38.Next course of action

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

“Say ‘ah’.”

“A-Ahh…”

The soft substance melted in my mouth and enveloped my tongue, spreading a rich sweetness along with the bitterness of the cacao and the mildness of the milk… When I swallowed it, there was a soft lingering orange liqueur aroma at the end.

That was a fine chocolate confection.

“How was it?”

“It’s very tasty, but…”

Since a while ago, I had been fed various kinds of sweets by hand. I was fine with just that, but the problem was…

“Why do I have to sit in your lap again…?!”

This time, it was Milly-san who’s hugging me while I was sitting on her lap!

First with Nii-sama, then with Philias-san, why did everyone love to hold me so much? And why was everyone looking at me so warmly?!

“Nyehehe, since you promised me to do ‘just one thing’, I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can, nya. Come on, say ‘ah’ again.”

“…Ugh, I’m starting to regret this…”

Another piece of confection, this time caramel-based…Where did they get all those sweets from, anyway?

With an ecstatic expression on her face, Milly-san kept on patting and fondling me as if I were a little kitten. If only I had known her idea of “promise to let her do just one thing” was “loving me half a day while I was dressed in the clothes she made”!

“…Well, she makes cute clothes for cute girls to wear in exchange for hugs and cuddles. Please pardon her strange hobby.”

“That’s a dreadful hobby if I’d ever seen one!”

Nii-sama, you could have told me about it earlier!

All I could do now was open my mouth like a baby bird waiting to be fed and crunch the sweets that were brought to me.

I’m going to get fat, aren’t I?

“Oh, looks like everyone’s here. Milady… I see you’ve got yourself a rather exquisite attire. It suits you well.”

A man with large build… Walter-san, arrived and ruffled my head with enough strength to make my neck sway from side to side. From behind, Lenny-san muttered “Oh, no, I worked so hard on her hair…”.

“Sorry to interrupt your pleasant chat, but we have business to attend to. Our original mission was to escort a caravan which was asked to buy lumber and transport it to a town near here that had been heavily damaged by goblins’ attacks.”

This town was built on the processing and sale of logged softwoods into lumber, and the merchants sometimes visit when there is a demand for large quantities of lumber like this.

Lumber cannot be used for building materials immediately after it is cut down. It must be exposed to wind and rain for a while to remove the lye, and then dried thoroughly… It takes several years from harvesting until it can be used as timber.

Taking advantage of the rich forest resources in the area, each town has its own lumber mill, which is important in harvesting and processing lumber for distribution.

“It’s about time the negotiations are completed.”

“That’s correct. They’ll start moving the lumber tomorrow… By this time next week, we should be departing, so prepare for it. Besides…”

Walter-san turned to look at me.

“His Highness Saulques, Her Highness Irisria… What are your plans for the future? If you need any help, I’m at your service.”

“Pardon?”

His attitude suddenly changed from a leader giving commands to bowing his head in deference.

“If you decide to come with us, we will make accommodations for your stay. There’re people who will back your cause, I can assure you that much. However, we do not intend to force you to do so. Think carefully about your next course of action.”

“Um, there’s no need for you to be so humble, please raise your head.”

“Yes, treating us like royalty’s a bit too much… Honestly speaking, we don’t have the memory of it, and we don’t really feel it… So I’d really like it if you treat us like equals.”

For those of us who had never had the experience of being respected as a superior, the current situation was very unbearable.

“Hmm… That’s fine by me. Zeltis, Philias, what about you?”

“That’s a bit unfortunate… but I will treat you as a friend for the time being.”

“I’m in. Iris-chan already asked me to do that the other day. Once again I hope we all get along.”

“…Thank you for your thoughtfulness.”

While we had certainly roleplayed the role of a prince and princess in the game before, since I identified myself as a commoner, it’s quite mentally demanding to actually be treated as royalty.

So Nii-sama and I were both very happy to see that they had agreed to treating us as equals.

Philias-san went to a meeting with the merchants on behalf of the company, and Zeltis-san left to explain the future plans to the mercenaries, leaving us alone with Walter-san.

“Well then… I think we should travel with them.”

“Saul-niisama?”

“Fair enough. If we stay in this town forever, it’s impossible to know where information about you will spread… and if it attracts people who’s up to no good, it’ll be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Reiji-san too… I think I understand what you said.”

This time, the mercenaries became our allies was largely because their leader, Walter-san, was friendly and cooperative. If anyone else discovered the truth about myself, they might develop the urge to do less-than-decent things to me… no, they would be sure to do that.

Worst of all, the thought that this town could turn into a war zone, involving Mrs. Miranda and her family, who had been so helpful to me, sent chills down my spine. Not to mention…

“Of course that’s part of it. But more than that, we are too ignorant of what is happening around us.”

Nii-sama revealed the bitter truth.

Yes… We were suddenly transported to another world, and we had no idea why it happened. Neither did we know who or what was behind it.

If we continued to stay here, our means of knowing what’s going on in this world would be limited.

“First of all, we need information. Fortunately, there’s someone who might have a lead and also get sent over here.”

“…Higami-san, right?”

“Uh, who?”

That’s about right. Due to the confidentiality of his workplace, Reiji-san was the only one of us who was not acquainted with that person.

“Yeah, you have never met him, Reiji-san. He’s our superior in ‘Arks VR Technologies’… and also, one of the top players.”

“What the hell, he’s one of the devs, isn’t he? Isn’t that cheating?”

“Ahaha… Well, if you think about it, the two of us could be considered developers to some extent, too… But he made and treated his account completely separate from work, to the point that the company didn’t figure it out until recently, so…”

I answered with a wry smile.

…Seriously, how did he find time to play the game?

“If everyone who’s obtained the tertiary reincarnation class has been sent here as I speculated, then there is a good chance that he’s somewhere in this world. And it’s likely that somebody at the heart of the development process knows more about what happened then than we do.”

“But how do we get in touch with him if there’s no way to communicate?”

Neither remote chat nor friend lists that had existed in games existed here. In this world, which was so much larger than the one in the game, the chances of meeting someone by chance were infinitesimally small. We had to take measures.

“Let me think about it… We could travel to the Central Business District… or even the capital of Nordglacier and wait, as there’s a good chance we’ll meet him there someday. Alternatively, we could let Iris’ name spread until it reaches his ears and let him know our location.”

Naturally, the second option allowed us to take a more active role and possibly achieve our goal easier, but it also contained many risks.

Saul-niisama seemed to have thought this through, but Reiji-san was wrinkling his brow and making a difficult face.

“Nevertheless, as far as you both are concerned, it’s too dangerous for us to travel alone, that’s why…”

“…We should cooperate with Walter-san and the others, while finding the people who would back our cause, is that what you’re trying to say? It sounds a bit like we’re just taking advantage of his goodwill…”

“Actually, I’ve taken interest in your fighting power as well. Think of it as a mutual cooperation… Of course, I’ll do my best to make it as easy as possible on you, my esteemed guests.”

“I appreciate the thought… However, with all due respect, I still have one last question about your mercenary company.”

While speaking apologetically, Saul-niisama’s eyes, which were staring at Walter-san, turned sharp, as if he was assessing something.

Walter-san, on the other hand, took it in stride and faced him with an amused look on his face.

“Ask away. We’re just a bunch of mercenaries from the countryside, and there’s not much we can do on our own.”

“…Then I beg your pardon. Why is a company of that size escorting such a small caravan? Even if it’s for reconstruction purposes, there’re way too many mercenaries compared to merchants.”

“Oh?”

Walter-san listened with interest.

“As far as a caravan is concerned, the more people they hire, the more expenses they incur. I don’t think it makes sense for the caravan to spend that much money on escorts. From what I have seen of your abilities, Zeltis-san and Philias-san alone would be enough to escort a caravan of that size… Last but not least, your equipment didn’t seem like it was for a simple escort mission.”

Indeed, there were twenty-something fully armed mercenaries, and among the weapons they were using were arrows with what appeared to be explosives… That’s way too excessive for escorting a caravan.

“…In other words, the escort was a bonus, something you received later on, as a side note to your true mission, wasn’t it? As for your true mission… you were supposed to clean up the goblins who were ravaging this area on a large scale, am I correct?”

“And it’s hard to believe that the merchants would willingly purchase lumber for charity purposes… Considering our current location, the nearest territory is…”

Saul-niisama’s finger pointed to a spot on the map, a little east of where we were now, just after we crossed the border, passing through the town where the goblin attack occurred as mentioned earlier, and entered Nordglacier… For both of us, it was a bit of a fateful place.

“Count Roland. Is your employer the Count himself, or someone under his command?”

Hearing those words, Walter-san’s cheeks relaxed, and he broke into the smile, as if we had just hit a bingo.

“…Very well. It’s not like I was hiding it from you, but you got everything correct for the most part. It’s just like you said, the Count is our direct patron at the moment.”

“That’s glad to hear. Frankly, I am not comfortable with the idea of someone else backing our power, but if we are associated with the Nordglacier royalty, we will have to make our position clear eventually. But for now, I still need time to get the information I need to make a decision. I know I’m being overly paranoid here, but…”

He then took a breath and turn to face Walter-san with a serious expression on his face.

“Is Count Roland someone we can trust? Is he the kind of man who would have our backs?”

At these words, for a moment, really only a moment, Walter-san’s expression darkened with pity.

“…I see. So you really don’t remember anything. Then I’ll say this with certainty. He is truly a trustworthy and honest man. Especially when it comes to the two of you, you probably don’t have to worry about him trying to corral you with his greed or use you for his own personal gain… no matter what.”

After pausing to catch his breath, Walter-san continued.

“…His Highness Saulques. When you were a mere commoner, still unknown to the world… you were the first person to stand up when your sister, Irisria-sama was kidnapped… It just so happened that the former Count’s brother, who was still the Vice Commander of the Knight Order at the time, was paying a visit to inspect the territory.”

We all gulped at those words. Count Roland’s territory was the site of the official event that led to Nii-sama and I being treated as semi-official characters.

And now the story sounded familiar. After all, the introduction to that event was generally the same.

A brother and sister, who were living in hiding on the frontier, the latter happened to catch the attention of the local lord and were taken away. The girl’s brother, desperate to save his sister, and the lord’s son, driven to bring his father to justice, joined force and worked behind the scene to persuade a knight, the local lord’s brother, who happened to be visiting the vicinity, to help rescue her with his help.

That was the general plot of an actual raid event during the game.

The same events as in the game did actually happen in this world with us as participants.

I felt that at this very moment, an invisible wheel of fortune was beginning to roll…

(Author’s Note)

The protagonist was sitting on Milly-oneesan’s lap throughout the entire chapter.