My mother's surprised voice rang out from behind me. I slowly turned around to see her covering her mouth in shock.
"Am I dreaming? How are you standing right now?"
I guess seeing her son who has been crippled from the day he was born standing in front of her must've come as a shock. Maybe she would think it's the work of demons.
"My baby boy."
She lunged off the bed and wrapped her hands around me. She didn't think for a second that I might not be her son.
"I don't understand. How are you standing right now?"
"It must've been the awakening. It healed me," I answered.
Just then, Sophia and Jonathan burst into the room. Sophia's face was as blank as ever, but Jonathan looked at me in shock.
His son was no longer bedridden.
We spent the night celebrating my seemingly miraculous recovery. They were so excited that they didn't even sleep that night. When I showed them my awakened skill, they got even more excited.
Why did I show them?
It was simple. I needed to make clear my intentions to join the same hero academy as the protagonist of this game.
I laid out some youthful dream about me wanting to become a hero, making sure to tug on their heartstrings with some kind words.
[+2 Sin Points. 2/10]
Lying was a sin, so this act only worked to make me stronger. It seemed I could only get two sin points from lying.
Thankfully, my father seemed to approve. With our family's reputation now in the mud, he was looking for something to rebuild its honor.
His son becoming a top-rank hero just might. His eyes held a strong conviction as he looked at me as his last hope. My mother, on the other hand, looked scared. Likely for my safety. Under the threat of demons, becoming a hero was a dangerous business. But in the end, she couldn't fight against my and my father's wishes.
Throughout the next couple of years, I resolved myself to studying and practicing my skills to get my proficiency up. My father worked in one of the factories he once owned to afford textbooks for my studies. Everywhere else refused to hire him.
The only reason he got that job at the factory was so he could be humiliated by the people who once worked under him. And even then, he only earned 1/3rd of their paychecks. For that reason, my mother had to pick up a job too.
I studied day in and day out. Some of the concepts were difficult to understand, especially since I was learning from textbooks instead of a real teacher, but nonetheless, I overcame them. Steadily, my proficiency with my special skill increased, while my demonic skill hadn't improved much.
Apart from the occasional lie here and there, there weren't many sins I could commit at this stage.
For now, I decided to work on my transmutation ability. Roughly 2 and a half years later, Sophia awakened with a scythe skill. This one special skill will grant her several deadly basic skills.
I remember she would be famed at the academy as a prodigy. By the time she graduated, she was ranked 5th in the entire academy. She also received the privilege of joining the MC's vast harem. She was waifu number 3 if I'm not mistaken.
Their relationship was shallow. She was simply smitten by his kind heart.
I had no intentions of letting that happen. I was in the perfect position to make her mine before her prince charming showed up. I'll claim her before he does and make her into a weapon. One which only I can wield.
But that was easier said than done. Sophia suffers from the classic tsundere trope.
It was hard to get close to her without her looking at me as if my very existence was an inconvenience for her.
But luckily, I had figured out a way to get close to her. In the game, Sophia suffered from insomnia.
She was constantly haunted by the memories of her parents being killed in front of her. These nightmares were the reason for her insomnia.
I've already seen signs of this being the case right now. She constantly had dark circles around her eyes, and I could hear crying coming from her room at night.
My parents left her by her lonesome most of the time. They thought she needed some space. The only reason they even adopted her was because they were friends with her parents.
Her insomnia would give me a way to develop a relationship with her. It was for that reason why I also got a job at where my mother worked.
I mopped the floor and washed the dishes in the evening just before closing. I did this job for almost a year, taking their shitty pay until I accumulated enough funds to buy a sleeping elixir.
An elixir that I was now holding in my hand as I stood outside Sophia's room. This was just the first of three events I would use to win her over.
I took a deep breath before I knocked on her door.
Knock Knock.
"..."
Sigh.
She must've known it was me. Sophia was awakened with a rather high proficiency for her scythe skill, 5.2 to be exact. Most people trained for a lifetime and would never get half as high a proficiency. Not only that, but she had a B grade talent.
Her special skill granted her many assassin-type basic skills. One such skill was the ability to see through walls or any solid objects. That's how she knew it was me.
"Go away!"
She shouted from the other end of the door.
"I won't stop knocking until you come out."
"Stop being a creep and just leave me alone!"
"Just give me 5 minutes. After that, I'll leave and won't bother you for the rest of the day."
"..."
Silence.
I was about to start beating down her door like a madman, but just then, I heard footsteps approaching from the other side.
The lock clicked, and the door swung open to reveal a moody teenage girl wearing a crop top and some very short shorts. The loose strap from her top hung lazily from her shoulders.
Her shorts clung tightly to her thighs as she stared at me with eyes as cold as ice. It felt as if she was insulting my very being just with her gaze.
But if you were to block out those eyes entirely, you would've thought you were staring at an angel just from how beautiful she was.
"What do you want?" she snapped, dragging me out of my temporary daze.
I cleared my throat and stretched the bottle of elixir out towards her.
"Happy birthday!"
"..."
I was met with silence. She stared at me blankly, not even the slightest change in expression.
"I know this isn't much, but it's all I can afford."
"Whatever that is, I don't want it," she said, disinterested as she tried to close the door, but I blocked it with my foot just in time.
"It's a sleeping elixir."
She raised an eyebrow, and her mouth fell open slightly.
"Why would you…"
"It's a stupid gift, I know, but I don't know you well, so I didn't know what to get you. My father snores so loudly I can hear it from my room. Since your room is closer to my parents', I just thought it would be annoying for you, and you have been looking tired lately. That's why I got you this."
I couldn't let her know that I knew about her nightmares. She would think that I was taking pity on her because of her situation and would flat out refuse the gift.
"Please take it!"
"How could you afford something like this? An elixir is expensive," she asked.
"I used up all my savings from my job."
Just then, the scornful look in her eyes disappeared and was replaced with a little empathy. In the face of such a noble act, her walls were starting to break down; replaced by a hint of guilt from how she treated me before.
She adjusted the strap of her blouse which was slipping down her slender shoulder, giving a slight glimpse of the pink bra underneath. She then let out a soft sigh.
"Fine, just… give me the stupid gift."
Slam!
Feeling embarrassed, she quickly grabbed the elixir from my hand and slammed the door in my face.
'I would say that went well.'
[Demonic charm G+]
Deceiving her caused my demonic charm to increase.
[+2 Sin Points. 10/10]
[Absolute Adaptation Proficiency: 0.2]
I finally managed to gain ten sin points bringing the proficiency with my demonic skill up to 0.2.
….
Sigh.
"I can't believe him," Sophia mumbled to herself before climbing back onto her bed with the elixir in her hand.
On her bed was an image of her parents which she always kept close. She was looking at it just before her idiot brother knocked on the door.
Sitting on her bed, she decided to open the box containing her only birthday present.
Immediately as she opened the box, a note fell out and landed on her lap. Feeling a bit annoyed, she picked up the note and read what was written on it.
'Happy birthday from your brother Damien! I know the two of us usually don't get along, but I think of you as family. Just know you can talk to me if you ever need anything. You're not alone, Sophia. I'm here for you.
Happy birthday, Sis.'
Looking at the heartfelt message, Sophia felt tears well up in the corner of her eyes. She tried, but the more she wiped her tears away, the more they flowed from her cheeks.
And here she thought she would always be alone. That no one cared whether she lived or died. Little did she know she had a brother looking out for her.
"That idiot!"
Those words were exactly what she needed to hear, and for that reason, she couldn't stop crying.