There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 172

Side Story: A Minor Disturbance

On the day of the Hero Selection Ceremony, an unprecedented swarm of monsters appeared, causing numerous casualties and devastating the Great Temple—an event known as the Selection Ceremony Attack.

This incident, which nearly annihilated the heart of the Belaron Order, the most populous religious group on the continent, threw the world into turmoil for a time.

The already rampant doomsday theories gained traction, with some claiming that the disaster at the Great Temple signaled the beginning of the world’s end.

Fortunately, the Great Temple quickly recovered and released an official statement.

The gist of it was that the Selection Ceremony Attack was merely a large-scale version of the usual monster attacks.

Initially, many were skeptical, but as time passed, their doubts subsided.

The world seemed too peaceful to be on the verge of collapse.

People gradually returned to their daily lives, facing the significant and minor problems they had always encountered, rather than the apocalypse.

Therefore, it was considered a minor disturbance. It didn’t significantly affect the peace of the world, but it caused enormous repercussions in someone’s life.

The beginning of the matter stemmed from a small curiosity of a Hero who had once saved the world.

“Hmm.”

Philomel, in her room on the top floor of the Magic Tower, stared at the window that appeared before her.

[Character-Specific Special Costumes

A gift for those who have played multiple times! Tired of seeing the same content over and over? Then dress up your characters in special outfits. The same content will look different. Hehe.

This item is unlocked after seeing one or more endings.

*Costumes can be applied in the ‘Wardrobe’ menu under ‘Game Settings’ and only apply to character standing CGs [computer graphics], not illustrations. Thank you for your understanding.

*Some costumes have special effects, so please refer to the descriptions.]

It was an item Philomel had bought from the Starlight Shop a few days ago.

To be honest, even after reading the description, she wasn’t entirely sure what the item was.

But Philomel willingly paid a considerable sum to buy it.

‘Because I’m curious.’

It might sound extravagant, but compared to her wealth, the cost of this item was negligible.

The wealth she received from the Emperor was returned when she left the Imperial Palace, but Philomel is the owner of the Hounds Merchant Guild.

For reference, the Hounds Merchant Guild had a history of swindling money from the Escal Merchant Guild, which was trying to monopolize Sansalcho [a valuable commodity], and was currently enjoying its second renaissance based on those funds.

In addition, Le Guin gave his daughter a generous allowance every month, so her wealth continued to accumulate.

Therefore, when Philomel went to the Starlight Shop a few days ago, she bought all the available items.

One of the reasons was that she didn’t know when she would be able to visit the Starlight Shop again.

After defeating Ieris, the system’s influence on this world was slowly fading.

The affinity bars floating above the characters’ heads were sometimes visible and sometimes not, and the power of items like the Bbyong Hammer was also diminishing.

‘The Starlight Shop was no exception.’

In fact, Philomel had once tried to enter the Starlight Shop but failed.

Even when she held the stone fragment that had fallen from the Shooting Star Rock tightly, nothing happened.

If things continued like this, there was a high possibility that she would never be able to enter again, so it was better to buy everything while she still had the chance.

There was no harm in buying them, right? All items, whether large or small, were beneficial to the player.

And the item she was currently trying to use seemed to provide the benefit of special clothing.

“Hmm, if I go into this wardrobe menu, will clothes appear?”

After staring at the system window for more than 10 minutes, Philomel was finally able to enter the wardrobe menu.

In fact, until a few months ago, she couldn’t even open the window at will.

But one day, not long after returning from the Great Temple, a square window suddenly appeared in front of her when she was thinking about the system.

The exact reason was unclear. However, she could only speculate that Philomel’s player authority, which had been only half complete, had become complete in the process of stopping Ieris’s ambition.

Anyway, when she entered the wardrobe menu, several names appeared on the window.

-Yustis: Casual

-Nasar: Casual

-Jeremiah: Casual

-Killian: Casual

As expected, it was the same composition as the characters with the affinity bars above their heads.

The fox, a clerk at the Starlight Shop, called them service characters and target characters.

“I wonder if this will work?”

Philomel first touched the word ‘Casual’ next to Nasar’s name with her finger.

Then the letters moved to the side, and the word ‘School Uniform’ immediately appeared.

School uniforms are definitely clothes worn at school.

Philomel, who was a member of the Imperial Family, had a teacher, so she didn’t need to go to school, but lower-ranking nobles or commoners who couldn’t afford a private tutor enrolled in school if they wanted to learn.

For reference, Nasar did not attend school either.

‘Nasar in a school uniform… I’m looking forward to it.’

However, even after a few minutes, no clothes appeared in the air.

Philomel, who had been planning to give Nasar the school uniform as soon as she got it, couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“What’s wrong with this? Is it broken?”

Every time she pressed the letters next to the name, the words changed, but nothing happened.

She changed the letters next to the names of other characters besides Nasar, but the result was the same.

‘Do I have to go to the fox to receive it?’

As soon as she thought of that, Philomel held the stone fragment on her desk in her hand. But she couldn’t move to the Starlight Shop.

Coincidentally, it was the time when the power of the system was disappearing. The window with the wardrobe menu no longer appeared.

A faint sigh escaped her lips. If this happened, she didn’t know when the system would reappear.

Perhaps this time, Miwa’s power to intervene in this world had completely disappeared.

Well, does it matter? I’ve already received all the items I need.

Philomel thought so and put the stone fragment back on the desk.

It was almost time for Nasar to come, so she had to prepare to greet him. Today, she was going to read a book with him in her room.

“Huh?”

But after a while, Philomel had to look at the clock on the wall with a puzzled expression.

It was past the appointed time, but Nasar didn’t come. It was unlike him, who always kept his time.

“Did something happen?”

Just as Philomel got up from her seat, worried, there was a very timid knock.

Toc… toc… toc.

“Philomel, would you open the door…?”

The person she was waiting for said from outside the door in a voice as small as a mosquito.

“Nasar! Why are you so late-.”

Despite the unusual circumstances, Philomel opened the door without any particular suspicion. And she gasped at the sight of something flesh-colored in front of her.

“No, why are you taking off your top-.”

“Shh!”

Nasar hurriedly put his index finger to his lips to stop Philomel from speaking.

“O-oh, don’t misunderstand.”

His cheeks were flushed red, and he was only wearing pants, exposing his upper body.

“I-I’m definitely not a pervert…!”

His eyes were glistening as if tears would fall at any moment.

Philomel brought him into the room for now.

But apart from trying to respond calmly, the current situation was very embarrassing.

She was facing the half-naked body of the person she liked.

Her heart was pounding with tension.

Although they were dating, the two had never progressed beyond kissing.

It was naturally the first time to see Nasar’s upper body without a single thread on it.

“W-what happened?”

After sitting him on the sofa, Philomel sat opposite him and asked, looking elsewhere.

“Did you get water splashed on you on the way here?”

Other than that, she couldn’t think of any reason why Nasar would come here in this state.

But he lowered his head and answered in a weak voice.

“That’s not it. Actually… my clothes suddenly disappeared.”

“Yes?”

Philomel blinked her eyes because she didn’t understand what he meant, and Nasar made an unfair expression.

“Really. My top disappeared without me knowing. For no reason.”

That’s what he said. A little while ago, he left his residence in the Magic Tower to visit my room.

Of course, he was dressed normally until then. But when Nasar reached the floating stone, his shirt suddenly disappeared.

“Could it be magic…?”

At my question, he lowered his gaze.

“I don’t know. I didn’t feel any signs of it, but I have no other way to explain it other than magic.”

“Oh, um. Let’s talk about the details later, do you want to put something on for now?”

I can’t look at Nasar anymore because it’s embarrassing.

“Just a moment. Ah, I can wear this.”

I took my coat that I had put on the table and handed it to him.

“Ah, yes…”

He received it with a dark expression, but he didn’t put it on his body and just held it.

“Nasar? What’s wrong?”

“…I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

“I can’t wear this no matter what.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I want to wear it, but I can’t.”

“Yes?”

Nasar, frowning, tried to put his arm into my coat, but he groaned and pulled his arm back.

“Whenever I try to put on clothes, my body just doesn’t follow! It’s like someone is controlling my body!”

In other words, he is in a state where he cannot put on his top no matter what.