I Was Not Popular With Girls in My Previous Life, but I Was Reincarnated Into a World Where Harems Are the Norm, and a Mentally Unstable Elf Beauty Follows Me Around - Chapter 7

I’m Genuinely Single!

Meg had joined the party as part of my marriage hunting.

“That’s settled then! Let me reintroduce myself. I’m human, and my name is Meg. I’m good at magic, and my adventurer rank is C.”

“I’m human too, and my name is Kaito. I use a sword, so that makes me the frontliner, I suppose. My adventurer rank is E, so I’m still a total beginner.”

“I’m an elf named Airi. I’m skilled with a bow and wind magic. My adventurer rank is E, same as Kaito’s.”

I had spent a month climbing to E rank, but surprisingly, Airi had stayed at E ever since we met. She clearly had the skills for higher, but she probably had no interest in promoting.

“Still, who would have thought we’d get introduced to each other by the staff? And I only just registered.”

“Right? Maybe the staff have to judge based on the paperwork? They can’t just go by impressions like, ‘This person’s got a great personality!'”

“True. But if you keep going back, you’d get to know the staff, right?”

“Yeah, that happens. I’ve actually gotten close to one of the staff members!”

“Then they’d have some sense of your personality, so you could probably get into more detailed advice.”

“Exactly! The one who interviewed me earlier was the staff member I got close to! Well, that just means I’ve been going there a lot…! Heh…! And yet I haven’t made any progress at all… What does that say about me…?”

(Why? It was just casual chit-chat…!)

She had been talking brightly until moments ago, but her aura turned pitch black in an instant.

“Well, timing plays a role too, and no one finds a great match that easily, right?”

“You’re kind after all, Kaito.”

“I’m just saying what I really think; it’s not like that at all.”

I did not see myself as kind. I just wanted to be someone who could understand others’ feelings.

We had only met today, but Meg did not seem like a bad person. So it was probably just timing or factors beyond her control.

“By the way, something occurred to me. If you can marry as many people as you want, that means your partner might be doing the same, right? For example, I could end up as just one of many grooms, and that would turn everything into a total mess.”

“Yeah, logically that’s how it works, but most people probably check with their partner beforehand. No one wants drama. If the person themselves is okay with it, then fine. And going through an agency lets them verify that stuff. So if you want to avoid trouble, registering with an agency is better. Though I doubt anyone would lie about something this important.”

I see, that made sense. Romantic entanglements could lead to unexpected problems. So even in this world, people did not marry lightly.

During that interview earlier, when they asked if I wanted a single partner, I almost blurted out, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

This really was another world, with different systems and values from Japan.

But if the person I liked married someone else, in Japan I’d have no choice but to give up. If they said, “I’ll marry you too,” though, what would I do? Would I be thrilled, or could I not accept it? It felt like a complicated mix of emotions.

“Oh, by the way, I’m genuinely single!”

“Yeah, I heard. And I’m single too.”

Airi was single as well, apparently, but that was self-reported. I would not go so far as to investigate.

“Now that Meg’s joined and we’re a three-person party, what should we do next?”

“For starters, let’s head to the adventurer’s guild to report the herb gathering and apply to form the party… Wait, this makes me sound like the leader, but is that okay?”

“That’s fine by me! Show me your cool side!”

Me as the leader? That was unthinkable in my previous life. I would treat my members well, using that boss as a counterexample.

We arrived at the adventurer’s guild. It might not need explaining by now, but it was a large medieval European-style building. Inside were the reception counter and a bulletin board plastered with requests, bustling with people in all sorts of gear, like it was Halloween.

We stood in front of one of the several reception counters. As usual, the receptionist was a beautiful older sister type.

“I’d like to apply to add a party member.”

“Yes. Please fill out the necessary details on this form.”

Meg wrote her name and adventurer rank on the form and handed it to the woman, who then entered the information into something like a computer.

“There, the registration is complete.”

As I thanked her, the woman spoke up again, her voice tinged with concern.

“And this is just a heads-up, but lately around here, there’s been a spate of young adventurers getting attacked at night. Especially E and F ranks seem to be targets, so you might want to avoid wandering alone after dark.”

“Is that so? Even without that, it’s dangerous for women to walk alone at night. I’ll make sure Airi and Meg are careful.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t explain fully. The ones getting attacked are all young men.”

“Huh?”

“The victims are all unharmed, but they all say the same thing: ‘I got done in by a succubus.'”

The one in danger was me.