20 Chapter 20: An easy target

[Florence's POV]

"Young master, we have arrived."

Looking outside of the window of the carriage, I took in the large mansion that we had parked near. As the escort helped me down, an iridescent white object caught my eye.

"Welcome back, brother." A young girl curtsied, obviously checking for a reaction.

'Isn't that Sage…? However, this clearly isn't something that happened in the game. She probably is the other girl who reincarnated. Florence would probably not be expecting this, and there are too many people around to be out of character. She is clearly doing this to confirm that I am reincarnated. It would be beneficial if we managed to ally. So I guess I should let her know without alerting too many red flags for the servants. Not many people should know Florence hates her anyway.'

"Likewise, Sage" I smiled, pretending to recover from shock. I whispered the English words 'reincarnation' to affirm her suspicions.

"It has been a long time since we have last communicated. Would you like to join me for tea in my room?" She said, brightening up.

"That would be delightful," I replied. "Merec, please report the events to the marquis. And someone please prepare some tea and snacks for us."

"Sage, would you mind escorting me to your room? I don't believe I have been there before."

"Ah, sure." She turned around, gesturing for me to follow.

'There are many questions that come to mind.' I thought to myself as we walked 'but the strangest one is, why is Sage's hair iridescent? Her character in the otome game was, although white, not as reflective. No one seemed to pay this any mind either. Is this an action from the 'god'? I should probably ask about it later.'

"Ah, we are here," Sage said.

She opened the door for me before walking towards a table with tea and desserts prepared and gestured towards a chair.

"Please, take a seat."

I locked the door behind before taking her up on that offer.

"Thank you. We do have a lot to talk about, after all." I replied. This conversation will probably determine both our relationship and my future moves.

'Well, I suppose we should start by getting to know each other a bit. 'God' seems like an important piece to consider too.'

I looked over at Sage, who was, quite surprisingly, seeming to have a panic (or anxiety) attack.

'Is it due to social anxiety or something else? I will probably find out later. It would be best, for now, to keep things from getting too complicated. For now, I should just feign ignorance.' I decided 'if it is social anxiety, it would be ideal. They normally are easy to control to some extent.'

After she seemed to calm down a bit, I started talking.

"So should we start with introductions first?" I made sure to speak gently and slowly so as to not startle her while she was recovering from her panicked state. "My name is Emile Valin and I found myself in this world around 2 weeks ago. I met with a being that told me to call him a god. He explained how I was accidentally reincarnated along with you into this world. Does this happen to ring any bells?"

"Hm? Ah, the self-proclaimed god?" She said, her composed state would make you question whether she really was having a panic attack seconds ago. Although, her body gestures were saying a completely different thing. You could practically read her like an open book if you paid enough attention to them.

'Well, if it really was due to social anxiety, then...'

"Hahaha, I guess you could call him that." I morphed myself from a taken aback to an amused expression. As expected, tension rised then left her body as my expressions changed.

"Yes, I think I have met with him, although not in person. Actually, I am in contact with him. If you would like, I could show you."

"That would be a big help! Thank you!" I smiled. Showing approval and appreciation is an important thing for getting close to people like her.

She inserted a quill into the drawer to reveal a fake base, then took the phone and opened it to the texting app.

"That is a smart way of hiding it,"

"Thank you," She placed the phone on the table, displaying the messages sent between her and the 'god'. "Feel free to browse it and send him messages through here."

(a/n: Go to chapter 3 if you want to read through the messages)

Looking through the messages, I noticed something strange. The way 'god' was speaking. He spoke in a strangely evasive way towards most of the questions Sage asked. Sage's guidelines for her unique magic stated that although when using her 'truth-telling' magic on speech, she can tell through 'lies' even when cleverly worded in order to avoid actually lying, when used through non-verbal means of communication, her power is weakened so that it can only tell through lies. In other words, 'god' seems to have a few things he wants to hide.

"So I am guessing that you know what the system is?" I asked. I knew she could talk to 'god' with it (as the chat was so abruptly ended as soon as 'god' gave her the system tutorial), but if that was the only function, the messaging app would have been good enough.

"Yes. It is slightly hard to explain, though. It is slightly like a game system. There is a store, stats, messaging, etc. although currently, the only person I can message is 'god'" She made air quotes around god. "I just pulled it up. I am guessing you can't see it though."

Looking around, I tried to look for anything that resembled a game screen, and as expected, I couldn't find anything.

Nodding, I heard a knock on the door.

"You may come in."

"The lord requests that you both dine with him." Corrina, a servant said after opening the door.

"I see. Sage, let's continue this conversation later if you don't mind." I said, "It's been a long time since we have been able to catch up."

"Yes, thank you very much for the pleasant conversation."

Allowing myself to be escorted into Florence's room, I ran over the events in my head, planning on what to do next.

'What a convenient person that girl is. Her entire being screams gullible.' I concluded 'Well, I look forward to what happens next. This place seems very entertaining.'

And with that thought, I entered my room to get ready.