As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*
It would seem my first bruh moment arrived. In the least way possible. I unexpectedly received my second Title. It looks like the trigger for this was encountering three girls that played major roles in Trails. Estelle, Elie, and Princess Klaudia definitely fit that description.
But seriously, Harem Seeker out of all the Titles you could give me!?
Are you suggesting something here oh System of mine?
Forming a harem...
I never even considered the thought.
I won't lie. There's a boat load of women in Zemuria that you come across during the games. I've enjoyed many character interactions across a span of over ten games.
So I'm not immediately denying this possibility. I want to enjoy this second life of mine to its fullest. I don't need to consider this much right now since my life had just started out. Instead, I decided to spend a moment going over this Title to see what it had to offer. I'll disregard the "Harem Seeker" name for now.
People were happily chatting away with each other to not even bother me going into my thoughts. I was pretty surprised by the effects it gave. I should probably go into what Titles did too.
They're a function of the Gamer System. In the original story, you can only equip one Title, which provides various boons. Most of them relate to your stats, but they can provide all sorts of rewards. Harem Seeker wasn't my first Title either. While crossing over to Zemuria, I noticed I had the Friend of the Vermillion Knight Title equipped. It provided a hefty boost to my Strength, and Health Points, or HP for short. That wasn't the only thing this Title could do, but its other Perks were locked. Some Titles you could Level Up, while others were Static. Some were special like the one I had equipped, and unless I triggered certain scenarios, the other two effects would likely remain locked.
Now, with that in mind, let's have a look at Harem Seeker's details, shall we?
I saw a blue screen appear inside my mind, which began to show me the Title's contents.
[Harem Seeker]
Due to Gamer Naoto encountering three or more girls whose fates are strongly attached to the Trailsverse, this Title has been awarded to you. This marks a hidden achievement earned, as Gamer Naoto has shown an interest in forming a harem. It will be up to you to decide who to connect with. The following Perks have been granted:
Perk 1: [Favorability Meter - Lv1 (0/100)] has been unlocked. Gamer Naoto's Status Window has been updated.
Perk 2: You will be shown in a favorable light when you encounter someone new. They will not immediately treat you as an enemy, or as someone suspicious.
Perk 3: [Locked]
Three Perks this time, huh? And the last one is locked. Perhaps it's tied to the first Perk? This is the first time I've seen something like this. A Favorability Meter. I checked through its description, and it's not exactly what you'd call a love meter you'd see in romcoms fantasies. No, this Favorability Meter shows a person's impression of me. The more I increase it, the more favorable I become in their eyes. It won't necessarily always lead to the romance route. And apparently, I get rewarded if I max out a person's Favorability!
I wonder, does checking someone's Favorability work like my Vermillion Eyes? The latter is an Active Skill, meaning I can turn it off and on at will. That places a heavy strain on my eyes, I hope this Favorability Meter won't do the same.
As much as I wanted to try these out and see who was currently favorable toward me, we were all suddenly distracted by Her Majesty the Queen. I, including everyone else present, all saw Queen Alicia raise her wine glass in the air and tapped it with her spoon. That single echo drew all eyes to her. It was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. The happy chatter vanished entirely. Once Her Majesty began to speak, her voice carried a somber tone, acting as if it was longing for someone. I don't think that was directed at me this time. After all, she did lose her son. At least, I assumed Crown Prince Judis to be her son.
"I thank you all for attending this banquet tonight, my fair citizens of Liberl and even to our guests from outside our borders. Normally, I would not hold one of these until the Royal Assembly we host each year to discuss our current state of affairs. However, due to an unfortunate tragedy that took place which claimed the life of our very own Crown Prince, I have brought you all here tonight to celebrate life. Tomorrow will be a day of sadness for us all. Not all is lost, as my cute Granddaughter here managed to escape this tragedy unharmed. This does not mean I will be stepping down from the throne. Far from it. Until Princess Klaudia is deemed fit to take on this position, I shall remain active as current Queen. Our operations will continue as scheduled. There will be no inheritance claim during this celebration.", Queen Alicia suddenly declared, causing people to uproar. After all, this was a declaration from Queen Alicia herself.
Queen Alicia stated she will not back down from the throne, nor pass it to anyone who was looking to claim it. I saw Duke Dunan seated closer toward her, and there was enough view in my line of sight to see him form a fist in his chair. He tried to hide it, but I could see it. Sucks to be him, right? I know Duke Dunan's looking to claim the throne for himself, as he often stated in the games. It really took a good wake-up slap to see the error of his ways. As I saw the Duke's current appearance while inwardly chuckling at the sight, I saw Her Majesty tap the glass with a spoon again, in an attempt to ease the sudden clamoring.
"I get that everyone might be worried by my resuming the throne, but you all can rest assured that whatever is taking place now, will continue to happen. Just note, I will not be stepping down anytime soon.", Queen Alicia said. "And through this tragedy came an unexpected blessing. I cannot be privy with you all on the details quite just yet, but it will be revealed in due time.", Queen Alicia continued to say. After saying this she raised Princess Klaudia out of her chair, and placed her on the table. She did a small curtsy of her skirt. Knowing that she was the same age to us three, it would be awkward if Princess Klaudia spoke from her seat, so it made sense seeing Her Majesty do this. She spoke out, and she spoke quite well. She was pretty fluent with her words already, like me.
"And I also thank you all for coming today. It is sad that Father and Mother are no longer with us, and I will keep them dear to my heart. I hope you all enjoy this celebration with Grandmother and I.", Princess Klaudia said, introducing herself to us all in the process. She kept a warm smile on her face, but that was only her outward appearance. I knew deep down, she was likely trying to accept what had happened still. Losing one's own parents so early on is rough.
"Haha! Well spoken, my cute granddaughter.", Queen Alicia said, before she grabbed a hold of her and suddenly stood up. With Princess Klaudia in one hand and the wine glass in the other, She spoke out to everyone, and initiated a cheer.
"To my dearest son, Judis von Auslese and his wife! Cheers!", Queen Alicia declared, causing everyone to follow suit. Even I played along. Of course, I couldn't drink wine since I was a little kid. I just did it with a glass of water.
""Cheers to His Highness! Cheers to Your Majesty and Her Highness!"", Everyone exclaimed in response, erupting in cheer. The toast was complete and everyone sipped down their drink. That was the official start of the banquet, and everyone began to dig in.
I saw several mayors of Liberl in attendance here. There were five main cities. Rolent to the east. Bose to the north. Zeiss to the south. Bose to the north. Zeiss to the south. And Ruan to the west. And then you got Grancel City, which is near the heart of Liberl, and that connected to Liberl's largest lake, Valleria Lake. I could see them chatting away with each other. I'm sure in their eyes, this was very similar to a Royal Assembly, to which is hosted at Grancel Castle once a year. As Grandmother stated, that is designed to discuss Liberl's current state of affairs, and pass down potential new laws.
Out of the mayors present, one of them tickled my fancy. I saw a middle-aged blonde-haired man. Next to him, a little girl could be seen. She was quite older than the three of us, maybe around four or five years older. She had a pair of turquoise eyes, and was wearing an ash and red frilly dress. Her hair was tied back with a red ribbon. If anything, she was closer to Fiona in age. Sensing a gaze, this girl placed her food down back on the table, and turned her head. She spotted me with interest.
"Father.", The girl stated. Hearing that drew the middle-aged man's attention. His head turned, and spotted Giliath and I seated across from him. He was closer toward the opposite end of the table near us, compared to the other mayors.
"It is rude to stare, boy.", The man said, scoffing at me. He seemed pretty stern for one of Liberl's mayors. Despite that, Giliath still laughed.
"Haha! Please forgive my son's behavior. This is a new experience for him, his growing curiosity never ceases.", Giliath said to the man, which drew his attention to him.
"Well, your boy seems well mannered enough to dine here with the rest of us. I will forgive you for his staring. I haven't seen you around here. You flew in out of town?", The man said, asking Father.
"The name's Giliath Osborne. I was one of the lucky ones to receive an invitation from Her Majesty. I hail from Erebonia, and am a high ranking official in the Imperial Army.", Giliath said, formally introducing himself to the mayor. "Still, my son has good eyes, it seems. He was able to single you out. Amongst Liberl's mayors, you likely hold the most influence. You run the Bose Market after all. You often trade with our country, Mayor Windolman.", Giliath said, keeping a smile on his face.
So that's this guy, huh? Mayor Windolman. In due time, he will retire as active mayor of Bose, and eventually pass the role down to his daughter here. I don't know if that will happen through elections, as that is how most Mayors in Liberl come to be.
"Now that's a name I didn't expect to hear come across here in Liberl. So you're that monster causing a ruckus in Erebonia lately. I didn't think anyone from Erebonia would wander down here tonight, let alone someone like you.", The man said. "But it is as you say, I am indeed the current Mayor of Bose, Mayor Windolman. Just like everyone else I've come here to pay my condolences to Her Majesty, as well as my daughter.", Mayor Windolman said, introducing the two of them to us.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both. I didn't think there would be little children attending this event, but it isn't out of the question, I suppose. Everyone has their own situations. You can call me Maybelle. I hope to follow in Father's footsteps one day and become Bose's next mayor.", Maybelle said, introducing herself too. She was a side character in the Sky games, but Estelle would report into her as part of her Bracer studies. By then, she would truly be Mayor. I can't believe there's so much time left until then.
"That's a good goal to have. I hope Naoto here will strive to reach similar heights, just as you are aspiring to be."
"That's right. I'm Naoto! It looks like you two are here on a trip, as one would say. But then again, everyone is. Haha!", I replied, laughing.
"Naoto huh? I hope we can become acquainted more in the future.", Maybelle responded, smiling.