32 – The Seductress

In the end, Igor fell asleep because he was too tired. All that was left was Alan, studying the blueprint while doing the guard shift.

Not long after, Haruna got up, went to the toilet, approached Alan, and sat so close to the young man.

Alan glanced at the rogue's face, finding a blush and slightly parted lips. Her breathing also sounded a bit heavy.

"It's not your time to be on guard yet." Alan shifted away. "You better sleep again, Haruna."

"Ah, you finally called my name." She sighed, shifting to continue sticking to Alan. "I'm so happy. It means I've been acknowledged to be by your side."

Alan lowered his blueprint. "What do you want?"

She and Alan just met today. Alan wondered why she was behaving so seductively towards him.

Does this girl have other intentions?

"Can't I accompany you?" The rogue started unbuttoning the shirt on her chest. "Aren't you lonely?"

Yes, Alan's instincts as a man were a little tickled by that provocative tone and gesture. But he wouldn't be affected until he knew Haruna enough and trusted her. He is also not a weak man who immediately submits to such stimulus.

"It's cold enough already." Alan tucked the blanket covering his legs onto that girl's body. "You should actually cover your body more."

Instantly, Haruna froze. Her face was also getting redder. Slowly but surely, a smile bloomed on his lips.

And instead of giving up, she put her mouth close to the young man's ear and whispered. "You know what? If other girls like the bad guy type, I'd rather be with a good man."

A bitter laugh slipped from Alan's mouth. "Too bad, I'm not your type, apparently."

"But I've seen it with my own eyes, Al." The female rogue continued. "You are definitely my type."

"No." Alan shook his head, shifting away from Haruna again. "I'm not a good person. Even Celia knows that."

Still not giving up, Haruna crawled to get to Alan. She pressed her finger to her pink lips, her eyes narrowed slightly, and her mouth made a moan-like sigh. "Really? You mentioned another woman when you were alone with me?"

Alan massaged his forehead. He wanted to quickly learn the blueprint, but his concentration kept getting disturbed. So, he answered firmly without looking at that girl. "With all due respect, if you have nothing important to say, could you please leave me alone? This propeller is very important to us. I want to finish it as soon as possible."

Haruna folded her arms across her chest, looking irritated with the young man's behavior. "You're not fun, Al. Even though I've worked up the courage to do things I've never done before by teasing you like this. Don't you feel challenged?"

"No."

"You…." The rogue snorted. "Okay then, I'll show you something important."

She then opened her game UI, then selected a feature to show it to Alan.

"I have a friend who is an insider at the studio that made Grand Azure Online." That girl then opened her chat page. "On the first day I came here, the others couldn't contact or be contacted by anyone in the original world. But this friend of mine might have special access or something…. So, he managed to send me this one message."

[Kanatare (developer): Go west]

Alan's brow furrowed. He saw no possibility of manipulating something like this. Haruna totally got the message.

But what's up in the West, though?

"Maybe this is our chance to return to our original world." Haruna continued. Her lips started to tremble.

Alan looked at Celia. His feelings were mixed. The world wasn't kind to him, but he had people to protect. He's not lonely anymore.

He felt more belonged to that fantasy realm. The few days here gave him more memorable memories than when he was in the real world the last few years.

"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Haruna asked as Alan remained silent. "Just tell me, Al. While here, did you get a hint like this? The one who contacted me was really one of the developers of this game. He must know something."

Alan rubbed his face. He remembered that Celia wanted to return to earth, unlike him.

"Yeah." Alan thought that if indeed Celia and Haruna wanted to return to their world, he could at least help them.

Alan would not have joined them if he still loved this fantasy world.

Maybe bringing Haruna and Celia back to earth could be Alan's primary goal.

This was different from his desire to enlarge his land or improve his magical abilities. This is the real purpose, something that he doesn't have in the real world.

"Is that the only clue?" Finally, Alan looked at Haruna's face properly. "Maybe you have a secret code or something that only you and your friend know?"

The rogue laughed. "We're not like that, Al. We're friends, but not that close to coming up with keywords that only we understand."

"I see." Alan nodded. "After we escort Igor and Ivan, we will head west. We don't know what's in there, but…"

Alan froze when he found Celia crawling towards him with zombie-like movements, spiritless and unfocused. Her eyes were also only half open.

"What are you two talking about?" She muttered like a drunk. "You guys look really intimate…."

She then collapsed and fell asleep again with a loud snore.

Meanwhile, Alan and Haruna exchanged glances. Neither of them understood what was really going on.

"These pants really hinder my freedom." The female fighter squirmed and mumbled in her sleep.