"Are you Shien?"
The one who spoke to Shien in a gentle voice was a young woman who was clearly very beautiful, with equally lovely curves, yet wore a suit of heavy armor and had a huge shield and sword leaning against the wall beside her.
Around the young woman sat three female adventurers of roughly the same age, all equally good-looking.
In other words, the private room was filled entirely with young, striking female adventurers.
Faced with such a scene, Shien stood at the doorway in silence, unable to bring himself to step inside for a long while.
The beautiful girls in the room were likewise watching Shien, each wearing a different expression as though assessing him.
Under those circumstances, the gentle young woman took the initiative to stand up.
"I'm Vivian. I'm currently the captain of this adventurer party, and I'll also be your guide for the next month. Just call me Vivian."
Vivian smiled at Shien as she spoke, her attitude very friendly.
The others, however, were not quite the same.
Shien looked at the three girls besides Vivian.
They were three girls who were no less eye-catching than Vivian in every sense.
Seated beside Vivian was a petite girl clad in a hooded black robe, her entire body nearly hidden beneath it. Her face was concealed under the hood as well, leaving only the lower half of a fair, delicate face faintly visible. Even her eyes could not be seen.
Beside the girl in black—or rather, hiding behind her—was another petite girl with a pair of beast ears and a beast tail. Her appearance was cute, but her face was full of timidity and shyness, giving people the urge to bully her mercilessly.
As for the last girl, she was an Elf with pointed ears and waist-length emerald-green hair. She wore a mage's robe and held a long staff in her arms. Her pretty face was even more exquisite than the others', making her more dazzling than a debuting idol.
Together with Vivian, these were four beautiful girls who drew attention in every conceivable way. Even the black-robed girl, whose face was almost entirely hidden beneath her hood, could be judged to be no less beautiful than the others from the fair lower half of her face alone.
In this adventurer party, aside from Vivian, whose face was full of gentleness and warmth, the other three could not exactly be called friendly.
The black-robed girl did not even raise her head once.
The Beastfolk girl remained hidden behind the black-robed girl, looking extremely shy around strangers.
The Elf girl had an especially tense expression, and her eyes revealed a measure of wariness as she looked at Shien.
Shien remained silent for a long time.
His feelings were complicated.
(An adventurer party made entirely of beautiful girls?)
He had not expected such a setup to actually exist.
And he was apparently about to join this adventurer party as a newcomer—the only male adventurer.
This plot...
(As cliché as ever.)
That was all Shien could feel.
Unaware of Shien's thoughts, Vivian watched him stand motionless and silent in the doorway, but the gentleness on her face did not fade.
She must have understood that her party was rather conspicuous in every sense, right?
When a newcomer—and a man, at that—was suddenly assigned to join a party like this, it was only natural for him to be at a loss when they first met.
So...
"Please don't feel restrained. Come over and have a seat."
Vivian warmly invited Shien in.
To be honest, Shien did not particularly want to go inside.
It was not that he disliked being around beautiful girls.
Shien was a man too. Being with such an easy-on-the-eyes group of beautiful girls would naturally make him happy.
However, because of his personality, he felt more troubled than pleased.
It could not be helped.
(I can already imagine how much trouble I'll run into after joining this party.)
Shien silently sighed to himself.
For someone who wanted to adventure normally and quietly improve his strength, joining a party filled with so many attention-grabbing elements was truly not what he wanted.
Unfortunately, things had already come to this, so Shien could only enter the private room and sit down in one of the seats.
Across from him, Vivian and the other three sat in a row. Not one of them shared a table with Shien.
And with four beautiful girls before him, Shien could not exactly continue staying silent.
Thus, Shien sighed inwardly as he spoke.
"I'm Shien. Nice to meet you."
Shien had done his part in observing proper manners.
Seeing Shien's honest and well-behaved appearance, Vivian felt somewhat relieved as well.
In the past, the male adventurers who had joined Vivian's party had mostly made poor first impressions.
Some would keep covertly sizing up Vivian and the others' faces and figures. Some would directly display their desires in their eyes or on their faces. Some liked to put on airs, deliberately acting gentlemanly and easygoing while unable to conceal their ulterior motives. Others, even if they harbored no ill intent, could not help trying to curry favor with Vivian and the others, making themselves seem exceedingly servile.
Vivian could not yet determine what sort of character this newcomer possessed, but from the looks of it, he seemed like an honest person. She did not need to worry about him acting recklessly.
Of course, he still needed to be evaluated.
This was only their first meeting. As for what his true character was like, they would need to observe him carefully.
Thinking this, Vivian cast a meaningful glance at her companions beside her.
At that, the three girls finally raised their heads one after another.
"Tier."
The black-robed girl introduced herself in a cold voice. Though it was icy, it was unexpectedly pleasant to hear, and carried a trace of childishness that made it difficult to dislike her.
"I-I'm Lumya. P-please take care of me..."
The Beastfolk girl stammered out her name, both hands tightly clutching one of Tier's arms, fully exposing her timid and shy nature.
"My name is Merika. Please take care of me."
The Elf girl also lowered her head to Shien in greeting. Her exquisite face remained tightly drawn. It was not as though she was hostile toward Shien, but her nervousness and wariness toward strangers were plain to see.
After that, the three girls stopped speaking, leaving Vivian feeling somewhat helpless.
As for Shien, he felt relieved instead.
For a man to suddenly join a party full of beautiful women, this was the normal reaction.
But precisely because of that, Shien wanted to make something clear.
"Miss Vivian." Shien addressed Vivian. "Can I really join this party?"
Shien went straight to the point.
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