Emil carried Sierra on his back and exited the underground.
Fortunately, there were no monsters attacking them.
Because he had defeated all the monsters on the way when he came to find Sierra.
"..."
Therefore, Sierra simply leaned her body against his back without a word.
Her body was so injured that she felt sorry for leaning on him, yet for some reason, he felt reliable.
His body, which looked like it would collapse at any moment, felt sturdy.
"..."
Is it normal to push one's body so hard for a comrade?
Suddenly, that question came to Sierra's mind.
"Hah, hah…"
But she couldn't ask him that now.
Emil was exhausted, and for some reason, she felt embarrassed to ask him directly.
So, Sierra simply leaned on Emil's back without a word.
And a moment later.
"Found them—! Students are coming out this way!"
"Oh, it's Emil! Is Sierra there?!"
The professors, who had descended into the underground belatedly, discovered Emil and Sierra and rushed towards them.
At that moment, Emil collapsed.
*Thud.*
"Uh, Em, Emil?! Emil!"
"Oh dear, what happened?! His wounds…! Priest! Call for a Priest-nim!"
In fact, Sierra also knew.
That Emil's current condition made it a miracle he was even walking.
"Emil…! Emil, snap out of it!"
Afterward, Sierra and Emil were brought up from the underground by the gathering students and professors.
And Emil was urgently transported on a stretcher.
Sierra had her legs healed by the approaching Priest-nim with magic, then without tending to her other injuries, she immediately followed Emil.
As Emil was brought out of the dungeon's exit.
"Em, Emil—!!"
"Emil—!!"
Two women rushed towards him.
'Mari and… Chris.'
Sierra stared blankly at the two of them.
"*Hic*… Emil—! Wh-why are you like this…! Emil, please wake up…!"
Mari collapsed on top of the unconscious Emil, grabbing his shoulders and sobbing.
She cried as sorrowfully as if he had died.
"Priest-nim…! Is Emil… is he alright? Is he not in danger?"
Chris, on the other hand, held onto the Priest-nim who was checking Emil's condition and asked about his situation.
Judging by her trembling hands, she looked as terrified as Mari.
"Yes, fortunately, there are no serious injuries. He merely lost consciousness from exhaustion."
"Ah…"
"*Hic*, Emil…"
At the Priest-nim's explanation, Chris and Mari finally looked relieved.
Afterward, both of them remained by Emil's side with worried expressions.
'Thank goodness…'
Sierra also let out a sigh of relief at the Priest-nim's explanation, stroking her chest.
And.
'…I want to be next to him too.'
She looked at Emil's two sides, occupied by Chris and Mari.
The spot was already taken, and there was no room for her to squeeze in.
And somehow.
Sierra felt frustrated by this situation.
***
He regained consciousness.
It seemed he had fainted after rescuing Sierra and encountering the professors.
"Mmm…"
When he slowly opened his eyes, a sudden burst of light blinded him.
At least he wasn't in the dungeon.
Where was he?
"Em, Emil! Are you alright…?"
At that moment, a familiar female voice came from beside him.
She gently extended her hand to him, and he weakly grasped it.
His vision was still blurry, so he couldn't tell exactly who it was.
"Si, Sierra…?"
He mumbled the name of the person who immediately came to mind.
But.
"Ah…"
The reply was an embarrassed voice.
"…Chr, Chris."
"Yeah…"
Only then did he fully come to his senses and look directly at the face of the person holding his hand.
It seemed he had been disoriented due to fainting.
He had just called another woman's name right in front of her.
'I didn't exactly cheat on her, but…'
Chris looked somewhat crestfallen.
But soon, she gently smiled and squeezed his hand tightly.
"Are you okay? Is there… anywhere hurting?"
"Yeah… my body's fine."
"That's good."
After their brief conversation, Chris gently bowed her head.
And she released his hand.
…What was she thinking?
'I shouldn't have brought up Sierra's name…'
Chris's reaction made him worried about the strategy's progress.
He had sacrificed his body to barely clear the dungeon rescue event.
'If it continues like this, will she perhaps postpone her confession due to suspicion about Sierra…?'
His goal wasn't to conquer Chris.
It was to receive a confession after conquering her.
That was his ultimate objective.
But with Chris right there, he had gone to rescue Sierra.
After rescuing Sierra, collapsing, and then waking up, he had called out Sierra's name.
…Honestly, it was the kind of action that made it hard *not* to be suspicious.
'Why on earth did I do that…'
He questioned himself.
Of course, he didn't regret rescuing Sierra itself.
At that time, it was the right thing to do.
The professors were slow, and in that time, Sierra might have been attacked by a monster.
"..."
As he was lost in thought.
'Is Sierra… okay?'
Absurdly, a thought about Sierra suddenly popped into his head.
Even though his plan was going awry.
Even amidst all this, he was worried about Sierra's condition.
"Um…"
At that moment, Chris, who had been sitting quietly beside him, gently opened her mouth.
"Thank you, Emil."
"..."
She offered her thanks.
"In the dungeon… you protected me. If Emil hadn't been there, it would have been a disaster. Thank you."
"…It was nothing, just something I had to do, of course."
He replied to Chris's thanks with as natural an expression as possible.
But.
"Something you had to do, of course…"
Chris softly mumbled his words.
"Huh…?"
"Th-then…!"
And she opened her mouth, hesitating somewhat.
Looking at him with trembling eyes, she said.
"So, rescuing S-Sierra… was that also for that reason?"
"..."
He hadn't expected her to ask so directly.
…What was the right answer?
How should he answer to lead her to confess?
After a moment of thought, he.
"Yeah…"
Ultimately, he made a choice.
"Because I'm a bit overly meddlesome and have a strong sense of justice."
"..."
"And both Chris and Sierra were comrades. Of course, I had to save them."
"...Right?"
It was a bitter mistake.
'Does this mean the dungeon event was all for nothing…?'
He smiled at Chris, letting out a desperate sigh inwardly.
━Because saving Sierra was something he had to do, of course.
The reason he said this was to prevent Chris from misunderstanding.
If Chris were to misunderstand his relationship with Sierra.
Then she might give up beforehand and not confess.
'That would be problematic…'
Therefore, even if this excuse were to be distorted into something like, 'Saving Chris was also just something I had to do, of course.'
This was the right choice.
'This… do I have to do something else to get a confession…?'
He lay on the bed, racking his brain and rummaging through his knowledge of the original game.
He would have to plan something new to receive Chris's confession.
"Well then, I'll get going."
"Ah, okay."
And Chris stood up from her seat a moment later.
It seemed she was going back to the dormitory since she saw he was okay.
*Creak.*
"Get some good rest, Emil."
"Yeah, thanks for coming."
*Creak… click.*
And so, Chris left the infirmary.
At that moment.
[━━.]
[━━.]
'Talking…?'
He heard someone talking outside the infirmary door.
Chris had just left, so one of them must be Chris.
Then who was the other one? A Priest-nim?
And a moment later.
*Thump, thump.*
Footsteps of someone leaving echoed down the corridor, reaching him.
It seemed Chris had finished talking and left.
*Creak!*
And the infirmary door opened.
"..."
"...Ah."
The one who entered was.
…Sierra.
*Thump, thump.*
For some reason, she walked towards him with a sullen expression.
*Thump.*
And sat down on the chair where Chris had just been sitting.
"...Ha, haha."
"..."
At the sight of Sierra, he offered an awkward laugh.
Why was she like this all of a sudden?
"First of all… I'm fine. So you can relax, okay?"
"..."
He tried saying something, anything.
But Sierra didn't react.
"..."
"..."
After a brief, awkward silence.
"Of course…"
"...Huh?"
Sierra opened her mouth.
"So you did it because you had to, of course."
"..."
For some reason, she said that to him with a sullen expression.
"..."
Why was she acting like this?
Didn't she come to visit him…?
***
*Thump, thump.*
After greeting Emil, Chris met Sierra in the corridor.
She then walked silently towards the dormitory.
"..."
Her face didn't look very good as she walked.
Even though she should have been happy that Emil had woken up.
'Is there… something going on with Sierra…?'
Now that Emil's safety was confirmed, a worry that Chris had momentarily set aside bloomed in her mind.
Sierra, who had just been in front of the infirmary.
Her expression somehow looked different from usual.
…Perhaps, this was a woman's intuition.
'Does Emil… have feelings for Sierra…?'
And another concern came to mind.
…When Emil rescued her in the dungeon.
Emil, who had sacrificed his body to save her from the onslaught of countless monsters.
Seeing that, Chris felt a definite emotion towards Emil.
She liked him.
To the point she couldn't bear it anymore.
And.
Emil, who had protected her like that.
…She thought he felt similarly.
'But he went to save Sierra immediately too.'
Then what should she think?
Emil, who saved her while getting injured, had feelings for her?
Then did he also have feelings for Sierra, whom he saved similarly?
If not.
If Emil had no feelings for Sierra.
…Then did he have no feelings for her either?
"..."
Her head was complicated.
At that moment.
"Just say it."
"...Huh?"
Someone spoke to her from behind as she walked down the corridor.
Chris turned her head.
━There, a pink-haired girl was looking at her.
"...Who are you?"
Empty eyes.
Definitely beautiful and pretty eyes, but.
For some reason, those lightless eyes exuded an unsettling aura.
On the other hand.
Her lips were gently smiling.
"You're deliberating, aren't you?"
"...What?"
"What's right, what you should do, how you should do it."
"..."
The pink-haired girl said that.
As if she could see right through her mind.
She concisely summarized her worries.
And.
"Just say it."
"..."
She said it again.
"Say what…?"
Chris found it hard to understand what she was telling her to say.
After all, she had appeared suddenly and brought up a topic out of nowhere.
But.
For some reason, Chris's heart was swayed by the words of the girl who had seen through her true feelings.
Therefore, she asked the question.
And the girl answered that question.
"Just, all the feelings in your heart."
"..."
"That feeling you want someone to know. Just tell them everything."
"..."
"Or are you planning to hide it forever?"
"..."
As Chris listened to the girl's words, her fists gently tightened.
━Was she going to do nothing her entire life?
"...No."
"Hehe, good."
Chris's answer was without hesitation, and the girl smiled as if pleased.
And *spin*.
*Thump, thump.*
The girl walked down the corridor with her back to Chris.
'…That girl, she was definitely there when Emil collapsed.'
Only then did Chris recall who the girl who had spoken to her was.
At the time Emil collapsed and was carried away.
'Emil—! *Hic*, please! Please wake up…!'
The woman who was clinging to Emil, crying.
"..."
Chris's expression changed as she recalled that.
'Just say it.'
Yes.
Worrying wouldn't change anything.
Act before you think.
That had been her method of survival on the battlefield until now.
"...Alright."
Chris clenched her fists with a determined expression.