Do You Want to Save Her? Chapter 47 – Weekend (1)

Chapter 47 - Weekend (1)

“Did you enjoy it?” Soren asked.

“Yeah.”

Soren and Alia had just had breakfast together after the events that had taken place in the catacombs.

“What are you going to do now?”

Alia shrugged in response.

“Do you want to help train for a little while if you have nothing better to do?”

“Sure.”

Since they were already back at the academy, the walk to the training grounds wasn’t far.

It was a space that Soren had beco more acquainted with ever since eting Alia. It wasn’t the magical one that he frequented; instead, it was the one that the warriors of martial studies made use of.

Upon arrival, they changed into their training uniforms and headed to the track, where they stretched.

“What should I do?” Soren asked.

“Sa as usual.”

He nodded in response.

Since they had beco friends, it was a semi-regular occurrence for Soren and Alia to train together in the mornings or after classes had ended.

‘The first few tis were hell.’

Alia, being a genius, was unaware of the limits of soone with such a frail body, and accidentally pushed Soren too far on multiple occasions.

However, ever since they had talked in the restaurant, things had been different.

It was as if she paid even more attention to him; she could now precisely asure what was too much for Soren’s body, even if he tried his best to hide it.

Thanks to that, their training together had beco a lot more bearable and even sowhat fun for him.

‘What’s happening to …?’ He asked himself, sighing and looking back on how much he had changed since transmigrating.

After his warm-ups, he walked over to the track with Alia and waited for her countdown.

“3… 2… 1… Go.”

The mont the words ‘Go’ left her mouth, Soren began running around the track, Alia already far in the lead.

Although Soren’s body had improved, even now, his strength and stamina stats were lower than those of the average adult man in this world.

He knew better than anyone how vital stamina was after his frequent run-ins with danger, and beyond that, now that he used a handaxe the majority of the ti he fought, his strength had also beco sothing important.

Of course, his mana and agility stats were still the most important, as he was still focusing on being a magician.

“Huff… Huff…”

After about 15 minutes of running, Soren’s breath beca heavier; he was beginning to reach his limits.

Before he could do so, however…

“Stop,” Alia said.

Soren collapsed onto the ground and drank so water created by [Aqua].

“Rest.”

“Thanks.”

In the ti that Soren had taken to run two laps, Alia had run sixteen, and there wasn’t even a speck of sweat on her face.

The difference in their physical abilities was overwhelming, but unlike before, where Soren would’ve lost confidence and even felt frustration, he was now relaxed.

It was like sothing that had been chasing him had disappeared.

Alia also noticed the change in Soren’s deanour ever since waking up in the catacombs.

A faint smile crept its way onto her face; she was glad that he was doing better.

Soren rested for five minutes before jumping to his feet.

“What’s next?” He asked.

“Sparring.”

They walked over to a clear area made for practising duels and faced each other.

Once the sparring began, as usual, Alia just stood there.

Whenever they sparred, they would take turns attacking and defending against each other.

Soren summoned his handaxe and prepared a spell as he awaited Alia’s signal.

“Go.”

The mont the words left her mouth, Soren leapt forward, his mana flowing into the axe in his hand as it began to glow.

「Einhardt Axemanship - Crescent」

The axe swung in a horizontal arc towards Alia.

It was a skill that Soren had been trying to learn for weeks now, and only after his battle with Alex did he finally get the hang of it.

Clang!

Alia blocked the telegraphed attack and nodded.

“Good.”

This wasn’t the first ti that Soren had tried using [Crescent] in their sparring; in fact, he had tried using it every ti from the mont he had first learned its movents.

Wooongg—

Generally, after an attack was blocked in such a way, Soren would have stepped back to make distance between them so that he could cast spells, but not now.

“「Breeze」”

Whoosh–!

Light green wind shot from his foot, propelling him forward at speeds previously impossible for Soren.

His movents were still unsteady thanks to the magic circle only being applied to his left foot, but that was sothing he could fix over ti.

As he accelerated towards Alia, Soren ford another magic circle in his hand.

Shatter

However, this was nothing more than a diversion; the mont Alia’s attention beca focused on the circle, he broke it and swung at her with all his might.

Grab!

Unfortunately, she had been prepared, as she grabbed the handaxe that had been swung towards her and spoke.

“Ti’s up.”

“Hah… hah…”

Soren threw his handaxe back into his inventory, slumped down onto the floor and let out a deep breath.

“Hooo… So how did I do?”

“Decent.”

Soren smiled at her words.

Until now, the best result he had achieved was a ‘fine,’ which he could tell was her attempt at being nice, but just now she had said it with complete sincerity that he was decent.

His efforts were paying off.

••✦ ♡ ✦•••

“Thanks for the help, Lily.”

It was the afternoon of the day he left the catacombs, and Soren had decided to visit Lilliana to return the book he had borrowed.

“It’s fine, are you feeling better now?”

He nodded in response.

The first thing Lilliana noticed upon seeing Soren was that he seed more relaxed, and as his friend, she couldn’t help but be happy.

“Have you eaten?” She asked.

“I was planning to grab sothing on my way back to the dorm.”

His visit to Lilliana’s dorm had been purely to drop by and return the book, as he didn’t want to appear out of the blue and take up her ti when she might have been busy.

“Eat with then, Ren.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” She said as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the doorway.

“Can I help then?”

He had said it because he didn’t want to be a bother, but Lilliana’s eyes sparkled.

“I finally get to taste Ren’s cooking!”

“If you want to.”

“Of course I do!”

“Just don’t get your hopes up,” He said as he walked through the familiar dorm.

‘Am I coming too often?’

He couldn’t help but have that thought when he went back over his mories.

It hadn’t been all that long since they had beco friends, but it felt like he was spending more ti at Lilliana’s dorm than his own.

Soren was worried that rumours might spread at this rate and thought that maybe he should tone it down slightly so as not to affect Lilliana.

After all, if rumours spread, Lilliana would be the one in danger, not him.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Lilliana asked as he was preparing to cook.

“Nothing, don’t worry… But are you really going to watch?”

“Is that not okay?”

Aria’s face briefly ca to mind at Lilliana’s words, causing a sad smile to appear on Soren’s face montarily.

“I don’t mind, just be careful.”

Even if Lilliana was a dhampir with the ability to restore lost limbs, he didn’t want to see her hurt.

In response to his words full of care, Lilliana took a few steps back so as not to get in Soren’s way.

A peaceful atmosphere flowed between the two of them.

It was the first ti in a while that Soren had felt like he could properly rest.

Until now, he had been running nonstop out of fear and self-doubt and only now had he finally stopped and looked back at his actions.

“Wow, you’re better than I thought.”

“Aha, thank you, but I can’t compare to you.”

As Soren had only ever cooked for himself and Aria, he had no concept of his own abilities when it ca to cooking.

Aria had always complinted his cooking, saying how amazing and delicious it was, which tickled his heart, but he had always thought that she was just being nice.

In reality, however, Soren’s skills were much better than he thought.

Once the al was complete, he plated it and took it over to the table before taking a seat next to Lilliana.

“It looks amazing, Ren, thank you.”

Lilliana saw his smile and then turned her attention back to her plate.

It was a fairly common dish among the nobility, a mix of vegetables such as carrots and broccoli on one side, while on the other was a large serving of mashed potatoes.

Then, resting in the centre, was thinly sliced, dium-rare beef.

It was truly a simple al, but watching Soren make it made her happy.

It was the first ti in her life that anyone had cooked for her besides the servants at her household.

Even the fact that he had rembered she liked her at on the rarer side was a fact that tickled Lilliana’s heart.

She lifted the gravy boat and poured so over her al before picking up her utensils and digging in.

Her eyes widened as she turned to look at Soren.

“Delicious.”

Soren always felt a sense of awkwardness when receiving direct complints, as he didn’t know how to respond.

However, that didn’t an he disliked them; if anything, he was vulnerable to them, as evidenced by his upturned lips and faint blush on his cheeks.

“I’m glad you like it.”

••✦ ♡ ✦•••

“Ahh… that was great! I didn’t know you could cook so well, Ren.”

“Thanks, but you’re way better than . Pass your plate.”

Soren stood up from the table and walked over to the sink to wash the dishes.

“Hang on, Ren. Let do that, you cooked after all.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Shoo, you’ve done enough.”

She pushed his back towards the living room, then turned back towards the kitchen.

Soren lightly chuckled and lay down on the sofa.

Whether it was because he hadn’t slept properly or because he had just finished eating, Soren felt sleepy.

It was currently an ambiguous ti, too early to be considered evening, but too late to be called afternoon.

“Hmm~♪ Hmmmm~♪”

A cute sound ca from the kitchen; it was Lilliana humming as she washed the dishes they had just used.

The soothing humming mixed with the comfortable sofa made it impossible for Soren to keep his eyes open any longer, and slowly but surely they drooped shut.

Only seconds later did soft, steady breaths escape his mouth; he had fallen asleep.

“Ren, I’m done—Oh, he’s asleep.”

Lilliana, done cleaning, had returned to the living room, only to discover Soren’s state.

She grabbed a blanket from her bedroom and draped it over his body.

“I wonder what happened…?”

Lilliana, being close to Soren, had easily noticed his drastic change in ntality from the mont he appeared at her doorstep.

It was such a significant change that she wondered if it was even possible overnight, but at the end of the day, that was irrelevant; Lilliana was just happy that her one and only friend was feeling better.

“I wish I could’ve helped though…” She muttered under her breath with her cheeks puffed out.

She had always told Soren that she was there for him, but for so reason, he never went to her first; he would only talk to her if she said sothing first.

To others, it might have seed like a petty thought, but to Lilliana, it was important.

She didn’t want Soren to suffer, not if she could help it; she knew how fragile he was, both physically and ntally.

Lilliana reached out and stroked his hair, and Soren’s expression softened.

“Sleep well, Ren.”

————「❤︎」————