Chapter 252: The Encourage Skill

“…Why do you think that?”

“Later, when we enter the Demonic Realm, for survival, it’s better if the people around me are at least a little stronger. To do that, as I said earlier, I need to share the ‘conditions’ with everyone and satisfy them in advance. But you didn’t do that. Saying the conditions is embarrassing too…”

To my question, Reysir rambled on and then deliberately stopped mid-sentence. Then he removed my hand pushing his face away from his own face. Then, holding it tightly, he looked into my eyes and spoke.

“…I thought it might be burdensome.”

The golden eyes staring at me were quite serious, and he even hesitated before saying this. Reysir seemed convinced that what he just said was the decisive reason.

“Let go of my hand. Your current action is even more burdensome.”

“It can’t be, right?”

“What is it not?”

“The condition for using the [Encourage] skill is becoming close with you, and if Her Imperial Princess learns of this fact, she will clearly ignore your will and force you to try to become close with the Special Class kids. And she will pressure the others to try to become close with you too.”

‘Even if I end up using the [Encourage] skill on the Special Class members under the keyword ‘my acquaintance’ someday out of necessity, I don’t plan to reveal specifically what that condition is. Especially about the fact that the skill can be stacked.

So I hadn’t considered what would happen if the detailed conditions of the [Encourage] skill were disclosed to everyone… In the original work, even Fjodra was a character very poor at relationships.

But the current Fjodra was not just poor.

Was it because she was younger due to an earlier appearance? Or because the original novel failed to properly illuminate that characteristic? Or because Author Senna manipulated her for her own convenience, strengthening that characteristic? There are many possible reasons. But either way, the conclusion is the same. It will definitely be as Reysir said.

“Moreover, in this case, you have to completely open your heart, but the other person can just pretend, right? It’s a situation where you unilaterally suffer… Maybe you could even get hurt!”

The voice, speaking calmly, was full of concern for me. It’s not like this guy has been worrying about me for just a day or two. But seeing him think from my perspective, point out things I had overlooked, and feel pain on my behalf even though it hasn’t happened yet… it made me feel very strange.

“So if that situation comes, it will be incomparably more burdensome than me holding your hand like this.”

“Well… that might be true. If becoming close is the condition.”

“That’s not the condition?”

“It’s not entirely not that… It’s just that being at the level of ‘acquaintance’ is enough to satisfy the condition, so there’s no need to make an effort to become close on purpose.”

I said this in the most calm tone and cruelly pulled my hand away. Reysir obediently let go of my hand, but his characteristic tenacious nature hadn’t gone anywhere.

“Is that really it? If it’s just that much, there was no need to hide the existence of the [Encourage] skill. You could just say there’s one more buff skill that can assist the [Elation] skill and then use it.”

His sharpness as the original protagonist remained.

“Does it have an option where the effect increases as intimacy increases? If so, it’s obvious that people will say it’s discriminatory—some people’s stats only rise by 3, while others rise more. Ultimately, a situation will arise where you’re forced to become close with everyone.”

“…You almost got it right. However, since I can adjust the effect arbitrarily, the problem situation you mentioned won’t occur.”

“Still, you’re saying this because you plan to use it on me with maximum effect in case of emergency, right?”

Not only can I assign Reysir the keyword ‘my reader’ in addition to ‘my acquaintance,’ but he is also the protagonist of the novel that makes up this world. In a critical moment, even a ‘very slight increase’ in stats can secure enough probability to turn the situation around. So I can’t deny that I’m thinking along those lines. But…

“…You forced it out of me by pestering me, so don’t act like I told you voluntarily.”

“Were you planning not to say anything at all and never use the skill if I hadn’t asked?”

“That’s… not entirely true, but…”

I tried to throw a retort, but as you can see, the result was pathetic. Seeing my face tinged with embarrassment because of that, Reysir spoke in a voice that a third party would find quite affectionate.

“I won’t ask what the specific condition is. You don’t seem ready to say that yet. Besides, I’ve confirmed that you consider me more than just an acquaintance. I guess I’m already satisfied enough?”

“W-Wait. What nonsense is that now?”

“Nonsense?”

“The part about me considering you more than an acquaintance.”

“You didn’t deny that you plan to use it on me with maximum effect. If that’s not you giving a definite answer that because you don’t see me as a mere acquaintance, my stats will rise more than others’ when you use [Encourage] , then what is it?”

‘I started to wonder if it would be better to reveal that the condition for using [Encourage] is not ‘closeness’ but applying a specific keyword. After all, it will come out later when the skill proficiency of [Truth-Reading Eye] increases. The one problem is… right now, besides ‘my acquaintance,’ the only keyword I can assign to Reysir is ‘my reader.’ Since Reysir suspects that the author of the Special Character Novel is ‘a being who witnessed the essence of this world,’ I can’t reveal that I’m writing the Special Character Novel. So if I can’t answer what other keywords I can use besides ‘my acquaintance,’ the person in front of me will mistakenly think that keyword is ‘my friend.’ I’ve repeatedly emphasized that we’re not friends, so suddenly acknowledging it would be difficult. Unless there’s a special reason that forces me to accept Reysir as a friend…!’

After much deliberation, I concluded that the best course was to leave things as they were, letting Reysir think of our relationship as ‘more than acquaintance but less than friend.’

“I’d like to stop this topic and move on to the next skill…”

“Sure, I understand.”

The other party readily answered and erased the skill description of [Encourage] written on the whiteboard. Then what he wrote next was this:

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[Encouragement] – (S): A buff skill derived from {Disposition}. It enhances Aether Attribute skills.

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‘I thought maybe the existence of this skill might go unnoticed, but no. It seems that [Truth-Reading Eye] can even read skills that the original author isn’t aware of. Well, Author Senna probably didn’t set up all the skills of the extras, and Reysir can read everyone’s status window in this world with [Truth-Reading Eye]. From that perspective, this is natural. But for now… should I be thankful that it doesn’t have a strange description like [Cat’s Vigor] or [Elation]?’

Strictly speaking, it’s not just fortunate. It’s a blessing in disguise. The reason is obviously—

“Kar… You had such an amazing skill, why haven’t you used it even once until now?”

‘—I expected to get this question. Just thinking about explaining the reason makes me sigh. But when Reysir pressed me about [Encourage], I avoided answering, only to get dragged into a long conversation by his eloquence and feel even more embarrassed. To get through the shame quickly, the best course is to confess the reason fast and urge him to check the next skill!’

People learn from past mistakes and grow. So I, being human, immediately put that realization into practice.

“The skill proficiency is still low, so the effect is very insignificant. Using it or not makes little difference. Also, to use this skill on others, I have to actually encourage them… with words, not just actions… For that reason… I had no choice.”

“Cough… I see. You had no choice. Uh-huh. Yeah. It must have been truly unavoidable for you.”

“If your curiosity is satisfied, please stop and check the next skill.”

“Kar, do you know your face is incredibly red?”

“……I know, so don’t point it out.”

“Hmph…”

Reysir covered his mouth with one hand and even squeezed both eyes shut. Then he slid down as if melting, slumped over, and shook his shoulders, stifling his laughter.

If someone who didn’t know the context saw Reysir like this, they would definitely mistake him for crying.

Whether it’s the nature of embarrassment to come with violence, or because Reysir curled up like a ball, an urge to kick him away came over me. They say patience three times can avoid murder, but this time I couldn’t bear it at all.

‘But I can’t leave footprints on the pristine white school jacket…!’

Mustering my last ounce of patience, I took off my shoes and gave in to the impulse. Seeing the person who had mocked me roll over sideways and tumble on the floor was incredibly satisfying.

“Stop laughing so much.”

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to, but your reaction was…”

“Don’t tease me while pretending to make excuses.”

“I didn’t intend that, but if it felt that way, I’m sorry.”

“Hmph…”

While I turned my head away sharply and put my shoes back on, I felt Reysir stand up and dust himself off.

And then.

“Okay, I’ll continue with what I was doing.”

With that, I turned my head back toward Reysir and took in the words he had written.

[Character Analysis] – (S) : {Attribute} derived skill. While analyzing someone, applies a mental acceleration buff to oneself.

The [Character Analysis] skill had changed into [Person Analysis] , but I wasn’t surprised at all. Given that [Fear] had been transformed into [Cat’s Vigor] , this was very mild. The description was also perfectly normal. The fact that it uses Sky-Blue Aether but has the word ‘buff’ in it…

‘Well, this isn’t particularly strange either. When Reysir asked if I had a buff skill that slows down perceived time, I mentioned mental acceleration but didn’t correct that it’s not a buff skill.’

But—

“You have four skills that use Purple Aether, and three of them are skills that empower others, and the remaining one triggers when you try to learn about others. It seems that you have no poison-related skills because you’re too kind and gentle to harm others.”

There was a clear sense of dissonance in this line.

“What did you just say…?”

“You are very kind and gentle, ugh!”

Reysir tried to attempt an influence event, unable to break his habit. I covered his mouth with my palm to block him, and replayed his previous comment in my mind.

‘He said there are four skills usable with Purple Aether… That means the [Person Analysis] skill is classified as a Purple Aether skill. Yet in my skill window, it’s classified as a Sky-Blue Aether skill, and using it actually consumes Sky-Blue Aether.

This is actually fortunate for me! Since Sky-Blue Aether is known as the power to change the atmosphere, it has nothing to do with analyzing someone or speeding up thought processes.

If Reysir had asked the exact name of Sky-Blue Aether and pestered me about its power and characteristics, it would have been troublesome. But now I don’t need to make up excuses and dodge.

His trust in [Truth-Reading Eye] has plummeted, but since it displayed a bright red warning window when he saw the Special Character Novel, I thought it was an amazing skill, but it turns out it’s not that great.