Chapter 3
The past has become a black page in my history now. Not only did I fail to woo any girl in my class, but I also managed to gain their ire at the same time.
Not to mention that I sought comfort from Seris who only sees me as her brother. I am greatly disappointed in myself.
But from that point onward I decided to put more attention to dungeoneering.
At this point I was 10 years old a few changes had occurred. My classmates had started to play tricks on me.
Usually, in the morning I'd find a bunch of chocolates, flowers, love letters and other such assortments of items.
I actually thought I might've finally entered my popular phase but obviously I was a fool. I had approached the girls whoever gifted me with their names mentioned in their gifts, but they all lowered their heads and didn't talk to me similarly like before.
This is all but false hope they gave me so I could further break down but their efforts were for nought, as I was already broken to no end.
My willingness to enter school was at an all-time low but I kept going because Seris was insistent.
She had gotten more protective of me. Often times she would end up throwing those prank items straight off to the trash can.
I do sometimes sneak some in my pocket and eat the chocolate though, I guess I am still happy to receive chocolates despite it being given out of hatred.
Seris would also end up glaring back at the girls who kept looking at me. Proclaiming things such as "Brother is mine" or "Stop looking at Alex, we are married.''
I genuinely doubt anyone wants me though Seris...
I could even feel the Teacher had the same stare towards me now. That honestly sucked as she was a really hot beauty also.
After this period I had tried to aim my romantic escapades on other classes too, they too seemed to have ended in utter failure.
If anything I feel like there are more stares on me, almost to the point of it being unnerving.
I asked pretty much my whole batch and even went as far as to ask a batch senior to me. Same result, what a surprise...
Is this what they meant with the world creation being an experimental process? They pretty much managed to mess up one of the key settings I had for myself.
At this point, I might have to rely on Seris to not end up as an unmarried man throughout my entire life. Hopefully, I won't have to go for it.
When I had asked Seris as to why I was so unattractive she just looked at me in confusion.
She looked at my face for a few seconds, which was extremely puzzled at first after which it looked like she caught onto something.
"Yes, brother you're extremely, extremely attra-I mean unattractive. But it's alright since you would never need another girl other than me."
Even if she was trying to comfort me, her honest words stabbed right through my heart.
I guess romance isn't for me huh... I might as well try out dungeons at this point.
Obviously Seris was entirely against it. Even for the easiest dungeons, the lowest age at which people try it at was at the age of 13.
But it was as simple as inviting her along which dissolved all her rebuttals.
The dungeon we were planning to head to was a basic one which consisted of slimes.
We both had bought adventuring equipment from the market using the funds left by the staff.
Seris went ahead and took the sword as she thought it looked cool, wait... Weren't you a priest before?
We had to get it slightly adjusted as there is almost no one who tries adventuring at such age. Usually, these kids end up getting dissuaded by their guardian before they end up dungeoneering like us.
Dungeons are no joke after all but I doubt I would need to really bother considering how much of a strong start I already had.
As a safety precaution, we also bought a bunch of health potions as well as some status ailment items.
I was kind of giddy honestly. After being faced with so many rejections, I might as well enjoy the fantasy aspect of this world.
The dungeon event was pretty uneventful. I would usually one-shot any slime which ended up facing us.
Following that we just needed to pick up any of the drops such as Gelatinous Goo or Slime Core and move onwards.
Seris also started to cling onto me while at it. She said she broke her leg when she just happened to act like she fell while she thought I wasn't looking.
So now not only was I carrying 2 person's worth of luggage but a baby koala who is also known as my sister. She held onto my back and rubbing her face against me time and again.
She even tried to kiss me on the nape during battle which was really dangerous. It felt so ticklish I couldn't stop laughing from her barrage of attacks.
Thankfully I managed to dissuade her by warning if she did it again I won't hug her tonight.
The dungeon was now slowly getting damper as we reached the end.
Are we finally reaching the boss fight? I instantly tell Seris to get off which she parted with reluctantly.
After applying some buffs to myself and Seris we soon entered the boss room.
What awaited us was just a gigantic slime around the size of a bathtub. To test the waters I tried sending a fireball towards it and...
It died from 1 fireball...
Seris cheered me as to how awesome I was but I just stood there staring at empty space dumbfoundedly.
Did I get too strong already? N-nah... must be the dungeon boss which was weak.
We headed forward to collect the drops, what we got was something called Royal Jelly.
Apparently it's capable of curing any and all status ailments which honestly sounds useful.
I stored the 5 lumps of jelly into the bag and was forced to carry Seris home again.
While we were heading home, I stumbled upon an idea. Since this is a fantasy world there should be something like a piece of equipment which should increase my appeal right?
I think I might know what my next goal was by now. Staring expectantly into the dawn, upon the discovery of my newfound goal, I tried to look cool as my sister was dozing off and drooling down my back.
---
The next day I had headed straight off to the adventuring guild where I sought information for such an item.
Apparently even the clerk did not want to talk to me as her face kept turning a shade of red and avoided my face.
Even professionalism of the guild can't spare me from the inexplicable anger of these women.
I had to end up bringing Seris as a channel through which the clerk and I could communicate.
"Ask her does she know any items which can raise appeal?"
Usually, I would be embarrassed to ask such things but since I felt dead inside due to my lack of appeal, I couldn’t have been bothered about it. Seris conveys what I had told her by just repeating what I said.
The clerk fidgets and keeps glancing at me, is a 10 year old me really that disgusting to talk to...?
"S-sure..."
She brings out a book which she hands over to Seris.
"I don't like this clerk, she is planning to steal brother away!"
"Don't be silly, she doesn't even want to touch me."
"Big brother is super stupid."
I'd be happy if she actually desired me but sadly that obviously isn’t the case.
After noticing the clerk's glare targeted towards me, Seris starts hugging me tightly and starts smooching all around my face.
"Stop it Seris we are in public!"
"No, Alex is mine!"
She proclaims while staring the clerk whose glare got even sharper.
After the conundrum, the whole guild was staring at us, particularly me. Well, truthfully I think that they were already staring at us from the start?
Without bothering anyone or creating anymore commotion, we both sit down by an empty table.
Skimming through the book I think I actually found what I needed.
_______________________________________________________________
Item Name: Mask of the Sun
Armour: +1
Special Effect: Makes the user more appealing while making the user's voice more charismatic.
Flavour Text: Even a goblin can get laid with this.
_______________________________________________________________
If I were to say anything, then it would be the special effect is exactly what I was looking for. Not only will the mask hide my face, but I will also appear attractive to other women.
It's basically a double win-win. Making my voice more charismatic also sounds pretty neat.
The dungeon seemed to be a few kilometres away in the forest we live in and was a special drop from the Dungeon's boss. The Dungeon difficulty was at B+ which was meant for highly skilled veteran adventurers.
Apparently one person can either obtain the Sun variant or Moon variant. Following which they can't obtain the other variant no matter what means.
Hopefully, I get the Sun Mask otherwise my future romance story would be impossible.