Chương 343: The Shy Gal

Before becoming a spirit, Nessa had already been quite the awkward girl. She simply didn't know how to interact with others. Back then, the only friend she had at first, when her parents would drop her off at Harvey's Diner, was Poppy–And only because Poppy had decided to talk to her and be her friend. It wasn't that Nessa couldn't communicate. It's simply that she couldn't bring herself to take the first step when it came to socialising.

Nowadays, she has all of her sisters and the rest of the family with whom she feels comfortable speaking to, but it didn't change the fact that she definitely enjoyed solitude most of the time. Still, it was quite easy to see that it would make her happy whenever someone would swing by to see her. Almost as if she worried that her self-isolating would make everyone else forget her. I suppose the region her presence had manifested into being within the Mindscape was a good representation of her.

It was a ghost town named Stalk Town. The whole point of it was to allow Nessa to sneak around and follow people without them realising it. Back when she was all alone, she could only hide and sneak around. Without the courage to walk up to anyone, she could only helplessly listen and watch as other people socialised, made friends, and such… I remember, she couldn't even ask a worker at Harvey's Diner for something to eat or drink. If none of them noticed her and asked, she would just stay hungry and thirsty.

Of course, everything had changed when Poppy made friends with her. Nessa could at least communicate through her more extroverted friend. Back then, I was still actively playing the role of Glown. It was at the very beginning, after I had first begun working there. I quickly took notice of all five of the girls. Young girls left stranded by themselves in a random diner, shoved through the door by their parents who couldn't be bothered to find a better solution than this.

Just giving them some coins so that they could feed themselves throughout the day. They seemed to handle it well, but in truth, none of them was. Poppy put on a brave front, but she would spend her time looking out the window, as if hoping that her parents would come to pick her up earlier than usual–It never happened. Annie would restlessly pace around, clearly feeling uncomfortable as the diner wasn't a place where she could move the way she wanted to.

She always seemed to consider just leaving the diner, but it was clear that she was scared of what would happen if she sneaked out without permission and her parents found out. Gigi had always been a bright girl, but it wasn't uncommon for her to hide somewhere to cry after being left at the diner. She had been the youngest of the five, so it was only natural that she didn't like it one bit to be separated from her parents. Yet, she would be brought there every single day.

Nessa wouldn't show much of a reaction, but being thrown into an environment where she didn't know anyone for the longest time had definitely not been to her liking. When she became friends with Poppy, she began latching onto the blonde helplessly. Appearing desperate when she couldn't find her friend immediately after being dropped off. Elowen had always been a tomboy, and so, she had a very different way of expressing her dislike of how she was thrown into Harvey's Diner to rot every single day.

She would get into trouble by often getting into fights–It had always been clear that she had some talent, as I don't think she ever lost one of these fights… She wasn't as abnormally strong as I was at her age, but she definitely was stronger than the average young girl… … It was probably why she was never banned from Harvey's Diner despite it.

Although a business of poor skills, Wilston was quite cunning nonetheless, and he smelled that she had a bright future, be it as a knight or adventurer, so he always allowed her back, no matter how many noses she broke. Anyway, it wasn't like anyone would enforce a ban anyway.

Most of the employees barely even seemed to think during working hours, and they were all skinny wretches, hired purely because they were perfectly fine with a salary that would make even the most detached of nobles raise an eyebrow due to how low it was. They were all so feeble that it might genuinely be dangerous for them to even try to get Elowen out, and it certainly wouldn't be me who would help them. These five girls–It was me who had brought them together as a quintet.

As a group of friends that could only meet when at Harvey's Diner, their time there immediately became much better. Spending time together allowed them to somewhat forget the reason why they ended up here every day in the first place. … Of course, the one who had benefited the most from the creation of this friend group was none other than Nessa.

"Sweetie, is everything alright?" I found her sitting on the porch of a house right on the edge of Stalk Town. The various translucent spirits that would normally be walking around, pretending to be living normal lives to allow Nessa to practise her stalking skills, were absent. A sign that Nessa was just relaxing. Her gloomy expression–Which was her usual resting face–Brightened up as she realised I was here. She stood up and calmly walked over to me, grabbing me in a tight hug.

"All is well, big sis""That's good to hear" I hugged her back with one hand, patting her head with the other.

"Did you grow a bit taller?" It was a rhetorical question. I could tell that she had indeed gotten a little bit taller. Of course, Nessa didn't actually realise it herself, but the subject quickly shifted as we began walking around the ghost town.

These days, since she had her sisters and such, Nessa wasn't too worried about her lacking capabilities when it came to interacting with strangers, but there was nonetheless something that bothered her quite a lot, and it was something that quite a lot of people her age would find themselves bothered about, regardless of whether or not there really was a problem–It was about her body. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Of course, at that age, it wasn't uncommon to be quite worried about this. I couldn't personally relate, but I remember that Leton used to worry a lot about how frail and sickly he was. He worried that it meant he would never be able to attract a woman. Such a concern had been proven unfounded with time. Not only was he married nowadays, but even before then, he had gotten a fair bit of attention from girls his age. It was for the exact reason I had told him back then, as well. Looks don't matter that much for men.

His lack of physical strength could have been an obstacle, but he made up for it by having a good personality and a brilliant mind. It was clear that he would be going places. It was clear that he had his stuff together, and it was clear that he would be fully capable of supporting a family. In my opinion, such qualities are much more important in a man than his outward appearance. Leton hadn't seemed to believe me much when I explained this to him back then. He hadn't trusted my enlightened words at the time.

As unsuccessful as my own romantic ventures might have been, when it comes to my vision of how relationships form and work, I have always been proven right eventually. Clearly, I am an expert on the theoretical side of things. So, you are the friend who gives great advice despite having no actual experience on the subject? Yes. Yes, I am. Huh… But the advice you gave Leton back then only applies to men, doesn't it? Obviously, but I had the same kind of talk with Jinine back when I taught a bit of swordsmanship.

It is very simple, actually. On average, men and women simply do not look for the same things in their partners. Even if most don't realise it, most things are the way that they are to accommodate this and ensure that natality rates remain high. We've barely started, and we're talking about natality rates… I sometimes think you're joking when you say that you could have been a philosopher, but then you start rambling about something with great confidence and great detail… Don't worry about it.

I assure you it is very easy to understand–One of the great pillars of any nation is its natality rate. That much is obvious. With a high constant of births, you make sure that you maintain everything else. With constant births, jobs are always filled by young people. You can grow your army. You can cultivate more lands, et cetera! That's how you maintain an economy. But what is the root of natality? That's right, the relationship between men and women.

As you know, when a man and a woman love each other very much- I don't think you need to explain that So you really only care when it's about my own relationships, huh? Pretty much Alright then… What I mean is that if men and women can't get along, then everyone is dead. A bit extreme I am understating it, actually. Sure… Anyway, the point isn't that they understand each other. They just need to get along and make babies.

So the king and whoever else he trusts to help him rule make sure that men strive to have what women want in men, and that women strive to have what men want in women. That way, it ensures that all is well. Get it? Mmh… I'll explain it to Nessa. You'll see that it is easy to understand. I don't know if the inner workings of a nation are really something she cares about or… Oh, you've already started… … … Nessa scratched her chin.

"I see. That makes perfect sense!" There's no way"Thank you, big sis. I get it now!" But you didn't even answer her actual question, did you? There's no need. Now that she understands this, she was able to infer the right answer herself. She felt weird about her body because she is so different from her sisters. Unless you haven't noticed, we are all quite humbly shaped, unlike her. By explaining all of this to her, she understood enough to realise a few things.

You know, explaining things like this makes the gears in people's brains turn. She already knew that we all agree that she is the most beautiful around, and now, she realised that it isn't just our opinion. It is the global opinion. So why worry about her looks at this point? It would be silly. It would be like me worrying about whether or not my muscles are good enough. It would be stupid. They are at their epitome already. They can't get any better.

Well, I don't really have muscles anymore, but you know what I mean. I do find it all a bit strange, but I suppose that if it works, then it doesn't need fixing… Anyway, are you not going to check on the progress of her abilities? Oh, good thing that you reminded me.

"Nessa, why don't you show me what you can do? Did you acquire any new ability" She shook her head.

"I still only have the paranoia ability and the whispers""No need to rush to get new abilities anyway. Those two are great already…" I patted her head some more before I let her demonstrate on a training dummy. Nessa's abilities relied on her remaining hidden, and she was exceptionally good at this. To the point that Gigi would ask her for advice on how to be better at hide-and-seek, since Nessa always wins when she participates.

The first ability is the one that inflicts paranoia via Nessa making the sound of someone being strangled. She usually did so by getting right behind her target, but past a certain level of paranoia, it no longer mattered where she was when making the sound. The victim would be barely able to tell where it was coming from. They would be completely panicked and constantly turn around while probably stumbling over their own feet.

As for the second ability, Nessa could simply whisper commands, and the target would feel compelled to listen to her to a certain extent. The more the victim is infested with negative emotions, the less they are able to resist the commands. So, if someone can not die of a heart attack after receiving a charged scare from Annie, then Nessa would probably be able to command them to do whatever. The moment right after the fear slams into the target is when they are most vulnerable.

They are basically not thinking, only running on instinct.

"It does seem like they got a fair bit stronger, nice work, Nessa!"

"Thank you, big sis" I then informed her that her sisters were free right now, so she could go see them without bothering. Well, Anathema is currently busy working on a painting, and I don't want to disturb her focus, so it only leaves me one person with whom I need to have a discussion…