Rein, Emria, and Saphrilla exited the dark alleyway holding the slave rings. Rein checked his stats.

Level: 85 → 90

Health: 1350/1350 → 1500/1500

Energy: 675/675 → 750/750

Speed: 210.2 → 225.7

Strength: 215.5 → 237.0

Defense: 208.7 → 221.3

Intellect: 190.3 → 202.8

[New Skill]

Spring Absorbtion: Taking the life of a Spring user grants the System a new skill based on the Spring

[New Skill]

Memory Flip: Every 24 hours, allows you to copy a Spring from your inverse history for 60 seconds

“Hey Rein, I’m gonna get everybody out of these rings.” Said Emria as she summoned the slaves. They appeared, all of them looking frightened for their lives. The half-elf boy rushed to protect the girl, screaming out:

“Stop! Haven’t you abused us enough today? Huh? Wait, you’re the guy we fought… What happened to the master?” He asked as he stood up.

“You still remember him then? I figured it wouldn’t affect you guys since you were in the rings. My name is Rein Xilris, and these two are Emria and Saphrilla Xilris. To put it simply, he’s dead and you guys are free to go.” Rein took all of the rings and dropped them on the ground and stepped on them, crushing them beneath his heel, making the chains around their necks disintegrate.

“Wha… So… I can really return to my family?” Asked one of the adult slaves. Rein nodded, affirming his question. The 4 adults began crying and bowing down to Rein out of gratitude. He gave them some of his winnings from the first round, for travel expenses and food and pointed them in the direction of one of the exits to the cave.

“H-hey what should we do? The Collins family already killed our parents… We can’t return to anyone…” Uttered the boy as the little girl began sobbing. Rein and the Emria looked at them with empathetic eyes, knowing the pain they were put through. Saphrilla outstretched her hand towards the 2 kids, catching their attention.

“Please take this money and this tracking device. Follow the pointer until you reach a brown-haired old elf named Voron. He ordinarily wears a coffee-stained white lab coat and brown work pants. Once you reach him, inform him that we sent you and he’ll take care of you. That old fool did take all of the money, after all, he should have enough to take care of two more children.” The boy dried his tears and took the device from Saphrilla’s hand.

“Huh? Really? I couldn’t…”

“Please take it. I know you might not want to cause trouble for us, but you should be prioritizing the girl in your arm first.” Said Rein, looking at the sobbing elf girl.

“Th-thank you… My name is Criselor Roxider, and her name is Alanis Grynel. Even though we almost made you lose that match… you’re still being so nice to us…”

“That’s one hell of a Spring you’ve got Criselor. Make sure to protect the girl above all else.” Rein gestured a fist towards the boy.

“You bet I will! Thanks Rein!” He said, fist-bumping his savior.

“Um, thank you both too!” Alanis gathered up the courage to thank Emria and Saphrilla. Emria blushed with excitement, and as did Saphrilla, which lead to Saphrilla patting her on the head.

“O-oh, my apologies. I do not know why, but I suddenly was overcome with the urge to pat your head.” Emria and the girl laughed at Saphrilla’s embarrassment, then they bid each other farewell. They all sighed out of relief as if a heavy weight was lifted off their chests. Emria looked at Rein with an angry, pouting expression.

“Geez Rein, you can’t just tell us to vote against you without explaining anything like that!” She scolded.

“Indeed. You should have told us that you had already inversed the announcer’s Spring. You made us unnecessarily worried,” remarked Saphrilla.

“Sorry, I didn’t have time to explain. Thank you both for trusting me though. Anyways, Chloe and the others are waiting for us. Let’s head back.”

*************************************************************************************************************

“We’re here Chloe!” Emria and Saphrilla ran to hug Chloe, the lot of them having grown very close to her over the past couple of days. Chloe gasped, then squeaked out of happiness seeing the two girls. She squeezed them both, and they hugged back.

“Where were you two? I’m never taking my eyes off you again! Rein clearly doesn’t know how to take care of you,” She said, scowling at Rein who was walking behind the two girls. Chloe, Clyde, and Quint were waiting in front of a restaurant called ‘Gulf Grill’, a restaurant that sells gourmet food from ingredients found in the Hasbin gulf and surrounding areas. They all entered and sat around a table, the girls sitting on one half and the boys on the other. As usual, Quint was acting cautiously when interacting with Rein.

As the lights in the cave began to dim indicating sun-down, the group finished up their meals and headed back to their rooms. On their way back, Emria and Saphrilla wanted to tell Chloe to sleep over again but didn’t want to inconvenience her, so they stayed quiet. As the 2 girls entered the room, one person called for another.

“Hey, can I talk to you Rein?” This time, it was Chloe calling for Rein. He closed the door to the girls.

“Yeah, what’s up? Don’t tell me you wanna stay with the girls again?”

“… Yesterday, when we switched rooms… Please tell me the real reason.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I told you, it’s so the girls can sleep more comfortably.”

“So why aren’t you asking to switch again tonight? If that was truly the reason, why were you about to enter their room?” She declared, making Rein go silent.

“It has something to do with the guy who dropped out, right? What did you do to him?” She uttered, her voice losing the usual perks that it usually had. Rein stayed silent, not wanting to involve her with him for some reason.

“You know, the first day that we met, you had no intention of interacting with me at all. You even told me that you only helped me for your own benefit. You only kept me around after because of Emria and Saphrilla. But, after the first day, you somehow felt nicer to me. You began to get nervous around me when before, you didn’t seem like the type to feel flustered. Don’t tell me you kn—”

“I switched rooms with you because I knew that guy was gonna try something. I didn’t want to trouble you or the girls in the middle of the night, so I took care of him alone, in your room. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. I just taught him a little lesson on why you don’t sneak into a girl’s room at night. And if he tried to enter the room with Emria and Saphrilla, I would have stopped him all the same. Does that answer your question?” Rein spoke quickly, this being a rare moment that he was flustered internally, though he didn’t let it show on the outside. There was a long, jarring silence that encroached between the two.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why was it necessary for you to know?”

“It wasn’t… But now, it feels like you don’t trust me to let me in on things like that…”

“Tell me, if I asked you to let me see what was under your hood, would you do it?” Chloe stood there silently, both knowing what her answer would be. Rein ended their conversation, feeling a slightly sour taste in his mouth.

“Well then, if that’s all, I’ll be going to sleep now—” As he reached for the handle of the door, he was interrupted.

“Wait!” Chloe placed her hand on his, stopping him from pulling the door handle down and opening the door. Chloe’s face grew red, as she swiftly withdrew her hand, Rein lightly blushing.

“C-can we switch rooms again?”