House Aepheros (10)

“Haah.”

A sigh escaped me of its own accord.

In this game, even the most trivial clue can ripple outward and change your available choices.

Which was exactly why—

I had been so certain there would be no obstacles in striking a deal with Marquis Aepheros.

No, if anything, I'd assumed the groundwork had already been laid out before me like a stepping stone.

Pollux's box starts out a dull gray by default. Minus five percent, right off the bat.

For reasons of his own, he was reluctant to accept Karsein, and he didn't trust me through the negotiation process either—which was why he wanted to cross blades. That had been the single greatest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠precondition for carrying the deal forward.

But I had already left a profound mark on this episode.

Call it coincidence: I'd run into him at the tavern, pulled him free of those drunks, and openly questioned the way imperial citizens looked down on the Yarikh people.

That was how I learned the name Pollux Tutulum, and how his affinity had rocketed straight up from -5% to 12%.

And that alone should have been enough, shouldn't it?

He'd told me I was different from the imperial ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠citizens who despised the Yarikh.

Having Harnie—an old acquaintance of his—around gave me even easier access, and with that handshake we'd introduced ourselves and committed each other's names to memory.

Even if the skin I wore wasn't Karsein's true self, the conviction inside me must have come through to him loud and clear.

That meeting at the tavern had been a striking, visceral first impression—one that etched each of us firmly into the other's memory. At the very least, there had been nothing about the atmosphere to suggest the system was about to intervene.

The problems that came after?

We already knew each other, so no introductions were needed.

Nothing I'd done by this point seemed to have rubbed Pollux the wrong way.

There were still plenty of people showing gray boxes, admittedly, but none of them had given any sign of being particularly hung up on me.

No problems at all.

Then... why?

—I want to cross blades with you. With real steel, not wooden practice swords.

—If you refuse this match, then I have no interest in a deal with you either.

Why on earth did Pollux want to spar with me?

What in the world had gone so wrong that a duel I'd assumed was as good as settled now had to be fought all over again? I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

I racked my brain for a long while, but no answer came.

In the end, my gaze drifted back to the Status Window.

The episode number was the only difference; otherwise the system message was identical to the one I'd seen in the game. Reading it, I arrived at one single conclusion.

“...So there's no dodging this either. Is that it?”

If this, too, was part of a predetermined sequence—

then there was no escaping it.

That was the verdict I reached.

Having squeezed my eyes shut, opened them again, and confirmed the Status Window, I grabbed my sword and headed straight outside.

The moment I did, Harnie was standing right in front of me, one hand pressed to her hip, eyes narrowed.

I couldn't tell why, but she was wearing an expression of considerable displeasure.

“Karsein. Where exactly do you think you're going?”

“As you can see, outside.”

“And what are you planning to do out there?”

“Well... I was thinking of swinging the sword around a few times.”

I hadn't decided on anything concrete yet.

Whether it was training, or cutting down a few more demonic beasts—my only thought was that I had to shore up my lacking stats by even a sliver, by any means necessary.

After all, a failed deal with Pollux would amount to standing at the edge of a Dead Flag.

But before I could even step out the door—

she shoved me back and locked it behind me.

“How can you possibly... hold a sword and walk outside on a body that hasn't slept a single proper hour? By any reasonable standard, this is not acceptable.”

“Managing my sleep schedule is more than enough.”

At least, that was true by my standards. But Harnie's eyebrows only grew sharper.

“Fine. I've had enough. Come here and sit down.”

Before long she'd seized my arm and planted herself on the sofa.

When I resisted, she narrowed her eyes and patted the cushion pointedly, insisting I take a seat.

“Pollux wants you to duel him in peak condition as a condition of the deal. Doesn't that mean you need to be worrying about Dipeshan Syndrome first and foremost?”

So saying, Harnie held up the herbs in her hand.

It wasn't as though I'd forgotten.

But still.

“I've taken them several times now, and I can assure you, eating those doesn't change a thing.”

I knew perfectly well that those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wouldn't solve Dipeshan Syndrome.

As expected, word for word identical to the item descriptions in the game.

That was exactly what the item description window claimed:

that it helps you function in the demonic-energy-corrupted Western region.

And yet, no matter how much of it you consumed, the effect never manifested.

That was a fact I'd confirmed time and again while progressing through episodes in the Western region.

“You speak as though you've taken them yourself. Did you visit the West without my knowing?”

“Pardon? Ah—no, that is...”

I did come here a lot in the game... Right. That one's on me.

“Ahem. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I've had them at the ducal estate.”

“At the ducal estate... they serve things like this?”

“That stuff. It tastes absolutely wretched, doesn't it.”

Come to think of it, this was genuine lived experience.

Karsein's internal monologue noted how terrible these tasted whenever he had to drink them.

And "it tastes awful"? Wasn't that a perfectly serviceable excuse just sitting there for the taking?

“Flora once played a prank on my food. I didn't eat it on purpose—it just kind of happened.”

It was a lie, but... well, not entirely. It was grounded in fact.

I did remember having eaten it once because of Flora.

“Hmm... I see.”

Yes. She bought it.

“More importantly, none of this is the point right now. Please let go of me. If I'm to show Pollux everything I'm capable of, I need to loosen my body up at least a little. Rusmayer's trading partner is a buyer of building aggregate. There's no one better suited to it.”

I figured that would be reason enough.

I took this deal with Pollux extremely seriously.

As the lord of Rusmayer, Marquis Aepheros was an excellent trade partner for selling my building aggregate.

And to see this deal through, I had to hone my skills as much as possible and stand against him.

There was nothing in that which should have made her let go of my arm.

And then, without warning, Harnie let out a long sigh.

“The fact that you can't even catch something this obvious tells me your condition is ve~ry poor indeed. That much I can see perfectly well, Karsein.”

“What is that supposed to...?”

“You can't even remember what Pollux said when he brought up Dipeshan Syndrome. He distinctly added that it has to be taken through a special method.”

...Huh?

I missed that?

“I'll stake my word on it—the you I know is not someone who overlooks things like this. And besides, why has it never occurred to you that I've been walking on this very land and I'm perfectly fine?”

“...”

“Sleep deprivation is one of the things that erodes focus. You insist you're fine, but you can't deny that you've let a gap like this slip through.”

Harnie patted the sofa twice more.

“Now then. Won't you listen to me and rest here properly for the day?”

It was checkmate. I had nothing I could say in response.

Failing to answer either of those two questions amounted to admitting that I was running on too little sleep.

I sank into my seat and offered what little explanation I could.

“It's true my focus has been clouded, but it isn't because of sleep.”

“Honestly. There you go again with the excuses.”

“It's the truth. I've never been one to sleep much to begin with.”

“Mmhm. Then we can simply test that, can't we?”

“Pardon?”

“The Iselef leaf and the Ampyrik root are taken as a tea, steeped in hot water, to build resistance against demonic energy's corruption. But because the process draws off a certain amount of your mana, it induces sleep.”

“...So you're saying, if I drink that, I'll fall asleep.”

“Correct.”

Harnie beamed and gave a little round of applause.

“And that sleep isn't ordinary sleep—it's your body's defense mechanism kicking in. So if you truly were exhausted, you'd need a great deal more time.”

“Hm. So that's how it works.”

That made her argument hold together perfectly.

The body's defense mechanism, activated by the tea, would translate my level of fatigue directly into sleep duration.

In other words, the more exhausted I was, the longer I'd sleep—and at this level, it wouldn't so much as budge me.

Please. This is nothing for a high school senior who juggled cram school and part-time jobs straight through the college entrance exams.

I readily asked her to hand over the tea.

And in doing so, I overlooked one thing—badly.

The fact that this body was Karsein's body.

Harnie held out the prepared tea to Karsein, and before long he drained it and dropped straight off to sleep.

Watching him, she finally allowed herself to breathe easy.

“How does a person sleep two hours a day? I honestly can't tell whether I should call that strong willpower or sheer stubbornness.”

Poke. Poke.

Prodding his cheek with her index finger, she finally let out everything she'd been wanting to say to him.

“Contract engagement or not, do you really have to talk like that? Honestly. Honestly! If you hadn't mentioned it to Pollux, you'd have gone right back to work today without sleeping again, wouldn't you? Hm? Wouldn't you?”

With each little poke, her finger sank into Karsein's cheek.

But whether she poked or not, the man slept on soundly, showing no intention whatsoever of waking. Not that he'd wake in the first place—why else would she be daring to play tricks like this?

Then again, watching him sleep did stir a faint warmth in her chest—and the moment it did, that time came rushing back to her, unbidden.

“...Still, it was better that he got to sleep somewhere comfortable, even a little.”

On that carriage ride, Harnie, unable to fight off her exhaustion, had slept for hours, sound and deep, cradled in Karsein's arms.

It had been his consideration.

She'd been so startled she'd shoved him away—but she didn't doubt for a second his claim that he simply couldn't bear to let her bang her head against the carriage wall.

Come to think of it, hadn't a book tumbled from his hand the instant she pushed him?

He'd probably been holding his shoulder with one awkward arm, reading one-handed, she reasoned.

And... his half of him, pressed flush against her because his arm was wrapped around her shoulder—

“...”

—it had been, unmistakably, warm.

Warm enough that she'd slept soundly for hours.

“Hnngh! Wh-what am I even remembering!”

Harnie shook her head furiously, shaking off the memory of that moment.

Now was no time to dwell on the past; she made herself focus instead on the fact that she had to move the soundly sleeping Karsein—still contorted in that uncomfortable position—into the bedroom.

“Nnngh...!”

Huh? Why was he this heavy?

Karsein wasn't supposed to be all that big of a man, surely?

She gathered her strength and tried hauling him up once more.

“Hnngh—hh—hah...”

Moving a grown man to the bedroom with a frail woman's body was simply too grueling a task.

If she'd known this would happen, she should have just handed him the tea in the bedroom in the first place.

What now?

She couldn't bear to leave him sleeping in that contorted position.

“...Right. At the very least, he can sleep on the sofa.”

Fetching a pillow and blanket from the bedroom, Harnie promptly converted Karsein's bed into the sofa.

Except—

while she was gone, something strange had begun happening to Karsein's body.

“Hm? It's not that warm in here... why is he sweating?”

Dropping the pillow and blanket where they lay, Harnie immediately wiped the sweat from Karsein's brow.

And beneath her fingertips, she felt cold skin.

“D-don't tell me...”

Just as she had explained to Karsein himself, this tea induced sleep while simultaneously activating the body's defense mechanism—a natural safeguard the body deploys to adapt to demonic energy.

Which meant it was entirely possible for something else, a side effect, to manifest alongside that activated defense mechanism.

A falling body temperature and cold sweat breaking out, then, could be read as a side effect of the tea—a symptom of the body's process of adapting to the demonic energy.

—It varies from person to person, but occasionally the side effect is a drop in body temperature. That happens when it's not just the adaptation time that's lacking, but the body's immune system itself is weak. In cases like that—

“I have to... raise his temperature.”

Building a fire in the hearth would do it—except she couldn't.

Of all the seasons, it had to be winter, and this was the West. Fetching firewood meant a trip outside, and time was the one thing she didn't have. Not with his body temperature plummeting this fast.

Long before she could find someone and tell them Karsein was suffering a side effect, something would go wrong with his body first.

And then, abruptly, that moment in the carriage surfaced in her mind once more.

Harnie stroked her own shoulder, recalling the warmth that had lingered there.

“...Yes. If it's that, then it's possible.”

All she had here was a blanket and a pillow.

She couldn't move him off the sofa to anywhere else, and the best she could offer—her only option—was the warmth of another person.

Karsein had done it for her. What reason was there that she couldn't do the same?

Lying down on the narrow sofa, she wrapped both her arms around Karsein's body.

She pulled the blanket over them both, so that no body heat could escape.

But Karsein's body was so terribly cold.

How far could a body temperature fall? It was frightening, how far.

“Is this... not going to be enough?”

Fear seized her all at once.

What if his breath simply stopped, like this?

His warmth had to reach him faster. Even a little faster.

Slide. A slow, careful slide.

She tugged the top of her blouse down a fraction, baring bare skin.

From her shoulder down, her collarbone lay fully exposed, her soft chest pressed against Karsein's body—but she was aware of none of it.

Getting this ice-block body temperature back to normal came first, and nothing else mattered.

“Why do you make me suffer like this. Honestly.”

Even as she complained, she prayed he would wake without anything going wrong.

And so, holding Karsein's body tightly against her own, Harnie squeezed her eyes shut.