Chapter 80 16.1 Loading Screen?

"Ughh..."

Groaning as I woke up from bed, I blearily blinked out the throbbing headache forming in my temples as reoriented myself. Sure enough, I was still in the palace, alone in my room as I forced myself to stand.

"D-Damn..."

Last night's Dinner had been... an experience? It all flew by so fast to me... It honestly felt like I didn't even do anything. Shizu was doing all the heavy lifting in terms of conversing with the Emperor, and Guidance was uncharacteristically quiet during the whole thing. Meanwhile, I acted like an honest to gods idiot that didn't even remember what we talked about. I remember talking about some kind of communications thingy... and Terran something... Then the wine started flowing and it was all a blur from there.

"This... This isn't good..."

Squinting my eyes, my HUD didn't show anything too special aside from the usual stuff. Surprisingly, being hungover didn't constitute as a status ailment, which meant I had to cure myself the old-fashioned way instead of hoping for some kind of skill or item to purge the alcohol out of my system.

"B-Bleugh-"

I heaved as I reached the room's bathroom. I was only grateful that each room seemingly had its own indoor plumbing. Granted, said plumbing wasn't as advanced as having a bidet or an actual working flush, it still did its job of being there for those that would need it.

"Y-Yikes..." I whispered out, forcing my stomach to calm itself as I hung over the porcelain throne. "Why the hell... is my tolerance so low..."

My stomach did another flip, and my splitting headache only compounded on the horrible situation as I forced down yet another attempt of my dinner going out of my body. This was ridiculous. I wasn't this much of a lightweight back in the old world!

Shaking my head, I took a quick glance at the mirror and made myself passingly presentable. We had a schedule to keep, and the journey to the nearest harbor was going to take more than a day if I was remembering correctly.

"I can only hope that they're not as hungover as me," I grumbled as I exited the room. "Then again, I don't think they got drunk..."

Although, me being hungover while the two women in our group were fine made my already shot self-confidence take a decent hit. A part of me was already hoping that they were as smashed as I was just so we could all be miserable together.

"What a pain..."

Oh well... There was a lot of work to be done... I might as well suck it up.

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"Well then, Moriya. Look who's hungover?"

I could only roll my eyes as I finally met with Guidance and Shizu. As I feared, the two didn't look worse for wear as the former lorded over my poor disposition. Shizu, at least, looked worried as she rubbed my back, a hint of commiseration flashing across her face as she... wait...

"It's fine, Stranger," the princess flashed me a pitying smile. "Guidance can fix you right up. She-"

"A-Anyway, we should be going," Guidance cut Shizu off, making even more alarm bells ring inside my head. "Maruki and Shade should be waiting for us by the harbor right now."

I gave the dev a glare as I smirked, "Is that anxiety I'm hearing? I'm sure you also took a swig of that wine."

"I most certainly did not," Guidance vehemently denied. "Well, maybe I did, but I didn't get drunk."

I quickly took a glance at Shizu, the princess immediately looking away at my questioning eye. I smell something here.

"I doubt that," I chuckled, still clutching my head as my own voice gave my migraine more power. "I can already tell that you also woke up hungover. Maybe even Shizu too."

The princess's hand froze midstroke, beads of sweat forming on her face as she did her best to avoid eye contact. Meanwhile, Guidance almost took a step back, her right hand landing on the [Manifest] hanging by her hip. I could already tell that she was lying, and I was gonna milk this for all its worth.

"I-I did not!" the dev practically exploded. "I can hold my alcohol. Just ask Shizu here."

Turning my gaze back to Shizu, the poor woman was still trying her best to hide herself from view. Even from where I stood, I could see the bright red blush coloring her cheeks. Kind of obvious, really.

"S-Shizu?"

"I don't think your witness wants to tell us anything," I chuckled. "I suppose that only weakens your argument, yeah?"

"Dammit..."

Hah! I heard that grumble, Guidance. "What was that?"

The lying dev quickly stammered to her own defense, "N-Nothing! A-Anyway, want me to fix you up?"

I almost wanted to throw my head back and laugh at my victory. Truly, the truth prevails once more. But first, "Yes, please."

Raising an eyebrow, I watched in anticipation as Guidance whipped out her keyboard. Her fingers flying through each keystroke, ones and zeroes began floating all around her as she seemingly cast her spell.

"[Dispell]"

I gasped as a barrier of ones and zeroes suddenly erupted from all around me. Almost covering me from head to toe, I actually felt my headache disappearing by the time it was gone. It didn't even take a second. If I didn't keep a close eye on the dev, she probably would've cast it without me even knowing.

"There," she scoffed. "Feeling better?"

Shaking my head, I gave myself a few seconds to reorient myself. Blinking out the drowsiness, my migraine was actually gone now. Well, now that's gonna be handy.

"Yeah," I gave Guidance an earnest smile. "Thanks for that."

"Your welcome," she faintly smiled back, her arms crossed over her chest. "I didn't think I'd get to use one of my new [Moves] this early, but at least we know that it works."

Letting out a chuckle, I finally got myself to stand up straighter, giving the two a better fitting smile as I replied, "And I can only assume that it works on any status ailment?"

"It should," Guidance nodded.

"I saw it work earlier too," Shizu giggled, having seemingly recovered from her earlier shyness. "I honestly didn't think that drinking alcohol would make me feel... I don't know... Loopy?"

I raised an eyebrow at the princess's words. Giving Guidance a look, the dev's blush was kind of telling. Just what the hell happened last night?

"I think I understand why adults drink wine now," she chuckled. "Waking up in pain isn't great, but just letting myself loose is great!"

Oh boy...

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