Vol 1 Chapter 3 (1/2)

If I want to gain her trust, I’ll start with my att.i.tude.

It won’t have any strong foundation if I gain her trust through trickery. Gaining it slowly over a long period of time will be more effective.

Therefore, I will have to be sincere towards Meena to gain her trust.

There was one thing however.

Even if I say att.i.tude, it does not mean I can just talk her.

I need to be polite when I speak to her in the first place.

Even if I’m speaking with a slave, I should not use a rude commanding tone. If it was Mark, he will probably say “Hey! finish your meal quickly!” in a oppressive manner and whip them.

However, I will be different. “Please have some water, drink as much as you want” and give them some water. I will not be forceful nor will I be shouting at them. Since in the first place, I won’t torment them needlessly in anyway.

It should not be just changing the way I talk to them.

How much I talk to them should also be changed.

I made sure to make some conversation with Meena secretly while Mark was not looking.

Conversation.

Conversation was the basic form of human communication.

Not just practical subjects like “Please have some water”.

It should be real conversations.

“You know what, I had a dream today”

“Hey, did you know? There was a really great n.o.ble that came today”

And so on.

No matter how you look at it, the discussion was friendly. Or it was something like small talk to pa.s.s the time.

It was however my aim from the start.

Talking to her with such trifling subject matters, she just continued listening to it like it was nothing.

“Is that so master Tos.h.i.+ki”

“Yes, he was an extravagant and distinguished n.o.ble. It was probably the country’s aristocratic tax collector”

By talking about trifling things this way, Meena was steadily showing her emotions.

She laughs when I say a joke.

She nods when I speak to her seriously.

When I’m being severely bullied again, she will come to me and ask “Are you OK?”.

Her wariness had been greatly reduced compared to last time.

Because Meena did not even show her emotions previously.

Besides, there was more.

Meena would probably still listen even if my conversation with her was just trivial gossip.

I would be jumping to conclusions if I thought that it was possibly just courtesy.

If I put myself in Meena’s shoes, I understood it immediately.

Even if my stories were trivial, it was still a valuable source of information.

For example, about the tax collector mentioned previously.

Since the tax collector personally came to this shop, that means this might be a large store, that they had to check if the store pays the full tax.

Or that perhaps this country’s ethics was so low that someone, like a tax collector for the government, could easily overlook the slave trade.

Such expectations were possible.

Of course as for me, I had already expected this much.

Those kind of information goes through Meena. I do not particularly mind it.

It doesn’t have any negative effect on me. I didn’t suffer any losses. So I didn’t regret it.

It’s fine even if I seem to be just someone useful, particularly for Meena.

It was better that I was useful to her.

Because she will listen to my stories if I’m useful to her.

That is to say, it was synonymous with giving me the chance to gain her trust indefinitely.

Honestly, I can easily gain the trust of a person if I exploit their weak spot.

It was a conversation technique I learned in the previous world. I just have to look very sincere with an honest att.i.tude and make agreeable response as much as possible.

I act sincerely by leading them on.

In that context, Meena was easy since she was a young girl.

She probably had little experience with being suspicious towards a person. Although she prepared herself to be cautious, her wariness was somewhat lacking.

It took quite a while, but Meena was able to completely trust me.

(Great, credibility is at 70%. It seems I’m fairly trusted now)

I could see the credibility gauge in the status screen.

The credibility gauge was usually hidden behind the Name Bar. However, when I call up the display details, the credibility gauge emerges from the Name Bar.

I believe that credibility is only up to 100%. If I’m not mistaken, 100% was the the maximum value in [Fantasy Tale].

If the credibility of the companion was at 70%, the companion unit will show the cooperation skill which is the mark that you have been trusted.

The level was equivalent to real life close friend.

Therefore, Meena sees me now in a favorable light.