Miri(1)

He was just thinking what to do in order to maximize the beatdown he's getting from Serika. He even thought about assassinating Carmillia with his very own hands.

'This is good, I don't want to hurt you after all Carmillia…' He thought, staring at the ceiling after laughing his heart out.

'Don't worry… I will to save you. Not for now though.' Of course, he planned to eventually prevent her death lest he gets stuck in this estate forever.

The need for strength is just too urgent. If he couldn't do it the protagonist's way, basically distributing stats and skill, then he can only take advantage of regression and time spent with Serika. Sacrifice couldn't be avoided.

On the way to the training grounds, there was much Xian had to think about.

The most important being, his point of regression had changed. From meeting Carmillia for the first time, to the morning Serika comes as her training partner.

This meant that a condition have been met, an event significant enough to be permanently set, no longer needing his powers of regression. Which events are those then?

Thus far, an extremely lethal threat like the coachman was thwarted and a dangerous questioning of his means that could lead to tortured investigation was smoothly avoided.

Only those two things. If he had to choose, the death of the coachman must be the event that triggered the regression point being advanced.

That man will stay a dead father and have no chance of appearing again. But that also means Xian will be unable to turn back from the estate and investigate his own background beforehand.

'Tsk, well it's not the starting point anyways, everything starts at the academy.'

He's just in a slightly different situation from the protagonist. He lamented not being able to use the coachman incident for training but he'd probably go mad from the amount of regression he's gonna need than taking beatdown's from Serika.

When he entered the training grounds, the usual scene was as if it got replicated. Moris, Carmillia and the girl whose name he heard for the first time, Lucinelle. 

Needless to say, Serika and Lucinelle were only labeled as 'Swordmaiden' in the game, so he was pleased to finally know their name.

Then there's Serika. She still had that impatient and furrowed brows while scrutinizing him from head to. Her toned body was wet from sweat and its as if her own body emitted a steam due to heat.

Her short light brown hair was brushed up against her forehead, eliciting a wild and intimidating look.

'A shame that she's small.' Had she been any taller, her disposition would really fit that wild lady look.

Serika was actually the shortest among Carmillia and Lucinelle with the latter being the tallest.

"What are you grinning at?" Xian didn't realize that his mouth had moved.

"Whatever. Bring it on." He walked to the weapon racks to first find a longsword. Since time was on his side, he's going learn from this opportunity as much as he could.

"Hoh? You're quick on the uptake." Grinning, Serika took a stance he's familiar with. A stance he would have nightmare's about.

But soon, even those nightmare's will feel like a walk in the park.

In exactly five days, he's going to regress because the villainess will die.

Xian recalled something as his eyes wandered around the room. On a rather unassuming side of the training grounds, stood a maid with a box of healing potions. She was that same maid who took care of him everynight like she an obsession over him.

Calling it an obsession was fitting, after all, who would get that high of an affection level within the time frame of a week?

He briefly glanced at the maid and inspected her affection level. 

[Green Heart: 30]

'So did it increase each day I get beat up?'

Xian was going to find out later just what caused the maids affection level rise so much in a single week. The Pink level as opposed to it's color is a very dangerous state. 

At that level, the jealousy counter of the heroine and possibility of the ultimate Ruin end start propping up, which he wanted to avoid at all cost.

The ruin ends were already messed up as it is, ranging from horrible deaths to just plain psychological torture. Or worse… The heroine leaving the protagonist for a rival.

Yes, a rival exists in the dating sim game. Solely for the purpose of consequence and obstacle for the player. The players hated it as a whole because it hurts their ego when they lose.

'If I meet any of those bastards, I'm gonna kill them right away.' He hated those guys too, who wants to get their favorite girl taken away in dating sim games anyways? The devs even got criticized but it fell on deaf ears.

Although, he can be considered one such rival now, since in the future he will definitely go against the protagonist. But that's not a topic to think about for the time being.

Serika made the first move as usual, a move Xian has experienced countless times.

She aimed at his openings every single time to the point that he developed a sense for it. Serika, noticing his readiness, swerved the direction of her weapon but it was met with Xian's longsword.

Both of them had formidable strength for their level, but Serika has the upper hand. Xian felt a surge of force from the longsword he held. Knowing that it's unwise to match Serika in brute force, he let the blade push through as he leaned back, evading her strike.

'At least 30%.' That's how much power Serika is exerting. If she went all out, he wouldn't see her attack coming at all.

He remembered the first battle with Serika as a player. At the time, he was a newbie who didn't know any better. He involved himself with Carmillia at every opportunity, thinking that she's a possible heroine, only to get antagonized.

In the middle part of the game, she had a falling out with the protagonist and the choices forced him to be a goody two shoes, resulting in a fight against her swordmaidens.

They weren't even named back then. His character was at level 33, considered low at the time. And the level read from the two swordmaidens were respectively, 48 and 52. Needless to say, his party lost with flying colors.

Later on, he learned that level gaps were usually bridged near the end of mid story in the game, when student's leave the academy for specialized assignments.

Of course, right now their level must be lower. 

'Still, I'm only level 14. What's making me withstand her?'

His character sheet didn't indicate any stats rising. Then surely, what's left is the traits. A very incredible one.

'I'm looking forward to when it's unsealed.'

This time, he kept clashing, evading and sometimes even countering against Serika. He could feel his control getting better and familiarity with his body increasing.

"So you got some brain for battle? Let's step things up." Serika said as she doubled the speed of her strikes, causing a lot of hits to reach Xian.

He took it without batting an eye, already used to the beating he got from Serika in the past run. Of course, it's still painful.

After the spar, he was left kneeling on the floor.

Carmillia as usual questioned his skills. But this time, Serika didn't mock her.

Moris also said that he performed better compared to their previous training session, while Lucinelle sometimes took glances at him. Perhaps he finally caught her interest? Only Carmillia had not changed her stance.

Finally, there's the maid who very easily took a liking to him.

"Um, hello again. I was the assigned maid today too… hehe." She laughed sweetly, carrying the usual baskets needed for healing and wiping the blood in his wounds.

'Is it her?' Xian remembered what she said back then.

'Don't worry sir Xian… Starting tomorrow, you don't need to do all of this.'

He remembered those exact statement. Did that mean she killed Carmillia? With her guards even?

'But she looks weak. Did she use poison?'

It wouldn't be far fetched if that was the case. The problem is, he knew and saw how the servants in the household thoroughly moved. Just how much stealth was needed to pull it off?

They were almost spotless and perfect. Right, almost.

As a Carmillia fan, he knew a lot about her habits and what she does. All thanks to players that investigated it of course, even he didn't have that much patience to gather information. It came from a collective knowledge of addicts.

It wasn't a coincidence that Carmillia invited him to have tea at her garden. That was a habit that she did every other day. Players concluded that she does that for a good sleep.

And the staff in charge was of course the maids.

"What a coincidence, don't you think?" He looked at her with his usual practiced smile. She nodded smiling with her eyes on the floor.

"Let's get this over with. Could you help me wipe the blood?" This time, he proactively showed interest towards her.

"O-okay!"

Her affection level flickered from 30 to 68 instantly. She was on the verge of having the nice rating number.

'She… Seems to like me already enough.'

Maybe, this body's appearance is to her liking. When he inspected himself in the mirror, he found his face handsome but way too wild. Literally a face made to be defiant and mean spirited with the red hair.

He had a toned and tall body, reaching up to six foot. His body from before he transmigrated in the game had to lookup when meeting those kind of tall people.

While the maid wiped his wounds, he recalled an information he overlooked.

"Right, can you tell me your name?" He looked back as the maid wiped some wounds from his back.

Her hands stopped for a moment as she stared at Xian with slight blush. "Um… You can call me Miri."

That did it as her affection meter rose again. Now it was a [Blue Heart: 1].

Xian almost frowned in disbelief due to the affection level rising. "Miri… That's a nickname isn't it? Sound's cute." He stood up and took the longsword once again, leaving Miri puzzled and embarrassed.

"I'll call you Miri from now on. You can drop the 'sir' when talking to me." He walked towards the middle of the training grounds once again, as if to wait.

"H-How could I! Sir Xian is the y-young miss's butler…"

"That so? Suit yourself I guess." Xian said, facing the door of training grounds.

'She's taking her sweet time before entering.'

The closed doors, swung open, revealing Serika just the way Xian remembered. The frown she had this time was much lighter, but her eyes bore quite the darkness in them.

"Haah, since when were maids allowed to flirt during work?" She briefly glared towards Miri behind Xian, to which he blocked with his body. That earned him an equally sharp stare.

[Green Heart: 16]

Her affection was level higher than he remembers. Probably because he put up a fight.

Some heroines, had activities or actions they like. If you spend time doing it with them and have a good result, the affection level can be significantly raised. In Serika's case, Xian figured that she liked a good spar and fight.

"Were you eavesdropping on us?" Serika choked when she heard that.

"What!? Why would I eavesdrop about useless things? The nerve!" Stomping her foot with a snarl, she made her way towards Xian.

"You're pissing me off. I came back to give you more beating." This time, she took a different stance, as if about to unsheathe her blade. Her real fighting style will now be used against him.

That made Xian's heart a bit more nervous.

"Then come at me, small brat." But he refused to fight without provoking her. Somewhere along the way, he got used to pissing off Serika again and again as the only way to get back at her.

"This guy?…" Serika didn't finish her sentence, as Xian himself came at her.

Meanwhile Miri, watched the one sided beating unfold with bated breath along two other maids.