There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 105

‘These people have this much affection for me?’

While the Emperor was one thing, the other three were clearly strange.

First of all, it was unbelievable that Nasarr and Jeremiah had an affection level of 0.

Nasarr had even confessed to Philomell, and Jeremiah had become quite close to her recently.

On the other hand, if Killian was the hero Killian who danced with Elencia at her debutante ball, then he and Philomell were only acquaintances.

There was no way Killian’s affection level could be as high as 76%…….

“Ah!”

The realization came a beat too late.

This was the affection level status for Elencia, not Philomell.

Then it roughly made sense.

Anyway…….

‘Nasarr didn’t have any affection for Elencia.’

For some reason, she felt a little better.

At the same time, she felt pathetic for being pleased about this, even though she had already rejected him.

Just then, the fox, who had approached from behind without her noticing, spoke.

“If you place your hand on the hand-shaped mark drawn under the sign, your affection level will appear, Player.”

There really was a hand-shaped drawing where the fox pointed.

“My affection level…….”

She hesitated because it felt like she was peeking into other people’s hearts without permission, but she was honestly curious.

‘How much do they like me?’

Philomell slowly brought her hand to the mark, feeling her heart pounding. Then, the numbers and graph changed.

-Eustis (Family): 91%

-Nasarr: 94%

-Jeremiah (Family): 88%

-Killian: 0%

Overall Affection Level: 273

The numbers were much higher than expected.

Philomell felt embarrassed for some reason and banged on the wall.

‘……Wait, can I trust this?’

Then, suddenly, a doubt crept in.

‘Everyone likes me this much? Isn’t something wrong?’

In the first place, quantifying a person’s innermost feelings was too absurd, but…….

If that were the case, the existence of this store itself, no, even Elencia’s memories were unrealistic.

Philomell pondered for a moment and decided to just accept it. She was loved more than she thought. Her chest tingled.

A moment later, Philomell returned to the stall and discovered a change.

“Huh? The products have changed.”

To be exact, some of the products that had been painted black now had color. Moreover, they felt normal to the touch.

Among them was the Superior Wisdom Potion. As Philomell looked over the potion, she remembered its unlocking condition.

‘It said affection level 200 or higher.’

If she remembered correctly, Elencia’s affection level was 158, and hers was 278.

Since her affection level had increased, the locked products had naturally been unlocked.

“Amazing.”

Philomell admired it and looked at the other products.

Next to the Wisdom Potions were Strength Potions. The effects were the same, but the potion colors were reddish.

“And Lucky Potions, Stamina Recovery Potions, Love Potions…….”

She lost track of time looking at the descriptions that appeared in the window.

Then, one item caught her eye.

“……Superior Megaphone.”

“When will the megaphone be available for sale!”

Elencia had certainly shouted that.

Judging by the name megaphone, it seemed to serve a similar role to the megaphone stone she knew. When she touched it, a window opened.

[Superior Megaphone (2/2)

Description: Widely spread good stories about the user to increase fame. Speak into the megaphone about what you want to be spread.

Duration: 30 days Price: 2500 gold]

Philomell narrowed her brows.

‘Fame? Is it like affection?’

When she asked the fox, it replied that if fame was high, affection would increase easily, and the game could proceed smoothly.

‘There’s everything. But more concerning is…….’

In contrast to the colored Superior Megaphone, the Lower and Intermediate Megaphones were still black. Like Elencia said, they seemed to be unavailable for sale. The reason was also written.

[Lower Megaphone

This product is currently suspended from sale due to detected misuse.]

The description for the Intermediate Megaphone was the same.

“Misuse?”

What could be considered misuse? Did they spread bad stories instead of good ones?

“But there’s no way they would intentionally spread their own bad stories…….”

The words trailed off as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

‘If you can spread your own good stories, couldn’t you spread other people’s bad stories in the same way?’

Count Polan had said before that bad rumors about Philomell had spread abnormally quickly.

The conversation she overheard from the people when she went out to the central square with Jeremiah also bothered her. Some people had an unusually negative feeling towards the fake princess.

“It’s worth investigating.”

Philomell decided to buy the Superior Megaphone. If it was possible to see affection levels, it should also be possible to buy products.

However, there was a problem.

“……I don’t have any money.”

She rummaged through her pockets, but she didn’t even have 2 gold, let alone 2500 gold.

In the first place, she had no intention of going out, so there was no reason to bring money.

Philomell lingered around the fox out of regret.

“I want to buy this…… but I don’t have any money. Is it possible to get it on credit? I’ll definitely come back and…….”

“It’s 2500 gold.”

“Yes. I know it’s 2500 gold, but I don’t have any money right now…….”

“Player’s current holdings are 1,328,972 gold.”

“One million three hundred twenty…… what?”

“1,328,972 gold.”

1. 32 million? Even if she combined all the cash stored in the vault, it wouldn’t be enough.

‘Could it be the total amount including the cash value of other assets?’

If she combined the assets that Eustis had transferred to her and the valuable items that Le Guin had occasionally given her, it might be around that much.

Philomell herself didn’t know the exact value of her assets because she hadn’t calculated them, but she found out on this occasion.

The corners of her lips turned up on their own.

Judging by the notation ‘(2/2)’, it seemed that there were probably two Superior Megaphones that she could buy in total.

‘I have to buy both of them to prevent Elencia from doing anything useless with them! Wait…….’

She looked around the stall and then asked the fox.

“When will the sold-out products be restocked?”

“In about three months.”

If she bought all the products that she could buy now, what would happen to Elencia?

Philomell smiled brightly and pointed to the stall with her finger.

“Give me everything from here to there.”

That’s how she bought everything that she could buy without leaving anything behind.

“I see why Elencia didn’t buy them in bulk.”

Philomell said, looking at the mountain of products. There were too many to carry, and they were very heavy.

“But this item will solve the problem!”

She took out one of the products she had just bought. It was a bag with a somewhat strange name called ‘Inventory Expansion Function’.

Surprisingly, when Philomell put the items in the bag, they went in as she put them in. It seemed to be a similar principle to Le Guin’s robe pocket.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Before leaving with the bag on her shoulder, Philomell looked back at the stall.

Now only a few black products remained.

‘Special Costumes for Each Character, First Playthrough Bonus, Hidden Ending Unlocking Ticket, Event Skip Ticket…….’

Just by looking at the names, she had no idea what kind of products they were.

Some of them required ‘See One or More Endings’ or ‘See All Endings’ as unlocking conditions.

She didn’t know what endings were, but they were things she couldn’t get her hands on at the moment.

‘If I can come, I should come back and think about it later…….’

Fortunately, the fact that Philomell couldn’t have them meant that Elencia couldn’t have them either.

‘No matter how hard Elencia tries, it will be difficult to get an affection level of 200 or higher.’

Jeremiah hated Elencia, and Nasarr didn’t express it directly, but it seemed like he did too.

Unfortunately, this is all she can do for now. It was time to go back. To the arms of her family who would be waiting for her.

“Goodbye.”

When Philomell said goodbye before leaving, the fox waved its hand.

“Please come again, Player. You can enter the store from anywhere using the game system.”

“What is the system?”

“Please use various systems appropriately to enjoy the game.”

It was a non sequitur [a statement that does not logically follow from the previous one].

‘So what is the system?’

In the end, Philomell didn’t get an answer and headed in the direction she had come from.

After walking for a while, fog surrounded her and disappeared in an instant. The first scene that caught her eye was…….

“Le Guin, hold on!”

“Let’s wait a little longer!”

“If you unleash too much power here, the court mages will notice!”

Jeremiah on his back, Cardin on his left arm, Lexion on his right arm. The three brothers were clinging to their father’s body, trying to stop him.