Firia's Heart

Everybody in the room was shocked to see what Alex had gotten. They knew Alex was a gold hunter but the cores he brought were too much to witness for newbie hunters like them.

This was not the first time the guild master saw such a scene, he calmed down a bit and spread his Mana around to count Alex's cores.

"Alex, you got 1151 for rank 4 cores and 139 for rank 5 cores. The total is...Yuna, please help me," Bernard said to Yuna.

His Mana was only able to count the number of cores Alex collected but he needed better mathematical skills to count how much money he had to give to Alex later.

"Yes guild master, the total is 4,843,000 coppers or 484 gold coins and 30 silvers," Yuna answered faster than anyone could ever think of. It was the best decision to hire her as Bernand's secretary.

"That's awesome, Yuna, you are good with numbers," Bernard praised her once she had done the calculation.

Yuna was embarrassed to receive it since for her it was just her normal ability.

"And the score..." Alex turned to teacher Farida who was also stunned to see Alex's results. The rest of the people in that room could only fall silent while hiding their amazement. Excluding Alicia who had predicted Alex would be able to kill that many monsters. Since Bernard and Yuna already saw it before, both of them could manage their expression better. They knew this was coming.

Alex tried to call teacher Farida because she seemed to be out of space. After a while, Farida got back to reality embarrassedly.

"Ahem...The points are 36,920 points. Since you haven't submitted any cores previously so that is your total score. This...This score is..." she took a long breath and continued, "This score will become the highest score ever achieved by a student since the academy was built. The previous highest score was only around eight thousand points and he became the strongest academy's dean back then, but you..."

"Thank you, teacher," Alex scratched his head and didn't let Farida finish her sentence.

After a while, Firia and the rest started to get back to reality. They now acknowledged that Alex was indeed that strong. They remembered that Alex had given one of his rank 4 cores, which means his total rank 4 cores was above 1300 cores.

'What a Monster'

'What a Freak'

Those were few things that popped into their mind.

Bernard was sweeping Alex's cores silently. He also thought that Alex was indeed a little monster. He just sighed and continued his work. It seemed that his good friend, grand duke, got a superhuman son-in-law.

"I plan to go to the dungeon after three days," Alex dropped the bomb to everyone in that room.

"Please, don't do that!" teacher Farida snapped.

"..." Alex was speechless to hear her response, "But teacher, the examination is still ongoing, right? That means I can get back in anytime I want to."

'No no no, that's not the point here' everyone snapped on their mind. They had no idea why Alex would want to go back to the dungeon when he already achieved the highest score any student ever received.

"..." the room was silent when they heard Alex insisted to go back.

"Sigh, since we are done here. Let's clean up, do you all have any other things to take care of?" asked Bernand to Alex and his friends.

Everybody shook their head, and they decided to leave the master guild's office.

After they went out, Rery and the rest bid goodbye to each other. They planned to go back to the inn since they didn't want to continue killing monsters in the dungeon.

"Alex," Firia tugged his arm as she called out his name.

Alex looked at her and then he turned to Alicia, "I'm sorry Alicia, can you go ahead? I want to….Talk to Firia."

Alicia stared at Alex then at Firia and back to him, she just nodded and walked faster, leaving both of them behind.

"Alex, I want to talk about something with you," Firia said.

"Yes, you have said that before. What's wrong?"

"Do you hate me?"

"No, I don't," he answered shortly.

"Do you hate me? Because Alicia got injured because of me," she looked down, feeling both regretful and sad.

"No, it's not your fault. You don't have to think about it," Alex tried to reassure her that it was no one's fault.

"Why...Why..."

Alex sighed, he thought for a while and decided to tell the truth, "I'm engaged with Alicia."

Firia's heart was now in so much pain, tears started forming in her eyes, "Why... Is it an arranged marriage? Why did you agree to it?"

"..."

Firia bit her lips, she held her emotions a lot and she beat Alex's chest lightly, "Do you love me?"

"I only thought of you as a friend, Miss Firia."

Firia's tears streamed down, "Why...Why..." she kept asking him why he didn't like her the way she wanted it.

Alex sighed again, "Let me tell you something, there was a boy, a silly boy and he had a girlfriend. He always worked hard to get what she wanted. One day, she wanted something expensive so the boy worked even harder. Even when he was sick, he endured the pain and continued working just to get money to buy her a present.

When her birthday arrived, the boy came with his 'expensive' present. But that also a fated day as well. On that day, his girlfriend betrayed him with his best friend. He thought the world was already over for him. But heaven still gave him a second chance.

The boy wanted to change his life so he worked hard to get stronger. Then, one day the boy met a girl and saved her life. After that, they went on a journey together, they were often fighting and quarreling with each other. The girl didn't care about the boy's commoner status nor with her status. Even her family didn't care who he was. They started to get even closer as they spent their time together. The boy wanted to overcome his trauma so he wanted to slowly develop a relationship with the girl.

But an accident happened and the girl's life was in danger. That was the turning point for him, he realized how important she really was. At first, he wanted to slowly develop his relationship but after the incident he noticed that he would have wasted so much time and he could have lost her at any moment."

Firia was still crying as Alex told his story, "That girl is Alicia and the boy is you, right?"

"..." Alex kept his silence. Even when he didn't say anything, Firia already knew the answer.

"I envy her, why did she have to be the one who met you first? Why not me?"

"..."

"I started to think that I really can't beat her in your heart. I will never win you over her."

"I'm sorry," Alex could only say that.

"You seem to be someone who would marry only if you love the girl," she continued.

"..."

"Is there a room left for me in your heart?"

"..." Alex still couldn't say a word.

Firia bit her lips even more, "Polygamy is normal in this world, and with your ability, you will be welcome to have more than one wife. I won't give up on you. Even when I know I can't beat her and become the number one. I'm fine with number two. I know your personality and I know you can divide your love equally to us."

"I..."

Firia hugged Alex.

"..." Alex just froze and stood there.

"Please, let me hug you a little longer like this. This might be the last time you will let me do this," tears started falling from her eyes.

Alex looked at her and he was not moving an inch. He also didn't push her away.

After a while, she asked again, "Can we still be friends, then?"

"Sure," Alex nodded while Firia hadn't let go of her hug.

"Can we act casually around each other? Not being awkward after I confessed to you like this?"

"Yes, Miss Firia. I promise," Alex smiled a bit.

"You promise?"

"I will try my best."

"I won't give up on you. You hear it!"

"..."

There was no answer Alex could give because he saw how the girl was so eager to not give up on him. After a long while, Firia released her hug from Alex and she seemed to calm down a lot. She asked again, "Shall we go back now?"

"Yes, let's go back. If we spent too much time together they might get suspicious," Alex then continued, "About the story I just tell you...Please keep it a secret, especially to Alicia."

"Alicia didn't know this?"

Alex nodded, "No, she doesn't know about this."

Firia was a bit happier, "If that's the case, I'm the first who knows about this entire story, right? Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. But I never thought you have this kind of story and keep it to yourself."

Alex sighed and he scratched his head.

"Well, never mind. Let's go back now. Though I want to say that the woman who had betrayed you must regret her decision a lot now," she said, encouraging Alex about his past life.

For a moment, he recalled Sandra's personality back then and he shook his head. He didn't want to remember her in his mind, even just for a second. "Let's head back."

He secretly hoped Firia's feelings would disappear as time passed by. He still believed in monogamous relationships since when he was on Earth. He never wanted to marry more than one woman as he didn't find it fair or right to do that.

***

After they arrived at the inn, Alicia came to Alex right away once she saw the guy walking in.

"Alex...How about we stroll around the town tomorrow?" she asked embarrassedly.

Alex gently smiled at her, "Sure."

Firia cut in and said, "I want to join!"

Alicia pouted and she looked at Alex desperately. She hoped that Alex wouldn't let Firia join them tomorrow.

"How about we all go together the day after tomorrow?" Alex asked.

"Fine, you two can go together first," Firia pouted. She gave in because she knew Alex won't favor her over Alicia.

Alicia blushed and Alex scratched his cheek again.

***

After Alex arrived in his room, he went straight to his System.

"System, I want to recycle all my items, except my cauldron," he said to the System.

Since all of his items were recycled before when he wanted to save Alicia, he only had some inventories left.

[Processing]

[Gacha Ticket x5 Acquired]

"5 huh..."

"What is the new thing after your update?"

[For Tools gacha, Host might get any rank 3 or below weapon if Host is lucky enough or Host might get something like a low-level cauldron. As for techniques gacha, you might get any intermediate skill/art. For material, you might get high-rank material]

"Hmm...Then I might as well use it on techniques gacha. System, put all them in techniques gacha!"

[Processing]

[Basic Sword Art x1]

[Guitar Skill x1]

[Sanguin Sword Art x1]

[Weaving Art x1]

[Basic Spear Art x1]

"..."

"Guitar skill? I never hear about any guitar in this world, why am I even getting that kind of skill? Just like when I got Piano skill back then! Look! There is even a Weaving art? Are you going to make me weave a sandal or a shoe? This must be a joke!"

[Host, the system gives you a random thing. Even System can't control what is out from the gacha. Look Host, you got an Intermediate Sword Art]

"Hmm... you are right, seems my luck is better this time"

[No host, the one who has good luck is the System]

"... What kind of good luck do you have? You are a system, can you even have good luck? Obviously, I am the one who has the good luck," Alex smirked.

[Host, my name is Good Luck gacha system. It might mean to cheer you up by saying 'Good Luck' but another meaning is that I am a gacha system with Good Luck. That, if you read things thoroughly]

"...." this logic didn't seem to make any sense for Alex.

"No, I was the one who was lucky this time. No debate!"

[Host...]

"No, I don't care what you are going to say. I am the lucky one, that's it!"

[...]

"Hehe...Love you System," he seemed to win today's argument. He then continued checking his sword, "Alright, let me check this Sword Art first."

He took out the Sanguin Sword Art, "Sanguin Sword Art is a sword art focusing on slashing movement. To use it properly, the user needs a good speed. There is a total of 15 slash that produces a Sword Wave. That means 15 Sword Waves. Okay, the more Sword Wave I produce within a single movement, the stronger it will get. That means I need faster speed for this movement. I think I can't try it here. I will try it when I dive into the dungeon again. I might as well try to get a gacha ticket again, who knows I might get another intermediate art again."

[You just lucky this time, Host]

"Can't I even have hope?!"

Alex sighed, "I can try practicing this Sword Art with the 50th-floor boss. Since only one rank 5 monster spawned at that floor, it will give me a good practice partner."