Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 631: Was That Really Necessary?
Holding the sugar painting that had now been enhanced to what could only be described as a divine artifact, Irene finally left Lungmen in satisfaction.
She had only been able to accompany Steven on this outing because he had helped finish her village inspection duties ahead of time. Now that it was already getting late, she had no intention of continuing to wander around Lungmen.
More importantly—
Raising the candy Steven had grandiosely named "The Eternal Sugar Painting" high above her head, Irene couldn't help but reveal a happy smile.
Whether it was truly as indestructible as Steven claimed didn't really matter.
To her, this was a memory she would never abandon and never forget.
Although Steven had said that it would no longer melt no matter how much she licked it, she still had no intention of putting it into her mouth.
After all, wasn't the true value of something like this in preserving it?
And if what Steven said was really true...
Then perhaps the feelings between the two of them could remain just as enduring as well.
Blushing at her own thoughts, Irene carefully hid away the little feelings in her heart. She wrapped the sugar painting in a piece of cloth and gently tucked it into her chest for safekeeping.
"Today's date..."
In the blink of an eye, she and Steven were teleported back to Iberia.
Looking at the familiar, quiet seaside town before her, everything she had experienced in Lungmen felt almost like a splendid dream. She couldn't help letting out a soft sigh before turning toward the boy who had been smiling the entire time.
"Hm?"
"Your performance today was pretty bad. Especially at the beginning. I didn't like that."
Slowly expressing her honest thoughts, Irene bluntly voiced what she truly felt.
She wasn't the kind of girl generous enough to happily share her romance with others.
She wasn't about to forgive Steven so easily for bringing Centaurea along at the start of what was supposed to be their date.
"Then... I'll be more careful next time? Or are you saying there won't be a next time?"
Steven scratched his head awkwardly.
"But considering that your behavior afterward was acceptable, I've decided to give you one more chance. If something like that happens again, I won't be as willing to talk to you as I am now."
Puffing out her cheeks as she added the warning, Irene recalled how Steven had acted once they were finally alone together.
Far from the eccentric troublemaker she usually knew, he had perfectly demonstrated what it meant to be thoughtful and dependable boyfriend material.
In that regard, he had performed quite well.
Though...
If he were always like that...
Well, actually, she probably wouldn't like that either.
A serious, sensible Steven was nice in small doses, but if that were truly his personality all the time, Irene felt she would find him boring.
"Yes, ma'am! Soldier Steven requests permission to return to base!"
With a solemn expression, Steven snapped off a military salute.
Like a loyal soldier obeying his commanding officer's orders, he immediately returned to joking around with her.
His ridiculous performance made Irene laugh despite herself.
Covering her mouth, she shot him a look of mock disgust before generously waving her hand, signaling that he was free to leave.
Just as Steven opened his teleportation interface, Irene, who had been standing there watching him prepare to depart, suddenly raised her hand and called out to him.
"What is it?"
"...The next one... will it come soon?"
"Reporting to my commanding officer! I'll head back, make preparations, and immediately launch the Second Date Offensive! Requesting authorization to lead the troops into battle once more!"
Once again standing tall and proud in exaggerated military fashion, Steven answered her question in an utterly serious tone.
And this time, there wasn't even the slightest hesitation in his voice.
"Well, actually, there's no need to rush that much. What I really wanted to ask was... next time, I'd like to try that vehicle again. Is that okay?"
Embarrassed, Irene lowered her head and stared at her toes as she spoke.
Yet the suggestion she made was one that would have caused the girls of Penguin Logistics to erupt into screams.
"Absolutely! I'll find an opportunity to gather all those people from before again and perfectly recreate today's racing adventure. We can keep doing it until you pass your driving test if you want!"
Steven readily agreed.
Only then did he and Irene reluctantly say their goodbyes.
Meanwhile, the unfortunate group still stuck at the Lungmen Guard Department giving statements suddenly sneezed and shivered at the same time, a chill running from the soles of their feet straight to their brains.
Yet none of them had the slightest idea why.
. . .
After comforting Iberia's little bird, Steven still had plenty to keep him busy.
The appetizer was only just over.
Out on the snowy plains of Ursus, three more girls were still waiting for him.
Fortunately, compared to Irene, Steven didn't need to worry too much about another battlefield breaking out this time.
Talulah and Alina were practically a package deal to begin with, and even Yelena had more or less accepted the existence of the others by now. At most, there would be some bickering. It would never become as awkward as things had been with Irene.
Teleporting directly into the Infected camp, Steven casually took the opportunity to tidy up his messy short hair.
After all, he was here to pick people up for a date. He couldn't show up looking completely disheveled.
He even found time to change into a fresh set of clothes.
Steven knew very well that both Talulah and Yelena possessed noses sharper than a bloodhound's.
Pulling a pink poppy flower from his inventory, he held it in his hand while wondering whether he should strike a particularly handsome pose when greeting the three girls.
But after a moment's thought, he quickly pulled out two more flowers and added them to the bouquet.
Almost forgot about fairness.
Showing up with only a single flower would practically be declaring war.
Steven gave himself a final inspection from head to toe. Once he was certain everything was in order, he headed toward Talulah's office.
There was still some time before their agreed meeting time, but as a guy, arriving early and waiting was never a bad idea.
And when Steven arrived at the office door carrying his flowers, he silently praised his own foresight.
Good thing he'd come early.
Otherwise, that little fire dragon would definitely have found another reason to complain about him.
Inside the room, the three girls were already waiting.
Talulah and Alina were dressed in elegant evening gowns featuring Ursus's characteristic black-and-red color scheme. The dresses perfectly highlighted their figures, and standing together, the two produced an effect greater than the sum of their parts, looking every bit like a pair of dazzling sisters.
There was only one small problem.
The makeup on their faces had gone catastrophically wrong.
If Steven had to describe it, it looked less like makeup and more like someone had spilled an entire paint palette onto their faces.
The sight was so ridiculous that he couldn't stop himself from laughing.
If he'd arrived later, he would have completely missed this masterpiece.
As for Yelena, she was still wearing her usual pure-white coat.
However, she had clearly put some effort into her appearance this time as well.
The weapons and equipment she normally carried had been removed and replaced with elegant snowflake-shaped accessories. The result made her look even more like a proud snow lotus blooming amidst the snow.
At the moment, though, she was standing off to the side with the same amused expression as Steven, openly watching the two flustered girls struggle to salvage their makeup disaster.
Unfortunately, every attempt they made only seemed to make things look even more abstract.
And here she had been worried that she might be overshadowed because she lacked beautiful clothes.
Now it seemed she'd been overthinking things entirely.
Talulah, for all her talents, was unexpectedly hopeless when it came to this sort of thing.
Finally, after Steven completely lost the battle against his own laughter at the sight of Talulah having practically painted herself into a colorful little tabby cat, the two girls finally noticed that the star of the evening had apparently been standing there for who knew how long.
A moment later—
A pair of utterly tragic screams echoed through the office.
"Don't look!!"
Acting on pure instinct, Talulah rushed over to Steven and jabbed a finger straight toward his eyes. At the same time, she covered her face with her other hand, unwilling to let him see her current embarrassing appearance.
"It's fine, it's fine. Looking won't make any pieces fall off, right? Besides, I think it actually looks pretty good."
Steven easily dodged Talulah's sneak attack.
The smile on his face as he tried to peer through the gaps between her fingers and memorize her current appearance made him look every bit like a shameless troublemaker.
"Come on, be good and let me take a closer look. Alina handled it way better than you did. Look how composed she is. Isn't that ri—"
"Pffft—HAHAHAHA! Sorry, I couldn't hold it anymore!"
Pointing at the utterly lifeless-looking Alina beside them, Steven completely lost control.
It was the first time he had ever seen such an expression on the gentle little deer girl's face.
Combined with the ridiculous makeup disaster, the result was somehow even funnier.
Honestly, for Talulah's makeup skills to collapse this spectacularly had to be some kind of talent.
The real victim here was poor Alina.
Living with someone like Talulah must have been exhausting at times.
Clutching his stomach as he doubled over laughing, Steven genuinely couldn't understand how the usually cool and beautiful Talulah had managed to create two masterpieces of cosmetic horror on this level.
"You're still laughing?! I'll burn you alive!"
Talulah had already been embarrassed enough.
Steven's completely unrestrained laughter felt like he was repeatedly punching her self-esteem.
For the first time in her life, she felt like she was being actively bullied.
The furious little fire dragon was moments away from incinerating both Steven and the evidence of her failed artwork.
Yet when she followed Steven's gaze and saw Alina's utterly dead-eyed expression—
She suddenly snorted.
The anger she'd been feeling instantly transformed into laughter she could no longer suppress.
When she'd been applying the makeup, she hadn't really noticed.
But now, seeing Alina's face paired with that expression...
Why was it so absurdly funny?
It wasn't that she didn't respect Alina.
It was just genuinely hilarious.
As someone who had undergone professional training, she normally wouldn't laugh so easily.
Unless...
She really couldn't help it.
"Look who's laughing now! If I were Alina, I'd jump up and gore you with my antlers right now. Honestly, what a waste of such a beautiful dress. I don't even know where to start criticizing this."
Steven continued adding fuel to the fire while laughing.
Then Talulah finally lowered the hand covering her face.
The moment Steven got a clear look at her makeup disaster—
He completely broke again.
Another round of uncontrollable laughter erupted from him.
"Is it really that funny?"
As the victim at the center of it all, Alina tilted her head in confusion.
She had already anticipated Talulah's catastrophic makeup skills—which was exactly why she'd been wearing that expression from the start.
But the reactions from these two were so exaggerated that even she began doubting herself.
Turning toward the only person in the room who still appeared calm and dignified, Alina sought help.
"Yelena...?"
Until now, Yelena had been sitting there like an untouchable iceberg.
But under Alina's questioning gaze, even she finally cracked.
Like an avalanche breaking loose from a snowy mountain, her composure collapsed.
She turned her face away and let out an unmistakable laugh.
"N-no, sorry... but... I think you should just see for yourself."
Struggling to speak between suppressed chuckles, Yelena raised a hand and casually waved it through the air.
A moment later, a perfectly clear sheet of ice materialized before them, smooth and reflective like a mirror.
Alina's current appearance was instantly reflected upon its surface.
She stared blankly at the unfamiliar girl in the mirror.
At the face that defied description.
At the cosmetic catastrophe staring back at her.
For several seconds, she simply stood there with her eyes wide open, unable to find any words.
And then—
Another burst of laughter erupted.
This time, it echoed throughout the entire office, spilling out into the snowy camp beyond.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 689: Impossible to Refute[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-169789182?collection=55713[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-169789182?collection=55713
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-169789182?collection=55713