CH 33.1

Chapter 33.1 - Pursuer (Part 1)

I… I feel like I’m gonna hurl… While my eyes are spinning, I somehow manage to step down from the carriage. I feel so sick that I hang my head and fall to my knees. I was still fine right after I made it out of the city walls. The carriage must have some sort of suspension to keep the shaking under control, since there was hardly any shaking while it was moving.

The problem was after I made it through the city gate. No matter what I did, I couldn’t change course on the runaway carriage, so it went through the forest that was in my path. There was only an animal trail inside the forest, not a maintained road, but even if there was one, I couldn’t change course. So naturally, problems arose when there were trees in my path. What happened, you ask? Well, it’s very simple. The horses ran at full speed, knocking down all the trees. Just how powerful is this carriage, anyway?

Although it didn’t break, even this carriage can’t suppress the impact caused by the trees being knocked down. Riding in that carriage was like being inside a blender, so I had no choice but to surrender and be at its mercy. When I had gone deep into the forest, I pulled at the reins with all my strength and finally managed to stop the carriage.

Man, that was awful. It feels like my stomach is trying to empty itself.

Actually, is it even possible to vomit in this world? I doubt they would go that far, but we can already eat and drink, and they made this game to be so realistic that it might actually be possible, which is a problem. But since the sensation of being sick to my stomach is coming from my real body, wouldn’t it affect the real world? In that case, what’s going on with my body in the real world? Maybe I’ll feel so sick that I’ll puke in my sleep… Please don’t let me wake up and find myself covered in puke.

“Hey, hang in there! Are you okay?” I hear a young woman ask. Apparently, there was someone nearby.

Lifting my head seems like a pain, so I stay like that and answer, “I’m fine, I just feel sick to my stomach.”

“Just sick to your stomach? That’s good.”

When I look up, there’s a beautiful girl with long, dark brown hair. She looks about the same age as me. Irene was also beautiful, but she had a cool, dignified, very serious aura. But this girl is a different kind of beautiful, with a bright, lively aura. Her clothes are plain, but it seems like it’s not the right size for her, since it’s pretty tight. Especially in the chest… I think they need to update the equipment.

“So, who the heck are you? What are you doing here?”

“My name is Chaos. When I arrived in Clermont, it looked like there was something weird going on there, so I gave up and tried going to the neighboring town. But then I lost control of the carriage and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a forest.”

“Ah, I see. Clermont is on high alert right now. Residents are forbidden from going outside.”

Oh, so that’s why there weren’t any people around. Looks like there’s some sort of event going on after all. That’s annoying, but if that’s the reason, then there’s nothing we can do about it. She’s probably also traveling because she thought she wouldn’t make any progress in Clermont.

“Then, are you also planning on going to the neighboring town?”

“…Y- yeah. Pretty much. For now, I’m planning on heading south to Treve.”

“So, does that mean you’re going on foot?”

“I was planning to buy a horse on the way, but… Until I make it to Treve, yeah.”

South, huh? As far as I can tell from the map, Treve is kind of far. It reminds me of when I was traveling to Maeldia during the closed beta test. For a whole week, every time I logged in, I was running all by myself. From an outsider’s perspective, it would probably look like I lost a bet or something. This isn’t quite that big of a distance, but walking would take a lot of time. Without paid items, you normally wouldn’t have a mount or anything like that right at the start. Unfortunately, there’s a weird event happening in Commune. I feel kinda bad for her.

Oh, yeah. I could invite her to ride in my carriage. Maybe I’m just being nosey, but I feel like we met for a reason. If I’m lucky, I might go from being a solitary player again to making a friend.

“If you want, you could ride in this carriage. It’d be kinda tough to walk all the way to Treve.”

“…In that?” she says, looking at the carriage as if she’s looking at something shady. I can understand why. Since she just saw it running out of control, it’s only natural that it would make her nervous. After all, it even makes me nervous.

Without knowing their master’s feelings, the two horses look at me with somewhat of a look of accomplishment (though that’s just my own perception of it). They remind me of loyal dogs waiting to be praised. I guess I’ll give them a pat.

“Have they calmed down? Those horses are surprisingly docile,” she says, but they were also like that when they ran wild earlier. But it’s useless as a mount if it goes out of control that easily, so maybe I messed up the steering somehow. But this is a game, so I doubt steering it would be difficult. Maybe I’ll figure it out by riding it? Or maybe I should log out for a minute and look up how to steer it.

“Can we make it to Treve (safely)?” I mumble unconsciously. Then, the two horses nod. …Maybe if I tell them the destination, they’ll take me there? The horses stare back without giving me an answer. …I– I’m putting my trust in you!

“Chaos, could I take you up on your kind offer and ride with you? I’d like to make it to Treve as quickly as possible.”

“Alright. Then, it looks like we’ll be traveling together. Um, what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Ro…”

“Ro?”

“Ro… sa. I’m Rosa!” Rosa shouts so hard it hurts my ears. I could hear her just fine without the shouting, though.

That aside, there’s a risk of monster encounters when moving outside. Even if we’re using a mount, that doesn’t mean we won’t be attacked by monsters. In other words, we may engage in combat. If I invite her to my party, that should decrease the risk a little bit.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Rosa. We’ll be traveling by carriage, but we might have to fight on the way. Would you join my party and fight with me?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind. You’re the one who’s giving me a ride. And you don’t need to call me ‘miss’. I don’t really like being shown so much respect,” she says, agreeing without hesitation. I immediately invite her into my party.

Roseline du Commune has been added to the party.

Woohoo! I got a new party member!

But the name she gave me is different from her actual character name.

Roseline du Commune.

Normally, it would be Roseline. Maybe Rosa is a common nickname overseas? But having Commune as her surname, she really set her sights on it. It’s almost like she’s Commune royalty. Like she’s secretly the princess or something. Yeah, right.

***

A pathetic and unreliable foreign boy. This was the princess of the Allied Commune, Roseline du Commune’s first impression of Chaos.

It’s only natural that she would have this impression. She saw him weak with motion sickness after losing control of the carriage, so this was the obvious result. Since he was too much of an idiot to be her pursuer, it helped her relax her guard.

However, Roseline hasn’t completely lowered her guard around Chaos. Even if he isn’t her pursuer, she doesn’t know what kind of person he is. Therefore, she has absolutely no intention to be honest with him and reveal her identity.

The purpose of Roseline’s current outfit was to disguise herself as a commoner in order to deceive those around her when she was escaping from the palace. She had to play the role of a commoner out of necessity. Although, since she has been known as a tomboy from a young age and teased by those around her for not being princess-like, she doesn’t have to try very hard to act like a commoner.

Contrary to her expectations, Chaos was staring at her chest, which left her shocked. She felt ridiculous for being cautious of such a man. As her wariness dwindled, her opinion of him fell tremendously to compensate.

However, this wasn’t the first or even the second time a man had stared at her chest like this. She often feels men’s gazes when she appears before them in high society. Because of this, Roseline always wears dresses that conceal her chest and feel stifling. This may be the reason why she became incredibly sensitive to those kinds of gazes.

But compared to those disrespectful gazes, Chaos’s felt much less lewd, so she didn’t mention it. Though if he had been blatantly lewd, she would have slapped him on the spot.

Although he wasn’t her pursuer, he was suspicious, so Roseline tried asking him who he was. It seemed that he was a traveler who came to Clermont. Apparently, he had sensed from outside the city walls that there was something strange happening inside the city, so he was on his way to the neighboring town. It’s true that, since the residents are forbidden from going outside, the city is too quiet even from outside the walls, and there’s a barricade at the city gate, so he would notice that something was out of the ordinary even from outside. To someone who doesn’t want to get dragged into troublesome things like that, turning around is the obvious choice.

Then, when Roseline was thinking of asking Chaos why he came to Clermont, Chaos asked Roseline if she was on her way to the neighboring town. Roseline decided that being considered suspicious because she’s the only one asking questions would also be bad. However, she was hesitant to answer honestly and tell a guy who she still couldn’t completely trust that her destination was Charante, where Duke Chartelle resides. However, thinking that there was no need to lie, she only told him that she was heading to Treve, which was closest. Upon hearing this, Chaos invited her to ride in his carriage. It was fortunate that she would be able to ride in a carriage during this race against time where pursuers could be on their way.

However, the problem was that there was a possibility that this would put Chaos in danger. Normally, putting someone in danger without them knowing would weigh on her conscience. But just this once, in this emergency situation, she suppressed her conscience. Since she was the princess, there were things she had to do, even if she would be denounced as unjust.

Another problem was that carriage he was riding – or, to be precise, the horses pulling it. The large, horse-like beasts with eight legs. There was also the fact that they had been running out of control, but no matter how strong-willed Roseline was, even she was hesitant to ride in a carriage pulled by strange, unknown monsters.

Perhaps Chaos sensed Roseline’s feelings, because he gently stroked the two horse-like beasts and showed her that there was no need to be scared. The horse-like beasts were docile, with no sign of the violent temperament she’d expect of monsters. Moreover, when Chaos told the horse-like beasts where to go, they nodded as if they understood. He showed her proof that they were intelligent enough to understand human language. If Chaos was doing this much for her after inviting her simply out of good will, Roseline had no choice but to say yes.

“Anyway, this carriage is fast!” Roseline excitedly tells Chaos as she grabs the reins. Chaos isn’t saying anything, but maybe he’s feeling better, since he’s looking less pale. She was worried that her pursuers might catch up with her, but now she’s relieved that she might have a safe journey to Treve.