"Excuse me, could I collect my winnings?"
"Yes, please wait one moment."
The pretty lady who was behind a counter brought out an exquisite black box, which had a golden border, and a yellow ribbon.
"Thank you for coming to our auction house," she said with a smile.
It was currently a bit before midnight, and the streets around the area were deserted.
This way, I was able to quickly spot Alex, who was walking with his head down.
"Hey! Over here!"
[Host, I recommend you activate your innate skill.]
While I was running I muttered under my breath,
"[Monarch's Facade]."
I caught up to him behind his back, and as he turned his head, I began to realise just how difficult of a task I was going to undertake.
'Hmmm... Haven't I been stuck in my house for the past 10 years of my life? I don't really know what to do now.'
My mind was blank.
'How does one socialise? How do I make him trust me? Do I just copy some NPC conversation?'
All of this time, I hadn't really conversed with someone my age, let alone try to become friends with one.
"..."
An awkward silence stood between us.
"Uhhh... How can I help you?"
"Ummm... What... is your name?"
I needed to try gaining his trust inch by inch, and then we would become friends.
"...My name is Alex Detrimont...?"
He had a puzzled look on his face and wanted to get straight to the point. He probably wasn't in such a great mood right now.
"Wanna be friends?"
'Fuck.'
'What was I, some 6-year-old in primary school!?'
Somehow, the thought of 'getting to the point' reached my mouth faster than it reached my brain, and I blurted out something that normally should have taken a few more steps.
"Oh... Uhh... you... want to be friends with me...?"
And why was he going along with this!?
'I think this is the actual effect of my skill...' I speculated.
This skill had proven to be way more useful than I thought. I mean, isn't this skill just maximised charisma!?
DING
[Host innate skill, [Monarch's Facade], has reached [Understanding {Middle}.]
And indeed it was.
(A/N: It normally isn't this easy to improve your understanding of an innate skill, but mc had played the world as a game before, and with higher advanced skills, the rate of improvement becomes lower.)
"Well, first I have an offer to make for you."
Now that we were getting to business, I could stop worrying about trying to socialise.
"Right here?"
"Yes, right here."
Alex decided to hear me out, sitting on a nearby bench that was lightly illuminated by the stars.
He also beckoned me to sit next to him.
I politely refused and decided to keep standing, as, not gonna lie, my feet still had pins and needles from sitting at the auction house.
Looking towards the moon that was up in the sky, I began to get straight to the point, tilting my head slightly to look at him.
"How about, I give you three of my herbs, in return for a long-term relationship between us two."
I only needed two of the five herbs I had got, so I didn't mind giving them to him.
Also, for some reason, I just felt a compelling instinct behind me, to just stare into the night upwards.
It was quite majestic if I say so myself.
"Really?! You just want to be friends, and then I can get the herbs for free?"
"Yes."
It seemed that the upgraded understanding of [Monarch's facade], now allowed me to start actually 'acting' like a majestic king.
As I handed him three herbs from my box, I also got his contact number and he immediately sent me a message.
「 Hi, this is Alex. :) 」
「 Hello, my name is Vincent, and I am 16 years old. 」
Whew. I haven't properly talked with someone for over 10 years, and I practically don't think I really lived over that time.
My mind may have matured to be an adult, but my heart may have still been a 16-year-old.
"Pffft... What's with that? This is just a text message, no need to be so formal."
Alex was still sitting on the bench in front of me and was laughing while looking at his phone.
"What's so funny?"
"No... It is just that people like you normally tend to have some kind of alter personality while texting, but you really are the same."
How the heck has he been able to analyse my own personality faster than I have?!
We have only just met, and even though I knew his future, he had already predicted how I was to behave.
"Were you popular?"
"Hmm... I guess you wouldn't be calling me the quiet kid."
Ah.
That explains it.
People like him just have an innate ability to understand people, and he most likely had a high EQ.
Well, I could understand why.
Alex Detrimont was a handsome boy, with angelic features, blonde wavy hair, and bright green eyes.
He also seemed to be around the same height as me, and by the way, I was at least 6 feet tall.
And what probably made him popular was his charm and his distinctive smile.
Speaking of charm, I should check his status screen.
[I'm on it.]
===STATUS {ALEX DETRIMONT}===
STRENGTH: F-
SPEED: F
AGILITY: F
STAMINA: F-
MANA: E-
CHARM: E
OVERALL: F+
===SKILLS===
INNATE SKILL:
-[Poisonous blood] (Attack Type) (Low Understanding) { FIRST ADVANCEMENT }
{Freely manipulate the acidity of your blood, and control any poisonous liquid that has a drop of your blood in it.}
NORMAL SKILL:
-[Alchemy Mastery] {Lv. 1}
{Decreases the time to concoct potions by 10%}
======
'Ohoh~ so he managed to get his hands on a normal skill? That is probably why he decided to follow alchemy in the future.'
Furthermore, I just had to appreciate how overpowered his innate skill was. Just as I had expected from an original playable character from the game.
And now it was time to address the real issue.
Why the fuck was his charm so highly ranked?
I mean, reaching 'E' rank!? That is just absurd.
I myself was only 'F' rank in charm, and I wasn't one of the worst-looking kids on the planet. Albeit not the best.
So that just puts into perspective how handsome this guy was.
"Hey? You alright?"
It seems I had been staring towards the night thinking for a bit too long.
"Yeah... don't worry about it."
I started to walk off to find a possible hotel for me to sleep in for one night. I needed my own private space to digest my herbs, so going to my family's house now is out of the question.
And it shouldn't be that expensive. I could spend one night without being noticed by my family with my overdraft.
I had already spent 1000AX in one go, so the money I spent from now would not look like it had been charged but had gone through the payment.
"Hey! Do you want to meet me at my lab next week? Maybe we can go do some looking around the mall after?"
I turned my head from behind my shoulder under the influence of [Monarch's Facade], and with the moonlight reflecting the side of my silver hair, I replied.
"How about sometime around the week after? I have a few things planned before then."