"Hmm?"
Amphoreus, Okhema.
After some time passed, Herta and Lumina, who were walking down the street, suddenly stopped, as if sensing something.
Their gazes converged on the same direction, their eyes reflecting contemplation, curiosity, and a hint of amusement.
A moment later, Herta murmured softly, her voice restarting the flow of Time that had frozen around them.
"Lumina, you felt it too, didn't you?"
"Okhema is currently locked onto by some kind of attack."
"And this attack... it feels familiar. Almost like we've encountered it somewhere before."
Even though the attack hadn't yet struck Okhema, Herta could already discern its nature from the locking aura alone.
Simultaneously, the familiarity of the attack prompted a puzzled murmur.
"Oh, I remember now." Just as her words trailed off, realization dawned on her.
"This attack... it must be the same one that struck the Astral Express carriages back then."
"Weaker than I imagined," Herta remarked, glancing briefly at the attack before turning away. It was merely a feeble strike, unworthy of her attention.
"It's only weak to us," Lumina countered. "To the people of Okhema, this single attack could obliterate their flourishing city-state."
Lumina's gaze seemed to pierce through the spatial barriers, tracing the attack to its source: the tip of an enormous greatsword. She glanced at it once more, then let her eyes drift downward, spotting a group of people battling a monster beneath the colossal blade.
Stelle and Dan Heng were among them, along with several unfamiliar faces.
Not that it matters, Lumina thought. If we meet and get acquainted, they'll become familiar soon enough.
As she pondered this, her gaze settled on a striking purple-haired girl wielding a scythe.
Hmm... She's quite beautiful!
After a moment of observation, Lumina concluded, "Hmm... I recall now. She's a servant of the Hand of Shadow, the Daughter of the River of Souls, isn't she?"
Generally speaking, Lumina had a keen memory for beautiful girls.
Therefore, she still had a vivid impression of the purple-haired beauty who wielded a scythe in battle.
Although Lumina hadn't delved deeply into the lore of Amphoreus, she had repeatedly seen the "Amphoreus Saga of Heroes" that the System had sent her earlier.
As a result, while Lumina lacked detailed knowledge of Amphoreus as a whole, she knew quite a bit about its female characters.
For instance, this scythe-wielding beauty was a "Death God" whose touch brought instant demise to anyone she touched.
If she was a "Death God" whose touch meant certain doom, then she must have spent her entire life isolated, never experiencing the warmth radiating from another person's body.
If that were the case, the solution was simple.
Lumina was confident she could complete a 24-hour speedrun—no, not a speedrun, a 24-hour masterstroke... Hmm, that wasn't quite right either.
Lumina was confident that within 24 hours, she could become this girl's closest friend.
In these twenty-four hours, Lumina would let the daughter of Styx experience the wondrous sensation of "living warmly" in her embrace.
That's exactly what I'll do, Lumina thought to herself, regarding the purple-haired girl with the scythe as the first kindred spirit she'd truly want to befriend since arriving in Amphoreus.
Yes, exactly that: a good friend, a bestie, a soul sister.
There were no ulterior motives or hidden agendas.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you staring at? What's on your mind? You're practically drooling!"
Lost in her own world, Lumina didn't notice Herta's lowered gaze beside her.
Herta stared at Lumina, her face a mask of exasperation. Though she couldn't pinpoint what Lumina was fixating on, her expression spoke volumes.
She's definitely spotted some pretty girl and... entered one of her states again, hasn't she? Herta sighed inwardly, resignation settling over her.
At this point, she'd already resigned herself to the situation. She couldn't stop Lumina's relentless pursuit of friendship with pretty girls, no matter how hard she tried.
So, Herta changed her strategy.
Since she couldn't stop Lumina's thoughts, Herta decided to change her own.
Through her time at the Black Tower and her previous observations of Lumina, Herta had come to understand her.
Lumina truly just wanted to make friends with beautiful girls, her deeper experiences practically non-existent. This was evident from Ruan Mei's experiences on the Xianzhou.
This was why Herta appeared anxious on the surface but wasn't particularly worried deep down. Her real concern wasn't that Lumina liked making friends with many beautiful girls, but that she might attract the attention of malicious women with ulterior motives during the process.
However, Herta wasn't too concerned about that either. She was confident she could filter out these ill-intentioned women and kick them all to the curb.
Moreover, Herta believed in her own irresistible charm. Little Lumina was born to be captivated by me, to fall head over heels for me!
Herta let out a mental snort, even her outward mood brightening considerably.
"Drooling? No way, I'm not drooling! Where would I be drooling?" Lumina, hearing Herta's words, momentarily pulled her gaze away. She wiped her mouth with her hand, finding no trace of moisture.
"You're not drooling outwardly," Herta remarked dryly, "but the saliva in your heart has already overflowed into a river."
She then retrieved a curious artifact from her Storage Space, focused it on the spot where Lumina had been looking, and activated it.
In the next moment, everything Lumina had seen appeared in Herta's vision.
"Hmm, those must be the two youngsters from the Astral Express, right?"
"It seems that even after the Train crashed in Amphoreus due to an unknown attack, they're still clinging to their 'good samaritan' mindset, helping Amphoreus resolve its crisis."
The first figures to catch her eye were a gray-haired one and a black-haired one.
Without a doubt, these were Stelle and Dan Heng, two of the primary targets Lumina and Herta had come to Amphoreus to find.
Herta didn't linger on the pair. Instead, she began searching the area around them.
Knowing Lumina well, Herta was certain that Stelle, a familiar pretty girl, wouldn't make her drool.
The only thing that could make her drool at first sight was a new pretty girl.
Herta's suspicions were soon confirmed.
She spotted a beautiful purple-haired girl wielding a scythe.
On the entire battlefield, only Stelle and this purple-haired girl remained.
Hmm... There was also a pink floating spirit hovering in the air, looking rather adorable. It was probably female too.
But that couldn't be it.
If Lumina had fallen so low as to drool over a pink floating spirit, Herta wouldn't doubt Lumina—she'd doubt herself.
She'd wonder if she'd grown ugly, if her charm had waned...
After all, if Lumina were to ignore her, a stunning beauty, and chase after a pink floating spirit instead, Herta would never be able to accept it.
After a few glances, Herta withdrew her gaze.
She understood.
The purple-haired girl wielding the scythe was nothing special, posing no threat whatsoever.
Therefore, she was not worth paying attention to.
As she always said,
Herta trusted her own charm.
She also believed Lumina wouldn't let her imagination wander in that direction.
Hmm...
At least, for now.
That was how things stood.
-
"The attack is coming. Are you really not going to play the hero this time?"
Herta and Lumina casually found a spot in Okhema City to sit down.
They gazed in the direction of the impending attack, silently awaiting its arrival.
And waited for the city's leader to "invite" them—along with their cat—to come.
The waiting was tedious, so Herta initiated a conversation, turning to Lumina and asking, "If we help them with something they can handle themselves, that wouldn't make us do-gooders, would it?"
Lumina chuckled softly, explaining why she refused to help Okhema defend against the attack.
"Exactly." Herta nodded in agreement.
Only aid given in times of despair earns true gratitude.
If they intervened when Okhema could still resist, the best outcome would be cause for celebration. But some might see it as "stealing the spotlight," while others might perceive it as a "threat" and treat them as enemies.
These were natural reactions, especially given Okhema's precarious state.
Herta glanced at the massive sphere-backed "Statue of God" in the city center, a sharp glint flickering in her eyes.
She seemed to have grasped something significant, but she didn't voice it, withdrawing her gaze after only a moment.
Lowering her head slightly, she focused on the space between her and Lumina, a palm-sized gap on the seat. A pang of regret stirred in Herta's heart.
Before they had settled down, the two had been holding hands. But once seated, maintaining that connection would require lifting their arms awkwardly into the air.
To avoid this, they had switched to placing one hand on top of the other.
This meant one palm resting on the chair, facing down, while the other palm rested on the back of the first hand, creating a hand-over-hand hold.
Logically, this arrangement should have been perfectly acceptable.
But...
A dispute arose between Herta and Lumina over who should be on top and who should be underneath.
Herta insisted she should be on top, with Lumina underneath.
Lumina believed Herta should be below, while she should be above.
Though it was just a trivial gesture, the two seemed deeply fixated on it.
Perhaps both Lumina and Herta felt that having their palm on top would prove their status as the elder sister?
Conversely, the one with their palm underneath would undoubtedly be the younger sister.
Logically, this made no sense, and no one else would have cared.
Yet Lumina and Herta were locked in this absurd battle of wills.
The final outcome was predictable.
After a heated argument, they simply chose to go their separate ways, each looking at their own things and refusing to hold hands.
Herta wasn't one for sentimentality. Fine, no holding hands then. I don't care anyway, she thought at the time.
But now, Herta regretted it.
During this endless wait, with Lumina's Aura constantly swirling around her, Herta felt as if each day stretched into a year.
Although her past experiences on Penacony and the time since had gradually accustomed her to the warmth of another hand in her palm, she now realized how much she missed that connection.
But people always part ways eventually, so Herta, no matter how unaccustomed she was to it, would always prepare well in advance.
Under normal circumstances, with a clear purpose, whether Lumina was by her side or not, whether their hands were linked or not, Herta would have no trouble at all.
But now, without any purpose, bored, and with Lumina sitting beside her, Herta felt an incessant itch deep within her heart.
This itch, burrowing straight into her core, was nearly unbearable.
Her hand, resting on her thigh, trembled incessantly.
"Heh."
Given Lumina's power, with her mind relaxed and unfocused, not even the slightest movement—a falling needle, a rustling blade of grass—could escape her perception.
Naturally, Lumina noticed Herta's trembling hand instantly.
She let out a soft, undisguised chuckle.
"..."
Upon hearing Lumina's soft chuckle, Herta froze momentarily, and the trembling in her hand instantly ceased.
Herta seemed determined to conceal her current state from Lumina.
But alas, Lumina noticed anyway.
So,
Under Herta's feigned indifference, Lumina reached out and slowly placed her palm against Herta's.
Lumina knew what Herta was sensitive about.
Instead of placing her hand on the back of Herta's hand, she circled around, pressing palm to palm.
Then, she shifted her body, closing the small gap between them until her body pressed against Herta's.
Feeling the contact against her arm, hip, and thigh, Lumina smiled softly and rested their palms, still pressed together, on their intertwined thighs.
"You..."
"Shhh..."
Witnessing this, and inhaling the rich fragrance that filled the air, Herta froze momentarily. She opened her mouth to speak, but Lumina cut her off after just one word.
Lumina hushed her gently, then turned her gaze toward the direction where she had already locked onto Okhema's attack.
A golden light materialized from that direction, coalescing into a radiant golden beam that streaked toward the massive sphere carried on the back of Okhema's statue, striking with the force of lightning.