After telling Deleth's guards to escort the fainted young master to his room on the 2nd floor, Koris swept his hands and looked at me apologetically, "Do you mind if I sit with you?"

To be honest, having a protagonist sitting with you smell troubles. Of course, Koris wouldn't be the one who causes troubles, but troubles will definitely find their way to him instead. Though, creating some connection with him doesn't sound so bad either, "Sure, I don't mind."

He nodded his head and said thanks before plopping down on the chair beside me.

As he finished ordering food, he bowed his head at me and Lin, "Sorry about that, he's a bit spoil so his father asks me to keep him in check and teach him a lesson when he causes troubles."

I gave him a curious expression and asked, "How many times did you slap him already?"

He raised his eyebrow and said nonchalantly, "This one adds up to 11 times."

"Damn, already 11 times? I think you should adjust your method of teaching him a lesson."

Koris heaved a heavy sigh and said, "It's not that bad. Can you guess what happened after all that?"

I tilted my head as I tried to guess what he wanted to say, but nothing came to mind, "What happened?"

He grinned at me as he began to rehearse the story, "The first time I hit him, he's bothering a princess from the Elf Kingdom. The second time, he's trying to flirt an otherworlder girl. The third time, he threatened a man who's actually a Demon in disguise. The fourth time, another otherworlder...,"

He continued until he finished the tenth as he peeked a glance at me, "See a pattern?"

Shit! All of those seem to be related to someone unique. As expected of a Protagonist who always triggers a new important character flag anywhere he went!

Seeing my reaction, he chuckled, "Nice to meet you, my fellow otherworlder!"

Wait, he knew I'm an otherworlder?! How? There is a pattern alright, but why he immediately associated me with otherworlder among all of those examples he gave me?

Noticing my bewildered gaze, he asked again "Aren't you?"

I see... He must have some kind of ability that lets him identify the information of other people, similar to my Character Info.

A Protagonist is such an overpowered character.

Letting out a breath, I held out my hand as I resigned, "Fine, you caught me. I'm Leon Collian."

Koris raised his hand and shook my hand, "I'm Koris Q."

As we lowered our hand, he started his story, "I won't force you to tell me your wish before coming here, but I want to tell you mine. Do you want to hear?"

I grinned and replied, "Something related to Protagonist?"

Hearing my response, his eyes shook a bit before he laughed, "Awawa! You're totally right! Wawawa!"

Dude, I don't want to be disrespectful, but why your laugh sounds like a crying baby?

Noticing my frowned face, he stopped his laugh and while waving his hands, he added, "Ah, you don't have to hold your laugh, I know how funny my laugh sounds!

"Anyways, it seems like you have one ability similar to mine. This makes things a lot easier!

"You see, I wished to live the life of a Protagonist!"

Figured!

Still, I'm quite impressed that he's bold enough to wish for something like that.

Noticing my expressionless face who guessed his wish, he sounded a bit disappointed as he continued, "When I began my journey, I truly enjoyed it."

"You 'enjoyed' it?"

"Yeah, being a Protagonist, whether it's money, a beautiful chick, friendship, power, recognition, or popularity, everything was offered to me even when I'm slacking off somewhere."

"That sounds like heaven to me, what's the problem?"

He coughed once and continued, "Did you see the meteor this afternoon?"

"Yes, why?"

"That's exactly the problem! Being a Protagonist attracted both fortune and misfortune. I have to constantly be aware of my surroundings even when I'm sleeping. Enemies are popping up everywhere like mushrooms, and my allies are dropping like flies when we encountered danger. They always sacrificed themselves to save my life from the appearing-out-of-nowhere last boss!"

I think I understand now. Protagonist is someone who always saves others while also being saved by them at the cost of their lives to make the protagonist grow during their journey. His adventurer must have been full of ups and downs and now he's probably alone because no one wants to approach him and then ends up dying as a side character. That's probably the reason why the Title of the prince and the painter inside the carriage said 'Feeling Afraid of Misfortune'. They feared that staying around Koris will result in their death, but at the same time, having him at the frontline will surely guarantee their victory so they have to bear with it and brought him here.

This guy is indeed living a harsh life.

He told me all this because he wanted to share his frustration with someone, I guess.

Many people want to be the protagonist of their own story, not acknowledging what every protagonist has to go through before reaching their respective happy ending.

Koris seemed to regret his choice, but it's too late now.

After saying what he wanted to say, Koris calmed down his mind and said apologetically, "Thank you for bearing with my rant.

"I haven't met any new otherworlder lately. All of my acquaintances already know about it, so I have no one to vent my frustration with.

"For that, I apologize."

I smiled at him and replied, "It's fine. You can talk to me anytime."

He revealed a regretful smile and said, "Thank you, but it's better for both of us if this will be the last time we have ever met.

"Don't get me wrong, I do want to become your friend, but you might actually die for it, so..."

Hearing what he said, I'm at a loss for words. I completely understand what he meant.

Seeing me struggled to speak, he chuckled, "Even though I'm a Protagonist, I'm a bit selfish.

"It would be better if I just avoid having any contact with you in the first place, but as you can see, I'm still a human..."

I don't know why, but I want to punch this guy in the face. However, who could blame him after hearing what he has said?

At that moment, someone who kept her silent all this time joined our conversation, "Sir Koris, if your desire is not to change your fate, then do not seek Mira, the Goddess of Fate. (Sir Koris, if your desire is to change your fate, then seeks Mira, the Goddess of Fate)"

Koris turned his head towards Lin and exclaimed confusingly, "Uh... pardon?"

Lin, your voice sounded so serious, but the content sounded like a joke! Please, fixes that wording of yours!

And now our poor Koris was stunned by your statement, I feel sorry enough for him as it is! Don't make it worse!

I coughed to gain his attention and leaned toward his ear as I whispered to him the meaning of her words.

While I'm at it, I also explained her strange behavior, excluding how it came to be, of course.

With sweat running down his cheek, he nodded his head and glanced at Lin, "I-I see... You have it rough, mate."

Before he could ponder about the meaning of Lin's words, he upped his volume and widened his eyes as he noticed something, "Wait... your race... y-you are...?!"

Oh, so he just realized Lin's identity, I have to warn him before he could utter out any things unnecessary, "Before you say anything, lower your voice."

He shot a look at me before turning back to Lin as his mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

As Koris was currently being uncertain about something, the waiter brought at our lunch.

For someone who loves seafood, I ordered a lot of it, while Lin seemed to order a variety of salads.

Koris, however, just ordered a bowl of rice and one glass of water. Dude, is that really all your lunch?

Ignoring my petrified gaze that's focusing on his simple bowl of rice, he continued to observe Lin dazedly.

Lin, with sadness in her eyes, started to enjoy her food while staring at me pleadingly.

Noticing her stare, I fell guilty. Naturally, I fell bad for her. After all, she viewed our lunch as a date so she must have felt very disappointed right now. It's not like she could chase Koris away either because me and him seem to get along pretty well.

Seeing the unmovable state of Koris, I started to dig in on my food as well.

After 2 minutes or so, he finally calmed down as he talked to Lin while lowering his voice, "You're a goddess?"

Lin slightly bowed her head and replied, "I'm not Lin, the Goddess of Twilight. (I'm Lin, the Goddess of Twilight.)"

Koris frowned a little while contemplating what she meant.

I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, you will get used to it eventually."

With an embarrassing smile, he answered, "I hope so."

Shaking his head, he turned to look at me questioningly, "Hey, so your wish was to bring the Goddess along with you?"

"No, I'm not a certain someone who yearns for true gender equality!"

"Huh? Who did you refer to?"

"Uhm.. nevermind."

Anyways, how can I explain this to him? Tell him Lin, the goddess, is one my pet? That's too absurd of a story for everyone to actually believe it. I don't want to tell him about my game character either. He seems like a nice guy and I want to become friend with him, but I'm not that trusting to share my secret that easily.

The quote 'No secrets between friends' is just a scam to let you spill all the things that could be used for blackmailing. There is this one time when I told my used-to-be-friend about a secret of mine... Well, let just leave it at that. I don't want to remember it.

As I pondered about what answer I should give him, Lin came to my rescue... or not, "It's not my will to follow master Leon and came to the mortal world. (It's my will to follow master Leon and came to the mortal world.)"

Koris, with even more bewilderment, turned his face to me and asked, "Master? Why someone who is a goddess called you her master? Who are you?!"

God damn it, Lin! I will thoroughly discipline you tonight!

Wait... If I cursed at her, shouldn't it be 'Goddess damn it' instead?

Surprisingly, Koris himself changed the topic, "Let's talk about that later. So, what do you mean by Mira, the Goddess of Fate? I know that I'm being unreasonable, but as a goddess, you should be able to contact her right now, right?"

Goddess damn it! This question is not any better. Mira, the Goddess of Fate who Lin referred to is obviously from Quintet of Symphony, which is not real. Even if there is an actual God or Goddess who governed fate in this world, we're not acquainted with him or her.

Before Lin could answer 'No' which technically means 'Yes, I decided to intervene, "No, she can't. As she descended into the Mortal World, she swore an oath that as long as she remained here, her connection with heaven is to be severed."

With regret in his eyes, he rested his body that seems to lose strength onto the chair as he replied, "That's too bad...

"I became too excited after knowing there is a way to change my fate.

"For that, I apologize."

After that, we continued our lunch as we talked about various things until Koris, with some unwillingness in his eyes, parted way with us.