"I'm back, meow!"
Carol Cat logged back into the game. I don't really understand what she went offline to do.
Considering we hadn't escaped danger yet, Sigrdrífa and I carried Carol Cat and Lily respectively as we fled the scene. The adventurer group was in the midst of and appeared to be entering a prolonged state of… infighting? Though, I had no idea how long they'd keep fighting.
"P-princess carry, meow?! My first princess carry is actually from Anna... ah..."
Carol Cat shyly covered her face. Was it my imagination, or were her emotions unprecedentedly high?
We were running through the forest near Hurst. Sigrdrífa was an elf, so she would naturally protect the safety of elves. If external enemies approached, Sigrdrífa would receive danger signals even earlier than my [Detection].
"Anna! There are two forces ahead!"
"Then let's change direction..."
"Wait!"
Carol Cat jumped down and excitedly twitched her cat ears.
"There might be reinforcements for us!"
"Reinforcements?"
I received unexpected information from Carol Cat.
"Could it be... everyone from Anna's Support Group?"
"No, meow... Let's go confirm and we'll know!"
If there truly were reinforcements coming to help at this moment, it would be a huge help. But I couldn't let Lily take risks, so I went alone with Carol Cat to probe the two approaching adventurer forces, while Sigrdrífa stayed at a distance with Lily.
Before we could make contact, the adventurers from both sides encountered each other first and erupted into fierce conflict, just like the previous batch of adventurers.
"I knew it!"
"Carol Cat, forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is..."
"Once the fact that Anna is protecting Lily is revealed, a large number of players will stand on Anna's side, meow!"
Carol Cat swished her cat tail as she explained the logic. Come to think of it, earlier too, after discovering they could increase affection, half the adventurers chose to switch sides.
"Those involved are confused, while bystanders see clearly, meow~ Only we adventurers can fully understand Anna's popularity."
"This..."
Judging from the number of adventurers coming from outside Rothschild to grind affection, I seemed to have considerable popularity among players. I was a rare beautiful girl humanoid exclusive NPC, ranked in the top eight of some popularity contest or something. But I couldn't accurately gauge what level that actually was.
The plan Carol Cat proposed was completely beyond my imagination.
I'm just a maid... could I really be on equal footing with the generous rewards offered by the Duke in the adventurers' hearts?
But no matter how hard it was for me to believe, there was indeed an argument between the two conflicting groups of adventurers, and one side really had come to help me.
"Everyone~~~"
Carol Cat grabbed my hand and raised it high.
"Anna has come to see you all~ Anna, please cheer them on~"
"Cheer them on... like, cheerleader... cheering...?"
"That's right! Come on, come on!"
This is embarrassing.
But since they really came to help me... and this would also help Lily escape danger...
I'll... I'll go for it!
"Esteemed gentlemen from all lands—"
Uwah... they're all looking this way... as expected, cheering is still a bit much for me...
"Th-thank you very much for your assistance!"
Is this okay?
What greeted me was an extremely brief silence.
But I could tell this wasn't an awkward pause, it should be considered the calm before the storm.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA—!!!"
"They're going Super Saiyan?!"
Beneficial Buff, Inspired: This unit has recently received rousing encouragement, temporarily increasing all attributes by 5%.
Beneficial Buff, Unyielding: This unit's will is firm and unwavering, defense increases based on percentage of lost HP.
Beneficial Buff, Immovable Rock: No one can break this unit, debuff effects reduced by 35%, pain sensation temporarily sealed; dispel magic of Expert level or lower cannot remove this buff.
Beneficial Buff, Army Breaker: When you deal damage to the same unit in any form more than three consecutive times, the next damage increases by 1%, stacking up to 10%.
...
The beneficial buffs were almost instantly maxed out. It's no exaggeration to say that the adventurers inspired by my encouragement had essentially all become Super Saiyans, and some had even actually burst out of their clothes... Um, please keep your clothes on, there’s a child?
What was originally an evenly matched battle suddenly became one-sided, with the other side of adventurers crying out in distress.
"Let's go, meow~"
Carol Cat and I couldn't linger here for long. We still hadn't escaped danger.
However, from then on, we could see adventurers fighting each other everywhere. It was like a dream. Not long ago, adventurers were all unanimously targeting Lily for the Duke's reward, and now suddenly many adventurers were willing to fight for us.
"In the words of those money-obsessed guys, Anna is the type of beautiful girl that the developers would have say she likes adventurers to make them recharge another 648 crystal stones, meow~"
"Carol Cat, you're making me sound like a real manipulator..."
Isn't that what irresponsible players would do?
Carol Cat immediately explained in a panic: "It's a metaphor, a metaphor, meow!"
"I didn't mean to blame you, Carol Cat... Thanks to your help, we have a chance to escape. Thank you, Carol Cat."
"Meow, if Anna really wants to thank me, could you speak casually?"
"...If that's what you want."
[Anastasia's affection toward "Carol Cat" +3]
Translator’s Corner
I normally don’t include author’s notes, but this was too good.
By the way, something embarrassing - I suddenly wanted to try writing Anna's adult scenes recently, but I discovered that maybe from writing too many novels, I can't think of anything except training/discipline plots (Anna: ???).
Do any of you experts have pure love recommendations? If not, I'll just give up (Geyou lying down pose). (TN: 葛优躺, search that to see it.)
-Ruminas