"Waaa!"
Olivia stumbled over a half-buried root, her foot catching awkwardly as her balance vanished in an instant.
Before she could fall, a hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her upright.
"Careful."
Soren steadied her, keeping his grip firm until she was back on her feet.
"S-Sorry, Soren…" Olivia said quietly, her shoulders drooping.
The way her eyes avoided his made her thoughts painfully obvious.
This wasn't the first time it had happened.
Given that she was a priestess and one who clearly didn't get much physical training, Soren didn't complain.
Expecting her to sprint through dense forest terrain like some trained ranger would've been ridiculous, especially this early into the semester when most students were still figuring out their limits.
Letting go of her wrist, Soren tried to keep his tone light.
"It's fine. You're a priestess. It'd be weird if you could run perfectly through a forest as dense as this."
If anything, the only reason he was managing at all was because of his near-death experience back in Rena Forest.
Without that, he would've been struggling just as badly.
"Still…" Olivia murmured, clearly dissatisfied.
Soren wanted to keep talking, to actually reassure her properly, but the uneasy feeling in his chest refused to fade.
Ever since the noise behind them had stopped, his instincts had been screaming at him.
"You're doing well," he said firmly. "I mean it. Let's keep moving."
Their destination was already decided.
All that mattered now was reaching it before "it" reached them.
To be honest, Soren wasn't even sure whether they were being chased specifically, but he wasn't about to gamble two entire skills on the chance that they weren't.
One wrong assumption, one moment of hesitation, and everything he had worked for would be gone.
"Okay!" Olivia replied quickly, nodding and forcing a smile.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Huff… Soren… huff… can we… huff… take a break…?"
'Finally.'
Soren cheered inwardly at Olivia's innocent plea.
They had been alternating between walking and running for over an hour now, pushing themselves with a single-minded focus on reaching their destination.
His legs felt like lead, and his lungs burned every time he drew in air.
Turning toward her, he deliberately let the exhaustion he had been masking seep into his voice.
"Huff… Yeah… sure…"
He was genuinely surprised she had lasted this long.
'Who would've thought her stamina was better than mine…'
Soren had burned through his stamina ages ago.
The only reason he had kept going was because Olivia was still managing.
The thought of being the first one to ask for a break had been… unpleasant.
'It would've been embarrassing if I tapped out first.'
Despite everything, his scheming, his manipulation, his bending the knee, there was still a fragment of pride left in him.
As long as he needed to appear dependable in Olivia's eyes, he couldn't afford to look weak.
The moment he gave permission, Olivia let out a small cheer and collapsed against the nearest tree.
"Ahh… heaven—!"
Soren chuckled quietly at the sight before pulling his canteen from his side and offering it to her.
"Here."
"Thank you so much, Soren!"
Without even a hint of hesitation, Olivia took it from his hand and drank deeply.
'Wow…'
Because he was technically inside the world of a game, Soren had half-expected some over-the-top reaction.
Blushing.
Stammering.
Something like, "W-Wouldn't this be an indirect kiss…?"
Instead, nothing.
Zero hesitation.
'I can't tell if she doesn't see me as a guy, if the thought never crossed her mind… or if she just didn't care.'
"…."
After a few seconds of thought, he settled on the third option.
'Yeah. Definitely that.'
As tempting as it was to point it out and tease her, he decided against it.
Making things awkward would only complicate the alliance.
'Plus… NTRing Alex is a no-go.'
Olivia had been crushing on Alex for over ten years at this point.
Even joking about interfering felt wrong.
That thought made him pause.
He was painfully aware of how arrogant it sounded, but he had seen himself in the mirror enough times to know how dangerous his current appearance could be.
When someone reached a certain level of attractiveness, even a casual interaction could be mistaken for flirting.
He didn't want to risk that.
'Oh, the pain of being attractive,' he thought jokingly as Olivia handed the canteen back.
He refilled it with [Aqua] just as she spoke again.
"At this rate, we'll easily end in the top ten… Ahh! I'm so happy. I can't wait for my allowance to go up, hehe."
"What are you planning to buy?" Soren asked, taking another drink.
"Mmm… pretty clothes and makeup! I've never really been able to afford them and…"
Her voice trailed off.
Her cheeks turned pink.
Soren smirked at the sight.
"You've got someone you want to show, don't you?"
"!!!"
Olivia froze, staring at him with her mouth slightly open.
"Pfft. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it," he added quickly. "Just let's make sure we survive today, okay?"
She nodded, then cautiously opened her mouth.
"Actually… can I talk about it?"
Soren blinked, momentarily caught off guard by how open she was.
He chalked it up to her naivety and nodded.
"Uhm… I won't say too much since we're still in the exam, but… there's this boy. He lived in the same village as me. We've been together for as long as I can remember."
She hugged her knees, her voice growing softer.
"When we were kids, I was… a bit chubbier. I got bullied a lot. And…" Her cheeks flushed as she continued. "…Alex was the one who saved me. He stood up for me when nobody else would. Not even my parents."
Soren listened silently.
"Ever since then, we've never been apart. We even came to the academy together…"
'Ah.'
Soren was reminded why he was always team Olivia in every shipping debate.
The sheer destructive power of the girl before him was unreal.
Even he could feel his face warming at how pure the love story was.
That was precisely why he could never support the idea of Alex building a harem, no matter how much the laws of this world allowed it.
"I hope things work out between you two. If you ever need advice, you can come to me," Soren said sincerely.
Soren knew that Olivia didn't have many friends.
Being a commoner and someone who mostly stuck to Alex made that inevitable.
He didn't mind listening if it helped her confidence.
Olivia raised her bright red face from her knees and looked at Soren with a huge grin.
"Hehe… thank you, Soren. You know, I've always wanted to have girl talk like this."
"Huh?"
"I've always struggled to make friends, so this is the first time I've really talked about my feelings, ehehe…"
"Actually—"
Soren opened his mouth to correct her…
"Soren—!"
Her expression changed instantly, eyes locked on something behind him.
"Shit!"
Soren turned just in time to see a figure hurtling toward him at an alarming rate.
'I don't have time to cast!'
He didn't even think about taking such an attack head-on.
He dove sideways.
BOOOM—!
The ground exploded.
'What the fuck?!'
His eyes widened as he stared at the newly formed crater where he had been standing moments earlier.
'Wouldn't I have died if that hit me?'
Sweat ran down his spine as the dust cleared.
"This is the worst…"
He couldn't help but think that when he saw the figure before him.
Standing in the crater was someone he knew.
Amelia Indras Einhardt.
"S-Soren… what should we do…?" Olivia whispered, shaking, but still standing beside him.
'I knew my plan was right.'
It was the only silver lining at the moment.
Soren smiled slightly upon realising that she had decided to stay.
If it were anyone else, they would've started running the moment Amelia had appeared, but instead, Olivia stood by faithfully, waiting for his directions.
The relief lasted only a moment, however, as a sound was heard.
"Hehe."
Amelia laughed.
"You dodged?"
Her neon-yellow eyes gleamed as they traced his body like a predator inspecting prey.
'Fuck, I'm scared!'
The fear he had felt back when he was on death's door in Rena Forest couldn't even compare to this exact moment.
It took every fibre of his being to stop himself from running away.
He desperately tried to think of a solution to his current predicament, but there was nothing.
No matter how hard he racked his brain, there wasn't a single idea that came to mind.
Three seconds.
That was all it would take for Amelia to end them.
That was how strong Amelia Einhardt was.
A bruiser tank who was one of the first characters released all the way back in the first update and managed to stay meta-relevant all the way until the end of service announcement.
While Soren was lost in thought, Olivia spoke up.
"Uhm… Miss Amelia Einhardt? Why are you after us? If it's points you need, we can give them to you…"
It seemed that it wasn't just Soren who was desperate either, since Olivia had essentially offered up her entire future allowance in an attempt to survive this encounter, but alas, it was in vain.
"Heh."
Amelia just laughed in response to Olivia's offer.
And then, instead of responding to Olivia's words, she looked directly at Soren and spoke with a wild grin on her face.
"Fight me."
'I'm fucked.'
————「❤︎」————