"—There doesn't seem to be any deep injuries, most likely it was a mental—"
Soren's eyes fluttered open at the noise, then snapped shut upon noticing the situation, intending to sleep for longer.
His head hurt.
His stomach was aching.
He was tired.
"It seems he's woken up, but I'm not sure how he'll be."
But, as if ignoring everything he was feeling, the priestess nearby spoke.
When he realised that he had been caught, he opened his eyes.
To his right stood Felix, and to his left was the priestess he had been hearing for a while now.
Then she spoke to him.
"Are you feeling alright, Student Soren?"
"I'm fine."
He looked up at Felix, noticing the strange expression he was carrying.
It was an expression that didn't fit someone as frivolous as Felix, an expression of guilt.
Soren understood why Felix was looking at him that way, but he couldn't be bothered to deal with that at this moment.
"Felix, what happened to the money?"
The reactions to Soren's words were, to be expected, not great, but right now, he didn't have the energy, both physically and mentally, to care about such a thing.
All that mattered to him at this exact moment was the thing he fought so hard for; if he lost that, he didn't know what he would do.
"...It's fine, we got it all. We also received a reward for dealing with the thieves, as they were wanted. Here."
"Thanks."
He caught the pouch Felix tossed at him and opened it, counting the contents.
'1, 2… 7 gold and 10 silver…?'
There was more than expected in the pouch, but instead of questioning it, Soren closed the pouch and looked up at the woman who had been taking care of him until now.
"So when can I leave?"
"Well… your body is mostly fine, so you're allowed to leave right now as long as you take it easy for a few days, but—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Soren turned his body and then stood up from the bed, grimacing at the pain he suddenly felt.
He rubbed his abdomen where he had been stabbed, then brought his attention to Felix.
"If that's the case, then I'll go now… thanks for today, Felix."
Without staying to listen to anything more, they had to say Soren left the infirmary, feeling their gazes on him the entire time.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Upon reaching his dorm room, Soren pulled out the chair from his desk and slumped down onto it.
Thud
Tossing the weighty coin pouch onto the desk, he stared at it while lost in thought.
"7 gold 10 silver."
'...7 gold 10 silver.'
'Was it worth it?'
"Ha…"
He let out a hollow laugh in response to his own question.
"I guess this really is a fantasy world."
All those thoughts he was having before he passed out felt stupid now.
'What if I get in trouble? Never mind getting in trouble, it seemed as if nobody even cared that I killed a person.'
It was things like this that truly made it evident to Soren that he was no longer on earth.
Here in Ivansia, murder was fine, rewarded even, so long as it wasn't an innocent person.
You didn't even have to be a professional or anything; you could be a completely ordinary person going about your day and stumble upon a situation that required you to kill someone who has committed even the most minor crime, and instead of being punished, you'll instead be handed money and given a pat on the back for your work.
'What a barbaric world.'
He was aware that the three thieves were after his life.
Soren wasn't naive enough to think they would have just spared him after taking his money, but that didn't settle his complicated thoughts and emotions.
He couldn't forget the feeling of cutting through someone's neck, the wet blood that stained his entire body, the thick metallic scent that flooded his nose, the screams of sheer terror as life faded from the assassin's body…
"Hahh... Fuck."
Just thinking about it again made him want to vomit.
He rubbed his eyes and looked outside the window before standing up from his chair.
'I need a change of pace.'
He threw off his clothes that had become worn down from battle and changed into a more comfortable outfit, then roughly tied his hair up into a ponytail.
His appearance lacked the usual effort he put into it, but that didn't bother Soren; instead, he picked up the heavy pouch and left the dorm room, wondering where to waste some time.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Soren looked up at the building in front of him.
[Den of Ina]
Then, without hesitation, he opened the door and walked in.
Immediately, the scent of alcohol filled his nose; he was in a bar.
Usually, Soren wouldn't have even thought of taking a step into such a place, but on a day like today, he felt as if he had to.
Back on earth, he had gotten drunk a few times, but the majority of those times were when he was celebrating with his friend; he rarely drank alcohol when alone.
In simple terms, he was a social drinker.
He walked over and sat down at a table close to the bar and made an order.
In this world, people were considered adults when they turned 16, so fortunately, he didn't have to worry about being turned down.
"Here's your order."
Soren didn't order anything fancy; to be honest, he wouldn't even know what fancy alcohol was in this world, so instead he just picked the cheapest option.
"Thanks."
He brought the mug to his lips and took a sip.
"Cough–!"
'As expected, it tastes like shit.'
His throat burned as the alcohol went down, and the intense aftertaste made his face twist with disgust.
This was the main reason Soren didn't drink much; no matter how many different alcoholic drinks he tried, they always tasted awful to him.
'It's worse than expected, though.'
Because Ivansia was closer to a medieval world than a modern one, the alcohol was not only a lot stronger but also more limited in variety, which meant that in a bar like the one Soren was currently visiting, the only options were things such as beer or ale.
'Well, it's good enough…'
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
He was unsure of how much time had passed since he entered the bar, but one thing was for sure: the alcohol was finally hitting him.
Surprisingly, Soren's body had a higher alcohol tolerance than he had expected. With such a frail body, he had expected to be out like a light after only a mug or two, but here he was six mugs deep and only now was he starting to feel it.
'I should leave soon.'
Although he was here to get his mind off the events of the previous day, that didn't mean he enjoyed the idea of getting blackout drunk in some random place with his pockets full of money.
He downed the seventh mug and ordered what he said would be his last, then paid his tab.
Upon receiving the eighth mug, Soren couldn't help but think back on what happened.
It wasn't like he was trying to remember, but thanks to his unique skill, it was impossible to forget even a single second of the fight.
Every single detail, no matter how small, was imprinted into Soren's brain.
'I've finally realised a weakness of this skill…'
Of course, he still viewed the skill as cheat-like, but…
"It makes things hard," he muttered to himself.
He placed his hand under his chin and rested on it.
Thinking back to the first day he was transmigrated, he felt like there was always some part of him that knew he would have to do such a thing one day.
Soren may not have been particularly academically gifted, but he always had somewhat good common sense.
'I mean, I was dropped into a medieval fantasy world and placed into an academy where you learn to fight, it would've been stupider if the thought had never crossed my mind.'
But for some reason, Soren had never thought about the matter any further.
He just kept pushing the thought away, as if saying he would solve it when the time came.
Sip
'Honestly, I don't really feel guilty about the act of killing itself. If I didn't do it, I would've died, plain and simple.'
The thing that affected Soren was the way it happened.
The chilling screams, the feeling of his handaxe tearing through flesh and bone, the blood that splattered all over him, the fact that nobody seemed to care about what he had done…
…The cold eyes that Felix had throughout the entire situation.
Sip
Back when he played TKS, the character of Felix was just a trashy playboy, and even his time here had only cemented that personality further.
He felt no different in the time that Soren had known him, just a trashy playboy that was pretty fun to talk to.
'But it was like he became a completely different person.'
The moment Felix discovered they were being chased, his eyes became chillingly cold, and his words were sharp yet blunt, as if he didn't want to waste a single second.
Even throughout the fight, Felix's composure didn't break so much as a single time.
Even when Soren was stabbed, all Felix did was calmly cast [Shield] and keep fighting.
Even when he told Soren he had to kill them.
Even when Felix himself had killed them.
His eyes never once changed.
They remained cold.
When Soren had woken up in the infirmary, it was like Felix had gone back to his usual self, but…
'...What if the version of him I saw earlier was the real him?'
Soren knew it was an incredibly idiotic thought; Felix had saved his life after all.
The original plan had been to go gamble, then just go on his merry way.
Soren hadn't expected any real complications.
If Felix weren't there, Soren probably wouldn't have even been able to deal with even one of them, never mind all three.
But he still couldn't shake the feeling that the side of Felix he had seen today was what he was really like.
It was already clear from his time with Lilliana that characters could change between game and reality.
'What if even Alex is like that too?'
"Sigh, what am I even doing?"
He finished off the mug in front of him and looked up at the clock on the wall.
'3:19 am.'
Soren couldn't help but smile wryly at the fact that it was a weekend.
"Hey, can I get another one?"
"Sure."
"Thanks."
He didn't feel like going back to the dorms yet.
————「❤︎」————