System's POV

"Did something good happen to you, Zion?" Vincent asked. "You look very lively today."

"Do I?" Thirteen asked, not really understanding what Vincent was talking about.
Continue reading at empire

"Yes." Vincent nodded. "Just a single glance at you, and I can tell that you are in a good mood—though you still have that default calm expression, like a poker face."

Thirteen raised his hand and lightly tapped his left and right cheek, which had been pressed over two soft hills during the entire night.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he did feel a lot better when he woke up, after sleeping in the embrace of the beautiful Sorceress, who was now his Fiancée.

For some reason, he felt that the stress and lingering fatigue, which he had been enduring for the past few days, suddenly disappeared.

'Is this the effects of skinship?' Thirteen thoughts. 'I think I need to do more experiments to confirm whether it has a relation to my current mood or not.'

Vincent, who had asked Thirteen to accompany him to take a stroll in Glory City, looked at the teenage boy with a smile.

Truth be told, he planned to share a few secrets on how to improve relationships with the ladies because he felt that Zion was not really good at expressing his feelings to others.

"So, Mr. Popular with the ladies, how does it feel to have Erica as your fiancee?" Vincent asked. "Have you seen the Front Page of the Daily Pangea? You and Erica are on the front page."

As if to prove that he was telling the truth, Vincent produced a newspaper out of nowhere and showed the front page to the teenage boy.

"Spring has come for the Sorceress and her Knight in shining armor," Thirteen said as he read the headlines. "A match born out of love or interest? Read the full article to know the story behind the scenes!"

Thirteen continued to read the article because he was really curious about the so-called "stories behind the scenes.

"They met in the lands of Fractured Heaven, and they left it as a match in heaven. After facing off countless tribulations, including fighting off against a Majin King, love bloomed between the Sorceress, and her Knight, who overcame the odds together."

Thirteen continued to read and was surprised that there were even eye-witness statements added to the article.

"The two of them slept together all the time," a Wanderer, who wanted to remain anonymous, said. "Of course, there was this other girl named Sherry, who stayed with them. I am guessing that she is another love interest that might become Zion's next Fiancee."

Due to the high mortality rate of Wanderers, it was perfectly normal to have more than one wife in Pangea and Solterra.

As long as the man would be able to support them, he could have as many wives as he wanted.

"I overheard something when I was passing their tent one night," another anonymous Wanderer said. "I heard a feminine voice saying 'no matter how much you try, you won't be getting any milk, okay?' Originally, I didn't pay any attention to it.

"But since you guys are paying me good money—errr, I mean, since you guys want to know the truth, I decided to come and give my statement."

Thirteen blinked once then twice because he couldn't remember hearing those words before.

'Did Erica say that when I was asleep?' Thirteen thought.

For the time being, he put this matter to the side and continued to read.

"As a love expert, I have a feeling that this relationship isn't that simple. I saw the Saintess looking at Zion during the tournament. Those were the eyes of a lady in love. It seems that there is a love triangle involving the two members of the Hero Party."

Thirteen blinked once then twice before reading the eyewitness statement a second time because he thought that he had just misread it.

But after making sure that there was no mistake, he couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.

He was only friends with Shana.

Although there was an incident when Tiona's clone reported something interesting during its patrol around the camp.

It was about the Saintess muttering the words 'Zion Virus' from time to time, which he didn't understand even now.

For some reason, he had a strong feeling that if he asked Shana directly about it, the Saintess would pretend that she had no idea what he was talking about.

Because of this, he decided to just let things be for the time being.

There were many other things that were written in the article. Some of them were close to the truth, while the rest were just complete hogwash.

Of course, this was very normal when it came to the media, who liked juicy tidbits about popular people regardless of their articles ending up being too exaggerated.

"Zion, since we're friends, allow me to teach you a few things that will make your relationship with your fiancee a lot better," Vincent said, as if he was the Great Saint of Love who knew all the ups and downs in any relationship.

"First, answer me this—do you and Erica really sleep together at night?" Vincent asked.

"Yes, we do," Thirteen answered. "Sherry is also with us."

Vincent nodded. "Then, are you in the middle when you sleep with them?"

"Yes," Thirteen replied.

"How do you sleep?" Vincent smiled. "Do you sleep facing the sides? Or lying face up?"

Thirteen was about to say lying facing the sides, but for some reason, he felt that he shouldn't say this to the general public.

"Lying face up," Thirteen said calmly.

"I see. Then you should try to do this tonight," Vincent whispered something, which made Zion frown.

"Are you sure?" Thirteen asked. "Will my relationship with Erica really deepen if I do that?"

"It will not only deepen your relationship with Erica," Vincent smirked. "It will also deepen your relationship with Sherry. You are also close to her, right?"

"Well, something like that," Thirteen answered. "But will this really work?"

"Trust me, Zion." Vincent patted his chest with confidence. "This is not my first rumble."

Thirteen pondered for a bit before reluctantly nodding his head.

Vincent, who was more than happy to share more about his expertise, even gave the booklet that he had painstakingly written the entire night to the teenage boy.

He had already considered Zion as his friend, so he didn't mind helping him out.

Thirteen read the information written in the booklet and decided to give it a try.

He understood that he still lacked a bit of human emotions, so he decided to perform some experiments that might allow him to better understand the things that were unknown to him.

That night, when Erica and Sherry visited him in his room, Thirteen followed his advice and threw caution to the wind.

A minute later, Erica's and Sherry's faces turned beet red because they didn't expect that Zion would do something like that.

In the end, the night passed with Zion waking up feeling stiff due to what happened last night.

'I almost thought that my Soul Core was going to get sucked out of my body,' Thirteen thought as he recalled what happened during the night while lightly patting Sherry's head that nestled on his chest.

Erica, on the other hand, was sleeping while hugging his waist, breathing so softly that it tickled his skin.

An hour later, Vincent asked Thirteen if he followed his advice and wanted to know the results of his experiment.

But instead of getting his answers, Thirteen remained mum on what happened during the night, which made Vincent wonder if his advice truly worked or not.