After Bucco and Abigail made it back, they were surprised to hear that Emeril had left as well. He went on an adventure to clear his mind and get stronger, so he targeted the tall mountain towards the Northern Region Border. Ophia and Josine wanted to go as well, but they remained behind, as they weren’t strong enough to survive there.

Nor did the King and Queen want their daughter to do such a thing. The Pope was even more adamant about Josine not leaving as well.

Meanwhile, Zack was off doing his own thing and Yidris was in a stump. She was absentmindedly looking out the window with some cloth in her hand when the two walked into the club room.

“Oh? What’s up, leader?”

Bucco had calmed down a lot since the beginning, as he had some time to think about his situation. He wasn’t so upset at the change in setting since he had made some close friends. Sure, it was a little too soon to call them friends. It would be better to call them partners in crime.

However, by sharing such an unbelievable fate, the group had banded together. And when one member of that group suffered, it showed that the others could suffer as well. Being in a game world was something that most people wouldn’t mind. Escaping from reality was always an attractive dream.

But of course, many people imagined the levels and magic and monsters would be easy and fun, instead of depressing and traumatic. In fact, Zack had completely given up on going back to any of the Dungeons out of fear.

So, to see their leader in name be so down, it was not unusual, but it was a little frustrating.

“Oh, just thinking about stuff…”

She went back to her enchanting, but she looked demotivated and distracted. Abigail waved Bucco away and sat beside the archer in silence.

So, Bucco decided to walk around. It was the seventh day, so he had the day off again. However, he ended up finding the three girls who were most affected by Nolan’s distress.

“Oh, hey, Bucco.”

“Mm. Heading towards the Dungeon again?”

“We have to get stronger.”

To Bucco, he wasn’t really thinking of girls. Well, aside from his sister, from a brother’s perspective, and sometimes Abigail, the others appeared too young for him. He had never played the game himself, but his friend had, and wouldn’t shut up about it. So to be reborn in this world with no major knowledge, it was scary and bizarre.

But to these girls who looked even worse than Yidris, he couldn’t help but think that he was being selfish. Gina was perhaps the strongest one out of the three, spiritually, as she led the others towards the city. Delania looked the worse off.

As he continued to the school, the girls walked in silence on their own.

Delania felt partly to blame for the trouble at the ball since she could hear his thoughts and couldn’t do anything. She had panicked and collapsed because she was so used to being connected to him. She ended up experiencing his thoughts and emotions first hand. The feeling he felt was strong and full of angst.

Meanwhile, Ilya was jittery. She was constantly looking over her shoulder or darting around. Her tail moved erratically while her ears kept moving around. Apparently, she was trying to see if Nolan was going to come running over at any minute.

For some reason, the affection between Nolan and Gina was a little less than the others, but only because it was hard to raise her affection in the first place. Usually, in the game, one would help her in her problem only after a certain point, and by then, they would have already been close.

But thanks to this, she was level-headed and knew what she had to do. Certainly, she held feelings for him, but they were at a level where she was capable of making rational decisions. Delania was dependent on him while Ilya admired him. But Gina?

She didn’t know what he meant to her. She just liked being there with him. So, she felt a little different from the others. However, thanks to this, she was able to pick the two up and bring them here.

Remembering her words with Nolan before, she began to teach Ilya about using her body as a conduit for magic. There should be some similarities to herself, as beastkin were related to magic beasts or even monsters. Even though she couldn’t use magic, surely she could call upon the power of her body in order to fight better.

Of course, it was going to need quite a bit of work. But with Delania there, the enemies were easy enough to deal with.

And so, their training sessions got better. They practiced the sword dance as well and became close. Because of Nolan bringing them together, the three girls ended up becoming something more than some group of girls, they became a team. They understood one another and could feel what they meant.

They became more than friends, but not in a sexual manner. Instead, they had become almost sisters. The stress they experienced was shouldered by all three, so they bonded and conspired together.

They trained so they could be together with Nolan, even if he acted up again. So they could keep him safe, they worked. It was a strange notion that Gina came up with, but it managed to feed into the other two’s desires as well.

For Ilya, who admired him, she wanted nothing more than to be his equal. However, becoming stronger than him became her new goal after some time. Even Delania renewed her vigor. If her family would one day remove her from Nolan’s side, she needed to have the strength to make her own decisions. If she wanted to stay with Nolan, she needed to get strong.

But for Gina? She desired to understand her feelings towards Nolan. She wanted to know why these two went through so much in order to appreciate him in such a manner.

She had no idea that she was properly being conditioned to enjoy Nolan by the two hardcore fans. It would have been funny if the situation hadn’t hinted at Gina becoming a little too obsessive over how much she wanted to know why she liked him.

Oh well.