Dodge the Fireball Offline Event! (2)
The woman finished talking with the staff and climbed back up to the audience seats.
“Kyaa— thank you so much! Thanks to you, I've got a clue to solving the northern crisis!!!”
“...Yes?”
Because the woman suddenly hugged me, I couldn't gather my wits and blankly echoed her.
“Wait a minute. Why the north all of a sudden?”
The woman froze for a second, then awkwardly avoided my gaze.
“Ah, no. It's just personal circumstances.”
“Your reaction doesn't look remotely like privacy at all.”
“...”
Is she pretending not to know now? She tightened her hugging arms— and pulled my face right into her chest—
“Ugh. Mmph, pfft!!!”
“Ahh, that wasn't what I meant, um... sorry!”
I barely wrenched myself free from her embrace, gulped in air, and shot her an annoyed look.
But.
Her fair skin was flushed bright red, so I let out a sigh and circled back to our conversation.
She looked so mortified—if I added anything, she might actually suffocate.
“Haa... That machine. It's made for the northern waves, right?”
Nod, nod— She didn't even deny it in the end.
After a brief silence, the woman cleared her throat.
“More than that. How did you know?”
“You can tell just by looking, can't you?”
I shrugged.
It was obvious. “You've been acting suspicious from the start. Low-level enemies, rapid fire, annoying foes... Your eyes lit up every time you said those words.”
“Being called suspicious doesn't sit well...”
“If I put it nicely, I could call it honest.”
At my quip, her stiff expression softened into a laugh.
“Cheeky for a junior.”
“Huh, don't tell me you're from Grace Academy too...?”
“Call me Ariel. And I'm a graduate, so no need to stand on ceremony.”
“But wasn't I the one helping out? Feels unfair to get called cheeky.”
Ariel sunbae rolled her eyes for a moment, then apologized.
“...Hmm. That was a slip. Anyway, you're right—this was originally built for the northern wave defense line.”
“As expected.”
“It's anti-large monster gear, so we'd been obsessed with ramping up output.”
“Output matters, I'll give you that.”
I nodded.
“But other factors matter just as much.”
Ariel sunbae gave me an odd look.
“Not 'how to hit harder,' but 'how to annoy the enemies and make it easier for us.' Just a perspective shift.”
“Annoy...”
“From the receiving end, that's the most infuriating.”
“Personal experience?”
I couldn't exactly say they were patterns from my past life that spiked my blood pressure, so I just averted my eyes and smiled.
“Who knows?”
“...Now you sound suspicious, junior.”
“Your imagination.”
This time I fired back, and Ariel sunbae—unlike before—couldn't stifle her laugh. Pfft.
“You look way better now.”
“Uh, y-yeah?”
“Your face. You were sighing like the world was ending earlier.”
Ariel sunbae stiffened right after hearing me.
...Why?
“Anyway, your advice showed me the path forward, junior.”
“Not that big a deal.”
“It is.”
Her firm tone left no room for argument, so I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
'Seriously thanking me like this is awkward.'
I hadn't dropped some groundbreaking theory or paradigm shift.
“By the way, seems like only I introduced myself.”
In the lull, Ariel sunbae asked my name.
“What's your name?”
“Chase. Chase Roman.”
“...Roman Count family?”
“Yeah... something like that. You carry yourself with some class too, sunbae. By any chance?”
“Heh. Who knows. Anyway, I'll remember you, Chase junior.”
“...You don't have to.”
“I do.”
I stared at her in disbelief, but she wouldn't budge.
“Why make it weird? First time meeting.”
“If it's weird, perfect.”
“...You get called strange a lot?”
“Pfft— Pot calling the kettle black, Chase junior.”
“I—”
Right then, a shout from the experience zone staff.
“Sorry! Emergency checks done! Resuming experiences now!”
Machines hummed to life one by one, drawing me and Ariel sunbae back to the experience area—the fireball launchers.
Moments later.
Whirr— whirrr—
The machines vibrated again.
Thung— First fireball.
Thung— thung, thu-thung— Irregular salvos followed.
The participant inside went wide-eyed.
“Huh?!”
“It's different from watching out—”
Boom.
A light explosion, and they sprawled flat. Staring blankly at the machine, they drew laughter from the seats.
“Lol! What was that girl's move?”
“Cool! Ah, the fireball—not the uncle!”
Hearing that, my lips quirked up on their own.
“Nice.”
People having fun, buzzing excitedly, itching to play.
“Can't pass this up.”
Glancing over, Ariel sunbae stared at the machine too—her lips just slightly curved.
“Let's meet again later. Hmm... after the monster wave.”
“Kinda ominous.”
“Your imagination.”
“...”
Doesn't feel like imagination.
With that, I watched her stand and muttered softly.
“Monster wave.”
Looks like.
The new game's direction is set.
Meanwhile, in the northern Valkar Duchy.
The Valkar Duke stood by his office window, gazing quietly beyond the barrier.
Snow fitting its eternal frozen lands showed no sign of stopping, the wind clawing at the panes like a savage beast.
Northern soldiers hustled through the flurry.
The usual scene.
Yet it nagged at him.
The duke's brows furrowed.
Same as yesterday, the day before, last month—yet as the wave loomed, it looked different.
Torches flickered perilously; report numbers pressed heavier than reality.
He skimmed the stacked reports on his desk and muttered low.
“Already down to a month?”
Monster wave. Once a year, ferocious monsters surged from the continent's edge toward the empire's northern tip.
He'd blocked them his whole life, but lately it was taking its toll.
Especially after his injury three years back—now delegating command.
“Haaa...”
Worse, monster numbers were climbing, waves hitting sooner.
“Clusters forming already, a month out.”
He pressed his temples.
“Why only the north—not south or west.”
He knew better than anyone it was pointless griping.
Then.
The office silence shattered.
Thud thud!!
The door flew open; a frantic man burst in.
“Your Excellency!”
The duke glared, brow arched.
His usually laid-back retainer. Snow-crusted cloak, red-raw nose.
“Don't tell me the wave's already—”
“No no! Good news!”
“...”
“Then why the panic... What is it?”
“The young lady found a way to stop the wave!”
“...Ariel? Didn't she head to the capital?”
At the sudden mention of his daughter, the duke sighed and eyed the report.
“Even if she's magitech prodigy, she's barely out of the academy.”
The retainer pounded his chest indignantly.
“Official report from the Technical Development Bureau!”
Technical Development Bureau. The duke's eyes sharpened.
“Bureau chief's coming himself! Says he has wave countermeasure talk—”
“Not pushing another oversized cannon, I hope.”
“W-well, no idea, but his face says it's legit this time!”
“That all?”
The duke eyed him with an unreadable look.
“But whenever the chief pulls that face, big things happen!”
The duke chuckled wryly.
“That face? I can't read the chief's expressions—that's the issue.”
Irregular footsteps echoed from the open door.
Tap. Tatap. Tap. Taptap. Tap.
Soon, a middle-aged man in a snow-dusted overcoat entered with a silver-haired woman.
Valkar Technical Development Bureau uniforms caked in snow and soot.
But their faces glowed with excitement.
The duke's brow twitched.
The chief, and his daughter—neither one to show emotion like that.
'For real?'
“Your Excellency.”
“Father.”
Ethan Herbon, head of Valkar Technical Development Bureau.
Ariel Valkar, the bureau's youngest researcher.
“If what you've brought is good news, splendid.”
At his gesture, they sat and unpacked folded blueprints and reports.
“It started as Ariel's project.”
“Recall the report—output boosts hit a wall.”
At the duke's even tone, Ariel shook her head.
“This time, in the capital... Academy City, I found the key to the issue.”
“Hmm?”
“Change the operation method. The old project fixated on raw power...”
The duke leaned forward at her explanation.
“Bind their chaotic front lines, disrupt the flow of flanking monsters.”
Ariel passed the revised blueprint: a machine with three curved nozzles.
The retainer beside sparkled.
“What'd I tell you, Your Excellency!”
“Quiet.”
Despite the interruption, sensing the duke's softer tone, Ariel and the chief exchanged grins.
“Continue.”
Ariel pointed through the blueprints.
“One hard hit isn't enough. We need to twist the monsters' flow itself.”
“Nullify their numbers advantage.”
“Realized a dozen machines couldn't shift the tide with the old way.”
The duke studied the blueprint in silence.
“One month.”
Ariel and the chief tensed.
“Only one month left.”
“...”
“Too late for hypothesis review now.”
“Bu—”
“But no alternatives either. So... utility review. In three days?”
His piercing gaze impaled Ariel and Ethan.
“Possible immediately.”
The chief declared boldly.
“Thanks to Ariel here.”
The dazed retainer teared up.
“Your Excellency, then for this wave—”
The duke looked from the blueprint to the blizzard outside.
“Can't say.”
“...”
“But no more powerless fretting this time.”
With those words, the room's air lifted noticeably.