Pity

'Well, he stopped, but what do I say now?!'

Evelyn could feel cold sweat running down her back as her face got increasingly hot.

She had stopped Darius from entering the portal, but his annoyed look and the stares from the others in the rest area stopped her brain from working.

Her feet felt rooted to the ground, her mouth dry and the situation was just getting worse.

'What do I say?! Can I even speak when my mouth is so dry? Everyone is looking. I can't move my body. Do I look foolish? Can they see that I'm not used to this? Can they all see how annoyed he looks? What if I say the wrong thing and lose my chance to get him as a companion. What if he thinks I am some kind of weirdo that just calls out to people and then don't say anything. What if-'

"What?"

Darius voice seemed faint compared to the loud voice inside her head, telling her how silly she looked.

Evelyn tried to shake of the voices, once more focusing on the man in front of her.

He was slightly shorter than her and his sandy hair was trimmed to a buzz cut.

'His hair was longer in my past life. He looked older as well. And not just by a few years. He gave of a feeling of someone much older. Someone that inspired confidence in those around him.'

'But maybe that is just what the tower does to people. After years of risking their life climbing the tower, the experiences they make form them into new people.'

Focusing on his appearance and comparing how he looked now as to how he looked in her past life seemed to calm her down.

"Hey, you. Do you usually just stop random people and stare at them without saying anything? I know you're not mute since you called out to me, so what do you want?"

"Oh… Um… I wanted to be you to fight the monsters for me," Evelyn blurted out before her stress could overtake her again.

"What?" Darius looked at her with incredulous eyes. "You want me to fight for you?"

"Yes!" Evelyn hurriedly nodded.

'If he fights, I can heal. Then he doesn't need to be as afraid of getting hurt. I remember from a past interview that he used to get hurt a lot and he had to take breaks between the floors because his skill levels used to be too low.'

Smiling, Darius stretched his hand towards her.

'What? Does he accept? That easily?!'

Evelyn beamed back at Darius, feeling the nervousness slide off of her. Her shoulders relaxing and her mind no longer buzzing, she marvelled at how well she had accomplished her first task.

'So, it might actually not be that hard to get a companion after all. At least it seems like Darius will be easy to have a good relationship with. Of course, it's a win-win, considering he doesn't have to continuously leave the tower to rest between each floor.'

Taking Darius's outstretched hand, fully intent on shaking it to finalize their partnership, Darius suddenly pulled her towards him and threw her towards the portal.

"Do you think I'm a bus?! Tackle the floors on your own!"

Shocked at the unexpected turn of events, Evelyn was barely able to hear what he said before her vision blurred blue and the sounds of the resting area disappeared. 

***

As the blue light disappeared and she regained her sight, Evelyn found herself sitting in a meadow. It stretched out as far as her eyes could see, with small yellow and purple flowers mixed into the green grass.

"What happened?" She murmured to herself, as she tried to figure out what had happened.

"I thought the conversation was going well… weren't we going to tackle the floors together?"

Looking back at their conversation, Evelyn belatedly noticed that she hadn't actually told him she was a healer.

"Haa… he must have thought I was some crazy rude person asking him to do all the fighting for him…"

As Evelyn had spent a lot of time alone growing up, she had spent much of her life reading in her room. She was especially fond of romance and face slapping novels, so looking back at how he must have seen her actions made her cringe.

"Isn't this the typical actions of a delusional villainess? Asking men to fight for her, simply because she is a woman and has too much faith in her looks…"

Feeling her face get hotter by the second, Evelyn let out an embarrassed sight as she hid it with her hands.

Once again confirming that meeting new people was hard, she got up on her feet to scan her environment.

"I should probably be careful, considering I've now entered the first floor…"

Luckily, as she scanned around her, she only saw the meadow with no monsters in sight. She did, however, finally notice the messages from the system.

*Congratulations on entering the tower floors for the first time! Please do your best to climb all the floors and become the strongest you can be. *

Looking at the first message, it seemed like the stereotypical message all climbers got when they entered the tower. Evelyn dismissed the first message before looking at the next.

*Hidden achievement 'First to get thrown into it' unlocked! *

Clicking on the message, it expanded, and an explanation showed up.

* Congratulations on unlocking the hidden achievement 'first to get thrown into it'. Whether you were betrayed or simply took too long dragging your feet, the fact that you got thrown in the portal against your will, does not change. The system pities you for your unfortunate fate of being the first to get thrown into a portal and has given you a reward as a consolation. May this dagger help you as you climb the tower, and may you choose better companions. *

Reading the message, Evelyn could feel the nerves around her eye twitch. She had an uncanny feeling the system was messing with her.

"The system pities me and gives me a consolation prize? And wants me to find better companions? It's not finding a companion that's hard but getting one!"

Evelyn closed out the message and looked in her inventory, where there now was a dagger that hadn't been there before. Reading the description, Evelyn once again felt the system was mocking her.

*Simple dagger for the pitiful

A good dagger for cutting. *