Day 10 of my new life, and I'd learned several important lessons:
Dungeon grinding with romantic rivals is emotionally exhausting
Healing magic can be used passive-aggressively
Never, EVER mention that one girl's fighting style is "cool" in front of the other
"Kyle, stay close to ME," Sera said, pulling me behind her as we entered the Whispering Caverns. "This dungeon has invisible traps."
"Actually," Aria countered, pulling me in the opposite direction, "he should stay near the HEALER. You know, in case of injury?"
**[SERA]: She's using the healer excuse AGAIN. I've seen her healing spells. Half of them are unnecessary. She just wants to hold his hand!
**[SISTER ARIA]: She's using the trap excuse AGAIN. I've seen her "guide" him. Her hands wander! This is unprofessional!
I was literally being pulled in two directions like a wishbone.
"Ladies," Eliza said, not even trying to hide her amusement, "you're going to tear him in half. Which would make both healing AND trap detection pointless."
**[ELIZA]: ████ DAY 47 ██████ OF WATCHING ████ THIS ROMANTIC ██████ COMEDY ████ STILL HILARIOUS ██████ SHOULD I ████ INTERVENE? ██████ ...NAH ████
Both girls reluctantly released me, but positioned themselves on either side like competitive bodyguards.
We ventured deeper into the cavern, and I tried to focus on monster detection rather than the increasingly creative ways Sera and Aria found to "accidentally" touch my arm.
Then we encountered our first enemy: a group of Crystal Spiders.
[CRYSTAL SPIDER - LV 22] x5
"I've got this!" I said, activating my new Power Strike skill.
I charged forward, sword raised—
—and immediately slipped on a patch of ice that definitely wasn't there a second ago.
I crashed face-first into the ground.
**[SERA]: OH NO. Did I accidentally use my Ice Step technique? I was aiming for the SPIDERS. This is terrible. I need to help him up immediately. Before SHE does.
**[SISTER ARIA]: This is my chance! Emergency healing protocol! He might have a bruised ego! That's a medical condition!
Both of them rushed toward me simultaneously, collided with each other, and ended up in a tangled heap on top of me.
"Get off him, you clumsy spy!"
"YOU get off, you handsy nun!"
**[SERA]: This close... he smells like sword oil and determination. Focus! Professional distance!
**[SISTER ARIA]: His face is three inches from mine. This is highly inappropriate. Don't look at his lips. DON'T LOOK AT HIS LIPS.
Meanwhile, the Crystal Spiders were just standing there, watching.
**[CRYSTAL SPIDER ALPHA]: Are... are they going to fight us, or...?
**[CRYSTAL SPIDER #2]: I think they're fighting each other? Over the male human?
**[CRYSTAL SPIDER #3]: Weird mating ritual. Let's just wait.
Eliza casually walked past us, eliminated all five spiders with a single ice spell, and then stood there tapping her foot.
"Are you three done with your romantic comedy skit? We have a dungeon to clear."
**[ELIZA]: ████ I SHOULD ██████ FEEL BAD ████ FOR ENJOYING ██████ THIS ████ BUT IT'S ██████ LIKE WATCHING ████ MY FAVORITE ██████ ANIME ████ EXCEPT LIVE ██████
We all scrambled to our feet, faces red.
"That was a tactical fall!" I declared.
"You face-planted into solid rock," Eliza said.
"TACTICAL face-plant."
**[SERA]: He's trying to save face. It's adorable. Wait. Not adorable. Strategically... endearing? No, that's worse.
**[SISTER ARIA]: The way he gets flustered is so genuine. Unlike most nobles who fake everything. He's... he's real. And I'm staring again.
We continued deeper, and I noticed Sera and Aria were now competing over who could be more "helpful."
"Kyle, there's a trap ahead," Sera said, pointing to a pressure plate. "Here, I'll show you how to disarm it—"
She pulled me close, guiding my hands to the mechanism.
**[SERA]: Perfectly legitimate training. The fact that his back is pressed against me is coincidental. Professional instruction. Very professional. Why is my heart racing?!
"Actually," Aria interrupted, inserting herself between us, "he should learn proper MAGICAL trap detection first. Here, feel the flow of mana—"
She placed her hands over mine, channeling magic.
**[SISTER ARIA]: Teaching moment! Valid teaching moment! Ignore how warm his hands are. This is educational!
"I can't feel anything except you two crushing me," I wheezed.
Eliza appeared, casually disarmed the trap with one hand, and kept walking.
"You're all terrible at this," she called back.
**[ELIZA]: ████ THEY'RE SO ██████ DISTRACTED ████ BY EACH ██████ OTHER ████ THEY FORGOT ██████ ABOUT THE ████ DUNGEON ██████ I'M BASICALLY ████ SOLOING THIS ██████
We reached the boss room: a massive chamber with a beautiful crystal formation in the center.
And standing guard was a Golem made entirely of gemstones.
[PRISMATIC GOLEM - LV 30]
[BOSS MONSTER]
"Alright, standard formation—" Eliza began.
"I'll protect Kyle!" Sera and Aria said simultaneously.
They glared at each other.
"I'm the COMBAT specialist," Sera said.
"I'm the HEALING specialist," Aria countered.
"He needs someone who can FIGHT!"
"He needs someone who can keep him ALIVE!"
**[SERA]: I'm not letting her monopolize protection duty. I've trained him. I know his fighting style. I should be the one guarding his back!
**[SISTER ARIA]: I'm not letting her monopolize protection duty. I've healed him. I know his injury patterns. I should be the one watching his health!
The Golem, confused by the arguing, just stood there.
**[PRISMATIC GOLEM]: Query: Are these adventurers malfunctioning? Recommendation: Wait for technical difficulties to resolve.
"How about," I suggested carefully, "you BOTH protect me? Sera on my left, Aria on my right?"
They considered this.
"...Acceptable," they said in unison.
**[SERA]: Fine. As long as I'm closer than her.
**[SISTER ARIA]: Fine. As long as I'm closer than her.
They both tried to stand closer, ended up shoulder-to-shoulder, and started a subtle shoving match while maintaining perfect smiles.
"FIGHT THE GOLEM," Eliza shouted, "NOT EACH OTHER!"
The battle began.
The Golem swung its massive crystal fists, and I dodged—directly into Sera, who was dodging the opposite direction, and we both crashed into Aria, who was trying to cast a protection spell.
We went down in another tangled heap.
The Golem's fist slammed into the ground where we'd been standing.
**[PRISMATIC GOLEM]: Target missed due to... targets eliminating themselves? Error. Recalculating combat parameters.
"This is a disaster," I groaned from the bottom of the pile.
"YOUR fault for dodging the wrong way!" Sera said.
"YOUR fault for being in the dodge path!" Aria retorted.
"BOTH your faults for not coordinating!" I added.
We scrambled up, and this time, actually tried to work together.
Sera attacked from the left—I struck from the center—Aria buffed from the rear.
It was going well!
Until the Golem did a spin attack.
"DUCK!" I yelled.
Sera ducked.
Aria, unfortunately, heard "HEAL" due to the echo, and cast a healing spell instead.
The Golem's arm clipped her, sending her flying.
"ARIA!" I abandoned my position to catch her.
**[SISTER ARIA]: He... he abandoned tactical advantage to save me. Nobody's done that before. My missions were always expendable. But he—
"I'm fine!" she said quickly, face flushed. "Just surprised!"
**[SISTER ARIA]: Lying. Completely lying. My shoulder hurts. But if I admit it, he'll worry, and I don't want him distracted because of me—
"You're hurt," I said, seeing through the lie thanks to her chatbox. "Sera, cover us!"
"On it!"
**[SERA]: He's prioritizing her safety. That's... that's actually really noble. Damn it. I can't even be jealous. That's the RIGHT call. Why does doing the right thing make him more attractive?!
Sera engaged the Golem solo, her daggers flashing in a deadly dance while I helped Aria to safety.
"You didn't have to—" Aria started.
"You're part of the team," I said firmly. "We don't leave team members behind."
**[SISTER ARIA]: Team members. Right. That's all. Just teammates. Ignore the butterflies in your stomach. Ignore how he's looking at you with genuine concern. Ignore how much you want to—FOCUS ON THE BATTLE.
Eliza, watching from the sidelines, was taking notes.
**[ELIZA]: ████ CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ██████ CHECK ████ PROTECTIVE INSTINCT ██████ CHECK ████ MAKING BOTH ██████ GIRLS FALL ████ HARDER ██████ CHECK ████ HE'S A ██████ NATURAL ████ HAREM PROTAGONIST ██████ AND DOESN'T ████ EVEN KNOW ██████ IT ████
Once Aria was stabilized, we rejoined the fight.
This time, we actually coordinated.
Sera and I attacked in tandem—her fast strikes creating openings for my power attacks. Aria provided buffs and heals at exactly the right moments.
We were finally working as a team.
The Golem fell.
[LEVEL UP! LV 18 → LV 21]
[PARTY COORDINATION IMPROVED!]
[NEW SKILL: PROTECTIVE INSTINCT (PASSIVE) - BOOST STATS WHEN DEFENDING ALLIES]
As the crystal dust settled, I noticed both Sera and Aria looking at me with odd expressions.
**[SERA]: He fought well. Really well. And the way he protected Aria without hesitation... that's what a real partner does. Not a handler. Not a target. A partner. I want to be his partner. OH NO.
**[SISTER ARIA]: He could've left me. It would've been tactically sound. But he didn't. He risked himself for me. The Church taught me that everyone is expendable for the mission. But Kyle... Kyle doesn't think like that. I don't want to leave when this is over. THAT'S A PROBLEM.
"Good work, team," Eliza said, appearing beside us. "You only almost died three times. That's a new record."
"Your confidence is overwhelming," I said dryly.
"Hey, last dungeon it was five times."
We collected the loot and headed for the exit.
As we walked through the cavern, Sera suddenly spoke up.
"Kyle... thanks. For earlier. When you caught Aria."
**[SERA]: Why am I thanking him for saving someone else? Because it was the right thing and I respect that even if it makes me jealous.
"Yeah," Aria added softly. "You didn't have to do that."
"Of course I did. You're both important."
**[SERA & SISTER ARIA simultaneously]: IMPORTANT?!
Both their faces turned red.
"I mean, to the team! Important to the team!" I backpedaled frantically.
**[SERA]: He thinks I'm important. To him. To the TEAM. But still. Important. Nobody's called me important before. I'm a tool. A weapon. But he sees me as... important.
**[SISTER ARIA]: Important. That word. It's such a simple word but coming from him it feels... significant. The Church never told me I was important. Just useful. But important? That's different.
Eliza was grinning like a cat that caught a canary.
**[ELIZA]: ████ HE'S DOING ██████ IT AGAIN ████ ACCIDENTAL FLIRTING ██████ WHILE BEING ████ COMPLETELY SINCERE ██████ MAXIMUM EFFECTIVENESS ████ I SHOULD ██████ TAKE NOTES ████
That evening, back at the prison quarters, Eliza pulled me aside.
"Okay, we need to talk about your... situation."
"My impending assassination?"
"Your impending HAREM."
I choked on my water.
"It's NOT a harem!"
"Kyle. Sweetie. My dear transmigrator friend. You have two highly trained assassins competing for your affection while simultaneously trying to keep you alive. That's literally a harem anime plot."
**[ELIZA]: ████ ALSO I'M ██████ GETTING INVESTED ████ IN THIS ██████ TOO ████ BUT HE ██████ DOESN'T NEED ████ TO KNOW ██████ THAT YET ████
"They're just... protective!"
"Sera literally threatened a guard yesterday for looking at you too long."
"She's cautious!"
"Aria has started a prayer circle for your safety."
"She's religious!"
"The prayer circle meets FIVE TIMES A DAY and she leads it personally."
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"...Okay that's slightly excessive."
"SLIGHTLY?!" Eliza laughed. "Kyle, they're both falling for you. Hard. And you need to figure out how to handle that before it becomes a problem."
"How is it a problem? They're working together fine!"
"They're working together DESPITE their feelings. But feelings don't stay dormant forever. Eventually, you'll have to make a choice."
**[ELIZA]: ████ OR CHOOSE ██████ BOTH ████ HAREM ROUTE ██████ IS VALID ████ IN RPGS ██████ ...AM I ████ GIVING RELATIONSHIP ██████ ADVICE ████ OR GAMING ██████ ADVICE? ████ BOTH? ██████
"I can't think about that right now. The Duke is still trying to kill me."
"Which is exactly when feelings get complicated," Eliza said wisely. "Life-or-death situations make people realize what—and who—they care about."
**[ELIZA]: ████ LIKE HOW ██████ I'M REALIZING ████ I ENJOY ██████ HIS COMPANY ████ MORE THAN ██████ I SHOULD ████ BUT THAT'S ██████ DIFFERENT ████ I'M THE ██████ MENTOR FIGURE ████ ...RIGHT? ██████
Before I could respond, there was frantic knocking on the door.
Both Sera and Aria burst in simultaneously.
"Kyle needs—"
"—to see this—"
"—immediately!"
They glared at each other for speaking in unison.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Sera held up a message scroll. "Invitation. From Duke Blackwood. To a ball. Tomorrow night."
My blood ran cold.
"The Duke who's trying to kill me wants me at a BALL?"
"It's a trap," Aria said immediately. "Obviously a trap."
"Of course it's a trap," Eliza agreed, reading the scroll. "But it's also an opportunity. You'll be in the Duke's territory. Close enough to read his chatbox. This could give us the proof we need."
**[ELIZA]: ████ RISKY ██████ VERY RISKY ████ BUT NECESSARY ██████ ALSO ████ I'M CURIOUS ██████ TO SEE ████ KYLE IN ██████ FORMAL WEAR ████ ...FOR STRATEGIC ██████ REASONS ████
"Absolutely not," Sera said firmly. "It's too dangerous."
"I agree with the spy," Aria added. "For once."
**[SERA]: If he goes, he could die. I won't allow it. I CAN'T allow it. The thought of losing him makes my chest hurt.
**[SISTER ARIA]: Too many variables. Too many threats. I've lost people before on missions. I won't lose him. I CAN'T lose him.
"We don't have a choice," Eliza said. "This is our best opportunity to gather evidence. But—" she looked at the two girls "—he won't go alone. We'll ALL attend. As his... entourage."
"Entourage?" I repeated.
"You're a prisoner under rehabilitation. It makes sense you'd have handlers. Sera as your security, Aria as your spiritual advisor, and me as your supervising officer."
"So we're just openly walking into the enemy's stronghold."
"Yes."
"As a group."
"Yes."
"Where everyone wants me dead."
"Probably yes."
**[ELIZA]: ████ ALSO I ██████ GET TO ████ WEAR A ██████ BALL GOWN ████ HAVEN'T DONE ██████ THAT ████ IN YEARS ██████ WONDER IF ████ KYLE WILL ██████ ...FOCUS ELIZA ████
"I hate this plan," I said.
"It's a terrible plan," Sera agreed.
"Absolutely reckless," Aria confirmed.
"So we're doing it," Eliza concluded cheerfully.
**[SERA]: If we're going to a ball, I need a dress. A NICE dress. One that makes Kyle notice— FOR CAMOUFLAGE. Obviously for camouflage.
**[SISTER ARIA]: If we're going to a ball, I need formal robes. Elegant ones. That highlight my— FOR DIPLOMATIC APPEARANCES. Purely diplomatic.
Both girls left simultaneously, muttering about "preparation" and "appropriate attire."
After they were gone, Eliza turned to me with a mischievous smile.
"Tomorrow night is going to be chaos."
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because watching you navigate a ball with two jealous dates while trying not to get assassinated sounds like peak entertainment."
"I'm so glad my potential death amuses you."
"Oh, you won't die. They'd never forgive me. Or themselves."
**[ELIZA]: ████ ALSO I ██████ WOULDN'T FORGIVE ████ MYSELF ██████ HE'S BECOME ████ IMPORTANT ██████ TO ME ████ TOO ██████ WHEN DID ████ THAT HAPPEN? ██████
She stood to leave, then paused at the door.
"Kyle? For what it's worth... I'm glad you're here. This world was lonely before you showed up."
**[ELIZA]: ████ DID I ██████ JUST SAY ████ THAT OUT ██████ LOUD?! ████ ABORT ██████ ABORT ████ MAINTAIN COOL ██████ MENTOR PERSONA ████
Before I could respond, she was gone.
I sat alone in my room, processing everything.
Tomorrow: A ball. At the Duke's mansion. Where I'd be surrounded by enemies.
With three beautiful, deadly women as my dates/bodyguards/emotional complications.
What could possibly go wrong?
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: ROMANCE FLAGS RAISED]
[SERA: AFFECTION 55/100 (+14)]
[ARIA: AFFECTION 52/100 (+14)]
[ELIZA: AFFECTION 31/100 (+7)]
[SPECIAL EVENT UNLOCKED: THE BALL OF CERTAIN DOOM]
[WARNING: HIGH PROBABILITY OF ROMANTIC CHAOS]
[ALSO WARNING: HIGH PROBABILITY OF ACTUAL DEATH]
[GOOD LUCK BALANCING BOTH! ♡]