Chapter 4: Almost

The red-haired girl wiped the milk from her nose, still gasping for air. After a few deep breaths, she was back to normal, but then she was nervous. Her state was partly because of choking, and partly because of what I said.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?” she asked me, as if I were going mad.

There were three people in the tavern at this point. Only the two of us and the inn owner.

She was a gorgeous lady in her thirties with her brown hair tied up in a bun and she wore a forest green dress and an apron. But she was far away on the other side of the bar, cleaning another table. So I assumed the woman wasn’t listening to our conversation.

“About what?” I played dumb.

“The ’Only your wife can worry about me’ thing.” She was speaking loudly in response to me, but she noticed how loud she was.

Worried, Sarah looked at the woman on the other side of the room. The owner had a kind smile on her face directed at our table. This made me think she heard it all, but she decided to act politely, not saying anything. And Sarah was as red as a tomato for being caught speaking loudly.

It was fun to see Sarah like this. She smiled back, kinda embarrassed, and looked at me, as if it was my fault. Well, I didn’t order her to shout with all the air in her lungs. I was just laughing about that.

“Is it weird for me to talk about this? It’s not like I don’t want someone by my side.”

“Well, I understand that you’re a young man, so you may think about women, but you’ve never talked about that…”

“That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to. Actually, maybe a wife wouldn’t be enough.”

“Eh? Why though?”

“Well, I may not seem like it, but I’m a very energetic man. So I think that my wife will need to divide the workload.”

“You didn’t even get engaged and you are thinking of cheating?” She looked at me, stunned by my words.

“Of course not!” I felt offended by this accusation. “I would always be loyal to them.”

“But you said that you want more than one woman!” She looked confused by what I said.

“Yeah, I want more than one, but there are other ways to solve the problem. And my solution to this is going for a relationship with more than one at the same time. I still would be a very caring husband with my harem.”

“Eh?” She got even redder than she already was. ’Shoot, I get carried away. I was joking around, but I didn’t need to say more than I should.’

“Ahem, but anyway, I don’t want a woman so concerned about me. Just a wife was supposed to be worried about her husband’s safety, making a face like yours, right?”

There was some truth in my words. For the most part I was trolling her and making her feel a bit better, but I also wanted to know how she would react if I talked about relationships. I wanted to see how she would feel if other women could be important to me.

“And because of this, no woman can be worried about me. Unless she wants to marry me, so, by extension, you can’t do that either.”

“But you cannot forbid me from worrying about you. I’m still your friend.” she said to me.

“But I can ignore you.” I outsmarted her.

Sarah stopped talking, looking at her plate with a sad expression. ’Maybe I went too far. I should tell her that it was a joke and stop teasing her…’

“So let’s say…” Sarah started talking.

Her face was flushed and she was avoiding looking at me in the eyes. “… if you and I get married, could I be worried about you?”

I was speechless, caught off guard. I was baiting her, but I wasn’t expecting to catch the big fish. So I almost —no. It’s wrong to say “almost”. With that expression, she was clearly confessing to me.

“If I became one of your wives… I mean, we have been friends for a long time… B-But don’t get the wrong idea! I was just saying hypothetically.” She corrected herself. I was thinking that I was stupid for spilling the beans, but there was Sarah, showing her true colors.

I was planning to make my move on her, so that worked in my favor. An event more special than any from the book. The chances for this to happen were almost none, but here I was. My favorite heroine said those words with a shy look. ’What else should I say?’

“If that is the case…”

“Hey, Rick. Finally you are up.” I was interrupted by a male voice coming from behind my back.

“Hey, my party member and I were talking. Can you give us a minute?” I didn’t look to know who was the nosy guy, I didn’t care either. My eyes were fixed on the girl in front of me. This cockblocker could die for all I cared. But he didn’t give up and continued, “Oh. So as a party member, can I join your conversation?”

I turned my head and looked at this guy, surprised by what he said. At this point in the timeline, there were just three party members in the group. Rick, Sarah and the guy who I was standing behind me.

He was taller than me, probably the same height I was before transmigrated, around 1.85m (6’1’’). He had spiky blond hair and green eyes, wearing simple leather armor.

“Leo…” I said.

“Yo!” The Hero of SCRL greeted us with a smile on his face. Then he turned to the girl at the table, “Are you ok, Sarah? Your face is all red.”

“It’s nothing! Did you get your sword back?” she asked, trying to get back to serious self.

“Yeah, it is as good as new, thanks to the blacksmith.” he said, bringing his hand to the sword resting in its sheath behind his back.

Sarah and Leo were from the same class: Swordsman. It’s obvious by the name, but they are specialized in sword combat styles. However, my companions have different styles of combat. Leo focused on strength, trying to overcome his opponents with brute force, while Sarah focused on agility, dealing damage with multiple attacks while quickly evading foes with speed.

“So let’s get going! I want to test my steel on some monsters!” Leo said with excitement in his voice.

Sarah wasn’t as excited as before. Still, she forced a smile and nodded.

“Rick, I will be counting on you today.” he said and gave me a pat on the shoulder. I just stared at him in disbelief.

’Hey, don’t smile at me. You were pretty inconvenient back there!’ I thought inwardly.

I was counting on him for the frontline this time. Sadly, I was a support. Because of the Everyman class, Rick’s skills were acquired by trial and error, and they were from three different classes: Alchemist, Assassin and Tamer.

His father was an Alchemist, so he passed down a lot of his knowledge to his son before he passed away. And that’s why I had the skills to prepare potions, treat wounds and diseases.

Rick wasn’t an Assassin, but because he was the weakest of the party, he had to play smart to survive. By hiding himself in the backline or the shadows, Rick acquired a Minor Stealth Skill. The only weapon he had to cause damage was a dagger he carried to attack a distracted foe.

The Tamer class’ skills that he gained a long time ago. When his mother was still alive, Rick’s family had a dog and he was always playing with the pet, trying to teach him a new trick. The result of this was that he received skills to tame domestic pets, so it was useless for combat.

That was my reality at this point. I could help them with some assistance, but if I got caught by the enemy, I’m as good as dead. At least for now.

If I could acquire the power that MC was supposed to, even if I received a skill from the Swordsman class, I could use it thanks to the only positive thing about the Everyman class.

Leo was going ahead, and I was almost following him, but someone grabbed my clothes. When I turned around, Sarah was there. She came close to my ear and said, “I still want to hear your answer later.”

After she said that, she followed our party leader outside the inn. Part of the girl’s back wasn’t covered by her outfit, and her vivid red hair ponytail was fluttering as she moved.

Damn. If the Hero didn’t interrupt me, I probably would be feeling the softness of her skin. I was so close. Almost, almost. If he hadn’t intervened, I would have responded to her feelings truthfully, and she would be mine.

It’s common courtesy to not cockblock someone. Ever. Now I will have to hold myself until the mission is over. I will probably spend all day long until I talk to Sarah about it, while watching her alluring body so close to me.

“Leo, I swear, you’ll pay for that somehow.”

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