Incident on the Airship (6)
“Huh…?”
Lucy-senpai's eyes trembled faintly as she came to. She shook her head side to side, still not fully aware, scanning her surroundings. Her hazy vision gradually sharpened on familiar yet unfamiliar scenery flickering in the distance.
“W-where… is this…?”
Her voice quivered thinly, as if still caught in an uncertain reality. Unable to piece together the situation, she pressed a hand to her temple, her dazed gaze wandering into empty space. Her face, filled with bewilderment and confusion, perfectly mirrored her emotions.
Then, her eyes turned to me.
“Arnold?”
Like someone spotting a single ray of light in the dark night sky, vitality sparked in her gaze. Relief and surprise mingled on her face in that instant.
“Did… did you wake me up?”
She stared at me in disbelief, her expression a mix of shock and relief.
For some reason, I felt a subtle unease, but I figured I should answer anyway.
“Yeah, it just kinda happened that way.”
But before I could finish, she moved faster than I could react.
“Ngh!”
My vision suddenly went dark. Her body sprang toward me like a coiled spring, throwing herself into my arms.
“Hah… hah…”
Lucy-senpai said nothing. Instead, her ragged breaths brushed hot against my ear. Her fingertips clutched tightly at my collar. Like a child rescued from a collapsed building clinging desperately to their savior, she held onto me with trembling hands.
“Ahh…”
“Senpai?”
Her warmth seeped through. Even through our thin clothes, her body heat pressed against me fully. But before that warmth could fully settle, a chilling presence prickled from behind.
“Master… when did you two get so close?”
The voice was cold and composed. Yet it carried a razor-sharp edge of emotion.
“Lucy-senpai, did you have a nightmare or something? Are you okay?”
I had no choice but to pry her off. My instincts told me leaving things like this would only make them more troublesome. I spoke up quickly, trying to snap her back to reality.
Only then did Lucy-senpai seem to realize what she was doing and pull away.
“H-huh?”
The haze in her pupils cleared, finding focus. And in the next moment, her face flushed crimson.
Like a summer evening sunset, her cheeks—and even her ears—burned red, a chaotic mess of embarrassment and fluster.
“Eek?! Sorry! A-Arnold!”
She scrambled to stand, but lost her balance and staggered. She barely caught herself from falling, but her frantic hands kept fluttering in panic.
“I had such a vivid nightmare… I didn't mean to… I just…!”
Her words tumbled out in a jumble, her gaze darting anxiously. She waved her hands wildly in apology, but it only made her look more flustered. Biting her lip hard in embarrassment, her fingertips trembled faintly. She tried to calm herself to hide it, but it backfired spectacularly. She looked like someone desperate to flee but rooted in place.
Her shaky pupils and fumbling gestures laid bare just how mortified she was.
I shrugged and let out a light sigh.
“It's fine, whatever. Just… be more careful next time, okay?”
She nodded wordlessly, her face still beet red.
Meanwhile, the stares boring into my back were getting harder to ignore. Somehow, I had a feeling today wouldn't end quietly.
“It's awkward and all… but that's not the point. Lucy-senpai, you sure you're okay?”
“Huh? Y-yeah…!”
In the end, I'd stolen her first event again. But by now, I didn't even know how to react. This kind of development had become so routine it barely fazed me anymore.
Still, something else gnawed at my mind.
How had I managed to wake Lucy-senpai?
Lucy-senpai was a spirit, after all. Her mind had fused with her creator's, trapping her in horrific illusions. Normally, only the Hero's holy power could free her from that nightmare.
In the game, it was Varis's latent Hero abilities in his subconscious that did the job.
But me? Arnold was completely unrelated to any such power. He was fated to fall to the Demon King's whispers and become the ultimate villain.
So why?
It was the same with the Melina incident, and now this. Why could I—Arnold Stenman—accomplish what only the Hero should?
Clang—!
But as that question swelled in my head, the cabin door burst open with a frantic shout.
“Guys, I got 'em! I brought the medical team!”
Varis stood there, blonde hair disheveled, panting hard as if he'd sprinted full tilt. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his eyes filled with urgency.
Serious-faced medical staff followed behind him.
“Oh? You're already awake?”
But the moment Varis saw the perfectly fine Lucy-senpai, bewilderment crossed his face.
“What? You're okay? Next time, check a bit more before calling us out.”
One medic tilted his head with an awkward expression.
“Ah, y-yes… sorry!”
Varis bowed deeply, apologizing profusely, though a hint of injustice flickered in his eyes.
“Ugh, what a waste… ran all this way for nothing.”
Deflated by the anticlimax with the people he'd dragged along, Varis slumped into a seat with a sigh.
“Lucy-senpai, how's your body feeling?”
He asked with worried eyes, and she blinked, waving it off.
“Huh? I'm fine…! Just a deep nightmare, that's all.”
She gave an embarrassed smile, glancing at her hands. Her fingertips trembled faintly, but she clenched them to hide it.
“Sorry for worrying everyone. I had a bad dream… and my sleeping habits are so out of it, I wouldn't notice if someone carried me off!”
She tossed out a joke to lighten the mood.
“……”
But looking at her face, I was certain. She was lying right now.
“Come on, we were worried!”
The others brushed it off without suspicion, but I knew exactly why she was lying so desperately.
As I said before, I knew her true identity, the purpose of her creation, and even who her creator was.
It was the kind of memory you couldn't forget after obsessing over a game for so long.
And the more I understood her essence, the clearer it became how desperate the deep wound she hid truly was.
“Anyway, I'm fine, so don't worry about it.”
“Come on, we were worried!”
“Your sleeping habits must be pretty bad, huh?”
She kept the conversation flowing naturally, but I didn't miss the awkward undercurrent. Lucy-senpai had to hide her identity. And the reason wasn't simple—it tied directly to the wish she desperately wanted to fulfill.
But carrying a secret no one else knew, enduring the harsh pain and torment it brought… that couldn't be easy.
Having played through the game and vividly experienced her emotions and tragic backstory, facing her in person now stirred even deeper pity in me.
“I'm gonna step out for some air.”
I quietly stood and left the cabin. A few gazes followed me, but I ignored them. I needed a space all to myself.
My footsteps led to the deserted deck, where cool wind brushed my skin, clearing my head.
I pulled a small notebook from my pocket. My fingers naturally flipped to a specific page. Carefully turning it, I saw the strategy notes I had compiled the moment I arrived in this world, packed densely with info.
“…Yeah, I'm all set.”
This notebook was originally for conquering Varis's harem route.
But now? The plot had twisted way off course. I was snatching events one by one that Varis, as the protagonist, was supposed to handle.
But was that a problem now?
Put another way, it meant I could act however I wanted from here on.
“Let's give it a shot.”
I perched on the railing, gazing at the natural vista unfolding before me. Our next stop was Dungeon City, and what I had to do there was already decided.