The small girl continued to tug away at my book. Did she want to see it? I brought it closer to her, so she could see it better. Then she started to tug on it harder, as if to wrench if from my grasp.

…Wait.

You can’t, you know? Stealing is bad, you know? At least ask for permission. Such an ill-mannered young girl. Well, it can’t be helped. As her elder, I will graciously use this opportunity to teach her a lesson in politeness. I knelt down so that our eyes were level, then spoke very slowly, very carefully.

“Now, look here. I don’t mind showing you the book. But you have to ask permission properly, understand? It’s not nice to start pulling things without permission. Now, be a good girl and ask for it properly.”

The girl glared at me, anger apparent in her eyes.

Ehhhhh? Isn’t this normally the part where she’s supposed to nod bashfully and ask me for the book in a super-cute voice? Did I do something wrong? Why is she looking at me while on the verge of crying? Ehhhh?

While I panicked, she swiftly took out her chalkboard and began scribbling furiously on it. Then she turned it around to face me.

I’m mute, you dumb fuck. Learn to read the mood a little, for fuck’s sake.

…Eh? Somehow the words written on the board don’t align with my image of this girl. Maybe I’m mistaken. There’s no way a girl this cute would be cussing like that.

I rubbed my eyes and looked at the board again. As expected, it was unchanged.

Ehhhhh?!

Don’t tell me she’s that kind of character – the kind of girl who looks cute at first, but once they open their mouth, they only say words that shouldn’t be coming from a young girl’s mouth. But even then it’s still a little cute. Weird, but somehow cute. Is this some kind of gap moe?

…Actually, more importantly, the board says she’s mute. So when I was telling her to ask nicely, that was…

…Fuck.

“I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!”

I ended up in a dogeza, apologising profusely while holding out the book to her with both hands as a peace offering. I glanced upwards to measure her reaction. She smugly put her hands on the book and tugged. I let go of it, but the moment it left my hands, some strange force pulled it back again, the book lodging itself firmly between my fingers. A prompt appeared in front of me.

Error

(SSR) [The Sibylline Scripts] is an untradeable object.

Ah. I forgot that it was untradeable.

So I guess any sort of transfer of possession counts as trading it? I wonder why the clause is there. Maybe to stop me from selling the thing? Yeah, that’s probably it. If I could sell off or give away legendary weapons, the balance of this world would probably be destroyed. So I guess it can’t be helped.

I peeked up from my dogeza pose to check on the girl’s reaction.

Oi, oi, oi. Don’t look at me with those teary eyes. This isn’t my fault, you know?

What’s more, aren’t we making a scene in the middle of the Guild building? I think I just heard someone whispering something like “making a little girl cry, how horrible”. Oi, I said it’s not my fault, you hear me?!

But taking her to a different location under these circumstance would totally make me a suspicious person, right?! So I can’t do that. I’m not a suspicious person! I’m just a regular, energetic woman. I mean, sure I’m feeling an immense urge to hug this girl and pat her head, but that’s just a natural reaction to such a cute girl, right? Eh? No? It’s just me? Nonono, it must be normal. If you can see such cuteness without responding then clearly you’re the abnormal one.

I got up from my kneeling position and looked the girl in the eyes.

“Look, I wouldn’t mind letting you look at it, but apparently I can’t give it to you. Something is stopping me from doing it.”

The girl furrowed her brow, as though deep in thought. Then she sighed and turned, walking away. I watched her go for several moments, before she turned and walked back toward me. She reached out and tugged on my hand

“…Do you want me to follow you?”

She nodded.

Huh. I thought she’d given up, but I suppose she still had something she wanted to try.

Wait, she’s not going to drag me into an alleyway and kill me to take the book, is she? I gulped, cold sweat rolling down my back.

No way, right? Such a cute little girl couldn’t possibly be thinking such evil thoughts.

Yes. It can’t be. I’m sure she just wants to bring me somewhere else so that we’re not being a bother for the nice people at the Guild. Such a considerate child.

She led me to the city square, up to a wooden bench by the fountain. She patted the bench.

“You want me to sit down here?”

She nodded and patted the bench again. I obediently sat down at the indicated spot.

Then she plopped herself down on my lap.

UOOOHHHHHH-! Are you trying to assassinate me with cuteness?! Was this your plan all along, little girl?! Truly, you are a worthy opponent!

She rubbed her backside a little, wincing, and gingerly adjusted her seating posture on the plate armour that covered my thighs. Jumping onto a bed of hard metal probably caused a non-negligible amount of pain. Then she tugged at my arm again, the one that held [Sibylline]. She brought the book up in front of her, with my hand still plastered to the cover, and opened it, beginning to read.

Ah, so that’s what she wanted to do.

I wasn’t allowed to give the book away, but turning that reasoning around, that meant that I was able to do anything short of trading or selling the book. In other words, as long as I didn’t let go of the book, there was nothing to stop me from letting someone else read it.

The reason for our current position, with her quietly reading on my lap, was likely due to the fact that this was the least strenuous position for reading a book held by someone else. This was clearly a display of consideration on her part, so I had no particular complaints.

Well, it’s not like I would have complained anyway. It’s not every day I get to have such an adorable specimen of a girl snuggling up with me. I instinctively brought up my hand to pat the girl on the head, but just before I made contact, she stiffened and glared at me, prompting me to withdraw my hand.

…I get it. No headpats. Sniff.

Actually, the way she’d been acting had taken me by surprise and caused me to forget all about it, but this girl was an A-rank adventurer. Or at least, that’s what her [Proof] had said. Clearly there was a mistake? She was just a child. Ten years old, at most. There was no way she could be considered a veteran adventurer – and an elite one, at that. I decided to find out myself by checking her status. While she read through the book, I focused on her, expecting the system window to appear.

“Ow!”

I was headbutted in the chin by the girl sitting on my lap. She glared at me, then took out the chalkboard and scribbled on it.

Don’t look at someone’s status without permission, you pervert.

“Guh-! Pervert… Pervert, she said… I’m a pervert... I’m the worst… I should go die…”

While I was reflecting on my infinite shame, the girl read to the middle of the book, then paused. Then she flipped a few pages forward. Then back. Then forward again. Hm? Is something the matter? I peeked over her shoulder to see what had her so puzzled.

The book was blank. Or rather, the remainder of it was blank. The writing in the book ended abruptly near the middle of it. Eh? What kind of rip-off book was this?

Incidentally, I hadn’t actually tried reading the book. The language used was way too convoluted for me to understand – if I were to make a comparison to Japanese, it would be like trying to read the ancient Kojiki texts. Actually, if this girl could properly read the text, doesn’t that make her super-amazing? One of those child genius types.

The girl closed the book and jumped off my lap, dusting off her skirt. Her face bore a look of disappointment. When she shows me such a sad look it makes me want to give her a hug. Ah, but if I do that she might headbutt me again. Better to distract her.

“Didn’t find what you were looking for?”

She shook her head dejectedly, then pulled out her chalkboard and began writing on it, lacking the vigour she’d previously displayed.

It’s the right tome, but it’s at the lowest level of growth. It’ll need to grow and evolve before the remainder of the pages fill up. Did you not use the Sibylline at all?

“Uh, I’ve been holding it and equipping it pretty much ever since I got it a little over a day ago.”

The girl’s eyes widened as she quickly scribbled on her board.

You just got it recently? Where did you find it? Was it nearby? How’d you get a hold of it?

“Uh. Yeah, I got it over in [Tigrynaresh]. As for how I got hold of it… well… I guess you could say the gods gave it to me?”

Trying to explain that I was from another world and had obtained the weapon from a gacha would be a pain. Best to just give a vague response.

When I mentioned the word “gods”, the girl’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She wrote a new message on her board.

I’m going to look at your status. May I?

“Only if you let me see yours.”

She nodded. I focused on her, willing the window to pop up. At the same time, I felt a strange feeling from within my body, as if a cold surface was being placed against my skin.

Status

Name

Fuwayuri Kyoko

Class

Blessed Miko (☆☆☆☆)

Level

28 / 40

Stats

HP

200 + 240

MP

350 + 770

Strength

2 + 0

Endurance

22 + 58

Magic

122 + 388

Resistance

22 + 58

Agility

62 + 254

Luck

30 + 0

Skills

Basic Magic (Elemental)

Fire Lv.6 Water Lv.6

Basic Magic (Supportive)

Healing Lv. 6

Ritual Magic

Purification Dance Lv.8

Unarmed Proficiency

Healing Proficiency

Purification Proficiency

Regalia of Faith Lv.6

Divination Lv.6

Precognition (Weak)

Auto HPMP Regeneration

Mana Conversion

Exorcism Arts Lv.7

Bruiser Arts Lv.6

...What’s with those super-optimised stats?! Did you follow a strategy guide or something?!

Even if the gap in stats between us could be attributed to the difference in level, she had a ridiculous number of skills, and they were all high-levelled. She was easily ten, no, twenty times stronger than me.

…How can such a small girl have this ridiculously large amount of raw power?!

I focused on her class.

[Blessed Miko]

Rarity: SSR

The Devoted Priestess. A maiden who has dedicated her life in service to the gods. A battle-specialised devotee adept in combat at all ranges, with a vast amount of spiritual power.

…Her class was of a higher rarity than mine. What’s more, it was also a class related to the gods, just like my [Valkyrie] class. Did that mean that she ranked above me, who was treated like some super-important VIP? I raised my gaze from the system prompt and looked at Kyoko, who met my gaze. She seemed to think about something for a good while. Then she sighed and wrote on her board.

I wasn’t expecting you to be a member of the Divine Host. Well met, Valkyrie.

“Um, yes, I’d prefer it if you’d just call me Bryn, but hello.”

You were looking for a party? I’ll accompany you for the time being. Between the two of us, you should be able to take on rank D requests.

“Eh? Is that really okay?

Taking on higher level quests and growing stronger will help that book grow in power. So it aligns with my goals.

“Then I’ll gladly take you up on that offer, Fuwayuri. A pleasure to meet you.”

I held out my hand as a gesture of friendship. She looked at it, then wrote something on her board and showed it while she took my hand.

Call me Kyoko. Please take care of me from now on.