Chapter 29
Once I boarded the carriage, I decided to finish thinking through what had been on my mind earlier. It wasn't anything specific; I had noticed that my thoughts occasionally became strange.
I wasn't an idiot, so I could easily tell when the things I thought about were gradually becoming strange. As I had said before, I had never been someone who prioritized efficiency. If anything, I had been the sort of person to think that, since money would come in tomorrow, I could spend as much as I wanted today.
Yet I could clearly feel that I was changing more than I had realized.
Even last time, when I received the bounty, hadn't I thought it would be better to save some money in case I couldn't receive it? The old me would never have had such a thought.
More precisely, it would be right to say that I couldn't have had such a thought. I wasn't that meticulous by nature.
If anything, that sort of meticulousness could safely be considered part of Lumia's personality.
Even taking into account that I had to sleep with the Hero, if I had been thinking normally, I wouldn't have tried to use the same room. Yet at the time, I had been consumed by the thought that saving money mattered more than anything else.
It was clearly strange.
And although it was still only circumstantial evidence.. the whole thing about using magic was highly suspicious too. I didn't know the details myself, and according to the setting, I could use magic despite being unable to speak or hear because I was a Star Child, but..
Even so, magic shouldn't come out just because I thought about it, should it?
This was genuinely something worth being suspicious about.
However, that only meant it was something worth suspecting; even if it proved true, there was almost nothing I could do about it right now.
And in urgent situations, Lumia's ability to assess situations helped me a great deal..
Hadn't I nearly died last time to some creature called an anaconda, or whatever? If I had been my old self, I would have panicked and been unable to think properly. But I quickly regained my composure, judged what to do, and used magic.
And I had even remembered the anaconda's weakness from my memories!
Could I, someone who had lived a peaceful life in the modern world, really have done that..?
I didn't know.
‘Phew..’
For now, I supposed I would have to investigate a little more.
Even if I waited until we reached Kapra Village, where Ruril should be, it wouldn't be too late to think about it. I knew an incident would occur there, too. I would probably be able to become completely certain about my assessment of the Hero there as well.
If he was the Hero I knew, he would use the knowledge he possessed to protect the villagers.
Yeah.. Let's hang in there.
...
But even so, wasn't naming the village Kapra a little—no, far too half-assed? The moment I saw it, I couldn't help thinking of the name of some beverage.
Of course, only the name had been chosen carelessly; the village itself had been properly made. Still, since it was a village created within a game, it didn't look all that large from the outside, though it somehow seemed to be functioning properly.
I'd long since given up most of the common sense I possessed, since this was a world inside an adult game.
Clatter!
...
If I had to give up common sense, I wish I could also give up the common sense that my butt hurts when I ride in a carriage..
The carriage was already unbearably uncomfortable because it had been made with fantasy-world technology, and if the road was bumpy on top of that, my butt started hurting too.
As a weak modern person like me, this was beyond what I could endure. Give me back the comfort and luxury of a car.. I wanted to return to my original world as soon as possible and go for a nice drive.
..though I didn't have a car, now that I thought about it.
All I had was a driver's license that had been sitting in a drawer.
“It’s my first time outside Latikan.. How fascinating..”
They looked around at the forested surroundings, clearly fascinated. At first, I had found the surroundings fascinating too, but after seeing the same things over and over, I was sick of them now. I had never understood what people meant when they said even forests grew tiresome if you looked at them long enough, but now I did.
“...”
This carriage had no one else in it; it was just us. Even though the road to the Holy Kingdom was supposedly not dangerous, that didn't mean there were no monsters, so if anything happened, we would have to step in and defeat them ourselves.
The Hero would probably take care of it on his own, though..
I turned toward the Hero, then quickly looked away again. Come to think of it, he was sitting right beside me. Just like earlier, why did he seem to keep coming closer to me..?
“You two seem really close.”
Cecilia said with a sly smile.
“Ahem..”
Why are you reacting like that too..?
Well.. thanks to what had happened yesterday, I did feel as though I had grown somewhat closer to the Hero.. but given what had happened..
It was strange that Cecilia, of all people, was the one saying that. Was this what Cecilia was normally like before the Hero had won her over?
Sigh..
I buried my face between my knees.
Why did she keep bringing up what had happened back then..? Even now, just thinking about it made me so embarrassed I could die.
Of course, from my perspective, I had only stopped the Hero from going outside to sleep and then tried to get him back into bed, but wouldn't everyone around us have seen it as an unmistakable proposal?
Fortunately, the Hero hadn't read too much into my telling him to sleep on the bed—meaning he hadn't misunderstood—so nothing in particular had happened. But it wouldn't have been strange at all if he'd pounced on me, saying, “You seduced me..”
Somehow, the Hero seemed much better at understanding what people said than I had expected. Even though I didn't say what I was really thinking, he seemed to figure out everything I wanted to say in most situations.
It was a reasonable suspicion that he might even have mind-reading abilities. Or rather, if something like mind reading really existed.. No, come to think of it, I think it had existed in the game.
Well, it was an adult game, so of course it would have something like that.
As I had said before, this game had gone out of its way to provide freedom, so it had been designed to let me play in all sorts of ways. A pure-love playthrough was possible, but so was a humiliation playthrough.
It really was an adult game..
“Oh, right, Lumia.”
“?”
“You didn't really get much sleep yesterday. Aren't you tired?”
I nodded.
Honestly, I was a little tired—no, very tired. Since the scent in the room had made the atmosphere what it was, it had been difficult to fall asleep even when I wanted to. I had eventually drifted off somehow, but I hadn't slept deeply.
In response to my answer, the Hero asked with a worried expression whether I wanted to take a nap.
It wasn't a bad suggestion, but if I fell asleep here, I felt like I wouldn't be able to sleep when I tried to go to bed tonight..
Unless I was unbearably sleepy, I intended to stay awake. I could still hold out for now, so I'd stay up a little longer. Once I was truly too sleepy to endure it, I would lie down and sleep.
There wasn't really anywhere to lie down, but if it became too much, I could use magic to find a way.. It was magic, after all; surely there was some spell that could make things more comfortable while lying down.
That was what I thought.
.
.
.
I was already starting to feel sleepy.
Even when I tried to keep my eyes open, they kept drooping, and whenever my head suddenly lolled forward, I woke up again, repeating the vicious cycle. Perhaps I looked terribly unsteady, because the Hero came over and supported me.
“I told you it was okay to sleep if you were tired..”
He had said that, but..
If a monster appeared along the way, it would be the perfect chance to practice magic, so I had been trying to stay awake somehow.. I had used magic last time, but it hadn't been proper magic..
Strictly speaking, I had merely molded my mana according to my will and tried to freeze my opponent, so calling that magic was debatable.. If I couldn't use proper magic at a crucial moment, the Hero might suspect me.
That absolutely couldn't happen..
Please let a monster appear..
Wait a minute.
Come to think of it, a monster did appear, didn't it..?
Weren't we about due to meet it..?
“Oh, dear! It’s a monster!!”
A shout came from the coachman beside us.
Hearing the voice, the Hero sprang to his feet and jumped off the moving carriage. Who'd expect anything less from the Hero? He just jumped off a moving carriage.
The Hero approached the frightened coachman at the front of the carriage, which was slowly coming to a stop.
“Where is the monster..”
“Over there.. It looks dangerous right now..”
Yep, that's right.
Come to think of it, my first meeting with Ruril seemed to have started with me rescuing her when she was in danger on the way to Kapra Village.
...
Wait a second.
Oh, right!
The Hero couldn't be the one to save her!
I sprang to my feet in a panic.
No, not that! Stoppp!!
A way to quickly take out only the monster.. Lumia's specialty was ice magic..!
That's it!
I cast the spell I'd just thought of.
Hoping desperately that it would work.