Close? Is that close to you?
One thing i dont like about mangas is that even when a series is set in a different world they still go with japanese values.
Honestly the only girl who's been 'close' to him for the past 10 years is Lily the elven archer....well technically not true but almost true. The only other person mentioned to have gotten close was.... #3 party Helvor who from the sounds of things is a monster of a woman who grabbed him and looked him over before praising his muscle building and getting dragged away by her slightly more sane companions. So this is basically the first time a pretty woman has held his hand even.....he's basically devoted the last 10 years of his life to either training, or helping his party while hiding that he's doing anything from the viewers. And when he helps someone outside of that time period he usually continues on before anyone can realize its him or he's using his black magic that makes people think he's Extra #47 passing by, just the most average person you ever saw not even memorable.