The Fraudulent Protagonist Became an Object of Fear (1)
Three days had passed since the complete annihilation of Kelts Pitra. Though the damage from the Wortroll attack still lingered, the hospital was forcing itself back to its usual operations to treat the steady stream of patients. Joyeon, too, was back in the emergency room, using Soul's Eye to locate those whose lives hung by a thread. The ER was undeniably a place of urgency and overcrowding, yet it buzzed with even more energy than usual—perhaps because of what had happened a few days ago. Arty, standing right beside him, radiated the same lively spirit.
Joyeon sat in a corner of the emergency room. Arty sat pressed right up against him. It was the same sight people saw every day, nothing out of the ordinary.
"......"
"......"
"...Got something to say?"
"Huh? No?"
"Then why are you staring like that?"
"Just because. Nothing else to do. Don't mind me."
"......"
The only difference from before was that Arty, who used to chatter and run around like a child out of boredom, now sat perfectly still without any intention of leaving Joyeon's side. And the one feeling strangely troubled by her gaze was Joyeon himself. He could clearly sense she wanted something from him, yet she kept insisting she wanted nothing at all. It was starting to stress him out.
"...Want to go somewhere?"
"No? I'm fine."
"...Or maybe go pick some flowers?"
"I said no?"
But Arty, completely unaware of Joyeon's thoughts, was simply enjoying the moment. Just looking at him made time fly by. One of them felt burdened; the other was perfectly content.
buzz~ clang.
"Eek! You startled me."
Joyeon's Nuclear Mana Reactor and one of Arty's artifacts, the Black Moon Fragrance from the Seven Fragrance Stones, had collided midair and made a loud noise. Nearby people's eyes turned toward the flustered Arty. She apologized quickly, and once everyone realized it was nothing serious, they returned to their tasks. Arty turned back to Joyeon and met his eyes. His expression was filled with unease.
"......Do you have a problem with me?"
"What? No? It's not like that?"
"Then why are you acting like that?"
"Like what?"
"Why do you keep looking at me?"
"Uh, I'm not? When did I?"
Joyeon had convinced himself that Arty must be harboring some complaint and was deliberately causing these incidents. Arty, however, had no complaints whatsoever. She didn't even realize she had been staring at him nonstop, so she simply shook her head. Joyeon let out a small sigh.
"If you have complaints or something you want to say, just say it."
"I don't, I don't. Really~ not at all."
"......"
Joyeon stared at her suspiciously for a moment before turning his head away again. Left to her own devices once more, Arty carefully reached out to check if Joyeon's reactor had been damaged when it bumped into her Black Moon Fragrance. The pitch-black gem looked almost identical in color to her own stone.
"Hey, Joyeon."
"So you do have a complaint?"
"I said I don't. It's not that. I just have a question. What is this? It looks similar to my Seven Fragrance Stone."
"You want me to show you the effects of my artifact?"
"Right?.... Ah, if you don't want to tell me, I can show you mine instead."
At Arty's words, Joyeon reluctantly opened his artifact's information window so only she could see it.
Effect:
Absorbs and stores the wearer's mana up to its capacity limit. Supplies mana when the wearer's mana is depleted.
'...Better not show the description part.'
Seeing the description filled with things like "gods" and "first magitech item" that probably shouldn't be revealed carelessly, Joyeon only showed Arty the name and effects. Even that seemed to satisfy her; her eyes sparkled as she read the window.
"Aah, so it's a storage device that keeps mana separately. No wonder. Ever since you started using this artifact, you've been casting magic freely."
"Satisfied now?"
"Yeah. I'll show you mine too!"
Unlike when she usually hid her status window, Arty opened her artifact information without hesitation.
Effect:
Automatically nullifies attribute attacks that oppose the raw stone's attribute. (Currently nullifies 87% of attribute attacks.)
Description:
The pure essence of seven attributes has solidified into gemstones. Originally a defensive artifact, the artist owner ground the pure attributes into powder and mixed them to interfere with concepts and laws. Composed of Black Moon Fragrance, White Cloud Fragrance, Crimson Blood Fragrance, Blue Sea Fragrance, Golden Fragrance, Wind of Emptiness Fragrance, and Scorched Earth Fragrance. Slightly chipped away by the owner.
The artifact Arty possessed was an absolutely broken item when it came to attribute attacks.
"You were chipping away at a cheat item like this just to interfere with magic?"
"Huh? Yeah. I can't use Concept Sculpting unless it's a completely pure mass of attributes."
"Even so, don't you feel bad about it?"
"No? My own works are far more valuable!"
"...I guess that's true."
Joyeon couldn't help but acknowledge Arty's absolute confidence in her own creations.
"But where did you get this? It only appeared midway through the fight with the Wortroll."
"I received it as a gift."
"What?! A gift? From who?"
"From who... A stalker? A fan? Probably somewhere in between?"
"Eh?! A stalker? Is it a woman?"
"What are you saying... If I had to specify, it's a guy. Two guys."
"T-two guys...?"
Arty felt goosebumps rise on her skin at Joyeon's completely unexpected answer.
'A stalker? Joyeon has a stalker... I-I'm a guy, so it doesn't matter, right? Joyeon isn't gay...'
"Y-you're using a gift from a stalker?"
"It's fine. It's not like they can actually do anything. Calling them fans fits better than stalkers. And without this, I would've really died."
"Ugh... That's true, but..."
Arty glared discontentedly at the reactor floating in the air, then suddenly smiled brightly as if she'd had a great idea and grabbed it tightly.
"I'll make this look much cooler for you."
"What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"It looks way too crude. Gems need to meet a skilled artisan to truly shine~ I'll make it much prettier. Don't worry~ Gem crafting is much easier than magic crafting!"
"No... Are you even allowed to touch an artifact like that?"
"It's fine, it's fine. Looking at it, it seems like someone with zero skill touched it. I'll make it way better~"
'A stalker's gift? I'll turn it into a masterpiece of a completely different level and gift it to Joyeon! Then the stalker's gift will disappear, and Joyeon will be using my gift instead~'
The fact that some unknown person had given Joyeon a gift made Arty unusually motivated. Hearing her words, Joyeon realized why she wanted to work on his artifact.
"I see. You want me to use the command authority, right?"
"Huh?"
"It was bothering you after all. Got it. Then command—"
"No! Why would it be that? I said gem crafting is nothing special?! It's really nothing!"
"No, but you just said your works are more valuable than cheat artifacts..."
"It's a gift! It's just a gift of goodwill! You don't have to think of it as a burden!"
Arty nearly screamed as she completely denied Joyeon's misunderstanding.
"Hehe~ I thought it was just a simple gem with special power, but it's quite a high-dimensional object. Never seen this material before, and there's a strange flow of power engraved in it."
"Are you sure this is okay? Can you really carve it so recklessly?"
"I told you it's fine. Don't worry. I'll handle everything~ I'll carve here like this~ Hehe~"
Having received permission to freely work on the Nuclear Mana Reactor, Arty didn't stop sculpting even on the way back to the room.
You are witnessing the artistic work of a genius who may never appear in this world again.
Your standards for art have risen dramatically. Ordinary works of art no longer satisfy you.
Her sculpting skill was on a completely different level—so advanced that simply watching triggered system notifications. Even without the notifications, anyone could tell from the way the reactor was being rapidly reshaped in her hands that this was no ordinary work. And when the one performing such work was an acknowledged peerless beauty, it was only natural that all eyes turned toward her. As a result, everyone they passed on the way back to the room stopped in their tracks to stare at Arty.
'I understand, but they should tone it down a bit. It's worse than usual. If they stare so openly, she won't be able to concentrate... Huh?'
Contrary to Joyeon's expectations, however, the people's gazes weren't directed at Arty. Their eyes were fixed precisely on the space beside her.
'What? Are they looking at me?'
When Joyeon turned his head following the gazes he felt from all around, the people whose eyes met his hurriedly looked away and quickly left.
'...Something's strange? Are they staring because I'm next to Arty and it's bothering them?'
The stares felt similar to usual yet somehow different. After briefly wondering about the reason, Joyeon decided it wasn't worth the trouble and chose to ignore them.