"Are you alright?"
Aria asked Soren, her eyes filled with distress and a faint appreciation.
He was already injured enough trying to trick that Blazing Falcon, and now, with all the mana drained from his body, he looked extremely pale.
Yet he managed to save them all with no injuries. Well, they were battered and bruised, but rather than from a monster, it was because they used too much of their power just to defend.
To be honest, she was extremely grateful to him and faintly...curious?
"Hey, Soren...are you an idiot? Why the heck did you take that risk? Do you want to die?"
Just as Soren was about to reply, though, he had to stop suddenly as Sylvia came running and punched his shoulder.
"Do you think of yourself as a hero? Or are you some kind of messiah, huh? Who told you to sacrifice yourself for a flimsy plan?"
Sylvia was really angry this time. When that blazing inferno surrounded him, she felt he was really done for.
Never before in her life did she feel that she was this close to losing her friend. Her heart almost came to her throat when she shouted 'NO.'
"Ouch...hey, can't you see I am injured? It hurts, you know?"
Soren rubbed his shoulder where she hit him and gave her a look. He noticed that Sylvia was getting very touchy with him recently, not in a good way, of course.
"What? You weren't hurt when that monster practically roasted you alive, and now my little punch hurts? Where did all that bravery from earlier go?"
"Hey, I just saved you, you know. Why are you getting angry?"
"Angry, am I getting angry? Aria, do I look angry to you?"
"N-No..."
"See? Why would I get angry? You damn bastard can go die for all I care. Who am I to argue?"
"Hey...hey...calm down, will you?"
"Why? Why do I have to calm down? Why am I the one silently enduring always?"
"Why are you fighting all alone?"
"Why does your plan involve risking your life?"
"Why...you...you even do that to me...then why...lightly...life."
The more Soren tried to calm Sylvia down, the more her emotions went haywire. Her beautiful blue eyes were already misty, filled with faint tears.
Her strong facade from before was crumbling like a building made up of dominoes, rapidly at that.
It seemed Soren took this incident too lightly and totally forgot that this world was not a game.
It was reality.
Reality where Sylvia had no idea that they were being tested by Principal Logan.
That, she had no idea, even if they were severely injured, someone in the dark would save their lives.
Reality where she was afraid that she could lose her close friend that day, who was giving his all to save her life.
For a teenage girl who was just introduced to the cruel world of Dungeons and dangers, of course, it was a great event that could evolve into trauma.
In the first place, mental fortitude was not Sylvia's forte, was it?
"Hey, hey, hey....Sylvia...Can you calm down now?"
Seeing Sylvia's emotional breakdown, Soren suddenly realized that his thinking had a core flaw that could drown him in an abyss at any time.
Now that he thought about it, from the beginning, he did not take this life as seriously as his previous one.
Or rather, maybe, he was thinking of himself as a character inserted into a game, not a real human.
Truly, was he really thinking of himself as a side character of the Dating Sim?
Was Sylvia just a heroine for him to capture?
What was he thinking?
"Hey, I am sorry, alright. I shouldn't have just let you go through with that."
"But believe me, that was the best plan I had at that time. And we did manage to kill that monster, didn't we?"
Soren felt something within him change after seeing an innocent girl shed her tears for him.
Who said a man possessed an iron will that nothing could shake?
They simply had not yet met the woman capable of shaking it.
"Are you alright now?"
Soren slowly rubbed off her teary eyes, getting rid of the moisture before asking her softly.
Only when she nodded at him did he smile and suddenly hug her entire body, making her lean against his chest and giving both her and Aria a slight surprise.
"S-Soren...?"
"Shsss...calm down, and use your healing power on me. Can't you see that I am hurt? I can barely even stand, idiot."
Soren firmly grabbed her waist and refused to let her budge before breathing deeply near Sylvia's ears, making the tip of her ear turn crimson.
"As your friend, it is nothing to lean on your body until I can stand up by myself, ain't it?"
He asked, but his hands were already hugging her soft body firmly, pressing her chest against his own, while his lips traveled to her neck, breathing lightly and making her whole body tremble.
Previously, Soren thought Sylvia let him get away with acting like this because she was the heroine of the dating sim.
As a character from a game focused on romance, it made sense for her to act like this, right?
"Umm...o-okay...then let me heal you properly."
Sylvia seemed a bit uncomfortable and scared at being hugged by Soren, but after some struggle, she didn't say much.
Rather, she seriously activated her skill, healing his whole body carefully.
In fact, compared to Aurelia, who was on the ground struggling to even stand, his injury wasn't that bad.
But she still came to him anxiously and showed her embarrassing emotions. She didn't even care that he was hugging her, but thought he was truly injured and did everything to heal him.
If Soren still didn't realize that she had feelings for him, he was a fool.
If he still thought she was just a character in a game, he should probably go kill himself.
Although he didn't know what she saw in him to fall for him like this, first love was like that, wasn't it?
He had his fair share of experience in his past life, too.
Soren had to understand that this was his new reality, alright.
---
Ding!
[You have activated a new side quest related to the main Heroine Sylvia Everhart.]
[Side Quest: Hug her from behind and firmly grab her ass.]
[Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆]
[Time Limit: 30 Minutes]
[Rewards: ??]
[Punishment: All your luck points will be bottomed out for 12 hours.]
---
A new reality with a Perverted Harem System that would give him lucrative rewards for completing perverted quests.
"~~Mmm? S-Soren?"
A reality where he could make a harem of beautiful girls who were head over heels for him.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Shhh... my hands slipped, alright. Just heal me already?"
Soren spoke while moulding Sylvia's buttcheek through her clothes brazenly, causing her to breathe deeply and flush in shame.
Yet he ordered her to shamelessly heal his body while he enjoyed her perky bottom, and that too right in front of Aria's wide eyes.
Fortunately, Aurelia wasn't looking at them.
Still, wasn't this reality so awesome?
"Hey guys... help me fast... I don't think I can lure it around too long."
Well, except for our poor protagonist Evan, of course, who seemed to be totally forgotten.