Day three since Anastasia became available.
The forum discussions about how to capture Anastasia's affection remained as heated as ever. Though almost no one had seen Anastasia on the second day, today's renewed assault strategies for Anastasia had once again ignited the players' passion.
[Fubuki: Let's tally up who all failed today]
[Red-White Shrine Maiden's Donation Box: Watertown Merchant Association, Rod Mercenary Group, Liguria Merchant Association from the Kingdom of Yazlar]
[Yun Bai: All our efforts were completely useless]
[Legend of Link: Actually, there was also Count Smylie from the Kingdom of Yazlar]
[Sword Saint 173: You mean Ivanhoe under Count Smylie? The one called the most handsome adventurer in Yazlar?]
[Anna is My Wife: Isn't he mentally unwell?]
[San Yu Wu Meng Sheng: But he's handsome, and even has a fan club run by female fans. How many players have female fan clubs?]
[Extraordinary Brother: I'm jealous, what about you guys?]
[Salted Fish King: Eating lemons, eating lemons]
After players supposedly figured out they could use [Charm] tactics to farm Anna's affection, the major player forces also stirred into action, sacrificing the most handsome guys with the highest [Charm] stats from their guilds.
To leave a good first impression on Anna, they even went so far as to stage elaborate performances. In fact, the thugs and thieves Anna encountered in Baron Hurst today were all actors they'd hired to create scenarios that would earn Anna's favorable impression.
However, they never expected Anna to resolve the crisis herself before their arranged protagonists could make their entrance, with no signs of her affection changing whatsoever.
But even though their staged dramas failed, at least it didn't expose the truth that both sides were working together. So why wouldn't Anna gain affection points when meeting handsome guys?
The handsome male players Anna met today had reputations as friends to women among NPCs, with [Charm] stats so explosive that even fruit vendor aunties meeting them for the first time would offer 90% discounts. People naturally love beautiful things, so when facing attractive members of the opposite sex, there should logically be some inherent affection.
Unfortunately, Anna was completely unresponsive, seemingly treating them as ordinary adventurers with no signs of being moved.
She didn't like luxurious clothing or gold and silver jewelry, and she didn't like handsome guys either. So what exactly did Anna like?
This had suddenly become an urgent concern for all players across the server. With the two most orthodox methods of farming affection both declared failures, did they really have to wait for event chains that might trigger who knows when?
The developers also showed no signs of making any statement, as if silently declaring: "Our game is very balanced; your capture methods are wrong."
At night, at the Lone Star Merchant Association headquarters.
"Yahallo~"
Without any warning knock, Texas's office door was roughly pushed open.
But Texas didn't even blink, continuing to bury his head in writing. If he made a big fuss every time, his little sister would have scared him into a heart attack long ago.
"Big bro, big bro, I heard about it! You actually confessed to a girl! Way to go, big bro, you finally get it! You're no longer the blockhead who took girls to the gym to play wrestling on blind dates!"
"..."
"Hey big bro, where's my future sister-in-law? Take me to meet her, okay?"
"..."
"Big bro! It's one thing if you don't answer my calls in real life, but I specially came from Arcadia and you still won't chat with me nya!!!"
Texas suddenly raised the index finger of his left hand.
"First, I don't know where you heard these street rumors, but my target is an NPC, not your future sister-in-law."
"Big bro, have you been single so long you're getting aroused by NPCs nya?!"
"...Second, you said you specially rushed here from Arcadia, but reaching the Kingdom of Michel in three days isn't realistic. So you used a teleportation crystal and registered my name hoping I'd reimburse you."
"That... that was... I was worried about big bro's marriage prospects..."
"Third, this is the 108,660th warning: knock before entering."
"We're siblings nya..."
"Fourth, catfolk characters don't have mandatory speech quirks. Acting cute won't make me reimburse your teleportation crystal fees either."
"I really came to help big bro!"
The girl slammed the table hard, and Texas immediately looked up, stopping his writing.
ID: Karo Cat—a catfolk girl who was Texas's sister in the real world. There's no rule requiring siblings playing together to be in the same faction, so Karo Cat chose the beastkin race from Arcadia.
While called beastkin, her appearance was closer to demi-human. Except for some highly distinctive features, everywhere else was identical to humans.
For instance, Karo Cat's adorable cat ears that occasionally twitched, matching the color of her chestnut short hair. Or her nimble, active cat tail that emerged from under her skirt, decorated with a butterfly ribbon.
Only these two obvious features proved her beastkin race; everywhere else was purely a beautiful human girl.
"Your biggest help would be honestly returning to Arcadia."
"Big bro doesn't trust me! Give me that!"
Karo Cat snatched away the plan Texas had been repeatedly pondering and revising, scanning it rapidly.
"Create large-scale event chains that put Anastasia in crisis, attack Rothschild... Big bro, this won't win a girl's heart, you know?"
"Go back to Arcadia."
"Wait, wait, wait! Big bro, look, in your plan, the ideal scenario involves someone infiltrating close to Anastasia to gather intelligence?"
"Understanding customer needs is basic common sense."
Currently, there was far too little intelligence about Anastasia's personality, which was why players including Texas were stuck in deadlock. The difference was that players of Texas's caliber would choose to actively break the status quo rather than sit and wait for death.
Karo Cat patted her chest, which was rather modest for a high school age, and volunteered with full confidence.
"Big bro, no one's more suitable than me! You know I'm best at making friends~"