The Great Sword is not the Main Body!

"I'm sorry. I got too... worked up."

When Ailyn came out of the kitchen with the coffee, she bowed her head as she looked at me.

No, really... Ailyn doesn’t need to apologize...

"Eh, no. Ailyn, why, why are you apologizing...?"

"No, Noa. This is really my fault."

"Ah, aah... I, I understand... Please, lift your head..."

A moment of silence passed, and Ailyn looked up with a smile.

"From now on, if I do something that makes you uncomfortable or something you dislike, please tell me, okay?"

"Yes... You tell me too, Ailyn."

"Okay. Then, I’ll say it. The coffee you made, it tastes terrible."

"Wha—?"

Isn’t coffee bitter by default...? What do you mean it tastes bad?

No matter how much I didn’t put any points in the craft skill, I can make coffee!

Hah! What a joke.

Anyway, it’s all bitter!

"Just because coffee is bitter doesn’t mean it all tastes the same."

Oh...?

But how did she know that? Does she have mind-reading powers?

This scary woman...!

"How did you know?"

"Eh... How...?"

"It’s a secret. Hehe..."

How annoying.
So annoying...

"Anyway, this is how we talk to each other. Got it?"

Don’t try to change the subject!
Hurry up and answer! How did you know?!

"Yes, yes..."

"Alright. Then, shall we take another look at the route? This time, I’ll explain verbally. Come sit next to me."

I nodded and sat beside Ailyn.

"Huh? No, the opposite side... Well, just sit here and listen. Now, the village we're in is Arba village, part of the Orca Empire. To the east, we have the Karahan Mountain range, and to the south, there’s the Suar River."

Ailyn’s gentle voice tickled my ears.

Hearing it so closely, it felt like I had heard her voice somewhere before?

Hmm... I’m almost remembering.

"Our destination, Cartia village, is northeast of Arba."

Just from this brief explanation, a map started forming in my mind.

As expected, 8 years of experience.
Am I a 21st-century brainy guy...? Or maybe, a brainy girl now?
Anyway, I’m pretty awesome.

"First, we’ll cross the Karahan Mountain range. To do that, we’ll have to pass through the eastern ruins."

"Oh... Eastern ruins..."

That’s where the red dog boss is.
It’s the first raid many newbies encounter.

I died so many times to that dog when I was a newbie... Ugh...

I didn’t even know I needed a party of at least four people and tried to tackle it alone.

The thrill I felt back then... I

still get chills just thinking about it.
That’s when I got hooked on [Black Sun].

While I was lost in those memories, Ailyn’s voice suddenly grew a bit colder.

"Noa, you’re listening, right?"

"Ah! Yes, yes!"

I hadn’t heard a word.
This is bad...

"What were you listening to?"

"Uh... After passing through the eastern ruins..."

"And then?"

I mentally traced the map I had drawn.

After passing the eastern ruins... could it be Halbion?

"Then we’ll move to the Halbion Plains...?"

"You weren’t listening."

"Hehe... So, where do we go next...?"

I tilted my head, and Ailyn sighed deeply.

"Sigh... You started laughing like that suddenly, so I didn’t say anything. What were you thinking about?"

"Ah... well... I was just thinking about the past... Sorry, sorry. I’ll focus."

"Thinking about the past, huh... I see. Well then, let’s continue. First, we’ll enter the ruins."

Ailyn’s voice had gotten a little colder.

I must have distracted myself, right...
She’s trying to explain to me because I can’t see the map, and I can’t even focus! How pathetic, Shin-Noa!

I need to focus now!@@novelbin@@

"Yes...!"

I straightened up and adjusted my seat.

"We’ll try to avoid the monsters as much as possible, but it will be hard to avoid them all. If a battle happens, Noa, you’ll be the vanguard, and I’ll handle the rear."

Hmm?
She’s not an archer, is she? Maybe a mage?
But I don’t feel any magic power coming from her.

Could she be a super-elite who hides all her magic?!

"Are you... a mage, Ailyn?"

"No, I’m not a mage. I can just do some healing and a little crowd control. You’ll be the vanguard, and I’ll be the rear. That’s all you need to know."

Oh! She’s a healer?
A walking potion... okay, maybe not that, but a priest!

Healers in games were always nobles.
Because they’re kind of boring to play, but you’d always bring them along for the party.

So, I’ve never really had a party with a healer.
Most of them would go to the rich and strong Golden Suns...

Anyway, saving money on potions, that’s nice!

"Yes..."

"Good. Now, there’s one monster in the ruins we really need to watch out for. Its name is..."

The only monster we need to worry about is that dog.

"Carpen...?"

"Hmm... You know about it. That’s right. The red wolf is definitely something we need to avoid."

They call it a wolf here.
In the community, they referred to it as a puppy.

If it were in the game, I’d just take it down without hesitation, but since this is real life, I guess I need to be careful...

If I ever met it in real life...
Ugh, just thinking about it...

The red fur and sharp teeth of the Carpen, and its massive size, flashed in my mind.

Ugh...
I’m really scared...

I even got goosebumps on my scalp.

"Yes... Be careful. Definitely be careful..."

I really don’t want to meet it.
If I did, I might just wet myself.

"Yes. But since Carpen’s habitat is deep in the ruins, we probably don’t need to worry too much about it."

I nodded.

"After passing the ruins, we’ll enter the Halbion Plains, just like you mentioned earlier, Noa. And here... well, let’s stop the explanation here for now."

"Eh...? Why, why?"

I was really enjoying following the map in my head!
Tell me more!

Ailyn hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking.

"...Hmm... It’s hard to remember information just by listening, so I thought I’d let you know. I’m not sure about you, Noa, but that’s how I feel."

"Ah..."

She really thinks of me like this...
Are you an angel?

Oh, wait—since Hermeela’s around, Ailyn can be Angel 2!

"Since we have plenty of time, I’ll explain the rest slowly."

"Th-thank you...!"

"You don’t need to thank me for this... Anyway, the general explanation is over. Shall we head out now? I assume you’ve packed most of your things?"

I nodded vigorously.

Thanks to the list Hermeela gave me, I was able to prepare everything very comfortably.

"Then we just need to find two healthy horses."

"Horses...? Not a cart...?"

"Horses?"

"Yes. You weren’t thinking of going by cart, were you?"

Of course, I thought it would be by cart!

We’re going on a long journey!
Of course, it has to be a cart!
It’s romantic, isn’t it? That’s the dream!!

"A-a cart...?"

"If we use a cart, we’ll have to take a much longer detour. It’ll take too long, and it will draw attention from others... Anyway, we’re going to use horses. I hope you understand."

So, no cart...
I get it.
I understand, but...

That’s not the real problem.

"I... I’ve never ridden a horse before...! I-I’m sorry!!"

I’ve never ridden a horse!

"Huh? But you’re an adventurer."

"R-right?"

I’m silver-tier, okay!
I passed the apprentice stage, then bronze, and now silver!

"So how do you hunt?"

"On foot..."

Ailyn facepalmed.

"How far have you walked?"

The farthest I’ve gone was to hunt orcs.

"Ah, I went to hunt orcs... in Elrain Forest..."

"Seriously..."

"S-sorry..."

Just as I was about to apologize again, Ailyn’s hand interrupted me.

"Stop saying sorry. What do we do now?"

"I can do it...!"

"How?"

"Uh... Run?"

Creeeak—

The sound of Ailyn grinding her teeth... no, almost breaking them, echoed.

"Ughh... How are you going to run here?"

"Well... carefully?"

"Carefully? Caaarefully??"

Thunk—

Ailyn slammed her fist on the table, nearly breaking it.

"Wow... Wow, are you doing this on purpose, Noa?"

"S-sorry..."

"If you say sorry one more time... I’ll really lose it!"

"Ah... I-I’m sorry, h-hehe..."

Ugh! I’m hiccupping because I’m scared!

Stop scaring me!!

I’m already bad at socializing as it is!
If you keep doing this, I’ll just get more nervous!!

Of course, this body of mine...

"Is there a difference between being sorry and apologizing? Never mind. How much do you weigh?"

"I... I’ve never checked..."

I looked around my body slightly.
Ailyn also glanced at my body.

I’m about 146 cm tall, so I’d say...
I probably don’t weigh more than 40 kg.

I let go of my greatsword and rubbed my soft belly.

"Excuse me for a moment."

Ailyn’s hand touched my arm.

Then...

"Eh... Wha... what...!!"

Her hand passed over my arm, across my shoulder, and down my neck to my waist.

"Ugh... ehhh!"

The hand moved from my waist, across my belly, down my thighs, and finally to my knees.

"Hold still for a second."

"Ahhh... heehee! It’s... ticklish...!"

The hand that reached my calves moved back up, sliding up my thigh and stopping at my spine.

"With this, you’re about 35 kg? No, you might be even lighter. Okay. Let’s ride together."

Ailyn, who had been mercilessly kneading me, said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling all these tingles, and it’s killing me... Is this too much?!

"Heh... Ugh, together...?"

"Yes. The average adult male adventurer weighs around 80 kg, so if we ride together, it shouldn’t be a problem."

"Ah, o-okay..."

After hearing my answer, Ailyn started packing up.

"Let’s get going now."

I nodded and slung the bag filled with my belongings over my shoulder.

"But... what’s in that big bag of yours?"

Ailyn tilted her head.

"It’s... luggage?"

I tilted my head as well.

But Ailyn’s expression looked odd! Did I make a mistake...?

"...Is something wrong?"

"Can I take a quick look inside?"

I opened the bag to show her the contents.

Inside, there were emergency rations, supplies for a long cart journey, and a ton of other stuff.

"W-what is all this?"

"It’s... my luggage... Hehe, Hermeela told me..."

"She wouldn’t do that... Where’s the list?"

I pulled out the crumpled list from my pocket and showed it to her.

"Ah, so this is how you mark it so Noa can see. Well, that’s not important."

Ailyn stared at the paper closely.

There’s no way Hermeela would have tricked me...

"Ah, here at the bottom. The above items are for the cart. If we’re riding horses, she’ll write a new list for us."

"Eh...?"

That’s right.
We’re riding horses.

"Ailyn... what do we do with all this stuff?!"

My money... my hard-earned money!

How much did I spend on all this?!
I only have 20 silver left now!

My nose tingled.
I think I might cry...

"Sigh... Well, we’ll try to sell as much as we can. I’ll help."

"Hic... R-really...? You think it’ll sell...?"

Ailyn, with a determined expression, threw on her robe and stood up.

"We’ll sell it. Somehow."

"Yes, yes..."

As I got up, I looked at Ailyn’s back.

I’m cool, but...

"She’s... so cool..."

Right now, Ailyn seemed a bit cooler than me.