Tsukasa cautiously watched this group of people with their relaxed atmosphere. These people could relax about this matter, but she couldn't relax her guard around them, and she also didn't understand why they thought she would trust them just by proving Julius's identity as the Hero.
After all, Hero was just a skill, a title.
In her skill bar, there was also this Hero skill that could be learned, but it required a staggering amount of skill points.
The points were simply too wasteful, so she hadn't even considered learning this skill. The skill's effect description stated that it had a special attack effect against the Demon King, and its strength was very high. This skill had a certain probability of triggering an instant death effect when dealing with the Demon King, completely ignoring the strength gap between both sides and allowing one to slay the powerful Demon King with a sword.
However, the required skill points were still too exaggerated.
What couldn't she learn with those skill points, instead of learning a skill that she didn't know if she could even use
and that relied on probability?
Tsukasa looked at the girl who walked forward. The girl's name, as introduced by the Hero just now, she remembered was Yana. And the information obtained from the previous Appraisal also showed that this person had the title of Saintess. A party with a Saintess and a Hero, plus the several powerful experts behind them who also possessed various grand titles, this party looked just like a legendary protagonist team. If this were the plot of a traditional Japanese RPG adventure game that she knew.
"Um... can you tell me your name?"
"Don't be scared, big sister, we're here to help you."
Help?
Tsukasa felt disdain in her heart.
In her opinion, these people inexplicably following her didn't look like they were approaching with good intentions at all; they might even be human traffickers. One must know that in the settings of some games, players who are Heroes can buy slaves and even sell their own slaves. Moreover, in the era she transmigrated from, most Hero-themed light novels went against convention, and the Heroes who once symbolized justice and heroism were nothing more than ordinary people with Heroic powers.
Furthermore, Saintesses were mostly just bad women who put on a show on the surface but were rotten to the core underneath. Of course, there were also the naive and sweet types, but those Saintesses only appeared in dark worldviews as a diversion for the audience, characters specifically designed to provide fan service and deliver emotional blows.
"..."
Silence.
Tsukasa didn't engage with the Saintess's topic.
She wasn't good at acting, and her personality was rather reclusive. If she were to communicate with these guys, she might inadvertently expose her true thoughts. She couldn't yet be sure if these people were disguised as good guys, but it was always right to think in the worst direction when considering things, because that way she would be psychologically prepared enough to cope if things really turned bad. So she chose not to communicate with them.
This way, even if they were faking it, they wouldn't drop the act so quickly, right?
Because they should be very confident in their acting, and her current age was a good disguise. Even if she showed this resistant posture, they would probably proudly believe that their acting could win her over. However, there wasn't no small chance of them directly turning hostile, but in the current situation, she could only choose to adapt, couldn't she? After all, she couldn't trust these people at all; she was only forced to stop here and listen to them because of their strength. Otherwise, given even the slightest chance, she would choose to escape immediately. Now she was just stalling for time to think of a countermeasure.
"If you don't want to answer, you don't have to force yourself, hahaha, um, why are you alone in a place like this?" The Saintess's stiff conversational skills made even Tsukasa, who wasn't particularly good at socializing, feel a bit awkward, but perhaps this was an intentionally feigned image.
Yana's mood was somewhat collapsing at this moment.
This child was like a lost monster cub, full of vigilance towards them, strangers, refusing all communication. The distrust and wariness in her eyes were very obvious, and perhaps she hadn't heard of their Hero Squad, so even revealing Julius's identity wasn't enough to dispel the child's wariness towards them.
Yana took out a piece of candy from the pouch at her waist and confidently said, "If you answer big sister's question, how about big sister gives you this snack? It's very sweet and delicious."
"...?"
Tsukasa expressed a huge question mark.
She actually wanted to use candy to tempt a little girl.
This was definitely a bad guy!
Moreover, she wasn't a sweet addict. Candy was less tempting to her than a piece of roast meat, provided it was roast meat from the modern world, full of seasonings, of course.
Yana saw that Tsukasa still ignored her.
For a moment, she was puzzled.
How could this be?
This trick had always been infallible.
This kind of candy was a high-grade item.
Children from ordinary families might not even get to eat a common candy once a year, let alone this kind of high-grade candy. In the past, even some cunning children couldn't help but try to trick the candy out of her, unlike the little girl in front of her who remained indifferent.
Wait.
Could it be?
Does she not know what candy is?
Yana thought she had guessed the correct answer.
After all, judging by this child's background, she should live nearby and probably lived in seclusion in this Monster Mountain Range with a teacher or something. Her clothes looked so wild, so she probably hadn't encountered candy or snacks, right? What a pitiful child. She wondered what this child's teacher was thinking. To be able to teach such an excellent student, they must be a powerful Archmage, but this adult was too careless in daily life besides imparting magical skills to this child. How could a girl be so sloppy and run around the mountains in animal skins?
Yana looked at Tsukasa sympathetically.
"This is something delicious, look."
She tore open the candy wrapper.
Then she brought the candy to Tsukasa's face.
It seemed she no longer intended to use this to tempt Tsukasa into answering her questions.
But Tsukasa felt that this woman's level seemed a bit high.
Such an aggressive offensive—those awkward conversations just now were definitely an act, right!? Because if she were truly just an ordinary little girl, she would definitely be hesitating now about whether to accept this candy. And as soon as she ate this candy, she would fall into this woman's trap.
Saintesses are indeed terrifying.
So... what should she do?
Tsukasa was momentarily caught in tension and indecision.
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