She's wary towards him, but thankful nonetheless (and he even gets rewarded for his help)

Youngwoo dismissed the notification for now, and instead took a long look at the three people in front of him.

The **** man was about 25, maybe 26 years old. He had very short, brown hair and bright skin with little uncleanness to it. His body was well built, it seemed that he had some experience as a fighter. How could he lose to some people who barely could swing a bat? Youngwoo decided not to ponder on that.

The girl who the man had protected before was rather small, and even at first glance Youngwoo realized she was 20 at most. Her blonde hair reached to her chin, making her thin face look a bit round. Her breasts were of a modest B-cup, but her bottom was quite large, at least comparable to some child bearing hips he saw on old mothers. He wondered how high she would be, and came to a conclusion that she might be about 160 cm at most. Truly, a short, young person. What was she doing in the Tower of all places?

No, wait, he himself was only about 21 now. He had regressed 3 years back, but that only applied to his body. But, he had no intention on pondering for too long. He took a look at Dragon Witch.

She was watching him with corner of her eyes, but most of her attention was brought towards the topless girl, laying on the ground. Seeing that she was safe, Hilda proceeded to remove her shirt to cover her, having visibly little shame in only going around in a bra. Then, after ensuring that she wasn't injured, just severely exhausted, she turned to him.

Her look was calm and calculated at the moment, but there was clear glint of hostility towards him. He couldn't blame her for that. After all, he just appeared in perfect moment and dispatched of the thugs. He might've been actually just another thug, here to use her or scoop some rewards. But, she didn't know the story behind that, and he didn't intend on telling her. Youngwo sheathed his sword and asked:

"Are they alright?" He looked at the duo who weren't moving.

With ****, Hilda replied:

"Yes... just ****." Her eyes full of worry glanced over them again, before focusing on Youngwoo again. "..."

"Let me help you take them away." He said. "They'll freeze in here."

"We're fine." She replied.

"No, you're not. You've been running here for a while, haven't you? You're all soaked. You'll get deadly sick in no time in here."

"..."

"If you don't believe my words, take my sword. I'll take the man, and you her." He unfastened belt with his sword sheath and handed it towards her.

Dragon Witch didn't reply for some seconds, visibly in thought. Looking at him, she seemed to be weighting her options. He did have a point; all three of them had been running for some time, and sweat was glistening on all of them. When temperature was in negative figures, it'd be as easy as breathing to catch some nasty disease. On the other hand, this man seemed suspicious, didn't he? Why was he speaking about cold when he had no visible sweat on him? Hell, why was he in t-shirt and shorts when it was cold?

"Why would you help us?" She asked carefully. Youngwoo could clearly see she was stretching fingers of her hand lightly. It was a gesture well known in the future as Dragon Witch preparing to cast ice wave.

"Didn't you need help?"

"That's not what I meant." She intended to know what he expected to get out of this encounter. As her savior and someone who could clearly defeat her (that's what she thought at least), he could request basically anything from her. It might've been just something innocent, or something... nasty.

"I don't want anything from you." He said, lowering himself to a bow. "It is a duty of a Hunter to look after fellow Hunter, no?"

"I don't believe in charity." In the first place, it was other Hunters who chased them down here. This man's words were comparable to child's naivety.

"Fine by me. Just believe in my words, then." He placed his sword on the ground and kicked it lightly towards her. "I simply want to help you. I expect no reward for this. Please. Seeing people suffer is not something I want."

"...you'll walk in front of me." She said slowly. "And if you dare do anything suspicious, I'll use your own sword to slice you." She warned him.

"I understand. So be it." He nodded. Still, he didn't take a step forward, not yet. There didn't need to be any pressure on Hilda. Well, of course, she would hurry anyway. The two laying on the ground were already looking kind of ill.

Hilda got up from her position and fastened the sword to her hips. Youngwoo clicked his tongue inwardly at the sight; she got it wrong immediately. But, he didn't say a word. He didn't intend to have her use the sword anyway. He'd make sure that she'd not need to use it.

Carefully, he started approaching, and eventually reached the two on the ground. He helped the man up and woke him up, letting him lean on his shoulder. He was conscious, but just barely. In the meantime, Hilda rose the woman. She checked her vital signs and asked:

"Ieva, do you hear me?"

The woman mumbled something in response. With some worry visible in her eyes, Hilda commanded towards Youngwoo:

"Forward."

"Got it." He replied, turning his back on her and walking slowly with the man, who didn't seem to want to wake up entirely.

They walked for some minutes, eventually getting out of the park. Some people were on the streets, awaiting for the clock to reach 00:00 to be able to celebrate the year 2040 coming in earnest. Among them, two people were escorting two others. But since there were no visible injuries on them, people didn't pay much attention. Well, of course, some of them did look at Dragon Witch and marveled over her solid C-cup breasts in bra as she seemed to have little to no shame. But to avoid any pictures from being taken, she cast Earth Dragon Ascension and together with Youngwoo she escaped public eye in one of the alleys. And soon enough, Knight Guild's success in clearing Floor 10 took away everyone's attention.

00:12

Youngwoo stood behind Hilda and turned his head away so that she could input code on a panel to open door to the apartment building she apparently was living in. As they entered and went to the elevator, he was immediately taken aback by the style of the place. It was incomparable to the F-rank apartment building where he lived. He was used to tight corridors that could easily induce claustrophobia, but here corridors had nearly 5 metres of width. Walls that were bland in his place were painted in a nice, warm color, and additionally outfitted with many drawings of plants.

'Truly, this is the difference between F-rank and S-rank...' He thought. Soon, he was standing in front of a room door that was seemingly leading to Dragon Witch's apartment.

He helped the man enter the inside and sit on a couch, and after that, he went outside, soon joined by Dragon Witch, who had donned a new shirt onto herself, covering herself. She bowed her head lightly.

"Thank you. What is your name?" She asked bluntly.

"Youngwoo. But everyone calls me Lee."

"I see... My name is Hilda. Thank you again, Youngwoo. I won't forget your favor."

"Ah, nothing to speak of." He smiled lightly. "I just did what I thought was right."

"Still, if you will need help in the future, don't hesitate to reach out to me."

"I will remember that." He replied.

Suddenly, they could hear his stomach rumbling. Reminded of his body's situation, Youngwoo wanted to facepalm himself. 'This damnable skill...' He hadn't eaten for nearly 12 hours, actually, wasn't it approaching 13 by now? That didn't matter. What mattered is how awkward the situation just became.

Well, it only seemed to get awkward, at least. Dragon Witch looked at him with what seemed like compassion.

"Would you like to come in and eat something?"

"It's alright, I-"

"I insist." She cut him short.

"Yes, thank you." He suddenly felt his spirit shrink in front of her. It wasn't exactly fear that he felt. It was more of... anticipation. He didn't expect Dragon Witch to have any kind of good attitude towards him, but this was nice to see. She seemed to get over being extremely wary of him, at least for now.

Following her lead, he took his steps inside. And this time, he took a minute to explore his surroundings.

The main room he entered was larger than his entire apartment. There was a couch (currently taken by the two he rescued, both fast asleep), table with chairs, a large TV. Left to it was a large kitchen where Hilda was doing something. On his right, a corridor with few doors was standing, leading to what he presumed were 3 rooms and a bathroom.

"Please close the door." Said Hilda, seeing him sightseeing.

"A-Ah, yes." He replied hastily, did as she told.

"Feel free to not take off your shoes, Youngwoo." Said Hilda as she came out of kitchen, holding two pizza slices. She started eating one while handing the other to him. With gratitude, he accepted and joined her in eating.

"Thank you, miss Hilda."

"Hilda is fine." She replied.

"How are they?" He turned to the two on couch.

"Mostly fine, thanks to you. A little beaten up and tired, but otherwise fine, I believe."

"I see. That's good. And what about you? Aren't you tired?"

"No..." She looked at him with a little suspicion, and then at her hands. They were shaking a little. "Maybe a little..." She felt her eyelids go down for a moment, but **** herself to not succumb.

'Is this an effect of Calm Mind?' Youngwoo wondered. It seemed likely in his eyes; after all, if it could block hunger, then why not exhaustion? Then again, wasn't he tired when he killed himself for the final time just yesterday? Or were those two things completely different? He had to check it someday.

"I believe I should go. You should rest. It was nice meeting you, Hilda."

She didn't react initially, but he could've sworn that her lips curved upwards ever so much. She escorted him to the door and gave him his sword back.

"Please tell me, Youngwoo, are you in a guild now?"

"Guild? No. My skills are too bad to join a guild."

"And what about those skills you used earlier?"

"?" He looked at her with surprise.

"I believe there was Restraint? Flower? Pinnacle? Some skills like that?"

"Oooh..." 'Well fuck, she heard them. I can't just say they are imaginary or she'll take me for a crazy person.' "Those skills aren't very powerful, so I rarely use them."

"But you just fought 5 on 1, and even won."

"It was because they were tired." He said.

"Even so, you know your way with a blade. If you want to join a guild, please consider Magician Guild. You'll be treated properly. I'll tell them to accept you right away."

"That is very generous of you, Hilda... but do you really have such an authority?"

"Why do you think I live here? I have very good skills myself. I'm sure I'll reach the top sooner or later." She said, just a little bit of pride coming from her; she was certain of her success.

"Ah, I see... so you belong to Magician Guild..." Youngwoo acted like he didn't know. Well, truth be told, back then he didn't. Hilda only became a prominent figure after Magician Guild's guildmaster died in late 2040.

"Correct. And I'm saying, your talent could prove valuable to our expeditions. After all, we all want to climb the Tower, right?"

"Yes... I suppose it's true. I'll think about it. Goodnight, Hilda."

"Stay safe, Youngwoo." She replied and closed the door. Youngwoo heard sound of lock clicking into place, and begun walking away. It was more than he expected; he only wanted to save Hilda after he saw the injustice happen to her (and Calm Mind amplifying it), but what he got instead was incomparably better. It seemed that she took kind of liking towards him, hell, she even said she'd make sure he was accepted in Magician Guild. Was it just gratitude? He was certain it was, but... he felt like he could take it further.

'Just imagine if I can befriend someone as powerful as her...' He didn't dare imagine befriending with someone of her caliber before, but this, now, showed that it wasn't entirely impossible. If he played his cards correctly... no, wait. Don't overthink things. 'She's just being nice for me helping her.' Yes, he was certain of that. After all, she didn't know him. And she didn't know what would happen had he not appeared.

Finally reaching his own room, Youngwoo locked the door and sat on the bed. He leaned the longsword by the wall and took a few deep breaths. First of all, he had to resolve the matter at hand. He received this notification right after defeating the 5 thugs.

Meanwhile

Hilda laid on the bed, not even caring to change her sweaty clothes. She was tired, too tired, even. Her skill called Calm Mind helped her diminish effects of lack of sleep, but it didn't stand in the way of physical exhaustion. But, still, she thought back to what happened.

This man, Youngwoo. At first he looked like a typical 'hero' type, who'd just jump in at a convenient moment and grab glory for doing nothing. But, having watched how he cared for the three of them, and how he straight up wanted to refuse a reward (or rather some help from her), she felt weird.

It wasn't attachment, of course not. But, deep in her, she felt hope. Hope that this man could actually be worth knowing. 'It's a rarity to know real friends in Tower, but... he seems like someone who could become one. We'll see if he's worth my trust. Maybe I'll try to dig some info on him tomorrow.' She smiled a little, unbeknownst to herself, and drifted into sleep state.

[A/N: Hello! Feel free to comment about your own ideas about how the story should go! I have my own ideas, but it doesn't mean I can't incorporate others as well! Thank you for tagging along on this journey and have a nice day!]