Rise Of The Hoarder

The pink barrier around the group was disabled, a signal for everyone to converge around the Masked Hero.

Tia’s hastened steps were quicker than the others as she swiftly sped to the front of their savior and flashed him an excited smile.

“You won again! Congratulations!” Her voice contained enthusiasm and joy.

This flustered the Masked Man a little, or so it appeared to.

‘If only I could see his face…’ Tia thought to herself, imagining what kind of warm expression he could be making underneath the mask.

“Thank you. I’m happy to see you’re safe.”

Of course, he referred to everyone—not just Tia. But, it seemed the meaning of collectivity was lost to the young lady.

“Hehehe” Her laugh contained contentment.

“We’ll be moving on to the next Floor.” The Masked Man retorted.

No one could refuse his calm voice. In fact, they were all pumped up to see the rewards of clearing the next area._.

As he tapped [Yes] to advance to the next Floor, the usual portal appeared in front of the group. It shone on their faces, and they braced themselves for another warp.

“Let’s go.”

Tia watched the Masked Man enter the portal—taking a good look at his broad back once again. A smile formed on her face, and her heart settled.

Once again, everything would be fine.

‘I believe in you… Masked Hero.”

With those thoughts, Tia entered the portal along with her comrades.

**********

‘What’s with this woman?’

My eyes slightly turned in the direction of a particular girl among the group I’m using to advance. Her expression showed excitement, almost to the point of being bloodshot.

To be frank, she frightened me a little.

Initially, I thought for sure she had some sort of detective Skill that could bypass my layers of defenses. I thought she noticed my Neutral Evil Alignment. That would mean she had realized I was only pretending around them.

Anytime I faced the Demons, I would feel a burning gaze planted on my back. Was she looking for a window of opportunity to attack? Did she really think she could take me on even with the Stats I had?

Of course, it could be that she was simply a fool who didn’t know how to gauge the abilities of others, or perhaps she had a trump card? No, if that was the case, her group wouldn’t have been in the predicament I found them in.

I initially ignored her immense concentration on me, but when I couldn’t take it anymore, I decided to use a little ‘something’ to clear my doubts.

‘I’m going to read her thoughts!’

Using Charles’ previous Gift, now my skill, <Mind’s Eye>, I could see a lot of info about people. However, that was only limited to Stats and their information dictated by the System. I could also detect when anyone lied to me.

Still, I didn’t think this would be enough.

That’s why I got another Skill—<Mind Reading>. As the name sounded, it allowed me to read the thoughts of others, and even sense their emotions. It was very useful since it also worked against Demons, and I could predict what their next move would be thanks to this ability.

The hassle was that I needed to have physical contact with whoever’s mind I wanted to read for a total of five seconds before gaining access to their thoughts.

I didn’t want to do something so bothersome. Plus, what excuse would I give to hold on to someone for so long? That was why I put it off… until I couldn’t take it anymore!

‘I’ll just get this over with…’

After concluding matters on the 70th Floor and defeating the Boss—who was quite a difficult opponent since it could turn incorporeal and was immune to all physical attacks—I was once again congratulated by the enthusiastic girl.

The expressions on the faces of her teammates told me she wasn’t usually like this, but after some time, even they ignored her actions. They were too mesmerized by their rewards, after all.

‘Well, here goes nothing…’ I gulped, looking at the girl’s shoulder.

She was shorter than me—they all were. Well, that was because I hit my growth spurt lately.

… Sort of…

“Tia, there’s something on your outfit.” I went with the usual lie and kept my arm on her shoulder.

A bead of sweat formed on my face.

“O-oh, where…?”

Two beads appeared, but I quickly kept things under control. Using [Subspace], I brought some chaff on her, making some especially linger around her somewhat coiled hair.

“Here. And here. Here too…”

I removed the chaffs, ensuring I maintained physical contact with her for at least that long. Fortunately, the girl was immobile, making my job easier.

‘Hehehe. She doesn’t know I’ll soon figure out what she’s planning. What a fool.’ My grin widened.

After I was done, the requirement had been met. I gazed at her face, seeing that it was flushed with pink. For a moment, I didn’t quite understand. However, the moment I realized what was up with Tia… it was too late!

Her thoughts came flooding in.

~Ahhh, he’s touching me!!! Did he really see some stuff on my body? But look how he’s so intently doing it. How did he even notice something I didn’t sense? Was he observing my body? Does he really…?!~

‘Oh, shit!’

I was mistaken.

I should have realized this earlier!

Tia seemed to have a crush on me—or rather, the Masked Hero persona I donned.

‘Ah, why does this keep happening? I just want to use you guys in peace…’

Memories of all the mishaps I had begun surfacing.

When training outside the tower, as well as trying to change my Evil Alignment, I killed two birds with one stone by saving several people from Demons. Some among them were women, and they slowly started falling for me.

Sure, it raised my reputation among the dregs, but it also gave me some bothersome admirers. I suppose it was one of the perks of this body I now possessed.

It was so bad that even the System gave me the Title ‘Admired By Women’. I had a feeling it was simply messing with me, but it was the real deal.

And the Title effects were troublesome, so I turned it off.

Still… what the heck was this?!