***

January 5^th, year 782 of the Imperial calendar

'Did I overdo it?' Krista thought as she recalled the prank she pulled this morning with the help of her mother.

The target of that prank was Theodore Gray, the boy that suddenly disturbed her monotonous life at her mansion around 2 months ago.

When she saw Theodore for the first time, she was overjoyed to have a playmate her age. After all, the servants in the mansion were too stiff when it came to her, and the chefs, who were actually really friendly towards her, was too busy to play with her all the times.

She then declared the boy to be her friend without his consent.

Well, the first thing he did upon waking up was to glare at her vigilantly though. So much for friends.

The boy, Theodore Gray, always had a hollow look in his eyes in every of their subsequent meetings.

Worried for her self-imposed first friend, Krista asked her mother to tell her more about the boy.

As it turns out, his mother and hers were close friend. He was living in a town not far from here until a few days ago, when his mother abandoned him and left him for her mother to care.

'That explains everything' Krista thought as she recalled back to that dead look he had in his eyes.

Feeling responsible for her now brother/first friend, she vowed to cheer the boy up.

Instead of laughing heartily as she thought he would, he was just annoyed at her antics. Though, to Krista, it was very fun to tease him.

Well, technically, she still have achieved her goal. The boy's eyes, which were filled with grief and sadness on the first day, started to change. He became more lively, even going as far as openly expressing his annoyance sometimes, which surprised Krista. 

No, she wasn't surprised that he was annoyed, that much was obvious since he wasn't that good at hiding his emotions. Instead, she was surprised to see the gloomy and quite boy slowly opening up to her.

When she took her around for a tour around the mansion, she found out that he scared everyone ranked lower than him away because he couldn't control his Magic eyes. A person that scared away their potential friends was very pitiful in Krista's mind. As such, she vowed to be the best friend he would ever have.

In the last 2 months, the two of them have gotten closer to each other. So much so that she had stopped to consider him as a friend, but as her brother. After all, they were siblings on paper now that her mother has assumed guardianship over him. Though, sometimes, Krista felt as if Theodore was hiding something, something that made him look at her and her mother with guilt. That made her reluctant to even call him her brother loudly.

Occasionally though, Theodore would deliberately try to distance himself from Krista. But she would always devise a plan to immediately close that gap between them. 

Unbeknownst to Theodore himself, he had already became close enough to crack jokes with Krista by the time of the coming-of-age ceremony.

Through the time they spent together, Krista had already identified Theodore as a good person. Although he was still a bit of a egoist in her eyes. He only got more egocentric after the coming-of-age ceremony, which Krista didn't really understand. After all, when he begrudgingly showed her his stats, he was still at G- rank.

'Maybe his affinities are really good', she thought.

Coming back to the present, Krista activated her [D - Tracking] skill which her mother taught her recently. The skill identifies an target's mana signature and track them.

She followed Theodore's residual mana trail to the garden. Finding traces of bent branches on the trees, she concluded that he had snuck over the mansion's walls.

Not wanting Theodore to get into trouble as her mother - viscount Irene Nightshade - would definitely punish him harshly if she ever found out that he snuck out of the mansion, she got over the walls the same way that he did and followed his mana trail.

The trail, however, led to the Ostual forest. 

'Well, it's understandable' She thought.

'Even I wouldn't have been able to take it if there was a famous monster hunting spot near me and I couldn't even go there to test my new powers out'

"Though, at least tell someone beforehand." Krista muttered.

As she got to the edge of the forest, she found several corpses of Horned rabbits with their horns cut out.

'I guess he's better than I gave him credit for' She thought before continuing to follow the trail.

Following the trail of the rabbits massacre, Krista arrived at a dungeon.

'Did he just actually find a dungeon?' She thought.

'No, that's not important! How could he go into a dungeon without preparing anything! Is he actually retarded?'

Despite knowing that delving in a dungeon without preparing nor properly scouting beforehand basically guaranteed death, even for high-ranked adventurer, she still decided to enter it. After all, Theodore could have already become a rotting corpse by the time the knights from her mansion got here.

Well, she was more than surprised to see heaps of dead rabbits on the first and second floor.

'Maybe I was too worried' She thought before coming across the remains of a fierce battle.

'There were 4, no, 5 goblins here.'

After assessing the situation, she came to the conclusion that Theodore was, indeed, very fucked.

'His mana hasn't dispersed that much yet. That means the fight ended not too long ago! I still have time' Krista then followed the trail of mana and blood leading to the goblin village where Theodore was being held.

Climbing on a nearby tree to get a better view of the village, she saw Theodore being tied to a wooden stake, with several goblins surrounding him trying to light a fire. They were definitely trying to cook him.

Luckily for Theodore and Krista though, the village was a small one. Krista concluded that there were only around 20 goblins or so. As such, she made her move immediately.

Time in dungeons flows much faster than in the outside world. As such, dusk had already broke on the second floor by the time Krista got to the village. 

Theodore still got quite some time left since the goblin were stupid and thus were struggling with starting fire.

With the help of her [A - Nocturnal] skill, Krista's rank rose to F- under the the cover of the night.

She discreetly entered the small huts that the goblins called home, assassinating them left and right.

As for the 9 goblins standing next to Theodore, well, maybe she could take one out by surprise, but she still have to face the rest of them directly after that.

Seeing no other ways to proceed, she decided to spring into action.

She used her [III - Horesh style] to lay traps using the metal wires she took from her [S - Shallows of the abyss] skill.

Satisfied with the traps, she then proceed to throw one of her daggers, penetrating a goblin's throat and killing it instantly.

Alarmed by their comrade's death, the goblin turned to the place the dagger came from, only to find a little girl - Krista, standing there, glaring at them.

Excited at the prospect of acquiring a new plaything, the goblins quickly forgot about their brethren's death and ran straight towards her. 

However, 6 goblins was immediately decapitated by the wires Krista planted as traps. The remaining 2 immediately halted, before starting to take her seriously.

One of them shrieked loudly as it was trying to call other goblins in the huts. But its action was in vain since Krista had already assassinated all of them.

Seeing that no one came out, the goblins became even more cautious.

They strained their eyes and spotted the metal wires. They then proceed to slash the wires, disabling the traps completely.

Clicking her tongue, Krista took out 2 of her daggers, holding the one in her right hand normally and the one in her left in a reverse grip. It was the standard stance of the [V - Nightshade style].

Having the advantage of number, the goblins charged forward.

As she was dealing with multiple opponents, the weakness of the Nightshade style became apparent. Just as she was about to deal a fatal strike to a goblin, the other interrupted her attack almost immediately.

Seeing the battle going nowhere, she decided to take a gamble.

She charged straight towards one goblin, stabbing it in the heart.

Just as she expected, the other goblin used this opportunity to slash its sword at her. She then used [Void skewer], one of her Void spell, to intercept the goblin's attack.

As to why she didn't use this move to kill the goblins, well, it was because as of right now, the attack was extremely weak. The Void element wasn't known for its pure destructive power but for its hard-to-detect magic spells and sturdiness of the Void it conjured. 

Her plan worked as the skewer halted the goblin's sword for just split second. But that was all she needed to counter the attack. Unfortunately, she still wasn't fast enough. The goblin's sword, which was covered in poison, grazed her left eye. Blood from the wound blinded her left field of vision temporary. 

Ignoring the singing pain in her left eye, she tackled the goblin down before swiftly slitting its throat.

'Good thing I brought some antidotes' Krista thought as she took the antidotes out from her [S - Shallows of the abyss] and smeared it on the wound.

Collecting her breath, she quickly worked on getting Theodore down from the wooden stake.

After having rested for a few more minutes, she decided to carry Theodore on her back and walked home.

---

***

I woke up, only to see that I'm being carried on the heroine's back.

My body ached all over. It seemed like that I strained my body beyond my limits. I could feel the pain in my ribs. Seemed like I've broken something there.

The heroine seemed to have noticed me being conscious again as I groaned pretty loudly when I woke up.

Although, unlike her usual self, she didn't even say anything to me and just silently walked towards the outskirt of the forest.

Using the moment of silence, I reflected on everything that had happened until now.

'I fucked up, badly'

I was too conceited.

I let Marcos' memories influence me. I didn't know since when have I been viewing everything in this world as fiction, mere words in a novel someone wrote.

This world was real, extremely real. It was like Marcos' memories was trying to erase my 10 years of living as a resident of this world.

Thanks to the near death experience, I have also realized something important: I... was not as nearly talented as the protagonist. I would just push the world towards its doom if I stole all of the protagonist's chances to upgrade himself and his party.

Thus, I discarded the plan of becoming the protagonist completely. My plan now was to become strong enough to survive all of the future events. I would only use Marcos' memories as a tool to get stronger without interfering much with the future events. I will NOT let his memories influence my values and judgements ever again.

I still couldn't believe that I even considered letting Raun, my first friend, die just to manipulate a girl in her most desperate times into liking me.

'I was really a piece of trash'

As I finished collecting my thoughts and cursing myself for letting Marcos' memories get the best of me, I started to realize something.

'Wasn't I in a dungeon? How did she get here?'

Just as I was going to ask the heroi— no, Krista about what she was doing here with me on her back, I suddenly noticed something strange about her left eye.

It was a wound, a nasty wound, not enough to blind her eye but enough to leave a scar. Even someone who didn't know anything about medicines could tell.

That's when it dawned on me. She actually delved into the dungeon to save me.

Despite knowing that delving into a dungeon unprepared was a stupid idea, I still did it anyways since I was too excited and conceited.

Krista, however, definitely came into the dungeon to look for me despite knowing full-well she could die too.

I didn't know what she had faced when I was knocked out but it dangerous was enough for her to receive that kind of injury.

Feeling guilty from the bottom of my heart, I, for the first time, didn't see her as a heroine of a novel, nor as an annoying viscount's daughter. I saw her as a person, as the Krista Nightshade that I owed my life to.

Her injuries, they would definitely heal given enough time, but the scar would surely remain.

Normally, that wouldn't have been that big of a deal but she's a noble. Even the tiniest of visible scars could ruin one's aristocratic social life. Considering that she had been learning about high society since she was little, she was definitely aware of this.

And what did she ruin her social life for? An arrogant brat that regarded her as mere tools to execute his plans?

I could not do anything for her. I couldn't even heal or pay for a high-ranking Life priest to remove her scars. As such, the only thing I could do at this moment was to sincerely apologize.

"S.. sor-ry"

Krista suddenly stopped, turned around, and glared at me.

"What did you say?"

"Sorry... for making you go through all this"

SLAP—!

She slapped me. I've never seen her this angry before.

"Why..."

"Why? You fucking ask me why? I didn't save you so that you can brood over every minor fucking details. So what if I'm injured? What's important is that you're still alive"

"B-ut..."

"No, buts. You really are an idiot. Did you have a death wish going inside that dungeon without telling anyone? You seems to not have noticed it but I've always known that you see me as an idiotic brat who likes to pull pranks. And I'm okay with that. I've been trying so hard to cheer you up since day one. And what did I get? A sorry, A FUCKING SORRY? If you're truly sorry, just shut up and don't let your wounds get worse. Forget about even feeling sad or pity for me. I'll kill you dead you if you do!"

I was terrified. I never knew the playful Krista could get so angry like this.

Noticing my horrified expression, Krista quickly calmed down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say all that, I was jus—"

"No, I understand" I interjected.

"I'm aware how much of an idiot I really was. I was getting too conceited for my own good. Don't worry, I won't mention it ever again for your sake." I continued.

"Promise to never apologize to me nor get depressed in front of me again. Instead, apologize by compensating with actions."

"Sure..."

That seemed to give Krista a peace of mind since her complexion brightened up.

"Now that's out of the way, I have got to say, you're pitifully weak. You could barely beat 5 goblins while I killed an entire village of goblins."

I was surprised that she fought an entire village of goblins just to save me. Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit annoyed. After all, I did try my best, somewhat. Although, I tried not to show my annoyance on my face. That the least I could do for her now.

"You're making that face again. I'm glad you're back to normal now though, brother" Krista muttered the last part but I could still hear her clearly.

I raised my brows as I wondered whether I was secretly Irene Nightshade's child before remembering that I was indeed technically her brother, at least legally.

'I guess she had always been wanting to call me that. I must have been that unapproachable for her to only say it now'

Krista seemed to have noticed her blunder though as she awkwardly tried to cover it up.

"Uwah! Forget what you heard"

"No can do, my memory is that good after all"

"Come on, forget about it already!"

"Sure, I guess. That's the least I could do after all the things you've done for me"

"Hey, you promised to not brood over it anymore"

"Sorry."

"You did it again!"

"My ba—"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I will just shut up now."

'Thank you, sister...'

---

***

We spent another hour walking back to the mansion with me on her back, cracking jokes along the way.

To be honest, I have always enjoyed my time with her. I was just too stubborn to accept it, as I saw her as a tool that I shouldn't get attached to at the time.

Now though, after realizing that the people of this world were more than fictional characters, I started to truly enjoy spending time with Krista.

As we were getting close to the edge of the forest, a knight, who I later found out that he was looking for Krista and me, spotted us and brought us back to the mansion.

Krista fainted from exhaustion upon seeing the knight. Poor girl, still trying to carry me despite being that exhausted. Looks like I was in her debts again.

---

***

Thus, my first monster hunt ended in failure.

I nearly died, Krista had to fight an entire village of goblins and got a pretty nasty scar on her left eye.

The only good thing to have came out of this was the skill book and the fact that I fixed the problem of Marcos' memories affecting my mental state more than I'd like it to.

Well, viscount Nightshade was fuming at me, rightfully so. But thanks to Krista covering for me, I didn't get punished all that hard.

My punishment was just to clean the mansion for a whole month after I get healed. Which was basically a death sentence for my lazy self but it could have been much worse.

After the whole fiasco, my relationship with Krista had gotten better than ever. We were practically treating each other as siblings now. And we even started to call each other brother and sister.

After being fully healed though, I had a thought.

Krista had been training since she was 5. And ever since she awakened her Status, she had been training harder than other before.

'And I weren't doing a damn thing'

My past self was, yet again, too conceited. Even with the cheat items, I couldn't have survived any disasters in the future if I didn't train at all.

Thus, I resolved myself to really start training. I asked Krista to let me take close-combat lessons with her. To which, she responded.

"No."