Chapter 18 – It’s this kind of creature!! (こんな感じの生き物ですっ！！)

"I wonder what this【Eyes of Mammon】 is~. I somewhat understand the other skills from their names, but I can't figure out a thing from this one. And I don't see an【Appraisal】skill anywhere here, so my 'skill that's thought to be 【Appraisal】' is probably this......"

"Oh, hang on a second. This skill is the only one that comes with detailed information, so I'll look into it now."

It has a ▽ next to it like the “Magic Eyes of the Seven Deadly Sins” series did, so I should be able to view its detailed information....

《Eyes of Mammon》
Before the King of Greed, no one—whoever they may be—may lie about their worth.

.........Huh?

Um... Could you be more specific with your explanation, Mammon-san?

No.... Mammon-sama?

U~mmm. So what does this mean?

For starters, Mammon-sama is able to measure value, an ability similar to 【Appraisal】 or 【Analyze】. Is that about right?

And this "no one may lie" means that "If someone were to be 【Appraised】 or 【Analyzed】by Mammon-sama, they have no ways to prevent it" ....I guess?

As expected of 【Avaritia】-san's superior. There's not a flaw in sight!!

This means it can be activated even against someone leagues above the user, right?

The more I learn, the more I'm convinced you're a walking cheat, Ursch-kun!!

Just what the heck are you working towards?! What are you trying to achieve?!

Oh right, you were aiming to be a "Merchant" and an "Alchemist", weren't you?

───And what kind of merchant would that be?!!

Is it really alright for this kind of merchant to even exist?! The kind that could possibly take over the world?!

Hm? Hang on a second....

If I really, reaaaally think about it, in-game Ursch-kun did make

the gacha's "S-Rare items", which were Legendary-level items—the stuff you'd find in myths.

In other words, If everything proceeded as in the game, by the time Ursch-kun enters the academy in 9 years, he would have already grown into an Alchemist capable of producing Legendary, Mythical-level magic items.

So going by that train of thought, Ursch-kun being a little inhuman at this point in time isn't actually all that strange.

It isn't strange, but you just have too many bugged abilities, Ursch-kun.....

So early into my reincarnated life and there's already this much of a power spike !!

If everyone around me continues to have a power spike, we're gonna have a problem here!!

That is, held in the first year at the academy, the "Condemnation Event" of the "Villainess Isabella".

Now that I'm Ursch-kun's fiancée, my relationship with the Second Prince is not that of a "betrothed", but just that of normal "cousins".

The other Love Interest—the "Head Magician's Son", is "only" a (soon-to-be) in-law.

Having said that, we aren't complete strangers to each other either.

If the game correction kicked in, and I was somehow roped into acting as an obstacle between the Heroine and the Love Interests to further their relationship, then in order for the "Villainess Condemnation Event" to happen as planned, the possibility of me being falsely accused of bullying wouldn't be completely non-existent.

Even if I did try to avoid the "Condemnation Event" started by the game correction, if the chosen Love Interest and the Heroine were walking cheats too, there's no way for me to escape!!

"He~y, Isabella~. What's wrong? You were suddenly lost in thought... Did something happen?"

Oh, shoot, I forgot!!

I was supposed to tell Ursch-kun more about Mammon-sama!!

"Well, the description says 'Before the King of Greed, no one—whoever they may be—may lie about their worth.' , but there aren't any specifics about its ability.”

Hmm? ......Hey, wait a minute.

"Whoever they may be" means that...

Even if I have more MP than Ursch-kun, I can't defend myself, right?

This is bad!! This means Ursch-kun will find out about my King Kong-level HP!!

No, don't tell me.... has he already found out?

"………Ursch-kun, have you ever......... seen my "Status"?

"Not at all? I currently have the 'constantly active' feature disabled, so I'll only get the appraisal results when I want to. Besides, if I appraised you without your knowledge and you found out, you'd hate me for it, right?"

Thank goodness, he doesn't know how much HP I have!!

Huh? "constantly active" feature disabled? What's that?

Does that mean he can keep it active at all times?

"It's a little different. This skill of mine seems to be a 'constantly active type', and generally has 'always in-use as the default state', but if I let it be, all the appraisal results would constantly get in the way and I wouldn't even be able to look at what's in front of me~. Though, when I was little I thought it was normal for everyone to see that stuff all the time~. Once I realised I was different from other people, I worked my hardest to be able to control it to even the finer details, and just last year, I was finally able to turn it off whenever I want."

For the constantly active state to be the default setting, that is beyond depressing.....

I mean, it's like constantly having pop-ups about ads and warnings,

or having multiple windows open at the same time on your computer screen, right?

That would make it so hard to see.

"Hey... If you don't mind, would you let me appraise you, Isabella?"

..........

..............

Uwaaa...... I'm in trouble.

Even though I didn't particularly ask him to show it to me, I've already 【Appraised】Ursch-kun and saw his Status, so it's really hard for me to refuse....

In a way, Ursch-kun's status was more formidable than mine, so my Status probably isn't really worth hiding, but this HP that makes one think "Are you even a girl?" is the real problem here~.

"I don't think you're the type to blab to others, Ursch-kun.... I definitely trust you on that one but...."

"What are you worried about?"

"My HP... is practically the level of a King of Kongs, so you could say it's really unladylike.... When I think that you'll find it repulsive or dislike me for it, I just get so insecure....."

"I would never dislike you over something like that. Besides, I figured you had a rather high HP ever since that game of tag with the knights, where you didn't use a single recovery potion despite outrunning all of them.... Isn't it a bit late to be worrying about this?"

Urk!! He's right!!

I should have at least pretended to use a recovery potion!!

"By the way, what's a 'King of Kongs'?"

"W-we~lll....... It's a gorilla of about 7.2 metres (24 feet) in height who fell in love with a beautiful blonde actress named Ann."

Oh, so this world doesn't have the King of Kongs' love story....

"Since this 'gorilla' you speak of is a king and falls in love, I'm assuming it's a living creature?"

Kuh!! So we're starting from there!! From explaining about gorillas!!

How on Earth do I explain about a creature that may not even exist in this world?!

It's a creature not found here, but from the world I lived in my previous life... I can't possibly say that...

I should have put a little more thought before saying stuff!!

If I had some artistic sense, I could draw it out and explain, but art completely eludes me....

"U~m... Ursch-kun, do you know what a monkey is?"

"A monkey? Yeah, I do."

"It's something similar to that, but more macho.... and black. With a grip strength capable of crushing an apple..."

Now that I think about it, I don't know much about gorillas either.

Are there any other ways to explain this.....

Ah!!

There is!! There was a much simpler way to explain this!!

A way I'm really good at!!

"Ursch-kun!! I'm going to do a gorilla impersonation now!! Watch!!"

"Eh?! O-okay."

In my past life, I went to an all-girls high school, but one time during recess I had a gorilla impersonation contest with 5 of my friends in the back of the classroom and just barely won first place!!

My other classmates who watched also highly praised it, so I'm super confident!!

Incidentally, this is a skill that can't be acquired in co-ed schools!!

(Well then ladies and gentlemen, let us all do it together. Please rise.)

Open both legs and lower your center of gravity~.

Stick your butt out to a slightly upward position—as though bending your hips backwards, and bring your arms down to your front~.

The key is to put a bit of strength in your arms without dropping them!!

Were you able to maintain your best gorilla-like posture? If you did!!

Come on!! Hold your head high~!! Just like that!! Good job everyone!!

Now here we go!! First, at the top of your lungs!!

Ooh! Ooh!

Now rhythmically~!!

Ooh! Ooh! Aah! Ooh! Aah!

Danger detected!! Alert the others!!

Ooh! Ooh! Aah! Aah! Ooh! Ooh! Aah! Aah!

Confidently arch your chest backwards and hit them with both of your fists!!

And finally, in warning!!

Bare your teeth as much as you can!!

UOOOHH!!

"It's this kind of creature!!"

"Yeah. I don't know what the real thing is like, so I don't know how accurate that impersonation is~."

A/N: In the next chapter, the story will properly proceed with the skills explanations.

Regarding the size of the King of Kongs, I based it off the 1933 NY ver. film.

Thank you all for the many reviews!!