McClain’s sculptured face crumpled when he spotted Natalie, and he abruptly stood up. Natalie ignored his gaze, which resembled someone looking at a troublesome nuisance, and spoke in the most competent and intellectual voice she could muster.

“Hello. I’m Natalie Pereira, here because I heard you were looking for a combat mage. I’m approaching the seventh circle and being attribute-less, I can perform various attack spells as well as healing and purification magic. I currently work at the magic tower, but I’ve already found a replacement and can join immediately in two days.”

The two men flanking McClain let out admiring gasps at her impressive self-introduction.

Natalie deepened her already light smile and continued.

“Surely, no one here would say that despite these qualifications, I can’t even apply for the combat team because I’m a woman?”

McClain’s face twisted unpleasantly at Natalie’s words.

“I believe I clearly said it was impossible earlier. Did you not hear me properly?”

“I heard you. I heard, but I couldn’t agree.”

“Hah, I don’t think this is something that requires your agreement.”

“Listen, Sir Lindhart. This isn’t about finding your spouse. When it’s difficult to find someone who perfectly matches the conditions, you should consider alternatives for the sake of the other party members.”

At Natalie’s words, the two men with McClain turned to look at him. Their faces suggested they shared her opinion.

McClain’s expression grew even more ominous under their gaze.

“Do you think eliminating demonic beings is child’s play? Do you really think it’s reasonable for a gently raised count’s daughter who has never hunted before to mix with rough men and go on an expedition all the way to the northern erosion zone?”

Natalie widened her eyes in surprise. Soon, she softened her expression as if touched and asked in a shy voice.

“Oh my, McClain. Are you opposing this because you’re worried about me? And here I was, not even realizing your feelings.”

After spending nearly ten years in the workplace, everyone becomes accustomed to wearing masks. Whether it’s a mask so thick it makes you stick out your tongue, or just a sheer piece of mesh where everything shows through. Either way, the innocence of showing your true feelings fades away.

And Natalie, harboring the soul of an office worker approaching her tenth year of service, had become somewhat accustomed to putting on an appropriate mask to fit the situation.

At her performance, the gazes of the other men that had been focused on Natalie all turned back to McClain. This time, their faces held added suspicion about what kind of relationship existed between this impressive miss and their commander.

With anger boiling over, McClain gritted his teeth and glared at Natalie.

“No, listen, Miss Pereira.”

His voice sounded almost like a growl. But if she was going to give up at this level of threat, she wouldn’t have started in the first place.

Natalie lowered the corners of her eyes even more gently and interrupted his fierce words.

“Hmm, it’s okay, McClain. It’s not that I can’t hunt, but rather that I chose not to, and I’m not just gently raised as you think. As you know, I’m currently acting as the head of a failing household.”

The two men who had been rolling their eyes and watching the tense atmosphere between the pair cautiously inhaled sharply at Natalie’s words, which sounded almost pitiful.

They seemed shocked that she had expressed so explicitly something that, while publicly known, was usually kept quiet out of courtesy.

Natalie looked at them and shrugged with a self-deprecating smile. To them, it might have appeared as self-mockery about her family’s bankruptcy, but in reality, it was closer to shame at having to grovel so pathetically to this arrogant, pre-modern, prejudice-filled McClain.

“And as for mixing with men, that’s not a problem at all. Most of my current colleagues are men anyway. I’m fine with it, but if others might feel uncomfortable, it would be good to provide separate quarters. Well, if that’s not possible, I can certainly find my own solutions using barrier or illusion magic.”

At her words subtly showcasing her proficiency in various types of magic, the men beside McClain carefully added their thoughts.

“Commander, with resources like that, it might not be bad to consider—”

“Rather than just gloomy men, having a beautiful lady among us might actually bring vitality to the troops…”

“Enough. Today’s interview is over, so you two go finish preparing for the expedition. Bertel, double-check the supply quantities one more time.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Orlando, check the quantities of throwing weap*ns. Without a mage, we might need more ranged weap*ns, so it would be good to stock about twice what we planned.”

“Huh? Ah, yes, understood. But Commander.”

“What is it? Why aren’t you leaving?”

When McClain raised his voice with a frown, the men finally got up hesitantly.

“Ah, then we’ll go ahead. Miss, if there’s an opportunity next time…”

Despite McClain’s order, Orlando, the blonde-haired man, tried to casually strike up a conversation with Natalie. However, before he could finish his sentence, McClain’s increasingly sharp voice cleanly cut off the carefully continuing sentence.

“I said leave right now.”

“Yes, yes. We’re leaving now.”

Thud. The door closed with a slightly irritating sound, perhaps mixed with timid rebellion, but McClain’s sharp gaze remained fixed on Natalie.

※※※

McClain frowned at the notification messages cluttering his vision and glared at the woman before him.

It was a quest window that had appeared since Natalie showed up at the interview, or more precisely, since the woman approached him revealing she was also a transmigrator.

〈A hidden quest has been generated〉

▶This quest is deeply connected to the main scenario.

▶This quest can be accepted only if the following conditions are met:

① The player has rejected or is holding the main scenario quest ‘Contract Marriage with First Love Natalie Pereira’.

② The player has not yet recovered the 100,000 gold invested in the Pereira family.

③ The player is currently forming an expedition to eliminate demonic beings.

【Recruit heroine Natalie Pereira to the demonic being elimination expedition】

▶Reward: 30% reduction in expedition duration and 10% increase in leveling speed

★However, upon accepting this quest, the 100,000 gold principal invested in the Pereira family cannot be recovered.

When he checked the quest reward, he actually wavered momentarily. The reward of a 30% reduction in expedition duration and a 10% increase in leveling speed was too attractive to reject outright.

In fact, according to the main scenario, when he heard rumors that the Pereira family’s business had failed and marriage proposals were flooding in to buy the position of her husband, he should have proposed a contract marriage to Natalie.

But he didn’t. That was the case when he played in reality, and it remained the same now that he had been dragged into the game.

He thought it was much more efficient to recover the 100,000 gold investment and use that money to acquire another good artifact to focus on leveling up, rather than wasting time creating a heroine and raising her affection.

However, he was currently holding the quest in reserve out of caution, not rejecting it outright. Of course, he planned to reject it immediately once he was certain there would be no harm in rejecting the main quest.

Unable to bear the uncomfortable and prickly silence any longer, Natalie asked with incomprehension.

“Why do you hate women so much?”

There’s a saying called “kill the heroine before she becomes one.” It means to kill the female character before she becomes a heroine to reduce the cancer-inducing elements. It seemed the phrase arose because there were many developments where heroines held back the protagonist.

As someone with little interest in relationships with the opposite s*x, both in reality and in games, he quite sympathized with this saying. That’s why when playing games, he always insisted on going solo or, when forming a party, tried to avoid including female party members as much as possible. This was because guys who were perfectly normal when it was just men would act like idiots and do stupid things as soon as a woman joined the party.

Of course, that didn’t mean he thought it was all women’s fault or that he hated women.

“I don’t hate them. I just want to operate the expedition as efficiently as possible.”

“That’s a contradictory statement. To operate the expedition efficiently, you’re choosing an inefficient member.”

“For me, that’s the efficient choice.”

“Come on, McClain. Don’t make excuses. Are you actually afraid you might develop a romance with me during the expedition? Are you scared you might not be able to reject me, contrary to what you promised?”

“No.”

“Then take me with you. Wouldn’t choosing me create more synergy in many ways than taking someone who’s severely lacking in both physical strength and ability and just suffering? Whether it’s combat, leveling up, or the expedition.”

“That’s—”

“In return, I promise. I promise I won’t develop any feelings for you. Do you think I want to play around with romance here? I only want to finish my life here and return to reality as soon as possible.”

The man silently stared at Natalie with narrowed eyes for a moment before asking.

“Your planned ending is different from mine, isn’t it?”

His voice suggested he found it difficult to trust her. Natalie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and replied with composure.

“What can I do when the male lead is so adamantly refusing? If a romance fantasy ending is impossible, I’ll have to settle for a game ending. My ultimate goal is to return to reality anyway. If we defeat the demonic beings together, wouldn’t that trigger some kind of ending?”

He found her somewhat annoying as she stared at him with clear eyes, as if she were a harmless person without any malice.