.'

  My gaze drifts across the empty store to the woman opposite me. She's the one from the tournament, the girl who can manipute reality, and my most recent target after two unsuccessful attempts with others.

  It would be really useful to know the odds, to determine whether targeting a specific girl is inherently difficult or if I'm just unlucky. I consider saving my points until I can access the targets I truly desire, but this trial run has shown that things might not go as pnned, even if I dedicate all my points to securing a date with just one of them.

  'At least the system is enjoying herself,' I think, watching the cheerful system as she flips through a binder full of cards. She inspects each card carefully before pcing it back. I wasn't much into physical card games as a kid, but I imagine I would have been just as meticulous. It's nice to see her having fun. She's been sleeping a lot tely and missed out on all the rolls, except for today. Thankfully, the new cards seem to have more than compensated for that.

  Looking at the girl again, she returned my gaze with a hint of confusion. "Sorry, I was distracted," I apologize, trying to keep my tone friendly. I decided to engage in some small talk with her, although my mind was elsewhere.

  The first girl whose card I tried to obtain had an ability that enhanced others' growth, a skill highly valued by all the noble houses here. They employed her to train their members, making It expensive to even secure a meeting with her, or else I would have tried again when the cooldown for the date ended. If the effects of Love Land and her card did indeed stack as I hoped, anyone there would experience growth five times faster. This would include experience points from monsters, if Seraphina was correct.

  The second girl, still a tier-one, had the ability to discern paths. My interest wasn't so much in her current capabilities but in the potential future applications. If it were anything like 'Social Butterfly,' it could reveal the best combination of choices to achieve desired outcomes, or perhaps even suggest an upgrade path for my system. Fortunately, she was contracted to House Ironfist, which made arranging meetings somewhat easier when she wasn’t working in the dungeons.

  "It was nice talking to you," I say in a friendly manner as I stand up after a few minutes. "I hope we can do this again."

  "He really didn’t do anything?" she muttered before looking up at me with a smile. "I hope so as well."

  I wave goodbye, feeling the sting of having invested in renting out this pce without seeing any profit from it. Still, it was the best location I could find after surveying around the city for the past week, although I was far from discovering every potential spot.

  [Café: Increase rolls for date targets—normal, pretending to be normal.]

  The information on date locations is currently limited but somewhat useful. I didn't have a clear understanding of the actual increase in odds or the range of the pool for selections. It must be incredibly rge; the first target I tried to invite over, I cleared my house and had only her, yet I still ended up with other girls on the list when I made my selection and somehow got another pydate with the twins, who were miles away.

  If I had to specute, each location probably has a standard pool—like my house, which includes family members and added those nearby. The same seemed to be true today; we were the only two around, yet the dating pool was still massive with many targets avaible, as the system indicated. It was difficult to isote a specific target, even in Love Land other targets were avaible when I was with just one girl, though I couldn't see them. Something to test before New Year's is to make a selection when completely alone and see who appears. There's still so much I need to test.

  ‘Come on, system, let's get going,’ I called out to the system, who was still sitting on the floor, sifting through the cards. She gnced up at me briefly before returning her attention to her cards, standing up, and starting to follow me—into the wrong direction. I had to grab her before she wandered off alone in the city. Taking her hand, she smiled up at me, gripping it tightly before focusing again on the card binder. I thought she might stop inspecting them until a card slipped out of its sleeve and floated in front of her face as if she was holding it.

  'I didn't know what I was expecting,' I thought, surprised at her ability to do that. There were still many things I didn't know about her. I had spent most of my time trying to mitigate the negative influence of the goddess, but observing the little girl, it was clear she was capable of much more. To what extent, I wasn't sure, but she was quick enough to catch multiple weapons thrown at speeds that must have been many times the speed of sound.

  Exiting with the system, I let the guards shield me before heading to Izzy's pce to store her belongings so she could move in with us. She was an only child, which simplified the process. Otherwise, I would have had to sit down for a long discussion with her parents about pns for any sisters and their future arrangements. I was still grilled about when her official wedding would take pce, but after they learned about my arrangement with Seraphina, they were content to postpone further discussions until after her ceremony.

  After sobering up and reflecting, I realized I was unsure how I felt about the entire situation. I’ve been avoiding thinking about it until Izzy knows the full story so we can discuss it. Moreover, I was uncertain how to treat her; Miki was one thing, akin to a very horny friend with benefits, but Izzy expected more, and she was still Sakura’s best friend. Another issue to address ter.

  When I left my room, it was immediately known to everyone who saw me. It seemed Izzy had deliberately avoided Sakura, so the shock on Sakura's face when she saw me was priceless. However, her swearing off drinking was not on my bingo card. After congratuting me, she rushed off to celebrate with Izzy, though they ended up arguing shortly after. I'll never get used to how casually everyone here treats these matters.

  The only others really surprised were the staff, who all did a double-take upon seeing me, but quickly returned to their duties.

  With three weeks until New Year's, or a month in Earth terms, I reserved five date points to use at year-end as an emergency. The rest of this year would be dedicated to my training to become an adventurer, exploring how I could enhance Love Land, and recovering my points. However, cking the time to manage everything, I decided to dey the recovery phase until next year.

  Three days after the party, we held a family meeting to discuss the events. Seraphina, Yuno, and surprisingly Alice had conducted a thorough investigation to connect the dots. We had five guards in the hall; two were busy chasing after Sakura who had started drinking with Izzy. It seems she caused more trouble than I witnessed, and their antics could have spilled into the city if not for the guards containing them.

  Another guard was assigned to watch over Angelica, while the st two remained in the hall. Only one of them was quick enough to intercept a shadow; the other's primary role was to communicate with the other guards, summoning them back when necessary.

  Angelica was pulled away from the party as the fangirls arrived early, lining up outside well before their scheduled time, eager to meet me. Meanwhile, Seraphina was distracted, refining a contract with House Pncaster for future developments.

  Sakura managed to lose one of her guards after damaging a side panel in the gaming room. The guard went to find a staff member to clean up the mess, the other decided to shield her during her tantrum to prevent the two girls’ embarrassment from being public. That's when she stumbled back into the party, just as the guard was calling Seraphina to see if she could escort her back to her room.

  The situation was further complicated by the nobles' Blessings. I have never seen someone so perfectly banced.

  [Name: Vexara MirrcallLevel: 331Affection: -500[fangirl]Trait: Goddess: Goddess of deceit.Primary Blessing: Distract tier 11Lesser Blessings: Speech Check tier 11, Edge tier 11, Lead tier 11, Inverse tier 11, Transte tier 11]

  [Distract: Keeps people distracted.]

  [Speech Check: Randomly enhances speech.]

  [Edge: Adds an edge.]

  [Lead: Others naturally follow.]

  [Inverse: Reverses an effect.]

  [Transte: Transtes your words or actions.]

  This entire shit show stemmed from the fact that we all allowed the two to continue drinking. Many saw them but chose not to intervene. Even Izzy's mom, who normally wouldn't have allowed such behavior at my party, had to leave early because a magic item in her house broke. One that was too heavy for the wife at home to lift. An item that had been bought over fifty years ago and had worked fwlessly until then.

  The timing was too perfect. Everyone was distracted at the crucial moment for her ability to take effect, but Seraphina described it as spdash—as if it were a st-minute joke the girl had thrown together a few days earlier without serious consideration. She didn't take the situation seriously until Elsa metaphorically spped her in the face.

  Seraphina noted that the most telling sign was the pause I observed at the party. Normally, any deviation would prompt an immediate cessation of the pn and a swift resolution. Yet, she proceeded regardless.

  My future self's words echoed in my mind: "Fuck seers," and I was beginning to agree. It seemed someone in their house had exploited their foresight to orchestrate the perfect scenario to harm Sakura right in front of us, securing a pce on my newly formed, exclusive list.

  I was quite paranoid during our family meeting, but Seraphina reassured me that no other house could have executed this so swiftly. She also added that she couldn't have orchestrated something simir from the outside, which is why taking someone into your home is considered a risk.

  Petty games like this were commonpce among nobles as ways to test one another; if you couldn't even counter a friendly jest, how would you handle a true outsider intent on sowing chaos?

  It made sense, yet it was annoying.

  Gncing at her card again, I was half-tempted to open a slot in my deck. This would pair amazingly with my 'Deez' skill, yet I hesitated to let the thoughts of such a two-faced bitch mingle with mine.

  Once the serious discussion concluded, our attention turned to Izzy. Sakura was quick to cim the room next to hers for her best friend, while Angelica and my mother discussed her family's hopes for more daughters, who might join us in the future. This left me sitting there, feeling increasingly awkward about the entire situation, especially when Miki described Izzy’s unique taste to the other girls. I'm just thankful my sisters didn't grasp her meaning, though my mother's giggle stung.

  My thoughts were interrupted by a soft "Oh," as two girls stood awkwardly before me. It took me a moment to respond, not expecting to be approached, especially not by Ellie and Lucy.

  "Hey, girls," I greeted them. They exchanged looks, remaining silent. "Look, if you're still not ready to talk, we can pretend we didn't just run into each other," I suggested. I realized then that I might need to have a word with my guards about not letting them through the concealment.

  "No," they both said simultaneously, looking back at me.

  "Actually, we were going to come see you," Ellie expined.

  "We wanted to give it a chance," Lucy continued, then quickly added, "Right, sorry about missing your party."

  "Don't worry about it, it was a mess anyway. I barely got to greet anyone. But are you sure you want to join? I wasn’t kidding about encountering strange things," I said, recalling the shadows and hydra.

  "Yeah, but you'll do what you can to protect us," Ellie reassured.

  "And you have guards with you," Lucy pointed out.

  "I do, but you can't always rely on them," I admitted, a lesson I had just learned.

  "But it would be even riskier for us to travel outside without them," Ellie argued, with her sister nodding in agreement.

  "That's true," I conceded. It really wasn't safe out there for anyone.

  "We're counting on you, Liev," Ellie said, smiling at me.

  "Yep, and congrats on getting together with Izzy," Lucy added. It was really frustrating that everyone here knows who you ended up with after a drunk night. At least in high school, I could have escaped through a window.

  Looking down, I noticed my system still clutching my hand, her other hand covering her eyes while a binder floated next to her, and she was peeking through her fingers at a card.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

  ‘You told me not to watch when you're making more moms,’ she replied, clearly proud of herself for adhering to my rules.

  ‘I'm not making more moms,’ I quickly crified.

  "This will be moms five and six," she muttered, finally looking away from her card, not listening at all. It definitely sucks that everyone can tell. Clearly, I also still need to work on eradicating her poor habits.

  [Date end]

  [Recollection reestablished.]

  [Achievement Unlocked: Making You Wait - Have a deyed recollection of more than a week. Observe is treated as five points higher with information reted to ongoing retionship status.]

  [Achievement Unlocked: Rate Up Is a Lie! - Miss multiple 90% rolls. Pity system, target is guaranteed in 10 date points x their tier + 1 worth of rolls. Pity does not carry over between locations.]