Introducing the Newest Party Member

"Attention! I shall now introduce the last member to join our ranks. Presenting Miss Natalie Pereira, mage."

"Whoa, Captain! So you finally made the call?"

The first to come bounding over was the blonde man Natalie had seen at the interview hall. As he waved cheerfully, the rest of the group swarmed in behind him. Two hulking figures, caked in sweat and dirt, stared at her with wide-eyed fascination and asked, "Oh, a woman! A female mage?"

"Looks weak. Can she fight alongside us?"

Glistening, half-naked muscle filled her entire field of vision. Unable to bear the pressure, Natalie took an involuntary half-step back — at which point the brown-haired knight smacked both giants squarely on the back and bellowed, "Hey, Munash! Muki! Stop standing around half-naked and go put on a shirt, you're scaring the lady!"

Pressing the back of her hand to her cheek, which had flushed hot with embarrassment, Natalie forced herself to sound unbothered. "Uh, so, um... are you five the entirety of the expedition?"

At her question, the lithe blonde archer answered with a grin. "Fewer than you expected, hm? We do pride ourselves on being an elite unit... Haha. I am Orlando Blythe, adjutant to Captain McLain. It's an honor to serve alongside you, my lady."

"We met briefly last time. I am Bertel Vale."

After the tall brunette who'd smacked the shirtless pair offered his greeting, the two giants — who had somehow wrestled themselves into shirts in the meantime — pushed forward as if lunging.

"I'm Munash, and this is Muki. We're from the Eastern Continent. Pleasure to meet you, miss."

"I am Jorel Hato. I handle reconnaissance and tracking. A pleasure, my lady."

Once even the taciturn knight with the shaggy ash-grey hair had finished his introduction, McLain — who had been watching the whole scene with a distinctly unimpressed face — spoke in a rigid voice. "Now that the final member has joined, I have a few rules that everyone will observe."

"Yes, Captain."

"It is true we've made the exceptional decision to recruit a female member, but I have no intention of letting that disrupt the discipline of this expedition. Erase the fact that Miss Pereira is a woman from your minds and treat her as an equal comrade — nothing more, nothing less. I will do the same. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir."

An oddly menacing gaze swept slowly across the assembled members before landing, finally, on Natalie. McLain's eyes narrowed. "And Miss Pereira? Any objections?"

"None whatsoever."

Natalie answered in a firm voice. And yet, even as she felt the men's curious stares still fixed upon her, she thought to herself:

Come to think of it, the male lead of the ending I'm about to create might turn out rather different from the original.

Damn it.

McLain cursed under his breath as he surveyed the members gathered for departure.

Because the very thing he had feared was happening.

One and all, they were dressed in clothes that looked suspiciously brand-new, preened to the nines, shooting glances at one another — and watching it made irritation bubble up in his throat like a boiling kettle.

Even the Munash and Muki brothers, who normally roamed about half-naked like barbarians, had shown up properly dressed. That said everything.

This is exactly why I didn't want a woman in the party. No doubt that Natalie woman would arrive in some frilly, extravagant robe that suited a mage but bore no resemblance whatsoever to expedition wear.

Yet contrary to his expectations, the woman in question walked into the meeting room in thoroughly practical attire.

Click. The moment she stepped inside, the gazes of the men who had been wandering aimlessly through the air all converged on her at once.

A loose linen shirt under a fitted leather vest, and women's trousers on the bottom that looked made for movement.

It was far better than he'd assumed — so much so that his casual disparagement felt almost unjust. One could even argue she was the most appropriately dressed person in the entire departure party.

Natalie, taking in the glittering outfits of her fellow members, greeted them with a note of bewildered hesitation in her voice. "Uh... did the rest of you come from some sort of event? You all look... wonderful."

The pause between "you all" and "wonderful" was extremely long. Apparently, a rather negative adverb had been omitted.

'Excessively,' perhaps. Or 'differently from last time.' Or 'unnecessarily.'

A vicarious flush of embarrassment crept over McLain, and his brow furrowed of its own accord.

Blissfully unaware of his feelings, Munash answered with a goofy grin. "No event. We just dressed up a bit to impress you, miss."

"Oh my, you were all already so handsome there was really no need."

"I know, miss."

As Munash's shoulders climbed ever higher with pride, McLain's eyes narrowed into slits.

His younger brother Muki chided the grinning Munash, who had no idea his superior was glaring daggers at him and couldn't seem to close his mouth. "Not 'miss.' Miss Pereira, Munash."

"I know, Miss Pereira."

When Munash then swept his hand through the air with ballroom elegance and bowed his head as if requesting a dance at a formal gala, McLain finally let out a small, strangled laugh.

They're all mucking about.

The woman accepted the greetings with an easy, practiced smile, then turned to the members gathered around her and asked with an innocent face, "By the way, were we supposed to bring our own horses? There were six saddle horses outside, but they were all loaded with luggage. Since I hadn't heard anything about preparing a horse, I only had my things loaded onto a wagon..."

"Ah, Miss Pereira, you'll be riding in the wagon. We're bringing a great deal of cargo regardless, so one wagon was already unavoidable. Mages are often unaccustomed to long hours in the saddle, so we'd planned on wagon seats for them from the start."

"Oh my, what a relief, then. To be honest, I've never ridden for an extended period, and I was worried I might fall behind."

"Goodness, what a thing to worry about! Would we stand by and let a mage as lovely as yourself fall behind?"

"Exactly. Worst case, we'll simply carry you there ourselves. Haha!"

"True. We could carry Miss Pereira with one hand. Hahahaha!"

For some reason, it felt like everyone was laughing it up except him, and McLain's mood curdled. His brow refused to smooth out. Unable to bear the sight any longer, he opened his mouth to declare that the prepared should depart now — and by pure chance, his eyes met the woman's.

"Ah... the Captain, as expected... is dressed like a true expedition veteran."

Was it just his imagination?

Her awkwardly upturned lips and her oddly halting delivery seemed to scream, 'Your outfit is the shabbiest of the lot.' McLain's expression twisted further.

"A veteran, you say. Are you right now—"

He was about to ask if she was mocking him when Natalie cut in with a sweet smile, cleaving his sentence in two. "I was a little worried I'd dressed far too casually, you see. Seeing your outfit put my mind at ease."

With one hand pressed to her chest and a smile that said what a genuine relief, he couldn't very well say, No, it isn't. What you really want to say is that I'm the only one here who's dressed like a slob.

Why on earth does every single word out of this woman's mouth put my nerves on edge?

He had let her into the expedition reluctantly, to be sure — but he certainly did not trust her claim that she would help him reach the game-world ending.

In truth, he still suspected her motives even now. There had to be some hidden scheme at work.

Something like subtly approaching him and attempting romance.

She'd said she was transmigrated into a romance fantasy, hadn't she? Adventure and growth might be mixed in as elements, but those were mere seasoning — the main storyline would, as a matter of course, be focused on romance between a man and a woman. It was obvious she'd aim for an ending befitting that genre.

With his hands full just grinding through quests and following the main scenario, he had no intention of letting the mood be muddied by something as frivolous as romance. He planned to keep a watchful eye on her at every waking moment.

"Orlando, explain the waypoints and itinerary to Miss Pereira before we set out."

"Oh, Captain! Right away, sir."

Orlando's delighted voice grated on him in a way he couldn't quite name.

McLain waved Orlando off as if to say get on with it, then cast a brief glance at the word Hero — sitting squat and shameless in the class field of his Status Window.

Hero, not Swordsman.

It might have sounded impressive at a glance, but the reality was anything but.

The game How to Marry the Hero of the Century lived up to its title, featuring heroes of every conceivable class. Among them, the class with the fastest early-game growth was, unsurprisingly, Hero.

Thanks to its strong early-game buffs and efficiency, plenty of players had recklessly switched to Hero when the game first launched. But as levels climbed higher, it became clear that a Hero couldn't even level up properly, let alone reach the final quest — and the class promptly sank into unpopularity.