Ganersam Volume 2
Chapter 17

I have a thing for waking up in the middle of the night, accidentally triggering some kind of story event. When I woke up at 1 am, Emma had disappeared from my side. Since I hadn’t taken a bath yet, I decided to went on and take one.

I thought Emma would be back by the time I was finished. The room was still empty when I finished, though. The rain outside had stopped as well. I thought about taking a quick stroll, but I had just taken a bath.

...

...

I could probably take another bath later. Who knows, maybe this time I would accidentally run into her in the bath. I looked at the hangers. Emma still had my jacket with her, but luckily, I have an extra. After getting changed, I headed out.

Walking outside, I couldn’t help but be grateful I had taken a jacket with me. The cold midnight air chilled me to the bone. It was probably even colder than usual because of the rain. To add to that, Kalagai stood high in the mountains, so its temperature shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Small puddles of water reflected the glow of the red and orange lanterns hanging on the streets. I took a look at the calm village and couldn’t help but feel like I’m walking in a medieval Japanese village. The wooden buildings, the lanterns, the trees. A dense forest surrounded this town, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that most of the homes here came from wood, but it really helped with the town’s aesthetics.

Compared to concrete, wood had a considerable advantage in weight reduction, drastically reducing the weight the concrete structures below needed to support. The way this town was built amazes me, just like building a city above a large bridge.

I think I had heard of buildings on Earth that were built either on or in a bridge, but I don’t think they can rival the scale of this town.

The sound of the gushing water of the river acted as some relaxing background music. I peered at the river below beforehand, the base stood around 13 meters above the river. They made the railings high and the space thin, probably to safeguard against falling.

Our inn was located near the middle of the town, but the town was flat, which means the distance to the ground varies depending on where you are. I visited the northern edge before, and it stood only 5 meters above the river. The angle gets sharper the farther we go, so the 13 meters now will definitely get deeper the farther south we walked.

The town was also pretty wide, so in order to reach its western and eastern edges, I would need to walk past some alleyways. For some reason, I thought that is where Emma might be, so I decided to head to the eastern edge first.

I walked by Qorsen’s place during my walk. Nia, Amber, and Qorsen worked late into the night, evident by the bright lighting coming from inside. I drop by, gave them the usual ‘don’t forget to rest’, and continued. I walked quite a distance on the eastern railing, the beautiful view of the surrounding mountains decorated the landscape. I didn’t replace Emma, though, so I walked to the southern railing.

The southern railing, like the eastern one, or practically like all the other sides, was decorated with a fantastic view of the mountains. no fog or clouds stood in my way today, so the view was as clear as day, although, of course, it was very dark. It was the middle of the night, after all.

The town was roughly 3 x 3 in size, so that means if I walked a full circle around it, then I need to travel around 12 km. However, since I arrived at the eastern railing at around the third quarter mark, I only traveled less than a kilometer on its eastern side. I couldn’t see clearly all the way to the edge of the 3 km walkway, but I didn’t think Emma was there.

And since the north side didn’t have as good of a view, I doubt she would be there either. This means I need to travel another 6 km, but with this kind of mood and atmosphere, I didn’t really mind. I would probably get very tired by the end, though.

Again, I couldn’t replace Emma on the southern railing. I crossed the bridge onto the western sector. At the southwestern edge, I turned myself north and continued my journey across the western railing.

A kilometer in, I found the person I’m looking for. A cup of hot drink in her hand, gazing at the distant view.

“Oh, you replace me. Congrats.”

She glanced at me and offered me the cardboard cup she was holding.

“Can’t sleep?”

I asked as I took a sip from the cup. I decided not to bother with the indirect kissing thing and gulped in the fresh hot milk.

“Not really. I haven’t slept at all, actually. I can’t fall asleep after that bath for some reason.”

“... You need to rest before the major battle... assuming it’s a major battle.”

“I’m planning on returning after finishing my milk... did you finish it?”

She said softly. I immediately pulled the cup off my mouth.

“No, I just took a bit.”

“You could have it if you want. I could just buy another one.”

“Ah, no thanks. Here.”

I returned the cup to her. She grabbed it and finished what was left of the drink. She stuffed the cup into her pocket and leaned onto the railing.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

I couldn’t immediately respond. This is the second time I was hit with this kind of gratitude, but my brain failed to reach a proper response, so I just leaned on the railing, looking into the distance with her.

I glanced to the side and saw her beautiful face. I couldn’t help but stare at her beauty.

This is probably the first time I looked at this face like this. It’s the perfect mix of beauty and cuteness.

She realized I was staring at her, and turned to look at me. To my surprise, she gave me a genuine smile. I quickly turned myself away, not wanting things to be even more awkward.

I could feel her approaching. She pulled my right arm and gave me a quick kiss on my right cheek.

“Is... is that?”

I didn’t dare to look at her.

“Come on, let’s go back.”

She turned and started walking away from me. I was left speechless. I followed her back while ransacking my brain on which event I triggered.

What happened last night felt like a dream.

“Good morning.”

Emma said as she poured tea from me.

“Morning.”

I sat on the couch in the living room. This time, she prepared two cups of tea as opposed to the usual one, so there was no reason to be worried about indirect kissing, not that it was an issue at this point. Emma acted normally as if last night’s events never happened. Could it really be all just a dream?

But I couldn’t clear my head from the thought that itwasreal. I tried searching my mind on when her attitude changed, and the answer I found is since the cup noodles event the other night.

She had called me a shitty neet just a few hours before that, but now that I think about it, it felt more like a joke compared to an actual insult, especially with her speech mirroring the useless goddess I saw in the other anime.

I still felt the development was far too quick though. This is either me being stupidly dense or maybe some poor writing.

But then again, last night’s event is probably a dream-

“Last night’s events are not a dream.”

Emma’s words caught me off.

“I could tell from your face that you’re thinking about it.”

"Sigh, you got me.”

I said as I swung both of my hands up in the air. Emma let out a short chuckle.

“Should we head to the hangar?”

“Uhh, yeah. I’ve checked on them last night. They were still working, but they’re nearly finished.”

“Oh? Does that mean all we need to do is wait for Riko now?”

I hang my head, looking at the ceiling, wondering what those two were doing right now. Riko and Amel headed for Misana, to do ship repairs and upgrades, but they hadn’t given us any updates since we parted.

We got 3 cademons working on Amber’s ship, so I’m not surprised if we finished faster compared to them.

I took a sip from the tea she prepared.

“You prepare some good tea.”

“Aww, thank you.”

After finishing breakfast, we headed out. The inn was located not far from the hangar, only a 7-minute walk. The hangar’s massive doors were shut tight when we arrived. It had always been open when we went there. There were no audible sounds of machines, either.

I slowly pushed the large steel doors, but the doors had been locked. We walked around the outside. The hangar’s pad extends beyond the structure supporting the city. The small eastern walkway created a gap between the hangar and the pad.

The large rear metal doors had also been closed, with our ship nowhere in sight.

“They’re probably sleeping.”

“Yeah...”

My mind flashbacked to the accident a while ago. I forced my way into Amber’s warehouse, only to replace her enjoying a nap in her pajamas. Considering how much they work last night, it would be natural if they were sleeping now.

Wait, does that mean I could see Nia in her pajamas if I barge in?

That might be worth it, actually. A peek would be fine, right-

“You really need to learn to control your expression better. Your lewd thoughts are all over your face.”

“I’m not thinking about anything weird!”

I mean, pajamas aren’t lewd, right? It’s outright the opposite of lewd...

I wonder how will Emma look with pajamas on? She won’t be angry if I ask, right?

Oh no, she probably will.

Is she druggable? I maybe could get her to drink a sleeping pill and... wait, no. No! What am I thinking!? There’s no way I could do something that weird.

Straighten up, William. You’re standing in front of a girl here.

Emma reached out for my hand, and while pinching it, pulled me away.

“Ouch... ouch! That hurts!”

"Sigh... just what are you thinking...”

“I’m not thinking about anything weird.”

“Learn to control your face before saying a lie like that next time...”

She stopped and looked around, her gaze straight into my eyes.

“I’ll be sad if you lie, do you want that?”

“I don’t... don’t...”

“Hmm?”

I was originally going to go with another of my ‘I don’t care’ style remarks, but the memories of what happened yesterday night and this morning weighs on my mind. I decided to just forget about it and continue walking.