Chapter 277

Fe blinked at Zoey a few more times, still baffled that she was sitting there in the Academy lecture hall with her—then she digested the question, and her expression of panic doubled.

“No. No, I couldn’t have forgotten it. There’s no way. My final project? I brought it, I know I did.”

Yet her anxious search through her backpack yielded nothing. She looked up, seeming so distraught that Zoey almost second-guessed her decision to play along.

Instead, she tried an alternative approach: setting Fe at ease while also delving down what was sure to be a fun dream.

“It’s no big deal,” Zoey said, shrugging. “Professor said we could share projects, didn’t he? You can help present mine. You helped with it, anyway.”

“He said that?” Fe seemed confused. “Semester projects are individual, though.”

Zoey cocked her head, feigning earnestness. “Oh, you didn’t get his last—” She almost said e-mail, but wait, this wasn’t a modern university. “—ah, message? He said group presentations are fine too. Hundred percent certain. So, you can join me in presenting mine.”

Fe seemed befuddled as her subconscious adjusted to Zoey’s hijacking of the dream. Then the expression cleared away into such relief that Zoey almost felt guilty for a different reason.

“Oh, heavens. Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would’ve done.” Her face paled. “But ... wait. Help present your project? Isn’t that—?” She trailed off.

Zoey had told Fe that she had helped create it. So what did the sheepgirl’s subconscious assume was Zoey’s semester project?

Probably something fun.

“Yep,” Zoey said brightly. “Why, that’s not a problem, is it?”

“A problem?” Fe squeaked. “No, of course not, I’m super grateful. You’re a lifesaver. Just—” She squirmed in place, then glanced at the front of the room where the professor was droning on. Impressively, he wasn’t even forming real words, just a vague “blah, blah, blah,” background noise that Fe didn’t seem to realize was odd. Since Fe’s focus was now on Zoey, not the professor. “But is it appropriate?”

Zoey pursed her lips. Fe’s subconscious had definitely assumed something lewd. Hardly took a genius to deduce that. But what?

Leaning over, she grabbed her backpack and lifted it. Curious, she rummaged inside, seeking whatever Fe’s imagination had conjured. Her fingers wrapped around leather straps. Eyebrows raising, she tugged the item out.

It was ... some sort of harness?

A full-body one that would fit around a person’s torso and lower half? In a rather appealing way, for that matter. It looked like fetish gear.

Fe’s face turned crimson. “Wow. You finished it. I mean, of course you did, but—wow.”

Pretending that she knew what was going on had worked thus far, so Zoey kept the act up. “Course I did. Had your help, didn’t I? But, ah, just to make sure we’re on the same page. What does it do?”

“It hasn’t changed, has it?”

“No. But if we’re presenting together, I just wanna make sure we’re on the same page.”

“Oh. Fair enough?” Her cheeks colored. “It’s still—the Lust Harnesser, right? Like we talked about?”

Zoey felt her eyebrows go up. “Of course. But, ah, be more specific? Since we’re about to demonstrate.”

Fe pursed her lips. “Well. Assuming you got it to work like we wanted—and the runework is impressive, by the way, I’m surprised you managed such intricate detailing on leather—then it’s supposed to harness lustful energies and store them for future use. Allowing us to empower items, maybe even moving them through advancements. Your skills inspired it, of course.”

The girl was visibly excited explaining the item, and Zoey wondered whether it was a real-life project of hers or whether it was a spontaneously created idea to fit the dream’s theme. She could see it going either way. It seemed ambitious enough for Fe, and aligned with her interests, but also fantastic enough that it didn’t seem plausible. Maybe for Zoey’s class, it was reasonable, but her class broke normal conventions; she was sponsored by a deity. A typical artificer, no matter how competent, shouldn’t be able to ‘collect lewd energies and harness them to move artifacts between advancements’.

In any case, Zoey replied, “Yeah, that’s the gist.” Then, ad-libbing more dream logic, she said, “I’ve done some preliminary testing, and I know it works. But it’s going to take a significant starting charge to make it function in a flashy enough way for a good demonstration.”

“And how are you planning on doing that?”