"W-Whatâs going on, Lily?" Natalia asked, her expression uncomfortable, her body language fidgety. âWhy are they so close? Whatâs going on?â
Almond blinked as he looked at Natalia, âSomething feels weirdâ¦Her expression...ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"We got into a relationship a few minutes ago," Lily said as she rested her head on his shoulder, her breasts sightly pressing against him.
Nataliaâs eyes started tearing up, "B-Butâ¦you know my feelings."
âSo thatâs what it isâ¦â Almond wryly smiled. âShe is a lesbian.â
"Natalia, since I understood your situation and hung out with you as your partner, you should also understand that I am more attracted to males. Iâve made that clear, butâ¦"
Lily stood up and approached Natalia, her mask vanishing as she faintly smiled and caressed Nataliaâs cheeks as she gently said, "I know you love me, and I wonât stop you or keep you away. But you have to accept me and my feelings, too."
Natalia angrily pouted and wiped her tears, looking at Almond with a hateful gaze as she stomped her feet and said, "But how is this possible? You two just met and talked for the first time today!"
Almond raised his arms in surrender, "I donât know. To be honest, I still havenât accepted the situation fully, but I am trying to."
"See! He doesnât even love you!" Nataliaâs cheeks puffed as she intently looked at Lily.
Lily turned to Almond with deadpan eyes, "So you donât feel attracted to me?"
"No, no, thatâs not what I mean," Almond weakly smiled as he looked at her eyes and then below, sizing her up, "You are the most beautiful girl Iâve ever seen, and as a male, I feel super attracted to you. God forbid if someone puts us in a room together."
"Actually, never mind about that," Almond coughed.
"But you know," Almond stood up and continued as his smile vanished, his golden-almond eyes sharply gleaming. "Iâve been a weak nobody until now, and although I believed I could change my life after turning eighteen and entering the Labyrinth, I died because of some pieces of trash and my luck, but fate was with me, so I am here."
"And I donât want to die but thrive in this world," Almond continued with a somber expression, "Lily, you are attracted to me, but as of right now, do you think you put your life on the line for me?"
Lily raised her eyebrows.
Natalia suddenly said with gritted teeth, "I can put my life on the line for Lily!"
âLet me finish, at least,â Almond rolled his eyes and said as he looked at Lilyâs eyes with determined expression, "Lily, I want someone who I can completely trust. Iâve been alone forever, so I do long for such a person. It would be great if I have someone who has my back."
"But itâs hard to do in this world for someone like me who has always been alone, and you are the first person who got this close to me. I can feel you are sincere because you acted on your impulse and what your heart tells you, and thatâs good. Thatâs better, and thatâs why...I will extend my trust to you."
"Will you do the same?"
Lilyâs dark blue eyes sparkled as she walked towards him and put her arms around his waist before gluing together, her face an inch away from his as she said with a grin, "You donât know how you are making me fall for you more and more with each passing second, darling~"
Her face inched closer, and she planted her lips on his before kissing him.
Nataliaâs face turned horrified, "Lilyâs first kiss! No!"
Lily chuckled and linked her arms with Almond as she winked at Natalia while grinning, "That wasnât our first."
Almond coughed.
"How fast are you guys?! Donât start fucking now!" Natalia pouted and angrily stomped her feet, her words causing both Almond and Lilyâs ears to turn red.
â¦
Natalia went back to scavenging the huts while Almond and Lily rested under a tree, checking their status.
âMy current Focus and Perception are enough for now. My main offensive arsenal is Physical Enchantment, so increasing Strength will allow me to kill the higher-leveled monster easily,â Almondâs eyes glinted, adding the 3 stat points into Strength as it reached 24.5.
"Hereâs my current stats, Almond. Take a look," Lily said as she shared her stats with Almond, her curious eyes indicating she also wanted to see his stats.
âIf she sees my statsâ¦â Almond internally shook his head. âIf I want trust, I need to give trust.â
[Lily]
-Adventurer rank: Bronze.
-Level: 7 [11%]
-Class: Phantom Thief (S)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 250/250]
-Stats: 0 unassigned points
â³[Strength: 25|Health: 15|Stamina: 15]
â³[Mana: 25|Focus: 17|Perception: 20]
"Pretty good," Almond raised his eyebrows.
"Thanks to the stat-increasing potions I had before and now leveling up, my stats are better than average," Lily said with a thrilled sheen in her eyes. "Weâll visit all five important locations on the mountain and a secret one."
"Secret one? Are you talking about White Polanâs lair?" Almond asked in surprise. âThis lair is randomized every time, and we have to follow small clues to find its location, but with her, we should be able to find it rather quickly.â
"Yep. I assume you know all the information about the first floor, right?"
"Yeah, thatâs what I did for years. Gathering information on the Labyrinthâs floors," Almond said as he couldnât help but smile. "I know everything that is revealed in any piece of media."
Saying that, he shared his status with her.
[Almond]
-Adventurer rank: Bronze.
-Level: 7 [4%]
-Class: Spirit Dealer (SS)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 335/335]
-Stats: 0 unassigned points
â³[Strength: 24.5|Health: 13|Stamina: 13.5]
â³[Mana: 14 (+19.5)|Focus: 15|Perception: 16.5]
The first thing she saw was the class and its rank as her eyes widened in shock.