"No one to the left…
No one to the right…"
Artoria peeked nervously out of the bushes.
The reason for all this sneaking around was simple:
There was a naked boy with her.
If someone saw them together like this, she'd never live it down.
"Hurry!" she called.
"Got it," Ian replied.
Luckily, after everything that had happened at the lake, it was already quite late.
They didn't run into anyone on the way back.
"Whew…"
Finally getting Ian to safety, Artoria breathed a sigh of relief.
"Stay here.
I'll get you some medicine."
Inside the room, she gently rubbed the spot on her chest where he had bitten her and sighed.
She gathered some herbs and returned to the boy.
"Come here, Let me treat your wounds."
She hadn't forgotten how he looked back at the lake, completely battered.
It was a miracle he was still alive.
Click.
Artoria lit a flame, and it flickered softly in the room.
But what she saw next left her completely stunned.
The boy's body, which had been covered in wounds, was now completely healed.
No scars.
He even looked stronger than before.
She pinched herself.
Yup—painful. This wasn't a dream.
"What did you do?
Why are you suddenly fine?" she asked.
The boy looked at his hands and shook his head.
"I don't know.
It just felt like… if I stayed hurt, it would bother you.
So I healed."
"Huh?"
It was such a blunt answer.
Artoria coughed awkwardly.
"Ahem…
Well, I brought you back here, so obviously I wasn't planning to ignore your problems.
No need to be so tense."
"Okay."
"…
…"
"Um…"
Artoria glanced at Ian, then turned her head slightly.
"What's your name?"
"Ian," he replied without hesitation.
"And you?"
"Artoria," she answered quickly.
"Uh, Ian… can I make a small suggestion?"
"What kind of suggestion?"
"Well…"
Artoria's throat moved slightly.
"Could you... not let your... your little Ian point at me?"
"It's just... too weird."
Just as she said, when she was checking whether Ian's wounds had truly healed, her eyes couldn't help but land on a rather awkward part of him.
No matter how subtly she shifted her body, it kept pointing directly at her.
And what made it worse—he didn't even seem to realize it.
Otherwise, there's no way he'd say things like this with a straight face.
But—
Even when Artoria tried to express her discomfort as tactfully as possible, Ian just gave her a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't get it."
...
After realizing he genuinely didn't understand, rather than just playing dumb, Artoria felt like she was suffocating.
She hesitated for a moment, then decided to try the simplest approach.
She looked forward.
In the flickering firelight, she could see everything in full detail.
It was... intimidating.
It took a lot of mental preparation, but eventually, she stretched out her hand and gave it a quick poke—
"Right here. Just... don't point it at me."
"...I can't."
"You can't?!"
Artoria had lost track of how many times this boy had managed to shock her tonight.
Before her sanity gave out, she quickly asked:
"Why not?"
"Isn't that... just part of your body?"
"I don't know."
Ian looked at her seriously.
"It just... wants to face you."
"I can't change that."
...
Artoria felt her head buzzing.
Good thing Kay and Ector were out of town today. If they saw a guy saying something like that to her, they'd probably explode on the spot.
"There's really no way to fix it?"
"None."
"But maybe it'll go away after a while."
"If it really bothers you—"
"I can go wait outside."
He turned, about to leave the room.
Artoria quickly grabbed his arm.
"That's not necessary!"
"It's so late already, where would you even go?"
"Forget it. Just let it be. Maybe it'll be fine tomorrow."
She picked up a set of clothes nearby and threw them to him.
"These are mine. Put them on for now."
"Okay."
But Artoria hadn't expected this—he seemed to have a very limited understanding of how clothes worked.
Instead of putting them on properly, he tore the garment in two and wrapped it awkwardly around his lower half.
Technically, he was "covered."
Artoria didn't even know what to say.
She could tell he was doing this because of what she'd said earlier.
In the end, she sighed.
"I'll help you."
"Okay—"
Artoria never thought she'd one day find herself dressing a guy like a maid.
And worse, the guy was still... standing at attention toward her.
But once the clothes were properly on, he suddenly looked much more presentable.
"Alright. Now that's much better."
She dusted off her hands.
But soon, she caught that same hungry look in his eyes.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
Bad memories flashed through her mind.
Artoria instinctively crossed her arms over her chest.
"You can't bite me again tonight!"
"No—wait!"
"Never again! It's rude!"
However—
Ian kept slowly stepping closer.
Everything felt like it was happening again, just like it had back at the lake.
Artoria found herself pinned down once more.
But this time—
"Are you human?"
"Yes... I am."
"And... are you a girl?"
"..."
Artoria was silent for a moment.
Then, she turned her head aside.
"Not exactly."
"I see—"
"That's a shame."
"I thought... maybe you could prove something to my mother."
"Huh?"
Artoria was completely lost.
This guy has a mother?
She wanted to ask more, but it was too late.
Wait—
He fell asleep?
Just like that? While still on top of her?
Heh... heh... heh...
Artoria thought to herself: Tonight, I've really picked up a strange one.