Chapter 20 (1/2)

Chapter 20

Abduction

A little before noon, the main street was already croith people

A guard pulled on his horse’s reins, looking for the post station

A well-dressed

A vagrant, dirty child

A slave, all of their body was covered in black clothing save for their face

Lily slipped her way through the crowd merrily as she went to cram school

It was the day after she guided Kei and Aileen around

Just like before, she had her hair up in the same ponytail that Aileen did With every step she took, the blue ribbon in her hair swayed

“He-y, Lily, how are you?” came a deep voice from behind her

She spun around to see an aardly s Borris

“Oji-chan…” Her expression darkened slightly as she slowly made eye contact with him Her voice carried a hint of caution and discomfort

She recalled when Montand looked sad and told her not to speak too much with Borris

“Hey… It’s been a while since we’ve met, huh” He scratched his cheek bashfully and looked away

Just like he said, it had been a long time since they met If her memory served her correctly, the last tio Borris would co the day time Lily went to cram school The chances for the

“What’s wrong, oji-chan…?”

Her father warned her, but she couldn’t just ignore hiht in front of her She turned toward hirabbed the hem of her skirt

Honestly, Lily didn’t dislike Borris

Perhaps it was because she couldn’t bring herself to not like him Of course, she knew that his recent visits to ask forher father Even so, froe of the old Borris, the kind Borris

When she was younger, her parents both worked themselves hard and couldn’t look after her It was none other than Borris that took care of her That hen he was a brighter,with her antics, like playing house or pretending he was her horse He even got hborhood kidsthe riverside and he would let her ride on his shoulders In the sunset lit road, they would secretly eat honey candies that he bought for her

She remembered all of it

His appearance noas dirty, his hair messy, and even his eyes had a bad look to them However, because she knehat he used to be like, she held faint sy heart

“Ah, well The truth is—” said Borris in a hushed voice as he squatted down to her eye level As if cautious of other’s stares, he pulled out a leather bag from his shi+rt

The sound of

“The truth is, I thought it was about time that I pay Montand back”

“Eh? Really!?” Her expression suddenly brightened

“Yep Work is finally looking up”

“Wow, that’s great, that’s great! Good for you, oji-chan!”

“Thank you I’ve been relying on Montand all this ti away

“I’m sure dad will be happy too! Oji-chan, what kind of work are you doing?”

“Haha… That’s a secret” He winked and said, “By the here are you going?”

“Cram school!”

“Cra hard, aren’t you? Wh

ere was your craain…?”

“It’s at Cornwell-san’s h-class area!”

“Oh, I see Are you going to be there until it gets dark out?”

“Yep! Usually we end around four or so”

“Oh! That’s a… Do you always go alone?”

“Yep At first o by myself!”

“Haha, that’s right You’ve grown big, haven’t you?” He smiled fondly at her proud expression “So, for Lily who is trying so hard…” he fished around in his right pocket and presented so to her, “Here! A candy for you”

“Yay, thanks oji-chan!” Lily took the ball shaped candy and bounced up and down

“Now then, it’s tio Good luck with your studies”

“Okay! You too, good luck with your work!”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best Bye then!” Borris turned back to her with a smile

“See you!!”

She watched him disappear into the crowd before she headed off to crah spirits

As she walked, she unwrapped the candy It was an amber ball The mellow honey flavor filled her mouth “Hehe…” She sht steps turned into skips

She was happy

Borris could be like he was in the old days

Dad can see hiht with this, too

She felt proud for him

Borris and dad would get along again She believed that

Everything was heading in a better direction

At that time, she believed it

†††

“That’s too much! Thirty silvers is a rip off!”

“Not at all, you can’t get me any lower than this!”

Kei argued with a man just outside of northern Satyna at the harbor

“It’s just downstream until Yuulia! It’s different if it’s to Urvan, but why is it so expensive when you just need to ride the current?!”

“Duot four horses, just how ot a ton of goods toa profit!”

“That’s why you overcharge it as thirty silvers? What, are you guys carrying gold and silver treasure!?”

“Even if I wanted to, there’s no way I’d be carrying so so profitable!! It’s just nor, a quick thirty silvers!”

They were screa the goods cast Kei a suspicious look Aileen watched nervously

“Agh, fine! Enough is enough! Sorry, but we’ll just go ask someone else!”

“We don’t want someone like you anyway! Get outta here already, shoo! Scram!”

After a while, the negotiations failed, or rather, it ended in an argu him away and walked away heavy-footed

“daes way too much!”

“They’re doing it because they can, I guess This was the third one…” Next to Kei, Aileen perked her shoulders up and sighed lightly

This all started because they heard that you could get to Urvan by boat

Yesterday, after they sold their armor in the old town they decided to search for an escort job for caravans going to Urvan

They decided to do it for safety On the way fro as just tas dangerous If they traveled with a caravan or other escorts then the probability of being attacked would drastically decrease

However

Needless to say, they couldn’t get work as escorts, not even if they paid a little bit The reason was that they had no credibility

In this world where such a convenient foruild card didn’t exist, the only ould be for soame, after a few simple jobs from NPCs your credibility would increase and you would unlock

On their fourth day since coer[1] such as themselves had no one to back them up The best that they had was Montand, an arrow maker, but their relationshi+p was no more than a customer and a shop owner He probably wouldn’t vouch for them

They didn’t clearly look like any nationality and there wasn’t anyone who could speak for them Kei looked a bit like the plains people, and Aileen’s unfriendly attitude like that of the tundra people made it unlikely that they’d be accepted by others Half-heartedly judging based off Kei’s strong appearance didn’t serve as good credibility either For example, if Kei was a ruffian then he could stab them in the back

Even so, oneto Urvan proposed to accept the as Aileen was loaned to hi able to find any caravans to join up with, they were at a loss That hen they heard that you could get to Urvan by boat, too

Satyna often transported goods downstream to other northern rivers via the Morla River next to the over land, this was much faster and safer

However, it was only fast down the river until halfway between Satyna and Urvan, at Lake Bled If you wanted to go any farther north, you’d need to go upstrea the river that runs near Urvan: the River Aria

This was because, sih plateaus Typically, you could go upstrea ht that it would be better than nothing even if they had to change over to land after reaching the town of Yuulia, at Lake Bled

That’s what he thought, but—

The thing standing in his ere none other than the fare expenses

“We may have a lot with us, but thirty silvers is crazy…” Aileen interlaced her fingers behind her head as she complained

“You’re telling h his tone while he walked next to her

They’d been negotiating with shi+p owners at the harbor for a while, but everyone gave theeous prices They had all sorts of offers The thirty silver one that they got was still on the low end; another was for fifty, and another was close to a gold

Kei didn’t believe that the market price was around thirty silvers It wasn’t that Kei and Aileen couldn’t pay the fee, it was that thirty silvers was enough for a grown man to eat for a year The shi+p owner fro normal furniture, materials, and the like, but there was no way that it would net him thirty silvers

Maybe it was stubbornness, maybe they bullied outsiders, or maybe it was simply too h world

They continued to indiscriet anyone for less than thirty silvers Feeling like it was all in vain they returned to the inn

“Ah… I feel like we tired ourselves out for nothing,” said Kei

“Yep…”

They laid down on their beds Both of the themselves before they left

Silently, they stared up at the ceiling for a while They becaic

“Hey, Kei,” Aileen muttered

“Hm?”

“Once we get to Urvan… What do you plan on doing?”

Kei glanced over at Aileen, as turned over and looking at hi and s over in his head

The fortified city Urvan Elsewise, the government capital

Feudal lord Arial Krause Urvan Auckland served as the ruler over the northern Ri’leir people A few cities such as the port city Kitene and the fortified city Satyna joined the Auckland Dukedom—

They gathered this information yesterday

“To start…I’d like to go to the ht be expensive, but it’s open to the public I want to learn about this world’s history and writing We ht even find a clue as to e came to this world”

Even though it was fine that here was a parallel world, the cause of their arrival was still athat happened after they entered the fog in the game

It felt wrong to just keep knowing nothing about it

Did someone summon them?

Was it some sort of supernatural phenomenon?

Kei at least wanted to have a guess at what the cause was

“And then… What about after your research?”

“H over andher blue eyes “Honestly, I haven’t decided what to do after that… You ,’ at this point, but I’m still confused, too” He watched her expression for a inally, I thought that even if it was a little bit, even one second longer, I wanted to live and enjoy the game…”

To Kei, Deoal in life

You could say that the past three years of his life had been video games

When the game suddenly became reality, he didn’t knohat to do with himself

“And so, I have no idea I can’t even iine what to do about my future…”

“Yeah… It’s the same for me I don’t knohat to do I don’t knohat I want to do…” Aileen said with a dazed expression

“It’s tough, isn’t it…?” Kei sat up and leaned against the , casting his gaze down onto the congested shopping district

The weather was nice today

A traveler argued about the price of a decorative fabric as the shopkeeper carefully appraised it Farmers carried baskets of fruit and children ran around, slipping through the crowd

A s stones and cried loudly after he scraped his knee The children gathered around hi adult corumbled, his friend led him away by the hand

“Hey, Kei You don’t want to… go back, right?” Aileen asked from behind him in a reserved voice

“No… Even if I could go back, I can live in this world”

“I see… I suppose so…”

Kei turned around, but Aileen was laying on her belly with her face buried in the pillow

“What about you…?”

“Me? I wonder…”

[PART 2]

She lay still for a bit After a few seconds, she suddenly lifted her head “I don’t know!”

“You don’t know?”

“Yeah… It’s not as bad as yours, but reality wasn’t particularly fulfilling for aze became distant for a moment

She suddenly sighed Aileen—rather, Andrei, would also be logged in for al irl shut herself in a virtual world

“—Oh, alright” Kei shrugged his shoulders and sly

Aileen had a lot happen too Since she still hesitated about living in this world, it couldn’t be too terrible If she didn’t want to talk about it, there was no need for him to try to force her

“Well, there’s no rush for you to decide In my case, I don’t really have a choice…”

“Yeah… I guess it’s fine if I don’t have an answer right now We don’t even knoe can go back in the first place! Alright! I’ll just put it off!” She sat upright with her ar was true, and she wanted to push off the stress for later anyway Before they could go back or not, they still had to find out how they cainally

And also—

I wonder what happened to our bodies…

Who knew if they were still alive or not

There was that possibility, but he didn’t voice it

“Okay! Now that it’s decided we can relax! Kei, I have an idea!” Aileen held up her hand

“W-what?”

“For now, let’s sell two of our horses! We don’t need four horses for the two of us Those guys ed us, but the horses do take up a lot of room”

“You’re right… They do require upkeep too, so I guess we can sell the is…” He looked around their four person rooer now that all the arht a lot of stuff There were a few large quivers filled with different arrows frooods for outdoors like a tripod and pot, blankets, a tent, and various daily goods “Can two horses carry all of this…?”

“Y-yeah It’ll work out, right?”

“Well, I think it’ll work out, but…”

The problem was how to distribute it

After taking a moment to look at it clearly—he realized that most of the stuff was arrows and quivers

He was forced to realize

Kei smiled drily as he stared at the arrows next to the wall

Aileen noticed that and got up with a, “Hyup!” and started to search the arrows She pulled out a brightly colored arrow—the one that played a melody as it flew She held it up above her and played with it in her hands as she quietly said, “I wonder what this thing would be good for…”

“It’s good for so away

“Is it?”

“O-of course For exa” He searched for the words “A signal, or so…”

“And when are you going to use it?”

Quickly, Aileen grabbed Kei’s sides

“No, don’t do any more than that! For example… you know, it could drew the eneainst souess it could be used to attack, too… But, I guess if that’s the case then a normal arroould… yeah…”