Chapter 50: Isn’t It Rude to Stare at Other Women When You’re Waiting to Meet One?

Kazui’s speculation was roughly correct.

In terms of social advancement, this world could be called a society of gender equality, but when it came to the sex industry, it was biased toward men.

In the case of the Northern Continent, the reason for that was the influence of the Heroes’ Charter.

At the time the absolute and inviolable Heroes’ Charter was established, sexual morals were strict due to religious influence, so the sex industry was strictly prohibited on the surface.

However, the male-oriented sex industry had continued to exist in a small way in the underworld.

The Twelve Heroes who established the Heroes’ Charter stipulated in the Heroes’ Charter that such industries would be recognized as a necessary evil as long as the rules were followed.

In the era when the Heroes’ Charter was established, the underworld sex industry was completely male-oriented.

Therefore, the Heroes’ Charter only assumed a sex industry that took men as customers when deciding the rules, so a sex industry that took women as customers was not recognized.

This was limited to the Northern Continent, which was bound by the Heroes’ Charter; the situation differed by nation and city on the other continents.

On the other continents overall, due to religious restrictions, the tendency was stricter than on the Northern Continent.

However, there were some cities full of entertainment districts, and in such cities it was said that a female-oriented sex industry also existed, though on a small scale.

(I still don’t know whether Lumia-san was serious or not, but if it’s a sexually frustrated female adventurer, would it be easier to invite her... and lead things into sex?)

While looking at a female adventurer in a blue combat uniform who looked to be around thirty and whose appraisal result had come out as "state of sexual frustration," Kazui thought.

She was a female adventurer with a sheathed sword at her waist, and her class appeared to be that of a swordswoman.

(If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be easier to copy skills if I look for sexually frustrated women who seem likely to have skills?)

By using Sexual Appraisal, Kazui could find female adventurers in a state of sexual frustration.

Such female adventurers seemed to Kazui more likely to go along with sexual invitations than ordinary women.

In other words, for Kazui, they were women with a high possibility of being invited into sexual acts so that he could copy skills.

He realized the possibility that by using Sexual Appraisal, it would become easier to find women with a high possibility of being able to copy skills.

The trigger for noticing that was the exchange with Lumia in the lobby of the Guild Hall.

Kazui still did not know whether Lumia had been serious or joking and teasing him.

However, thanks to Lumia, he had been able to notice it.

The possibility that by using Sexual Appraisal, which could see through sexual frustration, it would become easier to make use of Replication, whose activation condition was sexual acts.

(I’ve never invited a woman before, and if I do it the normal way, there’s absolutely no way it would succeed...)

Kazui shifted his gaze to a female adventurer who looked to be in her mid-twenties and was dressed like a mage, located about ten-odd meters away in the direction diagonally to the front left.

While still activating Sexual Appraisal and making both eyes glow blue.

This female adventurer’s appraisal result had also come out as sexual frustration.

(If it’s a sexually frustrated woman, maybe there’s a little possibility that even if I invite her, it might succeed...)

After thinking that, Kazui immediately added in his heart.

(No, there isn’t. I’m not popular... after all.)

Kazui had no experience of being popular with women.

He thought that even if someone like him called out to a woman, there was no way she would go along with an invitation.

(If by some mistake Lumia-san really does become my partner, maybe I should try inviting other women with no expectation of success... and test it?)

As a result of using Sexual Appraisal, if he could perform sexual acts with Lumia and copy skills, then maybe he could do the same with other women as well...

That was how it seemed to Kazui.

"Isn’t it rude to stare at other women when you’re waiting to meet one?"

A familiar female voice reached Kazui’s ears.

In a fluster, he looked diagonally to the front right.

Then he noticed that Lumia, dressed in jeans, a white blouse, and a flax-colored linen jacket, was walking toward him.

Because he had been looking at the female adventurer diagonally to the front left, he had not noticed Lumia approaching from the front right.

From Lumia’s side, she could see Kazui’s profile as he stared at the mage-like woman.

Almost no one noticed the faint and weak blue light that Kazui’s eyes were emitting, but Lumia, who knew about Sexual Appraisal, was able to notice it.

"L-Lumia-san!"

Raising a voice of surprise, Kazui began to make an excuse.

"No, um... actually, I was using Sexual Appraisal..."

"You were testing it, right? I can tell because I was watching."

There was no edge in Lumia’s tone, and her expression was a smile.

She had seen through the fact that Kazui was simply testing the unusual skill he had just obtained, so she was not particularly in a bad mood.

Lumia sat down to Kazui’s right.

"It’s natural to want to test a skill you’ve just obtained."

"Well, that’s about right."

Feeling relieved that Lumia did not seem to be in a bad mood, Kazui stopped Sexual Appraisal.

The faint blue light disappeared from both of his eyes.