Chapter 41
Thanks to Leo’s support, I was able to safely return the doll to the little boy.
“Thank you, miss! Hehehe!”
As if he had never been crying his eyes out just moments ago, the boy was now beaming again. Hugging the doll tightly, he ran off with a skip toward the girl he liked.
“Good grief, watch your step—you’ll trip!”
It wasn’t something I would normally nag about, but maybe it was because his tiny back looked so endearing.
“What does a little squirt like you know about love, huh? Ah well, it’s a sweet time to be alive~”
I clicked my tongue as I said it, but found myself grinning ear to ear.
Why are kids just so adorable?
And just like that, I completed the quest and leveled up again. My level was rising fast.
As I casually dismissed the level-up notification and turned my head, I found Leo looking at me with curious eyes.
‘W-Wait. Did he just see me looking at my status window?’
Did he catch me manipulating something in the air?
Even if he did, I could probably brush it off as some divine power thing or whatever…
Still, my heart sank, and I stammered as I asked,
“Wh-What?”
“U-Um, Lady Elaine… H-Have you ever, uhm… been in l-love?”
Ah. He must’ve gotten curious because of my earlier teasing remark.
I scratched my head.
“Well, yeah? I have. Once.”
Though… it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.
Plenty of guys were curious about “girls who game.”
And lots of them, once they found out their online party member was a girl, would immediately try to make a move.
Among them, I dated one who seemed relatively normal.
Keyword: seemed.
He bailed on a date with me last minute to go to a PC café with his friends. But when I couldn’t attend one of his gatherings due to a pre-scheduled raid, he got mad and accused me of being rude.
We broke up right after that.
A textbook case of double standards.
To be fair, someone unfamiliar with gaming might not understand.
They might not get what a raid or a static party even is, and wonder, “Are you saying this game is more important than me?”
But a raid is a high-level dungeon or boss fight, and a static party is a dedicated group that meets regularly to complete them together—kind of like a small club with shared goals and a strict schedule.
It wasn’t about the game—it was about keeping a promise made after coordinating with many others.
There’s even that famous story, right?
About the major restaurant CEO who hired his tank because the guy was about to quit their raid group for job hunting.
That’s how serious static parties can be.
And yet… this ex of mine wasn’t some outsider to gaming. He met me in a game. He knew all this.
And still didn’t understand.
If that’s not hypocrisy, I don’t know what is.
Ugh. Just thinking about him gets me worked up again.
I exhaled slowly, trying to blow that ex out of my memory for good.
“Well, it wasn’t anything serious. He was a jerk, so we broke up quickly.”
“A-Ah. I see.”
Leo nodded, looking like he was barely holding back a smile.
What, is he laughing at my tragic dating history?
I wanted to scold him, but thought of how he’d helped me in battle today and let it slide.
“Alright then, let’s head back.”
The sun was starting to set. It was almost time for the NPC who’d help us to arrive at the inn.
We needed to be there to meet him.
Leo followed me with such a cheerful bounce in his step, it was as if he had a wagging tail.
‘It’s like I’ve picked up a giant puppy instead of a little brother.’
With that blond hair, he looked just like a golden retriever.
When we returned to the inn, the rest of our companions started coming back one by one.
Darren patted his back, complaining about hauling lumber all day at the carpentry shop.
Adrian said he’d helped sort account books at the marketplace.
And then there was Rena, who hadn’t managed to do anything all day thanks to her shy personality. She slumped face-first onto the table.
‘Leo, you probably should’ve gone with your sister, not me.’
In the game, the two of them had gone around together, so she at least accomplished something.
But with that small change, she now looked like her soul had left her body.
“Seriously, you should try fixing that prickly attitude of yours. I get it, you’re from a noble family, and commoners must seem beneath you or whatever, but still…”
Darren teased Rena with his usual smirk—not physically, but with a verbal jab.
And as he did, my internal warning system blared.
‘Uh-oh. This might get bad.’
Rena probably had a rough day. If he kept poking her…
Sure enough, instead of giving him her usual withering glare and sarcastic retort, Rena’s eyes filled with tears.
A single teardrop slid down her cheek.
Her face was twisted with pain and frustration.
Darren froze in place, completely stunned.
Even Leo stammered in disbelief.
“R-R-Rena, a-are you… crying?”
She didn’t answer. Just covered her face and walked to her room.
The loud slam of the door hit us like a slap.
Everyone stared at the closed door in shock.
‘Whoa. Even I didn’t expect her to cry.’
I thought she’d explode and start yelling at Darren, maybe even get physical.
But to cry and run off…
“…”
Silence fell over the room like a heavy fog.
It was suffocating.
No one could speak.
Darren clutched his messy hair, completely lost.
The one who broke the silence was the innkeeper, peeking in from the stairs.
“Um, there’s someone here to see you all…”
He, too, seemed unsure, sensing the awkward tension in the air.
“Uh, I’ll go down first.”
Adrian saw his chance and quickly excused himself.
He was supposed to be the one greeting the guest anyway, but the way he slipped out made him look like an opportunist. Somehow, it rubbed me the wrong way.
“…Did I mess up?”
Darren mumbled blankly.
“Do you really need me to answer that for you? You’ve got eyes and a brain, don’t you?”
I snapped at him, my tone sharper than usual.
Making your crush cry is the kind of thing you’re supposed to outgrow in elementary school.
Honestly, kids these days are more mature than that.
And here he was, a grown man, acting like a dumb grade-schooler.
“Ugh… My dad always told me—the most pathetic kind of man is one who makes a woman cry… And now I’m that guy…”
Darren groaned and clutched his head.
Uh… I’m pretty sure that’s not exactly what your dad meant, but okay.
Still, crying woman = bad man wasn’t entirely wrong.
‘Wait… Didn’t Darren say his parents died when he was young?’
So his dad gave him that kind of “early life training,” huh?
I pictured a man with Darren’s same fuzzball hair sitting his young son on his knee and lecturing him about not making girls cry… and somehow, it warmed my heart a little.
But that wasn’t the issue right now.
What mattered was figuring out how to fix this disastrous situation.
“…What should I do?”
Darren was clearly panicked and at a total loss.
Even Leo, Rena’s own twin, seemed mentally frozen.
“M-My sister… she cried? Even when she scraped her knee at six, she got right up and said, ‘I’m six now, I don’t cry anymore…’ But now…”
“…!”
Darren looked even more devastated.
He was the reason she’d cried for the first time in over ten years.
Ouch.
“Hm… I think for now, we should give her some space. Rena’s really proud, so…”
I cautiously voiced my opinion after quietly observing the situation.
Better to let her cool off than to stir things up even more.
I wasn’t 100% confident, but it was based on experience. After all, I had been her roommate for a while.
Fortunately, Leo, who knew her better than I ever could, nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. I think so too. If we push her now, it’ll just make it worse.”
“Ugh… I’m the worst guy ever…”
Darren collapsed onto the table, face-down, mirroring Rena earlier.
‘They really don’t seem compatible at all, and yet… they’re weirdly alike in some ways.’
I shook off the thought and focused on the sounds coming from downstairs.
Footsteps. Two sets.
One was Adrian, for sure.
And the other…
‘She’s here. Ferdia.’
The young herbalist who would guide us into the forest.
It seemed she had finally arrived.
