Reborn as an Extra

Silver Mansion, Lia’s room.

"Can you not leave for now?..."

Rio caressed Lia’s cute face at her sadness-filled question.

Despite being together for the entire way here, Lia still hadn’t had enough; she wanted to spend a while longer with Rio and was reluctant to let him go.

The main reason why all awakeners are taught not to make much contact with any self-conscious entity inside the dungeons as long as it’s not necessary is exactly to prevent this kind of situation from happening.

Dungeons are not just about monsters and violence; some of them hold entire ecosystems inside them.

Not all monsters inside them are completely evil, not all opponents want to fight, and not every boss monster is out for your life.

In quite a few cases, high-rank dungeons often have massive ecosystems inside them, and there are many intelligent individuals living inside in peace and harmony.

Sometimes, the dungeon raid team themselves end up being the real invaders and the source of chaos and trouble too.

In these kinds of situations, it’s possible to get affected by trauma.

Awakeners know that these dungeons will cease to exist after they conquer them, and thus some go too overboard and slaughter everything in sight just to satisfy their bloodlust.

Sometimes awakeners end up making friends and become too close to the individuals living inside the dungeon, and when the time to leave comes, they suffer tremendous mental backlash.

Everyone wants to be an awakener and become a hero, but people subconsciously ignore the dark side of this career.

Being an awakener is a job that is not for someone with a weak heart; it’s a ’Path’ that’s filled with thorns, and the threat of death is always hanging above you as long as you keep raiding dungeons.

Physical trauma and soul damage can still be healed through various methods, but mental trauma... that’s something that not even the most powerful medicines or potions can heal easily!

"Well... The circumstances and results of this mission have deviated a lot... let me call them and make some arrangements..."

"In fact... we might need your power too... so whatever the plan would be, you will need to be present at the meeting too..."

"I will call them and tell them to postpone and prepare some things first..."

Hearing Rio’s words, Lia reluctantly let go of his shirt’s sleeve and hid herself under the quilt.

Only her head and eyes slightly peeked out as she spoke in a quiet voice.

"Come back soon, okay?"

Rio nodded his head, kissed his adorable girlfriend on the forehead, and left the room.

...

Outside the room, Lia’s personal maid Mel was standing like a statue.

"Why are you standing here? Why not head inside?"

Hearing Rio’s question, Mel looked straight into his eyes and replied with her usual poker face.

"Because I didn’t want to see the clingy couple kissing and doing lewd things... it would be awkward if I interrupting something important..."

At Mel’s words, Rio rolled his eyes as he changed the topic directly.

"She’s not feeling well currently; you should go talk to her for a while. I have to make a call..."

"By the way, did you lock up those two fellows?"

Mel nodded at Rio’s words.

"Yes, for making young lady suffer, those two have been put on a room arrest and won’t be getting any dinner tonight..."

"I wanted to punish them more but young lady is already sad enough so..."

Rio nodded his head and started to walk away.

Just as he was about to leave and head towards the terrace to find a quiet place to talk, Mel suddenly spoke to him from behind.

"It’s good that you helped young lady and are giving her a lot of support... but don’t forget to take care of yourself too..."

"The light in your eyes... it’s starting to disappear completely..."

"I know you have troubles of your own... but I don’t want to see Lia sad... I would appreciate it if you would not do something that would make her sad..."

Mel looked at Rio and spoke,

"I think of her as my own daughter... if something happened to her... I will not be able to handle it either..."

"Although I am just an ordinary person and can’t understand the troubles of someone as strong as you... please be kind to my daughter and don’t too reckless things often..."

With that said, Mel slightly bowed towards Rio before entering Lia’s room and disappearing from Rio’s sight.

Mel’s words hit Rio straight in the heart and shook his soul from the very depths.

Rio looked at the expressionless face reflected in the glass window nearby and noticed how truly ’bizarre’ and devoid of light his eyes looked.

Traveling through the spirit realm, confronting Raika, watching Ellie die in front of him, and almost losing Lia.

It all happened one after another and didn’t give Rio a single day or rest.

He’s been going back and forth for months without a wink of sleep.

Although it didn’t have much impact on his strong body, the same was not true for his mind.

Looking at those dead eyes, Rio muttered to himself,

"Power has a cost... I don’t want to pay this cost but I can’t afford to be weak either..."

"Asking me to take care of myself... that’s quite unfair of you Mel..."

"You really know how to target a person’s heart... sigh..."

Rio gave a dry laugh at his own words and for the first time in a while felt helpless.

Ever since Rio became an S-ranker, almost everything had become easy for him.

Battles were no longer as challenging as before, and even Riaka was eventually defeated by him at the end.

But no matter how strong he became, Rio still could not combat the loss of emotions he was suffering from.

Now, the situation has worsened so much that even Mel, who’s usually aloof and doesn’t care about anyone else except Lia, has started to notice it.

"I will never bring harm to Lia... one day, I will definitely be able to laugh just like everyone else..."

"As long as I keep working for my goals... I will find my lost heart back someday too..."

With a clenched fist, Rio regained his determination as he turned away and continued walking forward.