Arnold and Mr. Merchant were standing outside the castle while waiting for Lyra to finish preparing herself.
Lyra said earlier that the gate that can activate the portal to the shadow world was on the 100th floor of the dungeon.
Arnold suggested they teleport there using his artifact but Lyra said that due to the presence of the gate's unstable energy due to its long hibernation, teleporting close to or to it would be impossible.
He had no idea how easy it'll be to progress through the rest of the dungeon even with his current body (which was much more powerful than his own body). The monster encounters will surely be more frequent than previous floors and they'll be immensely more powerful.
Seeing as how he didn't have his aura to boost his abilities and allow the use of martial arts, Arnold couldn't be careless. It's best for him to run if he runs into a fight that he can avoid, advice he's been following for a while now since his objective was clear.
"—That will be 3 karma points, dear customer." The merchant rubbed his hands together while cackling. Arnold hesitantly let the merchant suck out the price of the items. Of course, there was no feeling accompanying the transaction at all and no system notification.
It was scary how he couldn't tell if this guy was ripping him off but it's pretty unfair to think of him this way after all he's done for Arnold…
The purchased items consisted of several low-tier wands with pre-infused spells and magic powder with different elemental properties.
Depending on which monsters he ends up fighting, it's best to have the element they're weak to ready instead of fighting with bruteforce. He still had two martial masters to fight so it's best to preserve his energy. Resting along the way is not allowed because there wasn't a lot of time left until the academy reopens.
"Four days left until the academy reopens…" he said to himself after seeing the date on the system screen floating in front of him. The system only recently began showing the time on its interface so he didn't need to ask for the time anymore. Maybe it got annoyed because he kept asking it to tell him the time. Well, it's much easier to calculate the days now.
The academy opens on the 1st of Lunaris (2nd month) which is four days from now.
Four days. That's how much time he has to get the book.
"?" the merchant tilted his head at Arnold's murmur.
"Wait, doesn't this mean my birthday is already over?" he suddenly realized he had forgotten all about his birthday, "How long has it been since I was killed?"
"Three days now." Mr. Merchant answered.
"I see…"
This was his first birthday being separated from Victoria, the one who was always there to celebrate his birthday. Sometimes he'd be so busy that he'll forget about his birthday but she'd always be there to remind him.
He was starting to miss her. She must be really busy helping Lunaria fix his city while he's on some adventure in a dungeon.
'What will she say when she sees me in this body…'
Will there be any change in her feelings toward him? He didn't know how long it will take for him to get his body back so he might have to live like this for a while.
He'll have to sleep with his lovers in this body, bathe in this body, attend school in this body, rule his city in this body…
If it hadn't been the only choice to continue living on then he would've been excited to be in a woman's body. His thoughts would've shifted to the perverse territory but all he could think of now was how this change could affect his life overall.
The front entrance of the castle was opened by two angels. Arnold was standing at the bottom of the stairway leading to the entrance but he was the only one who could hear the door opening while Mr. Merchant's attention was still in his books.
Glancing at them from the bottom of the stairs, he could see one of them freeze when they saw Arnold—well, the clone.
They quickly retreated behind the door.
"Hey, hey, is that him? The hunk we saw before?"
"What's with that outfit… It's even more risqué than my dress. Yes, I think it is."
"I want to go greet him but it's so awkward talking to a clone… They always have those dead fish eyes…"
"What, are you in love with him? Love at first sight isn't real, dummy."
"I-I know but surely you've seen what his… his—"
"Y-You peeked on him again, didn't you!? Master is going to punish you if she catches you doing that! Peeking in on him and sis having intercourse was the last straw!"
What the… No wonder it felt like there were eyes on him and Rafaela the entire time… Why are these angels so dirty…
"I know you want it too! You've seen how big it is earlier when it was inside sis, right? Her face looked so naughty and the whole hallway started to smell like the two of them."
"Idiot! Keep your voice down—"
"—Stop your chatter and get back inside!" Lyra emerged from behind the two who went "eek" when they heard her cold voice.
"M-Master, we were about to go on our mission for the day…" one of them said timidly.
"No one goes on official duties while I'm away for now. Stay inside or roam the town but no further than that. I'm going on a small errand with the boy. I might be back in a few days depending on the gate's condition and whether it needs repairing."
"Until then, behave and take care of the castle." Lyra walked past the two.
Rafaela followed from behind Lyra. Her face was all smiles as she approached the two while Lyra made her way down the steps.
"S-Sis?"
"R-Rafaela?" seeing her weird smile that almost reached her cheeks, made the two go pale.
"Stay out of the lab." Rafaela said while looking at them with narrowed snake-like eyes.
"Eek, yes, yes…"
"See what trouble you almost got us in!? I told you that playing with a corpse's—"
Arnold decided to walk away because he didn't want to hear the end of that discussion.
Lyra walked past him and chanted something in godorin as she held out a medallion—which looked like a portal activation artifact. A portal formed in front of her. She prevented Arnold from going inside by pushing him back gently.
When he was about to ask what was wrong, she nodded her head towards the stairs, signaling Arnold to look up as well. He spotted Rafaela running down the stairs in a hurry.
Did she come outside just to talk to him?
"I'll be waiting on the other side."
With that said and done, Lyra and Mr. Merchant entered the portal.
"…." Arnold looked down at Rafaela, who was standing there with a red face and her hands behind her back. It certainly felt odd seeing her so shy after what the two of them did not too long ago.
Is this what high schoolers act like after having their first time together? Liam wouldn't know.
"Uhm…" her ears wiggled up and down, something she's been doing quite frequently…
"H-Here!" she took something out from her back held it out to Arnold.
'An organza bag…? Wait, are those cookies?'
She bit her lip with a red face before saying her next words in a stutter.
"H-Happy birthday…" she clapped her hands awkwardly and blushed even deeper at his intense (confused) gaze.
Someone else's silhouette suddenly overlapped with her when she gave him an upward glance—a short girl with long silver hair in two pigtails, wearing a gothic Lolita black and red dress with a cute red headdress nestled in her hair. No wait, is this how he actually remembered her from that time…? As memories flooded his mind, he recalled what he was seeing.
It felt like time had stopped, and this wasn't due to the system but Arnold's own mind reproducing the same scene from that time inside his head in an instant.
Rafaela vanished, replaced by the short girl completely. Arnold turned into Liam, the good-for-nothing gamer who spent all his free time playing games instead of learning new hobbies. He was quite tall but had an average-looking face and not even a little but of charm to make him popular.
The girl stared up at him lovingly, her big red eyes confident even though her face was beat red.
This girl… she told him once that she came from a fairly well-off family but had to live with her cousin in another state since her parents were always away on work most of the year. Her cousin lived in the apartment right next to Liam's room.
He always thought she looked like a vampire with her unusually pale white skin and ashen-white hair, which is probably why she looked so good in most of her cosplays since they were either elves or vampire cosplays.
She started high school after she began living with her cousin, which was the same high school Liam attended. When he first saw her, he got the impression that she was a loner since she always looked so depressed and always had disheveled hair and wore baggy clothes.
The two found out about each other when there was a live tournament in their city, which both of them attended. She looked completely different from her usual self. This wasn't just in demeanor but outward appearance as well and overall expression—she arrived at the event in a cosplay. The same gothic dress he just recalled her in.
It turned out that she wasn't skilled at the game at all but loved playing it with others. As a senior in the game, Liam was dedicated to showing her the ropes so she could learn everything on her own later on.
After becoming acquaintances, they attended several other tournaments before she stopped coming one day. He had no idea why and while he wanted to check in on her, he was simply too scared of her cold cousin who always looked at him as if he were trash and gave off killing intent whenever he was in the vicinity. He gave her the nickname "Cold Blonde-Haired Bitch Who Only Has Her Beauty", which was a childish (and long) thing to call her inside his head whenever he saw her. She was apparently a game developer from what he heard and spent long hours at work, so she couldn't even socialize with anyone but her neighbors and colleagues.
Shortly after that mysterious girl's disappearance that day, all of Liam's time was occupied with teaching the guild's new transfer (in the transfer program between guilds) the ins and outs about the game and how to work together with teammates to raid dungeons and defeat world bosses.
He couldn't make any time to attend live tournaments with the girl so he ended up forgetting she exists but one day…
"Please go out with me!" she shouted with all her might after he opened the door to knocking one day.
Instead of the gothic Lolita dress, he was greeted by her in casual clothes which was a simply flowery dress that wrapped tightly around her small frame and bountiful chest. She was wearing light makeup which accentuated her foreign beauty.
In her small hands was an envelope with cutesy stickers that suited the handiwork of a high school girl.
Despite being in casual-wear, she didn't give off that depressing aura anymore.
Maybe it was because he died shortly after that confession that he could only remember her old self whenever he thinks about her.
…
…
Time flowed again. Rafaela was still standing there with the cookies held out to him.
He frowned slightly as he tried to recall the answer he gave the girl. It was all a blur.
"Arnold…?"
"Eh, ah, thanks." Arnold took the bag of cookies, "…Did you just happy birthday? Wasn't my birthday three days ago—no, how did you even know?"
She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to him—Arnold's black book?
"Mr. Merchant gave it to me for safekeeping… I-I'm sorry for going through it… I thought I could get to know you better by reading through it. I honestly thought it was as diary!"
Well, it was a diary sort of. Arnold just wrote most stuff down to remind himself of important stuff later. Due to how busy he'll be in the future, it's better to keep track of things—which include getting Faldecia on his side, getting the dwarves to give him the blueprint analyzer, etc…
"Mr. Merchant said he found this laying near your body when he picked you up. among other things. In his own words, 'parts of your magic armor were laying around your body, probably because it lost connection to your aura channels after your death'."
"Hmm." Arnold took the book and flipped to the latest page.
On it was a list of everything he wanted for his birthday, which he probably wrote the night before Madilith's death.
Arnold looked at the cookies. They were cold and probably a few days old, so Rafaela was probably hoping for him to wake up sooner than three days.
He looked at her, noticing her head was down and his helmet was slung around her shoulder with some rope.
He didn't know if he was smiling but when she looked up at his face, her eyes sparkled and a small flush appeared. Arnold put a hand on her head and patted her.
"…Thank you. I'll eat this on the road."
Her ears wiggled up and down as she smiled gleefully. He looked at the helmet, wondering why she wasn't giving it back yet.
Noticing his gaze, she put the helmet on top of her head, hiding her blushing face.
"I can't fulfill the promise yet so don't even bother asking for it back!"
He could hear a small harrumph coming from inside the helmet as she crossed her arms.
"What? But I'm right here…"
"No! It's not the same you I fell f—I… I mean, the one I made a promise to!"
Before he could respond, she grabbed him by the shoulders, her grip surprisingly firm for someone so small. With a small push, she steered him toward the glowing portal that awaited him. "B-Be careful, Arnold! And return back safely! You absolutely have to return back to m—to get your body back!" she blurted out, her voice catching in her throat.
Her words made him pause. He turned back to look at her, but her face was hidden beneath the helmet. Even so, the way her fists clenched at her sides spoke volumes about her emotions.
"I'll definitely return—stronger than I've ever been."
"Then I'll take you as my bride once the World Tree is saved," he whispered.
He turned back, facing the portal again but didn't leave just yet. Instead, he shouted:
"Rafaela!"
"Y-Yes!?"
"From now on, I want you to call me Al." he glanced back for a moment before he stepped through the portal, not hearing her heartfelt exclaim "I…I love you, Al!"
…
…
While bathed in complete darkness as he was dragged forward by an invisible force towards the next world, he had a fleeting thought.
'Now I remember my answer to that girl's confession…' a light appeared at the end of the darkness, 'I accepted her.'
Before he was thrown into that light, he recalled the girl's teary face as she smiled at him.
"I'm so glad! Senior Lufulur(whisper)~"