"Now that I look at it properly… it's incredible that all these people were created by me." Mark said.
He was walking through the village, observing his surroundings and feeling amazed by the houses—by basically everything.
'Where could that girl be?' he thought. The last thing he needed was to end up being accused of being a pervert throughout the whole village.
As he walked, Mark noticed the villagers' stares, more specifically those of the women.
When he returned their gaze, they would look away and laugh nervously.
But for Mark, who had suffered something similar in his past life, those looks ended up meaning that they were mocking him.
'Tsk… how annoying.' he thought, ignoring the stares and focusing on completing his mission.
***
After just a few minutes, he reached the edge of the village, ending up near the enormous tree where he had rescued the cat.
"What a waste of time…" he muttered.
"People like you aren't welcome in this town, freak!"
'Huh?' Mark heard some voices coming from the direction of the tree.
By instinct, he began to approach slowly, seeing a group of three boys surrounding someone.
'What the hell is this?' he thought irritably, believing they were harassing someone as a group.
'They always go in groups—' he fell silent when he realized that the person they were surrounding was Liria.
To his surprise, she had her gaze lowered, clearly frightened. It was obvious from how drooped her ears were.
'What do I do?... if I get involved, I'll end up getting beaten.' he thought, unsure of what to do.
"Don't play deaf with those ears, you shitty elf!" one of the boys exclaimed, shoving Liria, making her crash into the tree trunk and ultimately fall to the ground.
Mark, upon seeing that and hearing the girl's pained groan, couldn't help but keep watching.
So he chose to turn around and leave.
He took only a few steps before stopping. His expression was hard to explain.
'If I don't do something… but what is someone like me supposed to do?' He was scared; every time he had tried to defend himself, he always ended up getting beaten.
But that very thought was what made him understand. He quickly turned around and began to walk toward the group of boys with firm steps.
'I know better than anyone what it's like to be mistreated and not be able to do anything. I know that helplessness.'
"HEY, ASSHOLES!" Mark shouted, drawing the attention of the three, along with Liria's.
She looked at him, confused, but with a slight glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"And who the fuck are you?" asked aggressively the one who seemed to be the leader of the group.
He was a tall boy, about 16 or 18 cm taller than Mark, but with a terrible physique.
Mark didn't respond. He just walked until he stood in front of Henry, the group's leader.
When he was right in front of him, he raised his gaze, fixing him with a serious and hostile expression.
"Do you think harassing a woman makes you more of a man or stronger? On top of that, in a group. How pathetic."
He spat the words out without holding back, though in his mind he was afraid of how the guy would react.
'He looks awful, but I can't let my guard down just because of that…' he thought.
Henry intensified his stare at Mark, who didn't even flinch. "You think you're hot shit, runt?"
He stepped closer, ending up practically pressed against Mark, who didn't move an inch.
The other two boys stayed back, watching how that conflict would be resolved.
'And now what the hell do I do? Do I hit him?' he thought nervously.
But he noticed, to his horror, that Henry was already about to throw the first punch.Tash!
The two boys were left with their mouths open and eyes wide, wearing expressions of total pain.
Liria was stunned by what she had just seen. Henry remained standing for a few seconds, until his body began to tremble and then he collapsed heavily to the ground.
And there was Mark, standing there, with that serious, cold expression fixed on the two boys, who, frightened, grabbed their friend and ran away.
'That was close… even I felt that.' he thought, remembering the kick to the balls he had given the guy.
But in the end it worked, so that was enough for him. Calmly, he began to walk toward Liria, who was staring at him in surprise.
When he was by her side, Mark crouched down and extended his hand to her with a huge smile on his face.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Liria remained motionless from what she had witnessed, and a sudden blush flooded her face all the way to her ears.
Looking away nervously, she extended her hand and took Mark's, completely embarrassed.
"Th-this… thank you." she replied timidly, standing up from the ground.
"Don't worry about it. Why were those assholes bothering you?" Mark said.
Liria nodded, still ashamed, and then answered. "It's because of my ears… not many people in this country like elves…" she said somewhat dejectedly.
Mark found it a bit amusing to see how Liria's ears moved to the sides, showing what she was feeling at that moment.
'I don't remember putting that kind of racism in…' he thought, confused.
"I think it's stupid. I like your ears." he stated without realizing the weight of his words.
Liria reacted completely surprised and became even more embarrassed.
She looked away, but then fixed her gaze on Mark again, nervous. "W-w-wh-what are you saying?... b-but th-thank you." she replied.
"Don't worry, I mean it. If those idiots bother you again, let me know, okay?" he said, more confident in himself.
He wanted to act tough in front of a pretty woman. Liria only accepted Mark's words, embarrassed.
"Where are you from? From your reaction, it seemed like you didn't know about this treatment toward elves…" Liria confessed, intrigued.
Mark grew nervous and looked to the side, trying to change the subject.
"Uh… from around." he said, knowing he had screwed up.
But, to his surprise, Liria said nothing and just acted as if she understood. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to—" he was about to ask, but was interrupted by her.
"No, don't worry. Everyone has their secrets." she replied with a sweet smile that made Mark blush.
***
Mark was following Liria to her house while rubbing his cheek with a reddened, marked hand.
'That wasn't my intention…' he thought, in pain.
In the end, since it was the first time he had ever seen an elf, he had asked Liria if he could touch them.
But she had ended up thinking he was referring to her chest.
[Author System]
[Notice: Mission completed successfully.]
[Report: Reward given:
+5 Affinity with Liria,
New skill unlocked: Affinity.]
[Tip: Say or think 'affinity' to view the statistics.]
'Finally, something good…' he thought, satisfied. 'Affinity.'
[Affinity: This skill shows the percentage of affection women have toward the user.
The higher it is, the greater the affection.
Percentages under 20% indicate trust.
Percentages under 50% indicate full fondness.
Percentages over 50% indicate love.
Data:
Liria 65%]
'What the hell?'