Warmth

[Name: Mircalla

Race: Succubus

Affection: 82

Like: Freedom, fighting, training, flowers, tasty food, beautiful places

Dislike: Restraint, narrow space.]

Hazel thought Mircalla like both masculine and feminine things. She liked fighting like men and flowers like women. Even though those things were contradictory, he felt these things really fit Mircalla.

But there was something that attracted his attention more. Mircalla's affection for him was quite high. Though, Hazel could understand why. For Mircalla, he was a benefactor. It wasn't weird for her affection for him to be high.

"I see. So her feelings are genuine," Hazel muttered. He kept getting people's affection lately that he couldn't believe it was real. As someone who has been living alone since he was a kid, he couldn't help but be skeptical toward people's affection. However, it seemed he could start to believe again thanks to Mircalla.

Hazel lay down on the bed and stared at his ring. With this ring, he was never alone. With her around him, he had the courage to do everything.

---

The next day, Hazel woke up while feeling energized. He immediately stretched his body and summoned his system.

"Let's finish all the quests!" Hazel exclaimed, encouraging himself.

The first quest he completed was the instantaneous one, the daily login.

[Congratulations! You have acquired 40 special points, 40 system exp, and 40 normal exp!]

"Hm, the next quest shall be [Quality Time With a Grandpa]. After that, I will have enough to buy a stamina potion and training potion, but I still have to do many things before I can train myself."

Hazel took a bath before he started the day. Luckily, there was a bathroom inside the room as expected of the house of a rich family.

The bathroom was luxurious, but Hazel didn't have time to admire it. He cleaned himself thoroughly and then got done with it.

As he left the room with a towel wrapped around his waist, Hazel looked at his ring. "Mircalla, are you still sleeping?" he asked. The girl usually woke up earlier than him. She sometimes acted as an alarm too, but today she didn't show her nose yet, making him worried.

"Is everything alright? Is there a side effect after the evil cycle?" Hazel kept asking. He didn't want something bad to happen to her.

"I—I am fine," Mircalla replied after a few minutes of being quiet.

"Are you sure? Why don't you come out?"

"I—it's not a big deal. I just want to rest."

Hazel frowned. "Are you sure you are alright? Please show your face first. I just want to know if you are really alright. Please."

"I—alright." A pink wisp came out of the ring and formed Mircalla's body. Her complexion was fine. It was just her face as red as a tomato.

Hazel transferred his mana into his hand and touched her forehead. Her body was as cold as usual because she was a spirit body, so he thought everything was alright.

"You are fine, right?"

"I am. If I am in danger, I will tell you. I don't want to die after all," she said, averting her eyes.

"I see." Hazel covered his entire body with mana and pulled her into his embrace, letting her absorb his mana.

"H-Hazel?" Mircalla was startled, but she didn't struggle. The red color on her face spread to her ears.

"You can absorb my mana as much as you want. Please be healthy."

Mircalla smiled and hugged him back. She patted his head and said, "I am healthy. I was just not prepared to face you after my evil cycle."

"Ah...." Hazel suddenly realized Mircalla was just a pure maiden. She probably never confessed her feelings to a man before, so it made sense that she felt embarrassed after confessing her feelings to him.

Mircalla pushed him gently with a blushing face. "So... You know my feelings now."

Hazel chuckled and pulled her into his embrace again, surprising her. "Let's just stay like this for another 30 seconds."

Mircalla hugged him back and enjoyed the warmth of mana from his body, but he looked at his face curiously. "Why 30 seconds?"

Hazel smiled. "Because it has many benefits. Well, it's not bad, is it?"

Mircalla rested her face on his chest. Her eyes were cloudy, as if remembering her past. "It's indeed not bad." She rubbed her face and said, "Your mana is warm."

Hazel could tell she was recalling about her lonely past trapped among a pile of treasures in the goblin nest. No one to chat with her or keep her accompanied. He couldn't imagine how hard it was to endure it. If it was him, he would probably become insane.

Hazel was about to pat her head, but he suddenly felt weak. His legs failed him, and he fell to his knees.

"Hazel, are you okay?" Mircalla asked. She immediately released him. "It seems we overdid it. You almost suffered from mana fatigue."

Hazel raised his thumb. "This is nothing. I can just recover it instantly." He entered the system's shop and spent 200 special points to buy a mana potion. After that, he immediately consumed it and filled the mana pool inside his body.

"Eh, but it was a waste of money. Let's be careful about touching from now on."

"No!" Hazel insisted. "I am fine. As I level up, my mana pool will enlarge."

Mircalla scratched her cheek and said, "If you insist. I am sorry for troubling you."

"Anyway, let's get going. There are many things we need to do."

---

After leaving the room, Hazel had breakfast with the Dumont family together. Yesterday, there were only Lucas and Celina, and this time it was the same. It seemed the other members of the Dumont family were busy, but he secretly felt relief because he didn't have to meet them. After breakfast was over, he completed another daily quest.

[Congratulations! You have received 100 system exp, 100 normal exp, and 100 special points!]

With that, special points rose to 230. It was only enough to buy one potion, so he still needed to complete more quests.

Hazel wanted to do the customized quests right away, but he still had his job as Celina's manager. His job would be over after the school was over, so he could start the quests after that.

'I can think of quests later. This is my first job. I will prove that I am suitable for this job,' Hazel thought in his mind.

He and Celina were walking to school together. Technically, they were already inside the academy because her house was inside the academy area, but they still had to walk to the academy buildings.

"I can't believe I am walking to school this early," Celina complained while puffing her cheek.

"Well, you promised the headmaster to change your life, so you need to prove yourself," Hazel said. He wasn't curious what time she would usually come to school because everything about her past was unrelated to him.

"But listening to lectures is boring, junior. I'd rather stay in the training field and have a spar with my friends."

"Just treat this as mental training. If you can endure the boring lectures, your mental resistance will increase."

"Eh, boring. I don't wanna. Let's just skip school, junior. I will take you to a cool cinema, okay?"

Hazel sighed and endured her tantrum. Maybe  they needed to visit a psychiatrist one day to cure her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He wasn't an expert at treating mental illness after all.

Still he wondered why rich people had all sorts of mental disorders and illnesses. For Hazel, he didn't have time to be affected by mental disorders. If he didn't function as a human being well, he couldn't survive.

After enduring her complaints, Hazel successfully delivered her to her class, but he already felt tired. He walked along the corridor with a weary expression, ignoring the curious gazes of the seniors.

Hazel swore he would stop this job after he became rich enough. After that, he would focus on himself and his desires.

Mircalla patted his head, but because she didn't absorb his mana, her hand passed through his head, so she awkwardly pulled her hand back.

Mircalla cleared her throat and said, "You can help her cure her mental disorder easily."

Hazel stopped and looked at her curiously. "Really? How?" If it was that easy, he would help Celina for the sake of his sanity.

"Easy. Just feed her a mental clarity potion everyday. I believe her mental resilience will increase in one month."

"Eh, one potion is 200 points. That's equal to $6.000 per month. That's two times my monthly salary."

"Stingy Zel. If you complete customized quests everyday, you can make 1.000 points per day. Think of it as an investment. If you cure her ADHD, your life will be easier. She won't burden your mind that much."

Hazel pondered about it and said, "That makes sense. $200 is a lot for me, but 200 points are easy to make. Fine, I shall spare 200 points for her potion everyday."

"Good Hazel." Mircalla patted his head, but her hand went through again. She immediately pulled her hand and smiled awkwardly.

"You can absorb my mana a bit as a gift for giving me valuable advice."

"Yay." Mircalla absorbed his mana, and this time her hand touched his head. She then rubbed his head to her heart's content.