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Alim brought me to the largest adventurer’s guild in front of Mephilad castle.

“Then, Mika, the other day you defeated four deteriorated Forest Turtle specimens and obtained 28 A-Rank magic cores, didn’t you? If you turn all of those in, you should become S-Rank.”
“Eh, really?”
“Yep. I’ll submit the SS-Rank magic cores in the name of our party and increase its rank to SS.”
“But why do it like that?”
“It’s better that way, since it’ll increase the number of jobs we can take. Moreover, it’ll make it easier for us to act in various ways.”
“I see.”

We entered the guild and went to the reception counter. I could hear the other adventurers gossiping about us. Mainly about me. On the way, we replied to a few of them who called out to us, and they all looked quite contented.

I wonder why?

Hang on, why’s my name in there…? According to the description, it’s apparently bestowed to those who mesmerize a lot of people, and increases their charm even further, but… Huh, doesn’t Alim have a higher version of this?

At the reception, Alim was talking to an elf woman². Then, he took out two SS-Rank magic cores. That instant, the place turned into an uproar.

It’s a foregone conclusion, that people will write about this, too. There are probably some people from the newspaper here. Ah~. We’ll stand out even more from tomorrow on…

Urged on by Alim, I handed 28 A-Rank magic cores and my guild card over to the elf receptionist. After some time, she gave the magic cores and the card back to me.

The following was written on it:

When Alim saw that, he said, “We’re done with our errands, so let’s go home” and pulled me by my hand.
Erm, that’s super amazing, isn’t it? Should we really leave this abruptly?

After he’d spoken, the adventurers around us became quite loud. Even though Alim and I tried to go home, an awful lot of people closed in on us. They each said, “Congratulations” or “It’s a new legend”. Afterwards, they also mentioned things I didn’t understand well, like “Jenga” and “Othello”. We were also interviewed by someone from the previously mentioned newspaper.

In the end, an hour passed, before we managed to leave the guild…

“A-Alim… What on earth have you been doing before I came here?” I asked him.
“Well, when I acted amicably, it turned out like this… I guess.”

On the streets, I heard voices saying “Goddess” and “She’s as cute as always”.

Now I understand, why he got that charm-title. He’s really abusing the fact, that he’s a cute girl, isn’t he~?
Back on earth, did he ever act like this as Ayumu? Well, I guess it’s all feigned innocence.³

“Ah, sorry. I just got a call via message…” Alim suddenly told me, while I was entertaining such thoughts. “It was from a man called Bacchus, do you want to come with me?”

Bacchus… I’m pretty sure, that’s one of the 8 SS-Rankers in this country… Wait, since Alim just became SS-Rank, there’s 9 of them now.
He’s one of those nine people. He makes liquor, and his high-class brand is super famous all over Anazumu. So, Alim is also acquainted with someone like that.

It looks interesting so let’s go together.

“Yeah, I’ll come with you. What kind of task does he have for you?”
“I promised Mr. Bacchus, that I’d help him develop a snack that goes well with liquor… and also, that I’d manufacture a new distillation machine for him.”

Even though he’s still a minor, he’s talking about alcohol with adults… Alim is amazing. Is this the nature of Item Master?

I followed him, and we headed to the place Bacchus had specified. On the way, we were mobbed by numerous onlookers. Then, when we finally arrived at or destination, we saw a young man holding a wine glass. This was probably Bacchus. He called out as soon as he noticed us.

“Yo, Alim. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Is that Mika, who everyone in the streets is talking about currently? Nice to meet you.”
“A… a pleasure to meet you, please take care of me.”
“It’s been some time, Mr. Bacchus.” Alim greeted him. “Is that task of yours about alcohol?”

I accidentally fumbled my words a bit…

Paying it no mind, Bacchus drained the contents of the wine glass he was holding, bit by bit.

“Yeah, that’s right, y’know. I’ve devised a new method for alcohol distillation, so I’d like you to build that machine. I have a blueprint. Also, couldn’t we do a bit of research together on what food goes well with alcohol? As for your reward… Well, how about a percentage of that liquor’s sales?”
“Understood! Please leave it to me.”

Alim and Bacchus conversed with each other. They told me, that I could taste-test juice, while Alim was working.
Hooray!

___________
________
_____

“Thank you for today. Alim, Mika,” Bacchus said, as he handed us a large amount of juice.

We had been here for around 8 hours, since 11 am. 7 hours and 55 minutes of those were spent on food research…⁴　
Since I have True Cooking, I could also help them, you know… It was a fairly fresh experience, so that’s good, isn’t it?

Although Alim had been working for 8 hours, he didn’t look tired at all.
I’m sure he’s cheating with potions. I think he’ll definitely ruin his health, that way.

All the employees at Bacchus’ company treated us like idols. Additionally, it looked like they also had decided, that Alim would be their model for advertising.
His charm is scary.

Come to think of it, a passerby in the city mumbled “Hmm, cute is justice”, though I didn’t hear it very well. It feels like we’ve been mobbed by people the whole day.
Alim seemed to be used to it. The saucy little minx⁵.

We drank a lot of juice that night. The toilet was close.

TL notes:
Another Mika-PoV chapter (and the last one for a while), giving us an outsider’s perspective on just how crazy popular Alim is.

1. The original is 魅了の美花. The second part (美花 = “beautiful flower”) is also how Mika’s name is written in Kanji.
2. It’s Elf-oneesan (Big sis Elf) in the original.
3. The original is 猫かぶり (lit. “cat head”). “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” would also be a possible translation.
4. So, he built the machine in less than 5 minutes? Classic Alim…
5. Not 100% the same as what the Japanese ぶりっ子 means, but I guess it’s close enough.