NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 12: Trust
"W-What's going on, Lily?" Natalia asked, her expression uncomfortable, her body language fidgety. 'Why are they so close? What's going on?'
Almond blinked as he looked at Natalia, 'Something feels weird…Her expression...'
"We got into a relationship a few minutes ago," Lily said as she rested her head on his shoulder, her breasts sightly pressing against him.
Natalia's eyes started tearing up, "B-But…you know my feelings."
'So that's what it is…' Almond wryly smiled. 'She is a lesbian.'
"Natalia, since I understood your situation and hung out with you as your partner, you should also understand that I am more attracted to males. I've made that clear, but…"
Lily stood up and approached Natalia, her mask vanishing as she faintly smiled and caressed Natalia's cheeks as she gently said, "I know you love me, and I won't stop you or keep you away. But you have to accept me and my feelings, too."
Natalia angrily pouted and wiped her tears, looking at Almond with a hateful gaze as she stomped her feet and said, "But how is this possible? You two just met and talked for the first time today!"
Almond raised his arms in surrender, "I don't know. To be honest, I still haven't accepted the situation fully, but I am trying to."
"See! He doesn't even love you!" Natalia's cheeks puffed as she intently looked at Lily.
Lily turned to Almond with deadpan eyes, "So you don't feel attracted to me?"
"No, no, that's not what I mean," Almond weakly smiled as he looked at her eyes and then below, sizing her up, "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and as a male, I feel super attracted to you. God forbid if someone puts us in a room together."
"Actually, never mind about that," Almond coughed.
"But you know," Almond stood up and continued as his smile vanished, his golden-almond eyes sharply gleaming. "I've been a weak nobody until now, and although I believed I could change my life after turning eighteen and entering the Labyrinth, I died because of some pieces of trash and my luck, but fate was with me, so I am here."
"And I don't want to die but thrive in this world," Almond continued with a somber expression, "Lily, you are attracted to me, but as of right now, do you think you put your life on the line for me?"
Lily raised her eyebrows.
Natalia suddenly said with gritted teeth, "I can put my life on the line for Lily!"
'Let me finish, at least,' Almond rolled his eyes and said as he looked at Lily's eyes with determined expression, "Lily, I want someone who I can completely trust. I've been alone forever, so I do long for such a person. It would be great if I have someone who has my back."
"But it's hard to do in this world for someone like me who has always been alone, and you are the first person who got this close to me. I can feel you are sincere because you acted on your impulse and what your heart tells you, and that's good. That's better, and that's why...I will extend my trust to you."
"Will you do the same?" Almond's eyes were sincere and hopeful, burying the deep doubts and skepticism away. If he wanted someone's trust, he had to give his trust to someone. He would rather trust someone and take a chance than regret it later. And most of all, he believed his judgment on who to extend his trust to after the way he lived until now.
In response to Almond's question, Lily's dark blue eyes sparkled as she walked towards him and put her arms around his waist before gluing together, her face an inch away from his as she said with a grin, "You don't know how you are making me fall for you more and more with each passing second, darling~"
Her face inched closer, and she planted her lips on his before kissing him.
Natalia's face turned horrified, "Lily's first kiss! No!"
Lily chuckled and linked her arms with Almond as she winked at Natalia while grinning, "That wasn't our first."
Almond coughed.
"How fast are you guys?! Don't start fucking now!" Natalia pouted and angrily stomped her feet, her words causing both Almond and Lily's ears to turn red.
…
Natalia went back to scavenging the huts while Almond and Lily rested under a tree, checking their status.
'My current Focus and Perception are enough for now. My main offensive arsenal is Physical Enchantment, so increasing Strength will allow me to kill the higher-leveled monster easily,' Almond's eyes glinted, adding the 3 stat points into Strength as it reached 24.5.
"Here's my current stats, Almond. Take a look," Lily said as she shared her stats with Almond, her curious eyes indicating she also wanted to see his stats.
'If she sees my stats…' Almond internally shook his head. 'If I want trust, I need to give trust.'
[Lily]
-Adventurer rank: Bronze.
-Level: 7 [11%]
-Class: Phantom Thief (S)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 250/250]
-Stats: 0 unassigned points
↳[Strength: 25|Health: 15|Stamina: 15]
↳[Mana: 25|Focus: 17|Perception: 20]
"Pretty good," Almond raised his eyebrows.
"Thanks to the stat-increasing potions I had before and now leveling up, my stats are better than average," Lily said with a thrilled sheen in her eyes. "We'll visit all five important locations on the mountain and a secret one."
"Secret one? Are you talking about White Polan's lair?" Almond asked in surprise. 'This lair is randomized every time, and we have to follow small clues to find its location, but with her, we should be able to find it rather quickly.'
"Yep. I assume you know all the information about the first floor, right?"
"Yeah, that's what I did for years. Gathering information on the Labyrinth's floors," Almond said as he couldn't help but smile. "I know everything that is revealed in any piece of media."
Saying that, he shared his status with her.
[Almond]
-Adventurer rank: Bronze.
-Level: 7 [4%]
-Class: Spirit Dealer (SS)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 335/335]
-Stats: 0 unassigned points
↳[Strength: 24.5|Health: 13|Stamina: 13.5]
↳[Mana: 14 (+19.5)|Focus: 15|Perception: 16.5]
The first thing she saw was the class and its rank as her eyes widened in shock.