Who Says I'm Not a Proper Adventurer?

Huh?

Lance raised an eyebrow.

'Why isn't it Weakness Insight this time?'

He'd originally thought that, given the system's usual antics, researching the Half-Elf race to Level 2 would reveal their combat weaknesses—something like a vital point three inches below the ribs or on the back of the neck.

'But instead, it spit out [Voice of Joy]?'

'This sounds so weird. It doesn't sound like a proper Combat Skill at all.'

However, now wasn't the time to study the system's description in detail.

Lance felt the girl leaning on his shoulder begin to recover, pushing against his chest to try and stand up straight.

He took the opportunity to release the hand that was steadying her wrist, taking half a step back to put some distance between them.

"Are you okay?"

Lance asked casually, looking at the still-shaken girl before him.

Cecilia kept her head down, her entire body trembling slightly.

She gripped her left wrist, which he had just held, tightly with her right hand and shook her head desperately.

Lance's gaze followed her movement, and he noticed a distinct red mark on her wrist.

'Crap.'

'In my haste, I must have used too much force. The Azure Dragon Extreme Intent Style focuses on explosive power, after all. Did I actually hurt her?'

"My apologies."

Lance's voice was laced with apology.

"It was an emergency just now, and I might have gripped your wrist too hard."

"N-no..."

Cecilia's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz; if one didn't listen closely, the wind would have drowned it out.

Seeing how she looked like she wanted to bury her head in her chest, Lance assumed she was just frightened from almost falling into the mud puddle.

"Why don't you rest here for a bit and calm your nerves."

Lance didn't press her to keep moving.

He turned around, pretending to unhook a waterskin from his waist to take a drink, but in reality, it was to hide the fact that he was checking his system panel.

The moment Lance turned away.

Cecilia finally dared to lift her head. Her small face, hidden in the shadow of her hood, was now so red it looked as if it might start to bleed.

She silently released her right hand.

On her left wrist, the skin Lance had touched was, as expected, beginning to flush a deep crimson, just like yesterday.

That tingling, numbing sensation crept up from her nerve endings.

'So strange!'

'It's really too strange!'

'It wasn't just my wrist that was burning up.'

'What terrified me even more was what happened just now...'

'When my senior's low, slightly apologetic voice entered my ears...'

'...I felt like an electric current had shot through my entire brain.'

Her pointed ears, hidden amidst her silver hair, were now trembling uncontrollably, their color shifting from their usual milky white to an alluring cherry red.

It felt as if a feather were lightly brushing against her eardrums, sending an itch deep into her soul.

In that instant, her legs had even gone weak, and she had nearly stumbled again.

'What do I do?!'

'Auntie, where are you?!'

'Am I dying of some terminal illness?'

Cecilia covered her ears in despair, feeling as though she was about to collapse from sickness by this mud puddle before her adventuring career had even officially begun.

Meanwhile, Lance, still pretending to drink water, finally focused his gaze on the description of the new Trait he had acquired.

The next second.

"PFFFT!!!"

A mouthful of water he had just taken was violently sprayed out, turning into a fine mist in the air.

Lance's eyes were wide as saucers as he stared intently at the line of small text.

[Voice of Joy (Research Trait): Through in-depth research, you have discovered that the long-eared structure of Half-Elves possesses extraordinary sensitivity to specific sound wave frequencies. Your vocal cords have been modified. Your voice will now permanently carry a "Joy" Effect for Half-Elves. Your words can penetrate their eardrums, causing a pleasant resonance in their auditory nerves, resulting in a mild hallucinatory and relaxing sensation.]

'What the hell!'

Lance cursed inwardly, nearly crushing the waterskin in his hand.

'You degenerate system!'

'I thought you were finally going straight when you gave me [Weakness Insight], that you were finally going to stick to a hardcore combat route!'

'I can't believe you were just waiting to spring this on me!'

'Isn't your species discrimination a little too obvious?!'

'When it comes to researching a Sub-human girl, I get some weird ASMR special effect?'

'The difference in how this system treats Demons and Sub-humans is way too blatant!'

'Is it trying to force me to sprint headlong down this weird path?'

To cover up the awkwardness and strangeness of that moment, the two of them tacitly chose to remain silent for the rest of the journey.

This silence, however, had an unexpected side effect.

Their work efficiency skyrocketed.

Without any idle chatter or instruction, the two moved nimbly through the muddy field, collecting their entire quota of Moonlight Moss for the day in less than an hour.

It wasn't until they walked out of the dark, damp forest and the sunlight once again fell upon them.

Because Cecilia's Strength Attribute was far too low, the completely full collection pack now hung on Lance's back.

He walked ahead with the heavy pack on his back, his mind still mulling over the ridiculous Trait he had just unlocked.

'But thinking about it, there's still a whole month left of this probationary period.'

'I can't just pretend to be a mute or use sign language for the rest of the time just to avoid stimulating this young lady's ears, can I?'

'If I don't solve this problem, any future tactical coordination will be impossible.'

Lance took a deep breath.

'Since I can't avoid it, I'll just have to be upfront and come up with a decent excuse to smooth things over.'

'This world is full of bizarre things, anyway. Blaming it all on my Talent is definitely the safest bet.'

With this in mind, Lance stopped in his tracks and, as if having made up his mind, turned his head.

"Cecilia..."

His voice wasn't loud, but to the girl behind him, it was like a faint electric current.

"Yes!"

Cecilia shuddered, her pointed ears twitching for a moment amidst her silver hair as she responded in a fluster, her face bright red.

Seeing the girl looking like a frightened bird, Lance's sense of guilt deepened.

'This system really knows how to cause trouble.'

"Um... Cecilia, about what happened earlier, I must sincerely apologize to you."

Lance cleared his throat and then put on a forlorn expression.

"The truth is, I was born with a rather strange passive Talent."

"This Talent can't be turned off. It causes some... rather unpleasant side effects in the bodies of certain races when I interact with them."

This wasn't something he was just making up on the spot.

In this world, given the enormous population and long span of time, the Talents that humans awakened were incredibly diverse.

Countless bizarre Talents had appeared throughout history, some of which were even recorded in the *Chronicles of the Professional* as cautionary tales.

For example, there was the famous Legendary Adventurer from over a hundred years ago.

He had awakened a racial-affinity type of Talent. At first, all he knew was that he had a special appeal to feline Sub-human Species, and he thought it was a Talent well-suited for a diplomat.