Shield Of Hope

“The Shield of Hope currently has seven members—though most people just call us the ‘Shield’ for short.”

Millet explained.

“Are you one of those members, Millet?”

“Technically, yes. But my main job is recruitment, so I’m not really one of the core members of the combat team.”

Millet answered my question.

“Come on in.”

Flare and I were shown into a room where the members of the Shield were supposedly gathered.

Waiting inside were three people, both male and female.

…Huh? There weren’t seven people here.

“Is this everyone?”

Millet frowned slightly.

“Everyone else is busy with work or school or something. So it’s just the three of us today~!”

The person who casually raised her hand was an unusually tall girl.

She looked to be over 180 centimeters tall, with black hair tied into a braid and a beautiful, gentle-looking face.

“Anyway, who are these people? Are they good guys? Bad guys?”

The second person was a short boy.

He had light blue hair and indigo eyes. Although his gaze was rather unfriendly, his features were remarkably handsome.

“Millet-san brought them here, so they’ve gotta be good people. I can guarantee it. I trust Millet-san, after all.”

The third person was a woman with a bold, spirited air about her.

Her hair was styled into spikes, streaked with red and gold highlights.

She seemed older than the other two, probably somewhere in her late twenties.

“Come on, everyone. Introduce yourselves.”

Millet encouraged the three of them.

“Okay, I’ll go first~!”

The tall girl casually raised her hand.

“My name’s Ramulfa… Everyone calls me Ram~! My class is Swordsman, I’m sixteen years old, and my hobby is spacing out~! Okay, that’s all!”

“…Zels. Fifteen. Class: Mage. That’s it.”

The short boy introduced himself with an air of annoyance.

“I’m Shirley! My class is Martial Artist. Nice to meetcha! Oh, and I’m twenty-seven.”

The beautiful woman with highlighted hair flashed us a confident grin.

“Nice to meet you… I’m Aerial Wind, and this is my younger sister, Flare.”

“N-Nice to meetsh you… Ah, I messed that up.”

Flare seemed nervous.

“Hmm. Are you strong? Or weak?”

Zels stared directly at me.

“We don’t need weaklings.”

…Was he trying to pick a fight with me right off the bat?

But he didn’t seem particularly aggressive.

If anything, he sounded completely matter-of-fact…

“Honestly, Zels can be a little sharp-tongued. He has a habit of being a bit too blunt sometimes.”

Millet said soothingly.

“Anyway, let’s get straight to the point—can you strengthen these three’s skills?”

“I probably can, but the thing is, strengthening skills requires points. I can only upgrade them as much as my current supply of points allows.”

I explained in response to Millet’s question.

“Huh? Can’t you earn more of those points?”

“Apparently, I can get more by fulfilling certain conditions. But I don’t know exactly what those conditions are…”

There had been two occasions when my points had increased.

The first was when I awakened the true power of [Skill Appraisal].

I’d received 10,000 Skill Points as a First-Time Bonus.

The second was when I evolved my [Skill Appraisal] from Lowest Grade all the way to Ultimate.

I’d received another 10,000 points as an Evolution Bonus.

The message I’d received at the time had said,

“From now on, additional Skill Points will be awarded whenever specific conditions are fulfilled.”

That was the problem—I had no idea what those “specific conditions” were.

I hadn’t received any additional points when I evolved Flare’s skill, either…

Logically speaking, perhaps I’d receive more points whenever I evolved a skill all the way to Ultimate… Hmm.

“That’s true. Unless we figure out a reliable way to earn more points, Aerial’s skill will eventually reach its limit once his current supply runs out…”

Millet-san remarked.

“A way to earn more Skill Points… Actually, I might have an idea.”

The one who spoke up was Zels, the mage.